Closed Binding Ink

[Taurina]

A smile pulled at the Ethaefal’s lips and she lowered her head in a nod. That caramel gaze of hers sparkled with something like curiosity and the beginnings of understanding as duel voices spoke. She did not know how Madeira had combined with Emma. Did not really want to know for it seemed to take something she was unwilling to give herself. At the same time, however, she found it fascinating and she was slowly beginning to become comfortable with them as a group of three instead of just two.

“Pleased to meet you as well.” Despite her common spoke words she added honored in sign, the force of a habit not broken.

Taurina turned back to her sketching after that. Her gaze flitted between parchment and Kelvic, studying him from different angles as she created various half-formed representations of him in charcoal. There was something brutally beautiful about the hyena, something raw. It was different from what Alek had. She was all limbs and a clumsy grace. Allister had been butchered yet still held together and she could see that from his animal form. Or maybe… maybe she was just telling herself that because she had seen the man first and was trying to make sense of it in her mind.

Madeira came back, leaning over to look upon the rudimentary sketches the Eth had been able to conjure up. There was nothing special about any of it really. A study of his fur in the upper right hand corner, the pattern painted across it creating a misshapen circle in the middle of the page, a half done outline of his body, and then the more full pictures of his body. It was one of these Madeira found captured her interest. The artist let her have the parchment, let her lead the way on this journey they were taking together.

“Yes,” Taurina agreed as the image of what Madeira was requesting began to form in her mind, a spark of inspiration setting her eyes ablaze, “I see what you mean. It shall be perfect.”

Taurina gave Madeira a reassuring smile before she stood to her feet. A new piece of parchment was gathered, her nub of charcoal taken in hand. She came around the table and walked over to where Allister lingered wrapped around his bondmate’s chair. Taurina did not hesitate as she lowered herself to her knees, letting the parchment and charcoal piece come to rest on top of each other on the ground to her side. She was unafraid of this Kelvic. Unafraid of the job before her.

Hands were presented for Allister to sniff if he so chose to, fingertips reaching forward with some amount of caution. She spoke softly to tell him what she wanted to do, explain to him and hope he understood.

“I want to touch your fur, to understand it, so I can better draw it,” Taurina explained, waiting for him to give what seemed like acceptance before she pressed gentle hands against his head and down his neck.

The Eth was gentle as she moved her hands from his head and neck down his spine. Her molten gaze was kind, but calculating. Being so close to the creature taught her how to draw the curve of his spine, how to give texture to his fur, and learn that the pattern on his fur was not random but repeating. Only ticks passed as Taurina stroked her scarred hands down the hyena’s body, but the silence became heavy. So she began to speak to fill the empty space.

“I have a bondmate too,” she told him, “you are not the same in animal or temperament, but seeing you reminds me of her somehow. Like you could be related somehow.”

Taurina gave a small smile, giving the space between his ears a scratch. She did not linger long for there was a job to do. There was a tattoo to construct. The image was becoming clearer and clearer in her mind. She turned her gaze away from the hyena and focused it down on the parchment, but she did not move from her place on the ground. Instead she staid there with him, continuing to study him as she worked up what Madeira had explained to her. Laughter was to twist his face. That human side of him depicted in the animal. A challenge. One in which Taurina felt herself capable of success.

The face was the hardest to get right. Body was all shapes and lines that curved. The face though… the emotions Madeira had asked her to describe, that was just a little more difficult. Taurina spent the majority of the sketch on it, creating three she did not deem good enough to even show. It was the forth one she liked. The mouth was separated, only partly, the teeth of a canine sharp and curved. Eyes were wide, white, and the skin of the muzzle was wrinkled. It might have been mistaken for being something vicious if the body had been different and the tongue not lolling out. But with it as Madeira had suggested, the predator rolled on his back with limbs in the air, it looked almost right. Almost like he was laughing.

“What do you think of this?” Taurina asked, standing and handing the sketch to Madeira.

A reply was waited for and then adjustments made to the critiques that followed. Taurina wanted the pale woman to be happy. She wanted to give her exactly what she wanted. That way this would mean something. Even if she got fired, at least she would have created this one great thing for someone. So she worked with Madeira until the sketch was just right, smiling at the success.

“Alright, let’s get started,” the Ethaefal suggested with a smile as she stood with the approved sketch in one hand, a jar of paint and a small paintbrush in the other, “just this way. Allister can shift back now if he would like, I do not need a model anymore.”

Taurina led the group over to the risen stone table farthest from Herrlock and his client. She did not want to get in the way of what he had going on there. Did not want to attract his attention more than she already had by taking a client on her own at all. A shadow of concern and apprehension twisted her features at the thought of his reaction, but she forced it to the side once again. ‘All will be fine.’ That was what she was going to keep telling herself. ‘All will be fine.’

