A Pact Refused
Log Info
- Title: A Pact Refused
- Emitter: Telamon
- Characters: Ravenstongue, Telamon
- Place: Ravenstongue and Telamon's house / University District
- Summary: Ravenstongue and Telamon are enjoying a sunny day and Telamon is working in the garden when he notices that his tunic has been pixie-napped by the pixies Mirabilis and Lily-of-the-Valley. Ravenstongue walks outside and notes the existence of Telamon's new back tattoo--until they are interrupted by a mul'niessa woman looking for Seldan. The encounter becomes increasingly chilly as the woman appears to be more than just any woman, compelling Telamon magically to let her into the house. Things suddenly come to a head when the woman strangles Telamon and threatens to kill him unless both half-elves make a blood pact and swear they won't reveal her existence in the city. It's a tense moment, but Telamon manages to overwhelm the woman with an expert usage of a daylight spell. Ravenstongue and Telamon flee the house and resolve to work through what's just happened to them both together.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Dramatis Personae =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Ravenstongue 5'0" 99 Lb Half-Elf Female Short half-elf girl with violet eyes and black hair. Telamon 5'6" 140 Lb Half-Elf Male A platinum-blond half-sil man with dancing dark eyes -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-=-= NPCs of Note =-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Lily-of-the-Valley Pixie Female A blonde pixie who is a massive fangirl. Mirabilis Pixie Female A green-haired pixie who tolerates Lily's existence. ??? Mul'niessa(?) Female(?) A white-haired shadow elf with violent intent. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-=-=- As the GM =-=-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Aftershock It's what comes after... -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
- Lupecyll-Atlon home, midafternoon
It's a fine day to be outdoors working. The sun shines cheerfully overhead, and it's quite warm, even for spring. The garden is blooming well ahead of schedule, a riot of colorful flowers, interspersed with herbs and small berry bushes that seem to be making a few years work in a few weeks. Indeed, there's nothing that could disrupt this day.
Outside, Telamon is kneeling next to one of the beds, carefully inspecting some of the herbs he's planted. Parsley, thyme, and hyssop, with mint and chamomile, a small cornucopia of medicinal and cooking fare. Sure, he can purchase them, but there's something to be said for growing things.
Tel had taken off his tunic, as he had been sweating under the sun. Satisfied with the work, though, he straightens back up into a kneeling position, arching his back a bit. He reaches for his tunic... except it's not there. "Huh?" He looks around in confusion... then a giggle in the tree calls his gaze upwards, to where the tunic is draped over a high branch, and two garden pixies are peering down at him with big grins.
A long, heartfelt sigh. "Of course."
What Tel hasn't noticed yet, though, is the splendid markings across his back. A symmetrical, stylized sun and rays stretch across his shoulders, picked out in strange gold and white ink -- if ink it is.
Lily-of-the-Valley and Mirabilis are both looking not-so-respectfully at Telamon. Mirabilis, however, being the more level-headed of the pixies, has at least the notion to seem a little embarrassed as she's caught staring. "Lily! Watch out! The Lord Lupecyll-to-be has caught us staring!"
The blonde pixie responds with a dreamy, glassy-eyed look in her eyes. "Ohhh, Lord Lupecyll-to-be... You're so handsome... Lady Lupecyll will be so happy with you..."
Mirabilis's head swivels over as she looks at Lily-of-the-Valley in something like both shock and disgust. "Titania's grace. I can't believe it. You've actually become dumb from looking at boys. Lily! Answer me: what's two plus two?"
"True love," Lily-of-the-Valley responds with a deep sigh as she holds her hands up to face in an adoring manner.
Mirabilis's jet-black eye twitches. "Oh ladies and lords, she's really far gone."
While that comedy routine happens, Cor'lana is putting away her empty mug into a cupboard, having just washed it after drinking her daily cup of the usual tea... and she spots from the window something curious on Telamon's back.
She squints. "Are those..."
And then she squints again as she spots Mirabilis practically throttling Lily-of-the-Valley, the verdette attempting to slap some sense into the blonde pixie.
"Those damn pixies better not be messing with Tel," Cor'lana finds herself growling in her Grandfather's language, violet eyes now suddenly quite hard as pads out of the kitchen, throwing open the back door despite wearing only a silk robe and bear slippers. "Tel! What did they do to you!"
