🎉 page 150 is pretty depressing but I’ll celebrate Anyways.. brighter days ahead !
Variks’s strong hand around hers almost mutes their clicks of disapproval. Almost blurs out the four eyed glares, the disgusted recoiling. She focuses on that hand like it’s her lifeline as he guides her through the throngs of eliksni.
Shadow looks to the scribe for any reaction but Variks is, as usual, calm, collected and otherwise unreadable. If what they said bothered him at all, he gives no sign.
He happily shows her where they will be sharing a meal after a long day of wandering the ever expanding streets of Riis Reborn, filling her with the knowledge of his peoples’ culture.
For a moment he makes her forget. Dates with Variks were always a great source for knowledge, whether it be for history or, as Shadow preferred, getting to know Variks himself.
The hushed insults and stares remain present throughout their meal, and Shadow struggles to follow suit in ignoring them.
“Satisfied?” Variks asks her when she is done.
She leans back in her seat, smiles. “Hmm. Yes.”
“I told you there were eliksni meals you would enjoy…”
He notices her hesitance as the eliksni in the booths across from them mutter back and forth between eachother, casting not so subtle glances their way.
Variks reaches across the table to touch her hand, startling her back into focus.
“Sorry,” she murmurs, meeting his eyes apologetically.
Variks brushes his thumb over the back of her hand in a comforting gesture. “I will find you something to drink, before we go. We still have not found one you like,” he offers kindly, standing.
She nods, but despite her efforts and Variks’s attempts at distracting her, she can’t shake the feeling that she is entirely unwelcome in the city. One bold eliksni decides to prove her right.
She listens to the faint throbbing of music for a moment before standing to follow her partner. She loathes to be alone under his peoples’ scrutinizing, four eyed stares.
Golden eyes narrow suspiciously when she hears another eliksni striking up a conversation with the former Kell. Sensing the tension of the situation, Shadow silently approaches to listen in on their interaction.
“What is wrong with you, bringing her here?” The captain facing Variks clenches his fists. “This city is for [i]our[/i] people. Hers have done enough damage!”
“Eramiskel has made her decision,” the judge responds evenly. “If you have any grievances they should be taken up with her, yes?”
His response only seems to further the eliksni’s anger. “I have had enough of your self righteous act of innocence,” he explodes. “You flesh loving traitor!” His snarling catches the attention of other eliksni in the building and they begin to turn one by one to observe the disturbance.
“Have you forgotten us so swiftly, [i]warden?[/i]” A sneering vandal steps up to join the confrontation.
Variks blinks, taking a weary step back from the former prisoner.
“You chose [i]them[/i]—“ A claw cuts through the air as the vandal points to Shadow. “Over us, and now you do so again, mocking us with her presence. Bringing her here, sharing our culture with her, as if you of all eliksni have the right to do so!” A clawed finger jabs into Variks’s chest.
Shadow’s stomach twists with anxiety and fear as the eliksni make their approval known with circulating hisses of ‘traitor’ and ‘dreg.’
Instead of reminding them of the sacrifices Variks had made for them, Shadow settles for a simple rebuke. “You would do well to respect a member of Eramiskel’s council.” She surprises herself when she intervenes, and now all eyes are on her. She can see Variks’s anxiety rise with this change.
“Eramiskel may have welcomed him to be a scribe, to write the victories [i]we[/i] earn, but that is all he is any good for.” The captain turns to her now, towering over her slender figure. “When she has had her use of him she will throw him away, as she should.”
Shadow angrily holds his gaze until he turns to Variks once more.
“We have no need for a senile fool like you, Variks.” He spits the name like poison in his mouth. “You do not deserve another chance, you do not deserve to be forgiven for your crimes. You [i]deserve[/i] to be docked again and left for dead.”
Variks flinches. For one fleeting moment, Shadow can see the hurt in his eyes, usually so well hidden.
Teeth bared furiously, the captain turns back to her. “And we certainly have no need for an [i]awoken[/i] among us!”
Overwhelmed, Shadow hardly reacts to the set of vengeful talons aimed towards her.
