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Post by Vanitypirate on Jul 30, 2018 0:29:28 GMT -8
"They'd much like to kill my Love, too."
It was a compelling argument, at the least. And Tilly reasoned that it was hard to stab someone while shackled.
There was Lekalis to proofread her letters.
But it was the touch of emotion that was the most persuasive. Even while they struggled to stab each other first, she had never quite seen that smoldering fury in Sicherlein... granted, she wore a mask at the time, but it wasn't her expression that betrayed it.
She rubbed a finger beneath the band of her hat, frowning...
"We're expecting a little one-- a baby." The words still felt alien and unreal, concerning a fate that seemed so far away. "All I want is to raise my own bloody family like anyone else. Hence the... stabbage and all. Apologies for that, by-the-by, but..."
She stepped forward to shift Sicherlein's pillows, strategically positioning them so that when the woman would inevitably pass out, she'd do it on something comfortable.
"If the Gunsches kill any one of us three, the guards will have your head. Likewise if you betray us." She stepped back and slipped her hands into her pockets.
"But if we can make it out of this unscathed and unbothered, I think it'd be fair to let you go free after all that."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Jul 30, 2018 0:39:20 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
The Woman's life was well and theirs, here and now... He was hardly one to vie for an execution, but now... Especially so, he stood away from such a declaration. It seemed they had aligned interests, something that was surprisingly hard to find in a backwater dirge that was the Darkest Estate.
He cast a glance to Tilly, evermore impressed by her decisions; it was a simple thing, but he rather agreed with Tilly. In times like these, he more wondered how they got on without eachother than how they'll survive together.
Lekalis gave a simple affirming nod as he crossed his arms over his chest and bowed his head in thought.
\\
/Sicherlein/
It surprised Sicherlein, in the worst way possible, to know that she'd done as much as she did without knowing... Without even contemplating the possibility that Tilly might be with child.
Sicherlein wished she could surmise more than a cocked brow in surprise, but her nausea began to grow fierce, and one Tilly sometimes bloomed into two.
"That's... That's... I'm so sorry." She stammered, her hand raising to palm at her forhead, only to be stopped short by the chains. She hunched the rest of the distance.
"I didn't know-- You don't have to let me go." Sicherlein tried to find her words but her tongue felt utterly useless. A state she was becoming unwantingly familiar with.
"I've done a... A horrible thing..." She murmured sadly, she laid down but she didn't realize it.
"... I should be dead... Dead, dead, dead..." She spoke on, her hand falling to cover her belly as she shut her eyes and seemed to slip into slumber.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Jul 30, 2018 1:02:07 GMT -8
"Ah, no, no, you're--..."
And then Sicherlein was asleep. Tilly figured it was for the best.
She 'hmm'd a touch worriedly, and brushed off the front of her coat again, a second time. Turning about to go and sheepishly confront the revelation with the guard, praying that he wasn't the sort to gossip...
That may be for the best, too, in the end; ensuring that those who could protect herself and her Love knew first. That's how she comforted herself.
"Right... so, maybe we keep her here and sort out that Cross fellow ourselves? Keeping in mind that... beheading I talked about." She curled her fingers into a nervous, loose fist in her coat pockets, and then uncurled them.
"You and the guard'll be able to eliminate him, won't you?"
--
Meriwether grimaced; the thought of tangling with Cross was decisively the most unpleasant one to cross his mind in a while.
He would be easy to take down, at least. The doctor was a teetering old man.
"I... may be able to arrest him. Once the next shift comes in..."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Jul 30, 2018 1:07:31 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"I need to tell Florence our plans... She's daft enough to walk smack in the middle of it all without a passing thought." He muttered with a sigh, bringing his hand up to palm at his brow before he glanced to Tilly and Sicherlein, then to Meriwether.
"I think keeping her here is best, aye." He approved, falling back into the sways of the present conversation with a nod as he brought his hands about to rest loosely over his waist.
"I appreciate your help, Meriwether. You have anymore names to that, Merry? Or is it just that?" He asked quickly, with a growing smile that warmed his tone.
