Illira

The red woman fell to her knees, the rocky sand digging into her skin. She reached towards the body, feeling along its crisp surface to take hold of it and pull it towards her. Ulanan moved swiftly towards her, blue aether steaming from the wand in ther hand. "We need to take care of your wounds." she said shakily. "Let me see." Cypress shook her head, blood dripping off of her cheeks as she pulled herself up from the ground along with the childs body. "This needs to be committed to flames before the ship burns itself out." Frowning, Ulanan waved her wand. The aether washed over Cypress' eyes, providing a momentary relief and slowing the bleeding. "Okay. Do your thing." Most people would probably consider carrying such a burden, but it didn't seem to bother Cypress at all. But she struggled to find the right direction to carry it, stopping to smell the air for the signs that her eyes could no longer see. But all that it brought to her was the ripe smell of burnt flesh. "Where... please. Lead to the ship." The lalafell first pointed, then she used that same pointing hand to grip on Cypress' clothes and pull her in the right direction. "Over here." She went with the tug, following it like the lifeline it was, unused to needing asking for help or receiving assistance, "You should not have hesitated." "No, I should not have." "You have learned at least. There is no such thing as coincidence, Althyk ensures that." The cool breeze began to break up as they neared the ship again where the heat caused by the magical fire rolled off of it. "What now? Just...throw the body into the fire?" "Yes. So that the voidsent has no place to reside in." Cypress steps further towards the ship, the heat a familiar thing. Ulanan stayed in front of her, guiding her. "Any point of the ship in particular?" she asked. Ruined eyes cast an unseeing gaze upon the Lalafell, "Of course not. The fire must simply be hot enough to sear away the shell. You stand back." "Alright." The lalafell did exactly that, staying close enough to Roegadyn in case she needed further help. Cypress moved towards the heat, until she felt the flames lick her skin. Even then she went further, bumbling into the burning remnants of the ship until she was satisfied that the body would be turned to ash though it had already caught fire. She set it down gently somewhere in the rubble. Ulanan didn't follow that close and was fully expecting the other woman to catch on fire herself. Just as she hadn't caught fire earlier, Cypress didn't now. But she struggled to find her way back out of the ship's rubble. Her normal grace lost. "Over here. Follow my voice. And the cold." The lalafell followed her words with a short burst of magical ice thrown at the floor near the Roegadyn. "I'm not fire proof, so I can't just hold your hand." Cypress followed the voice out of the fire, but not before falling out of the ship by way of tripping over a still mostly solid piece of railing. She lay there on the sands, her teeth grinding against themselves as she fought off the sting of her ruined pride. Ulanan did not ask if she was alright; it was pretty clear she wasn't. She walked closer to her. "We need to get you a healer now." The graveled voice muttered partially into the sands, "We need to finish this business so that I may return to the Spine and my post." "So no healing?" "I will not stay in one of your hospitals," she said, pulling herself back to her knees and then, more slowly, to her feet. "Even if that could save your life? That wound will get infected without proper treatment. Who is going to do your job if you die?" "Althyk would not let me die." She walks towards the lalafell's voice, stopping just short of where she thought the tiny woman was, "But I will now... require help of another. Until I am used to this at least." Ulanan nodded with a frown, simply answering "Alright." to that. There was a pause, and then she asked: "Where do you want to go?" "Let us continue along the coast. We still have not found D'aijeen's body, only her pet." Grabbing Cypress' clothes again, Ulanan pulled her. "This way." she said, going southwards. The roegadyn follows, not having much choice in the matter since she had no little ability to discern directions.

