| Logs |
2009 March 22
| When The Bough Breaks |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
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| Realms: Bough Logs |
Second Movement, Coda
After Mikal went tearing through the door, the last two assassins were in sight of the others. One had clearly surrendered, the other had been disarmed and was holding his wrist, but had just kicked Norris and did not look like he was going to go down as easy.
Tomas calls to Raphael, "Help Mikal," and advances on the assassins. Making sure the one that is down stays down, he winds up to hit the one fighting Norris.
Norris is not happy about this situation.. And not just because he feels he was kicked by a mule. Tomas is now going after an unarmed man with a halberd, and thenunarmed man doesn't seem to have the sense his friend does. But he can't muster up the wind to tell Tomas to stop...
Raphael remains focussed on the man who is down, which does let Tomas focus on the still-standing assassin. He backs up a little, eyes embers of anger and defiance, as he reaches for a smaller, more utility-style knife at his side.
Tomas hits the unarmed man with the side of his glaive.
Tomas and misses horribly.
The assassin doesn't quite step back from the attack, but he is being very, very cautious; one does not go against a guy with a glaive or any sort of polearm without some sort of plan....
The assassin is not terribly bright, or perhaps just desperate. He lunges at Tomas, attempting to grab hold of him so the length of the glaive is no longer a concern....
The lunge fails. He does just barely misses trying to take hold of Tomas, and also fails to remain within the threat og the glaive.
The assassin's attempt to lunge to grapple with Tomas fails, the assassin failing to even lay a hand on the man.
Tomas winds up to hit the assassin before he escapes.
Norris repositions his grip on his hammer...this needs to end, now. He doesn't talk, only looking grimly at the assassin, and lashes out with the maul.
The maul slams into the assassin's side, and he does not get out of the way fast enough. Yowling he collapses to one knee, panting. "O-okay... Jesus... okay... I surrender, I surrender!"
Tomas pushes the assassin down next to his companion.
Norris nods curtly. "Good. Doan care fer breakin bones. When ah doan have to." And then he looks around. "Where'd Mikal get to..." he trails off, looking concerned. Wasn't she just yelling and sounding all mad a second ago?
Tomas says, "She ran to help Jareth in the other wing."
Norris blinks. "Help with whut?" And then it occurs to him. Wasn't there a third person Mikal was supposed to be ambushing. He suddenly feels this sensation in his belly like 'whoops'. "Yew stay here. Make sure these folk doan try t' escape."
Norris turns and lurches into a half-run back towards the door that Mikal dissapeared through...
Raphael flicks his tail in asset to Norris, growling grimly at both Jake and the lockpicker.
Tomas looks at Norris as he leaves to help Mikal, and shrugs. Looking at the two assassins he growls, "Move and you're dead," in his most intimidating voice.
The assassin that TOmas pushes down winces visibly, holding his ribs. He swallows at the command, nodding shakily. "Right... right, won't move," he murmurs.
Jake looks digruntled, but in too much hurt to complain. The lockpick looks all too happy to comply.
A few moments later, as Norris rounds the corner, he sees Mikal and Jareth coming down the corridor. Behind them the door to the aide's quarters is open, and they can see the aide standing in the doorway, looking much the worse for wear but not any worse than when Norris first saw him.
Mikal is looking a little pale and shellshocked, but physically fine. She nearly reflexively shoves an arrow in Norris's face, then hastily swings her aim slightly to one side, with clear relief on her face as she realizes it's Norris.
When Norris comes around the corner, Jareth is looking... elated. In fact, he looks almost beatific, a grin plastered across his face. He gasps slightly when Mikal aims the arrow at their friend and then when she points it away, he swings around her to give Norris a bear-hug.
Norris is seeming relieved at, first, that all appears to be well. And then Jareth is agressively hugged, and the big man is confused for a full five seconds. "Uh...ah missed you too, Jar." he murmurs after a moment, hugging his friend with his maul still in hand. Making the hug a little clumbsy.
Mikal says, "Oh, N-Bear, good! So the other bad guys have been stopped?" She leans against the wall for a moment, looking a little wobbly... then straightens with a gasp, "The Consul!" She trots around the two men, absently patting them as she goes by, and darts through the intervening rooms to come out by the Consul's doorway. She'll rap lightly on the door and call politely, "Consul Swan- er... Swanlinde? Are you all right? Your aide is worried about you?""
