Reunion

[Sierra]

<Infinite_Ko_Loop> -----
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> Arinzah is found easily enough - he comes in at just the right time, strangely. "Ah," With a smirk to Mari, "You wish to see the Lady of the Green Kirtle?"
<Mari> "Yeah. If she's not busy. No snide remarks or knowing looks, alright? Just shut up and take me to her if she's got a moment."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "This way," Arinzah just smirks and turns, starting to walk out. "Follow me."
* Mari proceeds in silence, following his lead.
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> Mari is lead back to the room of the mists. The gate into it is opened, the Lady of the Green Kirtle ahead. Her gaze is studying the misty expanse. Arinzah steps back and away, "The Lady awaits."
<Mari> Mari walks in, stops ten feet or so from the Lady. She can't help but wonder if the Lady's been watching them as they stay here, through the mists, and conclude that it would be unlikely she wouldn't be monitoring them in some way. Presumably she knows why Mari's here anyway, so Mari may as well let her break the silence.
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> The Lady of the Green Kirtle turns and regards Mari with a solemn, expressionless gaze. "You return. Have you changed your mind?"
<Mari> "Maybe. Nik tells me you have."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "A period of seven years of service," The Lady does nod to that.
<Mari> "Then there are things I need to know. Service defined as what, exactly? What do you need me for?"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Your services as a spy, agent and generally useful servant are without doubt," The Lady of the Green Kirtle says, "You can change shapes as easily as the wind changes direction."
<Mari> Mari dimly remembers watching her parents engaged in trade negotiations, long ago, and adopts as best she can a similarly passionless, businesslike tone. "In what capacity would this service be carried out? Strictly on this plane? Stationed elsewhere? Wandering at will or as directed?"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "As directed. My interests may range quite far," The Lady's expression is uncaringly cold. "One plane cannot hope to hold them all."
<Mari> "And at the end of seven years we simply part ways, I presume?"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "As you desire," The Lady of the Green Kirtle says, "If you desire to continue this arrangement or seek a modified version, we will see when the time comes.
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "
<Mari> "Hm." Mari nods, obviously mulling things over. "And is this an oral contract we'd be making?"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Yes," The Lady of the Green Kirtle says, and with the very faintest hint of a smile on her lips, "There is no need for another type."
<Mari> "Is that so? Is it by words alone that all your servants are bound to you?"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "When other means are not needed." A moment's pause, "Nikkolai attempted to breech this. Look onto his unbreathing face to know how betrayers end. But as long as my trust is not violated, I am not a cruel master."
<Mari> "Then I have requirements if I'm to enter into such an agreement. I expect them to be similarly honored, or my service breaks along with the spirit of the agreement."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Speak," The Lady of the Green Kirtle says after a moment.
<Mari> "Those of my friends not already engaged in your service will remain free of your influence. I'd like them to live their lives as they see fit and I believe they're better able to do that far from here. Yulia, Adail, Knight, and Kamvakua are not to enter your service under any circumstances, barring the single collaboration to which they've already agreed. You will not offer them positions in your employ. You will refuse if they ask for such. (more)
<Mari> "This extends to similar propositions made by others in your employment. I want them free of your designs in all ways. You will also not act against them in any capacity unless they directly threaten you. All of the above also applies to Ami, who will leave with my friends as soon as immediate hostilities are concluded."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> The lich has a cold, uncaring expression. Yet in spite of this she chuckles. It's a rich, deep sound, reverberating about. "Dear Mari," With a moment's smile, "You demand so much, even as the last hours of your sister's life wind down."
<Mari> "This shouldn't be a difficult demand for you to meet, unless you already had such plans in motion."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> The Lady of the Green Kirtle comes forward, to stand before Mari. She smells of roses and apples, a sweet, subtle smell that makes Mari's eyes unfocus. In her cold face is an extraordinary beauty, long red hair falling loose behind her. "The rest of your friends will abandon Nikkolai?"
* Mari stands her ground, ignoring the sickly sweet odor as best she can. "What Nik does is Nik's decision. It's not our way to force friends to act against their own choices and he's voiced no plans for leaving. It's not relevant here."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Is it?" The Lady of the Green Kirtle meets Mari's eyes, close to her. "Are your bonds so easily sundered? Is someone that you sacrificed so much to help to be left aside like gutter trash? Does the loyal friend walk away, the exalted paragon turn to the road and not once look back?"
