Spirits of the Earth

Not the smartest idea she'd ever had, but since when did she actually care enough to think about it?  It was of no matter anyway, it's not like it hadn't happened before, just a little less messy and involved.

In this serene valley of seeming paradise where the birds whistled and cawed to one another, animals frolicked along the fields and fish swam wildly through the river as hungry beasts watched the surface; there was a lot of noise disturbing the peace, metal noisily crashing against metal, piercing whistles of arrows or bolts cutting through the air, usually followed with a dull thunk.
It was the sound of a single, black knight fending off around seven hunters all with a variety of weapons and substances in attempt to subdue and kill the knight, except about a minute or so into the battle they realised it wasn't going too well.

Perish had about twenty bolts and arrows sticking out of her with a variety of tips and metals as the archers attempted to figure out what would work, silver, holy, cursed, broadheaded arrows, barbed, everything they had.  She wasn't responding much to the arrows slamming into her every so often, occupied with fending off three fighters, one had a very big axe, the other two had swords that looked rather unique for mage-hunting.

The axe crashed into her side, the edge stopped from the plated armour, the satisfying sound of several bones breaking were heard, but Perish was still working away at the other two, succeeding in killing one.
The archers got annoying next, she totally ignored the fighters and chased after the archers, a dozen more arrows and bolts riddled across her before she had silenced two of them.
Though unfortunately her ignorance of the fighters was unwisely chosen, an axe came swinging down, nearly cleaving one of her legs off and knocking her down.  She was promptly coup de graced by the sword wielder but that only left him open, so he joined the other fighter and two archers in death.
Perish stood up and pulled the sword out, blocking and axe and flinging the sword at one of the archers, going off to pursue the last one when the axe came crashing around again.  This time she actually lost her left arm, knocking her clean off her feet again which the fighter followed up immediately, crashing the axe into her mid section, sinking in deep but not quite cutting all the way through.
He had to let go of his axe to get away from Perish's counter attack, running off to pick up a weapon from his fallen comrades.

Connlaoth was not a place that many people wanted to go. A person with magic flowing through them was without a doubt going to get themsleves killed. However, it wasn't like they could just tell who was a magic user, not if you were smart. The person walking through the lush valley was smart. He wouldn't walk into Reajh, no, that would be a terrible idea. Just in case they could find out what he was. His stride was nice and calm, he didn't very much have anything to fear this far out. Besides...he was 'normal' so to speak. He was a tall fellow, very strange looking in terms of his attire. He wore a puffy black and white striped shirt, it had rather large shoulders that were puffed out.

He walked with calm abandon, a rather finely crafted lute was within his hands, which were strumming the strings to tune it. He knew the sounds, the correct sounds that the different chords should make. His eyes, one chocolate brown, one light blue, looked as one of his passes over the strings sounded...metallic. He shook his head, sending his shaggy blonde hair with black tips everywhere. A growl passed his lips as he fixed his hair, but stopped when he heard...something strange.

What was that noise? He had heard that noise before.

Oh! That was the sound of battle! He knew that much. It was the sound of metal attacking other metal. His feet were quick as he began to run, trying to hunt down the source of this sound. It didn't take too long for him to find the particular sounds of battle. When he got there, he was stunned by the absolute carnage that he was witnessing. A knight was fighting seven people...and by the looks of it...they weren't doing so well. The gruesome sight before the strange man was intense, and he couldn't help but just stare at what was happening. This was insane...he could see the Knight getting attacked, losing an arm, and even a leg, but still the Knight fought. Was this some berserker who would only feel the pain afterwards? Would the person die afterwards then?

The knight was doing rather well...until one of the last people managed to knock the knight off its feet. He was rather surprised to say the least, and for whatever reason he sympathized for the Knight. His lute was placed upon the ground, and his wicked thin dagger was removed from his belt. The man was fast to rush the retreating fighter, launching the full force of his body to knock the man from his feet. With the man upon the ground, his face pressed into the grass, the dagger was quick to press through the man's back and into his spine. The dagger worked quick to do this several more times, before it was pressed through the fellow's throat to finish the fighter off.

His dagger was removed from the dead man's throat and replaced into his belt. He turned his attention back to the fallen knight, running to the knight's side and kneeling at the head, removing the helmet. There he found a woman instead of a male knight, which he expected. "I uh...I don't think you're going to make it Miss...I can...perform a mercy kill." He wasn't even sure if she'd be able to speak, someone who had taken THAT much damage would surely almost be dead of blood loss by this time.

There was pain like a rather sore and irritable scratch in her lower torso, her left arm was really sore, like her leg, and the amount of arrows riddled through her felt very, very awkward, mere pin pricks of pain.
Her sword arm fell to her side, not sure how to proceed now there was an axe in her stomach and her right leg wasn't too usuable, though it seemed as the fighter retreated he met his demise at the end of a dozen dagger strikes, by some stranger.

Before she knew it she felt her helmet being removed a little disorientated, her habitual instincts made her arm reach for her helmet but it was quite clear this person wasn't attacking her, so the vulnerability wasn't too worrisome.
She blinked a few times in response to the man's words, raising her head a little as she looked at all the blood pooling around her and thrown all over the grass around the site of the battle, it did indeed look pretty bad.

"Ouch," Perish mumbled, blood gurgled up through her mouth and streamed down the corner of her mouth, she didn't cough since she didn't actually breathe, but talking did require her lungs and her lungs were flooded with blood right now.
"I almost wish you could kill me," Perish said, more blood seeped out of her mouth as she reached to the hilt of the axe still embedded in her stomach, vainly tugging away at it in attempt to remove it.

Blood all over the area slowly started travelling to Perish like she was some kind of blood magnet, unnoticeable at first, unmistakeable at second, and it slowly creeped up her body, in through the cracks of the armour, piercing into the body and re-entering the bloodstream.
"I... need a hand with this, I only have one," Perish said a little unsurely at the stranger as she very slowly budged the axe, again, blood dribbled out of her mouth with each word.  Her wounds were closing up pretty rapidly and reknitting the flesh but they couldn't properly heal with the arrow or axe still in them, the cracking sound of bones un-breaking came from her ribs.

It had to be her luck to come across a mage-hunting party, she stuck out like a sore thumb with her black armour and devilish sword, yet she never changed what she wore regardless of how much trouble it got her into, right now was a prime example.

It was astonishing to see that the woman was still quite cognitive. Her eyes looked...blood red, which chilled his blood to say the least. Her skin was white...though stained with blood, her hair was just as white as her body. However her skin was soaked with blood and sweat, just as her hair was. Ouch? Was that all she was able to say?! This was insane to say the least. The woman was...quite alive? He couldn't believe it, he really couldn't. Unless...she wasn't a native to Connlaoth...and she was...special. The thought crossed his mind but...for the time being he had to focus on...on something. He didn't even know what.

"It...wouldn't be too hard?" It was a question of course, because he thought it would be but...if she wasn't then the biggest question was...what was she?

The sharply dressed bard noticed that her wounds, what he could see of them were healing over. Was that even possible? For a moment he bit his bottom lip as he thought about. He was a shapeshifter. This was very possible.

"I uh...yeah okay..." He stood up and went to the axe handle, placing both hands on the axe blade as he quickly yanked the axe from her body, tossing it aside onto the ground beside them. He noted that her body was actually...healing. The skin was knitting itself together and the blood was being...sucked back into her body. He could even hear her bones within her body fixing and mending themselves. He decided that the best thing to do would be...to probably pull the arrows from her body. She had quite a few bolts and arrows in her, and he carefully plucked them out, it was obvious she'd be able to handle the procedure.

"Uhm...I'm...I'm Ode...you ah...You're in the wrong place for a person with magic aren't you?" Ode asked her as he inspected one bolt that he pulled from her body. The blood...there wasn't any. Alright, she was very special. This was...this was very special. "What about your limbs...you seem to be uh...mending yourself so uhm...do they grow back or...do I need to go and grab them?" You had to be careful in this situation. She had just killed Mage hunters, and so had he...so this was very dangerous. He could be...accused of being one. That wouldn't be good at all.

"Gods I hope they didn't have any friends."

Perish's body simply just absorbed all the blood crusted onto her as she focused a little, all the injuries were quite tiresome not to mention awkward.  It was quite the relief for the axe to be removed, the blood leaped off the blade as it left her body, but it didn't feel any less weird, her lower half was barely attached right now.
Though as she was concentrating on speeding up the regeneration of the axe wound, she jumped a little when she felt one of the many bolts pulled out of her.  It was a little surprising as she hadn't actually asked for him to help with the bolts, she looked at him a little curiously at first, wondering what compelled him to do as such.

"...Thanks," Perish said sincerely, helping to pull out a few of the bolts and arrows while her wound healed.  The missing limb was getting annoying, she wasn't letting it regenerate because she had a perfectly good arm a few feet from her, she just needed her leg to finish repairing itself.
The man was introducing himself, so Perish naturally returned the courtesy.

"I'm Perish, I was just wandering and these hunters decided to attack me.  I'm not entirely sure where I am, but it doesn't seem very friendly," Perish replied, sitting up slowly when the axe wound was finished healing, pulling the last few bolts out before looking around for her arm.

"My limbs?  No it's alright, I can get them," Perish assured, getting her feet under her in preparation to stand, before looking at Ode curious, "Aren't you... afraid of me, or something like that?  Apparently I'm not normal, most people don't like me for it."

She had met a great many people who shunned and hated her for what she had become, she didn't hate them in return, in fact she didn't do a thing in return unless they actually attacked her, like those hunters.
Ode appeared to be a nice person, he didn't attack her and hasn't yet, he even helped out a little, and that was all Perish needed to trust him.

She merely crawled over and picked up the dismembered arm, holding it in the right place for a moment as the bones and muscles rapidly reconnected, flesh wove back together and blood disappeared back into her blood stream.
After all that it had barely looked like she had been in a fight at all, she didn't look tired, all the blood on her was gone, she no longer had a single injury, merely a few discrepancies in her armour that told of a battle.
Perish turned as she looked around, she could have sworn there was another archer...

"I think one might have gotten away, maybe he'll bring friends?" Perish said a little vacantly.

"Perish that's...an interesting name. No you're in a place where uh...people with magic and what not are rather hated. You're lucky you aren't at the capital city." Perish. That could have just been a nick name right? He really hoped that it was something like that, or it was just...a name. For a moment he wondered if her name was Perish Plague Death Toll. That would have been awkward and hilarious. He continued to help her with pulling bolts and arrows from her body, trying his best not to hurt her but...at the same time...she had said 'Ouch' after all was said and done to her.

"What? No I...I mean you're a little intimidating sure but...I can't see why I should be afraid of you." He told her with a straight face. He wasn't too afraid of her, granted she had just killed everyone, and her body was knitting and healing itself together but...he was a shape shifter and patented a form that was half giant eagle, one fourth Octopus and one fourth lion. It was a crazy looking creation but it was his crazy creation.

He wanted to help her get to her...missing limbs but...she seemed to be quite able to handle the whole thing. So he simply let her go, he honestly couldn't believe what was going on. HOwever, something was really...prodding at his brain, at his mind. He barely even heard her as she talked about the missing archer. There was a song brewing in his mind, that's all there was to it. "Huh? Oh uh...yeah he might...we...er...I mean if you want to have a bit of company. Ahem. We should get away from here." Ode told her as he stood to look toward the hill he had come from. Hrm. That was probably not a good way to go...OH! His lute!

Quickly he ran back to the hill and retrieved his lute before he walked back to the strange woman. "Dark lady...dark lady...she just fights on...dark lady, dark lady...you may have the brains but she has the brawn. Dark lady, dark lady, you walked into battle, dark lady, you cut them down like cattle...dark lady...dark lady...her wounds were once great...dark lady...dark lady...what's in store with your fate.." His voice was sing-song as he strummed out this new song, quickly putting it into his memory. Yes, that would do nicely! Hah!

"Oh ahm...I'm sorry...I'm a bard so...when the moment strikes me I like to write a song. We should really go however...probably head...that way." He told her as he pointed what he assumed was south. He was almost completely sure it was south. South would get them the hell out of this country, which would be a bad place to stay in. "So...Perish should we er...get out of here as soon as possible?"

Perish shrugged, agreeing with Ode, as she really didn't know why people hated people, there was only ever one person she hated, and it was for a very good reason.  Of course that person was basically erased from existence by Perish now...
It did make her curious as to why people could spontaneously produce emotions on demand, it seemed so strange and unnecessary, Perish had only ever seen emotions as a courtesy, with the rare exception to the rule here and there.

As she went to stand up and properly thank the man, he'd suddenly run off, causing Perish to raise an eyebrow in confusion, wondering if she had done anything.  But he promptly came back with a strange instrument in his hands and singing a tune she hadn't heard before.  A bard it seems, a rather odd profession but it wasn't like she could judge, it was either she was a dark knight or she just plain didn't have a profession, either prospect wasn't all that impressive.
The singing intrigued her though, a song about a dark lady, how could he make a song so quickly?  It was amazing in her opinion, she tilted her head slightly as she watched Ode.

"You can... make songs just like that...?" Perish asked, examining his lute for a moment, more interested in his profession than whatever the archer may be bringing back with him.  He'd wrote a song about their meeting just like that, she didn't know why or how, but it was somehow comforting.
Though, Ode quickly reminded her about the potential danger they were in, and she just looked around as if rather lost.

"I... don't know... should we?  I never know what to do, I never had a reason to do anything," Perish said with a shrug, putting her sword away and picking up her helmet, "What do you think we should do, Ode?"
She personally didn't care what happened, if they stayed there she'd just have to kill a dozen more hunters, if they moved then she wouldn't, but it didn't bother her to lose a few limbs again and kill a few more people.  Though she'd probably end up following Ode anyway, if she had nothing better to do she'd just follow whatever interested her like some incredibly impulsive person, but it wasn't really impulse in her case, more a lack of everything else to do.

Ode could spin volumes on the subject of hate. He had stories and songs full of hate, ones that spoke of heroism and honour, but if you really assessed the situation, it was all just hate. The hate of one creature, of one race, and the 'valiant' tales of trying to bring peace through genocide. No, Ode could spend thirty years on people's hate and animosity for life, and on some level it almost sickened him. Humans could be the worst offenders, and it surprised him. They had about a hundred years, and about seventy of them could they actually think cognitively and be without their parents or an aide so they don't hurt themselves or wander off when their memory fails them.

No, their hate was silly and unnatural. Something evil burned inside their hearts. Oh that sounded like a good song, he'd have to remember it!

"It's why I'm a bard, Perish, I can see the music as it flows." He told her enigmatically, a mysterious smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. "I'll refine the tune later, but for a first draft it isn't bad at all." She had been the perfect subject for a song honestly. A mysterious lady that wore Knights armour, dark like the shadows of night, a woman whose wounds healed themselves, and whose limbs could be pulled off but would sew themselves back on like so many wish a child's doll could.

She was a very good subject for a song.

He was surprised when she asked him what to do. Was she a lost soul, wandering without purpose? He wouldn't believe it, everyone had a purpose! His purpose was to sing and share the stories that he heard and the songs that he wrote. "Well...I'd say south. We go south, and we get out of Connlaoth, unless you want to try murdering the entire country." He actually sounded amused by the entire concept, but he was wary. "This place out here might seem easy sure, but I hear tales of Reajh having....some wicked power that halts magic. Fireballs sputtering into death and lightning bolts crackling away into nothingness. I'm not so interested in discovering if these rumours and stories are true." Ode told her honestly as he shuddered at the very thought of it.

"So best possible course for a couple of people like us, is south!" That was it, it was truly and finally declared. Clapping her on the armoured shoulder he pointed in the direction that he was almost one hundred percent sure was south. It felt downhill. Not...literal downhill, but for whatever reason, travelling south ALWAYS felt like it was downhill. He liked that about the direction. If you felt lazy...just go south. One day he'd find out why. He began to strum his lute once more as he started off in that direction, beckoning with a gesture of his head for her to follow. He didn't walk fast, not knowing the extent of how well she could walk in her armour.

He didn't want to leave this woman behind after all!

This man was interesting to say the least, he didn't run away or stab her or anything like so many people have tried, it was incredibly uncomfortable either way, she didn't like being feared, it made others unhappy.  Not too mention she wasn't all that fond of being impaled every so often but it didn't entirely bother her.
Music had always been a subject of interest to Perish, while she couldn't completely understand its purpose as it was generally used to evoke emotion, but it was a curiously little mixture of words and a tune pleasant to the ears.  It was like the musician distilled the essence of something, anything, and infused it into a song that they could share with everyone, and they could tell it anyway they liked.

She'd never actually properly met a bard before, she'd been to enough taverns and places to listen to them, but she'd never had a reason to randomly go up and talk to them so she'd never met one.

Perish looked back over the valley as Ode brought up the random notion to murder the country, like all ideas, she didn't just discard the thought even though it was absurd or reckless.
"I don't know, should I murder the entire country?" Perish wondered aloud, partly a question to Ode that was strangely lacking in sarcasm or any of the sort, like she was seriously asking if she should try it.
Of course she had no idea why should try it or want to try it, but that had never stopped her before, she'd jumped off a cliff before because someone wondered what was down there.
A hand clapped onto her pauldron and she jumped a little, turning back to look at Ode as he declared they should go south, so it seemed murdering the country was out of the question.  She paused for a moment to look back at the mess she'd made of the hunters, her sword was definitely not an orthodox weapon.
She looked back at Ode and saw him already walking off, playing his lute again, Perish jumped, rushing after him quickly at first, not wanting to get left behind.

"So what's south that's best for people like us?" Perish inquired, yet now that she thought about it after saying it, how were the two of them similar in anyway to be referred to as members of the same group?  People here hated magic, therefore Perish should be the only one in danger, so it would technically be best for her to go south.
Ode didn't look strange like her, he was a bard, interesting but not strange, she wondered if he was hiding anything and for what reason if he was, she personally had no idea why she should keep things secret unless someone tells her to.

Being a bard was rather rewarding. If it wasn't just for all the songs and stories you got to write and hear, it was the company you got to keep. Ode never turned down company, and he would admit in the back of his mind, he'd never turn away from female company. Oh no, as a bard, and a shapeshifter, that was pretty much ingrained into his system. He'd never admit it of course, for fear that he might get himself hurt physically. No it would be best not to say anything along those lines.

At the same time though, he had tried to be helpful, and it had seemed like she had needed help. If it ever came up he'd remind her he didn't know she was a female until after he took the helmet off. Yeah, that was safe.

Ode looked at the woman sharply. That was a question. That hadn't been sarcastic or it hadn't been a playful question. She didn't seem capable of the latter...or even the former actually. She'd never make it anyways, once she got to Reajh, and if the stories he had heard about the strange power there to stop magic, she'd no doubt end up being killed rather quickly. She appeared to have magical abilities, people just didn't suck blood and knit skin and tendons back together. No no, she was surely a very magical person, and a very serious person. It was probably best to vacate this area. If she was right, and an archer had gotten away, he'd bring friends, and they'd try to track them. He prayed they weren't any good either. Though, if need be...he could just become a horse, but he really didn't like the idea of carrying someone in all that armour. He'd have to become a war horse and the prospect was...not inviting.

Walking wouldn't hurt her.

"Lands where we won't be oppressed. Open fields and forests, cities where we won't be looked at oddly. Well...you might...with all that...dented and ripped armour." Ode however was pretty sure that people would be looking more at curiosity than anything. "Serendipity, Adela...Sehra plains, the Moraki Desert...Essyrn...places where we can be free you know? Places where I don't have to disguise myself all the time like a biped and I can stretch myself out into the form of a big cat or an eagle..." His voice, and his eyes, were distant as he spoke of being an eagle. Oh just the idea of being able to fly set his soul alight.

"That's what's in the south for us though Perish. A much better place than Connlaoth. Not all the inhabitants are really bad people....they're just...not fond of magic. It's evil to them, people who use it are evil in their eyes, stained I guess. I'm not one for spending a lot of time here and discovering why. If anything I'll avoid this place like it was full of the plague." Yeah, a plague of ignorance. He'd almost written an unkind song about Connlaoth, but thought better of it. There were sometimes some very interesting prospects in Connlaoth, and so long as he took care not to let them know he was a shapeshifter, he could always come back. After all, he was human! At least in their eyes.

"So what's your story Dark Lady? Why the...strange powers and the dark armour?"

It was almost funny how careless Perish was, she could have been doing something incredibly, incredibly important a few minutes ago, maybe she had something to do in this valley?  Regardless if the entire country's fate rested in her hands, she could forget about it in an instant.
It almost seemed more like freedom, completely and absolutely free in the fact she didn't have any anxiety on doing something regardless of what it was, though on occasion she may be reluctant if it hurts someone.

But as a general rule of thumb, if it kept her interested long enough she could probably doing anything, like this bard for example, how long she followed him around was going to completely depend on if she found him interesting or if he told her to.  Quite simple really.

He really did have the flair for being a bard, they way he could talk things up like he just did, explaining the lands in such glorious expressions, she'd probably be interested for quite awhile.
She wasn't really used to the idea of oppression, oppression usually related to people taking away your free will in someway or another, Perish didn't exactly possess enough free will to be oppressed.  And the concept of open fields and forests didn't make a real lot of sense to her either, Ode was clearly for the idea like it was a good thing, so she just went along with that.

Ode finally said something that gave Perish a rather solid hint about him, becoming an eagle or some such, that was far from normal so he must have some kind of power that would technically put Ode and her in the same group, both needing to get out of the country.  She didn't really question him about it, she was pretty sure what he was, though it was still a small little battle in her head between curiousity and carelessness, carelessness won in the end since there wasn't much ammunition for curiousity.

"I'm quite used to people looking at me oddly, or throwing things at me.  I look evil enough to warrant scorn, well, apparently anyway, I have no idea what evil is," Perish said, looking at one of her black gauntlets, quite angular and aggressively designed, the finger tips were pointed enough to be weapons of their own with enough force.
Though when she thought about it, south did appear to be a better place in one respect anyway, most people probably wouldn't try to kill her, it made her uncomfortable and a little sore when people tried.

She pondered on Ode's question for a moment, her story wasn't something she told people, purely because no one had actually asked before.  She guessed most people were too busy shunning her or being afraid of her to even be interested.
So she gathered up what pieces of her memory she could and attempted to put them in place.

"My story... It's got a few holes in it, but it sort of begins with a farmer woman, and her husband..." Perish began, her thoughts slowly mulling over each part of her memories as she recalled them,
"My husband, he was... destroyed... by a rider in black, the rider stank of death and decay, he had strange, twisted abilities.  In time, I learned those abilities, I practised his power, I gave up almost everything for them so I could get revenge.  Vengeance does strange things to people... I never actually wanted these powers before," Perish said, looking down at herself, ruined armour and all, "The armour was one of the rituals I learned, I don't think it's even made of iron, everytime I do the ritual it kinda just heals up like my body does. It's like the metal is dead somehow."
"I needed armour and weapons to kill the rider, else he could have left me in several pieces across the countryside," Perish explained, picking at one of the holes in her armour idly as she followed Ode along.
She hesitated a bit at first, but she figured it was her due, and she her curiousity was vastly spurred by her interest, so she worked up the will to ask.

"What about your story?  Why did you come and rescue a 'Dark Lady'?  Aren't I evil to you?  I just killed five people and I don't even care, aren't... people supposed to care...?" Perish inquired, she could never be sure of these things, she didn't understand the living in the slightest, why they didn't kill people who deserved it, why scratched out a living with such a miserable life, the whole concept of desperately attempting to continue living.
She knew desperation, sometimes she wanted to help someone or keep someone happy so bad and was failing slowly, but relating it to trying to live seemed hard to understand.
Maybe it was just because she didn't have to even try, to survive, most poor people fought to put food in their stomachs, Perish didn't even need to eat.  It could probably explain a lot of things, but it wouldn't help her understand any better, thus was useless to her.

