Just a bit chilly

[furtive_heroics]

A man grumbles at the cold. He always grumbles at the cold, here. Everyone does. There's no escaping it. You can wear the warmest clothing possible, sit by a roaring fire, and still the cold bites. It doesn't numb, either, you'd think that after a while you'd just go numb - no. It's not that kind of cold. The victim shivers and curses and bundles up with a thousand layers and still it's so cold that it hurts. Almost everyone here travels from tiny insufficient fire to tiny insufficient fire to insufficient and drafty bar run by a terrifying dragon, trying to stave off the cold. It never works, but it makes it slightly less torturous. And cursing and grumbling at it always helps.

He is not staying here any longer than he has to. He is not going to fucking stay here, no way. He's been through too much to languish as a sacrificial lamb in the eighth circle of hell while an archdevil goes on a rampage. Cania's for traitors. And he's not one. He was loyal until the day he - well, not died. Was banished. And he doesn't deserve to be here.

He'll find a way out. Eventually. And then someone's going to have a very bad day.

But he's not thinking about that right now. He's thinking that he's pretty sure some vital parts are going to turn blue and fall off from the cold, so he's picked the warmest of his available frigid options to try and plan his next move. He'll take the bar with the dragon. He opens the door -

...

And this is not the bar with the dragon. It's much, much warmer.

His head screams trap, but he can't bring himself to close the door and walk away. Inside he goes, shivering. Warmth.

Comments

[subtly_artistic]

"I don't really know how to react to them - no therapy classes yet - but if you want don't hold back on my account."

[furtive_heroics]

"I mean, it's mostly just a thing to me. I don't mind talking about most of it. I kind of glossed over a lot of what happened because it's just - super weird. A lot of it is super weird."

[subtly_artistic]

"It sounded like it might contain some super weirdness."

[furtive_heroics]

"I had a talking sentient sword for a while. 'Til I helped get him put into a golem, because he'd be happier that way. I built the golem on an island of golems that were having a civil war over whether to continue to listen to the doctrines of an absent master or go their own way with free will. Just. Things like that?"

[subtly_artistic]

"Wow. I'm glad your sword friend is happy."

[furtive_heroics]

"Yeah, me too. Poor guy was trapped in a room with a bunch of undead for decades until I went and picked him up." Pause. "I hadn't touched anything in the room until he started talking, because the undead were - not sleeping, but they were not moving and there was a warning about not stealing anything in the room or I'd face their wrath, so. But then trapped person, aaaaand... Yeah. That was fun. But now he has a body and doesn't need rescue from rooms, he can just save himself."

[subtly_artistic]

"Good for you."

[furtive_heroics]

"Thanks! I couldn't just leave him there," says Veron, sounding like the very thought of doing that thing is just absurd.

[subtly_artistic]

"Makes sense."

[furtive_heroics]

"And once they were good and properly dead, then I could nick their stuff."

[subtly_artistic]

"Undead scare me. No minds to just knock them over with."

[furtive_heroics]

"Yeah. I - don't really have a way go hand you a thing to let you summon me if you run into undead or something for me to go be heroic at whatever is causing trouble, but I'd be willing to."

[subtly_artistic]

"I stay on the warded paths at school. And having the ability to summon an epic undead-destroyer in my pocket sounds like it might attract more trouble than it dispelled, honestly."

[furtive_heroics]

"Fair. I wouldn't want to get you into trouble."

[subtly_artistic]

"I appreciate that!"

[furtive_heroics]

[subtly_artistic]

"Did we ever exchange names? I'm Bella."

[furtive_heroics]

He had, but he doesn't mind it being forgotten. "I'm Veron."

[subtly_artistic]

"Charmed."

[furtive_heroics]

He considers making a terrible joke about making a will save, but refrains.

"Likewise!"

[subtly_artistic]

"What-all kind of wherewithal do you bring on your adventurers, are you a wizard or a fighter type or what?"

[furtive_heroics]

"Rogue. Not one of the greedy ones that steal everything not nailed down, I should clarify, more the type to scout out an area and then disarm all of the traps and then find the thing that's upset everyone present and solve the problem without causing a fight. If I can manage it. Which sometimes I can't, but, eh."

[subtly_artistic]

"Snazzy. I don't have the coordination for it, and magic would be more my style if I didn't have the obvious advantage in subtle arts to leverage."

[furtive_heroics]

Nod. "My teacher tried to teach me a bit of magic once, as a result I can maybe read some scrolls without exploding, but casting proper spells is beyond me." Pause. "Well, mostly, I have some weirdness now that doesn't let me claim to not be magical."

[subtly_artistic]

"Oh?"