Topic: The Path of Blood

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-22 00:31 EST
Following the Path of Betrayal...

The Path of Blood

Act 1: After the Fall

~~~~~ "Pain and suffering as they stumble Blood and fear before they learn. Woe betide this Springtime Eden Now the vale of those who mourn." - Anne Rice, Lasher ~~~~~

The altercation between the two had her eyes narrowed down on complete focus. She could not deal with the great amount of information she had received, but snippets of information trickled through.

It felt like an eternity before her mind geared up once again, and finally, her eyes went from Khaw, towards Kaius....Who was alone now" She looked left, then right. She parted her lips to say something, for she could had sworn two more souls were here just a minute ago. "I....I don't know..." She lowered her head, and stared at nothing. Not sure as to what to say, or do. "....Sorry if I....Not sure what you mean..."

He reached out, finger gently slipping under her chin and trying to guide her gaze back towards his own, and holding it there for a moment, "Renna...", the hand lowered again, slowly, if she would meet his eyes, if not, he would keep it there, his touch soft as his voice, "....stop apologizing to me. You've....done nothing to me. His other hand still on the stem of a white rose and he flicked his gaze down to it for only a moment, "....you....really do like the shop, don't you?"

His smile was that of someone who was.....entertained. And yes, he went there.

His smile growing slightly, "....I suppose, you almost certainly must be an adept at pruning and....dead heading."

She clenched her eyes shut. "M-My name is Rosa..." She whispered, "....Renna is....Just another-" And then her memories came flooding back like a punch in the face from an iron anvil.

For that was what it felt like when she jumped off the roof....Khaw looked from his spotting of lady-friends, towards Renna and Kaius, more pointedly, at his touch to her chin....Renna's rust filled eyes trembled, as tears formed, "It makes me happy..."

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-22 00:33 EST
The shop, that is, but she made no mention to comment on his later comment, for the Manticore was quite happy to chuckle darkly in the back of her mind. Then, her eyes drift down to the grip on one of the white roses - a hybrid of the flower from her home land, and a native Rhy'din version of the Rosa Gigantea species. It gave this particular flower, some thorns at the neck of the flower's head. "....K-Kaius, please, don't touch me....It hurts too much..." Her forgetful heart, that is, was pained. Over Calix, of all people.

He sighed softly, his hand hesitating before leaving her face; his hand on the roses stem absently traveling upward, thorns pricking into his skin, the non aggressive wound provoking no response from his Void armor....perhaps revealing in that, a fatal flaw....nonetheless, his finger bled freely, and he withdrew it from the flowers without staining the blooms. "I'm sorry, I don't want to hurt you..." his hand dropping away from her face, with obvious reluctance in its slow departure. "....and if it's what makes you happy, I'll call you Rosa - if that's your choice." His eyes hadn't left hers yet, though hers might still be closed against him, her tears drawing even more hesitation, but....he resumed softly, "I only ....I'm you're friend. In that....truly I am. People, for reasons I can't yet fathom, feel the need to take advantage of you....and I need help, if I'm going to....make sure you're safe. I need....to talk to the Other."

Perhaps it was an Instinctual being. But instinct is not synonymous with stupid, and many things benefit from symbiotic relationships; so, yes, he would seek....the Other.

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-22 00:37 EST
The Manticore.

If they were one within another, then he could not....the thoughts going through his mind proposed it is a paradox, but, he could not do for one, or feel for one, without the same being said of each counterpart, if indeed they were one. Because the thing Kaius had noticed about the Other was this - although sometimes Renna forgot, Rosa forgot, Little Bird forgot - The Manticore., it remembered. "....My friends, they call me Rosa," she paused, "So that they don't need to say the other name....Little Bird - Andu's name to me....They all mean something. They make me friends, right' New names....Not Renna....Renna....I am not. I am not!" She couldn't control the flow of tears, as her heart ached harder still against her chest. It felt like someone was turning her gut with a fork, and Kaius's final words brought nothing but sheer terror to her eyes. She took a step back into the booth, "Th-t"the other...?" She shook her head slowly, "No, Kaius Master, please....I-I just want to not think about it." She turned, and dipped low behind the booth, grasping up a chocolate bar to be consumed rather savagely, to calm her nerves. Once swallowed, Renna regarded Kaius with a shake of her head, and a shaken sigh, "There is no talking with the Manticore....It just..." Consumes...

