OOM: A Momentous Revelation - 27 Second Seed, 3E 428

[moonandstar]

"I think it may be time to tell you what's really going on."

How quickly he had fled that little room in Balmora, after Caius had told him, all the while clutching the little decoded paper revealing the Emperor's mad plans for him. He returned to the fort ahead of schedule, with little explanation, and slept uneasily.

Indeed, true rest would not find him at all. For at all times, now, his dreams haunt him.

Lord Voryn Dagoth, Dagoth Ur! Steadfast liegeman, faithful friend, bids you come and climb Red Mountain!

He's trying to hide here, now. But even with a drink in his hand, his restlessness shows. He tries to sit down. Instead, he paces back and forth, moving between furniture as though THIS booth will be the place that lets him settle. Finally, he heads outside with a jug of mazte in his hand, staring over the lake and trying to lose himself in drink.

Botherable, though he's quite bothered already.

Comments

[last_kallig]

"Love?" Ibani asks, concerned.

Her mind reaches out to his, a light touch of comfort tinged with worry.

[moonandstar]

Garyn leans back. He makes some kind of noise in acknowledgment. Her presence is far from unwelcome, of course, but it should already be apparent that he is troubled by something she cannot help him with, not even by stabbing whatever caused it.

He shifts in his seat, propped against a tree as he drinks straight from the jug. There's plenty of room for her to approach.

[last_kallig]

She eases herself onto the ground next to him and wraps an arm around him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks, voice quiet.

[moonandstar]

Garyn exhales slightly, flinching and then relaxing as Ibani wraps her arm around his shoulder.

"I'm...not entirely sure where to start."

He takes another long drink, then stares at the jug before setting it down hard on the ground.

"How much do you remember about that cult I was investigating? The Ashlander one, I mean?"

[last_kallig]

"The one about that Nerevarine? Some sort of prophesied savior figure?"

[moonandstar]

"Yes, one born under a certain sign to uncertain parents, destined to overthrow the Tribunal, and the Devil Under the Mountain, and those accursed foreigners."

Garyn grabs the jug again. He'll need it after all, it seems.

"You know who else was born under a certain sign, and doesn't know who their parents are? Well, the Emperor got himself a splendid idea!"

Ibani has heard Garyn laugh before. What erupts from his lips is nothing like that. Uninhibited, yet utterly mirthless. Despairing of the madness of the world.

[last_kallig]

She holds him close, as there's nothing else she can really DO for him right now.

"Would explain why you were let out of prison," she says, after a while. "The future moves, is uncertain even to those with the power to glimpse it."

She smiles, wry. "I've done the impossible before, my dear, so we can figure this out together."

[moonandstar]

"Figure out what? How to exploit a local superstition for the Emperor's benefit? This is what the Emperor means to do, you know. Cosades has asked me to go among the Ashlanders and proclaim my arrival, to 'test' myself against their prophecies."

He takes a long swig of mazte.

"The Ashlanders are a proud and longsuffering people, forgotten by most of the world. Outsiders hate them, and the feeling is mutual. They consider it within their rights to kill a visitor who fails to show the proper courtesy. How will they react to one of their foreign oppressors proclaiming themselves to be the one who came to free them from their foreign oppressors? Oh, and by the way, forget about the 'foreign oppressors' part; long live the Emperor! It would be the cruelest and most vicious lie ever concocted if it weren't so bloody stupid."

He empties the jug into his throat and slams it down.

"And that's not even what has me upset."

[last_kallig]

"It isn't?"

That's... not great sign. "What is it that has you upset, then?"

[moonandstar]

"If it were, I would have told the old sugartooth to cram his orders up his arse. Perhaps left Tamriel entirely, to live with you."

He swishes the empty jug as though it were full.

"What upsets me is that I'm going anyway."

[last_kallig]

Ibani chuckles, though there's not much humor in the sound. "Another thing we have in common. You've seen the mess, and you can't let it be. SOMEONE has to do something, and since no one else is volunteering..."

[moonandstar]

"It's not even that...not really."

He leans his head on Ibani's shoulder.

"My dreams have been getting worse."

[last_kallig]

"That fucker?" Ibani growls. It's probably clear to Garyn who she's talking about.

[moonandstar]

"Talking to me directly now," Garyn says. "Under a different name. Last night he called me..."

He shakes his head, not finishing the sentence.

