RP:Apologies Should Stay Dead

Location: Merchant Street

Synopsis: On his way to a merchant shop Eirik runs into Khitti. What happens is a really awkward conversation and an apology for past transgressions. He also learns of Meri's boyfriend (name unknown) who might be able to help some of his current Larket scheming.

Apologies Should Stay Dead

Eirik had come to Cenril in search of new weapons to use in the Titans of winter tournament and despite his previous match that went awry with Shishi, he still hopes to earn the right to face him once more. The northman is not garbed in a plethora of arms and armor. Nay for instead, today he’s in nothing more than a simple white shirt that boldly displays team Frostmaw in blue letters. A pair of blue dyed cotton pants and his boots. It might be odd for someone to spot Eirik dressed as such, especially without weapons dangling from his side. The rumors about how he used his blade for a table are apparently not true. Well, not true anymore. In all honesty, Valrae’s curse is actually looked at as a gift. He’s relaxed a little since that time, and learned to control his anger. Much as it always has been, the start of merchant street brings the hope for new stalls, stands and merchants. Cenril is not a place that he visits often. In fact the last time he was here, it was the night that Kahran had attacked the city. That didn’t end well. Nevertheless, Eirik meanders down the center of the street scanning faces that pass him.

Khitti exited the gingerbread house-shaped bakery to the south, a ring of keys pulled out of the pocket of her maternity dress. The seven-month pregnant redhead flipped through the little metal bits on the ring, finding the right key within seconds and locking the door to her shop. “Look, I’ve told you time and time again. I can’t understand a damn thing you’re saying. I’m working on it though, alright? I’ve got a billion and one other things I’m doing as well.” The golden aura of the katana strapped to her back grew a bit brighter then faded, the fabled sword Tenbatsu Kaji seemingly speaking to Khitti even still. “Oh don’t be like that.” Khitti sighed heavily. “Just because I can’t understand you doesn’t mean I can’t sense when you’re upset.” She shoved the keyring hastily into the satchel at her side and turned to leave, to make her way across the street to the bank.

Eirik is clearly in his own world of thought, and though his eyes pass over countless faces, they do not recognize Khitti. Not at first. Instead, he’s still pondering over the chance to find something unique here in the shops, when he has a double take. Do I know her, silver eyes twist back to Khitti? It -is- Lionels sidekick, right there, talking to herself. What the hell is going on? Eirik nearly swallows his own tongue. Dammit, of all places I could run into her, it’s here; these are nothing more than thoughts berating his mind. Not that he has anything against her. He’s more worried about the slew of garbage she might throw his way. His eyebrows raise, is she pregnant? He realizes that he does remember seeing her rooting for Shishi at his most recent match, but he can’t recall that she was showing signs of pregnancy. Isn’t she a vampire? Despite the slew of thoughts running through his head, he does come to grips with them. He can remember the last time he actually spoke with her. When he lost faith in Lionel and spit on the ground over how he handled the Amarrah incident. This he does feel guilty for, and Eirik presses forward to grab her attention. In a very awkward manner, “Uh. Khitti?” His voice might seem unfamiliar, but its still riddled with grit and grain and his now infamous accent. His posed question might even denote the fact that he can’t believe it’s her. A calloused hand idly scratches at the nape of his neck.

Khitti isn’t Lionel’s sidekick. She’s an anti-hero in her own right! She fights evil, for love and justice! Okay, so she’s still his aide-de-camp, but if he didn’t have a secretary, he’d forget to take care of those important Steward duties of his and well, probably forget to eat and sleep and all that stuff. Well, regardless of all that, Khitti’s not dealing with Lionel right now. She’s dealing with a very bewildered Eirik instead. “Oh, uh. Hi, Eirik.” Yep. It’s definitely her. Awkward. “That was a good fight you had with Shishi, except for the, uh… you know.” You know, when you were called a cheater thanks to that weird mummy guy. “How… uh… are you?” Her tone seemed uncertain, perhaps even a little nervous. The sword could sense Khitti’s anxiety, that aura regaining its usual shine, as if to steady the female.

No matter how long he stares at Khitti he can’t get over the sight of her - It brought back a lot of memories he had hoped vanished within himself. Most notably, his uncontrollable rage. The northman couldn’t have picked a worse time to have an outburst. Lionel, the whole guild and everyone he had come to know were dropped because of it. He had missed out on missions over his choice, where his own skill might have come in handy. He wants to cough to break the uncomfortable silence that he’s unknowingly creating after her line of statements and questions, but refrains. “I uh. Ya it was a good fight.” Right up until Eirik took the blame. But that doesn’t matter so much right now. Instead he’s focused on regrouping his thoughts. “I’m… Good.” That level of awkwardness hasn’t depleted yet from his gaze, nor his stance. His hand does finally drop, which is a good sign. “You’re pregnant,” He states the obvious in an attempt to gain some normalcy in this situation. “I didn’t know.” It becomes very apparent that this Lycan shouldn’t have been awarded with the title of King of Love and Beauty. Instead it should have been the title King of Awkward and Obviously Rambling. He visibly shakes his head and finally collects his thoughts. “I’ve been meaning to talk with you. How are you?”

