The Chains of Arunsia

[Lord Regal]

Carolyn's yell drew Gemel's attention, his eyes widening for a second as he took in the image of her running at him. He was about to act when Gilly grabbed the instrument maker and started fighting to keep her away from the Commander. "Carolyn, no!" Varus yelled at her. "Fighting him isn't going to solve anything!" With a feral grin, Gemel turned back to the corrupted man, sarcastic surprise dripping in his tone. "Why, Freak...that doesn't sound like you...you're always skulking behind your underlings, letting them do all the dangerous work while you sit back with your bow all safe..." Without any apparent movement on his part, the man known as Crazed stood mere inches away from Varus, oversized shuriken at his throat. In an excellent stage whisper, he continued on while the former Arclight stood stock still so as to not provoke him farther. "How about a little wager, shall we? Bloodlips seems to want me to kill you, while...night I don't have a name for her yet...Braindead? No, that doesn't work, though it does seem to be fitting...anyway! She wants to see me not harm you, or at least I can assume that's what her goal was in rushing to her own death. We let them fight. Their rules, blood doesn't have to be spilled if they want to be boring as a moonless night...coincidentally I'm sick of those...if your friend wins, I'll leave, simple as that, so long as you promise not to bother me again. But if Bloodlips wins, the only change I'll need to make to my sculpture is to remove the overinflated cranium. Sound fair?"

This was a nightmare...Varus couldn't believe it...Gemel hadn't killed Carolyn as soon as she'd attacked which was good, but now..."Gemel, can't weuurgh-" The shuriken pressed into his throat a little, he could feel it threatening to puncture the skin. The man wasn't going to be dissuaded...that had been an old issue of his...once the shorter man decided to do something, you could not stop him. You could knock him out and restrain him, but sooner or later he was going to do it regardless of how intelligent a move it was. "Just...no blood, ok?" the corrupted man managed after a moment, moving his throat as little as possible. He sighed in relief as the steel at his neck retreated a little as a reward for his acquiescence. His life was no longer in his hands...if he went for his bow Gemel would have to move very little to decapitate him. He would just have to hope the two women would come to an agreement to have Gilly throw the fight or something...because if they fought in earnest, the harlequin's underhanded tactics would give her an unfair advantage...

 

[Apelatia]

The act was over quickly. As he extricated himself from Gemel and righted himself again, Melkanai found himself in a bit of a dilemma. Gilly was angry at him because she had supposedly almost killed him with her projectile, and Gemel was likewise miffed, stating that he could have dealt with the threat himself. "My misjudgement..." Melk muttered under his breath as he once again moved to sit on the fallen tree trunk. Gilly was pleading for him to acknowledge her superiority and ability to kill, to which Melk didn't respond. Instead, he looked passively at the harlequin, before turning his attention back to Gemel. The immortal had assumed his former stance and was demanding answers, wanting to know exactly how he possessed knowledge of him. Melk wasn't sure how to respond, and by the time he had come up with an evasive answer, Gilly was already telling him about Loyal, albeit referring to him as "Johnny". All in all, it wasn't that bad. As long as she didn't refer to the fallen Arclight by either his name or his title, things would be OK. The teenager was worried though. Loyal had never spoken at length about the relationships he had held with the other Commanders. The current circumstances were far from ideal for a reunion. Gemel's eccentricities and the fact that he had fled the army suggested that there might be some bad blood between the pair.

Melk's thought process was confirmed all too rapidly. What happened next was beyond his comprehension, as Gemel without warning threw an object at Loyal, which was blocked. The pair then proceeded to have an argument which very much resembled a debate with Gilly. Gemel was somewhat irrational, though perhaps in a different way to Gilly, while Loyal took on the role of the pacifist. During the ensuing conversation, Carolyn had managed to creep up behind Gemel and decided to throw herself at him with a loud cry, intent on killing the intruder. Any harm was prevented by the actions of Gilly, as the harlequin grabbed Carolyn and restrained her. The end result of the whole commotion was that Gilly and Carolyn would fight one another - how on earth did that come about? With Gemel holding his weapon up to Loyal's exposed throat, Melk found himself at a complete loss. Still sat on the branch, he watched proceedings in the clearing progress to a state of chaos. A peaceful night under the stars, free from monsters, had turned into some sort of blood-shedding contest. Running his hands through his dirt-streaked hair, Melk looked from the struggling women, to Gemel, to Loyal and finally to Perran, still fast asleep on the opposite side of the space. They had lost enough group members already, so they could ill afford to drop another. Another loss would definitely send the survivors spiralling into a state of hopelessness and despair...

He had to do something though. He couldn't just sit by and watch. The group would despise him for that - if a group was even going to exist by the time dawn arrived. Carolyn and Gilly had not yet started fighting. Perhaps he could stall it just a little... Just enough to change the course of events. Speaking in a forcibly calm and measured voice, Melk stared directly at Crazed. "Gemel, you never told me why you fled the army..." The boy paused, then continued his spiel. "Loyal is not the same person you knew back then. If you knew him now, you would never think to toy with the outcome of his life. He's a broken man, Gemel. His resolve is still there, and we as a group share that same goal, but Loyal...Varus is no longer the Arclight he once was... By making them fight..." Here, he gestured at Carolyn and Gilly, "...you choose to dictate the outcome of all of our lives. Carolyn, Gilly, Perran and I will all suffer if Loyal goes." By the end of his speech, Melk's initial strong-willed words had subsided into pleading, but the message was still there. As he kept his gaze focused on Gemel, he just had to hope that the older man would listen.

 

[Lord Regal]

Nothing fun had happened before the boy spoke up, asking again why he'd "fled the army" before saying that...Loyal, that was interesting...had changed, was broken, and that they'd be lost without him. Gemel snarled at this, a shuriken appearing in his other hand, pointed at the offending mouth. "I did not flee the army, fool, I decided I didn't want to be used anymore. We were her personal assassins. If someone needed to die, we killed them. Butchers to be used again and again. I have killed countless people, but let me tell you, I have never once felt good about it. I learned to enjoy it, learned to crave it for the shreds of sanity I could hold onto, but the souls cry out for my own blood, they only tear at the madness and make it worse. I hate the voices, the ceaseless voices. Got into carving to drown them out with calmer tones but they're always there, ripping at my mind. But the Freak here...he enjoyed it. Thought it was our light-spawned duty! Thought we were doing Arunsia a service that should be honored! If I kill him...if I end the source of so much suffering, whose appearance now reflects his insides...maybe the voices will leave me alone!" The diminutive man had been growing more and more agitated as he spoke, the hand not holding a razor edge to Varus dropping the weapon to clutch at his head. With visible effort he brought himself back before glaring at Melk. "But the thing that most condemns you, oh newly-named Fool Boy, is that you DARED to suggest he is broken. I have been broken since I was...since I was very young. I am doomed to lose my mind, have felt my sanity slipping away all these years, yet maintaining enough to know just how awful a fate it is. My mind fragments and spins and twists and turns and the voices ruin me...I just want to be left alone, for once in my night-blackened life but I'm never alone! So don't you dare tell me that this shade of what a man should be is broken when I've lived with it for an eternity. I'm being more than fair giving him a chance to survive. They fight! And if you interfere...one more voice slamming my eardrums won't be the straw that broke the bed of rocks...and if you all can't survive without the Freak, you're dead anyway and just don't know it." All throughout this passionate argument Varus had stood still, breathing hard and looking pained on multiple levels, keeping his head at an awkward angle to prevent the razor edge from cutting into him more than it had to. He looked utterly defeated and humiliated, and for whatever reason had not opted to defend himself from these accusations, though it was more than possible that he didn't want to provoke the one holding his life more than he already was...