"The Heir could do well to know of good men like yourself.", Lekalis reached out and patted the boy on the shoulder before assuming a spot by Tilly's side.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Jul 30, 2018 1:29:47 GMT -8
"Erh... no sir. Just Meriwether." Meriwether shook his curly head, furrowing his brow, uncertain if he was about to face another proposition for a private guarding...
"The Heir doesn't pay us guards much nevermind. It's always about you mercenaries..." He shrugged his shoulders, glancing between the three of them for the moment, uncertain how to proceed...
After a moment, he added hastily, awkwardly,
"Uh, congratulations... also."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Jul 30, 2018 1:33:30 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
He was caught off guard for a moment, cocking his head to one shoulder before he 'ah'd, remembering his Love's burden at the time. He paid Her a loving glance before setting an arm lightly about her waist to hold her close, he nodded,
"Aye, much obliged, Just Meriwether." He approved cheekily, he rose a brow to Tilly before he spoke,
"... We... Best get going." He supposed.
Awkwardness seemed to spread fast as the plague.
Lekalis cleared his throat, looking to the door,
"Ah, let me--" He stepped away from Tilly to open it up; he looked to Meriwether, then Tilly, unsure as to who should depart first.
"-- Are you... Going anywhere or... You're just gonna..?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Jul 30, 2018 1:39:49 GMT -8
Meriwether weakly rose an arm to gesture to the door before letting it fall limply at his side again.
"I... have to guard 'til the next shift comes." Explained the guardling, making to rub the back of his neck.
Tilly was content to silently endure the regrettable valedictory exchange with a grimace and an averted gaze.
That was, until the moment she could not take it anymore and said,
"Right-o, thank you for the help, Just-Meriwether." Cutting across the room and out the door with a few swift strides, "Let's get going, now."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Jul 30, 2018 1:44:44 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
With a thin-lipped smile adopted from his Lover Dearest, he nodded,
"Right-o, tatty bye." He declared stiffly, though with evermore grace than most men might state after such a rigid exchange. Lekalis followed his Love out the door and shut the door promptly, perhaps with a bit too much zeal as it echoed down the hallway.
He flinched and swept up beside Tilly before anyone could think to blame him for the matter, he wrapped his arm 'neath her jacket and about her waist, finding security in the hold there immediately.
"I'd marry you twice if I could..." Lekalis remarked haphazardly, looking as innocent as he could of the loud door and the scenario they'd left. He was more than happy to put thoughts of assassins and Sicherlein behind him, for now.
"... Where'll we get off to then? I'd forgotten how disorienting reading can be." he chuckled in a half jest as he took in a breath and held Tilly closer still.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Jul 30, 2018 1:55:29 GMT -8
It was indeed satisfying to resolve so many issues at once: that of guards, and their assassins... all of it had a solution bestowed by one fell swoop.
Retirement, Tilly supposed, had a certain way of reshuffling one's priorities. She had forgotten how creative she could be when violence was not an option.
Things were not as bleak as they seemed.
"There's nothing stopping you." Chuckled Tilly into a kiss that she aimed innocently at his cheek, hopping some on her toes to land it squarely there.
"We'll have to go speak with Florence, won't we? And then... we'll have to start getting ready for the wedding, too. We haven't got clothes yet."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Jul 30, 2018 2:01:57 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"Mmm, new clothes, aye..." Lekalis supposed abit dreamily, smiling widely at the peck of the cheek as he found himself rather quickly at the Sanitarium's entrance; its dire confines seemed to lose their grim and bluster in lieu of Love. With all the worry that came with his True Love, he found the boons to ever outweigh them.
The Ex-Lord stopped Tilly shy of a waiting bench and leant his shoulder to the wall, his arm lax for Tilly to find her own rest as he spoke on,
"... I think I might wait here. Florence can be awfully punctual, and... perhaps you might find me something that's, well--" Lekalis pinched at the collar of his cloak,
"-- Not red. It's a frightful addiction I don't think I'll rightly get over, even for you." He remarked with a mocking pout.