The 'Lord Lupecyll-to-be' doesn't feel very lordly, as he gets to his feet. Dressed in leather shoes and work trousers (the latter smudged with soil), he rests his fists on his hips as he stares up at the two pixies. "Yes, yes, this is all very funny. Could I have my tunic back now? Please?" He rubs the bridge of his nose. "It's like living with cats, by the gods."
When Cor'lana comes storming out, he whirls around in surprise. He has no idea what's got Lana so hacked off, but he has a sudden thought that he better defuse things before she starts slinging lightning bolts. "What? They... stole my tunic, while I was working." He points to the tree, and the patched tunic hanging off one of the upper limbs. "Not... really a major issue here, Lana."
Mirabilis, who is now currently the only pixie with an ounce of sense in her entire little pixie body, stops trying to restore sense to her counterpart by means of percussive therapy as soon as she hears Cor'lana's voice. She shivers a little, wings suddenly working double-time as they flap rapidly. "L-L-Lady L-L-L-Lupecyll! Please! We didn't mean to harm your consort-to-be!" she says.
The mention of Lady Lupecyll appears to have restored some life to Lily-of-the-Valley, who blinks a handful of times before she similarly grovels. "We're not worthy! We're not wooooorthyyyyy!" she cries out as she begins throwing her arms into the air and swinging them down over and over again.
Cor'lana looks none-to-impressed with either of the pixies as she looks at Telamon. "Really? Then what are those marks on your back?" she asks, folding her arms in a stance that's the universal indicator of an upset lady--feytouched descended-from-nobility lady or no.
Telamon raises a hand to the pixies, trying to settle things down. "I... Alright, you two, stop that." He switches back and forth from Tradespeak to Sylvan and back again. Hidden depths, that's Telamon for you. When Cor'lana asks about marks on his back, he looks... confused. "Sorry, what? I have marks on my back?"
So of course he tries to twist his head to look over his shoulder, but he can't really see anything. After a moment or two of this, he stops and looks abashed. "Sisig bursag. Go get Lana's mirror and mine, and bring them out here." There's a whisper in the air, as the unseen servitor slips away. "Love, I have no idea what you're talking about. What kind of marks?"
The mirrors are easily fetched--of course there's two mirrors, as there's two half-elves and they both have to look good. Meanwhile, the pixies appear to be too busy cowering as they hold onto each other to do much of anything. "Please don't dismiss us, Lady Lupecyll--we didn't hurt Lord Lupecyll-to-be, we swear it!" Mirabilis tries to explain.
That appears to fall on deaf ears--or at least, ears that aren't paying attention--as Cor'lana approaches Telamon and puts her hand on Telamon's bare back. "They're... strange marks. It's a sun and rays coming from the sun all in... gold and white ink, almost? Except you clearly didn't go and get this done somewhere. One, I'm sure you would have told me, and two, I'm sure I would have noticed..."
She flushes a little. "You know. A-Anyway! Do you think it has to do with... your Watcher? He mentioned about something being on your shoulders, but this is a bit ridiculously on-the-nose..."
Cor'lana stops to reconsider that. "Then again, he's a flumph."
It takes a few minutes to get the servant to hold the mirror behind Telamon, bouncing the 'image' off it to the other mirror. And when they finally get them lined up, Tel goes quiet for a moment... rotating the mirror a little this way and that. "...That is bizarre. You know... I remember feeling something across my back when I created that light in the sewers. I chalked it up to nerves -- we were all kind of wound up at the time."
He shakes his head. "I mean, it looks good, I guess. Gods only know what father will say. But at least it's not, like, a half naked mermaid or something..." He grins at Lana. "I think you better calm down the help, they sound a bit frantic."
He sends the servant back into the house with the mirrors, as he chuckles. "It does seem oddly... direct. But then, maybe that's how it's supposed to be." He looks up at the two trembling pixies. "Can I have my tunic back now?" he asks sardonically.
<OOC> Aftershock would like perception rolls please :D GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Perception+2: (13)+4+2: 19 GAME: Telamon rolls perception: (2)+12: 14 <OOC> Ravenstongue says, "The pixies are a little too distracted for perception rolls."
It's not until the shirt is mentioned that one realizes that there's someone standing under the tree that Telamon's shirt is in. Where she came from, or how long she's been there... Is an unknown. The individual is a mul'niessa woman, unremarkable really aside from that. Her skin is the color of obsidian, sharp and dark, her eyes like glimmering rubies. Her white hair is a stark contrast to this, and though her clothes mark her as someone of noble birth, there's a few objects on her that suggest perhaps an adventurer's bent to her lifestyle.