((Whew, this might be a bit of a long post))

Ode was a bit of a dramatic person, he had a flair for that sort of thing and it came with the territory. He had to be good with painting pictures and instilling ideas in people's minds, or else he might have to turn into a stray cat and search trash cans for food. The good thing was that he wouldn't need to eat a whole lot of food, but still...eating from trash cans wasn't a pleasant experience.

Ode of course wasn't trying to exactly hide what he was, but he didn't want to really...share it. They were still in danger after all, not the greatest of dangers but they were still in some sort of danger. If it got to be really bad he could take to the sky, become a gryphon or something along those lines, they were big and strong enough to carry a person, even a full suited knight really.

Something to think about.

"Evil is subjective, not really a worry." He was right about that, evil was subjective. If ninety nine out of a hundred people said something was evil, then it was evil. Unfortunately the idea of good and evil were passed down in different areas and are ingrained in a person's mind. They are passed down in society and the rules and laws of a nation can often cause a person to understand the concept of right and wrong, of good and evil. Religions were also notorious for it, as well as superstitions. That was unavoidable, and if you went to different countries, you'd find it to be true.

There was no unification, and that would end in disaster.

Ode carefully listened to Perish's story, rather interested in the tale actually. She had a story of love lost, of revenge, of ultimate vengeance, of success, and of consequences. That was the part that people loved to hear about. After all she did to avenge her husband, she ended up twisted...no...altered by this power. She was stuck with the armour, even after she killed the Dark Rider who had changed her life. He actually felt sorry for her, she seemed to have had such a nice life, and she was no doubt a lot more personable and...he didn't want to say intelligent, but less reckless and...innocent almost? She was naive, impulsive perhaps, even more so if she had gone to these lengths to avenge her husband.

He wasn't sure what to call it, but she just seemed like she was vacant...empty almost.

Idly, in the back of his mind, he did think about the fact that she was single now. The natural desire to woo and bed the lady however was overuled by several hundred years of bard instinct. Probably for the best.

"Myself? Well...let's answer one question at a time. As I said, Evil is subjective. You looked like you were in trouble, and Knights usually are upstanding folk, so for the five people to be attacking a knight, it's usually best to help the Knight. And when I say the word Dark, I don't mean it in any sense but the fact that your armour is a dark colour. As for whether or not you should care, it all depends on what you think, not what I think. Some people can't care...that's just how they are. After all, a Knight who fights for a cause, who fights for what they believe in, will probably not care after he beheads several people. It all depends on how you view them right?" The arguement was a long standing one, and it could back for generations. A crusade after all was a holy war usually, and the people involved would never feel bad killing a heathen. A knight sworn to a king would kill the King's enemies without a second thought.

Everything depended on the individual and a bit of circumstance really.

"But that's a debate that I could talk on for hours. As a bard, I have many tales and many songs about such things, of battles fought and won, of disputes great and small, and of people heroic and villainous." Ode was smiling as he told her this, he enjoyed company, and as anyone could see he wasn't a fool, he had quite an intellect, and he had quite a mouth. He was perfect for being a bard.

"Now on to your last question...which was your first question. You wanted to know my story. Well...I'll keep it as clean as I can, but there have been quite a grouping of sordid affairs and romantic soirées." Ode told her with a slight grin on his face as his fingers strummed along the lute's strings. He wouldn't deny his past, and his somewhat insatiable lust. "Ahem. I was born in a place I only know as the Connection Point. It was a very nice little place actually, it connected other worldly energies into a sort of...room that you could venture into and move from one world to another. The magic there, after simply culminating had eventually spawned me and a rather large group of people. Depending on the person, the room appears different. I saw a rolling grassland, of brilliant valleys and streams that stretched into the endless beyond. Venturing around the connection point I stumbled into a river...which incidentally had been a line of serious energy. I ended up plopping out from a river in this world, naked as the day I had been created." He did so like his story, it was a rather nice tale, if the person liked this sort of thing of course.

"I learnt that with all my creation and all the magic that had coursed through my body after falling into the energy stream, I could...cahnge myself. I could go into any form I saw fit, I could change my clothing at will, I could add minute or major details to any form I took, and I could even alter some of the abilities of the forms. However, I did enjoy a human body, and I still don't know why. Perhaps from the time in the Connection Point. At any rate, I happened upon one day, as I pretended to be a finch, a man who was playing a most wondrous pipe flute. I was enchanted by the thing, by the beautiful tune he could create. I followed him back to a city, where I turned myself into a human and went to him in a bar. He was a bard, and I listened to his tales with amazement. A burning fire in my heart was lit that night, and I went to him, asking to train me. Years passed, and he taught me everything he knew. He challenged me to think differently, to not get bothered and burdened by such silly things. He was truly an enlightening and enigmatic fellow. We parted ways, and I began my trade as a wandering minstrel. I went to many places, watched cultures evolve, and quite enjoyed some of the more...finer aspects of being a bard...and a shape shifter." The last bit was said with a bit more of an arousing tone that he meant something a little more...naughty than anything.

"So now you find me here, with you, wandering and winding my way back down into the south." There was a lot more to his story no doubt, he obviously had lived quite a while, but really it was never good to give away the entire story just like that. No you had to draw people into it, make them ask questions, make them think and talk about it, leave them wanting more. Always leave them wanting more.

Perish walked beside Ode in silence as she patiently listened every word he said, regardless of what he said.  She was a very good listener by now, a few decades of loneliness and isolation certainly dampened her ability to talk to others, but she did listen.  And what was more, Ode was a very good talker, there was no denying he was a bard, even if the instrument in his hands had never existed, there would be no mistaking his colourful words and way of speech.
He seemed to have the wisdom of many ages passed, a level of thinking not often seen in everyday people, if it wasn't clear from his actions around her, it was certainly clear now.

Perish did feel evil in some ways, whose definition she was unsure but she did feel something incredibly wrong with herself, the part people hated and shunned her for, while she'd never committed an act of evil in earnest, she couldn't really say she'd committed an act of good with pure intentions.  She never really had intentions to speak of, except perhaps not to make people unhappy, that was about it for her purpose in life besides vengeance.
Vengeance was an evil notion was it not?  Perish had a feeling that it was, but she never really condemned anything, even the people she killed, she didn't kill them because she believed they deserved to die, but because either someone forced her to or because they had tried to kill her.
Some kind of obedient killing machine that acted in self-defence?

Perish raised an eyebrow, glancing at her armoured self and at Ode as he spoke about her as if she were a knight.  True she did look the part, evil perhaps, but knights were usually the only type to walk around in head-to-toe full plate armour, it was just that she was far from being a knight, and never intended on actually becoming one.

"I did like the sound of becoming a Knight, I was helping my husband train to be one, but I never actually officially became a Knight..." Perish said as she managed recall some of the training sessions she had with her husband on the farm.  They were always heated sessions, she and her husband were quite the pair, their skills increased at the same speed and provided a constant challenge.
She did think on how she viewed people and taking their lives, somehow she had a double opinion, yet in a way there was only one:  She plain didn't care if she killed people.  Though in the depths of her mind she never did actually like making people unhappy, while it did sway her decision on occasion, it didn't stop her from killing anyone without even the bat of an eye.

"I don't actually care who I kill," Perish said a little quietly, as if also talking to herself, she did sound quite evil now, a vengeful, cold-hearted killing machine.  Yet she wasn't killing Ode now was she?  She had absolutely no idea why she functioned as she did, maybe a part of her was still alive, which is why she couldn't understand it?
It'd make sense, but again, not helping her comprehension.

She brightened up a little when Ode spoke of having much more things to talk about, stories were always interesting, and songs were incredible in her opinion.
His story was as interesting as he was, Perish's attention was unmistakeably captured, like she was hypnotised yet not at the same time, she loved hearing things of life, a strange kind of irony to her existence.  She treasured the memories of her life before her fall, such a wonderful and purposeful existence cut short.
Regardless of how many times she recalled her treasured memories, they always inevitably spiralled back to the loss of her husband, a broken image in her mind from her mind's attempt to protect her sanity, but she knew the magnitude of how horrifying it was, and it saddened her.  Every time, without fail, she spiralled back down into misery, a bottomless pit that she often tried to climb the walls of, but there was nothing to climb to any more, and thus she fell time and time again.

His story left her with a lot of questions, some of them she didn't really know how to phrase properly, others she wasn't entirely sure she should ask, fidgeting a little before even asking some of the more normal questions.

"You can change in anything?  What's it like?" Perish asked, a little intrigued.  She kind of knew what it was like to be various animals from her many experiences, though those tales were not for the faint of heart.

"You took a different path, you swore allegiance to a different cause. It may not have been a nation's cause, but it was a cause that you believed in I'm sure." He honestly couldn't say, but if she had gone through hell, had changed and altered herself in the name of vengeance, in stopping the evil that was the dark rider...well, than in some small way she had been a knight. "After all, your intentions were fuelled by revenge, but...if you think about it, you were a good person on the path of evil. You simply...took a turn somewhere and became lost." It happened occasionally. People became obsessed, and in turn that obsession would lead them down strange roads, and soon that would be their life. Maybe that's why she seemed so vacant.

She had gone down and removed her obsession, and now there was nothing for her. She was just a lonely soul, trapped in a dark husk, wandering around on the mortal plane.

That tugged at his heart strings.

"Maybe not on a level that's understood. Maybe it's because you can't really...feel the impact? Murder and removing a life is...special." He hadn't killed before, at least, he hadn't killed a person. He'd hunted rats and mice, he'd eaten fish as predator birds, but he'd never killed another fully sentient human being.

He could tell he had her attention at least, that she had been pulled in and captivated by his story. That was always pleasing to a bard, when a person became hooked on a story or a song. It was just like getting the first mug of ale from a freshly cracked barrel, or stealing the night away with an innocent looking tavern girl. That sense of euphoria from such a simple pleasure, it was unmistakable, and it was utterly enjoyable really.

"Most people can't even begin to imagine." His voice became far away again as he spoke. This particular subject was very close to his heart, and rightly so it was a big part of him. "The change is...painless for me. I don't feel a thing but...when I was in the connection point, I was a male. However, now I have this power, and I'm not limited by gender...the feeling is..." He scratched the side of his head. "It's almost like when a person loses a limb, you hear about how they think it's still there. Well, imagine being you...and suddenly you're a bird. They're anatomy is all different...you have wings...but no arms. It used to be that I thought my arms were still there...and I'd try to use them, only to find nothing happening. You get used to the change...like turning into a cat or a dog, you have no opposable thumb...yet you have the dewclaw, but you still try to grab things like you were a human." He wasn't a shifter in the sense that some people were. They had been born human, and they learned to shift through magical means by someone who knew what they were doing.

At times, he heard of shifters who took on even the personality, with their own being just a slight tinge in the back of their minds. He couldn't imagine it that way.

"But...as a human, there are some things you'll never truly experience. As an eagle or a hawk, several hundred feet above the ground, able to spot a small mouse among the long grass...or being a dolphin in the water, propelling yourself  through the water as if it were nothing in your way. To be something else, another animal, or even to be another person all-together...you feel very small. It makes you humble almost, as you realize what it's like to be something else, to live the life that isn't yours." That was a very accurate way of putting it, though Ode wasn't sure she'd understand. He'd yet to really come to understand his new companion, her abilities and her ways. He wondered, idly, if she would need sleep. He had seen her battle, and he had seen her heal...so it was an altogether good question.

"I must ask...but do you require...sleep? And food? I ask because...I mean I don't really need sleep, but I do need to eat. So I'm hoping that I don't slow you down any by needing to eat...but I do enjoy a good break once in a while, like at a riverside or some such thing." He loved the water, but he loved being cool. He didn't know why, but being beside a cool river side with a gentle wind was probably one of the grandest things in nature. It had to have been the poetic bard side of him.

Ode's words struck very true to Perish, if there was a single thing that she was, it would be lost, lost for a purpose, lost in the world, lost for understanding, just lost in nearly every sense of the word.
She was never actually sure if the burning vengeance and hate she felt for the rider was right or not, whether it had been evil of her to track him down and utterly obliterate him from existence like she had, she truly had no idea except that regardless of it all, she wanted that rider dead.
She knew there was something wrong with snuffing out the life force in another person, putting an end to what could have been a life filled with absolutely anything, limitless possibilities, a life potentially more precious than her current existence, yet like with so many other things, she couldn't quite understand why it was wrong.
It was like her mind didn't even comprehend the magnitude of what she did when she plunged her devilish sword through someone's chest, ending their life prematurely.  Like she had never cared about it before in her whole existence.

Perish attempted to use what imagination she had left to put herself in the world Ode was creating with his words, in an obscure and twisted kind of way she knew almost exactly of what he spoke, it didn't seem quite the same though.  She couldn't really imagine herself being a bird, it sounded... weird... but in an obscure kind of way she did know essentially what being a bird meant, or what he was trying to explain with that situation.  It was almost funny... in a macabre kind of way.

"I know what it's like to lose a limb," Perish spoke up as if she'd done something right or had the answer to some important question, "I've had my arm chopped off a few times, and I've nearly gone to pick it up with the arm I've just lost, it's like that isn't it?"  In a macabre kind of way... -should be added.
"Though I can't say I've tried having wings and no arms at the same time before, I kind of need my arms to get the wings," Perish said conversationally, unintentionally being rather vague on how she was actually able to possess wings.
The claws were also a somewhat new concept to her, she'd never actually tried it before, probably mostly because she hadn't felt the need, the curiousity, nor cared enough to try it.

And she couldn't say she understood much of what Ode said after that, she was kind of something else other than a human, yet a human at the same time, she'd never completely been an animal so she wasn't exactly sure on what he was talking about.
Although, she did kind of know what it was like to live a life that wasn't hers, what she was now and what she was before felt like two seperate lives, they may be connected somehow but they just seemed far too different.
A peace loving woman, strong willed and eternally happy with the man she loved, or a vengeance powered undead, eternally sorrowful almost completely lacking what one could call a will.

She looked at Ode a little curiously as he asked her about food and sleep, but it was more what he said about not wanting to slow her down that was completely lost on her.  To her knowledge it was her following him, so the only person that could be slowed down should be him, shouldn't it?

"Um, no, I don't require anything, I don't even need to breath unless I want to talk.  I suppose I could eat something if I wanted, but it's impossible for me to sleep in anyway," Perish replied, almost seeming to shrink somehow to make herself seem less significant, "You don't have to worry about me unless you don't want me following you.  Take as many breaks as you'd like."
Indeed, she was quite the absent companion, no food, no water, no rest, not even breathing, no desire for fame or fortune, only to help and follow those that interest her.
And right now Ode interested her, he was lively and he didn't want to get rid of her so far, she didn't really understand what there was to enjoy about a break or a river, she never needed a break nor saw a reason for one, and rivers were just obstacles that tended to fill up her boots with water.

There was one thing in the back of her mind that was eating at her, though she really lacked the willpower or confidence to ask it of Ode, it was just she really wanted it but really didn't want to be trouble to Ode.

"...Um... maybe some time... you could... tell some of your tales, and sing some of your songs...?" Perish asked, staring down at her hands as she fidgeted actively, trying to make herself seemed even more insignificant, but she truly was interested in hearing more, music seemed to bring things to life, and stories were always interesting.

He had wondered about her limbs and what happened when she lost one. Ode knew she had some magic after all, and he could only speculate what could happen when she tried to retrieve it. He had never really met anyone who lost their limbs and then went to retrieve them. People....usually died. Still, as he knew, she was special, very special. That was fine by him too. "It is sort of like that yes!" Ode was glad that she was slowly starting to understand what he was talking about. The worst thing was when someone just didn't understand and let the other person blather on. It was insulting, mostly to the person who couldn't understand. A conversation should involve both parties after all, and they should enjoy what's being talked about.

"Really? Well there ain't a thing wrong with that m'dear!" Ode told her with a grin, almost sensing her uneasiness. There was surely some poor self esteem issues which was odd for a person like her. Not that he minded, it was cute really. She was shy, her interaction with people probably wasn't the best anymore, as she had said. People did and said mean things to her, and she didn't quite understand it. She didn't seem to understand hate anymore, despite it having run through her very being for a good amount of time.

Ode was all grins, his eyes bright as she told him that he could take as many breaks as he wanted. "Well that settles it, when we come to the first cool river we're gonna take a small break." He would probably never let her go willingly, she was an interesting person to be around. He also wondered if she could ever revert...if she could be...more human...more alive. Something to think about after they got back to the south. They were still in Connlaoth after all, so he didn't stop for too long, she was very recognizable, and if the archer had seen him then his description was probably going to go around with hers. If they didn't know he was magical, he'd be a sympathizer, which would condemn you just as much.

So a small break would suffice.

"Some time? My dear Perish you're with a bard on a trip that'll probably take several weeks, if not a good month and a half. You won't be able to stop me!" He told her with a light hearted chuckle. No, she'd hear quite a few stories and quite a few songs really. She seemed to really enjoy that, and it was very nice to find an audience.

Ode's hands began to strum along the strings of the lute as he thought of a song to play for her. Well...song was a little rough in the traditional sense really. "Wind dancer...you've figured it out...as I watch you from afar you seem to have an answer, you've got an answer beyond any doubt. Wind dancer I see you so free flying out there...wind dancer you glide so carelessly in the cold light air. I was so young when I saw you and wished I could be equal to. Ohhh wind dancer, wind dancer the one and only, wind dancer I wonder if you're ever lonely? Wind dancer I can keep you safe and warm, wind dancer come in from the winter storm..." Ode's song went on like this for a little longer, praising and talking about the Wind Dancer. It was hard to tell just what the wind dancer was. When his song finally came to an end he looked over at her and grinned.

"I wrote that about a shape shifter who liked to be a hawk. I saw her caught in a storm once, and still she flew amongst the rain and the lightning without fear. Haven't seen her in about a hundred years though." Still, the song was a nice one after all. One thing he had known about her, was you had to get her attention in a hawk or eagle form, she'd ignore most people in human forms. He'd admit, that he had tried his best to get her attention as a hawk, but he had been young, and she wasn't having any of it. A little scorn and humility was actually nice for someone, it helped to keep their head on straight and their feet on the ground so to speak.

"Here's a question for you Perish, do you need to...uh...I mean I don't know how it all works but do you need to bathe or...do you simply not get dirty? Like it's impossible to get dirty?" He could only imagine, he wasn't sure if she sweat, and with her being in that suit of armour he could only imagine what might happen...he was surprised that he wasn't actually asking as a...ahem...pervert either. He was actually interested in, for the fact that in some other forms there was a very good sense of smell. Though yeah, perhaps there was a little bit of...perverse intention in there, only a little.

Very faint happiness had began to fill her the more she spoke with this bard, she actually managed to understand something talked about for once, perhaps not in the same way but it was still the same thing essentially.
Though it was kind of strange, it meant she was kind of happy that she had been able to lose limbs to find out what it would be like, so she knew a little of what it was like to be whatever it was that Ode was.  Truly bizarre.
Most of the time she was completely lost for understanding, while still able to communicate on a basic level she often didn't understand most of what people talked about, it was hard to make sense of something when you couldn't apply it to yourself.
She actually like she was a part of the living for a moment there, being truly able to relate to someone alive.

Was there truly nothing wrong with being what she was?  Was Ode just trying to be nice?  Perish didn't really know, she personally thought there was something wrong with not eating and sleeping and such, not eating or breathing seperated oneself further from the land of the living, it was... strange.
And the sleeping aspect, it tended to make her confused more often than not, being tired usually meant she had taken a lot of damage, which usually fixed itself rather quickly, but everyone could measure of time via their sleeping patterns.
It also tended to rob people of an incredible amount of time, not that it helped Perish, she just had a dozen hours more than everyone else in which to continue her torment of a life, days melded into one never-ending, indistinguishable stream of thoughts.

She nodded in response to Ode's declaration rather obediently, a small break it was, and this valley seemed to have quite a few small rivers about it, a few were a little distant but there was one or two that was near their path ahead that looked adequate.
Though she was rather lost on if the rivers were 'cool' or not, she always felt cold, almost regardless of what she was doing or what the weather was like, a side effect of her state that she just seemed to generate cold.  If she were any colder she'd probably frost up her armour, on particularly hot days people could swear she steamed, rather spooky to see.

"There's a river over there we could take a break at, I'm not sure if its cold, I may be able to cool it down a little though," Perish offered a little hopefully, trying to be helpful.
To her, if she wasn't be at least helpful in some way, she'd feel following someone was a little useless to them, thus it would seem selfish.

Perish managed a very small smile upon hearing the bard would tell her stories and such, while she knew how to smile for courtesy's sake, it was never genuine except for now.  Emotions were usually quite a feat for Perish, nearly impossible unless they're very strong, like some kind of emotional buffer, she rarely if ever felt positive.
It seemed there would be much time to spend, which would be good because Perish wanted to hear everything Ode could possibly tell, it was almost like some kind of drug that made her feel a little more alive, stories and songs seemed to capture the essence of an emotion.

Once more Perish's attention was completely caught by Ode as he played a song, her eyes unfocused a little, and she could almost reach out and touch the energy it produced.  She blinked a few times as the song came to an end, refocusing her eyes and looking at Ode again.

"That song was great," Perish said honestly, still in a bit of a reverie from it, "She didn't actually fear being caught in a storm?  I thought most people were afraid of storms, and lightning.  I mean, lightning's uncomfortable but I don't fear it."
Perish of course didn't understand the fear in storms, and being a walking metal conductor she had been hit a few times by lightning, quite the inconvenience, mildly painful, but mostly uncomfortable, people tended to shy away from people who sizzled and smoked...

Perish pondered on his question for a moment, she never really made a habit of bathing, she also never seemed to smell, her body didn't decompose or produce anything so it probably made sense, but dirt still could get inside her armour and such, so she needed to wash when that happened.
Like all things she didn't see much point in bathing, and she wouldn't have seen much point in washing dirt off if it hadn't been so uncomfortable in her armour.

"Well... I do get dirty, I guess not in the same way living people do, I haven't needed to bathe for hygiene's sake.  I do get rained on every so often though, I don't suppose that counts?" Perish said thoughtfully, the possibility of the question having less tame intentions didn't really occur or matter to her, she just took the question as seriously as she could as she saw no point in not answering it.  Though innocent curiousity was still there.
"Living people need to bathe right?  Do you think maybe I should too?" Perish inquired, the question was quite sincere.

Things didn't always have to make sense, so long as there was a connection, that someone could understand what you meant. Even if it wasn't the way YOU understood it, so long as as you both had some understanding of it then there was nothing to worry about. Ode only worried that she wouldn't understand, and that she might get upset by the whole thing. He really didn't know what the woman might do, after all she talked about how she was different, and her personality was very stoic...it was usually the quiet ones that could be deadly after all.

Still, she seemed to have some interest in him so he was sure that he was moderately safe. If she couldn't shoot lightning bolts from her finger tips or throw fireballs then really he could probably just become a bird and fly away. Still, he didn't see her as becoming violent toward him. He wasn't sure he could make her upset or he could get on her nerves. Hell, he wasn't even sure that any of the more despicable acts toward her would constitute any sort of reaction. Really, that was almost terrifying, and Ode decided that it would be prudent not to try anything. That would be taking advantage of someone, and he wasn't one to do that sort of thing.

Consent was a fine thing, and could be a challenge in some cases after all.

"Excellent! I'm sure in this valley it will be quite nice. Don't worry about the temperature, because I can handle such things rather easily. It's the shape shifter thing. Though I thank you for the offer, and rest assured if it isn't cold enough I'll ask." He did appreciate it, and though he wasn't sure if he would need it, still, he didn't want her to feel like she would be useless.

