RP:Finding Your Way
Summary: Dominic helps Blue (Shishi) find his way back to Vailkrin. Orange helps Dominic begin to figure out a mystery object in his possession, a runed stone with magical properties -- though the specifics are still largely unknown.
Runestone Riddles follows, though it takes place some weeks later.
Northern Sage Forest
Dominic was perched in one of the trees alongside the path, legs straddling either side of a branch and dangling toward the forest floor. He was absentmindedly playing with an ornate runed stone, tossing it back and forth from one hand to the other, spinning it in his fingers, or squeezing it and then releasing it. A soft glow emanated from the rock and cast him in a faint aquamarine light, the shadows flickering and dancing, fading and growing again. His attention was primarily fixed on the night sky above, though it occasionally wandered to the path below. All was silent but for some far-off crickets and and the occasional call of an owl. It was difficult but not impossible to make anything out by the starlight and moonlight alone; the sky wasn’t particularly clouded, but the leaves and branches above the path crowded together enough to obscure most of what was below.
Shishi strolls westward through the currently cursed forest. The assassin’s clothing is rather covered in dried blood and… bits of course fur. His pant legs are torn and shredded, exposing pale flesh below his knees and he is sporting some superficial cuts and bite marks on his legs and face, wherever skin is seen, really. Blue’s nose wrinkles as he looks around curiously at the signs of the decay that is slowly spreading and worsening throughout Sage. Though perhaps it is not the state of the flora that has him with such a sour puss on his face as half a conversation can be heard coming from the vampire, directed to the black bat clinging to his right arm just below the shoulder, “...Not lost, Black. Larket is…” he spins around in a full circle and blinks oceanic blue eyes twice, “...That way.” He says, while pointing in the opposite direction of the city in question, “So we go this way and we’re out of the forest and on our way home. Easy. No problem.” The eternally youthful man puts on a smug smile for his traveling companion and proceeds to walk in the wrong direction, either oblivious or apathetic to the occupant of the tree above him.
Dominic peered down at those passing below, then squinted up at the stars, tilting his head as if looking at a map sideways. The group of travelers had made their way under and just past his branch when he called out to them and shifted his position to look down at them more clearly. The stone was held at his arm’s length, flickering and then glowing a little more brightly -- but not by much. “Hoy. Larket’s north of Kelay, isn’t it?” He tumbled out of the tree, landing with a teeter and clearly favoring one leg, then pointed up at the sky as if that was all the evidence or explanation he needed to provide. “It’s the other way.” He was primarily addressing Shishi, though a glance was spared for the bat. What a curious pair.
Shishi blinks a few more times when Dominic calls down to him and eventually drops to the ground behind him. The vampire turns and tilts his head, about to give an answer of ‘Heck if I know.’ To the man’s question, but thankfully it turned out to be rhetorical. “Of course. See? I told you.” He says while casting a sideways glance to his right shoulder and Wakka. The bat makes a noise in protest and Blue shakes his arm in a futile attempt to free himself of the winged rodent’s grasp. “Thanks… uhh… Guy.” the bloodied assassin offers his gratitude to the stranger before pointing in another incorrect direction and starting to walk again, “So this must be the quickest way to Vailkrin. Home in no time.” He is hopelessly lost… how does he even get anywhere? One must wonder.
Dominic opened his mouth and then closed it again, expression puzzled, his raised arm going slack. He considered Blue’s retreating backside a moment in silence before cursing softly to himself and moving into a lightly limping jog until he caught up with them. From Blue’s right side now, Dominic murmured, “Uh… hey, I don’t think that’s right either. Do you--” he paused, emerald eyes briefly meeting blue ones before darting away, and trailed by an anxious half-smile. “I - I think I can get you there. If you want. I mean--” A sharp exhale, and the next words all come out in a rush: “Only been there once, but I have a pretty good knack for directions, and you seem like maybe you could use the help, a-and--” He extended a faintly quivering hand out to the stranger. “Dominic. Sorry, I really should start with that.”
Shishi slows his pace when Dominic chases him down and after only three or four extra steps comes to a complete stop. Azure eyes squint at the man offering to guide him. Wakka is mocking the assassin he clings to in a silent way that only Blue can make out and the squint turns to a scowl that might be misconstrued as being sent the limping guy’s way. After a moment of silent contemplation with an unsavory look on his bitten up face Shishi obliges in the handshake with his gritty, sticky, fermin blood-caked hand. One firm rise and fall is all that is allowed before contact is broken while the vampire repeats, “Dominic…” before accepting the offer, “Sure… Lead the way then… And please call me Blue.” the colorful nickname is given in lieu of the real thing. “What the heck is that thing anyway?” Shishi asks of the glowing stone in the new guide’s hand while they start on the correct path.
