Safe and Sound

Log Info

• Title: Safe and Sound
• Emitter: Venom
• Characters: Venom, Aryia
• Place: Lower Markets, Private Abode
• Time: August 10th, 2022
• Summary: Venom is busy removing one of her many guises that she uses after a somewhat successful mission. Only to have her time interrupted by Aryia. Who too returns from a somewhat successful mission. Both check in on the other, Venom expressing worries that she couldn't be there for Aryia. Such worries are assuaged before they fall back into a comforting routine to wash away the frightful endeavours.

It's a quiet enough evening in the neighborhood, the warm air, perhaps, somewhat to blame.

Business is business, of course, and proceeds apace, but a lot of the exhuberance otherwise seems somewhat subdued for the temperature.

Regardless, within 142A Lynxstride Lane, the air in the bath is of heightened humidity, and an exotic cocktail of hollistic and alchemical humor prickles the nose of those ill accustomed.

Within, past the pile of accourtremants that compose the silent adventurer's loaded, a lathered brush of some sort of pinkish foam plays along the shoulder of the olive, oruch-blooded veneer of she who is to blame.

Venom, facing the entrance of the room from within the bath has her dragonspitter lain locked and loaded close to hand.

It's been hard to touch base. The recent ongoings of undeath trickling in has had a pugilist out more often than not.

And this most recent outing required cleansing of highest order.

From outside the humid bath, one could hear locks being undone. Loudly and deliberately. A door shutting. More locks. The sound of a bag hitting the ground. A pause of silence. A sharp breath in once, twice.

Bootfalls thud towards the door as buckles are loosened before there's a familiar rapping of >knock kn-kn-knock, knock knock<.

The door is tried, and opened. Revealing none other than the other resident of the house: Aryia. Half dressed (as there was a trail behind her), and looking positively filthy with dried bile and gristle of... something (as there was a trail behind her).

She drinks in the sight before her before grinning and raising a hand in greeting. Face smarting from the massive bruise that covers one side of her face.

With the sound of the door opening, likely certain reactive measures ensued. With the sound, however, well, nothing happens that might wake the neighbors.

At the prearranged rythm of >knock kn-kn-knock, knock knock<, there is the muffled >kch-tikichik< that usually accompanies Venom's thumb removing one of her guns from active readiness.

Confirmation of same comes from the sound of her Dragonspitter gently clacking against the counter next to some of her cheek pads and, curiously, some teeth, as the North Star enters the room. A weary expression erodes into a brighter one as a Violet who is somewhat green at present rises from the water with an, "Aryia, your back!" <sildanyari>

Blink.

Survey.

"Are you alright?"

She bounds out of th bath with only a bit of slippage, exposing a number of smaller wounds of her own in the doing, to join her paramour at her side.

Fret the letting begin!

Aryia tilts her head to the side at her love's hue, a brow raising to twist the yellow and blue splotch on her face in new directions. She waves again, the grin softening to a warm smile.

And then Venom is bounding out of the bath. She blinks, raising her hands up in a placating manner. A hand taps against her chest. "I'm fine, crazy shit," she signs.

She not so subtly flicks her gaze down and up before rolling her shoulders to slough off her jacket and removes the last of the belts before joining in similar state of attire.

That face bruise extended to a good half of her left side, all the way down to her hip. Not to mention being covered in ick. "Are you okay?" she gestures back, pointing to the smaller wounds and the... "Green?" <Handspeech>

Venom's dye job was certainly.... thorough, as is readily apparant to Aryia's survey. Scratches, and mild bruising dot her limbs, including the hands that hesitate to cradle afflicted cheek of her North Star.

"Nominal." is her reply to the first question. <Kulthian>

She leans to the right to gently kiss her beloved's cheek once's her eyes have found a spot that isn't viscerally decored.

As she draws back, she breathes, "Nyree requires a bit more prep time to be fully in character, my love."

