RP:Face to Face

Summary: Thamalys is trying to embrace his old self, following a number of disturbing revelations he recently learned in Scherezade. Luckily for the Avian, Emilia is on her way to dispense some direly needed assistance. Cornered by some grim piece of the Genasi’s past, the Blue pleads guilty to two pieces of knowledge - one of which is now known by three creatures only in the whole of Lithrydel: the Spellblade, the Icy One, and a certain Black Dragon. In the end, the two (three if you count Nebb) indulged into a night flight toward Frostmaw…

Larket: Bridge to the Void

Thamalys leaned against the railing, sighing loudly enough. He had a whole bunch of perfectly elliptical pebbles - harvested the Wind only knew where exactly - in his left hand, the right one from time to time plunging into the stony mix to pick randomly one of them and subsequently throwing it into the swirling liquid mass of the Vibrance, carelessly flowing below. To each throw, a furious, almost feral growl would have followed, no matter if some onlooker raised a brow. Oddly enough, the Blue sported a most peculiar outfit, entirely dominated by the colour black, in fact. Black leather pants embracing tightly those impossibly long legs, and an ample, apparently silky shirt embroidered with silverly motifs of stars and moons, hanging rather loose indeed from his tattooed shoulders. Barefooted as always he was, the knotty mass of his dreadlocks just falling unchecked across back and face alike, hiding most of his lineaments behind an ivory white curtain. No sign of his feathery companion, nor of his metallic one. Just him, pondering the monumental truths he just recently learned thanks to a fellow Avian and a rather impolite High Elf.

Emilia had heard from a local that a strange man with silver wings was causing a small scene at the bridge that once lead the was to her home place of Ara, since the crashing of the city the Genasi had fled to a new home away from Larket. Bare feet walked in silence toward the growling man as he threw the stones into the watery depths of the river. The tiny woman sported a new tattoo that was highly visible as it started on her right foot and worked its way up her leg to below her knee. A deep blue midnight sky speckled with stars and intricate snowflakes of various size, no two the same. In cut off shorts only a few inches down past her waist, very much too short, and a fitted shirt of a black shade with several holes scattered across the fabric. Standing next to the man the little woman reached without speaking over to rest her black left hand on his wrist that had been throwing the stones. It was a chilled touch with a mix of caring love, “Not Lost…” she would whisper in a soft tone.

Thamalys felt the frosty touch of the Genasi right before engaging in yet another toss. He knew, he cherished, he welcomed that cold, and yet he would have not immediately raised his head to meet the blue gaze of the Icy One - not yet. Instead, he simply opened his left hand, letting each and every one of the tiny stones to fall into the rumbling water. A slow, almost painful gesture, a part of him so desperately wanting to follow them into the river and drawn his memories into it once and for all. Instead, he exhaled, eventually acknowledging the presence of the Wintry Lady, straightening himself while pivoting on his heels, hands firmly seizing the parapet still. “Not Lost… well said, my lady. Apparently, even if I strayed anywhere in Lithrydel I could always count on you to find me… I am glad you are here.” he stated in a tired - if genuine - tone, scrutinising with a note of sparkling interest indeed the new masterpiece adorning yet another portion of her skin. “Ah, I see you have opted for yet another addition to your inky collection… this one is mightily beautiful… who is the skilful author, I wonder… it still would not beat the raven, no, and yet… do I remember a scar sitting there where only snowflakes can now be seen? Yes, yes, most certainly…” he commented softly, almost as if deeply lost in thoughts, swiftly turning his head away from her once more, nailing his solid blue eyes into the spiralling motifs of the water dashing below. After a brief silence, he reprised, this time in his deepest pitch, frankly quite unnerving. “Tell me… do you recall the story of that scar? The very moment it came to life, the pain, and whatever followed soon after? Do you have that in your memories?” he angrily inquired, suddenly rather annoyed by the fact that he run out of pebbles or indeed anything else to thrown into the river.

Emilia gave a gentle smile to the Blue as he finally turned to face her. In those bright blue eyes there was an ever true emotion of deeply rooted care for the winged man swirling in the icy depths, "I will always find you when you need found most..." her words a gentle whisper as he turned to look back at the water once more. "Meri did this one, she is a wonderful artist with a great mind too. She helped me finish the raven that I had started on my own. Some parts and directions are hard to ink on oneself..." the Genasi admitted. When Tham began to question about her now hidden scar the little woman turned to face the river too. However, she moved with that unnatural grace of hers to try and slip under his arm to place herself between him and the bridge. If allowed, she'd just stand there and place one hand over his giving a gentle squeeze, "Do I remember the scar? Yes, I remember it. It came about after I was rescued from months of being kidnapped by a drow and held underground. I still sported a gold anklet that was drawing my ice core slowly out of my body, locking my magic away into it. Using every bit of effort in my body I drew it back out to help someone in need...The fight over my own magic sent a jolt along the flesh and left behind the streaks of blue. I couldn't feel it...I am sure the burn of magic should hurt, but long ago I lost sensation to pain except those of the most extreme...Shortly after though the pain of dying started to kick in. I was turning human again into a body that without the ice element was long dead...that was painful....Why do you ask?”

