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Post by Joliette Thorne on Jan 15, 2009 8:47:29 GMT -5
Reunions
--The Den of Iniquity--
Leoxander remembered to breathe again when her hand touched down on his back, the contrast between her cold skin and his warm blooded curse appreciated, but not without a little tension stiffening his upper spine. Being in a room with a vampire, there was no way to conceal the more rapid pace of his heartbeat. He tried so hard to ignore her proximity, but her scent filled the room… dangerous and crisp like the air before a rainstorm. Everything about that moment suggested impending trouble, and foolishly, he ignored it. Her question hovered in the air for awhile, because it really took some contemplation, and inner arguing, to press himself to keep speaking. “I thought I could fix this…” ‘This’ goes undetermined, and it could be his own problem, such as his wolfen curse. But that is a plague he has long since become accustomed to.
Terra focused on pulling her hair back once again, despite the fact she had just let it down. Busy hands kept her distracted and just when she thought it was right, it was yanked back out and started over yet again. Every beat was heard, counted, and eventually she'd resign with a quiet sigh that mirrored his previous one. "You said no secrets..." Should he turn and grace her with a glance, she'd find that her hands were held outwards, palms up. If he hadn't turned to look, the tips of her fingers would poke his back in a silent plea. "Play?"
The leathery rustle of wings would precede her, a sussuration as though an ill wind blew the halls of the Corpse's upper rooms in search of fates to entangle. Her own steps as she paced toward the northern retreat were silent, utterly, her form a red drift, a monochrome sway of hair and pallid flesh, and the scent of vanilla rising like an invisible herald of a white dawn through the stuffy air. There would be a moment when her brow creased, her step faltered, a weight upon her hanging of a sudden-- a pall of prescience-- a doorway she paused at, her ears straining through the hiss and rustle behind to catch a word, a ... certain.. sound. A scent. The woman froze, her fingers trembling on timber and paint, lips forming the arcs and bows of names. And behind, well... behind her the rustling stopped.
Leoxander looked down at her smaller grasp once he’d turned, his posture leaned back against the front of the dresser, his own fingers curled over the edge for support. A glance from her palms, to light colored eyes, then roaming back, deliberating. No matter that he was still in a towel, he tended to forget these unimportant things, especially after so many days in fur alone. “You’re no good at this, just like I’m no good at telling secrets.” Finally, rough hands would lift, prepared to settle on the flat, cold surface the healer should provide. That’s when the wolf paused, turning to look toward the door through the damp blond hair in his eyes, both hands hovering in the air above hers. He could see the shadow of a presence along the thin crack between the base of the door, and the flooring, and a familiar scent flooded his senses. But for those first few seconds, it was just too unreal to believe. His mind played that trick on him a few times, before.
Terra took advantage of the hesitation, determined to prove that it was possible for her to gain a win. "This wasn't for secrets. It was to get you to turn around. I was trying to measure how much we should trim off when you finally agree to a cut." Spine would stiffen at the feel of another, lurking a few feet away. There were no sounds, but it could have explained Leo's sudden pause. Any previous conversation was forgotten, as was her dreams of being a barber yet again. "You are a trouble magnet." A whisper. A fact.
The knock heard was slow, deliberate, a subtle rap of knuckle on wood. Beyond the ken of any human hearing came a soft sentence, quick, all of a rattle, all choruscating breath and glottal stops, and then the leathern swish would begin again, now loud, now fading toward the room at the north. In the subsequent silence the knock sounded again, before a creak, as though a shoulder had been brought rest upon the timber of the door. A scrape, as though an impatience of heels shifted on stone flooring. "Well. There you are." The tone was wry, slightly muffled by the barrier. Dropping to something at once harder and more amused. "And.. you. I don't suppose.. three.. would be a crowd?"
Leoxander couldn’t find the will to flinch, when his hands were slapped. He hadn’t let her achieve that win, he was just left startled when that door should finally open. Even before Tenebrae was in his line of vision, he knew she was there, both eyes widened slightly behind the unruly mane hiding them, and also most of his nose, now. She’d been the only one who bothered to knock for him, that day. Funny, how that worked out. A soft breath exhaled quickly, like the start of a stunned, whispered laugh, and he took a first step toward the necromancer, too hooked on the bitter green of her eyes to admire anything else, just yet. “Come here…” He demanded, low and mellow, but even so he’d be closing the distance between them. No leather armor barrier to interfere, only her response to determine how close he might get.
Terra was elated to see that Tenebrae was alive, despite the whispers that had travelled through the towns. While it seemed the other vampiress was less thrilled, Terra remained enthusastic. "'Course not. Likely it'll go back to two again soon. I've got to be going." A nod seemed to confirm these words, making them more real. When Leoxander moved, she would too. Only she'd do so with a small smile. "Now three is a crowd." Sensing the need for their own private reunion she'd see them off with a wink. "Have a good one!" And just as easily as she came, she'd go.
Leoxander flicked his eyes to Terra in passing, but awaited Joli's reaction for good reason.
One pale finger, crooked, its red nail a luring talon curling in a beckon, as her red lips curled in a lazy smile. "No. You come here." But she was moving, too, past the swish that was Terra retreating, the other's voice gifted a vague nod, the words entirely unheeded. He was damp, and thus scented strongly of himself, a scent she'd kept alive in this scrap and that artefact of his in the Den of Thieves, or on the ship. And on the island, where'd she'd taken herself off to settle upon what had passed, to pupate as a moth crystallises in its branch-bowered shell before bursting forth to a new life. Tenebrae breathed her lover in, as though her breath was enough to draw him close, and then exhaled with the voice of a woman reborn in this moment. "Love. I have so many things to tell you. Marvellous things." If he didn't stop her talking, she might even start listing them, and if he did-- they'd surely wait for later.
Leoxander held the dominant scent in that room to be sure, as he’d retreated there some time ago from mud and thorns to a bath and shave. The messy drops of water from his canine shake and the treasure box picked open on the bed remained evidence of his careless stay. How convenient, too, that he did so on the night of her return… as though she’d been waiting for him to come out of the woods. “Joli…” A deep, audible sniff as his large nose rubbed roughly up the side of her neck, to the base of her ear. She might feel the way his lower jaw quivered as he breathed in her dark essence, in a similar way, though his behavior is likely more feral than she would ever remember. Recent scars from savage fights and harsh outdoor living tear at the ink sealed into his skin - everywhere. More now, covering new patches of flesh, after recent ship travels. She’d come to learn those details in due time. For now, the rogue remained quiet, both arms wrapping around her back to embrace her while she went into the usual business, in her seductive way. He’d never mind listening to a word of it. Yellow tinted eyes fell closed, for a few of those seconds ticking by.
Tene didn't mind, as she never minded, the way his wet mane dampened her own, left a silvering of moisture on alabster skin, and her fingers twined into rough hair long past due a cut. Her own nose, small and delicate, nudged his briefly, and then her lips, leaving a little smudge of rouge there while she waited for his animalistic greeting to soothe into a simpler embrace that left nothing of those unbearable distances between them. "I love it when you say my name like that." She'd sweep a hank of blond out his eyes, searching for that uneven gaze she loved so well. There was no question whatsoever in her own green look, only a fierce and possessive kind of happiness. "The island is to be our home, properly-- I have set builders to work upon a den." She stressed that small, last word. "And I, too, have travelled... places we won't speak of here. But I returned with a way to make us very... very..." Her glance, abruptly wicked, shifting to the bed. "Rich." It was as though that small word had been something else entirely, by the way she melted into his contact, fingers testing the edge of a recent scar, her voice dropping to a murmur. "You've been busy too, I see."
