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 Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 1:10 pm
After months of travel, Nuri had completed the first leg of his journey through Tendaji. He had ventured across the beaches of Matori, sailed across the great sea, and wandered deep into the heart of Yael. Now, after immediately reporting to his superiors and dropping off the few creatures he was able to catch, Nuri was given a month of personal leave. It was meant to compensate for the next (and much longer) leg of his journey, and provide him with time to spend with his family.
Instead, Nuri made his way through Sulburi and toward one very specific location.
The Red Amaryllis stood out among the buildings in the area, a beacon of class and entertainment. The setting sun caught the color of the building, and it seemed to glow brighter than even the moon in a starless sky. Nuri took a moment on the path toward the building to collect himself, adjust the bag at his side, and prepare himself to see Aseara once more. Once he was ready, he made his way inside and quickly inquired of her whereabouts from the Oban greeter.
He didn't miss the sneer that crossed the young female's face at the mention of Aseara.
"I apologize sir, but Aseara is no longer available for request...she's been reassigned to different...duties. We have many other dancers available tonight, all quite competent replacements."
Nuri frowned, his eyes narrowing at the news and he took a moment to let it sink in.
"You must misunderstand. I'm Nuri, and Aseara is most likely expecting me. Even if she has fully taken over management duti-" He was cut off with the snort that came from the woman, and his eyes narrowed further, "-she still will make the time to see me."
The woman seemed ill bothered, and simply shrugged, "She is unavailable. If you do not wish to see a dancer, you can leave."
The Oban beast tamer stilled for a moment, before swallowing slowly. He was about to open his mouth, until another darted out with a sweet smile and glowing eyes.
"Janeska, Afsana requests your presence immediately to address concerns with one of the musicians." Nuri watched as the Oban let out a huff, but complied and rushed off, leaving him facing the Yaeli who seemed to wish she were anywhere but in front of him.
"Follow me..." She eyed him one last time before rushing to the back, and he was forced to keep up with her pace. She led him through the building to the back, where he was met with the familiar sight of the gardens. Bidding him to "not move and not touch a thing", she rushed back inside leaving him alone in the gardens. The girl, Itotia, quickly made her way to Aseara to inform her of her guest.
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 11:12 am
“Alright ladies bring the dirty clothing you need washed,” Aseara sighed watching as the girls moved around their room collecting their used outfits and then dropping them off in Aseara’s basket that she left at their door. She on the other hand leaned on the door frame and watched as the floor of the room became visible. None of the dancers ever put any of their clothing away; they dumped it on the ground and waited for the days laundry to pass. She usually passed before any of the dancers were off to their daily scheduled evening so that the maids could come in and sweep and clean whatever they needed without the dancers being there.
With the floor over, Aseara collected the basket and made her way back down to the lower levels where others were at work cleaning, and steaming the clothing to perfecting. Those who made quick repairs to items since seamstresses were closed now were stuffed in corners, working away as fast as they could. Aseara dropped off her basket to be given another to bring outside so the clothing could be left out to air dry over the night.
The wind girl couldn’t wait to get back to dancing.
An older woman passed by Aseara, handing her a heavy basket of wet clothing before moving off to another task. A lot of the old entertainers worked in the underbelly of the Red Amaryllis; it was another way for Afsana to keep her old investments where she could control them. Disgust moved on her features before Aseara hide them away and moved out towards the gardens. The air would do her so much good, the RA was starting to feel stuffy and she hated seeing the faces on the other dancers whenever they past her in the halls.
The wound of being down to a simple helper was still fresh and open, it didn’t help that Itotia seemed to enjoy playing with the open wound. Her hatred for the Yaeli had changed from being afraid of her for her looks to actually just highly disliking the girl. Since their little spat, Aseara had made sure that their few lessons were around others and avoided speaking of anything that didn’t pertain to whatever it was they were studying. Well, she didn’t hate her. She hated the truth that she spoke and hated even more that she’d been so blind to Itotia’s own fate.
Speaking of the Yaeli, Aseara spotted her form walking towards her and almost turned around. Instead she straightened up and tried to look forward and not make eye contact. Of course she wasn’t so lucky.
“There’s an Oban called Nuri waiting for you in the gardens.”
As soon as Itotia had uttered the name, Aseara’s eyes grew and she took off running down the hall as fast as she could manage with the basket of clothing. She ran passed a few others who called out to her but she ignored them and kept on going. She made it to the door of the gardens, slammed the door open and stepped into the gardens. She spotted Nuri, dropped the clothing and ran to him throwing her arms open and grabbing him to squeeze as hard as she could.