“Yeah… I, uh. A lot of things have happened since you left the guild.” Khitti looked down at her stomach, as if she’d somehow managed to forget that she was lugging around Brand’s monster of a child. “Yeah, that’s a thing too, heh. I’m better than I was. A lot better. Guess that happens when you die. Kinda changes your whole outlook on everything.” She shrugged, adjusting her stance a little in an attempt to appear calm. It worked a little. “But yeah… I got my cure finally. It took a lot, but… it was worth it in the end.” Despite the trouble it brought her, she was still happy that things were finally working out for her and Brand--as well as things could ever work out for Khitti, anyway.

Eirik does not expect Khitti to answer his question. Somewhere deep down in the pit of his stomach he’s still expecting her to yell at him. Maybe throw a pastry or two. Hell even flash a pair of swords or the one strapped to her. You know, do something more than just stand there and talk to him and deal with his terrible social skills. But she hasn’t done those things despite his presence. In fact the words he said some time ago, have not popped up in conversation. Leave it to Eirik to dredge that old memory up from the bowels of his own conscious mind. Gods this is bullspit, what a terrible time to happen upon her. I’m not ready to face this. But then out of nowhere, she produces those answers. She carries Brands monster of a child. She had also died, and his features pale. She died? Though such a travesty had happened to her, she looked great! “I see,” perhaps this will be easier than he thought? Though her words only bring about a million more questions, he has no right to ask them and instead stays the course. “So, I wanted to talk to you about that whole Amarrah thing.” He swallows back a lump in his throat, trying to locate the words. This is hard enough, learning to apologize, let alone the awkwardness of such a thing he had built up in his own mind. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. I also shouldn’t have thrown that out there in front of everyone. I shouldn’t have alienated you before the entire guild.” His voice goes low but his silver gaze seeks to make direct eye contact. “I wanted to work on clearing the air of that, and apologize.” It’s been eating at him for some time. “I abandoned a person who could have been a friend, who needed help, and for that.” He swallows once more. “I’m sorry.”

Khitti ’s crimson brows knit together as her own olive-green line of sight met with Eirik’s silver. He was… apologizing? She couldn’t help but blink a few times at him once he got all of his thoughts out. Khitti offered Eirik a warm smile. Wait, she does that? That smile was definitely there--he wasn’t imagining it--and she’d nod as well. “Amarrah’s dead, Eirik. She died when I did. Her, and everything that happened because of her, should remain dead too.” That’s an ‘I forgive you’ in Khitti-speak. She’d shift the topic of the conversation away from her and Amarrah-related things, mostly because some of those things still unfortunately lingered, and tilted her head somewhat, eyeing him curiously, “You… seem different too. Apparently Brand and I are not the only ones that’s changed this year. It seems like it’s for the better, though, yeah?”

Eirik finally takes a minute to breathe deeply. He had gotten through those words, no matter how badly he had stumbled previously. He did it. And Khitti’s response comes to life. All the awkwardness he carried before vanishes. “Ammarah’s dead.” He mutters those words to himself. “A lot has changed since the guild. I have done some terrible things.” Oh gods if he went into this right now, he’d be a wreck, so he refrains. She probably knows what he is referring to. The witches of Larket. “There are some differences. Mainly a gift I received from Valrae. Empathy.” He talks about the night she laid a curse on him, which has spurred on this person before her. “I’m also engaged to someone. Lanara, who’s uh.. A woodland witch. It happened pretty fast, because of certain circumstances, but you know. A very long engagement is due.” He says this because he and Lanara needed to see if he had personally felt this way for her. So they worked to temporarily lift the curse. Eirik saw the opportunity to ask her as himself without the gift for what it was. A once in a lifetime opportunity. “Spend most of my time in Venturil, but I’ve been weaving a few plans to get the last few witches out of Larket.” As a sort of way to start on a path of redemption. “In a lot of ways it is better. It’s just difficult to face the deeds of our pasts.” Eirik gives her one final nod and steps aside in case he’s holding her up from any meeting. This was only pure chance that he happened upon her. “I don’t mean to take up all your time.”

Khitti ’s smile grew even more, as if that were possible, when Eirik’s engagement was announced. She did know about the witches, and had heard about Valrae’s execution from Lionel. “I’m happy for you, but I understand. Brand and I are engaged as well.” -That- engagement had been a long time coming. “There’s someone who lives in Larket--at least I still think he does. He’s Meri’s boyfriend. She’s lost to us right now and I think helping the witches could do him some good. He just helped Lionel with the naga problem in Chartsend. I’m afraid he’s going to lose his way while she’s gone. If you need the help, maybe you could find him.” She paused, nodding her head towards the sword on her back, “Everyone’s capable of doing some good--especially people like us. The gods do listen, even if it doesn’t seem like it. I’m starting to think that they can’t change everything though. You’ve got to find it within you to free yourself. Without this gift, if this is how you truly want to be, and if you want to remain with this Lanara, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” She soon realized what time it was, and that she should definitely be getting home. “You didn’t, but I should definitely go. I need to drop a deposit off at the bank before I head back to the Tranquility. Oh! And, if you fancy taking Lanara on a date, you should bring her here. Seems a little silly on the outside, I guess, to people who don’t know much about fairy tales, but I could set things up all quiet and nice-like for the two of you. Can’t go wrong with giving sweets to your woman.”

Eirik listens intently to Khitti and proffers her a smile in return. “That’s good news Khitti!” He is excited to hear about her engagement, and truth be told she is full of wonderful ideas. “That sounds like and excellent idea.” Bringing Lanara here could make for a wonderful night. “Thank you Khitti. For listening and telling me about Meris partner. I’ll seek him out.” Without further word, he gives her a wave and heads on his way.