“H-has anyone been allowed t-to?” That was certainly a hard question  to answer. As far as she was aware: no. Was that the extent of it? Definitely not. Though Aethelos had been absent from the manor before she had even been brought to the continent, she had to wonder when  the last time he even  beheld his beloved sister was. Had he gotten to tell her good bye prior to being sent off to war? He had certainly been privvy to his parents' plans and even been a victim of their lies as well - to keep him from posing questions or pressing her for information that she did not have, she didn't know for certain. She could easily fathom that their main reasoning was to keep her in the dark. If they didn't want her to know that she was not their true daughter, why waste time and what she could only assume to be valuable coin sending her to the director of nightmares to maintain her sense of amnesia? They knew if she pieced things together that she would not stand for such an injustice. Providing that they also did know who she was. She would finally relinquish a slight sigh and a shake of her head. "Not that I-I'maware of." She would frown slightly, brow furrowed benevolently in bitter thought. "They actually haven't mentioned her to me at all, and....I-I don't want them to know that I'm starting to rmember." She would finally look up to him, meeting those unsteady eyes once again. Perhaps it was a hard sentimeent for another to understand outside her own  cerebrum. It was a worry that not many could relate or rationalize, one that she was also struggling fiercely with: both to accept and to make sense of. She had yearned to recall mere moons ago. She had wracked her brain in the late of night in search for something that would lead her to know what kind of person she had been preeviously. She had pined for the stranger in the mirror to become someone she recognized, and now that she did, there was a soft, forlorn  part of her that no longer wished to be burdened with her troubled past and who shee truly was. To forget those that had been left behind, however, was something she simply couldn't do. It would make this whole ordeal easier. If she spilled the truth of knowing and allowed them to have the vulture pick through her brain  again and take what they desired from her, she may be at peace. After all, ignorance was bliss. Or so they say. “Is t-there any in the ho-house that could secure the f-funds?” She would bring a hand to her chin in thought,  teeth holding softly to the tip of her finger as a thoughtful hum left her.  The only people that she could assume to have such authority would be those of the immediate family: the lord, lady, or Aethelos. Though if they had managed to get rid of him now, perhaps that was their plan. Maybe they knew nothing of her slow collection  or memoirs and merely lured him away to keep him from finding out about the funds they meant to secure.  Would it be tonight? In the morning? Surely it would be all too soon. “Any k-keepers or attendants? Your b-brother even? If I know Val-Valerius,” she would again affix her stare to him in sharpened detail. “He will n-not give a t-thing until getting… what he wants f-from all this.” "Our staff are not allowed near such dealings. It would have to be Aethelos...." the words were little more than a slight murmur, more to herself than her intended husband. "He was called back to the barracks yesterday." This admittance was spoken louder, another shake of her head.  Another long, loud exhale. "If I knew  w-when they were to make the transfer and g-get word to him, I know he would ensure th-the money went to what they say."  After all, there was absolutely nothing he hadn't been  willing to do for the sickly girl in  all the years that she had known him prior, and according to his confession  after the would be attack on her life, she held her doubts that such an attribute had changed. He would always be on a leash to her. Something she had struggled vehemently wih in her younger days. In her world, however, the weak were unable to survive. Only the strong could survive the harsh lifestyle her tribe and people had committed themselves to and later been exhiled to endure. The young and the frail had been the first to feed and spark the inevitable war. It was not the same here. Not in the 'civilized' world. The world where no  one was honest and spoke with cloak and daggers. The  last part of his statement was also something that held interest to her,  and she would allow the other arm to fold over her waist and offer support to the one that  palmed her chin. "What he wants." She would repeat it, "Are you i-implying the wedding isn't what he's truly paying for? Is there more to it th-than securing you a wife?"

Jahi

Despite how it further blurred her visage and the very world around him, a crown titled lightly. Confusion not a foreign sentiment to etch its way across those features this night. Though this was not caused by the strange twistings of the mind but the phrases which pierced it. Why would they not tell her of her own sister? Surely there was a right to know of family, even if in passing. No reason to keep that particular portion of her memories locked away with all else she’d lost with her own affliction… unless there was something to hide. Something that may bring her to worry or fret. Relapse and fall back into the clutches of whatever illness had gripped her all those moons ago.

