Forums » Forum Games » (IC) Local guy gives free advice.

The beast happily trots over to a dear friend, all smiles of someone up to no good. “My dear! how are you?” He calls out while approaching Geist, sitting now and eventually sliding over into his personal space. “It’s been far too long!”

“I’ve got a question for you..I need a new project, my others are steadily moving along nicely but that is boring. Got any suggestions?”

Geist was the picture of serenity, if not a quiet acceptance at the questing-beast's arrival. He hadn't ever given Geist any reason to worry as memory served, and the fae was content with the notion of relative peace. He tilted his head and spoke from behind his mask, eyes closing in thought.

"The lights around you are blinding, bold and its song high above the earth and all bound to it. You and I are beyond the measure of man's reach; there is nothing to be afraid of even when the night changes. Blaze further into the sky, burning brighter and turn your boredom into ashes in the wind."

After a robbery gone wrong and failing to kill a US Msrshal, JR is spending Christmas in a jail in Wichita, awaiting a judge after the new year.


"Hey, buddy, how do I get outta this in a way that don't include a neck tie party?"

Geist's head hung low, unable to look the stranger in the eye--or perhaps, he didn't quite want to. "The shadows you cast are long in the dark, twisting, turning and yet it does not weigh you down. The doors to the world open to you, yet you choose to walk with the wind. I can smell what's on your hands."

"I shouldn't help you if you're going to cause more harm than good and be selfish with your life. Those hands that steal could sow seeds for others to reap, but this life finds you well. You do not wish to change it. I should not help you." He said again, as if trying to convince himself. "...But you are living, and you have so much to live for. You must remember that there is always a better way. Or else, you will be here again."

"The bars to your cell will be cold and prone to breaking when the moon is highest tonight."

"For sure there's a better way! Next time I ain't goin' back to try'n help my so-called friends. Those lunks took the money and hightailed it outta there without me."

((Thank you hexblading! This is a fun idea! ))

Crunching his nose and leaning over Zavik tapped the hat of the soon-to-be advice giver. A face of presumption and discredit towards the individual.

"Aye, heard ya offer grand old advice from a little birdy. Figured I might as well give it a chance and see what you come up with." Straightening his back out, hands began to move in a methodical way while speaking with the words. "So like you seeeeee, I am in need of some divine wine and there's this caravan that just might... you know have some. Now if I were a thief, which I am not saying I am!" A sharp finger suddenly pointing right at the hatted figure. "What do you think would be the best way of going about...commandeering some of this for personal tasting purposes?"

For a moment, Geist was silent. Glowing red eyes focused on Zavik's own as he tilted his head from side to side, quite like a puppy, but sadly not as innocent. Nay, how they widened in alarm betrayed any sense of calm, and with two quick strides did the man close the gap between them to seize the gambler by the forearm, pulling him close to whisper.

"Why do your words have so many intents behind them? You say you are not a thief, but you ask me how to get your prize. Is paying simply not a good enough option? You can have the whole bottle to yourself with no contest." Geist said, then let go of Zavik's arm. He stepped away from the shorter man, giving him space. "But that is not in your nature, is it? Nay, you'd rather test the hands that cast the die. Your hopes roll and shake with along with them, but no matter the outcome, you take it with grace."

"I have no love for wine sellers. When a bottle goes missing, they twist their words, turning until the odds suit their favour. They lose nothing they can't retain. Twist your own tongue in return; have your fill of tasting, and make your escape when you can."

Mata Hari always knows that he is not fully accepted in heaven, the Kahyangan. The gods and goddesses always say something like, ‘Why are you here?’ or ‘You shouldn’t be here’ to him, and he knows they are sometimes whispering behind his back. He thought maybe it was because he had been a bidadara, the Kahyangan’s angel, for only 6 years, and what he needed to do was only prove himself, and they will accept him eventually.

But, this morning, he saw his goddess, having a really heated conversation with Sang Hyang Naga Basuki, the white naga god. He didn’t really understand what they were talking about and only overheard the naga god say something about ‘world imbalance’ and ‘your bidadara’ to his goddess, so he knew they were talking about him.

