Vax didn't think anything much of the first call to Vex over the pearl going unanswered that afternoon. Even the second was - well, she could be miles out with Trinket, that's all. Maybe even she'd lost the pearl somehow. Could be the enchantment was coming undone, for all they knew of magic, or perhaps the Inn had produced an anti...magic... Thing? (It did play tricks like that, all the fucking time, in case you'd not noticed.)
Vax himself had spent the morning with his hands in the dirt and sweat trickling down his back come midday, rooting dutifully through the green growing things, so he hadn't noticed what was wrong for some while. Not until he'd come back to clean himself up and change, then started off to get a bite of lunch.
It was quiet in the halls and in the common areas. He did pass a couple of folks, but he realized after some minutes that it was fewer than usual. And the type of quiet was all wrong. Look, Vax knew what it was to lie in wait of something, and he knew the last undignified sounds a body gave as it succumbed to its final rest. He knew too the quiet muffle of snowfall and the drowsy stillness of an inn abed. He knew the silence of absence. For whatever reason, it dawned on him... This was that.
He stilled to a sudden stop, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature (it was fucking summer) crawl the length of his skin, a needle of ice pricking his spine. He lifted his hand and touched his black pearl earring. "...Did you catch up with Stubby yet, Percival?"
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Vax himself had spent the morning with his hands in the dirt and sweat trickling down his back come midday, rooting dutifully through the green growing things, so he hadn't noticed what was wrong for some while. Not until he'd come back to clean himself up and change, then started off to get a bite of lunch.
It was quiet in the halls and in the common areas. He did pass a couple of folks, but he realized after some minutes that it was fewer than usual. And the type of quiet was all wrong. Look, Vax knew what it was to lie in wait of something, and he knew the last undignified sounds a body gave as it succumbed to its final rest. He knew too the quiet muffle of snowfall and the drowsy stillness of an inn abed. He knew the silence of absence. For whatever reason, it dawned on him... This was that.
He stilled to a sudden stop, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature (it was fucking summer) crawl the length of his skin, a needle of ice pricking his spine. He lifted his hand and touched his black pearl earring. "...Did you catch up with Stubby yet, Percival?"