Faolan's anger dissipates into confusion, then frustration at his confusion. He ought to know if Dmitri is playing him for a fool - and if that's not what's happening, Dmitri shouldn't be so withheld.
He thinks that must be what's happening. Dmitri is trying to be sly with his words like every other man, and he is: didn't he nearly stop Visento in his tracks with a sudden, well-crafted speech? The problem is, Faolan knows better.
Yes. That's what it is. He knows better, so he isn't taken in, so what would have fooled him before only makes him ache. (Because he wanted so badly for Dmitri to be different.)
(He looks frightened.)
(Faolan feels frightened and he doesn't like that.) (He said, though. You mean so much more than anything.)
(What is 'anything' - and who does he mean it to?)
Again he begins to shake his head, he's saying the first thing that comes to mind. "There's no grace in my soul. Only rot."
Before he can fully pull his hand free, however, there's a shout from the bridge of, “Get out of me, you fucking leech!”
He turns, hand still held captive in both of Dmitri's, to see Sen grasping his head with both hands, then doubling over and dry-heaving.
Sort of.
Something does come out of him, but to Faolan's eyes, it looks more like spiderwebs pulled away from Sen's form, the shapeless thing falling into the water below with barely a ripple. Sen rights himself and backs up a step, then points at the water. "You fucking parasite -"
A small waterspout begins to form, then shapes itself until a humanoid head barely breaks the water's surface, peering up with overlarge, oval eyes. Long strands of kelp-like hair float about it, and the whole of the being has an insubstantial, transparent quality. Jellyfish-like. Squid-like. Still, not quite like anything.
Nerys is running up with the two mudmen trotting behind him, and Faolan, perplexed enough to still be held by Dmitri, likewise approaches. (Assuming Rin is also near.) They all stare at the thing in the water and Sen snaps, "There. There's your 'Moloch'. Do you want to tell them, or should I?"
The thing in the water lifts itself up to reveal an almost human mouth, slightly too wide, with far too many teeth. It makes a noise like angry buzzing, but when it sinks again to eye-level, the sound takes on a different, watery quality - a deep-ocean hum.
Sen pulls a disgusted face. "'Pact'. I had a pact with a demon, not a fucking Vodyan-“
The buzzing grows louder and Sen blanches, then reaches down to pick up the nearest thing he can find - a broken bit of plank - and throws it at the thing in the water. The creature floats easily aside and watches the wood bob harmlessly away. "Fuck off with you and your 'game'."
Nerys appears to be the only one who can comprehend what's being said, so he quirks a brow at Sen. "You tried to lie to a demon about who you were? That's ironic."
"I was drunk and I was twenty!” Sen's indignation rises and he points at Nerys. "Stay out of this -"
Nerys is clearly restraining his laughter; he speaks over Sen, who begins shouting at the water entity again. "Your bard here tried to engage a demon into a pact by lying about his identity. Moloch thought it was a game and decided to give it a whirl."
"Its name is Mykola,” Sen interrupts, "And it's a parasitic little opportunist -"
"It's a vodyan," Nerys corrects. “Your vodyan. Names don't matter to it.
"Picked it up in Mysos like sailors' pox, did you? Serves you right."
[NAT, d: 24
dm: Dima recognizes the word 'vodyan' as a water entity that lives in the rivers and lakes of Morovsk, but has been known to travel up the canal to Mysos. The vodyan are related to the cecaelia in the way squid and octopus are related: similar but different. The vodyan are humanoid and have a lower body composed of tentacles, but are translucent like jellyfish.
He would know they are capable of "riding along" with a host; generally benign, but able to take control or resist being removed. They're not particularly harmful or malevolent, but they are considered pests.
The vodyan here, Mykola, appears to be a juvenile, or at least not yet at full sexual maturity, and therefore genderless.
Ah and. He would know that they make pacts in a very Desmond like manner. You don't break a deal with a vodyan or you both grow frail and slowly sicken. Unless it kills you, which this one doesn't appear to want to do.
note: Dima is giving Sen even MORE of a look right now. While continuing to clutch Faolan's wrist for dear life.
