PM to join Spirals Within Spirals (Kelski)

[Meriann]

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85th Winter 517 AV
"Speech"

The people of Sunberth were restless like the waves of a foreign, muddy shore. She pictured them sometimes, when she couldn't sleep or when her mind drifted to amuse itself. They strived to break down the great, towering cliff of life with all their might... and at the same time stroked the beach hoping it would give some respite from their bleak lives. It was a mental image that, once she'd thought of it, she'd been unable to get out of her mind. And although Meriann was a strong swimmer, even she struggled in the muddy, broiling waves. The city had seen a lot of turmoil and hardship whilst the sailor had been holed up during the Winter's pause, and there was only so much treading water she could do before she was dragged under. Each day felt as blank as the next. She stayed on the Sunrise as often as she could until, agitatedly, she had to leave and find company.

Fishing was a familiar exercise and each successful day was a prideful finger-up at her imagined opponent. But no matter what she did, the woman remained a restless soul. The company of her family was a balm, but they could only relieve the itch for a short while before the Svefra had to spring off and find someone or something to stop her from growing bored. She didn't see the concern on her sister's face as she left. Maybe she refused to see it. After all, she didn't really understand why she couldn't keep still. She was driven by curiosity and a fear of something that she didn't want to look at. Some nights on her quest to find relief she struck lucky, and her nighttime conversation could make her forget about the shykehole she found herself in. Other times, Meriann was forced to listen to some lecherous man preach about the size of his cock, or hear the exploits of a rookie gangster. She listened with amusement until the story repeated over and over and the eyes of her companion became desperate or angry or despondent. Then she had to leave before something terrible happened. It almost did, several times, each time making her more ashamed of her own inadequacies.

She couldn't sit still that night, either. The moon hung without strings in the sky and bathed the quiet waters with shining blackness. Her sister and brother had spent the afternoon elsewhere and had returned in the evening without much fanfare. Meriann, who was already in a funny mood, didn't go over to their ship but instead sought solace in mending a small hole in a fishing net. There was little to ease her mind there though, as she squinted ineffectually in the dim light. The work was nigh impossible and Meriann deliberately didn't light a lantern, which would have made the task a little easier. The pier was still. A light wind tinkered with the riggings, and the usual, soft clink, clink of ropes and metal accompanied the few distant, stray shouts of enjoyment or gods-knew what else that drifted from the Drunken Fish across the unusually still evening.

The Svefra dropped the net onto the deck. Motherpetch them all, she thought at no-one in particular. She stood quickly and dragged the crumpled grey cloak up from where she'd been sitting on it and draped it over her shoulders. She looked around, looking for watchers, but the boats were empty and the pier boards clear of stragglers. She ducked down into the hatch and rummaged about in the dark until she found her coin purse, and pushed a handful of gold mizas into her pocket. Her cutlass came next as it always did now. She was foolhardy, but she wasn't entirely stupid. She carefully tied the sword and scabbard around her waist, trying not to think about where she would end up that night. It seemed like a night of endless potential and not all of it good, but she didn't care about any of that. Her heart fluttered with excitement, and she climbed the short stairs to breach the deck and jump recklessly onto the solid wood of the pier.

___

Meriann licked her lips as she walked past the Drunken Fish. It was a favourite place of hers, indeed it was a comfortable place, but tonight she felt like something a little different. She paced the streets with her customary speed, heading along the coast towards an establishment that she'd heard about in passing from a evening's drinking partner once. 'Tall Johnny's'. Where fortunes were made, was what she heard. Meriann didn't want to make money through gambling. She knew she had a terrible poker face, and found card games an enjoyment, not a form of employment. No, she was seeking the people who played a different kind of game and sold a different kind of amusement. There were rumours of drugs that made one experience emotions and feelings that no other human ever had. The thought of the incredible dangers of the subject of her interest never passed her mind as she pushed open the doors of Tall Johnny's and stepped into the sinful hole within.

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[Kelski]

Darvin was in a surly mood. Kelski could see it immediately by the way he dragged her through the city later in the evening. She’d heard through the shadowy network that normally surrounded her… that he’d lost a rather large bet and was still struggling to pay it off. That surprised her because Darvin didn’t seem to be the gambling type. Everyone had momentary lapses of judgement, and clearly her guard was one of those.

His hand on her arm was rough as he steered her through the streets and finally marched her through the double doorway of a brick building flanked by two unsmiling Akalaks. Their presence enough was unsettling to the Kelvic, but when the sheer crowd in the gambling facility hit her she wanted to panic. He simply grinned, almost as entertained by the Kelvic, and clamped his arm tighter.

