Fable - Ask A Cabin In The Woods

[Chasmine]

Following her final departure from the Academy grounds and Edric's escape from prison, Chasmine had returned to the hidden headquarters of Gilram's crew to find it rather ... empty. Or so it felt. Gilram and Duncan she knew to still be out on mission, the former having sent her here to catch the others as they came and went, pass on orders as needed. Yet the air here felt stale and still. Almost as if it had been cleared out?

She'd waited several days. A week, perhaps, before deciding to set out in search of the others and learn what was going on. The first on her list would be Gaage Eberwhit as it had been some time since she'd spoken to him. Since before her mission to the academy at least, and she meant to reaffirm with him that he still intended to help her. Her visit to the Academy had proven fruitful in many ways and, indeed, she felt confident in a new direction to pursue returning to the living realm. Yet as she had found on her own, without the physical help of another much of what she needed to accomplish was quite impossible.

Now to track him down.

Ley tracking was a new skill of hers, picked up only in practice of finding her way to specific or familiar power markers. She'd innately done so to find her way to Gilram and had since practiced further at the Archon's whim to find others. Now it took her deep into the forest of a land Chas was yet unfamiliar with, following an old trail blazed by Gaage when moving with purpose and intensity. What it brought her to was nothing short of ... curious.

A lone cabin deep in the woods. A place she knew instinctively as she arrived from the Ley that her target was no longer there.

But someone else was. Someone ... vaguely familiar.

Was Gaage keeping a prisoner?

Chasmine manifested in the living realm before the door. While incapable of knocking, she'd been impressed with the notion of no longer simply shifting through walls into another's personal space. It was rude, but also it made it difficult for people to trust her. So continuing the habit of the living in her unlife had become routine.

"Hello?" she called, "I know you are inside. I mean you no harm. I am looking for Gaage, can you help me?"

 

[Ysobel]

Never had she expected to be so desperately lonely when following the tiny map Gaage had tacked on to the back of his rare letter. She missed their faces- Lumen, Caeso, Kor, even Leander. With Gaage’s inconsistent “work schedule” leaving her alone for long days, not even the growing life inside her was enough to quench her loneliness.

Ysobel knew he would refuse her in the end. Whatever excuses he had to keep her from coming with him. He said she could make her own choices, she was a grown woman. Blah blah blah. Just his attempt to get her to shut up and forget about what he probably considered to be an issue. Fortunately for him, it worked out. He was free to go about his business doing Gods know what with Gods know whom and Ysobel was left behind.

She did her best with this new mundane lifestyle. She kept what little there was tidy. She cooked meals if or when Gaage came home. She tried her hand at knitting. It was not an immediate success. She quit knitting.

When he came home, she was pleasant. Rather, she bottled up her feelings. There was no use begging to join him anymore. In her head, he didn’t want her anymore than he already had her and more often than not, she began to worry that maybe Delaney was back. If not her, then who?

Hello? …

She looked up from her latest project and towards the door.

I’m looking for Gaage

A woman’s voice? So she was right all along. There was another woman.

Something brewed inside Ysobel as she stood. She wished her years of training, or at the very least her instincts, would kick in as she approached the door but with her suspicions all but confirmed and she just felt…sad.

And useless, as she was now.

Ysobel stood there, resting her head against the thick wooden door for a moment before responding.

“I’m afraid he isn’t here.”

Chasmine

 

[Chasmine]

Drat. Well, that complicated things a bit.

"Do you know where he is?" she asked gently, her mind turning over the sound of the voice and who she believed it belonged to, "...Ysobel?"

Yes, though they had not spent much of any time together that she could recall, Chasmine had indeed paid attention to voices and the sound of footsteps in the halls. It paid to be aware of who was approaching around a corner in order to avoid ... uncomfortable run-ins.

"It's Chasmine. May I come in?"

 

[Ysobel]

There was an uncomfortably long silence from Ysobel's side of the door. She had prepared a cold "no" in response to her question, but something stopped her. The girl knew her name. The clunky metal sounds of the door unlocking broke the silence and Ysobel pulled it open.