EDIT:And then *he* is agressively hugged by Jareth.
Norris Nods over Jareth's head. "Yuh, Rabbit. Seemed a lil touch n' go fer a mo, but they been, uh, subdued."
Norris peers down at Jareth. "Y' aright, pally?" he queries of the oddly radiant goatherd.
Tomas leans against the wall, keeping an eye on the two assassins.
Jareth snorts and thumps Norris on the shoulder, "Oh, you have no idea. No idea at all. I've got a story for tonight."
Norris huhs. "stories is good." he agrees. And then he smiles and ruffles the other boy's hair. He's relieved. Happy is good, and is a welcome relief after protracted combat.
There is silence for a moment, then a soflty barked, "Identify yourself!" from within the doorway. It sounds like the consul, certainly.
Mikal politely replies, "I'm um, Rabbit? You sent us to check out, umm..." She glances at the men being guarded by Tomas and Raphael, then adds, "Er... you know, considering we have prisoners out here, maybe we should just bring the aide over to you. Are you all right for a little bit longer, Consul?"
Tomas looks over his shoulder. "How is the aide?" he asks.
Mikal whispers to Tomas, "Same," while keeping her ear tilted towards the door.
Norris peers over at the aide, what with hearing Mikal talking about him through the open doors. "Is he okay? Mebbe ah shoul' look at him?" he queries of Jareth.
There is a pause, then the sound of things being moved about within the room, then the door unlocking. "Open the door, ad show yourself -- hands visible, please. I don't want to take any chances."
Tomas shrugs.
Mikal looks a bit puzzled, but politely steps over so the Consul can see her. She's not entirely sure why the consul is asking to see her hands, but she's got her bow and a nocked-but-not-drawn arrow in one visible hand. She holds the other out, palm up, to the consul, "Why do you want my hands?"
Tomas chuckles. "To make sure you don't have any weapons, Rabbit."
Mikal says, "Oh!" She thinks, then adds bemusedly to Tomas, "But... I do. Clearly. See?"
Tomas says, "But it's not aimed at her."
Mikal looks confused for a moment -- then brightens as she figures it out, "Oh! I get it now. All right." She smiles at the Consul when the door opens, "Hello! Are you all right? Your aide would like to know."
The consul's office is fairly neat though a table has been turned over apparently to barricade the door, and another table overturned to serve as cover, behind which the consul is crouched. She has a large crossbow of obvious alfar make pointed at the door, but as soon as she sees Mikal she raises, looking relieved. "Oh, thank goodness! It's you!" She stands; she is still wearing the Theban gown but over it a cuirass of alfar make; in comparison to the ljosalfar armor of leafy scales, this one's scales are made to appear like those of a great serpent. "Is Vidlun all right?" she asks hastily. "Are all the intruders accounted for?"
The aide is in bad shape, but it looks worse than it is; he appears to Norris that he'll be able to do without more first aid than what Jareth and Mikal provided; what he'll need now is bed-rest.
Norris seems satisfied that the aide is well enough...but then his brow creases, and he looks around to see if there's another tied up man...or a corpse. "Where's th' fifth fella?" he asks of Jareth.
Mikal says, "Um... well, we found five men, Consul. Is Vidlun your aide?" She describes the man they found, then adds, "If that's Vidlun, he's um... well, they kind of beat him up some, but we stopped them. WOuld you like to come out and see him? There's also a nasty man in a black cloak with black armor that we kept for you to question even though he nearly died?"
Tomas says, "That must have been the leader. The others weren't armored."
Jareth smirks slightly and points at the man tht killed him. Or didn't kill him. "There was nearly a couple of fatalities."
Mikal nods to Tomas -- then blinks, remembering. Fiercely she adds to Tomas, "He attacked J- Cat, Badger! You weren't there to defend him -- why not?"
