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Post by Ylanne on Jul 26, 2020 20:57:02 GMT -6
"She has ways of sending messages faster when she wants to. But. Fine. Yes, I can work remotely," said Haroun Kim, shaking his head. He drank freely from the wine, then set the glass on a coaster, in the design of a massive ship at sea, atop a large display case containing little clay pots, each one with differently colored designs. He'd collected them in travels for the agency, his own little trinkets. Everyone had something. His clay pots were handmade, each by a local artisan in the traditions of their community and culture. He had about forty of them now. "But working remotely does require the lack of anxiety of imminent, violent, and wholly avoidable death during the affair." He motioned to a wine cabinet just barely visible from the front room. "Care for a drink? You'll be wanting to bring a lot of alcohol with you for this one."
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Post by demikara on Aug 9, 2020 15:23:27 GMT -6
"Sure. But it's still less convienent than walking over to your desk or sending a quick email or giving you a phone call." Aerilyn pointed out. She had now doubt that Arianne could get a message out incredibly quickly if she wanted to. It was a matter of her wanting to, that was all. And for this, she was leaving it in Aerilyn's hands, which the aeromancer hoped were capable enough to handle the task.
"Sure I'll have a drink and you can tell me exactly why I need so much alcohol. I would assume I'd want my wits about me, for this trip." She could have assumed wrong of course, but she wasn't sure. It could be a trip better off made drunk. Kim certainly seemed to think so. Then again, Kim seemed to think the trip itself was a death sentence. It sounded like he had made it before though and if so, it wasn't a death sentence. Just very difficult.
Aerilyn could do difficult.
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Post by Ylanne on Aug 9, 2020 15:47:40 GMT -6
"Since when does the old woman ever use a phone or email anyway?" said Haroun Kim, turning on his heel as sharply as possible in the fuzzy slippers. "She's destroyed how many Bureau-issued phones at this point? Ah, yes, at least four of them, last I counted. She has a landline. Who even uses a landline these days? It's not like they're even a more secure means of communication, anyway." He retrieved the open merlot bottle where he'd left it atop the wine cabinet, pouring some of the wine into a second glass with all the care of the average museum curator, and returned to the front room where he offered it to Aerilyn. The glass bore the faint seal of a far-off magical society, one whose party Haroun Kim vaguely remembered leaving drunk and angry. Someone had unloosed a pet dragon, probably while also drunk, and it had stolen his fancy cheese straight out of his hand. "Drink up, Fazari. You'll want to be good and inebriated by the time you arrive at the outer atmosphere, because at least the vomit smell will match the alcohol smell, and you can pretend it's the liquor instead of the magick."
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Post by demikara on Aug 9, 2020 17:45:09 GMT -6
She accepted the glass and sipped at the wine. "Seriously? And its magic, so of course it would make it through the walls of the ship." If it was just atmosphere then they'd be fine. Magic was tricky as hell though and tended to ignore little things like walls when it felt like it. There was a reason Aerilyn was glad that she had aeromancy. At least moving air made sense.
"Does the entire planet reek of vomit?" She's need an exosuit if that was the case regardless of the atmosphere. She wanted to be sober by the time she reached the atmosphere as far as she was concerned. It was a good thing she wasn't a sympathetic vomitter at least.
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Post by Ylanne on Aug 9, 2020 17:51:11 GMT -6
Haroun Kim drank what little was left of his own wine, and returned the glass to its coaster. He set out a second coaster, with a slightly different design of ship, for Aerilyn to rest her glass, but he did not sit or offer a chair to her. "Oh no, that's just what happens between orbital range and atmosphere. The actual surface is fine, in terms of vomit. There's just the extreme radioactivity in the soil, the semi-sentient carnivorous vines that like to feast on human flesh, and the cyanide gas in the air," he said with affected glibness, ticking off each of these perils on a finger. "Not to mention the murderous winds, but you already knew about those. Oh, did I mention the acidic rain? Low enough pH to burn skin on contact." He nodded toward Aerilyn's wine glass. "Like I said, drink up. You'll want the liquid courage."
