A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

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Hollis.Maeby
Posts: 76
Character: Hollis Maeby

Re: A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

Post by Hollis.Maeby » August 22nd, 2022, 8:25 pm

It Gets Easier, But It’s Not Easy

Cowardice or courage, Hollis wasn’t sure which had led her to pack up her apartment across the way from The Meddler’s Risk and move to a cottage on the other side of the fort. She was almost positive it was cowardice, but she liked to congratulate herself still for taking the initiative to remove herself from Constantine’s proximity.

It was becoming clear to Hollis that Constantine would never see her the way she wanted him to, not when he wasn’t able to see her past Drusilla. It had been an uncomfortable revelation, but one she was growing more comfortable with. She just wished the feelings she had for him were as easy to remove as the crates from her apartment had been.

Unfortunately, she had to deal with the involuntary emotions she still had for him. Something that had been more difficult this last week as Constantine found himself plagued by some poltergeist and needed someone to look after him. Hollis had come across him in the bar, mouth agape and yelling into the air in Collatian at something she couldn’t see.

She’d initially retreated, assuming he was angry with her still for the other day and more now for her moving abruptly. But when he leaned back and lobbed a mug through the air she realized his words weren’t directed at her. She’d called his name and waved her arms, trying to pull his attention from the demon only he could see but to no avail.

It wasn’t until she had stepped around the bar and approached him that he had pulled his gaze and focused on her. He told her about the former Archbishop Karl Anslem, about his body parts being used in rituals and the figment that haunted him. He looked tired, his tan skin pale and his constitution low. She’d done all she could at the time to comfort him, but the monster that stalked him was greater than her compassion could combat.

Hollis had taken it upon herself to check on Constantine several times a day, each time reminding him to eat something, drink some water or to rest. More than once now she had taken over serving at the Meddler’s Risk to prevent the man from overworking himself. All the while she watched as Drusilla continued to be a drain on him emotionally, a succubus unwittingly assisting the Archbishop in sucking the man dry.

She had never felt angry when Drusilla verbally attacked her, in fact, most of her words were tame compared to the things Hollis said to herself. She could easily allow her glares, sneers and insults to roll off of her back. But when it came to her behavior towards Constantine Hollis was simply incensed.

Not once had she seen the woman lift a finger to care for the man who was swiftly becoming a husk of his former self and once she’d even watched her storm off to get herself water while leaving Constantine holding out his own empty flask for her to take as well. Hollis had of course, traded him her full water flask for his empty one with an empathetic smile. She wasn’t sure if it was Drusilla’s intention to erode the man into an early grave, but if it was she was doing a fantastic job.

But, all of these things, the anger and the heartache Hollis was trying to put behind her. She after all, had something to look forward to in the coming days. Quincy had offhandedly mentioned to her that he wanted her opinion on his outfit for the museum opening and she had taken it upon herself to make him several new articles of clothing. She wasn’t much of a tailor, but she could make a few simple things. She’d dyed the clothing and set up a few different outfits before presenting them to the man.

The gratification she felt when Quincy had unwrapped the parcel was worth every pin prick and ripped seam she had to redo to get the items perfect. He had pulled one of the gloves she’d made him out first and exclaimed happily. He told Hollis that he spent a great deal of his money on clothing and that he hadn’t been able to find a single pair of gloves that weren’t atrocious in quality.

He had tried to offer her money but she refused. She had simply wanted to do something nice for him. When he had asked her what he could do to repay her, Hollis had thought for a moment before requesting that he simply have dinner with her. She’d been at the fort nearly a month now and hadn’t had a nice dinner with good company since. He agreed and the two had set a date for two days after the museum opening.

Hollis thought back on the interaction and smiled. She could now see why Constantine gave away so many things; the thrill from it was addictive. But it was more than just that, the jubilation and childlike enthusiasm upon Quincy’s face as he grasped the gloves stirred something in her. She wasn’t just satisfied by his validation, she felt good about herself for the first time in a long time and she was quite excited at the prospect of having dinner with him.

She would, of course, downplay her eagerness as well as she could. She wasn’t ready to put herself out there again yet. Though the amount of time and effort she had put into picking out an outfit for a dinner that was a week away said otherwise. She was in need of a new wardrobe anyways, she justified herself. What were just a few more pieces?

Hollis.Maeby
Posts: 76
Character: Hollis Maeby

Re: A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

Post by Hollis.Maeby » August 23rd, 2022, 8:54 pm

Busy Hands Make A Silent Mind
It was almost poetic the way staying busy kept Hollis out of trouble and more so the way it kept her from digging or picking at herself. She was good at working. The half dozen or more skills she had learned earned her the admiration of her peers in the way that it had never impressed her father. With busy hands came a busy mind and she found it easy to block out the trivial things she dwelled on when idle.

Hollis had wondered if Quincy knew this about her when he asked her to accompany him to the large home next to the Meddler’s Risk. Constantine and she had just walked the halls of that very house the week or so prior to assess its layout for the art show she wanted to host. So she was quite familiar with it, a fact she didn’t let Quincy in on.

She had watched as Quincy sauntered up to the door and pushed a shiny new key into the lock, making the door give way to him. Hollis blushed a deep shade of scarlet; for just earlier that day she had left a note on the doorstep directing the new owner towards her merchant for furniture and welcoming them to the neighborhood.

Quincy walked her through the home, and up the stairs to the open space. She remarked on its potential and congratulated him on his new home. That was when he had turned to her and placed a key and two gold coins into her hand. He requested that she decorate it for him in the hopes that she could make the barren walls and empty floors a home. He framed it as needing assistance but also made mention of the wardrobe she’d made him. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was also his way of paying her back for that gift.

Either way, Hollis had thrown herself into this project with everything she had. She used her sleepless nights to paint artwork for the walls or to carve statues or throw pottery. Hollis utilized skills she hadn’t in years to create as much as she could herself to fill the home. The only things she had to outsource had been the large bed and a padded chair she couldn’t figure out how to make herself.

The house was coming along nicely she felt. She’d only been working on it for a few days when Quincy remarked on how fast she worked. In an offhand way she’d mentioned that she didn’t sleep well, so she got a lot done. She hadn’t expected him to be so concerned. Hollis had mentioned frequently to Constantine and to others that she didn’t sleep well, it was a long standing joke for her at this point. But the look of worry painted across Quincy’s face made her take self inventory.

When was the last time she had a full night's sleep? Before she’d left Yultac? No, not even then did she sleep soundly. As she pondered this she realized that she hadn’t slept more than three hours at a time in perhaps two years or more.

“Have you considered talking to Dr.Sindelar?” Quincy had asked her.

Hollis made a number of non-committal noises and shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t think it was such a big deal that a doctor needed to be bothered with it.

“I’d be willing to talk to him on your behalf. I’d even tell him it was for me”, Quincy offered with a smile.

“You’d do that for me?” She was left in total shock. No one had ever offered to do something so kind for her before. She couldn’t even remember the last time someone had been this concerned for her. Even after she had the run in with the undead outside of the Meddler’s Rest Constantine had forgotten the very next day that her left hand was injured and prevented her from painting.

Hollis was, afterall, very used to being in the background. But this second request by Quincy to step into center stage made her question herself. Maybe he was right, maybe there was something wrong that needed to be addressed.

“Ok, I think I’d like that”, she finally said to him and a day or two later Quincy returned with several pills folded in paper that the doctor had prescribed for sleep.

She had tried not to make a big deal out of it as she listened to the instructions second hand from Quincy. But as she clasped the small paper envelope in her hand a tightness formed in her chest and her shoulders felt tense. Was she going to cry? No, not here. Not now. She swallowed the emotion down dryly and nodded at him to signal she’d understood.

