Another Horizon IC

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"You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that." Alexa raised an eyebrow at Wynn, wondering what the hell she was going on about. It wouldn't bloody kill the woman to at least tell them what she was planning when she started asking them vague questions. If she was going to have to take some scars, there better be a damn good reason for it.

"If it gets us out of here, I'll do it. But it'd be nice to at least hear why I'm getting cut up first before I agree to anything." She said dryly. "And speaking of that," She continued on, looking slightly curious. "How did you get your hands on talentium anyway? Are some of the guards here armed with that?"
 
Shizuka nodded to answer the captain's request. "I do." She was clearly far more interested in the other two passengers, and their quarrel, though. She was keeping a close eye on the both of them.

She finally broke into their conversation, trying not to make things any worse. "I've never met a vampire before. I hear they're dangerous, but you look like an ordinary person to me," she said to Raela. "I get the impression vampires at least can be incredibly dangerous, but I don't really see it, at least right now." She wanted to ask about what had happened to cause the bad blood between the vampire and the butler, but she also didn't. It would be rude to pry too much.
 
Probably for the nth time in the last twenty-four hours, Charlotte sighed, mostly in exasperation. As it seemed to go, Aresia and Raela were at it again. She conceded both had valid points, but was an agonizing, aggravating situation all around. It was a dynamic that simply was not going to do for what lay ahead of them. Tossing a half-eaten bread roll onto her plate, she spoke up as evenly as her temperament dictated.

"Alright. Can we save this for after everything is said and done? I have a few words to say myself, but I'm truly not appreciating being stuck between the crossfire of a hopeless argument right before being risking my life." She look at both of them in the eye, before continuing to stare at Aresia. "And for the record, losing a bit of blood isn't going to do me in."

Leaning back onto the back of the seat, she rubbed her temples with closed eyes, only opening them again when the captain spoke again. Charlotte almost brushed off her request to play cards, thinking it as silly and inane for the moment, but thought better of it and changed her mind before she spoke.

"I'll play. I think I need to take my mind off things for a bit."
 
Ashe sighed both at Alexa's questioning of the scars and Wynn's own wry prodding. It was too early for the girl to have to be dealing with the shit of both the women.

"I would be able do as much with less, Wynn," Ashe said giving her a narrowed glance. "There's a reason why, or perhaps it's because of, that I'm a direct subordinate of Escellar himself, thank you. What seems to matter more is if I have the time required for such detailed work, unless you want the magic to backfire in our faces. So, if you have one," she was referring to the needle, "I'd gladly take it; otherwise, I'll make do."

"And if you weren't able to pick up as much," her attention turned to her friend's question, "Wynn here plans for me to carve runes into your flesh. It'd give the basic functionality of magic, but will scar from use. That point aside, she likely plans on you running as a decoy while the rest of us escape; correct me if I'm wrong there, Wynnie.

"But yes, Alexa brings up a good point; where did that talentium come from?"
 
Aresia sighed. "Of course a drop of blood won't turn you in, but a drop of blood can make this beast run wild again. But whatever, this is getting way too annoying." Playing Old Maid? With the vampiress? No way. Standing up again Aresia gave the captain another bow, and as if everything that just happened to increase her anger was washed away, she spoke in the a rather professional manner. "My deepest apologizes for my unsightly behaviour, Ma'm. I'm very grateful for the opportunity of this ride. Though, before we arrive I'd like to get some rest now." Pausing for a moment she added, a little bit annoyed. "In a room...a warm room." She didn't really care too much about the bed, sleeping on rock hard ground wasn't completely strange after all.
 
Yup, talentium did make philistines out of mages. Wynn was probably a bit indirect with her ideas, but at the same time…Alexa definitely wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Guards? Plural? Carrying talentium, when that vampire soulbinder never even used anything like that? The blue-haired woman yawned, as if tired of all this nonsense, before nodding at Ashe's explanation. Good to know that she had direct training from one of the fathers of runetech, even if there wasn't a proper workshop for her to do more complex things with. As the curly-haired brunette had said, they'd have to make do.

