Skeletons in the Closet

[Saej Mirilla]

Skeletons in the Closet

80th of Searing 120th Year of the Age of Steel

The plan was going smoothly, now they just had to wait for the man to arrive. Saej wouldn’t stop folding the hem of her dress and she thought Vincent’s eyes would roll out of his head. He had been giving her so many eye rolls as she waited it only made her nerves worse. Everyone was on the same page though, Shasco was there and so was Poppy, the bar had been let know about what was going to happen and she had their blessing even if Vincent thought she was silly. It was a fair price of mockery to use their cellar, she thought maybe she deserved it.

She was having second thoughts. How would he feel about being shoved in a cellar with her and what if he didn’t go along with the plan? How would she feel to be mesmerized and tricked into a cellar with some man who thought to woo her? Her hands ran up and down her face with terror and anxiety, it was already in motion she would have to go through with it. The money was paid and she was here waiting. Shasco grinned at her from his spot in the Inn where he played his lute, he wouldn’t stop playing love songs and winking at her. The knot in her stomach felt like it was going to break apart and cause her to heave, a huge wave of nausea crashed over her and she struck the table hard with her hand to steady herself. This earned her a glance from Vincent but he said nothing.

That was when the door opened and she saw him. Saej was acutely aware then how she looked. She had tied her dreadlocks into a large bun on the top of her head and wore the stupid sage green dress she had bought from the market, just like she told him she would wear when he took her onto the roof. Some part of her was disappointed to see him, she was hoping he would stand her up so she could just leave and maybe move out of his house, flee back to Kalzasi, and never have to go through this again.
‘What the fuck was this feeling?’
Mentally she was pleading to Shasco to shut up and just get on with it. Poppy saw Althalos and stood to her feet, wagging her tail in greeting but didn’t leave Saej’s side. The massive beast had grown to like the elf.

Standing from the table she walked over to him and grimaced, managing a slight,
“Uhh…”
In greeting. She felt a tap on her shoulder but before she could whip around Shasco’s chin rest there. He was looking at Althalos with the most evilest of grins. This is what he said next.
“Saej told me that she spoke to you about our magic. I thought maybe you would like a demonstration. Now, pay close attention to my hands and remember, there’s nothing up my sleeve.”
From his pocket, he produced three juggling balls and began to toss them. This was when he started composing the thought and trill of “follow the ball” in Althalos’s mind. Saej watched in abject horror as the plan was put quickly into motion, there was nothing she could say. Shasco grinned at the pale-elf like a devil before his face took on a more solemn tone with the concentration of the spell. Taking steps backward Shasco led him to the cellar door, the bar watching with a mix of laughter and curiosity at the bard. Saej stayed rooted in the spot for a moment not sure what to do, hands caught in Poppy’s fur but finding no comfort there. She walked behind Shasco and opened the door. Before the trill could fizzle out he chucked a ball down the steps, this is when Althalos, if mesmerized, would follow the ball down into the cellar. Saej would follow behind him with Poppy in tow and shut the door behind her.

Now in the dim cellar, she was met with a table, a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a lit candle sitting in the middle of the table itself. The cellar had dried herbs hanging from the ceiling, crates, kegs, and wine racks organized as a tavern’s cellar would be wont to do. She waited for him to come to before speaking.
“The door isn’t locked. You can leave. I know this all seems pretty elaborate but I just thought,”
She puffed a huge blow of anxiety out of her chest,
“After the other night maybe you would want to, you know. Get to know me more. It was Shasco’s idea for that trick, he’s been waiting to pull a prank like that on you for some time he said. I hope you feel okay, I-- I’m sorry that was rotten of me.”

Saej touched the bodice of her dress for a moment, hand shaking, then sat down in one of the chairs. Well, here she was.
“I guess, I’m just curious if any of your memories have come back yet. Are you, well, married? Does it say anything in those books? I have something to tell you, it’s been on my mind for a while. Why did you really let me stay in your home? When am I supposed to leave? It’s just so out of character for a noble to let some poor merchant stay in his home, but you’ve been nothing but a gracious host to my family. I just want to say thank you.”
With shaking hands she uncorked the wine bottle, it let out a huge pop, and poured them both a drink.
“I don’t know if you drink, but I bought some Nagota. It’s their best wine. Would you like to, I guess. Talk. I really am sorry for how I acted that night when you were painting me. I don’t do well being inspected, I’m sorry if I was rude.”

