Wayfinders/Ashes of Akeldama (Season 7): The Right Time and Place

It’s about mid day as the flow of the Duodecim workforce reaches a climax. The people strain at their various careers and occupations, but some are currently on break and resting their fatigued bodies in one of the taverns. Inside, dwarves, gnomes, humans, and other races enjoy strong stout beer from the tap and dine on food like animals. The tavern is relatively well lit save for a few broken windows and burn marks on the floor from some mishap months ago.
Thyme sits in the back of the softly lit tavern. Her eccentric coat of blues and silver embroidery stitched into the cloth lay spread across the dark oak table. A sad drunk of a man sits across from her. “Tell me woman, will I be rich in the future?” He hiccups. She sits there shuffling her tarot cards before placing them in the middle of the table on top of her coat. “A fortune has a price.” She says casually before pushing a small metal bowl in his direction. He groans dropping a few coppers into the bowl. “Very well.” She says. Thyme would go on to tell the fortune of the drunken man in front of her, before he sighs and staggers off to another part of the tavern. She gathers up the cards, shuffling them and placing them neatly beside her. Resting her elbows on the table and holding her head, she stares off into the tavern. Watching people drink and socialize with others.
The doors of the tavern, almost unnoticeably, creaks open. From the doorway a short hooded figure scuttles into the tavern and towards the bar. It places down a few gold coins on the bar and is given a large assortment of cups by the barkeep. With some difficulty it hobbles towards each table in some attempt to find a seat, and eventually it makes its way towards Thyme's table. It places the cups on the table first, and a few of them clatter down from their neatly piled tower. The short figure then climbs its way up onto the seat directly opposite of Thyme and lets down its hood. This strange, short statured being is gnomish by his long ears, shaggy white hair that covers the sides of his light brown eyes. His general attire seems shabby and not the least bit expensive yet the gnome still tries to make himself presentable before stacking, rearranging, and collapsing the formations he places the cups into.
Thyme tilts her head and smiles. “Why hello there little one.” She says, drawing her hands back down to the table. The beads and charms that are intertwined within her dreadlocks jingle as she moves. The flames from nearby lanterns inside the tavern bounce and light up her face. She has soft purple eyes and ivory skin. Her clothing is as eccentric as the coat that lay on the table. Teal colored robes that come up to a high collar, elven looking in nature. Her hair is pulled up in a dreadlock bun on either side of her head that dangle down and frame her face. She makes room for the gnome at the table, pulling back her coat and cards to allow a safe place to put the cups. “Please, sit. Join me.” She gestures to him.
“Uh... um... I-I-I uh...,” stutters the white haired boy before he scoots his cups across the table next to you , hops off of the stool, walks over to the seat right next to you, climbs up, and just stares at the cups in front of him. “T-thank you. I mean Hi. Hello. Hey... Uh,” he pauses, taking a deep breath as he gets his thoughts together. He doesn’t directly look at you as he gives you a shy wave with his somewhat dirt covered hand, but his eyes do glance at you sparingly. After waving, he tucks his hands in the pockets of his tattered brown pants and stares at the table ashamed at how he couldn’t speak.
She places one elbow on the table and leans her head against her hand watching the gnome pull in beside her. “Interesting.” She says under her breath. “You seem…. rather… out of place.” She laughs a bit, looking around at the tavern filled with drunkards hooting and howling. She points to the heap of tankards the gnome has placed in front of himself. “You should hurry and drink those.” She is not phased by the little one’s lack of personal space. The aura about Thyme is welcoming and comforting. “What is your name?” She asks, watching him awkwardly sit next to her.
“Gritzel Amodeus Bartlby Remiag Indraquel Elliof Lebnut,” the gnome says sheepishly as he takes a tankard and looks inside of it before looking back at Thyme,” But most people call me Gabriel.” His eyes start to wander before his attention snaps back to Thyme,” Oh yeah the tankards... I don’t drink. Ever. I just like stacking them.” As Gabriel talks his hands start to stack up the tankards in various structures and formations from simple cylindrical towers to large multi-part fortresses that cover almost the entire table. Gabriel stays quiet as he does his arrangements of the tankards. He seems comforted by Thyme’s aura of comfort though he’s still on edge.
Thyme blinks a few times, processing his words. Both his name, and his interest in simply stacking tankards. She bursts out laughing. “My!” She leans back against the tavern wall. “I was not expecting such a character in this moment.” The patrons in the tavern continue to converse and shout among each other at the bar. A bard begins setting up and tuning an instrument in the far corner across from them. She leans in, looking at Gabriel through the open spaces between the tankards he’s stacked. “That is quite impressive.” She leans back once more. “My name is Thyme.” She pulls out a small leather-bound journal and quill and begins writing something.
“The spice, concept, or herb,” he asks quickly before forming his lip into a tight line and remaining silent. He seems a bit unsettled by your jovial nature but does his best to give a little smile in response to show that he’s not trying to be rude by saying so little. Gabriel’s hands rhythmically stack the tankards to the bard’s tuning as if he’s done it a thousand times and can now stack them up without much thought. His hands are swift but precise, like an artist as their hands glides over their canvas with their brush or pen in their grip. There a noticeable pause in his stacking before he continues stacking and his train of thought,” I should have asked how you spell it. I only hear it as either the concept of time or the spicerb.” He pauses again, realizing he had smashed spice and herb together to make one word before looking at his latest stack which resembles the Tower card in your deck before turning towards Thyme to give her his full attention.
