hatthevar | blood rains

[groundrules]

Drawn to undead creator Matthias, the party heads into Hatthevar — former wasteland of myth and superstitions, now city of ghosts.

The first log of Hatthevar spans until 31 January.

A small part of the event is open to players both in and out of the game, who can bring dead characters in the bazaar!

HATTHEVAR

---

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The party enters blood-rained Hatthevar during a daily one-hour truce between the citadel and the undead forces that assail it. At the gates is undead Lord Rathakku of the Brotherhood, keen to usurp his distracted maker Matthias; in the skies dart the forces of dead wind lord Anurr, who has no love for the Brotherhood.

Hatthevar’s ghostly champions — including enormous ghosts that consume men and floating spirits that strangle with chains — defend the grounds. Matthias neglects the war, persistently summoning spirits from various worlds and points in time to revive them.

KNOCK, KNOCK

Wispy, shadowy silhouettes closely watch the lone gate of Hatthevar. The party infiltrates at sunrise.

Characters who have died, practise necromancy or are death-touched enter freely. The living must consume Karsa’s foul potions that absorb their shadows and partly mute their powers to pass for dead. Holders of Matthias’ severed limbs or organs, or of dark mirror shards or dark water, are closely watched by the dead and perhaps pursued.

Everyone must create new names and stories covering their identity and circumstances of death. Crafty ghost sellers will try to learn your true name to capture you in slavery.

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Spend a few days acquainting Hatthevar, its constant rains, vicious gambling dens, bazaars, oracle halls, wish shops and nests of memory thieves.

Show kindness to the newly revived spirits who struggle to remember themselves and roam in the citadel’s bazaars of curiosities.

Optionally, some characters are struck by misfortune. Capture a crafty, palm-sized spirit rabbit to improve your luck… or stumble upon a larger, dark hopper to ruin it.

Most sleeping quarters are available at downtrodden inns or in lavish gambling dens, for exorbitant prices. You can’t shake the feeling of someone watching through holes in your walls.

MATTHIAS

Three days after arriving, the party receives a note from Matthias that reveals the origins of his pact with the dark water to propagate the dead in Akhuras. Matthias says he has been working to bring the spirit of his dead daughter Cosette through the beacon for revival. She materializes briefly in Hatthevar but disappears before he can find her. Retrieve Cosette, and he will surrender the party his power over the undead.

Full note

” Well, hello! Is it nippy beyond the walls? Not cold here, just… the rain. Tried wishing it away, but… waste of money, those wish shops. Not like, what is it you call it? The dark water? It’s ancient. Back in Ellethia, we thought it came from the sea. All began with a mirror shard. That, and constant pressure to race against decades of Taravast research into curing death. We got there first! That’s… my claim to fame: I wished death gone. It was work. Work ate me. Then, the dead woke up, killed everyone, and there wasn’t much of a profession left. Or of Ellethia. The dark water wants flesh, so… I’ve made it death lords and armies, and I’ve left parts of me to anchor it. In return… it gives me revival. But, look. I had a… daughter. Cosette? Blonde and eyes green and blue and like her mother’s, and only five summers old, but she thought she was so clever, kept telling her doll so. That’s all you’re left with. Memories. She died, of course. I’ve been working to resurrect her, and her spirit shows up every few days in Hatthevar. She disappears before I can find her. I’m not… good at bargaining. I’m a magical engineer, really. Tinkerer! But my time’s running short, isn’t it? Just look outside. And all I want is Cosette. You want the beacons? Have them. You can have my power whole. I’ll give it. Some of you will need to help hold the walls up, and others might want to look into the funny business in the lagoon, if it’s linked at all to Cosette, though I doubt it. But, truly. Bring me Cosette, and the deed’s done. You can have everything.”

