Asolus

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0147: The Barn (Emanon)

Within the cluster of shelving units, Emanon finds a small, fairly claustrophobic space, walls swaddled in black velvet sheets, lit by black lights. The entire center of the square nook is occupied by a circular wooden table, about four feet in diameter. Forward and crammed into the left corner next to the table is a large terrarium, about two feet by two feet, and rising up to a couple feet above Emanon’s head, the likely source of the scent of moist soil that fills the nook. Aside from several wooden branches, the main feature within the terrarium is a mass of tangled spider webs. The webs are clumped so heavily that they resemble cotton gauze more than the more ornate webs that Emanon remembers seeing in the tall grass around the edge of the lake. A hint of movement within the terrarium makes him catch his breath, his hand still sore from the burning hot wax; he realizes with some alarm that the top couple feet of the terrarium are not enclosed fully.

Across the circular table from Emanon is the other, most-notable thing in the room: a pale-skinned woman sitting at the table, knees drawn up to her chest. A mess of greasy black ringlets sits atop her head, apparently gathered in the back with some hair pins, and the black light imparts an ethereal glow to the patches of skin that peek out of a simple slip of white lace. Her eyes are sunken, which, combined with her impossibly slender build, gives her a sickly appearance as she moves her hands across a set of oversized cards fanned out, face-down, into an arc in front of her. Emanon’s eyes are drawn to the single face-up card on the table, situated directly in front of him, decorated by a scene of angels fighting skeletal fiends beneath a lone seraph that hoists a trumpet aloft. The seraph is flanked by the two halves of the word “JUDGE-MENT.”

“Sit, stand, whatever,” the woman says, her voice hoarse and strained. “Best stay, though, after that…performance.” Her eyes suddenly flash open, revealing black pools instead of normal eyes, possibly some cosmetic contact lenses. The effect is quite unnerving, especially when paired with the normal-looking eyes that Emanon now realizes are painted on her eyelids.

[Heim]

Post #148: The Barn (Emanon)

Emanon sits. Looking away from his erstwhile hosts "eyes" he finds himself looking at the tarot cards illustration, heaving deep, quiet breaths to steady his nerves.

Not liking how it's THAT card that's face up.

Next, he looks at the terrarium once again, taking a moment to observe the yet unseen spiders impressive work. The space as a whole, though unnerving, also gave the impression of being cut off from the environment outside it. Even the music and clanking of the contraption seem somewhat distant. A feeling of relief at his apparent good fortune rises to the surface of Emanon's thoughts. Recognizing that this feeling has begun to function as a signal of coming misfortune Emanon's eyes fall to the woman sitting across from him. It's as he starts picking apart the wax coating his hand, displaying a grimace he wonders if she can see, that he finally speaks.

"While my visit lasts, I wouldn't mind having the cards read. If you wouldn't mind reading them."

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0149: The Barn (Emanon)

Spoiler: Emanon's Roll

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https://forums.giantitp.com/showsing...33&postcount=5
Perception Test, Target 7, Result 5.

The woman looks at Emanon for a long moment; then he reminds himself that it only looks that way and her eyes are actually closed. She reaches her left hand toward something unseen beneath her side of the table and produces a small case made of shiny silver, about the size of a deck of playing cards, which she places just to her left on the tabletop. Opening it, she withdraws a small square of white paper and a minute envelope from the case, and begins to roll a joint that she fills with some mixture of dried plant-matter and a salt-and-pepper colored powder, all with only her left hand. Her right arm remains wrapped around her knees. Watching her move, Emanon perceives that she is very small for her height, a step beyond exceptionally slight of build.

Eyes still closed, she nods at Emanon. “Apology.” She places the slender joint between her lips and produces a leather-wrapped, old-fashioned lighter, a little smaller than a can of beer, from beneath the table. After a moment of fiddling with the flint mechanism, a flame appears. “Tabitha decides to come bother me again or not, thus we wait,” she says as she raises the lighter to the end of the joint, again only using her left hand. As the joint flares up, she takes a long, deep drag, her inhalation punctuated by an alarmingly-loud, hollow rattle sound. Her pallor brightens to an almost flush tone as she holds her breath. Emanon finds himself unconsciously counting; ten seconds…twenty seconds…. A full thirty seconds pass, then the woman finally exhales the smoke slowly through her nostrils, causing an exotic, bright fragrance to fill the eerie silence of the black-lit nook, potent enough to make his eyes water.

