[Open Post] Into the Sunlight

[silvereyedphage]

It's been over a week since Morgoth assaulted him, tearing away half of the phage and taking it God knows where. Muraki can still feel the effects of the attack: his mind feels as if it's been wrapped in cotton batting full of thumbtacks. He's been avoiding human company, since he still feels vaguely defiled from the attack, but playing the hermit

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[sissy_queen]

Guinevere will be about, quietly sowing a handkerchief and embroidering it with her own initials.

She's quiet and thoughtful, she's slept poorly of late for many reasons, some including the events of the siege, some including her convoluted love life.

She's sweet, less innocent than she seems, but always well meaning, and could listen, if prompted into a conversation. She's often worthless for advice, but has a good listening ear.

[silvereyedphage]

She's also pretty, which catches his eye, making it hard for him to concentrate on correcting an especially tricky passage -- a description of his first night with a woman, no less -- and he turns over the sheet as he looks up to get a better look at her.

"The light must be especially good for your work: it's clear and clean, one might say," he notes, gently.

[sissy_queen]

"Aye, it is," Guinevere agrees quietly after she's looked up at Muraki. "Thank you kindly for noticing it, my lord."

[silvereyedphage]

"I would have to be blind in both eyes not to notice a lovely young woman sitting in the sunlight," he says, smiling and turning his chair to face her. "To whom do I have the honor of addressing?"

[phedre_25]

Phedre has recovered from her own night of angst, from soothing her son and the brother of the man she once called her lover.

She is mourning the loss of Mildmay, how does not seem to be reappearing, but the only way that this is visible is by the black sash she wears around her arm.

When she sees Muraki, she comes to sit close by, examining him.

He looks... different and is uncharacteristically quiet, she finds. "Good afternoon, my sweet patron," she says, after a moment, by way of greeting.

[silvereyedphage]

He looks up at her, after a long moment, and his gaze might be a bit...odd: the usual interest is there, but there's less of the slightly predatory narrowing of his eye. If anything, there is a look of suffering borne in patience there

"Phedre... you are a sight for sore eyes and a sore soul," he says. "It has been some time, hasn't it, since we last saw each other?"

[phedre_25]

"So it has," she replies patiently. "You look unwell, my sweet patron. Is there aught ill?"

Phedre has a hunch - not about the details, but that Muraki had his share of hardship on that terrible night.

[silvereyedphage]

He can't hide anything from her eyes, and oddly enough, it's rather a relief. "Yes... something attacked me, the night when the wolves began to howl, not a wolf, but something far worse: something strong enough to strike at my mind," he says.

[pandora_antioch]

Not so far, there will be someone who's had similar... problems, and has handled them differently. Pandora has little love for Muraki, this is true, but the Mind Gift tells her that something has changed, and now she's curious.

Poof! She'll be sitting on the chandelier above his head, smiling.

"Good evening, doctor," she say without warning.

Potential morality pet, maybe? >.>

[silvereyedphage]

If she's listening in on his mind, she'll likely find it's oddly quiet in there, the only voice will be his, and it appears to be puzzling over the contents of the pages before him.

Dangling modifiers... redundant phrase... rough drafts are just that...

He looks up at the sound of her voice, and he might shift, involuntarily. The phage might be silenced, but old habits die hard. "Good evening, Pandora. You do know it's rather rude to read over a man's shoulder when he's proof-reading a manuscript," he says.

One thing hasn't changed: the snarking and the lilt of elegant arrogance.

[pandora_antioch]

Pandora doesn't look any less amused - trolling is something she learned from Khardeen, and she's getting better at it.

"You do realize that I am not peering over your shoulder, but sitting on a swing, don't you, Doctor Muraki? Or have you lost your mind?"

She's playing on words, apurpose.

[silvereyedphage]

"It was a jest and likely not in the best of taste, but I suppose since you find me unsavory, you'd find my humor just as distasteful," he says, bantering as he leans back in his chair, looking up at her. He might cross his legs, showing off just a bit, but somehow, his heart doesn't seem to be in it.

[villageson]

11-12 had luckily avoided that terrifying night. He'd kept to his room (most likely with Bridget) and had remained thankfully safe.

Wandering into the main room, he spots Muraki and, with a warm smile, walks up to him. "Hello."

[silvereyedphage]

Muraki has his head bent over the pages of his memoirs, but hearing that voice, he looks up, then a gentle smile crosses his pale face, reaching his good eye perhaps for the first time ever.

"11-12... how have you been, nephew-mine?" he asks, warmly.

He likely seems different: paler, if that's to be imagined, as if he's recovering from a sudden illness, but the smile is genuine.

[villageson]

"I'm all right. Did you hear all that commotion the other night?"

[silvereyedphage]

"The wolves close to the house? I heard something, but I wasn't well enough to investigate, as I'd come down with a bad headache," he says.

Understatement, but he does not want to worry the boy. Half of himself is somewhere in the Mansion, thanks to Morgoth's machinations...

[scalpedsociety]

Here's a person who was holed up in her room throughout that entire hellish night. (Mostly because even the typist can't have Aramat breaking down all the time or being torn apart. Even she has her limits, dude.) But seeing her dear brother in sadness makes her feel guilty that she wasn't there for him when he needed her most.

She may look over his shoulder.

"Busy, Brother?"

Hope this is ok. Do you want anyone else?

[silvereyedphage]

He glances up at her, smiling a bit, but there's something wavery about it. "Yes, I've been holed up in my study writing my memoirs for the past several weeks," he says. "It's dawned on me that I may need to divide it into two volumes..."

Or three, since one volume seems, in his mind, to have ended.

Hmmm... can has Utena and Genkai? She'd likely notice Just What's Going On, ie. that half of the phage has been torn away and it's still healing itself.

[scalpedsociety]

She gets closer to him.

"But Brother... you don't look... well. Then there was the note you left some days ago..."

[silvereyedphage]

"There was that," he says, looking around them before he continues. "Where were you on the night when the wolves started to howl?"