GoldenCat/TheDecision
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The Decision
Selina de Windia: This is not what I needed. Selina thinks, trying to blend into the crowd and not stick out. She knew what this signified. Well, two things.
One: they're trying to find me again.
Two: they're getting ready to crack down on the populace.
Either way meant the General could be in town. She might be able to kill him off if he was, and his forces were dispersed. Either way. The assassin looked around, for a less patrolled route to follow.
Rain of Unspoken Words: Rain follows Selina blindly through the city, a twinge of pity on her face as the waves of fear and apprehension echo down the alleys and byways of the Boil. She considers badgering the Dark Angel about their destination but decides doing so would only agitate her more.
"So, where are we going anyway?" She whispers.
Selina de Windia: "You'll see." She says in a low voice, moving to a point near the gate so she can watch whatever comes in. Going back to the brothel could wait awhile, with this going on. She doubted that the General would leave much of his retinue behind, but it was a chance.
None of these whelps can more then match me, anyway.
Maybe if the Bishop still had the Void's Puppeteer he would be in possession of an Abyssal on her level. No -- surpassing her level. Settling into a discreet place, she watches -- and waits for Moon.
If they were showing up to harass the people of the Boil, Moon would probably not be happy. Best she found him first.
Seventh Moon: The ladies what was once the main thoroughfare through the center of town, now clogged with buildings but still cutting a rough path to the foot of the clocktower. Alleyways and side streets present themselves at almost every angle around the women. Steam rises and clings like a low fog in the narrow warrens between the tottering apartments and store fronts, dark figures moving at the edge of perception through the cloudy cover. As pale and nervous citizens keep their heads low and hurry about their business, whispers rise around them about the coming of the General, evidently a familiar thing.
The easiest path is still on the main street itself, but the dark-clad patrolmen are thickest there. The Black Cloaks don't know the streets any better than Selina herself does though, and even being systematic in their patrol, it shouldn't take much to duck into crevasse between buildings and escape the undead's scrutiny. She can see any number of others doing just that - street urchins and other riffraff scurrying out of the path of the Black Cloaks as they approach.
And while she waits, the steam swirls down a near by alley, parting for a moment to revile a large gray hound; far too clean to be a stray and very intent on her. It stares at her expectantly for a moment, before it barks once and vanishes back into the mist.
Selina de Windia: "There's our signal." Selina says to Rain, not looking at her, and follows the dog back into the mist, leading away from the gate for a moment. No matter, the General might deposit himself in some building. His demon wouldn't be able to guard him then.
And maybe that bitch Charmaine will accompany him.
Fiona: After going through the side-paths, a long detour through so many alleyways, they see the arcs of the House of Heavenly Pleasures.... one of the few stone-walled structures in the district, walls that are surprisingly clean of dirt. Faux pillars line along those walls up to the arc made of twin statues of the red light district’s patron, the Smiling Lover.
Entering the brothel, they meet Fiona, up the stairs to the second floor... Quite a different one than that they left behind. In so many levels. Covered in a cloak of the darkest green, tied up with broochs that are like two eyes, and a silver chain. Beneath it, a practical champagne-colored dress, that clings to her petite frame. And her face... happier than it was before. Not just happier... light.
As if the weight of the world was lifted from her shoulders. “Welcome back!” She smiles, “How do I look?” She says, twisting around herself, happy. “The cloak belonged to a thaumathurge who used to be with Vivian, and moonlit as one of her ladies. Though I hear she didn’t use a dress beneath..” Moon remembers the thaumathurge, Lilian. And indeed, she had kinky black leather underneath. “The dress seems to fit it better, if you ask me.” She asks, walking down the stairs towards Selina, Moon and... “... Who’s she?”
Selina de Windia: "A new arrival." Selina drawls distractedly, looking over Fiona and assessing her. Not too bad. But she was still 14. Selina preferred them older, usually. "And you look considerably better, in a fashion."
There was a place for white lace mimickry of what Selina normally wore. That place was not in public.
"I only just met...Rain." Selina nods toward the fae.
Kanti: Kanti walks down the stairs behind Fiona, stepping lightly ... not looking nearly so free as the girl in front of her, though her eyes do light a little as she sees that Moon and Selina are back.
Why I am I so glad to see her agian?
Why am I so glad to see him?
And then she looked over to rain, and looked through the magic clouding her, saw the red eyes, the inhuman features.
A minor tremor passes though her.
And ... another one of the shining ones ...will she...?
...how will she?
"Welcome back my Lady, Moon."
A breif pause as she controls her emotions "Greetings, Rain."
Fiona: "Thank you!" She says, hugging Selina. "It feels... right, to practice magic in this. I was doing it, just as you had taught me!" It comes to Selina. Another face. Another time.
Holding the girl's hands, motherly, showing her the gestures to make, while her mate sung on the background. Such beautiful songs, warming hearts, shaping passions, drawing back the wyld... she feels like asking them. Like asking Moon to sing, to sing again... all the knowledge she once had to teach at her fingertips... until her mind goes back to the fact she saw the girl command greater magics than she ever did.
Fiona lets go, and turn around, "Pleased to meet you, Rain!"
Rain of Unspoken Words: Rain nods with a smile as she is introduced and Kanti appears as well, "I'll be the Dark Angel's diplomat-slave for the time being. Delighted to meet you both."
