RP:Never Invite A Gensai To Tea

From HollowWiki

Part of the Surface Tension Arc



Synopsis: After exchanging a series of letters Emilia pays Skylei a visit at her home in Cenril. The Gensai warns Skylei that there is a mysterious male looking for her and that he is aware of her actions regarding the drow. Skylei denies all knowledge of her dalliances with the drow causing Emilia frustration. After soaking Skylei's walls and smashing her glass, the two part ways tensely but not before Emilia offers Skylei some potentially useful information.


Arril Street

In the ugly grey building that sits just to the left of Arril Street there are four apartments. The one on the second floor is home to none other than Skylei Lucindio. Truly the half-elf has found herself at the prime of real-estate, if you don’t mind the smell of piss in the alleyways, beggars on your doorstep and the sound of death echoing from the arena just to the south, not to mention the occasional stabbing. Still, it suits Skylei well enough and it is here that she sits at her desk. There are two large sacks either side of her both filled with wooden tokens. She’d pick one token from the left sack, inscribe a couple of runes into the surface and then place it down into the right sack. It’s a long and arduous process, though she’s around three quarters of the way through. The rest of the apartment? Well, it’s as you would imagine; books, books everywhere. Books on the couch, books on the table, books on the bed, books as a makeshift doorstop. It’s a mini library in Skylei’s home.


Emilia was not recognizable as she traveled along Arril Street with a black cloak over her small fragile frame and hood drawn over her head hiding her face from those around her. Waltzing through Cenril white as a ghost radiating an icy chill had granted the woman more unwelcomed attention than the farmer enjoyed. The small woman was out to seek the apartment of the person she was searching for with some extra information to pass along since her last written request. Making her way into the building after being stopped by a random beggar at the stoop of the apartment building the Genasi found herself at the door of the second floor home. Taking in a breath the female extended a hand wrapped in bloody gauze to knock upon the door with three strong raps. Then the small one would wait, anxiously for the owner to answer.


Skylei freezes and the knock of the door. She had expected company, yes, but perhaps had not entirely expected the woman to arrive. Before she answers the door, Skylei would take two of the ostentatiously patterned blankets thrown across the back of her sofa and toss them over the sacks of tokens. The blankets themselves covered in water lilies and rosebuds were not to Skylei’s usual taste (she had made the unfortunate choice to allow Josleen to assist with the interior decoration), but were large enough that they had her current workings from view. Opening the door utterly unceremoniously, Skylei would greet Emilia with little more than a nod before turning back into her apartment and clearing space on the sofa for the Gensai to sit, should she wish. She removes three stacks of books; the first on illusions, the second on necromancy and the third on drow language and culture. That done she would lean against the wall opposite the sofa and, whether Emilia had taken the offered seat or not, would raise a brow, “You wanted to see me.”


Emilia walked into the apartment, quietly shutting the door behind her after Skylei had walked off to clear off a seat on the sofa within her apartment. Inside, with the door closed the woman slid the hood off the top of her head revealing those wild tangled curls of hers, bright blue eyes underlined by dark blue circles from lack of sleep, and what looks to be a burn on her left cheek. The cleared off seat was looked at for a moment before after a timid internal debate the Genasi took the offered spot. Hands in her lap she was careful not to let the blood from the bandages transfer onto anything that was Sky’s. “Yes, I wanted to see you because I’ve heard some rumors about you. Then now, I would say I also need to see you because on my way I was greeted by a man who is searching for you. No worries I didn’t tell him where you are.”


Skylei ’s face may be a picture of serenity, but beneath her skin it is an entirely different story. Her heart is beating a little too fast and her lungs feel as though someone is pinching them. In spite of this sheer terror, Skylei smiles, “Where I live is no secret. After all, I run a great deal of my business out of here, well; I do when I’m not in Frostmaw.” Skylei’s eyes find Emilia and scan her for any sign that she might have brought danger along with her. She find nothing but an extensive list of injuries which, sadly, wasn’t that unusual for the Gensai, “What rumours have you heard, anyway? All I’ve done of late is write my book and write notes for the council, so I’d love to hear what people think I’m up to.”


Emilia had with her beneath the cloak and hidden from view a small box that was locked to keep its content safe and secure within it. Though this time had nothing to do with the current happenings with Skylei, something else entirely. “From what I have heard in whispers and have heard from the man searching for you…that you are doing something that involves the drow. Why else would a stranger to you elect to want to join your cause and fight on your side…I really have no business in this, but I thought you’d like to know. The man looking for you I’ve met in the past. He has his plans changed from whatever they had been to aiding you. Whatever he is odd and he shifted from being looking drow to looking elf, but tastes like dragon.”


“He tastes like dragon? Gods save you, Emi, don’t tell me you’ve taken to eating people? Surely food cannot be that scarce.” Skylei laughs at her own joke as unfunny as it is. She moves away from the wall and into the kitchen, “I assume he has simply heard of the kafuffle that Lady Gilwen of the council and I found ourselves in but a week past. I was escorting her to Larket when we happened upon a patrol who, naturally, attacked us. The rumour mill has been swirling out of control since then. Apparently we killed a contingent of fifty drow -and- we’re at war.” Skylei re-enters the room with a smile, but it’s one of the smiles that doesn’t quite reach the eyes. In her hands, two glasses of water; the first sat on the table and the second still in her hands, “I can assure you, none of the above is true. That said, Emi. I do appreciate you coming out here to inform me of this. The council will be grateful to know that we need to ensure that rumours are quashed before they develop to this extent again.” It’s all lies, of course, but Skylei has made her peace with that. She lies to protect herself and protect those around her. The less they know, the less danger they’ll be in should she be caught.