Though just as before such musings lay stifled, surely she had already wondered this for herself. Little need for the goat to drudge up a past she already seemed reluctant in sharing. Only small pieces divulged, enough to answer questions without giving too much of her life away. Staggered breath slipped from his lungs in what one hoped would have been a steadying sigh. Lyrics giving way to dulled thoughts, “T-that is… strange,” yet still they sought monetary gain. Funds for treatments, a cure to whatever so ailed this sister should another’s fears not be confirmed. That in the end there was no sister left to save.

He wanted to believe she lived. Wanted to trust that this would not be something any would lie over despite knowing how willing nobles - and commoners alike - were to sell their pretty lies. Anything for a step up in this world, advantage held over another. It brought those rosen hues to sink, drop all attempts at keeping focus on anything but his continued grip upon fabrics. Allowing a mind time to process, to think, no matter how hard such a task seemed to be. To take in all she said. None had been allowed to see her. They hadn’t even told her of a sibling and she did not want them to know of her remembrance.

All of it stirred question. Those that he should perhaps not ask despite how they lingered at the tip of his tongue, craving escape, dying to taint the already charged air between them. It would be foolish to press his luck, details he did not need to pry for no matter how curiosity gnawed at him. Instead fangs pressed lightly against one another, a pinch of flesh between them until conversation drifted from one sensitivity to another. Death to dealings. Those he admittedly knew very little of, merely able to grasp and assume at his father’s nature through years of living beneath this very roof.

“W-word may not r-reach him… n-not in ti-time. Dealings could b-be as… as early as t-tonight, we are in Va-Valerius’ ho-home r-right now.” Coin could exchange hands the moment a ceremony concluded, as soon as he obtained at least a portion of that mysterious accord. “If not th-then… then no la-later than a few d-days from mor-morning.” There would be little to no delay in upholding a bargain made. Promises for the man’s own gain were never something he treated lightly. Admittance that seemed to enrapture a supposed bride’s own interest. “What he wants.” That is what had been said. A fact the goat knew to be true. None of this would be happening if there wasn’t something his father wished to gain.

“Th-there always has b-been. He-he’s turned d-down other off-offers in the p-past for not being ben-bene… worthwhile t-to him,” dealings canceled before August even had to think of disrupting overheard plans. “Now a d-days he keeps me in t-the d-dark. Any dea-dealings with your f-family is for h-he alone to know.” Of course the man prattled on about preserving the family name, keeping a bloodline alive, the unnaturalness of the goat’s affections… but there had to be more to it. “He h-has his re-reasons but I’m sure it-t is greed t-that swayed him. They ha-had to have off-offered m-more than just your hand… w-what I do not know.” Something to feed the twisted games one claimed as business? Dealings that were better left unspoken for they were everything a goat wanted nothing to do with.

At least these were his assumptions for unless Valerius had fallen from his prideful perch there could be no other answer. Stooping so low as to merely cover what was seen as undesirable within his offspring… that wasn’t like him, but what did her family have to offer? What did they have to gain other than a devil’s coin? Breath shuddered with the slow shake of his head, glassy gaze attempting to recapture her own no matter how she seemed to waver within that growing fog. Only to find pause. Any further sound swiftly dying in his throat as teeth clicked sharply together and all one could do was stare.

No true placement found with each unsteady flicker. A sense of unease flooding the mind, trickling to the very air around him in what could have been placed upon budding fears. Reality itself seeming to shift, the very visage one attempted to gaze upon morphed and bubbling. A rolling mass of fangs that fought to take shape. Nothing about it resembling the exasperated, tear stricken face of the woman he'd been speaking with mere seconds ago. No... this was something more monstrous. 

Impulse bid him to draw back, to snarl in warning like the wild animal currently locked beneath flesh yet neither action would seize hold as all an unstable mind could comprehend in these moments was a twisting change. Bewilderment subduing the urge to bare wolven fangs toward this unforeseen threat. Quieted rumble never rising further than a broken sound in his chest before it too faded completely. Returning to the stuttered rhythm once held in hopes of capturing breath.

This wasn’t right. This wasn't the truth, was it? 

