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Post by Akara on Nov 10, 2015 7:25:28 GMT
If it bothered Akara at all, he gave no indication of it. Truth be told, as well-traveled as he was, he knew that brown skin and wiry black hair were oddities in most of Creation, and had dealt with less subtle molestation many times before. He offered the suddenly-demure woman a polite smile, his caste mark flickering and fading away as people began filing back into the square. Some would mourn the two fallen men, others would party harder in their honor. Most would likely remember only that two people had fought in the square, for a mortal's life was short and not long burdened by tragedy. "I believe you'll look wonderful in blue." He explained pleasantly, eager to think about anything besides what she'd done. As Akara preferred yellow, the contrast would be lovely.
In no time at all, the two Exalted were being fit for new festival dresses. Akara, who lived a normally austere and simple life, enjoyed the luxury of being measured and fit into a snug yellow kimono, handing over the one she'd bought earlier for repair - and taking care of the cost for them both, as Steel Eyes had larger costs to concern herself with. "Marita is a city of festivals." He explained over his shoulder, as an attendant tired his long hair up in a loose bun - the better to display a slender neck. "It is one of my favorite places in the East. Tell me, Steel - have you ever had fresh candied ginger?" He inquired curiously, as he stepped down from the stool he'd been standing on and into his shoes once more.
Retrieving his sash, the dereth made sure it was tied around his waist in a properly dramatic-looking fashion, and that his kimono displayed a properly modest amount of cleavage. Just a normal date - Don't think about the murders. Be pleasant, be friendly. It's only one night.
Everyone made mistakes. Perhaps she needs only be shown that there is a better way. Looking his best once more, Akara turned on his heel and greeted the Abyssal with a fetching smile. "I do hope that you know how to dance, by the way."
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Post by Steel Eyes Forsaken Bitterness on Nov 10, 2015 7:58:37 GMT
This place was bound for death but it would not be by her hands and in truth a part of her was glad for it...a very small part but there it was. She stood calmly while man with obvious skill carefully measured her lithe body for the blue cloth Akara had selected. Quietly she accepted the strange fashions and smiled demurely as an a woman fixed her long thick black hair into a bun. She would not have this chance again soon so she smiled and lowered her eyes calmly as the mortals nodded their approval.
She wrapped the blue belt around her waist and tied it in an attempt to imitate the style of the others as she looked at Akara. The yellow suited her shape nicely and gave her a sweet peaceful appearance. Steel eyes nodded and smiled but didn't say much as she fumbled the knot and finally settled on something more akin to her southern styles.
"ginger and water are scarce where I lived." she said regretting the words and the images of her burning village that they called to mind, "and I've not danced...for a long time."
She stood and presented herself to the dereth hands folded at her waist and tried to forget for a moment that she was intended to bring creation to its final end and follow it into the abyss.
"I'm sure it will come back to me." she said as she adjusted her kimono to show a bit more cleavage than Akara did and stepped extremely close to the dark skinned man. She knew it was an agreement and that he was bound by his word but she could pretend for a day. Couldn't she? "Show me your festival?" she asked almost shyly. Was she playing a game or did she really want this. Her punishment would tell her later.
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Post by Akara on Nov 10, 2015 8:17:03 GMT
Akara nodded, quietly noting how suddenly shy the woman had become. Either it was a good act, or his senses weren't as sharp without essence as he liked to think. Time would tell, but it was a good rule of thumb that those who spent their lives in armor tended to be much less comfortable without it on. Especially not in festival finery. Akara took the dark woman's arm and offered a slightly crooked smile. "I shall." He promised, leading her from the tailors at a casual pace. In the time they'd spent getting fitted and ready, the festival had resumed and was going at full swing - two murders was not enough to grind the capital of the Confederacy to a halt. Merriment again filled the air, the sounds of music and laughter and the smell of Eastern delicacies prepared fresh by masterful hands.
"From your accent, your homeland must not be too far from mine." Akara wagered as he walked through the crowd with Steel Eyes on his arm - or was he on hers? Did it matter? Once more, Akara was an unimportant young woman in a city of revel, and that was a state he didn't mind so much. Perhaps in Chiaroscuro, he might have insisted and made sure everyone in sight knew he was in charge, but not here. He grinned and continued speaking in Flametongue, the rolling and mutable language of the South rolling merrily from his lips. "I have to admit, it's nice to be able to speak my father tongue once more!" He laughed. "One of the most pleasant surprises of my travels is just how wonderfully common water is - especially here, in the East. Even now, daily baths seem a horrendously expensive luxury."
See how wonderful everything is? No need to hurt anyone.
