Crimson Dawn's Older Log Flood, Continued Again
WHO: Crimson Dawn, Cathak Lera, Frozen Heart, Peleps Kaizoku Seki
WHERE: The Hub
WHEN: A day or three after December 16, 2006
WHAT: Lera and Frozen are having an argument of some sort, and then their respective heavy muscle shows up to catch the tail-end of their argument. Crimson achieves Bastardry Stuntdice and ensues EPIC RIVALRY for evar. Frozen being confused. And a nerd.
Watch For: Bastardness Abound, CRIMSON'S DEEPEST SECRET, The Hub Getting Richer via Fines
GateMUSH3 - Saturday, December 16, 2006, 10:00 PM
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"I understand /quite/ well," Lera spits out, looking downright angry now. She quietly flicks her radio off - she normally is cheerful enough to listen to this, but right now, it hits home a little too much. Her eyes narrow as she looks towards Frozen for a moment. "How could you choose this?! Weren't you taught better! You know what it means to be an Anathema! You read the scriptures, the same as I did!"
"Do you think I went out of my way to seek the Deathlords?!" Frozen finally raises his voice, and even though he does not exactly intend it, a slight dark reverb seeps through. Maybe a tiny bit of Resonance is being burned off, acquired when he did not ignore the name 'Nigele.' "I didn't want to die, that's all. I tried to do something great and worthwhile, something superhuman, just like the Scriptures said, and the Dragons never came. Nobody came but /him!/" He refuses to say who 'he' is.
"I make no excuses, this is what I am now. If the Dragons care so much, why did they let me die...?"
If she wouldn't have disappeared in a flash of light for trying, Lera would have slapped him across the face then and there. That same Hub defense system was probably saving her life right now.
"You..." She sounds quiet, but enraged now. Her face has flushed red and her lips are drawn back into an angry glare, while her fingers tense until she balls her fists up tightly. "You /dare/ to ask /me/ why the Dragons won't save and grace some instead of others? I lost a sister and a brother before they could achieve their Exaltation!"
Its not hard to track someone when you're a Water Aspected Dragon-Blooded. Plus, these radio artifact thingies have a bleeping signal whatsis that's just plain cake for Seki to follow. And so the pirate does, slipping through the crowded streets of the hub with the techniques he learned at the Palace of the Tamed Storm. Shoulders crouched, head obscured "naturally" by clothing placement and posture, eyes stuck forward as if he had somewhere to go...
...and...
...there they are. Seki feels a stab of shame in his gut, as two living reminders of major...if not the major...failures in his life are right there, across the street, arguing with eachother. The pirate watches, listens, and wishes he had a Stealth Charm or two for occasions like this.
That stings, a bit. Frozen remembers who he is talking to, and briefly feels a wave of shame, though he tries to drown it out with more yelling on his own part. "And they were braver than I, I know! I was afraid, I don't pretend anything else! Your classmate Nigele was a coward in the end, and now you should just pretend like he is dead, because I'm not Nigele anymore."
There's almost a desperate, pleading look in his eyes. "There are plenty of people I hate for what happened, but listen, Lera, you're not one of them! Just forget about me and leave me to judgement by the Wyld Hunt or the Deathlords! There's nothing you can do about any of this, you're..." He stops himself from using the word mortal.
He didn't want her to be his enemy!
Hmmmm. Not that Crimson has much reason to be in the Hub...but then, he doesn't have a reason NOT to be in the hub. Information is power, yadda yadda, for the Silver Prince, whatever. Still, the tall Abyssal has been wandering around, and then just /felt/ that small tug of Resonance. Yay for Dark Exaltations and all that rot.
In some cases, literal rot!
As such, the assassinish sort has been slipping through the crowd, more or less just avoiding people where possible, and finally found his way to the whole confrontation thing...and just watched for a while. Huh. Isn't the short one...yeah, it is. Huh. Well, he figures he might as well meet the new guy. He's been meaning to for a while, but, eh, Crimson Dawn's been away from Skullstone for some time. As such, he finally steps out of the shadow he'd been leaning in, striding up behind Lera, standing a bit behind her but not THAT far behind her, and, looking down at his 'friend' from behind his cloak's facial wrap, breaks into the conversation.
"She's what, Frozen Heart? She's what?"
[OOC] Crimson Dawn says, "FEAR MY VAGUE GENERIC MOTIVES! :D"
"Do you honestly believe I will simply stand back and do nothing?" Lera barks at him. She fights the urge to draw one of her swords out upon him; that would likely draw the defense systems' attention. She looks at Frozen Heart with a cold look, raising her chin up. "You were my /friend/! We were classmates together! If you stand in my way, then..."
She glowers towards him, her fingers tensing further. Then, the cloaked figure steps out. She tenses as she looks up at this taller form. Another Deathknight, she realizes.
She takes another, slow step backward.
Oh no he didn't. Seki's eyes widen as he sees the guy from the bar brawl the other night...who ended up being Crimson Dawn, one of the Silver Prince's thugs. How long was he hidden? Was he watching the entire time? Does he have cultists watching the whole scene? Was this whole talk a setup?!
"She's not involved in this, Crimson Dawn." The Kaizoku makes his presence known, stepping forward and wishing to the Dragons that this stupid city didn't have its stupid security system. He's just not comfortable in a situation controled by outside forces like that. Well, guess he'll have to fight like a Dynast, for once. "This is a concidence."
Seki turns up and looks Crimson Dawn right in the eye. "In other words, back off." His eyes narrow. "Unless you want your little secret to, I dunno, accadentily slip outta my mouth."
You paged Peleps Kaizoku Seki with '...You /bastard/.'
You paged Peleps Kaizoku Seki with 'HOW DID YOU KNOW I LOVE KITTENS?!'
You paged Peleps Kaizoku Seki with 'They're so cute and cuddly...;o;'
"Then don't stand in /mine!/ You're not a bad person, Lera, but if you get in my way, it's going to be my duty to my Lord to...um...uh...hi.
The harsh bravado kind of drains out of Frozen when he sees a huge guy looming over them. From the look on his face, he seems genuinely taken aback and confused, as if he didn't expect this at all. Which he didn't. Still, he has been reading the reports. "...Oh, so you're Crimson Dawn?" He coughs into a fist, trying to regain a level tone of voice. "She's nothing, just someone I used to know. You can tell a mortal without me having to tell you, can't you? That's all there is to it." Sure, he might get in all sorts of trouble for not sharing information with a fellow servant of the Silver Prince, but...well, he can talk later!
When Seki jumps in, the Daybreak takes a step back, almost guardedly, and glowers. "You're right it's a coincidence! We just ran into each other, okay? That's all!"
The Abyssal smiles pleasantly.
...which would be more reassuring if, y'know, he wasn't a deathknight with a covered face, anyways. Y'know. Fashionable Soulsteel Scarfcloakthingy. Whatever.
