Knock, Knock (Concluded)

[Spiderfly]

Pravus twitched at his clothing uncomfortably. He wasn't much for getting dressed up, or for his human form in general. But. . he had to put up his best face today as his plea to the other King of Hearts was going to be. . interesting. The last week had been a stressful one, what with Fino having a bad bought of migraines and a few more than uneasy conversations between the two.

After attempting to do up his tie for the tenth time he finally just let sit loosely around his neck and growled down at it. His back itched with the furred collar but he had to admit as he looked in the mirror, that it really did look quite good on him. But the thing he hated the most. . shoes. Golden eyes glared into the mirror at the offending pieces of attire. He attempted to wiggle his toes and curled his lip in displeasure, so very binding bah.

He sighed a little before turning from his inspection and walking into the hallway and made his way towards Bernard's chamber. His fingers twitched over his clothing and through his hair several times before he finally ended up in front of the door he wanted.

Pravus hesitated. . he hadn't gone out of his way to make 'nice' with Bernard before now. And he was rather sure that he was almost outright hated, which most of the time rather amused him. He had done his best to behave in front of Fino but once or twice he had made a comment behind Fino to Bernard that had done nothing to help the relationship. Frankly, he was quite surprised that the King had said nothing to his nephew to get him into trouble.

One bony pale hand raised itself to that wooden door and knocked upon the surface. . Now to wait.

[Nathalia]

Bernard sighed and placed the Mome rath corpse back on the table. A knock at the door at this hour heralded his attention at once, regardless of the situation he might be in...granted he had disregarded that fact before...but those had been for more important things...

Rising slowly from his chair, he made his way over to the door, moving the stack of books and placing them on a second, emptier desk.

This had not been the best of days, his back fekt fairly awful, and even slight expressions made the scars over his eye twinge in an unpleasant fashion. This forced him to appear locked in neutrlity...something that had upset Dymphna slightly earlier, he already knew.

Hopefully his explanation had been accepted and the girl didn't think he was simply in a foul mood with her.

Sighing, he reached the door and pulled it open.

"Yes? What can I do for-....Pravus?"

He raised an eyebrow slightly, it was not an intelligent thing to do and he quickly reverted back to his neutral expression.

"Is something wrong?"

[Spiderfly]

Ugh. He could hear as Bernard moved towards the door faintly through the wood. His stomach began to turn a bit, funny how he was never really nervous around anyone else. But, so much rode on this meeting and them getting along for a short expanse of time. Pravus took a deep breath and let it out quickly just as the door opened.

The response to seeing him standing there wasn't unwarranted, but it was amusing. He quickly let the sneer fall from his lips. Offending the King was not in his best interests and he really didn't want to turn him off of helping.

He stood silently for a minute, trying to form the words he needed to say in his mind.

"May. . I come in?" He asked to stall. He had to be polite. BILE. He had to be calm and respectful. More bile. He had to do this for his Queen. There. . that helped him focus.

[Nathalia]

The forced degree of politeness in Pravus' vouce would normally have amused Bernard...it meant that the Feline wanted something. Due to the pains in his face however, the forced tact simply came off as slightly annoying.

Bother.

"Of course, please." He murmured, standing back slightly so that the other could step inside.

Moving over to his desk, he sat, fingers steepled in front of his face, head slighty bowed.

"Let's not pretend, Pravus. What is it that you need from me?"

He asked, unwilling to keep up pretenses so obviously false on a day like today. All he had wanted to do today was work on a few spells. The remainnig ones of such idfficulty, that when he worked on them, he seemed to loe himself in them.

Then he wouldn't have to think.

He wouldn't have to think about his scars...

Or how he got them.

Or Lin.

Any of it.

Now with this cat here, it all felt drawn out, as though the feline had pulled down a curtain and was stubbornly sitting on it until he got what he wanted.

Bernard shook his head and hoped that whatever petty request the other King had, that he would make it quick and leave him alone to forget.

[Spiderfly]

Pravus sighed and let his face fall. Finally showing the struggle inside. He. . he had to do this. Bernard was the only one that could help, and hopefully after he heard the cat's plight he'd want to help. Want to help his nephew.

"I won't dance around it. My Queen . . Our Queen, has the most horrible migraines I have ever seen. It knocks him flat, and, he suffers badly." He sat, twitching at his clothes again with another sigh before making a vague movement with his hands.

"I wish to take his migraines." His golden eyes stayed level with Bernard's. "Please tell me there is some ability. Where I can TAKE those blasted migraines and save him the pain. He shouldn't. . have to go through that. Please help?"

He sat tensely, waiting. For help? For Bernard to snap at him, or tell him it was impossible? He didn't even know what to expect, but he was hopeful. . An odd sensation for him. Hope.

[Nathalia]

Bernard couldn't help but be taken aback.

He wants to help...?

The King of hearts was unable to stop the startled look crossing his face, regardless of the tinges of pain it caused. Pravus actually cared?

Really?

This was too much. He had known that the Feline liked his nephew's forms, liked his power, liked the "interest" they shared... He hadn't known that the Cat actually gave a damn.

He hated it when he was forced to go back and take a new lok at a person... Spells yes, they changed all the time...but people usually stayed the same...enough for him to come to an expectance level anyway...

"I...yes. Please, come in."

The statement may have sounded odd, as to all appearances...Pravus was in. Until the other King stood and gently pushed aside a wall, moving into a large atrium, well lit and filled with strange objects, crammed with books.