Threading through the crowd, he practically dragged the Kelvic through the dark smoky throng. They passed the gambling section, albeit slowly, because people stopped Darvin along the way. Kelski saw coin change hands in exchange for powdered packets and vials of liquid. It gave the girl a good chance to look around. It wasn’t a place she wanted to be. There was much to much noise, too many people, and what appeared to be thieves everywhere. More than once she felt small touches, hands probing pockets, and looking for coin pouches that she just didn’t have. There was a cage battle going on where two large men were beating each other senseless with fists. A very loud announcer was calling shots at the crowd as people tended to refuse their seats surging around in the amphitheater-style seating.

Darvin dragged her down into the pit, closer to the action, in fact so close she could reach out and touch the cage. He sat her down though she kept jumping up, each time the crowd surged and each time the fighters smashed into the cage. It was a raw and brutal sort of fight, one that two people who had nothing else to lose were engaged in.

The big older man leaned over so Kelski could feel the whiskers of his beard tickle her cheek. “Little bird, this is the heart of Sunberth. This is what lies in the souls of men. I want you to sit here. I want you to watch it, absorb it, and if they splatter blood, I want you to wear it. I want you to get used to this… to get numb to it. I bring the young Sun Births here to desensitize them to violence, especially those children of dandies who have never seen it. Bones will break here. Teeth will come loose. Men will lose their lives. I want you to watch it. I want you to take it all in. Sometimes, this is the best men hold inside themselves. Sometimes there is no more to them than this.” He said, reaching out and grabbing her jaw and forcing her chin up and her head to face the scene in front of them.

It was brutal. But deep inside she understood what he was saying. Darvin thought she was weak, simpering, having been sheltered her whole life, even though it had been far shorter than hers. The man would have been wrong though. This is what she saw inside of people. This is all she knew of them. There had been that brief beautiful time in Lhavit where she’d been free and had met people who had light and laughter within them. But here, the core was exposed. She’d seen wounds fester, and the whole of Sunberth was always festering. The only difference was that instead of lancing a wound and letting the poison out, when these men were beaten and broken, the poison didn’t leak out it just simply killed them because there was nothing left inside to heal them. There was no core of purity.

She could smell the decay as Kelski flared her nostrils and watched.

Darvin, however, had eyes for something else. He’d sold as much of his stash as he could to his regulars. Not everyone was here and he’d always brought extra. He was looking for more marks, people with that edge to their gaze that screamed of other things, of wanting more, of needing escape. One girl walking past had that look. There was something roaring behind her gaze. It wasn’t in the same fashion as a feral kelvic, but it was something unusual. There was a mixture of desperate anger or a search that gave away the fact the woman had an edge to her, one that was driving her forward, making her restless, and swaying her emotions from desperate or despondent with a dying need to actually feel something she hadn’t felt before.

The bearded man’s big hands snaked forward and captured her arm like he held the Kelvics moments ago. “Pretty girl… pretty girl…. are you looking for something more? Something fun…. something that doesn’t get you vertical and used?” He said in a snarly snakish voice. Darvin’s deep throaty growl was the result of a lot of years drinking and even more smoking things that didn’t even remotely resemble tobacco. “I have what you need, pretty little girl. And I’ll give you the first sample free…” He said, immediately releasing her arm now that he had her attention.

Kelski sat quiet, not sure which drug Davin had on him today, but rather fearful of several of them. One or two of them she liked, sometimes longed for, and had no issues with him testing batches on her with. Steel grey eyes met the woman’s gaze, wondering suddenly, what her aging guard saw in the girls gaze that made him single her out. She wasn’t practiced with reading the signs humans gave off to each other. The woman was pretty, the kind of pretty that would turn men’s eyes. But she didn’t look anything in particular in her gaze that would draw Darvin’s predatory nature… at least not what Kelski could see.

The fight took a violent turn near where they all were and blood splattered out, coating the Kelvics face slightly in droplets of blood splatter. Darvin got a bit of it too, but he just grinned. The stranger would have been sprayed as well. Kelski started to wipe it off and Darvin knocked her hand away violently. “Wear it little bird. I want the scent of it in your nostrils. I want you used to seeing it and not being bothered by it.” He said firmly, turning back to the stranger.

He pulled several packets out of his pocket. “Pick your poison, lady. These two relax you. These two give you a glorious buzz with a lot of extra color to your world. And this one… this last one… turns you into someone else for a time… someone you won’t know.” He said with a laugh, offering her a selection, free of charge of course.

