Mariana was seriously debating darting back out of the tavern the instant she realized Erythros was sitting inside. She glimpsed his familiar form from where she stood just in the doorway. Most of her body was still graciously hidden by the rugged wooden panels, so she was sure that he could not see her. His face was angled down at his drink as though he were brooding again, not that that came as any sort of shock. She muttered a curse inaudibly under her breath and pulled back, taking in some slow, deep lung-fulls of the crisp morning air. She kept her back rigid against the rough tavern wall and glared at the stone tower in front of her, confused by her anger. There was simply something about this elf that she could not shake. She felt like his gaze ripped her up and tore her open, exposing those vulnerable pieces that nobody else should be able to see. The way he watched her gave her chills sometimes; not in a way that she found his gaze offensive, but because she somehow knew he could read her. He was waiting for her to...to slip up or something. Expose her own weaknesses. The very idea made the the fur on the back of her neck rise.
Mariana slammed her fisted paw against the wooden beam with a thunk. She jumped, startling herself, and peered around the corner warily. If he'd heard, he made no indication whatsoever, simply continued to stare blankly down at the clear cold liquid that was frosting the lip of his glass. She turned back again with relief, but pushed away from the wall, chin held high with pride and maybe a little bit of arrogance.
No elf's going to scare me.
The fenki strode casually into the bar, her legs swinging nimbly despite her heavy armor. She tapped the counter lightly and smiled a greeting to Allelia, asking the woman in casual tones how she was doing, inquiring if she had a new shipment of cider. She slid some tria towards her gratefully and took the cider between her paws, then moved right up to Erythros, sitting down across from him with a jovial, almost giddy sort of smile. He looked up at her and grinned widely, as though someone had just placed a free helping of pie right there in front of him.
Yeah, grin now buddy. I'm going to figure you out whether you like it or not, She thought, ears pricking forward as though the unassuming dermorian had just issued her some kind of challenge.
"Hello again Mariana," Erythros said, his voice soft.
That's another thing. Speak up, damnit. I don't want to strain to hear you.
Mariana leaned forward slightly, her elbows propped on the table and her cider left lingering between them. She examined the dermorian closely, peering at those frustratingly green eyes, willing them to shift so that she could prove to herself that she wasn't as crazy as a blind one-eyed rat running face-first into a wall. Her eyes narrowed subtly, but nothing happened, nothing even remotely suspicious. She finally relented and leaned back again, all the while watching as no particular emotion was given away on Erythros' face.
He's good, She commended reluctantly. But I'm better.
Or at least, that's what she was going to tell herself to help her get through facing this scrawny, unlikely demon.
I could take you, She added cockily. Easy.
"Hello there, Erythros," Mariana replied. "How has your training been coming along?"
It really didn't help that the elf had now joined her guild. Sure, she'd spoken highly of it to him a few times when they'd had idle conversation. But it had surprised her when the individual she's somehow pinned down as a recluse had willingly joined a large organization like the one she was currently a part of. And it wasn't so much that she didn't like Erythros...she did. She truly did like his character. He was very non-threatening. Very trustworthy and, well, generally harmless as far as she could tell. In all honesty what bothered her the most was that despite these great character traits, something about him still rattled her. She used to have issues with trust, because of certain events in her past. But this was different, somehow. Her instincts were desperately trying to relay something to her, but apparently they were having trouble breaking through a certain thing most like to refer to as a 'very thick skull.'
"It's been coming well enough," He said simply. "Been working on my crystal way and honing my skill with the sword." He tapped the blades cinched to his waist.
Mariana's eyes lingered on the weapons for an instant before coming back to Erythros' face. She wasn't going to look away long and miss another flicker. She'd gone over in her head repeatedly what she'd possibly done to cause it, but for the life of her, she could remember nothing. She assumed it had something to do with anger, but not even that explained the instances she'd seen that color stain his irises red.
