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Days had passed her by…or at least, so she thought. The sun was making way to set as the blue-sky turned yellow and orange; such was all she knew and cared to know in the present. Every day thus far…she had to return to the Guild hall for additional questioning by…different faces as she underwent quite the process indeed.
Yet nevertheless, in the end…the outcome was as she had been told it was to be. The foreigner…had been stripped of her badge, rank, level, and status as a registered adventurer; her card confiscated, and an official permanent mark placed on her record and profile…indicating that she was expelled and banned…that she was a serial offender of thievery, and that she had…threatened the lives of Guild staff and members.
This mark had effects that could bleed not just into the other Guild branches, but also…mercenary groups and other relevant organizations that often recruited former adventurers and had agreements and or privileges to access their records…albeit censored copies.
Consequently, the foreigner was mandated to payback most—effectively all—that which she had been given by the Guild. So much coin, indeed, she had made…so much coin, indeed, she had hoarded for she had not any the thing, besides her rent, needing to be spent on.
Indeed, she had walked in this final day with a small box full of hoarded coin-pouches…and had swiftly gone from having so many…many months of rent prepaid in reserve…to being left with barely any scraps to cover it…while still being in debt to the Guild; after all…the coin she had spent on that very rent had to be returned in kind.
Thus, the foreigner made way down the street as the day’s end drew ever-near, returning to the only destination to which she had left to go…her mind trapped in its own shadow.
Truly…all of that which she had done the past dozens of months…what even was the point? Right…that patron…that weaving man…he was the one who had…not necessarily suggested as much as…instructed her to join the Guild; she had not spoken to or even…seen…that weaving-patron since that day all those so many months ago.
What even…was his interests in any of this? What even…was the Guild’s own interest in her?…or maybe…she had read too much…into all of this…since…maybe there was none, for clearly…they did not care to expel her…hmm…
She did not know, and quite frankly…she did not truly care to, anymore.
Indeed, it mattered little. Illusions and delusions, such was what all of this…entire…place even was to begin with. A falsehood…nothing genuine…just a hollow facade made deceptively real…unnatural and artificial…nothing more than an abomination’s contrived and conjured delusions and playthings.
Truly…she felt on the outside of it all. The summering wind…she could no longer feel it, nor the warmth of the setting sun. Hollow and empty…everything felt. An automaton watching a vessel move and act its own…that was…how she felt…and maybe…that was what she was…
Truly…what was she even doing anymore? What…has she even been doing?
Truly…she should have never bothered leaving that cave in which she had so entrenched herself; she should have held-out and stood her ground…beaten, battered, certainly…but at least she was still fighting. But then…that long-derelict deserter Blue-Coat just had to show up; she should have never listened to her.
Truly…how could…any of what she was so aimlessly doing now…be…any better than what she had originally planned to do almost one and a half years ago?
She had thoroughly exhausted her aura’s mandated cap…granted, but she could have still remained entrenched and continue to bloody those unknowns…for indeed…she was bloodying them; they had won, but she did not lose. She was paying attention; she had read the diagnostics and kill-ratio of her own…she and her own had utterly face-fucked them!
Yet…nevertheless…she just gave-up and followed along with that deserter who had so randomly interjected herself out from nowhere in order to ‘rescue’. Certainly…she would have probably perished…she only had three left, discounting that one…different…other…piece…without which she felt…so…so…
Regardless, perishing in service would have been…was…infinitely better than this…this…accursed fate she has had to so deal with the past year-and-a-half…this game of masquerading pretend…ugh.
Never mind…the survivors…there were not many left in the immediate aftermath…and she was doubtful that any were still alive by now. She had abandoned them…or at least, such was how she felt deep down within. Truly…how utterly incompetent she was…with managing any of those who so found themselves cursed with being underneath her.
…maybe…indeed…maybe this was the outcome…she actually wanted? She sometimes had such…thoughts...but never really acted on them; it never…even occurred to her to act upon them…but maybe…she actually had…deserted her duties…maybe…she actually…wanted to desert and abandon them all.
