#mirexeskara

Mirex took a moment to sit down on a step and rest a moment from packing up Evienne’s worldly possessions. Using her magic to create clones to help pack and carry boxes and go through things was moving the process along, but it was still a daunting and exhausting task, considering the eccentric engineer’s myriad interests and hobbies.The wan, blue haired woman herself sat in an armless dining chair against an out of the way wall, her remaining good eye following Mirex and her clones about the kitchen with hopeless disinterest, responding in short, uncaring yes or nos on what was to be brought to the Jardin-Valdis estate in Ascalon Settlement, and what was going to be left behind to be attended to later. Mirex pointedly avoided thinking about when later would be. So far, Evi had only wished to have her magitech medical equipment brought along to her final residence, and the half dozen chests of gold and silver coin that had been stashed in the small cellar under the house. Evi had insisted that, in addition to signing the deed to her home over to Mirex so she could handle its disposal after Evi was gone, Mirex take the horded wealth and divide it between herself and Adriwyn and Alex. She’d been firm about not taking no for an answer, while being dismissive and uncaring about what her fortune would end up being used for. “Yes...” the once wily and flirtatious woman replied as one of the illusionary clones brought out a small Asuran cooling unit filled with vials of the serum Evienne had brewed in her attempts to cure herself. While it didn’t work as hoped, it did ease Evi’s pain and allowed her short spans of lucidity. Her attention then shifted to Mirex taking her breather, “Mir...make sure you pack Elise for me.” The red head frowned in concern at her friend, “Evi, it’s damaged. I don’t know hat happened but...” she thought of the painting of Elise Whitman upstairs, a woman Evienne had loved very deeply and whom she still deeply missed. It was Evi’s most prized possession, but, perhaps in one of her fits, it had been ruined by a large gash that left half the picture curled downward and hanging limp. “I know...bring it anyway. I want her with me at the end, when Alex helps me die...the two women I’ve really loved.” Mirex’s answering smile was understanding, and sympathetic, “Alright darling. If that’s what you want, we’ll bring it. What about the books? Any of the other pictures or furniture? Clothes?” Evi shook her head, “Leave them. Do what you want with them. No sense lugging all those things with me now. I don’t have enough time left to get any real use out of them anymore.” She turned her mismatched gaze about her kitchen, with burn scars on the walls from explosive experiments gone awry, “I’ll miss this house though. Never had a home when I was with the Order. Not after Roy left me. This has been my home since I left though. Lots of memories here. Some even of you.” Once, the blue haired woman would have leered and winked at Mirex as she reminded her of the times they’d lain together, but now it was stated simply, without so much as a quirk of her mouth. “Yes... we did have good times here. I always liked coming to see you here. It’s cozy and welcoming and very you. It reminds me of Ebonhawke and living with Father in the Eskara house.” That did bring the briefest twitch to Evi’s lips, “I liked staying there, the one time I visited. Old Man Eskara didn’t judge me, even though I knew he saw right through me. Made me nervous, those eyes that Saw everything I didn’t want anyone to see. But he was kind, and caring. Not what I expected from Whitey Lock’s Daddy, but I’m not complaining. When I’m gone, you’ll give him my regards next time you see him, won’t you Mir? Such a strange phrase you nobles use. ‘Send my regards’. I guess what I really want to say, want you to say, is thank you. For not feeling scandalized having the Reach’s most notorious nympho stalking his halls, and making her feel welcome as a person. Tell him for me.” Mirex bit her lip, finding hard to keep her emotions under control and not weeping, “I’ll tell him, Evi.” Evi got to her feet slowly as she nodded in wordless thanks, “Once that painting is loaded we can go. Don’t need to go through the rest of what’s here, we’ve got what we need. Take me home, Mir.”