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The odd pair made their way up north alongside the narrow coastline, the ocean on their left and jagged, rocky cliffs bordering their right side. The roegadyn's eyes swept the harshly lapping waters that occasionally threatened to drag the lalafell that followed away with its tides. Cypress hadn't smelled anything but the salty sea air in sometime though, having left the the Vesper Bay behind sometime ago. Ulanan was showing all the signs of being bored, getting too close to the waves and then outrunning them. She had done this a number of times before getting tired of it. Now she was walking very oddly, trying to step only where the roegadyn had left tracks. Even with these distractions, she kept looking around, with their goal firmly in mind. Cypress appeared to be doing a good job ignoring Ulanan's antics, so much so that she might have even truly forgotten that she was there for the moment, not so much as glancing back to see if she was there for quite sometime. The land north of Vesper Bay hadn't been much used since the Garleans had set up a base in that part of the world. Even though the Garleans had been defeated and that place destroyed, the traffic along the northern beaches had not returned. There were no settlements here. No camps. Life was mostly undisturbed. And so a knot of wreckage was an unnatural sight. All remains from the battles with the Garleans would be significantly north of here. All civilization should have been significantly south. This derelict shipping vessel, obliterated as though crushed against great stones that were not present, was well out-of-place. And fresh. The body half-buried beneath its bow was pale, but had not rotted. It was soggy, with kelp and sand all over it. The ship carried the promise of more like it, glistening in the sun, yet unspoiled but spoiling quickly. The lalafell stopped on top of one of the tracks made by Cypress. "A shipwreck." she pointed out redundantly, adjusting her hat over her head. "That's going to make finding a specific body quite difficult. It also looks rather odd. Where did it smash itself like so?" The breeze brought with it faint traces of sulfur, as they neared ruin of timber. "What makes you think that her body is in that?" Her booted feet carried her closer. "It is worth looking at though." "People inside ships that are about to be wrecked usually jump out, or get thrown away with the impact. They end up in the sea, and then the sea washes them across the shore." Ulanan explained, grumpily. "Of course she's not there, but the men who died and fell off...ah!" She grumped some more, stomping her feet and throwing a small cloud of sand around her boots. "Why do I bother explaining what I meant? I'm a parasite. Just do whatever while I keep on leeching on your whatever it is I'm leeching!" With that said, she continued following her. "Nothing you said made any sense... Oh. You meant that if we were to find a pile of bodies, there being a pile would make it harder to find hers. Except that that doesn't make any more sense. We are not looking through haystacks." Cypress let her bright gaze run up the side of the ship next to her, placing her hand on it as she walked alongside it. "I see basic logic and intuition is beyond you. But I forgive you." Ulanan bite at the air. She took off her hat and stuck her hand inside. After a moment, she took out a small gemstone and a short silver handle. She attached them together, forming a flimsy but perfectly usable thaumaturgic wand. Making her way towards the bow of the ship, the body that had wedged itself there came into view. Cypress waved a hand towards it, "Well, there is a body, Ulanan. Clearly, that is not the girl. Is your theory about a lot of bodies making things hard to find her still accurate?" The shadows on the side of the vessel opposite Cypress shifted, subtly, as though the wind were brushing through them. The scent of sulfur was stirred like pollen. Something dark shifted in the bones of the ship, as though it had been dozing. "It will if this was a passenger ship and women were on board." she replied with the hat back on her head. The red woman took in a deep, lungful of breath. Yes. There was something here. She could see the near invisible specks of darkness floating through the air as if the ship was mold infested. "Take care, parasite. I see fingerprints of the void here." Well, I will pray so that they do not rip off your legs." Ulanan offered, starring a the vessel. "And I will certainly not hope them to hurt you. At all. Are we going inside?" "Hmm." The roegadyn sniffed at the air, "I suppose." Before they can move to get inside, however, the shadows seem to bleed towards the water. It as if a sun is setting inland and casting new, long, deeper shadows into the sea. But the shadows detach from the sources and bleed that way, like oil, and congregate in the water. Obscured by the moving waves, something thin and black shifts just under the shallow water. Ulanan raised her wand, aether shifting across the handle into the gemstone, and then outwards, forming a protective invisible shell around her that soon was replicated around Cypress. Small, blunt brows came together as the shadows elongated and creeped towards the pair. "Yes, the void has most definitely touched this place." A new scent took to the air in the form of lightly toasted flesh as Cypress's skin crackled with burning veins. After several seconds, the thin presence in the water began to expand upward, growing. A rounded shape lifted from the water, shifting back and forth as though trying to free itself. It segmented and grew angles. The darkness waned into translucent gray with bones inside. Shoulders and neck separated, skulls rising inside an amorphous head. A maw opened and closed. The great canid seemed to climb intact from the mud. Ulanan, showing how a very patient person she was, thumped her wand in the air, releasing a sphere of fire that flew towards the creature. Cypress walked towards it steadily as more of her body was consumed by her aether, the tips of her hair even emitting the magical fire, her right hand a torch. Surprisingly, her armored dress remained untouched, but as she closed in on the beast, she too, tossed a fireball from her hand. The beast didn't seem to notice either of them until Ulanan's first fireball struck it dead-on, at which point it lurched to the side and opened its maw as though to screech. Its only sound was the clicking of bone, however. The skulls that made up its teeth, the beaks of long-dead vultures, had been left yellowed by an attack Ulanan had used on it previously: one involving corrosive fumes. Several of those skull shattered. When Cypress' fireball arrived, the beast had not yet discerned the location of its attackers. It lurched the opposite way, stirring up salt water and silt. It panicked like an attacked dog, lifting up from the ground and throwing itself beachward. Its large body slammed into the side of the fishing boat and smashed through the wood, crushing the half-buried body. Changing direction with the demon's sudden movement, Cypress actually picked up the pace of her movement, she reached up to the wood of the boat, but it was yet too wet to catch on fire. The lalafell moved her wand sideways, the aether forming fire around the gemstone. She picked up rhythm, wielding her focus in one direction and then abruptly changing it, releasing fire with each swing. Three fireballs identical to the first one were flung in the direction of the beast. The beast snapped at the air, as though it thought the splinters thrown from the wood it had shattered were attacking it. It took the first of Ulanan's new volley as hard as the last, knocked back into the wood of the boat and breaking it forward. Then it leapt up onto the boat to get away, and the fireballs hit nothing but wood. From another place along the coast, well behind Ulanan, a much smaller, dark presence crawled from the water. It moved as a crippled body would, dragging itself up from the sea, dripping dark water and glistening with salt. It was not D'aijeen, but a pale-skinned Elezen child, crawling silently forth. Cypress was helpless to pull the beast back down to her, but with a little push, she could try to make the boat that it stood on burn to the ground. Putting her hand on the moist wooden frame, her eyes intent upon the beast, she forced out an aetheric fire, hotter and more durable than that which now naturally flicked off her skin. The aether washing over Ulanan's wand shifted aspects, becoming cold, freezing the air. She didn't loosen it, though, as she couldn't see the beast. To change that, she ran to a side in a curve, trying to quickly get on the opposite side of the boat and at a safe distance. The beast shifted on the boat, looking around, snapping at the air. It was concealed for a moment as it tasted the air, as it tried to discern where the threat was coming from. And then the boat was burning, fire hot enough that the water did not slow it ripping through the wood. Quickly, the stink of scorched mildew and immolated bodies wafted into the air. The canid could be heard clicking in the middle of it. Then the monster smashed through the fire and the wood, breaking through the wall immediately in front of Cypress, seemingly without concern for the fire around it. Its broken teeth and maw extended from the haze to snap at the woman. The sounds of crunching wood fell behind the beast as she raised and threw her burning fist into the voidful jaw as its shadowed figure emerged from the flames. Thoughts of the lalafell's actions didn't even strike across her mind. She was far too used to working alone to take into account the safety of others, despite her mission's ultimate purpouse. The short mage had moved far enough as to be safe from the attack, but not enough to reach her desired destination. Quick on her thoughts, she waved her wand, sending a magical spike of ice at the side of the beast. From there, she took a glimpse of the small form that was crawling out of the sea. The "teeth" of the monster shattered when Cypress struck it, making it recoil back into the burning boat which, thanks to its own violent movements, was now crumbling around it. Lines of fire curled against the beast's ephemeral flanks, the heat enough to darken the bones inside of it. The thing twisted, and began to climb upward to get away, but a shaft of ice struck it and knocked it down once more. The figure of the child on the beach watched the boat burn down. It pushed itself up and stood hunched, dark hair and dark eyes wide and confused at what it was seeing. Cypress stepped into the crumbling boat after the beast, the fire if anything seemed to feed back into her as flames lapped around the edges of her dragonhide boots that had been passed down through the generations. She came down to her knees beside the fallen demon using the motion to bring her large, crackling palm down onto its large skull. Ulanan, deciding ice would do more to hinder than to help, focused her attention on the small person on the distance. Her wand still crackled with cold aether. "Kid! Stay there!" she shouted. "Don't come any closer!" The shadows of the canid's head sizzled, boiling under Cypress palm, and gave way so that her hand pressed down on the bundle of vulture skulls behind its face. The monster writhed and clawed at the ground, but couldn't manage to move. The figure on the beach flicked its gaze to Ulanan, and then back to where the boat was burning. The hellsguard kept the hand down on the bundle of skulls as she quickly rummaged the knapsack with her other hand having withdraw the fire from that appendage back within herself. She drew forth a very simplistic one-shot crystal vial and syringe. The beast snapped its maw, trying to get at Cypress legs or feet, any part of her that came near it. Its claws tore at the burning wood around it. Ulanan shifted her attention, concluding that the kid was not undead or a voidsent. She raised her wand high above her head and then swung it violently towards the creature. The chilling air around the gemstone moved across the air, its coldness dissipating. The aether remained, however, and it slammed down on the unnatural beast with great force. It was not enough to crush it, but perhaps enough to restrain it like a great weight, she hoped. Cinders flaked from her leg as an scrambling claw caught hold of her leg. Blood seeped down from the cut, the burnt flesh pulled away, it dropped down her leg and sizzled as it landed in the fires. Cypress ignored it though, gritting her teeth down and jabbing the syringe into a fleshy part of the voidsent, drawing forth from it a viscous black ooze. Ulanan's spell worked as intended. The monster lay still as Cypress worked. It's only complaint came in the clicking of bones as the cracked under the abuse, weakened by the heat of the fire. The child, watched the burning boat, took a step away and began to hobble down the beach away from the fire. "What are you doing?" Ulanan questioned the roegadyn's actions with a shout. "Can we kill it already?" Cypress ignored Ulanan words, or at least didn't respond to them as she stowed the hollowed crystal full of voidsent blood away in her pouch. She did send a further blast of aether threw her hand as brought the fingers of it together to crush skull the further. The many vulture skulls inside of the canid's head cracked under the pressure applied to them. The beast scrambled and struggled like a thing drowning, as though it were being choked to death. But it was held in place by the very precise pressure Cypress was applying and Ulanan's lingering spell. It struggled for only a moment before the skulls finally broke into a collection of bone shards that collapsed inward. At once, the shadows melted away, just like a fresh light was shining upon them. The great spine and various animal bones that the shadows had contained fell limp to the wooden floor of the boat. The lalafell dropped the arm holding the wand and huffed, relieved. The magical energy around the focus weakened, though she kept enough attention on it to keep some over the gemstone. "I don't want any other surprises. Is that creature done?" The roegadyn pulled away from the pile of bones and carefully walked from the burning boat. She wasn't quick enough though, to avoid chunks of burning wood falling on her. Had her skin not been already a mess of volcanic fissures, it would have done far more damage. As it was though, she would have some nasty bruises to accompany that bleeding gash on her calf. As she stepped out of the bow-ward hole that she'd entered through, she caught sight of the little girl limping away down the narrow beach. "Who is that?" she uttered, her voice a cracked mess. "It's a survivor. I didn't have time to see if they were alright." she answered, turning around towards the kid. The aether on her wand finally dispelled, falling down in drops of water. "Hey! Kid!" she shouted. She begun to stroll towards her, calmly and steadily. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" The Elezen child, short dark hair and pale skin, tattered clothes soaked through, at first continued to limp away. The figure was thin and taller than a full-grown Miqo'te, though still several heads below the height it would eventually grow to. After a moment, though, it pause, and turned to look over its shoulder. A green earring in the shape of a cactuar swung from one ear. It blinked at Ulanan in silence. Cypress walked away from the ship and towards the girl and lalafell. her body shuddered as the fissures and embered cracks retreated back below the surface. With that the last of the flames that had danced at the surface of her hand fall to the sands. She'd drained much of her aetheric reserves again. They'd need more time again to build up. Conservation was something she needed to start practicing again, but her frustration and anger liked to get the better of her. Ulanan stopped at what could be considered "lunge" range from the child. "Don't worry. We finished that monster." she said, sounding reassuring. "Are you hurt? We can help you." she added. The child blinked at Ulanan. It looked at Cypress, expression unreadable but dark eyes wide, and then back to the Lalefel. "I can walk back to Vesper Bay on my own." The voice was smooth and androgynous, and did not evidence any pain or injury. Dragonhide boots carried Cypress to the pair, her sharp, bright eyes taking in the little girl whose appearance was all too coincidental for the roegadyn that resolutely didn't believe in such things; Althyk never arranged for such without a purpouse. She smelt nothing on the wind, but the recently possessed rarely showed such signs right away. Her voice was cold even as it cracked, "But I saw your limp. You're too hurt to walk all those miles." Ulanan frowned, dropping her head slightly. Her grip on the wand tightened. "Were you in that ship? Was anyone with you? We can look for them, make sure they are safe." "There aren't any survivors." The Elezen said. The the child looked up at Cypress. "I am fine. You're frightening. Let me walk alone. If I'm wrong, you'll find me on the beach on your way back, won't you?" Cypress reached where Ulanan now was, "I may be frightening, but I am far less so than what you just walked from. And I know some healing." A little lie to someone possessed would mean nothing. "Let me look at that leg." Her strong, proud facial features brokered no kindness in them though. Ulanan said nothing else. She watched up to Cypress, and then back to the kid. "Absolutely not. The shipwreck did not claim my pride." The child's chin lifted. "You will cease molesting me immediately." "How did this happen?" the lalafell asked, gesturing with her head to the ship. "Was it that voidsent we fought?" "Perhaps. I do not remember. Goodbye." The Elezen turned away, chain of the earring clattering, and began to limp in the direction of Vesper Bay. As the girl turned to leave them, Cypress took a long step towards her and made a grab for her thin wrist. The child made a sound of both dismay and pain as Cypress' claws closed around one bony wrist. Ulanan threw her hands into the air. "Please!" she exclaimed to the Roegadyn. "Don't be that harsh! She might just be a kid and not a voidsent!" If anything Cypress's grip tightened, "There is no such thing as coincidence." The child didn't complain in words, groaning and making a token show of pulling away. A look of concern was cast towards Ulanan. "I'm not going to question your world view." she commented. "But I question your methods. Let her go. If you are so worried about that, just follow her." "If she is not possessed, then she'll have no worry in sitting down for an exam," Cypress yanked the child towards her, gentleness not present in her blood. "I'm amazed that after everything you've seen, you're willing to accept that a child involved in a voidsent induced shipwreck, witness to a violent altercation, simply walks away without so much tear in her eye or panic in her voice? She instantly showed more fear of me than any of those things." "Elezen are proud like that. I'm just careful because I don't like the idea of burning people who might NOT be voidsent." she grumped in reply. "Or who might be a voidsent AND a living child!" The Elezen spun on Cypress as the woman pulled. One thin arm reaching up, the child's fingers pointed towards Cypress' face and dark lines, like black icicles, shot directly for the Roegadyn's eyes. Cypress was surprised, her bright copper eyes widening at the black daggers that came at them. And in that same moment her mind whispered, 'I told you so' to the parasite. And then there was simply darkness. And pain as her throat involuntarily let out at crackling roar. The last dregs of her aether ripped through her, a wildfire that spread to everything it touched. It grounded was well-grounded in her boots, but it most certainly scorched the dainty wrist that captured within Cypress's own red hand. Ulanan gave a jump backwards, unable to stop the attack or even see it coming before the kid was done speaking. She retaliated, the aether from her body thundering through her to the wand, and from there through the air to hit the kid with an electrical blast. A pained cry ripped out of the child when first fire and then lightning struck the small body. But the cries ceased too quickly, and then it growled at Ulanan. "You torture an innocent." "Then let her go!" she replied with a bark, accompanying her words with another magical blast. Cypress could feel the cool streaks of what she assumed to be blood running down her smooth cheeks. Her body's involuntary reaction over, she found the sensation strangely calming. Even as her stomach wanted nothing more than to retch and her head felt like someone had stuffed cotton into her ears. She still had her presence of mind and the girl's wrist in her hand. She reached with her other one through the darkness to grasp up the girls arm just north of where her anchored hand was, "Just kill it," She gasped at Ulanan. "I'm not letting go! The child's screaming inside!" The child couldn't fight either of them. Ulanan's magic was burning away that pale skin, darkening it viciously. "You'll be murderers!" Sparks formed around the lalafell's wand. They grew in size, becoming fire. It moved outwards, circling her increasingly rapidly. Her tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth, letting out a dismissive noise to the voidsent's words. She stayed still for an instant, and then rotated her arm forwards, her legs shifting with the violence of the movement. The fire raised up in a thin torrent and fell upon the kid in an arc. The child watched the fire arcing downward, and at the last moment, the voidsent seemed to release. The kid struggled against Cypress and tried to escape the fire. Fearful eyes watched, wide, watering, so terrified there wasn't even a scream. As the fire struck the child, however, the scream came. A child's loud, tortuous scream, as she burned alive. Large red hands clasped around the girl's arm, Cypress held fast even as her stomach churned slightly at the more genuine sounds of pain and suffering. Better to end it here and be cleansed by the fire. Ulanan let out a broken breath, looking more angry than horrorized by what just happened. She averted her eyes from the kid. After a time, the child's body slackened and collapsed into the surf. The earring broke off and fell away. The corpse smoked, and smolders. Water bubbled around it, sizzling audibly. Cypress felt the faint weight tugging at her grip as the not unfamiliar smell of burnt flesh settled firmly into her nostrils. She let it go after a long moments, the feeling of life and a pulse no longer present within the wrist that she had accidentally sheltered from the same magical frying that the rest of the body had endured.

