RP:Feather Crusher

From HollowWiki

Summary: Meri finally sees the full extent of Irenic’s curse.

Opening In The Trees

Thick trunks twist in and about one another, their branches splaying out to the high sky above. A canopy of pure greenery casts a startlingly beautiful light upon a black entrance between two trees. What lies within is unknown, though a strange smell of incense and herbs wafts from the blackness, overtaking senses and tuning out the swirling pollen and dust particles. The mist is heavy and in the thickly enclosed forest it seems to drag travellers into a sinking haze. You could stumble in any direction.



Meri 's path was set northward, headed straight for the shop that was set just a bit further off into the woods though at this late hour was there much chance that the herb shop would even be opened? Likely not, yet Meri was moving that direction, her pace a slow one. Though today she is in the company of a gray mare, the woman travels on foot, leading the beast by the reigns through the forest at a slow pace. The hooves of the horse thud dully against the earth, crunching leaves and crackling sticks beneath them, and making Meri's travels far from quiet. Outside of the presence of the horse, Meri is as she usually is, dressed in the same manner that she usually does. A jacket is worn though, covering a majority of the tattoos. Though winter has passed and the weather has been warming up, the night time air still affords quite a chill and Meri was a bit of a wuss in that respect. No fan of the cold.


Irenic lay on the floor of the woods out of breath and out of sorts. The shift from man to beast takes an unfathomably painful toll on the Avain and it transpired not long ago and it wouldn't be unusual if Meri might have heard a distant groaning/screaming/growling long before her approach, but odd sounds in the words are usual for this part of Lithrydel. The pounding in his head drowns out the sound of footsteps approaching and Meri managed to step on one of the newly grown wings which earns a gruff expletive come from the beast, in common no less! Pulling his large ivory wing free in order to roll out of the way and stand up towering over Meri being six eleven. Large birdlike eyes stare down at her in their mismatched hues while that familiar low tone barks down at her through a dark golden beak, “yeah, just go around stepping on people's wi-” a second more of looking down at blonde hair and red lips he stops dead in his tracks. Stepping back with large talons for feet she might recognize the tattoo patterns across fleshy tawny muscles which eventually blend into the feather covered areas of him, but tattered trousers cover up his lower half go an extent.


Meri had heard the growling and screaming from a distance though where in the distance this noise was coming from, the woman was unable to quite pin point that. Besides, the best thing to do if there was some creature around would be to probably get indoors, right? Her destination was not that much further north. Normally Meri was better about paying attention to her surroundings but for a few moments her thoughts begin to drift and her focus is just on the path ahead, no attention to the ground beneath her feet....or evidently the wing that she finds beneath one boot. The woman steps back and into Kadence, who does not really take kindly to the presence of this bird-like creature. It is something that Kadence has never seen before in her few years, her discomfort is obvious in the way that she whinnies and backs away from the creature they have just encountered. Recognition of the tattoos would not come instantaneously, it was dark and Meri would first be a bit too absorbed in other details of Irenic to really focus in on the tattoos. The wings, the beak, the height, was this thing aggressive? It sounded snarky. It could talk. "What the f-...." She cuts that sentence short with the realization that she is thinking out loud. The next words are perhaps an improvement, "Sorry. I did not...see...you...."


Irenic steps further back from the complaining horse and if he could actually scowl he would. Black claws on his hands raised up to his own head as if he were going to run them through his hair, but he remembers that there are feathers there now and stops himself. “Well… watch where you are going for (expletive)’s sake,” seems he opts for uglier words when he speaks common, but then again no one would know the wiser. The seeing eye, chilling silver one, takes in the sight of the mare and he suddenly remembers that he's starving. Currently living off liquor doesn't bode well for the hunger and a glance to Meri again, trying not to stare before he looks for a quick escape once more. He's trying to remain smooth, but hoping she won't completely recognize him yet and he can just dart. Being so hungry and tired at the moment he can't think straight or will himself to fly off or run away just yet… I mean it's not like she's screaming at the sight of him.


Meri doesn't retreat further, not when it Irenic himself begins to step backwards as well. The horse though, she really does not like the sight of that black claw and looses a snort of discomfort/disapproval and the blonde loosens her hold on the reigns, giving it more slack to allow Kadence to travel further backwards. Meri herself was too busy staring, for better or for worse, but trying to keep her expression neutral. The woman had heard of alot creatures in these lands but she had never seen one such as Irenic, and with patterns on his feathers that seem awfully familiar to her. Even now that Meri was more closely studying them she does not immediately place a face to the pattern. "Look I already said I was sorry, okay?" Comes her retort, her tone a snappy one. Seriously what more did this creature really want from her? Blue eyes linger on the bird-man's face now, finding something rather familiar about the guys eyes. Familiar, yet slightly different. Realization soon dawns on her, when she factors in the height as well. And the fact that just about every time she has seen Irenic his clothing has been tattered and he has been flat broke. "Irenic?" She would wait for him to either confirm or deny.


