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Deep and Meaningful(Ivory!)

Started by Looshi, March 25, 2014, 07:55:56 PM

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Looshi

Simone eyed the Kaadir as it was being led through the palace doors. At the reins was one of the guards. The werewolf caught the briefest of conversation, but not enough to put anything together. He wasn't paying much attention either. Simone tapped his foot on the flooring, sitting on a fine made wooden bench along one of the walls of the entrance. He was waiting for his master, Jherna. Everywhere she went he followed like her faithful companion - unless she was giving him some free time to do as he pleased with, a rare occasion but it happened. She had other bodyguards, after all. Though he did get a little jealous.

Wait, he was a bodyguard? In a sense, he was. Though he was hard to look the part. Simone was a short man, with broad shoulders and a round stomach. His pale skin marked him as a foreigner, as did his blue eyes. He did happen to sport Essyrn like hair, in which the curls were cut about his ears to keep it manageable. He didn't have any muscle so to speak. Simone was soft and fair. What was so special about him that a merchant princess would name him a guard? He was a werewolf.

It had taken him awhile to get used to calling himself that; to get used to the thought of himself being a monster. The kind parents tell their children about to get them to behave. He used to be terrified of the stories when he was small. Simone would over hear his father regaling the tales to his older brother. He would hide in his blankets and shiver, not sleeping. At one point he convinced himself that they were after him - the child wiliness disappeared with age. He didn't think that two years ago the thought would return.

Simone bit the inside of his cheek as he waited. The full-moon was near and it made him anxious. The monster side of him would call out, and ring through his skin. He had to put effort into concentrating in not shifting shape. With each full-moon he found himself having a growing detest of his human skin.

It got to the point in that moment where he could sit still any longer. If he remembered, there were public gardens in the palace, though of their appearance he had heard but rumours. Perhaps some fresh air would do him well - he doubted. It took some moments of wandering to find them, worrying that he was going the wrong way or going where he was not supposed to. He gasped when he sauntered through the entrance, with smells so strong he could taste them. They were far more lavish that his master's, though his master's gardens were beautiful in their own right. They couldn't match this. He didn't think anything could match this. Simone walked further in, the hot sun beaming on him, for once he didn't mind.

"O-Oh..." He stopped, spotting a woman in fine dress. An iron fist clenched at his stomach, and he felt his face become flush. She was a lovely creature, and with haste he averted his eyes.  "M'lady, s-sorry for b-bothering you. I will take my l-leave."

Ivory

In the privacy of Mistress's gardens, there was usually no reason to wear a veil.  The Shah's guests rarely toured the gardens, unless it was by permission and escort of the Shah herself.  In such an event, Malika would have heard their approach long before their arrival, and she would have vanished immediately to provide Mistress with the utmost privacy.

A lone guest, wandering by himself, was, however, unheard of...and, in fact, unheard, period, as the young woman in question contented herself with a moment of peaceful solitude among the brightly-colored blooms.  She did not often find herself alone -- she enjoyed the company of others too much to wander alone -- but, now, surrounded by the fragrant plants and some of the wildlife here, she hardly felt alone at all.

Simone caught her as off-guard as she had caught him.  The slave was leaning forward, bent slightly at the waist, with a few flowers clutched in her hands as she sampled the odors of the poppies growing at shoulder-height.  His voice caused her to straighten with a soft gasp of surprise, brown-green eyes growing wide in alarm in spite of his kind voice and words.  The flowers she had held scattered at her feet as she reached to cover her face with the veil hanging askance from its decorative bauble.  The veil was drawn halfway across her face before she realized her mistake, and she let it fall back into place to reveal the blush across her cheeks.

"No," she bid softly, voice soft but melodious.  It was a pretty, lyrical voice that seemed at home among the flowers.  "Stay.  The gardens are open to everyone who visits.  I..."  Oh, yes, her flowers!  Kneeling, Malika began to collect them again.  "I am collecting a few flowers for Mistress."

Looshi

Oh dear! Oh goodness! He startled her! His mind raced with a flurry of other apologies, but all that came out was 'um'  and 'uh'. He smacked himself in the face with a mental hand. How could he do such a thing? He was trained to be better! Oh dear, his master, what would his master think of him? He could imagine Jherna's stern face looking down at him, with his bright blue eyes staring up. She'd have some choice words with him and then throw him out on the streets. Or worse. He was so flushed that it took him a long moment to realize the veil covering her face, much like his. She was a slave. Like he was. His heart pounded.

"Mistress?" He echoed her words, his voice heavy with an accent of a different country. That too, took him a moment for his mind to catch up with what was happening. That time he almost smacked himself for real. "Oh! Oh dear. Y-y-you're the Shah's. I-I mean..."