His goddess left the naga god with teary eyes after their conversation ended. He tried to ask her about that, but she refused to say anything, only smiled at him and said, “It’s ok, I’m sorry,” just like usual. He doesn’t want her to keep apologizing to him when she did nothing wrong. It’s confusing, but everyone keeps refusing to give him an answer.

And then, as he jumped down from the sky and spread his black wings, the wind breeze told him about someone offering advice to people. A mysterious man named Geist.

Mata landed in front of the man and retracted his wings back into nothingness.

“Tell me mortal,” the bidadara said. “Where can I find answers for my question?”

The man was still, silent and solemn as he took measure of the angel before him, seeing those wings, radiant and celestial unlike his own. Something akin to feathers bristled as the entity referred to Geist as a mortal when it couldn't be farther from the truth. Nevertheless, the raven remained calm and parted his lips, though descriptors were as good as useless with that half-mask he wore.

All Mata Hari could glean from this strange 'mortal' was that he stared, and deeply so.

He didnt pride himself enough to correct the angel. Hells, he couldn't care less about himself. Instead he looked into the ties that bind, and focused on the twists that threatened to snap.

"Hidden. Hollow, empty, hidden. Answers hidden deeply beneath the earth and sea, just as deep as the questions themselves but not as much. There are so many of them, which one are you looking for? It is better for you if you do not know. Where man walks to find the answers they seek, you must fly to the past, present and future and in the end find yourself reaching nowhere."

Despite this, he was still. He was serene.

"Do not despair. The lack of an answer does not determine your destiny. It is what you make it to be."

The trudging of heavy boots could be heard as a stout and burly dwarven warrior came into view. The white haired dwarf wearily sat next to Geist, his elbows resting on his knees, eyes straight ahead as if he did not need to look at his companion to engage in business. He had all the resignation and grief in his eyes of a man walking to his own hanging.

"At this point, I just need to talk to someone." He said, knowing perfectly well this was a bad idea, the worst one that he had yet, but it would just be the latest bad idea that he had in the sequence of terrible ideas that he could call his life.

His shoulders sagged and he gave a weary, shuddering sigh as he began speaking, his hands clasped together tightly in dread.

"I know that you can see.. things.. of my past and so forth, which admittedly helps matters. The last thing I need is to relieve the tale that brought me here." He inhaled through his nose as his sad eyes kept looking ahead, a somber tone in his voice, less so pain and more like he suffered from an aching dull wound in his soul.

"I still see them." He continued as he struggled to figure out how to even begin. "The ghosts of my friends, those who I once called my allies. I see them in the faces of others, it seems as if everything around me is attempting to remind me of my past life. All my mistakes, my sins, my betrayals."

The dwarf winced, teeth clenching, hands wrapped together tighter. "For the first time, in a long time, the path is clear. I know what I must do, to walk the lands doing as much good as I can, to atone for everything I have done. Make this world a better place. At long last I finally have purpose.."

"But it still haunts me. Everything.. I did not do right by my allies, I could have.. handled things better and now, it's too late. Everything is gone, and there is nothing to return to."

At last, he sighed out his question. "How do I let go? How do I let go of my past? Is there even a way to really make amends for everything I've done?"

Geist was silent as the dwarf spoke, the only movement on his person were the shadows melding with dark clothes and the slow trailing of glowing red irises to the dwarf as he spoke. How the grizzly warrior came to know of the unassuming man’s true nature surely warranted some form interest, but Geist was drawn to a different sort of flame that wavered. It was poetic, flickering and fighting against wind and wick, the only bastion between a ray of light and an all-consuming dark that would swallow the dwarf whole. Geist didn’t even realize he’d been drawing closer and closer to the dwarf, claw-tipped hands reaching forward close enough to touch the tip of his nose. The light came from within the dwarf, tumultuous and stormbound, rattled in a torrent of emotions that tore him but not yet asunder.

It would, eventually, but not today.

“You walk the realm, wandering, winding, weighed down by a pain that cuts into your shoulders deeper than a blade forged to kill Children of Man. The ties that bind reach out between this plane and the next; these ghosts you see are of your own making. They are not necessarily bad things; they teach us lessons we learn from, but are you sure they’re teaching you for the better? Seek not forgiveness, for it will not ease the burden. The pain weighs as it should.” Geist said, retreating from the dwarf to tuck in his legs. “I can’t—I can’t hear around you. There are many voices in the noise, and I can smell the blood on your hands. Some of them are quiet. Some of them tied to you are quiet, soft and kind. At peace. I—I don’t know if it helps, but not all the voices hate you. Some are just sad it has to end this way, and that you have to be sad as well. I’m sorry.”