Pathfinder glowed feebly, as he seemed to....well, for all intents and purposes, stepped through the counter, and to anyone observing from afar the gateway flickering him to the other side. He ignored its addictive call, and now perhaps even more dangerously, using it without thinking for minor things, "....it remembers me. When you can't....and I don't know how to ....make it so you remember, without ....lying to you. And I won't lie to you." His voice was soft, "....if....you can't remember me, and I know it does....then..." He stopped, and inhaled deeply, "....ok....I won't talk to it....like you think. But, I want it to hear what I have to say. What I've been saying."

She had watched him pass through the booth like it was not even there! She took a step back, and pressed her back to one of the booth's walls. "Listen....Kaius, please....I don't want to do this....I remember! I do remember....See? I remember you....Kaius....Master..." Of course she was remembering now, she was focused on Kaius and nothing else. There was nothing to make her forget, for now. "....It, I don't know if it hears, or how it hears..."

She shook her head again, trembling before Kaius.

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-22 00:39 EST
He hesitated, but ....wouldn't for long, though he paused in his approach. "Alright...," there was a deliberate pause, "...Renna. I believe you. I do." And he smiled, because he did believe her. But now it was time to test it. "....and you'll prove it to me, right?" She'd just called him Master, maybe just this one time he wouldn't dissuade the notion.

"....I promise, I won't come any closer. But I want you to close your eyes ....please, trust me. Somewhere inside you, is something that knows I've never hurt you. Something that....should know that I don't want to see you get hurt anymore," eyes searching her face, his own face a more open book to his emotions that he would verbalize. Or could verbalize. "....I want to see if you still remember me, when I'm not in front of you; when you can't see me."

She was not sure how to react. She was ordered to do something, and every fiber in her being ordered her to obey. Even the voice inside of her head - it told her to obey. It was her purpose after all. To her, he sounded like a mad man. To her, Kaius was almost sympathizing with a lesser Daemon to create a greater good, and that, it seemed, was darkness itself...."Yes, Master..." She began to close her eyes, hesitantly at first, and looked to his face, searched for the answer, then, closed them entirely. "Is this some kind of game....I don't like hide and seek."

Kaius reply came softly, "....I don't like that game either....especially in this sense," No matter how accurate, the analogy. "...can you tell me what my name is, Renna" Just my name - no titles, no Master - except you. Tell me my name."

"....Name....But, your name is..." She cast her head down. "....I can't remember?" She had no visual aid to help her make the connection. All she had no was nothing but the darkness of her closed eyelids, and the scrambled chaos that was her mind, constantly jumbling about images and words and....Smells. Scents. Formula....But the voice in the darkness - yes, it was stronger than ever before. Kaaaaaiuuuuuuus...."Kaius." She whispered. Hiiiis naaaaame, is, Kaaaaiuuuus. "Your name is Kaius."

"I'm just coming a little closer now..." he stepped deftly forward, the hand with the lightly bleeding finger delicately removing a rose petal from a plant, one about to fall regardless of his touch. "...good....now, I'm not going to say anything this time. No voice. I'm just going to touch you, very lightly. Just on the shoulder. When I do that, say my name again, understand?"

He spoke slowly, so that she had time to account for every detail, his voice was....very gentle, cautious, hesitant, but most of all sincere. "Every time I touch you, I want you to say my name. I promise I won't....the touch will be....of someone who cares about you. No more, and no more personal, than that."

