And All Their Toys (Korva, Kesindir)

[Ghoul]

87 vhalar 718

Of all the things Cordelia Barnhildeer had ever seen, there was a special kind of demented that necromantic thrall children fell under. And the evidence of their presence - it left something to be said about the depravity of people. Could they even be called people? No; not anymore. Or maybe never. She'd think more about the philosophical and ethical weight of that word later on when she wasn't mucking through some poor woman's innards. The blood and viscera stained the walls. A messy buffet goer. The table was still set, food rotting in plates and bowls. It might have been something nice. It didn't look like anyone had really had a chance to taste it. Such a shame; especially the cake.

The woman swatted a fly away from her face, the creature persistent - or perhaps lazy after having laid its eggs in one of these corpses and fed off the spoils of the slaughter. At her side was a stern-faced Ithecal, eying the scene with what she hoped was disgust. "Don't even think about it." He looked sheepish, but said nothing in response. Much larger than her, he filled up space clearly not meant for him. Scales almost as dark a red as the splatter on the wall and eyes the burning yellow of flame, he was probably something frightening to the Lookie Lou's just outside the open window. The same window that had been opened to let out the smell. It'd been a lot worse earlier on.

Cordelia stooped down to inspect a scene she'd been seeing all trial with little variation and little remorse for the disturbance of the deceased. Gloved fingers brushed over dried blood and cold...was that a lung? She scowled, standing upright once more. She took a trill to remove her dark hat, pale blonde tresses falling loose for a moment as she closed her eyes. The trill passed quickly, hat replaced and eyes almost as pale as her hair opening once more with a new determination. They needed to find someone who had dealt with these kids - and were somewhat remotely interested in finding the necromancers controlling them. Despite the many involved, it proved almost impossible for Cordelia to even get a single person to muster up enough pluck to tag along. Cowards. Not that she could blame them.

It was an odd sight, or maybe not, of the two stepping out of the house. Outside, you wouldn't be able to guess that a family of eight had been ripped apart inside. You couldn't tell that anything had been remotely amiss, for that matter, in many of the houses they'd investigated that trial. Sniffing, Cordelia walked forward with her head held high into the small gathering of people that had taken to following her about. "Come along, Illas; we've other houses to look through and give these people a show."

!

Message from: Ghoul

Welcome, Korva and Kesindir, to the madness. Let me know if this date is right for you and here are a few things: let me know if you want me to open this up to others - because I will gladly do so I'll try to get in a post about once a week, or sooner if you quickly I am only partly responsible for any maiming or dying of your characters during this thread That being said, my next post will be on the 16th. I look forward to pursuing this story with you!

[Kesindir]

Darkness.

Kesindir’s mind was clouded in an inky black that permeated his very being. It was all encompassing and yet, somehow comforting. Whether it was due to the blood loss, or just sheer shock of the situation he’d been in, but his body and his mind did not cope well with the experience. So his body had shut down, his mind blanked, and he just existed in some foreign space with no thoughts, no dreams. Nothing.

Then, there were bursts of light. Bright, almost agonizingly so, as they flashed across his mind, piercing deeply into his darkened world. Beyond the light he saw shapes. Indistinguishable shapes. These shapes made noise. Speech maybe, but even on his best days, Kes wasn’t a linguist, and trying to decipher shape speech was difficult at best. Mumbles and grumbling flooded his hearing, then the blackness took back over and the sounds faded away into sweet serene silence.

Sadly the silence didn’t last long, not that time could be interpreted when surrounded by nothing, and pain came ripping through his sense, every fiber in his body screaming all in perfect unison, a harmony or better a cacophony of intense searing heat radiating from his arm. His eyes flew open and he was blinded by the light in the room he was in. No sound came from his mouth, his tongue dry and his throat parched.

”Hello?” he managed to wheeze out and a cough followed very shortly thereafter, sending pain through his body from the jerking movements and he winced. Where was he? The room he was in was unfamiliar. The last thing he remembered….there was blood, children, and another woman. He hadn’t gotten her name, had he? The prior night was fuzzy. Like he was trying to look across a large field that was shaded in a dense thick fog.

