It's like christmas in july except just it's cold and everyone is stressed and there are no presents

[heiresy]

Who: [OPEN] Aymeric and you!
What: Catch-all for non-participants and early losers in the fuckening, but everyone is welcome! Come gloat if you like.
When: All day.
Where: In the guard barracks, outside the castle, Yenh's hut, the inn.
Warnings: Will update as needed!



I. In and Around the Castle
[For the entirely-too-manyth in a row now the weather has been getting unrelentingly colder. So much so that he could barely think as he did his duties. It would do no good to lose his work or the possible trust he had earned with his diligence over this, but the temptation to abandon his post became increasingly difficult. During breakfast, if you are a fellow guard, Aymeric will be trying to get your attention. Maybe there is something they can do about their uniforms...? If you are not a guard, he will try to catch your attention anyway. He has requests to make in his miserable state.]

II. The Village
[Once his terrible, miserable shift is over he will run around the village with increasingly conspicuous supplies. First a couple blankets, then some buckets, and eventually he will be rolling a wooden bath down a road. He comes to Yenh's shack and knocks on the door with his arms very much full.]

III. The Inn
[Much later now, he finds himself at his familiar watering hole. Sure, it cost a lot more than drinking with the other guards in the castle, but the illusion of getting out of the Mistress' reach was well worth it. Here you will see him finally changed out of his guard uniform, but back in the clothing he arrived in. Terribly ironic that he was able to acquire some new clothes the very week it was too cold to wear any of them. He's back to looking very over-dressed and out of place. If you sit near him, he will offer you a drink and a warm, weary smile.]

Comments

[takenblack]

[ She's a little glad about the direct talk, weird as it may be with Aymeric. Dancing around is something she is more used to and less wants to do. ]

Only if I weren't offering myself in service. Plainly put, I wouldn't mind.

[ Yenh smiles at him, scooting in a little closer. Not intimately close. More "can reach the bottle easier" close.] Are you certain that isn't the case? I swore that I detected longing beneath your natural comcerns for your friend.

[heiresy]

There is little in this world you would mind if it were asked of you, isn't there?

[He needs no additional prompting to pass the bottle. It warms him all the way down, makes this easier in its own little way. He rolls his shoulders and stretches his neck before he settles into a more lounging sit, far from the straight backed posture he was taking just moments ago.]

I... haven't allowed myself to think on such things. I never had the time nor the luxury. I fear it would be nothing but a burden for Estinien. He fails to answer the simplest lines of inquiries! I asked him where his attractions lay, yet he would not tell me. I think he might not know.

[takenblack]

[ Offering one of her famous nods in response to his first inquiry, she listens with care, her tail twitching slightly as she contemplates his assessment of Estinien. Seems about right. ]

I should be more surprised if he did. I've seldom met men so consumed by the desire for revenge, but when I do, the needs of the flesh are always among the needs of the mind to fall to the wayside.

[ Yenh licks her lips. ] But with Nidhogg's passing, should he not have begun to regain his humanity?

[heiresy]

[He folds his hands, looking off for a moment.]

I have a terrible and strange suspicion. His helm is not the blood-drenched red that it was last I saw it. I had thought: perhaps he cleaned it. Yet all of his armor is clean, as well. It was tainted, was it not? Nidhogg's terrible magic soaked into the armor in an irredeemable way. He speaks as if Nidhogg yet lives. He speaks of Lady Ysayle as if she is alive. I thought perhaps he had lost his mind, but I don't think that's quite it.

[He looks at her, worriedly. He seems unable to speak the conclusion. It is too strange.]

What do you make of this?

[takenblack]

[She opens her mouth and reels in surprise. The details add up to the first time they faced Nidhogg together, yet that was moons ago. Before he was possessed, before they knew about the second eye's whereabouts, before all of it.]

[Yenh shakes her head.]

It cannot be- he speaks of our first venture to Nidhogg's lair together. Yet you know as well as I, how much has transpired since our first journey to end the war... but I've no idea what other explanation there could be.

He may truly be from an earlier time.