She watches the goings-on with a blank expression on her features, either waiting to be noticed, or uncaring if she is.
It's at that moment that Cor'lana sees the woman and her violet eyes immediately turn hard, a hand raised as though she really is threatening to send a lightning bolt at the woman compared to the pixies. "I'm going to give you ten seconds to explain yourself," Cor'lana snarls. "Who sent you? Are you aware this home is under the protection of Alud'rigan, the Feathered One?"
The pixies gasp as they, too, finally notice the woman. But Lily-of-the-Valley, ditz that she is, cheers on, "Don't let that filthy interloper get her hands on Lord Lupecyll-to-be, Lady Lupecyll! True love will always save the day--" <Sylvan>
Mirabilis clamps her hand to Lily's mouth and shushes the pixie, dark eyes wide.
His eyes were on the pixies, and so when they drop again it's to widen at the sight of the dark-skinned mul'niessa woman. Where did she come from? Telamon's hands come up as well, and he stands almost shoulder to shoulder with Cor'lana.
However, his smooth, calm voice cuts through the tension, his dark eyes glinting. "There's a perfectly good front door, you know. And a doorbell. I had that installed last week." He squints at the woman. "...Have we met, perchance? You do seem familiar. Last year's Feast of Nenyan, perhaps?"
There's a flicker of ruby eyes from Cor'lana to Telamon and back again. The woman leaves off leaning on the tree in order to stalk toward the pair. There's something preditory in her gate, and in the way she looks at the pair before her. As if you are perhaps something to be eaten. There's weighing there, but it's perfucntory. As if the woman knows that she is invincible. Or at least that she has nothing to fear from you.
"Protected not enough it seems." The woman offers with a small trace of amusement in her tone. "For I am here. But since it seems I have only a few seconds to explain myself I will make this short - Where is Seldan?"
Cor'lana's hand is still raised, but she blinks at the mention of Seldan. There's an expression of genuine bafflement. "Seldan? I don't know. I haven't seen him forever--but why would you show up here looking for him? This is our house."
Which is probably evident by the fact there's now a veritable Quelynos garden growing in the yard. Even a gander inside the house through a window reveals that there's almost no furniture that's been kept from the previous tenants--well, the kitchen table's there, at least from the angle of the window, but that seems to be it.
Telamon instinctively starts to step in front of Cor'lana -- fixing the mul'niessa woman with a stare, his fingers twitching. "Seldan? The Silver Guard? The last I saw him was in Quintoos, and then I was called out of town. When I returned, he was gone. I've not seen him since..."
He pauses, his dark, starry eyes glittering. "...Of course, it might help if we knew who was looking." Not too unsubtle a hint there.
The woman moves her hand, flicking your questions away without a care for them. She stops a bit closer than is strictly comfortable, and her lip twitches at Telamon's instinctual effort to step in front of Cor'lana. "So eager to die and you don't even know why do you?" She looks at him squarely. "This is Seldan's house. So if you tell me where he is, I'll leave. I'm really not in the mood for questions. However handsome the package they come from." A small smile here.
Cor'lana is increasingly puzzled, confused, and also very much not a fan of the way that the woman is approaching her fiance, judging by the deep and open frown on her face. "This isn't Seldan's house. This is my house. This might have been Seldan's house before--the realtor sold it to me and didn't tell me who lived here beforehand--but I don't like strangers and I especially don't like people threatening my fiance. We have nothing to do with Seldan and I don't know where he is. Please leave now."
The way she says it is somewhere between polite demand and a threat.
Telamon arches an eyebrow. "Or I'm just the distraction," he purrs, eyes glittering. "After all, the best magic involves getting someone to not pay attention to what the other hand's doing." He keeps his stare on the elf.
"So. We don't know where he is. He's not here -- this hasn't been his house for a while." His lips curl up slightly. "And while you're here, trying to squeeze blood from a stone... he's out doing whatever needs doing." Disdainfully, he draws himself up, giving the mul'niessa a look down his nose. "Now, if there's nothing else..."
"You could be lying." Offers the woman with a smile, a warm, easy thing that doesn't say much and doesn't touch her red eyes. "Seems odd that you would move into his house, know of him, and not know anything about his where-abouts."
