A New Day (Jygyst 31 Early TT Open)

[Ashleigh Silvertree]

Ashleigh was a little disappointed in herself, she came to the Citadel to find a master blacksmith and learn their trade. Though her first day had been spent doing nothing but drinking, attempting to find the courage to find her master. Well the only thing she managed to find was a cot and a hangover. She couldn't even remember the name of the inn or tavern. The only thing she could remember were bits and pieces of a surreal dream.

Putting her stupidity behind her the wanna be smith readied herself for the upcoming day. Dressed in her usual shirt, jerkin and breeches, Ash had set out of the nameless inn with the intent of finding herself a blacksmith. The reality was that she was just wandering aimlessly. For most of morningtide the achadhiel had wandered, not finding anything that caught her eye.

Grabbing a bench around tradetide, Ash set her satchel at her feet. Rubbing the bridge of her nose to help ease the remnants of her hangover, she'd let out a small sigh of irritation. Opening her eyes she'd stare blankly at the sky, debating if she should go find a place to eat or continue her search for

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

Aerin wandered about in a daze herself, coming to terms with Paige’s death. How was she to deal with the news? With the sight of the body which blocked off all hope of denial? The Rocky Isle Guild was certainly living up to the first part of its name – two months of service under the new name and fresh start and there was already a death on the rosters. The redhead walked along, her brow furrowed, picturing Ashari taking the news badly. With the failed assassination attempt on Crane, the multiple killers roaming about town, Langredoc being a large question mark in the murder, Ashari was most likely going to tighten the reigns on her remaining students’ ideas of ‘freedom’.

Her mood was darkening by the flicker and the redhead pulled out a smoke, lighting it from a nearby smoking lamp, fingers of light grey smoke twirling intangibly through her hair as she strode a few more paces and sat down abruptly on a street-side bench, barely cognitive at first that there was at least one other occupant.

“Fucking Paige…”, she hissed to herself, snorting smoke out through flared nostrils like an angered bull.

[Ashleigh Silvertree]

Ash hadn't even been aware anyone had sat down until she heard the red head beside her cuss. Rolling her head to the side the blond gave Aerin a once over. Grey eyes holding the Red Haired womens curves more than was absolutely necessary, lingering longer than they were supposed to. Realizing what she was doing, Ash felt her face get warm. Quickly turning her head away to hide her blush, the smith cursed herself for a fool.

Hoping the strange red head didn't notice her sudden interest and disinterest, Ash turned her head to face her benchmate. Offering Aerin a smile the smith said the first thing that came to mind. "You know those kill you each time you light one right?" After the words left her mouth the smith bit onto the left lipring. Damn it! the smith thought to herself You meet someone attractive and the first thing you do is look in all the wrong spots way to long. Then, to top it off you tell them about one of their bad habits. Now quickly apologize like your mother taught you

"I apologize for my actions." Spilled out of her mouth as soon as her mental rant was over. The only problem was that she spoke the phrase in perfect adhiel, being as it was the only phrase Ash's mother made her repeat over and over again.

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

"You know those kill you each time you light one right?"

The comment and string of Adheil which followed were cryptic to the young mage, especially within the time of greif - her left eyebrow rose almost impossibly high while the right seemed to dip low enough to cover the eye completely. "What...the...fuck...?" Her attention turned to survey the speaker, the redhead's twice-over as obvious (if not more so) as Ashleigh's had been. "Expert on death, are we?" There was a smile on Aerin's face, but an edge to her voice - a pair of edges, in fact, one dangerous and one seductive.

"There are far worse things that can kill you in this city, love..." Aerin shrugged, mentally adding the qualifier of ...and I am one of them... "Besides, I have heard of no single soul killed by indulging in a smoke now and then. Not a one." She took a drag as punctuation, looking closer at Ashleigh's face, her mind happily distracted from the recent pain, if only for a flicker. Without asking permission, Aerin raised a hand and made the effort to stroke the other woman's lip softly, admiring the unusual piercing.

"I have..." she continued, turning more toward her companion. "...also never met a soul who had something like....that..." Both eyebrows leveled out at a height of curiosity. "Why in the nether is that there, besides looking...pretty?" She felt a bit of a flutter in her chest as her experiences with the brutal pre-and-post-mortem disfigurement of the girl in Murrelbuck combined with her recent resurgence into interest in artful mutilation did - indeed - make the blond's piercing all the more enchanting to the budding murderess.

