Let Me Go, or Fight Like Hell

-== After Leaving the Plant Lair ==-
Ford stands not far from the opening leading out from the Lair. He is not difficult to find, seeing as he towers high above the party. The ground shakes as he moves, his chains wrapped around something behind him that he is dragging. "Nice to see you are not dead," the warforge monotones, approaching. Upon better inspection of the nameless half-elf and the nameful extra-elf, he adds in, "Mostly."
"I brought dinner," he states, a bloodied body of a large carnivorous dinosaur being dragged behind him with a broken neck. Its large tongue sticks out of the side of its maw, several teeth broken in. Some are missing. One is sticking out of Ford's side.
Clemens and Be'lania hop off of the disk, not exactly able to look at each other right now. That spot over there in the distance. Yes, thats a good place to look. "I should tend to Astroix," Clemen says awkwardly. "Yes," Be'lania responds quickly, "that makes sense! I..." she pauses, "should cook Ford. I mean, help Ford cook!" Expeditious Retreat!
Meanwhile, Ozy is punching a tree, reducing his screaming to reasonable grunts that won't bring the whole forest to them.
Hues of dark purples and blues blanket the sky between the dancing aurora above them as they surface from the lair. Syn, the last to step out, drops wraeth to the ground and throws her hands up to the aurora, stretching her arms as far as they can reach before they drop back down to her side. Leaning over, she picks up her beloved weapon, tossing it over her shoulder once more. Eyes blink, seeing the towering figure approach. Chains clambering as Ford drags behind him a dead creature. “I would have said you missed a good time, but it seems you kept busy.” She grins wide.
The party settles, each taking their place at the campsite to regain energy and take care of the wounded. Syn leans wraeth against a tree and starts gathering branches, snapping them in half and tossing them into a pile before kneeling and striking flint to start a flame. Red eyes look over to Ford, “I don’t know what the hell that thing is but food is food.” She blows air between the twigs and branches as the flame takes and begins to burn the kindle. The others look horrifically exhausted, but she has enough energy to get things set up and let the others breathe.
The fire grows and she stares into its orange and yellow flames for a moment. They twist, curl, and dance and within those flames there is a moment of relaxation. She plops down in front of it. “You want to drag that thing over here? We can start chopping it up, cooking it. Though, I’m no chef so everyone should just bring their expectations down to the bare minimum.” She lets out a sigh, looking over the party.
The party is a total mix of emotions and states. It is a rich tapestry in motion. From Clemens who is tending to Astroix and the unnamed half-elf. It is a role he never anticipated being in, but with a little help from Captios and verbal cues from a critical condition Eladrin he is managing. He tries not to steal glances at Be'lania as what could be seen as wholesome shipping is frayed with the dark history he shares with her.
From Be'lania, who is a horrible cook and trust into cleaning and tending to the corpse with Syn. The songstress is colors of a girl sheltered and exploited without having learned these skills. She tries in earnest, but her glances to Clemens hint to a reminder of faithlessness in someone she cares for. From Ford, who does the heavy lifting to move the corpse around and start setting up a perimeter with logs. The right time to talk about Gig never comes easy, especially if that is exactly what the Devil wants. It is a thing he looks to Alexa to first. The truth must be sussed from the lies before they light a flame cast by manipulation. "It's made of meat and it went squish," he asides to Syn, "you'll have to tell me how it tastes." No taste buds.
To… Pangur? This curious white floof is what would pendultimately catch Syn's eye. He bounds like a fiesty cat out past one of Ford's legs. That little guy is certainly his own animal, but there is something more. A flash of white hair. A fair face like a ghost haunting in the colorful sunset hues. Pangur runs to the apparation to reach the final character in the mural, hopping into the arms of Solus, who catches him with a surprised squeak. Very much real. 『Syn』02/23/2020 “You’re not flipping through sheet music, you’re skinning a dead animal.” Syn says to Be’lania, taking the severed leg from her hands and ripping the skin down to expose fresh muscle. “See? Put all your arm strength into a clean quick rip and its good.” She grins, proud of herself while trying to show the songstress her method.
Syn places it over the fire, held up just high enough above the flame for it to cook between two branches on either side. “I’ll let you know how it is then, Ford----” Her red eyes catch the attention of a scurrying Pangur that jumps into the arms of a figure that makes Syn freeze. In that moment everything around her pauses and the only thing left is the crackling of the campfire. Her hand drops from leg bone, looking past Ford with eyes wide as she stares towards her friend, Solus.
“You’re…” She slowly stands to her feet. “Here?” A step forward, unsure if this is an illusion, a prank, or some hallucination from whatever it was they were breathing down in the lair. Her hesitance and shock are palatable. The last time she had seen her was during Kravor’s ritual and between the fighting, she never got the chance to truly speak, but even during that time her hand felt real, her voice felt real, and in this moment, she wished so deeply that this too was real. “….Solus?”
Captios slumps against a tree, tired from the ordeal the party just endured. He has finished helping Clemens stabilize Astroix, and now all he wants to do is rest. Having used up most of his energy, he lies there, petting Yoyo, who is contently lying on the ground against his leg. Suddenly, the cat, with unusual excitement, hops up and dashes past Ford towards what appears to be a young tiefling with white hair. Captios yells out his cat's name as he jumps up from the ground, readying himself another confrontation.
As Captios starts to prepare himself mentally, he hears Syn utter a name that he heard once before in her thoughts. "Solus". Captios is caught off guard, unsure of exactly what is going on here. He moves quickly up next to Syn, calling to Yoyo to come back. He then looks at Syn. "You know this person?"
