| Scene Listing | || | Scene Schedule | || | Scene Schedule RSS |
| No title. |
| (2013-06-09 - Now) |
| No description. |
| Percival | The sheer insanity of it was beyond his comprehension. When Percival thought that he was the only person acting rationally in the room, it was usually a bad sign. That brought the amusing thought to him that knowing that he was typically the most foolish individual about.. it gave him a sense of self-depreciating self-awareness. Maybe he should have dressed in motley for this panoply, Rena would have probably fallen over laughing so hard that she'd have been unable to fight. He'd chosen the location on a hillside, with a lone oak that stood out from the distance, that he sat. Suprisingly he'd brought a folding out table, and there was a bottle of wine upon it, with two wine glasses. A riesling from a good year. Beside that were two cheap lawn chairs. He was seated on one of them, with his wings furled, his tail slipped through the crack of one the checkered polyester squares that lay folded over one another. It was dangling about at a low angle, barely moving except when it swayed subtly in the breeze. He knew well enough that in a true duel, he'd have a second here.. which is why he brought noone. Maybe he was making a point that he didn't really consider this to be a duel. Or maybe he just didn't want anyone to watch and listen to how the events might unfold. And so he sat there, with his back to the sun... he'd had to drink a triple espresso and a few cups of tea prior to his arrival. The rays of sunlight were not meant for his kind, and so it always caused fatigue to settle right down into his bones. The caffeine binge did wonders for preventing that. |
| Rena Laradyne | Rena proceeds at a measured and leisurely pace through the British countryside. She takes pleasure it seems in the surroundings and as such, does not appear immediately. When she finally makes her way to the lone oak and the location on the hillside she smiles in obvious pleasure as she spots Percival and the table. "Ah. Guardian Percival. There you are." she looks around, brushing the grass and the bushes as she ascends the hill in firm, easy strides. She was armored in the same completely concealing whitish leather, scale and horn arrangement with the blood red shirt underneath the unfastened jacket. There was a bow over her shoulder and the claw gauntlets on her hands. "This is a lovely spot." |
| Percival | As she arrives, his tail begins to move in an even cadence. His elbows were upon the either rest of the chair, his hands folded together in front of him. He'd offer a soft chuckle, "I ceded that position. Acting as her Guardian, I was sometimes forced to make choices that put her well being above her choices.. and well you know the result of that. It leads to barely rational paranoia. Her decisions are her own now.. except this one. I admit that I had to deceive her to get her to agree to this. Otherwise you'd possibly be facing some Nightmare Demon in my place or some other nonsense." He'd look towards her, nodding in satisfaction, "You arrive, girded with a strength unto the battle. I don't suppose you'll join me for some wine? I quit.. one hundred and sixteen days ago. But I feel that if I'm going to regress into that vice that now would be an apt time." He'd gesture for her to take a seat in the other chair. And then he'd offer a smile as he too enjoyed the view, "Even I am homesick at times. When I'm here, I picture the Isles before the skies were choked with soot and smog." |
| Rena Laradyne | "Oh?" Rena raises an eyebrow with marked curiosity but lets the comment pass without further speculation or comment. She inclines her head towards him as she sits down. "I suppose life makes fools, and wanderers, of most of us. We homeless many catch as catch can, I suppose." she settles herself carefully onto the chair. "Or indulge in the vices of eachother in light of dire circumstances." She brushes back her hair, letting the braided length fall over the back of the chair as she sits forwards, hands in her lap. "I am glad you are no longer in her service directly. If only because it seems a civil discourse before business is more easily attainable without either side resorting to sedatives." she smiles at him then, checking surripitously with silenced magic because she wanted nothing to draw attention to the fact that she checked. She had her paranoid moments as well, and to be rendered unconscious would spoil the evening. Rena pours herself a glass and smells it with a pleased smile. "Excellent." she takes a small sip and then puts it back on the table. |
