orientation ♔ and climb high to the highest rung | to shake fists at the sky

[necessaryevil]

WHO || Phineas, Max, open! feel free to bump into them
WHAT || Max meets with his squire
WHERE || Upstairs rec room
WHEN || May 10 [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam

A week and a half after Phineas' squiring ceremony, he gets a simple text on his Drakenet phone:

hope you've figured out how to use this. meet me upstairs in the rec room with the pool table at 8.

--max

With seemingly little regard as to whether Phineas actually knows what a rec room is (or a pool table for that matter), Max bides his time with a game, awaiting his squire's appearance.

Comments

[thesleeper]

Phineas, still unconscious from a long night of drinking, suddenly falls to the floor, haunted by an incessant 'Beep...Beep...Beep'

Ow! Gods damn that infernal BEEPING

[Few things put Phineas in a shouting mood. Hangover wakeups are those thing.]

[Half-rolling, half-crawling, he works his way to the phone. He lifts his arm up and fishes around on the end table to find it, then finally reads Max's message.]

Just my luck...

[He checks the time... 7:45...]

Gods... Damn... it...

[He races out of his room, and to the meeting location, stopping to ask for directions on the way]

[Panting] Uh... Hey Max. What's up?

[necessaryevil]

[ there's the clacking sound of a cuestick knocking into the balls and then max stands up to look back at him ] Figured it was about time we actually talked.

[thesleeper]

Well... Where do we start?

[necessaryevil]

[ he tosses phineas a cue stick, reflex 14+ to catch. ]

You play?

[thesleeper]

[Reflex... 3.]
[The stick bounces off the side of his head, hits the floor, and he steps on it, tripping and falling to the floor.]

...Apparently not. Little help?

[necessaryevil]

[ max smirks but saunters over and gives him a hand up ] Or we could just talk.

[thesleeper]

Talking... may be a good place to start.

[He is vertical again... for the time being.]

You uh... Been with the knights a long time?

[necessaryevil]

You could definitely say that. I've put in my time, if that's what you mean. Know my way around.

[thesleeper]

So...

[He coughs awkwardly]

This uh, world ain't half bad - as far as I can tell. You from here, or did you fall through?

[necessaryevil]

I was born here, but my parents weren't. They fell through a long, long time ago. Remembered plenty about the Old World.

[thesleeper]

Oh? Which world did they come from? Toril, as well?

[necessaryevil]

Yeah. [ he says it with a little attitude, like it should be obvious, but then rubs the bridge of his nose. ] ... Right, all this 'people from new worlds' crap.

That's a pretty recent development. As far as I know, only been happening a year or two.

[thesleeper]

Oh? No one had told me that...

What changed, I wonder?

[necessaryevil]

Do I look like a scientist to you? [ he shrugs and pulls out a pack of cigarettes ] No clue. The Hoard works on that mystery - Sir Trinall probably knows a lot more about it, and Wynn obviously, but they're keeping a lot of their research on the down low.

[thesleeper]

What do you do then? I'd assumed, since you were on... that mission... together, you were from similar sections.

[Oops... you weren't going to bring that topic up - stoopid!]

[necessaryevil]

Actually, it doesn't work that way. We're in different sections so that we can sort together groups with a lot of different skills - one or two from each relevant section, that kinda thing.

Some of us don't fit in a section. [ he digs in his pocket for a lighter ] I guess you could say I'm good at... tracking things. A certain kind of thing.

[thesleeper]

I suppose that makes sense... Leverage different skill sets.

So, what is it you track, apart from arses who fall through the veil?

[He smiles in spite of himself]

[necessaryevil]

[ as he lights his smoke and takes a long drag, he stares off across the room ] Violence.

[thesleeper]

Well...

That's rather ominous, isn't it?

What does that mean, exactly? There's "violence" everywhere. Seems like that'd be a bit like looking for a specific drop of water in the whole ocean...

[necessaryevil]

Yeah, well, I'm talking physical violence, of the recent variety. It leaves an... aura for lack of a better phrase, I guess. I can tap into it.

