Tales of the Betrothed (closed)

[Phantasmicrose2]

Voices, all around and all at once, above and below deck. Mineral-rich sands blowing over the briny river on air cooled by night and flowing water. Her skin, blistering hot despite the breeze, stuck to her dirty fur coat and cotton nightgown. Beneath her bones and in her blood the demon nestled, watching the world through her eyes, seeing for her, for both of them. Her fingers traced the knots and grooves of the carved wooden railing as the skiff traced the winding path toward the next haunted kingdom. She wondered what awaited them just over the horizon, and knew her strength would be needed regardless of what they faced next.

Sonya was aware that some of the voices were directed at her, but they might as well have been speaking another language. The feeling washing over her was becoming familiar but not less unwelcome. She'd pushed as long as she could without taking another's lifeblood as her own, and predictably her body was failing her once more. The time between kills grew less frequent with each, but the weight of them on her shoulders was crushing.

"How much longer do I have to keep this up?" she asked the wind as her fingers bore into the ship's railing, the white of her knuckles unseen next to the pale skin of her hands. She wiped the beads of sweat from her brow with the edge of a matted fur sleeve.

"However long it takes," The creature purred beneath her skin. "For us both, Sonya. I want your goals achieved as much as my own. We're in this together."

She laughed bitterly. That certainly wasn't untrue. Sonya wasn't going to skin her abuser alive and feed his skin to his dogs while he watched all on her own.

"Whoa," she breathed uneasily at the violence of the thought and pushed any others away, unsure if they really belonged to her or the creature within.

"Saving the world is my main goal," she affirmed to no one and everyone. "These royal brats can't do this alone."

Half their lot sounded ready to break down at any moment. Many already had. Sonya straightened her back despite the weakness creeping into her bones as the demon fed on her strength until she could provide someone else's. She combed a hand through her sweaty hair and gestured to the gathering of people among the deck of the skiff.

"How long until we reach our destination?" she called to no one in particular. The secret of her blindness was out to the group and there was no point in pretending she had any idea who was around her while her head was pounding so badly. "And can someone fetch me Reriic? Where is that little devil? Tell him I need... uh.. some lemon water and a cool towel and..." She just sort of waved her hands around vaguely and waited for him to appear by insufferable magic.

[Ariiadne]

вαṡhïɾαh❁
『 ℘rincess oƒ GRADIUS 』

The admission was, suffice it to say, unexpected. Her brow gave a short, brief jump, and her lips parted ever so slightly. But that was all she could manage before Kunal passed her.

He would not have heard her almost immediate, silent swivel between the crashes of the waves and the shrieks of the wind. Though he would feel her arm loop into his with a practiced ease. She glanced over her shoulder to Jean and Kora, sending them curt nods -- but nods all the same -- of gratitude. Her expression betrayed that she knew this situation wasn't over, but pushing her brother too much too soon would help no one. Bashirah hoped they also understood.

Something was different. She felt it as soon as she got close enough. A hum, a frequency she felt buzzing around Kunal, between the two of them. It sang at a different key. Jarring at first, but not entirely unpleasant.

"Yes. I am weary too. Let us rest, then."

[XSenkoX]

ℜ𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔦𝔠 ℑ𝔤𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔬𝔰
Second Son of Dradecus


Reriic had been awake since Elya exploded from their room, listening to Jean and Bashirah talk the corridor, and once they moved along he found his own way to the base of the stairs. He was restless just sitting in the cramped, vomit-smelling space that the elves shared and it stopped him from getting back to sleep, unfortunately. Meditation was useless when his mind couldn't escape the dread that any enclosed space could separate him from his magic and he was entirely unwilling to be idle with those thoughts. He felt a desire to run through his much-neglected magic lessons and was smart enough to recognize that he should practice in a space where he was less likely to punch a hole through the hull… but if tensions above deck were already heightened perhaps it made more sense for him to not show his face. His body already hurt from Annabel throwing him all around, the last thing he needed was to get into a fight with Kora as well because she was already mad. As a scholar, there was only so much abuse he could take in an evening.

He sighed and was about to turn around and stare at the ceiling next to Cin for a few hours instead when he caught his name in a raised voice. Sonya’s raised voice, to be exact. Her frivolous request, as if he was some lackey bound to her whims, catalyzed his various emotions into pointed anger that he so gallantly suppressed rather than stalking up there and flinging Sonya into the waters they drifted upon. Though such an act was sure to be satisfying, as would ignoring her to a lesser extent, they had an agreement and she needed to be shut up first and foremost. Reriic stepped onto the deck and scanned the clusters of people until he found the wretched woman standing blessedly alone.

He would never admit it, but he was glad for the distraction she provided and the excuse to be up in the fresh air.

Reriic mustered his manners, plastered on an icy smile, and hailed her with false cheer, "Alas, I bear no such gifts.”

He drew up to her side, linking their arms like it was the most natural thing in the world, and leaned against the railing. From this position of leisure he gazed at Sonya and a slow frown crept across his face as he took in the state of her. Disheveled and sweaty, she looked like a stiff breeze might do her in at any moment. Not that she looked healthy by any stretch of the imagination on a normal day, exactly, but this seemed different from that and Reriic couldn't entirely suppress the urge to fix whatever ailed her that his mother had drilled into him. Also, if Sonya died, her secrets went with her. It was unacceptable, really.

