[Aiden]

Seeing the hesitation in Gabel's features, as well as Nicolay's, Aiden wondered just how badly Azul had been injured. But she was at home, and not stuck in some healer's clinic, so she shouldn't be too bad off. So as the employees discussed among themselves about who should visit the nereid, Aiden walked toward the door to murmur the change of plans to his partner.

Spectators still lingered around the store, mumbling to themselves. To Aiden's exasperation, one was even gossiping to a friend via COM. He couldn't help but growl as somebody--a young anyeli--strayed too close to the doorway. “Sir,” he spoke lowly, “I'd suggest that you--”

A louder, gentler voice drifted from behind Aiden to rebuke the crowd, and he stood aside to allow the view of Nicolay and the nymph. Realizing that they'd only have a group of three, Aiden followed after the two. The crowd stared for a while at the injured worker, but otherwise re-focused their attention to loitering around Gabel's shop.

They walked quietly, though Aiden heard Lazuli and Nicolay murmur occasionally about directions. Soon enough, they approached a humble-looking brick building. The blinds of the windows had been pulled shut, as if the inhabitants wished to be closed off from the world. As Lazuli and Nicolay ascended the steps, Aiden lingered at the bottom. It would be best for Azul and her family to see a familiar face before that of a guard.

But as the first ring didn't produce a response, and neither did the second or third, Aiden raised an eyebrow and took a step up the stairs.

[Nicolay]

Nicolay was ready to call it a day, turn back and leave, he wanted to leave some time to lie down, after all, until the chains came loose and the door unlocked itself to reveal a skotados with a thin mat of hair around his jawline and gray rings around his eyes. “Yes, what do you need?”

“Rudy!” the Therian prompted.

He must have stared at his friend for a bit before he finally got the forger to recognize who he was.

“Whoah, Nicolay! Whatever Hel happened to you?!”

“It's a long story,” Nicolay mumbled as he tried, without success, to rake his hair off his face. “I'll tell you all about it when I've got time but for now, w--” he glanced over his shoulders and decided to try on a different approach, “I want to see Azul. How is she? She was unconscious last I saw her.”

“She's awake now but, Nicolay, mate,” Rudy shook his head, “I'm not sure I can just let you stroll in...”

He lifted his white hands. “I know, I know, it's a pretty bad time, but can't you just--”

“No, Nicolay, I can't just "just"!” Rudy sighed. “Azul isn't worse off than you, true, but you gotta understand that she suffered...a little more than you.”

“...how?” Nicolay felt his heart wedge itself against his throat.

Rudy may have answered -- until the strong voice -- goddess, she never lost her strength. That is one damn fine nereid right there -- of Azul sang its way out the door although anyone could notice it shaking mid-message.

“Rudy, who's out there?”

Now both Rudy and Nicolay knew that Azul would never say no to him. So the skotados was left to just sigh, glare uselessly at the nyad and the Therian behind Nicolay and mutter, “She's a little traumatised. Do take it carefully,” and then looking back into the house, he called, “It's Nicolay and some friends. They've come to visit.”

“Then let them in!!” ordered with urgency.

Nicolay didn't know what to do with Lazuli and the guard, to be honest. He wanted them to strut in with him, sure, but after what Rudy told him, he worried that their presence would overwhelm her. Nevertheless, he counted on Azul's strength as he slipped beside Rudy and made straight to where he figured Azul might be. It was a simple enough house -- a kitchen and the dining table to the right, the living space to the left, bedroom and washroom further in, to the left and to the right, clothesline and garden at the far back. It was dim without the lights on and the fireplace (well, if you were a nereid, you would have to be crazy to live without one) in the living room was weak.

As the bedroom had a long window, however, Azul's bed was cast in a timid glow and though pale and bruised in the exposed places with a mean gash on her cheek, she immediately sat up upon Nicolay's entrance so he hurried to her side to force her down, the aquarium in his head momentarily losing balance. “Nicolay, what under Hel happened to you?”

“I can ask the same to you,” Nicolay muttered as he looked around her many bruises. “Ho, how did you get these? I didn't get a proper look at you last night...”

“I can say the same to you,” she said with a weak giggle as Nicolay forced her down her pillow for the second time and she allowed herself to be defeated. “So, who first?” she asked and would have gone on with a smile on her face if her eyes hadn't strayed past Nicolay's shoulder and she held her breath and she stared hard.

“Nyad?” she squeaked helplessly.