Dominic shrank back a bit at the scowl, but stood his ground long enough for it to fade. And he hadn’t been very mindful of Blue’s rather grimy state before, but he sure as frell noticed it in that awkward pause and the moment when their hands touched. He tried to turn his automatic grimace into something a little more like a polite grin, with… questionable success. Shishi’s given nickname was met with a nod as he subtly tried to brush his hand off on his trousers. They were dark enough to hide the stain for a time, at least. Not that the mark wasn’t joining a dozen others anyway, and not that they were heading anywhere where it would likely matter. To the question, Dominic held up the stone further, the light bouncing dimly off the ailing trees. “Er, y’know, I don’t actually know. Gifted from some fellow shortly after I got here.” He neglected to mention the circumstances of this ‘gift’, nor what, specifically, he meant by ‘here’. “Never explained to me quite how it worked. I’m still figuring out the details. S-seems like it might be useful for quite a few things but…” Dominic shrugged, falling silent and eyes scanning ahead. His demeanor was less nervous than before, but still a tad uneasy.
Knee high stone wall
Shishi ignores the poor attempt at transforming the look of disgust into something meant to reassure the vampire that he wasn’t totally grossing his guide out. What’s a little nasty, dried, plague infested rat’s blood between two people who have barely just met? As they walk and Blue examines the glowing stone being shown off and ‘explained’ the bat on his arm finally pushes off of the assassin and drops a few feet in the air before wild flaps of its wings have it rising into the air, just below where the branches of the trees are numerous enough to make navigating the skies a chore. “Looks like magic to me.” The assassin says from well below Wakka, “Maybe you could use it to cram some extra magic into somebody who’s unconscious. That’s what I did.” What the hell is he talking about? It is probably complete nonsense to Dominic and the nuisance of a black bat suggests that to be the case with another set of annoying noises sent down to the pair that only the vampire should be able to decipher, “Well what else is he supposed to use it for!? A flashlight?” The bat questions the meaning of that anachronism and Blue simply shrugs up at the creature, “I don’t know…” and puffs out his cheeks in a sulking expression.
Dominic‘s gaze flitted, quizzical, from the bat to Blue and back as he listened to the relatively intelligible half of this conversation. He was silent for the whole exchange, though his countenance had transformed over the course of it into some indecipherable mix of things. His brows seemed to be furrowed and yet raised at the same time, and his mouth hung just slightly agape as his eyes lingered on the bat overhead. It’s only when the dialogue seems to have completed that he finally recovers to a more baseline, somewhat guarded expression. “Magic, yes, for sure,” he replies, choosing to only address Blue’s earliest words. “S-saw it used as a weapon, or at any rate it seems to enhance magical abilities -- though I’m not sure yet if there’s a certain type it works for or if it just makes magic stronger in general. It would help if I could read the runes on it, but…” he sighs, “I can’t. So far, light is about all I can get it to cooperate with me on. And even that I figured out by accident.”
Shishi shrugs again, this time to Dominic, “I don’t know anything about magic.” This was the truth, but if anyone were to see him fighting they might not believe the man who appears to manipulate shadows into doing his bidding and carries no weapons but for a single wooden wand. “...Definitely couldn’t even get light out of that thing ever.” He walks on the tips of his toes for a few steps and raises his eyebrows as he tries to steal a better look at the stone from a higher angle, “And runes? No chance… Orange maybe could read them…” he muses aloud using another colorful nickname, this time the one for his daughter, without clarifying who or what he is talking about. “She should be out in Vailkrin. Maybe we’ll catch ’er when we get out there and have her take a look… if you want.” The last bit is added with a cautious glance at Dominic to make sure he wasn’t being too forward, or at least trying to put on the mask of someone who was nervous enough to care that they were being too forward…
“Uhhhhhh,” said Dominic, sounding a bit like the suggestion may have broken his brain. His earlier statement of having been to Vailkrin was a bit of a half-truth, given that he was more of a passenger in his own body at the time. And the air and the look of the place was unsettling enough that he’d only wanted to take this fellow to the outskirts of Vailkrin, not... “-in- Vailkrin?” -- The question came out as almost a squeak. He tried to cover it up with a cough, as if it had just been a random voice crack and not due to unease, before continuing at a more normal pitch: “Er, sure, y-yeah, if you think she can help. It’s not too much farther.” Maybe he’d be able to handle the place better the second time. A rumbling in the back of his mind laughed at him for the thought, though. “S’not funny,” he muttered under his breath, his audience outwardly unclear.