Note also, the vodyan is speaking a sort of Infernal. Which makes it comprehensible to Rin and Nerys. Sen is understanding it, if not the language.
q: does Dima have any sense of the typical lifespan of a vodyan? a: This one is going to die in the not too distant future without a host; without its host specifically. But they can live several centuries in ideal circumstances.
Dima would as a wizard also know that a pact with a vodyan is probably very advantageous if Sen can keep the thing under control or come to some kind of agreement about body usage. But also he's probably never heard of a warlock pact with one. What he does know is that gillmen and cecaelia are envied for their aquatic abilities, and vodyan are kind of up there, too.
Not that it matters, but Dima also would know this is a particularly pretty one.]
<.>
Dima - wanting to addressing Faolan's words, how ill-fitting they are; feeling like finally, finally he's approaching a grasp on his own speech - doesn't precisely want to move from this moment, or give so much as a glance in Sen's direction. (Whatever's happening, the elf brought it on himself, and Dmitri doubts it needs immediate attention.) (Dmitri, after all, wants to mend a shattering he brought upon himself, and more importantly, brought onto Faolan.)
The thing is, Faolan is moving toward the bridge, and Dima has no intention of letting him slip away. So Dima moves, as well. Keeping step and Messaging Faolan, [ I don't believe that.
And if I did— I am no stranger to rot, and not liable to shy from its cover. ]
He means to add more, but their approach has brought them to the sight of Moloch, the supposed-infernal being who has risen from the water and looks very much like—
There's a hissed breath from Dima, an exasperated, "For shit's sake."
Leave it to Sen to enter a - so far as Dmitri knows, previously unheard of - warlock's pact with a vodyan. He listens to the conversation, looking from Sen to the vodyan, and thinking.
Thinking that it might not be the *worst* thing for Sen to entertain Mykola's presence.
Knowing that unless they find a loophole in the original pact, cutting the pact any longer bodes no good for Sen's continued health.
[q: would dmitri have any sense of what nerys means when he said 'names don't matter to it.' or more particularly, would he know anything about how vodyan engage with names and how much names do or don't mean in their pacts? a: He would know Vodyan don't name one another; they abandon their young, so a name is just a current label used to indicate 'self’. If Sen said he was Seddum, he was still the entity who is right now calling himself ‘Sen’.]
Dima has a question - many questions - to pose here, but before he can speak, Rin's voice cuts in, speaking the strange (not entirely strange) buzz of Infernal.
Rin's crouched beside the water, eyes narrowed, tail flicking in a fit of pique as they study the creature who they were told and apparently Sen was told is Moloch, but who is also Mykola, and they don't fault having two names but they do fault hounding Sen and being opportunistic with him!
(Well. But also. They don't not see why it might've seemed like a game. It makes sense to Rin, even if they don't very much like the situation.)
[ What do you want with Sen, anyway? He's his own elf, and he's a very GOOD one at that! And what's so bad about the water? It seems like an all right place to live. ]
They think so, anyway, though it occurs to Rin now that they really don't know.
[ Also how'd you even hear him in the first place? You AREN'T a demon, are you? ]
<.>
Mykola floats backward a foot or so, its eyes fixing on Rin; a sad sound follows this movement and briefly, it vanishes below the water before surfacing again.
[ You ARE a demon. ]
The mournful little sound follows this proclamation; clearly, it thinks Rin is Sen's new patron. (Replacing it, of course.)
Sen looks lost: while he can understand Mykola, he can't understand Rin, and so he has no idea where that statement came from.
The vodyan swims nearer, its large, strange eyes reflecting Rin's face. [ We have a compact. Our game became a vow of magic. He must allow me and I must give my magic to him. There is no water for me without Seddum. ]
It lifts a webbed, clawed hand from the river and points at Sen. [ We die together, apart. Look and see. We die more with every tide. See how he diminishes. Breathes shallows.
Together, we are strong. I have Seddum and Seddum has magic. ]
Sen doesn't answer this, either, but neither does he meet Rin's eyes. Mykola suddenly whips a splash of water at him and buzzes accusingly.
