A] Star-crossed lovers [Armeno//Kassandra] but can't stop arguing [R

Lutis had tried to make conversation with Kassandra inside the inn, but she wasn’t up for talking to him, and finally he got the message and just left her alone after a bit. When Armeno came to join the pair of them at their table, the silence vaguely reminded her of when the pair of them had sat and ate at an inn in Racksom, the first time they had met. It was maybe a little less awkward this time, but Lutis just didn’t seem capable of making things seem any easier. He really wasn’t the sort of person the pair of them readily got along with, (although they were quite quiet, dark people, and didn’t seem to get along with many people very well).

Kassandra shook her head at Armeno’s question, then gestured ruefully to the stick she had propped up against the wall next to her. “I’ve just been down here, didn’t really want to do the stairs more than once.”

“They’re not bad,” said Lutis. He had been up to see them, just to check they hadn’t been given the smallest or worst of rooms. “I’ve seen worse, let’s put it that way. Anyway!” he shoved his knife and fork together on the plate, showing some iota of table manners, “I’m gonna leave y’both to your whole sulky-awkward silence thing you’ve got going on. Things to do, people to see, girls to flirt with, the usual. Probably see you in the mornin’, yeah?” He pushed back his chair, saluting with one finger before heading off to the bar and the biggest group of people in sight.

As soon as the thief had gone, Kassandra let out a sigh and relaxed into her chair slightly, shooting Armeno a small, relieved smile.

Armeno gave a slight nod at Kassandra’s explanation.
“No, I can’t say I blame you. It’s best not to over-exert your leg, anyway; letting it rest is going to help it heal faster.” When Lutis spoke, the elf’s gaze slid sideways onto him. At least the rooms were alright, then- but at the last bit his expression became slightly fed-up. He had to be grateful to the man, after he’d helped them to break out of prison, but that didn’t stop him from being annoying and trying his patience severely.

When the thief left, he briefly returned Static’s smile before eating the last bit of his meal, setting his cutlery down on his plate and pushing it neatly away. Though it wasn’t really necessary, he cleaned his hands with the napkin from his place and stretched, trying to put off talking to her. Eventually, though, he simply plunged into the conversation.
“Kassandra,” he said seriously, leaning forwards onto his elbows where they rested on the table. “I know you don’t want to, but we need to talk about… Well, everything. Us.” Finding the words to say it right was harder than it should have been, and his brow furrowed slightly as he fumbled for what to say. He would have liked to claim that it was because he wasn’t speaking his native language, but he knew it wasn’t that, given how long he had been speaking the common tongue of Dragons Cove. No, he just didn’t want to say it; but he forced the words out anyway, resisting the urge to drop his eyes from hers and look at the table as he spoke. If only- it would make this so much easier.

“Much as I would like to just… forget everything, start again… I can’t. It bothers me. Why… why did you shoot Talos? Why would you do that?” It took a great exertion of willpower to restrain his emotions; he didn’t know quite what he was holding back, but he managed to keep his face clear of anything except slight confusion and hurt.

Once Kassandra was done too, she noticed something was up with Armeno, but instead of broaching it, cautious of getting into one of their near-famous arguments, she looked out across the rest of the inn, watching people come and go. It was still quite quiet, as it was early yet, and everyone was out partying with the rest of the festival goers. Despite there not being much to watch, she was reluctant to turn back to Armeno when he spoke.

She looked away from his gaze as he stumbled over his words, then her face closed up at his accusation, chin tipping down. She twisted her lips, trying to find the right words, then leant forwards a little and traced one finger roughly along the grain of the table. Someone had taken their plates away beforehand.
“The rest of the DDC were deferring to him. So I shot him.” It was a simple explanation, but obviously wasn’t enough, she knew that. She scrubbed harder along the table’s grain, then gave up and looked Armeno properly in the eye. “I couldn’t join the DDC. Things are… not easy. Not with me being… me. You get looked at you like you’re not a person, and that’s how it always is, when people look at me. Nobody sees me for who I am, just what I am.” She wrinkled her nose, then looked down at the table, pinching the tips of her fingers together and resting them on the wood in a little pyramid. Armeno had been different, hadn’t looked at her like everyone else had, but did that make it harder to explain? He hadn’t looked at her as a freak before a person, so he couldn’t see everyone else’s view. Frustration at her incapability of explaining properly bubbled inside her.
“I’ve put up with it for years, and it’s the sort of person, this Talos of yours, that’d probably look at me sideways then drive me out of town. If the SR were different, wouldn’t you join them?” She looked beseechingly at the elf, then leant back in her chair again and wrapped her arms around her middle.

