Death and All His Children (Church and Shyone)

[Church]

“My Lord, I have been approached by someone in the ranks of the enemy to join the enemy as a spy. I have no intention in following through with these requests, I am just informing you so you will hear it from me and not some low-dweller.” The yellow eyes of the spy were cast upon the ground, not daring to look up and meet his master’s eyes. It was the sign of an equal, or disrespect and he would not display either towards the man. “You will join him tomorrow evening,” “My Lord?”

“Did I stutter? You will not pass up this opportunity to learn valuable intel into the enemy and report it to me. I will not lose this war and you are good enough to keep them thinking that you fight for their side while giving me heads up to their plans. Now go. You will meet the man and you will make them believe you are on their side.”

“Yes, My Lord.” The tall man bowed low until he heard the door open behind him, turning on his heel and exiting the room before the King changed his mind or got into a rage about something else. He wasn’t a true king, but he demanded that his followers address him as such and so it was. He liked having his head attached to his shoulders, after all. Infiltration was easy for him. He was known by few and specialized in not being seen, but seeing all. It was had helped him get into this situation to begin with.

His own friends knew not who he fought for, and he was better off that way. One of them was actually the man who had found him and told him where he could get some work in the resistance. He had thought it a joke until he was told a pub in some dark alley in the middle of the night where he would be able to find a man. It was all very vague, but he supposed that would be safer for the man, if he brought men with him everyone would know before he got a quarter of the way there and they’d never find him.

It was in this manner that he found himself trudging through the soggy rain and mud, looking much less than pleased at being outside in this mess. His pants were stained dark from the water splashing up against him and his shirt a similar color. He couldn’t have looked innocent if he tried, a dragon couldn’t really look gentle or kind even if he was the kindest man in the city. He was tall and lithe, all muscle without even having to try.

No one could possibly know the weapons he had hidden underneath the cloak he wore, all manners of daggers and even a sword. He much preferred a long bow but that, even for him, was difficult to hide and he didn’t want to scare this man away with direct orders to speak with him by his king. He moved through the shadows between buildings, passing people in the street without even making them aware of his presence, he was just that quiet.

It also helped that he was small for his breed. Much larger than humans, but he was considered a shrimp to others of his kind. Not that he minded. It made it much easier for him to move without being discovered. He tried to keep himself completely covered, since he was mostly white with his underside being a grayish color.

He could see the sign now, ducking inside the building and locating the exits and how many were in the room without hardly moving his head. He moved towards the darkest part of the room, and the table that he had been directed to. Someone was already seated, shrouded in darkness. He rolled his eyes a bit. He hated the theatrics. What was wrong with sitting out in the open and just talking to someone. Oh yeah, you could get killed just for discussing going against the king.

His eyes searched the dark, thankfully his eyes were better than most and the dark didn’t hinder him all that much. His head turned minutely when a woman approached the table, her breasts clear through the shirt and half hanging out of it. “I’ll have a pint” he said, looking over her body appreciatively the way she clearly wanted before turning back to the person seating across from him. He didn’t even open his mouth until the drink came to him, gulping half of it before really acknowledging the other.

“So, how may I be of service?” he asked. He knew he would have been described as a ‘for hire’ kind of guy and he was willing to play on that. He didn’t know how much he knew about him and he was not going to give him more information than he really wanted to. He preferred having a few tricks up his sleeve. Right now all he could tell was that he wanted to fuck him. He hadn’t gotten any in a while and if this didn’t work out he could get something out of him. Even if it wasn’t what he had planned on to start with.

He couldn’t get a good smell off of him though. He was usually pretty good about that but there was just too much going on in the pub. The smell of beer, sweat, desire, and frustration filled his nostrils and it was almost overpowering to someone with such a sensitive nose. Then there was also the smell of the woman, the only one, at least he thought. She smelled considerably better than the rest but it still wasn’t pleasant. God, why did he even agree to come out here? That’s right, he didn’t. He was an idiot. He shouldn’t have mentioned anything, then he could’ve been at home where things actually smelled decent and tasted good.

Might as well make the best of whatever was going down here, though. It had already happened and if he went back empty-handed he’d be hearing about it. He might even have to go into hiding depending on how the king was feeling when he approached him. Damn him. Everything had already gotten worse under his rule, now he was actually afraid to approach him and he didn’t even have to do it yet. He shifted in his seat just to make sure he still had his manhood and he hadn’t lost it coming over here.

