RP:All That I'm Living For

From HollowWiki

Summary: The night before the possible attack by Kahran's forces, Khitti's visited by a ghost from her past.

The Tranquility, Chartsend Docks

It is the calm before the storm, and all anyone can do is wait. Tomorrow, they’ll learn if Kahran’s attacks can be predicted. If so, it will be a single piece of positive news riding against the wave of flotsam the being has brought to the realm. But tonight, the city of Chartsend sleeps, and most of the Tranquility’s crew sleeps with her… most, but not all. Up in the crow’s nest, Dozla sits on first watch, armed against the chill with fire and a blanket. Onyx sharpens weapons and takes inventory of the armor down on the lowest deck. And Brand stands in the library, staring out its picture window half above and half below the moonlit sea, nursing a flagon of mead Sundance has insisted will help him dream sweetly. Brand is not so convinced -- no other more conventional remedy has yet done the trick -- but he’s quickly running out of options, and tomorrow’s events demand a good night’s rest.

Khitti had long since gone to sleep, though perhaps not quite as quickly as she wanted to--Brand’s insomnia, and lack of being in the room with her, made things rather difficult sometimes. As she slept, the room grew cold and she took to shivering beneath the heavy blankets, but it didn’t help as ice crystals began to form along the walls. For once, this wasn’t Khitti’s doing. Nor was it Facilier’s. No, it belonged to the ghost of her mother, that now hovered over her beside the bed. The matron of the von Schreier clan was, to put it nicely, not pleased. Her daughter had betrayed them, sacrificed her sister for this cure, and now was allowing her deal with Vakmathras to remain by keeping the child that grew inside her. There was no visible signs of pregnancy just yet, but it didn’t matter. The spectral form of Magda von Schreier, a dark haired woman with the same olive-green eyes as Khitti and Lydia, could only stare at Khitti in contempt, but didn’t linger there long. The hair on the back of Khitti’s neck rose as her mother sought to touch Khitti’s abdomen, and perhaps even extinguish whatever life force the baby currently held, if any at all, and served as a wake-up call for Khitti herself. The presence of a ghost caused her let out an initial scream, and scramble out the other side of the bed with very little grace and poise, her body hitting the wooden boards below in an odd, and painful, position. But, then she saw who it was and she was left to watch her mother in return, her mind racing with things she might do, but didn’t try any of them.

Onyx makes it to the scene first, and even as they’re opening the door a translucent barrier is erected between mother and daughter. Despite the haste in which they have arrived, they stand before Khitti as unshakable as ever. The undead places themselves between Khitti and the shield, a hand waiting to help her to her feet. “Are you injured from the fall? She cannot hurt you, only startle.” Onyx peers over a shoulder to the ghost beyond; their statement is as much meant for her as it is Khitti.

Brand knows the ship’s layout well. The Captain’s quarters are directly above, as are the rooms of the First and Second Mates and the Situation Room. Brand also knows where all those under his command are meant to be at the moment, so when the thud sounds overhead he fears the worst. Out and around the corner and up the ladder and back down the hall he goes, though even just the one flagon’s given him landlubber legs. Gorram, either Sundance gave him really strong mead or Brand is losing his tolerance. Surely the former. He leans against the doorframe shortly after his arrival, and even this short jog has him gasping for breath. That, too, he blames on the alcohol. His eyes are swimming in it, unable to keep a steady gaze, but he can see what’s happened clearly enough. “Seven -frakkin’- hells, peach.”

Khitti’s mother growled as the barrier went up between her and Khitti, allowing Onyx to aid the former vampiress. “I-I’m fine.” Well, no. Not really. Physically maybe, but she looked damn close to another crying spell. “I didn’t do this.” That was a lie, technically.

“Liar! Betrayer!” Magda’s words hissed out, her appearance altogether shifting into something more frightening, something more along the lines of a banshee and less like you’re every day normal ghost. It was obvious she was definitely the malevolent sort. “You’ve forsaken your entire bloodline… and for what?! Happiness?! Love?!” Her verbal attacks dripped with venom and what had been green eyes were now red and ever fixed on Khitti, “You even sacrificed your sister and forced her into the darkness!” Spectral fists attempted to bang against the barrier, trying to break through it, “I’m going to kill you. We’re going to kill you. You’re going to wish you’d stayed dead, Khatja.”