[ Tell your demon, Seddum. Tell them you are killing us. ]
<.>
Rin would like to try to assess sen's health or/and whether Mykola is telling the truth pls.
[MED, r: 19 INS, r: 13
Mykola is exceptionally hard to read and they can't tell whether or not it's lying; they CAN see how Sen was misled into thinking it was a demon, particularly if he was drunk, because Mykola has the world's best poker face, apparently. (With its natural 20 against Rin's insight check.)
As for Sen - at a perfunctory glance, he looks okay. However, now that Rin knows what to look for, Sen definitely isn't well. Someone who's known him longer - like Dmitri - would be able to tell he's thinner, that his skin's not quite the right color, that he's not as hardy as he was when they first met.
Both he and Mykola look like they're not breathing the right mixture of air / water.
In other words - Sen needs to be in the water occasionally. Mykola needs to breathe air occasionally. They've both become amphibious thanks to their pact.]
Rin doesn't want to believe it. It'd be easy to tell themself that Sen just looks a little unwell because they've all just been fighting and things have been stressful and— Come to think of it, when was the last time Sen got any sleep? (Or, wait, aren't elves supposed to not really sleep? That's getting into too many steps and Rin's mind's going to wandering if they don't shove back on track and—) So looking not so okay would be understandable - and after all, Sen's so vibrant! how could he be... not... well? - and it's possible Mykola's playing another game, because Rin knows games within games can be fun for the one playing at them.
But it's hard not to be worried.
It's hard not to look at Sen with a puzzled expression, a look of growing distress, or to hear 'we die together, apart' over and over again, or to speak in a voice that sounds very lost, "Sen?
"Sen, is it true? Sen, do you know?”
Dmitri, meanwhile - still gripping Faolan's wrist - can't track a word of the Infernal discussion, but is beginning to understand a few things about why Sen's looked increasingly, if subtly, less well with every encounter. And Dima is in fact going to speak, voice even, curiously toneless—
"'Have,' not had.
"You have a pact with this vodyan.
"Sen. How have you been feeling."
<.>
Sen's non-response - a folding of arms and a look down at his feet against the wood of the bridge - is answer enough. What he does say, after an uncomfortable moment has passed, is a bitter, "Its fucking pact. I didn't choose it; I was young and too stupid to know better. It's an opportunistic, pestilent little -"
“Hey!” Faolan snaps suddenly, taking a step or two forward and finding himself still held tightly by Dmitri. It doesn't stop him from pointing an emphatic finger at Sen and continuing sharply, “It's young. Look at it. It's still a juvenile, Sen."
This appears to be something Sen didn't know and never considered - but then, Sen has no experience with vodyan, having never lived in Morovsk like Dmitri or Faolan. He looks at Mykola, seeming to see it for the first time.
Petulantly, Mykola buzzes, [ I am grown enough. I have seen four rivers now. ]
Sen's shoulders hunch inward a little; now, he nods and replies, "Yes. It's true. Yes, I know, though I didn't when I - escaped it."
Then, darting a chagrined glance at Faolan, he amends, "Abandoned it."
<.>
Silence, following Sen's emendation. Silence in which Rin looks at Sen, then at Mykola, worried for both, thinking it's a shitty situation and not able to tell whether there's a good answer. It's not really anyone's fault, as far as they can tell, but faultlessness doesn't seem likely to make anything better. (Rin also thinks Mykola's remark about four rivers is kind of funny, but they're not going to laugh right now.)
In the silence, Dima slips his hold from Faolan's wrist to Faolan's hand (or tries to, at least), where he resettles his firm hold; where he presses, briefly, with extra tightness, feeling the jaggedness in Sen's 'abandoned it,' feeling it can't have struck Faolan well. (Thinking Fae deserves and likely needs a rest, in body in mind in heart. It's been such a trying godsdamned day.)
Finally, Dmitri looks at Sen, and there might, might be just a little worry when he asks, "What precisely is the nature of your pact?"
And, "Pacts made among the vodyan are notoriously inviolable. And inevitably, inextricably linked to the health of all involved parties.
"It might be wise for the two of you to talk. About what you expect; about what you might want from an... Association. A partnership, if you will."