 

[DeletedUser13682]

She had caught the vagrant by surprise; she had really managed to catch the Guardian unawares, and was about to save the Arclight from death by spinblade. That probably would have happened, if Carolyn hadn't been intercepted by a ferocious harlequin. Said harlequin had pounced down upon Carolyn from an unknown perch, knocking her back and forcing Carolyn's sword arm away from the wayward Guardian. "What's wrong with you, Gilly?" Carolyn yelled, as she fought against being grounded, kept driving forward to where the hooded assassin stood, where he had stood until delivering a verbal jibe slandering the good Arclight's name then seemingly teleported to within inches of the Arclight, pressing the tip of one of the circumference blades against his neck. Carolyn froze in her struggle, nearly causing her and Gilly to topple to the ground. Gemel 'offered' the Arclight an ultimatum; let Carolyn and Gilly fight and the winner would decide whether the Arclight would live or not. In a stroke of 'mercy', Gemel allowed Carolyn and Gilly to choose their method of competition. Before Carolyn could say anything to Gilly, Melk finally entered the encounter, trying to get the Guardian away from the Arclight and the crazy plan to force infighting. That attempt ended in a spectacular failure, causing the Guardian to enter into a rant about how it was he, and not the Arclight that was broken, going crazy from the assassinations he carried out in the name of the Archbeing. He continued on and on about how he required his carvings to keep him from giving in to his insanity and how the Arclight wasn't really a man and not really broken. He was determined to have Carolyn and Gilly fight for some unknown reason that probably didn't even make sense to him, but it was his chosen course and he would stick with it to the end. "Gilly, you can let go of me; I won't move," she spoke to the harlequin, as they continued their mild struggling. "I know that you can beat me in any physical match, Gilly. I also know you don't much care for the Arclight, for obvious reasons. But he's our only chance at surviving. If he dies, we all die. Without him, we'll never get back to Human's Sanctuary. So please, Gilly, please let me win this crazed competition the mad Guardian wants us to participate in. If you really do win, we'll all die. Please?" Carolyn didn't really know what choice Gilly would make in this situation. Was her desire ot see her brother again stronger than her desire to see the Arclight dead, and supposedly guaranteeing her chances with Carolyn? There was no way to find out until Gilly made a decision; Carolyn hoped that it would be the one that allowed them all to live.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Well now...wasn't that a novel idea...it would appear that she and Carrie were to fight one another in order to determine the immortal's fate which she had to admit made perfect sense to her with the harlequin marvelling at the pure brilliance of the plan even if the others were far too narrow minded to see it. Yet despite what was at stake Carrie wasn't fighting her in fact she'd already given up and was pleading with her to throw the fight so as to spare Johnny's miserable life; stating that they all needed him to survive. Well those weren't the rules and Carrie was being very naughty to try and break them after Mr Sneakypants had gone to all the trouble of arranging this little contest for them and giving Johnny far more of a chance at survival than he really deserved.

With a snarl Gilly gave Carrie's wrist a vicious twist causing her to drop the sword she was holding before then pinning her against the nearest tree "you don't get this do you? I love you Carrie, I’ve loved you from the very first moment I laid eyes on you and I'm tired of being forever trapped in that idiot's shadow, he doesn't love you, not the way that I love you…. he's just using you, using all of us in order to complete his stupid quest for his stupid Archbeing...we don't need him, He needs us! Without us he's nothing! He's been out here for centuries and achieved nothing until we arrived and he's not keeping us safe, he's the one risking our lives!" Gilly screamed frustrated over the fact that nobody seemed to understand these simple basic facts that she had repeated time and time again and that still nobody was listening to her... and they call me crazy!

Her mood would then suddenly flip from vicious, snarling, anger to soft, gentle, caring tones as she gently nuzzled the other girls neck; whispering lovingly into her ear as she did so "I don't want to hurt you Carrie and I certainly don't want to see you cry but he's got to die, its for your own good Carrie...and once he's gone we can go home anytime we like, we have the warp seeds, one thought and we're back in your bedroom safe and sound so you see we don't need him at all and we'd all be better off without him" she said; gently kissing Carrie's cheek before then spinning her around to face the pair of immortals with an arm about her throat in what would become a sleeper hold "So Freak, give me one good reason why I should let you live?" she snarled at Varus with a sadistic gleam in her eyes that said that if he didn't make it good then Carrie would go nighty night and when she awoke Varus would be nothing more than a bad dream.

 

[Apelatia]

Why did it have to be like this? Through some terrible twist of fate, Gilly and Carolyn would now fight against one other to decide the outcome of Loyal's life. Gemel had been...harsh. Melkanai shivered inwardly as he once again met the immortal's eyes. He could see in their gaze the mad, determined fervour that often shone from Gilly's own eyes. Melk had sat motionless as he was ranted at, with Gemel explaining with ever-increasing passion that using Loyal's "brokenness" as a reason for sparing his life was invalid. He brushed aside Melk's pleas like a chilled winter breeze. It appeared that Loyal meant no more to him than did the monsters they had recently slain in that very clearing. What was the most ridiculous, however, was Gemel's insistent belief that releasing Loyal's soul from the body to which it was chained would somehow cure the madness that gnawed away at his own soul. "Fool boy" had been a disappointing conclusion to the naming game that Gemel had began when they first met. Under normal circumstances, the name would have angered Melk, but as it was, there were far more important things currently on the line... He wanted to begin speaking again, but was cut short by Carolyn, who was at present arguing with Gilly. The harlequin was evidently the more accomplished fighter of the two, and to make matters worse, Gilly was dead set on winning the fight. Melk so badly wanted to interfere - to get in the middle of the duel, but Gemel's stark warning rang in his his ears. Evidence of Gilly's mental state was on display when she imitated Gemel by referring to Loyal as a "freak". At that present moment, Melk wanted to shout at Gilly, but instead, he looked at Loyal despairingly. He was completely at a loss as to how he could stop the inevitable outcome.

