EXT - The Callistani harborside bay, and street; morning
Dinah was completely unaware of any of the drama in the city, or the chaos that her jumping from the cliffs the day before would have had on the household. She had been cruising through the water around the docks like some sort of beast, perfectly at ease beneath the waves. There was the taste of blood in her mouth and she wasn't entirely sure she remembered the source of it, but it might have been an animal, or a fisherman.
She was *angry*. Furious in fact that Delilah had deigned to lay a hand on her at all, let alone had bitten her, and had given her some sort of curse from what the stranger had said. She had needed holy water, he had said, and so.. here she was. the holiest water she had, ghosting through the waves.
Dorian had gotten news from home, an unforgivable /hour and 7 minutes later/, having been out to lunch and have a walk and talk with a diver, when he heard about his sisters having gone through something, and the news he had had called him back to home. He ran tirelessly, booted and in riding clothes, but when he returned to the manor, and had been told where his sister had been sighted, he'd marched to the spot where he saw traces of her blood yet, stepping out of boots, shucking off shirt, and clambering atop the wall dove in.
He did the same over and again only resting when he had to. After having done so a few times, he knew that the height of the bluff gave him ample displacement and distance underneath with breath drawn and heart pounding to consider his next move. Once again, he took himself as low as inertia promised, and once deep within the cold dark womb of the sea, he'd call to her, silently, using the twin-bond, already feeling her rage like the cold close ocean, pressing in around him, and even still giving her the beacon of where he'd leaped from, for reference, [I am coming for you, I am with you.]
Where he'd plummeted was a column of bubbles, and he righted himself and made his way away from the stones and out, calling to her unfamiliarly rage filled half of their soul, [You have had enough water, for now. Let me see you.]
Hector: is out and about looking for people acting oddly, having wounds that wouldn't heal, or blackness seeping from them that he could see. Why could he see it? Necromancy. The dreams had started for him as well. A woman chained up somewhere. He could hear rocks tumbling about and she was clearly stricken with some sort of illness. She was so angry. Dead and bloated. Left there alone to rot. It churned him about inside and though others were angry...he was just sad. Hector was always sad. The plight of the dead came to him in the depths of sorrow. And so he's out, curing people left and right, trying his best to keep this from becoming a plague. Funny how things like this start. Plagues...often come from the dead.
Dinah didn't consciously answer Dorian's call. All that would be there was *anger*. As he came closer to where she was, hitched against the rocks and seaweed, she lurched from her hiding place, hands extended.
She didn't need to hurt him. to bite him. she could just...hold him under.
<"ITS YOUR FAULT. YOU AND DRYSTAN LET THAT RED BITCH STAY IN OUR HOME AND SHE *MAULED* ME!">
The words came like a psychic scream, not directed at Dorian in general and likely more than audible to any in the vicinity <"that bitch has been trying to get me for years, and she finally showed her true colours! her skin, I want her skin!!">
Dorian took some time in directing himself, swimming toward his sister, but he'd not the same agility under the waves as she. He'd be letting out a steady churn and stream of bubbles, even though he stopped paddling when he felt the anger redoubled, given that it was him. The ire about Delilah made no sense, but he understood that was the problem, even as he shook his blond head under the waves against the purity of the rage. He'd answer her as soon as he could, already infected by the fact that his sister suffered, and start up his kicking and swinging his arms to propel himself, [You know there is no one but us. If you want her skin, you shall have it. If she turned on us, then I will bring you her red head.]
As he declared it, he was hoping it was not true, but also knew that if it was, well, he would do what he must. As he got near enough, eyes alight like two golden lamps to try and illuminate his way, seeing her extended arms, he reached out his own, not to take her hands and block any of those eyes of hers but to embrace her. To comfort her. To maybe get back to air and land once more. He never thought for a moment that she would hurt him.