He looks over to the tiefling. It looks like an apparition, but it seems to be made of substance, as demonstrated by Yoyo cuddled up in its arms. "Who are you and how did you get here? And can I please have my cat back?" Captios' looks back and forth between Syn and the apparition, waiting for one of them to respond. Buckland02/23/2020 The white haired tiefling girl is far into the edge of the forest away from the camp. The hooting of some great owl signals its noctural morning crow. Light is bleeding out from the sky and painting her hair like the aurora above the canopy. Her horn curl around her hair like the swirl of of a circle unsuccessfully completing itself. Her eyes have a natural kindness to them, a rare trait in infernals. She holds the white-blue cat that climbs onto her shoulder.
"Briefly," she says to Syn. Her robes flow about her like an apparition in the wind. A hand reaches to scritch the cat known as Yoyo Meow and Pangur Ban. She has all the peace of a sick person that is ready to gently pass away. Calm. Her eyes move to the cat that headbutts the side of her face, then to Syn. "It is good to see you again, Syn," she says with a voice full of regrets, "but I have to ask you something. Something important. With what little time I have to ask it." Regrets about a selfish request. That sounds like Solus. The urgency reflects in her inability to answer Captios' inquiry. It is as if there are seconds left, not minutes.
Yo-gur Meow-Ban looks to Captios and stands elegantly on Solus' shoulders. He hops off of Solus to bound into Captios' arms like a little angel descending for a hug. 『Syn』02/23/2020 Calm. Calm, Solus’ voice rings out and reaches the ears of the red eyed tiefling. Her anchor she stood with for years through crashing waves of a reality she didn’t want to accept. Words surface like bubbles, struggling to escape her mouth.
When Solus makes note of her time here before her, the world around begins to move again. She responds to Captios in a heavy escape of air. “Yes. She means us no harm.” She takes another step forward, then another, till she finds herself stumbling into a quick dash to reach her friend in time. Grabbing her hands with a whirlwind of pain swelling in her chest. There is panic in her eyes, and there are millions of things she wants to say, but letting Solus speak knowing that chance my disappear in a second, is her priority, but that panic in her voice shakes, can they each share their words in time?” “What is it Solus? Tell me quick, please.”
She does not take her eyes off her friends, she does not turn to look at the party, Ford, Captios who stand close by, nor the white creature that perches on her shoulder, watching.
Hands like starlight are held in Syn's. They are still, unshaking hands of a doll. Her pulse is like a faint wind. Eyes in a slow blink. "Are you prepared to do anything to bring me back," Solus asks, point blank like a shotgun blast in the moonlight.
Syn’s hands grip tighter holding Solus’. Red eyes remain still on hers, unblinking. “Anything, ANYTHING. ANYTH---” Her words quickly halt and the panic falls to what could only be described as a flatline across a heart monitor. “…do you even want to come back?” Those last words flow out as quiet and muffled and as though she never meant them to. As though they emerged somewhere locked and hidden away behind walls and walls of selfishness for years now.
Tears well in Solus' eyes as if they are fighting to come out. They yearn to express the degree of sadness that used to come to easy before. They shine like glass. "Not if it costs you something precious," Solus says, hands tightening around Syn's weakly. "And I think it will," she nods her head gently, "I know it will." The light of dusk wanes as she speaks, "I want to come back but I can't if I am the cause of your pain." The tight grip suddenly becomes as light as air. Her hands ethereally float through Syn's. "The light is almost gone," Solus says and her hands become whole once more and she smells of starlight. "So know that either choice, I will always support you. But. If you pick the narrow path of my return? You must accept the pain it will bring or I will be lost forever." A squeeze. "You will be lost forever. And," a single tear finally streams down her face, "I'd be okay with not coming back if that even has a chance of happening."
Her body is draped in the shadow of an overcast cloud, becoming ghostly once more. Solus' tear falls and hits the ground like a gem of ice. "So let me go, Syn," she says. Stilled she laughs sadly, "Or fight like hell." Practically a whisper now.
The sun radiating rays of light, mindlessly claw its way up into the sky to meld into the nightly hues. It shifts ever so slightly from dark blues and purples into crisp pinks and oranges just above the horizon. Between those very colors stand a tiefling clinging on to every minute and every second before night gives way for that dreaded sun.
Sun, do not take her away from me.
In this very moment, it is Syn’s worst enemy, and as her friend’s hands become ethereal, she clings to every word and every syllable. “No, no, no, NO,NO!” She yells. “You are the one that deserved a life to live, not me.” A sharp intake of air out of panic. Her friend is fading away. “How can it possibly cost me something precious, when that very thing is what I am fighting for!? How can anything more be taken!?”
Syn tries grabbing her hands and they drift right through her delicate fingers, her hands come up to reach out and wrap her scraped and bruised arms around Solus but as those sun rays spread out across the morning sky, Solus fades and she stumbles through the ethereal shadow on the whispered words of “Or fight like hell.”
She falls to her knees and black hair tumbles across her face, shrouding a twisted expression of pure agony. Silence. So much silence fills that space. Only the songs of morning birds flow through the forest. They chirp and sing a song of a new day as Syn stares wide eyed down to the dirt. “Whatever it takes.”

It is quiet. Too quiet. There is that silence that speaks volumes as Solus is gone once more.
