Fate - First Reply Wrongdoing

[Jane]

Jane didn't have the most comfortable grip on the building she could possibly have, no. Less "imminent danger of falling" and more "steadily getting pissed off like a pot of water being brought to boil." She was going to have a bit of an ache of exertion and all she was going to be able to think about was these two and their sloppy spit swap.

But--thank Astra, thank Aionus, thank Drakon, thank Tychan, thank Metisa, and thank fucking Nykios too--they got a move on. If her dressed wasn't stained and if there wasn't a big, fat, glaring corpse in one of the bedrooms, Jane would've made it a point to march back inside that manor, discover who the husband was, and figure out something special for him. Not killing him, nah, but petty revenge for letting his wife slip away and inconveniencing Jane. And petty revenge was the best.

When all was clear and Khari could move down, Jane would move down. Eventually come to drop beside her on the sweet, sweet ground and shake out her arms and let out a small sigh.

Low and quiet, she said, "I was beginning to think they were going to put on a show for us down there. Not too much more climbing, right?"

Though, how else were they going to get out of the manor grounds.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari was only half focused on Jane as she dropped into place behind her. Violet eyes flickered through the dark of the night, searching for anyone or anything that might be trying to creep up on them. After a few seconds when she was satisfied she took a few steps forward.

A smile touched her face.

Then she glanced back for a second."Well there's still the wall..."

Through the dim lantern light coming from the windows Jane would be able to see the smile on Khari's face. The woman clearly wasn't one for climbing, though she had done well to get down without breaking anything...or falling on her.

"Come on." She motioned as they headed through the maze like brush. "Stay close."

Khari whispered. "It's easy to get lost."

As she spoke she didn't notice the torchlight just on the other side of the brush from her.

 

[Jane]

If ever there was a wall that needed a hole, it was this wall, right here, right now, in Yarrick. Alright, laugh it up, big tough paladin who trots around swinging a sword and wearing armor all day has a pussy-problem with climbing up and down shit, oughta be no big deal. What could Jane say? She hated the crows's nest. Not just for the nose-bleed height but for the effort in getting up there and back down again, conveniently easy-to-climb net or not. And yeah, she did lug around armor all day, and she did have a history of hard manual labor, but her laziness was selective and it was always right.

Jane let out a small groan that sounded like she had a miniature frog in her throat. Whispered back, "So much for hoping."

No big deal for Khari. She climbed for a living, practically. But her smile was infectious and Jane smiled back and, what the hell, climbing sucked but it was worth what the two of them were about to get away with.

Easy to get lost. No kidding. This was becoming a pattern, she noticed. This sort of hedge maze of manicured plants in the backyard of these fancy estates. Why the fuck did these Lords and Ladies love these so much? And screw the tally, she had plenty of lashings coming anyway so she'd ask it again for emphasis, why the fuck did they, seriously? But like them they did, these green labyr--

A flash of orange torchlight through the gaps in the brush.

Jane just acted. Whether it was a smart idea or not, she reached forward and dropped her hands on Khari's shoulders and crouched and as well coaxed her to crouch down by the thicker base brush once solely level with their shins and thighs. Perhaps way after the fact, Jane thought it prudent to actually let Khari know (if she didn't already) that, yeah, these hands on your shoulders belong to your friend Jane and not some random, unseen guard boy.

"Sh," she said, in the tiniest, most quiet whisper she could. Was that enough? After a second she added, "Sailor."

Khari

 

[Khari]

Sailor?

That didn't make any sense at all, they were a thousand miles from the nearest oc-oh. Perhaps it was Jane's way of saying guard. Her lips thinned for a moment and she briefly glanced up, catching a glimpse of the orange torch-light through the bushes.

A breath was sucked in through her teeth, and she let out a muted curse.

"What was that?"

A voice echoed out through the gardens, the flickering of flames shifting quickly as the Guard turned back and looked around the brush where he had just walked through. Another light approached from the other side, a call going out.

"Gerry you got something?"

"No...Maybe, heard someone walking I think."

Khari looked over towards Jane, raising a hand and then using her other palm to slowly walk her fingers across it. Then she pointed towards the left side of the gardens, not towards the wall, but instead deeper into the strange maze.

"Alright, check the fucking thing. Maybe we'll get to have some fun after all."