OOC: 1.) Rudy and Azul are NPCs although you might have freer reign with Rudy. He's mostly concerned about Azul and keeping things light for her although he's a casual sort of guy. 2.) if there's any problems with this post, do tell me~~~

[Lazuli]

Lazuli nodded politely at Rudy as they walked in, but she was mostly eager to see Azul. She recalled having spotted the nereid a couple of times before when she'd come to Nicolay's work, but the two had never talked. Still, that was one of her nymph sisters in there, hurting from a traumatizing experience.

We must do our best to help her, Lazuli thought hopefully as she heard the battered yet unyielding voice calling from the bedroom.

When they entered the weakly-lit space, Lazuli didn't hesitate to follow Nic but found a place a few paces behind him so that the nereid would not feel overcrowded. Seeing the injuries Azul had suffered almost made her feel better for Nicolay. Oh, this strong-looking nereid with the fiery glow in her eyes had certainly taken the worst of the assault. She glanced at the guard. She wondered how often he saw civilians injured like this.

“That --”

“Nyad?”

At Azul's sudden expression of surprise, Lazuli gave her best reassurring smile. “Yes, ma'am,” she said peacefully. “I'm here to help as I can... My name is Lazuli.” But then the earlier worry that had been poking at her surfaced. “Is it okay that I'm here?”

[Aiden]

The minute the anyelos opened the door, Aiden could tell that the man had had a tiring day, and he could sense the wariness in the anyelos' demeanor. But Nicolay seemed to know this friend of Azul's--Rudy--and before long, they were admitted into the house, albiet reluctantly. As he walked past the skotados, Aiden nodded in greeting, and stayed at a distance from Nicolay.

Remembering the skotados' warning, Aiden chose not to enter the bedroom, and instead, lingered by the doorway to observe. Between Nicolay and Azul, the nereid looked worse for wear, especially since she was bedridden. Aiden's eyes narrowed as he saw the gash on the nymph's face. Two butterfly bandages were holding it closed, but that did not alleviate the discoloring in the skin around it. He'd seen worse attacks by muggers, but that didn't make him feel any better for the nereid.

Clearly, the attack had made Azul skittish, and it showed in the way the nereid squeaked at the sight of Lazuli. Either they'd met before, or nymphs just had a way of knowing each others' elements. Not wishing to cause further distress to Azul, Aiden kept quiet and glanced toward Rudy. The skotados probably spoke to Azul already, so he might able to talk in her stead, if the visit became too much for her.

((Sorry no plot development, but Aiden's really just waiting for people to settle. ^__^))

[Nicolay]

Oh yes, for his sake, Lazuli should not dare to step out of the room.

“Azul,” Nicolay said quickly when he found her hand and shook it slightly, worried a strong grip would hurt some hidden bruise he had yet to see. “Azul, you remember Lazuli, don't you? She's that nymph I keep telling you about. She's fine.” When he met Azul's uncertain look, he raised his brow at her a little and continued, “Would I bring her here if she could strangle the two of us in one breath?”

Finally, Azul gave a shallow laughter and her shoulders relaxed. It was true what he said, she wasn't the only one who was attacked in this room. “Rudy,” she called and in a moment, the skotados came in. “My mother should be along soon enough. Can you keep an eye for her by the window?” He accepted this favor and stood guard at the corner. At first, Nicolay thought she simply wanted to make sure that she had an eye on everything, or maybe that she had enough warning before a maternal figure would come storming in and demanding for everyone to leave. Or that she was just sick of surprises.

But when she refused to let go of him, Nicolay realized that she wasn't taking any chances. That if Lazuli turned out to be a crazy nymph, Rudy would at least be there to bind her to the shadows.

Nicolay made no comment on this so he just shook her hand a little again -- the way a friend might -- and tried to smile at her frown. “You go first.”

“Nyads attacked me,” Azul said with a blunt, sharp voice that shook slightly under its weight. When Nicolay wrinkled his brows at her, she eyed him back. “Don't you dare give me that look, Therian, not when you can't even distinguish a human from a vampire, “pup.”” Oh great, she just called him a puppy in Sylvan, what the hell.

“Oh, way to make me feel like a toddler, Azul.”

“It's true, “pup”,” at least she was smiling a little now, “And it's true what I said, I know a nyad when I see one. My father and his mother are nyads, how couldn't I?” Turning to everyone in the room, perhaps even eying Lazuli intensely, she went on, “Two nyads attacked me, and their other friend smells like a Therian. He was the one I saw first -- a kelpie wolf out of water -- to catch me off guard. And then the cowards attacked me from the back,” she hissed and snorted. “Damn cowards. But-- I don't understand how they could have produced such a great water in a forge of all places. They drenched everything!”