<Mari> "He's sold himself into bondage before. We all had some harsh words for him but it was, as I said, his decision. You've spoken to Nik, so I'm sure you know what's going through his mind. If it's not within our means to talk him out of it, that's the end of it, heartbreak or no."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Ah," With the hint of a smile again as she turns, "Left behind. Something you know yourself?" The Lady returns to where she is standing, "Perhaps you are not a friend, but one who leaves what she cares about in the dust. It's worked out well for Ami so far, no?"
<Mari> "I don't really care what you think I am. You want me to work for you? Then that makes this a business discussion. So where do we stand?"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> The Lady turns back to Mari, "I have offered you much, and even allowed you a chance to leave in due time. One question remains salient: What gives you the audacity to ask questions when your sister is in mortal and immortal peril? I ask of you but one thing: What happens if I say no?"
<Mari> "Then I walk away. And eventually I find out just how accurate your divination is, how much it shows what you want it to show, and how much it leaves out. See, I've been thinking...Awfully inconvenient for me that Ami's in such danger right when I meet you. And I remember what kind of friends you have and think, you know, maybe all it would take for you to set this up is calling in a favor on Baator to get just this unit sent to combat. (more)
<Mari> "You wouldn't even have to lie about anything that way. And if I found out, later, that that's what happened, well, there's no way to predict what would happen then. What I can say for sure is that if you agree now, then I decide not to care what happened in the past because I know my sister's safe with people I trust, and we embark on an amicable working relationship and that's that."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "My." Now the Lady of the Green Kirtle looks to Mari again. "As I see it, if you are correct in your suspicions you risk making an enemy more powerful than you can imagine. One who could ruin your life and turn your eternity into a Hell worse than any Archdevil's dream. If you are wrong, you alienate the only person who can save Ami's life and soul. Your sister pays an eternal price for your
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> suspicion of rare kindness, the mercy seldom seen in all the planes."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> (more)
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Then...what profit is this bluff of yours?" The mists behind the Lady begin to show an image! You can see Ami again, marching into nothingness. After a moment the image is gone into that void, "You gamble with Ami and my mercy, playing at chess when you hardly understand a single piece on the board."
<Mari> roll 1d20+13 I've got my eyes on you!
* Hatbot --> "Mari rolls 1d20+13 I've got my eyes on you! and gets 18."12 [1d20=5]
<Mari> "I've seen mercy and kindness before. If they're present in this room it's only by coincidence. I know what you want from other people and I've seen enough to know what you'll do to get it. Fine. Your motives aren't all that important to me as long as we can reach an agreement. I don't want this to be a fight--if you've been watching us at all, you should know that about me. (more)
<Mari> "And I doubt you want one either. Tried that before and, well, here we are. And I'm sure you value your reputation as an honest and trustworthy dealer in your own fashion. Well, here's a chance to maintain it. The deal's in front of you."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "I could show you Ami's fate." Indeed, the mists flash! In an instant you see Ami, silently screaming as she plummets into an endless lake of lava and screaming faces! A moment later you see her, nude. She is held between a bloated, fat face and a balor, ...things...being done to her. Her screams are silent, but her face...her face is utterly broken. Pure insanity, her eyes gone. "My offer is
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> at it stands to you. If this is not sufficient, perhaps you would like to momentarily experience her eternity?"
<Mari> "...Those mists, they can show you anything, it seems like?" Mari says, forcing a level tone.
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "They show the future, the past, what may be." The Lady of the Green Kirtle says, eyes locking onto Mari's. "Perhaps answer a question of the past, even? Little is hidden from my gaze."
<Mari> "I was just remembering another time I was shown visions like this. Another time and place." She shrugs.
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Another place as this?" With a raised eyebrow, "A curious thing. Tell me of it."
<Mari> "A fiend once tried to coerce me with images of Ami, is all. He failed." She shakes her head. "He wasn't as skilled at it as you are, of course."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "I am hardly a fiend." The Lady of the Green Kirtle says, "You have inspired me to sweeten the deal. Mari, would you desire to know who inflicted calamity onto your family? Would you care for revenge on them?"
<Mari> "Would it bring them back? No? Then I don't see much point. I've had a bellyfull of revenge being around Nik and look where it got him. All I want is Ami. A little faith that these mists do more than just show what you want them to, and maybe...So show me the fiend that toyed with my heart, and what became of him?"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "As you desire." The Lady of the Green Kirtle turns to the mists! In it you see...a snake. A slain, broken snake. A great, big, black serpent. Or what was once was, not nothing but a slaughtered memory. "Of all of them, you must appreciate how vile the Yugoloths are."