Swanlinde nods, uncocking the crossbow and setting it down. "Yes... yes, he is." She sighs softly. "That's him., yes. I would like to see him." She narrows her eyes a bit. "Black cloak and black armor... that can't be good. Yes, I'd like to see him"
Tomas says, "I came here to help you and Norris. Jareth should be able to take care of himself. He was a monster hunter."
Norris shakes his head, looking unhappy. "Glad t' see there aint." He's grimly looking at the black-armored man, nudging him with a toe...but he misses the immediate implication of 'fatalities', plural.
Mikal glares at Tomas, "There were three of us! You sh-" she cuts herself off and growls under her breath, whirling to face the Consul, "Come on then! Let's go."
The consul's meeting with Vidlun is a touch emotional, with Swanlinde trying to apologize for what happened to Vidlun and Vidlun noting -- logically -- that there was not a thing she could do to prevent it; the intruders had caught them separated. They would of course use one to get to the other. The consul looks carefully at the black-garbed assassin, almost evaluatingly, and she asks the group, "He had no markings, no symbols or such on him?"
Mikal holds up the wicked-looking knife, "Just this. Oh, and he was in a sort of... umm... hm. Well, he almost looked like he was in a puddle of shadow when I first walked up?"
Norris nods to the consul, but then blinks and furrows his brow at all this talk of puddles of shadow, and ugly looking weapons. He does peer at the knife, clinically.
Jareth is still looking strangely beatific and leaning against the wall of the room.
Jareth notes, about the man in the black armor, "Moves awfully quietly and faster than you'd believe..." He thinks about that, "Well, this place is different, so maybe you'd believe it."
Mikal kneels by the man, double-checking her bandaging and curiously examining the cloak. She'll also pragmatically clean off her arrowhead, using some of the man's shirt, since she had to tear it off him for bandaging. She carefully doesn't think too hard about why the arrow is bloody, of course.
Swanlinde makes a quiet sound, examining the knife. She gances at the assassin again. "He is a professional assassin, but it'd be hard to link him to the Mordredites. This is a blade of the Vehme de l'Abel, a society or cabal of assassins, saboteurs, and such. I imagine this one is a journeyman."
Tomas looks at Raphael and mutters, "I wonder where the other two assassins are." as he guards the men who have surrendered.
Jareth notes, still smiling, "He told me it was nothing personal when he came at me."
Norris waitwaits. "Th' man came at you? is you okay?" he demands, suddenly checking Jareth over for injuries.
Mikal looks up at the Consul, "So it's a blade we shouldn't carry?"
Mikal gives Norris an exasperated glance, "Of course he came at Jareth! Surely you didn't think I'd shoot someone for no reason, Bear?!"
Raphael remains alertly watching the two attackers he's guarding.
Jareth actually laughs at Norris' question, eyes bright, "Oh, I'm great. You'd never believe how good I am."
Mikal adds to the consul, "So do you want to question him, or what?"
The consul studies the unconscious assassin. "Yes. I'm sure the Theban prefects would like to question him as well. The problem will be keeping him alive until he can be questioned. Assassins of the Vehm de l'Abel have a habit of dying before they can be interrogated."
Mikal looks a little hurt, "Hey, I saved him!"
Jareth blinks at the consul, "Do they kill themselves?"
Norris uhs at Mikal. "Well, coulda come at yew." he replies. He seems satisfied that Jareth is well, though, and refocuses on the blade. "Miss Consul, ma'am, kin ah see the knife fer a minute?" he queries.
Mikal blinks confusedly at Norris again, then simply silently holds out the knife.
Swanlinde folds her arms. "I know, Rabbit. It's that they still find a way to kill themselves. Sometimes, Cat, yes, they do. Sometimes they are themselves assassinated on their way to interrogation. THe means and methods vary. The fact is no such assassin has yet stood trial or interrogation.
Jareth chews his bottom lip, "I'd suggest keeping him imprisoned nude and disguising him if you have to move him."
Norris grimaces as he takes stock of the knife, handling it carefully. The blade is of steel, high quality, and the make looks extremely old to judge by the way it's been cared for over the years. It's also very wickedly formed, with curves and sharp bits and serrations. It would not make a clean wound. "This's not a nice knife." he comments to no one in particular.
Jareth snorts, 'He's not a nice man."
