RP:By Thine Own Hand

From HollowWiki

Part of the Through A Glass, Darkly Arc


Summary: (this entire RP is an ooc secret!) Cenril (Hudson, mayor Uma) meets with Larket (Macon) in neutral territory in the dead of the night to exchange a "package." That package is infamous rebel witch and condemned Larketian terrorist, Valrae Ivy Baines Older, who was resurrected illicitly by Cenril to repair is barrier. Macon grants Hudson's grisly request: to kill his ex mistress with his own hands. The body is buried in the woods, and the cities part on better terms. ...Thing part one: unbeknownst to Larket, the woman who died wasn't really Valrae -- she was a Larketian snitch illusioned to resemble her. Thing part two: unbeknownst to Cenril, Larket doesn't intend to publicly give up its 'hunt' for the red witch.


Boundary of Sage Forest

Hudson had arrived on the scene early with Uma Abelin, Cenril Mayor, who had taken pains to arrange this meeting with Larket to take place in neutral territory in the dead of night, writing to Macon that a trusted few should participate. Perhaps Larket does not roll that way, but on Cenril's side, this holds true. A few men are watching the four corners of the meeting place, but whether they are Cenril guards or independent contractors (Hudson's men) is far from clear. As noted, Hudson himself is on the scene, in a track suit, which is his official 'having a clandestine diplomatic meeting in the woods' outfit. He is animated at this time of night and talking with Uma, who has worn a dress and put on makeup and resents that men can simply just... attend important meetings in jogging outfits, unshaven, or whatever. Presently, she has crossed her arms against the chill and a certain anxiety that has taken hold of her. She feels more a pawn than ever, and keeps glancing toward a covered wagon parked against the cliff, its contents guarded by two more of her men.


Macon hasn’t had to travel too far outside of Larket for this meeting. Technically this location is on the border to his kingdom, though the mighty Vibrance River and its limited crossing options has made it so he and his entourage could not head directly here and some driving through Sage was needed. Speaking of those accompanying the king, a set of five Kingsguard (four knights and Wendell), arrive with him. A pair of the armored men stay with the carriage, while the remaining three stay with The Rage Knight as he comes into view of Uma, Hudson, and their crew. Macon is not lucky enough to be the kind of man that can arrive at one of these things in a tracksuit. Instead, as he often does when he must be the intimidating King of Larket, he is in the silvery Rage Armor, with his signature great axe in his right hand, held like a walking staff, with the Muzo-Crafted Rage Stone embedded in the center of its head. He looks past Hudson after a short nod to the gangster and addresses Uma. “Evenin’.” He matches one of her anxious looks towards the wagon where he suspects what he has come here for is, “Let’s see wha’ you ‘ave.”


As Macon approaches, Hudson and Uma straighten their postures and wrap up their conversation, which consists of good natured griping about how they literally cannot wait until summer camps start because their respective children are causing them to approach parental homicide levels. "Good evening," says Uma to Macon with a delicate cant of her head. "Evening," echoes Hudson, who makes a gesture to the men guarding the wagon that they interpret as a request to go extract its contents. They disappear therein and after a moment surface, carrying a gagged and bound woman who, apart from being in dire need of a wash and having two stumps wrapped in bloodied bandages where her hands should be, appears to be Valrae. She is not happy to be attending this meeting and writhes violently in their grasp. They hold her in front of the Larket envoy for examination and one of the men ungags her while the other holds her still. Her tongue has been cut out so she is only able to make loud, guttural sounds and gnash her teeth, which she does. Hudson clears his throat while she does this, forcibly restrained by the guards. "She was trying to do hexes and stuff," he explains to Macon, apologetically, aware that he is delivering a package in non-mint condition. He looks at 'Valrae' with pity, his forehead creasing, as if it pained him. She is not Valrae: she is the Larket mole that had been in the Cenrilian mayor office. But they've made her into Valrae. And now she can't speak or write, so she can't tell her truth. Uma draws breath uncomfortably, disturbed by the terrible accuracy of her and Valrae's own grim handiwork. "She did help raise the barrier for us," says Uma quickly, as if some defense needed to be made. 'Valrae' squeals angrily, her face beginning to purple with exertion. Hudson turns to face Macon, cracking his knuckles. He gestures that they move away from the group to speak man-to-man. He has a request, you see: "She's Larket's technically, but I'd like to put her down. We can do it right here and bury her after. ...It's personal."


Macon ’s own back straightens when ‘Valrae’ is revealed. The Rage Stone and King resonate, sending out an infuriating aura. Wendell looks on, calmly assessing the situation and feeling somewhat at ease now that the ‘package’ has been revealed and things seem in order. One of the knightly Kingsguard turns away, sickened by the sight of the mutilated ‘witch’, and pretends to survey the surroundings for ambushers or something. The remaining knight steps forward and seems the most affected by The Rage Stone. He is a Larketian father who’s daughter was affected by the curse on the kingdom’s children. He grits his teeth and lays a hand over the hilt of his sword, but makes no other move yet, anything more would surely earn the fury of The Rage Knight, and he knows it. Macon glares at the feebly crying captive while he steps aside with Hudson to hear him out. Obviously it is personal with Valrae for the king as well, but he’s also already killed her once. He will concede the second kill to someone else she has wronged. “Very well… But you will do it ‘ere, in front of all of us. No tricks.” He must specify this with these Cenrillians, they are the reason Valrae draws breath again in the first place after all...