Shishi blinks once at the crack in the man's voice that suggests Dominic has some beef with the idea of stepping foot in what has become Blue's family's home town. "Aye." he nods once, adding, "The Dead City." to try and pull another reaction from his traveling companion. The vampire steps to the side slightly, putting an extra couple of feet between himself and he guide. The purpose of the out of the way movement seemingly just so he could step onto a dead, fallen tree branch and hear a satisfying snap when his weight causes it to give way. The assassin has been known to have his own fair share of ‘conversations with thin air’ as already seen in his banter with the bat fluttering above their heads, so it is only after Dominic’s muttering that Shishi offers an empathetic out to him, “Of course you don’t -need- to take us any further than the city limits. Who knows if she can help? She’s just a kid. You know?” That last ‘question’ is served up alongside a fang-exposing smirk as they continue on towards the City of Eternal Night.
Dominic only gave a nervous chuckle as a response to Blue’s first words, then visibly jolted at the cracking of the tree limb under the other’s foot. Wide eyes took in Blue’s grin -- the fangs most definitely noted, though he said nothing -- and then focused on the glowing rune stone and the way ahead. In the next few seconds of silence he adjusted the pace of his breathing; it was deeper and slower now, methodically controlled to combat the anxiety no doubt swelling in his chest. He cleared his throat before finally speaking again, his voice low and quiet and his tone formal: “Just a kid… but it’s still worth a try. Thank you for offering. We’ll make this work.” Faintly now, beyond a break in the trees, the road from Kelay to Cenril and Vailkrin could be made out.
Shishi isn’t fully satisfied with the reaction his actions, and fangs, manage to get from Dominic, but then again he’s not really sure what he was expecting. The assassin continues on, repeating the childish effort of snapping felled branches as he walked until the forest gives way to road and finally Vailkrin can be glimpsed. “There she is.” He smiles again, though not enough this time to show off the extended canines on the vampire. The female pronoun used is meant for The Dark City as, of course, Orange is nowhere to be seen just yet. Although Blue switches subjects back to the girl while eying the glowing stone again, “Aye. At the very least I think she’ll be interested in seeing it even if she can’t read the runes. She likes that kind of thing. Probably.” He hedges his statement with that last word and another shrug as they’re practically at their destination now.
Portal of Darkness
Dominic still flinched a bit at the snapping of branches, but otherwise seemed more concerned with his own thoughts than anything. Blue’s words passed through him only half-heard as he stared at the city looming ahead. He dropped the rune stone into a pocket and then clenched and unclenched his hands; his breathing became dysregulated and his heart thumped wildly against his ribcage. And as they moved closer, arriving rapidly to the threshold of the gate into the city, his steps slowed to a halt. A sentinel eyed him sidelong. Dominic took a deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut… and then marched several steps into the city. His body flickered and distorted as he trudged forward, his form looking briefly like the surface of a pond during an earthquake -- and then he spun back around, cracking an eye open to stare at the gate from the other side, and the strange instability was gone. Opening the other eye and relaxing his posture now, he finally realized he’d become totally oblivious to Blue’s position in the last few seconds. Whoops.
Shishi sends a sarcastic looking wink towards the sentry standing guard at the Dark Portal into Vailkrin while Dominic is the first of the pair to step through into the Night Town. Once the man is through Blue wastes no time in walking into the rippling magical entrance, having done it countless times before there is zero hesitation in his gait, moving through the portal as if it weren’t there at all. Once inside the city the roles of the duo are reversed and now it is the vampire that needs to lead the way if they are to go see The Orange Witch. It is a relatively straightforward trip down Vailkrin’s (currently repaired, but not for long) main road that sees them pass by the entrance to the Dark Forest, The Famous Hanging Corpse and stopping just before the landmark of The Blood Fountain. This is all assuming Dominic is still following him and hasn’t chickened out now that he is inside the Undead City. To the left stands The Thorne Estate, their final destination assuming Orange is inside. The garden leading up to the the front doors is still all torn up from one of Vailkrin’s most recent man-made disasters and wooden scaffolding is in place at the face of the mansion, repairs in the works on the damaged home.