Where could it have come from... a beast which held her voice. Mimicked a scent so perfectly that it had not been morphed beyond recognition but now it failed to assume her form. Something else wore her skin now. Something alien. Anxieties spurred nails to bite against upholstery in silent threat of tearing into it. Frantic thoughts screaming to act, to do something but all one did was stare. Fight to make sense of it all. Pulse rushing upon a fluttering beat to fill his ears, already enlarged pupils seeming to widen in sidelong look. A more animalistic presentation. Sign toward the steadily fraying threads of control.

Symptoms: dilated pupils, blurred vision, lack of coordination, loss of balance, tremors
slowed/slurring speech, increased heart rate + body temperature, difficulty breathing
its hallucination time

At his lilting intonation, the unsteady rhythm of his breathing had her brow furrowing further. It was getting worse, wasn't it? The tentative softness within her would breach the surface, a blight of concern for this man. This man who had wronged her in no way other than simply being a pawn just as she was. This man she was adamant to hate, to loathe. Abhorrence would keep him at a distance, disgust would create the needed barrier between them while she desperately tried to pick up the shattered pieces of herself. Perhaps once she placed everything back into the cracked likeness of what she used to be, maybe then she would reconcile with her malicious venom. Maybe she wouldn't. No matter her disposition in current times, however, she wouldn't idly stand by while whatever poison he himself had decided to partake in destroy him from the inside out. Was that his choice, after all? A dark feeling that settled upon her breast, almost enough to prickle her eyes once more with tears. It was an option she had warred with, if truth was to be spilled like blood from her lips. To know that her home was no longer one, to find the thin veneer presented as family was merely an aegis for legal tender was harrowing. It had made her feel a blissful empty. It had robbed her of that vehement fire for freedom. The life that had filled her stare dimming like the suffocation of a candle's illumination once the hood was placed over it for the evening. It wasn't even a gust of wind to sever it all it once. No, this was an agonizingly slow decay. Each recollection that came back to her was worse than the first, slow death creeping like vines over those happy faces, claiming them until she knew that she was wholly and totally alone. Until she knew them and their names alike would perish and be at ease when she joined them. Yie wuru rojhs, da. Thuw auru phiosin. An admittance that came far too late, a fact she had once so vehemently denied. She had foolishly thought them to be her friends. That was the only consolation she had now - a life raft she so desperately clung to in the destructive wake she was left behind to drown in. Her life for Arabella's. If she could save her. But it was strange, wasn't it? That she had not seen hide nor hair of her, though she supposed it would make sense for them to not speak a word of her. After all, they had gone to quite the pains to convince her that she was the frail and sickly girl. “W-word may not r-reach him… n-not in ti-time. Dealings could b-be as… as early as t-tonight, we are in Va-Valerius’ ho-home r-right now.” The thought had her reeling, slightly. He was right, of course. Then her choices were becoming less and fewer in between. Did she confront them? Did she dare to rend this mask sewn to her face before them, demand answers. Command them to tell her all? She could know if they were lying, a sense marked by her fingers pulling along the band of her ring. All she had to do was remove it. Then no lie could they breathe that she would not be privy to. What happened, though, if this sickening feeling that whispered there was no longer an Arabella to save proved to be right? What would she do then? What would she say to Aethelos the next time they met? “If not th-then… then no la-later than a few d-days from mor-morning.” The time frame was constricted like the binding coils of a serpent. As he continued, however, it only made her distrust grow, her skin set to crawl. Her nails bit at the flesh of her palms, tearing into the lace of her sleeves. Her teeth gnashed together until she could taste the metal of heady iron. What else could it be? What did they offer other than a wife? What did the worms have? Land? Business? She felt ill. Even if they left, even if she disappeared, would it make a difference after all? There was nothing. There was nothing other than the saccharine words they had promised to Aethelos should he turn a blind eye and keep her in the tar of their lies. What benefit would her misery buy then? The conflict of her stare would meet his, the distraught and undistinguished focus of his flushed gaze. No longer could he hold sight upon her. The blown imagery of his pupils searched not only her features, but the air around her. There was a distorted sound that began within him, dying just as quickly as it was birthed, and she would draw back, putting one careful step between the two of them. She believed it was time for her to depart. "Until later then." The soft hum of her vocals was lower, soothing. She knew not what else to offer him. She knew not what else to even provide to herself. The conversation had been baleful, a constant reminder to the lies that corralled her to this very point in time. They had been the prophet to guide her like a sinful shepherd to this twisted present. As her footfalls carried her, she would briefly seek out the woman she had found him in the company of. She would look back towards her betrothed before finally bringing her stare to the lady fair. "I think he needs a medic." She voiced, her hands clenched tightly upon one another. She would shake her head, slightly. "I-I think.... he may have put something in his drink." The crafted theory would leave her on a softer sound, little more than a whisper before she would make the effort to continue, to return to the gleeful tomb that waited just outside.

