[b][centre][H2][color=9e0039]A Chance Meeting _ A Colab of Faylrie and Callina.[/color][/H2][/centre][/b]
[b][centre][H2][color=9e0039]A Mistress Meets.[/color][/H2][/centre][/b]
[b][centre][H3][color=ed145b]A Familiar Protects.[/color][/H3][/centre][/b]
[b][centre][H2][color=003471]Hunger. But for what?[/color][/H2][/centre][/b]

Callina made her way through the streets a scarf wrapped at her face and dressed to protect self from the endless rain that befallen the 4th ring. Everything was damp, the smell of rot and the constant sense of lingering doom hovering over the ring if you looked at the storm. 

It was only madness to stare at the storm. To stare at the storm was to become it and to fall into the storm's embrace. Its embrace was impossible to escape. Callina moved with a purpose, trying not to think that she had to fight it. Defy it, and lead her cult away from it. 

There was trade, well if you knew where to look and who to ask, things found their way into the 4th ring. Old things, worn things and recycled things. Everything ended up sinking into the 4th somehow eventually, people, things and more. [color=9e0039]"No. I wish not"[/color] Callina responded starkly to a peddler selling a number of items of Dubious nature. 

[color=9e0039]"Leave this"[/color] Callina paused and her senses suddenly gave a hint or an inkling of iron amongst the rot and the damp. Something more. Iron like blood not a weapon or forges hammering. [color=9e0039]"Leave this place Pedler"[/color] She added letting the scarf fall away and the fangs revealed. A woman bearing the scent of blood came into her vision, skin that was exposed seemed to be moving almost, and a skin tone that was very much different to Callina.[color=9e0039]"Interesting"[/color] Callina thought she was interesting in some way. Callina was not precisely sure why but she seemed to have…. Potential.

[color=9e0039]"I hope you're not a rival,  it would be a shame as you seem interesting,"[/color] Callina spoke as she walked up but kept a respectful distance. She eyed the woman carefully and calmly as if it was a casual meeting in a market. Making no effort to hide the fact she was touched by the storm, honesty was refreshing sometimes.


Faine’s tail started to quiver with intense interest. [color=c4df9b]“My, my, Faye. What an interesting guest you’ve attracted.”[/color]

Faylrie paused and lowered her bread. Guest? She blinked and looked up. A slender woman with pale skin and white hair stood before her. Clearly she was stormtouched. Had she been talking to her?

The woman didn’t budge. Just stared at her as if expecting a response. 

Damnation! She had been talking to her, hadn’t she? What had she accused Faylrie of? Being a rival??? 

Faine’s eyes almost seemed to twinkle with amusement. He raised his paw as if disinterested and began to groom it with his tongue.

Storm it all! Had she stumbled upon another beggar’s spot? She probably thought Faylrie’s food belonged to her.

Faylrie began packing up her food. 

[color=ed145b]”Sorry. I’ll find another spot.”[/color] She muttered, head bowed.

[color=c4df9b]”Or-”[/color] Faine started, [color=c4df9b]”-you could give her a stabby stabby.”[/color]

Faylrie shot Faine a look. Now was not the time or place for stabby stabbys. Last thing she needed was to draw more attention to herself. Especially after… after she…

[color=ed145b][i]Storms![/i][/color] She thought. [color=ed145b][i]I killed three people![/i][/color]

In Faylrie’s mind, Lin didn’t count… but the other three… they had not been on her list…

Her mind began reeling as she began processing everything that had happened. The anger, the beating, the desperation, the calm release, and then… and then the guilt…

Faylrie shut her eyes, blotting out the images of the corpses from her head. She had no other choice. They had seen what she could do.

She forced herself to her feet, all the while wincing at the pain coming from her bruised ribs.

[color=ed145b]”I’m sorry. Won’t happen again.”[/color] She said as she started to leave the alleyway in search of another resting spot.

[color=9e0039]"The touched are no foe of our own. If they are not our enemy."[/color] Callina would be quite odd to judge a touched when she was cursed herself. Her voice switched to a firmer tone, more like the mistress and the matriarch. A statement of fact made law as much as laws existed in this foul place. 

Now she was closer the scent of blood grew in her senses with a deeper pull. Callina was a killer, she was trained to kill and to end life. It meant you had to know how people worked and how best to damage them. Her instinct said this woman was hurt, she winced visabley to anyone with the sense to tell. 

