RP:Schrodinger's Khat

From HollowWiki

Part of the Do You Believe In Magic? Arc


Summary: Linn and DomiBrand return to Frostmaw after their ordeal in Raiez's cave and finds Pilar in the tavern. The gypsy woman finds out that not only are they sans Khitti, but they're not sure if Pilar's adopted sister is alive or dead.

Frostmaw Tavern

It was a brisk night, even for Frostmaw. The tavern was packed with people trying to get warm. Many were crowded around the fire, but not Pilar. She sat at a table in the corner, alone, a mug of hot cider in her hand. She had returned from her trip to Vailkrin emotionally drained and worried sick. Thoughts of losing those she loved plagued her mind. Thoughts of those lost already followed soon after. Pilar sniffled and wiped her eyes. She needed some good news.

And good news was coming. Well, sort of. An illusion kicked the door open hard enough that it swung to hit the wall -- an illusion just slightly translucent and scowling with the intensity of a thousand grumpy cat memes. Not that anyone here knew what a meme was. Anyway, aforementioned sourpuss illusion was carrying someone fairly familiar to Pilar in his arms: Dominic. Odd… he and the illusion shared the same attire and the same eyes, though that was where the similarities ended. The shadow of a man was taller, more muscled and scar-littered, with short, rusted blonde hair that shone as if the illusion had been sweating and exerting quite a bit of energy to get here. Nevermind that that didn’t make sense. Maybe it was just a really realistic illusion? Whatever. Roll with it. The shadow stepped into the tavern, clearly looking for someone. A familiar face. There had to be one of those around here, right? And there, conveniently, was Pilar -- and the illusion strode forward towards her table before setting Dominic down to hobble the last few feet and pull up a chair. He had a twisted ankle or somesuch, it seemed… but he was very much alive. Dominic stammered some sort of vague, tired greeting before plunking his head down on the table; the illusion stood by but turned back toward… wherever Linn had gotten to in all this.

Linn followed Dominic and his illusory carrier into the tavern, looking a little worse for wear himself. He wasn't necessarily -physically- injured, well, there were the bandages around his right forearm, replacing the sleeve of his doublet which was still too uncomfortable to the wound underneath, but he was otherwise fine. Besides that the only possessions he had was that unusual armor doublet that covered most of his body, the patches of mithril scale and the star-cut gemstones contrasting against the dark leather, along with a pair of wolf-fur boots and gloves. Brand could make fun of the enchanter for how ridiculous he looked all he wanted. His mood, too, just seemed... dampened, extinguished. At the sight of Pilar he lit up a little with a smile and a wave before heading to the table himself, happy to see a friendly face for once. "Hey." he awkwardly greeted with a sideways look before shrugging. "Well, we uhh... we figured out where the missing mages were." There was something to be said about the horrors of being in a jar for several months, but that was a bit much to sum up. Best stick to the bright side of things, right?

Pilar jumped when the door slammed open and turned her eyes towards it. When DomiBrand and Linn entered, the mug fell from her hand and onto the table, spilling its contents everywhere. She stood up, shaking, her eyes moving between DomiBrand and Linn. Tears came to her eyes again as she circled the table. "Are you... real?" she choked out, a hand touching Linn's face. When Linn didn't vanish into thin air, Pilar threw her arms around him and started to sob. "You're alive... You're alive..."

“Yeah, -we- are,” muttered Dominic, nose still resting between the planks of the table. The illusion stepped closer and poked urgently at Dominic’s shoulder; Dominic batted him away irritatedly, hissing a hushed, “Quit it, Brand!” before dragging his head away from the boards and peering wearily up at Pilar. “Can’t say for sure about Khitti, though.” Dominic shot Brand a disdainful, accusatory glance that the latter intentionally didn’t meet, choosing instead to study the fireplace. There was a hardness to the shadow’s expression as he stared, as if he was concealing whatever thoughts were bubbling underneath.

Linn just cracked a small smile in confirmation as Pilar questioned the reality of the current situation, and as she threw her arms around him he pulled her into the hug, nodding as he held her there. "Alive is... one way to put it." He took in another breath before shaking his head, throwing away whatever morbid addition he was about to make in light of the insanity that his life returned to. "We were all stuck in jars, in a cave under the ground... by a dragon." He blew out a sigh. "And the camp I made with Taly, we were right under there... all along." The cat was kind of already out of the bag on that place, along with a whole lot more he possibly suspected. He could only pray that place remained somewhat private at the end of all of this.

Pilar felt a little bad. She hadn't meant to ignore Dominic. But she was just so happy that they were alive--wait. "Khitti?" Pilar looked from Linn to Dominic, eyes still leaking tears. "You don't know if Khitti is... is..." She looked at Brand, next. "You... You didn't just... leave her there, did you?" She backed out of the hug with Linn. "Did you?!"

If it was possible, Dominic looked even more weary. “She tried to fight Raiez. She and some other vampire are still in there, assuming they’re not burnt to ash. Brand here, he… he’s, uh…” Dominic gave his illusion friend a side-eyed glance. “How in the hell am I supposed to explain you, anyway? I’m never any good at this. Can’t you do it?” But Brand just raised an eyebrow at Dominic and shrugged, leaving the younger male to struggle for words on his own. He’d never talked through that illusion form, and Dominic knew it; most likely, he wasn’t able to. His request was only wishful thinking. “Right. Um… He’s like… uh… we… share my body?” Dominic heaved a sigh and slouched back in his chair, giving the vampiress an apologetic grimace. “Now I feel like I should have said something about this one of the other times we met, Pilar. This isn’t really a great time to get into an in-depth description. Anyway, uh, Brand’s the one with the bulk of the magical power out of the two of us, and he was the one in control, but not exactly in a position to help. Khitti had given him one of the young children mages to watch over, and…” The man shook his head helplessly. He’d already gone over the events of their escape over and over in his head, trying to sort out who to blame -- but it was everywhere. He blamed himself. He blamed Brand. He blamed Khitti. He even blamed the child Brand had rescued.

