Give It A Whirl

[Konrad]

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Not found on any map, Endrykas is a large migrating tent city wherein the horseclans of Cyphrus gather to trade and exchange information. [Lore]

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Give It A Whirl

Postby Sloane on March 12th, 2017, 4:25 am

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8th of Spring, 517 AV


After the tumultuous end to Winter, it was safe to say that the Pridesun Pavilion was looking worse for wear. Sloane walked quickly, and despite the sombre mood around her, a satisfied smile spreading over her face the further from the Firelash Pavilion she went. It was refreshing, being able to have at least a portion of her freedom again, after days cooped up at the pavilion with days of work at the Duskstep her only distraction. Her mood was high enough that she took no notice of the worry and the stress on the faces of those around her, almost forgetting about the fate Jonas Pridesun had come to the season before, and that his pavilion was now leaderless and at odds with most of the Drykas.

Sloane moved quickly through the tents, doing her best to try and remember where Hansel's tent had been set up in respect to the rest of the Pavilion the last time she'd visited. Granted, Endrykas had moved quite a lot since then, but Sloane had come to learn that the Drykas usual kept a pattern when they set out their tents, in order to make it easy to navigate. She hoped that this was the same with the Pridesun, however the pavilion was mostly made up of walahks, so anything could really be possible. Sighing Sloane finally came to a stop, having made her way into the thick of the Pavilion. She set her hands a her hips and turned in a circle, eye's scouring the tents and people around her in search of something familiar. Here, her small frame was a disadvantage, and Sloane's shoulders slumped in defeat, her range of sight blocked in near every direction.

Something tells me Hans'd be a sigh unimpressed if I walked around calling his name till I found him... She thought sullenly, glaring at the tents and people blocking her view. A familiar figure caught her attention and she turned, braid flicking out with the speed of it. "Oh, you!" She called, tongue heavy and unskilled at the Drykas language. The cook Sloane had met when she'd first visited the pavilion paused, glancing over at her with a raised brow, apparently not recognising her. "Your friend, Hansel!" She chirped, bounding over to the man, the confusion on his face clearing a little. "Where he?"

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Last edited by Sloane on March 19th, 2017, 3:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Give It A Whirl

Postby Konrad Venger on March 17th, 2017, 2:30 pm

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Konrad had heard that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man was king. He often doubted the wisdom of that (still some poor twat with one eye, and what petching use is everyone else to you?) but he understood the concept. Enough to apply it to the Pridesun pavilion, or more accurately, his place in it.

His status, as it were. Because come the Spring and the new, fresh, untouched 517th year after the Great Calamity, Konrad felt like a living soul among corpses. Around him, dozens of Drykas and walahks lived and worked and strove, but it was more a matter of... maintenance, than truly living. They sustained themselves and that was all. The believers among them, especially, did the bare minimum and spent the rest of their time staring into the fires, or the horizon, or the sky and the grass, as if waiting for their Prophet to return.

And do what? Lead them again? Or take them with him?

He shook the thought from his head, and a shower of water fell with it. That he should even be wasting the stuff was a luxury in and of itself, or would have been, a season ago. But now Endrykas was swinging up north, like an uppercut fitting to break Kenash's jaw, traveling up the river and thus never too far from fresh water. Konrad actually had a full bucket to do his laundry in, and dunk his head in afterwards.

Take care of your clothes, lad, he thought, smiling softly as his mother's words came to him. They ain't cheap, and neither is needle and thread, and most of all, no-one wants to hang around a smelly bastard.

The Sunberth man held up his shirt and turned it around, still stinking of water and lye. Soap was a precious commodity out in the plains, but with so much animal fat available, it could be worked into life. Konrad had yet to see that strange natural magick in action, but for now, he had the fruits of it to enjoy. He'd scrubbed his clothes one after the other, clad now in dry breeches bereft of the majority of their stains, and now he perused the sopping, soaking shirt.

The smiled again. This time not softly, not in memory, but in the mien of a man accepting a challenge.

The more you do it, the easier it'll get...

He hung the shirt up on a tent pole and held up his hands. Breathed in and closed his eyes, until the bottom of that breath reached the depths of his lungs, and below... deeper... into the djed he had within him... and he brought it forth-

Out.

