Topic: What I do? I'd tell you but then...

Lilly Hyde

Date: 2013-12-12 16:04 EST
It was a rare sighting of Lilly in the Red Dragon Inn, her usual haunts weren't calling to her that night so she tried out the main event of Rhy'din. She managed to pick a time or perhaps it was the day that the place was almost deserted, the large common room occupied by herself and one other person.

She had struck up a conversation with the man, it seemed silly to both remain in the room without speaking and found his company to be pleasing enough. They spoke about frivolities, the subjects of favor when in a bar, and drank some of the finer brews that were available.

"So what is it that you do when you aren't chatting up strangers at a bar, Lilly?" The mans name was Luke, and his voice was silky smooth and could melt butter if he tried.

"I'm a package delivery specialist." She said without missing a beat, bringing the special Autumn brew up for another sip, it had hints of some spice she couldn't identify but found interesting and delicious.

"Package delivery specialist' Forgive me for saying so but you don't look like a delivery man." He chuckled softly.

"I should hope I don't look like a man." She paused a beat to allow him to chuckle at the joke and then continued. "It's a job, it pays well enough to get me by and during the holidays people really look forward to seeing you show up." It was a cover story she used often, it explained why she was always traveling and it she was delivering something, a death blow but still, it worked.

"Still, tell me Lilly, what is it that you do?" She didn't notice the shift in his voice, and perhaps given the reputation of Rhy'din for its magic users and Gods she should have been more cautious about what topics she allowed the conversation to drift toward. Before she knew what was happening she was speaking. "I'm a contract assassin, my government gets me jobs and I execute them, the pun may or may not be intended."

She heard the words come out of her mouth and realized that the man had used some form of magic to get her to speak the truth. It was possible he saw a hint of sorrow in her green-ish eyes the moment before her dagger sank to its hilt in his chest. He wouldn't have had the time to process it as she followed up the blow by slipping behind him and running a second dagger across his throat, cutting deeply enough that it nearly severed his head from his body. One couldn't be too careful when dealing with a magic user and she didn't know the extent of his powers so taking the head off was the most efficient way of making sure the man would actually die.

There was blood, a lot of it and she quickly gathered the mans limp form in her arms and took it upstairs to an unoccupied room. She finished the removal of the head, there would be no easy regeneration from that and cut out his heart, she'd take that with her just in case. She cleaned herself up, found some unused clothing in the closet and put them on, the bloodied clothes would find a fire soon enough.

Moving down the stairs she went to the bar where they had been sitting and cleaned the bottles and glasses up. There was a strange lack of blood and, despite the urgency to leave, she couldn't help but test a theory. Taking her dagger out she slit a shallow cut along her arm and let the blood drop down onto the ancient oak of the bar. It soaked it up greedily and in under a minute there was no trace of it anywhere. "Is that how you rebuild yourself when people are destructive" Interesting." She patted the bar. "You keep my secret and I'll keep yours."

One last sweep was made to erase any traces that she'd been there and she was back out on the streets and heading for the docks, that was a good place to dispose of things. It would be awhile before she ventured into the Inn again, and next time it would be with some magic resistance gear. "Silly men, should never force a woman to reveal secrets she doesn't want to reveal. Next he probably was going to ask my age or weight. Absolutely unacceptable.? The words swallowed up by the shadows she walked through and out of sight.

Lilly Hyde

Date: 2013-12-20 20:31 EST
Lilly left the inn with alacrity, her stride a militant beat on the wet cobblestones. Turning into the second alley she came to she pulled up short, dug into a secret pocket in her jacket and took out a bottle hidden within. Twisting the top off she looked into the pillbox to see how many of the small blue pills were left in there, she counted six. Only six.

That won't last you long. If you feel the need to take one now, after only two days from the last, you will run out before two weeks are gone.

The voice was a familiar one and it chided her for her recent decisions. "I can do this, I am not controlled so easily."

But you are and you know it. Without those little blue pills to quench the fires you would rip that boys head from his body, would have shot him full of holes, gutted him and decorated the inn with his entrails. Gouged his eye—

"Stop! I did none of those things, I am in control." A stranger passing by the front of the alley slowed their step to try and see down into the shadows, looking for the source of the growled out, angry words that did not sound like anyone's definition of controlled.

