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Smallshells for the Heart - Naunet - 08-22-2014
((Follows an hour or two after Bring the Daughter's Home))
***
At some point in his sleep, or in his wakefulness if he did not sleep (for who can really speak to the mysterious ways of a sleepy Nunh/Tia (Nia?)), D'hein managed to somehow roll himself over on the the bed, just barely three Miqo'te wide. As he moved, he lifted an arm and tossed it mindlessly (or mindfully) over Antimony, carefully (or luckily) not touching K'airos at the same time. Because no kind of gentleman would cuddle both an older woman and her daughter at the same time, and D'hein -- sleepy though he may or may not be -- was still at least one or two kinds of gentleman.
When Antimony awoke, she did so slowly and was at first aware of only the deeply familiar scent of her daughter. K'airos's hair tickled her face, and though there were some hints of foreign land - the spices of Ul'dah, ocean salt, and plants that would never have grown deep in the Sagolii - the smell was comforting. It nearly lulled her back to sleep. After a while, she became aware of a weight at her back, and a smaller one over her side. The ear not squished into the thin mattress shifted backwards, catching slow, steady breathing.
She resisted the urge to push D'hein Tia right off the edge of the bed.
Instead, she found it in herself to feel some pity for the man - who had also lost a daughter, however dubious she thought his claim to be - and instead shifted her own arm to shove his limb back towards him.
K'airos didn't seem to notice any of the movements they were making. She was facing the wall, very close to it, with her arms crossed and her tail curved between her legs.
The pushing at D'hein's arm did very little to knock the man aside. His arm was heavy, and it remained stubbornly. A moment later, he cuddled closer and pushed his face against Antimony's shoulder, murmuring something incoherent.
Her tail curling away from the man behind her, Antimony sighed faintly into the back of K'airos's hair. Then she spoke, in a low and weary tone, "Though you may join us in grief, you must needs watch your boundaries, Tia."
A tingling sensation on the back of her head made K'airos insinctively answer with a groan and some mumbling. She was not completely awake, but she opened her eyes, feeling them heavy, and turned her head around.
D'hein mumbled once more. Antimony was surrounded by mumbling, and a Tia (maybe Nunh) whose cuddling did not relent.
She shut her eyes then, feeling her glasses push uncomfortable against the side of her face and the bridge of her nose. The man was incorrigible. Rather than deliver him a hearty smack, however, Antimony just worked her arm beneath her and carefully leveraged herself up between her daughter and the Tia. Her own heart was too heavy for anger at a grieving man.
Without turning her body around, K'airos rolled her arm lazily over her mother to push at D'hein's own arm.Â
"You are cuddling." she said half-asleep, her voice sluggish. "Don't cuddle."
With Antimony out of the way, D'hein grabs K'airos' arm and tries to cuddle it. He mutters, "But it's warm."
Well that just could not be abided, grief or not.
Twisting into a sitting position, Antimony forcibly pulled D'hein's hands from her daughter, pushing them against his chest. "Behave yourself."
K'airos returned to her original position. "You can't cuddle people unless you intend to marry them." she mumbled, tiredness avoiding her the trouble of thinking too much.
Antimony cast a brief, confused look her daughter's way before returning a frown to D'hein.
"What?" D'hein's eyes opened slowly, and evidenced more than a little confusion. "Do people get married in desert tribes?" He turned his gaze towards Antimony, the combination of tiredness and bemusement looking a bit like suspicion.
"I'm not sure where you picked up such a concept, Airos... Ah, but that is not the point. D'hein Tia! Keep your hands to yourself."
"Marriage is just like mating except the Nunh only gets one mate." the daughter babbled in a dozy tone. "It's a hyur thing."
Something in that made Antimony's chest ache and her eyes burn to a disproportionate degree. "Have you so quickly left behind our family's traditions, Airos...?" It was perhaps an unfair thing to say, but with loss so close to the surface still, she found herself hypersensitive to her now-only-daughter's ways.
D'hein muttered sleeply and let his hands lay in front of him, closing his eyes again. Like he hadn't yet noticed he was awake. His words were almost inaudible. "It's an acculturated city Miqo'te thing. Lots of lonely ladies out there."
"I wouldn't find a hipparion Nunh in Ul'dah." the girl defended herself, somewhat bitter. Then she felt really awkward and not wanting to sleep anymore. Her eyes were still heavy.
"I don't like leaving traditions behind." she added, shrinking. "There was no one to keep them with me."
Antimony wilted, ears pressing back, and she turned to pet at long, red hair. "I know, I'm sorry," she murmured. "I did not mean to upset you, Airos. I only miss..." Her words faded into a sigh.
"There are Dodo Nunhs. We're not that different. Especially now that I'm in charge." D'hein made to roll off the bed but failed to take his weight and fell flat on his face.
The noise of him slamming against the floor made K'airos turn around and sit in a bit of a panic. A sleepy one, but a panic in any case. "Are you alright?"
Antimony winced. "I am sure he is fine." Still, she shifted in the bed, turning so that she sat with her legs over the edge, and straightened her glasses.
D'hein popped up suddenly, as though waking with a start. "Fine!" He straightened his clothes at the collar. "The force of your rejection merely stunned me, is all, K'airos."
"Now is not the time to be thinking of Nunhs, regardless," Antimony murmured.
"No, it isn't." K'airos, just like her mother, pushed herself to the edge of the bed. She had no glasses to accommodate on her face, so she simply stood up, reaching with both hands over her hair to start combing it. Her next action was to look around the room. She hadn't taken the time to look at it when she arrived. "What... are we going to do?" She threw the question in the air, avoiding looking at anyone.
Pulling himself up into a standing position, D'hein turned and offered a hand to Antimony, as she logically would be the next person to stand. Too much of a pragmatist to read into K'airos' question, D'hein ventured, "Eat and try to avoid Illira."
Antimony accepted the offered hand, but only because her legs still felt weak with sleep and prior exertion, and she pulled her own hand back as soon as she was standing. K'airos was looking to her for guidance, she thought. She needed to be strong now, for her, even if she felt as though she might crack. "Food will do us all well," she nodded, pursed her lips slightly, and her green eyes shifted towards her daughter. "And... we can talk of where you may wish to start anew."
"Okay. Food." K'airos said faintly. She looked down to herself and started adjusting her clothes. "Food would be nice."
"We should go someplace where a great deal of Lalafel congregate." D'hein nodded, smiling at his cleverness. Then he snapped his gaze to K'airos and explained. "Thus to minimize the chance of running into that Elezen woman we brought with us."
"That is not difficult in these parts," Antimony did her best to not sound completely morose, straightening and smoothing out her robe. She glanced towards Airos and offered a small, faint smile. "As a Brass Blade, have you ever done work here? Perhaps you know of a place to eat."
K'airos raised her sight to look at her. "I try not to eat at work. I had a diet that D'aijeen..." She paused, lowering her head to look at her feet and never completed that sentence. Her silence didn't last, though. "Let's go have...breakfast? Lunch? Food. Am I presentable?" she asked, turning around suddenly and gesturing to her clothes.
"You shame us all, K'airos!... I'm not sure I'm exaggerating in my case." He plucked at his robe, noting the burned holes in it. He frowned, remember something. "Do either of you recall seeing a noble paper angel flying out of my chest previously?"
Antimony's brow creased, and she set her hands on her daughter's arms to still her fidgeting. "You look beautiful, Airos." There was a pause, and then she glanced in mild confusion towards D'hein. "A paper... oh. Ulanan's protective spells."
K'airos fidgeting was stopped successfully, though she kept staring at the floor. "I'm glad she...was prepared."
He looked to the ceiling wistfully. "So the Angel was Ulanan all along..."
"Let us eat," Antimony reminded with a sigh and put gentle pressure on one of K'airos's arms to urge her towards the door.
She crossed her arms and, while walking out, actually looked where she was going.
D'hein followed in a dreamy state, thinking about the noble sacrifice that Ulanan had made for him by proxy. He looked to be experience divine inspiration.
As luck would have it, there was a small tavern attached to the inn they'd rested at, and though its selection of food was nothing impressive, it did boast fresh caught fish and smallshell. Antimony had developed quite a taste for seafood during her time in Limsa, so she readily requested enough for both herself and K'airos. D'hein was left to pick his own meal.
K'airos protested against the smallshell menu, asking only for the fish, and prompting both D'hein and Antimony to not eat those. The reasoning behind that was a simple statement of fact: "They are cute!" She saw no need to add anything else to that.
Antimony, not wanting to upset K'airos in even the slightest way, acquiesced immediately, with great apology.
D'hein had already placed his order by the time the protesting started, resulting in him staring sadly down at his plate in quietness before finally confessing. "... But I ordered the smallshell. They're... delicious..."
"We will not be eating smallshell," Antimony spoke firmly to the tavern waitress. It was fish for D'hein, too.
The Nia appeared disproportionately upset by this, pouting. "Is it too much to ask to have the food I want to have?"
K'airos shrunk on her chair, feeling wrong once again. Speaking and making people feel bad was apparently something she was good at, especially when she didn't intend it. "I'm sorry. You can have smallshell." she said, shrinking a bit more.
Antimony turned a hard look towards D'hein.
D'hein withered under the emotions of the women. "I'm sorry. I wasn't upset. I was just whining. I'll cancel my order before they throw the poor little smallshells into the boiling water." He stood and turned to track down someone with whom to change his order.
Immediately Antimony returned her attention to K'airos, pulling her into a gentle hug. "Don't worry, Airos. It is not so much of a burden as he likes to claim. Perhaps when we have found a place to settle, you can even have a smallshell as a pet."
