Private Tales Beyond the Veil

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
Joseph was starting to get upset and it was, in turn, upsetting her. She turned to look at him, frowning sharply. This man, though concerned, seemed as though he was genuinely concerned for her health. Wasn't that enough? If he knew more about what a black shuck was, she was more interested in finding out what he knew than accosting him for using language. Something strange about the phrase, tickling the back of her mind but not quite connecting to something. Harbinger of death.

"She's a black shuck," the physician was saying in response to Joseph. His tone was the sternest she'd heard it yet. "She is what she is, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but her kind are supposed to have hearts." He sighed sharply, clearly giving up on a lost cause. He sat down and began rifling through his box.

"She'll need at least three days, if not four. I'll come by to check on her in the afternoon to monitor her condition. Your job..." Matthias pulled out what appeared to be a glass jar filled with dark clay, a roll of clean white cloth strips, and a bundle of thistle and comfrey. "Your job will be to make sure she is well rested and comfortable. A little light exercise will be fine, but if she's going to leave this room you'll need to change the dressings."

Matthias washed his hand in the basin before he cleaned the wounds, applied a layer of the clay over the cuts, laid a spring of each plant over it, and wrapped it all in clean cloth. They soon began to burn, and she hissed in a breath.

"I'm afraid it will hurt a little at first," he told her with a reassuring pat on her thigh. "But it will help, I promise."

She nodded, and turned her face into Joseph's kiss on her forehead. She wasn't really hungry anymore, but she would eat what he offered her without complaint or protest.

"She will be right as rain by the end of the week," Matthias assured him, packing up his things to go, but leaving the supplies next to the washbasin.

The faerie was poised on the corner of the bed, near her foot. It watched her silently, and the shuck met its beady gaze. It was familiar in a way she couldn't describe. She was certain she'd never seen anything like it before, and yet that blue flame... She thought to say something to it, but it raised and flickering finger to its lips, as if bidding her to keep some secret. It flickered out of existence as quickly as it had appeared.

Matthias offered her one last kind smile before he was swept out of the room by Oscar, leaving the shuck and Joseph alone at last. She immediately wilted -- she sank back down into the bed and slung her arms around him, needing desperately to have him snuggle away all of her awful thoughts.

"Do I really not have a heart?" she asked softly, her face pressed firmly into his chest. She could feel the flutter of his heart against her skin, and yet the arm that was curled into her chest felt nothing. "How can I not have a heart?"

// Joseph Meier //
 
"Then I'll find the bastard who stole it and kick him in the fucking teeth. I have a metal leg, that shit hurts." Joseph growled. He was upset, and didn't know what was going on, which for him translated into hostility. He watched intently at the way the man bound her dressings. Clay first, then thistle and comfrey, then the binding. Tight but not too tight. Probably changed each night. He'd protect the ingredients with his life. He might have been angry but that didn't mean he wasn't paying attention.

He put his arms around her and kissed her, putting his head on top of hers. "You do have a heart. It just might not be...present at the moment." he said softly. "We'll find that with your name, I'm sure of it. You can have mine." he kissed her cheek and settled the plate of sandwhiches on her lap. "Please, eat something. You have to be starving. Hell, I'm starving."

Joseph tilted her head up to look at him. "I love you. You have my heart."
 
His voice rumbled through her, distracting her from the steady burn under her bandages. She looked up at him when he offered her his heart, frowning as he planted a kiss on her cheek. He begged her to eat and she simply looked at the food. She really didn't want it. The thought of eating made a knot settle in the pit of her stomach, where that awful fear was still residing.

She allowed him to tilt her head up, and her silver eyes immediately sought his. They were as dark as the night around them, and something about the depth of their color pulled her in, as if beckoning her home.

I love you. You have my heart.

A soft breath drew in and was held and her eyes never left his.

"Do you mean it?" she breathed. "Promise me?" The silver in her eyes seemed to give off an ethereal red glitter in the darkness, a primordial warning. There was a hunger, neither physical nor carnal, in the way she watched him carefully. She watched him, perfectly still.

// Joseph Meier //
 
"Always." Joseph leaned in and kissed her. "You have my heart. Forever." He smiled and touched her cheek. He was truthful and earnest, his eyes never leaving hers. Her eyes, like a drop of blood swirling in large silver bowls. He adored her. "To tell you the truth I didn't know I could feel this way about someone else again." He cuddled up to her. "How are you feeling? I'm sorry...I didn't notice sooner. I should have seen it. My head was down there, dammit." he shook his head.

He rested with her, kissing her fondly. "But I'm glad you're going to be okay. I'm sorry I didn't pay better attention. We'll be on the road in a few days."
 
Cough cough
___________________________________________________

Joseph stretched. Right on schedule. Shuck seemed to be hungry after every lovemaking round. He kissed her. "Mm. Come downstairs, I'll have something ready for you." he told her affectionately. He pulled on his trousers and headed downstairs, not bothering with a shirt. He couldn't remember a time he felt this fully and completely satisfied. Safe, clean, making love to a beautiful woman. He headed into the kitchen and gathered eggs, milk, and more of the cheese he'd had earlier. Omelettes seemed appropriate. Something nice and light.

