Black Water Cut With Ivory [Lekalis Hugo Volundr]

[rosallora]

The blood is spilled, dripping down Volundr's hand and then down the grey-blue, bulbous, strange head of the monstrosity before him. The red seems to sink into it, sucked in through unseen pores and a bit going into its lipless mouth. Suddenly the struggling shifts, the eyes' pupils contract and focus; Sal nods approvingly. "Good. We haven't much time before he starts to go again, so we'll make this quick. Tobin, the creature. Locate it."

Tobin's eyes are stuck between the viking and the captain, shifting, the moon reflected in them, glazed and engorged. Sal grabs Volundr and pulls him back, away. "Stand back. Crew! Cover your ears!"

They do, and the creature opens its mouth. From it comes a sound unlike any other. It is low, a sound that is not so much heard by mortal ears as much as felt in the chest, a tone so low that it rattles bones and strikes horror into the ones it can catch. It shakes the wood of the Ursa, it makes Captain Faerth brace herself against it, her teeth clenched. The creature's face was turned skyward. Ripples in the water flow away from the boat, turning up small whitecaps. Finally, after a few too-long seconds, the sound dies.

"North," the voice that emits from the mouth sounds more monstrous than human. "Four leagues... North. North, heading... North. Cold water... North."

Hickory scratches the information down onto the paper.

The captain grins. "Not far at all."

[Kidney]

Hugo's eyes darted between the Captain and Tobin, but slowly, Hugo began to see red. Blood, imaginary in nature, began to shroud his perception, and he sat perpetually entranced by Tobin's grotesque existence. The blood seeping from Volundr's cuts, deep crimson suckled into a formless maw. 

The low roar that came from the almighty Tobin shook itself through the naked hands that Hugo put to his ears, without jingle, without jangle, from head to toe Hugo rattled down to his soul. The words from the demon tore their way down through Hugo's flesh, a clawed imp, cackling and screeching, infernal curses shouted through bloody mist as the imaginary creature bit through his thin flesh. Hugo wiped the slobber from his mouth, and lifted his chin high, skyward, like Tobin.

"Stars. Hide your fires. Let not light see my deep and dark desires." He mouthed, then repeated once again, before looking to The Captain. "Not far, no? Hmm..." He thought on it further, eyes widened, pupils dilated. "I say we out our winter clothes on, and prepare to catch ourselves a monster." 

[EloHim]

The gods-damn beast roared like a motherfucker... Even the captain was covering... And Volundr...as the closest to the monster got the brunt of the "attack".
Anyone with less guts would've fell mad...But Volundr didn't step away. Was it a good decision or a bad one? Foolishly brave, one could say. Backing down before monsters was not something he liked doing. Especially when they were chained down.
Besides..if he got scared by this thing... How the hell is he going to face the child of Jormungandr? Considering that the latter was as big as the ship if not bigger. And louder.
No, he would stand his ground and face the hellish noise. No matter how much it hurts. No matter how much his legs want to bend...and run.

"Good."- he finally turns away from the monster.- "Faster we get to it - the quicker we can start killing it. Now...Can someone here spare some bandages, so I don't have to bleed all over the ship?” - he looks at the captain waiting for the answer to his question.

[rosallora]

The rest of the crew looked more haggard when observed, the sound of Tobin's deep tone not lost ohn then, though it was implied it had been done several times before. The Captain looks at the bodies of the landlubbers, taking them in before her gaze snaps back to Volundr. Her pupils, temporarily looking grayer than black, highlighted with moonlight or rough water, seem to go back to normal.

"Bandages, aye..." Hickory looks reluctantly at the viking, his notes written on the map."I can as sure take you below for that task." Though hes is wary about the project, he seemed willing enough. He rolls up the parchment and glances to Sal, who nods her head. Tobin, or the beast that usually was Tobin, pulls again at its chains, rubbing rigid metal against smooth silvery scales.

Tavi steps out from the gathered crowd to set a hand on Hugo's back. "Safe now, " she comforts. "We hunt tomorrow. We rest now."

"Indeed," Sal states. "To your posts!"

[Kidney]

Hugo's face turned towards Tavi, grave, but grateful. Her touch was bliss, and the act of kindness would forever be held in the heart of Hugo Smonk. In some way, the dark thoughts brought forth by lack of kindness were rocked off the shelves of Hugo's mind. He shook under her touch alike to this internal earthquake, and he mouthed something, something desperate, to Tavi. He swallowed, coughing into a closed mouth before repeating himself. "T-T...My thanks." He said, nearly a whimper.