"I had one, but I lost her. He was cute."
"I am certain we can find you another," Antimony tried to soothe.
K'airos stopped shrinking into the chair, but only because she had run out of space to slide on. "That'd be nice. But where will we live? Do you have a house?" she asked, lifting her sight to meet her mother's.
"I..." Antimony hesitated as it occured to her this was the first time in... several months that she had thought of her single-room apartment back in Limsa. She wondered distantly how long it took for a landlord to simply toss out or sell all the possessions of a delinquent tenant, and then she wondered what she would do now for money to even pay rent for a place. "Sit up, dear," she began, to give her suddenly askew thoughts time to settle, and then joined K'airos at the small table. Then she sighed. "I... have lived in Limsa Lominsa for some time."
The Dodo affected his return. "I had to run into the kitchen and stage a last minute rescue before they threw the baby smallshells into the boiling pot." He is carrying three tiny smallshells. "Did you know they boil them alive? Also, they're making me pay for them. And the medical bills of the cook, whom was scalded quite incidentally and through no fault of my own."
K'airos did sit up, distracted by D'hein. "That's horrible! Why would they do that?" she wondered, more alarmed at the cruelty towards some crabs than the injuries of the cook. She set her eyes on the tiny creatures he was carrying and blinked once.
Antimony jumped slightly, casting a worried look towards the door D'hein had returned from, and then forcibly folded her hands in her lap. "Ah, yes, well... I am glad you were... able to rescue them."
He sat down with the smallshells still in his arms, held close to his chest as though he were holding a cat. They snapped at his sleeves and collar, but he didn't seem to notice. "Also for unrelated reasons, I believe that our food will take slightly longer than normal to get to us."
"Because the cook is hurt and they are upset at you for getting the smallshells?" K'airos pondered out loud.
"Airos!" Anxious to change the subject, Antimony gestured towards the three creatures in D'hein's arms. "Were you not wishing for a companion..?"
D'hein blinked, then turned to Antimony and blinked again. He smiled. "I thank you for vouching for me, Antimony, but I think any negotiations regarding long-term companionship would be a personal discussion between K'airos and I." He looked towards the red-headed girl and donned charm. "Not that I wouldn't be open to such a discussion."
"What?" Antimony blanched. "No! How dare--the smallshells, Tia!"
K'airos first blushed, and then pointed flatly at the sea creatures, just to reinforce her mother's words. "Are you going to keep them?"
"I'm certainly not giving them back to the kitchen." D'hein tried to put them on the table, but they held fast to his chest. "I would make them an offering of my affection. However, it seems they intend to keep me."
That managed to get a smile on K'airos' face. "I could take care of them for you."
"I am sure they would be very grateful," Antimony said, pushing a smile to her lips.
"If you can get them off me, they're all yours."
"I'll try that after eating." was the girl's answer after a very short consideration.
Antimony furrowed her brow, glancing towards the clacking claws and scrambling legs of the smallshells. "We should... at least find something to put them in, for the meantime. A box, perhaps..."
D'hein managed to pull one off of his robe. The thing carried a piece of tattered, burnt cloth with it. "I don't think it'll be a problem." He stood and shoved it in a side pocket, which was just big enough for the smallshell.
"It's going to pick its way through your clothes and pinch your skin." K'airos commented, straightening on her chair as if she was about to stand up. "I'll just get a box to carry them so they don't hurt you or your clothes!"
"That's very responsible of you, Airos. I'm sure you'll take excellent care of them."
"I don't think it's going to hurt me. They like me. I'm their savior." As he spoke, one of the smallshells crawling on his chest began to pinch his neck, but he did not react.
Antimony had a minor panic attack, envisioning the smallshell pinching straight through the Tia's jugular and turning these past days into an even greater horror. Then she frantically grabbed at the thing to pry it off him.
K'airos nervously stared, more disconcerted about her mother's panic than about D'hein's neck health.
"A box, Airos!"
The smallshell popped off of D'hein's neck and left a little red pincher mark where it had been holding on. The Nia looked annoyed. "Don't be too rough with it."
Clutching the smallshell between both hands, Antimony held the flailing then well out in front of her, away from her own body. "It has a shell. It is fine. Your neck, on the otherh and..."
"Uhm, right. I'll be right back!" The girl stood up and, not wanting to bother the owners of the tavern again, she jogged outside. Horizon was always filled with unused crates nobody would miss...or crates filled with things nobody would miss, anyway.
D'hein put a hand over the last smallshell on his chest, as it had been climbing upwards too, as well as a hand over the pocket which held the other. "Well, this is all very fine. And we remain hungry. I couldn't just eat them, could I?"
"No, you cannot." As if on cue, the tavern waitress scurried out, laying down a tray with three plates of fish and potatoes. She gave a short look to the smallshells before rolling her eyes and departing quickly. Antimony pursed her lips at the food, still holding the smallshell up and away from herself.
K'airos came back fairly quickly. As she had predicted, finding a crate just big enough for the smallshells was easy to find. And the contents had been just as easy to dump around. She only missed leaving a note with an apology.Â
"Here!" she said, holding the box in front of her.
Antimony eagerly dropped her burden into the box, yanking her arms away before the creature's claws could snag on the sleeves of her dress.
D'hein reached into his pocket, withdrawing the smallshell from there. He dangled it over the box as it held stubbornly onto a gloved finger. He couldn't even get the other off his chest.
Grabbing one of its leg, K'airos pulled the hanging shell into the box, where it angrily tried to pinch its way through the box with little results. She placed the box down and walked over to D'hein, reaching for the last one. "Let me help you." she said, trying to pull it away.
As K'airos worked to get her new pets into their temporary home, Antimony settled back into her chair and moved her eyes to the three meals set before them. Three... Her ears drooped, and she blinked against a stinging in her eyes. "Come eat before it gets cold, Airos," she said quietly, and took up the fork on her own plate.
D'hein watched K'airos continuing to work at the crab, his hands at his sides, not interfering. Patient.
She was very concentrated on getting the crab out of D'hein's shirt. Pulling from it only made it clench on his clothes. So instead, she let her hands hang over it, quite far, and then pouted at it for a while. When the tiny creature felt secure, it released a pincer to keep crawling. K'airos swept it off D'hein then and quickly deposited it with his brothers. Or sisters. She'd had to decide about that later.
"There we are! Excellent job, K'airos." He patted her shoulder. "The Dodo tribe would always be happy to have you around, you know."
Antimony lifted her head at that, opened her mouth, but caught herself before she said anything, instead watching K'airos with a quiet expression.
Her daughter sat on the chair, letting out a short smile. "I'll stay with my mom, thank you." She looked down at her plate and decided that the best way to eat the fish and the potatoes was to cut them all into bits and then mix them like a salad. In practice, though, she did not have the patience to do that. She ended up just eating normally.
"I would not want Airos amongst such corrupt individuals anyway," Antimony murmured. Her nose still ached from her confrontation with D'themia, though the bruising had faded significantly to just light greens and yellows.
"It was more an offer for the thought of it, but I resent the implication that the Dodos as a tribe are corrupt. We've fixed that." He sits and looks at his food. He lifts is knife and fork and eats patiently, one bite at a time.
"... Perhaps." Antimony looked away, to the right of her food. "But they are not my tribe. It... would not feel right."
K'airos' eating slowed down as she pondered about how off her diet this meal was. The thoughts brought her to places she'd rather not be, making her hunch forward into her plate before she distracted herself with a strange statement: "K'ile said the tribe was moving to Drybone."
"Hm?" D'hein leaned forward, turned his gaze towards the wall. "The Dodoes aren't moving. Drybne would be a terrible place to run a business! And... Wait. That's not a Dodo name."
Antimony's posture stiffened for half a second. Then grey ears lowered to either side of her head, and she gave K'airos a said, regretting look. "You know I cannot go to them, Airos."
"But they can visit! Or...K'ile would." The young woman's ears, for the first time in the day, actually showed some emotion and pulled down. Her tail accompanied this by curling down. "I was just considering options." she finished saying, tone much lower and defeated.
D'hein sat up, and one of his ears lifted. The either tilted back. "I don't understand what is being discussed."
Antimony ducked her head, feeling as though her heart was cracking. "I am sorry. If I could take back my actions..."
"Well. How's Limsa? As a place to live." K'airos asked quickly, predicting where Antimony's thoughts would carry them towards if she allowed it. "Do you have to...learn to sail to live there?"
Antimony glanced towards D'hein out of the corner of her eyes for a moment, silently asking him not to press his confusion for the moment, and then sighed, pushing a small smile to her lips. "No, Airos, you don't. Though... it would be wise to learn how to swim."
D'hein looked down at his food, appearing dejected. He ate in silence.
"Do you know how to swim?"
"Ah... well... I'm not the best at it, but..."
"I know how to swim." One of D'hein's ears shot up. "Are we going to teach your mother how to swim better, K'airos?"
K'airos clapped her hands together, forgetting that she was holding the cutlery and that the fork was, at the same time, holding some fish on it. They made a faint metallic sound followed by a dull wooden noise when her palms found the handles in the way. "That would be nice, I think!"
"I know how to swim well enough," Antimony protested. "I only worry about Airos. I wouldn't want her to dr--" Her words cut off sharply and she froze.
"Maybe I should train these shellies to serve us as boats. They could carry us around once they are big enough...! Maybe." K'airos, thankfully, missed what had frozen her mother. Or perhaps she knew exactly and chose to ignore it.
