"Oh, would you rather I paint a smile on my face? Or did you have something else in mind?" Wednesday asks as he moves to lift up the grate.
"Fear of actually living is about as spineless as it gets." Amira comments, not quite hiding her smile at Cassandra's comments. "Something other than an animal snarl would be useful if you plan on interacting with actual people." she says before nodding in response to Cassandra's readiness to jump down into the sewers.
"I'm not afraid of living, I'm tired of it." Wednesday says defeatedly. "And I can be perfectly amicable with people that I don't hate."
"That's enough," Terri says in a cold flat tone that sounds sounds almost bizarre coming from her voice, "We don't need to be at each other's throats, not now." The young priestess looks over Amira, Cassandra, and Wednesday. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
"Wednesday, will you stop lying to yourself and the rest of us. There's something inside of you that's eating away at you. You keep bottling that up, and it's destroying you," she says gently, almost pleadingly, "please. Tell us what has you hurting so much. It's painful to watch someone with so much bitterness rip himself to pieces."
Wednesday arches a brow as the petite priestess scolds him. "I think I've been doing the exact opposite of bottling things up regarding Croft. Other than that... well, there's plenty actually. I wouldn't know where to begin."
"It's not just how you feel about Croft that worries me," she says in that same gentle tone, "why not start from the beginning? That tends to be as good of a place as any."
Wednesday sighs and begins to scratch the back of his head. "That'll be a longass story... okay... well first f&%+ up, I was born. In Ustalav. I had a sister.... had..." he grumbles before trailing off.
"This is what I'm talking about, Wednesday. Wounds don't heal if you let them fester, and that infection is poisoning you and the relationships you have," Terri says sadly.
Sighing he just rolls his shoulders. "Kay... I had a sister... her name was Tuesday, cause she was born before me, because when the first Dauds got together under the Tyrant they decided we didn't need much in the way of individuality and took every name of each Daud that came after out of a book. Names, more like titles. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Sounds like something out of a rhyme or some country's days of the week."
Stopping for a moment he shrugs. "I don't feel one way or the other about my name, but I guess it's still better than simply being Daud #23,465.
Terri's lips thin as Wednesday reveals a horrible little slice of his family's history.
"What about your sister? What happened to her?"
Wednesday looks down at the ground as Terri mentions his sister. "Tuez... her name, my sister's name was Tuesday but I called her Tuez. I would call her Tuez and she would call me Wendy. It's what we would call each other. It's what we did. Me and my sister. Me and Tuesday."
"Well, as you would think she wasn't too fond of he idea of being a personal guard for something that should have stayed in its grave or being a hydra hunter all her life so she decided she wanted to leave. She had heard of these people called Pathfinders and how they go and explore the world and how they're heroic and also help people and have a lot of fun."
As he talks a warm smile forms across his face "She wanted to explore, to see everything. She would have helped people. She would have been a hero. Tuez was a good person. My sister was a good person. She was a good person. Like all of you, she wasn't like me, she was a good person. She could have been a hero, she was a hero. She was a good person. My sister was a good person."
"But..." he stops and his smile slips away as his finger starts to twitch.
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Tolenn looks down the now dimly illuminated shaft, her face thoughtful. Turning at Terri's arrival, she smiles brightly at the cleric's timely arrival.
A small furrow mars her forehead when the jibes begin anew, with Wednesday parrying verbal ripostes, but that clears when Terri steps to the fore and calms the waters.
"Ah, that was well done, Terri. Tolenn thinks, shifting in her crouch to watch, "Open up, Wednesday, share the pain you carry."
Nodding slightly as Wednesay does just that, revealing somethings he hadn't even told her, she rises and comes up behind Wednesday, laying her hands on his shoulders, "Carry on , Wednesday, we're listening...." she says softly.
Victor stood back and said nothing. If opening up to them would help Wednesday be rid of some the venom and bitterness that at times ruled his mood; then he would gladly listen to him vent...of course that didn't mean he was any less upset with the man, those feelings would take time to change.
Wednesday involuntarily tensed at Tolenn's touch, but her voice voice and touch soon soothed that out of him. The words were hard, and talking about them weren't making them easier, just letting them escape easier.
