#onidephor

Caged pt3 A group of Limsan garbed soldiers stood outside a formal holding cell back in the main city. The same roegadyn lieutenant who had followed this case was among them. They had transferred Oni back to the main city to have better access to the scholars and their extensive library. They had paged through every resource they could find over the course of the last week. No matter what spell they called upon or potion they provided, Oni would not break from the state he was in. Nothing they were giving him was what he needed or wanted. One of the female healers was with the soldiers, flipping through her incantation book looking for something, anything that could help. "I've never seen anything like this before", she muttered with her finger at her lip. "The withdrawal of Leviathan's aether was a success, and yet the lieutenant has only worsened over the last suns. He won't say anything more to me other than "I'm hungry" and "I need to go." The chief roegadyn furrowed his thick brow and set a frown on his lips. Large hands came up to rub the troubled brow now creased with worry. "I'm going to be real cross with those bloody fishbacks if we need t'put one of me men down over this. What else can we do?" The scholar looked up from her book and directly at the man. "No one is getting put in a coffin today. The process of removing the aether took two whole suns, and that alone is traumatic enough to drive a man mad. Give him time. Until then, we keep looking for something. Why don't we get a nursemaid and cleaning supplies? I'll get a repose spell prepared and we can clean the lieutenant up. He's been in that bloody armor for too long. He could benefit from the personal care." The chief officer nodded to that and looked back into the cell. Oni had laid himself on the cot inside the room, but he was very much awake. Hazed out eyes stared a hole into the brick walls with the mind behind them focused on other things. He was waiting to be let out, however long that took. When the bar doors finally opened and allowed a few people inside, his eyes shifted towards the sound unblinking. Those who entered were only women, a group of three, and while one carried a basin into the room, the other two worked to set a sheet over the bars for privacy. Among the three was the head scholar with her book set to the formula for a sleep spell. I remember this. Their silhouettes against the sheeted light brought him back to times during his maintenance periods. It was always a group who would show up, give them a bath and change the fluids out in their mechanisms. If they complied, they were allowed down to the mess hall for whatever meal came after that time. The women approaching were someone surprised to find him oddly calm once they had drawn closer. The head scholar reached out to him and asked, "Are you with us, lieutenant de'Phor?" But he wouldn't answer verbally. He nodded to them and that was all they needed to see. It relieved them, in truth. This was the first time he had been anything but restless, and finally he was responding. The one miqo'te set the basin on the floor while the other prepared a cloth. Before he could settle in, his world drifted into the darkness of sleep brought on by the scholar's word. His vision of the three did not leave his mind's eye, however. Instead, they appeared to continue working around him, except as featureless figures in a dark space. They gently eased him back and... His back struck a metal floor with such force that the wind burst out of his mouth. A bare foot with dark skin soon followed, slamming itself down onto his breastbone to hold him there. The figures of women now gone, leaving only the elezen male with white hair spilling down his shoulders and one eye towering over him. Unit 305, one of Father's, was a slender built model crafted from a young duskwight. He was short for his race and wore little armor, but the weight of his body far exceeded what appeared, and was more than enough to hold Oni down. His skills lay in the fields of wind and water, commanding them as extensions of himself. Wind formed knife-like blades, while water stretched and coiled as a living organism all its own. Each of these originated from the two turbines imbedded into his shoulders, one each. Oni was back in the research facility, having just been taken from his group and brought to this location. The elezen unit leaned in to press down and speak in a casual, youthful tone, "I wonder how long they will take to figure out the game of keep away before I have to drag them in here myself." Right, this was a dream. Or a memory. The hyur gasped a breath when he had the chance, but clearly wasn't permitted to take it, for doing so earned him another harsher press down on his ribs. "Come on, 168", spoke the elezen. "Live a little and play with me. Pull out that Other of yours so I can see it for myself." Oni, glaring and gritting his teeth up at the figure, spat out, "You're dead if I do. We aren't afraid to come together to kick your ass. I trust Raiden and he trusts me." "Oh? So you'll fuse right here? Shit, how convenient. You will save me so much time and stress", 305 answered while lifting his foot off a bit. "About time you and your Other got together for some personal time." "We are always together. I am we and we are me. Now, if you don't lift your damned foot off of us I'm going to render it fog!" Oni shouted with utmost spite. It earned him a stomp from said foot, which caused him to cough out his remaining breath. 