"Well, if we all know how to swim perfectly well, then we should go swimming some time." D'hein smiled, cutting his fish. "How big do the smallshells get? And... WHY were the cooking infant smallshells? This establishment is wicked."
Shaking herself, Antimony forced a bit of the fish on her plate and took the time she chewed to try and pull her emotions back into place. K'airos's lone presence was suddenly even more painful. She smiled at her daughter nonetheless. "It is a good thing you rescued them, then."
"Maybe they get too big?" the girl offered as an explanation, with some doubts. "Shelly was..." Still holding the fork and the knife, she made a circle with her arms, with the fingers overlapping slightly over each other. "About this size. I could wrap both arms around her! But I don't know what his age was."
"I don't know," Antimony shook her head slightly. Watching K'airos's animated gestures made things nearly bearable, she realized. "You will have to raise them long enough to find out. Which means you will need to feed them."
"I think that might be big enough to float around on." D'hein seemed to be seriously considering this. "They wouldn't really be boats, but with a good harness set up, they could definitely bear you around."
"But do they swim? I imagine they just...crawl all over under the water, at the seabed." K'airos was, apparently, also considering it seriously.
"Oh... Then you definitely wouldn't want to be strapped to them out in the ocean."
"Just let them be. If... if we ever go to a beach, you can take them with you and... let them crawl around."
K'airos was deep in thought for a time, taking bites off her meal at a steady and perhaps too fast pace. "Maybe." she started, some food in her mouth. "Maybe I should let them go once they are large enough."
Antimony gave her daughter a soft look. "That would be very selfless of you, Airos."
"Unless they get too used to being taken care of, at which point they wouldn't be able to starve in the wild and then ocn eyou let them go they just die immediately." D'hein took a bite after saying this.
"D'hein!" Antimony gave the Tia a harshly chiding look.
K'airos looked sad, understandably.
"... What?" He looked stunned.
"I guess I should...just get them to the shore once we are done." K'airos leant over the table, getting her head really close to it and pushing her plate further away to make place for her arm. She let her chin rest over it. She did not stop eating, though. Her plate was almost empty.
"Don't listen to him. He's from the city; he hardly knows the first thing about raising an animal," Antimony furrowed her brow at K'airos. "You can care for them if you wish."
"Well, that's true. I've never had a pet. I just hear about people doing things like that with, say, dogs." He cut another bite. "I imagine you could just as easily train them to be very good at surviving in the wild.
K'airos didn't seem to gain any morale out of those words. "We'll see." she said in a melodic, saddened tone. "We should find where to live first, then worry about pets."
"...Of course." Antimony watched K'airos a moment longer and then dropped her eyes to her plate. "I... may be able to re-establish us in Limsa. But I no longer have... ah."
D'hein scratched one ear between bites. "Is there something wrong with Limsa? Too salty, if you ask me, but nice views."
Antimony winced, looked off to one side. "It has only... it is only that it's been some time since I have paid... well." She sighed. "I would have liked to be able to offer you greater stability, Airos. But don't worry. Do you wish to live in Limsa?"
The girl shrugged. Her plate was devoid of any food. "I don't know. I'd have to quit being a Brass Blade for that."
She paused and sighed. "If they don't kick me for being missing for so long."
Antimony's eyes widened slightly, and she hurried to add, "I won't make you do anything you don't wish to. I'm sure they could excuse your absence. I would make sure of it."
"How long have you been missing, K'airos?"
"Feels like... a week, I think? Uhm..." The woman pondered, her ears moving up and then down as she tried to be very selective about what she remembered. "It took me like a day to get to the Cove..." she mumbled, and kept doing so, lowering her tone more and more until she came to a conclusion, for which she spoke up. "Or maybe just like four days."
Reaching out with one hand, Antimony lay her fingers gently against K'airos's arm. "It doesn't matter," she murmured. "It is more likely they are worried over your absence than angry. If you wish to stay..."
D'hein shrugged, pushing his plate away from him. "I'm sure it won't be a large problem. You have years of good service behind you, right?"
K'airos moved her chair away from the table, nearly knocking on the crate where the smallshells were doing their best impression of a rebellion. She lifted the box and stood up. "I'm going to put these outside town. Maybe there'll be some smallshell family willing to adopt them."
Antimony started to stand. "Airos, you don't have to..." She hesitated then, sighed. "... Please be careful."
"I won't go too far."
"I really think you should consider keeping one, K'airos." D'hein watched the girl. "Even if you still have to take care of it when it's fully grown, one won't be a problem."
"That would be mean. What if they are siblings and what to stay with each other?" She turned around and started walking outside, her eyes suddenly heavy again. "I'll be back soon. Maybe we should...have dessert... or something. Tea?" she rambled.
Antimony sagged back into her chair. "Alright, Airos. Whatever you want. We will have it waiting for you."
"Tea and dessert. Right."
Green eyes watched K'airos until the girl disappeared into the bright glare of outside. Then the inn's door swung shut, leaving Antimony to watch the grain of its wood cast in warm yellow light. She sighed, shifted her gaze back to the plate of fish in front of her, and after a moment spoke with low ears, "I don't know what to do."
D'hein's ears twitched. One that had been standing fell down. The other one rose. He looked at Antimony crookedly. "Well what kind of tea does K'airos like?"
A faint crease formed between her brow. "That..." One ear shivered. "... I don't know. She used to like cactus water, but that isn't... they don't drink that here."
"Cactus water? I'm not sure that counts as tea, and she did specifically say tea." He leaned back and put fingers to his chin to ponder the situation. "Vexing indeed. I should wish I knew if she had much of a tolerance for caffeine."
Antimony winced at that. "I don't know." Her fingers twisted about themselves in her lap then, and she drew a deep breath, suddenly turning to look towards the Tia. "D'hein, I need to ask of you a favor."
"Oh, don't worry. I'll cover the bill. I'm sure they'll find extra charges to add on because their sense of justice is just as twisted as Illira's is." He sat forward in his chair, chuckling. "Perhaps if we just order a sampling of different teas."
She let out a sharp sigh, frowned. "Be serious for once, Tia. It has nothing to do with teas."
"Oh." He had been very serious, but twitched and tried to appear as though he were now looking seriouser. His brow dropped and his lips straightened. He sat up. "Very well."
Antimony grew at once reluctant, but she did what she could to not let that show. Still, her tail curled around one leg, and her fingers tensed into the cloth in her lap. She looked away, towards the table. "If Airos wants... wants to return to the tribe. In... Drybone." The concept of their family moving beyond their traditional territory was almost impossible for Antimony to believe, but she had to. K'airos would not lie, and neither would K'ile. She swallowed, pressed her lips together. "... It was not hard to see that she... wants to be near them. Will you watch her and take her there? Make sure that... that she finds them safely."
D'hein looked at the table, then at the floor, then back at the table. he grabbed his plate of half-eaten food and pulled it towards him, then pushed it away. "I'm a bit confused by this entire business. You see." He lifted his eyes towards Antimony. "And this is in all honesty. Aijeen told me that your tribe had abandoned her in the desert. And later, that you all had died off. I'm gathering these things were not true."
Her hands tightened about one another. "... No. None of it." She glanced up, giving the Tia a distressed look. "I have told you already the true situation around Ai--Aijeen's disappearance!"
"I had accepted her account as fact for quite some time. You'll forgive me if it takes some time for my tormented mind to adapt." He made small gestures with his hands on top of the table as he spoke. "I'm sorry to ask, but why can you not see her back yourself? Is it not /your/ tribe?"
"... No." The answer was simple and quiet, and painful. But true.
He looked to the side, then back again. "I don't think that answer is as illuminating as you think it is."
"I cannot return to them," Antimony murmured and bowed her head. "They... are not welcoming of exiles."
"Okay, I can get that. Like, D'themia's not coming home anytime soon. No way. But, what's that got to do with you?"
Antimony was quiet for a long moment, and seemed to shrink in her chair, though she maintained her posture. "It is very private," she said after a time, and swallowed. "... I left them, and... the circumstances around that... were unforgivable." She lifted her eyes to D'hein. "Just take her to them, if it's what Airos wants. Please."
"Well, all right." He continued to cast his gaze around awkwardly. "That's easy enough to say yes to."
Antimony tried to relax at that, but she probably just ended up looking sad. "Thank you."
"I mean. I'm not upset or anything. I don't take it as a chore." D'hein held up one hand. "The opposite, actually. I'm honored that you would trust me to see your daughter into the sands, and would like nothing more than to walk into such a horizon with her."
"Thank you," Antimony repeated quietly. She bowed her head, fell silent for a moment, and then sighed. "... The Quicksand served a tea spiced with cloves and ginger. Perhaps Airos would..."
"We'll order that then! Cloves and... cloves and ginger? Really? Well." He shrugs. "I guess paupers can't be choosers. Humble nobility it is: tea of cloves. I'm sure they'll have just such a thing around here."
Antimony's mouth twisted at D'hein's rambling, and she tried not to frown. "You may select the.. dessert if such a drink is so dissatisfying."
"Oh, it's very satisfying. I'm a student of nobility in all its forms, after all. In fact, I'll choose the cheapest dessert they have, as a way to prove my nobility as well." He gins widely and pats the table in a quick rhythm as he speaks.
"Perhaps you could prove it by not being so set on proving it," Antimony muttered and looked towards K'airos's empty chair.
