behind the cellar door

There was something familiar, from that place back home, that crosses his expression while she speaks of her own home. She can place it easily, in the soft dark earthy eyes of that swan like creature that couldn’t speak. How that creature gestured to her while she picked herbs in the rain. Before she had never wanted to be a warrior, had never wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps. Neither had she wanted to be a Thief like her mother. She had wanted to heal in a previous life, she had wanted to create for a moment there too. But life was strange and ridiculous at times, and she had found herself plunged here becoming the person she had tried to fight against. She remembered the stories her and her twin had made up those dark nights in the Basin, laying beneath the glimmering aurora. Of conquering the world one day, of making friends and enemies of all and none. How far off that dream had been – even those days when she was small and wore her heart on her sleeve and she had told Erebos of wanting to be Queen. Perhaps those wants still lived within her, deep enough she could touch if she chased the darkness long enough. Part of it hurt, to get so close. There were so many others that had been there for those dreams to work. Khairi, Kianzo, the helper and the muscle. She found herself quietly missing her twin’s brutality, his soft touch. The sun to her moon. Kiada hardly noticed when Seiji apologized, too deep and lost in the maze of her thoughts to really respond. She simply reached for more food before he hesitated in responding to her question. Her icy eyes slipped to him curiously, their sharpness softening lightly as he spoke. “I should not be here.” Oh how she could relate. She shouldn’t be here either. And if it were a different world, a different time, she would be home and fine – with her parents and siblings, fighting to take on the world and explore. She offers him a light smile in response, almost a sorrowful one in that she could relate to his words. But his optimism was something that sparked a light in her already bright eyes as she reached for another piece of the food before drowning it with more of the burning alcohol. “I hope so.” She said quietly. She had suffered enough, or so she thought. The universe had a sick sense of humor it seemed, however, and she couldn’t be too careful these days. “Maybe there’s a way to get back for you too? I haven’t explored much here, but it seems people are trying to get rid of the black spire in the center of this land. It’s blocking off more of the world around us.” She spoke thoughtfully, head tilting in an avian way as she thought. “I went with a couple other people who could shift into birds to fly around it and try to find weaknesses. Perhaps your answer is out there somewhere?” She threw the question out there – trying to reflect his optimism. “Perhaps my Khairi is out there.” KiadA and here you come, with a shield for a heart, and a sword for a tongue.

coding

S E I J I

---

The depth of her sorrow seeps into him from across the distance between them. Seiji had not intended — but it hardly matters. He has repaid her kindness by opening old wounds. He can do no more than feel terrible for the transgression. What, after all, is there to say? He barely knows her. Only knows they have this single thing in common, this solitude. It unites them against the rest of this place, but it also makes the loneliness of their separate situations all the more palpable.

Eventually, Kiada lifts from the fog of sadness. She speaks of a spire, and Seiji immediately finds himself listening. Rapt. Curious. "Spire?" he repeats. In his mind's eye, he pictures them: vultures and hawks, fierce birds spiraling against a waning winter sun. Magic. "I have not seen it," Seiji answers. He shifts his weight as if preparing to run off this very moment. "I will go look."