She looks up from her journal. “Like the herb, T.H.Y.M.E.” Spelling out her name for the gnome with the tip of her quill in the air in front of them. She returns to writing some more lines and closing the journal. Stretching her arms out before leaning against the wall once more. “Is this something you do often?” She points to the tankards on the table, seemingly curious if this was how he went about most interactions with people in a tavern. “You see…I’ve met quite a few people over the years, I’ve heard and seen interesting things but I gotta say…spending coin for ale just to stack the cups is a new one for me.”
“I always do this when I’m not looking for new things. I-I actually got my clothes from a nice tavern woman in Crystallis. She was about 5’9” black hair, brown eyes, darker skin, and her apron was always backwards to show her legs and other areas,” he recites as if reading it from a book. He looks at you cautiously as if he’s trying to figure something out about you, stops suddenly as if staring into space, and then looks at you awkwardly,” Um... you’re a tarot card reader, I mean are you a tarot card reader, No I...” He stays quiet and just awkwardly looks at you, again trying to collect his thoughts as it seems to be something he struggles with before he takes out a large book of his own that seems to be made up of pits and pieces of other parchments all bound together in a dingy leather bind.
“Oh, I see.” She studies the clothes he’s wearing while listening to him talk. An interesting character indeed. She thinks to herself. Thyme smirks at the mention of her tarot reading. “Why yes, I am.” Her eyes glance to the stack of tarot cards laying down on the table next to her. “The cards have a lot to say, if you are willing to listen.” She says softly as the flames from the lantern continue to illuminate her face. As they talk at the table, the bard begins to play a melodic pattern on his guitar. Her head tilts to the side. “Care for a fortune? Or perhaps some other time?” She makes acknowledgement of the large book he had taken out and smiles kindly in his direction.
“Oh um... sure. I’d like a reading, but I don’t really agree in the cards themselves having something to say,” he explains as he stacks the cups into a neat pile that’s relatively easily to carry,” There are certain consistencies in life and well one of them is magic. By its very nature, magic is chaotic but because we’ve come so far as sentient creatures we can manipulate it for our own needs. The gods, the devils, the fey, and us mortal races all use magic relatively the same though it comes from the same place. Your usage of the cards like many other fortune tellers is using divination to see into the future even though you don’t use any verbal or somatic components for doing so. Overall, I...I... um.... Nevermind.” He goes back to looking at book then looks over at as if about to say something, pausing to think a little. “I take notes and pieces of paper to put in my book. What do you put in yours,” he asks with a little confidence.
She reaches over picking up the tarot cards, beginning a slow shuffle of them as he continues speaking. Her eyes narrow, taken back by his words. “You seem rather confident in that statement.” Her hands shuffle the deck flawlessly and without turning her gaze from the gnome. You can tell she has done this a hundred, if not thousands of times. “You are quite right, but there is a flaw in your understanding.” She places the freshly shuffled deck in front of the gnome. Her aura seemingly has changed, and there is a mystic and serious tone about her. “The unknowable.” She says softly, leaning in towards Gabriel. “Magic is what it is. It is already defined. We understand it. When we draw a flame to the hand…” She holds her palm open and a small flame grows at the center. “We already know that flame will burn. We of course can manipulate it like you said, make it stronger, weaker, larger, smaller, however, what we don’t know, are the outcomes that might occur, should I send this flame flying across the tavern.” She smirks, closing her palm, letting the magic flame like energy dissipate in her hand. “The unknowable lives in a pack of cards after it has been fairly shuffled, but before it has been dealt, when all the possibilities are open, and when each possibility matters. Is it divination? Or simply coincidence?” She points to the deck placed on the table. “Draw three.”
He quickly plucks three from the table and places them face down on the table. He doesn’t seem too bothered about what they are, simply leaving it up to chance. “I’m sure it is divination and if not some kind of weird magic that I don’t understand yet because,” he covers his mouth as his eyes seem to get lost in your change in aura before snapping back to reality. “Sometimes... I don’t know how to enjoy an experience,” he mumbles before looking over at Thyme’s bowl and places three copper pieces into it before looking down at his cards. A mix of intrigue and fear resonate within him as he picks them up slowly, turning them so that only he can see them, and looking back at you waiting for the next step in this process that is very much foreign to him.
“The strings of fate are strange indeed.” She says, looking at the gnome. Her hand goes over to the bowl and scoops the copper out, taking his hand and placing the coins in his palm. “Please, there is no need. Call it a gift for a new friend.” She crosses her legs and leans in closer to the table. “Let us see what the cards have to say about you.” She taps the center card with her index finger. “This is the present. The here and now if you will.” She then flips the card over. “The hanged man upright.” She smirks. “It indicates that you're feeling stuck or limited in your life. You need to discover why you're feeling this way to release yourself from these restrictions. Perhaps you need to open yourself up to new experiences. The fact that the man hanging from the tree is upside down shows the need for you to look at things from an entirely new perspective.” Her eyes shift back up to the gnome. “You said you don’t know how to enjoy an experience. I feel this card reflects those words very well. Shall I turn the other cards over and continue?” Her head tilts slightly. A sincere question that almost pushes an undertone of warning as she asks.
He looks at you shocked as you put the copper back into his palm. He smiles shyly at your kindness, places the copper back into his pocket, and stares at the cards eagerly. As you tell him about the hanged man he seems surprised, but the way his mouth does not gasp in shock at this reading precise and unknown he seems more accepting of this. As if he already realizes this fact, interprets the card in an entirely different way contradictory to what you just explained, or understands on another level. He nods for you to continue your reading.