"Well how about I just go blace the order then?" He stood from his chair, and his tail flipped out behind him, knocking the chair over. it slammed loudly to the ground, and everyone looked over like they thought he was mad about something. He flinched at the sound himself, and then set to righting the fallen chair. "I apologize! I was really just talking. I did not intend for that to be so emphatic!"
"... It's fine," was all Antimony could manage, pointedly not looking at everyone staring their way. "I will... await Airos's return."
RE: Smallshells for the Heart - Illira - 08-24-2014
The sleeve of Illira's intricately embroidered linen shirt was long gone, most of in the belly of beast that had tossed her about. And what had been left behind had been cut away to tend her shoulder. In trade for the cloth, it had left behind deep punctures where its teeth had ground into her and a dislocated joint.
It had been popped back into place, stitched up with self-dissolving thread, then bandaged over with gauze and a healers spells. It would heal well enough if she didn't do anything else to it, or practice such stupidity as she had in jumping into the fray as she did. The sling that her arm hung in now was to help prevent such further injury.
So she stood now outside the small hospital building, the small braids that hung by her face waving in the breeze. Free from the others, she now hesitated at what she had so desperately desired earlier, to be left alone. There was an ounce of responsibility that she felt now, which was holding her back. As much as she knew that she had done as she needed to, she had still left a mother without her daughter. Was there anything that she could do to assist in the matter though? Nothing at all. Her face was the last that they would want to see, even if she had any wish to be apart of whatever was between that clique.
It wasn't running, not now anyway. She'd fulfilled her part in this, played the villain and protector. What more was here for her? Anger, rage, and impulsivity. Making her way over to the chocobo stable, Illira talked with their minder, assuring him that she would be perfectly fine riding with one arm.
D'hein wandered away from the inn's tavern, patting at his ruined clothes. At least he was fed and had been able to sleep, however briefly, but he didn't feel all that much better. At most he was no longer in present danger of passing out in the middle of a sentence. And watching D'aijeen die hadn't helped his mood at all. Still, he saw Illira at the Chocobo master, and after only an instant of hesitation, forced his tired body into a trot towards her. The Dodo's hair and tail bounced like feathers, one ear flopping limp on his head. "Illira!"
Her eyes shut as soon as the honey-sweet, grating voice made its way to her. She hadn't gotten out of the care of the healers quickly enough to avoid a scene it seemed. "One moment," she said to the Chocobo master letting him go back about his business as she turned away from him to walk a few steps towards D'hein, "What?" she said tersely.
The man kept up his trot until he could stop in front of Illira, a smile on her face. "Hey, you're going back to Ul'dah? I thought you hated it there."
"I do. I won't be staying there." The elezen looked down her nose at the coworker.
"Oh, that's fine! I can probably take care of Ul'dah just fine, now. Because. You know. less distractions." He said this with a smile, still, then stood up a bit straighter. His tail twitched back and forth behind him. "Hey, I wanted to thank you."
---------------
Antimony had hung back as D'hein left the tavern, turning her attention to her daughter who had returned not long ago lacking her box of smallshells. "Do you need anything, dear? More rest? Food? If you'd like a pet, we could see about getting you... ah, a chocobo perhaps? You used to help feed them..."
K'airos followed her mother outside, her head hung low. "Stables are expensive." she answered flatly. The idea made her look towards the chocobo stable, though, and she noticed D'hein and Illira. She just blinked in their direction.
"Why would you need a stable? They like to run." Antimony tried a smile, though it turned out more sad than happy. "And the chicks are rather cute."
K'airos shrugged, arms crossed. "We'd have to keep them somewhere."
Ears drooping slightly, Antimony watched her daughter's posture for a moment. Then her brow furrowed and, seemingly overcome, she stepped closer to pull her into a hug. "You just let me know anything you want, Airos," she murmured. "I will make sure you get it."
The young Miqo'te accepted the hug and lingered on it for a while, resting her head on her mother's shoulder. "What is D'hein doing?" she asked afterwards, still in the hug.
---------------
Shifting her weight, Illira said, "There isn't anything to thank me for. I killed your twelves-forsaken daughter, D'hein. And I'm only sorry that she rose back up."
"So am I. That's what I'm thanking you for." D'hein held his hands out in front of him, palm up, gesturing openly as he spoke. "I knew it would have to be done. I came here to do it. But I didn't know if I could. You're the one who stepped in and... It was ugly. I don't have much of a stomach for that kind of thing."
"No one should. But sometimes it must be done, for the good of all. I was just unfortunate enough to learn about such many years ago." Lifting her head, Illira caught sight of the mother and daughter pair a little ways off, "I'm... glad that you see the truth of it though. That is a powerful thing."
"I've always been better at using paperwork and information to get what I want. D'themia I could handle on my own. But..." He shrugs. He hasn't lost his smile at all, though he closes his eyes. "Killing D'aijeen isn't something I could have done."
"And it shouldn't have been something that was required of you, even if you'd had it in you." The woman paused, before choosing her next words carefully, "You will let me go now, right? You have far more important things to take care of than watching me."
---------------
Antimony blinked, sighed, and pulled back just enough to glance over her shoulder. Green eyes settled on the Tia and his elezen companion after a moment, and her tail drooped. "I... don't know. Seeing if she is healed, I suppose."
"Maybe they are planning to go back to Ul'dah, already?" K'airos pulled out from the hug and gestured in their direction.
The crease between Antimony's brows deepened at that. Keeping an arm on K'airos, she began to cross the courtyard towards the pair by the chocobos.
The girl followed, her tail hidden between her legs.
---------------
"Are you still two seconds away from killing me?" D'hein opened one eye half-way, looking Illira over.
"I am tired right now, D'hein. Thats all. I really don't have room for much else at the moment." She glanced down at her arm in its sling as she finished, "And I know you are as well. So I would not make judgements on such things right now while we are not quite ourselves."
D'hein holds up a finger. "Use that logic next time you're irate and maybe you'll realize you don't feel so much like killing me after all. Remember: the only difference between a murderer and a person of high moral standing, is that the murderer acts on things that everyone else only fantasizes about. It's not like I've never wanted cut off Sah'ot's tail."
"What you just said isn't... Removing Sah'ot's isn't an act of good. I'll keep my own counsel, thank you," answered Illira.
"Have you seen her tail? It's beautiful. She doesn't deserve it." He crosses his arms. "Anyway. Everyone who does something wrong thinks it's an 'act of good' at the time. Just think about it."
Antimony slowed as she approached D'hein and Illira. She gave the Tia a mildly confused look as she overheard the tail end of their conversation.
Jaw tightening, Illira glances away from D'hein to the approaching women, "What you speak of, and I speak of are entirely different things D'hein."
"They aren't. You just want them to be. The fact that you believe that is why there's a problem between us." His tail flips around behind him.
"Are you leaving for Ul'dah?" Antimony finally spoke, looking between D'hein and Illira as though unsure to whom to direct the question.
"I am leaving," Illira answers, letting the difference of opinion rest between her and D'hein for the moment.
K'airos hesitated, looking at D'hein. "Are you leaving, too?" she asked him.
The man spun towards K'airos. "Well, what's in Horizon? We should all go."
Illira's attention turned back to D'hein, a frown forming on her thin lips, "Please, don't leave on my account."
"I... suppose one place is as good as any for now." Antimony looked towards K'airos.
The young woman rubbed her forearm. "What about our...my things...they are still in Vesper Bay."
D'hein looks over his shoulder at Illira. "There's nothing in Horizon. Home is Ul'dah. I think everyone should just go home."
"Home is..." Antimony trailed off, and then squeezed K'airos's arm. "We can retrieve your things, dear. And... take it from there."
Shrugging, Illira turns back to stable to finish dealing with the chocobo master, "Then you should do that."
K'airos nodded slowly and just once. "Getting my things would be nice." she mumbled.
Finally looking towards K'airos, he says, "Do you mean in Vesper Bay?"
"Yes."
The thought of returning to that harbour town made Antimony's blood run cold, but she would do it for K'airos. "It shouldn't take long."
After getting the chocobo master's attention again, Illira reiterates her original request, passing gil into the man's hand.
"You two go back to Ul'dah. I'll get K'airos' things. I don't want either of you going back there." He looks over towards where Illira went. "Illira! Can you see these ladies back to the Quicksand for me?"
Reigns in her hand, Illira turns back to the odd family leading the chocobo behind her. Luckily, this one seemed much more content and easy-going than the last one, "They can tag along if they wish."
Antimony gave her daughter a concerned look. "Will that be alright with you, Airos?"
"Yeah. That'll be fine." she answers weakly. Smiling and looking at the man, she adds: "Thank you, D'hein."
Bowing her head slightly, Antimony turned towards the chocobo master, though she did offer a brief, weary look D'hein's way.
D'hein steps out of everyone's way, letting them get to the Chocobos. "I'll see you two in Ul'dah, once I've gotten K'airos' stuff. So wait for me. Thanks again, Illira."
Looping the reigns over the chocobo's head, Illira held them at the pommel of the saddle and brought her foot up to the stirrup. Her other leg, long as it was pushed off from the ground as she pulled herself up with her hand. The whole process much more awkward without the use of one of her arms. But she managed, "I still do not think that you should be thanking me D'hein."
K'airos, not wanting to interrupt, but also thinking they shouldn't waste time, centred her attention on the chocobokeep and asked him to have prepared other two birds soon.
"The fact that you believe that is one of the reasons we have a problem." D'hein chuckled.
"So you tell yourself," Illira glances over her shoulder at the other two women, waiting on them before she could depart.
