2017-05-15: Commiserations II
- Log: Commiserations II
- Cast: Agatha Pyrelight, Lily Keil
- Where: Starfall Saloon
- Date: 05/15/2017
- Summary: Agatha, in her guise as Anna, drops in on Lily following her exposure to malevolence in the Otherwordly Hollow.
<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.
All things considered, the state of Adelhyde had not been great the last few days. With all the Hellions about, it was certain to leave people on edge, wondering if the monster attacks might continue. For those who had actually been out fighting the Hellions, it is probably a bit more emotionally draining. Those who have a tendency to feel malevolence might find a bit clinging to them, and have to try and come to grips with it or allow that darkness to start consuming them.
Agatha had decided to check in on a few prospects, especially with the malevolence becoming stronger in the land. And this had brought her back to the Adelhyde Saloon, in a similar guise to the last time she had been here. Her hair is pulled back, tied at the nape of her neck, and her dress is perhaps a little less modest than last time, open halfway down the back except for a few laces. But she inquires with the innkeeper as to where she might find a certain friend of hers, and purchases a few items that might be useful.
A few minutes later, Lily will find her attention being touched by... something. Not threatening, no - but a bit of a tug that calls out to the part of her that had been touched by the darkness in the Hollow. As if it were responding to something nearby. It's nothing major, but just a sense of awareness to the spiritually sensitive...
The fact that it is followed a moment later by a polite, yet firm knock on her door is probably not coincidence. Three times, with a sort of strange 'thunk' rather than the sharper rap one would expect of knuckles on wood. Just a little enticement, a bit of extra mystery to draw the young woman's attention.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Is that what Lily has been feeling? She doesn't have a sense for explanations in this case. But she can feel it; where once she would have dismissed these things as simple stories, she's rapidly gained an understanding of the sensation of darkness.
It is not the darkness she knows from her own blood--unless it is. It is not the darkness she knows from war--except in a way it is. Something has changed in Adlehyde, regardless. That, and an awareness of something in herself that is different.
Her arm aches, despite the fact that she healed it days ago.
The strange touch on her mind gets her attention, and she turns to look towards the door. This is not the kind of awareness she's accustomed to having. She shakes her head, and then there's the knock.
"...Hold on," she says, and keeps her voice still as she crosses the room, picking up her gloves and putting them on along the way before, at the door, she brushes her hair back past her shoulders, jostling her earrings.
There's the sound of something moving--a chair--and the door unlocking, before it opens. Lily Keil is there, pale with bags under her eyes despite her efforts to conceal them, obvious signs of fatigue in that and in her dry lips. One hand is curled at her side like a claw as she looks to see who it is that's knocked.
But when the knock came to her mind, she did answer.
<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.
What greetings Lily on the other side of that door is her recent acquaintance from the bar downstairs. Anna leans against the door frame, her hair spilling down over one shoulder, one hand tucked under her other, a pair of small glass tumblers held in her fingers. In her other hand is the source of that strange knocking sound - because it's a still sealed bottle of rum that she was using to rap against the door.
But Anna leans her head against the door frame, and she seems... well, almost as wrung out as Lily does. Just a hint of bags under her eyes, and a sort of languidness to her movements that suggest she's had a very long day. She smiles upon seeing Lily, and holds up the bottle and the glasses.
"I'm sorry to bother you here in your room, but I've had a rather rough week - I was hoping you might want to talk for a little while...?" she offers. Her voice is clearly trying to hide her own tiredness, but she's clearly not able to manage it.
"I'm afraid I don't really have... anyone I can talk to besides you." There's something to her voice, the suggestion that something's happened and she needs to confide in someone. Anna pauses, looking down at the floor for a moment before glancing up at Lily before asking in a quiet voice, "...could I come in? Just for a few minutes?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily remembers Anna, though it feels like a while ago that she met her, after everything else that's happen. That doesn't dim the clarity of... part of her memories of that night.
Lily's golden eyees flicker from Anna's face, to her hair, to her hands one at a time that explain the knock and indicate intent. She then looks past Anna, as if to see whether there's anyone else there, or coming, becuase... That's precisely what she's doing.