Emilia took the glass of water after the other had set it down on the table. Blood smeared from the bandages that were more soaked with the red liquid than when she arrived to her home. The small woman listened while Skylei explained herself or lack of the rumors truth to her. The brow of the farmer raised as the half-elf came to her concluding words. Standing the Genasi looked rather peaceful as if she was about to blankly accept those words as truth from the other woman. No sooner had Emi gotten to her feet and the glass in hand was held onto tightly so that it wouldn’t slip when she flung the contents aimed at the halfing’s face without warning. “Don’t you lie to me, Half-elf.” The words were cold as the ice of Frostmaw, “I know better that, Skylei. Don’t you tell me that I wasted a damnn trip from Xalious to Cenril to visit your lazy bum arse over this issue of fake rumors and fake book writing, I visited the library, no such new book written by you is heard of. So try again.”


Skylei is fortunate to have elven reflexes. A quick sidestep and hands across the face and all that gets soaked is the lengths of her hair, her arms and the wall. Josleen had chosen a strange shade of lilac for the walls, now looking somewhat streaky due to the water soaking. “I never liked that colour anyway” replies Skylei, in a forced monotone. Of course Skylei is angry at being assaulted in her own home. Who wouldn’t be? But instead of shouting she crouches and begins to move the wet books on the floor below out of the damp. Emilia’s tirade is met with a broad sigh, “Try what again, Emi? I work for the Council, I escort the elderly members where they need go, I write notes in meeting, I send out letters to ensure that everyone partakes in the food gathering and I liaise with the Steward when laws are broken. I do plenty of things for the council, most of which are none of anyone’s business but theirs.” Skylei shrugs, “And then I write my books when I have time, which I can tell you, isn’t half as often as I’d like.” Two steps across the room and she would hold up a pile of documents, “The latest book. Not yet copied for the library.” Emilia felt bad. Bad for the books that had gotten damp with the water she’d thrown at the half-elf, not the half-elf. She could care less about her being wet with water from her now empty glass. Standing there the woman was still clutching the empty glass while she listened to Skylei run through what her duties are as a part of the council. That only reminder her that she was in fact banned from Frostmaw. That was it, the last bit of mental loss the Genasi could handle as she clenched her hand around the object even tighter causing it to bust in her grip. Shards of the glass landed on the floor in the larger chunks while other pieces dug themselves through the bandages into the already injured hand of the woman, now dual injured. “Anyone can play a part in society roles as a cover up to what they are actually doing.” The words were laced with the pain from the glass in her hand, but something deeper in the meaning to them, as if the Genasi had or was in practice of that sentence. “I believe I now owe you a new glass.”


Skylei seems to ignore Emila’s comment. Having clenched her face at the shattering of the glass, Skylei now reopens her eyes to survey the damage. As for the trouble maker… “I have plenty. Please don’t worry about the glass.” Skylei is more distracted by the fact that Emilia’s hand is now bleeding and stuck full of glass. Growing up in the houses of healers had left its mark on the half-elf in spite of the fact she’d chosen not to pursue such a path, “At least let me re-bandage that before you leave.” And yes, Emilia was going to leave. Unsurprisingly, Skylei doesn’t generally invite people round to her home so that they can ruin her walls, smash her crockery and insult her. Emilia needs to work on her houseguest manners.


Emilia slowly opening her hand to glance down at it where the glass stuck out making it look as if it was a porcupine with all the shards protruding from the pale flesh. The other hand of hers was held beneath it catching falling drips of blood before they could land on her floor. “Fine.” Simple words neither happy or upset at the woman’s desire to redo the bandages on her hand. For the half-elf she would find beneath the current wrappings an oddity of a burn that was irritated, raw, and blistered. The old injury now with added depth from the glass. She had no plans on staying long, frankly she was surprised the other woman even let her into the home to begin with. Emi was indeed not very good company. At Emilia’s assent, Skylei would disappear into the kitchen for a few moments before reappearing with the tools of the trade. Taking the injured hand and rest it in one of her own, Skylei surveys the strange burn with some interest, trying to ascertain what would have caused such an injury, “This may sting” She would warn the Gensai though gives her little time to snatch her hand away before she begins plucking the glass out. Larger chunks are removed with nimble fingers, the smaller ones are pulled out as gently as Sky can manage with the assistance of tweezers. Once that was done and the tweezers and glass had been depositing Skylei would cover the injury with a sap green salve made of valerian root; if the glass hadn’t stung, the salve would. Once Skylei was content that the wound had been covered, she would apply a new bandage, tying it securely between forefinger and thumb. It’s not the neatest job, but Skylei seems satisfied. Into the Gensai’s other hand she would press the pot of green valerian salve “Twice a day. Every day.”


Emilia flinched once or twice when small bits of glass shard had been removed from her hand. Glass plus a healing burn did not feel too good, but the look on her face as the half-elf applied the salve to the wound was for Skylei priceless. It almost looked like she’d eaten something sour crossed with having stubbed her toe. Looking down at the jar in her good hand that Genasi nodded quietly taking not of her instructions for twice a day, every day. “Thanks.” Mumbled gratitude for the aide with her hurt hand. Before leaving the Genasi cast a serious gaze on the half-elf, “When you are ready to peel that false skin off let me know. I do have something that can be rather useful to your rumored cause. A location in which one can watch the drow without being noted that is within their realm below the ground.” Those words were whispered just low enough the half-elf would be able to hear them. A fake smile, “I look forward to seeing you again. I promise, next time I won’t go watering your walls or breaking things.” Then she slid her hood back on and made her exit, careful to not slam the door on her way out.