Medbay Moments - 01

Some Info

• Aaron refers to Sypher by 3 separate names, Samael, Odem and Cyon. Each name reflects what part of Sypher she believes is 'in control' at the time.
• Sypher is a Shepherd of sorts and has studied many different religions. His personal spiritual beliefs and religious practices however involve communing with spirits/demons/etc., the use of 'witchcraft' and various arcane rituals.
• Rendolin is a die-hard Christian and is not a fan of Sypher's beliefs.

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The medical bay is quiet, save for the sounds of beeping machines chiming out that all is well with the many patients. Sypher at the moment, seems to be the only one entirely awake, having been propped up in his bed by a series of pillows to read from his book, studying the old ways like he always does when he's got spare time to kill. <English>

Aeron is nested in a pile of quilts beneath the end of Rendolin's bed, positioned so that she can keep an eye on all of the occupied beds here in the ship's med-bay. She's been talked out of making hourly checks on everyone, reminded of the stitch she pulled from her side recently, so she contented herself with a single round of the room before building her blanket piles, and Ren, Sy, Kyo, and Victor all have small herbed sachets beneath their pillows, courtesy of the witch. <English>

Sypher had noticed the object placed under his pillow, but paid it little mind. He simply continues to read until he reaches a specific page, looking over the image of three robed men towering over a human form like a man towering above an ant. "You know, I've been meaning to ask about what happened on Saint Albans, after the blast." he says at length. <English>

Aeron has her cards out in her hands, just slowly shuffling them through her fingers as she sits and watches those around her, the spitting image of sitting vigil. Despite being in the warmth of the ship instead of the snow of St. Albans, she still has a quilt draped warm around her shoulders, and over that, an old and threadbare brown and gold brocade duvet. At Sypher's question, she shrugs just a bit and then tells him, "The Gods stayed in the skies, sent us Grace instead. Then Grace led us home to his salvations." It's said in almost a 'duh' tone of voice. <English>

Sypher snerks quietly and shakes his head, "Remind me later to speak with grace about not talking Religion around you.." He gives Aeron a look, then closes his book and sighs, "I meant, I want to know what caused you to.. well? freak out like that." <English>

Aeron gives a bit of a shrug, again not seeming to understand how it could be confusing. It's as if in her world, that's just the normal way things happen. "Men band together and pray 'til their God's ears are overflowed. When the noise breaks out, the shaking moves mountains, moves grounds, brings their enemies out of hiding. Don't know why, but I always seem to be an enemy. I'm a witch. They won't suffer those to live... Tried telling them once it was more suffering on me to be dead than be living, but they didn't quite seem able to understand that..." <English>

Sypher shrugs a little and explains, "Some people have too much faith, honestly." he gives the woman a glance and a smile. "It's why I try to avoid territories I know to be inhabited by the 'heavily religious' myself." He relaxed a little and sighs, "Honestly though, do you really think a god would bring down a mountain for a single witch?" <English>

Aeron quirks her head a bit, studying him closely, as if trying to feel out his own beliefs and opinions. When she answers, her voice is soft, almost pensive, as if she's not judging anyone else's thoughts, regardless of what she herself believes. "Their God doesn't bring down mountains for a single witch, he brings it down 'cause he's promised them. So when that's what they ask, when that's what they petition, it's what He does. He's their daddy. He loves them. He wants them to be happy. Don't know why mountains falling and people hurting makes them that way, but they seem to think it will, so it's what they ask for Him to give." <English>

Sypher sighs and offers the woman a smile. "Christianity dictates that all men and women were created by their god. That he loved us so much that he gave his only son for us. So tell me, if he so loves his children, /all/ his children, why would he help one to hurt another?" he tilts his head, watching the woman. <English>

Rendolin stirs in his bed, frowning in his sleep. He's still breathing, but it's shallow, thanks to his rib, and becoming shallower. <English>

Aeron chuckles at that, then gives a shrug, "Ain't all of us his kids. Not everyone calls Him daddy. And ain't no parent in the world ain't never played favorites with the kids they got." She offers a slight smile to him, sad but accepting all at the same time as she explains, It's like when Daddy Legba thinks life by too easy... The troubles don't come 'cause he hates you, it comes 'cause you need to learn what he's tryin' to teach. And when two kids get into a playground fight, their daddy's go to arms for them, too.</span>" <English>

You test your Culture:christianity against a 60 difficulty. The result is successful (13).

You test your History:ancient against a 50 difficulty. The result is unsuccessful (-10).

You test your History:ancient against a 60 difficulty. The result is unsuccessful (-14).

