Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

Timestamp: 38th of Vhalar, 716
Location: Near the Zynyx River, heading for Rharne

Sabine awoke to a family of mice banging tiny hammers against her temples.
 
She groaned and put a hand to her forehead. Fucking rum. If she hadn’t known any better, she’d say it was Faldrun’s drink based on the way it made her feel the morning after.

She dangled her free hand over the edge of the bed and searched for her waterskin to help relieve her dry mouth. (Fucking rum.) After few fumbles and a sloppy drink of water, she lay back against her pillow with her eyes closed, muttering a string of curses and praying she would fall back asleep.
 
Then reality came rushing in, and she remembered: Vincent had left.
 
No, that was putting it too nicely. Vincent hadn’t just left. He had run off to his inevitable death with that damn Immortal and her sidekick, intent on saving the world from its own destruction and doom. She’d been willing to come with him – in fact, she had insisted on coming with him. Far be it for her to shy away from a battle, even one that she was woefully unqualified to fight.
 
But rather than letting her make her own decisions like any reasonable mortal, the bastard had locked her in their cabin and left her entirely alone on the ship to Rharne.
 
Sabine shoved herself up onto her elbows and glanced sideways at the man who lay fast asleep beside her.
 
Well, not entirely alone.
 
She had fallen in with Garrett several trials after Vincent had abandoned her. He’d shown interest one night and she’d been too drunk and lonely to turn him down. There were, after all, worse men on the ship than him, and he was decent enough in bed – if a bit predictable.
 
They’d been seeing each other every few trials since – or every time Sabine had spent a bit too much time thinking alone. Each time she invited him to her cabin, she hoped he’d distract her from the anger and betrayal that boiled in her gut every time she thought of Vincent.
 
And sometimes he did.
 
But mostly, she just felt empty.
 
Sabine took a steadying breath and threw her legs over the side of the bed. She waited a moment for the stars to clear from her vision before grabbing the closest shirt she could find and tugging on last night's pants. Her gaze lingered on the gray cloak that lay crumpled in the corner of the cabin before she narrowed her eyes and pulled on her boots.
 
Ass.
 
She tied her hair into a messy ponytail and slipped out of the room, letting the door close quietly behind her.

The brisk morning air hit her with a vengeance as she stepped out onto the deck, as if to say, you have no business coming outside without a jacket. And yet, she continued to do so every trial. It was her defiant “fuck you” to Vincent, a way of ignoring the decisions he'd forced on her and exerting some semblance of control over her world.

As though freezing half to death each trial would show him who was boss.

She leaned against the railing and glared out at the sea. She’d become something of a morning person since he’d left, unable to sleep past the seventh break regardless of how much she drank the night before. It meant she had some privacy before Garrett and most of the boat’s crew awoke, but it also meant she was perpetually deprived of sleep and, therefore, considerably more irritable.

Though, arguably, sleep deprivation was not solely to blame.

The waves lapped lazily against the side of the ship, its serenity at odds with the tempest that whirled about in her thoughts.

How could he have left her?

It was the question she had been asking herself for trials, rolling it over and over in her mind with the hope that today would be the day that she would finally break the code. Today would be the day that she would finally understand just what the hell was going through his mind when he’d locked her in that cabin.

The answers never came, but one thing was crystal clear: He didn’t know her nearly as well as she'd thought he did. If he’d been paying even a little attention, he would have known that nothing could be worse than robbing her of her choices.

Nothing could be worse than leaving her behind.

It was her father’s arrest all over again, except worse. This time, he’d made the decision to abandon her all by himself.

She growled and slammed a hand against the railing as she considered the futility of her situation for the umpteenth time. Vincent had disappeared and, even if she had wanted to, there was absolutely nothing she could do to bring him back. She was trapped on this damn ship heading for Rharne with no hope of stepping foot on land for at least another five trials.

He might already be dead before she landed.

“I wish you’d never asked me to join you,” she whispered.

