Sam isn't particularly keen on being sent out of the house on a walk - flashes of childhood racing through his mind for a moment - but he is but a guest and thus relents. The walk is actually rather nice and the sight of the lake reminds him of just how dirty and foul he probably is. He was just recently undead and all... Upon reaching the lake proper he begins the task of wedging and pulling and forcing his way out of his armor. "A brisk bath will surely be just the thing, eh?" Soon he is slowly walking into the lake and remembering that he hates bathes...
Vin looks torn, half sympathetic and half curious, but when they are told to go for a walk he drops the subject and heads outside with Neferox. As soon as Neferox leaves the hut, her attention is drawn to the mountains and she cocks her head as if listening.
"you met Rocs?" Mireah asks, taking in a deep breath as if to breathe in the forests themselves.
The walk to the lake, is fresh compared to the somewhat stake air in the hut, birds sing around you, insects fly hither and yon, the giggling of the pixies can be heard in the distance, there seems to be no sign of Muir and Elthana as you head down to the lake, which glistens as you approach.
The first thing Sam realises is that the lake however beautiful, is absolutely freezing. There is a constant ripple over the surface heading toward the base of the mountain where it laps at the rocky crystal outcrop there.
"How rested are you all feeling?" Hector asks, "I remember first coming here and the time difference being an issue, staying up for days on end and not becoming tired is definitely a bonus, but the near three day catch up was a killer. Still, it took years to acclimatise, and I was a vampire at the time, so another bonus I suppose was the lack of actual sunlight here, just an illuminated vast rushing past above hmmm...
Y'know I always wondered if the birds in the material realm all came from thaeir, they don't live too long and their hearts beat ever so fast, it's like they'd thrive here, like their bodies long for a faster time scale to live within..." He stares out at the lake contemplative.
"Why did you are deciding to not be vampire any more?" Griff asks as he also wades into the shallows, dipping his beak in the water and fluffing his feathers. "If Thaeir is being so good for vampire, then why stop?"
Hector pauses, takes a moment and responds simply, "I found a love worth dying for."
Mireah stands suddenly, a little awkward at the way this conversation is going and not wanting to chime in with her own stories of longevity and the effects. She instead steps away from the group slightly and picks some berries from a nearby bush.
"I think Muir was talking about going into his tree spell thing?" Sam mentions if the Muir and Elthana missing is brought up... And if brought up before he gets too deep into the cold waters. Once he is close to waist deep there is... cold shock and shrinkage and tremors going on which make normal conversation a bit difficult, at least until he can adapt and adjust a little bit. Sam does his best to properly bathe and soak the dirt away. How the local wildlife responds to the sudden upsurge of dirt and sweat and such is their problem...
"Yeah, the rest thing is... difficult to manage sometimes," Sam agrees with Hector a bit later. "Throws everything off but we've managed so far... More or less." And thinking of the less, Sam looks to Hootie and directs the little owl to fly around and search for Elthana and Muir. Those two are allowed to wander off and do their own things but it'd be handy to at least know where they are if needed.
"So, you're willing to die for your love... But they're not willing to undie for you?" Sam asks. He doesn't mean it as a way to cause a problems, though if he thought about his words he'd probably see how it could. Rather he's just meaning to open the door to Hector explaining the downsides of his vampirism...
"it is a curse, a curse that some see as a gift yes, Sergor and Nivara certainly did, I think my mother tolerates it, but one can't make shortsighted decisions when choosing a curse which grants immortality... It's one of the reasons that I walked away when I had the chance, the obvious up sides are that longevity gave me time, tune to learn time to help those I could, but people just aren't supposed to live so long, it wares on the soul. I don't know, I sought out Mireah here because I had found Serafina and I didn't want her to become another person that I inevitably outlived... I think my outlook even gave mireah something to think about..." Hector muses as he picks bits of loose grass from the crystal sand and flicks them around.
"I always thought of vampires as soulless and therefore incapable of feeling love. If vampires are capable of love, why then are vampires all thought of as evil? Why are there no good vampires, doing good deeds and helping people?", Vin asks curiously.
Hector frowns, and responds slowly, picking his words carefully "There's a hunger that comes with it, a need to feed and kill, there's a savagery which does ravage the soul, that and the loss, like mireah said last night, outliving those around you time and time again. It's depressing... Do you ever notice that the older you get, the more the years seem to fly by, days become blurs, monotony takes your life, and then apply that out to decades and centuries, everything becomes dull, even the exciting things, friendships are brief and I think the reason vampires become so callous is that everything around you becomes so small, humanoids will always be around and once you've outlined generations and watched them putter around and just keep on dying it's like watching insects... No offence it's just difficult to describe the strain it puts on basic morals... then someone comes along and it's a spark, and I don't know, I just felt like it was worth throwing away the next eon of bitter monotony, because she's exactly what I need, she saw that side of me and dragged me back... She saved my life, and helped me bring it to an actual end. Though of course I don't think she fully understands the extent of what she has done for me..."
