Pride had always been one of Marrocs biggest enemies in life. Here again, he leaned on the door he closed, unable to open it again but unsettled by the tattoo on the woman's neck. It may have been purely coincidence, but he was certain that had been sigil. Its form was rough, but it had looked, even felt, real.
over an hour had passed by the time he decided to open the door again. It was no surprise to find that she was gone. He went to his room and roughly drew out the marking as best as he could remember. A rough, curving diagonal line, alongside more symbols, probably cuneiform, inside an almost scaled circle.
A few coffees, and a generous portion of procrastination later, he decided on meeting up with the only member of his family he could still talk to, Hel. She had set him up in his apartment and was supposedly the only person who knew where he was. They were technically cousins, more likely distant cousins, but due to their situation had been raised as siblings. Neither of them knew who their actual parents were, though servant gossip had served well in given him a good idea.
- Where are you, need to talk, I'm leaving now
Marroc texted while gathering his stuff to leave.
- At the studio, will be here another hour or two xx
Hel replied almost instantaneously.
He made his way down, Even if he took his time it would only take him twenty minutes to get there, but he was strangely motivated. His whole life had been set in stone and for the first time, something neither he nor anyone else could have guessed seemed to cross his path.
Opening the front door to the street, he found himself face to face with the strange red-haired girl and instinctively closed the door again, only to open it a second later. Except that this time she was crying. There where no sounds or whimpers, just tears running down her cheeks.
"Why are you crying?" He asked, alarmed and unsure what to do yet still appalled by his own thoughtless question. He had never felt comfortable around women in general, thanks to Hel, he had also never actually had to deal with one in floods of tears either.
"I.. I.. don't.. know... no one... I can't" she stuttered between sobs.
Alarmed at the commotion they were making he pulled her inside and closed the door. Though now they were in a dark and dingy passage, which made the whole scene look far worse in his mind.
Sighing he said, "Speak slowly one thing at a time, I won't throw you out before you have explained everything. I promise."