The Merchant distrusts Matthias’ proposal, but sees potential leverage and urges the party to investigate the girl and the lagoon. From here onward, everyone heads to their assignment:

COMBAT

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Assigned: Bucky Barnes, Carol Danvers, Deimos, Emilia, Jiang Cheng, Luffy, Natasha Romanoff, Nynaeve, Stephen Strange, Wrath, Wrathion, Zoro

The first line of defence against the swarming undead, you must hold off swathes of enemies across three territories:

THE WALLS

Despairingly tall and uncomfortably narrow, overseen by Matthias’ ghostly cannibal titans, who neglect to discern between friend or foe in their broad, relentless strikes. Blood rains pour down thick and nearly blinding. From the skies, you face the frost-breathing 10-15 meter-tall wyrms of undead blizzard lord Anurr, unaffiliated with the Brotherhood. Stick together: when alone, Anurr’s winds speak to you of your deepest doubts and fears, compelling you to surrender — or to let go of restraint, briefly berserk, and attack your own.

■ Serthica survivors may call their dragons to assist. Through Jon Snow, the party can also summon the giant, but slow and poor-sighted frost dragon Irenia to help on three occasions.

THE COLD PLAINS

Just outside of Hatthevar sprawls a desert-like cold plateau, where treacherous dunes shift to swallow you whole and the bestial forces of the Brotherhood’s most capable undead general, Rathakku, hide in wait. Hard-shelled, slippery and sleek his creatures lie buried and thrust up their arm-rows of hundreds of blades that cut into the legs of passers-by, drawing them into sand.

THE UNDERPASS

A series of subterranean tunnels connects Hatthevar with the cold sand outposts. Scour the myriad of dusty, tunnels and purge it of large scorpion-human hybrids that carry multiple weapons and whose sting leave men hallucinating. Oversized serpents abound, their venom prone to paralyzing their prey. You can make or procure antidote potions from Hathevar. Matthias’ ghostly titans are closing off all tunnel entrances to Hatthevar — don’t end up sealed in on the wrong side.

! Collectively, the party must kill at least one frost wyrm, one scorpion/serpent and one sand lurker to keep all three levels safe. Turn in your threads before 28 January… or let the citadel suffer in part II.

EXECUTION

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Assigned: Five, Lockwood, Mo Ran, Vanessa, Yelena, Wen Kexing, Zhou Zishu

Your objective is to locate Matthias and secure the beacons that are currently in heavy use. Securing one or more beacons will help you get home.

■ Your best bet for intelligence are the treacherous networks of underground memory thieves and slavers, who attempt to steal your freedom or your recollections.

■ Your next option is the gang of Erkul, who ruled over local oracles and Hatthevar whole before Matthias’ arrival. Coarse, slippery but cunning, Erkul sullenly nurses his weight in wine at the gilded Sanctuary, Hatthevar’s foremost gambling den. Street sources say the establishment’s passcode each day this month is a fruit name. Erkul’s crew sell highly potent opiates.

■ Ransack some Whispering houses for information, equipment, poison or arsenal. Small, dusty, cluttered and often creaking, Whispering houses hold a wealth of dangerous artefacts, from haunting poltergeists you might accidentally release by reading out their names from tomes to flying rope that throttles you. Large dread hounds instil blood-curdling fear in anyone who looks into their eyes.

■ The five beacons of Hatthevar are only briefly active each day as Matthias makes his summons. They are guarded by swarms of colossal leonine-shadow creatures that only attack if they feel any fear in your soul (of it, or anything else), pouncing to claw and shred you apart. To claim a beacon, Karsa may provide a cold, coal-like token that must be placed in the middle of the transport dais, within inevitable sight of the shadow lions. You must wait 15 minutes in place for the token to take root. Report your conquest before 28 January!

■ Every six hours, Matthias sends ravens to check on the shadow-lions. You must either trick them, leave the lions alive or capture the ravens.

CARE

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Assigned: Allison, Eda, Hermione, Kamala, Lan Sizhui, Sanji, Winnie

Carer’s have the lion’s share of all duties — and the party’s few lingering resources. You must look after the group and the ghosts of Hatthevar: meandering, disoriented and fragile, the spirits who were freshly wrenched from death’s snare become easy prey for the Undead Brotherhood, the elements and the ghost slavers. Rescuing or attending vulnerable spirits can gain you allies.

