No Mercy Twice
[13:04:14] Crow (melchior.wardell) settled and simply observed and listens. He knew that Vesper as much as himself hardly ever repeated themselves and after the scene in Teletus he doubted Vesper was in the mood to be challenged. Surely now Betram did not seem to be where they both hoped to find him. The riddle of the missing tharlarions grew bigger by the ihn. “Again that is not the full story … now … you have been warned.” he simply stated as he would tip his head to Helga and ordered himself a milk.
[13:08:25] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) nodded slowly as Crow spoke. He had spent a good portion of the last 600 years watching how Crow worked. He’d been trained well by the man. He didn’t speak again….that was his first mercy given to the girl. Those who knew him best understand that a single mercy was never repeated twice. His eyes bore into her deeply as his fingers started to run a one two three four rhythm upon his fan.
[13:12:48] KeDjA (lilli.breda) lifts her head slightly when Crow’s voice rings out. Her eyes sparkle for a moment because he’s meddling again, making sure the situation could become even more unpleasant for her. As if he were enjoying it. She just couldn’t figure this man out. Cornered, she begins to interlace her fingers and turns her attention back to Vesper, who simply looks at her and remains silent. A few heartbeats pass before she continues hesitantly, “I’ve probably gone too far into the forest. The panthers… one of their arrows hit me.” It was stupid. She knew it herself. And that was probably why she’d simply wanted to keep quiet about it and had treated the wound herself as best she could. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any pants, so she couldn’t hide the bandage. Next time, she’ll just steal a pair of Crow’s pants. So.
[13:16:29] Crow (melchior.wardell) had received his milk when he listens to Kedja’s story. “Seems these panther girls are blindfolded and shoot randomly.” he stated. “Why aim on the knees ?” he pondered. He would take a good gulp of his milk. “So you only looked at it ? Did it penetrate ?” he asks matter of factly. The tone of his voice held little care although his questions could indicate otherwise. “If it did we might need to find a physician to look into it. Such wounds could fester and who might make me my black wine then ?”
[13:21:07] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) felt the pull happen and he looked out the door and just caught a flash of black and purple moving past. As Kedja finally replied, his hand moved from the fan. He spun in his tracks and he went to sit down next to Crow, “It’s good to know that those old stories still have weight…” he said of not having to repeat himself. “…I don’t like having to pay compensation needlessly.”
[13:21:35] Helga: Heya adventurer! The Inn is truly the best place to stay. Going further … I can’t say I ever saw someone return.
[13:23:45] KeDjA (lilli.breda) presses her lips together. “It’s just a small cut. There’s no need for a physician, and even if there were, you’d surely find a slave to prepare some black wine for you, Master.” Her green eyes darken slightly. It wasn’t that she considered herself irreplaceable. No, quite the opposite. It was the way he spoke that irritated her. Of course. Fire and oil. Although sometimes he acted like a bucket of cold water. Vesper’s insinuation makes her shudder briefly, and she has to pull herself together not to take a step back. She shifts her bare feet slightly, as if to keep herself rooted in place until he moves away from her. Only then do her shoulders drop again.
[13:27:36] Crow (melchior.wardell) nodded thoughtfully to Vesper. The man was right. The threat was often enough for others to fall in line. Although some might still be foolish enough to try. “Show me.” he commands the girl as he pointed beside him. “As you have been untruthful at the beginning it being nothing … and now it is already a cut.” he stated leaving nothing to guess as to his annoyance of it. “Why is it so difficult to be direct and speak your mind?” he muttured. “One moment she is all flash and fire and the next she tries to hide behind a tree and tries to convince us that she is merely its shadow.”
[13:32:40] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) looked over at Helga and ordered “Black wine and bread” before pointing in front of him, He had watched Kedja long enough now to make an assessment, but he did not speak it just yet. His eyes just continued to watch her to see if what she did next, whether it fit with the pattern.
