#v'mer

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Watching Michelle watch her son interact with the supernatural was almost entertaining, if it weren’t for the way the witch held herself. 

She stood like a bear, ready to come raging down at whatever it was that stood between her and her cub, but at the same time she was slightly haughty, proud of the young man that was standing before her and holding his own. 

V’mer watched, ears twitching to catch both the soft sounds of Michelle’s magic twisting about her fingers with a high ozone whining, and the soft discussion of Jamie and the yeti he was using as a translator. The yeti, in turn, stood between the small slip of a boy, who was barely a man, and the diminutive Tikoloshe. The latter was a water spirit, one of the typically malevolent types that Michelle was usually called upon to handle, being the neutral party that she was. Working out territory disputes was a time honored tradition with the Riverside witches, and he was surprised to see Jamie there, rather than Sophie. 

Still, V’mer wouldn’t complain too much, not when it meant that the younger Bennett would occasionally come out with his band of merry adventurers. For a small, blonde slip of a human, she was surprisingly aggressive. Just like her mother was, at that age. 

As the negotiations drew to a close, Jamie doing something finicky and complicated with his hands, resulting in bemused looking yeti and a slightly annoyed Tikoloshe. Now, his understanding of the water spirit dialects was several centuries out of practice, but he was pretty sure Jamie had either invited himself to the next wedding, or had asked the water spirit to a limbo contest. There was soft grumbling from the spirit before a slip of paper was produced, the card stock glittering slightly in the light. Yep, the kid had invited himself to a wedding. Hope he had a plus one. 

“We good?” The elf called out as Jamie came jogging back towards them, the yeti trailing behind at a more leisurely pace. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Michelle relax, shoulders returning to a more natural elevation. 

“Yep. They promised to leave this section of the river alone in exchange for a new place to live, which I already negotiated with Mbaba Mwana Waresa and Grannus. The two gods agreed on sharing of territory and well, it’s all boring technical stuff, V’mer so-.” 

V’mer grinned, “-so I probably don’t care. Awesome. Let’s get you home. Looks like you did alright so next time you have a job we can go without your mom tailing us.” 

That caught the teenager’s attention, and his head snapped around until he located the older witch. 

The plaintive cry of ‘mom’ left V’mer’s ears ringing as the elf pressed them as flat as they would go. 

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“Of course you know Koschei the deathless-” V’mer spat, turning a corner, feet skidding on the wet ground as he cast a look behind him to make sure the two stragglers behind him were still there. Vera very quickly ran past him, but Michelle was looking worse for wear, fingers digging into the meat of her thigh where the fabric was scorched and smoking slightly. 

“What do you want me to say, V’mer?” Michelle hissed back, hobbling past him. With a soft growl of annoyance he darted forward, scooping her up, one arm behind her knees and the other her back as he put an extra bit of energy into catching up with the halfling. Vera looked like she was already fussing about with a set of traps, concealed within two trees ahead. 

“I don’t know. It would have been nice to know you pissed off one of the most powerful wizards in existence! Hell, it would have been nice to know he wasn’t dead! Wasn’t Prince Kivan supposed to have offed him?” 

“It’s Prince Ivan, and he did! And then came back! It’s the deathless part of his name you know!” 

The elf snorted, giving Vera’s backside a gentle kick as he darted past, letting her know they were clear of whatever explosives she had planned. He hoped it was explosives- her foray into runes was... terrifying, to say the least. 

“Yes, but he was dead-dead I thought! The thing with the bird and the rabbit and the egg and whatnot!” 

“Don’t believe every fairytale you hear! There was more to the story than what survived in legend!” Michelle replied, and he didn’t have to look down to know she was weaving another one of her spells. 

He heard the progression of runes going off, a soft click-click followed by several sizzling noises like eggs on hot rocks. Something with blonde hair darted past him; Vera yet again. She shot him an alarmed look- it seemed that her traps didn’t have the desired effect. 

Not a moment later, something small and hissing sped past him, sinking into the ground before sending the earth flying back up like those models of what happened when an asteroid hit the earth. V’mer went flying, the witch in his arms coming with him for the ride and then landing hard on his chest. He heard his ribs creak, and then one crack, leaving him winded and scrabbling to get the young girl-woman off his chest. The teenager rolled off him, a hand wrapping into his shirt as she hauled him behind a tree. Another of those will-o-th’-wisp looking globes floated past and disappeared into the ground, showering them with dirt not a minute later. Michelle let out a soft hiss, the spell she was working on being softly pushed into a nearby tree. 