He would never grow used to people being others property. It was the foreigner in him, and not the rebel. Things worked different in Essyrn, and it was perhaps his passiveness that helped him not to be angry about it.

Simone swallowed back a lump in his throat, and scratched at the back of his neck. He was starting to sweat in the heat. You'd think he'd be used to it by now. He wanted to lean down and help her with the flowers, but at the same time didn't know if that would be too intrusive.

"Would...W-would you like some help g-gathering? I mean, y-you can say no. I could just.. Uh, carry things. If you'd like. It's f-fine if you d-don't. I-I'm a stranger and all." He paused, his face falling. "O-o-oh! I'm Simone, my master is Jherna Isarak."

Phew. He almost forgot.

Ivory

The poor man!  His nervousness was beginning to make Malika feel fidgety as well!  She hastened to gather up the few flowers, then rose with a soft laugh.  "It's already done.  But, I thank you for the offer.  It was very kind."

The woman approached the nervous man carefully, hoping not to spook him as she extended a hand to him.  "My name's Malika, and, yes, I do belong to the Shah.  I'm here on my own time, so I don't mind the company."

There was a genuine kindness about her, and a sense that her trust was given freely and often.  Even beneath the veil, her expression was open and unguarded; clearly, she was not accustomed to having that trust betrayed.

"Where is it you're from?"

Looshi

He took her hand when she offered, as custom. His grip was soft, and held no hint of the monster. A not so sudden pang of embarrassment fluttered through his stomach, not that he would ever hurt her or anyone he didn't want to or was allowed to. What embarrassed him was, the fact that in her presence he felt so uncouth. A werewolf was nowhere near as elegant.

He quirked a smile when she said she didn't mind the company. There was something warm about her that made him relax - like he had known her before in some past life.

"Oh. I'm from a little town in Serendipity." He said, "I-It's a long ways from here."

"Where are you from?" He paused, and squeezed shut his eyes. That was a dumb question, she looked Essyrn, but then again, that was simply an assumption. "Um.."

Ivory

"Essyrn," Malika answered with a cheerful smile.  If she was aware of any awkwardness or his anxiety, she certainly didn't show it.  She looked a bit amused at his comical expression with his eyes squeezed so tightly shut, but, rather than linger on it, she turned to pluck a sweet-smelling flower from the garden.

"I love the colors here more than anything.  And the shapes of some of these flowers..."  Her laughter was a gentle thing, seeming to merge effortlessly with her speech, like the bridge of a song.  "...I think some of them are a little silly to look at, but I'm told each serves a purpose in collecting water or keeping the birds away."

The woman's green-brown eyes slid from the plants back to her companion, as she prompted, "You must like flowers as well?  Or perhaps you're here to see the birds?"

Looshi

Simone's lips pulled into a soft smile as he listened to her speak. He was lost in the sounds for a moment, but he caught the words she was saying.

"I'm fond flowers and birds." He said with a laugh. "It's amazing how they can keep so many species without them, well, invading the others. They must have talented botanists here." He reached out to touch a delicate petal of a flower with much care.

"I suppose you can say its a mirror to how people work. Under certain circumstances, they can all get along. Or at least that's what I think."

Ivory

Malika's smile somehow grew a little wider, and she glanced away a bit bashfully a moment as she considered his words.  She certainly wasn't accustomed to being in the company of philosophers, amateur or otherwise.

"That's very pretty," she answered honestly.  To think of people as flowers and the world a garden...  Yes, it was a very pretty way to see the world.  It seemed a shallow thing to say in response, but it was all she had.

"Mistress enjoys showing off her garden to her guests.  I only know what I've overheard, which isn't much, but I do know a few things.  These, for example..."  She held up one of the flowers she had collected.  "The petals soften the skin.  And you can use the petals of this one to create the prettiest blue make-up."  She turned the flowers over in her hands a moment, then asked, "Do you know much about flowers?"

Looshi

He noticed her glance away, and he worried that he may have said something too embarrassing. His tongue felt like wool in his mouth and his face grew flush once more thinking about it. But he realized it was only a moment to consider his words, his nerves relaxed.

Pretty was one way of putting it. Simone did understand that it was a fanciful way of looking at the world - and that it often didn't go hand in hand with reality. But he wanted to see things that way, for the sake of his own well-being. There had to be some good.

He couldn't help but keep a soft smile on his face as she spoke.

"I used to be a chemist." He said, "back in my home country. Ah, but that was some time ago. I don't believe I remember much of it." That was a lie, he just felt terribly embarrassed talking about himself.

"W-what's your favourite flow-" He stopped, and stared at a patch of garden beyond Malika's elegant form; where the flowers were tall, and shadowed the ground from the sun. They had moved, but there was no breeze. Simone took a deep breath in through his nose hoping he could catch a scent - and there it was. Something odd and musky, though concealed from his eyes by what he suspected was magic. It took everything in him not to bare his teeth like a dog.