Irenic gives up. He's done trying to run and hide, but ultimately he's just tired anymore as his wings fold in close to his athletic frame. A sigh given, “yeah.” Who cares anymore and pretty soon he hopes to forget this curse ever even happened. “This is what the actual curse did to me…” yeah that stupid one where it tore apart any happiness he recently found, but that doesn't even matter anymore, either. Upon looking down he noticed a boot imprint on a few large feathers and usually he wouldn’t waste an OCD second on plucking the mucked up feathers from such pristine ivory massives, but he just doesn’t care anymore for when sun rises again they will be torn from him. Looking at such velvety looking wings one might understand the allure to drink all day without being accompanied by such beauties… They look so warm and inviting in their reflections of silvers and pearly whites, not to mention the smell, too. He waits for her to leap on her horse and ride off, wouldn’t blame her either.


Meri would not leap up onto Kadence and ride away, the horse was kind of on the spoked side anyway. One wrong move from Irenic could easily startle Kadence and that would not likely bode well for Meri. Even now it is a wonder that the beast of burden did not decide that it wanted to run, as if Mer's hold on the reigns could stop this from happening. Besides, her destination was not too far to the north and in the past Irenic has not proven to be a threat to her. Just because Meri was not riding away does not mean that she was going to be great for conversation, the woman was finding herself rather at a loss of what to say, stuck in her own mind as she mulls over the details of Irenic's curse. He turns into a birdman. He seems to struggle with memory. In his human form his language is limited. And this is a curse of love? A frown weighs at her red lips, booted feet bringing her closer to the horse that would rather be traveling away from Irenic than being forced to stay. The hand not holding the reigns is lifted so that Meri can lightly pet the side of Kadence's neck, trying to soothe the beast. As far as what to say to Irenic? The only thing that comes to mind is, "....I am sorry...."


Irenic let out a low chuckle and the menace in his gruff tone is more noticeable without the allure of Veretian, “Why are you sorry? You didn’t do this. The person who activated this curse doesn’t seem sorry either…” The memory of watching just how little his ex cares causes just a second of pain to be visible on his feathered expression and awkward silence, “I’m currently trying to look for a sort of loophole and hopefully I won’t remember any of this soon.” Another awkward pause watching how she was trying to calm down her horse, “I understand if you must go.” He was still sort of backing away from the horse for he knows what this looks like. He wouldn’t be surprised if Meri was able to hear his stomach calling out for food and he covered his abdomen with a feathery hand as if that would help muffle it.


Meri gives a slight shake of her head at the notion of needing to leave, she was in no pressing hurry and didn't really want to offend Irenic. "No, I was just going to go visit a friend of mine who wasn't really expecting me. I don't even know if he is in, chances are the shop is closed for the night and he has bailed." Comforting of Kadence ceases long enough for Meri to point to the building to the north. While the woman herself is not in a hurry to leave, it sounds like Irenic is starving. Would he even make it into a place to buy food? Did he hunt? Meri did not know, but Kadence does have one of those bags slung over her side and Meri abandons all attempts to comfort now so that she can get unlatch the bag and pull out her rations, wrapped up in a clean piece of cloth. What did Irenic eat? She did not know, but Kelay was not far from here and she could easily pick up more food on her way through. Inside he would find the usual travel food, dried fruit, bread, dried meats. "Here." She says, holding it out for Irenic to take. "You think there is a loophole? Do you have any leads on this? How can you find a loophole if you don't remember things....?" As far as the lack of remorse on the part of his ex, there is no comment from Meri and the woman has no realization she just spent the other day speaking and drinking with Valrae.


Irenic greedily takes the food with a short, “thanks,” before demolishing the food from his hands with his beak. The food nearly hurts going down, “I can remember nearly everything in the timeline of which they happened when I turn back into this beast, but the painful shift from day to night and then back again is slowly ripping apart my mind.” He doesn’t offer this type of information for sympathy, but just giving the facts, “we are going to try a few things. First things first is a forget potion where it will erase everything about her from my mind and hopefully it physically backtracks before the night where he confessed our… Love - or whatever.” He nearly spat out the word ‘love’, “Then I can look as I do during the day, speak common like I am now and have these wings.” An awkward pause rest between them before mentioning his last and dangerous resort, “And if that doesn’t work then my friend is just going to curse me of her own way in hopes to counter it.”


