Fireside Chats

Sollux lunged at the figure rising from the bonfire, only to be flipped and thrown on his ass. He quickly tried to get back on his feet, but a swift quick in the face had him back on the ground, the weight of a heel on his throat giving him plenty of incentive to stay that way.

"Please just stay down. Give me a minute and I think I can explain everything" said the figure. From what Sollux could see it was a heavily decayed undead female, though apparently not totally hollow. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

She turned her gaze from Sollux and looked around the room, giving a small start when she noticed the corpse of Sollux's late rescuer near the tunnel he intended to leave it in. "Oh! You brought it here. That's great, hunting those things down is usually such a pain!" The pressure on Sollux's neck disappeared as the newcomer made her way over to the corpse.

"Hey, get the fuck away from…that?" Sollux trailed off as the stranger casually knelt down and stuck her finger into the pool of blood amassing around the dead body. A green shimmer flashed overtop the pool of blood, followed immediately by a short roar from the bonfire. As she rose back to her feet her body was already rapidly repairing itself.

"Much better" she said, turning back to Sollux with a satisfied grin. Her expression quickly became confused however when she saw Sollux's vacant stare. Following his eyes, she quickly realized her now fully restored body was stark naked.

She knelt down, grabbed a small stone, chucked it at Sollux's head, and immediately turned and began removing the clothes from the corpse, muttering curses under her breath.

~)

"Wait, so then every hollow I kill is just going to reform at a bonfire somewhere?" Sollux asked.

"No, for whatever reason when hollowed undead die they die for good. I've met a few people who have some pretty interesting theories about that, but no one really knows why. No one knows why the bonfires do any of the things they do actually. Like that little trick with my humanity you saw there."

"Are you talking about your body reforming? What was up with that, and what does humanity have to do with it."

The girl sitting across from chuckled. "Wow, so this is how it feels to be the one explaining all this. Okay, if you approach a bonfire with absorbed humanity the bonfire will absorb that humanity and restore your body. What you saw was me retrieving absorbed humanity from my dead body. It's very important you remember that; any souls or humanity you have on you will be lost when you die, but if you can find your body, or some blood from your body, or even a bloodstain, you can reabsorb it."

Sollux nodded, his mind working over all the implications of what she'd just told him.

"Huh. You're taking all this in a lot better than I did. That's good though! The faster you learn bonfire mechanics the easier your trip to the upper sections of the city will be."

Sollux gave a small start at this. "How do you know where I'm going?"

"Because that's where everyone is going. Or at least that's where they were headed before they went hollow."

"I guess so. Now that all that's answered do you mind telling me who the fuck you are?"

"My name's Aradia Megido."

"Sollux Captor. You must be from Carim."

"Uh, yeah. Is that a problem?"

"Fuck no. The hordes of angry undead shuffling their dead asses all over this fucking city are the problem. Prejudices based on a bunch of dead assholes being assholes are hard to keep around here."

"Ha, yeah, it is strange how coming to this land can shift your priorities so drastically."

Rising from the ground, Aradia moved over to sit next to Sollux. "So, since we're both headed to the same place I thought we should team up. I've been to the upper levels before actually, so having me around would make the trip a lot easier."

A part of Sollux seriously considered her offer. She was clearly an extremely competent fighter, and she seemed to know a lot more about the city than he did. But he had a suspicion her story might be bullshit. Something about her outfit was familiar to him, like he'd seen a picture of it while skimming through a book years ago and he couldn't shake the unnerved feeling it was giving him. Besides, she could be dangerous. Just because she saved him today doesn't mean she wouldn't try to knife him in the back tomorrow. Which would still be worth the risk probably, if not would only be the two of them, but he needed to find Feferi and Eridan before continuing up. He wasn't willing to put Feferi in anymore potential danger than she already was in.

"I work better alone."

"Fine. Your choice I suppose. You're going to need this though, if you're planning to go it alone." She went back over to her pouch and pulled out what appeared to be a small black stone. "You have any idea what this is?"

Sollux shook his head no.

"It's called Titanite. It's a very special material only found in this land. If, by some miracle, you manage to make it to the upper levels of the city you should eventually come across an parish. Near the church in that parish in a blacksmith. Give him this and tell him it's from Aradia and he should help you out."

Sollux accepted the small stone and put it in his own pack. "Thanks."

"No problem."

~)~)

A few hours later Aradia sat and watched the fitfully sleeping cleric. They'd agreed to rest a little before attempting to find a way out of the tunnel network, Aradia being fully aware that his heavy miracle had left him exhausted. She gambled on him passing out once he cooled down a little, and she' been right.

She knew deep down that the most practical thing to do would be to kill him. The meager souls he'd collected from the weakling hollows he'd killed had surely been used up after this much time spent in the presence of a bonfire, but his humanity. Oh, his humanity. Not only was he a Cleric, in and of itself a rare catch, but he was showing almost no symptoms of decomposition. Even if he wasn't a Thorolund Cleric, the absolute closest hamlet was a good year's journey away. To be so well put together after so long suggested a vast store of humanity within his chest.

She drew a small dagger from the hollowed out handle of her whip. Laborers had hammers, farmers had plows, and scholars had books. She had a blade. That was the tool of her trade, and an effective tool it was. One quick swipe through his throat and that would be it. Not painless, but quick. A hell of a lot quicker than her recent death at any rate.

It's not like death would mean much to him now anyway, she thought. He wouldn't lose any souls after all, and clearly he had far more humanity than he knew what to do with. Hell, she'd probably be doing him a favor getting his first death out of the way like this. The first one was always the most traumatic, and she could make his efficient and clean. She'd spare him from the horror brought on by the illusion of mortality during those last few moments as you lay bleeding on the ground, crushed, burnt, or in pieces, if not worse.

Aradia sighed, not sure if she should be ashamed that this is what she's becoming or ashamed that she's struggling with it so much. Leaning back against the earthen wall she studied the blade in her hand as a war raged within her conscience.

~)~)~)

Dave eyes moved from the body of a significantly more feathery version of himself to the ground between his feet as bright purple lettering slowly appeared atop the grass and stone. "If you're quite done staring at the corpse of my dearly departed compatriot, perhaps you could manage to root around near the base of that tree? You'd likely find what will by now be a…"

"Old ass box with a glowing magic stone in it. Got it right here."

"…Hm. It seems bad manners truly are a universal trait of all Dave Striders. And here I was thinking that was hyperbole."

"What?"

"You'll need to be more specific."

"Dave Striders, as in plural? Also how do you know my name, who are you, and how are we talking like this. Also why is there a bird version of me? And where am I, I guess."

"That all?"

"Yeah pretty much."

"Good. Unfortunately I can answer none of your questions at this moment due to some pretty severe time constraints. What I can tell you is that our interests are heavily aligned at the current moment despite your laughable ignorance in regards to literally everything going on right now . If trust is indeed something you are capable of bestowing upon people then please, I beg of you, trust me. I'll explain everything later, you have my word."

"Yeah fuck you. You're essentially just magic writing on the ground to me, you realize this right?"

"Yes I anticipated such a response. It was inevitable, just as you following my instructions is inevitable."

"No fuck you."

"Such eloquence! Now, somewhere behind you is a staircase leading down to an elevator. That elevator will take you right where you need to be. Trust me."