"Close," Wynn said, taking a quick glance at the other women in the wagon once more, "But not exactly. What we will be doing is this: bring danger to 'the rest of us', while the 'decoy' escapes. The decoy, Alexa, will then be able to get help from, say, Astopolian inquisitors or whatnot, and the runes that will be carved into her will facilitate that. Water breathing, invisibility, and tracking. How long will three of them take, Ashe?"

As she said that, the young woman flicked out the talentium needle once more, this time offering it to Ashe. "And this came from a place where they didn't search. Pretty easy to hide things if you don't mind some pain."

Wynn lifted the bottom end of her shirt upwards. Amongst the yellow-green bruises that were present was a faint, red mark. Like that of burnt flesh.
~~
"205 then, butler-girl. If you're going to relieve some stress with a bedroom romp, lock the door and clean it up afterwards."

With that, the captain smiled at the two participants. Looked like their vampire guest was still as sullen and withdrawn as she had been when she first showed up on deck, but that was a welcome change to the heated 'discussion' that Aresia was having with her a few moments past. For the time being, she'll leave her alone. Not like it's any of her business anyways, settling this quarrel between a monster-slayer and a man-eater.

The deck of cards she brought out was an older set, featuring faded artwork and worn edges. A few of them looked rather wrinkly, but overall, it gave less the impression of 'ragged' and more of 'well-loved'. As she dealt out the cards, the captain said rather lightly, "Well, got anything to bet with? Clothing? Money? Alcohol?"

After all, it wasn't Old Maid without something to lose.
 
Ashe grumbled. The plan was solid -- it was very likely for one of them to escape and bring help, than for all of them -- but wasn't this just basically their own plan while on the airship, before they had learned anything about their situation, and received help from this other miraculously abducted woman? Minus one of them, of course. Still, Ashe, in a moment of cooperation, decided not to mention that her plan still very much relied on the rabble-rousers they were, and instead muttered a reply.

"I would have had enough if you hadn't let me sleep the entirety of the night, but..." she did some quick calculations of time from past experience, "I'll be able to at least get one done, maybe two if we're lucky, but that's only if Alexa's in on it." She looked to the girl, awaiting a response which she quickly received. "Got it; tracking and perhaps invisibility, then?" Ashe had some confidence in her friend's skills, which was reflected in her choice of work.

Just as she had made her first incision, a hotness came over her; the blaring temples of a fever. Great. The third incision was met with an overwhelming headache, which she visibly struggled to overcome. The fourth, blaring hallucinations which had an obvious detriment to her work, a wide line where it obviously should not have been.

Wood,

Clouds,

A scythe...

The fire...

The last of the series stuck out at her as she exhaled, plumping back into her seat. "I-I can't do it..." The color was gone from her face. The last of the images was odd; an obvious memory from what were completely new images to her. Visions, perhaps, given the strange circumstance she had found herself in only days before. She repeated the loop to herself, to remember, just as much to share; it held some importance to her, that much was clear. "Wood, clouds, a scythe. Wood, clouds, a scythe..." It would only continue on if one of the girls interrupted her, but in that moment, she was almost in a trance like state as her body was overcome with the obvious workings of illness.
 
It had gotten to the point where it was simpler to just close his eyes, even if that didn't completely stop the vivid images. The burning in his veins seemed to ease, if only barely, with every step he moved forward which was a good sign. Eventually he felt his head hit something and he opened his eyes again. The room, his actual surroundings, were what came in brief glimpses now, but still enough for him to get a vague sense of where he was. As his eyes shut again, Araki reached for the door handle blindly and flicked it a few times, failing to open it in the end.