 

[Jane]

So these guys actually weren't complacent. It was a stretch to call Jane the sneaking type, but for those times when she did--night raids along on the Cortosi Coast for sacrifices and loot, say--well what could she say. Sometimes the night watchmen would rather be in bed. Sometimes to a man, sometimes just a few of them. If there were sleepy, bored, or distracted guards around the courtyard, then it wasn't these two.

Shame. Maybe they'd get lucky and one of the guards would stumble upon them. That's be a real shame, eh Astra?

Khari had the idea to go further into the hedge maze, as told by her walking and pointing fingers. This was her field. She was the expert, she'd get them out of this maze and over that damned wall. May or may not come with an appetizer of blood. Come on, Astra, it's for a good cause. Cyprus was an asshole, remember? You can't always conveniently choke or knock somebody out, it isn't so easy, ask Nykios, he knows.

Better get going. Chucklefuck One and Chucklefuck Two would be coming around the brush to their side soon enough.

Jane started at a low, hopefully stealthy, crouch-walk further into the maze. Further leveraging hope, hopefully Khari had a keen sense of direction for places like this. Jane knew a thing or two about nautical navigation, but a hedge maze in the dark of the night? Nope.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari moved slowly, very slowly.

She had never been the best at puzzles, had never been the best at this sort of thing. This time though she tried really, really, hard. There was always a chance of getting lost, but Khari had absolutely no interest in running around here for long.

Slowly the two companions shifted deeper and deeper into the hedges, moving to avoid the roaming torch lights of the guards. Every few seconds there were be a new turn, then a new one, and then a new one until they reached a dead end. "I..."

Fuck.

"I have no idea where we are." She whispered quietly to Jane, frowning for a moment as she looked down.

Did it even matter anyway. "I'm sick of this."

Khari grunted.

"Let's just cut our way out." There was something far more satisfying about that, even if it was only plants.

 

[Jane]

Either this maze was far bigger than Jane had thought, looking at it from the ridiculously sized window of Cyprus's room, or they were going in circles. Ah shit they were going in circles. Circles that included a dead end.

I have no idea where we are.

"Well damn," Jane said. But she wasn't perturbed in the slightest. Oh no, they'd be forced to have a party back here in the dead end corner and invite one or two of those pursuing, torch-bearing guards into some lopsided fun? She was game for a second serving of blood, if need be. And need did be, Astra--again, just imagine all those prayers of thanks rolling in once word got around that Cyprus was dead. Your faithful servant needed to get out of here somehow, to make the victory here in Yarrick nice and neat (if a little messy, but what's an oxymoron between friends?).

That was the first option. The second, voiced by Khari, was to just cut their way out. Practical. It'd do, even if plants couldn't bleed and scream like humans could. Jane's hand reflexively went to where her sheathed sword would have been...but, you know, wasn't. Disguise and all.

"Huh," she said, low and quiet to match Khari. "I always feel a little naked when I don't have something that I can cut somebody with. You'll have to do the honors."

Jane glanced back, then to Khari again. Crossed her arms in a self-assured way.

"One of them comes this way, I'll flash 'em. And make up a story. May or may not be in that order."

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari had to stiffle a burst of laughter as Jane announced her plan.

There was something about the image of a guard stepping around the corner only to be greeted by Jane's breasts that made her want to giggle uncontrollably. Her violet eyes litnup slightly with a cheeky mischief, and she slowly shook her head as if in doubt of her companions' plans. Her weight shifted, and she took a deep breath.

That strange purple glow caught on the edge of her fingers again, emanating there for only a few seconds.

Then her hand swiped to the lift. Those strange near transparent strings flickered through the air. They seemed to hang there for a moment, and then Khari curled her fingers inward just a bit. Suddenly the brush in front of them rustled, and then collapsed in on itself to form a neat hole within it's foliage.

Khari slipped through, then did the same again, and again, and again as they carved their way through.

As they made their way further through the maze the Guards inevitably stumbled upon the strange path. One of them shouted loud enough to hear, falling on Khari and Jane just as the Daemonette was about to cut through another brush.

"What the fuck!"

He declared loudly.

 

[Jane]

Ah that was great. Jane loved the sound of a friend's laugh--stifled or not. The chorus of good times, and good times were worth whatever lashings they'd accrue.

More of that nice magic from Khari. Jane missed those days, when she had learned of her own magical talents and had them darkly and gloriously blossom under the tutelage of the Sisters. She couldn't reminisce too much on it--she knew what would happen if she did. But still, that was her own magic. Her own. Not something on loan for "good" behavior.