Another twinge of pain spiked through his body radiating from his arm where he’d taken the bite. His arm was covered from wrist to elbow, the bandage partially stained with blood. He must be at the Order. Did she bring him here? The girl with no name? It was possible, Kesindir assumed, that she had brought him here. He didn’t want to be here though. Yes he was grateful he wasn’t going to bleed to death, and hopefully not have any infections that would hinder him more than anything in the coming trials, but he didn’t have the nel needed to pay for this kind of treatment.

Movement outside the door of his room sent a slight panic through him and he laid back quietly on the bed. If they didn’t know he was awake, maybe they wouldn’t come in. So he laid there silently for several bits, waiting, and waiting, and waiting but no one came through his door. There was movement of people going back and forth, probably to other rooms, but none venture across the threshold into his room.

Kesindir found he was able to count, much like he did in the woods with his steps away from camp, the rough time in between when someone passed by his door, and it was working out to be roughly a count of fifty. Plenty of steps for him to wander about. Again though, where the hell was he? He’d gathered that potentially he was at the Order…but he’d never been there before so what was a Kes to do? Escape. That’s what a Kes needed to do.

So he did. Well, tried to do would be more accurate. He made an attempt. Just leave it at that. Kesindir rolled himself out of the bed, only to find out he was near naked. He remembered having clothes on, but apparently they absconded with them, or at least placed them elsewhere, so he started looking around his room. In one corner a small wooden dresser sat, his torn and tattered clothing tucked neatly away within its confines. Kesindir quickly got dressed, taking mental of when the last set of footsteps were heard.

Two bits later Kesindir poked his head outside of his room, finaly taking in the place in which he found himself. Corridors broke off to the left and right of his location, and from what he could hear, voices were to the right, so Kes went left. Sneaking seemed illogical, if he was seen it would be obvious he was trying to not be seen, so he opted for just acting normal. Well, as normal as Kes could be, so he started walking.

It took maybe two bits for him to find a door that lead to the outside world, and as soon as he found it he left and headed down the busy street. As quietly as he’d woken, he’d just as quietly, and successfully, escaped The Order.

[Korva]

*Speaking Rakahi
*Speaking Common

Korva wouldn’t be surprised if the seas were in the sky the way the last few trials had gone, it had been so much chaos she hadn’t had a moment to herself. Not a moment to enjoy the sound of the waves lapping against the sloop softly. Nor enjoy the rocking of them, like it was U’frek, rocking her to sleep. Had she not just spent the night sleeping in a tavern, surrounded by smaller warm bodies she’d perhaps have felt more rested. In truth, the Biqaj woman wanted to bask in the only chance she’d probably ever have at being surround by kids she could pretend were hers but seeing them hurt almost more than her foot. In her minds eye she could see the horrific teeth, ears echoing with screams, blood across tiny hands.

It was these thoughts that woke her from her nightmares. These same thoughts that made her disentangle from the group, thanks and goodbyes to the other patrons waking before she slipped out into the crisp air of the day. Gooseflesh rose her her arms, giving them the appearance of a freshly plucked dinner before she pulled her cloak tighter. Yet, that was not what made the woman shiver, it was the sight of the city. During the last two days it had seen bloodshed, some still not cleaned, marks and signs of ghosts from those who’d fled in terror or attacked in fear. To make things more disturbing, dark, and dangerous looking the trees had begun to bare all at once leaving the ground cluttered with debris, blood and decay with the skeletal looking trees a reminder of how the dead things that had haunted the city.

These dark thoughts that swirled kept her feet slogging along as if weighed down by invisible weights, the heavy chains of her own thoughts leading her to a vaguely familiar path. So little clean up done but surely the—the body had to be gone?

“U’frek…wish ya could just wash all this away, woulda been helpful so ain’t no one gotta see all this.”

The words fell on deaf ears as people cautiously went about their business, the usually ease of going through town hindered by both the shadows of the day and in their minds. The same shadows that brought Korva towards the house. The house were she’d almost gotten a kid killed and helped kill a child. Imagine her surprise when she was not the only one there. Morbidly there was a crowd, hovering around as two uniformed figures exited a house near it. A deceptively pleasant looking house but the Biqaj knew better and didn’t need the odor escaping it as the exited to tell her what had gone on inside. Anxiously her stomach swirled like a whirlpool, threatening to suck everything down into it right before it spit it out on the cobbled streets. Her mouth pooled with saliva as she swallowed, desperate to ask, desperate to keep quiet, unable to do anything but watch as they moved to the next house. The same house Korva had been in only a few nights before.

