Walking Away from Sarcophagi
Log Info
- Title: Walking Away from Sarcophagi
- Emitter: Lheo
- Place: Explorer's Guildhall
Explorer's Guildhall, midafternoon.
There is an air of business-as-usual about the Guildhall today, people in various states of armor and armament coming and going, talking in threes and fours, or standing at tables and counters conducting business. The massive hall is quite warm, in contrast to the freezing weather and snow outside, the massive hearth and the chairs before it well occupied by a group of off-duty mercenary types with mugs of something hot in their hands, swapping stories.
The warmth floods over Lheo immediately as he steps trough the doors, paperwork in hand. His clothing by now is dry, but the edges of the serviceable, old gray robes he'd worn are frayed and torn, and there's a noticeable rip down one right side of his woolen winter cloak, like something had grabbed it and pulled, and a faint stink of death and decomposition lingers about him.
Zero happens to be here today waiting in hand with Theo, his red-pink eyes looking over a number of items on a board in an almost-bored glance. The peacock bard stops on one paper that says it has something to do with giant chickens, and he looks like he's about to point to it with glee to Theo before Lheo steps through the doors. "Look Theo--oh! Lheo!"
He gives a wave to Lheo, but his eyes narrow as he spots the rips and the fraying. "You, my dear friend, look like something the proverbial cat dragged in," he says. "Are you well? All things considered?"
Theo has a rather bored expression set onto his features as he looks at the board, and even Zero's momentary excitement doesn't seem to fully pierce it as the man startles and turns toward Theo's twin. Boredom fades into concern that Theo tries to smooth from his features as he takes in everything. The rip, the scent of death. He clearly wants to move forward, but he doesn't. Instead he stays where he is somewhat behind Zero and lets the other man do the talking for the moment.
Up close, Lheo looks tired but in good spirits, and he flexes his arm readily enough, straightens and pauses to let Zero meet him. "Yes, I'm fine, Zero. " A quirk of a smirk accompanies the words. "Some of those old sil in that crypt they wanted us to check out weren't as dead as they should have been."
His gaze, then, goes past Zero to Theo, and the smirk broadens. "Sorry, brother. I stink and I want out of these robes."
"Oh heavens," Zero remarks, and then he takes a sniff and... His whole handsome face scrunches up into distaste. "Rancid. I was not firm acquaintances with the smell of decrepit ancestors before, and I think I lived a better life for it. But I am glad that you've made it back in one piece... if your clothes have not."
He looks behind him at Theo. "My darling," he says, "shall we go acquire a set of new threads for your brother dear? In the meantime, you'll have to tell us all about your adventure, Lheo; I am... ahhh, to perhaps put a little ribbon on it? deathly curious." Here he smirks, like a cat that's gotten into the cream.
Theo's gaze is hooded and he nods once to his brother. "Certainly." His voice has an odd hesitancy to it and his green eyes flash toward Zero with a mixture of gratitude and... something more complicated. "Whenever you're ready Lheo."
"I've got to handle the paperwork, just a minute." Lheo's smirk vanishes when he gets a good look at Theo, and he holds up a finger on his free hand, then turns away to step over to one of the tables. A few minutes and an exchange of paper ensures, and Lheo is handed a small bag of coin. That done, he turns back to the others, the smirk returned but ragged around the edges. "There."
He stops, though, staring at Theo, and crosses his arms. "Out with it, brother. What's eating you?"
"Go fondle the papers!" Zero responds as Lheo goes to handle paperwork. In the span of the few minutes that passes, Zero looks at Theo and touches his hand. "All will be well, my darling," he says gently, in that reassuring way that Zero can manage.
He gives Theo a little squeeze when Lheo asks the question of his brother, something to give him a bit of courage. Something that the bard's awfully good at doing.