The rain is full
of ghosts tonight

She eyed him briefly from her peripheral vision as his curiosity brimmed to the surface. Taking a final bite of the food, she pushed the rest of what was on the plate toward him and finished her drink with a light nod. “It’s this huge black building. An eyesore if you ask me.” She said, attempting to joke about it though the danger remained in the back of her mind. As he mentioned he hadn’t seen it yet, she tilted her head in confusion. She had thought everyone had seen it. But of course, he was new. Perhaps he hadn’t spent enough time outside just yet. But then he was moving, shifting from the bar and she scrambled to scrounge for coins for their drinks and food, leaving them in a small pile on the wood bar. She moved after him, reaching out to grab his arm and keep him from running straight to the door of the Spire. There’s a small amount of panic growing in her eyes and her heartbeat thunders in her chest and ears as she looks at him. “We can go outside and look… Just don’t go to it.” She warned, her voice taking on a sharp edge. “It’s a dangerous place. Someone died to the creature that lives within it.” She added, as if to explain the urgency in her rushing to prevent him from losing his life so carelessly. Of course, she could have overreacted – he might have just meant to go outside and look rather than approach the Spire itself. But he was new, and she didn’t know him despite this strange familiarity, and she didn’t trust that he wouldn’t go try and accidently kill himself in the process. She made her way to the door, stepping out into the snow and tightening the bundle of furs around her as she stood in the middle of the street and squinted up into the sky toward where the Spire sat. It was hard, if not impossible to see here, and she moved down the street hoping that Seiji would follow her to a better vantage point. The clouds had cleared enough to see the giant black building that protruded ominously over the land and she pointed at it with a gloved finger. “That is the Spire. And it’s the key to getting out of this bubble I think.” She explained in a way that might have sounded like a mother chiding their child, but the information was there. She had been at the meeting when Rory had gathered everyone to tell them about Wessex and the plan to attack the Spire in the Spring. KiadA and here you come, with a shield for a heart, and a sword for a tongue.

coding

S E I J I

---

He doesn't expect her to move after him so quickly. Seiji flinches as fingers close around his arm, and turns back to face her with wide eyes. For a moment he's caught there in confusion, mild fear, but then she explains in that terse voice and he sees: she's worried. His heart still beats too fast, but he feels himself calm. Nonetheless, he takes a step back once she releases him. "A creature?" he asks. He hadn't exactly meant to go tearing off all on his own, anyway, but he's grateful for the warning. "Sorry," he adds at last, with a sheepish bob of his head.

Seiji follows her out the door, aware now that she's paid for his meal and saved him from what she perceived to be certain death. He allows himself to wonder vaguely why, though doing so feels ungrateful.

The cold punches him right in the chest the moment they step outside, and Seiji wraps his arms about himself with a sharp intake of breath. He doesn't say anything about it, though. He has no desire to beg more off this stranger, so he follows her through the crumbling ruins, his breath fogging before his face, until they can both see the black spire jutting up toward the sky.

Seiji realizes now he had glimpsed it before, but hardly paid it a second thought. He had been disoriented when he first found this place, and spent much of his time in the warmth of walls since then. "Ah," he hears himself say, his voice just slightly distorted by the onset of shivers. He has never been very adept at handling cold. "Who built it?" he asks. "What did you see — when you visited there?" He means as a bird, though he hardly believed her when she told him of her magic earlier. He can't play skeptical forever, not in the face of so much evidence. Of these strange and terrible things.

The rain is full
of ghosts tonight

Kiada hadn’t intended to frighten him as her hands clutched onto him briefly. Her eyes widening in response to his own wide eyes and flinch. Dropping her hand immediately, she draws breath quietly as she explains to the best of her knowledge the information about the protruding black Spire. As he asks of a creature, she nods in a curt way – her brown hair shifting with the light and the movement. When Seiji apologizes, she shrugs her shoulders with a quick and effortless roll. “You didn’t know.” Her voice is surprisingly light, and she offers him a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry too for grabbing you.” She finally managed to say, running a quick hand through her hair and sighing quietly. She had overreacted, and she didn’t even know Seiji that much aside from what he had told her. It seemed a majority of their conversation was better fit to internal monologues – of dreams and cities left behind and trying to understand how to go on from there in a new world and different life. As she points out the Spire against the wintery landscape, her icy gaze lingers on him briefly. He spends a few moments staring at it and – was that shivering? Quietly, she removes one of her furs and offers it to him in a kind gesture to wrap around his shoulders. He wasn’t prepared for the winter here, and she had some extra furs back home so it didn’t bother her at all to offer up one of them for a new found ally. Then she turns to look back at the Spire, squinting against the light. “I don’t know who built it. I didn’t see very much either, we mostly just circled around the top and flew until we couldn’t fly any longer. There’s a strange weather about that place – and it rained and soaked my feathers and battered us against the winds. It was safer to not get too involved.” She offered to him with another slight shrug before remembering she wanted to prove that magic existed here. Perhaps it would lighten the mood. Smirking to him, she reached into that deep part of her where her magic was stored – pulling at it until finally it snapped and in a flash Kiada no longer stood head to head with him. Now, a small and pale bearded vulture stood where she had, fanning her feathers along her wings as if she were showing him that she was still herself. Though her heart panged at the familiarity of the dark feathers when they moved in her vision. The scarlet gaze of the bird looked up to Seiji with a curious look before a guttural sound left her beak and she shifted back into herself. “I was a bit too big I think to handle the storm at the top of the Spire, the wind had no trouble pushing me around.” KiadA and here you come, with a shield for a heart, and a sword for a tongue.

