RP:Try and Listen

From HollowWiki


Summary Sabrina finds out that talking to strangers might not be the best way to vent. The world is growing smaller with every person she meets. The blind elf Toth puts in the oddest of requests, and the elfess may not be able to comply.

Somewhere in Northern Sage

Sabrina moved with an elvish grace, bad habits and all that made her sound more like part of the wildlife than a trudging bipedial of the northern town. It would be the rustle of empty canvas bags against the smooth grain of finely tailored garments, the swish of loose silken strands at her back and the scent of vanilla and sandalwood that did not melt into the immediate surroundings of pine and wet mud. She was traveling north to south, after the rebuilding of the medical facility in Larket certain stores needed restocking and so it was endless supply runs. Plus, it occupied her time. She didn’t sleep anymore, there was no reason for it since he left. She never recuperated that way anyways. She had busy steps, eyes cast to her feet while her mind wandered and she wasn’t really looking where she was going.

Toth had already loaded some bark and larger branches onto the blanket, tinderbox lying next to it could be found open with some tinder sticking out of it but it would appear to be mostly full. Toth himself would be next to one of the trees, homemade axe striking large chunks of wood so that he would be able to take the smaller one into the caves with more ease. Thwack! The sound would echo along with the natural sounds of the forest before he reaches over to grab another piece of wood, the elf was without a shirt today..it would be laying next to him due to the sweat he was starting to accumulate, stopping for a moment he would reach down inside the shirt and picking his canteen up to take a swig before closing it off and returning it to it's resting position next to his shirt before finding the axe and returning to his chopping before stopping midswing as the sound and smell of another. His face would turn from the wood and rest in the direction of the approaching woman, the atmosphere seemed to be off a bit about the woman and the elf's head would tilt slightly. "Lost?"

Sabrina nearly jumped out of her skin at the loud thwack, really, she was usually more aware than this but it was a familiar trek; one she could manage with her eyes closed. She stops in her tracks, looking at him and then not. She recognized the energy but not as something familiar- just fresh like a recent memory. “Not in some time.” This was one of those awkward moments where she was left deciding in dead silence if she should stay or go. Maybe he would sense the flow of energy between her and the things surrounding her, not that any would have done so before, but then his senses worked differently, didn’t they? She was an Ardent, yes. The kind that transferred energy and so it would stand to reason with full garb of floor to neck coverings and elbow length gloves under long and heavy sleeves that the exposed flesh of her face would garner the most attention. She had essentially sealed the rest of herself off from inflicting harm. She still didn’t have his name, so there was no way to address him, and she thought to wave but that would just be silly. So, it was down to words. She wasn’t so good with those. So she stood there silent and stupid and staring for no other reason than she had been addressed and not yet dismissed.

Toth smiled a bit, a fairly recent encounter now with this voice, his form would bend over to pick up the shirt, if you were yo look before the shirt was on one could see the still healing scar the ran from beneath his left shoulder and stopped just before hitting his spine, setting the axe next to his water canteen. Picking up some of the wood and moving it to the blanket he would take a long drawn breath through his nostrils his lips would twist to the left side of his face before taking a full stand. Something wasn't exactly the same as with encounters he had with most people, something was different with this woman indeed but he wasn't sure what exactly that would be. "Direction wise, I'd hope not..an elf being in the forest that is." His words would be smooth and deliberate, but it would also reflect the smile that had returned. "Toth.. your name is Sabrina, yes?"

Sabrina nodded. Not like it would help. Eyes roll at her own stupidity and she lets out a confirmation to his query. “Y-Yes, but I am a River Elf, so… it wouldn’t be totally out of line. To be lost, I mean.” She had studied his scar, the age of it, the progression, all in a glimpse. River elves were becoming fewer and further between, she hadn’t met another in some two hundred years, of course, that was also when she left her home. She figured he wouldn’t have had the chance to gauge her relative size and build, that would have been a dead giveaway since her kind leaned on the smaller size for the race. She only stood at about five foot even, and she was a mix of very pale skin and high contrast black tresses… green eyes, well, the one good one anyways. Suppose it would seem fitting, beyond her accent of intentionally hidden pirate twang that he would assume her to be one of the ‘hillbillies’ as she was raised to believe. She hesitated, and against her better judgement she asks “Do you need help?” She couldn’t swing an axe, but the lugging, she could probably do that.