Theo nods to Zero, subtly taking the other man's fingers into his own and winding them together so that they were holding hands. It's not long before Lheo returns, his question making Theo's brow gathering at the question which he waves off with a hand. He appreciates Zero's effort to reassure him, but in this instance it's not necessary. "I've just got a lot on my mind." He offers dismissively. "Come on. Lets get you something else to wear - and a bath."
One of Lheo's raven eyebrows crawls towards his hairline like a hairy caterpillar, but he just lets out a small sigh, and some of the smirk returns. "Magic doesn't replace hot water when you've been swimming in a flooded crypt in Khael," he agrees. "I'd got a start on the robes, and I've yet to mend the cloak, but maybe you'd rather have them for cleaning rags, brother?" The smirk has returned.
"Where to?" he asks. "I've got clean robes back in my room, but everything in my pack is filthy, ad not really fit for the city anyway. Tarna's avoiding me."
"At some point, you have to give up on a tattered cloak and cut it up into cleaning rags, yes," Zero agrees. "It's a good excuse to go looking for something fetching anyway. Now, it's not high fashion, but there's a halfway-decent stall in the market for someone looking for adventuring wear--which shouldn't be all that fashionable anyway, unless your name is Telamon Lupecyll-Atlon."
To that mention of the name, Zero sighs. "A pity," he says, before looking at Theo. "Shall we, my darling? We can even get something nice for you while we're there, too." It appears Zero is fond of spoiling Theo to some degree.
Theo's eyebrow lifts slightly at Zero's exclamation of 'a pity', giving the other man a look that's considering for a moment. He doesn't say anything though, instead shaking his head softly and eyeing his brothers clothes. "Are you sure that they won't chase him off - considering the way he smells? Maybe we should stop off, you could borrow something of mine Lheo and pick up something new to replace... that."
"I'd chase me off," Lheo retorts disgustedly, looking down at the stained and torn mess. They are, thankfully, at least mostly dry, although his movements include a telltale faint squelching in his boots. "I'd not object, providing you aren't planning to dress me in that tin can of yours. Is the TarRaCe the closest bathhouse, or perhaps you know of another?"
"Oh no, heavens no," Zero replies at the suggestion that Lheo could be dressed in Theo's suit of armor. "I rather like Theo in his suit of armor. He looks dashing in it!"
He contemplates. "The TarRaCe is the closest, yes," he remarks. "I'm amenable to the idea of stopping off and borrowing something so poor Lheo does not have to stew in the stench of decaying sildanyar. It might be a fate worse than death in some respects." Zero smiles too smugly again.
Theo snorts and rolls his eyes. "I'd be fairly surprised if you could move around in it." He murmurs in near amusement, his green eyes not filling with the moment of mirth. He shrugs. "I'm sure I have something suitable that won't drive you crazy."
He makes for the door then with short sure steps, bringing Zero with him but not really pulling on their connection. "We can go to the TarRaCe after."
Lheo trails along behind the other two, his usual smirk very much in place. "No doubt you prefer him out of it," he murmurs, a trail of stench following behind him that gradually evaporates once the doors close behind him. "Preferably in something that isn't brighter than the top of the Sunlord's temple, mind. If you've got something, I won't say no."
"Oh, Theo is a treat in and out of most everything," Zero practically purrs as he goes to walk with the group, hand-in-hand with Theo. "But if you've a preference, then I daresay we not dress Lheo in the gold-and-grey underwear I bought for you a while back, my darling." The pride in Zero's voice is palpable; he's so happy he found underwear in Serriel's colors for his Serrielite.
"Now, you'll have to regale us with a bit more than just not-quite-dead-sil, Lheo," Zero adds. "You know me. I'm a lover of a fine story. Comes with being a bard."
Theo reddens slightly, embarrassed by the words. "I wouldn't let him borrow those." He murmurs, his voice quiet and tinged with his emotion. He shakes his head and heads toward where they can pick up some of his clothing for his brother to borrow. His eyes flicker toward Lheo, silently encouraging the other man to tell his story and change the subject.
