Bᥱtᥕᥱᥱᥒ tᥕo ᥕorᥣds

“Her reasons were selfish.” She nods, nudging his arm and offering the cigarette a second time. “Joining hands with her had more consequences than I realized. Enough to manifest a shade and lock me in an inn with my alternate timeline murderer, apparently.”

Corvo never told any stories about his world, but she can tell just from the way he reacted to her, that he was looking at the face of someone he thought was dead. It’s such a common expression to her by now, and she’s shocked to see it on the lord protector of all people.

She shrugs, casting the thought aside for now.

“And you’re shouldering the entire Butterfly now, spreading yourself thin again. Feel like you’re always collecting people.” She snorts, shaking her head once. His question throws her for a loop, though, nearly dropping her own cigarette as she looks up at the ceiling.

“…Really dont know what I want, I’ll be honest. I went into Shindaery fully expecting to die in the process, and now I’m here… I guess I wanna make up for lost time.”

Daud huffed, "I wouldn't be spreading myself thin if the Stars didn't keep taking my people away and putting them in danger. What else was I to do?"

He did have the choice to not get involved at all, he knew that. But he'd never been the kind of man to let something like that slide. He couldn't abide leaving Block Five behind at Greaves- he couldn't abide his Whalers captured by Overseers, Daud wasn't going to abide Billie, Ada, or others trapped at the Inn.

In spite of it all, he laughed in a hoarse, quiet way, resting his cheek on his knuckle.

"I'm not going to fall apart, Lurk. You don't have to worry. I feel better than I have in a long time."

Daud hummed quietly, considering the lost time Billie spoke of. He'd told her once that people like them didn't get second chances; that they burned bright, and burned fast-

And here they were, against all odds. Old for their profession, old for their chosen path... and struggling with what to do next.

"Hm. Well, as far as this place goes, it seems like there's nothing but time. We should train up, get back into practice, get used to working without these powers and get stronger in time... since you're so concerned for an old man like me, you could pitch in."

“I appreciate you coming to my rescue, truly.” She can’t help but laugh, gently clapping her hand on his shoulder and shaking it once.

“I know you’re not going to fall apart, I just… It’s been a month and I’m still grappling with a lot of things.” She shrugs, waggling her hand side to side before folding her arms in her lap. “Feel like I’m going to go to sleep one night, wake up in Shindaery and be alone again. I hate it.” She huffs, staring off to the side for a while before Daud speaks up again.

They haven’t sparred in years…

“Yeah- That sounds good, keep you on your toes. You got most of your powers back, I can only assume mine will come back in time too.”

She knew he had his reasons. Daud didn’t do anything without at least some idea of the outcome, and when he mentions the statues, it finally clicks.

Delilah made herself undying, killing her would play into her hands.

She nods at his explanation, frowning the longer he went on. Eventually, she flicks the ash off her cigarette. It wasn’t fair to him, none of what happened was. As long as she knew him, he was always out there cleaning up the aristocracy’s mess, getting shouldered with things the Empress and her retainers rightfully should have been doing.

“The isles owe you a lot.” She comments, nodding slowly before coming over to lean against the side of his chair, offering him a cigarette from her pocket.

“I wish I knew the reason, the only thing I can think of is the fact that the plague served as a distraction. Not that that’s an excuse… You’ve gone your whole life shouldering other peoples burdens… Think you should take this time you have to focus on what you want, for once.”

"You know, that's what Burrows said, every single job of his I took. 'The Isles owe you'. I didn't much care for it then, certainly don't care for it now."

He says it, not unkindly, but folds his arms across his chest with a heavy sigh. The only reason he was sought out for those jobs was because he had the supernatural capability to carry them out, and make sure it never landed back on Burrows and his conspirators.

He stopped caring about who fell to his blade when nothing he did changed anything. And he had no ambition to rule himself. Daud only cared when it started to catch up to... not just him, but his Whalers, too.

Leaving them at the mercy for the consequence of his decisions? Never felt right, even if they swore themselves to him.