[Meriann]

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"Speech"

Meriann's first impression of the place was that it was throbbing. Voices rang and called and shouted from each crevice and tucked away place. Roars swelled with the thrum of the fighters in the cage. Physical, guttural sounds that made her feel out of sorts. For a few moments, she only stayed still, wondering whether it was a good idea, and then she swallowed whatever lingering doubts she had and opened her eyes to the people within. Alcohol spilled in a sticky puddle from a table to her left, where an engrossed gambler's elbow had knocked over a tankard. Several young woman, and Meriann thought they looked rather too young indeed, loitered alongside the laps of an older man and his dubious friend. Meriann walked through the crowds, letting bodies press against her and smells wash over her. It was a stinking place, but as she released the tension inside her, she found herself enjoying the primal lustiness, the throbbing.

But she still felt as if she needed something else. Maybe she wouldn't be free of this particular feeling until she'd found the drugs she had heard mentioned. Or rather, it wasn't the physical mixtures, tinctures and pills that fascinated her, but the idea that by taking them she could experience a heightening of her own soul. It was the idea of a furtherment and augmentation of her emotions that led her to scanning the room for something she had no idea how to look for. She approached the cage but looked in the faces of the ones gathered around. Most only possessed keen eyes for the warring men trapped inside, and though they got high off their own drug of choice, she didn't care for betting. They did not have what she sought. Her agitated gaze flickered to the edges of the room next, past the crowded tables and gatherings of people, and she began to walk there next.

A hand roughly grabbed her arm. Her lips parted to protest, but then a voice accompanied the stranger's movement and she turned to look at the rough-faced man and the woman beside him. Her chest thrummed excitedly as she listened to what he had to say, but she shook off the firm grip all the same. Still... This was what she was looking for! The satisfaction would show, easily - Meriann was not good at hiding either her pleasure, or her dissatisfaction. A spray of blood hit her neck and her dew grey cloak. It was warm, like balmy water, if not for the colour. Her fingers twitched once as she reached up slowly to lift some of it from her neck. Her fingertips drew away, red, and she did not clean herself for there was no way to get clean. Instead, her hand dropped to her side. She had yet to speak or answer the man, because he had only just left her room to speak. Besides the churning, nervous excitement though, Meriann had another thought on her mind, and that was that she thought she recognised the two that were here in Tall Johnny's. There was little chance to step back and scrutinise them properly, nor was there opportunity to ask names or speak pleasantries. It was clear that the man was here on business, and the fascinatingly coloured woman... Well, she sat quietly, with Her grey, grey eyes looking ever onwards. It was a look that made her feel uncomfortable, but there was something familiar in it. Confused, the Svefra ran her hand through her own tangled hair and squared a look at the rough, older man.

Her voice was low-pitched but she spoke loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the fighting and the shouting as she smiled fleetingly.
"Aren't you a good salesman?"
He held the drugs out, not close enough but within reach of her own investigations. Instead of the bottles she had imagined, they were in small bags so that she couldn't even see what they looked like. His descriptions were bare-boned but enough to steer her decision firmly towards the latter. Perhaps it would be a terrible decision, one that she would regret, but now there were no regrets or worries even. The small spiel and the reassuring enough smile of the stranger had forced her into a strange kind of confidence. Perhaps it was even due to the presence of the black-and-white haired woman, who acted as some kind of balancing act, giving the man a touch of a female side to him that made Meriann less edgy than she might have been otherwise.

"As ye's kindly giving fo' free, I'll plump for your last one. See what kind o' 'someone else' I can see in me." She laughed then, and reached out to take the little but surprisingly weighty bag. The drawstring was thin and she opened it easily, drawing up a free chair and sitting next to the grey-eyed woman. Around them, the world of the gambling den thrived. Meriann was curious, and asked, "So, you swallow this?" Darvin, his name still unknown or not yet remembered at least to the Svefra, said in response, "Good, good choice, and down in one, every last bit." A waterskin was passed over to her to help the greyish powder go down more easily, and she did exactly as he said. Down in one gulp.

Her eyes closed as she swallowed, trying to ignore the unpleasant taste. The man laughed, and the sound of it was heightened by the sudden, rattling shake of the cage as a dead weight crashed into it. Her eyes opened rapidly, fluttering to stare over at the battered body that lay crumpled on the floor. His injuries, caused by fists and humanity alone, looked grim and bloody. Their table had picked up a few more blood splatters, and Meriann's hands had now picked up a few more blood spots. She sat analysing her body, trying to figure out what was happening... If indeed anything were to happen.