As much as he had disagreed with Loyal and fought against him over the course of their journey thus far, Melk felt a certain connection to the immortal. Not only had he Dreamed about him, but the man was the leader of their group - the one whom he had trusted throughout their battle training and through the tasks that had been set for them. Varus was the one who had first looked after them after their expulsion from Human's Sanctuary. Melk's thoughts turned unbidden to Zain, who at that moment lay lifeless underneath the ground by Hira. He was certain that the ancient warrior would not have stood for the events that were taking place at present. As much as his views had clashed with Loyal's, Zain had managed to maintain a relationship with the man and had been able to see past the things that divided them. In a voice torn between bitterness and sadness at the immortal's death, Melk muttered in a voice just audible enough for Gemel to hear, "Zain was able to forgive Loyal for his actions in the service of the Archbeing... He saw past the wrongdoing and the divisions between them..." Melk lowered his eyes then. "We'll never get the sun back like this... We've already lost so many..." The boy's sad complexion gave an insight into the despair and helplessness that he felt at that moment in time. If only Gemel could just go away... If only he could still be taking his turn on watch, with nothing eventful taking place...

 

[DeletedUser]

Mori followed close behind the guide as he walked off, taking quicker steps to keep pace with the easily brisk walk his height allowed him. The girl followed as well, and Mori pitied her - she could tell the pace was hard on the girl. Her broken body causing her to stumble even as she did her best to keep up. Shaking her head, Mori wondered if she might be able to convince the girl to let her help with the pain… somehow she doubted it, with the girl's delusions that the pain made her pure in the light of the dream. Still, she may offer if they ever found the herbs to help. The girl was annoying but selfishly Mori knew the girl would be little help to them if she could barely walk without falling over. And there was also the small part of Mori's mind, the part that remembered being a mother, that could only see a child needing help when she looked at Rosemary.

Increasing her pace slightly, Mori moved up next to Zain. He had promised he would share information with her and now seemed a good time to ask him a few questions. There was no obvious stop in their journey coming up so she estimated they had the time for it. She debated a moment to herself what to ask him about first. There was of course the immediate issue of the rivers, and then her own questions about her dream. Of all the questions in her mind, she decided to start with what seemed like it would be the most simple to answer.

"How far is it to the river from here?" Waiting a moment after getting the answer to that question, Mori asked the more important one:

"What can you tell me about what's happening to the rivers? It sounded as though it's something quite concerning, but you were vague on what sort of issue it is."

Mori listened intently for his answer, keen on learning what she could from him about the issue.

 

[Lord Regal]

It looked like Gilly wasn't going to listen to Carolyn, putting her in what could become a sleeper hold in seconds. With that, Varus felt most of his remaining hope flicker out. He was going to die. He was going to die, and there wasn't anything he could do about it, not with Gemel holding him at what was more or less sword point. Of course, it was then the harlequin gave him a possible out...she asked for one reason why she shouldn't let his fellow Commander kill him. A glance at Gemel prompted the shorter man to pull away a little, giving him breathing room enough to talk normally. Without any heat or any real trace of any emotion, the corrupted man spoke to her. "I'll give you three, because I don't feel one is sufficient. One. Removing me removes any chance of Carolyn ever caring for you the way you care for her. Or do you think she'd forgive you for killing me? She more than anyone else here has advocated that I'm right, that we should work together to achieve the goal I put forward to you. If you knock her out, you're killing me. You aren't holding the knife, but you're doing it all the same. Do you really believe that there won't be repercussion for that? That she'll forget about me like that and be happy being with the one who acted as my judge and jury?" Varus paused for a moment before continuing. "Two. You can't afford to be wrong. You say you can just take the warp seeds and go home. Tell me, have you ever known a Dreamer to reintegrate into Human's Sanctuary? If I continue living and I prove to be wrong, we will have done the world a great service, and that to me is worth it. If you kill me and you prove to be wrong, that the Gray Guards and Dreamhounds capture you again...you and anyone who goes with you will die. No matter what you've said before, no matter how much you hate me...you can't be certain you're right. Are you willing to accept the blame and the deaths of Carolyn, Melk, and Perran...not to mention your own...if you're wrong?" Another pause, longer than the last. "Three. Quite simply, I don't want to die. I want to keep working to try to improve the world, to redeem it and myself for my failure, restore the world to light. I like our land of Arunsia, and I'd prefer to keep living in it." Solid purple, emotionless eyes met Gilly's, staring at her unblinking. "Well then, Gilandria. Are those sufficient, or should I be saying my goodbyes?"

While Varus was pontificating to Gilly, Gemel was paying attention to Melk, glaring at him as he spoke about being able to forgive Varus for his misdeeds. "Of course Zain could, Boy...Zain's the best person to ever walk this ground. I tried to walk in his shadow, but found myself swallowed in it instead, smothered. What else could I do but leave?" His tone was soft, almost pleading. "I don't know what you're on about about the sun, but I do know that I'm tired. I want to rest without being plagued by the voices of those I've killed, the countless masses. Even the monsters beleaguer me. If I can right a great wrong, it might work. If you could feel your sanity draining from you piece by little piece, would you not try to grasp at any straw that might help you stay afloat? I have no love for the Freak...but that is not why I wish to end his life. I need peace...I need to atone for my sins so that I might live in peace for the rest of eternity. And I will do whatever it takes to get there. There must be something you feel that way about, Boy...so do not fault me for my choices for my own agony." His part said, he turned back to observe the results of Varus' attempt to get Gilly to spare him, hoping that whatever her choice, she made it quick. His arm was getting tired.

------------------------------------

The two youngsters kept up with Zain well, though Rosemary and her lack of shoes or anything resembling coordination proved troublesome at times. The older one, Morinda, approached him after a time with questions, asking how far it was to the river and what was happening. With a sigh, the masked warrior replied, "The river isn't very far compared to our destination...we travel not to the river, but to the lake that is the source of the majority of our fresh water. Ever since we lost the sun, Arunsia has become wetter and wetter. What that means is the rivers and lakes have swollen to beyond their normal size, increasing every year. This would eventually become a problem, but instead of a gradual shift, I've noticed a drastic increase the last few decades. However, only the rivers whose source is the Great Lake have seen that level of expansion. This does include, however, the river that provides Human's Sanctuary with water, and that makes it unacceptable. I'm no scientist, but if left unchecked I would imagine a century or two more leaving it underwater, or at least partially submerged. As my life's work is to aid and assist the humani, I do not desire to see the remaining vestiges die out. Therefore, I want to examine the Great Lake and determine the cause. You have never been outside the walls of your city, so distances are difficult to explain, but you could put multiple hundreds of Human's Sanctuary between the actual one and the Great Lake and not reach our destination with them. Your world," Zain snorted on this word, as though it was amusing, "is a small drop in the ocean that is Arunsia proper. We are near the south coastline now, but our journey will conclude in the northern reaches of the land. It will be long, but it will give you ample time to learn and adapt to life outside the walls." He turned and gazed at Morinda for the first time since he'd begun speaking, watching her reaction to his words. "Does this answer your question?"

