Transparents and Truants

[Harbor]

Well, it was his leg. Rowanis decided not to pull the ‘I’m older than you and know better’ foolishness, as she was briefly tempted to do, more to see his reaction than to affect a change. It wasn’t as if she was well versed on the topic of men leaping from windows. They were only on the second floor anyway, weren’t they? She hadn’t been paying much attention.

But when he added the broken neck part she just threw her head back and groaned, exasperated. ”So don’t go head first. I understand you’re a man, but surely even you must know better.” And then off he went, clambering out of the window and onto the window frame. Rowanis, arms still crossed, stuck her head out the window to watch him drop, wincing as he let go and as he landed, sighing as he gathered up his pack as though he’d just descended a flight of stairs, and took off.

Rowanis flinched to stare behind herself at the door when it thrust inward, a scholar of some form or another walking in backward as he finished a conversation to a fellow philosopher, perhaps. Caught by surprise her body still reacted as it would have before, tensing and recoiling, even when there was clearly no need. When the young man—perhaps thirty at most, and a cheery, handsome sort of fellow—turned to thoughtfully peruse the bookshelf just beyond her shoulder, she may as well have been as outstanding as a shadow.

Usually the hurt of being ignored only touched her on her bad days. But after being seen for the first time in however long it had been it stung just a little worse to be ignored today. Oh well. By tomorrow she probably wouldn’t care at all. Being a part of one person’s life again made it easier to be left out by everyone else in her world. Rowanis smiled faintly to herself then, amused; there were probably going to be days when Trelik wanted to kill her a second time, just for being so enthused over something he found benign and boring. Well, that would be fun for her at least.

Somehow Rowanis nearly always heard her name when someone spoke it, but it had been so long since someone said it outside of the ‘normal’ means of hearing that she nearly missed it. She brought herself to the mouth of the alley where Trelik had hidden himself, purposefully appearing well within his sight and a fair distance away so she’d startle him as little as possible. ”I’m here,” she answered with a smile, nearly skipping over to him. ”Sorry, I got distracted.” She adjusted her shawl, which had reappeared the moment she stopped thinking about it, and glanced about with curiosity. ”How will you be leaving? There’s an older part of the wall where the stones are less even—how well can you climb?”

[Timmir]

Trelik was a bit unnerved as Rowanis made her sudden appearance. Was this going to be the way she teleported to him from now on? If so, Trelik didn't knew if he was ever going to get use to it.

"I know of the spot on the wall you speak of. The problem isn't climbing up the wall, but getting back down. The guards posted on the wall have became pretty vigilant ever since the war started, and there aren't many places on the other side that are as easy to climb down on. And if I end up being caught while climbing either side, I'm going to end up being a sitting duck to the hail of arrows that's going to be following me." Trelik then got back up with a grunt.

"Well it's still better then any other plan I can come up with. You coming, or are you just going to sit this one out?" He asked the ghost as he prepared himself to head out. He didn't like the idea of climbing up and dow that wall with his injured leg, but he didn't have many options. At least this one wasn't as suicidal as the others.

[Harbor]

Rowanis became a bit self-conscious when she either saw or imagined she saw—it was hard to tell with the thief, since he didn’t show his emotions as readily as she was accustomed to doing, having had no audience any time recently—a flicker of some form of disapproval when he saw her arrive. Well, what was she supposed to do? Why jump out a window if she didn’t have to? The only pain she felt was the pain she expected to feel: a phantom ache when she tripped on someone’s stairs, which vanished the moment she was distracted from it. The majority of her existence wound around her own expectations; she imagined she could exist quite differently if she’d died with different expectations.

”I can stop the arrows, I believe,” she answered, wondering how different it could be from what she’d done with the falling notebooks and such back inside. ”But,” she sighed. ”I can’t think of anything else useful to do. There’s a drainage hole for floods, but it’s barred over I think, and rather small. Will the guards recognize you that quickly that you can’t just use the door? It’s much less conspicuous.” And assuredly something he’d thought of already, but getting used to Trelik’s way of life and thinking would certainly require some adaptation and learning on her part.

”I’m coming,” she answered instantly. She’d climb this time though, if she could. Traveling in a manner in which he couldn’t imitate seemed rude, if nothing else. If nothing else, that could be her excuse. ”I believe I’d be able to keep you from falling if you slipped, too, so long as you don’t just throw yourself down,” she mused. It would be easier if she used her hands as opposed to stiffened air, but she preferred it this way; it had been too long since she’d openly touched other people to be fully comfortable with it anymore. A distant barking reached her ears, and Rowanis glanced behind them. ”How do you feel about dogs?” Just in case the hounds decided to investigate.

[Timmir]

Trelik smiled as he heard Rowanis offer him suggestions. He must admit, it was nice having someone who was willing to help him. More often then not, he had to be careful of those he is around for they would stab him in the back the second he allows them.

"Well it seems you haven't tried leaving the city yet. The problem with leaving through the front gate is the fact that it is closed during the night so no one can get through. It's to help prevent people from sneaking in or out, while also cutting on the man power you need in order to keep the gate guarded. And while we could just wait til daybreak, with each passing moment out here we risk being discovered. As for the flood gate idea. I must admit, I never thought of that. Though I fear I would be to big to get through it now, and even if I could, it is most certainly blocked by bars in order to prevent people from doing just that." He told Rowanis as he walked towards the wall.

