Private Tales A Life to Live

[Edric]

Edric glanced over his shoulder at Maui for a moment, expecting the Orcess to translate for him once more. When no explanation was forthcoming, the Rogue Dreadlord took a breath. Closing his eyes and playing over the words in his own mind.

"Oh." He declared, frowning as the realization of what she'd said came to him. Shit.

The woman couldn't repair the necklace, or apparently, the necklace couldn't be repaired at all. That meant Chas wouldn't be able to stick as close to him. She would have to use those...feylines? Beylines? He forgot what she'd called them, but they were sparse here.

Lips turned to a scowl, and he shook his head. "I need it fixed."

Edric declared simply.

"Or...something similar." He looked down at the woman. "My friend is a ghost, and I need to...I need to make sure she stays close to me first. Then I need to bring her back."

But first he'd need to make sure he could actually take her to where she needed to go back. Maui stood over his shoulder, apparently utterly fascinated by the conversation. Not bothering to chime in though, apparently not yet seeking her own boon.

 

[Chasmine]

"Ahhh-" said the Shaman as she drew from her pipe again and expelled the smoke from nostrils and lips with every word that followed, "ye be needin a vessel." A sound of contemplation followed as she gave Edric a slow look.

"An ob-jekt. Sumting dat dey be feelin strungly far - love, hayt, it matters nyot. Wat do ye keep pon ya of dis frens ken?"

 

[Edric]

Edric let the words carry through his mind for a moment. Lips pressing to a thin line as he gathered their meaning and mulled over what might work for such a thing. His mind scattered through his memories, and after a moment found two which jumped to the forefront.

Without a single moment of hesitation he stepped forward. "I have something she might pull to."

The book would do, but he had left his things back with Melfa and the others. Desperate to get here to camp all the quicker. It would be some time before they arrived.

Would that matter? Chasmine was back there anyway and they would arrive together, presumably. But another thought occurred to him.

"But uhh...there's also this." He said, holding up his wrist to reveal a leather cord wrapped several times around it. A simple thing, a meaningless thing, save for the fact that he had worn it all his life. Including the night that Chasmine had shattered the ballroom chandelier with her scream.

Shattered it because of him.

Perhaps the emotion she had felt due to him in that moment would echo enough to tie her to the cord. It wasn't an important thing, not something he'd saved because of that evening, simply something he had always worn. Habit more than anything else.

"It was touching her when..." He shrugged awkwardly. "Well, It's that or we have to wait a few days."

He admitted, feeling a fool.

 

[Chasmine]

The woman eyed his wrist and the makeshift bracelet wrapped around it. After a moment of consideration she shook her head once.

"Ye be waitin' den."

Leaning back into her seat, the Shaman continued to eye the young man, her silver gaze glinting with the reflection of something unseen. For a second she looked as though she were about to say something else, but then reflexively dismissed it by tearing her attention away from him to return it back to Maui.

"Take care o' dis'un, Chief. Him have a wanderin' soul."

 

[Edric]

"Well..." Edric said, letting out a rather despondent sigh. "Shit."
A laugh echoued passed Maui's lips, ringing in the ears as she shook her head. Long flowing black hair shifting against the spaulders of her armor. A smile split her lips as she glanced to the Shaman. "Oh, I very much intend to."

The Orcess said, earning a few chuckles.

"Melfa and the others will make it here soon. You were traveling with them, yes Myesk?" Edric nodded, frowning and wondering if he simply should have waited. His head drawing to the possibility of running back to urge them on faster. Once again he felt a fool, and it was because he had rushed forward.

Quietly, the Rogue Dreadlord cursed himself. "Then do not worry."

"You will stay here, and tell me of your journey here, and how you came to leave your home." Edric was about to speak up, reject the call, but he knew there was little choice in the matter. Chasmine would make it, and doubling back would only be another rash decision.

Briefly he glanced at the Shaman, and then decided to do something he had never done before; learn.