((Relatively parallels Smallshells for the Heart)) --------------------- Burned Cypress doesn't look up, or seem surprised when the short woman spoke up from somewhere behind her. "No. Its been too long now." Ulanan speaks up from behind, "Then, what are you waiting for?" The roegaydn answers, "I merely wait for a sign. Or for... Yes. A sign. A new trail." Ulanan frowns and presses her lips together, looking unconvinced. "You are going to stand there for a very long time, then." she says. "The seekers that wait for things to come to them never find anything." Cypress shakes her head, "Time heals all. Althyk will provide, even if I must play the role of a wanderer again." "Oschon favors those who move their feet. Two gods helping you would be better than one." "You should not speak of matters that you know little about. Wandering is merely a waste of energy. Better to move with purpouse." Ulanan frowns some more and resists the urge to poke her tongue at the Roegadyn. "Unlike uselessly wasting the time staring at a big pond of water." Cypress sees a dark spot drifts over towards the dock, weaving with the gentle waves. Bending down to reach it, Cypress scoops it up from the water and sniffs at it. "You merely lack patience and trust in Althyk." "And you lack knowledge. Water isn't dirt. It flows and moves. It has currents. The things that fall into it don't stay at the bottom forever. They get dragged around and move with the water." Cypress recognizes faint sulphuric traces on the scrap of cloth, "I know these things well enough. But where would I rush off to? She spent much time in this town. I am merely taking in what I may from it." Ulanan shrugs, "Considering the tides, I'd guess her body was dragged to the Cape, northwards. But I imagine you don't really care about her body." Cypress pulls away from the water to look back at the lalafel. "I care about whatever vessel houses the voidsent. It was tied into to that body more than most." She lifts up the scrap of fabric as she approaches the woman. Ulanan looks blankly at that, as if she had just been shown the most mundane thing in the world. "Clothes float, yes." "This was on her." Cypress stows the scrap away in her pouch, a torn of her shirt, stained with what seemed to be blood. But with it being so wet, it was almost impossible to tell. "That just tells you her body is somewhere around here. But not on the precise spot you were staring at." D'hein stood nearby with his arms crossed, frowning at the topic of conversation. One of his ears twitches. "What's this, then? Bodies and clothes and vessels? What's going on?" Cypress answers Ulanan, "Did I say that's what it meant?" She shifts her gaze towards the foppish man who belonged to the same family as D'aijeen, "I am merely gleaning what I can from here before moving on." Ulanan turns her head to look at the Miqo'te. "She's on a voidsent hunt." D'hein asks, "So you're continuing to look for my daughter, then? Or that pet of hers?" "You could say that. Its true, after a fashion," answers Cypress. "Which is true? You're being awfully obtuse." Ulanan tries to explain, "She's trying to say that D'aijeen and the voidsent are one and the same." Cypress's answer isn't so different than that, a continuation even, "I am looking for your daughter, only because of what her body may still house. And her pet, though that is not my focus." D'hein shakes his head. "I won't deny that there were Voidsent involved here, nor the necessity of what passed between you. But my daughter was a woman, born of flesh and raised. No Voidsent herself." Cypress shrugs, "It recognized me, as I saw its true nature." Ulanan drops her arms to the sides. "Yes, that was quite strange." she nods, mostly to herself. "It recognized you? Had you some other dealing with D'aijeen? Or do you mean the Voidsent that was abusing her so?" asked D'hein. "That was the first I'd seen of the girl. But the voidsent within her? We have met before." Ulanan decides to cross her arms again, saying nothing. D'hein pressed again, "Have you a story to tell regarding that, then?" "None that would interest you. It is merely... a special trouble maker of a spirit. I am not surprised that it has been causing the problems that brought me here." Ulanan keeps quiet. "You don't get to conceal that history of the thing which seems to have killed my daughter, Roegadyn." Cypress walks towards D'hein looking down at the man, "And I am not obligated to answer to an interrogation when you have not done anything but attempt to hobble my hunt." Ulanan interrupts, not able to hold back her disbelief at the other woman's callousness, "By Oschon! The man's daughter just died! Are you going to deny his request because of the pride of your 'hunt'?" "This has nothing to do with pride, little one." D'hein matches the Roegadyn's gaze, narrowing his own. "I just helped kill my daughter as her mother watched on. The world owes me an explanation, and if you're the one who possesses it, it is from you that I will extract it." Ulanan walks around so she is in a better position to listen. Cypress makes a counter-offer, "Then I would extract a promise from you, that you will not place yourself in my path from hence forth." "That's extortion," insists Ulanan. "Why? If that is exortion then what is this man doing?" Cypress looks down on D'hein in reflection. "Let's not make an argument of it. I owe you no such breath, Roegadyn. However, I do not wish to be anyone's enemy. I no longer have a daughter to protect from you. All that remains is the Voidsent which destroyed her, and I certainly won't interfere with your hunt for that," says D'hein. Cypress shakes her head, "Yet you seem to think that I owe you information. For you though, it would be of no consequence. I have seen this voidsent within my grandfather, the gatekeeper before me. That is all." Ulanan reasonably asks, "What did it do while it was in him?" "My grandfather was old, his body dead. There was not much that it could do." "That does not answer the question of why it was there, and what it was intending. Why was it in him?" D'hein Tia huffs. "That's why I'm asking." "Don't be lazy now," says Ulanan. Cypress turns and walks back down to the edge of the dock, looking out at the waters, "They want nothing more than to gain a hold within this world. The void is a... limbo more than anything else. For certain spirits it is... they long for something more. For chaos, violence, and the feeling of a heart beating hard within their chest. They want to feel alive. Their time has passed though, and they would ask for it at the cost of those who live in this world." "How did you get it out of your grandfather, then? Why was it in my daughter?" asks D'hein. Cypress answers matter of factly, "I threw him to the fiery pit and sealed the fissure with his blood." She paused before addressing the second question and turning back to the Miqo'te, "I do not know why it was in your daughter. There are many ways that it could have happened. The most likely of which are that it piggy backed on a summoning or... your daughter made a deal with it herself." Turning back to D'hein, she asked a question of her own, "Your... daughter made a habit of cutting into the void, did she not? Though her mother defended her intention, she was not surprised at the subject." D'hein shook his head, and his arms dropped. "It was not a thing I knew of before, but Antimony confided that D'aijeen had summoned Voidsent in the past. "Is that not explanation enough for you?" Ulanan looks at D'hein quietly. D'hein sighs, shaking his head. "I suppose so. Except that I wonder what you do now." Cypress shrugs, "I must resume the hunt, as much as had wished to be to returning to the Spine now." D'hein, "I suppose this takes us back to when I walked in, then. By what means will you hunt?" "For now, I will look along the coast to see if the body washed up and left any trace. I may also attempt to scry, but I do not believe the small scrap of cloth that I have from her is enough." "Straightforward enough, I suppose. I wouldn't know anything about scrying, "D'hein looked down at Ulanan as though he expect the Lalafel to be a master of it. "Her mother wished to give her a proper burial. Would giving her the body be an obstacle to your hunt?" Ulanan glanced back at D'hein for a short instant. Perhaps a sign that her knowledge about scrying is non-existent. "If the body is empty and burned in memorial after I have had a chance to collect a blood sample. Yes. That would be fine." "What's the blood sample for?" asks D'hein. "To help seal the rifts that have been made by her." "Ah, right. That. But, she's not a Voidsent herself. Would it still work?" Ulanan pokes her chin with the index finger, pondering, "The voidsents must be attracted by her aether. The blood would help her fake that and reverse the summoning rituals" "It is merely a precaution. One cannot long be entangled with them without taking on some of the voidsents' essence within yourself. It would be better than nothing, even if her body has been abandoned." "Well, I can't object to that." D'hein nodded, looking thoughtful. "We might as well get looking, then. More of us to cover more ground. I came to get K'airos' things from the inn, but I can take a quick southward pass along the beach before returning them to her." "Mm. No, I can help this woman with her search. You should go back with Antimony and K'airos. Stay with them for a few days, at least. They'll need the company..." offers Ulanan, gesturing to her book. "...and I'm better equipped for this task." "We all have an equal number of eyes, Ulanan." Cypress narrows her bright eyes at the pair, "We will not be doing anything. I will not stop you if you feel compelled to search for the body that you seek, but this is not something that I can share with others." "Well, as you wish, then," says Ulanan. D'hein seems a little frustrated at that, "What's with all you people and this word "Can't"? Sounds like silliness and stubbornness to me. At any rate, I'll depart shortly. If I find anything, you're sure to find out through some strange mechanism, I'm sure." Cypress nods her head, "Thank you. And I shall return the body to you if it is in a state that I can do so." "Well, I'll be helping you anyway for at least a short while. So you'll have to share that burden for that long," Ulanan emphasizes her point by walking and standing right next to Cypress." D'hein Tia smirks. "Well. I'm sure you two are going to have a great time, then. Good talk! Let's do it again sometime." He gave a small wave before turning away to seek out the inn. Ulanan realizes she is at the perfect height to be attacked by Cypress' knees. She looks up to the woman and smiles, "You first!" Cypress's jaw tightens as she looks down at the tiny person, "You will only impede my progress. I do not wish for any parasites." "Did you just call me a parasite?" Cypress says in all seriousness, "If you are going to follow me for the purpouse of getting what you desire, then yes. It is an appropriate term." "And what I desire is...?" "To see that your friend's daughter's body is returned. I cannot see any way that you can offer assistance in this matter. There is no offense meant, but I have not requested your aide." "No offence meant, but you used the word parasite? You make no sense!" Ulanan huffs. "In any case it doesn't matter. I'm going to follow you and there's nothing you can do about it except bore me to death by standing here. Which is bad for -your- desires." "A parasite is merely something that leeches off another without offering benefit in return. It seems to be a correct term. If you do not think that you are one, then please, offer an argument." "How can I leech anything out of you just by following you? And I'm not going to offer you any argument to defend myself. You are rude and we are wasting our time!" "You are leeching my energy, parasite. Now, answer my question, why do you insist on chasing my skirt?" Ulanan huffs again, raising both hands and obstructing her ears under them. "I'll answer once you start being polite. For now, though, I'm going to ignore you." "Good. Please, ignore me and stay put." Ulanan continues to hold her hands over her ears. "I can't hear you because parasites do not have ears!" Cypress starts to walk off, taking much longer strides than she needed. Ulanan follows like a parasite!

