The Abbey

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

His gut spun as he saw the beast lunge at Tilly,
"No!" Lekalis managed to shout, his momentary trance of battle slipping away as his spear felt slack before he reaffirmed his grip thricefold and dug the spear deeper into the opened confines of the nauseatingly disgusting tube of meat and blood and other vile fluids and odors.

He grunted and tried to drag the beast's corpse away from Tilly, back towards its birthing rubble and dust; his eyes transfixed on the hole that'd been made and he felt clarity in his panic.
He impressed his spear deeper into the beast, so both weapon and corpse would be pinned there, as he swiftly moved to the nearby dresser; placing a hand on it, he looked to the door.
"Get Tilly out of here... Courcy, help me pull this outside; we must barricade the door, inform the guard..." He listed off breathlessly, already making to pull the piece of furniture away from the wall and towards the door

[Vanitypirate]

The worm was either dead, or it simply accepted its fate to be hacked up and speared through by all manner of steel.
Like any living creature that had been chopped up so, it bled plainly on the floor.

Down in that darkened hole, idle noises could be heard: scraping and groaning and thuds, albeit it could be attributed to an imagination fueled by paranoia...

---

Florence gave Tilly a gentle push towards the exit and made to lead her out, palming the space between her shoulderblades.

Tilly didn't protest much. With a growing sense of dread, she slipped the glove off and held it in the uninjured arm.
The wound wept like any ordinary bite, and it stung rather severely-- but it wasn't the arm she was concerned about. Her gut churned.

What great luck it was that there was a doctor around. As always, though, 'luck' in this case was relative...

[Tilly and Florence exit to Streets Graveyard!]

[black379]

Now that the insect was thoroughly eviscerated, Courcy let herself be worried for Tilly, though she was being quickly rushed from the room. She snapped back quickly as Blood spoke up. She grabbed one end of the cabinet and began to help move it to the door.

“This won’t hold them for long.” The hellion kept eyeing the hole as they moved, listening and watching for more of the squirming beasts to show.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

He grunted as he moved the cabinet; the wood was ashen, and sturdy but... The worm had burrowed through solid stone. Its deed wasn't too surprising, he'd known some alchemical bombs to do so, Florence may well know the precise phenomena.
What was terrifiying was its sheer bloody appearance. Like... an Intestine given teeth at one end and ribs all over.
The worm seemed motionless, so he swiped his spear from its corpse before pressing on.

Perhaps it wasn't that bad, but he was definitely not sleeping without wine... Or Tilly, tonight. The thought of her aroused his suspicion, though he spied the tail ends of his twin desires departing safely while he hauled the dresser up with Courcy, out into the hall they'd entered from.
"Mmmh, it's going to have to...", Lekalis shut the door and pushed the cabinet up against it with the help of the much stronger Courcy. There was some amusement to be had there, so he shot the Hellion a reassuring smile,
"... Long enough to get the guard, at least." He chuckled, though there was only humor in the bitter thought of what might happen if the guard isn't enough.

Still, he cleared his throat and made to leave;
"We'll inform the monks first, then we'll find the guard... Then we'll find Tilly and Florence." He huffed, he shared a look of sympathy with the brassy haired woman. She'd hardly a grand time since she'd returned, especially so with Fenrik...
He reached out and gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder, another flare of a smile, and he started off up the steps of the mausoleum...

\Blood and Courcy to leave the Abbey?\

[black379]

The cabinet was in place, as sturdy as it would be. Hopefully the worm was on its own, maybe they had no actual sense of direction into the safety of the hamlet.

Courcy looked back over her shoulder, but Tilly and Florence had already fled. Each of them had survived worse than a bite, but any misstep tempted fate. She hoped the doctor would take swift care of her.

Her face offered the ex-lord an attempted smile, but it fell from her lips shortly. The day, let alone the week, had been trying. She could hardly disguise how she’d been put down.

“Do you ever feel cursed?”

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

"Honestly?" He scoffed, as the small banter already sprang up; it was a welcome distraction as he entered the primary Hall of the Abbey, a small ginger-haired boy seemed to simply be waiting for Lekalis at the top.
The Red Lord whispered something into his ear, and the Boy seemed thoroughly frightened, before running off; Lekalis paused, his hands on his hips as he looked about, watching the Boy tend to one monk, then the next.
Like a plague each split off to go tell another.

"Seems like, in my eyes, that if you're not cursed... You're doing something wrong, here." He smirked, looking over to Courcy. The mention was a touch unsettling, given what seemed to be the only conversation he'd had these days.
"Why d'you ask?" He inquired, his features softening to genuine concern.

