The quill quivered in Lurp's shaking hand.
She had just come to observe people, maybe pick a pocket or two. But when she had approached the bar, the bartender had made her an odd offer. He had said his mysterious employer could help her back to her world, back to where she belonged.
Will...
But it meant she would have to split herself in three. The bartender had said it wouldn't hurt, but he didn't understand. Humans already separated the pieces of their identity so easily. They thought of the body and mind and soul as 3 different (albeit connected) things. Despite having lived among humans even longer than she had lived among her own people, the whole concept was foreign to Lurp. For an arvul, body, mind and soul were combined in one thing, their kir, the shining ball of light at the core of their being.
Surely to split herself... could she even survive such a split? With no kir, what would she be? She looked over the bartender over, Did those bandages now hold part of his identiy? The mask? The sword at his hip? What could she split them into anyway?
Even as she wondered, the answer appeared before her mind's eye. Her mind would be a shark-tooth bracelet like she had seen some of Will['s sailor companions wear. It was sharp, multi-faceted, and reclaimed from conquered foes. Of course her body could only be her rood. She fingered it as she thought of this, rubbing the warm gold between her fingertips. Will had given it to her before they were together, as a thank you and a protection. He believed it kept her safe. What better place to store control of her body?
And finally, her soul... this was the easiest of all to figure out. Her soul could only be the lily Will had given her when he gave her her name. She hadn't had a name for so long. She'd forgotten the first name she'd had, and the one she had used in the time since was just a label, not a real name. When he'd given her that flower and that name, it had marked the end of her dark past, of her uncertainty over who she was and where she belonged. It had acknowledged and named the new person she had become thanks to Will. Their entire relationship was represented in that one gesture. Yes, her soul would have to be the lily. she could already picture her memories settling into its petals.
She needed to get back to Will. There was no question about that. She refused to face an eternity without him at her side. She would take the dark of oblivion before that. But Will loved her for who she was, ALL of it. Lurp might run hot and cold, but she was whole within herself. Split, she imagined her identity would slowly dissipate, the way her own blood effervesced when outside of her. And... it would make her so vulnerable. She would be bound by, a captive of these objects. Lurp didn't DO vulnerable. Her whole life had centered around keeping herself as invulnerable as possible, so that what had happened to her during her captivity could never never NEVER happen again. This... this would leave her vulnerable to ANYONE who managed to obtain just one of the objects.
She wants to get home to Will, but she can already picture his own reaction to the offer, and to her accepting it.
"Applejack." Lurp says laying aside the quill and contract, instead ordering Will's favorite drink. The other offer on the table is too expensive by far.
((Not sure if leniency extends this far. Gaia was down and then I kept falling asleep as I tried to write, but I wanted to post even if it is too late, just to share Lurp's answers.))