Toth nodded himself, listening to her voice he would show a full faced smile before sweeping his hands to the bark that had been knocked to the ground as well as the pile of wood he had yet to retrieve from his pile. He didn't think that she couldn't do the harder things, he just didn't want her to have to work if she didn't need to. "If you don't mind, it would be much appreciated." His voice would yet to change, copper toned skin could be seen a lot better today along with the short white hair..having just enough to grab but it would not be long enough to touch his forehead. He would reach down and pick up the axe before moving to set another wood block up for the chopping block as it were, before staring his actions again he would turn his face back to the woman. "You seem the type not to be lost in that sense..no, it's something else. Heartbreak? Or a strange aura about..not many people tend to think about how I find people or things. Hearing, smells, textures, those are only a few things that can be used..but maybe I am over stepping." His lips would twitch to the right for a moment, maybe he was to frank, but that's just the kind of elf in general that he was.

Sabrina had set her things down and moved to collect the stray sections of wood on the ground. She had a tendency to work in silence, but the blind guy seemed quite the talker. She kept looking at him, half wondering how he met his mark, but then he was probably born that way. She froze a little when he said heartbreak, surely, she wasn’t that obvious. She laughs, lightly, more of a huff than anything. “No, I am an Ardent, we do not feel.” The aura may have said otherwise, even that statement was drowning in sorrow- something she told people so they wouldn’t waste time sparing her feelings. Ardents were cursed in many different forms, it happened in the old days when non magic users attempted to cast- in this case a spell binding a hellbeast to this realm. With this curse, the punishment usually fit the crime in some form. A soul bonding left her open, in a sense, emotionally and physically to the things around her. It was how she healed in a controlled environment, but that emotional bit was less than leashed- not that she was a convincing liar either.

Toth wasn't yet to familiar with the woman and wasn't entirely sure if he should push, all he knew was that her words didn't match the sound of them, or the tone of her unspoken words. He didn't want to drive her away so he figured a change in subject was in order, "You'll have to forgive me..initially I'm not from around here, what would an Ardent be exactly?" Axe wouldn't find the dead center of the wood, but it would be fairly close and do with what he needed it for. "So, why don't we get to know one another, Sabrina. I've been without sight since birth, one of the only things my father gave me." With his last statement his axe would come down with more force then he would have intended, a piece of the wood flying past his canteen before a hefty sigh is given. He would stand straight and turn his face in the direction he had last heard the woman, checking to see if any of the wood had hit her.

Sabrina stood upright at his heavy-handed swing, the piece did not hit her but his actions di raise a brow. In a moment she would continue to work, gathering the wood and trekking it back to his stack. “An Ardent, in my case, means that people who touch me can glean certain feelings, intentional or not. It also means I can transfer energy from one thing to another which makes me a fairly efficient healer.” She drops her collection on the pile and turns to face him. “It doesn’t always work out in favor of the general public so I take precautions not to be touched. Heartache, as you call it, could be transferred tenfold.” A pause and a shrug. “It can literally stop someone’s heart, if I am not careful. So… as you see. It is not beneficial for us to feel things.” In a truer sense, her kind would be more aware of their feelings and having been this way for so long, she could quite literally shut down what goes out, and in all her practice, control it. “However, manufactured feelings are hardly potent as real ones.” And she was particularly vulnerable right now so touching had been avoided entirely for some time now. She had begun collecting another small pile. “You don’t intend on burning down Larket by chance, do you?”

Toth would drop the axe in a manner so the his fist would rest just below the steel. Reaching up with his free hand he wipes away a bit of sweat that had stated to roll down his cheek,"So no touching unless you are in control of it, but not feeling.. not only would that be lonesome if nothing else but I'm not to for sure how it would be possible not to feel anything, but I can see why you wouldn't want them for your particular predicament..but still." His voice would never change but instead offer a sincere smile could be seen and heard. "No, not sure where that is, but I'm not burning anything down, just fires for heat or to be seen is about all I can say." His axe would be laid down next to his canteen before he starts to help her with the remaining pile of wood, at the blanket he would reach down and close the tinderbox and close it after making sure that it was filled to the top.

Sabrina smiled at his words. “Not so lonely as you would think, at times. But I am reminded that whomever I touch may only be displaying feelings I may have conveyed.” She worked with him until it was all cleared. “I won’t make the mistake again. Eirik was right to leave me.” There was a lot of guilt there. Her voice was cracking and with a sniff she wipes the salt forming in her eyes. “Eirik is my very recent ex. I think he caught on that it wasn’t real.” She is fighting back a lot now, with some need to convince this near perfect stranger “I didn’t do it on purpose. I swear.” It was just good thing that the berserker realized what was happening before anyone got hurt. “I’m sorry, this isn’t your problem.” She would finish the task in silence.