He continued to look at Tavi, eyes darting to take in every detail of her face and form, "You're...interesting." He said, genuine, innocent. "Captivating." He looked away, back to The Captain, and found, in this moment, under some sort of spell, the sadness over all that had happened to the jester overwhelmed the embarrassment she and Aurora before her had inflicted upon him. "I will have to tell her I am sorry, one day." He meant this in reference to The Captain, but Tavi would be able to sense something ethereal about it, there were more Hugo had wronged that he felt guilt for, and this guilt was more than one day old. 

"One day." Hugo leaned a small bit into the hand on his back, "Am I to return to my cell?" He said aloud, to no one in particular.

[EloHim]

[Volundr]
"Aight, Cap. I'll try not to pester Hickory...much."- he chuckles. The main warning has already been delivered...now he had full rights to poke Hickory under the ribs with words.-"May i visit after im done with that little problem?"

"Lead the way."- he follows Hickory to wherever one-handed man would lead him.

[rosallora]

The captain's eyes go to Hugo as other sailors move around her, some going up to the rigging and some heading below. Two take places beside her, facing Tobin, who bares his teeth, pupil distractedly moving between the two men. They brandish poles at him, staves without point, and at the threatening of them, the abomination cowers a bit. The hissing he makes isn't any more sound than the white-water that rocked the boat.

"If you aren't going to act like a drunken madman, then you're welcome to join the crew. Sometimes a while in the brig is all a man needs to come to his more forward senses." She cocks her head at Hickory. "Take him below."

Tavi stays closer to Hugo's side, a half-smile on her face. "Going on the rigging, captain!"

Sal glances to Hugo. "Making a rope-rat out of him yet?"

Tavi snickers and sneers, patting Hugo's back a bit too-hard. "Don't think so! Needs rest. Real rest."

"Fat bit of luck you'll need doin' that," Hickory mutters to himself as he heads below with Volundr. "No one dreams on the Ursa." The cartographer doesn't look back as he plunges down with Volundr into the bowels of the ship. "Course you had to go an' cut yourself open like that. So damned dramatic." Hickory rounds a corner and takes another set of stairs. The hold is cool and comfortable, a bit of humidity seemingly trapped in the boards themselves. Hickory listens and after the sounds of other conversations and footsteps are gone, puffs out a breath. "Sorry you got all mixed up'n this. Didn't mean for it to happen, y'know."

[EloHim]

[Volundr]
"Oi, the way i see it, we either die on this here hunting trip or become legends. And if we gon' survive, someone needs to do the deeds worthy of recording, dramatic or not."- Sea Serpent. This is something konungs and yarls back home could only dream of. He needed this.-"'Sides, if it ruffles your feathers a tad bit more, Im all for it."- The bastard probably realises that it would be all his fault if Volundr dies here with him...But fuck it. Realisation is not enough. If he somehow dies and Hickory lives - he'll haunt his sorry soul forever from Valhalla.

"Now, about those bandages..."- he was still bleeding. He just wasnt showing it.

[rosallora]

"Soon's we're in my space I'll get you them, stop whinin'. I'm not about to let you bleed out for fun." He snorts. "Excuse me for tryin' to make nice, you cunt's cur."

Hickory comes to the H I K O R E E post and walks in, setting the mapmaking equipment down and picking up a roll of bandages from the back. "Here's we go. Come up." He gestures for Volundr to step forward and when he does, he makes quick work of wrapping the gash in his hand. "Had to go so deep, didn't you."

[Kidney]

Hugo stared to Tavi, wincing from the back pats, smiling wider than he should have at that moment. Every fiber of his being screamed to ask her to do it again, but the smallest bit of decency remaining in his form forced him to silence. "D-do...nevermind." He said, shaking his head, looking at his feet, "Rat. Yes. That's what I am."

He looked behind him, to the ship, the cargo. His eyes were lit again, crazed energy flowing from him. "Rest, most certainly. Rest." He knew what laid there in a crate near the deck's surface. His smile faded a little, and his hand extended weakly to the crate in question. "I need my outfit, my lute. My life." He aimed a finger at the crate, "That one. My things are in there. Can..." He nearly immolated himself, pride filling him like a balloon before he deflated again, and looked to Tavi. "Can we go get them, please?"

[EloHim]

[Volundr]
"HA! There he is. You're the only one that was whining so far. Thought that the man i was drinking with got dropped overboard at one point and got replaced by one-handed bearded bitch. Glad to see I was wrong." - he grins. Finally. Some good banter. Seriously, apologies were useless in this particular situation.The fact that Hickory was trying to go clean was laughable at best.- "We "make nice" when we're either dead or drinking back at Hamlet. Not sooner."
He allows Hickory to do his job.
"Oi, its not like your Captain was clear on her instructions. Don't get your pants in a twist, I know how to cut people so they don't lose their muscles. It’ll sting a bit but this aint my hitting hand so who gives a shit.”- Honestly, was that man taking him for a fool that was locked in the brig this whole time or what? Did they cut off his balls with his arm? Volundr couldn't put a finger on the reason Hickory was acting so...strange.