Images flashed through her head like bolts of lightening splitting clouds, it took all her willpower to swallow the bile that swished in her mouth, her foot seeming to throb more with each limping step. The crowd seemed to part around her like a dreary school of fish, their words and warnings falling on deaf ears. Maybe if it had been another house she wouldn’t have followed. Maybe she wouldn’t have cared but who was she kidding?

If they noticed her or cared she followed, Korva wouldn’t know for her gaze was solely on the corpse still laying on the floor. The smell of death much stronger than before, now it lingered in the walls, haunting like the ghost of the day previous and would remain so until someone took the bodies away. But there the child lay, just as she’d left her, abandoned her to the decay and sight of the lookie-loos outside, the sight of the small destroyed body even more gut wrenching than the prior days. The words slipped out before she could stop them, “Ya gotta clean it—Oh U’frek—ya can’t leave it like this…please.”

Her voice was cracking not able to even figure out how to spit them out in Common, the strain of the past few days beginning to bury her in its sands. Her hands clenched in pain or anger, it was had to sort her own emotions, eyes swirling dangerously as they stayed locked on the body in front of her.

**Made by the wonderful Kes

[Ghoul]

87 vhalar 718

The crowd was nothing new, the bodies even less so. Cordelia was only surprised, a tiny bit, by the biqaj woman that had followed them into the next house, though. The blonde watched her a moment, surprise giving away soon to irritation. She was driven by grief, or guilt, to this place. Come to relive the moment of what had happened. She was likely a witness and while witnesses were always good, Cordelia found that she had little patience for hysterics. Clucking her tongue, she turned away for a trill to inspect the scene before her as the woman spoke.

"Not my job, miss. Illas; if you would." The Ithecal man was much better at dealing with emotional situations. It was enough that he was given charge of such incidences when they arose. Aside from that, Cordelia felt old memories dredge up with each sob she had to endure from the families of the deceased and that tended to cloud her judgment. With something as sensitive as this, she had to be careful of distractions. "We can't move them just yet," she heard Illas state, "It's important that they not be moved. It might disturb some clues we could find."

Cordelia turned, eying the Ithecal. His choice of words was not wrong...but it was a matter of if there was anything to find. The last few houses had given them nothing. Head lifted slightly, she regarded the woman more closely. Injuries; from the attack? Had she been more involved than she'd previously thought? She was more than just a witness; she was a survivor. That changed things. A lot.

"You were here." It wasn't a question. "Who else was with you? Did you dispatch the creature? How many were there?" She could feel Illas' disapproval, but did not care. This was the lead they needed and would follow through regardless of where it took them.

!	Message from: Ghoul
	Next post coming on the 23rd or sooner if you both post quickly.

[Kesindir]

The streets were crowded, the rank smell of death hung in the air as Kesindir made his way. The vicious mockery of life that had played out two nights prior still plagued the people of Scalvoris Town. Whatever foul fiend was behind this treachery was basking in glory at the chaos they’d constructed. Now though, no longer could the salty sea be smelt, no. Something far more acrid and putrid slid into the nostrils of those that dared take a whiff.

Kesindir opted for breathing through his mouth rather than nose, in the hopes that he wouldn’t be assaulted by the smell of rotting flesh. The chill helped slow the decomposition certainly, but nothing short of fire would rid the streets of the rank and fetid aroma. It was odd, to call it that. Aroma. A word normally reserved for describing the pleasantries of finer cooking, or the fresh smell of flowers in the market. Not for this.

People crowded around houses that were barricaded, or somehow guarded by someone, to keep out the onlookers. Those lucky enough to be inside, within a sealed home as to not bear witness to the atrocities that roamed the streets. Children turned into hellish nightmares. Undead thinking of only one thing. Pain. They laid waste to any they could find that weren’t smart enough to run faster than their friends. Kesindir remembered. He remembered with vivid and horrendous detail the look in the eyes of those two children that somehow he, with the help of others, managed to overcome.