| Percival | "For my part, it is mostly the buffoon, rather than the itinerant." He waves it off as well. Chuckling, "But.. you already know that." He'd pour himself a glass of wine at that point, and then after swirling the glass to check the body against the rays of the sunlight, he'd sniff it, before taking a small sip. The alcohol was too weak to cause the burning sensation in his throat that he craved, but the light body and sweet taste was delightful. "I didn't want to leave Palamecia you know. I wanted to watch the last rays of light fade from Leonhart's eyes. The culmination of his choices... and hers." A low sound rumbled from his throat, "Such a waste.. but they must face responsibility for their choices, just as I have." He tsks, looking into the glass, his voice somber and grave "What makes you think that? Maybe there is some cunning sleep toxin within this drink that I've built up a resistance to over the years." And after a moment's pause, he starts to chuckle softly, "And since you were able to ensorcel that teacup without my knowledge, I'm guessing that you're checking for that right now." |
| Rena Laradyne | Rena raises an eyebrow. "..would you now?" she looks at Percival curiously for a moment. "Well then. At least you are more willing to own up to your own actions than the maiden of light, it seems." she takes another sip of the wine. "--just as I am willing to trust in situations where others draw blades on shadows." she sighs. "I am sorry that things happened the way that they did in Palamecia. It was perhaps inevitable, but perhaps not." she takes another sip and swirls the liquid around in her glass. "Despair is a powerful motivator." |
| Percival | "Sin... true sin, gives one the oppurtunity to dwell on their choices. To accept responsibility for their actions. Years of introspection on that allow one a different perspective than one who has had only to face.. failure." He folds his hands under his chin after putting the glass of wine back down on the table, "In that sense, she truly does remain sheltered, and innocent." He'd offer a self-depreciating smile to her, "I admit, fear is just as powerful a motivator as despair. Why else would I brandish naked steel against shadows? In some sense, even though Leonhart's situation is.. different, than my own... I think I saw something of myself in him. And that terrified me." He grasps the wine glass again, taking another sip from it, before wiping the back of his hand against his mouth. "Don't apologize for that. Leonhart made his choice, so did Maira." He does lift a single talon, "Now if you wanted to apologize for how you acted in the wake of said choices.. I would accept that, but in some way I am grateful. You spoke the truth... just not.. as tactfully as I might have hoped. Asking you to..filter that for the sake of Maira's sensibilities would only condescend her further." |
| Rena Laradyne | Rena smiles sadly. "In fact, it was not my--meaning to speak so plainly." she chuckles around the edge of her glass. "I believe we were all hurting in one fashion or another on that journey, and we display that pain in different ways." she sighs. "And so I should have kept my peace, and learned the value of a little silence." The shivan chuckles. "But then we are all made fools of by the actions of a condescending princess sometimes. Let us proceed to the main event, shall we not?" She draws something out of her satchel and places it on the table between them. She taps the small object with an equally small hammer and the board explains to reveal-- a checkers set. "So that I may proceed, on this fine day, to murder you at checkers." |
| Percival | He'd tap his talons idly on the fold out table, "It happens. God only knows, how often it happens to me." And then on the subject of the condescending princess "More often than not.." He'd smile in a self-depreciating way. "...I bared my soul unto her and received... well it's not important. The end should have been about Leonhart, but in some ways it had turned into a matter of courtship more than... what was truly important. I'm just pleased that it didn't devolve into some schoolyard brawl. Noone deserves to be a nameless cipher in the hands of a Sorceror, and our thoughts should have been with him, rather than of..." He trails off, shaking his head, and then when she brings out the checkers set, there's a moment where he looks bewildered, before he gives her a deadpan look, "Now that, is a deadly contest I can get behind. And here I was afraid you'd challenge me to a contest of wits, for which I'd have been decidedly unarmed. I'll have you know that when you live in a clan of near Luddites, we allow ourselves /many/ long evenings for a rousing game of checkers." |