Sypher shakes his head and gives a sigh, "I listened to the sermon of a Christian Shepherd once. He told me that their god is one of mercy and love." He lets his eyes close and sighs, "Some people lose their way, they let hatred in and once it's in it spreads. Let me ask you, Aeron." He opens one eye and glances to her, then motions to the stirring Amar and asks, "Do you think he would hurt you, because you are a witch?" <English>

"Why don't you ask him?" Rendolin murmurs without opening his eyes. He sounds groggy but amused. <English>

Aeron looks up as Sypher points to the man in the bed above her, though of course all she can see is the underside of his bed. She starts to shrug, and her mouth opens to answer when the man himself gives the answer... Sort of. But it's one of many things that's been heavy on her mind for a while now, and so she says simply, "No. I don't. But that would be his story to tell." <English>

Sypher gives Rendolin a nod when he wakes and then turns his attention to Aeron. "I doubt he would either. Some people believe that to keep their faith strong, they need to adhere to the beliefs of the many. They read books written by men, interpreting the will of their god to devious or manipulative ends. They are the ones who would hurt you." He offers a warm smile, then adds, "But I don't think it's the will of their god, I think they've just gotten lost in the preachings of old men who use the faith of others to their own gain." <English>

Rendolin nods, still keeping his eyes closed. "Interpretation is still done by men. And we know how that often goes. But no... I would not hurt Aeron just because of her beliefs." <English>

Aeron answers both men, though it's rather soft as she says, "Never knew there was more kind of men than one to any kind of God... It's been good to have the Loa point that out at me." There's another shrug that Sypher would see but Rendolin wouldn't as she explains, "But if I want them not to hate me for my faith, can't exactly go around hating them for theirs. Their wrongs don't make me a right." Her voice is gentle, almost motherly in its tenderness as she says, "Don't think they're bad men, Odam, just think they somehow wound up with bad ideas, then found a way to make their God buy into them, too." <English>

Sypher laughs and shakes his head, "I think their god sees them for what they are, Aeron. Children who've lost their way and I don't believe he'd be the type to give in when a few of his 'children' decide to throw a tantrum because they arent getting their way." He gives Rendolin a look after a moment, then asks, "Do you?" <English>

Rendolin listens thoughtfully, but asks, "Do I what? Sorry, brain is fuzzy." <English>

Aeron seems content to let the men discuss their philosophy of life and religion, as it's not really something she enjoys thinking about, or remembering. Instead, she merely continues to shuffle the deck of tarot idly through her hands as she looks over to Victor, then to Kyo, wanting to check that the conversations aren't disturbing their rest. <English>

Sypher arches a brow and asks, "Do you believe yours is a petty god who would wish harm on those who do not believe as the masses do? Or do you believe he's merciful?" <English>

Rendolin thinks about that, opening his eyes and watching the ceiling, or heaven, or whatever. Then, "No, that's men. I find that I can read a person well by their view of God. If it is a wrathful God they see, then they want to see a wrathful God. If it is a merciful God, then they want to see that. It drives how they see the 'verse, for the 'verse is God. I sometimes think the 'verse is a mirror." He yawns. <English>

Aeron shuffles her Tarot deck.

Aeron shuffles her Tarot deck.

Aeron shuffles her Tarot deck.

Aeron draws Three Pentacles.

Aeron finally turns one of the cards she's been shuffling, and then looks up at the underside of the bed she's nested beneath. Rendolin wouldn't see it, but it would be clearly viewed to Sypher, the content smile on her face as she murmurs, "Aye. What he said." <English>

Sypher nods and smiles, then glances to Aeron and smirks. "Then try and remember, it's not the god you should fear, but the men who twist his will." He shrugs a little and sighs, "Personally I'm glad there are fewer people around who know of the ones I hold close. Fewer people to twist their will now days." <English>

"I really wish you'd listen to humans as much as you did those cards, Aeron," Rendolin murmurs. "Overpraying, seen it. So... guess that means I can't ask you questions, eh? Fair 'nuff. Too much poking around in people's private brains for my comfort lately." It becomes somewhat apparent during this small ramble that the gunman is on some good drugs. <English>

Aeron draws Queen Cups.

Aeron turns another of her cards as Rendolin echoes the same thing everyone else on this ship seems to think, and smiles as she looks down to see it. Her voice is soft, almost as if she's thinking aloud to herself than fully contributing to the conversation as she murmurs, "Just because men share the same religion, don't always mean they share the same God." <English>

Sypher laughs a bit and shrugs. "I doubt she'll ever listen to people as much as the cards, Rendolin." He gives Aeron a glance, and a smile, then gives a simple, "Either way, just remember next time that you're safe with us around. hmm? Personally I hate seeing you cower like that." <English>

"Makes me feel like she thinks I'm gunna rape 'er," Rendolin mutters, probably in response to Sypher's comment. "Judged me before she even got to know me, well... hurt people see hurt, saddest thing in the 'verse." He seems to be dropping back to sleep, which may be a good thing. <English>

Aeron shudders as Sypher mentions the night previous, and the reaction she'd had to it. She draws her quilt and her blanket even tighter around herself, as if wrapping herself into the safety of arms without any arms there to actually hold her. And quiet as a whisper she murmurs, "Not as much as you'd hate to have seen the times I didn't..." And then, Ren's words filter to her ears, and she trembles again, biting at her lip as she draws the upper level of duvet up over her head like a hood. <English>

Sypher shrugs a little and asks, "Do you really think there is anything of your past, that could hurt you with me around, Aeron?" he tilts his head and looks at the witch, giving a smile. "You named me an angel of death and destruction and know I'd do everything in my power to protect you." <English>

Rendolin begins snoring softly. <English>

Aeron heaves a heavy sigh from beneath her shroud of blankets as she answers Sypher softly, "And *you* know that I'd rather be destroyed than have someone harmed because of me." <English>

Sypher shrugs and muses, "Then it seems we'll always be at odds on that one. Because in truth?" He gives a pause and looks at the woman under the lump of blankets, "I'd end a thousand men and more before I'd let one harm the people I love." <English>

Rendolin's snoring does not last long, and he settles into quieter sleep. <English>

Aeron quirks her head as she watches Sypher, studying him for a long moment until Ren's snoring quiets. Finally, with the silence that now fills the room, she murmurs into it, "Then how can you call them monsters for wanting to end others?" <English>

Lights around you flicker on as the main reactor powers up.