She pauses for a moment, studying his face before tapping the right card with her index finger once again. “This is the Past.” She says and then flips the card over. “The moon upright.” She stares at the card in silence. “The moon in the past position points to an event where things may not have been all that they seemed. This was a time where you had more questions than answers and perhaps had a hard time trusting your intuition. It can also point to a time where someone close to you kept many secrets from you….” She sits in silence for a moment, her mouth falling to a small frown. “There is something that bothers you. Something that eats away at your mind from an event long ago and it is the reason why you have trouble experiencing new things. You don’t trust people...” She looks up from the table making eye contact with the gnome. The bard continues to play music and the patrons come and go from the bar. Barmaids are seen walking around the tavern filling tankards.
“That’s mostly true... though honestly it was because I honestly had a lack of anything resembling knowledge in the first place. I only knew the basics of living and all that but honestly it was more of a pained existence because-,” he pauses as he becomes overwhelmed by the multitude of thoughts buzzing through his head as he just stares down at the ground before saying,” I do trust people. People just don’t trust me. They don’t notice the little guy rummaging through their garbage at the end of a work day. They barely notice a murder if it happened right in front of them...” He looks up at Thyme, his eyes trying to form tears but can’t as if they have no more left to shed, and whispers, his lip quivering slightly,” W-what’s the last card... I assume that it’s about my future?”
Her frown on her face remains as she listens to him speak. The air around him feels so sad and it hurts her to watch the pain surface from a reading. “Existing not living…I know the feeling well little one.” She slowly places her index finger on the last card. “…The future.” She says softly. “Things yet to come.” She flips the card over. The layered paper of the tarot card flicks down as it is turned onto the dark oak table. “The Star.” She says out loud. Her elbow rests on the table once again, holding her head up looking at the gnome she smiles brightly. “The Star is most welcome when grief and despair have overwhelmed us. In our darkest moments, we need to know that there is hope, that there is light at the end of the tunnel. You will find solace in someone, putting your trust in someone new. A star that can guide you through the dark nights, perhaps a lover, a friend, or teacher. The Star is inspiring, but it is not a card of practical solutions or final answers. Truly without hope we can accomplish nothing, but hope is only a beginning. Your goals and your aspirations are blessed, but to realize them, you must take positive action. Use the light of the Star to guide you in your efforts.” She leaves the cards all flipped over revealing themselves before him, leaning back against the wall.
He stares at her, enthralled by her explanation, and scoots closer so he can hear her more clearly over the ramblings going on around them. After you’ve finished, he arranges all three cards into a stack after going over each of them one last time, his thumb grazing over each image slowly. “Thyme... could you be... my star,” he asks earnestly as he hands each card back to you one at a time. Large clumps of his white hair hang in front of his left eye which shows the inner focus within him. A battered, bruised, and broken focus but still a focus none the less. He looks over at the tankards to see the barmaids taking them away with a smile as he leans closer and asks, as if trying to retreat from the world and focus solely upon a new friend,“I-I think that we could be, No we are... fast friends? Right?”
She watches him analyze the cards. His thumb grazing over the images on each of the tarots brings flashes of memories of her as young child, being gifted the very deck he now touches. Thyme…could you be…my star? Her eyes widen, snapping back to reality and staring down at the gnome. She holds her hands out as he kindly places each card in them. “w-what?” She laughs nervously, looking around the room as a bar maid approaches taking the tankards away. “I don’t believe that’s ---” She nods to the bar maid as a thank you as she walks off. “You don’t pick and choose who that person is.” She takes the cards and adds them back into her deck. “Although…” There is a pause in her words. “I will gladly be a friend nonetheless.” She smirks. “Perhaps the reading has done you good? You seemed reluctant to have a reading told.”
The door to the pub flies open as if a huge gust of wind blew it open. Ash and dust fly into the pub as if there was a dust storm going on right outside. A figure steps out from the cloud
The figure walks in and you can see his robes are torn and covered in soot and ash. You can see the edges of his clothing is charred as if he walked through a hallway of fire. His hair is frizzed, though it looks like he made a sad attempt to organize it. As if it would make him less noticeable.
The half elf walks, albeit with a limp, to the bar, throws down some money and takes a mug of ale with a swing of his arm. He turns around looking at the crowd which is now staring at him. Acting as if he doesn’t notice all the eyes on him he scans the room for a place to sit and walks to a corner booth and plops down. As he does so, even more dirt and ash shakes loose and settles around him.
looking exhausted he simply sits on his own sipping his drink and appears to be staring off into the distance, as if recalling an old memory while glancing down at what appears to look like a broken compass
“Well I’m always reluctant to do anything... but with a friend around I... I guess I could open up more. I don’t really have any real friends,” he admits shyly before his eyes train on the man that just walked into the tavern. His eyes stare affixed to the man as he takes his seat, noting the ash and dirt settling around him, and the general chaos of his attire.
“Well Gritzel Amodeus Bartlby Remiag Indraquel Elliof Lebnut, it is a pleasure to have you as a friend.” She smirks, internally proud at her pronunciation of his name out loud. “I look forward to watching the cards play out first hand.” As she says that, a loud entrance of a half elf comes blaring into the Tavern. “Oh my. Quite the party here this evening.” She says laughing a bit and joining Gabriel in watching the strange man clamber around the tavern, taking a seat and drinking his ale. “I sense trouble…” Her eyes narrow.
“I don’t need the cards to tell me that we... we should... we should say hello,” he says as he closes his book, his knees shaking at the potential danger,” W-when it comes to people. It’s usually best not to judge by appearance. Besides, he didn’t seem openly hostile towards anyone, b-but just in case could you go first Thyme?” He nervously hugs his book, and you can tell that him even suggesting to initiate conversation with the half-elf goes against his better judgement.
