Kaath let walker explain the situation, as she figured the logic would probably be best if it came from someone they already knew than the 'monster' the girl saw Kaath as. "I'happens, lass..." Kaath commented to Violet's apology, gesturing from the crater in the wall to the smashed stone alter. "Oi'm not'a stone mason, tha'...so, thanks feh smashin' mah place up," she grumbled, reaching into the fire to sweep the coals closer together, seemingly enamored with the neatness of the bed while openly flaunting her indifference towards fire. Whatever Kaath was, were it not for their opposition to the wording, she was clearly monstrous in her own right. However, the assumptions and comparisons between herself and Keepa only sat with the beast long enough for them to perceivably...take offence.
The ambers of Kaath's eyes began to burn a deep crimson as the chittering sound from before rose once more, but with less pace and more of a cacophony of hissed psuedo-syllables. Their 'hair' riffled and flowed like grain in a breeze, losing its rigid nature from before as agitation poured from their demeanor. "Keepa..." She softly began, her voice shaky with barely clung to composure, "...sounds like..." her tone lowered with the hint of a snarl, the comparison having struck a dire nerve, though not an entirely unexpected one as she closed her eyes and deeply sighed a few breaths. "...Me." and it was at that point that a creaking rose from where her hand still rested in the flames as their fingertips had apparently horrifyingly lengthened into vicious ink-black claws. Steam rose from their arm, the claws reverting as she idly shook her hand out and leaned back, opening her eyes once more while slowly letting out the last breath...the warm amber glow having returned.
"Pardon...the creature you know as 'Keepa'...and I...are...at odds," Kaath carefully spoke, suppressed emotion teasing the fringes of their tone as if even saying the name she spat with the inflection was enough to ruin her day. "It...pleases me...to know...that he keeps stealing my lines..." they facetiously remarked with a sound much more akin to a typical 'chuckle, forced as it was'. It wasn't hard to note that everything from the way they spoke, down to their body language was tense and concise with mere threads serving to hold back more telling emotions than simply being 'at odds' with Keepa.
One of their eyes rolled over to stare at Ruby as they tossed the language back at Kaath. "Pleasure meet'n ya, Stardust...but the next of you godless gits ta misplace yer manners'll get ya tongue torn from ya fekkin skull..." cordially, in her own way, Kaath spoke plainly, though having lost patience at this point with the women. She appreciated walker for at least pretending there wasn't anything...wrong...with her. The eye turned to Kite for a moment before rejoining the other in staring into the fire. "Secrets...yeh I got a few intra'dut'ry notes since none'ya'll share who holds tha string," Kaath chirped, eyes narrowing, "Ya friends...dead...? Dunno, prolly burnt 'imself 'a mana bringin' you fine folks ta my shrine." Her tone was deadpan matter-of-fact, splaying their arms wide in a 'behold' fashion to grandly gesture to the chamber. "Yeh, evreh now'n'then Kites leak through, bringin' oll mannah a godless malcontents ta knock mah place over'n call me oll otha manneh'a fekkery..." She went on, briefly tilting her head and cocking a brow while clicking their tonge, "Tch...par fer tha course..."
As she made to lean back to better relax on the log with her back to the wall, she picked up one of the fish skewers and gestured to the others with it. "Dunno why they keep comin'ere. Oi'd rather they'd leave me tha fek alone..." She sighed, inspecting the skewer and picking at it with a finger to make sure the meat was flaking. "But! Tha Scab loves yer sort. Pays me well enough. Got they'own little 'buddy club' of the you-sorts tha...Keepa...don' get ta, first...or tha whosa-whatsits through tha forest between 'ere and there" Kaath went on, cringing just from saying Keepa's name. She settled on using one hand to pull their scarf forward enough to dip a bit of the fish into the obfuscation it provided, head first. With a snap and crunch, they withdrew the headless fish, even the stick having been bitten off. "Pardon once more...don't 'ave tha most appetizin' a'mugs. Wouldn't wanna upset ye'human sensitivities~" Kaath chuckled before adding, "An nawh, I dunno the kinda fish. Tha stuff comes in from everywhere..." Swallowing after a few muffled, messy-sounding crunches, she remarked, " 'Ell, these ones aren't even poisonous" before forcing yet another chuckle, not entirely having settled themselves, though trying to give the impression as though they had...likely to avoid intimidating the party any more than they may have, already.
Violet feeling a bit embarrassed after breaking the wall, letting her emotions get the better of her again, then offends Kaath a second time by comparing her to Keepa. Unsure if it was from her recent experiences or from a natural feeling, Violet feels horrible about what she's done so far to Kaath. In addition, seeing her anger start to flair up, was enough to make her skin crawl. Sorry... Kaath? I'm not being considerate to you. I'm truly sorry for that. I wasn't aware of your history with... it. I'll be more careful with my words. I'm still... getting over this.... 'Nightmare Oil' so please be patient with me. I'll try to do better. Violet, trying to come off as sincere as possible. Violet hears 'string' again and starts to think back. She's mentioned that 2 times now. What does that mean? I keep seeing Kite mention that in his visions. Maybe that has something to do with it? Kite never said it was a secret or even implied it. Maybe it's safe to tell. Then Kaath mentions Kite being dead... Violet starts to panic a bit, HE'S NOT trying to calm herself down to not piss off Kaath anymore. He's not dead. He was... almost like this before. Not this bad but he'll come back. I thought he was dead before but I was wrong and he just got back up. He's probably just really hurt and resting... Violet wasn't sure if she was trying to convince herself or if she really thought that. This looked REALLY bad but she wanted to hold out on hope. Kaath started to talk about something called 'The Scab' but Violet was too concerned with Kite. She tried to listen to his heart beat, but didn't hear anything. She wasn't even sure if he should have one or not. She had no idea what he was. Maybe his kind doesn't have a heartbeat? Thinking back, Kaath said something about a string. Maybe Violet can do something she doesn't know about and Kaath does. In Kite's visions, he shows me a picture of a girl holding a string a lot. Maybe that has something to do with it? Thinking back, Violet remembered Kite talked to... Sapphire? Sienna? Scarlet? in a similar way. But now she doesn't even know that woman's name. Violet looked over to her and said lowly, Didn't Kite talk to you as well? What'd he say to you? Not sure if that was a secret since Kite never told her, she said it lowly to try to keep it out of the complete open. She was very curious what they talked about and if she didn't want to talk about it then... Violet didn't want to think about what that'd mean. I'm sure that's all just in my head. That Oil is making me not trust anyone... but they haven't exactly given me a reason to trust them. We just had one fight together. I've been trying to get them to trust me but... Violet was starting to get tired of her own thinking. Violet took a fish from the ones cooking, gives Kaath an 'is this okay?' look and starts to eat a bit of it. Not really hungry from her recent experiences, she takes a few bites out of it and sets it aside. She carefully puts the stick it was roasting on in the ground to keep the fish from touchng it. Thanks Kaath. I'm not much for eating right now but I promise I'll finish it. I just have something I need to do. Violet then takes a seat near the wall and places her ball in her lap. She was a mess of emotions, she needed to sort this out sooner than later before she screwed something else up. The ball slowly rose from her lap and slowly flashed between blue, yellow, and red. So many thoughts were running through her head: Kite's death, the nightmare she had of Keepa, the lack of trust between the people who she's supposed to entrust her life to. Everything swirled through her mind and the ball matched it. Violet started to slow her breathing and tried to push the thoughts away, rationalizing each one. Acknowledging the futility of getting upset over nothing or of things she couldn't change herself helped her in the past and she'd try that here. And it started to help. Given how Kaath speaks of him, she's probably been in a 'war' with him for some time. Since she's still alive, she must know how to deal with him. She doesn't need to worry about that. Kaath knows something about Kite so she might be able to help with that. Last the Nightmare Oil may be making her think the way she was, not that it wasn't warranted. She shouldn't be as upset about it as she is but it needs to be spoken about with all of them. As she thought about that, the colors in the ball began to fade. Over the course of about 5 minutes, the bright blue, yellow, and red all faded until all that was left was the clear ball that floated in front of her. A calmed look was in her eyes as she opened them again. She grabbed the ball in one hand and the fish with the other and joined everyone near the fire. Calmly, she spoke, So how can we help Kite? You seem to know about him so I'm interested with what you can tell me. Also what's our next move from here as she starts to eat her fish again.
Walker focused on recovering from the rather jarring series of events leading up to this while the other two went about insisting on offending their host, half closing his eyes and quietly sighing in response. Unintentional or no, was it really so hard to watch what one said? Tracking what was said and not chiming in until silence settled in, at least briefly, the man forced himself upright to accept the fish and consider what was said and going on. Plague surgeon had probably burnt himself out on mana, and given his limited understanding of mages, well, they were lucky they'd not just been torn apart by the onrush of forces pooling into the new, empty void. Given that hadn't happened, it probably worked differently here. Still, the odds were, given that he had not even stirred yet, he was a lost cause. Shame, that reality warping capability was useful, if completely disconcerting. He could also feel the mental lockbox he threw stress into straining to the brim, near a complete nervous breakdown given all the foreign, new, and, by all of his known standards, impossible things in such a short period of time. Several thing stuck in his mind, and as he moved to the fire to accept fish, a staple of Istvargrad diets, he would process while speaking.
"If the plague surgeon is completely burnt out of mana, we're obscenely lucky to have survived the incident. What interests me is the Kites, plural. How many times has this happened before us? A bunch of lost lambs, on the run from our mutual, well, bastard of an acquaintance, being dumped in a shrine belonging to a unique and, you have my gratitude for this, hospitable individual, only to be escorted to, what I assume to be, a relatively safe establishment in spite of unknown dangers in the woods..." Walker was thinking along far too many lines of thinking at the moment, in an effort to avoid glossing over details in the face of the overload of information going on right now. The gypsy was going about meditating and doing...strange mage tricks to attempt and fix her mental issues. He doubted it would work, she'd been far too quick to assume them enemies, even taking that Keepa puke in mind. Someone to keep a close eye on, though he wouldn't say as such. No, best to keep that on the down low until loyalties can be ascertained either way. Her questions after aiding the plague surgeon reminded him of the almost panicked focus when she learned he was inert, and he chimed in between bites.
"If these so called strings of his are cut, as none of us held them to my knowledge, I doubt there's anything to be done for it, doubly so being completely burnt out as it has been said. He got us this far, at least this one did, and if he isn't showing any signs of recovery by the time its time to leave, well, we can't be lugging around a corpse for numerous practical reasons." It was cold, sure, but Walker was in no condition to be carrying anyone, and more importantly, temperament since hauling that gypsy had only gotten a hostage situation and rather meek thanks. Beyond that, if there were numerous versions of this Kite doing this, there was bound to be more information and, possibly concerningly, the chance to run into another, less willing to help version of this plague surgeon. He doubted the others would be pleased to hear him putting things as he was, but there was not much to be done for it, so needs must. Once they were ready, they could ill afford to wait around for someone who may never wake up again.
At Kaath's rebuke, Ruby shrugged and focused her attentions on Walker's injury. Since he was busy conversing with Kaath at the moment, she opted to work with minimal intrusions, and motioned for him to remove his top garments as she fetched a first aid kit from the bag. The first order of business was to clean the wound. Walker had unwisely removed the bolt himself, likely causing further damage to his already injured shoulder. Worse, he'd stuffed an unsanitary cloth in it and put himself at greater risk of infection. Ruby bit back a groan of frustration and set to work flushing out the wound with small amounts of clean water before applying antibiotic ointment. With a little analgesic and a bit of deft sewing, she closed the wound and bandaged it up.