"But," he snarls out, "we had a rule. One. Rule. They gave us one rule. That's all. One. Rule."
His hands curled into fists, his fingers digging into his palm. "For a Daud to leave Ustalav, they had to leave a Daud in Ustalav. That was the rule. The only rule. We were all held to it, no exceptions. No. Exceptions."
"Well, as you can guess, not a lot of people liked that rule. Especially not Tuez. But not everyone wanted to leave Ustalav. But Tuez did, she talked about leaving all the time. So she did. She woke me up one night and took me to the front door and gave me a hug. She hugged me for a long time, saying not to follow her right now and that she would write to me and tell me about all the wonderful places she been and all the different people she had met. She hoped that when I got older I might want to leave and she would love for me to come to Absalom so I could be a Pathfinder too and we could explore and have fun again. I believed her."
"She finally let me go, smiling down at me, she even had a few tears running down her face. But she was smiling. She was happy. And then she was gone."
Wednesday smiled himself, remembering everything exactly as it was that night long ago as his older sister set out on a life of happiness and adventure. But then it stopped. Everything. His smile faded, his gaze unfocused, his hands and fingers hanging listlessly. "She was back a week later. She didn't say anything to anyone, she didn't even hug me, or answer me back when I asked her what it was like being a Pathfinder. She just opened the door, came in, walked up to her room, and shut the door."
Amira shares a glance with Cassandra. She could tell when a sift in the story had arrived, and she could see in Wednesday's body language that it was bad. Not that whatever he said would excuse his choice to be a dick to everyone. She'd seen countless people go through the worst kind of hell, and they either chose to become what they did and blamed it on circumstance, or chose what they became despite them, but at least it might explain the source of the dark toxic rage that poisoned the man's soul.
"She... wouldn't come out..." he starts up again, his voice monotone. "No matter who knocked on the door she wouldn't come out, she wouldn't talk to anyone, not even me. But I could hear her crying, every night. If anyone tried to say anything or tried to get in she'd stop. But she still didn't let anyone in. I spent a lot of nights sleeping at her door, telling her that no matter whatever happened things were going to be alright. That I was there for her. I didn't know what had happened, and I didn't care. I just wanted to see my sister again. To see her smile."
"Our parents knew what happened. Our other siblings knew. But I didn't. And they wouldn't tell me. But they knew. They would sneer..." his voice suddenly cracks as his shoulders start to heave. The tiniest streams of blood starting to pour from his eyes and ears.
Snarling, he continued. "And then one night there was crying, like the others, but then there was silence. A quick silence. And then there was a loud thump-" Wednesday winced at the word, "and everyone in the house tried to go see her. They didn't let the door stop them this time, they broke through it, she had pushed her bed up to block it. And then there was screaming, lots of screaming. I was scared, but I managed to see a bit when they brought her out."
"There was a rope around her neck they tossed on the floor. They carried her away, kicking and screaming and then that's when I saw it. There was a rope on the floor, and the rest attached to the ceiling... but it hadn't snapped. It was cut. It. Was. Cut."
Breathing heavily his whole body was shaking as he growled out what he saw next. "Someone cut it. Whoever did this to her cut it. I didn't know it at the time but I knew something was wrong. Something was really wrong. Her bed had been pushed up against the door, but her dresser had been moved up against the window. Had been. It wasn't all the way up against it, and so I went and looked, I don't know why, I guess I just had to make my mind focus on anything other than what was happening. The window was closed, but it wasn't latched. And outside. Outside. I saw something. Even though it was night. I saw a cloud. Or maybe a bit of fog, just... there. Floating all by itself next to the tree line."
"Those bastards took everything from her, her life, her freedom, even her choice. They wouldn't even let her die. They took my sister from me. From herself."
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Cassandra frowns, listening to the story. Misery and anger, all wrapped up together. Death and rejection. Such horrible things.
"I'll just scout the bottom of the tunnel a bit." she mutters, not wanting to listen to more. It feels wrong, intruding on a private moment like this.