She glances at Gabriel before looking back at the man across the tavern. “Me?” She lets out a slight sigh before standing up, pulling her coat off the table and putting it on. Her coat is sleeveless, and a dark blue color that trails down to the back of her calves. The back of it depicts an open palm with an eye in the middle, surrounded by the phases of the moon. All embroidered with a soft silver looking thread. She looks down at the gnome. “But you are coming with me.” She takes the stack of cards, placing them into their leather binding. Stuffing it into a hidden pocket within her coat, she makes her way to the tavern bar. “Two ales please.” She says casually to the bar maid before two frothy ales are placed in front of her. She looks back at the gnome and walks between the tables of people at the tavern before stopping at the man drinking alone. “Here, looks like you could use another.” She smirks in his direction, sliding the tankard across the table to him.
He holds his book close to his chest as he quickly walks with you, following you like a shadow. After Thyme gets herself seated, Gabriel sits right beside her. A few strips of parchment from his book fall to the ground, and he scrambles to pick them up. He recites a few words, his hands vibrating and emanating a silver hue as the strips of parchment reattach themselves back to the book. After mending his book, his attention focuses back on the stranger. He seems perplexed and drawing several theories about this stranger's origin but not showing any signs actually asking anything.
It seems like your comment and gift of ale goes completely unnoticed for several awkward seconds. Making you wonder if he had even heard you. Suddenly his head shakes as if he woke himself up from a day dream. Looking up at the both of you he cracks a small smile and looks at the drink. He extends his arm, making more dust fly, and pulls the tankard closer to him and whispers a polite "thank you." He looks down at his compass again, which you can see the needle is spinning in a circle. He quickly closes it, releases a sigh and with a look of disappointment and loss he puts it away in his pocket. "Please join me, I am sorry for my rudeness. One can always use company." He gestures for you to make yourself welcome and begins to act in a way that completely mirrors how he was 30 seconds ago. "Where do you hail from?"
She smiles back to him. Nodding to his gesture to sit, Thyme takes a seat at the table across from him. “I hail from Freeport. My name is Thyme, and this is…” She looks over to the small gnome frantically gathering papers that had spilled out from his book across the floor. “This is Gabriel.” She looks back to the man and smiles once more. “Are you…okay? I don’t want to intrude if you are preoccupied, It just seemed like you could use another round.” She leans forward, resting an elbow on the table. “You are a face I haven’t seen in here before.” She takes notice to his aura, and the compass in his hand. Analyzing and studying him closer trying to read him.
Gabriel looks nervously at the man and just waves politely, his sleeves being a bit larger than his actual arms. He leans closer to the where the dust from the man had settled and gathers a bit of it into his palm. He brings it close to his nose and sniffs it slightly, examines the texture of it, and actually dabs a bit of it onto his pinky before tasting it. He does this examination a few times and looks at the man very much concerned and a bit terrified, trying his best to hide it by pulling his cloak over his face as he does a few gestures to conjure a bottle that he puts the dust in.
He looks somewhat conflicted but then says, "no I am fine, just a bit tired. Feel like I have been through hell. Just need a good bath and bed to sleep in before I head out again." he looks down at the table, not sure as to if he should continue his story. He buys himself some time by taking a drink or two. "I have visited Duodecim a few times but not an amount that would make me a familiar face." His eyes look slightly pained, as if bringing up past memories of Duodecim were not entirely happy. "I take it you both live here? If you know all the familiar faces?"
Gabriel shakes his head. “I’m from Crystallis,” he whispers sheepishly, his voice getting slightly drowned out by the excitement of the tavern and the bard’s music. He continues to gather the dust that comes off of the man’s body until the entire table looks spotless. He even goes so far as to chill the man’s drinks with a simple flick of his wrist and a single phrase uttered from his lips.
Thyme takes a sip of the ale from her tankard, watching Gabriel collect the dust from the table, she looks towards the man. “I am just a wandering spirit you could say. I wouldn’t call this home, I am simply here because the forces of the world took me here. She smirks towards him. “What should we call you?” She puts a hand out to shake his.
He flinches as if Gabriels magic triggered some kind of post-traumatic stress episode but he quickly recovers. He nods to Gabriel in appreciation and takes a drink. He looks at Thyme and says, "so wandering but here long enough to know the regulars?" slightly confused by the contradiction. "Suppose on long journeys people need long rests to regather their strength" he says aloud correcting himself and in a way conveying his apologies if she picked up on his skepticism. When Thyme extends her hand he extends his and introduces himself, "my name is Safina, it is a pleasure."
Thyme tilts her head to the side, looking at the man. “Yes in fact, I know more about these patrons in this tavern then I think they realize.” She smirks, taking a sip of her ale. A hoppy cold brew that brings comfort to anyone’s soul. “Safina huh?” She says, shaking the man’s hand. She holds onto his hand for a second longer, staring back into his eyes. “What’s with the….” She pulls her hand back, showing the dust and grime on her hand back at him. “This?”
“It tastes bitter, chalky, and clumps together when wet,” Gabriel says as he spits some of the substance off of the tip of his tongue and into a strip of loose paper from his book,” Must be some sort of burnt material based on ash like nature and color, but he also smells like sulfur. Possible incineration is my likely answer. Perhaps a furnace or perhaps stumbled back from a journey. I assume he’s a wanderer of some sort because of his compass.” He blinks for a few moments in silence before he looks at Safina and then at Thyme before shyly looking down and into his book.
Safina's eyes dart to Gabriel when he mentions the compass, but then he tries to recover and make it seem like it was more natural than an instinctual reaction. He looks at the table with ash and soot abound. With a guilty look he attempts to brush it away while only spilling more on the table. With a frustrated sigh he says, "You are not incorrect Master Gabriel. However the memories of how they were acquired are still too close in my mind... so if it suits us we can chalk it up to one of life's mysteries." He takes a sip from his mug and looks at Gabriel, "I assure you though, I am nothing sinister. Quite the deductive skills though, you in academics?"
