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."
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."
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