Heeeee, is clooose enough....Consume him. Do it for us.

Renna, though, nodded gently along with his words. She relaxed a touch, her tensed muscles winding down so much that even her head drooped forward. But the wound of the flower, it definitely caught her attention. Her breath caught in her throat, "....Please, don't harm the flower..." She muttered, but nodded nonetheless. "....I will do your biding, Master."

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-22 00:41 EST
The wounded flower was the same flower that had wounded him, "....as you wish, if you see it as harm." Softly, yet keeping that petal in his fingers. "Now....stop calling me Master....When I touch, you tell me what my name is..." And with that, he placed a hand gently on her shoulder, more than close enough now, if the Manticore got control....especially when, if she answered the first time, he would reach out with his other hand, the one that held the petal, and gently touched the back of her left hand, fingers lightly brushing over the gauntlet itself, but gently slipping the velvet white rose petal against the exposed skin above it, waiting to see if she would say his name again before...

There is a sudden shiver running through her. And it did not take long for Renna's eyes to spring open. He was just that close enough for the screams in her head to take over the memories of her past. Her claws ripped up to grasp Kaius by the shoulders, and she pulled her lips to crush against his, as a wicked smile crossed her lips, and a villainous laughter to chuckle between the lips.

Bright red eyes stared at him now, as the mental connection was made just enough for him to hear the Manticore. YOUUUUUR AUDIENCE IS GRANTED!

She pulled back from the kiss, howling with laughter, her voice twisted and dark, echoing the words of the Manticore. "....Well, well, well....What do we have here" The man who witnessed my escape. And look....You brought me lunch..." She turned her eyes to those pulsating sources of power, and then looked back to Kaius, "But this is a personal visit, isn't it...?" He knew, long before he heard the voice, as the first rush of action around him that it was the Manticore. It was still her, her face, however, and he kissed back before the voice rang in his head and he struggled to pull back before she did, if only slightly.

The Myriae....which usually pulsed, and ebbed with ruby light were joined by an unbroken line of crimson extending from Titan on his wrist, to Pathfinder on his forehead, traveling up his arm, over his shoulder, into his hair line and emerging striking down his forehead, where it met Pathfinder.

His eyes bore back into hers, and this time, they betrayed no fear. Not the smallest scent, nor hint. Not for himself, at least. "...you know it is." His voice was just as soft, but more certain; authoritative. "....and while I'm not sure what exactly would happen if you consumed one of them....the other I'm fairly certain would molecularize you across the multiverse, if you consumed it. Now if it was bestowed..." His eyes never left hers. "....and you know I would. Are you in there, all the time, watching" Do you remember me?" He made no other....aggressive action. Defensive measures were long ago set in place now, though he was unsure of their speed at this close range, "....do I still smell afraid?" His tone pointedly implying that he knew he wasn't anymore. "....a moment to talk....and if you still wish to consume after that....then....I'm not sure of anything that can stop you. Yet here I stand." Or rather, am ....held.

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-22 00:56 EST
The claws drifted down from his shoulders, as she leant back against the flower-booth's wall, chuckling like a mad woman.

"Of course I remember you....I am always here for you have yet to figure out....The most important question..." She leaned forward, her hair falling in front of her maddened smile, "Let me illuminate you, Kaius. I don't know talk. I don't....Converse....Not normally. But today, I think I shall speak through dear old Rosa and her messed up memories and broken emotions....Do forgive my tone, it is quite uncharacteristic but, well, she is a little weak in the head..." She chuckled darkly, before breaking out into a maddened laughter. "Talk, we can - talk we will! The Manticore is listening....Be grateful of that I have given my time to take over her fleshed, imperfect form." Her chuckle didn't change the serious nature or expression writ across his features, "....the perfection of her flesh is in the eye of the beholder." Stated, perhaps somewhat bluntly, but they'd had a conversation debating perfection....once. Not quite a conversation. He'd made remarks with Rosa....and had precipitated the change, but she must still remember that then. "Why. Why do you remember, and she doesn't." ...he paused, but not long enough for her to answer, "...I don't know which one of you exists inside the other, but I can't ....work against you, as long as you protect her. How many times have you had me within your reach, and yet I keep returning" I have no desire to die. And I have no desire to ....deny you anything 'save the fear she feels of you being inside her." He looked down for a moment, then glanced back up to meet her eyes, shrugging. "...how many more times will she forget me before I feel eviscerated anyway?"