Of course, no wound treatment would be complete without a mama's kiss to make it better. She pecked the bandaged wound and patted his shoulder. "You did great, Walker," she murmured in his ear.
Ruby found herself a clean spot a few steps away and sat down, where she pulled out her vial of Nightmare Oil to observe it. It began to evaporate almost immediately. Intrigued, she marked its current level with her thumbnail and held it in her bag for a few seconds. When she pulled it out again, it began evaporating again where it left off.
"Huh. It reacts to light." She put it back in the bag and jotted down some observations in her notebook. Induces pleasure response in small quantities. Induces hallucinations in large quantities. Potent response with topical administration. High photosensitivity. After a few more measurements of its viscosity and weight, Ruby crossed her arms and huffed. "What is this stuff? I'm tempted to say it's some kind of antidepressant, like an SSRI. But photosensitivity? Topical administration? And how did they manage to get such a potent transdermal dose? It'd have to be, like, on the order of fentanyl to get the kind of strength."
She mulled it over with a deep frown on her face. Then something Walker said caught her ear. "He got us this far, at least this one did, and if he isn't showing any signs of recovery by the time its time to leave, well, we can't be lugging around a corpse for numerous practical reasons."
A corpse? The kite? Ruby glanced over at the kite. Sure enough, he remained still, right where they'd left him. But he'd mentioned kites earlier, as if there were more of them. What on earth were they talking about? She scooted over to Walker's side to listen in to the conversation.
With a wave of their hand as they held up their scarf to more obscurely chew, Kaath dismissed Violet's apology. After the light cracking of both a stick snapping and a hauntingly similar click of teeth gnashing as they made light work of the fist, she spoke up, "Ye get a pass, Purple, the oil 'as a way'a messin' with mental faculties." They then snapped their fingers excitedly at Walker's observation, "That! That is a very good question!" they almost chuckled before briefly choking and coughing for a second on what they'd hastily swallowed. Thankfully, this bought time for both them to think as well as for Ruby to go about better addressing Walker's wound with an otherwise overseen care. While confidence and fortitude could get his sort so far...stopping them was a task that was better seen to be forced, rather than letting themselves wear down. Kaath took an extra moment to recompose themselves while watching Ruby tend to, what was understandably, a complete stranger, with notable care.
The sight refreshed Kaath a slight note as to further calm the glow of their, having returned to a pale amber hue, eyes. "Yeh..." they started before Violet insisted to oppose experience, their story drawing an interest reflected by Kaath's raised brows. Quietly, she looked around to the others before the ambiguous luminescence of their eyes impressed a curious attention back to Violet. "I suppose I got two questions," they chirped, their tone lighter as if content with their previous question in the process of being answered. "Who...was wit'cha at tha time?" they asked, lowering the other half of their fish before her tone grew a bit more inquisitive, addressed to the others, "An' y'didn' lose anyone, did ya?" Their curiosity began to peek through their composure as their attention returned to Violet. "What did you do? How did it die?" they bluntly asked before clearing their throat, realizing they must have been coming on a bit thick.
"Pardon..." They sigh, holding up their hands with fingers splayed, save for the pinch of the stick they held their meal up on, looking like a shark had mangled the other end of it. "Yeh...where oi was..." they began, tipping their head to Walker, "...some few dozen 'ave come through my shrine." She chuckled, forced and human-ish before continuing, "Elves, orcs, beastmen...even had some kinda golem come through 'ere once," their tone reminiscing fondly before sighing to a hiss as the hue of their eyes darkened, "...and sometimes shite loik goblins'n ogres." They pointed over to the inert 'Kite', "Troi nah ta take offence, but whatevahs' sendin' Kites...its seemin' desperate" they darkly and mirthlessly chuckled, "So findin' a gig of a bunch of humans doesn't surprise me, much."
With a huff, she leaned forward to idly fish through the embers, again. "Dunno what the oil is...I just call it 'nightmare oil' for what it does to at least a couple newcomers at a time. Having just one case is...luck. Rumors suppose it's an ichor ol'Keeps dredges up from a bottomless cauldron of hungry souls, living in starvation for countless eternities every...breathing...moment." while making a jerking-off motion with a hand and shaking a head, she relayed the apparently abridged version, "Some kinda grudge against the sea, itself, but every single drop seeks to burn their throat." "But, yeah..." they try to change the subject, looking back to walker, "Kites have their...'string'...that they link to one of their first that they release, from what I'm told. Never had one of the mcguffins, myself...probably why I'm here" they explain, grumbling the last part. "Goblins, trolls and orcs may be strong and too dumb to be scared, but they're hardly a...well...effort. Most just eat their Kites once they get this far and then roam around in the woods, preying on whatever else bled through and made The Bruise its home." "Not sure how many shrines there are...some of the 'heroes' decide not ta feed themselves to the thresher an just...well..." Kaath concluded, splaying their arms out once more to the room which one steep staircase exited from. "Welcome ta The Bruise...guessing I'll be ya guide, Kaath!" she more formally announced with a chuckle, afterwards.
Walker was silent as Kaath went about responding with something bordering on excitement. The man glanced at Ruby as she broke out what looked like first aid supplies and seemed dead set on cleaning up his shoulder. He had better things to do than argue or fight over it, so he silently assented to her ministrations, shrugging off the cloak and pulling his arm free of the sleeve to expose his wounded shoulder. What was exposed was a patchwork of scars of varying sorts, the usual assortment of puncture, slashes, even burns, though this was probably nothing new for someone who dealt with would be heroes and adventurers. Cocking an eyebrow at her at the muttered praise, he redressed his shoulder and arm with little waiting nor fiddling about with the far more expertly done work. His normal approach was grab something suitably strong in alcohol content, take a swig, then rinse out the wound before crudely binding it. He could tell her stitchwork was a damn sight better than his usual approach, so he would leave it be.
"Deft hands, you've probably stitched up quite a number of people if I had to hazard the guess." The man didn't address the remark on having 'done great' according to the murmured remark. He was starting to get a rough picture of what to expect, skill wise, from this woman, doubly so when she went about studying the nightmare oil that she'd acquired. She'd have fit right in among the scholars and mage quarter of Istvargraad, and he honestly wasn't sure whether that was a compliment or insult. Depended on the week, he supposed. Still, with that, Kaath chimed up again, first asking two questions as to who was with them, and if anyone had been lost. The ranger captain, well, former ranger captain chimed in and answered those two questions before the other two could say something stupid.
"Just us meddlesome humans three, and in spite of efforts to the contrary, seems all of us made it. At least in physical body." As he answered, Walker fished out his lucky pipe, weighing it in his hand and huffing, going about cleaning the pipe since they had time to actually sit. He'd not given it a proper cleaning in awhile, and while no amount of effort would restore the former engravings and clean ivory, it was far better in craftsmanship and quality than someone of his standing would have. Still, since he didn't fish for a pinch of tobacco, he was at least cognizant of the fact smoking in here would be rude. Or he simply couldn't since it was needing cleaned out. It kept his hands busy while he evenly met Kaath's gaze, listening as she rattled off those that had come before them. Fantastical races, including those extinct or, perhaps, having never existed outside stories, including the fates of the Kites that had taken more barbaric sounding individuals.
"Luck or a by product of our rather lacking numbers. Maybe both. Given what you've said thus far, a guide to this 'Bruise' will be useful. Desperation is an old friend, I suppose, so no small shock to find it in the heart of the Kite's puppet master." The string, in a very metaphorical term, was linked to one of the first freed. Given their numbers, that was probably the gypsy looking one, as he'd woken up before the seamstress and then they ran afoul of Keepa. An unpleasant fight by all accounts, and a reminder that he was going to need something a lot more hefty than an arming sword, knife, and a crossbow. Satisfied with the cleaning efforts on the pipe so far, well, he went about mostly holding it and considering the situation at hand. He'd eaten his share of the fish before being tended to medically, so he had to keep his hands from being idle. Nothing good came of it.
Violet sat quietly listening to everyone talk. Talks of shrines, other visitors and other stuff from Kaath. She kinda half listened to her but Violet knew she'd gotten the majority of the picture. Given what she did for a living, she was good at getting information from only bits and pieces of memories, she was able to gather the information being given to her with relative ease. She was more concerned with the first several questions Kaath had asked. While she still didn't completely trust her, she also knew that if Kaath wanted to, she could kill them all rather quickly. Anyone who's stayed here for so long and has made a personal enemy of Keepa must be able to hold their own, especially if Keepa hasn't come to take her out already. Either he doesn't want to, or he can't. Nevertheless she should begin to answer... or at least she would but Walker had just blurted out an answer. Just listening to him, it just feels like he's trying too hard to be the most aloof among them all. Despite that, he still answers as if he knows it all. He should remember that I was the one who woke him up... and given what Kaath said...
I suppose I should speak up now. As far as I know, I was the first to wake up here. Kite freed me first so, if what you say is true, then I suppose I'm the one who holds the string. As for your other questions; when I woke up, it was just me and Kite, and second, We didn't lose anyone from our side. We ran into another Kite who attacked us but I think it was after me... it's just a guess but that's off topic. We killed that Kite after our Kite suffered some pretty bad injuries. I had thought they were mortal but Kite was able to shrug them off. So I've answered your question, but we've been dancing around mine, how do we save Kite? That little guy is pretty strong, it'd be foolish to leave without him. Violet tried to cover up her own personal reasons for saving him by making it a logical choice to save him.
Violet said to her self and thought for a second. Now that I think about it, this isn't the right time to bring that back up... there's another pressing matter. This feeling in Violet, she wasn't going to be able to shake it. Maybe it's a lingering effect of the Nightmare oil or maybe it's something else. After all, the oil makes your nightmares real but they don't come from nowhere, those feelings were inside of her. If she doesn't address them, she won't be able to keep her emotions under control and she'll only end up as a hindrance to the party. So it's best to get this over with now... it's as good a time as any. Violet would look to both Walker and Sienna, I think we need to have a private chat... It's nothing personal Kaath, just a few things we need to work out. I'd ask if you could watch out for us but either you were going to do that anyway, or you wouldn't listen to me in the first place. Either way there's no point in asking She'd give a feint smile to Kaath as she'd turn her attention back to the others. If you don't mind, lets talk over there. She'd motion over a little bit down the hall but still within Kaath's sight.
I did not, at first, understand the depth of the Cup I had chosen to drink.
Perhaps I should have asked a question: Why would a man, having found the Cup which humanity sought through the millennia past, decline to partake thereof, and give it to another? Who would value the company of Outcasts over the treasures of eternity? The depravity of humankind should have precluded it from the Beginning. I shudder to think what judgment shall pass upon those lips that drank of that forbidden Cup.
Yet willingly I drank, and I do not regret. Only through the lens of monstrosity can I now see the landscape of humanity. The life of man is like a wisp of flame, here for but a moment, and gone as quickly as it came. A man may choose how he shall fuel that flame, for as tobacco and oak yield different rewards from the fire, so do the works of men from life.
But a man may strive for a lifetime and a day and accomplish nothing but to feed his flesh to the earth. Even a whole host, striving with all their might, cannot light the way for humanity far beyond their generation. Give a century or two, and civilization is once again wreathed in utter Darkness.
What I've come to learn is that it takes just a few good people to chart the course for the future. That tiny spark of Good, so easily smothered, can, with nurture and care, light such a fire as shall burn into legends. How many more lives could be bought if all they who burn were kindled? How far could the light pierce the darkness given a spark and a chance? So many precious souls, too many, meet their end bereft of any joy or accomplishment. I want to find them, embrace them, and tell them it’s okay to burn. I want them to burn and burn until the very equilibrium of good and evil warps in our favor.