Yet. It wasn’t a complete success, for either party involved in that night. Scalvoris Town still stood. The people still moved on with their lives, even if slightly disrupted by the haphazard nature in which things were being taken care of. And Kes, with his wounded arm and ego, managed to walk away unlike so many others. Still there was enough of a populace left to crowd outside of houses, gawking as the authorities went about their business.

What was it they could hope to find? The children wouldn’t be talking. Kesindir certainly knew nothing. And the girl. Or better, the woman, that he’d spent those few harrowing breaks with, what more did she know? Hell Kesindir didn’t even have a name to find her with. He remembered the look in her eyes though. Lost so was Kes in his thoughts that he wasn’t quite paying attention to where he was walking and bumped into a rather crowded area.

”Watch where ya goin would ya?” Words blurted out by an otherwise occupied crowd bent on observing whatever was happening inside the house that Kes now stood outside of. He recognized that house. That had been the house that he’d been inside of not two trials ago. It’s amusing, how the feet will subconsciously move the body to a place of familiarity in times of pain or stress. The wound on his arm ached as he stood outside and looked in. Inside the house where he’d killed that child. Where that child had bitten him. Where he’d unceremoniously collapsed on the floor in front of ….Well the Fates be damned. She stood inside. The woman with no name. She’d been nothing more than a shadow on the wall to Kes until that night. That night that would haunt his dreams, both waking and not, for Seasons to come. That night that started all of this.

Some Day of Remembrance. The Fates had a cruel sense of humor if they found this entertaining.

[Korva]

*Speaking Rakahi
*Speaking Common

“Clues?” Korva whispered back, a strange sort of blankness settling as memories overwhelmed her, her eyes turning a cold hard silver. Her words sharp as the steel in her eyes, voice flat as the emotions built like a wave, “Clues for what!? How to eat a body? Wacha ya think yer gonna find ‘sides blood?! Any witness that coulda helped is laying on the floor!”

Suddenly it came, bright, burning visceral anger that laced through her like a squall, her flinty gaze turning to the crowd still milling outside the doorway. Her voice so quiet before echoed in throughout the house like a lonely wolfs howl, “And ya! Yer just gonna stand there?! These are yer friends, yer neighbors, yer family,” Her arm jutted angrily to the small corpse rotting far too quickly in the house, the scent staining her nostrils, “they’re children! They ain’t a side show, clean it up or clean yerselves out the streets! Go on! Get on with ya or so help me—”

The words died in her throat as she caught sight of the Biqaj boy within the crowd. His arm looking worse for the wear in the light but he was alive! Hair rumpled, eyes changing and not knocked out on the ground. Korva flew at the crowd, and threw herself at Kes for a hug, not caring if he returned it or even accepted it, “U’frek blessed ya, ya ain’t dead! I woke up and ya was gone I thought—it don’t matter, Immortals yer not dead!”

Before she could question him on why the fek he left without a word the woman questions reached her ears, bringing the ire back twofold as she scrubbed her eyes angrily, silver overlaying any other color with the overwhelmed woman. It was a wonder she hadn’t collapsed out of sheer emotional turmoil, and it be just her luck too, “Oh aye! I was here, right were ya shoulda been! Had to do what none of ya bothered to do and ya can’t even have the good to bury ‘em! This—it wasn’t—“ Her voice finally caught, the anger leaking out of her suddenly, tears still falling. It was clear she was moments away from hysteric but as suddenly as it came she was too tired, it was too much, she wasn’t meant for this. Wasn’t meant to keep being the reason so many children left the world. Wasn’t meant to have their bodies burned into her mind. “Ya weren’t supposed to let this happen.”

Whether it was directed at U’frek or the Elementals, it was hard to tell as it was spoken mostly to the ground. Finally she closed her eyes, ignoring the crowd, the house, the boy, all of it. “U’frek damn it all, they were everywhere! And how in the fek would I know where they’re coming from!? Thats yer damned job and ya better hope ya find whoever did it first or I’ll keel haul ‘im by his damned balls!”

It would only dawn on her after that she’d been screaming it all her native tongue but it didn’t stop her from feel good about it. On U’frek she’d kill the son of bitch who’d done it. Elementals help or not. Stomping back to the house, finger pointed like it was a weapon rather than a finger, Korva practically ground on the last of her words, “So ya tell me what ya know ‘cause I ain’t know anymore than you and I ain't saying nothing else til I know what we both know.”

