[ don't you love getting stuck in bubbles? who doesn't.
vax is the one to put a little color to it, before garou even gets the chance to, because he's already had his memories spilled all over the place this week. what's one more?
you are young. maybe early twenties, and you know how to live on the streets.
it's been a few years since you left syngorn with vex'ahlia. by now, the two of you are clever and street smart, well trained in all manners of skills: where vex sticks to the woods, you move between houses and cities, stealing food and change, doing anything and everything to keep yourselves alive. your sister has become an excellent hunter, and you - you can do anything to keep the two of you safe. combined with trinket, your bear, you survive.
... but that's all you do. you survive.
your sister has lately been seeking out knowledge on dragons. her favored target, after a red dragon wrought havoc upon the village where your mother lived. one day, as she returns to the tiny area you've found for sleeping on the outskirts of westruun, ruffled and disgruntled, she informs you that she ran into a dick who tried to force her to go to the cobalt reserve to learn about them, even after she declined. vex informs you with a wave of her hand that she threatened him when it was over, that he got too close, and he was just a dick, but something sits in your stomach about the interaction, even as vex hands you a chunk of change she must have stolen from him.
your instincts are good, and you don't trust it, so the next day, instead of moving through the city and looking for quick jobs, you choose to follow vex'ahlia, instead. just to make sure she's okay. just in case. in the dark of the night, vex heads to a scholar's house to continue her research, and a man follows her, too.
he's not so far away. silver haired, black dressed. you are stealthy, and you are clever, and you walk with slow footsteps on rooftops and behind chimneys, and things happen so quickly - a swarm of rats crosses your sister's path, unnatural, and the silver haired man rears back, glints of silver in his hand.
he manages to get exactly one handful of them thrown at your sister before you launch yourself at him, like a bat out of hell, and tackle him off of the rooftop.
the two of you slam into the ground, and you draw your dagger, and you hit him. and you hit him, and you hit him, and you struggle until he's bleeding and you're bleeding, as he lands a hit on you. back and forth, you trade blows, and when you finally manage to subdue him, you talk to him, instead, slamming his hands to the ground and demanding to know who he works for.
the man - lyre - cracks like an egg. he spits that he works for the clasp, a notorious thieves guild across exandria, and one you've worked with, before. you don't give him an option; you tell vex to go home, and you snarl, ] Take me to the Spireling. [ the leader of the clasp, to their headquarters.
lyre, afraid for his life, complies. and so, you go.
in the basement of a flower shop, you meet with a member of the clasp, who will take you to the spireling, the leader of this branch of the clasp, gideor. you cannot be awake for this journey - you agree, testily, and she knocks you out with the terms of the parlay set.
when you awaken, you are in an office room with a dwarf, blonde haired, gaudily dressed. everything about him is sharp - his eyes, deep set and cruel, his demeanor commanding. other members of the clasp surround you, hooded and watching, but you ignore them, your only focus on your fury, on the dwarf spireling gideor.
you demand to know what the fuck happened with your sister.
gideor informs you, in a low, accented voice, that a 'minor nobleman' took out a contract to kidnap her. this makes your blood boil - that fucker who tried to assault her earlier in the week, some nobleman, trying to take your sister from you. you slam your hands on gideor's desk and demand that the contract be nullified.
gideor doesn't flinch, but he smiles. it's charming. it's completely fake, ice cold.
"the contract can't just be ended. how about i offer you a deal?"
and so, the deal is set out.
gideor promises he will ensure that the vex'ahlia issue will be taken care of. the contract will be fulfilled with an alternate solution - if, and only if, you can complete a separate for him, and join the clasp. an "alternate solution" can't mean anything good. joining the clasp can't be any good.
... but it's for vex. it will keep her safe, and it's a steady paycheck for you both. you think about your sister. you think about the consequences.
and you agree.
--
the memory shifts after that, blurring time, and you stand in a tavern with gideor and his cold eyes. he invites you in to this clasp location this time freely, consciously, and welcomes you as a member of the organization - bringing you over to see lyre. he sits at the bar, a tankard of ale in his hands, and you look at him for a moment too long, and realize he's trembling.
gideor invites you to a back room, and brings lyre along, as well.