"I don't know where he is." She answered honestly to the vaguely familiar, ghastly woman. "He's been gone for a few days. He never said anything about a visitor, though...Did you have business with him?"

Chasmine

 

[Chasmine]

Never said anything about a visitor.

The ghost looked on at Ysobel as the door swung in, revealing the face she had pictured in her mind if but a year or more older. Always so pretty, she was, and so effortlessly so. Ysobel had been quite a popular face among her ilk, though Chasmine knew little of her other than rumors and gossip.

"Oh," she replied, her hollow tone deflating like a hot air balloon fresh out of hot air, "not business as such. He made me a promise ... but I suppose he may be away on a mission for Gilram. It could be some time before he returns."

 

[Ysobel]

The name was on the tip of her tongue. She had at one point come across her at the academy, though only in passing. Jasmine? No. Chasmine. That was it! Perhaps Gaage had mentioned her translucent-ness at one point or another, but he'd always kept what he was doing vague enough for her to never truly know what was going on.

"A promise?" She stepped out from where she hid behind the door and extended an arm outward, inviting Chasmine inside. "I can honestly say I don't know where he is or when he will be back, but please come in. Maybe I can help you in his stead?"

 

[Chasmine]

She wasn't a fae or a vampire and required no welcome or invitation, but it was good to be invited and welcomed all the same. Chasmine never liked being rude, though it was often a side-effect of her ... gifts. Or, at least it had been when she was alive and incapable of fully controlling such slippery powers.

The ghost offered Ysobel a wane smile of gratitude and moved in. Not quite a walk, for she made no sound, but not quite a float as she still seemed grounded to something ... just not the actual ground.

"That's kind of you, but it's a rather complicated promise to make and one you probably are better off not making in your present condition."

 

[Ysobel]

Her eye twitched at the mention of her 'condition'. Her words weren't laced with spite, but the one she chose to use just lingered in Ysobel's mind... as though her 'condition' were something bad. As if it negated all of the training she had been doing her entire life. As if it made her weak.

"I cannot promise you anything if I do not know what it is." She led Chasmine to the kitchen where she would take her place on one of the wobbly chairs that had been stabilized with a deck of cards. "Do you also work for Gilram?"

 

[Chasmine]

She followed, if only because it was the polite thing to do. Chasmine had no need to sit, so she did not.

Remiss was her thought on sharing with what amounted to a near-complete stranger the uncertain terms of the promise made. So much so that she was grateful for the sudden shift of topic to Gilram.

"No," Chasmine replied gently, "I work with him."

A very clear differentiation to make. Those who followed Gilram were not treated as peons, but as a family following a similar path or working toward a common goal. Did she look up to Gilram? Absolutely. Did she trust the man? Almost completely. Was she able to walk away from him at any given time for any given reason? Without a doubt.

Gaage likely did not see things the same way, and that was perfectly fine.

 

[Ysobel]

"Why?" It wasn't an interrogation this time although her tone would certainly not make that clear. She was genuinely curious. Gilram had Gaage working like a dog. He seemed so miserable and, yet, he still hadn't left. "Gaage doesn't seem to enjoy it. Has your experience been different than his?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and almost gave the girl time to respond before continuing on her tangent. If there was one thing Ysobel was going to do, it was take advantage of the only human-ish contact she's had in weeks. "What exactly is it that you do and why won't Gaage let me join? He promised me the day I arrived here, but I've spent my days and nights inside. People have been sent to him, and he tells me to be quiet or to stay out of sight. Why?"

 

[Chasmine]

Oh dear.

What a complicated situation. The girl remained quiet, a faint aura of unease settling about her hazy figure as she listened. So Gaage did have a prisoner and was making her stay quiet and secret. Something about it prickled a sense of ire within Chasmine, her thoughts briefly drifting back to the time spent with Dorian and how he'd made her hide and keep their own relations a secret.

Her gaze shifted to Ysobel's middle where she could not only sense, but see the seeding of a spirit within the color of Ysobel's own where a baby would eventually grow. It was not yet fully bloomed, not yet even a true soul, merely an anchor point where one might find a home.

