Hale Cress

To Meddle with a Creature

There hadn’t been much to do with the Dreadful Howl since it docked for repairs but there had been plenty of time for being able to roam Boralus, see the areas, make connections, recruit and even branching out to contend with family business. Much of which, the family business Hale aimed to take back to Stormwind with her had been nestled in her pack that she took everywhere with her. When she hadn’t been keeping company or seeing to other duties much of her time was flicking through the book trying to make sense of the symbols and writing within that was most likely an area of expertise for her Aunt Elisia than herself. Portals were a common thing to some degree though none of the Crew were eager to leave the port…just yet.

Over the course of several days she had shared much of her present and what would become her future with the few she cared for. Or, well – for the few who cared to know. She kept the information of Creature close to her heart for several reasons. It was no wonder that Voss and Hakan had acted as they did but equally having done so in different manners. One faced the issues even daring to fix it, the other fled the concept only to make peace with they had in the now.

Her hand passed over some jewelry outside of a stall which sat feet from the market and local apothecary shop that her acquaintance Sophia has worked at before wanting to become part of the Crew; her sisters shop to be exact. Her thumb passed over a necklace that she seemed particularly smitten with and she placed some silver pieces along the table for the gentleman before swiping the piece and pocketing in her leather jacket.

Somehow her time in Boralus was quiet, weaving in and out of Taverns and shops, eavesdropping on conversations and even going as far as to snake some information out of people with a good portion of coin going towards rounds of drinks. She never sold what she knew but instead utilized it for more personal reasons.

Hale dipped her hands in one of the barrels near a shop that had since collected some rain water, a product of a days worth of rain from the storm just off the coast. In truth she had been watching a man, one of the fellows she had overheard talking about Hakan and them having to find him. It was of a bit of a surprise that he made it out of the Compass and seemed to amble around Boralus once more, likely on the look out for their next targets. Once more Hale’s fingers met the water and the cooling sensation was placed at the back of her next, verdant eyes scanning the crowd that considered her presence to be but a shadow along a wall.

There hadn’t been a moment to encroach on the man she was semi-familiar with and to question him relentlessly until there was a crack and a thundering sting to her jaw. Her legs only carried her back as far as she could before her hand met the stone wall of the alleyway to right herself. She hadn’t seen it coming but she was certainly seeing colors – fucking hearing them too if there were ever a thing. Out of instinct her other hand cupped her jaw while the throbbing continued and trailed to her temple, “Fucker..” she breathed and her eyes set upon a man, the other man she had trapped inside the Compass that day. She should have known that where there was one, there was the other.

“Thinkin’ we’d have forgotten about you lass? Nah, you’re an easy one ta spot.”

“Glad you can see much of anything past that fuckin’ nose of yours.” she spat at the ground and shoved herself from the wall. A terrible day to not have carried her daggers on her but in truth she rarely needed them. Not that she was expected to get sideswiped from a crowd and in to an alley in broad daylight. Hakan did warn her about being too close to the Ashvane territory that even still, with Ashvane’s escaped, it still held some loyalists to her name.

Her company ambled down the alley, certainly a big fellow and the smaller of the two men she and Hakan had bested nearly a week or so ago. A perfect product of dumb and dumber but where they lacked in brain they seemed to make up for in brawn, likely the lower tier of grunt if there were ever one. Behind her, Hale took note of the well but it had been an enclosed area and to avoid him she would have to outmaneuver his movements and break for the crowd which lay on the other side of him or she would have to go up.

With a flick of her fingers she coaxed him closer, “Let’s see if we can make it better for you then.”

“That pretty mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble and I’m going to enjoy putting you in your place. You broke Benny’s toe in that stunt of yours you cow.”

“Benny can come air his grievances after I’m done with you.” Confidence while a powerful things often made people dumb.

He swung and while the first two missed on account of Hale just being far more faster than he, he was still quite quick for a big boy. There was a fear of being caught on the other side of that fist again. There was a large desire to go for the throat while Hale had the chance to do so, disable him and make a break for it. With intent behind her next swing she didn’t anticipate his calculated movement and in her swing that missed his fist caught her ribs causing the Priest to scuffle back a few paces, damn near disabled in some twisted sense of karma that her plan backfire. With her hand to her rib cage she had to think quick for another angle and alternative, her body already pained and heavily injured from just to swings. She felt the chain on the inside of her jacket and she lunged in once more trying to make the best of her attempts, her strike caught him in the jaw but his other hand had caught her face, slamming her back in to the stone well where she cried out from the pain at her spine, “Gonna enjoy this before I break you like a twig. You won’t be rescuing any damsels if you’re legs are broken.”

