Nerek'Talar; Irinys Makes A Fiend. {Open}

[Rinneh]

((I mean...friend.))

Irinys was a solitary being, much like her sisters. She preferred to keep her distance from humanity, and probably the rest of her race as well. It was in an abandoned Elven village that she made her home -- and she couldn't help but think that there was something familiar about it. She felt as at home there as a Harpy could be at home; bones of her prey littered the landscape and she had a nest-like dwelling on the top of one of the houses. She dwelt alone, hunted alone, traveled alone, and was generally left alone.

That was probably a good thing, since she wasn't very friendly. Anything that walked through the forest was fair game, to eat, kill, or maim. It didn't matter which. It was all about how much they bothered her. People had a habit of doing that, too; especially Paladins. Aside from that, she had the habit of squalking and hissing during conversations, and consequentially wasn't a very good conversationalist. She could find little to talk about. She had no hobbies, and only lived to remain alive and to serve the Creator. There was no other reason for being.

But now she was feeling some sort of strange emotion. It wasn't the rumbling in her stomach that told her she was hungry. It was something a bit more like lead, almost like a fear.

Perhaps that dream had been a nightmare. It had certainly seemed frightening, but the whole thing could never have happened. She was a Harpy, not some stupid child running for its life. But there had been something in the reflection of that child's face that remained with her as she awoke. The curve of that face, and expression in the eyes -- they didn't seem distant enough. It made her... uncomfortable. She was comfortable doing the bidding of the Creator, or waiting for his call. She was comfortable here, watching over her solitary village in the deserted wood, disposing of any that dared venture there. She had time to think.

Irinys had always treasured thinking, even in this mutated form of hers. Her mind enjoyed a puzzle once in a while...though it usually involved a game of cat-and-mouse with her prey. That was as much fun as she had nowadays.

[Zachariah]

"Where... where..." Zachariah kept repeating this to himself as he stalked about the ruined village, heart hammering against his ribcage and pulses surging through his throat. They had all turned on him, every single member of the crew he had hired to take him to the Northern Land Mass had turned on him. It was by pure luck he was able to slip into the shadows at just the right moment, in just the right place. He knew that it wouldn't happen again if they found him.

It was even more fortunate, however, he had reached his destination. He was told of this village on the voyages there, and had hoped to find something valuable for his trouble. And, of course, he'd need a way back to human lands. He was told harpies dwelled there, but he was confident he could deal with them. He had yet to sell the sword he had acquired, and the feel of the scabbard around his back, secured by a leather strap around his chest, was more comforting than it had ever been.

He peered into one of the houses, and was nearly invisible as he walked into the shadow. He made sure his hood was as far over his head as possible as he searched through the house. He found a dilapidated wooden box, lock rusted and broken, with only a burnt piece of parchment inside. The words and letters on it were unintelligible to him, so he discarded it and made his way back outside.

If there was going to be something interesting in this dump, it had better show up now.

[Rinneh]

Oh, there was something interesting. And it was just about to show up.

Irinys had been watching Zachariah for a while, and only now realized what he was doing. Sure, there was treasure -- and that drew many treasure hunters -- but she didn't like people stealing it. She didn't lie people touching it. It wasn't that she had any use for it, but because she felt some attachment to it, like some long fought-off kinship. She liked to look at it once in a while, though the only jewel she ever wore was the amulet given to her by the Dark Lord Razgriz. It was something of her very own, something that she didn't ever have to give up in her life of roving about. Her sisters knew this village belonged to her, and they wouldn't dare set foot in it without her permission.

She made a slight cliking noise of angry confusion and took to the air, following Zachariah.

[Zachariah]

Zachariah stopped short, almost positive he heard something. He shook his head, thinking himself slightly delirious from all the running and hiding he had been doing. No treasure, no harpies, so far this had been a total rip-off as far as he had been concerned. All he had gotten was a brief leg cramp from running away from a horde of angry pirates, his workout for the day, and a good amount of exhaustion.