"I heard you'd mingled with demons before-- Lavinia, she..." He began, shrugging the explanation off.
"--Look; if something's the matter, you can tell me. I've no love of the Inquisition's or Exorcisms or sanitorium visits... Say I've experience of sorts, on the matter." He explained, taking a step towards Courcy and reaching out to hold her arm.

[black379]

Courcy shot Blood a glare, unable to decide if he was being sincere or derisive. Either way, she wasn’t about to explain herself to him. ‘Demon whore’. Why wouldn’t he think the same of her?

“So what, we deserve it?” She largely ignored his prodding about her fraternizing with the demonic. ‘If you’re not cursed, you’re doing something wrong.’ His answer was telling.

“That why you slew Roderick? Fenrik too. Dead.” Her accusation was sudden, yet cautious. She kept her voice low, kept near the wall, so as not to oust the man. Lips parted to speak, but she was choked up.

“Or is that your curse? To be the hand of fate?” The hellion sneered and shook her fiery head. She turned, but her azure orbs lingered on Blood, from the edge of her vision.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

The Ex-Lord furrowed his brow, trying to keep a confident face as she spoke and the walked; though, he stopped at last, at her final claims. Abruptly leaning his shoulder to the wall so he stood infront of her, looking coolly in the eye, despite her better swells of muscle.
He'd be lying if he wasn't a touch intimidated. He let it show... Honesty was necessary for bonds he wished to keep.

Lekalis' didn't hold her gaze, dropping for a moment, before setting his onyx eyes on her azure ones; his features softened, but his brows were set in a hard furrow.
"Roderick was slain because he was cursed with a delusion that I was some spawn of foul deeds. That I'd somehow weaned her away from him... Yet Tilly wished Roderick well." He spoke the words stiffly, there was a plain distaste in the way he forced himself to speak of the events.
"Roderick refused to leave the Hamlet, despite Tilly's request. Pinned the blame on me, when I'd only ever shared an ear to Tilly's woes on the matter." He pressed, his tone was doubly hushed as he elaborated.

His eyes drifted away, as he looked about for any onlookers,
"Fenrik... He... Ambushed me, on the stairwell. I tried to back away, talk to him; yet he loosed an arrow at me. Tried to strike me down; I'd only managed to nick him before he threw me asunder." Lekalis sighed, remembering the pain; he rubbed his shoulder from some phantom pain.

"I didn't want to slay either of those men, yet they gave me no choice but to react."
Lekalis' eyes swung back to Courcy's,
"My Curse--" He began, with vim, though he slowed; calming as he brought a hand over his amulet. He could already hear Florence's recitations.
"-- My Curse has me bound to this. T'is a phylactery; should it leave me, I seem to... Bleed, from the face." He tapped his finger on its surface, his face screwing up as he shook his head at the nonsense it sounded.

[black379]

As Blood stopped, so did she, and allowed herself to face him. Her face held an unimpressed glare as the ex-lord made his excuses. Still she listened, even through the confession about his amulet.

"Yeah." Courcy scoffed and pushed past him, butting shoulders with the shorter man. Not a day ago he offered her his confidence, perhaps more than that. Now he insulted her with some fancy about a rock.

"Yeah, and I can't find anyone lasts longer than a week of loving me." She shrugged as if guilt didn't weigh heavy on her shoulders. "Good luck with your face." Her feet began, but she wanted Blood to catch her.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

He held his ground as he was bumped against; his head cast down in a slight scowl, before she spoke her last. Afterwards, he picked himself up and reached out to her,
"Hey! Look--" He tried, grasping at her arm, though her stride was a touch too strong so his hand fumbled before he tried again and more pulled himself to her than stopped her.

"--My face is all skill; I could show you sometime, noticed your warpaint's running a bit..." He stopped himself from a small veering of subject, a jab at brevity, though he took a breath now; his thoughts... scattered, but at least somewhat collected.
"... I've known you for a good while now... Never did a day pass by that I don't think if you're alright. For awhile, I'd thought you safe with Lav... Then things picked up. My Life, the Amulet started affecting me more and more." He continued, though paused as he made some realizations again.

"I need you, Courcy. I care for you, I really do... I'd say it's Love; perhaps not the kind where we share the same bed and snog our faces together like hounds in heat" He nudged the band of chainmail about her wrist with his own, offering a small laugh.
"But... The Familial sort. A Mercenary family, you know? I want to drink and feast with you, celebrate the victories and the losses, mourn the fallen together."

