90th of Fall, 516 AV
20th Bell
20th Bell
As quickly as Madeira was spitting out information about souls and soulmist Dex was hard pressed to make a mental note of all the various facts laid out to him. Souls were like cake..whatever that was and had more than one layer. So what caused a person's soul to become a ghost instead of going to Dira like everyone else? Could a soul lost to Dira be brought back as a ghost? Questions began to buzz through his head like flies to a carcass. Questions that shouldn't be answered or even have answers in the first place except for one.
"How long could it take for somebody's soul to reform as a ghost?" Dex looked at Madeira with biting eyes, they were on fire and determined to know the answer. But his answer could wait. Madeira was clearly torn about her previous encounter after she fell into a small slump.
Previously the woman had seemed rather strong willed and determined to do her job and see it through. Now she was wallowing in self pity, a trap Dex knew all too well for himself. He spent many days trapped in that void, all the what ifs and how comes, enough of them for three lifetimes.
"Now is not the time to wallow in your defeats Madeira. He might be insane but we are..well at least you are an Alvad. And Alvads are the most insane people I've ever met. So get your head out of your arse and focus." As it turned out, Dex was not exactly the best motivator in the world. Not that he ever tried to be before now.
After she had pushed him away from their locked gaze Madeira cut him with a few sharp words, nothing he wasn't expecting at this point. Turns out she had a plan to keep him from becoming a walking killing machine, as if he wasn't already one. Somehow a few beads were going to keep him from coming into contact with the ghost and therefore possession was not a possibility. And for a moment Madeira almost seemed to sympathize with Dex, her tone of voice was calmer and she was determined to keep him from harm if she could.
Well that was a first. Turns out this day was going to be full of firsts. Dex thought back to his first season in Alvadas when he had run into a very specific artist in a dark alley. She had almost killed him that night and didn't but the following exchange wasn't any less pleasant.
Now for the first time somebody was offering to keep him safe, it was a rather strange prospect and had Dex lost for a few ticks before an unwelcome hand crashed into his face like a boulder.
Dex was more than a little blindsided from the sudden strike at him after what she had just said. Almost instinctively his left thumb flicked out the top of his rapier, ready for his other hand to release it from the scabbard. An old habit he was sorely trying to break.
Moments later Madeira spit out some nonsense about being a Craven and how he should be respectful towards her. What a bunch of shyke. To Dex names meant nothing without action to back them up, so she was more or less blowing air out of her arse in a manner of speaking. "Pompous humans are always tooting their own horns and talking out of their arses. Oooh she's a Craven, so scary I better look out for the Cravens." Dex scoffed at the woman as he turned away from her for a moment. Craven could be heard audibly if the woman was listening close enough, such is the life of proper nouns.
As quickly as Madeira's lash out at him had started it had already ended and she was going on about what little plan they had. Dex snorted and ran her plan over in his head, not something he was used to either. "Right. So don't stab you, got it. Hopefully you wont go killing yourself with him screaming in your head."
Dex shuffled over to and opened the door of Madeira's house, holding it open. "I'll lead the attack then. Just say the word, Miss Craven." With that he returned the cold feelings of her bruised ego with frostbitten words. "Shall we go then, Miss Craven?" He merely stared her down with a rather expressionless demeanor, something that was at this point rather unlike Dex. "We do have a ghost to murder, after all."