Her hand pushed up the glasses broken from the night she was supposed to meet him at his shop and she regarded him sheepishly. Saying a prayer for liquid courage she downed half of the wine in the glass in one go.

[Althalos]

☿

Althalos was in a pleasant mood. It was really no surprise that he had found himself feeling ebullient given all that had taken place. His work which normally required such intense focus and collaboration had proven to be altogether simplistic and his patrons had all been cooperative, offering details that had really helped to make his portraits and landscapes flourish. Furthermore, he had managed to chance upon a skittering mouse in the midst of his shop in the early hours of the morning and had helped himself to the breakfast, enjoying the liveliness that it provided him. The rodent had been minuscule, but it tasted all the better having essentially fallen into his clutches.

Now he was on his way to meet with his housemates at his favorite haunt. Saej had spoken of showing him the dress that she had purchased when she had gone to her trip in Loras, and while he wasn't particularly excited by the prospect, he knew that it would be a good opportunity to draw closer to her and Shasco. He had no desire whatsoever to eat anything while he was out dining at the inn, but perhaps he would help himself to a sip of something fruity and sweet.

He was considering such thoughts when he arrived at the inn and entered into the establishment. His deathly gaze fell upon the recognizable figures and paused for a moment upon Poppy. Had they chosen to bring the dog along to their dinner? He supposed that was perfectly fine, but he hadn't truly expected to see the hound dining with them. As long as it kept acceptable table manners and etiquette then it wouldn't be much of a trouble. Even if she stank or desperately needed a bath, it wasn't like he could tell.

His eyes passed over to Saej now, taking notice of the dress that clung to her. It was an aesthetically pleasing piece of fabric, he considered, his eyes roving up and down her form as he analyzed it in earnest. Had the tailor been working for a long while, or had they simply stumbled upon a successful product? As an artist, it was always so peculiar to see the work of others and to question exactly how much effort they had put into things. Not every one of his paintings had received the amount of work befitting a masterpiece, and he instinctively wondered whether the dress was the highest quality it could be, or whether it could've been improved somehow.

Perhaps recognizing that he had been staring sharply at her figure for several moments, he snapped his eyes back to her face and promptly began breathing anew, having forgotten to begin the unnecessary process when he'd first entered. The simultaneous actions unfortunately gave the impression that he'd had his breath taken away by her appearance.

There was a brief greeting interrupted quickly by the appearance of Shasco. Althalos offered a gentle smile towards the fellow and a nod of recognition and greeting. This in turn was met with a statement about the arcane talent of the Hytori bard, and Althalos perked up considerably, fascinated at the prospect of seeing such abilities firsthand. There was some inkling of a frown, however, when Shasco chose to simply bring up a trio of balls and begin to juggle them. This wasn't truly magic, was it? This was the sort of deception performed for children. He had the urge to watch the juggling more intently in the hope of catching something of interest where only the mundane was evident.

Shasco continued stepping backward, and Althalos followed him with intent, trying to keep the juggling close so that he could observe it more perfectly. Suddenly there was a spark of something interesting and the ball was hurtled down the steps. Had he transfigured it into something different? Had he somehow changed its very nature with the toss, and left it lying in a quiet place for the pale elf to analyze? The corpse began to walk down the steps, creeping about in search of the ball until he'd finally located it. Lifting it to his eye, he observed... that nothing had happened to it at all.

The clang of the door shutting drew his attention back from the ball, and he questioned for an instant why he had cared so much for the juggling in the first place. He became acutely aware of the presence of a table which had been set up in a traditionally romantic fashion, and suddenly the reason for his presence here dawned on him. Saej's reappearance in the beauteous dress only helped to guarantee that he had been lured here under pretenses of friendship in the pursuit of something more. "What trick?" He questioned at the mention of Shasco's involvement. "Did he... was I?" He paused, recognizing that his earlier infatuation with the juggling balls was probably not of his own volition.

