David looked at her, slightly in disbelief, slightly in incredulity, because:
'Who the hell? Why the hell? What the hell?'
First of all, David was less than ecstatic at the idea of someone who could be this stupid. If she was serious, they are in the worst possible place.
A quick scan told David there were eight or nine people in the tavern not including him or Eleanora.
'Damn it… no great way out…'
Secondly, if Eleanora wasn't a complete idiot, there had to be a reason they were here, specifically.
'Or she could just be an advanced level dumbass…'
The thought was slightly funny if not discouraging.
Still, he had to speak at some point. It was clear she wasn't used to the facial expression she was pulling, even if it was for a short time.
The corner of her mouth twitched in strain as he finally decided to respond.
"Hey… that's pretty bad."
He lowered his voice to a whisper before continuing.
"Ignoring the fact that I don't have any idea what's going on, this isn't a great game plan… why are we even here with a stupid amount of threats?"
His tone grew sharper with the last sentence.
Eleanora leaned in further and spoke.
"We're not in any immediate danger. Besides, I thought you could use the drink."
David didn't even know how to respond.
"No immediate danger?" He hissed back at her.
"You walk me into a tavern that you say is full of fake people were about to kill and expect me to think something's not about to go horribly wrong?"
"Relax."
He was speechless. She continued.
"The only people that are controlled seem to people already from the town. Otherwise, it seems whatever is controlling them would rather kill whoever threatens it."
Noticing the look of incredulity on David's face, she sighed and expounded.
"There have been reports of people going missing in the area for a while. Eventually, people from my family went to investigate, and, well, let's just say some reports go back months, and rotting flesh smells pretty bad."
David didn't speak. Instead, his mind raced, grappling with several things at the same time.
'She's lying. This is too absurd. Well, does it look like she's lying? She looks serious. She looks pretty. Family? Investigation? Get it together.'
She continued despite David's unchanging facial expression.
"The people sent here weren't attacked until they tried to deal with the problem. We think the rest of the people who died felt something was off and tried to defend themselves. And that's why I'm here now. My punishment."
That last part seemed intriguing. Enough for David to break his silence anyway.
He took a moment to gather himself. He took a deep breath, trying not get irrationally angry at the assault of information. Eventually, after a few seconds, he spoke.
"Punishment?"
"Ah… yes… It's not a suicide mission, per se, but I'm here because they dont care as long as it gets done. I'm not from the most… reputable, house. Or subfamily, for that matter."
"Subfamily?"
"Soot. Subfamily of the house of ash."
David decided he would have to grill her later. If they survived, that is. Her behavior wasn't giving him the most hope in that regard. Still, he was learning. Little by little.
For now, he nodded and pretended to understand.
A few seconds of awkward silence passed.
She eventually broke the silence.
"I'd go clean up a little. Don't knew when the next chance we'll get will be, and, to be honest, you're face is rather dirty."
Wordlessly, David sighed as he stood up. He looked around the room. The people sitting down, the 2 walking in patterns, the old man in the corner lifting and lowering a spoon into a nonexistent bowl, it was all very unsettling.
And sad.
David wondered if they were still conscious. He then quickly decided he'd rather not know.
His eyes eventually met a barrel filled with water in a corner opposite of the man eating air-soup.
He walked over to it, and as he was doing so, he was suddenly selfconscious about his arms. How to swing them, more specifically. He felt unnatural doing anything, and nothing felt wrong. Still, he settled to just have his arms rest at his side as he walked.
After what felt like an eternity of walking, he reached the barrel. He knows it was immature to assume she was watching his arms as he walked, and even more immature to assume it mattered. Still, he found glorious relief in his hands having a purpose.
He lowered his face over the barrel and began to splash water and run the dirt off his cheeks. The water itself wasn't exactly clean, but he couldn't complain either.
There was a dirty mirror above the barrel of water. He was scared to look in it.
Eventually, he decided to be brave and check the mirror for any more dirt he may have missed.
'Damn…'
He wasn't exactly a looker.
Sunken eyes with large bags. Long, unkempt hair. A nose bent a little too far to the left to make him think it was always that way. A god awful beard accompanyed this dreadful ensamble.
His outfit didn't do him any favors either. WAY too small. He thought he could ignore it. He hoped he didn't look too hideous. Unfortunately, it was truly a devastating combination of… everything.
The clammy skin was the icing on top fo the cake. His skin itself was on the darker side, but there was no mistaking the paleness.
'I'm an alcoholic…'
The word came to his mind like an intrusive thought. One he would ordinarily push out. Reject.
He sighed, washed off the rest as best he could, and rejoined Eleanora.
He was surprised she could even look at him. If there was any condolence, it was that he wasn't actually in the worst shape. He was just ugly as hell compared to his two new porcelain doll companions. Hell, the dirt probably did him favors.