Jahi

Ara exits, unless stopped.

Helayne Ilirium The sound of the doorknob behind her drew her attention, her gaze shifting back over a scarred shoulder to see who had arrived. Though she didn’t know the woman, it was not hard to determine who she must be, August’s betrothed. Her jaw clenched so hard Hel thought her teeth might crack, her face flushed with fury as her gaze raked over them both. She could nearly feel the scald of that gaze. August moved to stand behind her, his voicing drawing her focus back to him, ”Give us a mo-moment? You’re free to look at what… whatever you wish. I only ask that you not leave the study. Find me again after a bit?” Hel only nodded, standing on bare feet. She gathered her shoes in one hand and looked at the woman again. She felt a pain of guilt, for how she must feel to find them, appearing to hide in the quiet study and what it must look like. She’d make no excuses to her, there was nothing to share and nothing she could say to ease that rage inside. Instead she made her way out into the dim hallway, silent bare feet moving over the floor as she explored the hall and its art. She tried to focus on the few bits and whispers she’d heard downstairs, but her mind was still sympathetic to August and his bride-to-be’s plight. Her mind drifted to faces she’d not seen in years, to memories she never allowed herself to dredge up. Kerrigan’s handsome and confident smile, his eagerness in his betrothal to her. The vicious argument she had with her mother that day she’d announced it. How she refused to be bartered and sold like property. Guilt hit her chest like lightning for the way she’d fought with her. She’d known it was more in hopes of protecting her, a strong partner was a need in the wilds of Valthira. He’d have made a good enough match. He was strong and a skilled hunter, he was smarter than most of the other boys and already a proven warrior. Most of all he’d been sweet, naive in some ways she thought. They’d shared so much over the years, grown close in the absence of both of their fathers. He’d been her first taste of lust and love and all its fevered need. She knew what her life would have been like if she married him, and what she would have lost. His bloody broken body flashed in her mind, the pain in his face as he commanded her and her mother to run. The fear and the bravery mixed in his gaze as he faced his death that day. Hel wrapped her arms around her bare shoulders, feeling the scarred flesh of her back beneath her fingertips. An icy cold settled into the very marrow of her bones remembering the day she’d lost everything and everyone… She felt the sting of tears sharpen her vision, the rise of a knot in her throat. She’d never mourned them, she’d never had time… but she could not lose herself here, not with the possibility of her enemy lingering in these very halls. She found a dark alcove to lean back in, to gather her breath and settle the memories and emotions before they could devour her. The harsh step of heels pulled her attention sharply back into the present. The woman rounded the corner, her hard gaze meeting her own.”I think he needs a medic. I-I think.... he may have put something in his drink.” Hel pushed herself up from the wall, dropping her shoes to the floor. ”What?” she snapped, more severely than she meant to, but the woman was gone with hardly more than a glance back. Hiking the ridiculous skirt up into a fistful she raced back down the hall and into the elaborate study once more. August stood, wild eyes, pupils dilated until it nearly blacked out the crimson of his gaze. His normal casual grace was gone, his breathing labored. She moved closer, grabbing ahold of him sharply, two fingers moved to check the racing pulse in his neck. She could feel the heat of his body, his skin flush with fever. ”August, what’s going on? She said you put something in your wine?” She looked around for the cup and lifted it to her nose, breathing in the scent. A bitter musky scent reached her nose, faint beneath the sweetness of the wine. ”Shit,” she swore, setting the glass aside and looking at him again. There was no way he’d done this, even in his desperation to avoid the wedding, he had a daughter he’d just spoken so passionately about looking after. This was not the way to do it. No, someone else had poisoned him directly or had poisoned all the wine. Her body tenses, instantly becoming defensive. Her gaze moved around the room, her hand moved to the silver dagger at her hip. She had to get him help now. ”Stay here,” she commanded, moving to the balcony. Despite the few people gathered below in the dimly lit garden, she raised her hand to her mouth and whistled. An answering angry whinny could be heard in the distance, the soft beat of hooves coming through the forest. With no hesitation, she made her way down the heavy lattice work next to the balcony, certainly not made easier by the dress. The mare came to nudge at her hip, but Hel moved to her pack, pulling her mother’s journal and the small medicinal bag she carried with her out of the saddlepack. She made her way back up to the annoyance of the mare below, and cleared the desk of its contents into a mess on the ground. Dumping out her pack, she opened the journal, flipping through pages looking for familiar phrases. She took the mix of dried herbs and the dark ground charcoal and poured the contents into the mortar. When it was close enough she poured water into it, the only container she had, and brought it back over to him. ”Drink this now,” she insisted, holding the mortar to his lips if he’d allow her. ooc: I'm sorry this is all over and so word vomity.