She took a seat, and he listened to her questions, recognizing her desire for him to stay and chat with her for a while... this was a date, wasn't it? Had he ever been on a date before? This situation felt unfamiliar to him, but he had an idea of what the proper course of action would be to pursue. Sliding his own chair back, he took a seat at the table, locking eyes with his captor, but offering a warm smile. "I couldn't tell you, but I don't think so. Siltori probably don't marry very young, and I don't feel particularly old." There was a question -- another one -- about why he'd chosen to allow Saej and Shasco to stay with him in his home.

This was a pivotal moment, wasn't it? His answer here could potentially ingratiate her to him, or it could drive her away. In truth, he'd wanted to ply them for information, and perhaps he'd wanted to learn more about socialization. Arguably, he might've even just felt a tad lonely, and wanted to have someone close for the sake of conversation. That was a pitiable answer, wasn't it? Would she pity him if he said that? Did he want her to pity him... was it beneficial to be pitied?

"I was alone." He began, lowering his eyes intentionally towards the table, as though distraught at the thought. "I saw you and Shasco and... I wanted to meet you. I didn't want to be alone. You were travelers, sure, but you were also so... vivid. There was so much energy in you." He answered, having shifted his gaze back to her both in word and in deed. His sob story completed, he accepted her gratitude with a half-smile, and then drew his attention to the wine. "I'd love some... I think we have a good deal of talking to do, don't we?" He smiled, accepting the poured drink and sipping at it meekly. "What's something important I should know about you, Saej?"

Credit to Saej!

[Saej Mirilla]

Skeletons in the Closet

XXX

As she made her way up to the slender elf she noticed him drink in her form, it would seem from his facial expression that what Lady Milana had said was true. The dress was a worthy buy though she couldn’t help but feel like a dressed up porcelain doll in the thing. What was it Lady Milana had said exactly about a mutual attraction? Unfortunately she didn’t have time to think, everything was swung into motion with Shasco taking the metaphorical reins and now they found themselves in a wine cellar lit by candle light.

Althalos was talking but she was barely listening, her eyes were cast to the ceiling as he came to and eventually sat down with her. Her attention was snapped back at his comment about not being sure about being married.
“It’s certainly something you would have to think about, what happens when your family seeks you out and finds you in a hovel with two essential vagabonds? I don’t think I can be put in jail for that but you would think as a noble you would be more afraid for your reputation.”

Listening to him speak her nervous tension only deepened.
’Vivid?’
Surely the elf was meaning Shasco. She didn’t know how to take the compliment and felt her face get beat red. Althalos was being shy and her thoughts strayed to his amnesia.
’He must be so lost.
It was a hard memory for her to think of her time spent in a stupor. Imagining spending an entire season not knowing yourself, where you came from, where to go… She believed him when he said that he needed the company. Feeling the urge to reach out and comfort him she instead poured him a glass and sat it in front of him, taking another nervous sip of her own afterward. On her face she wore a look of indeed pity but something more, wheels were turning in her head now and she wanted to help him get back to his senses.

“You need to see a healer if this doesn’t end soon, you have no memories at all coming back to you? The painting doesn’t help? Such an odd affinity for a noble. Though I know very few. Perhaps if your business grows enough someone will recognise you, you can go back to…”
She stopped then realising something,
“Your old life.”
The realisation was that if he regained his normal self what would that mean for her? Surely he had suitors, people who missed him, and a grand life that she could never be a part of. Milana said that ‘nobility spoke not to the character of a man or the worthiness of a woman’. While Milana was a Lady in Atinaw who knew where Althalos had come from. Would his old life be as accepting of her? Finishing her glass she poured another one,
’Don’t get ahead of yourself.’
Came the internal chide,
’Who knows what he really feels for you.’

