Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

[Hafnium]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

The monk couldn't entirely hide her frown at the man's response, so she chose to distract from her expression by taking another sip of tea. The cup lingered at her lips for several long moments as she formulated a response in her head. "A generous offer, brother. I must gratefully accept it," she would reply as she lowered her tea back to its spot on the table. "I'm afraid that I must impose with one more request though. Might I find shelter here for the night? I don't have the coin to rent a room anywhere, I'm afraid."

The die was cast, she inwardly bemoaned. If her brother monk accepted, then she'd have a place to recollect herself for what needed to be done next. With any luck, by the time the other two were sleeping, she'd still several hours of darkness to care for her weapons and armor and might be able to spend some cleaning the shrine in an attempt to repay their host for his kindness. Before the morning came, she'd set out to retake the piece of the palanquin from the caravan, whether it be through deceit or blood, and be off on the road before the sun rose or anyone might link her to the two she was sitting with and attempt to dole out justice on them. A disappointing turn of fate, but her quest for the palanquin came above all else.

 

[Knephi]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

"You're right. No sense worrying until I've heard what the oracle have to say. All of this is so far outside of my element I'm not really sure how to deal with it all." Rashi gave a soft sigh, taking her own cup and taking a sip of the tea. It wasn't what she usually preferred to drink, but it wasn't bad. Better than getting even more drunk again, certainly, as much as she might have liked to. She'd been doing so too often recently, if only to distract herself from the looming threat Gorefinder presented. "Thank you, though. It's good to hear I'm on the right track at least."

The oni considered the monk's reply to Kaida's question about any work that needed to be done. It couldn't hurt, a nice meal was always a tempting offer, and she did feel grateful to the monk even if he hadn't been able to provide her with any true aid. Besides that, she wasn't any stranger to such work. She was a lot stronger than her physical size would suggest, so simple labour jobs had been a decent source of income for her in the past when there was no mercenary work available.

"I don't mind helping out, the least I could do really." Rashi gave her own reply after Kaida had accepted, still a little too uncertain about all the traditions and unspoken rules the two seemed to be following in their exchange. She gave the kitsune a curious look as she spoke, though. Something seemed... off about her demeanor, but perhaps it was just another of those cultural nuances the oni still didn't quite understand. "I'm no stranger to a little work, especially if there's food involved." She didn't want to impose more than she already had, so she avoided mention on the topic of Kaida's request for shelter. She still had the coin to stay at the inn, that had been her original plan for the night after all.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

Spoiler

Rashi: HP = 71, PP = 46, EP = 47, Status = Fine

Kaida: HP = 92, PP = 43, EP = 43, Status = Fine.

"Of course," the aging human accepted Kaida's added condition without hesitation. "You may both stay in here if you wish, or out in the shed, or in the storage room. I am afraid there isn't much in the way of room in my private quarters," he continued after Rashi added her own acceptance of the man's hospitality. "I'm sure I can find work enough around the place to repay you with breakfast and leave you both with enough time to be on your way to the temple mount with some morning left."

Their host then gave a seated bow, a sign to Kaida that official dealings were at an end. He would hold her - and Rashi - to the agreement they had made, but if he was still abed and the oni left behind by the time she was already on the way to the mountain she would have only her conscience to hold on to that debt, at least unless she returned at some point to this village. After finishing his tea, he rose and gave a standing bow, clasping his hands in front of himself, "I must meditate, and rest. If you are finished, I will clean this up and leave you to your rest, here or elsewhere if you so choose."

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

"Thank you, brother," Kaida would respond with a seated bow of her own. Somehow, lying to a fellow temple caretaker bothered her more than the idea that she might soon end lives while carrying out her own responsibility. The pressure to repay as much of her debt as quickly as she could was upon her, but for the moment she could only wait until the man left to begin doing what cleaning she could. A few moments after her seated bow, she would stand up and offer one last low bow as affirmation that she was finished and would allow the elder monk to take the tea set away.

