Inner Storm

Log Info

• Title: Inner Storm
• Emitter: Aryia
• Characters: Aryia, Venom
• Place: Fernwood Pub, Aryia's Rented Room
• Time: September 26th, 2021
• Summary: Venom seeks out Aryia within her room at the Fernwood, the normally stoic enigma breaking down in worry from the dangers of growing close to someone once more while her past was still out there. Aryia soothes her worries with whispered reassurances, easing out more information about Venom's upbringing. After some befuddling endearment, Aryia shares her worries about her sister, and has the sudden realization that she was to depart to Charn soon. Venom promises to be there for when Aryia returns. A promise that Aryia will take with her all the way back to her crucible.

Fernwood Pub, Aryia's Rented Room, Nightfall.

It's a busy day at the Fernwood, nighttime was always the most active time of day. Absent from such festivities was a scarred mul'neissa, her in her room like normal. The lights, strangely, on this time, as she works on cutting a bolt of cloth with a pair of scissors. She's got a tired expression on her, the usual light smile was gone, replaced with a tinge of a frown as she does her best to cut a straight line.

She looks over her room, bolts of cloth everywhere, as well as a number of half made, ruined clothes. There were a few that were, in fact, half decent.

There comes, at that point a tenative series of little taps that barely register....

A couple seconds later, it repeats with more notable firmness.

Outside, a figure cloaked in oilcoth and veils stands ramrod with her right hand extended toward the door, her fingrtips tabbing in sequence against the wooden barrier as her head pivots to look toward either end of the hallway.

The knock makes Aryia sit upright, her blinking. It takes a few beats of her heart, but she smiles brightly for a moment and all but runs over to the portal. She opens the door after unlocking it, a tired looking, yet smiling mul'neissa greeting the veiled figure. She gives a wave and gestures for them to come in, closing the door behind the enigma.

"Hello V!" a hand chirps. <Handspeech>

Venom steps in with a great deal of her usual, regimented stride. Once she's inside, and the door closed, she steps in a little further, looking around.

There's a pause, and she lets out an audible note with her sigh. Her hands lift, and she unfastens the outward manifestations of her persona(paranoia). She seems less 'together' than normal after her unveilings when she turns back to Aryia, her eyes troubled within a mask of uncertainty, "Hello, Aryia."

Aryia is about two steps away from hugging the veiled figure, but the troubled look makes her slow. She reaches out, holding onto one of the gloved hands. "... is something the matter?" she asks with a hand, her visage chipping away to a hint of worry that seemed to find a home on her features. <Handspeech>

Venom closes her eyes, the hand tense and faintly trembling within the Mul'niessa's grip. The human swallows, and when her gaze finally deigns to seek Aryia's, there are embers of regret and fear behind the dark pools of her eyes.

"The other day.... it..." she flounders for words, "I was... off balanc... I don't like... I didn't mean..."

Aryia blinks, her dimmed eyes darting back and forth between the human's features. Concern washes over her face as she steps forward, a hand reaching up to cup Venom's cheek. She squeezes the hand before pulling it away to speak. "Hey, hey. It's okay. You can tell me anything, V. I promise I won't get upset with you," she tries to assuage, thumb brushing along Venom's cheekbone. "What about the other day? Do you mean with my...-"

A pause. Stay strong.

"-sister and Seyardu?"<Handspeech>

Venom closes her eyes and nods, "I.." she leans into the caress with a soft sigh, then her eyes open, drawn to the motions of Aryia's questioning. She nods, "I... we're part of a web of agents....the Metal is still out there... I'm...."

A pause, and her hand, now freed, curls against Aryia's cheek, still slightly atremble, "I don't want... them to... you mmean a lot.... I don't...."

Know how to articulate certain concepts, apparantly. The distress is also muddying her perception, as she didn't immediately note the hesitation in Aryia's sign.

Instead, she steps in to try and engulf the smaller woman in her arms.

That little utterance made Aryia's heart flutter, and the glow in her eyes return to their normal shimmer. "V...." she whispers, stepping forward with Venom to wrap her in a warm, comforting hug. She gets up on her tip toes to softly coo on the wind, "Shhh... shhh... it's okay. I'm here. I'm here..."

She holds the embrace with no intention of letting go, soaking in all the moments she wish she could share outside.

Wetness finds itself in the Mul'niessa's hair shortly after V's cheek settles against her pate, the subtle tremble in her frame abated slightly for the extra support, the emotional anchor.

There's a tight, "Sorry....! I'm sorry.....!" hissed almost breathlessly for her, and the arms tighten.

Aryia staggers a bit in confusion at Venom's intensity. One hand smooths out the raven silk while the other holds on tightly around her waist. "V... it's okay... it's okay... breathe for me. Please breathe," the wind whispers. Still holding, still soaking, and having to be strong. If she couldn't be there for her sister, she could be there for Venom.

