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Post by §~Samwise~§ on Jul 11, 2023 14:25:43 GMT -5
Taliesin smiles softly at the distraction and additional background information from Mirrai. A simple nod acknowledged her thanks. "I guess it is hard to know if you didn't have birthdays to mark years by."
He shifted in position with her now in front of him and gently took her tied off hair in hand. Without removing the tie he began brushing. He started at the very tips and worked his way up. He had found that to be the gentlest on hair while also working out knots. His mind roiled with thoughts regarding gods and other connected items, but he felt he'd overdone that already.
"Last night ..." He cut himself off and his brushing slowed further as he worked around how to approach. "I was worried when I saw everyone except you on the ship." His brushing had picked back up and he continued. "I was relieved to hear that you stayed back rather than ..."
He paused and undid the tie that held her hair. "... Did Sae tell you to stay behind?" he wrapped the tie around the brush handle and returned to brushing, trying to withhold any telling tone or speech pattern.
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Post by Ancelas on Jul 12, 2023 15:00:34 GMT -5
Mirrai's cheerful expression faded slightly with the mention of birthdays, her gaze going distant as Taliesin began working at her hair.
"...No," she said, focusing her attention on Taliesin's question. "No, I chose to stay back. In the last week I've been an amnesiac slave, a comatose lump, and a raiding warrior. Storming an interplanar gateway, dropping in on a cloud giant's castle under siege, then coming face to face with a god..."
She closed her eyes. "It's a lot. From what I gathered listening to the stories you and your friends tell, it might be just another day for all of you, but it is all... far outside of my realm of experience."
Her eyes opened again, her tone of voice conveying her downcast expression. "My father wanted to prepare me for this kind of thing, but I didn't think to be plunged into it so quickly. And after seeing how little I was contributing to the battle against Velkyn, I thought it better that I protect Telemon from whatever enemies remained in the castle, and leave the extraordinary feats to those better suited to it."
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Post by §~Samwise~§ on Jul 12, 2023 15:39:34 GMT -5
Taliesin couldn't see her facial reactions, but he could hear the tone shift. Her answers were not far off from what others had said in dealing with them. His brushing moved further forward, taming knots out.
"Yeah, it's a lot. We've had time to sit in it with how we've been forced into this." He sighed softly. "It might have been a little easier for me. But that was because I had already been visited by Silvanus and had proof in my hands when he visited again and gave context for what we were guiding people away from." There was a soft shrug to his shoulders.
"You were helping. It might not have seemed it, but you were." He offered softly as he continued brushing. "But you made a good decision." His lips pursed to the side as he examined her hair without knots. He still pulled the brush through, feeling the resistance and gauging the thickness.
"Unless we can somehow reason and turn any of the Generals it will be a lot more of what we just did." The brush pulled through her hair one last time and was sat down beside him. A long narrow stick gently slid through her hair along the top left side of her head creating a clear separation that was being taken up in his hand. This repeated across the back and then again along the left.
"I have an idea ... do you trust me?" He asked while having a hold of the hair from the top of her head.
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Post by Ancelas on Jul 18, 2023 9:01:24 GMT -5
Mirrai's hair was thick and full, but relatively free of snarls - and those that were left were soon brushed out as she listened to Taliesin.
"Mm. Have you ever noticed that people usually say that when they're about to do something possibly objectionable? Why not simply say what you wish to do, and then ask for permission?" There was no rebuke in her words, only mild amusement.
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Post by §~Samwise~§ on Jul 18, 2023 9:52:17 GMT -5
Taliesin smirked and chuckled. "Objectionable is in the hangups of the perceiver." He said trying to sound insightful, but also somewhat joking on it.
He tied off sections of her hair as he continued. "I would like to try something with your hair that just occurred to me."
With hair sectioned he began detailing what he would like to try, all while his fingers moved along her head tracing out the lines."So starting from the middle of the back of your head we would start with an inverted plait braid moving along the sides of your head and drawing up to the front. The strands of hair forward for your bangs would be left loose while the two inverted plaits turn into a partial crown braid up to the center. Then the top of your scalp would be plait braided to the back with the remaining lengths braided normally and then hanging down hiding small line of flesh showing from the initial part."
There was a pause after he finished describing it. He didn't know if she would take to the description and wondered if it was all too much. It would be sufficiently different to any style he had ever given Sae. He envisioned the look as quite fetching and complimentary to her face, but maybe he was wrong.
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Post by Ancelas on Jul 18, 2023 15:55:33 GMT -5
Mirrai cocked her head slightly at the description, but did not move from her seated position. "Hm... I'm willing to give it a try."
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Post by §~Samwise~§ on Jul 18, 2023 18:25:38 GMT -5
Taliesin nodded and removed a tie from the left back section and began the inverted plait as described. With as much practice as he had with Sae's hair it was fairly trivial to make progress on the braid. He bit his lip fighting back a question.
He untied another section of hair and braided through it carefully. "A few days ago you recognized the statue. Can you tell me her name?" His braiding on the left had turned upward to finish the left half of what he internally was calling a tiara braid.
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Post by Ancelas on Jul 23, 2023 19:26:40 GMT -5
Mirrai stiffened slightly under Taliesin's hands.
"...I don't know," she said after a moment. "She looks like someone I knew. A... long time ago. But..." She lapsed into silence for a long moment before speaking again. "I don't know."
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Post by §~Samwise~§ on Jul 23, 2023 20:16:22 GMT -5
Taliesin felt the stiffening reaction through the braid. He calmly tied off that section and let it lay to the left. He then undid the tie at the right back of her head and repeated the same braiding process. He took a slow deep breath in and wondered if it was worth it to push.
