vatheon | Landed Fish

Entry tags:

Landed Fish

Who: Orphaner Dualscar, Signless, Expatriate Darkleer
Where: The plaza
When: Now! Dualscar is respawning
Style: Prose if that's OK with you guys?
Status: Closed, though I may do an open one or network post or something with DS later.

Dualscar was pretty disoriented as he arrived in the plaza. He fell to his knees, choking on his gasps, his gills opening with a popping sound and his fins stiff with terror as he scrabbled at his own, unmarked throat.

The last thing he remembered was getting his throat ripped out by the Grand Highblood's teeth. It took a few moments for his body to realize that he actually could breathe, and that he wasn't dying horribly.

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It is simply coincidence that Darkleer is passing near the plaza at the time. Complete coincidence. Even if he had seen the corpse hanging from one of the apartment windows (and made it a point to remember the exact positioning, so that he would never have to go near that particular hive ever again).

Really. He just needs some supplies.

But when he sees the seadweller fall to the ground, he remembers Dural covered in teal blood, shrieking and panicked, and he sighs. If nothing else, this will further his good standing with the seadweller. Slipping out of his preferred shadows, he starts to approach and remembers that it's best if he announces his presence before alarming him.

"Dualscar." He doesn't ask the senseless question of if he's alright. He's not that daft as he kneels down and pulls a towel from his sylladex.

Dualscar's first instinct is to snarl as he senses a large and troll-like shadow fall over him. But he's breathing now, and as he looks up he sees Darkleer instead of the Grand Highblood.

It helps, but not much.

He flinches away as the blueblood kneels down and lifts a hand to ward him off, not understanding the purpose of the towel.

"Wwhat happened?"

Is there any delicate way to put this?

"You died."

Darkleer decides not, but then, he's always been one for bluntness and honesty when it comes to matters like these. There's no point in tipping around the subject. It's going to hurt no matter how it's phrased. Setting the towel to the side for Dualscar to take when he wants to take care of how soaked he is right now, Darkleer sighs.

"Vatheon brought you back."

Signless has been waiting around in the Plaza, knowing that Dualscar will revive today, and he's prepared. He has a blanket--a plaid one with purple running through it that he got at one of the local shops--a thermos of hot tea, and his best shooshing skills ready and waiting. So when Dualscar appears, panicked and disoriented, he's there immediately, kneeling beside the seadweller and putting his hands on his shoulders.

"It's okay, Dualscar, it's okay! You're back now, shhhhh, it's all right..."

Dualscar's fins flare a bit as he looks up. He grimaces and reaches out, grabbing the towel and rubbing his face and then scrubbing his hair. With his face hidden, he manages to gather a few shreds of dignity.

"Of course. I kneww that wwould happen," he says. He had...but it'd been hard to think about when he was being menaced by the Grand Highblood. "Wwhat did I miss?"

Dualscar jerks back away from the touch, snarling a bit. But the gentle tone helps a lot to calm his fear. He looks up, his fins pressed tight to his face with fear and reaction.

"Wwhat happened?"

"Nothing of particular interest. The same thing that has been happening before your absence." It almost sounds tame that way. 'Absence' instead of 'death'. Darkleer keeps his voice quiet and calm. Dualscar is going to be anxious enough for the both of them, he figures, even if he doesn't want to show it. "Another curse has happened. Minor sicknesses have been spreading throughout the city. But that is all."

Only a brief pause as he thinks this through. "Would you like to go somewhere less public?" Carefully, he offers his hand out to him.

This is the closest Signless has ever gotten to the seadweller, and he's a little surprised at how much bigger Dualscar is. But he brushes that thought aside, and carefully drapes the blanket he brought around the other troll's shoulders.

"You died. You're back now."

Mindfang doesn't have any memories of a homicidal highblood trying to kill her immediately before regaining consciousness, but that doesn't make the sensation of suddenly drowning and then surfacing into thin air is no less disquieting. She collapses to her hands and knees, gasping, startled.

On looking around, she decides immediately whose fault this must be. "What did you do with my ship?"

Wait, what? Dualscar's eyes narrow and he pushes himself to his feet without taking Darkleer's hand. He's still defensive and uncomfortable, and he's certainly not sure enough of any red relationship between them to admit too much weakness, after what just happened to him.

Plus, he's sort of pissed off.