“I will need you to remove the top of your dress,” Taurina instructed softly, kindly, unsure of how comfortable the covered lady was but knowing that there was no way around this due to where she wished for the tattoo to be, “get as comfortable as you can, I will be back in just a few ticks.”

A reassuring smile was given before the Drykas left her client to go and get what it was she needed. Black and white was to be this piece so that meant attention to detail, light and shadows, was crucial. Taurina went to the jars of ink and grabbed the black and white. Then she found her shallow trays and the various chisels kept on hand. All looked new by how clean they were. Taurina picked one that would fit nicely in her small hands before finishing up her collecting of supplies with grabbing a rag and a bucket of clean water. So strange it was to not have to worry about water rations here. Taurina sighed, pushing that thought to the side. It would not do well to linger on the place of her past now.

“I’m going to start by painting myself an outline to follow on your back. I will let you see it before we go further, make sure it is what you want,” Taurina explained when she returned to her client and her Kelvic bondmate, sure that the ghost was around somewhere as well.

The supplies she had gathered were laid out before her, all near so that when she needed it nothing would be hard to find or out of reach. She unscrewed the top of the paint jar and dipped the paintbrush into it, coating the bristles in crimson. Taurina took pause as she brought the brush to hover above Madeira’s pale and unmarked skin.

“You ready?”

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

oocI thought it would be good to keep the ball rolling and get us to the beginning of the actual tattooing. If I need to change anything just let me know.

[Allister]

The hyena was all about the affection and attention given to him by the attractive little Drykas. He rolled the word around in his noisy skull while her coal-coated fingers brushed through his mane, along his neck and down his spine. The canine shifted under her touch much like a child under the fawning of its parent. Allister returned every stroke with an affirming glance, soft groan or a shiver of enjoyment. HIs body reacted well to being treated like a pet and not a target- an emotion that he pumped into the bond to let Madeira know that he was enjoying himself.

Allister sniffed at the woman’s hand and his nostrils filled with the scent of another animal but this one was slightly different. It did not smell like him or other mutts and there was certainly a distinctive aroma to the dead skin cells that lifted from Taurina’s grasp. A curiosity rose quickly as to what sort of creature left such a mixed scent but it was quickly replaced by the need to see what had been drawn thus far.

Madeira’s voice returning to the conversation made the pointed ears perk up as the kelvic trotted back around to his mistress. Finding her, drawing up against her and pressing his ribs along the fabric of her skirts sent a shock through the scavenger. Allister had never known such feelings could exist but he felt gratitude, joy, security and love ball themselves together and then explode within him. His maw dropped open to release his extra long tongue in a lopsided grin of pure happiness.

At the mention of shifting, the hyena didn’t wait. He trotted a few steps over to where he had dropped his clothes and closed his eyes. White light flared against the stool and desk then vanished to reveal the ghastly pale man with his menacing smatter of tattoos standing in the nude with a dumb grin that ran from ear to ear. It was not an endearing thing, this grin, not like the smile of an overzealous child. Allister’s smile was a piece of pain ripped from the heart of innocence somewhere deep inside a creature that has no true north. This pain learned to adapt and found pleasure in the struggle one small bit at a time. When the fragments combined, a wide arc like the blade of a scythe tore asunder a face not meant for sunlight.

It’s this broken vessel that lingered on the small blonde woman’s every move and unspoken command. The hyena was never meant to be an alpha and so he sought a strong presence to be his guiding light. Allister stepped into his pants and boots then stooped into his big heavy coat. Like a moth chasing a shooting star, he picked up Madeira’s trail as she headed into the next room. He tried to hide his eagerness when the artist suggested that his bond mate remove part of her clothing. The lady Craven was always so proper and rigid that the former slave wondered if this might even be a deal breaker. He’d seen her in her small clothes back when the sickness held them both in its feverish grip but that was different. With a long stride that brought him up next to the object of his every desire, the beady black eyes lifted from a drooping head and sagging shoulders to find the icy blue stare of the spiritist.

“Do you want me to go?” The genuine concern was there in his tone- rugged and quiet like a backwoods dawn yet the emotion behind it roared like a waterfall barrelling through the bond. Allister would do whatever she asked and that’s when a thought and that wicked smile blossomed upon his face once more. Sheepishly, he looked up at Madeira with another question. “If you’ll have me stay, I’ll sing for you, lady. Whatever you wish.”