You feel a sudden rumble as the engines activate.

The air turns fresh and a gentle hum can be heard as life support is activated.

A loud roar is heard as the steering thrusters activate.

Terminals all around you power up as the computer systems are powered.

There is a jerk as the lift engines howl against gravity and the ship rises from the solid perch of its landing gear..

You feel a slight force as the ship speeds up.

The ship shudders as the pulse drives are engaged.

Sypher looks to Aeron and tilts his head ever so slightly, "What makes a man a monster, isn't that they would take a life but /why/." He gives a little shrug and lets his eyes close, "I would fight to my last breath. I'd fight and even kill to protect the people I care about. I'd fight so the ones I love don't have to, to protect them from those who would hurt them and take the burden of an evil deed on myself alone." If he can, the mercenary would look into the witches eyes, just to ask, "Does that make me a monster?" <English>

Aeron shakes her head at the question he poses to her, and he lets his violet gaze hold the strangely swirling colors of her own as she tells him, "I don't think it makes you a monster, Odam. But I do think it turns you into Samael, and while he's not a monster either, he's not a monster in the same way they're not, either. Men don't kill just to kill, they kill because they think they're right. So, just as right as you consider yourself, they think the same of their own reasons. None of you are monsters, you're all just willing to go way too far to get your own way at the expense of the other." <English>

Sypher shakes his head and explains, "There are some who do though, Aeron.. I was raised by men and women who believed life was worth less than the cost of a bullet. I lived among people who killed for fun, who slaughtered people without mercy and without remorse." He gives a shrug, then looks to Aeron again and asks, "What makes you think, that we aren't one and the same? You've given me two names, why?" <English>

Kyoshiro had been awake for a time now, listening to Sypher and Aaron talk. He knew the answer to the question. He had been both kinds of men Sypher spoke of. He had been a heartless killer just because that was his purpose in life. Now, he was different but voicing these things was obviously not on the top of his list at the moment. Instead he would sit there in his bed and sigh just a bit before opening his crimson eyes to the small existence of the Medical Lab, His hands folded over his stomach. <English>

Aeron tells him softly, "Just because you never saw their reasons don't mean they never had them, Odam... Life means different things to different people, and just like we all see our different Gods in different ways, we all go through life for different drives and reasons, too. Can't expect anyone to respect your own if you're busy judging them for theirs." She smiles a bit as he asks why he alone has two names, and she tells him softly, "Odam cares more about the people he loves than the people he hates, and he can look me in the eye because of it. Samael cares more about his own needs for those he loves than he does for those people themselves. And his eyes are even hidden, even when his masks are off." <English>

Sypher shakes his head and explains, "I saw their reasons, Aeron.. I saw it in the joy and pride my 'father' showed me when I put a young woman to death for little more than loving a slave. I saw it in the ways he tormented me and forced me to kill as a child and I saw it in the way he put my sister to death in front of me.." He shakes his head slowly a moment more, then turns to Aeron and asks, "What makes you think, that your not simply naming two sides to a coin you've not yet found a true name for? What makes you think we're not the same?" <English>

The ship shakes as the pulse drives are disengaged.

You feel the ship begin to slow.

The ship angles its heat shields toward the angle of descent, there is a shake, and flames start licking over the side of the ship.

The incessant hum from the ship's engines suddenly fades away.

The air suddenly becomes stale as life support loses power.

The ship sways and bumps as its landing gear makes contact with the ground surface.

Aeron can only shrug to that, and tell him, "Already answered why I see that, Odam. Not my fault it don't fit the way you see things." <English>

Kyoshiro lets his legs slide off the edge of the bed. He sits up like that for a moment, his face as passive as ever, eyes as empty as a bottomless pit. One of his hands moves to his arm and pulls the monitors and IV's out, some of the machines making sounds as he does so. Finally he stands, slowly, gaining his balance with a little help from the trey next to him. Steadily and slowly he begins his walk towards the exit. <English>

Sypher gives Kyoshiro a glance and calls to him, "You really should stay. Theres a reason we haven't been released yet." He offers a smile, then gives Aeron a glance and a somewhat pained smile as he muses, "Then you've never truly seen me, Aeron." <English>

Aeron stares at Kyoshiro, her eyes saucer wide as their shifting colors start to spin more quickly. She calls out to him as the IV is ripped out, "Oy!" And then as he goes trying to leave, she calls even louder, "Just a cook! Get your just an arse back into your just a bed!" And it's probably a surprise to no one that she's speaking of experience, "You walk out of here before Grace says you can, it ain't worth the headache he'll cause you." She shivers a bit as she suggests, "And you might end up leashed in the gardens next to Leo 'til you learn to stay put!" <English>

