Searching for Something Forgotten (OPEN)

[Lujayn]

"Oh, they're pretty easy to find. Just look for a tall building filled with imperial-looking, snobby-faced men," she said dryly, "They have an elated sense of their own importance."

She listened as he talked about Anroth, and frowned. This Anroth, or perhaps someone else, would have to posses either an artefact or an incredible amount of magic to hide an army. It wasn't a thought that brought comfort. Presumably he was trying to take over, and if he could just hide away...

As well, this artefact, if it existed, was a bit of temptation to Aneira. While she was powerful enough in her own right, her poor health prevented her from reaching anything near to her potential. If she had a power source to draw on... she shivered, somewhat frightened of the desire that stoked. Her goal was to become a great necromancer, as laughable as that was to someone in her condition. Also, there was always the thought of punishing those who had ever mocked her, had laughed at her, had treated her poorly. The potential for evil, on her part, was incredible, and she wasn`t sure she`d even be able to stop herself if she ever had the chance.

Not a nice thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted rather abruptly when she realised she was going to be sharing a single room... with a man. Sure, there were two beds, but he was a man.

Not that she could convey this point well. She ended up stuttering and blathering some nonsense while turning a nice shade of red. After a moment or so it was somewhat possible to find out what was bothering her after noticing her red face and a few of the more repeated words.

Funny how women always got so worked up about these things.

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien nodded.
"If that's the case, it should be easy enough to find," He said. Heck, if he thought back about it, he was pretty sure he'd probably seen one before, but ignored it. "We can save that for later though." He sighed. ""Not looking foreword to having to talk to a Cleric, honestly, and I'm sure you aren't either."

They were silent for a moment before Aneira suddenly began stuttering and turning red. He raised an eyebrow in concern and some confusion. After a moment, realization dawned on him, and he couldn't help but laugh; a true laugh, something that was rare with him.

After a few seconds, he regained composure.
"If you'd prefer, I can move one bed over there," - He gestured to the other side of the room - "or I can go and ask for another room," He offered, grinning. "But you'll have to come with me so I don't die halfway down the stairs. That would probably give the inkeeper a pretty bad scare, and we dont want that."

[Lujayn]

Aneira flushed again, this time in slight anger. She didn’t exactly appreciate being laughed at or made fun of. “You.. .you...!” She stomped her foot. “You’re so lucky I’m nice!” she raged at him, “I could... could... make you bark like a dog, and dance... like a chicken! And... and... AND LICK MY FEET!”

Lucky for him she wasn’t the sort to do that, wasn’t it?

She raged on for a moment like this, then crossed her arms and glared at him petulantly. She wasn’t much representing her 21 years with this little tantrum... she was acting quite a lot younger, actually... about 3 years old? She didn’t really care, however- she was more than a little miffed at being laughed at for a legitimate concern (to her, anyways). All things considered, she really didn’t know him that well, and just because she held his life in her hands didn’t necessarily mean he wouldn’t try to do... things.

These were all very silly thoughts, of course, but Aneira had gotten used to being paranoid, and it was a little hard to change five or so years of habit.

To take her mind off of it, and to avoid looking at Damien, she went around putting wards around the room. One for the door, one for the window, and a large one that would alert any foreign presence, just in case someone decided to teleport in. She normally wouldn’t have bothered with so many, but Damien was probably being sought after by those following Anroth, so she felt that these sorts of precautions would be necessary.

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien was caught a bit off guard by Aneira's reaction, and a bit amused, though he didn't show it. He didn't doubt she could do what she said she could, and judging by her reaction, he didn't doubt that she would. He had no desire to be made to do ridiculous things. So, he shut up and took the raging without another word, his face expressing proper apology.

When she turned away and began warding the room, he easily moved the second bed across the room and sat on it. HE was glad Aneira had thought to put up wards - At least they could sleep in peace, without worrying about anything or anyone breaking in unnoticed.

Damien sighed, watching for a moment and trying to decide what to say. He did think she overreacted a bit, and was definentally not acting how old she said she was, but who was he to judge someone?

"I'm sorry for laughing," He said finally. "It was out of line." He said it with sincerity, hoping Aneira wouldn't stay mad. "I'd explain myself, but I suppose I don't really know what to explain. Won't happen again."

[Lujayn]

Aneira was silent for a moment, rearranging a few things in the room so that they were out of the wards. Finally, she said, "It's alright... I just don't like to be made fun of." She shuffled around her many pouches to a more comfortable position, and then continued. "I get enough of it whenever I run into other necromancers... and even when I was a child, I got made fun of because of this," she muttered, tugging on the singular white lock of hair. "Not to mention the horrible rumours that were spread around as consequence to visiting an older man for ten years..."