Having been with men and women in the past it was all the same, they wanted sexual adventure and external validation. It was a fact that she never had her heart truly set on anyone before so finding herself in what could be love’s clutches had her distraught. Had she really thought in Loras that she could settle down? She felt like she was going mad.
“Me…?”
It was true, she had said in her fit that she wanted him to get to know her. Her eyes we recast down and she started speaking, shaking slightly from the adrenaline,
“I was raised by my birth parents for a long time. They were also merchants. We traveled by airship and lived in it for some time, but they were also cruel people. I left them when I was barely a teenager and moved in with Shasco’s family. My adopted family. They taught me everything I know. You asked that night what my magic is, I suppose I can tell you if we’re being,”
She smiled a bit then but her eyes were still cast down,
“Open. I am a transition mage. Not a good one, the thing frightens me. I need you to keep that a secret. If you respect me at all, you will.”

Poppy whined and laid her massive, furry head on Althalos’s lap, she wanted a pat.
“I have one more secret, Poppy? She’s a guard dog, she has an attack command. Not one for being overly aggressive but she would defend my life with her own.”

Saej felt the first warmth from the hastily drank wine welling in her chest, it did little for the nerves but there was a comfort there for her at least. The Nagota was delicious. Sighing, she asked him up front, trying to be coy but it was plain what she wanted to know.
“Do--do you have any secrets?”
She wanted to know, did he feel it too?

[Althalos]

☿

While Althalos had felt confident that the question about his marital status had been answered, it appeared that not every aspect of his circumstances had been considered in enough depth to suit Saej's gnawing curiosity. That was at least somewhat worrying to the corpse because consistent prying into his history would undoubtedly reveal uncouth aspects of his personality and physicality. While he'd maintained a level of decorum and politeness, and had chosen to demonstrate himself as a compassionate and productive member of society, there was little doubt that he would face immense ostracism if the news of his undeath was leaked to any of society's major actors.

He paused for a moment, considering her words and attempting to decode them for any context of her real desires -- perhaps he only wanted clarification that she had sought him out for a romantic purpose, though the scenery seemed enough evidence of that. There was some further worry on her part about his living conditions, and the fact that he had essentially housed himself with a pair of vagrants. The pale elf offered a light and nonchalant shrug before answering, "Who cares what they think?" He cared to an extent about what everyone thought of him, at least insofar as his life was at stake, but minor issues like opinions on the standards of nobles were beneath his notice, weren't they?

"What're they going to do? Blackmail me over forgetting my history? Make a mockery out of a tragic accident that killed a dozen people? That'll go well for them." He spoke, a hint of vitriol clinging to his voice despite its initial humor. He dispelled the light animosity with a warm smile, attempting to reconvene on a different point of conversation. Though, despite his efforts, moments later she was demanding that he need to visit a healer of some sort in order to try to recover his mental faculties. Althalos understood that she meant well, but she couldn't understand the level of danger that visiting any sort of healer would cause on him. Even though bruises covered parts of his body that should've healed in weeks prior, he'd ignored seeking any assistance, because to desire healthcare would be to invite skepticism on his nature.

The awkward pause before she'd finished her sentence about him returning to his previous occupation caught his attention, and he found himself questioning whether that would work out for the best in either of their cases. For him, it would mean being placed under a spotlight, and while it was possible his family would accept him, it was also possible they were fanatics who would deem him irreparably gone and send him to oblivion in the process. "Do you want that?" He asked bluntly before he'd had time to formulate a more appropriate response.

Thankfully, they were able to drift a bit away from that trap and over to more wholesome matters. He wanted to learn more about her, something that he hadn't known before, and she decided to share with him some of her past. She discussed how she had been all but raised by Shasco's family, no doubt leading to the modern iteration of their friendship. Furthermore, she revealed a secret of sorts to him, stating that her chosen school of power involved 'transition'. While Althalos understood the word, he wasn't certain what the concept actually meant in practice. She could change things into other things? Could she change people, or was it solely linked to items? Could she make him live or at least appear more alive? The longer he kept himself from his meals, the more he recognized the lightest signs of decay.

Could she save him from what he was becoming? Did he want to be saved?