-with a mere thought. He opened his eyes on the exhale, and a ball of res was oozing eagerly out of his palms, coalescing into a ball of res that grew as he willed it, fat and swirling and barely even stressing his hands. He raised it higher, closer to the shirt, and this was the tricky part.

Come out... come on, now...

It was no longer just fire he attracted; now it was water. He squinted at the shirt until he was glaring, focusing all the screeds of will he had left on imbuing that res with the thought, the idea, the simple reality that he'd like. Namely, a dry shirt. And the best way to get that?

Take the water out.

The sodden cloth started to tremble. As Konrad watched, droplets started to seep and float out of it, like berries picked from a bush. His smile grew and soon a minor shower was being pulled out of the shirt, soap scum and trapped fragments of dirt coming with it. Well, that couldn't be avoided, but a good boiling would get rid of that gunk. Konrad took a step back and dragged more water out, feeling the wind on his bare back etched with ink and scars, a raged chuckle escaping him as he realized he was actually doing this-

"Oi, Hans?"

Petch it!

Focus. That was what a reimancer needed. Will and ken was one thing, but without the focus, it was for naught. Like a master swordsman without a blade. Sedon's grunted words shattered what focus he had and as he turned-

-the water splashed down... onto his boots.

"Aw, fer... shyke, Sed, petch y'want fer-"

Then he turned and got his answer. And realized he was half-naked. That shouldn't have mattered, of course. She was a married woman now, or so he'd heard. A "fine" husband, and the quotes were his own, since all he'd seen of Haigen had been the kind of dour, quietly brutal bastard who'd give Sunberth housewives black eyes if dinner was five chimes late. But that wasn't his fight, nor his concern.

He still smiled. He couldn't help it. They'd been parted for a while, and the last time... well, he'd made a new deal with her. She had much to teach, and so did he. But the timing had to be right, and if she was there now... clearly that time had come.

Gods, she better not have sodding run off.

"Oh... 'ello," he snatched up his still-damp shirt and hoisted it quickly over his bare torso. Screw it, dry enough. "Thank you, Sed." He even signed the words as he spoke, a habit first observed and now becoming his own, more and more, without even thinking.

The cook just grunted and moved away. No smile, no smirk, no winking eyes or silent promises for a ribbing later. As lifeless and listless as the rest of them, and for that one in particular and myahp only, Konrad felt a twinge of regret.

Then he remembered Jonas and what he would have wrought, and squashed it.

Petch him.

"What brings yeh 'round?" He said as he slipped on those damn wet boots, trusting the still-sweltering heat to dry them off once Syna finished rising. "Been a while, eh?"

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Give It A Whirl

Postby Sloane on March 19th, 2017, 1:41 pm

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Sloane returned Hansel's grin happily, shooting Sedon a quick, appreciative glance before he left. "Morning." She greeted Hansel, her voice soft and pleased, watching him dress with an amused twist to her mouth. "I didn't disturb you, did I?" She glanced after Sedon thoughtfully, only then noticing the marked change in the pavilion, the quiet desolate gloom that clung to the walahks living and working amongst the tents. Hansel spoke, and her attention returned to him quickly, taking a few steps closer until she felt as if the two were able to have a proper conversation. "It's been a bit too long, I think." Sloane chuckled quietly, voice soft and as close as she would come to admitting that she'd missed him. She studied the tall man closely, satisfied to see that he seemed in better spirits than the rest of the pavilion. "How have you been?" She asked curiously, tilting her head. "Are you well?"

Sloane waited patiently for answers to her questions, having to remind herself for the first time in a fair few day's not to bombard the man with questions. It felt quite liberating to speak to someone outside of her pavilion, and even more so for that person to be someone she knew and was comfortable with. Of her pavilion, only Kadir and Whayhana knew comon fluently enough to hold a conversation, and only one of those two were willing to allow Sloane any of their time. "You promised some lesson's, remember?" Sloane said finally, excited already by her mere mention of learning the basics of Morphing. "And..." She paused, glancing around for a moment before slipping even closer and lowering her voice, lest they be overheard and misunderstood. "We're quite close to Riverfall this season, perhaps we should pay a visit?"

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Give It A Whirl

Postby Konrad Venger on March 19th, 2017, 4:46 pm

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Konrad snorted and spread his arms wide at her first question, taking in the handful of dirty or drying clothes and the meager tub of soapy water. Yeh Bugger was grazing placidly beyond that, looking up but once to study Sloane, decide she was not worth much attention, and go back to relentlessly trimming the grasslands.

