RP:In the Den of the Two-Walker
Part of the A Skull by Any Other Name Arc
The Labyrinth
Skylei follows after Senka and sticks her head into the room and is amazed at what she sees. After the horrors they had faced, Sky was expecting something horrible. A cave perhaps, with walls that pressed down on them and forced her to face her claustrophobic nature or maybe rotting bodies that smelled like the spider's lair that the two had 'accidentally' (the accident had been on Sky's behalf only) stumbled upon. Sky is pleasantly surprised. What rolls out before her is greenery, tall trees, springs, flowers and fauna. It is a beautifully perfect replica of the Sage. The place that Sky had, until the invasion of the drow, been able to call home. It was here that Sky had spent her youthful years, here that she had stayed within the bosom of her family and here that she had lived some of her happiest years of her life. As she walks into the entrancing setup, it morphs and changes. Greenery becomes stone as the Labyrinth buries past Sky's surface desires and deeper into her psyche. Instead of the forest, the half-elf and lycan are stood in a library. Stone steps lead them upwards into the higher chambers of the library whist books spread out all around on high-walled cases and shelves. The place is stocked better than any library Sky has ever seen; likely better than any library that truly exists. Most of the books that line the room have fallen out of existence; some are yet to be written. For a scholar, it is heaven. This is Skylei's nirvana. Deep in Skylei's consciousness, the desire to fill herself with knowledge rouses. Knowledge is power. And for a girl born into the cruel purist world of elves, with ears that weren't pointed enough, power is a constant desire. The ability to turn around and show those who had passed judgement on her blood that she was worth more, knows more than they could have ever imagined… Skylei is enraptured by the surroundings. The door shuts behind them. Skylei doesn't even notice.
Senka inhales and takes her time exhaling. Forest….her habitat. Although it's a little too cheerful for her tastes, a little too bright. The white wolf has always done better in fog invested, dark, places but after the sway of the ship and the horrors of that faceless room, a forest is a welcome change. Naturally it has to disappear on her. Skylei follows Senka into the room and as they wander deeper it turns into stone, man-made, towering above her even higher as a mountain. Predictably her lip curls before she sneezes, the scent of books and dust upsetting her sensitive nose that still longs for the lure of blood. The door shuts and the albino jumps, looking back from where they've come from but no matter how she squints she can't see Lottie following them. Left back in the place that was her mind. Satisfied, but highly on her guard, the lycan turns back to the two-walker den Sky lured her back in. "What is it?" her tone is cautious and already promising aggression, it's easy to imagine her wolfess head with the tone, ears pressed tightly against her neck and her back hunching at the sight of all these strange things. Curiosity wins, as it always does, and impulsively pale fingers stretch out to poke at a book on a shelf near to the wolf…only to have it fall to the floor with a clatter loud enough to have the woman leaping back. Immediately her lip curls along with her fingers as wild eyes search for danger and find…none. A little defeated, the woman sinks to her haunches so she can curiously turn the fallen book over. There are…marks…marks on…on…She doesn't know the word for the two-walker creation. It's probably as useless as those 'fork' things, anyway.
Skylei rolls her eyes as she realises the extent of Senka's bestial nature. Money, clothes and now even books? Senka knows nothing of the world that Sky inhabits, just as Sky is clueless to the world of the pack and the hunt. "We're in a library. Possibly the greatest library I have ever seen." Senka wouldn't realise the significance of this place to the half-elf. Hell, does Senka even know what Skylei does? Or is she merely a disposable two-walker who can help on the hunt? Someone who will 'do'? If Sky had to hazard a guess she would go for the latter. Then she knocks a book onto the floor. Skylei rolls her eyes as if Senka is the stupidest creature to have ever graced the planet. She takes a few steps backwards towards the lycan and snatches the book from her grasp. Eyes quickly scan the cover. It's a book that Skylei has longed to read for years; a lost volume of dwarven runic translations into the common tongue. Such things do not exist in Skylei and Senka's time. The half-elf's eyes open wide and she turns to the lycan with mouth wide open. "Do you realise what this is and what this means?" Of course she doesn't. Sky tucks the book under her arm and makes for the spiralling stone staircase and she beckons for the lycan to follow her. "Come on, I want to see what's upstairs! If it's anything like down here…" Skylei's eyes are literally sparking as she tries to persuade the creature to follow her further into the two-walker’s den of knowledge.