<Mari> "Right. ...So, the offer as it stands? That would, I assume, include your assurance that Ami at least wouldn't enter your service? Since that was promised at our last meeting and, well, you certainly didn't say anything today about that detail being revoked. And since she's in such great danger you would, of course, retrieve her immediately."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Agreed to that." The Lady of the Green Kirtle says. "Ami can be free of my service as you please."
<Mari> "As long as I'm working here, she isn't."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "That," The Lady of the Green Kirtle smiles, "Is ultimately not my concern. If you choose to have her stay here with you or go afar is your choice."
<Mari> "She has to be badly broken after all this time. She's going to be somewhere she can heal if I have any say in it...and I don't think that's going to be any place I am. She'll be in good hands if she leaves with my friends."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "There are peaceful places closer by." With that same smile, "Such as the realm of Amlyn you are to help save. Defeat the Oinoloth's dogs and I will provide an estate within the city for her, away from any unpleasantness."
<Mari> "Wasn't really what I had in mind. Arborea'd be a help after what she's been through, I'm sure. My friends could get her there. Once they finish their work here and leave."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> The Lady merely looks to Mari, "Time is growing shorter. Let us agree to decide her final fate once she is out of danger? Our verbal sparring grows long."
<Mari> "Sure, since what we decided was that you wouldn't be deciding it for her. The rest of us can make up our minds about it later. Once I've talked to her about it. And everyone else."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> The Lady of the Green Kirtle merely turns to the mists. She reaches into her dress, coming out with a scroll. "Stand away and be ready."
* Mari steps back a good twenty feet or so.
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> Unwrapping the scroll, the Lady of the Green Kirtle begins to chant! Her words are incomprehensible, yet echo all about the chamber! Before her you see a dot of white form, a swirling portal expanding out rapidly! In a loud voice, "Ami Farrunner, come forth! Come through this portal in my name!" (More)
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> From the white portal she emerges! It is as you saw in the images - armor and a halberd, bearing erect and proper. Her eyes dart around immediately! "You are not superiors! Who are you and what have you done?" She levels her halberd straight up at the Lady of the Green Kirtle, "Return me at once!"
<Mari> "Ami?" Mari says quietly. She walks forward a little, stops.
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> Meanwhile the portal shrinks down and vanishes. The scroll withers away in the Lady's grasp, turning to naught but ash.
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> Ami's halberd whirls, pointing right at Mari's chest. "How do you know my name?" Her voice is a demand, "Identify yourself!"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> The Lady of the Green Kirtle does nothing. She watches with a dispassionate eye, unimpressed and unexpressive to the halberd so easily swung about.
<Mari> "Because, I'm--" Mari's voice cracks, tears flow down. "I'm sorry I'm late."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Late for what? You don't even look like a soldier!" Her voice is a whipcrack, "Pathetic! Tears?" Ami comes forward. Like a steel clad devil her hand surges forth, the SMACK bringing blood to Mari's mouth. "Give me one reason not to hang you from the Brass Citadel for this embarrassment, human!"
* Mari reels, drops to her knees. It doesn't look as though she did anything to avoid the blow. "I can't," she says, staring at the floor, blood spattering down. "Because it's all my fault, sis."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> Ami's sneer of cold contempt twists, "...sis? Sister?" With narrowing eyes, "That hair, that white hair...Mari." Her voice sounds like a dead thunderclap.
* Mari nods, rises to her feet again. "I didn't know--I didn't have any idea where to look, and oh, Ami, I'm sorry, everyone was dying and I was scared and I wasn't thinking, and--I know you can't probably ever forgive me. I know. It doesn't matter, only you do."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Pathetic." Ami's voice is frozen over as a lake in Caina, "A true soldier would have made a tactical retreat or had a superior plan! It took you this many years? Any Baatorian agent could have found you in a miniscule fraction of that time!" Ami's halberd is pointed up, the butt of it hitting hard on the cold ground.
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "It took me one spell to find you, barely a blink of the eye in time or effort." The Lady of the Green Kirtle steps forward, "Mari is MY servant. You will not insult my servants, or I will take is as an insult on me." Her voice stays cool and dispassionate.
<Mari> "I'm not a soldier." Mari finds it virtually impossible to meet her gaze as she speaks. "I'm just your sister, lonely and pathetic and worried about you. Everything I did, all that time, it was empty knowing you were lost out there somewhere, suffering...I had to do something to help..."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> The Lady and Ami lock eyes for a few moments...and Ami looks away. To Mari she turns, "Why did you intervene now? Glory is coming, for we storm a demonic fortress! The blood of demons will run thick and victory will once again be Baator's! Why now, Mari? Why? I had thought you dead or enslaved."