Toth would allow his ears to perk at his friend's name, his head would tilt slightly as the last bit of wood would be loaded and the box would be retrieved and tucked into a pocket that was on the chest of his shirt. Her voice,the sniffle..perhaps she was trying to be what she said to keep everyone in the public safe, maybe it was something else that was none of his business, he couldn't simply overlook the name of one of his only friend's though. He moved to pick up his canteen and offered it to her, "What are friends for? And not real..I wouldn't go that far. But Eirik seems a good man, in my opinion at least." He would continue to study her voice through the conversation; tone, pitch, inflection..all of it, it would most likely come in handy one day.

Sabrina almost winced. He knew Eirik, one more they were friends. Right. “He is.” She still loved him, that would not change just because he realized he had no love for her. She did feel like she overstepped though, and here she was venting, not fully aware why. Eirik was a far better person than she, that much was true. Else, she would have never let him believe that what he felt was real. Once the task was complete she would gather her things, mulling over what exactly she meant to accomplish by telling him anything. It was unlike her to open up to people she knew, let alone strangers. But maybe that was the easy bit. Strangers were not predisposed to care for one party or another. Their view was not skewed. “If you need anything else, I am usually along this path.” Though, the path stretched far wider than most would consider a single segment of travel. It was regions wide. Her voice was closed off, she did not offer him any insight but the shaky breaths taking in the cool night air were meant to calm her thoughts. She did not have the privilege to be this broken, given her responsibilities.

Toth would raise his shoulders before dropping them again, the tone had switched at this last bit..perhaps he had overstepped but he was not one to apologize for attempting to help. He would take a drink from the canteen before folding the corners of the blanket in a way he would be able to take the wood with the risk of it falling along his path. "Usually what I seek is conversation, maybe a friend or two..perhaps one day we could get there. You seem a nice woman, and everyone needs someone to talk to every now and again, I think friends would be better then strangers..but I'm just a elf trying to help so who knows." He would turn to the woman and attempt to take her mind off the apparent heartache she was feeling, "I do have a request though."

Sabrina took in his words, but she had no room for his proposal. Friends are what put her in this position in the first place- thinking that she had the concessions to harbor such relations. She wasn’t made for friends. She was made with a purpose. The sooner she learned that, the better off things would be. This heartache crap was for the birds, because even with the moments that made her feel free the world was more evil when those moments were gone. She was not nice. Anyone who knew her could tell him that. As for his request, she stood ready. “As you wish.” Before he could even request it, because this is what she did, so long as it did not bring harm to another she was somewhat obligated to fulfill requests.

Toth smiled at her words, head tilting a bit to the left before extending his left hand over the blanket, bend in the elbow and raised only has high as his body would allow it in his time of recovering before uttering words he had learned from a mentor of his long ago. Nothing would look different once the spell was cast, but if someone would try and pick up the blanket now they would have no trouble with the weight in any way. His face would turn to look her full on, his blank grey eyes peering absently into her own with a smile still across his face. "Don't lose sight of who you are, the real one you may have lost somewhere. Cause I'll tell ya..a hostile wouldn't help a blind man." He would stop speaking and continue to stare her full in the face, his genuine smile would be offered to her once more.

Sabrina didn’t fully understand his words. Mostly she figured he might have been overworked from all that chopping. She felt her eyes fill and her body grow hot under all those layers.“I know what I am.” And the problem was that she spent too much effort trying to change it rather than accept it. She was not in a place to truly hear him, that much was clear. His words only brought forth that hostility, but not towards him. She hated what she was but her attempts to end that battle were never answered with a release from this plane. Since he required nothing else from her she resumed the path. “Good day. Sir.” And that was all.

Toth followed her footsteps, head turning to follow her before returning to his own work, the blanket would be picked up with his right hand, despite the sudden weight loss he still needed his back to heal so for a while he wouldn't be carrying anything much heavier then his bow or current weapon in the axe. He had got what he needed, from both the forest and spending a bit more time with the woman..he would meet her again some day soon, he still felt that he had work to do weather she wanted it or not. He would raise the hand holding the axe as high as he could for a second before allowing it to swing by his side. "Good day, Sabrina. We'll meet again, promise." He would smiles as he started to walk in the same general direction of the woman, south, and started to hum a tune he had learned from his mother loud enough for all to hear.