She then started pushing V’mer towards a new tree to hide behind. 

“And you would know that how?” He finally rasped in response to her prior comment. Michelle simply rolled her eyes, although he didn’t see it. The way her hands dug into the meat of his shoulders told him all he needed to know about this moody teen. Then again, with Koschei following, he supposed it’d make anyone moody. 

“V’mer, I am going to murder you.” The dark elf didn’t mince words this time as she pulled the taller elf into a side street. Her ears twitched with barely contained rage as, what V’mer assumed was a dagger, pressed into his side. Then again, most of his meetings with Beline tended to run this way. On good days, much like today, he ended up with no additional holes in his body. He might even escape without a scratch this time!

He gave the shorter woman a pleasant smile as he discreetly leaned away from the weapon at his side, just in case.

“Beline! My darling! How are you this monthday? I hope life finds you well satisfied, and if it doesn’t I would be more than happy to- ” Immediately the dagger pressed harder against his side, a soft warning to cut his flirtations before it was pulled away and sheathed. A dark glower burned at him, one that made the hairs on the back of his neck raise up. He always forgot how intimidating this short elf was, and she barely breached his ribcage. Such a tiny person shouldn’t instill this amount of terror in anything. Then again, he was blessed with an overabundance of tiny, terrifying friends.

“Don’t you dare ‘darling’ me, you piss-sodden excuse for a male. You left us behind and I ought to castrate you here and now and sell your useless mass to the slavers of the north. That’s what I ought to do.” She hissed, then grabbed his arm again, tugging him down the alley towards a rather ominous looking carriage, where a familiar purple, pointed hat could be seen through the window. “But I wont. Michelle wants to see you. Seems she’s got us some work with a cursebreaker, and frankly, her opinion of your skills is one of the few things keeping your hide attached to your muscles.”

V’mer’s face was surprised, the first time the scholar asked. he was a short sort of man, this scholar, standing barely to V’mer’s shoulders. Then again, that was probably more a comment on V’mer’s soaring height rather than the scholar’s. Still, the man was almost frumpy, with his curly hair neatly managed and rather impressive, well groomed mustache that matched entirely too well with the outfit the man had chosen for his ‘field research.’ Although what a historian needed with field research was beyond the elf. Still, the man’s question was… unusual.

“You wish to know my history?” V’mer repeated back to him, and then a knowing smile crept into his face. “Well, my sexual history is quite extensive- I’m sure you and I could just skip it and go right to the fun part where I show you exactly how good I am with my hands.”

The scholar looked affronted and cleared his throat several times before clarifying that, no, he wanted to know V’mer’s professional history, thank you very much.

V’mer didn’t take it seriously until about the third or fifth night of asking. Each night he started with a different story. So far, this scholar had been delighted to tales of how V’mer was a secret prince, born in the castle but raised in the mountains, and to the tale of how V’mer was fairy-blessed, to cure him of his sickly childhood. He delighted the man with stories of how V’mer was a cross-dressing woman, out to gain the hand of a princess, and how he was the child of prophecy, foretold of by the wise-women of the mountain by a meteor shower and a show of the northern lights.

Each story was met with a raised eyebrow and a polite cough of clear and amused disbelief.

The seventh day, V’mer finally relented, settling down next to the scholar after dinner, both men watching the fire as it slowly died down into a low burning pile of embers.

“My Story,” the bard began, “is a humble origin story, as far as epics go. Humble for an adventurer’s tale, even moreso for a minstral.” He idly strummed a few chords on his guitar, the noise soft amid the occasional pops from the fire.

“I was born, like many of my kin, in the remote forests of the far north, where winters are bitter and the summer’s sweltering. I was born close to two hundred, no, perhaps three hundred? Three hundred years ago. I’m not a very old elf, and I wasn’t born cursed, despite what I might bluster about in my more fanciful stories.”

“You make a distinction about not being born cursed- I take it that you are now? or have been?” The scholar inquired. V’mer nodded, inclining his head away from the scholar to watch him for a moment, then leaned conspiratorially close.

“I currently am- it’s why I’m taking up with the guild again. Ran into a bitter creature- cursed me to having to relearn most of my skills all over again. I used to be one of the best adventurers, but alas. Now I am like a newborn foal, all legs and limpid eyes.” V’mer replied, an almost cooing, simpering lilt to his voice as he invaded the scholar’s space. The scholar, wisely enough, scooted away, shooting the bard a hard look that said all that needed to be said about respecting personal space. V’mer, not deterred, simply scooted closer again, but kept a slightly more respectful distance this time.

