Welcome to Gaia! ::

Leo had been leaning against the door for a couple of minutes but he stood up straight and clapped three times slowly. "What a delicious display of teenage angst and... whatever else." he said coldly. "Its not that I don't care Shaon, its just that this is a really bad time. After you throw up that alcohol, you might be able to hold this down better." He threw a bottle of skooma to her. "Its half a pint, and if you get addicted to the stuff, I'll have to personally kick your a**. You won't tire so easily and you'll find that you have ridiculous strength while you're on it... sort of like an adrenaline rush. But it comes at a price, you probably won't be able to do your necromancy until you come down off of the high."

Leo let that sink in for a moment while he looked at the faces of Shaon and Sydney. Truth had finally appeared after outfitting herself with various enchanted arrows and a fresh suit of Dark Brotherhood leather.

"Don't look at me like that Shaon." Leo said. "Dark Brothers have been using skooma since the days when the Night Mother was still flesh and blood. Its highly addictive as you know... so again be very careful."

He paused for a moment and could feel all of the sickening emotion in the room. He grabbed Shaon by the collar.

"This is not the time for feelings... do you understand that? Right now I need you, Sydney needs you, the Brotherhood needs you. You are a cold hearted assassin who can kill a perfect stranger in broad daylight without so much as a flinch, and without losing a wink of sleep over it. Ice runs through your veins. I've seen you feed on the lifeblood of your victims. Your blade is no virgin. Now is the time for killing... not feeling. Sithis and the Night Mother are here to guide us, and the only thing you need to feel is the Night Mother's cold embrace and the whispers of sweet nothings in your ear from Sithis as you end another miserable life."

He released her and then looked to Truth, who obviously only had the vaguest idea of what was going on, and looked uncomfortable.

"Truth, please go find us some worthy murderers." he said.

Only when Shaon was out of earshot, Sydney spoke to Leo.
"Give her a break... She's only young." He looked him in the eyes, waiting for a reply. He knew it probably wasn't going to be pretty.
"And skooma? There's no real need for skooma. One decides whether to be happy or sad. There is no need for illegal narcotics." He stayed quiet for a moment. "You're the one who said we need to keep a straight mind, skooma isn't going to help."

"She doesn't HAVE to use it Sydney." Leo said. "But given the circumstances, the euphoric effect of skooma may be useful, not to mention the large pick-me-up it will give her. Her strength is fading and we haven't the time to rest. This is a situation where the only useful emotion is rage. That isn't what she's feeling. She needs to behave professionally. If she rejects the skooma, or uses other means of feeling better, thats fine. If she doesn't, that is fine also. She's a Speaker now, and I can't order her to do anything. You saw her push out the wine cask. I figured that if she was going to cloud her mind, she might as well get beneficial effects from it."

(stealing from my corpse! xD )

Shaon felt tired and didn't notice Sydney's action or the murderer cleaning up the room. she didn't feel good. she needed rest. she needed streanght. she closed her eyes, praying to sithis for strenght so she coudl help her brothers.

Shaon sat up groggily. she ddn't know how long she had slept but..she reached for the skooms, only to find it gone. she whelled around, almost fallign from the dizyness of the quick action. She checked under the bed, in bother her pockets, her sash, but it was gone.

she reached out for it a bit, then recoiled. "I don't need it. I don't need drugs. Drugs are for suitters..." she tightenend her fists, not looking at his eyes. she was looking more of at his shoulder, so she wouldn't feel so betrayed by her own emotions. "I'm ready anytime..." she mumbled, walkign forward.

"I'll be well soon enough." she said softly, waling past him and out the doorway. Normal? normal...ha....there is no normal for me. No...this IS normal for me. she glanced back. "And I can fight whenever I need to."

"I wish we could take a damned caravan." Leo said. "I'm tired of traveling everywhere on foot. I wish we could stay here for 24 hours or so. Shaon needs the rest."