He mixed eggs into tthe milk, adding a little salt and pepper for good measure. Indeed, he couldn't remember being this happy. He lit a cigarette and smiled as he cooked. When he heard the door creak he looked up hopefully and saw Oscar. Of course. The man could sniff out food a mile away. "This isn't for you." Joseph grumbled.

"Far be it from me to disturb a man providing for his woman." Oscar said lightly. He was after much sweeter fare. He found a tin of biscuits and began nibbling at them, leaning against the counter. "Ah, the last time I saw you this happy the spring of childhood was upon you. When you begin singing, the very birds will drop out of the air from sheer surprise. The birth of your child shall be spectacular."

Joseph nearly dropped his cigarette into the pan. He took the cooked eggs off the heat and turned around with a look at Oscar.
"Oh come now." Oscar tutted at him around a biscuit. "The fae will welcome you for your fertility alone. Barren village girls should be throwing themselves at your feet and begging on their knees. Shapeshifting isn't your only power."

He stared. He really hadn't thought about the consequences of it. Oscar just put a bisuit to his brow in a mock salute and headed out of the kitchen. His work was clearly done here. Joseph only ever saw him up this early when he wanted to leave. Oscar had a terrible and wonderful reputation; he spread love and gold, yes, but jealousy and fighting soon followed. The large poet lived an endlessly chaotic life of past lovers.

Joseph sighed and waited for Shuck to come down. Oscar was right. He'd had children in his former life. Things he tried not to think about. He loved Shuck, but was she ready? He should have planned better for this.

Over the next few days Joseph prepared for them to leave. He traded their coffeepot and himself as a female for their new horse. The latter felt...wrong, now, but it was only business. Shuck would never know. Once he might have had some pleasure in that game, played coquettish or insisted the man bring him to completion as well. Now it might as well have been a trade deal with a rutting post for how much enthusiasm he put into it. Either way, it got them a horse and some old tack. He refreshed their supplies, had both horses looked at by the stablemaster, and more of the herbs he'd seen the doctor put on her bandages.

It was rough work. Joseph could barter, but he tended to lose his temper quickly or resort to using himself as a bargaining chip. He had to admit, it covered their tracks quite nicely if someone was to follow them. It was either himself, or a slip of a girl who looked suspiciously like him. Other than that, the next three days were spent in bliss. Making love to Shuck, making them food, talking. He fell more and more in love with her every day.

When the time came for them to leave he gave her the new horse, a sage if sprightly dapple gelding. He stayed with the stolen bay. A final once-over of their supplies, and they were ready to leave.
 
She was completely and utterly happy. Between the sleep, the food, and Joseph, it was easy to forget about the aches and burns if her slowly healing wounds. Matthias was patient and diligent in his daily visits, though Risu was a foreboding presence. It was impossible to know if those eyes, with no discernible center in their black depths, were watching her or his nephew's, and most of their visit the shuck spent staring at him. She still felt like he was familiar in a way, but couldn't grasp the memory that teased her. She hadn't managed to figure out what sort of faerie he was, but Joseph had explained what an uncle was. Which meant their physician was half fae. The thought intrigues her, but not enough that she asked after it.

When the day came to leave, Joseph presented her with a second horse, which she received with a kiss. She pet his dappled coat, admiring him. She couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a handsome horse or not, but if Joseph had given it to her, then it was the best horse she could ever want.

Matthias met them outside of the inn, Risu hidden away in whatever pocket of existence he occupied when elsewhere. The shuck was eager to hug him, excited to exercise the gift of arms to show her appreciation. Matthias gave her a reassuring grin, holding her at arm's distance.

"I know you can't thank me," he explained before she could say anything. "Just take care of yourself and promise to come back when you've found your name again. I've never had the opportunity to study a shuck."

She nodded, and when he shook her hand there was that familiar tingle. A twitch of his smile and a light in his cerulean eyes told her plainly that he felt it, too.

"Keep an eye on those bites. She's run the venom through her system, but they'll still be more susceptible to infection if you get lazy. And she's still fatigued, so don't push her too hard. Lots if water, and plenty of rest."

He gave her a pointed look, and she looked away with a smirk and a blush. She took the opportunity to crawl up on her horse, and while she was turned away Matthias grasped Joseph's hand and pulled him close in a surprisingly strong grip.

"You're playing a dangerous game, dancing with that one," he warned, his voice low. His eyes bore into Joseph's, their shocking blue color intense with some unspoken message. "Don't be stupid, if you haven't already ruined her. She'll need all the strength she can get."

And with that, he let Joseph go and stepped back. He waved and smiled at the shuck, who returned the gesture.

// Joseph Meier //
 
Joseph kissed her back when she thanked him for the horse. He was a homely creature, probably born in the backwoods in someone's barn, but she loved it and that was what was most important. He let her speak to Matthias, even though he could feel himself bristling at the accusation that he might become lazy. "I'm not going to become lazy." he said venomously. "I got more of the herbs and I will take her to a doctor if the bites get worse." He checked her tack again; she wasn't used to riding a horse properly, and he wasn't going to let her fall off due to some stupid cinch error or something. He went to give a less-than-enthusiastic goodbye to Matthias when the man yanked him inward.