Six more pills and we will see how in control you are, won't we"

Lilly turned and threw a punch at the wall, her fist leaving a crater in the facade, the area surrounding the epicenter of the punch crumbled around her fist as she held the pose a moment. The sound echoed in the alley and she waited to see if anyone was going to check out what made the racket. No one came, she exhaled slowly and pulled her arm back. A brief examine of her knuckles showed no damage. She'd have to be more careful, most people assumed she was human and she preferred it that way. Looking at the wall, it had not fared half so well as her fist, she could see into the building, thankfully an empty one.

Drawing in another deep breath she whispered to the voices in her head. "I am in control." It would have been more convincing if she didn't take one of the pills out to pop in her mouth. That was life, or it was life for a citizen of MT-187397 or just Seven as the inhabitants spoke of it, and she would not lose control. The government doled out the pills to their operatives as needed. She had saved a few from various off world missions but the stash she had was running low. A trip home would be necessary soon and there was no guarantee she'd be able to leave again without a contract.

It wasn't like Lilly wasn't aware that they addicted those in her particular field, and a few others, to the drug, but she had always believed she could stop taking it if she tried. The past month had shown her the lie of that self deception. Maybe with an item that would soothe the fire in her soul she could go longer without or without the drug altogether" Icedancer....yes, that might do it, might, it was worth a try. She didn't particularly want the blood of some young kid on her hands just because he happened upon her at a weak moment. So....Icedancer would be the next trick she tried.

Five more pills....

Lilly Hyde

Date: 2013-12-31 11:52 EST
When the haze descended it wasn't as though she couldn't see anything but red, that saying was not apt to the situation. She could see the focus of her rage with a clarity that rivaled the best tech-enhanced sensory input she'd ever experienced. The victim's terror, after the first round of blows had landed, was palpable and written in a thousand small ways everywhere. Waiting to take another pill had proved to be ill-advised, and if Hawk hadn't shown up when he did she would have been seeking a clean up for murder. As it was the man went to the hospital, no police report was filed, or perhaps Hawk had taken care of it, either way there were no repercussions for the act.

By the time the challenge rolled around she was down to two pills, having promised Hawk she would not skip so many days had cost her nearly all of the remaining days she had left to waste before returning home. She should have taken one of the pills that morning but opted to allow the fires to grow and feed the determination to obtain the Opal. The bouts were brutal, something she enjoyed, and at the end of it she came out with the prize she sought so desperately.

Nearly the moment Melanie passed the opal into her hands she felt the need for solitude. Kruger walked with her awhile, keeping her from sorting out what it was she sensed from the Opal but she liked the man and tolerated the delay, a concession she would not give to everyone. By the time they parted ways she was feeling drained by the hollow pit that she associated with the withdrawal from the drug.

The sensation wasn't one she enjoyed and she had come to understand that the only thing that fed that blackness was an inhuman amount of violence. Everything in the world was skewed, creating a slippery slope that lead her to the opportunity to sate the hunger, to use the inhuman physical attributes she possessed to quench the desire. Part of the problem was that she was OK with that type of violence but wanted it to be on her own terms and not from some chemical induced withdrawal fit.

Then there was the fact that facades were important to Lilly in this place, for now at least. When others viewed her as human, as something other than what she truly was at heart....it made her believe, if only for the time, that she could be something else if she wanted it. It was a fleeting desire, as history had proven to her time and again, but at the present it was a strong desire. That daydream did not include a loving husband or children, those things felt foreign to her, there was no desire for those things in her heart. The sensation she experienced when those people were cheering for her tonight' That was something she wanted, something she needed.

I am just another addiction you seek to make your own.

The soft feminine voice that whispered through her thoughts was not her own, it made her stop in her tracks. "What?"

Exchanging one addiction for another, not the wisest of ideas, is it"

The voice whispered a name at the end of the question, a name that no one else should know. "Get out of my head. My thoughts are my own." It was good that the streets were empty, but then again it was Rhy'din and someone talking to themselves in the middle of a street wasn't so unusual.