Mikal nods grimly to Norris, "I know, Bear. That's why I took it -- for just in case." She adds to the consul, "There are two more being guarded by Badger around the corner. We should move these bad guys now, while there are more of us than them. Where do you want them held?" She thinks a bit, then adds, "And can we spend the night here, maybe?"
Swanlinde smiles quietly, "You can, yes. The best places for them would be the transient quarters and the conference room. I would recommend putting the Vehm assassin in separate quarters, just in case.
After a little while, the intruders and the assassin are moved; each of the intruders is paired and put into a separate room of the transient quarters. The actual assassin, whom the others fingered as the leader of this little escapade, is put into the conference room where he is restrained neatly to the table, not only to keep him from waking and killing himself but to keep him restrained so his wounds can heal a little better.
Mikal is starting to droop a little by this point, leaning heavily on Raphael. She's had a full day, and nearly knocked herself out while secretly helping put out the earlier fire in the city.
Jareth sticks rather close to Mikal through all of this. He helps restrain the assassin and is oddly gentle with the man that came close to putting him down.
Mikal finally sighs after everyone's been properly locked up, and murmurs, "Can we go lie down now please, and debrief tomorrow?"
Tomas says, "Sounds good to me."
Norris nods enthusiastically. "Man had a mighty kick. Want t' see how bad th' damage was, get out o' this damn armor."
After a bit of consultation, one pair of intruders are moved to a store-room whose contents are moved -- with the help of some prefects -- to the other, and the doors carefully barricaded and locked. This frees up one of the transiets quarters for the group, so that they at least have somewhere pleasant to rest themselves.
Mikal doesn't take long to curl up on one of the beds with Raphael, where she looks like she's having trouble staying awake.
Norris peels off his chestplate, and then the padding underneath...touching the skin gingerly, it doesn't seem that bad. The armor absorbed most of the impact, and a little rest will clear it right up. Once he's done tending to himself, though, he's looking over at Mikal, head tilted rather like a curious puppy. "Y'okay, Rabbit? Y' doan look so spring fresh, annat."
Tomas Tomas sits with his back to a wall to the right of the door, wraps his arms around the glaive, lowers his head, and goes to sleep.
Mikal smiles sleepily up at Norris, "I, um, kinda wore myself out during the fire. I made a bunch of it go out, y'know?"
Jareth perches on the edge of Mikal's bed and strokes her hair like she were a puppy, "You've done a lot of hard work today. I'll tell my story in the morning."
Mikal mumbles, "Don' mine me... c'n tell now..."
Norris blinks. "Really? Ah didna know yew could do that." he wonders, amazed. Mikal can do anything! She can put fires out!
Jareth shakes his head, grinning crookedly, "No, I want you awake for this, brave little Rabbit."
Mikal nods sleepily again, "Uh-huh..." and falls asleep without meaning to.
Norris hnhs. "These here names we's using r' catchin." he comments.
The transient quarters are meant for alfar or other representatives of the Winter Palace to use when they come to Thebes on official business, or who need a place to rest or find asylum. The rooms are comfortably furnashed, with a pair of large armoires, and two bunk beds; the lower beds in each bunk are twin-sized, allowing two people to sleep comfortably if very friendly; while the elevated beds are singles, where a second person could sleep only if the two were extremely friendly and not prone to rolling in their sleep. There is a set of sconces with flameless lights, but there are bronze covers that can be swung down to shutter the light they emit, leaving the room dim but not completely without light.
Mikal is curled tightly up into a ball in one of the lower bunks, where she sleeps the sleep of the just.
Jareth smiles at the sleeping Mikal and climbs up to sleep in the top bunk of that set.
Norris peels out of most of the rest of his armor, and then takes the final sleeping place, climbing up atop the second bunk, and settling into a comfy position.
Norris he ponders bringing his maul up with him, but eventually decides against. He's always got his fists to fall back on.
The night passes without any incident. The five mortals sleep -- Raphael curls up comfortably beside Mikal, curling his large, heavy tail about her -- and while they are certain that they dreamed when they awaken, they do not immediately recall what those dreams were; Jareth, though, is pretty sure he did not see Raven in his dreams.
