Open [The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Kavala decides to take a night off and look for some new company.

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Postby Kavala on November 9th, 2014, 3:46 am

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Kavala carefully listened to Shane’s words. He indeed had something interesting to say. It was rare to run across someone who was self taught in any magical discipline and rarer still to find someone who stumbled into it on their own. The Konti could see how it could happen however. The fasting had most likely lead to a quasi meditative state that then lead to an altered vision of life and their own existence within the world. Shane must be gifted with the ability to see with auristics if it came so easily to him. More than likely he was a powerful mage in a past life and his spirit remembered even if it was a new practice to his current form. Life happened like that. Everything was circular and the same talents came around and around and around because in a way the practice of them life after life molded a dependence on them by someone’s soul core.

At least that’s what Kavala believed.

She said as much to Shane as well. “It’s always amusing what our souls long for. I believe our inner essence manipulates our actions and interests more than we actually realize. It’s a rare thing that you discovered a magical discipline without being taught by another or by not having read about it somewhere or having been told by someone. I think our minds remember lives past and we manipulate our existence to get what we are used to having time after time. Perhaps in times past you were a skilled aorist as well and your body and spirit are so used to functioning on that level that your soul demanded you pick Auruistics back up and when you had that situation happen, your quiet spirit took matters into its own hands.” Kavala said thoughtfully, knowing it might make her sound a little off center but it was her firm belief.

“I was born a Konti on the Sea of Grass. We were supposed to be gentle seers and healers. But the moment I could hold a dagger to slice my own meat as a child it felt natural to me. Being with weapons is like being with lungs. I can’t breath as well without them. I know why that is. In the past it was how I was raised and what I did for a living. It’s what my body remembers. When I move, I naturally lead with my forward stance, chamber my body, and support my structure so I can move. People say that people who can do things from birth are ‘naturals’ but that’s not the case. They just spent lifetime after lifetimes learning a skill or technique so much so that its part of them from one incarnation to another.”
Kavala said, longing suddenly to take a drink of her whiskey. Alcohol and indeed the dancing had been just what the healer ordered.

“Tailor the game to the partner and I suspect they will come easier.” Kavala said with a chuckle and ran her finger around the rim of her shot glass. She brought it to her lips and licked the whiskey taste off of it. A smile curled her lips and she enjoyed how relaxed she felt just getting away from the day to day grind that had become her life. She loved that life… no doubt about it, but it was still necessary to get away from it from time to time. And Shane was turning out to be excellent company.

She took the time to study his features and decided he was young. Normally she didn’t do well with humans. Someone had once made the offhand comment to her that the most dangerous creature out there was a young human male with too much time on their hands and too much anger in their hearts. That was one of the reasons Kavala loved living in Riverfall. The Akalaks all trained, almost to a whole, from the time they were walking to the time they aged past being able to rise from a chair. They channeled their emotions into their physical fitness, their restraint and even their scholarship. Standing in one’s shadow was like standing in a little grotto of inner control. She liked that. But Shane, no… he represented the most dangerous branch of his peers. And yet he didn’t act like the typical young human did. He’d not once leered at her and she certainly wasn’t convinced he’d already imagined her naked in his bed.

She chuckled a bit at her own thought but didn’t share with Shane. Sometimes though, when she was close to a group of humans, she remembered the past and grew tense. When she was just a girl, they had done something unforgivable. Then later, when she’d fancied herself in love with one… a Drykas… he’d told her that he was sorry but she just wasn’t human enough for him. Kavala gripped the rim of the shot glass again, her hands unused to being idle. She wouldn’t judge Shane for his race, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be wary of him. Cautious and stupid were too different things and Kavala liked to think she was cautious.

Kavala really listened to his answer, about how things were interconnected and nodded understandingly. She lowered her voice considerably, thinking perhaps she shouldn’t talk as much because the healer knew the brandy she’d already drank had loosened it. “I think you may be onto something. I learned how to shapeshift with djed and I found it tremendously difficult at first until I came to the understanding that we are all somewhat the same thing, flesh, bone, blood, djed… and in that alikeness I found an interconnection much like the one you are talking about. It made the magic easier and the power flow. From then, arms became wings, feet became hooves, horns sprouted, and even female became male with something more of an ease. Having a model does seem to help, but in the end when you really detach yourself from thinking of us and them and just start understanding the we aspects then it all flowed for me.” The woman finished, not sure he’d understand what she was saying. He might even chalk it up to the alcohol giving her delusions. But she didn’t care.

The Konti walked in power. She cloaked herself in personal power, the kind that was made up of knowledge, confidence, and bright intelligence. Every move she made bespoke it. The choice of their seating, the assessing glances around the room, even noting who came and went as they did so from the bar. It wasn’t easily recognizable until you noted that she moved like a dancer, observed like a scientist, but had the heart of an killer. The last part she was glad wasn’t visible. It all equated to her treating her body like a temple and a tool that had to be sharpened and oiled continuously or it would not function properly. And the mind was the same way. Talking with Shane was like holding a whetstone to it, bringing her focus in towards him and making her think.

And so, when he opened his mouth to ask his question, she deflated slightly. He violated the most sacred rule of ‘the game’ and had basically asked her the same question she’d asked him. It was a disappointment to say the least. Truthfully Kavala felt in the mood to talk about herself a bit, but she also wanted to know what she wanted to know about him meaning have a choice what information he gave her about himself. It scratched her itch to control the situation a bit, even though every other turn that power was reversed. She’d always have the choice to drink rather than answer, right? The Konti stared at the human a bit wide eyed and then shook her head. She made up a new rule right then and there on the spot. “If you ask the same question back, which is a noted violation of the rules of the game, you must buy the victim of your flagrant disregard for the rules dinner. There are some nice places still open tonight. If we finish with the game early enough, I’ll cash in my prize.” The Konti said, laughing slightly. Then she barreled ahead and changed directions, liking to surprise the recipient of her questions with ones that were unrelated to the previous question. It was, after all, best to keep them guessing.

“Name one of your fears. Everyone has them. Some are little things, but some are really huge. I don’t care if you pick a big thing or a little thing, but I’d like to know one thing you are afraid of.” Kavala said, reaching out to play with the bottle of whiskey between them. She dragged it over to her side, uncorked it, and sniffed deeply while she smiled at Shane, her eyes never leaving his face. Her own pupils were wide, bright, as if they were overflowing with mischief and a bit of wonder. Of course, they might just read a tad drunk as well if he looked close enough.

She smiled as she waited for his answer, glad she got two questions out of him and perhaps a meal, while he had gotten none.
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Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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Kavala
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[The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Postby Shane Wallsly on November 10th, 2014, 12:20 am

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She seemed almost impressed or, at the very leat, in awe of the evry nature of souls. He'd heard these ideas before. Souls and essences and all kinds of things that powered a being deeper than the logics of body and brain. Shane was inclined to believe in these things himself. It was against the nature of the kinds of magics that he practiced to refute the idea of the soul. It was also a very hard thing to scoff at when one had met a ghost. They were, pretty much, just souls. Gods too were irrevocably, and obviously, real. After all they had caused a major event that had changed the very face of the world centuries ago. So Shane could entertain the idea of a reincarnation cycle. Shane counted on the fact so he didn't think that she was mad at all.

