Dare The cursed path (closed)

[Slickfang]

(Image taken from the TV show Spartacus, Blood and Sand)

The crowd roared.

Fighting pits had been banned in the City of Fakoom but that did not mean they were gone.
In the deepest darkest corners of its many layers of ancient Imperial Ruins a crowd of at least 1000 souls watched the lanky Orkin face off against her foe, a mean looking Devahni with a leather mask covering half her face.
Both had knives and both were chained by their free hands to the other.

The Orkin pulled hard and the Devahni bawked, earning herself a slash across her guarding arm but she bit back with equal ferocity and took a slice from the Orkin's exposed collar.

The ground below drank deep of their blood quickly as if it had been parched for sustenance too long.
Another clash left the Orkin's mouth bleeding from a lip cut and the Devahni nursing a bruised chest.

The crowd began to chant,
"FINISH HER, FINISH HER, FINISH HER..."
For whom did they cheer? Only they knew but it was the Orkin who spurred on and threw the knife at her foe. While the Devahni moved sideways the Orkin leaped forward and grappled her to the ground wrapping the cain that linked them about her opponents kneck. Too late the Devahni dropped her own knife and tried to overpower the Orkin whose face grew wide in a smile so full of teeth it looked as if her mouth would burst.
After a short eternity the Devahni was dead in her hands.
Slickfang stood over the blue corpse and raised her fist in victory.

The crowd elated at her triumph threw coin and trinkets upon her.
Today was a good day for some.
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The crowd would drink and feast, stalls and makeshift tents of scrap cloth and reused wood formed what might generously be called a slum about the pit, the centre of their little world.
Slickfang liked a good drink after a kill and this kill was worth it, she had grappled with the masked one before and she relived that past fight as she savoured her victory.

But it would not last. The trinkets and coin she got were a small fortune in the dark of the world but up top in the bustling city they would not buy her a single weeks rent.
Another bitter reality she faced.

So perhaps it was by providence that as she was pouring herself another drink and mulling over her wasted talent that the woman appeared. Another Devahni but not the one she killed, nothing like her really. She wore loose clothing and a weathered look.
"Fuckd'yuwannnnnnn?"

Her voice was crunching glass in a clay pot as she asked the woman what business she had. She had the smell of topsider on her, not enough rot.

@Vyn

 

[Vyn]

They cheered before the blood spilled. They cheered during. No one cheered after. Landlings were strange creatures. After was the best part. When the blood was repurposed. When it fed. She wondered if she fed enough to Those who don't remember, would they? It was hard to be certain of these things in the current age. Mortals had messed the world up beyond recognition at some points.

She did not need to turn around to sense Grey Between was nearing. She simply hoped the servant had enough sense to stay away. She didn't need the attention its milky form brought.

She was interrupted by a...Beastkin? Orc? She struggled to recall the best word for the current age. The rudeness would've been noted by the other body holder, but the Vyn who wasn't had no such issue.

„Did she scream?“ she would wait until the creature was mid pour. Confidence was well and good, but it was harder to fake mid motion. „Did she make a memorable noise? Sometimes they do.“ Her hand drifted down to rest on a weapon she had not held in this life. In this body. The current host was...lacking. Shaking the hand away with the memory, she let it sway all the way down. She wasn't really asking a question, so she didn't bother waiting for an answer. It was a simple move to unsettle.

„It is easy to be dangerous when you fight... that“ she struggled to keep disgust from her voice and failed. „But are you really going to die over a look?“ Her eyes stinging, she realized she forgot to keep blinking after having entered the room. So she did multiple in quick succession, eyes grateful for the lubrication. Even after this many years and this many lives, it was hard to keep up with all their needs. If she could ever discover a proper way to possess something undead, she would have twice as much time. Twice as much silence. To think. To do.

 

[Slickfang]

Slickfang poured wavering only because she was already well into her cups.
"Nnnno!"
Again the voice that hurt to hear, hurt to use.
"Haaaaard to screeeeeeam when yur chokinnnng!"
Her laugh was dry sand over stone and when she looked up at the woman who asked she found herself wondering what dragged her down this far, where no sunlight blessed these ancient halls in silent generations.

"A look, a wooooord, a handful off coins. I've sssseen death given for ssscrapsss of paper with funny little squigglesss on themmm!"
Waving her fingers in the air before her she gave a harsh laugh and backed up, dropping her hands to her dagger and axe. The mist of a drunken haze swam in her eyes as her head lolled in affected laziness. She was drunk but not so drunk as to be easy prey for anyone.

The fleeting torchlight was nothing to her, able to see as well in the dark as any night creature.

"Nowwww I asssk. Yu come tooo dieee or do yu need someone elssssse deaaaad?"
It was usually one or the other, once one came to have her. The body fed her for a week.

@Vyn

 

[Vyn]

She killed a laugh inside her. She still needed practice in the laugh of Vyn. Best not to show any weakness at present.

„This is why you let them breathe one last time before you end it.“ She remembered. „Cause most don't use it to breathe in. They use it to die better.“ The advice was free.

More threats. More emotion. She did not understand mortals. Why posture before the kill? Those to be killed would just be killed. There was no need to announce hostility. A death announced was simply an opportunity ruined. Such negotiation was only weakness. Come to think of it. Her voice did sound horrible. Was she also practicing the use of her host?

„Agne Alum Kavi?“ Her tone completely different, masculine almost. She sought signs of recognition in the other one's eyes, but found none. A fluke then.