He was very happy to have her full attention, to have her watching him and listening so closely to his song. He did like this song actually, it was one of the first that he had written and been inspired to write. The storm that night had been quite a fearsome one, but she still braved it despite everything. He almost wished that she still was around, that she hadn't gone down far south. Still...there was nothing that he could do now, he only had his song, and that did help to comfort him really.

Ode smiled and bowed to her as she praised his song, walking even still though without missing a beat.  "She was unafraid...I think she felt so close to the world and to the storm itself that nothing in it could harm her. Nothing did as far as I saw, but I lost sight of her after several leagues." Still, it had been one beautiful light show really. He had quite enjoyed every minute of it.

"Well...in a way it sort of does but not completely." It was just rain after all, she needed to have a soap cake in the very least to ensure that she was truly clean. Though he did suppose that even without it, just getting into water and a bit of scrubbing might work. He'd have to investigate her smell when he turned into something with an acute sense of smell.

"Hmm...that'll be interesting. I'll have to check when I'm something with a good sense of smell, like a cat, or a mouse, or something like that. Honestly, you don't smell too bad...though...there's a bit of an armoury...metallic smell but that's the armour I'm sure...if you're wearing clothes under that...and I'm almost sure you are...I bet it's the clothing too. THOSE are what will need to be cleaned then as well." It was all a matter of circumstance. "Have you ever thought of...not wearing armour? I mean...can you even leave it somewhere or will it just...materialize back onto you? Or does it pass a curse onto people?" She would stick out in that armour, it was recognizable, and with it being able to heal itself...well...there was just some trouble.

It was kind of strange, walking alongside a living being as if one of them, not a real lot in common yet Perish could almost remember what it was like before her fall in damnation.  Only when she was alive, she was such a different person it was like she almost completely changed when the dark energies touched her soul, Ode had the will to do things he wanted to do, and in her previous life so did she.  Right now she just wanted to make sure she didn't scare Ode off, though for all her desires she'd probably go against them out of carelessness and recklessness, she had a habit of coming across as being incredibly creepy.

The concept of shape shifting did sound intriguing to Perish, going from one thing to completely another, something she had never experienced before, perhaps in small doses but not entirely.  The ability to change into something completely new, as if Perish might be able to change into something that people might accept, that she might be able to mingle with the living once more.
But of course her body would not allow such transfiguration, the powers that regenerated her would keep attempting to turn her back into exactly what she was at the moment of her fall, which is why she never, ever looked different, her features imprinted in time itself.
"Do people shun you when they find out what you are?  Throw rocks are you and such?  Fear you?" Perish inquired curiously, trying to figure out more about Ode, what kind of life he led in comparison to hers.
She could accurately guess it was a hell of a lot happier than hers, the same could be said for a lot of people but Ode wasn't like a lot of people, being one of the very few that didn't just throw her aside like some evil creature that she appeared to be.

At first she looked a little blankly at herself, bringing a gauntlet up to her nose to smell.
The metallic tang instantly filled her nose with the slight scent of dirt and sweat from the recent battle, though since she didn't actually sweat it was obviously from one of the hunters she killed.  Sweating obviously required water, Perish didn't drink so it kind of made sense, though it was also used to cool the person down and Perish didn't really need any help in that respect...

"I suppose I've been in this armour for the better part of my life, I've never actually found much of a reason to take it off unless sand or something has gotten inside, I put it on out of habit," Perish mused, thinking hard across her lifetime since the first day she made the armour, "There's nothing real special about the armour except that it has been made by necromantic power, I could get rid of it if I wanted, but shouldn't I wear armour?"
She didn't actually see a point in wearing armour, like most things, but something compelled her to put it back on each time.  Perish looked at the question again and wondered if Ode had meant something by it.
"Did... did you want me to take my armour off?" Perish asked in all sincerity, looking at Ode inquiringly as she rested her hands on a pair of clasps on the sides of her torso plate.  She was naive to a fault like that, ending up in a strange kind of careless obedience that was just asking for trouble.

Ode was very interested in Perish. She had a sort of...well he wasn't sure what she had, but he felt compelled to help her. Her ways were simple, and that was something he could appreciate. He was just as simple really, his needs weren't very hard to satisfy. He could relate to her style of thought honestly, and it was refreshing actually. He liked to find people that he clicked with. Despite what people might call faults, he just saw them as quirks, and he liked them. Everyone had faults after all, and some they couldn't help, they shouldn't be scorned for that. It would be terribly unfair, it really would.

Ode rubbed the back of his neck as she asked her question. "That...all depends really. I mean...no one really fears me...there are some who are superstitous of shape shifters. That comes fromt he fact that they think I might steal their soul if I take their form. Some just don't like the idea of me being able to impersonate high ranking officials or trusted guards and the like. I don't think...I've ever gotten rocks thrown at me though..." Ode could remember a couple of arrows being shot his way but they hadn't really been meant to kill him. At least he hoped they hadn't honestly.

"Ah well...see that's sort of like...round logic. You wear armour to protect you, but you get attacked because of your armour, so you wear armour. You gotta break that circle of yours." If she got rid of the armour, she might actually be able to have some form of normal life. She wouldn't be completely normal, those afraid of necromantic powers may very well be...well, afraid and angry at her but...otherwise she'd probably survive easily!

Ode actually had to do a double take when she asked him that question. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! Did she actually ask him that? He had to remmber that she was in a different state of mind than everyone else. She may very well have realized what she was saying, but he couldn't honestly be sure.

"Ah ah!" He moved his hands to hers, gently pulling them away from the armour clasps. Luckily his lute had a strap on it and it simply fell to his side and hung there. "Now that could have been...I'm really still going to hope you've got clothes of some sort under your armour...but around someone like me...you have got to watch your words. Asking a bard if he wants you to take your clothes off...that's a bad idea. That really is. Well...no it can be good but in this particular situation as we're trying to get away from a magic murdering country it is a bad thing to ask." He can't believe that he had to have a conscience at a time like this. He would have to be the one to show some moral upstanding.

It was...absolutely hilarious. He might have to actually write a small poem about this.

"We gotta go over a couple of uh...ground rules I think." Ode told her quietly as he let go of her hands. "That sort of question you ask in more intimate situations. You have to absolutely be careful with what you say. Asking someone if they want you to take your clothes off...that's not appropriate for anything but an intimate sexual situation. " That really was the big thing. "You just have to be careful with what you ask. You've observed a lot of people after all, so try to base what would be appropriate off of what you can recall from watching people. Just don't go off of the violent people who throw rocks or try to kill people...you know what, if you're unsure just ask me." But she was on the right track. She did need that armour off.

"I've got to ask you something serious now though. I want you to think about it, and don't answer right away either Perish. Do you want to change your life? Because I can help you change." Ugh, there was a lot of double entendre, but he was happy that she probably didn't catch that sort of thing. "Think it over. If you want to fit in but still be an individual, to have people stop throwing rocks and chopping limbs off...to have everyone fear you." Ode looked to her, his eyes staring at her face to try and honestly figure out what she might want. He wanted to help, and he wanted to stick around such an interesting individual.

He still couldn't believe the armour question.

"I would like to help you, to adapt and to...find a purpose again Perish. You've lost it after you found revenge, and now you wander without a purpose. We've got to find you again." And Ode could not believe how good of a story this would make as well. A chance encounter, a hero who lost her way, the darkness overtaking, she wanders lost in the void that is her life, her revenge having been complete she fell from life, from a purpose, and now she must find herself again. She must climb up from the darkness and get back into the light.

Oh yes...this chance encounter was leading to quite a time.

It wasn't every day Perish came across a person like Ode, upbeat and full of life, she had met too few people that would actually talk and listen to her, because quite frankly she was intimidating in the armour, and anyone who knew what she was, was utterly creeped out by her.
So it wasn't all that easy to make friends, especially when Perish is usually a rather depressing person to be around with all her thoughts endlessly focused on sorrow and mourning.  It was like that soul-binding she undertook had taken basically everything from her that wouldn't help her achieve her goal of revenge.
Like she still had her memories of Elias to spur her on, and still had her training to let her fight, and then provided her with a failsafe way of inevitably achieving her goal: an unliving state of makeshift immortality.

She wondered what Ode's reasons were for hanging around or letting her follow him, there had been very few interesting people who hadn't screamed 'get away from me' when she attempted to follow them.  It sure did pique her curiousity, she was unfamiliar with kindness.
"Being a shape shifter sounds so much better..." Perish said a little gloomily.

Perish didn't quite understand the logic of breaking this logic circle of his, she did wear the armour to be protected, she wanted to be protected in case anyone may attack her and so far it's usually worked unless they carried particularly heavy weapons like axes.  She'd feel strangely vulnerable without the armour, it suddenly felt like a lot more than an unexplainable compulsion or habit to wear it, she really did desire its protection in the end.  For what reason would be hard to say, generally speaking she can survive and regenerate almost anything.
"But... if I don't wear armour and get attacked, wouldn't that seem... stupid?" Perish inquired, not really making sense of it, to her wearing the armour and getting attacked twice as much seemed better than not wearing it and getting attacked half as much.
She looked at Ode a little curiously when he suddenly pushed her hands away from the clasps, raising an eyebrow and tilting her head slightly, he wasn't making much sense again...
"But... you just said I should take it off... It's a bad idea, but it can be good...? I'm confused," Perish said a little hopelessly, a little sadly since she might not be understanding Ode as well as she thought.  To her it made sense, he'd suggested the armour was a bad thing, so she should take it off right?  Except now he was stopping her from doing so.

Things just got more and more complicated and confusing as he talked, while making a little sense in some areas, mostly Perish was just totally lost, looking at Ode a little blankly.  Though things never had to make sense for Perish to obey them, so these 'ground rules' must be something she adhere to.  At least until she forgets or stops caring about it, which are the general cases that get her out of stupid situations most of the time.
Kind of like obedience with an expiry date, quite convenient for Perish's sake.
The rules gave her quite a lot of questions, she was a little too confused to stop herself from asking them, she'd adjusted to Ode enough to lose a bit of the anxiety.

"Why should I have to be careful with what I say?  And why do I have to care about what's appropriate?  Those rules don't make much sense, I've watched a lot of people but they don't make much sense either," Perish said, having a little difficulty with it all, looking a little sad again in her confusion.  At least one thing made sense, to ask Ode if she was unsure, that'd keep him happy right?  But she was unsure about a lot of things, and that might bother him eventually...

She did pause for a moment in contemplation at Ode's 'serious' question, change was something she was very unfamiliar with, almost to the point she didn't know the meaning of the word any more.  That question was something she had asked herself a few times, once upon a time she had wanted to change, but she ran out of what little hope she had back then after failing miserably.
"I... I don't think I can change... it's what I am I guess.  I mean look at me, it's been at least 30 years, I haven't been actively training or eating, I have had countless injuries, and I haven't changed, a tiny, little, bit, since the day I became this," Perish said, looking at her gauntlets again in search of something she couldn't find, "I don't like people being afraid of me... I can deal with being hurt, it's very uncomfortable but I can deal with it."
There was nothing left for her in this world, she had achieved what she wanted and now her life was finished and complete.  Except it wasn't, far from it actually.
She did know what her purpose was, even after achieving her own goal her existence still had use much in the same way as a tool, its purpose was always there but never its reason to exist.  It was a bit of a dilemma of a purpose though...

"I... kind of do still have a purpose, I've been crafted into some engine of vengeance, it's my purpose really.  But stupidly enough, I don't care about anything enough to want to avenge anything," Perish said, looking at the ground and letting her hands fall by her side again.  It was a cruel twist of fate, a cunning deception for the unwitting that Perish would be no longer able to achieve her purpose after she had achieved her goal, crafted into a tool for vengeance but there was and only will be one thing she truly wanted to avenge.

"What? Oh no, being an actual person is a whole lot better. I have no actual identity. Sure, people can recognize me by this form, but I don't feel like this person. Like I'm never what I should be, and I'm only wearing masks. It's fun to be a bird or be a cat yes, but when you have identity problems then everything is wrong." Ode told her, his shoulders shrugging slightly as he shook his head. It was hilarious that way really.  He had identity problems, a crisis of who or what he was. He would never know, he was sure of that, and so he just tried to accept what he was, if barely. Still he hoped that one day he'd find that shape that was him, that was perfect.

One day.

"You wouldn't get attacked if you didn't wear armour and stayed to the south. People would have no reason to attack you unless you attacked them." That's all she had to do. Not wear armour, and not attack people. If she could keep that in mind, she'd be fine! She could pass for an almost normal citizen. People might...think she were a little odd with her manner of speech and her slightly clueless personality. Still Ode like it actually, he found it adorable that she was so...fish out of water. Yes, that's what she was. An armoured fish out of water.

"Yes yes, you should, but not now. We're still in a dangerous area, so you should keep it on. You SHOULD take it off AFTER we leave Connlaoth. I'll let you know when you need to take it off." Ode look slightly puzzled for a moment by his own words. He was going in circles again. This had to have been confusing for poor Perish, and he was trying his best not to confuse her but...what could he do really? He had to figure out the best way to go about this whole thing.

"This is going to be confusing...but you should know that even I'm a bit confused by this whole thing." Things needed to be simple, and he wasn't even sure that either of them would really understand. Sometimes he just had a habit of talking too much, but he was working on that. Hah hah, like he was working on his love of alcohol and a good romantic tryst.

Hah hah, sure.

"It's one of those things that society dictates. You have to act a certain way in public. Questions about taking off clothing, or killing people, hurting people...that's frowned upon. Stripping off armour and clothes in front of men in public is also frowned upon. It's all about...tact." She had been a farmer's wife, she hadn't really any experience with town or city life he assumed, and now she was even more detached from the general public.

"We'll have to go public watching in a town or city so you can see how people interact. Oh this'll be fun!" Ode clapped his hands together excitedly. This was going to be amazing, he would actually get to teach someone about how to...live in a way. This really was an exciting idea.

Ode listened to her as she spoke, and she didn't really seem to understand what he was offering. That was okay though, he would help her to understand what he meant. "No...see I think I understand your life in a way. You were turned into an instrument of vengeance, and you avenged what had been taken from you. That's over, you are now an instrument of vengeance without the proper vengeance. You killed the creature who took your husband from you. You no longer have to be part of that world anymore." He told as he turned to walk in front of her, facing her and walking backwards now so she could see his face, and if need be, his hand gestures.

"You can change, you just have to want it bad enough. You need to have the desire to change. It's just like me. If I want to change into another form, I have to desire it, I have to want to change into a bird." She was the same way, she had to want to change, she had to have the desire to transform herself into something more, to cast off being a monster in some people's eyes, in being a creature of death.

"The moment we get out of Connlaoth, you're taking off that armour. If I have to make you clothes, so be it I shall, but today is gonna be the first day that you start your change, even if it's just one small tiny step. You already show that you want to change, and that you can change. If you can change into this creation, into this instrument of vengeance, then you can change into more." Ode told her as he spun about to go back to walking beside her.

"Just you wait Perish. You'll shed the bonds of vengeance, and peace shall return to your soul and your mind, and you shall no longer have to fight, you shall no longer need to kill. You shall become greater than you are now." Ode was very excited obviously by this idea. Perhaps it was just he mood he was in, which was a bit odder than he expected it to be. Still, it must have been something about this nation, about this valley even.

Ode's thoughts suddenly changed as he saw the river not far away, his eyes lighting up and his face brightening with a grin as he saw the sparkling clear waters. "There it is! The river! Ah hah hah hah!" Ode took off running toward the river, his lute being placed on the grass first before his steps were quick toward the water. Everything was being discarded as he ran toward it, his shirt being tossed off, his boots kicked from his feet, and despite one being problematic, which caused him to trip and fall, he was soon up again, his belt with various satchels attached to it discarded near a boot. Ode was now hopping on one foot to another to get his pants off. Soon he was in nothing but his birthday suit, but it was only a quick glimpse of his backside before he splashed into the water.

He was under the water for a few seconds before he surfaced with a loud gasp and a pleasant chuckle. Oh that was just...absolutely fantastic.

"If you care to join me, remember...you can't keep the armour on. We don't want you sinking to the bottom." Though, she said she didn't need to breathe, but he was sure it would be a mess of trouble trying to get her free from the armour and back up to the surface.

That is until he remembered he was a shape shifter, and could simply turn himself into an ogre or a giant and just pull her up. Sometimes he wondered how he remembered anything at all.

Being an actual person would be better, but it seemed in that respect both Perish and Ode were right out of luck, both seeming to have an identity crisis, though Ode's was probably worse, Perish actually had memories of being normal once upon a time.
It was really those memories of normality that were keeping Perish going most of the time, she had a taste of what it was like to be alive and she continued in light of maybe having more of an experience, more feelings of being alive.
Though Ode knew what it was like to be alive, he strangely enough didn't know what it was like to be someone, like Perish could only just remember, quite the irony really.

"People always find reasons to attack me," Perish said gloomily, "Not that they need much of one other than to say I'm evil, that tends to work for everyone."
Indeed, before she had mastered the ritual to conjure the armour, some people had taken it upon themselves to try and end the evil creature that was her, she was a perversion of life and magic, no place in this world would welcome her.
The armour was intimidating, she'd give Ode that much, it shied away the weak and provoked the strong on occasion, as well as providing her some measure of defence to let her perform her task.
The armour was what made her the ultimate tool of vengeance, hard to stop, harder to kill, a truly nerve-wracking idea of having someone like Perish hunting you down.  Except of course she didn't hunt anyone any more, unless she was told to fairly forcefully.
The other fact being is that she didn't entirely know where south was either... Her natural sense of direction was a little numb, like the rest of her.

Yep, Ode was good at being confusing whilst making a bit of sense along the way; don't take the armour off, yes you should take the armour off, no don't ask a bard whether or not to take it off, but yes he'll tell you when to take it off.  Lots of sense...  Perish's head hurt a little with it going round in circles, trying desperately to understand so she wouldn't disappoint Ode, but it was incredibly hard.
She looked a little lost and sad as she went about figuring it out, somehow she was supposed to obey two mutually exclusive orders, but perhaps the best idea would probably be to drop the train of thought, maybe Ode would produce a clearer order for her later.

It was surprisingly comforting knowing she wasn't the only one confused, it often made her feel isolated when she couldn't understand something, less alive because it made sense to someone alive and not her.
He was right about one thing, it was confusing, acting a certain way in public sounded a little silly and made absolutely no sense whatsoever, it was mainly because she had no idea why she should care.  People frowned upon things because they were unhappy with something, Perish couldn't understand the 'thing' that was making them unhappy, their reasons made no sense.
It was hard to explain, yet also there wasn't much to explain about it, when something didn't make sense it just plain didn't make sense, especially when it concerned humans.

She was a little happy that Ode was excited about something, even if she didn't understand what was so exciting, when someone else was happy that was a good thing, so in turn Perish could be happy.
Though the thought of watching people didn't sound all that interesting at first, she'd probably just have rocks thrown at her and people chasing after her with pitchforks and whatnot, quite depressing, but if Ode wanted them to watch people then so be it.

Ode did understand most of what she was going through in her un-life, she had a purpose but not a reason, she'd become a rather obsolete tool, though Ode didn't quite understand the magnitude of how far she'd fallen into this form, it was like trying to reshape a tool that kept reverting or 'regenerating' back to its original shape.
That was just it, she had been turned into something that was incredibly resistant to change, almost to the point of being frozen in time.  Turned into something that couldn't really desire anything other than the purpose it had given itself at the time.
"But I don't desire anything strongly... I mean, I want to follow you but I'd stop if you told me to," Perish tried to explain, but she wasn't entirely sure how to properly say she'd lost her willpower to change.
She was what she was, living in a bottomless pit of her own making, falling to hell but never reaching it.

A clear order at last, Perish nodded at Ode, though she didn't know when they'd be out of Connlaoth, hoping Ode would tell her when.  It did remind her of the clothes factor, she hadn't taken the armour off in such a long time she'd forgotten if she was wearing any or not, though she had a feeling she had put some on before donning her armour way back when.  Though her clothes didn't regenerate like herself and her armour did...

Ode did seem determined to pull her out of this bottomless pit she'd thrown herself into, but somehow she just couldn't share in his determination, she barely even knew what determination was, let alone how to be 'determined'.  Thing was, her transformation into what she was today didn't seem so much of a 'change' as it was a 'fall', or 'loss', she was unaware of how to change into something that had all the things she had lost.
It was a good feeling though, encouraging? Maybe? That Ode was so determined to help her out, speaking inspirational words full of life and energy, no one had ever done that before, ever.

She jumped in surprise as Ode suddenly started running off for the river ahead, making a trail of discarded possessions, Perish instantly moved into a light jog to try and keep up, worried about being left behind or forgotten.  She came a few feet to the water's edge and looked around like a lost little lamb, not sure what to do now until Ode poked his head above the surface and spoke to her again.
Well it was official this time, lose the armour if she wanted to get in, and she saw no other option right now so she got to it.
With robotic efficiency, her hands simultaneously and systematically reached for pairs of clasps and undid them with remarkable speed, a series of clunks and clacks as her hands travelled directly from clasp to clasp all the way down her armour.
And with that her armour just basically fell apart off of her, collapsing messily on the ground around her, left only in the remnants of her white linen garments that blended in with her marble skin rather well.  They were completely littered with huge rips and cuts, her left sleeve completely fell off along with some parts of her shirt, and a lot of her pants.
People usually had scars to tell a history of their battles, Perish had wrecked clothes for hers, and she'd been rather busy.

Ode hadn't said anything about clothes so she figured she'd leave them on until he said otherwise, slowly walking into the water a little nonchalantly, though it was a bit of a problem when she walked completely underwater, she looked up at the surface and attempted to swim.
Problem being was that she hadn't needed to swim in a very long time, she generally just walked everywhere, so she was a bit hopeless at swimming.
She did manage to reach the surface a little clumsily, limbs flailing in their inexperience.
The water in her immediate vicinity was getting very cold very quickly, like she was sucking the heat out of the very water, yet she didn't appear to be getting warmer.

"I've forgotten how to swim," Perish remarked as she fought to keep her head above water so she could still talk and listen, some soaked strands of her white hair was draped over her face partly, but it didn't seem to bother her, "Swimming was impossible in armour so I guess I forgot how..."
It had been thirty or so years...

"You're not evil, you've demonstrated a thought process that indicates it. You're simply...indifferent really. That's nothing honestly, it just means your neutral basically, which is quite fine. I like to think of myself as neutral...maybe a little...chaotic, but I am just neutral." Ode told her with a large grin. The lower countries and cities would accept her. If she went to Thanatos she'd probably be accepted, so long as she didn't go around stabbing people. If she didn't wear the armour, and she didn't kill people, then no one would find a reason to kill her...well...no one would find a reason to attack her.

If Ode was smart about it, no one would want to throw rocks at her or attack her with pitchforks. She wouldn't need to defend herself, she wouldn't need to worry about people attacking her and trying to kill her.

He wanted to make it so she didn't have to suffer.

Perish had gone through a lot obviously, and he wanted to make it easier for her. She just...didn't know what to do, but he would help her! He could help her. It wouldn't be hard to help her, it would just...need a lot of patience. He had that, he was patient, he was excitable but patient.

He couldn't change her in a physical sense, but it was how she looked at things, how she acted, it was about her outlook on life and how she responded to things. Ode was confident that she could change, that she could stop being...an instrument or a tool. She could be pointed at something and unleashed, and she shouldn't. He felt a tad guilty that she was being pulled by him, but...his intentions were worthy and honourable. He wanted to help her to evolve and change herself, she was unhappy, it was obvious.

So he would help her.

Ode was stuck in the somewhat chilly water, watching the woman as she stood on the bank. She looked a little confused honestly, and he could understand why. Soon she wouldn't need anyone to tell her what to do, she'd have impulses, she'd have control, she'd be able to think for herself, do whatever she wanted.

