tenth rune; frost; audio

[deadelfwalking]

[For once, Koltira isn't using the video function. Instead, there's just his voice, echoing and soft and toneless.]

Ashraf Salib has returned home.

[There's a stretch of silence. He isn't the only one in recent memory--the boy he met, Jack Frost, and Ashraf's friend, the monk--they're gone, too. Koltira hadn't known them nearly as long or as well as Ashraf, but he hadn't missed their disappearances, either.

Still, finding Ashraf gone was a punch to the gut. Despite their rocky first meeting, Ashraf eventually became one of the few people to fully and unconditionally accept Koltira for who--and what--he was. The priest's devotion to his beliefs, his essential goodness, his willingness to learn, his warmth ... these traits were uniquely his own, of course, but they also reminded Koltira of someone else he knew and cared for. Liadrin. A woman just as perfect in her faith as Ashraf, and just as determined to see the good rather than the bad.

She was gone from him, too, though, and had been for a long time.]

I suppose I should be happy for him.

[Another period of silence, and then the feed ends.]

Comments

[stonefaith]

you should be. i would guess that unlike you or me, he actually had something to go back to.

[deadelfwalking]

I know. I know. But. He was my friend. [one of the few friends Koltira has, to his mind.]

[stonefaith]

yes. he was.

don't mourn for long. don't hold his departure against him.

[deadelfwalking]

I don't hold it against him. But I will still mourn.

[stonefaith]

I think that's acceptable.

I didn't do so well the first time one of my friends left here, too.

[deadelfwalking]

[dryly.] Thank you. I am ever in search of your approval, Bariyan.

[he sighs.] ... who was it?

[stonefaith]

[ hey hey HEY DON'T TURN THIS CONVERSATION BACK ON HIM ]

john watson. he left shortly after you arrived, I believe. so he's been gone a long while now.

will you be all right? do you need company?

[deadelfwalking]

Do you miss him often?

[the questions are left deliberately unanswered.]

[stonefaith]

less now. it's been a while.

your turn.

[ YOU CAN'T JUST IGNORE QUESTIONS LIKE THAT. ]

[deadelfwalking]

I'll be fine.

[FALSE.]

[stonefaith]

[ Pause. Bariyan honestly believes Koltira. He's quite sure that Koltira will be fine, eventually -- in time. In Bariyan's opinion, the man's too old and too dead for something like this to cripple him for long.

But he's not sure if Koltira should be out on his own right now. ]

come back to the apartment.

[deadelfwalking]

Are you there now?

[Ashraf's loss is another among many that he's endured in his lifetime. The Scourge took everything away from him, right down to his sense of self, and he's managed to survive that. He will endure. But he won't be happy about it.]

[stonefaith]

I will be soon. I'll bring more scotch

[ ENTICEMENT. ]

[deadelfwalking]

... I'll head back.

[AND HE'S ON HIS WAY because he's not gonna turn that down.]

[action]

[stonefaith]

[ Bariyan manages to make it back to the apartment first. He leaves the door ajar for Koltira. YEAH THAT'S RIGHT MAN YOU BEST BE ON YOUR WAY because Bariyan's already broken into one bottle out of three and he just go for the other two if Koltira doesn't get here soon.

He might also sneakily try to water his cactus plant with alcohol, which he eyes intensely as he waits for Koltira to arrive. ]

[deadelfwalking]

[Koltira shuts one eye as he comes in and observes Bariyan's 'care' of the cactus plant.]

I'm not an expert, but I don't think vodka is of any value to that plant.

[stonefaith]

[ Bariyan looks around hastily, briefly embarrassed to have been caught in the act. He, uh, hadn't expected Koltira to arrive quite so quickly. But he manages to recover within seconds, straightening up and turning to face the other man. ]

No... probably not. [ He takes a drink. ] Definitely has more value to me, come to think of it.

[ He fumbles for one of the bottles of scotch, and hols it out to Koltira. Koltira's been in and out of their apartment enough now that Bariyan expects him to get his own glass, if he wants one. ]