Roleplay - On Dolor with Ruby/Hikaru after Dreams

Ruby walks back through the city, quiet and still as always. Everything is awash in predawn light. She makes her way toward the small lake beside the king's citadel, sinking down on a bolder by the lapping water... exhausted. It was a long night.

Hikaru is walking by. He looks lost in his thoughts and... just a little tipsy.

Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, she jerks out of her hazy thoughts. "OH!" She looks ready to fight, then relaxes, immensely relieved. "Hi Karu. Sorry, I..." she chuckles, "I saw your tail and thought you were a wolf."

"Not a wolf miss Ruby." Bleary-eyed he sits down. "Just a drunk Fox."

She smiles sadly and looks back at the water. "Got a lot on your mind, huh?"

"Just crazy dreams. How was your evening?”

"You too, huh?" Blinking, Ruby looks over at him. "Mine kept me up... I've spent all night in the tower on the mountain." She gestures vaguely towards it.

"Better 'an where I was. I spent the evening at the bottom of a gin bottle. I keep seeing that man from the tapestry, the one with the giant sword."

"Oh..." She trails off. "That sounds... Horrifying. Were you being hunted by him?"

"I escaped him this time. But in the past I haven't. It just depends lately it's the same."

Her brow furrows, and she stares at the lapping of the water. "In the past? Like... 'fore we came here?"

"I've had a few dreams with him in it. I've hated every one."

She looks over, trying to gauge his soberness. "You had dreams of him before we learned his story here..? That's interesting. I'm...sorry you've dealt with that. Is the gin helping?"

"I didn't know what they meant. Just some towering figure before. Honestly the gin doesn't do anything but it makes me THINK I'm fine. What did you do with your evening Miss Ruby?"

She smirks a little. "Yeah... It's good for that." Picking up a map case, she hands it to Hikaru. "I was up in the tower again, trying to make some final details on my maps. I just... Want to be able to find this place again, ya know? Maybe part of me thought if I stayed up, night would stretch on and on... And we wouldn't need to leave."

"It would be nice to stay here wouldn't it? Run from everything. But… you have Mr. Luther to save and, I have uncle to kill and... we really wouldn't be happy here."

"Yeah... It'd be an empty happiness, I think..." Ruby rubs her arms to warm them against the chill dawn air. "I hope... When all this is done, our choices end up bringin' some of this peace back home."

"It's the weirdest thing miss Ruby. I've never felt peace before here. My whole life has been conflict. But here, here was safe."

"Yeah... It's a funny feelin', ain't it? When ya ain't used to it."

"Yeah, it's, really odd.”

She tries to pick her words gently. "Would you wish to find peace again? After the whole thing with your uncle is done?"

"I... I dunno yet. I think once you're in this life there's no really getting out. Not fer me."

Ruby is silent for a time before she speaks again. "I think... you're a strong enough fella that you could make whatever you want out of life. At least, that's how you seem to me."

"That's just it Delilah. I ain't strong. I lived this way since as long as I remember, but I never face my Uncle. I'm still running."

"Well..." she pauses, feeling a host of funny emotions hearing her name said aloud. "You been lookin' for this weapon of sorts, right? If you feel that's what you need, then we find that. Then... we'll go find your uncle. You ain't running. You're just planning your attack. That's different."

"I'll get him. He needs to pay."

She nods. "I agree... And I know you'll get him. That’s for sure."

She sheepishly fiddles with her cloak. "Hey, I... I'm sorry for ever buggin' ya about your drinking. I know it helps somewhat, when...things are hard, and it's your life."

"No it's... I'm trying to kick it anyhow. Drinking... it doesn't really make me forget. Jus makes me think it does. For A minute. Then it comes back."

"My dad... He died from drinkin'." She takes a little pebble and tosses it into the water. "After everything that happened, which I won't bore ya with... he fell deep into the bottle and never climbed out."

Ruby gives a heavy sigh. "I watched helpless as he drowned to death over those last few years, not knowin' how to save him. He didn't want savin'...” She shakes her head. “When I met you, I saw how deep you were into it. I... Didn't wanna see it happen again." She looks over, teary-eyed.

"He lost the will to live. And the bottle was easier. I was like that for a while after Rod found me. Less alcohol to be honest, but I had no will. It took me a while to get back on my feet."

"Yeah... I'm glad you did. Otherwise Ida never had the chance to meet ya." She smiles teasingly, wiping her face.

"Thanks Delilah. I'm glad we met. Sorry I uh… stuck a gun in your face."

She snorts slightly, "It's... It's alright. Funny bringin' that up again."

"Rodrick was my dad after my dad died. He's the only one who I trusted then. And I couldn't let him get hurt."

"Yeah... He's a good man. You were just showin' your loyalty and love to your family, and I was threatenin' that. I... Understand better now. Ida probably done the same thing."

"Life is weird that way innit."

"Yeah... It is." She looks up at the lake. "We watched you and Balgor trainin' after our meeting. Are you okay from all that? You're not injured are ya?"

He touches a scab on his chin. "Nothin’ serious. Not compared to what I gained.”

She nods, then trembling slightly, asks, "Did... He show you? His fondest memories?"

"Yes. I don't know what to think of them. But he has what I need and if that means wading into his memories."

"Right... Right." She shivers, but not from the cold. "I felt the same way. I needed answers... And had to pay that price."

"It'll be easier this way. Although I felt like throwing up afterwards."

Ruby.... Delilah nods sympathetically. After a few minutes of thought, she looks at Hikaru with a strange expression. "You said the other day, you were okay with being his patron, because you were...are... What he is. What he's done."

She studies you closely. "Do you still think that, after seein' all those visions? After...feelin' the way you did when it ended?"

"I think that was the worst part Delilah. It didn't make me want to throw up because it was so bad. It did because I'd seen it before. And I realized I AM like him."

She looks a little crestfallen. "You saw... A lot of slaughter in your childhood. Horrible things I couldn't even imagine."

"I caused it too. It wasn't the first time. It probably won't be the last time."

Her hands shake a bit, and she clenches them to stop it. "He... Balgor... He's still very good and gentle, despite.... Despite all of... That other side of him."

"I don't know what to make of it. His darker side reminds me of me. But his gentle side reminds me of my older brother Ryuuji."

Delilah relaxes her hands. "Ryuuji... We shall avenge him... And your father. And all your house. We will find your weapon, and help you defeat your uncle. We'll find your mom... Perhaps all of it with both swift vengeance... and gentle compassion. Like both sides of Balgor, this… god of slaughter. Like... both you and your brother."

"They shall suffer us."