■ comfort ghosts who recover from revival or struggle with their memories. Many are stranded in the Whispering houses or chained into servitude in the gambling dens.

■ rescue spirits from the immense slaver clan of Ras’Kalur, which tricks newly summoned, dazed spirits in the bazaars to sign away their freedom, promising someone to look after them. Ras’Kalur’s people often raid streets and shelters, forcibly dragging spirits back into their camps at the outskirts of Hatthevar.

■ barter to rent or buy abandoned taverns to give the party a resting space during their stay in Hatthevar. You may need to pay locals in favours, from helping them carry out petty acts of revenge to making up with a grudge-bearing wife or paying penance to their ancestors.

■ heal, cook and provide for combatants on the walls, taking care not to fall in the crossfire or frost wyrms or of allied but negligent 12-feet ghostly titans.

■ as the least suspicious party members, negotiate for information or supplies on behalf of the group: make friends with gambling den owners and the two-bit shady crooks who know their daily passcodes to enter, or with the regulars of the Whispering houses.

INVESTIGATION

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Assigned: Ben Hargreeves, Benedict, Caitlyn, Cal Kestis, Jon Snow, Merrin, Nami, Rin, River Song, Wei Wuxian, Wen Qing

■ You know from Matthias that, as a result of his beacon summons, the spirit of his daughter Cosette appears every fifth day in Hatthevar for a few hours at midday. Despite this, a young girl matching Matthias’ description (5-6 years of age, green-blue eyes, blonde, prone to laughter) is never seen. Matthias alerts you whenever Cosette appears.

■ Day of first appearance: Matthias feels her presence in the bazaar, where the day’s main attraction is a puppet show that draws a heavy crowd. At midday, a chime sounds, and the puppet show performs the sad story of a daughter quarrelling with her father over his absences. The daughter-puppet flees into the woods, while the puppet-father refuses to reconcile and follow her. The girl is killed by animals, and the puppet-father grieves, heartbroken. All the women or girls in the crowd, including you, find they burst into tears.

■ Day of the second appearance: Matthias senses Cosette is in the alley of Whispering Houses. You notice the typical bustle of the alley and shady movements, as discreet, embarrassed, or desperate patrons scuttle. You see no small girls but hear of three trades that took place at the Whispering Houses, carried out by different women: one bought a memory, one sold one, one had a memory replaced. Pay for a memory trade to learn more.

■ Day of the third appearance: Matthias feels Cosette near the Oracle Hall. The hour passes by the time you climb the stairs and are received. The Oracle confirms only one person has visited — a blonde woman — and says to “tell your master that an hourglass keeps track of new time, but can’t give the old one back.”

You get three clue questions/character and should communicate with fellow investigators. Please share key findings by network before 25 January!

EXPLORATION

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Assigned: America Chavez, Buggy, Connor, Elayne Trakand, Lan Wangji, Licyn, Red, Wen Ning

The river Liu neatly divides Hatthevar, its clean waters progressively darkening towards the edges of the citadel, where they pour into a vast, serene and heavily misted lagoon. Veterans sense an eerie chill from the familiar dark waters that so often accompany the undead.

Like Matthias, Karsa says a strange power sleeps at the heart of the lagoon.

■ travel by raft with a companion through the lethargy-inducing fog, as tar-like people peer up from the waters or swim below, never quite attacking you unless you fall into water. They (and the currents) try to upturn your boat.

■ Scattered lit candles drift on water as you advance. Pick one up, and you find one of the floating creatures of Hatthevar has joined your raft, carrying a rope-chain. It says it and its kind are former oracles and truth-speakers of the citadel — and urges you to speak, pledging to kill the first person who lies before you leave water.

■ Farther out, you discover four half-sunken ships that have crashed into each other over time, their decks now forming a rocky square-like structure. You can carefully navigate your raft to reach this construct, or make your way by hopping onto floating deck parts and the debris of other rafts.

