Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20160410002122/@comment-5583506-20160411000914

The Bosmer woman looked up with a vicious smile as Sari arrived with Shakti. Siri had to remain at home. This was no place for a young maiden such as herself. Shakti was barely well to walk and her wound didn't seem to get any better. Hopefully that was something this old witch could help with. She was indebted to them after all...

"So... what brings you Gutter Cats back to my humble abode?" she shrugged. "Surely those dirty brigands must be all dead by now. I mean, you all saw to it."

Sari looked at Shakti. "Sari's sister here... has something she would ask of you..."

The Bosmer witch looked at the pair with her small sunken eyes. "To heal her wound, I take it? 'Tis an easy task. Thought that you would ask me of something more. You did after all save my life... for better or for worse." She let out a cackle that made Sari's blood curdle.

Shakti slowly lowered herself on her knees before the old woman. The hovel was a dirty place and the stench of rot pierced the very air around them. Bones and feathers were hanging in strings from the ceiling, presumably having not been thoroughly cleaned. The stinking skull of some sort of ape was staring back with empty sockets at Sari and made her feel uneasy.

"Shakti... wants to live..." wheezed the older sister.

"Done", said the witch and pressed her gnarly old hand at Shakti's wound, healing it. "But that's quite a paltry reward you asked of me."

"You... misunderstood", shrugged Shakti, still weakened due to the fever. "This one wants to live... by being reborn..."

The witch cocked her head and looked at her quizzically. "Explain?"

"There is... this man Shakti is madly in love with."

The witch chuckled. "Isn't there always. You want me to cast a love spell over him? Making him fall madly in love with you as well?"

Shakti drew for breath, almost as if she tried to keep herself from crying as the witch said those words. "N-no", she said, her voice trembling. "Shakti wants... to... to..."

"Take your time, sweetie", said the witch.

The Khajiit looked back up at the old woman. "Shakti wants to forget about him."

"Oh?"

"You see... Shakti and he... we loved each other very much... but then things happened... and those circumstances tore us apart. Shakti still loves him, and he loves her... she thinks... but they can't be together... and that's what's hurting Shakti. Knowing that she will never be able to love another nor be loved by another. Shakti wants to... have him gone... everything related to him... she wants it gone from her mind... The pain is unbearable... Please..."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">The witch looked upon the Khajiit with a sympathetic expression. "You want me to remove your memories of him?"

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Shakti couldn't reply, only nod. Afraid that opening her mouth would mean that blubbers and sobs would come out instead of a coherent answer.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">The witch sighed. "Oh, sweet child", she said, cupping Shakti's chin in her gnarly hand. "I can't remove memories."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Y-you can't?"

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"No one can", said the witch. "And those who state otherwise are fools who knows nothing of magic. Memories are a part of your soul. Your consciousness. To remove a memory, no matter how insignificant it might seem, would be the same as if to remove a part of your soul... your very own life. The magical method of 'removing' memories does not appear to be what it claims to be. In fact, every magician who says that they are removing memories by magical methods, are actually just 'locking them away'."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"So... you could do that?"

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Hm?"

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"Lock them away? This one begs of you. She can't stand this. She can't live with loving him and knowing that their love will never come true."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"I can do that", confirmed the witch. "Though the method always has a weakness. As your memories can never be permanently removed, they can always be recovered by unknown means. Usually by some sort of mental trigger. A deja vú, if you will. However, if you truly wish to remove your memories of this man and have no wish to unlock those memories again, I would suggest you to refrain from seeing this man, though I doubt you would remember it."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"That's what this one is here for", said Sari. "And she will tell Siri later on. If this is truly... Shakti's wish, then this one will make sure that she won't remember him."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">The witch glanced over at Shakti. "Are you sure this is what you want? Know that once the memories are locked away, I can't undo it. If you ever want to unlock those memories again, you would have to find your own means to do so. The next time you meet this man of yours, it would be for the first time. He would remember you, but you wouldn't remember him."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"This one wants to extend this process", she said. "As to make sure... There are others in there as well. She wants to forget about them all. Not because... This one means that they haven't done her any harm, it's just that they haven't done her any good either. But chances are that they might trigger Shakti's memories of... of Gabriel... Shakti wants to remember her cause. Her cause to stop Tharn, but she doesn't want to remember the others involved. If she meets them again, it would be for the first time as well."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">You aren't asking for little, reflected Sari with a sigh. This would be particularly hard for her and Siri. They would have to play stupid along with Shakti, pretending that they didn't know a soul.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">"This is irrevocable, you know that now, don't you?" asked the witch for one last time.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Shakti took a deep breath. "This one understands. But this is... for the best... Shakti is sorry, Gabriel. But you were always the stronger of us..."

<p style="font-weight:normal;">The witch then put a hand on the Khajiit's head, readying her spell for the ritual to take place.