"Aye, got me hands totally full, as yeh can tell."

Sedon shuffled off without being asked, and Konrad wasn't surprised to see no spark of salacious curiosity in his eyes. Before the end of Winter, the man would have been all sly smiles and winks as he went on his way, leaving them to their unapproved rendezvous. Now, though... now he just turned and walked away, feet almost dragging, not a backward glance nor a word of farewell.

Konrad scowled at his back as he went. Pathetic. Building your life to completely around one old bastard that once he was gone, it fell apart. And he was far from the only one. Then he blinked and realized he was assailed by fresh questions, and shrugged again, buttoning his tunic as he spoke.

"Aye, ah've been... well... good, I s'pose."

He looked around the outside of his tent. The meager tub and tattered clothes. The shortbow and quiver, the steel lined up next to them. His horse and the rabbit carcass, skinned and gutted, ready for the fire crackling away in front of it all. A life bereft of city living, no ale nor smoke save for wild-grown baccy, no cobbles and stone... and yet?

"Yeah," he said as he looked around, surprise soaking his voice so quickly and deeply he didn't even notice it. "Been good, actually."

Of course, it also helped that the cunny blackmailing him had been done in by the gods themselves. He owed that Zulrav a drink over an altar for that, he supposed.

The words kept coming and as they did, Konrad's posture changed. No longer open... or as open, anyway. His arms crossed over his chest, but his smile stayed in place, amused and indulgent, listening to the enthusiasm gushing out of her. Ah, of course. The teaching. The magic. That was why she was there, not necessarily him.

Konrad's smile quirked a little at the unblemished corner. Well, that was progress at least: a season ago he would have soured at once at the idea, thinking that was all she was there for. Now he knew a little better.

"Aye, I did promise. But I did'nae promise what an' how long that'd take, now did I?" He started walked as he spoke, moving around the camp fire that seemed almost dim by the blazing light of rising Syna. "Y'remember how long I had t'jus' siddown and med-ee-tate, 'fore I could do even a finger? Aye, well, thas' youse as well, girl. Gotta get you right in here-"

He tapped the side of his head, and then pointed at her.

"-before yeh can do anythin' with the rest a' ya. So that's what we'll be learnin' on yeh, first. Then we'll move on t'the magic..."

He sat down, legs crossed, as he'd been in the Rainshard pavilion, where all was cool and dark and quiet, save for crackling baccy and scribbling charcoal on parchment. He gestured for her to do the same, and when she got down at his level, spoke with his head bowed, mouth almost covered, voice just as low as her own had been.

"Aye, I'd heard," he said, and if she'd looked over, she'd have seen an impish smile looking utterly out of place on that devilish face. "Might be worth a visit, don'tcha think? Supplies an' such..."

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Note: As of Fall 517AV, Konrad is known only as "Hansel" in Endrykas
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Give It A Whirl

Postby Sloane on March 21st, 2017, 1:58 pm

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A small smile made it's way onto Sloane's face as she watched Hansel, taken aback by the contrast between the man now, and the man she'd first met a season ago. Physically, the changes were fairly subtle, and more difficult for Sloane to take note of, but socially it was almost like speaking to a whole other person. Smiles and amiable words had been slow to draw from his, but Sloane had seen more and more of it the longer she knew him, until he was truly a pleasant presence for her to be around, one she missed and craved the company of.

"Oh, meditating? I, uh, I'm not quite sure what I'd have to do..." She started, head tilting to the side curiously. She'd seen people meditate before, Hansel of course, and the Drykas seemed fond of the act, meditating before a large hunt or a tournament. From Sloane's perspective however, it looked like nothing more than sitting in silence for copious amounts of time, and the mere thought almost drove her mad with boredom. She bit her lip and tilted her head, thinking it over and then thinking of the amazing things she'd be able to learn if she followed Hansel's instructions. A little boredom would be worth it.