The sleeve of Illira's intricately embroidered linen shirt was long gone, most of in the belly of beast that had tossed her about. And what had been left behind had been cut away to tend her shoulder. In trade for the cloth, it had left behind deep punctures where its teeth had ground into her and a dislocated joint. It had been popped back into place, stitched up with self-dissolving thread, then bandaged over with gauze and a healers spells. It would heal well enough if she didn't do anything else to it, or practice such stupidity as she had in jumping into the fray as she did. The sling that her arm hung in now was to help prevent such further injury. So she stood now outside the small hospital building, the small braids that hung by her face waving in the breeze. Free from the others, she now hesitated at what she had so desperately desired earlier, to be left alone. There was an ounce of responsibility that she felt now, which was holding her back. As much as she knew that she had done as she needed to, she had still left a mother without her daughter. Was there anything that she could do to assist in the matter though? Nothing at all. Her face was the last that they would want to see, even if she had any wish to be apart of whatever was between that clique. It wasn't running, not now anyway. She'd fulfilled her part in this, played the villain and protector. What more was here for her? Anger, rage, and impulsivity. Making her way over to the chocobo stable, Illira talked with their minder, assuring him that she would be perfectly fine riding with one arm. D'hein wandered away from the inn's tavern, patting at his ruined clothes. At least he was fed and had been able to sleep, however briefly, but he didn't feel all that much better. At most he was no longer in present danger of passing out in the middle of a sentence. And watching D'aijeen die hadn't helped his mood at all. Still, he saw Illira at the Chocobo master, and after only an instant of hesitation, forced his tired body into a trot towards her. The Dodo's hair and tail bounced like feathers, one ear flopping limp on his head. "Illira!" Her eyes shut as soon as the honey-sweet, grating voice made its way to her. She hadn't gotten out of the care of the healers quickly enough to avoid a scene it seemed. "One moment," she said to the Chocobo master letting him go back about his business as she turned away from him to walk a few steps towards D'hein, "What?" she said tersely. The man kept up his trot until he could stop in front of Illira, a smile on her face. "Hey, you're going back to Ul'dah? I thought you hated it there." "I do. I won't be staying there." The elezen looked down her nose at the coworker. "Oh, that's fine! I can probably take care of Ul'dah just fine, now. Because. You know. less distractions." He said this with a smile, still, then stood up a bit straighter. His tail twitched back and forth behind him. "Hey, I wanted to thank you." --------------- Antimony had hung back as D'hein left the tavern, turning her attention to her daughter who had returned not long ago lacking her box of smallshells. "Do you need anything, dear? More rest? Food? If you'd like a pet, we could see about getting you... ah, a chocobo perhaps? You used to help feed them..." K'airos followed her mother outside, her head hung low. "Stables are expensive." she answered flatly. The idea made her look towards the chocobo stable, though, and she noticed D'hein and Illira. She just blinked in their direction. "Why would you need a stable? They like to run." Antimony tried a smile, though it turned out more sad than happy. "And the chicks are rather cute." K'airos shrugged, arms crossed. "We'd have to keep them somewhere." Ears drooping slightly, Antimony watched her daughter's posture for a moment. Then her brow furrowed and, seemingly overcome, she stepped closer to pull her into a hug. "You just let me know anything you want, Airos," she murmured. "I will make sure you get it." The young Miqo'te accepted the hug and lingered on it for a while, resting her head on her mother's shoulder. "What is D'hein doing?" she asked afterwards, still in the hug. --------------- Shifting her weight, Illira said, "There isn't anything to thank me for. I killed your twelves-forsaken daughter, D'hein. And I'm only sorry that she rose back up." "So am I. That's what I'm thanking you for." D'hein held his hands out in front of him, palm up, gesturing openly as he spoke. "I knew it would have to be done. I came here to do it. But I didn't know if I could. You're the one who stepped in and... It was ugly. I don't have much of a stomach for that kind of thing." "No one should. But sometimes it must be done, for the good of all. I was just unfortunate enough to learn about such many years ago." Lifting her head, Illira caught sight of the mother and daughter pair a little ways off, "I'm... glad that you see the truth of it though. That is a powerful thing." "I've always been better at using paperwork and information to get what I want. D'themia I could handle on my own. But..." He shrugs. He hasn't lost his smile at all, though he closes his eyes. "Killing D'aijeen isn't something I could have done." "And it shouldn't have been something that was required of you, even if you'd had it in you." The woman paused, before choosing her next words carefully, "You will let me go now, right? You have far more important things to take care of than watching me." --------------- Antimony blinked, sighed, and pulled back just enough to glance over her shoulder. Green eyes settled on the Tia and his elezen companion after a moment, and her tail drooped. "I... don't know. Seeing if she is healed, I suppose." "Maybe they are planning to go back to Ul'dah, already?" K'airos pulled out from the hug and gestured in their direction. The crease between Antimony's brows deepened at that. Keeping an arm on K'airos, she began to cross the courtyard towards the pair by the chocobos. The girl followed, her tail hidden between her legs. --------------- "Are you still two seconds away from killing me?" D'hein opened one eye half-way, looking Illira over. "I am tired right now, D'hein. Thats all. I really don't have room for much else at the moment." She glanced down at her arm in its sling as she finished, "And I know you are as well. So I would not make judgements on such things right now while we are not quite ourselves." D'hein holds up a finger. "Use that logic next time you're irate and maybe you'll realize you don't feel so much like killing me after all. Remember: the only difference between a murderer and a person of high moral standing, is that the murderer acts on things that everyone else only fantasizes about. It's not like I've never wanted cut off Sah'ot's tail." "What you just said isn't... Removing Sah'ot's isn't an act of good. I'll keep my own counsel, thank you," answered Illira. "Have you seen her tail? It's beautiful. She doesn't deserve it." He crosses his arms. "Anyway. Everyone who does something wrong thinks it's an 'act of good' at the time. Just think about it." Antimony slowed as she approached D'hein and Illira. She gave the Tia a mildly confused look as she overheard the tail end of their conversation. Jaw tightening, Illira glances away from D'hein to the approaching women, "What you speak of, and I speak of are entirely different things D'hein." "They aren't. You just want them to be. The fact that you believe that is why there's a problem between us." His tail flips around behind him. "Are you leaving for Ul'dah?" Antimony finally spoke, looking between D'hein and Illira as though unsure to whom to direct the question. "I am leaving," Illira answers, letting the difference of opinion rest between her and D'hein for the moment. K'airos hesitated, looking at D'hein. "Are you leaving, too?" she asked him. The man spun towards K'airos. "Well, what's in Horizon? We should all go." Illira's attention turned back to D'hein, a frown forming on her thin lips, "Please, don't leave on my account." "I... suppose one place is as good as any for now." Antimony looked towards K'airos. The young woman rubbed her forearm. "What about our...my things...they are still in Vesper Bay." D'hein looks over his shoulder at Illira. "There's nothing in Horizon. Home is Ul'dah. I think everyone should just go home." "Home is..." Antimony trailed off, and then squeezed K'airos's arm. "We can retrieve your things, dear. And... take it from there." Shrugging, Illira turns back to stable to finish dealing with the chocobo master, "Then you should do that." K'airos nodded slowly and just once. "Getting my things would be nice." she mumbled. Finally looking towards K'airos, he says, "Do you mean in Vesper Bay?" "Yes." The thought of returning to that harbour town made Antimony's blood run cold, but she would do it for K'airos. "It shouldn't take long." After getting the chocobo master's attention again, Illira reiterates her original request, passing gil into the man's hand. "You two go back to Ul'dah. I'll get K'airos' things. I don't want either of you going back there." He looks over towards where Illira went. "Illira! Can you see these ladies back to the Quicksand for me?" Reigns in her hand, Illira turns back to the odd family leading the chocobo behind her. Luckily, this one seemed much more content and easy-going than the last one, "They can tag along if they wish." Antimony gave her daughter a concerned look. "Will that be alright with you, Airos?" "Yeah. That'll be fine." she answers weakly. Smiling and looking at the man, she adds: "Thank you, D'hein." Bowing her head slightly, Antimony turned towards the chocobo master, though she did offer a brief, weary look D'hein's way. D'hein steps out of everyone's way, letting them get to the Chocobos. "I'll see you two in Ul'dah, once I've gotten K'airos' stuff. So wait for me. Thanks again, Illira." Looping the reigns over the chocobo's head, Illira held them at the pommel of the saddle and brought her foot up to the stirrup. Her other leg, long as it was pushed off from the ground as she pulled herself up with her hand. The whole process much more awkward without the use of one of her arms. But she managed, "I still do not think that you should be thanking me D'hein." K'airos, not wanting to interrupt, but also thinking they shouldn't waste time, centred her attention on the chocobokeep and asked him to have prepared other two birds soon. "The fact that you believe that is one of the reasons we have a problem." D'hein chuckled. "So you tell yourself," Illira glances over her shoulder at the other two women, waiting on them before she could depart. Antimony waited in silence for two chocobos to be readied. It didn't take long, and she soon accepted the reins of one from the chocobokeep. She hoisted herself upon it wordlessly and then cast a distant look D'hein's way. "Be careful in that place. Corruption... does not fade so easily." K'airos seemed to want to protest, but she said nothing. Or perhaps it was just the effort of getting on her own mount that made her look like that. "I'm trained in Thaumaturgy!" D'hein whipped out his sceptre to demonstrate. "Cleansing corruption is one of my talents." Antimony just sighed at that, ears lowering, and took up her chocobo's reins. "Come, Airos. We... shouldn't make Miss Carceri wait." Reigning her Chocobo towards the Ul'dah facing exit, Illira nodded towards Antimony, "Let D'hein take care of himself. Those other two may still be there as well. So that may be some comfort to you." K'airos kept quiet while she moved her own chocobo towards the exit. It wasn't any comfort at all, and Antimony's tail shivered in silent protest of it. She urged her chocobo on though. D'hein watched them go and waved his hand high over his head.

Illira Carceri STR: 13 - Has gone down since her time on active duty, but still above average. CON: 15 - Her inherent stubbornness and strong will-power mean that little will bring her down if she has the ability to soldier on. DEX: 11 - She is not a naturally nimble person, but nor is she at all clutzy INT: 17 - Illira is quite well-educated and has extensive ability and experience as a former Brass Blade captain in problem solving and situational assessment. WIS: 8 - Has no concern for the 'why's of the world and is both unwilling and unable to question her own values. CHA: 6 - Illira's caustic, sanctimonious attitude doesn't earn her any friends. And those that would be, she chases off with biting, ill-tempered criticisms; indeed she seems completely unable to hold her tongue and follow the advice of, "if you can't say anything nice about someone don't say anything at all". Cypress - Strength: 14 - Constitution: 15 - Dexterity: 9 - Intelligence: 14 - Wisdom: 17 - Charisma: 8 -

I am unable to log back in for photoshoots so... these are rather.... unracy! But I couldn't resist repping the Elezen and Roe womens. Illira! ~ Cypress! ~ And... representing older highlander men... Alcor! ~ He has such exquisite legs...

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On a Stooges kick today! [video=youtube]

Personally, as I don't necessarily / normally equate 1 RL day to 1 RP day, I can't bring myself to ever say 1 RL year = 1 RP year, though I appear to be in the minority in this! I think I used to follow along that line though. But... as of the past several months, most scenes that I'm involved in take a least a couple of days if not a week to wrap up due to scheduling, sleep needs, and the needs of the scenes, etc. So... yeah, the 1-1 ratio hasn't been around for me in a while. Luckily birth days and exact ages don't tend to come up often in RP that I'm involved in, so I've gotten into the bad habit of not assigning specific ages to characters. I usually say like this character is say... -mid thirties- or something. Though for sake of world plotlines/character history they are sometimes needed so that I can chart out a correct timeline for the character. For those that do have a specific age, its really just a feel-for-it sort of thing. (So scientific!) Like, I remember writing (and then never posting) an interlude for a character in which I was like, o-hey. I think it happens to be her birthday as well. Whelp! Sucks to be her. It was never mentioned to anyone OOCly or ICly, though the interlude was headcanon/checkpoint for me to use for that character. So... yeah. I go by feel and by an approximation of how much time has passed in that particular RP canon.

I was working on a soundtrack for a character last night. ... and then just ended up with all the Rambling Man songs I could think of. And have been listening to them at work today... [video=youtube] [video=youtube] [video=youtube]

*makes a triumphant return to the thread* Found this artist recently and been listening through all of her stuff... [video=youtube]

So close, she could feel her hand aching to jump up and find their way around that delicate throat. It wouldn't take much. But it wasn't the right thing to do, as good as it might feel to hear no more from him. So Illira stayed her hand, turning to look at him out of a glance. But all it made her do was shiver and feel as if she were about to retch. Her eyes rebounded to look at the empty wall on the other side of the room, not able to say anything. Smiling, D'hein gestured with his open palms once more. "See, I think deep down it really is self-apparent that I mean well. Things just get too big when we take them in all at once. We should take things piecemeal and confront them together." The tightly knit braids that kept hair in neat order worked against her now, unable to provide a drawn curtain between her and D'hein, "You should stop talking now." "Fine, I'll give you time." He stepped back very slightly, a mostly symbolic gesture, and waited. She was in limbo, with the man watching. Inaction had never suited her well, but neither had self pity. So she deflected, "You said your best friend died, didn't you? Why are you not out mourning them?" "I am presently in mourning." He answered, plainly, then gestured vaguely to the outside. "Antimony conducted some kind of ceremony on my behalf, although I don't understand its purpose. That's really all I have time for. My daughter has run off under dubious circumstances and must be found." "Then I will say again, though for different reasons. You should not be here. I have lasted a long time D'hein. I will not wilt like a flower because you aren't here hold me, I do better without you." "Say it however you want, I'm not leaving you alone. Don't mistake this for coddling. You're dangerous, so I'm not letting you out of my sight." A heavy breath left the Elezen's chest as she looked to almost crumble inward, "Then perhaps I should join you in your search. If I am not already as crazy as you claim, I surely will be if I sit in a room with you refusing to leave." "Ah, well, you see." he joined his hands together in front of him and looked down at them. "The daughter in question is also Antimony's daughter that I had adopted a long time ago and I'm not sure that Antimony does not loathe you presently, so I thought I'd just... I'm not sure... We're leaving Ul'dah, and..." He popped up his head and smiled at Illira. "And you sure could use a break from Ul'dah! That sounds helpful, doesn't it?" "No. But it is better than staying in here with you blathering," She turned slightly towards the man, "I do not idle well." "That's a virtue," D'hein held up a finger, forcing himself to beam through his tired features. His weary tail even shifted. "Now, then, the plan is to leave as soon as Antimony and I have had a nap. Unless I've used up all of that time." His expression dropped into one of critical concern. "Oh, no, how long have we been talking?" "I would have no idea. But please, go take a nap, it sounds like such a useful thing to do with your time," a slight smirk found its way onto Illira's face. "I haven't slept in two days. Lest you think I haven't mourned properly." He turned, then, stepping towards the door. "If you really intend to tag along, I'll give you an hour to prepare yourself. I'm like to spend the time talking Antimony into it." "Just go," she said, "No need to continue dithering about here." "I'm not dithering. I'm telling you I'll be back in an hour." He opened the door and spun to step out of it backward. "So, I'll be seeing you then." Illira just made a noncommittal grunt, turning away from the door and walking towards the room's desk.