Thamalys listened in silence, perfectly still were if not for a tiny movement of his arm, raising that much he needed to accommodate the Icy One sneaking below it. Without even realising it, a very, very small portion of his massive weight would have rested upon her shoulder, his arm more or less unconsciously looking for some more of that unique cold he knew he would have soothed many of the thoughts racing madly within him. Dreadlocks still between the two of them, she could have not noticed him clenching his teeth during her tale, a shard of genuine loath dedicating to that Dark Elf wherever he may have been. “You see? So easy… you barely had to think about it. I ask, o’ Wintry Lady, as I envy you. No matter the sorrow you endured, you know every detail of it. It is you past, it is who you are, it is who brought you to this day, over this bridge. Pain, and loss… ah, they probably make sense, do they, if you can position them in time…” he begun in a soft voice, chiefly addressing himself. “Nevertheless. You will be happy to know I came to learn my name - once more. Thamalys-Tzur ae Feinkthan, apparently. Absolutely delighted to make your acquaintances a second time…” he actually muttered through what seemed to be some sort of sad laughter. “It sounds glorious, does it not? A grand name, a noble name, a name for an Avian destined to greatness and marvellous deeds, perhaps?” he went on, turning this time the whole of him toward the Genasi, facing her squarely - but for the ever comical gap with respect to their heights, which the Blue decided it was time to end, at least for that very day. As such, if allowed, he would effortlessly lifted the Icy One into the air, his hands on her hips, positing her eyes exactly levelled to his. He was not going to kneel, in that perilous state of mind. “Well, it is the name of a bastard. A butcher, an arrogant, sodding chunk of boisterous winged meat. That is who I was. Somebody I would never dare to doubt told me as such, bringing back much of my memories at once. I longed for them to come back to me… and when they did, they just laid bare who I truly am: somebody to loath, to despise, somebody definitely not worth of your respect. So much for the bloody past…” he concluded, trying to lower the Frosty Lady on the ground once more, gently, with a care that nothing had to do with his words. Lost, he was no more, but torn apart he found himself indeed.

Emilia stared into those eyes of the Blue, piercing past the surface depths into the sorrow that currently was plaguing the Winged One. Tiny as she was the frozen one was easily lifted by the strong arms of the avian, she didn't stop him nor make any effort to either. In the air at eye level to the man the little woman reached out with her white hand to rest it lightly on the side of his face, if allowed, and would lightly trace her thumb over his cheek bone while he spoke his tale to her. Once he was done she would speak, "Once, long ago I was learning to control the magic of mine with teaching of another. In the lesson there was an accident...and I lost every memory of mine. Sabrina was there when I awoke with no idea of who I was...Everyone around me knew who I was, shared some bond and memory with me, telling me who I was and what kind of person I was. I was as lost as you are now, if not more lost.... One day a man kidnapped me into a dessert and broke into my head with his magic, destroying the fog but unleashing everything in one flood. It shattered me and released another being that had been trapped all along, the real beast to the ice. When the anklet finally shattered that other seemed to vanish...perhaps lost in the dust or relocked away, I have no idea. So, I understand your pain. I know what it is like to be a mental mess and I have faith that in time you will find the answers you seek with ability to answer without a second thought. Until then and even after then I will always be here for you. Your past does not worry me. You will find the you that you want to be. " Her words ended as he chose then to lower her back to her feet. If anything, this is the motion she would object as she enjoyed sharing a similar height with him.

Thamalys could sense some sort of resistance coming from the slender forms of the Genasi - and yet, he proceeded to settle her down on the ground, as he had too much on his mind to even accomplish a simple task on top of keeping his thoughts at bay. For one thing, the Ageless Black, as always when the Blue was in the company of the Wintry Lady, stood utterly silent, his presence cowered somewhere deep into his mind. That was another secret she deserved to know - he thought, if I have to spill the beans, let’s have the whole lot of them… not exactly now, though, as he learned about yet another shade of the Icy One. “I… did not know that. I probably know the tiniest bit of your past, as it seems each and every tale I have to offer founds some counterpart in you… a meagre consolation, I guess, as very little joy we share within our pasts…” he commented, casually resting his left arm on the railing while crossing his legs, the rims of his wings twitching slightly. “Old broken things, that is what we are you and me… how old, I wonder? Do you have the answer to that question as well? Apparently, I date back more than a whole century… not much for an Avian, and yet so much must have happened that I still cannot recall… ah…” he moaned to the Wind, his eyes suddenly spotting the feathery shapes of Nebb circling high above the trees, not entirely unaware of the struggle tearing his master apart, and yet still more keen on pursuing some elegant dive within the chilly sky than participating in that queer conversation. “Look at him - doomed to return to dust in less than a decade… how blissful that must feel. And yet, my sorrow will ever be soothed knowing I can count on you. Which is why, my dearest creature in the whole of sodding Lithrydel, I am going to tell you the last two pieces of me - so that you can truly judge whether you really want to waste your care on me. The first piece of knowledge…” he begun, eyes still fixed on the Red Kite swirling around like a falling leaf in autumn, “… is that I had a brother. Who is no more - and because of me alone. The second one…” he swiftly moved on, the shame dripping from those words so plain, and this time leaning the whole of him toward the Wintry Lady, arching his full body to bring his brow, if no resistance would have been encountered, that is, to connect with hers, the eyes of the two creatures mere inches away, blue on blue, the ultimate masterpiece of a godly painter. “… is that I carry in my mind the soul of the Dragon that impaled him. He… is old, and cruel, and basks into my pain. No one but you knows this, and I do not wish anything different. He constantly tries to drive me toward evil and madness, a constant throbbing pulse… unbearable it is the pain he brings into me, a sorrow that never ceases. And yet, when I am with you… for some reason the bastard would just stay silent - I can barely feel him inside of me… you… you do this to me. No idea why, but I cherish every single moment in your company, and the mere fact you exists shove so much pain away from me…” and whilst that speech, he would have rested an increasing fraction of his weight upon her, as desperately trying to seize some more of that soothing dearest cold.

