Zealot VS Vagabond AKA Rashar chats with Haven

Rashar

You have emoted: Barely a flinch registers across his visage as Rashar approaches, eyes drilling into Haven.

Teani moves over to Haven's side, then looks up as you enters. "I don't think now is the best moment to be here, unless you have something constructive to say."

Speaking into his hands, Haven utters, "I am tired, Teani." The words tumble out as barely above a whisper. The Azudim doesn't seem to register Teani's approach or even your arrival. Instead he remains where he is, crouched with head in hands.

You have emoted: Rashar crosses his arms as he rolls to a halt several paces from Haven. His jaws clench rapidly, his eyes are like darkened pits of shadow, and the heat rolls off of him in waves as he stands considering the crouched man. He struggles visibly with something, some thought or urge, and his eyes narrow by degrees the longer he remains silent, until finally he growls, "You are tired because you spend all of your effort pretending."

Teani shoots you a warning glance, placing a calming hand on Haven's shoulder. "We don't want to bring down our Lord's ire again, hm?" She shifts her eyes between Haven and you. "If you have any form of sense in your heads, you'll both step away from one another and call it quits. No more baiting, goading, insulting or bickering."

You have emoted: "Your mediating is not needed, Teani." Rashar's eyes never leave Haven, though he shakes his head almost imperceptibly. "My goal has -never- been to bring the Maelstrom's ire upon anyone, myself or otherwise. You wound me to imply it, and you wound me to accuse that I do not speak with sense."

Haven's shoulders are the first to tremble. Not from Teani's touch but from a laughter. A deep and dark, insidious laughter that resonates outward as it fills him to the brim. So much so that his entire frame seems wracked with it as he lifts himself to his feet. With a haggard breath, the Azudim sighs, almost as if he were strangely content. "I am pretending, he says." It is then and only then that the former Knight flicks his gaze away from his curled fists to stare at you. "Out with it, Rashar. All of it here and now so I might know."

You have emoted: "What is your goal?" Rashar asks instead, words clipped and pointed. "What do you strive for?" His eyebrows lift along with one arm, which comes up to pull the bangs from his hair before dropping down to flick repeatedly at his sides, twisting and stretching as if in preparation for something. "What is your game, Haven?"

"I spoke to the both of you." Teani's eyes fixing on you. "Anyone with half a brain can see that Haven is easy to bait, and through that can be made to take the fall." She shifts her attention to the laughing Azudim at her side. Quietly, she mutters a warning, "Don't... don't take the bait. Let it drop." Her fingers curl in as she strengthens her hold on Haven.

Dropping his gaze as he takes on a contemplative expression, Haven asks you, "Blessed Rashar. You seem to know me quite well. You name me craven. You claim I am a pretender.  You tell me."

Evening Sky, Teani Fiadhaich says to you, "And your intention was never to bring down His ire? Then what, exactly, are you doing here? Your temper is flared, so is his. If this comes to blows, don't you think He will react?"

You have emoted: Rashar levels an intense gaze upon Teani, as if willing the woman to be silent, to allow this confrontation that will not be stopped. In the span of a half a dozen heartbeats, his attention slides away and settles once more on the former knight. "Seem like a coward to me," he rumbles in a mild voice, the conversational tones almost at odds with the rest of his demeanor. "Seems like you do a whole lot of posturing, a whole lot of shouting, and a whole lot of killing." His lips twitch. "Or trying, anyway." Now his head falls to the side, angled slightly as he contemplates Haven. "How long have you been at it, Haven?"

Teani narrows her eyes at you, slowly standing up. "You're building up for a fight intentionally, aren't you?" she questions, clenching her jaws together. "You want this fight? You need it?"

Haven manages a step forward but not much due to Teani's grip. "A century. Maybe two." His chest rises and falls with a calm steadiness as he fixates his gaze upon you. "A period of upmost failure it would seem. Yes?"

You conjure up the illusion: The wind picks up, carrying with it the scent of seawater and the sound of rolling waves. Images stir, slip themselves into your mind. A barrier, a mountain of stone upon which crashes all the fury of the ocean. It stands resolute, immobile and unaffected.

Teani shifts her eyes to Haven, shaking her head ever so slightly. "Don't." she hisses. "The Lord asked you to stop it and you refuse? If you keep at it, you show Him no respect." Eyes going between the two of you, she adds. "You two fight and I'm done. You hear?"

Haven tilts his head back, his jaws clenching. "Nothing but pain it would seem." With a grunt, the Azudim tries to advance another step Teani willing. "Right? That is what you're here to tell me."

You conjure up the illusion: Darkness falls, encloaking you in shadows before dissipating into another scene. A vast range of mountains, dreadful and imposing in all their majesty. Through them winds a shimmering blue river, sometimes raging and furious, other times placid and mellow. It departs the other side, flowing into a flat plain that fades from view.

You have emoted: Rashar inclines his head, taking a half-step forward though his demeanor isn't aggressive. A show of confidence, perhaps, or else a blatant refusal to back down. "Lots of pain," he agrees mildly, his rumble easily filling the area around you. "Lots of death. Many great fires, so I hear." His eyes look almost inquisitive, as if begging an elaboration, but he shrugs and continues, "But how much have you -accomplished-?"

"Back off, Rashar." Teani puts a hand to your chest to keep the distance. Her other remains on Haven's shoulder. "Nothing good will come of this. You need to back off and let things calm down."