“Nuri…”
Nuri was back. He’d come back to her. She was so happy that all the pent up emotions from before exploded out of her and she began crying in heavy sobs.
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 1:56 pm
Nuri took the long moment to himself to walk through everything that had just occurred. The Oban in the front seemed against any contact with Aseara, and scoffed a bit when he announced the management. Although not entirely familiar with the process, he had noticed similar actions among some of the females in the army. It often was by those who were weaker...maybe it was a sign of jealousy? It seemed quite aggressive, as if the girl was certain that he was not permitted to see Aseara.
And then, there was the Yaeli. He had only just returned from the island, which had been discovered not a year ago. Was it possible that the race, believed to be fearful, were actually branching out. The girl was a purebred, based on the purple hair and glowing eyes, and she did show signs of fear. Yet she was here, in Afsana's possession and clearly a dancer of some sort.
And, she seemed quite adamant about not hosting him, as if she wasn't actually an entertainer.
Rubbing his shoulder with his free arm, he hardly had the chance to catch the sound of the door slam before he turned and caught the blonde in his arms. Squeezed tightly, all he could do was embrace Aseara as his face was full of her hair, which was surprisingly not up in a fancy design as normal.
His fingers, brushing against her clothing that felt a bit more coarse than usual, he was caught off guard as she began to cry.
Really, all he could do was rub her back and blink owlishly for a long moment, trying to recall how he took care of his sister whenever she came home crying.
"Shh, it's ok. I'm here..." He finally was able to mumble out, holding her a little tighter. So focused was he on Aseara, he didn't notice Itotia peaking around the corner before slowly pulling the door to a close.
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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 2:18 pm
Nothing, absolutely nothing in that moment mattered more to Aseara than being in Nuri’s arms. She couldn’t even hear his voice over her loud sobs but he was there and that’s all that mattered. She cried her eyes and heart out for everything that had happened taking quite a while before her fit began to calm down and she grew quieter and quieter until all that remained was heavy breathing and a quiver in her voice. She wasn’t ready to let go and face him though, not yet. All she wanted to do was stay in silence and embrace his presence.
After the long moments of silence, Aseara finally began to release Nuri slowly from the death grip she’d put him in. She moved back a bit too, wiping her tears away roughly.
“Sorry,” she said softly. She tried to fix her hair, even straighten out her dress before crossing her arms. “A lot has happened since you’ve been gone.”
The urge to spill everything that had happened surfaced but Aseara pushed it down; she didn’t want to bury Nuri in her worries. She wanted to know how his trip had been and hear about all of his adventures.
“How was your journey? Want to sit?” She knew he would have questions for her, surely he could see the lack of pizazz about her. No make-up, hair simply up so that it was out of the way, and Aseara didn’t even want to think about what she was wearing. At this point even if Nuri didn’t want to sit Aseara herself went to sit and curled herself up her knee bouncing up and down rapidly, it was perhaps the only sign that she was holding back from just shouting or breaking down again.
Maybe he would be able to council her on what she should do. Perhaps he had some piece of advice that would help her piece her life back together so she wouldn’t be stuck like this for who knew how long. She hated that her control on her life had been stripped away so easily by Afsana and Janeska. Even if he didn’t help her, him being here did her plenty of good. She felt safer than she had since her demotion.
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 9:36 am
When she didn't seem to respond to his words, Nuri continued to brush his hand on her back, letting her continue. It seemed she needed it more than anything, so he didn't try to pull away. However, it was quite concerning, since he had never seen Aseara in this state, not even when they parted ways last. He may be a bit clueless about the opposite sex, but even he could tell when someone was having a breakdown. The only question was what had caused it in Aseara.
It seemed it wasn't him, as she was all but dragging him to her as if he were a lifeline.
When her hands finally began to release his body, he watched as she pulled back and cleaned up her face. He was silent as she spoke up, his eyes examining her form for the first time as she apologized and gave a small explanation for her state. Yes, a lot has happened.
Despite her loose attempt at reassurance, Nuri could tell something was off. Her eyes were red, but they also held no makeup. Her hair was simple and her outfit looked as if she were a worker, not a dancer. He had never seen her in such a state in all the years he had known her. However, since she had moved forward with the conversation, he determined to not speak up about his observations yet.
As she moved to the ground, he too settled, relaxing and placing his bag to the side. All at once, the air filled with a rattling and the bag seemed to shift, and he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"So far, the journey has been simple. I've returned from Yael and have been permitted a month of leisure until I need to head north toward Zena..." Eyes glancing to the bag, he shifted again and moved to press his palm on it gently. The rattling slowed, as did the wiggling, but a slow hiss seemed to fill the silence, "I've...er...I have brought you a gift from my travels."