And she's just not good with this sort of thing.
Cassandra leaps down into the tunnel.
Hearing Cassandra safely jump down the tunnel Wednesday raises his hands to clutch his head. "I'm sorry. None of you want to hear this." he says weakly to no-one in particular.
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As Terri listens, her expression turns from a sad, pleading frown to one of horror, then to rage as Wednesday story rolled over like a merciless storm. Her hands shake as she holds her glaive, the sound of creaking leather coming from her gloved hands as they wring the haft of her weapon.
"And what became of Tuez after that Wendy," she asks in a soft, flat voice, refusing to call him by the name picked to dehumanize him. "What did they do to her?"
Green eyes shimmer, but they are at Wednesday's feet, unable to rise to meet his eyes. She remembered the rage and pain she'd felt when they'd announced Trinia's execution, and she couldn't forgive herself for now for having judged him as harshly as she had.
Letting his hands fall he looks over at Terri, a sorta half-smile on his face. "Wendy... that's what my sister would call me. That's what Tuez called me."
He was genuinely surprised that anyone would ever call him that again. Losing that smile he simply stared off past the priestess into nothing.
"Well, they couldn't very leave her to herself now afterwards so they ended up tying her down to a bed in one of the bigger rooms. They really didn't need to, after she failed to... she just... gave up. She wouldn't talk to anyone, or even acknowledge if anyone was with her. They had to force her to eat and drink, that always made a mess."
"There was always someone with her now, except me. They wouldn't let me near her, they thought I might try to free her. They were right. But I didn't get the chance. They wouldn't let me."
"My sister was back, but she wasn't. She was so close, and impossibly far away. I couldn't hug her, or tell her I was there. All I could do was watch as she laid there, staring off at the wall as her belly got bigger day after day."
Wednesday chuckles, hollow, empty, dead. "I was a kid, I thought she was just getting fat from lying around doing nothing but eating. I was just a kid, that's what I thought. Just a stupid kid. If I asked someone they wouldn't say anything, or they'd agree with me and say she was just being lazy. But they all smirked. They all knew. They knew and they smirked."
"And then one day there was screaming and lots of people coming and going out of the house and they made me leave too. Even though she was screaming they made me stay outside the house, telling me everything was okay and something wonderful was about to happen. I didn't believe them. I tried to go back in. I tried. I promise I tried. But they wouldn't let me. Even when I kicked or punched or bit or screamed they still held me and kept me from going in. I promise, I tried, but I was just a stupid kid."
"And then just like that it was over. Everybody was happy and cheering and celebrating. And they let me go, they didn't even try to keep me away from her now. I walked in and saw her, she didn't look very good, and her stomach wasn't as big, and there was blood and everything was wet..." he rambles on in one motion before abruptly stopping.
"I didn't know what to do, I was just standing there, and she was just laying there, and then she said my name."
He smiled for a moment. "I was happy, she was still there, she was talking again, she said my name. I looked around the room and I saw a tray with all sorts of things on it, including a scalpel. Of course, to a stupid kid it was just a small knife, but I knew what it was so I took it and I started cutting her bindings."
As he talked he began to tremble. "The whole time I was cutting I was trying to tell her I was there, that everything was going to be okay now. That I was gonna set her free and she could leave and take me with her and we could be Pathfinders. I was gonna be a hero like she was, I was gonna set her free and she was gonna be happy with me."
The tears sped up, coating most of his face in red. The blood even started to leak from his ears. "The whole time she kept saying my name and 'please', over and over. She didn't even say anything else when I was talking to her, even when I got the last restraint off her arm. The whole time she just looked at me."
"When I was done I tried to get her to move, I even held my arms up to try to get her to hold me, so I could hold her. But she didn't. I was smiling and holding my arms out and she didn't move."
"But finally, she looked me in the eyes, they didn't really look like her eyes but they were her eyes, and she smiled, and she asked me 'Did I still want to help people? By being a doctor?'"
"I was happy, at first, she was talking with me, and smiling at me, and she remembered what we talked about all those months ago. I was just a stupid kid. I just said 'Yeah! Doctors help people by cutting them instead of using magic.' I was so happy. She was talking to me. And smiling. And I was helping her. But she didn't get up. All she said was 'Please, help me'."
