027.3 "Pretty much all I have are my memories."

[Corwin]

[21:29] <Kotono> Searching about, you find Sylvie first. She's in her quarters - undecorated, though there is a bag sitting on her bed. She has 21 in her hands, reading from the book. Her brow is furrowed in concentration, as if soaking in each page.
[21:33] * Ithea leaning against the wall on the entry side of the room, and knocks on the wall to announce her presence since Sylvie seems pretty focused at the moment.
[21:33] <Kotono> "Come in," Sylvie looks up from 21, "Ithea?"
[21:34] <Ithea> "Hey," Ithea greets with a wave.
[21:35] <Kotono> Sylvie exhales long, 21 vanishing. "Hell." Flopping back onto her bed, "I almost wish Josa was here, so he could tell me at length how I managed to keep 21." Sitting up a bit, propped up by her elbows, "I think I'm home now, aren't I?"
[21:37] <Ithea> "Sure, if you let it be. I consider Aurora a second home, haven't thought of a place as home before after Lifasa," Ithea answers as she steps closer into the room. "Who's Josa, by the way?"
[21:42] <Kotono> "My old boss back in my homeworld. Imagine a candy making elf that's eaten way too much of his own product. He talks with too many big words and run-on sentences, and dresses in sugary pinks, whites, blues and all sorts of candy themed outfits. He's a nut." Sylvie smiles a little bit, "I'm just thinking...somehow, I end up doing the opposite of what I want and think, again and again and
[21:42] <Kotono> again. Life's strange like that, isn't it?"
[21:50] <Ithea> "Sounds like an interesting elf," Ithea replies with a smile of her own. "And I guess it is at that. Sometimes it works out for the better when you do at least, and when it doesn't...well, if you still have your life, you can learn something from it, right?"
[21:54] <Kotono> "Yeah. Yeah, you can." Sylvie sits up now, taking the bag besides her, "If this is home, may as well decorate a bit." She reaches into the bag, taking out first a little box. She opens it up - within is a set of dice. Dice made of purple gemstone, amethyst perhaps. They are carved cunningly well, catching the light within them. "Got these from a dragon's hoard back on my homeworld." Passing
[21:54] <Kotono> them over, "Put them on that table over there for now."
[21:55] * Ithea nods, looking over the item briefly, before putting it where directed.
[21:57] <Ithea> "...so for what it's worth, sorry that meeting went how it did," Ithea says as her hand moves away from the dice.
[21:59] <Kotono> Reaching in again, she comes out with a little clockwork figurine. It is an angel on the charge, spear out. "Here," she says, pausing a moment. "Actually." She half frowns, "I'd forgotten. Remember when I mentioned there was a reformed fiend in my hometown? This is her, I'm fairly sure. The shopkeeps told me that she loved clockwork figurines." AFter that she looks up and sighs, "I am too,
[21:59] <Kotono> but at the same time? It's not all bad. I feel better. I feel that at least 21 means something, and it makes everything I went through mean something. If 21 can destroy Abigor another of Hell's nobility, then everything that happened was...it meant something. It wasn't so damned meaningless, so random, so hateful."
[22:03] * Ithea nods. "Yeah, here's hoping. It certainly did a number on that fallen solar. I was impressed," Ithea admits.
[22:05] <Kotono> Reaching into the bag again, this time taking out a book with the image of a black chess knight on it, "Oh, pass this around," she passes it to Ithea, "It's a book of tactics by the followers of the Red Knight, a goddess of tactical planning." A beat, "Thanks. I knew on some level 21 could do that, but I hadn't use it like that except on the Child. Honestly, I'd been sort of ignoring 21 as
[22:05] <Kotono> best I could. I figured that whatever it wanted, I'd do and I'd be done with."
[22:06] <Ithea> "Oh, this should be an interesting read," Ithea says as she grabs the book, actually opening it and starting to scan through it.
[22:07] * Ithea nods to Sylvie's statement about 21.
[22:10] <Kotono> "It's a bit advanced, but it's still good reading," Sylvie reaches in again, this time pulling out something much bigger. A painting - it looks to be a bunch of nymphs and other elven creatures, all comely females. What's going on is rather lewd, though they all look to be enjoying it. Sylvie groans, "Of course, this thing." She sighs, "Janson took this from that dragon's hoard. Hung it with
[22:10] <Kotono> a smile on his face."
[22:11] * Ithea looks up at the groan, and grins at the sight of the painting. "A dragon's hoard, eh?"
[22:12] <Kotono> Laughing a bit, "The best part? We found some letters the dragon had been sending to a female he wanted. He waaaay overexaggerated the size of his hoard. It was like the lonely, sad bachelor of dragon kind."
[22:14] * Ithea laughs. "Haha, really? Never pictured that when it came to dragons. Then again, they do seem to like to brag and puff themselves up."
[22:14] <Ithea> "Still, always thought they reserved that for us puny mortals, not their own kind as well."
[22:18] <Kotono> Shrugging, "That makes it funnier." Reaching in again, she comes out with a pair of gloves. They are studded with what looks to be silver, Sylvie humming. She takes off her gloves - much the same, but with what looks like iron sewed in. "Cold iron and silver gloves. There was a smith there who made them for us. They're great for martial artists and unarmed fighters who want to hurt creatures
[22:18] <Kotono> like fey, devils or lycanthropes." As she changes gloves, "Tell me a bit about Lifasa? Everyone here talks about it, but never ABOUT it."