Mirex Eskara by the amazing Ayo @inmyhaart

MIrex tossed in bed beside the sleeping Alex and Adriwyin, having to once again get up and pad to the bathroom. After reviewing some of the books Renita had given her, she concluded that her general fatigue and frequent tris to the bathroom to be sick or simply to use it were all part of being pregnant. She was about nine weeks now, and she’d definitely noticed her body feeling sore and tender in all the right places, as well as her waistline finally starting to show the early signs of impending expansion. She sighed, wrinkling her nose while biting her lip to hold back a sniffle. She was going to be huge, carrying triplets. Not something she’d normally shed a tear over, but she’d found she was becoming uncharacteristically mercurial, and unable to control it. Thankfully she hadn’t snapped at her beloveds lying in the bed in the room beyond, but she’d felt moody and pensive when she wasn’t ready to tear up at the drop of a hat, happy or sad, or for no apparent reason at all. Triplets. Adri’s sharp ears had caught those early heartbeats, and it filled her with wonder and terror. She’d only wanted one, and while she wasn’t against a bargain deal, three was daunting to say the least. She’d need to insist they make a side trip to see Evienne soon. Partly so she and Alex could hear their babies for themselves, but also to start having her regular check ups, and find out what to expect when it came time to give birth. Adri had mentioned they might come early, to expect it even, and that worried her. They’d be small, of course, but early meant their might be more complications in store on top of the difficulty of delivering three babies. She was grateful for one thing, though. Having triplets now meant she wouldn’t pine for more later. Three would be plenty. She sighed and sniffled again, and flushed as she got up to go back to bed.

Mirex walked down the familiar, quiet lane in the more modest part of Salma District, the houses and the people living in them neither rich nor poor, simply common. She’d opted for something that wouldn’t seem so out of place, loose but finely made white blouse and a brown peasant skirt, although of a finer workmanship then any commoner would likely own. The Lady Eskara-Jardin wasn’t really concerned with such things as class distinctions, but who she’d come to visit sometimes did, although usually only in her increasingly more frequent fits of despair and self pity and loathing. Mirex pursed her lips, with a concerned frown at the thought of her friend and sometimes companion Evienne Priss, the eccentric engineer and miracle physician. Evi had told her of the origin of the circumstances of her condition, which had afflicted the odd blue haired woman when she’d still been part of the Zaishen Order as one of those tasked with closing Mist portals and exorcising the fell demons and other unnatural beings that came through and terrorized anyone they came in contact with. It had been on such a mission, while Evienne had been pregnant in her youth, that the former Zaishen became a victim of the things she had sworn to eradicate. A Mist creature had tried to take up residence in her unborn child, resulting in a dangerous abomination that could not be undone through a normal exorcism, since an infant would not have the strength to survive such a ritual. Evienne had done what had to be done, removing the child from her own womb and ensuring the thing would not be released into Tyria proper. However, it had cost Evienne her eye, her child and her family. her husband had left her there on the floor after seeing what she’d done, and the emergency operation had cost Evi her ability to ever try and have another child again. It had also cost Evi her sanity, the taint of the thing having seeped into Evienne’s own body, unable to be removed and irreversibly changing her and consuming her mind. From what she’d told Mirex, Evi had survived twelve years now, through alchemical and advanced medicine, and Asuran magitech. But even the engineer, one of the finest physicians in Tyria, could not save herself.  And this was why Mirex now found herself at Evienne’s door once more. After speaking with her wives, Mirex had resolved to invite Evi to move in with them at the Jardin-Valdis estate in Ascalon Settlement, so that she would not spend whatever time she had left alone. It was the least they could do, since Evienne had delivered their triplet girls, and saved Mirex’s life after complications from the birth threatened her life. The red head knocked on the door, though she didn’t expect any sort of answer, and let herself in, the door unlocked as it often was when Evienne was at home. She stepped into the familiar kitchen that doubled as a lab and workshop, dirty dishes sitting next to beakers and vials that also needed a good scrubbing. The room was uncharacteristically dark, the nest of tubes and vials that hung above the sink empty of the usual strange bubbling concoctions that normally pulsed through them. While the space was almost always a mess, Mirex recognized that the disarray before her was not that born of creative genius, but the neglect of someone who’d stopped caring about keeping things clean. “Evi?” Mirex called into the forgotten gloom, and her eyes went to the stairs that led up into the living space above, and there was no glow from lamp or candle. Before, Mirex had thought the odd woman’s home a warm and welcoming place full of intriguing science and nocturnal activities. Now, she felt uneasy, the dark and silence making the house eerie and foreboding She crept up the stairs to the next floor, with its plush couches and book shelves containing everything from treatises on theories of Dynamics to Elonian kama sutra.  