For now the point was to not order her around. Give her options.

Finally he got an answer from her though, she DID have clothes underneath her armour. That made sense really, anyone who wore something like plated armour naked was a little...well, crazy. Her clothes however had a bit of...trouble. There was the fact that it was ripped and torn in various places. That would need to be fixed, but right now....it was swimming time. Whether or not she was keeping her ripped and torn clothes on because she wanted to, or because she hadn't told her was...well...he wouldn't ask. That'd be rude and improper.

Ode had to concentrate for a little while as he let his feet change slowly into webbed feet. This would help him just a little bit. He did notice the temperature drop, but he couldn't care, unless it suddenly turned into ice. However, it probably wouldn't, so nothing to fear from that. He did notice that she did seem to have a bit of trouble, her strange flailing was almost adorable. She was without fear for that matter, she had no care in the world that she could sink to the bottom. It was also amusing that she could talk so calmly and yet she kept flailing her arms about.

With a quick movement from his legs he propelled himself over to her and put his arm about her stomach, his legs still moving to keep them both above the water. "Well, let's start in the shallow end before ah...taking you out any further." It just took a small change in angle to get himself to head back toward the shallow end of the river bank. "You were right, you make it nice and chilly." He remarked as his feet touched the ground finally and he let go of her. "I'd...say that you should...hrm." He suddenly stepped back from her as he looked at the drowned mess that was Perish. People had buoyancy because of all the air and such in their body but he was sure that she didn't have that sort of advantage. That would prove a little problematic really...

He didn't even realize that her clothes were white, and in cold water. When he realized that he was actually really surprised he hadn't noticed that first. He didn't blush or anything, but stood there with a fist under his chin as he thought about the best way to teach her to swim. "I'm not even sure you would be able to swim in fresh water...you don't...float. I think that's the biggest problem. You have no floating power. So I think for the time being we should just...stay here in the shallow end." With a big grin he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There was a sudden shift in Ode's appearance as he suddenly became...a duck. He became a mallard, a rather majestic male mallard duck that floated over to Perish and looked up at her.

"Quack."

She was basically neutral when she thought about it, not caring much whose side she was on, who was right or wrong or anything of that sort, but in some ways her apathy could be seen as a somewhat lesser form of evil, an unsure one considering various situations, but to just watch as something happens and doing nothing could be worse than taking a side or action, regardless of what it may be.
Sides had never made much sense to Perish thus she rarely every picked one, though it could be that lack of loyalty or dedication that made everyone so untrusting of her, she's just as likely to kill the person next to her as she is to kill the person she's told to.
It gave a kind of predictable unpredictability to her that would make a lot of people uncomfortable, especially the ones who didn't know how to use it properly.

Swimming seemed so laborious and pointless, unless she wanted to talk or listen to someone she saw very little reason to not just let herself sink to the bottom and walk along, it made traversing bodies of water much easier and simpler.
Especially in a suit of armour that had you on the ocean floor in record time, indeed underwater was just another part of the world to Perish, everything was a little sluggish and slow, and sound didn't carry very well.  It did grant her a bit of freedom over normal people in that respect, but she wasn't in the frame of mind that would enjoy it properly.

She let Ode drag her away from the deep water until she could comfortably touch the ground, resting more solidly on her two feet rather than struggling away keeping herself aloft like some semi-flightless bird.
Water really was just an inconvenience to her, the currents blew her around, her weight sunk her to the bottom, water filled up her lungs and was awkward to get rid of later.
At least it was better than sand...  It took her almost an entire day to get all the sand out of and off of her.

It was strange how negligent of her own modesty she was, absent-minded and careless beyond imagining, which tended to happen to people who saw absolutely no point in anything.  Literally.  Anything.  So clothing wasn't really a concern for her.
"Why do I need to 'float'...?" Perish inquired, looking at herself and the water for a moment.
Not seeing her armour did make her think twice, she felt kind of incomplete without it, and rather vulnerable, nothing but a miserable excuse for clothing to protect her flesh, not very comforting.

When she looked up she saw Ode suddenly transform into a duck, at first she was a little startled, not actually ever seen him shapeshift before really did catch her offguard, though she quickly grew to be intrigued.
And then he quacked.
Perish jerked back and blinked a few times, startled once more but a small smile rose on her face, the situation was actually kind of funny, it wasn't often the man you were talking to suddenly shifted into a duck and quacked in reply.
It certainly didn't look like the man she'd been following around, she leaned forward and reached out a hand to try and see if he was real, a little nervous and slow as a part of her didn't really want to find out in case it wasn't real.

It had been amusing to watch her try to swim, it would have been sad to watch her just jump into the water. That would have made him feel bad really, and he was glad he had told her to remove her armour. She was slowly getting by though wasn't she? He really hoped that she would be alright though, he wouldn't leave her alone of course, she needed some help. He hoped that she realized it of course.

He could only imagine how she would survive in a place like the frozen north.

She didn't appear at all to be embarrassed by her...transparent clothes. He was alright with that, he got to see a little bit of...her, and he wasn't one to be embarrassed either. He was very far beyond the concept of modesty really. He had run through an entire town naked once. That had been a fun day...a little odd, but it had still been very fun. He didn't make a habit of it though, he had left his lute behind and had to sneak in at night as a mouse to get it back.

"It's how you swim...sorta." He didn't understand it when people just drowned in still, calm waters. They floated, and yet he still heard tales of people who didn't know that. He would have thought that was the first thing a person found out in their life...but apparently not. Still he wasn't sure that he could teach her how to swim...but you didn't need that sort of thing. He could always become...well some sort of sea creature and she could simply come along for a ride. That was an interesting thought really, she didn't have to breath or anything like that after all.

However, right now was just a time to relax.

As a duck.

"Quack ack ack ack." It was possible for him to speak common to her as any form, but he liked the sounds of a duck. They were so silly. Ducks just sounded very weird, hilarious really, and you could never really tell what a duck was saying to you.

His little orange feet began to tread water and he pushed himself closer to her hand so she could touch him. "Quack." He nuzzled his head into her hand before he ruffled his feathers and swam around her, quacking happily as he did so. He was rather amused by this, he hadn't become a duck in a while. Usually his bird of choice was something a little more suited to flying.

This time however, a duck was a lot more suitable. He stopped in front of her and looked up at her, raising his wings and giving one flap. However, what took off from the water wasn't a duck anymore, but a rather lovely little Nightingale. The little bird was a speedy creature, but it took to landing onto the woman's shoulder. He began to sing at her, before he hopped closer on her shoulder and began to pick at her hair. He wasn't sure why, but something said that he needed to get some of that hair for a nest. That and it probably looked adorable.

"I'd turn into a fish but it's a rather boring form to become. Birds however are a lot more...fun." His voice was a little bit higher than normal, and a lot more sing song really. "Do you have any requests? Anything you'd like to see me turn into? I don't often take audience requests but...mrrf...for you I'll make an...mrrrf... exception." He still was trying to pick at her, his words a little muffled when his beak was full of a lock of the wet hair.

Shapeshifting... It was truly a marvel to behold, like one would expect to see in a dream, being able to change form as the person desired.  There was just too much to be interested by, be able to have countless experiences, lead numerous lives totally different from one another.
The essence of life was in the palm of their hand so to speak, something Perish found herself a little envious of, but it was nothing serious, she didn't really know what envy was anyway.

Her life just seemed so much less fulfilling and interesting in comparison to someone like Ode, it didn't look like there was anything he wanted that he couldn't get, so much freedom and ability to do the things he wanted to do.  It left Perish wondering why he chose to hang around, he could have easily turned into a bird and flew far away, to have fun somewhere else, between a world of opportunity and a lost little girl it didn't make much sense for him to stay here.

Perish issued a small sound of incredulous disbelief as she felt the feathery head of a duck nuzzled into her hand, her smile slowly broadened, almost on the verge of a small laugh as she watched Ode's duck form swim about merrily quacking away.
It was cute in a funny kind of way, a duck with the personality of the man she had just been speaking to, without a care in the world except to play around in the water.

It felt good to smile, somehow, it made the whole world seem just that little bit less gloomy, as if maybe there was something to care about after all, but it was only subtle, and Perish could barely feel it the way she was.
There were lots of emotions she didn't get to experience from her strange dulled emotional sense, it had to really pierce her to the core to get through to her, to let her truly feel the emotion even if just a small taste.  It was these small tastes of emotion that often compelled her to do things, while she was no stranger to anguish or sorrow, things like happiness and joy were as faded as her memories, things she desperately wanted to keep hold of.

Ode was just full of surprises, turning from a duck into a small delicate little song bird, she would have laughed if she could have, seeing the shapeshifter land on her shoulder and sing sweetly to her ear, the form fit a bard very well, and certainly did his freedom justice with a bird's ability to fly.
It was yet another aspect of Ode's life, that of a little bird, simple and interesting like a duck, and she almost did laugh this time when he picking at her hair, she could only just feel his little feet resting lightly on her shoulder, and his little beak tousling her hair a little.  She could almost feel it tickle...

"You make a very good songbird," Perish assured with a smile, a small giggle interlaced with her voice as she responded to his picking at her hair, "That form is fine."

This 'break' was strange, Ode appeared to be having a lot of fun going between forms, the river's water was mildly warm to Perish's icy skin, and was quite refreshing strangely enough.
The concept of this break wasn't making a lot of sense, but Perish wasn't going to object.

For Ode the only true benefit of being a shape shifter was the immortality. He didn't quite understand why he wouldn't die from age, but he knew that you couldn't age and your body couldn't fail when you could just...choose whatever form you wanted. He was almost sure that he could turn himself into a disease or become a diseased creature if he wanted to, but he never saw any point to. He didn't want to be wrong for one, and he wasn't quite sure what would happen. Still the thought was an interesting one.

The duck form seemed to please Perish, she was even smiling, almost giggling even, which really made him get louder. Granted as a duck his vocabulary was limited to "Quack" but the effort was still there. He hadn't chose the form being able to talk, that took a lot more to do. He had to create all the proper things for speech, it could get to be a nuisance and a nightmare really.

He remembered when a wizard who studied animals thought he was a new breed of talking cow.

That had been a rather funny day.

As a bard, Ode probably should have enjoyed turning into a small songbird more, the fact that he could sing the day away in the bird language, but really, he found the limit of their vocabulary to involve danger, mating, and food. As well as flying south for a warmer climate when this one got too cold. Still at least it sounded pretty to other people, that was always good.

"Gotta practice and think...mmmrf...like a bird." That was they key to spotting a shapeshifter. If you didn't act like the animal you had become, you would just be borrowing the form and you wouldn't truly be hiding. Though, some shapeshifters chose the forms if only to surprise people or to get away and sleep without being disturbed. If you saw a bird tucked away in a nest, you usually ignored it.

Right now the wet hair that he was picking at seemed like it would be an absolutely fantastic nest when it dried out.

The break lasted half an hour, with Ode staying at the song bird and serenading Perish with cheerful songs that she wouldn't be able to understand. Unless she could speak Nightingale, then he'd be rather impressed. However, she might be a little bored because of most of the songs were about some worms and seeds that he saw. They probably wouldn't interest Perish all that much, but still, he was trying!

After a while Ode hopped from her shoulder and zipped along the water's surface before suddenly there was that shimmering again and with a rather impressive flop and a splash Ode was back to being a man again. He waded back to his companion, his face all smiles as he approached her. This break had done some good he hoped, people needed to relax and unwind, get rid of their stress. While Perish might not have known it, she did have a bit of stress. She seemed to get sad and frustrated. This hopefully, would help to remove it.

"I think we've been frolicking long enough in the river dear Perish, it's probably best if we continue onward now." He told her before he headed back to land, walking up the shallow river embankment before getting out. Like her, he appeared to have no modesty, and as a shape shifter, he did spend a lot of his time naked. As a bard...he spent a lot of his time naked. You didn't often get embarrassed when you could simply make yourself as pleasing as you wanted. Perhaps a slight unfair advantage.

"Though...I think we'll probably want to wait a while before...wait...nevermind." Ode shook his head as he remembered. He could MAKE clothes when he transformed. All he had to do was be...smart about it. Still in all his full nude glory he helped Perish from the water so he could get a better look at her. The eyes staring at her were not out of any perverse form, but much like the eyes a tailor might look at you. He strode around Perish in a circle. When you were a shapeshifter, you had a good eye for detail, and for sizes.

"Now this is going to look a little surprising I'm sure...but I'm doing this just to make you fresh clothes." Ode's eyes fell shut and he began to concentrate. It had been a while since he had needed to take the form of another human, he usually stuck with his current one but this was probably a good idea. There was that shimmering effect around him again as Ode began to disappear, his form blurring out of reality until no one could tell what he really looked like. When the features began to sharpen and he came back into focus, there was no longer Ode standing there, but instead there was...Perish. An almost exact duplicate for that matter. This particular Perish however was wearing a dry, un-ripped version of Perish's clothes. These were also dark forest green in colour.

"I know, it's like looking into a green tinted mirror." Even the voice was the same as Perish, though the voice for this Perish had a lot more emotion in the mix, perhaps like the former Perish before she had fallen.

"See...the particular ability I have allows me to will clothes into existence when I change forms. I don't quite understand it, because they aren't a part of me...but if wear clothes that I created when I shape shift, they disappear as well." Even for Ode it was a headache, but as she might notice, the clothes he had discarded earlier were still strewn about the path that he had taken to get to the river.

"Anyway!" He began to strip off the clothing, folding it as he went. He found this oddly hilarious, and if anyone ventured in on this particular scene, they'd no doubt find it...very strange. However Ode said nothing as he got the last of the clothing off and handed it to Perish. "There you go. One new set of clothes!" The now naked Perish did do a quick look over of herself, nodding in approval. "You do look good you know." He commented impishly before he slowly began to blur again. It only took a few seconds but Ode was back, grinning, naked, but this time there wasn't even the faintest hint of having been in the river. His hair was dry, his skin was dry, everything was dry. It must have been grand to be a shape shifter sometimes. You could surely save time in the morning when you were getting ready.

Ode began to collect his apparel one garment at a time, hopping into his pants and then into his long socks, his boots, pulling his puffy shirt on and all that. When he was finally done, he was looping his belt around his waist and checking the satchels. Yep, they still had every little knick-knack he had collected in them.

"Nothing like a good break to melt any worry or stress away."

In some small way, strange as it may seem, Perish was rather content with some aspects of her life as it was right now, her bizarre perception of life probably added to that comfort as she tended to see some of the downsides in a less disadvantageous way.
Her worries for one thing had transferred to a whole new part of the scale, her only true worries now was unhappiness and being left behind or forgotten, nearly everything else she couldn't care less.  It was a strange feeling in comparison to the memories she had.

She didn't worry about what Ode's intentions or thoughts were, curious but not worried, some people may have been restricted in their interactions that way where Perish wasn't, so she guessed nothing was ever truly bad, regardless of how miserable her existence was there was something to take comfort in about it.

The sweet songs of a little bird carried through the air so beautifully, as a human Perish had absolutely no idea what Ode may or may not be singing about but she could still feel the emotion behind the song.  No matter what language people spoke, where they came from or what they were, songs always seemed to be the ultimate language, they surpassed all barriers produced something in purest form.
That, in essence, was what Perish was so drawn to, even a miserably little creature like her who couldn't understand nearly anything, could finally be able to understand something, something was finally connecting her to the rest of existence.
Her eyes seemed to glaze over and grow distant in thoughts, her mind like the petals of a sleeping flower, slowly opening, very slowly.

She almost seemed to sigh regretfully when the little bird fluttered from her shoulder, moving away to revert to the shape she had labelled Ode, except of course she wasn't familiar with breathing when she wasn't trying to talk at the same time.
She really didn't need to breathe, her lungs truly didn't absorb air, nor did any of her organs work like they should, though all the muscles still worked so she could still 'breathe' per se, otherwise she probably wouldn't be able to talk either, and that might have been hazardous to Perish's already depressed mental state.

Ode shifted out of the water so she immediately began following, a little sluggish since she was more trying to walk out than actually swim, her usual method of crossing bodies of water.
Her eyes naturally travelled over to her pile of abandoned armour, she felt lightly compelled to go over and put it back on, Ode hadn't said anything so she almost did, until of course she felt Ode helping her out of the water.
Perish stood a little vacantly, looking at Ode expectantly as if thinking he were going to give her another order, though he only appeared to be examining her for something, which also confused her a little.  She too looked at herself, as if trying to figure out what Ode was thinking or was looking for specifically, but she was drawing blanks in that respect, all she could see were her destroyed garments and herself.

He started speaking again so Perish looked up at him, and soon he was shapeshifting again.  Of all the things Perish had expected or thought of, the last thing she thought Ode would turn into was... herself...?  It was rather... obscure, staring at yourself, like an identical twin except this one had Ode's personality.
She was absolutely dumbstruck, eyes wide, it was rather profound seeing yourself anywhere except a mirror, especially when this copy of yourself seemed so much more alive and full of energy than the real thing.
It gave her mixed feelings, that she was worse than a copy, fake version of herself, that Ode could do her existence better than she could.  But at the same time it did give her a little spark of inspiration or hope, it was like seeing what could be you, unmistakeable proof that this was actually possible, the proof may be shallow but it was proof no less.

Willing clothes into existence did sound intriguing in some way, giving your life added depth and another aspect.  People wore clothes and looked different, Ode wore people that wore clothes and looked incredibly different, the concept was amusing.

Though after all those thoughts, it still didn't prepare Perish for how bizarre it was to see herself strip off her clothes and hand them over... to herself...  Her mind hurt a little trying to think about it, taking the clothes obediently as they were given before looking at her nude copy still rather amazed.
Something twinged in the back of Perish's mind when Ode eyed his Perish-form off and made an impish remark, she felt a very small series of spasms through her right arm that didn't really do anything except feel funny.  She had a very distant urge to slap him right across the face, though she couldn't figure out why, staring at her hand with a perplexed expression, as if she would find the answer lurking inside her hand.

With one hand she recklessly peeled off the remnants of her soaked, white clothing, casting them aside before donning the strange green clothes and moving about in them awkwardly.
She'd never really been given anything before, let alone wore a different set of clothes in ages, the experience was quite new and interesting, she shuffled about in the clothes as she slowly made her way to her pile of armour, still looking at the clothes strangely.

She never really felt particularly stressed, a little worried, though the break didn't seem to a real lot other than cheer her up a little from Ode's antics.  He was an amusing person, a little walking ray of sunshine.
She did feel a little happy, a very small smile persisted on her face.

Though there was a sharp whistle on the edge of hearing that caught Perish's attention lightly, it quite suddenly followed with a dull thunk and there was a pin-prick of pain that shot through her.
Her smile fell and she looked down, there was a bolt protruding from her chest, her gaze followed the angle and saw a man up on the hillside of the valley lying down with a shiny crossbow shaped weapon in his hands, he was making a signal to something out of sight behind him as he attempted to reload.
Perish instantly reached down to pick up her armour, attempting to get it back on as fast as possible, but almost immediately there was another whistle and bolt was through her thigh, dozens of people were appearing at the top of the hill with dozens of those shiny crossbows, unleashing a small hailstorm of bolts as they attempted to get closer for accuracy.

This little experience, of being able to see herself in new clothings was probably a little disorientating. Now she could know how he felt when he had an identity crisis. She was able to see herself differently, and he would admit that if he wanted to he could act like her. Very stoic, very emotionless and almost innocent in a way. However, this was mainly to get her new clothes. He didn't really know her well enough to make any other clothes than the ones that she was wearing however. Personally he thought about giving her something with a corset and some leather pants but that was another time and another place.

One of those private places and what not.

He wondered just how well she could handle seeing herself doing something. People had told hima bout dreams they had, where they had been able to view themselves, so he had to wonder if this was just like that. Watch yourself doing something, while you stood there, knowing you were looking at yourself and yet...you were doing things that you didn't do.

He had honestly no idea that she had a want to slap him. HOnestly however he would have preferred if she did though. It would have shown that she had a lot more to her than he thought. She was a lot more alive than previously indicated. Then again, the best way to intimidate someone and to lure them into showing emotion was...to...well, Ode had a pretty good idea what to do.

It was very good that Ode was busy however putting on his own clothes to watch Perish change her clothes, but honestly he had just spent a few minutes BEING her. There was no need to be modest or embarrassed now when that situation came up. Once a person figuratively puts on your skin and really...knows you that well, the concept of modesty goes out the window.

Ode barely heard the sound of the whistling on the wind. He was a tad busy getting his belt buckled up, but the sound of metal hitting flesh was unmistakable. He had, for a second, thought he had been shot, but he saw that Perish was the one who had a rather painful looking bolt sticking from her chest. Oh that wasn't good now was it? His eyes looked around to try and spot the person wielding the crossbow responsible, and he soon found the man on the hill with it. Oh that was not a good thing at all was it?

At first Ode didn't know what he was going to do. He couldn't just...become a big rock giant or something and try to fight them. No, Ode was not a fighter, though he could if he really needed to. He really didn't need to however, there was a whole lot of choices available to him

Gryphon would be the good choice however.

Ode bolted to Perish's side and began to pull her away from the armour and the hailstorm of bolts. His reaction time was very good, but he was the only one who had to worry about death from the sharpened bolts. However, he was already changing into something more, into something different. His legs were becoming lion legs, and his arms were becoming large eagle talons. He had to change fast, and he had to change into something big. His talon moved to her waist to grip it and suddenly throw her forward and upward a little bit. There was a sudden change with Ode as he was suddenly in a different form, his powerful legs and talons propelling him forward to catch her on his back between his very large eagle wings. He was a completely gigantic creature now, he had probably overshot how big he needed to be, but right now he wanted to escape.

"They picked the worst god damn time to appear."  Ode growled angrily, his voice was a lot different, but the original tone from Ode was still there. He could hear cursing below them, and the sounds of whistling bolts coming after him, but already he was headed upward. It looks like they were going to get her away from the armour a lot sooner than he had hoped. However, they were headed south still. They were moving a lot faster than they would have on foot. He could feel her holding onto a bundle of his feathers around his neck.

It wasn't painful, not for a big creature like him. He turned his head slightly to look at her, one eye focused on her. "I'm going to get us as far away from them as possible before landing. Just hold on tight." It was a little difficult to pronounce the words, but she'd understand what he was saying. He just didn't have the opportunity to get any real conversation in.

His wings were working as he propelled them along through the skies, the river now just a speck behind him that as he continued onward. He hoped that she could appreciate flying as much as he did, even if it was trying to fly for their life.

Soon they were dipping downward, this was almost after three hours of flying. They were approaching mountains anyway, which meant that he needed to have a break before they went through. For a little bit they could walk, and if need be, he could become a dragon or a very large eagle. They were good at traversing the strange mountain air currents. He'd have to be very careful if they wanted to fly, but he had gone through the mountains enough times to know what he was doing.

When they were finally on the ground, he knelt downward for Perish so she could get off his back. He had to change back into a more relaxed form, and for that matter, to get those bolts out of her. He didn't know if they hurt her, or if they were just uncomfortable but it was probably best to get them out of her.

This was the situation Perish had been afraid of, so to speak, as she wasn't really afraid per se, but that first bolt had pierced both sides of her so easily, her armour would have slowed it down immensely.  She just felt so vulnerable, this would never have happened had she kept her armour on, she would have been able to walk right up to those hunters and kill them all.
She didn't even have her sword now, it made her feel incredibly useless...
Her only purpose was to avenge, how could she kill anyone without a sword?  Now not only was she unable to have a reason to avenge people, but she couldn't avenge them even if she did, it was like taking away the remaining half of her existence and leaving her with nothing.

It was not a good feeling, Perish could feel herself closing up again, her wounds were little more than an inconvenience, the bolts themselves, uncomfortable, but the mental wound was nigh unbearable as Ode picked her up and took her from danger.

