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Post by azmoham on Apr 17, 2018 18:58:36 GMT -8
The man stepped into the room, a single brow still arched but lowering as he examined the small room. It was an unbeautiful accommodation to be sure, but it kept the weather out, which would be enough. He had no doubts that with Blood lending his meticulous eye to the construction it would turn out to be as sturdy and handsome place as any normal village home. Jacques smiled benignly, and leaned a bit on his staff,
"Hmm, still has the bathhouse eh? Perhaps that'll be my first stop, long walk after all."
He shrugged, thinking back on his memories of the abbot, where the bathhouse was currently located. It was a modest church by most standards, and he had never seen it full. Then again, he was hardly the type to be about on days of worship, not quite his forte and all that.
"I'm sure it'll be lovely."
He nodded.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Apr 17, 2018 19:17:39 GMT -8
Tilly wondered how many difficult revelations she'd have to make in this week alone.
She nodded with a distant, "Mhm," and her fingers danced along her coat lapels, as though to triple-check that they were smooth and straight.
Her interest seemed to be acute piqued by a half-loaf of bread on the table. "...So, first thing's first, I suppose. I'd be more covert and polite about the whole thing, but it... sort of complicates this magic-trouble I've found myself in."
She cleared her throat and hastily grabbed at the bread.
"So I'm expecting a baby."
Tilly extended the bread out to Jacques and waggled it enticely.
"Bread?"
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Post by azmoham on Apr 17, 2018 19:29:30 GMT -8
He squinted at her for a moment, as if not quite believing what he heard.
"Well, that's a bit fast, not to discredit your relationship. It's just that it seems to me that, well, you would want to wait to have the home set up before bringing a child in, yes?"
He scoffed and swatted the air as if dismissing the idea.
"Pahh! What do I know? I'm sure you and Bloo-ahem, Lekalis will do just fine. now, you mentioned that had something to do with the magic business?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Apr 17, 2018 19:51:00 GMT -8
The hand that held out the bread wavered a small amount before rescinding it entirely.
"Ah, well... it wasn't really intentional. Bit of a surprise... hence the whole, rushed... wedding." Tilly mumbled and then trailed off, placing the bread exactly, squarely in the center of the table.
She planted her hands, next, into her coat pockets in an effort to cease their fidgeting.
"Turns out the reason he's called Blood and is even alive today is 'cause he's got a blood-curse of sorts; he gets visions and his nose bleeds, and when something's about to kill 'im, there's a red-cloaked ghost that takes over for the moment until it's gone."
Tilly shifted her weight to one leg. It was becoming easier to talk.
"All I know is that you can spread it by being in very close contact with someone else. We hardly know anything about it, but I've been having visions of halls with... meat stretched over them, and nosebleeds and all-- and on this last expedition, the red-ghost made me move like... some sort of bloody marionette to help me kill this ugly, sea-beast. I could watch my arms move, but I couldn't control them."
She let out a tense sigh; it certainly didn't please her to recount the story.
"...I'm worried, really worried, that this might... affect my little one, too-- to be brought up under a curse. And even now I can still feel it telling me to go back to the dungeons and to slay more of those monsters for some reason I can't even begin to fathom. Lekalis and Florence have been working to sort it all out for some time now, as it were, but this isn't some disease-- this isn't for a sodding doctor."
She smiled half-heartedly and looked to Jacques,
"So that's where you come in."
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Post by azmoham on Apr 18, 2018 20:42:08 GMT -8
He suddenly wished he he'd opted for the chair as he felt a strange sense of dread and malaise wash through him. He clenched the staff, till his thin fingers looked like bone.
"Ahh. Indeed."
he murmured, brows pushing against one another as various expressions of concern and intense thought rolled across his face.
"Well, that is indeed quite the conundrum. My first thought would be that the amulet in question is the result of some form of...barter. A deal passed down through the family, promising glory in the battlefield in exchange for your soul."
The man suppressed a shudder, lips tight.
"I don't suppose you have any tea about?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Apr 18, 2018 21:14:40 GMT -8
Tilly watched his face become shadowed with concern until she couldn't stand to watch, herself.
She averted her eyes to the corner of the room and gently shook her head, her smile fading.
"No, sorry; we haven't even got a teakettle yet."
She didn't expect the conundrum she was in to stump even Jacques. It was disheartening, to say the least. And there was a risk that not only her soul, but her own child's soul, was to be ensnared by some red-robed beast.
It made her chest tight.
"We could go to the tavern and find some tea there, if you'd like?"
Her palm pressed against her chin in thought, made meek in light of it all; she couldn't think of a time else in which she'd felt so powerless.
"...You do know how to fix this all, right?"
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Post by azmoham on Apr 19, 2018 9:57:46 GMT -8
Jacques shrugged.
"I have books and ideas, as to whether either will yield a solution is a different matter."