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 10:08 am
Running a hand through her hair, Aseara settled down. She hated that he was seeing her like this. They had parted in better terms than they were reconnecting. She wished it wasn’t so and cursed Afsana silently. She hated looking this feeble, hating being unable to do anything. She had to figure out something soon or she would most likely go a little crazier every day. Aseara pushed the thought aside for the moment, later. Right now she wanted to enjoy her moment with Nuri, he looked different, older but definitely just as handsome as he had left. It made her smile.
“Was the journey easy?” Questions bubbled up and she quelled them, she needed to ask them one by one. “A month is a long time; you don’t know how happy I am to see you.” Again she wished it was on better terms but that didn’t matter. He was here, present and in one piece. “Your leaving for Zena?” That was news to her; she had not known he had any interest in Zena. “Why Zena?” She wondered how he would react to the cold atmosphere of Zena. The short time she had spent there had been enough to dissuade her from ever returning.
However, upon the mention of Zena Aseara’s mind also thought about something else. What if she left the Red Amaryllis with Nuri? She had pledged to Afsana that she would never leave, but obviously Afsana hadn’t held up her side of the bargain. A month was more than enough time for her to pack up and leave without leaving a trace. Afsana would look for her but she would not find Aseara, which the Wind girl would make sure of. It could also be fun to spend more time with Nuri and not have to worry about the RA.
Her conscious tugged at her however, Itotia would receive the blunt end of Afsana anger if she did leave. The Yaelian was already in a precarious situation and she would only make it worst for her. Not to forget Afsana would use it as an excuse to tighten her leash on all of the other girls. No, that wasn’t an option either. Aseara could not count of Nuri to save her this time. She had to stand on her own two feet and do it herself. Aseara still wasn’t too sure on what it was that was required of her.
“You have something for me?” Aseara lit up with a smile, her eyes going to the bag and wondering what was making such a noise. Had he brought back something alive for her?! Aseara leaned forward a bit, excited to see what was in store for her.
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 4:25 pm
He attempted to silence the bag as Aseara spoke, not noticing her fidgeting or her concerns for her looks. He was well aware of the line he walked, and wish he had more time to really train the slippery creature in the bag. Hopefully he could do enough this month, as well as spend time with the girl before him.
"It was not a terrible journey, although there were some hiccups along the way. In the end, I was able to bring back a few Yaelian creatures for the army, which was my assignment." He refused to mention him being poisoned by the very creature in his bag, "And yes, I'll be heading through Jauhar, Tale, and Sauti to end up in Zena. If I want to help the army train creatures the right way, I'll need to find them myself..."
The bag seemed to settle, which was a good sign and Nuri grabbed it quickly once more, his eyes finally looking up to catch Aseara's expression. Again, he was curious and concerned about the state of the other girl, "Well...I would need to still train it...but I brought you a creature from Yael..."
Suddenly, the door burst open and Itotia was before them, glaring down with a new type of fear she hardly showed.
"You foolish mainlander. To bring such a creature here, untamed, is going to get someone killed!" Her voice was as much as a hiss as the snake's, but her entrance seemed to have caught it's attention, "Stay back, or else it might dart into the gardens and bite a girl when she is unexpected...if we are lucky, it'll be Afsana."
Shooing them with a glare, she slowly went to her knees, and Nuri looked confused and offended before glancing at Aseara for an explanation of the girl's behavior. All the while, the yaeli refused to break eye contact with the Keldari.
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Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 2:10 pm
“I’m glad to hear it,” Aseara nodded once giving him a smile. “I am looking forward to the day that you finally settle down.” She understood that he enjoyed traveling and taming beasts, she could never take that away from him and didn’t want to. She was just hoping that one day they could have children together and finally live in the same space. That would be nice.
“Ah creature?” She exclaimed loudly, shock and surprise on her features. Where was she going to keep it? Was it dangerous… It was from Yaeli how reliable was it? “Is it dangerous…?” Aseara eyed the bag, the sounds coming from it weren’t exactly all too encouraging.
As the pink thing slithered out, Aseara oved back just a little more. It definitely looked dangerous even though it was beautiful, but she wouldn’t be able to keep it unless it was trained. She was glad to know he’d brought along a remedy, though she was going to go through all the precautions not to get bitten. Aseara didn’t want to deal with the poison ad being out of play for a few days nor did she want to explain any scars that a bite might leave behind.
