Only You (Closed)

[Aello]

Fall 43, 511 AV Open To: Alenias, Nex, and all others by invitation only Aello strode through the city streets in silence. Everything as it always was- Yune resting atop her left shoulder. Her bow in her left hand. Her bag and her quiver settled into the space between her shoulder blades. Her dagger resting against her thigh. It seemed then, as though this were just like any other day. One that sailed past one's memory like all the others. Jumbled together with the useless bits of monotonous torture that was known, simply, as life. But this wasn't just any old day. It was a day that would come only once a year. A day that could come only once as long as the girl lived. For it was Aello's nineteenth birthday. Although the young spiritist had not forgotten the date, she could not think of anything to do to pass the time. To make the day seem unlike just any other day. Aello sighed as she brushed past a series of people. Their capes billowing out behind them. A flurry of black fabric as they danced silently in the breeze that swept through the area. As she moved, Aello could hear her boots clicking across the wooden streets, along with many other pairs of feet. She could hear several boatmen dipping their oars into the dark waters of the lake, as their raviosas glided along the length of the canal. She could feel the life of the city. Its normalcy. Displeased by this realization, Aello slipped down a narrow alleyway, and set her things down. She took a deep breath, in through the nose, and out through the mouth. Collecting herself, allowing herself to think. But nothing came, other than the thought that she should pray. So, the girl got down on her knees, and closed her eyes. She bowed her head to the sky. "Thank you Dira, for letting me live another year in this life," she whispered. "For deciding to wait a little longer before I returned to your side. Before we met face to face once more, and I was eased back into the cycle. The balance of all things." Even after she had stopped praying, Aello remained on her knees, so very still. Breathing evenly, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Her chest rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern, as she allowed herself to be overcome by thought. By the memory of having been in the presence of her patron goddess. She remembered the sight of her skin, her scythe, the sound of her voice. The things she had said, and the things she knew she stood for. Her likes, and her dislikes... Perhaps that's it, Aello thought, with a slender smile, as she raised her head to the sky. Perhaps the best birthday to be had, the best gift to myself, is to spend a day in Dira's service. Destroying that which she loathes, the nuit. Perhaps the best gift I can give myself, is a day spent destroying them, for with the knowledge of their destruction, comes the knowledge that she loves me all the more. Aello's smile widened as her eyes sparkled. Slowly, Aello eased herself onto her feet, and looked back and forth down the length of the alley. Into the portions still illuminated by the sun. Aello had told Nex she would meet him down here, and could not help but wonder what had been keeping him until now. OOCUnless a nuit joins for us to hunt, we have to make an NPC, (to be approved by V as far as I know). Unless we fail to find anything.

[Nex Paciscor]

The wood creaked as he padded along feeling none to smooth against his paws, and the constant fetid smell of the water lurking just beneath the semblance of stability was enough to make his stomach turn. He didn't much like this city, it was so very different from Lhavit and seemed more dirty than the starry city had been last time he saw it. This was where Aello was though, and wherever she went he would follow without question. She had more wordily experience to be sure, but it wasn't a logical sense that prompted to so accept her lead. No, his reasons ran far deeper, deep enough that perhaps even he didn't know the exact cause.

Nex's strides came longer, his properly shoed feet thumping against the wood as his head swiveled about to try and find exactly where it was Aello had wanted him to meet her. A feeling of urgency fueled his every step though he knew not from where the sense came from, nor the reasoning for this impromptu meeting in the city. If she had told him he had long forgotten in the face of some savory meal no doubt. As hard as he might try to be more like the woman, he still fell prey to the same tendencies.

A strong deep inhale brought air through his nose, his sense of smell now grinding into motion to try and better sift through the collection of scents that hung so thick about the air, both good and bad but mostly bad in this instance. It wasn't quite powerful enough to pick up Aello's scent though, nor enough to separate some odors from others but it made him feel like he was trying to find her, showing he was earnestly working towards remembering where exactly she had desired to meet him, and more importantly why.