Leoxander wouldn’t settle until his lips brushed near a scar of her own in reassurance, a very greedy act, to be sure. She should expect nothing less from her thief. That minor, but stressed word caught his attention more than the idea of gold, strangely enough. He replied to her last comment with a nod as his head would lift, and behind dark blond hair, she might catch a glimpse of different colored eyes. “Gathering the pack…” One arm untangled from her waist, to reward himself a graze of the back of his knuckles down her bared arm. His eyes follow that trail, judging the pallid porcelain tone of her complexion. The dreams he’d had of her… “Another Alpha stepped in, challenged Mahri and claimed himself ruler of our wolves…"
A soft snarl rippled the scarlet sheen of her lips, interupting a purr of pleasure at his familiarities, when he imparted that snippet of news. "Well, it's been a while since we had some decent sport." She caught his freed arm in a gentle but firm hand and dragged it back to where she deemed it more properly belonged. "And wonderful. The pack has much to do. We are to make a new home, after all." Her gaze rested on the box, a tender rise of brow doing for a question. "It'll take gold. A lot. Love..." Stretching up on her toes, she'd do her best to redistribute several layers of her lipstick to his own mouth, then. "...we're in for some good times."
Leoxander would answer all questions in due time, most of them far from important, pushed to the back of his mind. “Noted…” The thief replied gruffly, to her estimate of wealth. Both inked appendages captured her again, crushing her ribcage to the base of his own, far too well defined in her absence. He neared for a kiss he intended to be patient, but not too long into it he has found reason to be rough and possessive about it, finding a nearby wall for her back while he ruined the application of her crimson kisser, entirely. Once he’d given her lower lip a long lip and a wolfish nip, he might settle down long enough to return to the conversation, reluctantly retreating from her long lost taste. It didn’t need to be said to be known: Leo had missed her. “As for the male..” A deep breath, and he took his time returning to business matters. The taste of her was all too much like a toxic drug. Alluring, potent… but so dangerous each time they risked being so close. “I’ve been hunting him.. For days, now. He’s run twice.” The mood of his voice dropped angrily, while lupine sharp eyes darted back and forth, dividing his attention between either arctic iris. “We’ll have to corner him…”
Tenebrae's expression was near as wolfish as his, at the thought, their proximity firing in her a lust every bit as dangerous as that which coursed the rogue. "They'll be finding pieces of him from Cenril to Craughmoyle..." The last part of the sentence was spoken hoarsely, and the vampiress arced a little against the hard surface her back was pressed to, an attempt to disengage from him, though she kept contact with Leo via fingers that ran the length of scars and inked designs. Her pink tongue swept over lips only vaguely stained with red now. "It's been so long since we hunted together." If he let her, she'd squish past, her body exaggerating the need for her to press quite so closely to try it. "I need a drink. Have you got clean clothes, or..." Her eyes shone like green lamps, as her fingers caught a towelling hem, tugging it. "Are you comfortable, like that?"
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Post by Joliette Thorne on Jan 15, 2009 9:05:24 GMT -5
--Larket--
Tenebrae shouted, "No, you great loon-winged ape, back the other... ahhhh!"
Tenebrae was a faint, shrill voice emanating from an erratically-moving shadow blotting the sky.
Leoxander might just tilt his head back to look skyward, at that point.
Terra almost considered apologizing for the brash interrogation of an obviously private portion of the young mothers life, but closed her mouth instead. In the next stretch of silent seconds she'd mull over her thoughts before speaking. "Leo has a point, but ... I doubt it's a vampire, right? You would have said so by now." The sky would catch her attention and Terra would swear she saw something up there, but when it flew by too fast for her to recognize, she'd glance back to Rhian. "Er..." Train of thought had been derailed and she'd shrug helplessly. It wouldn't be much longer before a small, black bat descended into the area. The familiar creature dropped a parchment and sticks on the head of the vampire before flapping off. "Damn rat." Words of a well known script were read, tucked away and caused a brief look of alarm. "Pardon me. Duty calls." That pale skin seemed to lose even more color before she ran, determined to beat the bat back to its master.
Rhian opened her mouth as if to say something, nose wrinkling before the sour scent being cast from Terra made her lips smack shut again. "Th'don' 'ave those wh're 'e's from..." was all she said to reassure the pair before Terra glanced up and darted in the other direction. Her black eyes wandered upwards, where everyone seemed to look and her brows furrowed at the speck in the sky, the bundle in the sling being pulled firmer to her chest and black stave being brought in front of mother and child, as if it would help much... "Wh't th'dev'l's t'at...?" she asks under her breath.
Leoxander was still watching the sky, crouched near the bank, but standing uncertainly when he was certain he heard Tenebrae’s voice. It wouldn’t take him long to put the pieces together and determine why she was flapping around the air without any sense of reasonable navigation. The sharper sound of smaller leathern wings caused him to flick a glance toward Terra, confused by her abrupt departure, but never one to question it. “I believe… that would be my mate…” This said in some disappointment, he wasn’t happy to see her descent in such a way. But those trivial things could be brushed aside to take in all of her in a satisfactory glance. That is... if she should ever land in one piece.
The river was a brown belt cinching the waist of Western Larket, the landscape itself only a wild green blur to the eyes of the vampiress clung desperately to the underside of a careening black shape, which showed no sign of doing anything her sundry, desperate squeaks may order it. Lurching and bucking, the thing -- one might get a glimpse of the faceless horror when it swooped low, likely after some small winged prey-- was a wild ride the necromancer had not expected. "F'taghn! R'lleyah gorhta'ab!" Whatever that meant. Finally, the gaunt seemed to tire of her rantings and used one long, rubbery hand to pluck her like a vampiric grape from the vine of its underbelly, flicking her earthward with not a sign of annoyance to ripple its dead, blank features. Thus it was that Tenebrae became the inventor of free-form skydiving in the land of Hollow-- albeit, sadly underprepared for the inevitable landing to follow. With a bit of luck, she wouldn't land on any of the apparently gnome-sized people below.
Arysel 's wings beat lazily in the night air. Her shadow might be caught skimming the ground, as weak as the moonlight was. The avian wasn't out to look for someone to rescue, but as it happened, the screamed, incoherent words caught her attention as the wind brought them to her ears. Glancing down, the trees looking like shrubs from the height she was at, and the people, if any could be seen, no bigger than ants, Arysel caught sight of a figure being flung off another flying being. While she didn't recognize the creature that flew off, she did recognize the vampire that was now flying, sans wings, towards the ground. Tucking in the pearlescense of her wings, Arysel dove as fast as gravity would allow, once in a while a swift pounding of wings is given, offering greater speed, towards Tenebrae. With arms outstretched, she'd reach for the woman's waist, her fingers grasping at any loose clothing, maybe hair, to pull the vampiress close, whispering soft words she might recognize from a previous flight. The same words Ary had sang to make the woman light enough to carry. Once she had a secure hold, wings unfurled, catching an updraft from the cold waters of the river, slowing their decent until they landed safely. Setting Tenebrae on solid ground, none-the-worse for her adventure, the spell is broken, returning the necromancer to her natural weight.
Tene was indeed, alright. If a bit more pale than even a vampire ought to be, and too busy keeping herself upright on her unsteady legs to offer anyone more than a faint groan, for the moment.