For a flicker, Aerin wondered what it would look like, should a fingernail 'accidentally' lodge in the jewelry and rip it free. Would it come freely, or was it far enough in the meat to require some amount of force? would the blood squirt? Dribble? How much pain would it bring? Would there be a cry of anguish? Of disjointed pleasure? Would there be tears?

She felt herself leaning closer to the lip ring, her eyes wide in fascination and her nipples erect enough to possibly hang clothing from them. What would it feel like to kiss those lips, both with the ring and with it freshly-removed in a violent manner? Thoughts moved away from pulling it out with the still-searching fingernail and into claping her teeth down upon it mid-kiss and pulling it away thusly.

Not that she would do such a thing in a public place, of course - for now, just trying to touch it with her finger would be thrill enough. Dark erotic thoughts such as these fresh on the heels of Paige's death and the near-murder of Paige's killer made Aerin feel quite intoxicated and the young cannibal felt that there would be little to stop her from luring this tasty young morsel out of the public eye and into some place a bit more....secluded.

[Ashleigh Silvertree]

"What...the...fuck...? Expert on death, are we?"

The smith turned her torso to face her benchmate, moving her hands to a palm out position at shoulder height, her face an expression of regret and surprise.The words that Ash stammered out, noting the red heads two-time-once-over, held the tone of apology. "Um, I'm no expert at anything. It's just that my mother never approved of smoking, so she always told us that one puff was taking two to three breaths off of your life. Guess I didn't leave all of the teachings my mom beat into me as a child." As made obvious by your apology she mentally chided herself.

"There are far worse things that can kill you in this city, love...Besides, I have heard of no single soul killed by indulging in a smoke now and then. Not a one."

Ash let Aerin's hand pet her lip, looking into the jade eyes of the red haired stranger she'd insulted. "I guess your right. Though I'm new to the Citadel, so I don't know much of what's going on." Without even realizing it, the blonde's tongue would gently move the ring Aerin was touching, aiming to lick the sadists fingers.

"I have......also never met a soul who had something like....that... Why in the nether is that there, besides looking...pretty?"

"Ah, well these were part of a bet." The smith would say as her hand reached up and touched the two rings in her lip. "As was this." She said, her hand subconsciously drifting to her left ear. "Both of which I won, though my parents were furious about both." She'd noticed Aerin's erect nipples and the image of them without the cloth covering briefly flashed through her mind. It took a couple flickers for the grey eyes to come up and meet the jade ones.

Completely clueless to the mages thoughts of removing the lipring, Ash was enticed by the stranger next to her. "They're not hard to do. We might have to go shopping, but I could give you a couple." Timidly the smith reached out and attempted to caress Aerin's ear. "We could put them here or...." She didn't finish her though as she glanced down Aerins chest for a flicker before blushing and looking back up.

[Aerin Penna Seleratus]

"Um, I'm no expert at anything. It's just that my mother never approved of smoking, so she always told us that one puff was taking two to three breaths off of your life. Guess I didn't leave all of the teachings my mom beat into me as a child."

Aerin’s look softened for a flicker, as she knew all too well the lessons of a parent’s lashings. She, herself, had met those ends more often than not if she cut off her studies too early to have a cold dinner waiting at home, yet a warm meal in her sibling’s bellies or studied too late to allow anyone the chance to chew and taste their food before rushing off to bed. She had never, however, pictured the fey-like beings of Ashleigh’s race as ‘beaters’, but who knew if the girl’s mother was the human or not – or even if beatings were common between both Adheil and human – only the Adheil hid it better? Nonetheless, Aerin allowed her finger to be licked as she listened to the girl’s tale of newness, letting her mind wander away from the throbbing in her wounded and covered bicep.

“I wouldn’t…” Aerin said in a sort of hushed tone. “…go about telling everyone you meet that you are so fresh to these streets.” She gave a wicked little grin, her eyes scanning the street blindly – mostly for show to draw attention from her own thoughts. “…there are killers about who might take advantage of that fact.” She withdrew the licked finger and brought it up to her own lips to show the girl silently that she was neither afraid nor offended by the gesture, sampling a bit of the girl’s flavor for herself.

"Ah, well these were part of a bet. As was this. Both of which I won, though my parents were furious about both."

