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 Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:01 pm
"I was thinking of paying a visit to two healers that you used to know. Is that a problem?"
"No. Go and destroy them."
"So I shall."
Xelloss reflected back on his brief exchange with Lord Ruby Eyes, who now inhabited the body of Rezo the Red. It was convenient that his transformation left him without care for the well-being of those he knew in his former life. Xelloss was on a mission of his own choosing presently and was excited that his particular choices of targets had been acceptable.
Two healers lived in these parts. One was a flutter named Gwendolen and the other a burly mare called Yayo'jin. Apparently they were both quite good at their work and had done much to patch up the soquili all around the immediate area. That didn't sit well with Xelloss. He had an interest in expanding his dealings into this area and if he did so, he didn't want any sappy healers muddying the waters. They needed to go. He wasn't going to kill them outright. He expected that would provoke a large enough backlash from the locals to be more trouble than it was worth. He was rather more fond of his idea for dealing with the situation and had even brought along his son Xellra to assist. He had Xellra waiting for him a little ways off for now and he'd find him again after his little talk with Gwendolen.
He peered around the area. He could see signs of soquili habitation. This looked like the place. Not wanting to appear to be snooping around, he stopped looking and began a brisk trot instead. If she was around she'd probably show up sooner or later.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:28 pm
Gwendolen couldn't explain it. Things were normally so busy at this time of year but for the last week it had been so quiet that her mother had decided to go visit some other healers with Scarlet. It was a vacation they both deserved and Gwendolen thought she would be able to hold things together for at least a week. At the rate things were going Gwendolen figured she'd be able to tend to everyone for an entire moon.
Today Gwendolen had decided it was a good day to do chores. The sky was clear and it was just warm enough to lead to comfortable work. She carried a filled bucket back to the main healing area to add to their water stores for sick patients. She figured that after a few more trips everything would be topped off and ready to go. As she drew closer to her home, however, she encountered a rather rude shock; there was a kalona.
Gwendolen swallowed. She had been warned about kalona since she was a young filly and she believed all of the stories. She had only met one decent kalona in all of her time living under the sun and he had been beaten within an inch of his life. The dying were usually more agreeable towards the ones who could save them. He had kept to his word and left them in peace but one good deed did not redeem an entire breed.
Carefully Gwendolen set the bucket down and approached the kalona just far enough that they could speak without shouting. "Are you injured or ill?" She asked briskly. Anywhere else she would have run but this was her duty, she had to do it. Besides, this was her home, where exactly could she run too from here?
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 3:38 pm
Xelloss blinked at the mare, as if surprised to see her around. She was just as dinky as he'd expected. He knew several very impressive and powerful flutters, but this one was not one of them. She, at least, was smart enough to be wary. That was more than he could say for a high percentage of the soquili population.
"Not ill, no." He moved closer to her but stopped short of any distance he would consider threatening. Her squinted at her, appearing to try to recall something. "Are you Gwendolen?" He knew that she was, of course. "Gwendolen. The healer, right?" He did nothing that could be considered menacing, nothing besides being a kalona.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:02 pm
Not ill? Gwendolen's eyes narrowed suspiciously. It didn't help when he called her by name. She shuffled about trying to keep her nerves down. He knew her, or at least he knew of her. Had he met one of her patients? Had he eaten one of her patients? She banished the thought from her mind as quickly as it arrived. Maybe he had but still, he knew her so someone had to have told him about her. It wasn't as though her name was well known.
"I am." She said managing to keep her voice steady. She supposed, if he tried to eat her she could at least stab him a few times before he killed her. "Does a friend of yours need healing?" If he didn't say something comforting soon she was going to run to the village. That was the perfect place to go. She just prayed she could get there.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:28 pm
Her suspicion wasn't going anywhere fast. Xelloss didn't risk moving any close with that wary look she was giving him. Instead, he ducked his head a little, chuckling with some mixture of guilt and chagrin. "Am I bothering you? I'm sorry. I just overheard someone talking very vigorously about someone named Gwendolen you and wondered if you were that person."
It was inherent in the nature of any thinking being to wonder what others thought about them. Not even mazoku were immune from this sort of vanity, Xelloss included.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:37 pm
If Gwendolen were to be asked about it she would never call it vanity. She would simply call it curiosity or something equally as harmless. All the same hearing that someone had been talking about her made her ears itch. "Talking about me?" She asked as her brows came together in confusion. "Who was talking about me?" The next question to be asked was 'why?' but she would save that for later. If it was someone she knew then that would settle the why question up pretty well. Gwendolen liked to believe that she knew how everyone else felt about her.
Her trepidation about the kalona killing her was slowly dissolving away. It seemed like he just wanted to be part of some local rumor chain. That didn't seem particularly threatening at all. Actually it seemed rather squirrel like. Or maybe it was fox like. Both breeds seemed to do an awful lot of talking though.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:51 pm
"Weeeeell..." Reluctant, Xelloss drew out the word. "Her name was Yaya-something. Or maybe Yayo? Yayo'pin?" He hoped that she knew Yayo'jin enough to catch on to whose name he was butchering. They lived close enough that they really ought to know each other, but that wasn't a guarantee.
"I don't know that you'd really want to hear what she had to say." Now it was the time for him to be slightly apologetic. "It wasn't very nice." He had already invented a dialogue with Yayo'jin that he thought would be enough to set off the uni-flutter. He had just enough background on the two of them to have an idea of what might get under their skin.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:01 pm
Gwendolen frowned. She didn't know any 'Yayo'-anything and yet the name sound vaguely familiar. Perhaps her mother had mentioned her at some point. "I don't think I know her but..." Her frown deepened. Someone she didn't know was saying mean things about her? Gwendolen had met rude people in her life but this was a new sort of low. How could she be saying anything that wasn't nice when she didn't even know Gwendolen. Gwendolen was very nice almost all of the time.