Rhian 's mouth gaped open as she stared at the ever growing speck catapulting towards them. "Ah...y'mate tryin' t'make an entr'nce...?" she asks somewhat rhetorically before the avian woman appeared out of nowhere and lowered Tenebrae to her safe landing. The surprise entrance of Arysel caused the already skittish mother to take a step back in the mud, only mere inches from the current. She stared a bit stupidly towards the avian and vampriss, all possible speech gone from mind and tongue.
Leoxander had been paying attention to the skies. Lurking below, true to that hungry wolf nature, he took a step away from the river with his eyes to the sky. A look of horror crossed his expression when he could swear, he could -swear- that cursed bat with wings went and stuck her into the skies, to fall… only fall. Rhian’s words confirmed it, and he whispered a sharp curse of panic. Tenebrae had no wings. Fortunately, she seemed to have friends with just that called for ability. Luck was the necromancer’s ally, now, and Leo could only watch with a silent cheer and a grasped fist when the Avian halted her deathly descent. He paced back on heavy boots along with Rhian, two wolves in a similar mind set, and that was to be wary of all flying things as large, or larger than their grounded forms. Instinctively, he eased a step closer to Rhian, as though some strange urge convinced him to protect the mother and cub. Finally snapping out of that feral mindset, he muttered a greeting in the general direction of new arrivals. “I’m not gonna bloody say I told you so.” Oh, but there, he’d gone and said it.
Tenebrae said, "Pfffft." She wasn't being rude to her beloved Cap'n. She just had a mouthful of wind-messed ebon hair, which needed to be blown out before she could attempt to speak. Still a little giddy from her adventure, she'd just have to be forgiven for hanging onto Arysel's slender arm a little too tightly. "Thanks..." This, to her erstwhile angel, who’d saved her -again- from perils of the pancake kind. Leo was given a deeply apologetic look, then the nervous Rhian-- the bundle in the girl's arms bestowed a glance before icy green eyes tilted upward. "Not enough of me, in that one." She'd look a bit forlorn at the fact, and then somewhat appealingly to her long-suffering mate. "My stomach is wobbling." Arysel might be more aware of the truth of it, which was the necromancer needed to sit down. She'd do so, if the winged woman helped her, and from a more secure position -- closer to the ground, just where she most wanted to be, right now --study the trio with a slightly abashed smile.
Arysel stepped aside, letting Tenebrae get her bearings and eyeing the other two warily. Both had the look of something that would just as soon eat her as look at her. Tucking those wings close against her back, Arysel withdrew her gaze and turned instead to Tenebrae, opening her mouth to say something, only to close it again. She'll wait for the reunion she was sure to come. Her left hand automatically strays to the lyre that is always present at her hip, hanging from a lopped bit of leather, which is easily released should she have need of the instrument.
Rhian 's brows furrowed at Tenebrae's words as they came out, her gaze switching from the vampriss to her mate, perhaps they weren't meant for her? Her nose wrinkled at the sour aroma of the woman, though her lips pursed as a kind of dejavu came over her with fuzzy memories playing in her mind. With a sharp shake of her head, banishing the feeling from her mind, she tightened her grip on staff and babe alike, luckily staying mindful enough not to crush the poor child with her newfound protectiveness. Arysel was examined with a hint of some curiosity, lips pressing into a line as more primal instincts meshed with her own tastes, and the conclusion was reached such a creature's feathers would probably itch too much on the way down...
Leoxander viewed the instrument - not as a peacemaker, but as a weapon. The moment her hand went to it, his eyes were locked to her, and his expression would darken in a warning. One might picture those wolf ears on his head, pressing back to his skull in angst. Nevertheless, the moment Tenebrae voiced her distress, her need, the avian wouldn’t be the only one to comply. Head low, eyes veiled in tousled hair, he stalked toward the two keeping a close eye on the bird woman. He looked ready to trust her no sooner than she’d trust a wolf man. Attention returned to the only one without some form of animal blood streaked through her genetics. Apologetic looks had been dismissed. “Then you won’t mind if I get rid of that one…” Let’s sincerely -hope- the cryptic pair weren’t referring to Rhian or her offspring, but a glance toward the horizon clarified that. He spoke in a growl that he didn’t expect Tenebrae to take seriously, as he came to settle in beside her. Whether Arysel liked that or not. There wasn't much he could do to help her, yet, so he settled his cool blue, split red vision upon her instead, studying everything about her without appearing to care.
Arysel released her grip on the lyre, instead taking Tene's elbow and helping to lower her to the ground. There would probably be bruises on her arm from Tene's grasp, not that the Avian minded at all. Pressing her lips together, she will still wait, yet unsure of who the other two were, at least who they were to Tenebrae. Although, it was pretty clear from the looks that she was sending the male, Tenebrae was fairly close to him, if not intimately so. Just before standing, Arysel whispers to Tenebrae, "You're welcome, again..and I need to talk with you." Darting a cool grey look back at the lycan..surely that's what he was if he was anything at all, Arysel steps away. It wouldn't do to become dinner at the moment.
Tenebrae nodded to the whispered words-- she'd need a moment, though, before anything was going to make sense to her. Leo's words had her reverse the gesture, and shake her head dumbly at his suggestion for the fate of the disobedient gaunt, taking a moment to make sure her last meal-- a skinny and rather doleful Rynvale guard named Pierre Fontoon, who'd no more go a-roving along that, or any other shore -- would stay in place. Sure at last of not embarrassing herself, she said, not without a brief shimmer of adoration in her eyes, to the lycan male: "Not a bit. It'll need disassembly." Cryptic as it might seem to anyone else, the statement seemed to bring her mind into the present more sharply, as her senses gained greater equilibrium. The wolfish young woman was given a stare, a narrowing of eyes, finally a flicker of a smile by way of assurance to her uneasiness. "I remember you. Not your name, though. I'm Tene. This..." A pale hand flicked toward the avian, with a quick and bright smile upward to Arysel. ".. is Arysel. Just ignore the other thing." To Leo, then, her questing gaze returned, this shifting to the wolfess and her child and back, as if looking for some signal that all was well, and trouble was not afoot, and that he'd missed her, and that this was not yet another female to which she'd have to demonstrate the folly of getting -too- friendly with her Leoxander. . Rhian granted Tenebrae an uneasy quirk of her lips in reply, though she took a hasty step toward them and away from the river as droplets splashed to her bared arms. "Rhian," she replies, her tone on the edge of unsure, though she glanced down towards the bundle at her chest, should she start the habit of introducing for two? The idea was quickly shirked as Tenebrae's attention diverted. Her knuckles showed white through the dark skin of her hand as her grip on the staff never slacked, and to any magically aware it might emit an aura of sorts. A curt nod was given Arysel in greeting, nothing more given to the oddest of creatures in the gathering, at least in her mangled view.
Leoxander was becoming very familiar with people giving him distance. Not once would you hear that pirate complain about it, either. One last hungry look sent in the bird’s direction, a strange and silent demand of respect scripted within the language of a feral stare, but he let her off the hook and stopped paying attention to the new scent that was there. He wasn’t ideal for introductions, but realizing the significance of Tenebrae’s look, his attention strayed from her to the other wolf, as she introduced herself. He felt the need to elaborate, for once. “Rhian’s one of Mahri’s. Personally. We’ve all been lookin’ after her, considerin’ the cub.” A gesture made, added, to the bundle in the woman’s arms. That was enough explanation on the matter, now. Leo never had much to hide from the Necromancer (not that he could), even if it meant trouble. With a meaningful look at the queasy vampire, a trace of blood on her breath, he added: “She could use somewhere safe to be, soon.”