"I've not been there before, and I... I know I've left you out to dry more oft' than not. But I hope you can forgive me for that." He implored the last, his hand wrapping gently around Courcy's wrist, giving it a quick squeeze before letting go,
"I want to help you, Courcy. I'm trying my best but... You know how it is... It's never easy. Life always rears its ugly head at the least opportune times."

[black379]

Courcy's stance relaxed as she listened to him. And when Blood released her wrist, it hung in between them for a moment, an anchor for him to take back. Maybe he was just being clever, but Lekalis spoke exactly what she wanted. Family. Even if he was leading her on, the prospect was more than she could get anywhere else. She needed to believe in him.

"F-fine." It wasn't explicit forgiveness, but she was inclined to keep close to him. Hanging her head, she looked him in the eyes. She appeared something like a beaten puppy, who longed for its owner's hand all the same.

They still needed to warn the guard, and any time wasted the slithering creatures could be seeping into the church. She started again, but awaited Blood to follow.

"Lavinia hated me. More than anyone else I'd guess." The ginger proposed a bit of a subject change.

[Kidney]

Tod slowly made his way across the main area of the Abbey. His steps were labored and his eyes hung half-closed as he made his way to the cold embrace of dark wooden pew. 
Soon, he did find a good place, sitting towards the center isle and grabbing a book of hymns from the long slot on the back of the pew in front of Tod. He slowly opened it, finding comfort in the yellowed pages and the feel of religious fulfillment. 
He slowly began to hum a hymn he knew, the lyrics rumbling forth against his closed lips as he read them carefully. His hand slowly pulled forth the crucifix, and he rubbed the forehead of his beloved saint as the hymn slowly lulled him into a meditative state.
He absentmindedly turned the pages, religious hymn after religious hymn he hummed.
He thought of the glade, and repented for the blood he had spilt, no matter how imaginary or few there was.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/
He was happy; for once, for what seemed to have been a long time, something went right... He saw it in her eyes too. He was tempted to hold her hand on the way out, halfly because it would be sincere, sweet... Reassuring.
Lekalis smiled at the other half; imagining Tilly trying to hide her jealousy or envy, or hate or both... He chuckled to himself; only realizing it was at the butt end of a rather curious question.

He waved away the chuckle and joined Courcy's renewed advance. To see her roused so, was inspiring to himself if anything; there were friends yet to be gained. He never doubted it, though, evidence had been lacking as of late.
And now... He was perhaps being overly optimistic again, though he saw a long comradarie with the firekissed girl.

A silence had drawn out that he cleared his throat into, scratching at his temple as though he'd been caught up in some rumination,
"Ah.. eh... I didn't hear much about that ordeal; but she wanted help... I think, like I had been for her, I became so frustrated in trying to help that... That I lost why I cared for her at all." He explained with a bit more pep than his depressive words would warrant.

"Lavinia was... I suppose no dancing around it; a touch damaged. Did she... ever tell you that she covered my first tavern room's walls in blood? Murmuring about 'Mother'." He mused, sighing as weight finally seemed to catch up to his shoulders.
"I was never sure just who or what she was mad at... Whether it was really me or herself or the world or this... Mother of hers."

[black379]

She quirked her brow, listening intently. In fact Lavinia never had told her any sort of unsettling details, they only ever really fooled around. Though it would be unfair for Courcy to be upset, while Lavinia was wrongfully upset about her own affairs. Or else it would be exactly fair.

"I don't know any about that." Courcy responded shortly, drawing in a heavy breath only to be pushed out through her nose. The man had only just warranted the discussion before, and the hellion's gossip wasn't like to vanish. "She hated me for my 'mingling with demons'."

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/
"Ah, I see... Well..." He hummed, cocking his head to the side in consideration for a moment, though his mild jubilancy had yet to truly waver as they passed yet more pews and more bustling monks.
His eyes scrunched up in a mockful display of concentration and contemplation.
"... Mingling with demons is... Not precisely... a good thing." He smirked at the obvious remark, looking over to her for a moment before shrugging.

"Truth be told, I'd be rather surprised too... you look much too sweet to have cavorted with demons." Lekalis' eye looked up to the woman's polearm and nodded his head to the device,
"Though, you hardly look the sort to slay man and beast alike with such a... Mighty weapon." He mused, raising a brow at Courcy as his eyes settled on her sweetsome features.

"Curious, though : would you tell me of this mingling..? And what sort of demons? I've dealt with many, if we're to take rumors for truth."