 

[shyone]

The day had stretched on and on, like so many seemed to do these days. In a way it made time feel irrelevant almost as though the hands on the watch didn't matter. The entire nature of pub seemed to lend that kind of atmosphere to Charles that he really needed... it was one that the world seemed to disappear into. Like always he arrived when the place opened in morning, and found the exact same rounded booth that was in the back since moving into town. The man had been doing it for so long that his shadow until the very moment of closing became another feature of the pubs darkened scenery. So much so in fact that no one else ever seemed to sit in his booth... it had simply become Charles spot ever since the day the place had opened whenever he visited London. It was something the owners actually seemed to somewhat encourage given the flavor that he added to the place just by his eccentric appearance and odd nature of conversation. In fact he played not only the role of a regular, and somewhat of an ornament, but also helped to play his own role in keeping out those who made trouble. It was always said that Charles had his ways of sobering people up and having them out the door very fast. This was why his unlikely companion, who currently sat cross-legged on the table, examining the patrons of the pub, was overlooked. It was that of a young girl, whose relation to Charles was actually one of the bigger myths about the place. No one knew the answer to that question, and he certainly was not telling.

In fact tonight things to seem to be running their usual course as he stared out over the various patrons of the pub. Sipping softly from a strangle ornate tea cup he examined each and every patron through the lock black locks of hair that almost completely covered his face from view. The only part of his face that was visible was his left eye. The large black eye was quite unusual in that there was no white area, but instead this was colored over black like the rest of his large eye… giving his eye quite a large appearance. On his frame hung a red suit that was covered in dust, and wrinkled, along with a pair of black dress pants to match. Out of his sleeves popped white ruffles which made the whole ensemble look like it belonged in a costume party, than at the back of a pub. Around his neck hung from a simple black piece of twine was a jade amulet that showed multiple tentacles coming out of a mass, which had no form… just a tentacle filled mass. On the table next to him sat a black top hat, which itself seemed to be in a bit of a rough state, and strangely enough was peppered with a few holes here and there. His lithe fingers on the hand that held the tea cup were really the only part of him that showed off his pale skin, as sipped at the drink with care of a noble.

Sitting on the table with her legs crossed was one of the things about Charles that most people were never sure about. It was a little girl, with long white hair, and eyes black as the night. She had this gaze that never seemed to blink as she stared at people curiously. The snowy hair, was tucked back over her ears. The girl’s ghostly pale skin seemed to contrast against the black dress she wore, that was covered with the designs of white flowers and crescent moons all strangely shaped like eyes above smiling mouths. Quietly the girl seemed to sip on her own smaller glass of tea that had been handed to her by Charles and really did not say that much. It was as though the pair communicated without really needing to say anything to each other. For once though she decided to open her mouth to speak, though the reason was… that there seemed to be disruption in normal flow of things about the pub. At least in the sense that one could see such a thing, such as when an object was miss, a door was left open, or even simply a change in atmosphere… it was the atmosphere of this place that the pair knew very well and seeing someone new invade it, was always an instant draw of attention.

Charles watched carefully as the dragon entered the pub, though it took him a few moments to pick out the attributes about the large male that give him away as being the one whom they were supposed to meet. As he spoke to the girl sitting next to him softly, “Well it ssseems our little friend has finally decided to come and join usss. This ssshould make for quite an interesssting coversssation.” His snake like accent, and monotone voice seemed to extend out his s’s whenever he spoke to friend. The girl herself just seemed to look towards Charles as though in some kind of bored acknowledgement before turning back to look in the direction of this newcomer. As they came over in the direction of his table, the male didn't even move as he laid a hand on the girls shoulder, "Now Raef my dear, could you pleassse run along and go play sssome were elssse while me and our new friend here talk busssniess." His words were followed, by an amused chuckled, but slowly the child turned to regard the dragon, with a dead soulless look, which at the same time seemed to pierce all the way to his soul.