Jane cleared her mind, before it was cleared for her, and followed after Khari through the woman-sized holes she was making in the walls of the hedge maze. This was the easy part, made even easier by Khari saying fuck the maze. Jane knew what was coming next. Hauling her ass up that damn wall, up to the proverbial crow's nest, and then back down the other side. Deborah's dress was going to be worse for wear when--

What the fuck!

Jane immediately went into action, sticking true to exactly what she had said. In one fluid--hopefully unnoticeable--motion she had torn the front of her dress enough such that her sizeable bosom came spilling out, the big girls eager as ever to put on a show when a show needed to be put on, and she twirled around to face the guard behind them. In that over-the-top persona of the Cerak prostitute doing a persona of an Elbion Lady, Jane swept her hands out and just started talking. Fast and without pause.

"Oh feather~ me~, I was just wishing upon a shooting star that I wouldn't be spotted in this terrible state of undress! You see, my lovely outfit has suffered a bit of a faux pas, an accident, a foul-up as the vulgars say! Why, I've half a mind to slap my tailor so hard he'd spin and inadvertently slap his own mother in turn, I do! Ohhhh, what a disgrace! I was hoping to egress quietly enough to not have my shame be seen! Please, do keep this to yourself and--"

Jane gasped (all for the show) and covered herself with her arms, as if she had just noticed.

"YOU! You...looked! How could you?? Oh dear, oh darling, oh feather me, how could you? You've sullied my nubile bust with your greedy, wandering eyes. Why didn't you say something, you lecher!? Is this how you pass the time, casually being derelict of your duty in search of women suffering mishaps of wardrobe to feast your licentious gaze upon! Your brazen daring is so shocking that it's, haaaa, turning me onnnn~~, haaaa. No! I mustn't! I must do as my priest has said and resist these urges because I am reformed--reformed I say!--born anew a virrrrr~~~tuous woman who no longer does those nauuuu~~~ghty things that Metisa especially frowns upon, oh no, I say, I mustn't, I can't, no matter what..."

And Jane kept going. Going and going and hopefully baffling if not outright entrancing the man with the sight and the act and giving Khari time and space to do what she needed to do.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Jane started talking a mile a minute, more than that. The combination of her words and the sight of her impressive bosom apparently enough that the guard was utterly entrances.

His eyes were flickering back and forth between her face and her chest, his mouth hanging open as though he were about to say something but no words ever forming. It was an impressive form of distraction, though one that Khari wouldn't use herself.

She didn't have the assets.

What she did have though was the ability to take advantage of what Jane was doing. As the woman quickly blabbered away the Daemonette dashed around her and to the side.

It took her only three steps to reach the Guard, the man having needed to get close to actually even see Jane. His torch cast a circle of bright light, and Khari slipped into it in two easy steps. She then lunged up into the air, quickly hopping.

Her knee then stuck out, smashing into the guard's face.

The shock he experienced was muffled by the sound of a loud crack as his nose was shattered and he was sent sprawling to the floor.

Khari landed just in time to catch the torch, stopping it from tumbling to the ground and starting a fire. She turned on her heel, glancing back at Jane before looking down. "Good job."

The Daemonette said quietly, pointedly looking away.

 

[Jane]

And there it is. Khari with an absolutely beautiful knee to the face. Only downside was that it sent the guard flat and unresponsive to the ground instead of flat and writhing to the ground. Which, she supposed, was the intent. She'd just have to fancy the thought of him waking up with a crooked nose and delightful drumbeat of pain pulsing in his nerves.

But down was down, and their wrinkle of a problem was smoothed out. The guard didn't even have a chance to notice the blood on Jane's dress, so far as she could tell. That or so much as tear his eyes away from the ample sight she gave him. Jane knew what she had--not all weapons were made out of metal. The act helped, certainly. Some of it towards the end there was less of an act. Natural, if slightly tweaked. Her own spin on a classic she admired from the late prostitute in Cerak. At least that dwarf who killed her had gotten his.

Khari tried not to look when she turned around. Aw, there was something sweet about her modesty--especially in relation to everything else about her. Jane, while among the Sisters, was far more used to seeing and being comfortable with the nakedness of friends and fellows. Heh, the nakedness of her enemies or sacrifices, certainly no problem there. That was all part of the fun.