Kaida would remain silent as Rashi concluded whatever business she might have with the elder monk, unless she was directly addressed. Once their host excused himself, she would face the oni and proceed by asking Rashi a question. "How long have you known the merchant you were drinking with earlier?" The monk controlled her voice well, making it sound like a matter of simple curiosity. Her piercing golden eyes, however, carefully scrutinized Rashi's features for signs that the oni might be lying.

 

[Knephi]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

"Yes, thank you very much. I'll see you in the morning then." Rashi nodded to the monk. She still wasn't certain if she was comfortable taking him up on the offer of shelter or not, since she could still go back to the inn like she'd planned. She'd do as she agreed regardless though, she had actually done odd jobs like this quite often on her travels, since there wasn't always demand for her particular talents.

"Not long." Rashi replied to Kaida's question with a shrug once the elder monk had made his exit. "I don't even know his name, actually. He was just trying to get me drunk I think, but I won't pass up free drink." She met the kitsune's look with her own, vaguely curious one.

"This is about that... whatever it was you were asking him about, right? I know his type, I've dealt with a lot of merchants before. He knows how much you want it, so he's going to try to milk as much out of you as he can, and you'll be lucky if he even gives it to you then." The oni frowned, shaking her head. She'd gotten her fill of dealing with this type of merchant before. If they knew they had something you desperately needed, they would ruthlessly exploit that to take as much as possible from you.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

"I suspected as much," Kaida replied to Rashi's warning, unfazed. A small smile spread across her lips, not born from what she intended to do that night but rather from how kind the oni warrior was proving to be. "He thinks he knows its value to me but in truth he underestimates it. He's being less cunning than he thinks in not negotiating a trade for something I can actually offer. There are many things I would've gladly done for him in return for whatever piece of the palanquin he holds. Now I'm forced to play his games instead. It's a shame that so many humans succumb to the spark of greed inside them."

The kitsune monk sighed. Well, at least it was a relief that she wouldn't be murdering any of the oni's friends that night if it came to blows. "If you don't mind my asking, how long have you spent among humans in general?"

 

[Knephi]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

"Uh... I dealt with them once in a while back home, but not very often. Usually merchant types, since I worked with the smith." Rashi shrugged in response to the question, not quite certain how to respond to the kitsune's previous comments. A little too philosophical for the oni, who had never really given such subjects very much thought in the past. Not before she'd found herself in her current situation at least, the cursed weapon had given her a lot more to think about.

"Since I left it's been... Um... A few months?" Rashi smiled sheepishly as she guessed at how long it had been, never having bothered keeping track beyond the day-to-day. "They're still pretty strange, and, well... you're right. A lot of them who are too greedy. You need to know something?"

That was one of the biggest problems with human society to the oni's eyes. Compared to back home there was so little sense of community, everyone demanded compensation for every little thing. Maybe that was why she found herself wanting to try to help the kitsune, now that she gave it some thought. As strange as their customs were to her, watching the interactions between her and the old monk had been almost nostalgic in a way, so different from what she'd seen in the past months.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

"I doubt even the humans themselves could tell me what I'd like to know about them," the kitsune mirthlessly admitted. "Truth be told, I was raised by one. Thought of myself as one for the longest time, with just a few added bits of fluff. It wasn't until nearly thirty years later that I understood otherwise, having watched my adoptive father wither away while I hadn't aged a day since my second year."

She fell into silent contemplation for several long moments. Such a bittersweet topic. What could she even say aloud to convey her feelings about that man? He had raised her, a complete stranger's child, as his own. He had taught her to read and to fight and how to survive in the dangerous Pfthirian jungle. He had been with her all those years, and while she had reached maturity after her second year without the ravages of time ever touching her, he had gone from stout and middle-aged to weighing less than she did and elderly.