However, Shane hadn't learned Auristics from his soul. He'd learnt it from a book. A book that the very nature of this game forbidded totally for him to play and yet he felt almost no compulsion to quit the game. In fact he was quite interested to see what he could find out about this woman. This fierce woman who came from a Sea of Grass and lived and fought and breathed like a warrior. It made sense to Shane when he thought about the calloused hands and passionate speech but he couldn't say he'd noticed it much in her gait. Then again the evening so far hadn't left much time for reflection.

I have wondered, now and again, about my past lives.” Shane revealed to Kavala since they were on the subject. “I wonder about the lives I lived, the places that I saw, the people that I met... It's strange to consider the possibilities. Those people that I was. How alike are we, I wonder?” Shane was just thinking aloud now so he brought himself back ot Mizahar and smiled. “I don't like to think about it for too long. It's just idle wondering really... But if I knew a way of finding these things out though, I'd definitely look into it.” He added that last sentence with a hint of hope that perhaps one day he would find some answers to some of the bigger questions. The questions that he had no right to handle as he currently was.

He smiled a moment as she fingered her drink and then she chuckled. He waited for her to let him in on the joke. She decided not to however and Shane was forced to regard her for a moment. Her white hair fell down past her shoulder and her eyes were a bright blue. He felt like she was regarding him also. He'd certainly regarded enough people to know when he himself was being regarded. It was more than looking. He had always wondered why non-Aurist's even bothered to do it. Could a lot be told of a person from their face. When he looked at hers he saw mere traces of the things that he actually knew of her. It wasn't obvious from her face that she knew something about magic or that she could hardly breathe when not with a weapon. Her eyes were those of a watchers, her brow, though now unfurled in general relaxedness, seemed like it didn't get to rest like this often but the rest of her face held her secrets away from him.

Then she lowered her voice and spoke of something that piqued his interest quite considerably. He'd already guessed from her hints of knowledge about magic and Reimancey that she dabbled in the magical arts herself but she now revealed a form of magic Shane had never come acrosss before. A shape shifting magic? The very word shapeshift was almost alien to him but he recognised it from tales. It was usually Gods however that dabbled in the shapeshifting. He hadn't known that this was a power that mortals could use.

Auristics allows me to see how things are but this magic you speak off... It seems to allow you to change how things are.” Shane replied leaning closer and keeping his voice down. “And it all seems to be about knowing that the differences in things are not often as large as we let on. Man and woman, cat and dog, bird and fish. We're all flesh but it's more than that. I cannot say with certainty most things. I don't know a lot but I know what I can see. I see that Djed flows through everything. This bottle of whiskey, this wooden table, me, you... I'm not surprised that there is a discipline out there that allows us to break down those differences between one thing and another. If there's one thing it does with certainty, magic is always seeking to remind us that we are all cut from the same cloth.

When he asked her his question it seemed to offend her. He wondered if he'd went too far. He'd basically only asked her the same question she asked him. That was when he realised that this was, of course, against the rules and before he could rescind the question she had made up her own rule. “Fair enough.” He responded amusedly. “The dinner is yours whenever you want it.

Then she asked her second question right away. Shane had thought he might get a chance to ask a different question but it seemed his turn was skipped also when he broke the rules. He let it go just as quickly as the protest sprung to mind however. He wasn't terribly interested in that kind of petty behaviour. It didn't seem to have any place in the fun time he was having.

Her question, however, was as devestating as the first one. Kavala certainly knew how to come up with a good question. “You certainly know how to ask the questions.” He admitted to her aloud. “What am I afraid of?” He asked more to himself than to Kavala. He was afraid of a lot of things but none of these things really kept him awake at night. He always seemed to manage to quell his fears in order to take the neccesary risks. A fear, to his understanding, was something that would hold him back. A mental weakness that would prevent him from achieving his goals. “I guess I'm afraid of failing most of all. I hardly have a mission or a task. In fact my life seems quite aimless sometimes but failing... falling... I started at the bottom and I've not really climbed very far but to lose it all. To fall. I guess that's what I'm afraid of most.

Now, it's time for your question.” He started without a moment's pause. “Hmmm... what made you become a healer of animals?” He had tapped his chin two or three times in thought before he had come up with that one. His mother had once told him that there was more to be said from why a person did a job than what it was they actually did. Shane saw wisdom in her words. Everyone had motivations, everyone had their reasons to do what they did with their lives whether it was simply out of a need for coin and self-preservation or a great passion or zeal. In other words something of Kavala's nature was bound to come out of her answer.
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[The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Postby Kavala on November 10th, 2014, 1:18 am

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She thought, not for the first time, that Shane’s company was better than most. Glad, for one, that she’d come to town today looking for something different, Kavala would have missed meeting the young Aurist save for that strange sole inclination. The Konti decided she’d introduce him to Caelum straight away as well. The Drykas turned Eth would find the young man fascinating also, or so the Healer suspected. He had a keen intellect and wasn’t rash in his confidence, though truth be told she admired the fact that he was direct and not shy. She also liked the fact that he looked his fill and wasn’t seemingly creepy in doing so. He was, in fact, somewhat familiar. And Kavala wondered, suddenly, if they had known each other before. It happened all the time. And it was a story she’d heard time and time again. Something drew them to Riverfall. Something felt right about here. Aoren had said something similar when she’d first met him, and now this man as well.

Then he spoke of past lives, and the fact that he would be interested in knowing. “You are the sum of your whole. Every life you have lived adds to this one and makes you who you are today. But I already said as much, haven’t I? It’s something I say too much at times. And if you don’t like to think about it for too long, it’s probably because there’s sorrow in the past, and more than likely pain as well. In fact, it’s a sure bet.” Kavala said firmly, knowing what she was talking about. He went on, saying he’d look into it if he ever found a way to do so.

“There are many ways. Some are like glimpses.” Kavala said, shifting her hand around and showing him the back of it where her Lakata mark was. “Eyris, the goddess of wisdom and knowledge, grants her followers glimpses of it via touch. It doesn’t work on the living, but on the material things of the world.” She said softly. Picking up the bottle of whiskey, Kavala fingered it with that hand, her eyes growing distant as if looking somewhere else. “At one mark it is unreliable. But I can see the man’s face who blew this bottle and know it was not so very long ago and north of here, Kenash.” Kavala said, tilting her head then shaking it. “If I would have lingered longer, I might have gotten his name.” She said, shaking her hand as if she didn’t like the sensation or the man somehow disturbed her. “He was not a bad person, but his lungs were ruined from the work. Sometimes the cost of something is not the real price paid.” The Konti said, then leaned closer. She reached out and touched Shane’s arm, as if the Lakata mark would work on him too, though she had just confessed it did not.