Hector: was abruptly hit with a blast of ANGER! Someone was ANGRY! So angry in fact that he started to trip. Words started to scream so loudly into his mind that he put his hands over his ears and tumbled forward, landing on his knees, his side and then rolling almost all the way to the edge before he managed to flail out his limbs and catch himself. Groaning from skinned knees and a throbbing headache he mumbled, "Dinah?" He looked left and right in confusion before scrambling the rest of the way to the edge of the cliff and peering over. He squinted, scanning over the water finally seeing what looked like bubbles and a something gold splaying out in the water. "Dinah??" Of course, he couldn't see poor Dorian being held below the depths. "Curse!" He cupped his mouth and tried to shout below. "It's a curse!"
Dinah 's hands closed around Dorian's throat even as he tried to embrace her. In her normal mindset she would abhor the idea of harming her beloved twin but with the Onyro's curse on her, the idea of pushing them both down into the ocean to tie him into the water, to wait for him to drown, so no one else could have him. The red bitch wouldn't be able to turn his head back to her side, only her. She was feeble still, even in her enraged state, gratefully not granting her any more potency than she normally had but she *squeezed*, black eyes shining in the dim underwater light as she tried to choke him. At the sound from the surface, someone yelling about a curse, her head whipped upwards and she shoved herself away, propelling herself towards the cliff face with the intention to climb at the obstruction.
<"MinemineminemineminemineMINEMINEMINE!!">
Dorian was unable to reach home, holding her, without going against her demonstrated volition, which was to throttle him? He did not move against her when she tried this, but he did cant his head to one side, staring her way, yellow unlight falling upon her angry visage. Agreeing with her, he'd assure, silently, [Yours, of course. Always.]
But then she was off. and he followed, not as nimble as she was in this element. He called after her, [Wait! Stop!] Furiously, he churned after her, she was far more at home underwater than he could hope to be.
Hector: blinks when Dinah starts thrashing and then...wait was she coming towards him? "Aaaahhh...shit." He sucked in a breath and started to wave his hands in the air. "Aquatic friends hear me...your Mistress is injured. I need your blood." There was a reason the small things were around when he healed people. He could call to them. This was...about to get very sad. Wriggling things, crawling things, small swimmers would suddenly look up and become aware of Dinah's situation, throwing themselves toward the surface where their essence would shimmer and drain from their bodies. To where? Toward their Mistress of course. Hector's eyes went white and he drew in a breath, exhaling it as a white mist in Dinah's direction. Maybe being suddenly surrounded in tiny adorable octopi and silvery fish and seahorses would distract her while he healed the wound? The wound had to be healed before he could remove the curse. He was chanting quickly in Old Romanian, hoping that he could at least get that wound healed before she reached the shore.
Dinah was a fast swimmer, but Dorian drawing her attention again made her turn, temporarily slowing her down as she considered whether it would be more effective to kill him NOW, or kill the interference first. And then... something floating around her. Little creatures. Octopodes, ghostly fish. They drifted, ethereally around herself and she cried out, lashing out towards them as they approached her, fingers passing harmlessly through their forms. Her injury wasn't even terrible, all things considered, mostly concealed by the tattered mess of the dress she was wearing yesterday that had been snagged and torn on the stones beneath the sea, the bitemark in her bicep wouldn't take long to heal, but she was moving again, having assessed the ghosts of her sacrificed sea-friends as not being *nearly* as much threat as the caster on the clifftop. A stream of bubbles poured from her mouth and gills as she snarled, reaching the cliff face and starting to climb.
Thankfully, this was the part she was far less agile at.
Dorian's need for air was becoming ever more emergent, but he paddled on as the press of ocean against need for air began to get critical. He had to catch up to her. Before she got herself hurt, to tell her that she was not alone in her ire. In anything. And never would be. Her rage helped fuel him onward, like a tether that ennervated. Not to mention her pause as he continued swimming past the sea creatures. He saw her little foot break the surface as he got cliffside, and from there, spectral altered shades of gold which bent strangely underwater in that refracted light, sprang from his back for a moment: wings gone wonky. But, they dissipated once he lurched from the depths, and grabbed hold of her. He'd slip one long white arm up from her hip across her to the shoulder then press her to his body, half-clambering, half-knowing he could take to the air at anytime with a jolt of will strong enough. Thankfully Dinah spilled will over in spades, and he'd be lumbering up with insane athleticism, to ultimately roll the pair of them over onto the cobblestones. He was sure after that climb they'd made their way back up to home. He'd realize otherwise before too long. That they were in the street below the manor when surroundings and others nearby had already been breached beyond propriety.