Her chest tightened.

I wish I’d never met you.

The sound of the cabin door swinging shut broke her from her thoughts and she hastily wiped at her eyes.

“Babe.” Garrett wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her roughly against his chest, eliciting a pained hiss.

“Easy, tiger.”

He loosened his grip, though just barely. “Come back to bed. It’s too cold to be out here without a cloak.”

“I’m fine.”

“I can feel you shivering.”

She clenched her fists. “I said I’m fine.”

“You’re as stubborn as a mule, is what you are.” He spun her around and pressed her back to the railing, stepping in close to cut off her escape route. “You sulking again?”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child, Garrett.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Look at me.”

“What?”

“Look. At. Me.” He grabbed her chin and forced her eyes up to meet his, causing her mouth to drop open in surprise. “I’m talking to you like a child because you’re acting like a child. Your boyfriend’s been gone for 23 trials-”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Whatever. Vincent has been gone for 23 trials and you’re still upset? Get over it, babe. He didn’t care about you - not if he left the way he did.”

She stayed quiet.

Garrett stroked her chin with his thumb. “His loss, my gain.”

“I already told you I wasn’t sleeping with him.”

“Yeah, and that’s another thing. What kind of idiot has a woman like you around and doesn’t sleep with her?”

At this, Sabine managed a small laugh. “A friend, that’s who,” she said.

“Not much of a friend, leaving you behind. How’d you say that happened, again? He left on some kind of rowboat or something?”

“Something like that.”

Garrett pressed his lips to hers before dropping his hand from her chin and stepping back to give her space. “Look babe, you’ve gotta forget him. He’s making you miserable, and he’s not even here. Take your memories of him and throw them overboard if you have to. Make them sink like an anchor to the bottom of this sea, and then leave them behind when we get to Rharne.”

“How poetic,” she said dryly. “But-”

“What, you think he’s coming back? You actually think he’s coming back for you?”

“Wouldn’t matter if he did,” she muttered.

“Exactly. So why’re you wasting your time? He’s gone, I’m here. We’ve got a few more trials on this ship before we hit Rharne. Just enjoy it with me, will ya?” A slow grin spread across his face. “You can start by coming back to bed.”

Sabine cracked a smile even as she rolled her eyes. “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you.”

“Mm, you bet I would.”

“I know something else you’d like.” Sabine pulled him back in and stood on her toes to press a soft kiss to his neck as she worked her fingers into the waist of his pants.

He raised an eyebrow. “Out here?”

“I mean, if you think it’s ‘too cold’…”

Garrett snorted. “Like I said, stubborn as a mule.”

“Nicest mule you’ll ever meet.”

Timestamp: 39th of Vhalar, 716

Sabine awoke at the seventh break with a clear head.

She dangled her free hand over the edge of the bed and searched for her waterskin. After a few fumbles and a sloppy drink of water, she lay back into the curve of Garrett’s arm and stared up at the cabin ceiling.

Vincent had left.

She waited for the anger and betrayal to arrive, for it to boil in her blood and overwhelm her with its ferocity – but nothing came. Her forehead creased. She shoved herself up on her elbows and glanced from the bed to the gray cloak that lay crumpled in the corner of the cabin.

Still nothing.

Instead, as she searched for the familiar feelings that had kept her company over the past twenty-four trials, she realized that they'd finally begun to fade. The numbness that she had often experienced when she was with Garrett had spread, washing away the anger, the frustration, the sadness, and leaving behind a void. And for once in her life, she was glad not to feel.

Sabine released a slow breath and threw her legs over the side of the bed. She grabbed the closest shirt she could find and tugged on a fresh pair of pants. Her gaze swept past the gray cloak and stopped on her leather jacket. She hesitated for only a moment before throwing it around her shoulders and pulling on her boots.

It was time to toss her memories overboard.

She tied her hair into a messy ponytail and slipped out of the room, letting the door close quietly behind her.

Good riddance.