Though, regardless of where Tilly went, he slipped his hand to her belt buckle, making to pull her close to whisper quickly and quietly,
"I spied an unlocked closet or two... I doubt anyone would notice if we found ourselves there for a moment or two..." He impressed upon her salaciously, letting her buckle free so he might lean back with a cheeky smirk and a proposing cocked brow.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Jul 30, 2018 2:11:30 GMT -8
"We just--"
Tilly clamped her mouth shut as her gaze flashed about the lobby.
Respectively, she lowered her voice.
"All the nurses here know me, and we've a perfectly good house." She made to look stern, but a wide grin still managed to slip through her stony expression.
"Oh, no, you'll have to find some other way to pass the time. You could ask the receptionist to pass Florence the message?"
She traced a hand inconspicuously teasingly up his arm, and then to tug at the collar of his cloak.
"'Sides, the tailor'll need your measurements and all."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Jul 30, 2018 2:20:50 GMT -8
/Lekalis/ " All the Nurses?" Lekalis guffawed incredulously, tossing his head back as if it had been the worst news he'd heard this week, he let his head rest against the stones, Tilly's grin spread to his own as he wasn't even a quarter as perturbed by her decision as he showed. "Our ' perfectly' good house is in bloody ruins and I can see through the bloody walls of that shack we'd holed up in." Lekalis rolled his eyes, letting a bit of Lordly privilege show in his tone and crossed arms. "It'll have to be a stern message though, for Florence. She touched a stinking, rotting corpse when I'd told her not to... You'd think the fact it was black and bubbling would be enough of a warning, let alone some semblance of respect." Lekalis lamented with a humm at the end, cocking his brow then nodded, as he clasped a hand over Tilly's. "I can't imagine wanting to be in a closet with anyone with you, that's true..." He mused distantly, "... Fine, fine; we'll find ourselves a tailor and attire, but I'd like to be here before nightfall. That's when I'm meant to see Florence, I believe." His tone was punctual but sweet at the remark as he pointed at the Sanitarium floors, letting Tilly's hand free. He shoved himself away from the wall and motioned to the receptionist, "Go on then, I'll meet you on the Streets..." Lekalis declared with a huff and grunt as he stuck his thumbs into his own belt, fixing the trousers about as he made his way over to leave the Sanitarium. \Lekalis departs to the Misc Buildings.\ |
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Aug 6, 2018 0:39:57 GMT -8
/Cross/
He stared through slightly hooded lenses; fogged from a practiced anticipation, as he loomed over his large array of precariously mounted and dangerously filled glass spheres, each attatched to one or the other with narrowing glass funnels that transmitted this or that hued fog with the slightest sigh of the billows which the Tall Doctor carefully operated.
Each hiss and hum marked a shift this way or that. To and fro red fog wound with pale breeze and the dark miasma bound it all, at the lowest of spheres.
Each played their part, as he distilled and mixed the necrotically born fungii... Sanguinare solcuplaria lay on a hot iron, its red strands slowly curling as its moisture was evaporated. Obitum atramentalus , was set within a small pouch of leather, with a glass viewport letting Cross ensure the oily puffball of a mushroom was being harvested correctly.
And last, of course, was the elusive Calligoso Nixanima, which he kept secure in an iron box and... rather simply hoped and observed its harvest as he stoked the small coals beneath it.
He kept a small tune in his mind as he watched the humors mix and mingle, the array of glass arranged in ways much like the anatomy he'd reaped the substances from. Though on a much smaller scale, shy of a meter, the glass contraption was his proudest make but many had called it madness.
Yet here he stood, watching the madness distill itself into a singular capsule, no smaller than a man's littlefinger. He guided the fogs to the dropper, and pressed them into the capsule with a small match, before he shut the capsule and snuffed the match.
Cross sighed, knowing his last breath was past his working memory, and thus saw to disassembling the various containers.