In silence he completed the right side of the tiara braid. He carefully untied the left side tiara and made a small peak as he joined the braids and initially continued with an inverted plait, before shifting to a regular plait. At this point he was assuming the worst possible outcome, that Kilamo was Mirrai's mother. That thought plagued his mind as he finally continued to speak.
He recalled that he had asked Mirrai whether she had thought that they would be able to talk her down. Her response then was the same as it was now. "If you remember the name, Sae could at least try to reach out. It could be that she just looks like the person you used to know."
There was a pause as he hit the point where he needed to shift back to a standard braid for the remaining tail of hair. "I asked Konane to do a reading on my parents in spite of already knowing the likely answer." There was a heavy sigh. "Though having that confirmation is quite a hit." He finished off the braid and tied it off. He went silent for a second again as he resisted his tenacious need to dig and push.
The hanging tail of the braid just came down to shoulders and hid the parted hair in the back. He remained sitting and spoke further. His tone was genuine and gentle as he continued shifting topic. "Anyway, there is a mirrored door you can check to see if you like how the braiding looks. If you don't like it, then I can redo it to a plain plait to loose hanging braid without too much trouble." He stayed where he was, hands to the side to allow Mirrai to move however she wanted..
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Post by Ancelas on Jul 24, 2023 18:43:05 GMT -5
Mirrai didn't stir as Taliesin finished. Instead, after he finished, she spoke, her voice soft and wary.
"I... have been wondering. What would be worse? To give voice to something terrible that may not be true, and speak it into being... or to continue on in anxious ignorance, fanning the flicker of hope that what you believe may not yet be?"
She turned her head to look over at Taliesin, and for a moment he caught a glimpse of the distance behind her gaze, of a long, lost life that she had not yet fully come to grips with. "To know, one way or another, would end the suffering of ignorance... but until then, is it better to yield to despair, or to hold on to a flicker of hope?"
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Post by §~Samwise~§ on Jul 25, 2023 8:53:20 GMT -5
Taliesin frowned. He understood the question all too well, but the answer was not that simple. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and spoke with a gentle voice. "Those questions have a false premise. We can not undo the first hit as it happened, all we can do is speak to the truth of the hit, or continue to enshroud it in lies. What we choose to believe based on what we know of another against what we are told by each side places the conflict within us all as third-hand observers is to come to our own conclusion until we have proof."
He hunched his back and leaned forward. "You can't unsee what you have seen. You can't unhear what you've heard giving a context to what you've seen. What you choose to hold hope for doesn't remove the doubt. It comes down to choosing to fight the doubt or accept it."
He shifted his sitting position and attempted to wrap his arms around her. He would simply pull back if rebuked "If you believe the best and the result vindicates you, it is a relief. If you believe the worst and the result proves you wrong, then it is you may feel guilt for believing the worst, but it's still a relief. The comfort in our unique situation is that the statue you looked at - she had originally chosen the right side. She chose the side of the one who was hit. The sadness is that they have spent countless years working towards vengeance. Your dilemma is that if the worst is true, does your existence have a chance at causing the one you knew to change their current path? Can they find a second chance and reach port, or will the tempest they helped create take them as it took Velkyn?"
He leaned backed, releasing her if he had her held. "I've always chosen to find the truth. The truth can hurt, but it is what we do with the truth after that matters."
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Post by Ancelas on Jul 25, 2023 13:48:26 GMT -5
Mirrai shifted to lean back against Taliesin as he made room for her and didn't answer for a long moment after he finished.
"...That answer is entirely too well-thought out to be off the cuff," she accused gently. "I suppose it's gratifying that I am not the only one to ponder such things, though..."
She lapsed into silence again and lowered her gaze, raising a hand to feel the braids Taliesin had woven for her. "I... need to think about that. The statue... that woman. The name you had written there, Kilamo? I don't know who that is. But... I knew someone who looked like her. Similar, at least. I don't know if they're the same person. I don't want them to be the same person. But... the truth seldom cares about what we want."
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Post by §~Samwise~§ on Jul 25, 2023 14:28:30 GMT -5
Taliesin gave a small smirk at getting called out. "My world view hasn't stopped shifting since the day that Sae and I had to flee Nordyn following the death of her Gunslinger companion, Kaladin. That preparedanswer followed much meditation, world shifting admissions, and my own personal choices leading up to requesting a reading on my mother."
He thought for a short moment on the other half. "Caithe ..." He said softly.
"I have ... a friend. She was swept up in all this. A war hawk of the Allurani. Zychni's creations that were the namesakes of Kurnoth poisoned so many minds of my people. We saved so many, and dealt with the tainted Kurnothi, but she slipped away with 2 of them. I hope that she is just still under their influence rather than choosing to follow Zychni." He offered, trying to at least share something more akin to her current situation. He still felt responsible for that situation in spite of it being out of his control.
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Post by Ancelas on Jul 26, 2023 9:01:19 GMT -5
"I'm sorry to hear that," Mirrai said. "I hope you'll be able to bring her back from... whatever influence is at work on her."
Mirrai stared forward, not yet shifting from her position. "...Would you be able to compose a list of the gods for me? Their patrons, and their servants?"
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Post by §~Samwise~§ on Jul 26, 2023 19:35:40 GMT -5
Taliesin frowned softly, just realizing he may have implied something more than he had intended. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her again. "I'm not fully versed in all of them. But I can certainly work with Alain and the others to get a comprehensive list together."
He turned his head to the side and leaned in, giving her a light kiss at her jaw just below her ear. "All historically? All still in existence? A specific subset?" He asked with a curious tone. He assumed it was all in existence, but he wanted to be sure.
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