[ Yep, that's it, that's the real reason he's here following along after Silco rather than just warning him of his untimely maybe-demise. Second demise. Demise part two, the final demise? Oh, whatever. Bruno can't help but look down, immediately sheepish over being called out. ]
...well, there is that. Couldn't hurt to, y'know, what's the saying? Get two birds with one stone?
[ Actually, he can't help but appreciate it. After all, Silco was also a bit of a mercenary man, and he'd much rather hear from someone who was doing something for themselves in some way, rather than the kindness of their own heart.
It was a little less concerning, a little less like someone was trying to get one up on him, and a little more like there was just a second benefit.
Less that he owed later. ]
Well, then, we'll make sure we both get some. The posting said it was a few hours travel. I hope your shoes are up to the task.
[ If Bruno knew the thoughts that crossed his mind, he'd find it such a strange concept. Helping to simply help was a habit for him and, in some ways, not exactly a good habit, considering the stress the need to always be useful above all else had placed on them, but...
Actually, maybe it was better that he was getting something out of this for once. ]
Oh, I'll be fine. [ Said the man wearing sandals but, seriously, he would be absolutely fine. ] This won't have anything on the tower's stairs.
[ He asked, as he fished into his pockets for a cigar and a match.
Yes, Bruno and his sandals weren't going to be the detriment to this trek. It was going to be Silco, and his need to constantly smoke. ]
What tower? What stairs?
[ People always liked to reference things about the places they were from -- Silco did too, though -- and found the habit somewhat interesting. Why did they all do it? Did they want people to ask about their homes? Did they want to keep it alive, by saying things about the worlds that they were from? ]
[ Right, there was no way anyone else would know a thing about the tower, Viktor aside. He'd been the only one to take a peek at what was behind his door back in the Shadowlands but everyone else? It made for a weird thing to say, didn't it? ]
Just... somewhere I used to live before I. Y'know. [ Died. ] It was built real tall and there was like an hour's worth of stairs you had to climb to get to the top. Sure can't say I miss doing that.
There wasn't really anywhere else to go, I guess? Everyone in my family got a kind of magical room that. That was related to their gift somehow and I just. Got. That. [ Really fun, right? ] I think it maybe got taller as I got older but it's kind of hard to remember how it originally looked now.
[ But then he shrugged and jostled the burlap sack quietly clinking with metal against metal as he did. ]
I did technically leave it ten years ago. Found a literal hole in a wall to set up a new home in instead and, honestly? Better. In some ways.
[ He doesn't miss that everyone in his family got a magical room, which... well. He filed away, but jesus, bruno. Way to rub in the fact that you and yours had places to live guaranteed.
It's hard for him to even conceive of a place like that. It makes him think of those estates topside, where families had their own wings. ]
Although without the stairs, I can imagine it's better. Personally, I'd prefer the hold in the wall. A little more... humble, don't you think?
[ Than a tower. In your family's estate.
Not that he realizes that Bruno's hole was in the same home. ]
Oh, sure. It had plenty of upsides. No sand, no stairs, no rock's falling down the tower's inside like they did time to time, and absolutely no one bugging me to tell them their future. I mean, sure, wasn't really space for a bed and there were the rats but I actually like rats, so... that was fine?
[ He did, in fact, like the rats. They were his only friends. It was great, just great, nothing weird or wrong about that, ha ha. ]
Yeah... [ He missed that chair of his tucked away in the walls even more now. It was at least a piece of furniture. ] I've kind of downgraded even further since ending up here, I guess, but it's still not the worst I could imagine, y'know?
[ A pile of blankets on the wooden floor of a chapel balcony, colder and colder as the days pass by towards winter. He wasn't prepared for that and didn't even know it. In any case, there's no doubt be a long time to talk about random things here and there as they trekked onward through the Hinterlands. Although chances were Bruno would be doing most of the talking.
He wouldn't say much more about his home when alive and he would vaguely reference taking over an abandoned building in the Barrens if asked, but besides that, idle talk about idle things and then long spans of silence when neither of them wanted to talk at all, right up until they cleared the trees and the crater from the meteorite itself came into view, still spilling a thinning plume of smoke from the heat it was giving off up into the sky. ]
[ Bruno does to most of the talking -- filled with the rare input from Silco as they trudged on. He's not exactly the most talkative, and certainly not about homes -- Silco's own experiences while he's been open about what kind of place Zaun is -- is hardly something for someone like Bruno to really "get", given the place he's from.