 

[DeletedUser28032]

"That's cheating" Gilly grumbled irritably as the Freak decided to break the very simple rules that she'd set out for him and provide her with more reasons than she had originally asked for, which was very naughty of him First Carrie now him! I'm going to have to teach them about rules and what happens when you break them Gilly thought to herself angrily; the arm about Carrie's neck momentarily tightening before relaxing once again No, he can have his chance...I'm not a naughty cheater like he is! The harlequin silently thought as she took the moral high ground where cheating was concerned, though had she known how things would pan out she probably wouldn't have been quite so quick to do so.

There was no shouting or pleading on his part, just simple measured tones in a calm, firm voice which was somehow worse as it made her sound stupid and irrational as he first made his scarily valid point concerning Carrie’s affections followed by the fact that Gilly would be taking an awful big risk by simply returning home like she planned to “No you’re lying! Carrie Loves me I know she loves me, you’re the problem!” Gilly shouted at the immortal, not wanting to hear the possibility that Carrie might leave her if Johnny was to die if not by her hands then by proxy “…I love her, w-we’re going to get married an-an and have babies and we’ll be happy, but you keep getting in the way!” the harlequin babbled incoherently as tears slowly started to roll down her cheeks “tell him Carrie! Tell him you love me!” she cried; desperation now showing in her voice as her grip upon the girl tightened as if she was terrified that someone would come and snatch the pretty redhead away from her. This wasn’t fair, Johnny was cheating again, he was turning them all against her again, making her look stupid and crazy with his big fancy words, and so what if she hadn’t really thought her plan through or like at all at least she had a plan! Johnny was just getting them all slowly killed like… what’s his face and that guy with the shoes.

It was then that he finished with the simple statement that he simply didn’t want to die “you don’t want to die!? What about me! I don’t want to die out here either, I don’t even want to be out here! No you need to die, you need to die now that way we can go home, no more chasing giant monsters and getting killed for something that isn’t real and…and…me and Carrie can get married and…and…”

“Let her go Gilly” Perry’s voice gently but firmly spoke from behind cutting through all the noise and the chatter within her head that threatened to overwhelm her. Maybe Sneakypants was right? Maybe killing Johnny would make it all go away and…”Gilly, listen to me…you need to let Carrie go, Killing Varus isn’t going to solve anything and if you do kill him then it will be over between you and Carrie for good…it will be over between me and you for good too” an anguished whimper was the only response Gilly gave to the ultimatum set before her by Perry, one of the few people within the group she actually cared for.

Perran had been awake for a little while now, after all who could sleep through all that! Either way he’d seen enough to know what was going on and the mess that Gilly had got herself into by taking Carolyn hostage “Come on Gilly you know Varus is right just let them go” Perry quietly asked with a rather tear stained harlequin reluctantly complying “Now she’s going to leave me for him again!” Gilly sobbed as she stepped into Perry’s waiting embrace with the nobleman throwing Carolyn a glare before returning to the task of calming the sobbing girl and hopefully bringing an end to the stand off in which they’d all found themselves.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

The plan hadn't worked; and why would it? Carolyn knew that Gilly would take any chance she could to get the Arclight out of the way, leaving the way to Carolyn open. Well, beyond the barrier that would be automatically set up if he were to be killed. It seemed like Carolyn would actually have to defeat Gilly, somehow. She was a much better combatant than Carolyn, and if... when she lost, the Arclight would be executed, and that would be the end of Carolyn's life. And Carolyn didn't want to fight Gilly either. Sure, she was a bit unstable, but that wasn't really a good reason to hate someone. And there was a thing about Gilly that did draw Carolyn to her, despite any warning signs that might pop up. But the Arclight needed to be saved, and so Carolyn would have to fight. But before Carolyn could fight, Gilly had made her move. With a cry of pain, Carolyn was forced to drop her Messer, followed by being shoved into a tree. "I know this Gilly," Carolyn responded. "I do know how you feel about me and well..." She was interrupted by Gilly's bipolar flip, and the sudden feeling of being nuzzled in the neck. Yes, the neck nuzzling did feel good, but being pinned against a tree didn't, and the complex feelings her brain was receiving was very difficult for Carolyn to process. Luckily she didn't have much time to process the flood of confliction before she was turned around again, and placed in a choke hold. Her available air suddenly decreased, leaving her powerless to do anything but gasp for air.

As Carolyn stood there, slowly strangling, a shape of hope began to be formed from the clay of despair. Gilly offered the Arclight a chance at life, allowing him to convince her the value of his life. The Arclight did her better, giving her three reasons. All very valid and well thought out. He was pretty much correct about how Carolyn would feel if Gilly did let the Arclight die, and about how Human's Sanctuary would probably throw them out again or kill them if they warped back to their home. The Dreamhounds always knew when there was a new Dreamer in the city, and they would most certainly know when they returned. Who knew what the authorities would do if they were discovered again? It had never happened before; there hadn't been a single Dreamer who had returned to the city. One could only imagine what sort of new punishment the government would dream up if they discovered a Dreamer had returned to the city. And of course the Arclight wanted to live. It only made sense to want to live. However, while Melk and the demented Guardian bantered back and forth, Gilly began to break down, demanding that Carolyn tell the Arclight her true feelings for the harlequin and somehow thinking it'd be possible for them to have babies and get married. Impossibilites, to be certain, but Carolyn wasn't willing nor capable of disagreeing.