[13:34:38] KeDjA (lilli.breda) snorts lightly, “because with you, you never know what you’re allowed to say… Master,” pausing briefly before the title. She always does that when anger starts to well up inside her. Of course, she could have told him everything right away, but everyone who knows her knows that she doesn’t take herself seriously enough. Not even when she’s hurt. It wasn’t anything dramatic; she won’t die from it—at least, that’s what the writer hopes—so she plays it down. And besides, it made her uncomfortable. Still, she gets moving. Maybe because of the threat earlier, maybe because of the anger in his voice. Or because she is a moth and he is the light. She plops down on her butt next to the bench so he can see her left leg.
[13:41:21] Crow (melchior.wardell) had not seen her limping so knew that nothing vital had been harmed, but still a wound by an arrow could become something lethal if not well cared for. “Well that is my propagative.” he commented as to why he could say and demand what he wishes. If the bond thought life was fair than she was surely mistaken, but if she thought it was fair for him – she too had it wrong. His hand although capable of murder could be tender and caring as he would slowly undo the bandages she had binded over her knee. Slowly revealing the wound that seemed indeed to be a minor cut. But still one he wished to clean “Helga can you bring me a bowl of fresh water and some fresh bandages ? Surely the inn has some kind of supply.” he suggested. He didn’t want to use his own as he was already in need for some supplies himself. These damned panther girls had been a pain in his arse too. “So … ” he started to assess. “I think you will live. ” he stated. “But it needs to be cleaned.” he stated. The blood on the bandage thankfully
old. There was no need for black pepper or anything to stop the bleeding. “So … that scroll … what can you tell us about it without of course messing with confidentiality. ” It was not meant to surpass that but there was a concern when it came to the Innkeeper. She was difficult but a woman with purpose.
[13:47:10] Helga: pauses, her heavy wooden tray tucked firmly under one massive arm. She wipes her brow with the back of a calloused hand, her piercing northern eyes darting between Crow and Vesper. A heavy, grim silence hangs over her for a moment before she sighs, the sound like a gust of wind through winter pines. “Water and bandages? Aye, I can fetch those.” she says, her voice a low, gravelly rumble. “But standard linen won’t mend the kind of stupidity that drives folk into those woods. I warned you. The trees have eyes, and they don’t belong to men.” She turns her stern gaze toward Vesper, planting her free hand heavily on her hip. “Bread I have. Fresh from the hearth. But black wine?” She lets out a dark, humorless scoff. “If you’re planning on bleeding out because you didn’t listen to an old woman’s warning, you’ll do it sober on my floor. Strong ale is what you’ll get to dull the pain, or nothing at all.” She leans in a bit closer, her shadow looming over your table. Her voice drops to a harsh whisper. “I heard what you said, bond. Shot by a panther girl, was it? If the forest-kin are hunting this close to the timberline, a bandage isn’t going to save any of us.” With a sharp nod, she turns on her heel, her heavy boots thudding against the floorboards as she heads toward the kitchen.
[13:51:26] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) pulled off his helm and set it to the side. He then watched as Helga gave her surly northern reply, “And I was so bloody charming as well.” came his own deluded reply. “I could have stuck a knife in the center of the table and demanded it….but no….I guess I am no longer dangerous enough to warrant black wine.”
[13:52:56] KeDjA (lilli.breda) tried to block out and ignore his touch as his hands loosened the bandage. Her eyes looked past him, as if that would help her avoid being haunted by memories. She was clearly struggling to stay calm. The innkeeper’s assistant brought a small bowl of water and a few fresh bandages, which were, of course, readily available here. Namika, after all, had often been out in the woods herself after dark, and the blacksmith… well, when he saw a pretty woman, he was prone to dropping his hammer on his toe. She grumbled softly when she was told she’d survived and muttered, “Thanks be to Odin.” She tried to ignore the woman’s warnings just as much as she did Crow’s touch. She’d better focus on other things. Like the scroll: “I don’t know what’s in it. The seal is the mark of a scribe. From Kassau”—that was all the information she had. Vesper’s words, however, brought a brief smile to her lips and caused her anger to dissipate—an anger that, admittedly, had been simmering only slightly within her.
