Roadside Encounters (Cale)

[Eris]

Eris did not appreciate being ogled, but at least the ghost was exhibiting a healthy amount of surprise. She realized that she wouldn’t have liked it if he had anticipated her being a killer from the very beginning. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Nice to know I don’t look like a hardened killer yet.” she said wryly.

Of course, he proceeded to explain how she could use her womanly gifts for profit. Eris wrinkled her nose at that suggestion. She had heard it many times before and had been equally disgusted with it every one of those times. “I’d much rather use my blade than what the gods gave me. Much more dignity in that, don’t you think?” she said dryly, her question purely rhetorical.

When Cale began to talk about his life prior to his death, she felt her heart sink just a little. She didn’t know what she expected, but she had hoped for something more…hopeful… something not so empty. Then again, what should she have expected from a ghost whose body and mind were so obviously scarred? She traced the outline of the scar on her palm mechanically as she spoke, her eyes focused somewhere behind Cale. “If you had the chance to go back and do it over again…Would you choose not to kill?” She looked at him intently at the end of her question, her gaze burning with a desire to know… To know if it was worth it trying to change herself before death claimed her.

[Cale]

The ghost could only watch, and as the woman showed her obvious disgust, he sort of cocked his head. He apparently didn't understand rhetorical questions, because he gave an honest answer. "I dinnae' mean... sell ye' body. I mean't settel' down. Start a fahmly'" A roll of the eyes, as if asking Eris where her mind was at. Then the ghost turned, obviously eyeing the horse. He seemed to reconsider aas Eris continued to speak, and then he was looking at her again, a confused stretched across the face. For another long moment, the ghost lapsed into silence as he continued to stare at the ground. If she had asked him a hundred years ago, he would have laughed in her face. Yet, in his recent wanderings, the ghost had spent time reflecting. His first years had been rebellious, simply because of his curse. His only way to fight back against the man who had done this to him. Not to look back at the things he had done. Yet, he could only run for so long. Invariably, his thoughts returned to it all. Now with this woman asking him... the ghost sort of toed the ground, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "I... 'Ah. don't think it works like that. The 'killing' isn't the problem. Soldiers do it all thae' time. Its... its.. a poison. You kill, the cycle starts. Your victory is another's tragedy, a child's father, an oath of revenge. The cycle continues as you have lost what life is. It becomes your fallback. You kill instead of sorting something out. Inste'd of being the victem you resort to murder. An outcast." How could he explain? How could he tell this woman that she was already on the road? Yet maybe she could change... Scratching at his eyebrow, Cale looked into Eris' eyes. "Yae'l never know what a normal life is, you've already given up inna' peace and happiness. Pain. A constant companion." Then a shrug. "For me. Maybe not for you. Maybe you find something that... make you better."

[Eris]

Eris laughed at that - a short dry sound that rarely made its way past her lips. The time difference in the language the two were speaking was becoming a problem. “Well then, that’s a bit better, I guess,” she said with a small smile. “Though I was never one for families – don’t even know how I would go about cooking and house-keeping and all that.”

Her expression turned serious again as she watched him think. She didn’t know what she wanted him to tell her. Wouldn’t it be nice if he could say that killing wasn’t a problem at all? That taking another’s life wouldn’t weigh her down? Perhaps in a perfect world, he would have said just that and Eris could have skipped off on her merry way to gather flowers and sing. But Eris did not live in a perfect world and neither did Cale.

It was true. She had given up happiness a long time ago. All that was left were fractured moments in time where she could stroke Rhine’s mane or sit sketching atop a tree. During those times the burden she carried seemed to melt away, but it always came back. Perhaps her chance had already passed. It was only two years ago – but it seemed a lifetime away – when she could have had a life with Sylvan. He loved her; maybe she didn’t love him, but did that really matter? They could have started one of those families Cale spoke of. But that life hadn’t been for her and she let the opportunity pass her by, fleeing from anything that could have kept her anchored.