Eventually, Perran woke up, or rather got into the whole situation. Carolyn didn't know what he had been doing this whole time, but she was grateful that he had stepped in when he did. After a few words, Gilly began to cry, but she did let Carolyn go, who promptly took the opportunity to collapse to the ground, gasping for air. After a moment of collecting herself, Carolyn managed to get herself up and looked around. This situation had gone from pretty hopeful at the moment that Carolyn noticed there was a peaceful conversation in this twisted land to completely hopeless, with the Arclight about to be executed by a former comrade in arms. Gilly was sobbing about how Carolyn would leave her for the Arclight again, while Perran was comforting the harlequin, shooting Carolyn an evil glare. She didn't understand that, but it probably had something to do with abandoning Gilly, which she hadn't really done, yet. But she did want to go and comfort the Arclight. But he still had that circular blade at his neck, and she didn't know if Gemel would kill him if she stepped closer. "Alright, Gemel, please, let the Arclight go," she spoke, after she had enough breath to speak well again. "Killing the Arclight won't make those voices go away. They'll just add another very loud voice to the choir. You'll still hear all of them. So why take that chance? Your carvings seem like a much better way to silence the voices than killing the Arclight. So, please, just let him go and leave us." As Carolyn stood there, she fought back trying to rush at Gemel or run over and comfort the Arclight, even though he looked like he really needed it. He looked just like a puppy that had been kicked. But she didn't want to do anything that would excite the burnt out Guardian into rashly killing the Arclight.

 

[Apelatia]

This time around, Gemel was more rational in his thought processes as he responded to the teenager's latest comments. With Loyal talking at the same time though, Melkanai struggled to keep up with what the immortal was saying. By the time that Gemel had finished speaking, Melk could only sigh and look away, his face still displaying his sadness at Zain's parting. The man hadn't caught the hint that he had tried to drop by mentioning Zain. Instead, Melk had learned some interesting facts about the relationship between the two. It helped explain the, at times, rather abstract concept of the Commanders and their actions for the good Arunsia. That Gemel had been so awed by Zain to cause him to flee from the service was rather drastic. Perhaps, he felt, there were numerous reasons that collectively explained for the departure. This was one, disillusionment might be another... Either way, that was not important right now. Loyal's continued existence was the far more pressing matter.

Drawing his attention away from Gemel for the time being, Melk watched in fascination as Gilly first faltered and then proceeded to give in completely to the situation. Perran's timely intervention had proved the turning point, as well as whatever Loyal had said to persuade Gilly against defeating Carolyn. Whatever the fallen Arclight had said, Melk held no doubt that it would have been persuasive and well thought out. With the harlequin's resolve broken for the moment, Carolyn had once again resumed her defiant character. Melk smiled slightly. Hopefully, this would prove turning point in the situation. Once she had finished speaking, Melk quipped in briefly, making sure to keep his tone passive. "Carolyn is right, Gemel. This is not the way to get rid of the voices. You need a goal - something worth striving for. That will bring you more solace than killing Loyal ever will." He didn't want to get his hopes up just yet, but perhaps they might finally be on their way out of the mess... Sat poised on the branch, Melk waited expectantly for Gemel to make a decision.

 

[DeletedUser]

Zain answered Mori's questions readily, which she was grateful for. His responses, while technically straightforward and easily understood made her feel distinctly separate from him. There was that word "sun" which felt odd in her mind, a word she felt she should have known but yet had no reference for. It was something that was lost… something whose loss affected the entire world. She couldn't picture any single item with that much power. Was it a relic? Something powered by beings beyond human understanding? Mori had never been particularly faithful but it seemed unlikely anything that… impactful could have been a purely human construct.

"Humani." That word also seemed strange. The way Zain said it… it seemed as though he considered himself separate from humans, above them even, working as their protector. And the way he sneered when referring to 'her' world… a world which she hadn't even seen the entirety of, only served to further her perceived separation from him and his experiences. Noticing she had slowed slightly as she thought to herself, Mori stepped out to catch back up to Zain.

"Yes that answers my questions, thank you. If you don't mind answering more..." Mori paused, gathering her thoughts. "You mentioned something about a 'sun' that was lost, I don't believe I've heard of it before… but it seems it was important." Mori looked at Zain, raising an eyebrow as she looked for confirmation and then glanced behind her to where Rosemary followed them. The girl was still keeping up, despite her struggles, and Mori figured it wouldn't be long before she got curious about what they were talking about and decided to but in. This may be Mori's best chance…

"Zain… do you have any idea why you were in my dream? Or rather… why I took your place, spoke with your words, and saw your view in my dream?"

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Gently stroking the sobbing harlequin’s hair, Perran quietly watched as events unfolded before him with both Melk and Carolyn pleading with the crazed immortal to spare Varus' life and release him so that they could continue on with their quest, with the noble continuing to glare at Carolyn's back as they did so. This wasn't the first time that his beloved Gilandria had been reduced to tears because of that woman and once again it was down to him to pick up the pieces and calm her down "I don't w-want t-to stay here Perry, I w-want to go home! Everyone hates me here Perry I-I want to go home!" the girl sobbed into his chest; her tears rapidly soaking his shirt and staining it with her running makeup oh now that's just great! "You're being silly, no one hates you...now I need you to be a big girl and stop crying, can you do that for me?" he gently asked the girl wishing with all his heart that she'd give up her pursuit of Carolyn if only to spare herself all the pain it inevitably brought her. But alas Gilly could no more stop loving Carolyn than he could stop loving her no matter how foolish and damaging it was for them to do so. He should be hurt that she continued to chase after the Redhead even after they’d decided to give being a couple a go but he was more upset over the fact that she’d gotten hurt as a result of her bid to claim the girl for her own using such a poorly thought out plan. With the fact that Gilly had simply been trying to save Carolyn’s life before they’d both been drawn into Gemel’s sick game seemingly forgotten by the others; making Gilly look even more unbalanced than she really was.

Opening up one of the pouches upon her belt Perran would carefully remove the piece of rag Gilly carried with her and slowly began to tenderly remove the smeared mess of makeup from off of her face to reveal the young woman hiding beneath; the young woman that had once forced him at knife point to tell her that he thought she was pretty, which as messed up as it had been, was the truth “W-why are you always s-so nice to me Perry w-when I keep doing mean things to you?” Gilly asked with a puzzled look on her tear stained face clearly unable to fathom the answer to her question “you know why Gilly, and as soon as this mess has been resolved the two of us are going to lie down and get some sleep ok?” though the way that things were dragging on he was starting to become worried that Gemel would kill Varus regardless of the fact that Carolyn had “won” his little contest with him even more fearful over what would happen to them afterwards. He may not be particularly fond of Varus but unlike Gilly he knew full well that if they were to survive out here then they needed the purple skinned immortal to live.

 

[Lord Regal]

Without any sort of flourish, or indeed any semblance of movement, Gemel let go of Varus and moved to a nearby tree, sitting on a low branch as though he'd been there for hours, shuriken nowhere to be found. "You've got some real friends here, Varus," he muttered, bitterness seeping in his tone. "I don't know what you did or what you said to get them to care that much, but you did. I...envy you for that." He looked over at Carolyn. "I can't leave, though. She's coming here and I'd rather spare myself the indignity of being called back like a dog." With a sigh, the former Commander leaned back into a resting position. "So I know why she's out here, Freak. Why are you?"