“Unfortunate. She leaves. Would spare me words if she came and chased you off.”

She shrugs and begins a second, shorter inhalation, following the same pattern. Afterward, her eyes open, watery black holes in her face.

“You know how?” she asks, gesturing at the cards.

[Heim]

Post #150: The Barn (Emanon)

His focus having lapsed during her lengthy drag, Emanon resumes peeling the wax from his hand. He stares into her “eyes” as a pair of small tears fall from his, owing to the smell, lost in thought. It’s only after several seconds of silence that her question registers to him.

“...I guess not. What should I do?”

Also, you’d prefer the person who threatened to cut off your nose show up than have me stick around?

This last part is left unsaid. Many curiosities about the woman bounce around in Emanon’s head but he phrases none of them. Above all, he’s reminded of Taliyah. On the surface they both seem to strongly contrast Tabitha in various ways (Maybe Tabitha has a problem with people who do that) and they both practice something he mentally identifies as “reading”.

Divination she called it… I shouldn’t assume what this is without knowing unless I want to embarrass myself again.

Having again circled back to his earlier conversation with Taliyah he finds himself considering the situation as a whole. Though grateful Tabitha hadn’t decided to pursue him he imagines she'll be far less inclined to entertain him when next they met. Overall, the chance of him gaining useful knowledge about these people and their aims seemed especially low in light of that fact. Coupled with his growing fatigue he felt his best option was leaving as soon as possible, but of course, Taliyah was nowhere to be found.

Pushing these thoughts aside he stares into her "eyes" once again. The thing about her which most reminds him of Taliyah is that they both project a sense of “awareness”, like they could see right through him, though he feels that the type of awareness and where it comes from is different. It's because of this that he felt compelled to ask her for a reading in the first place.

Maybe they know each other. Should I ask for her name at least?

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0151: The Barn (Emanon)

The woman sitting across from Emanon gives a slow groan, her gaze cast downward for a moment as she pinches the bridge of her nose with the thumb and forefinger of her left hand. Retrieving the joint from her mouth, she exhales smoke from her nostrils again, this time with clear hints of impatience.

“Touch cards. Shuffle. Think with your thoughts on your question,” she says, leaning forward over her knees, stray locks of loose curls falling to obscure the elaborately inlaid table top, right hand quickly moving to gather the fanned-out cards. “Focus. Spread cards, face-down. Speak what you seek,” she continues, each successive word feeling more strained as she speaks. “Feel pull of cards. Choose three. Then…,” she says, now practically choking on each word, and then points at Emanon then back at herself with her left thumb as she pushes the somewhat disordered deck toward Emanon, “...then we discuss.”

She leans back and takes a long, shuddering drag on her joint, now about half reduced to ash. After holding her breath for another long pause, she tilts her head back and looks at the ceiling, exhaling slowly. When her moist black pools return to focus on her guest again, Emanon can see several telltale beads of sweat on her forehead.

She gestures impatiently with her left hand, and Emanon perceives that she wants him to get on with it.

[Heim]

Post #152: The Barn (Emanon)

It momentarily occurred to Emanon to call for help on behalf of his host but a seconds thought pushed the idea from his mind. Forgetting every other factor at play it was clear she didn't want him around any longer than he needed to be.

So much for asking her name.

That said, he now found himself trying to make sense of her fevered instructions. Thankfully, most of her words hadn't pertained to him.

Think of A question, pick three cards, then... discuss.

He wondered whether she was up to discussing much of anything given her demeanor but leaving prematurely after she'd gone through the trouble of explaining things seemed wasteful. And so, he spread the cards out in front of him and began to think.

What do I seek?