"How long does it take, sir?" A mocking laugh followed that, and Darvin cryptically said, "As long as it takes, sweetie. You'll know soon enough." Meriann grimaced, but said nothing in return. She felt like getting up and pacing around, but held a kind of grim fascination as the crowd suddenly realised that the victor had won. The unconscious or even maybe dead man looked strangely peaceful now the blows weren't landing, but the winner... Gods, there was something tragic in his face that entranced the fidgety seawoman, who couldn't help but look at the shaking hands of the fighter and his own, bloody hands, and his wolfish, ghostish grinning. Darvin had got up without her noticing, leaving the mysteriously familiar grey-eyed woman sitting beside her. She could feel something prickling across her tongue, something hot. Wanting to know what speaking with this feeling felt like, and with a creeping smile crawling onto her features, she turned her body and her chair around to Kelski and said, "I believe I know you, from somewhere. I'm Meriann. Oh gods isn't this good?"

.

[Kelski]

Kelski reached out to the blood that flecked across her face and ran a finger through it. Her eyes had turned away from the woman taking the poison from Darvin and thus taking a step down a spiral road that lead to nowhere. Peace was elusive in this moldering rotting city, the fight in front of her and the fight beside her evidence enough of that. The thought startled Kelski. She glanced at Darvin and his newest customer. There was a subtle fight there. The woman lost the battle as soon as she took the packet from Darvin. The fight in front of her, between the two men, was just more out in the open. It was more brazen. But they were, in essence, the same.

Kelski smeared the blood she’d wiped from part of her face between her thumb and forefinger, studying it intensely. Its scent awoke a primitive sort of hunger in her. She reached out and ran a black tongue around the two bloody digits, lapping at the essence of life coating her skin. A savage hunger coursed through her as she watched one of the men fall in the cage, and fancied she watched his spirit rise up, free at last from Sunberth’s grasp. She wanted the meat suddenly, and her stomach growled loudly. She could almost taste the succulent eyes delicately savored, popping between her human molars. It would take nothing to free them from the corpse that held them captive. She started to salivate as she stared, wondering suddenly where the officiants of the fight would take the body. The slag heap? Probably. It would be such a waste….

Meanwhile Darvin was busy working his particular brand of charm. “You just let it dissolve on your tongue, sweetness.” He said, smiling. “The taste is sweeter than you might expect. And you can wash it down with a mead if you dislike it.” He said with a grin, signaling to one of the passing waitresses to bring a few meads over. Coin was exchanged, and he started to hand one to Meriann then hesitated. “I’m Darvin. This will cost you…. but only the knowledge of your name, Sweetness.” He said, handing Kelski a mead as well. The Kelvic blinked, surprised, and automatically took the mead though she wasn’t sure she actually wanted it. Mead wasn’t an acquired taste she’d exactly acquired yet.

Kelski was even more surprised that Meriann turned and addressed her. Darvin wandering away wasn’t unheard of. He’d cast his net, set his hook, and the beauty beside her was about to walk down his particular brand of yellow brick road. But she was used to being ignored – an excuse for a sojourn out. The Kelvic turned to Meri and nodded, not sure much of what she would say would be retained in the next few bells once Darvin’s powder took hold. “Kelski. We were on the isle together. Where Neras got hurt. With the Priest of Dira.” She said, refreshing Meri’s memory. “I do not think we exchanged names.” She added, not unkindly, but she was distracted slightly, licking at the blood on her fingers. It tasted so good and she was suddenly so hungry.

It was at that moment that Meriann’s head seemed to detach from her body and bounced upwards, towards the sky, like a tethered kite tossed by the wind. It violently sprung back down, reattaching to her neck and shoulders…. and she felt her body stretch. She grew taller, stronger, and it seemed like the answer to every question that had ever been asked in her mind came rushing in all of the sudden. Her hair color shone in whichever color she’d always longed it to be and every single eye in the room turned to her, stared, and noticed her. Every eye wanted to be her. And the sense of power that feeling brought rushed over her.

Kelski sighed, seeing the woman’s eyes glaze suddenly, and knew that from here on out the woman probably would not remember anything accurately. Darvin was too good at his job. And she’d be hooked, a slave to the packets that he sold all around simply because no one wanted to be who they actually were.

[Meriann]

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"Speech"

Yes. Yes Yes Yes. This was it! The woman beamed and flashed a beautiful smile at the room, that looked anything but beautiful for the few people that bothered to look her way. She could see their eyes looking though, could see their admiration and respect and love. Yes, love! They loved her, of that she was absoultely sure.

