Oh, Ill of Mind

"Oh, Ill of Mind" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
Flies buzzed noisily around the mangled remains of over a dozen chicken corpses, their feathers matted and bodies twisted to the point of being near irreconizable. The stench of rot was already choking the air.
Milae’s hooves stood in the snow facing the wide wall of a local seamstress shop, two wooden buckets by his ankles. One half filled with blood, the other mud. Where the wall had once been blank, now a macabre mural stretched over it.
One of a stag halfbreed, nude and head bent low. His fingers gripped his own antlers, which he held down by his waste, while two gaping holes adorned his head, spilling rivets of scarlet down the entirety of his body. For the artist only using the materials from the slaughtered livestock and mud, it was horrifyingly acute, and realistically detailed. So much so that Milae could see that this image wasnt just in reference to Dario…it was a replication. Each recognizable facial feature deliberately etched into the grime.
Going off towards the woods, Milae saw bloodied foot prints, and the occasional discarded chicken body, left as if to bid him to follow.
foresight-botgd
The hooded figure stood in front of the wall for a very long several minutes. 
His gaze was eerily unblinking and empty, and his normally-twitching velvet ears were still. His bladed staff creaked slightly as he dug it into the mix of gore, muck and ice at his feet with a slight twist of his wrists. His scars were burning again; if one looked closely enough, they could see his forearms were still caked with streaks of dried blood.
The half-breed took a single step forward and reached out with a hoof, placing it flat against the ruined wall. Feathers rustled behind him but he didn’t bother seeing what color they were or who they belonged to. The wood under his hoof began to sizzle, and several feet outwards from his hand, two points equal in diameter from each other began to smoke and char, and the lines of blackened wood began to rotate and fill in a huge circle. Within the shape, several other circles formed, along with many intricate runes as long as his forearm. The sigil completed, covering the ghastly work of art with something almost as disturbing. It was a replication of a demon contract.
Milae took a heavy breath through his nose. Then he turned and began to pace into the treeline.
moe-lazyeye
Rhenco sat at a table he had transmuted from some logs in the middle of the woods. A cooking fire and improve kitchen crackled to his far left, and two plates of well cooked food sat on the table. He spread his long fingers over its flat surface, and waited paitently.
Today’s a special day…its been a while since I took the time to practice my old life skills….
foresight-botgd
Milae twisted his nose at the farce the old man was setting up before him. He folded his arms as best he could while still gripping his weapon.
“You fancy yourself to be a homemaker, do you?”
moe-lazyeye
“I dont fancy myself…” Rhenco said cooly as he slid the other plate a little in his direction. “Just you…have a seat.”
foresight-botgd
Milae said nothing, nor did he move an inch. He simply stared at Rhenco with the same look, devoid of expression.
moe-lazyeye
Rhenco squinted an eye as a smile touched the corner of his mouth. “Come now…you’re not really just going to stand there and not listen to what I have to offer. You would have walked away by now, or never arrived. So let’s sit, and renegotiate yet again.”
He studied the back of his hand. “Only…you may want to leave out the tricks this time. It didnt nessecarily do you any favors.”
foresight-botgd
He felt another flicker of irritation at the mention of his failed contract, but he slowly stepped to be in front of the table, and Rhenco, but he made no other move to join him. “You did not strike me as someone who was willing to negotiate,” Milae said in a low voice.
moe-lazyeye
“Since when?” Rhenco asked, a note of sincere honesty in his voice as he reach a hand into his pocket. “I’ve tried before…and apparently all you and I did was negotiate in other lives.”
foresight-botgd
“I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean.”
moe-lazyeye
“You negotiated information out of me before we even met.” Rhenco clarified. “Of course, it is that fact, and your abilities that bring us here to renegotiate again…”
He drew a small red vial from his pocket and set it on the table between them. “A token of good will to start things off. Some red card to cure the next person who might contract it…”
foresight-botgd
Milae’s pupils dilated; his nostrils flared, and he shuddered in place for a moment before striding forward and snatching it off the table and shoving it deep in his bag. He couldn’t take it with him, and he was furious. He was pinned in the timeline with it. “As if you believe this would generate any good will between you and I,” he hissed. The brief memory of activating and immediately hitting a cliffside at terminal velocity flashed through his mind and his stomach rolled.
Beside him, the intimidating but invisible figure of a valkyrie stepped forward out of the shade of the trees, black wings rustling softly in the forest air. She tilted her head down to look at at Milae’s bag, and she sniffed slightly, lifting up her index finger and thumb and rubbing them together in several repeated motions. The markings on Milae’s arms began to glow ever so slightly. “Do be a dear and avoid making yesterday’s mistake. I do not wish to force another sacrifice to my sister.”
Milae jerkily inclined his chin but did not reply, keeping his eyes on Rhenco.
moe-lazyeye
“Perhaps it was too much to hope for.” Rhenco folded his hands. “Understand my situation Milae…I fought you and I realized it would kill me. I submitted, and I realized I would lose my purpose. I never thought those two could be separated. But here I am. Living somewhere between the two, not knowing if I will live or die…frightening as it is…its also freeing.”
He fixed him with an almost curious stare. “I love you Milae…and I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it….”
“You are in luck, if you wish to negotiate. There is little I would not do if it were to stop you from ever saying that again.”
