Masquerade - These Masks We Wear

[The Ward's Guard he/him]

"I don't need that excuse to give you a present." He stood up and took her hands, "let me deal with processing this prisoner's paperwork, and then they'll be all yours."

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

She planted a kiss on his cheek. "Oh, thank you, thank you, my darling."

[The Ward's Guard he/him]

"Yes, yes. Now you'll have to leave me be while I get the paperwork dealt with, alright?"

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

"Yes of course. You just tell me when the girl is ready!" And with that, Riva got to work. She painted her lips a darker shade of red, accentuated her cheekbones, put on a more suitable dress (fashionable, yet functional) and sported her favorite pair of boots; ones with heels that resounded in the hallway to announce her presence. She had no idea who this woman was, but oh boy was she in for a treat. The Raveness was not yet retired, oh no.

[The Ward's Guard he/him]

Caden filled out the paperwork in a manner of minutes before sending a quick summary of the subject, Ms Allivia Nordy, to Riva through on of the serving staff. He leaned back, wondering what that woman could have done to warrant being sent to his dungeon instead of the King's.

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

Caden's dungeons were wildly different from the ones she knew and loved. For one, they were quite sparsely populated, so the pungent smell of unwashed bodies she'd come to find homey wasn't quite there, which was a stark disappointment. The prisoners there, however, reacted exactly the same as the ones at home to the sound of her heels. Whispers of the Raveness washed through the air and Riva found herself tingling with nostalgic joy. 

She found Allivia quickly; she was the woman at the end of the row, sobbing in the corner, wearing a dirty dress that revealed a disgusting amount of cleavage for a woman of her age. (Riva realized as soon as the had the thought that she was a total hypocrite and as such ceased her line of thinking) "Well, hello there," Riva cooed, grinning at her newest patient. 

Allivia Nordy looked up, revealing a face dirty with running mascara. She was not a particularly beautiful woman and the obsessive amount of make up she wore did nothing to help. Riva was not impressed; the woman's crimes against fashion were enough to make her want to torture her. "Ra-Raveness?" said Allivia. She wiped her tears, clearly trying to put on a brave face. 

"Yes, that's me." Riva let herself into the woman's cell, the doors of the cage screeching horribly. Hopefully Riva would soon be getting screeches like that out of her patient. She had no table down here to do her dirty work, but no matter. She could work anywhere. After all, she'd vivisected her own mother on the floor of her childhood home. "Fabulous to meet you, my dear. You are Alliva Nordy?"

Allivia gulped, nodding while she trailed off into sobs again. She was visibly trembling "Oh Stars... Oh Stars above."

"Your gods won't help you now." Riva smirked. Stars, she loved saying that. It never got old.

Unfortunately, before she could start her questioning, her patient knelt with her head to the floor and started praying. Or... something. Whining was more like it. "I shouldn't have raped that stars cursed boy! I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, okay? I was stupid. I liked sleeping with him and I couldn't stop, I... Don't hurt me, please. I'll do anything, you name your price. I'm not innocent, not one bit. He-he-he-he was. Ever since he was a boy, my Stars, I just couldn't resist the kid. And now... I stabbed him, I was jealous and I couldn't... Oh my Stars. I never thought it would come to this bu-bu-but now it has and I-I-I..." She ran out of breath. 

Riva raised her eyebrows, disgusted. "Pedophilic rape? Assault?"

"Yes!"

[Channelknight Fadran]

56 minutes ago, Zephrun's Imperium said:

Allivia threw a rude gesture Wendy's way
---------
When Ivian was let in, whispers arose from the medical staff and Nico perked up. "Perked up" of course was used loosely. He looked like Mal, messy hair, tired brown eyes, an unusually despondant expression, and a bloody bandage wrapped around his bare torso.

"Oh!" Wendy said to the guard leading her along after returning the gesture. "Hey, you're Nico's friend, right?"

@The Ward's Guard

 

---

 

"You look like mal." Ivian noted.

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

Nico chuckled weakly. "Yeah, I feel like it too. There's... something you need to know. Something you should have known a long time ago."

Edited September 6, 2021 by Zephrun's Imperium

[Channelknight Fadran]

Ivian looked aorund at the all the whispering staff members, silently counting how many there were in dozens.

"Well give us some space!" He said, tossing his hand about. "Don't you have anything better to do other than listen to the boy?"

[The Ward's Guard he/him]

"Close the door," Captain Muller shouted at the last man who entered the barracks. "What did you find, man?"

The newcomer shook his head, "not a single village in miles round about had an herbalist or soothsaying who could help. Whatever spell that Raven of a witch cast, I can't find anyone who can break it."

The captain growled, "if no one can release the general from this spell other than the Ravenness, then we need to get her . . . cooperation."

