Darkness on the Rise (Finished)

[carcinoGeneticist]

The punch was a good and solid one, with a surprising amount of force behind it. It connected her square in the jaw, forcing the woman back a step or two. She could taste blood. Its coppery bite was a good taste for the fight, she thought. In a way, a fight always seemed like it was like a living thing, with its own smell (sweat), sound (grunting and cries of pain), sight (fear in her enemy's eyes), and finally taste.

It just needed a feel now, if it would be complete. She wanted the feel of him writhing under her paws. She wanted to feel him shake as he looked at his own... misfortune.

Rhiannon's grin twisted under her mask, her eyes glimmering out of the shadows that fell across her face. With her pain ability activated, there was nothing to feel, at least... nothing that she didn't want to feel. She could see the worry in her opponent's eyes, plain as the sweat that trickled down his face. The ferret had no idea what he had gotten himself into when he decided to rob from the hybrid woman. A growl bubbled up from Rhiannon's throat, and in a flash, she lunged at her attacker, flapping her wings to give her a little more force. Her paws connected soundly with the man's chest, knocking him rather forcefully to the ground.

There was a sickening crack as he slammed into the wall.

Rhiannon landed nearby, her fur bristling. "Is that all, you prick?[/b]" she snarled, adrenaline still racing through her veins. The man didn't move. "HEY! Don't ignore me![/b]"

[The Jenn]

Whether the young canine knew it or not, that sickening crunching noise had triggered something several alleys away from her, a sense of something imminent, something important about to happen. Death was always important. It was a release, final and relentless when it had firmly taken its hold. Unfortunately, until that release came, it had taken its strange hold on someone other than its intended victim for a few moments.

Lior's haunted eyes snapped up from the unappetizing 'meal' he had scrounged in the alley, the sad remains of several peoples' unfinished dinners no longer holding his attention. He was destitute, unable to hold a job and make any kind of money with this curse afflicting him, especially in a place with as many people as the Capital. All of them were going about their business, living... and dying. The latter had suddenly become very problematic for the feline.

With a soft sigh of anticipation, he rose to his feet, dark golden paws beginning to stalk to the end of the alley and turn, making his way down past several others until he stopped by the entrance to one in particular. Dark cloak shrouding much of his quadrupedal form, wings tucked beneath and making an odd-looking bulge under the fabric, eyes hollow but intent... he cut a creepy figure, even more so as he moved. He didn't pay any attention to the canine, may not have even seen her. It was the figure slumped against the wall, panting and twitching, letting out an odd keening wail. His back had been broken, the long ferret's spine fractured in several places from its introduction to brick. The flow of spinal fluid had been severed neatly and he would die on his own, slowly, if untended to. Even tending could only prolong the inevitable.

He hung back for a moment, watching, waiting. If the canine didn't interfere, he would have to release the man from his dying prison of a body. If she did, well, so much the easier. "Do it," the feline rasped quietly, gaze intent on the dying man. Whether or not his voice was audible would depend on how much attention she paid to her surroundings outside of the fight. "End it. Release him."

[carcinoGeneticist]

A wail cut through the air, and the Bogdweller snarled in reply. She took a step toward the man's pitiful form, fur along her back and neck standing rigid, wings unfurled to give her an even more menacing appearance. In the last year, her wingspan had more than doubled, finally providing her with the flight she so desired, and it had the very handy side effect of letting her intimidate those she stalked. This was a very interesting situation. The hybrid's leaf shaped nose quivered with excitement. She could smell his pain and fear and knew the truth then - he was dying, plain and simple.

For some reason, this excited her. Her eyes widened as she stepped towards the ferret, and she froze on the spot, head whipping up and eyes meeting those of the... Highland? feline.

Rhiannon was more than aware of the strange man's words, her ears perking forward and then flattening back. Who the hell was this guy, and why was he here..? His sudden appearance was extremely unexpected, and adrenaline only made the young woman bristle more. Was he asking her to... kill him?

She wouldn't ignore an order like that.

Long coyote jaws closed around the slender neck of the ferret, and a swift twist of her head snapped the man's neck completely, ending his life as smoothly as she could manage. The hybrid pulled away slowly, eyes seeking some answer from the Highlander. "Who are you?[/b]" she asked, voice soft and carrying no small threat. "He tried to rob me. I was just protecting myself.[/b]"

[The Jenn]

As she finally noticed his presence, Lior took a few slow steps closer and the curse of his cloak - his burden, his joy, his torment - sent wave after chilling wave of creepy towards the lower-ranking Card. His extremely thin appearance was hinted at beneath the cloak, his neck very thin and his fur more dull now than it had once been. One wing shifted restlessly and unfolded to stretch out beneath the cloak, extending beyond the fabric and revealing odd black swirls over Highland white and gold.

"Yessss..." he sighed in some bizarre expression of contentment as she snuffed out the man's life. It was a quick death, though not completely instantaneous, and dull gold eyes turned to watch him choke out his last sounds. He took a step or two forward, the other wing extending in a pleased, relaxed pose. Then, suddenly, he jerked and seemed to come 'back' to himself.