"And it doesn't matter the reason she did it," he concludes, "Just like it doesn't matter the reasons I killed the Empress. Or the reasons you had for joining hands with Delilah. We can make... a thousand little reasons or justify that what we did was for the right thing, or at the very least that what we do wouldn't make anything worse. No matter what, the consequences will always come back, somehow, someway."

Daud shrugged, and unfolded his arms, "Here? I have to shoulder something or else I'll go mad."

The older man snorts, "I am doing what I want. What about you?"

“Her reasons were selfish.” She nods, nudging his arm and offering the cigarette a second time. “Joining hands with her had more consequences than I realized. Enough to manifest a shade and lock me in an inn with my alternate timeline murderer, apparently.”

Corvo never told any stories about his world, but she can tell just from the way he reacted to her, that he was looking at the face of someone he thought was dead. It’s such a common expression to her by now, and she’s shocked to see it on the lord protector of all people.

She shrugs, casting the thought aside for now.

“And you’re shouldering the entire Butterfly now, spreading yourself thin again. Feel like you’re always collecting people.” She snorts, shaking her head once. His question throws her for a loop, though, nearly dropping her own cigarette as she looks up at the ceiling.

“…Really dont know what I want, I’ll be honest. I went into Shindaery fully expecting to die in the process, and now I’m here… I guess I wanna make up for lost time.”

thiefandlyre

"So kind of them to schedule this holiday immediately after freeing us from that demented hotel. Did you all forget that happened already?"

“No. I was entrenched in it. But what point is there in dwelling on it? I dont know anything about this holiday, but I know I’m taking a vacation for a bit after its over. Butterfly needs me until tomorrow.”

#thiefandlyre

She’d met Lizzie Stride at some point after this, she remembers her talking about Daud and the escapade they went on to Brigmore and her subsequent loss of her father, even took a photo of the Undine with the camera she had at the time.

But the details were… a lot. Delilah was crafty and as vicious as they come- Delusional to boot. A dangerous combination that would have resulted in the young Empress having her life taken from her and consigned to oblivion had Daud not acted.

And maybe it’s the fact she has hindsight, but even then, something about the endeavor didn’t sit right with her.

“You could have stopped a coup before it started.” She remarks, otherwise nonplussed by the way Daud chose to handle Delilah. “Why didn’t you just kill her if you got close enough to dart her? You only delayed her.”

She heaves a deep sigh, trying not to let everything that happened between then and now spike her already high blood pressure.

“I know you likely had your reasons, but, I’m still a bit confused. She’s not the kind of person that learns from their mistakes, she just doubles down into oblivion.”

"Could I have?" Daud raised a brow at her.

It was impossible to know.

"You want my reasons, Billie?" he asked, "It wasn't because I was soft on her. I don't think I would have regretted killing Delilah... but think for a moment. Think about her magic, what she could do."

The decision wasn't easy. Daud almost killed her- almost. But thought better of it when he looked at what she was actually doing- what Delilah had already done.

"You didn't see what I saw, Lurk," he said, flatly.

"Statues become flesh. Every single one of her damned statues harbored her soul and became her. One by one until she had no bodies to jump into," he tilted his head, "And what would destroying her body do then? Free her soul? To travel on the thin wire between Void and reality to any one of the statues around Brigmore, or stashed in the deepest crevices of Dunwall? No."

"Delilah wasn't a fool. She knew what she was doing, she knew what I would do- you would expect an assassin to kill, and that's what she prepared for." "You didn't see how she protected that portrait she painted. You didn't see how that was priority over her own life. Killing her? She could try again after her enemies assumed her dead. A few days later, everything would be pointless."

"I had a choice of how long I could delay her. I opted to delay her longer. And I accepted that I had done what I could, and left myself to the Lord Protector's hand."

He frowned, "What I want to know is... why didn't anyone else? A coup like that takes time, takes effort, takes coordination... why not the Lord Protector and Spymaster? Why not the young Empress? Why not any in her court? Someone must have caught wind of conspiracy somewhere... the doings in Serkonos... why does it fall on me? It's not my throne. Not my Empire. I gave Emily Kaldwin her life. It's not up to me what she does with it. I'm not responsible for fixing her mistakes before she makes them."