If he had days, then he would spend that time coming to know what Chas would need. "Alright."

He agreed, this time with a more emphatic nod.

 

[Chasmine]

In two days time the caravan arrived without any fanfare. A seemingly regular occurrence now with the agreement between leading sisters, Melfa's arrival had become so routine that a retinue of Maui's kin were ready for her as she lead the way in through the main gates. Supplies followed one while new recruits followed another, Edric's belongings were shuffled off along with the wagons hauling the recruits and their own supplies. Melfa took charge of the orc they'd taken prisoner and clapped him hard on the ass as she ushered him inside a holding cage with a cackle.

Chasmine, who had taken possession of the prisoner for lack of anyone more suitable, gave a surprised little yelp as she quickly turned around with a bewildered look upon the orc's face.

Melfa's face split into a fang-filled shit-eating grin before she turned to find the Chief.

"Melfa come bearing gift," she said to the orcess smugly, "one of Chief's enemies. They attack caravan in the plains - Eder take down minotaur, he tell ha?"

 

[Edric]

Almost as soon as the caravan arrived Edric made his way towards his thing. Maui joined him not soon after, and by the time Melfa spoke the two of them were standing side by side.

"He did not." The Orcess said as she glanced over towards the Rogue Dreadlord, a sly smile touching her face. "Far too busy reading books to talk to me."

Maui said, though the tone in her voice made it clear she only teased the younger Dread. "Just the one..."

Edric said sheepishly, eyes flickering around for a moment as he searched for Chasmine.

"You've done well, Melfa to bring me this one." The Orc shifted her stance and began to walk towards the cage. Cocking her head as she inspected the man. Eyes flickering down towards the mark upon his throat. She seemed to scowl for a moment, and began to speak in the brutal tongue of her people.

The language lost on him, Edric blinked, glancing towards Melfa and leaning in. "Hey, have you seen..."

He asked with all the subtlety of a brick.

 

[Chasmine]

"Weerd?" Melfa blinked in a rare state of bewilderment. Wasn't often one caught the komodo off-guard with words, but Edric had managed it.

"Wat weerd. Eder drink from Ziri's cup now, ha?" with a snort, she laughed.

Ziri, or Ma'Ziri as Edric had come to learn the Shaman's name, had a strong aura of the weird and occult surrounding her. She'd allowed the boy to peruse her tomes for the asking and seemed to be curiously amused by his presence. Whenever Ed bothered to look her way, he'd find her staring at him like a cat stared at a canary in a cage.

The orc prisoner stared at Maui, blinking strangely pale eyes with some clear confusion.

"Edric," it finally said when the Chief paused to take a breath, his voice strangely soft and not at all orc-like, "may I speak with Edric?"

 

[Edric]

"Ha...haha...no..." Edric said starting with a slight smile that turned into a frown. "Wait, should I not be drinking what she gives me?"

The Dreadlord said curiously, the phrase completely going over his head as the Orc Prisoner refused to speak to Maui.

The awkwardness only getting worse as he suddenly found every head near the cage turning towards him. The surrounding Orcs, and the rest of Maui's men, all looking at the Rogue Dreadlord as though he had grown a second head.

Maui herself, only wearing an expression of curiosity. "What?"

Edric asked, having not heard the softness of the Orc's voice.

"Our Prisoner wishes to speak with you." Maui said with slight amusement, gesturing towards the Orc.

The Dreadlord looked at the man in the cage, then to Maui, and then shrugged. Thinking simply that perhaps the man did not trust the other orcs to keep him safe. Stepping up, Ed leaned in, never once thinking Chas might be possessing the man until he finally spotted his eyes.

A sudden bright smile pulled upon his lips, and he had to stop himself from shouting something stupid. "There you are!"

He said in glee.

 

[Chasmine]

Melfa had stopped laughing. No, he definitely should NOT be drinking whatever slurry Ziri had been giving him. She was about to say as much when their prisoner called him over. The komodo stood there watching, dumbfounded, as Edric gleefully greeted the orc that only several nights prior had attacked their camp and killed a handful of recruits before getting caught himself.

