Cylus 5th, 717
The scent that permeated the Smart Charts was always something distinct, unique, and comforting in a messed of kind of way. Despite it's claimed uniqueness Night could only use other places and words to describe it. The easiest way she could explain the smell was some idiot dumped 200 bottles of ink and a couple boxes of charcoal into a library and let it stew for hours on end without daring to open the door because sweet immortals was it cold enough to freeze Faldrun to the core out there! The scent of ink and charcoal easily mixed with the new paper smell of what was currently being made as well as the old book smell of all the maps that were displayed across the walls. Even though she could do without some of the people in the place the Smart Charts itself was more like a safe haven. As long as she was in the building all anyone could do was glare, unless they wanted to face the wrath of the owner for not working properly or fast enough. Night for the most part kept her head down and practiced her skills, which slowly got better every season. Soon she wouldn't just be a scout and a messenger girl anymore, but until that day her wings were still the most valuable asset she had.
"Hey Nightshade," one of her coworkers said walking up to her as she was in the middle of guiding a quill across paper. She'd nearly forgotten. In the time she'd started working she had become a near endless supply of free quills. The ends of each feather were already perfect for the act of writing and she shed constantly enough to keep up. Her feathers seemed to grow faster than the average avriel. She supposed it was just like hair, some people's grew faster than others as well as longer than others. Night was one of those kinds of people when it came to her wings. They were much larger than the average avriel. Though she never batted an eye at the idea, whenever she was set side by side with one that was pure of breed her wingspan always overcame them, even if her body mass and weight left something to be desired. Certainly there was no correlation there. The woman had always eaten little which kept her weight relatively low all things considered. "I need you to run an errand," her coworker finally finished after waiting painstakingly long for her to actually look up, make eye contact, and question what the hell he wanted. Of course her words had been a little more refined. She could swear on her life that by the time she was done working at this job her nose would be stained brown for the rest of her life if when she finally left it wasn't because she got fired.
"Errand is rather vague. Could you please elaborate on what kind of "errand" you want me to run?" She asked trying to keep the bite of annoyance out of her tone. Instead she went back to the impartial and completely emotionless drawl that had kept her alive for years. To completely wipe all emotion from her existence, it was a useful skill to say the least. Kept people from getting mad at you, most of the time. Of course there were some instances such a display had gotten her into worse trouble. She really should learn how to function better in regards to displaying herself. She couldn't play her expression to be anything outside of blank or whatever emotion she was actually feeling at the moment. If she was feeling sad she couldn't fake happy, she either looked depressed or like a mindless wash board just going through the motions of life. Perhaps learning how to better manipulate herself would help? How did one even fake happy.
Her thoughts cut themselves short as annoyance burned the back of her mind. The man in front of her just scoffed and rolled his eyes like she was a moron. "You daft flapper. You need to run and get some more paper and ink you dolt. It's hard to make deliveries in Cylus! So our supplier is telling us to come and get them. And since this is exactly what you were hired for you're going to go out there, fly to the place, and get our supplies before anyone in here runs out of a paper and ink. Remember, if you don't get it fast enough and we can't make enough maps then your the one whose pay is going to get docked. After all, you are just an assistant," the man was smirking like a viper. Anger boiled in the half breeds heart.
Despite the vicious anger that burned in her eyes she forced her lips to curl upwards. "Of course sir. Right away sir." Her smile was one of pure contempt and they both knew it. But the man didn't seem to care and pretended that the flaring temper painted across her features was instead a look of compliance. It didn't matter anyway. This was her job even if the man was acting like an ass about it. The right road over the easy road, the right road over the easy road, the right road over the easy road. She repeated that like like it was a mantra praying to her immortal that she could hold the anger back from boiling over. The word flapper had hit a dangerous chord. The avriel based insult tweaked her severely. She was half, she was half, oh how it angered her when people treated her like a pure breed! She had no problem with a pure breed as long as they acted like her father, but when she was insulted and her human half discredited it stole part of who she was. And oh how it angered her.
The woman rolled her eyes standing up. Her expression was nothing less than sour. Her cloak had been thrown on the ground at her side. The green leather creation she'd received as a gift in Zi'da had served her well so far, though she'd had little time to explore the apparent magical qualities. She flung the creation across her body and started heading towards the door. It didn't provide as much heat as she hoped it might when the season started, but what cold attacked her she could shrug off from years of flying at high altitude. When one went high enough the air became thin and ice started to form on your feathers. One of Night's favorite things was to push how far she could go, see how high she could get and how long she could last before she needed to start getting lower and landing until the ice melted. I usually didn't last long, but depending on how much time she wanted to risk so high in the air a thin sheet of ice could very well form.