[22:54] * Ithea muses about that for a bit, thinking of what to say, reminiscing a bit. "Well, I've not traveled all over the world, all over the planes yes, but over Lifasa? Nope... so I can't exactly tell you as much as some of the others, not while doing them justice anyway, but I can tell you a bit about where I'm from. It was a beautiful valley where my people had come to settle many years back.
[22:54] <Ithea> There were three cities there and various smaller settlements, mostly humans and elves, besides us catfolk, though plenty of other races lived there as well. I lived in Talfin, the bestest of the cities, of course!"
[22:54] * Ithea laughs as she claims her hometown as the best. "Well, the three cities were actually pretty much the same, Talfin had Mystra's temple though. While it was a holy place, it was also this grand library and learning center, a monument that reached so far into the skies that you could see it before you even reached the valley.
[22:54] <Ithea> "Sure, we may not have been as famous as, say, the ascended throne of heaven, but we were a bustling, lively city, and all my people were there. People from all over traveled there to learn or share their knowledge. Because of that, we tended to see a bit more mixes of everything and everyone.
[22:54] <Ithea> "I used to be friends with this crazy little goblin named Rukkig, and there weren't any goblin families living anywhere else in the valley. He was always jumping and moving, laughing a really squeaky and annoying laugh, but he was fun. We used to play tag and hide and seek all the time with all the other kids around.
[22:54] <Ithea> "There were plenty of places to run around wildly without abandon, grassy lands filled with flowers and bushes, and all that...though it wasn't all fun and games of course. Adults used to be pretty strict, drilling stuff into our heads, yadda, yadda. Rukkig tended to play hookey a lot. I actually liked learning, and I...I liked being told I was the best," Ithea says, a sad look on her face contrasting with words that should normally bring pride.
[23:00] <Kotono> Sylvie smiles as she listens along, starting to really smile until the end. That gets her to smile with a sad look, shaking her head, "I was always the best at home, too. Sylvie the genius. I could outshine everyone as I grew up. The girl who was told she should go join the Crimson Guard." As she speaks she passes over the naughty painting, "Hang this somewhere," she says, "I look back and
[23:00] <Kotono> I realized how that stroked my confidence. It felt good to be better than everyone else."
[23:04] * Ithea is a bit startled by Sylvie's last declaration, holding onto the painting, not looking where to hang it as she muses those words. "...Yeah, that's kind of what I was like. I'd probably still be like that if the devils hadn't invaded, in all honesty."
[23:05] * Ithea quietly goes hang the painting on one of the walls where the room still looks most empty.
[23:07] <Kotono> With that hung, Sylvie takes out the next item. It's a slender little book, placed into her lap. "I would have been if things never went wrong. I don't care about being the best any more. I care about being good enough, I think. Good enough to do what I want to. I've mastered both arcane and divine magic to six circles. I've trained my body into a martial keenness. I've learned vast amounts
[23:07] <Kotono> of lore and little tricks to go with it. ...it's a start."
[23:14] * Ithea smiles. "It's a good start indeed. It's sort of the same, yet sort of different for me, so interesting perspective to think about. For me a good chunk of my motivation is wanting to live up to the expectations of everyone that used to praise me and died to give me a chance to live. Yes, I also want to make sure that each day I'm good enough to face what challenges I've got left to face...
[23:14] <Ithea> But I do want to be the best. I just don't buy into the idea that I'm anywhere near there yet. I hope someday I will though."
[23:18] <Kotono> "There's always more to learn. I know now that even if I master the ninth circle of magic, there's more to be found. My  martial arts aren't as good as the Master's or even how Willim's were. Elder Magi Tepen may very well know more lore than I do." Sighing and sitting back, "Hell of a challenge. Oh, put this somewhere? It's another from that dragon. This one's a fiery treatise on how handsome
[23:18] <Kotono> male elves going at it," A naughty blush comes to Sylvie's cheeks, "And lithe female elves going at it is ruining the local elven nation." After a beat, "I just don't know about that dragon. That hoard was something else."
[23:20] * Ithea starts laughing again. "I'll bet. Makes me wonder what else was there that you -didn't- bring along."
[23:32] <Kotono> "Not much." Sylvie looks down at the bag, "My life and memories are in here. Even at my lowest points, I didn't want to let these go."
[23:35] <Ithea> "I kind of wish I'd been able to get out of Lifasa with knick knacks to remember it by," Ithea says wistfully. "Pretty much all I have are my memories."
[23:37] <Kotono> "Sorry." Sylvie puts the bag aside, "Say. When I saw you fight earlier, you reminded me of some of the tricks I use. That look in your eyes when you suddenly realise a weak point or an avenue of escape."
[23:42] * Ithea nods. "Yeah, a flash of inspiration hits now and then," Ithea answers. "I've been studying when I can since we fixed up Aurora's library. Some tidbit of trivia will pop in my head in the heat of battle usually."
[23:43] <Kotono> "Show me some tips on how you fight and I'll show you some of the tricks I've learned," Sylvie offers, extending her hand out. "Deal?"
[23:49] * Ithea laughs. "Sure, why not. Don't expect a lot of success if you try to show me tricks involving divine magic though. I've put most of what faith I've got in me on the arcane and fighting dirty," Ithea says as she grasps the hand, shaking it. "Devils seem just as susceptible to dirty tricks as anybody else, funny enough."