305 grinned wide and confident while scolding, "So touchy. Here. Before you blow me to pieces, I'll give you a parting gift just in case your buddies actually make it far enough to see the cool stuff." At the command of his hand, with no spell said or book to cast it, the water and blades of wind shifted themselves over the hyur like primed cobras. A slender hand reached ahead of them to not-so-gently pry the hyur's jaw open, where the sharp aetheric blades could then hold it in place without slicing clean through his lip. Once free of the jaw, the same hand held itself upward. The palm bubbled up blister-like formations, which grew as clear as the water flowing around them. They split off from the main body and turned to that of ice, hard and clear crystals, without being cold. A good handful of them, half a dozen or so, were tossed up into the looming watery tendrils, where they appeared to vanish among the liquid. They were very much still there, and gathering at the rounded end of the tendril. "Now", the elezen unit warned. "Throwing up counts as cheating. If you puke, I'll blow your friends up before you can wipe your lip off. So, no cheating, and try to have fun", he chimed just before the watery formation reared back. Oni's eyes shot open on the Limsan cot, his body damp still from the bath that had just finished. The nursemaid miqo'te had taken a cloth to his hair and face when she saw him awake with a start. "Ah!" she said in a startle. "Easy there, Hun! Don't go runnin' off yet! Ye ain't got yer clothes on!" The hyur sat up against her guiding hand to look down at himself, and the mere towel that covered him. He started to try and find his bearings, looking slowly left, then right, until he finally looked at the woman. "Where am I?" Oni asked groggily. It was a question that make the miqo'te's ears flicker and her smile bright. "Limsa, sir. Ye gave us quite the start. Lay back and relax a while more. We got yer armor in the wash basin right now." He did do just that, leaning back to guide himself down to a flat position, though his head throbbed to the slightest jostling. "Thank you", he muttered while setting his cool metal arm over his forehead. "Sorry we caused trouble", he added on after a moment or two. Drowsy from the spell, he was calm enough to allow the healers to think he was recovering from it all. However, his other hand set middle, which still felt as though it was caving in and twisting into a knot. If he could endure it silently, he would be let go. It did not go unnoticed by the head scholar , however, who jotted the notes of his behavior down in a separate tome so she could keep track of his progress, and report it all back to the captain in time. After a few bells, he would be released. Where exactly he decided to wander once he had been bathed and dressed was still a mystery.

Caged, part 2 Darkness only came because the sun had creeped away to hide behind the mountain ranges. The sea brought in a cool breeze, blowing a salty air into the barred cell just below Aleport. The cell had several people inside, but only one in the warded shackles to prevent a quick teleportation out of captivity. Candle light and the glow of a scholar's fae lit the space. She, a roegadyn in robed garb, leaned over the white haired hyur to assess his condition. The fellow officer and a few privates also stood nearby. The roegadyn leader held his arms in a frustrated fold while the others kept their weapons at a neutral stance. Haste filled everything they did. Oni would shift his eyes at every motion and gesture. Each time someone spoke, the hazy white orbs darted towards the words. The dark, people standing around him, and worst of it all, the coiling, crushing feeling in the pit of himself. It felt like suffocation, to gasp an incomplete breath only to be shoved below the waves. Each passing second brought the feeling to the furthest front of his mind, and his focus centered more and more on time. Doing so had slowed minutes into eternities. "Please. You have to let us go", he suddenly spoke out with his eyes on the scholar. She snapped her gaze back to him, surprised and relieved that he spoke to