Flatly, Haven Locke of the Black Sun says, "Nothing."

You conjure up the illusion: Before you lies a vast sea of life, an ocean of vegetation and civilization. Peaceful villages and beautiful cities can be seen in the distance, and between them falls nothing but verdant green grass, mysterious sprawling forests. In the center, giving life: The river, having made its way through the mountains not with blunt force, but through change. Adaptation.

Haven's expression sours, his shoulders sagging as he takes in your words and images both. The silence that grips him is a heavy one. He clings to it like one might a winter cloak against a frigid breeze.

You have emoted: Rashar makes a clicking noise with his tongue, as if the answer were expected. "I know that," he agrees. "And it seems you do as well." He seems much calmer now, and his eyes have actually lightened a bit. Flint, perhaps, but piercing unreadable still. "My question is.." One raised eyebrow, and a bit of silence. The sun is bright, brilliant and falling directly upon the well-dressed Yeleni before you as his words trail off, the pause seeming almost intentional. "What are you going to do about that?"

Quietly, almost mournfully, Haven Locke of the Black Sun says to you, "Change."

Elwyn wanders in quietly, moving to stand near to the shrine, mixed gaze guarded as she takes in those who are gathered.

You have emoted: Rashar pulls his eyes from Haven finally, turning to regard Teani, and a faint smile twitches and tugs, burning its way onto his lips. A knowing smile, perhaps, or else one bearing some unspoken message. He offers Elwyn the briefest of nods, as if her presence were nothing less than expected, and then turns back to Haven with a nod. "Exactly," he says firmly. "You need to change, feller. You're getting -nothing- accomplished. You want what I want, what we all want, yeah?" He waves vaguely. "A world free from corruption? Sunshine and roses, maybe? A better fucking place, Haven." Two steps, and that serious look is back again as he levels a finger at Haven. "And you're not helping one bit in bringing it, the way you are currently."

Haven's eyes are beyond you now, searching. For what? He could not truly say but what he does is say, "I'll need time to think." With that said, the Azudim makes to move past Teani with the slow roll of his shoulder, aiming to leave the Tear and Chosen behind.

You have emoted: Rashar steps aside now, allowing Haven the room to make his departure. In final farewell he rumbles quietly, "You are not the only one, Haven."

You have emoted: Turning to leave, Rashar speaks finally to Teani, "Don't ever assume you know anything about my intentions, Teani. I am -not- what you think. Not all of me."

Evening Sky, Teani Fiadhaich says to you, "You know full well that you were provoking him, Rashar. What would you have done if he'd lost his temper?"

You have emoted: "Fought," Rashar rumbles simply. "But I have been called a reasonable judge of character in the past.." His lips twitch. "I did not think it would come to that."

Evening Sky, Teani Fiadhaich says, "You did not feel him strain against my hold."

You have emoted: Rashar smiles widely. "We often strain the most, when we have something that we know will hold us back. It satisfies, I think. Makes us feel less helpless."

Evening Sky, Teani Fiadhaich says to you, "What I did here, I did for the Order and for our Lord. If you think I've disrespected you in any way by meddling, then so be it. I'm not going to put myself in a position where I feel like you sneer at me for preventing a fight."

You have emoted: Rashar sighs. "So dramatic. Always so Pitting dramatic, Teani."

*INSERT SOME COMMENT FROM ELWYN THAT I LOST*

You have emoted: Rashar smiles brightly. "It was either that or we got to whacking at each other. I figured I'd take that path first."

"The certainty was on whacking, is true," Elwyn mumbles quietly, arms swinging by her sides as her wings flutter in an anxious sort of way, "always good on a note that it does not."

You have emoted: Rashar nods his head in agreement. "Truth," he says. "I'm sorry I had to a more circuitous route, Elwyn. Perhaps pissed off Lord Slyphe a bit, but I needed to get that feller really riled up before I could get him settled back down. We always think better when we come off our angry chair."

Blah, blah, blah.

Rashar

Someone shoot my scribe.

Aarbrok

Pew Pew!

Haven

This was fun. I think enough time has passed to share the beginning of this log with the community. Here's from my perspective, starting with the events that preceded Rashar's post of the conclusion.

Background: After Chakrasul and Her team struck a hard blow at Slyphe and the grotto, we Slyphians have been wanting revenge. We've all been on edge for when, what seems inevitable, war will be upon us. Impatient or taking initiative, depending on how you look at it, Haven, Benedicto, and Valingar decided to take matters into their own hands and do a bit of scout work. We needed to know Chakrasul's strengths. Who Her champions were. Who was within Her congregation. Intel basically and so a plan was made. We defiled a shrine of hers and shouted taunts about the Light but that didn't seem to spur Her agents enough. So Benedicto encouraged Haven to take the next step... and so Haven led them to Djeir and they set the entire city on fire. Benedicto and Valingar had to leave for a while but Haven stayed behind and slaughtered many of the residents (including the children) while shouting taunts.

Cole took up issue with Haven's methods claiming innocents shouldn't be harmed. They were ready to duke it out and kill each other for their stances when Chakrasul's agents finally responded and attacked! This forced Haven to work together with Cole for the altercation which only got bigger and worse as time dragged on...

This was the aftermath that set the stage for a lot of the lamb stuff with Ezalor and Iosyne I think:

http://pastebin.com/eb4QpGXq