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Another chuckle. His response was what one could expect, really. He did not much disappoint. It was a pretty lame little game she’d played there. Yet, it had also made both of them laugh. That constituted a win in her book.
Still though, she should probably clear that up. “It really is not all that special, if I am being honest.” Naturally, she would take the last sip from her beer before continuing, just to add another little pause to it. By now, that was probably fairly transparent as far as strategies went, but it was just her way of doing things. It was more fun to be that way.

Every setup needed a punchline, though. And she was far better at the former than giving anything interesting in the end. Nat liked to think that the disappointment from that would be endearing, rather than annoying. “I am a healer by trade. But my method of healing is kind of painful. Hence, I am not very successful at it outside of my own guild. Those guys don’t mind a little pain. The upside of working with machos, really.”


Orion Prima

Did he just do that mug in one go? That definitely was not a healthy thing to do. Even someone who drank a lot should really only take moderate amounts at once. It both diluted the immediate effect and worsened the delayed one, if she had learned that correctly. Didn’t have to be as slow as her own sipping, sure. But down in one was probably a bit overboard.
Then again, neither her business, nor her problem. Natalie shrugged, taking another one of her sips, almost finishing her own first one. It was still well within her limits without getting much tipsy.

“A mage, yes. Though not very flashy or anything,” she replied. Her voice was much more jovial than her choice of words would probably imply. If she had that kind of magic, she would just create a brief spark or something of her own to indicate it, but that was not really what her brand was good for. “Hmm, you see, I can’t even show it to you right now. Well, I could, but you would be in a bit of pain and you would have to drink even more.” Once more, she chuckled, having said something deliberately misleading just to mess with him. It was true, sure. But it also was not exactly what people would expect from what had just been said.




Orion Prima

Natalie chuckled gently at his admission. It was not one of defeat. That had not been the point to begin with. He simply accepted her reasoning. Sometimes, it was not necessary to convince someone that the own way was better in any way. It was just as good to be acknowledged. She’d briefly raise her mug in compliance, then took another sip. It would be empty in the next few minutes. Nat was not stressing it. She did not drink to forget, either. It was just nice sometimes.

However, part of that mutual understanding reached had seemingly gotten to the man. He elevated this from ‘two strangers talking in a tavern’ to ‘two strangers that knew one another’s names talking in a tavern’. She was not sure what to think of that. That made this all a bit more real. If he had lead with a name, she would have considered it to be fake. But after a deeply philosophical discussion like this? He probably meant it.
Still, being rude would certainly not be the answer here. “Nat,” she simply noted, while accepting his hand for a shake. Likely, his was both bigger and rougher, as one might expect. “It is not rude at all. Sometimes, acquaintances made at the bar are best left nameless. Especially when chances are to not see one another again.”


Orion Prima

Natalie held her ears, just in case, when she heard the scream. She did not know the other’s magic well at all. There was no telling whether this would hurt her as well. It was certainly loud and shrill, even behind the mage, which was annoying in its own right. Fortunately, the skeleton was unable to do such. Could a skeleton even hear? Why was it destroyed by this? It had to be vibrations or something. Nat could feel a light reverberation in her body. But she did not crumple from this or anything like that.

Instead, she watched the girl’s antics a little longer. She decided to defile the corpse a bit more, but since someone already animated it, that probably wasn’t too big an issue. “I guess you killed it. Or re-killed it. Better if it does not jump back up again once poked,” she noted, following along. She warily looked around, thinking there might be more foes nearby. So far no ‘luck’, though. “If this is here, then others like it might as well. What do you think? This might be the reason why people thought this place haunted…but it couldn’t be all there is, right? There has to be some reason for it.”



Kin Harle

“Hmm,” she made, thinking for a bit. She did get what he was going for here and part of her did want to agree. Or rather, she already agreed with it. However, that did not mean that her opinion had been changed, her stance on the subject swayed. It was not easy to explain, even for herself, so she mulled it over briefly, brushing a stray hair out of her field of vision. No real reason, just a bit of a tick sometimes displayed by the healer.
Eventually, it dawns upon her why that was. “You know, I think we don’t think the same way about these things. Repression is bad. But to me, it is not forgetting. Someone like that is exactly the kind of person that should forget, to me. They are still swayed by the past, cannot let it go. It is not forgotten, just pushed back.”