Alexa walks past the disc holding the two almost dead people. She needs to have a talk with Astroix about his martyr complex, but she'll have to wait until he's in a better condition. A light green mist blankets the ground as she walks, one she's familiar with in the woods. Pangurs white fur catches her eye as he runs. And then Alexa sees who he runs to. Solus. The friend who last time she appeared caused Syn to lash out and push Alexa away. The person who seems to make Alexa feel utterly disposable to Syn. Alexa hears the conversation, and she knows Syn's answer before she says it. She observes the change in Solus' skin, the starlight sparkling as she disappears. She walks up behind Syn. "Are you okay?"
That silence, that dreadful wrenching silence that lingers on the tail end of a meeting cut short and a goodbye not wanted. Footsteps creep into the emptiness. Alexa speaks and it takes a moment for Syn to reply with anything but a sadistic chuckle. “Heh.” She takes a deep inhale of air before rising to her feet. Another pause and she turns around to look at Alexa. “You judged me then, when I told you I made that---" eyes glancing past her briefly to look at the rest of the party before locking eyes back onto hers. “That deal.” Red eyes thin into a narrow stare. “Maybe now, maybe now you’ll see why. I can’t have people holding me back from what I am supposed to be. What I am supposed to be is stronger. I wasn’t strong enough then to get her out of that situation, I am not strong enough now to get her out of this one. The difference this time, I have nothing to lose when everything has already been thrown away.” Her words are strange. Maybe she should have tears streaming down her face, maybe she should be wallowing on the ground, or even screaming out into the forest, punching someone, something right now. She isn’t. She stands stoic. There is just…. Nothing behind her eyes.
Alexa looks to Syn. A fight. After Solus there is always a fight, and here it is. 'I have nothing to lose when everything has already been thrown away' cuts Alexa deep. That familiar feeling that she has felt only twice before. Alexa is disposable to Syn in this moment. If not disposable, she's definitely not something meaningful to her. Alexa fought so hard since her youth to never feel disposable again, to always be seen as someone useful and worthy to have around. And in just one phrase Syn can put her right back to that feeling. She closes her eyes and pushes back the hurt, the pain she feels inside. Whatever they're about to face can't be hindered by emotions. They only slow you down when you get attached. She always tells herself this, and yet she keeps making the mistake with Syn. "I don't know what you had back then, but I know you at least have a tether to your family through Ford now. Is your view really so centered on yourself that you don't realize that now, more than any time before, you have so much more to lose?" Alexa's eyes pierce through Syn's empty eyes, light blue flames flickering against a dark empty room.
Red eyes shift to look over and up to Ford for a moment when Alexa speaks, before returning to meet hers once again. She stands, listening with clenched hands and as Alexa finishes speaking, Syn bursts out with a loud rage filled reply. “Because I don’t want to make the same fucking mistakes!” Eyes widen and she recoils back. “You think I WANT this? Forcing myself not to feel? Wishing I had a friend, a family? The moment you start feeling—” She pokes Alexa at her chest by her heart with a pointer finger, a slight shove just enough for her body to rock slightly backwards. “Is the moment you let pain in. It’s just better this way, to not get attached, but ironically,” She drops her pointer finger and her arm falls to her side. “You can’t really pick and choose those things. Apparently, it happens no matter how hard you push them away.” Her hands tremble, fear? Sadness? “I am blatantly running away from that pain, and still hurting others in the process. I am running from something I can’t even control.”
Syn's finger wavers right over Alexa's chest after she pushes her slightly back. The furious ball of flame that is Syn rages in front of her as Alexa stands her ground. She touches Syn's finger and pushes it away. "Don't talk to me about getting attached. You yell about pushing people away and protecting yourself from pain when you don't even realize how the people around you have been protecting you from it. Do you think your devil will care if something happens to you?! Or will he just resurrect you so you can continue to do what he says, all for power. You're not a girl anymore, you are powerful, and in the whole time I've seen you, not once have I seen you not feel. Stop. Lying. To. Yourself. Actually look around and see who you're traveling with. Who cares."
The commotion has drawn others out. Some were always listening and wanted to give some space. However now it is the voice of the alchemist that speaks in the red sea of anguish. "Stop it!" he yells out, "Life... life isn't fair," Clemens says, weathered and tired from the recent adventure, "its not perfect. Bad things happen to people and," he looks back to Astroix, thinking of something he might say before he turns back, "and it doesn't make the pain any less real. It doesn't go away. But..." The fatigue sets in and the next words come up blank. All that setup and its only air passing through the wordsmith of his mind.
Be'lania steps up, putting a hand over her shoulder as she remembers the feeling of having her body ripped apart by 'heroes'. "But the pain doesn't have to define you or anyone. It becomes a part of you. Of the people you hurt and those that hurt you. The people you get close to are going to share in your pain. They make choices you didn't ask them to. They break promises, but," she looks up, "they also keep them. Sometimes."