It is hard to tell time underground; but quite a few hours later, there is a polite knock on the door, and one of the Theban assistants in the consulate quietly informs the group that it is mid-morning, some time after Dawn, and about between the break-fast and midday meals.
Mikal is awake by then and really craving a bath! She still smells smoky from the fire, and she'll eagerly ask the assistant if there's a place where they all can clean up, perhaps?
Jareth doesn't think of it until Mikal mentions it, but then realizes he's not smelling very nice, either. For a goatherd to realize that, he must be pretty rank.
The crew is three for three, as Norris notices Jareth noticing his own body odor. After giving it only a moment's thought, he figures he should follow the pack. One sweats in armor, and it's been a few days since he's taken his off.
If there is a chance to take a bath, Tomas will take it, but doesn't really care one way or another. He has been sweaty and smelly before.
The asssitant indicates that there is a bathhouse behind the consulate, open-air and meant for the consul and her staff, but she offers it's use to the group.
Mikal happily trots out that way after divesting herself of backpack, weapons, and excess clothing. She takes only her toiletry items, and firmly insists Raphael come along -- he's all smoky smelling too!
Mikal is soon contentedly soaping both herself and Raphael clean, the two of them "singing" together... or at least the girl is singing and the big raptor-wolf is sort of yodeling along with her!
Norris winces and sort of bares it as he soaps up. Mikal's voice is passable, but a warbling wolf is not exactly the prettiest thing to listen to. A howl is one thing, which is a clear, pure note. But *he's* not going to be the one to tell Raph that he doesn't have the most beautiful singing voice!
Tomas strips down to his underclothes and gets into a tub. He keeps his weapon close to him. Once he is clean, he will bring his clothes into the water and clean them, as well. All the while he is singing in a voice that couldn't carry a tune in a wagon.
Mikal cheerfully offers to scrub Norris's back if he'll please scrub hers too?
Norris considers it, and accepts the offer kindly. Friends do for each other, after all. He seems quite content to accept a scrubbing, and even doesn't mind the duet of Mikal and Raph. When it's his turn to scrub, he does so dilligently.
Mikal sighs happily as she rinses her hands off, then turns so Norris can scrub her back, pulling her hair over one shoulder. Raphael was cleaned up first -- and diligently sprayed water all over everyone as he shook himself dry! -and then Mikal took the time to clean herself as well. Happily she says, "Being clean is so nice!"
Tomas sing "There are sober men aplenty and drunkards barely twenty,
Tomas continues "there are men that's over ninety that have never yet kissed a girl"
"But give me a rambling rover, from the Orkneys down to Dover,
"We will roam the country over and together we'll face the world."
Norris chuckles at Mikal's pleasure at a proper cleaning...he supposes it's not bad, although he likely washes less than her. "Happy t' help, Mikal." he murmurs, as his hands work lather into her back. "Yew got nice skin." he adds absently.
Mikal blushes a bit, giving a startled squeak, "Th-thanks!" She's relieved Norris can't see her face, but she does wish a bit exasperatedly her voice didn't crack on her every time she's nervous!
Jareth sinks happily into the water and immdiately starts scrubbing his hair. When he starts humming and then, eventually, singing, it's nice to listen to. His voice is good. He's also just still feeling utterly ebullient. His eyes do follow Mikal a bit, but then he realizes that could cause for some awkwardness and he goes about just getting himself clean. However, when he notices the back-soaping, it seems like a really good idea and he grinningly asks if someone could help with his. The whole time he's just happy with how good the water feels, how nice it is to be outside. How love it is, in general, to be alive.
Mikal brightens at Jareth's request, "Sure, happy to!" She finds herself humming, then singing along with Jareth, after a while. She feels really nice too -- her entire pack is here, is healthy, and is soon to be clean.
Norris smiles. "Jus sayin. Ah got lotsa old scar from burns an blades, annat. Pretty much healed. But yers is perfect, lak..." He's about to mention the men and ladies they saw at Alexandria...the men and ladies that weren't wearing that much at all. yeah. "...ah dunno. S'just nice." He gets out of the way, though, when Mikal scampers over to scrub Jareth.
After he is finished washing his clothes, Tomas will wring they out and lay them out to dry.