And frankly she found it hard to believe they would know nothing.

**Made by the wonderful Kes

[Ghoul]

87 vhalar 718

Cordelia might have laughed at the audacity if the woman hadn't said all that she did. Or rather, yelled it at her. But she did. The Biqaj was off her mark, and that was what annoyed her in this instance, aside from the insulting nature of the words she could understand. She watched, first, with a darkening expression as Illas attempted to calm her down. There was no stopping the storm that had been prompted to brew, all because someone had decided to jump to conclusions.

"Oh, aye, I was fiddlin' my thumbs at home while children slaughtered people. I didn't need to be part of the Elements to know this shite was going on, not when I had to deal with burying my brother because a three arc old sister had ripped out his throat out when he invited her in. Or bury the girl herself after I had to handle her." She stalked closer to Korva, lips curled up in a sneer. "An Element? Those useless rats in coats? Please. 'Fore you open that mouth of yours consider that this wasn't the only place that's been affected. The depth of your suffering is just as bad as anyone else here, even the dead. We're the same in this; our children were killed and then they came for us. Get off that self-righteous little rowboat of yours, or I'll take you off it myself."

Cordelia was not a woman known for being easily cooled down once she'd gotten started. She turned to the boy that Korva had greeted so passionately, sneer turned down into a scowl. "You got something to add to this? Or are you going to try the same shite she did, little one?" Illas looked mildly horrified, as he rightly ought to. The response of either Kesindir and Korva could further sour Cordelia's mood and then there would be no consoling her. And just when he'd gotten her to be in a much better mood by suggesting they go out looking for clues.

!	Message from: Ghoul
	You know the drill - post coming one week from now (30th) or sooner if you post quickly. Choose your words wisely

[Kesindir]

Few things caught Kesindir completely off guard. Unrequested hugging was one of those things. For whatever reason, the woman he'd helped slaughter two children with deemed it necessary to embrace Kes, and truth be told, it was nice. Even if it only lasted a few trills before she broke down. She really was broken over this. Kesindir was still processing, unsure of exactly how he should feel. Numbness was an appropriate descriptor.

It didn't seem the woman in the hat took kindly to the female Biqaj's words either. She laid into her verbally and Kesindir just stood, not entirely sure if he should speak up, or let the two just go at each other. It wasn't a comfortable position he found himself in, and the attention the Biqaj had given him now brought him to light to the hatted woman.

Little one.

His lips twitched slightly as he bit back a slight anger at the words. He was though. Nothing but a child in a world ruled by powers far greater than any he'd have ever imagined. Yet, somehow, he'd gotten himself caught up in a plot of someone's design, and it wasn't looking pretty. "I... his voice was shaky, clearly uneasy at the sudden and direct questions. "I ain't the faintest of what happened. Was at a tavern, celebratin," celebrating what was supposed to be a solemn occasion alone, that had been disturbed by the panicked screams of terrified people. He'd rushed in fool hearty and nearly lost his arm, potentially even more.

"Only killed two...here and the docks. Just want to help...." He'd hope they'd understand he meant no disrespect and that he just wanted to find whomever had done this. Too many people had suffered already, and fighting wasn't going to fix it. "Calm down there before you get us both in more trouble than we are. They might be able to help." He addressed the Biqaj woman directly, the words flowing much easier in his native tongue. "How can we help?

Truthfully he was just ready to make it back to camp and collapse. He was exhausted, his arm was screaming in pain, and his body was feeling the full effects of all the stupid crazy shit that had taken place two trials prior. Last thing he wanted was a pissed off woman and ithecal to deal with. Hopefully the other Biqaj understood that as well, feelings aside, they did not want to piss off these two, anymore than they already were.

[Korva]

*Common
*Rakahi

She wasn’t usually one for confrontation, as a rule she avoided it by whatever means necessary but the more she heard the more if shot up from the depths of her stomach. Especially when the woman stepped forward, something in the Biqaj woman almost snapped, it was only the sight of the her lizard body guard that kept her sense back where it belonged.