“Not much interesting going on in the training department myself, just...” Mariana trailed off as she heard footsteps from the entrance. She slowly, curiously turned her head towards the door and frowned as an armed Ylian made his way over the threshold, his unsheathed saber held in a meaty fist. He stopped by Allelia, purchased a beer, and chugged it down in a few quick gulps.
Mariana sighed and muttered something unpleasant under her breath as she slowly stood to her feet.
Oh, this is going to be great. She mused. Nothing better than a big, drunk, violent ylian.
Her paws moved to hover idly at her sabers, and her gaze followed him as he made his way up the stairs. She was about to sit back down again when her ears picked up the sound of someone shouting, then the terrible, wet sort of noise that is generated by a sword ripping through flesh. She froze, and listened to the gurgled gasp of someone drawing their last breath.
The Ylain descended the stairs as casually as anything. He stopped by the bar, slid some more tria over, and took another mug from the rather pale-looking bar-keep as she slid it towards him, her hands shaking.
“As you ladies can see, I am now unarmed,” he said with a sneer, accenting the ladies and looking pointedly over Mariana's shoulder. She glanced out of her peripheral and realized that Erythros was standing right beside her, body tense and expression wary. It bothered her more than it should have that she hadn't even heard him move.
“Though, I can't say the same for the guy that followed me in here,” he continued calmly, his tone tinged with mockery. “As he now wields my saber in his chest.”
~~
Erythros felt hot rage crawling up his spine and into the back of his mind. His eyes flashed, and he turned his head away just in time so that the fenki and ylian could not see it. He slid up closer to Mariana, who had gone utterly rigid, the look of pure relentless wrath evident on her face. This surprised him, and suddenly he found himself stuck in silence, waiting to see how she would react.
Mariana's lips slowly peeled back to reveal her starkly white fangs. Erythros found it somehow strange that someone so characteristically friendly could suddenly look so incredibly menacing, especially since Mariana was considerably...vertically challenged.
The Ylian cleared his throat as he finished the last of his liquor. “Now, I left a circle for each of you with the bartender, when the guards come around asking, tell them nothing.”
Mariana let out a harsh, almost cruel-sounding laugh. “I wouldn't count on that.”
Erythros watched as Mariana planted herself like a proverbial wall of steel in front of the Ylian. He was about a full head and shoulders taller than she was, and much bigger around, but that didn't seem to phase her. For some reason watching her standing there like that, her chin tilted up towards the killer, sent a flicker of amusement through him.
He'll squish her.
Mariana crossed her arms over her chest and stood stubbornly in place. “I don't take kindly to murderers,” she growled softly at him.
Erythros cringed inwardly at these words, and they sent an icy chill down his spine.
Tell her what you really are, and she will hate you...
He took a step closer, stopping to stand by Mariana's side. The voice suddenly entered his head again, ringing loudly, overwhelming.
"Why don't you just kill him, lover? Look at those idle guards outside, not even bothering to stop a murder that occurs right under their noses. This is why we are in the right, after all. This is what we truly live for."
He felt his hand twitch unbidden towards the hilt of his blade, felt the agonizing fire burning behind his eyes and knew that even now they were bleeding crimson. He closed them and focused, fighting against the urge. Why, he couldn't say. He simply couldn't see the look on Mariana's face if she saw him kill this man, saw what happened when he lost control.
Surprisingly, the Whisper slowly drained back out of his mind. He could never recall a time when he'd fought back before, but he guessed that it would not be happy with him later.
“...I paid for my crimes, but there's someone who thinks I haven't paid enough,” the ylian was saying. Erythros refocused his attention on the conversation going on around him.
Mariana rolled her shoulders slowly, the armor and ligaments creaking with the movement. Erythros winced a bit.
Would you just take that gods-accursed armor off every now and then...
