[center][h1][b][color=00aeef]Chres Sansus[/color][/b][/h1][/center]

Interaction with [@HokumPocus]

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Chres blinked, caught off guard by Octavio's sudden display of resentment and hatred. His mask of control shattered. All with a single question. 

Chres had uncovered something here. Exactly what, he was not yet sure. But, judging by how quick Octavio was to put that mask back on, this man had revealed something very personal. Perhaps there was more to Octavio than Chres had previously thought.

Hesitantly, Chres stopped walking and placed his hand comfortingly on Octavio's shoulder. Brow furrowed, Chres looked to Octavio and gave him a single nod of understanding. 

He turned his gaze towards the market square. Half-ass decorations scattered the scene of the market. [color=00aeef][i]That's right...[/i][/color] He thought, [color=00aeef][i]Today is the first day of new month of Olfaccium.[/i][/color] It was a day usually marked by a celebration of the sense of smell. 

Chres stared grimly at the scene, watching groups of people covering up dead bodies that lined the marketplace. They moved the bodies off to the side. Their stares vacant and lacking life. Some people had taken to tossing flower petals haphazardly into the wind. There was no glee in their eyes, rather more of a sense of concentration. As if this was all they could do so as to not remember the events of the day prior. Storytellers sat alone on their stools staring off in the distance. Some of them tried to gather the people's attention, but few were in the mood to hear the stories of old. 

It was a miserable display of festivity. Perhaps the worst Chres had ever seen. The Distortion had wrecked these people. A fact that was getting harder and harder to ignore. 

[color=00aeef]"I'm sorry..."[/color] Chres said at last, [color=00aeef]"I didn't know."[/color] 

Removing his hand from Octavio's shoulder, Chres continued walking onward. His gaze lowered pensively, as he considered his next words.

[color=a2d39c]"Fairy?! Me???"[/color] He heard Sil say, off to the side. [color=a2d39c]"You silly. I'm not just a fairy."[/color] Sil transformed into her secondary, less used form. A ferret. [color=a2d39c]"I'm also whatever the puddle this thing is!"[/color] 

Chres raised his eyebrow bemused. [color=00aeef][i]Did she just use the word 'puddle' as a curse?[/i][/color] He thought. This... was a new level of obsession for her.

Sil turned back into her primary form and flew over the familiar's head just out of reach. [color=a2d39c]"Hmmmmmm..."[/color] She said. [color=a2d39c]"You are a bit small for a horsey..."[/color] 

Her eyes suddenly lit up with glee. [color=a2d39c]"Wait! I know!"[/color] Sil landed softly atop the cat's head. [color=a2d39c]"There, that's better!"[/color] Sil began patting the side of the cat's head rhythmically. [color=a2d39c]"Giddy-up, Tubby! Giddy-up!"[/color]

Chres looked away from the two as they played. He now knew exactly what to say.

[color=00aeef]"I've been with Sil for about a year now."[/color] Chres said at length. [color=00aeef]"We've had our good times... The bad times? Well... they are usually one-sided. In person, I may act as if she is a nuisance. In truth, she is precious to me."[/color]

Chres pulled Sil's metal glass pendent out from beneath his shirt and stared intently at its glittering surface. There was a look of melancholy in his eyes. [color=00aeef]"Sil was given to me as a gift."[/color] He said, [color=00aeef]"The only thing I have left from my deceased wife. Sil is... more valuable than any treasure I have ever known. However, she is a reminder to me as well... a reminder of what happened that night... a reminder of how I failed my wife." [/color]

Chres swallowed. He could feel his chest tightening. [color=00aeef]"Perhaps, it was she who failed me first... but in truth, none of that really matters. I can't blame her for what she did. After all, I was never really there."[/color]

Gripping the pendent tight in his hand, Chres tightened his jaw until finally, he released a sigh. [color=00aeef]"She died that night, a year ago."[/color] He said. It was one of the hardest things for him to admit aloud. [color=00aeef]"She haunts my dreams... she haunts my thoughts... she died without me ever learning the answer to, 'Why?'... I have days which are better than others. However, on most days... it just feels like the whole world is weighing me down."[/color]

Looking ahead, Chres shook his head. [color=00aeef]"Since that day, one year ago,"[/color] he continued, [color=00aeef]"I've carried with me a length of rope within my satchel. At night, sometimes I take it out and just stare at it. Imagining how it would feel to wrap it around my throat." [/color]

Chres released his grip on Sil's pendent. Letting it drop down, back beneath his shirt. [color=00aeef]"Those are my darkest moments."[/color] Chres said quietly, slowly looking up towards the Distortion's strange pitch black sky. [color=00aeef]"Nights where I can feel the darkness closing in on me... And yet, it's in those darkest of nights that she comes to me."[/color] He turned his gaze to Sil, sitting atop Lynx's head playfully.