"Seki. A pleasure to see you again. I take it your mother is well. It would be a shame if she was to be told something that would make her...displeased...with you, wouldn't it? I mean, she /is/ such a formidiable woman, and she has /such/ expectations for her son, you know. Of course, I'm sure you haven't done a thing that could displease her, being a good, filial son, of course." Eye-Smile, Eye-Smile! If it weren't for the security system, I'd be trying to rip your intestines out and spreading your blood over this plaza in a display that would make the dead flinch, you dirty pirate! ^_^
As for Frozen, the deathknight runs an eye over him, then shrugs easily, looking unconcerned. "Whatever. Not my problem what you do with the mortals, you know. And it's a pleasure to finally meet you, young Dynast. A pity about your brother and sister, but the Dragons take what they will, mmmmm?" Eye-smiley! I need to complete my book-end set one of these days! Eye-Smiley!
And, with that, the Dusk caste casually...stays where he is, loitering cheerfully. Hurrah!
[RADIO] To Frozen Heart, you radio: So, Frozen. Who's your friend?
[RADIO] To Crimson Dawn, Frozen Heart radios: In my past life, we went to school together. Her name is Lera.
[RADIO] To Crimson Dawn, Frozen Heart radios: She's unhappy I, you know, became a Deathnight Anathema, that's all.
[RADIO] To Frozen Heart, you radio: ...And her family name?
[RADIO] To Crimson Dawn, Frozen Heart radios: Cathak, why?
[RADIO] To Frozen Heart, you radio: Curiousity.
The sudden change in Frozen's demeanor, going from angry insistence to cold dismissal all at once hurts more than Lera expected it to - especially the word mortal. The red-haired girl tenses sharply, looking at him angrily. Was that all she was, now? Just another mortal?
Fortunately, Seki is on the scene. When she steps backward, she nearly walks right into the approaching Captain, but she halts in time. A glance over her shoulder confirms that, before she looks back at this new Deathknight. "Wait..."
Something he had said makes her hesitate. "You knew of my brother and sister?" she asks. She glares at him, nonetheless, not liking the tone behind his words.
Seki winces, a little, at Crimson's mention of his mother, but keeps from doing much else. Wait, yes he does. "Well!" Seki says, smiling a little, "I sure won't tell them about your passionate fondness for adorable baby kittens now, you sure did show me Crimson Dawn..."
And then he brings /that/ up, and Seki bares his teeth, snarling at the man and muttering a violent word or two in some dialect of Realm-speak. He then looks fiercly at Frozen Heart, "Is this what you want? To be /this/?"
Well, Frozen thinks to himself, this is quite unexpected.
"I /am/ this, now, don't you get it?! Just not exactly this...ah, sorry, it's rude to call someone this." There's a forced air of formality to his voice, almost sarcastic in tone. "Honored Crimson Dawn, I give you Cathak Lera, and you appear to be familiar with Peleps Kaizoku Seki already. He and I have /history./" That last part is tinged with just a tiny bit of venom, because he is a bitter little Deathknight. "Lera, Seki, this is Crimson Dawn, the first time I have made his acquantance. And don't YOU," he raises a hand towards Seki, "even prtend to know what it is I want to-"
Well, he was /going/ to slap Seki in a flash of rage, but instead, he vanishes in a flash of light.
A moment later, he can be heard approaching again, mumbling a series of curses against sunlight.
Crimson Dawn continues smiling pleasantly at Seki as he accuses the Abyssal of /BEING A KITTEN LOVER/. Oh my. Time to ESCALATE!
"My word! That is a very gentlemanly offer, considering who you are, Peleps Kaizoku Seki! As such, I'll be equally polite and not tell anyone, especially young Cathak Lera here, what happened to her older sister. Some secrets should remain so, after all, and you do seem quite intent on being a pirate of honor and making sure some secrets are kept, so I suppose I should do so myself. It is only fair."
The Abyssal turns and smiles widely at Cathak Lera, nodding at her politely.
"Well, young Dynast, I can't say that I know what happened to your elder brother, but I know quite well what happened to your older sister. Cathak Sarina was a rather lovely young lady, you know. It /is/ such a pity she never had the chance for the Dragons to choose her. She'd have been a wonderful asset to House Cathak, and who knows, with such as her on their side, maybe the whole situation with the Realm's state of politics these days would be less in question, and the Cathak Legions would be that much stronger. Still, we /all/ must do as the /dragons/ will, I suppose!"
Then Frozen dissapears. And reappears. And Crimson Dawn merely blinks placidly, tsking at him.
"You know, Young Frozen Heart, you really must work on your temper. It causes /such/ problems in this place, I've found."
Smiley Smiley!
...For reference, the last time Crimson Dawn was smiling this much, he was cutting his way through a pack of barbarians and laughing maniacally the whole time. Oh dear!
Frozen Heart is always happy to bring joy to others.
Lera almost feels sorry for Frozen. She had nearly disappeared a few times herself - and would right now, as she turns from the Abyssal she knew to the one she does not. Her eyes narrow balefully at Crimson Dawn and she swallows, hard. "Sarina died before her time, that much we can agree upon. As did Meigor," she says, looking briefly at Seki. He knew that brother, she realizes. Her eyes turn and look back at him.
"But you do her a disservice to speak of her in such a way," she spits out. "My sister died early, but she still died nobly."
Then, she looks back at Frozen. She wants to scream at him, but that wouldn't be becoming here; especially with Crimson Dawn around.
Peleps Kaizoku Seki would have taken a smack to the gob with a grin, but oh yeah the hub.
"This city is the worst idea ever." Seki points out, sourly, crossing his arms. And Crimson Dawn continues to be so damn /smug/. "You cowardly son of a bitch, how dare yo..."
Seki deflates, visibly, when he catches Lera's look. It may be something of a shock to her to see that a Dragon-Blooded Dynast can look that pained and guilty. Biting his lower lip, Seki crosses his arms and debates the effectiveness of taunting Crimson into getting himself arrested while he's at it.
"You're going to be short for eternity, y'know." He asides to Frozen snarkily.
"I'm a genius sorceror," Frozen asides back, "I'll find a way to get taller." He hasn't yet.
And in fact, he's fallen quiet, all too suspicious of Crimson's confidence and implications. How /does/ he know about Lera's siblings? That's not popular gossip among the Deathknights, to be sure. Did the Whispers tell him something? And why is Seki, of all people, looking guilty? He didn't think the pirate was capable of shame; lord knows Frozen himself has tried.
The white-haired boy crosses his arms, giving Lera a look somewhere between guilt and malice. "I mean no shame to your sister and brother, Lera. I'm sure they rest peacefully." He's not entirely sure what else to say.
But, the dead are the dead.
Yes, well, it's time for Uncle Crimson's Story Time! HURRRAAAAH! The tall Abyssal starts to casually pace in a circle around Lera, hands behind his back, as he relates what he knows to the young mortal. Or, well, what he'll claim he knows, anyways. Bastard Abyssals.
"Is that what the House historians and teachers tell you these days, young lady? Hmmm! They always were experts at inventing fiction. Still, I suppose you do deserve to have that most /wonderful/ of gifts, the truth. You see, I'm sure a good deal of what they have is based on some sort of fact. Yes, she did encounter an enemy, and yes, she tried to fight it, and, yes, the enemy was a bit too much for her. Still, I'm afraid that they have a few facts wrong. You see, I'm afraid that your sister, despite her best efforts, didn't die nobly at all. Her opponent was an Anathema, you see."