Sloane settled herself carefully across from Hansel, her eyes brightening with excitement as he spoke, and returning his grin. "Really, we must go! I think my Ankal might let me, if I tell them I'm going for supplies for the pavilion." She started, excitement building at the thought of being in a proper city again, of being able to explore shops, and buy supplies that simply couldn't be made in a constantly moving city. [/b]"Oh, and gods I need a bath house! I'm sick of bathing from streams or buckets."[/b] She groaned, shaking her head. Finally the young woman blew out a long sigh, and returned her attention to Hansel. "Alright, I've no plans for the day, so I'm yours to teach!"

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Give It A Whirl

Postby Konrad Venger on March 22nd, 2017, 6:46 pm

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It wasn't that he wasn't listening, it was more that the listening was a distant second to just... taking it in. Sloane put up a good front, as good as any he'd seen, but it wasn't hard to see the boiling, roiling need in her. Whatever she'd been planning before her capture, Konrad couldn't picture it as anything like a good little Drykas wifey, popping out brats and cleaning soiled breeches.

Leastways they haven't chained her up in the pavilion, he reminded himself as she gushed and jabbered, lips twitched a touch as he added, As of yet, anyway. Changeable bunch of wankers, are this lot.

Riverfall. Konrad had heard of it, but tales from merchants and travelers and the odd Akalak mercenary were hardly reliable sources. No, he needed to see for himself before he could believe, and now it was barely a dozen days ride away. The closest they'd been to any city in half a year. Konrad wasn't missing that chance. To see and to know, to explore a new place and, maybe, new options.

Always nice when you can pack your whole life up in your saddlebags, he reminded himself, smile that Sloane may have thought was for her directed elsewhere. Better than putting down roots, not among these fickle sods.

Then Konrad blinked and was aware she had stopped talking. Bugger. Fine, so apparently he wasn't listening all the way, but he got the general idea. He smiled wanly yet again, tried to play it off like he was waiting for her to get it all out of her system... although gods, he had to agree, an honest-to-shyke hot bath sounded like a sucking from Cheva's own lips.

"We'll talk about it later," he said, voice taking on an edge, but not the brutal snarl she'd first heard from him. More one of warning, instruction, hardness that befit authority, not intimidation. "But empty yer mind a' that shyke fer now. Want youse t'close yer eyes... not think 'bout anythin' but yer own body..."

He led by example, wrists resting on his knees with his legs crossed, hands hanging limp off the front of them, and he just breathed. Focused on the suck and push of his breath, the way it was like a breeze his body made, stoking or smothering depending what he needed. A quick smile tugged at his lips and he spoke again, voice slow and deepening.

"Focus on yer breathin'... in an' out... full an' empty, yeah? Keep thinkin' on that... nothin' else... until y'can feel the world jus' start ta'... fall away..."

With her eyes closed, Sloane would have no way of seeing, but she would definitely hear Konrad's voice as louder, when he leaned forward, another mite of sharpness to his voice.

"An' don't ask questions like 'how long've we gotta do this?' or 'why isn't it workin'?". This shyke ain't quick or easy. Don't wanna put in the time, bugger off. Now keep yer eyes closed."

With that little detail taken care of, Konrad leaned back into his sitting position and followed his own advice. For a few chimes they sat there, naught but air between them. Gradually, slowly, like watching Syna set at night while you stared at her, Konrad started to feel the pavilion and the city beyond it grow dimmer. His voice was softer when he spoke next, as if he were afraid volume alone would break the spell.

"When it starts workin'... focus on yer own body... how well y'know it... every inch a' skin... see all of it... until it's the only thing in yer world..."

Three stages, that was what he'd broken it down into. First was getting his mind into that cool, quiet place where the world couldn't shake his concentration. That was by far the longest part of the whole thing. Second was letting his body become his mind, and vice versa: knowing his own body so well within his own head, that changing it was as simple as thinking, which was where he came to Stage Three...

Which, honestly, he wasn't sure about. For him, it was easier: he had his djed, bubbling under his skin and crackling with power thanks to his reimancy. But Sloane? She'd never seen that kind of initiation. She could be told she had power under his muscles, in that space between her body and her soul, but she couldn't reach down and touch it like he could.

Well, we'll get to that when we come to it, he reassured himself as he breathed, slowly and steadily, each exhale shoving the world further away. For today, let's just focus on getting her head there...