Ford stomps on over, "Yeah. I got nothing." There is an awkward silence. He looks on over to all the tense members here, "It doesn't need saying. We suffer together. We sacrifice together. We do whatever it takes, together." Oh he heard. That helm levels on Syn, "If we have to rip apart the sky so you can pull down your star? Its going to happen. "
Meanwhile Ozy looks like he is hung over, wobbling forward and leaning on Clemens. "Sounds like fun," Ozy says, "lets go rip some shit apart." Then he leans uncomfortably close to Clemens and says, "Gold coin says they make out now," with a broad, toothy grin. Clemens wants none of this. Sweet PaakLast Tuesday at 9:41 PM Captios mulls over the words of those in the circle. So Syn made a deal with a devil? In Avernus maybe? Not surprising given she has infernal heritage. But nothing she's done would lead anyone to believe she's evil. This could be the reason Alexa's reports have failed to mention the tiefling. There's way more to this story than meets the eye. "I haven't had a family for a long time, and even in school I didn't have too many friends. I know I've only spent a day with you guys but really this is the closest I've been to anyone in a while." He looks happily at Syn. "Maybe it was the thick of battle but you helped Astroix when you could have left him. To say that you don't feel, that you don't get attached seems unreasonable. And while you may not like what I'm gonna say, you and Ozy fought like a pair of siblings back in the cave. Or what I know of siblings from the books I've read. I think you're more connected with everyone here than you care to admit." Captios let's out a sigh. "Again, I don't know you guys and I don't want to overstep my boundaries here."
Captios continues. "I would give anything to see my mom again. I'd do whatever it takes." A single tear wells up in his eye as he thinks of his loving, doting mother. He now speaks to the full group. "This past day in the cave was one of the hardest I've ever had. When we were in that last corridor, I thought that I would die for sure. But we came to each other's aid and we got through it. We're a team now whether we like it or not." Captios looks over to Astroix and then back to the group. "It feels like something is happening here, something epic. Like the stories of great knights that took on dragons. Or the mages of the past that fought devils and abberations alike. I've found myself on such an adventure it seems. With a group of people who, despite their differences have come together. I promise to do my best to help you all on whatever journey we are on. And I hope you'll do the same for me." He looks back at Syn. It's unclear how she will take these words, or if she even wants to hear them. Words strung together from a guy who has no idea what he's about to endure. Words probably taken from some book in a library.
Alexa’s response catches her off guard. She doesn’t back off and holds her ground throwing back just as much reality into Syn’s face. “Oh the part where you belittle my decisions. Do you really think I can become stronger by just twiddling my thumbs, hiding in the shadow of you and your fancy ‘contacts’? I don’t give a fuck about what Gig would do.” Lie. “But I break things and I feel the closest of what I can be, could be, in those very moments. Maybe if you just fucking accepted that fact, we wouldn’t be in the middle of a pissing match. You’re right, I feel. I feel fucking angry at myself for not being stronger. For not doing better, for not killing that fucking thing in the lair so you guys didn’t get struck. Its not good enough Alexa. I am not good enough to solve these things that come at us.” Syn grabs Alexa by the sleeves, shaking her slightly. “I fucking refuse to repeat my past. I refuse to be weak and watch another person die, because I am not strong enough to save them.” There is a yell from behind Alexa. ‘STOP IT’, Clemens shouts and Syn lets go of the fabric between her hands, taking a step back. There is a sudden calm that rushes in, Syn has been holding on to that weight for a long time, though with it comes a side of shame, embarrassment to yelling out in front of a large party over very exposed thoughts and feelings. Her eyes look past Alexa, to Clemens following through with uplifting words that fall short. They shift to Be’lania who takes over, her words make her look back to Alexa with sorry eyes, they look to Captios as he speaks of protecting people in the lair, eyes narrow when he mentions Ozy. “Pfft.” His words are reassuring though, he may be right. This is an odd bunch of people with their own stories and struggles, but it works, they all mesh well together, all in their own way. There is this slimmer of hope felt in Syn’s chest. Those red eyes shift up to the warforged towering over her. A tap with the back of her hand against the metal plating of Ford’s chest. “Thanks.” Syn says, not just to Ford, but to the others as well. She uncomfortably looks away from everyone trying hard to process what the hell this new feeling is.
Alexa feels the push if Syn, her emotion and rage running through her arms. Clemens, Be'lania, and Ford come in providing a calm to the situation, but the fire in Alexa's chest isn't as easily smothered. On Captios' words, rather than feeling calm, it only fuels the fire. Hearing him talk about them going on a great adventure while she's fully aware he's sending everything that she's doing to the Candles. She looks around at the situation, thinking of everything that's been said. Her body looks calm. Unaturally calm. She speaks in the quietest voice, only loud enough for those closest to her to hear. "You don't think I'm aware that you are a breaker? That this power is not just something you feel close to, but is an integral part of who you are? You say you're not good enough, that you can't solve things. Why do you think I'm still fucking by your side? I love you, and maybe if you stopped looking for acceptance and power from other sources you'd realize that it's not deals that will give you power, it's inside you. You refuse to repeat your past, yet don't realize the strength that you actually have. Next time you see Solus, and you save her;which you will, know it's not because Gig helped, it's because you did it. So stop this weakness talk. The world can see how powerful and strong you are and can be. It's about fucking time you saw it for yourself." Alexa maintains her tall stance, her book emanating a glow as she talks and gets angrier. She looks around at everyone who is getting ready to have a kumbaya moment, and her eyes land on Captios. Her eyes still burning. She wants more than anything to snap at him for talking about togetherness while he spies on her, but she stops herself. Her brain starts to take over and she starts to walk away. Solus. Everytime. A fight. Her emotions are getting too high. She walks over to Ford and in passing states "please make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."
Syn’s eyes widen at Alexa’s words. Its weird to hear it said, even after the fight that happened moments ago. They both piss each other off at times, but she is right, there is a reason why they’ve stuck together for so long. She doesn’t know how to reply, or maybe too afraid to return the friendship still? “I will keep it in mind.” Syn lets out a frustrated sigh and a pissed nod to Alexa as her friend turns to walk past Ford. Eye’s catching her book glowing. “Tsk.” She folds her arms across her chest. “If anything, he’ll encourage it.” She sneers then eyes narrow into a sad expression as Alexa walks off. She follows suit, exhausted both physically and mentally. She plops down at the base of a tree, placing wraeth next to her, hand wrapped around the handle. She stares at it for a moment, thinking about Alexa’s and Solus’ words.