His eyes bored back, angry mahogany orbs meeting Matthias' blue ones. "She's not your fucking lab rat." he snarled in a low voice. "I love her. I'll give her strength when she has none. And if you ever threaten me...you're going to need to watch every corner, every shadow. I'll be a venomous spider at your neck, a snake at your feet, a bear at your door. Any nightmare you can imagine, I will be there. Don't fucking test me." He stood back and mounted his horse, glaring at the doctor.

"Come on Shuck." he told her, much more gently, and urged his horse to start down the road.
 
Matthias had nothing else to say to him, his pleasant smile not quite reaching his eyes as he waved goodbye. The shuck followed after Joseph and they set out to get back on the course the clurichaun set them on.

The travel was lazy and uneventful. They caught glimpses of fae and wildlife, there in the corner of their eye but gone when they turned to look. Of course, she could still see them, her silver eyes glowing red as she saw through the natural glamour that shielded most fae. Nothing bothered them, and no calamity befell them; each night they felt asleep in each others' arms, she often before him and sleeping well after. Her appetite was returning in force as she adjusted further to her new form.

But on the morning of the second day, she felt the land shift as they passed an invisible line. A chill like the whisper of a cold finger drawn down her spine.

"I think we're in the faewilds," she told Joseph. It made her uncomfortable, and she could see the ripples in the landscape. "We need to be careful where we walk," she warned him.

Tine passed differently in the wilds, the land saturated with ancient magic from generations of faeries. It was something barely seen, like an oily sheen in her vision when she looked at certain spots.

// Joseph Meier //
 
Joseph was happy. The trip was good enouh that they could take their time and not strain the horses or Shuck. He was happy making love to her every night, and cuddling up until morning. Their supplies and spirits were high, and Joseph felt good enough to explore a little and bring her back flowers or some mushrooms to make their dinner taste better. He also had time to think about what Matthias had said, and what Oscar had said. Was she about to start on that journey toward motherhood? If the first time hadn't done it, the second, third, fifth, and eighth times surely had. What would the offspring of a fae and a human yield? Would his stolen magic taint the child? Would her lack of a heart?

He made every attempt to push the thoughts away. She would be a perfect mother. Instead he busied himself with something else. He'd found a lovely burl of maple a few days ago, and had managed to hack off a few palm-sized chunks with the knife Heinrich had given them. He was slowly, carefully and subtly working it into a ring shape. He was adding a trench to the middle, to add some gold. Small enough amount that he could afford it, and thin enough he could pound it down to a decent shape. It would be sealed with a tiny bronze pin he'd worked out of a cabinet at their hotel. He had ached and worked over the design for days, carving rough rings out of the burl until he found one he liked. He sat on the horse, trying to be sneaky about flicking wood chips over the side of the saddle.

But he felt it when they crossed that border. He shivered. He didn't see anything unusual, being human, but he had felt that unseen warning crossing over the border. They were now in the land of the fae. He nodded at her warning. "Where are we going? Straight to the authority to find your name?" he asked.
 
"That's where the clurichaun's map is taking us, right?" She smiled back at him, and meandered through the forest. It was getting colder, feeling more like true winter than late autumn. A sure sign that they were in unseelie lands, a dangerous place for a nameless fae and a human. She realized how vulnerable they were, and she kept her eyes and ears sharp.

Maneuvering around the shimmering pockets of time was painstaking; they rode for an hour in one direction, only to forced to backtrack when it ended in a corner. By the time midday was approaching, her head was spinning. She stopped her horse in front of him, staring at the clear path ahead.

"Are we going the right way?" She turned around to look at him suddenly, a hand going to her head.

"Which... which way are supposed to go?"

Maybe it was because she was getting tired, or something to do with the strange cool landscape, but she couldn't picture the clurichaun's map.

"I can't remember the map," she breathed quietly. She scanned the wood around them, unable to summon the memory of their journey's path. She was exhausted and hungry and suddenly very confused.

// Joseph Meier //
 
"I mean, I assume so." Joseph said. The twisting and turning was maddening...it seemed they kept going around in circles. The horses were confused at the constant yanking about, Joseph soon lost track of which landmark was where. Did the land not want them here....or did the people who stole her name not want her here? He frowned, and riding up alongside her and trying to picture the map. He could, vaguely, remember that they were supposed to turn right here...not left.

"Let's try this way." Joseph nodded right, and turned his horse that direction. At least it didn't seem half as familiar as the other path. After a few hours of travelling, he was sure they hadn't seen that same rock or tree, and they hadn't reached a dead end either. That had to be a good sign. They were both tired. Joseph handed her a little salted venison but it really was just a drop in the bottom of a very deep well. He was tired. Two days on the road without a proper bed was doing a number on his leg.

He reached out to put his hand on hers, patting it. "See? We're back on track." he said gently. They rode for hours. Hours upon hours until Joseph felt like he couldn't concentrate on the road anymore. Was that building up ahead an illusion? He blinked, wiping exhaustion out of his eyes and staring. The building ahead of them looked like a large house, built by a madman. It was painted bright red, with gold paint shining along the eaves and gables. The tiles were a dark brown, almost black. The windows were gigantic, with those same gold shutters, though several of them also appeared to be sliding doors that welcomed visitors. There was a large wraparound porch, that meandered like a snake coiling around the building. It even spiralled up onto the second and third floors. He pulled the horse to a stop, blinking at the building.

