That's how normal people laugh, right?
Note for Mod
This is the conclusion of quite a long thread chain, linked via the 'Continue' links in each post.
The ank was introduced earlier in the chain and is created in line with the wiki here.
With regards to the claim, these claims come at the end of this thread chain, but I did already claim two other class 1 wells for one of the other threads (just to be transparent about risk/reward, etc.).
The ank was introduced earlier in the chain and is created in line with the wiki here.
With regards to the claim, these claims come at the end of this thread chain, but I did already claim two other class 1 wells for one of the other threads (just to be transparent about risk/reward, etc.).
Post-disaster wind downs were a treacherous thing and as Winston processed his near-death experience and his two guests did the same, the need to control things in the wake of events they could not was strong.
John offered a bag to their host, determined to show the ferret whatever gratitude they could for saving both their lives. "Here. Take these. I've forgotten what they are anyway, but I think I found them inside that Fracture thing."
The ferret looked in the bag to see what it was... "Wells! Oh, dem worth a lat. Yuh shud keep dem far yuhself. Sell dem!" He insisted, attempting to press the bag back into the man's arms.
The woman pushed the bag from her husband's grasp and into the ferret's. "Are they also dangerous?"
The ferret paused. This sounded like a rhetorical question and if her manner was anything to go by, she had more to say yet.
"And requiring of careful handling using skills my husba... that John has recently forgotten?"
"Dere es dat..." He admitted sheepishly.
"Then take them. We only have them because you retrieved them, with him and it looks to me like you'll put them to much better use than anyone else we might ever meet." She concluded firmly. If the ferret before them put them to half the good that his work to date had done her, then it was a thing well invested.
Not only the gesture itself, but the vote of confidence offered by the woman's statement warmed the ferret's already toasty heart as he accepted the bag. "Oh-key. Bot yuh most let me see yuh home an' safe an' sleep a while befar we part." He insisted firmly with a friendly nod.
Deciding that this was not only fair, but quite welcome, the woman nodded as the man shrugged, suggesting that the deal was sound.
"Then it is agreed. Thank you, again..." Concluded John as he took the soup and began to fill his aching stomach.
Still a little hesitant, the woman sat beside her husband sharing a glace with him... It was full of fondness. She longed for him and he for the memory of her, but who knew what their future now held?
As the ferret gave them some space as Joe piped up. "Do you think they are going to make it?" He asked bluntly.
Winston discretely glanced back at them as they ate the soup together. "Me 'ope soh, Joe. Me really do. Perhaps new memories cun be formed ar perhaps de old ones will return... Me still don't 'ave anytin' en me magic bag far ailments af de mind." This was something he'd come up against more than once recently and was forming a bubbling motivation inside the ferret to rectify that deficiency in his arsonal.
"How much of a person is left without their experiences though, you know?"
"Hehe. Dat's a queschun WAY above my pay grade. You'd 'ave tuh ask Vega dat one." He chuckled back in reply before suddenly falling a little sullen. "How does dis keep happening, Joe?" He asked, in a defeated tone.
"Whatcha mean? I mean, if people stopped leaping into fractures, they'd be guaranteed to reduce their risk profiles for sure." He replied with an accusing glance at his ward.
"Dat wus nearly me, Joe... Every time me get intuh trouble, me tink, 'Next time, me will 'ave DIS ar DAT'... Me was fireproof. Practically indestructible. Protected by de Immartals demselves an' farged by de great spirits af Scalvaris and STILL me end op as gud as nearly loosing et all." He thought of Angela for a moment, counting his blessing for the privilege to even be able to do so any more.
Joe sighed. He felt like now was not the time for 'I told you so' and so opted for something more reassuring to help his friend. "We are not indestructible and any time we think we are, we NEED something like this to remind us of that fact, to keep us alive..." He said with words more sage then he typically shared. "...All you can do, if you are going to insist of being a lunatical savour of strangers and seeker of adventure, is HOLD ON to these close calls to remind you that you are not cannon proof."
The ferret took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he processed the very, VERY good advice from his friend. "Me love yuh, Joe. Tanks far always bein' dere. You know?"
The spirit smiled. "No problem. Though, I'd like it more if next time I suggest we avoid poking the tiger with sticks, we perhaps just leave our hands in our pockets and walk the other way?"
