Nightmare Sanctuary (Ended) Chyril 25th

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

Voices…

Shouts…

Pain…

Fire…

Aerin twisted in anguish, her body burning.

But it was not an external fire which burned her skin – Aerin’s hellflames came from within. Aerin twisted and flexed in misery, agony painted on her features as the mottled scenes of her evening played over and over in her mind. Hands that looked almost skeletal due to the knuckles being so white and the skin stretched so tight over bone clutched as her clothes as invisible ants threatened to eat her alive.

Burning…

Consuming…

Her mind could think of nothing but the flames…

A scream attempted escape, its tunnel to freedom sealed off as her throat constricted, unseen hands holding a tight grasp on her airway.

Choking…

Strangling…

It was in the midst of this silent scream that Aerin ‘awoke’, her physical body going completely limp as horrific memories drove her deeper into dreams – Aerin searching desperately for escape, if even for a moment.

Eyes as wide, frightened, and seemingly as innocent as a deer’s flung themselves open as Aerin sat bolt upright upon a bed, her broken hand whole once more and clutched tightly to her chest as if to still the rapid hammering, the other clutched to her mouth lest the scream escape...

She looked around the room for a flicker or two, the scream finally dripping through the spaces within her fingers as recognition set in. The place was Dart’s, an inn that recurred often within her darkest nightmares but the ‘pub of the damned’ had not done so in yahren.

Alone in the semi-lit room, she screamed…

And screamed…

And screamed…

[Langredoc]

It made a clear sound when the man landed on the stones. His weaponry made metallic sounds and the fully in chain mail armoured man. He was covered in weapons, a twohander besides a long and short sword hang on his back. A other short sword was on his belt. His helmet was not on

The man was a tat confused, time and place where not clear so he blamed the "Red Warrior " for what seemed to to a dark hell of screaming women...

Women... screaming.. His eyes flipped downwards to watch the woman who screamed until her voice gave way.

So with the ringing sound of metal on metal Langredoc pulled his longsword free. Something should be very wrong.. and he did not want to be late for that..

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

Eyes that were already impossibly wide widened even further at the sight of the strange...beast...which had seemed to simply drop from mid-air at the foot of her bed. Large white feathery wings fluttered in frightened response - the avian attachments a common adornment of her dream form - as she practically stood up in bed and backed away from the man.

Never before had she seen him and, until her screams gave way, she would probably never hear him.

Hands rose between them, as if the fragile flesh could somehow sheild her from that horrible blade...

[Langredoc]

Langredoc searched the shadows for danger, a bit surprised that his gut feeling did not shout any warning about pending doom... So for a few flickers he actually ignored the now more or less silent woman.

Wings... wings ?... Wings.... Nether wings !!, the man's eyes flashed back towards the woman.. yes she was still a woman with wings..

The stepped back, not sure what those wings mend. Watching her trying to shield from something made him raise a eyebrow. It seemed that the only danger in this room for the woman came from him,, a tat irritating.

So the sword turned in his hand and the end of the blade touched the ground with a metalik sound. He would not place the weapon away until he was sure that everything was save.

"Lady, I dont hope you scream because of me, because then your wasting your breath..." he drylee remarked.

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

Her feet lifted from the bed as he moved the blade, her wings opening wider and flapping harder even though they were wholly incapable of flight. No, it had been the bounciness of the mattress and her own leg reflexes which had caused the 'lift', her bare foor landing upon the stone floor beside the bed, her hands still between them.

And then he spoke.

For such a 'nightmarish creature', his words were almost calm and soothing, short and simplistic in design and execution, ripping away the nightmare mask that he had initially worn with the image of a man who seemed more...real.

"Wh-who are you?" Aerin stammered, lowering her hands slowly in case his comment about wasting her breath was some sort of cleverly veiled threat that no-one was around to hear her cries. "Am I...?" Aerin looked at her hands and flexed them, as if never noticing them before. She had always had a bit of a problem recalling her dreams in the waking world, which lent to her never equating the wings with dreams, but she almost never had a problem recalling waking memories in the Aether.

"I... I was near a fountain..." she began, her ability to hold or finish a complete thought eluding her.