With surprising swiftness, Variks’s mechanic hand closes around the captain’s wrist, jolting him to a stop mere inches from Shadow’s chest.
For a moment, time seems to freeze. Amber eyes widen in shock and the captain’s reaction is no different.
Surprised, his gaze locks with Variks’s until eventually all four of his eyes narrow in anger. “Do not [i]touch[/i] me, you upside down [i]dreg![/i]”
With a simple shove of his arm, he sends Variks stumbling to the floor with a heavy thud. The resulting grunt of pain makes the hunter flinch.
Though every muscle in Shadow’s body screams for her to fight, as she had done with many eliksni like him before, she instead lowers herself to her knees beside her partner. “Come on, we’re leaving.”
There is a coldness in her voice as she slowly helps the old scribe to his feet. She will not give them the satisfaction of seeing her emotion.
He does not look at her while she helps him, his eyes are downcast.
She takes his hands in hers and this time she is the one guiding him.
As she does so, all eyes following them, every sneer and whisper becomes a deafening shout in her ears.
[i]“I heard from a luitenant of Phylaks’s that he could not find a willing eliksni… that is why he took her as a mate instead.”
“After all this time? Pathetic.”
“She is just as bad, abandoning her own city for ours.”
“The best she could get was a docked old scribe.”
“I would have killed myself by now if I were him.”
“Did you know he experimented on his prisoners with dark ether?”
“Yes, I saw it myself- he let them all loose to kill off the awoken anyways!”
“I heard she kills her own people as well as ours— I heard she kills ghosts.”
“She does not look so powerful now, does she?”
“He cannot be trusted, his only loyalty is to himself. What was Eramiskel thinking?”
“That’s right, he has betrayed anyone he once called Kell.”
“Weak flesh, traitor’s plaything.”
“Two armed wretch!”[/i]
Their words echo in Shadow’s head alongside the sound of blood pumping through her veins for every step through the cold, dimly lit streets of Riis Reborn.
She struggles to support some of Variks’s weight as he limps alongside her. His pained wheezing pulls her back to the present.
When they are finally alone, and she helps him inside, the silence is utterly stifling, the darkness smothering.
“Variks—“ Her voice betrays her uncertainty. She has no idea what she even would have said.
The scribe keeps his back turned to her and raises a mechanical hand to keep her away. “No.” He wavers, unsteady. “Please… leave me. I need some… time,” he chokes out.
She swallows. “If that is what you wish. Just…” Hesitantly, she reaches out, just barely touching him. “Let me know if there is anything I can...”
He shies away from her touch, his own shame resonating with her.
Neither of them can look at one another as they separate.
Nor can Shadow look at the empty space in her bed that night, and she wishes desperately for the comforting strength of his hand in hers now more than she ever has before.
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1 ReplyThe fact that this series is still ongoing always brings joy to my heart. Bungie better give us some Mithrax and Variks interactions in the next Fallen DLC or expansion. Hell, Variks interactions with Petra or Mara would also be appreciated. Or Crow! Actually, I don’t even care if that’s relegated to a lore tab, would love to see Crow visit Variks.
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🥺[spoiler]licks finger [/spoiler]
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1 ReplyAbsolutely Brutally Devastating Work of Art. Definitely had the “dry-swallowing a pill” feeling in my throat the entire time.
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1 ReplyCongrats! 150 is a lot!
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2 RepliesQuestion: what will you do if they kill of Variks in say… lightfall?
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Variks stopping the oncoming blow was awesome, I firmly believe it would have been slow mo in a cutscene. It's sad that Shadow being fully immersed in Eliksni culture went so poorly. Also, they said upside down dreg!
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Lè ûp vote
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1 ReplySpank
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The upside down dreg comment made me lol.
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1 ReplyThe chase scenes, with explosions and body parts flying all over the place, with Jedi knights, when does that take place? Well, maybe no Jedi knights.
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Great as always Shadow! Keep it up!
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GoldenKnight_0pineapple 🍎 - old
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1 ReplyWow, 150 pages. Can't wait to see what the future holds
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The big 150…quite a ride, huh?