[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/12BBOIP.jpg[/img][/center]

[center][color=9e0b0f][h2]Allie Márquez / / Tiferet[/h2][/color][/center]

[center][sub]:: Wilderness -> Streets of Thorinn ::[/sub][/center]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkRwnUPZdoo]Tiferet's sandals crunched along a well-traveled dirt path[/url], their owner staying alert for any opportunistic mobs. The road she was on was normally well-traveled, being one of the main roads in and out of Thorinn, but at the moment she was the only person walking it. It was, ironically, a rather nice day out, with puffy clouds scudding across the sky and a light breeze keeping her cool, and on any other occasion Tif might have let herself relax and enjoy the weather, maybe play a tune on her fiddle to pass the time. Instead, constant vigilance was the name of the game, even as her thoughts turned introspective.

A few days after the party had finally taken care of the dungeon outside Thorinn, which was beginning to become known as The Unknowable Labyrinth among the Wayfarers, Tif had decided that she needed some time to herself for a while, and told the others as much before heading out of town. She had felt like she needed to get out there and [i]do[/i] something, even if it was just wandering around outside Thorinn and moping. Of course, it ended up not just being that; she'd ended up gathering a few herbs and such to sell later, and once she found another player getting attacked by a couple of treants. The two of them had been able to fight them off, thankfully, and the other player had given her some money before quickly departing for Thorinn. So her wandering had at least been fruitful.

She had stuck around for Vulcan's makeshift funeral, though. Sure, she'd barely known the guy, but it still wouldn't have felt right to have cut and run beforehand. She had seen it happen, and she felt like it was her responsibility to help lay him to rest, such as it was. It had also, oddly enough, been her first time seeing something die in front of her. And that, too, made her feel like she had to stay. See things to their natural conclusion, as it were.

Back in the present, Tiferet sighed deeply. Thinking about Vulcan brought her back to what had been the main topic of her little sabbatical: her interest in death, and the way she displayed it in her appearance. After seeing Vulcan get murdered, and nearly dying herself (the thought of which caused a weird little thrill in her chest, even as an echo of the terror she had felt then flickered back to life), she was starting to really question why she was so interested in the idea of dying. Was it just a simple thirst for knowledge, like she had told everyone, or was it some kind of weird, sourceless suicidal ideation? And given that she had seen what was left of Vulcan's body after the frost demon was done with it, what did it say about her, as a person, that she could see the aftermath of something like that and still feel an attraction towards death? Or, indeed, that she still felt generally optimistic about things? People dying was supposed to make you feel bad, right?

So why, then, did she still feel good?

Tiferet's navel-gazing was interrupted as the path slowly transitioned from dirt to patchy cobblestone, gradually growing more cohesive as it approached Thorinn. At that, her thoughts turned towards the more immediate and practical problem: her clothes and makeup. [color=9e0b0f][i]People probably ain't gonna like someone wearin' a buncha skulls, with everything that's going on. Then again, the few people I've seen out here didn't really give much of a shit...[/i][/color]

She hemmed and hawed for a bit longer before deciding to just get over it and go inside. If people didn't like her appearance that much, she'd change her clothes and do away with the makeup later. That settled, she resumed walking towards Thorinn. Maybe she could meet up with some of her party members, get caught up on what's been happening. For now, though, she just wanted to be back around people. She needed a distraction from herself.

[hr]

The streets of Thorinn were, if anything, even more packed than usual. All the Wayfarers that had been near town were crammed into it, so many that the inns were beginning to overflow. Tif had to step over a spot someone had staked out more than once as she headed for the tavern that she was pretty sure everyone was still holed up in. The overall energy in the streets of Thorinn was a nervous one, with undertones of something bubbling under the surface, the latent frustration that came with having no answers, nowhere to go, and entirely too many people in the same place at the same time. Thorinn wasn't a very friendly place to be at the moment, but it was friendlier than the outside world.

As Tif passed the Wayfarer's Hall, she overheard a couple of players a bit down the street from her talking about a "skeleton lady". Tif smiled mischievously. This was [i]bound[/i] to make her feel better.

Using the crowd to hide her approach, she maneuvered herself right behind one of her victims, a girl in a green cape, before speaking right in her ear. [color=9e0b0f]"I'm curious, what [i]have[/i] people been sayin' about me? Nothing too damning, I hope~."[/color]

She had just enough time to have a good laugh at the girl's reaction before a very recognizable suit of armor clanked towards her. Tiferet turned towards her old party member with a grin, spreading her arms wide. [color=9e0b0f]"Tessa! Long time no see! How've y'all been?"[/color]