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You've Got To Be Kidding (Lion)

Started by Eckhart_Von_Musel, April 30, 2017, 12:02:33 PM

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Eckhart_Von_Musel

It was a beautiful night in Suna. The sounds and smells of the festival, the temperate weather, and the clear night sky all made for a lovely atmosphere.

Chrysanthemum Lynnette was extremely unhappy.

She was standing in a large crowd that had gathered around a stage, waiting for some stupid tribal marriage ceremony to take place. Her "boss", Hildegarde Von Musel, was standing beside her. Hildegarde had for once not worn her frilly pink dress, instead opting for a yellow sundress and a floppy sunhat. Turning to the shorter woman, Chrysanthemum whispered into her boss's ear. "Why do we need to be here again?"

Hildegarde sighed, though it was clear as day that she was amused rather than exasperated. "It's culture, Chrys. Don't you want to be cultured?" Chrys scrunched up her nose and was about to make a retort, but she was cut off when the matchmaker began to speak.

"I will only say this once, so please pay attention and step forward when you are called, so that you might find your other half! Good luck to you all."

Chrys was only half paying attention. She didn't care about any of this, and wanted nothing more then to go back home and do her job- her real job. There were mothers-to-be that needed her, and yet here she was on a goddamn vacation. She still didn't know why Hildegarde dragged her everywhere she went, but it was the most obnoxious thing Chrys had ever had to deal with. She uncorked her flask and took a drink, letting her eyes space out. It was going to be a boring night, that much she knew

And then her name was called by the matchmaker.

Chrys whirled to face Hildegarde, a look of pure contempt on her face. "You piece of shit! This is why you wanted to watch the ceremony? You set me up to get married?"

"Chill out Lynnette." Hildegarde said with a playful smile. "I just thought having a partner would help you, y'know, relax and stuff." Chrysanthemum glared at the woman. Hildegarde understood how private a person she was, and it was clear to Chrys that her boss had done this to piss her off. It was working.

Before Chrys could say anything else, Hildegarde pushed her out of the crowd where the other newlyweds were standing. "Go on, maybe you'll like him!" she laughed.

One of these days, Chrysanthemum was going to kill that bitch.

Lion

[Because Kenny Roger's "Lady" is the perfect song to play in response to this.]

He never drank. Inima knew he never drank.  Well, not heavily. But here he was, blind drunk in the middle of Suna, completely undignified for a temple warrior, with his head buzzing and the earth tilting dangerously to the side. Akash managed to right himself beside the pillar of the bar he'd just stumbled out of, keeping his form steady although he wanted to simply pass out and be done with it right then and there.

It was a lot easier of course, than waiting around to be killed. He'd paid the price once before and lost his tongue. Sometimes that was enough, but it was easy for those of higher station to decide it wasn't. An inability to speak those secrets did not bring any satisfaction or equity, and it was decided that in the days following the festivities that the knowledge he had was simply too much to be borne.

That was it. The walls were closing in all around him, and there was nowhere else to turn. His fate was sealed. So what did it matter how much he drank tonight? So what did it matter if he stashed his name into one of the matchmaker's jar? If his name was called, and he was wed, he'd be dead within the next few days regardless. Treason, conspiracy, and Goddess knew what else they would say he'd been party to.

Akash took in a deep breath, letting the breeze brush against his fevered flesh, and he righted himself enough to stand at the base of the crowd that gathered before the stage. He parted through them none too gently. Thankfully most of them were distracted enough as the Matchmaker began to call out the paired names.

He sniffed, grinning and chuckling to himself. He hoped his name was called. This way, before the end, he could say he'd wed a beautiful woman with bosoms large enough to keep a river raft afloat. His brow quirked and he had to blink twice, and saw a woman before him fitting exactly that description. Doubled-vision certainly made him see double the breast size, or so he thought when he staggered forward and tried to wrap his arms around the stranger.