"Are... Are you.... Dominicus?" she asked, one eyebrow scrunched down far enough to nearly close the eye it adorned, the other arched high enough to make it stand nearly vertical. Aerin began to wonder if her father had been right after all and if she had, unknowingly, passed on in her sleep and arrived in her personal Nether for not believing.

[Langredoc]

Langredoc watched with interest how the "woman" did rise up from the bed. He had never seen something, nor someone like that.

Naked... interesting he rubbed his chin.. and wondered why she was naked. A quick glance at his surroundings told Langredoc that this was a room, people could do whatever they wanted in rooms, even be naked.

"Wh-who are you?" she said, clearly shocked and the man wanted to answer but then she already went on "I... I was near a fountain...".. what made him close his mouth again. What the Nether was going on ?

"Are... Are you.... Dominicus?" those words made his eyebrow almost go through the roof of the place.

Dominicus.... he thought.... why Dominicus ?? It could be worse but not much worse... He was asked by a naked.. feathered.. woman if he was a God... tempting... but only for a flicker.

"I am Langredoc, nothing more, nothing less.. If you search for someone to worship... well sorry, wrong person. By the way, are you always naked ?" He asked with a smile while he placed the weapon back where it came from.

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

“Nake…NOOO!” Aerin asked, looking down at herself with a startled look – it was almost surreal how a face that could not look more horrified and shocked managed to do so with each passing flicker since her awakening. Quickly, she shielded herself upon noticing how right he was, one hand splayed over a dark red triangle of hair, the other cupping over the breast and nipple farthest from it while maneuvering the forearm to cover the nipple of the other. Almost savagely, her eyes scanned the room looking for even a scrap of cloth to cover herself with, her desire to be seen nude by strange men strangely muted – rape tended to do that.

But, of course, it was a nightmare for her. The demonic pub, the strange man, and the fact that the bare mattress, bare wardrobe, and bare hooks offered her no silken solace whatsoever.

“Lang… Lang…” she fumbled on his name, crossing her legs at the thighs and stooping lower, her wings trying their hardest to wrap around her front to shield her and failing by design. “Whoever you are… What are you doing here? What am I doing here? Wh…why can’t you avert your eyes or something? Maybe help me find some clothes?” she asked, her gut swimming with the nauseating idea that this nightmare would probably never offer up a stitch, not even from its principal actor.

[Langredoc]

It was interesting to watch all the phases of horror and shame passing on the face of the "woman", it also made clear that she was not used nor wanted to be naked.

So Langredoc balanced the chance of her being dangerous and actually playing on his protectiveness against her being honest...

Her questions came out so fast that the man not even tried to answer them until she had partially repaired her own dignity..

When she was finally finished he came to the conclusion that she was not playing a game and turned away but not further then that he could still see her movements, if he really wanted too. His arms crossed he studied relaxed the walls of this room and wondered how he had arrived here anyway. Still there were some answers to be given so he did.

"Langredoc... I don't know what I do here... You are here standing in a room.. I just moved ... I don't have a cloak so unless you want the shirt that I wear, because I don't see my backpack here. Besides that do I not understand why you make such a fuss about being naked. Everybody is like that anyway when they have no clothing on."

He smiled towards the wall, not everybody looked that good naked, though. Feathers did nothing to spoil the effect.

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

Aerin listened to his answers, growing less and less flushed as his seemingly calm demeanor strangely put her more and more at ease, her frown remaining put as he could only offer his own shirt because taking his clothes to make herself feel more comfortable felt wrong somehow.

Her hands seemed to relax as he continued talking, her eyes taking him in now that both sword and apparent danger were gone. He was so…huge… in comparison to the winged redhead and his hair reminded her of the way Rat used to wear his. In fact, a lot of him reminded her of Rat and she gave his answers – although cryptic – room among her thoughts along with the eerily familiar room and the missing clothing.