Kyoshiro raises an eyebrow at both Sypher and Aeron, looking at both of them with his stone cold crimson glare and despondent face. He pauses for a long moment, "Is it against this... Grace person's orders for me to take a piss?" He asks carefully, turning around towards the bed and stopping yet again, noticing the leaves and twigs by his side. He gives yet another raise of one of his eyebrows just simply staring at the thing, completely confused that anyone could have placed something there without him waking up. "Where is Oliana?" <English>

Sypher laughs and muses, "You should tell someone if thats your intent." He gives a shrug, then adds, "She left, a few hours ago. Probably somewhere on the ship." <English>

Aeron just nods at his question, a bit non-plussed as she tells him, "If you plan on pissing without your IV, yes. Pretty sure Grace would rather you wet yourself." She gives a sigh and a shake of her head as if not entirely happy about it herself, "Likes to think he's the one in charge around here like that." <English>

Kyoshiro moves over closer to the pillow and lifts it up a moment studying the twigs and sticks. Scrunching his nose a bit he picks up a leaf and sniffs it, furrowing his brows. He doesnt respond to his fellow patients dialog though, instead still so very curious. "Who put this here?" He asks simply in his deep core accented monotone, not a single ounce of emotion in it. <English>

Sypher just shrugs and muses, "Well, theres only one witch in the room. Who else would have put it there?" then gives Aeron a glance and a smile. <English>

Aeron has no trouble claiming her own handy work. She'd made sachets and slipped them beneath the pillows of all the patients in the room before setting herself up a nest underneath the foot of Rendolin's bed. Her shifting gaze meets his red one as she tells him simply, "I did." <English>

Rendolin has disconnected.

Kyoshiro looks over his shoulder towards Sypher, holding a moment before moving it to meet Aeron's gaze as she takes credit for the work, now noticing the different bundles around. "I see... well." He then start to look for the bathroom. "I'm going to the bathroom now." He starts to walk to where ever that is. <English>

Sypher just opens his book back up with a sigh and a smirk, opening up again to an obscure page, this one with the image of a little girl with a strange shadow. <English>

Aeron narrows her eyes as Ky walks off without his IV's. She calls out behind him, "But I'm stabbing that thing back in you when you're done." Which leads her to ponder, and then add, "And wash your hands!" <English>

Sypher laughs after a moment and gives Aeron a glance, "You know I'm surprised more people around here dont call you 'mother'." <English>

Kyoshiro isn't gone but a moment before he's returned, making his way back to his bed, still drying his hands with a towel. He's watching Aeron with a weary eye as he sits down again on his bed. <English>

Aeron just shrugs at Sypher's comment about what people do or don't call her, telling him, "Hell of a lot better than other things I've answered to, though not sure it's anything I've earned." And then she carefully gets herself up from her nest beneath Ren's bed, obviously favoring her right side as she does. And she asks the pair of you, "Any idea which of these drawers Grace stores his needles in?" <English>

You test your Nursing against a 50 difficulty. The result is successful (9).

You test your Willpower against a 50 difficulty. The result is successful (42).

Sypher sighs and slowly pulls himself up, walking slowly over to a cabinet that isn't sealed and takes a new IV needle out of it, then starts over towards Kyroshiro. "Arm." he prompts the man after a moment, holding out a hand. Mans bedside manner could do with some work but what do you expect from a man with an extra few holes? <English>

Kyoshiro looks up at Sypher for a moment, sticking his arm out for the man to take and do his work on. "Right..." He looks over at Aeron for a moment before turning his head back to watch Sypher. <English>

Aeron just sighs a little as Sypher gets out the needle she was wanting to know where to find, and then cautiously and painfully lowers herself back into her nest of blankets once more. As she gets the quilt and duvet draped back around her almost like a shroud or a cocoon, she tells him simply, "Next time, at least mention you can do that *before* I've hauled myself up of my arse, Odam?" While she's a touch cranky from the pain, the teasing sounds more good natured than not. <English>

Sypher's work with setting the IV and getting it flowing easily is pretty strait-forward, careful not to skewer the vein too far, not to puncture through it or anything. He gives Aeron a glance and a smirk as he muses, "I can do a lot more than this.. Been studying. Besides, you shouldn't be up, you don't want them to have to stitch you up again, do you?" <English>

Kyoshiro dosn't even flinch as the IV is put in him again, and as that's happening his eyes are focused on Aeron. "What's with all the nick names. It's confusing." He says simply. <English>

Aeron gives the crimson eyed man a smile as the IV is once more slid into his veins, "It's supposed to be." She points to the spot where Sypher will have to reconnect the old tubes and medicines to the new IV, "Next time, just clamp and unscrew it so you don't have to keep getting stabbed." And then she explains, "Names got power. Using them gives that power away. Sometimes it gives it to things what shouldn't have it. Don't use the names, you don't give their power." <English>

You test your Culture:occult against a 50 difficulty. The result is successful (8).

