#cuileandorcha

[bolyde]

@cuileandorcha

Shadowheart unflinching stares at Maledos. It's like he's trying to get under her skin. It won't work.

She simply reaches out and taps him back on the nose.

"Boop."

[tcmpestes]

i think. serendipity has a very cute giggle that is very charming, but if he laughs too hard he snorts and then gets really embarrassed about it.

What the hell how are u in my mind

[nectaric]

Looks sideways at Navani and Szeth. Slides The Truth Is A Cave by the Oh Hello's across the table to you.

i want you to know this did like 12 points of psychic damage and i'm still trying to recover

[airxn]

@cuileandorcha inquired – "Let me see your paw" - From Dee? (I am suggesting Seisyll commiting gay on gay violence for the reason)

𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, Airin looks away from Dee. Silence lingers in the tense air, but... he soon reluctantly lifts his paw for the dullahan.

" ...It's their fault. " He's quick to place blame, but everyone knows Airin can be antagonistic. Whether his story is believed? Well, he'll roll with the punches, but for now, he does have a little dab of blood on his paw. Meaning– he is the victim!

[kakimushire]

❝ This? It's a personal project. If I wanted you to meddle with it, I would've shared it with you already. Though, you have enough with your own projects. And - if you weren't so busy drinking with Hirako-Taichou, you would've already known what this is. ❞

what uh.. whatcha got there?

[eldritchmoms]

Shadow - Livingston Presented without any further comment

He hurt. He hurt and he was breathing too harsh and his heart was too beating too loud. He had to get out of the city, but who would take him when half the ship and caravan masters were in the guild's pocket and the best he had to offer was whatever they'd get for handing him right back to them?

---------------

He barely recognised himself in the grubby flophouse mirror. Drawn and pallid, lifeless eyes skunken in dark circles. His hair was growing out again, ragged and unkempt, past his shoulders.

You're dying, his reflection said. You're going to die. Tonight. The next night. Eventually. Stop running. This could all be over, as soon as you like. Go to sleep, and let the darkness take you.

---------------

He hated having to make this choice. He hated that he had ever been given the chance to make it. Dying would have been easier. No chance, no choice, no struggle. No wondering if his life and soul would even be his own if he did the only thing he could to keep them.

[bolyde]

@cuileandorcha

Shadowheart unflinching stares at Maledos. It's like he's trying to get under her skin. It won't work.

She simply reaches out and taps him back on the nose.

"Boop."

[bloodedhearts]

Shadowheart shrugs, thinking for a moment. She should be more confident, should trust these Shadow-Cursed Lands because it's Lady Shar's domain. She should feel home and welcomed. And yet... she's feeling uneasy in some ways, and she doesn't know why.

It's not just about her memory loss. She's thinking about her dream of becoming a Dark Justicar, too. It's like she has prepared herself for this during all of her life. At least that's what she thinks so. It's not like she remembers anything that happened before. She doesn't even remember her friends who grew up at her side, other followers of Lady Shar. Why can't she remember ? She feels so stupid, so insecure... She knows the dark lady planned something for her here. She needs to deal with the Nightsong. But how will she do that ? She doesn't even know what it is.

She jumps a bit at his touch, almost as if her friend is bringing her back to reality. "I... I don't know if I've disappointed her yet. But maybe she'll test me. It's her world here, after all..." She sighs. She shouldn't be this nervous about it. She takes a deep breath. "You know... I've never really wondered what my life would be if I didn't become a Dark Justicar. I feel like I have to become one." But does she really want to ? Or is it more that she's supposed to want this ?

"And why shouldn't you be?" The response comes easily, almost as if he'd expected hers. He wasn't going to tell her that she ought to be more confident in this - there was little reason for any of them to be, and lies of such a blatant sort weren't particularly fun as far as deception goes.

Not unless you were telling them to someone more gullible than she was.

No, he's got no real doubts that the end of her path through these Shadowcursed lands will end poorly for her. There was no question about that - the only questions that he had about the matter was how. Would Shar allow someone who had need such a firm hand in maintaining doctrine to become a Dark Justiciar? Would Shadowheart be able to fulfil the task at all? Would she want to, despite all her continued insistence that she want nothing more than this?

"The Dark Lady ain't exactly known for a forgivin' nature.." His tail tip - rough as sand paper - reaches up and drags over her finger tips. A little motion, just a brush of skin against rough scaled skin, as if to remind her of how unforgiving she already knew her to be. How even little slights could be excruciating.

[bloodedhearts]

Shadowheart wishes she's feeling more at ease here, but the truth is that she's not that comfortable at all. In her mind, it has always been clear that she will do all she could to become a Dark Justicar. But here she is now... not sure at all that she will do it. She's not sure she wants to, even if she will never voice such thoughts. Maybe it's just Lady Shar's way of testing her again. For now, the cleric wants to focus on the mission, on getting rid off these tadpoles.

And well... she's supposed to deal with the Nightsong, too, but she knows nothing about it. She wonders if she previously knew, before her memories were erased... but maybe not. A part of her wants her memories back. She knows it's because Lady Shar has wanted her to stay focused on her mission, but it still feels so weird, somehow...

She blinks a few times, not entirely sure of what she should say or not say. "I... I don't know. I know how I should feel, but I don't know how I feel," she admits before she lets a chuckle escape her mouth. It would make her feel well to talk about it, but at the same time... she's almost scared of doing so. "I guess I'm just nervous."

Maledos's head tilts slightly to the side, maintaining that slight turn towards Shadowheart when he does, though the new angle gives him a better look at her face. He seems like he's searching her face for something - though whether he finds it is less clearly written on his face. He's been doing that more since they got here - like she's some sort of puzzle he wants to solve.

The puzzle itself, of course, is not what manner of Sharran she was - he's been fairly confident on that matter since he'd first seen her hand flare up. What remained to be discovered, though, was where she fit within the greater scheme of things. What role there was for Shadowheart within the Church that she still seemed so very willing to defend, even if there was a waver to her tone that there hadn't been when they'd begun this journey.

He knew well that there was nothing comfortable about the shadows that coat the land around them. The only things that belong here were not of the living.

"And yet..." Maledos saying out loud the hesitation that her tone had indicate as he turned his attention back towards the path that they currently tread. "You hope... You should... But there is a creeping itch that moves up my spine with every step closer... Gotta wonder if it's crawling it's way up yours, too."