RP:The Universe to Benefit from His Misfortune
Frostmaw Tavern
Ezekiel had been working hard on his schematics. They were blueprints to project of grand scale, only it wasn't transferring as smoothly from his head to parchment as he'd hoped. He'd crumple ball after ball of failed attempts, and left them in a gathering pile beside the desk in the smithy's workshop. His mind was wrapped around the letter in his right pocket, and until he got it out of his system, nothing would get done. He'd left a note on the desk for any who sought him out, should they have questions. After a short walk, he'd help himself to the warmth that only a tavern could provide; not just with a fire, but with good drink, too. Only, he hadn't made it far into his pint of mead before he found himself moseying on up to the bulletin board. Sometimes people had work to offer, simple jobs for simple pay. He'd skimmed through countless notes until a particular one caught his eye. He was a quiet guy to begin with, but this note left him with absolutely nothing to say. If anything, it hurt him more than the person it was intended for. He stared at it with tired eyes.
Kovl watches as a frost giant patron exits the tavern and carefully swoops inside, shuddering from the elements of the frozen hell called Frostmaw. His eyes fall on Ezekiel and the bulletin board in front of him. -What is Ezekiel thinking? He surely saw the note.- The pixie floats to his ex-guildmate. "Hiya Ezekiel. How are you holding up?" Kovl's eyes quickly glance to the bulletin board once again before returning to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel had barely heard his name called by the time he was reaching out to tear the note down. Hopefully Kovl didn't have a chance to see it- either the note, or him tearing it away. He'd crumple it in his one hand, just as he'd done to the rest back in his newly granted workshop. There was still hurt in his eyes, but he'd turn to glance up at the pixie while holding the ball of paper behind him. "Kovl. Hey.." There was hesitance in his voice, but when didn't Ezekiel sound as if he were holding back everything he needed to say; perhaps when talking business, or dealing with Hildegarde. He seemed to keep his head held high, then. "What are you doing here?" It was the kind of question one asked when feeling guilty about something; a question that nonchalantly redirected the attention of one, to another.
Kovl quickly notices the note he had written with two-fold purpose has been removed from the board. Has Ezekiel seen it? Kovl hopes he has. Maybe Ezekiel would just stop dwelling on Josleen and stop being so self-destructive. "I'm staying here in the tavern for the time being, remember? My room is down the hall. But really, how are you doing?" The pixie inspects the man in front of him as if he is trying to answer this question by observation rather than by a reply from the mage.
Ezekiel stuffed the crumpled note in his pocket along with the other, more neatly folded one. Unknown to Kovl, the note left on the bulletin board served only served to remind Ezekiel of the bard, and just how much he still loved her. His reaction was proof enough; he felt compassion for what Josleen might have felt, anger for whoever it was that had the gall to publicly embarrass her like this. Ezekiel sighed and shrugged. "That's right.. forgive me, my head is in the clouds these days." He'd tag a nervous chuckle to the end of his sentence, deciding it probably best to move away from the board. Hilde had given the barkeeper a few coins in honor of keeping a tab open; if he was to build for her, he'd need a moment in time, and a drink for his head. "I honestly don't know if I can answer that, how am I? I've been," he give him a single-shouldered shrug, "I'm alive?" Another nervous laugh. He makes for the bar.
Kovl nods and begins to follow Ezekiel toward the bar. He sits on the edge of the bar facing the man. "Hey, listen. I heard about Eliason, and I'm so sorry that happened to you. Did you know he was already seeing some other girl?" The pixie pauses, not wanting to say too much. "I hope bad karma finds him." Yes, this karma will be the pixie himself. It's only a matter of finding Eliason and deciding when to do it. "Are you still staying here? In the tavern?"
Ezekiel raised an eyebrow and held his mug tipped back. It let him take a much longer sip than intended, but in the end, he decided it was a well needed sip. Another woman? Surly he was talking about Josleen, their separation ended up being pretty well known, he alone was an open book for all to read. She on the other hand.. Ezekiel sighed and left his mug alone before reaching down to clutch at the two notes pressed together in his pocket; one was full of hate, spite and malice- the other was the counter to that. "What do you mean, another woman? Who is she.. do you know?" He tried to sound casual about it, but even Kovl could pick up on the pitch in his voice. "As unfortunate as I am, I still couldn't wish anything ill upon him. Am I wrong, for thinking this way?"
Kovl replies, "It was a woman I met not too long ago by Xalious. She and Eliason were dating, but it looks like Eliason had different plans when he and Josleen shared feelings." The pixie is careful not to reveal her name. The drow is already on a mission to help Ezekiel let go of Josleen but not without tact. Revealing her name may ruin her attempts. The pixie indirectly answers the mage's next question. "Why wouldn't you wish ill-things upon Eliason? Bad things -should- happen to people like that."
Ezekiel tried to take another drink of his mead, but his expression soured when learning it wasn't Josleen he spoke of. He'd even set the pint down and look his way. He wanted to ask him directly, but doing so would reveal what the other already knew. "Kovl, what are you talking about? People like him? What is that suppose to mean" Was the pixie holding out, had he known something about Eliason that he didn't? Was it something that put Josleen in harms way? He knew where she was now, thanks to two reliable sources of information, but he didn't know how- or whether -he should approach her at this time. The few lines on the note ran through his mind again. "I'll admit, it hurt.. what happened, but, I can't blame the man. I have only myself to blame." He'd end with a shrug and a sigh before reaching for the mug, tipping it forward so he could glance inside. Mead, he didn't always use to drink this.
