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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Jun 18, 2008 22:22:07 GMT -5
At least an hour, maybe more, had passed since Wraith wended away from the sanctuary of the Gatehouse. It was dark and cold -bitterly so - and a thick, rank haze had settled in over the slums. Huddled beneath her cloak with a small light, cast onto a tarnished copper coin, to illume the way ahead, she hurries down familiar streets, side-stepping the mud puddles and keeping her head low. The rain had stopped at least, but the mist was cold, and the frosty air cut like a knife through her damp clothes.
Turning off the main throughfare, and hurrying past the hunkering dump that was Orsmonder's Meats, she stops when she hears a wretched cry pierce the night. It came from the direction of the Weary Spirit Infirmary; more specifically, Boneyard Pond out the back.
A slow shudder crawls down the tiefling's spine. She'd seen the horrors Ridnir Tetch housed in that place. She didn't even want to think about what would cause such a terrible cry. Drawing her cloak tighter about her thin shoulders to block out the bitter chill, she hurries on again.
Just around the corner from the stinking, saggy slaughterhouse she stops before the ricketty cellar door that marked Hilathic's kip. Picking up a rock - it was a chunk of rubble from an old house that collapsed an age ago - she hurls it at the cellar door. She considered knocking, but maybe he wouldn't hear her? She also considered testing the handle, and creeping inside. But if she did that, he might think her an intruder and try to kill her, before he even realised who she was.
Their last parting hadn't exactly been a friendly one. The thought of him hurting her now, even if it was in self-defence, made her a little edgy. Still that doesn't stop her from picking up the next rock. She hurls it at the door. Still there was no reply. Wraith picks up another rock, prepares to throw it, and stops.
Maybe it would be better if I just tested the latch and walk inside? Surely he won't think I'm an intruder if I call out to him when I'm inside? Putting the rock down, Wraith glances to either side of her, just to be certain she hasn't attracted any unwanted attention, and creeps toward the cellar hatch. Testing the handle reveal it is unlocked. Good, she supposed, and began to ease it open.
The rusty hinges squeal in protest, creating such a horrific jarring noise, she was sure it would awaken the dead. Flakes of rust fall away from the weathered brown hinges. At last, after much nerve grating squealing, Wraith pulls the door open, and peers into the blackness. The stairs were so steep, beginning at the lip of the old portal, and plunging down into the abyssal darkness. She hesitates, again wondering if this is such a good idea.
"Hilathic?" She calls out in a timid voice, and begins her slow, cautious descent. Each step she places carefully in front of the other, bracing her hands on either side of the passage - it was very narrow, at least, which should make navigating the darkness a little easier - or else one wrong step would send her sprawling head first down the stairs. "Are you down here, cutter? I've got some information for you that I think you will find useful."
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Post by hilathic on Jun 19, 2008 22:49:22 GMT -5
Hilathic's home isn't much for appearances. Just around the corner from Orsmonder's Meats is a cellar door; the stairway within descends two stories into a section of the catacombs beneath the city streets. The tenement consists of a single room: a slanted hallway, seven feet across and fifty feet long, its ceiling barely six feet high. In the corner furthest from the door is a pile of old rags to serve as mattress and blankets. Along the opposite wall, a small puddle collects mud that smells faintly of rendered animal runoff from the slaughter room above.
Hilathic stretches in the darkness hearing the screech of metal on metal and the soft foot falls on the stairs above him. Grabbing his harmonica from next to him he quickly moves to the end of the hall preparing a bolt to surprise the intruder with.
"Hilathic? Are you down here, cutter? I've got some information for you that I think you will find useful."
Hilathic's heart stopped in his chest. It was Wraith? What was she doing here? "Yes. I am here Wraith. Come on down. I am sorry there are no lights. I really do not need them. We should probably get a lantern for when we bring Maarak down here."