art by calparo

That voice seemed to echo sounding so near yet so far away all at once. A cacophony swimming in his ears and working to blot out all else that may hope to rise. Curved fangs flashing in silent warning no matter how the obscured shifted back and granted the spaces each desperately craved. It granted a fleeting sense of ease but it would be enough. Blown gaze slowly chasing each step as if to ensure a monstrous presence did not whirl back upon him. No signal given that her farewell had even registered yet there would be no attempt at stopping her departure. No desire to drag such a creature within reach, little want to feel the puncture of twisting flesh between teeth.

Even if he had wanted to steps would remain grounded, fixed into place. Unwilling to give chase just as he’d been upon their first encounter. Now was no different yet still those fangs would click. Snap against the air when shadows drifted from view and left the goat in silence. Nothing but stuttering breath and the rush of his pulse to fill the senses. Only for it all to be chased back in an instant as another filled the absence left behind. Familiarity in the scent, in the lyrics which drifted, the bleared visage before him almost something recognizable but with it came a sensation which felt utterly wrong.

Wolven snarl daring to rise in his throat the moment hands set upon him. If he’d had fur it would have bristled though denial to questioning cannot find him. Tongue briefly pressing between pointed fang as ears pinned with that festering uncertainty. Display harsher than he ever intended to be and yet a mind could not fully register who - or rather what - manner of beast seized hold of him. Wild gaze struggling for fixation upon morphing features, never truly resting upon her face as it darted over all which seemed to linger around the known stranger.

Temporary quiet suddenly gripped vocals. Stuttering halt as a frame wanted to jolt back at the touch which drifted into firm press against the side of his neck. It didn’t hurt. There was no piercing sear of tendrils yet instinct bid him to snap. To do something in hopes of driving back this unforeseen threat yet the debilitating haze within halted action, stunted reaction. Drowned out whatever fearful desperation wished to carry out without thought. Everything stalled by growing unsteadiness, how it took nearly everything left to simply remain upright.

In the end, overt displays nothing more than a bluff. Aggression snuffed out and in its place came submission. Breath no longer contorted upon a strangled snarl, returning to an unsteady rasp as those hands released him. A slowing process of registration taking hold as that figure shifted about the room. All she’d asked of him finally bleeding through the fog. He had tainted his drink? That is what one believed?

He hadn’t, he didn’t, not tonight. Neither drug nor toxins had been mixed by his own hand, anything consumed this night had been what another provided. Taken from a tray, the fountain. Only two… but this wasn’t something he wanted.

Maybe in the past it would have been an opportunity clung to. A thought the goat could not deny had flickered as possibility though the finality of death itself was not an option readily reached for. A last resort part of him refused to take - even with the creeping sensations that reared their heads at times. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t take that plunge for now there was something to lose. Enacting such wonderings would be worse than merely fleeing from her side. Thought which finally broke lyrical silence, “I d-didn’t.” Phrases quiet, tripped over no matter how short an utterance had been. Unknowing on if she’d even heard him at all.

Yet that command to stay resonated all too clearly. It was not one he would ignore. Besides iit wasn’t like he had anywhere to go, that he could get anywhere but here without fear of collapse. Waver spurring fingers to tighten their grip anew, keep him grounded. Keep him from lashing toward whatever entity may approach next. Yet those next moments seemed to stretch for an eternity. A nothingness once Helayne - or at least her vague likeness - had vanished in a swirl of noise. Sounds which lingered upon distant echoes.

