There was a companionable ease to their frenemyship these days, after all that they had been through together. They leaned together, giving and taking support in equal measure as they drank and allowed themselves to relax and finally release some of the pain and tension that they'd been holding into since LongNight and before. Tal snorted at Sah's desire to avoid pissing the family off, but it was a surprisingly gentle tease as he took a sip of his rum and swirled it thoughtfully on his tongue at the other man's verse--
The buzz of static that preceded Vox's arrival wasn't quite warning enough. As the bone-curling dissonance of the incorporeal menace's voice cut through the pleasant fuzziness of booze in his brain Tal sprayed rum into the air and jerked away from Sah, fingers scrabbling for his Dagger--
And then freezing as black panic washed through him, breaking glass and blood and violet slime filling his vision. He barely heard what the Family's Messenger had to say as he clawed his Goggles up over his eyes but by then the intruder was gone. His panic, however, was not. Bile rose up abruptly in the back of his throat and he twisted to the side, retching up what was left of his lunch onto the warm sand as if to expel the memory that Vox had so innocently(?) triggered. Adrenaline surged through him, leaving him shaking with nowhere to aim it as he panted miserably over his sick, eyes squeezed tightly shut.
His Dagger had been dropped from nerveless fingers to the rock between he and Sah, glinting wickedly in the sunlight as orange highlights caught on the poison that coated the blade.
The buzz of static that preceded Vox's arrival wasn't quite warning enough. As the bone-curling dissonance of the incorporeal menace's voice cut through the pleasant fuzziness of booze in his brain Tal sprayed rum into the air and jerked away from Sah, fingers scrabbling for his Dagger--
And then freezing as black panic washed through him, breaking glass and blood and violet slime filling his vision. He barely heard what the Family's Messenger had to say as he clawed his Goggles up over his eyes but by then the intruder was gone. His panic, however, was not. Bile rose up abruptly in the back of his throat and he twisted to the side, retching up what was left of his lunch onto the warm sand as if to expel the memory that Vox had so innocently(?) triggered. Adrenaline surged through him, leaving him shaking with nowhere to aim it as he panted miserably over his sick, eyes squeezed tightly shut.
His Dagger had been dropped from nerveless fingers to the rock between he and Sah, glinting wickedly in the sunlight as orange highlights caught on the poison that coated the blade.