I want Good to start winning for a change.
Such efforts lie far beyond the power of ordinary men. I believe I understand, now, why our adoptive father could not bring himself to partake of the Cup: he could not muster within himself the power to foresee a future beyond the murk of his past . Only children such as we, with no knowledge of the past and no thought for the future, could accept that kind of power and the responsibilities it entails.
And I would drink it again in a heartbeat.
Preface Consider the following story an apology for my long absence. I've set myself a deadline to always write before or on Monday 4-5pm MST, so 3-week absences of this sort shouldn't happen again. Please enjoy this short story, set in Ruby's world prior to the events of The Backwards Castle. __________
The city of Midhaven was many things. It was diverse, for starters, and one almost had to take three semesters of Intercultural Studies to avoid offending someone. It was also one of the better-governed cities on the planet, which was why people didn't need three semesters of Intercultural Studies to live a largely peaceful life here. What the city was not, however, was warm, in either sense of the term - as Erudessa quickly discovered when the fifth inkeeper in the area slammed the door in her face that night.
"Nice to meet you too." She tightened her coat and trudged down the street to locate another inn. Xenophobia was surprisingly strong in this corner of the city. Throwing money around would bring more pickpockets than friends, and nobody would talk to strangers at this time of night. Finding a place to sleep, let alone any local connections for the hunt, was proving a pipe dream.
Erudessa sighed and stared down a narrow alley.
Looks like I'm making friends with the dirt again. What'll I find there this time: villains or vagrants?
Shadows flickered in the dark. There was something, just a hunch, perhaps, that told her to go there. Only one way to find out.
Her eyes soon adjusted as she picked her way through the alley. The graffitied walls, failed pentagrams, discarded pottery, and piles of waste suggested people once lived here. The new king's policies, it seemed, were working, and so (hopefully) were the vagrants. Which meant that the likelihood of encountering them in an alley was less likely.
Erudessa touched a hand to the wall to place a warning spell on it. It couldn't hurt to have a little extra time should those shadowed figures choose to try her, if they dared. She found clean little corner and snuggled herself into it. A laugh soon found its way out of her throat.
"The others would so get a kick out of this, seeing me here," she muttered aloud to herself. As she chuckled at the idea of being caught sleeping in an alley, she lifted her gaze to the sliver of night sky above her. It's definitely been a while since I last had to live like this. With a heavy sigh, she laid her head against the wall, closed her eyes, and listened to the sweet call of sleep. Before it could take her, a sharp headache induced by the warning spell forced her to her feet. Erudessa summoned a forcefield around herself and diverted mana to her palms.
"Speak!" she commanded.
The sound of labored breathing rose up from around the corner, deeper into the alley. She stretched two fingers around the corner and sent a mana pulse. One soul, motionless, non-threatening. Erudessa rounded the corner to find young woman, stained black with blood and clutching a bundle in her arms. It took her a moment to realize she'd found one of her targets: Uroh Tei, a former covert operative, wanted for treason against the Council. The reason for that treachery lay in her arms. From the looks of it, someone else got to Uroh before she did.
Erudessa dispelled her energies and knelt at the woman's side. "Are you okay?" she asked.
A faint glimmer from the woman's face meant she'd opened her eyes slightly. Erudessa touched the woman's shoulder and asked again. "Are you okay?"
Her head shook slightly, and she clutched the bundle tighter.
Even traitors deserved a fair trial. She didn't deserve this. Her child didn't deserve this. Erudessa diverted energy to her palms again, this time for regenerative magic. "It's okay, I'm a healer. I can help."
Uroh batted her hands away.
"Let me help you," Erudessa pleaded.
She raised the bundle slightly.
In that moment, it struck her. There is only one soul here. She felt sick to her stomach.
Erudessa swallowed hard. "Wait, I don't think-"
Uroh mustered her strength and rasped, "Please!"
Erudessa froze. How could she not know? I can't tell her. The knowledge would break her. If the passing were but a few seconds ago, I could have helped, but this child is long gone. What am I supposed to do, animate her like a zombie? I'm not doing that.
The Ascended were not gods, contrary to popular belief. They could not raise the dead. But perhaps...perhaps it couldn't hurt to pretend.
"Give me a moment." Erudessa moved back around the corner out of sight. She confronted a pang of guilt for the plan she was about to consider. Would it be wrong? I could solve so many problems this way, but is it right to take...and to deceive like that? Would she be happy that something, anything of her child's memory would continue, or angry that it isn't whole?
Erudessa folded her arms and mulled it over.
If she lives past the trial, I'll tell her myself. No lies.
She cast a delayed teleportation spell on herself and returned to the woman's side. "I can help, but...there is a price."
"Name it," Uroh whispered.
"Give me the child."
Uroh closed her eyes. Every second felt like a minute. At length, she nodded, and loosened her grip on the bundle. Erudessa lifted it into her arms and bowed her head. "Thank you, Uroh Tei. The child shall live. I swear it."
As she left the alley, Uroh's only response was a slight smile and a wet trail on her dirty cheek.
Erudessa came to small place near the city's edge, where a retired mercenary couple made a living in blacksmithing. They'd enjoyed a solid reputation as kind, upstanding folks, and they longed to have children, but were denied opportunity to adopt any due to their background.
She gazed into the child's still, pale face. "In a few moments, little one, life shall fill your eyes once more. My only regret is that it will not be...yours."
She knocked on the door, then touched her mouth to the bundle and breathed. A chill formed in her heart, small at first, and grew until her whole body became numb. All the colors of the world faded to gray and blended together in a blur of light before, at last, succumbing to darkness. The void beckoned, and she answered it.
Then, she breathed in.
The arms that clutched her vanished before the door opened.
"Oh! Who left a baby on my doorstep?" said a woman's voice. "Whimpering whiskers! Where's your mother, little one?" Erudessa attempted a reply, but only a cry came out. The voice decided this meant that she was hungry - which she was, incidentally. Attempts at expressing this yielded similarly unpleasant noises. "Rodger dear! I found a baby!"
The merc came stumbling to the door rubbing his eyes. "Julia! I knew you were canvassing orphanages, but you went and bought that little chicken-fried f*cknugget from the agency?"
Julia scoffed. "I found her on our doorstep, I'll have you know. Go get the applesauce out of the icebox. Little one's starving!"
I will live your life in your place, little one. Wait for me - I'll have many stories for you by world's end.
__________
The longer Kaath conversed with Walker, the more Ruby wanted to sink into the floor. She never meant to hurt Kaath. But the girl had to shoulder the burden of suspicion from the moment the party arrived, so Ruby's words, meant just as routine confirmation, triggered her frustration. Worse, there was nothing about Kaath besides a shadowed complexion to warrant such suspicion. Talkative, helpful, and easygoing, Kaath offered them aid in their time of need, only to be rewarded with glares and sour words. What if the experience made her wary of people ever after? What if she chose to smother the kindness in her heart because of this? Perhaps such a conclusion was unlikely, but humans sometimes turned to evil over lesser grievances. She would never forgive herself if that happened.
She could not look Kaath in the eye for the rest of the conversation. An apology was in order, but she didn't much feel like embarrassing herself by apologizing within earshot of the others. Then again, the error was public; a public error demanded a public apology. But Kaath and Walker were still talking, and interrupting to make an apology would be awkward at best, and flat-out rude at worst.
Ruby ran her hands through her hair. What do I do? When do I do it?
The opportunity arose when Violet summoned her and Walker to a private chat. Ruby waited until Walker was some paces away before speaking.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and shifted to sit on her knees.
"Kaath...I want to apologize. You've helped us, helped me, more than I deserve, and I treated you with suspicion. It was wrong of me to suggest you hurt Violet. I don't-" The lump in her throat returned, and could not be swallowed without smarting her eyes. "I didn't-" Tears began to well up. Don't cry. Don't cry. Be strong. Don't cry now. Dammit! She was not as strong as initially surmised, and the moisture threatened to spill onto her cheeks. Ruby bowed her head to hide them and plodded on. "-please don't stop being kind just because of an old fool like me. Can you- can you- please forgive me?"
She waited a few moments to learn whether Kaath would accept it. But she could not wait too long, lest the others wonder at the holdup and return to find Ruby in tears. At length, she wiped her eyes, got to her feet, and joined the meeting.
For once, the ambient darkness proved a friend, enshrouding the signs of tears in shadow so what traces remained would not be visible. Ruby dusted off a section of the cold stone floor and folded herself on top of it. "How may I be of service, Violet?"
Kaath had grown quiet as the group mingled, their eyes never seeming to settle on anything for very long, though they found an interest in the handling of the man's wound. It was something Violet has said that gave the woman pause, their gaze slowly turning to the inert, masked figure. Worryingly, she offered little comment to the proposal to form a 'huddle' down the hall leading to their stairs. Merely an idle wave of a hand and a "Ah, yeh. Don' ya wander too far off..." with a distracted warmth in their tone, clearly preoccupied with the information they were given.
She blinked, almost jumping as Ruby approached her, their pupils sharpening with the minor shock of being snapped out of their thoughs. While 'misconceptions' and 'misunderstandings' came with the territory, they were still tender scars best left unprobed...apologies, though, were an oddity, earning an almost confused furrowing of Kaath's brows and the tilt of their head before she picked up on the distress that the burden of their introductions must have left on Ruby with her behavior. "Iss..." Kaath began, her softer tone coming out as more of a hiss, watching the other two walk off to form the huddle presumably out of earshot. "...Iss...an easy mistake to forgive, Sssstardust~" they reassuringly cooed as Ruby turned and scurried off.
Looking back to the main chamber, Kaath could be seen rising to her feet soon after the others left and pacing over to where Kite laid. Resting their hands on either side of his head, they looked down at him, the fabric of her scarf moving as if she was saying something. After a bit, a tiny popping was heard and the woman had to pull one of her hands free of the stone; long black claws having sunk into the slab. Resting their hands on their hips, they turned and took a few small pacing steps before looking over to the group, meeting Violet's glance and staring a bit after before looking back to Kite and leaning in once more to say something before waiting, hanging their head and grabbing the beak of the mask to give their limp head a light shake before leaving them to rest as she made her way back to the stump and sitting back down...staring into the fire.
"Two..." I challenged, admiring the fire and how it made dark of a fuel that produced such light. The monochrome filters meshed with the warm glow as I observed how the fragments of wood disintegrated into another swift gout of flame. This brought me peace; let me count the seconds as the humans might. My thoughts were troubled, though...and I was trying my best to reason why details would make me think these thoughts. Two made no sense. One Kite comes, gets the goofballs, and leaves before...Keepakura...
I was already pacing to the slab before the dots began to connect and it took restraint not to slam my hands down on the stone as I peered into the darkness of the Kite's Mask. I lowered my head to better catch the questionable entity's scent...it was...a Kite. Not an imposter; the stink of Velkets is impossible to mask so perfectly.
The woman is confused. There was only one...there would not be two...it is not how the rules work. "(What did you do...?)" I hiss, looking into the nebulous pools of the mask's eye holes. Drawn in, I narrowed my eyes to endeavor to pierce the shadows of their veil, seeing only wood grains...deep...deep beneath. What would it even mean? They...killed...a Kite? Because there was more than one? Are they fighting now? Is it even safe to bring this one back...
Should...should I...
I catch the eyes of the gypsy. They look away, continuing to talk, but I consider my options. Three humans, one wounded...the tenacious one...two women, a porter and the unstable gypsy. Ten...twelve paces, the one on the left, then-
No! No, it's not like it was, before. These steps matter now more than ever...and...