Norris notices what Tomas is up to...and decides that this is a good idea. Climbing back into sweaty clothes does not equal fun. He gathers his underthings and armor and sets about it.
Mikal gives Norris a wry grin over her shoulder, "Oh, I have plenty of little scars, but I keep them clean and they heal up good." She considers, then adds unselfconsciously, "And the one big scar I have is on the thigh, and it's usually covered anyway."
Jareth motions Norris over if his back hasn't got scrubbed yet. He himself is probably the least scarred of the lot. Goatherding just isn't all that dangerous a vocation. And though he was technically a monster hunter, he wasn't actually that skilled at it. The few he does have are remnants of mishaps and, in one case, a rather intense disagreement with a young woman's father.
Mikal is humming happily as she scrubs Jareth's back, and she cheerfully says, "Oh, I already scrubbed Norr's back, Jarr!"
Norris grins at Jareth. "Mikal took good care, annat, Just washin th' clothes." he assures.
Norris suddenly remembers something. "Wasn't there a story yew wuz gonna tell, jareth?"
Mikal leans around Jareth to add to Norris, "Hey, can you put mine in to soak too please, Norr?" She gives Jareth an inquiring glance as she realizes Norris is right.
Jareth nods and grins over his shoulder at Mikal, "Thank you. I owe you a lot lately." He nods to Norris, eyes lighting up, "Guess this is as good a place as any to tell it... and I guess clothes are good to wash, too." He pulls his hair forward to let Mikal finish soaping and rinsing his back.
Mikal beams happily at Jareth's comment, still soaping, "You're welcome! Who're you thanking?"
Jareth snorts, "Thanking you, Mikal." He takes a deep breath and looks around, "We should probably be a little closer than this for this story."
Norris is more than happy to help with the clothes washing. "Ahm sorry...closer how?" He looks around, confused. "Y' need t' whisper, or sommat?"
Jareth moves, when he can without disturbing Mikal, so that talking to the others is more a conversational tone and less calling across the pool-like bath.
Mikal looks confused and interested, but obligingly rinses off Jareth's back as she finishes, then kneels on the bench behind him and leans against him, looping her arms loosely over his shoulders and about his neck, and resting her chin on her arm as she listens in fascination.
Norris ohs, and flushes as he realizes that yes, yelling the story is likely not very subtle. And keeps washing.
Jareth settles carefully so as not to disturb Mikal and starts in on his story with, "I saw Raven yesterday. Up close and personal."
Tomas says, "Who died?"
Jareth says, with a strange little smile, "I did."
Tomas says, "Didn't take."
Mikal blinks, straightening and her voice sharp with alarm, "What?! No you didn't! I saw you!"
Jareth twists around a little and smiles, touching Mikal's cheek, "But I did, brave little Rabbit. Before you got there."
Norris looks stunned. "uhwhat?" he comments intelligently.
Jareth takes a deep breath, "Before Mikal came through the door, the assassin came out of nowhere at me. He told me... the bastard actually told me it was nothing personal. And..." He lays a hand over his chest as if searching for a scar, "I guess he stabbed me. Raven wouldn't let me look..."
Mikal is looking extremely unhappy. Without really realizing it, she closes one hand quite firmly on Jareth's hand, not letting go as he tells his story -- as if that will keep him from leaving.
Tomas says, "So he was after you? Why?"
Norris tries to understand this. "but wait...ah thought Raven only cared about th' souls of the Aelfar. R' did ah 'member that wrong?"
Mikal's head snaps around and she glares at Tomas, "You! We need to talk once Jareth's done here."
Tomas arches a eyebrow.
Jareth shakes his head at Tomas, "Nah, nah. I was just in the way, I think. I was in the way." Turning to Norris he says, "She takes mortals, not aethers."
Norris's brow knits. "Wait, now ah'm confused. If'n she's about mortals annot aethers, then what was she doin hangin around the tower with th' orange fog?"
Tomas says, "The attackers of the towers were mortall."
Jareth says, "I think she couldn't get through to get some mortal dead that were in there."
Norris blinks. And then he makes a small 'o' with his mouth. "That's right. Cause th' aelfar already dissapeared. Huh. Okay, so..." And then his brain comes back to the point Jareth originally made. "But wait, yew died? Except...ya didn't."