As he took his seat he spoke before she had the chance to. The best chance to avoid comments on appearance.
'Not that I should care anyway…'
Still, he needed to break the silence as fast as possible, for his own sake.
"So how do we deal with it then?"
She looked around pensively and sighed before responding.
"Simplist solution, kill everyone here. And then the rest of the town."
"Simplist?"
"Well… I'd bet money on taking out the source being easier, but I can't identify it. Unless you can, I think that's the best course of action."
Daniel didn't think he could. Key word: think. He actually didn't know the scope of his abilities yet. Still, he had to answer.
"Unfortunately not…"
She stretched her arms above her head and cracked her knuckles.
"I see… that's too bad. The plan is for us to deal with what's here, and then escape to Ralph. Have him drive the carriage around town while we try kill what chases after us. And then we can call it a day."
The matter of fact way she said everything made David a little uncomfortable. She seemed to have abandoned her attempts at any facial expressions that would be normal.
'Was she practicing the smirk earlier…?'
[it won't work.]
The familiar voice echoed in his mind.
He still wasn't used to the feeling. It was more like he thought the words, just extra vividly. The words felt uncomfortable foreign to his mind. Still, it wasn't painful. Just… weird.
'Nice of you speak up.'
[I won't be able to for too much longer. Our connection will grow weaker in this regard the further we are from first contact.]
'Will you shut up all together?'
[Rude. And, no. It'll just be reserved for more meaningful moments, or when our connection is stronger again.]
David sighed out loud.
'Why won't it work?'
There was no answer.
'Yeah I hate you too.'
It was then that David realized he had probably been staring out into space for a little over a minute. Except, the space he was staring into was Eleanora's face.
He felt embarrassed. Especially from the emotion showing on her face.
'Gods… she's glancing left!'
That was the only discernible facial reaction.
"It won't work."
She glanced back at him.
"Oh? Why not?"
David spent some time, aproximately one second, formulating answer that wouldn't make him sound crazy.
Eventually, he landed on: "the lady in my head said so"
'I hate myself.'
She did smile. Even if only a little. Even if David couldn't be sure, he chose to believe that millisecond twitch in the corner of her mouth was amusement.
"Does true lady in your head tell you things often?"
'I really want to die.'
He decided humor might be the best refusal.
"All the time."
He tried to say with with an air of sarcasm, but he wasn't sure it had an effect on the girl.
'Way to be funny. Now she definitely won't think your serious.'
"Riiight. If it's all the same to you, I don't have any other ideas. Unless the voice in your head has one."
"No… she left."
she nodded seriously.
Eventually, she reached for her belt. On it, there were two knives of different length. One with a blade about the length of his forearm, 13 inches give or take, and the other no longer than his palm with all his fingers extended.
Of course she held out the shorter one.
He sighed.
"Don't trust me? It really won't work."
"You haven't proved it. and honestly, I don't really."
He gripped the handle of the knife firmly and tried to get a feel for the weight.
It was deceptively heavy. Engraved on the blade were words in some language different than common.
'Can I… read this?'
As he studied the symbols, Eleanora spoke up.
"Before the fire, the spark-"
"-After the fire, the ash…"
She nodded.
"I'm surprised you can read it."
"Me too."
If she found that statement odd, she didn't show it.
"Even I haven't taken the time to actually learn runes. I just know what it says because I've been told."
David stared at the blade silently for a few seconds before speaking.
"So… we gonna start this or what?"
"Are you ready?"
"Well… the only protection I have are clothes at least two sizes too small, but sure."
"Perfect. Stand behind one of them, and kill them kn my signal."
He looked at her a moment, then back to the blade.
"Just like that…?"
"Like what?"
"Killing them… what if they can be saved?"
She sighed and looked at him in the eyes.
"There's no reason to assume they can be. First priority is taking care of the threat."
She was… right.
'But we can't assume they can't be either…'
[they can't be.]
'Are you sure?'
Nothing.
'Probably isn't the first time anyway…'
Still, he couldn't help but to look around again. the woman walking in circles, pouring cups and leaving them on empty tables. 3 men sitting together. Another man and a woman together. And the man in the corner.
'Nothing soup…'
He made up his mind. He's the one he would target.
He looked at Eleanora who was already standing behind one of the 3 men.
The man had a yellow jacket. Surely, it was expensive for the town the man was in. He tried not to think about it.
He took his position behind the old man.
Maybe he felt guilty because he chose who was probably the weekest to take out first.
Or maybe he felt guilty as he tried his best to ignore the wedding ring on the man's left hand.
Still, he looked at Eleanora who held up one hand with 3 finger sticking up.
They fell in slow motion. First, the ring finger. Then the middle finger. It felt like an eternity watching the last fig er drop. Still, it did, and he plunged the knife into the back of the man's throat.
Nearly immediately he wished they hadn't even tried.