Flying itself wasn't all that strange to Perish, but riding something was another thing entirely, she had to keep balance and such from the rhythmic wingbeats surging them erratically through the air.
She'd taken the wings of a humongous air predator once, some kind of bird that tried to make a meal out of her and only got half way, ended up swallowing Perish's sword in the process of eating her arm.  Perish had utilised the wings and flown off.
She hadn't flown in some time though, so she had forgotten the feeling of freedom that it gave, as she rarely found a pair of wings large enough to lift herself with armour included.  Indeed, without the armour she'd probably weigh a lot less and be able to move a lot faster, but she had never been the fast type, she saw no point in it unless she was going to be left behind somehow.

Perish merely just nodded obediently to Ode, maintaining her grip on his feathers as she waited for him to land, idly concentrating to stop her blood from leaving the wounds.  She idly examined the arrowheads, they seemed to be rather valuable in they way they were a glistening silver with inscriptions etched into it that she couldn't read, perhaps yet another one of their anti-magic attempts at killing her.
Heck she wasn't even sure if it was truly magic coursing through her being, it seemed far too perverse and unnatural, it certainly felt different though she could still do a few mage-like things.
The armament rituals were one of them, and the blood control looked like some form of magic, so it would be easy to assume as much.
She'd have to perform the rituals again when they landed, she needed her armour and sword back almost like a mild obsession.

When they finally landed after quite the air trip, Perish slid off Ode's back and walked a few paces away to let him change again, sitting down for a moment as she slowly pulled the bolt out of her thigh, staring at it for a moment.
She didn't know why they hated magic so, or why they felt the need to attack Perish although she hadn't done a thing, nothing made sense, nothing ever made sense and it confused her when it happened anyway.

She was barely paying attention to the other bolt that was still completely through her chest, to her, injury had become so trivial it almost seemed humourous in some way how she could ignore it so easily.
Perish had become vacant and lost again, not sure what to do again.

"Why does un-life seem so much more simple and understandable than life...?" Perish mused, "Life is so complex and doesn't make much sense..."

The flight was at least very easy on the both of them...well, easier at least then running from the men with crossbows on land. They'd get away quickly, and they wouldn't have to deal with anything unless the Connlaoth people started training large mythical animals, which really didn't seem like a possibility. So the flight would be easy on them, and Ode was very focused on getting them away from there. He hadn't taken any bolts, and he was thankful for that. Back on the ground, the idea crossed his mind that Perish could have taken any hits, but that seemed downright cowardly. Even more than turning into a giant eagle lion and flying off. Using a woman as a shield? That was downright nasty even.

As Perish finally dismounted from his back he began to blur again as he slowly changed back into his human form. He still couldn't believe they had found them, but perhaps they knew where they had headed. Maybe going south had been a bad idea but...it wasn't like they were suffering for it. Though...Perish seemed to be in a different state of mind, which wasn't very good it seemed.

"Ah, this is an argument that's counted as philosophical Perish." Ode told her as he approached, straightening his clothes out before he looked directly at the bolt in her chest. That would have hurt anyone else, but apparently she didn't feel it. He knelt down, putting a hand on the bolt and one upon her shoulder as he gently slid the bolt from her wound. It looked different than the others, he wondered if they were holy symbols of some sort. This wasn't a fairy tale, those rarely worked on magical creatures.

Still...he heard some vampires had an aversion to them.

"Life is only as complex as you make it Perish. It can be very simple. It can be even simpler than undeath." He told her as he tossed the bolt away and sat beside her, putting an arm around her and shaking his head. "My life for example, can seem complicated, but it's honestly very simple. I go from place to place, telling stories, singing songs, and making new songs and being a part of new stories or hearing a new tale or two. That's it. Now when you get further down into details, that's when things get complex. On the surface of it all, it's all very simple. You just have to remember that. Details are complex." Ode told her simply, a cheery smile on his face.

"As for making sense...well...that requires a bit more...complexity." He frowned at that thought. It made sense in his mind...this was another one of those perspective things perhaps.

"Maybe I can help you though. What's on your mind? What are you thinking about?" One should note, that he still sat close, with his arm still around her shoulders, but it seemed a lot more of a gesture of camaraderie than anything. Probably.

He did have a general desire to help her, but he was still a bard, and he was still a shapeshifter. Both of those things in turn could lead to some very bad places, but he seemed to be doing a good job of keeping himself from doing anything inappropriate. Ah, it was a hard life trying to show that you had a moral compass. At least he didn't act completely on impulses like some other shapeshifters he knew. Those were the shapeshifters that didn't survive for very long.

Days gone by however.

Ever since the day Perish killed the murderer of her husband, she had reason to see the world, no longer completely consumed by that which she had been made for, and she hadn't even looked once from her task at the time, like the entire world didn't exist, all there was, was the rider.
When there was no longer any rider, the world came back into focus, and it seemed suddenly so difficult to deal with than before, things weren't as simple as revenge, something happened and then vengeance would come in return, simple and clean.

Her body naturally moved a little as Ode withdrew the bolt from her chest, it was only a small twinge of pain as the sharp head on the bold made a messy path out, but Perish's abilities simply just put everything back together and in place, pulling the blood off the projectile and healing up like it had never happened.
She'd been through hell and back several times, but she definitely didn't look like it had happened.  In fact she'd done some of the most insane things and nothing was different about her, nothing was ever, different...

"What's simpler than death?  Nothing matters when you're dead, no worry, no obligations, nothing," Perish began, still staring at the bolt in her hands in thought, "I've done a lot of travelling, I've seen people, my life may be miserable but it makes sense, people do things for reasons I don't know.  I was attacked today because some people hate magic, I don't understand why they hate it so loosely, I don't understand why people fear such silly things, and I don't understand why they sometimes go to extreme measures for silly things.  There is so much that doesn't make sense... I feel a world apart."
While she could understand a few things about Ode, there was still a rather large gap between them, there was still so many things she couldn't understand why he did, which was most likely because he still had life in himself, he still had things he wanted to do.
Whereas Perish, she had nothing, she was nothing, she couldn't even fulfil her purpose even if she wanted to, especially since she didn't currently have her sword and armour, at least as a farmer's wife she had things she could do, aspirations and desires, but of course that had been taken from her like almost everything else.
She used to have morals, willpower, a purpose, a life, now they were all gone because of her mindless pursuit of vengeance, she was an empty husk.

Like would be expected, Perish didn't respond in any way to Ode's arm around her or how close he was, it was like the only thing she actually ever responded to was violence and talking, everything else was free reign as Perish plain didn't care about it all.
It was this careless sense of trust that had her doing anything and everything anyone could think about, and unless it involved violence, she never really acted on her own volition.

"What am I supposed to do? What am I to think, Ode?  What does a living person think about all this?  Should I hate what I've become?" Perish asked, looking at Ode hopefully.
She just wanted to blindly follow some orders, having something to do that she could focus on and forget everything for awhile, the world was too complicated for her little existence, like she was trying to learn everything over again but she didn't possess all of the necessary building blocks to understand anything, or even care about learning it in the first place.
The train of thought was agitating her the more she thought about it, and she only grew more and more depressed by it.  Thus was her life, she had attempted to climb these walls of this bottomless pit, only to eventually begin falling once more.

"You're reading too much into this. Connlaoth must have a reason to hate magical folks, they really must. However, it's hard for an outsider to ask such a question. Hatred can run deep, and it surpasses time itself sometimes." He had a story about that, of course he did. However right now was probably not the time for that sort of thing now was it? He could tell it to her later when they stopped for something to eat. Hunting in the mountains would mean small game usually, a mouse, rabbit, hopefully a big horned sheep of some kind really. He could tell her stories when they stopped again.

He just wished that he could help her more.

Ode felt sorry for the woman, he really did. She was confused, she couldn't understand how things were, and she couldn't let these things just be ignored either it seemed. She seemed to have a lot more feelings than she was willing to admit. She desperately wanted something more of herself, she realized she was lost and that she had no direction, but she couldn't find direction. She had removed her direction when she killed the man who had destroyed her former life.

Dust on the wind.

"A living person thinks that this is rather sad, and that you are a victim." She was looking right at him after all, she had asked him and he had to answer. "I don't know if you should hate yourself or not. I think that...your intentions were noble, but your practices were not. However, you felt like you probably had to do something, that you couldn't just let this injustice get away. You had to take up arms. You had to fight, and so you did." The only problem now was...that she couldn't fight anymore. She didn't have that reason to fight, unless attacked.

Her drive was removed.

Gently he reached out and took the bolt from her hands before tossing it away behind them.

"You don't have to be an instrument of war though Perish. You don't have to wear the dark armour and get into fights. You don't have to do any of that. You can live a simple life, you can live without worrying about the complex stuff." Ode almost said she could go back to being a farmer. It was a simple life, they worried about their farm and that was really about it. What weather would come to them, what crops to plant, when to harvest, it was a simple life on the surface really.

"Come on...when we get to the city...I'm gonna make you live again. Figuratively speaking." He had a plan in mind now, a good plan actually. Slowly his arm changed position, and his other came to her legs. Suddenly she was being lifted by him, held in his arms as he looked toward the mountain range before them. A path had been created, to some small degree, he wondered if it was from hunters, or mages trying to flee. It wouldn't last the whole way through if it was mages of course. They'd have stopped leaving a trail. Ode shook each foot, the limb blurring and turning into something else. Hooves, mountain goat hooves to be more precise. They had excellent grip and they had terrific balance, he'd only need his feet for this.

Hah, he felt like a satyr.

"You just hold on tight now Perish, we're going to go at a bit of a run." The further inside they got, the safer they'd be, but more important is that they would only take the small mountain path for a little while before veering off. The hope was to find a cave somewhere in the mountains perhaps, or in the very least, get off the trail and then take to the skies. He just wanted to be a little bit further in before they decided.

People were usually afraid of what they couldn't understand, and generally hated what they feared, each feeling transpiring into the next which made sense in a way.
Of course Perish kind of missed a step there, she understood basically nothing but had no reason to fear it, thus she could never find it in herself to hate anything, barring the man that had taken everything from her.
To have fear was to be normal, a strange kind of anxiety that shaped how one behaved in life, fearing this and that to the point where they made a great deal of effort to avoid or overcome it.  When you didn't need to avoid or overcome it, it made the whole notion a little silly and pointless.
Some people were afraid of heights, Perish had jumped off a cliff a few times without a second thought, some people were afraid of dying, Perish had enough 'death' experiences it was growing funny.
There are a lot of other fears but there is really only one thing Perish has left to fear:  Getting left behind, or perhaps more accurately, losing whatever shred of meaning she had left to live.

"Hatred makes no sense, unless something has stolen something important from you..." Perish mumbled, her thoughts deviating for a moment, "It's like all I can think about is what I've lost..."
Though she didn't usually talk beyond what was necessary because she didn't like interrupting people's lives, she just seemed to have become accustomed to Ode's presence already, and that he was already interrupting his own life hanging around Perish.
She'd have to ask him about that sometime, as though it wasn't already apparent, she really didn't think he was hanging around just to help her, so she was a little lost there.

"Sad...  I feel... sad..." Perish said, understanding a little.  At least she doing something right, she definitely felt sad a lot, always dredging up her memories of life that never failed to open up the mental scars anew, wallowing in her sorrow hopelessly.
Something within her wouldn't let that tragedy in her past go unpunished, it compelled her beyond all ability to think and act, to do whatever was necessary to annihilate that rider.
She cared not what her practices were, only that they were sufficient in strength to do the task she wanted to complete, cold and calculating, she sought a means to an end with total disregard to any and all consequences.  It had worked, clearly, though the consequences were a bit profound...

"But that's just it... I don't have to do anything, I don't have to fight, I don't have to move, breathe, eat, sleep.  I could just sit here and do absolutely nothing for the rest of eternity, simply because I don't have to," Perish said, frustration lurked in the very depths of her voice and mind, she knew her life was meaningless and she no point to continue it, yet she found herself defying her own logic and she absolutely no idea why, none of it made sense.

She wondered if she should begin materialising her armaments again, she might feel a bit better knowing she could actually at least be able to fulfil her purpose regardless if it wasn't possible, she'd feel safer in her armour.
But that was when Ode suddenly picked her up and started walking along towards the mountains ahead, she instinctively moved her arms around so she could drape her arms roughly over his shoulders and around the back of his neck.
She idly wondered how light she was without her armour, she'd almost never not worn it before as was quite used to the weight, she felt kind of small and floaty without it.

No one had really attempted to make her 'alive' again so to speak, while Perish doubted it would work as she had tried a few times herself, she just remained silent as for one she didn't know what to expect, and two she didn't make a habit of telling people what they could and couldn't do.
She just decided to keep quiet mostly, leaning her head against Ode as she was carried along, holding tight as she was told.  Perish still had no idea where they were, or where they were going specifically, but she didn't really care, at the moment it'd be impossible to fall behind as Ode himself was carrying her, so she really didn't care about a thing unless Ode decided to drop her.

"It makes sense and it doesn't. You can hate a person for a lot more, and you can hate a person for a lot less. Hate is a very strong emotion, and sometimes it takes over rational-minded people sadly enough. Hate is very much like a disease, because of how it can spread, and how it infects people." Hate was, by far, a very terrible thing. However she said something that made him smile. "What you have to start doing is thinking about what you can gain." Yes, something could be lost from you, something could be stolen, but there was still things out there you could gain. There was still a lot that could be had, if only you just had the drive to get it.

Currently, that was a problem.

Perish had little drive it seemed. She didn't want to have things. She just wanted...well, she probably wasn't sure. Ode wasn't sure, but he would be damned if he wouldn't help her find something. She didn't deserve to be lost, and he could help, he could help her to find something again. The question was...what could there be? Something out there would fall into his lap, it always did really.

"I could understand that...this must be very painful for you." Her physical wounds may not cause her any pain, but she still had thoughts, and those could be very painful. He could understand that she was saddened by this whole thing....and he perhaps wished he hadn't brought it up but it was good to talk about it. It may not have bothered her to keep it bottled up, but her willingness to talk...it made him realize that perhaps she had really just been looking for someone to talk to.

And he could certainly be talked to.

"No, you don't have to do anything. You don't have to do things that you don't want to, but you made yourself this way, you took on this power. Now you're going to have to exist with it. You should though. You shouldn't just let this all slip away. You can live a hundred life times, and sadly, some people are cut away too short. You have to enjoy life, because there are others out there who have died, and can't live on." It was a good thought really. Live for those that didn't. He liked it, and he often used it as a motivator for himself. The people in his stories were long gone now, but they could still live on.

Ode wouldn't say anything about her armour. She had to be broken free of that, she didn't need it anymore after all. He was going to teach her that if she didn't provoke people by looking dark and evil, she wouldn't get attacked. That was plain and simple really. He honestly wanted to get her moving before she could try to get it back. Still, he did like the idea of her holding onto him, but he kept that to himself.

After the little stunt with the clothes, it was probably best not to say anything.

Ode carried her far into the mountains, night had already settled in, and there was a slight chill in the air. Slight being...he should have made himself into a half-bear and half satyr at this point to stay warm. However, the immediate danger of freezing to death was not upon him. Though the mountainous trail was leading quite up and down and higher up the mountain face, it wasn't altogether bad. He had to leave the trail halfway through though, choosing an alternate route away from the beaten path. If he kept his hooves on, and didn't let Perish walk, most of the hunters would only see that he was game, and was certainly not the people they were looking for.

However, they had a very good head start on them, and they probably had very little idea where they were heading. The chances of seeing them again was slim. Still, it was best not to take precautions. He came across a cave finally, it was rather high along a mountain, however it was large enough that they could have a fire inside and not worry about anyone seeing the light. Once they were inside, Ode set Perish down before he went about gathering some sparse fire wood from around the area. The fallen branches and deadwoods weren't what he was hoping for, but he managed to collect enough within a half hour for a respectable fire. Then he set about starting it.

He was very thankful for the flint and tinder he kept with him in one of the satchels at his side. He could not remember how many times he had been without it, until he finally starting carrying the damn thing around with him.

When the fire was merrily burning away, Ode sat down beside Perish. He almost asked if he was cold, and he had the innate desire to put his arm about her again. He had to remember the whole boundaries thing of course, and that she didn't get cold, but seemed to cool things down instead, like the water.

Strange that. He just wanted to hug and hold her to see if he could warm her up.

Ah, the bard in him was getting romantic again.

To a less depressed and sorrowful person, Perish's state might actually be quite an advantage.  How many people wished they didn't have to be afraid of consequences?  Or being hurt?
Perish had incredible freedom in this world if she ever bothered to notice, she could almost literally do anything, which would be quite inspirational to someone who actually wanted to do something.
She never really took advantage of anything now, not for her own sake anyway, she rarely ever did anything for herself unless she was attempting to 'act alive' which generally ended up failing miserably.  Every time she's done something it's in response or because of someone else.

She hadn't talked with anyone this much for as long as she could remember, her interactions never lasted anywhere near this long with other people, and it kind of opened her up in a way.  Spilling your thoughts to a total stranger would be rudely interrupting their life, which Perish absolutely did not want to do, though it somehow seemed less an interruption to people she knew, as a friendship with her probably interrupted their lives enough for it not to matter.
Perish only wished there was something she could do for Ode, he hadn't really needed her for anything, he could ensure his own safety and he had his own life, he could basically turn into whatever he might need at the time, so there wasn't a real lot this little dark knight could do.

It was the first time she really got to experience body heat, cradled in Ode's arms resting against him, it almost felt like it was thawing her out very slowly.  Warmth was something she wasn't familiar with, except for the few cases when she'd been attacked with flames, but that heat provoked light jolts of pain through her that was incredibly uncomfortable.
This heat wasn't painful at all, it was almost comforting being able to feel the warmth of life so vividly, now all she needed was one of those songs.

Night fell a little non-existently on Perish, she kept about as much track of the day as she did the wounds she sustained, her body did not feel tired, or anything at all really, at times she wondered if she still existed.

Perish was a little curious as to why Ode was carrying her, if there was anything she was good at, it was following people, she was relentless in that respect, yet Ode must have thought there was something wrong with her legs or something?
She couldn't really figure it out, put he eventually put her down when they were inside a cave, and walked back out.
It came as a bit of surprise to Perish, this cave was clearly a dead end so it wasn't like there was much reason to come here, so perhaps Ode had finally grown tired of her and left her behind here?
Her expression fell as she looked at the cave entrance, sorrow slowly consuming her once more as the loneliness closed in upon her yet again, thinking the worst and despairing over it.

It actually hurt, for once, to be at least vaguely connected to someone and then have them leave, though she wasn't really sure why Ode had left, she had a few careless guesses, typical guesses of a person consumed in sorrow, depressing thoughts and ideas.
Her mind wandered back to her armour and weapons, she guessed it was time to get them back, lethargically placing a hand on the stone and dirt floor.
Blood cut a gap through her palm and slowly seeped out onto the floor, her dark magic working at it, guiding it in definite paths across the floor, reaching out like web into some enormous elaborate ritual circle.

Though, she was only three quarters done when suddenly Ode came back with an armload of dry wood, it was quite the interruption as her thoughts drifted back, partly relieved she was wrong, a little happy he was back.
He had needed warmth, Perish couldn't have guessed, she didn't need warmth so the idea of fire had always seemed stupid, it caused more harm than good.
The fire started quite rapidly with the strange tools Ode had withdrawn from a satchel, it made Perish wonder what else he kept in them and why, but it wasn't like she was curious enough to ask yet.

While Ode was more of a solitary traveller, he was really no stranger to hitching rides with people when it was appropriate. Perhaps the farmer on the cart had a few good stories, or even the man riding by his lonesome. The point being that he really didn't mind having someone accompany him. He liked company, he liked talking to all sorts of people, and when they weren't available, he'd talk to the animals. However, he had found a very interesting person to travel with. At first he had intended to travel with her and get a good tale and song out of the whole thing. However now it was more like she was following him.

That was alright though, because she was good company. He wished that she perhaps spoke more, but really...there was nothing wrong with their current level of conversation. She seemed to be really warming up to him, and usually he found some people grew annoyed with him instead. Still, it might have been because she was alone, and she was in a place that she was despised.

When he put her down inside the cave, he had forgot to say anything to her. All of his thoughts had been internal, and he realized that as he gathered wood. He hoped of course, that she wouldn't go anywhere, or do anything drastic. He probably should have said something...but his mind had been so focused on a variety of things that it just never crossed his mind that she might misconstrue their stop as something else. He just needed to rest, he just needed to regain his energy a bit before he became a gryphon once again.

Then he'd do a little hunting on their way through the mountains. He hoped for a fat goat of some sort to cross his path. Still he focused on the firewood. If need be  he could become a termite later and engorge himself on wood. That always surprised him, that his level of fullness was usually carried over from form to form. He didn't quite understand it but he assumed it worked like his clothes, strange and magically.

When he finally got back to the cave, he could see what she had been doing. He didn't say anything about it though, he should have expected she'd try something like that. However it was probably good when he interrupted her, though neither of them said anything. That was probably for the best, they didn't need to say anything. Whether she realized she had been doing something 'wrong' though was beyond him, but she had stopped which was good enough for him.

"We'll stay here for a few hours, while I gather my strength and heat up a bit. Then we'll take to the sky again and get into Serendipity." He told her quietly, trying not to think about the mess of blood on the ground. "Once there, you won't need armour or a weapon, but what you will need is a willingness to experience new things." Because he was going to take her right out of her paradigm and everything. She was going to have the time of her un-life he hoped, once they got out of this place.

His head turned to look at her, his eyes upon her as he tried to figure out something to say. "You know...I could have sworn I felt you warming up when I was carrying you." Ode would admit, he was a snuggler, and most people didn't mind that at all. Two bodies, pressed together, sharing space and heat...while at this time it would only be him that was giving off heat to Perish, he still...didn't mind it at all. "I liked it though...it was nice." If not for the fact they were running for their lives and such. Still. He was really liking this situation he had found himself in. Perish was a nice woman to be around, despite all the pain she had, he knew that he could help her. She just had to see things from a new perspective, and he definitely had that going for him.

"You wouldn't object if I wanted to ah...hold onto you again while we sit here, would you?" Best to ask, though at this point he wasn't sure she'd mind or not. He certainly hoped she didn't of course. His thoughts and feelings for her were mixed, he did see some potential with her, she had a strange beauty to her that wasn't often found after all. He would admit there was a physical attraction, there was a romanticized attraction as well, and not to mention there was his bardic ways. Still, he thoroughly was enjoying her company, and she seemed not to mind his at all.

As his thoughts turned to a bit of a more...risque, he wondered just what she was capable of. She was a corpse in some regards, would she feel pleasure even, or would any of his advances be...unfelt? That was a question for sure...but...how to bring it up?

"I have...I have a little question for you. You said that you don't really feel...physical pain...but what about other physical sensations? Like...do you feel someone holding onto you, can you feel light brushes along your skin? Do you get goosebumps from a pleasurable touch?" Probably most aware and alert women would understand what he was getting at, and yes he was going around a dangerous path no doubt. However, there was nothing gained in life if you didn't take a few chances and asked some questions, even if they made you out to be a pervert.

There was much thought on continuing the ritual, but now that Ode was back she was hesitant as she would weigh a lot more in her armour, which may make Ode not want to carry her again.
Perish didn't like being a burden, though she still didn't understand why he carried her it really wasn't on her list of important things to know, the main fact hovering in her mind was the body heat, and the feeling that she couldn't fall behind.
So she reversed her magic, the massive elaborate ritual circle rapidly pulled from its shape and travelled directly back to her palm on the ground, disappearing back inside her bloodstream until there wasn't a trace of what she had been trying to do.
Her palm healed up perfectly and she placed her hands in her lap, watching the fire for a moment, it was almost amusing how fast she healed the spots on her eyes that one got from staring at bright objects.