<Mari> "Guess I am, now. The price I had to pay. But I only found out, a little while ago, that you were alive and in Baator, and--I had to stop you, from going to battle. I've been to the Abyss, Ami. There's no glory there, only madness. These aren't your words! That doesn't have to be all your life is! (more)
<Mari> "The little girl that used to run around in my shadow wouldn't say things like this. Someone took her and twisted her all out of shape and put ideas in her head, but they're not hers, do you understand? I couldn't let you die for nothing, for some far-off commander that doesn't care about you at all!"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Oh Mari..." Ami bows her head, her voice quivering. She takes another step forward...and like a dart her hand is up. She has Mari's chin in a steely deathgrip, eyes as cold as the Lady's. "I've learned discipline, order and strength! What have you learned? To weep like a defenseless maiden and wring your hands! Your failure has been my greatest blessing! Baator WILL overcome and rule all, and
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> I'm on the winning side. You think that I'll cry like a weak fool the moment you blubber and drag up worthless memories?!"
<Mari> "I've learned," Mari says, as clearly as one can while held so, "that anyone who thinks there's a winning side in the Blood War hasn't seen enough of it to know better." Mari yanks herself away to speak more clearly. "Ami, don't you know what you are to them? Devils and demons both, mortals are all the same to them--and mortal is what you are, no matter how much you try to pretend otherwise! (more)
<Mari> "Your masters will just throw you against the enemy ranks to be butchered so's they don't have to suffer themselves, and someone'll maybe note it down in a ledger somewhere that Ami Farrunner needs to be replaced by fresh fodder, and that's that." Mari raps a knuckle on Ami's armor. "Is that all your strength is for?"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Hmph," Ami's eyes glitter with tight, furious anger. "Only the fate of the weak! I'm stronger than that and will be promoted! Anyone can advance in Baator if they are worthy! The Great Warlord, Prince of Avernus, Lord Bel was once a squalling lemure!"
* Mari shakes her head. "Ami...I'm responsible for you. I'm responsible for everything that's happened to you, and it doesn't much matter any more what happens to me to answer that. But I am NOT going to just watch you throw yourself on some demon's pike. Have you faced demons before? Do you really know what you're in for? (more)
<Mari> "If glory's all you want, fine, but there are better ways to find that than just marching wherever you're pointed. Give me some time--let me find another way to prove yourself. You think I'm weak just because I CARE about you? I've stood up against your masters and their sworn enemies both, and I'm still here. I know what I'm talking about!"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "You speak of glory?" Ami challenges, "What enemies are here to dominate and slay?" With a sweep her halberd is swung out, "What battles await, promising victory?"
<Mari> "I didn't want to get you involved. I just wanted..." Mari squirms a little. "That's what it'll take, isn't it? If battle's what it will take to reach you, well, there's a fight waiting outside the walls of this keep. Promise me you'll give me a chance to show there's a life for you outside Baator, and I'll take you with me."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "If that is where a glorious battle is, I will be there." Ami promises, "What foes are we to face?"
<Mari> "Yugoloths. The country outside is beset by them, servants of the Oinoloth, men and drow in their service. This'll be a careful, considered fight, Ami--not racing like mad into the arms of a demon horde, where luck is all you can hang on to. You want a chance to prove yourself to someone who CARES about you, you do it here."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Yugoloths? I am familiar with them. They serve any with enough money," Her smile is a dark, humorless twists, "It is only fitting that we fight them."
<Mari> "Good. And when that's done, we'll talk more, alright? I'm...I'm going to be staying here for a while, once the invasion's dealt with. But if fighting's all you want, well, my friends find a lot of it wherever they go. Could be there's somewhere out there gives you a better chance to move up than Baator does, and you'd get a good chance to look around the planes with them."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Where is this place?" Ami glances about, "What plane am I on?"
<Mari> "The prime. A prime." Mari shrugs. "You're in the Lady's estate. The country nearby is called Amlyn. We haven't been here long, really. But if you want to know about other planes, well, I've been around, so just ask, okay?"
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "Very well," Ami nods shortly, "Where are the bunks, or are we to march immediately?"
<Mari> "There's some work to do before we leave. We--there are beds, yeah. I can bring you to 'em. Um, we might need an extra one. I cut one of them up not too long ago."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> "They will do," Smartly Ami turns, her walk clean, professional, military. "Take me to them."
<Mari> Mari spares a quick glance at the Lady, assuming she's done here for now. "Out this way, the guy outside will take us there--don't listen to anything he says though, he's an ass."
<Infinite_Ko_Loop> The Lady nods to that, "Go."
<Mari> ~