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crimsonfluidessence · 8 months

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Prompt 5: Barbarous

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

Esredes smiled down at the young Hyur man. "Oh, believe me. It always works, without fail." He adjusted the masquerade mask on his face, and winked. "They can't resist it. They're trained to be more akin to savage wolves than they are humans. I have this completely handled. He did it, and we're going to find answers eventually. You," he reached a hand down and patted his head. "Just enjoy the ball and watch, okay? When I go off alone, just keep talking to whoever you're with until I come back. You've got this. You'll be great. Just be yourself, but watch your words."

The freckled man frowned at Esredes. "Okay... whatever you say, Esredes. I... what do I do if I get too nervous?"

"That's what the bathroom is for." He said, more quietly. "Use it wisely. Now, chin up. Look alive. You're going to have a good time no matter what."

Esredes looped his arm around the hyur's and then adjusted his ascot. It took several steps for the boy to adjust his stride to match Esredes' much longer one, but soon enough they were in an approximate rhythm, footsteps hitting the smooth marvel that lead them to the wide-open doors of the manor. The perfectly manicured garden grounds were already alive with music and chatter, and this only picked up as the ornate red walls and flooring with black accents of the interior greeted them. The little hyur's eyes went wide at everything. "By the love of... everything is so huge."

"It is," he offered back. "It always is. Let's find a place to park ourselves and some people to talk to until he arrives. There's probably someone I know somewhere around here..."

Live music, violin and trumpet and woodwind, filled the entirety of the manor as Esredes lead his company down a staircase and towards the side of the ballroom. Sure enough, it didn't take long to find familiar company and introduce the young man, and begin to chat the night away.

It was funny like that- eight years was a long time to go without practice, but familiar instincts were just that. All Esredes had to do was push aside the dark cloud and think clearly, and his nature returned to him. And in fact, this time, everything was going smoothly. Conversation was normal, no one was staring at him from afar, and the air felt light. That sensation that often came to Esredes at parties hit- that feeling to be glad to simply be alive.

And then came the target.

It wasn't hard to see his arrival, as Esredes anticipated- being almost seven foot tall meant having a clear viewpoint from any part of the ballroom to see him descend the stairs. And oh, was he certainly dressed for the occasion, with a golden longcoat and boots so heeled Esredes wondered for a moment if someone else was in his bedroom besides his wife. The long, flowing hair never helped either, of course.

He descended each step with the powerful thunk you'd expect of a Dragoon. And from his spot on the other side of the ballroom, Esredes watched. He watched him for a few minutes, actually, between talking to three others, idly chewing away at the dodo leg he'd ripped off the platter as elegantly as one could possibly eat a dodo leg.

"Excuse me. I'll be back in a few," he then said to his company, and smiled down at the boy with him, as if to silently tell him he had this. Then Esredes eyed the Dragoon again, off in the middle of the room, and with a wine glass in one hand and the leg down at his side in the other, he crossed the ballroom, heading towards the stairs. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the target turning his head. Good. The footwork did the rest; the floor was quartz, so Esredes could feel the weight beneath him shift, in accordance with the pressure pattern that would indicate footsteps following him.

Esredes retreated deeper into the manor, until he found an open door to a sitting room and pivoted inside. Sure enough, it wasn't soon after he stopped inside that it came.

"Esredes Rosemond."

Esredes turned his head back, and sure enough, faintly illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through the window panes on the ceiling was the Dragoon, standing in the doorway with his gaze firmly on Esredes.

The Dragoon smiled, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe. "Ah- I figured it had to be you. Didn't have enough women following you to be a Durendaire," he chuckled.

Esredes smiled back. He chuckled lightly in return as he turned around. In truth, he didn't get the joke at all, but that was beside the point. "Oh, no. 'Tis just me, I'm afraid." He said. "Have we met before?"

The Dragoon shifted his position against the wall. "I don't believe we have, but admittedly, it was a bit of a shock to see you here." His smile showed a little more teeth. "I heard a rumor a while back you died in Garlemald."

...Gods damn it, his extended infirmary stay got out and twisted that much? No no, it didn't matter. Focus must be kept. Esredes held his smile. "Did you really? That was the first I've heard of it." Another chuckle. "No, I'm perfectly intact, as you can see, and in good health." He raised his wine glass to the Dragoon. "As I would hope is the same for you?"

"Never been better." The man straightened out. "What brings you to be all the way up here?"

"Oh, I just needed a moment of quiet." Esredes said. "But I won't turn down your company. Come in, come in."

Esredes' gaze didn't leave his at all as the man walked into the sitting room proper, setting himself a few feet away from Esredes. "Allow me to introduce myself proper," the man put a hand on his chest and bowed. He recited his full name, titles and all, and certainly emphasized the knight dragoon part just a little more than the rest.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ser." Esredes tipped the wine glass towards him a little. "I would give you my name, but you already seem to know it."

"What brings you to attend the party?"

"I usually come to open invitation parties like this one," he moved his wine glass hand up to adjust his mask a little. "And the masks make for a little bit more flair, wouldn't you agree? I like the small added piece of mystery. We could be anyone underneath them."

That got a throat chuckle out of the Dragoon, who raised a hand to adjust his own mask. "Perhaps you are right." He offered. "And so you've been doing this... since the war's end, I presume?"