Only then does she look back to her acquaintance. Lily doesn't smile back, but she does note the smile, looking to Anna's mouth and back up to her eyes. But...
"...As a rule, I almost never want to talk," Lily points out, but her voice has softer edges than it sometimes does. She inclines her head a moment later, and steps backward. She can't leave her if she's the only one she can turn to. Though... The conflict writes on her face.
"Come in. Make yourself comfortable. ...For a little while." There's a chair partially in the way, which Lily nudges aside; she's in a black dress and stockings.
Across the room is a small table, and the mate to the chair Lily was using to block the door. Lily will close and lock the door behind 'Anna'.
<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.
Anna honestly doesn't believe you Lily. Or rather, you might not want to talk, but the red haired woman can almost sense the need to talk in the darker haired woman. If she was as standoffish as she seemed to be, then Anna would expect her to have turned her away. Or at least asked to head downstairs instead.
But she accepts the invitation with a smile, and slides inside, stepping around the chair. She looks around for a moment, taking in the room - people's rooms said so much about them, after all. But it's only a glance, and her back is to Lily as she makes her way across the room. She nods once as the door closes, and walks over to set the glasses on the table, sliding into the occupied chair.
She expects Lily will probably either sit on the bed, or bring the chair over.
But Anna removes the cork from the bottle, pouring a finger of the rum into each glass - and without waiting for Lily to start, throws her back. "Oooh, you don't know how much I've needed this," Anna states, pressing the glass against her forehead. "I had left town for a few days to make a delivery, and this... beast attacked me on the way back. I managed to get away, but I've not felt... right ever since."
It's a hard confession for the woman to make, it seems. And Lily can feel that faint sense from the woman, something that wasn't there before, but has become familiar. That cold, unpleasant feeling of malevolence coming from Anna, hard to sense, but certainly there.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Wants are complicated, after all. That sense isn't wrong of Lily, regardless of her comfort level at the moment. But it's also true that Anna gave her the sense that she needs to talk, and that matters, too.
The room is chaotic at the moment; books on a dresser beside the table, clothes at her dressing-screen, a bottle of strange blue medicine partway emptied that seems to glow beside her bedside table. The bed, however, is immaculate, made up perfectly.
There's an empty jug on the table that can be moved to the side, and a couple of glasses, all on a tray that Lily moves over to and starts to move. This...
Is not really the room of a woman free of distractions; it says rather a lot about her mental state, if one looks.
Next up the chair comes over, Lily's stockinged feet padding across the rug as she goes. "Have you?" she asks, her voice a little dark, and then she quiets to listen. She feels about as off as her room looks. Something in her stomach...
A beast.
Lilytakes a seat at about the time that Anna finishes her confession, and closes her eyes, focusing on that sense as best she can, delving with her mind because it's unpleasant quickly, and...
"...Something's wrong," Lily murmurs. "I can... " A pause. "Did you get the wound checked out carefully? Are you sure you aren't ill?"
It was hard to sense, but even a little bit of it speaks volumes at the moment. Having opened her eyes, Lily rubs at her left forearm for a moment before she reaches out to her own glass and downs it immediately.
<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.
Anna refills both glasses, and then takes a sip from hers. She lets out a quiet 'mmmm' as the liquor goes down, leaving her feeling a bit warmer than before. Less apt to feel the cold that never seemed to leave that bite. "I'm not unfamiliar with treating wounds - alas, when you're a wicked woman who others care to see only if she's useful, then you try and find ways to be useful," she admits quietly.
"And no, I treated it as best I could - it seems to be healing fine, but... I don't know. There's something about it that feels... strange." A sigh, one that speaks of accepting such strangeness because there is little choice. A witch suffers, because in the end there are few places for her to turn.
"The drink helps, I think. Helps me forget, to not feel what is strange about me." The glass tips back, and the rum follows its predecessor. Anna sets it down, tracing her finger around the rim for a moment before she refills it. "It had red eyes, almost glowing. A dark mist about it... so strange. I'd much rather forget, but it's hard. Hard to find a place to drink a bit excessively without worrying about someone taking advantage."