"GET OFF ME!" came the squeal, and the matched man beside the small woman snatched Akash by the shoulders and shoved him back. His feet tangled, and he stumbled forward, smashing his face against the ground. It was a good thing his head was already throbbing, and his face was numbed from drink. Akash pushed himself up, kneeling, hands brushing away the blood from his lower lip, and the scrape that tenderized the flesh of his right cheek.

He rubbed his raw palms against his thighs, and then he heard his name. Yes. From somewhere in the crowd. No. It was above him, on the stage! Panic set in, and as he stood, his eyes whipped around wildly.

"Akash Aviir!"

The double-vision settled momentarily, and he found enough balance to step forward. Akash clenched his jaw as he made his way toward the front of the crowd. And as if by Inima's hand, it parted, and there she was. Rings of moonlight shone down on her yellow hair and alabaster skin. No river raft bosom, but that didn't seem to matter. The gleam in her brown eyes sent chills down his spine and before he knew it he was moving forward, limbs moving as if wading through an opposing current.

Somehow, his mind blocked out the din, and his eyes remained trained, steadily on her. Akash licked the blood from his lips.  "One night to live. Another day to die," he told himself and he smiled momentarily, standing toe to toe with her and reaching forward, grasping this stranger's face that had been chosen as his wife, and pressed his malleable lips to hers.




Like to kill mages?  Join the Order!
The Order of St. Agratha

Help Rebuild Connlaoth from the ashes of war!
The Red Legion

Jump in the water's fine!
Desert Valley Nights
Wrong Turn

"Go into battle determined to die and you will survive.  Go into battle hoping to live and surely you shall not." -Bushido proverb
"Life is a series of dogs." -George Carlin
"We must view with profound respect the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge." -Thomas R. Lounsbury
"If a cosmic tree falls in the universal forest and nobody is evolved enough to hear it, does it make a sound?" -Unknown

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Upon being shoved out of the crowd, Chrys saw the man she assumed was her new "partner". He was a native, and looked to be a few years younger than her. Chrys wasn't incredibly impressed, but she supposed that she could've been stuck with worse than this man. At least he wasn't horrendous looking like some of the others in the crowd. The man drunkenly stumbled in front of her.

And then he kissed her, without warning.

"Eugh, get off of me!" yelled Chrys as she pushed the man away. Assuming he didn't pull away, she would reach forward and slap him. "You absolute boar!" Chrys suddenly noticed that her mouth tasted faintly of blood, and she hurriedly took a drink from her flask. After swallowing she would begin to storm off, muttering to herself.

"The travel guide said the people here were polite."

Lion

This creature of light, this spirit of Inima herself, left him both dazed and confused. Not simply because she slapped him much in the way a stone brick would get chucked at a face on a building sight would feel. But his skin was already numbed and yet warm from the alcohol, and even as he felt the reverberation of that slap.

Akash blinked at her and he reached up to touch his cheek. He stared at her, felt a smile growing on his lips. He didn't know if it was the alcohol, or the kiss, or the slap, but his belly felt warm, and his gut jerked with a strange spark he never felt before.  This creature, he needed to know her name.

Shit...her name...  It was murmured, and he blinked, forcing himself to think back. "Chysanthemum Lynnette," the matchmaker had called out. He rubbed his cheek and stepped toward her again, following her and watching her form as she moved.

Akash dashed a little further to catch up with her, nudging her side for the drink in her hand. She wasn't going to be stingy with her new husband now was she?





Like to kill mages?  Join the Order!
The Order of St. Agratha

Help Rebuild Connlaoth from the ashes of war!
The Red Legion

Jump in the water's fine!
Desert Valley Nights
Wrong Turn

"Go into battle determined to die and you will survive.  Go into battle hoping to live and surely you shall not." -Bushido proverb
"Life is a series of dogs." -George Carlin
"We must view with profound respect the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge." -Thomas R. Lounsbury
"If a cosmic tree falls in the universal forest and nobody is evolved enough to hear it, does it make a sound?" -Unknown

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