“What is it called?”
When the door opened, Aseara sat straight up as fast as she could and turned only to see it was Itotia. She relaxed then, sighing heavily as she eyed the Yaelian girl deal with her gift. It didn’t endear her anymore to Aseara.
“That’s Itotia, resident Yaelian thanks to Afsana,” Aseara groaned a little. “And I’m also training her. Excuse her manners.” The latter was more so directed at Itotia for not only eavesdropping on them but bursting into the gardens and forgetting all decorum. So much work out the window. “Itotia this is Nuri, a beast tamer.” She put the emphasis on his profession before taking a seat.
“This is the kind of thing I have to deal with,” Aseara waved her arm in Itotia’s direction. “Never listens and it’s going to get me into more trouble.”
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Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 9:53 am
Nuri's eyes were trained on the Yaeli, watching her actions as she moved closer to the no-longer hissing snake. He had met one before, with dark skin and glowing eyes, and was left with the impression that they absolutely hated anything to do with the main land. To see one here, deep in the heart of Oba, was a but of a surprise to say the least. Add in the fact that she was easily calming such a creature left him feeling a bit stumped.
"...It is a keldari..." he finally answered, not seeing the reaction Aseara had to Itotia's arrival as he was just as entranced as the snake, focused on exactly how she was able to calm the skittish creature. After a long moment, he realized her glowing eyes were the main focus of the snake, and deduced that it had some sort of magical effect.
"...it seems she is trying to help, Aseara." He responded gently, finally looking back at the wind girl as he rubbed his face as a sign of thought, "Nothing I tried has really calmed the beast, outside of being in the dark and away from sight...but she is..." He gestured too toward the yaeli, and her eyes, as Itotia cooed and finally picked up the snake.
His mouth dropped slightly and his brows raised.
"Listen to me, Aseara. This creature is sacred, and a foolish mistake will get you killed..."
When the snake began to rattle once more, Itotia turned her eyes back toward its face, before gently leading it back into the bag and sealing it, "And my manners are helping keep your little secret rendezvous away from the ears of Afsana...you are lucky I'm here otherwise he would be stuck out front with no where to go... "
Rubbing her hands, she moved back toward the door with one last direction to keep the Keldari sealed, before shutting it completely and leaving them in silence.
Nuri, after a long moment, finally turned back to Aseara. He kept silent as if hesitant, before finally asking, "...what exactly has happened since I've been gone?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:22 am
“A keldari,” Aseara repeated eyeing the creature, the name of it was going to be burned into her mind for a very long time. “Do I have to give it a name? Would it respond to a name?” How trained could it be? Aseara had her reservations about the whole thing, it didn’t look like it could every like her and Itotia seemed to be doing better with it than even Nuri. Could such a thing be trusted? She’d never had any pets before and to be given one so dangerous on her first time… Aseara didn’t’ know if she could handle it.
“It certainly would be the first time,” the wind girl said a little sourly when Nuri said Itotia was helping. She also didn’t know why Itotia was helping, he’d have to ask her that when they were alone. She would concede to the fact that Itotia was going to have to help her with the creature where Nuri could not and she really didn’t like the idea. She gave no answer to Itotia about her keeping their secret, again she didn’t know why Itotia was helping her but she was going to have to ask because she didn’t want to be in debt to her.
Once Itotia was gone, Aseara sighed heavily.
“A lot of things have happened,” she’d began to sound irritated but calmed herself down. “Where do you want me to start?” She said softly.
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Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:27 am
Nuri was no fool. He could tell something major had shifted with the woman beside him. The question was how to approach it. Aseara seemed quite sour, especially around the Yaeli. She was acting sharp, clearly frustrated with something. As any good man, Nuri hesitated to even push her when she asked for his direction; he'd seen enough arguments between his parents to understand how a woman worked when upset or angered.
Yes, Aseara had gone through much, and Nuri could feel the tension and the cliff he stood on. If he asked, he might open up an issue that would spoil their reunion...but if he didn't, her entire demeanor would weigh heavily in his thoughts in the weeks and months to come.
"From the beginning..." He finally responded, taking her hand in his and gently brushing his thumb against her knuckles like he had done before they left. He was here for her, and he was willing to listen, but he knew it was up to her to share.
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Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:53 am
Aseara gave Nuri a small smile and placed her other hand on his. She did need to tell someone or she would explode and she didn’t want to explode. She wanted to keep her mind and self together and figure things out. Nuri was here and he was her best chance of doing just that. Aseara took a breath to calm her mind and then unwrapped everything that had transpired in the Red Amaryllis since he’d been gone.