[Madeira Dusk]

Once the idea had been shared, Taurina made it her own. She redrew the sketch, cleaning lines and adjusting anatomy, pulling emotion from the curve of its inked lips and the splay of its paws. Madeira gave direction where it was warranted, but mostly she was content to watch this confection of ink and parchment bloom beneath the Drykas' skilled hands.

Finally, the finished sketch was born. Madeira smiled her approval.

"It's perfect", she declared.

Taurina wasted no time in moving on to the next step. She lead the two of them to a horizontal stone slab at the far end of the room, and kindly asked that she remove her clothing and get comfortable while she gathered her things. Madeira's smile frosted over at those words, but she didn't say anything. Of course she knew the necessity of it, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

Allister, on the other hand, let slip a little jab of eagerness through their bond before he could control himself. Madeira shot him a scowl even as she began threading the top buttons of her dress. She had seen him naked too many times to count, and she knew, of course, how his body reacted to her. This reaction wasn't special. He had a powerful attraction to a certain type of woman. Yet what was special was his respect that bordered on worship. He had never touched her and never would, not without her explicitly asking him to.

She wasn't embarrassed to undress in front of him, not really. It was that she was doing so in public that caused her to flush from chest to cheek in an angry, embarrassed burn.

She had fumbled her way to the buttons in the shallow valley of her extraordinarily underwhelming breasts when he spoke.

"Of course I don't want you to go", she laughed tightly through the shame. "Sing me a song. But do it over there", she nodded to the front of the room. She appreciated him drawing away whatever uninterested attention she had gained. The Kelvic had a special way of drawing the eye, and his perchance to grandiose and drama was a great way for his more reserved bondmate to slip through peoples notice.

Unbuttoned to the waist she peeled the fabric of her dress off her shoulders, revealing skin touched by no birthmarks, freckles, scars or marks of any kind. Lilly white shoulder blades that had never seen the sun raised sharply from her back. Her weight gain showed in the new padding around her ribs and the deepening line of her back. The arms crossed over her breasts in some vain attempt at modesty showed her only scars, a thick thatching of neat little lines.

The slab was low, but she climbed onto it gracelessly as she refused to uncross her arms. Only once she was laying flush against the cool stone did she allow her only covering to slide out from under her body. The stone was uncomfortably cold next to her rising embarrassment.

Soon Taurina was back, holding two small glass jars of ink and a strange pointed metal instrument. Madeira lifted her head to get a better look, and saw thin paint brushes in the woman's other hand. She nodded her consent as the artist patiently explained that she was going to outline the tattoo before following it with the permanent ink.

x

[Taurina]

Taurina kept her gaze down and adverted from both the Kelvic and his bondmate as the clothes came off of one and went back onto the other. She knew Allister would have no qualms for Alek had no qualms, but the bright blush that cover Madeira and the attempt to cover herself with her arms told the Eth that the human did care. She cared very much. So Taurina kept her gaze cast to the side, not wanting to add to the embarrassment, and only focused her caramel eyes on the pale woman once she we pressed flush against the marble table.

Though she did not look, the Drykas did listen. She listened as Allister offered to leave her if she desired and to sing her a song if she wished for it. She listened as Madeira laughed and told him to stay, but to sing his song away from her. At first Taurina did not understand why, but when she looked towards the Kelvic she was reminded of how easy it was to stare at him and not at anything else. Not because he was handsome, the reason why most woman would stare at a male, but because of how ill he had been treated and the marks such treatment had left on him. Bile rose in the Eth’s throat and she forced herself to look away. What cruel, cruel, animals humans could be.

Consent for the process to begin was given in a nod to which Taurina nodded back. The Drykas took a breath and swept her gaze down over the woman’s milk colored back. How untouched her skin was. No marring of scars or markings of birth. No other tattoos to speak of life documented. A part of the Eth was jealous. The other part pitied her. What sort of life left one so clean? How could it be a life truly lived? For the Drykas who had lived hard and loved harder, it did not make much sense. For the Ethaefal who was forever trapped in the state of her fall and the past, there was understanding.

“Here we go, this will be a little cold,” Taurina warned softly before she pressed the paintbrush full of paint onto the perfect skin.

Crimson stained Madeira’s untouched complexion. Taurina was slow and calculating, working off her sketch as she willed the brush to move in one direction after the other. She was no great painter, just good enough to get out some rudimentary lines for her to follow so her tattoos did not come out in sloppy messes. Lines curved as the hyena was painted out in circles, squares, and triangles. There was no details, no shading. One would not have been able to tell what it was if they had not known before hand. Taurina knew what it was though. She knew what the lines meant all the way from where they started on the inside of one shoulder blade to where they stretched across to the other.