"Wat." said the komodo, looking between them and Maui in confusion.

"Here I am," said the orc, smiling dolefully back at Edric, "I've never been an orc before. He is very strong!"

"Eder," Melfa grunted, "this'in prisoner. Why you speak?"

 

[Edric]

Edric looked the orc up and down. "Not that strong."

He commented, though turned his head back almost immediately as Melfa asked her question. A frown touched his features for a moment, but by the look Maui and the others gave him it was clear there was no longer a point in being subtle.

"My friend, Chasmine." The Rogue Dreadlord said with a gesture towards the orc. "She's a...spirit."

The book bad mentioned that the term 'ghost' was generally offensive and better not used. "She's the one that I need help getting back, the vessel was just a first step. I need..."

Well, he wasn't quite sure still what he needed.

"Anyway, she's possessing him." He explained, glancing back to Chas.

 

[Chasmine]

Melfa turned a slow stare from Ed to Maui to the black orc and back again. After a moment she shook her head and waved it off, dismissing herself from the situation entirely. She was not a spiritual being and would leave the weird shit to Ziri and ... well, now Eder she supposed.

Chasmine glanced down at her present orc body, thinking it to be rather quite a bit more strong than even that body which she'd possessed during the fight with Ed that felt so very long ago. She then looked up as Ed explained her situation, the pale eyes of the black orc shifting back to Maui.

"If you do not mind, I wish to use this body for a little longer. I promise to return him to you whole when I am done."

 

[Edric]

Maui let out a bark of a laugh as Melfa stalked away, the Orcess more than understanding the impulse. She rubbed at her face for a moment, but eventually nodded her head. "If Edric vouches for you...I will allow you to walk free."

Edric shot a smile towards the Warlord, though let her finish.

"But." There was a spark of something in her eye. "If you're in there, you must be able to see his mind, no?"

"What he may know is urgent. I do not care if he is whole, but I care if my people are about to be attacked." The Camp was well defended, but there had already been a raid on the caravan. There was a decent shot the Orc Chasmine now inhabited would at least have some insight.

As she spoke, Maui motioned towards one of the guards. The man tossing Edric his keys before the Dreadlord quickly slipped them into the gate.

 

[Chasmine]

"No," Chasmine replied to Maui, the orc's face donning a simple smile that looked entirely out of place between all his battle scars, "he is sleeping while I inhabit him."

She'd not used possession of others very often, finding the entire practice to be invasive on a personal level, and thus she'd never tried anything beyond taking control of another's body.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you what you wish to know."

No apology arrived after that, and the orc thanked Edric quietly once the cell gate swung open.

"But I do believe he needs to relieve himself." That much she could tell.

 

[Edric]

Maui pinched the bridge of her nose. "Edric."

There was a look on the Orcess' face that told of her current thoughts. The former Dreadlord did not have to be a genius to figure out what it all meant. Though Maui might have been willing to indulge him in some things, the safety of this camp and everyone in it was not one of them.

"Well..." He frowned for a moment. "Can we...just give her another body?"

Edric asked with a shrug, glancing at Chasmine. "I mean you can jump into me anyway, can't you? And if not there's probably someone around here who'd volunteer to go to sleep for a week or two."

At least until he could manage to make her another vessel, and then set on the path of bringing back her own body.

"Also, he has to-." He said, stopping himself and giving Chas a look. "Just hold it for a sec."

 

[Chasmine]

Unaware that she was once more coming up short for others, Chasmine's pale gaze shifted from the orcess and back to Edric, quietly hopeful that this idea would be fine.

"I should not wish to take away someone useful... nor do I believe it is a good idea for me to continue inhabiting your body except as a last resort." It had come to her attention that something had happened between them the first time she'd possessed Ed's body. Some kind of connection had formed - one that had made it nearly impossible for her to lose track of him.

