Only You (Closed)

[Aello]

Forcing her magic to scout out several portions of the area seemed to be getting Aello no where. Inwardly, her body tensed as she continued to toss it around, further and further, searching for anything. Some sort of sign that the undead was present, or at the very least, that one favored the undead or knew an undead, if she could detect it. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, no matter how much she searched, her attempts were fruitless, she could find nothing. Sighing, the aurist drew the colors back into herself, receiving them with open arms. Her palms directed towards the sky as though in summoning. The only aura she left untouched was that of her companion, which she now turned to. She was registering a sort of pain, or even a sense of confusion in him, causing her brow to furrow. "You haven't found anything either have you?" Aello whispered, so as not to make it too obvious that she was talking to a wolf. She didn't exactly want the locals to know just what he was, for each of their sakes. "It is too loud here for you to concentrate. Too congested for you to pick apart separate smells, isn't it?" Sighing again, Aello simply stared into the wolf's eyes. "We should move on then, to another area of the city, before making our way outside of it completely," she went on, before following her companion through the crowd. Bumping shoulders and bodies on occasion when people refused to get out of her petching way fast enough. Finally, Aello and Nex reached the other side, allowing the girl's muscles to slacken, and quit being so tense as she drew in a deep breath of fresh air to help steady herself, as her companion began to growl. Startled by the sound, Aello peered where Nex had indicated, and noticed the figure. It seemed a bit strange, to see someone cloaked in broad daylight. Shrugging, Aello whisked her magic towards him, willing him to light up. What she saw wasn't bright at all however. Instead, it seemed to be the absence of light. A deep-seated darkness, a shroud of midnight blue and black mist, which covered the man in its ethereal veil. At times, she thought she could see the ends of the aura sparkling, as though it were littered by a series of Zintila's stars, but for the most part, it seemed as though she were staring into a pit of darkness. This one is a mysterious one. One who shrouds himself in the cloak, Aello's mind whispered, as her grip tightened around her bow and she simply watched. Although he didn't seem to be clouding her sight, his very nature seemed to be making it difficult for Aello to pick much up. As though his wanting to keep secrets, to hold his life in his own hands, and out of everyone's else's, made it so. Made it nearly impossible for others to slip inside. He wields magic, a sort unlike yours... The voice inside of Aello's head trailed off into the distance. It startled her how little she knew. "You want us to follow him Nex?" Aello asked. "Do you sense something that I don't? Is he a nuit?" she asked, as she turned to face her companion. She shook her head lightly. "All that can be said of him is that he wields magic... I just don't know what kind it is. That could make him very dangerous. If you want to follow him, we should proceed slowly, and with caution. Stick to the shadows." The woman's eyes seemed to hold a sense of unease, as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Come," Aello whispered, as she took a few steps down the stranger's path, wondering where it would lead. OOCI figured I'd largely follow your lead on who this figure is, since you seem to have an idea.

[Nex Paciscor]

Without protest Nex followed Aello, his golden eyes ever scanning the crowd in hopes of catching sight of the man that seemed to flit though the masses with ever so much ease. He'd have answers from the man certain Aello had things well in hand, though her unease gave him pause and made him question. What was it about this one that had struck her sensibilities so that caution overtake them? He'd observed the odd odor, but other than that nothing about the man told him what rested beneath the cloth he kept so tightly bundled around him, and it made him consider their course all the more carefully. His life was of no comparison in relation to Aello's and if the man made an attempt on her life, he'd have to contend with the bared fangs of himself before.

Weaving across the docks, Nex padded quietly, keeping his head low and ears open keeping tense for action incase the man surfaced unexpectedly, though he certainly expected to smell him much before hand. Aello's presence close by was comforting and set him more at ease than he would be, yet fire still coursed through his veins and blood sang in his ears. Her orders ever repeated in his mind, keeping him focused on only fulfilling her desires. Nudging her with his nose, he directed her right where he thought he saw the man heading and within moment the familiar smell hit him once more, in strength.

Only a few feet away a man surfaced from around a corner, golden sigils adorning the hood of his robe. Pale flesh shined from beneath his shadowing cloth, and his rasping breath smelled of hints of death overpowered with exotic perfumes, almost disguising his scent altogether. A rumble rising from his chest, Nex tensed and arched his back, though remained firmly planted at Aello's side awaiting word.