"I wouldn't want to, brother." Lheo's smirk remains firmly in place, and grene eyes alight with something close to amusement. The look is not lost on him, and he starts his story. "You know how the City's been drafting all kinds of people to go help the sil of the Mythwood with their problems? This was another one of those runs, only this time they've got some kind of a crypt that they'd been hearing strange noises out of, and wanted someone to look into it."
"The place was completely flooded, and getting in involved a slide down and a swim in waist-deep water. I don't doubt there's more there to find, but it's too deep to swim through. We were able to get to a room with sarcophagi, and one of them was open."
"Flooded?" Zero asks with wide eyes as he continues to walk. "Goodness. I would have been very cross if I had to wade in anything that was stagnant water... let alone water that was in a ruin. No one has any idea of what's in that water, after all."
He scowls. "Certainly not water that has undead sil in sarcophagi."
Theo has a serious expression on his face again, his eyes tracing over the streets as they moved along. His lips twist in displeasure. "So that's why you smell like death and decay." His words are soft.
Lheo hesitates a moment, his boots squishing softly on the cobblestones. Thankfully, no water comes out, dirty or otherwise, so they're at least partially dry. "Could have used your help on this one, brother. It tried to pull me in, but it burned just fine, thankfully. I don't doubt there's more in that crypt, once the flooding subsides. The sil sure left a lot of weird stuff behind." No disgust lights his tone, only interest. "They're probably really old, if they were forgotten by the sil."
"If they were forgotten by the sil, yes, they are indeed quite old," Zero responds, although there's a surprising amount of... unease in his voice on the subject. "The sildanyar are a long-lived people with a long-lived memory. To forget is... To suggest something has been buried. Kept secret."
His mouth twists into a little line before he shrugs out his shoulders, like he's loosening tension in his muscles. "At any rate, I'm glad you made it out alive and back to us, Lheo."
Theo's expression takes on a complicated tone as a mixture of them flicker across his face before he can force it to into something more mild. His hand gives a telling twitch where it holds Zero's. Oddly however, he doesn't add any of his own commentary to the conversation. He's quiet.
"Huh." Lheo walks along, a shiver rippling down his spine as the cold air really starts to take hold. "Yes, I am too. There is more to find, and it is likely that I will need to go back. I think I will wrap up a change of clothes in oilcloth before I do, though. If the sil forgot it, they want it forgotten, I guess. Which means that it's probably not pleasant."
"They either forgot it or wanted to change the narrative," Zero says more quietly. "Such as my forebears did."
Then he changes the subject back to Lheo. "That's likely a good idea," he says. "Packing a change of clothes in oilcloth would keep them from getting wet. If I am able to go with my own schedule of performances at the TarRaCe, I may be interested in going with you."
Then he looks at Theo. "Why so quiet, my darling?" he asks.
Theo glances toward Lheo at his brother's words, glad that the other man is paying attention elsewhere when he does so. If his brother had caught the expression on his face just then... They knew one another far too well for him to hide what it meant, and he knew it. It seemed though, that Zero had caught on to some of the tension in him, if only through the fact that he hadn't been cheerfully joining in on the conversation.
He tries to reassure Zero with his fingers that nothing is wrong, but he's never been a good liar and even offering one by omission sits ill in his chest. "Thinking too much." He says, and it's not a lie, but it isn't the whole truth either. "Look, we're almost there, you want me to run and grab you something Lheo, or do you want to pick?"
"We'd better go up, Theo, it's not as if I'm going to change clothing in the street. I'll leave that to exhibitionists, and I'm frozen anyway." Theo's discomfiture is not lost on Lheo, judging by the glances he's shooting at his brother, but for whatever reason, he appears disinclined to press the issue. Here, anyway. "I promise not to poison your rug."
"Worse things have been done on that rug than poison," Zero murmurs before he adds more cheerfully to Theo, "You know, a cage that you build yourself is just as, if not worse, than the cage others build around you. You help me out of mine, I help you out of yours, yes, my darling?"