Meri just listens. By now Kadence was starting to settle down as the beast begins to come to the realization that Irenic is at least not going to attack. There was a safe amount of distance between the horse and the bird, it has been deemed acceptable enough. When Irenic is done expressing his plan of action, all Meri can do is nod her head in acceptance of his ideas. What is the man to do? Obviously he was in quite a mess and desperate times called for desperate measures. "I wish I could be of more help to you, Irenic. Magic is not something that I am at all well versed in, so this is all really out of my element, you know? But it sounds like you have a couple of plans to try....I hope that one of them is effective..." Because frankly Meri could not understand how the guy could tolerate living like he is from much longer, and she only has a basic understanding of his plights. "At the very least perhaps a counter-curse, so to speak, could maybe at least....alleviate some of the issues? If it cannot fully fix them?" Meri, as she has already expressed, had no idea how these things worked though.


Irenic takes a mental note of Meri’s unwillingness to come near him. “I really have no idea either, this is all out of my hands, but I more than likely deserved it.” There was a sort of smirk in the way he talked now as if he was happy to suffer - almost. “I mean, I wouldn’t put it past a scorned woman to have done this eons ago. I don’t even know how my latest ex managed to get this sort of reaction.” Slowly he starts to recall the events falling in place. The Queen's wedding, the digging for an orphan boy, Quizzical, to only find him lifeless.. The crying and another quick pained expression somehow shows on his birdface. “Oh… Yeah.” Mismatched eyes look to the skies in the direction of Rynvale where he buried the boy. He mentally shakes the memory away before asking Meri, “You wish you could help?” Large eyes studying her as if he could read her like a book, “why?”


Meri herself was not unwilling to come near Irenic, but she did have a horse that did not want to go near him. Short of tethering the beast to a nearby tree she was just standing and casually holding the reins at a distance that seemed to keep the gray mare from being fussy. A frown weighs at the woman's lips as she considers all of these details and a brow is lifted over the fact that Irenic seems so surprised that Meri might even be entertain the idea of a willingness to help. "I don't know? What do you mean why?" The woman's nose crinkles up and her gaze is set skyward as she considers how to explain why she would be willing to help in a way that actually makes sense. "I guess because if I ever find myself in a pinch of trouble I would want there to be people to be willing to help me to...If that even makes any sense." Meri shrugs at this point, her gaze dropping from canopy back to Irenic. "And if it doesn't really make any sense to you well then...Sorry, that's really all I have got for an answer to that."


Irenic gives a subtle shrug, “yeah that makes sense, but I am sure you have many friends that can help you.” He offers in genuine honestly since she seems so friendly, who wouldn’t help Meri. “Heck, I’ll even forgive the stepping on my wing since you gave me something to eat.” A shallow chuckle given just before another awkward pause, “that's right… I still have you repay you for our failed night. I must have racked up quite the tab… If they will even let me back in the Broken Barrel.” A short groan came over him now, “last time I was there I sort of got into a bit of a scuffle because I didn’t have any gold again… And this time there wasn’t some pretty lady to pay it.”


Meri finds herself rolling her shoulders in a shrug at Irenic's very first point, who knew who she could really count as a friend should she ever find herself in need of one. This land and these people in it could be so fickle, couldn't they? A bird joke comes to mind, about how one should not count their chickens before they hatch. It almost rolls right off Meri's tongue but she manages to catch herself, thankfully. A light roll of her eyes at what she presumes to be a joke, because really, Irenic forgive her? Meri also chuckles, and then Irenic goes on to mention their failed night. That point is met with a shrug, "Well, when you pay me back bring the money for the tab you have racked up there and I will see if I can talk to Simon. I've known him a few years by now so..." Blue eyes pull away from Irenic and come to rest northward, "Speaking of friends, I did say I was going to pay one of mine a visit, hm? And you have loopholes to investigate....I am sure our paths will cross again soon, Irenic." Irenic definitely would have chucked at her joke and smirk if he could, but the humor in his gaze should be enough when she speaks of them meeting again, “looking forward to it. Au Revoir.” He sort of chuckles at that before taking a moment to see the view of her walking away until he takes off into the skies with magnificent force.