RP:Colorful Apologies

Part of the Time Heals All Wounds Arc

Synopsis: Penelope is around the Frostmaw range due to a consult at the clinic, but afterwards, she thinks about stopping by Talyara's cottage to ask her about some magical references, but remember Krice? Yeah, that guy answered the witch's door. The rushing feelings of the night Penelope called Krice ruthless comes back, and she ends up apologizing. Did it go well? Well, only time will tell.

Lharast Cottage

Penelope was an intellectual, and for that, she was born with a curious mind. A mind that was impatient. A mind that was colorful. For the colorful ones always sought for answers, so it was no wonder why the softly freckled one was on the witch’s doorstep. A fur-lined vest, black leather skinnies, and some black edgy boots to top it off. Her ears were covered by furred ear-muffs to keep the cold bite away. Magic was the reason the girl awaited, and it was because the druid wanted a head start before a lesson. The druid wanted to study the basics of druidic magic, so Penelope was looking for library suggestions. The human knew that the witch said she was welcome to the cottage anytime—just past the garden would the cottage rely. The girl knocks three times before taking her place back in composure.

Krice was a man who was also intellectual, though whether or not he used his mind in any special capacity today remained to be seen, but there he was answering the door dressed only in his usual black attire despite the chill of Frostmaw - collar open, sleeves rolled to his elbows. Penelope only had to wait for fifteen seconds before her call was answered, met by the enigma whose features were calm and unassuming. "Hi," he said simply in greeting, attempting to forgo any awkwardness she might feel given their last encounter.

The look of surprise is extremely evident on the healer’s face as the dark-haired warrior opens the door. The flat, cool expression that he gives her makes her sort of rock on her heels. Awkward, pfft? Yeah, she was with the face of embarrassment. “Oh, err.. hi.” Everyone give a round of applause for an amazing greeting. The healer had forgotten that Talyara and Krice were an item. She did not expect Krice living with anyone, for she always depicted him made of stone. Soft stone, but everyone knew he was Krice. Quiet Krice. Krice even dated. Right. Perhaps she truly did not know him at all. Eyes of juniper start to peer over his shoulder as she stands on her tippy toes to make it blatant she was there for someone else. “Talyara. She home?”

Krice figured Penelope wasn't there to see him. Though some people knew about his relationship with Talyara, no one directly knew that he shared her cottage. Following Penelope's query after his companion's presence, the warrior shook his head but held the door open as he stepped aside to invite her in. " She isn't - but she'll probably return soon. Wanna come in?" His expression softened as a result of her awkwardness but he didn't comment on it directly. Penelope might find that his energy was relaxed despite their recent history.

Penelope sucked in her cheeks to make them hollow out of thought. “Well, I probably won’t stick around too long. I made a quick stop at the clinic in Frostmaw for a consult. A perhaps transferring patient.” Doctor stuff. The usual. The woman thankfully would begin to feed off of the man’s energy. Her shoulders begin to relax as she makes her way into a more opened space to face him directly. “Besides, I need to get back before dark,” there was a long pause as she took in the surroundings of the cottage. The layout, the home-smells, the warmth. “How’ve you been? Well, I hope?”

Krice closed the door in Penelope's wake and turned to face her as she entered the cabin, his gaze fixed on what he could see of her features - the back of her head if she was turned away. The cottage smelled like lavender and various faded scents of herbs, most if not all of which the healer would recognize. She and Talyara were similar that way. When she spoke of departing soon, he nodded his understanding but the conversation turned to talk of his welfare shortly after. "I'm fine," was his customary but honest reply. "How're you doing?" Ever the conversationalist.

Penelope gave him a blank, doe-eyed stare at his response. The lavender that wafts throughout the home brings serenity to her body. He was fine. Living fair. What he deserved. As the question is pressed forward in return, she sort of shrugs. “Fine,” she answered, but really she had not asked herself that question in a while. “Safe,” she sort of hints at the man, but she cannot keep bare explanations for long. “Linken’s gone. You were right in that sense for me to stay away,” she admits before holding her hand up to him. There were burn scabs that were faintly turning into scars. “I can’t help him… he is unpredictable. I left him in the temple of Arkhen…” The girl clenches her hand into a fist to lower it back down to her side. “Other than that drama, there is loads on my plate that I can’t really put into words exactly, though Taly has offered to be of assist,” the physician concludes. “Which is why I’m here. I just needed a few books, but really, I should be asking a librarian.” The short woman was talking too much at this point. Especially for pushing the man to the side.

