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 Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:07 am
It wasn't unusual for her to have sleepless nights; she didn't need sleep and often went without it. However, it was rather unusual for her to have restless nights. Nothing she could do quieted her mind, no mindless upkeep of a plethora of fishes or homework could distract her. This had never happened before! All these thoughts that she didn't know what to do with! How did other scarelings do it?! It was a mystery.
It was the wee hours of the morning when she gave up trying to distract herself with busy work and decided to do so with moving. She walked the entire grounds, she tried to visit some of her friends (but simply putting her ear to the door was enough to tell her that they were all asleep), and before she knew what she was doing she was staring at the door she knew to be Invictus'. Up until now she went to great pains to avoid the horsemen, but word of mouth was a powerful thing and besides; Invictus had been there. He'd been the scapegoat for a lot of Stacey's answers and by proxy was part of the reason her mind wouldn't shut up.
She knew it was early in the morning. There was the possibility that he'd be asleep, or perhaps angry if disturbed. Yet deep down she knew it was now or never; her feet would never lead her here again, and she'd never go on her own free will out of fear and hesitation.
So she took a deep breath, prayed to Jack and Sally that her life would be spared, and knocked on Invictus' door.
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:20 am
Sleep was something he didn't take much pleasure in. If he'd been able to function without it, he would have. However, he had to instead take in as little as was possible in order to feel like he would get his full amount of productivity in on a daily basis. This mostly consisted of sleeping for four to five hours at a time. It was a miracle he didn't just work himself to death, really, with how much of his time was put into actual...work.
Instead of rest or play or whatever other options there were for him.
But it also meant that when Amrita had knocked on his door, the Horseman of Conquest was not sleeping, looking over towards the sound with a neutral expression, yet somewhere in his mind was a fleck of curiosity - who was up at this time of morning and wanted to see if he was in? Never the less, he was already up, dressed, and presentable, so the only real sound on the other side of the door was the sound of shuffling, papers moving.
He opened the door, looking as he always did - unexpressive, giving the vetala a long, but silent look.
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:34 am
Oh yes, she was going to die. She was pretty sure that was her fate. Death by Horseman. At least she wouldn't make it to the news, she wasn't important enough! It was only a small solace, really. The undead was considering high tailing it out of here at the sound of shuffling, and - Wait, was that...paper she heard? ...Did he sleep on paper? She should...probably go now...
The door opened and Amrita startled, her eyes wide as saucers and trained entirely on the very stoic set across from her. Yeah, she should have left a long time ago. Her legs suddenly felt like lead and there was a pressure in her chest that was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Stress was setting in; stress and the terror of meeting someone with so much FEAR one on one for the first time. Suddenly, she began talking; rather, blabbering.
"Oh, um, uh, I...I'm Amrita and uhm...There's this thing and the h-house and I h-have uh.... I---...I'm s-sorry, w-were you sleeping?" A hundred different thoughts tried to rush out of her mouth at the same time, leaving her with some crazy mash of word vomit. He didn't look like he had been sleeping, but she didn't seem to register that. She didn't know what to do, or how to start this, or why her feet betrayed her...but she was here, at least?
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:49 am
"I know who you are." Invictus interjected firmly. The fact he remembered her was either a very good thing or a very bad thing, actually. It all depended on what kind of..impression...Amrita had left on the heir. "And I was not sleeping. I have been up working for several hours now." he added, noting that it was perhaps early enough that it was a major concern to her to know that he had not been sleeping.
He would never have been sleeping in what he wore then.
Never the less, he stepped back from the doorway, opening the door wider as he did, motioning with one arm for her to enter. "Come in. You are here because of what the human said." he seemed to understand immediately. "But it will do wise to not have our discussion in the hallway." After all, if they talked about killing humans in earshot of other students, it could have caused a cacophany of troubles and then some.
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 12:06 pm
His words made her stop and stare, still quite the doe-in-the-headlights, but this time with thin lips. He knew who she was? "...How?" She asked before she could stop herself, clearly dumbfounded.
His observations were correct of course, and she shook off the confusion with a very literal shake of her head. This was yet again one of those time where she still had a rotting brain; they were cleared pretty easily, like an etch-a-sketch. "Oh! Um. Yes! That...that's it exactly, ah... Th-thank you." The feeling was coming back into her legs as she shuffled forward and into the room, holding her elbows in an effort to make herself as small and unintruding as possible.
"A...lot about what it said, r-really." She added, ducking her head but looking around regardless. Such a fancy room, she thought, comparing it to her bare-bones, cement-and-dirt dwellings; she hoped she didn't rot all over his nice things.
"I don't...know where to start." The Vetala admitted, her dirty little toes fidgeting behind her.
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 12:14 pm
He might have found amusement in how suddenly when it wasn't a case of if something should have been killed or not that Amrita suddenly became so timid. In fact, part of him was inclined to call her out on it, but he held onto the notion. It wouldn't have been inappropriate at the given time anyways.
And he did have manners, after all.
"Start with the first thing you feel needs to be addressed." Invictus suggested, not inclined to just start offering up information to her. He could have, but he wasn't about to simply give away the secrets of his clan either. If there was anything that Invictus was truly loyal to, even more than the loyalty he'd given to Amityville, it was that he had an expressive and undying loyalty to the Horsemen. Namely his own clan.
His father.
"As it stands, there is a lot that the human felt you should ask me rather than him."
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 12:33 pm
There were certain things that Amrita felt strongly for, and those were the only things she wasn't timid about; dealing with Hunters was one of them. Meeting someone so powerful (and so unreadable) for the first time one-on-one was stressful, especially when there wasn't a life-or-death situation involved. At least with the life-or-death, she knew what the stakes were. There did seem to be a switch in her head though, one that separated survival from general interaction.