“No...,” he says timidly while slowly shaking his head. He keeps his head down even as you ask him this, his body trembling slightly, and seems to lean closer to Thyme. Not being well accustomed to having attention placed upon him, Gabriel stays quiet and flipping through pages of his book before reading it. His white hair obscures his eyes, but the occasional tear that drops onto the book is unmistakable.(edited)
"o... oh" Safina's stutters as Gabriel begins to go through his book, Safina's face looks a little bit unsure what is happening and feels lost. He looks to Thyme with a look like 'did I say something wrong?' Safina goes through his mind trying to remember if this is normal gnome behavior or if his time in hell blurred out some things.
upon seeing the tear fall from Gabriels face onto his book Safina was hit by a barrage of emotions. Why is he crying? Is he sad? Why is he sad? Was it something I said? When was the last time you saw someone cry? When did you cry last? Did he read something sad in his book? Should I be crying? Is Thyme crying? No. Ok.
and as fast as all those emotions came, they went.
Safina took a napkin from the table and slowly start folding it. He began folding normally but after a few seconds he some flair in an attempt to get Gabriels attention. Slowly and slowly he keeps folding until at the end he slowly pushed a folded crane across the table to Gabriel with a wink.
He looks to Thyme in an attempt to lighten the load from poor Gabriel and said: “quite a friend you have here, you should keep him close. So you said you know a lot about the people here than they think…. sooo you’re a fortune teller?”
Thyme feels Gabriel scoot closer to her at the table. Putting her hand up to pat the little gnome on the shoulder. She watches as a tear falls and hits the pages of his book. She frowns slightly before looking up to Safina and shrugging in his direction. Her eyes follow his hands as he folds a napkin into a crane. “He is a kind soul indeed. The cards have good things to say about him and his future as well.” She tilts her head to the side. “You could call me a fortune teller yes.” She leans on the table with an elbow, cupping the side of her face and staring back at Safina. “Two interesting characters in one day…” She smirks.
"There have been many adjectives used to describe monks 'interesting' usually isn't one." Safian chuckles to himself, "I hope I haven't strayed too far from the path and become someone of interest... though I suppose I am a long way from home..." his eyes wander off and focus on his drink. He slowly raises the cup and takes a small sip before resting it on the table. He looks up to Thyme and asks "what makes you interesting?"
She takes another sip of the cold ale, the chatter across the tavern and the bard playing in the opposite corner continues. “Well I have a man at the table covered in soot, and a gnome friend who likes to stack cups in his free time.” Thyme takes another sip of ale before tilting her head at Safina’s question. “What makes me interesting?” She pauses for a moment thinking of what to say before laughing. “I suppose the readings in the cards…no that’s not it. That’s not me but the strings of fate….” She trails off in her sentence, appearing to be focused on a secondary thought.
Safina looks at Gabriel to see if he sees Thyme wandering off as well. His eyes go back and forth between the two and his expression looks similar to a physical manifestation of the word 'huh?'
"So a dirty guy and another who likes to stack cups...? Seems like a dime a dozen" as he nods his head to several other patrons who are less than clean.
“So how long have the two of you been here for? Know of any local news?” he asks, trying to not look too invested in your answer but hoping one of you might know some information that he is obviously seeking.
“Not long... Duodecim is notorious for their long legal processes...,” Gabriel mumbles out with his head still in his book, but he does look up to see Safina crafting the Crane. He shyly takes it from the table, examining how it was folded, and smiles happily at how cool it looks. He tucks it into the medium sized pouch he has laying next to his book, and when he opens it a little brown and white rate sniffs the crane before taking it inside of the pouch. “Thank you,” Gabriel mouthed to Safina as Thyme talks and when she starts to trail off into her thoughts he gives her a tug on her robes to bring her back to reality.
Out of the corner of his eye Safina sees Gabriel mouth "thank you" to him and he takes comfort knowing that the crane served its purpose. [all awaiting Thymes response to his most recent questioning]
The tug on Thymes robes shakes her from thought. She blinks a few times before continuing her sentence. “I collect charms and glass beads from people and places. Does that count as interesting?” She touches some of her dreadlocks that dangle on the side of her face, it jingles softy from the charms and beads hitting one another. She takes another sip of ale. “I haven’t been here long as well, a few weeks at most.” She leans in towards the table. “What are you looking for?”
Safina looks at the various pieces of odds and ends in Thymes hair and makes up stories for various pieces. One was from a friend from home so she wouldn't forget them. The blue bead was from someone on the road who didn't have money for a fortune telling but had that instead. The star charm was from an ex-lover from a town that Thyme can't remember the name of. While the smallest bead he imagine was the most important one. Its always the smallest thing that everyone overlooks. Maybe it was from a childhood sweetheart? A gift from her first time telling someones fortune. Or maybe it's just a small bead. 'Don't overthink things' he tells himself, 'thats how you wound up where you were.' "I would say that makes you interesting. Many others rarely make it out of their own neighborhoods." he says laughing. Upon hearing Thymes question his face contorts a little like he isn't a hundred percent sure anymore. "I suppose I am looking for what everyone is looking for... home."
“Home?” She folds her hands together, looking to Safina and then down to Gabriel. “Home is what you make it out to be. Its simply how you view the area around you. Where you can sink your roots into, even if it’s for a short time. I don’t think you can search for that, it happens on its own, as do many things in this world…” She smiles to them both. “Perhaps some company on your travels would help you.”
