[closed]

[stonefaith]

Date & Time: 08/15, evening
Location: WHERE ELSE. bar, western edge of the city
Characters: Koltira Deathweaver (deadelfwalking), Bariyan e Kodhi (stonefaith)
Summary: Yeah let's talk about small children and your scary sadism and other such completely not awkward topics
Warnings: TBD

---

Bariyan was there early, set up at one of the booths lining the far wall. He'd brought his netbook with him but by the time late evening rolled around he was done with it. Now he was sitting back in his seat, feet kicked up on the table -- regardless of the owner's baleful looks -- picking at the new stitches around his throat, nursing the same drink he'd had for the past hour or so.

As much as he wanted to, he couldn't allow himself to get completely drunk before this meeting. He had to be sharp on all accounts.

Bariyan suspected that he'd jump straight into heavy drinking the moment this was over, though.

Comments

[deadelfwalking]

Koltira was not usually a nervous man, but he approached the bar with more than a little trepidation in his heart. Bariyan's tone over the phone hadn't exactly been friendly, and Koltira recalled the last look in his eyes, too, the one of suspicion and mistrust. He had thought Bariyan a friend, but perhaps that judgment was preemptive.

He had shed the armor today, though he still carried Byfrost--he had no choice in that matter. Instead, Koltira had put on his one good suit: black with grey pinstripes, well-tailored, over a black tie and a blue silk shirt. Leather gloves covered his hands and dark sunglasses hid his eyes. There was nothing to be done about his ears or the cracked skin of his face, unfortunately.

The dreadplate was in an ominously glowing pile back in his room. He had decided that it was neither necessary nor wise to wear it while simply walking about the city, but he missed its weight and presence as he worked his way through the as-yet sparsely populated bar. When Koltira slid into the booth across from Bariyan, he folded his hands one over the other on the table, feeling awkwardly prim.

"Evening," he said, with no particular inflection.

[stonefaith]

Bariyan looked up, eyes following Koltira's path all the way from the door to the table. He quirked an eyebrow and spent a moment taking Koltira in. It was strange, seeing Koltira out of the armor. Also strange to see him calm, normal again, not contorted by pain. That one was a good thing, at least.

Bariyan coughed into a hand.

"You look good," he said, swinging his feet off the table. Then he indicated the bar, using his drink. "Can I get something for you?"

He struck almost immediately by how odd the exchange was. Considering what had happened the last time they'd seen each other, just a few days ago.

[deadelfwalking]

He shrugged off the compliment. This interaction was too formal, too cautious. Waving a gloved hand dismissively, he said, "It is merely an attempt to blend in. Somewhat." Koltira glanced at Bariyan's drink. "Whatever you're having will do."

In truth, he was still in pain. But the days of meditation and solitude--as well as the unwanted 'help' from Ashraf and Bariyan--had given him control. His will was fortified against the murmuring demons that hissed in his mind, the muscle spasms that twisted his nerves. They were still there, represented now by an agitated tap of his foot, his fingers drumming on the table, or an occasional twitch in his long ears. But that was all. They went no further.

[stonefaith]

Bariyan nodded to that and left momentarily to get Koltira's drink. This far out in the city, business was slow, which meant that Koltira's drink came quickly. And also meant that should something happen, the casualty count might at least be kept low....

Bariyan frowned at himself. He no longer liked the way he thought.

"Here. Scotch, neat." He sat back down, pushed the glass across the table to Koltira. Then sat back, arms folded across his chest, watching Koltira with carefully neutral eyes.

After a while, he said, "You're keeping it under control." Half-question, half-statement.

[deadelfwalking]

He narrowed his eyes. He did not touch the drink.

"Bariyan. Say what you want to say."

Koltira had little patience for this. The past week had been extraordinarily difficult, a battle against his own self, which tended to be the worst enemy the average person ever faced. He was weary now, tired of explaining himself, tired of trying to be understood. If only his kind could sleep.

[stonefaith]

Bariyan sighed, uncrossed his arms, and leaned forwards.

"I was worried about you, out there," he said, keeping his voice low and quiet. I'm still worried. "And I don't... regret going out there. If it helped, at all. I hope it did."

There. The first topic broached, at least. The easier of the two.

[deadelfwalking]

Koltira scowled into the drink. "You should have stayed away. You are lucky that I didn't immediately tear you apart."

Several days had passed since Ashraf's visit--and the bottle he'd brought with him. Koltira picked up his glass and knocked it back. He sighed, but his expression didn't change. "I was able to restrain myself, to ... slow down the proceedings, I suppose, from my subconscious. But you should have just left me there."

[stonefaith]

Bariyan frowned back. "I couldn't leave you to suffer, not in good conscience. If you'd torn me apart I would not have minded."

Would have preferred, perhaps. Bariyan clasped his hands together to suppress a shudder, and the urge to pick at his stitches again.

"That was hardly any trouble for me, anyway," he said. Was it? Bariyan still was not sure about that, but it had to be said.

