[KQ] since the day you departed

KIADA

do not misunderstand me when i call myself a shell

i mean a used up bullet casing

The time has come.

It’s time to find whatever is left of Ru’in. To reduce the anxiety of the past few months since she had spoken to Ludo about it. She had even spent the time before saying their goodbyes by silently praying to it. That they will be okay, that they will make it back. That they could go home when all is said and done, and perhaps some part of her could at least feel relieved in helping him get where he’s supposed to be.

They had said their goodbyes, Kiada had spent some time with Deimos, with Amalia and Auni, Amalia's staff in hand, before donning the armor that Deimos had made her, ensuring it all fit tight and well. And with the weapons she carries with her, swift one-handed sharp weaponry to keep her agile in her attempts, she has also added her favorite throwing knives to a bandolier of sorts that settles along her chest. And with it, she has sought out Jigano, both preparing and bringing everything they think they’ll need for the task.

She has put Ru’in’s ring on a chain, to wrap around her wrist so she can’t lose it – the only thing she has of him, and the letter he had left tucked easily into the deep pocket of the pants she wears, hoping they will be enough. Her heart is heavy, but her mind is clear. She no longer shakes from the blight. And she no longer feels the need to prove something. She wants to finish his quest, to help Ludo, to help herself.

They ensure the door is locked behind them, ensuring they know the password and everything else they could need to get back in, and giving Jigano a steely look, a small half smile of confidence she barely feels, they begin to creep out into the night guided by the light of Auni as he treads along at their feet.

---

The start of Kiada’s God Quest from Ludo to find Ru’in’s soul!

as in, the aftermath of something lethal

as in, an echo of inflicted evil

His talk with Amalia followed by Roana's death had left him uncharacteristically silent. A white raven had haunted the rafters of the Guild Hall, tucked into the shadows with Isuma nestled close against him as he dozed beside his lantern, gathering his strength for what was to come.

When Kiada had begun to prepare, so had he. Bracers and gorget, light but strong, had been wrapped around his arms and throat. From his belt hung a quiver of bolts on one hip, balanced by his rapier on the other, while the crossbow was slung across his back in easy reach. The shield was strapped to his forearm, light and strong, its hidden patterns proclaiming it his by Deimos's hand.

And then, of course, there was the Soulcatcher lantern. A loop of cable connected it to his wrist so even if he dropped it it would remain with him, and he carried it on his shield-side, leaving one hand free to wield his sword if it came to it, which he devoutly prayed it wouldn't.

Alas, the gods were not at the best on LongNight, as well he knew from last year.

It was a slightly awkward setup, but he was along as bait and defender, not attacker. He didn't need to kill, only protect. The killing was up to Kiada, and his heart ached for what it would cost her, even if the reward - freeing her lover's soul from the nightmare of LongNight - was more than worth it.

For this he left Isuma behind, unhappy and shaking with anxious worry beside Sugar, but she didn't have Auni's defenses and he would not risk her a second time in the dark. Instead he had Kiada and the brave little luxere - and a rope woven of thick fibers with a core of flexible steel that he made sure to connect them with, latched with the clever double-carabiner Remi had made to go with it. He showed Kiada how it worked, requiring both of them to press it at the same time to unlatch it, before they opened the door and slipped silently into the night. He returned her smile with a grave nod, something in him too fragile to smile as he followed.

Lit by the antlers of a luxere and Ludo's Lantern they paced a ways from the Guildhall before he began to sing, softly at first, calling to lost souls and abandoned dreams, coaxing them to follow the sound of his voice to a chance at salvation and the arms of Ludo and Mort when LongNight was past.

RaNdOM

Songs?

How nice. Maybe the monsters like singing? You've no idea. You've no idea about anything.

The shadows stretch long given the lantern light, the staff, and Auni's antlers. But instead of being pushed away they claw closer, soundless across the snow. Everything grows darker for the meager light that the duo carries with them; palpable and thick around them. Layers of darkness as the snow softly falls.

Snow upon snow upon snow; shadows that reach, and watch, and wait.

