bobbing along on the beautiful briny sea - 2/7 evening - Illiana, Oberon, NPCs [Closed atm]

[Illiana]

Illiana stood on the deck watching the horizon. She was not fond of ocean travel, and less fond of it when it involved close quarters with people she did not care to be near just now. The fact that one of those people was her husband grieved her, but she had no idea what to do or say. He had scarcely spoken to her and the only words he had were to deny any possibility of a divorce. He was punishing her, and he was lord of a province now- the punishment might well be more enduring than their affection.

She bowed her head as the wind toyed with her dark hair. It was still freezing, though not the depths of icy hell that Solbra had been, but Illiana was from Strom- she could weather any heat, but cold shot straight to her bones. A tear escaped her eye and turned cold on her cheek as it fell. If only she could get her daughter free. Athenase was lost to her, barely her child at all: he was an heir to a province. At least she'd done her duty to Glodhet there- it wouldn't be Oberon's child who ruled. She hadn't meant it for that reason, hadn't meant to be with child at all so soon but she was thankful for it. Oberon had nothing but daughters- bastard after bastard, all girls. It was the gods' voices, silent but heeded in that small fact. Yet she was sorry for it, and for that night with Balthasar. Though not... not sorry enough to truly take it back. She wouldn't undo it.

Illiana's hand tightened on the rail as she heard someone behind her. She turned and tried not to look surprised as she saw her husband walking toward her. "My lord, it is late. I thought you were in discussion with your brother and sister...."

[Oberon Renate]

Oberon tried to focus on the blurry shape in front of him. He was spectacularly drunk and he was going to find some female to bury his rod in, if it was his wife all the better. He was fairly sure that the blob was a female or a man wearing a dress, either way he was fine with it. The annoying voice that issued from it confirmed his suspicion that it was indeed female, and sounded vaguely familiar. "No I am not in discussion with my leech-like siblings. I only told my wife that so she would stop nagging me about spending time with her. Who would have thought a whore...sorry 'Courtesan'," He added air quotes with his hands as he said the word courtesan. "Who would have thought she would be so damned needy."

He did his best to lean against the railing but his hand missed the railing and he fell sideways to the ground. As he laid down on the ground looking up at the sky and the still fuzzy face of the female he had been talking with. "Give me a hand up love?"

[Illiana]

Illiana's eyes narrowed and her mood shifted from grief to annoyance with the ease of a breath. She wouldn't slap him when he was on the ground, but that was all that saved him. "I am certain your wife has not once suggested spending any amount of time with you in the recent past, Aloys." It was his proper name, the one he didn't care for, and the one only she ever seemed to use. Just now the word was said with the disdain she'd usually reserve for a dead harbor rat. "Nor will she be making any such suggestions in the future."

She stepped back from his prone form. "Stand up on your own. Your family's treasury hasn't coin enough to induce me to touch you."

[Arius Aneid]

Arius crouched behind the deck house, listening to husband and wife speak. Oberon was his prime target, but if possible he would take them all out. The damn Renate family and their fucking men, who kept trying to encroach on what the Jin had worked so hard to build. Well, they had taken care of some of the boys, when the Renates had thought to raid Jin lands. But the risk was higher. The Jin had word of the Renates treaties with the crown, and with more backing behind them their influence on the island would only grow.

The Jin needed to solve this problem immediately. Arius was trained for just this sort of job. And this was one he’d take pleasure in. He’d snuck aboard the Renate’s ship during the loading of cargo, biding his time until the ship was well out to sea. The bodies of the family would simply disappear, to become fishfood.

In his hand he gripped his blow darts. Poisoned tipped darts could kill in a matter of minutes and if he took both man and wife down, he could recover his darts and push the bodies overboard. Better yet, if the man would just lean against the railing, perhaps he would simply fall overboard, taking the evidence with him. Either way, Arius was patient. There would be a right time. Even if he had to sneak into their cabin and strange them both to death.

And the damn brothers too.

[Illiana]

Oberon swore fluently in what sounded like a couple languages- or he might just have been that drunk. It was hard to tell. "Oh, it's you. Fucking slut of a wife, here to bitch at me... Well whaddya want now?" he asked, grasping the railing on his own power and dragging himself upright.

Illiana raised a brow. "The word you want is 'whore,' husband. A slut is free with her affections- like those island girls you're so fond of? I, on the other hand, am never free." She didn't move to help him.

"Had coin enough to fuck you but gold don't turn a whore into a woman worth a damn."

"Nor does it turn a drunkard into a lord, but the gods do have their humor."

Oberon scowled and took an off-kilter step toward his wife. "Shut up, or I will fucking make you."

Illiana wasn't impressed. "How many of me can you see right now, anyway? Go ahead: swing. Prove how strong you are... if you can even hit me." She laughed at his fury and waited for his attempt. Oberon's hand came up in a fist and swung toward her in a slovenly punch she easily stepped away from.

"Gods damn you, whorespawn filth, you just stand there and..." He grabbed for her and Illiana barely avoided it. He was still upright but if she could just get him away from that rail, he was sure to fall again...

[Arius Aneid]

His fingers were itching the way he rolled the dart in his hand. If he held it any longer he might burst. The hated man was rising, speaking ill to his wife, just like all those fucking Forsilvrans did to their women. Didn’t they know women were the honored sex? Aruis slipped the dart into the blowgun. He couldn’t wait. He’d just have to kill the woman too if need be.