them, but also filled with a dread that he wanted to escape away. All of their thoughts were he wanted to return to Leviathan's den. The scholar spoke easy, "You have to stay here until we can clear you to return to work." A neutral excuse for any healer to give. "What happened? Did the sahagin take you anywhere? Were you given anything?" The commanding officer huffed his next reply, "He's acting like he got a snort of that stinkin' incense pot but he isn't doing any chanting. Our private found'em over near some drowned and fishbacks, so hells know what was done." The scholar nodded and reached out to check Oni's eyes, which in their hazed state did look like that of a dead body. That had her concerned that he had been tempered. "I've never seen a tempering like this before, but I'm almost certain that's the case. My eos is telling me he has Leviathan's aether within him, but he isn't exhibiting all of the signs. This may be a partial tempering, if he managed to kill the sahagin and get away before it was completed." "We aren't!" Oni shouted, now leaning back away from her and grinding his heel against the stone. They had him sitting and he wanted to push away. "We need to go. We aren't tempered, but we can't stay here. Please, it's killing me." His quickly spoken pleas were quieted by a the seawolf's gloved finger. She spoke as gently as she could, "Easy, lieutenant. We are going to try and purify you, but it will take time. You need to bare with us so we can release your mind." The silver hyur turned his head away and continued, "Don't take my aether. I'll wait here but leave the aether, please." That seemed to settle it for them. That aether had to go. They didn't tell him anything more other than simple lies that they wouldn't, telling him to wait until morning and rest it off. By then they would return with what they needed to perform the process, with a few more scholars, too. The Storm soldiers made their way out first, leaving two to guard the cell door, and the scholar packing her books and leaving last. When they moved out, he begged for someone to stay. Stay or let him go, neither request which could be granted right now. The bar doors closed with a gentle clack and latch. Every amenity was provided. Candles for light, a bed with fresh linens, and food and drink at request of the guards outside. He may have had to spend the night here, but they wouldn't treat him as the scruffy pirates they usually held down here. To keep him in the city was simply too risky. One of the midlanders looked into the cell and said, "If you need anything, lieutenant, we've been instructed to provide it as best we can, so long as it isn't giving you leave." He didn't know what to do. His mind was racing to the darkest places he thought he lost long ago. He could trick one of them into coming inside as he used to do, but that wouldn't do well for his reputation. He couldn't. He needed something, however. His hands couldn't even wipe his worried brow of the sweat because of the shackling, so he chose to sit forward far enough to set his forehead on the stone. "I'm hungry", he said into the rock. They didn't need more than that to send one of the men out for some food and drink. When one of the man moved into the cell to deliver it, he lifted his head up and in that instant thought about dragging him back to the furthest corner of the cell. The plate was set on the stand near the bed, where he could sit up and eat if he wished. Fresh water was placed at the side. The soldier didn't linger, and Oni didn't urge him to stay. He stepped back out and locked the door with little concern. Oni appeared to be willing to stay put. He was agitated beyond reason, though, but nothing could be done. He pushed himself up to see what they brought him: a bread roll, a cut of dodo meat , and popoto diced thick. It likely came from the nearby restaurant and was still hot. His shackles didn't restrict him so much that he couldn't eat of it, but the pieces were big enough to be picked up and set to the mouth rather than needing to man a fork and knife while bound. It was like spitting on a fire expecting that to quench it. The clatter of a metal hand on the wooden plate caught the attention of the guards outside, and one of them chose to look in and watch. Before his eyes could even adjust to the dimmer light of the candle, he saw the plate being pushed forward, scraped clean, and Oni pushing himself off to the nearest corner. He sat himself into it so closely that the spear tipped upward and he had to crouch inward. His tied hands cradled his head for the majority of the night, which was barely in the dusk hours right now. Every second he counted. It made the night stretch on infinitely, but it kept his mind occupied away from what he really wanted, which stood with with pistol and sword outside his barred door.

