Quest Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Mystery turns to obsession.

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Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]

Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Postby Paragon on July 16th, 2012, 6:52 pm

Dark Compulsion


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Timestamp: 91st of Summer, 512 AV

Victor Lark and Seven Xu had finally come to Zeltiva, the city by the sea. But their journey had not been simple. Though they had faced no immediate dangers, one night in their tent (somewhere in the Mirahil Pass), a strange wind had blown. A dark, cold wind, that ratted the thin walls of the tent. It had lasted several minutes, and in its breath was a voice. A whisper. Words spoke in an ancient tongue, or at least garbled linguistics.

Akajia held a place in Seven's heart, and so she often filled his mind too. Though neither of the men had been able to make out the whisper, Seven had begun to link the occurence to the Lady of the Night, pondering if she had appeared to them, and what she had tried to say.

One night, in the city proper, the pair found themselves in the Kelp Bar. A drinking establishment of low class, and even lower quality drink. It was a rowdy place, a hotbed for sailors and their whores, and often a breeding ground for stories and rumours. Tonight was no different from the rest.

Victor went up to the bar to get some drinks, and as he leaned on the wooden worktop, he listened in on the conversation closest to him.

"Aye, aye. Black as the night, he said. All wailing and whispering, words they didn't even know."

"And then what happened?"

"It was a lady. A damned fair lady, but ghastly as a nuit, and she walked down to the water's edge. He didn't stay long enough to see anything else."

One of the two men who had been speaking turned to his Kelp Beer, clearly chilled by the story he had just heard.
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[Quest] Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Postby Victor Lark on July 20th, 2012, 5:41 am

Victor choked on the gulp of kelp beer he had lifted to taste, wincing at the peculiar flavor. He knew enough about courtesy to swallow it, but before he could decide whether to ask for his money back, the bartender was gone. Where he had lost one man to more gracious customers, he found two more engaged reluctantly in a strangely familiar conversation. Victor set down the drinks.

He glanced at Seven, long enough to excuse the delay without committing to anything resembling an apology. There was no telling what would come of an investigation or how long it would take, but the coincidence in this fraction of a piece of a story was too curious to ignore. There was a chance that he would earn nothing but a pair of rolling red eyes, but so could he learn what was so depressing about this ancient language which seemed to have touched every mind in south Sylira. He was nothing if not optimistic.

Turning to the sad stranger who seemed to have fallen into his own silence, Victor raised a hand and grasped his shoulder. “I heard about that!” He lied, injecting levity into the apparently dire conversation. His hand floated out in front of him like a distant scene. “She touched the water and turned right into a fish, and as she swam into the ocean the moon went out! Right?”

The assumptions were entirely false and incredibly presumptuous, but the Ravokian often used purposeful mistakes to extract the truthful corrections. If his sudden persistence would not make them talk, then it might anger them to the point of distraction, and Victor did love distractions.
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[Quest] Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Postby Seven Xu on July 25th, 2012, 3:38 pm

Victor’s seat hadn’t the chance to get cold before an unwelcome body filled it again. “Ello.” A voice snapped Seven away from his thoughts and the Ravokian and his head swivelled to the newcomer, pale face twisted in a candid scowl. A critical red gaze swept over his new distraction.

She must’ve stood a head taller than the demure halfblood—even sitting, she dwarfed him. Dusky flesh dotted with years-old tattoos poured from a dirtied and moth-eaten costume that barely covered what needed covering. She wore a yellow grin—at least she had all her teeth—and drummed sharp nails against the old and unpainted table top. “Aven’t seen ye about ‘ere, luv, ye new t’town?”

“Yes,” Seven stood, “though I was just about to take my leave.”

“Oh, Widow.” The woman’s eyes flared in recognition as she laughed the word. “Better ‘at ye’do.”


“Forget about me?” Bone-white fingers snatched up Victor’s elbow where it hung, suspended in fanciful embellishments and half-truths. “I was nearly taken by a whore, you know! She could’ve carried me off, the size of her.” Seven hadn’t heard a word of either account—blissful ignorance apparent in his demeanour—though his teasing grin immediately died when his attention drifted toward the grave pair of men that had kept his bird. He coughed and straightened.