Pace pace pace. "He outmatched her in all ways, and despite her best efforts, she was going to die. And when she realized that, she finally ran. All that magnificent courage, all thrown away. I suppose one can't blame her."
Pace pace pace. "I mean, do think about it. There she was, alone, with her swords cleanly shattered by the blades of her opponent, and it /would/ be a good thing for her superiors to know that such a beast was operating in the area."
Pace pace pace. "Still, unfortunately, the Anathema eventually caught her, and, unfortunately, she didn't die immeadiately. You see, the Anathema, in a whim, decided that he had a better use for her. It took almost a week for her body to die, you see, and that was truly a heroic feat, as her body was holding up to torture that would kill most Dragon-Blooded. Young Cathak Sarina truly did have amazing willpower."
Pace. "Still, in the end, the Abyssal ripped her soul from the body as it perspired and bound it to said body's own skull, using soulsteel forged from her companion's very essence to ensure that the soul would never escape, never re-enter the cycle of reincarnation and have a better chance at Exaltation."
And, with that little bomb dropped, the Abyssal pulls back his hood and tugs the facial wrap down, smiling pleasantly down at Cathak Lera. "And as for how I know, cousin, it's because I am the one who killed her." Smile smile.
[OOC] Crimson Dawn says, "Stunt Dice For Epic Bastardry!"
[OOC] Frozen Heart says, "I need to take Creepy Lessons from you, huh."
[OOC] Crimson Dawn says, "Yep."
Lera feels bile rise, slowly, to the back of her throat. She hadn't heard this story before. She had been told the body was found, but she was a young girl at that time; they never told her the gory details and she had lived her life innocently convinced her sister was better for it. She stares at him, for a moment, and one of her hands shakes slightly.
Frozen's apology, uncertain as she is of its sincerity, goes ignored. She can't help but think of much else right now. "You... you..."
She slowly remembers his face. Cathak Septus, a young officer that had been lost in a campaign. She grits her teeth and looks away. "You must be lying!" she barks, nearly choking, but her shout hardly sounds convincing. "She was your /own blood/!"
The girl looks back at him, half-trembling and half-shaking out of a mix of fear and anger. "She hadn't done anything to deserve such a fate!"
"Don't you dare." Peleps Seki snaps out as Uncle Crimson starts the story hour, but this fails to stop the terrible torrent of Septus's speach. The pirate's fists are shaking through the man's tyrade, the guilt and shame and all consuming urge to rip this bastard's throat out fighting valiently for supremacy.
Some part of Seki wonders, briefly, if Sarina Exalted just before she died, like Meigor did. And that tears it. Then Seki makes his first major mistake of the evening, "Septus you son of a bitch!" he yells, leaping at the Abyssal...
...its a testament to his speed that he gets the daiklave all the way out of its sheath before the white light hits, dragging Seki to the same place his little cousin was just a minute ago. Can you see the family resemblence? But, getting hubbed wasn't Seki's mistake, see. While Lera recgonized Septus...neither of them actually said the guy's name, now, did they?
Frozen is staring, open-mouthed.
He shouldn't, really, voices tell him. This is just another way of doing the duty of a Deathknight. That girl resisted death, and had to be punished for it, whisper the voices. Judge not Honored Crimson, whisper the voices. You have a collection of organs back home, remind the voices.
He flinches when Seki leaps, and doesn't even have the mental sharpness to mock his cousin for making the same mistake he did a moment ago. And still. "...Septus was your name? You were a Dynast? -Ah, forgive me for bringing up the life that no longer is." Hi, Resonance, how are you today. "But...but to torture the dead like that! Surely you could release her into oblivion, couldn't you? She'll become nothing like all things eventually, prolonging it just seems..."
/Is/ this what he's supposed to become? The boy looks stunned, and confused.
And a little horrified at the part of him remarking how Crimson Blood must be /brilliant./
Crimson Dawn tsks severely at Seki. "Now, now, don't interrupt. She wanted to know the truth of what happened to her sister, and it is only polite to tell her." The Deathknight casually smiles down at Lera, a hand reaching under the cloak, and then casually pulls a chain out. Not a big deal, the damn over-artifact is literally nothing /but/ weave after weave of soulsteel chains...cept, well, this one is attached to something.
Something vaguely skull-like, really.
Something that is a skull. It's a skull! With very neatly printed lettering in High Realm on it. Nothing much. Just the name 'Cathak Sarina', along with her birth and death dates, and, neatly interwoven through the soulsteel chain that pierces right through the head's chakra, there's hair. Very nicely preserved hair. That happens to match Lera's in color.
"Now, now, it isn't nice to accuse someone of lying when they're going to some trouble to tell you a truth that your own House and Family would hide from you. Tsk. Children these days. As for their being my blood, don't be /foolish/, child. You should be able to tell quite easily what I've become."
Hello thar, Caste Mark!
[RADIO] To Frozen Heart, you radio: I knew that name sounded familiar.
Lera can't even rush forward like Seki does, even if she is easily as - if not more - angry than him. When the skull comes out, she stares at it for a moment. The hair is unmistakable; the red-orange shade isn't very common outside of her particular line of Cathaks. She looks at the former Dynast, this time swallowing back her bile with much more effort.
"I..." Words fail her completely. She just stares for a long moment at the skull attached to the soulsteel chain, remaining silent the entire time. She looks briefly at Seki - if he looks angry and guilty, she looks angry, guilty, and like she might just burst into tears when this is all over.
She wants to, she realizes, grab that skull and rip it free, then find a way to free Sarina. Her fingers twitch just slightly. She knows she can't. She looks at both of the Abyssals; this time, Frozen isn't spared that hurt, angry, and betrayed look.
"/Go/," she practically hisses. "Go--and get out of my sight, you... you /monsters/."
Peleps Kaizoku Seki twitches, as he pays the nice killer robots their nice disturbing the peace fine. The Kaizoku forces himself not to use a Charm to rush back and start yelling, because, well.
1) It won't work.
2) It might count as a violent action and he's not made of money.
And 3) The brisk walk back to the argument/horror show gives Seki time to cool down. How does he cool down? By pondering his favorite activity, horrible revenge. Seki, if you'll remember our opening scene, had recently "aquired" a small island on the border of Skullrock territory. He was forced to set a fire on there to scare Frozen, and the Unsleeping Bride, off of said island. Making the most of it, Seki turned the place into an armed depot, and has been quietly doing jobs for the Magistrates, including arranging a Megadeus attack on Paragon City and other sorts of activites, in order to secure a valuable connection in the Guild. This connection, who does a great deal of work observing and predicting the value of the salt exchange, ment that no one would be suprised that Seki was suddenly hauling hunks of salt places, or that he'd stop off at the little bit of land he'd claimed to ensure his crew had fresh supplies when risking hostile waters. Which ment that no one but Peleps Kaizoku Seki realized just how much salt the Sekidan had stowed away, in case there was ever a reason to try and claim hunks of a Shadowland back from...oh...someone.