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Jun 23, 2008 22:07:55 GMT -5
Hilathic's heart stopped in his chest. It was Wraith? What was she doing here? "Yes. I am here Wraith. Come on down. I am sorry there are no lights. I really do not need them. We should probably get a lantern for when we bring Maarak down here."Wraith hesitates on the stairs and swallows back the tightness in her throat. Yes, Marrak... they'd have to deal with him sooner or later. Her hands tremble as she unbuckles her satchel, and rumages around inside the worn leather bag until she finds the scroll-case she needed. Taking it out and securing the straps again, she carefully descends the stairs one at a time until she reaches the bottom. The glowing coin she holds aloft barely penetrates the blackness, but she hears the tiefling well enough. True, she could find her way in the dark without the light, but for some reason this offered her more comfort than relying upon the infernal gift of her father. Wraith inches forward again, allowing Hilathic's voice to guide her until she stops a few feet away from him. She clutches a plain bone scroll-case in her trembling right hand. "I hope you're literate, basher, because I'd hate to... have to describe all of the details to you." She swallows hard, and begins to tremble visibly. "Though I made the, ah... diagrams as... as detailed as I could... possibly manage." The last few words come out tight and strained, as though it was a real effort for her just saying them. It was. Tears spring to her eyes again, and begin to flow silently down her pale cheeks. |
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Post by hilathic on Jun 30, 2008 11:23:05 GMT -5
Looking over the diagrams Wraith has presented him, Hilathic strains hard not to smile and to keep a somber tone. That bastard was about to get what was coming to him, and he was gonna squeal like a pig and tell them everything they needed to know.
"Aye. I can read well enough. These really are excellent. You must be a very good physician." Hilathic tries to steer the conversation back to the positive. He could see she had begun to cry again, maybe she did not have the strength to do what needed to be done. Yet she was so brave, he could do what was needed, he would do what was needed, and he could sense she knew that.
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Jul 3, 2008 23:48:42 GMT -5
Looking over the diagrams Wraith has presented him, Hilathic strains hard not to smile and to keep a somber tone. That bastard was about to get what was coming to him, and he was gonna squeal like a pig and tell them everything they needed to know. "Aye. I can read well enough. These really are excellent. You must be a very good physician." Hilathic tries to steer the conversation back to the positive. He could see she had begun to cry again, maybe she did not have the strength to do what needed to be done. Yet she was so brave, he could do what was needed, he would do what was needed, and he could sense she knew that. Wraith trembled visibly as she watched Hilathic unroll the parchment sheets, and scanned the neatly inked diagrams within. Her heart sank when she saw him smile. Or at least, she thought she saw him smile. Maybe her own feelings about this whole sordid affair, had affected her so much she was beginning to see and imagine things that weren't there. Maybe her grip on sanity had slipped further than she realised. This wouldn't be the first time she'd lost the plot... and paranoia seemed to be the calling card of madness, or worse. As the minutes ticked by and she felt her own anxiety and revulsion grow into something terrible, she almost considered snatching the parchment away from Hilathic. It certainly would've been the right thing to do; tearing the hideous diagrams up, and calling this whole thing off. It was simply too disgusting to consider. His words, though they were intended to reassure her, horrified her even more. It made a mockery out of everything she'd strived to achieve, not only for the betterment of others, but to prove how wrong Ridnir Tetch's was. Now she was prepared to do the same sodding thing! What was she thinking? Was she insane? Who the hell did she think she was, if she thought she could heal and help with one hand, only to hurt and maim with the other? Did she seriously think she could get away with this, or walk away from it unscathed? Hipocrite! Vivisectionist. Tanar'ri whore... That damning voice hissed in the back of her head. "No!" Wraith screamed, lurching toward Hilathic as though she intended to snatch the parchment away from him. "This cannot be. Surely there's got to be another way?" Seized by a sudden panic, clearly torn between what her heart told her was right and wrong, and what Hilathic might think of her if she backed out now, she staggers back into the wall instead. Sobbing uncontrollably as the weight of what she allowed to happen came crashing down on top of her, she slides to the floor, and buries her face in her hands. |
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Post by hilathic on Jul 5, 2008 0:54:19 GMT -5
Not even needing to bend to take Wraiths chin in his hand and force her to look up at him, Hilathic speaks, "There maybe another way. But... I do not know what that way is. I have been taught to punish cruelty with greater cruelty. Even though every moment I am near you my heart changes, the things I have done have now become distasteful and I am beginning to hurt, this still feels right. They must pay for what they have done to Aerin." Hilathic pauses a moment and lets Wraith's chin go as he takes his tail into his hand and fidgets with it while he continues. "I used to think I was also doing this for you. Now I know I am not. You are a strong, capable woman who has endured horrible things. You do not need me. Aerin though, he needs me. He needs me to be his friend, and care for him as a father would care for him. To help protect him as a father would protect him. In my heart, I know the best way to protect him is to make those mother fuckers pay for what they have done. They will learn fear. This I promise."