She did not know…she did not know whatsoever…at all…what she even wanted or desired or…anything; she simply existed.
Denizens all around…she noticed as she made way…so many smiles and laughs, yet so many frowns and dozens of sobs…along with a few shouts of anger. Hopes, dreams, ambitions, so many things, so many desires…they all strived towards in their short and finite existences. Most mundane, some…exceptionally ambitious. Yet, either way, she could not understand them…at all. On the scale…she operated on…everything was so small and puny.
Truly…indeed, she was an alien hiding among familiar aliens. They were as enigmatic to her…as she was enigmatic to them…and…it was truly so…stupid to pretend otherwise.
Her former associate…that derelict survivor of a failed operation…one that predated the foreigner’s own, survival had long stopped being her objective; at some point, survival had turned to desertion…with no intentions of…ever returning.
Yet the foreigner herself…she had no…such…intentions, instead she…or…maybe…she actually did…or…ugh!
Truly, there was nothing to be found at all, no answers, no anything! She simply acted, she simply did things…she simply…did what she thought…was the best course…but…or maybe…
UGH! Truly, her head was hurting; truly, her head spinning itself around and around endlessly without pause or conclusion in sight! Truly, her mind was faltering; truly…that shadow…was devouring her from within.
Yet…nevertheless, one thing was always certain…one thing still…even now…lingered in mind, having never truly left it…for it was always felt; her operation…one far more important than some simple impulsive poorly-thought-out Blue-Coat recon operation…one she could not simply runaway from or ignore even if she wanted to…for her operation…followed, stalked, and lingered.
Yet clearly…she had been neglecting; clearly…she had been ignoring; after all…what could she…even do…on her own? Truly…maybe she had truly given up…right…indeed, what even was…the point of any of this anymore?
Yet those quests…those fake missions and…things to do…just thinking about them made her feel so…itchy on the inside…that insatiable craving or…something…though, she could only deny and ignore her clear…addictive obsession.
Ugh…truly, every fiber of her being…felt so…awful.
Hmm, well, aren’t you becoming rather the mess
Or rather…what had always been there is simply making itself more explicit
Though, perhaps as you may one day come to see…these denizens of hopes and reams
Are not nearly as certain in their finite lives as they may seem
So many are lost, so many have fallen astray
So many come to face-to-face with the absurdity of their existence
Though, sometimes, many times, such ‘purposes’ or illusions thereof…
Are things that one…does not discover or find on their own
As much as they are forced into that purpose, without any choice
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You never had any choice, none of you had any choice
Yet…a choice is not what you want, is it?
You want it provided to you
Or rather…you simply need to be more thoroughly reminded
Comprehensibly and clearly
Of that illusion of purpose you already have
But had lost in this sea of delusions around
I can provide that reminder
I can provide that easy illusion of purpose
But, it will only mean that…
You will have to take my hand for a dance
Suddenly: caw, caw, caw; so many crowing caws began to echo around. So sudden had this crowing caw so seemingly popped into existence, the foreigner was dragged out of her mind as she froze in stiff place, before her attention came lancing straight to a roof above…noticing that all-too familiar corvid, its eyes staring her down.
Hmm…that bird…that strange corvid…in retrospect, she had noticed it several times throughout the past several months…trailing her…following her from time to time…always in the shadow of her attention. Indeed…even when discounting a certain presence’s fixated watch which diluted her awareness of others fixated watchings…this strange corvid was still exceptionally difficult to notice; though, quite frankly, she might have had simply…tuned its existence out completely…such was hard to tell.
Regardless…here it was, announcing its presence…cawing away…demandingly so. No doubt, the coincidences of prior meetings were null: this strange bird was most likely associated with that certain patron.
The corvid was cawing and hopping and moving off and away…gesturing almost in whatever way it could, being an…avian and all. She inferred very quickly…it wanted her to follow; it wanted to lead her somewhere.
She looked around…indeed…at some point during her mind ensnared stroll…she had seemingly stumbled into rather the conveniently empty and desolate street area…despite there having been denizens prior in her walking; indeed…almost too conveniently empty, for it was by no means that same ‘holiday’ or whatever as before.