Seki lets out a satisfied little sigh, having calmed himself down again. The pirate is stoicly grim as he turns the corner, stomping his way back towards the Deathknights and the mortal. He frowns at Frozen, as if daring him to yuck it up.
Yes, Frozen catches that look, and that skull, and wow, is he confused today.
Shouldn't he be more horrified, too? Or less horrified? He hangs out with dead people all the time, after all. The residents of Onyx have big parties to celebrate their own suicides and ascent into high dead society. He has a nice little mausoleum laboratory with a pleasant mildewy scent. Hell, the smell of corpses doesn't even bother him anymore, and just last week, he helped the late, great Lady Great Tree find her left eye in the gutter. They all seemed to like him there, and he just wasn't accustomed to the fact that...
Well, he /is/ a monster.
When Lera looks at him like that, he looks away.
Then he turns away completely, his cloak flaring behind him from the sudden movement. "Crimson Dawn, we will speak later. I have experiments to attend to. That is all." However, that is not, entirely, all.
As he passes Seki, he whspers something under his breath. "I am /not/ short."
Crimson Dawn smiles pleasantly to Lera and tsks, casually tucking the skull away under his cloak again. "If you wish. I figured you'd want to at least say hello to your sister, though. She's quite conscious of what's happening to her, after all. Ah well. It is a pity. You seemed so set on knowing what the truth was earlier, and now that you do, you seem so upset. A pity. Give my regards to your mother, if you see her, Cathak Lera."
Smiling pleasantly, the Dusk caste's facial wrap casually slithers back into place, the soulsteel chains covering the lower half of his face as he pulls the hood up and bows politely to Lera.
And, having carried out his epic level spite today, he casually strolls off, nodding easily to Seki as he wanders off in the general direction Frozen Heart went. "A pleasure to see you again, as always, Peleps Kaizoku Seki. Do keep my secret safe, will you? It seems that Dynasts don't deal very well with the truth, wouldn't you think?"
You paged Frozen Heart with 'We need an Undead Giant Squid.'
You paged Frozen Heart with 'With implosion bows'
You paged Frozen Heart with 'Or possibly some sort of Squid Pony Hybrids.'
Frozen Heart (frozen) pages: Better, sir. With a zombie whale shark enhanced with Soulsteel, possibly experimental Hollow-Soulsteel, ectoplasm, and/or Monster Blood. And a harpoon shooting gun on its forehead.
You paged Frozen Heart with 'Oh My.'
Lera looks down, one of her hands shaking nearly uncontrollably. She looks away from Crimson Dawn as he walks by, not even saying another word to him. She bites her bottom lip and then looks up at Seki, once the Abyssals have departed. Tears are already welling up in her eyes. She fights back a choking sound, but quickly looks away from him.
She would rather not be seen right now, if she could help it. "I--I apologize, Captain Seki," she manages to spit out, "I-I had been... unprepared for that."
[Fac-Syndicate] Crimson Dawn says, "Ahhhh, a profitable day. I feel much relaxed."
[Fac-Syndicate] Dio Brando says, "Oh?"
[Fac-Syndicate] Crimson Dawn says, "Indeed."
"Yeah, I guess not." Seki replies back to Crimson, evenly. "I mean, look what happened when you found out how much you were worth?" Seki looks up and down the Abyssal, and shrugs. "Most of us get over that phase after we graduate, man."
'This isn't over.', his glare says in spite of the nonchalance, which is probably a win for Crimson, really.
"'course not." Seki mutters back as Frozen Heart passes, "You're more...petite."
And then, the aftermath. Once The Enemy is gone-again, not accounting for whatever spies are doubtlessly watching, but if Seki did that all the time he'd go mad-the Kaizoku struggles with his options. He really should scare this girl away, before she gets dragged into this and he has...lets be honest, he has another death on his conscince. She's got a good career ahead of her, and getting involved with the Abyssals is just /asking/ for the kind of trouble that isn't approved of in good Dynastic society. Its why they let people like the Kaizoku worry about it.
Seki puts a cautious hand on the girl's shoulder instead, squeezing a little. "...I'd have been more worried if you were prepared for something like that, Lera."
[Fac-Syndicate] Crimson Dawn says, "I had a pleasant walk, talked with a few old aquaintances, shattered a young girl's illusions about her older sister's death, infuriated said aquiantance to the point that he attacked me in the Hub, and also found an excellent tavern. A very nice day indeed."
[Fac-Syndicate] Unsleeping Bride says, "My goodness."
[Fac-Syndicate] Frozen Heart says, "Mm..."
[Fac-Syndicate] Dio Brando says, "You HAVE been busy."
[Fac-Syndicate] Crimson Dawn says, "Indeed. I was just going for a walk, too."
[Fac-Syndicate] Crimson Dawn says, "I believe I'm now even with Peleps Kaizoku Seki for his stealing my wallet the other evening."
"I..." Lera trails off, wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She shakes her head and looks back up. No more tears, for now. She can shed those later, when she gets back. She looks at the hand on her shoulder and then back up at the older Dragon-Blooded. "...thank you, Captain Seki."
She clinches her fist. "I... I will find a way to recover her. She won't be allowed to languish there forever," she says quietly. "There must be a way to help her."
Peleps Kaizoku Seki burns a Willpower point so he looks stoic-yet-kind, even though he feels terribly uncomfortable. He's...not a /touchy/ kind of person, not when its for serious at least, and he's glad he's wearing gloves because his skin might be crawling a little. That's kind of pathetic, Seki thinks, which is why he forced himself to comfort the girl to what limited capacity he could in the first place.
"There just might be. If only Mikagami..." Seki mutters, a little less crypticly than he intended. He coughs, once, letting go and slumping now that he's back in his comfort zone. "I am sorry. I...didn't know the whole story, but I'd heard a lot of rumors. I should've warned you. ...I'm sorry about your brother, too."
"You can't be blamed. I... no one knew exactly how she died," Lera tells herself. She could see why her mother hid it from her, though. She suddenly can't help but feel badly for her poor mother. She squeezes her eyes shut. "And my brother--he died against the Bull of the North, as did many good men. I cannot blame you for that, Captain."
She looks down again, opening her eyes. "I... need to retire, Captain. It has been a trying day."
You should., Seki thinks, hearing the screams and smelling what the fat idiots on the Blessed Isle thought was glory all over again.
"Salt." The captain says, looking strangely intense. "Bowls of vinegar work, too. Put it along your door, it'll keep anything dead out of the room. I usualy salt the windows, too, just to be sure."
The Kaizoku quickly lights a cigar, thanking Daana'd as soon as the harsh, overpowering stank of tobacco takes hold of his senses. "Night, kid."
"Salt... yes. I will see to it. And for my cadets, as well." Lera faintly realizes, if they do come after her, they might come after her cadets as well. She shakes her head before looking back at him. The woman nods her head once to him. "Thank you, Captain. You... get some rest as well."
She turns and keeps walking, falling silent as she does.
"Sure, kid." Seki says, knowing he won't, really.
And once she turns away, he indulges himself in a little smile. He's earned it, he thinks.