Uma is pale-faced and avoiding looking at 'Valrae' as Hudson and Macon hold court. This is far grislier than she had imagined. This is not what she had signed up for. The 'witch' had been a snitch but she'd done her job (copy girl) with a smile. Uma feels guilt. This is just a bad scene, this colluding with despots to kill women in the forest in the middle of the night. Hudson isn't honestly sure whether Macon will accede to his request - it's Larket's kill, after all - but Hudson nods slowly, a soberness overtaking him, when to his surprise things play out the other way. "Uma, I need you to--" Hudson doesn't even get a chance to ask her to leave, she is walking briskly away to the edge of the clearing, hand covering her mouth. One of the guards follows her. Hudson, after gazing after the direction in which Uma had fled, looks once more to Macon. "Plausible deniability," says Hudson. He moves closer to Valrae, who is now crying, bleating like a sheep, and, now sensing that her death might be imminent, bucking against her handlers. This is strangeness: to have to kill a woman who is meant to be your former mistress. He almost did such a thing once, without the real deal, not the body stunt double. It feels too intimate to reenact in front of other people. Hudson is conscious of everyone watching him, believing that he is killing the real Valrae. She tries to kick him and he catches her foot. "Valrae, stop," he says to her, somewhere between disgust and tenderness. Her face is wet from tears. Seeing this, he looks pained. In truth he is feeling strangely emotional even though she isn't EVEN THE REAL VALRAE. She tries, and fails, to spit on him. "Don't make this hard," he asks of her, patiently. He circles around to the back of her, and goes into his pockets for his Cenril fishing wire. The men on either side of her restrain her as Hudson slips the wire around her neck. His face is locked in concentration, jaw tense as he pulls it taut, her arms flailing ineffectually at the line as it cuts into her skin. Her eyes bulge as she struggles, her body twitching violently in a final bid for survival. The moment seems to last an eternity, but eventually she is still and transfixed by death. The men release her and she falls over, blood pooling beneath her. Hudson leaves a streak of blood on his cheek when he wipes his face with his hand. Maybe he'd shed a tear but he doesn't look it now. He looks stonefaced and like he's unable to believe what he's done. "Check her pulse," he tells one of the men. He looks at Macon with sudden ferocity. There's a part of him that had enjoyed it, too. "Get digging," he tells some of the guards who are gawking.


Macon has no trouble watching this gruesome display. It is debatable to him whether Valrae’s first or second death was more painful. Larket had broken her bones, denied her sleep, and burned her alive. Cenril’s torture of this woman was more practical in both the given and the real reasoning behind it, and her actual end was at the least more visceral than the act of lighting a pyre. Macon maintains his stoney expression throughout the witch’s final moments and while one of his men, the angrier one, checks the pulse of the strangled woman, his fingers coming back bloody from where the wire had been pulled into the skin. He gives a nod while The Rage Knight meets Hudson’s glare. “I am glad we can be done with this… Again,” Macon says while the ‘digging’ is done almost completely by Wendell. The fat mage waves his hands in a mystical, flamboyant way, and the earth in front of him begins to churn and rise up from the ground, hovering in place for a moment, before it is cast lightly to the side, leaving a shallow, grave that is really more of a pit in this secluded part of the forest. “Who else knows about this?” The King asks, “I would like t’keep this from being common knowledge. If possible.” He wants to continue to use Valrae’s existence as a tool against the rest of the witches, to give Larket’s people no closure and allow their hatred to grow and fester. He’d also like to have, in his back pocket, the ability to accuse a future witch of being the resurrected Valrae to give himself carte blanche in Larket’s eyes for whatever punishment he sees fit for that hypothetical poor soul...


Hudson nods in response to Macon, feeling serene all of a sudden, as if he really had killed the real Valrae. He has the sensation of being outside of himself, watching his actions. He doesn't talk while the feeling lasts, though he wipes his hands on his tracksuit and waits until Wendell has dug the grave to toss the instrument of death - the fishing wire - down into it. Macon having addressed him, Hudson is forced to look away from these grim funeral proceedings to respond. "My wife, that's it," he answers, with a certain satisfaction, as he watches the limp body of the so-called Valrae be rolled into the grave. Men are raining dirt upon her. Soon she will be covered entirely. One of his men - for they are his men, not Uma's, can't trust the government, not really! - approaches in a jog. "The mayor's left for home. Should I stop her?" comes the news. "No, just make sure she gets home safe. There's things that go bump in the night out here," replies Hudson evenly, looking to Macon with mild amusement. Hudson pauses, feeling a smarting in his hands, to him it is the ghost of feeling from holding the wire taut. "I wouldn't let the Cenril papers publish that she was even resurrected," he elaborates. "There's a few who read the Larket papers, or may otherwise know - witches - but they're likely to assume that she fled." He looks at his hand and wipes it again on his tracksuit for good measure before holding it out to Macon. "Suits me, if it suits you."


Macon lets out a subdued growl at the news that Uma has left. This was her mess. As far as Macon was concerned, she is the reason behind the need for this meeting tonight, flying in the face of Hudson attempting to keep the peace between Cenril and The Hard City. He would have liked her to have stayed and personally seen that, in the end, The Rage Knight always gets what he wants. “Good,” he responds to the fact that besides those present, only Alvina knows that Valrae is dead again, and he can continue to weaponize Larket’s grudge against The Red Witch without fear. He understands that, for Uma and probably Hudson too, being in league with him is a bad look, so they are likely to keep this under wraps for that reason as well. With ‘Valrae’ dead a burried, Macon signals to his men that it is time to move out, and extends a hand to shake Hudson’s. “Thank you for this,” he says in his rough, Veratoakan accent, and it is clear he is sincere in his hatred for Valrae. So much that killing her is seen as a personal favor to him.


The men are tidying the grave site and readying the wagon to depart. Although Hudson knows that he has not killed Valrae, he indulges himself in some rather dark roleplaying that he did. "It needed to be done. Thank you," are his parting words to Macon. They are likewise, perversely, spoken sincerely.