#stresstal

" some. not all, but -- some. "

there's a presence when she sits, the gentle press of his influence on her mind like he can't help but reach into the spaces that were left empty in the moment.

it's not prodding, just present enough to be felt.

" this place is calling all sorts of souls back. again, here i am at the center of it, through some action of the past. "

"The apples, Reynauld! You absolute dandy!"

“...”

He takes a look at the boiling pot just within the office door. It filled the Abbey with a sweet smell. Maybe... it was excessive to search and find them.

She sits down, humming. "What brings you to this place?"

He sighs. This question again... well, he supposed a few of them already know. Perhaps she doesn’t remember? She’s like him, then. Blessed and cursed with no memories. 

Dismas motions for the barkeep for her and pulls his own ale closer. 

Slowly, she started to lower her hand. "....what are you?"

She lowers her hand. Good-- good. It’s safer this way. Her weapon lingers at her side-- that’s dangerous. Not as quick as its teeth though. No. No. It’s teeth are quicker. 

It lays down, slow with eyes on the vestal. Its tail still sweeps, somewhere between interested and agitated. It hadn’t turned this time out of starvation-- a favorable situation for both of them. No, bandits had gotten too close to town. They were gone, now. A mess of bones for a farmer to find in his fields. 

A small heckling laugh sounds in its throat at the question. What is he? It? 

@stresstal​ | another life.

even the staunchest of hearts inevitably gave way to the horrid ventures demanded by a place like this; that in turn would lead to desperate pleas to soothe their wretched souls. a frothing hunger that only the pleasures of flesh would satiate, a guilty conscience sequestered in a cloister that would more demand than pray. 

though the Beast within would gravitate towards the former (albeit with a more literal hunger), nesdin did his best to steer himself towards the latter. only through the contrast of calming breaths and through the earthy scent of burning incense could he keep his mind active enough to resist the tugs of his eager tenant. though try as he might to keep evidence of the internal struggle hidden, this woman’s concern attested his failure to do so. 

“My, ah-apologies.” it was only now he realized that he had been pacing, bare feet collecting pollen from the overgrown goosefoot that coiled and twisted around the side of the path. “It’s nothing to.. to trouble yourself over. Nerves, is all.” 

She smiles politely at the strange man--but she could not be picky, when there was work. "Indeed, there is a flagellation room, I've been told."

“ I would be surprised if there wasn’t! every proper temple should have a penance hall. ”

he claps his hands a bit before he steps up the broken stone stairs and shoulders a piece of wood leaned into the doorway. there’s a strain in broad shoulders before the plank is shoved aside. . .and what remains of the door falls down the stairs.

She nodded. "Okay--who scouts ahead? Audrey?"

“Probably for the best,” she says and nods at their companion. “I can sit on the back of the wagon. Make sure we aren’t followed, ‘least not closely. Let’s just get going. Don’t have a good feeling about this.”

She gave a little nod. “Draw.”

His finger twitched over the deck, the first card flipped and moved to the left. 

“The Conjurer. A past I can see for you. You manifested quite a bit of hope in people’s lives.” He hummed as he drew another.

“The Seer. The future is uncertain as ever, ever changin’ in a place where time shifts and the hour glass long broken. But that is your strongest source of protection and good as well.”

“The Torturer. A symbol of power and strength. Havin’ the resolve from the pain you have endured and inflicted will help you in your goals, with the strength to not become what caused you to change in the first place.”

“The Horseman. Ah, a light will shine on an ally that will help you in your fight against the darkness. A person or force that can be avoided, but once here will bring ruin to all that object them. Something of great power and and even greater ally if able.”

At the last card, there was a dramatic pause as he glanced up at her before flipping the last card over.

“The Innocent. Your greatest enemy, a follower of the darkness, left unchecked will be your downfall. Deceivers come in many forms, a child’s face is not unheard of.”

He sat back then, looking over the reading silently for several more minutes before looking back.

“Remind me, whatever was your first reading? Its been two years.”