“Ah, beer, good,” he mumbled dryly, receding from Victor to favour the glass in front of him.
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[Quest] Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Postby Paragon on July 28th, 2012, 7:23 pm

The two men, sailors by the looks of it (and by the resonant scent of salt water too), turned to Victor, frowning at his story.

"That weren't how it went," the first man growled, before burping loudly - a consequence of Kelp Beer in excess.

"There weren't no fish," the second sailor retorted, breaking into a fit of laughter. As he composed himself, he scowled at Victor. "And the moon were covered in clouds. Where did you hear that story chap?"

The first sailor stumbled a little, barging his friend. They had drunk too much, it seemed. Victor remained still though, hoping to gleam something more from their conversation. The seed had been planted.

"The Lady in Black," the first sailor said, with a knowing nod and smile, "What do you know of her?"

Back at the table, Seven sunk into his seat again, blurring once more into the hordes of sailors, whores, and every such person in between. It was a rowdy bar at best, a violent one at its worst. Amongst the laughing and revelry, he would begin to pick up the tense nerves and frayed speech interwoven within. There were fights just seething on the brink all around him.

And then something even queerer happened. He would feel as if something or someone watched him from beyond the four walls of this establishment. His crimson eyes were drawn to a misted window. Dirty paw prints of overweight sailors and their wives streaked the glass. But beyond, in the nether of the Zeltivan night, walked the lady.

The lady in black.
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[Quest] Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Postby Victor Lark on July 31st, 2012, 8:47 pm

“Oh. Ha! My apologizes.” Though his attempts at discovery were successful enough, Victor could not settle for easy. He wanted to be a part of this moment, this mystery. He attempted to bend his expression into something sloppy and drunk, but it became self-amused futility rather than any believable degree of intoxication. With an acknowledging laugh in Seven’s direction, one which might have been mistaken by a pair of drunken sailors for something less than sober, Victor leaned heavily against the bar.

He picked up his glass and rocked it toward the sailor beside him. Whether or not their drinks met his, Victor took a long swig of the salty green swill on the rebound. “The Lady in Black...” He sighed through a hard swallow, peering into the indiscriminate distance as he considered the words. He had seen nothing of the sort, and he was having trouble making up an inaccuracy to complement it.

“Very little,” he admitted finally, content in his ignorance. He turned to the halfblood behind him and slapped a hand upon his shoulder. “But this kid knows a thing or two about that. Don’t you, Seven?”
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[Quest] Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Postby Seven Xu on August 2nd, 2012, 12:02 pm

The pint didn’t shatter, but no less jarring was the acrimonious thump it made when it landed at Seven’s feet. Green froth spewed from its mouth and coated floorboards and boots and cries of surprise went up from the crowd. Seven ignored it. He ignored Victor’s question, too, and the hand slipped from his shoulder as he moved toward the window, shoes and shins wet from kelp beer.

“It’s Her,” he had mumbled before he stole off, a comment scarcely audible over the frustrated din.

She was gone by the time he’d reached the window. Only blackness remained on the other side of latticed glass. Seven turned, searched the sea of faces, and gestured a request when he met a distracted storm grey glare. Then he turned for the door, wiggled from the shoulder to shoulder mess of sweat and tobacco and kelp and burst into the clean night.

It was dark, darker than it had been the night before. The moon was only a sliver in the sky and thick wet air hid the stars. His eyes weren’t half as good as a Widow’s when the sun set, but they still cut through the black better than any human he’d bothered to ask. Seven’s toes curled against the ground and he stared past the orange glow of lamplight into the darkness, waiting.
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[Quest] Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Postby Paragon on August 2nd, 2012, 2:11 pm

The sailors frowned at Victor and then suddenly slapped him on the shoulder. A hearty gesture, with no ill intentions.

"She only came recently... or so they say," the first sailor said with a quiet nod. They seemed somewhat calmer now. The momentary rush of kelp beer fading from their systems.

"But she appears now and 'gain. Down the docks. In the streets. The Lady in Black. Maybe she be a phantom. Who knows?"

As Victor tried to bring Seven into the conversation, he would find the half-Symenestra rising from his seat, transfixed on the window. The crimson-eyed fellow then moved to the door, leaving the bar and walking into the willing night's embrace.

Victor would consider following him, but as he made to walk out of the bar too, an angry voice came from within.

"Hey - are ya' gonna pay for those blasted drinks!?"