And, via Message, [ I expect you know your life depends upon it. ]
no subject
He thinks that must be what's happening. Dmitri is trying to be sly with his words like every other man, and he is: didn't he nearly stop Visento in his tracks with a sudden, well-crafted speech? The problem is, Faolan knows better.
Yes. That's what it is. He knows better, so he isn't taken in, so what would have fooled him before only makes him ache. (Because he wanted so badly for Dmitri to be different.)
(He looks frightened.)
(Faolan feels frightened and he doesn't like that.) (He said, though. You mean so much more than anything.)
(What is 'anything' - and who does he mean it to?)
Again he begins to shake his head, he's saying the first thing that comes to mind. "There's no grace in my soul. Only rot."
Before he can fully pull his hand free, however, there's a shout from the bridge of, “Get out of me, you fucking leech!”
He turns, hand still held captive in both of Dmitri's, to see Sen grasping his head with both hands, then doubling over and dry-heaving.
Sort of.
Something does come out of him, but to Faolan's eyes, it looks more like spiderwebs pulled away from Sen's form, the shapeless thing falling into the water below with barely a ripple. Sen rights himself and backs up a step, then points at the water. "You fucking parasite -"
A small waterspout begins to form, then shapes itself until a humanoid head barely breaks the water's surface, peering up with overlarge, oval eyes. Long strands of kelp-like hair float about it, and the whole of the being has an insubstantial, transparent quality. Jellyfish-like. Squid-like. Still, not quite like anything.
Nerys is running up with the two mudmen trotting behind him, and Faolan, perplexed enough to still be held by Dmitri, likewise approaches. (Assuming Rin is also near.) They all stare at the thing in the water and Sen snaps, "There. There's your 'Moloch'. Do you want to tell them, or should I?"
The thing in the water lifts itself up to reveal an almost human mouth, slightly too wide, with far too many teeth. It makes a noise like angry buzzing, but when it sinks again to eye-level, the sound takes on a different, watery quality - a deep-ocean hum.
Sen pulls a disgusted face. "'Pact'. I had a pact with a demon, not a fucking Vodyan-“
The buzzing grows louder and Sen blanches, then reaches down to pick up the nearest thing he can find - a broken bit of plank - and throws it at the thing in the water. The creature floats easily aside and watches the wood bob harmlessly away. "Fuck off with you and your 'game'."
Nerys appears to be the only one who can comprehend what's being said, so he quirks a brow at Sen. "You tried to lie to a demon about who you were? That's ironic."
"I was drunk and I was twenty!” Sen's indignation rises and he points at Nerys. "Stay out of this -"
Nerys is clearly restraining his laughter; he speaks over Sen, who begins shouting at the water entity again. "Your bard here tried to engage a demon into a pact by lying about his identity. Moloch thought it was a game and decided to give it a whirl."
"Its name is Mykola,” Sen interrupts, "And it's a parasitic little opportunist -"
"It's a vodyan," Nerys corrects. “Your vodyan. Names don't matter to it.
"Picked it up in Mysos like sailors' pox, did you? Serves you right."
[NAT, d: 24
dm: Dima recognizes the word 'vodyan' as a water entity that lives in the rivers and lakes of Morovsk, but has been known to travel up the canal to Mysos. The vodyan are related to the cecaelia in the way squid and octopus are related: similar but different. The vodyan are humanoid and have a lower body composed of tentacles, but are translucent like jellyfish.
He would know they are capable of "riding along" with a host; generally benign, but able to take control or resist being removed. They're not particularly harmful or malevolent, but they are considered pests.
The vodyan here, Mykola, appears to be a juvenile, or at least not yet at full sexual maturity, and therefore genderless.
Ah and. He would know that they make pacts in a very Desmond like manner. You don't break a deal with a vodyan or you both grow frail and slowly sicken. Unless it kills you, which this one doesn't appear to want to do.
note: Dima is giving Sen even MORE of a look right now. While continuing to clutch Faolan's wrist for dear life.