Jane grabbed the two flaps of her torn dress and pulled them back together, holding them in place and caging the girls once again. "Hopefully Deborah wasn't too attached to this dress." She glanced down at her feet, lifting them one after the other and turning them about and inspecting each. "Or these boots. Ah, but they look so lovely with spatters of red."

She gave a sigh for show. Probably both for the boots (nice boots) and for what was ahead of them.

"Well. Still got a wall to climb."

Which both hands would be needed for. And that was fine. Khari would be busy herself, and it wasn't like Mingus would be watching her do it and seeing the girls come bouncing back out. Old man's heart might stop with lustful shock.

Khari

 

[Khari]

"I'll give her some gold to replace them." Khari told her companion, glancing at the ruined dress and shoes for a brief moment before she shrugged her shoulders.

Perhaps she was revealing a bit...much about herself, but at this point Khari had figured Jane already guessed she wasn't really a maid servant. The Horns and magic were enough to give it away on their own, but add her skills in combat complete lack of shock at murder?

Yeah.

For a brief second longer she lingered, squatting down and jamming the torch into the ground so that it wouldn't move or fall over. There was no doubt someone would find the guard later, but they would be long gone by then.

She motioned for Jane to follow, cutting through another few of the bushes before they finally reached the wall. Khari glanced up at the stone work, frowning for a brief moment before she motioned for Jane to come over. "I'll help you."

Khari told the other woman.

"Put your boot here, then jump." She motioned to her interlaced hands, as she took a knee and prepared to boost Jane up and over the wall.

 

[Jane]

Well that was nice. Deborah, being in the line of work that she was in, sure as the immortal hells were hot wasn't going to turn that down--even if she couldn't give a damn about the dress. She probably gave a damn about the boots though. They weren't ruined. Far from it, in Jane's humble opinion. But said humble opinion wasn't shared by...a lot of other people, heh, frankly put.

A few more arcane cuts here and there, and the hedge maze gave way to the stone wall. Alright, well, bright side, Cyprus's opulent maze of manicured bushes (and probably copious cases of crotch-itch, "cold sores," and crabs, if that smooching couple was any compass to navigate by) was done. Not so bright side, the wall. Really though, if she was going to bitch about anything, it was this. Climbing. She'd rather go trotting along for an extra mile or two in a day than scale her way up to some crow's nest. Vertically inclined, no. Say it again. Nooooo.

Fortunately, Khari was here to help. Probably saw Jane looking up at the top of the wall with her free hand on her hip and could read the thoughts clearly spelled out on her face. And voiced previously.

"Sounds easy enough," Jane said. Alright, so the wall wasn't too terribly high. But still, a peeve was a peeve.

She placed her boot into Khari's interlaced hands. Prepared herself. Then paused. Said with a sly smile, "Don't look up, you might make me blush."

And then she jumped. Grabbing hold of the top edge of the wall with both hands (with her torn dress doing what torn dresses do, oh no, girls overboard, girls overboard) and pulling herself up with no small amount of effort and laying flat on her stomach atop the wall. She would have stayed and offered a hand down to Khari, but, yeah, Khari got over the damn wall and up into Cyprus's room by herself. A friendly, helping gesture, but here it'd probably be something of a slight. Woman could handle herself, and the little shoulder-demon who whispered that to you was no liar.

So Jane slid over to the other side of the wall and lowered herself and then dropped down. Making sure, once on the ground, to hold the bosom of her dress together again.

Time to head back and see Mingus and Deborah. Tell the former the good news.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari glanced around one last time as she vaulted Jane up and over the wall in one smooth motion.

She did not usually work with a partner, in fact she almost never worked with anyone at all. The First time she had any sort of ally in her mission was months ago with Ichika. Now she had partnered up with Jane and...well she couldn't help but wonder who was next on the list.

Would she end up working with an Orc next?

A few months ago the suggestion would have been utterly laughable, now she felt like it was entirely within the realm of possibility. It was funny how the world worked like that, how things could change so quickly and almost shift on a dime.

For some reason it made her heart swell.

Khari stepped back from the wall, taking a breath as she swept her fingers forward. The odd strings cast onto the top of the tone, and then in one quick motion Khari pulled herself up and over the brick work.

She landed with a muted thud just a few steps away from Jane. "Let's get out of here."

The daemonette said as she gestured towards the treeline.

