[STC] Dirty Business (Anton)

[Nira'lia]

A silencer. That seemed to shed light on a lot of questions. There were more though—why was a child like him dealing with such a profession? Where were his parents? But it was evident that Anton didn’t want any more questions. He made it quite clear when he repeated, over and over, that he wanted to go home. The Konti couldn’t even tell if he was crying beneath that pillow on his face. There were two other healers behind Nira’lia. She blinked and glanced around, listening to their conversation. They were talking about the carcass of the wailer. They didn’t know what to do with it, so they left it wrapped in cloth, in one of the empty rooms that one of them pointed at. Then they talked about calling someone from the Womiyu, which the Konti found ironic. Then they talked about how they could probably show other people first, maybe even sell it. A wailer’s body—that was rare. “Alright,” said Nira’lia turning back to the boy and wincing at his pitiful state. She tried to put on a warm smile, even if he couldn’t see it beneath his hiding place. “Go home.” She was tired, too. Nira’lia wanted to leave. With a sigh, she patted the boy again, turned around, picked up her things, and headed for the door. All the while, she found the realism before her sickening—a boy like him tasked with taking care of such horrid things. And then there was the wailer, the terrifying wailer and its mind-wrenching words, now being spoken about by her co-workers like it was a trophy. Did they forget about those patients it had killed? Sickening. That was her last thought before she left the boy in Ionu’s Mercy.

[Anton]

As the slumbering Aqurias would have it, doors went both ways. One figure, tired and hurt and beyond drained, steps out into the streets...

And but a moment later, another figure steps in.

Passing each other by; strangers in a strange, strange world. Mutual, albeit fleeting, smiles on a good day, maybe. On a better day than this. But not today. Never today.

Let's draw the curtains.

...

Dead, Anton thought, it was dead and there was nothing to fear from it. The wailer, once an entity of pure, violent sound, was little more than a a pile of dead meat at his feet, bleeding blood that wasn't real and staring up at him with eyes that looked far too alive, when they should have been empty and...

There's that word again:

Dead.

When Nira'lia left, he was given a choice: Sneak out before she came back, or sit still and hurt and lose what could have been his one chance of escaping - mind, body and soul, from this entire ordeal. And in the end, he moved not because he wanted to, but because the thought of ever laying eyes of Nira'lia just stabbed at him. Made him sick to the stomach for what he had put her through. What he had put people whose names he would never know through.

That echo again: Nobody dies.

But echos aren't real, are they?

He couldn't really hear what the healers were talking about as he approached. Something about going back to bed and not touching the monster and a host of other things that should have mattered to Anton the patient. Anton the silencer, on the other hand, had other ideas.

"Leave." That syllable was steeped in the power of arcane influence, of Hypnotism's silky lure.

"I-I'm sorry?" One of the healers asked, and for all the world, he could have just said a ton of jibberish and it would have made the same difference. "Poor dear's all banged up! We better get you back into bed. No more wandering for you, little sir."

"I said leave." Again, the power came to him, to his voice, and he brought it down on the healers.

To no avail.

"We're leaving for bed! All aboard the carriage!"

She picked him up by the hips. He suddenly felt the inexplicable urge to bite her face, as well as her patronizing tongue, right off. He might have followed through with it too, given his mood, if not for a most sudden interruption.

"Oh, there you are! Been looking all over the whole petchin' city for ya!"

More acting. Huh.

That voice...that voice hurt too. But in a different way.

Maybe he might transfer the biting to Huntell instead.

...

Voiding the Wailer corpse was almost therapatic.

He didn't really wait for Huntell to give the go-ahead as he, after a short session of winking and suggestive phrases, lead the healers away to Ionu's knew where. The moment they left, he had immediately turned to the Wailer, and not bothering to even look around...

He touched night.

And night, in turn, touched the wailer and put it to rest.

And imagine Anton's surprise, as the coid ate up the wailer, when he found that he didn't feel immediately better.

...

The trip home was a cold one.

And not because it was technically snowing.

"Hey," Huntell had said. "Talk to me."

Silence.

"Hey, Ant? Anton? Look, I'm sorry about this morning, I shouldn't have ye-"

"The yelling?" It seems the weather wasn't the only frosty thing here. "You think this is about the yelling?"

"Hey, Anton, please." Huntell's placed a hand on Anton's shoulder.

For a moment, anyway.

Jerking the hand aside, Anton quickened his pace.

Again, cold.

So cold.

[Fallacy]

XP Award! Name:Nira'lia XP Award: +3 Medicine +3 Interrogation +4 Observation +4 Rhetoric +2 Suvai +1 Sewing +1 Teaching Lore: Praying to Rak'keli A Strange Noise The Peculiar Wailer Ionu's Mercy Anton the Mage Invisible Manipulation Notes: Nira you got the sewing for the stitches, in case you were wondering. Name:Anton XP Award: +3 Rhetoric +2 Auristics +1 Dagger +3 Interrogation +1 Voiding +2 Hypnotism +2 Reimancy +1 Puppeteering +4 Observation +2 Subterfuge Lore: The Basics of Konti A Strange Noise The Peculiar Wailer Ionu's Mercy Nira'lia What Pretty Scales! The Basics of Cordas Aura Signature: Wailer Luring out a roaming hospital Murder through inaction A Wailer's scream Notes: +200 gold for each PC- STC contest winners Also, a great thread, keep up the good work! Any questions or concerns about the rewards gained please send a PM