■ Once aboard the square structure, you find all the decks are heavily rotten, creaking and prone to collapse. You hear a maddening, shrill scream that steals control of your now convulsing body, until you find yourself driven closer and closer to the end of a plank or a deck hole against your wishes — unless you are physically detained until the shrieking ends.Sharp-toothed mermaids swim below.

■ Reach and explore the curious ships’ graveyard, to peer into the black well in the middle of the square infrastructure.

QUESTIONS

NPC INBOX

Comments

memory sellers and whispering houses

[somebadnews]

[ Exploring the city is about what he'd expect to find in a place populated by the dead. The spirits passing through have his thoughts drifting to the end of days, and how grateful he is that he didn't possess the ability to see them when he was the last living person on earth. He'd rather ignore them and focus on the task at hand: tracking Matthias and keeping his family safe, but it's not long before he hears rumors about the merchants peddling memories.

It's not something he should indulge in, as often as he's been warned about mixing magic to get his memories back, but soon he decides he can afford a detour to see exactly what's being done here. Matthias' presence lingers everywhere, so even if they can't (he knows they can't) help him, he might learn something.

When he enters the Whispering Houses and encounters the first merchant trying to talk him into selling his memories, he nearly forgoes subtlety and jumps right to tearing the place down. The thought comes across in the way he stares the merchant down. ]

Thanks for the offer, but that's not what I came for. [ He still feels eyes on him as he moves to the next dusty hovel, and soon he risks a blink into the next alley over — not only does he only teleport a few feet away, but he lands in an unfortunately large puddle that he didn't spot before he jumped. Just as he's cursing his luck, he looks up to see a familiar face.

Ignoring if they saw that.]

You're late. I can already tell you which houses aren't worth your time.

[downswing]

( Bowed, dust-laden, downtrodden. Houses like tombs, suffocating. He chases them not as ends, but as means, hungry for the opportunity to choke down supply chains for slavers. It should not rile him so, like a blood sickness: they have witnessed forced servitude and labour prior. It is no stranger to them, among the living.

But these are the dead, already deprived of hope and memories, and theirs is suffering none of the living may envision. It is too ugly a thing — unnecessary. Mouth rigid and head downturned and his cloak shielding the better part of his face, he feels a stranger to this world, if not to himself.

He stumbles upon Five — almost literally, the elder's height be forgiven — when he moves from Whispering house to Whispering house with purpose, searching for traces of men touting wishes in exchange for freedom. )

I do not hunt honest wish makers.

[somebadnews]

[ The moment Five knew what was waiting on them, he had a feeling it would affect Lan Wangji more than most. Looking at him, he can't tell if he's focused on Matthias or if the urge to free spirits is too much of a draw for him. Not that Five hasn't found his own distractions, but he can multi-task.

It'd help if he had something to keep him going and set his powers straight. What would it take for Lan Wangji to give him a jolt like he did when he was poisoned in Taravast? Or would that draw too much attention? ]

That's an interesting word for them. [ Assuming any of them are honest. Although now he's wondering... ] What do you mean by hunt?

[downswing]

You know my meaning. ( Stringent, acidic. Perhaps unkind. There is a ruthlessness they share, metallic, like poison in their blood. Both Five and he are fast friends of that sickness.

He looks askance at the door, ajar, at the gossamer of ropes on which various talismans hang within the nearest Whispering House. It is well peopled, highly trafficked. He has seen at least three spirits drift in within the past half-shichen.

Already, he suspects he knows what manner of brokering is done within. Who benefits and who weeps following the transaction. His hand on the sword steels.

He reconsiders. ) Speak. Which Whispering house is best?

[somebadnews]

[ Five considers him for a long moment, frowning, because he does understand. What they're doing here is personal for a number of reasons; how his own memories were stolen, how his own brother lived on as a ghost until recently and he still doesn't trust that he won't be a target. It makes them feel vulnerable to what they're trading. His family is vulnerable.

It's interesting that he's set to be the voice of reason when Five would like nothing more than to burn the houses down before he risks temptation. Which one is 'best' he says. ]

...You've seen the ones with shackles. [ He nods his head down the last alley he explored. ] The house over there has three.