Antimony waited in silence for two chocobos to be readied. It didn't take long, and she soon accepted the reins of one from the chocobokeep. She hoisted herself upon it wordlessly and then cast a distant look D'hein's way. "Be careful in that place. Corruption... does not fade so easily."
K'airos seemed to want to protest, but she said nothing. Or perhaps it was just the effort of getting on her own mount that made her look like that.
"I'm trained in Thaumaturgy!" D'hein whipped out his sceptre to demonstrate. "Cleansing corruption is one of my talents."
Antimony just sighed at that, ears lowering, and took up her chocobo's reins. "Come, Airos. We... shouldn't make Miss Carceri wait."
Reigning her Chocobo towards the Ul'dah facing exit, Illira nodded towards Antimony, "Let D'hein take care of himself. Those other two may still be there as well. So that may be some comfort to you."
K'airos kept quiet while she moved her own chocobo towards the exit.
It wasn't any comfort at all, and Antimony's tail shivered in silent protest of it. She urged her chocobo on though.
D'hein watched them go and waved his hand high over his head.
RE: Smallshells for the Heart - Illira - 09-14-2014
Arriving back at Ul'dah felt no different to Antimony than leaving it. The air stank. The walls loomed. Refugees languished in disease and poverty. The streets clamored with noise. She handed off her chocobo to the city's chocobo-keep wearily and turned to watch K'airos and Illira. The latter she had mixed feelings towards her presence; the former she wanted to swaddle up and spirit her away some place safe, some place distant and completely removed from the lands that seemed determined to take her family.
Her grey tail twitched low by her legs as she tried not to breathe too deeply. "I am sorry for bringing you so far out of your way, Miss Carceri." Yes, she was sorry. Sorry the elezen had been present. Sorry she had killed her daughter.
"It is not out of my way. I needed to stop through to get on an airship anyway," She glanced up at the Quicksand that was just across the street, "I should stay with you until your other... escort arrives. Or perhaps you all feel safe enough waiting on your own so long as your back at your lodgings?"
K'airos handed her own chocobo back before standing to the side of her mother.
Her arms were crossed. "I don't know if we have...lodgings here." she said.
Antimony set a reassuring hand on K'airos's arm. "I have a room at the Quicksand that we can stay in for now." Green eyes glanced towards Illira, the crowsfeet extending from their corners and the crease between her brow having deepened over the past few days. "I would not burden you further, Miss Carceri. I understand you... likely have other matters worth your attention."
"It was a mistake to return to this city once more, but its one I'm doomed to make again, I am sure." Illira gestured towards the Inn, "Let me at least see you both inside before I buy myself another ticket aboard one of those twelves-forsaken airships."
K'airos untangled her arms. "That'd be nice of you. Thanks." she nodded and then moved towards the inn.
Antimony opened her mouth to respond to Illira, but the way K'airos turned to leave so quickly dragged her around as well. She gave a nod to the elezen and then followed close to her daughter, hovering. "It is not a permanent solution, but... we can perhaps spend some time to think," she said, referring to their lodgings.
The lanky elezen walked behind them, her shadow cast over the miqo'te thanks to the sun's waning position, "I cannot imagine that D'hein will be far behind you. He cannot seem to pull himself away from your presence for long. So if you need to muse on your own, you should be quick about it."
"That seems rude." K'airos murmured, going up the stairs to the Quicksand. "He lost family, too. You shouldn't speak bad of him."
"My relationship with D'hein is not up for discussion," answered Illira.
"He is... persistent." Antimony sighed. "I can't fault him for it, for the moment, considering..." She swallowed.
"Considering what your child was? What she was allowed to become?" Illira pressed her lips together, aware even as she said the words that they were perhaps not acceptable things to say to a grieving mother. They spilled out nonetheless though. It was not in her nature to not dig into meat of things. She would have made a terrible politician.
K'airos turned around to face the woman. She stood very close to her and, being much shorter, looked up to her with defiance written all over her expression.
"If you don't have anything nice to say go away." she growled.
"Please," Antimony breathed, closing her eyes, and her voice shook as she continued, "Do not speak of... do not bring... her into this, Miss Carceri. It was not what I was referring to, anyway."
"Then what were you referring to?" Illira asked as they began to climb the stairs up to the Quicksand.
"Considering what just happened? Or everything that happened, maybe? D'hal died, too. And now D'aijeen." K'airos continued to growl, getting visibly angry. Her tail formed a straight line behind her, the hair on it seemingly pointing outwards.
"Airos," Antimony spoke quietly, turned to rest her hand on her daughter's arm. "Let us please just find an hour's peace. Miss Carceri is... trying." She wanted to hate that woman, though.
Ilira stepped ahead of the other women, pulling the Inn's door open for them, her thin lips pressed together.
K'airos walked into the inn wordlessly, her arms crossed again and her sight placed firmly on the ground a few steps ahead of her.
Antimony moved as well, keeping at K'airos's side through the door and into the tavern. The rank stink of warm beer, sweaty bodies, and overcooked food that assaulted her nose was more of a shock than it had been in previous days, and she blinked slowly against it before turning to the elezen with them. "I will not thank you, as D'hein did," she began, ears shivering close to her skull. "... But I will express my relief that more lives were not lost."
Illira nodded her head in understanding, "And he should not have thanked me either, it simply makes him feel better, I think." Steely eyes glanced over the busy tavern, "I should leave you now, before he returns. I have done what I promised."
The youngest woman said nothing, avoiding going across the center of the inn. Instead, she followed the wall to the left, avoiding most tables and patrons to reach the stairs to the rooms.
Antimony took a step after K'airos, an anxious look flashing across her eyes as her daughter moved away, and then wavered in place before turning to offer a slight bow towards Illira. "You have... done. May the sun smile on you." Then she spun to hurry after K'airos.
You have done. What did that even mean? Illira didn't care enough to ask for clarification. It was far more important to leave the city before D'hein had a chance to try to chain her back down to it with his calculated, manipulative words. She walked around the upper lip of the tavern towards the northern exit.
Catching up with K'airos, Antimony stepped close and gestured towards the far wall, off to one side of the bar. "It is a bit... damaged, but there is water for cleaning and space to rest," she spoke softly to her daughter.
At the same instant that Illira was leaving the tavern, D'hein was entering. He had searched the beaches south of Vesper Bay for all of half an hour before calling it good enough (he hadn't been keeping track of time and felt like he'd gone a very long way) and rushing to Horizon to get a chocobo. He had ridden the poor thing half to death, feeling like he was going very slowly (because, again, he has a poor sense of time) and this sense of urgency inexplicably remained after his arrival in Ul'dah. He almost couldn't remember why he was in a hurry, but he knew that he had to confirm Antimony's arrival before he could do anything else.
And so it was that he ran smack into the much taller Elezen in his haste, his chest to her belly and his face finding her left breast precisely, though he had the misfortune of not being cognizant enough of what was happening to appreciate it.
K'airos nodded to her mother quietly, throwing an angry glance back to the elezen just in time to see D'hein crashing into her. Her ears pulled back and down, and she stopped being angry for that moment.
Antimony didn't immediately notice K'airos's reaction, or at least did not connect it to anything noteworthy. Instead she just continued to urge her daughter towards the hall that would take them to the inn rooms, her steps heavy.
Illira had just been reaching for the doors handle when it swung open and weight pushed into her. A deep breath heaved through the very breast that the shorter man pressed up against as her eyes closed, not even wanting to see who it was. She was sure that it wasn't anyone that she cared to no. "Remove yourself from my person if you would, I am not known for my patience."
D'hein bounced off and looked confused for a moment, his sense of urgency still holding his mind and having him cast his gaze back and forth, ears turning a variety of different directions and never agreeing on one, before he finally lifted his eyes to Illira's face. He blinked, and then smiled, and one ear popped up and his eyes glowed. "Ah, Illira! You made it back!"
K'airos let her mother push her further towards the rooms. "I think Illira ran into D'hein" she commented lowly as they moved.
Antimony paused at that, lifted her head without turning it to look, and drew in a slow breath. "Do you want to wait for him, Airos?" She would concede to her daughter's wishes, whatever they were.
The girl hesitated for an instant before answering. "No, he can come to the room if he wants. I don't want to see that woman, if I can help it." And so she continued walking.
At the familiar voice, Illira's attention immediately snapped downward as her eyes widened, "Get off of me," she snapped as she made a frantic shove at the man with her long, thin hands.
"Ah, hey! I didn't mean anything!" He took an extra step back, still smiling, speaking with humor. "It's good to see you've returned and are well!" ((...........))
Not questioning it further, Antimony simply followed along close with K'airos once more. She would guide her a short ways down the hall and then around a corner to the left. She cast a glance to K'airos's profile once they arrived at the door and ran a few fingers through her daughter's hair, brow furrowed. "You smell like..." A number of things that were all unpleasant, for a variety of reasons. She pushed open the door. "A bath will ease your mind, Airos. You don't need to think of anything you don't wish to now."
The mention of a bath didn't seem to do much good on K'airos. She agreed with the head and moved into the room. "I bet Limsa and the sea are nicer than Ul'dah and the desert." she said to the air.
Antimony watched her daughter a moment before following her into the room, shutting the door with a quiet click. "Than Ul'dah, yes," she murmured, closing her eyes briefly. She wasn't sure anything could compare with the open skies of the Sagolii, but then... that was something she'd had to leave behind a long time ago. "I hear tell there are other... places, as well, that are just as different."
