RP:Survivalism

From HollowWiki

Part of the Through The Looking-Glass: Return To Wonderland Arc


Summary: After coming face to face with the enemy, Khitti and Brand get the hell out of the Shadow Plane and try to come up with a plan.

Boundary of Sage Forest, Kelay-Sage

Khitti || “Brand. Stop,” Khitti tried calling out to the Catalian once they got out of the hellhole known as Larket and a ways into the forest. Brand was very much in ‘get the frak out of Dodge’ mode (well, technically the Shadow Plane, but still), but Khitti was very much tired. “BRAND.” She gave a tug on the scruff of her tikifhlee’s neck and the giant cat skidded to a stop and Khitti slid off the saddle. Finding the nearest tree to sit at, she plopped down on the ground and held her head. The forest spun around Khitti, her wrists ached from what had seemed like an age as she’d tried to break free of that dryad’s dark magic chains. And on top of all that? Her magic was seriously depleted--conjuring up portals took a hell of a lot, you know. And on top of THAT, well… she thought she just witnessed Brand dying so… you know… that’s fun. Not.


Brand wasn’t quite sure what he was running from. Well, he -knew-, but wouldn’t have been able to articulate exactly what it was that kept so much urgency in his stride, now that they were on the right side of the shadow portals. This was where they were safe -- or at least, they -should- be. Brand certainly didn’t -feel- safe. Still, once Khitti made it clear she was in need of a break, Brand would begrudgingly pull his Tikifhlee to a halt and come to sit beside her, two weary individuals with a long journey still ahead of them. Who was the dumb motherfrakker who’d wanted to bail when they’d already come this far? -- Oh, right, that was him. Frak.


Khitti || “I’m getting real tired of people making me think you’re dead,” Khitti said eventually, her head moving to rest against his shoulder. Shaky hands rubbed at the spots on her wrists where the shackles had been, the red marks still visible; they’d been so tight that she wondered if there’d be bruises the next day. “Vylyra’s dead. She’s the one that was screaming… Those vines--do you remember those shadow tendrils I used to have?” It seemed like forever ago that she had shadow magic, even moreso when she had the weaker versions of her magic. “They were like that… Just ripping and crawling around through her like a snake in a skull.” A shiver ran up Khitti’s spine, a bit of a shudder given in response. “It’s… weird to see it happen when I’m not the one doing it…” She was just sort of rambling at this point, in an effort not to think about what might’ve been--it was working for now, but on some subconscious level, she knew she couldn’t keep up the act forever before she might start crying again. “Vylyra was strong. Stronger than me at least…” That bitchy blonde -had- caught Khitti’s circlet after all. While it was on fire. Khitti wasn’t ready to fully admit that she might not have been able to deal with that Jessamine woman, but she was certainly fixed on the thought, and saying it without actually saying it.


Brand threw up his hands, as if in surrender. “Well, that’s one problem solved then, isn’t it?” Score one for Team KhittiBrand. Except, it didn’t feel like much of a victory. “I dunno. Seems like we’re in well over our heads, peach. Is there anyone else we can call upon to make this… not such a one-sided fight?”


Khitti shrugged a little, “I don’t know. There’s not a whole lot of people I trust anymore. I can’t ask Meri to do it. Not after she got left there and then ended up going back briefly with some of the witches. Putting together that trip to hell with her lycanthropy isn’t a good idea.” Once upon a time, Khitti had people she could depend on, but they either died, went crazy, or just outright left without word. “I can’t ask anyone from the guild to do this. Maybe Camina. But anyone else? They’ve all got their own agendas, beyond just guild matters. And I’ve not exactly been keen on making friends again lately, after everything that’s happened. I can’t rely on anyone anymore that isn’t you or Meri and I don’t know if I even want to--even when we’ve got big problems like this.”