The men around him shifted, easily numbering above several dozen. It was long before one of them spoke up, "but the general won't let us touch her, not with her spell on him."

"Then we'll have to go without his permission, maybe even against it." The captain nodded to himself, "it's for his own good."

When the captain looked around at the men surrounding him, they avoided his gaze, knowing the weight of his suggestion. He clenched his fists, "what would you do? Leave the general in that Mal-spawn's grasp? The general wouldn't rest knowing one of us is in that sort of situation, so why should we?! We take care of that demon, and then we make her give up her control over the general. I can't stand to see her fawning over that creature like a cursed lover boy!"

He watched as their eyes steeled when they met his gaze, they knew what they would have to do. The captain then separated the soldiers before him into two groups. "Group one will fan out and find the witch, and group two will keep the general out of the way. This isn't a mutiny, this is for the good of the general, for the good of the kingdom." Captain Muller would have enjoyed a cheer from the soldiers before him, but their solemn nods were all he received. This wasn't a triumphant march across a battlefield, the very life of their general was at stake. No mistakes could be made. "Let's move out."

-----

Just as the soldiers of the Praetorium guard left the room, Fischer cracked open his eyelid from where he lay upon a bunk after their long journey to the castle with the prisoner. He didn't know anything of a spell, but this was something the general had to learn of. This wasn't something that he could simply keep to himself. A mutiny, it was nearly inconceivable from these men, but he had to tell the general. 

Quote

This is awkward, Fadran. Do you want me to jump back in time for the Wendy and Fischer conversation? Because he's needed here.

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

Quote

Ah. Carry on, Guard. I can get Wendy to find Nico in any number of ways.

 

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

5 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Ivian looked aorund at the all the whispering staff members, silently counting how many there were in dozens.

"Well give us some space!" He said, tossing his hand about. "Don't you have anything better to do other than listen to the boy?"

"Thank you..." Nicolae sighed. "When I was eleven, sir, I... I had an experience." He kept his voice down. "That woman Allivia, the one you assigned as me nurse? She... well, she...."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"What, dropped you on your head?" Ivian chuckled. "I'm just teasing. Go ahead and spit it out."

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

He swallowed, pale. "She raped me, sir. And... didn't stop."

[Channelknight Fadran]

In that moment, Ivian stopped looking like a king. For the second time that day, the color left his face and the weariness of age crept its way into his hands.

"Mal... when you were eleven?"

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

"I... should have told you. But I'm a coward, I am. I'm sorry."

[Channelknight Fadran]

Stars almighty... what is going on today?

"Nicolae," Ivian said, careful and reserved. "You know my mother, correct?"

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

"Yeah. I do, sir."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"She wasn't much older than yourself when she became a mother." Ivian replied, falling into an old habit of his: procrastination. "Probably one of the reasons why she likes you so much; you remind her of herself. In fact I wouldn't believe it if she didn't know about everything you were going through. Sure didn't tell me about it, though..." He let out a breath. "I digress. Let me get to the point. Listen, once when I was a child--maybe not much older than those two kids you spend the day with sometimes--I was being bullied by another kid in town. I actually had him thrown in the dungeons for a few days when I became king; that taught him a lesson. Anyways, I didn't tell anyone about how he was treating me, so when my mother found out, she told me... what she said was..." Gah, I'm not qualified for this.

Ivian clenched his hands into fists, then pulled up the nurse's chair to sit at Nicolae's bedside. "What she said was 'you were being the wrong kind of brave.'"

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

"An'... am I to assume I was bein' the wrong kind o' brave? Sir?"

[Channelknight Fadran]

"Courage comes in many forms, Nicolae. You were by no means a coward; you just weren't thinking straight enough to be as brave as you could." Ivian poured himself a glass of water from Nico's bedstand; he was incredibly thirsty all of a sudden. "Hiding your problems for everyone else's sake... that's something a good person does. A good person, but ignorant." He scratched his forehead. "So I guess I'm not saying you were a coward; you were just being stupid."

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

Nico found himself smiling. "Yeah... Guess, I... Yeah." He scratched his head. "Um... I really... I ain't no whore, sir. The other servin' girls, they'd pay 'er to sleep wif me."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"That is completely abhorrent and disgusting. I'll have the taskmaster give them a lecture they'll never forget." Ivian stood up purposefully. "In the meantime, is there anyone... closer to you that I could summon? Someone you trust?"

[Fallapede]

2 hours ago, The Ward's Guard said:

"It's not you we're worried about."

"Very well, pick your escort. I am in no particular hurry, but I cannot say the same for Lord D'artan."

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

"Yes. 'at girl Wendy I danced wif at the last ball. She's... she's sumffin' else, she is"