Thoughts....actions....they are all your own, I would not want to take responsibility for any of it. So few can hear my voice....you must want to hear what I have to say. You want me to soothe your soul" It was never the drug that made you violent. Lilly shook her head, trying to clear it from the rising haze of rage; she could control it, would control it.

You could, but there is that part of you that doesn't want to control it. You want to use it, to release it, to tear the world apart just as you were torn asunder as a child.

"Shut up. Will you help or not' If not say it. If so then do it. Make it plain so that we might be done speaking." Her past was her own, she would not explain, justify or use her past as an excuse for her present actions.

The silence stretched, coming to a point that Lilly assumed that the rock was done speaking, that it would not help her and a disappointment welled in her....there would be no course available to her but to go home. Then a wave of calm washed over her, the haze cleared and for the first time in years she drew in a breath free from the chemical chains that bound her soul. The sudden lack of it produced a choked sound from her, a desire to go and celebrate....with violence. Maybe, she thought, maybe with violence but it would be her own choice and not because of withdrawal.

One addiction for another...

She ignored the whispered words, they held truth but for now she didn't care.

Lilly Hyde

Date: 2014-01-09 19:22 EST
Her breath began to speak As she stood right in front of me

"Another!" She shouted at the tender to bring another round. The volume of empty pitchers on the table might indicate that the group of five should have been satiated but Lilly hadn't slowed down on the pace and so another one was delivered and glasses were refilled.

"You've the devils own luck, lass. If I didn't know better I'd think you were cheating." The man that spoke had a voice that was wrecked by years of smoking, drinking and shouting, his appearance was that of someone that had spent decades in the sun and salt of the ocean. He did manage to pale a bit as the dagger appeared next to his hand that he had rested on the pile of coins in front of him and below the other hand that was occupied holding five cards.

The colour of her eyes Were the colour of insanity

"Listen here, Lilly, I didn't say I was thinking you were cheating. Mayhaps were you some other, less honorable lass, you know. Still, an old man can wish some of your luck would turn e"ery now and again so that he could feed his family and starving children, right' No harm done, we're straight and all that. We are, aren't we?" The other men at the table chuckled at his discomfort, they all knew her well enough to know that she could joke around with the dirtiest, dastardly of sailors but if you strayed into calling her a cheat or a liar she'd get violent on you. It wasn't that they didn't know she was a liar, she was, they all knew it, but she wasn't a cheat, you could be sure of that as the fact she wasn't whatever occupation she'd told you she did that week.

"Of course we're straight, Liam. Very straight in fact, flush to the brim we are." She laid her cards down, all hearts in order leading up to a Queen. Grey eyes focused on Liam hard, there was a small part of his brain that wanted to ask if those eyes had been brown just a few minutes before but self preservation won out and he forced a laugh. "M"kids needed to go on diets anyway. Another round, barkeep!"

Crushed beneath her wave Like a ship, I could not reach her shore "If they're anything like you they definitely could use to lose a few pounds." Tysin added from his spot to the left of Lilly, his own cards tossed in the center, no match for the straight flush. "Finish your story about the clueless lad that asked you on a date, Lil."

They had known her on-and-off over the past decade, when she blew into town life always got more interesting so no one mentioned how she looked the same or how her eyes changed color as mercurial as her moods. When she had first come to the Elephants Umbrella she had been hit on by a dozen sailors within minutes, they were sailors and she was female. It quickly became clear that no one would have success and although a few still tried, mostly out of habit, they'd come to accept the fact she was a loner and wasn't looking for anyone to share her bed or her life in that way. She'd flirt, at times, but only with the men that knew, beyond any doubt, that it was all in fun and they shouldn't take it as an actual opening.

"We were dueling at the time, I think he was hoping to distract me with his pretty blue eyes." She started, taking a long drink from her mug. Sean began to shuffle the cards, and everyone threw in the ante coins.

"You mean your fancy brawling" If you'd only let me take you to the warehouse, Lil, you could make a killing, with just a small fee for me for bringing you in." This was from Tomas, the last man at the table with them.