Edric had strangely become an extension of herself. Despite the distance between them over the last several days, she knew which direction he was at all times. Not to mention the fact that he was able to make some strange type of physical contact with her. These things should not be and it was odd, even for her.

"I do not wish to cause any trouble. If it is better that I leave-" the orc stopped talking rather abruptly, blinked, and looked down, "oh my."

A glisten of wet at the front of his trousers slowly filtered down the pant leg and pooled at his foot.

"Men must have very weak bladders, indeed."

 

[Edric]

"Least not those from the Tusks!" Someone called from the crowd after Chasmine's soft words, the small tension in the air seeming to dissolve as a raucous laughter erupted out from the men and women surrounding the cage.

Even Maui couldn't keep the grin off her face, though she stared at Edric as though he might have grown horns.

The Warboss motioned for him, a grimace drawing over his lips. "It's alright Chas, stay put and...we'll get you some new pants."

He said as he stepped away momentarily, Maui grasping him by the arm and pulling him close for a brief moment. Her grasp was tight, the pressure of it would have put most men to shame, but she held him firmly as she spoke.

"I admire the Kinship you hold to your friends, Edric, but I cannot endanger my Camp for you or them." Maui said plainly, and Edric understood.

"Let her stay in the body, I'll scout." The Rogue said, offering to leave the camp since the first time he'd come here. "Ziri said I'd need things from outside Camp anyway."

Maui frowned, lips pressing thin until finally her grasp released. "Very well."

The Orcess said, her tone making more than clear that she was not entirely pleased with the bargain.
A fact which Edric chose to entirely ignore.

"Great!" He declared, turning on his heel. "Chas, lets go find you some pants."

 

[Chasmine]

If Chasmine had ever wet her pants before, she could not immediately recall. So filled with horrible memories was her mind, most of which she actively chose not to think back on, it would have been hard to pick out such defined moments. Most of her life had been one tragic embarrassment or mortifying plunder after another, especially at the Academy.

Clean pants sounded like a good place to start.

"Oh," the orc blinked at him, then nodded, "very well."

Following after her companion she was likely a curiously amusing sight to behold. A large orc warrior who might've walked with a swinging, confident gait now suddenly traipsed after Edric with the diminutive nature of a young Lady.

"Do they have a Shaman or Spiritual Leader in the clan?" the orc asked after Edric.

 

[Edric]

Edric tilted his head in a nod. "There is, well, kind of."

He was still rather unclear about just what Ziri actually was. Maui did not seem particularly spiritual, nor did most of her Warband. They followed the worship of their ancestors, and much more than that Edric didn't really know.

"Her name is Ziri." Edric explained as they cut through rows and rows of unorganized tents. "She's been letting me read one of her books."

The rogue Dreadlord revealed. "I think it has some things that will help in it."

Though he still wasn't entirely sure if what he'd read would apply to Chasmine's...situation.

As the Anirian's made their way through the warcamp the two received more than a few odd looks. Most of the band was well aware of Edric by now, being one of the only humans in the camp itself. Yet the sight of him moving along the way with an orc traipsing about like a demure lady caused more than a few double takes. Not to mention shakes of the head.

Edric, as always, seemed entirely oblivious.

 

[Chasmine]

"That is helpful," Chasmine replied, ever the optimist while in a balanced state of mind, "I should like to meet her if that is possible. And see this book as well. Perhaps she will have more insight than my grandmother did."

The path forward was horribly vague and overwhelming. Any advantage that this Ziri could bestow upon her in the form of knowledge or guidance would be a welcome thing.

 

[Edric]

"Right." Edric agreed. "I'll take you to her after we get you some pants."

They weren't on any clock, but the sooner they could get all this done, the better.

It did not take them long to cross through the camp and towards where Edric's own tent had been located. There he dug through his own clothes, though found none which would fit Chasmine's now taller form. Though only a few moments later after some bartering they managed to find her...him....the body some new clothes.

