Balance Incarnated

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

Ariel found that somewhat disheartening to hear. He didn`t know what would happen to either of them. For all she knew they would or could have to repeat destiny all over again. A sigh escaped her lips and she glanced at him, forgetting that her hand still was over his she looked down and quickly moved it. "Oh. Stupid me..." she said to herself. It had been nice though, well trying to recall him as a kindred spirit to her tortured soul.

Ariel had about to get back on topic of the conversation when the portly woman that had bothered Raziel earlier about sleeping on the floor walked by.

"Miss, what for you doin` out of bed now?"

"Oh...uh. Bad dream." Ariel insisted.

"Does your father know you`re awake wit` Mr. Raziel out here? I don`t think he`d care nuch to catch you two a together."

Her brow rose. "Are you implying something...madame?" she asked.

"No. No. I just passin` by and happened upon ya. Makin` my rounds. Isn`t he cute though with them beady raccoon eyes eh?"

Beady...eyes? Oh...the raccoon reference must have stung Raziel somewhere deep down. The woman had a humorous point but...she had called him...cute?

"I think...you`re mistaken. Raccoons are theives in the night. Raziel isn`t."

"Suit yeself miss, but he still looks like that cute raccoon I give `im scraps to when he begs." The woman toddled off and Ariel turned to look at Raziel with a smirk.

"Cute raccoon eh?" The idea was funny. "I think I should be getting back to bed...I`ve probably deorived you of rest due to these events...it sounds like the storm must have let up...thank you for staying with me. I suppose I owe you twice now." she stood and could hear just rain pattering outside. "How do I get back from here?"  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

Raziel narrowed his eyes at the woman, and if it weren't for the cowl covering his face, one would be able to see it was tinted a darker blue than usual from all the blood rushing to it.

"Woman, one more remark like that, and I'll show you what a real thief of the night can do." He called after the woman; she would be lucky to not to find all her silverware on the roof when Raziel was done.

"My name be Rosa, not woman, an' if you if you step one foot in my kitchen, I don't care if you're a vampire, you'll get a good thumpin'!" She scoffed as she made her way back upstairs.

Raziel couldn't help be tad amused by such a spirited woman, especially one that would talk so boldly to such a frightening creature as him.

"You owe me nothing, but I will escort you back to bed... just promise not to trip over me this time." Raziel teased as he began to lead the way back to Ariel's room.  

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

Ariel turned her face towards the ground and snickered lightly as the woman backsassed him and she looked over at him as they walked. "Did that really embarass you when she called you that?" Ariel chuckled. "Well...for the record," she said once the reached her room. "I think you`d make a very handsome raccoon." she laughed opening the door and turning to face him once again.

Realizing she had used the word `handsome` in the same sentence as well as calling him out in a teasing manner "...Good night." she said somewhat embarassed by her words as she turned and closed the door to return to bed.

She slept in for the better part and when morning came for her, Phillip was knocking on her door. "Father says he wants the family to have breakfast together. Are you awake Ariel?" she rose, groggy and somewhat grumpy from the night`s adventure and at first thought it all a dream until she saw her room and realized they were in Cabal territory that nothing had been dreamt.

"I`m up..." she grumbled, and slowly rose and departed from the room. Where did Raziel dwell at these hours anyways?

She found that tables were set up all around in the hideout and most humans were finishing their breakfast. Ariel sat down with her brothers as they picked at the morning `slop` as Victoria had referred to it as. "It`s actually very good. I like it just fine."

Ariel shook her head with a laugh at Kelvan. "You`ll eat anything little brother."

"When I`m hungry enough." he laughed.

"We didn`t get to thank your friend last night Ariel." Phillip stated. "Where is he?"

"I`d rather let him rest than bother him anymore. I think I did enough of that anyways."

"Bother him?" Victoria asked with her brow raised. "Let me guess, you`ve got a fascination for vampires now?"

"No...I don`t. But they`re people just like us. We should treat them as such."

"Pft."