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Post by demikara on Aug 9, 2020 18:23:24 GMT -6
Aerilyn downed the rest of the wine and put the glass on the coaster. "See, she mentioned...the winds." Just the winds. "Where the hell am I going to get an exosuit in my size?" And she would desperately need one, apparently. Cyanide gas in the air? And people used to live on this planet? That was insane. And she was going to have to put up with radioactivity. The area these remains were going better be largely benign.
"Be glad you get to stay in the ship." She pointed out. Aerilyn was the one who would have to leave the ship to find the grave and plant the ashes. Why was she doing this again? Couldn't the old woman find someone else? "I thought Terra was a death planet. It apparently gets worse."
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Post by Ylanne on Aug 9, 2020 18:49:06 GMT -6
"The valleys are full of phosphine gas just waiting to explode; the oceans are so acidic now that you could fully dissolve a human body in about thirty seconds just by dipping one in; and there are violent earthquakes on most of the continents, oh, about every twenty minutes or so, like nothing you've ever seen here on Terra except during that glassing the Aschen did," said Haroun Kim, leaning now against the wall as he looked directly at Aerilyn. "See, now, this is why the old woman didn't tell you all of this. Any person with, maybe, two brain cells left to rub together, would have run very, very far away just at the name of that damned place. Oh!" He brightened, with the same sickening affectation. "Did I mention the trees? Some of them are sentient, and they do not like humans, or anything really vaguely humanoid. I mean, who can blame them, after what the queens did and how all that went down. You still want to go?"
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Post by demikara on Aug 9, 2020 19:14:03 GMT -6
"Not particularly." Aerilyn admitted, wishing for another glass already. That as rare. She'd need to be sober for the hike down though, so she decided not to ask for a refill, despite the fact that she eyed the glass rather longingly. "She does know I don't have the training for that right? I was a grunt." She sure as hell was not some kind of spec ops person who could handle that sort fo environment. "I thought the winds were going to be the worst of it." That was a lot more to deal with than something an environmental suit would be able to handle.
This may be one of those things that was impossible to do with the resources at hand. Aerilyn tugged on her braid and considered her options. "How do I explain to the old lady that I'm not remotely prepared for that environment?"
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Post by Ylanne on Aug 9, 2020 19:23:10 GMT -6
"You could always fake your death," said Haroun Kim, without an ounce of cheer. In fact, he sounded down right morose. "Or you could tell her no." Of course, that had always been easier said than done. "She couldn't easily have you killed from prison. There'd be a trail, and it'd be messy. Also, she likes you, so she probably wouldn't order the hit." He turned back toward the kitchen, grabbing the bottle, and then poured freely into both of their glasses. It wasn't as if he would be expecting other guests, oh, anytime this century, probably. "I told you already. I'm not going to that damn planet. I could maybe be convinced, maybe, to go with you just to the atmosphere. Maybe. But you really, really do not want to set foot there. No one lives there anymore. And it didn't used to be like this. But everything's changed now. And now it's a death planet. And no one sensible should go there."
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Post by demikara on Aug 11, 2020 9:23:13 GMT -6
"I doubt I could fake my death convincingly." Aerilyn mused, curious. "I suppose the only option is to tell her no. Which I am not looking forward too. She's very good at talking you around on things." She always had been. It was rare a no stayed a no with Arianne. She made it all sound so reasonable. She had made going to this death planet sound reasonable, and frankly Aerilyn didn't think it was, given what she had learned now.
"Then again, this planet sounds more like a death planet than Terra is. Even the glassed parts." The glassed parts of Terra caused trouble for the entire planet of course. It was a hefty helping of magic that kept the planet mostly habitable.
