OH SHIT, I doodled Rogues stuff at work today!  Pax and Xath channeling Zuko and Iroh (uh sort of), Jet having a face, and a bonus Gali being REALLY ANGRY for reasons related to the first picture.

I squeezed in a painting in between some commission work.  I wanted to practice some lighting and work with a new brush I just downloaded, so this was pretty good practice.

((OOC: Screw it, here's the last installment.  FOR NOW.  Also almost wrote Part 300, lolol.))

Galixnil's small mouth curved into a smile.

“Hello Thomas.”

Her ex-husband's pale face looked legitimately stricken. She imagined it was quite a shock, seeing the woman he'd been hunting for months. She daintily stepped toward him, putting on a demure face. Well. Perhaps there was a bit of devilishness in it.

“L-Lily, I...I've been...I saw you at the gala...I...” Thomas rubbed his hands together, stammering as he gazed at her lovingly. “It's been so long, I thought...I-I wanted...” Suddenly his face changed a little, just as she stepped out of a shadow and into the moonlight. His breathless elation changed to confusion and perhaps suspicion, if she didn't miss her mark. “...No. N-no you're...you're not Lily. Who are you?”

Galixnil arched her brows. “My my! You are a clever one. You do have an eye for details, don't you?” She began circling him, slowly but surely, like a predator with cornered prey. “No, I'm not your wife. My name is Galixnil. It's a pleasure to make your formal acquaintance, Thomas.”

“How do you know my name if you're not my wife? And why do you look so much like her? What do you want with me?”

She clicked her tongue. “So many questions! Let's start at the beginning. I know your name because of the gala, of course. Your name was all over the invitations, though I suppose you're entitled if you're the host.”

“You were...at the gala...? ...So it wasn't Lily then...”

“Again, very clever. Yes, I was the one who you mistook for your wife, I suppose.”

“And you...turned the Heartless on me? Are you with them?” A bit of heat came into his voice, and she almost pitied him. What a sad little man, clinging to a woman he drove away.

“Now, that is a very good question. Tell me, what do you know about the Heartless?”

“That didn't answer my question, stranger.”

“Now, no need to be rude! I told you my name, didn't I? And besides, my inquiry is related. I need to know what I have to work with.”

With a stubborn sort of glare, Thomas straightened and began to recite, “The Heartless are creatures of darkness, born from the rage, malice, and sorrow festering in people's hearts. Emerging from shadows, and drawn to those who are suffering from strong, negative emotions, they steal the hearts from these individuals and use the darkness within the hearts to transform their prize into more of their legion.”

“Well put! Was that from a book or your own definition?”

“A little of both. Now--”

“No more questions just yet, Thomas, let me speak for a little while, hmm?” She felt a little surge of joy at the way he clamped his mouth shut indignantly. She hadn't seen him frustrated much before, and this was a bit of a treat for her. “So, you know all about the Heartless—I assume you know they can travel from world to world and all that. Now then, what do you know about Nobodies? Anything?”

A pause, then Thomas shook his head. “I'm not sure what you mean by 'nobodies'.”

“Oh, you're in for a treat, then. The Heartless, as you are likely aware, are a widespread flood. Most of the time, when they rip the heart out of some miserable person, they leave nothing behind. However, strong willed people sometimes 'survive' the attack. Sometimes, when that sort of person has their heart stolen, their soulless body is left behind. This sort of being is known as a Nobody. The stronger the will, the more likely it is this being will resemble their former self. For instance, if you lost your heart and happened to be strong enough to want to live afterwards, you might be able to retain your body. However, you'd be without a heart—without a soul. Any emotions you felt would be...well, memories of emotions. They wouldn't be real. You'd be a husk, in a sense. You understand this concept, yes?”

He nodded slowly. She hoped he wasn't catching on—she wanted to savor this moment, not have him jump to the climax. It had to be slow and painful.

“Let me tell you a story of one Nobody in particular.”

“Why me? What does this have to do with your appearance?”

“Patience is a virtue, and I'll thank you to stay quiet just now. I think you can manage, can't you?” Another grimace, as though he was digging in his heels. She smiled again. Excellent. “Now. This story is about a young woman born to a well-off family. She lived a very pleasant life—she had everything one could ask for. Everything except true freedom. Society expected her to behave a certain way, and she couldn't stand those expectations. She dreamed of one day escaping and doing something more exciting with her life.

“This girl had a close friend. She spent every moment with this friend, running around her hometown and exploring as she often was not allowed at home. As the two grew older, they had to behave more politely, but she always valued the way she could nearly be herself around this friend. However, as the girl grew to be of marriageable age, her friend—her dear friend—gave into his male desires and became interested in her romantically. The girl, however, was not interested in marriage. She wanted to be free! Not tied down by matrimony, particularly not to someone she only loved platonically.