As Kassandra leant forwards, moving closer to him, Armeno caught his breath slightly and moved away, not quite wanting to be so near her. Her first sentence didn’t help her case, but as she continued he was forced to drop his own gaze after holding hers for only a few seconds. He couldn’t tell if she just knew him well enough and how to appeal, or if it was luck, but the words distracted his attention perfectly from what she’d done wrong and he couldn’t bring himself to feel anything other than hatred to those who’d ostracised Kassandra from the moment her powers became apparent. He wanted desperately to hold her close and prevent her from being harmed further, but who knew how she’d react? As well as that, it wouldn’t exactly fix his problems. Logic didn’t stop the urge, though; she so obviously needed protection, it hurt not to go to her.

“I… you… agh, it’s just not that simple. Don’t I wish it was, but…” He gave a bitter laugh, shaking his head derisively. “How do you know that the Surahnians are different? How do you know they, that they…” It didn’t seem to be possible for Armeno to finish a sentence, having to trail off again to control another surge of anger as he clenched and unclenched his fists. “And it doesn’t mean you have to join them! You don’t have to do a thing! I… Maybe I could forgive you, but how could I trust you again? Every time I do, you…” His control shattered to give way to an anguished expression, and he flicked his eyes up to meet hers for a fleeting second before turning back down, his fingers curled up and the nails digging into his palms painfully.

Kassandra curled her arms a little tighter around her stomach, upset at how Armeno was reacting. If she could just curl up somewhere and it be okay… but a little flare of anger sparked inside her at his laugh.
“Anything’s better than having to put up with the shit I’ve put up with from the DDC,” she said, a touch of annoyance creeping into her voice. “Preserve the ‘good old days’, that’s how it works with them. Well, there aren’t any good old days for me. It’s called taking a chance, Armeno, going with the SR. Would you rather I had sat by and done nothing? Just go and be another face in Quinsilla, plodding along and doing what they tell me to?” She was getting angry now, her nose wrinkling up in that characteristic way she had. If he thought she would just do nothing, then he hardly knew her any more.

“Trust me?” She gaped at the elf, leaning forward with her hands on the table. “I’m not the one who thought it was a good idea to drug someone, then chase after a dragon. Howd’yeh think that is? You just keep buggering off and doing your own thing, and expecting me to be waiting on the sidelines after you get back!” She narrowed her eyes at him, careless of the fact they were possibly drawing a bit of attention, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself a little. “Nobody else bothers to trust me, just ask anyone and they’ll tell you to back off, so you’ve drugged yourself into a delusion if you see something in me you like.” Moodily, she picked up a leftover spoon off the table, staring blankly at her reflection. It wasn’t even as if she was pretty any more, because Racksom had taken care of that for her…

Last edited by Artemis on Fri May 25, 2012 11:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

Agitated was probably the best way to describe how Armeno felt as the conversation progressed. It was only the others in the bar- more than a few watching them with blunt, intrusive interest by now- that stopped him from getting to his feet and pacing out some of the tension in his body. He always seemed to end up doing a lot of pacing when he was with Kassandra. Well, it was certainly a stressful way to spend time, even if it was nothing else continuously.
“You don’t understand!” he insisted, gripping the edge of the table and looking up to meet her eyes, his own flaming. “I don’t want you to put up with that the DDC give you! I never said you shouldn’t do anything, but… It’s just as bad if you go to the Surahnians, who have proved themselves moral-less, and they treat you the same. You don’t know what they could do… if they’d…” The words were too hard to get out, and his face twisted slightly as he broke off the sentence. “And it wasn’t just that you attacked him, you did it after I helped you, on my horse, as I was fighting for him!”

Maybe what she said next was true, but that didn’t make him like it any more. He narrowed his eyes right back and was about to make an angry retort when her expression changed. The last thing he’d expected her to ome out with was what she did next, and it broke through his annoyance enough that he lowered his voice from the near-shout it had reached and leaned forwards, staring intently into her eyes.
“They might back off, but I wouldn’t know why unless it was because they were scared of you. I don’t just see something in you I like. It’s everything. I like your spirit, I like your determination, I like that you can do things for yourself. I like the way your hair falls in front of your face, and the colour of your cloak, and how you look wearing my cloak. I like how you look when you blush. I don’t just like those things, either; I love them, and I really hope they aren't just delusions, because I love you too.”

What Armeno was saying made sense, the fact that she shouldn’t have gone over to the side of the Surahnians, but she couldn’t change that now. She had already made that decision, and even if she changed it now, there were already consequences of it. Kassandra dropped the spoon as he insinuated what might have happened in the SR had they not gotten out of Racksom, blushing scarlet across her cheeks and scowling at the same time. She could take care of herself… she could… and she hated him shouting at her. But instead of it just making her angry, like with normal people, it made her upset too. Upset that he was upset.