Outside, in the darkling network of Zeltivan streets, Seven found himself following the figure. Everytime he watched her, she moved just out of sight. Glimpses in the corner of his eyes. Shifts in the darkness.

As they moved, perhaps Seven would realise they were heading to lower ground. The smell of salt water filled the air. Gulls cawed, even in the thick of night. They were bound for the docks. For the mess of rigging and ships, of seaweed and wooden crates piled sky high.

Leth watched down upon the city, and basking in the fragmentary moonlight, Seven finally found himself in the docks. The woman in black remained motionless, back turned, eyes cast to the bay. He could just make out the Obelisks in the moonlight.

The woman. Was she spirit? A being of the undead? Or could she even be something more sinister? Seven would have little time for contemplation. Half tranced, he heard the lady's words. Honey and silk, cool and lilting.

"Why is it you follow me?"
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[Quest] Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Postby Victor Lark on August 2nd, 2012, 4:53 pm

His companion escaped, and Victor was not allowed a glimpse of him. His attention ricocheted from the confusion and landed on the irritated merchant who wanted only what he was due. The crowd had already filled between them, but for some reason Victor paused to turn back—depending, maybe, on the unremitting loyalty that should be waiting just beyond. He cast a glare and a gold-rimmed coin at the bar, the latter of which bounced from his abandoned glass and rolled off the counter. Then he left.

The darkness should have soothed him, that cool release from the chaos and the cryptic words it spoke. But Victor saw only emptiness as he looked right and left down the abandoned street, finding not even the flash of white that he had come to need. “Seven,” he called blindly, and listened between the echoes for some returning cry or drum of footfalls.

When he perceived nothing, he turned in an all but random direction and made to pursue him.

“Gods, damn it! Seven!”
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[Quest] Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Postby Seven Xu on August 2nd, 2012, 5:45 pm

Damp, cold brine air wafted straight through Seven, chilling him to the bone. He shuddered, folded skinny arms across his chest, and stared hard at the prize of his pursuit.

“I followed because you lead me,” he replied, miraculously steady. Curiosity narrowed his eyes. He’d caught the tail-end of Victor’s conversation before he left. The Lady in Black, the Ravokian had said; the words themselves seemed to stir up the image of the woman in the window. There were few women Seven knew, fewer still that would ever be dubbed as ladies. One in particular had itched at the furthest forgotten reaches of the halfblood’s stubborn mind for too long.

The night itself was damp and thick as Seven waded through it. His fists balled and his eyes began to dart toward every small noise he thought he could hear. He was growing increasingly uncomfortable in the lady’s wake, but curiosity still burned hot enough to spur him on.

“Forgive me; I’m not usually a man to pry. You just—you’re familiar, is all.”
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[Quest] Dark Compulsion (Victor, Seven)

Postby Paragon on August 2nd, 2012, 6:18 pm

Atmospheric Music :

Victor was swept into the night, leaving the bright lights, and excited voices of the Kelp Bar. His Gold Miza had ensured he wouldn't be pursued and detained in the Lord of Council's custody.

He called for Seven, but there was no answer. Instead, he stumbled blindly away, searching, calling. Nothing. The emptiness and vastness of Zeltiva stretched out before him. Victor Lark oftentimes lived on the edge. Fear was not something he was used to. But now, in the cloying darkness, he felt a little. Seven had left in a trance, bound for who knew where.

All he could do was search. The lost would be found, or so he hoped. His only guidance was the thought of where Seven might go out of choice. What unique locations did Zeltiva hold? Would the Symenestra head to the waters edge?



At the docks, Seven watched the figure, so eerily staring out to sea. Stories often circulated Mizahar, of the ghosts of sailor's wives, damned eternally to watch and wait for their lost loves. But there was something different about this phantasm. Something not quite so innocent, nor tragic.

"And I lead because you follow..." the woman mused.

At Seven's notion of familiarity, the figure moved, though she did not turn and reveal her face.

"I am familiar? In a good way? Reminiscent of something from your past? Or something of your hopes?"

The figure moved again, this time descending a small set of steps. In the dark waters, Seven would see a small wooden boat - seemingly made for two people.

The lady never turned, but she stepped into the boat, feet not quite touching the ground. Still she would not reveal herself, and yet the gesture beckoned for Seven to follow if he dared.
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