5th Sending [Audio]

[thequeensown]

[Talia's voice has a particular edge to it and she's doing all she can to keep her shields tight. The only thing she allows through is a sense of calm for her dear husband.]

Kevas .. when you've a moment, beloved, I need to speak with you.

[No, dear, she's clearly not mad at you, but she's definitely upset about somethingHope you got a head start

Comments

Audio - sealed to Talia

[ghostly_stutter]

Y-you know Kevas?

Audio - sealed to Chloe

[thequeensown]

[Talia may not be tech savvy like some of the Earth brought people, but she knows magic and she's seen several seals by now. It takes her a few tries to get it right but after a moment she replies to the unfamiliar young woman. When she does, the reply is properly sealed and her tone is even once more.]

I do, yes .. He is my husband.

[Have you seen Talia, Chloe? I don't think you have yet, have you? Could she be a troll, like her beloved? Or was she something altogether different?? Brain bending shall begin in three .. two .. one..

Her tone is actually a bit amused as she continues.]

You've had the pleasure?

Audio - sealed to Talia

[ghostly_stutter]

Hus...band... O-oh! H-he's your...

Th-that's...

[She's blushing, wondering who Talia was, but also relieved Kevas had a wife. Certainly if he was married he was trustworthy, right? Derek would be happy about that, at least. She thinks.]

I-I just met him. Through Sollux. [Great. Now she's blathering.]

Audio - sealed to Chloe

[thequeensown]

[The response is just a little unexpected and the empath finds herself chuckling softly.]

Aye .. Friend, husband and soul mate alike. As if one title is not enough, I lay claim with several..

[Chloe, marriage does not instantly a nice troll make. Yes, it happens to play true this time, but if you ask Sollux he might tell you to be all kinds of wary around Talia and her prying mind. :( ]

I see .. Sollux is a good lad. I trust Kevas treated you well?

[Her tone is gentle and warm as she speaks to Chloe.]

Audio - sealed to Talia

[ghostly_stutter]

[Friend, husband, and soul mate, huh? Chloe is actually a bit awed by this, along with the woman speaking. To know such a thing with all your being... Derek was a friend, and her boyfriend. Is he her soul mate? She hoped so. She hoped he hopes the same.]

It's nice to meet you. I'm Chloe.

[Too bad for Chloe, she wants to trust this woman. And Kevas.]

He is. He did. We...are planning on finding answers. [In the forest. She wondered if Talia knew this, and how she would feel about it. Was she like Derek? Would she demand to come along?]

Audio - sealed to Chloe

[thequeensown]

[It was a long time in the making, Chloe, and there were any number of trials and heartbreak that proceeded and followed it. Yes, you've had some heavy stuff, Chloe dear, but Talia has been through stuff. All the same, there is always hope and she'd never suggest otherwise. Nor, truthfully, would she actually believe otherwise.]

It's a pleasure to meet you, Chloe. Have you been long at the Keep?

[It wasn't that Talia was a bad person. Far from it, really. She fought for the good of her people and was blessed in the eyes of her Queen and the Bright Lady herself. She fought for fairness and against tyranny and ill-treatment. She'd just accidentally empathically brushed her mind against Sollux's on arrival and knocked out his girlfriend, Isabella, to keep her from getting herself punished during the EPIC GREEN PUNISHMENT 2011©. Harming people was far from her idea of fun .. Tony was just a special case.

This is the first she's heard of this particular expedition, however, and she shifts with interest.]Yes, Kevas is one to prefer

Audio - sealed to Talia

[ghostly_stutter]

I-it's a pleasure to meet you as well. I've been here what feels like only a few weeks, but apparently it's been a lot longer than that. Time flows differently in the tunnels beneath the keep. Be careful, if you ever travel down there.

[Chloe chuckles slightly at this. She knows how that goes.] I prefer answers as well, so I can understand that.

We plan to go into the forest. We're looking for a grave. I--I have an affinity with the dead, I guess you can say, and we're hoping the dead have answers. [She sounds sonly slightly hesitant, telling her this. Kevas, after all, probably wouldn't keep such an important thing from his wife.]

Audio - sealed to Chloe

[thequeensown]

I had heard that about the tunnels .. I am glad that you emerged from them safely. Thank you for the warning .. If ever I decide to travel them, I shall do so with the utmost care.[As Sollux had died. :(]

[The answering smile is in Talia's voice as she replies.]

I think answers are far preferred by everyone, Chloe.

[Then her smile slips a bit and her brows furrow. She pieces together what she's read and head of late and then her eyes widen a touch. However, it's not the affinity to the dead that has her concerned.]

You seek the cairn, then? Have you been warned about the forest? I'm uncertain if you've spoken with any of my companions, but we made a venture into the woods some many weeks back and it was not a safe place to idly journey.

[Chloe, she needs to meet you. She can share with you EXACTLY what happened in the woods with her empathy. Hell, she obviously needs to make sure Kevas knows this stuff too. :O ]

Audio - sealed to Talia

[ghostly_stutter]

Good. It's all anyone can do, really. I hope everyone spreads the word.

