#sebastipole

Sebastipole turned as he shouldered on his proofed coachman cloak, his crystalline eyes narrowed at his visitor. Already, he was decked out in his full proofing, all of his weapons and equipment precisely where they should be.

"Indeed," he said with soft brevity. "The boy's already heading down to the lower levels to free them. Baribus is expecting me, which means I'll need my new associate to lend me some aid as I correct this mistake on Mathafew's part."

The boy looked at Sebastipole, his red eyes watery, but the words were meant more for the vampire somewhere across the city. “It’s eating him up.” Mathafew said in a miserable tone, “He doesn’t feel familiar anymore.”

Sebastipole winced as he sat up, his wounds still healing from his former fellow's wrath. He felt the boy's mood almost as poignantly as his own. Truly, it was difficult not to despair for the sake of his friend. Even from within the thick, sturdy walls of the Videre safehouse, the blue-eyed trueman couldn't help wondering and worse, knowing precisely what Baribus intended.

"I know," he said softly, gazing out the window of their fortified safehouse. "I feel him too. As I felt Licurious. As I feel you at times."

The trueman gave a soft sigh and leaned back in his bed. Licurious had gone mad as well, corrupted by his own careless use of his biologue. It was so similar to the madness he now saw bleeding from Baribus' dead yet not-dead mind. A corruption. A poison.

"I'm sorry, my boy," he said at last, gazing up at the ceiling. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save him... or stop him from becoming this." Regret and sorrow filled Sebastipole, but he kept it close, kept it tight and well suppressed. For him, it was like pressing water into a bead, but even as he spoke, the mist of his emotions still followed.

"Whatever has done this to him is far beyond any gudgeonry or black habilist I know of," the injured videre admitted. "I've never seen such force... or such malfeasance..."

No, he'd never seen anything like the case with Baribus. A fully gudgeonized person capable of thought and tactics, using their human skills to eliminate their unwary prey. Prey he was impassioned to hunt. A brief thought of Lavinia and the 3'rd Earl flashed through Sebastipole's mind, glimpsing his fears before being pressed down with a wince.