[downswing]

( The one with shackles. Yes. Reduced, now, in the wake of Lan Wangji, to only three supporting pillars, two on the brink of erosion. He remembers the establishment; Bichen, far better.

And then, this new opportunity to put the unworthy to blade and blood. He concedes a nod, hand already bound for his sword's hilt — only to waver, casting Five a withered glance. So helpful, isn't he, this favored elder? In a dark, peculiar street. )

What brought your steps here?

( Clearly, no love of spirits. Five has made his allegiance transparent often enough, to date: his family. His blood. No more. )

[somebadnews]

[ Maybe he shouldn't stand by so passively as he gives Wangji a tip, knowing full well what he intends to do, but it's never enough for him. He doesn't see why he'd care about his motivations, unless he's questioning his own. ]

Do I need another reason? [ They're here for Matthias, and there's nowhere he's more popular. The other reason gets a shrug, stiffer than it ought to be, but he still gives it. ] If you really want to know, I was hoping to see how it worked.

[downswing]

( ...ah. Of course. Dozens of Whispering Houses looming large, and a certain brittle, decayed exuberance to their magic. There is power here, yes. Perhaps even the strength to deliver all that which these sorcerers pledge.

He turns, for once, kindly as he searches Five's face for a moment — for the despair that brings so many people before foolish attempts to achieve the impossible. )

To what end? ( Then, reasonably: ) You know better.

( He lacks in sorcery, perhaps, does Five — but not in the mental capacity to understand that all bargains come at a price, and the people who promise to deliver the world will not trade cheaply. )

[somebadnews]

[ Of course he knows better. It just happens that knowing better somehow always results in his suffering. All those months he refused to let Wrath remove the mirror in him while it was actively driving him insane proves the extent he'll go before trusting magic.

Coming here holds the dangers of presenting an opportunity, but not in the way he's suggesting. Whatever he finds he's running by known experts... who likewise refused to treat his issue, for lack of knowledge. ]

The first step in knowing how to solve a problem is understanding what we're dealing with. Call me optimistic in assuming there's something we can learn from this.

[downswing]

( He hears him. Listens to voices sharp and shrill beneath and the sound of a deeper want, the hidden subtleties of that which Five folds and shields, like cards withheld unto his person.

If Five were a child, or a man of confessed hurts, or not a monster, Lan Wangji might offer him a pat on his back, now. A silent, steadfast embrace.

But they are as stone pillars, constantly witnessing each other, never truly connecting. Yet he asks again: )

What is your wish?

[somebadnews]

[ There’s only one reason he can think that he’d be asking him that. He’s worried, like many of them have, of the same thing that Wrath accused him of. His lack of self-control. His impulsiveness that makes him dangerous.

But he isn’t the one who was one nudge away from unprovoked murder. Even if he gets it. ]

You can relax, I’m not making any wish. I won’t end up like them. [ He’s not the liability he was. This is more personal. It only hurts him, and he won’t risk the rest of his family to recover the one he forgot.

Never mind that he worked out the math to go back to the point it happened, to undo it, before he got talked out of it. Not that anyone else had to know; Lan Wangji would have only used it to build his case. He’s always been an ally only because he had no other option, and that would have changed if he’s proven too much of a threat.

Still, he lingers, if only because his powers aren’t currently cooperating with him. ]

You don’t wonder where the memories go?

[downswing]

Consumed or traded. ( A simple, blunt-edged, foul conclusion. But factual, he anticipates: there is no honour among thieves and sellers of intimate possessions — flesh, souls, memories.

He watches a string of silhouettes cut their way down the streets, eyes downcast, and does not think to question whether they fear this amputation of their person, whatever the wish maker must surgically remove to fulfil them in ways likely desperate and little known. Is it worth it? A woman slithers out through a crooked door with a low, splintered sob. )

These are not kind places. ( Men, he needn't say, should not have what they desire. But then, it strikes him — ) Your will be done. Let us speak to a wish maker.