Even in the dark, her eyes went tot he large painting on the other side of the room in the alcove with the writing desk, Eviene’s prized portrait of a past lover, blonde and naked. Even in the gloom she could make out the rent in the canvas. Evi would never let harm come to that picture, and she called out again, worry plain in her voice now, “Evi!?” Above there was the faint scratch and thump of something or someone shifting or moving about, and Mirex moved quickly but quietly up the next stair to Evi’s bedroom. No lamp or candle was lit here either, but a corner by the screen that hid the washtub for bathing was lit by a faint green glow that turned slowly to regard Mirex, a large round lime orb beside a smaller, sullen crimson that peered out of a drawn but familiar face, “Mir...is that you? What are...yes I’m asking her, shush...what are you doing here pet?” Mirex frowned, glancing around to see who else Evi might be talking to, but there was no one there, “Yes, it’s me, darling. I came to see you, Evi” The small prick of red beside the green glow from Evi’s magitech prosthetic eye flared to a bright baleful red a moment, “To see me? Did you hear? She came to see me” Her voice cracked, somewhere between a manic giggle and a sob, “She came to see me. Me not you...me...me? Mir came to see me? Why?” Mirex bit her lip, having seen Evienne’s episodes of madness now and again, but it was clear this wasn’t an episode anymore, this was just her, or what was left of her, “To bring you home with me, Evi” “Home?” the blue haired woman frowned in puzzlement, “This is home right? It’s my house...no not yours too, just mine..mine...right?” “Yes, darling, this is your house. I came to ask if you wanted to come to my house, though. Come stay with us.” Evi’s frown deepened, “Us...us..no, I’m me, just one..Evi...the one, the only..” Her face contorted and her voice rose in an angry panic, talking to whatever unseen something only she seemed to hear, “Shut up! It’s mine!. I’m Mine! Me! Not You! Oh Six, just go away...!” and a stifled, defeated sniffle escaped her. Mirex immediately went to her, and put her arms around her dear friend, “Evi...Evi it’s okay. You’re you. You’re Evienne Priss, my friend. My dear dear friend...” She hugged Evi tight and kissed her brow gently. The engineer shook and cried a moment, while almost trying to twist out of the embrace while desperately clinging to Mirex, “Mir...Mir...my gloves...I need my glove...my medicine...” She’d seen Evi use the injector built into her multi tool gloves enough to know what Evi needed, and she groped around until she found the discarded gauntlets half lost under the disheveled bed, “Here..I have it right here darling...” Mirex murmured in encouragement. Evi wordlessly extended her bare arm, a multitude of red bumps and pricks where Evi had been sticking herself plain to see, if washed out a bit in the green glow that was their only light. She bit her lip as she touched the switches on Evi’s glove until the needle popped out and she used one of the existing wounds to dose Evi with the strange swirling mixture of salmon and electric blue serum. As soon as the mix hit her bloodstream, Evi’s remaining eye went wide and blazed a bright red to rival her prosthetic’s glow, and she went rigid and began to shake in Mirex’s arms, who held her tight like she could somehow keep her friend from disappearing on her. Eventually, Evi wold relax and go limp against Mirex’ shoulder, and her voice was wan and tired, “Mirex...I know you...Mirex..” “That’s right, Evi...” Mirex choked back a worried sob of her own “You’ve come to take me home... Evienne Priss...that’s my name...and you’re here to take me home...” The engineer curled into Mirex more and weakly clung to her, “Thank you...”

@luxelen

“Wouldn’t you like to know what I keep in my pockets, my little washboard” Evienne Priss teased with a sultry giggle, “But since it’s you…. I keep some runes and mantras handy from my Zaishen days, as well as some magic inhibiting charms. Of course there’s the usual odd spare parts, explosives, and specialty rounds. Yes, that includes my lust rounds” The blue haired woman giggled again, “My gauntlets have all my tools and serums, so that just leaves a certain loooong friend in case I find myself bored or in adventurous company” came the naughty addition.“The usual. Knives. Smoke bombs. Timed explosives. My badge.” Cristian taps his chin thoughtfully, “A couple spare comm crystals. I really ought to stop carrying them though, that’s a liability after all” the Blade mused.“I don’t usually have pockets, dear. Not real ones, anyway” Mirex giggled, “I have a little pouch on my focus belt to keep my badge in, and a couple signets just in case. That’s about all really, though.”“Hrmm, my pockets? Well, you should remember I always have a few sweets hiding about me” Torik Eskara’s weathered featured creased as he rumbled a chuckle with a merry twinkle in his violet eyes, “Aside from that, my glasses and the odd bit of pocket lint. Keys to the cellar and the house, that sort of thing”