Senka has her back to Sky and misses her rolling eyes which, truthfully, is probably for the best. The beast is wrong footed enough as it is, and like always it makes her prickly and moody. Moving in a two-walker world is…awkward. It's filled with rules she doesn't know and things they've created for needs she doesn't have. Sky snatches the book from her grasp and the wolf immediately frowns, feeling insulted even if she isn't quite sure why she ought to be. "No, I don't know," Senka snaps, rather like a moody teenager even as she slowly rises from her crouch. Like a mother following an over excited toddler, the albino finds herself catching up to Sky despite her reservations. "This is all…two-walker things. I make sure to stay away from…" She trails off as they reach the stairs, eying it doubtfully. She's been up stairs before but they were wooden and to see stone cut into neat squares is…Well, for a creature like her, seeing what two-walkers are capable of is never soothing. Should Sky bounce up those stairs, Senka will follow her but she'll drag her feet every step of the way.
Skylei makes for the stairs. With bounding steps, akin to those of an excitable child on its birthday, Skylei takes the staircase jumping up two steps with one bounding stride. She would pause briefly, about halfway up the stone-carved steps, to ensure that the lycan is following her before completing the ascent with an excitable grin spanning her face. It is as though the half-elf has forgotten the horrors that the two have previously faced, so enraptured is she by the walls of books and the lure of knowledge. Adjusting the book under her arm, Sky's eyes scan the landing onto which they have stepped. A wide, circular space spans out before them. To the left and the right stand two closed doors, not dissimilar to the ones that they had entered into the room through. Standing between the doors is a curved veiled screen. It flows and shimmers as though it is made of water and looking through it provides a sight of more books; it's just another extension of the library. Above the strange veiled door are words carved into the stone, they're written in elven rather than common and Sky reads them with a smirk. She waits before the three pathways until the lycan joins her. With a finger she gestures to the words carved into the stone, "So, do you feel worthy?" That's the only hint she gives Senka as to what the words might read before she steps towards the shimmering veil and reaches a hand out as though she is going to put it through. Then she shrugs and takes a step forward disappearing into the world behind the portal.
Senka follows with obvious reluctance. Close to pouting, the albino forces herself higher and higher up those stairs towards what must be her ultimate doom. In a way, the lycan looks more scared than she did when faceless people were reaching for her. Everything reeks of two-walker, everything looks like two-walker, everything -feels- like two-walker and it's putting her hackles right up. If only she had her fangs. But no, no fangs for the wolf, merely more and more of the same things she doesn't know the name of. Deeper they go in this two-walker forest and Sky is leading the way like a child on sugar. It reminds her oddly of nights drinking with Tenebrae and rather than comfort her, it has Senka pinching her nose and uttering a defeated sigh. She never signed up for this… "Worthy?" She looks up, frowning, only now realizing she's followed the half-elf blindly and now she doesn't even know the way back. Unsure, she looks over her shoulder before she's forced to look back as Sky steps into a shimmering wall and disappears. Great. Not even a two-walker to guide her, now, and quite suddenly the woman feels as small as she is. A few more Rynvale curses are uttered as the albino shifts her weight between her feet, eying that shimmering doorway with the instinctive distrust of an animal. Then, finally, she snarls and gives up. Closing her eyes and scrunching her nose, Senka looks not unlike someone stepping into a cold shower as she forces herself to follow Sky through the portal.
