Bariyan Kozar (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stonefaith) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
exsiliumlogs2012-12-22 04:00 pm
stonefaith) wrote in exsiliumlogs2012-12-22 04:00 pm
[closed]
Date & Time: 12/22, early morning
Location: Koltira's cabin, at the lake
Characters: Koltira Deathweaver (deadelfwalking), Bariyan e Kodhi (stonefaith)
Summary: HEY MAN, WHAT WAS UP WITH ALL THE YELLING??? also thanks for saving my sorry princess butt, i guess
Warnings: N/A
[ A week had passed by. The undead seemed to be gone from the streets, Martin was doing all right, Bariyan's apartment was now completely cleared of alcohol.... Bariyan's spine had long since healed over, too.
So it seemed prudent to walk his damn self right back to the man who'd broken it.
He slips the medallion back underneath his shirt as he approaches the cabin, then shoves both hands deep into his pockets. He approaches with, well, a little trepidation. He's not afraid of Koltira. He's afraid of what's happened to Koltira. The man had set off after Arthas, after all, and Bariyan hasn't heard from him since. He doesn't think Koltira's dead. He's sure someone would've said something about that. But still.
Bariyan takes the steps up to the door -- tries not to think about the fact that last time he'd been here, Koltira had dragged him up these steps -- and knocks on the door. ]
Hey. I know you're in there.
[ No, he doesn't. ]
Location: Koltira's cabin, at the lake
Characters: Koltira Deathweaver (
deadelfwalking), Bariyan e Kodhi (stonefaith)Summary: HEY MAN, WHAT WAS UP WITH ALL THE YELLING??? also thanks for saving my sorry princess butt, i guess
Warnings: N/A
[ A week had passed by. The undead seemed to be gone from the streets, Martin was doing all right, Bariyan's apartment was now completely cleared of alcohol.... Bariyan's spine had long since healed over, too.
So it seemed prudent to walk his damn self right back to the man who'd broken it.
He slips the medallion back underneath his shirt as he approaches the cabin, then shoves both hands deep into his pockets. He approaches with, well, a little trepidation. He's not afraid of Koltira. He's afraid of what's happened to Koltira. The man had set off after Arthas, after all, and Bariyan hasn't heard from him since. He doesn't think Koltira's dead. He's sure someone would've said something about that. But still.
Bariyan takes the steps up to the door -- tries not to think about the fact that last time he'd been here, Koltira had dragged him up these steps -- and knocks on the door. ]
Hey. I know you're in there.
[ No, he doesn't. ]
no subject
After that minute passes, Koltira takes Bariyan's hand. He supposes he doesn't have to worry about the eternal chill of his body with this one, which is good, as he presently wears no gauntlet or gloves. A few more moments pass before he speaks.]
Tell me something about yourself. Something you haven't told anyone else. Anything at all.
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Why? he wants to ask, immediately. Retort with all the reasons why he doesn't want to answer, evade the question, deflect the conversation. But he'd wanted something solid to work with, hadn't he? Here it is.
And he can't think of anything to say.
His discomfort shows in his silence, in his gaze drifting towards a wall, in his fingers tapping a steady rhythm against the neck of the bottle, filling in, buying for time. He picks through his memories, reluctantly, finding each one more painful than the last.
He drinks. ]
Anything specific that you've been wondering about...?
[ It might be easier to focus if Koltira steers him down a particular path. Perhaps. He continues to think, sieving through his thoughts, trying to recall names and faces and erase them at the same time. ]
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He thinks for a few seconds; shrugs helplessly. Any topic at all will do. Just something.]
I don't know. Tell me about the city where you were born.
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Kodhi, then.
[ His tablet is registered under the name Bariyan e Kodhi, though he rarely introduces himself that way anymore. ]
It used to lie on the border between two empires, and right on the edge of a desert. Thrived off trade and traffic between Sachra and Kharta. It was the last bit of civilization you'd see for a while if you were traveling into the desert, and the first you'd see coming out of it. Always seemed like there were more people coming out than in. Sachrans didn't like leaving home, didn't want to try the desert, didn't see any reason to go to Kharta. But I think the Khartans liked it that way, anyway.
