[PRP] Pathless Wood (Sorrow + Lawr)

[Toshihiko Two]

The view was all in lines
Straight up and down of tall slim trees
Too much alike to mark or name a place by
So as to say for certain I was here
Or somewhere else: I was just far from home.

She had often heard, from somewhere in the depths of that strange place, the sound of water. And although she had no real concept of baptism, she had learned undeniably that water healed. It cooled the warm whether drunk or poured (and vice versa). The water that fell from her own mouth, too, had reparative properties, knitting together fear, and she was curious if the water of that place too had any effects, and if they might be able to heal wounds that were difficult to articulate.

When she wandered, it was darker and deeper than she had been before, until she was sure she could hear the cold and clear sound of water over stone.

It was a solemn sound, and a solemn place. Parts of the woods shifted, a knot of roots becoming a tunnel to somewhere that smelled of brine, and elsewhere a hazy pot of flowers in a summer field, with the heavy buzz of bloated insects. It was here and elsewhere all at once.

When she at last reached the stream she sat on the bank, but did not dangle her feet in the water.

She took out the bag she was supposed to be selling, and took a pinch of the dust to stare at in the palm of her hand.  

[Baneful]

Lawrence was not sure what kind of creature his golem was this time, it had not come with a label detailing its species or any other information as to what it was emulating. This had meant that on arrival in Halloween he had been forced to patiently investigate the various features of his new body for a time. It had coarse flaky skin that resembled malleable stone and strange carved curves and patterns etched into it. It was only in identifying several marked stylistic elements of ancient art that he realised what it was that he very likely inhabited.

His demeanour changed, moving with a more robotic assertiveness, a steady pace that was befitting of a gargoyle. It did not bother him that he was female, the unsubtle stylised facets of gender as inconsequential to him as all gender was.

He walked, not certain where he was going, simply moving and hoping that fate would throw something curious in his way. He was not dissapointed, Sorrow caught his attention - and though he had no memory for the monsters they dealt with, the figure seemed very familiar - and he moved closer.

"Bonjour." he said smoothly. "ça va ?" He did not miss a beat, sidling into French accented english, translating. "How are you? Lovely day, lovely veiw."

 

[Toshihiko Two]

Sorrow looked startled at the shift of pebbles on the bank.

"Is it?" Her claw closed up over the powder on reflex, but she realized she didn't care, and relaxed the grip, leaning back on the bank.

"I guess, mon," she sighed, and threw one arm over her eyes. She peeked out at Lawr.

"You...come here before. You know if- if like, the water....does anything?"  

[Baneful]

"Water does many things. It is a doing sort of substance. " The gargoyle mused, making her way over to stand by the ghoul. Lawrence could not be sure she was the same creature he had met when he retrieved his artifact, but it seemed very likely to be the case. If he had believed in fate and fortune, he would have been hopeful for yet another boon.

"I suppose it depends on what you expect it to do." she rolled her shoulders, tilting her head.

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"I dunno. Water can like, heal things, right? And around here...everything leads somewhere else. So I was like."

And it was dumb, but she voiced it anyway.

"Maybe it can fix things. Maybe it can take me somewhere I want to be."  

[Baneful]

"Oh you don't need a river for that ma chérie. Sometimes there are people who can take you places you never realised you wanted to be." Her smile was soft but reassuring. "Perhaps our meeting here was more than chance, I have been following the river and perhaps that is why I am here."

She looked sidelong at the gargoyle. "I remember you." she said. "I met you once before, though I ddi not look like this. You helped me and perhaps I can, in turn, help you."

 

[Toshihiko Two]

She couldn't remember where from.

She'd met a lot of creeple recently, brief exchanges of bags and money, but she wouldn't call any of them anything other than business. Whoever it was was like her, after a fashion.

"You from one of the clans?" She asked. "I never had a clan."  

[Baneful]

"No. When you last met me I looked like a reaper. I had a long black cloak." and the voice altered, more masculine. "Like this pardner. I came from a clan of sorts, a powerful clan that is always seeking new members to fill its ranks."

He did not care if Deus had weapons, but there was and had always been curiosity in the processes involved.

 

[Toshihiko Two]

She had Sorrow's attention now.

"From the castle with laughing stones?" she ventured in. Him- her, them, she remembered.

"I don't know what I want, I thought like- I-I- met this stranger in a house, and I, I beat her up. I've been doing things. Not great things. I thought the world was all harmony and...and, synergy, you know, and-"

Sorrow sighed.

"And it's not, you know. It's just like, this cycle of consumption is all. Everybody needs something. What do you guys need?"  

[Baneful]

"Yes" he said, smiling and showing off neatly sculpted stone teeth. "Exactly so."

"As for what we need, why what we need is simple, we need aid. What we offer is a new beginning, a new path entirely and the chance to become more than you are and more than you could ever be."

He shrugged his shoulders. "It is not without a catch, but you sound like you have realized this is the way of the world. The catch in this case is that once you join us, you can never return to this mundane place and life. You will be forever changed and forever improved."

"Few have the mettle."

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"Never come back?"

Sorrow sat up, looking at the river. She slowly relaxed her clawed fist, and the powder had stuck in the grooves of her stone. She turned the hand over, and wind carried away the rest.

"Mon, that's all you had to say."  

[Baneful]

Lawr didn't drop his smile. "Wonderful." he said with a pleased bow. "Then are you ready to leave? Or would you need time to set your affairs in order? I cannot guarantee when I would be able to return."

He could hardly believe his luck.

 

[Toshihiko Two]

She stared at him a while.

She had connections, but she wouldn't call them friends. Never took up a pet or anything, hard enough getting money for herself, and her one brush with fame hadn't worked out either. She didn't own much. Nobody would miss her, not that she wouldn't want to avoid anyhow. She'd come from nothing, so she had no clan or family. They'd put her in an institution, and she'd learned to run and bust open locked windows and sneak into rooms at night.

"I've got nothing to put in order," she said, dusting off her pants.  

[Baneful]

Lawr just smiled. "This way then." And congratulated himself on how easy it had all been.