RP:Irenic's Name Used Again

Part of the Mearcstapa Arc

Summary: While back in Cenril looking for a vanished Muzo, Reginae finds a precious Gensai wandering the shore alone. In a moment of mad inspiration, the Naga Queen binds the innocent woman with her rope like fingers until Emilia passes out. The name Reginae used to introduce herself was none other than her champion's (Irenic), a friend of the stranger.

Cenril Beach

Reginae didn’t make her way far from Alithrya these days, but when she did, it was Cenril she slithered through. Muzo was a slippery fellow and from time to time would up and vanish from his lab in the palace and wind up here, studying old tomes in the guise of a bald dwarven monk. Today was one such day, or so the Queen assumed. The scientist had been MIA for a while, since right after the leviathan was summoned. She could only guess he’d be here. But he wasn’t. He wasn’t in the library. He wasn’t in the Temple of Aramoth. He wasn’t on the charred hill overlooking the ocean where they’d called an old god from the sky. Which brings her to the beach, black leather boots kissed by the waves, digging chunks of rock out of the sand with her heel. She sports a male human façade. Roguish and tall, blonde hair and striking eyes. Nico, she’d dubbed him. A translator for the adventurer’s guild and 'run of the mill' human. The wind is chilled but the water warm. It’s high time she went home but…her resentment of Muzo’s disappearance is making her linger. Eager to take our her frustrations on the surface and those who inhabit it. And this is her petty revenge. A queen. A naga. Dislodging rocks and kicking them down the beach. A true criminal mastermind.

Emilia had found a love for the beach in Cenril, even though the Genasi was terrified of the ocean. The fear of water began when she was a young human girl and had carried with her ever since. Progress had been made with help of an old bard friend of hers. The Genasi could now successfully stand at the edge where the waves lapped up to rush around her barefeet without having a full on panic attack that the ocean would swallow her up. It had been many years in the making to reach this point, but the healer was secretly proud of herself for it. This evening the Genasi could be found walking along the edge of the shore line. The woman of white with dreads tied in a messy bun atop her head looked harmless enough. No weapons, no shoes, and a tattered up dress that fell just past her knees. Her pace was slow as she slowly came into view of the Nico kicking rocks along the beach. It was an odd hour for unfamiliar faces to be about the beach, but the Genasi had seen much odder things here in Cenril. At least, it wasn't a naked shrieking mad man going on about sea monsters stealing his clothes. Putting on a practiced smile Em called out to the rock-kicker, "Hello, there. Is everything okay?" she questioned curiously.

The male's gaze snaps up to take in Emilia's easy demeanor. His face remains expressionless, save for an annoyed twitch of his brow. Brave of her, to approach a stranger with no weapons to speak of at this time of night. "Who are you? Why are you here?" Reginae felt the man's lips move in place of hers, a deep baritone of guarded caution. Was this Muzo in another form? No, surely he would recognize her mask. This was a stranger and the woman's fateful appearance started the tick, tick, tick of a question in the naga's mind. He looks her over a second time, noting her tattered dress and lack of shoes. Was she a street urchin? Why did she dress this way? Why was she on the beach alone? Reginae paused. Why was SHE on the beach alone? Well, because, Muzo. Obviously. Did this woman have a Muzo to find? She supposed she'd find out soon enough. Nico's boots stop digging in the sand. His full height and attention is on Emilia. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and waits, eyes sharp on the darkness behind and around the Gensai.

Emilia tilted her head at being asked who she was and why she was here. It took her a moment to realize that it was probably an odd thing to see someone wandering the beach alone at night, but wasn't this stranger also doing the same? With a blackend stump she pointed to herself as she questioned, "Me?" Who else would the man be talking to. The one-handed woman turned to glance behind her as if expecting another person to also be present. None to be seen. He did mean her, how silly. The woman ran pale fingers over loose dreadlock, tucking it up with the rest od them as she answered him, "Name is Emi. I was just out for a midnight stroll to think. The night air is pleasant and the waves make for a calming sound." Standing near to the stranger they may feel the wintery chill that leaked from the blue lipped woman, or perhaps they thought it was just a drop in the evening air. As she finished answering she offered her hand over in greeting, "You are?" If he took the hand it would be unnaturally cold.

Reginae studied Emilia's handless stump with more questions than answers. What a strange woman. Was she even human? The temperature in the air between them was chilled and as Nico reached to apprehensively shake her hand, his hand twitched with awareness. The chill was coming off -the woman-. Interesting. Reginae's forlorn rage at Muzo is replaced by a curiosity. Was this woman a witch? Had Muzo worked on her before? Maybe Emilia would make a good test for her champion. Or better still, maybe Emilia would -be- her new champion! Their hands connect and Nico smiles deviously at Emilia. His demeanor appears relaxed now, less frustrated and rigid. He holds the Gensai's hand tightly, shaking long after he should have let go. If she looks down, she'll notice rope like tendrils curling around her wrist and up her forearm with increasing speed. It's aim is to constrict her entire body, as quickly as possible, to avoid being slowed down by the woman's odd body temperature. The rogue's face remains pleasant, as if nothing odd was happening. "Pleasure, I'm Irenic." He lies, borrowing the avian's name. Nico had a reputation to uphold with the adventurer's guild. Reginae couldn't have a stranger go ratting him out for...whatever he was doing. Maybe the leviathan would appreciate a sacrifice? Maybe Muzo would come back if she started another illicit experiment. Yes, yes, all of these were wonderful possibilities. "Charmed to meet you."