"Kelski. Kelski Kelski Kelski... I love it!" It was unclear whether she meant the drugs, the euphoria, or the woman's name. Her body felt huge, but not ugly. She was a commander, a figure of love and amazement to everyone in the room. Every inch of her skin grew with beauty, seeming to shimmer and glow with an internal light. She tossed her hair free, and it was a silken blend of chocolate, ebony, and amber that bounced glossily in the light radiating from her crystalline skin. She laughed, and a sick shiver shimmied down her spine, but she shook it away. The half-drunk mug of mead was knocked over, staining her clothes as a dark puddle spilled across her lap, but she didn't feel it.

Every eye was upon her. Every person in that place knew her for what she truly was. There was something that wasn't quite right, but that small voice was drowned and burned away by the myriad other voices that screamed jubilantly at her that this was it! This was their chance! And, oh, those voices were so sweet as they whispered and whirled and danced around her. So sweet and lovely and kind and respectful. She nodded towards some of them, a gracious, queenly bow of her head. Yes, she thought, I'll accept your challenge.

It was a good job, but more likely a bad one for everyone involved, that Darvin had apparently trusted the situation enough to leave the two women alone. He had gone, maybe to deal with another client, or simply distracted by a pretty face, perhaps even spotted someone who needed talking to. Meriann knew the real reason for it though. After all, Darvin knew that Kelski was jealous of her, simple as that. She tilted down to look at her. Meriann's pupils were dilated so large that almost all the blue was obliterated. Her jaw was slack as she stared, but every thought spasmed across her face in the most visible of ways. She saw Kelski. Saw her. Saw that she was looking back at her meanly, with cruelty in her eyes. Saw that she was dirty and evil. The sight of her made Meriann's pure heart stutter with physical pain. The sudden beating swelled against her throat and her chest, but the incessant murmuring of her admirers made her well again.

All she needed to do was teach her a lesson. After all, Meriann was a goddess, was she not? Did not these people trust and love her? How could she let this evil creature exist? Her brain screamed at her, but there was little left that could shake her to consciousness. Her hallucinations were overpowering and too seductive. The whirring twisting sounds that crunched inside her mind almost made her scream out in pain, but she knew how to silence it. That horror was caused by the grey-eyed monstrosity in front of her.

Meriann had stood up without realising. Without the drugged glamour, she looked a mess. Dark mead dripped down her clothing, and her eyes were glazed and blinking incessantly. Her hands twitched and fidgeted but the rest of her body was completely still. Tall Johnny's had actually quietened slightly, but it wasn't because of the mad woman who thought she was a goddess, but because there was no longer a fight. Somewhere, thugs were arranging the next fight, and drinkers and druggies relaxed in the long evening. Meriann was a non-entity.

But not for long.

Back in her world, she knew what she must do. There was a throbbing, pulsing pain behind her eyes now. She could feel her skin growing duller, her eyes losing their golden glow, and it was all because of Kelski. The anger cascaded over her. As a goddess, her anger was a thing to behold. She towered into the sky as the voices turned silvery with admiration and fear-tinged respect. Good. They should fear her. She had such immense power inside her bones. Such power. She almost drooled with pleasure.

"Kelski, come." Her voice boomed like thunder, and she clasped her hands around the woman's wrists and began dragging her towards the cage. In the circumstances, the Kelvic was undoubtedly stronger, but the drug-fuelled storm that propelled her wormed into her muscles and she pushed them far further than they should go in an effort to pull the woman from her chair and over to the cage. Even if she hadn't managed it, the Svefra would push herself to the vaguely amused man who stood at the entrance to the cage and proclaim in a slurred, triumphant voice, "I'll fight her." The wavering finger alighted on Kelski, and she smiled with her goddess smile. The evil would perish from the world, and she would be alright again.

.

[Kelski]

Humans were always bringing her pain. The Kelvic tended to distrust them on the best of days and then there were days like today that she downright hated them. Tall Johney’s cage pit was set up in the middle of a sunken area and surrounded by seats that ran around it. Where she and Darvin had been sitting was close enough to get splattered by blood when they’d watched the first fight. Of course, Darvin wasn’t here for the fights. He was here for the drugs. But exposing her to the violence had been ‘good for her’ in his words. But exposing her to this… was another thing entirely.

Did he want her to see how the privileged fell? How callous they were with their lives?