One of D'hein's ears flopped down, then up, then down again. He looked around the room distractedly, made a bemused face. Then he snapped his head up and looked wide-eyed at the wall. "Wait, me?" He dropped his gaze down to Illira. "You mean, like, ME?" He turned on the window. "It sounded like you were talking about me just now." Illira's hands clutched tightly at the coverlet below her, staring out at the man as she slowly drew her knees up towards her, "Yes... D'hein. You." Bringing his hands in front of him and pulling on his numb right fingers, D'hein muttered, "I'm not sure what... Why myself?" The inner tremor of rage that she felt only grew with the question. For all that he blamed her for never listening, he was surely deaf, "You may as well be Ul'dah. Thats what you look like to me." "That's not a reason. I've never done anything!" D'hein gestured in a random direction. "Every time I ask you why you hate me so much, you say it's because you hate me. I ask why you think I'm a bad person and you say it's because I'm terrible. Those aren't arguments. They're emotions. You're just being emotional!" “You would not leave, for wish to listen. But all you ever do is talk. Talk. And justify. And manipulate. Always for your own ends. When have you ever thought about another besides yourself? Never. Its always about you.” Her voice was like a coiled spring, ready to let loose given the right provocation, “You left your duty to this filth-ridden city because your ego told you that abiding orders wasn’t worthy of you only to complain that I threw out you milk when you returned a month later! You lied and went behind my back, to bring that poor woman back underneath you. Even worse, after you’d been warned about your behaviour and actions towards her. -And dont!- you dare say it was for her own good. There were many, better, simpler ways to have told her that her children were alive. But no. You had to play your void-sent games with her head to give you the best chance to take her for your own because your a tia and aren’t allowed to have a Dodo woman.” Illira fell silent, seeming to have run out of steam. But then she continued, quieter, but now less vicious in tone, “You pried into my family business. There was no reason for you to have. And you pulled your twelve-forsaken strings to let him out before he was due. The syndicate put him there, and let they let him out on one of their own’s whim. As if law, and sentences, and penance meant nothing. Exceptions can’t be made. Because then it all means nothing, and where will we be then? Living only at the mercy of games and whims, D’hein. And Ul’dah is already drowning in those.” As D'hein listened, he certainly made no movement to interrupt. He did shift uncomfortably, though, and begin to pace in a small, irritated circle with his hands behind him. He was doing his best to stay awake and lucid, with his tail dragging on the ground behind him and his ears popping up in turn to listen to Illira. Finally, he turned towards her, set his stance, and put on stoic features. he spoke slowly. "So except for your philosophies concerning law, you are angry at me for," he held up three fingers on his gloved right hand, "Leaving Ul'dah to try and contact the Gilneans, asking that your brother be freed prematurely, and for my dealings with Antimony?" "You-" the elezen snapped, gripping the covers tighter still to keep herself in place, "Did you not listen to what I said? Still, you only see your actions as they only directly pertained to you? And not what was left in their wake?" D'hein spread his arms, "I'm just trying to find out what I did that's made you so upset! I'm thinking cause-and-affect here!" The woman's teeth ground as she admit, "Among other things, yes." "If I know what's got you so angry I know what to apologize for, or at least to explain, since you seem immune to apologies." His ears canted crookedly, one high and one low. "Though I do not think these are things that I can make better. I believe that if you really understood why I did what I do, you wouldn't hate me. You may still be angry, and it may be right of you to be -- I am certainly not very happy with the outcomes of my actions -- but I do not think you would feel any need to harm me. At least because there is little left of me to hurt." Illira took a gasping breath, "I dont... I don't... I'm afraid of myself, D'hein. Because I know empirically, that what I want is wrong. That our laws don't allow what my hands desire and thoughts clamor for. Thats why I left, you understand? So that I wouldn't lose control. Like Amaury, except worse." The lanky woman's knees were rightly drawn up against her, almost a shield against the world. "Please," she asked, clear grey eyes shutting, "please, try to explain yourself." "The difference between a good person and a bad person, is that a good person only fantasizes about committing terrible crimes. I don't think you would do what it is you fear that you would do." He sighed, looking at the floor. "Ah, but you don't think I'm a good judge of that kind of thing." When he raised his face again, he was smiling, albeit tiredly. He took a few steps towards Illira. "I think time has showed that my choice to leave Ul'dah in search of Garleans was a mistake, especially considering that I was absent far longer than I had prepared for. We can call it oversight or incompetence if we like, but I call it a bet that went bad. Had I succeeded in contacting our superiors in the Empire, we might have been able to turn aside the fall of the Castrum. Maybe. It is not impossible." "You are a terrible judge, and its good that you admit it. You do not know me well enough to know what I can and will do." Illira tried to press further back into the headboard as the Miqo’te stepped forward, "You cannot simply leave your duty. You left no word, discussed it with no one. Simply vanished. That is unacceptable." "I told people I was leaving. If I was only gone for the single planned month everything would've been fine. It didn't work out that way. You can say what I did was unwise, a mistake, but it was not /immoral/." "Saying vague and cryptic things that you want to talk to the higher ups, isn't telling people what you are doing. You left the rest of us to pick up your slack. Me, really. And I hate Ul'dah." "Well I'm sorry you got stuck with Ul'dah. I hate it too, you know." He crossed his arms and appeared dour. "Still. Being upset that my warnings were insufficient is not cogent with thinking that I am evil." Illira's nostrils flare at that, "Thats not what I... -This-. This is what you do. Twist words and spin tales to show you just as you wish to be. Intention means nothing though. Only your actions can be brought to bear." He threw up his hands. "I'm not twisting anything! All I'm saying is a mistake isn't a wantonly evil act! That's twisted? It's a simple statement of logic!" "There. Even now, you're putting into my mouth that were never there. You don't even know when to stop, its so ingrained in you. I don't care that you didn't give good warning. I care that you abandoned your duty and orders so readily because your goals and ambitions and ideas were taken over what was decided to be best for all." "And you want to run everything like the military. I didn't abandon my duty; I took a leave of absence, which is something businessmen do all the time. And I wasn't under orders. I acted within my authority." The woman's head shoots up as her nails dig into her calves to keep from moving, "Thats because the CRA -isn't- a business, D'hein. For us it is a mission, a duty to right what is wrong in this world. Apparently, us does you include you though." The Miqo'te rolled his eyes. "You're the kind of person who needs everything she disagrees with or doesn't like to be objectively evil. You don't need to destroy things just because they are annoying." "And you're one of those people who insists that everything is grey because if you were forced to make a stand and be judged, you would not like how it looks. There is a reason I make no apologies for anything I do. Because I stand fully behind every action and its consequence." The pant linen that she wore was thin, so as her nails drew blood through it, small dark stains began to appear around her fingertips. D'hein frowned and shook his head. "I have never refused to answer for any action I have taken. Before the gods and before my conscience, I have done only what I believe right. You are not my judge." "No. But should not be you be your own judge. I am not mine, that is the purpouse that the law serves. If I were to kill you now, I would turn myself in so that I face that judgement. The same for any crime I could commit. You would not do the same. You've already broken that judgement while I've known you." "Have not. I've done nothing illegal. You just don't want to admit it." He blinked, and then amended. "Except contact the Garleans. But you and I are both guilty of treason." Illira's jaw clenches, "And if the Empire fails, I will gladly die with it. And you did interfere with judgement when you made deals to have my brother released, he did not face his full sentence." "Those in authority decided that my asking to let him go was enough to reconsider his disproportionately long sentence, as I've said." He shrugged, then he balked and lifted one ear at her. "Or do you think that when I say I 'asked' I'm implying some sort of compensation?" The elezen let go of her legs at that, letting them slide off the bed as she stood, "There was no appeals process," answered Illira. "People are not set free from jail because someone asked nicely." He quirked his lips to the side. "There's an appeals process for everything. There is nothing in any society that is beyond the authority of SOMEONE to legally strike down or reconsider." Stepping towards the man, Illira answered, "I would have been notified if there had been a proper one." Giving Illira an unrelenting look, D'hein reaffirmed the cross of his arms over his chest. "Calling it improper is just your way of refusing to admit that you're wrong. Nothing improper happened, and you can't seem to handle that." Looking down her nose at the man, she said, "And you're either you're a liar or an idiot. You forget that I am more than familiar with Ul'dah's legal system." "Alright, then. You tell me who has the authority to petition for release without a formal appeals process. Because it wasn't done off-the-books." He spread his arms. "Look, as long as you keep looking at systems as unbendable, you're never going to be satisfied. The real world doesn't work like that. I'm sure it's true even of Garlemald." Laughing bitterly, Illira just shakes her head more sure of herself now than she was if that was possible, "You're just excusing yourself. A stamp from the Syndicate doesn't mean anything. It was off the books. Thats how all of you operate, little tricks and loopholes everywhere so that you aren't bound to answer." "So what you're saying is you didn't even look at the books. You just want everything to be wrong so badly that you won't even look." "Did you not just hear what I said? A stamp that you bargained and talked into existence isn't right. Its why Ul'dah is a cesspit. Because you all consider -that- law and right and just. When it all it does it is beget more of the same." Raising his eyebrow, D'hein shook his head. "More of what? People talking and appealing to higher authority? I'm not saying nothing illegal or questionable happens in Ul'dah. That's why I'm working so hard. But it's absolutely impossible to satisfy you because you're immune to the truth. Nald himself could walk into the room and you'd accuse him of dodging taxes." Ignoring the man's mocking, she answered seriously, "If Nald took in an income, which I suppose he does after a fashion, and he did not pay taxes, which he doesn't... Then yes. I would do so." "You're insane." D'hein turned away, whacking the woman with his tail but not feeling himself do it. "Your problem isn't that you're too rigid or untrusting or that others aren't honest. Your problem is that you are disconnected from reality." "I am, am I? Because I've never had issues until I met you." A long fingered hand reached out to touch the Miqo'te's face, "All I hear from you are lies and excuses. Tell the truth for once. Anything will do for now." Her hand drops down to feel the pulse at his throat. Stepping back and swinging an arm to knock the hand away, D'hein snapped, "It is the honest truth. You refuse all evidence. You vanish without word. You avoid family. You obsess over inconsequentials. Fantasize about violence. Wound yourself. You're insane, and you need to be treated as such." Her steely gaze widened at that as she turned her hand back to herself. It was easy to see the smudges of blood that had dried on the fingers and under the nails from when she had dug into herself rather than loose control. Illira brought the hand up to her own face, leaning into it heavily even as she drags it away in a gesture not unlike that of tearing. The woman took a heavy breath, words dragging out of her mouth, "I suppose most of that is the truth." "Most of it." D'hein repeated, taking a step back from Illira, eying her behavior warily. "Sure. We can find someone for you to talk to. A practitioner of... some kind of faith, or healing." "I'm not... I'm not crazy. All I want is a better world for everyone. Is that really so much to ask for?" She grimaced, running her tongue over dry lips, "I... I shouldn't have ever come back. It was stupid of me. I knew better," she said, sounding rather defeated. "Wanting a better world isn't crazy. There are some problems in it. But you're seeing shadows where there aren't any, and when you want to destroy them, there's a problem." He showed Illira his palms. "I think if you just take some time away from work, maybe read a few books, make some new friends." She laughs at that, body curling inward as it wracks its way through her, "That won't fix anything." "It... might not seem like it now. But... I mean." He looks to the side and then back. "By make new friends, I meant... Well. Professional friends. The kind of people who can help you see the light in the shadows, instead of the shadows in the light." "Oh, so worried aren't you? Even after everything? I'm sure you're just trying to save your own wicked hide." The elezen motions her lightly blooded hand towards the door, "Go then. Save your hide. Its what you're good at, isn't it?" Her head turns up towards him, thick eyebrow raised. His brow falling, D'hein muttered in annoyance, "If I was just out to save my hide I would've left the moment you started going on about your psycho murder fantasies." She motions once more, "You should go. Right now. Before I change my mind." He shakes his head. "I didn't come in here just to find out that you're dangerous and then walk out knowing that. Whether you're crazy or not, the way you're feeling and the thoughts you're having need to be dealt with." Illira turned away, not wanting to look at D’hein any longer. She waved her hand as if to dismiss him, "Just... do what you want. You will anyway." "What I want? All right, then." D'hein dropped his hands to his sides and took several steps towards Illira, stopping beside her and looking at her sideways. "I'll stick around. I don't think that you'll actually hurt me. There must be something we can do to smooth out that righteous fury of yours."