Sypher snickers and shakes his head, "A name can give power but it can also take it away, Aeron." He gives a shrug, reattaching the tubes before heading back to his own bed and reattaching his own as he slips back under the covers. <English>

Kyoshiro raises both his brows this time, indicating some kind of interest. "Well... I can see how that might be true at certain circumstances." In fact he had lived it, as Demon Eyes on Shadow so long ago. "So... you're the... religious official on the Falkirk?" He asks of Aeron. <English>

Aeron laughs at that and shakes her head. "Not even close. I'm their witch." She gives a bit of a shrug as she tells him, "Not that I'm totally sure why the need a witch, Grace and Sea Bass never seem to listen to a word the Loa say, even if they are always asking me to translate." <English>

Sypher gives a smirk and muses, "They're smart enough to listen and not be blinded, Aeron, we all are. We hear what you say, and what your Loa say but theres a reason we don't always listen." <English>

Kyo thinks a moment, "Well I think they could be used as a guide. Judging by your reading on the world back there it was more a general forewarning to use common sense in any situation." He shrugs, realizing what he said might be a bit harsh. "Not to belittle the Loa any or what have you." The last thing he wanted to do was piss off a which. He had seen some strange things on the Rim. <English>

Aeron can only smirk to that, peering at Sypher from her nest beneath Ren's bed. "Aye. And then you all get blown up, and never see the connection." She just gives a bit of a shrug, and the next words out of her mouth make it obvious that she, too, is still rather drugged up on the good stuff, "I don't know why they keep me, I'm just glad it gives me a place to be." <English>

Sypher gives Aeron a look and smirks. "We survived this, didn't we? I take heed to their warnings enough but we're not gods. No one is indestructible. Not even the ones who follow blindly the words of your Loa." <English>

Kyoshiro nods, "Or any kind of deity for that matter." He pauses a moment, his eyes looking sad as he remembered the women, children, and men who would plead at his feet while his sword carved through them for their god. They had been good to God, but god had failed to save them on that day. <English>

Aeron chuckles softly at that, telling Sypher, "Spoken awfully certain for one who has never closed his eyes to let them guide you, Odam." Kyo gets a long look, studying him closely for a long moment. While the odds are that she can't read his mind, there's something about the way her shifting eyes hold his crimson ones that might make a weak man wonder otherwise. Thankfully, he's not a weak man. <English>

Sypher shakes his head and explains, "More because I've seen the price of following blindly." then he glances to Aeron and smirks. "Tell me though. If you were brought face to face, with a man who kills for no other reason than to kill. Do you believe your Loa would save you from what he'd do to you?" <English>

Kyoshiro seems to have been lost in his own thoughts for a long moment, but Syphers question to Aeron returns his interest. Maybe it was just coincidence, but for him to ask a question like that. Especially when he was thinking of his past experiences. He listened in to the response, watching the witch carefully. <English>

Aeron gives a heavy sigh to Sypher's question, the the blacks and whites of his world. Her gaze moves from crimson eyes to violet ones as she answers him softly, "So many ifs to that, Odam... If such a man exists, if they cross my path with his, if I was on the wrong side of his wants..." And then she nods, and she seems both serene and sincere as she tells him, "If they still had use and need for me, Aye. If they chose to, I think they could." There's a shrug of her shoulders and her gaze drops, studying the edge of the hand-sewn quilt wrapped around her beneath the heavier duvet, "If my use to this world were fulfilled, then no. I think if it was what that man needed more than they had need for me, they would grant his needs and finally put mine to rest and to peace." <English>

Sypher laughs and shakes his head, "This is why I see religion the way I do, Aeron. You put your fate in their hands, you follow them blindly and expect us to do the same, you even scold in a way when we don't." He offers the woman a kind smile, then explains, "Gods are to be heard, their will to be taken to heart but never followed without question." He gives the woman a look, tilting his head as he asks, "When was the last time, you truly questioned your Loa?" <English>

Kyoshiro stays silent, he was more interested in actually watching the conversation unfold then participating in it much. As each took turns talking his red eyes would move to them, staying on their face, watching their lips as they moved in almost a creepy sort of way. A little hauntingly. <English>

Aeron can't hide the flicker of pain that pierces her eyes at Sypher's question, it's written across her face as if he'd slapped her. But as she answers, her voice is soft and kind, tender and compassionate despite whatever it was that his question has placed into her mind. She lifts a hand and crooks a finger towards him, beckoning closer even as she reaches with her other hand for her bag, fishing out her PDA, pencil, post-its, paint and all. "Something you have to see before my answer to that would make any sense, Odam." <English>

You test your Willpower against a 50 difficulty. The result is successful (46).

