Half Truths

Half Truths
Date of Scene:	28 July 2013
Location:	Fluorgis - City
Synopsis:	Trying to save Faruja from himself, Hati tries to get him away from the Cathedral in order to keep him safe.
Cast of Characters:	Hati, Faruja Senra

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Hati has posed:
Once, Serrak had warned her about delving too far into matters of her own heart. It was all too easy to seek out the fate of someone else, but that much harder to see and deal with something too close to home. The rage that Hati felt at the words of Barnabus and his co-hort is enough to make her want to seek the solace of the night forests around her ruined home, but there is no time for it. Time was of the essence, and she had to find Faruja before the the dark priest and his men did.

Unable to run off the anger that courses through her, Hati has only one choice, and that is to shove it down deep and try to deal with the situation at hand. Her instincts flare in protective overdrive. Every part of her cries out for revenge, for blood, for ripping out the throat of her enemy, and yet Ramza’s words made sense. She /needed/ to be the one to stand between them and Faruja if they came for him. She couldn’t let him become a monster.

So, that is what has brought the werewolf to the place where Faruja was last seen. Trying to track him down isn’t as easy as it would seem. Even though he might have given her his ‘duties’ for these few days, things seem to have changed. Now, it was a matter of racing against time, but at least she had a place to start. Soon enough, she would find him. There were no other options. Of course, that also means that when she finds a certain mouse, he’s likely to get all but glomped.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Being short and mousey is certainly a recipe for being glomp-able! The Templar is nothing if not predictable, especially these days. Guard duty, guard duty, guard duty. It wouldn’t take long for Hati to spy the returning Burmecian, heading from the poor district towards the Cathedral itself. Recently, there’s been a few unofficial patrols added to the Church’s list. Though they certainly don’t carry any real authority, just the sight of someone with a weapon and /looking/ like they carry an ounce of it may put a few minds at ease. Or rile up others; Faruja’s gauntlets are a bit scuffed up.

The Knight’s practically whistling as he walks, one hand clenching his necklace. He certainly isn’t seeming all that worried, being the dupe in this situation, and indeed looks happy to be heading towards the Cathedral. Yet, the Burmecian pauses, Faruja rubbing his head. More and more often, headaches assault the rat. It passes quickly, however.

For a certain wolfess, it may just be enough time however!

Hati has posed:
That moment when the mouse stops in his tracks is enough for Hati to catch up. On any normal day, it would take keen ears to hear the wolf sneaking up on someone, but her feet shuffle as she hurries to catch up. There had been a recent scuffle with some Heartless, but the guards had insisted that it was trivial. Hati, on the other hand, looks as if she's been through a full scale battle. There are rips here and there along her coat, and her entire appearance speaks of someone who has a mind full of other, far more important things.

The predator in her is wise enough not to sneak up on him completely unawares, lest she end up with a spear to her throat... again. Instead, she lets herself be heard, slipping up behind him and all but dragging the mouse into an impromptu hug. The wolf's familiar scent is tinged with sweat and the foul hint of sulfer that sometimes accompanies more powerful dark magic. Yet, she seems relieved somehow. He's alive, he's safe, they haven't gotten to him... for now.

"Faruja." Her voice is a whisper, but it seems her grip isn't going to let him continue towards the Cathedral. The wolf's mind swims. What should she do? Tell him the truth? Try to seduce him he can't help but come with her? Hog-tie him and hide him in the Shard Seeker's basement? They all seem like viable options. "I'm glad I caught you before..." Her voice trails off. Damnit.

"Do you think you can get away for a bit... please?" There's something off in the wolf's voice, her usual guarded tones have vanished, replaced by something far more uncertain. How to do this? How to do this?! Gah. "I need to talk to you."

Faruja Senra has posed:
Twin ears perk, a familiar scent and sound giving him pause. Arms wraps around him, and Faruja’s headache melts away. Leaning back, he smiles, letting out a small breath. “Hati...”

Then, the scent of magic, and feel of her ripped clothes has him tensing up. She speaks, and the rat’s ears fold, confusion and worry on his features. “What is going on, my love? Before what?”

Going silent, he flinches at her suggestion. Teeth clench, and his hand goes to his forehead. His breathing, and heartrate increase. The male takes a step forward, without even meaning to. “I...” Mutters the rat.

A hand goes to his ear. “Father Barnabus? I shall be late. Yes, ‘tis important, begging thy pardon. Please, send the dear Squire in my place. He is competent, and more importantly, in need of a reward for his service. No need to trump my own! Lord bless, Father!”

Turning, Faruja nods. “Where shall we go, my dear? I...” Wince. The magic laid upon him pushes him, tugs him towards the object of his devotion. The rat smiles.

“So many headaches as of late, ‘twould be useless to have a service with the good Father now. And besides, I owe thee far too much missing time as ‘tis. The Lord shall understand, surely!”