Her eyes land on Co'lana and as they do her hand snakes out and touches Telamon's bare chest, sliding her fingers down in a move that's very unasked for. "You've broken the cardinal girl rule. He's prettier than you are. How about we go inside? Make sure Seldan isn't hiding in your basement."
GAME: Ravenstongue casts Charm Person/Persistent. Caster Level: 7 DC: 19 GAME: Ravenstongue rolls 1d20+7+2: (13)+7+2: 22 (spell penetration, miss)
Perhaps things would have been fine. But then the woman is touching Telamon. Her Telamon. And Cor'lana's face twists in an angry visage--an expression that Telamon has seen before elsewhere, but on another person--one taller than her and one with a lot more feathers adorning his shoulders.
"Get. Your Hands. Off him," she finds herself snarling in her Grandfather's tongue, just as she weaves a charming spell to convince the woman to back off. But she is not the Feathered One, and her spell has no effect. All she's succeeded in is becoming very angry.
Telamon fixes the woman with a deeply disapproving stare. "Really. You think Seldan, chosen of Eluna, the Silver Guard... is hiding in the basement. A basement we don't have, by the way." Deliberately, he reaches out and catches the woman's wrist in his fingers. She can pull free easily, of course.
"The answer is no. I am no longer interested in your posturing and barely veiled threats. I don't know if you're Seldan's jilted girlfriend, or he owes you money, or whatever. But I am tired of this." He leans close suddenly. "And I suspect you're on a tight schedule."
<OOC> Aftershock needs a will save from Telamon :D <OOC> Telamon says, "Enchantment?" <OOC> Aftershock says, "Yup!" GAME: Telamon rolls will+6: (9)+9+6: 24
The woman chuckles again, whether at the threat implied in Cor'lana's demand or Telamon's words. She leans forward toward the man. "Invite me in Lord Lupecyll-to-be. Just to be on the safe side." Her red eyes glow with the gentle demand, and there's some indication that there's something awry in that moment. "That's what a good host would do."
The warding isn't enough, and the words slither past -- barely -- into Telamon's mind. He nods slowly, even as part of him is stamping its feet and yelling angrily, and says, "I agree completely. The house of the Lupecyll-Atlons is always gracious." He steps aside, gesturing for the unknown woman to follow him towards the house.
<OOC> Ravenstongue says, "Hmm. I don't want to /assume/ that RT can tell that he's just been charmed, but this is pretty obviously not something he'd do... Should I roll a spellcraft here?" <OOC> Aftershock says, "You can, but you'll be at a negitive due to the fact that there were no signs that she cast a spell." <OOC> Ravenstongue nods. GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Spellcraft: (8)+12: 20 <OOC> Aftershock says, "Yea, you're sure he's acting oddly for the situation, but she didn't cast a spell."
Cor'lana is... simply confused as she looks between Telamon and the woman, although there's certainly that undercurrent of anger still within them. She huffs and keeps a close distance behind Telamon. "Fine. If showing you the house will be enough for you to leave us alone, then fine. There's no Seldan here."
The woman graciously accepts the invitation, walking into the house - preceeded by the pair. She takes her time, coyly smiling at Cor'lana as she investigates each room. She smuggly runs her fingers over the bedcover in the bedroom, arching an eyebrow at them and laughing. Eventually however the three end up back in the main foyer, the strange woman tapping her fingers and looking around the space with a pensive expression. "Well, you weren't lying about him being here, and it seems likely that you don't know where he is at all. Which leaves us with a problem."
She marches up to Telamon, looking him up and down again before smiling. "Tell me little lord, what do you want more than anything in this world?"
Telamon replies calmly, "To be married to Cor'lana, to raise many fine children and see them excel." His diction is a little stilted. "Power is fleeting; glory is a dusty tale; and magic will only carry you so far. But love is something that endures." He smiles at the strange, dangerous woman, and innocently reaches out to Cor'lana to take her hand.
Cor'lana carries herself with her arms at her side. Her chin is lifted high in the air and her violet gaze is trained hard on the woman. She doesn't verbally respond to the woman's taunts, even with her touching the bedcover.
But there's Telamon taking her hand, and she relaxes, just a little. Her mouth opens...
And there's the white raven flying in from the other room. He lands on the bed and opens his mouth, too. "Get out of here, you big dumb broad!" he crows, imitating a very, very pissed off woman.