Completely overpowered she felt his hands at the brim of her slacks, his course hand was cold at her flesh but it barely had time to register in her mind and beyond his hand there wasn’t much she could see but the sky above and parts of his face when her eye looked between his fingers. Her knees and legs kicking and scuffing the ground to get free and every time she moved he craned her back further along the well, her spine cracking and even drowning in the cold waters below was a reprieve she could consider in the moment had she of been more sound to try. A frustrated scream left her and finally her hands found the rope dangling above her, clawing and searching for the bucket that she prayed would be there and it wasn’t, prayer was never good to her lately; she wasn’t sure what else she could have expected aside from a stroke of luck. Leathers came untied from her hips and the initial tug freed a good portion of material to reveal her flesh but in another yell Hale’s eyes bled into dark pools of shadow and without missing a beat a name bubbled forth from her throat,”CREATURE!” she screamed, pleading even and in the struggle she thought that even he had abandoned her.

“Hale?” the voice called out from the double doors of the estate, “Hale! Your lessons!”

As the voice called out, the girl hurried her feet, spurring herself to move faster through the treeline just outside the estate grounds, trying to put as much distance between she and her mother. The voice grew further away and even stopped by the time Hale rounded towards the farthest part of the small woods. Raven hair down and wild, blue tunic and slacks keeping her nimble and free from the robed cage that was proper for a girl at fifteen but it was the gleam of the dagger at her hip that could have caught the eye of all those that wandered; something quite unbecoming for a girl at her age.

Making the clearing, she keeled over with hands to her knees to catch her breath. The escape and tongue lashing was always worth the lessons her new friend had offered her. Not even her twin sister was told about the lessons with the Belmont boy; she had never been so much as asked to join them. The Belmont boy, was trouble, in a word. Cheeky and full of embittered fire, he pushed at others as much as they pushed at him. Yet he almost always managed to escape punishment by words or going uninjured until adults were present to catch sight of the ‘abuse.’

Because the idea of fighting back, giving reason to be left well enough alone, was a chore. Why swing fists or cross blunted weapons when you smile, taunt and then just leave? But somehow that Cress girl who’d come upon him in one such instance where words failed had managed to convince him into doing work. Had already gotten him wrapped around her finger with an honest smile and no judgement. So atop one of the branches on a great tree, beneath the shade, he waited. And tried not to doze off. It was the leaves that gave him away, the soft crackling of the branches nearby that caused Hale to look up from the grass and towards the trees. With a hands shielded over her brow she walked closer, “We’re not climbing trees today are we?” with a furrow to her brow, the girl craned her neck to look passed the collective of branches, twigs and foliage, “My mother would kill me proper if I came home with holes in my clothes.” Not that it mattered much as it was the robes and dresses her mother often cared about, the expensive time that went into each piece of bead-work, hem and delicate brocade if it meant lining her daughters of for suitable prospects.

Not now at least, the youngest of the Cress twins looked anything but nobility and like a typical rat off the street from some back alley of the slums though there was not quite enough dirt clung to her for her to pass so easily. Hakan’s clothes were little better than her own, though for far different reasons. Twas almost all he owned; With Stormwind’s loss came the practical destitution that made any coin beggared and earned put forward to business instead of their own persons. Across all his siblings, the Belmont’s owned a barely a handful of fineries, and they all belonged to elder sons and daughters for much the same reason Hale’s mother wished her in dress and jewel.

Looking down from the tree, he ignored the thumping in his chest and squinted. “Unless you’d rather have fun and fool about, not likely, no,” he replied. Turning upon his side, he all but rolled off the branch before catching himself on the edge. 

Of course he didn’t catch himself for long, grip slipping and palms scraping raw over the bark so he plummeted. It was the farthest thing from graceful as he thudded upon the grassy floor and found himself once more staring up at the sky between the breaks in the canopy. Breathless.

“Owwww,” he moaned once his lungs started working again and his chest didn’t feel so damn tight.

It served him right! She tried not to laugh at the dismay of her friend and instead she looked over him, looming in a sense and her expression held quite the tone of nagging and judgement, “You see.” she added, “Now are you going to teach me something new before my mother finds me and drags me home by the ear? I want to show my sister something new I’ve learned. You know I think she’s jealous I get to do something that isn’t sewing, she keeps asking me where I go but I never tell her. We have a gala to attend tonight but I just want to fight.” She added and the dagger at her hip unsheathed to point down at him, “Unless you’re too scared?”

“Mhmmhmm,” he groaned, ignoring the embarrassment deepening the color of his cheeks and her taunts in favor of the paaain. When his muscles finally stopped trying to crush his ribs, he rolled over and began to pick himself off the flattened earth. There was a hiss and he looked at his palms, red and bleeding from scrabbling and failing to grab purchase. 

“Sounds like you are, of boredom and etiquette keeping you from stuffing face on hors d'oeuvres . Hmmph, but at least you get to listen to pretty music…” Flexing hands, Hakan wandered back over to the tree and splayed one out against the trunk. There was a hiss and then the smell of burning before he took it away to reveal blackened bark of decent size. 

“Hit that while I wrap these…tch, my own mother isn’t going to be pleased either.” Without preamble he ripped at one of his sleeves to create makeshift bindings.

Did he always talk to girls like that? A frustrated sigh left Hale and sheathing the dagger she waltzed on over and crouched to take up one of his hands. While her mother was bound to kill her for ruining her clothes, his might have done enough of the same. The teen lifted her hand over his and her palm emitted a soft, warm glow of Light. A gift Hale seemed to carry with her for quite some time. If anything, the women of the Cress line were very knowledgeable and capable of magic – like a gift and connection to the planet around them.