Of to the side of himself he heard a slight whisper of noise despite the clamor of the city, which luckily wasn't all that much. His keen hearing picked up on the shuffling of feet just barely and coming up upon the alley he shifted to press against a building who's name or purpose he did not know, and moved ever so slowly to peek around the corner. Nex's golden eyes widened as they settled on the back of Aello. Tentatively, he took a hesitant step forward, settling a outstretched arm of the wall opposite of the one he had been leaning on.

"Aello"

[Aello]

Aello turned around at the sound of her own name, spoken upon the lips of another, a male with a far deeper voice than she. A voice that seemed to resonate in the back of his throat. Her eyes caught sight of her companion's golden colored ones before they took note of anything else. The man's height, his dark hair, his muscles. How he constantly seemed to sniff at the air, picking up on things the girl could only imagine. "Hello Nex," Aello replied simply, her voice rather neutral. "Glad you chose to show up... I was beginning to think you never would. Or that perhaps, Rhysol's dogs had gotten to you, and it'd be my turn to spring someone from their cell." A slender smile crossed the girl's lips, as her eyes sparkled mischievously. She bent to pick up her belongings, and return them to their proper place, before looking up at Nex again, taking a step closer to him as she tightened her fist around the center of her bow's wooden frame. "You're probably wondering why you were asked to meet in such a discreet location," Aello went on, as her eyes flicked out towards the ends of the street, the sides of the buildings which surrounded the Kelvic. As though there may actually be something there now, that time has been allowed to trickle by. Slowly but steadily. "Well..." Aello began again as she choked down a mixture between a chuckle and a laugh, "you never can be too safe when sharing words in this place... especially when they pertain to a proposition, of sorts. You see Nex, today isn't just any other day. It's a rather special day. A day that deserves to be marked by some sort of change in our daily routine." The girl paused for a moment, allowing her words to sink in, as she returned her gaze to the Kelvic's form. "You see Nex, today is the day that marks my turning nineteen... just a bit older... you're probably thinking this is no big deal, and you're probably right. Although, I don't want it to feel that way. I want this to feel... special..." Aello cast her gaze down at the ground, the space that lingered between them, as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "On one's birthday, people tend to offer the one that inches closer and closer to their own death a series of presents... but I have just about everything I could ever want. You and Alenias... Yune. Skill with a bow... Everything I had ever dreamed of really. Of course it's not perfect though. There are things I could do without, and would love to be rid of." Aello paused. "Things that Dira too, hates. Although I don't know her to despise hypnotists, she is known to despise the grey area that lingers between life and death. A sort of world similar to that of one's dreams- a place that lingers between slumber and wakefulness." Aello sighed. "Hopefully that hasn't confused you Nex. That poor analogy. A link between god's, and that which they reside over." Aello paused. "You see Nex, Dira despises Uldr, it seems, and that which he rules over. The undead. Those that refuse to return to the cycle, and serve only to unbalance all things." Aello's smile widened as she looked up at Nex again. "Dira hates the nuit Nex, causing me, in turn, as her servant, to hate them," the young spiritist explained, as she tightened her grip around the bow even further. Causing her knuckles to crack as her blood drained from them, causing them to grow a ghastly white. "Thus, the best gift to be had this year, would be in knowing that some of their kind had been destroyed. In knowing that Dira would only smile down on us all the more, once we had rid them from the streets, and returned them to their proper place. Returned them to her." Aello took a step closer. "You were asked here to be told. To be questioned... do you want to join in on the hunt Nex? Knowing that perhaps, Rhysol will grow to loathe our presence all the more, for the life of a nuit, in and of itself, is chaotic. No?" Aello inquired, as she tilted her head slightly to the side. "Although the chaos caused in death, by killing, may please him, it may also serve to widen the rift that lingers between us, for surely, in his way, he favors the nuit as does their maker." Aello paused, and took a step closer to her companion. "So again, you will be asked, what say you Nex? Will you come knowing what you now know? Or will you stay instead? Allowing this day to pass as though it were any other? Allowing yourself only to stick to the security provided you by your daily routine?" OOCOMG that was a mouthful.