Hector: coughed out, instead of breath...water. He snorted out water, let out a little half barf until finally he was breathing air again. He whispered a quick 'thank you' to those who helped with the spell. He would mourn not being able to bury them as he did other little helpers, but later. Now he has a climbing Eldritch Priestess coming after him. His companions rushed in front of him, placing up a small barrier. Since they wouldn't dare harm Dinah, it was only something she'd have to push against to get at Hector. They wouldn't dare even give her a light shock. Something merely to slow her down. Maria shouted /'Hurry up Hector!'/ He bit into his own finger and started to draw a rune on the ground in front of him. He was saying words like 'cleanse' and 'free' over and over again. His finger ground into the rocks before him, shaving off hunks of flesh to spurt out more blood. This wasn't nearly as elegant as what he'd done for Alex, but he didn't have a whole room and a bottle of reagents. But then there was a Dorian, leaping up out of the water and grabbing on to Dinah, spinning round and round. "I've almost got it!" He blurted out, throwing up his free hand and holding it toward Dinah and her twin. Propriety wasn't the only thing they were way beyond at this point, but better the madness of a light show and some skin than the insanity of a Plague Curse as far as he was concerned.
Dinah shrieked and yowled as she was caught up in Dorians' arm and he clambered higher. She thrashed, easily carried up the stones, but as she lurched forward, the barrier and Dorian's arm around her obstructing her from wanting to tear Hector to pieces.
She would be mortified as soon as she realized that she was being seen in public as the hideous, mutated abomination she usually so meticulously covered in glamour. The silvery eye in her chest swiveled and stared, glancing between both men as she clawed and scratched at her brother, trying to get free, tearing rents into his arms as he restrained her.
Dorian would not let his sister go. He'd never seen her as unattractive, even with all her eyes and constellations. He was hesitant, once he saw another person there, doing magical things, to put his other half through that. Though she clawed at him, he'd not relent with the arm like a bar pressing her near as the only defense he put up. At least he had shifted his grip not to press on the chest eye. Both their blood and salt water ran down the pair, and he hadn't the presence of mind to realize his eyes were aglow. He called to his sister, yet silently, [STOP THAT, LET'S GO HOME!]
Aloud, he managed, "WHAT? YOU!??" Upon seeing Hector. This guy had some kinda nose for finding his family's most desperate moments.
Hector: reaches into his coat pocket with his bloodied hand and tugs out a crystal on a leather chord. He held it above his head the crystal glowing bright white with a shine before starting to cloud up. It would fill with a black mist, going darker and darker, blackness seeping from Dinah's body until the crystal turned entirely black, lost its luster and then just, dull, dead. The anger would have slowly sucked right out of Dinah's body, giving her emotions and her mind back to her, though perhaps a bit confused at first. Once the crystal was full, Hector would make to quickly smash it in his palm, the thing turning to dust as the Curse cease to be. With a heavy sigh he'd look blind white Healer's eyes upon Dorian. "She's cursed." He'd say in a hoarse tone. "The isle has a Plague Curse." With so much magic around, Dorian and Dinah might be able to see Hector for who he really was just then as well, from his back were great black wings, and he cast an enormous shadow of a robed figure holding a giant scythe.
Dinah let out another shriek of impotent rage as she fought against her brother's prodigious strength. When the curse was drained out of her, she fell limply in his arms. The healing would be ramped up now the curse wasn't obstructing it, and her glamour slid back up into place over her as soon as she had presence of mind to re-apply it. she turned, pressing herself against Dorian, closing her eyes.