“Every living thing has a lifeline, a written magical history of all their stored memories and knowledge. It stretches back into time. They are called Chavi and everything that everyone has ever known is stored upon them. They become visible in the Chavena, the realm of spirit which insulates the mortal realm from the realm of the Gods… the Ukalas. Nysel, the God of Dreams, gives his followers access to the Chavena. They walk the chavi, viewing memories after memories. They can retrieve lost knowledge that way or even alter the memories of someone living by rewriting what is written and stored on their chavi. A Dreamwalker could guide you through your past lives, Shane. To them, it is no large thing, but only a small step sideways into a realm that is more comforting to them than even the living one.”
Kavala said with a strangely distant look in her eyes again. There was a hint of longing there, like she knew the pull of the Chavena and how different it was from the mortal realm. “They are hard to find though, sometimes even reclusive. In old times they were sometimes mercenaries because they could end wars with just a token. If they had a hair from a kings head or a single drop of his blood, they could find his Chavi among all the other Chavi that have ever been and change things forever. No one realizes their power anymore. I don’t think people even realize they still exist.” The Konti said, uncharacteristically open about the Dreamwalkers and what they could do. She would never say such things in good times, let alone times like this where the city was full of strangers some more friendly than others.

Kavala released her grip on Shane and leaned back. She rubbed at her neck, tilting her head slightly, and then trailed her hand down her form back to the hand rest on her chair. She shifted in her seat, re-crossing her booted leather clad legs under the table and waited for him to say more.

“Morphing.” She said, answering his question. “It was common in times past. In the empires of Suva and Alahea they taught it to children along with glyphing lessons. There was no better way to stroke a child’s imagination and creativity than giving them the ability to transform into what they feared. It was said that was one of the reasons Alahean Sorcerers were so bold. There was very little they didn’t understand.” Kavala commented, again more of her opinion, and less any fact written in any book. Of course, she’d walked the chavi of a magecrafter from Suva who had turned into the Wardog of Alahea. She knew for a fact what she said was true.

Shane spoke the wisest thing she’d ever heard a human say and she smiled. “Your powers of observation are keen. You may claim to not know a lot, but what you see speaks volumes, especially since you have the mind to understand what you see and link it to what you do know.” The Konti said, handing him a compliment of sorts though she hadn’t meant it to come out that way.

A bright smile broke out on her face at his agreeing to buy her dinner. For some reason, his ready offer pleased her beyond measure. Sure, she’d had to amend the rules and make it one last minute, but it was a good one. The Konti tended to be a woman after her own stomach at times. Even her worst days could be softened with a good meal and better company. “Tonight. If we finish the game soon enough, of course.” She said firmly, laughing a little like a child who just got a prize she hadn’t expected or really earned.

Kavala liked the fact her question seemed to shake him and make him think. And when he answered so readily, she took the answer for the truth. It was not that odd of a fear, but with the passion he spoke saying how afraid he was of failing. She contemplated his words a moment, undecided of his meaning until he really made it more clear through his extended explanation.

She started to open her mouth to ask him if he’d ever failed at anything before as of yet, but then realized she’d be in violation of her own rules as well. So instead, she’ reworded the comment. “I was going ot ask you if you’d ever failed, but then I’d owe you dinner for a rules violation and that would cancel out your debt of my own meal.” She said with a laugh. But then she continued. “It’s a very valid fear, of course, and I wonder if there was something you failed to achieve or do in one of your past lives that still haunts you. I teach a lot of people to ride horses as a bit of a side project, and most of the time they are afraid to fall off a horse so it makes their riding really rocky, timid, and stiff. So the very first lesson I teach them is how to fall off a horse safely. I make them fall off over and over again until its second nature and they can land on their feet. There is a technique called an emergency dismount. It’s an important one in learning to ride. Once they get past that fear, then they are so well grounded that most of them become brilliant riders. And once they stop being stiff, fearful, and timid, their horses have a good time too. I’m sitting here thinking of how to apply that to you… and coming up short. You can’t teach falling for everything in life… failing happens. But somehow I don’t think you let it stop you from doing what you want. You came here, didn’t you? You might be afraid of failing, but you certainly aren’t afraid of trying.” Kavala said, praise again in her words.

The Konti was getting thirsty, but his next question wasn’t one she’d deny answering just for an excuse to sip her drink. Instead she thought for a long time and then gave him the answer she knew she was going to give him the first time she spoke. The truth. The story wasn’t a pretty one but then again, it wasn’t all bad either. “I grew up on The Sea of Grass. My father was an Ankal and my mother was his third wife. On the Sea of Grass, mortality is high so the surviving males often take two or three wives beyond their first. As the daughter of an Ankal, I should have had my choice of men and had been set up to be a first wife. But since I’m konti I can give the Drykas male no human heir. My only offspring would be Konti. So I had no real value in the clans other than a pretty piece of ass. I had no hope of a good marriage. So my father sent me to Mura to get training as a healer. Originally it was to be a healer of people, but things changed in my two years on Mura and my direction gravitated towards animals. The idea was when I returned at 30, still a girl by Konti standards, he could flaunt my healing around and eventually when I was older get me a decent marriage as a second or third wife to a man that lacked a healer in his pavilion. So the answer was ‘bride price’ really. My father would get paid far more horses out of a marriage to me and he’d get to skip giving horses to get someone to take me off his hands.” Kavala said, humor in her eyes though it so obviously mixed with pain.

She shook her head and then laughed, trying to lighten the mood. What could she ask him to get him to take a drink or perhaps ask something in the return that she wouldn’t answer in order to drink? The Konti was getting thirsty.

“Have you yet pictured me naked in your bed?” She asked, fairly certain she knew the answer but hoping he’d color and drink, loosening his lips all the more for later deeper questions and perhaps giving her an excuse to drink her own poison. She’d double down on the serious questions a bit later. But for now, she almost wanted to see him look a little shocked. There was a boldness to her question, one that denoted she wanted a serious answer or a serious retreat. She wanted to know, too, how frankly he would speak on embarrassing or revealing topics. It would help her select questions later in the game, questions that would tell her volumes about his character.

Because truthfully, Kavala was starting to want him. All sex aside, her desire for him was for something deeper. Even in her alcohol softened state, she recognized intelligence, mental strength, and a man with a good set of opinions. She wanted him, indeed, but not for sex exactly. There were better things out there, things like The Cytali.

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The Sanctuary The Sanctuary Forum Riverfall The Cytali
Reverie Isle Wolf Creek Training Course
Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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Kavala
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[The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Postby Shane Wallsly on November 11th, 2014, 6:14 pm

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It was hard for Shane to think that these other souls had already shaped him. He'd always believed that it was your life that shaped you. It was hard to iagine that things he couldn't even remember had some influence on him. However Shane was sure there was sadness in his past lives. He'd never heard of a single person who hadn't had their fair share of calamity. He'd read that this was true of lives before and after the Valterrian so even if his soul stretched all the way back there it was still likely something terrible had happened to them. Shane would be more surprised if all of his past lives had been extremely carefree and happy.

Then she showed him something that made an eyebrow arch in curiosity and perhaps recognition. It was not the exact same, Shane didn't know if they could be, but the colouring had that same otherworldly colour to it. Then she poke and affirmed that, like Dominac Avira, she too bore the Gnosis of Lykata. A gift from the Goddess, Eyris. She'd shown him her Healing ability already and now another blessing. Kavala was certainly a lot more than a pretty girl in a tavern.

