sweet mercy

“Wake up on the wrong side of the coffin there, cutie pie? Looks like you could use a little pick me up.”

“I don’t sleep in a coffin.” Noah pointed out obliviously. “I mean sure, I sometimes like to take a nap on the exam tables but that’s only whenever I’m too tired to make it all the way to the second floor from the basement.” He ran his finger along the rim of his cup. “But as for a pick me up, maybe. Coffee didn’t cut it this morning. Neither did buying new books.”

While Lovell rejected much of his species, being born a wolf meant he still had very wolfish tendencies…like invading peoples’ personal bubble. Really, Lovell was a giant puppy more than a wolf. “I don’t trust Eric,” he replied quickly. “But I owe him for healing me now anyways. I think most people on this island want chaos. It’s just the nature of living here.” He watched the other’s awkward movements curiously. He would have thought Noah would be more used to him. “I mean, does anyone like corpses on their doorstep?”

Somehow, Noah’s words about them not killing him still weren’t very comforting. He came up behind the witch and put his chin on his shoulder to look over on the files. “There’s a vampire that says if I take the body to the witch, he’ll buy my food for three months. I’m debating on whether or not it’s worth it. I’ve heard rumors that she’s pretty…ornery.” Not that any of them were really safe.

Noah felt shock double-fold. One because Lovell was so close and it was still taking some adjustment to having a wolf around. And two, the mention witch had Noah on high alert. There could really only be one witch that was being referred to and Noah wasn’t too keen on that. “Leave Rae alone, she has enough on her plate to deal with and I’ll have to be the one to clean it up.” An easy task but not one that Noah was particularly keen on taking time out of his day to do. “And don’t trust all vampires, Lovell. Some of them are good but some of them are just wanting to create chaos.” He set the folder down and turned to Lovell, hands awkwardly trying to find a place for themselves before he just slipped them into his pockets. “Try dropping it off at the Alpha’s or the King, I’m sure one of them would enjoy that.”

“I don’t like this anymore than you do,” he assured Noah. “But most of these tasks aren’t very safe without all of my abilities. I really don’t trust the spell they put on that cliff to protect me from breaking every single bone in my body.” And why would he? They clearly thought harming the slaves was amusing. “I might survive it but…it wouldn’t be pretty.”

“Oh they wouldn’t kill you so I’m sure it would be safe,” Noah said with a wave of his hand in the air. It wouldn’t benefit anyone if the slaves ended up dead. “But you are right, it probably wouldn’t be pretty. I’m a little curious about just who might actually try that one. I have a few ideas.” Noah turned on his heel and walked over to the desk in the far corner to grab one of the files and flip it open. “So we’ve got three currently in here. Probably better not to take Mr. Hanwell, there isn’t much left of him anywhere. Bad wolf fight. Uh... there’s Darcy Kollier, she’s off down at the end. Not sure what happened to her yet. And you’ve got Matthew Foster, he’s probably the cleaniest... Where exactly are you taking the body?”

“Well…I know you’re not going to be thrilled, but I need a body. I’m, um, just borrowing it though,” he pursed his lips. “It’ll help me get a reward from the Infernum.” His eyes were big and puppy-like. Would it work? Probably not.

“I’ll help you fight off the other intruders though.”

Noah threw his head back as a groan escaped him. Of course. He’d had a tiny bit of hope that Lovell would not have wanted to snag one of the bodies stored away. When he looked back at Lovell to see the puppy eyes and knowing that it would help the other out in some way, it wasn’t fair. “I’d hope you would just be borrowing it. You know, the dead deserve some respect too. But I could also really use someone to help me keep too many people from trying to steal bodies from here. I doubt I’d find most of them.”

Getting a body seemed to be the easiest thing to do for the wolf. It helped that his job meant he had access to an assortment of corpses. After everything that had happened during the night, he was hoping that it was one of the easier tasks he’d complete. At the very least, in return for assisting in stopping others from stealing, he’d get a body. Whether or not Raenella would kill him after? Well, that was the least of his worries.

“Noah,” he called. “You there?”

@swcctmercy·

There was more stress on his shoulders than he thought there would be with this carnival event that had been put on for the benefit of everyone. He wasn’t aware of how many people were actually going to want to steal a dead body. Did no one have any respect for the dead? Apparently the answer was no. His stress was the reason he was so jumpy and when he heard Lovell, he jumped and nearly dropped the book he had in his hand.

“Lovell, thank goodness it’s just you. People have been so weird today,” he said with a shake of his head. He set down the book on the metal exam table. “What brings you here? I figured you’d be joining in the fun.”

@swcctmercy·

The cells opened and, like a damn had burst, the slaves came flooding out. It won’t be that easy. There would be no escape, she knew that – they all must’ve. Why would they willingly let every slave out? Still, she was shocked to see her instructions. There were some tempting prizes, ones that could easily establish dominance and bravery, but what idiot would willing put themselves in the way of their leaders? Who would try and take hair from the Alpha? No, she needed to be smarter about her choices. When the crowd all seemed to rush in the same direction, the wolf veered in the opposite direction.

The lay of the land was difficult to someone who was unfamiliar with its setup – and Miranda certainly was. Still, she followed her nose as best she could. This stupid tree had to be unique, right? It would stand out, why else would it be a special instruction? By the time she’d found the witches house, she was walking at a quick pace, ready to bolt into a run at the snapping of a twig. Peering over her shoulders every now and then, she crept towards the cliffs, noting the peculiar tree that was waiting for her. That had to be it. Crouching behind a nearby tree, she glanced around and waited until she was certain there was no one else around before moving in on the tree.