Note also, the vodyan is speaking a sort of Infernal. Which makes it comprehensible to Rin and Nerys. Sen is understanding it, if not the language.
q: does Dima have any sense of the typical lifespan of a vodyan?
a: This one is going to die in the not too distant future without a host; without its host specifically. But they can live several centuries in ideal circumstances.
Dima would as a wizard also know that a pact with a vodyan is probably very advantageous if Sen can keep the thing under control or come to some kind of agreement about body usage. But also he's probably never heard of a warlock pact with one. What he does know is that gillmen and cecaelia are envied for their aquatic abilities, and vodyan are kind of up there, too.
Not that it matters, but Dima also would know this is a particularly pretty one.]
<.>
Dima - wanting to addressing Faolan's words, how ill-fitting they are; feeling like finally, finally he's approaching a grasp on his own speech - doesn't precisely want to move from this moment, or give so much as a glance in Sen's direction. (Whatever's happening, the elf brought it on himself, and Dmitri doubts it needs immediate attention.) (Dmitri, after all, wants to mend a shattering he brought upon himself, and more importantly, brought onto Faolan.)
The thing is, Faolan is moving toward the bridge, and Dima has no intention of letting him slip away. So Dima moves, as well. Keeping step and Messaging Faolan, [ I don't believe that.
And if I did— I am no stranger to rot, and not liable to shy from its cover. ]
He means to add more, but their approach has brought them to the sight of Moloch, the supposed-infernal being who has risen from the water and looks very much like—
There's a hissed breath from Dima, an exasperated, "For shit's sake."
Leave it to Sen to enter a - so far as Dmitri knows, previously unheard of - warlock's pact with a vodyan. He listens to the conversation, looking from Sen to the vodyan, and thinking.
Thinking that it might not be the *worst* thing for Sen to entertain Mykola's presence.
Knowing that unless they find a loophole in the original pact, cutting the pact any longer bodes no good for Sen's continued health.
[q: would dmitri have any sense of what nerys means when he said 'names don't matter to it.' or more particularly, would he know anything about how vodyan engage with names and how much names do or don't mean in their pacts?
a: He would know Vodyan don't name one another; they abandon their young, so a name is just a current label used to indicate 'self’. If Sen said he was Seddum, he was still the entity who is right now calling himself ‘Sen’.]
Dima has a question - many questions - to pose here, but before he can speak, Rin's voice cuts in, speaking the strange (not entirely strange) buzz of Infernal.
Rin's crouched beside the water, eyes narrowed, tail flicking in a fit of pique as they study the creature who they were told and apparently Sen was told is Moloch, but who is also Mykola, and they don't fault having two names but they do fault hounding Sen and being opportunistic with him!
(Well. But also. They don't not see why it might've seemed like a game. It makes sense to Rin, even if they don't very much like the situation.)
[ What do you want with Sen, anyway? He's his own elf, and he's a very GOOD one at that! And what's so bad about the water? It seems like an all right place to live. ]
They think so, anyway, though it occurs to Rin now that they really don't know.
[ Also how'd you even hear him in the first place? You AREN'T a demon, are you? ]
<.>
Mykola floats backward a foot or so, its eyes fixing on Rin; a sad sound follows this movement and briefly, it vanishes below the water before surfacing again.
[ You ARE a demon. ]
The mournful little sound follows this proclamation; clearly, it thinks Rin is Sen's new patron. (Replacing it, of course.)
Sen looks lost: while he can understand Mykola, he can't understand Rin, and so he has no idea where that statement came from.
The vodyan swims nearer, its large, strange eyes reflecting Rin's face. [ We have a compact. Our game became a vow of magic. He must allow me and I must give my magic to him. There is no water for me without Seddum. ]
It lifts a webbed, clawed hand from the river and points at Sen. [ We die together, apart. Look and see. We die more with every tide. See how he diminishes. Breathes shallows.
Together, we are strong. I have Seddum and Seddum has magic. ]
Sen doesn't answer this, either, but neither does he meet Rin's eyes. Mykola suddenly whips a splash of water at him and buzzes accusingly.
[ Tell your demon, Seddum. Tell them you are killing us. ]
<.>
Rin would like to try to assess sen's health or/and whether Mykola is telling the truth pls.