[thesleeper]

That may well be the first genuinely interesting thing I've heard since I got here.

How does it work? More importantly, how hard of a skill is it to learn?

[necessaryevil]

Pretty damn hard, I imagine, considering I was born with the ability. It's a ... hereditary thing.

It took some time to learn how to control it, but when I can, it lets me relive the encounter, see through the eyes of whoever's inflicting the violence for a moment. Feel what they felt.

[thesleeper]

Well... that's legitimately disappointing. I've got a keen interest in supernatural powers.

Even so... it sounds like this particular one may bear quite a toll on the user.

[necessaryevil]

[ he takes another long drag, flinching slightly and staring straight ahead ] Yeah, well [ he exhales smoke out his nose ] life's a bitch that way.

Here's hoping the good ends up outweighing the bad.

[thesleeper]

I have to admit, I know more than I'd care to about housing the emotions of another... entity.

[Phineas sighs, and stares off distantly for a bit...]
Some days it's hard just to look back and remember who I was before I started doing this.

[necessaryevil]

So that's a part of what you do, then? How's it work?

[thesleeper]

Oh, Lis'sa didn't tell you?
[He looks around, then leans in a whispers]

The short answer is... I host a spirit by binding it to my soul...

It has curious side-effects on my appearance and demeanor, though.

[necessaryevil]

You talking about ghosts?

[thesleeper]

Uh... Something like that.

A Vestige is a bit more complicated...
[He furrows his brow, always struggling to explain this bit to non-binders... It's especially hard if they haven't studied the planes...]


It's a bit like... well honestly it's a bit like this Veil you have. Only rather than being a barrier between worlds, they exist on a barrier outside of reality, time and space.

I guess that's not correct - technically speaking they don't exist...
[... Yeah Phineas, that is like crystal clear. mmhmmm.]


At any rate, they're extremely powerful entities - most stronger than the Gods, so texts say - and one way or another they managed to become snuffed out of reality.

[necessaryevil]

If they were so all-powerful, how'd they get wiped out of reality?

[thesleeper]

Most of them involve some great injustice or tragedy...

Ah... lets see... I suppose one of my favorite examples would be Andromalius, the Repentant Rogue. He was the herald of some great thieves' deity. On his deathbed, to prove that he was the most clever servant of his god, he repented every action in his life, forcing her to refuse him entry into her celestial domain.

She knew about his play, though, and didn't want such a clever servant to be lost to some other deity - so she hid him away where none could find him...


[He snaps back, unaware that he was speaking so wistfully.]

They're uh... all a bit like that.

[necessaryevil]

A bunch of blokes who got around the rules, then. And you get around them even more, to do what you do?

[thesleeper]

More or less.

It's not too dissimilar to magic - enough to fool most, anyway... Though, many would frown on it, knowing the truth.

Even so, it's not dangerous... it adheres strictly to the rules of the pact, and the trust in a promise.

[necessaryevil]

Not everybody considers what I do exactly kosher either. Probably isn't, given the source, but I figure what you use something for is the important part, right?

[thesleeper]

Thoughts like that are what get me though the day...

Hopefully, I can do some good here for you people... apparently I came here to do something important... maybe this is it?

[He shrugs]

[necessaryevil]

Came here as in the Knights, or this world?

[thesleeper]

Lis'sa didn't tell you? I had some half-burned note that I'd penned for myself when I awoke in that desert... Seems I came here with some intent to do something important. No mention of what, or how I got here though... Only other thing that stands out as odd to me is this tattoo [He holds out the back of his hand, to show the design.] I don't remember this at all... but I'm not sure if it's relevant, or not. [He shrugs] I'll probably never know.

[necessaryevil]

She probably figured you'd mention it, if it was important.

[thesleeper]

Well... that's yet to be seen, I suppose.

At any rate, brooding over a missing memory won't bring it back, so I'm told. Fate has a cruel sense of humor, more often than not...

[necessaryevil]

You're not kidding.

So. Any pressing questions you need me to answer?