The outside weather was just as bitter as she was expecting it to be. The cold burned her uncovered feet and she in response released her wings from the cloak and gave a couple beats. She tried to keep herself off the ground as much as possible. "Where am I even going?" She snapped at the man who had followed behind her.
"Our supplier!" He snapped in response before slamming the door.
"And where in all of bloody Idalos is that," she groaned. Her voice became more quiet and the comment directed more to herself considering the man had vanished safely back into the warmth. A thick layer of wood separated the two from each other, as well as protect all the asses inside from the cold outside that Night had to face. "I swear. For all I know they could be sending me to Rynmere!" She snapped to herself quietly as the scowl on her face become more defined and set. It wasn't leaving her features any time soon. "Where to go, where to go... Whelp, I guess I'm wandering around until I see anything that looks like it could be "our supplier". Daft donkey," she grumbled spreading her wings as wide as they would go and flinging herself into the air with a powerful beat. She didn't rise very far, just to the level of the lowest rooftop. If she flew up too high then she'd just end up looking over a ton of roofs and that wouldn't do anyone much good. She needed to be closer to ground level in order to see inside of buildings as well as see the people coming and going. But there was no way she was walking.
"You know, I've always hated Ashan because it's the season of the worst monster in Idalos' history was born. But I'd be really nice if Ashan could hurry up and get here," she muttered to herself indulging her "insanity". Anyone she asked on the street who saw her muttering to herself would call it insane. But she couldn't deal with the silence. When she was younger the Master always demanded silence in his presence. Not to mention Icarus had been a loud person, when he was... gone... it was always quiet. The quiet reminded her of death and solitude. She didn't need anymore reminders of the path she'd chosen to walk. Not when there was no going back on it. It had first started when she was very little and she didn't have anyone to use as a playmate. She had only been 6 arcs of age when she first made up a companion for herself. An imaginary friend her father had called it. But slowly one friend had turned into an entire world that only helped to feed her sense of exploration and the wild whimsy of adventure. How romantic it all seemed when she was younger, beating up the bad guys and saving people. But now it was a sad reminder of a broken youth that occasionally she saw in Emea. I'd been some time since she last "saw" one of them. Perhaps she'd call on her oldest.
"So tell me Leo," she muttered trying to keep her voice muted. There was no one in the street and surely they wouldn't be able to hear her in the air if there was, but her mental state could handle more shaming. "Which way do we go?"
The imaginary man that gracefully floated before her was an avriel, his nature had been decided much in comparison to her father so he shared none of the nasty traits that her kinsmen did. His name, Leo, had been derived from a story her father had told her once, The Queen and the Lionhart. Lionhart was a term to refer to a very brave and powerful knight. So Leo, considering the fact in her imaginings he was her knight, was the perfect choice of name.
"Well, well my lady! It's been some time since you've called on me. Not even in your dreams have you let me tread the sacred ground of your mind," he purred happily. The man had orange and gold hair that flowed around him like a lion's mane. His eyes were a sharp shade of gold which glittered with amusement. His wings were pure and white like freshly fallen snow, a sharp contrast against the shadowy background. He was harder to see and he apparently had gotten older just as she, but in her mind she could see every detail clearly even if the world around her would now allow for such. She could practically smell the scent of mint and parsley. Long ago she'd decided that was what Leo would smell like if he was real and ever since when she thought of Leo the scent came to her.
Another thing she noted was his fruity nature had become even more fruity and eloquent. He almost seemed half baked... "I don't need this right now Leo, I need ideas!" She growled angrily in return.
Leo frowned. "But my lady, I can't offer you anything you haven't already thought of yourself. After all, we both know exactly what I am." Another important detail that needed to be pointed out about Leo was that he was the only imagining to date that actually broke the forth wall and addressed the fact that he was made up. Honestly Night had found herself questioning if he actually was real for that fact alone. Alas a real Leo had never shown up to save her from reality like he saved her from giant shadowy nondescript beasts in her day dreams. Perhaps Night had become annoyed with that face and that's why she never created another being like him? But if that was the case why was he always the one she called on first.
"Because my lady I am your reality check. I'm the things you're too scared to say to yourself!" He cooed flitting a little closer to whisper in her ear. Night had to bite back a snarky remark.
"Oh yes. My dear, sweet, unique Leo. You're the only ass I ever allowed to exist in my "perfect" world," she snapped trying to force Leo out of her thoughts. Unfortunately that was something that had never worked. He always knew what she was thinking and in turn he was always the only one to actually address such thoughts.
