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ZOCOM wrote:

Vance was tunnelling pretty hard, doing his best to push himself into catching up with them even as that distance between them never seemed to close. It wasn't until that distance was closing that he noticed that he wasn't catching up. No. They were slowing down?

'Wha- Why are they slowing down?' He thought to himself. Was he causing a problem? Dammit, he must be...

As they came to a slow stop, Vance was trying to think of how he could do better. But he was stumped. He had to use Hate to use his power but he was being asked to 'keep calm'. May as well ask him to solve world hunger. No, that's not fair. He might be able to do it, but he doesn't know how. He's shares a similar mindset to Duncan, similar temperament too. Keeping a cool head while angry was not a Cross strong suit.

Vance looked to Alice as she approached, wondering what she was going to say. Hearing what it was, the primal man raised an eyebrow but it wasn't like he had any better ideas. Maybe all he needed was an example. "Sure. Go for it." Says Vance. He's only really just met Alice, so he's going out on a limb to trust her, same as her really. But he was sure he could trust her and this wasn't some kind of way to make fun of him.

Alice holds her hands behind her back and leans slightly forward, watching Vance with a slight smile as he calms down and relaxes fully from his high effort chase. Heimrich is standing a little off to their right at this point, patiently waiting. He's certain he knows how Alice is planning to get Vance in a better frame of mind. Their run through the forest has already been a trip down memory lane.

Once she's satisfied Alice turns on her heel and begins to walk towards a tree behind her, roughly the direction they've been heading. She's looking over her shoulder at Vance, still bearing a slight smile as she turns just enough from walking into the tree. Vance would follow as instructed, likely confused by the slow pace they are taking. Shortly another tree is in Alice's way, requiring another course correction. And another, and another. Vance notices she's beginning to walk faster, building up into a jog with sharp turns around the trees in their way. Heimrich is keeping pace to the side, bearing a soft smile, his eyes on Alice.

"We used to run rings around Tropica like this," He says, hopping over a fallen tree. Alice smiles back at him before she picks up the pace more abruptly, now in a swift jog. She can't just turn anymore, now kicking to the side and dodging to avoid bushes and trees. But her focus still isn't on cutting it as close as possible, or being efficient. Her mouth is open in a smile as she breathes, enjoying weaving through the trees at high speeds. For a normal human like her anyways. From Heimrich and Vance's point of view they are still barely moving. But Vance can see now how Heimrich was moving like a phantom. He sees it now on a much slower scale, he is and was completely relaxed. There was no energy trail to sense, or aura to feel, because this was not training for him. It was just physical exercise. It was fun weaving through the trees for Alice and Heimrich, and that was what Alice was trying to show him. This "training" was to enlighten him that not everything is about pure power or deadly battles, or preparing for a grim showdown. They were going out on the town after all. Vance has to see the difference between the all-consuming fire inside him and the man he was and wants to be.

Once Alice reaches the limits of how fast she can go, Heimrich takes over again. He slips in from the side and scoops Alice up mid dash. Vance catches the hint of a smirk on him as he starts going faster and faster, Vance still keeping pace as he realizes how fast and observant he really is. In short order Heimrich is moving through the trees at his original blistering speed, but Vance now can much more easily keep up, as he realizes his own viewpoint of what this was was slowing him down. "I barely sense you at all now," Heimrich says, showing off some as he now is running backwards before moving back to Vance's right side. "You're not depending on your power anymore." Indeed, Heimrich is very familiar with how swiftly Vance and Duncan are capable of moving when relaxed and carefree, and he hasn't gone any faster than that point. Just a few short minutes ago Vance had to depend on heavily using his power to keep up. Now he can clearly feel the difference between his body and his powers. Alice silently celebrates with a determined and satisfied smile. "Atticus better watch out, you'll be replacing him soon at this rate," Heimrich teases and congratulates Alice, much to her happy embarrassment.

"It's nothing different than what Brude showed us," She attempts to weasel out of it, though with little success.

ZOCOM wrote:

Revan cared little to inflate the Blade's already considerable ego, picky and pedantic piece of metal that it was, but he did confirm Heimrich's suspicions. "Of a sort. Haelgrym devours many kinds of mystical essence. A devious curse looms over the ancient capital of our homeland, one laid by the original Salem to keep the Spirit Well closed and cut us off from Spirits so our people lose the ability to commune with Old Spirits and gain patrons more easily. More importantly, we lost our ability to commune with Moria."

"The son of the egg bleeder wishes to make Haelgrym eat a Forgotten curse?! May as well ask Haelgrym to eat a Reaper."

Revan looked down at the blade held in Samantha's hand with a dismissal. "Oh, you'll do it. And do it gladly. Otherwise I'll throw you to the Dwarves you lump of wasted steel."

The beastly blade snarled, the eye along the blade narrowing and shaking as it sounded like the blade was cracking. "I will not suffer at the hand of those Deep children again. Hmph. Fine. Haelgrym will eat the filthy curse."

"Good little butter knife." Revan says with a coy smile before looking back to Heimrich and Samantha. "It's easier to have him eat the curse than to waste time dealing with it ourselves. With me there we can enter the Palace easily too, since it is where I was born in my first life. I know plenty of secret entrances the forgotten don't know about."

Opening this Spirit Well sounds like an important undertaking to start healing the damage Salem has caused the land. And it may lead to trails to track down his other half, that separated from Hakaar. Though it would distract them from their other goals. Heimrich looks to Samantha for her input. He knows she wants to go home to make sure things are alright in her absence. She hasn't been gone for long, but in a warzone a lot can change in 24 hours. "If there's other traps on the path to the Well that Salem set up, it would be more difficult to keep others safe compared to just us. But, I don't think there would be any harm passing through Crossvale to make sure everything's alright. Land's End can wait a little while."