Tieve: The girl from the Hillside (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tiveragh) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
morphicpools2024-08-08 11:46 pm
tiveragh) wrote in morphicpools2024-08-08 11:46 pm
Into the Feywild (@carebarian)
Tieve's persuasion skills have come through in the clutch more than once on their wild journey, but she will never be more grateful for their success than the moment Karlach agrees to follow her. Not to Avernus--while Tieve herself might think the price of living in the Hells is worth it for the chance to explore and find a way out later, she can't blame Karlach for refusing. She can see the marks of loneliness in her more clearly than anyone. They've both done decade-long sentences in uncertain solitude. Tieve was just luckier in that hers was not in a war zone.
As soon as the yes leaves Karlach's lips, as soon as they've called out a last frantic farewell-for-now to their friends, Tieve pulls open the door. They're on the docks, and that's close enough to a crossroads. They leave the world without taking a step.
And instead of the rising pink dawn, they're surrounded by curtains of velvet purple twilight. It's usually twilight here. Sometimes the sun rises, or the moon, but the fey prefer not to have the eyes of other gods upon them. Now, the sky above is a pristine, unbroken shade of violet, soft on the eyes but almost unsettling in its perfection. The ground is sand under their feet, white as milk, and there's clear water to the west. To the east, trees rise up, impossibly tall, every imaginable shade of green in the gloaming.
Tieve's hands come up to grip Karlach's forearms almost at once, heedless of the risk. She thinks, she hopes, the fires are already dying down. "How do you feel? Breathe slow, breathe deep. I'm here."
As soon as the yes leaves Karlach's lips, as soon as they've called out a last frantic farewell-for-now to their friends, Tieve pulls open the door. They're on the docks, and that's close enough to a crossroads. They leave the world without taking a step.
And instead of the rising pink dawn, they're surrounded by curtains of velvet purple twilight. It's usually twilight here. Sometimes the sun rises, or the moon, but the fey prefer not to have the eyes of other gods upon them. Now, the sky above is a pristine, unbroken shade of violet, soft on the eyes but almost unsettling in its perfection. The ground is sand under their feet, white as milk, and there's clear water to the west. To the east, trees rise up, impossibly tall, every imaginable shade of green in the gloaming.
Tieve's hands come up to grip Karlach's forearms almost at once, heedless of the risk. She thinks, she hopes, the fires are already dying down. "How do you feel? Breathe slow, breathe deep. I'm here."
no subject
Ugh, she'll miss them all so much, but...
"I'm here. For as long as you'll have me," she says, smiling in a way she hasn't found the occasion to in so long. It's been such a blur, so much blood and tears shed, so many enormously exhausting battles bookending one another. The prospect of rest, of time, of picking back up where they'd left off is almost more exciting than this brand new adventure.
And unlike in Avernus, she actually has someone she trusts to guide her. It does ache in her heart, the thought of Tieve laboring here alone, of her having to make her own way the same as Karlach did in the Hells, but what a boon that expertise makes for now. Karlach is careful where she steps, cognizant of each rule as they pass beyond the threshold of the forest, her slitted eyes narrowing as she casts a look all around.
"So... standard Baldurian pub rules, then." It's a joke — but also not, gods, she still remembers her first ill-fated run-in with the Mermaid's everlasting stew. "Avernus, too, operated much the same way. I'll be careful, love."
And hopefully Tieve would be by her side most of the time. This far into their journey, she truly could not imagine any degree of separation from her. The thought alone had her squeezing Tieve's fingers as they walked.
no subject
"Well, I haven't had you yet, but we can work on that." Tieve gives her the least convincing innocent look possible. "Once we find a safe shelter. You know I've had a crush on you since we met, right?"
She laughs at the joke, because it is sort of apt, at least where the drinks are concerned. And being wary of gifts. "They all want bargains, don't they? Fey, devils, gods...we always have something they want that's not easily taken from us. Souls must be very powerful."
She's quiet for a moment, ducking under some branches to find a deer trail to walk on. At least, it could be a deer trail. There are plenty of other odd creatures in faerie.