He slipped from his hiding place to inch closer as the two fought. Oberon was leaning against the rail, waving his arms like a moron, shouting more obscenities at his wife now. If Arius didn’t hurry, the man might well toss himself overboard, and while that would make his job simple, he didn’t wish to be denied the rights of kill.

Raising the gun to his mouth, he aimed, years of practice making the task easy, and blew hard through one end. The dart fired quickly and accurately, sticking Oberon right in the neck with the deadly poison. He watched as Oberon grabbed the dart and ripped it from his neck. He looked at it oddly for a moment, then his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell back against the railing.

The ship pitched to port with a wave and suddenly the mass that was Oberon flipped up over the railing and down into the water below.

[Illiana]

There was a strange moment as her husband froze before her, and put a hand to his neck. She had just enough time to see the dart before the ship took a dip as it crested a wave. The tilt of it made her alter her balance but Oberon's attention was elsewhere... his eyes rolled up, closed, and he went...

Illiana didn't realize she was the one screaming until she heard the splash over the side. "Help!" She leaned over the railing, trying to see where he'd gone, but the choppy waves had already taken their secret with them.

"Aloys!! Oberon!" He couldn't be gone. Not like this. Not so... simply. "Help!" she screamed, and heard the men running for the deck. Too late, a part of her thought. Too late. Had she imagined the dart?

[Arius Aneid]

Arius quickly slipped back into his hiding place as people came running. He could hear voices, understood their words. He knew Forsilvran fluently.

“My Lady, what happened!” One male voice called out. Arius peeked and watched as the man grabbed the lady, pulling her back from the edge as though afraid she might tumble over after her husband. A waste, Arius thought, considering how disrespectful the lout had been.

“Man overboard!” Another shouted. The cry echoed along the ship, as men hit the railing searching for signs of their Lord.

[Illiana]

The next moments were like a dream as the sailors rushed around her, searching for their lord, calling out the alarm. Cyprien appeared from nowhere and there was more commotion, but Illiana kept staring at the waves. "The Jin!" Someone yelled and she turned to find Cyprien holding aloft some small piece of... something... a dart, she realized.

"It hit Oberon," she said, hardly recognizing her own voice. Did she truly sound so dazed as she felt? There was a further clamor, then shouting and the clash of metal.

Perseus heard Illiana screaming and sent Cyprien directly to her while he took a path around the bulk of the cabins to come around on the other side- the better to help his brother deal with Oberon if he was drinking as he had been without cease since the trial in Solbra. He truly didn't understand his brother's weakness: Illiana had offered him a divorce, and Oberon had refused to hear of it. He rather thought it had nothing to do with any pain of his wife's infidelity- it was just a handy excuse that suited him. But here on the deck it wasn't a fight between their lord and lady... Something moved in the shadows. No, someone.

Perseus moved with the ease of a veteran of combat, his knife slid from its sheath and found its home resting against the throat of the man Perseus had just grabbed. He sneered as the light caught the assassin's face. "Bad place for your blood to be, Jinn filth."

[Stella Lucis Renate]

Stella was looking over the lists for the Mallory wedding. Business certainly went up since the double wedding, and it would only bring in more income for Oberon to at least appreciate the work she did keeping his house afloat. The list had been delivered just before she had left Solbra. Solbra...She looked up and thought of Jacques a moment, letting a smile touch her lips before looking back down. Until she heard screaming and scuffling. Her head snapped up and she dropped her quill and the inventory list, running up toward the deck. Who on earth was screaming? She stopped at the door as she saw the bustle on the deck, her brother holding a dart, her sister in law screaming and Aloys... where was Aloys? Was that why Illiana was screaming?

She rushed onto the deck as she heard the shouts of "man overboard". She saw Illiana's lips moving looking like she said 'It hit Oberon', and suddenly everything stopped. The blood rushed in her ears and she grabbed her skirts to push past the crew men trying to keep her back. It couldn't be true. She had to see it for herself! She reached the railing, looking to see where the body had fallen. She could barely discern the shape, but the hair... that was Aloys' hand.

She felt the sob rise up in her throat as her chest heaved. There wasn't enough air in the world to fill her lungs. She clapped her hand over her mouth, shaking her head furiously, but she tripped over her skirt, falling back, scraping her arm on the planking. She didn't notice, only turned to crawl somewhere... anywhere anywhere where her big brother wasn't dead. Her big brother that had played with her as a child, her big brother that had teased her, but had ever looked out for her, the big brother that had trusted her with the family business saying that she had the better head for business while his head wanted other things and she had laughed and said that she never wanted to meet that head because it would be creepy and she would safeguard their family's income and make them into a thriving business that would be known throughout the world.... Her brother that didn't know how to hold on to the precious things in his life because he never allowed himself to let someone in... her big brother. She felt the tears prick at her eyes and she allowed the sob and shriek of pain and loss to escape from her lips. She cried out her brother's name and hugged herself, kneeling on the deck, not caring that she must look like some crazy person. She felt as if her world had broken itself into pieces and she had no idea how to put them together.

She sobbed, taking in deep breaths as she slowly came to awareness that someone was screaming out something about the Jin. She looked up, her eyes bright with pain and fury as her gaze tore through the deck. Someone had killed her brother on purpose and she was determined to make that person pay.