The whole thing seemed so surreal, almost as if it were a…

“…ohhhh…” Aerin suddenly and quietly breathed. I needed a hero – a protector – a man to show me strength without using it against me, so I dreamed Langredoc. Strange that I would call him that… He sees me as nude – defenseless and vulnerable – but is okay with that, as if he’s always known and accepts it without judging… I wonder what else this dream holds? Aerin wondered as she completely relaxed her arms and stepped around the bed toward him, her hand reaching for his elbow if he allowed it.

It was her dream, she figured, and if he was comfortable with her nudity then so was she…

“I am Aerin…” she offered, as if this figment of her imagination did not already know his creator’s name. “Shall we see if we can find anything to drink?” She asked, feeling that even though clothing did not exist, certainly a cask of wine, ale, or both (and more) did somewhere within her dreamscape…her nightmare sanctuary. “And maybe you can tell me the meaning of your name?, she added after giving him a bit of time to answer the drink question.

[Langredoc]

It took a while, Langredoc could not resist to check the position of the woman while she seemed to watch his back. He concluded that she was trying to figure something out. Still he did not have the feeling that he was in danger so he just waited, trying to explain his existence here. He gave up soon enough en just blamed the Red Warrior, drawing the conclusion that there where a lot worse things in life then being stranded in a room with a very good looking, naked woman, who had as a added bonus some very exotic white wings.

The tension in the room seemed to flow away and be replaced by something else, Langredoc wondered about what that something else was when the woman slowly moved towards and touched his arm. He became tense until it was clear that she had no intention harm him, so he just turned his head a bit. He became curious about what the woman actually wanted..

“I am Aerin…” she said, and the man nodded in confirmation.. he tasted the name searching in his memories if he had ever heard of someone or something with that name, alas nothing came up.

“Shall we see if we can find anything to drink?” she followed up... words that send Langredocs eyebrows sky high... he actually rarely drank alcohol, and if he did not much. Still it did sound good to him, interesting times he thought.

"Well, I would not mind to have some wine......." he slowly said while wondering where the woman actually wanted to find something to drank, the place was fully bare as far as he could see.

Then she said “And maybe you can tell me the meaning of your name?" a question that nobody ever asked the warrior before... so he took a few flickers to think about it, his mother had given him that name and he had never actually thought about it.

So after quite a few flickers he responded thoughtfully "Its me, a man born to be his own master...."

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

"Well, I would not mind to have some wine......."

Aerin nodded and opened the bedroom door, her body emerging first into the hallway a segment at a time, her fingers curling around doorframe, followed by carefully searching eyes, making sure that no other scares awaited her in the passageway. Face and leg followed next as if she were taking great pains to drip her nude form into the hallway as carefully as possible. She smiled when she saw an archway down the hall with a soft glow coming from it. All she had ever remembered of this recurring dreamscape was a feeling – never any true details save for a flicker here and there, but her gut told her that there would be wine there.

"Its me, a man born to be his own master...."

Yeah… Sounds like something I would dream up… Aerin thought with a smirk as her breasts managed to peek into the hallway themselves with their dark, perky eyes staring sightlessly ahead as her remaining arm and leg, her hips and finally her wings followed. She was still a bit nervous about the continued nudity, but there was something very liberating about it at the same time. Aerin shivered and smiled as an invisible tongue of cool midsummer air snaked down the throat of the dimly-lit hallway and licked her exposed skin from head to toe, bringing slight goose bumps to almost all places in between.

Aerin shot a playfully flirtatious look over her shoulder, her wings pressing close together in order to allow her face to be seen, spirited strands of crimson curls swaying with the motion. “This way, handsome… follow the bouncing butt...” she cooed mirthfully, allowing her hips to sway naturally as she began the trek toward to pub commons.

[Langredoc]

When Aerin opened the door Langredoc turned to face it and as usual in one fast catlike move. In his mind doors had the special quality of hiding things... Not that he could see much with Aerin standing in front of the opening, now clearly less ashamed of exposing herself to him.
That was a good thing in many ways to Langredoc. It did little to bring his guard down, but added a lot to creating a good atmosphere... this could have been a dream the way things went.