The doors were a bright azure blue, with gilded knobs in the middle of the door, in the normal place. They seemed far too large, stretching nearly fifteen feet in the air and twice as wide as a normal door. Come to think of it, each floor seemed out of place. The bottom floor was as tall as a cathedral while the second and third floors seemed to be in a sort of slanting fashion.

The sign out front seemed to indicate it as an Inn. "'The Cat'." Joseph read aloud. "Well, they have a stable...and you look as tired as me." he looked at Shuck, dismounting and leading his horse to the small courtyard below the main deck. There were hitching posts there, and he hitched his and Shuck's mounts securely. He went up to the door, and examined it. The knob was, in a word, beautiful. Scrolling images of cats played along the gold, chasing butterflies and eating birds. If he stared a little too long they seemed to move. A cat would stretch, or catch his butterfly, or yawn. He shook his head. They had to rest. He had gold. This shouldn't be a problem.

He opened the door.

Beyond was a plush seating area, with a main desk. The seats were....strange. Not all suited to human form, clearly. There were a few that hit him in the chest. A bench that had no back but slanted in a strangely narrow fashion. Still more that were reinforced with hardwood. A tiny bench that looked like it belonged in the dollhouse...if the doll was a king and had a taste for gaudy pink velvet. The entire place looked like a posh pink and red nightmare. The curtains were red brocade and gold. The furniture was that pink with gold buttons and painted wood. The carpets were so expensive looking he winced when he had to step on them. Like he'd thought, the first floor was vaulted.

The cieling was painted with more cats, of all shapes and sizes. Unlike the doorknob, they openly moved. Joseph shuddered when a large grey tabby wordlessly meowed at him and scampered off along the plaster to disappear upstairs. He was gaping. There was a salon to their left and right, each in deep red. Fireplaces in marble and more gold crackled merrily, each guarded by a pair of black marble cats. The place looked huge.

Joseph was gaping for so long he didn't notice the desk seemed completely and utterly unoccupied. It was a gigantic mahogany thing that dominated the foyer and guarded the entrances to both salons and the stairs. Well, they had to get a room didn't they? Joseph cleared his throat and stepped up to the counter. "Uh...hello?" he called. No answer. He looked back at Shuck.

The minute she stepped across the threshold, a bell chimed somewhere. It was a light, tinkling sound, friendly and crystalline. Joseph didn't see any bell. When he looked at the counter again a sphynx had leapt onto it. She was large and white, the size of a maine coon. Her fur was fluffy and white, a large white tail sweeping elegantly across her feet as she stood. Her face was that of an aristocrat, and she looked down her long tapered nose at Joseph like a rat had soiled her carpets. She flicked a large, triangular ear. A ruby the size of a robin's egg perched just above her eye, with brightly colored feathers sweeping over her head.

She might have looked at Joseph with distaste but that change when she turned her golden eyes on Shuck. She gasped, putting one paw to her chest like a fine lady surprised at a suitor. "Bless the stars! In my establishment!" the sphynx said, eyes wide. She lifted herself up high on her rear legs and clapped once. "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't see you around your pet, my lady."

"Pet?" Joseph snarled incredulously.

A swarm of sphynx seemed to come from out of nowhere. Three carrying platters of sizzling meat skewers. One with steamed buns. Still more with platters of roasted vegetables. Sauces, wines, champagnes, they all seemed to come out of the salons like they'd been waiting poised for such a visitor. Still others came and bowed before her in the way of cats, extending one foreleg and putting their foreheads to the ground. "We are delighted and honored to have you in our household, my lady." they said in unison. "What would you desire? A bath? A massage? Perhaps a long soak in the charcoal muds to ease your skin?"

"Italix." The white sphynx boomed. "Get our best room ready for my lady. And the adjoining room for her human pet. My lady, where is his mark or collar? You truly must have been on the road long to have not marked your pet." She leapt down and pranced toward Shuck. There was no other explanation for the way the white one moved. Every touch of her little pink paws on the ground was elegance. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kitty, the Headmistress here. Forgive the staff, they are embarrassed by our lack of preparation. Please, tap the dishes to indicate what you would like to eat, if anything, and rest in the salons while we prepare the room."

A small herd of black cats in white aprons were flooding up the stairs, carrying implements or sporting harnesses similar to the one she wore as a dog. Joseph stared, flabbergasted. "Now see here, woman!" he snapped at her.

Kitty ignored him. "My most trusted staffer will be your guide here. Her name is Violet, or whatever you wish to call her. Please, the honor is ours." She produced a tiny ceramic bell from...somewhere, Joseph didn't see, and held it up in her paws to Shuck.

"You will not fucking ignore me!" Joseph could hardly believe it. "What is going on?"

"Does my lady need to feed her pet?" Kitty asked politely, giving Joseph a look.
 
Though Joseph took over when she became overwhelmed, and she continued to point out the patches to avoid as they went, she spent most of the winding ride trying to dig up the image of the map in her mind. It would be to no avail, and that was infuriating. Had it faded because of some unspoken time constraint, or had she simply forgotten it. She wanted to rip her hair out and scream, to sink her teeth into the throat of that awful clurichaun, to lie down and cry until she fell into a sleep that never ended. That map was the guide to her name. How could she have forgotten it?