"Mmm, that is a good question. I wouldn't say quite that far back. It was some time after I found my stride with these occasions again. What about yourself?"

"What about me?" He repeated. "To tell you the truth, I can't remember a time far enough back." He put one foot down in front of the other, pacing around Esredes slowly as he talked. "These have been around as long as I have been able to attend them. The only gaps were as the Horde was getting particularly vicious. Duty calls, as you know, fellow Ser."

Esredes nodded. "Duty does call. I know it all too well. I feel like my own duty never ceases to call for very long. But I wouldn't have it any other way."

"I am glad to hear we have this in common." The Dragoon replied. His slow pacing drew ever so slightly closer towards Esredes. "It is a great burden the Order has placed upon its collective back. Many think our own calls have grown quiet, but as a fellow knight, I trust I need not challenge that notion with you."

"Oh, no, you do not." Esredes said, eyes slowly following the light blue that stared back at him. "I've heard it all from the sidelines." He sipped the wine. "'Dragoons are useless now. We should dismantle the order.' Honestly, it gets incredibly annoying even as a Temple Knight to constantly explain."

"I couldn't possibly say it better." The Dragoon offered. "Indeed, the call has never grown any quieter. It is as loud as ever, like the roar of a dragon. Why, you never know. We could wake up tomorrow and the dragons would be storming the gates. Again. And then who will the people turn to?"

"People have no respect for those who try to save them," Esredes frowned a little and titled his head. "Tell me, does it infuriate you as endlessly as it does myself?"

"Oh, it does." The man's smile grew even a little wider. "People are so quick to forget those who protected them from the jaws of a dragon. So quick to forget everything that happened and instead focus on whatever they feel is more relevant to themselves. They would say I 'dwell too much on the past'," he remarked. "But what can be said? Some answers are only found in the past." There was a short pause, then he continued. "So, Rosemond, what do you do with yourself nowadays?"

"Too much." Esredes immediately responded, warranting a small chuckle from the other man.

"I like that answer." He stopping his pacing, standing right in front of Esredes now. Esredes could almost swear his eyes were faintly glowing as he loomed down at him. "But if you're truly doing too much- I know it may be a little hypocritical of me to say this. But it's all right to find a way to step back, Rosemond. No one would want you working yourself to death, now, would we?"

Esredes tilted his head again. This one was better at teetering than the others of his kind, more than he expected. Were circumstances different, perhaps he'd even commend it. But he was here for a purpose, and he would have no mercy in it.

"No, I don't think we would." Esredes took a slow sip of wine, keeping eye contact, then continued. "I'll try not to end up like your brother, rest assured." He raised the dodo leg up, staring at him as he ripped out a chunk of meat with his teeth, then chewed it down just as quickly.

The last of the man's calm facade crumbled away. He looked as if he'd been struck by a blunt object, before his face darkened with hatred, eyes wide with almost rabid rage. "How dare you," he said, the venom overflowing from his throat. "You absolute heartless bastard. I was willing to harbor doubts, but you are truly as everyone says." His fist curled up, and he swung it at Esredes. "Rot in the seventh hell, heretic!"

Esredes ducked right out of the way of the shot, and backed his way up towards the door. "Were you really harboring any doubts, now?" He asked, smirking at the man who looked three steps away from ripping him apart on the spot. "I think it is time for me to take my leave. But do enjoy the party."

And with that he was quick to hurry down towards the crowd of the party, and back to the group he was previously with.

"How did it go?" whispered the hyur boy to him.

"Well. I had to speed it along a little bit, but the plan is set in motion." He said. "Now we wait." Esredes glanced over across the ballroom. The Dragoon was staring at him from there, also returned to his own group.

At some point during the night, the Dragoon found himself with a glass full of wine. Esredes noticed this and looked away. He focused his sense on the glass, and pulled on it sharply the other way. The slight yelp he heard told him it had the expected reaction. Ah, his favorite party trick.

This would repeat itself at multiple balls throughout the course of the year. Each time he watched the Dragoon try to place himself just a little closer to Esredes, as if willing other people to go away so he could make his move. But on one particular moonlit eve, when Esredes caught sight of the man again, the expression that came back looked as if he were a wild animal trying to escape a cage.

That was when he knew phase two was inevitable.

Sure enough, in the coming weeks the allies he asked to shadow him spotted the Dragoon stalking him. Esredes pretended like he didn't notice, going about his business as normal and avoiding alleyways, until he just so happened to answer a linkpearl call for a meeting taking place outside in the Highlands during the next few weeks.

"Are you sure he's going to come?" the hyur boy asked when they were waiting that fateful night, drawing his arms further into himself against the cold.

"He'll come. Dragoons are pursuit predators of a sort." He explained. "Just keep your eye sharp and shoot true, all right?"

"...Esredes." The boy said after a long moment, his eyes drifted off into the distant snow. "Are you sure it was him? We... we have the right guy, yeah?"

"We have the right guy." Esredes said. "He hasn't changed his stripes since it happened. No one of us will ever be slaughtered by him again after today, if we just stick to the plan." He put his hands on the boy's shoulders and smiled down at him. "I... recommend looking away, after you fire the shot. You don't need to see what happens next."

He looked at Esredes a long moment, then nodded his head a little too much. "Okay. Okay, Esredes. I'll remember that."

[almost done! come back a bit later!]

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