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Moar Illira things. Because why not!

She heard her name being called out over the din of the tavern. The voice brought on a shudder even as she walked, It was almost worse that fingernails being dragged over slate. Illira was the only one about to have that reaction though, as nobody else even bothered to glance up at it, much less react so violently. Quite honestly it made her want to vomit, but luckily for all those about, she kept a tight reign on herself and had forgone food that day as she'd had to endure a long airship ride. After the brief pause, the elezen kept going, as if she hadn't heard the Tia, Nunh, whatever he was these days. D'hein noticed the delay, and one of his ears slammed down in annoyance when he was ignored. Too tired to even feel the people he was brushing past, with his tail sliding along the ground, and even his cheeks heavy, D'hein still trudged on and found his voice. "Illira! Don't pretend you can't hear me!" The woman did stop at that, turning on her heel and asked loudly with vitriol practically dripping off of her tongue, "What? I thought you wished to be left alone. I am merely abiding that." D'hein continued forward, fixing Illira with a disapproving glare. He approached her until he could speak softly and still be heard, but he did not speak softly. He growled, "Yes, after hinting at dubious consequences. 'Fine! I'll leave, but I'm going to do something horrible!' Such behavior doesn't work well in adult relationships." "I haven't done anything. And I won't. I can manage my own self and affairs D'hein. But that isn't a concept that you grasp." She smirked, thin lips pulling tight with the expression, "Thats important to understand in 'adult relationships'." "Don't pretend you've ever had a healthy relationship in your life, nor that you would know what one looked like if you saw it. You're far too transparent to fool me in that case." D'hein crossed his arms in front of himself. "Stop talking crooked if you're capable. This is the straight of it: you do not appear emotionally stable or healthy, and I believe that you intend to make unwise decisions. Do you expect me to let you just walk off into the city with such a dark cloud about you?" Illira hands shook as the man in front of her proceeded to try and strip her down. The fingers knit their way into the palm, white-knuckling in an attempt to keep them at her side, "Then what do you want of me? To take me under your feeble arms, pat me on the head and tell me everything is fine? Like you do with the rest of your collection?" she scoffed at that, "Because thats healthy." D'hein shook his head, one ear popping up, eyes squinting. "Why do you think I have a collection? What of?" "People. You gather them up about yourself, tell them pretty words, give them expensive things and favours. Its all lies. I have no wish to be apart of that." Illira cold grey eyes stared down at the man, her smirk having long faded into a stern frown. D'hein gestured behind him, "I buried my best friend yesterday, my daughter's run off and today I'm sitting at a table with a woman who only tolerates me because she's obligated to. If I am a collector, I'm not a very good one, for today I have nothing." Not seeming affected by the mournful news, Illira continues on without acknowledgment of his admissions, "It doesn't mean that you don't try to do so. You embody Ul'dah too well, D'hein." "This is stupid. You're an infant at best and an adolescent at worst. Explain your grievances and intentions in their entirety." "Why? I have never been anything but forthright with you D'hein. It is not my fault that you do not listen." Leaning slightly back, D'hein said, "Because I believe that you are going to take harmful action and I am professionally required to ensure that you do not. Don't take it personally." "Oh really? And do you think I'm going to do? And why, oh why in the void, would I ever talk with you about my own struggles, D'hein? You are merely flattering yourself." The man shrugged. "It's a requirement. Don't think this is a conversation I desire. There's nothing more unpleasant than an aging woman's midlife crisis. Or whatever this is." "Its not requirement, D'hein. I present no clear and present. And even if I did, you are not a blade, a flame, or a Sultansworn." Her jaw tightened into a stubborn set. "See that, right there!" D'hein pointed at Illira's face. "You say you don't, but you do! You even have victims in mind. Do you think I'm deaf? I am certainly not, but perhaps you are." The woman's eyes flicked down briefly to hand that had locked into a fist, wound so tight as it was. Then to the crowd that was around them. Mealtime was waning, so as stragglers hung back at their seats, they stared off at anything remotely interesting. To at least a couple individuals, that was them. She lowered her voice as it gained an almost strained quality, "There aren't any victims. Merely people that I am not allowed to touch, by law. But my patience wears thin. As Amaury's did." "Amaury," D'hein blinked. "Who was arrested for... You see? Perhaps we should speak somewhere more private." She shook her head, tight braids swaying with the motion, "I shouldn't." "I'm not walking away from you unsatisfied." "Its good then, that I'm not here to satisfy your needs." D'hein rolled his eyes, and one ear. "You aren't even talking about what I'm talking about. Are you listening to this conversation or just having relapses to childhood arguments with your parents?" Her brows arched, a small crease forming between them even as Illira continued to avoid D'hein's gaze, "I'm telling you to back off, for both our sakes." D'hein shrugged, putting his hands behind his back and smiling. "And I am saying that I can't back away from you. So, we'll just have to deal with that." lllira turned from him at that, eyelids shutting, a deep breath forming within her chest "Then let me get that room." She stepped away and towards the clerk, hands visibly shaking as she counted out coin onto the counter. At this, D'hein waited patiently, and silently. He stood with his hands behind him and his eyes half-lidded. One ear twitched. His sleepless exhaustion could not have been more apparent in his drawn features, his darkened eyes, his lazy breath. But his gaze was unwavering on Illira's back. Focused singularly on her interaction with the innkeeper, to fight down those overwhelming parts of herself that told her to do many other things than obtain a key and talk to a Dodo. D'hein, of all people. And not her own brother, who would understand more than anyone. Raising the key towards miqo'te, she walked out of the bar area and to the inn rooms. D'hein followed behind Illira with the same demeanor. Internally, he was surprised that she was capitulating, a thing he could not remember her ever having done before, but externally he was perfectly stoic. Slipping the key into the lock, Illira left the room door open. Torn and overwhelmed by too many undesirable options while the one thing she did want, wasn't on the table. She glanced around the sparsely furnished room, before claiming the bed, sitting up against the headboard. The mattress created forced distance, which was the best she could get right now. Taking the open door as an invitation to enter, the blond-maned man stepped just slightly into the room. He felt himself pressing against Illira's substantially fortified personal space, something he thought was necessary but did not particularly desire. So he took only one step into the room and then closed the door behind him. He had closed it on his tail, which was not painful, but did pinch oddly and confuse him for a moment. He reopened to door and removed his tail from it as proudly as he could manage. It shivered in his hand, but looked fine. D'hein let his tail fall limp behind him once more, turned to face the room and attempted to resume his stoic demeanor by closing the door behind him again. After another short pause to free his tail from the door one more time, he took an extra step in before making sure the door was closed behind him. Steely eyes roved over D'hein as she blithely commented on his little mishap, "You should be more careful." There was a chair tucked away in the corner that she assumed he would take, hoped really. "Eh," D'hein stated his thesis, argument and conclusion in a single syllable. He then pivoted and shuffled to face Illira, standing with his hands behind him, and he inclined his head towards the woman. "So." Illira dropped her gaze to the thin, spindly fingers that she splayed out against the beige coverlet. She didn't know what she should say. But she should say something, nothing else worked. If she didn't she was going to spend the rest of her days in jail, to be forgotten, just as Amaury was. There wouldn't be any doubt with her though, if she deserved it; had overstepped that line that she would not cross. Honesty and truth were her companions, even if they weren't this man's, "I know why Amaury might not have deserved release. Because I feel the same frustrations that he once did." "They're not uncommon frustrations, I believe," D'hein spoke slowly, allowing his tired mind the time it needed to struggle over simple words. "Don't you think?" "No one should act on them though. Not without law on your side, even as everyone about flaunts their egregious disuse of it. Either abusing it, or believing they belong outside of it. But you are a member of the syndicate, I should not need to tell you of such." As D'hien stared at her blankly, not even seeming to comprehend what she was trying to say, the bile started to rise again in her throat. "I think about you all the time. In all those ways that I shouldn't and don't want to. You're not even that little gnat in the back of my thoughts." She grits her teeth, speaking through them, "You are a constant reminder of everything that I cannot abide in this world. And my hands want nothing more than to adorn that pretty neck of yours with a garrote."