"I have been trying to cure my nehew of his headaches for such a long time...I've had to come to the conclusion that they may be the result of a curse from his sister...long ago. Thus my inability to give him a cure."

He looked up at the Cat, eyes alight.

"Curses are easier to shift than to break...especially those made to last until death."

He grabbed three books in quick sucession, rapidly flipping through one before dropping it to the ground, the other two dropped onto a long table as Bernard began a quick dig for seemingly random items. His attention quickly shifting from "conversation mode" to "work mode", his own pains seeming to fade as the presented problem looked to be solveable at last.

No second guesses for this Cat, he had already presented himself, the problem would end here and now.

"Please stand in the center of that burned circle there. And hold this."

He murmured, distracted, shoving a stubby candle into the other King's fine, thin hands.

[Spiderfly]

Please. . .come in? Pravus raised an eyebrow quickly until he saw the other King rise and push aside an entire wall. Well now, wasn't that interesting. He wondered for a brief second how many more hidden spaces were around the palace. A note in his head perhaps to start randomly pushing on walls.

As he followed Bernard he took in his words with a slow dread. A curse. A curse to be transfered to him. Yes, he would do it.

"If it helps my Queen I'll gladly take his burden." He murmured as he looked around in awe, and slight fear. Fear, wow. Now there was something he hadn't truly felt in a very long time. Pravus of course had his own magics but this. . .

The promise and power held in this room. In the odd objects and books, yes, this scared him. These were things he could never understand, and they were things that could injure and kill him. Not a good combination.

Pravus reached forwards and took the candle before moving into the circle. The finest of tremors starting through his limbs. His gaze however followed the other King around the room. Maybe, he could learn something. Or at least conquer some of his fear of magic. Maybe if he stayed so focused on the other Cards movements, he'd stop trembling.

... "Is there anything else I need to do your Highness?"

[Nathalia]

Bernard barely even heard him. Transferring a curse...something he hadn't had the chance to do in quite some time...it would be interesting to see if it still...

But no matter, the Cat would be fine, especially if...

"Stand as straight as you can, keep a good hold on that candle, and don't change out of your Human form...it channels power better."

He muttered, grabbing two jars and unscrewing the lids quickly, rummaging inside for the ingredients as he eyed the stacks of books, finding the one he wanted with his eyes before he had located the ingredients with his fingers.

He then rushed over and snatched the volume off the shelves, flipping open to a certain page as fast a possible. A positive whirr of non-stop activity.

He slammed the book down on the table and snapped up two of the ready made piles of ingredients, a bit of which looked to be some of the Queen's hair... Bernard then moved over to Pravus and looked him straight in the eye.

"This cannot be undone...at least not by me. A curse can only ever be transferred once...after that it must be broken, and I am...a part of the curse, so it seems. I won't be able to help you get rid of it once it's yours...are you certain this is something you want to do?"

[Spiderfly]

Considering Pravus was sufficiently uncomfortable enough to have considered shifting to bipedal he found it rather intuitive of the other king to tell him elsewise. Though, he did tend to stalk around the Pravus in his more animalistic forms so perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised at all.

He watched the flurry of activity with a blinking gaze. Pravus had known that Bernard was fanatical about his magic, wearing himself to the bone during particularly important stretches. But he had never actually seen him like this. Sure he'd noticed the hollow eyes at the palace table sometimes, or how quickly the other King left the table after only managing a few bites of food. But to see it in person was interesting indeed.

His stomach rose for a second before settling as Bernard stood directly in front of him and matter of factly told him there was absolutely no going back. "I'm sure. To the depths of my soul."

Perhaps, a bit more truth than he had meant to share. For surely Fino owned him, body, mind and soul. And he was willing to sacrifice all three for his Queen.

[Nathalia]

This answer almost seemed to snap Bernard out of his mindset. Indeed, he blinked at the other King for a moment, as though at a loss.

To the depths of his...soul?

He nodded curtly, turning to grab down a bag of pheasant bones and rummaging through fro an intact pelvis.

That Cat has no soul

The thought reverberated at the back of his mind, as he quickly ran a piece of wire through the hip joints in the pelvis he had snagged and then dipped the ends into one of the open jars on his table, looping the wire-ends before grabbing up the red fibers.

Or hairs. He the twisted these into small loops and fastened them to the wire as well. Walking back over to Pravus, he hooked the macabre necklace about the others' throat. Racing back to his books, he flipped through another few pages, the corner of his mouth twitching down as he then ran to another bookshelf in a desperate search for chalk.

Finding a piece, he then cashed to the floor at Pravus' feet and began to draw, the chalk ticking against the stone as he did so, hands moving fast enough to scrape his fingers against the stone a few times.

Bernard ignored the pain.

Within five minutes, Pravus appeared to be standing within a small circle comprised of either odd looking words or pictures, all twining in and out of one another. Bernard leaped back to his feet, back making a few small cracking sounds as it readjusted to being upright, and flew back to the large tome.

He spun about with it, eyes slightly glazed, meeting the Cat's.

"This is it then." He murmured, and raised his right hand.

He then set the Cat on fire.

((OOC: The fire will only last for 30 seconds, but it will be painful and leave a bit of scarring at the base of his neck where the necklace was. It will then go out suddenly, leaving him with a blinding headache...one of Fino's milder ones <3))