Venom's intensity works to her benefit, desperate to hear a reply, her ears do pick up the assurances from the wind; the guidance dropping cogs into mesh.

Breathe...

Breathe....

The arms slacken some, and she sniffles twice before they relent enough to be comfortable.

After the third, she plants a quick kiss at her crown.

She breathes some more, taking the entreaty as instruction, conditioning taking it's steps to bring her emotions back into line. Getting all the cyllinders firing in proper sequence.

At the fifth, she manages to draw back enough to look toward Aryia's face, her own closer to normal though trouble still lurks at the corner of her eyes.

Aryia runs a hand along Venom's back as she tries to reign the whirring machine back into gear. Her lips pull into a reflexive smile at the peck as she pulls away once there was enough slack, an arm still looped around at the waist. The hand in hair brushes at Venom's cheeks, wiping the tears away.

"There you go," the tear stand hand gestures, the mute woman smiling warmly. "Come here." She pulls away from the embrace, leading Venom by the hand over to the bed as she shoves a few half cut white bolts of cloth out of the way. She sits, and pats the spot next to her.

"I've already started working on getting people to disassociate you and me and our... relationship. My fondness is for a... Violet." she offers, hoping that bit of information would smooth some of the human's worries. Her visage hardens just a touch. "Now. Who is this Metal?" <Handpseech>

Venom's lips draw back at the corners, revivified by the warmth she sees there. Without a question, she nods to the directive, and follows the smaller woman's lead to settle onto the bed.

She considers the explaination of the Mul'niessa's efforts to muddy the water and she nods, "Alright...." her smile parts to bare a flash of the whiteness of her teeth, and, "We can build Violet, sometime."

The redirection back to the Metal brings a certain iron to her features, and a dark fire to her eyes, but as common when she discusses certain things, her hands take up the tale.

"Morbid created us, but he needed Hollow and Malice to get us trained, properly." she begins, her signs lingering on the words that serve the subjets as names, "They also helped manage the web, or took out targets the Metal didn't trust to us, alone." <handspeecH>

Seeing as her initiative on the task did its work on easing Venom's worries, Aryia softly sighs and smiles a bit, a hand reaching over to rest on Venom's leg.

As topics turn to more serious endeavors, her attention sharpens, her watching the signs carefully. "Morbid makes you. Hollow and Malice train you while doing more important jobs. So Metal is the leader?" she intuits, taking mental notes. Like anytime Venom spoke of this, Aryia had her full, undivided attention on the matter. <Handspeech>

Venom shakes her head as her hand's come together, signing, "They're all Metal."

She looks down to the hand on her leg, and gently pats it for a few moments, then starts to explain further, "I think Morbid was from Charn. He gave the orders. Hollow was Runish... probably an assassination model, and we never quite figured out where Malice was built, but maybe came from Charn, too. It taught us how to fight. How to endure pain." <handspeech>

"Metal is what the whole thing is called," realization slowly dawns on Aryia. She squints some, trying to think of where Rune was on the map. She didn't have that privilege too much. Aryia watches the explanation quietly, her removing her hand so she could sit cross legged on the bed to face Venom.

She asks another, semi-related question. "V. You keep saying 'model', 'made', things like that. It sounds almost like war golems But you're... very clearly not a war golem. How do they... make you all? I don't feel like it's the... uh... regular way." <Handspeech>

Venom shakes her head, "I... don't know. He never told us, just-" she starts, then, realizing she's talking out loud, switches tacks.

"He just showed us the equipment. Big cauldrons, and tubes. As far back as I can remember, all our chastisements started with how he created us." she signs, "The Metal were golems. They named us like they were, even though we were just Meat. Useful.... but Meat." <handspeech>

She sighs and looks to Aryia as she changes her position, intoning aloud, "There were the three of them, and then Us."

Aryia purses her lips as she watches the signs paint the picture. She frowns. Then sighs. Reaching out, she picks up both of Venom's hands and leans forward, scarred lips planting a soft kiss on her cheek. One hand pulls off to motion. "That sounds terrible. You are not just Meat. You, and your friends, are people. I'm sorry," she slowly motions, ending with brushing Venom's cheek with the back of her hand.

She's quiet, processing all that information that was entrusted to her. Then, she poses a question. One that was not of Venom's past. But instead- "Last time I asked, you said it sufficed. But I'll ask again. Do you like your name? Or do you want to be called something else?" she questions, shimmery eyes watching the human's face with a soft, earnest smile. <Handspeech>

Venom closes her eyes at the kiss for a moment, and her hand's busy themselves with her gloves, setting them aside with her shed accessories, before reaching out to frame Aryia's face.

Her eyes flit down to watch her hands frame her query and her brows knit as her lips part slightly.

Her eyes lower.

"I.... don't know...."

Aryia lowers her face into the framing hands, her closing her eyes. Her hands gesture more, reassuring signs. "Something to think about, then," she smiles warmly, showing off her missing molars in he back. "It took me a long while to come up with a name for myself."