Everything was going according to plan, after all.
WHERE: The Hub
WHEN: A day or three after December 16, 2006
WHAT: Lera and Frozen are having an argument of some sort, and then their respective heavy muscle shows up to catch the tail-end of their argument. Crimson achieves Bastardry Stuntdice and ensues EPIC RIVALRY for evar. Frozen being confused. And a nerd.
Watch For: Bastardness Abound, CRIMSON'S DEEPEST SECRET, The Hub Getting Richer via Fines
GateMUSH3 - Saturday, December 16, 2006, 10:00 PM
-------------------------------------------------
"I understand /quite/ well," Lera spits out, looking downright angry now. She quietly flicks her radio off - she normally is cheerful enough to listen to this, but right now, it hits home a little too much. Her eyes narrow as she looks towards Frozen for a moment. "How could you choose this?! Weren't you taught better! You know what it means to be an Anathema! You read the scriptures, the same as I did!"
"Do you think I went out of my way to seek the Deathlords?!" Frozen finally raises his voice, and even though he does not exactly intend it, a slight dark reverb seeps through. Maybe a tiny bit of Resonance is being burned off, acquired when he did not ignore the name 'Nigele.' "I didn't want to die, that's all. I tried to do something great and worthwhile, something superhuman, just like the Scriptures said, and the Dragons never came. Nobody came but /him!/" He refuses to say who 'he' is.
"I make no excuses, this is what I am now. If the Dragons care so much, why did they let me die...?"
If she wouldn't have disappeared in a flash of light for trying, Lera would have slapped him across the face then and there. That same Hub defense system was probably saving her life right now.
"You..." She sounds quiet, but enraged now. Her face has flushed red and her lips are drawn back into an angry glare, while her fingers tense until she balls her fists up tightly. "You /dare/ to ask /me/ why the Dragons won't save and grace some instead of others? I lost a sister and a brother before they could achieve their Exaltation!"
Its not hard to track someone when you're a Water Aspected Dragon-Blooded. Plus, these radio artifact thingies have a bleeping signal whatsis that's just plain cake for Seki to follow. And so the pirate does, slipping through the crowded streets of the hub with the techniques he learned at the Palace of the Tamed Storm. Shoulders crouched, head obscured "naturally" by clothing placement and posture, eyes stuck forward as if he had somewhere to go...
...and...
...there they are. Seki feels a stab of shame in his gut, as two living reminders of major...if not the major...failures in his life are right there, across the street, arguing with eachother. The pirate watches, listens, and wishes he had a Stealth Charm or two for occasions like this.
That stings, a bit. Frozen remembers who he is talking to, and briefly feels a wave of shame, though he tries to drown it out with more yelling on his own part. "And they were braver than I, I know! I was afraid, I don't pretend anything else! Your classmate Nigele was a coward in the end, and now you should just pretend like he is dead, because I'm not Nigele anymore."
There's almost a desperate, pleading look in his eyes. "There are plenty of people I hate for what happened, but listen, Lera, you're not one of them! Just forget about me and leave me to judgement by the Wyld Hunt or the Deathlords! There's nothing you can do about any of this, you're..." He stops himself from using the word mortal.
He didn't want her to be his enemy!
Hmmmm. Not that Crimson has much reason to be in the Hub...but then, he doesn't have a reason NOT to be in the hub. Information is power, yadda yadda, for the Silver Prince, whatever. Still, the tall Abyssal has been wandering around, and then just /felt/ that small tug of Resonance. Yay for Dark Exaltations and all that rot.
In some cases, literal rot!
As such, the assassinish sort has been slipping through the crowd, more or less just avoiding people where possible, and finally found his way to the whole confrontation thing...and just watched for a while. Huh. Isn't the short one...yeah, it is. Huh. Well, he figures he might as well meet the new guy. He's been meaning to for a while, but, eh, Crimson Dawn's been away from Skullstone for some time. As such, he finally steps out of the shadow he'd been leaning in, striding up behind Lera, standing a bit behind her but not THAT far behind her, and, looking down at his 'friend' from behind his cloak's facial wrap, breaks into the conversation.
"She's what, Frozen Heart? She's what?"
[OOC] Crimson Dawn says, "FEAR MY VAGUE GENERIC MOTIVES! :D"
"Do you honestly believe I will simply stand back and do nothing?" Lera barks at him. She fights the urge to draw one of her swords out upon him; that would likely draw the defense systems' attention. She looks at Frozen Heart with a cold look, raising her chin up. "You were my /friend/! We were classmates together! If you stand in my way, then..."
She glowers towards him, her fingers tensing further. Then, the cloaked figure steps out. She tenses as she looks up at this taller form. Another Deathknight, she realizes.
She takes another, slow step backward.
Oh no he didn't. Seki's eyes widen as he sees the guy from the bar brawl the other night...who ended up being Crimson Dawn, one of the Silver Prince's thugs. How long was he hidden? Was he watching the entire time? Does he have cultists watching the whole scene? Was this whole talk a setup?!
"She's not involved in this, Crimson Dawn." The Kaizoku makes his presence known, stepping forward and wishing to the Dragons that this stupid city didn't have its stupid security system. He's just not comfortable in a situation controled by outside forces like that. Well, guess he'll have to fight like a Dynast, for once. "This is a concidence."
Seki turns up and looks Crimson Dawn right in the eye. "In other words, back off." His eyes narrow. "Unless you want your little secret to, I dunno, accadentily slip outta my mouth."
You paged Peleps Kaizoku Seki with '...You /bastard/.'
You paged Peleps Kaizoku Seki with 'HOW DID YOU KNOW I LOVE KITTENS?!'
You paged Peleps Kaizoku Seki with 'They're so cute and cuddly...;o;'
"Then don't stand in /mine!/ You're not a bad person, Lera, but if you get in my way, it's going to be my duty to my Lord to...um...uh...hi.
The harsh bravado kind of drains out of Frozen when he sees a huge guy looming over them. From the look on his face, he seems genuinely taken aback and confused, as if he didn't expect this at all. Which he didn't. Still, he has been reading the reports. "...Oh, so you're Crimson Dawn?" He coughs into a fist, trying to regain a level tone of voice. "She's nothing, just someone I used to know. You can tell a mortal without me having to tell you, can't you? That's all there is to it." Sure, he might get in all sorts of trouble for not sharing information with a fellow servant of the Silver Prince, but...well, he can talk later!
When Seki jumps in, the Daybreak takes a step back, almost guardedly, and glowers. "You're right it's a coincidence! We just ran into each other, okay? That's all!"
The Abyssal smiles pleasantly.
...which would be more reassuring if, y'know, he wasn't a deathknight with a covered face, anyways. Y'know. Fashionable Soulsteel Scarfcloakthingy. Whatever.