"Alright Charlie boy, but when the big mean dragon makes you eat things you didn't expect... don't say I didn't warn you." With those words the odd child simply slid from the table, and confidently walked out the back down like someone many times her age. Charles himself laughed at the little display before during his attention back to the dragon, who at the moment was drinking. "Oh my friend there are many waysss that one sssuch as yourssself can be of ssservice. As to what thossse needs are I believe that we both of have an idea of that. Considering that you are an information gatherer of your skill, I am sure that I could make use of some of the information that you have gathered? Maybe even hire you to gather more..." Looking around the pub at that moment he looked back at the dragon, "I am sssure you can underssstand the danger in thisss proposssal, and frankly I feel that even here isss a bit to open. I have information myssself that I can exchange, if you are interesssted... come and met in room 200. I already have it ressserved. Follow ten mintuesss after me, and here isss sssome money if you want more." With those words Charles stood up and walked using his cane, though not in manner which showed he needed it's support, around to the stairs... and up to the room.

 

[Church]

The room was far less appealing than he would have liked, and this man he was meeting far stranger than he had initially imagined. Even the girl who passed him on his way to the back table was strange, her own kind of strange. He wondered how far he would let this go before he got caught or something happened that made him really regret going through all of this with the King and this new man who seemed to be promising money before he could even ask for it. He had barely even gotten a moment to truly consider what he was saying before the man had gotten up and left him there alone with his drink at an empty table. His eyes bore into his drink and he shook his head, hoping that he would not regret leaving this table and going upstairs. He hadn’t yet gathered the courage to leave the ‘safety’ of the table so he sat and sipped on another pint of beer to bring himself to stand. When he had finally done so he pushed against the table with the heel of his palms, balancing evenly on the balls of his feet as he moved through the room. It had been longer than had been required of him. It had been at least thirty minutes and he had taken in several more drinks than he had intended to, but he was never allowed a drink closer to his work so he was indulging himself a little.

He kept in the shadows and avoided much attention, though that was fairly easy in a bar full of drunken men who could care less about some dragon moving through the room with no intention of screwing with any of them or the woman they were constantly hitting on. He climbed the stairs silently, looking above and below him to make sure that no one would be able to see him entering the room. He was not a fan of people knowing things about him and he was sure this new future employer would feel the same. He rasped on the door lightly so it would bother no one else but loud enough so that this strange man would be able to hear his knock. “I apologize if I have kept you waiting for longer than you had desired. I had almost talked myself out of coming up. I actually do not know why I still came. It is dangerous, though I am usually not afraid of danger. I do not know what was become of me as of late.” He told the other, taking in the room quickly, his eyes adjusting to the change in lighting.

Well, he was too far gone now. Maybe instead of treating it like a chore he’d just go along with it all and trying to make the best of it. Then at least he wouldn’t hate every second he was under cover. “So what sort of information were you wanting me to get for you?” he asked, his head slightly tilted with the question. He moved further into the room and took a seat, guessing that they would probably be there for a while discussing terms and payment for his services. Now that he could see a little bit better he studied the man further, looking at his hair and his clothing, his face (or what he could see of it) and the way he carried himself. He looked like he was from a traveling circus and decided to quit doing that and join the rebellion. The suit looked old and worn, and the hat as well. Something that was strange was the dark eye that watched him and took in his surroundings, and even stranger was the fact that he found this weird man attractive.

Just giving him a passing look he would have been easily overlooked because of the strangeness of his clothing, however, upon closer inspection he was attractive and he could see himself being with this man in bed sometime. He wasn’t thinking that this person could be anyone of any real importance. They wouldn’t let a stranger meet with the leader of the rebellion or anything so the dragon assumed this was some ‘talent search’ of sorts. They would send someone like this to meet with possible members and if it was decided that they could be handy then they would be brought in and caught up to speed with what they needed to be doing to be useful. He kept all this in the back of his mind, deciding that if things went well he may try to bed the male, or at least hit on him and make out or maybe even coax a blow job out of this male. He was wondering who this man was and what he did in the group, fighting within himself on whether he should ask or not. What was wrong with him? He had become such a woman lately.