“It will hurt. It will continue to hurt. You will carry it along with you for as long as you live. I can—” Geist bit his lip, looking to the dwarf. “There are ways to forget, but that—you will not like that. You must not forget them; you must not forget her. You loved her, and to the end she loved you. You cannot let go, you must never let go. I—the only way to let go is to forget. I could help you—I could, but I will not. I cannot. You will forget her as well. She will be very sad.” He looked away again, drawing himself together in a tight ball.

“To kill one man is to kill the whole of mankind, and to save one man is to save the whole of mankind. A moment’s decision beckons a lifetime of agony. I’m sorry the choice has already been made for you; make amends by doing good in the world. When your time comes, find her again in the beyond with your hands washed clean.”

It wasn't entirely out of character for Jim to step out of his comfort zone when, in fact, it was actually quite common. The change of pace keeps things interesting in a world teeming with a lack of stimulating opportunities. His threshold for stupidity had reached its limit for the day, and the consulting criminal thought it best to take a breather from his work. He was intent to dissociate from the monotony of grading subpar assignments, evading the onslaught of his overly protective subordinates, and most critically of all for the sake of his own mental wellbeing, getting away from the dull as dishwater company admins seeking his finespun ingenuity over petty, commonplace advisories that anyone with two brain cells could put together if they applied their problem-solving skills.

Jim became quickly aware that he wasn't anywhere near the familiarity of his beloved domain, a sovereign contentedly separated from his autocratic obligations. He could honestly care less that he had managed to detach himself from the world he knew. James Moriarty was in a perpetual state of fate acceptance, prepared to meet whatever dissolution that awaited him with a smile on his haughty face.

The crime lord spotted what appeared to be a young, masked man idling some several paces away. It wasn't uncommon to encounter strange particulars around the unexplained outskirts of both the mania of Jim's mind and the parallels of colliding worlds. So, unfazed, Moriarty made his approach, taking in the solemn serenity that seemed to exude from the other.

"Oh, will you look at you," he stated, vainglorious as ever. Perhaps this individual was waiting for something or someone even, though there was a lot left for Jim to decipher. How exciting! Finally something of interest -- at least for the moment.

After sifting through a quick analysis, Jim's lips tugged into a lofty smile. "Tell me, consultant to self-proclaimed consultant, what does one do when the mind has reached the pinnacle of brilliance and grows tired of the tedium of existence?"

For once, the stillness in Geist's eyes wavered at the arrival of someone whose very presence disturbed the air around him. The smell of blood on Moriarty's hands was thick with malice and malignancy--where others held remorse in their hearts, there was a thick fog in the man's, one that even Geist's otherworldly insight could not penetrate. It was entirely off-putting, an intellect he simply could not wrap his admittedly simpler mind around. After all, how could a being who couldn't fathom why someone would voluntarily hurt others begin to comprehend the methods and reasons of a man who does so professionally?

"Sharp like shards of glass, cutting, cloudy, meant to cut when picked, you need to be, or else it'll get—it gets—it gets boring.” Here, he brought himself closer to Jim. Closer, and closer still, to the point he could feel the warmth of the other’s breath. “Boring. Boredom, banal, and like a beast you snap at the chains. You want to be free, but every time you do, you fly so close to the sun. People have died. That’s what people do. I do not like you, but you don’t care.”

"You ask questions, but mine to you is this; why ask for things you already want the answers to? –Ah,” He then realizes, “You want to know if I’m boring, like the rest of them. No—ordinary.”

“Have you looked into a bonfire, as of late? It is bright and spectacular on long winter nights, is it not? It burns with a brilliance, and you can compare yourself to it.” Geist said, giving the stranger his space once again. “When you grow tired of existing, you can do many things. You can change the wood that burns in the fire, but if you are the burning flame, I don’t think you’d want to do anything but spread.”

“You can keep on burning, spreading from the firewood to the floor, to the mantle and the whole house, until either you burn yourself out or someone worthy of putting you out comes around and does so.” Geist resumed his seat, tucking his legs below. “Burn, and burn marvelously.”

