Archimedes, Keth And Vile RP

A very, very long forest trek after the Freehold. Keth sniped back and forth with Jakou or Vile in turns. Kept notes on their route - sights that she saw along the way. Keeping her mind distracted from the twin warnings she'd received from Lillith and Avaku, and hiding the level of discomfort they caused her.

But overall, she really was getting very bored. Really, really bored. Even on her trips south or east with Sinclair, she had something along she could work on. And he always had a story she'd never heard before to share on the treks.

She had business to settle with Jakou, but this was not the place for what needed to be a very private Solar discussion. That left Archimedes and Vile for any kind of interesting conversation.

"So, what brought you two in to this group, if I might ask?"

With a straw hat woven together of wyld leaves plunked on his head, the brim pushed back a bit from the bone mask he wore, Vile gave the solar and lunar a glance. Lips curling in a grimace, he smirked all to himself remembering his ....reasons.

"You could say...I began as their enemy really. Dear Theon and I met across time and space, but that kinship was never meant to be. He's not my type." The sarcasm dripped like molasses. A hand curled over the cavity where a heart may lie. "I was not stung though, for if not for Theon's gracelessness, I would not have come to find my true soulmate, you could say. Archimedes and I formally met in Sijan. Such memories."

The dichotomy of Vile's hat of wyld straw - the abyssal just needed some hay to chew on to complete the image of old farmer mcdemon. Keth was able to stave off laughter by sheer force of will. "I can't ponder a reason why you and Theon aren't best of friends. Though if it brought you and Archimedes together, i'd call that a good result."

She did smile at the images it conjured in her minds eye "Sijin is a place I have old business in, once this venture is over. How did you go from enemy to comrade? The ghosts of the city laying all ill to rest?"

Archimedes eyes wide open paying attention to every detail, every strange movement that he could see filled his eyes with curiosity and excitement. out in the wyld anything could happen and anything that you could imagine has probably happened already a million times.

hearing a friendly voice in the background caught his attention away from all the wonders and marvels of the wyld. it was the voice of Vile, reminding Archimedes of his first encounter of him at Sijan. such wonderful memories! Archimedes started to think of Sijan and the memories he had of that place when an answer to Keth's question started to form.

"it was as if fate had intended this circle to form. we all came from various places yet all sharing one thing in common we would all discover together, we all wanted to explore the world and see what it has to offer. Vile and i share a deeper bond clearly, but that is because we both have a love for the strange and unusual."

Archimedes looking at the Solar started to wonder, "Keth, what business is it you have in Sijan? if you return i would like to go back to that place and say hello again. it's been far too long."

Flashes of memory wandered through Vile's head, bringing a naughty little chuckle. The serving wench, her death and summoning of the demon, guiding Archimedes through the ordeal. And soon after, Archimedes standing for the abyssal against ghosts eager to destroy him.

Then the words of his dear friend met his brain. A circle formed by fate. Certainly true, though a part of him nagged over that meaning. Dark whispers murmured their thoughts in connection to this. What did fate see of them? Of the fallen ones? Of hell itself.

His eyes slid over to watch Keth as she thought on the questions, mumbling one of his own. "I love Sjian. So many ghosts, so many teacups to craft."

"Ah, fate. That psychotic and fickle fiend."

Keth considered what had brought her into the group - the arrival of Jakou at her shop. How he'd learned of her she'd never inquired. But a long negotiation and a contract later, she'd been roped into the reconstruction of his airship.

Which had turned into 'Travel to Rahthess to look for more information' which had then some how turned into this mad emergency rescue mission to rescue Luna. Fate might not be involved, but it certainly had a sense of humor if so.

"I'm tracking down the home and tomb - if there is one, which I have reason to consider is a dubious chance - of my last first age life. After our brief trip through Rahthess, I at least have a name and a few ideas that I can track down."

Boney fingertips tapped along the edge of his mask. "So how does that really work hm? You recall some...things about who you were before. And now seek out whatever remains? So..does that mean the person that was Keth is gone or merely is this a passing fancy?"

Little popping sounds of bone riddled down his back. "I recall some of my own awakening, but have never considered ...WHO I was before. Our path is quite different from your own illustrious exaltations." He looked askance to Archiemedes. "Dear Archimedes got hungry and ate a spider. I've eaten spiders but never turned into anything from them. Just vomited them up if disagreeable."