The Manticore chuckled with her lips, finding the whole ordeal so....Amusing. "You don't know do you....I am not going to spell it out, Kaius. I remember because there is something you, and everyone, are constantly overlooking. Ask yourself this....You see her, right' How dead, is she? The memories all broken up, running around....Trying to take over the gap that was left by....Heh."

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-24 19:36 EST
The Manticore grinned, "There is no us..." And now, the Manticore drew its attention to Kaius, and not itself. "....You feel for her, don't you? Like they all have felt for her - the wandering spirit - she remembers you all because I LET HER!" It serves the purpose.

"If her memories are pieced back together, then what of you? Are you still the only thing holding her together?" ....and Kaius looked down for a moment....his eyes on Titan ....then back to her. "....I won't lie....I was about to do something stupid. Something selfish, and stupid for everyone else. And ask what the price of her memory would be - to remember me." And he smiled, despite himself. "And....I'll admit, I don't....understand completely, your relationship to her. Or as her. But you don't understand me either....because I don't know how I feel about her. Until she's....until it wouldn't be manipulating her, -you- I can't know. Do you realize that I just want to know her" Whoever....in her past, your past, that you keep comparing me to - men to - as Master....it's a poor comparison to me. So if you can control what she remembers..." He didn't say anymore to that, and just stared. "....whatever I feel....extends to everything she is, or would be....if I ever get the chance to see that, without being robbed of it again, and someone....twisting her into a plaything. She wasn't always this broken thing, with you lurking under the surface." Was she" Kaius - actually Kaius didn't know that to be a fact, but he'd venture looking foolish. In for a penny in for a pound, at this point...

The Manticore laughed again. This was all so amusing to it! "Make up your own mind....I am not going to help you....I am not going to help you piece together your evidence....Your assumptions....You want to know our complete half" Then you better start thinking of something damn good..." She chuckled and shook her head, her finger-blades running up across her own body, "I speak through you now through her. Under normal circumstances my instinct would not permit me to speak with such....Emotion. Thought. I, am Instinct. She" Is nothing but Emotion - and Emotion is a lesser devotion to that of Instinct. Kaius, you want Renna. You want her back, don't you? Don't you....She interests you....She....Fascinates you....Do you have a hard-on for murderers and rapists"" The Manticore laughed, "....You are in a perfect position, to manipulate her....The power of the being known once as Renna, is nothing but a puppet, to play in anyone's hand....Calix tried. And failed. So how shall you play it, Kaius" Entertain me....Torture her emotions. Give me a reason to consume her flesh in my presence!" She lifted her right claw, "See?! Flesh gone. Removed by the Ranger - by the man that she loves! Removed! Replaced....by me....Bit, by bit....I am the Purpose. I am the Purpose. I am the Manticore! I am Change. I am evolution! I am Perfection!" She grinned, darkly. "....Any more questions before I really do consider ripping out your kidneys..."

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-24 19:37 EST
Ranger....the name was filed away. He took a step forward, "Just one." By the gods, he was daring if none too bright. "And it's not one I want you to answer. Just think about, while you're tucked away within her. You keep saying under normal circumstances you wouldn't do this. Now, bring her back to the fore, and ask yourself, why are you then?" He didn't want the answer, because he feared the truth she would give, and ....would intentionally ignore it for now. Myriae flared...."Now bring her back, I have something to show her."