“This way, handsome… follow the bouncing butt...” said with a voice that made his blood jump in temperature close towards boiling. Still, it also added a bit to his awareness, it went to easy to fast. So his eyes searched for hidden danger and found none ........yet. Even his gut feelings seemed to take a break so everything should be as it looked. A sensual woman asking him to follow with promise of a drink... a dream ?

With a few fast moving steps Langredoc entered the hall and positioned himself besides the "Woman"

"No need to follow, just show me where to go, laughing eyes are good enough for that." He had a thoughtful smile on his face still it was clear that he enjoyed her vision. The man just hoped that she would not guide him as the saying went "To Nether and back..."

To Langredoc luck was how you made it, and with his piercing green eyes focused on Aerin he sided with her, what was a very interesting encounter... moving towards whatever it was, wherever it was and so good looking that it was almost divine... Life could be worse... much worse..

[Yelena Kintessia]

Silence. The adhiel girl opened her eyes to a very spacious, very empty room. She was sitting in a wooden chair, her elbow resting on the table and her hand giving rest to her chin. The other arm held a fairly thin book with a green cover and lined with golden thread. There were many tables and chairs, scattered throughout the area symmetrically in front of the lengthy counter with the tall stools. It was odd. Past the counter there were various wines and spirits aligned on shelves and displayed in glass windowed cabinets. How could a place like this be empty?

Yelena slowly rose from her chair, closing the book and started towards the counter. As she was running her hand over the smooth wood walking by, her eyes wandered about the various wines gauging their worthiness. In her mind it wasn't stealing. She was already in the pub and a good book could use a nice wine accompaniment. She settled on a nice Kislovani Red. With a quick pop the beverage was in a glass and Yelena returned to her seat and began to read.

In a few burns, her ears twitched slightly at the hint of a sound. I wasn't a sound; not a sound she could directly hear. Boing... boing... Bouncing? She peered back and forth at the doors to the room.

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

"No need to follow, just show me where to go, laughing eyes are good enough for that."

Aerin let forth a small bubbling laugh which came from the heart, more of her initial dread fading with every moment. As far as figments of her imagination went, he was one of the best that she had ever dreamed and she tried to put aside all thoughts of what could be happening within the waking world to warrant this dark place and such a lighthearted companion. Leading him without leading him, as he requested – Aerin turned through the archway and stepped boldly into the large dining and drinking area of Dart’s, her suspicions of the bar’s lack of occupants seemingly incorrect as she spied a young Adhiel woman sitting at a table all alone with a book and a bottle of wine.

Must be my studious nature – I really do need to study soon…study like an Adhiel, from what I seem to be telling myself… Aerin thought with a smile as she continued to move toward the table.

“Hello…” she announced softly as not to startle this new imaginary creature. “I am Aerin and this is Langredoc…” Aerin continued, giving a little bow coupled with a small soft flap of her wings. “I will get the glasses if we may join you…” she finished, giving a nod of her head toward the bottle. “…for wine tastes best when sipped with a smile, yes?” Aware that her mind may have other plans for Langredoc’s role, she looked at him to see if he did want a larger communion or to convey whatever message he had been created to deliver in a more private setting.

[Langredoc]

The place was ..interesting.. and so much better then the frozen waste of Trothgard filled with women with the need to control men and men filled with the urge to break free from the control and break the women while becoming free, What a waste....

Langredoc watched Aerin fluttering around him while she found their way towards wherever.
Wherever turned out to be a dining room, a large dining room and not totally empty.. a pretty adhiel lady was sitting in a wooden chair near a table. Before he could do anything Aerin was already speaking. He had to atmid the woman's lips were faster then many swords he had seen. So the man just nodded when she mentioned his name.

The girl seemed harmless enough so he checked out the further surroundings for things he would like or not.

He wanted to ask Aerin what this place was, his eyes returning to the woman beside him. It irked him that he did not know where he was. Still questions had to wait until the scenery was clear. Langredoc waited for the response of the adhiel lady.

[Yelena Kintessia]

Yelena was startled when the door opened. Not because of the door itself, but because of the woman that walked out. She was naked and had a pair of feathery wings. Yelena gave a look of half wonder, half confusion. She thought her mind was playing tricks on her. Thea? No... Nevertheless, as she examined the clothesless being she uncontrollably licked her own lips. Yelena set down the book and her glass of wine. This must be the cause of the bounce. Yelena eyes followed the woman's face like a magnet. The smile as she inched closer and closer to the table.

