RP:Tumbling Down The Rabbit Hole
Part of the For All Time. Always. Arc
Summary: Immediately following the events of It's Hidin' Time, wherein Khitti and Brand were kidnapped by a wayward portal to an unknown alternate universe, the two find themselves tumbling through alternate timelines of themselves, whether it be their own counterparts or each others.
AU Dhavislaav
Brand couldn't recall the thought he'd just been having. It was gone, with only the faintest hint of sea spray in his mind to suggest what it might have been. He came to awareness seated in his office, with the remnants of a sanguine bourbon in hand and the empty bottle on his desk. Six more hours 'til sunrise.
The perfect time to meet her.
He slipped out the window and off the chateau grounds, and the servants pretended not to observe his departure. The human pub was but a brief hike out of the forest, and Red would be starting her set soon. Red, like her braided hair. Red, the color of passion. Red, the way she was still flush with life.
She was more of an idea than a person to him at present, but he was nonetheless enthralled. It was his job, normally, to capture a person's mind and heart with a single brooding look; she had none of his vampiric gift, and yet she'd captured him with a wink and a song. That was months ago, and he'd been smitten ever since.
The pub was packed full when he arrived. He would nonetheless carve his way to his favorite corner, lurking in his favorite little shadow to stage left. She always walked closest to him during the bridge of her last song, and he could swear she was singing to him as she promised they would always be together.
The thought was nonsense, of course. The song was a cover, and working the crowd was part of her job. But a little piece of him couldn't help but dream she meant it, specifically to him.
And the dream made him feel a little less alone.
Khitti || ‘Red’ had looked for him from behind the curtain, before her set started, and he wasn’t there. Brand hadn’t even had to use his vampiric gifts on her to lure her in like a Khatfish on a summer evening. She -had- been singing to him and yet he still hadn’t tried asking her out. Or asking her for a drink. Or a chat. Or anything at all really. Perhaps she’d just imagined the signals she thought he was giving off. Maybe she was pretending they were there, to make herself feel better. She’d let out a sigh heavy enough to blow her long bangs from her eyes, only for them to settle there once again as she took the stage.
Khitti || ♫If I could begin to be half of what you think of me, I could do about anything, I could even learn how to love… When I see the way you act, wondering when I'm coming back, I could do about anything, I could even learn how to love like you… Love like you. I always thought I might be bad, now I'm sure that it's true, 'cause I think you're so good, and I'm nothing like you. Look at you go, I just adore you, I wish that I knew, what makes you think I'm so special…♫ Red’s dark emerald mermaid dress sparkled in the light of the pub as she sang, the crystals that were stitched into the silk fabric glimmering like stars on a clear night.
Brand || Brand sat within a heavy cloud of cigar smoke, a matching smoulder visible in his eyes. Every week was like this. Every week he sat and watched her, the forbidden goddess of song, and he dreamed. And just as her set ended, he'd slip away. Back to his home. Back to his solitary ways. Until the next week.
Brand || He'd meant for tonight to be no different, but something held him back this time. Earlier, he'd sensed something in the leering men to his side; the way they'd spoken of the girl on stage, it wasn't right. They spoke of her as a hunter might speak of its prey. He couldn't shake the fear that something might happen to her. And so, from the rooftop neighboring the pub, he watched... and he waited.
Khitti had gone backstage as per usual, changed into a much less fancy black dress, and eventually she headed out the backdoor of the pub and went on into the alleyway. Some nights, she was nice enough to help the owner out with cleaning up the tables after everyone had gone home, but tonight was not one of those nights. Instead, she pulled her coat around her tighter, and headed further into the alley, where some of those leering men laid in wait. Red caught sight of them, frowned, then turned back around to head the other way--the long way home it was then. That’s when she realized that the rest of the men had cornered her. Her frown worsened, her discomfort obvious as she tried to just push on past them, but it was obvious they wouldn’t allow it. She sighed again, much like she had before, but with a bit more annoyance. “Well? Come on then.” Was she taunting them? No, she couldn’t have been…
Khitti || The two men in front of her closed the gap between them, arms out to grab her, but Red was quicker. Nails that were not quite so long moments ago swiped at them, clawing one of them in the face as Red swept the leg out from under the other. It was not long before the rest came up behind her and grabbed her before she could do anymore damage to their friends.