Hollis worked in the house the rest of the day, but anytime she caught a glimpse of Quincy out of the corner of her eye her pulse jumped and her heart raced. When they brushed paths she could feel the static between them.

“He did you a basic human kindness”, her inner voice hissed to her, “You don’t need to catch feelings for every man who shows you decency!”

She looked down and focused back on stacking books into the shelf she was working on. Her inner monologue could be cruel and abusive, but perhaps it had a point. She wasn’t even over Constantine and his indifference still gave her pangs of rejection when she was around him. She was just trading one addiction for another.

Turning she watched as Quincy walked down the stairs and with a flourish and a swing of his coat around his shoulders. He bid her a good day, reminding her to rest, to sleep and to eat! As he strode out of the building.

Hollis watched after him, her eyes looked upon the place he had just vanished from. This was just another distraction. Another infatuation. Right?

. . . . Right?

Hollis.Maeby
Posts: 76
Character: Hollis Maeby

Re: A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

Post by Hollis.Maeby » August 27th, 2022, 12:09 am

When There’s Everything to Say, but Nothing Left to be Said

Hollis threw the wrought iron and coal into the forge and in frustration kicked the door closed. Her eyes locked onto the slats in the door, focusing on the low rolling flames that licked across the coal. The argument with Constantine was hours ago but she still couldn’t let it go. The words circled in her mind as her psyche picked apart every detail. She replayed the words in her head and came up with better retorts that she could have used in place of what she had said.

Where did he get the audacity to blame her? Hollis shook her head as the words raced across her mind. Her brow furrowed at the memory. She was standing where she stood now, processing wrought iron into steel when Drusilla walked past the forge. Hollis had waved and the woman had simply pursed her lips into a scowl as she looked at her and continued walking.

Hollis wasn’t sure why she continued to try, perhaps out of stubbornness or perhaps pettiness. She wasn't sure which. Constantine had wandered by not long after and stood watching her process the steel, the same steel she would use to try once again to make the great hammer he had commissioned from her.

Looking to her side, she watched Constantine’s eyes unfocused as he fell into the rhythmic motions of her loading, unloading and reloading the forge. It was an easy thing to get hypnotized by, Hollis often lost time while doing the repetitive motions herself. But, something about his presence that day bothered her. Maybe it was the blow off from Drusilla, or the mindless labor she was doing for his benefit, but either way she found herself in a sour mood.

“Oh, I saw Drusilla walk past a bit ago”, she said casually, not looking away from the forge.

Constantine nodded a few times, his head finally tilting away from the fire and looking at her expectantly.

“Hm? Oh, I don’t know. I thought maybe she was looking for you”, Hollis replied, pausing to unload and reload the forge.

“Do you think I should check on her?” He offered, scratching his cheek, “Did she look distressed?”

Without really thinking Hollis opened her mouth and the words fell out, “She does seem to need constant supervision. So, possibly?” She hadn’t even realized she’d said it out loud and followed up with a chuckle.


Out of the corner of her eye she could see his brow knit together in irritation. “I suppose I’ll find out. I wish dee two of you got on better” His words trailed off, his attention drawing somewhere behind him.

The words dug under her skin like barbs from a flail. He wished that they got along better? What had she ever done to that woman to make him assume she was to blame for any of her ire? Hadn’t she been nice to her? Hadn’t she held her tongue while she berated her and questioned her character? Her blood boiled and her cheeks flushed with anger. Before she could stop herself she had rounded on him.

“You mean you wish she got on better with me?” She spat out at him like venom.

Constantine looked back at her and she could tell he was already poised to be defensive, “Dis earlier comment is your way of getting along?”

Hollis paused, she could hear the blood flowing in her ears and the echo of her heart beat. She hadn’t been this angry in some time. The frustration welled up in her chest and she could feel the tightness in her throat. No, she wasn’t going to cry, she wasn’t going to lose her voice this time.

“I’m going to stop you there”, she replied to him, pulling the cloth mask she wore for work from her face and holding her hand up to him. “We’re talking about the same woman, right?”

She could see Constantine start to open his mouth to rebuttal but she talked over him slightly louder now.

“The woman who I met for the second time and was rude beyond belief to me?” Hollis said tensely, her eyes narrowing. “ The woman I met for the third time and insulted me, my character and my motives? The woman who I offered kindness, aid and gifts to?” she paused and looked to Constantine who had nothing to say now. “That one?”

The two stood in an awkward silence that felt thick and palpable to her. Her eyes bore holes in his as she refused to look away. “I will not be gaslit into believing that I am somehow to blame for her malice”, she snapped at him and turned to pull the steel ingots out of the forge aggressively, reloading it and kicking the door closed with her heel.

Hollis pulled her mask back up and poured the rest of her energy into focusing on the task at hand to avoid Constantine’s mixed facial expressions. He looked both conflicted and exasperated. “It isn’t malice, Maeby”, the western man said with a sign, “But beyond dis, I don’t need to be reminded that you don’t like her”.

She knew that Drusilla had her claws in him so deep that she could easily pluck at his tangled heart strings, but watching him still try to defend her was more than she could bear. She was glad that her mask covered half of her face, it made it easier to hide her grimace.

“Whatever the motivation, Constantine, it is only an explanation for her behavior, not an excuse for it. And I don’t dislike her, I dislike how she treats me.” Hollis didn’t look away from the forge as she spoke. She couldn’t. The tightness in her throat was returning and she knew she was dangerously close to crying.

Thinking of the injustices she had sustained from this woman who took him for granted, a woman he couldn’t help but defend even when she was clearly in the wrong was drowning Hollis in frustration and anger. She wished she could slap him and force him to see Drusilla through her eyes. She wished there was something, anything she could do to break the curse that held him to her.

But, there was nothing she could do because there was no curse. There was no evil protagonist waiting in the wings to be defeated. This wasn’t one of her stories or a romance novel, this was real life and Constantine was a real person who was entitled to make his own choices; regardless of how poor she believed them to be.

Hollis looked at Constantine and for the first time she actually saw him, not just as the idealistic version she had built him up to be. No, she saw him as a real person. The flawless skin that she so often thought about while sketching had texture and slight frown lines at the corners of his mouth. He had freckles from exposure and other signs of a life hard lived in the sun slowly catching up to him. The illusion was shattered and as she observed him rub his forehead and mutter something to himself she felt the switch flip.

“I’m sorry” He finally managed to say with no further elaboration and a deep frown, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

Hollis looked over to him as he rubbed the back of his neck but she had nothing more to say. Whatever she had felt for him, as one-sided as it may have been, was gone. Perhaps there had been a spell after all, a curse that she had placed on herself by constantly looking for distractions to life in the form of others.

Thankfully Ikashev had wandered into the area and drew the interaction between Constantine and her to a close.

Hollis opened the forge, and unloaded it, stacking off the last several bricks of steel. She was still upset by the interaction, not because of her romantic feelings for Constantine, but because of Drusilla and the way Hollis had allowed her to treat her. She had already taken a big step in the right direction today; she’d severed the unhealthy obsession she had with an unavailable man. The next step would be confronting Drusilla in an attempt to sooth the bad blood that Hollis hadn’t poisoned.

This however would be a much larger step, a task for another day, for today was for being angry. Being the bigger person could wait.

Hollis.Maeby
Posts: 76
Character: Hollis Maeby

Re: A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

Post by Hollis.Maeby » August 28th, 2022, 5:17 pm

Walking With the Wounded

Hollis rushed around her cottage, stopping at her dresser to pull out a purple dress and then dashing back to the bathroom. She had let the evening get away from her and now she was dangerously close to being late for dinner with Quincy. Hollis quickly dressed into the impossibly long gown and cinched the waist down with a sash. Looking at herself in the mirror she piled her hair on top of her head and then let it fall down in loose waves around her face, unsure of what she wanted to do with it.