[MED, r: 19
INS, r: 13
Mykola is exceptionally hard to read and they can't tell whether or not it's lying; they CAN see how Sen was misled into thinking it was a demon, particularly if he was drunk, because Mykola has the world's best poker face, apparently. (With its natural 20 against Rin's insight check.)
As for Sen - at a perfunctory glance, he looks okay. However, now that Rin knows what to look for, Sen definitely isn't well. Someone who's known him longer - like Dmitri - would be able to tell he's thinner, that his skin's not quite the right color, that he's not as hardy as he was when they first met.
Both he and Mykola look like they're not breathing the right mixture of air / water.
In other words - Sen needs to be in the water occasionally. Mykola needs to breathe air occasionally. They've both become amphibious thanks to their pact.]
Rin doesn't want to believe it. It'd be easy to tell themself that Sen just looks a little unwell because they've all just been fighting and things have been stressful and— Come to think of it, when was the last time Sen got any sleep? (Or, wait, aren't elves supposed to not really sleep? That's getting into too many steps and Rin's mind's going to wandering if they don't shove back on track and—) So looking not so okay would be understandable - and after all, Sen's so vibrant! how could he be... not... well? - and it's possible Mykola's playing another game, because Rin knows games within games can be fun for the one playing at them.
But it's hard not to be worried.
It's hard not to look at Sen with a puzzled expression, a look of growing distress, or to hear 'we die together, apart' over and over again, or to speak in a voice that sounds very lost, "Sen?
"Sen, is it true? Sen, do you know?”
Dmitri, meanwhile - still gripping Faolan's wrist - can't track a word of the Infernal discussion, but is beginning to understand a few things about why Sen's looked increasingly, if subtly, less well with every encounter. And Dima is in fact going to speak, voice even, curiously toneless—
"'Have,' not had.
"You have a pact with this vodyan.
"Sen. How have you been feeling."
<.>
Sen's non-response - a folding of arms and a look down at his feet against the wood of the bridge - is answer enough. What he does say, after an uncomfortable moment has passed, is a bitter, "Its fucking pact. I didn't choose it; I was young and too stupid to know better. It's an opportunistic, pestilent little -"
“Hey!” Faolan snaps suddenly, taking a step or two forward and finding himself still held tightly by Dmitri. It doesn't stop him from pointing an emphatic finger at Sen and continuing sharply, “It's young. Look at it. It's still a juvenile, Sen."
This appears to be something Sen didn't know and never considered - but then, Sen has no experience with vodyan, having never lived in Morovsk like Dmitri or Faolan. He looks at Mykola, seeming to see it for the first time.
Petulantly, Mykola buzzes, [ I am grown enough. I have seen four rivers now. ]
Sen's shoulders hunch inward a little; now, he nods and replies, "Yes. It's true. Yes, I know, though I didn't when I - escaped it."
Then, darting a chagrined glance at Faolan, he amends, "Abandoned it."
<.>
Silence, following Sen's emendation. Silence in which Rin looks at Sen, then at Mykola, worried for both, thinking it's a shitty situation and not able to tell whether there's a good answer. It's not really anyone's fault, as far as they can tell, but faultlessness doesn't seem likely to make anything better. (Rin also thinks Mykola's remark about four rivers is kind of funny, but they're not going to laugh right now.)
In the silence, Dima slips his hold from Faolan's wrist to Faolan's hand (or tries to, at least), where he resettles his firm hold; where he presses, briefly, with extra tightness, feeling the jaggedness in Sen's 'abandoned it,' feeling it can't have struck Faolan well. (Thinking Fae deserves and likely needs a rest, in body in mind in heart. It's been such a trying godsdamned day.)
Finally, Dmitri looks at Sen, and there might, might be just a little worry when he asks, "What precisely is the nature of your pact?"
And, "Pacts made among the vodyan are notoriously inviolable. And inevitably, inextricably linked to the health of all involved parties.
"It might be wise for the two of you to talk. About what you expect; about what you might want from an... Association. A partnership, if you will."
And, via Message, [ I expect you know your life depends upon it. ]
<.>