A smile, and Anna rests one elbow on the table, her chin resting on the back of her hand. "Or finding someone who you would trust if you were a bit less than rational."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily barely seems to notice the drink on the way down, save for the moment she closes her eyes and focuses on the burn of the rum. Maybe some of this can chase away that slick feeling that comes of this. Maybe not. Her eyes open regardless, sharp by look but softer by cast.
"...I see," she answers about the wounds. Finding ways to be useful...
Lily knew when she asked that the problem wasn't an infection. Nevertheless, she had to rule out that possibility before she could consider what she felt. And her research on things like this has turned up nothing thus far.
"Mm." She nods, in the end, but mostly just keeps listening because it's not the end. Agatha mentions the drink helping her forget and Lily has a brief pained look flash through her eyes. It's familiar to her. Lily takes a sip from her rum at that. The description is almost like...
It flashes into her mind or close enough to, and she shakes her head suddenly, holding her glass up off the table.
"Mm." Lily looks to Anna's face, looking to her unusual eyes a moment before she tires of eye contact. "...I understand what you mean, about drinking it away. I shouldn't drink as much as I do, but I feel the same way." A pause. "I can feel what you mean, the strangeness. I have it too. Not only what makes me different, unless... It is what makes me different. I don't know."
"But while I don't usually recommend trusting a relative stranger... I assure you, there's no one here who's going to take advantage of anyone."
<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.
"Mmmm... well, I suppose that's fine," 'Anna' states a bit languidly, and she smiles, leaning a bit more on her arm, which is starting to incline more towards 'laying' on the table rather than 'leaning' on it. "A bit of a pity, but that's fine..." It's the ever so slightly slurred voice of someone who is perhaps a little more into their drink than they might want to let on.
But the red haired woman pours herself another glass, and sighs quietly. "It doesn't always feel bad..." she admits, although her voice is very small, as if she is afraid that admitting it to the room might make something terrible happen. "I worry sometimes, it feels like my gut is clenching up, or that there is a ball of ice there. I don't need something else making me stand out from other people." She traces her finger around the edge of her glass, the pointed tip drawing out a small bit of water along its length.
"But if I stop caring quite so much - then it's not as bad. If I stop worrying about what other people thinking..." Anna looks at Lily, her black eyes narrowing slightly. "...then it doesn't bother me. Instead it just feels like... things are easier. I'm a bit stronger than before, better able to take care of myself.
"...it's not a bad feeling..."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily lifts an eyebrow when 'Anna' smiles after that languid statement, mentions than it's a pity. She debates how to phrase her answer for a few moments before a light shake of her head. "You'll manage," she answers, intending to leave the matter at that. There's no sign that she's interested, either, no hints of where she looks.
She does wonder whether Anna might get handsy, but dismisses the idea and picks up her glass for another drink before she sets it down to be refilled.
It doesn't always feel bad...? Nothing terrible happens in the moment. Lily watches Agatha's finger along the glass, its pointed tip drawing her interest as well as a little bit of water, making the motion almost hypnotic.
"That's..." She trails off, looking up into Anna's black eyes. "Do you want to be like that feeling, though? For me... It's the same, partly. Not any ice I know, ice is familiar, ice is..." Lily considers for a moment before she points to her glass and a chill mist settles over it.
"But it feels like a knot in my stomach, like something twisting. You see... I've dealt with those creatures, too. I was there, at the attack on Port Timney. I treated the wounded after, and I went into their lair twice."
"...I spilled my own blood to progress in there, and I wonder if I didn't leave something with it. It... Haunts me, this feeling, it makes me feel distant from everyone else."
"...It's not as if I could draw strength from this even if I wanted to. And if I did..." She picks up her cold glass, "I have strength. I'm some kind of thing already."
She downs this one quickly, and pushes the glass forward to be filled again. "But it whispers like that, doesn't it? You hear it. Even when you came here, I could feel you."
<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.
Agatha smiles quietly - there's a bit of genuine amusement at Lily's consideration, followed by the 'you'll manage', but she keeps it hidden for the most part. It was interesting to see what Lily's reaction was, of course. The poor girl was so loath to let anyone get close... it was a shame.