[Aello]

Aello tip-toed through the city streets in silence, moving in accord with Nex's steps, following wherever he seemed to urge, until finally, the pair was met once more, with the strange figure. The girl simply stared into the dark pools, orbs of shadow cast by his hood, wondering what was hidden there. As she listened to the rumbling which escaped her companion's chest, a low growl, shared in warning, her eyes couldn't help but sparkle as a small smile spread across her lips. "Easy Nex," Aello whispered, as she passed her fingertips over his head, just between his ears. "No need to be scaring the prey away, before we find out what we need. No need to pounce until we are certain of what we see." Aello paused, as she slowly drew her hands away and took a few steps closer to the stranger. "Good day to you sir," she said, as she swept her right hand out to her side, and offered him a slight bow, by tilting her head down, and then, swiftly straightening it. As she looked up again, the scent of perfume and death reached her nostrils, causing them to flare, and turn red with their mounting level of irritation. The mixture of life, and that which has come to pass, was so nauseating, she was surprised her breakfast wasn't coming back up. "Care to tell me what it is you're doing sneaking about, hiding in the shadows?" Aello asked, choosing to refrain from the use of the word "us," just so that Nex may remain anonymous, in the sense that perhaps now, the man would think him only a pet, and not a trusted companion. A friend, a Kelvic. "For if one didn't know any better, they'd say you were up to something..." The girl's voice trailed off as her eyes bore into the shadows cast by the man's hood all the more. Trying to put holes in his skin. Burn him so greatly, that he'd tear off his mask. "Up to something?" the man asked, his voice sounding both low, and raspy. "No, no, not up to something at all." "Then why are you hiding yourself from view?" Aello asked, plain and simple. "No, no, not hiding," the man replied, with a small chuckle, as he raised his hands and pulled his hood off his face, revealing his pale skin, thin red lips, and blue eyes, covered in a milky blanket, which caused Aello to wonder if he had gone blind with age. Or perhaps, even, simply been born that way. As she looked up from his eyes, to the thin wisps of white hair which framed his bushy eyebrows, Aello couldn't help but wonder how he had managed to stay alive. Despite the mystery that surrounded him, the man seemed strangely frail, and frailty, was never something that seemed to last in a place such as Ravok. "Just going about a less trodden path. Just to be sure that I wasn't bothered while about my business." "Your business?" Aello inquired, receiving only a nod in response. Inwardly, the girl bristled. She wanted a few answers. The first, why he smelled as he did, the second, why her magic seemed to fail her in her time of need. "I have work to do, things for my master," the man said, simply. "And you are getting in the way," he added, his hint betraying a hint of his own irritation. "Your master?" Aello whispered, as her muscles tensed, and her grip tightened around her bow. What is that supposed to mean? Aello wondered. Does he simply work for someone else to get by? Or is he something even less than that? The inner workings of the girl's mind came to a grinding halt for a moment, as she considered him. As her eyes danced over him, as though trying to take in anything she may have missed before. He seems human enough. Surely he couldn't be a slave... "My master... a rather influential man..." the man commented absently. "Who is he?" Aello asked, only to find no sound reach her ears.

[Nex Paciscor]

The man's voice betrayed vaguely threatening tones, and Nex tensed further, though yet kept still as stone. He may not understand Aello's motivations for not tearing into the man already, but he'd follow her all the same even if he didn't understand her motivations. Perhaps though there was still something he could offer.

A low rumble grew slowly louder in his chest, and peeling back his lips he snarled at the man standing before them. With a measure calm he inched forward ever so slightly, and snapped at the air, though refrained from outright attacking the man. He wanted him afraid, but not hurt, not yet anyways. His golden eyes settled into a smoldering glare on the personage in front of him, and there his eyes kept and his snarling continued to Aello bid him otherwise.

[Aello]