Brand || A dark mist grew behind the drunken louts, and rapidly it took shape. A tendril of shadow coiled around one man's willowy torso, snapping him in two. The older, thicker man cried out at his friend's demise, only for that cry to be cut short by a knife through the throat. Brand wasted no time in porting both himself and the body back to the rooftop and feeding from the wound, even before the light had fully left the man's eyes. No sense in letting all that blood spill uselessly onto the cobblestones.
Brand || The girl, though. The girl was still here. For a moment Brand remembered himself, remembered his purpose in being here, and knew with a certainty that he'd dashed any chance of making his dream a reality. "Go, little bird," he called down to her. "Go and be free." She'd surely run and tell the village elders what she'd seen, and that would be the end of his excursions out of the forest. They'd never tolerate a vampire in their midst. But maybe it was worth it, so long as he knew she was safe. And maybe he could still watch her from the shadows, so long as he was more careful to conceal himself from now on.
Khitti || Red watched as the vampire took care of the other men, even taking one to the rooftop with him to feed. She put her hands on her hips and smirked up at him, sighing dramatically. “After all this time, -that’s- the first thing you say to me? Not ‘Hi, Red’. ‘I like your singing, Red.’ ‘You want to get a drink with me, Red?’ ‘You sure did look great in that dress, Red, but I’d rather see it on the floor.’ ” For each thing she rattled off, she counted it with a single, long-nailed finger on her right hand. “You know, things people say to the people they’ve been watching for weeks now. But, sure… sure… I’ll go. Probably not where you -want- me to go though.”
Khitti || Sorry, Brand. Red wasn’t giving up this opportunity to meet her biggest fan. Carefully, and quickly, she scaled the wall with her claws and pulled herself up onto the rooftop with ease. She finally retracted the claws, no longer seeing the need for them, but she’d be ready in case he turned out to actually be with those losers that attacked her.
Brand finished his dinner as the girl approached. With a flick of his wrist, a void appeared below the body and the ones down in the street, swallowing all of them without a trace of the carnage remaining. It was then that he truly observed the girl -- and spied her claws for the first time. He couldn't help but chuckle at the accompanying realization.\
Brand | | "You're not as human as I thought you were, are you, little bird? And here I thought I already -knew- all of us who spend our time lurking on the fringes, pretending we belong. How long have you been here? How did you escape their notice for so long?"
Khitti shrugged. “I work my job and go home. For the most part, anyway.” She could elaborate, but didn’t. “I don’t have a special ‘diet’ like you do, so it’s easier for me to hide. My job makes it easy too. No one questions a singer moving around from place to place. Full moons are not ideal, but I’ve made it work.” She scrunched up her nose a little, grimacing. “Mostly.”
Khitti || Some people were finally leaving the pub, and Red was quick to crouch down, eventually just sitting down fully to watch them stumble off home. “Why do you stay here? This place isn’t anything special. Wouldn’t one of the bigger cities be better for you?”
Brand took a seat along the same edge of the rooftop, a few paces away. "I have connections and a home here, believe it or not. It's warded against mortal discovery. And it's safe. What does any city have to offer that's better than that?"
Khitti shrugged again. “I dunno. People. Food for you, I suppose. Grew up in a place like this, so I just tire of it quicker than normal.” She paused, then side-eyed him. “You coming to watch me every night has kept me around longer than usual though.” Another pause and then a smirk. “Why -do- you come here every night? Nothing better to do than listen to my terrible attempt at singing?”
Brand || "I don't come here -every- night," Brand responded. "Just the nights you're here, and every now and again when I've found someone I can pick off for a fresh dinner, someone no one will miss. Ideally someone the town would be better off without, like the folks who followed you." He was crouched now, peering down off the edge, looking much like one of those gargoyles that sat atop the places of worship in the center of town. "I help keep the peace here, albeit not in a way they'd likely approve. But they give their gods all the credit, and that's fine enough by me."
Khitti couldn’t hold back a grin at his response. “ ‘Just the nights you’re here’,” she said, parroting him with that grin still present. A little bit more serious now, she leaned over and held out her hand towards him, “Thanks for saving me, by the way. And, the name’s Khitti.” She’d shake his hand if he let her and then re-righted herself so she could stare over the side of the building again. Meanwhile, a small black figure leapt up onto the opposite side of the roof from a nearby tree. “Oh, sounds like we’ve got company.” No sooner had she said that were they gifted with a faint meow and a black cat flopping between them. “Yes, hello to you too! Where have you been? Someone else had to save me for once!” The cat responded with air biscuits and purrs.