Something had changed inside of Antimony's room. Several somethings had, actually, and there was a strange smell of worked wood in the air. As K'airos pushed into the room, Loughree jumped to her feet and spun on them in surprise, dropping her tools to the grind with a metal clatter. The large, broad miqo'te had cleaned up since the last time Antimony had seen her, but was now dirty with sweat from working. Every piece of broken furniture in the inn room had been replaced with furniture that looked fresh-made. Loughree was half-way through attaching a new footboard to the bed.
K'airos stared at the woman inside her mother's -or their, maybe- room. "I'm sorry! We didn't want to startle you." she said, confusing her with a maid. "Let me help you pick those up."
Antimony froze, her mouth hanging on the last word of her speaking. Her tail twitched, nose taking in the scent, and then she just let out a faint, sighing breath. She wasn't sure she could handle this. Not now... "Miss Loughree," she murmured. "I... didn't know you were here."
"I'm sorry." Loughree dove to grab up her tools before K'airos could get to them. "I didn't realize you'd be back! I was just fixing the things I broke. So, now, they're fixed and you don't have to pay for them, see?"
K'airos clasped her hands together, letting them hang lazily in front of her. "Uhm...you know each other?" she asked.
"Yes." Antimony's expression softened, and then just grew sad. "Thank you," she said to Loughree. "It is good to see you... safe."
Loughree turned back to thr footboard of the bed and crouched over it. "I'm almost done, then I can go. I didn't mean to still be here." She began to work on it again.
K'airos watched the woman awkwardly, pondering on how slightly awkward the situation was. "I'm K'airos." she said. "Nice to meet you."
"It's quite alright," Antimony sighed and stepped further into the room. Her eyes shifted to K'airos. "This is... my daughter."
Loughree looked up at K'airos and offered a passive, "Hello," before she stopped work and inhaled suddenly. "Oh!" She looked back at Antimony. "So, you found her! Did everything...?"
K'airos crossed her arms, and looked around the room, wondering if it had its own bathroom. "We are fine. We are just...tired." she said lowly.
Antimony just watched K'airos a moment - the young woman would find there was indeed an attached bathroom separate from the sleeping area - with her sad expression. "It has been a long day." She hesitated before turning her gaze back to Loughree. "You didn't need to do all of this."
"I'm almost done." Loughree repeated, going back to her work.
The red-headed woman went towards the bathroom. "Is this the-yes, it is." she said, interrupting herself halfway through the phrase when she opened the door and glanced inside. "I'm going to prepare a bath." she added, and then went in.
"Ah, Ai..." Antimony trailed off into silence as her daughter disappeared into the washroom. She hung in visible suspension for several moments, and then just sagged, her head dropping down to hang from her neck, from her shoulders, from her spine. "Thank you, then," she said to Loughree, folding her fingers together. "You are a good woman, despite.."
"Don't, please." Loughree interrupted Antimony, securing the bed with bolts and glue. After a moment of silence, she glanced over her shoulder at Antimony. "Are you okay?"
Antimony straightened somewhat, lifting her head towards the Keeper and offering a faint attempt at a smile. "We will be." She wasn't sure how much she believed that, but she had to be. For K'airos. "I... still worry for you, though."
The sound water came from the bathroom, as K'airos was filling the tub. It was also good for muffling the sobbing.
"I don't want you worrying about me. That's why I did this." Loughree stood and turned towards Antimony, looking more together than she had in the past, though she was still disheveled and exhausted in appearance. At least she looked emotionally stable. "I shouldn't have put any weight on you at all, so now it's off. You need to worry about your own kid and forget about me."
"I will not." Antimony was far too tired, too achingly numb to argue much further, however. Instead she stood there and tried not to simply run to K'airos's side in the washroom.
Loughree stood still for a moment, watching Antimony carefully, and then she pocketed her tools, freeing her hands, so that she could step forward and give the woman a hug.
K'airos stayed where she was.
Antimony pulled in a breath as Loughree wrapped her arms around her. Then she sagged and pulled the younger but physically larger woman close, squeezing her back. Her eyes burned, but she held back the tears that wanted to fall. She was silent for a time, words choking against a tight throat, but she finally managed, "...You are welcome with us, Loughree. But... right now, I need to be with Airos."
"I know." Loughree grabbed Antimony's shoulders and pulled the two of them apart, slipping sideways and going towards the door. "You'll be fine."
Antimony dropped her arms to her sides as Loughree stepped around her. She made no effort to stop the other woman. Her gaze dropped to the re-made bed.
Loughree slipped out of the room silently, not giving any more by way of goodbye. She shut the door behind her.
Antimony hung in limbo for a long moment. Then her body seemed to sway and drift towards the washroom. She hesitated outside it and, knocking softly, murmured, "Airos, may I come in?"
K'airos took a while to answer. The water stopped flowing. "Yes." she said finally, voice shaking. She opened the door and moved to let her mother enter. She rubbed her eyes with one palm, walking towards the filled tub. "Who was that?"
Stepping past the door, Antimony looked down briefly, then to K'airos. "She is a... friend who has had a troubled life." Her expression softened, grew a little distant. "I think she is around your age."
The young woman pondered about a moment about that and looked slightly troubled. She gestured to towards the toilet and the sink. "Did you want to use...?"
Green eyes refocused on K'airos, and grey ears shifted to one side. "I only wanted to check on you. Be here, for when you need me. If you need anything, Airos..."
"I'm fine. I don't have clothes, though, and I don't know if D'hein brought anything." she said. "I'll take a bath. You should ask him if he brought my things...or get me something to put on."
Antimony's ears lowered just slightly. "... Alright, Airos." She paused, just watching her daughter again, as though she were almost afraid K'airos would disappear if she looked away. "... I will always be here for you." She stepped back out of the bathroom then, to turn towards the door.
K'airos tapped her fingers together. "Maybe you should tell...Lou-ghree to come have lunch with us. Or dinner. Or...something. She seemed nice."
Antimony blinked. "... I will see what I can do." Her tail twisted up once. "Are you hungry, or thirsty? I will ask for fresh linens.."
"I don't know what bell it is." K'airos replied. "If you think we should eat, that'd be okay."
Antimony just bowed her head and murmured an, "Of course. I will be back soon." Then she reluctantly backed out of the room and into the hall.
K'airos closed the door slowly. She turned around and, very explicably, found the room empty. She found this strange nonetheless.
Antimony hovered just outside the room for a time. She leaned her head against the wood, took several shaking breaths, and then pushed away to make her way back towards the open tavern.
RE: Smallshells for the Heart - Illira - 09-14-2014
((Meanwhile with D’hein and Illira...))
"I did as I promised you. I brought Antimony and her child here. I was simply heading my own way now," Illira gestured at the door, "Now... if you would move out of the way so that I may continue on..."
D'hein looked confused by Illira's gestures, squinting at her hand as it moved and then looking up back to her face. For an instant, he might've been suspicious, and then he shrugged and smiled, "Where to? Back to Limsa?"
"Probably. If its the first ship out of this city. I cannot stay here D'hein, you should realize that more than anyone. I can make no promises if I stay. Maybe not even if I leave." The normally perfectly controlled elezen looked practically itchy as she sneered at the man.
D'hein got well out of Illira's way. "I should encourage you to have enough patience to wait for a ship that takes you somewhere that you can actually go to deliberately."
"Perhaps I will, now that you do not seem to eager to track me down and chain me to you, D'hein," Illira reaches for the exit door again, this time hopefully not to be crashed into.
"I would've never chained you to me!" D'hein protested. "That would have been very rude and unproductive."
Illira held the door open, leaning into it, "Oh, you seem to have been doing a good job trying to do that lately."
D'hein took the opened door as an invitation to follow and walked out in front of Illira. "And you've done a good job letting me! But it was never my intention. I was just, worried, after all. Rightfully, you yourself must admit."
Illira simply stared as D'hein walked through the doorway and walked back in the direction that he'd just come from, "Where are you going?"
D'hein said simply, "I'm not sure. At any rate, yes."
"You should listen to yourself before you speak. And think before you act, unless you're intending to accompany me all the way to the airship and perhaps on it? Since that appears to be what you are doing," Illira still held the door open, in hopes that he would return through it.
"Well I certainly don't intend to board an airship and leave. I just got back and remember being in a hurry to get to some occasion." He lifted his hands like it was no big deal whether he actual made it to this thing of his or not. "But it would be rude of me not to keep you company to the airship, wouldn't it? After all, you're leaving Ul'dah again! It's the end of an age."
Illira pointed towards the stairwell, "I thought you were worried about your chosen mate and her child."
D'hein waved Illira's comment off. "And I trust you to have taken adequate care of them. D'aijeen is dead, D'themia is in jail, Ulanan is searching for any errant voidsent. All threats are taken care of! I've no reason to worry."
Illira grudgingly steps through the door to the streets, knowing that arguing further with him on this matter would only end in further frustration, "You seem terribly cheerful about it all."
D'hein shrugged at Illira. "I'm not cheerful. But I began my mourning days ago. I didn't doubt for a moment that D'aijeen murdered D'ahl, and I knew how it would end. It's terribly, but it's over now. We did a good job with what of the situation we could control."
The elezen walked past him, towards Ruby Road, "Then what do you intend to do now? Your focus appears to still be very imprinted upon Antimony."
"Not at all," D'hein said, following. "I actually seem to remember I might have some kind of business thing lined up or something. A lot of illegal activity should collapse now that D'themia's no longer supporting it, and I intend to be there to scoop up every misfiled paper and miscalculated figure, crisp for prosecution!"