She knew he had his reasons. Daud didn’t do anything without at least some idea of the outcome, and when he mentions the statues, it finally clicks.

Delilah made herself undying, killing her would play into her hands.

She nods at his explanation, frowning the longer he went on. Eventually, she flicks the ash off her cigarette. It wasn’t fair to him, none of what happened was. As long as she knew him, he was always out there cleaning up the aristocracy’s mess, getting shouldered with things the Empress and her retainers rightfully should have been doing.

“The isles owe you a lot.” She comments, nodding slowly before coming over to lean against the side of his chair, offering him a cigarette from her pocket.

“I wish I knew the reason, the only thing I can think of is the fact that the plague served as a distraction. Not that that’s an excuse… You’ve gone your whole life shouldering other peoples burdens… Think you should take this time you have to focus on what you want, for once.”

"Thomas found the witches were gathering in the old Brigmore Manor. We had to find a way to get past the blockade, and upriver. We started by breaking Lizzy Stride out of Coldridge, using an Overseer uniform to get past the guards and sneak her out."

Daud sighed through his nose, "I did a lot of work to get her the Undine back, brokering a temporary truce with the Hatters, as much as I distrusted Hat's nurse, Trimble. Didn't have much of a satisfactory choice, given the place was rigged with acidic gas- but it was Lizzy's place to deal with her old man anyway, not mine."

He hated having to do Trimble's errands, but there wasn't a good way to end Mr. Hat's life without killing his civilian employees too- and it wasn't something Daud could do. He'd told Lizzy on the boat, and didn't know what the end result of that was... only that he heard a few years later, the Geezer was dead, the Hatters were finished, and the Roaring Boys gang had taken their place in the schism.

"Witches were crawling all over the place, like a bunch of ticks. One scout had dogged Thomas and I, and eventually, I found her and had Thomas dispatch her. Three tried to ambush me in the waterway- one tried to use a honeypot to lure me out, and two guarded the waterworks. I got the boat fixed and we were ambushed by witches before we could set sail."

"One witch sent us a barter as we got closer... I'd pay coin, and she'd have a way in and information. She was tired of Delilah throwing her coven at us and getting killed. We agreed to the arrangement."

Daud hummed quietly, tilting his head to Billie, "She confirmed what we suspected. Delilah was planning on replacing Emily's soul with her own, to kill her spirit and rule in her place. I kept my word to her, and didn't lay a hand on the rest of the coven. Delilah, only."

He raised a hand to thumb at his chin and jaw, "I found pieces scattered about her ritual, and a lamp to pierce the Void. I managed to sneak in to where she had carved reality to commit to the ritual... confronted her. I fought her and her damned statues, one by one until she was the only one left. Cowering in front of her painting. Begging me to listen, to spare her... with her disgusting claim that this... child... took everything from her?"

For all her grandstanding, Delilah really was no different from any other person he'd killed, no different from anyone else realizing just how near their end was.

Daud sighed, "I didn't kill her. I knew the magic she had and that place was only temporary. I needed a way to keep her as far away as long as possible. So, I knocked her out with a dart, hoisted her onto her altar, replaced her painting, and completed her ritual myself to seal her away."

She’d met Lizzie Stride at some point after this, she remembers her talking about Daud and the escapade they went on to Brigmore and her subsequent loss of her father, even took a photo of the Undine with the camera she had at the time.

But the details were… a lot. Delilah was crafty and as vicious as they come- Delusional to boot. A dangerous combination that would have resulted in the young Empress having her life taken from her and consigned to oblivion had Daud not acted.

And maybe it’s the fact she has hindsight, but even then, something about the endeavor didn’t sit right with her.

“You could have stopped a coup before it started.” She remarks, otherwise nonplussed by the way Daud chose to handle Delilah. “Why didn’t you just kill her if you got close enough to dart her? You only delayed her.”

She heaves a deep sigh, trying not to let everything that happened between then and now spike her already high blood pressure.

“I know you likely had your reasons, but, I’m still a bit confused. She’s not the kind of person that learns from their mistakes, she just doubles down into oblivion.”

