A Sleepover Without Names
Fidget is, highly unusually, hatless! Not in that she doesn't have a hat, of course she'd never be caught so naked in public, but in that it's hanging from her waist instead of it bracing her hair floof against the tyranny of gravity. It shows some signs of disrepair, as a few parts of it are cut by careful knifework, and the tiara that's usually resting around the chimney of the hat, is hanging separately from her other hip. Her hair, as mentioned, bereft of her hat, instead pours down onto her shoulders, cascading over the waistcoat shoulders. She looked for her monochrome goblin friend, striding through the monastery gardens as though she belonged there, despite all the indications to the contrary, and figuring she'd either bluff or Charm her way through if one of the locals tried to stop her going in. She… thinks?... that they restrict access to this place. Otherwise, surely some more fun things would have snuck in than all these stuffy people in robes with their solemn expressions. Oh, how she'd fix this place if she-. Fidget pauses in her inner monologue and grins, "Best not." she says to herself with a trill of amusement, "Oh, but how nice it could look with a little colour."
Those inside are generally helpful, apparently used to Simony receiving guests, even disheveled ones. Her cell is easily found. The door is closed, but there is light streaming under the door, and her voice can be heard, the Gobbo humming to herself.
Hearing a humming she recognizes from another meeting, Fidget finds her way to the door, then barges in and calls out, "Simony!" in sudden, cheerful greeting.
The inside of the room is warmer than the corridor, a small, bot-bellied stove providing a cheerful warmth. A kettle sits atop it, the water burbling away. The ceiling of her cell has been painted a deep, dark blue, with scattered white points representing the nighttime starscape. Simony herself gives a startled squeak, turning to look over her shoulder at the person barging in. The plain canvas before her now has a deep red slash across it, doubtless not what the albino intended. "Gah, Fidget! Are you trying to make me soil myself, because that's how you get people to soil themselves." There's a hint of annoyance in her voice, but a smile does break out, and she gestures to the door. "Go on and shut the door. How've you been?"
"Ooh! Pretty!" Fidget says, staring up at the ceiling, "Nice work. And if you make the floor brown, it'll go with the theme. Good start." the purple gobbo jests with a smirk. "I've been busy, you know - saving Am'Shere, nearly drowning, getting my identity stolen by the Fae - the usual." Fidget says nonchalantly, with a shrug. "How about you?"
The kettle begins to whistle cheerfully, and Simony moves to lift it off the stove. "Would you like tea? It's chilly out and it's a long walk from the city. Did you want to stay over? I've a spare nightgown if you like?" There's an obvious blink at the mention of the Fae stealing her identity, but she moves to get two dainty teacups. "What happened to your hat, my dear?", she wonders as she pours hot water into a teapot, which she brings over to her little table. Nudging out a chair for Fidget, Mony settles down into one beside it. "Come, tell me how this happened. Let me guess... they asked if they could have your name?"
Fidget pauses and organizes her answers, "Yes, yes, yes but I'll improve it, I'm improving that! And yes, damned Fae." She frowns for a moment, trying to figure out if she did that right, then, thinking she probably did, she grins pridefully. "There was some kind of Fae-thing looking for Thoth - that metal bird with the damaged wings. They looked like they were made of magic, when I Sensed them, and they were carrying something that looked Awesome! But they didn't appreciate me asking about it, they were quite rude. Then they... I think... duplicated themselves? So they could talk to me while also going with Thoth. And they asked me my name, as you do in polite conversation, but it was a trick! I got it back, but I had to bargain with them and I'm sure it's going to be a problem." and then she has to stop to take a breath. She'd clearly been looking for someone to talk to about that.
The albino's hands goes to Fidget's cheeks, quite warm to the touch having been holding the teapot. She peers into the other Goblin's eyes. "Hmmph, why are you bargaining with Fae? They are like bargaining with demons and devils, yet unlike those infernal creatures, you won't know where you'll end up." She guides Fidget to a chair, bidding her to sit. Smoothing out her nightgown, she settles down in the other chair. A pale foot nudges the multicoloured Goblin. "Bargaining with Fae is very, very dangerous. What... what did you bargain?"
