(D6, MA-LA, Renown, Open) Free Play

[Whisper]

The machinations of great feline powers were reversed and Whisper listened, silently considering a few things.

"I like listening, actually. I'm an air genasi and I sometimes hear things carried on the wind." he explained. "Being quiet by nature, makes that a little easier."

He set down his cards with a sigh. "But, it doesn't make me any luckier. Your close to cleaning out my hoard. I should probably just go all in.""


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(D6, MA-LA, Renown, Open) Free Play, Three Dragon Ante 4, Charisma | 1d20+1 ⇒ 6

[Mysti]

"Apparently, the only time I'm lucky in life is when it doesn't really matter." She growls, once more collecting the cards and giving them a good shuffle. "You've not won a flight yet. I should be jubilant and cocky. Strangely, all I feel is guilt. All in hmm? You sure?"

"Back in Zobeck -- in Midgard where I'm from -- I used to do a lot of listening. Spying. Eavesdropping. One of the ways I made my living was selling knowledge to interested parties. Didn't matter who. Rich or poor. Powerful or powerless. All manner of races and species -- Zobeck was a bit like Sigil in that regard."

She started to deal another set of cards, giving a seemingly apathetic shrug.

"But that was a long time ago. Been in Sigil for 20 years or so and still really don't know anyone ... not really. These days I would only listen to friends in need." She made a slight 'hmph' noise. "If I had any."

"Hmmm," she said as she always did when examining her hand.

"Air genasi ... I see. My apologies for the drow thing. Maybe it was the hair that made me think ... well, never mind." Again she gave a little shrug of a single shoulder. "I'm afraid I do not know much about your kind. Are you all innate listeners or ... is that yours alone?" She started to organize cards in her hand, moving them around and making various subtle faces at them. "What sort of things do you like listening to?"

Then she seems to realize something and immediately interjects, "Again ... apologies. I must seem as if I'm interrogating you. I'm not. That can be an issue with being a part of the Harmonium. People think every question you ask is part of some kind of information gathering exercise. But -- it's not. I don't get to talk to many people -- well, actually no one, truth be told -- in the way normal people do, having a normal conversation. If that made any sense."

[Whisper]

"I didn't bring anything with me that I couldn't afford to lose." he shrugged. "I came here for conversation. This hasn't been quite what I was expecting, but it's probably more enjoyable."

"You aren't the first to think I'm a drowned. Much of my work is done in darkness, often underground. People hear that and see me and make assumptions." Whisper explained. "I don't think I'm typical for my kind, beyond preferring to live and act freely. Others I've met have been more outgoing and competitive. Show-offs."

"I'll admit, I rarely talk this much about myself. But, you didn't seem to be in the mood to talk about yourself."

[Mysti]

"Well ... in truth ... that's why I sat down. Conversation. I saw you sitting here and ..." another shrug "... decided you looked like you were looking for something. You don't mind, do you?"

She kept her eyes focused entirely on the cards, though she seemed more preoccupied with what she was saying than truly studying her hand.

"I can talk about myself if you're actually interested. I just assume people aren't ... and go from there. I've learned over the years that most people enjoy talking about themselves -- so I let them. Besides, I genuinely do enjoy hearing the stories of others. Like yours, for instance. I don't normally talk this much -- at all -- about anything so this is a rare opportunity!"

She giggled almost girlishly as she moved around some cards in her hand.

"Actually ... I'm a little tipsy. As I think I mentioned. I mentioned that didn't I? Well if I didn't before, I just did. To be honest, getting tossed aside by someone I thought loved me ... I mean ... I waited twenty years! How could he do ..." Mysti suddenly stopped in mid-sentence as if coming to some kind of revelation, clearing her throat for no particular reason. After all, her voice didn't sound as though it needed clearing.

"Well. My apologies. We've met nary half an hour ago and already I'm dumping a boyfriend story onto your shoulders. No doubt drama is not something you need. Or ... any of us, for that matter. Unfortunately, however, sometimes it tends to arise regardless of what we wish."

For the first time since she sat down, her mood seemed cold and ... even irritated ... though Whisper could tell without any special insight that her emotions were not directed at him.

"It would seem we are greater kindred than I had first thought ... as I think I said before. Right? I'm fairly certain I mentioned something about that ... oh right, yes. That we were both quiet people. Well. Usually. But for me, not right now. Hopefully that doesn't annoy the living hell out of you. But I could understand if it did. Anyway ... I do almost all of my work in and from the shadows. Not always true darkness like yourself ... but ... close."