#:: inbox #thiefandlyre #:: meme day

item - a bag charm shaped like a crab. he definitely stole it off someone.

In some areas of the isles, crabs were often used to invoke protective charms. Their hard shells and pincers always spoke to those far more entrenched in the hardships the Isles brought with them- Armor up and take no shit, she'd always say.

The charm is accepted with an almost delighted hum, though she's quick to note she doesn't really have a place to put it, so it gets shoved into her breast pocket for the time being.

"Cute."

(Item meme) Gives Billie 1 shiny seashell she found on the Golden Ward's shores.

The shell is taken and slowly turned over a few times in her hands, admiring the way the colors seemed to layer along it and the sheer luster.

"Beautiful. Spirale has some interesting creatures to make shells like these..."

#:: inbox #stellatiratore #:: meme day

shiromemes

Give my muse an item and see how they react!

Things may or may not be added to their official inventory

@dishonoredknife [x]

“Well, I haven’t heard anything about Leviathans, but apparently there’s a small city under the waves out there. Specialized transport to go there, though.” She shrugs, lighting a cigarette pulled from her breast pocket and taking a long drag of it.

There’s a thought mulling around in her head, and she opens her mouth to ask it a few times, deciding against it before finally biting the inside of her cheek.

“…Did he ever talk about me after I left Dunwall? I know we stayed pen pals, almost- Met in Karnaca once after he started whaling, but…”

"No," he answered with a shake of his head, "Not really."

Daud eased himself down, sitting in a chair with his elbows propped on the arms. He rested his head back against the cushion, and closed his eyes to let the memories of the events in the Flooded District and beyond come back to him. It was a moment in his life that he actually remembered well.

"As far as anyone was concerned, you were safe from what was going to come. After you left, the nightmares didn't stop. They got worse. The witches got more bold. There wasn't much time to think about Billie Lurk and where she might go- just that she got out."

"I did get your letter. And your book. We talked about that- proof that you made it past blockade. But that was it. You weren't a Whaler anymore, so you weren't bound to the same fate the rest of us were."

#dishonoredknife 06 #dishonoredknife

The way Daud spoke about that period of time held weight. His voice was low, almost sad, and it gives her pause as she takes another drag of the cigarette.

“I lost the powers about a month after I left. It was weird, not being able to blink around anymore- I had started taking them for granted.” She admits, nodding as he mentions her letter and book.

“…You never told me what happened after I left- I saw Delilah came back and trapped Corvo in stone, ferried the Empress around after that while she hunted the woman down, even came back to Dunwall for a brief moment, but… I know you- You had to have gotten back at her for the overseer attack somehow.”

Another pause, taking the cigarette and holding it between her knuckles. “…So what’d you do?”

@dishonoredknife [x]

“Well, I haven’t heard anything about Leviathans, but apparently there’s a small city under the waves out there. Specialized transport to go there, though.” She shrugs, lighting a cigarette pulled from her breast pocket and taking a long drag of it.

There’s a thought mulling around in her head, and she opens her mouth to ask it a few times, deciding against it before finally biting the inside of her cheek.

“…Did he ever talk about me after I left Dunwall? I know we stayed pen pals, almost- Met in Karnaca once after he started whaling, but…”

#get creative y’all shes from 1853 #most things here would blow her mind LOL

“What the hell is with all the hearts and shit in all the store fronts? What did I miss while I was at the Inn?”

#isola mini

shiromemes

Give my muse an item and see how they react!

Things may or may not be added to their official inventory

thiefandlyre

Octavo crouches and breaks off sections of the granola bar, handing each rat a little piece. Hopefully they'd bear him no grudge from the forced dancing.

As he stands, he takes his handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his sweaty hands off. Already he feels his heart rate settling; he ought to be fine after a little rest. No need to delay the show. He takes her offered hand, peering curiously at what he had initially taken for a strange prosthetic. It's now clear that this is entirely unearthly, obsidian and metal and bone impossibly suspended.

"Billie, lovely to meet you." He smiles. "I'm Octavo. Are you musically-inclined as well? Daud invited me while we were playing a spontaneous duet."