What to do… she had no reason care, Callina was….broken and rather mentally well…fucked. However this woman had scented her interest and obvious lethal instinct was quite capable if the fact there was more than one bloody scent. [color=9e0039]"There's a healer 3 signs past the next left. You are. Curious bloody one."[/color]

Faylrie stopped in her place. Tensing up at the woman’s words.

[color=c4df9b]”Oh, how fun.”[/color] Faine said, [color=c4df9b]”She knows what you did.”[/color]
How? She had only just done the deed.

[color=9e0039]"Tell the old man the Mistress sent you.  If you trust me."[/color] Callina flicked out and tossed a small bone carved with a single rune of a dagger and a skull. Callina gave a dark laugh at the end.

Faylrie frowned. Old man? Mistress? What the hell kind of crazy had she just bumped into? She hesitantly picked up the bone so as to not seem rude. 

Callina was unsure why she was so generous, no one was but the fact was this woman was a killer, someone she could respect. The healer was…well not a good healer by any other ring but they had no such luxury. No such advantage those upper ringed soft little whelps. Those who walled the 4th away and its people to die for them. 

[color=9e0039]"If you ever get curious, well… the voids path is dangerous but so very satisfying."[/color] Callina Voice rose almost to a Purr, she was truely fucked up by any morality of good time but these where not good times. Callina was… by all standards split, broken, a killer, a hedonist, able to kill without remorse yet…  there was loyalty and a Ruthless desire to protect her monsters she had gathered under her. 

[color=9e0039]"Much as all try. you might want to lose the blood mark. The greater touched have no mind but that of feral Beasts"[/color] The touched came in many forms, so no one could guess how many and some had devolved to little more than the Beasts that stalked out the great storm. They were craven, monstrous by any other standard and had no desire but crazed. They were hunted and driven away but somehow always snuck back like a constant plague and reminder that they were fighting against the impossible and the all consuming. 

[color=ed145b]”Ummm… Thaaanks…”[/color] 

Faine seemed to chuckle. [color=c4df9b]”Are you trying to piss off the crazy, Faye?”[/color]

Damn it! He was right. That was probably not the best tone to take right now!

Faylrie shook her head. This woman spoke with an air of authority. Who was this person? [color=ed145b]”I’m sorry but, should I know who you are?”[/color] 

[color=9e0039]"Depends who you ask, or what you ask them."[/color] Callina replied in a cryptic tone. She was not local then, but she seemed to pick up on things quickly. Callina decided what to admit and what to not, normally she would have ignored this woman but this woman who seemed to have her own body move and live under her skin… she had killed and seemed to have more about her than the regular touched who sought-after survival. 

[color=9e0039]"Let's just say I have interests locally. And a few loyal followers. 
"[/color] Callina spoke as a figure or two melted in and out of the rain soaked alleys purposefully. [color=9e0039]"We want to survive this place, Rebels, storm touched, Regina, it seems everyone is out to use us and throw us the scraps. Alone we are mere tools and pawns. "[/color] Callina made a sudden switch to be 100% sane and in control, logical and seeing the bigger picture. 

Faylrie felt her hair stand on end as she became keenly aware that… this woman… these people… were not to be messed with. She took a hesitant step back.

[color=9e0039]"Nice Kitty"[/color] Callina switched, her sanity was…not sane. Her sanity was a further variable thing. 

[color=c4df9b]”Aaaawwww. She gave me a complement. How nice.”[/color]

Faylrie wasn’t so sure that was a compliment. Her hand instinctively moved towards her side where she kept her crude dagger hidden.

[color=9e0039]"Im Callina"[/color] She offered a hand with no fear of the strange movements below her flesh. Janus was no stranger to changing, his, hers, a mix of both. Their flesh was in a permanent state of change. Janus was loyal and when they chose a lover, their mental state was… what could be said as Janus. They simply chose who and what to define them as they had no fixed form or spirit. 

[color=ed145b]”Callina.”[/color] Faylrie repeated as she committed the name to memory. [color=ed145b]”Name’s Ella.”[/color] She lied. 

Faylrie notably did not take Callina’s hand. Faine seemed to take delight at that. He stared at her with anticipation.

[color=c4df9b]”Stabby stabby?”[/color] He asked.

No. This was not someone to go stabbing in any form or fashion.