He answered. Truthfully, he was rather aback by the rather plain terms in which Tilly spoke of these things. He would require a more detailed account from all parties involved, especially Lekalis himself, as well as to study the object before he could even begin to hazard any possible solutions to this daunting issue.
"When is the child due?"
He asked, stroking his beard with his free hand.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Apr 19, 2018 10:07:12 GMT -8
Relieved, Tilly sighed again and made a small smile; there was at least something to be done, though not with her unskilled hands.
That prospect alone was discomforting, to be dependent on the actions of others.
"Florence says early in winter. About December, thereabouts."
She looked about her and imagined the shack they were currently in amidst the dead of winter. It was an unpleasant image. "We'll have a more established homestead long before then, I'm sure."
There was a pause, and at last she gave in to a nagging thought.
"...What happens when something else has your soul? Especially after you're dead?"
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Post by azmoham on Apr 19, 2018 10:17:34 GMT -8
Wondered when she'd get around to asking that one...
His face creased, balling like a piece of paper as he considered the question.
"I..."
He began, before trailing off. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, clearing his throat before looking back to her.
"I am unsure. I believe it depends on the nature of the arrangement. My own..."
He dropped off again, looking towards the ground with the slightest flush of embarrassment on his cheeks.
"Was not as I had thought. I gave parts of my soul for parts of his power, and in doing so chipped away at myself. The consequence, as you have well seen, is a most despicable madness and cruelty. Whether this is the case for all, or merely my own inclination, I cannot answer."
He stopped again, staring at her, but not meeting her eyes. It was a heavy truth he wrought, and he did not relish it as he once might've.
"You seem unchanged however. I imagine then that the deal struck with your own entity, assuming that is indeed the nature of this curse, likely meted a different exchange."
Just as he stopped speaking, a horrible, hoarse cough shook him, and he retrieved a large, off-white cloth from his pocket which he pressed against him mouth for a few moments. The fit passed in another dozen seconds or so, and yet he kept the cloth ot his mouth. He wiped his lips with it and folded it up, returning it to his coat pocket.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Apr 19, 2018 11:19:20 GMT -8
Tilly weathered this new information as one might withstand the rain: tense, head bowed with knitted brows.
She stared at her hand and curled and uncurled her fingers with some growing horror at what she had involved herself in.
"But we got you right back to norm--"
She winced heavily, her train of thought broken by the man's cough; it certainly sounded unpleasant.
"Are you alright?" She tipped her hat back and looked to him with concern, "Would you like me to go run and pick up some tea?"
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Post by azmoham on Apr 19, 2018 11:27:23 GMT -8
Jacques waved a hand as if fending off flies, clearing his throat again and forcing himself to stand a little taller, to appear less frail.
"I'm alright, although perhaps a change of location would be for the best?"
He offered, half turning towards the door as he spoke. As pleased as he was that Tilly was advancing to a life beyond the confines of mere mercenary work and the hovel was part of that, but he had to admit it was still not very pleasant.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Apr 19, 2018 11:35:28 GMT -8
"Right, yeah... we can run by the tavern first and grab a bite?"
With a nervous haste Tilly hurried forward, slinging her satchel over her shoulder.
Reaching out, she pushed open the door for herself and for Jacques.
"Nobody else knows about this curse-business, or the kid, or anything-- just that we're going to be getting married soon." She propped the door open with her heel and squished her hat down on her head.
"But! Your old room in the abbey's still fine and dandy if you'd rather that."
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Post by azmoham on Apr 23, 2018 4:55:40 GMT -8
The man shrugged, still running his fingers over the rough surface of his face.
"Anything safe, warm and dry will more than suffice for now."
He answered. His life in the village a few miles from the Hamlet had humbled him somewhat, or at least lessened his expectations of what sort of hospitality he could reasonably expect.
"I assume you plan to tell the others about your child at the wedding?"
He raised a brow, making to follow her to do door.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Apr 23, 2018 6:44:42 GMT -8
"A-at the wedding?" Repeated Tilly with some horror at the mere, disasterous thought.
"Good heavens, no. That'll tell them more than anything why the wedding's so quick, that we'd known before we wed..."
Like she'd tasted something unexpectedly sour, Tilly wore a fretful grimace on her face.
She quite enjoyed keeping the coming changes covert, but there would be a time in which she would be unable to do so.
She closed the door after Jacques had left, then double-checked for security that the door was properly closed.
"I don't... rightly know when I ought to tell the rest." She sighed, stepping preemptively forward, and then stopping.
"Tavern first? Or would you like to skip it?"
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Post by azmoham on Apr 27, 2018 16:56:32 GMT -8
He nodded, a faint look of consternation and contemplation still hanging on his face as they moved from the hut. He squinted, scanning the skyline for the familiar silhouette of the tavern against the sky.
"Sensible, I suppose. Although, given the nature of this place I highly doubt anyone would be in the position to judge..."
He mentioned, a single eyebrow raising as his thin shoulders shrugged.
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