"Ariel`s right. As taboo as it seems...they helped us and we must be thankful...we`re all trying to survive."  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

"Don't be ridiculous..." Raziel muttered, not giving a straight answer, though his face was turning an even deeper shade of blue~

Of course, Raziel just thought she was further teasing him yet another raccoon comment, so he didn't take it to heart, even if she did call him handsome. He bid her goodnight and then decided to look for a more secluded place to spend the day; the humans would be up soon anyway and he was sure they'd be pretty startled to see a corpse sitting in the hallway.

Eventually he settled for the wine cellar. It was dark and cool in there, he doubted anyone but Rosa would come in there away.  

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

As the family conversed over matters. Would they still work? Would they have to get new jobs or would they have to freeload from the vampires for the time being? Victoria had found her food tasteless unless she had an alcoholic beverage to go with it. The coffee was not appealing to her tastes and she left the family to go and satisfy her own needs.

Victoria was not a drunk, she denied that all the time, she was alcoholic to some extent. Some days more than others. The woman had become increasingly more bitter over time and drank more than she should. The woman wandered the catacombs for a while. Yes. Catacombs that seemed accurate. To Victoria at least. As she neared the cellars she could sense she was getting closer to the wines because the air became tart and pungent. The matriarch of Ariel`s family was notorious for picking locks and this time was no different for the keyhole clinked and tacked as she used her hair pin to get inside and as soon as the door opened she was greeted with a massive storage unit of wine. Both by barrel and bottle. Her eyes immediately screamed `victory` and she began gathering at least 3 bottles by the armful.

Ariel, noticing Victoria gone, grew annoyed and assumed she had gone prying for liquor. "Where are you going?" Her father asked.

"To look for my troublesome stepmother. Where else?"

She ventured closer to where she could hear Victoria`s muttering.

As Victoria turned to leave the wine room she stopped when something caught her sight from the corner of her eye and when she turned to look ahead of her she let out a blood curdling scream at the sight of Raziel.

The sound bottles being thrown and breaking alerted Ariel that her mother must have seen Raziel and she hurried to the wine room as Victoria hurled bottle after bottle at the corner.

"Mother! Mother!"

"It`s happened! Hell has invaded Nosgoth! Demons! Demons!"

Ariel shoved Victoria back out of the way before slamming the door shut and locking it to keep Raziel from her stepmother`s wrath.

"Raziel!" she exclaimed in appallment at his state. Wine was soaked all over him and she looked like she wanted to kill Victoria about now.

"Oh...you`re soaked..."  

[Queen Sarafina]

Raziel had no idea what had just happened. He awoke up to the sound of someone rooting around the wine cellar, and thinking it was Rosa, he poked his head around one of the shelves to see if she needed help with anything... big mistake.

Before he could do anything, this mad woman was hurling whole wine bottles at him! The woman had surprisingly good aim; Raziel was nearly hit in the head by one, but he ducked just in time to have it explode against the wall above him, drenching him.

By the time Ariel got Victoria out of the room, Raziel had taken off his cowl and was wringing out, grumbling. "The women here are crazy..." Both Rosa and Umah with their teasing, and now Victoria... although, she acted pretty accordingly, seeing something as terrifying as him crawl out of a dark corner.  

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

When she was sure Victoria was gone, she turned to face Raziel and found an unusual and sad sight. His face...Ariel didn`t know what to think at first, nor what to say it was just...

"Oh...uhm." she began reaching up on a shelf where she found a musty dry cloth that would hopefully minimize the amount of wine soaked onto his skin. "Here..." she said. handing it to him so he could dry himself off. "May I...ask what happened?" She said in reference to his accident before she recalled the story of how he had been cast into the abyss and she reinterated. "Oh...nevermind." she insisted. She knew the answer now.

She reached to hold her hand out take take his cowl. "Here. Let me wring that out for you." she offered. "I`m terribly sorry about my step mother and well...she herself is certifiably insane." she explained. "Um..." she said "She...tends to overreact a lot. With everyone..." she tried to pushed some of the glass off to the side. "Are you all right?"  

[Queen Sarafina]

Raziel muttered a vague thank you as Ariel handed him a towel, in turn, he handed her his cowl before he started to dry his hair.