“I suggest you provide a better explanation than that, sir,” Mariana said, her voice held at a calm, even level. She slowly unsheathed her claws and let her fingers flex in towards her palms and outwards again. “It depends on what crimes you have committed. You show no repentance for whatever it is you have done, and you've apparently just killed one of the victims that suffered either directly or indirectly from your crimes. If you'd changed, it would have been different. But you are no different.”
Erythros felt a smile slowly spread across his face, and he knew that it probably looked almost ridiculous to the others, considering the current situation. But he simply didn't care. Mariana's words sent a sort of warmth through him, out to his hands and feet, radiating from his heart.
I could change, I could become different, I could...
"Red! If you continue this pointless line of thinking, I'll have to punish you, dear. You're one of my favorites. I'd hate it if I had to hurt you."
Erythros turned his head to the side again, hiding the agony in his face as the Whisper crushed his chest. He suppressed it once more and turned back towards Mariana, moving closer to her, and slowly raised a hand towards her shoulder. He slid it to rest on her armor and leaned even nearer, murmuring to her;
“He is not worth your time or your worry, Mariana.” He frowned as she cringed at his nearness, that expression of fear briefly flickering on her face the way he'd seen it before. “I know his kind, leave him to rot in his own decay that will follow him around like the stench of a long-dead carcass.”
Mariana shied away from him further, her eyes pained. Erythros turned his head and addressed the Ylian, intrigued by the reaction but choosing not to comment upon it.
“Crawl back into your hole, and your stink, you ignorant, pathetic excuse for a human.”
Mariana nodded at Erythros' words and addressed the man with ice in her voice, “When the guards inquire, I shall send them directly after your cowardly fleeing figure. Now get out of here.”
The man chuckled at their words, and strode with confidence towards the exit, as though he was sure he could take out all of the guards in Hydlaa unarmed and without any true confrontation at all. He tossed the remains of his mug of beer on the table nearest the exit and let the sticky, foul-smelling liquid slosh all over it's surface, forcing the already frazzled Allelia to rush over with a bucket of sudsy water and well used, badly stained rag.
Erythros finally let his hand fall from the fenki's shoulder, and he watched as she visibly relaxed. She sagged as if tired from the whole confrontation and sighed softly, wiping a paw across her brow.
“Thank you for your help, I appreciated it,” she said, her tone almost grudging.
He watched her for a few moments, feeling that strange prickling of compassion again. “I did nothing you could not perform yourself,” he said simply. His eyes slowly moved towards the outside of the tavern and back, and he made a motion towards it, picking up his staff and holding it casually in one hand. He gestured with it and glanced back at Mariana.
“I think maybe you could use a rest...or perhaps we could go for a walk,” he suggested.
She looked somewhat surprised by the request, but she nodded, seeming to yield. She moved past him silently, and he followed close at her heels.
~~
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
How could she lose her cool so easily? And in front of Erythros, who no doubt already was smugly aware of his effect on her. She was sure he had noticed her cringe when he touched her, and with that movement, she'd given away a horrible weakness that could be far too easily exploited.
You idiot! She growled, struggling to keep the scowl from her face. She reached the bottom of the stairs and turned slowly around, spine straight, eyes ahead, as though she were about to have the fight of her life. Her tail swished back and forth, giving away her anxiety, and she forced it to still.
Erythros paused in front of her, his eyes and face placid as ever. He smiled faintly, almost encouragingly, and for some reason that simply bothered her more. He was trying to get her to let her guard down, she could tell. That terrified her more than if he'd simply whipped out a dagger and tried to plunge it hilt-deep into her chest.
“You might be more comfortable without that armor on,” he commented lightly as she leaned against the wooden beam in front of the Red Crystal Den.
“Believe me, I'm more comfortable with it on,” she responded. “More of a barrier between me and the rest of the world.”
Mariana felt her stomach lurch the moment the words left her lips, realizing how that must have sounded as Erythros nodded his head, his emerald eyes sad.
“I...I mean between me and my enemies, obviously,” she added, scrambling to recover.
I.d.i.o.t!
