I'm Not Dead! [attn:Natlya/Bella]

Welcome to the Gardens: one of the most tranquil areas of the Tower Grounds.
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Welcome to the Gardens: one of the most tranquil areas of the Tower Grounds. Birds sing in the trees which line the wide paths between beautiful flower beds and serene lakes. There are benches to sit and listen to the waterfall, and there is neatly trimmed grass to lie on and rest. Novices and Soldiers as well as Warders in Training can be seen, sweeping the stone paths as Accepted and Dedicated study from books and relax under leafy trees.
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Jiggity
"The Shadow Rising"
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PC: Avram Nolaisen
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I'm Not Dead! [attn:Natlya/Bella]

Post by Jiggity » April 6th, 2017, 9:31 pm

Avram
The garden was different. It was still an amazing feat of landscaping, with groves that gave the impression of vast forests, ponds as smooth as glass, stretches of grass that somehow seemed to go on forever. The Power must have been used liberally and subtly. But it was still different.

Avram had spent a great deal of time in the gardens that were. There were many similarities, of course, but the Aes Sedai and Asha'man and others who maintained them had created something new, not mourned the past. Avram still mourned, somewhere inside himself. This as a glorious space. It just wasn't his yet.

He had found a tree, placed near a stream that came impossibly out of nowhere upstream and vanished into nothingness further down. Sitting at its roots had reminded him just a little bit too much of the old days, when he was still scheming. Well. Scheming more than he did now. But a rock was placed thoughtfully nearby, and he dragged it over to sit on. Soon he was sitting comfortably, Tales of the Trolloc Wars open in his lap, cross referencing a sheet of paper covered in (badly) drawn symbols with the beautiful illustrations. He was so absorbed that he slipped into the Void, bending his concentration to the task and completely missing the soft footsteps from around the bend in the trail.
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Bella
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Location: New England

Re: I'm Not Dead! [attn:Natlya/Bella]

Post by Bella » April 7th, 2017, 11:08 am

It was one of those moments where Natlya was again happy for her rank. She had no obligations but those she made for herself, at this time at least, and that pleased her. Not that she hesitated to make said obligations, but to have them of her own choosing brought back to mind the freedom of life before the Tower.

She no longer had any desire to return to it, of course, but no one (or very few) would complain about the right to claim their life as their own but for what they decide. She knew one day she would bond, and that her channeler would be that claim...but again, she would make that decision. Thus, it was not something she worried about. Plus, there was no one on the horizon anyways.

Today, she wandered the gardens to get some air and clear her mind.

Although she had originally only planned to stay over with Terric the one night, it had somehow become three. It helped, she reasoned, her to make sure he was getting back into good self-care habits--eating, drinking, and not spending all his time in his books and on thoughts of what to do. Not that she was with him all the time, even in these days, but it had been enough.

Her thoughts were diverted when she realized there was someone already ahead of her on the path she had meant to take. She was about to simply slip off in another direction when the face caught her recognition. She blinked and drew herself back to memories of years ago and she blinked, gaping slightly but openly.

"Avram?"

Jiggity
"The Shadow Rising"
Posts: 167
Joined: March 25th, 2016, 4:50 am
PC: Avram Nolaisen
Location: EST (UTC-5)

Re: I'm Not Dead! [attn:Natlya/Bella]

Post by Jiggity » April 12th, 2017, 7:51 pm

Avram
Avram had lost himself in the work of checking his memories. Some were there, as he had suspected. A hooked axe, aparently the Al’ghol. A horned skull, the Dha’vol the book told him. But others were seemingly random. Or perhaps the drawings he was working with were simply too crude. Was it blood spatters maybe?

He heard a voice. Avram? Before he had a chance to realize it was his name he threw himself to the side, one hand drawing a throwing knife as the other grabbed for a dagger in a boot top, instinct telling him not to reveal the wrist blades yet.

It was... Natlya? Right. He was in the tower. Not the blight. There were no trollocs coming to kill him. There were no shadowswo- darkfriends to kill him. Well. Maybe, on that one. But this was not one of them. He sheathed his dagger, the throwing knife disappeared.

“It’s good to see you again Natlya. I understand it’s been a while now.” His voice was dry, trying to cover the rawness he felt in his throat. He realized his breath was racing and dragged it down to a more normal pace. He didn’t notice that his hand hadn’t left the dagger he had sheathed. Or that his legs were tense, ready to move however was necessary for escape.
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Bella
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QC: Natlya Cade Gaidin
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Location: New England

Re: I'm Not Dead! [attn:Natlya/Bella]

Post by Bella » April 14th, 2017, 1:44 am

Of any various responses she might have expected, the one she got had not been top among them. As soon as he threw himself and reached for his boot, her Gaidin reflexes pushed her back into a defensive posture. She was ready to take him on, and no part of her brain made her hesitate because he had once been a friend or they were in the gardens now.