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Note: As of Fall 517AV, Konrad is known only as "Hansel" in Endrykas
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Give It A Whirl

Postby Sloane on March 30th, 2017, 2:00 pm

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Sloane's eye's darted upward quickly, seeking out the position of the sun, before relaxing and letting her eyes fall shut as she'd been told. I just need to make sure I keep track of the time. She reminded herself, mentally kicking herself when she realised that she was doing the exact opposite of keeping her mind cleared. She mimicked Hansel's position, her small body folded neatly into the grass, hands relaxed on her knees.

She breathed deeply, her chest expanding with it and holding it for a short moment before letting it out again, slow and steady. Sloane was doing her best to keep her mind clear, but the more Hansel spoke, the more questions nagged at her, and the harder it became. Her brow furrowed with concentration as she sat, breathing almost heavily as a means to distract herself from the distractions.

When Hansel spoke again, Sloane started slightly, having focused so fully on her breathing that she had forgotten that he was there. Well, surely that means I'm doing it right! She thought excitedly, realising a moment too soon that she'd lost her concentrated state. "Shite." She breathed, eye's squeezing tighter and her hands tensing on her knees as she battled to ignore everything around her once again.

This time, when she was finally back to noticing nothing more than the breath entering and leaving her lungs, Sloane let out a triumphant sigh. Now she turned to taking note of each muscle in her body as she untensed them, starting by relaxing the tight muscles of her neck, her shoulders, back. Sloane worked her way down, focusing on one area at a time and relaxing it, her breath steady and mind unperturbed by the outside world.

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Give It A Whirl

Postby Konrad Venger on April 2nd, 2017, 7:34 pm

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Time seemed to fall away from him like water between his fingers. Grip tighter, hold faster, and more of it would get away. Even the time between his own words and her muttered, monosyllabic curse seemed indistinct. He knew that, should he open his eyes, the illusion would be lost. The tents and pavilions, the horses and men, the very earth and sky, all of it would ground him again in time.

But without that, with only his breath hissing and sucking in his ears and his heart thudding through his veins, time lost meaning. Only his body mattered, and his senses turned inward to know it. Learn it again, and in detail... and in doing so, craft it anew.

"This's where I do the work." His voice was the barest whisper, the barest effort, the merest amount of breath and volume needed to waft the words over the space between them. "Once I'm here... in dis... quiet... ev'rything else jus'... gone."

He thought of the coyote claw. The paw. The pads of it. The long "fingers", for want of a better word, and the claws curling out of each one. Last time he'd just tried to morph the claw itself, the jutting bone that ripped and tore, but that had... hurt. Konrad decided that his whole finger needed to change. From his top knuckle down.

He held up his hand, and saw it with closed eyes. He closed his fingers and thumb into a loose fist, all save for his index... and then he breathed deep... and let that breath become a stone, dropping into the cave pool of djed he knew he bore inside him... and the splash became ripples, washing through him and upward and then...

Konrad felt the tingling. The way his flesh seemed to roil and stretch and tighten all at once. There was pain, but it was... indistinct. His exhale was ragged, and if Sloane opened her eyes, she would see him pointing to the sky with one finger-

-only it wasn't a finger anymore. Not really. It was shimmering and twisting and turning into itself. After long ticks of watching it, and Konrad's face behind it, jaw and lips and eyes tight, focused, she would see...

Fur. Fur and a claw sprouting from the top of it.

"s'never... easy..." Another whisper. Strained. Bit out as if each syllable was a curse. "But ain't shyke... worth shyke... if it is..."

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Note: As of Fall 517AV, Konrad is known only as "Hansel" in Endrykas
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Give It A Whirl

Postby Sloane on September 3rd, 2017, 4:57 pm

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So pathetic was her attempt at meditation, her concentration wavered and broke the moment Hansel began to speak. Shoulders slumping in disappointment, Sloane opened her eye's, half tempted to begin complaining to Hansel, to groan about the seemingly impossible task. Thankfully, she caught sight of his raised finger first, and was shocked into silence by the gradual transformation that it was undertaking. Mouth falling open in awe, Sloane watched as his finger seemed to writhe, surrounded by a stranger shimmer. "That's incredible" She breathed, her eye's fixed on Hansel and his suddenly furry digit, hardly able to comprehend what she'd just witnessed. Unable to help herself, Sloane raised her own hand and reached out to feel the fur and test the claw tip, but before she could a flicker of movement in her peripherals all but demanded her attention. She she shot a quick, irritated look over her shoulder, only to do a double take on the mounted man that had caught her attention.