[Nex Paciscor]

Her voice didn't sound too upset, and tentatively he took a step forward, further pushing himself into the sheltering walls of the small alley, and bristling as it was he tried to seem calm in such confines. For Aello's sake. It wasn't much that he didn't trust the woman, he trusted her with his life after all, but he couldn't help but cringe in clustered spaces that reawakened that trapped feeling he felt so often not very long ago. He supposed that's what human's felt in prisons, or perhaps all confined spaces like he did, but he never had tried to ask, or ever would for that matter. He knew long ago that their minds where much to complex for him to understand and to try only lead to misery.

The smile that accompanied her next words threw him off, betraying the intensity of her words, and their twisted meanings. He had no need for secret meetings nor anything to hide for that matter. Why did anyone do such sly things anyway for that matter? It made hardly any sense to him but then again he never knew much about planning, and Aello was the assumed smart one. If she had good reason to meet under such conditions, then it must be right, and Nex need not question her authority. She'd done more for him than anyone else, and more than earned his trust and loyalty and so letting her do the thinking for the pair of them was perfectly fine with him.

Quietly he listened to her next words, first speaking of constructs he knew not of but seemingly important to the young human, and thus of importance to him. Unconsciously his foot slid forward bringing him another step closer to the woman. His breath came slower as the tale turned to darker things, things that awakened in him his more primal desires. A natural want to kill, destroy, maim anything that claimed a place among a undead's ranks. His experience those days in Lhavit came flooding back to him for but a moment, his stint of being malformed into hard rock for a good portion of his body. The ultimate cause of his failure in the face of his master, and the reason for his eventual exile he strongly believe. Yes, even besides his natural breed hate for the creatures, he hated them all the more for their dastardly hand in his young developing life, and preventing the companionship he could have had so long ago. To kill them would be doing too little, no, he wanted them to suffer, and for a while at that.

He found himself nodding before she even finished, but he managed to hold his tongue till she did. His mind raced with thoughts of ripping a particular one's head off with only his jaws, the feeling of relief that came with it better than anything he had ever felt before. At last her words spelled out fully and completely and her question hung heavily on the air waiting to be answered.

"Even if death took me away from you, I'd hunt the creatures down by your side" Nex said, his voice a near growl as the words spilled from his lips.

[Aello]

Aello's lips curled into a devilish smile. "I should hope that Dira would see fit to stay her hand. To keep her scythe in its usual place- resting against her shoulder until a time in which we have dug our claws into the withering flesh of those caught between worlds," Aello commented. She paused a moment, considering the manner in which her companion had spoken. It seemed so very feral, so strangely fitting of the nature he often chose to hide, that it made the girl wonder if he too, did not have past quarrels with their kind. A reason to come along other than his devotion to her. Or rather, the fact that he trusted her, for some strange reason, to keep each of them alive and out of trouble. "You would be missed Nex, should their hands draw you into the world they seem to fear most," the young spiritist whispered. "Let us hope then, that my arrows fly true, and my dagger travels swiftly enough to keep you out of harm's way, should you find yourself in a bind." The girl paused. "It seems doubtful though, that you'd need any help, given your strength, and your ferocity... the feeble nature of those we have chosen to destroy... the way their bodies split and crumble, as though faced with an immense heat, or something of the like. Something they can no longer bare." Aello took a step closer to Nex, tightening her grip around her bow as she glided along. "I'm happy you chose to come along Nex. We're bound to have a lot of fun, to make Dira herself smile down upon us... the only problem is, we know naught where to find that which we hunt. I suppose, then, that's the reason we are hunting." The woman paused, allowing her thumb the freedom to roam over the length of wood beneath her fingertips. Trailing the gentle curve of it. The area the girl knew her father had once held himself. Grown to know as well as she, if not better. "So then, Nex, it seems that we must ask ourselves a question. If we were nuit, where would we choose to hide in order to remain out of sight?" Aello asked. "Out of the way of sharp objects which may sever the skin and force us to hunt for a new host? A place where man's eye would not linger long enough to realize just what it was that we were?"