As Mysti talked about -- more or less nothing, the light from the fires dimmed noticeably as she appeared to gather the shadows around herself like a blanket. She didn't actually do ... anything. She simply talked while looking at her cards -- but it was obvious Mysti was doing it because the shadows gravitated toward her until Whisper could see only a shadowy silhouette sitting across from him.

"See what I mean?"

Then, within an eyeblink, the lighting returned to normal and Mysti could once again be seen clearly from across the table. "I guess I was showing off a little. Like the other air genasi you were talking about." She smirked and shrugged. "Anyway, if you do have a question about me, by all means, feel free to ask. It's just -- as I said, I rarely find anyone who is interested and therefore I keep the subject away from ... hmm ... damn, I'm talking way too much again. Damn this ale. I wish I hadn't drank so much of it."

She finally drops her card onto the table.

All In ... Cha + Int + 3DA | 1d20+4 ⇒ 24

"Uh ... yeah. Sorry about that. Hopefully the conversation is better than the cards? Not that it would take much ..."

[Whisper]

As the lighting dimmed, Whisper became harder to see. In complete darkness, he might vanish entirely. For most people, that might not seem unusual. For those with little difficulty seeing in darkness, however, it could be surprising. The genasi, on the other hand, seemed entirely comfortable with it all.

"Well, there's no beating that." He said what remained of his hoard over to her. "It's more than worth it for the conversation, though. I don't know him well enough to say whether he's worth 20 years. Is he? If not, ot's good that your free to move on."

"And, there's nothing wrong with being tipsy. I tend to drink to make being in the city more tolerable. And, it leads to meeting interesting people."

[Mysti]

"I suppose so ..." Mysti said while dropping her winnings into the pouch she had placed on the table at the very beginning of the conversation. As the shadows coalesced around her, the ambient light from further away caused her eyes to glow -- like those of a cat -- signifying she could, indeed, see in near total darkness. Even before she released the shadows from doing her bidding, she tilted her head ever so slightly at seeing Whisper -- or perhaps it was NOT seeing him that piqued her curiosity.

But she kept that much to herself. If she continued commenting on all the things they had in common he might think she was being rather strange -- and she didn't wish to push it. Tipsy or not, it was as if she were trying to rein herself in, realizing that she might be making a complete ass of herself. She was just a wee bit past sober to know for certain.

Except -- it wasn't the good kind of tipsy. The kind where you order a pint or two and sit around with a cadre of old friends telling crazy stories that were a peculiar mixture of truth, exaggerations, and outright lies. And no one cared! No, this was the unhealthy -- let's order a pint or three and drink alone because being sober was just too damn painful - kind of tipsy. Unfortunately it was starting to show.

Almost.

"I thought he was worth it," she went on to say, still in a much softer voice than she had been using just moments ago. "Obviously I was proven wrong. I must have been insane to wait that long for someone. But I thought ..." she stopped talking, a somewhat wistful expression on her face -- until she continued, "I guess it doesn't really matter what I thought. What's done is done. So what about you? Have anyone special in your life?"

[Whisper]

"Like that? No." He too sounded somewhat wistful. Shaking his head, he continued. "I spent a long time looking for where I came from. Home. Family. In one form or another. I can't say it was something I truly missed, though, with no memory of my true origins and with my best memories of the elves all involving Hush."

"At some point, I decided that whatever I was really looking for in my travels wasn't from my past. So, I settled here until I could figure that out."

[Mysti]

"I can appreciate that." And she could. It sometimes seemed as if every question she asked of Whisper revealed an even stronger sort of "kindred spirit" type bond the two could have ... but of course, the operative word was: could. Sigil was a big place. Once the two of them got up from this table, odds were they would never see each other again. And he never did answer whether the conversation was at an end.

"Home and family -- kinship and a sense of belonging -- are concepts my kind can only dream about. And wonder what it would be like to have. Being neither one race -- or the other -- as with so many half-breeds -- we aren't exactly loved." Though her voice was still barely a murmur, there was a hard edge to it ... as if she were trying a bit too hard to stay her composure. "Having the choice of being raised by a blood-sucking monster of a father who only wishes to dominate ... or a mortal mother who regards her own child as the blood-sucking monster and looks upon us with horror and revulsion -- I'm sure you get the idea. Some of us do get lucky and have a loving mother -- or so I've heard. You know ... rumors."

She picked up the deck of cards and randomly shuffled them just to give her hands something to do.

"Of course that was back in Zobeck -- in Midgard. A long time ago. When I became more or less trapped in Sigil, I lost ... all of that. All of my connections, my support network. To be honest I don't think I've ever recovered."