She had pored over the scrolls in the hopes of finding some elixir or fix which would fool the natural order, only to discover that she was the one who would live forever and there was no way to keep him with her. The worst part though, was that she had been fool enough to let herself come to love him as more than a daughter, she'd come to love him as a woman. Kaida had never told him -- how could she admit to a sixty-year old monk who thought of her as a daughter that she wanted him as a mate? -- but it hurt just the same, and perhaps even worse because their spirits would probably never reunite.

She frowned. "He was strong," she settled on saying that of him. "Not just of body, but the strength of wisdom and knowing what he wanted out of life. The monk of this temple is that way. Other humans... they're not." She looked at Rashi for some hint that the oni understood what she meant. "It's frustrating. As a monk, I'm supposed to have patience with all humans as I try to guide myself and those who would listen into a path toward contentment with life and eventually enlightenment. But as a kitsune... how do I keep patience with a race which uses its short lifespan to build roads to nowhere and then backtracks only to do it all over again without ever learning a thing?"

 

[Knephi]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

"I think I know how you feel. Well, sort of." The Oni shrugged, thinking back to her time back home. She'd seen the same thing the kitsune had in a way, but she had never been particularly close with any of her orcish brethren. Certainly not as Kaida had with her adoptive father. "I wasn't the only one of my kind there, though there weren't many of us around. I do know how it if feels to see people grow without ever changing yourself, though, even if I was never that close with any of them..." She muttered something under her breath as she trailed off. The matter of "growth" was a bit of a sore spot for the Oni who'd always been ridiculed for her diminutive size, as if she'd never stopped being a child in their eyes.

She merely listened as Kiada spoke of the monk who had raised her, nodding as she finished. The question she posed was a hard one, and Rashi didn't think she had the answer. In a way, she wasn't much better than the humans the kitsune was describing. Before her life had been turned upside down by this cursed weapon, she'd never given much thought to the future. Maybe she'd felt she didn't need to, knowing that she could live centuries longer if she wasn't killed in battle first. Maybe she'd needed the reminder of her mortality, even if she wished it had come in a different form.

"I don't know." Was all she could say, giving Kaida an apologetic look. "I'm sure you've noticed by now, but I'm not much of a philosopher. I don't even know what I'm going to do with myself if I ever get rid of this curse, much less anyone else. I've just been taking everything one day at a time, I guess."

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

Kaida's ears twitched a few times at the oni's mumbling, but she couldn't pick out enough to recognize that the woman's discontent was at her size. Her understanding wasn't helped by the fact that all her knowledge of onis had come from reading in the temple, much of which would've been extremely unhelpful even if she'd believed it since it fell into the realm of folklore for warding off the demon-orc breed. Although maybe she ought to ask Rashi if she did have a fear of soybeans or monkey statues, just to clear up whether that was a misconception or not? Well, maybe later.

"Admitting you're not much of a philosopher is a good first step to being more of one," she wryly replied. She wasn't in such a lighthearted mood that she felt like jesting, but that made it all the more important to do just that. "Well, if you've got no plans then you could come with me after we meet the oracle. I could use an experienced smith to return the palanquin to its former glory. Plus I have a temple to rebuild, and having a strong second set of hands would be useful." She winked at the oni. "As payment, I'll let you touch my tail some more," the kitsune grinned in a way that didn't quite reach her eyes.

But after a short pause, she would continue more somberly. "Although I would love for you to accept, I must ask: why not return to life as it was before the curse once you've ascended the mountain?" Kaida could pretty easily guess that the oni hadn't really found satisfaction with life before, based both on her comments about her family and a few she'd made while recounting her story earlier, but sometimes it was best to just plainly ask.

 

[Knephi]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

"Be careful, I might just take you up on that offer." Rashi grinned, spirits lifted at least a little at the joke—or what she assumed was a joke, at least. She really hadn't though about what she was going to do after this. She wasn't even sure if she really believed that she'd ever find a way to break the curse. In every story she knew about weapons like hers, few as they might be, the warrior died with the weapon still in hand.