[Nex Paciscor]

He saw her step forward, and he heard her words but he was not all there. His mind, that quasi intelligence his ancestors had been gifted with so long ago by a quirk of a fate entangled with that of a mage, reasoned through the memories and buried itself deep in the images that so painted his past. A past in the city of stars should've been peaceful, he should've still been there serving by his masters' side as only he could, and protecting the old man for any blades that might have came too close. He should've, it should've but it wasn't so thanks to that unnatural beast kin to nothing possessing true life blood running through its' veins. The very same creature Aello proposed to hunt down, was the very same that had ruined his life of comfort so long ago. He'd learned to obey by the snap of the whip, learned to fight by the crack of the iron banded rod, learned to protect through his devotion to his master, but he hadn't learned to love through a relationship that allowed no bonds, and he hadn't earned that long ago bond because of the curse the spell slinging nuit had cast on him turning him into a thing of flesh and stone and useless to his master's needs for protection. He'd been unable to stop the dreadful creature on both occasions he had encountered it but not once did he forget about it, nor his promise to bring it to rest when he found it again.

The words of the one he now considered a trustworthy friend, and quite fitting new master dragged him from his thoughts but the memory and hate was still there. Boiling hate that brought his muscles to tense uncontrollably and made his breathing heavy and ragged. He was afraid to speak, afraid that it would let the ferocity that grew inside of him out in more than just a mere snarl. He needed to save it, keep it contained for the one Aello mentioned. He could be self-controlled, perhaps.

"I've encountered the things before, but I was weak then, I couldn't do what needed to be done" He spoke coldly, his words caught between despair and anger, though if asked he wouldn't be able to reason which it was more. "The first time I met one it was in the forest, it was in a glade with its' prey being a small boy on which to manipulate his strange magics, could it be that is where they like to keep themselves, away from those that might scent their foulness and thus know who they are?"

[Aello]

Aello's muscles continued to tense as she listened to her companion's words. She nodded a little, denoting that she was paying attention, more so than anything else, after all, she was not so sure she agreed with what Nex was telling her. "You were not weak Nex, merely young, and thus, too inexperienced to know how to encounter the things life threw at you," Aello commented, her voice relatively neutral. "But now, that you're older, surely the tides have changed, and even if they have yet to be swayed towards another direction, there is still time before you meet again. Consider this practice then, for that one fateful day when you finally end his wretched life. For the day you make him pay." The girl's eyes sparkled as she paused for a moment, allowing her words to sink in before continuing, "and if you still have your doubts at the end of all this, remember who your friends are. That you'll always have them by your side to help you- to train, to fight each battle with, to finish things off for you when you can no longer go on." Aello's lips curled into a sinister grin, "don't you ever forget just how dangerous we all are." As the words left the young spiritist's lips, her grip tightened around her bow. "Now, as for the woods, it seems a bit unlikely that one would want to venture there. Seeing as the place is filled with all sorts of different animals- wolves, bears, foxes, deer- all equipped with some sort of natural weapon, which could gut the feeble things in an instant," Aello continued. "Not that they wouldn't venture there, at least, on occasion, but it seems the sort of place the undead would want to avoid, for not only does it house a multitude of animals, but it serves as host for various monsters, hunters, dangerous plants and terrain, large bodies of water which could contain yet more danger, old trees which could drop their limbs at any point, much as they do their leaves in the fall..." Aello's voice trailed off for a long time, as her mind kept on working, thinking of alternatives to what her companion suggested. "Perhaps they'd prefer to stay in the city. Away from any sort of blacksmith, weapon-smith, or armorer of course, for sharp pointy objects must be a deterrent. Heck, anything comprised of metal must be." Aello paused for a moment, shifting her weight from one leg to the other, and leaning into it. "They're said to be fond of magic though. The nuit. Perhaps then, we can find one among the shops selling enchanted wares, or tomes. Maybe even the stalls in the plaza, although that seems unlikely. The only problem with that would be that we would either have to follow them away from the area in order to murder them, so that no one else will see, or lure them away. Either way, something must be done so we won't be caught. Although, it is still questionable as to whether or not the higher powers that be will actually care about what we're doing, seeing as they're a questionable lot themselves. Not truly interested in morals and ethics, and the like. Keeping the city safe." Aello shrugged. "Sometimes, they seem to present the city with even more trouble than they save it from." The girl shook her head lightly, as though ridding herself of all thoughts of both the city guard, and the ebonstryfe. "What about this: we check the city first, comb the area around all of the magical shops we know of, and go from there? If there don't seem to be any of those petching abominations, we can move to the forests? At least there, only the animals will see how we torment and mangle its body before we finish it off. Praying always, to Dira that she'll only elongate what we as mere mortals could deliver as far as pain is concerned in this life, in the world that comes next." Aello's eyes flashed dangerously. "Come," she called over her shoulder, as she strode past Nex, on her way towards more populated portions of the city.