Krice didn't seem overly reactive to Penelope's admission that he was right, though his expression shadowed into a concerned frown as he noted the burn scars on her hands. If only she had listened to him... Whether or not he had experience with stubborn women beyond Penelope remained to be seen, but he took it in stride and nodded at her revelation that Linken was 'gone'. The Temple of Arhken was hardly 'gone' but at least he wasn't anywhere near them for now. With Talyara once more brought into the conversation, he nodded again and cast a casual glance toward the front of the cabin, his expression still relaxed though something warmer touched the gold in his eyes. "Talyara knows a lot about... healy things," he mused. "She'll be here soon." A beat, and then, "Want something to drink, or?"

“Right. Soon.” The girl then shifts slightly out of contemplation. The drink offer is ignored entirely. “No, I don’t,” she says too quickly. “I mean… Well, what I mean to say is, and what I really –want- is not a drink.” Why was thinking of words difficult? The woman slowly takes off her earmuffs to hold them down at her side. “What I want is to apologize, Krice,” her eyes are soft and steady on his face. She speaks slower to articulate the apology with sincerity. “I’m sorry, Krice. I never should have even said what I said. There’s no excuse for my unkind words at the tavern. You were just trying to help, and… when I was in the forest, when I was burned, I realized what you were talking about.” Linken was nuts. That was it. “Even so, I should have trusted in you over… him. I let my emotions get the best of me, and for that, I was disrespectful. I don’t expect anything in return,” pause. Breath. “I just need you to know that I was wrong. I need you to know that I was foolish. And I need you to know that I do care about you, and don’t think you’re… um, ruthless.” The Ardelian then holds her tongue after the last verse. She sort of backs towards the door instead of moving inside the cottage. “I think that I can just talk to Talyara in a few days. I’m meeting with her anyway. I was just in the area, figured I’d stop by. It’s nothing over-the-top important, anyway.” She switches subjects really quick, for the sake of her itching to leave due to spilling sticky apologies.

Talyara had spent the better part of the day volunteering her services at the fort clinic. Not that the public clinic in Frostmaw was far from her cottage, but the fort was obviously closer. And the little witch did her best to bounce back and forth between the two to help as many people as she could. Candlelight flickers in windows and smoke unfurls cozily from the chimney signaling to Taly that Krice is inside and her booted steps hurry up the path as quickly as the snow will allow. Taylor and Ella, the witch's feline familiars, seem to sense their mistress's closeness and come meandering down the hall into the living room. Taylor resembles a typical house cat, raven fur with large, amber eyes. Ella, is a bit more unique looking; she was a gift from Khitti, a tikifhlee kitten with greenish black fur and charcoal eyes. Both girls move towards Krice and arch their backs to rub against his legs in an affectionate gesture. Outside the cottage, Talyara is eager to get inside and out of the cold. So without giving it a second thought, she pushes the key into the lock and throws the door open. "I swear you warriors are the biggest -babies- when it comes to being sick!" Taly laments in a whine as she crosses the threshold and nearly knocks straight into Penelope. "Oh!" she exclaims, quickly sidestepping so as not to trample her fellow healer causing her to clumsily knock into a side table and send a bowl of crystals crashing to the floor, glass shards exploding on the aerial rug. "Oh damn," she huffs out in frustration and leans down to quickly pick up the pieces of broken glass. "Hi Penelope! I'm so sorry, I wasn't expecting you!"

Krice was ever calm and focused on Penelope, completely opposite to the uncertainty that rippled off her in waves--or maybe it only seemed so to him, sensitively aware as he was. WHen she finally anaged to apologize for their last encounter, something in his eyes changed to reflect subtle discontent. As he remembered it, the healer had practically called him a wild murderer who swung his sword wrecklessly at anybody. It wasn't... pleasant. Her acknowledgment of him -not- being 'ruthless' weighted his gaze and he diverted it back to the door, casually avoiding the deeper emotions that might have been attached to his reaction. He was only aware that Talyara's familiars had emerged and rubbed against his legs when they walked beyond him toward the door. Penelope didn't expect anything from him, and that was his reply. " You'll get nothing from me that I don't already give," he said, speaking of their pleasant acquaintanceship. When Talyara emerged from the cold outside, Krice arched a brow at the words she spoke on her way in and he mumbled a gentle reminder: " I don't get sick." So that was at least -one- warrior would could never be accused of being a baby. He stepped forward when she stumbled into a side table, reaching out to touch her shoulder when she crouched to clean up the resultant mess. " I got it, little lady," he murmured, obvious affection in his voice. The warrior brushed his fingertips across her cheek as he also crouched, speaking loud enough for the other healer to hear. " Penelope came to talk to you, so go ahead."

