Don't mind me / Dragonsong

[SanctifiedSavage]

He'd always dreamt of being free. Of what'd it'd be like to make his own decisions. Not to have to sleep when or where he was told, or have to wear whatever it was his own fancied – which for whatever reason, was usually lace and frills. Something about a slender boy with bunny ears dressed up in girl clothes had appealed.

Saeyov didn't get it.

Actual freedom though, being responsible for himself, having to try and find food and shelter, was proving to be a tad more difficult than he thought it would be.

Saeyov didn't know where to start. Or how. How did people get the jobs they had? Or the skills to work how they did?

He looked the ragged thing he was, with ears missing some notches out of them and his clothes stained and dirty from travel. Even the inns had turned him away with stern eyes. Calling him thief before he'd even tried to steal anything.

Really, it'd been them that'd given him the idea to begin with.

He pilfered a loaf and cheese from a stall in the late evening, just before close, and slunk into a back alley. Eyeing doors he thought he could deal with. He'd find some shop closed up and sleep in there for the night. Fuck the taverns and inns.

It was the start of a light rain that prompted him to pick the door he did. The windows were dark so... Surely that meant the owner had closed up and left for the night. He didn't want to sleep out in what sounded like the onset of a storm. Sighing, he popped the loaf in his mouth to hold it and tucked the half a cheese wheel under an arm before he pulled a pin out of the clothes he was wearing so he could pick the lock. It wasn't difficult, for him, but it took a moment before he was able to get into the dark room beyond and out of the rain.

[DragonSong]

Fiona was often up in the middle of the night these days. She had a restless energy, she wasn't entirely sure where it came from, and she found herself more often than not creeping down from the little flat above her mother's shop to sneak into the larder just behind the man shop and try to find a midnight snack or something else to keep her attention.

She'd come to expect the soft chiming of glass on glass as she crept her way through the shop proper and the storeroom. What she hadn't expected was the ticking, scratching sound of something foreign in the front door's lock, or the scrape of the wood as it swung open.

Her eyes went wide, pupils dilating in an effort to adjust to the darkness, and she pressed back against the far wall of the front room. Her gaze darted about, finally landing on a long, thin stick hung on the coat rack by the stairs that led up to the flat. Without thinking, she grabbed it, holding it aloft as she crept cautiously toward the intruder.

The figure in the darkness was...slight, she supposed was the right word. She could probably take them.

Drawing in a fortifying breath, she leaped forward and swung her impromptu weapon around in what she hoped was a threatening manner. "Alright, who the hell are you and what are you doing in here?" She tried to put a growl in her voice but wasn't sure if she succeeded. Brandishing the stick again, she added, "Talk fast, I don't wanna have to use this..."

Parasol.

As her eyes fully adjusted to the near nonexistent light, she realized she was holding her mother's parasol. Wonderful.

[SanctifiedSavage]

Saeyov hadn't taken much from his homeland. He'd been pilfered from the place when he was too young to remember much of it, but he was a born haevar. His hearing, while dulled from being raised amongst loud loafers, was still a tad more sensitive than most. While he leaned back against the door, and was just about to enjoy a bite of cheese and bread, he heard steps.

His ears flicked. He'd have cursed if that'd not make any noise. This place was supposed to be empty! He hadn't heard anything initially...

Before he could really think about a plan of action, though, someone brandishing... a parasol... confronted him. Saeyov was still on the ground, though. He lifted his bread and cheese in the air, showing he didn't have any weapons. His long ears laid back. "Ah. Right... No need for violence," he said, quickly. Back to the door. "I just thought... ya know. It's raining out..." As thought that explained anything.

It didn't.

[DragonSong]

The young woman froze, her eyes flicking to the window. Raindrops had already begun to streak the glass. Her gaze flickered back down to the intruder, saw the bread and cheese he held, and realization dawned.

I should still throw him out.

...Alright. Maybe she should. But she knew if she did she'd feel guilty about it for days.

With a long sigh, she lowered the parasol and planted her free hand on her hip, quirking her eyebrows up toward her hairline-- though she doubted the stranger could see it in such dim light.

And what a strange stranger he was, too. She'd never seen anyone like him before; it was no wonder he'd ended up on the streets, she supposed, what with the current sentiments of the city, and the country at large.

"Alright," she huffed, and took a step back. "C'mon, then. It's warmer in the larder, and we've got food. Real food. You can...wait until the storm passes."