#thiefandlyre 01 #thiefandlyre

The rats eagerly take the food, shoving their pieces in their mouths and scurrying off into their nests in the walls again to feast on them. Delighted, forgiveness given in a way only rats could.

The shard seemed to be tied to her upper arm, built around two long pieces of whale bone and looking like it’s falling apart, but it moves as if it’s been a part of her body since birth. Her handshake is firm, and she drops it to her side as she releases him, placing the cigarette between her lips while she put her lighter and the wooden box away in her breast pocket.

“Well met, Octavo.” She nods, rubbing the fingers of the shard arm together idly while she mulled over his question.

“Musically? Depends, I can play a bit of Serkonan guitar, but other than that? It was shanties with the rest of the gang whenever we were celebrating… Kinda miss those work songs, I’ll be honest.”

“Serkonan weddings are the stuff of legend, but, only if you’ve got a large family to celebrate it with.” She shrugs, obviously they didn’t have that luxury here, but the idea of body mods and tattoos had her really thinking.

“I can’t say much about that. Piercings outside of the ears and body art only started becoming popular among the masses when I was ripped out of the void and dropped here. Dowries were only things the aristocracy did. People like us? You were lucky if your partner even had a handful of coin.”

She watches Ada for a moment longer, really racking her brain for some kind of idea.

“What’re you thinking? Maybe he’d be more interested in the courtship rituals where you’re from… All the time I’ve known him, he’s never shown any attachment to that side of his blood anyway. He always talked about his mother and the things she taught him. She was Pandyssian, and I know they have a whole set of traditions that aren’t really talked about much in the Isles. He never shared them with anyone except me and Thomas, that’s how close he kept them to his chest.”

Another beat, tilting her head the other way.

“Whatever you wind up doing, just let me know how I can help, if at all. You make him happier then I’ve ever seen him.”

lanshiang-a

"My courtship ritual was I was poisoned, murdered, and betrothed within a week. And he's resistant to poison."

She said it quickly, with enough venom that she just might be able to poison him. It would be too much of a defeat to think she was dull enough that she couldn't invent something completely new for him. Courting in her social circle had been for power and for money. Nothing was interesting about it, and nothing was sacred. Derek and his soft bodied colleagues were self-obsessed and incapable of most things. They were profoundly stupid, and Derek held some of that precious stupidity for himself. He was arrogant to incredible degrees.

It wasn't out of love that he gave her anything of his, she knew that. It was exclusively out of arrogance. He never thought once that she would be capable of the kind of violence the men in his family had touted around as a matter of pride.

No. There wasn't a single tradition in The Family that she wanted, or needed.

She hadn't completed their rituals.

"No. I need something different."

She moved the wipe and her hand with her words in a rotating circle, still eyeing the red, beautiful stone in her fingers.

"Hmmm. Well, it sounds like we have a pretty solid arrangement, you and me, through Daud."

If there was ever a moment where Billie Lurk had been so visibly disturbed- It was this one. She stands up straight, no longer leaning against the desk, both arms at her side and fists clenched so tightly, it caused obsidian to shed off the Shard and clatter to the floor.

There’s murder in her expression- Simmons did that? It’s worse then she could have imagined. Of all the times for the knife to be missing…

“He ever shows his face around me, I’m killing him- Repeatedly, if need be. I’d sunder him across the void if I had my knife with me.” She hisses, practically spitting venom before turning and placing both hands on the desk- Now she was just frustrated.

“…Yeah, his goals are mine too. Thomas as well, if you can find him. He’s a shadow, but he’s damn good at what he does.” She nods, giving an exasperated sigh as her fingernails raked lightly across the desk.

“…Ah- Meant to ask you, you know any place to rent a house boat or something around here?”

#lanshiang #lanshiang 04

She stifled a laugh at the comment, nodding and sort of following her around the room at a distance. "Can say that again, even in the Isles it's a lot of the same. Outsiders eyes do those boys try, though."

She sighs, moving to lean against the large desk while Ada worked on cleaning the stone she now held, eyes scanning it slowly, noting how it changed color in soft waves, raising an eyebrow while she tried to discern exactly what it was.