Looking up, eyes narrowed behind the mask, Cris could make out the outline of a figure in the shadows, almost blending with the shadows himself. As she approached, she even thought she'd heard a fleeting sound of dark wings fluttering overhead - ravens or crows, she couldn't have told for her life. 'Is this him? Did I get the right person?' Part of her wondered what she was hoping to find. An advice, a direction? A glimmer of... hope? The more she logically thought about it the more she wanted to slap herself out of that foolishness. The burden, it was hers to carry. Always had. Always would be. She just had to brave it up and trudge on, now wasn't that right?

And yet....

At length she came to a halt in front of Geist - and after an extremely uneasy moment, lowered her own mask. If this was indeed the person she thought, she wouldn't have to worry about keeping her appearance secret. If not... she'd find out soon enough, and one voice could easily be silenced, even just with promise of rewards. Either way, nothing that she couldn't deal with.

"... hey." She said, unsure as how to breach the topic. "I have... heard about you. Whispers, legends. They say you help people with advices..." Shrugging, she wiped a stray lock of hair off her blue visor-like glasses. "... and advice sounds like what I could use most right now. Maybe? I dont' even know myself why I- argh." Frustrated, she looked away. "Probably you'll think I'm just - I don't know, wasting your time or something... but I guess when you're at rope's end, you've gotta reach out for anything at all, you know?"

Heaving a deep sigh, she raised haunted dark eyes on Geist. "The truth is that I'm tired. When I look back... I know it's not even been that long I'm out and about, but - it feels like centuries, at times. And always, no matter how hard I try to do good with what I have... I end up failing and making things worse. Not for me. For those around, those I cherish..." Her voice broke, "... those I love. And they realize it too, sooner or later... all but a few." She smiled wistfully, thinking of her longest-term friends, the ones who had not yet been driven to leave this lost, wide-eyed, impossible woman. But the smile faded as quickly as it had appeared; because they were the only ones who had stuck with her so long, they were all the dearer to her, and she was terrified of someday getting to hurt them as others had been hurt by even her most well-meaning gestures or deeds. "It's why... I almost wonder if I'm right to let people in at all, if I shouldn't just... I don't know... keep the world at arm length or something..."

Bereaved, almost ashamed, she braced her arms around herself as if expecting the blow of harsh words. "I guess what I'm trying to find out is... what's so wrong about me, can I fix it somehow? Or I'm just... that much a lost cause, a wretch, no matter what I do?" She bit on her lowe lip. "The last thing I want... the last thing I ever wanted, is to bring pain on the people who are important in my life. And yet, systematically.... is it really all I'm good for?...."

The figure in the darkness shifted slightly as a new stranger approached him. Beneath the desperation of this stranger, beneath the tumultuous flood of emotions, was a steady confidence that she could end him. An adorable sort of confidence, even if it were sorely misplaced; an Archfey of Geist's caliber would certainly take more than a lone woman with a blade to down, but he let her have her comforts where she could have them. After all, those were the only things she had. It would be a cruelty to take it away from her.

So instead, he tilted his head and listened to her as she readily let out her heart. He could see the hurts where they tie to others; they weren't frayed as they were simply tied into a knot with anxiety and grief. This, he could take apart without tearing. Some others were a death sentence; this simply needed a listening ear and a good word.

"A tempered blade will only know how to cut and be bled on. I know it hurts. It will not stop hurting. It is who you are, and you cannot change it. You will always hurt the ones you love, and it will be an important lesson to those who touch you. They must treat your edges with respect, lest they cut themselves on it." He said, red eyes unblinking. "Those who have left could not respect you. Let them leave. They are afraid."

"If you changed what made you you to avoid this pain, what would happen to those who love you as you are? Mamma, ho paura. Dove sei? If you are fine with dying and letting the monster who takes your place be silent as the grave, then do what you must. I only urge to think of those who would mourn the heart that killed itself out of fear." Geist tucked his legs in, lifting a hand to let a raven land on his fingers, leaving a little, shiny trinket in his palm. "There is still love burning to find the you as you are. It would be a shame if you killed your own heart before you met."

(It's been almost a year! Bringing this post back up because why not, it was fun.)