*unceremoniously dumps a whole bunch of chibis off* Illira - Cypress - Lamandu - Alcor -

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((Follows immediately after On the Tenuous Nature of Friendship Bracelets)) Antimony remained by herself at the bar, occasionally sneaking weary glances across the open tavern towards where D'hein brooded at the table. The place gradually began to fill more as time dragged on, the pre-dinner crowd arriving. Right when she was beginning to wonder what was taking the food so long, a barmaid hustled through a swinging door that led to the kitchen, burdened by a large tray that held at least five times too much food for two people. At least the Quicksand's menu was not particularly broad, so there weren't /that/ many different dishes, but it still amounted to way too much food. Her ears shifting back in embarrassment, she lifted a hand at the barmaid and accepted the tray from her. It was surprisingly heavy, and she nearly dropped it as soon as she had it in hand. The barmaid didn't look particularly sympathetic, so Antimony struggled to regain her balance and then began the journey back to D'hein. She set the tray down on the table with a heavier thud than she'd intended, rattling the plates noisily. Then she took up a seat near the Tia (Nunh?), set her hands in her lap, and said firmly, "Eat now." D'hein was not to proud to admit to himself that he'd been dozing, though he thought he was proud enough that he'd maintained his outward composure. Like a priest, D'hein had learned to sleep sitting up, with his eyes closed and his hands fixed coolly in his lap, and though it was not his intention to fall asleep, he at least had the good sense to do it properly. As a gentleman must. He dreamt that Antimony and D'ahl had met under different circumstances and not hated one another. He didn't dream about a single image or that other than that, just the one passing delusion. And then the food slammed down, and D'hein snapped his head off the table and swung himself upright and back further than the chair wished to permit. The back of the chair intersected his shoulder blades unkindly before the chair leaned. In his attempt to stop himself from falling backward, D'hein fell to the side instead. In the next moment, he was on his feet, having completely forgot whatever he had been dreaming about or however long he'd been dozing off. He straightened and dusted himself off and appeared composed within seconds. Yes, quite like a gentleman or a priest. "Thank you, Antimony." He turned his eyes down at the massive amounts of food, and one of his ears stumbled about drunkenly atop his head. "Well, it's good to see that you intend to make sure we eat our fill. Have your visitors gone then?" Antimony's tail fluffed in surprise as D'hein took a ungraceful tumble off the chair, followed by an admittedly swift recovery. Then she looked sharply away, grey ears shifting. "Yes. Well. I'd thought Ulanan and... I didn't realize they would be leaving so soon." Leaving and leaving them to chase after should they want to find D'aijeen; the thought was infuriatingly helpless. "Those type always do. There's a reason that poor people are poor, you see." D'hein placed his chair back at the table and moved to sit in it, looking at the food with a fake smile. His appetite had not returned yet, though he was incredibly hungry. He felt like he deserved to continue experiencing pangs of hunger, one of the few kinds of pain he could still feel. He thought that was stupid, though, and forced himself to think of the nutritional value of what had been put before him. "Wait, did you pay for this?" One of his ears popped up and he turned his exhausted eyes on the woman. "The working class can't afford to go purchasing the food of the upper class! Except through taxes." "Ah..." The older woman hesitated, wincing, frowned and began, "I am not that p--" then cut herself off with a short huff and a flick of her tail, closed her eyes, and then managed a bit more evenly, "You did say you would pay for our food." "I did, and I intended to. Which is why I'm concerned that you've paid for it." D'hein allowed this to distract him from the food, fully aware. "If you have, then it's an err of mine that needs to be corrected." Setting D'ahl's journal down and wringing her hands together, Antimony hesitated a moment before shaking her head, "I haven't." A pause, then a gesture at the plates. "Now, eat." "You eat as well." D'hein chose a plate at random to pull towards himself. They all seemed to be complete meals. Antimony watched D'hein intently a moment longer, with an instinct that came as naturally as breathing, and then took a plate for herself. It looked to be some kind of root vegetable dish, and she made a face before pushing it back and taking something with more meat. Even after all these years, it was hard to shake a diet so long learned. Grabbing a fork, she snuck a quick glance towards the Tia, then looked down at her food. Silence. D'hein watched Antimony. He watched her watching him, intrigued that she was doing so. Was she away that she was always instructing him to behave in certain ways? He wondered if she would change that behavior when he was Nunh. Was it based on the fact that he was a Tia? Did her tribe treat Tias as lesser? What, was she waiting for him to eat, as though that was prerequisite to her eating? Experimentally, he took a bite of his food. He was shocked to find it was something squishy, wet, and hot, and looked down to discover that he was eating some kind of grease-boiled onion or something. What was it? Why would anyone cook this? Satisfied when the Tia (Nunh... they would really have to settle this soon, as it was starting to confuse Antimony horribly) began to eat, Antimony gave a slow flick of her tail against her chair and jabbed her fork at the... pile of shredded meat? Well, it was something, even if her nose couldn't quite pick out /what/ it was. She took a slow bite, chewing carefully. The ruckus they'd caused back at the commune pestered her at the back of her mind, left an ill worry in her belly, but it was nothing compared to the worry she held for K'aijeen. And K'airos. What had befallen that dearest of her daughters to make her cry? What had Aijeen done? She thought about broaching these questions with D'hein again, pestering him about how he had raised D'aijeen, about how he may have treated K'airos, about how he couldn't be any more wrong about his assessment... and yet so frighteningly right. But she didn't. Instead she just ate in silence. When she finished her first bite, she hesitated on seeing D'hein's hesitation, and muttered firmly, "Eat your food." D'hein took several more bites very quickly. "I am eating." And so he did. He ate the onion thing. He would conquer it, as it had been placed before him, by himself. Then they would nap and then... He would see what he could do about D'aijeen. ---------- Escaping from Uldah had been pleasant, even though Illira knew thats what it was, an escape. Leaving the city behind without a word to the few people that she knew and the only one that she cared of was nothing to be proud of. She'd left Amaury to rot in the city's jails once and left him again out on its streets. How she would look him in the eye this time, she didn't know, but it was time to come back. The business up in Coerthas that she'd taken upon herself to deal with, was done with. Uldah had been twisting her up in its sick game. It was run away or snap in two. But she couldn't run away for forever. At least needing to be sure that Amaury wasn't destitute as a result of her actions before she ran away. The streets were just the same as she'd left them, unfortunately. Dust kicking up with the slight breeze. This was the last time, she told herself. Maybe if Uldah really did get eaten up by a sandworm would she tread its grounds again. Illira frowned as she knew that was probably only a lie that she told herself in order to soothe. Turning off of hastings strip to the Quicksand to gather the gossip and get a room, she gave a sidelong glance to the bench outside where a pair of humans were busy gazing into each others eyes. Sickening, they were. The wooden doors opened easily enough as the elezen pushed them open. Busy as ever, the tables were all full, with various adventurers checking in with Momoji. ---------- "Good," Antimony sighed then, returned to her own meal. The meat was tough and stringy, but she chewed through it thoughtlessly. Chewing made the livid bruising across her face ache, but that was easily ignored. She didn't look up from her meal, focusing on how the thick, brown gravy that filled in the spaces between the meat fibers pushed around on her plate. It sunk into a crack in the clay. The silence weighed on her ears too much, however, and sent her tail into uncomfortable contortions, so she searched for some harmless question to ask. Anything. Her mind was stuck on her daughters, however, and she didn't know enough about D'hein on a personal level to ask of anything else. So after a lengthy silence she blurted out very suddenly, "Aijeen! When--ah, when was she... happiest under your care?" She cringed, ears laying back at her words, and she promptly sought to hide in her food. Illira's hand was on the railing as she walked down the ramp. It stilled though as she stopped, stiffening, her ears having just picked up a familiar voice, shrill in its nervous intonation. Nails digging into the stone as her grip tightened, she looked out on the room proper, sure that there was a Miqote with greying hair and spectacles somewhere in its midst. D'hein paused mid-bite, caught of guard by the question. He did not choke. He swallowed prematurely, wincing at the unpleasant sensations in his throat. But he didn't choke. After taking a deep breath to think, D'hein answered, "I think. Either when we got her new clothes, because she liked that. Or when I agreed to allow her to study in the Ossuary. Or when K'airos recovered from her wounds at Cartenau." The last one made Antimony's tail still and then hang low towards the floor. "I am glad she... none of the wounds seem to haunt her." Then she went quiet, bowed her head. She wasn't certain why she'd thought to ask such a thing. It was a silly question, and it just made her chest ache to think of all the times Aijeen /hadn't/ been happy. With her. Illira felt almost as if she'd been here before. This exact place, at the rail, Antimony falling under the alluring spell cast by D'hein. The rage collecting in her chest, knotting up inside. But no. She was better than this, could try to be. That didn't mean that she wouldn't go check up on the pair though. Make sure he hadn't fallen any deeper. So she made her way over to them, pulling an empty chair from a table as she did so. D'hein, ever oblivious, thought neither that someone was about to interrupt them nor that what Antimony had asked might be a source of sadness. He caught the thread that Antimony had left him and pursued it, "Aijeen was always happiest with K'airos, even though she would come back to the commune for awhile every now and then. Her studies were important to her, so I think the Dodos and I were mostly just tools to pay for them. But I didn't mind. I just wanted to give her and K'airos everything they needed." "Wh--" Antimony's word cut off short, and she jumped in her chair as the Wildwood joined them unannounced and unexpected. Her tail frizzed against one leg of her chair, and she sputtered for several seconds before managing a weak, "Miss--miss Carceri...!" Planting her chair down by the table, Illira unceremoniously joined them, raising a brow at the sheer amount of food that was between them, "Still showing off D'hein?" At first confused by Antimony's reaction, wondering what he'd said and what she was talking about, D'hein's ear twitched towards Illira and his face followed not long after. "What?" He looked back to Antimony, and then looked at Illira again. "What? What?" Then to Antimony again, one ear flopping down and the other bouncing up. "What?" Antimony wasn't much help. She just kind of stammered silently at the elezen woman. "Oh, so you'd forgotten me. So glad to hear that I leave faint impressions. I didn't mean to interrupt your little gathering, but I've just come back into town. And who are the first people that I find? You two. Just as I left you. ... practically." Her traditional braids had been taken out, her dark hair long and loose, giving her sharp features a slightly softer look as she reached for a small branch of grapes. "Ah. I..." D'hein snapped his gaze back and forth a few times before shaking his head. "Forgive my rudeness. I am exhausted and easily confused. And you've changed your hair." He thought she had changed her mannerisms as well. If it was possible for a woman like Illira to be any more direct, she'd managed it. "I'm just very easily confused, you see. Simple to vex." "Simple to... ah," Antimony almost squeaked, then cleared her throat forcefully. Her fork was still clutched in one hand as she cast an anxious, sideways glance at Illira. "Apologies. I was--we just...er, weren't expecting you. That is all." "No. I suppose you weren't. My apologies. I am merely unhappy to find my way back to where I left things." Grey eyes cut sideways towards Antimony, "You didn't take my advice. Obviously." The older woman flinched. "Your... advice? I've--well, I've--I have made all decisions to the best of my ability!" Antimony tried to sit straight at that, to give herself some semblance of authority. Frowning, D'hein nudged a plate of food towards Illira. "She successfully closed the investigation with the Brass Blades and the Dodos, if that's what this is about. Ul'dah is cleaner now." Illira was silent for a moment, digesting the overly broad information that he'd presented. Her head jerked up to his head of blonde fluff though, when she realized some of its implications, "Antimony had quit. You went against my direct advisement to not mix personal affairs and business didn't you?" She decided to take one piece at a time. Chronological order, of course. "I had a job to get done and took the necessary steps to get it done, which included postponing my personal affairs so that I could employ Antimony in a strictly professional context." D'hein narrowed his tired eyes, confronting this challenge dead-on. "I--ah, I volunteered for it, Miss Carceri," Antimony interjected suddenly, green eyes worried. "I was already familiar with all of the details and paperwork, and it... seemed... like a fine, productive idea." "I'll let the matter sit then. For the sake of conversation. What was the fallout? I hope that Tyremandu got his due." A deep breath was taken to steady her anger at her associates cloak and dagger routine. Antimony blinked and then seemed to shrink in her chair. "I'm not yet privy as to the details. I know the Nunh responsible is in jail and all