Its true. Ford has never been the sort of figure to keep Syn out of trouble. He is more likely to encourage it, though perhaps not as much as Ozy stokes the flames. "Trouble is like oxygen for her and I like to think of myself as a life support warforge," Ford dances around the topic. The general concept of him dancing is not for the faint of heart. "I think you need it more right now," Ford states, going with Alexa as she walks off to be by herself.
One thing about Ford is that he is surprisingly patient when it comes to people's emotions. The tieflings of Freeport were creatures of great emotion. Trying to label and put a bow on it is like attempting to categorize and package fire. You have to read the flame and understand it. This empathy leads it to believe that the monotone voice that emits from him is but a metal mask behind a deep beating heart encased in a magical cage. Minutes pass and he gives Alexa something different to focus on.
"Gig ran into me in the forest," Ford bluntly tells Alexa. "The Great Builder is up to something as usual."
Alexa walks past Ford expecting to have some space to breathe, and is surprised to see the large warforged walking beside her. 'The Great Builder is up to something as usual.' rings in her ears. The all too familiar red eyes flash in her mind, that same feeling of being unsafe, like he's always watching her. Waiting for her to stumble? To frighten her? She looks to Ford, pushing those thoughts aside, "I wonder if there will ever be a day that he's not up to something. What did he say?"
Captios watches Alexa walk away, still thinking about the look she gave him a moment ago. Eyes that see everything... Why did they feel so, accusatory? He turns back to Syn. "So this girl we just saw, Solus, what exactly happened there between you too? What did you mean when you said you weren't strong enough?"
Syn rolls her head to the side, looking across the way to Captios with piercing red eyes. “I killed her.” She says sharply and yet with an underlying pain. Time is suppose to make things easier, but all time has done was leave a painful reminder with every tick that goes by. “Solus was with me during my time under Jacob Whyte’s control.” Eyes glance briefly at Ozy before returning to meet Captios’ once more. “He took her and killed her, over, and over, and over again in front of me, one resurrection at a time just to bring her back and bring her pain once more. Then said, I needed to end her or he’ll keep doing it. Yeah, that’s the kind of man we all agreed to work for currently. That is why I need to get stronger, so I don’t let that shit happen again and so I can personally bash his fucking face in and in such a way he never returns to this fucking plane of existence.” Her words are sharp, angry, and painful as she says this looking dead eye towards Captios. “She was--- Is a good person. who didn't deserve this at all."
Ford takes a moment to recap his encountered with the white haired devil. "Trouble runs deep in the veins of the Great Builder," the large warforge monotone intones to Alexa. "And he claims to know what we are doing. As much as his penchant for half-truths, I feel that is mostly all true." There is a pause in his voice. The lack of non-verbal cues from his body makes it hard to tell if he is done sharing. Yet abruptly it continues on, "The need for Devil's blood, which was mentioned in the cure? Gig says it needs to be his blood. Worse yet, he is offering it to me to deliver. Also," another uncertain level of pausing, "it was already paid for." For now he leaves out the issues with his core. It was difficult enough and conventional wisdom of 'oh, and you are still kinda broken' doesnt mesh well with the fact they are going to be stationary for a few days.
Alexa listens to the calming monotone of Ford as he delivers unsettling news. She thinks back to the conversations in Whytes estate... The dragons were to be the payment. It's not adding up. "Ford, did he say who paid for it?"
"No," Ford replies. There are subtle tells that the warforge is not as well as he lets on. Not that there is an instruction manual to warforge health. He is being more conservative in his movements. The pistons and the hisses are less intense than before. "And even if he did I don't know if I would believe it. I don't believe it has to be His blood, either. Creating a need is very Him. For all we know, you can get some at the Shadow Market that will suffice without involving him." The warforge believes there is always a way and he isn't beholden to a single path. "But I'm not about to look a gift in the mouth if it comes down to it. So long as we do our reading first, something this group has both ability and time to do." A compliment. Lots of big brains nearby.
Alexa nods "I'll need to speak with Clemens, he seems to have an idea of what may be needed. The less we have to rely on Gig, the better." She watches Ford and his strained movements. "I'm going to speak to the shadow market, by the way. I don't trust Jacob to produce anything he says he will, but you have to be honest with me. How much time did that crystal exchange give you. Really." She is 5 feet shorter than him, but she has the stance and sternness of a Mom who knows she's been lied to, staring him down.
Captios strokes his chin, his forehead crinkling in deep and troubled thought. Just another mystery layered on top of it all. This tiefling made a deal with Gig in order to get revenge on Jacob Whyte? She doesn't seem to be lying. Her words seem to be spoken with pure emotion. She seems genuinely good? Not good... but definitely not evil. He now looks to Ozy, "Ozy, is this something you've also witnessed in your time with Jacob Whyte?"
"To be blunt, I don't know," Ford says directly, "Not to trek down the deep path of 'who am I' and 'why are you all so squishy' but I've never seen a book that went in that detail about how I work." There is a pause. A hiss of steam. "Consider your doctor friend back there, he knows more about your anatomy than you do. If your heart stopped working well, you'd feel it. Something that isnt right. But you wouldn't know what and you certainly wouldn't know how much time you have left." He taps on his chest, deep and resounding of metal. "I know that it felt like something was cracking inside like when a bone is breaking in my hands. Now it feels tight, like the tension on my chains. I'm no artificer, but I can say it bought me time. Weeks? Months? If I 'take it easy' maybe even this is a permanent solution."