[13:56:26] Crow (melchior.wardell) started to clean the wound with care and focus. He heard Helga and perked up. “Helga, I am not sure what the Innkeeper told you. But it might be wise to keep a different tone with men like us. ” he casually warned. The words he seemed to drift in the air and already held on to some kind of devilish promise. As he continued to clean he would study the bond as to see if she was in pain and to ensure the wound didn’t show any abnormalities that needed more attention. “Will you talk to Ori when he shows himself and let him see this just to be certain.” he knew the clansman skilled in his craft.
[14:01:18] Helga: looks at Vesper first, snorting loudly at his comment about the knife. “Dangerous? You think sticking a piece of iron in my table makes you dangerous, southron?” she rumbles, her voice carrying easily over the chatter of the inn. “I’ve broken the noses of men twice your size for scratching my wood. If you want black wine, earn a black eye first. At least you made the girl smile—Odin knows she looks like she’s already halfway to Valhalla.” Her amusement vanishes instantly as she shifts her gaze to Crow. Her jaw sets, and those piercing northern eyes narrow into hard chips of ice at his ‘casual warning.’ She steps back toward the table, her looming presence casting a long shadow over his medic work. “A different tone?” Helga scoffs, leaning down slightly so Crow can smell the stale ale and hearth-smoke on her breath. “Listen to me, boy. I don’t care if you carry a devil’s promise in your pocket or a horde at your back. In this inn, under this roof, you’re just another bleeding mouth taking up space. You want to threaten me? Do it when you’re not begging for my clean linen to keep your bond from leaking all over my floor.” She straightens up, letting out a sharp, dismissive breath, though her eyes linger on Kedja’s wound for a second with genuine, grim concern. he glares pointedly at Crow, then at Vesper. “…keep your knives in your sheaths and your tongues behind your teeth. I’ll get your bread and black wine.”With a final, heavy snort, she turns her back on them, completely unfazed, and thuds off toward the kitchen.
[14:04:49] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) had thought often on the promise of Ori to stabilize his personalities into some cohesive amalgamation and the words of Crow on the man brought that to the fore. He would turn to Crow and say, “Do you trust Ori to attend to matters of the mind….not just the body?” he inquired of the Killer. But as Helga returned and gave them both a fierce tongue lashing he just looked at her, then looked at Crow, and then at the backside of Helga before saying, “Since Randy is taking a poll, should we send her reply to him by messenger?” It was stated with dry wit and little fanfare.
[14:06:28] KeDjA (lilli.breda) blinks slightly as Crow begins to lecture Helga. Even now, when it doesn’t concern her, his tone triggers that knot in her stomach. The northern woman, however, isn’t intimidated and makes Kedja chuckle briefly. “Oh, that sounds just like home,” she murmurs, trying to pull her leg back a bit before Crow has finished speaking. “It’s fine, Master,” she says quietly, as if she’s uncomfortable with him looking out for her. When he brings Ori into the conversation, she lifts her head and looks at him almost pleadingly. “Oh, do I have to?”
[14:12:14] Crow (melchior.wardell) was for a moment totally flabberghasted by the reply of the woman. Surely if she was by her right mind she would have taken heed of her words. He would let go of Kedja’s knee slowly as he would reach for his dagger slowly. The motion itself seemed to be considered and thoughtful. If one knew what he was capable off that would be a warning enough. He never drew steel unless it truly was meant to speak volumes when words hardly mattered. He could smell the alcohol on her breath as his eyes narrow. Before she was able to head to the kitchen, He called her back. His voice this slithering serpent – a serious warning to watch her tongue. “Your words might be designed to intimidate. But they do not.” he spoke dead serious and every word was given enough air with that natural dominance and authority. “You apoligize right now and do as told. And never dare to speak to me in this manner again.” the dagger glinted in the light of the Inn. He would strike if she dared to come up with another insult.