She sat back in her chair again, looking at the floor and curling her hands up into fists on the table. As he leaned forwards though, she looked up again, meeting his eyes and letting him hold her there. She felt herself go cold at his words at first, then a warm flame of happiness blossomed inside her, her cheeks flushing even pinker than they already were and her ears going hot at the tips.
“I… I… You… You do?” she stuttered quietly, her fingers uncurling slightly and a slightly confused half-smile twitching at her lips. She didn’t really need to ask though; she could tell from the determined way he was still holding her eyes with his own, and she couldn’t look away. It made her hurt though- after pretty much stabbing him in the back in Racksom, he still loved her so much. He was too good for her, yet she would never be able to let him go. She gulped, drooping in her seat.

“I don’t know why I did it. I guess… no, it was just stupid. I want things to change, and that seemed like the best thing to do.” She blinked and looked at the ground, her lips twitching downwards this time, then sat forwards, putting her elbows on the table and twining her fingers together in a ball in front of her face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you so much, will you forgive me? I didn’t want to hurt you, I don’t want to.” She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the worst.

When Kassandra’s spoon fell from her hand at his words, Armeno felt somewhat guilty, but he didn’t think he’d been unjustified- he hadn’t wanted to say it and she hadn’t wanted to hear it, but that was what he felt and at this point, he was decided that it was what she needed to hear. Strong as she might be, she hadn’t been straight after the battle, and anyone could be taken by surprise.

He was relieved when she didn’t stay angry after he had spoken. The words were rash and he hadn’t been at all sure how they’d be received; but even if she did look uncertain, it was better than her being angry at him for having said it.
“Yes.” There didn’t seem any point in mincing words; he’d already been blunt.

The relief Armeno felt as Kassandra spoke again was huge; he relaxed and his breathing eased, though he hadn’t even noticed it was stiff. The fact that she had actually apologised was astounding; while she might be sorry for something, it was rare for her to unbend her pride enough to actually say it.
“I believe you. I don’t think you’d want to hurt me. I…” Exasperated, he sighed and moved his hands up from the table, closing them around hers where they were clasped in front of her. “I shouldn’t forgive you. Logically, I should leave now and never want to see you again. But that’s not going to happen. I… I don’t think I could not forgive you.” It was the truth, and it almost scared him to have such a huge weakness. He’d never expected to fall for someone like this; he’d tried not to, and he’d always succeeded. It simply hadn’t seemed like an issue. But Kassandra had caught him unawares- she was the last person he would have expected to love, but here they were. “I can’t just leave you behind, not again. When you left before… Letting you make that choice was one of the hardest things I’ve done. And I’m not sure, but I wonder if it might have been one of my biggest mistakes as well.”

As Armeno put his hands around Kassandra’s, she inhaled a little, but didn’t dare open her eyes. She didn’t want to look at him as he told her terrible things… instead she just rested her cheek on the back of one of his hands, rubbing her face slowly down it like a cat.
“No!” she yelped as he said how he should leave, her eyes opening again anyway. It was easy to see the fear in her eyes, and she pulled his hands close, resting them against her chest. “Please don’t leave me.” It was silly how scared she was at the thought of him leaving, but now she had him back, it was so clear to her how much had been missing when he hadn’t been by her side, hadn’t shared the few places she had been in the months they had been apart, how much she missed waking up and seeing him smiling at her, or wrapped tight in his arms.

“You can’t go. It makes me hurt when you’re not here,” she said, her face creasing into a confused frown. She really had fallen hard for him, because it shouldn’t hurt so much to fall in love. “When I… left last time, I didn’t want to. I wanted to turn around and run back to you…” She looked down at their hands, twisting hers so they entwined properly with his, her voice dropping lower, “But I thought you were done with me. And then I didn’t think I’d get to see you again.” She looked up hesitantly, squeezing her fingers around his like she never wanted to let go. She never did.

Last edited by Artemis on Mon May 07, 2012 4:36 pm; edited 1 time in total

The touch of Kassandra’s cheek on his hand was welcome, and he pulled his thumb back to stroke it gently, letting his senses distract him from his thoughts for a moment as he watched her face and her closed eyelids. That respite didn’t last long enough, though, as her sudden response pulled him back to what was happening.