Dominic twisted around and finally spotted Blue again heading a few steps down the road. Phew, it seemed like he’d missed spotting anything in the seconds after he’d passed through the portal. He trotted after the vampire, falling into place beside him and silently hugging his arms to his chest until they halted before a large home. It... looked like it had perhaps seen better days. “So... this is the place?” Dominic asked, staring warily at their surroundings and then peering up at the house with a squint.
The Thorne Estate
Shishi nods once as he leads Dominic through the wreckage of the garden and to the front doors of the mansion, “Aye” The pair stands beneath some of the scaffolding being used for the repairs on the home left to Blue’s family. The doors open to the foyer and the colorfully named young girl that they seek along with the smell of a relatively recently made supper… Is it sausages? Leralynn is sprawled out sideways on a large armchair with her legs dangling over the edge of one arm and blonde hair doing the same at the other. She holds an old-looking book in one hand at the spine with her thumb at the bottom center of the inside of the tome small enough to be held by the twelve year old in this manner. Shishi’s daughter’s head turns away from the pages and shoots an oceanic blue stare that matches her father’s at the two arrivals to her home. “Ey, Blue. And…?” She greets them while sending the unknown man an inquizitive look. “Dominic.” The vampire gives the name of his guide before asking, “Your brother home?” To which he receives the answer of a nod of the head and, “Aye. Eating dinner.” Rather than stand in the threshold any longer the assassin steps further into the home and beckons the other man to do the same, “This guy’s got a glowing rock you might want to take a look at. Might be something like what you used on Green?” His tone of voice rises at the end to show he is completely unsure of what exactly Dominic has brought into the manse with that stone.
Dominic || “Uh, hi.” Dominic gives the girl a weak smile, steps forward, and rummages in his trouser pockets a moment. He pulls out an apple and what looks like a worn letter before finding the rune stone again and dumping the other things back into the depths. It’s stopped glowing for now, and in the light it’s more clear that it has several faces, each carved with the deep lines that make up the runes. The color is irregular swirls of turquoise, sea green, and a deep blue. Dominic holds the rock out to the girl in case she wants to take it and examine it more closely. “I honestly can’t tell you much about it,” he says, apologetically. “I don’t even know what realm it’s from for sure. Pulled it off a boat that went all over. Cenril... Rynvale... Catal…” he shrugs. “S-so pretty much anything you can figure out from looking at it is more than I know now. All I can get it to do is glow but I’m pretty sure it’s got some magic enhancing properties as well, of some type. I, uh, have a hunch.”
Shishi ’s little mimic swings her body around into a normal sitting position, snaps shut the book in her hand, hops out of the seat, and drops the text behind her on the armchair. The girl holds out her hand, palm facing upward for the stone to be dropped into. Blonde hair is brushed out of the way of her eyes with her free hand as she turns the magical object over in her hands, examining all sides of it and trying to decipher the runes. “I can’t really tell where it’s from…” She admits first. Shishi has wandered to one of the exits of the foyer and can be seen poking his head through it into the kitchen where he must spot Yellow because he sends a wave into the room and receives back a “Hey Blue.” spoken through a mouthful of food. After more careful inspection Orange points out a pair of runes on one of the faces of the stone, “This one and this one I think are…” she trails off thinking maybe a demonstration would be more fun. Her fingers close around the item and with it in her grasp she extends her index finger towards the ceiling. From the tip of that finger sparks a bright light followed by the ignition of a flame. Where usually this trick produces a flickering fire akin to that on a small candle, this time with the help of the stone’s enhancement the fire shoots up from her digit several feet, in a long line, nearly reaching the high ceiling of the welcoming room, “Elemental magic.” She says while her eyes widen at how close she came to igniting the estate. “Was that the hunch?” The girl asks sweetly.
Dominic jumps a solid two feet back at the sudden flame, his eyes so wide they briefly look like they might take over his entire face. Twitchy, that one. His eyes follow the flame straight up to the ceiling; as it dissipates, he swallows hard and then relaxes his pose, stepping forward again and then kneeling closer to the girl and the stone, issuing a nervous, dry laugh. “Heh. Uh, y-yeah, close enough anyway.” He stares at the stone, brows furrowed and gaze suspicious. “Any other thoughts? It’s not… dangerous if I keep it, is it?” This is said in almost a whisper.