"Your gods have odd senses of humor. Mine found strength within me. We had a lovely chat even, discussed our future goals, shared recipes. Far more a conversation you could say than some random farting of special gas in your general direction."

"when are we going to Sijan?" Archimedes asked as he was looking through some recipes.

"also, why not consider who you were previously Vile? you never know what you can discover in your research. might be helpful or even entertaining. the spider was delicious and i don't know if i will ever eat a better one."

"I do recall things, from time to time - images, feelings, at times entire scenes. I can't speak for every Solar, only my own experience and thoughts on the matter."

Keth's eyes furrowed briefly, biting her nail as she considered how best to explain a concept that had bothered her for a long time.

Finally, she flipped to a open page in her travel journal, leaning closer to the pair to show them as she sketched out the image in her mind.

"The first solar whomever it might have been, is the top of the river - the source of the soul. As it has returned, each person who exalted as that Solar was another stream meeting the river. If the stream is tiny and the river ragingly fierce it may not be so much as a blip. The stream completely subsumed by the river - the solar - where they meet."

"Think what happens to a river that has been alone for very long before meeting another stream or more water. The river may have lost much of it's own strength - dried up, after a long journey. Or perhaps meets another river, not simply the tiniest of streams? I'm bloody terrible at explaining this."

She drew out a long river, and streams meeting it along the way - small and large. Changing the width of the river as it went along the imaginary path.

"Each time a new stream meets the river, it adds some thing - a new flavor, new aspect to it. The lady who existed in the first age and the mortal who was Keth before exalting were entirely different people - as souls, streams, whatever. But where they met, I exist - both are my past. I can't remember everything Fey'len did, but I can't ignore it either."

Keth exhaled at last, a little sheepish for getting so side tracked "Or you can just write it all off as my incessant curiosity - most folks do. I'd not call my exaltation 'illustrious' or even terribly informative. I'd have traded the mile-high beam of light for a good conversation at the time."

Vile frowned behind his mask as he listened to Archimedes and Keth. Their explanations were clear in understanding, if annoying to his own considerations. He had never truly questioned who or what he was, only accepted and continued from that point on. To remember the past as a mortal left him aching inside, something he was unwilling to come near or consider prior to meeting the elderly Lunar. It made him vulnerable, something he swore never to feel again.

Voice a touch raw, much more a whisper now. "Unfortunately, I remember all too clearly who I was as a mortal. Stupid, broken from birth, I never had a ...clear thought as I do now. It is a terrible thing to be given intelligence right at death, my friend." Bitterness dripped from his voice as his boney hands clenched. "I hated everything I was, being a butcher's son. Now, I am the butcher. What name I had was consumed by the Neverborn, a blessing I shall ever be thankful for. They named me Vile Whisper. It is...everything I am."

He glanced then to Keth, stabbing a finger at the river. With a rough rubbing of fingers, he dirtied the fine lines into a corrupted mess. "And what would happen if something stood in the way of the soul shard? I know nothing of my soul's past. But...I have never considered it. Is this an art you both have?"

Again the grin returned. "And yesss, Sijan. I miss that city. Been too long since I went shopping for souls. I am always game for such."

Keth bristled a little at Vile's words, her eyes narrowing to little points for a moment. The abyssal had struck one of her nerve's in return. How badly her own mortal life had gone, until it had ended.

"As I said, I can speak only for my own path. I have no desire to go back to being mortal either. Before, I was a worthless girl sold off to the highest bidder to pay off the debts of another. Without means, knowledge or power. Nothing more then a tissue to be used. I would be far madder then anything that lurks in these wylds to deny that I much prefer what I am now."

She snapped the book closed, stuffing it back into her bag "I'd be happy traveling to Sijan as soon as this rescue mission is over - sooner the better, I say."

Vile grinned in his own special way seeing that fire and angry response. He did not rise to the venom or strike out. He almost seemed...accepting and sharing in kinship to hear it. "Then you do understand. Maybe you can enlighten the oaf Theon and Ivory. I nigh feared this little family were all simpletons."

"Do you seek something in particular within Sijan?"