Arysel , feeling quite the outsider, only nodded in return to Rhian. But, of course, her gaze was drawn back to Tenebrae and Leoxander. Frowning, the woman watched quietly, going back to how, and when she'd met the vampire. It was then she wondered if this was the same person that Tenebrae had been waiting to meet the sun over. If so, she really couldn't see what it was that Tenebrae found so..appealing. Sniffing indignantly, the proud and stubborn, avian refused to back down, even with such a pointed look. "Quite frankly," she says dryly, "You might all need somewhere safe to be." So..why did it sound as though she knew something..maybe because she did, but the avian certainly wasn't about to divulge information. Not til she'd had her talk with Tenebrae.
Tenebrae's smile faded a little when Leo hinted that this might be the first for their planned exodus, and she gave him a quiet look that spoke volumes more than her words, "Then perhaps a trip on the ferry might be useful. Fresh air, all that." A glance eastward, and she looked back at him. "But it's not at all fit for an new infant." The ferry? Odd thing to say. Unless she meant something else, entirely. "Could you, love, see that it is made so?" Arysel's rustle of feathers had her look the avian's way, the woman's expression eliciting a look of dismay on Tenebrae's own. "Ary.. this Leo. Remember, from the caves.. the beach? The one Gom sat o..." That was cut short, and in the pause designed to leave Leo some dignity, her 'angel' spoke-- words that carried an ominous inflection. "We must, indeed, speak. I have some time now, perhaps over a drink?" Tene frowned. "Unless the Larket pub is less than friendly these days." She stood then, made a more certain step toward the Cap'n, a quick kiss bestowed. "I'll meet you there.. later." And, with a wink, "Got a surprise for you." Then she was off like a bat out of... (but's let not think of these things..) , toward the pub, leaving Arysel to follow, if she was going to, in her wake.
Rhian 's brows furrowed as she was a bit more than sure the conversation may require her attention. Arysel's ominous warning did nothing to ease the woman’s nature as the two scampered off in other directions. Even as they were leaving she returns her gaze to Leo, beginning to make the trek through the mud northward, "I've...got a place t'sleep f'th'night, jus' up th'riv'r, a big manor, can't miss it..." Why she would give the man this information, who knows? Yet it seemed to put her a bit more at ease as she likewise departed to her own destination.
Leoxander found himself rising to his feet the moment Tenebrae concluded her introduction. He didn’t even like his ‘shortened’ name tossed around, since it was the only one common in Hollow, but he understood her need to introduce the tame, to the animals, before they should interact. Clearly aware of what every expression, every trace of the Avian’s body language meant, he offered a grunt of reply to confirm he’d arrive, then made for the forest to blend, as rogues and beasts alike did best.
Arysel blinks a few times, suddenly remembering, and having a hard time hiding the grin and laugh. When Leo disappeared, Arysel glances at Rhian and her baby, perhaps a flash of something entering those eyes as she peers towards the bundle, "A drink sounds good, Tene." And, since Arysel rarely drank, this must be dire indeed.
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Post by Joliette Thorne on Jan 15, 2009 9:37:25 GMT -5
--Larket’s Pub--
Tenebrae made a less.spectacular entrance to Larket's tavern, a nod given the proprieter and his staff as she eyed about for a suitable seat near the windows-- ever-mindful of Arysel's dislike for the indoors. "Two of your best, thanks." A coin was fished from a pocket and flipped the way of Thomas, who grinned and set about pouring the order. The one table she might've preferred was occupied by a solitary and scrunch-faced whelp of a lad in shoddy armours, wearing a bandage over one eye. The look Tene fixed him with had, at various times, set corps of infantrymen in full retreat, brought dragons careening from the sky and paled the stoutest of warriors-- and now it sent the hapless boy fleeing to the safety of a table the necromancer did not wish to sit at. Taking the other chair, leaving the warm one for Arysel, she claimed their territory. And waited, for whatever grimness was to come.
Arysel tried to hide a sympathetic look for the boy who ran past her as she followed Tenebrae into the Inn. Leave it to the other woman to remember Ary's aversion to being inside and choose a table near a window. A soft 'thank you' was whispered as she sat, shifting about until she could lean back without injuring a wing. When the drinks arrived, Arysel gratefully took one, taking a sip to steady herself. Yes, now she'd start shaking and look out the window. "Trouble is coming, Tenebrae. For vampires and Cabal." she begins. Taking another sip of the schnapps, she sets the glass down, letting the liquor take affect and give Tenebrae the opportunity to question her.
Tene’s frown was the solitary imperfection on a face that had settled into a very still countenence indeed, and the observant Thomas might not mind her eschewing niceties as the keep set her drink before her, unthanked. Once he was back to his duties, the vampiress downed her glassful of schnapps in a single swallow, setting the vessel down after. "Best you tell me what's going on, then."
Arysel nods, taking a deep breath before tucking a stray bit of honey toned hair behind her ear, "Daesith-Khar has asked that I return to the Avian Empire." though she stressed heavily on the word 'asked'. " As his Zhan..his advisor, I have little choice, but he made it clear I'd have less than even that if I didn't comply." Turning her gaze from the unexciting scene outside, Arysel meets Tenebrae's own gaze steadily, "He wants a list, Tene. Of vampires. The Empire means to make war against you..them. But now the Cabal has come under scrutiny. Someone accepted a contract on Daesith. Not only that..he wants what information I have about you..about us." There, she'd laid it all out. Hand shaking again, the avian finishes off the schnapps, the peach flavour doing little to hide the burn as it went down and spread its warmth through her body. Maybe drinking wasn't such a good idea as Arysel began to feel sluggish. As little drinking as she did, was that surprise, really?
The avian's last words would be accompanied by a soft snarl uttered from deep in the necromancer's throat. "Oh, did he... and does he now?" The expression ‘a dark look’ was given an entirely new meaning, as filaments of blackness swam out of who-knew-where to stain the vampiress' eyewhites with ebon streaks. "Perhaps his death is in order, then." Her lips pursed to a razor's edge of a line. "Or..." Her green gaze narrowed on the winged woman. "... perhaps his pathetic life may yet prove useful. Unless, that is," She spoke carefully now. "your allegiances have changed?"
Arysel gulped, still not quite sober anymore, but quickly finding her way back there. Still though..Arysel.continues..answering the question, "I don't have a choice. I go back to the Empire, but..I won't betray you, or Cabal. This poses a problem for me. He knows that I know a lot more than I'd ever tell him. Tene..I need something, a spell..anything really, that will help me forget what I do know. Anything that might prove detrimental to you. Some..how." At a loss, Arysel shrugs, spreading her hands helplessly.
Tenebrae was suddenly aware that they were not entirely alone. Whether the drow was looking their way or not, she'd flex her fingers in the subtle hand gestures that, in his own language, signified great and dire threat to come from his overhearing-- she was all too aware of the propensity of his race to subtleties of that sense-- and lowered her voice to a soft thrum, once again addressing Arysel. "I know a way. But not here." Her gaze flickered, two points of eerie flame in the deep shadows her Fate had cast across the surface of her eyes. "We'll need to go to..." It was barely a whisper now, only a breath formed by her lips. "… the Pool."