Shishi ’s daughter grins brightly at the reaction she has elicited from the man. With him kneeling the pair are more or less at eye level with each other, likely staring down the stone at the same time. Orange turns the magically charged object in her hands a few times, contemplating to herself if she thought the thing was dangerous or not. “Hmm… We have something like this thing in the house that is probably more dangerous. Right, Blue? That red ball from the Dead Guy?” She looks her father’s way and receives a nod from the vampire who dismissively agrees, “Aye.” taking her word for it. “It does feel a little weird to use though…” she hesitates to say more while offering the stone back to Dominic, “Maybe don’t use it all the time in case it tries to eat you or something… Oh! And if it cracks or anything you should throw it in the garbage because it will probably explode in your hand if you use it like that.” The idea of the rock devouring the man is glossed over so cleanly by the young lady that one wouldn’t fault the man for not taking the speculative warning to heart.
Dominic tries not to visualize the girl’s warnings of explosions and getting eaten too vividly. He throws a half-smile at the girl and issues a soft, “Huh. Well, ah... thank you, Orange. That’s a start. And at least I know it’s… probably not a disaster waiting to happen. I-it seemed tame enough, but without being able to read anything on it...” A beat. “Anyway. May I...?” He holds a hand out to take the stone back, gaze drifting back to Blue. To him, he asks, “You’re related, I take it?” It had never quite been clarified, but the eyes were a bit of a giveaway.
Shishi ’s Orange Witch nods and drops the arcane item into Dominic’s hand, “You're welcome, Mr. Dominic. There are a few more runes on there that I don't know... If you are ever able to figure them out please bring it back here and show me?” The girl smiles again with a tilt of her flaxen head, hoping that sweet grin is enough to coax a promise to return with more information on the stone from the man. It should be noted that the girl is clearly a living, breathing human, perhaps a bit of elven lineage is hinted at as well. Something a vampire should not have been able to father, but here she is. Leralynn follows the kneeling man’s gaze with her own towards the so called Blue Demon. The assassin nods, approaching the pair again, satisfied with his glimpse of Yellow and his dinner, “Aye. My daughter.” This is said while his hand falls atop the girl’s head and ruffles her hair affectionately and receives a swat from the little mimic in protest.
Dominic rises to a standing position, dropping the stone back into a pocket. He knows very little of vampirism and even less of how it might affect fertility, but the few stories he’s overheard… well, Vailkrin itself would fit in just fine, but Blue himself simply doesn’t seem like he’d belong in any of them, much less if he has a family. By first impressions, he’s seemed... harmless. The girl... not a threat. And some other child in the distance. Even Brand, a normally distrustful grumbling in the back of his mind, hasn’t seen anything to be too bothered by. Dominic considers all this with a drawn-out sigh, his eyes shifting back and forth from Blue to Orange. “...Yeah, I will. Thanks again,” he says finally, to the girl. “But I should probably get going,” he adds, this more to Blue. “If you ever lose your way again, you can use the stars as a guide. Memorize the patterns when you look up and you can use them to tell which direction you’re facing, and if you’re very far off from your destination and know which stars lie overhead there you can use those to navigate as well.” This is the most confident in anything he’s sounded since they met. “You spend a lot of time on the sea, that’s the only map you get.” A nod, and he turns and starts towards the doorway out, hands clasped behind his back.
Shishi nods to himself a few times at Dominic’s suggestion that he learn to use the stars as his guide. Of course The Blue Demon probably thinks his memory too dull to memorize a star map just by staring up at the sky, but he still politely waves to the exiting man and promises, “Aye. I’ll be sure to try that. Nothing else has worked for me so far after all.” The seafaring man is tailed to the door and is given parting advice from the local resident, “Be sure to keep an eye out for the spiders on your way past the Forest. Alright? They try to -get- tourists.” A fanged smile tries to pass that off as a joke… but the spiders are very real.
Dominic halts briefly and looks back over at the following vampire. Jokes tend to fall somewhat flat on him, and given how skittish he’s already proven himself to be, this seems like the kind of thing that -should- give him a nervous jolt again. But instead, he replies with a very serious, “What size spiders are we talking about, exactly?” His countenance has turned dark, his voice comes out rough, and he suddenly seems quite unlike the Dominic he’s seemed to be up to this point.
Shishi said to Dominic, "Massive. Some of them bigger than Orange. I swear I saw one bigger than me once... but that may have been a dream."
Dominic raises an eyebrow and simultaneously squints. “Right. Thanks for the warning. I’ll be sure to toast anything that comes near with more eyeballs and legs than body, no questions asked.” He glances back at Orange one more time and then steps out the door.