"Seki. A pleasure to see you again. I take it your mother is well. It would be a shame if she was to be told something that would make her...displeased...with you, wouldn't it? I mean, she /is/ such a formidiable woman, and she has /such/ expectations for her son, you know. Of course, I'm sure you haven't done a thing that could displease her, being a good, filial son, of course." Eye-Smile, Eye-Smile! If it weren't for the security system, I'd be trying to rip your intestines out and spreading your blood over this plaza in a display that would make the dead flinch, you dirty pirate! ^_^
As for Frozen, the deathknight runs an eye over him, then shrugs easily, looking unconcerned. "Whatever. Not my problem what you do with the mortals, you know. And it's a pleasure to finally meet you, young Dynast. A pity about your brother and sister, but the Dragons take what they will, mmmmm?" Eye-smiley! I need to complete my book-end set one of these days! Eye-Smiley!
And, with that, the Dusk caste casually...stays where he is, loitering cheerfully. Hurrah!
[RADIO] To Frozen Heart, you radio: So, Frozen. Who's your friend?
[RADIO] To Crimson Dawn, Frozen Heart radios: In my past life, we went to school together. Her name is Lera.
[RADIO] To Crimson Dawn, Frozen Heart radios: She's unhappy I, you know, became a Deathnight Anathema, that's all.
[RADIO] To Frozen Heart, you radio: ...And her family name?
[RADIO] To Crimson Dawn, Frozen Heart radios: Cathak, why?
[RADIO] To Frozen Heart, you radio: Curiousity.
The sudden change in Frozen's demeanor, going from angry insistence to cold dismissal all at once hurts more than Lera expected it to - especially the word mortal. The red-haired girl tenses sharply, looking at him angrily. Was that all she was, now? Just another mortal?
Fortunately, Seki is on the scene. When she steps backward, she nearly walks right into the approaching Captain, but she halts in time. A glance over her shoulder confirms that, before she looks back at this new Deathknight. "Wait..."
Something he had said makes her hesitate. "You knew of my brother and sister?" she asks. She glares at him, nonetheless, not liking the tone behind his words.
Seki winces, a little, at Crimson's mention of his mother, but keeps from doing much else. Wait, yes he does. "Well!" Seki says, smiling a little, "I sure won't tell them about your passionate fondness for adorable baby kittens now, you sure did show me Crimson Dawn..."
And then he brings /that/ up, and Seki bares his teeth, snarling at the man and muttering a violent word or two in some dialect of Realm-speak. He then looks fiercly at Frozen Heart, "Is this what you want? To be /this/?"
Well, Frozen thinks to himself, this is quite unexpected.
"I /am/ this, now, don't you get it?! Just not exactly this...ah, sorry, it's rude to call someone this." There's a forced air of formality to his voice, almost sarcastic in tone. "Honored Crimson Dawn, I give you Cathak Lera, and you appear to be familiar with Peleps Kaizoku Seki already. He and I have /history./" That last part is tinged with just a tiny bit of venom, because he is a bitter little Deathknight. "Lera, Seki, this is Crimson Dawn, the first time I have made his acquantance. And don't YOU," he raises a hand towards Seki, "even prtend to know what it is I want to-"
Well, he was /going/ to slap Seki in a flash of rage, but instead, he vanishes in a flash of light.
A moment later, he can be heard approaching again, mumbling a series of curses against sunlight.
Crimson Dawn continues smiling pleasantly at Seki as he accuses the Abyssal of /BEING A KITTEN LOVER/. Oh my. Time to ESCALATE!
"My word! That is a very gentlemanly offer, considering who you are, Peleps Kaizoku Seki! As such, I'll be equally polite and not tell anyone, especially young Cathak Lera here, what happened to her older sister. Some secrets should remain so, after all, and you do seem quite intent on being a pirate of honor and making sure some secrets are kept, so I suppose I should do so myself. It is only fair."
The Abyssal turns and smiles widely at Cathak Lera, nodding at her politely.
"Well, young Dynast, I can't say that I know what happened to your elder brother, but I know quite well what happened to your older sister. Cathak Sarina was a rather lovely young lady, you know. It /is/ such a pity she never had the chance for the Dragons to choose her. She'd have been a wonderful asset to House Cathak, and who knows, with such as her on their side, maybe the whole situation with the Realm's state of politics these days would be less in question, and the Cathak Legions would be that much stronger. Still, we /all/ must do as the /dragons/ will, I suppose!"
Then Frozen dissapears. And reappears. And Crimson Dawn merely blinks placidly, tsking at him.
"You know, Young Frozen Heart, you really must work on your temper. It causes /such/ problems in this place, I've found."
Smiley Smiley!
...For reference, the last time Crimson Dawn was smiling this much, he was cutting his way through a pack of barbarians and laughing maniacally the whole time. Oh dear!
Frozen Heart is always happy to bring joy to others.
Lera almost feels sorry for Frozen. She had nearly disappeared a few times herself - and would right now, as she turns from the Abyssal she knew to the one she does not. Her eyes narrow balefully at Crimson Dawn and she swallows, hard. "Sarina died before her time, that much we can agree upon. As did Meigor," she says, looking briefly at Seki. He knew that brother, she realizes. Her eyes turn and look back at him.
"But you do her a disservice to speak of her in such a way," she spits out. "My sister died early, but she still died nobly."
Then, she looks back at Frozen. She wants to scream at him, but that wouldn't be becoming here; especially with Crimson Dawn around.
Peleps Kaizoku Seki would have taken a smack to the gob with a grin, but oh yeah the hub.
"This city is the worst idea ever." Seki points out, sourly, crossing his arms. And Crimson Dawn continues to be so damn /smug/. "You cowardly son of a bitch, how dare yo..."
Seki deflates, visibly, when he catches Lera's look. It may be something of a shock to her to see that a Dragon-Blooded Dynast can look that pained and guilty. Biting his lower lip, Seki crosses his arms and debates the effectiveness of taunting Crimson into getting himself arrested while he's at it.
"You're going to be short for eternity, y'know." He asides to Frozen snarkily.
"I'm a genius sorceror," Frozen asides back, "I'll find a way to get taller." He hasn't yet.
And in fact, he's fallen quiet, all too suspicious of Crimson's confidence and implications. How /does/ he know about Lera's siblings? That's not popular gossip among the Deathknights, to be sure. Did the Whispers tell him something? And why is Seki, of all people, looking guilty? He didn't think the pirate was capable of shame; lord knows Frozen himself has tried.
The white-haired boy crosses his arms, giving Lera a look somewhere between guilt and malice. "I mean no shame to your sister and brother, Lera. I'm sure they rest peacefully." He's not entirely sure what else to say.
But, the dead are the dead.
Yes, well, it's time for Uncle Crimson's Story Time! HURRRAAAAH! The tall Abyssal starts to casually pace in a circle around Lera, hands behind his back, as he relates what he knows to the young mortal. Or, well, what he'll claim he knows, anyways. Bastard Abyssals.
"Is that what the House historians and teachers tell you these days, young lady? Hmmm! They always were experts at inventing fiction. Still, I suppose you do deserve to have that most /wonderful/ of gifts, the truth. You see, I'm sure a good deal of what they have is based on some sort of fact. Yes, she did encounter an enemy, and yes, she tried to fight it, and, yes, the enemy was a bit too much for her. Still, I'm afraid that they have a few facts wrong. You see, I'm afraid that your sister, despite her best efforts, didn't die nobly at all. Her opponent was an Anathema, you see."