She really hadn't liked that, since the relationship between her and her master was purely a teacher-student one. Nothing had happened between them, and nothing ever would have.

"As well... I'm used to thinking the worst of people and situations," she murmured, "It's how I've managed to live this long..."

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien blinked, then nodded in understanding.
"I know what you're saying," He said. "But I'm not making fun of you." He thought of how he could put it. "I don't spend much time around people. That I do, is usually around males. I guess I wasn't really expecting any kind of reaction at all, so when there was one, it seemed odd to me." Every other time he'd stayed in the same room was usually with his younger brother when they were children, and a bit later in life, his teacher.


He frowned. He could get that thinking the worst of people kept you alive - it had saved him on occasion too.
"My job might not mark me as innocent, but I swear to you I'm not going to do anything," He said. "And like I aid before, if you want me in a different room, that can be arranged."

[Lujayn]

Aneira thought for a moment. “No... it’s probably best to remain in a single room. You will be able to range farther the longer you are connected to me, but for now let’s try to keep as little distance between us as possible. Also... if something happens, we don’t have to worry about communication difficulty.” She probably wasn’t going to be sleeping much that night, but at least they’d be relatively safe.

“I think a proper sleep is in order,” she murmured, as if she hadn’t slept earlier that day. She was looking quite tired again, despite that. “Maybe something to eat first. As well...” she looked to Damien, pausing as if she wasn’t quite sure what to say. Indeed, there wasn’t much way to say what she was thinking too nicely. “Um... do not be insulted but... find out if they offer baths here... and then avail yourself to them.” She wasn’t looking at him again, as if uncomfortable. “Soon, please.”

Silly women and their irrational need for cleanliness.

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien grinned, not in the least offended.
"Don'r worry, I was definentally planning on it." He rose and poked his head into the washroom, checking to see if ther were more facilities than a toilet. Sure enough, there was a pump handle in the wall, and a nozzle above it. He shut the door behind him.

He emerged dressed in black leather pants, carrying the rest of his clothes, and flopped down on the bed. He folded the clothing (which he'd wasahed in the sink) and laid the black leather vest that held the many knives, daggers, poisons, etc. next to it. A rare occurence - it was almost always withing reach. Though, he did keep one dagger strapped to his calf underneath his pants.

"We've still got some of the vegetables we bought," He said, offering them out to her. He suddenly felt unreasonably tired. "And I think you're right, a proper sleep is in order. I'm going to sleep, unless we need to do anything else?" He said, propping up on an elbow.

[Lujayn]

While he was gone, Aneira snitched one of the blankets on his bed and wrapped herself up in what could only be called a cocoon. Much warmer, she pulled out her carving and whittling knives and set about making a few charms, of the most basic sort. This got a tad boring, so she put them away and brought out a few papers to sketch some symbols. She’d long memorised some of these, of course, but she practiced them often, just in case. She couldn’t always bring out her book, after all, and she didn’t use some of symbols that often.

She looked up when he returned, putting away her things into their little pouches (somehow, despite being wrapped in a cocoon of blankets). “I don’t think there’s anything else that needs to be done, no,” she replied, declining the vegetables. She didn’t need food, really, just rest.

“Ah... Damien, she said after a moment. “There is one question. Is it possible that people are following you? I mean, they might have just left you to your own devices thinking you were going to die no matter what you did, but maybe they were cautious...

“And what should I look out for, if there are people after you?” she continued, frowning. “I don’t know of Anroth, or of his people that are following him, so I don’t know of any characteristics that they might have... like insignia or the like.”

It would certainly be problematic if he was being followed. They would most certainly be travelling, and Aneira’s wards were stationary, marked onto the ground, door, etc to prevent access to a specific area. She didn’t know of any to use while in movement, so they would be left to their own instincts. Or, rather, Damien’s instincts, she being a bit useless in that regard. Occassionally she could see places where the Death Flow concentrated or moved around, signifying those close to dying (or dead), or those in full health, but this usually only occurred after practicing necromancy, and she highly doubted Damien would like being followed by an animated corpse of someone who had been butchered.

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien flopped back.
"Yes, they did send two people after me when I left. Two lower - ranking assassins. Poor ones, they make as much noise in the woods as a herd of deer." She thought for a moment. "Though, I think once they saw me pretty much dead they left. Otherwise we would have seen them by now." At least, he hoped so.