"Fancy brawling" It's just brawling, some of the people there are tough, real tough. And what do I need with that much gold" I make plenty here and besides I try not to get into situations where death is the expected outcome for someone." Most of the underground fighting that went on ended in someone dying, she wasn't so much concerned for her well-being as she did try hard not to become entangled in the local justice system.

"The man?" Sean prompted.

"The man is of no consequence. Focus on your cards boys because I'm feeling especially lucky this round.? The grin that appeared was the lopsided one that the men had come to know and appreciate, even if they could feel their coin pouches getting lighter by the second.

We're all just dancers on the Devil's Dance Floor

Lilly Hyde

Date: 2014-01-21 21:36 EST
Lilly knew, intellectually, that the night was cold but she didn't feel it. Her pockets were full of coins, that would be used the next day on some gifts for herself. Making her way to the Cardinal Inn so she could pick up the squire weapon and hopefully speak with the Baroness, it was late so probably not.

You're kind of funny.

"Kind of funny' I am hilarious."

I was wondering if that one guy was going to faint when you placed that dagger next to him.

The voice in her head laughed, or she thought it might be a laugh. She still wasn't sure if she thought of it as a male or female but that might not even be the right way to think about a sentient rock. Maybe it was just echoes of the previous holders, but she couldn't picture Matt having the biting humor that the Opal had displayed so far. It was judgemental, in a brutally honest way, could tear down walls to secrets she had long since believed buried and gone, and then change things up and be like a pal just hanging out for a brew or two.

"Are all of your kind so deceitful?" Despite the late hour there were still people milling about, heading to one place or another, Lilly didn't pay any of the strangers any mind.

All my kind" We are few and perhaps not all the same, perhaps we are, we have grown.

Pushing through the door into the Cardinal Inn she could see she was too late to do anything but pick the weapon up, speaking with the Baroness would need wait to another evening. She wanted to spend a bit more time with Morgan, something told her that they had more in common than apparent at first glance.

The barkeep seemed to recognize her without her needing to say anything as he grinned bright at her and spoke. "You'd be the lass I was told to keep an eye out for, yah' Lilly, right' The Baroness was spot on in her description of you, could have drawn a portrait and it would have been you for sure."

"I'm Lilly, yes, and I came for the weapon and a bottle of beer to go please." There were only four or five other patrons in the place and all in shadowy corners of the room, it was amazing how the Inns in this town managed to have twelve of those in each room....shadowy corners. One of the men caught her gaze as it swept over him but a slight shake of her head discouraged him from rising and coming over.

You know that one" He doesn't look like the men you usually gravitate toward.

The barkeep handed her the weapon with reverence and a bottle of Badsider with another grin as she dropped a few coins on the counter. "Thanks, please tell the Baroness I would like to be penciled in her schedule when you see her, ok?"

"Will do Miss. You sure you don't want to stay a bit, it's cold outside and we have some fine rooms open tonight, for you there'd be no charge."

Lilly wasn't sure if that was because she was a squire for the holdings or something else but the man she saw was one she knew and one she'd rather put some distance between herself and him if it was at all possible. "Not tonight, but soon I'll probably take you up on that. Fair evening to you, barkeep, I'll see you around."

"Safe travels, Miss Lilly."

You don't like it when they say that, do you?

She waited until she was outside before she spoke. "I don't mind when Rena says it, I know she means it, she wants my travels to be safe. Strangers" Why should they care if my travels are safe or not' I like a bit more honesty in my chit chat than most people I suppose."

The man from the shadows is following us.

"Tell me something I don't know. It will be alright, I don't like my travels to be safe anyway."

Lilly Hyde

Date: 2014-03-11 14:40 EST
"Go." The word was followed by a blade it passed close enough that Hawk felt its passage by his face, she had missed on purpose but gotten close enough to threaten.

He had seen this behavior before, and he wondered what he did to bring it out in the women he liked. The mistake he had made was going for the kiss, he knew she would never give him a clear signal that she wanted it so he had tested the waters....the shark infested waters.

