faderift | [ CLOSED ] The Buck Stops Here

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[ CLOSED ] The Buck Stops Here

WHO: Athessa, Bastien, Byerly, Colin, Deimos, Flint, Raas, Thranduil, Yseult
WHAT: Revenge for past trauma reveals a sinister plot
WHEN: The Month of Guardian (aka now)
WHERE: The Gallows and Hightown, Kirkwall in general
NOTES: CW: This plot deals with sexual assault, revenge, and murder. Mostly the aftermath of the assault, no graphic descriptions that I can foresee, but be cautious. Opting out and hand-waving is fine.

By and large, the beginning of the month of Guardian in Kirkwall is unremarkable. Business as usual, even with the ever increasing cost of sugar, coffee, and tea. But for the inhabitants of Lowtown, it comes with signs that their waking nightmares persist.

For the past few months of winter, Lowtown locals have been whispering about a rash of murders and disappearances among the Alienages. Deaths previously attributed to exposure to the harsh winter weather are rumored to be far more insidious; some have claimed that they noticed wounds on the bodies as they were being disposed of, but any attempts to bring this information to the City Guard have been met with indifference or empty platitudes.

Less widely noted, and harder to attach to a pattern, are the instances of working girls being hired to entertain at private functions and coming back...different. Or not at all. To the average person, it’s barely even news, but to anyone who spends time in the brothels and listens to the chatter within, it’s clear that these are not isolated incidents, nor are they without concern.

While the alleged murders in Lowtown have no clear culprit and thus are blamed on anyone from random strangers to demons and Crows, the goings-on at the brothels go hand-in-hand with mention of one name in particular: Devigny.

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It sounds so different from the way she usually is that it takes Colin a second to realize it's her. He picks up the crystal, mentally making the note to send someone else to the clinic this evening and clear up his own schedule.

"Yes. Is everything all right?"

"Uhm. Not really," She stops pacing, but only briefly. "I have to see for myself if he's really back. I thought he was gone but then Byerly said--"

She takes a deep breath and let's it go, setting off out of her room toward the ferry.

"It's Devigny."

There's a pause as that sinks in.

"Where are you?" Colin asks. "Are you safe?"

"I'm on my way to the ferry. I have to see with my own eyes if it's true," There's no reason it wouldn't be, but living in fear with an unknown hanging above her head is an unbearable prospect. "Will you--I don't--You're the only friend I have who's seen his face, and knows where he lives."

And one of only two who know why this matters.

"Wait for me at the ferry," he says, quickly picking up the keys to the apothecary and hurrying out the door. "I'm on my way right now."

After a moment's hesitation, he picks up something he almost never touches--his staff--and heads toward the ferry.

She waits, pacing back and forth when on her feet, or bouncing her heels against the ground when seated. Eventually, she'll wear herself out with her own anxiety and be able to stop fidgeting, but for now she's just trying to quell the urge to jump into the Sea and swim to Kirkwall.

It's not long before Colin appears, jogging toward Athessa and opening his arms to her when he comes near.

Athessa rushes into those open arms and wraps her own around Colin's middle, pressing her face into his shoulder and finally, after what seems like hours, takes one deep breath that actually fills her lungs. Colin smells clean, but earthy, like the aromatic apothecary herbs he works with. For the moment, it's enough to drive away the intrusive sensory memory of the stink of bitter red wine.

"I thought he was gone. He was supposed to be gone."

He crushes her to his chest like he can squeeze the distress out of her.

"I'm with you," he says. "You're safe."

"I need to see for sure, I have to see for myself that it's him."

She doesn't know what she'll do when she sees him, but that's part of why she needs someone steadier than herself along with. Why she needs Colin.

"Will he recognize you?" Colin breaks away far enough to peer at her face. It's a real question. It's not like rapists care about looking you in the eyes while they're doing it.

She shakes her head, but it's not a no.

"I don't know. I don't want to be close enough to find out."

