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"It's probably some oversized rat or something," Agatha rolls her eyes, but still follows Tharaêl into the depths of the crypt. He 'heard' something and 'saw someone' get inside a few days ago, and it's been on his mind since - Agatha thinks he's a bit stupid and slow ever since she hit him hard, but she'd rather follow him in there than go help Tealor and entertain his delusions of grandeur.
"Don't you hear that?" He snaps around, torch almost in her face. She does hear something, but she'd rather die than admit it.
So she stares at him point blank, and lies. "No."
"It's armour."
"You keep hearing armour everywhere, you're probably paranoid."
"You're an idiot. And I know I'm not hallucinating it."
"It's probably Vatyra herself!" Agatha cries out, almost tripping on a pebble, leaning over Tharael to brace herself.
"Don't hug me."
"I'm not hugging you, I almost fell! I was using you to not fall!"
"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night," It's Tharaêl's turn to roll his eyes.
"Here," Tharaêl says, after patting a wall. "Blast this down." Oh, he used to find her magic weird, and now he wants her to use it for him? Bitch.
Of course, the wall comes down - she can't resist blowing up something.
"Aw, stairs," Agatha whines. Going down will be easy, but climbing back up is a different story, if this goes as deep as the legends say. By legends, she means the stern warning Tealor and Yaela gave her about the crypt.
They climb down.
And down.
And down.
And.... fine, Tharaêl is right, the sound of armour is getting more and more distinct.
"Still think it's an oversized rat?" Tharaêl asks, too proud of himself, when they spot a large shadow of someone hunched over something.
"Could be a difformed one." Agatha crosses her arms, and he makes a grunt of despair.
"Hi."
"Hi," Agatha waves, only for her hand to be roughly grabbed by Tharaêl. "What are you-" "I'm waving!" "Don't wave-" "I don't want to be rude," "Don't fucking wave at strangers in a crypt, are you fucking stupid?" "No, I'm fucking your mom."
The human-looking, human-shaped oversized rat has silvery white hair cut short (and badly cut too), and mismatched armour that looks halfway between some ancient, Aeterna set, and a Nehrimese mage's set, and if it weren't for her initial greeting that let them hear her voice, Tharaêl would've thought that they were just an overgrown boy.
"... Uh... what.... brings you guys uh, down here?" The overgrown rat asks, standing up, pretending as if she wasn't digging into an old, old room, covered in a thick layer of dust, but still somewhat intact, as if its owner had just left for a really long errand.
"He saw you go down here a few days ago," Agatha blurts out, pointing an accusing finger at Tharaêl.
"Oh. I'm Giblsert. Giselbert. Gert. Gisele. Pick whichever you want." The rat says, correcting herself - does she not know her own name? Is she really an overgrown rat trying to find herself a real name on the spot?
"I'm not doing that." Tharaêl looks down on Gisele. Quite literally, because Gisele only reached his and Agatha's collarbones.
"Okay...? They call me a Shadowgod, sometimes."
"You're a bit short for someone called a Shadowgod." Tharaêl says accusingly, too wary of her, even if she looks like a little boy playing soldier. But to that, Gisele shrugs, returning back to digging around in the dusty room, ignoring the two of them who stare at her.
"What are you doing?" They ask in unison, Agatha now wary too of Giblsert.
"Digging around for stuff." Sure, yeah, that's evident.
"What stuff?"
"Stuff Arkt left."
"Who's Arkt?" Agatha struggles to say the three consonants slammed together with no regard for anyone's tongue.
"My.... huh, good question." Gisele stands, fists up on her hips, thinking.
"You're looking for someone's stuff, but you don't know who they are?" Tharaêl's suspicion grows, his eyes now squinting despite the dim light.
"No, I know who he is, but I don't know.... the relationship?" Gisele says, hesitant, and it only makes Agatha a tad too excited.
