Breaking blades and crushing skulls - Jygust 31st EET - Open

[Callara]

Jygust 31st - Early Eveningtide
The Broken Blade Arena

Sometimes, just sometimes, Callara wished she had not left all her good dresses back at her uncle's house when she had taken to the streets. With her normal outfit once again hanging out to dry back at the Summer Palace she had resorted to a secondary outfit that just did not do her current mood justice. The deep reds and dark black of her normal tunic and cloak would have suited her purpose perfectly. Instead, she was stuck with the light colors of her summer dress. One of the few pieces of clothing she had enjoyed wearing back when she was still "ordinary" Callara. It fitted loosely around her body, giving her a great feeling of freedom. But it just did not do her justice. She planned on taking down the Council of Nine this night. And doing so in a summer dress...

Tomorrow she'd have to find time to order something new from Audrey's Otherwear or somewhere similar. Having just one evil outfit just didn't work anymore. Not with her old one getting dirty all the time. A girl needed to be able to choose. And doing laundry all the time just didn't appeal that much to her.

But for now, those concerns would have to wait. The Broken Blade loomed ahead and she had thought out the plan quite thoroughly, but it boiled down to a few basic steps; Go inside, find Jeet-Belan and determine his allegiance, gather those men and women loyal to her and get Jeet to take them all to the other members of the council. From there, well...it would probably get messy.

She sighed.

"That will be another good dress down the garbage bin..."

On the way to the gate she kept a look out for any familiar auras. There were quite a few people working at the arena. Some of whom she knew would help her topple the Council. Most of those had been locals, hired by the organisation to set up operations in Roque when they first came in. With most of the Council being from out of town, and her being related to local merchants, it had not been too difficult back then to establish a trust with a number of guards and other hired help. If not by word, then by "gentle" magickal persuasion. Others simply feared her more than they did the Council. The stories of her splattering treacherous scribes all over her office during the first few moons of operation had become close to legend.

She would need everyone she could find to back her. That much was certain. If any of the other council members were anything like Terrel, she would need muscle to keep them off her. She wasn't planning on getting her head crushed into any pillars this eveningtide...

[Haikan]

The Arena was as bloody as ever. Of course this was the first thing Callara could notice. As she entered the unguarded gate, she may have noticed that there were two splashes of blood about shoulder-height off the ground. One was much larger than the other, but the real oddity was the unstaffed door.

There were a few teeth on the ground near the door, and speaking voices could be easily heard inside. Sun's energy was detectable inside, and Jeet-Belan's voice was distinctive among the others, as well as a small voice, perhaps belonging to a young lady.

[Callara]

"Who the Nether left this door unguarded?"

"What is Sun doing inside the arena?"

"What is going on here?"

It was apparent that there had been a struggle of sorts here. The blood lingering in the sands of the arena floor were a common appearance. Blood in front of the door was not so common. Ofcourse the occasional brawl occurred when drunk visitors got riled up after watching a good fight, but the guards were usually there to sort out such messes. The absence of the guards was not a good sign.

Jeet-Belan's voice was audible, as well as another which she did not readily recognize. More voices could be heard and Callara quickly needed to think up her next move. She had planned on finding Jeet-Belan alone somewhere. Most likely in an office. Or she'd have tried to tackle him in a corner of the arena, along with some muscle of her own. She had no concerns about facing him in battle, even without muscle though. His mind had been an open book compared to Terrel's when they had faced off two days prior. Would she need to, she'd crush his brain like a ripe grape.

She made a decision. She could stand there for burns more pondering what to do. In the end her plans remained unchanged. The arena was already hers. The council was second. Those who opposed her would perish. Simple as that.

As such Callara walked inside, in the general direction of the voices. She prepared mental barriers to ward off all influences that might sway her from her goal, that might attack her. Her perception focused on the lifeforms in the direct vicinity, pinning them down like dots on a mental map. She weaved a web of protection around her mind. No one would sneak up on her from behind this time. There had been others around Terrel that were factors to take into account, aside from Jeet-Belan and the council members. The strange animal-man had been Terrel's bodyguard. If he lingered...

She cleansed her mind of concern. Her memories gave her what she needed; resolve. She recalled pain and torment in her past. She channeled these emotions, drawing energy from the blood which had been recently spilled around her as much as possible, before turning the corner to find the group of people who had been talking.

