Private Tales Middle of Nowhere

[Iren Brightmane]

Keres

Iren didn't like boats. When you were a vampire no matter which room you were in, you were basically the apex predator. Faster, stronger, more durable and with hunger that kept you going long after most others would have given in.

None of it mattered when you were on a boat however. The ocean around you as far as the eye could reach. If a storm suddenly began, you were at the mercy of the sky and the clouds and the lightning. If the boat suddenly decided to sink in the middle of the ocean Iren would be screwed.

He didn't need to breathe but there was no world where he would be able to get from the middle of the ocean to any continent without being torn apart by a shark.

It was disgusting.

It didn't help that Iren was hungry and the only blood in supply was the stale kind he had packed with him.

All of this made him a grumpy man.

"Kill me..." He muttered as he sat on the ship's edge and stared into the water.

"Just... End it all."

 

[Keres]

Keres meandered along the deck, her strides slow and deliberate, her mind restless with boredom and unease. Most others indulged in card games and revelry, though she found herself adrift in the monotony and yearning for distraction. The novelty of her first sea journey had worn off quickly, leaving her with nothing but the endless expanse of water and the nagging sense of foreboding that clung to her like a shroud.

She did enjoy the cool caress of the sea breeze however. It tousled her dark waves and offered a fleeting respite, a gentle touch to the healing scars of fire that spilled over her shoulder and curled up the back of her neck. As her gaze swept across the horizon, she caught sight of Iren, his brooding form a solitary figure amidst the vastness of the ocean.

As she neared him, Keres caught the muttered words escaping his lips, a lamentation of his discomfort. Her lips curved into a wry smile, a flicker of amusement dancing in her hauntingly deep eyes. She hadn't really spoken to Iren. He and his unusual companion unnerved her, their auras both strange and confusing. The power that emanated from Iren was palpable, a force that she had yet to fully comprehend, so perhaps her insecurity too, had played part in her avoidance.

"Be careful what you wish for," she murmured softly, pulling her shawl around her and offering him a thin smile. "Hell knows what's down there, listening." She propped her elbows on the ship's edge to peer down at the churning water, unable to look for long before she groaned and dragged her gaze back to the horizon.

 

[Iren Brightmane]

He paused at her voice and then the words spoken sunk in.

Iren glanced down carefully. His feet were several meters away from the surface... but he still pulled them back up on deck and got up.

"We can't get to land soon enough." Iren muttered before glancing over to Keres. One of Roul's companions as far as he understood. He didn't know much about her, but then again he barely knew anything about anyone in this group.

It was better that way.

You never knew when today's friend would become tomorrow's snack.

"You seem even cloudier than me today, Keres." It felt like her mind was surrounded by a dark cloud. He didn't pry further than that however. Best not to cause any issues when they were all stuck on each other's lip for the foreseeable boat trip.

"Something on your mind?"

 

[Keres]

An unexpected and unbidden laugh tumbled from her lips. It was a sound tinged with both amusement and resignation, a reflection of the constant barrage of whispers and shadows that haunted her mind. Though she had mastered the art of tuning out the spectral cacophony that clamored for her attention, its presence remained an ever-present backdrop to her existence.

"Always," she replied in a tone laced with her coy smirk. "Though I think pleading for death definitely wins you today's 'cloudiest' prize. I'm positively gleeful in comparison." she added sarcastically in a playful jab at his morose demeanor.

She didn't want to upset him more by informing him of the constant dread she felt about the journey. Dread made sense when stepping into the unknown, and so she drew in a breath and let it out in a sigh, schooling her features in attempt to rid herself of her apparent cloudiness.

Keres wrestled with her desire to speak to him, though the thought of it sent a shiver of apprehension slipping down her spine. How could she convey the mix of intimidation and intrigue he evoked in her? "I've.. Been meaning to meet you properly.. You just, make me nervous." she laughed sheepishly.

 

[Iren Brightmane]

This counter swirled around in Iren's head, but truth to be told he couldn't argue with it. It was rather gloomy to be begging for death.

It was still apt however.

Being surrounded by water on all sides... disgusting really.

"I suppose you are right." Iren murmured and inclined his head to her. "I am... not keen on the ocean." Even admitting so much was going too far for Iren, but he figured at the very least he could explain part of his strange behavior.

Now that she said that she was nervous her scent made more sense to him.

Eyebrows raised lightly.

"Your man Roul does not seem to be nervous when it comes to talking to me." Perhaps 'at him' was a better description. The werewolf could be downright rude, but this was something that Iren didn't hold against the man.

You really couldn't expect a lot from dogs after all.

"Why would you be?"

As if he wasn't a vampire who practiced the arts of necromancy. Who drained people of their blood and then used their flesh to shape animated golems into his slaves. The latter of which she hadn't seen, but might have heard tale of.

 

[Keres]

Keres smirked as Iren mentioned Roul, a knowing glint in her eyes as she shrugged a shoulder in response. "Roul isn't intimidated by much," she remarked fondly. Nor was she, usually..

But as Iren pressed further, Keres's expression shifted to one of incredulity. As thought there weren't countless reasons why Iren might unsettle anyone. For Keres though, it went beyond mere appearance or his hunger for blood. It was the weight of his power, the imposing aura that radiated from him like a palpable force. It was his ability, should he wish to flaunt said power, to make her feel powerless, and there was no worse feeling in the world to her than that.

"I've never met another..." she began, her voice trailing off as she bobbed her head instead, leaving the word to hang unspoken between them. For most of her life, she had been branded a witch—a label she could tolerate only slightly more—but the word Necromancer had a tendency to drip from people's mouths with revulsion, and Keres loathed it.

It was a mark of otherness that she had long sought to escape, though, whether she liked it or not, it now stood as a connection between herself and Iren, and she was both afraid and intrigued to know what sort of person it made him.

 

[Iren Brightmane]

Ah.

It was always the one or the other.

"Another... necromancer?" Said almost teasing with the quirk up of his lips at her obvious hesitation. "I assume however we are not the same sort of necromancer." He followed up with the assumption, because in his experience few to little people practiced the particular shade of necromancy that he did.

Skeletons, raising the undead, all these things were good and well. But they were not truly Iren's style. Too... dusty and rotten.

He leaned against the railing of the ship, forcing himself to become the kind of person who is fully at ease surrounded by ocean, so that he could have this conversation with Keres without throwing up on the desk at the tremors going through the ship at every turn.

"So then, what do you wish to talk about? From one necromancer to the other."

The conversation probably wasn't going exactly the way Keres had imagined. He wasn't particularly mysterious... or overly concerned with flaunting his power.

It was just... a talk. Between two people.

Well, one of them wasn't really a person and more a bloodthirsty walking corpse, but that didn't matter.

 

[Keres]

Another necromancer..

Keres let a quiet laugh tumble free and nodded, her eyes rolling. "Another necromancer." she answered with a sigh, hating the way it sounded.

She leaned too, dark eyes on the horizon as she considered his question.

"Oh, I don't know. The endless challenges we face in a world that fears and misunderstands us." she suggested sarcastically, flashing a quick smile. She shrugged the shoulder that didn't hurt to move. "I suppose I just wanted to know more about you and the nature of your power. Perhaps, learn from you."