"I don't have time for this I need to-"
"Pick up the supplies? Then why are you wasting your time talking to be instead of looking to see if there are any paper shops near by? Or perhaps check with Zefleran?" Leo said with a smirk. The irritation only became more potent.
"Why you," she started turning away for a moment and then turning back. Her look of anger instantly dissipated into a look of confusion when the man was gone. Imaginary, right. The woman had nearly fallen into the dangerous trap of thinking that he was real. She shook her head blinking once or twice more and pulling on the world around her. There was no smell of parsley or mint, there were no noises around her. Just solidarity and silence. A shock of fear went through her as the realization dawned but it wasn't sustained for long.
"Come now little one, there's no reason to listen to that arse of a man. Just ignore Leo like we always have," the voice was a much softer whisper. Night turned about in a circle. It wasn't a familiar voice and she couldn't locate any source, furthering her confusion. She beat her wings once more as silence settled back in around her. The world around her had become a touch more uncomfortable with the new mental presence. She took off down streets trying to escape the strange sensation. It was a difficult emotion to describe the source of the new thoughts for some reason had just made her feel... dirty and violated as if the thoughts had not even existed in her mind moments before. Or perhaps it was something more along the line of not having noticed them.
She flew down streets, her eyes scanning the ground for any sign of where she was supposed to be going. She had managed to lose herself down a street that was mostly housing district. She glanced around until an angry voice echoed in her mind. "Screw this! I say we just go back and tell that arrogant fool to shove off and pick it up himself if he won't tell us where to go or what we're supposed to be picking up," a second new voice chimed in her mind. She came to a complete halt. Suddenly she recognized exactly where she'd heard these two buffoons before. There were the two voices that were always arguing whenever she came to the crossroads of choice. The second voice was best described as androgynous, stuck somewhere between a man and a woman. The voice was screechy and at best sounded angry. At worst it was downright murderous and possibly evil itself. Was that really a voice that existed in her mind? By the scratchiness of the tone it sounded like the voice didn't get to speak often. It sounded like the feral avriel children she'd fought way back in Saun. Or was it Vhalar? She couldn't remember anymore.
The second voice was a true contrast to the first. The first voice had been kind and melodic. She couldn't really classify it as sounding more "human" or more "avriel" as much as it sounded bell like and more gentle. Though there was certainly a barb as it snapped at the second voice "oh shut up you!"
"Woah! Who are you two?" Night asked completely forgetting that she was talking to herself in a public place. Of course she was flying too fast for anyone to really notice if anyone dared to even walk the streets. The two voices went quiet for a moment.
"Do you seriously not recognize us? We've been arguing for arcs and you only now notice us?" The second voice drawled, for once sounding just annoyed instead of furious.
The first voice if she had a tongue had clicked it. "Of course she doesn't recognize us. She's never been this deep into insanity before. Sweetie, have you ever heard of the devil and the angel that sit on your shoulder and whisper in your ear? That's basically us! Except we're a real concept and not just some excuse for the way others act sometimes. Though most people can't hear us. I'm sorry to tell you but you're insane," the kinder voice said for a moment becoming blunt.
"Oh yes, completely and totally," the vicious voice said with a laugh. "Which means it's the perfect time to finally teach you my ways! You'll understand and then you'll see why we should just kill everyone. We could easily beat Noth in combat at this point, heck we could beat anyone in this city at sword fighting! We could beat an immortal if it came down to us or them! Don't you want to go capture Noth? Get a piece of that fine bird a-" Vicious was cut off halfway through the sentence by the horrified cry of Sweet.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up you! You're disgusting, and fowl, and of course she'll never listen to you because she knows doing that will just get her hated and killed," Sweet angrily barked.
"And doing what she's doing now won't get her there anyways?" Vicious return it's tone darkened like it was a beast that was getting close to pouncing. If Noth had heard such a conversation perhaps he would have been reminded of the hawk and the hare that had ruled his own actions at the start of the season. The concept wasn't too comparatively different.
While this conversation was whirling by in her mind Night had decided to give up on listening and try to find her way around. The arguing of the two was easy enough to ignore when she just set her mind to a different topic. She paused as she passed by a shop looking place. A distributor perhaps. She landed and meandered into the building.
"Excuse me ma'am," she said to the first person who darted by. This person however didn't even seem to give the avriel a second glance before running along on her way. "Ma'am." Night tried a second time only to get shot a glare.