Emilia settled her feet on the ground as he let go of her, yet she stayed close to him without any fear or change of emotion after his revealing of self knowledge to her. Listening the woman feel silent, intrigued by this first and then second facts he choose to share with her. Forehead against forehead, blue gaze staring into blue gaze the Icy One did not break away from him, nor did she blink in surprise. She knew something was unique about him, not this unique yet she accepted it with no change of emotion. Both hands this time would fall to resting on his cheeks, a surge of icy chill pushing out of them onto his flesh with an attempt of a peaceful chill wave to sooth his aching mind. "Thamalys, you are a wonder to this world. Memories or not you will become the man you want to be and I will be here at your side to help you get past the pain of refinding your past and developing your future. I cared about you before this reveal and I still care about you now.”

Thamalys felt a surge of something he could have easily labeled as relief, in part because of the frosty touch of the Genasi, but chiefly as her words did struck a very inner chord. He closed his eyes, sighing. Whatever word he could have added to her last sentence it would have felt out of place, like a hastened last verse attached on a already perfect piece of poetry. No, he would have stay silent, while taking an hold of her wrists with his own hands, gently pulling them away from his marble-like skin framing those tattooed lineaments. Shortly after, he would have indeed move away from her by a whole step, straightening himself up once more - but not before having tried to place a strange, shy manner of kiss on her forehead. Bringing both index fingers to his lips, then, after having turned around by half a turn to face the forest looming in the distance, he would have produced the loudest whistle possible, recalling the winged scoundrel to order. Indeed Nebb seemed to notice, more or less gliding toward them. “So be it then… did you really make your way to this very bridge to take care of a fairly mental Avian, o’ Kindest? I was about to send word to you, as… well…” he would have cleared his throat, no matter what, some embarrassment would have always found him somehow. “… I was wondering whether I could stay for a while at your place in Frostmaw, far away enough from these people who dared to put you behind bars… that is, assuming that would not bother you too much… I can be as discrete as needed, I walled places I only use them to sleep into from time to time… and I can help with the greenhouse as well… ” he concluded the brass necked, in his defence quite in dire need to steer clear of the Larketian grounds for quite a while, though.

Emilia thought she knew the avian, but it was the kiss to her forehead that caught her off guard. The Genasi turned a shade or three of blue from his simple action, but it would fade before long. A smile on those frosted blue lips, "I have said it before you are always welcome at any place that is mine for as long as you need. The greenhouse in Frostmaw has a small attachment built onto it. You can stay there as long as you need the space. I find myself that Larket no longer feels like home or a place to stay for me either. After being jailed...I just need a new city to call home.”

Thamalys nodded gratefully, as he could relate seamlessly with her last sentence. He would have missed the Academy, and some work had to be done still to rebuild the House of Ara… but he needed some time to heal wounds too deep for any healer other than the Wintry Lady to try and fix. “Well, then… I believe it is time for us to get a view of the city lights from above…” he offered, kneeling already to allow the Genasi to climb his wings till she found that spot right in the middle of his shoulders - probably after having dusted away some cheeky dreadlocks getting in the way. The whole procedure was not entirely new to them, so that only very little time passed between the ascent of the Icy One and the take off of the Wingest Beast. An interesting one, though, the latter was, as the Blue opted to just mount on the parapet of the bridge, spreading at the same time those huge silvery wings, only to simply leap into the void, missing the foaming mass of the Vibrance by a dreadful extent. Surely enough he glided at a respectful distance from the roaring waters, eventually swooping up those wings and climbing the wind till he reached the feathery shapes of Nebb already soaring above the trees. To Frostmaw, then, where the snowy sky would have welcomed the three of them as what they truly were: beasts of old, in dire need of time and rest.

This RP is linked to: RP:The Ageless Black