She rarely ever knew what to say, having little experience in conversations and also a desire to not irritate whoever she may be talking to, so silence it usually was, and most of the time it worked, people didn't often complain at her silence.  Though this was when if ever she'd managed to meet someone that wouldn't run away, which meant she hadn't done a lot of talking, but she had come across this blind old man once, he had talked for hours and hours with her, not about anything in particular.

A few hours didn't really mean much to Perish, time was absolutely irrelevant to her, she barely even remembered her own age.  So in a way what Ode was really saying, was we're waiting here until I say so, which suited her perfectly.
Though it was odd to imagine a place that she didn't require weapons or armour in, 95% of the world had the possibility of attacking her, she didn't like Ode's logic very much but it wasn't like she was going to disobey him, to her it was worth being a little uncomfortable if it didn't disappoint someone else.

Perish nodded when Ode said about her warming up in his arms, she had felt like she was getting a little warmer with such proximity to a powerful lifeforce and energy, she felt not too different from a manifestation of snow at times, she almost felt like her skin was melting at the time.
"I was warming up, slowly.  It felt... good..." Perish said, running a hand along her arm as if trying to feel the heat again.
Her thoughts didn't digress much about it, it was truly a nice feeling to warm, even if it was only fleeting and she probably caused Ode mild discomfort with cooling him down perhaps, but her thoughts never transpired to what else could happen.

She turned her head to look at Ode almost directly, eyes slightly wide in very mild surprise at the question.  To be held once more and feel the warmth, Perish had little idea of why she'd ever object to that, quickly shaking her head just a little more vigorously than normal, a somewhat subtle hint at faint eagerness.
She kind of shuffled sideways along the floor closer to Ode and leaned in toward him, pressing against his chest and shuffling a bit as she moved the rest of her body closer, if she breathed she might have sighed at that point as the warmth slowly crept into her skin.
This bard truly was one of a kind, no one had ever really wanted to hold her before, it did feel like it opened her up a little more, like Ode was slowly wrestling the door to the land of living open, no one had ever done that for her before.

"Everything feels dampened, I can still sense people touching me, though anything else has to be quite strong or profound for me to properly feel it.  That axe in the stomach felt like a deep scratch, arrows feel like being briefly stabbed with a pin.  And... I don't know what a pleasurable touch feels like," Perish said, not hesitating in answering his question completely.  She had no shame, and she didn't place it on others either, nor did she feel any compulsion to keep secrets or lie to people, unless of course someone told her to, that was the general exception to most things about Perish, obedient to a fault.
Again her thoughts didn't digress very much, the warmth was quite distracting, so she didn't quite put it all together, though she had a feeling those questions were trying to lead to something, she just couldn't figure out what right now.

"It was rather nice wasn't it?" Sometimes there had to be a little tenderness in your life really. She probably...never had thought about such a thing since her husband had been taken from her. He felt sort of bad but...what he could tell, the man would never be coming back, and certainly you'd want a loved one to move on instead of being...stuck in time. Hm...that could make for an interesting part of the tale that they were creating.

If she was surprised, Ode was just as surprised. He hadn't seen so much emotion before on her face, he was really quite surprised by her. That however wasn't a bad thing, not at all! It was just amazing to see such emotion on her face, and for a moment he just wondered what her answer would be. However, it was obvious now, and even more so he couldn't believe it. She wanted to be held, her shaking head showed a bit more emotion and...he liked that. She moved closer to him, and he moved closer to her, his arm automatically going out to bring her close. Soon she was almost right against his chest, and he was smiling, his other arm coming about to hold her as well. There was another shift of movement, and Ode brought her onto his lap with a small smile. While she was taking heat from him, he really didn't mind. The fire was there, and he was ably to maintain a good temperature.

"I'm glad that you don't mind." He told her softly. Just the thought of her being so cold, and yet she could warm up with his body heat. He wondered if she could actually become warm like a real person, or if she was doomed to the heat absorption. Well, they had a few hours while he rested to find out now didn't they?

"You don't even know? That's...well,, there is something really wrong with that for sure." But honestly, he could understand. She kept herself in that armour, she was usually seen as an attacker of some sort, as a threat. He however didn't see her that way, he had been lucky probably, that the situation they had met in had been favourable. Mostly...granted people had died today, and he had killed a man but...still...it was altogether a favourable time.

"Though, a pleasurable touch could be anything I suppose...like...a hand across your arm." His fingertips gently ran along the length of her arm, a smile on his face. "Brushing hair from your face and gently touching your ears." Once more his hand moved up and gently brushed the hair from the side of her face, tucking the locks behind her ear. There was...other things of course...but he should probably stick to brushes and what not, something simple and something that couldn't lead to much more. Unless she instigated anything.

His hand moved slowly downward to her neck, the back of his hand just barely running over the slightly cold surface of her neck.

"Did anything feel...different from a normal touch, or did you just barely feel them?" She was a mystery really, and he did like to figure a good mystery out. They all had questions, and he did wish she'd speak up and ask him more. He wondered if she had any, or if all of them had been quelled.

It was something to think about really. After they ah...got done figuring her out and he got to know and understand her of course.

To be warm... it was like one of the many pieces to the puzzle of life, along with all those other pieces, like to be happy, to be loved, Perish knew she probably wasn't going to be able to get many of them, but it was the pieces she could reach that made her existence now matter.
To be alive... like the wish of a ghost, or the wish for someone lost, it was one of those dreams that were like clouds, you could stare at them all day and they not get any closer, no matter what, not even if you jumped as high as you could.

For once she actually forgot about the ever-lingering desire for the safety of her armour, and the utility of her sword, forgetting about the very purpose she had been built for, right now she just couldn't find herself caring about it.
It was an odd feeling, abandoning the other half of her reason to live simply to enjoy the warmth of Ode's body, mercilessly leech it from him like some bizarre vampire, it warmed her up, thawed her out, made her feel just a little more alive than before.

Perish did have a slight concern in the depths of her mind, if Ode was reaching into this hell hole of her life to pull her out, wouldn't he be immersing himself in her misery as well?  Every moment he spends trying to pull her into the light he himself gets pulled into the darkness?
She didn't like that... she didn't like that at all... Ode was too kind to her for her to just allow him to fall into her misery, she wouldn't let anyone else bear her suffering, her burden, it was the consequences of her actions and she accepted them willingly.
The logic was clear but she found herself rather distracted with the warmth, it was a bit selfish but she wanted more, attempting to press a little further against Ode.

Then again, why would Ode condemn himself like that?  Willingly reach into darkness to pull someone out?  That concept made no sense, thus further confused her even further as to Ode's motivations in helping her.
All she wanted was to follow him around, listen to his music, apparently he had other ideas that she couldn't even hope to guess at.

She frowned a little when Ode said there was something wrong, she hated doing the wrong thing by people, disapproval, disappointment, she didn't enjoy it in the least.  Generally when someone was disappointed, they weren't happy, if they weren't happy then that was bad, living people were meant to be happy, Perish didn't want to change that.
Though there was a strange confliction there, she didn't like making people unhappy but if they attacked her she saw absolutely no qualm in ending their life right there and then, it didn't make a whole lot of sense but her mind was somehow forced into accepting it, not questioning it.
Another aspect of the dark powers no doubt.

Perish could only just feel him touching her as he spoke, as if in demonstration though her expression fell a little when it didn't really feel 'pleasurable', she couldn't even remember what it was supposed to feel like, let alone guess, but it didn't feel special, in fact she barely felt it.

"Not really... I barely felt it..." Perish said, a little crestfallen at her lack of feeling, it tended to provide the biggest barrier between her and the living, and she honestly had no idea how to change that fact, or even if she wanted to.
"It didn't feel like anything special... what is it supposed to feel like? I've... forgotten..." Perish said, a little lost once more.

Ode could care less about the fact that she was taking his heat. It was his to give after all, and he could always make more. He could handle temperatures after all, both hot or cold, but he wanted Perish to be warm. Somehow, he wished that he could heat her up, that he could help her to regain what would feel like...being alive again. That she could feel the warmth within her and spread throughout her body and fill her very soul. The bard was talking again in his head, it was a strange habit of his really.

He lived with it nicely though.

It helped him live.

Just like Perish would. She was stuck in a rut, he didn't know how long she had really been in this position of her life...how long she had suffered through this sort of thing. He could help her though, he could pull her from this spot of hers. Again, the romantic bard in him pictured wings, pulling her from the ground into the air to soar with him. Ah, he could have all sorts of adventures that was for sure. He just hoped that she wanted to stay around with him, and it seemed all the more as she pressed herself against him even more.

Hopefully his warmth and the fire would help to heat everything up with him.

He probably should have used a different word than wrong. He meant it in a completely different way, and her frown made his own face become saddened. "No I meant...that it's wrong. Not that you're wrong, that no one should be without a little warmth, a good touch or two, that sort of thing. I meant that...that your unlife has been wrong to you...but not for much longer." He'd make sure that her unlife was better now, when they got to the city, ah the fun they were gonna have. Teach her things like a hot bath, the importance of a hot bath, and relaxing in a small park watching people go by. Oh yes...the plans that were out there!

Ode's hand slowly ran along her cheek, cupping the bottom of her chin in his hand as he pulled her so she could look at him. "It's supposed to make you feel warm, to make you tingle slightly...a good...pleasurable feeling should make your knees weak...and you should feel it..." He thought about it, his free hand coming to run along her spine. "Right along here. That's a really good feeling of pleasure though. You'll know pleasure though, whether it's just from a touch of an...an..." Oh what the heck was that word? Something zone. "Well, a pleasure zone really. Spots on a person that gives them that feeling of pleasure. It's all mental really...I knew a girl who had this one spot on her foot...drove her wild apparently." She however, had been a firmly married woman, and her husband had been a braggart. He had thought about becoming her shoe for a day and seeing if he could find it that way but...something had told him not to. Probably for the best really.

"Everyone's different though Perish. Everyone has different spots...and everyone finds different touches pleasurable." He didn't want her to feel bad about not finding it pleasurable. His arms went about her again, one more around her waist, the other more around her shoulders, holding her close to him, hugging her tight.

He could try more sorts of things, a massage, kisses, more touches, there were things that he could do, but things that he shouldn't. After all, they had just met.

"One day though, we might find something Perish. What about my music? or my stories? Did those stir any happy feelings in you?" There was a story that he could recall, one that might help to give a little perspective even.

"I have a tale to tell you...it's about a man who got lost in the desert. This man wasn't the best man in the world. He had been a merchant, a very greedy merchant who prized gold and silver above the lives of his family, of his clients, of even the men who he had paid and swore to protect him. This man became lost in a sand storm, he had become separated from his caravan. He had only a horse to carry him through the sand, and so he pushed the animal as hard as he could. Two days passed as he wandered with his horse. By some grace of fate, he came across a strange figure in the desert. The figure was a woman as it turned out as he approached her. She led him to a small patch of Cacti. She had no wineskin with her, no water pouch or anything of that sorts, yet she cut open the cacti and let him drink the juices, as well as his horse." Ode spoke in such strange tones, his voice was thick with emotion as he spoke and told her this story.

"The last cacti was cut open and she offered it to him, even though he could tell she needed it more. He took it from her for a moment before he gave it back to her. She gratefully drank the juices of the cactus. Two days later, the trio emerged from the desert, the nomad having led him  and his horse safely from the desert. He realized, that without her, he would have died in the desert, and if he had greedily taken the last cacti from her, she would have died in the desert and he would have been lost forever. Despite the fact that she was dehydrated and dying of thirst, she had still offered it to him. He didn't know why, he didn't understand, but...he had been grateful anyway. She had saved him, without wanting anything, without asking for a reward, and she had almost given her life to a complete stranger." Ode liked that story, he had heard it a long time ago, and it was a very compelling story really. It had everything in it, it was rather good for this current situation as well.

By far the most strangest feeling, most of her outter body had become rather warm, yet she could still feel her insides almost radiating frost, waging a war inside her body to see which temperature would be the victor.  Hot and cold at the same time, she couldn't really remember ever experiencing that before, it was a comforting kind of equilibrium since she had grown accustomed to the cold, yet enjoyed the warm.

She did wonder how long Ode was going to hang around her, everyone got bored of things eventually, especially of depressed people, Perish really only knew of that one blind man that never got bored with her, she actually had to end up losing interest in him before moving on.
It was good to feel accepted in some way, the blind man mostly for his lack of sight to determine what Perish was, and Ode's seemingly unconditional acceptance of her.

Her unlife was a bit wrong in some aspects she guessed, while she didn't really care about how bad or wrong these dark powers were, they seemed to be the bane of her existence ironically.
Ode's determination was rather impressive, Perish had thought he might have given up on 'reviving' her eventually but he was still going strong, still wanting to bring her back, still trying to help.
She'd never really had the 'weak knees' thing anything, unless of course someone actually broke her knees, but she was pretty sure that was different, and it definitely hadn't triggered anything in that spinal region Ode had indicated.
Perish honestly didn't know where her pleasure regions were, the question had never really arisen before, she was mildly curious about where they were and what it felt like exactly, she could rarely remember feeling anything besides the cold embrace of her existence.
Except of course now she was in the warm embrace of Ode, things must be different when she was warm, they had to be...

The tightened proximity with Ode was nice, more warmth was transferred through so she wouldn't complain, not that she'd complain in any case, Ode was quite free to do anything he wanted except hurt her, then he'd have to worry about her trying to kill him.
It was probably a good thing most people attacked her on sight instead of work her out, when she was getting attacked she wasn't being told what to do, otherwise her miserable existence would probably have involved a lot more mischief on everyone else's behalf.

"Your music is nice, I was hoping you'd sing some time. I really enjoy it, it makes me feel things... emotions that I haven't gotten to experience in awhile," Perish replied, a little surprised at herself that she just over-answered a question, she didn't usually make that habit so it made her curious.
Unexplainable things seemed to happen around Ode, Perish hadn't had anyone to properly talk to and understand, she guessed it was just another part of her opening up, though she was hesitant as always, not wanting to disturb Ode any more in case she pushed him away.

Ode's tale was quite the experience, easily immersing Perish into the story, even though Perish had little idea on the concepts of greed and the value of life, hazards of a sand storm or even the use of a horse for travel, she did see a faint concept or moral behind the story.  It was kind of amazing the sheer amount of things she didn't understand about the world, probably why she felt so lost and confused all the time.
"Why did they do that? Randomly helping out a stranger...? It doesn't make much sense... isn't that unsafe or something for living people?" Perish asked, the questions multiplied on her and made their way back around to the subject she'd been mostly ignoring for awhile now, except her curiousity was about to get the better of her.
"And what about you?  Why do you help out a complete stranger? Wandering around with a soulless killing machine when you could be flying amongst the clouds or searching the seas?" Perish asked plainly, as she straight up didn't understand it at all, not even able to guess at it.

Ode couldn't see himself getting bored of Perish. She was terrific company, despite what she or others might think. He enjoyed the refreshing company, and though some might think it would get stale, he was a bard. He could make it more lively, and he already had plans to do just that. However, it would take being back in the city though. He had to make sure she didn't summon that armour and walk around with a big sword. Everything however would work out if he just was careful, and he would be.

It was sad to think that she couldn't experience pleasure. It did come from a lot of different places, and it didn't have to be sexual of course. Though, Ode did delve into that part of pleasure really, there were other things that could bring pleasure. Food, scenery, music, stuff like that, but most of that was rather scarce at this time. He also didn't know her particular disposition towards scenery, he wasn't sure she'd be able to understand the complex beauty, and she didn't eat so there was no luck there, not even a couple of glasses of wine to heat her blood up. Music however he could do, and that'd be easy.

It'd be too cold for his lute now though, the stringes would probablyend up snapping if he tried to play anything now. Once they were out of this colder environment he could play some things for her, but for the time being he'd have to do with stories and what not.

"When we get back to a warmer climate, you can bet that I'll play you a few more songs." He told her softly. If she really did enjoy the music, then he wouldn't mind at all. She was a good audience after all, and he did love to play his music. She had been captivated after all, and it was good that it made her feel emotions again. Music could be a powerful thing when used in the right hands, and by the right person.

He smiled at her questions after his story had concluded. "Some people don't look at others as strangers or enemies, they just see a friend that they've not met. Some people are selfless within, that they'd help out someone else because that person obviously needed help. It's the human condition really. There is good in the world, it's pure, and it's uninhibited." You could take away multiple morals from a story of course, it all depended on a person's judgement, on their outlook, and to Ode, he liked the idea of there being some good out there, that there were people who'd willingly die to help another out.

It was touching.

"Because beneath all that armour, beneath all that sorrow and all the confusion, I found a person. I found a person who wants to cast off the sorrow and the confusion, a person who'd like to see the world from a different perspective. I found someone who looked tired of the darkness and wanted to once more step into the light." Ode's words were once more quiet and soft, his eyes gazing at her face as he spoke. Perish was a person who was lost in the desert. She needed to find her way out, and Ode could help her do that.

"Besides, you're not a stranger anymore. You're Perish." He told her with a small smile playing on his face. They weren't strangers anymore, not by a long shot. He'd hazard to say they were friends even. After all, he cared about what would happen to her, and she had obviously been distressed when he had left her here in the cave alone. The look she had given him when he returned had said volumes. No, they weren't strangers anymore, they had formed a bond together.

Ode reached out with one hand to grab a piece of wood to toss on the fire, he put on a couple more pieces after that to really get the warmth going. If he had been smart, he'd have transformed into something to move a boulder in front of the cave entrance, but they were well enough inside that the cave could heat up somewhat without the cold air rushing in. He relaxed after the wood caught fire, his arm returning to hold around Perish and keep her against him. Truth be told, he saw the romanticized outlook of it all. She was lost, and he was someone that wanted to find her. The entire idea was actually very...lovely.

He was also surprised he had gone this long without trying to kiss her!

He blamed that on common sense and the more serious outlook of the situation.

The tale did give her a lot to think about, all the aspects of life, all the things she didn't understand that everyone would, it held a vast snapshot on life that she could possibly use someday.
Unfortunately there were just some things about her that made most of that story so redundant she couldn't even begin to understand why anything happened in that story.
She'd been lost in the desert once, the sand in the armour had been a nightmare but it was inevitable that she'd eventually get out, she had all the time in the world.  She hadn't been limited by time, needing to eat or drink, she hadn't needed a horse, partly from the fact most horses didn't like her, they seemed to know something was 'wrong' with her.
If she had been that merchant, she probably would have given up all the cacti to that woman, though she also wouldn't have been greedy, or had any money.
But the thing was, if both of them had the chance of dying, what stopped them from just being selfish at the time? How did they manage to defy their own needs, their own natural instinct?
If the merchant was greedy he should have kept the cactus, if the woman was thirsty she should had drunk from the cactus herself, why did it play out defying both of those basic pieces of logic?

Now that she thought about it though, it wasn't all that different from what she was making of her existence right now, she followed people and selflessly helped them as much as she could, but then again was that because she didn't have any needs or instincts of her own?
The fact was it was still a selfless act that she herself was performing, yet she didn't entirely understand it even though.  Being confused about one's self definitely played havoc on the mind.

It was kind of funny how she was so comfortable around Ode and she really only knew that he was a shapeshifting bard that enjoyed breaks and needed to eat things, even if it was her nature to be so naive, it was still kind of strange in some way, not many people willingly held her.

She was a bit happier knowing that Ode would play some songs later, as she didn't know what a warmer climate felt like so she would just be patient until he played his lute.  Heck if she wasn't patient she'd probably go insane, time moved so strangely for her, and considering people were forced to use a third of their lives sleeping, patience was something she had to learn.

"It sounds like life doesn't make sense, I like helping people but it's not the same as that, people who sacrifice things when they shouldn't, purely for someone else?  I've nothing left to sacrifice... nothing to lose," Perish said a little vacantly in thought.
People willing to die for others... the concept was... almost familiar, it was the ultimate sacrifice, but a mercy in comparison to what Perish was now, she'd truly paid the ultimate sacrifice.  Ironically she was willing to die for others, but obviously unable to properly fulfil the concept, she could jump in front of arrows and stand between a fighter and a victim, offer up every morsel of food and drop of water she could ever possess, to all other people that would class as dying for someone.
It never worked for Perish.

"Do I want to cast off my misery?" Perish wondered aloud, as if not sure any more, "Haven't I fallen far enough to be beyond redemption?  Darkness has become my home, no matter how much I may enjoy the light."
"I'm a stranger to myself, I don't even know my real name, these memories are so patchy and different they don't even seem to be mine sometimes," Perish said, bowing her head a little in mourning, "I don't know who I am, or what I truly want.  I'm not supposed to know, I was just supposed to kill that rider..."
It was like even now she still had this urge to kill someone she had personally grinded from existence by dragging them across the entire country several times, they wore away to nothing eventually.
A grisly fate but one justly deserved in Perish's opinion, it was only slightly worse than what he had done to her husband, she only wished the rider could have been alive for longer, to feel the torture of his body slowing being ground away.

The memories of her husband came back to her once more, she had managed to come to terms with losing him, but the fate was so tragic it never failed to sadden her.  It was then she remembered she wasn't wearing her armour, her left hand was exposed and she could see the tarnished silver ring on her ring finger, it was just a simple band of silver, quite generous considering the humble earnings of a farmer.

Tales were an interesting sort. They could make you think and over think, which would end up being a problem for sure. Songs could do the same thing, but there was just something about a song that seemed much more natural. A person who heard a song was usually a lot more entertained than hearing a story. Still he had to do something, he had to tell her a story to make her think. Whether the story would make her over think or critically analyze was a mystery. He could gather that her mind was very...logical in a way, the way she spoke and was confused about things, the term simple could be used, but not in a country bumpkin type of way. She didn't understand the living, she didn't understand how some things worked, because they didn't work that way for her. They never had, and so it was no doubt very hard for her to imagine things outside of her boundaries. That was for now though, he had plans to help her release that burden.

"That only means that you have everything to gain. You have your mind to lose, you have your will, you have your consciousness, you have your body, you still haven't lost it all Perish...you just don't realize what you have, and what you can get." If she had nothing else to lose, she wouldn't be here. That however was not the case. She was here, and it meant that she had things that she could still lose. He however wouldn't let her lose these things, he'd help her to gain things, to regain things, to make sure that she had a life once more. It was a terrible fate that she had, but it didn't mean that she was sealed in it. After all, she hadn't been sealed in that armour, which meant that she could freed! That was a happy thought if anything really.

"No one is really beyond redemption, and no one is ever cast truly from the light." He told her softly as he thought about it. Redemption. It wasn't easy, and redemption could take years really. However, she simply needed to get away from the darkness, away from it all, and she would be safe. "Well, I know that the girl I'm holding right now is Perish. She's confused, and perhaps a little scared by recent events, but she doesn't seem to like her current life and wants to change it. After all, you wanted to be held." There was no denying that part now. She really had wanted to feel his warmth, and something told him his touch as well. "Keep this in mind, yesterday I was a cat, this morning I had been an eagle, the afternoon I was a duck, and a Gryphon...what I would like to say is that you have to make your identity feel right. You have to find yourself, what you are, what you want to be. We'll find what you are, we'll find that identity, when you can look in the mirror and say the name Perish and feel that the woman staring back at you is her." Ode wanted her to know who she was, and this was coming from a man who had an identity crisis whenever he turned into another form.

Despite such a technical detail, he was confident in her, and in her abilities to change. The hard part would be taking her from the darkness. His hand came up to gently stroke her hair, before he leaned down and placed a tender kiss upon her cheek. "Just you wait Perish, life is going to get strange for you, but I promise you that it's gonna shine the light on you."