Varus had more or less crumpled to the ground, breathing hard, after Gemel had let him go. He looked up at this, though his expression was, even for him, devoid of any emotion. "I'm looking for a piece of the broken sun. It should be somewhere in the forest. Why-"

"If you wanted to find something, all you had to do was ask the animals, or the trees. Night, even the monsters know not to go to that one place. Dark if I know why, but nothing goes there. I won't be an idiot and follow you all, but I'll show you the way. You'll die as sure as if I'd cut your throat, but hey, at least I'm absolved of it, right?"

The former Arclight frowned up at his old ally. "Gemel, you...sound almost sane."

"Of course I do...it's unpredictable, now more than ever, how much I feel my mind betray me. I'm tired, Freak...tired and old. Sometimes even my own mind cannot pierce my mind. What is insanity if not unpredictable? I suffered a blow just now, you know. This is the aftermath. In a moment, who can say how I'll feel? Probably not good, once she shows up."

With a sigh, Varus moved himself to a seated position, looking over at Carolyn, then Melk, then Perran and Gilly. "Thank you, all...for trusting me enough, even after everything we've seen and done, to want to save me. I...cannot thank you enough, truly. We...should rest now, so that we can move out refreshed, while Gemel...wait, who is 'she'?"

"I'm not telling you if you don't have the good sense to figure it out, Freak." The response was waspish and harsh, though the figure in the trees didn't make any sort of movement fitting the words. "Think about it for half a second and it'll be obvious. Now stop talking to me, I'm going to want to be good and insane so I don't have to deal with her."

---------------------------------------------------------------

The elder, Morinda, continued to prove she was quick of mind, inquiring as to the identity of the sun. "It is not something you or your even distant ancestors would have seen, though I assure you it existed. The sun was a ball of the brightest light, capable of lighting the sky to a brilliant blue and casting away the shadows on the ground. It would be in the sky for twelve hours, and then darkness would take its place for another twelve. This is why, even today, Human's Sanctuary operates on a twenty four hour cycle. It is too deeply ingrained in your culture to be otherwise. Around a millennium ago, there was an event which resulted in the sun being destroyed, darkness falling, and an influx of monsters entering Arunsia. The humani were culled, save in one area, which became the Sanctuary you knew and lived in all this time." Zain's tone took on a darker inflection. "You are held inside like livestock. The Enemy keeps some number of you around for his amusement, I am sure of it, though I do not understand why. All I know is that the false king is not of our species. What it is, and why it was selected to watch over the remnants of our people, I do not know. The Enemy put it there for a reason, but it is beyond my knowledge."

A low growl emanated from the cracked mask as Morinda went on to talk about her Dream. "The Dreams are not my expertise. A man I call Loyal studied them for a while after the land went dark, and he knows more, though I don't believe even he understands it in full. All I can say is each Dream contains a fragment of the past, shown in full truth and in its entirety. Why they happen, and why the Enemy acts so afraid of them, I do not know. At the very least, it is an effective scare tactic. Remain good citizens and maybe you won't be an unlucky one, forced to leave. Whatever you saw of me, it happened. Any thoughts you had, any emotion, they were mine at that time. If you tell me what it was, I might be able to give you more information about the event you were witness to. That is your choice, though, I will not ask you to divulge it." He looked back at Rosemary, still half stumbling in her efforts to keep up. "I will confess, I worry for her. Her mind is addled. It seems my fate to attract such individuals. I will do all I can to help the two of you, but I would also ask you to assist in ensuring she does nothing foolish out of her belief that the Dream begins the road to a gloried afterlife." After getting a response from the woman next to him, he stopped and allowed his sword to vanish before pulling off his pack. "We will break here for a meal. It is clear enough of an area we'll see anything coming on us in enough time to react. Tell me, are either of you impartial to meat?"

 

[DeletedUser28032]

And just like that the stand off was over. No threats, no reluctance, no angry monologues, Gemel simply released Varus and then sat down on a low hanging branch, his mind seemingly returning to something loosely resembling sanity much like Gilly's did on occasion causing him to wonder whether or not the pair suffered from very similar afflictions and could perhaps, dare he say it? Help one another? It was certainly an intriguing thought but not one to be pursued at this point in time.

With Gilly slowly drifting off to sleep within his arms it would be tempting to follow Varus' advice and try and get some sleep, but there was something Perran needed to care of first before he could even contemplate resting "I'll be back soon Gilly, there's something I need to do first, it won't take long I promise" Perran whispered to the dozing Harlequin as he gently laid her down at the foot of a tree where she promptly curled up and went to sleep, muttering something incomprehensible in a sleep fogged voice.

Striding over to where Carolyn stood with a purposeful look on his face, Perran would seize her wrist before speaking in a voice that would brook no insubordination from the woman "Carolyn we need to talk, now!" he spoke in a growl; dragging her away from the others before she even had chance to protest, so as to have their talk in private.

As soon as they were far enough away from the others so as not be easily overheard Perran would angrily turn on the redhead with his anger barely held in check as he spoke to her "I don't know what game you think you're playing Carolyn but it stops now!" he snapped at her; using his height to loom over her as he delivered his scolding "...You know how she feels about you and you certainly know what she's like, so stop toying with her! I'm sick and fed up with seeing her getting hurt by your vicious little games so either you find some way of having a meaningful relationship with that poor girl or you end it so she can move on! Do you understand me? Because if you don't someone is going wind up getting seriously hurt or killed because of you, and if that person happens to be Gilly..." there was need for Perran to finish his threat as the look in his eyes made it abundantly clear what would happen to Carolyn if such an outcome was to occur.

With a look on his face that was completely devoid of pity he would wait to see how Carolyn would respond to him, if she even dared to considering the look on his face, though he hoped for her sake that she understood what she had to do and the sooner she did it the better.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

It seemed that things had finally started to work for the Arclight's group, for Gemel had finally given up trying to kill the Arclight and was now slumped against a tree. He had suddenly turned morose, quite the drastic change from his extremely excitable mood of only a minute ago. There had been people back at Human's Sanctuary that exhibited such symptoms, though over a time span of weeks or days instead of minutes. Gemel was now lamenting about having to meet up with some woman. That meant that there was at least one other person here, though if this woman kept such company, then there was no telling what she would be like. It was possible that she was all the irritable with none of the lethargy to balance it out. As the Arclight conversed with Gemel, Carolyn took her place by the Arclight’s side, and leaned against him, draping her arm over his shoulder. It was quite the interesting conversation; Gemel apparently knew exactly where the fragment was being held, though he was certain that anyone headed there would receive a guaranteed death. He'd probably fought alongside the Arclight in days gone by, so his warning was probably sound. Or rather it would be if he had been around recently.“We've already retrieved several of the fragments, Gemel,”Carolyn interjected, while temporarily pulling her's out of her pocket.“We'll be able to get the rest of them easily enough.”The Arclight then thanked everyone for being suportive of him, and believing in him. Carolyn didn't have the heart to tell him that Gilly had attacked her while defending the Arclight from Gemel's threat. Of course he knew, but the whole experience seemed to have taken something out of him. He seemed to be taking everything very hard; so hard in fact, that he wasn't able to identify the woman that was going to visit Gemel, though he seemed to think that the Arclight would be capable of easily figuring it out.