Cor'lana looks lost somewhere between concern for Pothy and also gratefulness for him voicing what she can't say herself.
"Ahhhh, he loves you." Says the woman, blinking and looking at Pothy. For a moment there's death in her eyes and then she smiles. It's not a nice smile. It's the sort of expression one wears when one is intending to do something very nasty. "I loved a man once. Do you know what I did to him?" She looks at Cor'lana as she speaks.
"Hold still lover-boy." She says to Telamon, and then she reaches out rather casually and catches him up by the throat. "I killed him. My hand around his throat, his heart broken beneath my fist." She closes her hand, choking off his air and the instinct to fight for survival kicks in for Telamon, but she doesn't release him. "He'll never have children for you if I kill him. Never. Unless you both swear by blood not to reveal my presence in this city."
<OOC> Telamon says, "Hydraulic push into her face. Maybe I can drown her." <OOC> Aftershock will need a new will save first ;3 <OOC> Aftershock says, "You get a bonus +2" <OOC> Aftershock says, "You're dominated not charmed." GAME: Telamon rolls will+8: (3)+9+8: 20 <OOC> Telamon says, "Reroll." <OOC> Aftershock says, "Spent!" GAME: Telamon rolls will+8: (4)+9+8: 21 (fails) GAME: Telamon rolls CMB: (5)+5: 10 (to escape chokehold, fails)
Telamon seems... conflicted. As the woman's hand wraps around his throat, his eyes flash in confusion, but then he's clutching at the wrists, trying to pry her off him. He can't seem to focus to do anything, though the throttling is starting to take its toll...
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Diplomacy: (15)+15: 30
Cor'lana's eyes go wide as she looks at Telamon being throttled. "Tel!" she screams.
There's anger. Her hands go up automatically in a spellcasting pose, but there's a split-second where she seems to realize that no spell she can cast will possibly help here. All she has are her words.
"I don't even know who you are!" she says. "I only know Seldan because I attended Resurrectionist meetings with him! We just live here! Please, just don't hurt him!" Tears brim in her eyes. It's horrifying to be so powerless, but there it is.
<OOC> Aftershock says, "The Woman will maintain the grapple." GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+24: (17)+24: 41 (success)
The woman stares at Cor'lana, holding Telamon with an ease that's frightening. She doesn't even look like she's bothered by his nails scratching away at her hand. His gasping. His struggle to live is meaningless in her eyes. "Then it should be nothing for you to make a pact with me. Swear in blood that you will never reveal my presence in Alexandria, and he lives. But you will have to convince him of it as well. Can't have him doing it can we? And he's a bit preoccupied at the moment."
<OOC> Telamon says, "Try to break the spell." GAME: Telamon rolls will+8: (20)+9+8: 37 (CRITICAL SUCCESS) GAME: Telamon casts Hydraulic Push. Caster Level: 8 DC: 17 <OOC> Telamon says, "Spell pen check." GAME: Telamon rolls 1d20+8: (6)+8: 14 (fails)
Suddenly, the spell -cracks- -- trying to hold Tel under it while strangling him just galvanizes him. "Cor'lana," he grates out. "Get. Help." He hisses. "Anumun lirum!" through his breath, a spatter of water blasting out but sputtering as it plays across the woman, evaporating. "Get. Grandfather."
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Diplomacy: (1)+15: 16 (EPIC FAIL) <OOC> Aftershock stares <OOC> Ravenstongue says, "I'll spend the RPP on a reroll." GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Diplomacy: (19)+15: 34
There's a second where Cor'lana shuts her eyes tightly. She shakes her head, tears continuing to pour down her face. "I can't make a pact with you--"
She pulls her the front of her dress down, revealing the unmistakable mark of a certain fey noble on the skin of her chest--a feather-within-a-feather, with long lines curling around the mark. "I am sworn by blood pact to Alud'rigan, the Feathered One--my ancestor, a member of the fey nobility. If you kill my fiance, then I warn you: Alud'rigan will find you. He will kill you. I've witnessed him kill other people before. And he will stop at nothing until you die."
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+24: (11)+24: 35
The woman grabs Telamon's hands with her free hands. Curtailing his ability to spellcast and talk. "If you leave, he will be dead before you get back." She says coldly of Telamon's suggestion to leave and get this 'grandfather' that they speak of. Cor'lana's revelation makes the woman's eyes narrow and she snorts. "You can make a pact with me, as long as it doesn't mean that you break yours with him. I don't know who this 'Alud'rigan' is, but we've no quarrel as long as you do as I say."