"I don't have time to be dealing with your kind! I've got a lot of things I need to finish and soon, now out with you!" The woman barked angrily rushing the half breed out the door with a frenzy of waving hands and angry looks.
"The nerve of this woman. I say we knock her off her pedestal," Vicious snarled though it sounded like it's voice was smiling. There was a sick kind of excitement it got from waiting to see if Night would actually follow the directive.
"Heathen like beast. I say that we could solve this with a friendly bout of discourse," Sweet mused her voice becoming calm and welcoming, warm. Yet at the same time there was something manipulative in the tone. She didn't actually care as long as she got her way. Night frowned not sure what to do with either of the messes screeching away in her mind and trying to get her to follow their path. It was a this or that kind of situation. Apparently there was no in between.
The scent of mint once again became strong and her legs seemed to lead her out of the building of their own accord. A strong arm looped around her leading her out. "Don't listen to them. Their both fools. Obviously there's no reasoning with that witch of a woman. You and I both know it. That's just how Etzos works. Until you get your name out there a little more people aren't going to put up with you unless they have to. Or they're Alexander. Alexander is chill. That's besides the point though. It didn't look like she was selling paper, or ink for that matter. Let's just keep going. Perhaps we could ask the next shop we wander into for directions if they aren't the supplier," Leo whispered gently. Night nodded and Leo sighed. "I guess I'm not going to be able to leave you alone now. Not with these two about..." Sweet and Vicious were still arguing with each other in the background. They paused at Leo's quip.
"Oh really? Aren't you noble," Vicious sneered.
"Shut the hell up," Leo commanded and as such they both did. Apparently in the mental pecking order of imaginary friends Leo was at the top of the chain. Perhaps he needed to be King Leo instead of her Lionhart? "Now come on princess, allow me to escort you on your quest. I'll keep the horrible monsters at bay," Leo said with a confident smirk. His smirk fell and he tilted his head to the side in a bird like fashion. "I suppose you've learned how to do that yourself. You aren't wielding sticks and rickety old blades against your father or wild animals anymore. You actually know how to defend yourself now. Even if you'd like to, there's no denying the fact you've become grand and powerful. True other people can't see it, but I can. And that means you can recognize the fact deep down. Chin up pup, the road is long but you've got wings to ferry you down it."
After Leo's command for silence and little speech he disappeared. Seemingly he took Sweet and Vicious with him. Praises be that he did, those two seemed to have it out for not just each other but the sanity of Night.
A couple more streets, a left, another left, go straight a ways and take a right. Another shop came into view. This time she saw someone leaving with an armload of papers of some kind. Books or newspapers or something, it didn't matter much all things considered. She'd found some kind of lead. She landed carefully padding her way into the building. The scent was very similar to that in the Smarter Charts. This... wasn't the place. Perhaps she could find a way to get to the place. "Is there something you need?" A... was that even a man or a woman? At this point Night couldn't tell for the life of her. This was all just some giant disorienting mess.
"Uh yes. My shop told me to go get paper and ink from our supplier. I don't know where I'm supposed to be going though. Do you have any clue where the supplier for the Smarter Charts is?" She asked with a tilt of her head.
"Nope. This is a printing house, not a supplier. Sorry. Now scram," it said with a indifferent shrug. The carelessness of the act stuck a nerve of sorts.
"Surely you must know your own supplier? It would be a place to start!" The half breed pleaded trying to get some scrap of information.
"No! I don't! Now get," the person said.
"Please isn't there any way you could find out? I'm desperate," she whimpered a pathetic look gracing her features
Vicious' voice came back in a snarl, "beat it out of the loser!"
Sweet quickly countered with a comment of her own. "Please just keep insisting. Eventually they'll take mercy. We're too good of a person to ever beat someone up," she purred as the two once more tried to get Night to side with them instead of their counterpart. Night grimaced as the person she'd been speaking to quickly grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a broom, and started trying to use it to force Night out of the building.
"Oh that is it! This thing in front of us is an absolute moron and you my good lady are a mindless hypocrite. Hussy! Traitor! You'll get us all killed!" Vicious barked turning its violent intentions against Sweet.
Sweet gasped, if she had an actual form she would have looked completely aghast. "How dare you! I'm not the one that constantly jumps into danger. I'm not the one that constantly tries to fight against anything it sees as a wrong. I'm not the one that constantly tortures her!"