"I agreed to..." Fidget pauses, "Wait a sec, I wrote this down because I bet the wording matters and I'd forget" she slips a bit of paper out of somewhere in her bag-of-holding-esque outfit. She reads in a shifty sounding voice imitation that doesn't match the voice the fae had had, but does match how he'd made her feel "You will for one year and one day obey me. You will help Thoth regain their memories, and keep it safe to the best of your ability to do so. In exchange I will give you the name you gave me unless you disobey before that time." Fidget looks somewhere between anxious and embarrassed to be caught in such a trap.
"Tsk, to think that you would fall for such a trick.", Simony says, before she leans over to pat Fidget's shoulder. "It's okay, they're sneaky like that. You have to always be on your guard." The Gobbo leans back, and reaches for the teapot, pouring a full measure of red liquid into eat teacup. "Milk and sugar? Or perhaps a bit of rum? Chase out the chill, and maybe wash that taste out of your throat." The albino pinches at her nose. "It sounds like they have bound you to help Thoth. I am not sure of what they mean by disobey, however. You must be sure to help Thoth, though, that much is certain." She rubs at her cheek. "It could have been worse."
"Yes, lots of all of those." Fidget responds to the tea questions, "Yeah, it was unfortunate. I didn't even know they were Fae, or that there were any inside the city. I'm just worried that it'll turn out helping Thoth is something worse than it seems. Also, whilst I'm generally all for protecting them, 'to the best of your ability' is kind of a lot. It could easily turn into a problem. So, I need to figure out what's necessary to break out of this terrible deal, in case I have to. Or to fix a stolen name." Fidget sighs, reaching out for the teacup, and taking a sip, before suggesting, "They'd be pretty hard to kill if it comes to that, too. They seem powerful."
Simony pours a healthy dollop of milk into both teacups, and drops a few sugar cubes as well. And from a drawer from her desk, she pulls out a small bottle of rum, if the handwritten label is correct. A shot of rum is poured in, leaving both teacups almost dangerously overloaded. "I figured we will both need a few shots by the end of this." Settling back into her seat, Simony grins toothily. "We have powerful friends, Fidget, whom we can ask for help from. You may have been a bit, erm, well, unsuspecting, but I know a few people who will view this Fae's shenanigans in a dim light. I'll help you, we can find Thoth's memories... er, do you know what they look like? I mean uh is there a physical representation of them or is it metaphysical? Do we have to sneak into Thoth's dreams or something, that seems like a fae thing to do."
"Yeah, I'm sure." Fidget says, then slurps from the tea ungracefully. "I'm not sure about what memories they're looking for - I need to talk to Rune about that. Who are you thinking of for help? Sneaking into the dreams of a war golem sounds fun, too. Though I doubt that's what I'm being asked to do - at least not yet."
"Well, Cor'lana and Telamon come to mind first. They can at least advise us, what with their connections to the Fae, and their knowledge and understanding of their ways. I could also request to talk to Grandfather, he definitely would know what to do." She rubs her cheeks. "We could also put up an ad or two at the Guild, see if there are folks who've seen the memories, whatever they look like. Or enlist some people to help us find them." Simony sips daintily at her tea, prim and proper to Fidget's sluuuuuuuurp. "We've got a few options. We should also go and peruse a few libraries. I'm going to be heading to one of Navos' other monasteries, it has an extensive library, and I'll bet I can hunt down some information that'll be helpful!"
"Yeah, I've heard those names before, powerful people. I think I saw them at a party once." Fidget muses, "I definitely need to ask Rune, and Thoth about what these memories are. And I can check out the Arcanists' library too. I'm a member now!" Fidget's mood brightens, she's still pretty pleased about getting into their guild, it's given her access to lots of resources for her work.
A bare toe prods at Fidget's knee, and Simony chuckles. "So how did you go about getting in, hmm? It's a good resource, I've heard. Along with the city library too. And we've got a sizable stack of books ourselves here, so, hopefully we can piece together what shape the memories will come in. Oh, hmm, do you know this Thoth person? I do not recall if I have met them, I don't think so, I'd remember someone with a name like that, I think." "You'd remember them if you met them, they're a bit on the strange side. A bird-form war golem, with damaged wings." Fidget replies, "And I got in by bothering one of their existing members, Verna, until they let me in." Fidget gives a laugh, "I'm sure I can be of use to them, though not as much as I'll get from them." "Oh, and also - this!" She unhooks the tiara from her waist clip, it's my magic headband, and I'm trying to figure out how to store a bunch of knowledge into the gems so I can remember more stuff about fae and creatures like them. Maybe something like... vacuum some books into it?" Fidget shrugs, that part is a work in progress.