A pause, then a gentle nuzzle into one of the framing hands. "If there is anything I can ever do for you, to help you feel better about being outside with me, please let me know, okay? We are a team. We work well together, you said so yourself." <Handspeech>

Venom nods and smiles again, feeling the nuzzle, and her eyes rise to Aryia's face.

Her lips, warm and tender, move to follow for a brief contact, "We do..." she answers, a ghost of rose across her features.

She strokes back Aryia's hair, "We can figure that out... but... how are you?"

Swallow, "Sweetie?"

The contact is returned with a faint, happy sound, cheeks alight in the same rubor that Venom's features.

Though, at the endearment. Aryia stills. And her visage floods crimson. Her lips turn a warbled sort of smile, like one has when tries to suppress a laugh. She shakes her head and whispers under her breath, "F-ck-ng... d-mn -t Cr-os-nth-..."

She collects herself, her eating her own advice to breathe. "S-Sorry, it's a long story..." she tries to explain poorly, the blush still all over her face. "I'm... doing..."

No point in lying.

Her smile wavers. "... kind of terrible, to be honest." <Handspeech>

Venom seems almost about to giggle at the play of expression across Aryia's features at the word she uses. It wasn't her word, but it seemed to be... applied to them, regardless.

The humor evaporates as Aryia's smile does and she scoots forward, her arms sliding around the smaller woman's shoulders, "What happened...?" she asks tenderly.

Now that was the question of the hour. Or the day. Days. The shimmer in her eyes dim some, as her head droops. "Sister is..."

A long pause. Her closing her eyes to focus on herself. Despite her attempts to remain resolute, her lips pull down into a frown. "... sister is gone," she completes, leaning into one of the arms around her. "We think she's still out there but... she did something selfless. Got a child out of the grips of a demon for herself. We think. The last time you and I saw her? She was giving goodbye letters to Seyardu to pass to everyone later."

A hand curls into the bedsheets, knuckles turning white. Her jaw tenses as the shimmer returns with a bit more intensity. "... I just wish I was strong enough to get her out," <Handspeech>

Venom frowns and seems somewhat confounded by something in what she's being told. She hugs Aryia tighter, and kisses her forehead, "I'm...."

What word is it, again..? "...sorry, Aryia."

Her hand lifts to gently massage those spots at the back of the Mul'niessa's head, trying to soothe her hurts, "I want to help, but... I'm not equipped for that kind of fight.... I wouldn't know where to start..."

The gentle attention makes her tense frame slacken, more of the bottomless pit for affection is fed as she nestles into the hold. Only to go further slack as the spots behind her ears are smoothed out, one of the ears twitching to lightly tap against a hand. She shifts a bit to rest her chin on a shoulder, warm winds breezing by an ear. "You being here is already helping," it murmurs.

"Others are stronger than me... they'll... they'll get her out. I have an idea how to help. I..."

Her hug tightens, eyes widening as she realizes the date. "I-I'm going to Charn tomorrow. To disrupt some slave trade that the demon dabbles in."

It hit her like a brick to the head. Charn. Tomorrow. Willingly going back to that place. That hell hole.

Venom takes the first assurances as they're offered, lapping up the affirmation like a kitten at a bowl of milk. She smiles a little as she feels the ear flicking against her hand, and slightly adjusts the stroke of her fingers to try and keep from tickling her.

She frowns a little at the news that she's headed back to Charn, given everything that's going on, "Are you... sure you're going to be ok going back to that place?"

The memories slowly trickle in, the elf's gaze locked on nothing behind Venom. She was so wrapped up in her head the past few days she didn't even realize that she was about to go back to that place! Every scar ached. Her throat burned.

Fingers curl into the back of Venom's shirt as the soothing movements keep her rooted in the present. And the memories turn into anger. Her jaw clenching. Which morphs into the more recent memories. Warmth. Healing. Her anger distils into grim determination.

"I will be okay," she whispers firmly, certain of herself. "This is for me, and my sister. I will kill those slavers. And maybe, just maybe, find a piece of my past."

She pulls away slightly to look at Venom in the face. A tear leaks out, the drop landing on her shirt with a splash of shadow marking its landing. Aryia's features show fear. But her eyes were hard and steeled. And then it cracks to reveal a warm, if somewhat desperate smile. "Please... please be here when I get back. Okay?" the wind requests.

Venom's mind is trying to wrap itself around the concept of going back to where she was built. Back to where the revolt left her for dead.

Further still, it strains to wrangle the tendrils of thought, of sympathetic understanding of what must be going through Aryia's mind while faced with the idea of returning to her own crucible.

She kisses Aryia's forehead again, then, seeing the storm in her expression, and she considers the Mul'niessa's words before she nods again and, "I will."

She seals that with a kiss.

-End Scene-