He looks at Lheo before he replies, "It is far too cold out here for an exhibitionist to be merely an exhibitionist. Masochism would need to be involved at this point." Here he smirks.
Theo rolls his eyes at his brother. "It'd be smarter to take the clothes to the bath and change after you're clean. Less chance of you getting my clothes dirty." He says, pointing out the logic of his plan. "But you're welcome to come in."
His cheeks flush at Zero's words and he moves forward to lead the way to where they can grab some clothing for Lheo. "I'm fine." He murmurs to Zero, not really whispering the words, but not saying them at a normal volume either.
GAME: Lheo rolls perception: (13)+5: 18
Lheo stops at the door to their pad, and crosses his arms. "Brother, I thought your goddess didn't like liars. You've been moping since I found you two. Do you need to give me the clothes, shut the door, and go have a good time while I have a bath and a change?" The smirk is not in its usual spot. "I promise, I won't perish in the bathtub."
"As happy as the idea of a good time sounds to me," Zero says as he looks at Theo, "it is entirely up to my darling. I won't persuade you either way." The peacock bard has, occasionally, an ounce of sense in him enough to be a gentleman of some form.
It's just plain irritation on Theo's face now, his steps stalled as he frowns mildly at his brother. "I am not lying." He says sternly, his body tense now. "Just because I want to keep some things to myself for a time does not make me a liar."
Green eyes lock on Lheo's identical green eyes. "I'm not keeping anything harmful to myself. Nothing that would be a danger to anyone - not even to me." The pressure only served to make him want to keep his thoughts in his mind all the more firmly. He's grateful for Zero's words and he relaxes a minute inch.
"Do you want the clothes or not Lheo?"
Green eyes look back at green eyes, Lheo's stare never dropping, until it does, and he steps back from the doorway. "No. It doesn't." He starts to turn away, something in the set of his shoulders falling just a little. "Sorry to bother you, brother."
Zero looks between Lheo and Theo and... He frowns. Something should be said here. Something ought to be said here. Yet for all his ability as a bard, he lacks the words.
"I was never close to my family," he begins, "but it's a shame to see... the both of you like this." It's all he can express. "I don't think you a bother, Lheo."
Irritation vanishes in a moment in the wake of Lheo's obvious reaction to his words. It is replaced by a nearly identical level of guilt that Theo forces himself to choke down. "As Zero says, you are not a bother. I'm just..." He lifts a hand to his temple, rubbing it briefly. "There's a lot on my mind."
He lets the hand fall and he sighs. "Come on in and pick something out Lheo. I want to get you to a bath mmm?" He moves to open the door and draw them all inside. "You can have whatever you want; but you're wearing your own underwear."
Lheo is about three inches from turning and leaving when Theo invites him in. "I'll get to a bath, one way or another. Pick out whatever you think you can spare for a day or so, I should have smallclothes that I can clean and dry enough to use." His usual smirk is entirely gone, and his demeanor is now closed as he turns and steps inside, allowing Zero to close the door. "Thank you for the loan of them."
He sets his pack down just inside the door, away from anything cloth, and ducks out to leave the winter cloak outside the door. The second silky one beneath it has arcane stitching along the hem, and appears to have taken surprisingly little harm from its swim. It gets folded neatly and laid on a clean patch of floor next to the pack, leaving him to root around in his own pack. Most of it is indeed sodden, but no worse than sodden. "I can probably dry these enough to be usable, if you'd rather not."
Zero admires the arcane cloak, red-pink eyes scanning the stitching along the hem. He looks up at Lheo when the man folds and packs it away. "Focus on your smallclothes, I think," Zero adds as he looks to Theo. "It really shouldn't be an issue to loan clothes. I'd give you some of mine, but you'd hate their fit and style, I imagine."