He heard her words but didn't really process them at first, his immediate vision filled by the broken corpse of the ferret in front of him. He swallowed the scream in his throat that always threatened to rise up at a time like this, presenting with something he had absolutely no desire to see and no recollection of finding. Had he... done this one himself? Or had it been someone else to actually finish the man off? From the way his neck twisted, the feline knew that he hadn't died as a result of natural causes.

As his eyes became more animated, they filled with a brief mix of panic and horror and even a touch of resignation. By now he had been witness to literally hundreds of deaths in his year owning and living the curse of this cloak and it frightened him somewhat that his mind had become more numb to the sight of death. What really got him wasn't the bodies so much anymore, but the thought that he may have been the cause of their predicament, even just to the end.

Spotting her nearby, something in his head reminded him foggily that she had spoken, though he couldn't remember the words. "You... you? You did... this?" The words were hopeful and oddly pleading.

Didn't she look... familiar?

[carcinoGeneticist]

A subconscious shiver coursed its way through Rhiannon's body as the feline stepped closer, and she took a step away from him, closer to the corpse. The ferret was dead, and posed no threat to her. She wasn't so sure about this figure, who seemed to be positively breathing evil. She lowered her head slightly, feeling another wave of fear pass over her, her legs shaking slightly. What was happening to her?

In a strange way, this feeling was almost... intoxicating. Yellow slit-pupiled eyes were raised, meeting Lior's almost hollow gaze. His sudden appearance at the man's death... Could it be that she had finally met...?

And then the moment passed. The feeling of nerves that hade been quickly filling her body began to fade away. She raised one paw slightly, brow furrowing. All the thoughts that had been filling her mind before simply melted away, leaving her feeling bewildered. For the first time, she seemed to really notice him, and see him for what she was. Her head raised slightly, expression only deepening. "Yes, I did.[/b]" she said warily, surprised by the sudden change in the feline. "...But only because you told me to. Don't you remember?[/b]"

He did look strangely familiar, and she scanned her memory. She had met so many people since she'd left the court of Hearts, but... She knew him from before. A name bubbled into her mouth, too quickly for her to keep it to herself. "...Lior?[/b]" she said softly, voice not quite believing her own words. What was going on?!

[The Jenn]

Lior looked uneasy at the thought that he could have prompted the man's death at her hands, but he knew the curse well enough by now from unpleasant experience to realize that he wouldn't have been 'called' unless the man were already lost to his fate. "You just sped up the inevitable," he said tiredly, glad not to have another death directly on his conscience but perversely disappointed at the same time. He hadn't been the one to release the man. That was... good, right? Wasn't it? He'd been living in such a messed up state of mind recently that he had to pause a moment and muddle the thought through.

Lost to his mind, he hadn't yet come to a conclusion when he heard her speak his name. His head jerked up, silent dilemma temporarily forgotten, and stared at her. If she knew his name, even after all of the changes that had been wrought to his body, that meant she was familiar... and probably from the palace, even though Eilwyn hadn't been and the bird still remembered him. That was just a bizarre twist of fate. This, however, posed a more serious problem.

Bogdweller. Canine. She sure as hell wasn't Heilyn, and the only other one of her region that he'd ever met had been... "Rhiannon," he said, voice flat and tired. Damn it. Someone from the palace, someone whose mother was titled nobility and who probably still had ties there besides. Oh hills, why had someone he knew summoned him to this place? "You can't... please. Please, you can't tell anyone." Not that she even knew what to tell, but he didn't really either, just that things were Messed Up and he had the distinct impression they were Wrong as well. That feeling had begun to dull and fade a little bit as of late, which made him shiver in unease whenever he thought about it. Death should still be Wrong, but strangely, it wasn't anymore. It was just 'there', and had begun to assume an even greater status within the past month or two.

"Release. You released him, but... oh hills, you can't tell. Please. I don't want anyone to know." He was babbling a little bit, but his voice was too tired-sounding to be fast and panicked. It just sounded sad and edged with pleading. He hadn't dealt with people normally ever since he found the cloak and it showed.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Inevitable. Inevitable was a word of great beauty, as far as Rhiannon was concerned. Inevitable described everything that Rhiannon had been thinking about over the last several years of her life. Death was an inevitable thing, wasn't it..? So no matter what she did, she was only shortening the suffering of those around her. After all, suffering seemed to be just as inevitable as death in this world.

If not for the serious and almost terrified look on Lior's face, her tail might have begun to wag. As it was, she had a number of questions floating around in her head. She had never met the feline, but had certainly heard a few things about him, the least of which being his sudden disappearance.

Could this all link back to why he had left in the first place?

"You are Lior,[/b]" the girl said softly, taking a step toward the feline, her ears standing tall. Yellow eyes caught the light and glimmered slightly. "People are worried about you, you know... Like Bernard,[/b]" The man really had been worried. Rhiannon had heard her father and mother talking about it once or twice.