Skylei has made it through the strange-portal-esque-thing. There is a layer of moisture that clings to the surface of her skin, but it looks much more akin to someone who has been caught up in the spray from a passing vehicle. In the time it had taken Senka to walk through into this separate segment of the library, Sky had already got to work. The air in this room feels a little stuffier, as though people haven't stepped between the shelves in decades. The books too look and smell older, whilst retaining the appearance of having never been read. At the end of the room is a desk with a high backed oaken chair, and it is in this that Sky now sits with a selection of books in front of her. She's yet to open any of them and instead is sitting there, looking like the cat that got the cream. Sky has been waiting for Senka to join her and, as the lycan steps through the shimmering sheet of water, the half-elf begins to talk rapidly. It's a long and garbled ramble, though some words are clearer than others. Senka would likely begin to understand what had Sky so excited as the half-elf speaks. This room is filled with the kind of knowledge that the gods have not yet seen fit to bless the world with and have done so with good reason; the meaning of life, the makeup of the universe, the theories and codes and meanings behind every facet of life and Sky is holding them in her hand. It's dangerous and dark and Sky is standing on the precipice of temptation. All she has to do is open the book and start to drink in the forbidden words. It's a good job, she's still babbling excitedly.
Senka shudders and runs her hand over her arm in disgust. Moisture is all well and good when it's pale fog hiding your furry behind in the darkness, but now she's human and seeing the droplets on her skin, the wolf is not a fan. Moody eyes look up to be greeted by the sight of an excited Sky and the breath she takes after her sigh isn't a good one either. The air is musky and dark and dusty and reminds her far too much of the haunted mansion where she first lost her mind. Not just her sight is assaulted, her ears are as well for Sky is babbling as only two-walkers can babble and it takes all the lycan's patience not to simply drag the woman with her. "Yes, yes, very nice," She thus impatiently snaps, already searching the room Sky lured her in for another way out, "So how do we get out? There's got to be some way to get out of this mess, right?" Senka has had enough. Poking pixies, dead people talking, faceless people touching her and now a two-walker place filled with things she can't understand have just about pushed her to her limit. It hasn't escaped her notice, either, that most of those dreadful things involved two-walkers. It's reminded her why she's always taken to the forest and just seeing Sky, who she tolerates and even looks for, is pushing all the wrong buttons. "I'm hungry for some pixie meat."
Skylei is completely enraptured by the books. She waves a hand at the wolf dismissively muttering under her breath, "Oh come on. Just a few hours!" If Senka wants her to leave then she is literally going to have to grab her and drag her. Skylei may have stopped babbling but her mind hasn't stopped racing. Where to start? With all this knowledge lying on the table in front of her, Sky feels almost overwhelmed. This is perhaps a blessing for the half-elf and lycan as there can only be a Pandora’s Box of knowledge enshrined within those pages. What evil they would unleash on the world if the half-elf's soul was to engage with the writings remains to be seen. And it's probably not something that they need to tackle. Either way, Skylei is never going to choose to leave without some form of intervention. She simply sits and stares at the books and attempts to make a decision. After a good few moments she would reach out and pick up the thickest book on the table.
Senka huffs as Sky waves her hand dismissively, annoyed all over again. Not about to linger near Sky, the wolf instead busies herself with finding an exit but quickly finding that there is none. Instead there are only shelves and dust and all sorts of things she doesn't understand. By the time she's back, the halfling is reaching for one of those two-walker things and in a fit of temper the woman leans in to swoop her pile of books off the table in a fit of temper. A quick turn and a simple hop has the wolf sitting on the table, not particularly caring if that means that her derriere is perched squarely on one of the books, half-open because of her earlier sweep. "Focus," The beast growls, impatiently waving her pale hand in Sky's face. If she knew how to snap her fingers she would. Whatever retort Sky might give her, it's likely to be interrupted by another voice. It's not Senka's, definitely not Sky's, but it's present in both their minds;"A little lost, sweethearts?"
Skylei scowls as Senka interrupts her before she can even engage with the first word of the first page of the first book. Books scattered across the floor in a mess, Sky opens her mouth with eyes ablaze ready to begin to respond to the lycan's openly hostile attack on the books when her mind is flooded with that strange voice. Her first reaction is to grab hold of the albino's arm, but she manages to resist and instead hits her fist off of the table, "Did you hear that?" She hisses under her breath. Sky fears madness. She fears that the pressures of the Labyrinth have finally got to her and she needs the wolf to reassure her that they will be okay. Whatever the lycan's reply, Sky is quick to pull herself from her seat and she begins pacing the room, walking between bookshelves, behind books and even under the desk; looking for the source of the voice. "Hello?" She calls quietly, "Is there someone else in here?" For some reason, Sky feels like this voice is more than just another of the tricks of the place to entice or torture the pair.