He already knew of what she spoke but Shane would never pass down a free demonstration. It was remarkable really. She could see the face of the man who had made the container for this whiskey. She could identify him on the street. Congratulate him on the utility of his bottles or sympathise with him about his lungs and she had never before met him. He might be inclined to think that perhaps he'd simply forgotten her but he would be wrong. She'd never known him. The only thing she'd hoped to get acquainted with was the whiskey inside.

Shane opened his mouth to reply but she leant forward and put her hand on his arm. It almost seemed as if she were about to use the blessing on him but just then she had told him it was impossible. Before he even considered if she was looking into his clothes she spoke of something that put all thoughts of Eyis' blessing out of his mind. Shane's mind was suddenly clear. It was ready to absorb all of this information and process it. He had never heard of Chavi before or the Chavena. A spiritual layer like a buffer between Mizahar and the Ukalas. In this realm was all of the memories and knowledge of everyone who had ever lived and people could go into it? He didn't know what to say to this information. He wanted to ask, in the most inane way possible, if it were really true but he knew she wouldn't be telling him any of this unless she had some proof.

Then she told him about the Dreamwalkers. To him they sounded almost like all-knowing librarians but they were more than that. With another incredible revelation she revealed that not only could they see all of this information but they could change it. It seemed like an awful lot of power for a God to hand down to the likes of people. Gods, for the most part, weren't entirely infallible but people were prone to mistakes like ducks were prone to swim. It was almost second nature and he was yet to meet a race or person

These Dreamwalkers sound like powerful people.” Shane started and he almost sounded concerned about how pwerful they were “I can see why they might be so few. I've only ever heard of Nysel in his traditional role and I don't know much about what he believes and does but I am sure he picks his followers carefully. It sounds amazing though, doesn't it? It's almost like a library. Wow, it's got to be the biggest library around, that's for sure...” Shane stopped suddenly. He knew he was about to overstep his bounds. She knew too much, she spoke with such passion. It was hard to conclude that she had never experienced the Chavena before whether with a Dreamwalker guiding her or without as a Dreamwalker herself. “Thank you for telling me about this. I will hope to meet a Dreamwalker one day and that they might allow me to walk with them. It sounds like a fantastic experience” He decided instead to thank her rather than ask her about it. He would consider asking it to her later and, by virtue of the game, giving her a chance to decline if she truly didn't want to mention it.

She went on to name that discipline she had spoken of. It was known as Morphing and Shane made sure to remember that name. The idea interested him for the same reason it interested the long dead Aleheans. To understand what it was truly to be another thing would be a great source of magic. It was like that old saying. To walk in another's shoes except it was more like to walk in another's skin. To walk and talk and feel the things they do. Knowledge and understanding was a great power to hold. It was the reason he valued his Auristic sense so greatly. It had sharpened his mind. It had given him the tools to see and to understand that which he saw.

It's just like that old saying, “Knowledge is Power”, and if the stories are true the Mages of those times were indeed very powerful.” He agreed with her even citing one of his own personal maxims. It wasn't a clear violation of the code. The phrase was popularly known.

She mentioned Glyphing too and Shane had a pang of guilt for having studied the Glyphed scroll Aoren had given him only lightly. Kavala, he realised then, knew a great deal about magic. She had also admitted that she lived and breathed as a warrior. She was like a gift that one unwrapped only to find a clue to where another gift was hidden and then that gift too just pointed toward the next gift with a clue. There were so many layers to this woman Shane had never considered but that had been because he had agreed not to consider and although his mind seemed to fight him on this every time he pushed his ideas aside once more.

Sometimes I think too much.” He admitted in response to his criticism. “It's not something to complain about though. I couldn't have made my living as an Aurist without it. The greatest Aurist in the world could look and see everything but he wouldn't know what he was looking at until he engaged his mind.

She seemed to really think about his answer to her second question. She opened her mouth as if to make some comment or ask some question but quickly closed it again. Then she continued explaining how she had been so very close to breaking the rules. “So close...” Shane said with obvious pretend sorrow at the fact that he'd missed his chance to claim back his dinner. She did decide to tell him a storey about the children that she taught how to ride horses. Shane was a little surprised that the first lesson in horseriding was all about how to fall off. Then again he'd seen first hand the grisly end of those who's dismounts had been less than graceful. It didn't happen too often in Syliras but every now and again there was some horse related death. In fairness when so many people worked so closely with horses in all manner of jobs there was bound to be a few accidents caused by it as there were accidents caused in almost all kinds of work. Hismidn was wandering. He had to snap it back to catch Kavala's final encouraging words.

Well, was I able to put my fear aside in coming to Riverfall or did I leave Syliras because of fear?” He asked aloud suddenly unable to censor this one thought from puring from his lips. “I don't know why I left. It wasn't the same. Danger was coming. I'd put up with too much for protection and they hadn't protected us at all...” Shane's brow was furrowing and he actually felt his breathing tighten a little bit. He hadn't seen this side of it before. Was he angry at the Knights? Had he expected them to prevent it all? “No, it doesn't much matter why I left. I'm here now and that's that.” He stated with finality more for his own benefit than Kavala's.

Kavala's answer to his question left him with a somewhat greater understanding of Drykas but, at the same time, it made him feel a strange sort of sad anger. Her father, this Ankal, well it sounded sort of like a leader or nobleman to him. Kavala had been born in a place that Shane had only dreamt that he could be but had her life been easy? No... She'd been born different. She'd been a part of a culture but almost useless in it to the point her father had felt the need to send her away just so that he might be able to sell her off for a greater price.

He felt the need to say something about all of it but he didn't know the words to say. He didn't know anything else of her life. He didn't know how old she was. If she had been married off. He didn't know what came after and asking would be cheating but to comment on an unfinished story was risky business to him. He didn't know how she felt about all of it. She sounded humourful but there was something else there. Her face wasn't selling what her mouth was pushing, as the saying went. There was pain there but it was a minefield.

Shane went a little red when she asked her question. Why would she bring that up? Was she trying to embarrass him? Trying to make him take a drink? Shane let the question take stock in his mind and wondered if he had. He'd thought about her mostly on the dance floor. He'd been so stuck in the moment that whatever he may or may not had pictured hadn't been pictured in a bed. To be honest the idea of this woman in his bed was almost frightening. She seemed to know what she wanted and Shane could only imagine that he'd come up drastically short in the skill and experience department. After all he was still yet to do anything of the sort and Kavala seemed like the kind of woman you worked up to.

Shane let out a soft chuckle and rested his face in one hand defeatedly. “Now, I have.” He replied honestly. “But, before now, well you were already here. Why waste picturing a possible future when the present is...” Shane paused. He wanted to say 'so alluring' but it sounded too creepy to him. “Such a gift. I've been accused, msotly by myself, of living somewhere else completely most of the time. Not tonight though. Tonight I'm all here.

Shane drummed his fingertips on the table for a moment as he considered his next question. He was almost completely sure she'd wanted him to take a drink there and now he wanted to get her back. What would he ask? He couldn't ask the same question back at her and he had the feeling she would have even answered that question anyway. He could have asked her how she came to know about the Dreamwalkers. That was almost certainly a win/win situation. Was it too early? Did he seem too keen?