"i've found a solution." he begins to explain, as he steps to the back of the room. it's dingy and dark in here. you stay close to the door - knowing, knowing this can't be safe.
gideor turns to lyre as he opens a cabinet, and when he turns, he's holding something horrifying in his hand. it's some sort of magic something or other, a wand, a stick, and even in the dim light, you realize it's made entirely of human tongues.
you instinctively put your hand on the back door, but gideor's attention is on a terrified lyre.
"You've failed three times now. Once, involving a young girl in the Shields. Another contract: a sizable sum of gold owed by a certain bookseller. And now, this. Suitable punishment will be made."
your heart starts to hammer in your chest. lyre stays still, but his eyes widen.
and it all happens in a second.
the flash of a knife, gideor's lunge forward - lyre makes a horrified, choked off noise, and blood splatters the floor, as the spireling steps back with the young man's tongue in his hand. you suck in a breath, surprised, and gideor places the fresh, red tongue on the staff.
the young man, bleeding and gagging, begins to change shape, in front of your eyes, and suddenly, you are staring at vex'ahlia.
horror grips your entire body, roots you to the floor, as you stare at the terrified eyes of a perfect copy of your sister, who is holding a hand over her mouth, as blood seeps down her chin.
only gideor's voice, pleasant, snaps you out of it. "I've created a copy of your sister. This should serve the man who sought to stalk her out nicely as a plaything, don't you think?"
it's
horrifying.
you're frozen, for a moment, just staring into the face of your twin sister, staring, staring, at the implication. of what will be done to this man, now permanently polymorphed with no chance of changing, with your sister's face.
...
but vex'ahlia will be safe. the contract will be completed by this not vex.
gideor tilts his head, and you realize, for the first time, he's actually smiling. "Do we have a deal, Vax'ildan?"
you take a breath.
and you straighten against the door, and any thought of the consequences or the morality of this moment disappears from your head, as you tear your eyes away from lyre and look gideor in the eyes, because you don't give a shit what happens to lyre, anymore.
[ A lot of it is familiar: poverty, thugs, weird gangs trying to get their use out of you. These are things that make sense to him, watching the scene play out through Vax's memories, feeling the rage and the horror. The concern is foreign, but it makes sense.
But as it fades from around him, something strange settled in the pit of his stomach, he's... curious.
He's never loved anyone or anything, but it fascinates him that it can be so destructive. ]
... [ He shifts, a little awkwardly. ] That was messed up.
[ ... well. it is a valid question. and, honestly: ]
I knew they'd never stop coming after Vex, if I didn't find a way to cut the contract. 's the largest guild on the continent - they've got hands in every city.
[ to say the least. he rubs the back of his neck again. ] Besides. We were starving. Clasp was a steady job, for a while.
[ Vax is... smart. He thinks. For a person who lives in a world with rules and consequences. Because he has someone else who's life moves with his decisions.
He tilts his head, and asks without any delicacy, ] Your parents dead?
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week 3, tuesday. cw: body horror, tongue injury, implications of assault
vax is the one to put a little color to it, before garou even gets the chance to, because he's already had his memories spilled all over the place this week. what's one more?
no subject
But as it fades from around him, something strange settled in the pit of his stomach, he's... curious.
He's never loved anyone or anything, but it fascinates him that it can be so destructive. ]
... [ He shifts, a little awkwardly. ] That was messed up.
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vax looks a little surprised, when it clears, and reaches up to rub the back of his own neck, almost absently. ]
...yeah.
[ sure fucking was!! it's not something he's really proud of, even now, but vax doesn't turn away from it. ] Clasp does shit like that.
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He's surprised that he hadn't just slithered him and his sister away from the threat, or taken care of it himself. ]
Why did you need his help?
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[ ... well. it is a valid question. and, honestly: ]
I knew they'd never stop coming after Vex, if I didn't find a way to cut the contract. 's the largest guild on the continent - they've got hands in every city.
[ to say the least. he rubs the back of his neck again. ] Besides. We were starving. Clasp was a steady job, for a while.
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He tilts his head, and asks without any delicacy, ] Your parents dead?
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My mother is. [ a beat. he snorts, and equally lacking delicacy: ] Dad's a dick.
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That sucks. [ Sorry, he doesn't know how to emote properly.
But he does look thoughtful. ]
Did you ever tell your sister?