“One day, her friend proposed. The ring was beautiful, but she didn't know what to say. Before she could politely stammer that she declined, her friend informed her that he had already spoken to her father and her father had supported the marriage wholeheartedly. She was shocked. Her closest friend hadn't even consulted her first! Plans were being made that involved her and she had no say in the matter! She never even responded—her excited friend took her silence as an acceptance, and he scurried off to plan.”

As she spoke, she took in the slowly morphing look on Thomas' face—his stubborn frown was slowly turning into a hollow sort of worry, his face contorted into a drawn and apprehensive expression.

“She begged her father as soon as she got home, begged him to let her bow out of the engagement, but the man refused. He was too concerned with the propriety of the match, with his daughter's ties to another wealthy family. He didn't care how she felt—it wasn't important. Within the year, the two were wed. And the girl had never been so miserable in her life. Now she could never be herself. She was stuck in a relationship with a man she didn't love, and she could never share her true aspirations for fear of being shot down, of being ignored, of being seen as a loose or irresponsible woman in a town she could now never escape. She was trapped. And as her heart swelled with sadness, with yearning for release, the Heartless descended upon the town and stole the wretched thing from her.

“Now, as I implied earlier, this is a story of a Nobody. The girl's desire for freedom was so strong that her empty body was left behind, a shell of its former self but free of the shackles of marriage. She disappeared from her town that night and she never returned. Well. Perhaps 'never' is inaccurate.”

Now Thomas' face was ashen. He looked like a man near death, his eyes as wide as plates and lips trembling like a nervous child.

“You wanted to know what I wanted with you. I came to return this.” She held her hand and looked at him expectantly. As he held out his shaking hand, she placed in it a small golden band, then she closed his hand on it—and gripped his closed hand tightly. She leaned in close to him, looking deep into his hazel eyes and whispering, “Because of you, my very soul was torn from my body. It was not a pleasant experience. But it was far less painful than my closest friend blatantly ignoring my wishes and forcing me to marry, than my closest friend discarding our friendship out of selfish lust.”

“N-no!” he finally choked out. “No, I-I thought you...I thought you loved me too! You seemed...you seemed so happy, Lily, you seemed happy, I swear it! I...I wouldn't want to hurt you...”

“You were blinded by your own ambitions!” She shoved the man away with a scowl, and he stumbled, dropping to the ground. “If you couldn't see that I was suffering, then you can only blame yourself. I put on a strong face, but you should have known. You've known me longer than anyone, you ought to have noticed!” She flashed her hand toward Thomas and pools of concrete rose up around him, trapping him.

“B-but I...God no, I...I'm so sorry, Lily, I would never have married you if I'd known!”

“You betrayed me! Your love was a travesty and a selfish lie you told yourself to justify ignoring what someone else wanted.” She drew herself up, standing over the prone man and watching as the concrete tightened around him, panic and horror replacing rational behavior. “But don't worry, I won't kill you. After all, you may have caused my tremendous misery, but because I lost my heart, I gained the freedom I always wanted.”

Thomas' pleading fell on deaf ears, and Galixil ignored the terrified sobbing coming out of him. She glanced to the shadows, where pinpoints of glowing yellow light were beginning to appear. Just as she had planned. She snapped her fingers and creeping, crawling Heartless scuttled out of the darkness, twitching animalistically as they closed in on the scruggling, weeping man.

“I'll leave you to them instead. I'm sure they'll find something to do with you—perhaps you'll learn something from experiencing what I experienced.” She smiled wickedly. “Or perhaps not.”

((OOC: PART 2 in case anybody's actually reading.))

Thomas Stratham nervously flipped through the book he held. Nothing. At least nothing new. It wasn't as though he'd expected to find much more information on the Heartless than he already had. It was a rare subject in Port Royal, since the last few incidents involving the creatures had been isolated and left few survivors. Fewer still were survivors interested in researching the topic. A visitor from another world had arrived some time ago, and that brought some new information into the town, but it wasn't much to go on.

Only two topics had drawn his attention lately, both spurred by the attack during his gala. One was the Heartless, of course, and the other was the appearance of his wife. Lily had vanished three years ago—had it really been three years?--and the gala was the first sign he'd seen that maybe, just maybe, she was still alive. But why hadn't she stayed? In fact, in the confusion of the Heartless attack it had almost seemed that she'd somehow turned the monsters on him, and that made no sense at all. He had to know about the Heartless and he had to know about his wife. Since then, he'd visited every bookseller and every library around, and he'd asked every person he knew if they'd seen Lily. So far, he'd amassed a small collection of information on the Heartless (all the information he was going to get, he was beginning to assume) and a handful of accounts of folks spotting Lily. Why wouldn't she come see him, though? Perhaps it was all connected to the Heartless; surely that was the answer. Maybe they were keeping her captive? Or had taken her to another world against her will and now she couldn't easily return?