"Throw those on." Ed said as he tossed Chasmine the pants. "And we'll head to Ziri."

The Rogue said, already heading out the tent flap.

 

[Chasmine]

Of all the things Chasmine had not intended to get an eye full of today, it was her own orcish package as she stripped away the soiled pants.

"Good gracious," Ed would hear orc-Chas say from within the tent, "they are quite a bit bigger than humans."

It took her several minutes of attempting to pull on the fresh pants without tearing into them with her orcish claws, or ripping them with her orcish strength, or squashing her orcish bits in the seam. Honestly, having all that down there was terribly inconvenient and rather cumbersome. She had never once wished to have been born a boy and today only cemented the fact that being a woman had great advantages.

Of very particular means. Putting on pants, for instance, was far quicker without all the flesh in the way.

Orc-Chas finally emerged from the tent looking somewhat discontent and pawing at the new wardrobe. "They're a bit snug in the wrong places." But they fit well enough for what amounted to a simple prisoner of war.

"Do all men struggle with uncomfortable trousers?"

 

[Edric]

"What, the feet?" Edric had noticed that too. His time in the camp had given him a greater look into other people's than twenty years in Aniria. Though there were all sorts in Maui's camp, Orcs certainly made up the majority.

And despite what he'd always been told back home, he'd quite found to enjoy their company. Thick-skinned, well humored, and about as ornery as he was the Orcs in Maui's Warband had quickly taken a liking to him. Though the first day had been filled with fights, respect had quickly been earned. With that came friends, and even one man who'd told him drunkenly they were blood-brothers. Though Ed still wasn't sure what exactly that meant. "Weird, right? I think it's because they don't wear shoes so they grow bi-"

Oh. Chas was not talking about feet.

Edric couldn't help the laugh that spilt from his lips, head shaking with realization.

"Not all." Edric said, stiffling some of his laughter finally. "Most of the lads from our class has their pants fitting just fine."

He couldn't help the small jest, even if Alistair, Sable, and the others would never hear. "But you get used to it."

The Rogue Dreadlord said with a bemused, if not slightly too self-confident smirk. Motioning for Chasmine to follow along just a second later. Intent on making it to Ziri's tent before something else stalled them.

 

[Chasmine]

The laughter caught her off guard. Wasn't a sound she'd often heard coming from him, though it had begun to happen more after they'd left Gilram's lot. Freedom truly was freeing and he had a nice laugh.

Still.

The orc blinked, jest going right over not-Chas' head.

"Was there a seamstress for fittings that I was unaware of?" Or a tailor, perhaps? Did he often discuss the fitting of trousers with the other Initiates at the Academy? Such discussions she'd missed out on being the outcast that she was. Chas supposed it really didn't matter, she'd made most of her own clothing anyway.

They were walking through the encampment now, on their way to Ziri ... allegedly. Orc-Chas was garnering more and more attention and his/her odd way of moving and speaking.

 

[Edric]

Ed chuckled still, head shaking. "No, there was no seamstress."

The Rogue Dreadlord said with a glance towards Chas.

"Some of us are just more blessed than others." The Rogue Dreadlord said, playing on the euphemism instead of simply declaring he had the biggest cock of all the Initiates back home. A joke he would have made six months ago, before learning the arts of a more subtle touch.

He really had come a long way.

As they walked, one of Edric's newfound friends shouted up to him. "Who's the new fella den, Ed? He looks like a Blood Moon but walks like a maiden!"

A few laughters echoed from those who sat besides Gresnak, the Orcs chuckling as they watched Chasmine traips besides her friend.

"Well, she is one." Ed replied, much to the confusion of those they walked by. "I'll introduce you later, we're going to Ziri's."

The Orc lifted his hand as if to say something else, and then at the mention of the shaman seemed to stop. His head shook, hand covered his mouth, and it was clearly quickly decided it was better to not ask more questions.