[deadelfwalking]

"Really?" Koltira said. "You looked like you minded quite a bit. You looked like you thought I was ..." He paused, because he didn't really want to say it, but he'd never been one to mince words. "A monster."

He shoved the empty glass away, to the edge of the table, and said, "Given our phone conversation, I'd say you still think that way."

The surprise in Bariyan's tone when Koltira had said he was in the city. His obvious agitation, then and now. They suggested one unavoidable, bitter conclusion, at least to Koltira's mind.

[stonefaith]

Bariyan winced at that. And he took a while to answer, knowing that he had to tread carefully with his answers. We can't help what we are, he thought. But he assumed that would not do anything to improve Koltira's mood.

"I'm sorry for that," Bariyan said, instead. Again resisting the urge to raise a hand to his neck. "You attacked me in a way that I did not expect. I was surprised." Left unsaid: I might do better next time. If there was a next time. Gods willing, there wouldn't be.

He drew in a breath that did nothing, went nowhere.

"I don't think you're a monster, Koltira," Bariyan said. "Not then, not now. I'm only worried."

[deadelfwalking]

Koltira raked a hand over his face. "Listen. When you were in my memory, you picked up a runeblade. It spoke to you, didn't it? It urged you to fight, seek blood. Correct?"

[stonefaith]

Oh, gods. Yes. Not something that Bariyan liked to reflect upon. He still could not decide if his actions at that time had been his fault or not. He'd gone on similar rampages long before all this, after all.

Bariyan forced himself to maintain eye contact. "Yes. I remember. What about it?"

[deadelfwalking]

He set both his hands flat on the table and leaned forward, conviction rising in his voice as he spoke. "That's the sort of thing I deal with every day. Amplify it by whatever terrible number you can imagine and mix in a constant, never-ending pain, and that is the lot of a death knight. And I have been doing it for over a decade. The problem was that I had never encountered the curse on that specific level before. On my world, war is constant, and I'm a soldier. I always had something to fight. I need to adjust, and I can. I could have."

Koltira took off his sunglasses, furrowing his long eyebrows. "Perhaps I am a monster. But I am a man, as well. I have my own will. I just need ..." He shook his head, looked away. The energy drained from his voice and posture as he went on, murmuring now. "I just needed someone to trust that."

And I thought that it would be you.

[stonefaith]

Bariyan listened in silence, sensing a need to let loose and not wanting to interrupt. But when Koltira was done Bariyan looked away, arms folded together over the table, fingers hooked over his elbows.

"That would be a lot of trust to put into someone I'd only known a month," he said, quietly. Koltira's behavior directly following the VR disaster certainly hadn't inspired any confidence in him. That was why Bariyan had gone out there. That, and what Bariyan had seen in the VR himself. And....

He bit the last thought back.

"Have you adjusted, then?"

[deadelfwalking]

He couldn't deny the truth of that response. Being similar did not mean that they were the same, and Koltira realized this now. He was realizing it even more as they continued to speak. Hunching down in the seat, he again covered his eyes with the sunglasses. "I have mastered myself, if that's what you mean. I would not be among other people if I felt otherwise."

[stonefaith]

"I hope you're telling the truth," Bariyan said.

So many implications in so few words: that he didn't fully believe Koltira, that he didn't fully trust Koltira, that he still saw Koltira as a threat. He wished otherwise on all of these things, but he had to be reasonable.

Bariyan turned back, shoulders drawn tense, already feeling drained and in need of a drink. He gave Koltira a wretched look. I'm sorry.

[deadelfwalking]

Well. That was just about enough for him. He stood up from the table, setting down a few marques as he did so.

"For the drink."

[stonefaith]

Bariyan raised a hand. "Not necessary. And-- please, Koltira. One more thing."

This was the difficult one. On both sides; Bariyan had been wrecked the last time he saw the boy, and he barely knew where their relationship stood now. Something he probably ought to sit down and consider, one day.

But for now, there was just Koltira to deal with. Bariyan closed his eyes.

"I need to talk to you about Martin Darkov."

[deadelfwalking]

Koltira paused. He was hardly in the mood to answer any more questions for Bariyan, but he wondered if his suspicions on what the man was about to say were correct.

"Go on, then."

[stonefaith]

"I spoke to him shortly after we were all released from the VR training." The words come rapid, and sharp. "He saw you there. During."

Bariyan broke in on himself, a little. Shoulders drawing together even more as he hung his head, placing a hand over his eyes. This was just as difficult as he thought. He could not think of a way to ask the question and he could not detach himself from either side enough to think clearly.

And Martin had sounded so shaken....

Bariyan let his hand drop back to the table, and he turned his frown upon Koltira.

"I need to know why you hurt him."

[deadelfwalking]

"Hurt him," Koltira repeated, slowly, letting the weight of the accusation sink in. "Hurt him? I was trying to protect him!"