"Oh really? I'm the one that gets her into trouble? Last time I checked sweetheart I'm instinct. I'm the one that keeps her out of it since you can't seem to do a very good job keeping her alive. Everyone dies eventually. But you know, the hero always dies first," Vicious returned as its voice became quiet. The strange contrast in volume and tone suddenly made Vicious seem a lot more dangerous than it was beforehand which gave Sweet a moment of pause to mull over her options.
"Is it not better to die a hero than to be assassinated as a villain and a tyrant?" She said in a voice that dripped with venom.
Night could feel the sharp metallic taste of anger rise in her mouth. When she started this stupid little mission all she wanted was Leo. All she wanted was to not be alone. All she wanted was an old friend. She didn't want these two idiots! Neither was very "right" in this situation. She allowed herself to be forced out the shop door and pumped her wings, leaping into the air. She wasn't giving up until she found the damn supplier. The anger burned the back of her throat and clawed at her vocal cords until she finally released it. "Both of you just shut up!" She snapped before choosing a random direction and flying as fast as her wings could carry her. She refused to stop for anything, she refused to let her worries catch up to her, she didn't even notice Sweet and Vicious become silent.
After being substantially beaten in her fight to find the supplier the half breed took to the ground for a moment. Annoyance, frustration, and the over all drain of the trip (be it physical or the accidental mental strain she'd managed to place on herself) had finally gotten to her. She landed outside a large building with muted gray walls and massive doors. It looked to be something between a shop and a warehouse. Perhaps she could take shelter just a for a moment inside?
Of course the half breed was met by the snarky "What do you want?" question that she always got when she walked into a building. The man that seemed to be running the place took a long hard look at her and his eyes seemed to soften when he saw the state she was in. "What's wrong girl? You get mugged or something? Couldn't you of used those nasty claws of yours to get away?" The man asked in a gruff tone. Seems that was the most sympathy one could offer a half avriel. Did she really look like she'd gotten robbed? She looked down at herself trying to catch a glance of her own form. She knew from prior troubles her hair had been a ratty mess all day, considering the mess she'd gotten herself into on way there surely she didn't look too pretty, and her face was crinkled like someone who was about to cry.
"No, no. That's not what happened. Not at all. One of the senior members of the store I work for told me to go pick up a delivery. But he didn't tell me where I was going. So I've spent the last who knows how long trying to find the place and it's just been a mess..." The half breed said biting back the burning sensation in the back of her throat. She blinked a couple times as the torches in the building flickered, sending her eyes spiraling between gray and midnight blue.
"Store? Which store? This warehouse here does a good bit of supplying for the inner wall stores," the man said his eyes flickering with confusion. "Though I was certain we did all our deliveries for the day..."
"The Smarter Charts?" Night said her eyebrows knitting together in both concern and confusion. She prayed that this was the right place but at the same time the man had said things which implied it wasn't.
"Oh dear. It sounds like you just got sabotaged. The delivery isn't for 6 more trials and we told Zefleran that we would be delivering it. Sorry. Go back to the store. If I were you I'd rat him out," the man said. There wasn't much more than a tiny trace of sympathy in his voice though there was a slightly empathetic response as he moved slightly closer and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Night sighed feeling the drain from the day become even worse. "Thank you sir... I'll get out of your way now," she said lowering her head and trying to hide the fact that tears had begun to leak. It wasn't that she was sad, she was just so angry and frustrated with not just herself but the entire world around her. It wasn't fair, it was all just so messed up! Why did she have to be the whipping girl? It was always her. She darted for the door before the man could form a response and her wings beat the air violently taking her as far up as she dared in the cold darkness.
The city belong her slowly got smaller and smaller until it looked like the sky, a twinkling black sheet that was dotted with small burning lights. She stayed there for a moment allowing the cold to sink deep into her bones. Besides the city itself there was little that could be seen. No trees, no stretches of farmland, no nothing. Just and endless rolling sea of darkness. She was completely and utterly alone outside and inside of her mind. And after the time she just had that was perfectly fine with her.
(-)(-)(-)(-)
Zefleran was not happy when he heard what happened to say the least, especially not when Night showed up. Her fingers were slightly tinged blue and she was instantly thrust in front of the nearest fire by said owner. Zefleran was not happy, not happy in the least. Night couldn't really practice mapping for the rest of the night considering she could barely move her fingers, quietly waiting for the color to come back. Someone got demoted, it wasn't Night either. She didn't mind, it was obvious from the begging the intent of this mission was malicious. She didn't care though. She was still getting paid for the time that got wasted, Zefleran was also kind enough to offer her a little extra to have her fingers looked at. That was fine with her. She was getting her tormentor's pay.