Senka should be used to hearing voices by now. If it isn't a ghost of her past, it's an actual ghost or some kind of weird creature found in the deep, true abyss of the forests she tends to hang around in. Yet the woman still starts, her pale lips curling the moment she realizes she did, and her head slowly turns towards the source of that voice. Skylei is already on her feet, pacing the room like a caged animal and perhaps the wolf should have joined her. Instead Senka has gone quiet, dangerously quiet, not even replying to the other's question as the kind of deliberate calm silence that usually only her prey gets to see settles over her. The beast is already preparing to kill, muscles tensing beneath skin and shown in the muscle working in her jaw. The albino has had enough, quite firmly so, and as always she returns to her single failsafe: violence. There's a scuttling noise, scratching like a rat over hardwood floors. It's near Skylei, dancing around her feet and coming from the darkest corner, right where two bookcases meet. There's a glint, a thump, and then the sound of a marble rolling over the dusty floor. Something white is shimmering in the darkness, so very near to Skylei's feet, a pale pearly colour. "It took me quite a while to find you," The same voice continues, distinctive by the strange 'clacks' after every word. There's a sound of something dull rubbing against each other before another sound like a marble across the floor. Something shimmers in that darkness, that paleness taking shape until it forms into something known by all. Animals have seen it, passing by those more unlucky than they are, humans know it as a sign of death and misfortune: a skull. A pale skull, resting on the wooden floor, with black sunken holes where eyes used to be and a lipless, hollow grin. The jaw stays firmly on the floor, forcing the rest of its head to lift up in awkward tilting movements as it speaks. Somehow, despite it not having vocal cords, it talks quite clearly. As long as one ignores the strange 'clacks' of teeth hitting each other after every word, almost like a mockery of the telegraph the middle class is so fond of. "Dug yourselves quite deep into the rabbit's hole, little Alice, haven't you?"
Skylei shrieks as she sees something pale reflecting light by her feet. That combined with the strange scuttling noise has put her on edge. She thinks it is an over-large mouse on first glance. Funnily enough, Sky really does not like mice. She retreats across the room to take sanctuary behind the big bad wolf; the big bad wolf would protect her from whatever dangers lurk in the shadows, be they mice or something entirely more sinister. She manages to stop herself from grabbing hold of the lycan again, after all, she would likely get an elbow to the face if she dared make physical contact. Instead she simply points in the direction of the strange clacking noise. In a sentence littered with the filthiest expletives known to man or beast, Sky manages to question Senka as to what in all the world is making those noises. Jittery and on edge, Sky is desperate for reassurance from Senka. But then the creature opens its mouth…jaw… thing and begins to speak to the two. "It's been looking for us?" Skylei hisses to Senka. She still thinks it might be a giant rat. Then it comes to sight and it's a skull. Just a skull. There's nothing that makes it special, save from the fact that it is conversing with the two. But the fact that it is talking to them doesn't seem to faze Sky, now that she knows it's not a fuzzy-cheese-eating beast. Her brow furrows and, as so often is the case, the half-elf defers the next move to her alpha. "What… what do we do?"
