#dreadeois

[hangedemperor]

Fortuna Favet Fortibus

[hangedemperor]

Journey, pt. 2

"The story begins which feels like a lifetime ago, not too far from here, with a pair of Elezen boys. There was nothing particularly interesting about their youth, so I won't be covering much about that. The only thing important enough to mention is that both of them grew to become very violent, and dangerous individuals."

"Oh, wow," Lareine suddenly said, "how dangerous were they?"

Arsene suckled on his lower lip for a short moment, then giving another warm smile at Lareine, who had once again succumbed into her pillow.

"Not more so than your average thug or bandit, my Lady", he said, still smiling.

"Aha", Lareine said, with rather disappointed tone in her voice, "then my knight would have just taken their miserable lives without any effort.. Shame. "

"Of course, my Lady", Arsene said, "but that would end our story very short, so please allow me to tell you some more.

It so happened, that these two Elezen thugs grew up to be very strong, and succesful in their own business. It didn't take long until the feeling of independence came in to this play, they would no longer need each other to be succesful crooks. In fact, they both felt that having the other one around at all would be bad for profit. This feeling didn't have a chance to brew in their minds for long, before inevitable confrontation happened. One would emerge victorious, king of crooks, and the other one would be destined to meet his maker.

And so it happened. Strikes were exchanged, neither one giving in an inch. Before long, one of the boys dealed a blow so hard it would definately have killed the other, should he have been an ordinary man. The blow didn't kill, but left the man barely grasping on his life nevertheless. The victorious continued his criminal business like he used to, alone. He was now, in his own mind, the king of crooks. Eventually the one who took the beating mustered up the strength to seek a shelter, which he, after a long and painful journey, found from the city of Ul'dah.

Ul'dah, as you know, is a wealthy, very prosperous place. The young man was naive, still very proud of what he had achieved in his life. He held vengeance in his mind. He hated the man he once called his closest friend. In Ul'dah, this young Elezen decided to begin anew. He would gather a group of rooks so fierce, that should he ever again face his "old friend", this so called "King of Crooks", it would not be him who takes the beating."

[hangedemperor]

Journey, pt. 3

"So, are you the King of Crooks, or the one who got beaten to a pulp?" Lareine asked, with a soft smirk on her face.

"Well, my Lady, at some point you might have wondered where this came from," Arsene said, running his finger over his left cheek, with a long, visible scar on it. Lareine shrugged ever so slightly, she had never really given much thought about it. Arsene hid his hand behind his back again. "It is the only visible mark left of the strike that would have very likely taken my life, were I any less lucky. I held my nest, at the time, in Ul'dah. It took me far longer than I had anticipated to gather up my band of crooks efficient enough to be of any use for me. I failed to consider how well the city was guarded, by that time already. It wasn't only tedious task to find suitable people, but after that to actually make them go as far and deep into the business as I was planning to. Few times I had to witness people I trusted bailing out of the contract, turning out to be more considerate of their own well-being, than the profit that would follow a success. I must confess, after years of trial and failure, I didn't even care anymore. No matter how hard-boiled I was before arriving to Ul'dah, I did not stand a chance alone, not in this city. But what was I supposed to do? At the time I was so in love with my vision of becoming a leader of Ul'dah's underworld, that I didn't even take other options into consideration. I did, however, take up honest day-work. And that was propably the reason that, in the end, saved my life. Before late, that was the only thing I did. Working in a local garment store. I don’t think I fully forgot about the gang of Crooks, I just didn’t carry any interest to execute my plans anymore.. It felt like such nonsense.”

"So you just threw away your dream? Just like that?", Lareine shuffles on the bed until she is hanging over it's edge, her head upside down, looking at Arsene. "And what happened to your rat's ass of a friend?"

Arsene took a moment, not saying anything in reply. He shifted his gaze across the room, not really trying to avoid eye contact with Lareine, but doing so without noticing.

“I would say, my Lady, that it was the Fortune that played it’s cards on my favor. To me, it is rather obvious that I would not be here to share this story, should it have happened any other way. And about this “Rat’s ass””, Arsene paused for a second, to give Lareine a smile, “you will hear in just a moment. It so happened, that as I was working for my living, I did set my eyes upon a certain Lady. None other, than my employer’s daughter. I will not go into much more detail, since that would most likely just make my story a bore, all I say is that I did fancy her, very much so.”