“Afsana left me in charge for about a year, I think I had told you this before you left. I was really happy and extremely glad that she’d done so, perhaps there was still hope that she would leave the Red Amaryllis to me if I did a good job. I really pushed myself to make the RA a better place. Everyone was happy, everyone was making good money. No complaints, there was just nothing going wrong…” Except for one tiny little thing that exploded in her face of course which was her undoing but even so Aseara would not have done anything different.
“The RA has strict rules, if you start lagging behind you will be left behind… You’re not allowed to get pregnant. Afsana says that she brought us here for our career and we should focus on such a thing, not poach her clients. Well someone did get pregnant but I simply could not bring myself to kick her out. How could I? Leaving her and her child out on the street like that? It’s cruel Nuri and it should not happen.” It was a cruel fate she did not wish on anyone, Aseara would never do such a thing to anyone.
“I didn’t tell Afsana bout her and of course she found out about the baby when she got back. Found out how I had been lying to her and well I think she decided to make an example of me. She was so furious. She kicked out the pregnant girl and her child, kicked out the girl who had been doing not so well and then stripped me of rank completely. She gave me Itotia to train and I haven’t been able to dance or see clients since then.” It had been a really bad time for her, even now Aseara tried not to cry again.
“I was stuck on cleaning duty, everyone hates me, and worst of all Itotia was not been a piece of cake. Everyone dislikes her, she’s smart but our lessons always end up with us bickering over something. And then I come to find out that Afsana actually kidnapped her off the mainland to bring her here! I promised that I’d send her back home if we worked together to take over the RA, but she refuses. So now I am stuck taking care of her until she can see clients on her own and even then I don’t know if I’ll be able to go back to dancing or if Afsana as stripped me forever.” Aseara sighed.
“That’s pretty much it. Here I am.”
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Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 4:59 pm
It was silent well after Aseara finished as Nuri contemplated all she had to say, his finger still gently brushing across her own. He wasn't sure where to start, or even if he could start anywhere. Instead, he let the silence linger as he wondered what he could even say. Was it worth apologizing, or maybe it was better to just motivate her. Shifting, he finally looked up into her eyes and offered a small smile.
"Here you are."
Gods, it sounded so pathetic, and he leaned his head back to let out a huff. So far, Aseara really wasn't a stressful person to be around. She kept herself hidden away, to focus on the now and not the issues. This was really the first time he heard such distress from the woman before him.
"It sounds like you need a strategy. If you won everyone over once, I'm sure you can do it again. Beside, I doubt a yaeli would come out here and tame a keldari if she didn't care."
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Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 5:04 pm
Here you are? What was that supposed to mean? That she had survived this long? That she’d made it through some hellish year and some and was still living? It wasn’t very comforting and Aseara gave Nuri a look that told him so. It wasn’t exactly the kind of response she had expected of him, but she wasn’t going to stress over it, she already had enough to stress about anyways. She didn’t expect him to understand the politics of the Red Amaryllis and that was okay too, he was from the military, not a dancer.
She needed a plan, something concrete that would get her motivated again.
“I don’t know, I supposed I could. The people here are still a mad at me so I’ll have to give that time. Merchants I don’t know what I could offer them… That leaves me with clients, which surprisingly might be the most helpful.” She made a face again; those that were loyal to her would back her up. It was trying to convince the others to do the same thing.
“As for Itotia…” Aseara sighed. “I don’t know what to think of her honestly. I don’t know what to do with her either.”
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Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 5:44 pm
At her look, he sheepishly glanced down, cursing under his breath at how terrible he was at dealing with this type of situation. Of course he would fumble over it and mess it up. This wasn't a janarim or a radaku, this was Aseara and he needed to not mess this up again. Not when they had such little time to be together and she seemed to need him so much more than before.
"If you are having issues...and Itotia is also having issues...maybe there are others too who are in the same place. Trapped by the fear or the corruption. Fear forces many to put on a bold face, but if you can find a way to approach them in a safe environment, maybe those allies are still waiting for a change. You might just need to be the leader who they can stand behind." He offered softly, looking down at their hands before lifting his own to her cheeks.
"I've met many who rule like Afsana, through fear and expectations. Those types of rulers hold no loyalty, and are often the ones that fall the hardest. Happiness, comfort, security...by providing those things you can make your strongest allies..." His lopsided smile almost seemed a bit childish, as he teasingly added, "...it's a lot like taming a wild creature...you get farther with kindness than you do with danger."
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