She was worn, physically and mentally by nightfall. Her head was beginning to bob and she was becoming unsteady in the saddle with exhaustion when Joseph spotted the building ahead. It was indeed a strange structure, its angles and colors and shapes making little sense to her. Then again, she'd only seen the same village for two centuries, so what did she know?

Joseph seemed to trust the place, in spite of the fact that it was a day's ride inside the faewilds. She hesitated as he dismounted.

"I don't know, Joseph," she said softly, but he was already tying his horse to a post. With a knotted brow, she kept a distrustful eye on the place as she dismounted and did the same with her horse. Its haphazard exterior seemed equally matched by the furnishings of the interior. The shuck looked around with wide eyes at the array of furniture. A bell chimed somewhere in the house as they entered, the sound enticing in a way that was hard for her to describe.

A cat appeared on the desk when she wasn't looking, but she paused when she turned to look at it. The cat had a woman's face instead of a feline one. She stared, even as the cat greeted her and rose up to clap. Then more were coming from nowhere, and the shuck stood there blinking, feeling very confused. Things happened very quickly, and very soon she was holding the small ceramic bell while looking between the white cat (aptly named Kitty), the food dishes, and Joseph.

"I... I think there may be some misunderstanding," she began. She held the bell awkwardly in both hands, looking down at the white cat. "This is all very kind but I'm afraid I don't understand the honor."

She looked nervously back toward Kitty.

// Joseph Meier //
 
Kitty laughed. "Lady Malice, I didn't know you'd gained a sense of humor." she said. "You embarass me with your humility." She smiled at Shuck. "My lady, I hope this doesn't offend, but you smell like a human. I think a good soak in our springs would do you well. The food will replenish you, as it does all fae. If you have need of companionship, it is my speciality. There are a hundred men at your beck and call, from trollish bulls to centaur gentlemen to the smallest and most skilled of brownies. If I remember you had a certain fondness for redcaps, brutes though they are. Bit difficult to keep tame but..." she waved a paw. "...I take pains only for you, my lady."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Joseph seemed to be getting more and more feral by the minute. "She's not who you're thinking!" He stood next to her. "This is Shuck. We're trying to find her name. Not this....Lady Malice. It can't be. If it was, she would have recognized that name. Right?" He looked up at Shuck.

Kitty smiled and gestured to Shuck. "Come with me my lady. My servants will take care of your pet." she said.
Joseph looked about ready to explode. Kitty blew a kiss at him. A gold collar wrapped itself around his throat and wrestled him to the ground. Joseph was out in seconds, and more sphynx flooded out to bear him easily upstairs on their backs like a moving, furry trestle. Kitty trotted alongside Shuck, two more sphynx appearing next to them. One carrying little baskets of soaps, lotions, sea sponges and oils in baskets over her back, the other carrying towels and a robe.

"My lady, we don't often see women of your caliber this far out in the woods. You aren't leaving us, are you? The borders are but a day from here." Kitty asked in concern. "I cater to the traveller weary of humans returning home." Kitty looked up at her. "Are you sure you're not sick of that one? He's very rude. Your harem is not going to like a little spitfire like that."
 
The cat laughed at her and the shuck frowned in confusion. Lady Malice? Something jarring shifted in her. A tingle began to spread up her fingertips and at the base of her neck. Malice. She recognized that name. It wasn't her name, exactly, but it was the common name by which this creature knew her.

This creature knew her.

It took her several long moments to recover from the odd feeling and the shock, and Kitty was talking about companionship? Her brow rose sharply as she concluded with a wave of her paw, then looked at Joseph. He, of course, was losing his temper. It helped jar her back to the present when he looked at her, asking if she recognized the name. She held Joseph's gaze as she contemplated what she should do.

Wait. Had he called her Shuck? It made her stomach flutter, but she needed to talk to this cat, so she shoved that aside for later.

"It's alright, Joseph," she said, her voice gentle but underscored by a note of authority. She held his eyes for a moment, already feeling the twinge of guilt for the uncharacteristic show of dominance before looking to Kitty, who beckoned her. She followed, only looking back when she heard Joseph hit the floor and that regret became a knot in her chest. She jogged the few steps back toward him as even more of the strange cats appeared to bear him toward the stairs.

"Be gentle with him!" she called after them, reluctantly following after Kitty and prying her eyes off of him.

She listened to the proprietor with a keen interest when she began to speak again. Without asking a single question, she had revealed a great deal about Malice. Or her. If she was Malice, anyways. She tried not to think about it too much. Instead, she soaked up the details. A woman of repute. She'd been here before. They knew her by sight and by name, and this was a place she had frequented at one point in her life.

"We are returning, actually," she said simply in regards to their destination. When the cat remarked on Joseph, she furrowed her brows.

"I'm quite fond of that one." Her voice had sharp edges. "His spitfire is what I like most about him. I would ask that he receive the same treatment as myself while we are here."

// Joseph Meier //
 
Joseph gave her a stunned look. That show of dominance was out of character for her, but she seemed to fit in like a glove here. He was puzzled right until he was knocked out and hauled up the stairs. To their credit the sphynxes were gentle with him, but stern. He was a misbehaving pet, and lesser than they were as a human and mortal. He was unceremoniously put into a room. When he woke up and tried to open the door, a set of golden bars blocked his way....but led into the most expensive bedroom he'd ever seen. Was this...was this a cage in Shuck's room?!

