#odyssey

"You would find yourself hard pressed" Trothbul says, a great mace dangles in one hand

"I think I'm supposed to figure this out on my own." Piper says to Jonas, though it's not quite a 'no' yet.

She ponders to herself aloud. "I can't fight, reason, or sneak my way through." She backs off a little, and settles into a comfortable spot to sit. Producing her fiddle, she runs a hand over it.

"Lowering my inhibitions will NOT cause me to leave my duty, satyress" The guard warns

Then, she sets her chin, and starts to play. This time she does not play any specific song - at least, not any mortal tune. She closes her eyes, and taps into her own inner well of power. The Troll guessed partly right, as the Gift of Pan flickers to life... but unlike he may have ever experienced before. The notes flow as she uses inspiration to try to inspire, rather than lust, fear.

She may not be any especial scholar, but she knows stories, especially deep in the dreaming where she is more maenad than maid, more Dionysus than daughter of eve.

Piper stands and slowly takes a step forward, playing and vocalizing without words. A lamentation, low notes and high pitches, evocative, something that might fit the background in a psychological terror film.

"is.. did one of you slip past me?" A swallow from trothbul as he looks about "Did you set something lose on the trod to fight for you?" He looks under the bridge, nervous, spooked

She pushes into the song the unreasoning panic. The cold sweats and clenching in the guts, the flight instinct and terror that grips.

He has no reason to be terrified of the tiny Satyr before him.

"I can't leave..." The man is sweating... then he looks over at Piper then..slowly, backs away, across the bridge, he takes step after step back "Just.. need.. some room"

As of the proxmity of Piper and her friends were setting him off

She steps forward again, making eye contact and taking one step after the other towards him, unrelenting.

And like the redbull suddenly facing a unicorn that won't run, Trothbul steps back, and back, and back again... until they have crossed the bridge one and all

Her eyes flash, and she's tempted to keep pressing, back the troll right off the path itself, and out into the dreaming wilds...

Indeed... Piper has rarely unlocked this aspect of her power, but satyrs are not always gentle in legend, Pan himself is where the term PANIC came from.

"Okay stop stop..." Her target says "Just... go.. we're past the bridge anyway, just go. Leave me be, please"

"Maybe next time you'll consider that for all your strength, you have no idea what battles others are fighting." She says, before finally relenting, and moving past him.

Rikki snaps her fingers at him as they pass... Zane goes "A teachable moment" and Jonas growls, as they pass on past hearing range for the would be guard. Only then does Zane says "nearly shit my shorts" /"I dropped enough bricks to provide for the third pig" rikki mmphs// "It was unsettling but amazing" Jonas sounds proud

Piper takes a long moment to tuck away her instrument, using the time to settle her own emotion and (at least attempt to) hide that her hands have been shaking.

Jonas (By coincidence) takes one of her hands in a gentle squeeze

She squeezes back. "I'm sorry." Piper says to Jonas quietly. "Not about him, but I didn't mean to do that to you. I hate it, I hate that the fear controls me. The last thing I wanted was for you to feel even a touch of it yourself." A sigh. "Maybe that's why Siv had trouble understanding. She can't feel what I do, or maybe even really comprehend it."

"Perhaps" he nods "But I understand better now. Is that really what it feels like for you around Liam?"

She shakes her head, and nods a little. "I had trouble channeling it, because there's no trigger here... imagine that, but... five, ten fold? Instead of just enough to make you get the chills and sweats, it also clouds your mind and all you can do is try to get away... it would be easier to deal with if it was something that made sense. Like, spiders, or snakes."

"It makes as much sense as spiders or snakes... you associate trauma with Liam sidhe, just like some do with spiders"

Zane sighs "I feel like I missed some clues, cousin. I mean, I knew you were shook by things... but I don't think anyo of us realized HOW badly."

"I thought I would be fine if I could just not be around them."

Rikki looks at her "We should go to this Jude's guy's place and pop him in the nose"

"You know, I've thought about it. But..." A mirthless laugh, "Even if I -did- make it through the door, I couldn't face him." Shaking her head. "Let's move on."

And they move on Other memories from past lives bubble up in the heads...

A hint of a grin as the memories flit past... knowing she probably won't remember them once she leaves, but savoring them while she can.

She remembers a name... Nicola something?Vi.. vi.. it'll come to her if she sees it

A sporadic burst of singing in Italian... she didn't know she knew Italian! She may NOT, actually, but she knows the music, even without comprehending the words.

She knows it now, ah, what a delightful time.... then she suddenly remembers being angry Eliza Doolittle

Shout, shout, up with your song!
Cry with the wind, for the dawn is breaking;
March, march, swing you along,
Wide blows our banner, and hope is waking!

Life, strife--those two are one,
Naught can ye win but by faith and daring.
On, on--that ye have done
But for the work of today preparing.
Firm in reliance, laugh a defiance,
(Laugh in hope, for sure is the end)
March, march--many as one,
Shoulder to shoulder and friend to friend!

Anthems of defiance! Uplifted by indignation and the fight for what is right!

Piper jerks back with a jolt, startled from that memory... but then she reaches back for it again, hesitantly. "Wait..." longing to revisit that past for just a few moments longer.

but it's gone.. she.. it was weird, she felt FRIENDSHIP, Mutual admiration...

"You okay, Cousin?" Zane says, stressing the relation as if trying to sort his current life as well

She realizes that she has tears on her face. "There was something there... but it's gone..."

"It may come back to you" Zane says

She sniffs, and nods to Zane. "I hope so..."

"Don't try so hard...just..remember the feelings that you felt with her...and..." he coaxes "Let it flow.."

A torn expression. "But she is... was..."

She closes her eyes, breathes deep - singers know breathing exercises well...

"It... can't be." Incredulous...

She reaches further, tentative, questing.