trial by ordeal

i hear. house of judgement always hears. has to. to keep houses together. had to.

[dregstrength-blog]

jsyk guys, if I follow you it’s probably because I’m more active on my sideblog.

[afallenprophet-deactivated20200]

   “Well—” He’s about to answer, but Variks circling around him and walking away silences him for the time being. The Captain drops his hands to his sides and watches the Scribe silently over his shoulder, taking his continuation of their conversation as an invitation to follow.

   Heavy feet now echo through the hall, the quiet rattle of metal shuddering against metal with every step lets all who cares to know that he’s trailing through the area. The sound of another grunt breaks in between the soft little noises, eyes darting down to look at his friend as he habitually refused to lower his proud head.

   “It tells me things about you.” Skolas wasn’t a hulking idiot, although he knew they were little more than things Variks simply collected, he felt the need to know why he picked that up, why he kept it. It was fascinating. Like looking in through the window of a dark home and seeing mere glimpses of what rests inside.

[dregstrength-blog]

The sound of his staff clicking against the metal floor along with Skolas’ footsteps (preditcable) echoes through the otherwise silent hallway. It’s not unusual for him to be seen with Skolas, really, whether it’s assumed to simply be Skolas’ never ending curiosity and hunger for knowledge or their friendship. 

   “Asking works just as well.” Is his subdued response, eyes still ahead of himself for a few moments longer before he turns his head slightly to look up at his companion. “You.. take more than you ask.”

[afallenprophet-deactivated20200]

Skolas squints at him, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Are you saying….?” He growls a bit, looking away. How rude. He bathes! He bathes plenty. As often as he can. It’s only been… two weeks.

      A moment of silence.

 “No, no. That’s not what I was thinking.” He starts slowly, flexing his fingers as he touches on the fact that he was actually thinking of something vulgar. “… Are you going to supervise me every time I touch things now?”

[dregstrength-blog]

....Anyway.

“Every time you touch my things.” He’s starting to sound exasperated at this point. “You appear quite enthralled with what I’ve gathered enough to forget everything else there already is.”

He trails off a few moments, shaking his head and chuckling again.

“What makes these things so interesting when I have them, I wonder.” With that, he circles around Skolas, intend on making his way back to his room, indifferent to whether or not the Captain decides to follow behind again. “You can find more of these things elsewhere. Other places.”

[afallenprophet-deactivated20200]

 “Oh? And what have you noticed?” Skolas’ tone was borderline teasing and he began to wonder… Had he noticed all his attempts at subtlety? Part of him hopes not.

But then Variks starts to talk and he listens, staring down at the much smaller Eliksni and grunting when he taps the backs his hands, putting them behind his back—-all four—-with his hands clutching at wrists.

       “What will I practice on?”

[dregstrength-blog]

Variks gives him a complacent, if not blank, stare, brows arching; his teasing doesn’t go unnoticed per se... But he doesn’t bother to grace it with the same kind of attention. 

“It is difficult not to notice where you’ve been, if I do not smell it first.” He looks up again, the object held back in his smaller hands and held to his stomach protectively. “Hopefully not my possessions, perhaps.”

[afallenprophet-deactivated20200]

  “My mess!? What makes you think I’m going to—–” Skolas grunts at Variks, folding his arms across his chest. Why, he’s never been so offended!

  “I can touch… delicately. I could display that if you’d let me.”

[dregstrength-blog]

  “My friend,” he begins, voice almost as delicate as Skolas wishes his hands would be, “You are not as subtle as you think you are. I notice things.”

“Hands like yours are not for handling things such as this.” He declares, lifting up the object and turning it in the light every which way to watch as it reflects off the surface. While not every Captain is about as brutish as he’s making them seem.. A chitter of laughter rolls in his throat as he sets it down, lowering his staff to tap the Wolf Captain on the backs of his hands. “Maybe with practice?” 