[color=00aeef]"She comforts me, in those dark moments."[/color] Chres said. [color=00aeef]"Tells me it's going to be okay... I've always thought it strange see her act in such a way. How unlike my little familiar to show any kind of empathy for anyone but herself... There are times where I wonder whether I would be here now, if it weren't for her..."[/color]

Sil giggled. Still patting the side of the cat's head. Urging her steed to gallop off and into the unknown.

Chres smiled softly. [color=00aeef]"No. I suspect I wouldn't be... Funny how the mind works."[/color] Chres said, looking to Octavio. [color=00aeef]"Here I am, a man seeking death, and yet... I can't help but take comfort in the fact that I'm still alive due to her efforts."[/color] He chuckled to himself silently. [color=00aeef]"What a strange, old man I've become." [/color]

Reaching into his shirt, Chres pulled out his flask of flavored water and took a swig. It was then that he heard a bout of shouting in the innkeeper's direction. 

"What do you mean this food is not for sale? Why even have it out in this stall if you won't sell it?" The innkeeper shouted to the merchant before him. 

Swallowing his water, Chres put away the flask and nodded to Octavio to quickened his pace. The merchant standing before the innkeeper had his hair slicked back. It's color black and greasy. His body was of a man well fed. His belly slipping out from under his shirt. Scattered behind him were six burly men. Weapons hanging at their side. 

"We have been well compensated to allow those in need a small portion of food for free." The merchant said with a smile. "However, those who want an actual meal, will need to attend today's ceremony at the Church of Insight. They will be handing out meals to everyone there."

[color=00aeef][i]Not good.[/i][/color] Chres thought. [color=00aeef][i]They've bought the people selling the food.[/i][/color]

"This is ridiculous!" The innkeeper exclaimed. Three of the burly men, began to gather behind the merchant. Hands fingering the weapons at their side. "You are the fifth merchant who has refused to sell me food! If it's coin you want, I have it here! Why sell yourself to the cult like this? Look at what they've done to this city already!" 

"I'm only trying to make a livelihood for my own family." The merchant said, still smiling. "I can't do that if The Clan takes my food away."

"The Clan?" The innkeeper said hesitantly.

"The Clan." One of the thugs repeated. "It's the name we prefer."

The innkeeper took a step back, eyes wide with realization. Chres grabbed hold of the innkeeper's arm. [color=00aeef]"We should go."[/color] He said. The innkeeper only nodded. 

The two moved away from the stall; Chres motioning Octavio to follow. They didn't get more than five steps away before hearing the thug call out to them. 

"Hold it right there." The thug said pointing to both Chres and Octavio. Chres stopped in his tracks, trying to not act suspicious. "You two... I know you."

[color=00aeef]"No..."[/color] Chres said. [color=00aeef]"I don't believe we've met." [/color]

The Thug chuckled. "Ah... my mistake then. You're right. We haven't met." Chres held back a sigh of relief. He nodded to the thug and turned to walk away. "But Sightless Syella, on the other hand..."

It happened in an instant. Chres called forth his stored body heat into the palm of his hand and Compressed it into a ball of energy. Turning on the heels of his feet, he threw the Compressed heat construct at the thug as hard as he could. 

Caught off guard, the man fumbled for his weapon, but he was far too slow. The construct made contact with the man's stomach and burst on impact, sending the thug flying into the food stall and the merchant behind it. The two of them went down. Knocked out cold.

[color=00aeef]"Go!"[/color] Chres yelled. The three of them ran together in a group. 

Compression was a nifty aspect of Tempraision, but it was by no means efficient. There was no telling how many other cult members lurked in the marketplace. As such Chres thought it a poor idea to take on the remaining thugs out in the open. Not to mention, at the very least, it would mean dealing with five other people all at once. No. It probably would be best to divide and conquer.

The three of them ran into a near by alleyway, the remaining thugs following close on their heels.