The Abbey

[Shinzon]

"God damned people and their god damned lives", grumbled the man as he scratched his beard. It itched, after weeks upon weeks of a miserable life, drinking himself further away into oblivion, flagellating and breaking most of the room's furniture. Ever since he came back from that expedition, his beliefs had been shaken, his confidence shattered - just like his halberd, destroyed by that damned knight. And, when he had assembled to collect his courage, he was told that the man had been killed.
Killed. Without his help. Without his esteemed blessing to the slayer's hand!

Kicking the door open, he wandered along the Abbey's quarters. There were a few tasks people asked of him so that he would not be kicked out just yet, and he begrudginglydid them. Still, how was he supposed to sleep -well, rather, drink and weep- with so much commotion? Looking for the head of the Abbey's quarters, he found the door with her name carefully carved above it. He knocked against it three time, before looking down at the scroll in his hands. "I have the reports you asked for, where do I put them?" he asked in the most neutral tone he could muster. Shaking his head, he realized someone else was here, not far from him. The fuck you doing here at that time?

[Outisakanobody]

Grace rubbed at her eyes in frustration. She swings the door open, glaring at whoever was behind the door. "I will take them." she says, holding out her arms for the papers.

[Shinzon]

God,was she disheveled.
Nicholas handed out the reports to Grace, eyeing her, then the other man, then back to her. "Am I interrupting something?" he said in a cautious tone. An awkward silence settled in, before he finally sighed and pointed at the documents. "Letters from several convents have arrived, one of them wants to know where their vestal is. My order's in here somewhere - just look for the Iron Skull." 
With that, he looked around her room, visibly confused and lost. "So, uhm, do you need anything? I don't have anything to do, so helping might keep me occupied."

[Outisakanobody]

Grace's mouth formed a thin line as she looked at this man. She took the papers, but didn't look away from themessenger. "You are very presumptuous. What is your name? Why are you here?" she asks non too politely.

[Shinzon]

He sighed, and did his best to look presentable, despite the beer stains onto his tabard and his unshaven face. "Knight Nicholas of order of the Iron Skull, madam. Sent here for penance along with my friend, whom I haven't seal in a good time now."
Yeah, real good job being responsible of this Abbey if you can't keep tabs on whoever squats the rooms.

[Outisakanobody]

"Who might be your friend?" Grace asks, trying to get a hold of who was running about in her Abby these days.

[Shinzon]

"You probably don't know her", he said with care. "She used to be a vestal. Quite the hothead, determined. Went with me in an expedition in the ruins, where we encountered the blasted raven knight." Adjusting his tabard nervously, he straightened his stance and hoped to look as professional as possible in his current state. "Most people in this Hamlet mostly know her by her nickname, Maria."

[Outisakanobody]

"Sister Maria? I have met her. I visited her in the sanitarium. Very sweet girl. I do not remember her mentioning you." Grace says, tucking the papers under one arm and looking this man over again. She tried to wipe away some of her disdain and be more civil. "You have been staying here a while then. How have you found the abbey?" she asks by way of polite conversation.

[Shinzon]

"That she is", he said with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Although she doesn't want to have much to do with me. Our expedition went terribly, for I let a man die for his nature. I only seek to atone for it, but I lack will and weaponry." With that, he wiped some dust away from his clothes. "I've found the Abbey before our expedition, madam. Blessing my halberd in holy water seemed vital; the raven knight destroyed it without a care for its holiness." With that, a joyless smile passed onto his face. "I heard he died, though. Someone said it in one of the sermons here."

[Outisakanobody]

"Yes, he did. You know, son, violence is not always the way to atone for our sins. There may be other, better uses for your energy." Grace says, taking on a matronly tone as she lectures this boy.

[Shinzon]

"Eh, can you blame me?" he said as he opened his arms and shrugged, before directing his hands at himself. "Killing's all I've been doing. I used to be a cutthroat, then the convent found me and bashed me until I became another crusader. Can't say I blame them - I feel much better fighting for something that's worth it. But that's it; all I know is to fight." With that, he slapped his hand against his empty sheath. "Guess it's all I'll be doing in that dark, foul estate."

[Outisakanobody]

"I was once like you. Very much like you. I let myself fall into a rut full blood and gore, convinced I was serving thelight. But I found other ways, Nicholas. I am sure you have other skills, and there is much you can do beyond killing. The work may not seem glamorous at first, but I think you will grow to find it very rewarding." Grace says, more heartfelt than before, as she started to genuinely sympathize with this man.

[Shinzon]

"I hardly see potential in myself, madam - with all due respect!" he said as politely as he could. Eh, someone talking to him beside the occasional person taking him for a priest? Now, that was good. "Maybe there is, aye - but this place, it is a pit of darkness and terrors. I don't see anything else than combat and destruction; everything and everyone braces for the everlasting war in the bowels of the ruins, the warrens, the weald... everything reeks of the stench of heresy, witchcraft and mutation, and killing one foe spawns two more. It is an endless crusade, and I hardly see any hope here."
Falling silent after speaking his mind, he bowed his head lightly, clenching his teeth.
"Sorry for getting so grim."

[Outisakanobody]

"Every crusade is endless, take my word for it." Grace says sadly. "We often struggle to see what we are really capable of, so we must rely on others instead." she continues.

[Shinzon]

"I failed to keep my word, and now my friend's gone and wants nothing to do with me. How can I even rely on anyone else? Everything here is grim and treacherous. I wouldn't know where to sit safely."
His fingers ran along the sheath of his sword, his hands opening and closing, the man visibly nervous. "Perhaps it is our fate, then. So struggle and fight on against these abominations in an endless crusade. My lord-general used to say that fear denies faith; although I think that fearing the abyss is merely sanity."