He looked around, things looked fairly dull. He had assumed the harpies had left, but he was sure they had been there, and recently. The bones and skeletons all about hinted to that quite well, in fact, though nothing much scared him anymore. He'd seen it all, including mass graveyards.
"Where's the harpy everyone's warning me about?" He said, quite loudly, as if to taunt the nonexistent (so he assumed) creature. "Tired? Dead? Or just too afraid to face the mighty Zachariah, expert thief and master merchant?" He laughed a little at the titles he had crafted for himself. "If you're good and come out, I might sell some things to you!"

[Rinneh]

Irinys landed on a roof near to him, perching there for a few moments and eyeing him menacingly as she shifted from talon to talon. Or so it seemed. She was really trying to read his face, to figure out who he was and why he had come here. Or perhaps he was lying about his name. Perhaps he had come here to kill her. She did have a reputation for being ruthless and territorial. Few, if any, had escaped her clutches.

Her eyes narrowed as he continued to speak. "I am afraid of no one but my Creator," she replied. "And those that steal are punished. I will be kind today and give you a head start." She smiled. "Go on; run. Scram."

[Zachariah]

Zachariah heard someone begin to speak, and soon located the source. He was fairly surprised, though he knew it unwise to show it, but also a bit pleased that there was, finally, something interesting going on. "Ah, look here." He said. "The famous harpy. You're quite the popular figure, do you know that? It's an honor to finally meet you." He made sure his voice was as fearless and confident as possible, showing fear was not a wise thing to do to his experience. "I do not, I am afraid, run. I will, however, incinerate you if you think I am but a hearty meal for you."
He reached into his satchel and pulled out a glass bottle filled with oil, or firewater as he preferred to call it. "If enough of this gets on you, you're nothing but a big flapping fireball." He smirked, gripping the bottle tightly. "I've done enough running today, and I'm getting myself a ship back home, if nothing else."

[Rinneh]

"Then why are you here? You are here to gawk at me?" She hissed slightly, ruffling her wings. "I was not aware of my fame -- and you have my thanks for indicating it to me." She then descended from the roof in one fell swoop. This time the expression 'fell swoop' could be taken literally; she appeared the mythological monster she was, coming down ot of the sky with a murderous glint to her yellowed eyes.

She stumbled a bit closer to him; still not within the range of a sword, but close enough to get a good look at his face.

"You call yourself Zachariah. I call myself Irinys." Her voice was like poisoned honey. "And you would incurr the wrath of the Creator if you were to harm me. I know your tricks, anyhow. You are a pyromancer, are you not?" Her smirk would have chilled the blood of many to ice.

"I assure you that I will not eat you -- I will merely leave you to rot here and eat the vultures that eat you. I am sure you have some interesting last words."

[Zachariah]

"Smart. Very smart indeed." Zachariah said. "You know that I am a pyromancer. Of course, you do not know of my magical firewater." He shook the bottle, other hand down and at his side, though poised to grab his sword and slice the creature in half if need be. "I could throw it at you and make it explode, let alone just coat you in it and set you ablaze. I could slice you in half with a blade, cook you, and use you for nourishment in a sweet sort of irony."
"So, my dear Irinys, what shall it be? Will you fight and die, or leave me to my work? I need to find a way home and you're really not helping." He asked, his limbs tense and ready to react at a moment's notice. The wind blew, his hood coming down and revealing his pale face grinning at her, the facial tattoos glowing for just a moment, heating the air around him.

[Rinneh]

"A way home?" She looked at him, quite confused. "You did not come here to steal from me, then? I have never met a /wanderer/ in these woods before. Most come for the treasure; some to try and slay me as if I were a creature to be hunted." She stretched her wings to their full span and then folded them again, as if to buy herself a bit of time.

"I know of your pyromancy because I am also trained in the art. I know not from whence my talent came, but it is present."

She retreated to the roof, idly. "Tell me your story, the story of why you are here. Then I will make my decision; whether to let your body rot here once you are dead, or allow you to leave peacefully."