[heiresy]

[he places a hand over his mouth, muffling his words without thinking]

I think you're right. I'm not sure how, but how does any of this make sense?

[his hand shifts to his hair, pushing his waves up from his hair line for a moment.]

More information that I know not what to do with. Do we tell him? Should I continue to feign ignorance? [he lets out a small, frustrated noise and makes a move for their little bottle of alcohol.]

Surely I cannot keep up such a farce forever.

[takenblack]

[ Yenh hands it over gladly. She has had some experience with timey-wimey bullshit, and suspects Aymeric needs another drink more badly thank she. ]

Would he even believe us?

[ At once, she starts wondering how to go about convincing him. ]

[heiresy]

No.

[swig]

Not without the most ironclad possible evidence. Yet what evidence could there be? It is not as if we could conjure Nidhogg's head.

[grimly] Nor his eyes.

I am truly at a loss. The events were so fantastical, I'm not sure that I would believe them had I not been there myself. I wonder if telling him would bring him peace— considering the details...

[takenblack]

[ In silence, Yenh tries to think of what else- if anything else- could possibly serve to convince Estinien that his vengeance was completed. ]

[ After a dozen nonsensical ideas, one finally occurs to her. ]

We are granted a small boon for participation in the contest, are we not?

Count Edmont once interviewed me concerning a book he was writing about the Dragonsong War. If we could somehow get a copy... t'would be our best chance at successfully convincing Estinien.

[heiresy]

If Estinien didn't think it foolishness or trickery. [he lets out a breath. He was just full of sighs today, wasn't he?]

Yet I believe it to be our most prudent method. Yet, if there is something that you want for yourself, then this may wait. The Mistress is clearly capable of conjuring whatever she pleases at any moment. If there is aught more prudent that you desire?

[He takes another little swig, the world shifting ever so slightly. He passes the bottle.]

If you believe it a worthy use, then I would be happy to receive this object from you.

[takenblack]

[ She hesitates and nods. This was a bit trickier... ]

To be truthful... I was going to beg for her to restore the Blessing of Light.

[ Crossing her arms, she tilts her head and gazes again to the fire. ]

Yet Estinien's peace of mind is invaluable. He has suffered enough—and still more than he knows. Yet even if he does believe the contents of the book, he would likely taunt me for wasting such a chance. [ It is now her turn to heave a sigh. ] Gods.

[heiresy]

Then there is a natural course of action for us. If you are to win, as I am sure you will, you should ask for the Blessing of Light. However, if you are denied such a boon, then you can request Lord Fortemps' memoir. I cannot claim to understand how any of this works, yet that has not once stopped you from doing it.

[He lays back fully, pressing his back into the ground, head resting in laced fingers.]

Shall we tell him ere we procure the evidence? I fear it would be fruitless. He is a terribly stubborn man.

[takenblack]

[ Yenh nods, but waves her hand around as she speaks. ]

Allow me to. It is not as though the topic of Ysayle or our journeys have come up much.

[ With a smile, she looks him over. It seems crude even now to gape at his body, but it is not as though she weren't offering to bed him mere moments before. That makes it okay, right??? ]

Perhaps the two of us, jointly, may succeed.

[dravanicide]

[As if this awkward exchange needed anymore assistance, it seems Estinien has gotten over his kerfuffle with Aymeric, and has indeed decided to show up to Yenh's. Naturally, he doesn't knock, walking in unannounced as one would likely come to expect of him—of course, he doesn't expect the tent near the fire, and for a moment it halts him.

Only for a moment, however. Ere long, he's approaching the little fort. He's not really listening to what they're talking about, a blessing for all involved truly. Poking his head inside, his mouth opens to voice his arrival—

—only to see Aymeric completely naked. Suddenly, he feels as though this might have been a mistake. The earlier line of questioning seems to make a lot more sense now, to Estinien's dread... and just as quietly as he came in (which wasn't totally with his heavy boots), he attempts to head back out.

He didn't ask for this...]

[heiresy]

Estinien, wait! Come back— This isn't what it looks like!