[Nex Paciscor]

With all the power her words held over his primal energy that so festered inside of him, he found the binds forged from pain and lessons learned that constrained his instinctual tendencies slowly loosening. He wanted to release himself into his form more comfortable, a form where he could tear and rend the flesh from the things that so plagued the world. To throatily call out his accomplishment afterwards and bask in the praise to follow from his master. The past was far distant from his mind, as were the guards, and the social policies so shoved upon him since his birth in the city of the sun and moon. A feral growl escaped from his pursed lips but the part of him still yet aware kept it quiet enough not to interrupt Aello's words, though every muscle in the kelvic's body was tense and rigged ready to tear into something as if the nuit was right there. Nex's nostrils flared as he smelt the air as the thought crossed his mind, but he smelled no such foul scent carried on the wind, and took it to mean none of the abominations where near.

His boiling blood cooled to a simmer as he continued to watch Aello, and starting an exercise of deep breathing he barely managed to bring his overwhelming urges to bare and his racing mind a pace slower. As he watched he focused in back slowly on Aello's words as she began speaking of the guards of the city, something he had little knowledge of in any case besides the codes he had learned the harsh way back in Lhavit that seemed to carry over to this place as well. Whatever city it came to be, one thing tended to be the same at that was the people there that tended to be well armored held power over those not so strong. It was alway the same though, at least the basic rules, and the bossy nature of those with blades to protect, though he didn't understand the concept nor why people allowed such select people such authority over them, and torture them so. Men and women should be able to defend themselves ably enough to not have need for such athouratative people, but yet still many found these guards with a iron fisted rule over them torturing them however they may and they are found unable to do anything about it because they didn't learn how to properly handle themselves like they would have had to absent of such rule. The idea of staying in the city was less than pleasing, but Aello's logic was sound, but he couldn't help but to think that the guards might prove less than helpful in such a venture. From what he seen of the men they seemed very much for themselves rather than for the benefit of others, though they surely postured themselves that way.

Suddenly Aello was walking past him, and turning about he followed her out into the alley, the hunt started.

[Aello]

Aello moved through the alley with relative ease. When she came to its end, she turned left and then right, before looking back at Nex. "You know love, if you'd be more comfortable, you could always shift into your more natural form. Your stuff will be kept safe in my pack, if you're worried about that," Aello commented. She paused, "the people here will think you a handsome and fearsome pet." Aello's lips curled into a sinister smile, as she waited for Nex to decide what to do. How he'd feel most comfortable. After he had chosen, she'd move on, towards the left. Aello would continue through the streets, weaving her way in and out of alleys, to stay out of everyone's way. She'd cross bridges, and push past people who bothered to wander into her path. "Stay close Nex," she whispered, after several bells had passed, "we're almost there." With that, she'd pick up the pace, and turn right at the end of the street, before moving left at the end of the next one. It was then that the pair reached the plaza. "Here we are," Aello commented, as she strode further into its expanse, and willed her magic to her. She glanced around, as the colors came to her. Made everything dance and swirl together. She forced it further away, into the shops that lined the plaza. She found a few people in some of the smaller ones, but none of them undead. She knew she'd know for sure, after the last time she had encountered one of their kind. She willed her magic to fan out across all the shops, newer ones, she had not checked, but still, she found nothing. Her magic's final stop was the Black Tar. The girl's heart sped up, as her eyes settled on the dark spot across the door. She felt as though she could smell the undead inside, but as her magic circled the place, entered silently through the door which had been left slightly ajar, she found nothing. There was no one inside for Aello to find. Disheartened, she whisked her magic through the crowd with a swift flick of her wrist. It kept darting over people, skipping over them like frogs did from lilly pad to lilly pad. Or a stone being skimmed over silent waters. "Do you see anything?" Aello asked. "Or smell them even? Surely their rotting flesh has a scent?" Aello turned to Nex, watching his chest rise and fall. "Just nudge me or something if you do. Or just start walking, I'll catch up." The girl's eyes sparkled as she turned back to her magic, willing it onwards. There were simply too many colors to keep track of. OOCSorry this post is brief, and sped the time it took to get places up. Erm... I don't know where you want to find a nuit, so I will leave it up to you if we keep searching. Maybe we should... our hunting be lacking in skill.