As it is, he kept his steps consistent, and finally, after a long few hours, the smoke swam into view, and Silco's steps picked up, to get nearer to the crater.
After all, he wasn't grabbing one of the pieces yet, right? ]
Ah -- Now, that wasn't quite so bad, was it? [ He stopped at the edge of the crater, and looked down, trying to survey it. ]
[ Trying to survey it for all of three seconds before Bruno made a grab for the back of his coat to try and pull him back from the crater's edge, that is. ]
W-wait, wait, don't get so close! [ He spoke in hushed tones but the words were hurried and fearful. ] There are fires down there!
[ Bruno had come up after him, immediately spotting the little flames moving around the crater as though alive. Little flames, Silco being burnt to, well, double death or final death or whatever it was, and his vision made sense in an instant. Those things weren't going to be happy to see Silco. ]
[ Silco was wrenched away from the edge, and he whipped his head to Bruno, before he straightened, and tried to tug himself out of the other man's grip. ]
Hey --
[ He adjusted his coat. ] I was looking down there.
[ He wasn't falling in, but even as he said it, he could see the little flames dancing in the crater, and his head tipped, curious. He took a cautious step forward, like he wanted to make sense of them. ]
[ Bruno let go when he snapped and tugged himself free but it wouldn't save him from Bruno creeping up to stand nervously next to him after. He watched the little flames drift around, almost as if marching in some kind of circuit around the fallen star. Other bits of metal apart from the massive pitted ball of rock at the center glinted in the firelight, scattered around, but those things, the little flames? ]
Nnno, I'm pretty sure those are what kill you. They look like they're alive.
Yeah, no. [ Which was terribly phrased since the first word made it sound like he did no, immediately followed by a negative, as he did not know. Good job, Bruno. ] I typically only see the, uh. Bad things that happen.
[ As far as being a powerful oracle went, Bruno could use some work. ]
It went that you walked in there and the flames confronted you and you pissed them off and then they killed you? Basically. So, what I do know is they aren't going to like you, specifically.
[ He says, and it's an incredibly descriptive statement.
He peered down, one eye narrowed, the other ever-open, staring down the length of the crater, taking in the details, trying to figure out what the best tactic was. He couldn't, after all, get close, the way Bruno had pulled him back from the edge. ]
Well? Let's try it, I suppose. It's better than staring at them and wondering if they'll let you pass.
[ Oh boy, this was either going to go really well or really, really bad. There wasn't an in-between, he could just feel it, but before he made any effort to stroll into the crater and distract the little flames, he heaved the sack down off of his shoulder and opened it, finally releasing the contents.
Smithy tongs and metal pots, both for safely handling burning hot metal. ]
Alright, I'll... try to attract them to a different part of the crater and if that works, you can get the metal? Maybe?
Well, that had been a wise decision to bring those. Silco was...actually impressed. It's shown by the way he blinked several times, but didn't say anything. He wasn't exactly the most expressive when it came to saying nice things, so. Sorry. ]
Alright. I'll see if I can make this work.
[ He picked up the pots, and the tongs but didn't move forward. That's...mostly sarcasm. ]
[ Silco wielding a bag of pots and some tongs was a funny picture indeed but Bruno was too worried about having to deal with little animate flames to point that out. He didn't think Silco would appreciate it, anyhow. ]
...right, yeah. I'll just. [ He jerked a thumb towards the crater. ] Get going.
[ Yep, off he goes, praying internally that he wouldn't end up being the one burnt to death instead. Considering his own luck, he would not have been shocked by such an outcome. In any case, he stepped to the crater's edge and slid down into it, the motion alone drawing attention to himself. The little flames drew closer and as they did, he could see what looked like knights, dressed in tiny helms with swords in hand.
'Hold there, vagrant! Announce thyself or prepare for battle!'
The nearest flame squeaked those words at him as it approached, sword already waving in the air overhead. Cute, but also probably deadly. Bruno would need to keep that thought in his head as he decided what to say next. ]
[ Silco's eyes rolled, but when the entirety of the flames were distracted, he pulled the heavy pots and tongs along with him as he moved to the opposite end of the crater, and made sure that there were none of those same flames on this end. They certainly had all crowded to Bruno, and that's good enough for him, and he crested the edge, and started to slide down himself.
