It was quite the spectacle, Helen's arrival. A miasma of emotions had blitzed Damien in a second. It'd been so long since he'd seen her, her figure, her eyes. He was relieved she wasn't all drugged out, sweaty and messy haired like most of the girls that followed Ulrich's trails. She had a sensible look about her, she looked good and it kind of relieved Damien to find that out. Regardless, after the kind of day he'd been having so far, it wasn't fun having them arrive at his door and all it did was throw him off, confuse him. Making sense of the situation was a waste of time, but that didn't stop him from trying. Slowly, Tigers from the gathered crowd had began recognizing the dancers that Helen and Selene had brought with her. Old acquaintances, old flames, each dancer was someone important to at least one of Damien's people. How could he be angry? How could he be rude when things had taken such a turn for the better? Damien shook his head in disbelief, this whole thing made no sense. It was nice, it just made no freaking sense and if Damien had a reason to be suspicious, it hadn't presented itself yet. [i]“We brought them here as a peace offering... despite our differences… we’re still family, right?”[/i] Ok, there it was. The overall mood had made the dramatic shift to relaxed, and even though Damien still found the sudden appearance of Helen a bit suspect, he eventually let his guard down. Lua looked him in the eyes and gave him a reassuring nod before she went back into the crowd, running her hand across his chest as she walked back towards her work. Damien watched her disappear in the crowd, feeling Helen’s eyes on him. Letting out a deep breath, he returned his focus to her. Following her into the large palanquin, Damien got a look into Ulrich’s world. Decadent, ornate, exuberating and unforgivingly excessive, this is what his brother had created and it was tangible and mighty. These people were truly devoted to him, not just loyal, but devoted, infatuated. Damien sighed deeply, wondering if it was foolish to expect anything less from his little brother. Reminded of the situation at hand, Damien took a seat across from Helen, and the two exchanged words. There was plenty of palpable silence between the two, but it was only a matter of time. It had been forever since he had seen her, she looked damn good and he knew for a fact that she liked what she saw. They gave in. The sensation that was her touch hadn’t changed, but the wound added a challenge. They still had plenty of chemistry though, and were really familiar with each other physically. This wasn’t how it used to be though, and that was obvious. The affection wasn’t there, the passion yeah, but it wasn’t like before. There were no nightcaps among the stars or anything like that, this was two people in a palanquin who needed to get it out of their systems, together. The commotion outside had essentially turned into a party, nobody really paid attention to what was going on. Domerix and Alistar were so caught up in keeping an eye on the happenings. Helen and Damien had plenty of time. When they had finally had enough of each other, Damien sat up among the lavish sheets and throwpillows throughout the palanquin, watching Helen, still trying to piece together what was going on. Seemingly ignoring what had just taken place, Helen went to work typing on her laptop, the clicks of the keyboard being the only thing to break the silence before she spoke. “You should sleep. This is probably going to take a while.” “You don’t have an off switch, do you?” “I do. In fact you were just flipping it repeatedly a moment ago.” “Is that supposed to make me feel guilty?” Damien replied, cocking an eyebrow in surprise, she seemed to be enjoying herself well enough. Some more beeps and clicks, “I think I’ve got a signal.” “Great, I’ll go and see what’s going on with the others,” he tried to get up, his legs giving out on him halfway before becoming numb, the loss of feeling creeping past his knees and towards his waist. Selene and Helen exchanged some chatter before Selene came in and morphed into Damien, voice and all. Damien focused as much as he could on trying to figure out just what their plan was, but was having a hard time ignoring the fact that he was going numb little by little. In an attempt to call for help, Damien felt the scalding dryness of his throat. It was part of whatever Helen had given him. He exhaled through his nostrils in confused frustration. She had got the slip on him, and he let it happen, right under his damn nose. Selemien walked out and addressed the crowd, his men dispersing as the meeting of camps ended and the palanquin was being prepared to depart. Damien tried his best to listen in, but his vision started to give, blurring and unfocus, Damien reached out for the exit. “Relax we have a long ride ahead of us, I’ll explain everything on the way there” “We’ll need guys, my guys, we have to go back, we have to…” Damien’s surroundings faded to black. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Domerix and Alistar stood together in the gateway, Barthas, Thialgo and some of the others just behind, watching their captains. Domerix stood with his arms crossed, pacing back and forth as Alistar stood still, his index fingers up to his lips as they both reflected on what just happened. Alistar was happy to see Selene, but things got fishy fast. Domerix kicked some dirt up, prompting Alistar to clear his throat. “Did you buy that?” Alistar asked. “I did at first, then he called us 'men', then he called me 'orc'.” Domerix retorted, still pacing, “I say we trail em.” “No, Selene’s with them, she’ll smell us coming, she’s good that way.” Alistar warned. “Well then what do you suggest, [i]scout captain[/i]?” Domerix asked, frustrated. "I got it. Tyrus! Front and center, scout." Alistar commanded. "No fucking way, you genius." Domerix reacted. "Outta the way scrubs, coming through!" a small voice cried from the back of the crowd of soldiers and scouts. Everyone scooted to separate sides as a small gnome stepped forward, standing proud and as tall as he could. This was Tyrus Cobb, scout extraordinaire and one crazy motherfucking athlete. Let me tell you about Tyrus Cobb, Tyrus Cobb was the only gnome, standing at a meager 3'2, to make the Syracuse rugby club and start. All-human schools had to fight for a rule change that prohibited him from playing against teams without faes, cause he was crazy. Earning All-American Honors in wrestling and track and field, the only reason he was a scout and not a soldier was because being a soldier would've been to easy for him, that and he and Domerix loved to fight each other, it was terrifying. A true athlete and sneaky bastard, Tyrus nodded at his captains confidently, knowing he would be counted on, knowing he was the right man for the job. Adjusting the small, almost dagger like sword strapped to his back, Tyrus took out a can of war paint and applied it under his eyes. The salve, created by Windsor, would improve his vision tenfold, allowing him to spot and focus on the palanquin with ease and more importantly from a safe undetectable distance. Selene was good, but she wouldn't be ready for this. "I've got em, I've got their scent." Tyrus spoke, "I'll keep an eye on him, make sure he's safe and they'll never see me." Alistar and Domerix nodded and before they could submit their votes of confidence, he was off, sprinting down the trail to find Damien and to figure out what the hell was going on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [center]“Welcome to the Ritz, sir and ma'am, help with your things?”[/center]