[Nex Paciscor]

The bonds of his flesh tightened around his spirit, though he pressed on following alley further down the narrowing corridor. It been the longest yet he'd stayed in his human form, and the transformation was beginning to chafe at him, hindering his every movement as his mind resorted back to the more natural way of thinking a simpler way that was more suited for controlling his own body than that of this form. Before him Aello came to a halt, and awkwardly he came to a shuffling stop, forcing himself against the wall rather than let himself knock into the woman. His golden eyes flashing to take in hers, his grimace quickly disappeared into a curious look, his lips turning up into a smile.

"As you wish"

Quickly as he could manage in this awkward body, he pulled of his clothing, leaving it all scattered carelessly on the floor around him, and at once he could feel a tingling chill sweep across his flesh, raising gooseflesh across his limbs. In the blink of an eye, where once stood a man, a wolf was now, and padding forward he nuzzled the side of his lupine face against Aello's leg, pacing around her while she gathered his clothing, and then following her when she departed the alley. Free at last in his own skin, he could better concentrate on the task at hand, which was to say finding the unmentionable things that so plagued the lands. Aello had said a 'spirit' had let it be known to here one of the foul creatures had come here, hadn't she? She had said something about Dira. Whatever it had been the cause, he decided he really didn't much care. It ended up with them hunting for the creatures, and allowing him to be himself so this spirit was in good standing in his regards. As long as she didn't try to lay a strange hand on him that is.

Thick padded feet pattering softly on the ground, the entered the plaza after many bells of walking. HIs pink tongue lolled lazily outside of his mouth, and his head dipped low as fatigue and fading zeal took it's toll on him. He'd expected to find the creature already, and to be munching on a thick slice of deer meat by now, but instead still they searched, albeit fruitlessly since he hadn't caught the slightest whiff of their quarry yet. His mind had almost drifted completely from their purpose when the soft voice of Aello broke him away from the confusing crowd and brought his attention to bear. Looking around, his nostrils flared as he deeply took in the scent around him, but it was too crowded here, and scents conflicted themselves twisting and turning in his mind as he was hit with wave after wave of new aromas. Snorting, he pawed at the ground in frustrating as he glanced about, and found even his ears to be of little use in the clamor that was the busy plaza.

A small bound brought him from the cluster of people, and brought him between two people converting whom he promptly shouldered past, his lupine nose still flaring occasionally as he sniffed the air, and now his pointed ears at attention. He hadn't smelled anything yet, but hearing was another matter. Just off the plaza, the people where less clustered, and less conversation muddled the air, and seeking a measure of peace, and perhaps a place to sate his growling belly, he looked earnestly for that small patch of sanctuary, finding it as he turned the corner of on of the shops, and abruptly came to a stop. The intense smell of perfume hung thick in the air, sickly sweet in it's intensity, and taking a cautious step forward he peered forth, across a canal to see a man walk away from the edge of the opposite side and disappear farther down. Turning his head back to see if Aello was close at hand he'd growl, and toss his head to where the man had departed. The man was strange, perhaps not as strange as that which they hunted, but perhaps he dealt with such beings. Whichever the case there was something peculiar about his scent, something perhaps Aello could explain or seek out.