"Mercy me, what happened here!?" Rosa asked, showing up at the door; she came as quickly as she could after hearing the ruckus.

"Ariel's step mother happened, that's what." Raziel replied offhandedly, wondering if he would ever get the smell of wine off him.

"You poor dear, you're soaked to the bone!" The woman came over, looking like she wanted to grab a towel and dry Raziel herself, but instead she left the annoyed wraith alone, settling for gathering up the shards of glass on the floor in her apron. "Mind your feet now."

Raziel finished drying his hair, although now he looked even scruffier than before. He grumbled once again, taking his cowl back from Ariel and holding it out to see the damage. "Is there anyplace I can get this washed?" He asked, seeming more concerned about the piece of fabric than himself.

"I'll take it to the wash in a moment, I wouldn't want you burnin' yourself, Mr. Raziel." Rosa said as she emptied her apron - now full of broken glass - into a nearby waste bin.

"It's fine, I may be a vampire, but water doesn't burn me"

"Oh...? Well then, we better get you in the wash, too! Wouldn't want you walking around, smellin' like a pub!"  

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

Now that didn`t sound like a horrible idea to Ariel but Raziel taking a bath? That sounded like trying to bathe a cat. "Ah...maybe I should go with you. To take care of the piece of laundry. It seems very old and needs delicate washing so that it doesn`t fall appart." Ariel insisted. "And besides, I`m certain Raziel is capable of bathing himself."

Save him as much trouble as possible. Rosa seemed quite interested in Raziel`s actions. As concerned as she was, Ariel wanted Raziel to have some privacy if he were to rid himself of the smell of wine. She had wrung the cowl as best as she could and listened as Rosa deposited the glass bits into the bucket for wastes.

"Madame, I apologize for my mother`s behavior. She`s...not well...mentally or physically," she muttered the last part. "If there`s anything I could do to repay for the broken goods I`d be happy to do chores or typical duties around here. I don`t like feeling like a fifth wheel on a wagon. Haha. FIFTH WHEEL." she elbowed Raziel humorously.  

[Queen Sarafina]

The fabric may have looked tattered and like it might fall apart at the seems at any second, but it had been through the unimaginable and still held its shape, even in the spectral realm. He wondered how that was possible, as stuff like clothing was a physical object, then again, he cringed at the idea of a naked, ghost Moebius; some questions were just better left unanswered.

Raziel just rolled his eyes at Ariel's attempt at humour, and once Rosa assured Ariel that she didn't have to worry her pretty, little head off - she basically told them she'd take care of Ariel's step mother herself if she cause anymore trouble - she then gave them directions to the washroom.

Raziel headed there and immediately washed his cowl like it was some kind of priceless treasure that needed special care, in spite of its limitless durability.  

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

Leaving raziel to his own devices, Ariel let him have some privacy while she followed Rosa down the hallway. "My steomother...she destroyed quite a lot of wine goods back there, is there anything I may do in order to replace any of those goods?"

"Ariel, what's this your mother's yelling about demons from hell in the wine cellar?" Her father approached her suddenly and he looked as though he wanted some answers. "She's hysterical."

"She's insane..." Ariel muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Father, she just stumbled upon one of the vampire brethren here..."

Danyael was looking at her funny and he chuckled. "She found your strange friend?"

Ariel shrugged casually. "Unfortunately. She nearly scared him half to death...Oh. That's not an accurate saying for him." Ariel said, realizing the unintentional pun behind it when Raziel was all ready dead...well...undead...Undead doubled. Whichever.

"Oh excuse me." Danyael said politely to Rosa. "I'm the young lady's father. I apologize for any trouble my wife may have caused. She's a little out there."

"Ahem. Insane." Ariel rolled her eyes and her father shot her a look.

"We're trying to work with her on her mental intolerance of people. It's not how I raised my family, to be intolerant of others. It goes against our morals. By the way, speaking of tolerance towards others, when do we get to meet this friend of yours Ariel?" Her father asked.

"Oh well...I, I don't think he'd be ready to meet anyone-"

"I insist. We must thank him for his hospitality for finding refuge for us."

"Father-"

"Besides...as the saying goes "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"."