And there it is. "And I have no intention of going dorment nor taking it easy. You want me to be honest with you? I was stuck outside when you went through the gate. I was stuck outside when you went into whatever left you coming out with two half-corpses. Shit happens. But while I can still do something, I am." He looks backwards towards Syn, "She has a hole in her heart, too. Every bit as damning as mine." Back to Alexa, "So 'whatever it takes' includes not distracting you with half-truths from someone who isn't a warforge heart surgeon. I can't die. Not really. You can. She can. Its not martyrdom, Im not a fan, its a logical choice based on how we are built." A finger raises, "I consider you family, Alexa, so I understand your concern. Its just not the right time, so don't worry people with it until we have to. Thats how we lose everything spreading ourselves too thin." Ozy is still bleary from having drugs going through his system, running for longer than he should, and punching a tree that is now knocked over. He listens but he isn't reflecting any deep resonance from the brutality that Jacob is being depicted as. When asked by Captios, the tiefling says, "What, Jacob killing people? Being 'cruel'? Tons of times. The only person he doesn't touch is the damn brat." He spits onto the ground, "She is 'everybodys little favorite' and everyone suffers more to walk egg shells around her." But he doesn't hate her, not really, when he is tired it looks more like an act. "I lost count of the times he killed me," Ozy explains casually, "but I only need to kill the fucker once and he can't have it figured out every time."
Alexa smiles a little at the mention of being family, but a reality sinks in. "I understand the logical option, but from the looks of Syn's conversation we're about to get into something big. Syn's already barely holding it together as she is. Just. Please. Try to reserve enough to stay alive for her past this. She'll need you."
"Look whos talking," Ford says, "you were just about to walk off by yourself in a place where I hauled that back," he thumbs back to the dinosaur he hauled in. If he could grin, he couldn't. Instead it is one neutral face plate just not-grinning at Alexa. "So I'll just have to try twice as hard if you walk off and get yourself turned into a snack. You'll have to do the same if I blow up." He makes a macabre 'poof' sound with his large metal hands. Of course, Alexa is not a tiefling so tiefling humor doesn't apply. "Right," he says more to himself, "its an old Freeport saying. Whenever we would sail off there was a chance people wouldn't come back. My resonation ability? Its original purpose was to connect me to the bottom of a ship, not do what it does now. Its been tampered with. Maybe it always could do this, don't know. The point is that I would always come back, but the same concern in the eyes of people leaving was the one you share right now. And fretting? It just made it worse. "
He gets down onto the ground and takes a twig off of the ground. The metal man snaps it, handing one part of this mundane piece of wood to Alexa, "Freeportians are survivors. When one falls, his brother or sister knows to work for two lives. Their own, and the one that fell. They were." Pause. "Are. A passionate, proud people. They knew fear, but knew courage. I think they would have driven you crazy. Heh heh heh." He places his twig up on his horns, nestled safely up there. "But there is wisdom in the tradition. We can't live afraid of death. We can only live twice as bright holding the candles of those who no longer can."
Captios is taken aback by Ozy's forward answer. He knows that Jacob was slimy, but this level of evil is something he has never encountered. And Syn's story seems to be adding up. "What do you mean he's killed you or Solus multiple times? And how are you alive? He must have necromancers in his employ?" He stares more closely at Ozy, trying to decipher a face that doesn't match his words. "Why do you think that you can kill him for good?"
Ozy grins broadly as he steps drunkenly towards Captios, "Because I'm the baddest of the bad. The raddest of the rad. I'm Ozy-Fucking-Mandius and I'll break that fucker in half."That lopsidded grin is leveled inches from Captios now, the scent of his natural brimstone coming off of him this closely. "Then again and again until all they can bring back is little bitty bits of him. Like half an eyeball or a few teeth." Broad toothy grin. "Power matters, kiddo, and he has plenty of it, but he isn't invincible. All those damned trinkets and baubles and artifacts have their limits."
Alexa wants to retort with self putting statements about how if Syn got Solus back it wouldn't matter what happened to Alexa, but she stops herself. Instead she focuses on Ford's story of Freeportians. "Your version of people in Freeport is so much different than the reports on them. It appears that if there ever was a situation where we'd have enough time to talk about them, it would be now. How was Freeport, really?"
Captios takes a step back from Ozy. "No one is invincible. Read any history book and you realize that eventually every mighty kingdom, every great power has fallen. It just feels like you are going about this all wrong." He looks to Syn. "Alexa is a Candle. Why not have her report these things to the Candles. Aren't they supposed to be the law enforcement of the kingdom? Answering only to the Vitali family? Surely they'd want to know if one of their more prominent subjects was a sadist."