[rosallora]

[Hugo]

Tavi cocks her head. "Sure sure," she says. She waves it off like it's no big deal, because it is. Sal says nothing against it, and the two of them walk on. The beast chained to one of the masts rages against its bonds in a small fit, one of the guarding sailors gritting his teeth and giving him a solid whack with the blunt end of a harpoon.

"Quit!" He yells, and the creature makes a low, pitiful moan, bruised. It slumps forward slightly in its chains, not defiant, but mournful. Tavi ushers Hugo onward.

"Don't look," she says, a soft hiss to her voice. "Hurts the eyes, hurts the ears. Don't look." She leads him low and scurries through the halls, looking for where his things were put. Outside the cell they lay, haphazardly piled.

----

[Volundr]

Hickory finishes wrapping up the hand and tucks in the end, nodding along. "You're just bein' difficult. Then again, you usually are, aren't ya." He shrugs his shoulders and looks back at the map. "We aren't far from where the beast is. You'd best be ready to kill. They'll put you down in one of the longboats to chase it, so start praying to the Gods for calm water."

[Kidney]

Hugo, settled there, ushered by Tavi in body, was abstractly non-present in spirit. He could have called it Clairvoyance, how perfectly ingrained the image of Tobin, Reborn existed in his mind. There was kinship to be had, between Hugo and him, though, not in body. Only in spirit. 

Hugo returned to his own mind with a small jolt, murmuring nothings into the empty air, led by Tavi down to the cell of which broke him. The quiet was deafening, no chaos, nothing to savor or see, the same, again and again. "If I were like him," Hugo pointed behind himself, in reference to Tobin, "I would have a reason to act so stupid." He sulked, pity for himself was all he wanted to have at this moment, until he caught sight of his belongings by the cell. 

He broke free of Tavi's sphere of influence, rushing to grab his outfit with grateful hands, taking the soft fabric to his face, rubbing it in them, soft, smelling sweet. "I missed you." He said, holding it close. He reached then for Tavern Tuned, the dented lute that lay underneath his clothing, plucking one out-of-tune string. "I missed you too, Fraulein." 

[EloHim]

[Volundr]
"Ha, longboats. If that thing sinks ships - whoever gets on the longboat to confront it is dead meat. Or bait. So put Hugo there, make him bleed a little and watch the magic happen."
The sea serpent sunk ships. Else it would not be hunted. It made this area its own. Simple longboats are going to be sunk in a single bite. That's what his gut told him anyway. He would be secretly glad to be mistaken but...it just can't be smaller than this ship thing now, can it?

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

To say the Ursa's ritual was unpleasant would have been an understatement; what irony was to be had in hunting down a monster of occult and Dark design by coercing a creature of occult and Dark design? The jeering of the crew at his tension went over his head, though their warnings of the noise did not; he was keen enough to heed it and had quickly clasped his hands over his ears though the task seemed futile with the shudders that reached to his core.

He'd not encountered such a maddening creature, nor such coercion before... Deals struck with such monstrosities were oft made of ephemeral substance, yet the silvery writhing mass the crew insisted to refer to as Tobin seemed more of primordial flesh than paracausal cosmic design or primal elemental shape.
The nonchalance of the ordeal is what truly shook the Ex-Lord, as the crew dispersed and prodded the creature as if it were merely some elephant at a circus.

Yet there seemed to be no threat just yet, even with the tensions mounting; he had more than a fistful of queries for the Captain, but knew better than to interrupt the finer details of processes concerning the occult... But he did lower his spear, at least to rest at his waist as he moved to stand at his stolen nook aside the stairs leading to the helm.
The vibrations still rung through him like a phantom soul, and the amulet at his breast, for once, quivered and failed to console. He wished dearly to have Tilly's daggers with him, in her hands or his own... With a haggard sigh he settled onto the floorboards with his spear crutched into his arm, as he made to down the rest of his meal for the Night; his eyes set on the Captain, trying to focus on questions he truly needed answered.

In truth, questions that might help him for the Crew's inevitable fall to madness. He only hoped the Crew were not a part of whatever design summoned this serpent they were meant to hunt... snake's oft coiled on and on unto themselves, biting their own tail. A base paranoia rivetted him in his consumption, thoughts that swam from heart to mind...