"Good Eveningtide..."

[Haikan]

There stood Jeet-Belan, with two men on either side of him. One man wore a black robe and had exceedingly pale skin, an adhiel with an aged face. The other was a regular guard at the Arena, just an armored spearman. Jeet was talking to a young boy who was accompanied by a whisp of a spirit.

"Clarayouarehere!"

"Welcome back, Callara. I heard you'd been having some trouble since your uhm... 'experience' with Raphael." Jeet-Belan cleared his throat and pulled out a chair for the woman. "We've got a lot to talk about, don't we."

"Callara, you survived! I knew it would work, I just knew it!' The familiar voice of Malachi Ronald came from a chair at the table which was much too big for the boy, allowing only his eyes and nose to be seen over the edge of the surface.

"Knew what would work? Survived? Callara what exactly have you been doing?" Jeet inquired.

[Callara]

Callara was about to reply to Jeet's comment when Malachi's voice rose from the chair. A wave of dark and blinding rage washed over her, momentarily causing her to lose focus on everything she had been planning or doing.

"You..."

She extended her hand in a gripping motion towards the boy, envisioning his jugular vein being cut off by the gripping of her fingers around his throat as she lifted him from the chair and pulled him towards her. She fed this desire with every ounce of anger and power she had within her at that time, power she had reserved to use on Jeet-Belan. If she had learned one thing when fighting Terrel it was that her telepathic powers were greatly enhanced by gestures. Where before she had tried to do as much as possible under the radar, now all she wanted was to choke the life out of the little mongrel who had set her up to be captured by the guards.

"I don't know who the fuck you think you are or why you are in MY arena, but if you think I'm going to allow you to set me up to be caught for a murder YOU committed, you're dead wrong!"

She enforced her grip on his throat, still wanting him to slowly suffocate as his brain got deprived of the precious oxygen it needed so badly.

"If anyone wants to lock me away, it will be for a death I caused. And then they will still have to prove it was me, because I am not likely to leave any witnesses..."

She shot a glance at the other men in the room as she forced the boy to his knees. Her eyes were still covered in a strip of cloth. She did not need everyone to see her damaged face. But the vile intent that spewed out with her words was clear. She would not leave them alive if they tried to stop her.

[Haikan]

When Callara reached out her hand to the boy, her vision faded away, but she could hear what sounded like a snapping chain and a reasonably loud boom coming from Ronny's location. The boy yelped as he struck the wall behind him, confused and afraid. Despite her skill, it seemed her grip on the boy was broken almost the second she established it, and the temperature in the room increased by about ten degrees.

"Callara, what are you talking about?"

As Callara's aethervision naturally started to resume, she could see the silhouette of Ronny coughing and rising to his feet.

"Y-you don't understand... If you weren't wearing that p-pendant when they came, you'd be a corpse for sure! What was... What was I supposed to do, let them kill you?" Ronny didn't know that Callara wanted to murder him, although he did assume she was irritated. Mostly he was worried about her safety.

Jeet-Belan raised an eyebrow at Callara's outburst. "What is the meaning of this, Callara? Is something seriously wrong with you?"

[Callara]

Callara's attention turned to Jeet-Belan. For some reason she could not maintain a hold over the boy. More over, his emotions betrayed a genuine concern for her well being, something words might veil but auras could never conceal. Perhaps she had been rash to judge the situation. It would not have been the first time.

She lowered her hand slowly and stepped closer to Jeet.

"Oh, let's see...Your boss...your FORMER boss...tries to mess with my mind and nearly gets me killed. I end up with no memories of the event or anything else for that matter and wander around like a frightened mindless zombie for a day, wondering what the Nether is wrong with me. Then this little fiend shows up out of the blue, only to leave me a mark later, covered in blood and completely dislocated. And WHERE do I find him? In a chair in YOUR office. And you ask me if there is anything seriously wrong with me? I would damn well say there is something seriously wrong with me!"

She latched on to Jeet's essence this time, her grip focusing on his heart this time, her eyes trained on his while she gripped onto the flow of blood pumping through the chambers of the muscle that kept him alive.

"You have exactly one burn to tell me what the Nether is going on here, or I will make sure you will never speak again!"

She relinquished her hold on him somewhat.

"So talk."