Senka has inspired others to seek protection with her, not from her, before. And as always it is unwelcome. Rather than snarl at the halfling hiding behind her, however, the woman known as Elder long, long ago fixes her attention on the talking source. It rolls, scuttles in the darkness but her night vision is no use in a world of minds. It sounds like a rat. Senka could use a snack… "Apparently," Senka growls in answer to Skylei's question, dark eyes fixated steadily on the darkness. This, this does not frighten the wolf. Strange noises going 'bump' in the night is a permanent fixture of her life. No, as Sky has already seen, the wolf has very different fears. So it takes little courage to edge closer, leaving her companion near the table as she squints into the darkness, sinking through her knees just a little (not so much she can't keep walking) in an attempt to peer deeper into the darkness. "You do nothing…" The lycan isn't even aware she's using her usual arrogant, alpha voice, "I…will get me a snack." Hands are already ready and by the time the skull rolls out of the shadow Senka scoops it up in hands almost as pale as the skull itself. It protests loudly as she picks it up, that skull, teeth clicking spitefully with every word but now that it's in petite hands, it's not nearly as frightening. Red eyes stare, unimpressed, into empty sockets before quite unceremoniously she flips it over to study the underside of the skull, peering into the place that ought to hold its brain. "Nothing. Not even pickings," There's a note of disappointment in Senka's voice, now, "Least you could've done is hold onto bits of your brain like a decent corpse." Maybe she spent too much time hanging around necromancers after all. Either way, the lycan has little respect for the bone as she lightly tosses it to the table Sky had been so eager to study on. It flies into a graceful arc, thumping loudly once it reaches the table where it clatters like a tossed plate before turning, quite speedily, to stare at Sky with its empty socket. Another turn, bone scooting smoothly over wood as if an invisible hand has placed itself upon it, and it's staring at Senka. If it could, it would've scowled. "Some welcome I got. You girls treat all your saviours this way?"
Skylei squeals as Senka tosses the skull in her direction. Now that she knows it's not a rat, she no longer needs to run away and seek refuge in another part of the miniature library that they're currently in. She's a little worried that Senka's aim will be off and the skull will bounce on the table and fly back up and hit her in the face. And, knowing Skylei's luck, if the skull had hit her in the face it would have likely chomped down on her nose with that moveable jaw of his. She assumes it is a he. As the skull spins of the table and looks at her with its empty sockets, the half-elf shudders. Urgh. She asks a question of the skull; a seemingly stupid question "What… what exactly are you? And uh, what do you want with us? And, do you have a name, or something?" Senka's response to her question had been entirely unsatisfying, so Skylei tries the tact of conversing with the skull instead. He was already more or a talker than the albino. Probably better company too. If you could get past the fact that his empty eye sockets always seemed to be staring at you.
Senka is half-convinced the skull just sent her a dirty look. If skulls can do that. "Rude little things, aren't you?" The skull sniffs, despite its nose-less state, once again shifting the upper part as the jaw presses against the table, "Asking me -what- I am…complaining no flesh is left to my bones. They cooked me, you know, until every last bit of me was gone. I was alive for the entire thing." The voice belonging to the skull is high for a man's voice, most definitely a tenor, but nevertheless masculine in nature. As it speaks of being cooked, its voice deepens with repulsion and bitterness that doesn't match the ever present grin of a skull. Although it seems strangely eager to share the gruesome details. 'And the name's Hadewig. I'm here to offer a deal." The lycan snorts in answer, taking her seat on the table next to the skull with no concern for the very human teeth so freely displayed. Senka's been around heads before; the last one Tene fondly named Edgar and moved around by its teeth. She had grown quite fond of it until the stench became too much, the vampire did, and Senka had had no trouble putting it down. Perhaps that's why she seems so relaxed, now, where before the sight of the books set her on edge. Two-walker libraries give her the shivers, but a talking skull sets her at ease. That's Senka for you. "What kind of deal?" Her husky voice is sceptical and pale fingers quite shamelessly prod at the skull as it moves, shamelessly scratching at lingering brown spots. "I'm not in the mood to give you anything, Harry." "Hadewig." "Hedwig." "Hadewig" "Herbert." "Hade-ahh what does it even matter…" There's a definite snap to Herbert's voice, now, as it carefully scuttles away from Senka's probing fingers by careful use of its jaw. Only when it is out of her reach does the skull continue. "It's simple, really. Quit pro quo. I get you girls out of this mental…inconvenience…and you stop the pixies from sacrificing me to their gods."