Where did you get all this information about the old Empires?” Shane asked changing tack suddenly. “I think I've only met one person before who even mentioned them as much as you. A lot of people try to forget but I feel like you embrace this past. You don't see that around too often.
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[The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Postby Kavala on November 15th, 2014, 4:56 pm

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“People are only as powerful as the tools they wield and the heart they wield them with.” Kavala commented softly, shifting in her chair and studying Shane thoroughly. The way she said it almost sounded sexual and was definitely some of the alcohol talking. She was watching his reaction to what she was saying closely. There were lines at play across his face, muscles tensing and relaxing. His eyes were going from hopeful to thoughtful to pensive. He didn’t react as she expected, demanding more information or displaying impatience. Kavala was impressed by that, noting when his eyes bore a slightly calculating expression of actions preplanned. It was a look she herself wore on occasion. And it made him all the more handsome in her eyes. She offered him more bait.

“The Chavena is indeed the biggest repository of knowledge that I know of. It’s all in there, some information harder to find than others. But its there for certain, for the viewing, if one knows how to slip sideways into that world and harvest from it. Can you imagine the potential? What we could recover from what was lost before?” The white-haired woman said, shifting in her seat to stretch her legs out even further. She was relaxed and her eyes had softened to that of a doe’s despite the blue coloring. Kavala was officially drunk, whether she liked it or not, and seemingly was enjoying her slightly hindered state.

When Shane mentioned his theory on Aurisitics, she nodded in total agreement. Kavala believed what Shane said as well, her philosophy being that a mind was just as important as a body and need to be trained as well. “Many people don’t understand that you need to train a mind as well as a body. It has to be kept in shape. You have to think for yourself, plot, plan and not follow the masses like a sheep would follow a bellwether.” Kavala added, smiling slightly. She was a little fascinated that he made a living as an Aurist. She thought of the discipline as a supplemental one at most, and couldn’t imagine how he got jobs to perform. Truth be told the ingenuity impressed her a bit.

They continued talking, the game driving the conversation.

She simply listened to his musings about danger and his reasons for leaving. She knew though… knew already without hesitation. Nysel was driving one of his own back into a fold where his kind was gathering. “It matters. Everything matters. But I don’t think you have yet enough knowledge to know the why of it. For me, that‘s always that way. You’ll understand, in time.” The Konti mused aloud, offering Shane a smile.

Then things got personal and she got the distinct impression that her words weren’t really reassuring Shane that everything was fine. Sure, her childhood had been hard, but she’d always been loved. Different? Sure. But still, there was love.

The Konti tilted her head at his response and his affirmation, for that’s what it was, that he was all there. Living in the present? His eyes seemed to stroke hers and she wondered what kind of unspoken message he was sending. It was almost a flirt and one that was welcome. For after all, wasn’t that why she was here? She’d come to town to find some company, mentally, physically… it hadn’t mattered. She’d been lonely and she wanted company and truth be told Shane was a good catch in that department. She could talk and flirt with him all night. And he was definitely scratching an itch she needed scratched, both as a female and an intellect.

“I would imagine depending on where that somewhere else was, that’s not a bad thing at all. Just so long, as you didn’t miss what was passing before your eyes and your life in the now.” She whispered, tilting her head again and reaching up to run a hand through her loose hair. It fell soft and straight without a hint of curl passed her cheek.

When he asked his question, she looked thoughtful. She wanted to answer it, but she wanted to answer it in a way that kept things interesting. So she moved, rising from the chair beside Shane’s and shifting slightly until she settled in his lap. Twisting sideways she captured his hand in hers and slipped it beneath her clothing, past the scales on the small of her back down to the spiral upraised gnosis mark on her thigh. She was thankful that what she wore was loose enough for their hands to be beneath her clothing.

Part of her should have been horrified. She was acting completely out of character for her normal self. Kavala was reserved, distant, and never initiated physical contract. She’d been a Nakivak too long and had too many forced encounters to make any sort of physical move appealing. There was an empowerment here, which equated to a heady sense that she was doing something wrong and it felt good…too good. She should have stopped herself. But she didn’t want too. She wanted this attention, this fun, this slip of character for this moment.

If he didn’t shove her off, she’d proceed to answer his question.

Kavala shut her eyes and leaned back against him suddenly, so her back was supported by his chest. She tipped her head slightly, so her face nuzzled his neck. Then she lifted her head and let her warm breath spill out gently into his ear as she spoke. “Nysel’s mark is a spiral, representing the chavi each individual owns.” She said, nuzzling his neck again, before releasing his hand to roam or not of its own accord.

“It’s there. All of it. Their lives, their history, their thoughts, feelings, and what they did on a day to day basis. You just have to reach out and touch it. But you have a dark side to it also. There were dark things you’ll see, witness, as if you are doing them by your own hand. The ancients were not the nicest of people. Often they thought the ends justified the means and held very little mercy. I suspect it was because most of them lived with war, something we know very little about. Survival wasn’t an issue for them like it is for us… but war… war is something altogether different and ugly.” She said with a low voice, shuddering slightly in his arms as if she remembered something she couldn’t un-remember.

And then it was time for her own question to him. She wanted him to drink, and drink hard, but she didn’t know him well enough to push him and what would drive him to deny her an answer. Carefully, again if he would release her, she’d slide from his lap and back to her own seat. Then carefully she’d ask her question.

“What’s the single most horrific or worst thing you’ve ever done?”
Kavala asked softly, her eyes meeting him and wanting to know the direct answer, not giving him time to think. He would surly drink now right? Surely…


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The Sanctuary The Sanctuary Forum Riverfall The Cytali
Reverie Isle Wolf Creek Training Course
Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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[The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Postby Shane Wallsly on November 16th, 2014, 2:04 am

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Shane could imagine the potential. It was the first thing he had thought about upon hearing about it. There was certainly no doubt in his mind that there were secrets hidden in the Chavena that would change things for everyone if they were found. For better or for worse. He considered this information with a pinch of new self and old. The code demanded that he gan access to such a place by any means neccesary yet te code also demanded he think nothing of Gods until he had proven himself to be a worthy pawn in their games. Even then, would this Nysel even want him? Even he felt like he would abuse this power. Such thoughts were not for the now. Such thoughts were for different days and less entertaining nights. He nodded keenly, thoughtfully at her questions but didn't answer.

I believe my father was quite keen on the saying 'sharpen all your tools for you never know which one you might need'.” Shane offered as a final thought on the subject. It was the simple sort of catch-all phrase that his father had favoured. Of course such generalisms were true but it applied none the less. That wasn't to say he'd followed it however. His body was certainly not as well trained as his mind. Of course only in the last year had he been well fed enough to even consider training his body. Before that he'd simply been trying to keep it going.

Shane couldn't help but feel a little suspicious about what she said after he had revealed his wonderings about why he had left Riverfall. There was a certain air that she gave off he found a touch odd. He couldn't entirely place it however and, as had been his custom all night, he was reluctant to take a look at Kavala's aura. She seemed to know more than she was saying about it. “Perhaps.” He replied slowly and musingly. “Perhaps there is.