"I think I'm going to take a trip to the woman's tree, Arclight," Carolyn declared with an added chuckle, as she stood up and stretched her aching body. However, before she could so much as take a single step towards a nearby tree, that darned noble Perran decided to sieze Carolyn by the wrist and drag her away towards the treeline, stating that they needed to talk in a tone that reminded her of some predatory animal. He gave Carolyn no option but to give the Arclight a glance of pleading help before she was dragged out of sight of the reast of the party. The two quickly disappeared into the treeline, where Perran decided to tear into her for some sort of imagined slight against Gilly. The wayward noble was convinced that Carolyn was playing games with Gilly, leading her on, or playing around with her emotions, or something. It wasn't that easy to tell what Perran's intentions were, what with his noble delusions that seemed to constantly cloud his decisions and interactions. Carolyn would have assumed that Perran would have lost almost all of those illusions, but it appeared that he hadn't learned his lessons. She stared straight into the eyes of the fallen nobleman, his gaze suggesting that he felt she wouldn't have the bravery to meet his eyesight with her own. "How do you get off assuming my intentions, you petty, fallen noble?" Carolyn yelled at the the wayward man, staring him straight in the eyes, though his gaze suggested that he hadn't expected her capable of performing such an act. "You've lost your literal high horse out here in the wastelands, and now you have to take up any figurative one that you think will help you keep the illusion of rightful rulership over all the rest of us stuck out here with you. But you're not in charge of anything, anymore. We're all very, very equal here, now. I wonder how severe your mental crisis has become right about now. It must be very, very bad, to justify taking such drastic measures against me for some imagined transgression. I've not committed any sin. If you knew the situation I'm currently experiencing, if you knew how I felt about both the Arclight and Gilandria, you wouldn't be saying anything to me right now. You would be sympathising with me if you felt even a tenth of what I feel for those two. You'd probably be helping me unconditionally. I'm walking a very thing line with those two. I love the Arclight, and I'm certain that he loves me. But I also love Gilandria. I can't be with both if they don't understand how the Young Arunsians handle matters of the heart. I know you don't understand; if you did, you probably wouldn't have dragged me away from the Arclight just a few moments ago. He needs comfort right now. He's mentally exhausted. He just survived certain death.

"And then there's Gilandria. She really does love me and I really do love her as well. I don't want you to ever doubt that. But the Arclight most likely has different morals than us Young Arunsians. He comes from a much older time, a time that probably has very different morals then our modern times and especially the Young Arunsians, and I don't know much about any of the morals that they would have had back in the Arclight's day. I only have to assume that they had very many different views on matters of the heart. I have to introduce Him to how we do love slowly. Very, very slowly. I don't want to drive him away, but I don't want to drive Gilandria away either. I love both of them, can't you see that? And I want to be with them both. It's just taking some time to figure out how best to deal with this peculiar situation. I know that I can have both the Arclight and Gilandria. I just don't quite know how to get everyone used to the idea yet. Please, understand that I mean no harm to either of them. I'll make it all work out." Carolyn hoped that the wayward noble would understand the situation that Carolyn was in. He had probably had to juggle several lovers, though he probably never intended to allow the women to know about each other. But still, he probably would understand that having strong feeligns for several people was very difficult to deal with. He would probably sympathise with her predicament now that he knew what was happening.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Damn this accursed woman and her stubbornness! Not only was she refusing to see the harm she was doing to Gilly, but was actually accusing him of trying to lord it over everyone else just because he happened to come from a noble family, not that it mattered one jot out here, of that much at least she was correct though it did little to soothe his temper “now listen here you stupid girl, I have never used my family’s name for personal gain, and I have done far more to try and help the downtrodden than your precious Young Arunsian’s ever have, with your riots and endless political diatribe!” Perran snapped, now thoroughly sick to the back teeth over her incessant talk about that useless group of intellectual’s and Bohemians to which she’d once belonged.

Perran had tried to help. Tried to use his family’s money and influence to help better the world in which he’d lived in but unfortunately his family’s money was just that; his family’s money, with precious little of his own. But all the same he’d visited the prisons and the asylums of Human’s Sanctuary trying to help improve those wretched institutions, much to his family’s disapproval, in whatever small way that he could. Institutions that his beloved, if wayward Gilandria would have been destined reside within had she not been cast out of Human’s Sanctuary with the rest of them. The very thought of her being locked away in one of those cold, dark cells causing a stab of pain within his chest.

By this point Carolyn had moved away from her personal attack against him to bemoan the situation in which she had put herself; in love with two very different people and trying, to put it accurately, to have her cake and eat it “Dark woman! Were you not paying attention to what happened back there!? They hate each other! And they are never going to agree to share you” not that you’re such a great catch anyway! He silently added, stunned by the girl’s pure arrogance and selfish belief that she could get both of them to love her and ignore their hatred of the each other. Though to be honest he wasn’t really sure how Varus felt about Gilandria, though after recent events she probably wasn’t his most favourite person in the world right now.

With Carolyn either incapable or unwilling to acknowledge the pain that she was causing through her actions Perran decided that perhaps a different tactic was required with the former nobleman taking the time to calm himself down before speaking to her in calm if still rather firm voice “You know she tried to run away right? Back in Hira after you rejected her the first time Gilly was going to literally walk home if I hadn’t stopped her… the very sight of you and Varus together is torturing her, and we both know what will happen if she snaps” Varus with his throat cut or Gilly with an arrow in her chest, neither outcome was particularly pleasant to think about, and both would destroy the group and its quest to restore the sun along with it “…There is no more time Carolyn, I won’t let you keep hurting her like this! She tried to save your life and ended up looking the villain, the poor girl is in agony so either figure out a way of getting your little love triangle to work or end it and let her move on” it’d be rough on her, but Gilandria’s heart would mend with time, Perran would see to that, and with any luck the tension threatening to destroy the group would disappear.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

He still didn't understand her plight. After explaining everything to him, the blighted noble still couldn't wrap his mind around the knife edge situation that Carolyn was in. And now he was claiming that he'd done much more to help the plight of the people than Carolyn and her group ever had. "Democracy cannot come from above! Your money goes to the heads of institutions and members of government, and nothing changes but the distribution of wealth between the richest of the citizens. We're making actual change, gotten several administrators removed and replaced with ones who actually care about the people. What has your money done?" But then, by some miracle, Perran actually brought up a valid point. The Arclight and Gilly very much disliked each other. Well, hated, really. They hated each other, and there were several times that Gilly had tried to kill the Arclight. Carolyn had written it off as a symptom of her mental condition that could be healed with time. But maybe he was right. Maybe it would never work with the three of them. Carolyn was probably never going to get those two to play nice together, and definitely not with herself, either. Even if it was possible to enlighten the Arclight about such matters, it probably wouldn't be possible to convince Gilly to share. But that shouldn't mean that Carolyn surrender the concept. She'd just have to try other tactics.