"You...wouldn't happen to remember the gist of what she was saying would you?" Gwendolen asked tentatively. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear it but at the same time she felt she needed to know. If it was bad enough for a stranger to come seeking her out then it might be bad enough that it could hurt her mother's work. Gwendolen couldn't let that happen.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:14 pm
Apparently she didn't know Yayo'jin too well. It was a setback, but it would just take a little more wrangling after if she couldn't find Yayo'jin on her own. She still was responding mostly how he'd hoped she would, and that was the important part. "She was... ah... talking about you and your mother." According to the groundhog that Xelloss had tortured for the information, Gwendolen's mother was a purebred unicorn and quite the healer herself.
"She said that..." Idly, he wondered how far he should go with it. If he exaggerated too far it would run the risk of being unbelievable. "She said that 'Any idiot unicorn can heal people. Just look at those two." Xelloss did an imitation of a voice along with the quote. He had no idea what Yayo'jin sounded like but it didn't sound like Gwendolen did either. "And then she continued." Smiling apologetically, he waited for her response.
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:37 am
"My mother?" That was even more confusing than someone saying bad things about her. Gwendolen's mother was a saint of a soquili. She had often herd people comment that her mother was simply an angeni born into the wrong body. How could anyone have anything bad to say about her? When the strange kalona informed Gwendolen what exactly this Yayo-person said Gwendolen felt her cheeks warm in anger.
"Any idiot-?" She snorted lightly and tried to get herself under control. Perhaps the kalona had just misheard or maybe this Yayo was secretly just a jealous cow. Either way, Gwendolen felt that she needed to go confront her. The best way to get to the heart of things was to get to the source, that's what her mother had told her. Gwendolen snorted again and rolled her eyes, idiot indeed.
"You...wouldn't happen to remember precisely where this mare was would you? I think it's best that I go...discuss this with her."
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:41 pm
"Maybe she was talking about someone else," Xelloss added hastily. "But she did mention you by name, sooooo..." He trailed off into an awkward silence. He could let himself be pleased after she was gone. The last thing he wanted was to blow his cover at the last minute!
He had already chosen a spot for the meeting place between Yayo'jin and Gwendolen. It was a decent walk from both of their homes, ensuring that he'd have time to set them both along that path. Also, he wanted a decent distance between himself and them. He needed time to accomplish his goal before they returned, after all. "When I saw her, she was in the oak tree grove with the big rock in the middle."
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 1:25 pm
If she had been mentioned by name Gwendolen highly doubted that this Yayo could have meant anyone else. "Oak tree grove...oak tree grove..." She repeated to herself over and over again as she tried to pull up a mental image of where this grove was. She knew of a few clusters of oak trees that were near by but she didn't remember any big rocks. When she finally figured out where he had heard all of this she frowned more. That was quite the little trip to take on foot and as pretty as her wings were they were useless for flight. "Oh that's a...wow." She didn't really want to leave for that long but at the same time she couldn't just let someone spread vicious rumors about her.
"I suppose I should get going then..." She said finally before looking the kalona over. It had turned out that he was actually a pretty decent fellow. "I don't think there's anything here that you'd be interested in eating but you can help yourself to a drink from our water stores if you'd like. Thank you, for telling me." She gave him a small, cautious smile before heading off to go confront this Yayo. This was going to be an interesting conversation.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 9:24 pm
"Much appreciated. Good luck with her!" called Xelloss after. He made motions to go to the water but stopped as soon as he could no longer hear hoof falls. He waited a moment longer, wanting to be sure before he moved. When he still heard nothing he didn't hesitate. He sprung almost explosively into flight and soon streaked across the sky. Speed was his pride and it didn't let him down that day. It wasn't long before he was landing near the other healer, the now slandered Yayo'jin. She had said nothing about Gwendolen ever in her entire life, as far as Xelloss knew... but now she was going to think that Gwendolen was saying some rather unpleasant things about her....
~~~
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 9:45 pm
Yayo'jin's nostrils flared. She made no secret of her dislike of kalonas but accepted that sometimes they could be tolerable. She hadn't had the time to decide yet where on the spectrum this one was, but his news was more pertinent than his character for now. She had been aware of the mother and daughter pair of healers for some time now. They were close but not so near that she had ever felt the need to introduce herself. Yayo'jin was solitary by nature and was just as glad not to give her neighbors an excuse to bother her. She hadn't ever had any reason to have an opinion about the pair... until now.
"So... what you are sayin' is..." She took a breath, breathing it out again like it had been ice coating her insides. "That dey think they can drive me out just like dat?" She couldn't remember a time when she was more angry. Even her snake, Qiaga, began to writhe and hiss threateningly.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 9:50 pm
"Maybe I shouldn't have told you..." Xelloss was proud at how sympathetic he sounded. He doubted he had ever felt sympathy for anyone in his life, but you would never know it based on how well he could imitate it. "I don't know that they were being serious," he offered. "They were probably just talking."
All of that was a lie too, of course. Soquili always jumped to believe the worst about others, especially when it pertained to themselves. Xelloss took that as proof that the mazoku way of life was the correct one. Everyone had that darkness and mistrust of their fellow kind within them. It just took the right- or wrong - situations to bring it out of them.
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