 

[Jane]

Quiet, sleepy Yarrick. A bit of forest for the first stretch of it, then mostly in the town proper. Barely any activity. One, two night watchmen, those guys that were under Mingus and who weren't professionals at all--more like men who were tired and grumbly that it was their turn for an all-night shift. They didn't say shit to Jane nor Khari. Didn't even get a good look at them probably, what with their meager torches in the night's darkness. Alright, maybe the second one did something of a double-take with his eyes when he noticed Jane's dress, but other than that. Seemed like Mingus may've let them know that a little something was happening tonight. Good, good. Wouldn't be much of a welcome if there was another jailing mishap or something similar.

Jane led the way toward the house where Mingus and Deborah were still waiting.

Which prompted Jane to bring up the topic of Khari's getting-the-immortal-hell-outta-Yarrick deal as they walked. Which she did honestly wonder about. Hey, a good story was a good story. Might be a touchy subject, some secretive thing, but eh, what was the harm in poking at it again.

"So it's not bursting into flames," she said. "And it's something old Mingus can help you out with. Hmmm."

Jane made a production of rubbing her chin with her free hand, thinking loudly and visibly.

"You're on the run from an avenging angel named Irahk, whose got blue on her face instead of red and a big dumb set of pearly white wings! You get Mingus to say, 'Nope, haven't seen any horny women around Yarrick, no sir,' and then you're in the clear. Am I good or what? Got it right, huh?"

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari perked an eyebrow. "Something like that."

No avenging angel, no.

"Where I am from I am something of an..." How much could she actually tell Jane? Not much. Not if she wanted her friend to be safe after they parted ways. Lips thinned for a moment, deciding she didn't want to lie either. "What we did to our friend...I do that a lot."

Vague, but not. "Someone caught wind of me a few towns ago, they didn't see me, not exactly, but enough that they started to hunt me."

Khari frowned.

"I can't have them tracking me home." That would be an utter disaster. The Dynast would likely have her thrown in prison.

Best to avoid such a fate.

 

[Jane]

Close enough (not really) despite Jane being facetious on her fabricated reasoning for Khari's impetus to be a ghost by dawn. Yeah, she did do that a lot huh, the little midnight rendezvous with Cyprus kind of stuff. No innocent maid, Khari, just like Jane when she was sailing the high seas of the Cortosi Coast. Jane and the Sisters couldn't do with being tracked back to their Citadel, much like Khari couldn't do with being tracked back to her home. That or getting caught. Why, if Khari got caught who knew what would happen? Maybe some asshole in shining armor would come striding up to her all triumphant and convert her to service she fucking abhorred on pain of death, imprisoning her with a new kind of shackle, making her a slave once ag--

The memory of the Redeemer's hand, smothering her face, that white light, smothering her thoughts then and smothering her thoughts now.

Jane blinked. Where was she? Oh, right.

"Don't want to get tracked home," she said. "I get it. Somebody ruining the fun. That among other things."

Jane made the left turn along a T-intersection in the street and saw the home Mingus and she had gone to earlier to acquire Deborah's dress. Almost there.

"Well, you should be alright. Mingus and these Yarrickers owe you. Whatever you need from them, you'll get." Then Jane gave a little "sure would be a shame if..." kind of shrug. "Or we'll gently persuade them if they get cold feet about their end of the bargain."

Probably wouldn't be necessary. Mingus certainly looked and probably felt too damn old to try any business like that. And if Cyprus was half as bad as to the people of Yarrick as he was to simply be around, then yeah, they'd all be ecstatic now that he was gone. Still, "gently" persuading men was a favorite pastime of Jane's, and whenever she got the chance...oh my.

Khari

 

[Khari]

"I'm not worried." From what she had seen she could slaughter everyone in this village if she really had to.

Not that she wanted that.

The people wanting her would see it as just another sign of her daemonic influence and the fact that she needed to be strung up and destroyed. Her lips thinned for a brief moment, and she shook her head as they reached the small cabin.

Her stomach churned quietly, growling. "Maybe before we leave we should eat."

Khari commented, glancing up at the moon.

"Should have some time yet." Her shoulders lifted in a shrug, and then she rapped her knuckles against the door.