coding

S E I J I

---

Gratefully, he accepts the much heavier fur coat from Kiada. Seiji hesitates for a guilty moment, though. Surely he ought to be more reliable than this, pathetic enough to be constantly handed gifts. He shrugs it on nonetheless, with a nod in Kiada's direction. He will be indebted to her for a long time after the kindesses she has shown him tonight. But he will repay her. He promises himself that.

She is describing the strange weather she encountered around the spire. "Magic," Seiji says wryly, mostly to himself. Why would a place like this exist? A strange, ill-maintained cage? He can't think of anything the people here have in common — with each other or himself. How frustrating! And he can't even remember what he was doing before he ended up here. A puzzle with too many pieces, half of which are unobtainable. Impossible to see the larger picture yet.

Kiada draws his attention away with a motion, though. When he turns fully to glance at her again, she isn't there at all. Just a large bird, its feathers patterned black and pale. Seiji's features light up then, somewhere between surprise and delight. "A vulture!" he says, grinning. She's impressive in this form: the size of her wings, of her hooked talons, of her feral voice. He is tempted to step away from her, but in a moment the Kiada he met earlier that evening is back, speaking as if there was hardly a break in their conversation, at all.

He looks at her in awe, only half listening to her words. "You're talented," he says at last, as if in disagreement with her own assessment of her flight abilities. And there are others like her! What a strange place! He could ask a thousand questions about the magic itself, how she learned it, if she can teach others — but he worries about prying too far. "I don't think I have seen that ability before," is all he says, still smiling. But he hasn't forgotten about the problem of the spire altogether. He is not so easily distracted.

He turns back toward it thoughtfully. "It could be a..." What is the right word? He pauses, searching, before he says, reluctantly, "a god? In that place?" He gestures at the tower. "Angry, maybe?" Whatever he did in his past life, he's sure it had nothing to do with religious consequences. He's guessing. But he feels like he's only grasping the edge of an idea, something half-buried in the mess of his memories. He sighs. "I don't know enough about this place." Or about himself.

The rain is full
of ghosts tonight

As she shifts, his surprise is reflective in melting the iciness of her eyes as she shifts back into herself. Giving Seiji a quick glance over, she thinks he’s warm enough and turns her attention away from him to the settlement around them. People coming and leaving, trudging through the snow, probably with family or friends to go see, and she huffs a quiet yet silent sigh at the idea. But then he’s speaking again and her head tilts to better listen and pay attention to her newfound companion. Khairi wasn’t around anymore, but Seiji was here. At least someone was. Tilting her body to him in a half bow she gives him a grin and a playful wink. “Thank you.” She announces in response to him, her arms moving in a wing-like way before she straightened herself and stuffed her hands in her pockets. “I didn’t have it before I arrived here. Just… Came with it.” She explained with a roll of her shoulders. But as she turns away from him to look back at the Spire, he begins to speak of a god and her head tilts contemplative. But he seems uncertain, and her eyes flash back to him. “I’d say it’s worth finding out? Besides, you’re still new. It’ll come with time.” She offered quietly, giving him a quick smile as if she were channeling his optimism from before that had dragged her out of the darkness her mind had spiraled into. She looks back to the Spire and squints into the night. “They said it didn’t seem organic. Perhaps it’s a machine of some sort?” She pondered quietly – somewhat to herself, but loud enough for Seiji to ascertain what she said. Then, she looked back to him with that similar head tilt from earlier – a bit avian in nature. “Do you have a warm place to stay? I’m staying in an abandoned building down the street. It’s got a few rooms. You could… stay there for a bit if you want? It’s warm.” She offered, uncertain how he’d take it. If he said no, she’d understand, but deep down there was something about him that she felt drawn to – connected to in one way that she couldn’t quite place. She didn’t know if it would change anything, having him stay with her. Yet perhaps it might change everything. KiadA and here you come, with a shield for a heart, and a sword for a tongue.