Akara stopped at a stall full of exotic sweets and selected a bag, paying the merchant woman with a few coins and a cheerful promise to enjoy the festival. As they continued walking, he opened the paper bag and held up a candied ginger - small, chewy, brightly coloured. "Be careful! They're sweet. Say 'aaaahh'." He prompted, before popping the almost painfully sweet candy onto Steel Eyes' tongue and taking one for himself.
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Post by Steel Eyes Forsaken Bitterness on Nov 10, 2015 8:49:12 GMT
She nodded and continued to speak in flametongue. To be honest she was far from skilled in other languages. "It is so." she said in overly formal fashion. She wanted to relax but the essence here did make it slightly difficult. "I was born in the far south near the southern boardermarches."
She tightened herself on his arm still respecting his choice of gender out of habit. These uneducated people may see two young women but it was hard to not recognize his choice. She stopped and felt exposed without the heavy plate she usually lived in and waited as Akara purchased the candied sweets. These people seemed so pleased with their meaningless lives, so at peace. She had known only struggle, only survival and fighting. Everything near her home had been out to end life and in her exalted life she lived in death and shadows.
She obeyed as he offered the odd Eastern sweet. Her mouth opened showing her fangs that she still hadn't learned to hide and she accepted the sweet. Her eyes bulged as the overwhelming Sweet ginger struck her tongue. She covered her mouth and chewed slowly.
"Very...good." she fibbed as she finished chewing and swallowed the treat, "I am sure it is an acquired taste. At least there is no sand in the food, right Akara?"
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Post by Akara on Nov 10, 2015 9:11:39 GMT
"Agreed." Akara chuckled, thoughtfully chewing the treat. It was sweet enough to make his eyes water, so intense that it could not be denied center stage. Really, that was why he liked it - It was foreign, sure but most things in the South had strong flavors, heavy spice. It was just unusual to encounter SWEETNESS in such quantity. Akara choked back a cough, then swallowed the candy and laughed. It was hard to be bitter with such a sweet taste on your tongue. "I recall one Delzhan merchant who sold my father a cask of what he called Gem's finest wine. As it turned out, the bottom half of the barrel was little more than sand! Father was LIVID." Akara laughed brightly. "Didn't stop him from finishing off what he could drink, but he was still as cross as the Perfect on Calibration for weeks after!"
Akara helped himself to another candy - The Solar seemed to have a bit of a sweet tooth - while leading Steel Eyes around the edges of the main party. Marita was a lovely city, built on the banks of the mighty yellow river, and was filled with lovely scenic bridges, boats, and the fresh smell that came with constantly flowing water. Over one such bridge, Akara paused and leaned forward and look down at the deep blue waters, grinning, before glancing over his shoulder at Steel Eyes. He slowly turned around and leaned his butt against the rail of the bridge, beckoning her forward. "Let's enjoy the sounds of water, for a moment. Tell me something embarrassing about yourself, and I'll answer any question you can pose."
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Post by Steel Eyes Forsaken Bitterness on Nov 10, 2015 9:44:40 GMT
The woman covered he mouth as she laughed over Akara's story. She had seen similar in her home...but it was gone now. She stopped still smiling over the story as Akara leaned her small bottom against the bridge railing. The lights danced on the water as cool refreshing air with it's strange scent danced across her senses. She sauntered deliberately to Akara and turned to the side to lean her forearms on the railing beside her while she watched the water.
She shook her head and looked back at the ever moving river. This was madness. She was an unholy thing designed for one purpose...to kill creation. The Neverborn demanded it, craved it like a lecher craves a brothel, no even more so. Their shifting tombs hanging over the abyss like death's own hands waiting to tear a soul away from a body and she was playing, enjoying the company of her polar opposite.
She smiled again at her own foolishness and indulgence, though she knew retribution would be excruciating if the infernal master she served grew impatient. She looked over her shoulder toward Akara and offered a shy look from beneath her long black eyelashes.
"I've never had a date before or anything more intimate." she said almost to soft to hear over the water and festivities. She thought of the young man that had asked to court her and that died the same day.
A tear of Blood ran down her cheek as she looked away and wiped it quickly.
"My turn." she said turning slightly toward Akara, "Do you truly think...No of course you do. Let me change my question. If I weren't...what I am." she cleared her throat, "Would you...have...found me attractive?"
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Post by Akara on Nov 10, 2015 11:06:23 GMT
A single tear of blood struck Akara as a bit too theatrical to be genuine, but he decided not to comment on it. Instead, he kept his reclined position - face to the sun - and pondered how such a shy creature would justify outright murder, or why. Or maybe the real question was whether she expected him to honestly buy such an act? Hard to say.