It's hard with the two pots and the tongs, but he's got one pot in each hand, and the tongs he clutched against his armpit as he slid, before he stumbled, surprisingly soft on his feet for being an old man who looked like he moved to take up as much space as possible.
He crouched, and arranged the pots on the ground, and he looked up, to make sure they were still distracted, and not coming for him. He didn't know if he really believed in Bruno's visions yet, but he wasn't about to take the chance. ]
[ Oh, they are well and truly distracted, and one might think Bruno would be freaking out to be surrounded by the same flames he'd foreseen killing Silco, and yet that wouldn't be the case at all. Instead, his worry shifted to confusion, and that became... a laugh, and he crouched down to be closer to their level.
As it would be, they liked Bruno, and so that off-handed guess that being Silco's total opposite had been right on the money. ]
...geez, you guys are pretty cute lookin'. [ Which got a few dismayed cries of 'nay, we are not cute!' to which Bruno raise his hands to motion for calm and then added, ] And very brave and bold looking, too, right?
[ And from there, well, Silco simply won't have to worry. He'll keep them occupied. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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...well, there is that. Couldn't hurt to, y'know, what's the saying? Get two birds with one stone?
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[ Actually, he can't help but appreciate it. After all, Silco was also a bit of a mercenary man, and he'd much rather hear from someone who was doing something for themselves in some way, rather than the kindness of their own heart.
It was a little less concerning, a little less like someone was trying to get one up on him, and a little more like there was just a second benefit.
Less that he owed later. ]
Well, then, we'll make sure we both get some. The posting said it was a few hours travel. I hope your shoes are up to the task.
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Actually, maybe it was better that he was getting something out of this for once. ]
Oh, I'll be fine. [ Said the man wearing sandals but, seriously, he would be absolutely fine. ] This won't have anything on the tower's stairs.
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[ He asked, as he fished into his pockets for a cigar and a match.
Yes, Bruno and his sandals weren't going to be the detriment to this trek. It was going to be Silco, and his need to constantly smoke. ]
What tower? What stairs?
[ People always liked to reference things about the places they were from -- Silco did too, though -- and found the habit somewhat interesting. Why did they all do it? Did they want people to ask about their homes? Did they want to keep it alive, by saying things about the worlds that they were from? ]
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Just... somewhere I used to live before I. Y'know. [ Died. ] It was built real tall and there was like an hour's worth of stairs you had to climb to get to the top. Sure can't say I miss doing that.
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Not exactly the kind of place I'd be motivated to leave.
[ Really, yuck. ]
Why didn't you go elsewhere?
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There wasn't really anywhere else to go, I guess? Everyone in my family got a kind of magical room that. That was related to their gift somehow and I just. Got. That. [ Really fun, right? ] I think it maybe got taller as I got older but it's kind of hard to remember how it originally looked now.
[ But then he shrugged and jostled the burlap sack quietly clinking with metal against metal as he did. ]
I did technically leave it ten years ago. Found a literal hole in a wall to set up a new home in instead and, honestly? Better. In some ways.
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[ He doesn't miss that everyone in his family got a magical room, which... well. He filed away, but jesus, bruno. Way to rub in the fact that you and yours had places to live guaranteed.
It's hard for him to even conceive of a place like that. It makes him think of those estates topside, where families had their own wings. ]
Although without the stairs, I can imagine it's better. Personally, I'd prefer the hold in the wall. A little more... humble, don't you think?
[ Than a tower. In your family's estate.
Not that he realizes that Bruno's hole was in the same home. ]
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[ He did, in fact, like the rats. They were his only friends. It was great, just great, nothing weird or wrong about that, ha ha. ]
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[ He said, idly. He wouldn't choose it, and certainly not if the tradeoff was just stairs, but maybe Bruno was just lazy? ]
Sand though... [ Ugh. He made a face. ] Perhaps you made the wiser choice.
fast-forwards to ze crater i hope that's ok
[ A pile of blankets on the wooden floor of a chapel balcony, colder and colder as the days pass by towards winter. He wasn't prepared for that and didn't even know it. In any case, there's no doubt be a long time to talk about random things here and there as they trekked onward through the Hinterlands. Although chances were Bruno would be doing most of the talking.