This was more than he could stand. Mistrusting him despite his best effort to explain, to reassure, and despite how he had warned everyone away from him--that was one thing. But to suggest that he would intentionally harm a mere child? No. No, that would not do.

Koltira seethed. "How dare you. Do you wish to know what happened? Come! I will show you."

He took up Byfrost and started out of the bar.

[stonefaith]

The reaction surprised Bariyan. Empty as the place was, the sudden shift in Koltira's voice was causing heads to turn. Gods, it was just as well that Koltira was storming out now. Bariyan didn't need to cross any more bars off his own to-avoid list.

He quickly paid for their drinks and left after Koltira, equal parts curious and apprehensive. He had to run to catch up, at first, but only kept pace afterwards.

"Protect," Bariyan echoed. A one-word request for the full explanation. He assumed saying anything more would be unsafe, and held off until Koltira demonstrated whatever it was that he meant to show.

[deadelfwalking]

Koltira kept moving until they well away from the city proper, mainly because he did not want to cause a commotion. The spell was innocuous, but it wasn't invisible. When they had reached the first thin lines of trees, he stopped and turned, Byfrost glowing violently in his hand, reacting to his anger.

"As you know," Koltira said, his voice tightly controlled, "those illusions attacked anyone they saw--intruders and dreamers alike. When I stumbled into the boy's memory, I defended myself from his sister's strange needle-weapons ... but then she bit into a medallion. She cast some kind of spell. A spirit emerged--a snake. The thing looked wild, and I worried that it would lash out against the both of us. So I did this."

Koltira lifted Byfrost above him, and as he did so, a shimmering, dark purple sphere emerged from the ground. The sphere grew rapidly until it became a barrier that encompassed both Bariyan and himself, humming softly as it stayed in place.

"This is an anti-magic zone," Koltira went on. "Its sole purpose is to protect those within it against offensive magic."

[stonefaith]

Bariyan watched in silence, turning his head to observe as the dome bubbled out around them. His frown grew deeper. Seemed innocent enough, with Koltira's explanation. And certainly Bariyan did not feel anything out of the ordinary.

"This was all?" Bariyan asked. Still wary, more puzzled.

[deadelfwalking]

"The boy had a reaction to it," Koltira said. "He collapsed, began to writhe--I suspect he has a sensitivity to magic, regardless of its purpose. Something I had no way of knowing."

[stonefaith]

Bariyan ran both hands through his hair, still looking, brows drawn together, his frown taking on a decidedly uncomfortable twist. Easy enough to figure out what had happened, now. If Koltira could be trusted. Could he? He'd hurt another child in the VR, in his memory, in some reality, years past.

Bariyan reserved judgment.

"He does," Bariyan said. "And likely had one to just your presence, too. I see." Exhale, pained. As if he had something more to say -- but no. That was all.

[deadelfwalking]

The barrier dissipated.

Koltira lowered Byfrost, scowling. "When I was enslaved to the Lich King, I slaughtered countless innocents. Many of them children. That was what you saw in my memory--a day from when my will was not my own. You are not a person when you are under the Lich King's leash. You are merely an instrument, an extension of his desire. That was why this body was created--why I was reanimated in the first place. But I broke free of that control, and the first thing I did--the first thing we all did--was throw away the blood-soaked armor we had worn under his command. And I swore that I would never harm another innocent, that I would turn this sword on myself first."

His jaw clenched as he gritted his teeth. "And I never have."

[stonefaith]

Well, there was the explanation that Bariyan had not explicitly asked for. He took it all in, filed it away, nodded. Did he accept? He would wait and see about that.

"I hope you can keep it that way, then," Bariyan said. Not accusatory, just weary and resigned. He put his hands in his pockets and started to back away, retreating back towards the city.

He stopped where the barrier's edge had once been, one heel off the ground, a mid-step pause.

"Can I believe you?" Bariyan asked. "Can I trust you, Koltira?"

[deadelfwalking]

Light help him, he was tired. He was just so very, utterly exhausted. Anger faded to melancholy on his face; he felt his heart, such as it was, withdraw.

"I cannot tell you what to decide," Koltira replied. "I can give you only the honest truth of myself, and that I have done." A tired ghost of a smile crossed his face as he looked up to the sky, shrugging in defeat. "By the Light, I have done nothing else."

It was unfortunate. He had liked the man, perhaps a little too well. Koltira lifted a hand before he also set out, turning to the forest. He would go to the lake, to the ice and silence. He would stay. "Shorel'aran. Farewell."

[stonefaith]

Bariyan said nothing more, as there was nothing more to be said. He watched Koltira go for a while before he finally turned heel as well. Back to the streets, back to dimmed lights and closed doors and empty rooms. Back to his own brand of solitude. Something that he was almost looking forwards to.

He shook his head, shoved his hands deep into his pockets and set off at an angry, hurried pace. Time to leave and put this behind him.

And -- just as he'd predicted -- he was going to need that drink, now.