I sigh and hang my head. "(If this is japery...you had best elucidate your aim)" I threaten the...corpse...though my arms shake as if eager to meet a match...but...I'm not one for mysteries. Leaning back, I jerk from my claws having sunk in while in the throes of thought. Drawing my hands free, I rest them on my hips and pace, unsure what to do. We have the string...for one Kite...whichever it was, this is what we have to work with.
There was no 'usual method'...this isn't even my story...I... I take hold of the beak of the mask. I...give him a playful shake, a smirk forming on my un-face before turning to return to my post.
I sit down on the stump and watch one of the fish blacken with a layer of char from being ignored, and I leave it for countless seconds before toeing it over into the coals to watch the flesh be consumed. It didn't help...I deserve answers. I've wanted answers and now here they are, but they're not for my questions.
They expect me to guide them, but they've delivered me a map I've never before seen. How...or should I even? Should I tell them? Is the status quo to leave this Kite? Which one is this, even? Does it matter?
Kaath sighed and used the now free, but burning, skewer stick to draw a series of lines on the cobblestone...tallies and arrows as they tried to plot out their quandary.
Violet would walk over to the spot and place her ball a little under waist level, sit on it, and cross her legs. She'd wait for the others to make their way over. She noticed The other girl taking her time but it looks like she's talking with Kaath. As she'd start walking over, Violet would notice her wiping her eyes. Either Kaath said something to her or she had something emotional to say. Either way it wasn't any of her business. Once she was with the group, Violet would start. Thank you for indulging me in this request. Feel free to take a seat if you'd like. There's just a few things I wanted to talk about with you two. I'll be blunt since dancing around this subject will get us nowhere. Both of you seem untrustworthy. Now that's not to say I'm not grateful to the two of you, especially you Walker. Carrying me out with an injured shoulder must have been difficult for you, so for that you have my gratitude. What I'm referring to is the fact that, for the most part, I don't know anything about either of you since it seems like what you've been telling others changes with each new person. I'm not saying to divulge your entire story to the enemy, but I'd like to know more about you both. I'd be happy to answer any questions you'd have about me as well... but this is something we need to do. If we're to trust each other with our lives, it's the least we can do. So why don't we start with giving each other our real names... Violet would shoot a look at the girl, Sienna... or Sapphire... Why don't you start us off?
-
Walker had taken his time meandering over for the gypsy's little gathering she had called for. Probably looking to dig information out on her allies, and he settled into standing. He'd spent enough time sitting for now, between waking up on a slab and then sitting around eating and having his shoulder properly patched up. The two of them were untrustworthy? That got a low smile across his face as she mentioned being grateful regardless of trustworthiness. The gypsy was talking about getting to know the two of them better, and that was going to be a hard no, at least for now. He'd have to play around her questions, since there was no promises she was any more trustworthy than the medic and himself looked.
Well, nominally its rude to ask for a true name without offering one's own first, just my humble opinion there. But let's have our little team meeting and see what happens, it could be very enlightening while we keep our host waiting in a cave.
-
Being called untrustworthy stung. Ruby didn't like deception, much less lying. This place was so surreal, so foreign, so hostile, that it seemed dangerous to give even a codename, let alone her real name(s). But no matter how good the reason was, lying always bit back.
I was called Ruby since my earliest waking memories, though my mother carried my true name to her grave. I was adopted by the Redfords, retired mercenaries, and now work as a sort of mercenary myself as the owner and operator of the Redford Porter Service. My job is to handle all the support functions of an adventuring party, including baggage and loot management, equipment upgrades, health maintenance, and such like.
She looked to Walker and smiled. How about you, hotshot?
-
Ruby went through her bit about being a, by his home's standards at least, a reputable mercenary support company owner and operator. Not what he had pegged given her kit and tricks, but it made sense. That sort of thing would have sold well for those who were hired by the Church to find Relics before the crooks, thieves, and those hired by nobles and the mage's guild did. Still, it seemed that his turn had come around, and he offered a lazy smile and a shrug after being referred to as hotshot.
Afraid I'm the least interesting person here it seems. Walker is my name, it's what everyone knew me by, and what everyone used when not resorting to derogatory terms. As for who I was, that very much depended on who you asked, and when. If my arm's being twisted, metaphorically of course, and you want my two cents? Just some gutter rat who managed to thrive before that cesspit I called home got torched. Learned my way around fights out of necessity, and from there developed the skills needed to make ends meet. No glamor there, I'm afraid, and certainly no heroics. That leaves you, my gypsy looking individual, to fill in the gaps you leave now.
Walker had turned his gaze back on Violet, and while he still had that easy smile on his face, it certainly was not one that reached his eyes, metaphorically speaking. Whether he was lying or merely omitting things, well, even he would be hard pressed to confirm at this point. Live a story long enough and, well, you sort of take on that story as your own. At least that's what he would say if pressed further on the authenticity of his rather lack luster background compared to Ruby and, probably Violet. The fact he was the odd one out in names was not lost on him either, mind, but he didn't bring that up.
-
Well then I'm glad you both started. I suppose I should return the favor. As I've said before, my name is Violet. Where I'm from, I ran a faux-fortune teller shop. It was an easy way to make money since people would love to hear that kind of stuff. Violet would pause for a second and get a much more serious look on her face, but while that is true, it's only the surface. While the stand I ran was only a phony booth, my powers are far from fake. As for my main profession, I was an assassin who'd take to killing corrupt lord who'd abuse their power one way or another. While there we're monsters in my world Violet would glance over to Kaath for a moment, I didn't have to fight them, we had a group of hunters to do that for us.
Violet had told this story many times in her world, mostly to acquaintances of Xendrik, so she was used to the question which usually followed. If you're wondering why I also ran the booth, it was to look into common people's past and future to see if they had any information on my target. Places they'd frequent, things they've said around them, that kind of stuff.
Violet would take a breath and put on a calmer expression. I apologize for putting you both on the spot like that but it's something I needed to know. I suppose next, if there's nothing left to add, we talk about our strengths and weakness, our abilities and what we can bring to the table so to speak.
-
An openly admitted assassin, one who seemed to have their story down pat and claimed to only be going after corrupt lords and the like. Supposedly there were 'monsters' as well, noting the glance towards Kaath, but not having ever done it herself. They had specific hunters for that sort of thing, which seemed natural enough. A guild of like minded hunters would work better, assuming they even formed any sort of ranks like that. Regardless, apparently she could read people's fortunes, futures, pasts, and so on. There must be some sort of limitation since, well, why ask if she could just look into someone's past to get the information she wanted. He would have to keep that in mind, since she should have been able to tell he was obfuscating the truth if she was actually capable of that.
I'm sure it was V, I'm sure it was. You've already seen I can protect myself in hand to hand, even if I'm no hunter of monsters. Beyond that, I'm a halfway tolerable shot, it's hard to keep me out of places and things, and I'm easily forgettable when the mood suits. I have some other tricks, though they're much more niche so if they come up, well, then they come up. As for weaknesses? Well, obviously I don't have the tricks you two have, which is the most relevant one. That's probably the main relevant one. Your up, R, since we're putting all the cards on the table.
Walker shrugged and omitted the fact he could take one hell of a beating, that one was probably obvious given the injury and general recovery he had made, factoring in the medical aid that R rendered. He didn't enjoy chatting about himself, so kept it brief and only covered the necessary points in his usual manner of speaking. He was mostly scanning back and forth between the two, occasionally glancing back to see how their illustrious host was doing, otherwise, he kept his peace for now.
-
Least interesting? Pish posh. How'd his home get torched? When? By who? Did he catch them? Good lord, does this man have a story to tell! How is this not interesting!?
But Violet, though, has an interesting power. Can she really look into the future? If so, I gotta learn that spell.
That's another conversation, though.
Strengths, weaknesses, and abilities, huh? Well, for one, I'm a good shot with a gu- Wait, they might not have guns on their worlds. Then again, they've seen my weapon. Ruby withdrew her blaster and set it on the ground in front of her. This is a magical weapon that uses my mental energies for ammunition. I'm a good shot with it.
She then reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of firewood. Since my job requires management of large inventories, I invested in a Bag of Holding, which has unlimited space in it. This firewood, for example, is larger than the bag, but the bag can hold it. She put it back in the bag and leaned back on her arms.
As for skills and abilities, I have many. I can do black-smithy, carpentry, alchemy, cooking, sewing, medicine, programming, mage-craft, architecture, all sorts of things. I can even fight, in a pinch, though I've been long out of practice. If there's anything you need done, I can probably do it.
-
As for me, as you've both seen, I can hold my own in a battle. I can use this ball to keep a distance between me and my enemies. It can pack a hell of a punch if I'm in the right mood. If necessary I have a dagger I can defend myself up close with but that goes into my weakness. I'm not physically strong. Yes I have a dagger, but I'm an assassin, it was never meant to be used in a fight, it was meant for a quick kill with no resistance. In addition, if I'm not in the right mood, my ball will barely tickle my enemy.
Violet looked down as if to process everything she'd been told. Working it all together she can see how they could make a decently competent team. Walker would take the front, she'd be in the middle, with Ruby in the back. It could easily work if they stick to that plan. Violet could provide backup for Walker should he get overwhelmed and Ruby provides backup for Violet. Everything was in order but, maybe it's the Nightmare Goo lingering but there was one more thing she needed to do...
Alright sounds good from the both of you. There's just one more thing to do, and admittingly this is a very selfish request. Will you let me read your pasts? I give my word that I will only look into the things you've told me. In addition, since I know this doesn't seem fair on both of your parts, if you have any question to ask me, I'll answer them truthfully. I know my powers can be a bit... intrusive... so I find it morally wrong to look for things I have no business looking for. So... I know this may be a lot but... what do you say?
-
No! Ruby blurted out.
She crawled back, scowling. Let her see who I am, what I'm capable of? It'd be Septra all over again! Hell no!
Ruby's scowl softened and faded. Flipping fidgets. That was too harsh. Maybe it couldn't hurt to let her see a little.
Twenty-five years, if that's possible. No further, please.
-
Walker glanced at Ruby while she mentioned being a good shot with her magic weapon. More enchanted kit, it seemed, and more stuff that outclassed what he had laying around typically. True to her claims as a mercenary supporter, she unloaded all sorts of kit and and rattled off all sorts of abilities and skills. She'd be swamped with work back home, he considered, though all things considered it would be useful to at least keep her on his side. He had no coin, let alone any that she might have even taken, but then he turned his attention to the gypsy assassin as she spoke. Holds her own, the ball of hers was reliant on her mood? That was concerning, and possibly exploitable, and she openly admitted being an assassin and being lacking in straight up fights. What they could use was one of, and he loathed to consider it, the old church guards. Big, looming brutes would work wonders being a wall. Still, what was asked next confirmed his previous thoughts.
She refused to unwillingly look into someone's past without their permission? Based on morality? One of the most confusing assassin's he'd ever encountered. It was a strange amalgamation of traits and qualities that made it difficult to get a solid read on her at all. Ruby's response was harsh but not necessarily surprising. Hell, he had no interest in showing her his past. One, while he technically wasn't lying before, it was none of her business who he was before here. He would have to observe based on what happened to Ruby and decide from there, and his tone was more guarded and less off the cuff than her's had been.
I'll consider it while you read R first. I'm a private person, so having someone sniffing around in my past isn't particularly appealing. It's not terribly pretty either, shockingly. He crossed his arms now, watching the two now so he could focus and analyze what and how it happened. Even if he didn't expect to see anything during this 'reading'.