"Delilah bit me. I remember that. and. jumping from the cliff. and... a silver haired man who tried to help" she mumbled. "curse....curse.. how could *I* be cursed? the bite didn't heal... it... it didn't heal..."
Dorian watched Hector do his thing, not knowing what it was. He'd frown at hearing plague and curse and those things directed at the person he normally would ask if there was anything like that he needed to know. golden brows drew down over his nose and he'd argue, "What? Nothing could touch her, she is a bloody godd--" Only then Hector's whole business took root, and his growing, though sodden relief at his sister's transition overtook the disquiet yet arising in his chest. It felt like the adrenaline remaining from what had just transpired, unable to calm just yet. Once Dinah had pulled close to him without trying to strangle him he'd drop the bloody arm from her, and resume holding her with the unhurt one. He did not heal quite as quickly as she did, so he just stuck the two ways shredded appendage behind his back, feeling little pain.
He closed his eyes as he embraced her and the xanthic light would stop glowing behind his eyelids as he murmured, "It is alright Dinah. You are alright now."
Hector: tries to push himself to his feet and then just, decides to sit the fuck back down. "A spirit." He said, clearly winded and trying to wrap his head around what just happened. Dinah wouldn't be the first person on his list of people that would be affected either, so he's rewiring a bit himself. He'd shake his head after a moment, his hat somehow miraculously still on his head. "I have seen her in dreams, a few of the others who got cursed did as well. She's chained to a wall, in a cave or a dungeon. Bloated, sick, sooo angry..." He put a hand to the side of his face and shut his eyes tight. He was pale. How many people had he healed and uncursed since Saturday? Dozens. "If the infected manage to break the skin when they attack...it enters the flesh but it affects everything, sickening the soul. It requires high level healing, and Necromancy helps. Separate the curse from the soul so the wounds can heal."
Dinah buried her face against Dorian's chest, then lifted a trembling hand to her face. Now, she felt tired, but fine. She rested against Dorian as she listened. "a cave...or a dungeon.. i do not know where we could find her" she murmured. opening her eyes again, she listened as Hector explained. Break the skin... she looked up towards Dorian and she nodded, pressing a kiss to his cheek as she let her healing magic, unobstructed with the curses' dam, flow from her and into her twin.
"I scratched Dorian. but. I will handle this one" she said softly. "I owe you a boon, Hector. I shan't forget it."
Dorian was fortunate to have Dinah immediately stop the rage from taking root in his mind. Because he liked Hector, and Callisto, wanted to stay here, and not murder anyone abroad. It had begun to well inside of him as he embraced her, no louder than the echo of hers unfurled as it had been. He was hearing nothing about dungeons nor curses, not really, he was only feeling whole, holding her. Relief and love was abundantly and freely flowing from him, back to her as she healed him. He was not going to let go first.
Hector: bows his head to Dinah. "My pleasure, Dinah. I have told you and your brothers before. I am at your disposal." Contrary to popular belief, Hector did not 'belong' to any immortal upon the island and so he was free to 'serve' one and all and he did, depending upon what the situation needed. "And you have my word that it won't leave my lips you were infected or had any brush with this at all. It's not necessary in the least to curing the infected. Now you know what to look for, you can help knock this out. I'm sure you can handle who infected you, and trace it back. I'll continue getting everyone on the street I find and researching where the spirit may be." He bowed his head again and took out a cloth from his pocket, starting to wrap up the wound on his finger he made. It'd heal soon enough, but it looked rather gross.
Dinah didn't look away from Dorian right away, reaching her own finger to her mouth to bite down and open a little wound there. She painted on his chest, runes and letters from languages maddening and long-dead, and she murmured prayers as she did so. Purification from external curses... external influences. She wouldn't let some curse harm her brother. Plus, the notion of him being as out of control as she had been... as strong as he was, it would be incredibly dangerous. She pressed another kiss to his cheek and she turned again to look towards Hector.
"many *say* things. less mean them. Proof is in action, Hector" she said softly. Begrudgingly, she disentangled herself from Dorian's arm and she approached, lifting a hand out towards him.