Sypher once again disconnects his IV and stands up, walking slowly over to Aeron, not really saying more at the moment. <English>

Kyoshiro raises a brow and is a little curious as to what the little witch is doing, especially with all the supplies she's taking out of the bag. He decides to ask something though, not necessarily pertaining to the current subject. "What do the... ah... leafs and twigs represent under our pillows?" He looks back to his own, afraid to ruin in by taking it away and offending the witch. For a more practical man he was being inadvertently superstitious. <English>

Aeron has held a secret for over a year now that many have asked to hear, but only one has ever been told. At least until a second Ren has come into her life, getting her shot, and getting her drugged. And since then, the secret has flowed like water over a cliff. She lifts the device to her lips, murmuring softly, "Waves. Saved. Tempest. Last sent." It's the one that Rendolin had tried earlier to delete upon seeing, the one that nearly gave her a heart attack until she heard the device tell him he had no authorizations. And for the way she so typically stumbles over the instructions required to make things properly work, it's one given quickly and easily enough to demonstrate grave familiarity to it. And as she lets Sypher see the video that will play without sound, she turns her gaze back to crimson eyes as she tells Ky, "They're smells that lingering spirits hate. Keeps the bad ones away. Keeps you safe no matter how many walls the drugs and the pains break down." <English>

You sense: Aeron shows you the screen of her PDA so you can see the last known image of Templeton K. Torres. The video feed buzzes wildly. Its just static. For a minute, you can see his face and its not good. Blood streams down his forehead from a gaping gash. He can barely keep both of his eyes open. Behind him is just sand and desert, accompanied by a couple of pieces of debris strewn about. Before he can even say anything though, the video transmission ends without a warning. Just an image, thats it, and then even that is gone.

Sypher looks at the PDA, then gives the witch a glance and simply says, "The question still stands." offering a smile with the words, though not a joyful one. The smile in itself is a mask. <English>

Kyoshiro raises an eyebrow at the two, simply watching their interaction. He can't tell what's going on from where he is, almost on the other side of the room. <English>

Aeron tests her Willpower against a 120 difficulty. The result is unsuccessful (-6).

Aeron tests her Willpower against a 126 difficulty. The result is unsuccessful (-32).

Aeron places the device in her lap screen side down once the video has played and then ended, leaving the pad of post-it notes glued to its back facing up. Her eyes lift to meet a violet gaze as the darker hues among their spectrums slowly swirl, and she tells him softly, "I ignored them when they told me to go with him, when they told me to ignore his pleas to go alone, when they told me not to give him what he wanted." Her voice cracks for a moment, and she struggles to get it under control, but fails, and tears fall silently down her cheeks as her throat tightens, raising the pitch of her voice, "I listened to him instead of to the Loa, and I lost the only man ever brave enough in my life to touch a witch. The only one brave enough to ever love me." And that part of the secret not even CaveCarm had sleuthed from her. Yes. Drugged witch is definitely drugged. <English>

Sypher sighs and grabs the witch, gently hugging her, keeping away from her wounds of course. He hushes her quietly for a few moments, trying to comfort her, then tries to pull her close and murmurs, "Life's hell sometimes hon. Sometimes we can't stop bad things from happening.. It's cruel, but it's how things are, Aeron." <English>

Kyoshiro watches the now seemingly intimate reaction between Sypher and Aeron. Though, he had come to a different conclusion before when she was with Ren during the mission, or seemingly close to the man. Was it acceptable for other males to engage in intimate acts with females they were just friends with or co workers for that matter? Or was Sypher trying to effectively 'move in' in some sort of courtship ritual by comforting the over emotional, and very drugged up, female. Often times he found females in a weak state to be vulnerable and easily influenced. Then again, he should probably stop over analyzing things and just chalk it up to Sypher comforting the Witch... "Would any one like something to eat?" He asks to break his mind from his silly thoughts. <English>

Aeron doesn't return the hug, but she doesn't shove it away, either. She just lets him hold her until he's let go on his own, and then she tells him softly, "I know. Known that since..." She tries to think when it was she first learned that lesson, and then tells him, "Well, since I ever really recall having known anything." Her eyes move to Victor, checking again on the man as he sleeps, watching vigil over him just as much as she's watched it over all of them. And then she tells him, "A'int quite what I meant, though." Ky's question draws her gaze back to his, and she shakes her head to the offer of food, same as she does nearly every time it's offered. In fact, since her feet first touched down to the snow, it's doubtful anyone's seen her put more than coffee flavored syrup into her body as far as 'food' goes. <English>

Sypher gives Kyoshiro a glance and smirks. "Coffee, would be lovely actually." he muses, then looks to Aeron and offers a sort of smile, one meant to hide something behind it's warmth. "You really should question them more often, Aeron. You'll find it doesn't always end that way." He knows that might make her sore, knows she might even hit him OR! might break down entirely. Either way, the mans ready for any possible outcome he can think of at the moment. <English>

Kyoshiro stands a moment, taking it slowly, grabbing his IV pole and pulling it along with him towards the exit. "I'll be back in a little bit then." He says simply before exiting. <English>

Aeron does none of the above when it comes to Sy's potential reactions. Instead she merely firmly shakes her head no, telling him simply, "Every time I have so far, it's turned to tragedy. It's not always fun or easy to listen to them, ain't always comfortable or what I want. But it always gets me where I need to be, where I'm meant to be. And that beats out tragedy every time." <English>

Sypher gives Aeron a look, then sighs quietly and offers a smile. "How many times, have you seen us question them? How many times has Grace..." He pauses and winces slightly, fuck she's got him doing it now, "How many times has he questioned them and still survived?" <English>

Aeron gives a faint smile to that as she tells him simply, "Grace, Sea Bass, Tempest, Sparrow, you..." She gives a shrug as she tries to figure out how to put it into words... "None of you believe them, not with your full hearts. And they're kinder to those who don't know any better but who ignore them. My whole life? I was raised for them, a symbolic sacrifice, a passing on of generations of priestesses. Yaga filled me with all she knew of them, passed them on to me through her stories and her lessons. And when she'd poured all that she knew of the me, they took her back, because it was my turn to walk her path. It's just not the same, Odam, much as most of the time I really wish it was." She sighed softly as she murmurs, "Don't you thin..." And then she stops herself and shakes her head. Drugged witch is drugged, but she's not THAT drugged. <English>

Sypher gives her a look, looking her right in the eyes if she lets him and trys to pull with a simple, "think, what?" <English>

Aeron tests her Willpower against a 80 difficulty. The result is successful (31).