Carolyn was about to argue this point, when Perran decided to say something that stopped all arguments before they could leave Carolyn's mouth. He claimed that Gilly had run away after the fight at Hira, spurned by Carolyn's rejection, wandering off into near certain death. Her life had been saved only by quick action on Perran's part. The story did fit the time with when those two got together, though that relationship didn't last too long. But it might have lasted longer if Carolyn hadn't tried anything with her. It was possible that he was lying, but if he wasn't, and Carolyn's actions drove the group apart, they would all probably die out here without completing their quest. "Fine, Perran, you win. I'll end everything with Gilly. You can have her. But I'm only doing this to guarantee that our group stays together. I'm not saying whether I believe you or not, but I'm not willing to risk our group or our mission on it. Enjoy." Carolyn walked off back towards the group, searching for Gilly or maybe the Arclight, whoever she ran into first.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

"Win!? You think I want to do this? I love her Carolyn and this is going to destroy her!" Perry shouted as Carolyn flounced off in a huff, seemingly of the opinion that this had all been a move on his part to have Gilandria to himself. Sure he loved Gilly with all his heart and wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with her but deep down he knew that that would never happen because although there was some genuine affection between the two of them he simply wasn't what she wanted, she wanted Carolyn, and Perran was just a rather poor consolation prize. Was it really too much of a stretch for him to simply want her to be happy?

With a weary sigh Perran started to trudge back to where Gilly and the others were and not particularly looking forward to what was about to happen, maybe she'll still be asleep? his mind suggested, thinking that it would be nice for Gilandria to have just one more night with her heart intact, after all Carolyn wouldn't be cruel enough to wake the poor girl up in order to dump her meaning that all he had to do was snuggle up beside her and get some much needed rest. With any luck he would come up with a plan of how to deal with the situation when the time came and just hope that she didn’t take it too badly as there was no way of knowing for sure how the harlequin would react to being rejected by Carolyn for the final time, with everything from suicidal depression to homicidal rage being a possibility…perhaps even both at the same time his mind grimly added, after all with a personality as unpredictable and unhinged as hers anything was possible.

Lying at the foot of a very large tree Gilly slowly returned to the land of the living only to find that she was all by herself…well… not entirely by herself as Johnny and Melkie were a short distance away talking to Sneakypants but there was nobody lying beside her which probably explained why she'd woken up, as she’d never really mastered the art of sleeping without somebody lying beside her as her brother would attest.

With only Melkie and the two immortals in sight, none of whom were ideal candidates for cuddles, Gilly quietly got to her feet and went in search of Perry, or possibly even Pretty Carrie, with the prospect of doing a little more than simply cuddling up to the redhead sounding rather enticing to the harlequin, assuming of course that Carrie was still talking to her after her part in Johnny’s recent brush with death. Though all things considered that would be rather unfair as she hadn’t meant to get Johnny killed, all she’d wanted to do was make sure that Pretty Carrie didn’t get killed by trying to save the idiot immortal who, lets face it, deserved to die a very nasty blood soaked death that was preferably by her hands. But that could wait, she’d waited this long she could continue to be patient, especially if it meant that she still had a chance with Carrie.

As luck would have it, it was at that moment that the girl in question would emerge from in amongst the trees with the mere sight of her prompting a smile to appear on her unadorned face. Had she remembered that Perry had washed off all of her makeup and untied the ribbons in her hair so that it fell about her shoulders Gilly would have been horrified by the prospect of greeting the love of her life in such a state. But as it was she simply skipped over to meet Carrie with a smile on her face and a spring in her step “Hey pretty Carrie…y-you’re not mad at me are you? Cos…I…I didn’t mean to hurt you it was all Sneakpants fault, he tricked me!... Kiss and make up?” she finished in a hopeful voice as her arms slipped about the other girl’s waist with the harlequin clearly hoping that Carrie would take her up on the offer to literally Kiss and Make up…a Girl could Dream.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

This was not a very good time in the wastes, unfortunately. Sure, they weren't really that great normally, but now they were very terrible, indeed. This was a very nasty thing that Carolyn had to do. She knew thta she had to break up with Gilly, before they they had managed to hit anything off. But to end this thing now might break the group apart, but so might continuing down this same path. Perhaps Perran was right; trying to get both the Arclight and Gilly to play well together would end only in disaster, resulting in one or both of their deaths. And any death at this time, regardless of whose it was, would cause the survivors to fall apart and be picked off one by one by all the varieties of evil in this wicked place. The Arclight would probably survive, though the experience would probably leave him so traumatized that he would end up taking his own life over the matter. Carolyn couldn't have that on her hands. But, there had to be a way to let Gilly down softly. So softly that she didn't feel any resentment towards the Arclight, or Carolyn herself. But, the perfect plan would take time to formulate. Time that she apparently didn't have anymore.

Back into the clearing for less than a half minute, and Gilly appeared, coming straight towards Carolyn like a retriever. The first thing Carolyn noticed was that she wasn't wearing all that harlequin make up. It certainly was much of an improvement. "Oh, hey there Gilly. You look nice..." This was way too soon; there hadn't even been enough time to figure out the perfect opening line. There needed to be more preperation. But this was too soon. But, Carolyn would have to improvise something. "Gilly, we've got to talk. I'm not angry at you. I did act rashly, but I felt that I needed to protect the Arclight. I don't know if Immortals can kill other Immortals. You're fine, great even. And hell, I'd love to kiss and make out... up, but..." This was an extremely tough situation to figure out. But there may be some way to figure it out without hurting anyone too badly. "You belong with Perran, Gilly. I've seen you two together. He has strong feelings for you, and I know you have feelings for him as well. He's should still be right over there." Carolyn pointed to where she had just emerged from the woods. "You should go to him, and give him comfort." It was hard, saying no to that face. But it needed to be done, not only to ensure the group's cohesion, but probably the continued sanity of the Arclight.