"Aye, well, y'know how it is..."
Kasoria did not much enjoy the knowing tone that Zarik put on, but he wasn't one with such thin skin he'd made a deal out of it. The mage had been treading The Veil for far longer than he; just as Kasoria was his peer and master when it came to affairs of corporeal... mortality, so Zarik was far ahead of him when it came to walking Dreams. He was more surprised than anything else, seeing his mentor and employer step into the same mind out of millions. The questions formed on his lips as to how that would be, until his mind kicked in-
The Brand. When he... y'know. He can find you anywhere, now. Especially in your dreams.
Kasoria frowned minutely as the impeccably-dressed man drifted off, focusing his attentions to Sybil. Yep, that was a thought to fester, for sure. He was a hard man to track if he didn't want to be (which was never), and knowing there was someone in the world who could find him whenever he closed his eyes for a nap? Well. It wasn't comforting. But as he observed the younger man awake the woman from her stupor - for that was what this state of dreaming truly was - he listened and he watched and he understood.
Zarik was not a threat to him. Not at this point, anyway. He was a teacher, and a traveler, and Kasoria would not even be here without him. So when the man turned back to him and started to educate, he paid attention. He looked closer at Sybil's face and... yes, yes, he could see it. There was clarity in her eyes, suddenly. An annoyance behind her surprise that he couldn't help but smile at with half his mouth. He recognized the expression: it was almost the same as one who realizes they've been fooled, and doesn't care much for the feeling.
Gurgling from the bloody stones. Scratching. Fumbling with broken nails and shattered fingers. Trying to shuffle closer to the blade in its throat. Kasoria cast a quick glance at the parasite and then turned away. This was more interesting.
"Wake... y'mean make 'em Lucid?" He said, watching Sybil, studying her with all the intent of a student would an experiment. "Aye. m'seein' the difference."
The woman spoke again, and it was not the same voice as before. Well, it was, but the tone, the rhythm, the... the gradient of it, was all wrong. There was nothing noble or courtly about her, like a tragic princess or well-schooled high lady. Her words were common, sprinkled with indignation and obscenity. Kasoria made a dry, crackling sound that passed for a chuckle. He nodded as the stunned young lady looked at him with fresh eyes.
"Much better." He nodded to Llyr, still observing all with the same knowing smile. "Ask dat one 'bout yer particulars, love. I'm jus' passin' through..."
He turned away and back to the Parasite. Lucid dreamer or not, this facet of the dream was not to be changed, apparently. The hate, the fury, the undying determination born out of both those things, they were all still there. Blazing out of her black eyes even as blood continued to spew from her neck. Kasoria frowned as he looked closer. The blood under her... it wasn't pooling or spreading anymore. It was falling between the stones, draining as if the mortar between the slabs was no longer there. Kasoria knelt down and watched it flow and dribble into the new darkness. He put his hand on a stone... and felt it give, as if there was space under it... and when it removed his hand, it bobbed up a fraction of an inch.
"Never... be rid... of me..."
The Etzori's gaze flickered to the woman, the construct, the parasite, the target dummy. Whatever she was, even a knife in the throat couldn't shut her the fuck up. With ruined limbs she pushed herself upright, as the Etzori crouched down before her again. Her hands bunched into what passed for fists. Half her knuckles seemed to be missing, the rest broken. But she still rested her emaciated body on them, and forced herself upright to face him on roughly the same level.
He waited for her to do that. It would make things easier. Then, with a scowl and a muted growl, he gripped his dagger again, snapping his hand back and drawing it just like before-
-only this time it came at the woman in an arc of gleaming white, not a short thrust-
THUNK
-as he slammed the blade into the side of the Parasite's head, making the serrated blade vanish inside her skull and the brain inside it. She twitched, spasmed, enraged rictus suddenly twisted into a demented expression of confusion. Her eyes rolled back to the whites and Kasoria grunted. Hopefully she could still hear.
"Yer not helpin'."
SHUUK
He ripped the blade free and let the corpse fall back to the stones. No blood, this time, or very little. Just the dram that was stored in the thin band of flesh between the skin and the skull. Whatever his dagger had impaled in her brain was already reforming, that he was sure of, but it bought him a few more bits. He sighed and got back to his feet. The stones seemed wider apart, too. Things were changing. Minutely, but definitely. But was that due to the dream, or the dreamer... or the thing he'd now killed thrice?
"Look, if youse two're finished wi' yer lesson," he said, barely keeping the irritation from his lilt. His tone caught their attention and they saw the little man point down. At the stones now starting to loose their grounded moorings and, well... fly. "Got somethin' y'might wanna see."