Sam rubs a couple of fingers together to play the world's tiniest violin... Or he at least imagines himself doing so. To him it just sounds like another case of someone who has more advantages and possibilities than most complaining that they don't have life even easier than they do. Sam imagines that if such a thing is television is ever invented that Hector will complain he can't decide what to watch because he just has too many damn channels to choose from. He has too many days, years, lifetimes so they all seem mundane and boring? The dude should learn to appreciate what he has, learn to do for others... Learn a freaky hobby, or twelve.
"Yes, yes. Very sad," Sam says instead, struggling not to roll his eyes. "It's a wonder how you ever endured at all... How awesome life must be for a for a mayfly."
"well I'm happier now, with the prospect of dying..." Hector says earnestly, not really picking up on Sam's sarcasm.
After a while the group realises that it's likely time to head back and see what Delores has prepared, though there's still no sign of Muir or Elthana.
"Yeah, I'm with Sam on this one", he says picking up on the sarcasm of his comment. "And I feel you glossed over the whole 'savagery and feeding on folk part'. But there you go. I guess that might explain what Nivara is doing though. She doesn't think about time like we do, she doesn't feel any urgency to get on with her plan. In fact, the sooner she does implement her end game, the sooner she will get bored again. And as we are just insects to her, she is merely playing with us".
"I think there has to be something more to it than just time. Because I know exactly the feeling you are describing, Hector. To a near unbearable degree. But I'm hardly 35. I mean... uh, 23. I've not lived half my life yet if I'm lucky. And yet I know people far older than me with an energy and zeal for life like nothing I've known until recently."
"it's very much about finding the excitement in your current situations, opportunities and achievements, but that longing, that listlessness... On a long enough timescale it comes for everyone, you've had the severely unfortunate disposition to have found it early Gewyn, and I'm afraid it can be quite maddening..." As the group gets halfway back to the hut hector stops and looks toward Sam, "where is Elthana by the way, it's been what? An hour and a half by now? Should we be worried?".
"I'll send the pixies out looking" Mireah offers up, "my warding spells keep most predators away, but every so often one slips though..."
"I wouldn't worry too much," Sam says calmly. "Muir has this way of entering trees and having a little private space in there. Sometimes he uses it to rest safely, others for privacy... I am sure he and Elthana are in there just..."
Just what, Sam suddenly wonders. What could those two be up to??
"Well... yeah... anyway..." Sam then coughs uncomfortably and wanders a few steps off.
"Yeah, I expect the only danger Elthana is in is getting caught in an interrogation by Muir", Vin says trying to lighten the mood, but still looking uncertain. "Although it has been a long time. I guess that means whatever they are doing is working".
"I will take a look from the sky. Bryze, time to fly", he adds, and Bryze shoots upwards from his back and swoops down in a spiral, ending next to Vin who jumps on. They then ascend into the sky.
Neferox harrumphs but leaps upwards, her paws trailing flames as she follows.
After finding nothing but a scent trail leading to a tree, neferox and vin return, the group find warm food waiting for them along with another fresh coffee.
Mireah tales a comfortable seat and tucks in, in between bites she looks around the group, "well I've heard some things about Gewyn and I know all about Hector, what about the rest of you? Tell me about yourselves, I'd like to know the kinds of friends my grandson has been making" she grins at the term, odd coming from a girl who looks like a teenager, but the sheer joy of saying grandson seems to make her giddy with appreciation.
"Well I was being hatched on Akiin and growing up in a strict family, my father was a lieutenant in akiins guard and I am being following in his flight path, made it to general, I am thinking he would be proud, I am knowing that my wife and four hatchlings of my own are proud, but I am not being as strict as my father, I think letting them have fun childhoods is being more important than training, not that they aren't being good at things, I like to be letting them explore their own talents instead of being pressuring them to being good at specific things..." Griff pipes up, ahead of the group, just happy to be talking about something he understands for a change.
"I don't exactly know that I'd call us..." Sam starts to say but then trails off both because he realizes it may be impolite but also because Griff pipes up. This happy occurrence gives him a moment to rethink his response.