 

[Jane]

Jane couldn't help an edge of a grin when she heard Khari's stomach growl, quiet as it was, and the suggestion to have a bite to eat. Having second thoughts on that plate of chicken breast and potatoes now, huh. In fairness, might've just not been her thing. Maybe she had her heart set on something else, something she'd been craving. Before Mingus, grudgingly acting under the now-late Cyprus's orders, came to string up a couple of newcomers for a crime that never actually happened. Jane could relate. With Khari, not Mingus. Well, maybe a little with Mingus.

"I could go for some dessert," Jane said.

Some shuffling on the other side of the door when Khari knocked. The metal unlatching of a lock, and then the door opening and Mingus there, looking hopeful. Sitting in the main room behind him was just one of the townsfolk lawmen now and Deborah, lit by the soft light of a candle on the table between them. Mingus was taken aback by the state of Jane's borrowed attire--maybe would have been stunned for a solid minute if Jane wasn't bothering to hold the torn flaps about her chest. Yet Deborah called from within, with a tone that perfectly matched her catty smirk, "My, you certainly had a tumble tonight, didn't you?"

"There's a way to put it," Jane called back.

Mingus's eyes bounced between the two. "So it's done then?"

"Yeah. And you weren't kidding about him. Nothing of value was lost tonight, that's for sure."

Mingus sighed, the other lawman in the house clapped his hands together and had his own moment of quiet celebration. Then Mingus said, "We're grateful. Lemme just say that on behalf of all Yarrick, since they'll never know who helped them out. Looks like we'll have some fair weather yet in our future, after that years-long mess with Cyprus."

Then, specifically to Khari, "Alright. A deal's a deal. Said you needed help with something, right? Whatever's in my power to do."

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari smiled, letting out a sigh of contentment knowing that she wouldn't have to twist Mingus' arm to hold up his part of the bargain. She had figured the man for some semblance of honor, but her trust had been broken so many times it was hard to nail down anyone.

"There will be a group of men coming, Knights." That was what they called themselves, though they were truthfully anything but that.

Her lips twisted in a slight sneer at the very thought of them, but she tried to keep her expression as neutral as possible. A breath drew into her lungs, and she continued on her explanation.

"I need them pointed away from where I'm going." She explained. "They'll ask after...what my disguise was when I first arrived."

The Glamor. "If they were pointed away...it would be a great help to me."

It would mean that the Dynast wouldn't try to cut off her head when she got back to Dornoch. Not to mention it would ease her own mind a great deal. Being chased for the next hundred miles was not her idea of an easy trip home.

 

[Jane]

Mingus tapped on his chin with a finger as Khari spoke and Jane went past him and inside and back into the bedroom. He thought for a moment longer, then said, "Better that I not know at all where you're goin' then. I could say that you were headed in the direction of Alliria. Always plausible, folk headed that way. That work for ya?"

Jane, meanwhile in the bedroom, was taking off her dress and those nice boots--all of Deborah's outfit. She looked at her own clothes. Her armor. The adornments of Astra and her pantheon upon it, the decorations of the Redeemer and his Order upon it. She just stood there for a moment in the bedroom staring down the bridge of her nose at the armor that had been given to her.

Frowning. Struck by the juxtaposition.

That son of a bitch.

Of the night she had with Khari and the drudgery of her "duty." One where she was shed of that goddamned armor and having fun and being free, and the other encased within it and bearing her burden and feeling the familiar shackles of slavery.

He made me carry my cage with me.

Jane sneered. Then--

The memory of the Redeemer's hand, smothering her face, that white light, smothering her thoughts then and smothering her thoughts now.

She blinked. Stood for a moment longer with a blank face.

Then started to get dressed and get armored.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Mingus, as it turned out, was rather accepting of his part of the bargain.

Perhaps it was because they had done the job so cleanly, so quickly, or perhaps the man was just a man of honor that tended to stick to his words. Either way, Khari found that she did not have to twist his arms anymore than just asking.

"Aye, I can take care of that. I'll tell em you headed onto the North Road towards Elbion."

Khari nodded. It was a believable enough story at least. Elbion was a major city, situated on the sea and close enough that most would believe a maid servant was trying to disappear there. At least it would give her some time to make her escape.

Not that she had ever been worried. "Good. Thank you."

She said with a smile on her face.

Mingus nodded, and the two of them fell into idle conversation. Every few seconds he could tell that the man was glancing at his horns, just catching a look or something a bit more weary. She didn't take offense, knowing that it was something to look at.

Especially for people in a town like this.

"I'll leave soon." She assured Mingus.