Aeron just shakes her head, though he lets her have the answering stare of her eyes. The most she's willing to give to him though, is a softly murmured, "Don't you think I'd sometimes like the chance to choose for myself?" But she doesn't explain what the choices are that she might have made differently. <English>

Sypher gives a smirk and peers right into the womans eyes, saying simply, "You always have a choice, Aeron. Right now? the only thing I see thats keeping you from making them is fear." He gives a shrug, then glances away ever so slightly, not focusing on her eyes quite the same way. <English>

You test your Culture:occult against a 50 difficulty. The result is successful (9).

Aeron senses: Sypher's words are only half of what is portrayed. His eyes carry in them something that you've never seen before. A mixture of emotions, memories and dreams all flickering through them at once. Whatever walls the man keeps up, in that brief moment? seem to come tumbling down on their own. You get the feeling the mans giving you the chance to read him like a book.

Aeron lets her gaze linger on his, and eventually, her small hand lifts, and tenderly cups his cheek as shifting eyes hold a steady violet gaze. Her voice is soft as she tells him, "It's not fear, Odam. It's courage. They just sometimes look an awful lot alike." Her thumb brushes gently over the planes of his cheekbone as she murmurs, "Something you've known for a long time, more intimately than I wish you would have had to." <English>

Sypher shakes his head slightly and sighs. "If it's truly courage, then why does it seem like you cant see past it?" He offers her a smile and explains, "They're hard to tell apart, I know. The biggest difference, is that a courageous soul can still take a chance." <English>

Aeron gives him a kind and tender smile as she queries him, "What makes you think it's not a chance I take every time I choose to follow the will of the Loa over my own heart?" Again, her thumb makes a gentle trace back and forth over his cheek as she explains, "It's not that I *cannot* see past them, Odam. It's that the Loa are where I *choose* to look." <English>

Sypher chuckles and smiles, "Do me a favor, hmm? Make the harder choice, from time to time. Listen to the people who care about you like you've listened to the Loa for so long and try to have faith in /us/." <English>

Aeron leaves her hand there upon his cheek for a moment longer as her eyes hold his, and then finally her hand returns to her lap as she tells him simply, "Listening to the Loa *is* the harder choice, Odam. And I have faith in all of you. It's why I'm here." <English>

Sypher shakes his head and eyes Aeron a moment before giving a simple, "Not from where I'm standing." He gives a sigh and takes a guess, "You told me, the last time you questioned them it led to tragedy but when you follow their path, it takes you where you need to be. Right?" <English>

Aeron simply nods to his question, verifying it to be true as she waits to see where he is going with it. <English>

"Relying on them is your safety net, in a way, Aeron. You've seen just as much pain as I have and I know how easy it is to let that corner you." The mercenary's giving what he's heard a thought at every turn now, looking the woman in the eye with every word and the sincerity of what he says next is impossible to deny. "I think you're afraid of that pain. Of taking the chance because something bad might happen again. I think you're so afraid of it that you hide now." <English>

Aeron lets her gaze hold his directly, and shakes her head, silently arguing his belief even before her soft voice murmurs to him the reasons for her dissent. "If I feared the pain, if I feared the risk, if I feared the harm, then I would have run the opposite direction from Sparrow the moment I first saw him mark himself." Her eyes are searching, looking anywhere in those violet ones that stare back for understanding, "But instead, I stayed, because the Loa said I should. And because Grace asked that I would as well. And as the Loa kept prompting, I kept staying. Even when it meant being hurt to have begged to be held and then rebuffed. The Loa aren't the easy path, Odam. They're not the ones that avoid pain or keep me safe. They're merely the ones I have chosen to trust, because they're the only ones that even when it does hurt, has never abused the trust with the pain." <English>

Something in those eyes just sort of gives and the Mercenary smirk and shakes his head. "You're a confusing little witch, you know that?" he says playfully, then brushes a kiss over her forehead before he stands up, "Do me a favor. Find a better name for me, or choose just one. I' <English>

Something in those eyes just sort of gives and the Mercenary smirk and shakes his head. "You're a confusing little witch, you know that?" he says playfully, then brushes a kiss over her forehead before he stands up, "Do me a favor. Find a better name for me, or choose just one. I'll let you see who I really am, if you promise me that you'll reserve judgment until then." He gives a smirk, then adds, "Because what I said earlier was true. You named me without ever having truly seen me.." <English>