"your hand. show me."
Dorian got there after Dinah, but he did manage to mutter to Hector, reluctantly, "Thank you. Mr. Hector." It was a hoarse and low thing, his voice just now, bereft of charm and warmth attempting to animate it. He'd gaze into his sister's eyes, falling into her so that there was nothing else in the world while she painted upon him, touched him, showed her timeless love and care in blood. He'd pulled his arm around late to show it to her so she could use his own yet open wounds, only they were closing. She'd fixed him. And absent that agita he was just fully and entirely relieved, glad, bearing no shame despite their making a scene in the street.
He'd keep silent otherwise, just trailing to never be out of arm's reach when she demanded the hat-man's hand.
Hector: sighs and offers a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm not sure what else I can possibly do to make you and your family trust me, but I did almost break my neck." He chuckled and then shrugged before blinking. He looked to his hand and then held it up, bit of cloth wrapped around the end. "It's nothing. It will heal quickly as most of my wounds do." He let out a tired sigh and smiled to Dorian. "I'm just glad you're both all right. If I hadn't been here then BOTH of you would be running around like maniacs. Then where would the island be? A might more painted red, I tell ya." He teased. "Bah, it'll be fine. Not the worst ick curse I've ever seen." That was probably a lie by the way his nose wiggled when he said it.
Dinah made a thoughtful noise in her throat and she shook her head "please don't take it personal, Mr. Hector. We are very.... we do not take to strangers very easily." she said softly, reaching out to just...*boop* the injured finger. "...and now it will heal faster." she turned, looking out into the sea, trying to see traces of the little sea ghosts that had intercepted her.
"...far more red with Dorian if he were afflicted than myself." She turned for her brother, reaching for his hand. "how humiliating that i succumbed to such a thing." she sighed. "you likely need a lot of rest, Mr. Hector. a good long rest, and a good bath to set your spirits to right again."
Dorian did not see fit to speak up, his energies and inclinations were inwardly turned, and barring that long-taught instinct, the directive to follow Dinah's lead took over. So he'd entwine his fingers with hers and hang his head as he tried to make sense of what the pair of them were speaking about. He knew enough to know that he had to call silently to his twin, volumes about being glad and reunited, and that she had nothing to be ashamed of. Without being cursed he'd wound up planning a duel against a man whom anyone knew was one of the isle's most powerful figures. The family did not need much more notoriety just now. As it stood, they'd have to explain to the help what was going on between them, and Delilah still needed to be seen to. For Dorian though, there was just pressing the length of his body against his sister's side, and feeling the world shift to a position that he could stand upright on again.
Hector: nodded to Dinah, letting out a 'mmm' sound. "I rarely take anything personally, Dinah. I send people to their final resting, so getting attacked by people I help is pretty much a daily thing for me. These sorts of curses are just...an everyday thing." Though this one was...a bit more violent than normal. He was trying to wave it off as just a thing. He was...rather freaked out by it, however. "I will also say, however, like I did to Drystan. I don't WANT anything from you or your brothers. I do not value, money, or things, or even power...it's meaningless to me. I value music and the ability to help spirits rest, and...I dunno...pretty coffins." He laughed, looking to the booped finger, offering a bow of his head. "Thank you. I'll head to the Bath House, have a good soak. See how that sector is doing as far as...people's mindset." In other words, he's going to keep looking for infected people, but at least he's going to have a bath.
Dinah wrapped her arm around Dorian's forearm, squeezing his hand. Her muscles ached; she'd been swimming since yesterday and the life of a lady of leisure didn't really take that much exercise. His mental connection caused her to squeeze his hand and she turned to look up towards his face, then back to Hector as he spoke.
"regardless of what you value, Mr. Hector, you have done us a service and the Windgraces value those who prove themselves true. Are you still at the place we had our tea party?" she asked, but she nodded. "Get a good rest. you will need a good rest. you do not want to burn out and put yourself at risk."