Yes, that was it. They differed in definition. To him, forgetting had the negative connotation of someone just trying to get rid of the past but failing. But to her, it was much more akin to what he spoke of. Though not fully, really. After taking another sip, half emptying the mug by now, she would continue: “I agree about acceptance. In a way, that is the kind of forgetting that I mean. Not pushing the past away, but rather making peace with it. Coming to the conclusion that it has no more true bearing on the present and that what is done is done. If you can truly and utterly forget, it is not temporary.”
She’d turn towards him, trying to make eye-contact, if possible. The next part was her making a very educated guess, but it still could be wrong. Then again, he was a drinker that talked about this as if he knew his stuff. Chances were he had some dark things hiding in his past. “Tell me, honestly. If I could snap my fingers right now to take away your most painful memories. Not just push aside. Not a distraction. But fully taking it away so that you would not even know you’d had it. Would that truly be wrong?”



Orion Prima

She chuckled at his answer. He did not really answer her question, but that was kind of expected. Natalie had to admit that her thinking in this regard was pretty out there. Most people would likely not agree a all, but she found solace in the explanation. Hence, she would give it to him. Later. For now, there was something else that she fixated on. “Hmm, I think I don’t like that word for it. ‘Beast’ that is,” she started before inserting another pause by sipping. Once done, she briefly narrowed her eyes, almost mischievously, though she swiftly returned to her usual behaviour, as if that had just been a little joke.
“The ‘beast’ you speak of…that is us. Lust, anger, pride, those are all traits we possess. In moderation, they are good. A craftsman taking pride in his finished project. A man getting angry about an injustice and doing something about it. A man and a woman engaging int…well, you know what.” A brief chuckled followed. Wouldn’t be prudent to speak of such things too openly, after all. “They are part of us. We just do not let them out often. This ‘stuff’ just makes us bring them out. But is that really part of forgetting, or is it just part of drinking, which helps us forget?”

That was at the core of her philosophy, really. Nataly liked things in their proper order. She liked outcomes being attributed to proper causes. It was not forgetting itself that turned people into beasts. It was that which caused the loss of memory in the first place. Taking another sip, she noticed that he finished number one already. Would he claim the second free one for himself, or buy another? He did not seem finished yet. “To answer your question, it is simple. I consider the past worth forgetting when it keeps us from moving forward. Many people are bound by it, shackled by it. They try to preserve memories at the cost of making new ones. That is when I believe there to be a case to forget. The past informs us. But who we are in the present, that defines us.”



Orion Prima

If there was one truth she knew about this place before even entering, it was a very simple and profound one: it would be dirty and dusty. That just was how old and abandoned buildings were. As such Natalie was for once not wearing some sort of dress, but something that resembled a cleaner’s uniform, with a raincoat of black overhead. It was not a very flattering choice of attire for anyone, but it was, most of all, practical. She would probably need more of that, given just who she was embarking on this little adventure with. Fortunately, she would get paid for this.

However, feeling a lot like a hired goon more than anything else, Miss Chevalier could not really share her partner’s cheeriness. Fortunately, she had already established herself as a more reserved kind of person. Hence, she could hide her annoyance behind a gentle little smile. “Yes, I guess we are~” she noted, trying to sound at least a bit positive about it all, as she took a closer look at the establishment that would house them for a bit, willing or not. It had mostly fallen to the ravages of time, yet at least it did not look like it would collapse on top of them. She really did not like the angle it stood at, though. Something was wrong there.

“Fortunately, criminals are a foolish and superstitious lot. If not, I am certain we are well equipped to take care of spooks and goblins.” Lightly angling her head to the side, she’d give the grinning girl a smile. Their magics were probably useful enough to either get rid of or understand any possible hauntings. Not that she believed in ghosts anyway. A mage animating a skeleton? Maybe. But not the restless spirits of the dead doing this or that. It was probably just a means to protect this place from looters. Well, looters other than them. “You seem to have more experience with these kinds of things. How would you reckon us to approach this?”

Kin Harle