eachdraidh | Video; Unseelie Locked [Foward-Dated to Event: The Awakening]

[Those who have been to the Llarona Ring may recognize the area. It's late afternoon, and the sun has not yet set, which means that the surroundings don't look quite as menacing as they could. In fact, there's an eerily bright glow to the air wherever the sunlight touches it... but the trees behind Cole still cast deep shadows.]

Too quiet, too still. Voices, somewhere, crying out to be found, but they are so far away. They can only whisper.

There are things here that want to kill us. Dark things, hissing and hunting. They wait in the shadows, under the surface of the water, ready to strike. And the shadows are deep.

I know the way to the walls of the sunken city. I can kill things that want to hurt you. I can stay awake and watch, so you can sleep.

My name is Cole. If you want to get to Quendi, I can keep you safe.

((OOC: Because this event lasts 10 days and travel takes time, the number of individuals/groups that Cole is able to lead to the edge of Quendi is limited. My plotting comment is over here if you want to snag a spot before threading it out!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

But if they attack us, we fight back. Isn't that nature, too?

Yes, but if they are attempting to kill us to eat us, and survive, perhaps we do not have to kill them.

There are many ways to incapacitate a creature.

I don't like killing. [Just so they're clear on that.]

Even those that deserve to die?

[Yes, she is delving deeper.]

[His reply is slow, considered.]

Deserving isn't for death. Everything dies.

But sometimes it is better for something to die than to live.

Everything may die.

But that does not mean they stay dead.

[She thinks that some things might not even die, entirely. But that is for another conversation.

Still, his last words hit home.]

And yes, some things would do better to be dead. I do not disagree.

[How many times had she begged for death?
And yet...she is glad that Ethan had not listened to her.]

[Bringing it back to the question of survival:] Is it better to leave them limping, unable to hunt?

Then they become prey and food for others.

Most creatures don't want to eat dead prey.

[...interesting.]

Keep the self safe, keep the cycles turning. The hunters become the hunted, and new life will be nurtured.

Yes.

[He understands.]

Do you know what my mentor used to call me?

[If they were close to one another, he might be able to pluck the name from her mind. As they are...]

No.

Little Scorpion.

[The hunted, and the hunter. The small thing with a deadly sting.]

People called me a Ghost, and a Murderer. That was before anyone understood. Even me.

And what would you call yourself now, besides Cole?

Nothing. I'm just Cole. [That hasn't stopped the people of the Drabwurld from giving him a title, but as far as he's concerned...]

And you? Are you a scorpion still?

Yes.

I have my name, and what I am, as well.

There is no removing it.

I doubt you can remove such things from yourself, even if you wish to only go by Cole.

I didn't know what I was. Now I know I was never a ghost.

Spirit, demon. One and the same, a shifting nature. Now, shardbearer. A name that means I hold a piece of my world.

Which is perhaps more important than all the other things we are--for to hold a piece of our world, means we have a chance to save it.