Ivory

"A chemist!"  The girl looked a bit awed at the revelation.  A chemist -- that was someone to be respected, usually.  Just because he was now a slave did not mean anything to Malika -- regardless of status, chemists were still brilliant people.

It was a shame he didn't remember much of his homeland, though -- it would have been interesting to learn more about Serendipity and his former career.  Naturally, even without his foggy memories, she wouldn't have pushed too hard; it was rude to interrogate others about what was, as some slaves were, rightfully, quite protective of their pasts.

Instead of pursuing his past or expressing disappointment, she moved cheerfully back to the topic of flowers.  "Oh, I love the aliciella!" she exclaimed brightly, spinning a bit to find the nearest batch...and, unknowingly, moving towards the danger Simone had sniffed out.  "There's some over here...  I like the way the leaves take on the same tint as the flowers...  And the leaves look so sharp and dangerous.  I think it makes the flower look that much more beautiful."

(OOC: Because reference pictures are critical!)

Looshi

His mind raced and his heart pounded in his chest like it was readying to burst out of his rib cage. It worsened when Malika neared the spot where he saw the movement; where a creature of some nature was hiding. He had terrible images running through his head; some monster lurking in the palace grounds, with a vestige monstrous enough to rival his own on a full-moon. He imagined the slaughter, the screams, and the blood. His master dead, the Shah dead. And Malika dead.

All gone. He missed the fact that the smell that stained his nose was human.

Reacting with his gut and instincts, he shifted; the sound of cracking bones going swift - it hurt, but it was a good pain. His muscles burned, and his body itched with the growing of fur. It took only a moment, yet it always seemed longer to him, to take the skin of a wolf. Albeit a fat one. The scent of blooms consumed his nose like nothing else, he was focussed however on the moving flower stalks and the briefest outline of a form - something that stood out to the washed out colour of his sight.

"Excuse me." He said, the low rumble to his voice was unintentional. Even if he was about to shed blood, he had to be polite.

Despite the extra weight on him, he could still move quick. Like liquid lightning he caught up with the intruder. His jaws were salivating at the anticipation of fresh meat, and with one deft movement he clamped on to a leg, his teeth digging in deep.

"Argh!" A man's voice cried out and fell, the magic spell disappearing with the stranger's running. Simone pulled at his leg, dragging him along, or attempting to. The man with his free foot he kicked at his head and landed a blow. He yelped and let go. The blood from the intruder's was free to bleed on the flowers below.

Ivory

There was a sudden crack behind her, followed by smaller, more rapid cracks.  The first had given the slave a start; by the time she had caught her breath and half-turned, the transformation was already complete.

She could only stare in mute terror at the large, strangely polite wolf as he leaped onto his prey.  Her hands flew to her mouth as a gasp escaped, and she hastily backed away from the scene -- but she couldn't seem to tear her pretty eyes away.

Where had the man come from?  Where had the wolf come from?  And where, she realized suddenly, had Simone gone?  Not putting two and two together (or, at least, not coming up with four), she could only look on in horror as the man's foot landed a sound blow against the wolf.

When the man scrambled to escape, something slid from his pockets.  The bright, bejeweled piece landed on the floor with a soft chink, and Malika recognized it instantly.  "Mistress's jewels!"  He was a thief!

And the wolf was trying to stop him...

Looshi

Recovering from being stunned, Simone barred his teeth at the man trying to scramble away, and pick up the jewels that fell from his possession. Simone smelt the perfume of the palace on them, and his heart beat quicker. The wolf's ears twitched at the sound of Malika's voice, catching the words on tenseness of the air. He was a thief. His master had rules about thieves.

He could eat them.

Simone lunged, but hadn't noticed the dagger the thief pulled out in self-defense. It buried itself into the wolf's shoulder, but his teeth found the man's throat and sank in. The hot sticky blood filled the beast's mouth, and he bit down harder, in one last attempt to save his life, the thief twist the dagger - but the wolf ignored the pain. He would feel later. One last gurgle, and the man stilled.

Simone let go, his muzzle soaked with red.

Ivory

Still, she stood there helplessly, unable to react...or even to know how to react!  It wasn't until the wolf bit into the man's throat that she found the willpower to look away.  For a moment, she remained there, trembling, pale face averted and eyes squeezed shut as the last of the man's life drained away.

It was quiet then, except for the sound of her own heart beating in her chest.  Timidly, she risked a glance in the direction of the wolf and his prey.  She couldn't make out details in so quick a glance, but she saw a bright splotch of red -- too much of it, all over the ground, the wolf, and the still figure beneath the wolf's body.