The last words he said to her when he was -sure- she was still Manticore, "Bring her back to me, I have something to show her". Even as he said them, he slid forward, either dumbly or instinctively assuming that when or if she came back, her eyes would be closed as when the Manticore had appeared talking through them. Before the transition would have time to take effect, he was already close enough to take the one of her gauntleted hands in his own, angling those wicked blades towards his own stomach, though offset so as to not drive straight through - and took one last step forward until he was too close to go any further, the finger blades sliding through clothing and flesh of the side of his abdomen, as his eyes widened and he swallowed hard, mind swirling against the sudden, fresh pain.

His armor should have protected from that.....unless.....like the thorn of the White Rose, since the touch hadn't been from her, and had been....initiated by him, not truly revealing any aggression towards him....yes, a chink in the armor - literal and metaphorical. His face was covered in a light sheen of sweat against the pain, "Bring her....back," Gods it hurt...."bring her back or make good on your threat..." and use the finger blades that is, "....I found something....I want her to see."

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-24 19:55 EST
Even as he would say those words to her, the bond between Myriad would activate....Pathfinder for the action taken - traveling - and Titan to strengthen it....because there was something unnatural about the location, it hadn't been created in the inception of the universe, Pathfinder could tell him that much, and it was difficult to locate, hard to hold onto....foreign....his left arm bearing Titan, it was the right that would slip around her waist, even as the finger blades were still sliced into his abdomen; and while the tenuous link to their location didn't allow a full gateway to be formed....Pathfinder could still molecularize them just enough, being this close to....

"Open ....your eyes, Renna..." his words were halting, in very obvious pain now, written across his face.

Around them, a seemingly ethereal landscape....filled with blossoms, luminous ethereal white blossoms, of roses. The same type she herself was selling or perhaps a more....unique variety, that hers were a byproduct of. Trembling lips were pressed to hers, hesitatingly as she would open her eyes, before drawing back to let her look, "....f...found it....trying to....k" keep" your rose....a"alive..." blood was soaking his side, making his top dark, soaking down into the pant legs. "your....home?"

He was swaying, he had no knowledge of anatomy, and the finger blades might have hit something more crucial than he thought. "en...enough....to remember....me" now?" strength draining down his side, the image of where they stood seeming to....waver. "....others....say....your home is...with them....but I..." eyes growing heavy, "....found..." words coming slower, "....home is where....you are always....welcome....no....Lies....not....hated....not....manipulated....not....hurt. I'm," his world spun, "....your....home."

He hadn't meant for the last line to come out like it did, but it was all he could manage as the finger blades slid free of the fleshy sheath of his side, and he collapsed, pale, the image not only wavering, but seeming to stream away as if being moved through some sort of wormhole, and he was unconscious, unfortunately for her business on the floor of her shop, and unfortunately for him....bleeding to death.

A contingency, a gateway, opened with weak ebb of red light towards the rear of the shop, opening into a room that if she entered, would be familiar. The gateway was tied off, so that it wouldn't pass....except with his passing, either through it or through deaths gate itself.

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-24 21:53 EST
The portal to Kaius's room - or so she suspected was Kaius's room - she could barely remember the last time Kaius took her to some strange place, after she of course, jumped off of a roof. Either way - it was like stepping into a brand new place, and, with her claws wrapped about Kaius's arms, she dragged him through the portal, leaving a bloodied trail in his wake. Her rust-filled eyes were wide, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she quickly whispered the same, over, and over again. "Don't die - don't die - don't die - don't die!" She released his arms, and then looked all about the place, searching for something - anything to stop the bleeding coming from his wound. The five-fingered would that was forced deep inside his flesh. She shook, terrified - unsure as what to do.

But deep down, something urged her on. She took an index finger blade down to the skirt-end of her sun dress, and she ripped into it, removing a long yellow sharp that revealed practically her entire body below the waist. Even her white floral patterned panties. She dropped onto her knees, and pushed the cloth against the wound. "Don't die, Kaius!"