“Thank you for...getting me out of there. It was getting a bit stuffy,” she offered, when the silence seemed to ring in her ears.
Erythros waved one of his hands dismissively. “There's no need to continue the morbid conversation beyond the company of unsettling souls,” he said.
Mariana rubbed the back of her neck, feeling the way her hackles were already standing on end. Her whole being was stiff and apprehensive. She was glad that he couldn't see the fur on her arms, because surely it too was on the rise.
“I hope I'm not...keeping you from anything important,” she said, as though inwardly urging him to state that he had somewhere to be.
Erythros smiled gently at her, planting his staff in between the cracks of the cobbled street and shaking his head from side to side so that his auburn hair tumbled down to frame his face.
“On the contrary, Mariana. Time with you is more valuable than time anywhere else.”
Mariana felt herself freeze at those words. She stared at Erythros, caught entirely off guard, her paw still clamped to the back of her neck.
“Well...I...uh...” She muttered. She shifted back and forth uncomfortably on her feet. “Thank you, then.”
Erythros seemed to falter for a moment, which, of course, only succeeded in making the situation even more uncomfortable. “May I ask you a question?”
She felt her insides quake at that inquiry, pretty certain as to what it would pertain to. She met Erythros' eyes boldly, though, again taking up the gauntlet and preparing for some kind of battle of wills.
“Of course, my friend,” she answered in as calm a voice as she could muster. “Whatever you wish.”
The elf slowly looked back up at her, and his eyes seemed to burn when he asked his question. There was an intensity about him that made her want to run to the nearest cliff and leap off of it...and at the same time, get closer. It made no logical sense. Which was why it drove her insane.
“Have you ever loved? Why is it that I see so much sadness in your eyes when there should be happiness? Instead I see regret, or reluctance...”
Mariana felt her jaw drop before she could stop the reaction. She clamped it shut again with an audible snap and fought the feeling that she'd just swallowed a large fish whole.
Trepor dung! Steaming trepor dung!
She felt her right paw move towards her wrist unbidden, and her unsheathed claws scratched at the mark at was on its surface. She twitched for a moment, stranded and wracked with indecision. Her instincts screamed that she should simply reply with lies, or divert the flow of conversation to something else. If she opened up to him, he would hurt her. She knew this, somehow. This would end horribly and...
“I...I haven't had the...” She stuttered, putting enough pressure on her wrist to draw blood. “N...no.”
Erythros watched her wrist openly, knowingly, and with chilling chagrin Mariana realized that he'd probably observed this nervous tic before. Despite all her carefulness, and all her hiding, she was an open book. “That was only half the question,” he pressed, his stature and voice not pressing and quietly encouraging.
“Well, I...I just...” She said, her eyes darting towards the space between the pillars as though plotting out an escape route.
He stood before her as though he had all the time in the world. His arms hung loosely at his sides, and his eyes searched hers, trying to delve into her thoughts as though simply by meeting her gaze he could manage to do so. Mariana knew by that look that he wouldn't stop until he figured it out, and she had no doubt that in time, he would. She felt her heart quiver at the notion. It was either now, or eventually, but he would see through her. Perhaps he already could.
She splayed her fingers and ran them through the fur along the top of her head, making it stick up in haphazard spikes as though to physically demonstrate her frazzled state of mind. “I...I have a complicated past,” she said, her voice coming out quietly, forced out of her vocal chords. She felt her defense sliding, and it sent cold tendrils of panic down into the depths of her mind. “I was abused as a child, it's not the...the brightest story. Are you sure you want to hear it?”
If he had shown over-eagerness perhaps she could have stopped herself then. If his eyes had flashed with interest, or if he had moved closer to listen to her secret. If he had shown any state or posture that could have been skewed as threatening, she knew she could have stopped herself.
But instead, he stated simply, his tone kind and heartening;
“If you are willing to tell, then I am willing to listen.”