Penelope searched at the discontent that swarmed his gaze. She was not a complete mess, but the tension in her shoulders is visibly back. ‘You’ll get nothing from me that I don’t already give’ and there is a nod in silent response, but then there was the run through with the witch. The crystals shatter to the floor, and she mutters an, “Oh, shi—“ but she holds her tongue out of respect. It looks like everyone is leaning down to pick up the shards in this cramped entrance. The affection that Krice gives Talyara is unfamiliar. As in, even one of the most stoic men she knew could flourish in a relationship. So why was Penelope so reluctant about romance? “Sorry, Talyara. I really wasn’t expecting me either,” she laughs rather sheepishly. “I was just stopping by.” Her eyes sort of flick up to the couple. “I was just in the area at the clinic for a consultation for a transfer patient. Then I thought I would stop by for some book recommendations for some beginner elemental magic,” she then waves her hand, and stands up. “But I don’t need it right away, actually. Actually I should probably get going. It’s getting late and, well, the road gets weary in the dark, though, no worries. I’ll be seeing you soon, anyway.” Without even another beat, she is moving around Talyara to shimmy out the door into the brisk. “Talyara, apologies for the mess and good to briefly see you.” She then places her earmuffs over her ears. “Krice,” there was a beat. “Take care of yourself.” Genuine. Graceful. The nerves are gone due to saying her peace.

Talyara halts her crouching when Krice approaches and touches her shoulder, expressing that he will clean up the mess she made. She shares a sweet smile with the warrior when he brushes her cheek before turning to face Penelope now and tugging off her scarf, she is quick to wave off her apology. "Please no worries! You are always welcome here! Can I--" The physician is already slipping around her to take her leave. "You are welcome to stay here for the night so you don't have to walk in the dark?" the little witch offers. The intuitive part of her knows that Penelope will turn down the offer, but Talyara was still glad she asked anyway. "I'll bring a book with me when we meet up soon, alright?" she offers the woman with a kind smile. They were supposed to have dinner at the cottage behind the sanctuary soon anyway. "Be careful out there!" Talyara calls out, closing and locking the door behind her as she leaves, but, ever the caretaker, watching from the window until she disappears into the garden south of the cottage.

Krice had seen odd behaviour before but that didn't make him any less immune to the bemusement caused by it. Penelope's rush to leave inspired frustration and he paused, with his fingers tented over some shards of crystal, to watch as she rushed out the door. What was... the point? With brows furrowed in clear confusion, the warrior stood to watch Talyara bid the other healer farewell and parted his lips to speak, but then the door was locked and Penelope was leaving. His frown deepened to an exasperated grimace and he stepped toward Talyara, reaching past her to unlock the door and open it. "Just a sec," he said quietly to his companion before stepping out to call after the other healer. "Penelope, don't be silly. Just talk to Taly while I clean up this mess, and then I'll walk you down, okay?" So she wasn't walking in the dark - after achieving what she came here to do.

There was a time in the girl’s life where she became a shell of a coating façade. Although colorful in parts of her mind, there was a part of her that remained in the grey part of her personality. Some took her discarding to others personally while others understood the routinely manner of the Ardelian. The grey sugar coating. A moment of grey, for example, is when the healer uses nonchalant kindness and patterned behaviors to move from destination to next to get through an emotional difficulty. A moment of color is when the woman waves Talyara off with a genuine goodbye as the door closed behind her. As the door opens, however, Krice is hollering her way. She turns with that grey form of grace until he calls her ‘silly’. “I always have been silly to you, haven’t I?” Her eyes squint, but she is not looking at him. Instead, it’s abyss in thought. Her eyes snap back to reality. “I just want you to know that if it’s important, it’s important. Talyara said she would see me for lunch. It’s not a big deal, Krice. I thank you for caring, considering the situation, but leave it alone. It’ll unravel itself and life will fall into place. Again,” she says in a soft, stoic tone. “Take care.” And with that, she is gone.