Hati has posed:
There is some small measure of relief that he still knows her, that he still calls her 'love' when everything else seems to be falling apart. It isn't easy for the wolf to trust anyone, and she only trusts Ramza and his people as much as they trust her - which isn't much, it seems. Her part was to try to get him away, to keep him from the cathedral and the chalice, and to give the others time to find and confront Barnabus.

Yet, the moment that he takes that step forward, she can tell this is going to be harder than it sounds. Her hands tighten slightly around his midsection. If it came to it, she could overpower him. With these thoughts swimming in her mind, the wolf stiffens, hearing just who it is that is speaking to. Barnabus. It takes everything in her not to growl, but her body goes tense, focused, predatory. There were so many possibilities, and few of them left her heart whole after this.

They're still too close. She wants to ask him to take out the earpiece, but that would have to wait until they're further away. "Anywhere, just... away from here." Hati lets him turn, her mismatched eyes looking bright and far too young. Maybe she could get him to that savannah world and turn him into a mouse... but she didn't have a cage and that would certainly be a good way of landing herself with a puny, angry chibi-Templar. "Just, walk with me." Maybe she could get him back to the Shard Seekers HQ at least, there, she might be able to muster some back up if things went wrong.

Her hand reaches for his, all sweaty palms and uncertain fingers, yet her grip is fierce, like he might vanish if she lets go. The wincing and mentions of headaches only draws a whimper from her, the wolf tugging along down the street, trying to get distance between themselves and the Cathedral. She still hadn't answered his question about her state of appearance, so the wolf hurriedly adds, "Just had a scuffle with some Heartless, that's all. Come on. I don't want to talk out here."

Faruja Senra has posed:
"...Alright. Come, let us go then." Faruja peers behind him, clearly confused, his resistance dropping. Taking that sweaty hand into his own, he squeezes lightly, as if to try to comfort the wolfess despite not having a clue what is going on. Concern for her outweighs the compulsion. To some degree, she'd woken him up.

Faruja walks alongside the wolfess, keeping her close, barely looking where he's going as he moves. Something has the rat on edge, the entire situation feeling strange. He doesn't object to her leading him along to wherever she may take him. Yet, so too does he flash a curative spell over her just in case.

Hati has posed:
The fact that he goes willingly enough comes as a small relief. It would only make matters more difficult if she had to physically drag him away. Her hand clings to his, ears tucked back, tail low, all signs of a wolf that is ill at ease and easy enough to read even for those who aren’t aware of those subtle signs of emotion. The mutterings of his cure spell draw a quick look from her green eye, the blue one hidden beneath a fringe of dark hair. “I’m fine.” She murmurs. Fine, of course, is a relative condition, and the spell does seem to heal over a scratch on her cheek, and perhaps other unseen injuries.

There’s a part of her that wants to get away from this city. The thought of taking him through a portal surfaces, but who knows how the demon entity would take such a trip. It might just make matters worse, and dragging him to some unknown place means that there’s no chance of backup. At least if she stays somewhere in the city, Ramza and his cohorts might notice if the church begins a full scale movement in search of the wayward Templar.

So, she leads him deeper into the depths of the city. These are areas that he’s surely patrolled before, but they aren’t exactly the nicest areas. The slums are characterized by boarded up buildings and vagrants who sit along the street, begging passers-by for coin. Right now, Hati ignores them, pushing onward until she reaches a building that looks as if it hasn’t been lived in for years. There’s an impressive lock on the front door, but that means little to the wolf, who only releases his hand so she can crouch down, plucking out a set of tools to pick the lock.

In this part of town, no one seems to notice.

Faruja Senra has posed:
Faruja gives Hati one of those glances that practically screams both ‘I don’t believe you’ and ‘Stubborn Healer’. For a moment, he has half a mind to simply drag her into a bed back at the Shard Seekers HQ, and not for fun reasons. Given the look on her face, he knows better than to try.

Suddenly, slums. Coins are flicked to a beggar or two as they pass, the ratling otherwise ignoring them even if he’d rather stop and pray. There’s a wolfess dragging him along after all! A wolfess who proceeds to pick a lock. The Templar sighs openly.

“...Let us at least lock the door behind us.” Bad woof, no lock picking!

Hati has posed:
The wolf is well aware that her beloved doesn't care for the finer aspects of her arte, but right now, she's not about to start an argument with him about the usefulness of lock-picking skills. As the lock clicks open, she pushes the door open, making sure he goes inside first. It's almost as if she were keeping a lookout, trying to spot if they were being followed.

Followed or not, she closes the door behind them and flicks the regular lock as well as sliding an old, rusty looking deadbolt. The room itself has sparse light coming in from a few boarded up windows, leaving only a few pieces of long-abandoned furniture with a good layer of dust on them.

With her back pressed against the door, Hati looks towards the mouse then, her eyes serious. "I need you to promise me something." It's impossible not to see just how intensely she's watching him. "It might be the stupidest thing you've ever had to do for me, but I'm begging you, please." She hesitates just a moment, "Can you please not eat or drink /anything/ that you don't get from Shard Seeker HQ?" She has to place some faith in their ability to hopefully keep the church out of their refrigerator. "It's important."