"What do you want to know," Ford asks, taking a moment to look off into the wooded horizon. The same simple tells of people walking through their memories translate to those made of metal as well as flesh. "It was a city that refused to die, no matter what the world threw at it. It stood bloodied, but grinning back at you. Passion and liberty, Alexa," he looks back down to the Candle, "comes in many forms. At its best it meant celebrations that would last a day and a night when a new member joined the family. Likewise it meant ire that runs as deep as an ocean of lava at loss." He senses that feeling from her. "And make no mistake, if something happened to you, Syn would bring hell itself down on the person that hurt you. I've seen sisters fight before." Then he says something different, "You two need each other. The heart that closes itself off suffocates in its own tomb. I see you the most alive when she gets under your skin." A hand is held up, "And say what you will about your duty, I'm sure you believe that. I don't. Freeportian do this all the time. There is a trick to it. What they say? Ignore it. Listen to what they do. Find yourself in peril and you'll know exactly how important you are to this family. That is what it meant to be in Freeport. We respected everyone's choices even if they were slaves, murderers, or worse, bards. What we didn't respect is the idea that 'there is no choice'. Don't want to be a murdrer? Stop murdering people. Don't want to be a slave? Break your bonds. Don't want to be a bard? Shut up. No one said it was an easy change, but thats Freeport. Life is hard. It'll bloody you. You have to get up and grin through the blood. The devils of Avernus aren't going to be kind, but Freeportians are more prepared than anyone else for the next life." All Ozy can do when Captios responds to how the world should work, when Ford speaks to its uncomfortable truths, is to laugh. A deep, drug drunk laugh. "Damn I needed a good laugh," Ozy says, wiping a tear away from his eyes. "You think that a Candle can take down Jacob? How well did that work when she threatened him with it?" There is this deep, coalfire stare at Captios, "Not all Candles are upstanding crusaders. Some of them like having allies, or lives to live long enough to do some good that doesn't involve suicide." A grin, "Plus last I checked, being sadistic is half of the Crystallis lifestyle, isnt it? People sitting pretty, wearing nice clothes, surrounded in magical deedoos and literally floating above others that toil and suffer. What are you going to do, lock up the most rich and powerful and put them in prisons of marble and gold?"
Captios turns back to Ozy and looks at him silently, taking in the words of the blunt tiefling. He then turns back to Syn, changing the subject. "By the way, your friend from a minute ago. I don't think she's dead. Well not technically anyways. More like she exists somewhere between planes."
Syn sits listening to Captios and Ozy converse. Ozy’s words about Jacob ring through her head so familiar. Captios looks back to her and brings up her friend. “Solus. Her name is Solus.” She says sharply. “No I don’t think she is either, but what do I know.” She frowns slightly. “She felt real here just now, and even before. So if she is between planes what exactly does that mean? When she is there, what is she doing? Is she alone? Are there other things there? If it is just a void, I struggle to wrap my head around that kind of hell.” Her voice trails… it bothers her a lot not knowing where Solus is and what that place is like. “And you…” Eyes glance to Ozy. His words leaving her extremely troubled. “You want to bash Jacobs skull in, so do I. So at least we have that much in common, or more… She stares at him. “With breaking things.” A pause and a stare at the other Tiefling. She shifts momentarily to look at Captios then back to Ozy. “Why does Jacob harm you and not the little tiefling at the estate? What makes her so special to him?”
Before Ozy can answer, Captios speaks. "I'm not sure where she is actually either. This sort of stuff is a bit of a mystery. Interplanar magic." He stops for a second, mulling over an idea before continuing. "I might be able to communicate with her. I've never tried that magic before and I'm not sure how successful I'll be. But I think there might be a way in which I act as an intermediary." He now turns to Ozy, addressing the statements that Syn just made. "That's something I've been wondering too. What did you mean when you said the little one is steps ahead of Jacob when no one else is."
A finger raises to Captios from Ozy's bloody hands. He punched that tree raw, much to Clemen's nature loving dismay. "Jacob is three steps ahead of everyone except her. He only is a step ahead of her," the tiefling says. He thinks for a moment on that, "Yeah. They play games all damn day. Chess. Checkers. Cards. Really weird card games, too." A grunt to that. "Shes a porcelain pet. Maybe he doesn't want his precious pet marred? Anyway, you can tell that even as a kid she is able to keep pace with him some days. Maybe thats why. He wants to build her up to see what she can do. Same as me. Jacob is insufferably curious about shit. "
Alexa smiles "It seems like a good mentality. I try to respect Syn's choices, but I just worry that they'll get her killed, or worse, everyone else killed. She wants power so much, and it appears at no care for the cost. What about if she gets it? It'll blind her, and then I don't think I will be able to save her, from herself or other forces."
"The funny thing about worrying about someone," Ford says as a gentle breeze goes against his body. Its something he can't feel, but he knows it is there by the way it plays against Alexa's face, hair, and clothes. "It shows you care. Once you know you care, the best thing you can do is be with them as long as you can, because your heart is bonded with them. It doesn't matter who they are. Young. Old. Human. Tiefling. Freeeportian. Crystallian. Its is not our birth that binds our fate, but our hearts." Half of a motto, that.
"Does she want power?" Ford asks Alexa as she looks down to her. "Why do people seek power? Because they feel powerless. She lost something close to her and she was powerless to stop it. Wouldn't you seek power when faced with such despair?" Then an observation, "The same way you seek to be useful. To be noticed." There is a metallic laugh. "Hah hah hah. You two are perfect for each other. You can 'save' each other if you learn to accept one another. You are both wonderfully flawed and don't need 'fixing'. Your flaws make you, you. Then you will be noticed by someone who needs you and she will know that she is not the same girl who was powerless before. You can be amazingly broken together and the world will be fine."
Alexa looks to Ford after his wisdom bomb. "I'm glad you didn't kill us in Freeport." She chuckles, but then finds herself back on a train of thought. "This new thing, saving Solus, it's not going to be easy. I just have a feeling that we're about to lose. alot."