The kiss had been nice, her lips were warm and welcoming, her hands had come to a rest on his chest and she hadn't pushed him away for what felt like a long time. When she did push it had thrown him back into the wall and her expression was a riot of emotions, not one of them what he had hoped to see.

If he didn't want to deal with this type of woman, he thought, he really ought to learn to steer clear faster. He felt like a moon caught in the gravity of a star or planet, drawn in and trapped, but the view was always so beautiful, if violent. "I don't want to listen to the lies anymore. You can either admit that you have emotions, I'm not even asking you to say which ones, Lil." He turned to face her as he spoke, a poor decision as the ice in her gaze nearly made him lose heart.

"Or?" She prompted.

"Bull headed wreck of a woman, there is no or here. Just do it. We all know you can feel anger, betrayal, kinship, what is so frightening about other emotions to you? Why are you afraid of getting physical with me, or with anyone in a way that doesn't lead to bloodshed?"

"Frightened?" The word flat and toneless. "Afraid?" There was a flash in her eyes that was not an improvement from the icy stare.

"Lil, you know what I meant, I won't allow you to grasp a hold of a word and twist it to deflect from my actual question."

"Allow me" Tsgu, you think too highly of yourself. Can you conceive that I don't want you to touch me because I don't want you to touch me?" And the verbal daggers were thrown with far more accuracy than the physical ones. Tsgu, a word that meant fool in her language and said with enough conviction that denying its sincerity would be foolhardy. "Go. I'm already late for training with my mentee."

He retreated, for now, a wise man had to know when to press the point and when to execute a tactical exit strategy. This left Lilly in a mood that hadn't had a chance to dissipate by the time she got to the gym. It was a small, hole in the wall kind of place. It had a ring, some punching bags, fading posters on the walls that had images of famous boxers from a dozen different worlds.

When Kruger arrived he was quiet, maybe he could see the anger still flickering in the depths of eyes that had gone to a deep, dark blue frosted on the edges by the color of pristine ice. The session started with a "warm-up", which meant she beat on him without mercy. She wasn't sure how long the barrage lasted, but some sane part of her mind said it had been enough and she paused, stepping back and allowing Kruger to catch his breath.

Watching him she couldn't help but feel some pity for the man, he had gotten himself a mentor that wasn't anywhere near the best in the Outback, nor did she have the patience or the skills of a real trainer. She had gone through more training than the average person in her life, a training that had started at the age of five, both physical and mental training to become the woman she was today — the weapon she was today.

"Even an anvil needs to be replaced once in a while. This one will never be broken." It was telling that those were the words that broke the silence, it said something of his thought processes. Broken" Did he see through the friendly facade she worked so hard to erect to the monster beneath' She did break things, it was what she was born to do and she was good at it.

"In that case, how about we step up the training, Kruger?" A layer of ice formed over her fists, surprisingly flexible despite the fact it should not have been. She feinted a sucker punch, slid to the left and threw the hardened fist at his kidney. "You need to be able to continue a match no matter the pain you're in, no matter the ache, the pain, the score. Every pass needs to be the first, the only, the one you take the pain to your opponent." There was one thing she was undeniably good at and that was the comeback. She lived and breathed the philosophy that each pass was the only one that mattered, could be the only point of focus.

"We'll go over how to turn an advantage into a solid strike next. Pay special attention to where my feet are at and the set of my shoulders, those will give you hints for what?s coming up next." The followup to the kidney punch was her dropping, rolling to his right side before she lashed out with a boot to strike at his ankle. "You might not always react in time but practice enough and instinct will get you out of the way."

There were probably times during the workout that Kruger was debating the wisdom in accepting her as a mentor, but until he cried mercy she would train him in the same brutal, straight forward method she had been trained. There was a voice whispering in the back of her mind that she didn't want to break him. Lilly liked Kruger, liked his innocent enthusiasm for the sport and his genuine desire to take on the world. The whisper was drowned by her own anger, frustration and inability to deal with anything that wasn't violence....a voice that reminded her that she solved all her problems with the point of a dagger or the silenced flash of a muzzle.

The point wasn't about not breaking, it was about what you did with the pieces when the inevitable happened.