Pace pace pace. "He outmatched her in all ways, and despite her best efforts, she was going to die. And when she realized that, she finally ran. All that magnificent courage, all thrown away. I suppose one can't blame her."
Pace pace pace. "I mean, do think about it. There she was, alone, with her swords cleanly shattered by the blades of her opponent, and it /would/ be a good thing for her superiors to know that such a beast was operating in the area."
Pace pace pace. "Still, unfortunately, the Anathema eventually caught her, and, unfortunately, she didn't die immeadiately. You see, the Anathema, in a whim, decided that he had a better use for her. It took almost a week for her body to die, you see, and that was truly a heroic feat, as her body was holding up to torture that would kill most Dragon-Blooded. Young Cathak Sarina truly did have amazing willpower."
Pace. "Still, in the end, the Abyssal ripped her soul from the body as it perspired and bound it to said body's own skull, using soulsteel forged from her companion's very essence to ensure that the soul would never escape, never re-enter the cycle of reincarnation and have a better chance at Exaltation."
And, with that little bomb dropped, the Abyssal pulls back his hood and tugs the facial wrap down, smiling pleasantly down at Cathak Lera. "And as for how I know, cousin, it's because I am the one who killed her." Smile smile.
[OOC] Crimson Dawn says, "Stunt Dice For Epic Bastardry!"
[OOC] Frozen Heart says, "I need to take Creepy Lessons from you, huh."
[OOC] Crimson Dawn says, "Yep."
Lera feels bile rise, slowly, to the back of her throat. She hadn't heard this story before. She had been told the body was found, but she was a young girl at that time; they never told her the gory details and she had lived her life innocently convinced her sister was better for it. She stares at him, for a moment, and one of her hands shakes slightly.
Frozen's apology, uncertain as she is of its sincerity, goes ignored. She can't help but think of much else right now. "You... you..."
She slowly remembers his face. Cathak Septus, a young officer that had been lost in a campaign. She grits her teeth and looks away. "You must be lying!" she barks, nearly choking, but her shout hardly sounds convincing. "She was your /own blood/!"
The girl looks back at him, half-trembling and half-shaking out of a mix of fear and anger. "She hadn't done anything to deserve such a fate!"
"Don't you dare." Peleps Seki snaps out as Uncle Crimson starts the story hour, but this fails to stop the terrible torrent of Septus's speach. The pirate's fists are shaking through the man's tyrade, the guilt and shame and all consuming urge to rip this bastard's throat out fighting valiently for supremacy.
Some part of Seki wonders, briefly, if Sarina Exalted just before she died, like Meigor did. And that tears it. Then Seki makes his first major mistake of the evening, "Septus you son of a bitch!" he yells, leaping at the Abyssal...
...its a testament to his speed that he gets the daiklave all the way out of its sheath before the white light hits, dragging Seki to the same place his little cousin was just a minute ago. Can you see the family resemblence? But, getting hubbed wasn't Seki's mistake, see. While Lera recgonized Septus...neither of them actually said the guy's name, now, did they?
Frozen is staring, open-mouthed.
He shouldn't, really, voices tell him. This is just another way of doing the duty of a Deathknight. That girl resisted death, and had to be punished for it, whisper the voices. Judge not Honored Crimson, whisper the voices. You have a collection of organs back home, remind the voices.
He flinches when Seki leaps, and doesn't even have the mental sharpness to mock his cousin for making the same mistake he did a moment ago. And still. "...Septus was your name? You were a Dynast? -Ah, forgive me for bringing up the life that no longer is." Hi, Resonance, how are you today. "But...but to torture the dead like that! Surely you could release her into oblivion, couldn't you? She'll become nothing like all things eventually, prolonging it just seems..."
/Is/ this what he's supposed to become? The boy looks stunned, and confused.
And a little horrified at the part of him remarking how Crimson Blood must be /brilliant./
Crimson Dawn tsks severely at Seki. "Now, now, don't interrupt. She wanted to know the truth of what happened to her sister, and it is only polite to tell her." The Deathknight casually smiles down at Lera, a hand reaching under the cloak, and then casually pulls a chain out. Not a big deal, the damn over-artifact is literally nothing /but/ weave after weave of soulsteel chains...cept, well, this one is attached to something.
Something vaguely skull-like, really.
Something that is a skull. It's a skull! With very neatly printed lettering in High Realm on it. Nothing much. Just the name 'Cathak Sarina', along with her birth and death dates, and, neatly interwoven through the soulsteel chain that pierces right through the head's chakra, there's hair. Very nicely preserved hair. That happens to match Lera's in color.
"Now, now, it isn't nice to accuse someone of lying when they're going to some trouble to tell you a truth that your own House and Family would hide from you. Tsk. Children these days. As for their being my blood, don't be /foolish/, child. You should be able to tell quite easily what I've become."
Hello thar, Caste Mark!
[RADIO] To Frozen Heart, you radio: I knew that name sounded familiar.
Lera can't even rush forward like Seki does, even if she is easily as - if not more - angry than him. When the skull comes out, she stares at it for a moment. The hair is unmistakable; the red-orange shade isn't very common outside of her particular line of Cathaks. She looks at the former Dynast, this time swallowing back her bile with much more effort.
"I..." Words fail her completely. She just stares for a long moment at the skull attached to the soulsteel chain, remaining silent the entire time. She looks briefly at Seki - if he looks angry and guilty, she looks angry, guilty, and like she might just burst into tears when this is all over.
She wants to, she realizes, grab that skull and rip it free, then find a way to free Sarina. Her fingers twitch just slightly. She knows she can't. She looks at both of the Abyssals; this time, Frozen isn't spared that hurt, angry, and betrayed look.
"/Go/," she practically hisses. "Go--and get out of my sight, you... you /monsters/."
Peleps Kaizoku Seki twitches, as he pays the nice killer robots their nice disturbing the peace fine. The Kaizoku forces himself not to use a Charm to rush back and start yelling, because, well.
1) It won't work.
2) It might count as a violent action and he's not made of money.
And 3) The brisk walk back to the argument/horror show gives Seki time to cool down. How does he cool down? By pondering his favorite activity, horrible revenge. Seki, if you'll remember our opening scene, had recently "aquired" a small island on the border of Skullrock territory. He was forced to set a fire on there to scare Frozen, and the Unsleeping Bride, off of said island. Making the most of it, Seki turned the place into an armed depot, and has been quietly doing jobs for the Magistrates, including arranging a Megadeus attack on Paragon City and other sorts of activites, in order to secure a valuable connection in the Guild. This connection, who does a great deal of work observing and predicting the value of the salt exchange, ment that no one would be suprised that Seki was suddenly hauling hunks of salt places, or that he'd stop off at the little bit of land he'd claimed to ensure his crew had fresh supplies when risking hostile waters. Which ment that no one but Peleps Kaizoku Seki realized just how much salt the Sekidan had stowed away, in case there was ever a reason to try and claim hunks of a Shadowland back from...oh...someone.