Despite what he’d just said, he found himself shaking his head, squeezing her hands, at her plea.
“I promise I won’t leave if you don’t want me to.” As she continued, he felt a twist of emotion, painful in a way which he couldn’t figure out if it was good or bad.* It took a few moments to realise that he was slowly shaking his head the whole while; he didn’t know if it was in denial or as an answer to some unasked question, but he gave it one more decisive shake before stilling it.
“I couldn’t stand to see you go. I was a coward. I couldn’t even watch you. You…” Armeno squeezed his eyes shut, and it was his turn to pull their entwined hands closer to him, resting them against his forehead. “Well, I was never going to be "done with you". And I left this whole area, I couldn’t bear to see you again when I didn’t know what you’d say… But then I came back and I saw you in Racksom, well.” Abruptly, there didn’t seem to be anything to add to the sentence; he didn’t know how to express it, and she had to know. She knew him so well... too well?

That was another one of those things he could never decide on.

It felt wrong to hear Armeno call himself a coward, and a flame of anger at him leapt inside Kassandra at the word, her brows drawing down in a frown. “No. No, you’re no coward, say that to anyone and they’ll tell you different. There are hard things for everyone.” Not even Armeno could live through everything, and him come out of it no different. She took in a deep breath, looking at him sadly. “I wouldn’t have wanted you to watch me stupidly ride off.”

It had been stupid for her to ride off like she had, she knew that for the truth now. Then, she had been angry, and angry for a long time afterwards too, but it was just because they hadn’t had the chance to reconcile. She leant forwards too, closing the gap between the two of them and resting her head the other side of their hands. They sat like that for a bit, then she exhaled and kissed his hand, pulling them down to the table so she could look at him properly again.
“You saved me back in Racksom. Three times over- if that knight and his dragon hadn’t killed me, then that dragon-thing would have, then after that, down in the prison.” She half-smiled, remembering an old tale she had heard once. Save someone’s life three times, and they were yours. She guessed that applied now; but she had already given herself over to Armeno long before. The way she couldn’t stop herself from just going back and back and back to thinking about him… “So it doesn’t matter. I don’t want you to be ‘done with me’. It hurts loving you, but I think that makes it better.”
She wasn’t sure, but she thought that was why it felt so good being with him.

Privately, Armeno still thought it was weakness which had stopped him from looking, but he had to admit that there was truth in what Kassandra said. He wouldn’t generally class himself as a coward, and there were definitely challenges in life for anyone. All the same, he didn’t say anything more, instead just listening as she continued. When she moved closer, he leant into her too, and he let her move their hands down without any resistance.

Once again he was a little unsure as to what would be a good response to what she said. Thankfully, there was something else to focus on as he replied,
“I’m glad it doesn’t matter, then. I definitely don’t want to be done with you, either. Or, for that matter, for you to be done with me.” It would seem to Armeno as though painful love should be a bad thing, but… he thought he knew what Kassandra meant. It was hard to pin more than the concept down in words, but there was definitely something in their relationship which wasn’t pure goodness. And he wasn’t entirely sure that it was a detracting factor, either; after all, they said that if the world was perfect then it wouldn’t be possible to appreciate everything. There had to be bad for the good to show as what it was.

At Armeno’s words, Kassandra smiled lightly, her eyes creasing at the corners as she looked at him. She wanted to stay in the moment, for the rest of their lives, in this quiet peace with him, but of course, that was hardly possible- they were in an inn in the second most notorious town on Dragons’ Cove, after all. Even two quiet people sitting in the corner of the room were going to get noticed sooner or later, and they had been pretty much shouting at each other only moments before.
“I think we should go upstairs,” she murmured quietly to him, squeezing his hands before letting them go and pushing her chair back, grabbing the stick she had been using to get around and hobbling towards the door.

They walked round to the side entrance, where the staircase to the inn’s rooms were- thankfully it was still quiet in the courtyard, but the revelry beyond it was obvious from the faint sound of singing and the general debris that floated around, someone’s ripped flag fluttering from where it had wrapped itself around a rock. There wouldn’t be much quiet over the night, from the looks of it.

Kassandra allowed Armeno to help her up the stairs to their room, as there were quite a few (and they were tiny steps, definitely not the sort of stairs a drunk would want to attempt after a bit of a session downstairs in the pub). Not surprisingly, their room had a double bed- also a bathtub, behind a screen, and a view out across the city, away from the stables and down towards the harbour. Kassandra ignored most of that though, shoving her stick up against one wall and turning to Armeno, arm still round his neck. She leant more against him, turning her face up and brushing her lips lightly against his, holding back a little… with effort.

“That seems like a good idea,” Armeno replied, his voice equally soft. The inn was fuller than it had been, but he suspected that there were normally far more people here than this- and, judging by the preparations going on behind the bar, that the revellers were going to be crowding in at some point. Neither of them needed to get caught up in a mob of drunken, bloodthirsty Jilurians. Particularly not with Kassandra’s leg still healing.