“So yes, Currently cursed. Luckily though, a lot of my skills still remain, like my skills in this here-” he strummed the guitar for emphasis before letting a few bars of song sing out, accompanied by a gentle humming melody from the bard.

“I count myself lucky in that, at least. That, and the fact that I was raised by a pair of innkeepers. My parents owned an inn alongside one of the few roads that cut through our forest, and as a boy, I helped them run it, from fetching bathwater to working in the kitchens to acting as barkeep. I was a busy child, but never too busy to talk to the patrons, to get to know these men, women, and other as they passed through. I encountered a great many types of people, and I would like to think these encountered made me a better person, or at least a more well rounded sort of person. It certainly contributed to my sense of wanderlust.”

“I left the inn after.. some incidents. I was considered grown, and left in the company of a travelling entertainment group. From them, I learned my trade. Both of them.” With this, the elf patted the sword beside him, making it rattle slightly.

“It was a happy set of years, those early years on the road. Alas, like all things, it had to come to an end, and like most things that live on the road, it was not a happy dissolution. From there, I set off on my own, and many years later I joined the guild.” V’mer continued on- there were many things in his life he was all too content to discuss, but that first group was not one of them. Not unless it concerned those early, happy years.

“Oh, Michelle! Who’s this cutie?” The elf said, kneeling to take a closer look at the wolf half-laying on Michelle’s lap. The animal gazed balefully at V’mer, the barest hint of teeth shown before it closed its eyes and let out a whine. 

“This is Valrun- He’s feeling a little under the weather, aren’t you buddy?” Michelle said, giving the wolf’s ears a good scratching. A tail thumped twice before stilling. “He had one too many darklings this afternoon.” 

V’mer reached out, gently giving the pup a quick scratch behind the ears, ignoring the length of bandages all over Michelle’s own arm. There was more to this story of darklings than Michelle was saying- but he had known her long enough- she didn’t want to talk about it right now, so he would not pry. Now. Later, was an entirely different matter. His hand hovered after the initial pat, not sure if it would be welcome for him to continue to pet the wolf. On cue, there was a soft growl from the animal, and he glanced at Michelle. She gestured for him to do the wise thing and back off, for the moment. 

“Isn’t Valrun the name of that one boy...?” 

“My son? Yes. Did you not know? Val’s a bit of a shapeshifter. Just a little bit.” She gives the wolf an affectionate ruffle. Another tail wag. 

The one good thing about fighting in a group was that you always had someone to watch your back.

 Michelle loved it because she could focus all the more on her spells, pulling up more and more elaborate ones that required finesse and skill. They grew more powerful the more time she spent on them, and when she was all alone, she needed those precious seconds to dodge and duck. Now however? Now she could focus, weaving purple and earth-green into a net, and then knotting it tightly into a complex web that would release in the most spectacular display of-

 Something heavy collided with her back, pressing down between her shoulder blades. The magic dropped into the earth, shivering and shaking as Kalyani shoved Michelle down. A blade rasped through the now empty air before being knocked out of hand, and the owner quietly run through with a calm sort of efficiency.

 Michelle scrabbled to get her threads into the pulsing ball of magic, hastily twisting it into something else, something different. Quickly, she stood and released it back into the earth, watching as it fell with a feather-light softness before burrowing in the soil. It sent puffs of dust into the air. She didn’t get to see what the end result was, much to her displeasure.

 Something heavy and unpleasantly solid collided with her abdomen, knocking the wind out of her as the world tilts ninety degrees. It jostled her, making her bounce as the ground below her sped past. She growled and struggled, planting her arms on the armored back and tried to push herself up. She managed it a bit, the arm around the back of her legs tightening as Kalyani continued running, puffing and clanking away as Michelle squawked at her.

 “Discretion is the better part of Valor, ‘Chell!” She shouted, grinning up at the mage glaring at her, tusks poking up into her smile more and more with each passing second. Kalyani was enjoying this.

 “And she’s hoping to throw you into the first lake we pass to see if you melt. You know, cause of-” V’mer shout was cut off as he bounding past them on long legs. Something behind them exploded, rocking the ground they tread upon.