Theo moves immediately to where he keeps his clothes. "I said you could." He says, then mutters something else under his breath as he gathers up some items that are a little more Lheo's tastes than his own. At times they do dress similarly, so it's not a complete hardship really. He spends a few moments extra making sure that he has everything that his brother might need besides smallclothes before bringing it all back and offering it to the other man.
"Here. Will this do?" He holds the clothes out to Lheo, then frowns half to himself. "Do... you want to go to the bath yourself then?" He's not entirely sure if his reactions have ended his and Zero's invitation to join.
Lheo looks up, from where he'd managed to prize out a less sodden article of his usual smallclothes and dry it with a word and a gesture. The rest got deposited unceremoniously back into the wet pack, but these seem serviceable. He puts the smallclothes with the other things and takes the bundle from Theo. "They're fine. Thank you. No, you can come along if you like." Something in his tone sounds surprised that Theo might want to, and he's still closed, not quite meeting Theo's eyes. "You'd have to ask the bird what that thing that came out of the water was. I don't make a study of the dead."
"A nice warm bath in the dead of winter's exactly the ticket for a day like today anyway," Zero says with no small amount of cheer. "I even promise not to make any passes at Theo in the bath-house. Which, as you know, takes a tremendous amount of effort on my part to abstain from when he's in any state of undress."
His face scrunches at the notion of studying the dead. "I've not much the stomach for such a thing, either," he says. "Leave it to the Vardamans, for I cannot."
Theo offers a very thin smile at Zero's teasing, thinking to himself a moment. His own studies of such things are... paltry really. "Does it matter?" He asks, partially curious. "I had assumed when you said that it burned well that you had destroyed it."
"Yes, we destroyed it." Another shiver ripples through Lheo. "I just don't think we're done with that place, you know? What if there's another, or more like that? What else is down there? If the sil want it forgotten, it's got to be pretty damn bad. " He sighs, and looks towards the door again. "Let's go find that bath. I'm freezing."
There's a firm agreement on finding the bath, and off to the TarRaCe the trio go. Zero's more than eager to shed his clothes and dip into hot waters first, sighing in relief as he leans up against the walls of the bath. "This is always a terrific idea," he says. "I have half a mind to get a drink after this. A cheer to Lheo and his continued good health, yes?"
He smiles brightly. "After all, it would be uncouth of us to wish him any different!"
Theo is only a moment after Zero, his own soft sigh at the enveloping warmth of the waters is slightly muted by his silent appreciation for the glimpse of Zero entering the baths. He doesn't say anything of course, but it's clear in his eyes that he cares for the other man deeply. "Mmmm. A drink would be a fair idea. What do you think Lheo? Drinks after?"
Lheo is the last to undress, his own clothing getting deposited in a pile by the edge. New pink skin covers much of his body, but he seems in no discomfort, and the tracery of three interwoven lines around his navel is left unchanged. He takes the time to scrub himself in the shallow pool first, a quick but thorough job, before sliding into the water to join them. The attention paid to cleanliness means he misses the look that Theo shoots at Zero, and he is only just walking over to the soaking pool when the question of drinks is brought up. "Yeah. Drinks sounds good." He sounds just a touch uncomfortable, though.
Zero looks briefly at the mark around Lheo's navel before he nods in response to the round of assent given for the drinks. "Then we'll have a round of drinks after we're out," he says, before smiling at Theo in not an innocent way. "And maybe a meal as well, mm?"
Double entendre is what the bard deals in, but then he coughs and adds, "No really, something nice and warm for the belly. Like soup. I think that sounds stellar to me. Gods, do I hate winter."
Subtly, Theo details the marks on his brother's body with half an eye. It's not disinterest that reserves him. His gaze doesn't last long, and he rests a washcloth on his forehead, leaning back and enjoying the fresh, clean, and warm waters. Only a small twitch of his lips betraying amusement at Zero's words. "Don't worry Zero, I'll keep you warm."
And that's a promise.