He had to lean in a little to hear her next response. Passing in front your eyes? Was she hinting at something, he wondered as she drew her hand through her hair. There'd been something a little different about her in the last couple of minutes. She seemed more relaxed but something more than that. He watched her closely wondering what she she would do next and how she would answer his question.

How she did answer him was certainly not what he was expecting. She stood but made no move to leave. Instead, with boldness he would think himself unable to muster, she walked around the table and sat herself down in his lap. Shane's first, rather unbidden, thought was that she was a bit heavier than he might have assumed of someone her size. Of course the next thought took a while to muster. His brain was no longer engaging fully. He was quite unable to muster anything. All he could think about was the heat of their two bodies so close together and the odd, intoxicating headiness of being so close to another. Before he could muster anything she had taken his hand. He offered no resistance to it. She took it beneath her clothing. She took it closer to a woman than his hands had ever had leave to go. He felt smooth skin, the scales of her less than human nature and finally something else on her thigh like a scar or a tattoo. The touch of her skin was enthralling to him. He couldn't help but trace the pattern lightly with one finger.

Kavala suddenly leaned backward bringing him out of his momentary reverie. He realised, due to her now leaning againt his chest, that his chest was falling in a heavier manner than he had realised. Her face nuzzled at her neck like a lover might and, for a moment, holding her, supporting her in his arms made Shane feel strangely powerful. It was, perhaps, the first time Shane had felt anything close to manliness. She lifted her head and Shane felt a strange jolt of pleasure as her hot breath fell upon his ear. “Spiral?” Shane asked dumbly for a moment. Something was clicking in his brain but he wasn't getting the information. Something had spiralled recently. Spiral, yes, familiar. He was meant to... That was about when he connected the shape he had been tracing with his finger on her thigh with the name of it's shape. Shane let out a brief 'o' which was about all his limited brain power could quite muster at the moment.

Kavala didn't stop at that either. She continued. She bared it all for him to know. She was a Dreamwalker. She had walked the Chavena. She had seen the lives of others from the old times and the more recent. What she spoke of was not magnificent wonders but of the people; of the dark that she had seen. Of course she had seen darkness. Even before the Valterrian people had been, above all else, selfish creatures. It could be said they were even worse and it was said lack of moral fiber that had caused the whole thing, that had ruined the world for five centuries. She shuddered and he instinctively gripped tighter.

I've seen a little something of the dark side of people.” Shane answered seriously hid mind drifting back to that day. The day the gates of Syliras had exploded. The fires, the blood, the screaming; for a moment he was almost there. For a moment he almost wanted to ask what was missing. His finger was still tracing that spiral. The touch of flesh almost kept him anchored. “With greater power I can only imagine... Senseless...” He added that last word in a whisper. It was more to himself than Kavala but she was close enough to hear.

Suddenly she was not close enough. She felt on a momentary resistance before slipping out of his grasp and sliding back into her own chair. Shane resurfaced from some other place he'd been barely aware he'd been. His senses flooded back to him in storm. His heart was beeting, his stomach was fluttering, his nether regions throbbed. He felt as if he'd been in a particularly deep stupour. Only just recovering from said stupour she decided to ask her question. She held his gaze firmly and he couldn't calculaste what to do next. “I didn't save him.” Shane blurted out. “I should've stopped him. I just let him...” Shane didn't know why he was asaying it. He didn't know what he was thinking revealing these things he hadn't even revealed to himself. “He was mine. I should've protected him. I should've went in after him but there was a baby... I mean I can't... It was on fire and...” Shane was getting increasingly more agitated and finishing less and less sentences either because he couldn't or because the evnts of those days, though pieced together long ago, were still covered in a layer of shock. A heand weaily rubbed at his face. “I couldn't save someone.” He stated simply in a level voice looking back up at Kavala. “That's it. I've never murdered anyone or even, as far as I know, hurt them. The only person I've ever hurt is myself but I failed him. That's what it is.That's why I'm here in Riverfall.

Shane steepled his fingers together mischieviously now that he had recovered from the last couple of minutes. What would he ask this time? He considered briefly asking how many Gods had blessed her. By his last count, three. This was even better than Aoren who'd had two. Shane had thought that was impressive at the time. Kavala was certainly full of surprises but the Gods were such a tame question. She seemed likely to answer him honestly. “Have you ever married?” He let the question form out of his mouth as his mind thought it. It was a good enough question and just personal enough that she might decide not to answer it.
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[The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Postby Kavala on November 23rd, 2014, 3:24 am

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Kavala had to admit she was having fun. This normally wasn’t the type of activity that made her think ‘fun’. Learning new magic, chasing the evil from the sky in the form of slaughtering Zith, or holding a newborn foal in her arms that was the direct result of her breeding program was often ‘more fun’. But this activity was holding it’s own too. Shane was highly intelligent, if a bit awkward, which could be attributed to his youth. “Your father was indeed a wise man.” She said, refraining from asking him just exactly which of his tools where sharp and what he considered a tool for that matter. His mind? His heart? The Konti was curious. While now wasn’t the time, it definitely would be a good question though for later, since she’d want to know and it wouldn’t be a question Shane had yet asked her.

She liked teasing the human, especially how off kilter he seemed when she did it. Had she been a mind reader the Konti could have been offended. Of course she was heavier than she looked. She was a warrior and her entire body was hard, not soft like most men enjoyed. She liked the feel of his hands on her skin, but she wished they were rougher. His digits were smooth, like he was unaccustomed to work or even holding a weapon. That wasn’t a big turn-on for Kavala. Rough hands were a privilege earned by men. Often if they didn’t have them, something was wrong.

Then he spoke. While he was not one for big speeches, he did indeed tend to comment in an interesting fashion. So he knew the dark side of people? Living in the world tended to do that to folks. It was a dark and ugly place at times, filled with violence and depravity. And those words, as he brought them forward as if wrenched from the depths of cold unforgiving water, chilled her just as thoroughly.

She reached forward, grasp his hand with her own, and really listened to his words. He had a weight on him that needed to come off, something he’d been dragging around with him. Her free hand covered his hand already captured in her own and rubbed the fisted digits. Her concern was real, compassion flooding the blue of her eyes. There was no pity there, just sorrow at the confusion and conflicting emotions he was feeling.

“Shane, when Death comes, you can’t stop it. I’m healer enough to know that. I’ve seem the smallest wound turn into something ugly and deadly. I’ve seen perfectly healthy one day and dead the next because Lex chose to intervene and separate the living from the dead. Once that decision is made, we can’t alter it, and we have no control over it anyhow. All we can do is fight the fight before the decisions are made and live as well as we can up until our life ends. We’ll come back. Your friend will come back. It doesn’t matter if they are human or a house cat. Those we love touch us and link to us and we never really leave them. We spiral through these lives together, touching each other over and over and over again. I promise you that, Shane. We don’t leave each other ever. We just transition. I promise you.” She said softly, passionately, with true belief in her eyes.