In most cases, Noah is the last to find out about something on the island. Especially the newest gossip that he was only ever to hear whenever he made trips to fulfill his sweet tooth. But in matters concerning the witches, Noah made it his priority to know everything that happened. Part of it was a safety concern. How could he watch his back if he had no idea what was going on? But another part of it was out of duty for the coven and for Rae. He may be weaker in other areas but his duty is always to Rae and protecting those he needs to protect.

With the cells opened and the night kicked up in high gear, Noah had kept his ear out for anything of importance. Most things didn’t concern him and he let it go in one ear and out the other. But when he’d been walking around and heard whispers regarding the Witching Tree, Noah’s heart leapt in his chest. No one would dare to touch the tree, would they?

Noah couldn’t risk it. He made his way as quickly as he could and with some magic help to the property. As quiet as he could, he made his way to the tree with fire already leaping from his hand in a small controlled flame. For those who don’t see this side of Noah often, it would be perplexing. Focused. Deadly.

“I would not take another step toward that tree unless you have intentions of finishing your night as ash,” Noah spoke out when he spotted someone.

“Oh, definitely – ‘mobile goat milk bottle’ isn’t really the most fortunate of looks.. it’s a bit.. outdated.” Gosh, this one was slow.. keep up, why don’t ya.  Nicolette sighed, quite exasperatedly too. “I don’t typically ask questions, unless they are either sarcastic or rhetorical.. Mainly because I don’t care about anything you lot have to say. Really, just save yourself the trouble.” 

“Quite the contrary, I strongly believe I don’t nearly give them enough hell– but it’s a work in progress.”

It seemed as if lately Noah found himself having more and more meetings with those who woke up on the wrong side of the bed every day of their life. Granted, he knew what it was like to be angry. Frustrated. Something she said caught his attention, however. “By lot, do you mean those of us out here on the other side or are you referring to witches?” Noah inquired, head tilted to the side. “I really do not like having conversations like this...” he muttered more so to himself than to Nicolette.

Lovell enjoyed Noah’s company. The witch didn’t seem to expect anything of him, and they were able to engage in pleasant conversation or even comfortable quiet. “I mean…I guess they’re going as okay as they can considering my position in this God forsaken place.” At the mention of flowers, he tilted his head. “I’m fine with them, though I can be particular because of my sense of smell, but I’m sure you wouldn’t bring anything stinky my way.”

“In my experience, bad smelling flowers have a tendency to make people much sadder when they’re already grieving.” Noah grabbed a binder from the bookshelf behind his desk and set it down to flip through the pages. “But I’m glad to hear things are going okay. I can’t really say much else to help...” Noah admittedly did engage in his own activities with those from Infernum. Some work related -- as apparent by Lovell. And some not so work related. “So on today’s agenda, we have to pick some flowers out for a funeral coming up. The spouse has made the request that they must be vibrant so the prettier, the better. And after that we’ve got some... not so fun tasks. But it’ll keep you out of Infernum for a bit.”

Look what the cat dragged in ! People say that NOAH FAILY holds an uncanny resemblance to TOM PAYNE, that they appear to be 33 years old and it is rumoured they prefer to be addressed as HE/HIM. We do wonder; does the WITCH enjoy their life as a MASTER?

“I guess it’s good that you’re aware,” Rhys grumbled, wary as he regarded the witch. He didn’t care much for witches, they made him anxious in ways he couldn’t explain. “Usuals?” He asked, pulling himself to sit up. “What kind of weird ass crap are you going to do?”

“Huh?” Noah questioned blankly. “I mean, I guess you could say it’s weird ass crap but I don’t really think so. I know it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, suddenly feeling very awkward. “Well, uh, I mean I need help either way. People think this whole mortician thing is easy but I do everything and sometimes it’s a bit much...”

Eyerolls had quickly become a trademark move – they were honestly so versatile..they could fit all sorts of purposes; a highly minimalist defensive mechanism, the go-to response to pretty much anything, a warning sign – all in all, eyerolls were fucking great. “You could use a self-tanning lotion.” was all that Nicolette said before she turned her back to the man, completely uninterested in entertaining a conversation. She wasn’t one to do small talk, never really had been. “Go figure. You thought I was being polite?” 

“Do you think so?” Noah questioned as he looked down at himself despite being quite covered in clothes. Maybe he could use some self tanning lotion. It was a beat later he realized she was being rude. Again. He wasn’t very good at this. “I thought you were genuinely inquiring. I have trouble picking up on things like that. Are you always like this? I can imagine the guards must have some trouble when it comes to you.”

Nicolette was tired – tired of this place, tired of these people and tired of this damn tower she’d been thrown into. Go figure – it wasn’t exactly a place that the former mistress ever wanted to find herself in. Losing your privileges was a bitter pill to swallow. But then again, the three idiots in charge had decided she had to atone for her sins. What a fuckery. 

“Why do you look like you’ve seen a damn ghost or something?” 

“It wouldn’t be out of the norm to assume that ghost might be real but I’m afraid this might just be my normal complexion.” Noah thought he’d always been relatively pale. He blamed that on the fact that he didn’t spend as much time outside as he probably should. Always too much work to do on this island. He stopped and tilted his head to the side at the woman. “Oh. Were you being rude?”

“Do I look like I’m interested in what you have to say?” Rhys grumbled from his spot, a hand tossed over his eyes, trying to ignore his surroundings. Hoping, foolishly, for a few more hours of rest. 

“Hm. No. Most people don’t have any interest in what I have to say but I attribute that to the fact that I talk about the dead a lot. Or talk to the dead a lot.” He could see why some people wouldn’t be too fond of him because of both those facts. “I just needed a helping hand and you seemed like a good type to help. All my usuals are, uh, busy.”