[A bit of a saddened, forced laugh.] You might be surprised. Some people like their illusions, and do not like to doubt what is right before them. [There is no bitterness in her tone, just saddened acceptance and determination at saving those who do not wish to be saved--who firmly believe they are right and see nothing else. Like Rae.]

Yes, we do. We have been warned, which is why we are planning and thinking this out carefully. We agree it's worth the danger with even the slightest chance at gaining some bit of knowledge. There will be at least four of us going, so we should be able to protect each other and ourselves.

I had heard a group went out into the woods, but I was not aware of who they were. Did you find anything? Did everyone get back safely?

Audio - sealed to Chloe

[thequeensown]

I think word is spreading fairly quickly about it, all things considered. Making a point of informing new arrivals though, should be something we all try to do.

[Although Talia was realistic in knowing that not everyone wished to be as helpful to new arrivals. She also agreed with Chloe in that some people just chose not to accept what they were being told until they experienced it themselves.

At the reply, she nods to herself.]

So long as you are all being careful and taking time to think out your actions. When Jack, Nel, Malkus and myself went, we all returned to the Keep alive. Nel was drained, however, from defending us from the stone gollum that attacked. We fared better against the local fauna and flora better, though .. [Minus Malkus dying from a plant ridden infection. Oops.]

We found the cairn itself, after a time .. a plaque left as a grave marker. Beneath it someone had buried a jar with a most vile smelling liquid. Jack took the jar into his own safekeeping.

Audio - sealed to Talia

[ghostly_stutter]

Yeah. It sucks being the new one here and not knowing anything. I'll definitely try to help with that.

St-st-stone gollum? [Well that was a new piece of news. Chloe gulps. Not even Derek turning wolf would do much against a thing made of rock. Great.]

I met Malkus. He's the one who warned me about the forest, and the deer.

W-was there a name? On the plaque? [Then, a mumbled] Jack took it, did he?

We found...it must have been a cairn... through the tunnels, too. The name Holloway was on it. [Might as well keep this sharing of information between them going. It could only help, rather than hinder.]

Audio - sealed to Chloe

[thequeensown]

[Talia chuckles and nods to herself.]

It can be a bit difficult, yes, but keep optimistic and make friends with the others and things should be just fine.

[Jack, you idiot. :|]

Yes, a gollum .. A huge stone man that came to life to protect the forest .. or at least the damnable messenger pigeon that we caught. Finally lost it after we dropped the message canister and left it behind.

As to the stone .. there was the name 'Zack', but nothing else .. it was roughly scratched into the stone.

[Her brows rise slightly at the next, lips pursing. The Keep's own namesake was named on the grave?]

I'm uncertain if it's good news or bad that you found such a grave. That it had this places' name upon it ..

[Yes, information sharing was a great help.]

Audio - sealed to Talia

[ghostly_stutter]

Dropped a message canister? [Maybe she and the others could try to find it--though it would be pure luck in a forest that changes.]

Zack. [Well, at least now she had two names when she tried summoning.]

I know. It was unsettling, and I thought maybe the Keep was owned by someone else a long time ago, but Nieta informed me the Lord here has always run the Keep.

[Indeed.]

Audio - sealed to Chloe

[thequeensown]

Yes, there was a group of messengers pigeons that arrived without warning a few months ago; many of them carrying canisters. Many of us captured the birds and there were short messages inside, one of which made mention of Zack being buried. I took the canister, but the gollum took offense and gave chase. The message inside was rather .. vague .. and not humorous in the slightest. 'Don't look behind you.' [She snorts softly, only a bit amused.] I didn't need a note to tell me such at the time. As soon as we dropped the canister and the note, the gollum gave up his chase and let us move off. We didn't see a sign of it on our return to the Keep.

[She makes a soft sound at Chloe's response, nodding to herself.]

I would have been asking the same .. I wonder if this place was made for Holloway .. as a place to bring the survivors .. Curious. I didn't not think we were the first here, but it makes me wonder where the others have all gone if we are not ..

[Let alone that one of the messages was written by Joe and that he had no memory of

Audio - sealed to Talia

[ghostly_stutter]

[An eerie chill travels the length of Chloe's spine as she hears all this. She definitely needed to talk to Derek later.] I-it sounds to me as if wh-whoever wrote that w-was trying to warn us. 'Don't look behind you' would be good advice for in the forest or in the tunnels. The paths change every time you do. Nieta warned us about that, too.

[Chloe doesn't like all these questions, with so few answers. At least they were slowly getting somewhere though.] Well, at least we have a few places to start. [And she had two names. Those two names were gold in Chloe's mind.]

Audio - sealed

[thequeensown]

Yes, I could see that advice being pertinent to any number of things.. [She falls silent as Chloe mentions the tunnels, her brows rising slightly in response. She exhales softly, brows knitting.]

I can definitely see a correlation there. It would not surprise me terribly to learn that whomever sent the missive was warning about the tunnels. Particularly when backed by the advice of one of the staff members.

[No, it kind of sucks when your questions just lead to even more questions and hardly any answers.]

A place to start is a step in the right direction .. Be safe in the forest, Chloe and trust that Kevas will see you through.