Jareth waves that away, "Anyway, the bastard came at me and next thing I know, I'm standing in the corner and everything looks like a painting. Nobody's moving but me... and Raven." He squeezes Mikal's hand reassuringly.
Mikal sits silent, wide-eyed and listening a touch nervously.
Jareth's smile tightens a little as he remembers with a stab of pain the intense confusion and unhappiness of that moment. "I wanted to look at what happened to my body, but she wouldn't let me. Told me it never helped." He takes a deep breath and has to close his eyes for a minute, this tale started out with a blithe tone, but it's getting harder to tell, "I saw Mikal in the hall and I begged her to let me warn you all about the assassin. I just... I didn't want to go. I... I wanted to stay and be some sort of help. I know I'm just about useless in a fight, but I think we've all been doing some good for these people..."
Mikal's eyes are unwittingly getting bigger with shock, and her grip on Jareth's hand is tightening.
Norris feels confused, and pained, listening to this. But he doesn't interrupt, now.
Jareth backtracks and says, "I begged Raven, not Mikal... Mikal couldn't see me. Everything was still still as d... still as a painting and Raven finally talked me into coming with her." He pauses and his face fills with wonder for a moment, "She was so sad about it, too. I think... I really think she's just lonely."
Mikal scowls for a moment. She doesn't care whether Raven's lonely or not -- that still doesn't give the alien thing the right to take any of Mikal's packfamily before their time!
Jareth strokes Mikal's hand, trying to sooth her into relaxing her grip a little bit, "We walked... I don't know where exactly, but we met this... this... creature. Azrael. Tall as a house and with a sword... Bear, you should have seen the sword he carried. Looked like he could knock down whole forests in one fell swoop. And he wore this robe with a hood... like you see priests of the One wearing sometimes, you know?"
Mikal loosens her hand after a moment, once she realizes she's starting to squeeze. She's still frowning a bit worriedly.
Norris blinks thoughtfully. He starts to ask if this is a weapon, maybe that could be used againat Aqal...but if this is a friend of Raven, who guides the dead, then probably not.
Jareth takes a deep breath here. The news of who the One is was a bit of a shock amongst several large shocks at the time, "His face... it was a skull with embers for eyes and he tried to get me to go with him. Said because I bent knee to the One back in Staunton, I belonged to him and... and that I would be judged by the Architect."
Norris blinks, and the groans. "Aw, what th' hell! Damn god-thing what made this mess an y' had t' go to him? Now that's just horse-pocky!"
Mikal's eyes widen dramatically, and without meaning to she snaps, "No! No, you don't belong to him! You're ours!"
Mikal settles next to Jareth, putting an arm around him, and firmly adds, "See, Da was right about religion and the gods -- they never help when you really need them!"
Jareth amends, "Actually, he tried to demand that Raven hand me over and she wouldn't." His lips twitch a little, the fierceness of the seemlingly frail Raven against the enormity of Azrael had reminded him of Mikal. "Said I had to be judged. This bit is important, all of you. In case... in case any of us die here. Raven claims us if we die here. She told the big son of a whore that he couldn't take me and the bastard said he could... but only if I agreed."
Mikal nods firmly again, "We'll remember. Go on, Jarr."
Jareth smirks, "I damn well didn't agree, though. Especially once all that about the One and the Architect being the same came out. No way I was willing going with that... thing. After that, me and Raven... we had a talk. About coming back, as a different person maybe, and seeing you all on the other side. And I... I just realized I had wanted to do more to help. Felt like I was just getting a chance to really do something good and then this assassin comes in and kills me because I'm inconvenient? It just didn't feel fair..."
Mikal nods firmly again, although her hands are starting to tremble slightly where they're closed on Jareth.
Norris doesn't say anything now...the enormity of what is being shared...it's taking a lot for him to wrap his brain around it.
Jareth's expression is changing again, eyes getting distant, "She said they were trying to train us to fear her. Fear Death when she's really just taking us on to something... oh, it was... wonderful." Tears are starting to shine in Jareth's eyes, "I can't even begin to describe. I just suddenly felt like I was home. Really and for true home. Like I could walk over the ridge we were at and be in the most perfect, joyous place..." The tears overflow and he takes a shuddering breath, "And she cried. Raven cried. For me. For all of us, I think."