Ford puts out a big metal fist for Alexa to fistbump, "Whats an adventure without risks and stakes? You have to bet big to win big." Then afterwards he does add, "I'm glad I didn't kill you in Freeport, too. You had someone looking out for you. I didn't think much of it at the time, but memories seem to gravitate towards you. Like they want to be seen. Kindred spirit, maybe?"
Alexa looks at Ford's fist and bumps it with hers. A smirk as she looks at him, "Maybe. I just hate that they're stuck there. I wonder if there will ever be a way to set the spirits in Freeport free."
"I think there is," Ford says. The people there are not just ghosts stuck in between worlds. They were people he knew before the city was attacked by celestials. Before divine wrath was brought down. "The Thatchers were able to commit to Raijin's cause. I like to think that allowed them to escape that fate. And there is my resonance. I imagine if I had the right knowhow that I could combine them into a single place so they could return or move on. Perhaps repulse them out of the half-way point they are in." The big guy shrugs, "It'd be moving a mountain, one rock at a time. I think if anyone can Build something to fix it, its the Great Builder himself. Ever consider all of his deals are to build enough resources to free his people?" Its a different way of looking at it, for sure.
'free his people' This statement stops Alexa, it's an angle of Gig she hadn't thought of. "What was Gig like? In Freeport?"
"Before or after elves shot him with a cannonaide shell crafted by the closest thing he saw as a 'his child'?" Ford asks. The monotone voice makes it difficult to determine if that came with venom or humor. He hasn't given Astroix any ill treatment, but noble elves can do great damage to evil devils.
The amount of information just so calmly thrown at her throws her off a little. "I guess before? Also, he had a child? What happened?"
With a loud thump, Ford takes a seat near a tree. He leans back, causing the large oak to groan and shake down acorns that pelt the ground. "Lots of questions. Yes. Gig had 'a child'. He knew how to build Warforge, like myself, with free will and deep, passionate hearts. Creating life that is more," he points a finger at Alexa, "squishy is more difficult. It required help. She was a lovely woman. The sort of kindness that Solus reminds me of, among others." He looks to Alexa, "Pisces, for your notes, was she. Having a child changed Gig's outlook. He connected more with people. His friend, Paulo, was always there to guide him but with Pisces and Lupe he was more..." the warforge struggles for the word, "empathetic."
There is a long silence that follows. "I suppose the idea of creating life was seen as too powerful. Or maybe profaine for a Devil to do so. I don't know the reason. I know that they kidnapped him, tortured him, and used his pain in a sacrifice to obliterate Gig and a greater portion of Freeport." Another pause, "Gig was always quirky. But he was soft spoken. Curious. Intelligent. Powerful. Like a delicate bird on a dry lake. Then he was a proud Phoenix. Then. Elves. Shot. Him."
"It doesn't make what he did right. Or what he does is right. The world isn't right, never was, doubt it is going to be any time soon," Ford says, "but it makes you wonder who the real Devil is, sometimes. Who tortures a child just to throw their blood on the father? So when the phrase 'whatever it takes' concerns you, I understand your worries. But if you aren't willing to do whatever it takes, someone else is."
Alexa appears lost in thought. "And the smiting? We were told that he was torturing an Angel. Was it revenge? Or has history just been glossed over again?"
"History is written by the victors," Ford notes. He learned of what history had to say and the facts were not favorable to infernals and wretches. "I don't know everything there. I was there when the angels came down. That's the day I died. You saw my core. You should know that after the cannonaide, warforged were given Final Words to detonate their core." Two hands make an explosion expression, "Judging by the lack of my Freeportian warforge brethren, most chose to give hell to the invaders, if given the chance." A hand raises, "I know, I hate matyrdom. It wasn't my first choice, but I'd rather go out with a bang than a whimper, and seeing that Syn is alive I like to think I made the right choice."
"The only person that really knew what was going on at that time was Paulo," Ford levels his helmet-like head down to Alexa, "but at the speed Gig rebuilt the city? I'm sure he was pulling on strong resources. I hauled in quite a few on the Thatcher ships." There is a pause, "Maybe it was not too different than Syn. For all his power, he felt powerless when he couldn't protect his child. A father should never have to bury their child."
" I agree, noone should outlive their children, and of course the one person who could provide further information I can't see anymore. I wonder if I actually ever will again. I do wonder though, there have been reports of Gig gathering things, or at least hunting for powerful items. What kinds of resources would you haul on your ships?"
There is a pause as Ford considers how to level this information. Its almost as if a little 'how much heart points do you have with Ford' is being checked. "People," Ford replies, "through piracy and raiding. Dozens. Possibly hundreds." The large warforge rattled his chains, "These were used to hold ships together or the most difficult of cargo. Gig doesn't hunt down powerful items, he makes them. The more powerful the item, the more powerful the resources they require."
"Why not just ask Paulo to see him again?" Ford asks, departing the subject to something less dark, "he was nearby not long ago. Around the time Solus made an appearance I could feel him. Made my core go all woobly. Last time it did that was back in Nexus."
"Damnit. Of course he was. The situation with Kravor, the thing that caused us to go to Freeport and how we got to you. It made the whole group not worthy to see him. I was unfortunately in the group. I hope everyday to prove that I'm worthy to see him, i don't really know how to ask him." She seems upset by these statements, not happy to admit that she's not good enough for something.
"I don't understand that guy," Ford admits, "he was very different back then. A bit more like you are now. So being so absolute and judgemental now is a puzzle in itself." His helmet looks towards Captios' familiar. "His cat was with him then as it is now. Maybe you are not as disconnected from him as you think."