Just like the man she'd taken Gorefinder from in the first place, before she'd known what it was. She didn't know what his story was, didn't know his name or anything about him, only what the ending was. Truthfully, that was what scared her most, more than the fact that she might never be rid of the weapon. She had only managed to bring him down because for all the power Gorefinder had given him, he was still only human. Very skilled, she'd been able to see that even through the berserker rage he seemed to be under, but she had simply been more durable than he was, able to take more before she went down. She was afraid of what she might do if she was driven mad as he had been.

"I don't really know." Was the only answer she could give the kitsune. "I didn't leave on the best of terms. That was before I'd learned to fight off the violent impulses it gives me. I could go back, I'm sure they'd understand eventually, but... I'm not sure I want to. Maybe I want to find something else. I never really thought about the future before, I guess this curse was a good reminder of that. I wish it had come in a different form, though."

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

"As a monk, I'm obligated to say that in your future you must, and you might wish to write this wisdom down, surround yourself with family, find someone who loves you, settle down, have plenty of healthy children to perpetuate the cycles of the world, and find peace and harmony. Not necessarily in that order," the monk replied, a wry smile still on her lips. "If only everybody considered that a happy ending and life was kind enough to provide anything without exacting some payment."

Kaida had no true answers for Rashi, of course. Not that it mattered. Listening and raising the oni's spirits was what was important at the moment, in her experience. People rarely needed solutions so much as they needed someone to listen to them while they worked one out. The oni would find her own answers eventually, or maybe she wouldn't. At that moment in time, all the kitsune monk could provide of any help was friendly banter and the foxgirl's ears. Actually....

"And why didn't you take me up on my offer? I was quite serious. If you'll come with me after this is all said and done and employ your strength rebuilding my temple then you can touch my tail and even my ears -- I saw your glancing -- as much as you'd like." The humor in Kaida's tone growing rapidly. And yet, despite the presence of humor in her tone, she was serious in her followup even through her growing smile. "I'll give you a free sample. Two minutes to touch both as much as you please. Starting now!" The monk would turn and present her back to the oni, then settle onto the ground in a kneel-sit. Rashi would given the perfect position to do almost anything she liked to the vulnerable fluffy appendage swishing back and forth through the air and Kaida's fox-like ears. As far as the monk was concerned, it was a small price to pay if there was any chance of bringing the oni some laughter before they turned in for the night.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

Spoiler

Rashi: HP = 71, PP = 46, EP = 47, Status = Fine

Kaida: HP = 92, PP = 43, EP = 43, Status = Fine.

(Just keeping the status post nearby for when it is needed again. Touch fluffy tail.

Edit by Termite: It needs to be touched...)

 

[Knephi]

Re: Where Even Lords Dare Not Tread (Knephi and Hafnium)

"If only it was that easy." Rashi sighed wearily with a slow shake of her head. It wasn't as if she'd expected Kaida to have all the answers though, life was never that easy. Her mood brightened quickly when the kistune made her offer however, the change almost instant and clearly visible in her expression.

"Oh, well, if you're sure," Rashi stumbled over her words, hesitating for a few moments, until she remembered that Kaida had given her a time limit. The oni had to resist the urge to pounce, quickly sliding over to a spot closer to Kaida and reaching out to stroke the fluffy appendage. She wasn't exactly practiced in proper technique, somewhat clumsily stroking the soft fur in the same manner one might pet a dog. She wasn't sure what it was that had tempted her to touch Kaida's tail in the first place as inebriated as she'd been at the time, but she quickly found she simply loved the feeling.

After nearly a minute of this Rashi finally reached up to touch Kaida's ears. She was hesitant at first, watching for any sign of discomfort, and eventually reaching the base where they connected to her head. She gave a gentle, experimental scratch here, knowing that some animals with similar sorts of ears liked that and curious if the same applied to her. If Kaida didn't stop her first, Rashi would quickly lose track of the time limit she was given, continuing well beyond the two minutes offered.