Milae looked coldly at him. “You say that because of my existence, you have no desire to fight us out of self-preservation. What more do you want from me? As long as you stay away from the Rebellion, I do not care what you do, nor do I want anything from you.”
moe-lazyeye
Rhenco leaned away, and then passively took up his fork to pick at the food, a mixture of lightly pan fried potatoes and small strips of tender meat. “You’d want me to ensure that you’re timeline stays safe right? That’s something you’d want…and also something that’s subject to change…” 
foresight-botgd
“This thread is safe.” But he said it softly, and swallowed before he spoke. His cloak caught between the tips of his fingers and he gripped it tightly.
moe-lazyeye
Rhenco lowered the fork from his lips, and quietly shook his head. “No it’s not Milae…but you are…so…wonderfully…you…” He glanced up at the tree tops. “You push back against those at oppose you…hard. You don’t know how to flinch. I am certain you’d find a way to turn the tables on me.”
foresight-botgd
“I would argue that I already have. I still fail to see the point of us speaking, and you delivering empty threats.” Now he was upset. He uncrossed his arms and laid a fist on the table, baring the dried, bloody streaks staining his arm as he pressed his hoof angrily into the wooden surface. “I have every reason to leave you to your own devices. You believe otherwise. Explain.”
moe-lazyeye
“Then I’ll get right to it. Let’s light the world ablaze and see who’s left after it goes out.” Rhenco swallowed the food he had been chewing on and rested an elbow on the table. He put up three fingers. “I’m going to do three more things Milae. The first will hurt somebody. The second a lot of people…and the third…everyone. And there won’t be a single thing you can do about it. I’m going to see what’s really going to win out in the end. Your knowledge of the future…or my abilities.”
He spread his hands. “Or…you can indulge as I come. An appearance here, an appearance there, maybe once a year, maybe once every three. One request…per visit.” 
foresight-botgd
His lip slowly curled, and he ground his teeth slightly, feeling Urðr’s gaze burning into the back of his head. “And if I do nothing?” he posited, with heat and accusation in his words. “If I decide you are not worth the trouble, leave this world to burn, and decide to live in another? Where does that leave you?”
moe-lazyeye
“With other things to play with… and a little disappointed. ” Rhenco answered.
foresight-botgd
Milae stared at him for a very…long…time.
Then his eyes narrowed, and he lifted his chin a little. “Rhenco, what do you think my power is?” he asked quietly. “Your best guess. What fuels it. What becomes of its use.”
moe-lazyeye
And there it was a again, just as he had seen outside of the hotel. A quick flash of uncertainty.
The man paused and rested his hands on the table. He looked…uncomfortable, and not fully confident in himself for a moment. “Its clearly the ability to transition between timelines…” he ventured. “I cant say the cause behind it. But I assume its use is for you to craft your most ideal world or…to achieve a certain goal, that even with this ability, is proving to be difficult.”
foresight-botgd
“You know some. But not all. If you did, you would not threaten me with such things.” His gaze was intent, still narrowed, but gleaming. 
“The Rebellion has cured Farris of his disease. He is sound of mind and body now, and they used the Red Card you gave them to do it. But they almost paid a price heavier than they knew.” Milae’s tendons shifted beneath his fur as he adjusted his clenched fist on the table. The stress of the meeting was causing the dark scarlet lines on his arms to glisten again.
“With your…ill-gained knowledge, you know that I cannot die. This was not a choice made by myself, as yours was; my condition is what I consider a curse. But it is useful–not only to me, but to another, much more powerful than I. She uses it as a reminder, shall we say, and to protect her own self-interests. Things that threaten her domain, the domain of time. Something like…oh…” He tilted his head in mock thought. “One of her seiðkonur catching a mind-altering disease and attempting to tear the fabric of reality. In this, it is useful for her to snuff out even her own devoted to protect the threads of time.
“So why, may I ask, do you believe you are so far above the Norns of fate to think they would not grind you to dust for destroying their world when they would kill even myself to protect it?”
moe-lazyeye
Rhenco went quiet, and then he adverted his eyes in thought.
I find the demon and someone like Milae at the same time, ripe for the picking, and /this/ is the opposition I face…? Like a carrot before my nose…
His thumbs circled each other, and then he stood calmly and looked back at Milae. For a second the goat saw truth. He saw what perhaps even Rhenco himself didnt realize was there.
A flicker of anger in his eyes.
So be it.. 
He breathed a sigh and placed a hand on the table. “When you want to find me…you can do so at Temple Gate…”
Milae leaned back from the table, spun his weapon around once, and then thrust it forward into the center of Rhenco’s chest, the blade thudding into the back of his spine and immediately spilling blood across the empty plate before him. He gripped Rhenco’s forehead to keep it upright, to make sure he could see the life slowly drain from the bastard’s eyes before letting his limp body fall down with a thud on the table. 
“As if I would ever want to.”
The naginata made a slick sound as he withdrew it from Rhenco’s body, and without looking back, he began to walk away, letting the blade clean itself on the ground in his own wet tracks. He had a long journey ahead of him. There was no time to walk back to Haligan. He would meet the Rebellion at Wutne.
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Act I
Category:Events
Category:Yun Milae
Category:Rhenco