He didn't attack her, though. So...that was something. Her hazel eyes still regarded him warily, since she had no idea what just happened.

"Yes, it has been a while," she agreed, her hands still up with her brows knit together. His hand was still at his boot and she didn't know what was going to happen next. "I...did not mean to startle you. It's just been so long and I was surprised to see you here." They had been friends once, kind of, hadn't they?

Jiggity
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Joined: March 25th, 2016, 4:50 am
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Re: I'm Not Dead! [attn:Natlya/Bella]

Post by Jiggity » April 21st, 2017, 4:46 pm

Avram
He saw her tense up and realized what position he was in. He pulled his hands away from his weapons and forced himself to relax, drawing on the calm of the Void, and began collecting the papers that had scattered and the book that had been on his lap. "Sorry again. I got a bit jumpy while I was away. I was in the Blight for a while." That was simultaneously an over and understatement. "It doesn't exactly engender calm." He finished picking up the papers and sat back down against the tree. "What have you been doing? Finished reforming yet?" He remembered her past as having been considerably more colorful than his.

Looking up at her now, he realized what he should have immediately. "You're Gaidin now aren't you? Am I going to have to start bowing and scraping now that you're all high and mighty?" He grinned to soften the statement, but it was definitly getting more than a little bit strange to have all of the people he knew so far past him at this point.
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Bella
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Posts: 5615
Joined: April 14th, 2015, 11:28 pm
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TC: Gareth Tomosan Asha'man
QC: Natlya Cade Gaidin
QC: Andraste Alhandra Sedai
Location: New England

Re: I'm Not Dead! [attn:Natlya/Bella]

Post by Bella » April 22nd, 2017, 11:05 pm

As he relaxed his posture, so did she...although there was still some tension in her muscles and wariness in her eyes. She did manage a faint smile as he started talking, and she was suddenly wondering even more what he had been up to while he was away. The Blight? How had he managed all this time in the Blight...

She wanted to ask, but wasn't sure this was the time.

"Yes, I am Gaidin now," she said with a nod. She had worked bloody hard for it too. "And quite reformed. The Yards will do that to you. I hardly expect us to be on any different terms than we were before. I'm still Nat." She shrugged slightly. "You... Are you okay? The Blight would make anyone jumpy, yeah."

Jiggity
"The Shadow Rising"
Posts: 167
Joined: March 25th, 2016, 4:50 am
PC: Avram Nolaisen
Location: EST (UTC-5)

Re: I'm Not Dead! [attn:Natlya/Bella]

Post by Jiggity » May 10th, 2017, 1:01 pm

Avram
"Congratulations." He smiled back at her. It still felt very odd on his face. "You deserve it. I still remember you cheating half of the Drin out of their pocket money in the mess." He had caught her, and tried to subvert her to work for him. Not that it had worked. At the time there had been a suspicion that she wouldn't do anything she didn't want to. Time had not proven him wrong. "I also remember you kicking my bum in the sparring yard more times than I really care to count. So I guess I should keep some of those old memories to myself." He tried to put a joking tone into his voice. He wasn't quite sure how well he did.

"I'm... I'm something. I don't think I can really say I'm okay after my time away." He stared into the distance next to her for a moment, vague suggestions of Trollocs flowing through his mind before he slipped back into the void and pushed them away. "It seems to have been less time for me than it was for everyone else. I don't pretend to understand it, but I don't pretend to understand the Blight either." He had come to that realization in the infirmary, pulling together his disparate memories as best he could without slipping back into them and it definitely had not been eight years. However long it had been had been quite long enough, but it had not been years.
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Bella
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Posts: 5615
Joined: April 14th, 2015, 11:28 pm
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SC: Lysira Viathene Gaidin
TC: Gareth Tomosan Asha'man
QC: Natlya Cade Gaidin
QC: Andraste Alhandra Sedai
Location: New England

Re: I'm Not Dead! [attn:Natlya/Bella]

Post by Bella » May 11th, 2017, 6:27 pm

The Blight was not somewhere Nat had spent any time, really. She'd come close enough in the Borderlands. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to get away with it forever, but was happy to postpone it for as long as possible...and not even think about it if she didn't have to. So she didn't want to imagine living there for any length of time.

"I've heard something like that," she said slowly, still feeling...uncertain what to do with her old friend, her adrenaline not quite receded. She tried to reconcile the image in her memory with what had just happened. "How long have you...been back?" she asked.

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