Jareth may be getting the story a little muddled, time wasn't exactly a consideration at the time, but he's getting in what he can.
Mikal looks like she's struggling with tears herself, but she wraps her arms around Jareth and hugs him, leaning her head against his shoulder. Her voice is a little husky, "Jarr... please, don't go."
Jareth is stroking Mikal's hands again, pulling her closer against his back. He cranes his head and kises her temple, "Shhhhhh.... shhhhh... I didn't go." He takes another deep breath, "I wanted to go over that ridge, I did. I was ready... but... I'd said something to Raven about all this judging by the Architect needing to stop. I can't imagine dying and going straight to that Azrael nightmare... and Raven agreed." He's smiling with tears running freely down his face, "She agreed with me... and she apologized. Told me she could only do what she was going to do once..." He takes a deep breath, several in fact. This part isn't really straight in his mind because his adrenaline had started pumping immediately, "And then I was back... and I was rolling out from under the assassin and Mikal put an arrow through him..."
There are some parts of the story he's left out, things he needs to mull over in private before sharing them with anyone.
Mikal sighs in relief, hugging Jareth tightly and trying not to shiver. "And... and you're staying with us, right?"
Norris is rather stunned into silence. If it were a little quieter, you would hear the gears churning madly in his head, as he tried to understand what just happened.
Jareth takes Mikal's hand and kisses her palm, "Of course I am. It's why she brought me back. Because we're going to stop this. We're going to stop all this pain and guilt and bullshite." There are still a few tears, "She said we're all special. Promised me I'd get to come back there someday and to remember that when the ache of coming back got too bad..." He takes another of those breaths, "We're going to stop this." There's not a single trace of doubt in his voice.
Mikal sighs and relaxes a bit more. She hasn't the faintest clue how they'll go about stopping something so... huge... but she's not going to question Jareth just now.
Tomas looks at Jareth. "So you were only almost dead," and turns to check if his clothes are dry.
Mikal raises her head and says quietly, "Tomas, you nearly got Jareth killed. Do you want to be part of this pack or not?"
Jareth laughs shakily, "No, Tomas. I bloody well died and Death brought me back."
Tomas says, "If you died, you would be dead. If you aren't dead, you didn't die. All the rest explains why."
Mikal snarls, "Tomas, answer me!"
Norris is startled out of his thoughts by the snarl in Mikal's voice. His eyes roll to one side to look at Mikal, and then to the other at Tomas.
Tomas says, "I am not part of your pack. We were travelling together, I thought, to stop the spider-things from destroying our home. If that ain't true, tell me and I will find my own way."
Jareth says with a little confusion, "Don't you get the why behind all that? I only got to come back because we're meant to stop this. Almost dead people don't get to the bare edge of heaven and come back. Almost dying is what I did when Maerlyn brought us all over here."
Mikal nods firmly, "That's fine, Tomas. Ride your own way -- you can keep the horse." She turns back to Jareth and Norris, adding, "Jareth, if you're feeling up to it, we should probably talk to the consul about what we've discovered?"
Jareth squeezes Mikal's hand gently and murmurs, "Easy. Tomas, you want these things stopped as much as we do. We're going to need all the strength we have if not a little extra." He nods to Mikal and leans his head against hers for a moment, "Aye, I can talk to her about it, I think, but you all needed this story before anyone else."
Mikal raises an eyebrow at Jareth, "He's not pack. He's made it quite clear he doesn't want to help us -- he just wants what he wants taken care of, and screw what we want. Why do we want him along, if he's going to be that rude?"
Mikal gives Tomas a frankly dubious glance, "Feel free to correct my misperception... if there is one."
Tomas gets dressed, picks up his equipment and heads off to the west.
Mikal watches silently, then shrugs and turns back to the other two men. She grins wryly, "So... we should wash our clothes before we talk to the consul, don't you think?"
Norris is utterly flummoxed by this turn of events. "Uh...yeah? Ah mean...ah got started." he replies, just to say something.
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