Khitti || "You... have a cat." He started with the faintest hint of surprise, then wiped his face of the evidence. "Of course." Something had shifted within him. He stepped away, left her in his peripheral. His hands wrapped around his arms, though there was no chill in the night. It was a long moment of silence before he spoke again. "I should leave you be. It was nice to finally meet you, Khitti."
The man turned to shadow, then was gone.
Khitti opened her mouth to say something, but he was already gone. Crimson brows furrowed together as she stared at the place where the vampire had once been, her lips twisting into a frown. The cat got up and nuzzled her arm, to which the redhead responded with some head scritches. “I guess he’s not a cat person,” she said sadly. “And probably not a Khat person either.” Khitti sighed and stood up, then scooped up the cat in her arms. It squirmed a little, but eventually settled itself into the crook of her arm. “Well, come on then, Schnitzel, let’s go home.” She jumped off the side of the building, ending up back in the alley she started in, and headed for home.
The Space Between Realities
Brand || For a moment, Brand found himself in a void outside of space and time. He could -feel- reality reconfiguring itself, just beyond his reach. The void was folding in on itself, contorting, building itself anew. The sensation carried with it no internal logic, no reason he should know what he was experiencing. Somehow, he just -knew-.
And from the instant he knew, the thought was gone again. His consciousness, gone.
AU Xalious Park
Brand || "Stop. Now. Vhat business do you have here?" Khitti stood across the yard from the dark-haired stranger, but her arrow would pierce him in a blink if he tried anything.
Khitti || Dominic flinched, and put his hands up as the arrow was pointed at his face. “S-sorry, I -- I didn’t mean --” As he stuttered and stammered and tried to explain himself, a shadow just behind the redhead seemed to grow longer and larger, despite no movement of her own to cause such in the moonlight. Dominic’s eyes bugged out a little at the shadow, but he said nothing about it and tried not to draw attention to it, which wasn’t hard as he was still trying to keep his face from having an arrow in it.
Brand || Khitti glimpsed the shadow just in time for it to disappear from view. She could feel Brand's desire to deal with the intruder himself; in spite, she lowered her weapon. Neither of them was going to be killing anyone just yet. "Didn't mean vhat? Who are you and vhat are you doing here? I von't ask a third time."
Khitti || The Catalian lips flapped open and shut like a fish out of water, Khitti’s demands and that shadow that definitely felt like more than just a shadow making him even more flustered. And then, he finally managed it after what seemed like forever: “I WAS JUST LOOKING FOR THE CAMP BECAUSE I WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO DO AND I WANTED TO HELP HILDEGARDE WITH THE WAR.” Except, it came out a bit more like it was all one word. And now his knees were weak and his palms were sweaty from being overwhelmed. All the while, a seemingly harmless butterfly floated along the night breeze and settled itself on top of Khitti’s head. It just kinda sat there. And Dominic now looked like he wanted to run away at ninja speed, though the look on his face seemed like he was thinking something to himself. While making direct eye contact with the weirdly warped purple and black insect. The same insect that turned right around, while still sitting on Khitti’s head, and stared directly at Dominic. He might have the sort of look on his face now that said ‘Amarrah plz.’
Brand || Khitti only half-absorbed Dominic's answer. The rest of her focus was on that mysterious butterfly. When it landed on her head, she immediately slapped a hand on top of its location--an action which was entirely ineffective. She scowled a very Brand-like scowl and returned her full attention to Dominic. "Zhat still doesn't tell me who you are. You vere looking for somezhing to do, so you... show up at a var camp at night?" With each sentence, she was taking a step closer to the stranger. The shadow behind her was growing to menacing proportions. "Most vould show up at a more...normal...time of day vhen zhey come seeking a place like zhis. Are you really zhat stupid to be sneaking around?"
Khitti || “DOMINIC.” He paused. Gulped. “My name is Dominic.” Between Khitti and that shadow, he really wished he was a snail or a turtle right now so he could just shrink back into his shell and pretend that the big scary predator in front of him wasn’t there. “And I dunno. I didn’t exactly plan this out.” He offered her one of those big ‘I really don’t know what to tell you’ shrugs and a slight frown. Amarrah lifted off and flitted away from Khitti’s head, choosing now to sit on the big scary shadow on the ground that was only getting scarier as time went on. “I… can come back? When it’s not dark out?” It was obvious he was really trying to think on his words before he said them, but despite that he was still rather unsure of everything he said.