Kitty, downstairs, was happy to oblige Shuck. "Returning, wonderful!" Kitty said with a sharp-toothed smile. "Humans never recieve the same treatment as fae. But as your property I'll make sure he's clean, happy and fed. What do humans need but a chamberpot, fatty food, and something to rut into? I'll find him a toy. Don't worry about him, my Lady. He'll be happy when you turn in for the evening."

A set of brass and glass doors opened up into a large, rock-lined pool. It looked entirely natural, with large boulders making natural outcroppings. There were even neatly manicured reeds that somehow grew in the steaming, bubbling water. It smelled earthy and wild, full of natural minerals deep under the faelands. Kitty smiled at her. "Please." she gestured. "Wash the dirt of the road from yourself."
Shuck's attendants put the basket of soaps and oils next to the edge of the pool, and the pile of towels with the robe on top next to those. They bowed, and left. Tiny sliding cat doors slid up at the edges of the room with soft whooshes, and the sphynxes disappeared into the tunnels. They weren't dark, dank tunnels but tiny carpeted masterpieces with their own sphynx-sized oil lamps.

Shuck was left to bathe. Servants occasionally appeared and offered spiced fruit, meat, or vegetables. A menu with her little bell was left on the edge of the pool. She could order anything she pleased, from decadent sweets drowning in cream, chocolate and candied fruit to gigantic platters of pork, chicken, beef, duck, or rabbit. There were handpies, salads, sandwhiches, exotic dishes like sparrows drowned in brandy. She could take anything she pleased.

Joseph was left with a small pork sandwhich and a glass of water (sized to his weight, he was informed happily). He sourly ate and drank, and curled up in the small bed that had been provided for him. He patted his pockets for his cigarettes only to find them gone. Fruistrated, he got up and tried the bars again. Nothing.
 
As your property. The shuck could really only blink at that, especially with the questions that followed. Kitty gestured to the pool and invited her to bathe, and then she and the attendants quickly retreated, leaving her to stand at the edge of the water looking around dumbly. She moved closer to inspect the small tunnels, seeing their equally decadent interiors before she retreated back to the water's edge.

They knew her. The shuck paced for several long moments, straightening out her thoughts before she took a deep, calming breath. She wasn't going to waste this opportunity -- to bathe and eat and to find out as much as she could. But Kitty had left too soon. She had questions, and it was apparent that the woman was the one she needed to speak to for answers. She was still standing in the middle of the room when a line of cats brought her small trays of food, inquiring if there was anything from the menu that she desired.

"Can I just have what I normally get?" The same creature responded with an affirmative nod, and, after leaving the snack trays, the servants retreated. With them gone, she rubbed her hands furiously over her face before looking once more at the water. It looked divine. Sure, the baths Oscar and Joseph had provided her with were nice, but this?

Still, she thought about what Kitty had said about Joseph. The memory of his shocked expression rattled through her, and she grabbed her bell and gave it a firm shake. She wasn't about to let them treat him like some pet. Get him a toy? He wasn't a lapdog, he was her lover. Pacing, she waited for this Violet, whoever she was.

// Joseph Meier //
 
Violet turned out to be a pretty little grey cat whose fur reflected the light in an odd way that made her seem almost purple in the right lights. She trotted out and bowed in front of Shuck. "How may I serve you, my lady?" she asked, sitting in front of her with her eyes downcast. She wasn't going to lift them either. She knew her place in the world, and it was as a servant. She was honestly little higher than Joseph in the eyes of most fae. She smiled demurely but didn't speak.

The spynxes were back with a large platter. Little dainty crackers were arrayed in a circle around a silver dish of beating snake hearts. "For my lady's pleasure, her favourite. Snake heart tartare." the sphynx carrying the dish said grandly, setting it before her.

Kitty was perfectly happy to keep the human restrained. She did not want Joseph around the house, not at all. But he was the pet of one of her guests and she would keep him happy....even if he did find the offer of a book and something to masturbate into a little insulting. She had him bathed and set back in his room, and a redcap sent up to prepare the room for Mal.

The man was huge, bulging in muscles and almost entirely naked as he lounged on the bed, waiting for the lady of the room to come back. Joseph was spitting rage at that point, but the anger directed at the redcap fell on deaf ears.
 
A gray cat appeared upon her summons and the shuck turned to her with a crease between her brows.

"I'd like to speak to Kitty, please," she said quickly, dropping to her knees in front of the cat and putting the bell back down. "As soon as possible, if she's available."

No sooner had she spoken than the human-faced cats returned, bearing a dish of... Her eyes widened and she was too stunned to speak as the servants retreated once more. Violet went away as well, and she was left to stare at those hearts, very plainly still beating in their dish. Sure, she'd ate wild animals before -- rabbit, squirrel, mouse; the usual wilderness type animals. And she'd eaten them raw, because she'd been a dog with no real proper sense of taste like she had now. But snakes? More specifically, just their hearts? Yet as she looked at it, hungry as she was, her mouth began to water. Her mind reeled. No. Absolutely not. There was no way she was eating those.

By the time Kitty had returned, she was sitting on the floor, snake blood smeared across her chin and half of the hearts gone, crying softly.

"Kitty, we need to talk," she said when she saw her.