„I have come for blood.“ She pulled out a tiny glass vial. Wax stopper. „No desire for violence.“ Her other hand held out the twelve coins Gray Between had strangled the merchant for. „For the blood I seek must be willingly given.“

She shook the coins a bit to have them clink on each other. She had learned early mortals responded well to that. Maybe she should've put them in a small bag first. That would up the presentation. She would remember for next time. If she could save some money between trades, she wouldn't have to kill so many of them. It would avoid a lot of hassle with the bodies.

„You are strong. Probably won't miss it.“

 

[Slickfang]

"Hmmmmm!"
Her head lolled sideways.
"But theyyyy doo screeeeam. Eyes screeeeam. Even aaaas it haaappensss they cannn't belieeeve it."
Her smile widened, cutting her face in two.

A bizarre request to be certain.
"Yu wannn my blud?"
She paused for a breath then barked a laugh. A mocking, hacked sound from the very back of her throat amplified by a mouth too big for her head and too full of teeth to be considered normal.

"Yu nnnneed to pay for that!"
It would not be the first time someone with money took the very blood from someone without, but unlike those dregs Slickfang knew better than to just take the offer.
"Pay well..."
Slithering footsteps took her close to the Devahni woman as she snapped her jaws twice in excitement.
"...and yu cannnn take a lot but.."
Her head swished side to side and she snapped again, bone on bone.
"... get me out of thisss hole and yu cannnn take as much aaaas yu wannnnt!"

A simple enough proposal. Slickfang was tired of the dark, she wanted to have the sky above her again.

@Vyn

 

[Vyn]

„Oh no. No no no.“ She calmed the little killer. Too much of Vyn was pouring through these days. She would have to work on that.

„There are animals who starve for a long time. Finally find it. Eat too much. Die.“ That's what this was. There was no need to be greedy. She had time. Vyn's time. The time before her. The time after. Value of a single life, over long enough time, was negligeable. As long progress was being made, Those who forgot would remember. „You should be careful what you say, child.“ Her consent was too broad. A Pale could've been waiting right outside the door and left her a bloodless sack before she had time to reconsider. Maybe there would be a time where the urgency would demand such an approach. That wasn't today.

„Coin gets the blood.“ She held the shiny things out further. „Small steps.“

„And if you can be trusted, then maybe we can have bigger conversations.“ She paused thinking about adding a threat. Something about Pale wearing the woman's skin or somesuch. No need. It was understood.

 

[Slickfang]

"Animaaal?"
The hacking laugh returned. She did not feel nor look like a child.
"Chiiild???"
She laughed louder at the Devahni woman. She was funny.

"I like yu!"
Her finger wagged at the other woman.
"Yu smellll like the boss used to, before he died biiiiig style."
A hazy thought, someone bright, too bright to look at.
She shook her head and cocked it to look at the other woman.
"Give name, give money or no blood..."
The snapping happened again, hungry.
"... no trust."

Her hand extended, thin and strong tipped with talon like nails.
Maybe she'd bleed this woman a bit first, tit for tat.

@Vyn

 

[Vyn]

„Animal. Child. Woman. Spirit.“ She shrugged, they were all the same. It was difficult to deal with the unstable. „Everything bites when cornered.“ Too much twitching and eyes and teeth. Hard to follow.

She'd fork the coins over. It wasn't Vyn's money anyway – wasn't worth the posturing. „Dozen coins. One vial of blood. You can make it out to Vyn.“

No trust then. She'd nod to herself. No trust was correct.

Money already gone, she'd extend the vial too. No need to flinch. Cost of doing business. Blood was what she paid for. What she got was yet unclear.

 

[Slickfang]

The coins felt good in her hand, heavy.
"Ooookay."

Tucking them away she snatched up the vial and examined it, eyes scrutinizing it as if it might contain some trick.
"Jus this one?"
The barking laugh erupted from her again. It was so small and would not take much to fill.

Uncorking it she smiled as she bit into the meat of her hand and closed her fist to encourage the flow.
She did not clean the stain of dark blood from her mouth.
Orkin did not bleed the rich red of Humans or Elf or Dwarf but a deep and dark purple icor that seemed to almost absorb light about it.

The vial filled with it, a rich stream of her essence and when it was done she capped it and licking her palm with a tongue that might belong more to a horse than a person.

"Enjoooooyheeeheeh!"
Her yellow eyes sparkled as she held out the vial but retracted it to make a point.
"You know where to fiiiind me whennnn you waaaaant more!"

Then once more she offered it to be taken, palm open and daring the other woman to touch it.

@Vyn

 

[Vyn]

She watched the woman and nod at the question. It was never about the amount. Only the consent. And that it wasn’t Vyn’s. This would allow her another piece in the invisible game only one of them knew was being played. The savage creature bit into her own flesh to produce a spill. Clever. She always knew she could bite the inside of her own cheek for a similar result, but never considered allowing the host arm to be harmed. She might need it later after all. There was a lesson in this.

The liquid that came out was dark. It reminded her of Vikram. She wondered if they had gone extinct in the lives she’s inhabited since. Searching their mind, she’d come to the conclusion that Vyn had certainly never heard the word. Curious.

She stretched out her hand to grab the vial and found it further than it should’ve been. It took a moment to process. No, not a mistake in perception. The creature had moved the vial back. A game then! She reached for a second time without hesitation. She picked up the vial delicately.

“This will be useful.” As she said it, she slowly slid backwards. “I know where to find you.” Not breaking line of sight. She had seen the other woman’s strength and how twitchy she was. While she couldn’t vouch for speed…why take the chance?

Her back was soon to the outer wall. A makeshift gate being held open for her from the other side. A snow-white hand. And then they were both gone.

 

[Slickfang]

Grinning she stalked the woman with her eyes until she left.
As she was left in the dark all that could be seen was two yellow embers in the black.
"Sssee you sssoonnnnn heh hee hee!"

@Vyn