Page 1 of 1

Changing Hands

Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:05 am
by Qabian
Riana sat on top of a cocooned mass as a chair. It wasn't leaking anything of whatever was dead inside, she had checked. It seemed the only viable sport to sit in the webbed room. Half the place was walled off with a mass tangle of webs. The walls lined with spider silk. Tunnels stretching back into the unseen parts, occasionally twitching from whatever was moving inside. This wasn't Riana's room. It was the eccentric demon hunters. The two were talking pretty happily, with the illidari reaching into the webs and taking out various spiderlings to show her new friend. The door to the room was open. The two's conversation about breeding the critters reaching the hallway

When Qabian arrived at Feyde's room, he was surprised to hear talking. His brows were knit when he looked in the door, then raised when he saw all the webs and the creatures crawling around the two women. Then he just glanced up to the ceiling with a sigh and leaned on the door jamb, before saying, oddly casually, "Feyde, can we talk?"

Riana offered Qabian a sly smile as she sat on her seat of webs. Fey on the other hand froze as if she was caught in the act of doing something bad. "Oh Qabian! I can clean this up. Really. Webs will come right out eventually."

"Why? It's not my room you've destroyed." He looked over at Riana for a moment, studying her but otherwise his expression stayed quite blank as he considered. After a pause, he shrugged, evidently deciding what he had to discuss wasn't important enough to demand privacy. "Do you remember me complaining about my job?" he asked, looking back at Feyde and getting right to the point.

"And thankfully not my room either" Riana added.

Fey rounded on Riana holding out far to large spiderling to the hunter. Tauntingly. "You sure you don't want them back?" she asked Riana knowing full well the hunter didn't want them in her room. Eventually she looked back to Qabian. "I can recall that, yeah..."

Riana took the spiderling and concerned herself with examining it to let the two talk.

Qabian narrowed his eyes at the spiderling in Riana's hand, but continued to address Feyde as he spoke. "Well, congratulations, I've decided you can have it."

Fey stared at Qabian a long moment before bursting out into laughter. The spider in Riana's hands suddenly bolted leaving her to flail a moment as the thing skittered up her arm, jumping off to flee into the massive nest. Something about the demon hunter's laugh had unsettled it. "Are you joking?" Fey asked. "I'm unsure because you threatened it but I didn't think you would go through with it."

"I'm deadly serious," he said. Though the smirk on his face made him seem a little less than deadly, it was Qabian after all. "I'm tired. I finally told Awatu I'm tired. I'm getting myself replaced. And you're up. Here's your chance to get mad with power and decide who's qualified to be Grim and who isn't."

Fey steepled her fingers, her clawed nails clicking together. Maybe a trick of the light but the little demon women's glowing tattoos grew a touch brighter. Something was going on in her mischievous mind. "Ah. Sounds fun. Not for me. Nope. I am happy giving people shit from the side! If I wanted responsibility I would have settled down and had a family." With that she rubbed her hands together as if that was that.

Riana placed a hand over her mouth as she tried not to laugh at Fey's response. "But you are responsible for your pets" She said attempting to help out but her eyes locking on to Qabian's wondering how he could be serious.

"If they do something I don't like, I eat them. I shouldn't eat supplicants, or should I? Nope, not doing it," Fey returned with a horrible grin on her face.

Qabian crossed his ankles, leaning more heavily on the door frame, smirking. "I have absolutely no problem with you eating supplicants. Perhaps it will put them in a better frame of mind for getting their Trials done. Most of them seem to end up dead in a ditch anyway. What's the difference if you're the one that did it to them?" he explained. "You know the Grim. You've been around them for a long time, and you've seen other Inquisitions, and you have opinions on what works and what does not. That's far more than I can say for most. Besides, if you turn me down, I'll have to choose someone else." His smirk widened to a grin to match hers. "And the other name I'm considering is Zulric."

Now Fey's tattoos really did light up despite knowing Qabian was probably joking. Her smirk turned in to bared pointy teeth. "Oh you wouldn't! He would be even more insufferable. Just pick anyone else." She pointed at Riana who raised an eyebrow. "Riana. I don't hate her. Just pick her."

Qabian raised an eyebrow as well and turned to stare at Riana, then narrowed his eyes at her. "You don't have quite the profile of our dear Ambassador and his desperate not-always-successful attempts to impress, but... Would you do it?"

Riana straightened up a bit. "I suppose I don't have his profile but is that a bad thing? I could do it. If you end up not liking me commanding the peo... supplicants, we can run down the demon lady here and force the job on her," she said far too sweetly.

Fey just scoffed at the comment, snerking. "Like anyone can catch me"

Qabian looked down at his boots in thought. "While I think I would prefer to pass the reins to someone violent and unpredictable who has known us as long as the demon lady, perhaps it would suit to have someone a little more... calculating? Too much like me?" He shrugged, then smirked at Riana. "Either way, all I want is it off my shoulders, and since you already said you're willing, you can have it if you like. I'll tell Awatu to call you High Inquisitor Riana Bloodfang from now on?"

Fey took that moment to skitter off. Having dodged the bullet of responsibility she was happy to leave them in her room. Her spider infested, web lined room. As if realizing one of their masters was gone, some of the webs quivered.

Riana glanced around at the webs trying to read what the critters were up to. Once she seemed sure enough that it was safe she smiled at Qabian. "Unsure if you are flattering me by comparing us. I can always consult Feyde on how to be more violent. Or just tell her to be. If you think the others will find me being..." she paused as if considering her new grand sounding title. "High Inquisitor. Then I will accept it. I assume you have paperwork of what the job entails and can give me some sort of training on your procedures."

"Mmhm, though I'm not sure if Awatu will let you see it before he announces this little... arrangement to everyone else. And unless you presume to strip me of the rank, which will of course be entirely within your purview, I'll remain as an Inquisitor at least until you feel comfortable with the new... expectations." He looked over his shoulder in the direction Feyde had scurried away. "Taking advice from her if you can convince her to give it also seems like a good idea."

"Now why would I strip you of your rank? I would be happy to take advice from you, Fey, and any other senior members of the Grim. I am sure there are many things with the job that I would welcome your council." Isn't she diplomatic. "Plus can't let you escape that easily if the job is too trying."

Qabian's smirk faded for a moment before twitching back into place. "I doubt you'll find that. It can be exhausting when we have many petitioners, but now we have next to none. I'm sure by the time the pendulum of interest swings in our direction again, you'll have a handle on how to make the Inquisition work to your liking, even if you have to delegate everything to others. With luck, by then I'll have made myself so scarce people will forget to look for me for anything but the most dire of emergencies."

Riana stood up putting her hands behind her back and pacing to the door, motioning slowly towards at the spiders that seems to be eyeing them from the web tunnels. "I am not afraid of delegating things." Could be that she was referencing that she got Fey to look after some of her spiders. Or that they were now looking at them like lunch. "The timing does seem good for this. I will attempt not to pester you to much. Even if I enjoy your company." Then nodded for them to head out. "They get a bit bold sometimes." She comments about the spiders. "Probably good not to linger in here too long."

Qabian looked over the room and its webbing and skittering. "If you can deal with things like this, I'm sure dealing with the Grim will be a simple enough task." He straightened and stepped back from the doorway. "I'll go speak with Awatu, unless you have any questions I should answer for you immediately?"

"I expect I will have questions when the full job is explained to me. I am not looking to make any enemies in the Grim by taking this position. You will warn me if something comes up." She gave Qabian a little wink.

"Of course, even if just for the entertainment," he said with a smirk, then bowed low, curiously formal. "By your leave," he said in parting, even more oddly formal, then turned on his heel and vanished.