As she pondered the most casual yet attractive way to wear her hair to the friendly dinner that she had clearly built up in her mind, she recalled the earlier events of the day. Hollis had made good on her promise to herself to grow a backbone and confront Drusilla. With the fear of upsetting Constantine no longer hovering over her, the courage had been easy to muster.

The conversation that had taken place in her cottage just hours ago had been tense and awkward to start with, but Hollis had taken the time to steel herself against Drusilla’s tactics. She had expected her to try to gaslight her, to shift the blame and dodge questions. With these things in mind Hollis adeptly worked around the mind games she’d fallen prey to in the past and once she had exhausted her arsenal of self-defense tactics the real conversation started.

Hollis and Drusilla talked at length. Drusilla explained to her the resentment she felt towards Hollis due to her talents and the perception that she took them for granted. She spoke about her past, her adoptive parents and the impossible standards set on her to be similar to who Hollis was now. They had bonded over their impossible to please fathers and Hollis had opened up to her to show that she was just as flawed as she was.

With the tension in the air subsiding Hollis apologized for not recognizing that she and Constantine were together and even opened up to her about her past feelings for the man. She had hoped that by offering this olive branch it would allow them to move past this tension and Hollis could show that she wasn’t a threat to her, she never had been. In a move that caught Hollis off guard Drusilla tried to encourage her to pursue him.

“He’d be happy with you”, Drusilla had tried to tell her, a comment that Hollis had ignored. Just days before words like these would have stoked a fire in her, but now it only blew a lazy breeze over dying embers. Hollis couldn’t help but muse on her words, but there was no point in encouraging them.

As the conversation went on, the tall and thin woman somehow seemed frail to Hollis. She had always viewed her as this large, imposing figure with pointed claws and a razor sharp tongue. But as they spoke and the layers of defense and misplaced anger were stripped away Hollis saw only a scared little girl.

She’d never noticed before that Drusilla was younger than she was or just how thin she really appeared. Hollis didn’t want to bring up another topic to wade through, but as she saw the person behind the persona she couldn’t help but notice how sickly she seemed to her. Hollis understood then that Drusilla lashed out at other’s to keep them away from her; those kept at an arm's length cannot harm her.

Quincy had once told Hollis that he thought Drusilla was addicted to hurt, but Hollis now thought it was the other way around. She was so fearful of others being able to hurt her that she lashed out first like a wounded cat; unpredictable and without prejudice. Hollis had mentioned this to her, but she’d glossed over it just as Hollis had her comments about Constantine.

“You should be careful around him”, Drusilla had warned Hollis about Quincy, “He made me believe I was something when I thought I was nothing and that no one would ever see me, and then he told me I was nothing.”

Hollis considered her words, but they didn’t match up with the man that she knew. “Musicians can be fickle.” She offered as an excuse, she wasn’t sure if she could believe what Drusilla said about Quincy. Their heart to heart had been going well, but Hollis still didn’t trust the woman.

As the conversation continued, Hollis wasn’t sure what Drusilla’s motives were, she continued her story about Quincy and the cruel things he had said to her. Hollis asked her if she had ever returned his affections, something she tried to make sound casual but deep down she needed to know.

It made Hollis more than a little uncomfortable to now be attracted to yet another man who had once had romantic notions about Drusilla, but she wouldn’t let her know that.

“Why?”, Drusilla asked her

“I’m just curious”

“Maybe I’d begun to. And then I was nothing”, Drusilla looked away from her and Hollis couldn’t help but to also cast her eyes down.

His heart was broken, Hollis told herself and later Drusilla. People say all manner of things when they’re wounded. Hollis wanted to believe that Quincy was a good man, he’d always been kind to her and she’d seen how Drusilla could push good people to their limits. Everyone had darkness in them, maybe she was just particularly good at drawing it out.

Hollis thought once more on what Drusilla’s motives could possibly be for her warnings about Quincy. This couldn’t be altruism, there was no way Drusilla was simply looking out for her best interests. Unless, as Hollis had suspected before, she was trying to keep her away so she could still have Quincy and his affection as a fall back.

The latter made more sense to Hollis than the former. Just like Hollis, Drusilla also craved the recognition and acceptance of others. They just had very different ways of jockeying for it.

A sudden knock came at the door of the cottage and Hollis looked up to the clock on the wall. Quincy was punctual as always. Hollis pinched her cheeks and gathered all of her hair over her left shoulder.

There would be more time to dissect and digest the conversation with Drusilla. The important thing was they had come out the other side with smiles and a new understanding of each other. Hollis felt hopeful for the first time in a long time.

Taking that hope with her, Hollis moved to open the door.

Hollis.Maeby
Posts: 76
Character: Hollis Maeby

Re: A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

Post by Hollis.Maeby » August 29th, 2022, 4:29 pm

Let Go of Perfect Plans

Dinner with Quincy had been a whirlwind of ups and downs that Hollis was still processing. Quincy had come to her home and fortunately was as nicely dressed as she was. She’d have felt very silly if he too hadn’t dressed up for the occasion, though, when did Quincy ever dress down?

He had rearranged the dining table so that two chairs remained and had draped a pink table cloth across the top of it. The first two courses had gone wonderfully and conversation flowed smoothly. They were speaking on a ring that had gone missing from the museum after the opening. Quincy was saying that he wanted to speak to a man she’d met there and then without warning, the conversation shifted.

“I remember that he remained close to Drusilla for the majority of the evening, and I met her so I could ask a few subtle questions about this and. .”, Quincy leaned back in his chair abruptly and with a heavy sigh said, “Miranda, what did you tell her?”

The question hung in the air as Hollis took in what he was asking. The shift was so sudden it nearly gave her whiplash. As the question sank in, Hollis' mind raced in circles, “her'' could only refer to one person. But before parting ways, Drusilla had asked Hollis not to tell others what she had said and Hollis asked her not to tell Constantine about her previous crush. Perhaps she should have sworn her to full secrecy.

“I’m sorry, what?”, she managed to finally get the words past her dry lips.

“What did you tell Drusilla recently?”, he repeated impatiently.

Hollis drew in a few breaths and looked down at her plate. “What does that have to do with anything?”, she replied meekly. Her anxiety was rising and she could feel the familiar tingle building in her fingertips and working her way up to her hands.

“It has to do with her seeking me again and telling me that you both discussed something that relates to me.”

“I didn’t tell her to seek you out.” Hollis said quietly, using most of her energy to keep her emotions in check as her head swam in unease.

“But what did you tell her? Please, stop evading.” Quincy rested his hands in his lap.

He was persistent and his tone was shifting from asking to demanding rapidly. Hollis couldn’t help but think back to her conversation with Drusilla earlier about Quincy and his cruelty towards her. Would this be Hollis’ first glimpse of that side of him?

“We met earlier today and talked at my house.” She replied, launching into her explanation breathlessly. ”I wanted to clear the air and let her know that I wasn’t a threat to her. It was a good conversation, but she asked me not to discuss the specifics of it with others and I’d asked her the same”.

“I see”, he stated simply, “So you talk about me and I’m to remain out of the loop. Very well”. Quincy was on his feet and smoothing his vest in a formal and rigid fashion. “I trust dinner was to your liking”, he said and started to collect dishes and busy himself in the kitchen.

Hollis watched him in a state of shock. She was still unsure of how the evening had gotten so far off track, but she wasn’t surprised that it was because of Drusilla. That bitch. How naïve she had been to think their conversation had gotten her anywhere with that woman.

“One thing I’ll tell you”, Quincy said, leaning his hands on the counter in the kitchen, “I never imagined I’d have this sort of problem with you. I thought we were. . .” He trailed off shaking his head, leaving the rest of the sentence to wither away in the air.