Dorian did not believe it when it came to anyone saying they wanted nothing from him and his siblings. He was not the smart one, though, so he'd not speak to his cynicism, though he'd flicked his silvery eyes toward Hector when he said the thing, mouth in a grim line of consideration, yet working out what precisely had happened. The blood-drawn runes on his chest, running from maddening language to ruin from residual damp were losing their definition while he held her hand. Chiming in like a chorus after Dinah, he'd reiterate in the same graveled version of his urbane voice, "We should do something similar, as well. Thank you again, we shall settle this debt with gratitude."
It was starting to dawn on him that they were posing quite a spectacle.
Hector: nods and finally gets to his feet with a grunt. Maria stood at his side, though invisible, seemed like she was trying to prop him up a bit. He smirked and reached back, brushing his hand over her little head in an odd motion in the air. Once he was finally up he'd bow to them both. "I am. Do not foresee myself moving from my little loft above Murphy's anytime soon, really." Stuffing his hands into his pockets he'd give them both a nod. "I'll see the two of you, hopefully less damp. Be well, both of you. I'm sure you have some 'cleaning' to do and would like to do it...in more fetching clothing, as you say Dorian. After a nice hot bath and some rest. Say hi to Drystan for me won't you? Tell him to call on me sometime." He winked in what was clearly a cad of a teasing gesture and turned on his heels, long black hair twisting in the wind.
Dinah smiled faintly and she nodded gently. "Good." she said quietly. "I will send something for you, then." she said simply. "...I have more dolls for Maria besides" she agreed. She bowed her head and returned to leaning her weight against Dorian, still weary. yes, they'd likely need a bath too.
"take care of yourself, Mr. Hector. Thank you." she said quietly, nodding her head as he asked her to give Drystan her regards. "I shall tell him so. be well, friend~"
Dorian lifted his free hand in a parting gesture to Hector, and when the man was a few paces off, he'd lean down to lift his sister in a bridal carry. He knew she was tired, he knew she had suffered. He knew that he could cart her home in his arms with no trouble, despite his own state. That was no stranger than the pair of them walking with damp hair, in wet clothes, remnants of blood upon them. He'd murmur to his sister's ear once he had her in arms, "You get the first bath. You need to eat something, too. And... you do not want her skin anymore, do you?"
He had gotten so far in thought to realize that if Dinah was cursed and something had transpired with their lupine sibling, likely the Scot had likewise been afflicted.
Dinah didn't object to being lifted, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "i... i worry i already *did* eat but nothing i would want to" she mumbled, though at his words about Delilah's skin, she shook her head slowly.
"s-she bit me. she was fully wolf on the front lawn, the tanuki was there, and a little dragon and this silver haired man shoved her off me. she'd have done worse, i think, if he hadn't" she murmured, taking a deep breath. "gods, it was all so dramatic.."
Dorian chuckled, simultaneously lifting her while leaning to press a kiss upon her forehead, This barely slowed him down, and he'd take a moment after that to think before he remarked, cooing to her, "Well I need to eat, then. Did you say there was a dragon and a tanuki on the lawn while she was... loup garouing? Well I cannot hope to match that drama. I thought I did a fair job too with all of this. You have not been that cross with me in a long time."
Dinah reached to press her lips to his cheek and she nodded. "I hope the tanuki wasn't too hurt.... but..yes. It was very... very strange. very dramatic. she was talking about us sacrificing her." she shook her head and she sighed. "..a bloody curse. I should have seen it coming. I should have been more careful. where did she even pick up a bloody curse?" she hummed, closing her eys "I wasn't cross with you. not really, the curse might have been though."
Dorian grinned at her upon having his cheek kissed, and picked up the pace, keeping her very close so as to jostle her the least. He'd reply, "I do not think she could have seen it coming if you did not. Why would we sacrifice her? She is kin. She... oh. It was the curse, she must think we... oh no. Dinah, who was the silver-haired man? And... what is a tanuki, by the way?" There was a lot he'd missed and not been willing to hear about while he'd been searching for his twin.