"Shite." She breathed, freezing with fear for a short moment. The horselord hadn't noticed them yet, Sloane doubted he was able to see them, tucked away at the fringes of the camp as they were. Haigen was easily noticeable however, a dark haired form atop his large strider, picking his way through tents with a look of disdain for those around him. Sloane scrambled to her feet, panicked as a moment and fussing about like a hare corned by hunting dogs. It was a risk to see Hansel, she knew that, but she hadn't expected Haigen to actively search her out. "Hansel, I need to leave." She croaked hurriedly, reaching out to grasp his shoulder after a moment's hesitation. "I'm sorry, really." Sloanes gaze darted between Hansel and the direction Haigen had trotted in, as she attempted to puzzle out the best course of action. Bypass him and return to the pavilion, claim that she'd been out for supplies? Or go straight to him, and try to convince him that she'd merely been lost?

Sloane's gaze snapped back to Hansel, and she pinned on a shaky smile. "Thank you for your lesson, I hate to miss the rest. But I'll be back, okay?" She paused, straightening and dusting herself off, her gaze flickering back over her shoulder, once more in search of man and Strider. "But, maybe don't come by the Pavilion? I'll find you." With that she smiled once more, eyes softening as she swept her gaze over Hansel for a last time, before turning and hurrying back into the thick of the tents.

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Give It A Whirl

Postby Konrad Venger on September 3rd, 2017, 10:43 pm

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Part of him knew that it had to end. Well, that was obvious. Of course it had to end, they couldn't slip away from her pavilion forever. Nor could he, for that matter. Konrad Venger, man of responsibilities. That seemed to be his strange and new persona these days.

But how it ended... that was jarring, to say the least. The speed of it, just a handful of ticks. In one, he was smiling through his sweat and effort, proud with his progress and the awestruck look she wore as she leaned forward to touch the digit he'd made-

Then her vision shifted. Old street instincts had him snap a look over his shoulder, ordinary hand sliding to hidden steel... but before he could even see what had birthed such concern in her, she was up and babbling, talking, excusing-

Leaving.

"Lookin' for yeh, are they?" He said, feeling foolish, asking a question he knew the answer to. His face fell and his Morphing was forgotten. He lowered his deformed hand and focused on her, shrugging his shoulders. "Aye, best yeh go, then. They'll be lookin' for the both of us, not just youse on yer own."

"But, maybe don't come by the Pavilion? I'll find you."

She said she'd be back, and part of him believed her, or wanted to. People didn't stick around for Konrad, not unless he paid them to beforehand. But for her, and all the stolen moments they'd shared before, he just nodded his head and squeezed her shoulder in return. The closest thing he could manage to an embrace, which was an alien enough gesture.

"Aye. 'til that day, then."

She was gone, like a rabbit huntd by the hounds. A few moments after she vanished, a man with the face of a brick and a personality to match cantered by, eyes scouring over, between, and around tents. Konrad ignored him studiously, closing his eyes... bringing back that sketch of himself he'd manipulated before... holding up a hand he could not see...

Slowly wiping away the image of his clawed finger. Replacing it with the digit he'd had for decades. Remembering the little scar under it from a rat that took a chunk out of him when he was a boy, and the nobble from where he'd broken it punching a wall when some little shyke in an alley scrap ducked his fist.

When he opened it again, his hand was normal... and Haigen was still glowering at him. Konrad stared back levelly, resisting the urge to sneer. Hard stares? Fierce eyes? Did this horse-petching dullard think he had anything on the street daemons and refuse that Konrad had faced down back home?

Haigen blinked first. Clucking his teeth and spurring on his horse, continuing his search, and Konrad silently wished his... yes, she was a friend... the best of luck. Won't be for long, he reminded himself as he started walking back home. She'll pop up again.

Most of all, he remembered thinking that. When she never did and his hope turned to bitterness, and he beat to death the fragile spark of feeling he'd dared nurture for the woman called Sloane, he remembered thinking that. And believing it.

Don't Make Me Repeat Myself.
Last edited by Konrad Venger on October 11th, 2017, 10:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Note: As of Fall 517AV, Konrad is known only as "Hansel" in Endrykas
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Konrad Venger
Long is The Way and Hard
 
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