With his words, the anxiety building in her stepped aside and gave way to rage. Hollis was suddenly on her feet, the chair pushed out behind her haphazardly. She wouldn’t stand being blamed once again for Drusilla’s creative retelling of events.

“She told me that you were cruel and not to trust you”, she spat out at him, her voice louder now, her fists clenching tight into balls, “I told her she was ridiculous. That’s what I said about you Quincy.”

“Alright”, he said, moving over to the table to pick up the silverware.

“I said that you had never been anything but kind to me, so I had no reason to believe you weren’t”, she followed him with her eyes as the man continued on his task, moving from the table back to the kitchen sink. His passiveness drove her insane, how could he be so cavalier?

“But why? Why enter into a debate with her?” Quincy pleaded.

“It didn’t feel like a debate”, Her hands rubbed her face before tracing their way over her head and clasping at the back of her neck. She could feel the anger welling up inside of her, but she didn’t want to let it out. She’d be no better than Drusilla if she did.

“I sincerely hoped we could go by at least a meal between us without having to address the same issues over and over”, Quincy sighed, “But it’s hard to discover that you have been talking about me with her, through her mouth.”

Hollis looked at Quincy and in that moment she could see Drusilla’s face in her mind, not that of the real girl that she knew but that of the succubus she had made her out to be. She could see the demon hovering over Quincy, tainting their interactions like some generational hex.

“Yes, it would have been nice to have a dinner where Drusilla wasn’t brought up, like some specter looming in the corners of poorly lit rooms” Hollis said bitterly and dug her hand into the pocket of her dress producing her key ring. “I was defending you to her”, she said as her nimble fingers worked a key off of the ring.

Striding over to the counter, Hollis slapped the copper key on top of it. “Here. I don’t deserve to be treated this way.”

Quincy looked at the key, it was the same one he had given her a week before when he asked her to take on the task of decorating his house. Hollis turned to the door to leave but paused and dug into her pocket once more removing a silver bracelet with a singular large ruby in the center.

Hollis had dug up three rubies the first week she came to the valley, two of them she had fitted into the dragon mace she’d made for Constantine and the last one she had made into a bezel bracelet for Quincy with the plans to give it to him after dinner.

She looked down to the bracelet and shook her head. She felt like a fool now, but she didn’t want it. “Oh. I made this for you”. Turning she placed it on the dining room table and strode back to the door.

Before her hand hit the door handle she realized that she should have unlocked the door before giving the key back. What a way to ruin an exit.

“Unlock the door please” she said in no more than a whisper, her back turned to him.

Quincy stood still at the kitchen sink behind the counter and watched her. Hollis crossed her arms tightly and looked straight up trying to will the tears forming there not to fall. The anger she felt was retreating and she was filled with self-pity and embarrassment.

“Please don’t leave. I wouldn’t have asked for the-”, he stopped short as he moved to the front door and unlocked it, unable to look at her.

“Thank you for dinner. It was really nice”, Hollis managed to say as the tears finally overflowed down her cheeks and with shaky hands she brushed them away.

“I wouldn’t have asked for the key back.” Quincy said in a small voice, “In fact I have a script done in my head for when you offered it back. It- it’s sort of funny.”

Hollis looked at him, but said nothing. The eyeliner she had put on for the occasion was running and smeared across her face as she wiped away a rogue tear.

“But I would never have expected to see you return it like this”, Quincy’s expression was pained and he lifted a hand to gesture to one of the chairs, “Would you please sit down?”

Hollis’ feet were pointed towards the door, but her head was turned to look at the chair. The strife inside of her was pulling her two different directions. Part of her wanted to leave but the other part of her knew if she did that might be the end of everything.

Perhaps against better judgment, Hollis turned and sat back down. Her arms folding tightly around her middle defensively.

“It’s just that I hoped we could deal with things without returning to old hurts.” Quincy said, moving to take the other seat once more. “You see, I’ve grown used to seeing you hopping the stairs with planks on your shoulder or watering the plants when I come down for breakfast. The sight of you returning the key that I had first intended to lend you now makes me feel a little exposed in this place.”

Hollis furrowed her brow at the man, she was listening but she was still poised to leave at the first perceived slight.

“This house is too big, or maybe too silent for just me.” Quincy paused and rubbed his throat, “So if it’s not too much to ask. Please take the key again when you choose to leave.”

She looked at the key on the counter and considered it for a long moment. If she took it she’d be accepting his apology. She then turned and looked at Quincy, his posture and demeanor had changed and to her he seemed genuine. Her eyes fluttered instead of blinking to prevent more tears from falling and she nodded in agreement.

“Well, dinner is ruined”, Quincy said with a bitter smile.

His comment was enough to break the tension and Hollis laughed.

The evening recovered and they were able to resolve the misunderstanding. As she had suspected, through Drusilla’s words Quincy seemed to think Hollis had instructed her to seek him out when it was in fact the opposite that she had said.

At the end of the evening Quincy walked her home, and as they passed the bank he asked if she could wait while he stepped inside. He came back and asked for her hand, which she gave without hesitation.

Quincy pressed something small into her palm and clasped his hand over hers. “This is one of the heirlooms that I inherited from my household. It belonged to my mother”.

Hollis closed her fingers around the object and felt that it was a small cut gem, her eyes grew wide and she shook her head. “Oh no, you can’t give this to me.” She protested and offered to set it into a necklace for him.

“I’ve never been able to bring myself to sell it and I don’t want it for myself. It occurred to me that I’d probably keep it for the rest of my life in that bank. So, you must have it” Quincy said and the two of them shared a moment of silence, their hands clasped together between the gemstone before Quincy finally pulled away.

Hollis looked into her hand, it was a large ruby, probably four or five karats and cut in a classic old mine style. She carefully put it away, she’d have to do something special with it later. Perhaps it was kismet that she had found and set a ruby for him.

Before parting Hollis had placed her hand on Quincy’s face after he apologized once more for the misunderstanding during dinner. “You should be careful”, the man said with a slight laugh “You might be conveying the wrong idea in my head. Decus knows I’m at a loss about what signs really mean”.

Hollis laughed and with her hand still on his cheek she leaned forward and kissed his other, her lips planting a kiss just at the corner of his mouth. She pulled away and smiled at the man before turning to leave with a wave over head.

“Oh and Quincy!”, she said when she was several yards away, barely stopping to look back, “For the record, I was flirting with you!”, she called out unsure where this rush of confidence had come from. Hollis laughed as she watched Quincy, his face locked in surprise and his hands fumbling to find his pockets.

Hollis closed the door behind her and put Quincy’s key back on her key ring. The dinner had been a whirlwind indeed, but she’d come out the other side of it mostly unscathed. While she had worried Quincy’s shift in attitude was a sign of the cruelty Drusilla had spoken of rearing its ugly head, she now realized it was only his disappointment.

With everything resolved Hollis once more felt hopeful and not just the fleeting hope of a minor change. She felt real genuine hope.

Hollis.Maeby
Posts: 76
Character: Hollis Maeby

Re: A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

Post by Hollis.Maeby » August 30th, 2022, 8:47 pm

Forget Your Silver Linings

Hollis busied herself in the apple grove behind her cottage, picking several flowers carefully from the ground there. Some of the flowers around Quincy’s house were starting to wilt, or at least that’s what she told herself to create an excuse to stop by. To her surprise, when she let herself into Quincy’s house she found herself nearly face to face with the man.

She should have knocked. She should have waited on the other side of the door like any other visitor would. But she had a key, she’d grown too comfortable with coming and going from Quincy’s house as she decorated it, and now that it was finished that familiarity had stayed with her.

