🔥 rondo

[ablazement]

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[flameguard]

And Miss Kate. But, sometimes books are the best place to get information on things like this...

[ there's a beat

and he lowers his voice, almost a little conspiratorially: ] ...Did you hear the others saying that the book in the Church might be haunted...? I heard that it moved...

[ablazement]

[help]

It's super fucking haunted. Gale picked it up the other day and it talked at him in a language he didn't understand all aggressive-like.

... I didn't hear about the moving? But that's not a surprise, wouldn't touch that thing with a ten foot lance.

[flameguard]

[ :pika:

:PIKA: ]

It talked?! I thought the Accursed Night was a cursed book! At least it never talked!

[ablazement]

The what who now?

[WHY ARE CURSED BOOKS ALWAYS A THING]

[flameguard]

It was a book we had to read in Atlasdam when we were researching the work of a sage who committed an unthinkable act, because someone else was trying to recreate it. Apparently, there's another book that's worse, but... it had been missing from the archives.

[ somewhere cyrus sneezes ]

The Accursed Night was pretty bad... we learned about a lot of horrible things. But - we had to research it first, because without it, we never would've known where we needed to go to actually stop the person from acting through their rite.

[ at this point, his ink shifts - the text reads Letting the Accursed Flame fester in him. ]

[ablazement]

[she's so bad at not looking at text - she immediately looks at the ink when it shifts, and reads it, and then feels bad that she did. oopsies.

a pause.]

It didn't curse you, did it?

[flameguard]

[ mood

he shakes his head. ]

...No, it didn't. I'm pretty resistant to that kind of stuff. [ though... his gaze follows karlach's, and he looks down at his chest, and then sees -- and then frowns. ] ... did you mean that...?

[ablazement]

Yeah. Sorry, my bad, I didn't mean to read it, but.

[it's like RIGHT there]

[flameguard]

No - no, no, it's okay.

[ immediately - he looks a little sheepish and nods to hers. ]

I... read yours too. I'm not very good at hiding it, either. [ he is not what most people would call subtle. ] It's not your fault.

[ ... ]

Maybe we should sit down.

[ablazement]

It's alright, it's not really a secret anyway.

[her fears, mostly, are an open (not creepy) book.]

But - yeah. Let's sit and chat, I'm alright with that.

[they can find somewhere comfy.]

[flameguard]

[ rondo smiles - warm and kind, though. maybe not quite as megawatt as usual as they find somewhere nice to sit. he settles, putting his cape out behind him so he doesn't get stuck on it, and after a long moment, asks: ]

...so...what's Avernus...?

[ablazement]

[she flops down, and leans back on her hands, staring up at the sky.]

... Let me answer that question with a question. You know what the Hells are?

[flameguard]

[ he. laughs? just like a short, vaguely hysteric laugh. ]

Um - yes.

[ablazement]

[BUDDY. she glances at him, raising an eyebrow.]

... You? Really? Huh. [a beat.] That's Avernus. For us, anyway. Spent ten years there.

[flameguard]

[ there's a brief sheepish sweaty smile that's like "yes, really" but what karlach says is more important, and it quickly melts into a look of surprise and - horror, for her, really. ]

Ten years...? Why?

[ablazement]

Got sold. [she says it so casually.] I was a soldier.

But not now. I got out.

[flameguard]

[ unfortunately people being sold off is not completly unfamiliar, but the idea of being sold off into hell - now that's a new one. he looks briefly stunned, frowning harder, though... it sounds like this has a happy ending, so. ]

... You escaped Hell? That's - that's amazing. [ genuine as always. ] The amount of strength it must have taken you to be able to do such a thing...

[ablazement]

[a little smile, her tail flicking.]

Don't give me too much credit. I just took the first chance I saw, and it landed me in a whole other kettle of fuck, but - yeah.

I'm never going back. [she says, as little tattooed flames flicker across the underside of her jaw.]

[flameguard]

Being brave enough to see the way out, though - that's a strength in and of itself.

[ there's real conviction there, too - words he so genuinely believes, and as the initial excitement wears off, the smile remains, softening a little still. ]

I believe it.

[ablazement]

[oouugh, he's so cute. is this what it's like to be on the other side of this. wow.]

Hah. Thanks. [she says, and it's genuine. very much so.] First thing I did was get my hands all over the grass. I missed green.

[flameguard]

I bet! Even spending a few hours in Hell can be pretty draining... I can't even imagine ten years.

[ rondo gives a little, exaggerated shiver at the sense memory of it all - hell with its strange, off-putting structures, its heavy, ominous, toxic presence... it's a bad place to be. ]

[ablazement]

[she just like, leans her shoulder against his. sorry for the invasion of space she just is so touchy.]

Why were you there?

[flameguard]

[ this does not bother him at all!! in fact, it's a little comforting. rondo looks down at his hands, going momentarily quiet even as he leans a little further into karlach's warmth. warm... ]

... To stop the armies of hell from invading Orsterra.

[ablazement]

[i cant never remember who i've mentioned this to but she is very warm, yeah, it's almost feverish. she seems pleased that he's fine with it, though.]

Gods, nothing like some high stakes.

[flameguard]

[ for rondo, it's just familiar and comforting in a way nothing else could possibly be. his right hand comes up to touch his heart, remaining there. warm. ]

Haha, yeah... [ Yeah.... ] The... that was the last thing we were doing. I've been in and out of Hell a few times, now.

[ ... ]

... The shoes of the Flameguard are pretty big to fill.