There was no shortage of things that he sought, those things being answers to questions, though he doubted her ritual would give him a genuine answer to any of them. With Taliyah already in his thoughts her earlier test came to mind. His answer, he thought, had meant to give her an indication of his character. Like this ritual, it had also centered around something he desired, though this time it was not his answer to a question but the answer to his question that seemed important. Indeed, it had been all about him, all reflective of him. Perhaps this was the same way. Whatever was on the other side of the cards, their meaning would be contextualized by his query and his interpretation of them would be reflective of his expectations, beliefs and hopes. If that's how it was, then why not make the question about himself? Thinking this, he finally takes a deep breath.

"How can I change myself to find the answers I seek?"

The words hang in the air fleetingly before Emanon reaches out, quickly selecting a trio of cards at random.

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0153: The Barn (Emanon)

“Choose, don’t turn over,” the woman says as Emanon reflects prior to choosing the cards. She puts out the remaining half of her joint on the side of the silver case, then pops the joint into her mouth. A moment later, she swallows loudly.

With his three cards selected, the woman moves suddenly, clambering up onto the tabletop as she gathers and moves the rest of the cards to the side with her right hand. Now, she places the remaining three cards, still face-down, in front of Emanon. She looks down at him, resting on the palms of her hands, her upper body seeming to be draped between her eerily slender arms. As her head dips low toward the cards, he catches a glimpse of shoulder blades and spine, visible in disturbing detail.

“Something to change about yourself to bring…,” she says, ending the phrase with a deep humming sound, “...answers.”

Her right hand hovers in slow circles above the left-most of the three cards arrayed before Emanon.

“Let’s see.”

She flips the card cleanly with her long, bony fingers, revealing JUDGEMENT, beneath the roman numeral XX, the same angels and fiends struggling beneath an angelic herald that Emanon recently saw face-up when he entered the nook, oriented upright relative to his side of the table.

She shrugs. “Maybe with grain of salt, this one; more on that later. This means a great decision, inflection point, lies before you. Something big, and what comes next will change your world. Old ways end, new ways begin.”

“But…more…,” she says, and her hand moves over the center card. Her breath pauses, and the moment stretches as she slowly turns the card over.

Before him, all upside-down, Emanon sees the depiction of a goat-headed demon, sitting cross-legged within a pentagram of burning flames inscribed on the ground around it. THE DEVIL is written beneath the roman numeral XV along the top edge of the card.

“Symbol of dark temptations, hedonism. Burden, like chains, such desires place on the spirit. Inverted, now it represents an end to captivity, freedom from chains. Jailbreak, perhaps.”

Her hand moves to the final of the three cards, then pauses. “The thread continues with….” She flips the card quickly, revealing, upside-down, a tall man hung by one ankle from a scaffold, his face contorted in frustration or pain, clothed only in tight-fitting short shorts. THE HANGED MAN is written beneath the roman numeral XII.

“Grave sacrifice is normal face of card, but, here,” she says, “flipped.” She gives a thoughtful nod, and another deep hum emerges from her abdomen. “Inverted, it’s stagnation, opportunity as it passes.”

Leaving the cards in place in front of Emanon, she slumps back into her chair, feet on the floor, fake eyes fixed forward, arms draped limply over the arms of her wooden chair. She remains there, dreadfully still.

[Heim]

Post #154: The Barn (Emanon)

A change in my world, followed by dark temptations... And sacrifice.

Puzzling over the cards Emanon finds himself making a grim connection, smirking gloomily as it takes shape in his head.

It's like a timeline of today, tonight and what's coming next. No, don't think like that. Think about these as the answer.

And so he continues to think. In fact, the woman had indicated for him to see The Devil and Hanged Man not as indulgence and sacrifice but as freedom and stagnation. Still, his first impression is his strongest. As he turns things over in his head he finds himself looking at her once again. He'd been conflicted on the point till now but the fact that she'd identified the cards and their orientation confirmed she could "see". The question of how threatened to pull his thoughts away from the cards. Depending on what the answer was she might hold important knowledge about the phenomena he'd experienced.

I haven't heard the ringing for a while now...

Ultimately though, he sidelined the idea of probing her. Aside from her demeanor he felt like asking someone ostensibly blind if and how they could see was a bad idea, especially if she was using normal methods of perception he was simply unaware of.