Thyme reaches into her small bag, pulling out her Tarot deck. She does a quick shuffle of the cards, before pulling one off the top of the deck and laying it face up on the table. “The world.” She smirks. “The World represents an ending to a cycle of life, a pause in life before the next big cycle. It is an indicator of a major and inexorable change, of tectonic breadth. She leans back against her chair, snagging her tankard off the table and standing up looking down at the two. “One second gentlemen.” Thyme says with a smirk before disappearing into the crowd. Thyme heads to the bar to grab another ale, leaving the world card resting on the table in front of them both.
Gabriel stares dead at the card. He stays motionless as he stares at the card as if he were a statue or like someone frozen in a time loop. After a moment, he breaks his gaze away from the card to look at Safina. “A-are you a m-monk Safina,” he stutters slowly like a child trying to learn a new word. His eyes dart at your clothing and though charred he can make out the distinct minimalistic style traditionally incorporated by a monastery and the lack of any noticeable material wealth.
Gabriel seems to be warming up to Safina more and more. He seems a bit more relaxed as he no longer trembles whenever he speaks and the death like grip on his cloak has softened into his fingers simply tugging at the fabric slightly. He even closes his book to focus all of his attention upon Safina though he is still very much unease’s by the attention he receives in turn.
Safina takes into account what Thymes said after she departed. He supposes that in his life he never really did have something that fit under the strict definition of a "home." He was cast out of his first home, albeit respectively, knowing he could not go back and be welcomed. The second was on a pirate ship, being nothing short of a slave. Then the monastery… That always felt like home to him. People there accepted him, loved him, fed him, sheltered him.. though with all that there always felt like something was missing. When he went looking for that something he could maybe call the ship he spent so many years on, the 'Royal Corsair' home. There he met Be'lania who acted like a second mother to him, and the crew whom he had come to call family. All the while searching to the one person who thought was the last piece in the puzzle that would make him feel like he would have reached what he could consider a true “home.” Then hell. Definitely not home… Safina had never felt such relief upon seeing the blue sky and smelling crisp clean air. The refreshing feeling of the sea splashing upon his face again. Ironically one could say that his trip to hell made him more religious. Not towards a certain deity, he was never fairly religious before the trip but after going through that, how could someone not come out thinking that someone somewhere was looking out for him?
Ok so Thyme may have something going there. Still though, the closest thing to “home” Safina felt was the sea. It always just felt… right. If somehow he could put the monastery on a boat then he would have found paradise, surely that would be home. He chuckles to himself thinking of a small armada of monk sailors, out doing good on the high seas.
“A-are you a m-monk Safina?” snaps him out of his day dream. ‘You’ve been having a lot of those lately, need to work on that, could get you killed. You learn nothing from hell?’ he criticizes himself in his mind.
Safina looks at Gabriel and remembers his days from being saved by master and then taken into the monastery for years of training. He can’t help but smile and say “yes, though not as good as I used to be. I got a little lost, but I am working on my way back.” He tries to not make too much eye contact as he doesn’t want the gnome to start crying again but also give eye contact as to show respect.
Safina toys with the knife on the table, spinning it in a circle and watching it go round and round. “I was an elf of the Dolphin Tribe, then taken prisoner by pirates.” he says cooly, trying to turn it into an adventure story, thinking it might entertain Gabriel. Safina thought he remembered people like stories like this. “… and then my master saved me from those evil pirates, took me in and made her home my own…” he pauses to show a silent appreciation for the people who took him in for so long. “But then I lost someone and needed to look for him… I had to find him, I meant to tell him something that I never got the nerve to say… My master let me go so I could find him… So I became a sailor, my friend had gotten lost at sea” he begins to trail off his story. as if the recollection of the story gave him visible distress.
“It took a while… and I did find him… he was in trouble you know?” his eyes begin to turn a little red, and he takes a drink from his cup. Not sure if he was buying time to get himself together or if he needed a drink to refresh his pallet.
“I wasn’t sure what to do… he needed help and I was there, I couldn’t not do anything… so I did something. I made a trade. I took his place… and then this” he says spreading his arms wide, making more soot fall off. Safina half laughs, making it seem like he thought he was an idiot. Remembering he was trying to tell a fun story he recollects himself. “I was sent somewhere I didn’t want to be, but I made some new friends and we broke out! We escaped the bad men and now I am here.” He looks around the tavern. “sitting at a table with a fortune telling woman and a brave gnome who has a knack for knick-knacks and knowledge.”
“I am sorry my friend, you asked a simply yes or no question and I talked your face off.”
Gabriel, leaning closer in so he can hear Safina better, props his elbows up onto the table and listens closely to this tale of adventure and wandering. He seems enthralled by the tale, and in his tiny heart he starts to feel something more. He feels like he’s find a friend.
After Safina comments,”...I talked your face off.” Gabriel looks down at the table and then back up at Safina before playfully poking his cheeks, nose, and finally putting a hand over his forehead. “Nope. I-It’s still there. Hehe...,” he gives the tiniest smile when he tries to make a joke, his white teeth beaming underneath the candle light of the tavern. His smile turns into a very wimpy but heart felt giggle that lasts only a short time, but in that short time it was the only moment that Gabriel had actually done something comparable to a laugh in what could have been at least a few years. “Y-You know. I’ve been trying to find my home too,” he starts looking slightly hopeful but then restraining himself from expressing anything more than a sullen stare at the table,” but I’m not as strong, experienced, fast, or cunning as you are Safina and I don’t think anyone really cares about me. The only person who did was taken from me, and...and...and n-no one...”