"All right. Let's get going. Do you have a plan?"

This time, it is a no. "I guess just find a good vantage point and watch until we see him."

Colin nods, helping her onto the ferry. "Then that's what we'll do, but I want to find the spot and come back for you. That way you're not wandering round where he lives and I can find a way to get you up there without being seen."

"Okay. I'll...I'll wait at yours until you find a good spot."

Once on the ferry, her jitters come back and she can't stop bouncing her leg. As they get closer to the docks, she's losing the tiny shreds of hope she clung to that it's not really Devigny, that maybe it's just someone with the same name. And she's trying to come up with a plan, but honestly, the likeliest outcome of seeing that bastard's face again would be her shutting down completely, or getting sick, or potentially, trying to kill him.

If only. She wouldn't want to get within arm's reach of him.

"Kind of feels like those dreams happened for a reason now..."

"Hey." Colin reaches out to squeeze her hand. "That's not your life. Remember that. It will never be your life. You're safe and loved."

There's only so much he can do, really. Seeing Lutair again had brought back all the old feelings. He only hopes to give Athessa the lifeline his own friends were to him at the time.

"But what if it was a warning or something? How am I supposed to do anything worthwhile for Riftwatch if I can't even set foot in Kirkwall without being terrified that I'm going to see him, or bump into him or his footman on the street?"

"I don't know. But whatever's next, we're in it together."

It's a comfort to know she isn't alone, as she once was or might have been if she hadn't joined Riftwatch. Not that staying in Rivain would have served her any better, if the nightmares are even remotely accurate to alternate outcomes, but outright death would be preferable to living under torment.

At Colin's apartment, while he scopes out a perfect vantage for their stakeout, Athessa soon gets too restless to simply sit and wait. She can't even try to sleep, and doesn't have anything to smoke, so she busies herself with stretching, looking at books but reading none of them, and sitting upside-down on the couch, with her head hanging over the edge of the seat cushion.

Spending a year or so in the Scouting division has taught Colin the basics of reconnaissance. He returns with a solid idea of how to go about this, but also with a deep, shaking feeling. Byerly had called him a man who takes down wicked men, but this will be his first time doing so without holding the silken hand of Alexandrie. He has seen Devigny in the Fade, has experienced the depravity of men like him. This won't be easy. And yet, he reels when he tries to imagine what Athessa is going through. He had sought out his rapist for justice. She has been blindsided by hers.

The door opens. He moves to sit by her on the couch.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I have to," she says after a moment of hand-wringing and thought. "Otherwise I might just be spooking at shadows."

Noticing that she's wringing her hands, she forces herself to stop by reaching up--well, down--to plant them on the floor. From there it's simply a matter of rolling off the couch into a handstand, then dropping her feet. She stands slowly, transitioning into a slow pace in front of the sofa.

"And I was thinking...what if I'm not the only one? What if he hurts someone else, or is planning to?"

"You're not the only one," Colin sighs. "Anyone happy to do it once isn't going to stop with once. Men like him think they're entitled to whatever they want. But there's no shame, and no judgment from me if you decide you don't want involvement in this."

She shakes her head, frowning. "How can you say that? After saying exactly why I need to do this? If there's even a tiny chance that I'm the only one who got away, the only one who can fight, then I have to not just see that it's him, but I have to find a way to stop him."

Because it's not just about her, it's about everyone else he's hurt, too. They deserve avenging, they deserve justice as much as she does, and she knows first-hand what it's like to live with the aftermath of his abuse. She doesn't want anyone else to be subjected to that.

Colin nods gently. "You're braver than I am, then," he says, his eyes turning away for a moment. "I...all right. When I went after Lutair, it was a different situation. Devigny's cut from the same cloth, but Lutair is just a brute and a narcissist. He isn't smart like Devigny. So we can't go at this in that direct way. Tonight needs to be about gathering information and that's it. Anything more and we risk losing the element of surprise, which we need. Any hint something's up, he could flee town or have us followed."

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