Arysel blinks..she seems to do that a lot, and shakes her head, lowering her voice as well, a glance flicked towards the drow, "You want to go swimming? Tene..what does swimmng have to do with anything?" A finger taps impatiently on the table before she finally nods, "Fine..swimming it is. Lead the way."
Yoshao said, "Do not presume to think your threats will scare me, Nosfa... I'm impressed that you know our hand talk, but only slightly..."
Tene's smile was a honed thing, a thing sharp and red as an assassin's blade, and this she turned toward the drow, addressing him in his mothertongue. "I made no sign for death. Be thankful." Her chair scraped back, the ebon-skinned male given not a second glance as she whiplashed her gaze back to the avian. "Not swimming, exactly. More a sort of...." Ary would hear the rest of it trailing from the vampiress' back, as metal heels divoted their way toward the door. "… like immersion."
Arysel followed, unsure just what the necromancer was talking about, but at this point, wanting only to protect her family. Tucking her wings once more around herself, cloak like, Arysel follows the vampire. Trusting whatever she has in mind.
-- Gualon---
Tenebrae led the way across increasingly barren lands, trudging, hands shoved into pockets, not bothering to ask for a lift-- she'd had enough of flight for one day-- so it's be a good several hours' walk until the women came to an abrupt halt below the misshapen stone of the building Tene had once hoped would prove home to her people. Not a single nightbird croaked, nor cricket chirped and the wind was a thin wail that brushed weakly, like a sick cat, against their legs. "Here we are then." Tene's tone was droll, as she turned at last to Arysel. The darkness had not gone from the necromancer's eyes. "How this works is... it takes what you need. Gives you what you want. No need for you to go into the water." -Water- was such an inappropriate word, but it would have to do. "My want is sufficient for you to avoid suffering." With this said, she stepped toward the massive gates, which creaked open of their own accord, and led the way into a labyrinthine mass of tunnels. "Mind where you step. Keep hold of me, now."
Arysel hesitated, but only a moment. She had questions. Plenty of them. Reaching for Tene, despite the darkness that should have frightened the avian, her fingers might brush the vampire's arm, maybe even her wrist, and surprisingly strong fingers would wrap themselves around whatever they met. Taking heed, Arysel watched, almost quite literally, where she stepped. Good thing too. This place was not somewhere she might have come herself under normal circumstances. "What do you mean, your want being enough? What kind of pool is this?" The wind had her hunching her shoulders, more to try and close her ears to it than any need for warmth.
Kasyr wasn't intending on stalking the pair. Or rather, he hadn't been. It was entirely chance that the hybrid had crossed paths with the two, his destination proving to be the same as theirs. That being said, the reason for his visitation was altogether different, one fueled mostly of curiosity with a few decisive smudges of guilt- the likes of which proved enough to coax him into holding back well out of sight from peripherable vision, minding his footsteps even when it seemed unnecessary. And onwards he went, only pausing once in his journey- when those great gates opening for Joliette and the avian. It was there that he hesitated, his focus falling to the desolate environs as though seeking a reason to turn back. And yet, he dared not. He needed to check, to see if there was some sort of visual clue- anything which eluded to that which he feared. And so, he pressed onwards, hoping that he could get the answers he sought...without being forced to give any in return.
"It isn't a pool, exactly..." With Ary's hand clamped firmly to her wrist -- fortunately in little need of blood supply -- Tene led on, and on, through twists and turns of stone corridor undoubtedly uncomfortable and oppressive for one used to the wide open vistas of the sky. "It's a living thing, of great power." The vampiress paused, as might a prey creature to twitch whiskers in premonition of danger. "And more vampiric than all of Vailkrin and its history put together." Way to make to make the avian comfy. But there was no point in softening the truth. "Once it wove the fabrics of reality. Served the matrix of Chaos. Now it serves..." She looked to the western fork in their path, sharply, and trod that way. ".. a lesser master. No less dangerous, sadly." No more details forthcoming, she continued on a different track, "If nothing goes too horribly wrong, I have a plan that just may suit both of us, and bring the Empire to its idiotic knees."
Mhinuot had no reason to settle in a taverne and had no will to bother fighting the wild tonight. The bard walked out of listless investigation of the land and she had been lured by the distant sight of the fortress and, from what her eyes could see, two figures that weren't quite shaped to be wandering beasts. White hands lifted to put her just as white hair up in a high ponytail and she followed their path, a bored curiosity and raging recklessness just begging her to follow. Her head turned to where the wind was blowing and she glanced only for a moment over her shoulder. When she looked back she saw Kasyr's form now added to the fading pair and it caused the woman to jump slightly. Something was mumbled quietly to herself in Elven, chiding herself for being so jumpy in this environment. With furrowed eyebrows, the elf set forward after them. It was happening, now, and she wasn't going to turn back and find somewhere else to wander. She was meddling and peeking and, well, stalking, and had never quite felt like she had ever done so in her life. The experience so far was pretty satisfying; she needed this change of emotion.
Arysel listened, a sense of forboding creeping over the avian as she did so. Dropping her pack, which held, still, that odd stone they had found when healing Gom, some ways back, Arysel dug in her heels, trying, most likely unsuccessfully, to stall Tenebrae from gaining the chamber in which this pool found residence, "And just what is your plan, Tenebrae? Why would your want be sufficient? This tells me nothing." Though mention of bringing her very own people down didn't exactly thrill nor bring Arysel down, she did have to offer some token protest, "I don't want to topple the Empire, Tenebrae. I just wanted..to forget." Even if it meant continuing the war, at least her dearest friends and family would have a chance of..living.
Tene shrugged, relentess in her path now, with her hand suddenly the one grasping slim bones. Likely the pack was left behind... "I did not ask you to destroy it Ary. And you -will- forget. But first..." The vampire's green stare slid the avian's way, her feet surer now of the way inside the building, which seemed oddly larger on the inside than out. "... I know Daesith has neither the heart nor guts to spearhead such a folly as this. He is no doubt somebody's puppet. Do you know whose?"
Kasyr had been gaining speed by this point. It was as though he were a bloodhound, save that instead of a scent, he followed something far more ethereal, the remnants of emotions felt- phantasms of what every instant in those passages held. Focused as he was, he remained barely aware of their present location, his mind only partially registering the fact that he was gaining. He was at fault there, having wagered internally that they would be moving as quickly as they could to be free of those twisting passageways and barely heard whispers, failing to consider that they might slow for any reason. And thus, he was nearly foiled by his night total focus upon their trail- only halting when he nearly rounded a corner to where they were. The tiefling manages to conceal a squeak, but only just, and he quickly falls back several paces, hoping the echoes of his hurried footfalls would be misinterpreted as the Labyrinths tricks.
Mhinuot had hurried her pace, sensing she might lose them in such darkness. And she had, really, for some time. The elf wandered and listened to the sounds of their footsteps and voices but was without any clue as to where they were. Her satisfaction in following people in stealth was now starting to fade. She swore again in Elven. This sucked. What was she going to do? She stopped for several minutes to think before she heard Kasyr's quick footsteps apart from the noise of the walking pair. The bard spun around and went an opposite way that she had turned from earlier and there she saw the back of the tiefling. Success! She felt elated for only a moment because then she realized: she had no corner to hide behind. This was not as good as she had first thought. Her shoulders fell and Mhinuot moved to the darker side of the passage in vain attempt to conceal herself. Her very light skin and hair seemed to act like the moon and she was, unfortunately, no more concealed than a firefly would be in the darkness.