// Joseph Meier //
 
Kitty was possibly just as taken aback by the sight of Shuck sitting on the floor as she could be. She was a professional, and had seen far worse, but the sight actually earned a raised eyebrow from the notoriously hard to read sphynx. She padded close to Shuck, looking at her patiently while she waited for her to get ahold of herself. She waited politely for the sobs to die down a bit, then cleared her throat.

“There is no shame here, my lady. Whatever you desire is at your fingertips by birthright and the power of your name.” She said simply. “But I knew something was wrong when you insisted I treat a human as an equal. For a moment I thought you’d started having a sense of humor.” She flicked her tail. “Tell me what ails you.”

Kitty was a clever madame. She might have sold the bodies of all those who owed her favours, but she was far cleverer than the average cat-bodied riddler. In this emotional state, Lady Malic might give her something she could use, or at the very least secure her safety with. She always had an ear to the ground. Men and women let a lot slip in pillow talk. “Please.” Kitty put her paw delicately on Shucks shoulder.

Meanwhile, Shucks entertainment for the night was massively enjoying poking at Joseph. The shapeshifter was spoiling for a fight and the redcap was all too happy to give him one. Joseph just needed to get out of the cage. They’d been glaring at one another for a few hours now, trading barbs while Joseph paced in his cage. He had to get out, and make that smarmy ginger bastard lounging on the bed regret it.

Joseph launched himself at the bars, shifting into a lizard to try and wiggle between them. Here, his magic was amplified and wild, and not as tightly controlled. He’d always been proud of shapeshifting as an art, and was horrified to feel himself stretching and growing far too much. Instead of the graceful little lizard, a fully-grown drake was pinned between the bars.

The redcap doubled over in mirth, laughing himself half-sick. “You idiot! Stolen magic doesn’t listen to you here!” He cackled, igniting the gutteral snarls from Joseph.
 
Kitty padded up to her side and raised a brow, inquiring what she needed, and she shuck spilled her guts.

"I have no idea what's going on," she sobbed. "I don't know where I am, or who you are, or who lady Malice is. I've lost my name and we're just trying to find who took it so we can get it back." She wiped at the tears on her cheeks but inadvertently smeared the blood on her fingers across her face. She sniffed and looked down at the cat.

"You seem to know who I am," she plied, her silver eyes shimmering. "Are we friends? Can you tell me what's going on?"

Sitting on the ground, her face was near the level of the large white cat's, and she searched her eyes with earnest desperation.

// Joseph Meier //
 
“You are Lady Malice. Well-deserving of your name. A cruel and wise mistress. Smarter than any sphynx. You’ve outriddled me twice, which is no mean feat amongst our kind.” Kitty said softly. “I come to court often to provide companionship, especially as a favor to the courtiers who have their favors here.”

She smiled. “I’d like to think of us as friends but I doubt you would have used those words, my lady.” Kitty told her. “But if your name is indeed stolen you must be careful. To many fae here you are the arbiter of terror. No one dares question you. So many sphynx put their heads to the floor to avoid angering you. But I must ask you...where is your consort? Trahaearn? He was your right hand man and many considered him your lover. Where has he gone?”

She flicked an ear. “And...this may be an indelicate question but...the man you’re with. The human. He has stolen magic and attempted to use it here. The results have not been pretty. I fear we need to get upstairs.” Kitty said.

Upstairs Joseph squirmed through the bars, kicking and lashing his tail. He did make for a handsome drake. He was deep blue, the color of gunmetal with bright yellow eyes. His claws dragged him along the ground until his hips got free of the bars with a loud clang. He bared his teeth at the redcap, who was on his feet with his fists up.
 
She listened, her brows knotting together and her tears slowly drying up. It was somewhat overwhelming, learning more about herself, and she immediately had questions for what the cat was telling her. But that tingle began in her hands once more, and there was a whisper of something in the back of her mind -- a dark cloud that billowed on the horizon of her thoughts, and she could have sworn the tingle was the promise of lightning and thunder, a tempest that could level cities.

Her brows rose, however, at the mention of a consort.

"Trahaearn?" she said, testing the word. It felt familiar on her tongue, smooth as cream. "I... I don't know. I've been alone for a long time."

The cat's ears twitched, and at first the shuck was confused about what she was saying. Joseph didn't have stolen magic -- he was a shapeshifter. Wasn't he? She felt her limbs go cold and she jumped up to follow after Kitty. She could see more cats running around The Cat, and could hear some sort of chaos upstairs. What had at first been an anxious worry became the thrill of fear when Kitty rushed her to a door and they burst inside.

She had immediately rushed in, ready to throw herself headlong into whatever was wrong, but stumbled back two steps at the sight. She recognized Joseph immediately, knew the dark muscular body of the drake to be him with a preternatural familiarity. The sight of him tangled up with a redcap, blood already smeared across the carpet, claws and teeth and hands and--

"Joseph!"

She didn't hesitate again. The shuck stepped forward, her form dissolving into smoke and shadow before manifesting a moment later as a black dog. She was bigger than before, her presence filling the doorway. Her lips curled back into a vicious snarl before she took three steps forward, braced her paws, and barked.

When she had thought she was a church grim, her standard bark had been enough to ward off most would-be trespassers and interlopers. But on a few occasions, she had found the need to use something stronger, a bark laced with the same dark magic that allowed her to shift forms. As she drew her breath this time, however, she felt a violent influx of power, far more than she'd had when they had first set out on this quest.