They hadn’t seen each other since the previous evening’s dinner and the memory of her nearly kissing him and declaring that she had been flirting with him came rushing back to her. Hollis blushed as Quincy’s eyes met her and he smiled, obviously pleased to see her.

“Miranda, Hello. Do you need a hand with that?” He asked, noticing the bundle of plants balanced in one arm.

“I got it”, Hollis shook her head and closed the door behind her gently with her foot. She still wasn’t used to being called Miranda, but every time his mouth moved to from the name she fell in love with it a little more.

“Good.” he nodded once and then pursed his lips together, “Hmm, Miranda?” Quincy started, his eyes shifting over to the door that led into the next room.

Hollis cringed and looked behind her at the front door. “Should I have knocked?”, she asked, her face now flushed for a different reason other than her twitterpation with the man before her.

“Not at all”, Quincy assured her, his face still showing the soft smile he’d greeted her with, but his eyes now looked concerned. He motioned upward, signaling to the second story, “It’s just- Well- I have a visitor.”

“Oh?” Hollis said with interest and shifted the bundle of flowers in her arms, trying to organize them by room.

“I hope you don’t mind?”

She paused and smiled at the man, “Of course not, it’s your home. I’m just some deranged woman with a key”.

“Well. . .” Quincy trailed off, his tone hesitant. “It’s Drusilla. She wanted to see my latest painting”

Hollis had started to grin at her joke, but the expression dropped from her face immediately. It felt as though the air had been sucked from the room and from her lungs. She didn’t know how long she stood there as every worst case scenario raced through her mind in flashes of intrusive imagery each more intimate and distressing than the last.

What was she doing here? The last conversation Quincy and she had he said he’d asked Drusilla to stay away from him. They’d even just quarreled the night before about her seeking him out and now she was barely twenty feet from Quincy inside of his house; the house Hollis had made into a home for him.

She knew she didn’t have any right to be possessive of Quincy or of his space, but it was still difficult to imagine Drusilla trouncing about and critiquing her choice of aesthetic. The thought of her fingers tracing over surfaces and picture frames Hollis had stayed up days in a row to complete made her stomach churn.

“oh”, Hollis finally managed to say just above a whisper, a muscle in her eyebrow twitching involuntarily.

Quincy moved closer to Hollis as he studied her expression, “It’s nothing really. I was just showing all you’ve done with the place.”

Hollis could hear the anxiety Quincy was trying to mask in his voice. Why would he want to show Drusilla her work? What had happened in the less than twenty four hours that had passed since they had seen each other last? Good Decus, how long had it been since she’d blinked?

“Are you okay?” Quincy finally said and Hollis snapped back to reality and out of the depths of her mind.

“Of course” Hollis tried her best to sound convincing, “In fact”, she said looking down at the bundle of flowers in her arms, “These are the wrong plants.”

Quincy furrowed his brow, his face locked into an expression of confusion as his eyes traced the flowers in her arms, “Why? They look fine!”

Hollis could hear steps coming down the stairs in the next room and her eyes grew wide with panic. Drusilla entered the kitchen where Quincy and Hollis stood and both of their heads swiveled to meet her gaze.

“No, these are the wrong flowers”, Hollis insisted, looking back to Quincy. She couldn’t hide the panic in her voice or on her face as she walked backwards waving.

“But. . “ Quincy said, holding his hands out in confusion as Hollis pulled the door open with her foot and made a hasty retreat.

She half ran and half walked back to her cottage and tossed the flowers aside on her stoop. What a stupid idea that had been. She entered and slammed the door shut, locking it quickly as if someone were following after her.

Hollis pressed her body against the door and slid down it, pressing her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She tipped her head back and screamed “FUCK”, loudly into the empty cottage. She brought her head forward and then and hit it against the door twice, her emotions cycling rapidly.

What the fuck was going on?

Hollis.Maeby
Posts: 76
Character: Hollis Maeby

Re: A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

Post by Hollis.Maeby » September 3rd, 2022, 11:35 pm

What Do We Owe Each Other?

Hollis had tried to keep herself busy inside of her small cottage, she hated to admit it but she was a little anxious to leave it. Only hours had passed since she’d run from Quincy’s house after finding Drusilla there, but it felt like days.

She had already finished a painting, cleaned her house and reorganized her crafting supplies.. The only thing left to do today was take her new selection of jewelry to Inga to sell at the market. It wasn’t that far of a walk, she told herself, what could possibly happen?

“I think you could sell this emerald set for more”, Inga told her as Hollis passed the bag to her.

“Yeah, I think that’s a fair point”, Hollis was musing on the prices when out of the corner of her eye she saw Quincy approach her.

“Miranda”, he said, this time the name wasn’t the usual clear and confident tone she was so used to, he was quieter now in his approach.

Hollis turned her attention to the man who was standing at the end of the row of merchants with the unmistakable shape of a painting tucked under his arm.

“Quincy”, she responded cooly, her eyes moving from him to the painting under his arm.

“I was wondering if we could talk”, he shifted the weight of the painting under his arm as she asked her meekly.

Hollis agreed and soon the pair were settled at a table upstairs in the Hearth and Hale sitting opposite from one another, the painting Quincy had been carrying settled neatly at the end of the table.

“Miranda, I’m sorry”, Quincy started

Idly she gathered all of her hair over her left shoulder, running her fingers through it and flicking several loose hairs. She’d practiced this conversation and had decided she would try her best to “play it cool’. “For what, Quincy?”, she said in her best casual tone.

“I can only imagine-” , he started and then stopped abruptly looking quite taken aback, “For meeting Drusilla like that, of all people, in my house”. Quincy seemed quite out of sorts and even stuttered a few of his words.

She watched Quincy and as he stuttered through the rest of his explanation she knew “playing it cool” wasn't for her. She opened her mouth but only the vowel “I” came out before she closed her mouth again. Balancing both of her hands on the table she held her face and drew in a strained breath between her fingers.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pretend it didn’t bother me”, her voice was muffled from behind her hands.

“So it does bother you?” Quincy leaned in, his body pressed against the table now.

“It did, it felt like all of the air was pulled from my lungs. . .”, Hollis ran her hands over the top of her head, exposing her face once more, “But I don’t feel like I have the right to be upset. You don’t owe me anything”

Quincy smiled at her warmly and rested both of his arms on the table. “If there is one thing I have learned from you, is that it isn’t a matter of owing something to someone else” Quincy’s smile grew a little wider as he tried to meet her eye.

Hollis looked the man in the eye, an overwhelming feeling of vulnerability washing over her that caused her cheeks to flush.

“I like that it bothers you. I’m not the most perceptive of fellows, I’ll give you that. But I’m thrilled to- “ Quicy coughed slightly, perhaps the vulnerability of the moment was also getting to him. “I’m thrilled to have you close to me, making me feel I actually matter to someone, and that is why I brought this”.

Quincy motioned to the painting that had been placed at the head of the table and pushed it closer to her. Hollis took the painting by the frame and turned it over. The painting was an abstract done in dark blues with some lighter tones and a silvery figure in the center.

“It’s the first thing I have painted in a very long time and based on what we once discussed, you’re the only one able to extract meaning from it”. Quincy watched Hollis with baited breath as she examined the artwork.

Hollis drank in the painting, she had wondered if this was the work that Quincy had allowed Drusilla into his home to see, but she didn’t want to spoil the moment. The painting felt hopeful to her and she expressed that to Quincy. It felt like strife and chaos and the silver lining in the center was comfort. It reminded Hollis of when the sun came over the hillside after staying up all night, bright and welcoming with the promise of a new day.

“My point in painting it was that light cannot coexist in the dark. As soon as light arries, it vanquishes darkness”, he said as he smiled at her.