Brand || Khitti grinned wide, showing off those big fangs of hers. Dominic would surely think this was the end of the line for him, that she was gonna eat him for a midnight snack, and he'd deserve it for picking the wrong time to wander into the camp. But then... she extended her hand to him??? "Khitti. Vhat's with the butterfly? Is zhat yours? It's sitting on my friend." She motioned to the shadow with the tip of her bow, which she still held in her other hand. "He says you're an idiot, but probably a vell-meaning one." Her smile faded, and she squinted those emerald eyes of hers. "He's usually right about zhese zhings. But don't zhink I'll hesitate to kill you if you try anything."
Khitti || Dominic visibly grimaced as Khitti’s hand shot out towards him. He even closed his eyes tight waiting for the end to come. And then he wasn’t dead. And Khitti’s hand was just sitting there in the air waiting for him to take it. He breathed a sigh of relief and eventually took her hand and shook it. “Rude,” he said, side-eyeing the shadow. “It’s not exactly idiotic to be afraid of things, but also I’m not a vampire with apparently great archery skills and a big scary shadow that talks to her.” There’s another grimace, but he was quick to turn his attention away from the shadow. “And that’s Amarrah. She does that. Likes to sit on people and piss them off. I dunno.”
Brand || Khitti laughed. She actually laughed. " 'Rude' pretty much sums him up in a vord, yeah. You get used to it." The shadow dropped from existence where Amarrah was sitting, only to reappear a moment later a bit further away. It appeared to be leaning against the nearest tree. "And no, it's not idiotic to be afraid of zhings. You -should- be afraid of me." She grinned again. "Zhe idiot part is showing up vhen you did. If it vas up to -him-, you'd be dead already. He's very 'kill threats first, ask questions never.' "
Khitti || Dominic scrunched up his nose in a very Khitti-like fashion, which was honestly kind of weird. “Yeah well. I guess I’m glad you’re not him.” -He- felt weird. Things began to blur. For a split second, Khitti looked like Brand before the blur cleared up. And then the colors of everything were all wrong. There was a strange sort of lag to everything, it left a rainbow-y trail as he moved his hands about. He blinked, only once, and soon he was no longer standing in the park. Now he was back in Xalious’ village, and evening had long since taken hold and quite unlike Khitti, Brand, and Dominic’s real life, it was Dominic down on the ground near the well, bleeding out. He’d just barely managed to drag himself all the way there from where the ambush happened further northeast, hoping that someone might be able to help him. Helping Hildegarde had been a mistake, he thought to himself, as he coughed up blood and spat it on the ground.
Brand || Dominic was dying, but there was no one there to save him. He grew up alone, he'd lived most of his adult years alone, and now he would die alone, too. And no one would care. No one would even notice his passing. He was alone.
Brand || And then, suddenly, he wasn't. Just as his consciousness was beginning to waver, he felt soft arms lifting him and holding him close. A woman's voice cut through the fog of his awareness to reassure him that everything would be alright, that he need only wait for a moment longer.
Brand || When he awoke again, he'd find himself on a warm bed of straw and linen. His wounds had been bandaged. The fireplace crackled with life. From the corner, a woman with bright pink curls and curious green eyes watched him. With silence and a warm smile, she offered him a cup of tea.
Khitti || Eyes as big as saucers looked around as Dominic woke up, first taking in the room, then fixed on the fireplace for a time, before finally settling on the pink-haired woman. There was a decent amount of uncertainty in those big emerald eyes as the Catalian watched the woman offer up that tea. After a moment or two, he merely nodded, the woman’s raven-haired patient cautious, but somehow at the same time feeling safe enough in her home that he could accept the drink. After receiving it, he stared at it, the cup shaking lightly on its plate in his grasp. “Thank you,” Dominic said at length. He opened his mouth again, as if to say something more, but no words came out, so he set to drinking the tea instead.
Brand || The woman poured her own cup of tea after giving Dominic his, and together they sipped in silence. That curiosity still lingered in her eyes and danced along his bandages and scars, but she never gave voice to the obvious questions. The one she'd finally ask instead was sure to be unexpected: "Have we met? I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."
Khitti || Dominic hadn’t thought that maybe she’d start asking questions and nearly choked on his tea when the woman finally spoke up. He coughed a few times, then shrugged at her, dark brows knitting together anxiously. “I dunno. I don’t really know anyone around here. Maybe you just saw me in town or something?” He hoped that answer would suffice, as he truly didn’t know. Though… now that he thought about it and looked her over, she did seem familiar as well. “Who are you?” A pause, and another sip of tea. “And -where- are we?”