Once they had ascended the unnecessarily narrow and steep stairs and found their room, he looked around with interest, taking in the pleasant view and the meagre-but-functional furnishings. Not looking at Kassandra, he was taken somewhat by surprise when her weight pressed into him. He turned his face down in time to catch her lips on his own. While he certainly didn’t have any objections, he hadn’t been sure how she was going to act now that they were alone, and so he drew in a sharp breath as they touched. Any surprise was quickly forgotten, however; when she didn’t make any more moves he pulled back briefly to examine her face. Their eyes locked for a few moments before he softly kissed her again-perhaps a little more deeply- and then, wrapping his arms around her more securely, lifted her off her feet and over to the bed.
“You should keep your weight off that leg,” he advised her seriously, moving his hand to cup her cheek as he watched her face carefully for her reaction.

Kassandra took a deep breath as Armeno pulled away, drinking in his scent while she could, and looking at him hesitantly. Certainly she had just been spectacularly forward, probably at the worst possible moment. Yes, they had forgiven each other, but forgiveness took a little time longer than just saying it. Her cheeks started to go pink and she dropped her eyes as they met Armeno’s for a time, butterflies exploding in her stomach. What was she supposed to say to that?

She was surprised when he kissed her back, but pleasantly so, putting her other arm around his neck and holding him close. All the butterflies disappeared as quickly as they had reappeared, being replaced with a warm glow inside. As he lifted her off her feet she held on tighter, unconsciously wincing slightly at the twinge in her leg, and nuzzling gently at his front. She opened her half-closed eyes as he set her on the bed, half smiling at his solemn words and putting one hand lightly on his arm, a shiver running down her back at his touch.
“I should…” she replied, then pulled one leg up onto the bed and slid it round on the bed behind the elf, wrapping herself a little closer, a light smile tweaking at the corner of her mouth. “But you’d better distract me, otherwise…”

At Kassandra’s every touch Armeno felt a slight shiver along his skin, emotions stirring which only she had ever been able to raise in him. Before her, he hadn’t exactly been prone to falling in love- far from it. He’d been planning never to let himself, instead planning to focus solely on his career. Distractions weren’t going to help him, and he’d been firm in that opinion and content with his decision.

Little had he known it just didn’t work like that.

Now, a thrill shot through him at her closeness, more so at her next words. This side of her was a rare one, and not one that he had seen frequently before- but that didn’t make him any less happy to see it. He couldn’t think of many things better for her than to just relax for once, always so tense and stressed with a frown or a scowl on her face. In answer to the smile which threatened to break across her face, he gave her a full grin, leaning closer as she did, tilting his head down and catching her eye once more. A glint sparked in his own eyes; he didn’t exactly let himself go frequently either, but he didn’t see any reason not to enjoy himself when he did.
“I’m sure I can think of all kind of distractions to keep you off your feet,” Armeno said, now teasing as he dropped the hand which didn’t touch her face to skim it along the length of the leg she had half-wrapped around him… to pull that leg a little closer. “And I think you’ll enjoy it, too.” As he said the last words, he leant down just enough further to touch his lips to Kassandra’s, his hands now moving to encircle her waist and hold her more tightly to him. He slid them under the cloak he had lent her to do so, one of his lighter ones; it still didn’t look right for her. Without lifting his head, he skated his hands up her sides and over her shoulders to reach to the front of her neck and unfasten the cloak, pulling it away and dropping it on the floor.
“We need to get you a new one,” he murmured, leaning back fractionally- and only briefly.

As Armeno grinned, Kassandra returned his smile properly, the mischievous note in his voice singing exactly right to the things she had in mind. She put her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer, inhaling a startled breath through her nose as he slid his hands up her sides.
“That can wait,” she mumbled as he pulled off her cloak, putting her other leg around Armeno’s middle too. “Everything can wait.” She leant forwards to close the gap between the two of them again, fixing her lips on his.

There were few sounds outside when Kassandra woke in the morning. It was early, from the way the sky was tinged with orange and pink in alternating stripes, faintly visible through the thin curtains. She pulled the covers a little higher over her shoulder, turning over onto her stomach and looking up at Armeno. She had been lying with her head on his chest, his arms curled protectively around her. Keeping her safe from nightmares, even though she hadn’t slept for long. Smiling at that, she shuffled a little further up the bed, kissing the corner of his mouth. Moving made the bandages around her middle itch, and she felt a tinge of annoyance at the fact she still had to wear them. But it was that, or possibly annoying the stitches across her front, and that wasn’t the best course of action. She’d have to sort that out later, but for now she was perfectly happy just staying in bed.