"It was after Caius told me about it. He's taunting me, mocking me, perhaps. Or perhaps I'm going mad now. But I have to know."

[last_kallig]

"Or perhaps he believes it," Ibani offers. "Delusions on his part wouldn't surprise me." She's taking guess at the name, from context.

[moonandstar]

"Perhaps," Garyn says. "Or perhaps he's right. Perhaps I'm meant to drive out the foreigners. And then follow them out, pointing my own sword at myself."

A hint of a smile, finally.

[last_kallig]

"Stranger things have happened," she muses. She's glad to see that hint of a smile.

"Whatever it may be, I will help you however I can," she promises. She kisses the top of his head.

[moonandstar]

"Thank you," Garyn says.

"For what I'm to do in the immediate future, I think I'll need to do it alone. They'll have enough time accepting one outsider bothering their chiefs and wise women, much less two."

[last_kallig]

"That makes sense, much as I dislike it," Ibani agrees.

"You can recover here for a while, before you go back. Rest, let things...settle."

[moonandstar]

"Yes...I think I'll stay here."

He leans into her a little more, wrapping his own arm around her. His voice is quiet, and cracks as he speaks.

"Hold me for a while."

[last_kallig]

"Of course," she replies, quiet. And she does just that.

She tells him little stories, things of no great consequence. About the Sphere of Logistics apparently not being able to find its own ass when her subsection needs something, of various subsection interpersonal conflicts smoothed over, the time a cleaning droid malfunctioned and turned her subsection's flooring BLUE.

[moonandstar]

Garyn leans back, listening more for the reassuring sound of Ibani's voice more than anything else. He chuckles at the appropriate points, and says nothing other than to murmur heavy-lidded encouragement to keep going.

[last_kallig]

She does keep going, hoping to soothe him to sleep. She HOPES she can protect his dreams, here, although That Fucker has gotten to Garyn's dreams here before.

She runs a hand soothingly through his hair as she talks, hoping her presence will be enough to bring him SOME comfort.

[moonandstar]

He allows himself to shut his eyes, exhaling at the pleasant feeling of her fingers running through his hair. He's nodding off a little now. More importantly, just for a moment, he's not worried about his dreams.

[last_kallig]

She'll protect him, keep him safe, as much as she can. (Which isn't as much as she WANTS, but that's always been the case with those she loves.)

If he nods off entirely, she'll keep him company, keep watch over him. She keeps telling stories, running fingers through his hair.

[moonandstar]

She'll see him fall asleep soon enough, with no sign of anything but peaceful sleep on his face. It'd be an amusing sight for anyone who knew - the claimed reincarnation of the greatest king in Dunmeri history, lying in his love's lap, looking like he could just about be carried to bed.

[last_kallig]

Ibani ponders doing just that, but she's certain that would wake him.

Besides, the weather here is pleasant enough. She doesn't sleep, not with them being so potentially vulnerable, but she slips into a kind of restorative meditative state where she is 'watching' in the Force while still giving her body some rest.

[moonandstar]

Garyn is peacefully ebbing in and out between sleeping and half wakefulness. In one of the latter moments he speaks softly.

"Want to go to bed...don't want to get up."

[last_kallig]

"Shall I carry you, love?" she asks, voice quiet.

If he doesn't protest, it will be no trouble at all to pick him up, cover them both with a force cloak, and make the trip to their room.

[moonandstar]

Garyn chuckles softly.

"There's something rather alluring about the fact that you can do that."

[last_kallig]

"All those years in heavy gravity ought to be good for something," she says, tone wry.

She lifts him carefully in her arms. "Comfortable?"

[moonandstar]

"There is no place I feel more comfortable."

He chuckles softly again.

"Protected by a mighty Sith."

[last_kallig]

"Flatterer," Ibani teases. She cloaks them with the Force, carries him upstairs to their room.

She opens the door without touching it, and locks it behind them the same way.

"Shall I set you on the bed?"

[moonandstar]

Garyn yawns. "Gods, yes. I'm exhausted."

[last_kallig]

She sets him on the bed, then climbs on after him. She wraps her arms around him, presses her head into his shoulder.

Cuddling might not cure EVERYTHING, but it's not likely to hurt?

[moonandstar]

His fingers clasp hers very softly before settling near her. They're less...active than they often are. All he needs is to know she's there.

[last_kallig]

They can fall asleep together, sleep without bad dreams, without nightmares and visions.

Sometimes, the multiverse is kind.