Aresia couldn't really find a real pattern behind the numbering of the doors, one would assume the first number tells you which 'floor' it would be, but no, instead, they just seemed to continually go from probably 1 to whatever the highest number was. In the end the maid-butler simply found a close number to 205 and started to make her way from there, and now, at 207, she was just about to reach her goal. "...?" Right, that was room 205, and for some weird reason the door was was having some sort of seizure. Yeah, right, the black hair didn't bother at first, but now she recalled that the annoying guy who tried to cool her off was also supposed to sleep inside this room. Giving off a small sigh Aresia shrugged with her shoulders, whatever, he probably wanted to sleep anyways just like her. Though, that did not explain the wild door. Not getting anywhere however, the fire maid did what every person who wanted to enter a room would do: She opened the friggin' door.

A door to the face was enough to floor Araki in his current condition. He couldn't even tell who was on the other side either, not that it was a concern of his anyways. With a grimace he sat up and shook his head for a moment before it became clear that he needed to put more distance from the room. With considerable effort and a few stumbles, he managed to stand and tried to brush his way past whoever had opened the door.

Well, that was apparently a thing? Giving the water guy a few confused looks the maid butler ultimately shrugged again, not like she really cared. Entering the room herself now the maid-butler actually managed to get surprised, just what the hell happened here? Was...that guy possessed or something?...That would be silly, even the mess wouldn't have been a problem if not for the fact for that kind-of hole inside the wall. It made the entire undertaking a lot more COLD. "Urgh..." Well, it was nothing that a top-tier maid like her could not fix! Even if she didn't have the right tools, she could always choose a makeshift solution... . One ripped out door later, a bit of Talentium powers there and some other damaged furniture over here and the opening towards the outside was fixed. Sure, it looked ugly as hell and all BUT at least it wasn't as windy anymore! Further using her power to quickly raise the room temperature some more it was finally time for the black-hair to now rest.

A few steps down the hallway and Araki slumped against and slid down the wall. Eyes shut to blissful darkness and when he slowly reopened them, he saw the hallway he sat in rather than a number of unknown landscapes or scenes. The sound of splintering wood caused him to turn his attention back towards the room as its door was ripped from its hinges. With little reason to care about why that had been done, he got back up on his feet and continued away from the room, trying to find the way back down to the lowest deck. Though his mind was no longer bombarded with strange sights, the fever still wracked his body and left him with little desire other than to curl up and fall asleep.
 
Alexa grunted in pain as the needle began to bite into her. Still, she didn't let it show on her face. Wynn's plan was workable, and all it required were these runes to be etched into her skin. Well, that and for the authorities to believe her story. Still, if she managed to make it to her family's lands, they had enough influence to get those in power to listen.

"I-I can't do it..." Ashe cut in suddenly, causing Alexa to glance up with alarm.

"Ashe, what in the world are you talking about?" She questioned, wondering what the hell would cause this crisis of confidence in her friend now. "Stop worrying about me, and just draw the runes. The same as you've done countless times before, back in Cykes." Alexa said, her eyes widening as Ashe showed symptoms of running a fever.

"Wood, clouds, a scythe. Wood, clouds, a scythe..." Ashe muttered to herself in a daze as Alexa caught Wynn's gaze.

"Wynn, do you have any idea what's wrong with her?" Alexa asked, looking over Ashe in concern as she stood still, unsure of whether or not to sit up if she was going to continue etching runes into her skin. "She's sick. Running a fever. Delirious, maybe?"
 
The captain's comment brought out a small smile from the stressed girl, and she relaxed just a bit now that the conversation had finally taken a more casual turn. Charlotte did from slightly at the captain's suggestion of bets though; her intent going into the game was to be casual and further take her mind off of stressful topics. Betting something on a game wouldn't really help facilitate such a thing if she was going to be worried about losing money and belongings, especially since nearly all the money she held wasn't hers.

"How about I owe you a meal whenever we're back in Dansila?"

Truly a cop-out offer, but it was not like she had a company's wealth to wager for anything.
 
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