The foreigner sighed; « Ôch quidquid síet… » she mumbled out; oh whatever. She may as well follow this strange nightly corvid…especially since she could already predict where it was going to lead her…and double especially if it meant that…it would stop its relentless cawing; truly…such a raspy noise it made.
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“Hey hey! Mask-lady! Long time since I’ve seen that sexy ass of yours haha!” thus began to swiftly blurt out in greetings…that patron…seeing that the foreigner was approaching from afar.
« De corsad… » she mumbled out; of course…thus, theory turned to fact.
“Haha! So nice to see you again!” thus his noises continued to noise-make…ugh, as he quickly converged upon her.
Without pause, she continued to wander about this all too conveniently emptied street, though now with him trailing next and near.
“Wow! Don’t you look like shit…though, I can’t complain about how…exposed your nice-nice thighs ar—” thus he was remarking, but “What is it that you want in truth?” the foreigner interjected bluntly and very coldly.
“Ahem—ahh…well, you know, it’s just been too many months…so I thought I may as well check with my favorite lady” he replied with waving shrugging hands…before glancing his cold and bagged eyes to the foreigner next and near; “so…deary, how are you liking the ‘one and only Adventurers’ Guild’ so far? I can tell you’ve been very up-and-at-it” he asked and remarked.
She sighed annoyedly; “I was expelled, banned, and forced to return all of the coins I was given; so, I am the poor again, with the ‘debt’, and with even higher rent…now impossible to pay” she replied coldly, bluntly, and somewhat standoffishly.
Yet, the patron simply nodded his head away; “Yeah yep, so I’ve heard and been told” he replied, by no means affected.
« … » she glared at him, her heavily bagged mask-obscured eyes…by no means amused; “Ah, of course, so you knew? If so, why bother asking?” she replied cold and standoffish.
The patron simply shrugged away in an “Eehh…”; “you know…it’s just more…entertaining this way” he replied; “besides, asking you, confronting you, annoying you…well, you’re smart and observant…you should know the dance by now…though, you are one hard-hard lady to read”.
She sighed in a faint ugh; “So, answer, then: why are you annoying me after all of this time? It is clear that you know that I have failed in this…whatever it was that you wanted from me…” she interrogated and remarked.
“Ah…well, you know…just to let you know that this setback hasn’t changed a thing and that I still, unfortunately for you, still exist…and so does my mighty crush on you; and not just me…no-no…in fact your time in the Guild has made their crush even more intimate and invested…” he shruggingly answered…vaguely.
“Uhuh” she blurted out in reply; “and you and those…whatever others of yours…you all do not care of the ‘thievery’ that I had done?” she asked…indifferently and coldly.
The patron laughed; “Buahaha! Lady! You’re asking me if I give a warship-battery bombarding-fuck about ‘thievery’!” he blurted out, sarcastically humored. “Lady…don’t get your panties ripped off…or actually, please do—” he was going to blurt further, but “Do not forget that you are alone with me in this street with none to hear or to see” the foreigner cut him off, threateningly; her problem was not necessarily the…words…themselves, for such had no real meaning to her, rather the…tone his many mouth-noises donned whenever making such…remarks.
He ahemed; “Right—ahem—anyway, I guess that is enough pest-words out of me…I was guessing all I was gonna say was that…well, there’s a reason why I sorta wanted you to join the Guild…normally and…have that typical normal Guild experience—or at least that was supposed to be the goal, but lady aren’t you weird and abnormal…so it wasn’t a normal experience at all, haha!” he chuckingly remarked.
“But the Guild…you see, well, it has its reputation these days as a decomposing corpse of a dying era…and sure, that’s completely true, but it’s also one that’s…stubbornly adamant to keep the scraps of its remaining status; though, I mean…it’s always been…you know, kind of self-interested in that way…used to be so powerful, wouldn’t you believe that? Always kept things the way it wanted…but now everyone’s starting to see it” thus he began to…explain away…ugh.