Perish was no longer sure what to do now, constantly reassured by Ode that she would be saved eventually, she would come back to life so to speak.  She didn't know if she wanted to step out of the darkness, for once she was actually frightened of something.
Frightened of change.
Her body was timeless, her mind was timeless, anything and everything that happened to her quickly un-happened and put her back into where she always was and always would be.  She was familiar with the darkness, wreathed in its energy, comforted in some way by not having to worry about many things, even if that fact disturbed her from being alienated from everyone else.
Did she really want to change?  Sure she enjoyed the light, it was warm and happy, it held an unexplainable purpose and a good reason to live, yet, it made no sense and wasn't predictable, it wasn't as simple as she was used to.

She could actually be trying to change, as well as Ode attempting to change her, it might speed up the process, but then there was the ever-present issue of willpower and if she wanted to change.
Her lack of attempting to help may mean something, but it could also mean she just didn't care enough, which was quite possible in her case.

"I would have thought after 30 years I might have gained something by now.  All I have left is whatever I can gain from others, like some kind of leech," Perish said, her current situation was a prime example, she didn't want Ode or herself to move a muscle, the heat coming in was very nice.  Of course she probably would never ask it of Ode to hold still so she could warm up by leeching his heat.

"How can the light accept me back after all I've done?  I literally threw it away, I threw away my old self, just like the light she had," Perish queried, "It's a steep price, but I'd pay it again."
Vengeance blinded her, right from wrong, good from bad, once morals went down the drain everything sort of just followed until you weren't left with anything.

She'd been idly musing, still staring at the fire almost mindlessly, when she suddenly felt a warm pair of lips press lightly against her cheek, it was a bit delayed, but her eyes widened and she jumped a little in surprise, reaching up a hand to touch her cheek.
A kiss... never before...
"I... I felt that..." Perish said a little awkwardly, turning slightly to put Ode's face in the corner of her vision.  That hadn't happened before, she didn't usually feel things, not like that anyway.
It made her uncomfortable and curious at the same time, what exactly had changed?  Her body temperature?  She had no idea, guessing seemed rather pointless right now, so she just accepted it for what it was for the time being.

"Actually, I'd say you were more of like...hm...not a parasite, but...I'd say that you're not a leech." He couldn't think of the correct term...but he wanted to hold her, he wanted to embrace her after all, and she liked the heat. Both of them got something out of this. Yes...that was the wa to put it. "See...if you use us as an example, we both get something out of this entire thing. You get to experience life in a new way, and I get to sing, tell stories, and generally get to show you a different side of life that you didn't know about." It was like...he couldn't place the word, he really couldn't, but it was mutually beneficial. Yes, that would do as a nice description actually! Mutually beneficial.

"it's forgivable. You threw it away because in the light you couldn't get what you wanted. You had to resort to the darkness because it offered more, but the light always welcomes those back who want to come back." The light was forgiving, you just had to be forgiving as well. You had to want redemption and forgiveness, then you could take that first step forward into the light and into a new world.

It would figure, that the thing she felt was a kiss. He hadn't even meant it as something deeper, but it was more of a reassuring gesture. Like you'd kiss a child who was upset they had lost their favourite toy, and you were promising to get it back. He hadn't meant it to be anything...deeper than that really, at least...he didn't think so.

Her sudden jump was startling to say the least, though it should have been expected all things considered. After all, she wasn't expecting to get kissed, she just got...really surprised obviously.

"Felt it...how?" He had to be careful with his next words for sure. "Do you mean you felt the contact, like the warmth of my lips or...you felt emotions connected to it?" They had to just be careful, he didn't want to rush her into any of this, and he certainly didn't want to get into anything...heavy up here in the mountains. No, anything deeper was a bad thing at this particular time, until they got down into the cities of Serendipity. Yeah...that's what was safer, and probably smarter. There was no telling what reactions she might have after all.

This would be good and bad perhaps at the same time.

It all depended on she meant it.

She couldn't think of a better term for her existence right now, she lived only to feed off what others would give, it sounded parasitic enough and it was quite accurate.  At the moment she just wanted to be warm and listen to Ode sing and talk, it made her feel better about her existence in some ways which was all she really existed for, all she really ever did to stop herself from just remaining inanimate for eternity.

Why the light would accept her back was lost on her, she'd thrown it aside for power, quite a despicable thing to and rather unforgiveable, these were the consequences she had to live with, it was what she paid to gain her revenge.
Just going to join the light to avoid her debt to the darkness?  It seemed cowardly in some way, but then again she was barely familiar with the concept of cowardice anyway.

"Um... I'm not sure, I just felt it, normally I wouldn't have... That makes no sense..." Perish said, a little lost all of a sudden.  Something had changed clearly, it made her worried, frightened maybe, she definitely wasn't sure whether or not she wanted anything to change yet to let either decision happen, especially like this.
She remained silent for a moment in worried contemplation, a little unhappy.

Ode was a strong believer that everyone could get redemption. It was available for everyone, but only if they wanted it, if they truly wanted to have it. If they didn't want it however, or they couldn't see that they could have it, they wouldn't get it. Redemption was a fickle thing, and it was a very...very powerful thing. Whether or not it would truly soothe Perish's dark thoughts would yet to be seen however. He just had to make her understand that if she wanted redemption, she could have it, she could step back into the light and turn away from the darkness.

It was the bard in him again, the part of him that had such old stories of redemption and tales of the light conquering over the darkness. That's what people wanted to hear. They never wanted tales or songs where the bad guy won, where the hero's quest was for nothing and in the end there was only darkness.

No, those were not stories.

"It could be all the heat...I mean...when people are cold, they lose feeling in their limbs...maybe now that you're warming up you're starting to get some feeling back!" That made sense to him, he could understand that sort of thing. It made sense, she was so cold, but now here they both were, huddled together in a warm embrace, a cheery fire burning near them, giving them more heat.

Yeah, that must have been it!

"What about this?" He leaned in closer to her, pressing his nose to the side of her neck. He knew a girl who was rather ticklish near her neck. It had been a rather amusing experience really, she had giggled so cutely too. Though, she had also said it was very pleasurable...so he wondered if Perish might feel something as well. He honestly hoped she just felt something really, and that it was just heat that was warming her up. Then again, she had such a beautiful neck he wouldn't mind kissing it either.

Most of her life she'd wondered why she couldn't feel things so well, pain or anything, it was handy in some ways as she couldn't be writhing about in agony whilst trying to kill someone now could she?
Somehow... being numb was comforting... not having to worry about getting hurt or anything, thoughts like those make her decisions very hard, while she did enjoy life to some extent, undeath had a lot of aspects about it that she preferred.
Maybe that was why she had never been able to resume her life, the simple fact that there was a lot about undeath that was more comforting, and the sorrow and depression got easier to cope with over time so not even that seemed so bad.

"Hmm, it sounds logical... but when someone tried to burn me to death I didn't feel much, so I'm not sure how that logic works..." Perish said with a small frown, trying to work it out though there wasn't a lot of sense to it if it only worked with body heat from the living.

She issued a very short laugh at Ode nuzzling into her neck, it felt funny in a way, though still somewhat dulled it tickled a little and sent the involuntary surge to her lungs to want to laugh, and didn't quite work as good as it would.
"Yeah I felt that too," Perish replied, as if her wordless response wasn't indication enough.

"Maybe it's...I'm not sure. Maybe it has to be from a person...like...there's something spiritual involved?" He hoped it was something like that, that it was at least ah...well that it at least had some sense to it. However if it wasn't just because she was warm then what the heck could it be? Still, he wasn't going to be one that argued, she was actually starting to feel some semblance of emotion, of feeling...it was rather...nice to know that she could feel these things once more.

He actually heard her laugh as he brought his nose to her neck. It wasn't a very long laugh, but it was a laugh, and he wasn't sure she knew to fake it either. He hadn't told her that it'd be ticklish either, so this was a genuine emotion!

He felt excited about this. And once more...the bard in him was speaking. She could feel emotion when in the embrace of a warm body, of a person, of someone who wanted to hold her, to warm her, to share the essence and heat of life with her. Oh that would be a romantic song that he could make from that, and he would....yes he would.

"That's good...that's...really good." Gently he kissed her neck, his teeth grazing on her skin as sensually as he could manage. She'd either feel a bit of pleasure, or some pain, and he hoped it was the pleasure part. He didn't much like the idea of her thinking that he was attacking her, and that she should defend herself. He was, after all, not the best fighter, and he had seen her do a lot of damage to people. He also didn't have her ability to pull blood back into his body.

Oh how he hoped for pleasure.

Spiritual sounded like a bizarre concept, Perish didn't think there was enough spirit in her for there to be anything of that sort, unless of course she was truly leeching more than warmth from Ode.
It was quite possible, she guessed, no other time had she ever been able to feel something, burning in flames or frozen in the ice, acidic stomach of a creature or the tremendous impact of falling off a cliff, it had never felt like that.

She was intrigued but also disturbed, that perhaps she was some form of vampire, leeching the lifeforce out of people through contact or something, while sounding absurd it did have some merit to the idea.  Necromancers tended to dabble in all those things, undeath, vampirism, bone magic, blood magic, dark rituals and such, it would make sense in some way but it just didn't seem to fit, Ode seemed perfectly comfortable letting her steal his warmth.

Laughing was... a nice experience to say the least, for a brief moment her mind stopped thinking about the tragedies that had befallen her and about the happier moments she could remember from her travels, defending people and such.
It was almost enlightening, except her nature tended not to let happiness live long, being happy meant something had changed, and change could be... difficult, after 30 years of 100% exactly the same thing.

She could feel something, it brought back some pretty harsh memories and her eyes widened when she realised what it was:  She could feel teeth.
It wasn't so much Ode's fault as it was his misfortune, it wasn't like he could have guessed Perish had almost been eaten by something, and while her pain sensing nerves were quite dull, having a piece taken out definitely classed as painful for her, not to mention disturbing.
Perish jerked her shoulders back and slammed her elbows behind her as she launched forwards out of the embrace, barely missing the fire as she skittered away, rolling into a crouch facing Ode warily, one hand supported by her fingers supporting her.  Blood could be seen running down her fingers and webbing out across the cave floor into a small ritual circle around her hand.

Her body slowed down a bit as her mind tried to catch up, she remembered Ode hadn't tried to hurt her before, was trying to help, it mustn't have been an attack, was it?
She was a little confused, one part of her said to relax, the other part was screaming kill, the memories of both Ode and that creature that had almost completely eaten her hovered in her mind, the conflict of thoughts was surprisingly painful, and it interrupted her ritual for the moment.
What was she supposed to do now?  She'd never hesitated to kill anyone before, once her instincts told her to, that was it.

((I should have kept my mouth shut! I knew after posting that this would go wrong xDD))

Ode had been around lots of strange people before, and while Perish was really a different one from the normal, he had been in the company of vampires before. He would admit, there was an aspect of vampires that just held a certain strange allure. Then again, he was never against a little nibble on his neck. They could drink his...well, it was like blood, not the usual kind of blood, but he had been told it was delicious.

Whether that swarthy man had just been complimenting him, Ode would never know.

But he could have suspicions.

His only hope was that like him, Perish had no objections to his newest ministration. He was mistaken however, and he could not have ever guessed her reaction would be this...this violent, this severe. He let out his breath as she pushed off of him suddenly, shoving him roughly against the rock wall. His head smashed back from the sudden movement, hitting against the back wall. A trail of strange translucent blood was left behind as he slumped somewhat, his eyes seeing stars for a few seconds.

He had to hold the back of his head and close one eye, seeing doubles as he looked toward Perish. What was going on? He could see her...doing something. He had to squint to see it was blood running off her fingers. It was red blood...somewhat...it wasn't his blood. What...what was she doing....

Ode stayed against the wall, his other hand moving to the wall as he tried to slowly stand up. "P-perish...what...what's the matter...did...did that hurt?" He was very confused, and his head was still a little dizzy. She looked...she looked...oh god he'd seen that look before. Not in her, but...that was a look that spelt death usually.

"Calm d-down Perish...it's me...it's Ode...remember? Warmth? Music? Stories? I...I just thought y-you would uh...you would have liked t-that...I didn't...mean to upset you." This was a tense moment and Ode really wished he could think properly, and he could see properly. Still, that look on her face...if she came at him...it would be prudent to become something small, fast, and agile. Some sort of winter fox came to mind. That would probably be for the best.

Perish frowned a little in confusion as she tried to string one thought onto the next, there was a distinctive feeling of energy built up around the hand that sat upon the elaborate symbol written in blood.
She was on the verge of summoning one of those devilish swords, but she kept hesitating and interrupting herself as her thoughts kept bouncing around in her mind.
It was annoying, to say the least, as there were a lot of reasons she wanted to summon the sword, but there was part of her standing in the way, if she had the sword she might find it harder to disobey her instinct to kill.

She brought her other hand up to her neck where she had felt it, feeling about and finding no damage, only soft, flawless flesh that was becoming cold again rather quickly.
"Teeth..." Perish murmured, resolving to falling backwards onto her backside as she though, leaving the little sign of blood on the floor for the moment as her thoughts collided once more.
"Nothing ever truly hurts... not even dying... but it doesn't make it any easier to cope with."

"I... was nearly eaten alive once..." Perish said, as if trying to explain in some abstract way, "It ate my arm so I managed to summon my sword inside its stomach and it bled to death internally, but it nearly ate me entirely..."
She was glancing at the blood on the ground periodically as if having second thoughts, she'd never truly stopped herself from killing anyone before, but she guessed Ode hadn't quite attacked her, it had only triggered her reaction upon the memory.
And now she had damaged Ode, he didn't look too good all of a sudden, it made her a little sad that she had just damaged him without reason, she truly wasn't helping, so what exactly was she doing around Ode?

"T-teeth?" He squinted slightly as she started to talk again, falling backwards into a sitting position. Even after having injured his head, he still wanted to just go hug her. "No, I suppose that it wouldn't." Ode agreed with her, though not sure what else to say. He wasn't sure what was really going on in her mind, but she started to speak again.

"So it was a reaction...caused by a linked memory..." Well, that made a lot of sense to him. It wasn't that it didn't feel bad, or pleasurable, but the emotion of fear, of having almost been eaten had been too strong. A traumatic event could be a dangerous one to the psyche, more so to a psyche like hers. He felt really bad for her, but at the same time he hadn't blamed her for hitting his head against the wall.

It had been his fault, he had to be so bold, he had to just try to nibble at her, it really was just as much as his fault as it was hers. Ode was also good natured so he didn't often blame people or get mad at them. He'd had his fair share of people angry with him so he found it best not to hold a grudge or anger.

He could feel his wound slowly healing over and he smiled to himself. No permanent harm done...he counted to ten in his mind and recited the alphabet. Yes, things seemed like they were all still there. Slowly he walked over to Perish, very careful as he let himself down to sitting beside her. "I'm really sorry Perish I didn't...know that you had a traumatic experience and...I probably should have asked before just...diving right into it." There was the part of him that told him that if she had liked it, it wouldn't have mattered. However, she very much seemed affected by it so it was best to apologize. He really wished it had been the completely opposite reaction but...this was all good stuff to know.

"You ah...still want to share my warmth?"

Such an overpowering urge, she really, really wanted to kill whatever was trying to eat her, and that part of her wasn't exactly listening right now because she was sure Ode wasn't trying to eat her.
She had felt teeth however, and that fact was pretty hard to avoid, her mind was having a fit over that fact as she remembered teeth ripping her into pieces slowly, most people would have mercifully died long before half their body was eaten, Perish wasn't so lucky, and it was quite traumatising.

Perish shook a little as Ode came over to sit beside her once more, now that he was within arm's reach it was a lot harder to keep the self-defence thoughts out, she watched him warily, part of her was waiting for him to attack, the other wasn't waiting for anything.

The memory surged in her mind and compelled a reaction, she ripped at the energy gathered on the blood rune and black mist rapidly issued out of the ground and formed into the rough shape of her normal sword, and then there was a metallic clang as the blade hit the ground, the mist sucked into it.
She just stared at the blade for a moment, her hand trembled a little as she prevented herself from picking up right now, in this frame of mind.

"I've had 30 years to experience the world, 10 years worth everyone spent sleeping where I didn't, I've had ample time to gain some experiences," Perish said, "I don't suppose you would have guessed, it's not like people can have traumatic experiences of being almost entirely consumed by something, and still live, so to speak.  You'd have to be pretty clever to know to ask if anything is attached to a traumatic memory, because if you were just going to ask if you were allowed, don't bother, I don't care what you do."
As long as it doesn't hurt, would be what she would have added, but she figured that was pretty apparent right now.
Ode hadn't really done anything wrong, which was upsetting her because there was still a part of her vainly wanting to reach for the sword.

The question certainly brought up a lot of mixed feelings, she had just hurt Ode, even wanting to kill him now, and she really wanted some warmth, quite the dilemma.
But her natural sense kicked in, the thing she relied on more than anything to get her through this life.
"Yes, I want to share your warmth but I don't want to hurt you," Perish said, shuffling away, eyes still glancing at the sword every so often, "I've done nothing but cause you trouble, it would be selfish and dangerous for me to stay..."

Ode was going to be a cautious fellow now. Perish had summoned the sword again, and while he didn't really like that..he would have to deal. They could always leave it behind again when they took off once more. However, for the time being, she still had it. He just had to make sure that he didn't...compel her to use it, that he didn't do anything like...nibble at her to make her want to stab him with it.

"Well...you do care what I do, and you should care. It's your body, and it your existence. I'd hate to take that away from you." The thought of taking advantage of her was absolutely horrifying to Ode. He didn't want to do anything to upset her, anything that wanted her to look at him as if he were an enemy. However he had, now she seemed....mad at him. She also seemed to have the inherent desire to kill him. Ode had never been a man afraid before, his situations and encounters with people had been that of a very tame nature. Sure sometimes people threw rocks or shot arrows his way, but...he had always run away, and he had always been able to get away.

Right now, he didn't want to leave Perish.

He didn't want to get out of her reach.

"Hurt me? Well...it didn't really hurt...stings a tiny bit but...I've had worse injuries." He was trying to play it off, be the big macho man and say that there wasn't any pain. Yeah, there was, but he was able to have both eyes open now and he didn't feel as dazed. She was still looking at that sword, and that would be a problem. A very big problem.

Slowly he got up and returned to the fire, choosing a different wall to sit beside it. He lowered himself down and smiled toward her. "Tell you what...I'm going to be over here. I want you to stay, and I would love to share my warmth with you. If you want to leave...I'll give you a ten minute head start, then I'll follow you. However if you want to stay...I'm right here, and my lap and warmth are both here to share with you. You have to make the decision of what you want to do. Because I bare no malice to you, it was really my fault that I injured my head. I should have known better but...sometimes with a beautiful girl I lose myself." Compliments, they always helped, and it was better when you were sincere. He didn't find any reason to really lie to Perish, so he kept laying on the truth.

"But...I really would like you to stay."

Was it some kind of addiction?  Perish couldn't stop thinking about reclaiming her sword, it felt like it was a part of her now as much as her armour was and she almost felt like she needed it.
Like a second skin and an arm?  An odd way of putting it but it was all too accurate considering Perish's habits and abilities, it wasn't uncommon for her to graft things to her body that truly were never supposed to be, though she hadn't gone so far as replacing her skin yet.

The weapon was like her purpose, and the armour was her being, it felt very awkward being out of both and she didn't realise how much she missed them until her sword was sitting not two feet from her.
But she couldn't pick it up yet, the memory was still too fresh, she might damage Ode even further and that was something she absolutely positively did not want to do.  Not unless he was actually intending to bite her, but she didn't usually leave things as guesses or assumptions considering she could survive finding out.

"You can't take anything more from me than what has already been taken, Ode, whatever you're afraid of damaging, it's not there," Perish said simply, her eyes were trying to act normal, gazing at the fire and at Ode and such, but they kept flitting back to the sword every few seconds like a nervous habit.

It was comforting in some way that Perish's actions hadn't effected Ode all that much, but the fact was she had still done them and they had still effected him, which meant it could happen again and it might not be so tame next time.
At the very least, he moved away so the temptation was a little easier to resist, it was like her comfort zone was entirely different to someone she was intending on killing, she didn't like him being within sword's reach and not acting.
But the other fact is, she had just before been enjoying his warm embrace, that soothing, painless heat that permeated her very body, threatening to reach her icy core.
It was very confusing for Perish, she wished she could stop thinking completely for a moment just so her mind would know peace, it was chaos behind those vivid red eyes.

"If I wasn't here you wouldn't have gotten injured, or be involved in this mess, clearly the fault is mine, which means I should leave you in peace before I damage you further," Perish said a little distantly as she thought.  It was very logical, made a lot of sense and she approved of that train of thought.
Yet she didn't move...
Now she was even more confused...

ODe only wanted to avoid being stabbed, but at the same time he didn't like how sad and lost in despair Perish was. He'd get willingly stabbed if he could bring her out of her funk. Then again, as touching a story it would be for him to sacrifice his life so she could feel again, he wasn't keen on the idea. It meant that he'd no longer be able to sing, to share his stories and tales, it would mean...well he'd be dead. As a creature more concerned with this life, he hadn't given much though to the next world, and he really didn't want to find out all that soon.

"Well, I'm afraid of hurting you, and you're here...so I would say that there is still something there to damage." Even if she didn't believe it, she could still get hurt, and she showed it. She was afraid, and she was scared, and that really was something that she didn't take into account. It made him worry, because now he knew that he could upset her, now he knew that she had strong feelings about some things.

There was a battle going on with her, anyone could see that. She still wanted to stab him, she still wanted to fight him...and that worried him slightly. He wondered what she was thinking...what was going on in her mind. It really did worry him, and he really was scared of what could happen but...there was still something he could probably do to help.

"I am in peace, with you here." He smiled slightly as he watched Perish, she spoke about leaving, but she didn't move. "And I'd like you to stay...how...how about this." He closed his eyes and focused. He was transforming again, but this time only his face was blurring. When it was done, there was no obvious change until he opened his mouth to show a change in his teeth. All of them had become flat and blunt. "Herbivore teeth. Now there's no chance of me eating you." He told her with a happy grin, showing off those strange teeth of his now.

"I know it isn't much but...I hope it's a start. You can always just sit on the other side of the fire though...but I'm still very much willing to share my warmth with you. And look!" He turned his body about to show her the back of his head, so she could see where he had previously injured himself. Nothing. "Healed! No harm done to me." Ode said as he twisted back to the right position, watching her carefully. "And I will never believe it was soley your fault...plus, I was in Connlaoth Perish, there was a very good chance that I'd have been killed already if I wasn't careful." He had a tendency to show off, and if he was to escape he'd try to do so using his ability to shape shift. That could possibly end in disaster if he came across a person skilled in hunting. He'd be a poor dead little birdy.

Perish lowered her head into her hands as she tried to figure out what to do, she could hear the metal of her sword lightly grinding along the floor as the blood previously used to bring about its existence was now dragging it over to her.
She knew taking up the sword could be a bad thing, but there was enough of her that wanted the weapon, so she wasn't trying to stop herself, or attempt moving away.

"I've already lost everything, I'm all but dead," Perish mumbled, shaking a little, "Nothing to lose but what I can gain... I already feel cold again, but I don't want to hurt you again.  I don't like hurting people..."
An irony of her existence, able to kill yet not happy with hurting, maybe because she perhaps envied those she slayed, and pitied those who she only hurt?  She'd been hurt so much her mind was scarred beyond belief, death would be a pleasant release if she wasn't so unhappy with not being able to experience life.