She asked him about his secrets, and his smile disappeared immediately. If his heart still beat, it might've skipped in its pulsing out of fear. His hands clenched and unclenched in the manner they often did when he was nervous -- it was a tic of some sort and one that he would doubtless need to kill before it became so pronounced that it could never be driven away. Yes, he had secrets, but was he willing to share it with her? He'd not shared it with anyone else, the greatest secret, the only one that really mattered... but how?

He couldn't just say 'I'm dead' and expect anything more than a laugh or a panic, could he? She had professed through her actions some degree of interest in him, hadn't she? Was she in love with him? Would she stay at his side if he revealed the hidden truth of his nature, or would she flee from him in terror? Could he accept her romance genuinely and not tell her, or would that make him a monster?

"Saej there's... it's a bit --" He paused, flinching at his sudden inability to speak. "I appreciate all of this, really, but I'm not -- I can't --" No, that wasn't right, that sounded like a denial of her advances, her interest in him, and he didn't want to push her away. Not at a pivotal moment like this one, where she might potentially be able to save him.

"Give me your hand." He commanded at last, outstretching his own palm in order to seize her hand if she granted it to him. Hot and cold the skin of their fingers would touch, and like a shepherd to a sheep, he would lead her movements until they had been gently placed against his neck. She wouldn't notice it at first, he was certain, but if he just waited, and watched and let her come to the conclusion it would be better. There in his neck was no pulse, and no movement -- life was not his to claim.

Credit to Saej!

[Saej Mirilla]

Skeletons in the Closet

XXX

Clutching her wine glass it was her turn to scrutinize the man, like he subjected her to that night on the rooftop, realising whatever she was asking him was making him uncomfortable. He tried side stepping her question about family or suitors by saying “who cares”, which made her eyebrows rise.
‘Who cares?’
He sounded like a boy. This was the first moment that she thought maybe something was... off. A moment of clarity, if you will, where she perhaps saw the abyss but instead of jumping off the ledge tried to shy her eyes away from the darkness. At this point, she was feigning ignorance. The last sane part of her mind trying to keep things in order as she knew him. He was a noble, she was in love with him, he was going to tell her that he loved her too, and no matter what they would make it work.

Althalos then spat some heated words about blackmailing and death. She tried to stop the thoughts from coming but her brows furrowed together. Saej tapped the table with one finger listening to him and feeling in a daze. He smiled at her as if trying to make his words less bleak and she smiled back, but the gravity of the conversation was bearing down on her. The elf had something to hide, it was clear to her now. Having spent the past season ignoring the signs, making excuses, coming up with stretches of reasons for ’why’, she fought against the realization that the man she was spending time with was indeed hiding something.

It’s true, she knew him very little. The black ichor that now crept up around her, tugging at her being, making her feel like a rabbit caught in a snare, set her already weak stomach to a heave. While he had been kind enough to let her family stay there, it was a rare occasion when they were all in the same room. Althalos was a night owl, he had said, preferring to take his paintings with the moon. And yet, something about this was now unsettling. A primordial thing about the night itself, shadows keeping secrets.
‘What's in those journals?’
Was all she could think now. He asked “do you want that”, but she had forgotten what she had even said. Her blue eyes were round drinking him in seemingly for the first time, a stranger sat across from her. The wine glass touching her lips and more Nagota sliding down her throat was her only response.

Her anecdotes about her life fell flat to his response, it would seem bigger things were to be revealed than a simple love confession. At her request for his secrets, a silly thing meant to make him blush, he sputtered out a response that seemed to be a rejection. Even despite the realisation now that something wasn’t right it hurt, her face fell and a pout played on her lips. Saej felt like an idiot, how could she expect this stranger to have feelings for her when it was clear that they knew each other not at all. The rejection was worse than the idea that he was not what he seemed, so when he held out his hand, this dangerous man, she touched her fingers to her face for a moment. Staring into his eyes and seeing nothing there but a question, something in his motion seemed genuine despite all the revelations.

At the precipice of the void one can do little but stare, at first. Truly there are two options, watch from afar-- missed chances, a question, unfulfillment, cowardice; or, jump in and trust something bigger than yourself to carry you into the blackness and safely to the other side-- if there is one. Saej was looking into the void now, his eyes their window, hand pressed to her face and staring, then made her decision to jump with the simplest of movements. She placed both of her hands in his, gripping his cold fingers,
‘Always so cold.’
Until he gently led one hand towards his neck and placed her hand there, his larger hand covering her own.