Hollis understood what he meant, she was the light in this painting and as she looked it over once again she wasn’t sure if the dark was supposed to be Drusilla or Quincy’s inner darkness.

“I think I understand what you’re implying”, she said with a smile.
The pair discussed the painting at length. Hollis mused as to the meaning of the darkness and Quincy worried at her assessment that it pictured either his darkness or Drusilla’s. The fact of the matter was Hollis didn’t think there was a great deal of Darkness to Quincy outside of that he held for himself, the same darkness she used to chip away at herself. Hollis recognized that in him and it felt familiar and safe, not something to run or hide from as Drusilla had instructed her.

Quincy was now lost in thought, his brow furrowed with concern and his eyes down cast. “When-”, he cleared his throat, his eyes returning to her’s. “When she was there she uttered a sentence that’s still echoing in my ears”

“What’s that?” Hollis tipped her head curiously to him.

“She said ‘it’s all her’. The vases, the flowers, even the fruit basket. I wouldn’t have bothered, no wonder I feel so at ease in that place. I only realized that once she uttered those very words. It’s a bigger version of that hug we shared, only I happen to live in it” Quincy grinned as he looked over to Hollis.

She smiled at him as the meaning sunk in; Quincy found her as comforting as she found him. If nothing was gained from this conversation than this insight, everything else that brought them to it was worth it.

The conversation continued. Quincy apologized for the misunderstanding and Hollis accepted it, though she really didn’t think there was anything to apologize for. At the end of their interaction Hollis walked away with the painting in hand, a gift from Quincy that meant the world to her.

She hung the abstract art piece above her bed and stood back looking at its framing. The work was a stark opposite to hers but she found much comfort in it. She could feel the darkness lifting off of her and she hoped from this point on the sulking specter that the ghost of Drusilla would no longer haunt her.

Hollis.Maeby
Posts: 76
Character: Hollis Maeby

Re: A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

Post by Hollis.Maeby » September 9th, 2022, 1:52 am

It's Bittersweet, But More Sweet Than Bitter

The morning was cool and brisk as Hollis traversed the familiar path from Fort Prae to the tastelessly named mineshaft in the woods. The morning light made the colors of the forest brighter and more enchanting than usual, the air more crisp and the bird's songs more clear.

To others the morning may have looked like any other, but to Hollis it was particularly good. The evening before she stopped in to check on Quincy. He had taken a walk up North and came back with scratches across his cheek. The two exchanged pleasantries but this time, before she left, he had kissed her. Hollis’ hopelessly romantic heart fluttered as she recalled the evening before.

“With all that has transpired these last few days, I feel like I owe you. . “ The man trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. “A kiss” he managed to finally say.

Hollis had watched him with an amused grin, “I don’t think I’ve ever been owed a kiss before” she replied teasingly.

Quincy had told her more than once in the past that he was poor at reading signals of interest. A conversation that made this moment, as awkward as it was endearing. The pair shared in a soft and tender kiss before saying their goodbyes. Like a smitten school girl Hollis had blushed and stumbled down the stairs on her way out.

She felt light on her feet as she continued on her path. Quincy was a nice man who she shared many similarities and interests with. Sure, he was a little older than she was, but dating men her own age had never led to anything other than heartbreak. Maybe what she needed was someone older who knew themself and what they really wanted. She so hope she had found that in him.

Spending time with Quincy felt refreshing, though there were other times she felt as though she we're waiting for the other shoe to drop. She knew she had a toxic pattern with men so she tried not to put too much stock in that feeling, though it often raised its ugly head when she wanted it to the least.

Despite wanting to put it behind her, Hollis often worried about being compared to the lithe and tall doctor from Kaduraas. She had after all become interested in two men who had been interested in her. She tried to sweep this away with her other intrusive thoughts but somedays were harder than others. Hollis shifted her mind back to the highlights of the night before, pushing the nagging beast that was self doubt back down.

Yes, last night really had been something she thought as she continued on her path, head in the clouds and eyes not focused on the road. If she hadn’t been replaying the previous evening's moment over and over again in her head, she might have heard the snapping of branches in the distance or noticed the distraught grumblings of her horse.

If Hollis had been paying attention she might have noticed the large brown bear to her left that stalked her and her horse Risk. The bear followed after them and once the trees cleared it rushed after the pair. The horse saw the danger before Hollis did and took off at full speed, causing Hollis to trip and be dragged several yards before getting her hand free of the lead.

It took a split second for her to regain her senses and get to her feet back under her, her body full of adrenaline. The bear continued after the horse but Hollis was able to pull its attention back on her with a few well thrown rocks. Though now that she had the bear’s attention she didn’t know what to do with it. The massive creature lumbered closer to her and she took stock of just how big its teeth were.

Fortunately she had just purchased a bundle of mystery ribs from The Meddler’s Risk which she produced from her pack and began to throw at the creature one rack at a time. The bear, far more interested in an easy meal, turned its attention on the food and away from Hollis.

She had to run to catch up with her horse which had been no small feat as the animal had made it most of the way to the mineshaft, following the familiar path it knew. Hollis breathed heavily, gripping hold of the reins in one hand and her side with the other. She was filthy, her kilt covered in dirt and decaying leaves and her hair tangled through with nature.

Hollis took stock of the situation. Looking over the horse carefully she was very grateful he had made it out unscathed. As the adrenaline left her system the aches and pains began to be felt. Her knees were scuffed up and a massive bruise was forming on her right thigh along with other bumps and bruises across her body. Gingerly she pressed into the bruise on her thigh. Sure it didn’t look great, but she had been hurt worse before.

Not wanting to lose the rest of the day, Hollis continued on and spent the better part of the morning below Eden’s surface pulling coal and iron. She mined slowly, her aching body catching up with her but she didn't allow it to let her quiet. For motivation she played and replayed the memory of Quincy from the night before, wringing the memory for every drop of serotonin she could muster.

Hollis.Maeby
Posts: 76
Character: Hollis Maeby

Re: A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

Post by Hollis.Maeby » September 10th, 2022, 6:06 pm

The Dangers of Perceived Slights

“You’re hurt”, Constantine said from behind the bar at the Risk having watched Hollis wince not once but twice now and rub her right thigh. The pair had been discussing dinner plans both past and present, one being the dinner Quincy had invited Constantine to and the other the dinner Hollis’ attended with Quincy the other evening.

“It’s nothing”, Hollis tried to wave it off, though the injury she had sustained earlier in the day was bothering her greatly, “Just got into a little tussle with a bear is all, it’s just a bruise.”

Constantine pursed his lips, unconvinced by Hollis’ reassurances, though before he could say anything his attention was drawn to the door.

Almost as if on cue Drusilla came through the door of the popular establishment and had a seat next to Hollis. The trio exchanged pleasant greetings, remarking on the qualities of their days and other small talk topics.

“You’re just in time”, Hollis said looking over to Drusilla, “Constantine was about to start teasing me about dinner with Quincy”

“Oh, are you his plus one?” Drusilla asked, leaning forward and folding her arms on the counter.

Hollis turned to her assuming she was asking about Quincy, “Well, yes” she replied, “but I meant the dinner I had with him the other day”

Drusilla nodded a few times and looked down, an expression Hollis couldn’t quite read.

Hollis opened her mouth to continue but was struck suddenly by a sharp pain in her thigh. Instinctually she brought her hand to the location of the pain and audibly winced.

“I think Maeby here sustained an injury” Constantine motioned to Hollis who glared back at him for snitching.

“It’s just a bruise from an encounter with a bear,” Hollis insisted, shooting daggers across the bar.

“That’s all?” Drusilla asked as she rolled a metal ring around her finger, her eyes unfocused. “You’re lucky” Her voice was soft and seemed far away to Hollis, but she was used to this type of behavior from the Western woman and thought little of it.