"Easy Nex," Aello whispered. "You may be able to take a bite of him yet, if he proves to be uncooperative much longer." The girl's eyes flashed as dangerously as her Kelvic's. She didn't wish to seem all that much kinder than him. The nicer, and weaker of the two. "So, you were saying?" Aello inquired. "About your master?" The man shook his head, not at all willing to answer. "Fine, enough about your master then, for now, for we may always return to him later... why don't you tell me what business you have lurking about darker portions of the city?" "Business... just collecting things for master," the strange man replied. "Things?" Aello inquired. "What sort of things?" "Many things," the slave replied. Frustrated, Aello swiftly forced her hand past the cloth slit, her hand flying around the hilt, as she pulled it free. "See this?" Aello hissed. "You know what it is, don't you? A dagger whose blood stains never come off... you've heard whispers haven't you? From your time in the taverns, or perhaps, speaking with the ravosala men, who seem to hear the whispers of everyone." She brought the blade a little closer. "So now you know who I am, and what I will do if you continue to piss me off." Aello paused. "Now, now, you don't think master would be happy with you for failing him, do you?" Aello sneered, her gaze hardening as her grip tightened around it. The strange man shook his head. "Good, now you are going to answer every question you are asked, truthfully. For it will be obvious when you are lying... don't bother trying anything stupid," Aello hissed, before pausing a moment. "Now, who is your master?" Trembling, the stranger shook his head, as he drew his arms into himself. Holding them as a rat might, when standing on his two hind legs. "Don't know his name," the man replied. "Then his occupation," Aello prompted. The man shook his head. "Then what the petch do you do for him? What do you collect? Surely that has to tell us something about him." "The dead, mainly..." "Is he a doctor then?" Aello asked. The man shook his head. "Then what is he? A gravedigger? Those don't seem too common around here, considering everyone gets tossed in the lake with the fishes." "I don't know," the man cried. "Well is he human then?" Aello asked. "He must use the bodies for something- practice, training, something..." "He's undead," the man cried. "A nuit." "Quiet down," Aello hissed as she stepped closer. Her movements chopped and menacing. Her gaze hardening as she lifted her dagger beneath the man's chin. "We don't want others to know where we are, now do we?" The man gulped. "Good, good... now this is how things will work, if you'd rather this wind up in his back, as opposed to your own... you are going to lead us to him, and then run away. Tell no one where we are, or we will find you, and finish you, as we should have done initially. Got it?" The stranger nodded his head furiously. "Ok... please don't hurt me..." he stammered, as he scurried past. Aello smirked as she sheathed her dagger, and turned to follow him. As she glided along, she whispered to her companion, quietly enough where the stranger couldn't hear, but loud enough where he could, easily enough. "That man makes one false move, you have permission to finish him for me." Inwardly she chuckled, things were simply getting to be a bit too easy.

[Nex Paciscor]

His lips curled back into a wicked grin as he could smell the fear rolling off the man, intoxicating in its intensity. The only thing more satisfying would be finding the creature this man worked for, and by the look of things his master was well on the way to achieving that goal. It kept him in check for now, and solid at her side, though his fur bristled at the mention of the creature's name. He'd heard his old master describe the name to him once, but before then he'd locked it away in the recesses of his mind keeping the old, pure hate locked away till it could be of use. His heart pounded with every increasing intensity in his chest, and his pulse roared in his ears but snorting he kept himself controlled and stepped closer to Aello's side, pressing against her warm, firm leg. There was comfort to be found there.

The sniveling man moved then, taking them through the maze of paths that wound over canals, and between towering houses till it became apparent they where heading for the edges of Ravok, where the poorer section of the city could be found. Sounds could be heard from the far off market, and of new arrivals in the form of foreigners much like himself to the city. They headed yet to a more quiet portion of the docks however, and much to Nex's liking as they wound between two buildings and hopped over a breach in the docks sometime after that. Turning a corner they at last reached their destination.

On the very edge of the city, tied to the docks by lengths of sturdy rope a raft floated, bobbing gently with the course of water and on it sat a rather large tent with its flaps tightly penned shut to keep in the smell no doubt. His eyes flickered up momentarily to eye the man pointing at the tent with his hand shaking violently. "He has me take them here" The man mumbled out, and hesitantly he took a step back as if to take his leave. Muscles already taut with tension sense the undertaking of this endeavor Nex snapped out at the man, fangs clashing shut on thin air, and startled the man fell backwards with a yelp. Responding strictly to instinct now, he leapt forward planting his paws on the man's back, and with a growl he clamped his jaws over the back of the man's neck, biting down as hard as he could. A rush of blood filled his mouth, its sweetness prompting him to linger there and feed on the flesh, but loyalty brought his fangs to release the man, and breathing heavy he backed away from the corpse and turned his head to regard the woman.

oocIf you need me to alter anything please do ask. Also with the tent it doesn't have to be the nuit's home, but just a place of work or something. Let me know what you think, and I'm enjoying this thread with you.