She had to lean over the table to get close to him and looked into his eyes, searching there shaking her head at him mouthing silently, ‘What? What am I missing?’ His facial expression revealed little, it seemed he had given her a riddle to solve. Spreading her fingers wide she gently felt around his neck for something, anything, but felt nothing but cold hard flesh. Poppy whined and watched, pawing at her masters then getting up and pacing. Removing her hand from his neck Saej thread her fingers into his own and pulled his hand to her, leaning back into her seat properly, gripping his pale hand with both of her own now and giving him a look of total confusion.
“I… I don’t understand. Please tell me what’s going on. You don’t care about your family, you’re not worried about your amnesia, some riddle with your neck? Althalos you’re not making sense please, just stop.”

There was no way to say it out loud but she was scared, somewhere in the back of her mind she thought maybe this was all a joke. Maybe Shasco was on in this somehow. But no, something was clearly wrong. Her leg started to bounce and for the briefest moment, she looked at the door before looking back to him. A huge part of her still wanted to trust him, he could make this right-- couldn’t he?

[Althalos]

☿

The situation was steadily continuing to deteriorate. Althalos felt like the socialization that they'd attempted was becoming increasingly akin to his decrepit flesh, rotting away with each passing moment, gradually falling further and further into a stinking cesspool that neither would find sufferable. Feeling her eyes upon him was uncomfortable, and he questioned briefly whether this was what it was like when he scrutinized someone else. Was it truly so uncomfortable to have a person's full attention vested in one's person? Apparently it was if the continued twitching of his nervous hands was any indication.

He had hoped that she would grasp onto the revelation of his natural state immediately upon the placement of her skin against the unnatural chill and stillness of his carotid, but it seemed that she was either ignorant to the absence, or else that she was ignoring it in the hopes of attaining the relationship that she seemed to crave. She had possessed a poor relationship with her birth parents, and had essentially been raised by the adoptive family of Shasco, hadn't she? Was she so unaccustomed to the nature of companionship that she would accept him even despite his ailments?

The pale corpse caught a glimpse of Poppy pawing at the leg of her master, and he wished that the hound was elsewhere. The idea that she would give it an attack order upon realizing his cruel fate was all too possible. Would the animal that he had treated well, and provided with sustenance suddenly turn upon him in a frenzied instant if it were given the command? How deep was the training ingrained into the beast, and where did its natural instincts override those desires? Dogs enjoyed food more than most things, didn't they?

"Saej. I don't remember my family, I don't care what they think, because I don't even know who they are. I don't care who I was, because I'm not that person anymore." He spoke, his voice melancholic, his mannerisms calm. He slowly placed his hands both upon the table before her, and leaned back into his chair, attempting to provide the least provocation possible for his reveal. No need to give her the impression that he would suddenly leap across the table and try to strangle her -- not that he could anyways, she was certainly a better killer than he would ever have been.

"When I woke up, I didn't realize it at first. I thought maybe I'd just been knocked unconscious -- but I knew something was wrong." He began, running his tongue across his teeth as the uncomfortable memory of maggots came to the forefront. "Everyone was dead, Saej. Everyone. The guards, and the traders, and even the bard that'd been brought along for the journey. The journals make it clear that I was a new arrival in the group -- they talk about me showing up. That's where I found my name." He paused, collecting his thoughts for an instant, his breath remaining lodged in his lungs, awaiting compulsion so as to provide vocalization anew.

"You've seen me fight. I'm no warrior. I'm a frail-looking nobleman. Did it never occur to you how I managed to survive something that killed a dozen people and managed it without being slain itself?" He stopped. That sounded almost accusing, and he wanted his confession to be a gentle ordeal. "It's... I didn't." That was the truth, but it sounded almost like he'd just stopped mid-sentence. He'd need repetition for emphasis.