Hollis soon found herself at the fort’s hospital sitting on an exam table waiting for Drusilla to treat her leg. Upon looking at it in the bar she’d assessed that it needed further treatment than she could provide there and the pair left, leaving Constantine to his tasks.

Drusilla stood at the sink in the exam room thoroughly washing her hands, an action that Hollis greatly appreciated. “Quincy calls you Miranda”, she said as she continued to scrub her hands, “Do you prefer that?”

“I don’t mind it, that just seems to be his personal choice.” Hollis continued to watch her, the anxiety in her chest building as her mind raced. She’d never liked being seen by doctors; no one ever went to the doctor because they were fine and healthy.

The two spoke for a moment on names, Hollis remarking that she should have changed her name before coming here and Drusilla asking what she would have called herself if she’d had the chance. The conversation seemed pleasant and Hollis relaxed some as the doctor turned to treat her leg.

“I’m sorry I dashed off so fast the other day”, Hollis said as Drusilla coated her leg with some sort of ointment that smelled strongly. Hollis looked up and away, focusing on a corner of the clinic.

“It’s fine. I know you don’t like me.”

Hollis felt blind-sided by the comment, she thought the two of them had buried their bad blood with the last conversation they’d had. “Well that’s the thing, I do like you. I was just surprised and I panicked.”

“Surprised by what?” Drusilla said in a cool voice looking up from the injury.

“You being there” Hollis’ voice was strained now, the anxiety starting to settle in her throat and making it feel tight. “The last time Quincy and I had talked he said you two weren’t getting on. So I just didn’t expect it to be you”.

Drusilla stood and turned back to the counter, picking up a small silver instrument in her hand. Hollis watched her though wished she hadn’t, as the lithe doctor turned she recognized the instrument as a scalpel.

“I should have knocked, but I have a key. I’m so used to letting myself in”, Hollis said quickly, her eyes shooting back up to the ceiling. She had a terrible habit of talking too much when she was nervous and today proved no different.

Drusilla sighed wearily, “It’s okay. He doesn’t like me either.”

“I don’t dislike you, Drusilla. I meant what I said during our conversation.” Hollis’ eyes moved to look at the woman, but her head was bowed down. “ It’s just- the two of you have a history, I won’t put a name to it as it isn’t my place. But you even said so yourself.” Hollis was speaking rapidly now, the words falling out of her mouth as her adrenaline coursed through her veins in anticipation of the scalpel being introduced to her leg.

Drusilla waved dismissively with the scalpel, “I thought he saw me. That’s all. You don’t need to worry about that” she leaned closer now with the scalpel, “Little pinch”.

Hollis could feel the pressure of the scalpel press into her leg and the first few layers of skin give way to it. Though the pain was dulled by whatever medication Drusilla had swabbed her leg with, the sensation made her feel nauseous and clammy. Hollis held her breath and kept her eyes upward to avoid watching.

Drusilla pulled a towel from the shelf in the exam room and tucked it under her thigh. “You feel like he sees you, don’t you?” The doctor didn’t look up from her work as she asked the question and began to press into Hollis’ leg to express blood and puss alike.

“Yes, I suppose I do. He gave me a painting of his.” Hollis wasn’t sure why she’d said it, but before she knew it the words had fallen out of her mouth.

“What’s it of?”

“It’s an abstract done in black, silvers and blues. A darkness over a silvery figure. It’s difficult to explain.” Drusilla pressed into her leg again and Hollis gasped, her fingers gripping into the grain of the table

“What do you suppose it means?”

“I have theories, but I don’t like to speculate too much on other people's art. You haven’t seen it?” Hollis was desperate to change the subject but her nerves kept her mouth moving in a direction she couldn’t control.

“Probably not”, Drusilla stated in a near monotone. Hollis looked over at the woman, who smiled sharply and picked up the scalpel again. The Western woman seemed tense, perhaps irritated with her, but she tried to push the thought to the back of her mind.

Hollis’ eyes darted away and she felt woozy and weak as the doctor drew the blade across her leg once more expanding the original small incision into a much longer one that drew past the numbing agent previously used. She felt dizzy and the room began to spin, the sharp pain causing her to yelp
.
Drusilla continued her treatment of Hollis’ wound, but if she were being honest she felt a little worse since the procedure had started. Much to her relief the doctor was now wrapping her thigh in gaze, a clear signal that they were almost done.

“You think I’m a fool for being interested in him?” Hollis asked with a dry mouth, her breathing slow and uneven.

“We’re all fools aren’t we?”

“What a very poetic thing to say.” Hollis replied with a weary chuckle.

The doctor continued to wrap her leg, “Are you sure you should be Constantine’s plus one if Quincy means so much to you?”

The question seemed to come out of nowhere and struck Hollis as odd given their earlier conversation. Her brows furrowed with confusion, “I’m Quincy’s plus one for dinner. I assumed you would be going with Constantine. I told you, I’ve washed my hands of my ridiculous infatuation”. Hollis’ tried to catch her eye but the woman didn’t look up.

Hollis watched Drusilla as her mouth pressed into a line and she frowned, closing her eyes for a moment longer than a standard blink. “I thought that was what you said before.”

Hollis shook her head, “There seems to have been some misunderstanding.”

Drusilla still looked distant as she moved to the shelf to pick up a vial and passed it to Hollis to drink. Hollis shot the medication back like one would a shot of liquor, the tonic was bitter and made her nausea much worse. She was still feeling woozy and out of sorts from the treatment, but she couldn’t help but notice the tension that hung in the air between the two of them.

“Are you not coming to dinner then?” Hollis asked to fill the growing silence.

“Quincy didn’t invite me” Dursilla was now cleaning up the bloody gauze and soiled tools.

“There was an assumption that Constantine would invite you, I think it’s easy to see why that would be the assumption regardless of whatever label you want to put on your relationship”, Hollis’ head was spinning, she hadn’t felt this way since smoking laced gleamgrass as a teenager. The words continued to fall from her mouth regardless of her desire for them to or not.

The lithe woman finished washing her hands and turned back to Hollis, an expression of irritation on her face that Hollis couldn’t quite read in her state. “Constantine is such a nice man, you should just let him love you”, her words slurred now and when she slid off of the table at the doctor’s direction she almost crumpled to the ground.

“I guess we should be used to Eden writing the story for us now”, the doctor responded in an irritated voice. “You should drink some water and rest”.

“You’re probably right”, Hollis was now clinging to the frame of the door for support as the world around her shifted, “Oh wait here I’ll get payment for you” she announced and stumbled out of the clinic.

With much difficulty Hollis made her way to the bank and came back, but when she went looking for her Drusilla was nowhere to be found. Assuming she had returned to the Meddler’s Risk, Hollis made her way there but was disappointed when she only found Constantine.

“How did it go?”, the man asked with a soft smile.

Hollis couldn’t answer more than a few words so instead just gave him a thumbs up before placing the pouch of coins on the bar. “For Drusilla, she was gone when I returned”.

Constantine looked after her a little concerned though Hollis gave him two more thumbs up, afraid to open her mouth once more for fear of what might come out, verbally or not.

Hollis made it ten feet outside of the Risk when the overwhelming feeling of malaise came over her. The world spun around her and she groaned in pain, her skin felt cold and clammy. The medication she’d been given was wearing off now and the full impact of her condition flooded her senses and she wretched in the street.

Hollis balanced herself on her shaky knees and looked behind her, the Risk wasn’t more than fifteen feet behind her now, but Constantine was there and she didn’t want to have to explain anything to him. Quincy’s house was directly to her left and were he home she knew he would allow her to take pause before any questions came.