Aerin gave a small chuckle and accompanying smile. “A bet, mmm? Bit of a gambler are you? I like that.” Aerin watched as Ashleigh’s gaze crept back down to her chest, giving a deeper breath than usual in order to allow her hidden assets to press harder against the cloth for a flicker or two. When Ashleigh’s eyes returned to her own, Aerin gave a small eyebrow wiggle out of mirth, listening with interest as the girl sparingly described the process, offering to do them to her. The redhead sighed with a small shake of her head, unsure as to how practiced the other woman was at the art as, even to Aerin’s untrained eye, the ear looked like an amateur job. With Ashari training Aerin to be a lady – a cortesean – probably the less holes she had in her the better unless they were done by someone well versed in the art.

And it would take examples for Aerin to trust that Ashleigh was versed enough. Aerin did note, as well, that the girl had a hard time keeping her eyes up – which was not at all a bad thing. The redhead took a flicker to massage her bandaged arm through the cloth of her sleeve, giving herself a small squeeze just for a minor jolt of pain. Her eyes met Ashleigh’s and – for a flicker – she saw Paige, which once more reminded her that she needed to return to Thalas and inform her Mistress of the events. She had little doubt that Yelena was there at that very flicker giving her account, which both angered and suited Aerin, as having someone else deliver the bad news might make it easier for Aerin to add to it instead of having to dish it all out herself. To insure that happened, she would have to kill a bit more time and the gaze of this fresh arrival was a sign to Aerin that a personal distraction was only a few words away.

“No piercings for now, dear, but…” Aerin informed her, nodding toward the nearest inn. “If you want to have a drink or two on me, Aerin….” She offered, lowering her hand from her wounded bicep to trace the bell of her breast almost absentmindedly. “We can see what other tidbits of interest fall out during conversation.” Her other hand rose to lightly touch Ashleigh’s if it was still at her ear, the young mage turning her face into the touch with her breath soft and warm against the other girl’s sensitive inner wrist.

“It would have to be in a private setting, though, as I can be a bit…” her eyes rolled playfully. “…funny when I drink and my home is a good ways from here still. I will be happy to buy the bottles if you have a place to drink them?” Her eyes locked onto Ashleigh’s firmly as she drove in what she hoped would be the finishing nail. “I bet you could drink me under the table, mmm?”

[Ashleigh Silvertree]

“I wouldn’t...go about telling everyone you meet that you are so fresh to these streets. …there are killers about who might take advantage of that fact.”

"Well, I'm safe in that regards," the smith would say, "You're the first person I've really talked to."

“A bet, mmm? Bit of a gambler are you? I like that.”

Ash offered a shy smile to the comment of being a gambler. "I was just tired of the teasing and the badgering. They set the conditions, I just happened to have more balls than either of them." The smith stated softly. "Though those are going to have to be stories for another time."

“No piercings for now, dear, but…If you want to have a drink or two on me, Aerin…We can see what other tidbits of interest fall out during conversation."

The achadhiel had forgotten her hand had been there, subconsciously tracing the edge of the red head's ear. Feeling the courtesan-in-training's soft touch coupled with her breath on the smith's inner wrist sent a wave of goose bumps down her arm, as well as a chill down the blond's spine. "Understandable, most people don't want a stranger poking at them with a sharp piece of metal." Ashleighs voice was a little softer than normal. "And with such a pleasant invitation and drinking partner, I don't believe I, Ash, could refuse."

“It would have to be in a private setting, though, as I can be a bit…funny when I drink and my home is a good ways from here still. I will be happy to buy the bottles if you have a place to drink them? I bet you could drink me under the table, mmm?”

Grey eyes met jade with a nod. "I'll just rent a room til tomorrow then. Haven't found a place just yet, need to find a blacksmith to apprentice to first." The achadheil stood up, grabbing her bag in the process. Slinging the satchel over her left shoulder, she crooked her right arm out. "Shall we be off?"

"I don't know about drinking you under the table. I used to have my mother's tolerance for alcohol." She said as the two made there way to the nearest in. "Which happens to be rather low, a couple of glasses and she acts 'funny'. Starts ranting and raving in adhiel, it's where I learned most of my cursing in adhiel. She'd meet up with some friends and come home drunk, making crude conversation and jokes with my father." Stopping for second she seemed to consider something. "I actually think he encouraged her to go out with her friends." The blond shrugged. "Though that's neither here nor there. How well do you hold your booze?"


"Where do you live?" Ashleigh asks on the way to the inn. "And what do you do?" The smith's questions possessing a genuine interest.