If Illira could have growled, she likely would have at D'hein's statement, "If you say so. But we will see what actually happens."
D'hein walked with high steps, swinging his arms as he followed Illira. This caused an annoyingly loud shuffling of cloth from his burned and tattered robes. "We will see! Would you like me to send progress reports! I'll let you know all about the downfall of the Syndicate."
"You mean the syndicate that you are a part of and make use of on a regular basis?" Illira snorts at that, "Yeah. We'll see that when it happens."
"So you want me to send you reports! Excellent! Ah, oh!" D'hein caught up to Illira and walked beside her. "Are there any Ul'dahn-exclusive products that you'll miss? Spices? Confectionaries? I can send them along from time to time as well."
"D'hein." Illira said seriously, as if she had ever been anything but, "Do you remember my feelings on the subject of your gift giving?" She stepped up onto the staircase leading into the center of Ul'dah. She paused on it, looking back at the miqo'te.
The man did not pause for several seconds. Then he had to take a step back and turn around. "You said that I'm bad at it. But it's not a gift if it's something you tell me to get!"
"I said that your gifts are too often inappropiate. But to answer your question, no. I do not wish for an Ul'dahn themed carepackage. That would entirely defeat the purpouse of my departure." Illira resumed her walk up the steps.
D'hein just looked confused at this. "What? I thought you were leaving because of homicidal impulses. Is there something wrong with Ul'dahn confections?"
The slight bit of humor that Illira displayed vanished as she quickly covered the distance between her D'hein and took ahold of his collar, pulling him towards her, "I hate this city and nearly everything in it. Do not send me reminders of it."
D'hein did not miss the tone and gesture. He hung there with his hands at his sides and replied, "I wouldn't dream of it."
"Good." Illira said, letting go of D'hein's lapels.
D'hein brushed himself off and moved to follow Illira, happy once more. "But you still want those reports right?"
"If you insist, though know that I will follow up on the detail with my own connections," At the top of the stairs, Illira took a right to the elevator that would take her up to the airship docking.
"You have connections in Ul'dah that I don't know about?"
"Why do you seem surprised at that?" Illira turned to the elevator attendant requesting to be sent up to the top, before turning back to D'hein.
"Because I thought all your connections in Ul'dah would be made available to the Agency and through the Agency to me and now I feel like you're deliberately holding back tools I could be using to cure Ul'dah of the infestation that plagues it!"
"Except that you're not. I say that I will follow up, because I wish to be certain that what you say aren't more twisted tales. This is an opportunity to prove your worth and actions, D'hein if you really wish for such a thing." The elevator door opens and Illira steps right into it.
"I don't feel the need to prove anything to you," D'hein said, his voice shifting down and his body-language solidifying into languid confidence as Illira boarded the elevator. He didn't follow her into it. "Nor do I need your connections to do what needs to be done. I just wish I knew who your friends were so they didn't end up on any of my lists."
"Oh, look, your story just changed. I'm so very surprised," Illira smirked at the man as the elevator began to close.
D'hein chuckled at that, and shook his head. "It's all the same story. Happy travels, Illira."
The doors come to a creaking close and the dial above its doors begin to move, showing its upward progress towards its destination.
RE: Smallshells for the Heart - Illira - 09-14-2014
D'hein paused outside of the Hourglass-or-whatever, smiling at the fountain near the gate and its inscription: "Power is depth of pocket". He didn't smile because his pockets were deep, nor because he liked the idea of power, but because the philosophy was so simple and straightforward and terribly untrue. No depth of pocket could have stopped D'aijeen.
No, power is not depth of pocket. The illusion of power is. And that made this phrase like a weapon for D'hein. The inscription on the fountain, constantly reminding the residents of Ul'dah of the lie, kept the weapon sharp.
And D'hein kept himself sharp by looking in the reflective waters of the fountain and tugging on the tips of his ears. His hair was dirty, his face was dirty, and his clothes were dirty, but as long as his ears were sharp and his mane satisfyingly fluffed -- which it was -- then he would be just fine. He splashed water over his face for good measure anyway. Then he decided his teeth were probably dirty and washed his mouth out with fountain water as well. That was a particularly terrible idea. The water was filthy and tasted like everything.
He was still spitting and coughing when he walked up the stairs to head into the tavern and look for Antimony and K'airos. D'hein brushed his face repeatedly with his ratty, burnt sleeves, pushing inside to look around.
---------------
By the time Antimony had made it back out into the Quicksand, she'd found no sign of neither D'hein nor Illira. This distressed her perhaps more than it should have, and her mind conjured up an image of having to return to K'airos and tell her that all of her possessions were lost. It would break her...
She wavered for a moment, swaying in one spot almost drunkenly before finally turning to rest against one of the Quicksand's railings. She was still there when D'hein returned, fretting over how she was to find K'airos a change of clothing when she had hardly a single gil to her name anymore. She'd worked herself up to near tears by the time she lifted her head enough to catch sight of him wandering back through the door. Ears pressing down to her head she exclaimed, "Where have you been??"
D'hein heard someone shouting. That wasn't all that uncommon in this place, but it was still rude and, besides, he thought he recognized the voice. It was while he was looking out for the rude person that he noticed Antimony looking at him, and greeted her with a smile and a wave. "Ah, hello! Where have you been hiding, hm?"
"Hiding..." Antimony shut her eyes a moment, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose and then rubbing across her brow. She sighed wearily. "We have not been hiding. You disappeared and... ah." She shook her head. "Please tell me you found Airos's things.."
"I found Airos things," D'hein said immediately, then paused to think about it. He walked over to Antimony, gazing at the ceiling, and nodded. "Yes, that's a true statement."
Antimony sagged with relief at that, and for a moment she feared she might actually just collapse. She managed to stay upright, however, eyes closed and limbs limp. "Alright... thank you. She... requested a change of clothes. Was there anything...?"
D'hein pondered this. "Clothes. I think so. At least, I recall Brass Blade armor. Not comfortable, but she'd likely feel very safe wearing it."
Brow creasing, Antimony shook her head slightly. "She deserves something... nice, and comfortable."
"Well it's not like went through her things." D'hein gave Antimony a slightly affronted look, and then shrugged. "Do you still have that dress I got you the once? It would likely fit her just fine."
"Ah, perhaps..." Antimony sighed, then hesitated, and asked quieter, "Was there... anything of Aijeen's...?"
"Just the one outfit. White tights and a corresponding blouse, with that green traveling robe of hers. Girl found one outfit and just wore it all the time. I can't fathom how she got away with it."
Her brow furrowed at that, though her protest was tempered by her own emotional exhaustion, "Not all have the means to own multiple outfits."
"Aijeen certainly did." D'hein nodded at that. "I made sure of it. I didn't want your daughters to want for anything. Of course, I made them work hard, as well! Which is important." He seemed to be swinging into a lecture directed at no one in particular.
“If you have her things, I would return to my daughter," Antimony interrupted his lecture quietly, pushing herself from the railing to turn towards the hall that would take them back to the room.
D'hein looked at his hands and pondered. He looked confused for a long time and then quietly mused, "... Have... have. /Have/ her things."
Antimony paused and tried to ignore the pit in her stomach widening. She turned back towards D'hein. "... Yes. You... have Airos's things, yes...?"
"Have." D'hein watched the ceiling, then looked down at Antimony and smirked nervously. "You know, 'have' is a deceptively pesky word! It can mean so many things! Or nothing it all. I mean, I was jsut thinking about money and the economy, and, you know legal tender. And. Do we, any of us, really ever HAVE anything? Truly, now!"
"Tia." Antimony's features tensed.
He frowned, stricken. "That's such a rude thing to call someone."
It wasn't, but Antimony didn't feel like arguing that point. "It is rude of you to not answer my question."
"I did answer. If anything you should complain about my over-answering!" He gestured broadly at this, his tail whipping behind him. "At any rate, you want me to bring K'airos' things to your room, correct? I'll do that, then!"
"... Yes, please." Her hand went to her brow, fingers shaking against her skin.
"Then don't worry! I'll be right back!" D'hein back-pedalled, spun, and fairly fled from the tavern before Antimony could respond.
Antimony watched D'hein go in half-disbelief. She felt faint for several seconds, and then she just felt like she wanted a drink. Instead, she just lowered her ears and made her way back to her inn room.
RE: Smallshells for the Heart - Illira - 10-11-2014
((Not too long later...))
Lamandu was a frequent patron of the Quicksand's lovely bar area, it served as an excellent option to kickback and spend his hard earned money at the end of the day. A short walk down the street from the Pearl Street Blades office brought him straight into its warm, welcoming arms. It was early in the evening yet, so it wasn't terribly crowded yet. He hopped up onto a bar stool, leaning over to order his usual drink.
That Antimony found herself once more amongst the din of the Quicksand was a direct result of her being unable to deny any requests from the one person she had left to care for above all else: K'airos was hungry, and so she was bound to fix that. She approached the bar with weary determination and was halfway through her order when her nose and her eyes spotted the lalafell only a short distance away. She froze, causing the bartender to give her an impatient look, and then distractedly picked back up her order. She trailed off at the end of it and tried to look anywhere but towards the captain of the Pearl Lane contingent of the Brass Blades.
The dulcet tones of a blackmailer reached Lamandu's ear's. As much of that hard earned money had been threatened by such, he did not so easily forget what one sounded like. His head turned, a hand stroking the small soul patch that grew from his chin.
The Black and Gold that he'd ordered slide in next to him, scrapping over the wooden surface, "Why, if it Miss Antimony. I'd thought your business around these parts had been done."
