RP:Take Back Control
Part of the Thy Kingdom Come Arc
Summary: Having set up camp in the vast park space of Xalious, Hildegarde is gaining intel from what giants swore fealty to her and her cause. They are preparing for the fight ahead by camping close to Frostmaw. While chatting with the giants and other happy campers, the knight spots Ayras - who she hasn't seen since before her death - and immediately calls to him. He seems out of sorts and definitely lost to his bloodlust, per Laezila's report. The knight urges him to take back control by assigning him the challenge of reclaiming her suit of armour from Frostmaw without spilling blood.
Rolling Hills
Hildegarde had since set up camp here after the events of last night. She had so sorely missed the company of the giants. They had all spent the night sitting by the large fire and talking excitedly: shocked at Hildegarde’s return, but welcoming it all the same. Some spoke of Balgruuf, some spoke of Balder. But all agreed that Hildegarde’s return to Frostmaw must happen sooner rather than later. The knight sat amongst the giants in her ragtag iron armour, just happy to be amongst her people once again. The Silver had instructed that the injured giants be tended to, even those who refused to join her cause. She would not have them suffer for their beliefs.
Ayras was there, in a sense, as well. However, where Hildegarde was among the giants, Ayras was at the scene of the massacre. He wandered about, examining the various blood stains in the grass, particularly fascinated with where he had removed Balder's charred hand. The hand was gone, now, likely taken by a vulture or some other creature that scavenged for meat, but Ayras could still see it in his mind, could still see Balder in his maimed state. Eventually Ayras made his way closer to where the Silver had set up camp with the giants, though he did not immediately enter the group. That did not stop a group of giants from spotting him, however, and they began to whisper amongst themselves. The elf had made no attempt to hide his killing of the giants that had stood against him, and more than a few were nervous to have the vampire so near.
Hildegarde was alerted to the presence of Ayras after Mikael muttered something into her ear, causing her to rise up onto her feet and scan the crowd for him. Many giants were in the process of setting up tents and preparing to make the park an actual campsite for this miniature army, as if this is exactly where the knight intended to stay before finally moving to Frostmaw. “Ayras!” she calls, swiftly untangling herself from the company of the giants and approaching the vampire. He did seem a little out of sorts; a little more… deranged than the knight would think healthy. “Ayras,” she said the name again once she was closer, smiling at him. She had actually missed him. Maybe she was even thinking of hugging him!
Ayras had been caught. True, he hadn't done much to hide, but he hadn't been looking forward to reuniting with Hildegarde after the previous day. He knew she wouldn't have wanted so many giants harmed, but it was far from guilt that had kept him at bay; he merely hadn't wanted to deal with a scolding. With the Silver approaching him, though, there was nothing for it. As she came toward him, so he went toward her, offering a wave of greeting. "Hildegarde," he responded to her naming him. Silver eyes examined the woman; she looked good for someone that wasn't long back from the dead. He did, however, notice that she was not at all garbed in her usual, resplendent armor. "It's good to see you back amongst the living." He was curious as to -how- she was alive again, but that was a story for another time. "Trying to blend in with the common soldiers?" He gestured towards her hodge-podge iron gear as he asked, a slight grin on his face. If Hildegarde were to look at his eyes as he spoke, however, she would notice the lack of the empathy that once resided in those pools of molten silver, and would see, instead, a barely contained fury in its place. Had he truly changed? Or had he always been like he was then, deep down?
Hildegarde shook her head at his comment, but she chuckled all the same. “No, no,” she replied, “my armour is still in Frostmaw… I can’t get it, though I’d like to,” she murmured. “It would be ideal to have my armour back *before* we march there to reclaim our home,” she smiled at him. But there was something different about him. He joked, yes, he grinned, that was normal. Yet something was still amiss. Laezila had said Ayras had gone mad; had fallen into the rage of blood-lust. The massacre yesterday was testament to that. “Ayras…” she said softly, reaching out to place her hand gently on his shoulder, “I heard some worrying things about you.”
Ayras cocked his head to the side. She had -heard- something worrying about him, she said. Whatever it was, it was clearly not about the festival, otherwise she would have said seen. The redhead wondered whether to ask, wondered what had been said about him. Was it about the end of his fight with Irthos during the tournament? Was it about his being dragged out of Frostmaw? In the end, his curiosity got the better of him. "What is it that you heard?" he questioned, even as he stored away the information of Hildegarde's armor still being in Frostmaw.
Hildegarde had seen enough too, but it’s a bit heavy handed to say ‘I heard and saw you do some terrible things, man’. The Silver answered his question gently, “That you had succumbed to a bloodlust. That you had gone mad with rage and fury,” she explained. The knight cared about him, that much he knew. She had thought fondly of him during their time together in Frostmaw and she needed him back at her side once again. “I need my friend at my side once again,” she told him, “not a foaming at the mouth beast,” she said it; though she hated the words. She knew they might sting, but it was accurate. It was the truth. “I need my Knight of the Black Ice.” The Silver straightens her posture and clears her throat gently before issuing a command: “You will go to Frostmaw. You will retrieve my armour. You’ll do it without killing a soul.”
Ayras took the commentary of what he had become in stride. He knew what he had done. He knew how many he had killed, and how few of them had much more of a reason to die than the fact that he thirsted. She wanted who he was when he came back to Frostmaw, but instead he was who he was before he had left during Satoshi's rule. He was once again Hamlet, once again a murderer. "I have always been a Knight of the Black Ice, Hildegarde, both under you and under Satoshi. If you want this done with no killing, I will not kill. But one day, you will need someone that will not shy from bloodshed. One day you will need a killer." Ayras fell silent for a moment and thought, his brow furrowing. "I am to fight Alex next in Balgruuf's tournament. The bouts are held in Frostmaw. I am sure they will be on edge with my presence in the city after yesterday, but it should not be too difficult for me to steal away into the city at night." Such arrogance. "I assume your armor is in the Fort?"
Hildegarde nodded curtly at his reply, “I am well aware that one day I shall need someone who can kill, do not think of me as someone who shies away from bloodshed. But I believe firmly in killing only when it is a necessity; killing when we have but no other choice,” she said flatly. “The armour is in the fort, yes,” she confirms, before lapsing into silence to stare at him for a long and hard moment. What had he become? This was not the man she had known before. “I am asking you not to kill, Ayras. I am not ignoring what the future may require.”
Ayras turned slightly so he could look in Frostmaw's general direction, plans and backup plans formulating in his head already as to how best go about his mission. "After my bout, I will set about my mission." Those silver eyes shifted back to the camp that was in the process of being built. "Which tent will be yours, so I know where to deposit your gear upon my return?"
Hildegarde shrugged her shoulder, “It’ll be the one that is put up last,” she told him, implying she would stay and assist in the set up of all tents before erecting her own tent. “You can give it to me personally,” she told him. “We still have things to discuss, once the armour is back.”
Ayras gave a nod and a bit of a salute. "Well enough. I shouldn't be overly long. A few days, perhaps a week." Ayras turned then, going so far as to hook his thumbs around the hilts of his swords...or, at least he would, if one hand didn't slide straight down through empty air. Oh, the string of curses that flowed from the vampire's mouth! At least that hadn't changed.