I'll just have to put in a pin in this.

Having found himself considering her words another smaller detail came into focus, one which struck him as odd. Finally, he spoke.

"Why take Judgement with a grain of salt?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0155: The Barn (Emanon)

A long, slow, hollow rattling comes from the woman across from Emanon as she slowly draws herself upright to face him, her simple dress now somehow disheveled. Black inky pools blink open, with her blinking somehow being even more disturbing than the steady gaze of her eyes, the painted-on whites of her eyes on her eyelids disappearing from the bottom on up .

“First card always Judgement.”

[Heim]

Post #156: The Barn (Emanon)

"I see."

Emanon feels unclear on exactly what that means. Judgement HAD been face up when he first arrived but it seemed unlikely that it always appeared as the first card. There must be some context to her words he was missing, context that seemed as though it would be difficult to extract. Putting that aside, he returned to contemplating the cards.

Judgement felt like the most straightforward of the three. Since events had begun to unfold he felt he had been at the crossroads of many important decisions, more than he could recall encountering for a long time. It was a serious shift from the life he'd been leading for so long and it seemed to him that he'd struggled to cope and made mistakes. This feeling had played a key part in how he'd formulated his question. Recent events had shown him that he lacked the ability to change what circumstances he found himself, he could only react to the best of his abilities, but it seemed he'd struggled to do that. He wanted to know what he should be doing differently in order to get to the root of what was going on. In that respect Judgement seemed to say 'You must steel yourself for the decisions yet to come and prepare to make them.'

The Devil seemed to suggest things as well. Emanon could interpret "imprisonment" in a few things. There was a sense that he couldn't leave the barn, not just because Taliyah was absent but also because a deeper instinct told him he couldn't simply walk out of the door. Then there was Taliyah herself. She was the only person he'd interacted with regularly for several years, the only person he'd met who acknowledged that the world was distorted and someone who he'd promised to lend a hand. Even if his goal was to uncover the truth cutting ties with her to achieve that felt unconscionable. Then there was he himself. Why hadn't he simply skipped town at the first hint of fishy activity? Why risk his safety in increasingly dire circumstances? It could be said that he was imprisoned by his desire for answers, a desire connected with just how impactful these events had been on his life. Having lost the sense of security fundamental to his quiet life it seemed he was filling that void with this new commitment to discovering what lay at the root of that upheaval. Thinking this, his hand drifts to the book inside his jacket. He traces its edges with his fingers and makes a fist with his wax coated hand.

If fate's real then it's not in the cards for me to break free of this yet.

Then there was The Hanged Man, stagnation... The word resonated with him. He blinked. Listening, he processed the trickle of noise bleeding in from outside the dark little nook.

What am I doing? How long have I been here?

He'd went through the trouble of making a scene and burning his hand to escape rejecting Tabitha, not to contemplate his behavior in the presence of a dispassionate woman and her pet. Tabitha was probably long gone, maybe she'd even finished speaking with her "mistress", so why was he still here? He looked up at her again, staring into her eyes as he'd done many times now. Reflecting on his thoughts it was clear what the answer was.

"I've come to a decision, and I owe you for putting up with me."

He got up as he spoke, taking another deep breath.

"I can't force you to answer me but there's also no reason I can't ask. Who are you? Why are you here with these people? What are you all planning?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0157: The Barn (Emanon)

The woman points at herself with her left hand. “Tituba.” She takes a long drag on a joint she rolled while Emanon was thinking, but exhales quickly, a measure of color having returned to her face.

After a pause to look at the joint in her left hand thoughtfully, she continues. “Once, Lorelei walks with me, along path ours alone. Now, she turns, walks other path. I remain.” Tituba pauses again, and Emanon spots a lone tear as it runs down her cheek. “Plans? Fate for me is sealed; no cure, no future.” A further pair of tears follow the first, one for each cheek.

As she finishes speaking, a large, hairy tarantula, a little smaller than a dinner plate, crawls up the side of Tituba’s chair and onto the table beside her. Without moving her eyes off of her guest, she strokes the spider’s abdomen gently. A powerful and irrational sense of panic comes over Emanon, and he feels a strong compulsion to run screaming away from the spider. Steadying himself, he manages to maintain his composure, but just barely.