Akara casually let one ankle rest over the other, more than athletic enough to balance on one foot. Martial arts was good for that sort of thing. "Absolutely." He replied without any real hesitation. "Truth be told, I've always had a fascination with pale women - If you'll pardon my saying so, they're exotic, even though I've traveled long enough to discover that I'm the oddity." Heck, people in the North had YELLOW hair. Creation was absolutely a large, strange place full of strange things.
The dereth hopped his backside up to sit on the rail itself, now better able to speak eye-to-eye with the dark woman. "Suppose it's my turn to confide something embarrassing." He mused thoughtfully, wiggling his toes in his festive sandals. After a moment, Akara released a soft chuckle and glanced up at the sky. "I know. When I was younger, one of the fellows down the lane had a pack of tamed dogs. Mean dogs." He explained with a smirk. "For years, I found any and every reason to avoid walking past his house - I was terrified by his hounds. My brothers would tell me horror stories about how they'd heard the dogs had attacked somebody, or how their owner had tamed them by feeding them little girls..."
Akara giggled softly and shook his head. "Years later, when I was an adult, I resolved to face my fears, only to find out that the man with the dogs hadn't lived there for YEARS." He explained, flushing and smiling. "In fact, I'd been avoiding a house that had only had those dogs in it for maybe a year, total. My brothers had been feeding me stories just to see how long they could."
Akara turned towards Steel Eyes and skilled at his own misfortune. "My turn - what's the one gift or toy you always wanted, but never got?" He asked, keeping the subject matter light. "Everyone who was a child has that one thing they always wished for."
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Post by Steel Eyes Forsaken Bitterness on Nov 11, 2015 6:50:39 GMT
She felt embarrassed over the tear. It was a melodramatic thing and perhaps he would see it as such. She felt strange now and suddenly suspicious of his reasons to these questions. Was she being paranoid? Was he just killing time before her exile from Marita could begin? She didn't know and that part of her that retained some humanity didn't seem to care.
"A doll." she said with a chuckle, "I begged for a doll from the realm but my father wouldn't have it. Too expensive and too much time away from my chores. I understood, of course, we were poor and if all of us were not doing our part we would loose what we did have."
She looked up as she paused to catch the young dereth's eyes.
"It's funny but even now I wonder if the doll would have been so bad."
She stood up and leaned a hip on the railing as she folded her hands at her waist. "And you? What is one thing you've always wanted but couldn't have?"
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Post by Akara on Nov 11, 2015 7:11:59 GMT
Somebody get this woman a role in the theatre. No, Akara - stop being judgemental. It was reflex at this point, to be honest. Heck, it was a large part of his job. Still, he didn't let the unpleasant internal cattiness stop him from trying to be pleasant. He'd been wrong about worse things before, after all.
Akara raised his eyebrows as the woman's question, then gave her a deadpan look. "...I'm a Dereth, Eyes." He replied in a flat tone, before the act was interrupted by a broad grin and a loud laugh. "I'm joking, I'm joking! Sorry, it was too crude not to joke about." He apologized, rubbing his eyes and calming down. Crude, but he'd really liked that joke. What place had risque humour, if not on a date? Or more accurately, a 'date'.
Hopping down from the railing, Akara dusted off his backside and adjusted his kimono, before offering the dark woman his hand. "I'd like to be taller, but if it must be an object - I've heard that people in Halta ride gigantic eagles and owls. I've always wanted to give that a try." He explained. "Do you often go on dates with Dereth?"
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Post by Steel Eyes Forsaken Bitterness on Nov 11, 2015 14:52:06 GMT
She didn't understand at first. The joke passed over her head briefly before coming around like a boomerang and catching her. With wide surprised eyes she bit her bottom lips and tried not to burst out with laughter. It was a good joke if one that she hadn't expected.
She watched as he hopped down and offered a hand. She looked at the small appendage for just a moment before letting her pale hand wrap around his. It was too bad Halta was bound for destruction with the Lover Clad in Raiment of Tears already moving on her designs and aiding the barbarians that were in constant war with the tree people. She offered a small smile. "Your a fine height," she offered shyly, "and this is my first 'date'."
She held his hand while the reality that he was doing nothing more than forcing politeness rested on her mind. Her lips pealed back to show her bone white teeth and prominent canines in a weak smile as she thought of what she actually was. She was a twisted malevolent thing wrapped in mortal finery and playing at normalcy. It was foolish of her to think this was worth the cost.
'I may pay for this date in blood' she thought as she stood and waited for his next question. He was doing his part she decided to let him keep that control.
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