Whatever it was, there was a mysterious energy about it, and maybe it was best left to Daud or Ankarian to look into it.

"Usually brooches, bracelets and necklaces, rings are saved for actual proposals. It really depends on who you're trying to court, though..."

A beat, bringing the black shard arm up and rubbing the fingertips together idly. "Daud might like a bracelet, if that's what you're trying to sus out." She grins "Though I'm sure he'd be happy with whatever you give him. Last I heard, he sang for you- He's never sang for anyone. Joined us in a shanty a few times during parties at the commerce building, sure, but never specifically for someone."

lanshiang-a

"Ugh. I was hoping for something more exciting than a ring. Dismemberment, tattooing, implants-"

Not everything could be as creative or bodily as she could, it seemed. The thought of a ring made her look at Billie from the corner of her eye with disdain at the idea. A ring? No. It wouldn't be appropriate. A broach would be interesting, perhaps gifting him a caplet and a carefully constructed broach? No, that wouldn't be exactly what she had been reaching for.

No, she needed more time on this mental project, and to truly think about what she wanted to do. Her metallurgy, certainly, would come in handy to make something.

She was unsurprised that Daud had never engaged in any kind of affection. An utter lame duck. He seemed to think that of himself, anyways, at first. She didn't know the kind of standards for beauty that his cutthroat world established themselves on, only that by them, she was objectively better looking by them than most of their nobles. The lame duck wasn't so lame.

"Let me guess. Til' death do us part? Or what? A grand wedding officiated by the state? Dowries?"

No. She'd have none of that. She reflected on their mutual interests, what was important to her, uncaring if Billie saw a glimpse into what was going on behind their similarly uncaringly thin smokescreen. There was no real mystery to who she paid the most specific attention to in her coterie. Most of their collaboration had been private, but the proximity wasn't. He wasn't very far from her.

Ada held the rock, thumbing it.

"No. That doesn't interest me at all. No. I need something different."

“Serkonan weddings are the stuff of legend, but, only if you’ve got a large family to celebrate it with.” She shrugs, obviously they didn’t have that luxury here, but the idea of body mods and tattoos had her really thinking.

“I can’t say much about that. Piercings outside of the ears and body art only started becoming popular among the masses when I was ripped out of the void and dropped here. Dowries were only things the aristocracy did. People like us? You were lucky if your partner even had a handful of coin.”

She watches Ada for a moment longer, really racking her brain for some kind of idea.

“What’re you thinking? Maybe he’d be more interested in the courtship rituals where you’re from… All the time I’ve known him, he’s never shown any attachment to that side of his blood anyway. He always talked about his mother and the things she taught him. She was Pandyssian, and I know they have a whole set of traditions that aren’t really talked about much in the Isles. He never shared them with anyone except me and Thomas, that’s how close he kept them to his chest.”

Another beat, tilting her head the other way.

“Whatever you wind up doing, just let me know how I can help, if at all. You make him happier then I’ve ever seen him.”

#lanshiang #lanshiang 04

lanshiang-a

"Tch. Maybe in a world where men are impressive."

She scoffed. Men in her own life had disappointed her so thoroughly, and all of the men here had impressed her impossibly. Carla thumbed away some of the dried amnion from the glimmering stone, turning it in her palm. The massive cocoon had turned into this small thing. Nothing else had escaped from it.

"A lock of hair?"

Not her style. Not alone, at the very least. The puzzle gave her something to think on.

Ada looked over at the gesture, and gave a little huff of amusement. Looking at his protege was looking at a mirror of the man. His mannerisms had to stick on someone, it seemed. Ada moved to the first aid kit in her office, opening the wall mounted box and collecting some wipes to brush muss off of the thing.

It was cold, but radiated at the same time, a strange dichotomy.

She brushed the mess off of it with wipes and the shimmering garnet oscillated between deep red and a pure black. She brushed it gently down with the wipes. There was an energy in this little rock. She'd have to have Ankarian look at it.

"What else do they give? Jewelry? Like what?"