-
Thank you Ruby. If you'll give me your hands. She'd take both of her hands and close her eyes. She'd then quickly open them and say, I should mention... When I use my powers, I, unintentionally, will see the most important memory to you. It's typically the first thing I'll see but I'll only catch a glimpse of it. If you're fine with that I can continue.
-
Ruby nodded from within her defensive ball. Okay, you can look. she murmured.
-
Violet closed her eyes and was quickly surrounded in a familiar darkness. It's been a while since she's used her powers but she was used to it. She'd see a small bright light which she knew to be Ruby's memories. Once she touched it, millions of screens would burst out. She'd immediately be greeted with a big scene of a man standing over her. He appeared to be bleeding and looking at her. She'd quickly close her eyes from that scene and started to focus on the task at hand.
First she'd look for the name. She'd look back starting from her birth and progress forward until she got a clear memory of someone saying her name... sure enough her name was Ruby. Next she'd look at any battles that Ruby had been in. Again she was truthful, although it seemed that gun of hers was more than a flare gun. Other than that she played a more supportive roll on the field with a long range option. Although that crystal she uses seems interesting. Other than that, it seems she was telling the truth.
Violet would open her eyes only a couple second later and give a sigh of relief. Thank you Ruby. I see you've told the truth so thanks again for indulging my foolish thoughts. Though I'll admit I don't know why you'd set a 25 year limit... Honestly I would have pegged you for 21 or so. She'd shrug then look to Walker next knowing he might be a bit more opposed. Alright it's your turn. Can I look into your past as well. Again I will promise to only look for what you've told me.
-
Walker was watching the rather lackluster ceremony for someone who was supposedly having the past 25 years of their life being read. A strange setpoint, honestly, given how old she looked, but looks could be deceiving. That much was certain. When she finished and looked over at him, he sighed and dropped his arms as she properly asked him. Violet was clearly right to assume he was opposed, his tone guarded and not terribly pleased with the fact that someone was going to look into his past. She might not be terribly happy with, while he didn't lie, there was a lot he omitted of his past.
I'm opposed, but right now it's fairly irrelevant what that past is. Unlikely any of its left, given how we ended up here overall. Can't speak for you two, of course. Be quick about it, not like my past is worth looking into at this point.
-
Violet would look a bit disappointed. That won't do... I need your consent in order to read your past.
-
Of course it was a case of precise wording, it shouldn't have been surprising to Walker given her request for true names, and he finally conceded. Fine, you may do so. Try not to look too closely at the more recent stuff, it ain't very pretty.
-
Ruby snickered and punched Walker in the shoulder. Dude, she just said she's an assassin. I'd bet my pennies your past is wearing a pink tutu with a bow on top compared to hers.
-
Now it was Walker's turn. Violet closed her eyes and was once again quickly surrounded in darkness. She'd come to a bright light and would touch it. This time she's met with a city ablaze. She'd see Walker looking over this city from a bridge. Violet was stunned a bit at the sight but quickly regained her composure and closed her eyes and focused.
She'd start with name again. She'd filter his memories by 'real name' since going from birth was a took a bit last time. She'd see thousands of memories before her. She'd peek into one and hear him referred to as 'Walker'. Good enough for her. Before she could throw these away she'd see a memory by itself. It seemed weird so she'd decided look a bit more into it.
She'd find herself in a well worn, lived in setting. She'd see Walker working over a sheaf of papers over lamp light. Violet would look to see what Walker was looking over and see the name on the documents he was trying to repair: Jericho Cross. After Walker studied them for a while she saw him burn the document. It must not be something he wants to think about. Violet couldn't help but feel a bit guilty at what she'd been doing now. She glance over a few battles he'd been in but was a little too ashamed to pay too much attention to them.
She come back to her senses with a saddened expression on her face. I'm... sorry... I saw a few things and I'd understand why you'd want to keep them to yourself. To clear up any misunderstanding she'd get closer to him and whisper in his ear, I saw you standing over a burning village although I didn't see too much of that. But I also saw your name... Jericho Cross... I won't talk about it unless you want me to. She'd take her original seat back on her ball. Anyway that's your business and I won't pry any further than I have. Again I'm sorry for asking this of both of you. In return, I will answer any question you have on me with the utmost of honesty.
-
Walker did snort briefly at Ruby and her remark, fortunate that she didn't punch his wounded shoulder. Remind me to ask for your pennies when she's done, yeah?
With that, he would focus on Violet as she did her thing, and Walker was not terribly happy with someone sifting through his past. The expression on her face, almost sad, when she finally finished all but confirmed the fact that she probably sifted through some rather private things. that he would rather have left buried. She mentioned having seen things that he would rather have not been dug up and, before he could remark, she was in his personal space and mentioned the birth name he dug up far too long ago and he cocked an eyebrow at her and muttered. I'd leave that well and truly buried for now. As for the battle, that's far less touchy if you two need a depressing story sometime.
Once she returned to her orb seat and spoke on mentioning, with complete honesty promised, answering any questions they had, Walker spoke up, his tone was a bit more clipped than before. Invading his privacy was not something easily forgiven, regardless of the reasoning. Despite his opening, he seemed more focused on pragmatics than simply digging into her past. I've met my share of assassins, a past reading gypsy with a peculiar and specific code of morals and targets is not typical. Rather than focus on semantics, however, the orb. Why is your control of it so heavily dependent on emotion, that seems like a rather glaring problem should things get suitably out of hand.
-
A good question... Violet would stand from her ball and bring it to her hand. This orb is tied to me emotionally to put it simply. Truth be told I'm not completely sure how it works myself but I know it to be true. Different emotions yield different strengths. She'd close her eyes and the ball would burst in to is red flame. Anger is the second strongest of my emotions. You've seen what it could do to Keepa so you know it's power. As for weakest... She'd close her eyes again and the ball would turn a bright yellow. Fear would have to be the weakest. As it stands... She'd launch the ball directly at Ruby's chest but, despite how fast it moved, it bounced off with little to no force behind it at all. I can't hurt anyone with this thing. I have to maintain full control of my emotions at all times otherwise I only become a hindrance in battle.
After what she saw, she felt being completely forthcoming was only the right thing to do. They couldn't look into her past the same way she could look into theirs. This was only the fair thing to do. However, the way he phrased that question definitely meant there was another question he wanted to ask. Look, Walker, I can tell that's not what you wanted to ask... You can feel free to ask whatever you want.
-
I think I just started a gambling game on whose past is grittier... Ruby muttered.
Walker posed an interesting question: Why was Violet's control dependent on emotion? The magecrafts often operated on different rules in different worlds; perhaps if her magic fed on spirit energy, then emotions, being the expression of one's spiritual state, might govern the magic's properties?
Or perhaps it was a "trainer" of some sort. It wasn't unprecedented for master mages to tailor a trainee's magic powers to work under a specified set of restrictions.
But Violet was no mage. She was an assassin given a mage's tool - a remarkable tool, at that. The mystic code governing its operation begged to be disassembled. If it were possible to just take a quick peek...
Ruby stuffed the idea in the back of her mind. She'd flesh out a plan for that later. In the meantime, she had some questions for the lovely young assassin, and raised her hand.
I got one. What is your planet of origin?
-
Another good question. While the answer is Earth I already assumed we came from different worlds. The fact that neither of you had any reaction to Kaath's appearance meant the Nightmares don't exist in your world. Nightmares are the monsters that infect my world. She'd bring her ball to the middle of all of them and project a small image of a Nightmare to them. Completely jet black skin, long oversized arms with long legs to match, claws on it's hands and feet, and to top it off, it's entire body was cover in what looked like a white bone-like plates with it even having some type of 'face'. It almost looked like a mask but it's mouth would open up to show very human teeth. And of course standing out from this all were it's bright red eyes that seemed to peer directly into your very being. That is one example of one type of them but there are many different types, and they all look different. But the jet black skin, white plating, and red eyes are typically their calling card. She disperse the image and bring the ball back to herself. Anything else? She'd eye over toward Walker who she thinks has a question he won't ask.
-
But Terrans don't have access to magic. That can't be right...
She laid her chin on her fist and pondered this conundrum.
-
I covered what I needed to for now, I can always pursue more pedantic things at another time. We've probably left our host lingering and sort of just watching for long enough, and there's probably better places to chatter after all.
Walker would indeed have to find a better time to ask after what he was thinking. She didn't strike him as an assassin of any sort, and while that wasn't in and of itself a strange thing, it was the Relic she had and wielded so casually. However his casual, relaxed tone came back like nothing happened, stretching as he considered what he knew so far. Planet of origin? What kind of strange question was that? He seemed out of his depth in that regard, doubly so when Ruby referred to her as a Terran and that they couldn't be using magic. Glancing at her with a cocked eyebrow, he shook his head and made an idle, offhand remark on the matter in general.
Magic's tricky, dangerous stuff. Playing with a Relic even more so, but I don't judge. Any port in the storm.
-
Case and point. Magic is completely dead in my world. Some things may appear magical but they aren't so. This only further proves my point
-
Relic? Is that what magic items are called in his world? There's only a handful of worlds that see magic items as relics. Where ARE these people from?
She decided to test the waters a little. What year is it, where you're from?
-
Violet would answer quickly. 1642
-
Walker thought on the question of year, realizing he had probably let slip magical items were, well, strange things in his world. Given their situation, however, giving the year of where he was from wouldn't be particularly harmful.
727PD, that's what the mage's quarter would call it. Church had another date completely, mind, but no one listened to them.
-
Ruby put her head in her hands. None of this makes any sense. How is one person from the English Civil War era, and another speaking English in the Byzantine era? This is absurd!
Then it occurred to her.
How is he speaking English if he's from 727 AD? How can Violet use a magic crystal ball, even do fortune-telling, in a time when such things were considered heretical? It's like they're from parallel universes or something.
Parallel universes...
She came out of her funk and glanced at Walker and Violet. Do you suppose we're from different universes entirely?
-
Walker would consider the mild breakdown that Ruby was having over the idea of being from different universes completely. He would shrug, that was how Relics had been explained to him by the mage's quarters. Items that fell between the cracks had ended up in Istvargrad, and that was what made them so valuable. Some were too foreign to even being working with and using, and he figured that would be useful information to Ruby. In this case, confirming that they were from indeed different areas completely might be wise.
It makes sense to me. Time for a brief history lesson, from where I'm from. Relics are almost exclusively foreign to my home, they sort of came through after the event at 0PD, and have trickled through since. Since they were sort of coming into our world, well, we sort of assumed that there were other places that were tossing their stuff into ours. And if these Relics were trash to them, well, we tried to avoid getting their attention. Clearly didn't work. Magic also worked vastly differently, but that...that's a long story.
-
Whoa. Just...whoa.
Ruby's eyes seemed to sparkle at the image Walker painted for her. Magic items, created through painstaking effort by magecrafters, discarded in a rift between universes, to land in a world that could not understand them...
That's amazing, Walker. I think I'd like to come visit your world someday.
-
You're romanticizing it, I know that look in your eyes R. That little sparkle, imagination's running wild. Sorry to curb your enthusiasm, but the place was a cesspit being squabbled over by Nobles, robber barons, and the church. With the street folks in between profiting off them all. As for visiting it, well, I don't think that's an option anymore.
Ironically, the thing that Violet saw, the massive burning 'village', was only one district in a massive sprawling city. The smoke and fire blocked the view, he remembered that much, and he would be hesitant to mention the fact that as much of the burning city was the doing of the defenders as it was the impending doom invading their homes. But he kept an even enough expression, amused even, despite having to shoot down Ruby's desire to visit his world.