[color=ed145b]”Callina, my cat friend seems to think that I shouldn’t trust you.”[/color] Faylrie said while nodding towards Faine. [color=ed145b]”May I ask what you would say to that?”[/color] 

Faylrie had to test the waters here. What would this woman do to her if she turned around and ran?

[color=9e0039]"Hello Ella, just because we ended up in this place does not make us barbarians."[/color] Callina commented, the 4th ring was pretty bad but they were not the monsters and so the other rings believed. Her sanity or lack of proven, suddenly talking like it was an upper ring establishment. 

Callina did not miss her movement knowing her own crude forged dagger, nothing vs the ornate and enhanced weapons of the Regina but a simple cast off bar of iron, bent round and one end forged into a basic blade. Keeping the blade hidden, the cult had some items hidden but none were used without direct command. Crude means working perfectly well. 

[color=9e0039]"Your cat is a smart one bloody one."[/color] Callina spoke almost like she enjoying this little interaction. [color=9e0039]"You should always be wary of who you trust, have I told you everything? Of course not. I am no fool."[/color] Callina switched back to being fully lucid in her cursed way of being. [color=9e0039]"But you don't need to draw your blade, it's unwise to draw when you don't know your foe. Never fight fair, it's just asking to die."[/color]

[color=9e0039]"Trust me. You'd be a fool. You look no fool. However, This day I mean no harm, I am fed up and it's a shame to kill interesting people. You meet so few."[/color] Callina raised her hand, of course she felt safe. The two cult members behind her she knew would protect her, Janus loitered to her right as he at present naturally found fit. The other was one of her faction and loyalists from the purge of the traditionalists. Callina could trust both to guard her back and not stab it. 

Faylrie cursed under her breath, she hadn’t realized that her hand was reaching for her dagger. She lowered her hand but tightened her grip on her staff. Her true weapon. Despite the reassurances, Faylrie couldn’t be too careful. Afterall Callina could be lying. 

She took another step back, all the while watching the woman and her killers to see if they made any sudden moves. 

[color=ed145b]”Why do you keep calling me bloody one?”[/color] She asked.

[color=c4df9b]”Didn’t I tell you?”[/color] Faine said. [color=c4df9b]”She knows, Faye”[/color]

Faylrie knew that much. What she didn’t know was how.


[color=9e0039]"Smart one you"[/color] Callina laughed as she backed up at Janus and companions ' approach. Sharing a rather inappropriate kiss with Janus, Callina was a deviant to say the least. Laughing as she turned away from her sometimes lover, sometimes not, right hand… person. 

Forestalling any movement with a hand wave, did not react and merely remained at her side. If you had support, why operate alone? Callina flashed her fangs lacking the sharp tip with a tongue slowly. [color=9e0039]"Vamprye. The storm blessed me with its gifts as a teenager. I can smell blood, recently spilled. it's a compliment on your skill."[/color] Callina gave her an honest answer, her sense for blood was instinctual and curse was fused into her very bones, senses and soul. 



People like this woman exist?!?!?! Damn!

[color=ed145b][i]Damn![/i][/color] She thought. [color=ed145b][i]Damn damn damn![/i][/color]

Faylrie always had heard that being stormtouched was supposed to be a curse. But this woman seemed to have gotten something out of it.

Callina held her pale palms open freely. [color=9e0039]"You are interesting. I do not harm those who intrigue me. You will not have harm from me and mine. Go freely Ella."[/color] Callina spoke with a Purr to her voice with a threat in her voice and a little bit of inundo creeping in. 

[color=c4df9b]”Are you just going to stand there, Faye, or do you want the nice lady to eat you?”[/color] Faine asked.

Faylrie took a hesitant step back, and then another. The woman didn’t move. Faylrie turned and ran.

Faine didn’t follow at first. He simply sat there watching Callina with intense interest. His tail wavering all the while. Then after a few seconds, he got up and walked away.

Callina laughed as the woman turned to leave at a pace, the sanity and moral compass was rather different to the norm. The part about protecting their interests and surviving was no lie though. That was her truest and most clear goal. 

The cat left after, she gave it a raised eyebrow but took it at face value. There were stranger things that had happened. 

Eat? Eat…or eat. Callina went in for all 3. It all depending on her mood, right now she had business to attend as she and her two followers vanished into the gloom, expertly though the maze of the 4th. She could run down this Ella, quite easily but that would be boring to harm such an interesting person.