Anna of course might make the occasional drunk salacious comment, but she doesn't act on them. Nothing that would make Lily too uncomfortable. "Yes, it does whisper. Nothing intelligible, and it's strange. And yet at the same time, it's not... bad." She sets her glass down, the bottle of rum having been drained a fair bit by this point. "When you've been alone, even if it's not something that you are comfortable with..."
She reaches out one hand, placing it on the table by Lily's hand where she is playing with the glass. Not touching her, but just seeing if that sensation changes from being any closer. "...I think that's why I came by here. I was walking past, and I think I could feel you even from outside. Just the faintest hint, a reminder that someone was here I could talk to." She smiles again, much more warmly than Lily has really ever seen out of her. "So no matter how this may feel, I think having that connection with another person... that common point of contact...
"It can't be all bad."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Of course, Lily doesn't smile back, but her other hand has long since abandoned the readiness to cast; her legs are crossed under the table, her posture straight, leaned back against her chair.
Comments Lily can shrug off; this whisper, this is something different. It's not something she's been able to put into words, so far, but it's something she can hear now in this. She doesn't move her glass this time, her arm down on the table, but watches black eyes until she finds herself looking down into her glass.
Strange...
Even through Lily's glove, that's close; Lily's eyes flicker over to the hand quickly, and she pauses. She watches that hand, and freezes in her breath at 'Anna' and her words about sensing her. Then she looks up at her; then she sees a warm enough smile that it seems to hurt her own ice. "I..."
"I'm not..." She hesitates. "You could sense... Me?" This disturbs her. "Could you before all of this? I..." She stops. "I apologize, I should keep my composure. Of course you can talk to me. People like us... Should stick together, a bit."
"I'm not as alone as you are," she says softly. "But even so. I hadn't considered... That it might be a connection to anything but monsters and darkness. ...Not that I'm not familiar with darkness already."
<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.
"Do people who are lost in the darkness deserve to be doomed to suffer alone for all time?" Anna muses quietly. "I don't think we're lost, but there's not some... minimum that makes you worthy of the comfort of another person nearby. Of course, you already have people to support you..."
There is a wistful trace of envy there - knowing that Lily has at least one close friend that she trusts so intimately. For someone who has been alone for a long time, such a thing must sound like a wonderful dream, but one that's so far off...
"I'm sorry if it sounds too... forward, to say it like that. But somehow I think I knew it was you I was feeling when I walked by this place," Anna continues. "I can't say it was something I had sensed before, so perhaps it is this..." She apparently doesn't know what to call it. It was, after all, just a chance encounter in the forest with some strange beast that left her marked like this. And a person who is alone, always in their own personal darkness, would be the perfect target for malevolence to try and overcome, wouldn't they?
"Still, I appreciate you giving me some time." The redheaded woman slides her hand back, lacing her fingers and resting her chin on top of them, both arms resting on the table. "It feels strange, and I don't really know what to think of all of this... but I'm glad you were here. Thank you for giving me a bit of time... and trust." She saw the blocked doorway, the attempt to keep the world out. Really, it was amazing that Lily would let her in.
Or perhaps not - sometimes when people went to excess in blocking a door, it was an invitation to open it, if you were truly determined.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
The question gets a second look from Lily; it may only be a musing, but it nevertheless resonates with her. ...So does the way that Anna sounds so wistful in mentioning her people that are there to support her.
"...I don't know," Lily admits. "I don't know whether we're doomed." She says 'we', already. "I'm lucky that I have who I have. ...More than just the one I know is always there. I actually..." she trails off, thinking better of it.
A shake of her head when Agatha asks if it's forward, more or less, and Lily lifts her glass to finishthe rest of it. She listens as Anna keeps going, looking into her empty glass at the last drop again. She looks up at Anna after that.
"I hear that it's called Malevolence," Lily explains. "But I don't know very much about it. I'm just learning what it feels like. I'm becoming very, very familiar with what it feels like. When I first faced creatures like yours, I didn't feel it at all. Now it's..." A shake of her head.
Lily watches Anna's hand go, and the black-haired woman finds herself looking at Anna herself. "...It's funny," she admits.
A door.
"I don't usually trust this quickly. But I drank so much with you before, and now I let you into my room. I'm not sure why. Maybe it really is this connection. ...Or maybe it's just knowing that we're two freaks who understand being that way." It's painful to even use that word, but she does it anyway; she's that sort of person.