Caged It's been too long since I've been able to come out here and do this. I've been trying to be good but I guess I can't escape it. I'm a fool to think that after all this time I could just, stop. Some vital part of me still needs this. Sometimes I wonder if it's Raiden, if maintaining him here is getting more difficult on my body, to the point where needing to do this more and more will just be a fact of life. Maybe it's me. This has been the longest stretch I've been able to go without a hunt like this, and without a mouthful of ceruleum. When I get myself hungry like this, I wonder if I'm just getting better without it, or if I'm just doing us both a disservice by being stubborn. --- The silver haired hyur lay low to the coral encrusted beds that made up the Sapsa spawning grounds, a place where he had claimed as a hunting location long ago. It was easier to tie it into his normal work flow of patrolling these areas, apprehending troublesome sahagin or drowned pirates, and subsequently making them vanish. The combined efforts of his lance and lightning aether always proved effective here where water was king. To hunt here meant to easily place himself atop the food chain, and by now the sahagin had long discovered his presence an immediate threat. Challenging him one by one would mean instant death by electrocution or a puncture wound to the skull. The clutch father of the allied clan, Novv, may have never approved of such actions directly, but the removal of his twisted brethren from this realm he considered a silent blessing and respite away from Leviathan's grip. A ship was rolling in over the waves just now, bringing in drowned soldiers and potential captured Maelstrom troops. It would be a more difficult catch if that was the case. Telling the difference between an ally stunned with incense and a true traitor always tested his moral instinct. Going after those with dead looks in their eyes proved more efficient. Even then, he would be quickly reminded of those like Seamus, those who had fallen but retained their wit. In times like this, he had to forget it. For now, they were meat to take. At times, he wondered when he had shifted to this way of thinking. It never went away, even when he was in the comfort of the Hall. It nagged him from time to time, this instinct. Food could be plentiful on the table well beyond what the whole house of people could consume in an evening, and he would still stare from his corner and wonder. His blue eyes shifted back to his task at hand, trying to get his mind away from home and onto the arriving crew. Hoping to not be disturbed, he reached up to his ear to remove his linkpearl for the Order. His eyes were trying to keep on the group while metal fingers fumbled multiple pearls. Lead by sahagin were a line of roegadyns, all blue and skin taut with bloat. The beauty of this kind of prey was the flesh was dead, but the rot had not set in. Water and brine pickled it into a semi-living state, where the blood still flowed and the organs still functioned, but the flavor had long been soured with salt. His method: to strip the meat from the bone and rinse it in fresh water when he could find it. It made it more palatable, especially when the flavor was not what he was driving for. When extracted properly, even a Leviathan-tainted life force would still do the job. Only one he needed, even after a fast for this length of time. Come on, he thought. One of you straggle away from the rest. They knew full well not to. Even though it had been a month since one of their own had disappeared in a manner as intended today, they knew Oni and his patrol routes were a near daily thing. Either he or fellow Storm officers would have them arrested. Once every few weeks, the arrest would never lead back to a jail cell. Seems today would be difficult. They walked in pairs towards their posts, either with one another or a sahagin escort. To get what he needed, he may need to leave a body behind, and that filled him with immediate regret of the act. He hated wasting the meat. Bringing it back meant hiding it yet again among the abundance back home. Often times he wondered if others noticed when he brought in a sack of game catch and pondered why he felt the need to do so when there was so much readily available back in the kitchen. I prefer it fresh, he always lied. One group began to move away from the rest, enough that even taking out the both of them would go relatively unnoticed by their peers. He moved away from the coral hideout he had made and onto the next formation. His white hair and dark armor never hid him well in the sea of rainbow rocks and shells. Everything about him was devoid of color except his eyes as blue as the sky above them. Even now in their hazed state, excited with the prospect of a hunt, they, too, appeared nearly as stark white as the hair that partly covered them. The sahagin was the first to turn towards the noise of boots striking coral packing, hissing as he raised his harpoon in alarm. "Shhhorewalker!" it cried, which soon alerted the drowned that accompanied it. Once the sword was drawn from the roegadyn's scabbard, the fight was on. There wouldn't be much beyond that. Their wet bodies and the damp, rocky ground made the first strike of aether an effective stun against the barefoot sahagin. The rubber soles boots of the roegadyn would provide initial defense, but not against the follow up thrust of the lance that found its way into both of them. One stab each, both