“It ain’t self righteous to call it like I see ‘em. Acting like ya own it and demanding yer answers.” Korvas voice was a low snarl, not sure where the fury was directed still sticking to her native language in her ire, “And yer telling me it happened other places? ‘Sides here? And we ain’t got warning but we know it was happening? Cause I sure as fek didn’t.”

Finally the rest of the woman words hit like a sucker punch to the gut, understanding flickered across her face, eyes silver and black swirls of rage, anger, and pain. Her words ended abruptly as the woman told her what she’d done, who she wasn’t, knowing how hard it was to do what need be done. Another sickening wave of guilt hit her too, she’d made another kid do the same, she grit her teeth, purposefully digging her nails into the healing cuts on her arm. There was no where to put all these feelings with the crowd gone. No one to put it at except herself, always back at herself. Korva closed her eyes and breathed heavily through her nose, intentionally smoothing out her tone, words now coming out in strained Common, “‘Course I see all suffering, ya think I no bury more little ones? Ain’t first time burying bodies shoulda never be buried. I ain’t to proud to be sorry for thought ya were useless guards here but I ain’t taking back. Said is said and sorry is sorry.”

Then she turned to Kes’ his words almost annoying her but her gaze feel to his arm, taking any bite out of the words, “Don’t be telling me how I needa be thinking, ya hear? If they ain’t guards they ain’t starting shit and I ain’t either. Watcha even doing out here? Ya look like death.”

She ignored the rest of the words, frowning as she realized he’d told them what they’d done. What she’d made him do. With a sigh she continued in her native tongue, “Ain’t no we Kes, ya did enough. I’ll help ‘em and ya need to go sit ‘fore ya keel over.”

“I’ll help ya, if ya want after all that.” Korva said, finally turning back to the woman and her lizard, already the ire left her more tired than before. Now it simmered, stored away in her gut until she could unleash it again. And she would. This particular event was something where she’d find someone to blame, and one way or another she’d get done what needing getting done. “Ain’t know much, ain’t seen thrall ‘fore. Was everywhere, no help, sent people to safe place and try…and try finish…”

A loss for how to get out what she was trying to say Korva gestured to the bodies, thinking back on that night another thought came to her. This woman said her brother was killed by her sister but thralls were already dead, it took some force for her to hold in the question, “And if ya wanting us work,” the Biqaj pressed her hands together, “then need answer too. Might not like what ask.”

It was the only warning she’d give, because lizard man or not, if the woman got in her face again, the ire that stayed in her stomach might explode on the wrong person. But she was trying, if only because with or without this lady she was going to keel haul someone, even if it ended up being the damn guards who—weren’t even present to clean up. Who she hadn’t seen that night either. New thoughts and questions formed in the Biqajs mind but it remained to be seen if the two groups could work together.

**Made by the fabulous Kes

[Ghoul]

87 vhalar 718

There was no deflatioon of anger where Cordelia was concerned. It was a wonder she adn' already turned on the boy before he'd spoken, Illas looking on with a very distinct expression of worry. So he was wanting to help? Her scowl lifted only slightly, but did not go away just yet. She held hher gaze on him a moment, considering. If he'd handled them before, hhe could do it again - but there was also the fact that he was injured. What good would he do then, aside from slowing them down? But he was willing, and that was more than she could say of all the ablebodied folk outside.

And perhaps she might have calmed down, if the apology she'd been given hadn't been half-assed. It was a squawk of laughter that left her, bitter and birdlike. Illas flinched, stepping forward as if to prepare for the worst. "Oh, you'll be helping me, too, then? Ain't I just the luckiest today. Chrien must be having a good laugh at this." There was no humor in her voice as she stepped forward, dangerously close. The scarf around her neck might have appeared to be raised a little higher, as if lifted by something under it.

"I don't mind questions; keep us from misunderstanding. I'll give a chance to ask your question." There was no warning - or perhaps that was it - as Cordelia leaned back slightly. It was only a trill, but it would have been enough for someone thoroughly skilled in combat. Such was not the case for Korva. It meant she had not a chance to avoid the smack of Cordelia's forehead against her own, a burst of pain radiating from the spot.

"You can ask your question now." Hat knocked slightly askew, if the pair paid enough attention, they might notice the white feathers peeking out from under it. Until she righted the accessory on her head.