[14:17:10] Helga: stops dead in her tracks. She doesn’t flinch. She doesn’t gasp. Slow as a glacier, she turns her massive frame back around. Her eyes look down at the glinting steel in Crow’s hand, then slowly drift up to meet his gaze, dead-on. The casual, surly attitude vanishes, replaced by the terrifying, cold stillness of a northern winter. For a woman who handles rowdy blacksmiths, drunk mercenaries, and the constant threat of the woods, a drawn knife isn’t a surprise—it’s a declaration. She leans forward, bringing her chest almost within an inch of the dagger’s point, utterly daring him to drive it home. “Apologize?” she whispers, her voice no longer a rumble, but a low, dangerous hiss that carries an terrifying amount of weight. “To a boy playing with a toothpick in a house that isn’t his?” She slowly lifts her right hand—the one not holding the tray—and reveals a thick, iron-headed meat cleaver tucked into the heavy leather apron at her waist. She doesn’t draw it, but her hand rests on the handle with practiced ease. “You listen to me, ‘master’,” she says, spitting the title like a curse, her eyes locked onto Crow’s with absolute defiance. “You think that little blade makes you a king? I’ve seen men like you bleed out in the dirt over a bowl of cold turnip soup. You come into my town, begging for my help for your broken girl, and you think you can order me around like a dog under your table?” She glares at the dagger, then looks Crow dead in the eye, her jaw rigid. She doesn’t back down an inch. She stands there, a towering wall of northern iron, waiting to see if he’s actually going to use the steel he drew.
[14:20:40] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) watched Crow pull out the blade and his eyes did not flash, nor react. It was as if he had expected that reaction from the Caste Master all along. Nor did his eyes find surprise at the revelation of a meat cleaver. He’d seen many a northern woman like this in his travels and this was when the Killer was at his most deadly, Although his hand moved toward his many quiva on his thigh, his voice never moved above a whisper, “Helga, will you marry me in the Spring….if you live through the night that is.”
[14:21:08] KeDjA (lilli.breda) tenses up immediately as Crow draws the dagger and picks up the used bandage. She now deliberately avoids his gaze as he focuses on Helga. She doesn’t want to see it—and above all, she doesn’t want to hear it. That energetic, calm, yet cold voice would normally make her throw herself at his feet. She casts a pleading glance at Vesper, knowing full well that he won’t intervene. But it’s worth a try. Her voice is soft as she tells him, “I’m going to check again to see if the innkeeper is finally here, Master.” With those words, she hurries out of the dining room and disappears
[14:28:28] Crow (melchior.wardell) was not a fool. He never underestimated women. Even now he had reasoned and calculated the odds. Just as his captain he warned only once. He knew the law and knew that within the Inn there was only the matter of steel. As she presented herself closer to his knife he simply struck. Cold as ice without any reservation. Plunging the knife right there were it would give her a reasonable quick end if he had aimed correctly. He was an assassin and a master in his craft. He did not make empty promises and did not feel that the comparison she had thrown in his face were reasonable or to be true. There was perhaps also this other reason to ensure that those in the proximity of the Inn learned soon and quick that when it came to who reigned it was steel and their gold. He didn’t speak to her. Nor did he wish to be King of the castle. He wished to be met with respect and understanding of what they could bring. With deadly precision he would attempt to end what he had begun. The cleaver was noted and his pose had moved in such a manner that the area she could struck if she managed was very little or to not much harm. “We never repeat ourselves, Captain.” he stated.