“Tell her you fell.” she added lowly and looking from his hands up to him there was a small stare. Technically he did fall but his mother was bound to understand, right? Children fell all the time, even teens who were always out trying to prove something and still just being every much a child as they were before. Gala’s has good catering lest fusses were made, and good food was good. It was months since he last had any, for merchants without wares and no Craftsmen under their wing couldn’t afford such.  Of course then he blinked, surprised at the warmth she emitted and suddenly the burning and stinging faded to nothingness.

He stared at her hands and then his own with no small amount of awe before meeting her gaze. “…I didn’t know you could do that…Thank you.” A smile pulled at boyish features that was a third the reason he got into trouble.

Her face grew quite serious and her bright eyes were hidden behind a veil of lashes as she watched her work, “You never asked.” she replied. Part of her was right, he hadn’t asked what sort of capabilities she held but in turn she hadn’t told either. Unlike her sister, Hale had a knack for being able to heal, the Light loved her and to some degree she loved it. It was a soft and controlled power she was able to find some grace of familiarity and comfort in.

Her hand dimmed and she looked at the palms before her, healed to stop the bleeding but that did not make the flesh any less tender. That, of course, was the healing process the body had to endure on its own even if it was menial. A small smile escaped her and she leaned forward to place a kiss to one of his palms much like her mother did when she was a child, “There. All better.”

There was a slight parting to Hakan’s lips, words not entirely forthcoming. She was right, he never did; he was too busy shoving foot into mouth. But even so it was yet one more reason he found her interesting enough to try. And then she damn well made him blush further with that kiss, because he knew nothing about how to act around girls. 

Clearing his throat, he pivoted on heel to gesture grandly and stupidly at the makeshift target. “Yes well- still have uh, thing- practice! Imagine with the dresses you could hide all manner of knives in your sleeves. So- flicking the blade.” Nodding along, he tried his best impression of an instructor full of authority despite his fluster and her being taller.

Hale dropped her hands to her side a moment to regard the target. It was a happy sight and without thinking too much of it or even noting poor Hakan’s embarrassment she hopped over to it, “Oh! That sounds uncomfortable but I think I’ll be a grand swordsman some day. Or well – swordswoman!” she corrected herself and she drew her dagger and took a proper stance like the Belmont boy had taught her before in several other little lessons. They seemed rather constructed and self taught but the boy was better at teaching her from experience rather than she simply waving a dagger around and thinking she had been doing it proper.

Her tongue pressed to her bottom lip and with determination she watched her had with the blade and target, keeping it limber in her grasp but just so that she wasn’t about to lose it. And so, she practice flicking it, firmly with a point forward. From day one she had always been classy and a little scrappy.

Her void filled eyes blinked twice to right herself and her hands tugged at the hand to her face to try and free herself but it was the force above her that had her pause. A hollow hiss on the wind came above the two fighting in the alley and the moment her heart skipped a beat was when the weight of the man was shoved off of her with such detrimental force.

Scrambling to stand and right herself against the pain coursing through her body, her hand drew to her pocket once more to check that she had not lost her items. The pit in her stomach started to cease as she watched the thug whip around, swatting at the air and clouds of shadow that was indeed, Creature. The spirit pooled along the ground at the man’s feet granting Hale enough time and access.

                                                                                                          “Yes…”

Beckoning was the voice of Creature and within three steps to clear the distance between she and the man who just had her pinned, her hands clutched his skull, eyes still black as the depths of the Void, “You won’t be doing anything if I break your spirit.” she growled out and with the power afforded to her by Creature nearly a year prior, Void magic drew out the life essence within the man’s body, claiming his soul as if yet another offering to Creature, something more to already add to the target he had on her back; an unknown expiry date.

A heavy breath left Hale through crimson lips and her teeth bared whilst the shadow circulated in the brain of the man who was at her mercy. Draining him, filling herself from his pain and his temples bled into purple veins, his eyes turning white as she siphoned every last piece of him that was once coursing and all that was left was a lifeless husk. Shoving him to the side, the body landed with a dull thud on the cobble walkway, even through it all her jaw and ribs throbbed, a sharp pain came each time she breathed in and her hand waved through the air trying to grab onto something, Creature moving with her when she decided to rest on the wall.

Sometimes she hated him for being the one that held so much over her head but in situations such as this they had become a team, a force to be reckoned with. Creature would aim to keep her alive for every bit she consumed only solidified his power later upon her death. A lucrative deal so long as one was patient enough to see it fulfilled and Creature was a very patient entity. 

Hale purchased steady breaths and enough to right herself proper before dipping back in to the crowd. She of course had to make it back to her familiar location to lick her wounds – or the best she could with what little she would have. A healer might have been a dime a dozen around these parts but she was alive which was more than what she could say for the other guy.

With some struggle her plan worked and she did happen to make it back to the crowd be it with some battle wounds and perhaps one hell of a story.