The image of the Field of White flowers burnt into her mind, "Kaius!"

She screamed, looking again, around the room. Did he have anything? A medical kit' Anything in this place to help her fix him...and his eyes fluttered as she called his name; if he was conscious enough, he would have flashed a truly beaming smile....but he wasn't; instead his life's blood left a dark red, tacky trail into his chambers and across the floor, smeared there by soaked clothing....so much blood loss.

His chambers however weren't entirely without benefit to such a situation, and though they were mostly filled with objects some might consider obsession - countless flow charts and open tomes, relating to the form and function of the Myriae, detailed drawings affixed to too many walls, relating them all together, he had still spent some time working as an apothecary and an herbalist, and his shelves also contained a small number of unguents and salves, for the most part clearly labeled and untouched as if new....he'd been terribly good at the profession, as he could travel ....anywhere....to get the ingredients needed, but simply not passionate about it to continue. And thank whatever gods were out there for that, at the moment. His head lulled absently to the side, a ragged sigh escaping his lips, as he tried to right it ....somewhere in his mind he was aware of being moved, though the sensation felt surreal....even in his current state, he was more worried about whether or not he had brought her back from the gateway; he couldn't remember, just the mixed touch of his hand on the small of her back as he'd clutched her to himself as he'd spun the gate to Negazacurgis, and the sharp sliding sensation of her finger blades....by his own choice, finding home within his body. "R...ren..."

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-24 21:59 EST
The Myriae pulsed weakly in time with his heart beat as his eyes flicker again, and he fights to become more awake....such dull aching pain, and the sensation of trying to wake from a deep sleep....but....so tired....maybe just...."..r...rest....bit..." his eyes had flickered open, but now they were closing again. He knew he was semi dreaming anyways, Renna, and floral pattern panties....it kind of made sense given her choice of profession but....somehow perfectly incongruent enough to tell him he must have hit his head on something and was having some strange dream...

"W-what the....What do I..." She was a terrible alchemist. Which was funny, for when it came to scientific chemical formulas, she was a whizz. She could mix chemicals together with such ease and produce exactly what she wanted, but when it came to rendering chemicals from basic flora and fauna....Renna was completely lost. And given how she forgets things so easily now, it was a wonder how she could even identify the array of salves by name, let alone their function.

It was probably a wonder how Kaius could even awake to see her unusual choice of underwear. Not that it was unusual. Well. To some it may be, but not to her.

She'd ruined her dress, and she applied pressure onto the wound to stop the bleeding....

But if there was one thing she knew she did not have access to, and that was blood to replace what he had lost. That in itself would prove the true task. The easy part would be stopping the bleeding....Rust-filled eyes lifted again to the room, and she spotted the fireplace. It was lit. Lucky for her, really....She could use that. She looked to Kaius, her face falling from its terrified, concerned state, to that of a cold, calculating stare. "Wait a moment, I'll be back..." She left Kaius there on the ground, and ran over to the fire. She stumbled onto her knees, and thrust her right claw's finger blades deep into the flames....As the metal heated, she turned her attention else where....And spotted would appeared to be rubber tubing. It was an amazing insight really, for somehow for the first time she did not rely on a memory. She was relying on instinct. A natural know-how she had no idea where it was coming from. She tore the glowing hot blades from the fireplace, and rushed forward with the other claw to snatch up the tubing, rushing back to Kaius.

Now, she removed her blood-soaked yellow cloth, and without so much as a batter of eye lashes, reintroduced each finger blade to the entry wounds Kaius had suffered, and cauterized them, while attention searched elsewhere...."....There's, I need something else..." She looked down to Kaius, "Do you have anything like a needle" Kaius! Can you hear me" Do you have anything like a needle" Hollowed out?"