Maybe he’d (figuratively) let his hair down a little the night before, but that didn’t stop Armeno’s training from kicking in, and so his sleep was light as ever through the night. The slight movement of Kassandra at his side woke him to feel her hair brushing against his chest as she twisted round to kiss him softly. His mouth curling into a smile under hers, he turned his head to meet her lips more fully, opening his eyes as he did so and looking straight into the greenish hazel of hers.

It took him a few moments to fully surface from sleep, during which he simply enjoyed his closeness to her. Once he had, though, he shuffled slightly further up his pillow to tilt his head forwards and get a better view of her face, adjusting his arms around her to a more comfortable position.
“How did you sleep?” he asked her after a second, reaching up to brush her face with his thumb before smoothing away the hair which curled around her face, mussed by sleep. If only they didn’t have to get up; he wouldn’t have objected if somebody had announced they weren’t allowed to get up for the next few months. But somehow, he doubted that they’d be left alone for long at all; maybe Lutis would have a hangover, and he didn’t seem too much like an early riser, but Armeno would have betted a great deal of money that he was going to have a comment or two about the night before.

Smiling as Armeno woke, Kassandra rested her head back down on his chest, enjoying their close company for a bit. She twisted round onto her back, tipping her head back to look at him, and putting her arms up around his neck.
“I slept good,” she said after a moment. “Better than I have in a long time.” Truth be told, she could have gone back to sleep, or at least dozed, for a little while longer. But, they should probably get up, and get on with the day. She was too conditioned to not-hanging-around once she was up to justify lying in bed, however nice it was. She yawned, then sat up, giving him a long, proper kiss before sliding out of bed.

Fiddling with her bandages as she pulled on trousers, she managed to get the twists out of the thin strips of fabric without having to undo too much. She automatically fixed Armeno’s cloak around her shoulders as she sat on the bed, waiting for the elf to be ready too, brushing her slightly tangled hair before putting it up in a ponytail. He didn’t take long, and packing their extra belongings into bags in a safe-looking spot, they headed downstairs.
The inn was empty at such an early time in the morning- it was maybe only half an hour after dawn, and for June, it was almost obscenely early. Early enough that breakfast wouldn’t be missed yet, when it wasn’t even available to be had.
“Shall we go down to the harbour? It’s so early, there won’t be many people around,” said Kassandra. The horses would like getting exercise without being crushed in a crowd of people, too.

Last edited by Artemis on Sat Jul 14, 2012 6:01 pm; edited 1 time in total

At Kassandra’s reply, Armeno gave a satisfied nod, pleased. Her sleeping had been more than a little restless the past few nights, and he didn’t doubt that she’d been having nightmares- something she had always been prone to for as long as he’d known her. She’d certainly had enough cause for them when Tabri had been terrorising Racksom, almost two years ago.

He returned her kiss willingly, staying in bed for a little longer than she had and simply watching her move around the room. Eventually he got up too, dressing quickly and only taking longer than Kassandra to get ready as he sorted his saddlebags and cleaned his weapons. Where upper-class women might spend their mornings primping with the help of several maids, Armeno had a set routine to take meticulous care of his few possessions.

In the deserted taproom, he leant against a table, crossing his arms to guard against the urge he felt to stroke Kassandra’s hair where it swung from the back of her head. Her suggestion was an appealing one, and he nodded in agreement after only a few moments of deliberation.
“I’d be surprised if anyone but the fishermen is out this early. I’d like to.”

The pair didn’t take long to tack up their horses and they walked down to the harbour at a leisurely pace, enjoying the unusual quiet of the village and the clean, crisp morning air. But contrary to their expectations, the harbour was just as deserted as the streets when they reached it, the shallow-hulled fishing boats all moored with the waves lapping gently at their sides.
“What’s going on?” he asked in a murmur, a frown creasing his brow as he pulled Velox to a halt. Not a person was to be seen anywhere in the village, though he could see a few slumbering figures wrapped in blankets on the decks of boats. Bizarrely, candles burnt in rings around them, pools of wax at their bases suggesting that they’d been there all night. Armeno touched Kassandra’s arm and pointed them out, still frowning.
“Weren’t there candles in our room? What’s going on? Do you think-“

An even stranger sight soon distracted him. Sweeping across the water towards them at a phenomenal speed, throwing up huge clouds of spray in its wake, was a tall, spiralling, misshapen figure, shimmering green in colour and entirely unnatural in appearance. It was far away enough to be scarcely audible even for Armeno, but it didn’t take long before the roar of its travel became loud enough for humans to hear without difficulty.
“The most pressing question might be what that thing is,” he muttered in a low voice, already dismounting and signalling for Kassandra to do the same. “Were it not whether or not it means us harm. Quickly, we’d better hide.” Offering her a hand to come off her horse’s back, he glanced frantically around for a hiding place. The people on the boats were beginning to stir from the noise, but he paid them no heed, distracted by the task at hand.