He wouldn't say much more about his home when alive and he would vaguely reference taking over an abandoned building in the Barrens if asked, but besides that, idle talk about idle things and then long spans of silence when neither of them wanted to talk at all, right up until they cleared the trees and the crater from the meteorite itself came into view, still spilling a thinning plume of smoke from the heat it was giving off up into the sky. ]
ye ππ
As it is, he kept his steps consistent, and finally, after a long few hours, the smoke swam into view, and Silco's steps picked up, to get nearer to the crater.
After all, he wasn't grabbing one of the pieces yet, right? ]
Ah -- Now, that wasn't quite so bad, was it? [ He stopped at the edge of the crater, and looked down, trying to survey it. ]
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W-wait, wait, don't get so close! [ He spoke in hushed tones but the words were hurried and fearful. ] There are fires down there!
[ Bruno had come up after him, immediately spotting the little flames moving around the crater as though alive. Little flames, Silco being burnt to, well, double death or final death or whatever it was, and his vision made sense in an instant. Those things weren't going to be happy to see Silco. ]
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Hey --
[ He adjusted his coat. ] I was looking down there.
[ He wasn't falling in, but even as he said it, he could see the little flames dancing in the crater, and his head tipped, curious. He took a cautious step forward, like he wanted to make sense of them. ]
Are those the metal?
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Nnno, I'm pretty sure those are what kill you. They look like they're alive.
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[ Well, that was inconvenient. His eyes scanned the scene, considering. ]
So? How do we get it? Did your...vision tell us that?
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[ As far as being a powerful oracle went, Bruno could use some work. ]
It went that you walked in there and the flames confronted you and you pissed them off and then they killed you? Basically. So, what I do know is they aren't going to like you, specifically.
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[ Get in line, little flames. Get in line. Silco's used to that one. ]
Well, I suppose we'll have to distract them then, won't we? Do you think they like you?
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[ Bruno looked at the little flames a bit longer, then back at Silco with an appraising sort of glance. Hmmm. ]
I figure I'm the opposite of you as far as demeanor goes, so it's worth a shot. Although. That's, like, a. A guess over what they got offended by.
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[ He says, and it's an incredibly descriptive statement.
He peered down, one eye narrowed, the other ever-open, staring down the length of the crater, taking in the details, trying to figure out what the best tactic was. He couldn't, after all, get close, the way Bruno had pulled him back from the edge. ]
Well? Let's try it, I suppose. It's better than staring at them and wondering if they'll let you pass.
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Smithy tongs and metal pots, both for safely handling burning hot metal. ]
Alright, I'll... try to attract them to a different part of the crater and if that works, you can get the metal? Maybe?
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Well, that had been a wise decision to bring those. Silco was...actually impressed. It's shown by the way he blinked several times, but didn't say anything. He wasn't exactly the most expressive when it came to saying nice things, so. Sorry. ]
Alright. I'll see if I can make this work.
[ He picked up the pots, and the tongs but didn't move forward. That's...mostly sarcasm. ]
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...right, yeah. I'll just. [ He jerked a thumb towards the crater. ] Get going.
[ Yep, off he goes, praying internally that he wouldn't end up being the one burnt to death instead. Considering his own luck, he would not have been shocked by such an outcome. In any case, he stepped to the crater's edge and slid down into it, the motion alone drawing attention to himself. The little flames drew closer and as they did, he could see what looked like knights, dressed in tiny helms with swords in hand.
'Hold there, vagrant! Announce thyself or prepare for battle!'
The nearest flame squeaked those words at him as it approached, sword already waving in the air overhead. Cute, but also probably deadly. Bruno would need to keep that thought in his head as he decided what to say next. ]
O-oh, I'm just me, uh. Bruno, that is. Hi?
[ Oh boy. ]
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It's hard with the two pots and the tongs, but he's got one pot in each hand, and the tongs he clutched against his armpit as he slid, before he stumbled, surprisingly soft on his feet for being an old man who looked like he moved to take up as much space as possible.
He crouched, and arranged the pots on the ground, and he looked up, to make sure they were still distracted, and not coming for him. He didn't know if he really believed in Bruno's visions yet, but he wasn't about to take the chance. ]
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As it would be, they liked Bruno, and so that off-handed guess that being Silco's total opposite had been right on the money. ]
...geez, you guys are pretty cute lookin'. [ Which got a few dismayed cries of 'nay, we are not cute!' to which Bruno raise his hands to motion for calm and then added, ] And very brave and bold looking, too, right?
[ And from there, well, Silco simply won't have to worry. He'll keep them occupied. ]
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