Seki lets out a satisfied little sigh, having calmed himself down again. The pirate is stoicly grim as he turns the corner, stomping his way back towards the Deathknights and the mortal. He frowns at Frozen, as if daring him to yuck it up.
Yes, Frozen catches that look, and that skull, and wow, is he confused today.
Shouldn't he be more horrified, too? Or less horrified? He hangs out with dead people all the time, after all. The residents of Onyx have big parties to celebrate their own suicides and ascent into high dead society. He has a nice little mausoleum laboratory with a pleasant mildewy scent. Hell, the smell of corpses doesn't even bother him anymore, and just last week, he helped the late, great Lady Great Tree find her left eye in the gutter. They all seemed to like him there, and he just wasn't accustomed to the fact that...
Well, he /is/ a monster.
When Lera looks at him like that, he looks away.
Then he turns away completely, his cloak flaring behind him from the sudden movement. "Crimson Dawn, we will speak later. I have experiments to attend to. That is all." However, that is not, entirely, all.
As he passes Seki, he whspers something under his breath. "I am /not/ short."
Crimson Dawn smiles pleasantly to Lera and tsks, casually tucking the skull away under his cloak again. "If you wish. I figured you'd want to at least say hello to your sister, though. She's quite conscious of what's happening to her, after all. Ah well. It is a pity. You seemed so set on knowing what the truth was earlier, and now that you do, you seem so upset. A pity. Give my regards to your mother, if you see her, Cathak Lera."
Smiling pleasantly, the Dusk caste's facial wrap casually slithers back into place, the soulsteel chains covering the lower half of his face as he pulls the hood up and bows politely to Lera.
And, having carried out his epic level spite today, he casually strolls off, nodding easily to Seki as he wanders off in the general direction Frozen Heart went. "A pleasure to see you again, as always, Peleps Kaizoku Seki. Do keep my secret safe, will you? It seems that Dynasts don't deal very well with the truth, wouldn't you think?"
You paged Frozen Heart with 'We need an Undead Giant Squid.'
You paged Frozen Heart with 'With implosion bows'
You paged Frozen Heart with 'Or possibly some sort of Squid Pony Hybrids.'
Frozen Heart (frozen) pages: Better, sir. With a zombie whale shark enhanced with Soulsteel, possibly experimental Hollow-Soulsteel, ectoplasm, and/or Monster Blood. And a harpoon shooting gun on its forehead.
You paged Frozen Heart with 'Oh My.'
Lera looks down, one of her hands shaking nearly uncontrollably. She looks away from Crimson Dawn as he walks by, not even saying another word to him. She bites her bottom lip and then looks up at Seki, once the Abyssals have departed. Tears are already welling up in her eyes. She fights back a choking sound, but quickly looks away from him.
She would rather not be seen right now, if she could help it. "I--I apologize, Captain Seki," she manages to spit out, "I-I had been... unprepared for that."
[Fac-Syndicate] Crimson Dawn says, "Ahhhh, a profitable day. I feel much relaxed."
[Fac-Syndicate] Dio Brando says, "Oh?"
[Fac-Syndicate] Crimson Dawn says, "Indeed."
"Yeah, I guess not." Seki replies back to Crimson, evenly. "I mean, look what happened when you found out how much you were worth?" Seki looks up and down the Abyssal, and shrugs. "Most of us get over that phase after we graduate, man."
'This isn't over.', his glare says in spite of the nonchalance, which is probably a win for Crimson, really.
"'course not." Seki mutters back as Frozen Heart passes, "You're more...petite."
And then, the aftermath. Once The Enemy is gone-again, not accounting for whatever spies are doubtlessly watching, but if Seki did that all the time he'd go mad-the Kaizoku struggles with his options. He really should scare this girl away, before she gets dragged into this and he has...lets be honest, he has another death on his conscince. She's got a good career ahead of her, and getting involved with the Abyssals is just /asking/ for the kind of trouble that isn't approved of in good Dynastic society. Its why they let people like the Kaizoku worry about it.
Seki puts a cautious hand on the girl's shoulder instead, squeezing a little. "...I'd have been more worried if you were prepared for something like that, Lera."
[Fac-Syndicate] Crimson Dawn says, "I had a pleasant walk, talked with a few old aquaintances, shattered a young girl's illusions about her older sister's death, infuriated said aquiantance to the point that he attacked me in the Hub, and also found an excellent tavern. A very nice day indeed."
[Fac-Syndicate] Unsleeping Bride says, "My goodness."
[Fac-Syndicate] Frozen Heart says, "Mm..."
[Fac-Syndicate] Dio Brando says, "You HAVE been busy."
[Fac-Syndicate] Crimson Dawn says, "Indeed. I was just going for a walk, too."
[Fac-Syndicate] Crimson Dawn says, "I believe I'm now even with Peleps Kaizoku Seki for his stealing my wallet the other evening."
"I..." Lera trails off, wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She shakes her head and looks back up. No more tears, for now. She can shed those later, when she gets back. She looks at the hand on her shoulder and then back up at the older Dragon-Blooded. "...thank you, Captain Seki."
She clinches her fist. "I... I will find a way to recover her. She won't be allowed to languish there forever," she says quietly. "There must be a way to help her."
Peleps Kaizoku Seki burns a Willpower point so he looks stoic-yet-kind, even though he feels terribly uncomfortable. He's...not a /touchy/ kind of person, not when its for serious at least, and he's glad he's wearing gloves because his skin might be crawling a little. That's kind of pathetic, Seki thinks, which is why he forced himself to comfort the girl to what limited capacity he could in the first place.
"There just might be. If only Mikagami..." Seki mutters, a little less crypticly than he intended. He coughs, once, letting go and slumping now that he's back in his comfort zone. "I am sorry. I...didn't know the whole story, but I'd heard a lot of rumors. I should've warned you. ...I'm sorry about your brother, too."
"You can't be blamed. I... no one knew exactly how she died," Lera tells herself. She could see why her mother hid it from her, though. She suddenly can't help but feel badly for her poor mother. She squeezes her eyes shut. "And my brother--he died against the Bull of the North, as did many good men. I cannot blame you for that, Captain."
She looks down again, opening her eyes. "I... need to retire, Captain. It has been a trying day."
You should., Seki thinks, hearing the screams and smelling what the fat idiots on the Blessed Isle thought was glory all over again.
"Salt." The captain says, looking strangely intense. "Bowls of vinegar work, too. Put it along your door, it'll keep anything dead out of the room. I usualy salt the windows, too, just to be sure."
The Kaizoku quickly lights a cigar, thanking Daana'd as soon as the harsh, overpowering stank of tobacco takes hold of his senses. "Night, kid."
"Salt... yes. I will see to it. And for my cadets, as well." Lera faintly realizes, if they do come after her, they might come after her cadets as well. She shakes her head before looking back at him. The woman nods her head once to him. "Thank you, Captain. You... get some rest as well."
She turns and keeps walking, falling silent as she does.
"Sure, kid." Seki says, knowing he won't, really.
And once she turns away, he indulges himself in a little smile. He's earned it, he thinks.
Everything was going according to plan, after all.