"So..." She chewed over what he had said, tilting her head to the side with her eyes down on the floor. Yes, there had been a lot of times where the Hunter turned towards Invictus as if they were sharing some private story or joke. If Invictus knew so much that a Hunter would deflect so much to him...
"Why didn't you say anything then?" She drew in a shaking breath. "If...If you know so much...why are you keeping it to yourself...?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 12:50 pm
"When you asked about 1999 to the hunter, did you look to see how your classmates would react to the question? I did. Some of them had a moment of confusion, wondering what the significance of what you were asking was. Did you ever think to go to them and offer up what you know because they did not already know it?
Or did you hold onto it because it held more significance to your own cause? How many questions asked to the hunter do you think were asked because the person asking had an ulterior and maybe selfish motive they weren't immediately offering up?"
Invictus countered quite firmly.
"As a Horseman, is it my job to simply offer up the secrets of my clan because I happen to know them without any prompting? Does my position mean that I should be volunteering to tell everybody who crosses my path everything even if they do not care to know it?"
He motioned with a hand. "Tell me, how was I to know that there were those who had any interest in the things I knew unless they expressly asked me?" However, there was also another reason she could have been asking that question, and he made a point to address that too.
"Or are you meaning why didn't start giving my answers whenever the human insisted I was the best one to ask about such things? Really, did you participate in the operation of capturing a human just to listen to me talk?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 1:42 pm
"W-well no, but---" Oh, but Invictus was far from done. This was exactly why she was so timid in social interactions. Exhibit A: Right now. "But I didn't---" Again, her meek rebuttals were lost in his impassioned speech to put her in her place. "But--" She tried again, but failed. Everything he was saying made sense to her made sense, it made her feel small and stupid again. Her fingers dug into the skin on her elbows, shrinking deeper and deeper into herself.
But, as with most things, there was a breaking point.
"I didn't know that they didn't know!" She burst out, frustrated with not being able to counter or explain. "I don't care about their motives! I went because they might need help...I went because I didn't want my friends to get hurt if I could try and stop it!" Her nails continued to dig into her skin, threatening to break through. "And then when we got him I wanted answers. I wanted to know why they're attacking us when we--" There was a brief pause as she stressed the word, grey eyes flickering up towards the Horseman and focused on him. "did nothing to them." She drew in an unnecessary breath. "And then...then I wanted him to pay for what they've been doing to my friends."
As suddenly as the anger bubbled, it deflated. Her hands loosened at her elbows just short of the breaking point, but she left several deep nail impressions in her dead flesh. "You knew we were interested, you knew why we were there...and you still stayed quiet. I just wanted to know why...all we wanted was answers, and you had them, you knew we wanted them - why else would we ask? - and you stayed quiet." For the most part. Her gaze had dropped to the ground again, her voice a battle between uncertainty and calm.
"I'm here now because...I want them, and I know who to go to now."
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 2:17 pm
"So then I am a mindreader instead of an encyclopedia?" her anger did not bother him in the least, seeming to flow off of him as though she was water on the back of a duck. "Tell me, were you there when myself and the other three heirs openly shared what it was we knew about the hunters based on our experiences upon he island? Have we not been forthcoming to those who have come for our knowledge?" He had a point in that.
"Yes, I knew there were answers that you all were seeking, but how was I to know which questions were to be asked?" he folded his arms behind his back, unyielding to the attempts to make him sound like the bad guy for not having been so open and sharing about what he knew. "Was I supposed to know from a passing glance that you wanted to know about the incident in 1999? How was that date in particular supposed to stand out to me in some significant way as something I needed to tell you about?"
All the blame for the lack of information was being put onto him, but really....
was it his fault?
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:40 pm
"You're right." She sighed, adjusting her arms to easier play with some of the hair over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to..." She trailed off unhappily, leaving her sentence unfinished. "It's just...I thought...if someone bothered to ask a question, then it should be obvious that they did want to know the answer." This was a mistake, she told herself. A big one. This sort of thing should have been left to someone better equipped, like...like Riley, or Malodore, or Jericho or Shehk or Lizzy or just...anyone but her. The realization brought on a new sort of pain, a weight baring down on her chest that only served to remind her how ridiculous it was.
"I just...want to know why they hate us so much. Why they're hurting us when we did nothing to them. I had hoped that...if I knew, I could, I don't know...do something. Protect my friends, my home, be of help. That date...seemed very important as to why." She should go, she should leave; she wasn't going to get anywhere. "It's frustrating...when someone so important seems to know, but withholds it." Leave, Amrita. Just...turn around, say your goodbyes, and go. You're not equipped for this, you're better off on the front line. The words that came out of her mouth certainly were not the ones she intended to say;
"So...if I still have a chance at this...what do you know about 12/31/1999?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 8:05 pm
"Nobody had asked the question until you did.I have withheld only that which protects my loyalty." he said calmly, "But I can tell you about that date." Invictus continued, having made point to establish that if he felt his answer would betray the Horsemen somehow, he would not give that answer to her. But an answer about a silly day with silly hunters?
Invictus could give that answer.
"On 12/31/1999, the Hunters moved against us Horsemen and many of them were killed in the process by Horsemen." he said calmly, a simple answer.
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:26 pm
Well, at least he decided to answer them, sort of. It still seemed to her that they weren't understanding eachother; she knew nobody asked before she did, but the point was...she had asked and he had not answered. That was what she didn't understand.
"Okay...and why did they move against you?" Everything had to have a reason, right?
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Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 12:10 pm
"Why do the humans act to move against Halloween? Because they feel threatened by us. The same as when we as Horsemen moved on that particular date." It was probably not the most informative answer to be given, but as it was, he couldn't really bring himself to answer everything she might have asked.
He did have to hold onto his secrets at times.
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