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-24 22:00 EST
Kaius's eyes had flared wide open and fixed on hers, mouth opening in a silent gasping scream as one hand scrabbled against the floor, the other against the bare skin of one of her legs, back arching slightly as he fought the fresh pain caused to the wound. And he knew quite suddenly, that it was no dream....of all the ways to find a woman in your bedroom....steam sizzled from the heated blood on his abdomen. "Desk?" he gasped, "behind you..." heels kicked the floor, as if to draw his own attention from the pain in his stomach, "first....drawer..." wincing as his eyes completely took assessment of her, and he bit down hard on his own lip, trying to stifle a pained laugh, feet still working against the floor, without purchase, "....you ....remembered" you..." head turning away from her a moment, and he smiled through the pain, and even sighed against the throbbing ache..."...you remembered..."

She drew back from Kaius, snapping from him with the tubing in hand, storming up to her feet to the desk that Kaius had indicated. She drew out the first drawer, and looked about the varying bits and bobs that were located there. She chose to ignore his ramblings. Her mind was focused on saving his life; for the mistakes she had caused that led up to this moment. Her teeth gritted together, snarling as she drew out what appeared to be just one needle. She glanced down into it, noticing that it was indeed hollowed out. She forced the rubber tubing that was just a touch too small over the funneled end of the needle, making sure that it was indeed air tight, before she turned her attention to regard other apparatus that was located elsewhere. What was she going to do' She could not find a second needle, and although Kaius was now no longer bleeding, he did loose indeed, a hell of a lot of blood.

The evidence was ALL over the place, after all....She spotted on an alchemy table not too far away, what seemed to be a funnel, hovering over a small glass beaker. That would do. "Hang on, Kaius, I'll save you..." She jumped over his body, and took the funnel, forcing that end on the other side of the tube, completing her little instrument that was indeed DYI medical 101 to the max. She dropped next to Kaius once more, and placed a hand atop of his chest, "Kaius, this is going to hurt....But please, try and not move, okay?"

It was a hell of a way to wake a man, though effective.

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-24 22:01 EST
Too bad he was too preoccupied to notice that Titan wasn't set off by her touch even this time....why the hell wasn't it working....unless of course, once a touch was invited....his hands clenched and unclenched rhythmically, though weakly, as she could feel when she returned to his side and one of them found her again, not intentionally, just needing living touch to focus....he nodded. "Not..." blinking...."...going to argue..." he forced a smile onto his face - his skin cool on hers, and white....oh so dangerously white....like the Field of White Flowers that flickered in his mind's eye. "It's....ok..." taking a deep breath, "....ready..." He couldn't see what she was doing but...."...trust you, Renna."

Trust her....Not many people said that.

Not many that lived to tell the tale of betrayal she had wrought so many times before.

Without even a whisper of apology, she pushed the needle deep into Kaius's neck, connecting with the major artery, and piercing it. If there was one place in the world where needles hurt the most' It would be the neck. Using her blood soaked cloth; she wrapped it about his neck, and lightly tied a knot to keep the needle in place. Holding the funnel, she stood up, allowing the aid of gravity to do the work of saving Kaius's life. She trembled as she lifted an index finger blade up towards her face, her eyes locked onto Kaius as the tip pushed lightly against the front of her throat. She knew she could not die. She experienced it first hand the other night, and, she knew, something else was keeping her alive. Some godly power. Some powerful entity....

How little did she know, that the truth was....Renna, was Immortal.

Rosa, shook her head, and closed her eyes, tears streaming as she forced the blade deep into her throat. She kneeled over the funnel, and brought it close to neck, and with one vicious withdraw of the blade, blood poured into the funnel, and down the tubing. She kept her eyes clenched, and trembled from the sheer pain that attacked her body. Blood pulsed out of her neck and into the funnel, as each frantic heartbeat powered on in her chest. Of course, some blood escaped from between her clenched teeth, but that was barely anything compared to the blood that splashed down into the funnel and tubing, that would feed right into Kaius's neck.

His eyes widened after rolling backwards from the needle thrust, his voice rasping and panicky as the blade neared her throat, "Renna...what are..."