Arysel 's mouth gaped open and then closed with a snap. It seemed she was resigning herself to whatever Tenebrae had in mind. Putting herself in the necromancer's hands so to speak, "I only know him by the name Shaelus. That's all I know, besides the fact he wants all vampires extinguished. It's Daesith who is personally out to get rid of Cabal." Now, her feet move of their own volition. Following along willingly, but Ary couldn't help feeling that after this night..nothing was ever going to be the same. Shrugging off the feeling, Arysel glanced once behind her her, realizing her pack had disappeared, and catching a flash of..white? Moonlight? Perhaps some sort of butterfly. Dismissing it as her imagination, the bardess did her best to ignore the whisperings, each urging her to go in a different direction, to turn back, or go forward. Nope, her concentration was settled upon Tenebrae, placing one foot ahead of the other.
Kasyr let out a relieved sigh when the two were departing once more, one gloved hand falling to his forehead as he allowed himself a sparse few moments to recover his composure. That, and to listen to the echoes of their conversation. And then, then he simply moved forward, not a single glance given towards the path behind- lest he lose heart to continue. Still, he couldn't help but pause just briefly as he was turning the corner, the vague feeling of someone unfamiliar lingering near him. Nonetheless, he doubted anyone would wander into those hallways of their own volition, and thus discounting it as one of the 'wonderous' workings of Cabals home...he strode further in, inwardly thankful for Joliettes pace hurrying.
-- The HQ Hall--
As if Fate had heard-- and perhaps it had-- the very thoughts in the hindmost parts of the women's perceptions, all at once there came a light wind, sweeter than the sorrowful gusts that smirched the air outside, its source a sudden and blinding oblivion of white that swirled from out the nearest corridor-mouth, an ivory swathe of shimmering.... insects? Tene gaped. These creatures were no strangers to her, and she'd pull Ary close, her voice a hiss, "... almost there." All around them, hundreds of thousands of white butterflies flittered and danced, before streaming off into the darkness behind, all as a single unit as though they owned some strange purpose of their own. "And I knew it. What is the nature of this Shaelus person?" The necromancer spoke through gritted fangs as the two were abruptly to enter the vast Hall, wherein the Pool squatted mid-way like a circular, black toad. "I must needs know things, before I...." Tene cleared her throat, the sound echoing through the room's vast reaches. "Ary, you must forgive me everything I do here. Even as you forget, in your soul you must know what you mean to me." She didn't wait for an answer, but gave a low and musical whistle, the outcome of which she appeared not too concerned about as she tugged the avian toward the inky waters of the Obsidian Pool. The Pool itself lay quiescent, still and smooth as a dark mirror, its depths seeming to suddenly catch fire as one by one all of the torches set in the walls sprang to flame.
Arysel 's eyes widen as the butterflies arrive, her free hand reaching as though to touch one, to perhaps, entreat one to land upon an extended finger for a closer look. Stumbling closer to Tenebrae, her bewildered grey eyes take in the vampire, "Just wanted to touch.." she murmurs before the question registers. Her brow furrows a moment as Arysel searched her memory, thinking back on everything she'd seen, all she'd heard. A name comes, half remembered from when Daesith's wings had been restored, "Solaris..He is Solaris." she says. Oh what strange things this place did. A slight buzzing hummed in the back of her mind. Like a half remembered song. Closing her eyes for just a moment, maybe to savor it, remember it to play it again later, Arysel almost misses the plea for forgiveness. At that, she looks at Tenebrae, "Forgive you? I don't.." she was going to say understand, but Arysel was getting used to not understanding. When the lights came on, she could only look around in awe, her mouth making a small 'o'. It wasn't until her eyes landed on the pool that she became completely and utterly still. "Is that..." she begins, ending up only pointing.
Mhinuot let out a quiet breath when she had't caused attention to be drawn. She let Kasyr unknowingly take the lead and opted to follow several yards from his person. It was at this time she felt she had to look over her shoulder again. Paranoid of being caught and causing a scene had her paranoid of someone else following. She couldn't see anything and so the elf looked back to see the reflection of the fire of the torches light. Mhinuot was too far away to see the obsidian liquid and instead the light of the butterflies were now invading what she could see ahead. The woman extends her hand to one as Arysel had. The insects were beautiful, even as a group. A moment of inspection of the butterfly and she looked past it and the group of them, checking mostly to see where Kasyr was so she wouldn't find herself lost again.
Kasyr couldn't help but marvel at the sight of the butterflies, having never seen a creature within the walls of Cabals home. It was baffling in a sense, heartening in another- and overall enough of a distraction that there was very little he could do beyond stare...and continue walking until he collided with a wall. Bewildered at the sudden impact, the hybrid was hasty enough in his recuperations, shoving away from the cold stone- if only to glance around for any sign of having been discovered. Which, is about the point he actually took notice of his elfish stalker. Cursing his own carelessness in a few hushed words, Kasyr did all he could to abruptly lose the unknown woman, hurrying down what few remaining twists and turns the corridors offered. Really, he didn't want to be at fault for more things than he had to be~. And Speaking thereof, upon emerging into the open chamber both Tenebrae and Arysel stood within, his actions were quick enough. A quick, cursory glance of the room was given- trying to see any sort of obvious damage, any sign of a struggle...and then he abruptly pulled himself off to one of the corners of the room, and hoped he wasn't seen. It wasn't like backing out was much of an option.
Tenebrae shook her head, now they were at a stop, incredulous at the name that had spilled from the avian's lips. "That's impossible... " Her tone was near a whisper, her own gaze as blank as Arysel's. She'd shift her gaze, finally, toward the circular aperture in the floor. "... and aye, that's it. And measures much more desperate than that I had planned must be taken." The vampiress glanced behind her, abruptly as if she'd heard a noise, only to purse her lips for another low whistle. "I hadn't meant for it to be you, dear Ary, but I can see..." And at last, from the doorway, as black as the butterflies had been white, came a winged shape moving so quickly as to seem a blur of itself through the Hall, the walls' torches gutturing madly as wide, batlike wings fleeted past-- and perhaps all Arysel would see, in that final moment, before the creature -- a hell-gaunt, not unlike the one whose misbeahviour she'd saved Tene from only a few hours before -- flew a swift trajectory toward the avian and ---shoved her hard into the Pool---- perhaps the last thing Ary saw was not Tenebrae's dolorous grief at this necessary betrayal, this sacrifice of something dear for the greater good, but a horrible, featureless face upon which was stamped no sorrow, no pity, no mercy.. nothing at all. There was a sodden splash, a twist of black and white as if in wretched battle and then the ebon waters were still, save for a single ripple as a white feather swirled around like a paper boat in a dark lake's eddy.
"... I can see trouble coming."