Kasoria did not much enjoy the knowing tone that Zarik put on, but he wasn't one with such thin skin he'd made a deal out of it. The mage had been treading The Veil for far longer than he; just as Kasoria was his peer and master when it came to affairs of corporeal... mortality, so Zarik was far ahead of him when it came to walking Dreams. He was more surprised than anything else, seeing his mentor and employer step into the same mind out of millions. The questions formed on his lips as to how that would be, until his mind kicked in-
The Brand. When he... y'know. He can find you anywhere, now. Especially in your dreams.
Kasoria frowned minutely as the impeccably-dressed man drifted off, focusing his attentions to Sybil. Yep, that was a thought to fester, for sure. He was a hard man to track if he didn't want to be (which was never), and knowing there was someone in the world who could find him whenever he closed his eyes for a nap? Well. It wasn't comforting. But as he observed the younger man awake the woman from her stupor - for that was what this state of dreaming truly was - he listened and he watched and he understood.
Zarik was not a threat to him. Not at this point, anyway. He was a teacher, and a traveler, and Kasoria would not even be here without him. So when the man turned back to him and started to educate, he paid attention. He looked closer at Sybil's face and... yes, yes, he could see it. There was clarity in her eyes, suddenly. An annoyance behind her surprise that he couldn't help but smile at with half his mouth. He recognized the expression: it was almost the same as one who realizes they've been fooled, and doesn't care much for the feeling.
Gurgling from the bloody stones. Scratching. Fumbling with broken nails and shattered fingers. Trying to shuffle closer to the blade in its throat. Kasoria cast a quick glance at the parasite and then turned away. This was more interesting.
"Wake... y'mean make 'em Lucid?" He said, watching Sybil, studying her with all the intent of a student would an experiment. "Aye. m'seein' the difference."
The woman spoke again, and it was not the same voice as before. Well, it was, but the tone, the rhythm, the... the gradient of it, was all wrong. There was nothing noble or courtly about her, like a tragic princess or well-schooled high lady. Her words were common, sprinkled with indignation and obscenity. Kasoria made a dry, crackling sound that passed for a chuckle. He nodded as the stunned young lady looked at him with fresh eyes.
"Much better." He nodded to Llyr, still observing all with the same knowing smile. "Ask dat one 'bout yer particulars, love. I'm jus' passin' through..."
He turned away and back to the Parasite. Lucid dreamer or not, this facet of the dream was not to be changed, apparently. The hate, the fury, the undying determination born out of both those things, they were all still there. Blazing out of her black eyes even as blood continued to spew from her neck. Kasoria frowned as he looked closer. The blood under her... it wasn't pooling or spreading anymore. It was falling between the stones, draining as if the mortar between the slabs was no longer there. Kasoria knelt down and watched it flow and dribble into the new darkness. He put his hand on a stone... and felt it give, as if there was space under it... and when it removed his hand, it bobbed up a fraction of an inch.
"Never... be rid... of me..."
The Etzori's gaze flickered to the woman, the construct, the parasite, the target dummy. Whatever she was, even a knife in the throat couldn't shut her the fuck up. With ruined limbs she pushed herself upright, as the Etzori crouched down before her again. Her hands bunched into what passed for fists. Half her knuckles seemed to be missing, the rest broken. But she still rested her emaciated body on them, and forced herself upright to face him on roughly the same level.
He waited for her to do that. It would make things easier. Then, with a scowl and a muted growl, he gripped his dagger again, snapping his hand back and drawing it just like before-
-only this time it came at the woman in an arc of gleaming white, not a short thrust-
THUNK
-as he slammed the blade into the side of the Parasite's head, making the serrated blade vanish inside her skull and the brain inside it. She twitched, spasmed, enraged rictus suddenly twisted into a demented expression of confusion. Her eyes rolled back to the whites and Kasoria grunted. Hopefully she could still hear.
"Yer not helpin'."
SHUUK
He ripped the blade free and let the corpse fall back to the stones. No blood, this time, or very little. Just the dram that was stored in the thin band of flesh between the skin and the skull. Whatever his dagger had impaled in her brain was already reforming, that he was sure of, but it bought him a few more bits. He sighed and got back to his feet. The stones seemed wider apart, too. Things were changing. Minutely, but definitely. But was that due to the dream, or the dreamer... or the thing he'd now killed thrice?
"Look, if youse two're finished wi' yer lesson," he said, barely keeping the irritation from his lilt. His tone caught their attention and they saw the little man point down. At the stones now starting to loose their grounded moorings and, well... fly. "Got somethin' y'might wanna see."