Skylei doesn't spend much time with skulls, talking or otherwise. And she's not much keen in changing that fact. But the skull seems to think that he can get them out of the purgatory that they have been wandering around in, lost and clueless as to when and where they will find their escape. Sky isn't willing to turn down an opportunity like that in a hurry. Her eyes lift from the skull… Harry… Herbert… Hadewig(?) and turn to Senka instead, "I think that this is a great idea." She attempts to express the way she feels with her eyes. She's tired, her soul is bruised and battered and has hurt in ways that she didn't even think were possible. All she wants is to go home, climb into a hot bath and then sleep for a month. Unfortunately, Senka doesn't understand the subtleties of two-walkers and she realises that she is going to have to be explicit with what she wants, "I want to go home. I want to be… back in my body?" Sky doesn't completely understand what is going on, but she knows that she wants to leave the horrors of the last few hours behind her and be reunited with reality; things that make logical sense, where the dead stay silent and buried (unless you've taken an impromptu trip to Vailkrin) and where she doesn't have to rely on her slowly waning sanity. Hell, sane Sky would never have agreed to a plan proposed by a fleshless, talking skull. Herbert addresses Senka now, making reference to Skylei, "This one knows what she's talking about." Sky feels unbelievably uncomfortable as he talks about her with his clacking teeth and his empty eyes.
Senka might, at a later and more sane moment, whether she truly shed that alpha cloak. Skull and Sky turn to look at her, as if she has any more grip on this madness than she does, and just like that it's decided. The elf might look forward to her bath but the wolf can't wait to curl up beneath a tree and let the fog wash over her, nothing but moving spiders to keep her company. "Fine," The lycan snaps, as if she isn't aching all over from all the raw wounds so carefully picked at. Here's to hoping Lottie doesn't find this opening to take over her life again… "But you try anything and I'll personally burry you in all the twisted madness I can find and don't even care if it takes me with it." Fierce red eyes promise death along with it, staring fearlessly into the black holes that are Harry's eye sockets. "So dramatic," Snorts Hertzbert, "I need you girls sane and alive to keep from becoming the most handsome sacrifice in town. No need to threaten my sanity along with it." Of course, whether a skull, though sentient, has such a thing as sanity in the first place is arguable. Senka isn't in the mood for it, merely hopping off the table and dusting off her hands on the torn dress that only exists in her memory, these days. A prompting eyebrow is enough to have the skull turn around, yet again as if touched by an invisible hand, studying Skylei briefly before turning back to the unofficial leader of the mismatched trio. "All you need to do is step through the veil again. I'll be waiting to show you guys the way but before you can reach me, the dust will throw every temptation it can to keep you in. You'll have to ignore everything and walk straight to me if you really want to escape this place." Hardly discouraging, as far as the albino is concerned. She's had her fill of creepy ghosts, talking dead, and touchy-feely-two-walkers (both faceless and not). The woman is quite ready to leave and so she gestures to the veil with a pale, always steady, hand.
Senka said, "Lead the way.."
Skylei had heard Senka threaten to rip people’s faces off; hell, she’d been one of those people. She’d watched her tuck into raw spider guts, condemn pixies to a fiery furnace and even threaten to kill people who dared to look at her funny. But even she is shocked at the vehemence of Senka’s threat against the skull’s wellbeing. She didn’t see the need to express that, as the skull is dead, it probably no longer has a soul and thus its existence in this entire realm is not only befuddling but bizarre. This skull is her key to freedom and Sky intends to follow every letter of every instruction he gives until body and soul are reunited as one. Still, with the lycan on board with the plan, Sky feels more confident in their success rate. What is it about the near psychopathic, violent, wild, red-eyed beast, who has shown little other than disdain and distaste towards her and her two-walker ways, that fills Sky with confidence? The gods only know but Senka is all that Skylei has that she trusts to be real anymore. That gesture she makes towards the shimmering portal seems to indicate that Sky is to step through first. She offers Senka a ‘are you serious’ face, before lining herself up with the veil. She takes a deep breath in, a deep breath out, then four steps. One, two, three, four. Skylei disappears behind the shimmering sheet of magic that separated the two portions of the library. Except rather than stepping out onto hard stone floors, Sky feels as though she is falling and floating at the same time, though she is simply standing still. This is somewhere between the world of the soul that they had occupied and the world of reality; a gateway as it is. Sky closes her eyes and waits until she feels Senka’s presence to reopen them.