“Couldn't you have burned them alive, though?” Nicolay asked, shrugging when she looked at him. “You said it yourself, you were in the forge.”

“They doused the fire before I could even burn them,” she snarled. Little by little, as if her anger was indeed fueling her like fire to a nereid's powers, her strength was returning to her, “I had my hands full but even so, I thought I had a fighting chance. No one played with me in the forge but they knew what I was.”

“Did you play a trick on them outside of work? Or, or maybe they're unsatisfied customers...”

“Didn't you see them sneak in, Nicolay?”

“We think they came in through the chimneys, those would have cooled by the time Rudy and everyone else went home.” Nicolay popped a brow, again. “Come on, no matter how inexperienced I am, I would have smelled them, you know this.”

Azul snorted, again. Turning to Lazuli, she almost spat, “How d'you reckon they beat me in my own turf? Not even the water we have to cool our glasses could have been enough to fill that great water!”

[Lazuli]

Assurred that her presence was okay for Azul, at least for now, Lazuli exhibited guard-like characteristics by remaining calmly standing while Nicolay did the talking. So it really had been nymphs, she thought, believing the assertion in Azul's voice. Following the disappointment that her own kind had committed such atrocities, Lazuli sought to think of a reason. Perhaps it had been dissatisfied customers like Nicolay said, or because of personal grudges against Azul and her work. Her eyes shifted to Azul's maimed features. If that were true, only Azul would know the answers, and right now it seemed like she just wanted to tear those intruders apart.

When the nereid's angry question came her way, Lazuli repeated what she had said back in the shop. “It was river water,” she replied softly, still deep in thought. “They carried it all the way from Cora and across the rooftops at night. They were powerful enough to do that and escape detection.”

She took the opportunity to ask her own question. “Did you happen to catch a glimpse of any of their faces or features, Azul?”

[Aiden]

With a sinking feeling, Aiden had to accept the fact that nymphs and therians had done the deed. But the events made little sense. If they wanted to rob the shop, why not wait until Nicolay and Azul were gone? Or choose another day? Surely that would have been less troublesome (and more subtle) than bringing riverwater all the way to the Underground. Unless they were impatient, and were itching for a fight with a certain somebody...

So when Azul spoke vehemently about the attackers, and how they'd known to douse the flames from the beginning, Aiden straightened up from his slouch and stood more attentively to her next words. Even Azul seemed to talk as if the nymphs had singled her out. Aiden, too, had been wondering what Azul had done to the nymphs, when Nicolay echoed the question.

They asked me if the nereid was my friend Nicolay had said that twice back in the shop. Brows furrowing, Aiden tried to recall the rest, told me to go and leave her here. Everything in the events made it seem as if the attackers were impatient. They knew Azul was in her element, yet chose to break into her turf instead of picking her off elsewhere. They saw Nicolay, yet simply told him to leave.

Lazuli's next question was certainly important as well, but by now, Aiden was also impatient to learn what he wanted. “And by chance...have you met them before?” At this point, Rudy turned from the window to give Aiden a pointed glare, but the therian merely ignored it and looked intently toward the nereid.

((Apologies for the delay! >x<))

[Nicolay]

All these questions were just making Azul frustrated, Nicolay could see it by the way she wrinkled her brows and her frown deepened, even with the way her grip shook as he held onto her.

“If I did, they'd be dead by now,” she muttered near-dangerously, the way she might if she wanted to burn a cheating lover alive. Turning sharply to Lazuli, she spat as she added, “But it was dark. The flames have died, I've near nothing to see by and mine own can only illuminate so much in the shadows.”

“Had I been there,” Rudy mumbled, “I would have caught them with my own shadows.”

“Had you been there, we wouldn't be here in a circle, catching ghosts,” it was clear in Nicolay's tone that he was trying to be jovial, make light of the situation but he knew his effort was half-hearted. “So no one saw them,” he added almost mournfully, perhaps disappointed, and he turned to the nyad and his fellow Therian. “Small wonder. It was a confusing moment. All I really know is that they speak Sylvan, one is a Therian, they're men...” he shook his head, “Everything I've been telling you, that's it.”

“He and I are on the same boat,” Azul shared. “They were definitely people we didn't know.”

Nicolay let out a quiet breath through his nose, as if he was half-expecting that Azul would finally help shed light to this mystery. Sullen, he turned first to the Therian, then to Lazuli, lost, perhaps, in his own crisis.

OOC: Oh God, I posted. ;O; How wonderful! I'll write a narrative after this!