takestime | TLV IC Inbox

I'd like more of my powers back.

Hey. You still good?

By the time they've reached the Fifth Precinct Zerxus is aching and exhausted, which doesn't help him stay above water as he looks for Kahl. It's starting to feel hopeless - he can't dive beneath the surface in full plate, he can barely manage this - and he reaches a hand up to press against his eyes as he stops moving forward, just treading water.

There has to be a better way to do this. They're connected, he'd even felt it when he wasn't himself, so if he can just -

Kahl! I'm close, I need you to come to me. By habit, he's slipped into the simple focused call the Ring of Brass used when they were linked by Laerryn's spell. It doesn't work, of course, and he starts trying to infuse his words with more purpose, more emotion; he leans into the righteous fury on Kahl's behalf, and the profound depths of protectiveness he's felt since the moment Zerxus laid eyes on him.

Hello, darling.

You might have noticed that things have been settled with the newcomer. Your name was spoken.

I'd like to revisit an offer you made me.

Kahl.

Do you have some time? I would like to speak with you.

Zerxus knows where to go. He isn't stalling, but he isn't rushing either; it's a very deliberate pace.

This definitely won't fool either god, but it's the principle of the thing.

As they approach the makeshift cabin, though, he just has to stop and roll his eyes. Of course the sheet of metal has been forged into a grandiose arch gilded with onyx; of course flames lick the slanted threshold, smelling of blood and ink and ash; of course the knocker is a horned skull with gleaming ruby eyes.

He glances at Kahl and murmurs, "I don't suppose you brought any of those googly eyes with you?"

Zerxus doesn't call for Kahl right away. All in all, it's probably around an hour - he talks to Ashton, drinks some water, gathers enough strength to stagger to the upper deck.

Tempus isn't pleased with him, but lets him collapse against his side. Zerxus stays like that for a bit, curled up with his eyes closed, just breathing.

Then, finally,

Kahl?

[ Bright and early, there's a knock on Kahl's door. ]

'Ey darling, want to come to movie night? It's an epic tale of violent revenge and I thought you might like it.

The first thing Zerxus does, upon finally waking up in a room that doesn't truly belong to the Hells, is pray to Kahl.

There's a desperate undercurrent to it, a dread he could have extinguished with a glance at his warden item, but he’s not in the most rational of mental states.

[ Not long after this conversation, there's a wry question in Kahl's inbox. ]

Anything you want to tell me?

For Porthos, shortly before Constantinople

audio

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after the SH event

Narrenschiff, Day One

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