@SanctifiedSavage

[SanctifiedSavage]

Saeyov knew his excuse was lame. Most wouldn't buy it. Hells, he wouldn't have. He was ready to be thrown out on his already bruised and scarred ass when she actually sighed and lowered her makeshift weapon.

It worked? His ears perked up and he smiled, just a little. Immensely relieved. He really didn't want to sit out in the rain and eat soggy bread. It got better when she invited him further in. It wasn't like the haevar looked threatening. Though he had clawed hands, they were small claws. He was a slip of a creature and malnourished.

"Thank you, really. I have no idea..." he began, sliding to his feet to follow after her. "My name is Saeyov." She'd earned his real name.

[DragonSong]

She smiled at him, just a bit, and flicked on an oil lamp as she passed. Her eyes glittered in the sudden light, reflecting color more than holding their own.

"Fiona," she introduced herself quietly. "In here, just this way." She ushered him in through the shop proper, passed the workroom, and into the small larder tucked away next to the kitchen-- which in turn connected with the workroom, a two-sided stove mounted in the wall between.

She paused a moment, then abruptly changed her mind and led him into the kitchen instead. It was a bit warmer, if she put a fire on, and there was at least a small table and chairs. "Mind you keep quiet," she muttered to the stranger-- Saeyov-- as she gestured for him to sit. "Mother will have a fit of she finds you down here this time of night."

She propped her hip against the table and looked him up and down. Though she no longer brandished the parasol like a weapon, she had kept her grip on it. "Now. Why don't you tell me what exactly you were planning on doing in our shop in the middle of the night, Master Saeyov."



@SanctifiedSavage

[SanctifiedSavage]

Saeyov dutifully followed along, though he didn't wait to take a bite out of his bread and cheese. He was hungry. While she had offered something more substantial, he had no idea what that might be or how much that might be. As desperate as Saeyov was, he wasn't about to press for too much and have her kick him out in the rain.

She seemed nice, though. Sweet. Pretty.

When she mentioned her mother, he couldn't help but chuckle a little as he took a seat. "You frequently sneak in strangers?" he teased softly, mood already perking up given he wasn't out in the rain. Though it crashed immediately when she turned that question on him.

His ears drooped a little and he lifted his pilfered meal. "Ah... I just wanted out of the storm. To eat." It sounded incredibly lame, even to his ears, but it had been the truth. What he might do after, he had no thought because he didn't think that far ahead...

[DragonSong]

Fiona rolled her eyes at the gentle teasing and had to resist the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

Which was...rather an odd reaction, now that she thought of it. She probably shouldn't be so trusting of the stranger she'd found breaking into their shop in the middle of the night, shouldn't feel comfortable with the idea of joking with him, but...

Well, he seemed pretty harmless, didn't he? Almost--almost sweet, in a way.

Her eyes softened slightly when he gave his reason for breaking in, the absence of color reflecting soft lamplight into a warm, honey gold. "Well." She chewed at her bottom lip, glanced toward the kitchen stove, then sighed and moved forward to start a fire in it. "Bring the chair over here," she muttered, back to him. "You're pretty damp; you'll dry off quicker by a fire."



@SanctifiedSavage

[SanctifiedSavage]

Saeyov was going to be concerned for a moment when she rolled her eyes, thinking she might've changed her mind, until he realized she was actually softening up to him. That actually made him a little less nervous. Saeyov was far too used to people coming after him. It'd be nice if he could meet someone that was... well, nice. He didn't usually get an opportunity to be playful.

When she invited him toward the fire, his ears perked up again and Saeyov moved closer. Lifting the chair some so it wouldn't make a lot of noise. When he settled once more, he extended some of the cheese. "Did... you want some?" It only seemed appropriate since she was now sharing her space and heat willingly.

[DragonSong]

She smiled again, just slightly, and shook her head. "No. Eat, it's yours." She waved a hand at him airily. "We've got more somewhere, if you're still hungry when you're done with that."

Her eyes flickered to the kitchen door even as she said it, head tilted slightly as she listened for even a hint of movement from upstairs. The absolute last thing they'd need was for her mother to come downstairs for some reason and catch her with this--this rabbit-person pilfering cheese from the larder.

Well. Not pilfering. She had given it to him. But she doubted that distinction would make much difference to Bridget.



Chewing lightly at her bottom lip, Fiona muttered to herself more than to her guest, "Maybe the cellar..." It was a little cramped, and chilly, but if she left him with a blanket...it might be a place to wait out the storm at least, just in case she needed to stash him somewhere quickly.

She didn't really like the idea, but nothing else came to mind.



@SanctifiedSavage