She peered between her fingers as Ode spoke again, his teeth had changed, she smiled ever so slightly at his attempts, but the fact remained her instincts were still simmering in the background, and it only got worse when she felt the pommel of her sword bump against her foot.
Her right robotically went down and picked it up, the blood automatically flowing back inside her.
With sword in hand she felt rather comfortable, yet uncomfortable at the same time, she could now kill people but she didn't want to kill Ode, making it quite the dilemma.
"I... should leave... before I do something..." Perish said a little unstably, "I've never had any willpower, never stopped myself before."
Perhaps if she went and killed something her instincts would settle?  She'd just have to not think about Ode for awhile.

Perish pushed herself away towards the entrance for a moment before crawling, and then walking out, her sword arm trembling a little as she leaned against the entrance wall for a moment trying to gather herself to leave.

"You can gain heat, you can gain friends, you can gain a life still...it may not be a life that you may think but...we can get you it. One where you don't need to hurt people and fight them, where you don't need to summon armour and swords." Ode told her with a smile. He wanted to help her and get away from the...life...of death. That didn't come out the way he wanted it, and it meant that later he'd have to change it if he wrote a song or told the story. It would need to be touched up and all that sort of thing.

He'd have to get...Bardic on it.

He watched her as she picked her weapon back up. Sadly his change of teeth didn't appear to do anything for her. That was disappointing but...he could have expected as much really. She really wanted to go but...she didn't either.

Then she spoke aobut leaving...about not having any willpower. He had to do something. Ode knew if he let her leave, she'd kill something, and it would honestly be his fault. He couldn't have that on his conscience. It was a terrible thing to know was your fault that something died when he could have done something to avoid it. Ode would have to help her, he'd have to do anything in his power to stop her pain and her suffering. He didn't much like the idea of her having to go alone in this world, not when he could help.

"But you did..." Ode slowly stood up. She had stopped herself, she hadn't killed him. Everything seemed....to have been getting better. Ode couldn't let her just leave! He had to think of something! Anything! Without knowing it, he grabbed the lute strapped at his side and pulled it forward. "I found you in the dark alone and shivering...even in my touch I found you quivering. Beautiful pale woman full of sadness and sorrow, in to my chest you tried to burrow. Beautiful pale lady, you shed your armour and left your sword, and to you I swore my word. Away from all the darkness and into the light we would go, though it would be as if you were a newborn doe. I never meant to hurt you and stir such memories, I only wish you could fly with me upon the breeze. Letting go of all the worries and troubles, and fly with the eagles." Ode's fingers moved along the lute strings, strumming them softly. Even though it was cold, and the tune was a little off, he hoped she wouldn't notice.

He hoped that this song helped her to choose not to go...because he really didn't want her to go. He would chase after her, he would grab that sword of hers and throw it as far away as possible and...after that...he wasn't sure what to do.

His strumming came to an end as his song slowly came to one as well.

Where did Ode find this endless wellspring of hope?  Perish couldn't understand a thing, the only thing she had ever hoped for was for someone to follow, to help them and feel useful.  She didn't know how Ode could be so persistant when Perish all but given up already, long before Ode had come along.
Perish had had thirty years to work herself into this rut, not intentionally, it just happened because of what she was, was Ode really sure he could reverse that kind of effort?
In a way it felt good that he was at least trying, though she didn't really want him to waste his life on her, so her feelings were mixed.

But it was for the best, Ode would be able to continue his life and sing songs and tell stories, travel all over the world doing the thing he loved and lived for, he wouldn't be dead and he wouldn't be wasting time, it all made sense.
It all made sense until she heard a lute being played back in the cave.

The feelings that were stirred, music developed on the fly from raw emotions and experiences, but not only that, it was that the music was about her.  She was feeling emotions that she herself should have felt before, it was amazing and overwhelming at the same time, her eyes widened and her body shook a little with the emotional assault her deadened mind.
Her eyes unfocused as her thoughts went wild, the compulsion to stay now just tripled, she became short of breath as her mind fought itself and the emotions permeated her being.

Perish's sword arm shook violently, she wanted to stay for two reasons but she wanted to leave because of one of those reasons, but the music... she... she wanted to stay.  They weren't just the emotions of some fantasy person that Ode had met in his travels, they were hers, and she couldn't cope with them.
She went to turn back toward Ode, part of her fully intending to stay, but she stopped half way.  She was going to kill Ode!
Her body shook so much that her legs gave out, letting her collapsed to the ground, leaning on the sword heavily.  This was too hard... she could feel her eyes slowly getting moist as her mind waged a titanic war on itself.

"I...I...I-I... m-must... leave...." Perish murmured unstably, the moisture slowly shed from her eyes down her cheeks, as she attempted to drag herself further out of the cave, falling off her sword and collapsing to the ground painfully, one hand still in a vice grip around the hilt, the other clawing her closer to the outside.

Ode didn't honestly know how he kept himself so positive, how he had so much hope. All he knew was that he wanted to help, that he could help her, he just had to...find the right way to reach her. He wasn't sure what he could do, but he had all the hope in the world. It had to do with being a bard perhaps, he had all the romantic hope in the world after all, so perhaps he was just falling back on his stories and songs. They were inspiring him to help. He wouldn't deny that his motives perhaps were also a little bit...well...more personal as well...but there was so much here.

So much that could be done.

So much that could be gained.

It seemed like the lute had done something to her. It had changed her mind intensely and yet she still slowly made her way forward. Her arm shook however, as if she didn't want to clutch at that violent sword anymore. She even started to turn back but then...something changed. He could feel it. Ode let the lute to fall to the ground noisily. It probably broke something but he couldn't care, it was Perish that he was worried about.

Something was going on with the woman, and he was scared. At this point, he didn't even care if she attacked him, if she tried to hurt him. "You don't have to leave!" Ode told her as he ran after her, jumping through the fire and landing on the other side easily. He dashed toward her and slowly came to a  stop where she was. She had fallen to the ground, crawling with her hand toward the cave entrance. He couldn't just leave her to go outside! They had come so far, and they had made progress! Very good progress for that matter! He couldn't let her to do this! She may still have that sword but...was she willing to use it on him?

He didn't know, or care at this point.

"I don't want you to leave Perish." Ode said as he walked around to her front and knelt in front of her. His hand went down to her sword hand, his fingers gently upon her fist. His other hand went down to her to help her up onto her knees. "You don't have to go Perish...You can stay with me...but...the sword has to go. I won't ever hurt you, I won't...ever go beyond my boundaries again." Easing her into a different life would be delicate, it would need to be slow...and it would be difficult. However, he was used to all those things!

"It's me, Ode. Remember? I helped kill that guy who was attacking you? I became a duck and a nightingale...and I got us away from those archers...if I had wanted to attack you, wouldn't I just leave you with them? I'm not your enemy Perish, I never ever will be. I'm that lovable friendly bard. If you leave, you'll probably never get to hear my stories or my songs. We both don't want that, right?" His tone may have been soft and gentle, but it had a note of panic and nervousness to it. What if she pushed by him, what if she left, what if she stabbed him? None of these were what he wanted to have happen. He wanted her to stay with him and enjoy life.

To get away from her darkness.

He really...wanted to help her.

So many things going on inside her head, she couldn't even think about anything else, whether to stay, whether to run, Perish truly couldn't get her mind passed it.
She wanted to hear the music again, to hear stories and feel warm, she wanted to let Ode live, not kill him over some instinct that had been infused into her, what the hell was she supposed to do now?
It was like she was clawing her way against her nature, as if trying to reach the freedom of the outside of the cave, but she wasn't getting any closer, she couldn't quite reach it...

She didn't have to leave?  Of course she didn't, but she had to.  It made no sense and it made a lot of sense at the same time, binary opposite ideas attempting to coexist in the same mind, but it was rejecting it on such a grand scale.  How was she supposed to perfectly comprehend two opposite things?  It was a painful battle in her head.

Perish was concentrating so hard on the outside world, she jumped a little when she felt a hand lay onto her fist, and then another slip around her to lift her up onto her knees.
Ode was trying to help again, he was right there... just... out... of view... Perish tried not to look but it was inevitable, she shook even worse when she saw his face.
The instinct wouldn't die down, it's like it didn't even care what Perish thought, ignorant of reason, all it cared about was death.
Perish's tear-stained eyes widened a little in fear and desperation, she began pushing away from him.
"N..N-n-no! G-get away!" Perish said frantically, completely pushing away and throwing herself to the floor again, madly scrambling as she crawled away, scuffling to her feet and attempting to run out of the cave.
She couldn't lose her sword, she wouldn't let go of it, is was like a part of her identity that she didn't want to lose, not now anyway.

It was mainly the fact that she did remember Ode that was causing so much distress, if she didn't she probably would have tried to kill him already.  She didn't want to kill him, but it was getting harder to resist, and at the same time she was fighting harder to resist it anyway, Ode just kept talking and it kept escalating the conflict in her mind until it was unbearable.

Perish nearly fell over as she halted in her tracks just as she left the cave, pivoting on the spot and facing Ode again, head slightly tilted down yet she could see him, her knuckles were, if possible, going whiter from holding tightly to the sword.
She viciously slashed with the sword, even though she was several feet away from actually threatening Ode with it, but it was like one half of her had control and the other didn't, preventing her from moving.
She'd lived a life of sorrow and mourning, swimming in a sea of darkness with the occasional glimmer of light, she could taste life every so often which was what kept her going most of the time.
To be warm... to feel... it was the greatest dose of light she'd had since becoming like this, she wanted it so badly it ridiculous, but she also didn't want to kill Ode just as much.  It hurt so much, the battle in her mind, like the torment and ironies of her life had suddenly reached a critical mass, she just wanted it to end.

The sword sliced through the air uselessly a few more times, a few very small and strained steps went to move Perish back towards Ode but she wasn't going very far.
She wanted it to end.... she saw her sword, saw Ode, her eyes suddenly became moist again with unshed tears, her sword arm shook and steadied until it stopped, outstretched and ready, yet unmoving.
Within the blink of an eye the sword travelled back to Perish, its tip exploded through her lower torso as its jagged edge tore in, the sword fully impaling her before all her muscles relaxed and she just fell backwards, crashing to the ground rather lifelessly once more.

And finally, she stopped thinking, the instinct died down, and all she could see were the stars, her mind blissfully free of conflict and thought.  Her grip on her sword hilt loosened and her hand fell to her side, nothing of her moved, she didn't breathe, and she was cold as ice, for all intensive purposes one could guess she was dead.
Not like that was true though, she'd had far worse than a jagged sword through her stomach.

She didn't want help. It was terrible really, but at the same time it was understandable. Ode really wanted to figure a way to get her away from the darkness, from all this terrible pain and this horrible life. Ode really did hoped that he could do something for her, that he could somehow figure out a way to get her from her strange life. It wouldn't be easy, that was a given, but he could handle it. There were tons of story of redemption, of people being dragged from the precipice of darkness and sorrow.

He was pushed away from her however, sent backward slightly onto his rear. He watched her with a raised eyebrow, wondering just what was going on in her mind. Was she...did she want to kill him more? She was having some difficulty, she was having some strange conflict. How he wished that he had the ability to...read...minds. He did though. He never even thought about it. He could only read the briefest of thoughts, and even then, it took so much concentration. No...he wasn't even sure he could. It was best not to try...just in case he had to defend himself.

Last time he had read thoughts he ended up going into a three day sleep.

Ode followed after her as she ran from the cave, fully prepared to turn himself into something big to grab her and bring her back with him. He knew it'd be wrong, but then again, he wasn't even sure she'd know if it was wrong. Ode stopped when she did though, the sword outstretched at him. He was rather...scared at that. She started to slash and attack him, he was rather worried that she would come at him. However, she stayed there, attacking the air constantly toward him. Ode had no idea just what she was doing though, she just seemed to be attacking....never really moving. However Perish was starting to do something different, she was... moving away from her.

He stepped forward after her in natural response.

That's when it happened.

The sword suddenly flew backward and stabbed into Perish's stomach. There was a sudden rush of thoughts that passed through Ode's mind. The first was that the gesture was futile because she was invulnerable to these sorts of things. However, the second, more horrifying thought was that what if it was her own blade that could kill her. There was the thought that she could die by her own hand, or in this case her own sword. Ode suddenly rushed toward her as she slumped downward to the ground. He was quick to reach her, jumping to the snowy ground and cradling her in his lap. She was dead, or at least...maybe she was...even more dead? He quickly removed his shirt and put it around the sword blade and her wound. "Come on Perish, you can't just die. You can't just give up like this." Suicide. She had committed suicide!

Because of him none the less.

There was the very thought that it had been all because of him that she had killed herself. It had been fault. Gods above what had he done? He was...responsible for this. For some reason, killing that man back in the valley hadn't done this to his conscience but...she was...she hadn't.

He could feel something in the corner of his eyes. Tears? He couldn't remember the last time he had cried. He had only met her a few years ago. He didn't think it was love, but...this had been all his fault. He could have just left her alone, but instead he had forced himself into her existence and she was now dead because of him. "Wake up Perish...come on...I'm sorry..." The tears didn't flow, but his voice had a quiver of sadness in it.

A tragic end, something that only a bard could sing about, and yet...he hadn't imagined any sort of end like this. It COULDN'T end like this.

Ode was used to being in control. He could control his body, he could make himself into anything, he could control emotions of others were songs and tales, he could touch their lives so easily...and yet...this time he was not in control. He wasn't even close to being in control. It had been taken from him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

The feeling of being helpless was not a very pleasant one.

An ever twinging, nagging of pain, faint and annoying, from the rather messy and large wound in her stomach that her own sword had torn open.  Was it some kind of final revelation to her condition?  Had all these other times where she would have died, had she just denied them to feel alive?
Now that she'd done it herself, there could be no illusions about it, she was undeath personified, a perversion of the nature cycle of life and death, just out of reach of the mercy of either side.

It hadn't hurt as much as she'd thought, 'dying', that was, somehow she thought it would be the worst thing, unimaginably painful.
Her instincts felt a little... funny... after doing that, how exactly was she supposed to respond to attacking herself?  It'd be an infinite loop and a paradox all in the same, thus it must have been broken for the time being, until such time she forgot this happened.
At the very least, she didn't want to kill anything now.

She felt herself get lifted up a little, and then she felt warmth, her view of the sky was slightly obscured by a familiar face.  Ode, still trying to help, Perish almost wanted to laugh hopelessly, except she was rather void of everything at the moment, the conflict in her mind seemed to had broken her for the time being.
The damage wouldn't last long, no change ever lasted long with Perish, it was both a depressing and reassuring fact, as there wasn't much point in doing anything if it wasn't going to achieve anything, but at the same time at least you didn't have to worry about consequences so much.

Give up...? Had she given up...?  She couldn't really feel anything, nor could she really think, it was like a period of silence in her mind, the closest thing she could come to peace, or perhaps death.
But no, she didn't think she had given up, though she had no idea why she hadn't already, it had been thirty years with no results, why did she persist?  It didn't make sense.
Heck it didn't even seem like it was possible for her to give up at this point, she'd just impaled herself and she was still conscious.

Her eyes slowly refocused and she saw Ode's face properly, and she inwardly sunk a little when she saw how sad she had made him.  She hated making other people sad, it made her feel her life was useless and unhelpful.
"...Sorry..." Perish said quietly, her expression going a little sad at what she had done to Ode, "I made you sad..."
She didn't really comprehend exactly what Ode appeared to be going through, as much as she might have wanted to, he seemed to take her apparent suicide a little harshly.

Perish didn't really feel like moving, she didn't really feel like anything right now as she was still a little vacant from the emotional trauma, though perhaps that wasn't true, she still could feel the heat Ode generated.
At least she didn't have to worry about running away or fighting herself now.

So many things raced through his mind, so many problems, so many emotions. He couldn't understand himself, he didn't...feel this way. It was hopelessness, it was being not in control, it was the feeling that despite all he had tried to do, he had still failed. There were so many things...so many bad things...but then...then he heard something. It was very quiet, and he would have missed it if he hadn't been so close.

'Sorry.'

In his confusion he looked downward at Perish, and she even looked sad. 'I made you sad...' Ode couldn't help but let his anguish change into relief, into happiness. She wasn't dead. She hadn't killed herself. It had been stupid to think that her own sword could have killed her. Still he had thought that she had. It would have been a tale that ended in a tragic end instead of a happy one. He didn't like tragic ends...they made for a great story for others to go through, but not for him.

Bad things of this calibre weren't supposed to happen to him.

"It's...it's quite okay Perish...you had me scared for a moment there..." He told her as he checked her wound and noticed that...well there wasn't any blood splattered on his shirt that he had placed around the sword and wound. It still didn't look very appealing, this big piece of metal sticking out of her like that.

Ode wondered if it would be alright to take out...he decided not even to ask. He pulled the sword from her stomach and inspected it. The blood was already going back to her. Once it was completely gone he held the weapon in both hands. This sword. He wasn't sure why he felt angry at the sword but clutching the hilt he stood up and looked down the mountain side. With a little spin he got some momentum going and hurled it as far as he could downhill, letting go of a frustrated scream at the same time.

It was a reminder of her Darkness. That no matter how much he tried to bring her into the light, she still found the darkness to go into. He wanted her away from war and death, from having to kill people. He lived a life of simplicity, one where the dagger on his belt was used for cutting up food or carving a name into a tree. He liked that his dagger wasn't used for evil, that it wasn't used to kill people or hurt people.

It was just a tool.

Ode returned to Perish, slowly picking her up. He wouldn't admit that having removed his shirt made it all the more colder out here, but he had thought she was dying. "Come on Perish...let's go back inside the cave." His voice was quiet, he was hiding his emotions again. He wasn't even sure what they were at this point. Anger, sorrow, and relief were among the top three though. Ode went straight back to his spot near the fire, which had died down a little bit.

Settling back down, with Perish still in his arms he sighed to himself. All this time he could have just made a big warm coat. A large fur coat to wrap them both in. He hadn't even though about it. He closed his eyes, his entire form suddenly blurring out of existence. He had the teeth after all, and he changed them back to normal. When Ode reappeared though, he was wearing an extravagant white fur coat, and his shirt had reappeared on him. The coat was definitely big enough for both of them, as he demonstrated by wrapping about the two of them. Now he was really heating up! He was quite glad with that particular development, but now he felt drained again. They'd have to stay a bit longer.

Ode didn't mind though.

He wasn't sure if Perish would mind either.

((If you had something more planned with the sword and such, I can always rewrite it. I hope you don't mind >_>;))

The fact that she considered the nasty sword impaled in her stomach more felt funny than painful was rather amusing in some ways, totally ignoring it like a scratch.  It was pretty hard to wound Perish enough that she'd actually care.

Ode was reasurring her again, trying to make her mistake a little less significant than it was.  But it was blaring in her face quite plainly, first she'd hurt Ode, then felt so strongly about killing him, and now she finally made him sad, by hurting herself no less.
Making him sad stupidly felt worse than actually wanting to kill him, in a way it made sense to her since death was cheapened in her case.  Though most people were usually happy to see Perish get hurt, destroying the evil abomination and such, seemed the opposite with Ode.
Why did he care? Perish sure as heck didn't, and since she didn't she couldn't understand it.

Perish watched Ode a little vacantly as he pulled her sword from her, a few twinges of pain and a very giddy feeling passed over her as the distorted edge was pulled out, it took a little effort to ensure some of her insides didn't go with it, but the blade ended up coming out clean as before.
She was a little curious what he was doing with her sword, looking at it strangely, when quite suddenly he sent it flying out into the night sky, the moonlight reflected off its surface a little as it tossed about in the air before finally disappearing from sight.
Inwardly, Perish despaired, her right hand twitched a little, she had lost her sword again, the tool that allowed her to perform her duties, her reason to live.  Again.
She wanted to run after it but she felt so lifeless, just laying there inanimately, staring off into the distance with slightly anguished eyes where she had seen her sword disappear.

Ode didn't like her sword for some reason, his scream said pages on it, while she could easily summon it again, it would only make him angry again, which she didn't want to do.
But that meant she wouldn't be able to have her sword for the duration of her time around Ode, and she didn't want to leave, he still had songs and stories and warmth.

Now what was she supposed to do?  She couldn't avenge anyone even if she could care about something enough to avenge its loss, and her mind felt so empty and lethargic from the meltdown, she'd lost even the willpower to move right now.
She simply just let herself be carried with no real reaction, back inside the cave and back to where they were when Perish had damaged Ode, making her a little more depressed.

Though depressed, in Ode's embrace once more she could feel the warmth sinking into her icy skin once more, most of her remaining thoughts slowly melted away.
Before she realised it she was enfolded inside a large coat with Ode, and within a minute or so the heat began to double, Perish seemed to just let go of all of her muscles as the warmth passed through her.
"Warm..." Perish murmured mindlessly, not even moving a single muscle.

The sword wasn't something that Ode found himself very fond of. Ode had hopes for Perish, that once they got to the city he could help her to change. He could even use her as an assistant if he tried! Granted, he was just a bard, it wasn't like he was a street performer that NEEDED an assistant. However, he could teach her to dance perhaps, maybe give her some singing lessons, and they could start doing some duets. He wanted to get her outside of the norm for her, and he was sure that getting her to join him in his bardic ways would get work. He just had to be very careful with what he did, and how he did it.

At this time however, he would just want to recover his strength. He felt himself using too much energy than he was regaining, but the warm large coat was actually a better idea. He needed time to recover and to rest, the bit of bloodloss had affected him slightly, made him even more tired than before, but he would be able to get by just fine.

There in the cave, with the embers lighting up the inside only slightly, the cold wind about them, and both wrapped up in the large fur coat, Ode couldn't think of a better way to spend the night. Well, a warm bed in an inn with a saucy lass and a couple of pints of ale but...he did have a lass, and this thick comfy coat...it was as good as anything really.

"Very warm." Ode agreed in a hushed voice, snuggling slightly into her as he let his eyes drift close. He wouldn't sleep, but he was shutting down. His joints were becoming a little stiff and he was focused more on not moving anything. His chest still raised up and fell as he breathed, but he wasn't moving. He didn't even feel like talking. He honestly couldn't think of much to say at this point. They had talked a lot, and he had thought a lot during their short trek together.

He wanted to talk more with her but...after the recent developments, he couldn't think of a damned thing to say to her. What could you possibly say? They just had one hell of a fight, and she had stopped herself from trying to kill him....and it had all started with a discussion about pleasure. It had not turned out to be a very pleasurable evening, it had gone in a very strange direction really. He hadn't expected such a reaction, and he couldn't imagine what she was thinking.

He almost wished he could get inside her mind. He had the abilities, but he was scared to use them. Scared to invade, scared that she might become angered again, that she might summon the sword and the armour. He wanted her to not have to do that, to not think of him as any sort of threat. He was friendly and helpful to her, and yet with a simple action he had become...an enemy. There was that thought to reach out to her with his mind, to touch it and see what he could find on the surface...but there was the fear that he might do something wrong. If he ended up in a coma, what would happen? She would probably leave, think he might be dead after all, and he did NOT like the idea of waking up in a crypt, tomb, or under six feet of dirt. Granted he could turn himself into something to get out but...

It was the initial reaction.

Ode decided it would be best to keep himself from invading her mind, from skimming any of her surface thoughts.

It was best to just...stay warm and heat Perish up. Maybe when she was really warm she'd changed. After all, she had felt something when they had huddled together before, the kiss. She had felt some...pleasurable tingle perhaps.

Still, in the back of his mind, he wondered why he was doing this. He was a good natured sort of fellow, maybe it was partly out of pity, and the desire to do good, and maybe out of lust. There was always that lingering thought, and he wasn't sure if it was the fact that he was a shape shifter or a bard that did that in. Oh how he enjoyed a good romp in the sheets. That, he assumed, was the shape shifter part of him talking. He knew a few others who had the same...qualities as him, and he couldn't for the life of him figure it out.

Ode pushed it from his mind however, deciding that it was best not to start thinking and dwelling on these questions. It was best to leave his mind blank for for the time being and just...relax with the woman named Perish in his arms.