[Zachariah]

"Allow me to leave peacefully or kill me, it's going to end the same. I've no way back home, as I said, and the way I did have wants me dead." Zachariah said. "As you asked, I'll explain." Omitting, he thought to himself, the mention of wanting to come to this village anyway. "I hired a crew to sail me over here on a ship, not having a crew or ship of my own, and the turned on my as we reached land. They tried to kill me, so I ran. I was lucky enough to have this robe and hood of mine." He acknowledged the robe.
"I hid in the shadows and fled to safety. The safest place happening to be here, where nobody else would go. I wished only to sell some of my wares, such as the firewater of which I have boasted. You know, simply asking to listen to my plight, you're rather decent for what I hear about harpies."

[Rinneh]

"I didn't /ask/," she pointed out. "I made a demand. Those are two entirely different things. But if you were looking to sell anything, you came to the wrong place. I have no money, and no want for those silly objects humans covet so much."

She crossed her arms, thinking. He said that she was "decent" for a harpy. Well, what was that supposed to mean? Did it mean that he should not fear her? It was just that her dreams of late had been disturbing -- that was all. There was some softness in her that she'd never seen before.

((short))

[Zachariah]

Zachary chuckled. "Same thing, same thing. Well, you're going to kill me or someone else will. Or I'm going to live here, I suppose. You won't mind a bit of company, will you?" He asked, grinning at her. "Trust me, I won't purposely snore all too loud." He looked around at a few of the buildings. "I'm sure there's a bed somewhere in all this mess, anyway. And I was not looking to sell to you. I was looking to sell to some of the other folk dwelling here. I would not be here had I not gotten sidetracked."
He sighed a little. "Ah, well. What'll it be, birdygirl?" He asked. He couldn't help but think she'd make a fine associate, perhaps a partner if he wanted to go that far, even if she was a tad creepy by his standards. It was an idea for consideration indeed, but he was fairly sure she wouldn't care for it. She didn't seem like the type at all, to him, to be very welcome to working with a human, let alone one such as himself.

[Rinneh]

"You shall never live here!" She hissed defensively; a frightening sound to go with a frightening appearance. But from what else she said, she knew that he was probably jesting -- and so she calmed herself a bit.

"There are no other folk dwelling here, Zachariah. The Elves left this place many years ago, and my sisters and I are its only inhabitants now. Another thing -- you will address me by my name, as I address you by yours," she said, eyes still narrowed as she watched him. "And if you were to stay here, I would kill you. " Every bad guy has a secret lair, and this was hers. She didn't want some thief using it as a base for his thievery. Then more people would come traipsing through and her whole evil reputation would be ruined. Ruined!

"If I help you find your way, do I have your word that you will leave me alone in the future? You will never return here for as long as your life lasts?" She was only offering help so he'd leave, after all. She hated the company of others.

[Zachariah]

"Well I won't come here often enough for you to care. Any treasure that's here probably isn't worth enough to look too hard for, so perhaps I'll just pop by once in a while to say hello." Zachariah said, grinning devilishly. "Though you'll find that you wouldn't see me again anyway. It's rare that I go to the same place twice, and there's nobody to steal from on this great dirt-patch anyway, though perhaps in many years, after you've long forgotten of the great and talented Zachariah..."
He shook his head. "Alright, well... we're going to have to find our way back to the port, then, Miss Irinys?" He inquired, motioning towards the forest in the general direction he assumed the port was. "Unless you'd rather I lead the way, of course. Though that is unwise, considering I've barely an idea where this is, happening upon it mostly by chance."

[Rinneh]

Irinys looked at him indignantly. "If ever I was forced to see your face again, after today, I would scratch out your eyes and feed them to the forest creatures." She scowled. "But I will lead you to the port, since you do not know this forest. I am surprised you were able to find this village in the first place, without my sisters finding you first."

She descended from the roof once more. "Follow me."