( — Lan Wangji too has a wish that burns him. )

[somebadnews]

[ Consumed. That's a terrible word for it, and his frowns sets as he revisits his earlier theory. What greater Hell could there be than that sorry fate? Wandering lost, with no memories of who they are. Worse that they asked for it.

Wangji seems to be contemplating something similar with how he watches those passing by. Considering he was ready for murder a moment ago, Five doesn't expect the suggestion that follows, and his gaze snaps back as he tries to decipher his meaning. Years later and it's still a challenge for him, for as little as the man says but how carefully he chooses his words. Staring at him doesn't help; he can't tell if he wants an accomplice or if he actually thinks one of them could deliver what Five is after.

Has to be the former. ]

What's that now? [ Not that a con wouldn't work for them, but he needs to know that upfront. ] You want to use me as bait?

{ but the tender grace of a day that is dead — will never come back to me

[matermali]

[ While Vanessa would normally be the one with eyes on Five, in this case it's the ragged child who seems to have her mesmerized in the shadows of the alleyway. By all appearances he looks human, but appearances can be deceiving—the lantern he holds is much more than what it seems. Moths flutter inside, and for whatever reason, Vanessa is too captivated by the sight of them to even humor Five's existence.

With the psychic thievery interrupted by what looks like another boy appearing out of nowhere, the urchin only stops for a moment to squint before smiling and shifting the lantern in his direction: "Don't s'pose you've got a light on you, huh? Don't want to get lost around here at night, y'know!" ]

[somebadnews]

[ Five recognizes Vanessa immediately, but for once she isn't eying him like they've got some terrible shared secret between them that's never going away. She doesn't acknowledge that she hears him at all. At the moment she's completely distracted by someone so small he can barely see them until he gets closer. She doesn't even look in his direction as he approaches; entirely consumed by a little boy with a lantern.

That doesn't bode well. ]

Hey. [ She still doesn't look up, and a pit forms in his stomach. He's already seen how the peddlers here can't be trusted, and too many are out to control them by any means necessary. If they get their claws in her, bad things are going to happen. He jogs over, raising his voice and trying again to get her attention. ] Hey. Vanessa, look away.

[matermali]

[ Vanessa is struggling, with a only twitch of her finger to show for it. The boy, howevever, is happy to answer while holding the lantern higher.

"She's still searching for her light, s'all. C'mon, surely you can help me? Wouldn't want me getting lost, would you?" ]

[somebadnews]

[ Five finally spares the boy a glance and narrows his eyes. He looks back at him with a bright, deceptively innocent face, that he doesn't trust for a second. There's something weird about the lantern he keeps pointing out. ]

As a matter of fact. [ He smiles down at him and boldly grabs Vanessa's arm, tugging her away to try and force her attention. ] We're going now.

[matermali]

[ "You don't want to go, do you, miss? I know you'll find it if you just keep looking."

The tug at her arm nearly has her turn her head and shift her footing, only then the creak of the lantern keeps her back, and she may as well be rooted to the spot. No. Careless in her usual restrictions, Vanessa is only thinking of being left to this strange peace, and so she isn't gentle when jerking free of Five's grip to knock him away with a lightning swift backhand. ]

[somebadnews]

[ Five's head whips to the side and his small body sails backwards, smacking against stone like he'd been hit with a sledgehammer. He has to wait for the stars in his vision to clear before he can figure out what happened. He's on the ground, and the side of his face burns where she smacked him. When he looks up he sees Vanessa standing there in a trance, staring at the now-lit lantern.

He swears as he scrambles upright. The boy seems pleased, still encouraging as he does whatever he's doing to control her. He even smiles up at Five, saying something about his lantern again and offering his light to get a better look after that terrible fall he had.

There seems to be some lingering effects to his vision; he can almost make out a light thread being pulled straight out of Vanessa and into the lantern. The enslaved spirits are fresh in his mind, and he makes the choice to interfere again. Ignoring a shriek of protest, he yanks it from the boy's grip, and smashes it on the nearby wall.