This woman took Darvin’s drugs… it was a woman Kelski recognized from the Island and from when Neras had nearly died. But here she was, in some sort of human angst, wanting drugs and taking them for free from Darvin who would target her again and again until he had her money, her body and in some ways her very soul. If she hadn’t been free, Kelski would have pitied the woman as a slave to societies whims. But Meriann was free and freely throwing her life away, so Kelski didn’t even bother to muster that kind of emotion.

It wasn’t worth it.

Meriann was nothing but trash. Sunberth was full of it. The human had no idea of what she was throwing away in that moment… in taking that packet and putting it in her mouth and deliberately giving away all of her personal power to someone like Darvin who wouldn’t value anything of hers if his patterns held true. To her, the drugs weren’t even an excuse. Kelski saw the woman’s actions as the first step on the pathway to death. A multitude of bodies flashed through her mind. The girl in the alley with Bron. What would she have given to live to be Meriann’s age and would she have thrown her life away? Other corpses flashed in her mind as well. Kelski was certain they would have traded a great deal to be alive, to be whole, and in Meriann's shoes and she was certain they wouldn't have taken the drugs.


Meriann’s glazed eyes didn’t give Kelski confidence that she’d see reason. The Kelvic had no pity left in herself though… none at all. The woman in front of her was a human, and one of the very lowest of the low. She was handing herself to Darvin and the countless nameless faceless others in the city that would eat her alive and no one would find a corpse. The Kelvic didn’t flinch as the woman grabbed her wrist and tugged her without much strength towards the cage. She just followed along curiously, tilting her head when Meriann pointed at her and said she’d fight Kelski.

The cage was still unlocked because they’d dragged the last body out and were still mopping up the blood. The last fighter was standing there, looking beaten up but amused as he bowed in a mock salute to Meriann and exited the cage gesturing for her to enter. The cleaners beat a hasty retreat as the cage was locked behind them.

The announcer seemed amused as he announced the next fight which caused Darvin’s head to jerk up and glance around. He frowned, noted Meriann, and glanced at Kelski. Then abruptly he laughed, turned and concluded his business with the people he’d been talking to. He walked up to where he had been sitting front row, and deliberately placed a bet.

So much for an out on that front.

Kelski sized up Mariann and drew her dagger from its concealed place in the small of her back. She had two of them on her, leaving one still tucked in her boot. Kelski kept her breathing even and her focus sharp. Gripping her dagger in a forward hammer hold, the Kelvic planted her feet in an attack position, leading foot slightly forward, and focused on Meriann. The Kelvic knew that being locked in the cage there was no one to sneak up behind her and all she really had to do was mind the woman before her. She moved forward abruptly, fast, leading with her shielding hand like Darvin had taught her and made rapidly waving gestures with it, keeping her armed hand tucked close up to her side.

If she could get close enough, she’d latch onto the woman with that waving hand, pull her close by latching on, and drive the dagger repeatedly into her ribs with the other as she was doing so just as Darvin had taught her. It was street fighting 101.

Deceive.
Distract.
Latch on.
Attack Rapidly.
Kill.

Kelski was following the set pattern and heading to only outcome she'd been taught. That was Darvin's first and strongest lesson. It didn't matter how you did it. Just do it and do it quick. Don't leave enemies alive to hurt you or hunt you. Their blood spilled was far better than yours spilled.

[Regime]

P.V.P RESULTS

Kelski successfully Stabbed Meriann in the abdomen.

In short your roll failed. Meriann has no skill to dodge, no armor, is high, and had no weapon to properly defend herself.

The wound is lethal, but so long as she is delivered to Doctor Petricious's Clinic, who would work on her for free but would horrendously torture her. If saved, she'd not be released from his care alive until Spring 30th 518av, naked, and blood soaked as is the descriptions on the Clinic location write up.

Do note that Tall Johnny will not stop the fight to open the cage nor have anyone aid her. You are dependent on your attacker to save you.

Meriann, you are dying. Its up to you how you respond to this.

[Meriann]

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"Speech"

Her crowd roared, in her mind. Outside that place of insanity, a few punters jeered at the two women in the cage, both slaves in one way or another. Several placed bets, but when Darvin sat with his momentary laughter, most connected the dots and saw Meriann's glazed look and didn't bother to place down money. After all... it would be a short fight.

Meanwhile, the Svefra saw nothing of the drab crowds, but only her beloved, admiring subjects. She smiled wavily, one hand pressed to her forehead as her brain threatened to screw its way out of her skull. She felt like she was going to tear her body out of her skin, but there was a delicious thrill in stopping herself from falling apart. She felt like, somehow, she could hold herself down but allow the energy inside her out to aid her bare fists against this Kelski.