“She was the reason I ended up forgetting about my previous endeavor for a long time. Years passed, I had slowly gained the trust of my fierce employer, on a personal level. I had finally gathered my courage to ask for her daughter into an Eternal Bonding. No longer can I remember how many years exactly we spent together, we were happy. Just.. a typical relationship, I’d say. The point that needs to be brought up, for later on, is that I eventually took up a job as a bartender, in Ul’dah’s Hourglass Inn. This brings me to the next chapter in my story. I received an invitation, from a certain Lord here in Ishgard, to work for him, in his own personal Pub. Of course I accepted the invitation, without any hesitation, taking my beloved with me. We weren’t as wealthy as many others working in Ul’dah, so it took a while for us to arrange our things. But finally we ended up leaving, taking a carriage directly to Ishgard.

We had finally arrived to Coerthas, our long journey was coming to an end. My beloved was fast asleep, I managed to hear a pair of distant sounds, like someone was whistling very sharp. I could hear our carrier cursing. Our carriage came to a full halt. Scream of pain. Voices, very loud, closing in on us. I jumped out of the carriage, soon enough to find our driver laying dead on the snow, his blood painting the surroundings. Dark figures were surrounding us, they were all running in circles around the carriage. I couldn’t possibly tell how many of them were on us, each and every one of them armed to the tooth. I managed to grab our dead carrier’s weapon, which he didn’t have time to draw before he already met his maker out of this world. I charged. I struggled, but still could take down one of the assailants. I did not feel fear. This was something I was very accustomed to, taking someone else’s life. The fear struck in me as soon as I heard few of them creep into our carriage from the other side. I could hear her. She was screaming for help, she was screaming my name.”

Arsene paused again. Lareine sits up her legs crossed and tilts her head. "Gramps?" Arsene lets out a soft sigh, once again turning his warmly smiling gaze towards Lareine.

“As soon as I had turned my back on them, I could feel a thundering pain on my shoulder. I was apparently hit with a mace. For a short while my body felt numb. I couldn’t move, but I could very well hear them. I could hear how they took my beloved’s life. Of course I tried to scream, but all I could do was to lift my head, just enough to see one of them peeking his head out of the carriage, staring directly at me. My fear turned into a blind rage, once I saw his face. It was the “King of Crooks”. “Rat’s ass”, my oldest friend.”

“He came up to me, I think he was talking to me. He turned me around, to lie on my back in the snow. I’d say it’s unfortunate that I cannot remember much else. He had a long knife with him, that cowardly man. In a moment of rage, I can remember struggling. Some unforeseen force in me brought back my strength. I could fight him. And as the Twelve were my witness, all I wanted to do to him is too much for me to put into words today. All I can remember from that short moment by the time is, that I actually did it. After all these years, I was the one who pulled the long straw. My mortal enemy was dead. In my dreams I can still see his mutilated corpse before me. I really cannot put to words what happened, but before I could regain my senses, each one of these animals had disappeared.. There I was, alone, surrounded by the dead. With the dead was my beloved.”

[hangedemperor]

Journey, pt. 1

"Tell me a story, Gramps!"

The expression on Arsene's face shifted slightly. He kept pouring water on the few sunflowers resting on a small table before the window, and glanced over his shoulder.

"My lady?"

Lareine was laying on her bed, her head almost completely swallowed by an enormous pillow. She was staring at the ceiling above her.

"I can't sleep when my Varg-Varg is gone..", and she let out a loud sigh, which, for Arsene, sounded quite exaggerated.

"Very well, my lady", he said in a calm tone, and left the watering can next to the flowers, "what is it you'd like to hear about?"

"Tell me about my Varg-Varg", she said, turning on the bed. She rested her head against her hand, now peering at Arsene, "tell me how you met him." Arsene placed his hands behind his back, straightening his pose.

"As you wish, my Lady", he said, a warm smile lingering on his face, "it was once this way.."

@lareine-kira @umbralich