“Apologies, friend means no harm,” she says as she inclines her head toward the tarantula. Her left hand disappears beneath the table again, before producing what looks like a dead mouse. Holding it by the tail with her left hand, she gives it a deft toss into the terrarium. The movement clearly had significance for the tarantula, as it quickly skitters across the table and up into the terrarium.

[Heim]

Post #158: The Barn (Emanon)

Emanon shivers as he watches the gargantuan creature ascend back inside its living space.

If I'm going to get so spooked by creepy crawlies like this then I have no chance against what's coming.

Coming down from the brief spike of terror he looks at Tituba once again.

"Tabitha, Tituba, Taliyah. It's really remarkable, the kinds of people I've run across in so little time."

He pauses, shaking his head, both to maintain alertness and break away from the coming reverie.

"Wasn't expecting you to answer me. Not much left to say I think... What do you think Lorelei wants? She's letting Tabitha run around with a mob killing people, why? How does it serve her? Tabitha also said I'd meet her eventually, can't help but wonder what she has in mind."

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0159: The Barn (Emanon)

Tituba grunts as Emanon mentions not expecting her to answer. “Answers is all I have,” she says after he finishes. “No understanding of Lorelei here. She no longer seeks that. Explains why our paths diverged. Tabitha seeks one thing: recognition.” Her voice cracks and she coughs, clearing her throat. “She thinks Lorelei can provide that.”

The pale, slender woman takes another drag on her joint and stands up. She steps delicately around some objects Emanon can’t quite see around the edge of the table and makes her way toward him, moving along the side opposite the terrarium. She stops about arm’s length away. The black lights illuminating the nook blink on and off several times, the bulbs briefly emitting a characteristic hum. Tituba turns away from him briefly and reaches behind a swatch of dark fabric and flips some kind of switch from the sound of it. A normal, white light fills the room, coming from a single, exposed bulb on the ceiling. She turns back toward him and looks him slowly up and down, joint burning down slowly in her left hand as her right hand moves about the table, gathering cards and shuffling their order.

“First answer always easy,” she says. She moves her right hand behind her, above the cards, before it suddenly darts down to a card in the middle of the spread. “Always Judgement,” she says as the angelic herald is revealed again. “Interpretation less clear, of course.” She briefly shuffles the cards again, then once more produces the herald, holding it up briefly before letting it fall back onto the table behind her as she turns to face Emanon, taking a step closer. “I can talk fine, but I pay for each word in the currency of pain.”

Tituba turns and reaches back across the table, leaning far forward to reach it; in the bright white light, Emanon can clearly see she is clearly unwell, with little in the way of flesh to conceal beneath her simple slip. She stubs out her joint on the cover of the silver case and abandons it.

“In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say.” She moves decisively to Emanon, places a hand on the lapel of his jacket and then moves past him, heading out of the nook and back into the area in front of the entrance to the barn, beckoning him to follow as she passes.

[Heim]

Post #160: The Barn (Emanon)

He stares, mouth slightly agape, as Tituba stands up and walks to the exit of the nook.

Not only can you see, but also walk.

Her words come back to him, 'I pay with the currency of pain'. That seemed to indicate she was in a fair bit of pain right now. A small voice in his head tells him that he should be careful of trusting anyone at the moment but after such an unexpectedly long stay with Tituba he finds himself pleased that he won't be walking alone anymore.

What's happening to me? Have I ever once thought like that before? Still, she seems less self interested than Tabitha at least.

Conscious of the fact that he'd been standing still perhaps a few seconds too long he hastens to follow Tituba. It's as he takes the single step necessary to arrive at the curtains that he becomes aware of a worrying feeling, that being the heaviness of his legs. Suddenly, his eyelids feel heavy.

You've been sitting for at least ten minutes, what's wrong with you? Just a little farther.

And so he went.

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0161: The Barn (Emanon)

Tituba leads Emanon over to the entrance to the barn, opens the door and heads outside. Stopping at a distance of a few paces from the entrance, she stops and turns to look back at Emanon.