Ariel sighed and Danyael grinned. "Wonderful it's settled." s her father walekd off, Ariel turned to Rosa and frowned. "He does this all the time. My father really will kill with kindness...either himself or others."  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

Raziel had just finished washing up. He used his hand to wipe off the steam that had gathered on the washroom mirror. As his reflection now stared back at him with those, eerie, glowing eyes, even more so now than after the abyss, Raziel felt like like a stranger in his own body; just when he thought he knew what he was, he was now much more than he initially thought. The hunger was gone from him and he felt stronger than he had ever been before. He could feel the purifying energies coiling around inside him, mingling with his own power. It was almost frightening, this energy, but he could see why the hylden wanted it so badly; Raziel felt like he could do anything now.

As terrifying as this power was, he wanted to test it out, just something small to see if he was really as powerful as he felt. Thinking back to how the Hylden had changed him into that wolf-like creature and how he was able to change himself back, he wondered if that was really all him or the new strength he possessed.

He didn't know how exactly he had done it or why he had even thought of doing it in the first place, but by suppressing the energy inside him, he was able to revert back into his wolf-like state, right there in the bathroom.

Raziel blinked in astonishment, pushing himself up on his hind legs, his front paws on the sink, as he looked into the mirror. At least this proved that he could utilize this strange energy inside him, but to what purpose turning into a dog serve him?  

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

Well as long as her father had `insisted` upon thanking Raziel, Ariel decided it was best to go warn him. He had been in the washroom for some time now and of course, one always knew it was wise to knock. "Raziel." She called to him, knocking against the wood of the door.

"Do you have a moment?" Hopefully he had gotten cleaned up from all of that sticky wine her stepmother had thrown at him. Hopefully it had not traumatized him, as Victoria always had a way of traumatizing someone. Tahlman`s younger sister that one time when they had visited. `Monsters always exists, they are all bad, and they will eat you from anywhere in this world. One`s under your bed at home right now.`

If she was supposedly this `great Balance Guardian` it certainly didn`t feel like it. Dreams of her past life generally seemed unpleasant and at times Ariel could have cared less about them it seemed. "Don`t be silly...I`m just me. I shouldn`t try and dwell on something I once was." But...

Ariel did not for a moment doubt the words that had once been said to her. "Poor John. Maybe he was right. " She was the Balance Guardian in a past life. "I certainly don`t feel that way now."

Ariel knocked again. "Everything all right?" And if she had truly known Raziel in this past life it didn`t seem like they had gotten along so well at times. Then again...those eyes glowed as though they had regretted many transgressions in his lifetime. "I wonder what his past life was like."  

[Reaver Of Souls Raziel]

The knock at the door startled Raziel and he moved so quickly to get down from the sink that he didn't notice the water there and he slipped. He tried to scramble to hang on, but he just ended up dragging some towels with a basket of bottles filled of bath oils - among other things - down on top of him. He crashed to the floor with a loud yelp, now buried in whatever fell on top of him.  

[MadxHatterxTeapot]

At the sounds of the commotion in the bathroom, Ariel threw the door open only to find a mess made on the floor and Raziel trapped under piles of towels and other toiletries. She pulled towel after towl away until she could finally discern him beneath the objects. "Oh...you silly thing. How did you manage to make such a mess?" She asked him with a soft chuckle. "Well, looks like I have to do the rescing here once again. It appears you`ve been attacked by toiletries and towels. How does one make a statement against an opponent as easy as this?"

She pulled another towel off his head to find him in his wolf form. "Good heavens, did you transform under here as a defense tactic? Oh Raziel...well, while I`m in here I suppose I should inform you that my father just HAS to meet you in order to give his thanks and regards to."

She pulled the rest of the pile from him and pushed everything else to the side. "He doesn`t stop wondering who our `kind` and `benevolent` savior is." she gave him a pat on the head before standing up. "Are you going to remain like that all day? Maybe I should tell Rosa and she could try to discern you as a raccoon in this state." All in good humor. She couldn`t believe she felt comfortable laughing like this and making jokes at him. "Well..what had you on your agenda today?"