"Of the Wastelands"
Dec. 27th, 2024 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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vivala-1: He's back-
As anyone who knows him can attest, Ziel was not the most social of men. His gloomy demeanor gave him limited energy for dealing with others, and he often spent whole days in private, reading or meditating or just staring at the ceiling grappling with depression.
But it had been about a month since anyone last saw him. His room still had a few personal effects lying around it, if anyone cared to investigate, implying that he was PROBABLY planning on returning, but there was no information left about where he had gone.
As winter started drawing in, and both the Corsairs and the Empire bowed their heads to the greater power of Shit Weather, Ziel reappeared just like he vanished, with no fanfare at all. One day he was just back, trudging the halls of the Vault with clothes looking even more threadbare and dirty than usual. He even had a beard.
-2: He was busy-
The Corsairs are perpetually short on supplies of various kinds, so any kind of salvage that members brought back from excursions were usually welcome. There was probably a specific department dedicated to handling it. That's where Ziel was now. He looks like he's been living in the woods for a month, and smells like it too, but he has several bulging bags he's turning in.
Wandering the world of Esthere, aside from people and mundane animals, are various powerful beasts infused by so much ether that only the most skilled and well equipped hunting parties would consider taking them on. But to those who can face such beasts, the spoils are great.
Ziel's bags were full of hides from behemoths that could be tanned into leather armor harder and lighter than plate mail, tusks and fangs that could cut like the finest of blades, ether crystals that formed in the bodies of monsters with unique energy signatures, dried meat that would infuse anyone who ate it with ether, rare medicinal herbs (though not a lot of those. Ziel wasn't much of an herbalist.), and other such grisly trophies.
The woman behind the desk was staring at the pile of loot with a mixed expression. On one hand, this was undeniably a large amount of extremely useful materials. On the other hand, the aroma rising from Ziel and his bounty was...intense.
-3: But civilization makes its own demands-
Eventually, someone discreetly brought up with Ziel that living in the wastelands by himself for a month had had a few minor effects on his personal hygiene.
Fortunately, Elysium had facilities for that.
Armed with a heavy wallet from his...findings, Ziel decided to actually enjoy himself for once and went for the FULL spa treatment. Massages, extensive bathing, a full shave, a good sauna soak. Ziel even had a visit with a tailor.
The tall, good looking man in well cut robes who returned to the Vault afterwards was barely recognizable as the stinking caveman who had lurched in the other day.
As anyone who knows him can attest, Ziel was not the most social of men. His gloomy demeanor gave him limited energy for dealing with others, and he often spent whole days in private, reading or meditating or just staring at the ceiling grappling with depression.
But it had been about a month since anyone last saw him. His room still had a few personal effects lying around it, if anyone cared to investigate, implying that he was PROBABLY planning on returning, but there was no information left about where he had gone.
As winter started drawing in, and both the Corsairs and the Empire bowed their heads to the greater power of Shit Weather, Ziel reappeared just like he vanished, with no fanfare at all. One day he was just back, trudging the halls of the Vault with clothes looking even more threadbare and dirty than usual. He even had a beard.
-2: He was busy-
The Corsairs are perpetually short on supplies of various kinds, so any kind of salvage that members brought back from excursions were usually welcome. There was probably a specific department dedicated to handling it. That's where Ziel was now. He looks like he's been living in the woods for a month, and smells like it too, but he has several bulging bags he's turning in.
Wandering the world of Esthere, aside from people and mundane animals, are various powerful beasts infused by so much ether that only the most skilled and well equipped hunting parties would consider taking them on. But to those who can face such beasts, the spoils are great.
Ziel's bags were full of hides from behemoths that could be tanned into leather armor harder and lighter than plate mail, tusks and fangs that could cut like the finest of blades, ether crystals that formed in the bodies of monsters with unique energy signatures, dried meat that would infuse anyone who ate it with ether, rare medicinal herbs (though not a lot of those. Ziel wasn't much of an herbalist.), and other such grisly trophies.
The woman behind the desk was staring at the pile of loot with a mixed expression. On one hand, this was undeniably a large amount of extremely useful materials. On the other hand, the aroma rising from Ziel and his bounty was...intense.
-3: But civilization makes its own demands-
Eventually, someone discreetly brought up with Ziel that living in the wastelands by himself for a month had had a few minor effects on his personal hygiene.
Fortunately, Elysium had facilities for that.
Armed with a heavy wallet from his...findings, Ziel decided to actually enjoy himself for once and went for the FULL spa treatment. Massages, extensive bathing, a full shave, a good sauna soak. Ziel even had a visit with a tailor.
The tall, good looking man in well cut robes who returned to the Vault afterwards was barely recognizable as the stinking caveman who had lurched in the other day.
3
Date: 2024-12-27 06:28 pm (UTC)"Ah, it's you again." Maomao approaches, expression hard to read. She's a professional, and here on assignment. "I heard you recently got back from an excursion. Do you have time for a check-up?"
Even The Most Civilizing Influences Cannot Hide A Wolf
Date: 2024-12-27 06:49 pm (UTC)It would be worth cleaning the place up for the morning.
And then there was this man, who must, by the way Deedee had offered the spa, be a fellow Corsair, but not one of Natalia's acquaintance, yet.
She poured some water on the coals. Clearly this was some intended meeting. Vague images of someone with those horns played back-- one of the many things in the blur of activity that went mostly unnoticed in her rush to prepare everything for the fireworks.
But she would wait for him to speak.
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Date: 2024-12-27 06:50 pm (UTC)Ziel did a brief mental calculation on whether it would be more effort to avoid her or to just get it over with. "...I guess, if you can keep it brief."