Hilathic lets his tail fall to his side as tears stream down his face. Hilathic tears the diagram in two. "I don't need this. I do need you though. I need your help getting Marrak. I need you..."
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Jul 6, 2008 22:38:23 GMT -5
He had her the minute he said Aerin needed him as a friend, and a father. It was true, though. After all that had happened within the last week - indeed, earlier that evening when she felt she was abandoning her son with Hadrian - Wraith was forced to admit she couldn't do this on her own anymore. The burden was too great to carry.
To complicate matters, Aerin wasn't the happy, bubbly child he used to be. Marrak and his cronies in the cult shattered his mind, leaving behind the vacant, vapid shell who scarcely recognised his own mother. Yet he'd taken a shine to Hilathic immediately.
And the truth of that crushed Wraith's fragile spirit. Aerin was her boy, not Hilathic's! But the fact remained, etched on the tiefling's face, who stood before her, proclaiming how much her son needed him... and how much he needed her.
Hilathic had her when he said Aerin needed a father, and she knew it. What boy didn't need a father figure? But the minute he said he needed her, and the tears streamed down his face, Wraith caved in.
Her fate, and her son's fate, it seemed, were sealed with his. Would this be such a bad thing, to know she had someone she could care for? Someone who could care for herself and her son in turn? Someone who could help her heal the rift in her tiny, broken family? Someone who could help restore Aerin's mind, and bring back some semblance of the boy he once used to be?
Looking upon the small tiefling, her mirror-image and a man she'd grown to adore more than she probably should, Wraith knew she would do anything for him; not for herself, but for her son.
"I-I need you too, Hilathic. More than anything else. I need you to help me. But more importantly I need you to be there for my son." Refusing to meet his sad gaze, Wraith stares down at the torn diagrams scattered on the floor before her, and wonders what this might mean; for them, and Marrak once they finally caught him.
Using the wall for support, Wraith slowly rises to her feet and stumbles toward Hilathic. She wraps her arms tightly around him and pulls him close. Her heart is racing, and each breath escapes her lips in cold, shaky puffs. Her clothes are still a little damp from the rain, and cold to the touch, just like the rest of her.
Clinging to Hilathic with cold, shaking fingers, Wraith shivers again, and nuzzles his neck for warmth. "Thankyou. For everything you have done for us."
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Post by hilathic on Jul 11, 2008 19:22:07 GMT -5
(ooc: I'm not sure if more needs to be said here.)
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Jul 14, 2008 6:18:20 GMT -5
(ooc: I'm not sure if more needs to be said here.) Agreed. I think all that needs to be done here is decide what to do next in character.  Alternatively, to keep things moving at a faster pace, we could just assume they make these plans after this scene closes. |
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Post by hilathic on Jul 14, 2008 7:28:06 GMT -5
I like the end to this, it seems inappropriate to me for Wraith to be thanking Hilathic, and I love that. I agree for expediencies sake we move on with the plans that we have in place. We can concentrate on other things once we get this sort of wrapped up.
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Post by Uathach Blackmantle on Jul 14, 2008 11:21:52 GMT -5
I like the end to this, it seems inappropriate to me for Wraith to be thanking Hilathic, and I love that. I agree for expediencies sake we move on with the plans that we have in place. We can concentrate on other things once we get this sort of wrapped up. ooc: Got any ideas what should happen from here then? I've started something up in the Hall of Records, because that's where Wraith will start looking for Marrak. |
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Post by hilathic on Jul 14, 2008 17:23:35 GMT -5
I think that is the perfect next step.
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Post by Stix on Jul 14, 2008 17:25:52 GMT -5
ooc: Got any ideas what should happen from here then? I've started something up in the Hall of Records, because that's where Wraith will start looking for Marrak. (I'll point out that he lives in your old house.  ) |
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Post by john on Jul 14, 2008 22:18:45 GMT -5
(An that John will happily evict him. With lots of power violence.)
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)