Consequences of Our Actions

[lizardtits]

The past couple days have been a whirlwind of events.

...Okay, honestly, that's just par for the course for this group of assholes, but it hits differently now that they know Portia's making moves and that the Celestial realms are now potential targets. Things are happening and will continue to happen until either everyone is dead or Portia and the Dreamer are stopped.

But that can be dealt with later. For now, Velo has some more personal business to take care of. During a quiet moment, maybe while Gorudak is off on his next god-bothering mission, she goes to seek out Naeris. Even among the crowds of tall orcs, it's not hard to spot her and her colorful outfit in the bustle, or that of her not!dad. She works herself through the crowd to flag her down.

"Hey, Naeris! Do you have a moment?"

Comments

[lizardtits]

The safest place that's close by would probably be their yurt, so that's where she leads them. It may be bugged, but honestly it doesn't matter if Duminak hears any of it. He'll probably know one way or another.

Velo quietly listens on the way over, while also helping keep the ice cream from toppling with subtle applications of mage hand.

"I get what you mean. Now that you mention it, most Lliirans I've seen do have long hair..." She contemplates this for a minute, mentally putting together the pieces. Sune views hair as important, but Naeris cut it off. That would indeed be considered an insult. She doesn't try to make any assumptions yet, though, instead letting Naeris tell the story at her own pace.

[snackattacks]

That mage hand is coming in clutch, Velo, thank you.

"The Lliirans you've met have all probably been close to Sune," Naeris confirms, "My dad was one of her favorites, actually."

Was.

It hurts to think that Githal's undying loyalty to the goddess had been thrown away over something that wasn't his fault (and something that arguably be seen as Naeris' fault, instead). He still had Lliira, who would never abandon him over a matter as arbitrary as a scarred body, but the principle still stands.

As for Coruthel...

Well, Naeris got her defiant streak from somewhere.

"Once, both my dad and my mom were close with Sune. They're closer with Lliira, and they're still with Lliira, but it's not uncommon for that kind of overlap. Mom, um, you've never met her, but her hair is short. I've never seen it long, but according to Dad, it used to go down to her hips. She cut it because it got in the way on a mission where she had to protect Dad. I don't know the details outside of that, but Sune was angry enough about it that she gave Mom the cold shoulder. Mom's kept her hair short ever since. Just to make a point. Sune still loved Githal, though."

When they reach the yurt, Naeris dips inside and immediately searches for a table to place her sundae on.

"That's, um, that's just an example of how seriously she takes the hair thing. Does it make sense?"

[lizardtits]

Once in the yurt, Velo goes to pull up a couple seats for them at the nearest table where she's putting down the ice cream.

"I think I'm starting to get a sense of that, yes." Her response is measured, as it starts to dawn on her what kind of being Sune is. Giving someone the cold shoulder just because they did something out of necessity? It does put Naeris' actions into perspective, and while she didn't disapprove of the stunt before, it's starting to sound more and more justified. Still, she's withholding comment until her story is done.

She sets her own bowl down on the table and takes a seat.

"But anyway, what made her change her mind about Githal?"

[snackattacks]

Naeris hops into the proffered seat with a murmured word of gratitude and settles in, poise neat and straight like a dancer, even while sitting.

She shovels some of the more melted bits of ice cream into her mouth while Velo speaks, keeping eye contact the whole time and responding with the occasional nod. Her next question draws a pause from Naeris, who almost immediately goes from attempting a 100% no-glitch speed run on her sundae to a full stop.

This is the hard part.

Now that they've reached the present day in this little tale, the story goes from fanciful personal legend to the hard-hitting reality she's had to face the moment the party came across her father.

"He... didn't always look like that. His face, I mean. Before Drodon, he didn't have a single scar on his body."

She shifts in her seat, folding her knees up while still keeping her back straight.

"When everything happened, he'd been hurt pretty badly. He took a sword to the back so I could escape, and even before that, those guards had roughed him up. But nothing happened to his face. Nothing that would leave deep marks like that. Which means they must've done something to him after--"

After she left him there for dead.

"--after they captured him."

[lizardtits]

Ah, yep, there it was. A favorite of Sune's, discarded because of some scars. Velo tries to keep a straight face through all of this, but there is a notable twitch of her eye, similar to how Gorudak is when dealing with all their bullshit.

"And so I assume she didn't like that?" Not a big jump in logic, but best to hear it from Naeris directly. "I know I said I wouldn't judge, but if you would like my take on this, I can give it to you."

[snackattacks]

“You’d assume right.”

There’s more to it. A lot more, but it can wait. Velo’s been patiently waiting for Naeris to finish blabbing. The least she could do is defer to her friend so she could get a few words in, herself.

“Go for it.”

[lizardtits]

"This. Absolute bitch."

The more she processes the information, the angrier she gets. Really? Tossed out over scars?

"So what if he's got a few scars now? She's gonna snub him for that? It wasn't even his fault! Goddess of beauty my ass, she's the goddess of vapid bitches now. Please tell me you cut your in front of her. Please tell me you burned that hair up right in front of her shallow face. I get why you did it now, and honestly if she did that to either of my parents I'd have done the same thing. ...Or, something similar. I said I'd stand by your decision before but now I'm really in your corner."

Velo finally takes a breath after all that, centering herself. She could go on, but she's said her piece on the matter.

"I mean, yes, it might make things harder in the future, but now that we have her piece of the armor I don't think I want her help anymore if she's going to be like that."

[snackattacks]

Velo has Naeris' full, undivided attention during her monologue. There's something inspiring about seeing her get so passionate about an issue. The dragonborn always used logic and dry humor to offset her emotions, pushing them to the side for reasons Naeris hasn't had a chance to poke at more than Velo has seen fit to share. These fiery moments, few and far between, allow for a glimpse at the values and feelings that make Velo tick deep under that scaly, galaxy brain armor. It's a chance to peek into someone's personal truth, and one that Naeris relishes not with pompous or arrogant smugness, but with a delighted appreciation for the opportunity to get to know a friend.

That, and validation is one hell of a drug.

"Yup, I cut my hair in front of her. Didn't burn it, though. She didn't give me enough time to."

She'd never been bitchslapped back to the material plane before. Zero out of ten stars. Wouldn't recommend.

"And yeah, we got what we went there for. That part of the mission is complete, at least."

Which is part of why she refuses to feel too bad about it. Naeris did what she knows in her heart was right (at least in accordance to what she believes is important), and outside of the inevitable shitshow that's going to be delivering news of Milil's gruesome death to Lliira (whatever chiding Naeris is due for is, most likely, going to be shoved to the wayside in lieu of the more important, and heart-breaking, news), she's certain that the party will find a way to make things work.