they all bleed red | Glowfic Constellation

think-me-not-cruel

Tessa snorts. "I'm hardly surprised. Our world's not one for weaklings, and if you can't get over yourself enough to kill the very cattle you eat, you can guess where that leaves you on the totem pole."

Sky grits her teeth. "You're right. That's why I'm getting out while I can."

"Well enough. It's almost admirable, in a gutless sort of way."

Leekath hisses at Tessa. She dismisses her image suncloak, since the door is closed. "I don't have copies of the immigration forms here, or have them memorized -"

I could provide you with a set for the cost of the paper, says Bar.

"I don't have any cash on me."

I can take your credit stamp.

"Oh."

.001 aaberik.

"...Sure. Charge me a thousandth of an aaber for a set of current Esmaarlan immigration forms suitable for an offworlder her equivalency. I do have a pen."

And here is a stack of paperwork. Leekath hands Sky a pen. The forms want to know her name, sex, previous names and sexes if these are possibly relevant to confirming that she is attached to her past identity, age, what that translates to in human years, her country of origin, status therewith, native magical talents, acquired magical skills, whether she is going to be farming anything, whether she will wish to be going on government assistance within the forseeable future, etcetera, etcetera.

think-me-not-cruel

Tessa tsks at Leekath's hissing. "Dear, dear. I'm awfully sorry to have upset you. But, a word of advice..." The shadows deepen around her, and an icy chill spreads from where her hand rests on the table. She doesn't look so human anymore. "Only hiss when you're ready to bare your teeth, child." She smiles wide, fangs showing bright.

(Sky takes the papers in a trembling hand and goes to work on them at a nearby table. Her name is Skyler Raith- no, Skyler Reed. She puts down sex and age and country and tries not to curl up and cry with fear.)

Violence within the bar environs is strictly prohibited, admonishes the bar.

"Too right, trying to enjoy my frothy something here," says Maggie, and she sips her frothy something.

think-me-not-cruel

"Oh, I won't start anything," Tessa soothes. "You can be sure of that."

Thank you, says the bar.

Leekath listens to Sky's forms as they fill in, in case she needs to clarify something.

Sky's forms are going well! She has listed a variety of natural powers appropriate to a somewhat anemic vampire of the White Court, she will probably not be farming, she will almost certainly be on government assistance. She's left "acquired magical skills" blank because she's fairly sure she doesn't have any. She continues apace. (She writes pretty quickly, especially when she's blocking out something like Tessa being terrifying.)

"Would you be more comfortable if I set up a ward around you?" Leekath asks her, since she seems nervous.

Sky twitches extravagantly, slashing a jagged line across a question about religious dress.

"Wh! I! I, um! Um. Um. What?"

"You seem nervous about her, and I have my ward stones with me, and I can make a ward. I'm not positive how it will interact with whatever you're worried she'll do but it's pretty general purpose."

"I... that... that could help. Maybe. It's her necromancy, it- just the fact she's using it puts me on edge, I feel it in my teeth."

"What exactly is she doing?" asks Leekath, pulling her ward stones out of her bag and setting them up around Sky, some on the bar, some on the floor, in a multilevel sort of circle.

think-me-not-cruel

"It's called necromancy. Kemmlerian necromancy, specifically, though that old madman was hardly the best face for the art. There's power in death, and the veil between life and death; I siphon off just a bit of that, aided by the fact that I myself happen to be between life and death, and turn it to my own ends. Side effects include an aura of darkness and the chill of the grave creeping into the bones of those nearby. It's delightful, really."

"Other side effects include disrupting the natural order and weakening the fabric of reality," mutters Sky.

"Don't tell me how to do my job, little pest. Do I nag you about your congenital lack of a spine?"

"Yes!"

Tessa smirks. "Exactly."

"Well, nothing she's doing with it ought to be able to hurt you through the ward," says Leekath, and she wakes the stones. "There. I can put an illusion where the ward is active if you want to be able to see it."

think-me-not-cruel

Tessa looks thoughtful, and the shadows darken again.

Sky whimpers.

Tessa grins to herself and begins to file her claws innocently.

"Oh, for the - are you reacting to something I can't see or are you afraid of the darkness? ...Am I the only person in this room who can echolocate?"

"Sufficiently motivated humans can echolocate, sort of, so I guess I could learn, but normally no that's not a thing," says Maggie. "And yes, there is a distinct aura of, not sure what to call it, dramatic nihilism? Pretty unfriendly."

think-me-not-cruel

Sky composes herself, somewhat. "It's- the necromancy, it makes you feel... cold. It's like- it's like the feeling you get when you're six years old and walking down a hallway at night. And the knowledge that one day you'll just end, too, pushing and pushing at you."

"I really have no idea what you're talking about," contributes Tessa. "If you feel cold, you might put on a sweater."

Experimentally, Leekath relaxes her kamai shielding.

She puts it back.

"I can fix that, too, if you let me," she tells Sky.

think-me-not-cruel

"Ruin my fun, why don't you," Tessa mutters.

"Y-you could? Please, please, I'd- I'd really like that."

Leekath nods, steps past her ward stones, and puts her hand on Sky's head. Quick check for anything that will foul up mind kamai...?

Apart from the obvious crippling anxiety, nothing in particular!

Great. Leekath gets out her gold wand, since it is very kind about letting her cheat, and taps Sky on the head with it. Bog-standard kamai shields.

"Oh," sighs Sky. "Thank you. I'm still- afraid of her. But it's so much less, now." She vibrates nervously for a moment and goes in for an extremely hesitant hug.

Leekath allows it. And pats her on the head in a less magical fashion, while putting her wand back on her belt.

"Can you do that as many times as you like?" asks Maggie.

"No," says Leekath.

"Ah, never mind then." Maggie swigs; her glass is empty. "I'll just take as much of whichever of those lovelies was cheaper as the contents of my pockets will buy me, let's see, that's..." She counts her money very fast. "Three hundred thirty euro, and take it home with me."

She gets a large quantity of the gold stuff. She picks it up with one hand.

"And I shall be going."

think-me-not-cruel