Send “What about” and a person and my muse will say their honest feelings/thoughts about them

“I’ve known V’mer since I was a teenager. He was, in a way, my first boss. He was a leader of an adventuring group, which had a pretentious name, but I think that was more due to the fact that sometimes the group masqueraded as a band. We had a few... people of colorful and ill-repute. Myself included. Amazing how many warrants one can pick up for seemingly... minor incidents. “

“I’ve known him a long time, almost as long as I’ve known Einar. he’s... well.. He’s been a lot of things to me. Employer, mentor, friend, lover, rival, enemy... you name it, we’ve been it at one point or another. 

He... Right now, he’s actually matured a lot since we first met. He’s not a bad sort. He used to be incredibly selfish as a person, and don’t get me wrong, he still is selfish, but he’s... expanded his circle of selfishness to include the well-being of those he cares for. He's also incredibly foolish- Part of being too clever for his own good mixed with a shortsightedness I rarely see in elves. Another shortfall is he’s.....fairly prone to thinking with his dick. A lot. In fact, I think that’s what drives a lot of his behavior when he’s not working. A work-hard, play-harder mentality that I adored when I was a teenager.” 

Michelle pauses in her onslaught to let out an amused laugh. “We were two peas in a pod back then. Mischief and bad ideas walking hand in hand. So you can see why we eventually had our... problems. Differences. Spats. I loved him once. Still do, I think, despite our growing into very different people.” 

There’s a sigh, heaved out heavily though there’s a smile on her lips and a nostalgic fondness in her eyes. 

“He’s incredibly loyal though. Never means to harm his friends, although the key word there is ‘means to’. He tries to remedy harm he’s inflicted though, and isn’t afraid to apologize, or admit any wrongdoing. Not since... well... He’s grown up some, over the year’s I’ve known him.”

She had been walking with the group, listening in on the things that they were telling the man who would be leading them either to their death or their salvation. It was like being in a grand story, complete with warring factions and a great evil that rose out of the fire on the mountain like a fallen angel, glowing in reds and greens. Advisers on his left and right, with Michelle trailing behind and occasionally offering her own small parcels of wisdom. She had been walking with them, pausing to watch the small band of people walk up the side of the mountain to where the keep was. The rest of the party slowed when they noticed her falling behind, and soon the entire group was watching this rag-tag party trudging up the path towards them. 

“Who do you suppose they are?” One of the advisers asked, voice high and lilting in her strange way. Michelle’s eyes narrowed, trying to make out more of them. She could see hair colors- blondes and reds and browns. 

“There was a scouting party sent out not a few hours ago. Perhaps they found someone.” Another voice said, deeper and with a rumble that made Michelle think of a slow river. The grip on her staff tightened as she made out pointed ears and a gleam of a circlet perched on a short woman’s head. 

The staff was shoved behind her, almost clattering to the ground before someone caught it, an aborted shout following after her as she leapt over the edge of the wall, landing hard on the slanting earth and sliding down it. Her balance was precarious as rocks tumbled after her- dust and snow being thrown up into the air as she ran, lungs heaving and burning as she ran to meet the group. 

Eyes lit up as they recognized her form, and a watery relief flooded through her limbs as she confirmed that yes, it was them. 

“V’mer!” She shouted, flinging herself at the too-tall elf. Hard leather knocked the wind out of her, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care that she was picked up and spun around like a small child, nor that she was behaving in a rather unbecoming fashion, burying her face against his neck and clinging to him with arms and legs. Arms wrapped around her, holding her close and she could already hear the soft laughter and teasing from Vera. Gods, she missed this. She missed this so damn much. 

Larger arms pulled her away from the bard, crushing her to a chest that was much better armored and there was a huff of warm air by her ear as Kalyani laughed at her wriggling attempt to touch the ground. 

“Looks like we found our mage again, guys.” She said, and Michelle let out a watery laugh, thumping on the gauntlets. When her feet touched the ground she turned, hugging the healer, not minding the bruises from the armor that were no doubt going to occur. 

“You got shit on your face.” Vera said when it was finally her turn to get a hug, and Michelle ignored the way that the thief teased her about being the least favorite of Michelle’s old companions. And ignored the way Vera commented on Michelle’s aging. She didn’t care- it had been far too long and gods, she was happy to see them again. 

“You have no idea how glad I am to see you.” She finally whispered, wiping tears away from her face. There was an awkward cough behind her. Michelle turned, seeing the group from the keep and gave a bashful smile and a small bow, an arm out to gesture to the newcomers.