Brand stroked his chin, deep in thought. “Wish Auditore hadn’t left us,” he said, after a beat. “I understand why he felt he had to, but… would’ve been nice to have him around for all this. Especially considering that he knew about this Vylyra business before we did. And I don’t suppose there’s a point in trying to call him back, considerin’ we dunno where he’s at now.”


Khitti || “He lost enough, Brand. And we kind of aided in that thanks to that idiotic plan Lionel had. I don’t want to add to his misery,” Khitti said with a sigh. “We might have plenty enough of our own to spare, but that doesn’t mean I want to share it.” Pushing herself up off the ground, Khitti took to pacing a little as she always does when things are frakked the hell up. “I don’t know. I think I need to do some research… That woman’s magic was weird as hell. I don’t think I would’ve been able to conjure up a fireball to save my life.”


Brand stayed seated, watching Khitti pace. “Research seems as good a start as any. Lennier has some contacts at the Mage’s Guild; I’ll see if he can have them send us any documents that might be relevant. In the meantime…” He pushed himself to his feet. “...I guess the Shadow Plane is gonna have to wait.”


Khitti kicked the tree they’d been sitting in front of. And then she kicked it again. And again. “Stupid goddamn Lionel. We’d be perfectly frakking fine if he was here. The three of us and Meri were practically frakking invincible together!” The sole of her boot came in contact with the tree several more times, bark carefully chipping away and falling to the forest floor. “After all we did to help him… he can go frak himself if he ever comes back. Should’ve kept following my gut with him.” Khitti gave one last big boot to the tree’s poor trunk and then she finally stopped. “Whatever. We’ll deal with this like we deal with everything else: with a lot of swearing, punching, and a frakton of fire.”


Brand certainly couldn’t argue with that. Those methods had worked pretty well for him so far, all things considered. And yet… “Do we gotta take it out on the tree, though? S’far as I know, the tree’s got nothin’ to do with Lionel. Or the Shadow Plane. Or… well, anything.” He put a hand up to where some of the bark had chipped away, and with all the solemnity of a funeral muttered, “Sorry, tree. You and Lionel have nothing in common, I promise.” A beat. “Except, well, I guess we’ve all been on the receiving end of Khitti’s wrath. It’s okay. You’re in good company, there.”


Khitti narrowed her eyes at Brand and the tree as he apologized to the tree for her behavior. She tried to hold back a smirk, but honestly, it wasn’t working. “I mean, it could be you instead of the tree. I was just thinking you were dead a bit ago--I could always make it a reality. I -did- promise to poison you at some point. I got distracted for awhile, so I really should get on that.” The smile faded a little and soon Khitti sighed, “Yes, yes. I’m sorry, tree. Please don’t tell Kailani because she’s a scary druid lady and I’m pretty sure she knows how to use that trident-looking weapon of hers.” Khitti did not fancy getting skewered with that. Nope.


Brand leaned back against the tree and sighed. “Okay, so what now, then? We don’t have anyone else to ask for help, and we can’t exactly go back there by ourselves again, or we might just end up in the same situation. But I don’t fancy sittin’ back until we get pummeled with more of those orbs, either.”


Khitti shrugged, “You heard what the bitch said before you set her on fire. They’ll come here once they’re done there. So… why don’t we move that process along a little. The corruption is stemming from mirror-Larket, so maybe we should start small elsewhere. Kill the corruption in places that’s further from their reach.” The words ‘further from their reach’ made the gears in Khitti’s head turn a little more, an audible ‘aha!’ let out as she darted away and dug something out of her cat’s saddlebag. It was the book she’d translated from Emeritus’ information a few years back. “There’s a city, cut off from everywhere else like Vailkrin is. It’s literally Vailkrin’s mirror. Maybe we can find someone there to help. It could be where any survivors are hiding too!” She flipped through the pages until she reached the section about Helshade, and handed the book over to Brand. The city was supposedly neutral, a trading area for all of the more sentient creatures from the Shadow Plane. It even housed a great hall of portals leading to all the regions of the realm.