As if Ziel had any immediate pressing duties right now. All he did was kill time in various Corsair bases until they needed him to hit something really hard.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-27 07:06 pm (UTC)But years of battle had ingrained a certain predator's instinct into him. One that perked up when someone was watching him, and the girl was definitely paying him more attention than he felt like he merited.
So, after a couple of minutes, he finally opened his eyes again to look at her. He didn't say anything just yet, but the expression was clearly one that asked "What are YOU looking at?" in a very low key kind of way.
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Date: 2024-12-27 07:17 pm (UTC)At his expression, her eyes turn back to the door. She hadn't expected him to say nothing. Instead, she ventures a paper boat into the conversational waters. "Good night to sweat, eh? Miserable out there."
And then, she ventures even further: "One could swear the sky was red with anger."
It was a blatant sign, and inwardly, she cursed herself for being put enough out of sorts by the awkwardness of the conversation to not blend it in more carefully.
3, spa
Date: 2024-12-27 07:22 pm (UTC)It's after one of these outings Nephenee is relaxing in the hot springs, letting the waters soothe muscles that ache more from Deedee needing to pummel the knots out than the trip itself, her emerald hair splayed out on the rock behind her where she rests her head. She's still in the habit of being a bit more off to the side, because this is Nephenee and she still has way more shame than most, but the soldier's always where she can watch the entrance in case they need to escape. Or listen in this case, as her eyes are closed at the moment. So she doesn't immediately see Ziel when he enters, and because she hasn't been around him enough, she doesn't recognize his footsteps. Her muscles tense up unconsciously - she wasn't aware there were other patients here at the moment - and she ducks under the rockline.
"...Who's there?" The warm country voice is tinged with some apprehension as it comes off to the right as he comes in.
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Date: 2024-12-27 07:22 pm (UTC)"I thought it looked more like snow was coming." Which was part of what had encouraged him to actually come back to civilization. His body was enforced enough that he probably could have survived a blizzard, but he wouldn't have enjoyed it.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-27 07:27 pm (UTC)Fully aware of the kind of story that started with a man stumbling upon a young woman in a hot spring, Ziel squatted down and picked his towel back up, holding it up to his waist.
He still peered into the steam, though, seeking out who was speaking to him. "Just looking to soak for a while. I didn't realize they had mixed gender bathing here..."
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Date: 2024-12-27 07:30 pm (UTC)Of course it would be happenstance, people probably came here to recover from their injuries. God damn it. "Yeah. Storms have been happening a lot lately. If it's not snow, it's freezing rain."
Time to play it off with Craft. "Forgive me. I've been a little jumpy lately."
Nailed it.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-27 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-12-27 07:44 pm (UTC)"But, since I had been told nothing, obviously you'd be briefing me."
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Date: 2024-12-27 07:45 pm (UTC)She almost moves him over to a nearby bench, but reconsiders. "Is your room nearby?"
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Date: 2024-12-27 07:55 pm (UTC)Thus, his presence here.
"I wasn't told anything about briefing anyone, but since you're asking my first advice is to not admit you're from the Vault to a stranger who didn't respond to your pass code."
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Date: 2024-12-27 07:59 pm (UTC)The voice does sound familiar to her, though, if vaguely...what was that guy's name, again? She knows he's a Corsair, at least, which relaxes her a little bit. Still, that's a guy, so there's extra embarrassment there...
"Y-Yeah...didn't have nothin' like this back home." Given his height and being on an elevated surface compared to her, once he's able to make details out in the steam, there's a shock of bright green hair that sticks out from its contrast to their surroundings, behind one of the big rocks. "B-But Ah'll stay o'er here, behind stuff. So..." The steam also prevents her from seeing much either if she were to peer over, but just in case he's not covered, she doesn't poke out of hiding just yet. "It's fine."
no subject
Date: 2024-12-27 08:06 pm (UTC)"Natalia Koutolika."
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Date: 2024-12-27 08:26 pm (UTC)He doesn't have a last name please don't ask about it he's just Ziel.
"Unfortunately, I'm just here for the sauna. I have no secret orders for you."
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Date: 2024-12-27 08:33 pm (UTC)1
Date: 2024-12-27 08:41 pm (UTC)[ The voice comes from a young woman with long purple hair wearing a black dress with a white bust. She's sitting daintily on a rocky outcropping above Ziel, a large, extremely distinctive and definitely recognizable scythe cradled casually against her right shoulder. ]
no subject
Date: 2024-12-27 08:42 pm (UTC)"...Alright."
She said it was fine, so he would assume it was fine. Ziel got into the water somewhere safely out of her sight lines, and settled down, letting the heat seep into his bones and sighing contentedly. The wilderness might have a certain stark beauty and primal simplicity that he admired at times, but it didn't have anything like this.
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Date: 2024-12-27 08:45 pm (UTC)If you meet any of them, feel free to talk to them instead of me.
[Something about her was familiar though. He needed a minute to remember.]
no subject
Date: 2024-12-27 08:49 pm (UTC)"It's a bit of a walk..."
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Date: 2024-12-27 09:00 pm (UTC)She gestures to a nearby bench. Public? Technically. But it's not a busy place, at least?
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Date: 2024-12-27 09:01 pm (UTC)[ She intentionally pushes her voice up a few registers, giving it a sing-song, childlike quality. ]
no subject
Date: 2024-12-27 09:09 pm (UTC)I'm nobody. Just a-
[Suddenly it came back to him. He had seen that scythe before, ten years ago, in the hands of an assassin who was...
There was no way. But that little girl would be ten years older now, wouldn't she? She might have grown up to look just like this.]
Have we met?
[He posed it as a question, but he was definitely on guard now. Ether was starting to cycle through his body, preparing to be used. He didn't want to start a fight in the Vault, but he also didn't want to get his head chopped off.]
no subject
Date: 2024-12-27 09:12 pm (UTC)