Emilia had once been human with two hands for that matter, but this stranger was right to question if she was human now. This oddity of the cold that leaked from the small woman was the one of the first signals she wasn't human and one of the triggers that gained curiosity of her. By now the Genasi was used to being that oddity under study of a curious eye of strangers. The reaction of the stranger was nothing new, except he held her hand tightly and for much too long. He didn't flinch away at her chill. Strange. However, she did not look down as the rope like tentacles began to wrap about her wrist, constricting against her flesh to make the arm weaker while preventing her from running away. Lucky perhaps for this guy that she couldn't feel the pain of having her arm tightly squeezed. It was already numb. However, she did try to jerk her arm back when he introduced himself as Irenic. This was not her almost seven foot tall best friend that called her short stack. Wrong name to pick out of a hat to give as your own. As she jerked her arm it didn't move like the woman had expected it to. It was not hurting, but the limb was asleep beneath the wrapped rope like tendrils wound tightly around it. "Let go! You are not Irenic!" The small woman demanded as she stomped her foot into the beach below like a young angsty child. "Get yours little wormies off me." She snapped glaring at the tendrils, assuming for whatever the reason they were pet attack worms. People didn't have tentacles like things like that coming out of them.

Reginae feels a thrilled rush roar through her veins when Emilia panics. Oh well. So much for that. The ropes continue their course, wrapping up and around Emilia’s shoulders to bind her handless arm at her side. Something in Nico’s eyes shifts, darkening his striking blue eyes. “So you know Irenic, do you?” She smiles sweetly but the way Nico’s face contorts makes him look more like a Jack-o-lantern than human. Oh my my. She hadn’t felt the ropes until too late. With his free hand, Nico gestures broadly to the empty beach. “It just so happens Irenic’s staying with me. Won’t you come to?” Already Reginae felt distracted from her humbug troubles. Muzo malaise could wait. The ropes will continue cinching up and down Emilia’s body until they stop at her knees and mouth. Like robes, if the Gensai would have had human skin, the rope would dig red whelps into her delicate skin. The naga queen wondered if Emilia would shatter if she squeezed too tight, like an ice sculpture? “Irenic and I were just having a little party.” Would her champion try to leave if Reginae brought him a friend? Or would he be more content to stay? “My dear, they aren’t worms, please.” The ropes constrict tighter around Emilia’s neck, restricting her air flow. The man holds up his empty arm again for her viewing pleasure and sprouts rope like tendrils from his fingers for show. What a fun woman. “It’s a long trip, better if you sleep dear.” His voice was sweet, almost loving in the way he spoke to her. As if this wasn’t a kidnapping and he really cared for Emilia. And Reginae did care…but for reasons beyond their ‘humanity’ or ‘morals’. “Shhh it’s all right. You’ll see your friend very soon.”

Emilia raised a brow as if his question was not expected. 'So, you know, Irenic, do you?' was just what she had stated after he tried to state he was him. Should she make it more clear that she knew Irenic. The thought crossed her mind, but all the dancing dark ropes winding about her petite frozen body were distracting the Genasi. They didn't cause the woman pain though the bright red welts forming over her snowy white flesh told otherwise. Her eyes watched, lost for a moment contemplating what that pain should have felt like to feign a false scream to match in response to it. Too late, the ropes were pressing against her neck causing her to feel dizzy with the lack of air reaching her lungs to deliver oxygen to her brain. In the silence of the empty beach the stranger could hear for a moment the panicking beating of her heart. Wait a moment there was 7 beats in that moment, one skipped while the others echoed one another. If he listened carefully he would pick up on the fact that in the chest of the woman beat two hearts, working together. More curious than before, whatever this woman was she was not human at all. Oh, the experiments that could be tested on this subject. Odd as ever on the outside, were her insides just as strange? Two hearts, they had to be. It was with a silent almost scream that the genasi managed before blacking out from lack of oxygen. The flesh of her neck bright red where the tendrils had held tightly. As she passed out the woman crumpled like a ragdoll, slightly heavier than she looked, buy still easy to smuggle around.

Reginae watches the confusion brew in Emilia's face. The scream is half hearted, the naga decides, ears perked at the sound of not one but two heart beats. Was the woman pregnant? Regi took a moment, contemplating how that would change her plans. Did it? Nope! The white woman goes slack in her roped grasp but the ropes hold fast to her body. Her neck is released, let the woman sleep. It's not her goal to kill her. It was such a thrill, watching the light bleed out of her little eyes. "Oh Irenic..." Nico sang, reeling Emilia's body closer to his own. "I have a surprise for you." Nico bows, as if asking Emilia for a dance before spinning her rag doll form, still suspended from her ropes, around in a giddy circle. "Have you ever been to Alithrya, my love?" The male's voice is swallowed by the waves washing against his boots as he wades deeper into the ocean, castle bound.