"...You..." She hesitates, "Anna, you don't have to be alone. I'm not much of a friend, but I can at least be here to talk to."
<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.
"I appreciate that," Anna replies, and she sounds happier to have heard that. Indeed, she gives Lily a bright, beaming smile at those kind words - ones she's never really heard before. "You... really don't know how much it means for me to hear someone say that." She scuffs her hand across her face for a moment - perhaps someone with eyes like that might even cry black tears, but it's hard to say because Anna looks away so Lily doesn't see her expression for a few moments.
Using the liquor as an excuse is a good way to hide what she might be thinking of wanting to say, because Anna pours herself a bit larger glass than usual, and immediately goes to throw it back. She downs it fast and hard, and gasps out a moment later, "I'm sorry, the rum was a little stronger than I thought it might be... oh I must look like a bit of a mess, I apologize..."
She looks down at the table, both hands laced around the glass. Anna's grip is tight enough that her knuckles stand out a bit under her skin, and she manages quietly, "I know... you seem like a very reserved person. I know that this must be... uncomfortable for you. I really do appreciate it." She smiles, still looking a bit embarrassed.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily looks almost agreeable when Anna smiles so brightly, when she says she doesn't know what it means. A faint, faint smile spreads across her features, ust for a moment, just long enough. When it's gone she looks thoughtful again, careful, like usual.
She starts to say somthing else but doesn't quite get it out, watching Anna pound bag an extra portion of the rum. Finally there's a specific enough statement that isn't too awkward, but by then Anna is still talking, and Lily looks down at that tight grip.
"Ah..." Lily doesn't laugh, but she glances down and lets out a little breath all at once. "Yes, truthfully. But there's nothing for it. I can't avoid everyone. I just... don't deal well with people. Even when I was young I didn't. Maybe it's because I'm different. Maybe it just is."
"...But this is less uncomfortable than usual. Though..." Lily reaches out to take the bottle and pours herself the same amount of rum that Anna just had, "It might be the rum. I know I'm very talkative tonight." She lifts the glass to her companion and downs it all at once.
There's a little hiss as even she notices that much in one go, setting it back down immediately. "You're not any messier than I've been lately. I can barely sleep. And as usual, Leon rescues me from it a little."
<Pose Tracker> Agatha Pyrelight has posed.
"Well, then I think we can enjoy the rest of the bottle together... and then I should probably wander back downstairs and see if I can arrange a room for myself, because this was quite a lot of rum!" Anna giggles, the alcohol clearing getting to her at this point. But her smile is warm, and she sounds quite thankful when she adds, "I'm honored that you're willing to give me your trust. Even if its just a little, it means a lot to me."
She pours out another measure of rum for both of them, and sips hers a little more carefully. No need to throw it back right now. But she gets the sense that Lily may not open up to even those close to her very easily, and that thought makes Anna smile.
"But I don't think this bottle will finish itself, so we're both going to have a bit more work to do," Anna continues after a moment. "Your friend Leon... he sounds like a good man. I'm glad you have someone like that. I hope you don't mind, but... would you mind telling me a little about him...? If you're not comfortable with it, of course, I do have a funny story I saw at the fairground the other day..."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
The alcohol is certainly going to be getting to Lily, though she already feels the added, pleasant warmth that offsets the awful feeling that's settled over her, that she can feel like another point in Anna here too. Shepowers through it.
"Then... Ah, good," Lily answers the thanks, and ducks her head slightly, glancing to the side clearly embarrassed. Then, the flush in her pale cheeks is as much rum as anything. Or it could be, except for the fact that it fades in a moment.
Lily takes her glass back and sips at this point, holding her hand that much more carefully to avoid dropping it now that she's aware more consciously of how much she's drinking.
"I'm no stranger to work," Lily answers wryly. But ten she listens. There's the request for information, the talk of a story, and...
"...Leon's a very good man. Too good a man for his own good, sometimes. He's..." Lily sighs. "He's everything to me." A glance down into her rum, as she closes her eyes. "I can't afford to get weepy. Please, tell your story."