EVENT

KIADA

do not misunderstand me when i call myself a shell

i mean a used up bullet casing

Nothing yet, and Jigano’s song arising from the darkness. “Ru’in?” She calls out the further from the population they get. She lets her voice carry, knowing it’ll likely attract something. A hand lifts, the one with the staff as Auni guides the way, jingling the ring with the charm that Ru’in had made. She hopes it doesn’t take long, she hopes she can find him and slay him and they can go home. She knows deep down it’s wishful thinking, in the end. But she’s incredibly hopeful for it regardless.

Glancing over to Jigano, she pauses in her calling out for a fallen lover to take a few more steps, connected to Auni and Jigano as she is. “Perhaps you should hold onto this?” She suggests, handing the staff over to Jigano for the time being – if only to be more prepared with both of the weaponry that Deimos had equipped her with. They fit into her palms perfectly, snowflakes and flames engraved along each.

A piece of home.

She looks back out over the darkness, using Auni’s light to guide their path, jingling the chain that Ru’in’s ring is on. And she calls out for him again.

as in, the aftermath of something lethal

as in, an echo of inflicted evil

He called for souls, but Kiada called for an individual, a person she had loved once, and loved still. The song drifted into the dark - the encroaching dark, he noticed with widened eyes that shifted to a fox's night vision, to look beyond the meager glow of lantern and luxere.

He glanced back only once, wishing one of the fish would join them on this journey. He remembered one last year following Amalia, and he could have used its light and the hope it represented now, but fish or no they had a task to do, and he steeled himself for it.

He walked at the warrior woman's pace, steps light and silent though their voices made any true stealth impossible. She had Auni's light, and Amalia's, but she turned to offer him the staff and he paused in surprise at the gesture. Thank you, he said softly through the bond, a pulse of gratitude vibrating through it. He knew what the staff could do - what the red antlers had done the year before. Protection of the mind even more than the body, and he felt a trickle of icewater down his spine at the realization that the monsters might have tried to twist him once more into attacking the girl he was sworn to defend.

The fingers of his free hand closed around it, but his song didn't fade as he hefted the weight of it. Not a weapon, not one-handed as he currently had it, but it was better than a weapon. With the shield he could protect her, and with the staff he could heal her, and with the lantern he could help her guide her lover out of the dark.

And with the song he could call the monsters to them. All they could do now was hope that one of them was the man she sought. So he continued to sing as they went back to walking, a beacon in the dark.

Or very tasty bait.

The winter winds are suddenly cut with the frosty scents of a place far away. It smells suddenly of running water, of stone dust, and the stretched-silences that last forever beneath the aurora borealis.

Slowly, he comes into view. Tall and ominous of figure as he ever was, the man approached only until the hardened edges of his features are highlighted by the light case by the lantern, staff, and luxere. For a moment his lips flinch into a snarl, bi-coloured eyes like smooth stones int he crisp blue light of midnight.

"Leev him. And the lite. Cuhm—" His hand stretches from shadow into light, palm outstretched. Rather than tan and warm, it is grey and tattered, like elephant skin merely stretched over bone.

KIADA

do not misunderstand me when i call myself a shell

i mean a used up bullet casing

The last time Kiada had set out on Longnight, she had been unprepared. No fish, no Luxere, aimlessly following the fading light of a departing herd. And Isla had died, nearly immediately. Samuel had left. And it was only Caiside and her to bring the creature back, a creature she’d come to love and share a soul with. A creature willing to go on this quest with her. And part of it hurts to have to be doing it again.

But her thoughts are interrupted as she offers the staff to Jigano, the feeling of his thank you and pulse sent toward her that she nods to. Because she doesn’t want to attract too much attention, and that she’s not yet strong enough to speak like him and Amalia can while not in their furs. But it doesn’t matter, she thinks she’s prepared, she hopes she is.

But she isn’t.

The winds shift, taking the smell of the Hollowed Grounds with it — replacing it with the scent of home, and her icy gaze lifts to spot the shadow that approaches, the garbled words on the wind. And she tightens her hands along the weapons she’s been given, even though her fingers tremble, white knuckled as she stands stock still.