She stared down at her left paw, watching the ligaments in the fingers flex and relaxed as they moved first in and then back out again. She spoke in a detached monotone, a defensive mechanism triggered by her insecurity, and suddenly she just didn't care anymore what this elf knew.
“I was born into a group of individuals that saw women as mere cattle, and treated them accordingly. The leader of that group decided at an early age that he wanted me as...his.”
Erythros finally moved closer to her, but only a pace, and maintained enough distance between them that she was able to resist the urge to stumble away from him.
“He branded me,” she continued, not even looking up at him as she spoke, her shoulders slowly sinking in indescribable shame. She pulled the fur on her wrist back to reveal the jagged scar; the one she would give anything to be free of. “Broke my bones to break my spirit.” She smoothed the fur back down again and closed her eyes slowly, unable to even look at him. “I escaped. I resisted. But I'm still not free.” She scrunched her eyes shut harder, letting her paws ball into fists at her sides. “I cannot accept affection from men. I cannot touch them. So, in the end, I suppose he broke me after all.”
She let her words hang in the silence between them, and could only hear the steady sound of his breathing. She finally looked back up again, opening her eyes and expecting to see a sneer, or disgust. She expected him to berate her, or, even worse than that, to pity her as though she were a tiny bird with a broken wing.
She saw none of this. Only sadness was there, incredible sadness, and only for her. She thought she could even detect a small film of tears fogging his eyes, and it took him a moment to formulate a reply.
“Forgive me for touching you before, Mariana. I did not know,” He said softly. “I would only mean to help you, but still, I apologize, I simply had no idea.” He paused for a moment, watching her, thinking on his words, and he spoke with confidence. “But he did not break you. This I know for certain.”
Mariana couldn't help but bark a laugh. She knew she was showing how injured she was, and she hated herself even more for it, sending herself into a degenerative spiral. “I'm damaged goods,” she spat, fury in her voice.
Erythros eyes flashed them, red as anything, bright and clear. Her breath caught in her throat and she stared at him, afraid that she'd triggered something that would end badly.
“You're not damaged goods, Mariana,” he said. “Never let any fool or beast tell you otherwise.”
Mariana felt her arm rise of its own accord, and watched it hover beside Erythros' face. She held it there for a few moments, uncertain.
“Are you alright? Have...have I upset you?” She asked.
Erythros shook his head, and the color faded again, letting his eyes flash back to green. He acted as though he didn't have the slightest idea what she meant. “No, no. You have never upset me. It only pains me to see you convinced of such a lie.”
Mariana observed as his eyes traced the movement of her paw. She let it fall back to her side, struck with overwhelming confusion and bewilderment. She found herself wanting to say something that would be encouraging, that would make him calmer.
“I'm sorry I didn't have a happier tale to tell you, but it's people like you that have helped me mend this far,” she said, lifting her chin as she recovered some of her dignity. “I thank you for listening, my friend. Your kindness is...you are very kind.”
He smiled gently, then turned his head towards the fading crystal light. “I have only returned the kindness that you have showed to me,” he replied, slowly swiveling his head to look at her one more time. “But, I think both of us could use some rest.”
Mariana nodded in agreement, yet she felt a stubborn pang of reluctance to leave. She'd never let her walls fall this much before, and instead of being a disaster, the ordeal left her lighter rather than heavier inside. She watched Erythros for a few moments, thinking that she must have been wrong about him.
“Well, I think I've talked your pointed ears off enough for one evening,” she said. “I...I wish you only the best. May the crystal light shine brightly on your path.”
He dipped his head and turned, smiling quietly. “And may yours be lit brightly, until next we meet.”
Erythros walked off towards the stairs, drawing his hood over his head as he moved, and Mariana stared after him. She put a paw over her chest and frowned slightly, feeling as though he'd tied a string to her heart and was tugging it as he moved away.
She muttered a curse under her breath and berated herself for acting like a silly little girl before turning swiftly on her heel and walking away.