[Aello]

Aello studied the man's eyes. The glassy texture that circled the dark cores of his pupils. The way they seemed to plead, as he retreated. She regarded his trembling limbs, held so close to his chest. Before himself, as though he were a sniveling rat. Chuckling to herself, Aello's eyes slid from him, to her growling companion, they flashed dangerously a moment, as he leapt for the man, and tore him apart. "Nex!" she hissed, as he drew a way, his golden eyes glimmering as he stared at her. "Damn it! There was no time to tell if he was lying. But that's no matter now, he's done for. He'll be no more use to us. Finish with him, if you will. Just toss the trash in the lake in the end," she added, as her fingers strummed the frame of her father's old bow. "I'll be in there," Aello whispered, as she jerked her head towards the tent. Its flap swaying gently as the raft rocked lightly on the rippling water. "Investigating. You're welcome to come along as soon as you're done." There was a slight pause, as she turned around, and then, thinking better of it, peered over her shoulder at him. "Don't worry about hurrying your work along. If anything dangerous happens to come running, you know by now, that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, don't you?" Aello asked, as she stifled a small giggle, her eyes sparkling as she turned back around, and walked slowly towards the edge of the dock. The girl looked down, towards the gathering darkness. Her reflection lost in the murky depths, as she leapt across the small chasm from one end to another. Aello could hear her boots clicking as she stepped down again, and peered around a moment, back at Nex for but a second, before she strung her bow up her shoulder, and pulled her dagger out of concealment. She held it in a death grip, as her heart pounded, her ears ringing as she crept forward. Slowly, she extended her right arm, her fingers unfurling as they reached for the tent's flap. Gently, her fingers wound around the edge, pulling the fabric away. She expected a stench, if what the man had said was true, and could feel her face scrunching up, long before she had it open. Only to find that the tent seemed to carry no scent at all. Unless, perhaps, murky water could be considered a scent. Perhaps it was merely her weak nose telling her there was nothing out of the ordinary, and Nex would be able to sense any subtleties within the air, or perhaps, it simply was as Aello thought it was. No matter the case, she was thankful that she could easily make her way inside the narrow tent. At first, as she gazed around the darkly lined walls of canvas, she thought there to be nothing there. But as she glanced, and called her magic to her, she noticed two simple things. The first was the outline of a footprint, glowing a ghastly red. She stared at it, quizzically, wondering why there was only one. How there could only be one. Yet, as her mind danced along trying to piece everything together, she came to realize that the sole could have been stained, leaving only a single mark. But then, why would there be nothing leading up to this point? Still, why only this single, troubling print, from which she could discern nothing? The second thing that her magic illuminated, was a single finger, severed, the edges curling into themselves, as all moisture was sucked from the skin. As the blood, once red and vibrant, dried and crusted to an unpleasant brown. It glowed a strange green, so pale, that if it were once a pastel, Aello felt it too, had been drained of life. She crossed the tent to it, gently plucking it off the ground, and holding it between her fingers, she lifted it to her eyes. She studied the severance, thinking it the work of a blade, although she could not be certain. Muttering her frustrations to herself, Aello turned, and pushed her way out of the tent with her shoulder. "Nex!" she growled in frustration. "There is little to nothing to be gleaned. Come have a look, perhaps your nose will do more than my other senses..." With that, the lights went out.

[Nex Paciscor]

His master's scolding drew his head low, and his ears reflexively flattened as he bore the disdain in his own way. He had the urge to shift then so that he might speak to Aello and plead his case, but he knew that would do him no good, and what was done could not be reversed. Nex hardly felt guilty or bad for the action, though he was left troubled at disappointing Aello. With the creature's death perhaps he could make reparations for it but that sort of thought would trouble him later. For the moment more pressing concerns called for his attention, and as his golden eyes alit on the gasping body before him, he offered a brief snort in response before walking slowly up to the dying man and wrapping his fangs around the fellows throat. Within an instant his throat was torn out, and blood was pouring from between Nex's fangs, filling his senses with the sweet taste of the man's flesh, reveling in its flavor for a moment before getting to the business of disposing of the filth of the streets.

Sated by the taste of a fresh kill, Nex reclined back on his haunches before he blinked into the form of a man in a flash of crackling energy. There were a few things this human body of his was useful for, and one of those things happened to be picking up things otherwise cumbersome in his human form. Handling the dumping of the corpse in this manner also kept him from chancing a fall in the water, something he was less than inclined to do. For all his forward thinking in the matter though, he didn't quite grasp the concept of how he must look in that moment with form completely bare and his face, neck, and shoulders covered in crimson blood quickly drying in the pleasant air. Neither did he register the fact that in Ravok eyes where everywhere.