He stopped talking, stopped shaking as his body went limp. "And then that's when I realized, even being a stupid little kid, what she wanted me to do. I wanted to help her, I really did, but I couldn't do that. Why couldn't she just hug me? Everything was going to be okay now. She said 'Please' again and I just started crying. I couldn't help her. I couldn't save her."
"She apologized, she thanked me for being brave, she thanked me, she said everything was okay. And then she took the knife from me."
"And then she was gone." it takes everything he has to force those words out.
"She was gone. Just gone. I just wanted her to hug me, but she wasn't going to. No matter what I said, or did, she was gone. I started wailing, begging her to come back, but she wasn't. So I... I crawled into bed with her and held onto her. I told her I would keep her safe, I promised her. She didn't have to worry anymore. Everything was okay now."
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Unable to listen to anymore, Amira jumps down after Cassandra, the tears welling up in her eyes blurring her vision, making her movements far less agile than usual, albeit skillful enough.
'How could he hate @#$%ing everything after that?' she thinks wiping her eyes and moving forward taking comfort in Cass' presence.
As Wednesday unpacks the circumstances that burden his life and outlook, Cassandra is the first to drop into the tunnel. It is damp but not a main channel for the flow of refuse - most likely a means of providing access for maintenance. The susurrus of the main sewer flow can be heard from one direction, the other leads a short distance to a sharp turn. And though it is dim, it appears that a little bit of light can be seen in that direction.
Amira shortly joins her.
Meanwhile, in the cellar, Costa the proprietor looks from one member of the assemblage to another as if unsure all of this fairly intimate discussion is happening in front of him...
"Sounds like everyone could use a pot of tea. Why don't I make some?" Costa chimes in and excuses himself. "Everything's better with tea and biscuits," he can be heard to say as he climbs the stairs out of the cellar.
Cassandra picks up the glowing pebble and looks in the direction of the faint light.
"I'm thinking that way. You know, away from the flow of s%*+."
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By the end of it, Terri can barely see as the tears stream down her face. She hadn't been through what he had, but she had plenty of imagination, and had seen more than one person so utterly broken they only wanted to die. Her glaive falls with a clatter, and before anyone, especially Wednesday, can stop her, she's wrapped her arms around him and is tightening her grip in a fierce hug. She is far from the strongest in the group, but there is something beneath the kindness and compassion of the moment. A something born out of the empathy she feels for anyone, and especially the friendship, as rocky as it has been, she feels for Wednesday.
She finally lets go, tear-brimmed eyes looking up into his tear-streaked face, and Wednesday could finally see it. The implacable rage that had first burned when Trinia was doomed to die burns now in the depths of those green eyes like emerald fires. It was pure, that rage, like the cleansing fires of a forge. She is tensed like a spring ready to snap, and for a moment, she tries to say something, but can't. Her shoulders rise as she takes in a deep breath, then fall as she lets it out. The rage receded, no gone, but less hot, less likely to consume the young priestess.
"I am... I am here for you," she says in a choked voice, rasping with the effort it took to keep herself under control, "No matter what, I am here for you, Wendy, as your friend."
She hugs him again, less fiercely this time, but no less caring.
The first time she hugged him he didn't say or do anything, the events of his childhood still running through his mind over and over. When she starts to talk though his eye twitches as he focuses on her as she hugs him again.
"... thank you D... Terri. Thank you." he weakly says as he wraps his arms around her.
"Yeah, that sounds likely." Amira says looking down the tunnel. Whispering a brief chant an a language older than the stones the sewer was carved from, her eyes and ears sharpen, her heightened awareness allowing her to take in more."I definitely hope so considering I just boosted my sense of smell too."
With another whispered phrase, her entire body resonantes with the city itself, immediately gaining her bearings and feeling the pull of true North.
Tolenn gently removes her hands from Wednesay's shoulders as Terri envelops him in an enoumous hug.