He is not right, but she knew it would be like this. “Ru’in…?” She calls out to him, though her voice wavers, her heart yearns, and it hurts so much more than she thought it ever would. And he’s reaching for her, but Auni stands in her way, antlers lowered and pointed at the man, shadow, creature. Perhaps the most aggressive he has ever been.

Jigano might be able to feel her apprehension, her pain at the freckles, the stone skin, as she steps forward to stand beside Auni, out of reach. “No. I can’t.” She tells him, her heart hurting. “Come with me, with us. Deimos is here. You’re mother is here.” She will give him a chance, but her stance changes in case he attacks.

“Please?”

as in, the aftermath of something lethal

as in, an echo of inflicted evil

His nostrils flared as the wind changed and brought distant scents from an unknown world to tease him, coaxing with promise and the joy of something new to learn. Caiside's death bore heavily on his shoulders, however, and curiosity was dulled by the fierce determination to not let what happened to him happen to Kiada. He held the staff more tightly, raising the lantern higher as his voice reached out into the dark.

And then something loomed out of the night. Jigano bared his teeth as he sang, tensing for battle, but the voice that accompanied the beast was oddly stilted and it made no move to attack. Auni stepped forward to add his defense to their little group, but it was Kiada's reaction that comforted him. They had found her lover, far sooner than he had dreamed possible, and he would have sighed in relief if it wouldn't have interrupted the song.

If it hadn't been far too soon for relief.

He could see the set of Kiada's shoulders, the tension and yearning in them, but she stood firm against the creature's blandishments. She didn't want to fight him, whatever Ludo had warned, but Jigano knew that this would end in blood, one way or another. These things always did.

So he stepped up beside her, song becoming quieter as he conserved his breath. He lowered the lantern and set his shield, tensed and ready to step in the path of any attack that Ru'in's corpse might try to launch at the woman who balked it.

---

Jigano keeps singing and prepares his shield to take any attacks that are launched at Kiada.

Movements of humanity twitched in the man's fingers, spotlit as they were. However as Kiada said no, the hand fell back into the shadows, leaving only the sliver of Ru'in's nose, the shine of his eyes, and the curve of his jaw silhouetted by the light.

"Khiaduh." He whispers softly, the words ill-formed like always, and tender despite his meaty and mammoth appearance. However as Jigano stood beside the vulture, Ru'in's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed.

Mention of Deimos, his mother, made his nostrils flare questioningly. "Is..she hehre?" The man asks, of his own twin. Even in death she is still his keeper. The reason he and his flaming-love were not together once, and perhaps the reason they will not be again.

KIADA

do not misunderstand me when i call myself a shell

i mean a used up bullet casing

The hot streaks that burn to the surface are tears, and she’s helpless against them as Jigano stands beside her and Ru’in’s own hand drops into the shadows. But he hasn’t left, she knows this. She can still see the silhouette, still hear her name as it falls from his lips. “Ru’in please.” She chokes over her begging, she hates to be seen this way, to be brought to this. But she can’t stop herself, not as she tells him of their family here.

Their own tiny Basin, worlds away.

He asks if she’s here and she knows who he means. “No.” She bites on her lip, pushing a hand forward toward him, with the bronze charm on the ring Deimos had made it into. “There is nothing she can say. Ru’in, I said yes to the note you left. Please. Come back to me?” As if saying it, she lets Jigano guard her as she steps forward again, inching toward the shadows but still remaining with the light of Auni on her other side.

“Hotaru knows. She knows what you asked. She knows what happened. And I’m sorry I was not there to answer the door. You know I would have. I would have never second guessed it was you.” Because gods she loves him so much it hurts, and if it could have been her instead, she would have gladly done it. But she has Deimos now, back and safe and alive. And she can’t. She can’t.