"What happened to you, Lior?[/b]" the woman asked, brows furrowing slightly as she looked over the feline. He was so thin, and the strange black swirls covering his wings just did not look normal. At least, not for a Pedigreed Highlander like the King was.

[The Jenn]

Inevitable had been Lior's life as of late, one 'call' after another, never ending with brief respite in between. He had almost geared himself up to leave the Capital, but the thought of what he might be summoned to in other regions terrified the living hell out of him and so he stayed. But... it almost wasn't worth it anymore, because he had seen so much here, more than he could possibly have imagined at the outset. He'd heard of death, seen it very rarely at the palace - more often surrounding his Papa than anyone else - but here he was becoming almost numbed to it.

Hearing his uncle's name out of her mouth, he flinched as if he'd been slapped. He hadn't fulfilled his promise to Bernard yet... the man didn't know exactly where he was, but how could he give him an address when he didn't have one? "They would worry more if I was there," he muttered. "Better that they don't know where I am than see me right now... as I am."

He sat down next to the corpse of the ferret, leaning his head against the wall and sighing. It moved him one step away from the unusually interested young woman and gave him a chance to close his eyes without worrying about falling over. He was always so tired now. It was impossible to get an uninterrupted night's sleep, either because he was being 'called' or because he was somewhere he shouldn't be and seemed like a vagrant. Which, he supposed, he was.

When she asked her question, he snorted and lowered his head slightly. "I found Death, apparently," he said with an ironic note to his voice. Then his eyes suddenly opened wide and startled. They turned slowly to look at her. The aura around him hadn't diminished very much, but it seemed to strengthen just then. "And it's found you," he whispered in a voice that was easily higher than the one he'd just been using, wispy and rasping. It was a disturbing change. His eyes were different as he watched her, as they'd been when he first appeared. "It's on its way. Inevitable."

[carcinoGeneticist]

"Couldn't they help you, maybe? Help you figure out what's going on?[/b]" the woman said, her entire demeanor seeming to change, much as he had. She had seen a lot of different things since her time in the court, and one of the things that came through most loudly was that when they worked together, there was very little that Temmin and Bernard couldn't fix. They had even helped to quiet the voices... somewhat. It was more than she had thought could be done, to be sure. "I mean, I'm sure... something can be done. Maybe you can just control it, just enough to go home and let them know you're okay?[/b]"

Her ears panned backwards slightly, fur bristling as that strange and frightening glance returned to his eyes. She took a step back from Lior, yellow eyes meeting golden with a somewhat confused expression. It was almost as if she was staring into a reflection of herself when she was having bad days. Maybe they weren't too different... after all, hadn't Rhiannon been looking for Death?

"Found me?[/b]" she said, a hint of panic entering her voice. Her pain ability began to ebb, and she was dimly aware of her head beginning to spin. What- What was going on? She was aware of a throbbing on her back, and then she saw it - blood trickling down from her back. She coughed, and blood began to leak out of her nose and mouth, coming straight from her wounded lungs. That bastard... he had stabbed her. And she hadn't even noticed.

"Oh, no, no.. Shit.[/b]" the woman murmured, collapsing with a high-pitched whine, convulsing in front of Lior.

[The Jenn]

In the almost trance-like state, Lior couldn't find any sort of panic in himself, only fascination and a drawing pull. The sense of death surrounding her called out, either to something in the cloak or now something in him. Evidently the man who had been trying to rob her had injured her more than she thought. Those thoughts weren't going through his head just then, though.

She was inevitably dying and close, but not close enough for it to be a quick or clean death. He... had to help her, to grant her the release she had so recently given another. It was the least he could do for her, stop the pain and end her suffering, send her on to a better place. In that moment, the feline may as well have been Death. He took one step towards her, and then another, breath shallow and rasping. A gold-tipped paw raised slowly, claws extending, and he poised himself. Something in him enjoyed the formality and drama of the scene.

"Death is a gift to the dying," he whispered, looking into her yellow eyes. "I... have a gift for you." And just like that, he raked his claws once and again over her throat, having no more merciful means of execution. It would kill her much more quickly than the slow strangulation and suffocation via the hole in her lungs and organs.

- - -

After he came back to himself and realized what had happened, he didn't know how she'd died beyond the obvious blood on his paws and seeping down her back. He had a small meltdown in the corner of the alley, sobbing and shaking and trying to make himself as small as possible. He'd never killed someone he personally knew before, even if it was only a bare acquaintance, and he felt like a monster. He knew from experience that she had probably already been dying, but... it felt wrong somehow.

He couldn't stay here, that much he knew. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he got to his feet and started to walk away. After a few steps, however, his body shivered as if in a strong breeze and he stopped suddenly. He was once again in his 'reaper mode', but this time he was being drawn to Rhiannon's corpse once again, which shouldn't have been possible. Something in him was compelled, but it was a different compulsion than he had ever felt before.

Slowly, he reached out for the nearest part of her, a wing, and brought it to his mouth. Then he proceeded to gnaw and worry at the small thumb joint until it came off in his mouth.

((I'd recommend PMing Nat to see what Rhi might see/feel in dying/being dead. <3))