She was wrong, of course.

The drugs were coursing through her system, dabbling with her mental and physical capacities, making her think she had more skill and more energy than she truly had. So she raised her hands in the air and moaned wordlessly towards the crowd, imagining that she received their praise raining down on her. She grew taller, yet again, and she whirled around to raise her fists towards the black-and-white haired woman. Meriann looked out at her, saw she carried a flashing thing in her hand. What could it be, this flashing, gleaming thing? She blinked slowly so as to focus, and then saw her eyes, and her manner. Meriann wavered as the splitting pain travelled from her head to her eyes and back again in a pulsing wave. She felt like throwing up, but it would be so undignified of a goddess to throw up, wouldn't it?

Kelski wove about, and although she was evil (was she?) Meriann couldn't help but notice how clever she was, how impressive she was. There was a grim determination writ across those ice grey eyes that marked her out as a serious foe. A sudden panic sliced down her gut. Shadowy forms sprang from the woman's own shadow, echoes of her that followed her every movement, but snarled with blank faces at the delusional, now hyperventilating woman who fell back against the bars of the cage. Her hand slipped on slick, wet blood, and that was when she went in for the strike.

Meriann was slipping but had not yet fallen, and nor would she fall yet. Outside the bars, the men pressed up to the edge and roared from their guts for Kelski, urging her in for the kill. Their spittle sprayed from bloodthirsty mouths, and their eyes reflected the death they wished on the struggling Svefra. They did not want money, not this time, they only wished to see life's rich blood spilt across the cage's filthy floor. She was but a foolish, foolish woman dealt the end that she deserved. Just another unfamiliar face amongst a sea of unfamiliar faces that would either die in one horrible way or another, or survive with their teeth gritted and their minds hardened to the world. They did not care, as Kelski did not care, what happened to her. Even Meriann didn't care, because she still did not realise what was happening, even as the twisted glamour started to fall from her twitching, blinking gaze.

She realised her fate too late. She had shrunk down to her size. She was dirty, stained, terrified, reeking of sweat and another man's blood. Kelski's hand was cool as it gripped her arm fiercely, and Meriann could only blubber pathetically with a wordless terror as she saw her beautiful, hard face flash before her eyes. Then she could feel it. Oh, could she feel it. Kelski's dagger stabbed into her with enough force to stagger her. The pain was instantaneous as it buried into every fibre of her body. She wanted to scream but found she could not draw breath. The blade bit into her again, then again, and again. She wanted to scream so much. Anguish filled her to the brim and overflowed and silent, tortured tears fell from her eyes as her vision filled with flashing, brain-pummelling colours. Now she was dripping with her own blood.

Meriann fell then. Her eyes were wide, her pupils filling almost all the blue with an inky black. But her lips were moving and she finally found a voice with which to speak.

"Please..."

"Please..."

"Please don't kill me..."

Meriann knew then if she hadn't already that she was pathetic. Her hair was straggly, her body weak, but most depressingly her mind was trashed. She could hardly remember the reason she had stepped into Tall Johnny's in the first place, and the thought that she would die in this pit of misery only made her feel a numb kind of anguish that she knew she would never escape from. The drug rush had been fast but the beating of her heart had quickly pushed it down and extinguished it. She was dying, and she knew it. She could feel an immense suffering bearing down on her body, like a giant hand pressing her down to the floor. There was no energy in her bones, no spark pushing her upwards, no life left in her. She could do nothing but gaze up at Kelski with tears pooling on her dirty cheeks and beg for her own life.

"I... I... Can't. I..."

But no matter how much pain she felt, and even though she could feel or imagine the silky black embrace of death leaping to comfort her, the most primal and basic part of her would not give up. Meriann's eyes had lost their huge, orb-like pupils and the clear blue of the ocean she so dearly loved was able to shine through again, perhaps for the last time. She had no chance unless a miracle happened, she knew this like a gut instinct, but those eyes prayed like hell to Laviku, to her sweet oceans, and fought like a drowning woman. She was cast to the mercy of a stranger, but she would go down like a Svefra.

.

[Kelski]

The Kelvic watched the crazed woman’s eyes and knew it was a waste. Blue as the sky and sea, Lavuki’s child… this was a chosen one. This was a human girl the Sea God had picked over her because her eye color matched the color of his waters. Kelski knew the Sea could be as silver as her own eyes and had no idea why the father of her people turned his back on those that reflected the more somber moods of the Sea. But he did. Instead he’d lavished his gifts on this waste of flesh, this woman who didn’t deserve the life she had.