Selina de Windia: "A slave, huh?" Selina replies sarcastically and unthinkingly, still looking at Fiona almost...strangely, after the hug. Too many links to the past, a past she didn't remember beyond occasional flashes. The First Age. Then she snaps out of it and looks back to Kanti, then to Rain. "If one can be a slave by walking up to someone and telling them one is, anyway. Try not to give people the wrong idea about me."
Rain of Unspoken Words: Rain gives a small smirk at that. "Ah, we all enslave ourselves to one thing or another, but only a few of us admit it."
Seventh Moon: "Yeah, slavery. Great." The Lunar cut in suddenly. He had been leaning back against the wall as the women spoke, but shifted around constantly as if he could never get comfortable. Only a flutter of a smile had passed for Fiona's apparent transformation. Instead he had spent the time glaring thoughtfully at the floor or looking back down at the floor bellow. "I hate ta break up this darlin' conversation, but shouldn't we be trying ta find out what the fuck is goin' on? Like why the hell their is an army, another goddamn army coming to my town?"
Selina de Windia: "Cause they probably want more people for...whatever it is they do with em. Or they want us." Selina replies irritatedly, turning and looking at the door herself. "I ain't fighting the bloody General's lot all by myself. None of us are. They'll mop us up on the quick with all those cursed essence users."
We need the Pale Angel, at least.
"Though if the General decides to stay in town, maybe we can off him later." Selina looks at Moon, frustrated. "This is why I was sitting near the gate and waiting to see if the bastard came in."
Kanti: "They appeared a little after you left Moon." she says softly. "No one here knows what they came for, or who they're looking for."
Seventh Moon: "Yeah? And what do we do till then, huh?" he snaps back at the Dark Angel. "If you're right, those are my people they're fuckin' with out there. My people, getting carted off ta be impaled on another Spire or whatever shit these dead bastards get off on."
He looked back down at the floor between his feet, brown hair falling over his eyes, words straining through clenched teeth. "Fuck knows how long till they start pickin' everyone off, tossing them on a spike. Meanwhile, I get ta sit on my ass and watch it happen again."
Selina de Windia: "And what do you propose to do about it, with things the way they are now? Remember back when we met, Moon?" Selina replies, looking at him as coldly as she ever had, bristling with indignation. "When you came north, did you see all the destroyed farms, and all the dead Windians. The refugees streaming toward the capital to get away from the Bishop's forces?"
The coldness turns into a glare. "Those were -- are -- my people. Nothing I could do. Nothing, except kill the deathknights. When the right time presented itself."
Kanti: "If we stay here, they will find us my lady." Kanti says every softly, half expecting to be silenced, but speaking anyway.
"We all, but you and I especially, create far to much of a show for us to be safe here, should anyone ask the workers or the miners. If they seek us in the Boil, they will find us."
Seventh Moon: Fire met ice. Moon looked up and met Selina's glare with one of his own, frustration and anger boiling over in his gaze. He remembered. He remembered too damn well what he'd seen.
Moon leaned off the wall and turned away without a word, his boots thudding down the stairs as he descended swiftly and dashed out the door into the strangely quite streets.
Selina de Windia:: Rage rose within her, a cold rage, almost over-mastering the rest. Walking right into their trap, was he? And thinking he could do it by himself? Foolish man!
Running off like a child!
She didn't have everything she needed -- or wanted. No Pale Angel to cover her from the General's bodyguard. No Alex to burn them. Just a Terrestrial, a Solar with mostly unknown capabilities, and a fae.
And the Lunar who'd just run out the door. Idiot! Selina turns to the rest. "Get ready," She growls, eyeing them all, hoping they were enough to stop the General's lot. "We're going to destroy the General and his men, and you're going to see why the Council keeps me as an enforcer."
Rain of Unspoken Words: Rain watches the Lunar storm off to do much the same thing Feral had done: go fight an army alone. "Yes m'angel! That's what I love about you humans-- twenty minutes and we're off to war!"
Fiona: Fiona's eyes go wide. She watches Selina's words, completely surprised... "What? We are going to fight... them all? You... you surely don't mean... just us... you can't mean...."
She had seen the army in action before. She remembers the Disciple... the Vestal...
Kanti: "My lady, this is suicide." she says very calmly "We cannot fight the whole of the General's army, and the General himself. Not in open battle."
Selina de Windia: "We're going to fight once we know what's happening, probably." Selina says quickly, unbuttoning her greatcoat for easier access to her weaponry. "I'm going to catch Moon and see what he's trying to do. If he's doing what I think he is, then we fight. If he does without us, he dies, and without him..." She pauses for a moment, ending her sentence differently. "We're too vulnerable. Wait here."
With that, Selina herself is out and off, closing the door behind her and making her way down the street, hugging the walls and using the alleyways when she could, trying to find Moon.
Fiona: Fiona looks at the door, beffudled. "... this... this is really happening, isn't it?"
She looks at the two other girls there on the hall, the only ones like him, at least.Those who weren't as surprised as her. "They are going to... " Her caste mark shines for a moment. "... what can we do?!?"
Kanti: Kanti gentley slips her arms round the girl, trying to comfort her a little. And to comfort herself. She isn't sure what to say.
Rain of Unspoken Words: Rain stretches as the Dark Angel darts off, leaving her with the two she knew nothing about. "Well..." she says confidently "If they get themselves killed, you can go back to the Aether Court with me. I don't think the Lover'd be liking me much if I lost another of her Abyssals like that..."
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