coding

S E I J I

---

A pleased smile warms his features as Kiada bows, her showmanship more endearing somehow than all the kindnesses she has offered before. Her remark soon after, though, lifts his eyebrows. “Oh — how did you discover it?” he wonders. Is it possible he, too has changed in some way? Would he know if he had? Yes — Seiji thinks decisively. He would know. He knows what kind of person he is. Even if he can’t remember why.

They spend some time considering the Spire. Her musings are not lost on Seiji, but he has little more to add, so he remains silent. Instead he blinks at the tower, and then at Kiada, his joyful expression fading. It seems ominous now: a jailer looming over them, ever prepared to bare its teeth. Could it be responsible for his presence here? For the arrival of the other Outlanders, as well? Suddenly Seiji feels cold again, though the furs Kiada lent him still block out the worst of the night’s chill.

When she speaks again, Seiji is grateful for the change in subject. He doesn’t answer immediately, though. Instead, he hesitates a moment, the emotion in his dark eyes difficult to decipher. “Do others live there?” he asks after a moment, his tone neutral. He isn’t quite certain what gives him pause, except for the usual things. She is a stranger despite her kindness. He doesn’t know the rules of this place very well. And he doubts he would be able to defend himself against most of Caido’s inhabitants, if the worst should happen. He has no desire to appear rude, though.

“I would like to see,” Seiji adds, deciding to err on the side of accepting hospitality. The warmth of a faint smile is back, on his face and in his voice. “Is it far?”

The rain is full
of ghosts tonight

As he questioned her of how she discovered it, a contemplative look crosses her face – her eyes grow softer in the light, no longer carrying the brunt of that icy nature. “I… Uh.” She stammers at first, her brain trying to figure out how to exactly word the feeling. “The magic I had before, I could feel it in a part of me inside. This time, I just pulled at it much like you’d try to control an appendage, and then suddenly I was a bird.” She shrugged, hoping that was a good enough way to explain it. She’s not entirely sure if she’d explain it any differently, or if it were the same with others that had magic or if she were unique in that aspect. But then she asks him if he’d like to join her in her abandoned home – hoping that she doesn’t sound as desperate as that lonely pit of her stomach made her feel. She glances to his face where an unreadable emotion crosses his dark eyes and Kiada finds herself chewing on the inside of her lip in the hesitation. “Do others live there?” Kiada shakes her head no and looks away toward the building down the street with a quiet sigh. “Just me for now, but there’s a lot of rooms and with this cold it can’t hurt to have company.” She admits, perhaps a bit sheepishly before turning to look back at Seiji. After a bit of consideration, however, Seiji agrees to see it and she nods her head with a bit of hope billowing in the pit of her stomach that perhaps a companion in the night – one that felt so eerily similar to a figure of her past that she couldn’t not help herself from offering a place to stay. She gives him a small quiet smile and a shake of her head again, gesturing with a hand toward the end of the settlement. “Not that far, no. Shall we?” She questions, a bit of that prideful girl blossoming back into her face and her step as she begins to move down the snowy street. It doesn’t take very long to get to the somewhat crumbling home – in better shape than some of the others in the area, and she gestures with her head toward it. There’s a large area down below and fairly well in tact stairs that lead to a second level where more rooms were located. “Well, this is it.” She says after a moment, stepping toward the front door to open it up. It squeals and a bit of dust rains down from above, but she makes room for Seiji in case he’d like to enter first. KiadA and here you come, with a shield for a heart, and a sword for a tongue.

coding

S E I J I

---

She describes her magic in such a way — pulled at it — and something inside him flinches in response. A memory, brief and bright, like wings passing overhead. He almost grasps it, but then it’s gone. And Seiji is left standing here in the dark and the cold, a burgeoning emptiness in his chest. He blinks back something — some  heavy emotion — and shakes his head to clear it.