Linn released Pilar from the hug as she backed out to question all of them about Khitti. This was one relation he didn't particularly know of so he was kind of left hanging, awkwardly switching his glance back and forth between Pilar, Dominic, and the illusory Brand. All things considered, Linn was guilty as charged despite not knowing the redheads trapped below very well; he only wanted his stuff back and out of the cave the moment the lid was popped off of his jar. So when Dominic began trying to explain the situation with Brand he took the opportunity to focus on that instead, winding up with a nervously shifting expression towards the description of what seemed to be a... not exactly a possession, but still something close enough to bring back his own memories of others who had suffered such a fate. And he... they...? knew about it, and were okay with it? As if Linn's head wasn't sent spinning enough times in the past week or two... he was going to be dizzy at the end of everything. Slowly his expression turned blank with everything going on.

Pilar didn't care about Dominic and Brand's condition. She didn't care about their excuses. She cared about Khitti. She sat down, burying her face in her hands and sobbing. "No... No... Khitti... No..."

Dominic could only state the obvious. “We have to go back there. We have to find out if they’re alive, and rescue them if they are.” The younger male drummed his fingers on the table a while, consumed by thought. Brand, meanwhile, had taken to pacing, digits flexing and straightening restlessly, an ill-tempered glare sent anyone’s way who dared show interest in the group. Private conversation, folks. Mind your own gorram business. “Problem is, uh, we’re pretty much back at square one,” Dominic sighed at length. “I got captured hoping we’d find a way to escape together. All of the risks of taking on a dragon still apply. A-and now I’m sure she’ll be expecting a rescue attempt, and more watchful. And I… I don’t think any of us are capable of beating her down. We need outside help.”

Linn passively nodded as Dominic spoke, confirming the need for outside help especially. "We know our ways back in. Where she is. There's no telling if the tunnels were collapsed, but even if we cleared them, they still wouldn't fit anything big." He let out an exhausted sigh, without his own gear he would have a hard time fashioning something that could pack enough of a punch to at least give Raiez pause, but perhaps more importantly he lacked the will to go headlong back into the fight like that. Thing was... they needed that level of insanity to even move fast enough. "And Hildegarde has her hands tied up with this war now. We..." he shook his head. "Do you know anyone else who might be able to handle this?" There were a few particular people he knew who had that kind of power, but they had the same problems as Raiez, ie: being guano-crazy and evil.

Pilar forced herself to stop crying as Dominic and Linn spoke, leading to a few hiccups. She sniffled and wiped her eyes as she tried to maintain composure. Linn's question of who could help forced her to think. She remembered vaguely seeing some training sessions in the courtyard at the fortress. "The... The Warrior's Guild, maybe? Hildegarde was leading that, too... I... I can ask at the, the fort, for a name, someone to talk to..."

“I’ll save you a step. If we go there -- and I think we should -- you’re lookin’ for that Lionel fellow.” Dominic whipped his head around, mouth agape, almost falling out of his chair in the process. That wasn’t him talking, it was Brand. Illusion-Brand. Illusion-Brand, who wasn’t supposed to be able to talk. Or so he’d assumed. But Brand just ceased his pacing and blinked back at Dominic. “What? You think I jus’ sit around idly when I’m out? Twiddle my gorram thumbs? ‘Course I looked into our options. Got the impression you didn’t care for the guy much though, kid. Was thinkin’ I’d just go see him myself so you didn’t have to. Haven’t had time to do more than get the name yet, though. Where’s this fort at?” Brand broke eye contact with Dominic to direct the last question at Pilar, but Dominic, of course, couldn’t stay stunned into silence forever. “Were you able to talk in that form the whole time?” the younger asked, brows furrowing in a mixture of confusion and anger. Brand just shrugged at him, an innocent expression on his face. If he’d had that ability the whole time, he sure as hell wasn’t going to admit to it.

Linn blinked as the illusory Brand spoke, gaze flickering over to watch it do that... however it did. He was probably less surprised than he should be, maybe because he thought this did happen back during his time in the jar. Did it? Blah, all those lines between what was real and not began to blur together after a while. Still, the name at least rung a bell. Maybe. That bell could have been just as insubstantial as the speaking and carrying... wait... that illusion wasn't all that insub- screw it. "Fort's to the north. A lot of the warrior's guild also works at the training yards out west. Those wyverns just outside here will take you there you know." He lightened a little at the end of the statement, as if he was attempting a tease at the sentient illusion speaking to them. "I suppose we could see what he can do about this. It's worth a try. Anything is I guess."

Pilar looked at Brand, still unsure of how they were both here if they shared the same body? She didn't know about Dominic's capacity for illusions, at least not in this respect. She shelved that thought for later, though. She looked to Linn as he spoke. "Yes... We should do that. Now." She got up from her chair, wiping her eyes again. No more crying, she told herself.

Dominic stood as well, wobbling with his weight on his uninjured foot. Brand, in a moment uncharacteristically empathetic, came around to steady him, offering with a glance to pick up his hobbling, younger counterpart. The two exchanged a number of expressions -- communicating internally in that shared mind of theirs, perhaps? -- before Dominic released whatever stubborn sense of independence he’d been considering and allowed himself to be picked up once more. “Onward, then.”