Simony giggles and shakes her head. "Be careful to not be too much of a pest, you don't want to get kicked out of such a prestigious organization. I've wanted to join, and I've also been looking into the Chalice, which Telamon is a part of." The albino sips at her tea, and leans in closer to examine the tiara, without handling it. "So it can absorb knowledge and you can recall it later? Does it do that for spells, or just ... norming writing?"
"Both! I mean, that's what all headbands of this style do, to some extent, they give you more capacity for remembering and processing information, including spell forms. I'm just wondering if I can make it do so without me needing to read the information slow-style first. Reading the books is the boring bit, I'd rather skip to to the knowing cool stuff part." "Might not work, and I'll just have to keep reading books the slow way." Fidget shrugs, "What's the Chalice like?"
Simony giggles, "I can see how some topics can be boring, but I don't find reading to be boring. Especially not magical texts, those are amazing." She has another sip of tea, finishing her cup off, and setting it aside. "You just want the good bits and skipping the dull stuff, but that's just cheating yourself of potentially good information." She sits back a little, pulling one leg up and resting her foot on the other knee, and wiggling her toes. "But books have always been my friends, so, I suppose I have a different tilt when it comes to reading." She pushes her pince-nez up her nose a little, and hmmms. "Well, it's sort of a posh men's club, but with rich adventurers instead of mostly snooty people. They have a lot of knowledge stored in their chapterhouse, and they also run that big observatory that's nearby. Now that's an amazing piece of technology, and what you can see out there..." The little hairs on the albino's neck and arms stand up, and the goosebumps have her shivering for a moment. "There are things out there, worlds like ours but different, most knowledge and magic and people than we could ever encounter."
"Yeah, I mean - I like some books, some books have really interesting stories in them, or contain really cool magic. But other books, like a lot of the history books, or some of the dryer bestiaries, are really dull but also very useful. It's *really* hard to get through them without my mind drifting off to something more engaging." Fidget explains, it having been a struggle she's battled with for many years now. "Plus, how can you learn all that knowledge, all the wealth of knowledge in the world, if we can only ingest it at the same trudging rate, but we have more knowledge than ever before, being created more quickly than ever before."
Simony grins and shrugs. "We, too, continue to evolve. We get smarter. But, that's the whole point of writing everything down." She pokes at Fidget's knee again with her toe. "A proper labelling system, with knowledge sorted according to topic, makes it so that we don't need to remember every last detail. You just have to remember how to look stuff up. It's how libraries are organized, usually." The Gobbo leans forward, her grin growing toothier. "Maybe you'll be the one to create magical items that store your spoken words, that allow you to recall all the stuff important to you? Or perhaps a means to store a library in your pocket?"
"I'm sure I will end up making something like that. It's a problem that annoys me, so I'll eventually get there." Fidget nods decisively, and she rests a hand on Simony's prodding foot affectionately, "Did I catch you just about to go to sleep?" Fidget asks, curiously. "You're less dressed than usual." she laughs.
"That will be neat, I look forward to seeing what you come up with. You know, I used to desire to be a blacksmith, follow in my Da's footsteps. But you know how life has other ideas sometimes? A priestly blacksmith might make for an interesting combination. I could craft holy weapons, which would work against undead and demons, and even fae creatures." The touch to her foot elicits a squeak and a giggle, and it is quickly pulled away. "Hah, your hands are cold and ticklish!" Simony nods to her, "Yes, I was getting ready for bed. I was going to stay up a bit, read a few things, and try out a different brushing style for painting, and when my eyes start to droop, I can just fall into bed, you know?"
"I could help you with that. We could work together and make holy weapons with which to smite people who annoy us. Though right now, I could use a cold iron weapon more than that." Fidget laughs as Simony squirms away, and wiggles her fingers menacingly at the pale gobbo, threatening further tickles with a grin. "Maybe if we get a book on beating up Fae, we can do all that together! You said this place had a library?"