"I didn't survive it, Saej. I woke up with a mouth full of maggots, and a body as lethargic as honey. I don't breathe, my blood stands still in my body. I'm here, I think, I feel... but I'm not alive. I can't even remember what it would be like to be alive." He frowned, watching her features, trying to gauge her reaction.

"I was alone, Saej. I couldn't trust anyone not to just... panic when they heard. I haven't told anyone else. Just you, because I trust you... because I know you." He hoped that he was correct, and yet, there was a terse moment where his eyes found the meandering hound and winced.


Credit to Saej!

[Saej Mirilla]

Thread Title

Time Stamp

The gravity of his words frightened her and she didn't quite know what to say. When he had outstretched his hands upon the table she took them in ernest, expecting a love confession but instead what lay there was nothing except more death and confusion. As he continued on she drew her hands from his and placed them upon her face, shaking her head in an unconscious movement of anxiety and disbelief.
"No, no, no."
Was all she could say. It was quiet, the thing that comes from the depths of the soul incoherently, something without warning the words left her mouth a murmur of warmth prying against the truth of his voice trying to find purchase against something she could no longer deny. All she could do was gulp as she looked at him.
Her heart felt cold and hard, it was far worse than any rejection.

She knew him for what he was, a golem. Whispers on her travels spoke of creatures reanimated, the lifeless given souls. How could a man's body be given a second life? Saej thought perhaps he was lying again, that all of this was a cruel joke. The gravity of the situation was sobering, no longer did she feel the well of alcohol in her chest. Instead she felt the steady beat of her own pulse and a coldness, a realisation that he was a monster. Emploring his features she searched for the faultieness of his words, a cracked smile, the hint of a tongue in cheek message-- but there was none. The sadness that gripped her from the confession of this creature was something that she dared not to fully feel. She gripped his hands, the cold dead things, and then drew them away. Instead, patting her thigh to Poppy after his noticeable dismal of her. She found her fingers intwined in the beast's hair, her only comfort in this world-- before Shasco, before Arlen, before this stange man. Staring at him all blush had left her face, instead leaving her only deathly pale.

Round eyes rolled behind the glasses looking anywhere but him. He finished speaking by telling her that he trusted her not to panic. Taking a deep breath she kept up the last strings of her sanity pretending that she was speaking to a noble. With an absent minded movement, she pushed her glasses up her nose as her face turned down.
"Of course you can trust me. I have secrets myself."
She managed a small smile while still looking down but forced herself to look him in the face at the end of her words, trying to find something there other than a creature. What she saw was a facade. A bed of cultivated lies. Some twisted, desperate ploy for his own "humanity" which selfishly sucked her and her family in to his trap like a spider in a web. This selfishness of his want for something more to his unlife, searching within her vitality and using her for his own gains and comfort. Her leg twitched and she looked from the creature before her to the door again.

No longer able to stand this moment she stood up abruptly, pushing the chair and table from her and towards him. She was stunned. Calling Poppy to her she stood there before him, looking him up and down composing herself. The dog simply wagged her tail looking at her two masters, grinning the way that dogs do, and she patted Poppy on the head. Breaching the small amount of space before them she found herself close to Althalos the undead elf. Running her fingers through his hair absent mindedly for a moment as if lost in thought her mind was blank, but what she truly felt was a knife stabbed into her heart. Perhaps it was the alcohol that made her do it but she placed her lips upon the top of his head, then upon his temple, and told him in a clear tone.
"Hold on, I'll be right back."
And the last movement as she made her way to the door emploring Poppy to follow her was a tug on his long hair before she quickly drew away and made a methodical way up each step. The creak of the wood rang in her ears and she opened the door leaving him there by himself in the candlelight.

The bright noise of the bar was a stark contrast to the abysmal, lifeless thing what waited for her in the cellar. Shasco winked at her and she grinned at him back but it was simply a baring of teeth in his direction as her heart crept in her throat. Saej needed to process the revelation that had just been unfolded to her. Taking careful steps to the door she opened it, the huge Malamute following her outwards, and as it swung shut her feet picked up the pace. The fastest she had ever run, she made her way to the tomb of a dead man, wondering if perhaps it was her own.