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 Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:11 am
“Me?” she said, looking rather surprised. “…I’ve never done anything brave.”
She buried her face in his shoulder, trying not to think of how stupid and unremarkable it must have appeared to the combat master.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:23 am
"Neither had I, when I was your age," he said, with a little chuckle. He hugged her as she nuzzled against him, and gently rocked her back and forth for a few moments. "I was lost and scared a lot of the time. I needed people to look after me and tell me what to do. That's just how it is, when you're young and people have just told you what to do your entire life. You're very easily controlled."
"Yes, I suppose I had fought a lot, been in battles, navigated a lot of dangers. But that's only one kind of bravery. You need bravery to step up and be your own person. You need to be brave enough to believe in yourself and make your voice heard. You need bravery to make the decisions no one else wants you to make. That kind of bravery is a lot harder to build up. But it does come, through experience. By the time people are my age, they've told everyone else to - pardon my language - screw off and mind their own business so long and hard it's just second nature. Sometimes you have to. To live. I think I could've avoided a lot of unhappiness when I was younger if I'd been able to tell someone where to get off."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:41 am
Evelyn stared at Jessie for a few seconds, wanting to say something to comfort him. Anything. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind, so instead she grabbed his ears and pulled on them lightly, playing.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:49 am
He broke into laughter as she played with his ears. "You know, my little sister used to do this all the time when she was small. I'd be carrying her around and she'd suddenly reach up with her little hands and tug on my ears. You're one of the first to try it in a while. One weekend, a few weeks ago... sometimes the children come up to me and ask questions, you know, I look so strange... a boy about nine or ten asked if he could pull on my ears. I think he was surprised to find they were real."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:14 am
“I don’t think you look strange in the slightest,” Evelyn said, dropping her hands. “I see…an eye like mine! And a nose…” she gave him an Eskimo kiss at that.
“Two ears!” she said excitedly, grabbing them again. “And what else…two hands!”
She held her hands up to him, placing them on his chest with a smile.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:24 am
He chuckled and gave her a kiss. "Very true. Thank you, Evie. You've never thought any differently of Cressa or I just for what we are."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:30 am
“Of course not! Wanna know why?
She didn’t wait for a response, but pulled his hand to her chest, over her heart. She left it there for several heartbeats before moving his hand to his own heart. “That’s why.”
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:36 am
"I knew I loved you for reasons beside your beauty," he said, taking her hand up to his mouth and kissing it - the soft inner palm, rather than the customary back of the hand. It felt so much more intimate. "You're as beautiful on the inside as you are outside."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:42 am
Evelyn turned scarlet and buried her face in his shoulder. She would have stayed there, if a certain compulsion would have stayed down. So instead, she nom-ed on his shoulder for a few brief seconds.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:48 am
Jessie gently nuzzled her hair. He hoped his shoulder was tasty, or at least a nice texture for nomming. "Has Cressa done her special lesson yet?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:59 am
Evelyn ceased her nomming to answer. “Oh, no. She’s been a little distracted lately. I don’t really know why, but at least I have Xei there…”
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:07 am
"Distracted? Ah, well. Nobody really knows what's going on in her head except her. I had a feeling it hadn't happened, though, because I think she's going to try and rope me in somehow."Cressa had in fact given a most interesting lecture on Thursday about knitting in the round, during which she had knitted herself a demonic-looking balaclava she claimed would help her start off on a profitable career as a serial killer. "Life skills," she called such random non-magic-related sessions. It really was a good thing she wasn't getting paid, or she'd be leeching money off the Order just to screw around half the time. "Anyway, I only mentioned it because if there's anything you want to know about our people, I suppose it'll be answered there. Not that you can't ask me, of course. I just think it will be a very informative session, if you're truly interested."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:15 am
“Oh, I am!” she said, excitedly, bouncing slightly. “I actually know so very little about dark elf culture. I keep meaning to read up on it, but I’ve been putting it off…I suppose I should do that. It’s rather irresponsible of me not to know, wouldn’t you think?”
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:31 am
"I'm not sure how much you would find in the library that isn't specifically about the Gaian dark elves and their 'underworld,'" he said, with a note of disapproval - not of her, but of them. His only experiences with the Durem dark elf crime family had not been good. They were just as insane, arrogant and power-driven as his own people, but they put their powers to meddling in the affairs of the surfacers rather than squabbling amongst themselves. "You would have to borrow some books from Cressa, if you haven't already. The only problem is, of course, that most of them are in our language. Actually, I have some half-translated poetry you might be interested in."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:37 am
Evelyn looked very upset at this. She threw her upper body back, so she was halfway on the bed but still in Jessie’s lap. She covered her face with her hands in embarrassment and frustration. “I know nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
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