"I suspect it has something to do with your pregnancy," she stated plainly, meeting Ysobel's eyes again, "is it his?"

 

[Ysobel]

Is it his?

She shifted uncomfortably and looked away from her undead gaze. She had no need to respond out loud when her body language made it so obvious. Why else would she have left the people she considered her family to live in a cabin in the middle of the woods by herself half of the time?

"You haven't answered any of my questions." She pointedly stated, sipping the cold tea from the cup in front of her. "Go on. What was it Gaage promised you?"

 

[Chasmine]

Chasmine was no interrogator. Nor was she particularly good at judging the character of others. But she did have a particular affinity with silence and all it held and meant. Ysobel's silence was heavy and spoke volumes more than the frantic pursuit of her own curiosities did.

Even if the babe was not his, why keep her here if he did not feel some semblance of responsibility for it? Chasmine frowned as she watched Ysobel returned to her tea. The silence sealed it. In that moment she felt her mind shift on the subject of the promise.

"It does not matter anymore," said the ghost after a long, drawn out silence, "it would be wrong to prioritize it over this."

Over her. Over the baby.

"I am sorry for intruding. Please tell Gaage next time you see him that I have released him from his promise...and not to return to the headquarters. I believe they were recently raided."

 

[Ysobel]

She rolled her eyes. Perhaps Ysobel was in need of an attitude adjustment, but Chasmine's answer did not satisfy her curiosity. It absolutely did matter if she had made the trip out to to their little home in the middle of nowhere. Uninvited. Unannounced.

"No, please..." Ysobel stood and reached for Chasmine's arm only to find her hand easily passed through and slammed into the wooden table with a loud thud. She winced, retracting her arm. "Did something happen? Because if something did I guarantee Gaage will have plenty more questions than I do."

Falling back into her seat, Ysobel rubbed her aching hand. "I don't mean to interrogate you. I'm sorry." Her gaze locked onto her cup. "It's been a while since I've seen anyone but Gaage. Not that its an excuse, but I'm not even certain as to what I am to him. It...worries me sometimes." It being other women. There was defeat in her voice as she began to overshare. "Please stay. I haven't had a friend to talk to in far too long."

 

[Chasmine]

The desperation struck her singularly. No one had ever asked her to stay before and Chasmine could not remember the last time anyone had referred to her as friend. She looked on forlornly as the girl rubbed at her arm, thought on the prospect of being worried over what it was to mean something to someone.

Remembered how it felt, not knowing what it was she meant to another. Being used. Abandoned.

Just like Ysobel, now.

"Okay," Chasmine agreed.

This home did not yet exist in the ghost realm for it had suffered no damages that would define its death. Therefore she hadn't a spectral variance to use for her own self. No ghost chairs to sit upon. Chasmine remained standing where she was and thought on Ysobel's questions. The ones not directly involving herself, anyway.

"The Republic must have discovered the location of our headquarters. I suspect the elves may have helped ... it was rather close to their back yard," she nodded in understanding, completely convinced that this move by the elves was fair play, "I came to warn Gaage not to go back. It's not safe and he does not know the locations of the other hideouts."

 

[Ysobel]

Her reluctance to speak did not go unnoticed, but Ysobel would not make an attempt to silence Chasmine. And she was glad she didn't for the information she revealed seemed quite pertinent for her better half. "Elves?" In the Falwood? You don't say...

"What does this mean for Gaage?" For me? She wondered aloud, unable to mask the concern in her voice. "I haven't the slightest idea of where Gilram has sent him this time. Do you?" A pointless question, of course Chasmine had no idea either. Why the fuck would she have shown up at Ysobel's front door if she knew Gaage was anywhere but his own home.

Perhaps it was selfish, to take her own life into consideration, but she had more questions. "I don't suppose you can tell me how close these headquarters are to our home." Gaage had been meeting with contacts at their front door as of late despite Ysobel's protests. Had she been right to scold him for meeting so carelessly in the open- only feet away from his future child? "I know my presence is of little importance, but can you tell me? Is it safe for him to return home?"