Kovl is calm in the midst of Ezekiel's questioning. "Ezekiel, look. Eliason was seeing Josleen while also seeing another girl. At the same time. Do you not see the destruction this causes in people's lives? Josleen had your heart and went with Eliason. It's the truth. An ugly truth. Look what it did to you. You wouldn't sleep or bathe for days. You left the mage's guild. You're hurt. Eliason did the same thing to a poor woman. Why wouldn't he deserve something bad to happen to him? I'm not wishing death or anything upon him. I helped save his life after all. I think the universe would benefit from a misfortune of his." The pixie shrugs at that sentence. "Look at this from a birds-eye view."
Ezekiel had caught bits and pieces of the other woman, but never figured any of it worth putting together. But he abandons his mug and slides it back, turning to face the pixie while keeping his hand clenched at his right thigh. The words that came out of the man's mouth didn't set right, and as much as he wanted to just keep quiet and let it pass, he couldn't. "Kovl, you clearly don't know me like you think you do," Hell, before Josleen, he slept worse than he did now; which was to say, not at all. He hardly ate, he hardly spoke, hell, getting him to stay in the presence of another was a feat in itself. Josleen had opened his shell up and let him see the light of day, she'd always have a special place in his heart, for what it was worth. "Birds eye view or not, no one deserves ill fortune; people make mistakes, that's life." Something about the way he spoke so loosely about both paladin and bard earned a reaction none had ever seen before; this was twice, today. "He's a good.. man." Why was this so hard to say? "He can give her what I couldn't. Just, I don't want to talk about this, Kovl." He was torn inside now, why did thinking about Josleen in the sanctuary of another unsettle him so? He didn't need this weighing his mind down again, he'd been looking at this so positively.
Kovl nods. "Sure, he's a good man. But sometimes good men need to be reprimanded when they do make mistakes." The pixie shifts a little on the bartop. "And perhaps you are right. I don't know you. But from what I know about you, you shouldn't be treated like you have been. We don't need to talk about it any more tonight. I'm just trying to help you, but maybe I'm not saying the right things. I hate to see this stuff happen to a friend." Kovl gives the mage a small smile.
Ezekiel slapped his hand down on the counter, his drink bounce the slightest. "No, I'm not done talking about it." His tone had grown considerably, he wasn't yelling, but he was speaking with enough volume that showed his frustration. "Good men need to be reprimanded? What about me, Kovl. I made a mistake- I've made plenty of mistakes. Where is my punishment? Or is this it?" The barkeep was polishing a glass, watching him with an eyebrow lifted. Should he get too noisy, he'd have to ask Ezekiel to leave. "I made perhaps the biggest mistake of my life, back there in that cave, and I lost the one person that meant the world to me. Was that my punishment? Was that my karma for sitting back, and remaining idle while that 'bad' man swept her up? Tell me, Kovl. What is it?" His blood was boiling, his adrenaline pumping. He could feel his hand trembling underneath the sting of that slap he'd given the counter. Why was he defending Eliason like this? Kovl was right, wasn't he? He was the enemy, he was the thief in the night, he was the man who stole his Josleen; why couldn't he look at it like that? Perhaps.. he didn't want Josleen in the arms of someone he feared. Imagine if Eliason posed a risk to Josleen's well being, what would Ezekiel do then? He could barely rest enough as it was, how much sleep would he lose knowing she wasn't safe? If he wanted to be mad at anyone, it should have been Josleen, it was her choice that put them in his mess. He thought about it, his shoulders sank. 'People make mistakes..' the words on her note flashed before his mind again. Yeah, that was it.. wasn't it? People made mistakes. "I'm sorry, I need to go." It was what he wanted to believe; people made mistakes. He'd made his, perhaps she'd made hers, too? He slipped out of the stool and waved an apology to the barkeep before heading for the door.
Kovl jumps as Ezekiel's hand shook the countertop with force, leaving the pixie to catch himself in mid-air with his translucent wings. Rather than answering the questions of Ezekiel whose tone grows in anger, Kovl comments, "I sure know how to get you worked up. And I don't even try." The pixie lands on the bartop again, but this time he is on his feet. "In fact, all I am trying to do is to help you, and you reward me by blowing up like this nearly every time." A stomp of the pixie's own hits the bartop. "I'm not the enemy here, but you're too caught up in your emotions to see it. Maybe instead of running away from me all the time, you can at least try talking with me civilly one of these times. I'm your friend. But maybe you won't see that until next time you come to apologize to me." Kovl crosses his arms and watches as Ezekiel begins to leave. The pixie is not irreparably angry at Ezekiel, but he is certainly frustrated at the mage's antics.
Ezekiel just couldn't see things from Kovl's point of view, he tried; it was spiteful, full of anger, ready to mask pain with only more pain. "No one is the enemy, Kovl." He'd stopped at the door with his hand on the cold metal, "Just because someone got hurt, doesn't mean you need to hurt the rest; two wrongs don't make a right." Here he'd turn away and press his forehead against the door, sighing loudly. He came for a relaxing drink, that chance was long gone now. He needed to reply to the note, but he didn't know how, not then- definitely not now. "I know what I have to do, but I don't know how. If you wanted to be my friend," he'd pause to glance back one last time as he opened the door. A cold wind swept inside, blowing his hair back while tickling the tavern's lanterns in the most perverse way. "You'd help me get her back." With that, he'd step outside and shut the door. It was cold and the sun was setting, he was ill prepared to be out here like this, he'd need to get to the castle soon.