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Post by Ylanne on Aug 11, 2020 10:03:50 GMT -6
Haroun Kim drank more of his merlot until the glass he held was nearly empty, its stem almost shimmering in the carefully places lights among the exposed beams and rafters. Very little had been magicked. Even the pewter bowls were more for effect than anything. One contained rosemary, another dill, another thyme, and the last star anise. "If you decide you still like those odds and you want to go and play heroics or adventurer - take your pick which one, I'll take you to atmosphere so you can fool around with the grim reaper. But that's it. And frankly, you don't want to go." He set down his wine glass again. The ships depicted on the coasters boasted three masts and billowing sails. The old woman had liked them. They reminded her of a simpler time. He'd chortled. Death by dysentery, cholera, or scurvy only almost seemed preferable to death in space. Almost. "So. You let me know. I have work to do. Work that does not involve a death wish."
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Post by demikara on Aug 12, 2020 10:00:28 GMT -6
Aerilyn sipped at her refill and considered it. "I can't say I like those odds. Thanks for giving me the extra details. I have a meeting with an old woman to set up." And had to figure out a way to tell her it was a hard no and that she'd have to find somewhere else. The planet was too dangerous for her. She had a husband she'd rather return to than anything else.
She finished off her refill and set it back on the coaster. "I'll e-mail you after I've spoken with her again. I should get going though. It's a long hike back to my car." And she doubted he'd take her back down to it, though she was definitely open to help.
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Post by Ylanne on Aug 12, 2020 11:13:33 GMT -6
"Take the poison ivy route," said Haroun Kim, collecting both glasses and taking them back to the kitchen, where he disappeared from view for a moment. When he returned, he was holding a small vial of something dark green with brown speckles. "Drink this, and the poison ivy won't affect you. But it's the quickest path back down to where you came from. Out the back." He waved as he all but pushed Aerilyn toward the door. "Good luck, and hopefully, I won't see you back here again. I like living alone and far away from people." He smiled, but had already been composing replies to a few dozen emails waiting for some vague reassurances. In only a few blissful minutes, he'd be able to return to his existence, alone, in the elegant arched recesses of the home he'd built, until he decided to log out of all systems for the night. He really only did it once every few weeks, but it occurred to him that he could log out more frequently, and no one would ever really know. Except Titon. But there was always something missing from every plan.
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Post by demikara on Aug 13, 2020 6:57:49 GMT -6
She sniffed the vial before deciding to trust him and downed it. He probably wasn't trying to kill her. The potion was as unpleasant as every other potion out there though. Aerilyn let him push her out the back and left the empty vial by the door. Amused, she began her hike back down the mountain, with plenty to think of.
How exactly was she going to tell Arianne that there was no way she could take the task on. Had it just been deadly winds, she could have worked with that. But this was significantly more dangerous than winds that she could probably have dealt with. She was pretty decent at redirecting wind after all. Even if deadly winds sounded like a good deal more than she had ever dealt with.
She's figure something out. Ahmad would have an idea of how to tell her no, probably. More than likely he had needed to do so at least once.
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Post by Ylanne on Aug 13, 2020 12:44:07 GMT -6
When Aerilyn arrived home at about two in the afternoon, Ahmad was shouting at someone on the phone while pacing the living room. "I don't care! I know what you think! I'm fine, and I don't need your advice! Will you please just leave me alone? I'm fine. I'm fine." He hung up the phone and threw it partway across the room where it landed unsatisfyingly silently between two pillows on the couch. He looked up, catching sight of Aerilyn there in the doorway, and turned his face away, his cheeks wet and eyes red. He wiped his sleeve over his eyes and stormed out the back door, to the little garden and gravel path there. The garden was now overrun with weeds, too tall and long for either of them to really know what to do with. The old woman had helped them, sometimes, before. Once, it had looked almost nice. Ahmad stood stiffly for a moment in the middle of the space, and then sat on the edge of one of the lawn chairs, fist to his chin, staring at the neighbor's back door, shut and locked.
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