Brand pored over the book, a frown deepening on his features. “It’s worth a try, I s’pose. What’s the worst that could happen?” Don’t ask that, Brand. That’s not a question you -ever- want to ask. This is how you jinx things. Brand was oblivious to the dangers of fourth-wall-breaking foreshadowing, though, and continued on. “And what’s the worst that could happen if we -don’t- try this? It’s not like we have any better ideas.”


Khitti || “The worst that could happen if we don’t try this is that they’ll win and everyone here and in the Shadow Plane will all die horribly. We won’t even have to go the long way through to get to the city. We can just go to Vailkrin and open a portal there,” Khitti said. She was confident in this until she remembered the fact that Vailkrin was a teeming cesspool of undead and dark magic users--who just happened to be in the middle of a civil war--that might sense a portal being opened with holy magic. “We’ll have to be careful where we do it though. There’s an old empty house that I used to sleep in after the first time I left House Dragana, before I finally left with Hildegarde to go to Xalious. It hadn’t been touched in ages and it likely still hasn’t been. I think it creeps the Vailkrinians out.” That was kind of a weird thing to say considering pretty much everyone that’s ever lived in Vailkrin was some level of creepy or weird--Khitti included. In a very Joyce Byer’s fashion, Khitti waved her hands a bit in front of her, trying to wave away the tangents that threatened to takeover her mind -and- the conversation. “But that doesn’t matter! It’s one of the most secluded spots in the city. It’ll be fine. We can have Camina set some traps too to alert her in case someone happens to sense the holy magic.”


Brand || If Vailkrin is full of creepy things, and they’re all creeped out by something… wouldn’t it logically follow that that something would be of some holy affinity? It’s the thought that first crossed Brand’s mind, anyway, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. The last time he could remember traipsing through hallowed ground, there had been a number of snags in their little adventure -- not least of which was the blizzard of burnt toast. “Well, it’s definitely the best plan we have.” And the only one. But shhh.


Khitti could probably go through all of the what-ifs with Brand regarding that house, but he likely didn’t want to hear it. “I mean, when we get back to the ship, we can come up with other alternatives. I think at the very least, the portals themselves could be useful, even if we don’t find anyone to help us.” Khitti sighed as she realized something else, “I think we’re going to have to tell Meri about all of this though, Brand… If something -does- happen to us, I think she’s the only one qualified to raise Dominic. Dozla would have to run the Tranquility entirely then and… well… you remember what that was like -before- Dominic became a thing. Though, I guess some of that difficulty came from some idiot redhead that you still haven’t gotten rid of.” There was a bit of innocent coughing because Khitti doesn’t know who this redheaded troublemaker is.


Brand || “Dominic?” The name came to Brand’s lips almost as if he’d forgotten the kid’s existence. Not that -anyone- could forget that chicken-loving, trouble-making, aspiring-arsonist son of his. “Aye, I suppose you will. Nothing’s gonna happen, though. Not to us. Not after all we’ve been through.” It was a talent, perhaps, that he could sound so certain while promising something so unknowable.


Khitti || “Yes. Dominic. Our child. The one that I still remain convinced is entirely your fault,” Khitti said. She was joking of course--mostly, and the smirk she tried to hide proved it. “You often forget about his predecessor sometimes--whether willingly or not--so try not to forget this one, okay? Kind of important since this Dominic is entirely his own being.” The sarcasm was basically dripping from her words at this point. Now that they’d started a plan (of sorts), she felt a little better and Brand seemed to be in a little less of a panicked state; she was hoping that the joking and flirting and massive amounts of sarcasm would help get his mind off of things for the time being. “Do you want to go straight home…? Or we could stay in Kelay? Or go to the apartment?” Spooked-Brand was not a thing Khitti saw often, even after being together (in some form or another), and she was definitely concerned, but she wasn’t going to voice it. It’d hurt his man-pride probably. Besides, the Shadow Plane was frakked up enough to scare the hell out of anyone. Though, at this point, Khitti was getting quite used to its shenanigans...