"As for your thoughts for how you can help me while I climb the wall, let's just keep that as a back up plan just in case. I have a much simpler task in mind for you. Tell me Rowanis, how well are you able to make a distraction?" He asked simply. Hopefully, the ghost would be able to lure the guards away from him while he's climbing down the wall.

He then heard something that troubled him. "It depends." He told her in a quiet voice, "There are only two different types of dogs that would be outside at this time. Strays and guard dogs. While I can easily deal with a stray, a guard dog could mean alot of trouble for me. Especially since it's handler would most definitely be nearby."

[Harbor]

A distraction? Rowanis grinned. "Just tell me when and how big. I can't knock a wall down but I can create a respectable ruckus." It was one of the harmless ways she amused herself when not looking after or out for little ones. Those who had thoroughly offended her or had committed some offense against someone she'd decided to unknowingly take under her protection tended to end up at the center of her ruckuses, but she never harmed them permanently. Only roughed them up a little and gave them a healthy fear of the unknown. On the subtler end of her mysteries she'd once taken every sharp tool a raunchy stable hand had owned and driven it into the high ceiling of his stable where he couldn't reach them without a ladder. He had ended up leaving his current master and finding work on the other side of the city. As for the woman who had tried to drown an unwanted newborn, after Rowanis saved the child then caused her bed sheets, curtains, table cloths, smaller furniture, kitchen utensils, cleaning supplies and cutlery to all chase her first through her house then onto the street, where the items wouldn't permit her to leave a tiny torn up circle of dirt until Rowanis was convinced the woman would never so much as squash a bug again, the woman ended up leaving the city entirely. She didn't even take her things.

She scowled in the general direction of the dogs. "Want me to see if I can figure out which ones they are?" Animals, contrary to popular myth, regarded her in much the same way as humans did; animals were more likely to perceive that she--or something--was present, but by and large they too ignored her. Unfortunate, really. She'd have been so much less lonely if even the mice could see her.

[Timmir]

((Sorry for the 12 day wait -_-))

"Right now, all I can say is that I need you to do what you can to draw their attention away from me while I'm climbing down the wall. I'd be able to tell you more once I get an idea what the situation is up there." Trelik told her before turning her attention to the other subject at hand.

"If you could check what it is, that would be helpful. As I said before, a stray is easily distracted by a piece of meat. If it's a guard dog however, I'd need you to see where exactly they're heading. If they aren't heading anywhere close to the wall then I we can ignore them. On the other hand though, if they are investigating the wall, then I will need to find a way to deal with them." Hopefully it won't end up having to come to that.

[Harbor]

A distraction. She could create a distraction well enough , surely. She'd done such things before, though rarely did she do it with an active audience. Such things were harder to control, and she hated to frighten those who didn't deserve it. Rowanis was so caught up in her musings of just what mischief she ought to get up to that she started trotting off before Trelik had even finished.

Therein lay a spot of trouble. For all her abstract skills in this form, she still couldn't be in two places at once. The guards thought for themselves, however, so she decided that they were her first priority.

"Right," she said, coming to a vague decision of what she could do on either end of their dilemma. "I'll go pick on the men and then see what's to be done about the dogs. Say my name if you need anything." She couldn't remember if she'd told him already that she always heard her name. It had made it quite a simple thing to eavesdrop on those who had gossiped about her after she died. It had been quite illuminating to hear what people believed they really thought about her.

Rowanis trotted off toward the guards collecting in a disorganized mass near the main gates. They waved their arms and shouted, and Rowanis smiled, coming to a stop amidst their flailing group, near their center. She spread her hands at her sides, pursed her lips through her smile, and used a manufactured breeze to lift the top layer of grit and dirt from the ground.

It took the babbling men at least thirty seconds to notice the rising soil. They grabbed each other's shoulders and quieted, unsure of what this new sorcery intended, until they saw the dirt begin to writhe.

As soon as the dirt formed hazy tendrils that began to thrash back And forth the men began to shout again, stumbling as they fought each other to find a way out of the tentacles surrounding them. The flecks of dirt stung where they struck skin or eyes, but in truth Rowanis's strength diminished with the size of her magic, so to speak. Most of this was just for show, and it was working. She herded the stupefied men into a tighter group, winding them together until they stood packed in, and then lifted the translucent layer of grit until it closed the men in as though they had been trapped under an enormous bell jar. She grinned, and dropped her hands. The men could easily leave their prison if they tried, but for the moment they were afraid to touch it.

The baying of the dogs reminded her of her other errand, and she muttered another word ladies didn't know, and took off at a run toward their sound. She couldn't imagine herself to a place or a being she didn't know. At least she hadn't tried yet and didn't think she could. The dogs had found Trelik's scent, it appeared, and had decided to follow it. The three lean, beefy animals were vying to be first in their chase of the man who had left the trail they had latched onto. "Trelik, they're guard dogs!" she shouted, uncertain of where he was but wanting to warn him. The stick of the dirt-bell-jar magic wouldn't last long; she couldn't keep the dogs back and the men as well. Damn.

Rowanis released the influence she'd put on the wind and dirt and focused it instead on the hounds' legs, thickening the air around them, slowing them down as best she could without hurting them.

{Sorry for the wait. }