And then her blood was splashing into the funnel, spattering the floor; the fact that he knew she would easily recover didn't make the sight any less gruesome to him, but he was hardly in a position to chastise or argue. And if not for that, her tear streaked face would have bound him in place stronger and faster than adamantine chains. His heels kicked out slowly as her blood flowed down the tube, and into the makeshift I.V. in his neck....and Pathfinder flared, filling the room with a mixed red-blue light, reaching out into the byways of the planes, and further...touching the secret places made by will, and hidden by it too.

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-24 22:03 EST
His eyes filled with sudden....comprehension....

The Paths of Betrayal spiraled off into three Roads; Blood, Vengeance, and that which touched Kaius the deepest....the White Rose. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, and he couldn't determine how long he lay there, eyes open in vacant horror turning to ecstasy as his lids blinked slowly down and his face was starting to burn.....all his veins began to burn, not with pain, but in the same way that that hot water seems to burn skin too long exposed to the cold; limbs about to give in to entropy flooding with life....and more....and there was a completely different look on his face as his hand fumbled with the needle in his throat, eyelids still fluttering wildly, half panting...."Out....Renna....out....take it....enough..." Except for blinking and fluttering at the infusion, his eyes never left hers, and now sought hers imploringly, speaking for lips that couldn't form around the words, 'Stop...Please stop hurting yourself for me....more than enough"'

She was starting to loose too much blood herself. But unlike Kaius, her body was consistently seeking to replenish and replace what was lost, much quicker than any mortal could possibly comprehend. At his pleading words, Renna grasped her claw to her throat, trying to stop the flow of blood as she leaned down next to him once more. She used her finger blade to cut the cloth that held the needle in his neck, and then, gently pulled it out of his throat. Fortunately for Kaius, the wound the needle made would heal almost instantaneously. Thanks to her blood now running through his veins....She threw the apparatus aside, and fell back onto her rear, struggling to contain the flow of her own blood as, bit by bit her self imposed wound, closed. She swallowed hard, and coughed, sending a spray of blood to dot Kaius's face as he laid there. Weak, she fell back, lying next to him, her body as pale as death itself, dark rings underlining her eyes, her ruby red lips almost blue. She smiled just a little, and closed her rust-filled eyes. "....Master, Kaius....Are you....Better?"

Kaius

Date: 2012-04-24 22:05 EST
A blink was all he could manage as her blood sprayed his face....their blood was mixed now, everywhere around him and in him; the floor and his own veins....and for the briefest of moments, some unconscious part of him realized one thing - he'd seen her....'Consume' before, straight blood....but she'd never tasted his.

There was some irony in that, to him.

And that was all the time his mind granted that notion, and perhaps it was some surge of energy carried over and transformed into impetuousness, but the words of her question had no more left her lips than he had slipped onto his side, and perhaps had she had enough strength just before that to keep her eyes open, she would have responded in the panicked way he expected to his closeness....but....it was too late for that now, as his now hot face brushed hers, cheek to cheek, mindless of the mix of her tears and both their blood mixing on the palettes of their faces, as his eyelashes brushed her like butterflies wings, and his soft voice whispered with strength, "...yes....yes Renna," and his eyes were closed, head shaking slowly back and forth....he hadn't expected....he had really thought his death was the more likely...."....you saved me....you saved my life." Stolen glances told him the price she'd paid for it, and again....he knew she would heal, but....he hated it just the same; her pain for his health. For a moment, his lips drew close to hers, close enough that he could almost feel her slight smile....but instead he merely whispered,

"I'm not your master....I....I'm just your friend. You....you are your Master. You....are Renna's master....I'm just..." and he couldn't quite finish, and tell her he was her friend again. He just couldn't. A hand that had brushed a stray lock of her hair, stuck to her cheek through tears and vitae, ever so reluctantly and slowly, slipped away.

For they were both asleep, sleeping the dreamless sleep of the exhausted.

End of Act 1