Arysel took the moment to look over her shoulder, and that was her undoing. Too late..too late to raise her arms, to defend herself and she was falling backwards, and still falling even as the obsidian 'waters' closed over her head. Her mouth was open in a scream, silenced as it was filled, and her lungs, sealing her eyes to anything but the blackness that surrounded her. It wasn't wet, as she'd half expected it to be, or not like the wet that water was, but it moved and flowed. It pulled and sucked the avian deeper. Her desire..her..wish. Oh, to forget. Forget and not..how she wanted both at the same time. It answered. In a most unexpected way. The thick liquid of the pool began then, to bubble and roll, especially near the centre. First came the crown, her head coated with that which made up the pool, the avian's honey blond hair turned ash. As she rose, her head bowed, not breathing, the avian's wings spread, the white pinions dirtied and dulled, the liquid sluicing off as she rose higher, remenicent of a time in the distant past, when a shadow of the avian had greeted Tenebrae. Lifting her head, Arysel's eyes opened and instead of the soft grey of a dove's wing, there was nothing but black. Endless black, deeper than night and much more sinister than things that dwell in the shadows. Her mouth opens, instead of the sweet songs the guildmistress sang or composed, that which filled her eyes, spilled forth from her mouth, emptying the lungs and stomach. For just a moment, her form wavered, shimmered and there seemed two of them. Corporeal and insubstantial were the two, but exact replicas, like identical twins. The one that seemed to be made of ethereal whisps looks down on Tenebrae, her eyes sad and understanding as a small smile plays upon her lips. She nods, forgiveness given, love accepted and slowly she fades from view. What is left slowly lowers to the ground at the base of the pool, for all intents and purposes sleeping now.
Mhinuot had looked past the swarm of white butterflies to meet the gaze with Kasyr. And he was running! The white elf suddenly ran after him, not wishing to be left alone and lost in the labyrinth. Not wishing to get discovered by all parties, however, the bard does not cry out for him to wait. She slows to a stop when she sees a lit torch directly. Ah, there everyone was. She stopped at the final opening that led to the open chamber and lingered in the frame of the tunnel she stood in. Arysel was gone. Mhinuot looked to Tenebrae's back and then at where Kasyr had pulled back to. Instead of entering the chamber completely, she stepped back into the tunnel that led her there and she pressed herself against one of the walls of it, watching. Watching, watching -- watching Arysel's form lift up and the black, oh, lord, the black of her eyes and from her mouth, from her lungs, from her stomch--- it was so terrible. Mhinuot turned her head towards the wall she stood by to turn her gaze but her blue eyes would not turn. She stared and watched, quiet and still and almost frozen to where she was.
Kasyr wasn't quite sure what he was seeing. A dark creature, it's appearance on the proverbial heels of Tenebraes words..and then someone he was faintly aware of being Cabal had been shoved into the pool, if only to be vomited up from it's depths soon after. On one hand, the hybrid was glad for the visitation- no longer plagued by the uneasiness related to the likelihood of Ahkall having escaped the pool. On the other...? He wasn't quite able to get his head around it, trying to do his best to keep what Tenebrae had said in mind whilst he continued to observe. Unconsciously he began to move, drawing over to the pair in a cautious manner, attracted by the dark scene.
It was almost as horrific, this version of her beloved Ary that rose from out the belly of Chaos now, as the one that had risen from the baneful Fountain in Vailkrin. It was close enough that Tenebrae, who had known such terrors as to drive a madman sane again, was pushed to the brink of her own sanity for a moment, and let out a cry so despairing as to imprint itsef on any soul who'd hear it for a long, long time. But then the apparition, a beatific angel of a thing, far more familiar and comforting, swanned across her gaze and faded, and the ink-eyed blasphemy of an avian thankfully sank to apparent exhaustion to the cold stone of the ground. But the night's work was not yet wholly done. Nor was Tenebrae wholy immune to the effects of the Pool-- for the gaunt contained a little piece of her, and thus was anchored to her own will, and thus had, in effect, brought her into the grasp of her own worst enemy, and thus...
And thus, it was no surprise when the darkling liquid belched, and no surprise when from out of its foul depths spurted another shade, blacker than the waters themselves-- and who'd have thought that possible? No surprise when the thing-- no longer wholly physical, yet not a ghost -- slithered on now grotesquely boneless limbs and wings to seep toward the collapsed form on the floor, and attach itself to her, seeming to hunch into a mimic of Aryel's shape, and meld with the stone itself like a... "Shadow." Tene wasn't yet aware of the others, and spoke aloud, her voice cracking slightly. "You will watch." To follow was stream of words, alien and oddly filthy to the ears, but the shadow gave her no reply. No surprise at all. But it would be a shock, the next time the vampiress Tenebrae opened her mouth, or ran her tongue along her teeth. For there she'd feel no sharpness, no twin needles, no.... fangs.
Arysel 's lashes fluttered and a groan rises from a throat that had once trilled beautiful songs. She'd sung for all manner of beings..or so she thought. Soon, even the song, that symphany that constantly played in her own mind, was fading. As though nothing more than fog being burned away with the early morning sun, memories she held dear faded. Disipated into nothing so that when her eyes did open, revealing the clear grey, it was with confusion shadowing their depths. Sitting up slowly, her wings twitching slightly, Arysel looked from one face to the next..and something behind the two directly in front of her, "Excuse me..I didn't mean to intrude, but I don't even know how I got here." Arysel grins in apology. That shadow mimicing perfectly every movement, as though it were naturally cast by the torches.
Rowen puts on her sweet little girl acts and heads over to the avian, who is weakened, and missing large chunks of her memory, "It's all right my friend, I'll look after you, show you the way home, don't you worry about a thing." Rowen can't wait to get the defenceless woman alone. It has been almost 12 hours since she has beat or tortured anyone and the young assassin is beginning to suffer severe withdrawal.
Arysel offers the seemingly sweet teen a bright smile, "Thank you. I'm so..confused." Really, she was. Beyond the comfortable now since she's taken a good look around..for some reason avoiding noticing the pool altogether, "Yes, getting out of here would be good." A shudder runs through her spine as that old panic begins to set in, the walls, either in her mind, or the pool playing with her yet, wavering and seeming to begin their slow treck in closing on the avian. Her eyes are drawn sharply, suddenly cold as ice, towards the soft gasp. "Some security y'all have here. First I get in, then someone else." Getting off the floor, the avian shakes out her wings, loose bits falling to the ground, along with maybe a few stray globs from the pool, which seem to find their way home, creeping over the floor to the pool.
Mhinuot hadn't moved from the tunnel. She watched from her spot from where she felt she was better concealed than Kasyr. It was a shame, though, because the light of the lit torches reflected from her pale skin and hair and it was painfully obvious were the elven bard stood. Rowen seemed to come from no where and -- oh, my god -- Mhinuot gasped a bit too loudly in surprised. She closed her mouth with her hand but had no interest in leaving now. What was that obsidian pool? If it were to erase memories (as she so foolishly believed after seeing the avian's experience), she wanted to be signed up. She'd jump right in, clothes and all (but she didn't). Having already lost the path in her mind's eye in leaving the labyrinth, Mhinuot continued now to linger.
The transformation is brusque, the final action Tenebrae performs proving to be the catalyst, from silent spectator to active performer. With that damnable chamber as his stage, and the echoes of his footfalls to announce his presence, he's quick in closing the last bit of distance between himself and Joliette. Standing neatly behind her, at least until she'd inevitably whirl upon her heels, he'd wait in a silence typical of himself- aiming to commence speaking only when Tenebrae would have taken notice of him. A little shock value was good for the soul, and honesty, afterall. "Would tu be so kind as to elaborate on what kind of dealings I just bore witness to, cherie?" The emphasis on the last word was sardonic at best, and only grew more heated as he continued, "Whilst I had been intending on addressing vous at a better time, on better terms... By that odd twist of emotions from whats just occured, j'pense...well, Theres no better place to be than here at this very moment."