Seiji is glad for the change in subject, though he still wonders at the depths of this woman’s kindness. If she has so many empty rooms, why not invite anyone else? Unless he’s the first she came across? But no — that can’t be right. He can’t be sure if that’s a hint of embarrassment he catches on her face or something else as Kiada turns away. Seiji merely nods again, his thoughts too scattered to clearly parse. “Safety in numbers?” he says, repeating something someone must have told him a long time ago.

She begins to move away, and Seiji follows after one last glance at the darkness of the spire. Something cold brushes his forehead, and he looks up to see snow falling. A good night to be indoors with a friend.

As Kiada said, her home isn’t far, though Seiji finds he’s glad for even the small amount of movement. The tips of his fingers and most of his toes are going numb despite the furs Kiada lent him. The bare skin of his face stings, too, though he tries not to make his discomfort obvious. He’ll be inside soon enough.

As they pause outside the door, Seiji gazes up at the building’s facade. “Was this already here? You didn't build it?” he wonders aloud. Everything ruins, left behind as if by some great, ancient disaster. A war, maybe. He isn’t sure why his thoughts go there, but they do. Then he notices Kiada standing to the side of the doorway, waiting. With a grateful nod, he hurries inside.

Seiji does not expect it to be luxurious, and it isn’t, but there is a roof. Strong walls. The low glow of an oil lamp on old wood and aged floors. “Better in here,” Seiji breathes, meaning warmer. He chafes his hands together as he steps inside, pausing after a few steps to glance at Kiada. Hopefully, she will lead in the proper etiquette. He isn’t sure if he ought to remove his shoes or not — they are a bit wet — and whether he ought to explore or wait for her. He feels a vague sense of unease as he blinks at the darkened corners in the farthest ends of the front room, again the echoing sensation of age around him. All of Caido a ruin. Like living in the mouth of a corpse.

The rain is full
of ghosts tonight

”Safety in numbers?” He questions and she nods her head in a bright way – her dark hair dancing along her shoulders with the movement, slightly obscuring the haggard X on the side of her neck. But soon enough, they’re home, and she waits patiently on the doorstep of her ransacked home to allow him to pass. But he poises a question first, and she nods her head again as she turns to look back at the two floor home. “It needs a lot of work, but according to everyone it’s abandoned so I took it over.” She shrugs lightly as if it’s nothing big. But the task to fix it up is a big one, and likely one she’ll need friends with. At least it’s enclosed and warm, and safe for the most part. As he steps beside her and enters the home, she closes the door behind them to keep the warmth in. There isn’t a lot here – a few discarded fur wraps and extra jackets she’d found in the dressers in the floors above. She offers him a smile as he speaks, moving toward the oil lamp to the side of the fireplace and turns it higher to allow for more light. Then, she goes to work to light some of the other candles around the area. After she’s completed that task, she turns to the fireplace and tosses a few pieces of wood within before igniting those – though not without staring into the fire and reminiscing over her abilities. A small sigh slips from her lips, but she turns back to Seiji and gestures to the chairs that make up most of the living area. They’re old and not the best, but at least it’s something. Suddenly, she thinks that she should offer him something else – like water after all of the drinking they’d done. Stepping toward the kitchen, she grabs two glasses, mismatched but useable and fills them before returning. She sets his on the stand closest to him, beside the edge of one of the chairs, before she removes her jacket and furs and is left in a long sleeve sweater of sorts, pulling her hair back to place in a small braid. She sits and glances to him with a small smile. “Shouldn’t take long to warm up now, hopefully.” She says quietly, staring back at the fire as the light of the room finally takes shape. There’s pain missing and chipping in the corners, but it looks well decorated despite everything that likely happened to it. Absently, she raises a hand to rub against the X scar on her neck as if to reassure herself it’s there before letting her hand drop and taking a deep sip of her water. “It’s not much but… It’s better than sleeping out in the street.” She announces, looking through the veiled window at the snow that’s falling. KiadA and here you come, with a shield for a heart, and a sword for a tongue.