Brand || The woman set her teacup down and bounded over to Dominic, looking for all the world like an overgrown rabbit as she did so. "I'm Annette. And you're in my house!" She even twitched her nose like a rabbit would. "Sorry, I probably should have started with that. I don't get visitors often. Or see people often, in general. My social graces are out of practice! But you're safe here. And your wounds are going to heal just fine, I might add."
Khitti || Dominic tilted his head at the woman, a single word bubbling up from out of nowhere as he noted her bunny-like movements, “Booplesnoot.” He blinked once at the word, then twice at himself, and shook his head. “Uh, I mean, I’m Dominic. And… how..? Did you fix me up? You uh… You don’t seem like a healer.” He finished up his tea and set the cup aside. “But, thank you. For helping me. And the tea.”
Brand || "Magic!" said Annette, waggling her fingers. A little puff of ... smoke? ... wafted from her fingers, shaped itself into a half-dozen pink and red flowers, then slowly floated away. "Plus a little non-magic, I suppose. Don't need magic to bandage you up, just needed it to get you well enough that bandages were the only other thing you needed." Her face took on a grave expression. It didn't suit her. "You almost died, you know. Even -with- me helping you."
Khitti || Dominic just kinda stared and blinked at Annette as she explained things. “I almost… died?” Something didn’t feel right about this and the more Dominic tried to think about it, the more his head hurt. He lifted a hand to his head, holding it as if he’d be able to just magically cure it just like that. “This isn’t right. This isn’t how things were supposed to go.” For a brief moment, there was a flash of memory. A ‘gorram broodin’ loner man’, as he’d once been called, was standing in the same spot where Annette sat, being his usual grumpy self. Explaining things about him and Dominic, and that they’d come from Catal. But wait… wasn’t -he- Dominic? After the memory was gone, it left more pain in its wake.
Brand || Annette was giving her patient the utmost attention when a high pitched ringing suddenly assaulted her ears. She lifted both hands to the sides of her head, but the sound persisted. The shadow of a butterfly flickered on the wall beside her, there and gone and there and gone and there and gone again. Had she seen anything at all? The ringing was gone, now, too. Her patients stared at her in confusion. Wait, patients? Yes, she saw two of them now, a black-haired man and a grumpy blond. She blinked to try to clear her vision, but they were only getting blurrier with every passing second. Her surroundings did somersaults. Darkness wrapped itself around the edges of her consciousness, struck a chill down her spine, then swallowed her whole.
Khitti || As the darkness took Annette, so too did it take Dominic. He could feel his form shifting, back to bodies that made more sense--or felt like they made more sense--and yet, he was never fully sure. The darkness was stifling. The person that was Dominic a moment ago could see nothing when they looked down at their hands. And then, there was a light. A rather dim one, but still something much brighter than the void they were swimming about in. Soon the light seemed to get bigger and bigger until… Khitti fell face-first onto the deck of the Tranquility. Surely she was dead. Her body was crumpled up in such a way that only a person with all their bones broken could ever possibly be positioned in. Maybe. Probably.
Brand , too, awoke in a crumpled mess of limbs. Wait, was it really him? It might not be a person at all. Really, he looked more like a vaguely Brand-shaped heap of rehabilitated-jerkface garbage. Maybe that was all he'd ever been. Wait... nope, nope, -there- was the pain that let him know this was real. Good morning, pain. Good morning, funny little pinched nerve that screamed at him whenever he bent too far forward. Good morning, deck of his beloved ship. He was not supposed to have his face this close to the wood. His therapist had talked to him about drinking so much that he passed out like this. Wait... -had- he passed out from drinking? No... it was starting to come back to him now, the weird shadow that had loomed overhead just moments ago and was now nowhere to be seen. What the frak had happened, anyway? He looked around and, seeing Khitti, tried to communicate some of his garbled thoughts to her. But all that came out was a hoarse and breathy, "Frak."
Khitti managed to pry her face off the wooden planks beneath her and turned her head to the side to look in the direction of where the vaguely Brand-shaped heap of rehabilitated-jerkface garbage sound had come from, the joints in her neck sounding like popcorn the entire time. “Same.” That’s it. Just ‘same’. After a few moments, she moved again, more joint-popping ensuing, until she was able to slug-crawl her way over to her poor husband. And then she just sort of flopped over onto him, like a beached whale. “Let’s never do that again.” She lifted her hand just enough to poke at him, just to make sure he wasn’t dead and that wasn’t his soul escaping his body when he said ‘frak’.