Tears start to pool from Gabriel’s eyes as he recollects the day, the hour, the minute, and the second that he lost the most important person, his grandmother, in his life and no one cared. They left Gabriel alone to try and keep his grandmother alive, and when he asked for help, begged for anyone to heal her, and sobbed at the very feet of the guards of Crystallis no one even batted an eye.
After some time, he manages to collect himself. Wiping away his tears and the snot underneath his nose, he stutters,”N-no one c-cared... Now it’s just m-m-me and, and Y-Yorkie...” At the call of her name, a cute brown/grayish white rat scurries out of Gabriel’s pouch and nuzzles against his elbow as it rests on the table. He lets her gently nuzzle against him and tickles her left ear.
“Nope. I-It’s still there. Hehe...,” caught Safina off guard but nonetheless got a lungful of laughs out of him. See? The little guy has something in him yet, Safina thought to himself.
He listens to Gabriel speak and pauses after Yorkie comes out to say hello and comfort the little gnome.
“You know what I have found Gabriel? The world is full of people who are strong, experienced, fast, and cunning. I think the world needs less of them, and more people who are smart, kind, and compassionate. Too many strong and experienced people think that they are and know better than others and create problems for society. I have found that it is the ones that are quiet, determined, and empathetic that make the real changes in the world. Partially why I became a monk. I like the ideals that my master and the monastery promotes.”
He looks around the table for something to offer Yorkie to nibble on and pushes a little piece of bread on the point of his index finger across the table to her.
“We do our best to look out for people that the city guards, nobles, and religious establishments overlook. We don’t want people to be excluded and shunned because of their political parties, religious denomination, or class level. If you are a good person and help out your fellow man… we will look after you if we can. We are keepers of the peace, not soldiers.” “So tell me about Yorkie! She looks big for a rat… part lion maybe?” he jokes.
“Here you go Thyme!” The bartender shouts over the other patrons at the bar, slamming down 2 new tankards of ale and a small wooden cup filled with water. She lets the drinks sit for a moment, turning around and leaning against the counter, looking back across the room at Safina and Gabriel. “The strings of fate…” She says softly under her breath before scooping the tankards up and fumbling her way back towards the table.
“My my! That is a rat!” Thyme says, returning to her chair. She places a tankard in front of Safina and the cup of water in front of Gabriel, plopping down into her chair. The beads and charms in her hair chime as she moves. “I leave for a refill of ale and come back to the sudden appearance of a pet rat.” She laughs, holding her index finger out to tap the rat on the head. Thyme casual leans back into her chair, crossing her legs and watching the others. “What are both of your plans? Where are you going from here?”
Gabriel looks down at the table for a moment as Safina speaks, as if still clinging to his own sense of the world around himself, but smiles at Safina’s act of kindness and Yorkie looks hesitant to take food from someone new. With a little encouragement from Gabriel taking the bread and placing it in her paws she begins to cutely gnaw on the bread with her tiny teeth. ” She was the youngest in a litter of rats that I was raising and she was the only one who stayed with me,” Gabriel explains as he picks some lint out of her fur,” She got herself stuck in a jar of honey one time and I had to wait a whole week for her to digest the honey so I could get her out.” He chuckles softly but with more confidence as he remembers the comedy of his memory. “Safina would you mind if-,” Gabriel starts but then quiets as Thyme returns to the table and passes the water to him. Yorkie sniffs Thyme’s finger and pokes her nose against Thyme’s finger, but eventually just returns to nibbling on her bread. “I-I don’t really have any plans. I’ll just stay in Duodecim for a while... unless... y-you two would... like me to come w-with you,” Gabriel stutters fearfully, terrified of Thyme or Safina saying no and needing to stay here with none of his new friends.
“She was the smallest huh? Looks like you both look out for each other. Never underestimate the little ones, they’re the ones you least expect.”
When Thyme returns with another tankard Safina realizes how little work he had done on his current drink and begins to take heavier gulps.
‘Not too large now, you have to pace yourself. What if something happens?’ he thinks to himself. Realizing how on edge and jumpy spending time in hell had made him, he attempts to readjust how much he drinks without others taking notice.
After hearing Gabriels request to join him he felt momentarily conflicted. The kid is obviously in need, but going from Duodecim to Sol-Verde is not an easy task. Especially with news of a flying city. So much had changed since he was here last, what if he couldn’t protect the little gnome? But then again who is he to tell him no? If the man wants to join you on your journey to the monastery than you can’t deny him. Master would approve, we help who we can, especially those who have fallen on hard times. Gabriel could find a home and a purpose at the monastery if that is his end goal. Maybe he just wants to go to Sol-Verde, and if I am also going then we might as well travel together. Besides, starting to like this little guy. “Young Master Gabriel asked if he could join me on my journey back to Sol-Verde.” He says nodding toward the gnome. Safina face shows that he is impressed at the gnomes sense of adventure and also a tad surprised to hear that he wanted to take the journey.
“Of course you can join me. It will be a long journey however. I hear news of a flying city, and a lot has changed since I was here last… There are whispers of demons and wild fae animals running loose in the woods. Its a distance from here to Sol-Verde, however if you want to join me I feel very confident we can make the journey. Especially with a rodent of unusual size on our side. I can check to see when the next caravan is making a move in that direction. Strength in numbers right? I don’t have much in ways of money, its traditional for me to work for my passage so I may be helping others out during the ride but if you have the money then we should travel together. If you don’t then we can figure something out. Maybe I can tell them you are a monk in training.” he winks as he suggests the deception.