 

[Chasmine]

Chasmine did not answer the question concerning Gaage's whereabouts - it seemed quite obvious she did not and the shift of expression on Ysobel's face suggested she understood this. As for the question concerning the cabin's relation to the headquarters.

"I do not know..." she answered gently, her voice growing wispy as she attempted to ascertain the distance, "I cannot walk it." For certain it was much too far for her to manifest her way there without a great deal of effort. Using the Ley Lines was her general mode of transportation now, unless she possessed an object carried by another - but even then, time....

Well, time for a ghost was already quite wobbly.

"To return here?" she echoed, her gaze now shifting around the cabin with curiosity, "They do not know about this place. Not even Gilram knows about this place. I believe it is safe."

But she knew about it.

"This is an odd place to have a baby in."

 

[Ysobel]

"Can you walk at all?" Ysobel had a habit of speaking before she was done thinking, but she tried to play it off as though it were friendly banter with the new stranger. There was, however, a hint of sincerity. She was a ghost, yes? Had she any need for walking when she could float? Ysobel clasped a hand over her mouth before she verbalized any more of the nonsense in her head.

With Chasmine's hesitant confirmation of safety, Ysobel sighed and released her hand. "That is...reassuring." She supposed for the time-being.

"Odd? You think so?" She followed the woman's gaze around her home. Perhaps it was, but Ysobel could not be defensive. "In Gaage's defense, he had built it for the two of us." She shrugged, agreeing with Chasmine. "He'd completed the most of it before I had the chance to share the news with him...before I'd even left the Academy."

In her defense, she had no clue about anything to do with a baby. At least not until recent, whilst exchanging confidential letters with the proctor Perrine Urahil. "Is something wrong with the place?"

 

[Chasmine]

Can you walk at all?

The ghost merely peered at her with a wordless reply. Another obvious answer.

"Gaage built this?" her gaze cast about again, this time with a bit more consideration. She'd thought, perhaps, he'd simply found it. Or taken it from some hapless countryfolk. "I did not know he could build..." Chas remarked wonderingly. Gaage had always impressed upon her that he had no skills beyond killing, so it was with the smallest of smiles that she granted that thought some clemency.

"There's no flowers," stated simply enough as the answer to what was wrong. Her way of remarking on the lack of homey touches, "I would pick some for you but..."

Well, hopefully Ysobel could work out why that wasn't an option.

"Would you like to go find some? I can accompany you. I know all the flowers in this forest."

 

[Ysobel]

"He did his best. I think it is perfect enough." Ysobel chimed in as Chasmine continued surveying the kitchen area. Ysobel believed every word he said. Sure, some chair legs were wonky. There were some sharp edges on the round table. Sometimes the sun got in their eyes because the curtains couldn't close all the way. But she loved the way it lit up his fiery red locks during sunset and even though he squinted, his eyes still glowed like embers. He was beautiful and perfect enough.

No flowers?

"Eh?" Ysobel's head tilted like a confused puppy and something clicked. Perhaps flowers were the perfect thing to bring some life into the home they were bringing their life into. Chasmine was brilliant. "I'd love to."

It was impossible to hide the glowing smile on her face as she stood from the chair. "I must change first. It won't be long! Make yourself at home." She waved to Chas, before she would disappear into a room and reemerge. The oversized shirt she'd stolen from Gaage to use as pajamas was replaced with a tunic, large enough to conceal her small bump, and a pair of paints that were equally plain. On her left arm, she carried a woven basket that had previously held various knick-knacks in their room.

"Ready?"

 

[Chasmine]

The ghost did not move and waited with seemingly endless patience while its host buzzed about in preparation for the extreme sport of flower-picking. Truly, Ysobel's enthusiasm for company and an activity so mundane and domestic brought a rare flush of happiness back to her. Enthusiasm was often infectious and Chasmine found that her present state of non-living was not immune.

"As ever," she responded with some brightness to her tone, fondly eyeing the wicker basket on the other girl's arm. She motioned for Ysobel to lead the way and dissipated from sight as the door flew open. Yso's steps carried her off some ways from the cabin before Chasmine appeared again, gently manifesting some dozen yards ahead through the wood, crouched by the base of a tree where a small patch of delicate and tiny purple flowers grew between its roots.