Oblivious he continued on as if it was an everyday chore, his callused fingers clutching handfuls of the man's shirt to pull him up, and so then he could follow it up by slipping his arm under the corpse and heave it up onto his shoulders. The warm blood that trickled down his back felt pleasant, and he found himself dismayed he could not have more time to feed on this one, but there would be others he knew, and when they came before him, he'd bring them down like all the rest and feast on their sun scorched flesh. He punctuated the thought by chucking the burden of the corpse from his shoulders, and watching it's short dissent into the murky lake water right up until it splashed hard in the water and sent a bit gushing forth at him to soak his shins, and feet. Aello's voice echoed beside him as goosebumps ran across his flesh as a side effect from the chilled water, and the uncanny feeling of a presence with it's eyes firmly set on him and his master. He turned to warn her, but found his breath frozen in his breast when his eyes laid upon their watcher.

[Aello]

Aello's eyes remained pinned on her companion's own for a time, until they fell onto his neck. It's not like him to disobey, Aello thought to herself. For although she saw him as a friend and not a pet, or even a slave as some others might, he oft acted like one. Perhaps out of his kind's true nature: their penchant for loyalty. Coupled with the mind of a Kelvic, those who sought the company of another. Someone to bond to, and to often serve, in order to feel complete, and the young spiritist found herself more than a little startled. "Nex," she called out to him once more, "what's wrong?" Aello asked. There was a pause, as she tilted her head slightly to the side, allowing her long, dark mane of hair to tumble down the length of her shoulders, where they gathered, and came to an end towards the center of her back. For a time, the wolf didn't seem to answer, which caused the aurist to feel as though the contents of an overrun anthill were crawling up and down the length of her arms. Her chest, her back, her legs. Even her feet. A shiver shot up her spine, as she took a deep breath to gather herself, and then, stepped forward. From the edge of the raft she leapt up and onto the dock, and then, stepped beside her companion. She placed a hand on his bare shoulder, her eyes fixated on his eyes. Wide; frozen. There was something wrong. She could sense it now, as her fingers brushed against his cool skin; human hairs raised in fright. Delicately, her hand ran over his flesh, trying both to warm, and to comfort him. To ease his fraying nerves. She peered up into his eyes, for one final moment, before following the line he cast with his gaze. Finally, her dark orbs too, settled upon the man. Silent and still; watching. "Do you always take to staring at a man's genitals? Or is this a first for you?" Aello asked as she took a single, menacing step forward. As she did, her fist tightened around the hilt of her dagger, whilst the fingers of her other hand, unfurled, releasing the severed finger. The limb tumbled down the length of the girl's palm, before swirling through the air. Falling, falling, until met with the wooden boards of the dock. If she had bothered to look, Aello would know it had rolled a bit, before settling into a bed cast by the spacing of the boards. A sort of crevice created by man's inability to craft things all the more tightly. As it turned away, Aello's newly freed hand slipped past the slit that ran up the length of her dress. Past the folds of soft cotton fabric, to the wiry hilt that poked out of the simple sheath strapped to her leg. Slowly, her fingers curled, pulling the weapon into her palm. Gingerly, she forced the metal away, sending a metallic hiss into the air as she tore the dagger out, and to her side. "Care to tell me how you've managed to give my companion such a fright?" Aello asked, as she took several more steps towards the man. Slow, calculated steps, designed to intimidate them all the more. For who in the city, at this point in time, hadn't at least heard stories whispered of the woman with the blade lost in blood. Blood that could never be wiped away?

[Nex Paciscor]

Aello's touch snapped him out of his trance, yet kept him rooted in place, the soft touch of her fingertips on his flesh keeping him calm for the moment, though his eyes now glared at the watcher with no small measure of hate. Death rolled off of this ones form, the smell thick in the air, coiling poisonously as it polluted the very air. His heart hammered in his chest as his mind was sent back to a time when magic miced boiled within the mist, and pain had warped his form, making him useless as a guard for his old master, eventually even leaving to his departing from the lofty city that had been his home for so long. Of course he realized this creature was not the one who had done such harm to him, but neither did that matter, for it was still the monster it was. Nuit's were unnatural things, a perversion of nature in need of extermination, something Nex was all to happy to do himself.

Still fear, and Aello kept him in check, his body frozen were he stood, not certain of what to do. If this one claimed the same powers as the last, what was he to do if this one cast it's magic over him and warped his form again, forcing Aello to abandon him like his old master did for his incompetence. He knew innately that he couldn't surrender to such fear though and he definitely wouldn't allow this one to ruin his life, Nex quickly decided, dismissing the dark thoughts that clung to him. In the blink of an eye he was lunging forward, his arm cocked back, and his hand balled into a fist, his golden eyes intent on his prey. Perhaps in this one's death he could at last find peace.