<OOC> Telamon activates the Sunforge. Daylight effect, centered on me, maybe she'll flinch.
Telamon is being systematically tangled up, held down. He can't speak. He can't gesture. But he grins at the woman. His eyes... distant stars can be seen in them. And then the tattoo on his back lights up, and suddenly blazing sunlight pours out of him -- like a second dawn, pouring out the windows of the house, as the blue-white glow burns forth, sunshine from a different star.
Cor'lana takes the opportunity. Blessed light--long enough for the woman to be blinded by it, but she knows where Tel is even in the light. She grabs Telamon and wrestles him out in the confusion of the light. "Pothy, let's go!" she demands.
"Uh oh!" Pothy croaks as he flies onto Cor'lana's shoulder.
The half-elf holds on tight to her beau as they run out of the house. "We need to find somewhere safe! Arcanists' Society? One of the Temples--where?" Cor'lana says. "Grandfather's not responding--we can't depend on him to intervene!"
Either way, the woman - whoever she was - does not actually persue them. Perhaps she made her point, or perhaps as Telamon guessed; there's a time restraint involved. Regardless, the woman calmly exits the house a few moments after Cor'lana and Telamon's hasty exit and disappears into the city.
Meanwhile, Telamon manages to get enough breath in him to haste himself, Pothy, and Cor'lana. "Arcanists. They're... closer." He wheezes a bit, but is keeping up, the blue-white glow still shining off him like a miniature dawn. "Who... the hell... was that?"
Cor'lana immediately goes in the direction of the Arcanists. "I don't know--I... I don't know. Apparently Seldan had some really, really unpleasant enemies. We... We need to find some people to re-ward that house."
She sighs. "We can handle this. We can handle all of this, Tel. I'm okay. We're okay."
There's still tears on her face as she says this, but there's that conviction. The Feathered One's child isn't going to just roll over and let a strange person demand her blood.
Telamon is still rattled by the memory of the woman's fingers around his neck. The slow strangulation, only broken when he desperately invoked the light and blinded her. But... it worked. They're still alive. And now... "O! A kiss," he growls raspily. "Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!" Hard to say what he's quoting, but it's clear he wants payback.
"Yeah. I'm going to the temple of Eluna after we're done getting help from the Arcanists. I'm going to ask them -- politely -- for anything Seldan was working on."
His eyes narrow. "And there's something else... Lana, that woman reminded me of Aya. Aryia's sister. They said a demon was inside her... could this be the same one?"
"I really hope not, considering there's supposed to be a ward on this city," Cor'lana says, focusing entirely on the road. Thankfully, they live in the University District, so it's not terribly long before they get to the Society.
Cor'lana stops in the Courtyard, huffing and catching her breath finally. "I think... I think we're okay here..."
She looks at Telamon after a moment and her eyes widen. "Shit. We never got your tunic back."
Telamon coughs, massaging his throat. "It wasn't even a good tunic. It was a work tunic." He scowls, then just wraps his arms around Cor'lana, hugging her tightly. "Gods. That was too close for comfort. We definitely need to spend more time in our studies if we're going to draw attention like that."
He shakes his head. "I really hope the pixies hide and stay the hell out of sight."
Cor'lana goes to her spot. This time it's not just for her but for him, too--a reassurance that while things may have suddenly just gone wrong in the world, she still fits right where she belongs: right underneath Telamon's chin.
"We've grown way too comfortable lately," she murmurs. "There's still lots of dangerous stuff out there in the world... And Grandfather can't defend us from all of it. We have to get better. We have to get stronger."
She squeezes him tightly. "I think they'll be fine."
Telamon tucks her in under his chin, as he sees several casters already approaching cautiously. He waves them in, as he murmurs, "As long as we do it together, love. That's all I want. To face it together."
The couple stand together as the wizards approach to find out, exactly, why the hell they just sprinted into the Courtyard. There will be questions, but... at least they'll be around to answer them.
OOC
===================== Current Initiative Order - Round 1 ===================== ---Init--Name------------AOO-Notes-------------------------------------------- >> 22 Telamon 1 << ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 18 Ravenstongue 1 Flat-footed (0 rnds remaining) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9 The Woman ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==============================================================================