“Fresh air good for you,” she says and, indeed, Emanon does feel a marked improvement now that he’s away from the cloying and potent smell of the stuff Tituba was smoking. “Deep breaths. Medicine good for me, bad for all others.”

As he looks around, Emanon notes that the fog still hangs heavily about the Green, while the vague hint of darkness up above is all that he can make out regarding the sky.

[Heim]

Post #162: The Barn (Emanon)

It's then that Emanon realizes something. Turning around, he gazes at the entrance to the barn.

What the hell? Seriously, what's wrong with me?

Reorienting himself, he addresses Tituba.

"Are we just out here for some fresh air or are you taking me somewhere? If it's the second one then I'll have to decline, I came here with someone else and need to make sure she's okay."

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0163: The Barn (Emanon)

“Humor me,” Tituba replies, making no sign of moving from where she stands, but instead raising her right hand in front of her from where it hung at her waist. A delicate, but quite large, spider crawls up onto her hand, stepping across her knuckles as she rotates her wrist slowly. “Why did you come here?”

[Heim]

Post #164: The Barn (Emanon)

Looking behind himself once again Emanon verifies that the pair of skeletal smokers from the time he arrived are still present. Though they seem preoccupied he nonetheless chooses his words more carefully in case they happen to be listening.

"I don't know which "here" you're referring to exactly. I came to this party because the alternative was being burnt alive, I came to your nook because I wanted to get away from "her" and I followed you out here because you seem to have something in mind, does that answer the question?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0165: The Barn (Emanon)

“Why do you think the old woman came to the party?” she asks pointedly, looking up from the yellow-and-black striped spider as it crawls along her palm. The watery, black surface of her eyes seem to shine strangely in the half-light, and Emanon feels the same sense of panic brought on earlier by the tarantula begin to well up inside him again as he finds himself unable to easily look away from the spider.

[Heim]

Post #166: The Barn (Emanon)

Fearfully gazing away from the spider Emanon frowns. He doesn't remember ever specifying that he came with Taliyah, though, he'd let slip enough details to the point that it might be obvious.

"What do I think? I think she came because the other option was death but... She probably had other reasons, seeing as there were definitely better plans than wandering into the lions den. I could guess at those other reasons but I don't think that's what you want me to do, or is it?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0167: The Barn (Emanon)

“While I don’t know the old woman well, we stand in opposing orientation, so her motives,” she says and then swiftly takes the few steps to close the distance with Emanon, stopping a few inches from him, “are clear to me.” The hand with the spider is now raised high above her head, cocked ever so slightly, and the spider has descended from its perch, suspended by a strand of its silken webbing. As it slowly dangles, inching closer to Tituba’s hair, Emanon feels an unnerving sense of deja vu, while also noticing that the woman before him is pretty tall for someone so slender.

“I find it unlikely she came to save herself,” she whispers.

[Heim]

Post #168: The Barn (Emanon)

At Titubas words a possible explanation for both Taliyahs willingness to attend the party and for her speedy separation from Emanon become clear to him. As it washes over him like a jet of cold water he clutches his stomach, feeling nauseous.

Stay calm, deep breaths, deep breaths, she told you not lose your head.

Even as he tries to reassure himself dark thoughts invade his mind.

What the hell is wrong with me?! Why did I waste so much time sitting around doing NOTHING?!

With endorphins flooding his system Emanon finds it difficult to stabilize himself. His gut urges him to turn on his heels and dash back into the barn but he manages to avoid being hasty on account of realizing some of what Titubas words indicate.

"What do you mean opposing orientation? What do you think she came here to do? Tell me, NOW."

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0169: The Barn (Emanon)

“Of course, you already know,” she says, moving her right hand and its dangling spider behind her back and leaning in close to speak into Emanon’s ear. “Tabitha can act like a tame kitten, but she’s a rabid dog. My orientation is opposite the old woman, so it’s clear to me…,” she says, as she steps back one pace to look into his eyes. “…your friend probably wanted to spare you from having to watch.”