Pressing her lips together, Antimony tries to take a calming breath, running her hands down the front of her clothes to compulsively smooth the fabric. She glances towards the lalafell carefully, trying to mask her exhaustion as best she could manage. "... Ah, Captain, I didn't... Well, I am only wrapping things up."
Bandages were still wrapped around his chest from the tribal showdown he'd been dragged into. Mostly healed thanks to the Sultansworn's conjurer that had seen to him. But it never hurt to be safe, rather than sorry. Plus, it made for an excellent story in the case that he were to need to lose his shirt. Practically made him hero material, or so he thought. ... Once he conveniently brushed past true motives. No one needed to hear about those! "What else was there to wrap up? D'themia still won't face trial for some time."
"Oh... things," Antimony murmured a bit lamely, watching for the bartender who would bring her K'airos's food... no such luck yet. Then quieter, "And I should hope it will be a quick trial.."
He shrugs, having come out of the whole debacle a lot better than he'd thought possible. "Probably not. I mean. I'm sure all the evidence you gathered and submitted on him is excellent but... That can mean but a grain of sand here. We'll see. He's out of power with the Dodos at least. Thats what really matters."
She struggled to care about that as much as she probably should, but most of her thoughts were on K'airos, on her hungry daughter, and a little bit on the hapless Tia who was supposed to have brought her things by now. Dropping to sit in one of the stools, resigning herself to waiting on the food, Antimony set her hands in her lap. "I am sorry it came to what it did." She was saying that an awful lot about things. "Ah, but... perhaps you will take this as a fresh start."
Sharp brows raised at that, "And what do you mean by that?" His figure may have risen in the public eye, but those of his men remained as they had always been. Minus Lou, who had yet to check back in concerning the status of her suspension.
Her hands worried in her lap. Perhaps she was stepping on too many toes... "To cut ties with other, ah, problematic connections."
A red haired girl with tanned skin appeared a the hallway leading to the rooms of the Quicksand. She remained there for a moment, her cheeks inflated as she catched her own reflection on a piece of plattery. Then she crossed her arms and looked around. After seeing Antimony, she started walking towards her with the head ducked, as if she was trying to be invisible to everyone else. The reason would become clear after a few steps: those clothes weren't hers and, while they fit comfortably well, her tastes on fashion were likely troubled.
Antimony caught her daughter's scent before she'd taken even her first step from the hallway, and she lifted her head immediately to look her way. Her brow knit worriedly as she hastily stood from her stool. "Airos, what are you... are you alright, dear?"
The girl dressed in bulky clothes shrugged, her ears briefly falling backwards. "I didn't want to be alone."
The lalafell grasped his drink in hand. Sipping it, he turned to look at where Antimony's attention had been redirected so effectively. No one he'd seen before, certainly.
"Oh, Airos..." She set her hands on her daughter's arms once she was within reach, and pulled her close to guide her to a seat. "I didn't mean for this to take so long. I'm sorry."
Eyebrows raised even higher, "And who might this be Miss Antimony? Obviously someone important."
"It wasn't long. I just...felt lonely." she said, making circles in the air with her hands. She sat down and stopped waving her arms to look at the nearby lalafell. "I'm her daughter. My name is K'airos." she replied, her tone a bit confused. "Hi." she added with a wave right after, in a much more firm tone.
Keeping one hand lightly on K'airos's back, Antimony watched the young woman for several seconds before flicking green eyes towards the lalafell. "... Ah, yes. This is... well."
He rested an elbow on the bar, the drink drawn close, "Lamandu Tyremandu, Captain of the Pearl Street Blades at your service, Miss K'airos." The man bent over slightly, mocking a polite bow, "Your mother and I did business together not long past."
K'airos, for whatever reason, looked incredibly distressed about Lamandu's presentation. Her ears fell back again and stayed there for a long moment. She shifted on her sit and then calmed herself. "Oh. I'm sorry if I interrupted you. I didn't mean to."
Grey ears lifting slightly, Antimony was quick to shake her head, petting K'airos's back. "Oh, no, don't worry about a thing, dear. You weren't interrupting at all. Ah, I'm... I am glad you came out. It is good for you to get some fresh air..."
Lamandu looks between them, curious as to why the girl hadn't ever been mentioned if even in passing if they were so close as they seemed. "Is she quite alright?"
"I'm fine. Don't worry." the girl replied, facing the bad. She tapped her fingers against the top of the counter. "I just...lost my clothes."
"It has been a trying time," Antimony sighed her answer to Llamandu, her eyes on K'airos. "And don't worry, dear. D'hein is taking care of it." Or he better be.
"Taking care of? Taken care of!" D'hein appeared happily, still dirty and tired in personal appearance, but with his arms full of expensive looking silks. In order to affect his appearance at the correct angle, he had surreptitiously hopped behind the bar, so that he stood in front of everyone, and the bartender looked about read to punch him in the head.
Lamandu quickly recovered himself from the start caused by the sudden and over enthusiastic voice that popped into being from the void. "Ahhh...! If it isn't the great Dodo himself."
K'airos was startled on her seat, bringing both hands to cover the surprised noise that came out of her mouth.
"Ah, what--Tia!" Antimony did a double-take at D'hein's sudden appearance, and then frowned. "Get out of there. You are going to get us all in trouble."
Chuckling, D'heing chose to direct his response towards Antimony. "Tia? I'm not sure that's entirely accurate anymore, are you?" He set his items on the bar in front of K'airos. "Here you are, lovely. You'll find your old things plus some of the Dodos' best silks." He went to hop over the counter, but failed fell off the other side, ending up on the floor on his back. He bounced up pretty quickly, though.
K'airos hands were curled down into fists, which she was holding right under her jaw. She wasn't angry, though. More amused and incredibly confused. "But...you didn't have to. I had plenty of clothes..." she said, being startled again by D'hein's failed hop.
Antimony watched the man tiredly for a moment longer before turning to inspect the items he'd brought K'airos. She didn't quite trust him to have not snuck in a few... less than appropriate items.
The Captain sipped at his drink as he watched the Newly minted Nunh get back up to his feet, "I'm surprised to see you not out of the compound so soon."
D'hein popped up to his feet. "Ah, don't be confused. D'edy Nunh's the one with the /real/ power in the Dodos now. I wouldn't want it. I just want enough to be able to give good gifts to good people every once in awhile.
The young Miqo'te said nothing. She was lost inspecting the fancy clothes and piling them up. "I should bring these to the room." she said, her tone edging on the joyful side.
Antimony's ears lifted slightly at the change in tone of K'airos's voice, turning to watch her daughter. "Would you like help, Airos..?"
"Yes! Grab those and.... wait..." her enthusiasm waned, her ears pointing to the side. But then she got out of it by looking at D'hein and almost ordering him: "Mom asked for some food. You should wait for the order here and tell us when its ready!"
Lamandu turns back to his drink, sipping from it, obviously on the outside of the close unit; interesting though it was.
D'hein adjusted his clothes. "You want me to be your delivery boy, then?" He said this with a smirk, as if the job were an honor.
Her expression lightning to the most minute degrees, Antimony looks between K'airos, D'hein, and Lamandu. The latter she offers an apologetic dip of her head.
She smiled at D'hein sideways, while she moved away back to the rooms. "Thank you!"
The Captain returned the brief nod that was given to him, "Keep well, the both of you!"
Antimony lingered just a moment but found herself drawn away as though by an invisible thread after K'airos's departure. Hoping she could trust the Tia with the food, and that the captain was not harboring any ill feelings over the events at the compound, she trailed after K'airos eagerly.
D'hein waved happily to K'airos and Antimony, "I'll be right along with your hot food!"
"Well. That food'll be along quick. Usually is," Lamandu commented, trying to make small talk.
D'hein looked down at Lamandu, and his smile sharpened at the edges of his mouth. "You know those girls that poked you up are still hanging around the commune. Dodos like to finish what they start. It's usually a good business practice. I think, in this case, however, it's frustrating them."
Lamandu gave his full attention over, "And why do you say that? They're lucky that they aren't facing trial alongside D'Themia."
"You're lucky you aren't facing trial alongside D'themia. I know what was in that paperwork you squirreled away." D'hein took a seat at the bar. "I know every word and number."
"And this is not the place for such talk," answered Lamandu with a lowered voice. "Let the situation settle back into dust. Thats best for everyone right now."
"You sound like you're afraid of someone overhearing." D'hein chuckled.
"There are always ears. And Blades and Dodo business are none of theirs." The smooth, heavy liquid of his drink slid down his throat with ease.
"Yes, it's interesting. There are some in this city, like D'themia, like the upper Syndicate, who do not need to worry about who overhears them. They do not have to pretend. The rest do need to pretend, and so do what they must to change the subject." The bartender brought over plates of hot food and appeared lost, but D'hein waved him over. The bartender just set the food down and left, not caring who the food went to anyway.
"A different world isn't it? When you're not made of money." He gestures to the steaming food. "You should take that up right quick, now. The ladies of the house might go hungry otherwise."
"Yes," D'hein smiled. "It is a different world, and I'm happy to become a part of it. You watch what you talk about in public, Lamandu. That's good, because you're small. But don't pretend to advise me concerning those things." He stood with the food in hand to walk back to Antimony's room. "Good evening, Lamandu."
Lamandu grunted in acknowledgement of D'hein's words, not liking how he was being talked down to. The not unfamiliar feeling of resentment rose up, burning in his belly; only to be squashed just as quickly as it rose.