[SS Tavern] Can't Win Them All (Aello)

[Till]

Aello continued on through the alley, and Till held tight to her back. It was not so easy to understand her with her face turned away. For the first time Till entertained the thought that she had hurt that woman. Then maybe, maybe he was being led by the nose, into a quiet place, to die. He swallowed hard and clenched his hand into a fist. Doubtless she could kill him, but with the advantage on his side there was a chance that he could get away. Run for it. He filed it into his options under 'Plan B,' kept moving and always checked where the exits were. It was, in a pinch, a possibility. But not a particularly good one. Aello stopped and dropped to the ground, and Till could not help but frown. "I'm not sure why you keep assuming she's dead," he told her, and the admission of other possibilities calmed him some. "It could have been slavers, or robbers, and she could have gotten away." Till blinked. "And I don't really know." Blood was blood, after all. And why a rat, in particular? Till eyed Aello warily and took a step back.

[Aello]

"With those screams, it is somewhat doubtful," Aello replied. "The fact that they stopped, well, that could only mean that her life has been ended, or perhaps she has been gagged." There was a slight pause, "or her tongue could have been cut out. It's difficult to say for sure without the body before us." There was a slight pause, as the girl looked over her shoulder, "are you afraid of what it could be? Of what it could mean?" she asked, before turning back around and staring at the blood on the ground. A few moments passed before the blood's aura came into view. It was thin, and glowed a pale red. A mere extension of the color of the blood. All the aura can tell us is that it is the blood of a human. Not when it was left here, not if it belongs to a man or a woman. Aello peered back over her right shoulder at Till, and the aura faded away. Her pupils had dilated once more. "For if you are afraid, you can always turn back. It's not too late for that... although, that would mean returning on your own, while I move forward." Aello turned her head back around and began to walk slowly down the alley once more. "Just make your decision quickly Till. You wouldn't want to be lost out here in the dark, now would you?" Aello asked, with a slight smile upon her lips. "The shadows are more likely to claim you that way. Or perhaps, it would be best to say that the things that lurk in them will." As she took another few steps, the moon faded from her skin. It no longer kissed her, and cast her body in its ghostly light. Perhaps Till could not see her anymore, perhaps he could. It was difficult to say.

[Till]

"I'm afraid of what caused the screams, not the one who made them," he said. "An awful shame if someone is dead or worse, but I've seen it before." Once they had hung a pair of heretics in a gibbet on the other side of the street from where he lived, to set an example to the others. They hung there, swinging, and children through rocks at them. They were not fed, nor bathed; they wasted away as the days passed while Till watched. They were only taken down when the stink had gotten so bad that people had begun to complain of the rot. The Ebonstryfe had not done it; it had been the citizens of Ravok taking justice into their own hands. Rhy'sol must have been proud. He was not afraid of the dead; the times he had seen a bloated body floating through the canals were countless. Till was afraid of the living, and their whispered pleas through the rusty cage bars. For release, for food, for death. Whatever was in this alley could be no worse than waking up to that. "Oh no," he said. "We are in a dark alley in Ravok. No one is going to ask to see my papers before they come out and poke me full of holes. I am not stupid enough to run away from my only defense. Lead the way, Aello. I'm right behind you."

[Aello]

A small laugh left Aello's lips. Right behind us? he claims. Just to make sure we serve as his buffer. Just to be sure we die first. There was a slight pause, unless of course, the enemy comes from behind, in which case, he will be our buffer. Or from the side... then no one has a buffer. "Keep close, unless of course, you want to wind up like her," Aello whispered. Her voice was rather icy, chilled, like the air. She was stepping slowly, almost silently, keeping her eyes peeled. They moved from left to right, looking for another sign of life; a body. A corpse. But she found nothing. "Do you think that whoever caused her to scream moved the body?" Aello asked. Her voice was little more than a whisper, "or that she managed to crawl away to another part of town?" If that blood belonged to the woman, there would be a trail. And if the wound that caused it to escape was deep, she would have lost too much by now. She would have passed out on the side of the street; perhaps even closed her eyes once and for all. But do not fear, Dira will take care of her soul. "Or do you think we are wrong? That we must have imagined it all, considering how there is no body lying around?" Aello inquired. There was a slight pause before she spoke again, her voice even quieter now. "Do you think that perhaps an attempt at finding her is useless, and that we should stop now before we waste even more time?" Aello wasn't filled with fear as she said these words. Instead, she felt a strange sense of calm; of desire. She wanted to find something, or go home, after all, walking around with a sad excuse for a man got tiring after awhile. OOCI don't know if you had another idea/direction for the thread or if you wanted to wrap up soon? Say in the next few posts?

[Till]

Till looked down at the blood spilled across the ground, and his face fell. More violence. Whether it was death or slavery or whatever else might happen to someone on the streets of Ravok, he could not be sure. Till wondered about the victim, whoever she was. A passerby, a citizen snatched away, or a hapless traveler come into Ravok for business and pulled away by the currents of a city they didn't know or understand? It did not make Till sad or scared or angry, but it made him weary down to his bones. He fell into a squat and stared down into the pool of blood. I've seen it all before, Till thought. "I think," he said, "if we run into them we might also run against the Ebonstryfe." If they hurt a citizen of Ravok to save a non-citizen . . . well. And they would find out, he was sure. This was Rhy'sol's holy city, after all. Sometimes he swore that he could feel the dark power pouring through the city, threatening to spill over, to overwhelm and shatter what little semblance of order they had. Gods, he was tired of seeing it all. "You can do whatever you like," he said. "I won't lose sleep over it." And then, contradicting himself, "I'm all for heading home."

[Seth]

Till: +1 Hypnotism XP Lores: How to Play Simple Cards, Using Hypnotism to Push Emotions Further, The Patrons of the Silver Sliver, The Temptations of Magic. The Method behind my Madness : I didn't see much to award here. When you used your magic, barely any detail went into it. Not a bad thing at all, as you still roleplayed it out quite well... but more detail leads to more XP, if that concerns you. Overall, I actually enjoyed reading your stuff. You write quite well with Till. Aello: +3 Auristics XP +1 Investigation XP +1 Stealth XP Lores: The Effects of Moderate Overgiving, How to Play Simple Cards, Investigating a Simple Crime Scene, The Patrons of the Silver Sliver. The Method behind my Madness : Stop being so mean! Get a boyfriend! You did well in this thread, and I was particularly impressed by your Auristics RP! You should try having her experience Auras in a few different ways, now. They can be sensed by all the senses! Just if you want to try something a little different, to help you write about it. Good job in this thread, though! <3 Let me know if either of you have any questions! Great thread!