“Hello… I am Aerin and this is Langredoc… I will get the glasses if we may join you, for wine tastes best when sipped with a smile, yes?”

Yelena was glad that the pub was not totally empty. The little flap as she bowed caused Yelena to grin. It was so cute. Aerin and Langredoc... What two people? She looked past the angelic figure to see an armor clad man standing behind her. She looked away for a moment, it was obvious she was quite mesmerized by the woman before her.

“Ah yes, hello Aerin and Langredoc,” she said cheerfully, “It would be much more fun to enjoy with company.” She motioned for them to join her. “I am Yelena, nice to meet you two.”

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

Aerin nodded in reply and gave Langredoc a small bow following, excusing herself for a few flickers to the bar to fetch glasses for herself and Langredoc, as well as another bottle ‘just in case’. As she was searching the bar, the redhead’s eyes surveyed her new companions from afar, a small bit of concern edging its way into her mind as she also took in the room. She could not remember what it was about this room – nor the pub entirely – that caused the hair to stand up on the nape of her neck.

But it did…

Her hands were a bit shaky as she walked back to the table and placed the bottle upon the rough surface, followed by the glasses. Annd…sit. she playfully reminded herself, her body at a perfect standstill but her breasts rising slightly as her wings lifted and opened. In the waking world, she probably could never have imagined fooling with the wings, but they felt so natural in Aether, a simple flex of her back muscles later, she was able to lower herself into her seat without sitting on her wings or getting them entangled in the chair backing.

Only when the cool wood was supporting her full weight did Aerin close the half-opened wings, the feathered appendages relaxing back into a relaxed pose. With a silent smile, Aerin picked up the already opened bottle of wine and filled all three glasses back to a proper level, allowing Langredoc the honor of breaking the silence once more as she tended to their drinks.

[Langredoc]

The thoughts about Trothgard had a strange side effect, Suddenly the huge leather with fur cloak was hanging again from his left side. It startled the man for a moment, then he decided to accept it. This was made easy by watching the two women, one with a face that reflected her attention for the naked woman who was now getting the drinks. The situation made Langredoc laugh, a pleasant but roaring laughter, the first time in many a month, and it felt very good.

After wiping away the tears he said "Glad to meet you Yelena. And what brings you to this place, wherever it may be." A warm smile blossomed on his face, when he released some of his normal alertness. His eyes lingered away watching Aerin preparing the glasses of wine and seated herself, a pleasant sight indeed.

He was not comfortable enough to seat himself.

.

[Yelena Kintessia]

"Glad to meet you Yelena. And what brings you to this place, wherever it may be."

Yelena watched Langredoc as he chuckled and smile at Aerin and herself, but she noticed that he didn't immediately come over to join them. She lifted a glass to her nose to gather in the fruity scent the red drink gave off while tilting her head as she looked at the knightly man. “I have no knowledge of why I am in this place Langredoc, but it relieves me to see that I am not the only one around,” she motioned for him to come over, “Please, sit with us.”

The emerald eyes wandered back and forth between the two people, setting themselves on the winged woman just a bit longer than the man. Mesmerizing... She shook her head once to clear it because she wanted to ask a question. She had no idea what was going on.

“Do either of you know what or where this place is?” resting her chin upon her hand she continued to delightfully stare at the two.

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

“Do either of you know what or where this place is?”

A flicker of nightmares past flashed in Aerin’s mind at the question, the vision of a portly man gutted and dead upon his very own food preparation table, the flesh from his chest and stomach sliced and peeled back in strips from sternum to side and individually fried until the taste of his own cooked flesh had painted his tongue vie the paintbrush that was odor, the process performed again and again until he had finally fallen into the sleep which soon became unending. The man’s loss of consciousness had not deterred his attacker who had continued on his or her quest to prepare the man’s entire being as a buffet for whatever daemons wished to dine there.

