Open Returning Home

[Wrenmae]

Wren swallowed a laugh, something about the situation they were in just seemed eerily innocent. When most of his conversations ended with idle threats, pointed swords, battles, or sleeping with an eye open...one took notice when things seemed to be moving at a peaceful pace.

Admittedly that's what he remembered about Syliras. There was a lack of guard here in the citizens. People felt safe in the city walls, safe enough to forget how dangerous the outside world was. This place...it was easy to be placated, comforted by the protection the Knights offered. But only Alvadas sported greater illusions than that. Really the walls were no buffer to the malevolent. He, marked of Rhysol and Vayt both, had penetrated the defenses. Even at this moment he could choose to bump the developing cold he sensed in Emily to something far worse.

He didn't. Something felt wrong about it, and he didn't bother to try and define that that was. Instead he invited the warmth of the ordinary conversation and company.

After Orion spoke, Wren smiled and shrugged, "We are all strangers before we are well met. That's what you learn on the road. No one begins a friend, ally, or enemy...not really. They begin as strangers with different goals, ideals, and dreams. To know them is to remove that veil and recognize them for who they really are."

He winked at Emily, eliciting a giggle. She didn't follow all his words, but his tone made her smile. Cute child and a shame she was so jaded to her father. When she was all smiles, it was easy to love the tiny person. His eyes flicked back to Orion.

"I prefer life to be unpredictable, keeps things interesting. When I was a boy in Alvadas across the sea, that was the very nature of life. In Alvadas the streets and buildings change by the hour sometimes...easy to get lost in a place that doesn't have a specific form." another tired smile and he laid both hands flat on the rough wood.

"I know what I need to now. Fallon is a squire, and if memory serves, I think they have a place for them in the city. Her existence and how to find her was what I was after and you've been kind enough to tell me." Waving a hand at the bartender, he put up two fingers.

"Although if you want to talk about stupid youth mistakes, I have one that'll top yours." With a rueful grin, he reached up to the collar of his shirt and pulled it down across his right shoulder. The edges of the angry, black, moving waves shifted and roiled on his skin...raised, far more detailed than any tattoo. Emily ooo'd and aaah'd over it and then he pulled it up again, raising an eyebrow.

"Ever had a god decide they didn't like you?"

[Orion Michaels]

"Those simple words hold a lot of truth, Murdock," Orion admitted appreciatively. He'd experienced the reality behind the idea in full force throughout his days. Every potential lover, every rival, everyone that despised him, they were once strangers until fate placed their paths crossing. "Speaks to me a bit more than I'm happy to admit." He brought his hand up to his face, rubbing his thin beard as he contemplated his words. "Strangers become friends, enemies, something more, and just like that they can be strangers again, too. I appreciate your insight."

Emily ignored anything that Orion had to say. He could have made a point a million times better than Murdock's and it wouldn't have mattered. Murdock was amazing. Orion was dumb. There was no other way around it.

Orion leaned in somewhat as his new acquaintance spoke of a city he'd heard only whispers about. It was a boat's ride across the Suvan Sea, and that was too long on the water for Orion's tastes. "It sounds like a fascinating city," he admitted with shrug. "Though I wonder if it would drive me to madness. I've lived in Syliras nearly my entire life and I still get mixed up in these corridors from time to time."

"I'm glad to be of service, and even more glad to have those drinks on the way. My company for the morning has hardly let me have a break." He glanced down at Emily, smiling wryly at the blue eyed child. She almost seemed to feast on his moments of weakness, though it was quite refreshing to see her so infatuated by something besides despising him.

Orion raise an eyebrow at the sudden movement of Murdock to expose his right shoulder. A mark unlike anything he'd ever seen before waited before his eyes. He had to blink a few times to confirm the strange almost tattoo was actually moving on his flesh. ”What in the world..?” Emily moved to try and touch the strange sign, an action which Orion reached out to stop.

The ire of a god?

He’d never thought to see such a thing.

”I can’t say I have. I doubt any of them have bothered take notice of me, much less mark me. Forgive me if this is too bold a question, but I have to ask it. Just what..what happened?” He wasn't sure what someone could actually do to bring the anger of a deity upon them. His exposure to the gods was, however, quite lacking to say the least.

[Wrenmae]

Wren made no effort to stop Emily, Orion intervened on his behalf. After a moment of airing the mark to the bar, he shifted his shirt up again, buttoning it and sighing back against the chair. At first, he only shrugged his shoulders, waiting until mugs were set down in front of them by the barmaid before folding his hands together and speaking.

"When I was younger, there was a call from an island nearby Alvadas that required help. I went and found that a beast was waking up beneath the island. The priestess asked us to put it back to sleep, but when I encountered it, I was struck at how miserable a life it seemed to lead." He frowned, looking to Emily's eyes and seeing the ravenous interest there. There was no empathy, not really, but a need to be accepted and to be strong.

She wouldn't show weakness in front of her father, she had petulantly promised herself that.

"So I freed it into the sea instead, and I received this mark in punishment...as any lives taken by the monster are now in my hands." He held them out, as if presenting the bloodless hands for both his companions to see. "I can't say I regret the decision even now. The beast was a prisoner and no one had given it a chance to adapt to the outside world. I imagine one day Laviku will return and strike me with more disfavor if I don't solve the problem I created, but I simply can't bring myself to." He shrugged, "Traveling by land since then seemed a better choice in comparison."

Withdrawing his hands he took a breath and shook his head, "I really must insist on thanking you in some way for steering me in the right direction. Tell me, is there anything I can do for you and your daughter while I stay in Syliras?"