[14:32:47] Helga: ‘s massive frame and her momentum leaning forward, Crow’s calculated thrust finds its mark, forcing a wet, strangled gasp from her lungs. The wooden tray slips from her grip, clattering loudly to the floorboards as bread rolls and a pitcher clatter across the wood. But Helga is a daughter of the north, built of sterner stuff than the soft targets of the south. As the cold steel drives into her, her survival instinct overrides everything. She doesn’t drop instantly. With a roar of pure, feral agony and rage, her hand pulls the heavy meat cleaver from her apron. She can’t manage a full, clean swing because of how Crow smartly shifted his posture to minimize his profile, but she throws the sheer weight of her failing body and the iron cleaver forward in a desperate, spiteful counter-attack. Her voice is a ragged, wet wheeze, blood bubbling at the corner of her mouth as she glares at Crow through a haze of sudden, blinding pain. She completely ignores Vesper’s morbid marriage proposal, her entire universe narrowing down to the man who just murdered her. “Curse… you… southron… toad…” she chokes out, the words thick and wet. With her remaining strength, she drives the meat cleaver downward toward Crow’s shifted stance—aiming not for a elegant kill, but simply trying to take whatever piece of him she can reach, whether it’s a shoulder, a thigh, or an arm, wishing to drag him down to the grave with her. “Odin… take… you…” Her legs give out. The sheer weight of her body pulls her off Crow’s embedded dagger, and she crashes heavily against the edge of the wooden table, splintering the bench before hitting the floorboards in a massive, heaving heap. Blood pools rapidly around her leather apron. She twitches once, her fingers loosening their grip on the cleaver, her fierce northern eyes finally glassing over under the dim light of the inn. The common room goes dead, horrifyingly silent, save for the sound of her blood dripping through the cracks in the floorboards.
[14:45:14] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) watched what occurred with a quick detachment of emotions. The words he uttered of the Spring proposal having the designed intent…to distract just that slight amount to create confusion so that the Caste Master could make his kill. He knew without a doubt what would happen the ihn that Crow drew his weapon. The woman was foolish enough to test it. He’d been at the man’s side far too long to even question what happened after that Killer drew steel…the apology would happen or it would be used. His quiva was drawn as he stood and he moved swiftly to the back of the woman’s body. There would be no doubt of her recovery. The quiva was plunged swiftly into the medulla oblongata, the core regulator of vascular circulation and respiration. He twisted the blade at a 45 degree angle and then moved upward and to the right so that the entire region was severed and rendered completely inviable to life. He pulled the quiva out and then cleaned both sides of the blades swiftly by making what resembled a dagger pattern in blood on her back just below the cut made. “Yes, that is correct, we do not repeat ourselves twice. There is black wine in the camp….shall we?”
[14:50:53] Crow (melchior.wardell) had calculated her counter attack. He had not been foolish nor stupid to see that she a firm woman could bring him out of balance if she used her body. The actions of Vesper helping him so the cleaver would only scrape over his thigh. The impact one that he had endured far worse before. There was not a word uttered. A warning of the stain of blood upon the floor. “Let some of the lads (NPC) clean this up.” he stated to his captain. There was a moment of reflection as he looked to his right hand. The woman was not paid for, but he was not a man that would simply take all things upon his chin. Not where the rules of such were grey and only truly measured by steel.
[14:52:28] Helga: ’s life already spent, the sudden, brutal efficiency of Vesper’s quiva ensures there is not even a final, lingering twitch from the massive northern woman. The clinical precision of the strike to her brainstem severs the last remaining threads of her fierce spirit, leaving her body entirely still on the blood-soaked floorboards. The heavy silence of the inn returns, thick with the sharp tang of copper and the smell of spilled ale. Helga lies motionless, a tragic monument to the harsh reality of the frontier, where pride and iron rules are swiftly crushed by the calculated lethality of the Caste. Her final, unuttered response is written only in the dead stare of her glassed-over eyes, reflecting the dim hearth fire, and the steady, dark pool of blood expanding across the tavern floor. She will give no more warnings about the woods, and she will fetch no more bread. With the deed done and the threat neutralized, the path is clear for Crow and Vesper to leave the mess to the Inns underlings and retreat to the safety of their camp, where the black wine awaits.
Crows Murder 
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