Jiluria was very different by early morning to the madness that had gripped the town the night before- Kassandra found she liked it a lot more when it was quiet. But she had never really been one for loud cities and crowds, so that figured. She could have sworn that the horses were enjoying the space too, lengthening their strides, Kassandra’s horse patiently keeping pace with Velox. There was just a content, mutual quiet over them.

The harbour was relatively pretty, for a working docklands, when they got to it, rather different to what Kassandra might have expected from Jiluria. Apparently the one place that they kept in working order, and tidy, was their main area of trade? It certainly made sense, although from the rough and ready types that they had come across in the inn the night before, it certainly didn’t seem like the sort of thing they would do. But that was how it was. Surely though, there should have been people working on the ships? It was early, but fishermen and traders were early risers, so they could catch the fast tides in and out around the edge of Dragons’ Cove.
“I don’t know, this is… strange,” Kassandra replied, looking around before turning to Armeno. He looked as perplexed as she felt. She followed his gaze as he drew her attention to the candles on some of the boats- now he mentioned it, she could remember seeing candles in their room. “Yeah, there were candles, some of them proper wax.”

Candles could be made out of wax- which was expensive, and only the rich really used them, because they could afford the precious beeswax- or tallow, which was cheaper, nastier, and smelt pretty bad. However, it still afforded precious hours after dark, which made the lingering pong worth it, if you needed the extra money that working late could give you. But in all the inns Kassandra had ever stayed in, they had never shelled out for candlewax. So why were mere sailors leaving them out to burn away the night?

Kassandra half wanted to go closer, and see why the dockhands were ringed by melted candles, and half wanted to stay back, wary of other people. She didn’t have long to dally over the conundrum however, as Armeno pointed out a weird shape on the horizon, quickly getting bigger- even to her eyes, which were considerably less sharp than the elf’s. She unconsciously backed her horse up a little, making the beast shake its head. This was no Tamarisk, to do as she pleased and get away with it.

“I don’t like this, not a bit,” she said, getting a little twitchy at the gradually increasing roar of the sea beast. She pulled her staff from the side of her horse as Armeno dismounted, propping it against the side of her horse and letting the elf help her down out of the saddle before taking it in her hand again, the two of them stashing themselves away in a little corner, between a partially blocked alleyway, and a mound of crates and barrels, which afforded both cover, and a view. “Have you ever seen anything like that? Do you think it’s dangerous?” she whispered, changing her view from the incoming… thing, to Armeno and back.

“Strange it is,” agreed Armeno sharply, his eyes still roving over the area. He’d never seen anything like it before; his only thought was that it could be something to do with the festival of the night before. There was a link of fire, after all- but then as Kassandra had pointed out, why wax candles? And what possible purpose could this serve? Presumably there had been some reason for burning people alive, but this seemed truly pointless. And doomed to failure- maybe it had been clear weather all night, but it had to rain sometimes, and that would hardly leave the candles lit.

When they were well-covered, wedged in about as tightly as they could be between the fishy-smelling containers, Armeno peered out through the small gap remaining to watch the creature zooming ever-closer.
“I have absolutely no idea. I’ve never seen the likes of this. I can’t say for sure, but… better safe than sorry. Can you make a shield?” He turned his gaze to Kassandra for a second before looking back out at the harbour. Much to his surprise, the monster seemed to be almost vaporising; the great coils of its body began to fly out like sea spray, making it dwindle from a colossal, solid shape to a great cloud of mist which advanced on Jiluria at a much more leisurely pace.

“Oi!”
A sudden call from a nearby boat drew Armeno’s attention; he jerked his head round to see a furtive-looking sailor leaning towards them. “Whatcha doin’? Ya wanna get killed?” he asked incredulously. The elf spread his hands in response, shaking his head and rising slightly to get a better view of the man.
“We’re not from Jiluria. What’s going on? What is that thing?”
“Ain’t no time t’explain now. You bet’er git some cover. Ya wan’ summat like fire. An’ ya wanna lie real still inside it.”

This said, the man dropped back to a sleeping position and lay motionless on the deck of his boat. Armeno stared out at the mist for another few moments before dropping back down behind the crates.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but maybe we should what he said. Your shield still might do… it’s just energy, like fire is. I really don’t know what else he could mean.” A deep frown of anxiety creasing his brow, he drew Kassandra closer to his side, wrapping his arms protectively around her.