-
My world is a pretty normal world in my opinion. Violet would cut in to add to this conversation. With how curious Ruby was, this story might spark something in her. Aside from the Nightmares that plague my world, everyone lives a normal life. There's an upper, middle, and lower class in my world and we wage wars since greedy nobles want more land. If anything the only thing that's of any interest is how magic was taken from our world.
I suppose if I'm to sum it up quickly... My world is ruled by two gods: The God of Light and the God of Dark. They rule over the world and create balance. The god of Light creates life and whatnot and the God of Dark creates the Nightmares. With that out of the way, we can get to the main part of our story. There was a man and woman who loved each other very much. One day the woman falls very ill and dies from her sickness. The man goes to the God of Light and begs for his wife back. The God tells him there's nothing he can do and to stop trying. Devastated, he goes to the God of Dark, fully expecting to have to pay a price to get her back but this god turned him away too. 'Why would I bring life back to anyone. I believe it's better off that she's dead.' The man was angry now. So he decided to take matters into his own hands. He told the God of Dark that the God of Light was going to use his wife's soul as an envoy of destruction to lay waste to all the God of Dark created. The god was not happy to hear this so he took the man and went to the God of Light and soon, a fight would break out between the two gods. Amidst the fight, the God of Dark would say 'I'll never let you use this man's wife's soul to destroy my creations!' The god of light stopped his attack and was confused by the statement. He'd explain he'd never do something like that since it would destroy balance should he bring someone back to life. They both realized the man had tricked them into fighting for his own petty reasons. As punishment, They plagued the man with immortality so that he could never see his wife again and both left the world. Once they left, since magic was their creation, all magic left with them. We believe that our special abilities, or our Focus as we call them, are the remnants of their power that's been left over from their departure
I apologize if that went on for too long... I guess it's a bit of a long story. Violet would chuckle a little bit knowing it was probably something they didn't need to know or just that they would lose interest half way into that story. Even so it was something worth telling if Ruby wanted to know more about our worlds
-
Wow. Is that man still alive today? Was anyone able to talk to him about it?
-
He's... not the same... Violet would look down as she talked. People thought he was lying and Violet looked into his past before. She knew all too well it's truth. It was the most painful past she had to read. She was reading backwards of what felt like a thousand years, it was just so much to take in at once, not to mention what she saw. He's become very suicidal and cynical. When I went to see him, I saw 5 different swords through his chest and stomach. The blood was dried so he must've been like that for a while... No one really talks to him anymore... not much to get from him. Plus the world views him as an enemy. Once I verified his stories, Everyone turned on him as the reason both magic and the gods left our world.
-
Ruby clutched at her chest. Oh, that poor man. That's a wretched existence to live with.
Those who have experienced loss, and have had to live with it for an extended time, must learn how to bury their dead, both physically and mentally. You find them a little corner of your heart, a place in your mind where you can accept their passing without forgetting them, and let them go. It's a hard lesson to learn.
-
Strange places that you two hail from.
Walker listened to the story of Light and Dark, creation and balance, and resisted the urge or need to shake his head at it. There was rage and infighting, deceit and retribution, showing these so called gods were little more than mortals given fancy titles. And that, he reminded himself, was why he gave no credence nor faith in any sort of deity. They were no better than those that worshiped them, just wielded more power and had more influence. Nothing godly or inspiring about being higher up in the food chain. The fact they took a different form of magic with them as punishment against those that had nothing to do with such things, well, was not surprising but disappointing. Mass punishment never worked, and Walker made an off hand remark in response to the actions of both the gods and the cursed one.
Doesn't strike me as any gods worth worshiping. So petty over the actions of a single man that they already ruined, and then pissed off. Not defending the immortal, damn fool played a game with no finish line, but no one was really wise in that whole fiasco.
-
Violet wanted to say something but realized he wasn't wrong. In a way, she thought the same thing but since they were gods, she never voiced it. I don't know if they were worshiped, that was before my time. They aren't worshiped now but I believe they were gods by title only. At least they are in my opinion. You aren't wrong by any sense.. but still... She felt like she should take offense to what he said but couldn't dispute anything he said. I... I guess you might have a point though. Maybe they were all wrong. I wouldn't know. I guess you and religion don't mix well?
-
The Church, and yes that is what they were called by us common-folk at least, mostly just used the trappings of religion to further themselves. Preached some 'divine authority' sent the Relics and that meant they were the only authority allowed to collect them, which held up until you saw a Chancellor of the Faith grab some Relic and get fried by it to such a degree that you could only tell he ever was there by the scorched remains of his official garb. Least honest crooks in the nest, really, and that's saying something. So either this divine authority is blatant lies, and I suspected it was, or it was selfish and greedy without at least admitting it. Never met something that was called a god worth giving the time of day, let alone devotion, and that kind of ego is dangerous.
Religion wasn't really anything more than a means to an end in Istvargrad, high ranking positions were hereditary and passed down from father to son, daughters bundled up and sent off to the nunneries or Relic Reclamation Branch. Hell, one of his former gangers he arranged to have posted in Relic Reclamation to spare her an execution. That one, however, was a story for another time, and not one he was keen to tell unless she happened to be around to clarify. He never did get to ask whether or not that was better than death. Everyone trying to make ends meet, that was the rule of the land. Well, was is accurate since it was unlikely the place even existed anymore given what his final waking moments.
- ...Makes sense. Violet was a taken aback by Walker's words. She'd met people who didn't care for the gods but this felt like a real hatred. Maybe people in her world was different since the gods were real people in her world. This seemed like a touchy subject so she'd try to get things back on track. Well in any case, the main reason for this discussion was because I felt I couldn't trust you both. Maybe that nightmare stuff hurt me more than I thought. Since my powers are so reliant on emotion I had to do something about it. I'm thankful to the both of you for what you've already done and for what you let me do. It truly means a lot to me Violet would look back and see Kaath drawing on the floor with the charcoal from a fire stick. Looks like Kaath is getting bored, maybe we should wrap this up. Before we go back... anything either of you want to say?
-
Trust is certainly one reason to invade someone's mind. I think we've spent enough time leaving our only possible guide idling and watching a bunch of humans chattering in semi secrecy. Walker crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow at Violet as she asked if there was anything else needing to be said or covered right now. He didn't think so at this point, not when they could hold hands and sing tavern shanties another time if they really wanted to get all sorts of buddy buddy. Returning to his usual expression of neutrality, he shook his head and chimed in a little bit.
Not right now, we can have a pleasant little group huddle someplace nicer. Doubt our friend over there lives in this...wonderful little arrival point.
-
Violet would chuckle as she'd stand up. Right... I'll head back over, and again... thanks. She'd give a soft smile as she walk back over to be near Kite again. She'd, again, place the ball under herself and sit near him and pat his head a bit. She'd chuckle to herself, He probably wouldn't like this very much.
"Y'huudle go well?" Kaath flatly asked as the crew made their way back into the chamber. Using a well worn oil-stained cloth to wipe and polish the last half-meter of blade that had been shoved into the stone, previously. The glowing rich ambers of her eyes vaguely darted between them, watching for sudden movements, but relenting with a satisfied huff once they seemed to be left more or less alone in favor of briefly resting once more. The weight of the dim region of their eyes watched Violet as they approached Kite, Kaath's hand stopping in the motions as they observed; a faint scowl on their expression that turned back to indifference as they went back to their work on the old yet beautiful blade. In the firelight, veins of blue and green lept and licked along it in mirrored distortions. Clean as it was, Kaath continued to 'play casual' and quietly observe while addressing the rest of the massive sword.
The words from Violet's lips. The hand through their plumed fluff. With the words of expectation, Kite's head tilted away from Violet's hand with a small "mrph..."
Kaath stopped, her expression showing no element of relief as the narrow, ever-skeptical eyes peering over the edge of the scarf to look between Violet and the rest. The sigh of relief that came from them sounded more like an annoyed scowl before their alien forked tongue hissed, "Sssee? Not'n ever been a difficult bout, fffehk..." before chuckling gently in a more human tone, assumed to be genuine. Kite groaned and rolled over, thinking themselves on the floor and trying to stand up on the respective platform. Kaath's tone endeavored to be reassuring, though they still curiously watched as Kite stood and coughed, a sound that resonated from...behind their mask. Drawing in air, the mask hissed and whistled between its grooves. The struggle caused a wheezing sound from the figure who huffed and went to sit, hooking the heel of one of their boots to lower themselves to sit on the edge of the platform.
"Did...that one...always make such noises?" Kaath asked as Kite hooked their fingers under the mask and began to pull, the ripping of fabric audible with every inch they worked.
Looking back, no, I would have been within my right to cut this abnormality out...and nobody would have been able to stop me. It was wrong. Something about this was wrong, but it...felt familiar...I wasn't sure I was curious.
Hissing inhales, whistling from the closed mask and the peeling edges, the black of the fluff around the edges swiftly faded to white as if pulling the mask off drew all the color out of the figure. Seemingly in an even more literal sense, the obfuscation that made up the interior was still clung to the mask like a layer of latex, connecting the bristling white fluff of the face that desperately gasped before throwing the mask to the floor. Clattering like wood, the mask jostled and noisily flipped, the empty, featureless interior invisibly feeling for its place before coming to a rest the way a bowl would wobble around to a still.
Kite, their details apparent, their eyes darting between everyone, hyperventilating for a moment before holding a breath and letting it out, slowly. "Hmemph..phahmph...fefm fefa feffhamf..." they...said?
"N..." Kaath started, looking to Walker. "N-naawhh...ah? Neh..." They began, hefting the massive sword and taking a few purposeful steps towards Kite who looked up at the sight, unmoving.
As well as it could have. Violet would unconsciously keep petting the Kite as she'd talk with Kaath... or at least she would but it would seem she's not exactly the most talkative type. She'd watch as Kaath would continue to clean and polish her sword. Maybe that sword means a lot to her? I could find out but if I asked she probably wouldn't let me and even if she did, I'm not sure I'd want to look into her past. It's not like Kaath was wasting her time though, something about the polish, the soft lighting, it all just made the blade look all the more beautiful. As she was getting lost in thought, she'd feel something under her hand move with a very familiar sound. Violet would slowly lift her hand and her eyes would begin to grow very wide as she'd watch Kite slowly come back to life. K-Kite? She would quickly go and scoop Kite up in a hug but then she'd remember what happened last time. Remembering his injuries, she'd offer and pat on the back and a friendly I'm glad to have you with us again! Looking to Kaath, Well the muffled talk, yeah all the time. This hissing and wheezing is new. Violet would move closer to kite to see if there was anything she could do to help. She'd then watch as Kite removed their mask revealing the adorable face they kept hidden. She'd watch Kite try to compose himself and steady his breathing as he looks over everyone. He'd again talk in that language she still couldn't understand. She'd look to him expecting a vision to be coming but instead she'd hear Kaath... speaking? Kaath began approaching Kite with a clear murderous intent and readying her sword. Violet KNEW she couldn't take Kaath in a fight, but she prosimed Kite he'd always be on his side. Besides... she fought a few Nightmares in her world, how bad could this be... She'd stand and place the ball near Kaath in an attepmt to get her to stop for a moment. Kaath what are you doing? Kite isn't our enemy. He's been helping us get out this whole time. There's no need to get violent right now. Please relent. She wasn't expecting much from this and if Kaath wanted, she could probably bat her ball away without any effort, but she had to try something.