Tenebrae-- and she -was- still that woman, if not quite the being she'd been for three centuries now-- was suddenly aware that there existed others in the Hall, and would have made some effort to speak, to answer Kasyr (dear Kas, whom she'd missed, and now had his tongue back? but she wasnt thinking of it, not now) or demand to know why the others were trespassing, or say.. something.. to the departing Arysel. That is, had her ears not suddenly been filled with a tremendous, deafening pound and hiss, and had not her temperature suddenly soared to an unbearable heat, and if she hadn't opened her mouth to reveal first a row of perfectly even teeth and then.... the contents of her stomach (entirely liquid, red, plus clots) ... well, it was a moot point now. For Tenebrae was heaving like a rum-poisoned cabin boy might over the side of a rollicking boat, sullying the perfection of stone below with what was probably the last living dinner she'd ever have. Retching violently, the woman called Tenebrae -- and by a very, very few, by her birth name, "Joliette" -- was a miserable scrap of black and white and red, huddled on the floor at a tiefling's feet. Clutching for one of his legs, she'd moan raggedly. And retch again, and proceed to throw up on what was, until then, a very nice pair of boots.
Mhinuot lingered quietly as if a ghost. It didn't take long, though, and she steps forward to peek around Kasyr and look to Tenebrae to see if she was all right. What had happened? The transformation went unnoticed (as did the information of Tenebrae's prior state going unknown) to her. It didn't take too much for the retching to strike Mhinuot ill -- the sound, the smell, the sight (ugh!). She felt dizzy, she felt like she was going to.. ;;; As the obsidian pool often did, suddenly something lashed out. Falling ill would soon be the last of Mhinuot's problems and as soon as she was furhter into the chamber she was sucked in and under the surface.
Kasyr , as much as he had desired to be full of righteous indignation and the like, as much as he desired answers... He was not without compassion, and the piteous sight of the woman collapsing and heaving sanguine tainted bile did a fair number on his urge to get answers. Neglecting what was staining his boots, he quickly knelt into a crouch and carefully moving to curl his arms about her though being quite sure there was no actual contact with her skin. From there, he had very little he could do beyond offer what little comfort he could, keep her from collapsing entirely . . .and make sure she didn't throw up directly unto him. "Joliette! ...What es the matter?" Now that he thought about it, "...Et whats, whats happened to vous, enfin? There's something...off about tu? ...Something, different. Er, je veut dire. Not counting the sickness, I do mean, Madamoiselle." ...Great, now he was feeling badly for her...just great.
Kasyr goes from merely feeling bad, to exemplifying those fine attributes that are shocked, guilty, and miserable. Having enough consciousness of his surroundings to perceive Mhinuot, who had followed him of all people inside, get dragged inside the pool. What was worse, is that the immediate compulsion was to simply draw Tenebrae away, rather then go after the poor elf. Really, he wasn't looking forward to allowing himself to be drawn down to the depths where Ahkall might rest, or be essentially devoured by the pool...and the list of reasons why could just continue
Rowen should really have taken her victim a little further off, after all she does not know how Kasyr or Tenebrae will react to her beating the woman Tenebrae has just taken great pains to transform in the obsidian pool. The youngster has not noticed that Tenebrae has lost her vampire fangs, but in any case is not so stupid as to believe that would leave the necromancer defenceless.Even if she is currently retching up copious amounts of blood-- sadly, in Rowen's opinion, not her own-- and being comforted by the teifling. The assassin is itching to cause pain once more however, and as soon as she has, the poor avian just inside the doorway of the labyrinth (she does not even notice the white elf, so focussed in the pursuit of the avian's agony is she) she trips her to the floor.The teenager laughs with glee as she kicks the woman, repeatedly, vicously, taking care to avoid vital organs. She then takes out a sharp knife and begins to pare off small pieces of skin, so as to cause the maximum amount of suffering, with the least actual damge.
Tenebrae swallowed, retched, winced, shook her head in denial of knowledge of her ailment, retched again and looked up to Kasyr with eyes that shone glassy, as though she'd newly woken from a fever dream full of terror. "K... kas..." The name slipped off her tongue like a clot, and she trembled violently. Black hair was plastered down with .. was that sweat? And her limbs shook like aspen twigs in an ungentle wind. Before she culd utter anything else, a white shape flung itself-- no, was dragged-- past them, dropping into the Pool with a terrible plop, a gurgle, then silence. The thing had feasted well this eve, that was for certain. Less certain wa the fate of the woman who was screaming agony in the tunnels, in a voice Tene knew like she knew her own. Another name dripped from a tongue thick with blood (which suddenly and inexplicably tasted revolting to her, but she'd put it down to it being regurgited, for now). "Arysel!" She tried to clamber to her feet, but stumbled weakly and fell. "Kas..." Green eyes shot with a map of veins glanced up, pleadingly, and then toward the source of her further distress. And then-- she retched again. At least this time, she'd miss his shoes.
Rowen sighs, how she would love to continue this beating, but if she kills this woman, she will never be able to cause her pain again and she does scream so satisfyingly. Besides to kill Arysel would most likely anger the vampire (or so Rowen still believes her to be) Tenebrae. She sighs again, life is so complicated sometimes, when all she wants to do is inflict suffering. She begins to half drag, half carry, the, now semi concious avian, to the healers in nearby Gualon.
Kasyr was careful enough in his minstrations, left hand moving to to cradle her forehead briefly- drawing her hair back so that she might have some shred of dignity. From there, he simply followed through with coiling his arms about her- moving to lift her up from the ground, so that he could carefully shuffle away from the pool, to bring her near the mouth of the room. With all due care, perhaps even reverence, he set her against the wall, "Arysel? Es that the winged woman? Es she Cabal? Or a friend...?" The inquiry was quiet, oddly calm even, and accompanied by the awkward motion of the hybrid removing his scarf and giving it to the woman, one corner dabbed to her face to wipe away the bile. He could always clean it later, ...or figure out how to make something akin to it later.
Tene was beyond explanation at that point, reduced to a quivering wreck of herself and oddly warm to the touch, which Kasyr might not notice, sensible aversion and all. She'd gibber something about corridors and break into a thick sweat-- which was no clear fluid, but as red as the stuff she'd thrown up. It was though every pore on her body was expelling blood. The screaming had stopped, but Tene had no thoughts left for the avian's Fate. She had one final utterance left in her, "Leo…", before a spike in her fever, illness and the heat that seared her very veins had darkness claim the Darkness, and she'd loll into a dead collapse, still clutching his soiled scarf, out like a bloody, shivering and horribly overheated light.
Kasyr can only frown, at this last outburst. Mentally, his mind makes a note, Arysels suffering and Rowens placement just another action needing a firm reaction~ but that would come later. In that moment, the hybrid simply shucks his coat, before carefully wrapping it around the Vampiress-turned- human and once again taking her up in his arms. It would hardly do to leave her, even briefly, especially if he couldn't decipher what she wanted him to do~ and so, he moved onwards, intent on returning her to Cabals other home. To bring her to the tavern, where he could mull upon the newfound peculiarity of a Joliette with a heartbeat. ...And maybe work on cleaning his scarf, getting a bloodwine. Maybe even setting up a bottle or two for her when she came back. A nice raw steak would certainly.... ...So maybe it had been a little bit since he'd eaten, and things had quieted down a bit too much. Nonetheless, his mind wandering was far better than thinking about the corridors he'd been wandering back through.
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