She smiles involuntarily as the priest hugs him a second time, before turning and looking down the tunnel at the two below, "Don't get too far ahead, you two." she calls down.
At the reminder of why they are actually here, Terri has the good grace to blush.
"I guess I need to work on my timing," she says meekly around a sheepish grin as she looks at Tolenn.
Calming, somewhat, Wednesday finally releases Terri. "No, you're fine, this is my fault. I've held us up too long."
"We won't." Amira calls back.
Reaching into a pouch on her belt she draws out an elegant wand with a stylized grip similar to that front on a hand crossbow. "Oh Cass, I got you this." she says handing her partner the brand new wand. "It's fully charges with the Acid arrow spell. That way no need to get in close when there, bastards that need dropping." she says with a wink.
"And it isn't even my birthday." Cassandra says as she accepts the wand. She slides it through a loop on her belt.
Cass leans in and kisses Amira gently.
"Thank you."
Terri drops down into the sewer while Cass and Amira share a moment. She looks around after casting a spell of light on her holy symbol.
"So, which way do we go?"
Leaning into the kiss, Amira rests her hand on the small of Cass’ back, enjoying the moment. ”You’re welcome.” she says with a smile. ”You know, I love taking care of you.”
Looking up as Terri drops down, she glances back down the tunnel
"Need some help getting down?" Wednesday asks the armored Paladin as he looks down the hole.
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Tolenn looks down the hole at Wednesay's side, "It might be a good idea to secure a rope, both for the getting down and the getting back up."
She pulls her rope out of her pack and secures it to something heavy, then gets ready to descend, when she catches Wednesday's eye, "What you did here, Wednesday, was very brave...but needed I think. These people care about you, as do I. But they haven't had the benefit of our private talks, the only saw the outside Wednesday and not the turmoil within. It was a good thing..." she ends , a bit uncertain , "I was wondering, would you rather I called you Wendy?"
Between Cassandra's understanding of the sewer system's construction and layout and Amira's knowledge of the city and bearings, they group has a pretty good idea of where they are within the system. The tunnel they are in provides access for maintenance. The area away from the main channels - the area from which the faint light can be seen - is typically used for storage of tools and other gear for dealing with the otyughs that are known to wander about the sewers, hastening the breakdown of, ahem, organic material. Chambers like it dot the sewers and are usually constructed as dead ends. A number of ways were once built to access them, but with changes in the city's population and construction, a number of these points have fallen into disuse and been forgotten.
To Amira's acute senses, it appears that someone has been using this accessway fairly recently. There's a lot of signs of activity beneath the grate, footprints, drops of blood...
And up the passage, the light goes out and a faint odor of smoke from an extinguished candle can shortly be smelled.
"They know we're here,"Terri whispers as she thinks over her spells, "Let me see if we can talk to them and avoid a fight."
Terri walks towards where the light had gone out and calls out in a soft voice.
"Hello, we're not here to harm you. we just wanted to find out what is going on here. Are you hurt? Do you need help," she asks.
Getting ready to follow Tolenn down he stops and dons a sorta-smile as she talks to him. Hearing himself being referred to by that name put him on edge, but it also comforted him. "Thank you. And you could, if you want to. It's what Tuez called me."
Sharing a look with Cassandra that makes it clear how likely she thinks Terri's plan is to work, Amira draws her starknife, moving forward to place herself between her partner and anything that might come charging down the tunnel in response.
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"... wow." Cassandra says, shaking her head. "Good thing she's cute."
She begins hopping up and down in place, as if she's skipping an imaginary rope.
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Tolenn nods, then gives Wednesday's shoulder a squeeze, before grabbing hold of the rope and making her way down.
She makes her way to where the others were standing, asking quietly, "What is Terri doing?"
"Introducing herself to whatever's about to try to kill us." Amira says under her breath, just loud enough for Tolenn to catch it.
Offering Tolenn a relieved smile Wednesday watches as the Paladin descends before following after.
Catching up with the others he just shrugs. "Down here, neh? It's probably just some goblins or an Otyugh."
"Last I checked Otyugh's didn't carry light and snuff them out when they heard someone coming."
"Could just be lightin up."