| Rena Laradyne | Rena takes another sip of the wine. "And many a long evening in the domes where there is nothing to do but wait for the day to begin again. So I believe we will find ourselves adequately matched." she sets up the board, taking the black pieces (perhaps with a little sense of irony) and languidly moving a piece. "No. Leon is no nameless cipher, not even in the grasp of the sorcerer Mateus. There is such a point of darkness there that he will not confront. So it is what the curse is built on. That unexamined truth. " She shrugs and takes off her jacket to hang on the back of the chair. "That is why I could sit down and eat at the emperor's table. Because he values truth so keenly that most people cut themselves on it. " |
| Percival | "Domes? Your world must have been fascinating, to say the least." Taking the red side, he creases the side of a finger, without the talon side scraping anything across the board. A diagonal movement from one of the center pieces, a harmless opening gambit. Checkers wasn't exactly as complicated as chess. He'd never been that great at that particular game. He'd never mastered proper strategy when it came to using his knights effectively. Another sip of wine, another idle remark as he looked out unto the distance. "Unexamined truth?" He just grins, again in a self-depreciating way, "I think I can empathize with that.." He'd stroke his chin briefly, "Mayhaps so, but truth from him is delivered in a way that is obvious he sharpened it, not unlike a pike. Others would be merciful enough to leave the pole blunt, despite delivering the same truth." |
| Rena Laradyne | "Is it mercy, though?" Rena comments as she makes a similar diagonal move from one of the end pieces. "See. A sharpened truth slashes you and you bleed, but then it heals if you will let it because your mind has been drawn towards that truth. But a blunted truth may be safely ignored because people often armor themselves in ignorance and delusion." Rena shakes her head. "One way or another. Words get in the way. Actions and the perceptions of those actions are what matter. And Maira, sweet and naive Maira, believing so firvently that a stranger she hardly knows and has not even raised her voice, would murder her in the street for the overprotective slap of a well meaning guardian is mildly disappointing-- all things considered." |
| Percival | "Or you bleed out, go into shock, and perish..." He folds his hands again under his chin, making a similar motion with one of the pieces on the opposite end of the board. "...the healing power of /truth/ is vastly exaggerated. Truth can break people, just as easily as it can make them stronger." He tsks at that, "In the history of my world, nobles fought duels to the death over far less than slaps to the face. Though typically it was the champion that suffered, whereas only their pride was wounded." He lifts his gaze to her, "She was actually considering asking Garland to serve as her champion, simply because she didn't want either Angantyr or myself to get hurt. I headed that off at the pass.." |
| Rena Laradyne | Rena snorts. "How fascinating. I was expecting some manner of overreaction, but she vacillated between a martyr complex and an illogical argument so freely that I eventually let her hash it out herself." she folds her hands to examine the board before she makes another move. "The healing power of delusion is never exaggerated. Truth may break men. But delusions may break nations." |
| Percival | "Strangely, everyone thinks I have a martyr complex.." Another movement of the checker pieces. "...but they misinterpret me. If I die in the service of some cause, I don't want to be remembered." He drains the rest of the glass, before pouring himself another, "...I want to be forgotten. That's another delusion I suppose, but at least mine isn't breaking the commonwealth apart." He'd lean back in his chair, folding his hands together, "It is why I was forced to lie to her. It was the only way I could talk her out of that cockamamie plan." |
| Rena Laradyne | "It is like all things." Rena moves one of the pieces. "Maira is a bright light that the shadows follow as it dances from side to side. Yourself, Angantyr. Uist. I am not surprised there are even more. " She shakes her head. "To be forgotten is quite a fate worse than death. You have my condolensces for believing you deserve such a fate." |
| Percival | "Just another delusion of an individual motivated by despair.." A thumbing of a checker, then jumping of one piece. It leaves him open to a counter-jump. He strokes his chin, "That she is, she's drawn to the darkness like.. I'm not even certain. I'd say a moth to a flame, but that seems to be a juxtaposition of themes." He takes a sip from the wine glass. "...Mayhaps that's why she chose him, after all. The darker the individual.. the more desperately she wants to fix them. And yet she finds it so very difficult to accept that.. unless someone wants to be fixed, and is willing to sacrifice that you just can't change the nature of neither man nor monster." |