The sight made her inhale sharply and squeeze her eyes shut all over again.  She tried to turn away, but her knees chose that moment to give out.  She landed in a kneeling position on the ground with one hand on the dry soil and another crushing the flowers against her chest.  Her back was to the sight of the dead man, now, and that helped somewhat as she took deep, even breaths to steady her nerves.

Somehow, the idea that the wolf might attack her and gobble her up from behind never crossed her mind...

Looshi

He licked his teeth, and moved his nose down the thief's torso. Simone's jaws lingered over the belly, want to tear into it. But no matter how much he wanted it, he wouldn't bite down. Damn his humanity. He gave out a low whine, feeling the pain from the dagger blossom in his shoulder. His tongue lulled out of his mouth in a pant,  and blood dripped down. Simone turned himself away from the body, and found his yellow eyes gazing on the form of Malika's back.

"I'm... I'm sorry." He said, taking a couple shaky steps. The beast couldn't walk proper, and allowed himself to collapse. Perhaps that 'sorry' was empty, because he didn't regret what he did. He was defending, protecting, hunting. And wolves must hunt. What he did regret was what it did to the woman he just met. To the garden that was once so beautiful.

Simone panted from the pain, and let out pathetic noises. His tolerance was weak, and he dare not shift. The tearing and moving of muscle and skin would no doubt make the wound worse. He'd have to wait until it was healed. The blood clotted in his fur - his master wouldn't like that. He needed a bath.

But before that...

"M-Miss Malika... I won't hurt you."

Ivory

Malika started at the sound of his voice, something deep and inhuman.  It held no malice nor carried a threat of violence; it was merely that, for a moment, she had forgotten it could speak, and hearing a voice, in the aftermath of such violence, somehow startled her.

"You know my name?"  It seemed surreal; here they were in the midst of terrible carnage (in her mind, anyway), and the wolf wanted to have a civilized conversation!

And, yet...  "And, somehow, I believe that."  She couldn't say how if pressed; there was something in the way the wolf spoke that seemed reassuring.  Oh, he was still a wolf and still a creature with which to be cautious, but he seemed unlikely to attack her.

The whine caused her to flinch slightly, as though she herself was the one who was hurt.  Slowly, carefully, she turned towards him.  Her eyes carefully avoided the dead man; from body language alone, it would be clear that she was positioning herself to keep him out of her line of sight.

"You're hurt," she murmured in sudden sympathy for the creature.

Looshi

If he could raise his eyebrows, he could. She didn't realize it was him? Simone? That was interesting. Simone weighed the idea of telling her in that moment, but decided against it. He eyed her, with no malevolence; watched how she moved to avoid the body of the thief. The taste and smell of blood was still rife on his senses, there was no way he'd forget it. Not in that moment. If he was glad for anything, it was her believing him.

"It...It seems that way." He said, the pain was near unbearable. Simone cursed himself for not thinking ahead of time; for not seeing the glint of the blade in the man's hand. While he would not die from the wound, it still hurt. And it would worry his master.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, miss Malika. It wasn't my intention." He said, his eyes holding a sad expression. He wouldn't ask her to pull out the dagger. She was still in shock, and that could put her over the edge. He could make do.

"I couldn't... Let him go. Something smelt wrong." He tried to explain.

Ivory

Malika's nod was so slight it could have been easily missed.  Justification for the man's death, however, made her no less sad for his demise...even if she hadn't known him and even if he was a thief.

She said nothing for a moment, and then, carefully, she rose.  A few flower petals slipped from her hands to land on the ground below, drifting in a pinkish rainbow in the still air.  She looked down at her hand, a bit surprised to find that she still clutched the ruined flowers, and then, delicately, she set them down alongside the path.

"Can I get you something?  I can get a little water.  Or, even, some warm milk."

Looshi

It was kind of her to offer the water or the milk, but they had other priorities that she was missing. He breathed in deep, and let it out. They need the guards, or at the very least the guards of the palace should be alerted. Someone broke in, someone stole, and that someone could have allies still among the premises. It could endanger the Shah.

"I will have to decline for now." He said, his voice trying to be steady. "We need the palace guards, there could be more danger to the Shah."

He'd have to take whatever punishment would come. Even if it meant death. It made him sad that he didn't get to know Malika.

Ivory

"Oh!" she gasped, brown-green eyes widening at her failure to prioritize her mistress over this poor creature...  "Of course.  But I'll be back.  I'll be right back!"  She had taken a step, then hesitated and turned back towards him.  "Mr. Wolf, if I find my friend -- that is, I think we could grow to be friends -- can I bring him back with me?  He used to be a chemist.  I think, if there's something here that could help you, he would find it.  I think he's probably very smart.  And very kind."

After all, she was no guard; if there was danger in the palace, it would be best to step aside and let them do their jobs.  The Shah had guests today; it would not do for anyone to be hurt while visiting the palace.

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