[He had no idea why he wanted him to come back. This was a mistake.]

She was administering salve to my wind-bitten skin! Yenh, tell him!

[takenblack]

[Yenh almost wants to laugh at the sudden absurdity of the situation, but no—she jumps up and leaves the tent, bracing against the sudden drop in temperature.]

[While Aymeric panics, she operates as though the whole situation didn't look completely guilty.]

Estinien, my friend! Come— it's your turn for a massage! I shall tend to your aching flesh and muscles!

[dravanicide]

Nay.

[He seems intent on leaving, not even sparing Yenh a look as she pursues him. He's honestly not sure what he was expecting, but he'd sooner suffer his chafed skin than to strip naked and have the Warrior of Light's hands all over his body.

Though, admittedly, the chafing was getting to him.]

You should continue to attend Aymeric. 'Twould seem he needs such attention.

[heiresy]

'Twas but healing, and I am finished. I simply hadn't redressed just yet. Estinien, allow her to at least apply it to your chest! Your skin is so fair, and it looks as though it hasn't healed from one day to the next! You'll bleed into that damn bustier without attention.

[ Aymeric pulls what he was wearing for underwear on- the leather shorts- before stepping outside the tent.]

[takenblack]

[She dashes across the tiny room, blocking his exit. Giving him a bright smile she clasps her hands together.]

Listen to him! He's fine now.

Besides, you needn't be shy, I'm quite adept at it! I've had plenty of practice with tense-shouldered elderly men across the realm.

[Clearly, that means it was perfectly innocent, and that there was absolutely no ass grabbing or blatant propositioning.]

[dravanicide]

[Halting once his exit is blocked, Estinien scowls down at Yenh, disapproval radiating off of him like heat from a flame.]

Little am I one to pass judgment on those you choose to bed, Yenh, but scant do I find comfort in you comparing me to tense-shouldered elderly men.

[Mayhap he wouldn't think that was implying something sexual, when it's clearly not, but with Aymeric's line of questioning earlier, his mind is a little preoccupied with such thoughts.]

[takenblack]

[She opens her mouth in surprise, and fights back a laugh that would be both genuinely amused and also horrifically anxious. Not that it stops her from rambling.]

So quick to jump to conclusions. [It's funny because he's a dragoon.] I'm not trying to bed you, Estinien. Least of all with that attitude. If naught else, you go in the tent alone and tend to your own ails! 'Tis warm in there, and there's stiff drink.

[dravanicide]

Forgive me for not being convinced.

[He says with a side-long glance at Aymeric. At least he has himself covered—somewhat.]

But if you speak true... then I may acquiesce.

[The cold is biting, and him stubbornly wearing his armor hasn't afforded him many favors.]

[takenblack]

You are forgiven. Truly, had I walked in on such a sight, I would have likely believed the same thing.

[Though she doubts she would have barged in to begin with, much less attempted to storm out like a big prude.]

[She gestures toward the tent, the smile not leaving her face.]

It is all yours, my friend.

[dravanicide]

[He is not a big prude!! He just doesn't want any part in these shenanigans, gosh!!

There's a hesitance in how he looks from Yenh to the tent, as if there's a lack of trust (there is), but he wordlessly makes his way over regardless. The heat is welcoming at least, and it makes taking his armor off that much more rewarding. Though, he's not as shameless as Aymeric, and focuses far more on his bracers, boots, and helmet, before exposing himself completely.

Or at all, really. He's still skeptical of what he's stumbled into, but they seem intent on keeping him here, and mayhap the siren's call of easing his aching skin and muscles has captivated him for the moment, against his better judgment.

A massage does sound nice...]

[takenblack]

[Yenh, assuming he doesn't want any company, merely sits down outside and to the side, out of sight. She would certainly love to be invited in, but she isn't going to push matters. For all she knows, he might just decide to dragoon jump out of the cottage and leave her with a hole in her already-terrible roof.]

I hope we left enough drink for you! And that the oil suffices. I wished for lanolin, but prices are prohibitive at present.