There's a look to the swirling hues in the bath, and, "I'll draw you a fresh bath, you may come out with funny patterns if you try washing off in this." <sildanyari>

Aryia's shoulders relax as affection is rendered unto her unblemished side. Further they droop as she leans into the peck. It's returned with one of her own on the bottom of V's chin. "I already have funny patterns," she gestures with a cheeky smile, but nods nonetheless as she steps about the room to gather what's needed to cleanse.

"Nominal, but like, what were you doing?" she inquires. "I haven't seen you bust out Nyree yet."

A number of Venom's odds and ends, as well as a couple of her alchemical concoctions are arrayed close to the bath. She turns to clear up some of the neatly organized 'clutter' so Aryia can get her own supplies ready, revealling a number of long thin lines etched into her back, "Tandem-purpose surveilance. An underground slave ring with possible Charn connections was rumored to be operating near the coast. I infiltrated their wares."

A shrug, as she vigorously washes the pink... stuff out of the bristles of her brush in the tub, then sets it in the corner to dry before reaching into the water for the drain plug, "They were Bludgunni, as became apparant in short order, after they decided to randomly 'discipline' me."

Lucky her.

"I determined that their correspondence would be sufficient backtrail and abandoned my secondary mission." <Kulthian>

Aryia gets her things together and under an arm as she turns to watch Venom reach into the waters. Takes a beat for herself to appreciate before shining gaze travels up-

Her brows shoot sky high as she sucks in a breath. Her back aches at the sight. "V..." she soft hisses out, setting her supplies down at a clear spot before touching between the lines. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that. It's... never a great experiences..." she signs slowly, ears drooping some as there's some sadness plaguing her eyes. <Handspeech>

Venom's hands pause as she hears the sudden intake of breath. She straightens as Aryia's hand alights between her lash marks and turns back to regard her, reading her face as much as her gesturing hands.

Her own start to flex and twist in return, "It was an accepted risk of the mission, my love. Nothing they did compared to the Metal."

She smiles, "The slaves were mostly unbroken, so, once I handled the keepers, they were able to find their way back. I found my equipment cache and returned to the Guild as Venom with the evidence." <handspeech>

She smiles a little ruefully, "I was hoping the Charn angle would give me a chance to find more samples to use toward your mother's request."

Aryia's attention flicks from hands to face, to hands again to take in the words. Her visage softens. "That's... really nice of you to do," she motions slowly, wanting to take a step towards Venom but stopping herself as she was, well, filthy.

But then, her head quirks to the side. She blinks. And her eyes widen a bit. "My... mother's request..?" she repeats through signs, face reddening a tinge. "V. That's really thoughtful of you..." She reaches over to rest a bruised and cut up hand on Venom's arm before turning to draw more water that replaced that drained away. Her free hand motions off to the side, "She's been stuck on it for a while, and getting new samples is hard due to all the shit going on." <Handspeech>

There is a little nod, and the Acanian gives a closed eye smile to her paramour, basking in the affirmation with pure delight.

She cocks her head a little at the hue suffising Aryia's features and she gently cradles the unbruised cheek with her hand, "Yes, which was why I was hoping they were Charneth, in one of their cities, I could have probably found more pure samples."

She shrugs and brushes gently at the cheek with her thumb, "What happened to you?" she asks softly in counter.

The mute turns back and plops her face into the hand. "You want more pure samples? You'll need to go to underground cities in Charn," she informs. "But gradual progress is still progress."

Shining eyes close briefly to enjoy the touch. But the question makes her give a long sigh and hop up onto the side of the tub to sit, as well as give more room to gesticulate. "So..." she starts, tapping her fingers together. "... all that undead shit going on. The city, uh, needed help. Not like, small shit I've been doing. Like. Fucking war. Big ass undead worms carrying undead were coming this way. So I volunteered. There were so many fucking wights everywhere..."

She rubs her face. "Beat the shit out of some massive worms. Like, they're a few stories tall. I got ate by one."

A beat. Well that explains what she's covered in.

"I'm good, that just made it easier to punch the shit out of it from the inside." <Handspeech>

The initial returns from the Mul'niessa set some ease to Venom's expression, and she nods, "True, but I thought perhaps a significant development might make you both happy."

But, alas, a development was not meant to be.