"No reason to rush off...well aside from the ones chasin you. We don't have no trouble with your...with you."

Khari perked an eyebrow, but said nothing. "No, I shouldn't linger too long. Though...I'd like a meal, if you can spare one."

 

[Jane]

And a meal they would have. Turned out that the other lawman in the house--Galt, and it was his house--was something of a cook. Knew enough anyway. He'd no wife or family so that probably had something to do with it.

Jane had come out of the bedroom after she had leisurely taken her time to get all of her armor back on. That clanking, clattering, limiting armor. There was a time when she didn't need armor to protect herself, didn't need to be stifled by it, and could dress in as little or as much as she wanted. But here she was now.

Mingus and Deborah decided to stay for the meal. Free food was free food, right? That and, at least for Mingus and Galt, it was likely a little something of a celebration. Good for them--being free of that asshole Cyprus. The light of the fire Galt had gotten going in his small fireplace to cook by lit the whole of the home, adding to the luminance of the candle on the table. Galt had a pot suspended over the fireplace, and was chopping up ingredients for a stew in short order. Jane had inquired about something sweet for dessert, but Galt said he'd nothing of the sort in his stores. Well damn it. She knew that she'd be due for her next self-flagellation session soon (already she could feel that little nagging itch on her back), and it would've been nice to have a sweetroll or slice of pie or fruit or some such before all of that.

As Galt was getting close to finishing up his preparation of the stew, and with Mingus chatting with Deborah (the dress only came up once and Deborah laughed it off), Jane had a little curiosity concerning Khari. Just a little...something...that had perked her interest ever since she'd seen it.

"Hey. Khari," Jane said. And she made a small motion over her own head, as if gliding her hands over phantom horns. "You ever run into anyone else like you? Maybe there's a lotta people like you in...where was it...Dornoch, right, in Dornoch that I just don't know about."

Wouldn't that be something.

If there were a lot of mothers making deals with demons. Or fathers being seduced by succubi (Hyatta, where are you at). Or, who knows, a bunch of beings of the Abyss roaming around.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari shook her head, taking no offense to the question. "No."

It was a simple truth that she most certainly did not mind answering.

There had been a time in her life where she had tried to find people like her, where she had sought out demons and the like. She had only ever found Tieflings, or something close to them during her little hunts. Never anyone like her.

One time she had been on the trail of a demon, or so she had thought, but it had turned out to just be a mad man.

"I am the only one like me, as far as I can tell." Khari shrugged. "Doesn't help that I don't even really know what I am."

She called herself a Daemonette, demon touched, but she wasn't sure. That was just what she had been told.

In her heart of hearts she knew what they said was true, that she was an aberration of sorts. Yet until someone could prove it, she would deny it a thousand times.

A shrug rolled over her shoulders. "Dornoch is mostly just humans."

Others were there too of course, but humans made up the bulk.

 

[Jane]

Jane gave a hefty shrug, the tips of her pauldrons brushing against the sides of her neck in the motion. "A girl can dream, right?"

Hell, wasn't that one of the reasons she was going back to Guillotine? Partly because she wanted to visit some friends there, partly because she felt like she was being nudged along by Astra and her lot, and partly (secretly, don't tell Astra) because she was hoping to be immersed into the middle of another demonic invasion. Did she have to kill a lot of them last time she was there and that happened? Yeah. Came with the territory. Even then, her "duties" as a paladin still had the upside of bringing her to being in the presence of those (awesome, magnificent) demons and dark things. Undead, well, eh, upsides and downsides--and slaying them pleased Astra well enough too.

She didn't really know what she was. Implied that her parents (or parent, hey) didn't know, or that she never knew them. Well birds of a feather too if that latter option was the case.

"But mostly just humans. Mainlanders. And they don't mind," Jane again made a motion to indicate phantom horns, "all of that? Hm. I figured Mainlanders to all be fidgety about that sort of thing."

Jane grinned and gave another shrug, this one of a "Well, you never know, but maybe..." sort of character. Said, "Makes you think that something got them used to it, huh?"

Khari came from somewhere. This Dornoch place seemed alright with demons, or at least demon-like people. Some kind of delicious connection there, perhaps? Or Jane was reaching too far for a place that was like Invasion Guillotine, more or less, even if it was possibly in secret.

Galt brought out five wooden bowls and set them on the small kitchen table behind himself and the fireplace. The stew was close to finished.

Khari