The ferret smiled as he immediately changed the subject in an attempt to pretend the suggestion had fallen on deaf ears. He looked over the small settlement he had made as the spirit of pain that had been following the woman was beginning to disperse as her pain, physically, mentally and emotionally was soothed.
He reached out, with something inside, towards the floating, incaporial pattern of lights. It was of pain, but it was not pain in itself. It might encourage it... It could also sense it... Perhaps even consume it... If Winston could do such things, he might ease other people's discomfort...
His mind suddenly turned to his problem with the shovel's for Etzos. "Dat's et!" He shouted, causing all present to jump. "Sarry-sarry. Uh, me jost want tuh make friends wid yuh pain spirit ef yuh don't mind?" He said to Claire as he started to move towards the emorphus shape that was the spirit in question.
Unable to see the spirit themselves, but certain that whatever the eccentric ferret was going on about was fine if it was happening 'over there' they nodded with a vague look of confusion. "Sure..."
"Tanks... Here, hello?" He began, using his Forge-given talents to see and interact with the spirits.
This one, he could tell, was a simple concept. A young ank with little more then it's concept to its name.
Taking a small needle from his pack, he pricked his finger and offered it to the ank.
It stopped floating off and focused on the sensation being experience by the ferret. The tiny creature was covered in the remembrances of hard work and injuries. Callaces and cuts... It moved towards him, enjoying the gentle offering. "You an me cun do great tings tugetha ef yuh like? Me always stabbin' meself far de gud as science." He proclaimed to the open space before him.
John and Clare watched as their loose hold on reality was framed by their hosts apparent lack of concern for the norms of social behaviour and talking to oneself.
Opening himself up further, he used his Spirit Cloak (Minor) to invite the ank a take home by his side. "Please? Ef we don't get alang, we cun always go our seperate ways. Me won't stap yuh." He waited patiently as the ank considered its options.
Its concept swept over the ferret for a moment, his aches and pains fluctuating as it did, until it accepted the exchange and
attached itself to him
.Winston looked around himself as the spirit gradually disappeared into him, permeating his soul. He felt the pain of his own body fade... but then, that of the woman... and the man became apparent... He suppressed the sensation as this unexpected sixth sense caught him off-guard.
"*COUGH* Wow. Wasn't expectin' dat." He said, standing with his feet wider apart to offer a greater based for his balance.
"You OK there?" Asked the woman, cautiously as she assessed the likelihood that the Cadourie's head might start spinning and projecting vomit at a moment's notice.
Winston's giggled, almost maniacally... a sound that didn't entirly fill his guests with confidence. "Heheheheahaha. Yeah. No, mar den Oh-kay. Me GREAT. Oh de tings we cun do tugedda. Heehehehe..." As the possibilities ran thought his mind, sensing people's pain even if they cannot speak. Stopping his magical items from causing pain, it was down to Joe to remind his companion that people could not read his mind.
"Wiiiinstoooon. You are scaring your guests." Interjected the Diri telepathically in a polite and musical fashion.
The ferret looked at his two new companions, noticing their rather concerned expressions. "Hhee. Sarry. Ehem. Yus. Don't worry. Everything es absolutely fine... Oh! Yuh knee es 'urt?.." He said, falling into a new attempt to cure the woman of her scraps and cuts.
"Oh, don't worry, it'll be... Oh, OK then, yeah. That does feel better..." She admitted as Winston shot her with the healing beam from his gauntlet.
"Mwahahahahaha! I DUB THEE HEALED!" He cried in an amusing and melodramatic outburst that caused both the man and woman to laugh to hard the soup they were eating nearly ended up on the floor.
"You're mad." She said, playfully.
"You, madam, have NO idea!" He said with yet more chuckling as he continued to explore his new found abilities on his confused, if willing, subjects.
As the trial passed and they all made for bed, Winston took some time to identify the wells and secure them safely inside his
pack
, taking some extra time to study and begin to clean what turned out to be a Well of Dreams. The future held a lot of uncertainty for the couple, but tonight and for the next few trials at least, inside the ferrets temporary haven
, they were safe and on the road to recovery, both figuratively and literally.All template credit, love and admiration goes to Kisaik