It was this final visual and the man’s name which remained burned into Aerin’s mind. The memory was very vivid, very fresh, and yet wholly inaccessible in her waking thoughts. “Dart’s.” Aerin answered somewhat curtly, forcefully blinking away the image. “Dart’s Pub – I know not where it is, but I have been here before.” Aerin’s eyes moved back and forth from Yelena to Langredoc as she wondered why these manifestations were forcing her to explain her surroundings.

"Where do either of you think that we are?"

[Langredoc]

Langredoc's eyes concluded that nobody besides them was actually in this place and he concentrated on the questions that the two women asked.

The warrior was reading something strange in Aerin's eye's, she had seemed so sure of everything and now something that could be fear or insecurity seemed to start blossoming in it.

It pulled the man back into his better be save then sorry mood. Still there where questions to be answered, so he bowed slightly towards Yelena and said "Well Lady Yelena, I apologise for my behaviour, but as far as I know I was resting against a tree in the frozen waste lands of Trothgard, beside the wounded body of one of the Witches who live there, and I was pondering over where to go next. A few flickers later I was here... and I am not a person who trusts easily, my life has proven to be to ... vulnerable and dangerous for that." The man turned his head towards Aerin and resumed.. "So no Lady Aerin, I don't know this place. I first assumed that it could be Citadel, because I was planning to move there, and the Gods would have intervened for some odd reason . But it does not look like the stories I did hear about it."

The man rubbed his chin and moved closer to the table, as a soft barking sound came from inside of his heavy cloak. Langredoc moved his hand in the cloak and it came out with a small wolf cup. The little animal was happy to be released and yelped and moved around trying to lick the warrior and express its care.

The man sighed and placed the little furrie on the ground near him, were it happily snuggled up and played round his cloak. "Its good little one." Langredoc said.and suddenly the man knew where he was... Aerther... the world of dream...or something.. The appearance of the cloak and the wolf cup confirmed the stories of this mystical realm that according to some existed between the waking world and that of the dead. Many a story was told at fireplaces about it. Not all of them had good endings.. None of them spoke of winged women..

"Aether.. we are in Aether" the tall warrior said as much to himself as too the women..

[Yelena Kintessia]

When Yelena heard Langredoc answer Aerin's question first, she was perplexed. He was in Trothgard, resting on a tree? When she thought about it, she remembered that she was most likely sleeping on a ship headed for the Citadel. Yelena sipped the glass of wine as Langredoc pulled a baby wolf out from under his cloak. What? It was really odd that that would happen, that she had just appeared in this pub, there was a red-headed angel and a knightly man pulling wolf cubs from his cloak. What is this place?

"Aether.. we are in Aether."

It took a few flickers but the pieces clicked in Yelena's mind. The Aether... That would explain some of the unrealistic and unexplainable nuances. It would explain why Langredoc and she remember that they were resting somewhere before waking into this pub. However what remained unexplained was the situation of the woman before her. The winged Aerin.

“My answer is similar to Langredoc's. I am also traveling to the Citadel but by way of the sea. I remember that I was resting in the ship...” Yelena brushed back some loose strands of blond hair. “However Aerin, I would like to know how you are in the Aether.”

With another sip of the glass she awaited an answer.

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

Aerin listened to their stories with interest – it was truly amazing what a mind fevered with both fright and pain could invent. Her dark, mysterious hero, Langredoc – from a foreign land as all good heroes often are. The personification of her studious self from a far-off land as well, both resting before being ‘captured by the nude redhead’s imagination. How funny.

“However Aerin, I would like to know how you are in the Aether.”

Aerin gave a chuckle at the request, taking a small sip of her wine before answering, the taste of the turned grapes lingering upon her tongue long after the mouthful of fluid was gone. “In the Aether?” Aerin asked, wishing that she had some tobacco. “I’ve seen the Aether…” she continued, rising from her chair with a smile to grab a candle from a nearby wall – if this were a dream and she had some control, then her plan would work.

“…and this is not how I saw it…” she continued as she dripped a glob of wax onto the center of the table. “You should know better than I…” she told Yelena as she set the candle aside and started molding the wax with her hands, concentration glazed on her face and her left hip brushing Langredoc’s arm as she worked.