which ripped the the vital energy out of them. His spear could shift the flow of aether around it, creating a temporary state where very little aether existed at certain points. Concentrating this at the tip, a stab from the lance would drain the energy from the receiving end and add it to the internal flow through the hyur. Dragoons would use such methods against their scaled foes in a pinch, but Oni had long learned to make a living out of it. Each would feel like a gasp of clean air to him, sating a primal starvation where his very core drove his every thought towards it. When both bodies lay over the ground, the minimal blood oozing into the brine pools, he debated which to take first. Sahagin meat was more like fish to him and would need to be bled properly to make it worth while. He knelt down to turn the sahagin so the blood would pool and flow out of the wound, making sure to prop it downhill so the blood flowed away. It didn't help rid of the smell, which became bright and metallic. It was a guilty pleasure of his, for he dreaded its arrival but begged for it to linger once it had set into the soil. He stripped the cloth and leather from the body and readied his carving knife in one hand. The first cut welled up a pink water, all brine and sea that had settled into the body long ago. While it drained, he looked around for a large scallop shell, many which littered the area. They made perfect bowls for the fresh water he brought with him. In his haste and hunger, he grew careless. While this was routine for him, he failed to check the area for his own allies. More importantly, to make sure none were nearby before he committed to the act. A Storm private crested the nearby reef. His inexperienced eyes saw the fallen sahagin nearby, and a crouched down hyur with blood pooling around him. The smell of it ripe enough in the air to catch any nose, no matter how sensitive. He believed it to be coming from his lieutenant, Oni, who could have been mistaken as taking a knee to favor a wound. "Lieutenant de'Phor!" he called out, startling the silver hyur out of his trance. There would be no hiding it as he had stripped away pieces of the flank well down to the bone. It was no lance wound he had inflicted, and no lie would explain it away. Hazy eyes shifted before he stood himself up and turned about. "What are you doing out this way, private?" he asked of the fellow midlander male. "I heard a shout, sir. We tried to contact you on the linkpearl but your line was dead", he explained quickly but soon his own brown eyes were trailing to the body sprawled out behind Oni. Confusion set in, and Oni lifted his hand to his ear to fish the pearl from it. He always kept the Maelstrom pearl in during his hunts, but in his earlier haste, he had taken it out in place of the Order's. Realizing his folly, he lowered his hand and said easy, "Nothing of concern here. Report back to the main group. We will finish up here." Seeing the open flank and stripped body was enough to concern the other man, however. "Wh-what did you do to them?" the private asked while leaning to try and get a clearer view of the ivory white exposed in points. Oni soon stepped in his path to say, "I said return to the group, private. That's an order." This time, the private would listen, giving a quiet salute before turning back towards their troop. Oni now knew he couldn't finish this hear, which made his day all the more difficult. He had begun, so the taste was well coated over his tongue and the smell overtaking his senses. Part of him wanted to turn and continue as if nothing had happened, but he knew he needed to pack this away swiftly before others came. Back at the outpost, the private ran up to his superiors to report in what he had seen. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I think the lieutenant has been taken by the serpent's madness", he reported in to another head officer. The roegadyn he called to, one wielding an axe and wearing bright red colors, lifted an eyebrow to the news and replied, "What did ye see, private? Where is the lieutenant?" Oni was just rising to his feet after shoving away the remains into a hempen sack he brought with him when a line of his own crew mates had approached the entrance. The only way out of there now was to back himself into the bay, and with his metal prosthetics, that was out of the question. He shifted a foot back, but kept his position. "Bloody greenhorn ", he growled under breath. "What's in the bag, lieutenant?" the roegadyn asked sternly. When he didn't get an immediate answer other than the blood dripping through the weave of the hemp, he added, "Why don't ye come back to the base with us so we can get a good look at ye. Put the sack down 'nd come with us." As soon as the leading officer saw the instant hesitance in Oni's eyes, a wild panic, he motioned a hand for the privates to approach and apprehend their own member. Even though it was an arrest, they assured him all the while that it was for medical reasons. One soldier carefully pulled the bag from the metal grip, while others moved to secure the spear and hands. He went willingly, in control of his own devices, but now baring a crushing anxiety of being found out after so long, if that had not already been established. Back to Aleport they walked, up the coral fields and beyond the gates, leading Oni away from the spot he hoped to sate his need, where instead by its interruption, it had only burned hotter in the back of his mind.