“Poison, that’s what it is,” Eris said quietly, echoing Cale’s words as if she was speaking to herself. “It’s only a matter of how deeply it’s gone I suppose.”

She remained silent for a few chimes, her eyes locked on her hands – the hands that so often held a blade coated in blood. Suddenly, her eyes snapped back to Cale, the melancholy expression in her gaze evaporating as if it was never there. “So why do you stay with the pain? You died, didn’t you? I thought ghosts only stayed behind if they had something left to accomplish. So why don’t you complete whatever it is you need to do and leave the pain behind?” It seemed unfair to her that someone who had already suffered for so long should keep on suffering even after death. She always made a point of making the cleanest kill – never letting a victim suffer – no matter how vile and cruel the person had been.

[Cale]

The ghost suddenly started to shake violently. Long wisps and strands of smoke started to separate from the whole as Cale clutched at his stomach and sides. As he turned to eye her, Eris became aware that he was laughing. "There is always som'un better. I destroyed something beautiful, and her lover, wasn't content with me simply dyin'." It wasn't something the ghost liked to think about. So he opted for a light hearted glare at the horse. Animals where much more sensitive to his presence then humans or the other sentient races. He'd never really figured out why. Dogs, cats, horses, they all where on edge the moment they took notice of him. There wasn't much else to say really, and the ghost found himself zoning out as he looked away, obviously lost in thought. He did manage to throw a light question Eris' way. "So, whatn' you do 'sides fightin' More to life then work." It was hard to tell wether the ghost was genuninely curious, or just reaching for conversation.

[Eris]

It always came down to love, didn’t it? There was always a vengeful hero, fighting for the honor of a beloved long gone. Pointless. Heroic, but pointless. Eris brushed a strand of red from her face as she turned to look at Rhine, who was now making excited whining noises. The horse shuffled from foot to foot, occasionally throwing her head up as if trying to hit an invisible enemy. Eris walked over to the animal’s side, placing a light hand on her flank.

However, even the proximity of her rider didn’t seem to help Rhine’s erratic behavior. If anything, the mare became only more agitated, her nostrils flaring in Cale’s general direction angrily.

Continuing to rub her hand soothingly against the horse’s side, Eris answered the ghost’s question. “I ride. I sketch. Not much time for gardening and the like,” she said with a note of sarcasm in her voice. Even her peaceful hours of sitting somewhere quiet with a sketchpad and a pencil were usually disrupted by something erratic. No other hobbies came to mind. It was pathetic, really, that all she had time to do was kill.

Eris let out an exasperated sigh as Rhine neighed loudly, advancing a few steps toward Cale and backing up again just as quickly. “I’m afraid I’ll have to leave before my horse drives herself insane,” Eris said apologetically, swinging up into the saddle. Tilting her head to one side as she regarded Cale, she added, “Thank you for… Just, thank you.”


((So sorry for the late reply. RL has been eating up most of my time.))

[Cale]

OOC: NP. I completely understand. Thanks for the RP. __________ Cale sort of blinked. Obviously confused by the woman's words. Then, with what little warning she gave, the woman was gone. Leaving Cale to wonder wether it was just another parting moment in reality, or something he had made up to amuse himself. Time. Both his greatest ally, and his greatest foe. A grunt, a shake of the fist at nobody in particular, and then the road was clear. Save for a lone corpse. In the bushes. The remnants of a lifetime of achievements and dreams discarded to the side of the road. What was most disturbing wasn't that the man had died, it was the fact that it had so little effect on the two passerbys. Surely someone would at least push his legs off the road? END

[Kelpie]

XP award. Eris: +3 interrogation, Lore: Scrutinizing a corpse, Socializing with a ghost Cale: +1 Materialization , +1 interrogation Lore: Advising mortals, Socializing with a mortal Note: This was way long overdue, terribly sorry, Eris! Very interesting thread though, I enjoyed it.