“That’s quite enough from you today.” The barrier draws nearer. Onyx moves with it as the ghost is boxed in, a cube of glowing walls made smaller and smaller until Magda’s presence is no more. Out winks the barrier like a popped soap bubble, and Onyx turns glaring eyes to the Captain. “I warned you, didn’t I? You could have ended this before it began. It was -your- responsibility. No child means no curse, and no curse would mean no ghosts. Maintain all the foolish optimism you’d like, but I cannot keep them away forever.” Khitti doesn’t escape the undead’s ire, either. “You could -still- end it, if you wanted to. But I know that you will not. And here I’ll be, cleaning up the mess you’ve made.”

Brand actually looks the faintest bit sheepish. Or maybe it’s the drink. If he still dreams foul things tonight, Brand thinks, he’s -really- going to have to chew out Sundance for not warning him of the alcohol’s potency. “But, the tea… dunno why it didn’t work. It -should’ve- worked. But, still...” Brand pulls Khitti into his arms, resting both hands on her middle with arms wrapped around from behind. It’s as much a gesture of protection as an effort to steady himself. “If you don’t agree with it, no one’s tellin’ you you have to stay. I value you as first mate and as a friend, but I’ll not have you doubtin’ everything to do with her. You didn’t like her from the start, did you? Got a thing against dark magicks? You’re gonna have to decide what’s worse, her or the stuff out there. Kahran, Facilier.” A line drawn in the sand. “There’s worse out there than folks wantin’ to carve out something good in this world.”

Khitti reached out towards the disappearing form of her mother, but went no farther as Brand held her, “Momma…” She frowned, her sadness obvious though it soon shifted to irritation as Onyx berated both her and Brand. “That option has already been discussed and ruled out. I never asked for your help. I’m not asking for it now.” Brand’s own thoughts on the matter brought her back to that day when she told Brand about the ingredients to the cure--the day Onyx almost tried to kill her, just because she used her magic. “I thought things were different between the two of us now, but… I guess not. I guess it was inevitable, even if I wasn’t pregnant. You hate necromancers of any sort, even the ones that try everything in their power to be good. I’m sorry if none of this seems logical to you.” Khitti managed a faint, bittersweet laugh, “Bradyn didn’t get it either when I told him about the cure. This is what happens when you’re undead for so long. You lose your humanity--and this is why I couldn’t stay what I was.”

Khitti was tired and it showed, the adrenaline rush from the interaction with her mother having faded now. She pushed her way out of Brand’s hold, crossing to the other side of the room to grab her long sweater; despite the fact that her mother was gone now, the chill still lingered. “I had prepared myself to get rid of it. Do you know how long I thought about it, in that time before Brand woke up after I had my memory back? When I was back--the real me--I wasn’t really sure if he’d stay or not, let alone want to have anything to do with this kid. I’d thought about ways to do it myself or places to go to. After all the things I’ve done, don’t you think I thought about all of this? But--” She paused and shrugged, “I’m not that person anymore. This kid’s going to live regardless of who stays and who goes and I’m going to figure out this curse one way or another and I at least have a place to start.”

Onyx stood their ground. “This has nothing to do with ‘humanity’ or lack thereof. Ethics in this case is a simple calculation, lives aided versus lives hurt or lost. The judgement does not come out in your favor. But I suppose if you understood that, you would not be facing this predicament to begin with.” But Onyx’s response wasn’t going to convince anyone, and they seemed to know it. They turned on a heel for the door. Brand stirred into action, following out into the hall, calling, “are you really leavin’, then?” to which Onyx’s answer was a simple, “No. My place is still here, for now.”

Khitti rolled her eyes at Onyx in typical Khitti fashion. “Great. Wonderful. Just when I thought things were going well between them and I. The only thing they’re going to do is tell me how stupid I am for the next 8 months and throw it in my face if I end up needing their help with something--and then probably continue to do that even -after- the kid is born.” She probably wasn’t wrong about this unfortunately. The redhead sighed heavily, pulled Brand back into the bedroom, and shut the door. “You need to sleep. You can barely stand.” She made no mention of the ghost of her mother and the problem that was steadily growing worse. What was the point? There was nothing she could do about it right now.

Brand was ready to at least attempt sleep, but not before he asked the obvious question: “Are you all right? She didn’t do anything to you? Maybe she can’t. Onyx seemed to think so, but I dunno if they meant in general or because of the barrier they put up...”

Khitti gave only short answers, ones that were hopefully enough to sate his worries. “I’m fine. No, but she was close. I don’t really give a damn what Onyx thinks right now.” She wasn’t fine though, and if Brand were a little more coherent, he’d probably realize that. But, she wasn’t going to talk about it anymore right now. There wasn’t any need. Things had been handled and was over and done with. For now.