"Oh, oh, tell us, we'll help you," Agatha is awkward, keeps to herself, and isn't the most mature person around - but the one thing she loves, is listening in to gossip at the tavern. And this? this was gossip straight from the source, it sounded like. "Are you two friends?"
"I think so, yeah. Or it'd be real weird if we weren't." Gisele gives in, answering questions to two strangers who know her name, but she doesn't.
"You two slept together?" Tharaêl asks, no shame in him at all.
"I mean, in a literal sense? Yeah. He snores. And he crushes me when he rolls over."
"I mean fucking."
"Fucking what?" Is she stupid?
He sighs out. "Fuck- Did you two fuck?"
"Ohhh. No. I think he's too old for that." Gisele's eyes widen in realisation, before shrugging again. "And I don't really care for that. It sounds like a lie, honestly."
"A lie...? Which part is a lie?" Is she really stupid? Tharaêl just wants to punt this little rat.
"Sex. I just think people are just hyping it up to be something it's not."
"Ignore the idiot. You two kissed?" Agatha pushes Tharaêl back, her hand splayed over his face to push him away.
"I mean...." Gisele thinks, and Tharaêl is sure that it's the first time she's been forced to think in her life.
"... You're taking an awfully long time to think," Agatha points out.
"Shut up, I'm thinking. Uh, I mean, what sort of kissing are we talking about?"
Is she fucking stupid?
"You know, kissing?" Agatha is at a loss, doing a weird kissing mimicking motion with her hands, both pinched in points, touching each other back and forth.
"I've heard of it," Gisele nods, too sure of herself. "He's kissed my forehead before. It's the only part he can reach without having to bend over weirdly."
"So you slept with the guy - literally - he sounds old, and he kisses you on the forehead?" Tharaêl is the confused one now.
"And we're connected by a prophecy."
"Of course you are." Tharaêl rolls his eyes again. "How old is he?" She responds with a shrug, a tiny sound coming out of her. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"I don't know, he's old as balls!"
Gisele had a vague, vague idea. She also knew that when Arkt talked about pursuing Narathzul and Zelara, he already was old too, back then.
He crosses his arms, convinced that this rat was just sent down here to mess with him. "So you're courting an old man and doing everything in the wrong order?"
"Hey, be supportive." Agatha smacks him behind the head, turning back to Gisele. "So if you're looking for his stuff here... I'm guessing this was his place once?"
"Yeah, like... I don't know how long ago. But he was locked in here for a long time."
"Your boyfriend sounds weird." Tharaêl says, now bored, and looking through the rotting bookshelves.
"Ew, don't call him that." Gisele makes a face, as if the concept itself disgusted her.
"You just said you slept together."
"Not in that way!"
"Close enough though."
"Partners?" Agatha suggests. A shake of the head. "Lovers?" An even stronger shake of the head. "Paramours. Flames. Companions."
Tharaêl chuckles dryly. "Friends from work,"
"Oh, that works, actually."
"Friends from work don't sleep with each other," Tharaêl points at her.
"I wish they did," Agatha sighs out, now thinking of Calia. And Dijaam. And Lishari. "You said you were called a Shadowgod, is he like... aware of it? of what it means?"
Gisele nods. "Yeah, he's one too," she says, as if it was obvious.
"Soulmates," Tharaêl suggests again, now taking too much fun in this, because Gisele was easy to make fun of, and she didn't even notice it.
"Oh... That also works." Gisele nods again, seemingly satisfied. She shoves three dusty notebooks in her knapsack, throwing it over her shoulder after failing three times in a row to properly throw it over her immense pauldron. "Well, better get going. The changing of the guards is soon, and I'd rather not be caught."
"Good luck with your boyfriend!" Agatha cries out, waving at Gisele, and just like the first time, Tharaêl grabs her wrists and glares at her.
"So it wasn't an overgrown rat." Agatha concedes, sitting with Tharaêl on the ground in front of the crypt, their backs against the wooden door.
"Told you so."
"Shut up.