He expected that to be enough to release her, but he barely has a chance to look back before he's overcome with...what? Maybe because he stood in the way, or because he made contact with Vanessa when he broke the lantern. He doesn't know how, but in an instant, the world shifts and he's no longer there. ]

[matermali]

[ The world has turned small and white, and they are small and weak. They cower, now that she knows their names and wields her faith.

Only years later, the world has turned black as night, and she becomes small and weak. She surrenders, now that she accepts her name and loses all faith.

What would it have been like to never know any of that? Would it have left her happy, simple, or simple confused? She isn't to find out, because by the time Vanessa snaps out of her daze, the troublesome urchin has fled the scene of his criminal attempt, leaving behind his broken lantern without a moth in sight. ]

[somebadnews]

[ For a few terrifying seconds that images dash in front of his eyes, Five thinks he must have accidentally time traveled, or reality ripped in two and he'd fallen through the cracks. Nothing here has ever felt stable, so the possibility can't be ignored.

By the time he figures out that he's seeing her memories, he's drawn in. A part of him is equally horrified at what the urchin was doing as to what he becomes unwillingly aware of. What he witnesses are things he never asked about Vanessa but wondered since before the cliffs. What she is and how she came to be that way. How legitimate the threat of her is, but also where her power came from.

There's no telling how long he was standing there (seconds? minutes?), but when the memories fade he's staring at the same woman from his vision with a mix of confusion and something like empathy. That little urchin had no idea what he was getting into. ]

You... [ Words fail him, and a terrible thought nags at him. Did her memories return to her, or did he steal them? How can he tell? ] ...Did he get you out of the asylum?

[matermali]

What?

[ Her unblinking gaze slowly turns to Five, for a moment peering at him as though a stranger. Her voice sounds distant to her own ears. ]

Who?

[ So much was recalled, so much trauma, so many years, and who is he supposed to mean? So many men, so many animals...

She feels...unwell. Like she may be sick. That can't be pretty for a vampire, but then she is paler for it.

Slowly, she kneels with arms hanging at her sides. An alleyway with broken glass is as good a place as any to sit down while recovering one's sense of self. ]

I never did get out. [ A beat, and Vanessa whispers. ] But it did take a part of me out. Just the part it thought was ugly.

[ Her grimace could nearly be a smirk, and her whisper hushes further. ]

But it missed.

[somebadnews]

[ It was an accident. Five hadn't meant to see anything when he interfered, much like so many of their encounters. What they've learned about each other, deep secrets that never would have been admitted to otherwise, have all been happenstance. At what point does it cross the line? When is it no longer stumbling on truths and borders on stalking?

Everyone has a story for how they became a monster. Five isn't any different. He can't even claim superiority for having prevented the apocalypse when he and his family caused two, soon to be three, and that's not even counting how little he's helped prevent them here. If anyone should be able to relate, it should be him.

If he were more in touch with his humanity, maybe he'd be able to be someone she came to without the underlying distrust. He'd learn what she is without having to resort to magic tricks. (He's still grappling with what he saw. Is it any surprise to him that she's the storybook definition of a vampire?) Against his better judgment, or maybe as an apology, he sighs and sits next to her. ]

You shouldn't linger out here. [ Not alone. What happened to her could have just as easily been him, and he knows it. ] Who would you be if you couldn't remember?

[matermali]

[ She looks to him as though she understands, but remains with her hands resting on the dark skirts gathered around her knelt form. The question has her frowning, and her gaze drifts just off to the side. ]

She was no one. Nothing.

[ The grimace has softened, now with more melancholy to her smile. ]

I would become...less than a blade of grass. I would...no longer be—it would be another death.

[somebadnews]

[ Given her history with welcoming death, he can't decide if her behavior is encouraging. Memories are all he had for much of his life, and he's lesser for what he lost. Then it must mean she'd rather keep them.

There's another reason why he sat down when he did. His jaw aches and he brings his hand up to massage it, wincing when it sends a shooting pain down his back. His fault. He got involved and unwittingly violated her mind, but dammit if she doesn't pack a punch. ]

Ah. [ He leans back until he's against something to brace his head against and doesn't insist on moving again. ] I'll take that to mean you changed your mind.