He shuffled over blank cobblestone floors, and pushed aside an empty chair. Many of his notes lay safely organized upon a distant table... He sneezed, within his mask, and scrunched his shoulders; stiff though, were his hands and arms as he sighed, sniffling as he worked off the various containers.
He slowed, as he looked about his cleanly lab... Much had changed since Florence had seen to sending him those notes. And, frustratingly, Cross had been left without the knowledge translated, as he'd sent them off and away on the carriage; he'd been given gold, funds enough to feed himself and the like, so he assumed the news was good.
But he had failed to hear news of any grand accomplishments or praise from anyone. Only grim looking sacks of leather in the hands of a messenger boy.
It drew his lips thin across his tightskinned face, a hard line of frustration that only had him focus more on the task at hand.
Indeed, in rather a quick fashion, the device was disassembled, except for the glass which still set upon a large working table he'd recently requested. It was better than most had to work with, but far from a proper lab table... But he was happy for what he had.
Success, like a falcon, like fungii, must be cultivated carefully and slowly, he knew... With a sigh, he shuffled over to the planter boxes set near a tall window, where he'd carefully concealed and grew the various fungii he'd just worked with.
The Gunsches didn't need him, he knew... But it still brought enough coin for some frivilous expenditures and, someday, another lab. A proper one, perhaps better even.
With little to do but wait for Florence's next batch of notes, Cross shuffled over to a small ring of stones and a fire, near the window (which he opened promptly, diligently). The coals still popped as he stirred them with his cane, and the stew above the shut pot bubbled quietly.
With some small mercy on his knees, Cross found a seat by the small fire and stoked the flames, listening for the stew to brew...
\\
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Post by Vanitypirate on Aug 6, 2018 1:10:01 GMT -8
It was a grim, albeit unsurprising revelation to Meriwether that the guard was shortstaffed in the wake of the Hamlet's raid. It was unsurprising in that the guardling hardly had any time in the day for anything other than sleeping and patrolling, and that the empty beds in the bunkhouse had become more plentiful as time wound on.
He'd gotten a slight pay raise in light of it, but it was never about the pay for Meriwether.
It was gratifying in itself to help so many people with such simple iron tools, all he had to offer. But he tried with all his might and endeavored to be at least a drop of moral uprightedness in an otherwise cutthroat town.
That was why he was here, in the Sanitarium again, alerting the nurse his whereabouts and asking for directions. Bereft of any guards at his side, he had guessed that his sole swordarm was enough for a fragile, old man to comply.
Lead down a hallway, he thanked the nurse and asked that she relay the information, notes, and all to the Warden of the Dark. She left in haste, and he doubted that it was because she was eager to tell the Warden the news.
Facing the door, now, he sucked in a breath and knocked thrice on a point up high on its surface.
"Doctor Cross!"
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Aug 6, 2018 1:17:50 GMT -8
/Cross/
The sudden rapping upon his chamber door brought the raven's mask of Cross swivelling about with a twitch; he'd not known any visitor to strike his door so fiercely, no one with such youth.
With a sigh, Cross stood up, he couldn't say how long he'd sat but his knees popped all the same. It was rejuvenating this time, as he flexed the weariness from his bones. The inlaid metal braces creaked for a moment, a bitter reminder among many as he approached the door without a word as his can tapped strikingly against the cobblestone floor. Echoing within the chamber before the rapped door.
"Is there trouble?" Cross asked tiredly, his voice more a loud whisper than a shout, as he ran his hands over the locks of his door. He'd forgot to set them, and he scolded himself internally as he curled his fingers about the iron handle and pulled it open.
His mask wilted to one side as he spied the garb of a guard and the body of a boy, a blade at his hip.
"I believe I've paid all dues to The Heir and The Sanitarium... Is The Guard in need of fresh salary too?" He chuckled dryly as he rested his hands atop his cane and leant his weight on it, peering into Meriwether's eyes like a raven to a corpse.
He hummed and muttered something to himself before he leant back to his full willowing giant's height.
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