At least she gets right to the point.

Faruja Senra has posed:
By now, Faruja's fur is well on end, not at all liking the secrecy and odd way that Hati is acting. Heading inside, the rat coughs up a storm as he blows off the dust on an old pair of chairs. Cursing aloud for a few moments, he finally turns back to the wolfess. Peering into those serious eyes, it's as if she's trying to block him from escaping.

The Burmecian's muzzle hangs open slightly, inwardly wondering if his beloved has lost her mind. A hand comes up, and it's pressed against her forehead. Hopefully he won't get swatted for the implications.

"...Alright. I promise, my love, on the graves of my parents." Starts the rat, nodding. Perhaps his trust isn't complete yet, that bond not completely formed, he can hardly deny such a heartfelt request.

Of course, the rat can connect the dots. "Someone is out to poison myself?" It's the only explanation he can come up with for why the wolfess would ask.

Hati has posed:
The wolf stands there as he puts his hand on her forehead, her ears tucking back slightly. "I'm not sick." She states, although her expression softens somewhat, seeing the concern in his eyes. "I'm worried about /you/." Without explaining herself at first, she reaches for that hand, pulling it down and pressing her cheek in against his fingers. She'd only looked like this once before, when her werewolf form had nudged his hand as he lay dying in the Cathedral.

Hati's eyes close as she nuzzles his fingers with her nose, her lips on his palm. It's a wolfish sign of affection, and more than she normally dared to let slip. She'd been so very careful about her heart, and yet she'd fallen for him anyways, and now it was too late to get out without being hurt. "Thank you." She whispers.

Then, of course, he has to ask the question. Though in other circumstances she's surely lied, cheated, stolen, and done any number of terrible things, lying to him is one of the few things that just feels /wrong/. Her eyes open again, looking at him. "Yes." It's true enough, "You know I've been looking into those assassins. I'm pretty sure they're targeting you. Even sacred offerings aren't safe." She has to try to cover her bases here, knowing that they might very well try to poison him with their own holy sacraments. "You know very well that they're inside your walls, you've seen that for yourself when the Cathedral was attacked."

All of this is true, words crafted carefully to avoid mention of demons or heretics or Barnabus. Maybe, if she could get him to understand it this way, then she could keep him alive a bit longer. It's a long shot. "I couldn't tell you, because they might have agents hidden among your ranks that might be listening. If they find out you know, then they'll probably try to kill you some other way."

Faruja Senra has posed:
Faruja feels her nose upon his fingers, nuzzling him in that wolfish way. His free hand reaches over, pulling her into a half hug. He may not know all of her mannerisms yet, but he knows love and concern when he sees it. His head pounds, his compulsion rising even as his love remains close.

"....I am such a troublesome nezumi. But I trust you." His tail curls about her own as he sticks close, leaning against her.

Slowly, he frowns. His head pounds harder, and he gives a little gasp of pain. His hand comes from her shoulders to press at his temple. A small shiver runs through him. Even the powerful compulsion can only nudge right now, rather than outright control. It can't fight so much love, and so much logic.

With a heavy, pained sigh, the rat recognizes the truth. At least in part. "..Yes. Few may be trusted at this point. Even now, the results from the interrogations have yet to be revealed to me. Mayhaps the Holy Office knows more than it lets on." Admits the rat, though it seems to physically pain him to do so. Another shudder.

Faruja wobbles, losing his strength for a moment as he starts to fall backwards. Dissonance between faith, truth, and the darkness he was plunged into saps away his strength.

Hati has posed:
"I like trouble." Hati whispers against his ear, although perhaps there is some other three-word statement that she should have been saying instead. It comes across sounding the same, even if the words aren't there.

Then, things go from bad to worse. Her hand reaches for his chest, laying a hand there with some concern as she watches the strange reactions from the mouse. Could this be the influence of the chalice? Having been given precious little information about what to look for, or what to expect, it means the wolf is left trying to sort things out by guesswork alone.

"You don't seem well..." That might just be the understatement of the year. The wolf makes for a good place to lean, and she quickly catches him when his balance falters. "Come on, let's sit down for a bit. You're in no condition to go back to guard duty, anyways." Hati tugs him along towards the dusty couch, knowing that every moment she kept him away was another moment that the others had to find and confront Barnabus.

Maybe, if she could keep him here, she could keep him safe. Then again, maybe the Church would find them, before the heretics found Barnabus. Hati has never been a gambler, and these seem like long odds.

Faruja Senra has posed:
It seems Faruja gets her intonation easily, judging by the growing blush in his ears. He leans on her all the more, whatever words he would have had shoved away amidst pain and compulsion. The ratling truly doesn’t look well at all.

“Mmmph...yes.” Admits the rat finally, allowing her to lead him away. Not that he has a choice! He feels weak as a kitten. He all but collapses onto the couch, barely noticing the dust. Laying on the couch, he reaches out, hugging her tail close. After a few moments, he sleeps, fitfully so. Darkness and hands around his throat fills his sleep. Every now and then, he shudders in horror.