[Heim]

Post #170: The Barn (Emanon)

In an instant the sound of his heartbeat becomes overpowering in his ears. All sense of fatigue is wiped from his body as he turns around and adjusts his poise, preparing himself in much the same vein as when the mob had descended upon Taliyah's store. It's despite this state of intense focus that a suppressed voice within his mind breaks from its silence and screams a warning to his fevered mind.

"(Inhale)(Exhale)(Inhale)(Exhale)"

He makes a strained rotation to face Tituba once again. The stare he fixes on her contains a vastly harsher scrutiny than his previous ones. With his pupils dilated, fixed on the vast, dark oceans of her shining eyes, a stray thought scampers by, almost entirely unnoticed.

She was crying earlier. Guess these are her real eyes.

His words exit slowly, almost one at a time, in a tone he would be shocked he could produce if only he had the presence of mind to notice it.

"Where is Taliyah? If you lie, I'll make sure you regret it."

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0171: The Barn (Emanon)

“If I take you, are you willing to accept the goodbye that is likely to await?” she asks as she leans forward, eager to hear his reply. “I have no interest in assisting your suicide; we may stand in opposition, but I would not dishonor her effort to keep you alive.”

[Heim]

Post #172: The Barn (Emanon)

Emanon blinks. A frustrated expression contorts his face as the searing heat burning his nerves disperses throughout his body, leaving a quaking tension in its wake. Tituba's words force him to recall his swift loss to the masked man back in Taliyah's halls. 'We only survived because of Tabitha's whim', the thought revives the sickening nausea he'd felt a moment before. There was no doubt in his mind about retrieving Taliyah yet he remained outside the barn, vexed. But before his mind could start thinking in circles he found himself reminded of something, or rather, someone. He turned his head in the direction he thought she might still be, though the fog obviously made him less than certain.

Why? You've got someone who depends on you, how can you just throw yourself away like this?

Emanon blinks again, looking at Tituba with a scrutiny along the lines of his earlier gazes.

Seriously, what is wrong with me?

Without so much as a word he turns away from Tituba and marches back into the barn, overcome with a sense of grim determination.

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0173: The Barn (Emanon)

The barn is much as Emanon left it. Ahead, some harlequins chatting in low tones beneath the wine server. To the right, the woman on the swing and the nook, now ostensibly empty. To the left, a spiral staircase going up and a shadowy wooden ramp descending into the ground. While no one seems to take much notice of him at the moment, he sees no sign of Taliyah, Tabitha, or any of the familiar flunkies from the moment of near-arson at the shop.

[Heim]

Post #174: The Barn (Emanon)

Without skipping a beat Emanon heads to the left and takes the ramp down into the barns lower level.

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0175: The Barn (Emanon)

Emanon heads quickly down the ramp, which bounces under his weight with every step, making for somewhat precarious footing, but he presses onward. Once, twice, three times the ramp turns to the left, the tunnel seemingly cut through the dirt and shored up with timbers and plywood, all cast in the flickering light of dimly-lit torches that hang against the wall in the places where the tunnel turns. Toward the end of the current length of tunnel, Emanon sees a crowd of bodies ahead of him, and with the loud music having gradually climbed in volume, it seems clear that he has come upon some sort of musical performance, complete with a crowd of spectators. The closest of the people, seeming to mostly be shirtless, sweaty men doing something that might be construed as dancing.

Regardless of what they are doing, however, they are solidly in Emanon’s way.

[Heim]

Post #176: The Barn (Emanon)

He briefly weighs his options. Tossing his shirt aside and joining them is out of the question, given what he has on hand. Asking them to move seems unlikely to work, if anything it's likely to draw unnecessary attention or even ire. A few other ideas are swiftly dismissed out of hand.

No way in, no way out. God Taliyah why did you do this? Did it never occur to you I'd come anyway? No, it did didn't it? That's what you were going to say before you went inside and left me behind.

The sense of fatigue Emanon felt earlier seemed to creep back into his senses. Staring at the uncanny movements of the crowd he finds himself contemplating all the ways things could have gone differently. It's their faint shadows which eventually draw his eye to the torches, a small smile of satisfaction spreading across his face. He plucks one off a nearby wall and begins walking into the crowd, holding it out in front of him.