Aeron merely chuckles at his request as she murmurs, "But so many of them fit you, my friend. And they're your names because they fit the masks you wear when you wish to not truly be seen. Odam, the consort and lover to Lilith when Adam would not keep her..." As she mentions Lilith, a brow raises, as if she doesn't truly believe that he hasn't put that part together yet. "And Samael is a name I thankfully rarely use, as that deep need for righteous wrath rarely is allowed to come out to play." She once more brushes a hand across his cheek as she tucks back a stray lock of hair behind his ear and tells him, "None of them are you, only faces you wear when you yourself are hiding, my friend. When the real you comes to see me, then I'll know who you really are, and what it is I should call you. Until then, masks and guesses are all that I can do." <English>

Sypher gives a smile and a sigh, shaking his head, "You've seen of me, everything I've wanted others to see without seeing what I could never hide, Aeron. Each of the masks, each one is a part of me." He gives a shrug and a smirk as he muses, "I hide in plain sight, my friend. The times you see me as Odam, when I am happy, I am still me. I'm still the man who would fight, still the man who would kill if it came to it." He pauses a bit, then looks Aeron in the eye as he continues, "The times you've seen me as Samael, when I'm angry, I'm still the man who loves his family. Still the man who mourns every life I take." He offers a slight smile and adds, "Even Lilith, the times I try to hide what I am behind beauty and kindness, I'm still me. They're all a part of who I am, fragments of a single soul." <English>

Aeron asks him softly, "And yet as Lilith, you've given a separate name to one of your fragments all on your own, but naming the other pieces is not something you allow? Why is it all that different?" <English>

You test your Willpower against a 100 difficulty. The result is successful (24).

Those violet eyes actually seem to die, to darken as a great pain washes over him, as he relives a memory he's wished he never had. "Because..." he says with a sigh, letting his eyes close a moment. "Lilith, was the name of a woman who opened my eyes, not too long ago.. She showed me what I was becoming and gave me the courage to run from the only life I'd ever truly known.." He sniffles quietly, keeping back the tears already threatening to run freely. "She's a woman I killed, back on Lilac. I thought she was an assassin, I'd been hired /because/ of her, we all had.. She got past one of us, cut the power and slipped past him in the dark.. Then she found me." He looks down, his hands starting to tremble a little. "She didn't say a word, just fought with all her heart.. I didn't know she was only there for her lover. I didn't know the man I was protecting that night had him locked away in his basement, had turned him into a slave." <English>

Aeron exhales deeply, slowly, a sigh with all the pain held in in that is reflected there in his eyes. Her hand moves once more to cup his cheek, and she leans forward onto her knees, wincing a bit as it pulls at her side, but ignoring the pain, something she's gotten rather good at over the years. She brushes her thumb along the bottom of his eye, wiping away moisture as she presses a light kiss to her forehead before she settles back down into her nest once more. "So, your lesson learned deserves a name of her own, but the kindness of your own heart does not?" <English>

Sypher shakes his head slowly. "Not so simple.." he lets his eyes open again, looking into Aerons eyes, this time it's his turn to search for some kind of understanding. "I didn't name that side of me, Aeron. None of the masks have names. I take on her name from time to time to honor her. To thank her for setting me free and beg her forgiveness for being so blind." Now he can't, or wont, fight it. Those tears start to well up in his eyes as he explains, "I use her name to remind myself that I am free and to remind me the price of being as blind as I was that night." He looks down again and shakes his head, "But the mask I wear in those moments isn't one to reflect kindness, but to hide from a sorrow I can never truly be free of.." <English>

Aeron slips from her nest into his lap, and continues to wipe the tears from his cheeks for as long as they fall, sitting there with him, holding him as close as her slender arms are able, and letting him release all that he keeps locked inside. Her voice is soft, the soothing whisper of a mother to a child, or, more likely, of a sister to a scared sibling as she tells him, "She died for love. For the deepest and truest desire of her heart. For a woman who could love that deeply, she would be glad that you could learn from her, Cion." He asked for a single name, based on the sum of him instead of a parts, and that is the one she has chosen. "But she would not have wanted you to carry her as a burden or a sorrow. She would want your freedom, your joy, your embrace of life, freedom, and joy. That is what you truely owe to her, that is the truth to which she would have wanted to open your eyes." <English>

Sypher shakes his head and explains, "Her name is the only thing that keeps it at bay some times, but it's never one I remember with sorrow.. Aeron. She's not my burden, my title is.. Sypher, the Blind.." He wipes away a few stray tears and explains, "Before her, I'd embraced the Seven as my family.. I killed for them, I became like them, Aeron. That in itself haunts me, it will haunt me for the rest of my life.. Before her, I was a demon, in every sense of the word. I cherished a man who killed innocent people without remorse and happily called him Father." He actually shivers when he says this, shudders even as if he's going to be ill. "I can never forget that and of every thing in my life I've forgiven, that will /never/ be one of them." <English>

Aeron just stays there in his lap, her arms around his waist, her head leaning on his chest, holding him until the tears are gone. There's no rushing him, no judging of him, no more words offered. While it's not hard to guess she would forgive him for that and for so much more, she's also a woman who understands guild, who understands the bruden and sorrow it can bring. And that it's not something that always can be set aside. Forgiving others can be easy, but fogiving yourself can be impossible. So she doesn't push or offer consolations that despite sincerity would ring hollow. She merely sits there with (well, on) him and holds him. <English>