“If you say you failed someone by the choices you make, you might be right. But I suspect the person you failed is really yourself for not giving yourself enough credit, charity, and consideration.”
The Konti said, angry with him suddenly for his unkindness to himself. People were like that, especially humans, who judged themselves at high standards and then tortured themselves inside for failing those impossibly lofty goals.

“It’s probably about time you stopped doing that then, right? Hurting yourself, I mean.”
The Konti said, reaching down and taking a drink of her whiskey, violating her own rules. She poured her glass full again, and continued to study Shane. She wanted him, she realized, with all his beautiful guilt. She wanted him for the Cytali.

And then he asked his question, distracting her for a moment from her train of thought.

“No. I’ve never been married. I thought I wanted to be at one time. I held out, hoping a special man to me would start treating me better, and that he’d care for me, or say those words I really wanted to hear. But he never did. And that dream died along with that relationship. Good things came out of it though. Very good things.”
She said, smiling softly and thinking of Ia’del and Ralac. Her son would be formidable, even if he was just short of a year old. Her daughter was lovely and would be a great beauty if she survived out of childhood. Yes, good things came of a broken sense of love and a desire for a family. It was what caused Kavala to realize one didn’t marry into a family, they made their own from what they had to work with around themselves. And her building materials, fortunately, were the very best.

“Would you come home with me tonight?” She said abruptly, her voice suggestive, and her pitch heavy with interest and a little bit of throaty need. The whiskey she drank was slowly burning a hole down her throat and warming her guts. And it made her bold, utterly bold, in what she was implying.

And she decided then and there if his answer was no, he’d still go home with her one way or another. His cooperation was more desirable though. She had a few things that could make that happen on her person. But if all out failed a light blow to the temple or base of the skull would definitely crumble him for a few hours…. Long enough to get him home and convinced that her ideas were the right ones.
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The Sanctuary The Sanctuary Forum Riverfall The Cytali
Reverie Isle Wolf Creek Training Course
Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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Kavala
I am more than the sum of my parts.
 
Posts: 3025
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Joined roleplay: October 25th, 2009, 1:46 am
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[The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Postby Shane Wallsly on November 23rd, 2014, 7:42 pm

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He smiled politely at the complimenting of his father but offered nothing further. His father had said a lot of things but Shane could not recall him ever doing anything. He had disappeared when Shane was so little all the man amounted to in his memory were sayings. He'd always liked his mother more anyway. This, he remembered.

When he answered her question. When he spoke of the friend he had failed she took his hand and listened to every word. Then she spoke. Her words reminded him of something else; of a morning he had spent in the dark. A morning spent thinking, pleading, promising. The altar boy who had been crushed by the cart. A random act of cruelty given by fate; by Lhex. The boy had lived all his life in faith and his reward was a painful, senseless death. Here was Kavala telling him again, reminding him, that there were unstoppable forces out there that could not be stopped. Those who lived on high and played with the minds and hearts of lesser beings.

What she said was true though and it made Shane wonder. She talked a lot of reincarnation but never once in fear or hatred. She spoke of it like an opportunity. Was living and dying over and over again not a cruel fate? She sounded convinced. It was hard for Shane not to believe what she said when she spoke so earnestly. Shane had met priests and religious people before. Those who followed blindly; those who were almost hypnotised by their beliefs. She didn't seem one of them. Maybe she was. Maybe Shane simply couldn't see it. He hated being so blind. The woman presented more puzzles than she solved. He was used to people being simpler. Even Aoren had been simple in his own way. As brilliantly complex as any being could be but he was bound by simplicity as were almost all creatures. Kavala, on one hand, would not yield herself so easily. Perhaps it was as simple as being female; he had always found it more difficult when it came to that elusive sex. He doubted that was quite it though. She was just mysterious.

It's hard not to blame yourself...” Shane replied abruptly. “All I've ever had is me to blame. I don't see the point in putting the blame on some other force like death or fate and it's even harder simply not to blame. It's human nature...” He paused looking directly at her for a moment. “I can't believe I said that. Human... I'm so narrow-minded sometimes. I haven't seen much or met many people. I've met Ghosts and Ethaefal and Konti and, I don't know, a lot but there are people and things out there that I know nothing about. The nature of us humans is just to dismiss everything until it's in front of us but how can I make conclusions if I don't know all the facts... I've went on a complete tangent... Completely.” For the first time, and without any provocation, Shane picked up his glass and knocked it back. This ended in him screwing his face up and trying to keep his stomach in place. “Wow, I thought wine was bad.” He half gasped as he refilled his glass.

She hadn't been married and yet she sounded like she'd maybe had something close to it or maybe even several somethings. Shane had never even had a girlfriend before. There was a time when he was too young and worth nothing. They wouldn't have even wanted him then. Now, he was worth something. He wasn't a total lost cause any more and had, in fact, done quite well for himself but he'd been too busy. His time in Riverfall had been the first luxury time he could remember since being a child. This was only his second, or third, tavern and he hadn't even been looking for companionship. He guess he just didn't value it that highly or perhaps he did but valued other things even more. Shane coveted a lot and had achieved little.

Shane might have comforted her then but she didn't need comforting. Whatever she had gotten out of that relationship made her happy. Shane could see it in her smile. “I'm glad it worked out for you. Marriage is a strange thing to me. I think it will make sense when I fall in love.” Shane's words were simple and light. He had dismissed those thoughts to some other time; some happier time in the future when he had met some being that would do all of those things to him that poets were so often interested in.

Shane's first reaction to her question was to blink. The second was to think, is she drunk? The question was just so out of nowhere Shane wasn't really sure what to think. Last time he'd been asked this question he'd stalled then paid for the ladies dinner and a night of her time and left. She'd had a nice story that one. His mind was wandering. How could his mind wander after a question like that?

Shane drummed his fingers on the table as he considered the situation. A playful smile came to his lips as an idea sprung forth in his mind. He grasped his shot glass in one hand and, with much more trepidation than the first time, poured it into his mouth screwing up his face again as the burning liquid travelled down his throat. “Ah, ooo...” He shook his head. He was feeling a bit weirder now. The warmth was spreading almost. Shane hadn't heard of that before. Alcohol could make you warm? It sounded ridiculous.

Shane completely forgot that he was meant to kiss Kavala after he had taken a shot. That little sub-rule had completely slipped his mind so he went straight to asking his question.“Why? That's my question. I'm not as physically able as most of the men here tonight, I'm not wise, intelligent perhaps, but I've not seen enough of the world for wisdom. What do I possibly offer you?” Shane's words weren't out of derision or self pity. He was genuinely curious and this was his question to her. She had to answer or drink. “You're strong, powerful, intelligent, maybe even wise so why?
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[The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Postby Kavala on November 23rd, 2014, 8:38 pm

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Kavala listened to the inner workings of Shane’s mind set loose by the simple taste of whiskey on his breath. It brought a sad smile to her face and made her feel a bit like a voyeur in his life. But sometimes people needed that. Sometimes people just needed a quiet person to tell a secret too in order to lighten the burden on their own soul. It happened that way with her sometimes too. Usually Caelum was to blame, but often times it was that she listened for others, not meaning too, but thrown into that role anyhow.