“…that it looks like this, only allllll over…” she finished, standing upright and crossing her arms under her breasts triumphantly as two small wax figurines moved with a life of their own upon the wood, their primarily featureless bodies engaged in slow, yet fierce, lovemaking.

“Aether? No this… This…” Aerin smiled “…is just a dream…” She studied the puppy inquisitively, feeling safe once again in the surrealism of the moment as she scratched it behind the ear, wondering what role the puppy played in her fantasy. “In reality, I am in great pain, I think, although I don’t know why I can’t feel it here…”

In a move that would probably be appreciated more by Langredoc than Yelena, unless her tastes swayed that way, Aerin gave an apathetic shrug which moved her bosom substantially before she took her seat once more in search of the wine.

“I do not suppose that either of you have something to smoke, do you?” she asked with a smile.

[Langredoc]

His head tilted, and his eyes focused on Aerin Langredoc tried to make a picture out of Aerin's words.. He watched the show Aerin created and had to admit that he would not complain if she, what she actually already had done, would offer herself to him.

Still it was clear that the woman assumed that he was not real, a creation of her own imagination... it was a compliment of some sort. He just hoped that the woman was not crazy, that would be a slight dent in his self esteem.

He enjoyed the touch of the "woman" still it worried him. He was worried about what would happen when the woman realised that this was more or less real. Still her trick with the wax was not something he could do, Aether was not his thing... He had only slight memories and they all included death and fighting. His left hand dropped by instinct on the hilt of the short sword dangling on his hip. On the same time he brushed with his right hand over Aerin's back right between her wings...

The little wolf was clearly enjoying her attention, trying to bite her fingers while she rubbed his tummy. He made funny playing sounds while hunting the woman's fingers.

"Aerin ? What would be prove to you that I am not just a part of your dreamy imagination ? And if I would be a part, why did you call me ?" the warrior asked the woman with a soft smile on his face.

[Keaira Morgandy]

The night was cool and pleasant, but breezy, sending soft shivers darting over the girl's delicate flesh as she pulled slowly and patiently at the rope of the well. After a few burns the slosh of water met her ears with each tug, and within a few more flickers she was fetching the bucket, pouring the water from it into another. All the while she hummed, a slow and peaceful tune that spoke of patience and comfort. With the handle of the bucket in one hand and a worn rag in the other, Keaira made her way through the back door of the kitchen, walking quietly past the cookery and the pots and pans, past the knives and butchering axes, past the rows of wine and barrels of ale. Her humming came faintly through the crack of the door behind the bar, and soon a body followed the tune, walking out of the door to pause suddenly. The young girl faced the three patrons, her facial features clearly expressing surprise. After all, the pub had been empty only a moment ago.

Her skin was the creme color of porcelain and similar in texture, drawn perfectly over the bones of her curvaceous frame in the delightful way which the flesh of youth tended to be: smooth, free of wrinkles and the tell-tale signs of age. Her eyes were large and impossibly blue, made wider with curiosity and shock, long black lashes lined darkly with kohl framing them prettily and drawing out the azure hue. Her long raven hair was pulled behind her back, and a white kerchief was tied around her head -- that alone revealing that she had intended to do some cleaning.

She wore a simple white shirt that looked a might bit too large for her frame, its sleeves slipping off her rounded shoulders. It was held in place by a dark blue corset, laced tightly up the front, which served both to secure the shirt and, perhaps without intention, to push the supple curves of her breasts upward, emphasizing their presence. Low on the wide curve of her hips a white apron was loosely tied, beneath which a cream-colored skirt hung down to the delicate curves of her ankles, her small feet bare. The skirt was worn at the bottom, bits of fabric brushing against the floor. In her right hand she held a bucket of water, an old cloth in her left.

Despite her simple outfit, however, the girl was beautiful in the light that innocence brings, and after a few long flickers of staring her pouty lips parted, and she spoke in high, almost childlike tones. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize anyone was here..." Her eyes were on the nude redhead with wings, and a soft flush of pink hue was creeping slowly into the paleness of her cheeks.