The gap that the pair of them had wedged themselves into was too small for Kassandra to see through the same small gap that Armeno was using to look out at the harbour. However, she wasn’t sure that that was a bad thing, because there were only so many bad things you could look in the face of before just giving in to one of them. She wrinkled her nose at the smell, unused to being by the sea, but didn’t comment. There were worse smells than fish.

She nodded at Armeno’s request, sitting up a little straighter and concentrating. Thankfully her electricity had recharged itself on the way from Racksom to Jiluria, and she was back to her normal power again. Without practising for a week or so though, it became surprisingly difficult to force it to do what she wanted- electricity was like a wild animal, when it didn’t get its halter put on every day without fail., it liked to play tricks She made sure to encircle the barrels they were hiding between in her forcefield too. Exploding barrels of fish if she accidentally put her shield through them wouldn’t be pleasant. And they would have a little more room to move, which was always nice. Thankfully it didn’t take much concentration to hold either, so after it was in place, she could return to normal conversation. Which wasn’t sounding very normal. She poked her head up next to Armeno’s as he talked to one of the sailors who had been on a boat, also noticing the different shape that the sea creature had taken.
“I don’t think we should chance it though, if that thing’s got everyone up in arms,” she said, a flicker of worry going through her. For escaping from Racksom and such a massive fight, she didn’t have much wish to now be killed on the hope that her electricity would protect them from this new threat. She huddled against the elf, trying to think of some way to conjure fire from nowhere. Nothing really seemed plausible, it was too far to get back to the inn in time, and it was too early for any shops to be open to barter some candles off of.

Then an idea came to her, and she sat up, running her finger round the lid of one of the barrels. They came away all slimy, and she rubbed them together, her eyes lighting up. “Oil! Whatever’s in these barrels, it’s stored in oil; we can tip one over and spread it round us, then I’ll set it alight.” She wiped off her fingers then scrambled to her feet, trying to prise off the lid of one of the barrels, acutely aware that she was now in plain sight of whatever… thing was coming for them.

As the shield flickered into existence around them, Armeno gave a short nod, but didn't relax at all.
"I know," he agreed with Kassandra, one hand unconsciously stroking the hair which flowed down her back. "But..."

His words tailed off as she prodded at one of the barrels, a frown growing on his forehead. There really wasn't time to be wasting with... Whatever she was doing. But when she voiced her brainwave he cracked a congratulatory- if slightly grim- smile and leapt to his feet. Nudging the woman gently aside, he used a combination of his sword as a crowbar and brute force to remove the lid of the barrel before hefting its awkward weight. There was no time for anything more subtle or precise than pouring a general ring of the oil- and the fish stored in it- around them, perfuming the air with a distinct and unpleasant odour of fish.
"You light the other side," Armeno commanded without thinking, slipping into a commander state of mind as the monster roared ever closer. It hadn't seem to possess any features previously, but as its huge shadow cast the couple into darkness two dark whirlpools of eyes seemed to be fixed on them.

Frantic now, the elf let out a fan of sparks over his half of the circle, causing the oil to whoosh alight from several points. As he dropped back behind the flames, he reached out for Kassandra to pull her close once more, preparing to drop to the ground as the man had advised them.

Standing back as Armeno prised off the lid of the barrel, Kassandra immediately set to trying to fill any gaps that the elf missed with the oil as he poured it around, pulling her cloak off the floor so it didn’t get too mucky. When it was as full as possibly she made a little noise of commitment to Armeno’s order, standing again with her back to him and letting off a couple of small balls of electricity at her feet, where the oil was. She made sure to keep her other hand right out of the way- it wouldn’t have been fun to get close to all that flammable liquid. It took a couple of tries, but once the oil had caught, the flames raced around like anything. Kassandra quickly extinguished the next lightning bolt spark she had ready, turning to Armeno and putting her hands in his, then pulling him down to the ground with her. She tugged her cloak close, putting one hand to her hair to make sure a few curls hadn’t made a bid for it from her ponytail. She tucked the end down inside her cloak just to make sure anyway, then shuffled even closer to Armeno, half looking away to see how close the sea monster thing was now. Hopefully it wouldn’t come with much wind, otherwise it’d whip the flames up and possibly burn them- but if it was too slow as well, the oil would go out before it got to them. There were too many variables, really… With luck, the two of them would be able to fix any unforeseen troubles they got into either with burns, or surprise attacks from magic. It only took a second to throw up a shield, if they suddenly needed it, but for now she left it off. Better not to draw too much attention, Kassandra thought.