“I miss traveling on the seas, so much easier that way. Feel so…” Safina struggles to find the right word, “…locked up on land. So much more freedom on the water. I suppose thats why they say ‘’land-locked’?” he chuckles to himself
Gabriel grins joyfully at the news. “Finally a friend,” he thinks to himself as he scoops up Yorkie and gives her a nice hug. She is understandably distressed at being interrupted from her meal, but quickly she accepts the hug and nuzzles against Gabriel’s chest. He chuckles when Safina suggests deception and actually smiles when he makes his own joke. If Gabriel was going to travel or at the very least go on in this crazy world he’s glad he can do it with Safina. After a while, Gabriel sets Yorkie back down onto the table and the little rat takes her bread right into Gabriel’s pouch to finish her meal.
Gabriel’s attention then shifts over to Thyme, his head tilting to the side as if looking past her. “Thyme. Are you going anywhere?” After all of the highs and lows of their riveting conversation, it had occurred to Gabriel that he had never once asked a thing about Thyme.
Thyme reaches out and picks up the world card she had originally left on the table, placing it back into the deck. She listens to their conversation quietly, taking a sip of the ale every now and then before Gabriel turns and speaks to her. “I am afraid so.” She frowns. “Unfortunately, its something I have to do alone…” She shifts slightly in her chair. “As fate would have it, I received a tip about an Island that has peaked my interest. Story short, I’m planning to check it out.” She smiles warmly. “From there though…who knows what my plans are. I assume the cards will guide me either way. As much as I’d love to join you in your travels…” She looks across the table at Safina. “…I must do this on my own. Im sure you understand.” Inside her mind she knows the challenge she is taking on and the dangers of it. She knows very well that the rumor of this island could be a hoax as well as full truth. In which case, she dares not to endanger any friends that would wish to accompany her. She’d much rather take the burden on alone than place it on others, especially the little gnome that sits beside her.
"Oh... yeah of course. Sometimes it's just better to be alone. W-well do you know when you'll be back? Maybe me and Safina can meet up with you again...sometime....," Gabriel asks hopefully that maybe he'll be able to see Thyme again. Gabriel could sense that there was something more to this thing you had to do alone. He was all to familiar with the sensation of dread that frequently creeps its way into the minds and hearts of many and the need to over come a challenge. The passion to find truth. Gabriel started to fiddle with a strap of his robe as he looked at Thyme eagerly, his brown eyes full of hope but simultaneously ready for disappointment.
Her face sinks into a heavy frown. “I have no idea; the cards do not speak well of the future that is to come.” She finishes off the last of the ale in her tankard, pushing it out of the way. “Although if I play my cards right…” She snickers at the obvious pun. “Then things will go well.” Her face flush with the effects of alcohol. “Perhaps at some point we will run into each other or perhaps you may never see me again. That’s the beauty in the strings of fate. The dread of the unknown, and the hope of possibility.”
Thyme thinks over the words in her head. Pondering on the sentence. Hope of possibility. The small little glimmer of a different outcome brings many people comfort even in the darkest of readings. The journey to the island brings uncertainty and possibly death. She knows this well, and yet her interest in learning more about her deck of cards fuels the fire to venture out. That small chance of a second meeting with new friends warms her heart. Perhaps…just perhaps that is the key to changing fate.
Gabriel scratches the nape of his neck, nodding slowly as he drums his fingers against the table. "Some things double as a boon and curse. Though fate may pull you towards an action, and though you may survive... You might not come out same person... A hideous blemish could make you unable to be poisoned, but only because the poison accumulates within the blemish...," he says slowly, as if posessed by some higher knowledge untainted by his terrors and anxieties. After saying this he stares at the table, lost in his own thoughts and imagining what it would be like when he finally meets Thyme again or perhaps imagining how the journey with Safina will progress.
After a long moment of silence Gabe looks up and starts packing up his belonging into his bags. “S-Safina how about we met in Verde. If I don’t go now I’ll probably be stuck here for another few days until the next cart exits out to the city. I’ll be waiting outside of a tavern when you finally make it.” He hurriedly taps his pouch six times and ,Yorkie closing the pouch by herself, he slings the pouch over his shoulder and hurries out of the tavern not even waving goodbye to the two of you.
Safina recognizes and relates to the words Thyme speaks to the table. Though he is worried about the nature of the island Thyme seems resolved in herself to go explore despite the dangers. I am sure Solsera had the same reaction when I told her I had to leave for a little while.
She seemed very set in there decision and there wasn’t much he could do. Besides, it is not his place. Always try to know your place, he reminds himself. Remember the lesson Solsera kept reminding you of: it’s not about you.
He looks hopeful when Gabriel mentioned meting up again sometime but knew that the likeliness of that was slim. He hadn’t heard much about a mysterious island from his time aboard the Royal Corsair but theres still a lot of mysteries that the sea holds. Though the nature of this island sounds far from welcoming.
When hearing Games proposal to meet in Verde he nods and says ‘of course, never know, we may even be on the same cart. I don’t have much waiting for me here, except maybe a bath, so if you feel confident getting there on your own, I can head out maybe in two days.” Though by the time he finishes his sentence and looks over to the small gnome he noticed that Gabe was gone.
She watches Gabriel frantically gather his things, looking across the table towards Safina. With the candle light flickering off thymes face, she folds her hands together bringing them up towards her mouth. A soft whisper that is drowned out by the crowded tavern is muttered into her hands before her voice appears in the mind of Safina. “Should you find that little one in Verde, take care of him. He needs a friend. May the strings of fate guide you through the good and the bad.” She smirks, standing up and throwing her coat on. The eccentric colors and embroidery shimmer in the candle light as the all-seeing eye on the back of the coat rest across her back. Turning back to Safina. “It was a pleasure meeting you.” She nods faintly in his direction. The beads in her hair jingle softly before she vanishes through the crowd.