The new angle, in response to her own query, has a sort of erosive effect on her expression, one that leaves a peculiarly neutral expression on her face.

Undead.

And her North Star going to war without her.

A flicker of something, recrimination, perhaps, darkens her expression momentarily, then, "Are you... sure you're alright, my love....?" <sildanyari>

"We're happy regardless of developments or not, the effort is still appreciated," the mute gestures, reaching up to pat V on the side before scraping some gunk off her face.

Aryia finishes rubbing at her face, her clearing her eyes of muck to level them at-

Her head quirks to the side at the expression. An ear flops down as the other presses against her head, matching the way her brows were situated. The question was received. Parsed. Pondered. Meditated over. Were her eyes sliding down anything to go by. "... I... don't... know?" she answers slowly, yet truthfully. "I guess I... am? It was rather terrifying, seeing all that at once, I won't lie. But I took a page out of your book and prepared. Got concoctions and potions for others just in case I had to pull them out. Girded myself with fancier magic bullshit. Drank those awful antiplagues and toxins. Had some days to plan, so I just sat and thought 'What would V do?' Figured out a plan, executed it, came out like this rather than missing a limb or worse."

Her gaze rises once more, this time more certain. "I wasn't going to sit around and let some foul smelling fucks take away the life and freedom I found." <Handspeech>

Mollification of the human's dismay comes in fits and starts as Aryia begins to explain her approach, though, the 'I don't know' certainly wasn't one of them.

"I'm... glad you're safe, dearest." she croons gently.

Knowing she was at least somewhat inspiration touches something.... a memory of their earliest days together... which is one of the bigger gains.

She leans in again and kisses that cheek once more, "Well done, dear, I'm proud of you!"

She dims a touch as she draws back, and glances sidelong as a blush soaks through the olive hue of her cheeks, "I'm... sorry I wasn't there for you...."

Aryia gives a weak smile at first, but it strengthens as another peck is rendered unto a unblemished cheek. A quiet snicker, a breathy sort of sound. "Thanks. You're the one who's got me thinking more before bashing my head against something," she readily admits, kicking her feet off the side of the tub.

Shining eyes blink, and she pinches her face together in a squint. Aryia shoves her hands into the rising waters, quickly clearing the ick off them and cleansing her face free before facing Venom.

She reaches up, grabs the human by the face, and pulls her down into a big kiss. And release. "Mwah!"

She giggles silently, then pokes a finger at Venom's sternum. "Don't be. Our caliber of targets and foes may be different now, but we still help each other in many ways. I'm a fucking sledge hammer, and you're a surgeon's knife. Different tools for different jobs. Equally useful."

Her face softens to a smile. "Besides... you're always there for me. Even if you aren't there. Like I am for you," she signs. Then blushes. "... that was really fucking cheesy." <Handspeech>

Venom smiles a little, still slightly abashed, but seemingly accepting the return without rebuttal.

She cocks her head with Aryia's sudden facial clenching, but before she can probably vocalise a query, the Mul'niessa is hastily washing worm guts off her face, "Whaa-?"

Then pulling her in for a smooch, "-mmmmph?"

A sighed, "Mmmmmmmm....!" precedes the release, and she straightens to her full, hands gently alighting on the smaller woman's shoulders, "I'll... try to remember that." she replies, her skin dye rending her rosey blush more of an earthy hue, "Maybe, but.... I think it suits us."

Aryia rubs her neck, giving a small nod. "I think it does too," she gestures, stealing glances up to the earth and rose blush that mirrored her own. She smiles, her raising her hands to rest them on Venom's as her long ears give a little 'flick-flick'.

The mute slowly lets go, leans back a touch, and takes a calculated fall backwards.

>Splash!<

She resurfaces, grinning cheekily as she beckons with a hand. "Get in here. You've got green on your back." <Handspeech>

Venom smiles with the simple delight she's always shown with the wonderously expressive ears of her love doing their thing.

Splash!

She props herself up with a hand as she leans over the wash basin, looking down at herself, then, "Alright, but that soap isn't going to cut it." she replies with a playful grin and starts to climb in with her...

-End Scene-