He glanced out the window as the bookseller asked him if he intended to stay much longer. The sun had set some time ago, he realized, and with a quick apology, he dropped the book he'd been perusing and scurried out the door. He should get home. There was so much reading to do—even if it was just reading the same passages over and over.

The streets were quiet this time of the night, and his home was in a particularly isolated part of town. He'd grown used to the familiar sound of his own footsteps echoing off the silent buildings. He'd walked home many a night lately.

This time, however, he couldn't help but feeling like he wasn't alone. A shiver ran down his spine and though was sure he was alone, he hesitantly turned to look back. All seemed quiet, of course. Silly superstition. Though he could have sworn...no, that couldn't be. He had though he'd smelled lilac—the perfume Lily had always worn. But as always, he was alone in the street.

Then again, he nearly screamed in shock when he turned back toward his home and saw a lone, shadowy figure standing in the middle of the road. He hadn't heard any footsteps, hadn't seen any movement in the corner of his eye. He clutched his pounding heart.

“My God, where did you come from?” he murmured. He stepped forward, wondering who in the world was also out this time of night. The figure seemed feminine, if oddly dressed—thin legs, graceful poise, a ruffling coat and skirt that seemed out of place in a town populated by women clothed in gowns and bustles and modesty. As he got close enough to see her face, his poor heart nearly stopped.

((OOC: Story time!  In installments!))

For what seemed like the umpteenth time since her fateful social outing with Jixsei, Galixnil perched quietly on a rooftop in Port Royal, watching her husband—former husband, by her own accounts—scurry around like a madman. Once she had seen him at that party, she had found herself sneaking back to the world to see what the wretched man was up to. Lately, his activity of choice was visiting libraries and asking people if they had seen his wife. She admittedly had a part in his recent preoccupation with his spouse—she'd been spotted several times in her visits, and people occasionally relayed the sightings to the anxious man. It seemed that he was now actively trying to find her; perhaps he wanted to find out why she had been seen by everyone but him. Perhaps he just wanted to see his wife again. It didn't really matter to her.

Her frequent visits were at least partially spurred on by a recurring dream she'd been having. Lately, there were few nights when she didn't wake up with fleeting memories of her past. Most of the dreams were about losing her heart in particular, though the events leading up to it were also a popular topic. For a long time, she'd forgotten the exact details of why she'd been so miserable as to summon the heartless to her; she remembered a deep hatred for her husband, and she remembered her situation, but she couldn't close her eyes and imagine it with clarity. Now, however, nary a moment passed that she didn't think about that damn marriage proposal and the way her freedom had spiraled out of her own control. She wasn't sure if the dreams happened the more she visited Port Royal, or if she visited Port Royal more often as the dreams became more frequent, but regardless, here she was.

Surely something must be done. She frowned as she watched the lanky man nervously wave to a passerby. She couldn't keep dwelling on the past—Yivx's berating had snapped her out of her darker mood a few months ago, but even whilst in a better state of mind she still couldn't concentrate on her work in the Organization properly, not with her betrayal knocking about in her brain. She needed to confront the problem that had caused such a drastic change in her life. She needed to come to terms with it—to get revenge, even.

She needed closure.

She hopped to her feet and opened a portal, heading back to the castle. A few twists and turns in the halls and she found herself in front of Jixsei's office. If she was going to ask anyone about this, she would rather it be the superior she was more familiar with. She knocked a few times and waited patiently, straightening her clothing.

“Galixnil darling~ What is it you want?” Jixsei's voice rang pleasantly from the now-open doorway.

“I wanted to speak with you about a personal mission I wanted to undertake—I was not sure what the proper course was with this sort of thing, I hope I'm not interrupting anything.”

“Not at all, please step inside. What do you intend with this mission you have in mind?”

“I'm not exactly sure on all the details,” Galixnil said carefully, accepting the invitation. “but I intend to go to Port Royal and deal with my ex-husband. He has been a distraction lately, and if I wish to focus on my duties here, I think it best I take care of him now.”

She didn't want to seem too forward in asking to take on a mission, of course. She watched her superior's cool gaze for a moment, wondering what she would think. After a moment, with an elegant toss of her head, Jixsei responded,

“That does seem best, dear. Loyalty and dedication are so important, as you know. As long as you file a thorough report when you are finished, I see no reason why you shouldn't. Take care of it quickly~”