"Swimmingly, as I've heard it put. Better than 'drowningly', I dare say." Walker shrugged, already intent on putting that little team huddle behind him, given that he wasn't keen on someone running around with the knowledge that V had. Then again, he'd agreed to it, so he would have to make that particular little divergence in plan work for him. As much of a plan as he had which was, right now, survive long enough to get a proper read on what was going on, and the more he learned, the less he could accurately pin down properly. All vagueness and oddities, even when straight answers were given, he knew some folk who would thrive on this whole song and dance. Emphasis on the past tense most likely, though a certain Kite reviving suddenly did bring everyone's attention back around. So with the mana being thoroughly burnt out, he was now wondering what had moved into its place? He was no magician or conjurer, but he had trouble naturally believing that someone would come back from beyond the brink like that.
"Not to my knowledge, V would know more and, given her comment already, well, that's the sound of someone suffocating, slowly. That mask isn't doing any favors anymore." Walker watched Kite closely, the sounds of, and the eventual movements, of struggle to ride themselves of the mask would produce with morbid attention. The draining color was...strange as well, and frankly reminded Walker of some of the Relics that ended up in the trade around Istvargrad, though this one would have been significantly more dangerous by virtue of it having apparently attempted to...adhere to Kite's face. The color situation was also a reminder he was most certainly nowhere even close to familiar territory, though eventually the mask was wrenched clear and seemed to be seeking a face before coming to rest naturally. Right, give that a wide berth, duly noted. Of course things couldn't just stay simple nor easy, given that Kaath decided to look at him, speaking in a tongue he didn't recognize, and began advancing with her sword readied. And of course V took offense to this, attempting to intercede. Great.
"V, if Kite burnt out completely we can't know how the recovery will look. More importantly, we don't know what they're saying. Kaath, looking to put that sword to use on Kite, or the mask they managed to ditch?" Walker knew a fight with Kaath, even in their current, slightly improved state, but they could possibly figure things out better. Survival wasn't always about doing the right thing, but the right thing to see another day. Still, his muscles tensed and prepared to move as quickly as he could muster if he had to drag Kite out of the way of an attack. He couldn't stop Kaath from making a move, not with a weapon that size, but he could make the target of said attack much harder to strike. He didn't know enough about Kaath's capabilities to guess, and probably wouldn't for some time, but he did feel obliged to at least make an effort on Kite's behalf before leaving them dangling in the wind, as the saying often went. If the mask was the target, or hell, the residue it left, that was another thing entirely.
Kaath dismissively snorted at Violet's request, though they hesitated as Violet lifted their crystal ball between them. A brief moment of surprise danced on the monster's expression as the weight of their glowing pools of amber shifted from the woman's face, to her...bauble...then back to her. For three breaths, Kaath seems to wait...waiting for Violet to 'throw the first punch' before their surprise cooled to a disappointed contempt; an expression of annoyance that something so small would get between them and their aim. With a long breath, Kaath heard them out, their eyes even turning to Walker with a brief consideration. Kaath's right hand rested on Violet's shoulder, being left-handed, and she leaned in to share a few intimate words.
"S'one moit be..." she simply said, her tone collected but shaking. So close to the woman, Violet could make out a scent akin to honeysuckle and a faint lavender. Their breath, however, was a...non-voice...Kaath seemed to be speaking through inhaled breaths, likely to give it a shriekingly lighter tone than whatever their true tones were. The proximity seeped a malice into the faux fortune-teller; a trembling of seeming eagerness that radiated out from their physique...until Violet would realize she was involuntarily shaking.
Given how Kaath's voice had sounded, so far...accented, stuttered and masculine.
Kaath weighed the consequences, the arm on Violet's shoulder slipping down to hold them close, hoping to keep the articulations of a mage from blasting a hole through her. Kaath's left eye looking somewhere else as their sword arm extended with a withering screech of the metal sheering through the stone ceiling in a swing over Violet's shoulder.
----
And nothing came. No squelch or slice. Not even the crunch of the massive metal reaching ground.
The sword halted mere millimeters from cleaving Kite's skull. Kite swallowed, sitting and looking up at the sword and then to Violet and Walker with wide eyes. Kaath, meanwhile, seemed perplexed...but not entirely surprised as they tried a sawing motion, the massive blade rocking in mid air. With a gasp, Kaath broke from Violet with a step, heaving back the blade and lashing for Violet with a fluid motion that was lost in the dim light, the intention found once Violet would perceive the cool radiance of the metal being close to her cheek, as Kaath had apparently attempted to bisect her with a semi-vertical swing...before the blade halted like before.
"I..." Kaath stammered, taking a few steps back, pulling the sword close and looking from its hilt to the group with wide eyes. "...I...see..." she softly spoke, curiously running a corner of the heel of her right palm to the sword's edge, which ate into her flesh like boiling water into snow...the apparently expected reaction, as Kaath only winced and pulled her hand away and violently shook it, glaring, confusedly, at the group. "Issss not right..." they growled, kicking over the logs in the fire in frustration and pacing another step away while hugging their massive sword. "E'res only evah one 'tha fekkahs! Yer story's shoite!" Kaath bellowed as if to call Violet out, an insulted and hurt inflection to their tone as they then worriedly addressed their sword with the polishing cloth, retrieved from their pocket, to pinch and smooth clean the spot that had sunk into her own flesh.
Walker had not been deft enough to drag Kite out of the way, well, that wasn't entirely honest. Something was off, about all of this, even more so than a man far too deep in over his head already. Someone was lying, possibly multiple someones, well, frankly, pretty much all of them had to be lying at this point, to some degree. Either by omission, not filling in all the details, or more worryingly, flat out spinning a story. Between V, K, and now Kaath throwing out a line on the story being shite at V, the expression on the man's face was guarded once more as he analyzed the situation. Kaath couldn't get a hit in, not on Kite, nor on V when, he assumed, the formerly masked individual had gone and protected her as well. That put those two in their own corner, Kaath was in her own now as well, and that left him to decide loyalties now. And, frankly, if it wasn't for the fact he was a dead man if he didn't pick sides this would have been one of those 'far outside my pond' situations. "Right, things went from bad to interestingly bad rather quickly. Seems we've reached a crossroad of bullshit, as an old friend would put it."
The man's tone was as guarded as his expression, and the observant would note he was keeping everyone in his line of sight right now, which fortunately and unfortunately included the entrance. V and Kite knew something well beyond him, not surprising since the two of them were already in an understanding when he first came to. Kaath was seeing that something was wrong, and previous chatter had pretty much revealed that, well, this wasn't normal. This was very much not normal, and given the general abnormality thus far? Not normal by her standards was bad news. Of course, he couldn't exactly trust Kaath much more either, even given their prior interactions before the others awoke, but right now? He was finding himself more on her side than he was the ones that sprung him by sole virtue of the upfront honesty, as much as he read it at least.
"So! Way I'm seeing things right now, somethings off, way off, and that is coming from me. Kaath, you previously mentioned Kites, plural, and mentioned a whole gaggle of fantastical races coming through, some more conducive to helping than others, but something is getting increasingly desperate, first warning bell. Desperation means sloppy, and taking bigger risks with bending the rules, and that isn't even accounting for the fact that whatever this figure is can dispatch so many Kites. Secondly, that whole stunt with the...whatever the hell magic you call that, Kite. Third, in no particular order, the little get together itself. V, what the hell is going on? No more bullshit, when a native is calling you out for the shit your peddling smelling especially awful, it concerns a fellow. You were already up and moving with Kite when you sprung me, so that's Spite knows how much time to have gotten a story together." Despite the open suspicions of V and Kite, and their ulterior motives, Walker was not openly aggressive or even hostile. He was keeping a level head as best he could, as much as one could expect, metaphorically speaking, a drowning man with no land or help in sight to keep a calm head and not flail into the depths. Coupled with his memories prior to the...fucking nothingness that was the end of his home, and, well, even a patient man begins to lose his patience. Still, he couldn't afford to simply lash out, which meant doing some legwork and digging out what truth he could find.
Kaath was getting pretty close to Violet... almost too close. She put her arm around her like they were being friendly, but this somehow put her even more on edge. Her ball would begin to glow a bit yellow. Before she could voice anything that would resemble an opposition, a sword would come swinging from out of nowhere towards Kite. It was blindingly fast and she could barely see it... but Kite did, and stopped it. Violet would heave a sigh of relief, but something still felt off. For some reason she could feel like it wasn't over, she felt a sinking feeling as Kaath's let go of her and she saw the look in her eye. Her ball glowed an even brighter yellow and again with blinding speed, a sword would appear right at her cheek. Kite had saved her this time and she knew without Kite, she'd be dead without even seeing what killed her. Violet would hear Kaath speaking but didn't know what she said... too much for one day. First Keepa, now Kaath. Why does everyone want to kill me today... Even Kite almost did it by accident. Do I just have bad luck with 'K' names today?
Violet would collapse as she feels it's been a pretty stressful day. Dying, waking up, almost dying from psychic images, watching a friend die, meeting a bird head, dying to the bird head, waking up from dying to the bird head, then almost dying to a Nightmare lookalike... yeah stressful day today. She finally lets out her sigh though it comes out shaky while she tries to get it all out. Walker would start to rant about sides and secrets and magic. Everything just giving her a headache at this point. Her ball burst into a bright red ethereal flame before she let it all out. I have come close to death in the last hour more times than MOST people would in their entire life! If you could just give me ONE DAMN SECOND TO COLLECT MYSELF, MAYBE, just maybe, I'LL GET TO YOUR FUCKING CONCERNS!!!
Violet would huff a bit before noticing her ball is a giant red flaming ball. Realizing she lost control there, she tries to calm herself down a bit. She closes her eyes and takes deep breaths in and out slowly to calm herself, the ball dimming with each breath. After her last breath out she finally speaks calmly. I apologize for that outburst. It was rude of me and very childish. I'll try to not let it happen again. I've had quite the awakening here but since you seem concerned about it, I'll share with you what happened. She'd sigh a bit before she began. I wake up to a stranger in a mask bombarding my mind with overwhelming psychic images telling me he's my friend. I then meet another one of them and the two begin fighting and the second one starts bombarding me with MORE images. The two Kites fight each other until the second one dies and our Kites is severely wounded. We both then go to free you both where afterwards we meet Keepa. Now your up to speed. I can tell you all the images he showed me too if you'd like that? Violet wanted to hide the fact that she was annoyed but the more of the story she told, the more it boiled up. She'd take one last breath in and out before hearing everyone else out.
"If'n oi had answers, oi'd 'av 'em for ya," Kaath softly groaned in response to Walker's suppositions. She then appeared to shrink back as violet raised her voice, their ambiguous pools of amber, wide, flicking from the ball of fire in her hands to her face. While Violet appeared to be recomposing themselves, however, they once again narrowed as they returned the cloth to a pocket. Still, they heard the fortune teller out, looking frustrated yet perplexed at the mention that the Kites fought. "On the topic of sloppy desperation..." they sneered at Walker with a scoff, their brow then twitching as Kite slid off of the slab and and deeply inhaled as if about to speak. The feathery fluff of Kaath's mane defensively sharpened back, and it would take a moment to note the silence that then filled the room. Kaath's eyes were locked on the rabbit-like creature's eyes, as theirs were set on hers.
"W-wouldn't you like to know?" she defensively hissed after a few seconds, holding their sword tighter but maintaining eye-contact for another moment, the slits heating to a deeper hue as the faint clicking sounds rose from behind the plated scarf. Clearly subjecting Kaath to a line of questions through visions, the woman now began to seem visibly unnerved, their mostly-contained anger reflexively slipping out, exposing the glaring weakness of the strange figure. The scalding glare of the alien creature passed back to the other two in consideration before snapping back to Kite, the heat and weight leaving their eyes which grew wide. A hand moved from their sword to the medals on their coat, "I..." she began...and Kite tilted his head.