Mysti kept a very soft and silky tone -- some may have even called it a purr. While some may have found it even seductive -- such was the way of their race -- it sounded far more despondent. Even despairing.

"Cyprian ... my ... now ex-boyfriend ... was the only connection I still had. Or ... did have ... to my old life. I didn't want to stay in Sigil forever. But now I may have to."

The emotion she had been holding back since she sat down was beginning to seep through the tiny gaps in her well-crafted intellectual armor -- and she was a bit too tipsy to realize it.

Mysti put the cards down and leaned forward on her elbows, perched as they were on the table. "So ... tell me, if you will. Are you a local? A cager? Or are you from somewhere else -- like most of us seem to be? If that is the case, might you tell me where you are from? You speak often of elves and yet you work in the dark -- but you do not have the temperament or ... proclivities of the drow. Especially as a male. You must have an interesting story indeed, my dear Whisper. Have you ever found what you were looking for?"

At that point, Mysti reached out and stopped a passing page. "Would you be so kind as to send a bottle of brandy, a couple of snifters, half a loaf of bread, some cheese, and whatever stew the kichen has available?"

She then turns to look back at Whisper. "Would you care for anything to eat? I'm positively famished myself. Whatever suits your fancy, my new found friend -- if I may call you such. You only need ask."

[Whisper]

"Stew sounds wonderful." he smiled.

He took a moment to consider his story. He always debated where to start. But, he usually did as expected and chose the begining. "When I was very young, an elven dog found me wandering alone in a great dark forest. He brought me to the star elves, and they took me in. They gave me food and shelter, and they taught me their ways. They were isolated from other societies and often isolated themselves from one another, believing strongly in individual freedom and accomplishment. They raised me, but I can't say I ever felt particularly close to any of them. They didn't feel like family. Not the way Hush, the cooshee who found me, did."

"Their forest was a small demiplane of perpetual twilight, with ancient trees and dark dangers. I've done research over the years that suggest it's called Sildëyuir. In spite of the elves hospitality, or perhaps because of their nature, I spent most of my childhood exploring the forest with Hush. It was as one would expect such a forest to be, filled with adventures and mysteries. There were ruins I discovered, abandoned cities from when the elves had all lived together and overgrown menhir circles they had stopped using. The circles still held some of their magic, however, and one of them teleported us away to the Yuirwood. That was the last I saw of that forest."

"Mysti, I don't want you to think I'm ungrateful of the elves or that I didn't care for them." he added. "It always comes across like I didn't like them. It's just that the relationships I've formed since then have been so different, like with the League or with friends like you."

[Mysti]

Mysti instructed the page to bring two bowls and a generous-sized pot of stew -- to which he nodded and hurried off.

When Whisper told his story, though, there was a rather dreamy, almost star-struck quality to her expression -- which, though Whisper could not have realized it, was exceedingly rare for Mysti to do. For her to be so open with her expressions -- and her words -- was something she hadn't done for literally anyone in at least two decades. Perhaps ... even longer.

"Whisper ... I don't know if you loved living there in ... Sild - ëy - uir?" She had a little trouble saying the unfamiliar word. "But I have to tell you -- it sounds positively beautiful. I've been wandering the streets of this city for some two decades. What I wouldn't give for a dark, twilit forest. To be ... truly alone for a time with a good friend at one's side poking around old ruins and uncovering a time when the elves who raised you lived such a different kind of life. I ... uhm ... hope I'm not being too forward by saying ... I wish I could have been there with you."

After realizing what she had just said, she looked anywhere -- everywhere -- but at Whisper, thinking she was perhaps getting too sappy and soft.

"Anyway ... it's always been the city for me. I have hardly ever had the chance to visit a true forest. I'm not an elf -- wasn't raised by them, either -- I know next to nothing about how to live out there. But I can picture the shadowy beauty of Sildëyuir in my head and, sometimes I get so tired of ... well ... let's just say that Zobeck wasn't much different than Sigil. If not for the subtle difference in architecture and all the people being different -- it may have taken me hours just to realize I was somewhere else."

Mysti then cleared her throat, as if once again trying to rein herself in. Despite trying, there's still a certain quality about her tone that belies her intense curiosity.

"At any rate ... I think I can understand why you never felt that connection with the elves -- you probably know the reason, too. After all, they aren't your people. If I understood you correctly, you were found -- found -- by the elves when you were old enough to know better, yes? Old enough to want to know why you were just -- found. Do you have no memory of where you were before the elves?"