“Guilt is a powerful thing.” Kavala commented offhand to his remarks on blame. She understood where Shane was coming from completely and didn’t blame him for his reactions at all. It surprised her that he admitted he’d not seen much of the world nor met many people. Coming from as busy place as he did, she thought he for sure knew far more than she did when it came to work or socialization.

She grinned at his comment about the tangent and chuckled, lifting her refilled shot glass to knock in a mocking toast against his. She set hers down without drinking though, and then laughed outright when he gasped.

“Strong stuff, but just as cultured. You’ll get used to it.” She said, knowing that whether it was whiskey or wine, both were equally good for the soul at times like this. Shane didn’t seem to be hurting none and if she had her way he wouldn’t feel a thing on the morning either. He spent some time studying her, paused, as if processing her answer. Kavala didn’t mind. She would have minded had he offered sympathy or comfort. She sought neither. What she instead wanted she was getting here, companionship and good company.

“I think men love differently than women. I think in many ways it pains them to look too deeply into it. Women tend to analyze everything. It is our biggest downfall and our greatest weakness.”
She said to his comment, then letting the moment drift by only to be awarded by him taking a drink instead of answering her question. She laughed because it was the second shot for him in about the second chime and indeed if he didn’t slow, he’d be flat on his face in no time and left with no choice where he ended up for the night.

She nodded, raised her glass in salute to his decision, and set it down again.

Then she listened to his question, raising her eyebrow and glancing around. She noted the big muscled Akalaks in the room, all paired up by now, some dancing, some flat out drinking, some just nursing ales or whiskey alone.

“Do you think any of them would take the time to talk to me like this? Do you think any of them would play a risque game where the prize was inviting someone’s curiosity to poke around in your soul? Do you want me to say I want to take a strong man home that will bed me and leave me screaming with pleasure? It’s not true, because if it were, I’d be talking to one of them and not you. They wouldn’t even make me go through the ruse of taking them home. For them an alley would do, a quite shadowed street corner, and then they’d trail me for a year to make sure I didn’t whelp out their offspring and give them a higher rank in the city.” Kavala said with a laugh, picking up the whiskey bottle and refilling his shot glass.

“You’re different than we usually see here. I’ve laughed and sympathized with you. We’re talking about things I don’t get to usually openly talk about. You don’t have to be the wisest, strongest, most intelligent person around to be good company, Shane. And I can tell you that you are indeed good company. Sure, I like to petch as much as the next woman, if that’s what your wondering if I’m asking you to do by coming home with me. If they say they don’t, they are liars. We all love being physical, especially with an attractive male like you are. It has nothing to do with your physical build or your experience. It has to do with your character.. But there’s so much more to it than that. I can be a whole list of things and still be lonely. I didn’t want to be lonely tonight, so I came to town to see who was about. You were. And ever since we’ve been sitting here together, I haven’t been. That’s priceless, but I’m not sure how I can quantify it as this one thing or that other thing. In the end, it’s simply what it is. I’ve room at my home for a guest or two, and drinks and food a plenty. The atmosphere here grows dank with the smoke and the smells of sweaty bodies. I thought you would enjoy a change of scenery, a free space to talk, and no commitments. If it leads to a man and woman having some intimacy, then it does. If it does not, then there’s no loss in that either because nothing happens for as good of a reason as something happens for.” The Konti said, knowing then she was a bit more drunk than she thought if her philosophy was twisting upon itself like a chavi.

“That’s why.” She said, smiling, and quietly signaled the waitress to bring her a juice. She held up two fingers, and the woman nodded. Apple juice was delivered promptly, which the healer drank deeply of, worried about her hydration in the light of all the alcohol in her stomach. Shane was given one as well, and though it was a childs drink, the sugar and nutrients in it were top rate in Kavala’s mind.

Kavala frowned. It was time for her own question to Shane. She stroked her jaw with a scaled hand and then tilted her head sideways once, then twice before finally asking one of her own.

“Tell me, what are all the reasons you would not come home with me tonight?” There. That served him right. It was not the question he had asked her. But it was telling, and a punishment of sorts, forcing him to make a list if he so desired to answer instead of drink. If he drank again, he’d probably be too drunk to walk, for she’d already spotted him as a lightweight despite any of the juice he might drink.


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The Sanctuary The Sanctuary Forum Riverfall The Cytali
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Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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Kavala
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[The Blue Bull] Sometimes We Need Saved From Ourselves

Postby Shane Wallsly on November 23rd, 2014, 10:35 pm

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When she spoke of the Akalak Shane had to frown a bit. First with the dancing and the open shows of lust and now alleyway sex? Shane, being a man, hadn't really seen this side of the Akalak until tonight. He still hadn't really seen it but it seemed Kavala had. It made him wonder about that relationship. She seemed to know a lot about that side of the Akalak. Maybe she'd taken up with one when she'd first come to the city. He could see why any young woman would want an Akalak but clearly she'd grown wiser since then. They seemed a bit creepy to him though. Well more than a bit.

Shane hadn't expected to be the best. He didn't know what he expected. He didn't know what would prove that he was good enough for another. When she mentioned that she'd come here for companionship he smiled. Wasn't that the reason he'd come too? Hadn't he had the exact same enjoyment out of her company? He was surprised to hear she had room in her house. Not a lot of people he'd ever known did. He'd had more room than most at the Citadel simply because his mother had died and his father had disappeared. She seemed fairly well off to him. His mind was wandering again. He couldn't help it. He was a thinker; a dreamer.

Neither did I. I was so used to have a constant companion back in Syliras that it kind of hits me every now and then. That loneliness. I didn't have, well, any other friends back in Syliras but I miss those who were familiar to me; even as simple as a vendor I'd go to every other morning for breakfast. So I came here looking for someone to talk to.” Shane smiled happily. “Turned out much better than I thought. Sorry, you know, my head was in the gutter. You didn't help much. You're a terrible flirt.” Shane added that last sentence playfully. It was the truth of course. She'd been teasing him all night.

When Kavala signalled for the two juices Shane drank his down quickly and thankfully. Shane enjoyed fruit juice a lot more than he enjoyed alcohol, that was for sure. “Mmmm...” Shane sighed contently and then blushed as he realised how much like a child he had just acted. “Never used to drink juice much. Was always the essentials for me when I was younger. With a bit more money now I grew quite fond of fruit juices. There weren't many fruits able to grow in the Syliran climate but we always had apples.

All the reasons?” Shane replied as if the reasons were many. In truth Shane didn't really know. Had he been sexually intimidated? Had he been generally suspicious of her? Had he even really made a choice? He'd drank. That was as good as a maybe to him. “[b]I don't recall saying I wouldn't but I didn't say I would either so I suppose I ought to answer the question. Never went home with someone before. Never been intimate before which I'd assumed was the reason you ask. Don't know where you live or who with. Don't know a lot of things. That's always a problem with me. I'm cautious or perhaps I'm just a coward. There might have been more answers to your question but I can't really remember. What's your home like? Your current one I mean.” Shane's torrent of suspected reasons just flooded out of him with little to know thought-guard. They just came out and so did the question at the end. Well it was his turn to ask so it wasn't unwarranted and he was indeed curious.
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