The rage was abruptly back in strides, whatever implication or question issued by the rabbit having been apparently the wrong one, as Kaath let out a scream of a roar in the same breath as barking, "AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, VALKET!? WHO HAVE YOU KILLED FOR YOUR BAUBLES!?!?" Trembling, the woman appeared to have taken on a stature that put her a few inches taller than before, though hunched as they loomed from the corner that a tall shadow cast over the flames of the small fire which fluttered and spat in withering timidity from the chill that emanated from the woman. Kaath visibly swelled in their coat, the stitching creaking against the outline of muscles that pushed from within the fabric. Kite held up his hands, ears folding back, though Kaath swiftly and dismissively hissed, "Yesss. A common misssstake!"
This time, however, her movements seemed slow, the tip of the massive sword dragging a few feet across the cobblestone as Kaath stomped and single pace forward and seemingly made every effort to heft the sword into a horizontal slash, but it was as if the blade had gained a mass that the monster was having significant difficulty even lifting. Kite hopped up onto the slab to avoid how the sword sank into the side of it before tumbling from the shallow cut and dragging Kaath down...until it fell from her grip...and clattered to the ground with a heavy, but not abnormally so, weight.
A moment of stillness washed over the scene as Kaath silently stared at the sword before whispering, "Loqias.." And she was gone, a sighing wash of warm air filling the vacuum as they sharply faded without another sound. The fire rumbling back to life, though diminished with its limited fuel, slowly crept back up the logs which tipped over in a small flurry of sparks. Kite eased themselves down, avoiding stepping on the sword to wave their hand through the space Kaath once occupied, without resistance. Ears still folded back, they looked to Violet and Walker with urgency before turning to the fire, pinching the tips of their fingers together, causing the metal caps on the end of their gloves to clink.
A chime like a bell rang out, light in timbre... ...and shadows on the wall began to ripple into existence.
A silhouette of a large bipedal figure with a long snout, it wormed and swirled to become a bloated...serpent? The fire crackled and thrummed with a swirl of wind to bolster its light. The figure brightly shone from a pin-prick in the middle of it...and then began to peel away like parchment being set alight from behind. The figure was then a person. The figure was then the first beast, the light continuing to expand, burning into the shape of a sword that grew, almost difficult to look at in its light as it grew to overcome the shadow. A wreath of flickering shadows blew around it like a breeze.
The display dissolved in an instant as a voice spoke from down the tunnel, its voice pleasant, but the words indiscernable. This accompanied a hollow booming of stone being shifted as light faintly shown at the end of the hall. The voice spoke again, and was cut short by the sound of smashing pottery.
Kite sniffed, a folded ear flicking as they looked down the hall and then over to the others.
"Miss! ...Miss?" the voice called, clearer but echoing, "Oh...I suppose I will wait here, then." Kite's ears slowly stood back up, starting to casually make their way down the hall, stepping around rather than over the sword. They briefly looked back to the others, but continued, regardless.
Segment 2
Birds in the Willows
The glow from outside the opening revealed itself to be a ray of sunlight pouring in through the trees. This mouth of a cave being something built into a hill in the middle of apparently nowhere. Faintly, the distant babble of a brook could be heard over the warble of foreign birds and chirps of a myriad of insects. Gently, the trees waved from a breeze that passed far above, but also leisurely whistled through the trees in a hauntingly melodic tune as if a flute was being played some countless miles away.
"Hoo hoo~" a voice warmly chirped from nearby, somewhere to the right. At about this time, the melodic whistling stopped, dulling to a soft humming. An angled hat with a skull-shaped pin sat nearby the door, a colorful tapestry of clean-looking fabric hung over a log to the side of the faded trail. Pale chunks of porcelain flecks appeared to have been violently scattered in that same direction along with the dust of whatever caused the mess to be embedded into the rockface; something having impacted it hard and directionally for the mess to have been made. Two knee-high boots laid at the base of this mark, still occupied by presumably their former owner's legs which hung out. However, no blood was present, instead, the legs appeared...smashed off...as if the legs within them were made of the same porcelain substance that scattered the forest floor.
"Da'anes-e'da!" The voice once again spoke from the bushes that the hat laid upon, a greeting like the one Kaath had given. "Please, if you will, pardon such circumstances. I intended to be presentable for this part. The Madam appears to have been put in a mood." The voice sang, though their tone fell to an apologetic impression on the last sentence. "Ah! My manners. You must distressed from such events, I will-" they began, one of the legs flexing and kicking once. "...Regrettably...I was recently rendered immobile. Please endeavor to remain calm while I...just..." they apologetically yet mechanically stated, the toes and knees of the boots flexing and turning, painstakingly but determinately attempting to crawl to where the tapestry laid. "While I do not feel pain, I understand how the development of my state can yield distress...I will understand if you are no longer present when I recompose, however..." they were cut off by a guttural squawk of a large bird was heard not far off along with a gentle snapping of bone. "In the Madam's stead, I request your permission for me to guide you from the wilds." they warmly...almost monotonously explained. After a moment, the voice chirped, "My hearing is currently impaired, and I will repeat a semblance of this message, momentarily."
The voice in the bushes, the bottom half of a face made of a porcelain-like substance would then begin softly singing and melodically humming while the shards gently trembled and the boots continued to worm their way, one agonizing yet patient inch at a time. At the base of the mark where the boots wiggled from trembled a pointed ear-shaped depiction of the same material.
Kaath had either no further answers, or none further to share. Either way, there wasn't much he could do to force or even coerce that angle any further. Whether he felt fully inclined to believe or not was irrelevant, since it seemed that the combination of events finally managed to, at least briefly, push the gypsy over the edge, however briefly in her rage. Took a bit of doing, apparently, but it was good to know it was there, in a manner of speaking. Of course she began babbling on about, well, complete nonsense, which was what his life seemed to be now. Awakening, probably much like he had, to this Kite bombarding her with mental images, a second one showing up, the two fighting only for the first, the current he had to assume, to survive though badly injured. Perhaps that explained the lack of communication initially, going through whatever passed for a recovery period for Kite? Too many unknowns, but that wasn't going to change anytime soon and, frankly, he could only process so much mentally before needing a break. Of course Kaath flew into a rage all of her own again, though before Walker could decide either way, Kite seemed to resolve that problem in its own unique way.
The weapon seemed to drag and weigh itself down to the point of being unusable, though the way it clattered after the fact spoke that no such thing had changed. That would imply that Kaath instead had been weighed down to the point of appearing to be barely fit to move on ones own, let alone fight as viciously as he suspected the woman capable of. And, with a muttered word, was gone, the sword resting on the ground. Some unseen conversation had transpired between the two, though whatever Kite had questioned had clearly set the woman off. Well there goes that, the scoundrel mused as he removed a hand from under his cloak, having been resting on the dagger, and producing his pipe instead. "It doesn't feel like your lying, so either I've simply gone mad and this is the dying hallucinations of a broken corpse, or interestingly bad remains the course. Let's save the...psychic? Psychic images retelling for later, especially with the muscle now gone and us...."
Of course, Kite interrupted the meandering words of Walker with clinking fingers and a chiming bell, and once again the man found himself thoroughly disconcerted and thrown off his stride. Swirling wind and the burning away of...parchment he supposed, to a person, to a beast, burning away shadow only for the display to end and the sounds, and light, of the entrance opening up seemed to also smash pottery of some variety and a strange, new voice was heard. Kite glanced at them, deliberately avoiding the sword, and while Walker briefly considered it, there was no way he'd be able to put a weapon of that size to use, not properly. He wasn't one of the enforcer brutes after all. "As many questions as I have, more so now, seems the time for talk in here is done. No way to go but out of the cave, it seems..."
Walker would fall in step behind this Kite, unsure about the being as ever, pulling his cloak just a bit more securely around his shoulders before putting the pipe away, having simply fiddled with it idly while the last moments passed within the cave. He assumed that the fortune telling assassin would follow along as well, coming out into a rather green, bright forest. Well this was an interesting development, he hadn't seen a full forest since the first skirmishes at the edge of the old maps. It wasn't something he was exactly comfortable with, but compared to what had been going on, it was the most normal thing he'd seen yet and he would have accepted that if not for the voice and, well, boots wriggling on their own. Ok, so they had Kite, the fortune teller, now this...whatever it was trying to act as an escort after being smashed to pieces. A sentient golem of some variety? Walker was very thoroughly out of his element there.
"I'd say its unfortunate I'm no healer, but it doesn't look like that would do that voice any good. No blood, no bone, and far too clean of damage for anything flesh and blood. Right, I think whatever this is might be our second best bet, affiliated with our angry acquaintance from in there as they may be. Any ideas how to expedite the process besides just handling unknown golem components and hoping for the best? All assuming that the moment it has recovered it doesn't immediately set upon us..." Despite the claims of being hearing impaired, Walker was not keen on speaking terribly loudly, especially given this could all be just some ruse as he had openly mused. He had focused himself back on business, in spite of the fact he was very much wishing he could drink himself into a coma right now. Barring any better ideas or input, he would seriously consider at least trying to expedite this recovery process.
Finally... Walker might finally believe me... and all it took was a complete mental breakdown! Violet, realizing she's been emotionally unstable since getting here, decided to just let it go for the time being. She'd need to control herself lest she be a burden on everyone should another fight break out. With how kite was looking at Kaath and judging by her responses... that could be any time soon. With how little she could even see her movements, Violet would rather not let things come to that; she doesn't want to put everything on Kite. She's seen his limits and doesn't want him to test them again. Letting those two... converse... she'd answer Walker finally. I have no reason to lie to you anymore. Since we're on a team trying to survive, it'd be bad if we kept secr- and then there was shouting. Violet would quickly look to Kaath and ready her ball before nothing would happen. She'd be back to being calm just a bit later, though apparently still resentful. Violet would carefully watch Kaath walk away more exhausted. Maybe she was some type of fighter who's anger powered them, a barbarian as she's heard it called in games. As she got lost in thought Kaath would whisper something she'd miss before fading away into nothingness. Great... and now our guide just completely fu- calming herself again, vanished without a trace and we're alone here just sitting ducks for whatever ELSE lurks here. With a sigh, she'd look around to see if there was somewhere else to go to move on from here. Kite would spring up, looking rather worried before hearing their gloves start to click again. What followed seemed like a vision but... more real, and as quickly as it start, it dissolved away instantly. Now, however, Violet could hear a voice in the distance. Seems like moving forward might be a bit easier than she originally thought. She was about to slowly move towards the voice but then she heard a vase breaking. Someone must be angry and throwing stuff. I don't want to end up like that so maybe I should take this hint and cool it from now on... Walker would speak to get the group moving along and she, for once, could actually agree with him. She'd begin to follow the group out of the cave. Reaching the end she'd see... a... forest?! Honestly, after being in that nightmare filled cave, this forest was absolutely beautiful to her. She could almost feel her stress melting away before hearing that same voice beckon to the group. She'd notice the body that lied in a bush and a pair of broken legs... literally?? The upper part spoke very politely and eloquently, Violet couldn't help but feel bad for this poor soul who was put through this. Whoever this 'Madam' was, needed to get a verbal lashing for what they put this po- Then she'd hear a loud squawk. This thing mentioned the Madam was put in a mood... Kaath? Suddenly this would all make sense and now that verbal lashing was just a completely terrible idea. Walker would begin conversing with it before Violet would do SOMETHING for this thing. She'd go to pick up the legs and bring it closer to the body. I don't suppose you know anyway we can help you... put yourself back together?