"Are you fuckin' telling me that no one has done anything about that indigo shitstain, yet?" he snarls.

He looks around with a bit of confusion as the blanket is draped around his shoulders. The fins slowly relax, just a touch, though he's still very tense and upset.

"Wwhat are you doing here?" Signless is all alone here with a blanket? What the heck is going on here?

What the hell, 8itch. He's sort of freaking out, too, okay? He's just as drenched and still freaking out, but the familiar voice brings his head around like a slap.

"Spinneret?"

You know what brings around your head like a slap even more? An actual slap! Mindfang is giving you one free of charge, Dualscar.

"You say that like you expected someone else," she hisses. "Answer the question."

"Making sure you weren't alone when you came back."

Signless remembers how confused and disoriented he was when he came back, and he hadn't been brutally murdered. Well... not yet, anyway. He tucks the blanket around Dualscar's shoulder and then gets out his thermos, pouring a cup of hot tea and offering it to the seadweller.

The slap brings him the rest of the way back to reality. He looks around, eyes bright, and confirms his location. He died, and now he's back in the plaza, and Mindfang is here.

Life could be worse.

He hisses back, fins flaring out, and reaches out to grab her shoulder, gesturing around themselves. "Look around yourself before you blame me, foolish girl!"

Okay, now he's feeling a bit uncomfortable simply at how exposed he is. He doesn't understand why Signless is being so weirdly nice. "You wwere wwaiting here, for me?"

Signless is nice to everyone, it's just how he rolls.

"Yes."

He notices Dualscar's discomfort and stands up, offering one hand. "Come on. Let's get out of the Plaza, go somewhere a little less exposed."

Okay, he wants to do that, but he isn't sure what to make of all of this. He pushes himself up, not taking Signless' hand and giving him a wary, distrustful look even as he nods.

"Wwhere do you think wwe should go?" he asked quietly. He doesn't want to go back to his own hive until he knows what is going on with the Grand Highblood, so despite his uncertainty, he is willing to follow the Signless, for now.

"There are some cafes nearby. Why don't we go to one of them, and you can tell me what happened to you."

Signless knows he died, and that the Grand Highblood was probably involved, but he wants to hear it directly from the fish's mouth, as it were. He starts walking away, glancing over his shoulder and gesturing to Dualscar. "Come on."

Dualscar feels more exposed as Signless starts to walk away, and he quickly moves to follow, drawing in close and ducking his head as low as he can to try to hide his identity. Unfortunately, he's a good head taller than the Signless, so it's not like he can hide behind him.

He keeps silent until they reach the cafe and finds a table in a far corner, sliding into a booth and drawing the blanket around himself just a bit.

"Wwhat do you wwant, Signless?"

Fortunately, soaking wet people hanging around the Plaza are pretty common, and the locals don't bat an eye at them.

"Right now, I want a sandwich."

Signless flags down a waitress, and politely orders a sandwich and a cup of soup, then looks at Dualscar.

"Do you want anything? I recommend the onion soup here, it's delicious and would warm you up."

Dualscar is silent for a moment, then nods. "The onion soup, then." He nods to the waitress, then waits for her to go away before looking at Signless again, and squares his shoulders. He's drawing his defenses around himself, desperate not to seem weaker than he already does.

"Wwhat happened wwith the Grand Highblood wwhile I wwas gone?" he asks calmly.

"So it was the Grand Highblood who killed you."

Signless suspected as much. He can see Dualscar trying to retreat, to turn back into a cold, ruthless highblood, and it makes him a little sad. He likes him a lot better when he's not posing in such a way.

"Nothing, yet. We didn't know who killed you, so nothing has been done."

Dualscar's fins tighten again, more expressive than his face, which he's trying to keep even. He lifts a hand, though, and touches his throat, swallowing.

"He killed me," he says. "I hadn't done anything to wwarrant it. He didn't givve me any kind of a chance. And don't you evven try to tell me that I shouldn't fuckin' go after him, after this!"

The last is said far more harshly than is probably warranted. He's definitely not nearly as balanced as he's trying to pretend, and a few people turn to look at him. He looks around, fins flattening again as he withdraws a little deeper into the booth, glaring at Signless.

"I'm looking. Did you drug me?" She shrugs out of the grab at her shoulder, ducking around him to grab a horn, get a handle on him to pull him down to her level.

"Where am I?"

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Landed Fish

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WITH PERMISSION, yay

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