“I ask: the point, or I walk away” thus the foreigner swiftly interrupted, not at all wanting a repeat of the last monologuing time-eater.
He ahemed again; “Right, right—well…I guess to that, the Guild’s not one big single thing—or at least it is…kind of—but it’s still…many things all mushed together. Like an animal, you know? One with many organs and limbs that all do their own different things to keep it alive and running…and some organs don’t care about the same shit others do…you know, like serial thievery and almost blowing up a bunch of shitheads with a boom-thrower…especially when that sexy someone has more…interesting potential” he explained…vaguely.
The foreigner glared, unamused completely; “The point.” she demanded sternly, halting in place. The weaving patron walked onwards slightly before halting in kind, turning around with staring eyes.
“Ahem—well, point being: there’s shit in motion beyond either of us…you know, I figure you to be one who get’s stuck in her own ward…and don’t give much stuff beyond it…but well…lots of things are happening behind locked curtains…and so, basically: don’t worry about it” thus he replied…ambiguously; truly, a master of answeringly not answering her questions.
« … » She stared him down, still completely unamused, seeing that annoying…smirk on his…maskless hard-to-even-process…denizen face.
He yawned…she only narrowly avoiding doing the same…as he began to shrug and wave his hand, walking off…passed her; “Well, that’s all I wanted to say” he began to say, “now I’m off to a…well…let’s just say a nice place, so see you around mask-lady…or w-what…what was it again? ‘Nelia’?... ‘Nilia de Relevencia’? Haha! Clever name!” he remarked in waving goodbye as he departed off and away down the opposite way.
The strange corvid cawed before flying off and away in kind…though not following, rather…it made way to return to someone else not him.
The foreigner sighed; « Verë…qual’irritator d’uno hemonculo texente » her breaths muttered out; truly…what a little irritant of a weaving man…pfft.
Yet…there was nothing else for her to do…besides continuing to make way back to her apartment. Thus, she recontinued her strolling walk.
Oh…how her dark-bagged eyes burned and throbbed in exhausted misery. She had not slept in so…long; it was hard to even think or cogitate or…anything…for better or worse. Sleep…such was the only thing on her mind right now…a permanent everlasting sleep.
Yet she doubted that she would be able to sleep this night, as with the night before and the night the night before.
Though, quite frankly, despite this desire…she did not even…know if she truly…wanted to sleep; though…what did she even want? That patron had his own agenda, whatever he was associated with had its own agenda…but…what was her own agenda?
She did not know…at all.
Yet…suddenly, at some point in her recontinued stroll…echoing from afar…noises. Such an ear-piercing screeching noise of monstrous aquilic calls and squawks. These abhorrent eagle-like screeches…only grew more potent and intense…as those echoes vibrating in the air…drew ever-closer.
Before, all so dramatically, dozens upon dozens of griffons came abruptly flying across the sky up high, their abhorrent screeches penetrating all ears and spines down below. Dust-wisps of sparkly ‘magic’ very faintly trailed from their wings and beings as they flew, for indeed…such was the only way such chimeric creatures could even fly.
Mounted upon these griffons were heavily plate-armored ‘knights’ of sorts—Griffon Knights, to be exact. Griffon Knights were among the most expensive and elite of any realms’ personal retinues…and thus were hardly ever deployed or used without considerable merit or circumstances.
The foreigner paused, as did many denizens around, eyes looking up…observing the noisy chimeras making a ruckus in the sky. Indeed…she had seen these...chimeric atrocities before; they had to be probably the noisiest and most mind-piercing…thing…she had ever heard in all of her…recent…memorable…existence…ugh.
Though…if these ‘Griffon Knights’ or whatevers were out and about for once…that meant…that…something ‘important’ was unraveling…somewhere someplace around or afar. Most seemed to be…flying through this settlement, not…lingering to patrol.
Good. Truly, the last thing she wanted was to be intruded upon and violated in her mind by such things…as she tried to sleep in vain…this one single night out of so many sleepless nights…ugh.
Oh, rest assured, nothing is going to come forth to bother you this arriving night
Nothing most indeed…