Kelski wondered what her problem was. Rough childhood? Not enough wealth? Born to the wrong people. Maybe her parents didn’t love her enough or her siblings were more talented. Humans were so Gods Cursed selfish and undeserving. This woman threw her life away the moment she dragged Kelski into the ring. Kelski wasn’t going to waste the time of day feeling sorry for her.

In fact, it was just the opposite. Kelski, in that very moment, hated her. She hated Mariann for her freedom, her privilege, her casual use of drugs, her choice to walk bad roads, really for everything. Looking in those blue eyes, Kelski found no redeeming qualities. None.

Driving her dagger into Meriann’s body in a move Darvin taught her was so incredibly satisfying. Kelski stayed latched on, watching the realization dawn on the woman – even through the drugs – on all she suddenly stood to lose. The words please slipped out of the human’s lips. Again, and again it came, and finally a plea for her life. Kelski’s face remained impassive. She concealed what she thought as she twisted the dagger deep in the wound and watched as Dira chased Meriann’s last breath from her body.

Kelski wouldn’t let go. The Sea Eagle wouldn’t say a word. She simply stared at the woman as she began to cry and plead. The Kelvic held onto Meriann until the last breath and the last drop fell. She held on to Meriann until the woman couldn’t stand any longer, then she followed her down, landing on top of her, careful of the blade. She’d pull the dagger free and then lean forward while Meriann’s body was still warm, perhaps even still breathing, and take her revenge. Savage, angry, not caring about the woman threw her life away, Kelski dug the blade into the woman’s face and popped out one of her Laviku blessed blue eyes.

She popped it into her mouth and began to chew. Before she could swallow she had the other one free and was doing the same thing. She’d stay on her, chewing slowly, savoring the treat, until there was nothing left but a cooling corpse below her or the officials came in to drag her off and haul away the body.

Silver saw so many things clearly that the blessed blue could not… and now never would again. Kelski felt a pressure ease as Mariann’s life slipped away. The men outside the cage were going crazy, some pounding on the bars and some patting each other on the back. Darvin looked smug, his calculating gaze staring at Kelski across the masses. She didn’t like the look. In fact, she hated it, but could do nothing to change it.

Instead, she finished chewing her treats, swallowed, and wished they’d give her Mariann’s corpse. The Kelvic could eat a long time on the girl and was growing so very tired of Sunberth’s rats. They wouldn’t though. And Jaren would frown if she hauled it home. At best it would get tossed on the slag heap. At worst? Tall Johnny himself would serve it up in the next stew they cooked.

Kelski rose then, carefully cleaned her dagger on Meriann’s clothing, and took a moment to admire how well the girl had dressed. Shaking her head, she turned away. Her own attire was pathetic… borrowed mostly worn out boys clothing that was too big on her. Belted to hold the pants up and patched at the knees and one spot in the crotch, her tunic was also rolled up to accommodate her smaller form.

The Kelvic just shook her head. Blessed, but still dead all the same. She wondered what Laviku thought of his daughter now…

[Kelski]

Grading

Kelski

Experience: Dagger +3, Planning +1, Socialization +2

Lores: Tall Johnny’s: Location/Purpose , Tall Johnnys: Cage Fights Will Numb Someone To Violence, Darvin: Gives Drugs Free To New People To Get Them Hooked, Observation: Drug Deals Are A Kind Of Fight. Meriann: Lost A Fight With Darvin – Took His Drugs, Meriann: Doesn’t Deal With Drugs Well, Meriann: How It Feels To Take A Life, Meriann: Resentful Of The Privileged, Mariann: Hated Her For Throwing Her Life Away, Her Freedom, Her Casual Use Of Drugs, Dagger: Murdering Someone With One, Meriann: Ate Her Eyes

Mariann

Experience: Observation +5, Planning +2, Sewing +1, Leadership +1, Socialization +3, Unarmed Combat +1, Acting +1

Lores: Tall Johnny’s: Location/Purpose, Tall Johnny’s: Drugs Are Dealt There, Darvin: Supplier of Drugs, Drugs: Feeling The Center Of Attention, Drugs: Borrowed Bravery & Empowerment, . Kelski: Kelvic With Darvin, The Drug: Made Her Head Feel Like It Detached And Bounced Like A Balloon, Drugs: Make You Into Someone Else, Kelski: Challenged Her To A Fight, Death: Begging For Life, Death: Actually Dying, Acting: Grandstanding Before A Fight

Note: Unfortunately, your PC is now dead. You are a ghost. You can only now start gaining ghost skills or use your old skills via possession.