coding

S E I J I

---

As Kiada turns up the lamp, warm light suffuses the room, chasing out the thickest of the shadows. Seiji feels his breath come easier, his body relaxing slightly. Somehow he feels warmer, too, though the small flame must not be giving off much heat. Cautiously, he pulls his feet out of his wet shoes and pads after Kiada, watching as she works next on the fireplace. Something seems to catch her attention there, and Seiji cocks his head as he studies her back, but she says nothing about it, and he lets the subject rest. Perhaps a memory, but not a pleasant one. Or at least, one best kept to herself. If such is the case, he understands.

He sinks just as carefully into one of the nearby chairs. He is not particularly worried about breaking anything, though. His caution stems more from a general feeling of unease, of being so new to this place and these people. He doesn’t want to give insult with a careless action. He also feels just a little rootless, nothing to cling to. Only the very ephemeral sense of self he carries with him. The clothes on his back. With a sigh, he breathes out and looks up to the fire. “Thank you.” He means for everything and tries to convey it with the earnestness of his tone. Seiji scoots a little nearer the fire, eager to absorb some of the heat.

When next he glances at Kiada, she’s rubbing a spot on her neck. Beneath her fingers, the skin is gnarled and slightly raised — a scar. But in a very geometric pattern, as if it were carved on purpose into her flesh. Could someone else have done that to her? Could she have done it to herself?

But then she speaks, and Seiji nods in agreement. “Much better!” he agrees, a hint of laughter in his voice. “If you need help with anything… I would be happy to,” he adds carefully. “I cannot repay with much right now…” But hopefully some time in the future. Once he remembers who he is and gets his feet under him.

The rain is full
of ghosts tonight

She turns to look at him again as he sinks into a seat. A small smile ghosting across her features as she settles in her own. Her own eyes linger by the fire, but shift to glance sideways at him as he thanks her and she nods, feeling unusually kind for everything that’s happened. Though every time she looks upon him, she thinks of someone else, and it curbs that edge of bloodthirstiness deep within her in a calming way. As if his new found presence here is a balm to her chaotic tendencies. And she appreciates it regardless. As she speaks of the house, he adds in with a chime and a hint of a laugh that’s reflected in her smile as she faces him once again. Her hand leaving her scar to twine with her other hand. And she listens intently as he begins to speak of repayment, to which she shakes her head and laughs in return. “Don’t worry about it.” She says almost abruptly. “But if you feel the need, I can wait a lifetime.” She adds, grinning to him in the firelight. She doesn’t want him to feel compelled to repay her for anything within a timely manner. She honestly doesn’t care if he repays her at all. But she lets him have it, just for normalcies sake. It makes things easier in the long run. “My home is yours for however long you need. Though Longnight is coming and I’m staying with many of the others in the Rathskeller – where we met. I would advise against being alone. You’re welcome to come with!” She offers brightly, offering him another one of her wolfish grins, though this time it seems quite less menancing and a lot more friendly. KiadA and here you come, with a shield for a heart, and a sword for a tongue.

coding

S E I J I

---

She rebuffs his offer to repay her kindness, almost as if she is embarrassed. Perhaps that is simply the custom here? Seiji is baffled, but he nods. The surprise he keeps hidden, his expression serene.

“Longnight,” he says when she mentions it. “I have seen this. On the message board.” Thoughtfully, Seiji blinks at the fire. His thoughts turn. Too many things to process. Too many questions still arising from the froth of his thoughts to float, insistent, at the top. He closes his eyes, aware now of the weight of his eyelids, and stifles a sudden yawn.

“Sorry. I have not slept a lot since I came here.” Seiji rubs the back of his neck. “I would like to stay here, so long as it is not a burden to you. I think it must be safer with someone else. And I will go with you to the Rathskeller —” here he slows, his mouth teasing carefully around the foreign word — “during Longnight.” With a small, rather embarrassed smile, he adds, “But maybe I will sleep soon.” Despite his many remaining questions, his head feels simply too full to take in much new information.

The rain is full
of ghosts tonight