Growing louder still until the clatter of once decorative items brought ears to turn. Dulled alert flashing in the rosen gaze which attempted to follow suite as if the situation at hand could be grasped in full. Only to stare with wild distrustful eyes until that presence was felt to near once more. Lyrics hardly a request as herbal scented concoction pressed to his lips and from an initial pass he wanted to spit it out. Push it back and ask firmly of its contents, the light twine of fingers against her wrist reaction he does not stop though one she could easily pull from should he find hold.

Concern slipping through all else that plagued his features but in the end, if the voice of one before him could be believed as truth… there was no reason she would quicken the fate another spelled out for him. She had held opportunity enough to do so before now. So despite clear reluctance the false shield of a hand would drop back to join his other and he would drink until she pulled back. Allow it to flow over his tongue with no resistance until she deemed it had been enough - even if the flavor left something to be desired. When opportunity came he would speak, “W-what was t-that?” Opinions kept to himself over it for the time.

Symptoms: dilated pupils, blurred vision, lack of coordination, loss of balance, tremors
slowed/slurring speech, increased heart rate + body temperature, difficulty breathing
its hallucination time

[quote="Helayne" pid='1547' dateline='1688345184']

Helayne Ilirium He snarled at her touch, giving her only a moment’s pause as she waited to see if the tether on his control would snap. His eyes glazed and heavy tried to find her, but could never seem to settle on hers. Instead they seemed to roll back into his head, raising her concern. ”It’s still me,” she tried to whisper in comfort, uncertain if he’d progressed fully into hallucinations by now. His aggression seemed to fade, too focused on his breathing and what remained of him mentally. ”I-I didn’t, he tried to speak, words stumbling and slurred. ”I know,” she whispered again, trying her best to keep her calm and watch for signs of his feral sides return. His hand wrapped around her wrist, sending an odd shiver down her body. She fought her own instincts to pull away, to create some kind of barrier between them and instead forced herself to remain steady. ”I know it smells and probably tastes horrible, but I need you to drink,” she tried to keep her voice soothing but insistent, bringing the shallow bowl to his lips as he’d allow. Eventually he released her, drinking the contents down with some disgust. ”W-what was t-that” he managed to stammer, trying to meet her gaze. ”A mix of herbs and charcoal, it will absorb whatever is in your stomach, but I’m afraid you’re also going to vomit like you never have before.” She grimaced slightly at the lack of warning. Ensuring he was able to stand for himself though, she moved around the desk to retrieve a small trash can, dumping its paper contents out to bring to him. She also retrieved a handkerchief, dousing it in cool water from the canteen. ”Why don’t you sit down here, it should begin to work soon,”. She was concerned how long the poison had been in his system, how long this could take to wear off. What if he went into full hallucinations? How would she find a healer without causing a scene? Her mind pondered over the concerns as she moved to press the cool rag to his skin if he’d allow her. ”Rest a moment, I think I should tell the guards about the wine. I don’t know if it was just yours or if its everyone's but they’re going to need to summon healers if there aren’t already some here.” Hel hurried for the hallway, bare feet moving silently as she found the same guard as before, letting him know what was going on. He hurried back out into the party, clearly looking for someone to give the information too. She didn’t wait to see who it was, instead turning and running back up the carpeted steps to return to August’s side.

art by calparo

If there had been a trace of recognition within an addled mind, regret would have budded just as quickly as snarled warning but baredly did whispered phrase reach through the fog. Racing thoughts able to fixate on nothing more than twisting visions. Oddities he knew could not be true and yet with all else which plagued him it did little to lessen reactivity. There was a chance, proclamations upon murmured breaths that this could be reality. Truths hidden away from the blind. All were beasts who sought to devour one another… especially those who let down their guard.

Possibilities a hound refused to ignore, risks a feral mind was unwilling to take while the goat merely hoped for something to ground him. A reason to cast aside this unnatural call for aggression and give in to the familiarity which radiated from a presence so near. Press aside fearful uncertainty and allow what was known to envelop flickering thoughts. Gentle lyrics were the same. Natural perfumes which danced over flesh were those taken in mere moments ago, untainted by the freshness of blood or the tangling obscenities delirium forged.

It had to be her.

No matter the visions which danced or the vile concoction that coated his tongue, instantly thinking he may choke should it be swallowed back though it glided after some reservations. This had to still be her. No other but Castiel knew where they’d tucked themselves away and the other of visual monstrosities had fled. There was no other. And in time a semblance of that recognition would return, no matter how her features lay blurred - too many to count, uncertain on just where one should look to truly behold the woman.