The bark filled the house like a clap of thunder, shaking the furniture in the room and easily paralyzing fae and mortal alike. It was an immediate stroke of fear that was felt like the grip of a cold fist to body and spirit alike, rippling in the wake of the sound. And it pulled a great deal of her magic from her, hungrily gobbling it up as that wave of fear spread out further and further from her. But she lowered her head and snarled, still prepared to jump into the fray.

// Joseph Meier //
 
Kitty might have doubted herself. She might have questioned whether this black shuck truly was her Lady Malice, until she heard the bark. Sphynxes scattered, fluffed up and horrified at the sound. Kitty's own hair fluffed along her back and tail, though she had the discipline to stand firm....if only because it wasn't directed at her. The redcap immediately separated himself from the fight. Both of them looked worse for wear. Joseph had been punched enough to make one eye swell shut, and had an impressive pattern of black bruises spreading along his ribs. He shuddered and fell on his stomach, panting furiously.

Kitty stood up slowly, and padded over to the redcap. He was going to refuse help, she knew, but with one look from her he struggled to his feet and exited the room. Joseph she sat in front of. "Little human, you have stolen magic from a fae. I am sorry, but it is time you stopped wielding that power." Kitty plunged her arm into his mouth and down his throat. Joseph's eyes went wide and he struggled, but for some reason he couldn't bite down on the sphynx's arm. Kitty was fishing around for something, and when she pulled it out, the drake convulsed. Scales flew off of him like a leaf pile in a windstorm, and the curled up form of Joseph was laying on the floorboards.

Kitty sighed and held the thinket aloft. Dripping in blood and saliva, she sighed and wiped it off with a silk handkerchief and eyed it. It was.... a wooden child's toy. Wrapped in gold wire and studded with crystal. "The soul of a boggart. You swallowed the soul of a boggart?" Kitty said in disgust. "Well, that explains your shapeshifting abilities." She folded the talisman up in a handkerchief, and tucked it away in her fur. "I am terribly sorry about this, Lady Malice. Come. You wll be in the Blue Suite until I can get this room cleaned up."

Joseph shivered and vomited black sludge onto the floor. Kitty pursed her lips. "Humans. Always stealing things that don't belong to them." she said. "Madam, he won't die. I will make sure he's presentable for you. Without his abilities he will be meek and mild as a lamb. A fae could ask for no better servant."

With that, the sphynx trotted off, an army of cats swarming into the room to start cleaning. Their fur puffed around Joseph and a few of them hissed at him. Thief.
 
She didn't stop growling at the redcap as it stood and exited, her blazing red eyes watching it intensely as it passed by her. The moment it was out of the room, she shifted back. She had meant to go to Joseph but her head was spinning, a dizzy spell threatening to topple her. Though she managed to keep her footing, by the time her vision cleared, Kitty was standing in front of Joseph.

Shock rooted her to the spot. An overwhelming need to rush forward and help him warred with the horror of what the cat had said. As if frozen by her own bark, she watched with wide eyes as Kitty reached deep into Joseph's squirming body and extracted... something. In a burst of glittering scales, Joseph reappeared in a heap. The soul of a fae. He'd stolen his magic from a fae.

Her horrified eyes shifted from the doll to Joseph as Kitty tucked the wooden figure away. She didn't move, didn't say anything as he vomited and Kitty walked by her. She stared -- and then took a step back.

"What did you do?" she asked softly, taking yet another step away from him. Her voice was laced with panic. She didn't want to believe it, and her mind tried to rebel against it. No! Joseph wouldn't have done that. And yet the proof was there. She was shaking -- in anger and fear and turmoil. When she had thought she was a church grim, she had been little more than a boggart herself.

"Tell me you didn't do it."

// Joseph Meier //
 
Joseph couldn't speak well. He coughed and tried to rise, only to fall on his side again. A piece of him was missing without that magic. Magic he'd sacrificed an entire other life to achieve mastery of. Without it he was only Joseph...cripple. He couldn't move; the redcap had given him one hell of a scrap, and even besides that there was a horrible sucking feeling now that Kitty had taken his powers from him. He couldn't speak to Shuck. How could he begin to tell her? He looked up at her, fearful and hurting, but he didn't speak a word.

Kitty, to her credit, had a room turned down for Shuck quite quickly. The room was themed in blues and whites, with a large fluffy four poster bed enrobed in all sorts of pillows, thick blankets, and a duvet cover that looked like a blue cloud. The carpets were freshly cleaned, and the wood underneath them was a pleasing dark color. Large windows consumed one half of the wall space, adorned with heavy curtains and plenty of greenery. "Please, replenish yourself in this room." Kitty told Shuck, pulling open the curtains for her. "I will have some food brought up for you in a little while, and some hot towels. This...." she pulled out the wooden toy.

Kitty set it on a mahogany chest just at the foot of the bed. "Far be it from me to steal what is already stolen." she said. "I do not know how your pet got this, or from whom, but dark deeds and blood follow that thing, and I prefer it not be anywhere near me." She flicked her tail. "We will find your name, my lady. For now, rest. Don't let a petty human bother your thoughts. They are all thieves, and liars, and murderers. This makes us better than them."
 
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