“I would like to know who you are in the organization and what power you have to hire me. I would also need to know what sort of accommodations you have for me so I might have somewhere to stay when I am with the group so that I don’t have to stay at my own place where someone might see me coming or going, as improbable as that is. I am very good at what I do” he said, maybe a little arrogant but he knew that he was good at his job, that’s why he was sought out to do jobs and by groups like this one. He was an infiltrator and a damn good one at that. He was expensive as well, but this man with the cane seemed to know that already so he was wondering who his connections were and how he managed to know this already about him. His tongue darted out quickly, tasting the air and wetting his lips as his tail moved a bit. He was uncomfortable being in a small room with a little window and only one door out, he would be trapped if someone were to break into the room.

 

[shyone]

Charles sat on the bed inside of the specially accommodated room waiting for the dragon. The male having ordered the strange little girl, as well as the three cats who normally were in her company, to make sure that the dragon was closely followed. At least until he was up in the room, and then they were to act as guards on the outside, and keep any unwanted guest from coming in and ruining the meeting. Because of his influence the room had been prepared in a certain way, to try and cater to the dragon that was coming to the meeting. Lucky for Charles... Mara had given him some important information about the person that he was meeting with, and it allowed him to plan accordingly. Whenever the dragon would walk in one of the first things that was noticeable was large stone like chair covered in furs and clothe, built to accommodate his bulk comfortably. The little intricate nature with which it was made, and the symbols drawn on it, showed that the man who sat before the dragon had done a lot of research and was well versed in the past of the person that he would be talking to. Though really it was that Charles knew a lot about the species... and not about the individual himself. Looking outside the room though he began to get worried slightly, especially given how long it was taking the dragon to come. Charles began to get worried that this might all possibly be a trap, and it wouldn't be the first time that something like this had happened. Luckily for him though that was not what was happening this time and to Charles relief the door finally opened.

"Come in... Come in my dear friend. It took you a bit long than expected to get up from that seat down there. I hope that you were not doing anything that could unravel our little agreement?" There was a slight chuckle of laughter from the male as he spoke and with a bow he gently closed the door behind the dragon and locked it behind him. "If it puts you at any ease, the little girl you saw earlier has taken a post up outside the door. So if you hear four small knocks it means she is coming in, and if you two and then a pause, and then three more... it means that you may exit the window behind us there. So don't worry there is no reason to be paranoid. I took the liberity of having this room prepared for liking if that is ok? I do try to resreach new recurits to the best of the Mistress's abilities and make them feel at home during the recruitment process. We will be moving you to stay at the Ebony Estates in the next few days. It is a high class brothel, but you will be fine there... until we set out to find our next recruit...."

As he rambled on the male guided the dragon to sit on the large stone seat and he himself sat on the flat stone surface in front of it. Charles was normal a humble individual so he didn't mind appealing to a dragon's vanity. If this dragon was different than the norm though, then he would be sure to make note of that later. He was interrupted by the other male whose knee he reached out and patted, "Don't worry about that my friend, consider yourself the safest you can possibly be in all of London right now. Even the King has no better than I." The confidence with which the male said these words, was what truly made it believable.

 

[shyone]

Charles sat on the bed inside of the specially accommodated room waiting for the dragon. The male having ordered the strange little girl, as well as the three cats who normally were in her company, to make sure that the dragon was closely followed. At least until he was up in the room, and then they were to act as guards on the outside, and keep any unwanted guest from coming in and ruining the meeting. Because of his influence the room had been prepared in a certain way, to try and cater to the dragon that was coming to the meeting. Lucky for Charles... Mara had given him some important information about the person that he was meeting with, and it allowed him to plan accordingly. Whenever the dragon would walk in one of the first things that was noticeable was large stone like chair covered in furs and clothe, built to accommodate his bulk comfortably. The little intricate nature with which it was made, and the symbols drawn on it, showed that the man who sat before the dragon had done a lot of research and was well versed in the past of the person that he would be talking to. Though really it was that Charles knew a lot about the species... and not about the individual himself. Looking outside the room though he began to get worried slightly, especially given how long it was taking the dragon to come. Charles began to get worried that this might all possibly be a trap, and it wouldn't be the first time that something like this had happened. Luckily for him though that was not what was happening this time and to Charles relief the door finally opened.