the documents have likely been seized by now." He leaned back in his chair again, poking at his food so as to avoid awkward gesturing. "I'm keeping a distance to avoid conflict of interest, so I don't know more than that." "That was... not an answer, D'hein. Not even a weak one. You can do better than that. Plus, we have its executor right here." Illira's attention turned back to Antimony, "I would say that I'm sorry for not trusting a word of what D'hein is saying, but I'm not. What happened?" The miqo'te swallowed, her tail curling up around one leg. "Ah. Well. It's... all extremely complicated, and... certain discussions were necessary once it was found that the, er, Dodo commune was so difficult to enter. He--ah, D'hein is correct in that D'themia Nunh has been arrested!" D'hein Nunh-more-likely-than-not crossed his arms. "You're under no obligation to answer her. You're a contractor, not an employee, and she'll have access to a report on the situation once it's been processed." Illira snorted at that, "Why not tell me now, unless you're hiding something? D'themia was -not- my concern. With his departure, another will just take his place as Nunh. What happened with the Blades? Do not tell me they escaped from your investigation intact." "I--ah--that is, Captain Tyremandu helped--" Antimony's mouth shut with a click of teeth, and she swallowed her words for several seconds before choking, "You'll receive a report soon." The elezen's thin lips purse together, "So they did. Charmed you, just as D'hein did, did he?" She seethed inside, what was accomplished then? Nothing. Tyremandu and his office still intact. D'themia knocked off the tower but soon to be replaced by another Tia. Perhaps even... "Wait. Who is replacing D'themia? You would know, wouldn't D'hein... Tia? Or is it Nunh now, by chance?" "You're so disappointingly transparent, Illira." D'hein sighed, leaning forward in his chair to look sideways at the woman. "The man next in line to be Nunh is named D'edy. He is primarily interested in sex and alcohol, just as a Nunh should be." "I also know you quite well. And you were the one to bring the to me to manage. It would fit your agenda quite well." Cringing, Antimony just muttered a faint, "It's not as you think." "You do not know me at all, Illira, or else you would not be surprised by my actions and make wrong assumptions concerning them." He'd forgotten his food now, just leaning forward to glare at Illira. "The fact is that you're a bureaucrat, well-adapted to seek the failings in your peers in hopes of furthering your agenda. Just like the rest of them." "No. I am just tired of this sand-pit and its never ending web of lies. And more so each time I return. I see that I should have stayed away again. But I had to make sure that Amaury was not left to scavenge on the streets." Looking down at the pile of food that hadn't really depleted at all, she took a grape off of her little branch of them to eat. "As if the lies stop here." D'hein watched the grape in Illira's fingers, eyed it all the way to her mouth. "I'll admit, they don't. But this is by far, the cesspit." Delicately popping the grape into her mouth, Illira turned towards D'hein with narrowed eyes. Antimony continued to look uncomfortable and utterly incapable of saying much aside from a sputtered, "I assure you, I did--ah, everything necessary to thoroughly complete the investigation." D'hein's eyes snapped to Antimony long enough to say, "Your work was flawless, Antimony. Above the expected caliber." Before he returned his steady glare to Illira. "Maybe you just can't handle work on the front lines." The knot in Illira's chest tightened as another insult to her person was added to the collection. She took in a deep breath, angry at herself that the relative calm she managed to achieve again had been shattered just as soon as she'd returned, "I just can't stand rats," she said, her voice calm, despite herself as she met his gaze. "And in a war against rats, that's a terrible thing." He shrugged. "Especially when some of the best weapons we have to use and throw away are the rats themselves." “I apologize, Miss Carceri," Antimony spoke, bowing her head forward. "Its a pity that rats have learned to use fancy words and twist other around their little fingers. I should speak to Ildur about all this. I had been hoping that some time away in Coerthas would clear everything up, but its obvious to me that hasn't happened." Illira bowed her head, "But you didn't happen to hear of what Amaury is doing, did you D'hein? Since you were the one who'd let him out, after all." "Your approval of my rat-handling skills is not one of my goals, Illira. You may waste your time speaking with Ildur if you wish. He's not so staunch as you are. As for Amaury, I made sure to find him gainful employment." D'hein said this proudly, casting Illira a weary smile. "After all, when the incarcerated are released, they tend to return to confinement if they do not find work quickly." "I think that you misunderstand who I'm referring to, D'hein. I'm surprised that Amaury went back to you seeking employment. I'd advised against it, having revised my initial thoughts on such an idea." No smile found its way over her, the thin lips still pressed into a frown. "Perhaps. You shouldn't be. Many who run afoul of the Syndicate do so because they're a bit /too/ good at taking care of themselves, remember." He looked at Antimony, checking to see if she was still eating. But then he noted her distress and when ear popped up. "Ah, Antimony. You don't need to be so formal. You're done with the job, so neither Illira nor I are your employer anymore. Relax." Antimony jumped again in her seat, green eyes bouncing between D'hein and Illira before settling on some point in the middle of the table. She cleared her throat, swallowed, cleared her throat again, and her tail shivered. "Ah, well. That doesn't mean I shouldn't... I mean, I wouldn't just--that is--Miss Carceri deserves as much respect as any." "That you have to say that means you only feel an obligation. Don't. You're little lalafell pet certainly doesn't," answered Illira, still recalling her last exchange with Ulanan. At that, Antimony cringed and did a horrible job at hiding her mortification. "It's good to know you have not lost your poignant absence of whit, Illira. As you are still as bitter as ever, I must conclude you are in good health. Therefore why do you not seek your brother and ask him how he is doing himself?" D'hein chuckled lowly. "He cannot be more difficult to find than we. Perhaps it is simply less fulfilling to talk down to someone who has more right to be bitter than you have, and yet is better composed." Her head snapped around at that, her voice raising, "You have no right to speak about him. Or our relationship. Simply because you asserted your syndicate connections to arrange for his release, doesn't mean that you have earned anything." Pursing her lips, grey ears setting back into her hair, Antimony managed to lift her head towards the elezen. A frown wrinkled her brow. "Very well then," she huffed, looking a little terrified of what she was about to say. "You are--are an incredibly rude woman, ungrateful to those who have tried to help you, and--and I am not sorry for completing the project originally assigned to me!" The last burst out of her rather forcefully, and then the miqo'te froze, eyes wide. D'hein congratulated Antimony with a small clap. Illira's jaw tightened as she swallowed down the feelings of humiliation that threatened to overwhelm her. A small part of her supposed that she deserved it for not being being a pleasant smiling individual. But wasn't it better to stick to your convictions and not abide by the liars, manipulators, and sycophants of the world? Her pale cheeks flushed, as she practically shook in anger, unsure if she should speak in that moment, yet feeling the unquenchable desire to lash out at the pair. One of whom was a failure, the other a liar and traitor. Humming as he leaned back, D'hein said, "Illira, have you ever asked permission to speak on a subject, or hesitated at any insult? No. You will call someone a pet to their back and pretend it is honesty. Do not torment if you are not prepared to be tormented." Her voice was quiet, almost deceptively so, "I've called her that to her face. Because its the truth. I am rude." She stopped to eat a grape, chewing on it for longer than she should have, "But I'm not ungrateful to those who tried to help. Because it wasn't help," Her clear grey eyes snapped to D'hein, voice raising into a strained pitch, "It was undesired and unwanted interference in personal business. And one that bypassed the law." "Bureaucratic technicalities. Shame on you for not desiring it. Shame on you for twisting the law until I've broken it in your view, just so you can continue looking down on me." He reached over and plucked a grape from Illira's bunch. She watched as he took the grape, but didn't say anything about it, "There was no new evidence. And you don't know him. Know me. Know us. He could have done it. And do you know how I know that D'hein?" Antimony had shrunk progressively as D'hein and Illira fired back and forth. When the Wildwood delivered her almost smug question, the older woman winced, pressed her lips together, and tried to straighten again. "You can never be certain about even family," she said quietly, and then bolder, brow furrowing, "But that does not change the fact that you do not condemn family in such a way! It's abominable that you would leave him as... as he was!" The Nunh-though-maybe-Tia turned his gaze towards Antimony briefly, and then away. His tail shivered. Illira sat back, seemingly a little calmer, "And that is my own shame to bear that I stopped visiting, and then sending letters. I can barely look him in the eye, Antimony. But that doesn't dismiss what he might have done, and what D'hein did." Shrugging and grabbing another grape, D'hein said proudly, "I looked into the issue as best as I could and decided that for the crimes he was accused of he'd served enough time. I asked around with my connections and they agreed, and they in turn had a little talk with the parole committee, who also agreed. No crime was broken. Not even in spirit." He smirked, "Unless you think your interpretations of law are the standards to which all others must stand. To which I say, you have not been elected to such an office." "I understand exactly what you did. You behaved as if you were the law's executor." Illira set the grapes down at that, so that she could turn her full attention to the shorter man. She could almost feel her fingers wanting to move of their own accord, to choke the self-absolving smug grin off of his face, "Which you are not. This is why I hate the syndicate. Its not up to us to take the law into our own hands. Or I would do so now. I'm all too aware of the temptation too. Amaury was the one who taught me that." "The final word was the parole committee. They are the law. You're picking and choosing technicalities to fit your preconceptions." One of D'hein's ears twitched. Antimony brought her hands together, wrung them anxiously. "Should you not value the time you have with him now?" Then she winced, her tail curling into her lap. "This entire conversation... I can't fathom--be happy for your brother and leave us be!" "I came back to make sure that he wasn't simply roaming the streets because of my neglect and D'hein's actions. Apparently he is not. So I've done my part." "Good! Then we're done with the subject and you can stop obsessing over it." D'hein leaned comfortably on the table, trying to return his attention to his food again. "Antimony and I have plenty of problems of our own to deal with today." "I'm not done with subject, but for now I will not press it. Not without more evidence, unlike you. You're a happy couple now, I understand. I should leave you to this very... extravagant meal." Illira made to push her abducted chair away from the table. "A... a what?!" Antimony sat up in her seat sharply, the fur on her ears fuzzing strangely. "Ah, Miss--Miss Carceri, that is... not... That is to say, don't make--well, it's not how it looks, entirely...!" Entirely?" D'hein blinked at Antimony, suddenly confused. "What, is it what it looks like approximately?" "And, that I think, is my cue to leave," said the Elezen, fully standing now. Antimony coughed, shrunk back a bit, and muttered, "We are... eating." D'hein laughed. "We are eating, that is true. Approximately." Then he turned his gaze to Illira's back. "Tell me, Illira, is believing that I have another woman the only way you can stomach the fact that I am not pursuing you? You do realize that were I to become Nunh, I would not be relegated to a single woman, correct?" She stopped in her tracks, "What?" She sputtered, turning around, "And what has your mating habits to do with anything? The idea of touching you in that way is rather repulsive, D'hein Tia." Kicking back in his chair slightly, D'hien put his hands up behind his head, smiling. "Then why are you so obsessed with your pet theory that I'm trying to bed everyone? I'm a family man!" Antimony just shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Illira let a short bitter laugh out at that, "A family man indeed. One who steals another's children and gives out jewelry to all the women he know at holiday." His brow dropped. "Women like jewelry. Men do not. And I did not steal any children. What would your hollow Elezen womb know about the life of a Tia or the responsibilities of a Nunh? Your only family obligation was to wait until I saved your brother for you and then to hate me for it. You fled from him before you even knew if he had a livelihood." "I did leave. Because of what I might have done if I had stayed. And what I still might do, now that I'm back faced with the same things that I left. I'm not much good for him anymore, I know that and don't need anyone else telling these things." Antimony brought up both hands suddenly, gesturing in rapid, placating movements. "Now--ah, let's not--I don't think such words are--truly, there's no reason for any of us to be speaking to one another in such a.. manner...!" For once, D'hein ignored Antimony, keeping his attention on Illira. "And what might you do, Illira? Hm?" She let her eyes run over him, "Its nothing you should be worried about. Enjoy your meal," she said, spinning on her heel to go talk to the innkeep. D'hein remained in his seat for a long moment, watching Illira go, and then groaned. "Seven Hells." He stood and looked at Antimony. "Finish eating and then take some time to rest. I'll go by your inn room very soon." He walked in the distant wake of the Elezen. "Illira!" Antimony's hands hovered in the air for several seconds as D'hein walked off, eyes wide, mouth hanging open slightly. Then she just shrunk back down into her chair and looked confused.