[ His speech is slow and halting, at first, as if he has to wrench each syllable out. But the more he says, the easier the words come. ]
No one ever wanted to live in Kodhi. Everyone in Sachra wanted to go westwards -- to the coastal cities and the river ports. Ankhar, Inya... Viciro. That was where all the wealth and glory was, where people went to make names for themselves... [ Where his son had gone, in the end. ] Kodhi seemed a harsher place to live by comparison, far removed from the rest of the empire, and everyone was always coming or going. Everything was transient. It was a place where you stopped for rest. Like a stepping-stone, going one way or the other.
It was young, too. The road between Sachra and Kharta was a young thing itself, and Kodhi wouldn't have existed without it. So... the city was only about two hundred years old when I was born. It was part of Sachra by then, but it'd been traded back and forth a few times. So most of the population looked like they came straight out of Kharta. Myself included. My mother was Khartan, and her language was my first.
[ Bariyan frowns. His rambling has taken a personal turn, something he's still -- even now -- trying to avoid.
He's avoided talking about how the city came under his command. How he used it as a stepping-stone, too, how his bloody takeover of the city led to his bloody war, his own rise and fall... history. It's all so far away now. He writes it off. ]
In any case... it's gone, now. About eight hundred years gone.
[ He shrugs, as if that hadn't been one of the first real blows to him upon reawakening. And he lapses back into silence. ]
no subject
He draws conclusions about what Bariyan tells him--that e Kodhi refers to birthplace, clearly. That Bariyan came from a desert.
That centuries, apparently, have passed between his birth and now. It's all very interesting. But more importantly, it's information. He doesn't intend to press for anything else. Bariyan's discomfort is obvious, and making him uncomfortable isn't Koltira's intent.
He smiles, genuinely, and it brings a strange warmth to his features, creates an echo of his friendly, gregarious, living self.]
Thank you. That will do.
no subject
He studies Koltira's smile, with no expression of his own. Until he remembers why he's here in the first place, and he manages to return a smile of his own. Small, fleeting, barely more than a twitch at the corner of his mouth.
So maybe he hasn't done so badly. Maybe he'll be able to carry through, on all his apologies, on fixing his mistakes.
He finishes off whatever's left in his bottle, leaning back in his chair. His smile widens, a little. Only out of self-deprecation. ]
I'm sorry. That must have been boring.
no subject
No, not at all.
[I just don't want to press you.]
no subject
Wasn't so hard, was it?
Bariyan runs a hand through his hair, curling his fingers into the tangles at the back of his neck. ]
There's more where that came from... but for another day, perhaps. [ he looks up. ] If you don't mind.
no subject
I do not. I realize that you dislike talking about yourself, but.
[he pauses, shrugs.]
You know nearly everything about me, I think. It's good to know a little about you, in return.
[this is how friendships work, guy.]
no subject
[ He has to bite back his own arguments, again. If that's what you want. If this is the price of friendship, then it's a price that Bariyan is willing to pay. For Koltira's sake. And, rather more selfishly, his own.
He pushes himself back away from the table, then pauses. ]
Will you come and visit us again? For Martin's sake, at least.
no subject
I ... [he shakes his head.] Did you not tell him what I did to you?
no subject
He... doesn't know.
[ Evasive. Bariyan looks uncomfortable for a bit, struggling with the fact that... hiding things probably isn't in the spirit of what they've just accomplished here....
He sighs. ]
Do you want me to tell him?
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I don't expect he would be pleased to see me anymore, if he knew.
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[ Said with utmost confidence. Bariyan really does believe that's true.
He frowns, wondering on what to do.... ]
I don't have to tell him. He doesn't need to know.
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[Should never do anything for his sake, honestly.]
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He stands and brushes himself off. ]
I'll... tell him, then. But he won't hold it against you.
[ It's hard to imagine Martin holding anything against anyone, really.... ]
no subject
We'll see, I suppose. Are you off?
no subject
no subject
Well--I do have excess stock at the moment ... [he nods at his cabinet, which is indeed very full.] If you'd like one more.
no subject
I don't think I can say no to that.
[ All right, then. A little longer. ]