"Come in... Come in my dear friend. It took you a bit long than expected to get up from that seat down there. I hope that you were not doing anything that could unravel our little agreement?" There was a slight chuckle of laughter from the male as he spoke and with a bow he gently closed the door behind the dragon and locked it behind him. "If it puts you at any ease, the little girl you saw earlier has taken a post up outside the door. So if you hear four small knocks it means she is coming in, and if you two and then a pause, and then three more... it means that you may exit the window behind us there. So don't worry there is no reason to be paranoid. I took the liberity of having this room prepared for liking if that is ok? I do try to resreach new recurits to the best of the Mistress's abilities and make them feel at home during the recruitment process. We will be moving you to stay at the Ebony Estates in the next few days. It is a high class brothel, but you will be fine there... until we set out to find our next recruit...." As he rambled on the male guided the dragon to sit on the large stone seat and he himself sat on the flat stone surface in front of it. This would place the Charles almost right between the dragon's legs if the larger male relaxed and spread them out. While this was not done for an purposeful sexual reasons on Charles part, the uses that it might have for the dragon whose mind was on such things at this point was undeniable. In fact it had been the reason for having servants sit in front of dragon's in such places during older times... and was a detail that Mara had left out. She had her ways of potentially getting back at Charles by proxy.

Charles was normal a humble individual so he didn't mind appealing to a dragon's vanity. If this dragon was different than the norm though, then he would be sure to make note of that later. He was interrupted by the other male whose knee he reached out and patted, "Don't worry about that my friend, consider yourself the safest you can possibly be in all of London right now. Even the King has no better than I." The confidence with which the male said these words, was what truly made it believable. As he listened to the others question that was what made a grin appear across his face, "You see my friend that is not exactly the question that you should be asking, because it is not information that I am looking for. No what I need is a capable spy, and someone who knows a lot of information and ways of gathering it that I do not. So you see my friend, I am hiring you on a long term contract for a journey I am about to take. We will be gathering people for purposes, and I can't tell you much about the journey until I am sure that I can trust you, but for now I can say that you will be rewarded for your services." Looking into the dragon's eyes he realized at that moment that no proper greet had been given yet, and given that he personally was not afraid of giving out his own name, he simply reached out his hand saying, "Now in the spirit of building that trust I believe that a greeting is in order. My name is Charles... Charles Castex. If you don't want to give your real name yet that is fine, but my friend I can tell you that you have just received mine."

The other seemed to be quite confident which was a good thing in Charles opinion. Also the dragon seemed to be quite knowledgeable and well informed which was exactly what Mara had reveled to him. They would still have to visit with a certain Dr. within the next few days, but the man was sure that he could convince the dragon to join him. Even though the dragon was probably not going to take incomplete answers to his questions Charles planned on trying to give him the best ones that he could, "Well you see my friend, the things that you are asking for are a little hard to give, but I will revel what I can. If you want to know who has the authority to hire you then well... you are looking at him. This is my venture, and I have other people who will be joining us, and one of them who has their own reasons to fund us. I learned about you through the person who is funding this venture and I am hoping to ask you to join us, and work with us as information gather and scout. I am sure you have some training in those area's as well that other members in my group don't. You will not have to worry about being seen coming or going during this contract, because we will be on the move during the entirety of the trip. As for who I am in this organization as you keep referring to it as... my friend you a bit mistaken on quite a few things. Number one I guess you could call me the 'leader' of this organization, and that is all the information I can give you. Beyond the fact that if you join with me... you will have a group of people who will die for you once they trust you."

Again the man who spoke to the dragon seemed so sure of himself that it was a little unnerving, but at the same time it at least showed he wasn't someone who spent much time lying when it didn't suit him. While Charles wasn't sure how he was going to go about making sure that the dragon stayed in the group, or even came along and joined them, but he was sure of one thing and that was the fact he was quite sure that the other male could be useful. Again he reached out his hand, "So while I understand that you still may be unsure, but can I at least count on the fact that you will come with me to the Ebony Estate and think things over there. If at that point you don't wish to join then you may part ways with the group. Oh, and I will warn you on this my friend... if you are not what you say you are then this is your chance to back out. The Ebony Estates is a brothel used by quite a few men who have a lot of money, and a few nobles, so it is a place that is not secret. The Mistress will know if you are lying to us. She has her ways after all..." His laugh had a sinister note to it as he kept his extended hand towards he other male. Hoping the dragon would take up the offer.