"I'm not exactly sure where I was hatched," Sam admits. "I was very young. Don't remember it, really..." He'd never heard it called being 'hatched' before but when in Rome, he figures. "I mean it was back in the real Realm, that much I know. Err... Not to say this Realm isn't... it's just that... I'm still new to all this, yes? Not really sure the proper wording and all..."
"Anyway, born, grew up, life happened... The Council just kind of threw us all together to solve a problem. Not sure how much thought they put into it besides their own self interests but we managed to kill... Well we solved the problem and went home and soon enough there was another problem. Round-about it brought us here... Muir?" Sam asks to try to pass off the answering to the Loxodon but then quickly recalls that they're missing and that is why he got stuck talking to begin with. Sam lets out a small growl of annoyance then catches Vin's eye. "Vin? You're up!"
"Oh, right", Vin says when Sam hands over to him. "My story is pretty standard stuff. The usual orphan and his dog taken in by an academy and chosen by the council to become part of an elite team of problem solvers", he says giving the heavily abridged version, motioning to Neferox when mentioning the dog.
"I guess the most important part is that no matter where we all came from, what are past was or what brought us together, we have each others backs. We have been through a lot since we were thrown together, but I wouldn't have done with anyone else", he says trying to draw focus away from the exact details of his past.
"I really think Muir and Elthana should be back by now. Do you think they entered that tree where the scent ended?".
"having each others backs is the most important, and I'm very glad to hear that, I am curious about your companion there though vin, she's... a special dog.
Huh, entering a tree sounds very Fae, can they do that? I didn't sense a hint of Fae on either of them." Mireah says a little confused.
"They should definitely be back by now, it's been over two hours since they left... What is the nature of their access to trees? Perhaps if it is something of the material plane then their time perspective has shifted?" Hector wonders, becoming increasingly frustrated and worried.
Murray looks up as if listening out for something and then a zip of wind follows something small as it invisibly flies out of the door, "the pixies have found neither hide nor hair of them..."
"It's magic,' Sam says expecting that to explain everything. "Druid magic, I assume..."
"They're either doing something important that is taking the time it takes, or maybe since it is magic from our home that you're right and time runs like it does in our world..." Sam shrugs, really not worried about it. Really.
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Sam isn't particularly keen on being sent out of the house on a walk - flashes of childhood racing through his mind for a moment - but he is but a guest and thus relents. The walk is actually rather nice and the sight of the lake reminds him of just how dirty and foul he probably is. He was just recently undead and all... Upon reaching the lake proper he begins the task of wedging and pulling and forcing his way out of his armor. "A brisk bath will surely be just the thing, eh?" Soon he is slowly walking into the lake and remembering that he hates bathes...
Vin looks torn, half sympathetic and half curious, but when they are told to go for a walk he drops the subject and heads outside with Neferox. As soon as Neferox leaves the hut, her attention is drawn to the mountains and she cocks her head as if listening.
Vin nods at Neferox before looking around for Muir.
If he can't spot him immediately, he will whisper to him instead, in as many directions as needed to get a response.
"Neferox can still hear the Rocs. If we can arrange a lift, we can all get a proper rest here. What do you think?".
If no response is forthcoming, he will ask Neferox to sniff him out.
"you met Rocs?" Mireah asks, taking in a deep breath as if to breathe in the forests themselves.
The walk to the lake, is fresh compared to the somewhat stake air in the hut, birds sing around you, insects fly hither and yon, the giggling of the pixies can be heard in the distance, there seems to be no sign of Muir and Elthana as you head down to the lake, which glistens as you approach.
The first thing Sam realises is that the lake however beautiful, is absolutely freezing. There is a constant ripple over the surface heading toward the base of the mountain where it laps at the rocky crystal outcrop there.
"How rested are you all feeling?" Hector asks, "I remember first coming here and the time difference being an issue, staying up for days on end and not becoming tired is definitely a bonus, but the near three day catch up was a killer. Still, it took years to acclimatise, and I was a vampire at the time, so another bonus I suppose was the lack of actual sunlight here, just an illuminated vast rushing past above hmmm...
Y'know I always wondered if the birds in the material realm all came from thaeir, they don't live too long and their hearts beat ever so fast, it's like they'd thrive here, like their bodies long for a faster time scale to live within..." He stares out at the lake contemplative.
"Why did you are deciding to not be vampire any more?" Griff asks as he also wades into the shallows, dipping his beak in the water and fluffing his feathers. "If Thaeir is being so good for vampire, then why stop?"
Hector pauses, takes a moment and responds simply, "I found a love worth dying for."
Mireah stands suddenly, a little awkward at the way this conversation is going and not wanting to chime in with her own stories of longevity and the effects. She instead steps away from the group slightly and picks some berries from a nearby bush.
