[the slash takes him by surprise, ears twitching back briefly before they relax again, but-- rynlan glances over to him, brow furrowed slightly in concern. the reaction gives him some idea, but-]
...is that him?
[the man he'd mentioned before, who did this to him. who, from the sounds of it, made himself sound an awful lot different.]
[He attempts a few more slashes, cracking the screen with each heavy strike as the image fades away. Is he aiming at the red priest, or the bright-eyed youth who looks at him with such admiration?
It's- easier for it to be that way than we'd like to think, a lot of the time.
[he's been in similar positions.
the screen helpfully flicks back on, its cracks vanishing as it starts up again, but this time it seems like it's rynlan's turn.
he's in a broken area, the air thick with a magic storm, lightning arcing in various colors over toward the horizon, but- this isn't the current rynlan. he isn't blue, for one thing. he's pale, blond, seated on a ledge with another blond elf who's a little taller than him; the other elf's red and gold armor matches rynlan's red and gold robes.
he looks ill. too pale, too tired, dark circles under his eyes, which glow a sickly green; the color matches the crystal clutched in one hand, which he's slowly draining of its energy. rynlan relaxes slightly as he does, the tremors in his hands slowing, tension easing from his body as he exhales a sigh.
'you're up to three a day,' his companion murmurs, a little worry creeping into his voice. 'i think this place isn't good for you, ryn.'
'i'm fine,' he mutters, tossing the depleted crystal aside. 'you're the one who's not getting enough, aren-- you're going to turn if you starve yourself, neither of us is clueless about what happens if we don't feed. i'm not losing you to this, if you would just agree to accepting the augmented crystals we'd both be fine for days.'
the tremors never fully go away, and aren watches his hands in silence for a few moments. glances back up to ryn's eyes, a more radiant green shade after feeding off the crystal.
'you know where this comes from. what he's been giving them.'
'i know, i know, demonic energy, but the prince knows what he's doing. you don't see me growing horns or something--'
'some of the others have.'
rynlan falls quiet, there, as aren continues.
'they're working with the demons, now, they're-- changing them. i saw what happens when they feed off the augmented crystals, all of them are... i don't know what's happening, ryn, they're not themselves, they barely listen to me. i know we came here to follow him, but this isn't right, we have to go-'
'go where?'
it's aren's turn to fall silent. there aren't many places for blood elves to go, these days, except for... well, the draenei, hoping they'll be offered at least some sort of sanctuary from people who have only ever been hurt by the elves before. but they're not outright enemies, depending. some might listen. if they flee demonic corruption, they might listen.
'...fine,' rynlan says eventually, standing and brushing purple dust from his robes. it's hard to focus on anything but the ambient magic in the air, how badly he wants to just drink it all in. they do need to leave, or at some point he'll no longer be able to suppress the urge. 'you know i'll go anywhere with you, anyway.'
the rynlan in the present is toying idly with the chain of his necklace as this plays, brows furrowed.]
...we believed in our prince a lot longer than we should have, too. Believed he'd cure us.
[There's a lot that's unfamiliar here. Seeing Rynlan like that is plenty jarring, though Zelgadis's expression remains measured. His gaze follows that small movement of Rynlan's.]
... You guys were pretty desperate. What kind of sickness was that...?
...I mentioned elves are magical by nature. We're-- dependent on it, at this point, after centuries of living so close to a source, and normally it's more than enough to sustain us.
We didn't know we were addicted until it was destroyed. The demons' magic... we were desperate, it was all we had.
Elves who fail to control their addiction and succumb to it-- they change.
[his ears twitch a little uncomfortably, at the thought.]
Either they indulged too much, or they starved themselves until they couldn't help but give in and glut themselves on magic. It doesn't matter either way, they still... they lose control. They're slaves to their hunger, at that point, they consume so much of it that it literally grows from their bodies.
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[the slash takes him by surprise, ears twitching back briefly before they relax again, but-- rynlan glances over to him, brow furrowed slightly in concern. the reaction gives him some idea, but-]
...is that him?
[the man he'd mentioned before, who did this to him. who, from the sounds of it, made himself sound an awful lot different.]
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[He attempts a few more slashes, cracking the screen with each heavy strike as the image fades away. Is he aiming at the red priest, or the bright-eyed youth who looks at him with such admiration?
... Yeah, it's kind of the latter.]
I was such an idiot...
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[he says that quietly, though he knows well enough that it's not that easy.]
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It's just... infuriating to watch.
I admired that man. Followed him for years... even after what he did to me. I believed in him even more than I believed the things I saw with my eyes.
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[he's been in similar positions.
the screen helpfully flicks back on, its cracks vanishing as it starts up again, but this time it seems like it's rynlan's turn.
he's in a broken area, the air thick with a magic storm, lightning arcing in various colors over toward the horizon, but- this isn't the current rynlan. he isn't blue, for one thing. he's pale, blond, seated on a ledge with another blond elf who's a little taller than him; the other elf's red and gold armor matches rynlan's red and gold robes.
he looks ill. too pale, too tired, dark circles under his eyes, which glow a sickly green; the color matches the crystal clutched in one hand, which he's slowly draining of its energy. rynlan relaxes slightly as he does, the tremors in his hands slowing, tension easing from his body as he exhales a sigh.
'you're up to three a day,' his companion murmurs, a little worry creeping into his voice. 'i think this place isn't good for you, ryn.'
'i'm fine,' he mutters, tossing the depleted crystal aside. 'you're the one who's not getting enough, aren-- you're going to turn if you starve yourself, neither of us is clueless about what happens if we don't feed. i'm not losing you to this, if you would just agree to accepting the augmented crystals we'd both be fine for days.'
the tremors never fully go away, and aren watches his hands in silence for a few moments. glances back up to ryn's eyes, a more radiant green shade after feeding off the crystal.
'you know where this comes from. what he's been giving them.'
'i know, i know, demonic energy, but the prince knows what he's doing. you don't see me growing horns or something--'
'some of the others have.'
rynlan falls quiet, there, as aren continues.
'they're working with the demons, now, they're-- changing them. i saw what happens when they feed off the augmented crystals, all of them are... i don't know what's happening, ryn, they're not themselves, they barely listen to me. i know we came here to follow him, but this isn't right, we have to go-'
'go where?'
it's aren's turn to fall silent. there aren't many places for blood elves to go, these days, except for... well, the draenei, hoping they'll be offered at least some sort of sanctuary from people who have only ever been hurt by the elves before. but they're not outright enemies, depending. some might listen. if they flee demonic corruption, they might listen.
'...fine,' rynlan says eventually, standing and brushing purple dust from his robes. it's hard to focus on anything but the ambient magic in the air, how badly he wants to just drink it all in. they do need to leave, or at some point he'll no longer be able to suppress the urge. 'you know i'll go anywhere with you, anyway.'
the rynlan in the present is toying idly with the chain of his necklace as this plays, brows furrowed.]
...we believed in our prince a lot longer than we should have, too. Believed he'd cure us.
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... You guys were pretty desperate. What kind of sickness was that...?
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We didn't know we were addicted until it was destroyed. The demons' magic... we were desperate, it was all we had.
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What does that mean, to "turn"?
[Something that happens if they starve?]
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[his ears twitch a little uncomfortably, at the thought.]
Either they indulged too much, or they starved themselves until they couldn't help but give in and glut themselves on magic. It doesn't matter either way, they still... they lose control. They're slaves to their hunger, at that point, they consume so much of it that it literally grows from their bodies.