Hollis hobbled over to the stairs and struggled her way up the three small stone steps. She opened the door of the familiar house with the key she’d been given and steadied herself with the door frame before closing it behind her. She wasn’t sure if Quincy was home and she didn’t want to bother him if he were.

Finally she found respite on the benches in the library and with much effort removed her boots before neatly placing them to the side. The benches were hard with no padding, but anything was better than standing. She sat there with her head pressed against the plaster wall behind her and closed her eyes.

With her eyes closed the world still felt as though it moved, but instead of spinning it ebbed and flowed like waves with no shore to crash upon. Hollis focused on the moment and soon her head felt the heavy weight of sleep. She laid across the benches on her good side, curling into the fetal position and using her arm as a pillow. She’d explain everything to Quincy tomorrow, she’d apologize for taking the liberty of sleeping over and being a bother.

She wasn’t sure how long she slept there before her subconscious picked up the noises of Quincy moving about the house. She’d spent so much time working in the house that she could easily pick out the cadence of his steps. She could hear the steps move up the stairs, and back down, the sound echoing in her mind like a dream.

Softly something lifted her head and tucked a pillow between it and the bench and a warm blanket draped over her. She was somewhere between the waking world and sleep when Quincy’s hand moved a stray lock of hair from her face gently before returning up stairs. She drew in a breath and sighed wistfully, unsure if this was part of her dreams or reality.

Hollis sank back into sleep, the slow rolling waves pulling her in deeper.

Hollis.Maeby
Posts: 76
Character: Hollis Maeby

Re: A Trial by Fire: The Legacy of Hollis Maeby

Post by Hollis.Maeby » September 11th, 2022, 3:51 pm

Building Up The Walls

The morning came and Hollis awoke on the bench to find a soft pillow under her head and a blanket draped over her. Her body felt stiff from a night curled upon the benches and as she sat up the memory of why she found herself there came back to her.

Gingerly, Hollis pulled her kilt up and examined the bandage around her thigh that had bled through overnight. The once white bandage was crusted over with dried blood and discharge, the sight of which made her nauseous all over again.

Despite everything she still took the time to fold the blanket and placed it back on the bench with the pillow. She'd need to thank Quincy later for his kindness and possibly apologize for the impromptu sleepover, but for now she needed the opinion of another doctor.

With difficulty she put her boots back on and made her way at a slow pace down the street to the hospital. Once there she checked in and waited for the next available physician to see her. The time ticked by in excruciating minutes that somehow seemed longer than their traditional sixty seconds.

"Hollis Maeby? Am I saying that right?" An older woman dressed in a traditional white smock with graying brown hair called out.

"I'm here" Hollis lifted a hand and motioned to herself as she began to stand.

The doctor held the door for her and watched as Hollis limped her way over. She was led into a large room with many beds that were partitioned only by thin drapes. The woman then motioned for her to sit on the table as Drusilla had.

Hollis lifted herself onto the exam table with some difficulty and sat with her hands tightly folded together. The memory of the night before was still fresh in her mind and the anxiety of being under another doctor's care so soon made her nervous.

"I'm Doctor Patel. What can I help you with today?" The woman spoke in a near monotone and waved a hand vaguely over towards Hollis.

"Well", Hollis started, her mouth suddenly very dry, "I was seen last night for an injury and the wound seems to still be bleeding."

"It's normal for there to be some discharge with healing wounds." Patel said fatly, her expression and tone indicating how obviously bored she was.

"There's a bit more than some," Hollis said sheepishly, pulling up her kilt to show the bandage.

The doctor looked over, her placid eyes growing wider with interest. "You said you were treated by one of our doctors?" Patel's attention flitted around to her colleges, eager to assign blame.

"No, not one of the doctors who work here. A doctor from around the fort."

Patel looked back at her, her interest still peaked, "Is that so? Let's have a look at this."

The doctor began removing the bandage, the top layers peeled away easily while those closer to flesh had to be carefully coaxed off. Hollis winced as the bandage was lifted to reveal a nasty bruise with an incision through it.

"Huh" Patel leaned in to further explore the injury, "This incision is larger than it needs to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Look here", The doctor said and pointed at the large bruise on her leg. "Do you see the bruised area and the infection site?"

Hollis craned her neck and looked where the doctor instructed, "Yes. . ."

"You can see here that the incision made through the infected area is longer than it needs to be.” Patel’s hand hovered over her leg, circling the large bruise and then motioned to the infected area. “This could have been smaller, a novice’s mistake really. Though you seem to have also torn it with all of your activity."

Hollis felt sick to her stomach as the doctor explained. She remembered the first cut Drusilla made before expressing gore from the injury and the second cut she made later when the energy between them had changed. This had to have been an accident. Hollis didn't want to think about the possibility that Drusilla would do this out of spite.

"Is this an easy mistake to make?" Hollis asked Patel in a small voice.

The doctor laughed suddenly, making Hollis jump. "For a seasoned doctor? No. For someone green behind the ears, maybe."

Hollis closed her eyes as she listened to the doctor, she wasn't sure what to do with this information. She had trusted her and there was no one she could tell who would do something about it. Hollis couldn’t be positive, but with the new information she was sure the second cut had been superfluous.

Sure, she could tell Constantine in hopes that he would understand just how out of control she had become, but he'd shown time and time again that he would only make excuses for her. Hollis imagined the same conversation with Quincy and in her mind it didn't go much better than the fictitious one with Constantine. While Quincy didn't champion for her he also didn't condemn her. Both men seemed to understand something about Drusilla that Hollis never would.

"The tear I think is the bigger problem, you’ve done some damage." Patel said suddenly, using the end of a pair of tweezers to gauge the depth. "I'm going to stitch it and re-bandage it and you should be good as new in a few days if you stay off of it."

Hollis nodded in agreement, but she didn't have to, the doctor's words weren't so much a question as they were a statement. She looked away as the doctor began her treatment, her face growing hot with anger. Was there anything that could be done?

She thought back about the night before and remembered the misunderstanding between the pair. Drusilla thought Hollis was going to dinner with Constantine, she'd seemed upset but was she angry enough to do this on purpose? Perhaps it was some sort of misstep due to her emotional state, but whatever it was it was clear to Hollis that she needed to create a wide berth between herself and the woman as Quincy previously warned her.

"Who did you say did this treatment for you?" Patel asked, her eyes unmoving from her work.

Hollis looked over to see the woman pulling a stitch through the tear she’d created and looked away quickly. "I didn't", she responded and turned her head to avoid the Doctor's gaze and her work.

Patel clearly wanted to lay blame on someone, but despite her desire to seek justice she couldn't bring herself to tell the physician. Maybe it was her need for privacy, or perhaps she thought this person too could do little to rein Drusilla in. Though the most likely reason was, she was afraid of incurring more of the woman's wrath.

Hollis was a very capable blacksmith, she was an accomplished artist, jeweler and carpenter. She even found time to dabble a little in sewing and embroidery. But none of these things were skills that would help protect herself against a deranged woman who skillfully wielded a sword. For these reasons she chose to keep this slight to herself.

Doctor Patel finished her treatment and while her leg was sore she felt better than previously. “Stay off of it”, the woman told her sternly, her gaze piercing and her words commanding. Hollis offered the woman a series of reassurances that she would follow her treatment plan.

Hollis graciously paid the woman whose lips pursed together. She could tell by her expression that Patel hadn't wanted to let this go. She appreciated that about the woman, but also knew that once she left this clinic there was nothing the woman could do to help her.

Back at home Hollis sunk into her second hand bed. She'd never complain about it again after a night spent on those benches. With her leg once again bandaged and healing there was little she could do.

Later she would seek out Quincy to give him an explanation, she owed him as much, but for now all there was to do was rest.

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