---

Expression soured at the lingering aftertaste, only to twist further upon the phrases grasped though nausea did not hit him straight away. Nothing settled at the back of his throat nor immediately churnced beneath it yet her tone left little room for doubt. Such sensations would surely rise despite his distaste  at the idea of it, vomiting something he’d not had to endure for some time and the idea of it certainly wasn’t one he looked forward to now. Phrases quiet in acceptance of the inevitable, “S-so long as it hel-helps.” At least it would be better than succumbing to whatever toxin laced the system.

Shaken hand rose then though this time did not reach for another as instead it hoped to shield his gaze. Casting morphed visions into darkness, merely listening to the ways Helayne moved about the room and rummaged through various belongings. HIs breath hissed lightly, fingers briefly yet harshly pressing to sockets before they’d shift to run through ombré tinted hair at the sound of reapproach. Dark lashes abandoning their veil of sight in hopes of looking to her. Uncertainty clouding his features, unknowing if a request could be heeded for he remained distrustful of his own limbs and the balance they typically offered.

Nails of an opposite hand still digging into fabric, however, gentled request rises in silent gesture as digits free themselves of entangling tresses. Phrases slurring against each other, “Gimme a h-hand?” Any touch she may offer readily accepted as August braced against a sturdier frame. Progress slower than he’d like though soon enough he found himself settling into the very sofa he’d once gripped. Though before a quiet utterance of thanks could flee his lips, her own voice rose to fill the silence as cooling cloth pressed to skin.

Lyrics stirring a greater sense of worry within, what if everyone’s had been tainted? So many had come to partake in these wretched festivities and if he were not the sole target it may cost so many others their lives. “Ho-hopefully only m-mine,” in this instance he hoped he was alone. A moment given to think over all she’d said as she disappeared upon the quiet creak of hinges, leaving the goat to silence. With a quiet breath his crown tilted against the back of the sofa, holding the rag she’d offered in its place. Jumbled thoughts racing.

Would this be reason enough to call of the arrangement? There was no way he - or any other potentially plagued - would be able to stand, let only speak in a manner deemed ‘appropriate’. And with it Augustus held no desire to see the very woman proclaimed as his betrothed, let alone linger in a presence that had twisted into monstrous displays. If others had been poisoned as well surely there would be too much of a fuss dealing with it all to bother advancing a ceremony tonight… put it off for another night if a combination of stresses did not spur a father’s temper to cancel it entirely.

He could hope.

Tongue pressed lightly between fangs as saliva was felt to pool, swallowing as if it would stave off the rising feeling he knew was to come. It was not yet at its peak though he knew not how long this concoction took to work. Until that fated time came he would still attempt to hold conversation, offer faint reassurances the moment Helayne was felt back at his side. “T-there are… some here,” tones delayed though attempted to hold on to sincerity, “He-healers that is. Two I k-know of… b-but I’m sure oth-others must have c-come.” And if they had not been encumbered as he was then they could prove helpful to any other who needed it.

Ajax was working, that man would at least be free of these afflictions. Eva had been drinking, even if her glass was not laced she had found distraction and there was a chance that the fox still held her attentions. But what of Helayne? Rosen sights hoped to find her as a frame nearly jolted upright, action swiftly regretted as a greater wave of nausea washed over him. Swiftly bidding him to relax with a grimace as the feeling refused to settle entirely. Though it did not pull hopeful focus from the woman for long as uneven tone filled the air.

“You d-didn’t have any r-right?” Fingers waving lightly as if it would explain all he wished to say before seeming to find the words lost, “N-no wine? No dr-drinks?” While he’d encountered her within the opening hours of the party, Augustus was uncertain just how long she’d been there before stumbling across her familiarity. Hours? Mere moments? While he’d not scented any wine upon those whispered breaths nor seen a glass within her hands... one could not be certain without hearing it from her own lips. If it turned out she had ingested any, it would be best if she sought her own treatment rather than remaining at his side.

Symptoms: dilated pupils, blurred vision, lack of coordination, loss of balance, tremors
slowed/slurring speech, increased heart rate + body temperature, difficulty breathing
its hallucination time - nausea from the pukey mixture