[afallenprophet-deactivated20200]

 Skolas huffs at him, inevitably, as if these things were his own to touch.

   “I just wanted a closer look.”

[dregstrength-blog]

“Yes, yes,” he says dismissively, waving his hand and giving a curt, short shove. “You always do. Not now. I do not have the patience to clean your mess.”

Variks spares him little more than a chastising look, slowly drawing the object back towards himself, cradling it as one would a precious heirloom. 

“Your curiosity knows no bounds, but your delicate touch needs work, Rabid.” 

[dregstrength-blog]

  Hiss. Uses his staff to push his fingers away.

    “Stop your.. touching.” 

[emisscry-deactivated20171002]

            “Ha, you mean that little death trap you sent me into, Variks?” 

She tries to sound annoyed; she really does. The first time he’d done it, Variks had caught Petra off-guard and she had not been happy about it. Now? It’s more a game than anything. Besides, it keeps her on her toes.

            “If you were aiming for a challenge, surely you can try harder than that.”  

Though, truthfully, she’d much prefer if he didn’t.

[dregstrength-blog]

     “I keep you alert.” He scoffs softly, shaking his head some; sometimes it can be astounding, realy. The situations she manages to worm herself out of-- he couldn’t even imagine himself in them.

Maybe he’s just getting a bit too old.

    “Ahh. Hmm..” His hands fold together as he continues to speak in a low, amused drawl; “I did have my sights on a Vex chronovore...        The Prison feels awfully empty lately.”

[rivcrdancer-blog]

            “And you’re not like any other Eliksni I’ve ever come across.”

[dregstrength-blog]

A small snort of sorts.

   “Yes, we are... Rare.” Though not one of a kind. Those who share his viewpoint usually stay out of sight and out of mind entirely. Not that he can say he blames them... If things turned out differently, he’s sure he would to.

Variks leans his weight forward on his staff, peering closer at this... human. Awoken? “If I may ask...” He blinks. “What are you?”

[waspgrave]

me while playing crucible: i fucking hate titans….and hunters….and warlocks. i hate shotguns. holy shit i hate snipers. i hate heavy weapons. i hate hams_and_eggies211.

[dregstrength-blog]

rivcrdancer

    “You have...        ...peculiar skin markings.”

[dregstrength-blog]

theawokenemissary

   “Petra,” a complacent greeting; Variks barely even lifts his head for a few lingering moments before his burning eyes look up at her from the shadow cast over them.

His expression shifts then from neutral to bemused, the smallest of squints giving him away.

    “I see you had no issue with the... job.. I gave, yes?”

[dregstrength-blog]

vexobsxssion

  He watches from across the way as the Awoken approaches, nose down in some book of some sort, far too busy to so much as look up. To say he looks entirely out of place here wouldn’t be a far cry, he seems... Too distracted, too fidgety to even notice anything going on around him.

   Variks reaches up, the decorative end of his staff placed against the Guardian’s chest to stop him in place and keep him from walking right into him; Variks’ voice is low, the next word drawled out almost as if he were exasperated, but the amused look in his eyes says otherwise. 

           “Guardian.”

[dregstrength-blog]

xpraedator

   “What.. is it like? What are they like?”

   He asks suddenly and without much warning after handing off (yet another) a synthesis to her, back facing the Arc-Dancer as his hands fiddle about with his stock, re-organizing this and that.

   It’s been too long for him since he’s heard of them, let alone seen them-- to know their numbers dwindle each day the Reef has its doors open to the Light-Bearers.. It brings him both sorrow and a subtle sense of satisfaction. After all, they deserve what they’re getting.

         (Right?)

    “The Wolves.”

[dregstrength-blog]

Like this post for a starter?

[magitekarmor]

Jaren had us hold by a ravine. The heavy wood along the cliffs’ edge caught the wind, holding back the cold and the rush of water muffled our conversation.

[dregstrength-blog]

Wait, don't you want to touch them—

[ Closes the door. ]