Senka is serious and quite unconcerned by the look Sky gives her. She's just as unconcerned with Harry's dignity as she reaches out with a pale hand to hook her fingers under the curve of its bony jaw, letting the skull dangle open-mouthed from her fingers like a weirdly shaped purse. The half-elf steps through the portal and the albino doesn't even give the skull enough time to make a sassy remark before following. She's had enough. Just seeing Lottie again has hurt her soul, bruised and battered it in ways not even the talking dead could. She can still feel the ghost's hypnotic, tempting pull even in the blank moment when she steps into a new scene. The wolf will need to work hard to keep from being haunted by her past, quite literally so, after this ordeal is over. For now, however, she's faced with an entirely different horror altogether. The scent of wood, the kind that has been treated by two-walker hands, assaults her sensitive nose with only the husky cloak of dust to cover the scent. A two-walker den, again, but not quite as grandiose as the library Sky's mind had come up with. It's a corridor leading up to one simple, dark wooden door that seems to do its best to blend in with its surroundings. It's not very hard to do so, considering the broad shelves that take up far more space. They're stacked by neatly placed books, pressed tightly together as the thick volumes combat each other for space. They're dusty but only on the outside for the titles promise to hold all sorts of carefully stored, sacred, information. Senka is thoroughly unimpressed, barely even pausing at the sight of written, two-walker secrets and knowledge. Knowledge won't keep her fed during winter. Already the pale woman is briskly setting out for that door, paddling her bare feet over the soft wooden floor and lightly swinging the equally pale skull like a child with its favourite toy. "Oi!" Henry tries to protest, finding it hard to talk with Senka's fingers curled around his jaw, "Gentle! F-fragile contents i-inside!" "You're hollow inside," The woman replies, raising a pale eyebrow and barely gracing the skull a glance down, "Didn't even have a little snack left in you." "It's the sentiment!" It wouldn't even have occurred to her to check whether Sky is keeping up, used to the other trailing after her like a duckling after its momma.
Senka might be unimpressed by the room that morphs into existence beyond the veil, but Skylei certainly doesn't share that opinion. Her heart both rises and falls at the sight of more books. These are her temptations, not Senka's. She tries to keep the words of Handel, their faceless guide, in her mind as she walks through the corridor; ignore everything, walk straight forward and -do not- be led into temptation. And so, she is able to follow after the albino as best she can, attempting to block out the temptations that surround her poor soul for a while. But then, halfway down the wooden corridor, she sees it. There's only one book amongst the many that really draws her in. It sings her name like a siren, pulling her ever closer as though she has lost all control over her limbs. Before she knows it, she's standing alongside the case that contains her temptation. Skylei already knows what will be written on the pages and as she draws closer to that which has captivated her, her fears are confirmed; this is a necromancer's tome. Now, Skylei is a child of an enclave. And, whilst children of enclaves are taught many lessons, one in particular has stuck with Sky. Necromancy is evil in the eyes of nature, the gods and the law. And yet, the half-elf's mind has always been drawn with such fascination to this darkest of arts. So too are her fingers drawn to the dust-covered book as they slide around the cover before she even realises what she is doing. It feels to right in her grasp. She could swear that the book hums with a soothing kind of energy that calms her weary troubled being, in spite of its dark nature. The warnings that have been embedded in her conscious thought are near forgotten as she runs a finger across the illustrated front of the book. And then she looks at the illustration. It's a girl, in a graveyard surrounded by a swirl of black magic and reanimated corpses. Why are all of the faces of the figures so familiar? Skylei could swear that the lines of the illustrations face match her own… The tome continues to hum soothingly, whispering words only for Skylei's ears. 'It's not so bad. Think of the benefits, of the good you could do.' Her eyes widen and Sky nods to the book in her hand as though it knows her innermost soul's desires. It's a miracle that Senka and Haymich's bickering interrupts the book's charm-offensive. As Sky's head snaps towards the direction of the noise and she realises that the albino has left her before. Her desire for freedom and the reunion with her body overtakes that of her desire to learn anything of the dark arts. Dropping the book with a hiss like a cat that has had a jug full of water poured on them would make, Sky dashes across the floor towards the wolf and skull duo. She knows this is the right decision, even if her constant glances backwards don't indicate that.