"These are violets," she said to the girl, smiling to herself, "they symbolize fertility and romance. In Alliria, if someone's thoughts were occupied with love for another, they would send them violets."

 

[Ysobel]

Ysobel wandered from the entrance of her home into the uncertainty of the Falwood which surrounded it, awaiting the moment Chasmine would re-appear and guide her to the flowers. Was it a good idea to follow someone no closer than a stranger into the woods? Possibly not. But she had some relationship with Gaage and after their little conversation, the initial jealousy had subsided into something peculiar. She felt safe in her company.

Seeing her in the distance, she picked up her pace until she stood before her and, too, examined the tiny flowers. Her cheeks turned a funny shade of pink. "They are lovely..." She chuckled and crouched down to pluck one. She twisted it in between her fingers and held it up to catch the sun's rays. "You know the oil I use on my skin has violets in it. Perhaps that was my mistake to wear it when I was supposed to be arresting Gaage and bringing him back to Vel Anir."

She plucked a few more from the ground, careful not to leave the patch completely bald before standing. "I don't think anyone has ever given me flowers. Not to make me fertile or be romantic or whatever else they could symbolize." She frowned and turned to the ghost. "What about you? Has a man ever given you flowers?"

 

[Chasmine]

"No," Chasmine replied.

As a child she received many gifts, including flowers from her family, but her memories of those days were still rather ... clouded and damaged. She did not count that time of her life among what she considered relevant. Beyond that, no man had ever given her anything but pain and abandonment. But that hadn't been Ysobel's question, had it?

She smiled wanely at the other girl, then righted herself and looked around. Her time spent foraging for woodland flowers, roots, herbs, and fungi had given her a broad knowledge of such things.

"There," she said, pointing off toward a small clearing. The ghost dissipated, and then reformed again closer to the clearing in the shade of a great pine, "these are herb-roberts," nestled among a cluster of grasses was a small, star-shaped, five-petaled, pink and white flower on a tall and bending stem, "I used to collect their leaves for tea. Lovely for an upset stomach. They may be of use to you over the next several months."

 

[Ysobel]

"That's unfortunate."

The silence that followed was awkward. While they did share the experience, something just seemed off when Ysobel looked over at Chasmine's face. Was it her questioning that left that look behind her smile or had Ysobel simply been too absorbed in her own troubles to notice that someone else had been capable of emotions? Maybe that was how one just looked once they were dead. From the way she shifted after, back into the present Ysobel figured it was the former.

"Huh?" She followed the translucent finger towards another patch of what looked to be weeds from Ysobel's point of view. And just like before, she picked up her pace to reach the woman who stood before little a bed of green leaves and teeny pink flowers. She knelt down and carefully plucked the flowers, leaving the leaves behind until Chasmine mentioned their usefulness in her particular situation.

She pulled some of the leaves to add to her basket. "I suppose you have a lot of experience with pregnant women. I appreciate that you've gone so far out of your way to help me. And I'm sorry...about Gaage. Sometimes I know where he's going and others I never find out. I'd think you of all people would know where your boss..er..your Gilram...has sent him off to."

Chasmine

 

[Chasmine]

Experience with pregnant women? No, not particularly, but Chasmine didn't say as much. She listened quietly to Ysobel, the vagueness of her ghoulish expression shifting only at the use of the words your Gilram.

She knew someone who would be most upset to her them in reference to herself. Alas, she had not seen the other exile since the raid on the headquarters. Chasmine hoped she'd gotten away safely. Mae Heilig had been mostly kind to her since she'd joined them and she wouldn't wish for anything untoward upon her. Even if she was a bit ... territorial of Gilram and jealous of the attention he paid to Chasmine.

"You do not need to be sorry," Chas offered her with a gentle smile that faded as quickly as it appeared, "he has done nothing wrong."

As for her purported intelligence on Gilram's plans and plots? She made no comment.

"There should be some flowering dogwood around here," the ghost's eyes drifted upwards to the trees surrounding them, "its bark has long been used for medicinal purposes."