“You look terrible,” he informed her in a bland tone, in case she was unaware, “should I actually go look for water?”

[Professor-Zeitgeist]

Ƀΐʝɸυӿ ☠ Șᾰɱєɗΐ

Slowly, with each ragged breath Elya takes, Samedi begins to smile. "Dere ya go, cher." There's a gentle pride in her voice, or perhaps a satisfaction at seeing the poor thing finally start to settle back into her body. "Ya doin' real good. Keep at it, a'ight?"

She keeps her gaze on Elya's as she reaches for her canteen again. She holds it out to her, the fresh water inside sloshing invitingly as she gives it a little shake. Her jewelry chimes, too. "C'mon. Ya gotta replace those tears an' dat bile. It'll feel better when you do."

[Phantasmicrose2]

“You look terrible,” Reriic informed her in a bland tone, in case she was unaware, “should I actually go look for water?”

"Honestly," Sonya said with a weak but sincere laugh. "Probably."

The arm he linked through hers felt like stones weighing her down beneath water and her skin felt like glass ready to break if anyone looked at it wrong. She'd never looked so openly unwell. This particular trip between kingdoms had been a long one, and the lack of non-royal or companion blood to spill was becoming a serious problem. However frail she looked, however, Sonya was like a desert plant drying up until rain. She had no doubt her stowaway would act before it let its meatsuit perish and it was simply saving their collective energy by eating her up from the inside-out until it was time to strike. Sonya only wished to be the one steering the ship when that happened. Subtlety wasn't a known quality of otherworldly damned creatures.

"I'm feeling rather parched Reriic," She said through her teeth, turning them both to face the moving waters so their voices might be swept away from the little crowd forming on deck. There wasn't a place on this little boat for a moment of privacy to actually say what she wanted to say. She'd heard a new voice on board, maybe their new captain until they reached the next kingdom. Sonya severely disliked any newcomers being added to their little party, instantly suspicious of someone willing to jump in and help a bunch of mewling royal brats. That was her gig. Whispers at the back her mind told her no one would miss the woman if they though she parted ways when her delivery services were complete. Nothing suspicious there, and once the party reached whatever nightmare awaited them, they'd all be much too preoccupied too think twice about it.

"I'm really quite unwell, actually," Sonya emphasized unnecessarily with a manipulative pout, holding out her free hand between them over the railing of the skiff. She meant to show him the light tremble of her hand as it flicked free of the black fur sleeve. but instead she illuminated the dark, sickly stains at the tips of her fingers, black to gray like dusted charcoal from an artist's sketchpad.

"Did your mother ever tell you scary stories of the Dradecan underworld full of monsters and lowlifes? Cautionary tales meant to scare you away from fraternizing with criminals and whores or following strangers into dark alleys?" Sonya asked with a small smile in her voice like she was teasing him, but her hand moved to grip his wrist a little too tightly to keep their arms locked in place and prevent him from easily pulling away from their close proximity without a scene. She betrayed a bit of the strength she had left beneath her clammy skin and trembling grasp. The blood pumping in his arm beneath her palm gave her goosebumps and she let out a little breath. Her nails pressed into his skin like she considered breaking it but the moment she did, Sonya suddenly let go and jerked away like something electrocuted her.

We're both bound by the same rules darling the creature hissed inside her head. We cant spill royal blood. They're important, not you or I. Don't forget why we're both here. We're a sword or a shield for a king, an arrow or vial of poison for an assassin; whatever they need. Not us. Them.

Th entity never spoke so many words to her in one evening. Sonya didn't like how comfortable it was getting with the cadence of her inner monologue, like it was listening and studying her thoughts in the quiet hours while her mind drifted. She'd have to learn to tune it out.

"My mother used to tell my little sister and I such horrible stories," Sonya continued as if nothing happened, though she was standing a full pace from him now and her body was angled slightly away. "Of these creatures with elven faces but beastly hearts and desires that lurked in the eternal darkness, cursed to never see or touch the warmth of the sun or even the light of a flame. My mother was a maid for some wealthier folk such as yourself and would round up the children at night when they'd been staying out past their curfew, so I know your kind must've heard these tales too. She'd say if they stayed out after bedtime when good folk sleep, the bad folk would lure them into the sewer depths and drink their blood. If they were lucky, they'd die. And if they were unlucky...

Sonya smiled and gestured to herself. "They become something doomed, but powerful. That's what I took away from it, anyway. "

To be fair, Sonya wasn't entirely sure that what she was hinting to Reriic was an outright lie. She had no real idea of the true nature of her cursed bond and whatever shared her body, and she certainly hadn't asked for it by any sort of name, so maybe she was experiencing the origin of her mother's bedtime stories. She certainly had no intention of telling him the nature of her relationship with the entity and her inability to harm any of the royals. But he needed to be fed a few crumbs to stay interested in their own cooperative business.