---

Kiada tries more pleading ;__;

as in, the aftermath of something lethal

as in, an echo of inflicted evil

It was a drama he had no place in that was playing out between the young warrior at his side and the love who had been stolen by the night. They spoke of worlds and people beyond his ken, of ghosts and shadows lost to time and space. Some found, as he heard 'Deimos' and 'Hotaru' but he could give nothing to the stranger in the dark. He could only guard Kiada and sing for the soul of the man she still loved, hoping to soothe his restless spirit and coax him into an easy surrender.

They couldn't bring him back to the Guild, of course. Whatever he was before, he was part of the night now, and though Kiada's vision was blurred with memories and tears for what she had lost the bard's gaze was clear and cold as he flicked fox's eyes to the dark around them and back to Ru'in once more, wary of where the attack would come from. The ghoul of the man who had loved her was the most obvious threat, but that didn't mean he was the only one.

The soft song continued as Jigano remained defensive and waiting for the moment when the fragile peace shattered, ready to protect his charge.

"Yew cahn stahp yer sing'hin." He says gruffly to Jigano. "My sohl will gho nowhere with yew."

And then it is his turned to be stilled by her words. Yes?

"Yew...sahd yehs?" He breathes, and though it is impossible to know if there are tears on his face or not cloaked in darkness as he is, his voice crumbles softly as he seems to consider the importance of this. Then, as if sensing her thoughts, his gaze snaps to her and hardens.

"Buht yew whould choose him over me?" She's found them both now; father and lover.

KIADA

do not misunderstand me when i call myself a shell

i mean a used up bullet casing

He directs his attention to Jigano for the time, and her hand shakes, tears hot that slide down her face. She’s come every inch the warrior he knew she could be, prepared her heart the most she could, but it does nothing to prepare her for the way he stills at her announcement. Yes. I would have married you, would have been honored.

His voice crumbles and she falters slightly. A shaking breath racks through her, but she’s strong despite her begging. And she grows stronger as that dual toned gaze snaps back to her. That she’d choose Deimos over him. And it hurts, it cuts her deeper than she imagined. To have to choose between two that had died, only to be resurrected again. To choose. There’s a pulse of uncertainty that airs around her as she grits her teeth, tightens the hand around the sword Deimos has made her, adorned with flames and snowflakes.

“I want to have you both.” She manages, breath clouding before her. And perhaps she’s an idiot for this, but she steps forward, drawing her hands back to her side, clutching her weaponry like it’s her life.

Since it is, really.

And she makes it to the edge of the shadow, to look up at this version of him that isn’t quite him. And her shadowed, blue gaze sharpens. It hardens to ice. And all over she’s cold. “I love you.” She manages, somehow. “And I’m sorry.” Taking a few more steps to close the distance, she aims her sword up at him, heart shattering and breaking in the process.

as in, the aftermath of something lethal

as in, an echo of inflicted evil

He did not know if Ru'in could hear him through the Attuned bond. Kiada had spoken mostly of the man as he had been on their world before Caido, not what he had become here. Still, it was the only way he could communicate with ceasing his song, and so he tried.

If he had tried to speak through the door using the Attuned bond, perhaps Caiside would still be alive.

You are not the only soul lost in the dark, he said simply, though he did lower his voice a little further so as not to intrude in the painful conversation that was happening between the living and the dead lovers. It was an intensely personal moment and he was acutely aware that he did not belong there. When it all fell apart? That was when he would serve his purpose.

And he had thought that, in the end, it would be the dead man who would move to claim his would-be bride, to try and take her with him into the night. He wasn't prepared for Kiada's step forward. Something in the way she said she loved Ru'in spoke to him, though, because he knew it was what he would say in a similar situation. It was enough for him to shift, to raise the lantern suddenly high as he stepped forward at her back in the hopes of blinding or at least disorienting the corpse of her lover while she raised her blade against him.

And his heart broke for her, wishing that he could wield the knives in her place, that he could take the burden of the second (third?) death of the man she loved upon himself. He couldn't, of course. He had known that from the moment he agreed to help her. But still he burned with anger for the Voice, whose creations had done this to Ru'in and forced them into this position, and he sent a swift prayer to Ludo that this would be quick. A prayer, and a shield ready to move to Kiada's defense should Ru'in retaliate.