"I think Muir was talking about going into his tree spell thing?" Sam mentions if the Muir and Elthana missing is brought up... And if brought up before he gets too deep into the cold waters. Once he is close to waist deep there is... cold shock and shrinkage and tremors going on which make normal conversation a bit difficult, at least until he can adapt and adjust a little bit. Sam does his best to properly bathe and soak the dirt away. How the local wildlife responds to the sudden upsurge of dirt and sweat and such is their problem...
"Yeah, the rest thing is... difficult to manage sometimes," Sam agrees with Hector a bit later. "Throws everything off but we've managed so far... More or less." And thinking of the less, Sam looks to Hootie and directs the little owl to fly around and search for Elthana and Muir. Those two are allowed to wander off and do their own things but it'd be handy to at least know where they are if needed.
"So, you're willing to die for your love... But they're not willing to undie for you?" Sam asks. He doesn't mean it as a way to cause a problems, though if he thought about his words he'd probably see how it could. Rather he's just meaning to open the door to Hector explaining the downsides of his vampirism...
"it is a curse, a curse that some see as a gift yes, Sergor and Nivara certainly did, I think my mother tolerates it, but one can't make shortsighted decisions when choosing a curse which grants immortality... It's one of the reasons that I walked away when I had the chance, the obvious up sides are that longevity gave me time, tune to learn time to help those I could, but people just aren't supposed to live so long, it wares on the soul. I don't know, I sought out Mireah here because I had found Serafina and I didn't want her to become another person that I inevitably outlived... I think my outlook even gave mireah something to think about..." Hector muses as he picks bits of loose grass from the crystal sand and flicks them around.
"I always thought of vampires as soulless and therefore incapable of feeling love. If vampires are capable of love, why then are vampires all thought of as evil? Why are there no good vampires, doing good deeds and helping people?", Vin asks curiously.
Hector frowns, and responds slowly, picking his words carefully "There's a hunger that comes with it, a need to feed and kill, there's a savagery which does ravage the soul, that and the loss, like mireah said last night, outliving those around you time and time again. It's depressing... Do you ever notice that the older you get, the more the years seem to fly by, days become blurs, monotony takes your life, and then apply that out to decades and centuries, everything becomes dull, even the exciting things, friendships are brief and I think the reason vampires become so callous is that everything around you becomes so small, humanoids will always be around and once you've outlined generations and watched them putter around and just keep on dying it's like watching insects... No offence it's just difficult to describe the strain it puts on basic morals... then someone comes along and it's a spark, and I don't know, I just felt like it was worth throwing away the next eon of bitter monotony, because she's exactly what I need, she saw that side of me and dragged me back... She saved my life, and helped me bring it to an actual end. Though of course I don't think she fully understands the extent of what she has done for me..."
Sam rubs a couple of fingers together to play the world's tiniest violin... Or he at least imagines himself doing so. To him it just sounds like another case of someone who has more advantages and possibilities than most complaining that they don't have life even easier than they do. Sam imagines that if such a thing is television is ever invented that Hector will complain he can't decide what to watch because he just has too many damn channels to choose from. He has too many days, years, lifetimes so they all seem mundane and boring? The dude should learn to appreciate what he has, learn to do for others... Learn a freaky hobby, or twelve.
"Yes, yes. Very sad," Sam says instead, struggling not to roll his eyes. "It's a wonder how you ever endured at all... How awesome life must be for a for a mayfly."
"well I'm happier now, with the prospect of dying..." Hector says earnestly, not really picking up on Sam's sarcasm.
After a while the group realises that it's likely time to head back and see what Delores has prepared, though there's still no sign of Muir or Elthana.
Vin also looks a little dubious.
"Yeah, I'm with Sam on this one", he says picking up on the sarcasm of his comment. "And I feel you glossed over the whole 'savagery and feeding on folk part'. But there you go. I guess that might explain what Nivara is doing though. She doesn't think about time like we do, she doesn't feel any urgency to get on with her plan. In fact, the sooner she does implement her end game, the sooner she will get bored again. And as we are just insects to her, she is merely playing with us".
"I think there has to be something more to it than just time. Because I know exactly the feeling you are describing, Hector. To a near unbearable degree. But I'm hardly 35. I mean... uh, 23. I've not lived half my life yet if I'm lucky. And yet I know people far older than me with an energy and zeal for life like nothing I've known until recently."