"An insignia...Yeah, it's kind of like a nine pointed star, with every other point taller than the others, and it'a black with a red outline and a silver diamond in the middle. That much I can remember." He thought a moment longer. "I think we'd see them before they did any harm." Honestly, they were a pitiful pair. He didn't think they could take down a dead deer, let alone people. Then again, that might just be because he was used to searching for and successfuly finding people that were so hidden they were prectically invisible.

"I suppose we should keep our guard up, either way," HE added as an afterthought.

[Lujayn]

"I'm afraid I shall be most useless in that regard," she said with an apologetic smile. "I'm really no good when it comes to looking out for others. I have my wards, of course, but they're stationary. Not suitable for moving. Luckily for me, I look poor so I'm ignored by bandits and thieves, and I'm also unattractive... so I don't have to worry about other men, too."

Her high opinion of herself was staggering.

"It sounds like a fairly easy to remember insignia," she continued, "I wonder what its significance is? I mean, the symbol for necromancy is a skull encircled in an inverted pentagram, which makes sense, but what does this odd star stand for..?" Possibly she was thinking too much on something that could easily be just aesthetics.

She yawned. "I suppose we can worry about it tomorrow," she murmured, curling up in her cocoon. "Now, however, I think sleep is in order..." In a few breaths she'd fallen asleep, exhausted. She'd done more in the past 24 hours than she was used to doing in a week, and it was quite draining on someone with her poor health.

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien opened his mouth to object Aneira's self-demoralizing statement, but as soon as she'd finished talking, she was asleep. He shut his mouth.

It took him a while to fall asleep. It was different than he was used to - he'd slept in inns before, but never without keeping weapons at his side, and never with anyone else but his teacher. He stared at the ceiling for a while, listening to every single sound in the hallway outside of the door before relaxing slightly.

Finally, he lapsed into an easy sleep, looking more at rest than he had in a long time. Aneira was right - they could deal with stuff tomorrow.

[Lujayn]

Aneira did not experience a strange dream this time, much to her relief, and merely sunk deeply into the realm of sleep, resting her tired body. Food and rest did help the constant leeching of her life-force, at least a little, but eventually it would catch up to her and she would be forced, once again, to take more drastic measures.

She hoped she’d be freed from Damien before she had to. Although she’d known him for no more than a day, she didn’t want him to know what levels she had to fall to, to keep herself alive. She hated it, but unless she wanted to die slowly, and vanish into obscurity, she had to.

Just as the sun was pushing forth a few rays, barely lightening up the horizon, she was jolted awake by her wards screaming at her that someone was trying, very hard, to pick the lock and bypass the shielding. She wasn’t sure who- or even what, to be honest- this person was, but Aneira was fairly certain that she wouldn’t be able to handle him alone.

Completely disregarding her own safety, she threw off her cocoon of blankets and rushed over to Damien, shaking him awake. Hopefully he wouldn’t react on instinct and kill her outright before fully waking up... for he would never be waking up if he did so. “Damien... Damien!” she hissed. “Someone’s trying to get into the room!”

[WolfEnchantress]

Damien snapped awake at Aneira's touch. It took a second to grasp what Aneira was saying and hear the light rattling of the doorknob. In another two seconds, he rolled from bed and was against the wall by the door, a five inch blade produced seemingly from nowhere clutched easily in his right hand. He listened for a moment. There was no doubt about it, someone - possibly more than one someone was trying to get in.

A nasty grin crossed his face, and a gleam that could very well have been eagerness caught his eyes for only a second before he looked over to where Aneira still stood.

"Who do you think it is?" He asked, so low that only she could hear it. "Whoever it is can't be strong. They can't break the wards and haven't even finished picking a lock." He placed an ear to the door, but the solid wood didn't reveal anything. He sorted out his thoughts for a moment.
"Well, it would be rude to keep our guest waiting out in the hall, wouldn't it? Unless you think otherwise, I do think we should be good hosts and let him - or her - in."

[Lujayn]

"The fact that they can put a pick in the lock at all," Aneira said blandly, "is quite astonishing, wouldn't you think?" Well, that was a bit unfair, he was clearly not a magic user and wouldn't know about all the little intricacies of wards and whatnot. "Personally, I would prefer to leave while we had the chance. For all we know, he- or she, as you put it- could have friends out there, and you're still weak. And I'm useless, of course."

Again with the put-downs.

"Although we're on the upper floor..." She peered out the window. "... and I doubt I could survive a jump down there. We seem to be in a slight predicament." She sighed mournfully. "This is why I like the outdoors. Exposed, yes, but I can bolt in any direction." There was no accusation in this, just a simple statement of opinion.

Aneira chewed on her lip. "A gamble then... let's startle our new friend and open the door... if there's more out there, well..."