"it's very much about finding the excitement in your current situations, opportunities and achievements, but that longing, that listlessness... On a long enough timescale it comes for everyone, you've had the severely unfortunate disposition to have found it early Gewyn, and I'm afraid it can be quite maddening..." As the group gets halfway back to the hut hector stops and looks toward Sam, "where is Elthana by the way, it's been what? An hour and a half by now? Should we be worried?".
"I'll send the pixies out looking" Mireah offers up, "my warding spells keep most predators away, but every so often one slips though..."
"I wouldn't worry too much," Sam says calmly. "Muir has this way of entering trees and having a little private space in there. Sometimes he uses it to rest safely, others for privacy... I am sure he and Elthana are in there just..."
Just what, Sam suddenly wonders. What could those two be up to??
"Well... yeah... anyway..." Sam then coughs uncomfortably and wanders a few steps off.
"Yeah, I expect the only danger Elthana is in is getting caught in an interrogation by Muir", Vin says trying to lighten the mood, but still looking uncertain. "Although it has been a long time. I guess that means whatever they are doing is working".
"I will take a look from the sky. Bryze, time to fly", he adds, and Bryze shoots upwards from his back and swoops down in a spiral, ending next to Vin who jumps on. They then ascend into the sky.
Neferox harrumphs but leaps upwards, her paws trailing flames as she follows.
After finding nothing but a scent trail leading to a tree, neferox and vin return, the group find warm food waiting for them along with another fresh coffee.
Mireah tales a comfortable seat and tucks in, in between bites she looks around the group, "well I've heard some things about Gewyn and I know all about Hector, what about the rest of you? Tell me about yourselves, I'd like to know the kinds of friends my grandson has been making" she grins at the term, odd coming from a girl who looks like a teenager, but the sheer joy of saying grandson seems to make her giddy with appreciation.
"Well I was being hatched on Akiin and growing up in a strict family, my father was a lieutenant in akiins guard and I am being following in his flight path, made it to general, I am thinking he would be proud, I am knowing that my wife and four hatchlings of my own are proud, but I am not being as strict as my father, I think letting them have fun childhoods is being more important than training, not that they aren't being good at things, I like to be letting them explore their own talents instead of being pressuring them to being good at specific things..." Griff pipes up, ahead of the group, just happy to be talking about something he understands for a change.
"I don't exactly know that I'd call us..." Sam starts to say but then trails off both because he realizes it may be impolite but also because Griff pipes up. This happy occurrence gives him a moment to rethink his response.
"I'm not exactly sure where I was hatched," Sam admits. "I was very young. Don't remember it, really..." He'd never heard it called being 'hatched' before but when in Rome, he figures. "I mean it was back in the real Realm, that much I know. Err... Not to say this Realm isn't... it's just that... I'm still new to all this, yes? Not really sure the proper wording and all..."
"Anyway, born, grew up, life happened... The Council just kind of threw us all together to solve a problem. Not sure how much thought they put into it besides their own self interests but we managed to kill... Well we solved the problem and went home and soon enough there was another problem. Round-about it brought us here... Muir?" Sam asks to try to pass off the answering to the Loxodon but then quickly recalls that they're missing and that is why he got stuck talking to begin with. Sam lets out a small growl of annoyance then catches Vin's eye. "Vin? You're up!"
"Oh, right", Vin says when Sam hands over to him. "My story is pretty standard stuff. The usual orphan and his dog taken in by an academy and chosen by the council to become part of an elite team of problem solvers", he says giving the heavily abridged version, motioning to Neferox when mentioning the dog.
"I guess the most important part is that no matter where we all came from, what are past was or what brought us together, we have each others backs. We have been through a lot since we were thrown together, but I wouldn't have done with anyone else", he says trying to draw focus away from the exact details of his past.
"I really think Muir and Elthana should be back by now. Do you think they entered that tree where the scent ended?".
"having each others backs is the most important, and I'm very glad to hear that, I am curious about your companion there though vin, she's... a special dog.
Huh, entering a tree sounds very Fae, can they do that? I didn't sense a hint of Fae on either of them." Mireah says a little confused.
"They should definitely be back by now, it's been over two hours since they left... What is the nature of their access to trees? Perhaps if it is something of the material plane then their time perspective has shifted?" Hector wonders, becoming increasingly frustrated and worried.
Murray looks up as if listening out for something and then a zip of wind follows something small as it invisibly flies out of the door, "the pixies have found neither hide nor hair of them... "
"It's magic,' Sam says expecting that to explain everything. "Druid magic, I assume..."
"They're either doing something important that is taking the time it takes, or maybe since it is magic from our home that you're right and time runs like it does in our world..." Sam shrugs, really not worried about it. Really.