“Alright, hold this mirror in front of you and I’ll hold this in back. Tell me if this is the right size and placement,” Taurina instructed as she handed one handheld mirror to Madeira and held the other behind her.

If the pale woman was happy with what she had done so far, Taurina nodded and put up the mirrors. If Madeira wanted for any adjustments, Taurina made them as requested and had the woman check using the same mirror method until things were as desired. Once everything was correct, the Ethaefal had the human relax on the marble slab and set to work pouring out her inks and preparing her chisel. This did not take long and soon the Ethaefal was ready to begin the tattooing process.

Before she began, however, Taurina offered Madeira a painkilling herb that they carried in the tattoo parlor for this very thing. She warned the woman of the pain and promised that they could stop at any time for a break if it was necessary. If Madeira wanted the herb, Taurina gave it to her and waited the appropriate time for it to kick in. If Madeira did not wish for the herb, Taurina promised it could be taken later if desired and then set out to begin her work.

“Stay as still for me as you can Madeira, just relax,” Taurina instructed calmly, her voice soft and as soothing as she could make it.

Needles of bone pressed into the delicate flesh of the pale woman as Taurina meticulously began to trace her temporary outline of paint with permanent ink. There was no going back now. Forever was the length of time Madeira would carry the marking of her bondmate on her skin. Just as had been requested.

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

[Allister]

Allister bounced across the store as she made her request. He flowed through the bond with love and admiration for Madeira. He was grateful to do her this service, especially as her apprehension swam in the backwater towards him. There was a hint of flatness in her emotions which caused him to stop and turn back towards the pale woman. His mind emptied of all things not her. Food, shelter, security, health, dreams- all of these things could fall away and he wouldn’t mind so long as those cold blue eyes, oft-rung with skin darkened by the constant fatigue of true ambition, allowed him to be near. His forlorn stare was innocent but the sight of her body unrobed set a fire within the kelvic. The former slave trembled beneath the weight of his emotions and desires to the point that he leaned upon the table. He knew she was perfect but the vision of pure skin like milk poured from a divine fountain would never leave his memories.

The small lines were noticed only as an afterthought. The hyena was covered in scars and seeing the hatch upon her did not bring up any empathy or sadness- merely curiosity. What had marked her so? Why had she always hid that from him? These things drifted closeby to him on the bond until she pressed her body against the table. The stone slab was suddenly an object of great envy and it brought blush to his ghastly cheeks and a stirring in his soul that called to him and his imagination alone. The dance that soon took place inside the skull was one of something much deeper and greater than lust and it left him frozen against the table for a chime or more before the child-like expression of surprise flitted over his face. He had a job to do.

Black eyes swirled around the front of the establishment to find a very disinterested and unkind set of eyes leering at him. With a broad grin and a deep bow flourished with his left leg pushed forward and alighted upon the toe of his boot, he swung his arms so that they crossed his body then uncrossed and flew outward like wings as he bent at the waist ever-so-slowly. The genuflection offered to the owner and host was held for several ticks, the kelvic’s core and leg muscles twitched and quivered under the strain of holding still in this position of grace but he maintained. Almost a chime went by before the lanky figure rose back up to a clear stance of pride and superiority; a facade reminiscent of the role he played back in Alvadas. With a deep breath, he drew into his diaphragm enough air to extinguish a thousand candles. When he looked to the front of the store his voice broke the soft sounds of a woman painting with a voice that was just hollow enough to sound like it was two people; one speaking and one singing at a higher tone.

“And we were bold
Over the world
We were flying through the night skies
We had ahold
of the lightning strikes
When we should have been afraid of heights
And I was trying just to get you
And now I'm dying to forget you
cause I knew I couldn't catch you
so I left the sky
and I fell behind”

He slowly built through the words. Allister climbed the notes like one walks up a gradual incline. His tone solidified after several more breaths were taken and the faint echo disappeared. In its place, his tone was full but slightly flat which gave the verse a haunted melody that never seemed to reach its zenith. The performer focused on his breath and pronunciation of the words despite his struggles and every line seemed to hold a little more weight than the previous one. When he hit the chorus, his body joined the song. He flared his arms about with distinct movements to match the emotions that he was trying to convey like pulling at the opposite arm or tugging at his face and hair. His legs were a bit less dramatic but they moved him about with a beat only heard in his heart. The rhythm of the tune was an undertone in his mind that kept him from singing too fast or too slow.

“We were one in the same
Running like moths to the flame
You'd hang on every word I'd say
But now they only ricochet
We were falling away
You left me with a bittersweet taste
but when I send my heart your way
It bounces off the walls you made”

Allister clung for dear life to the ends of his runs as he pushed his lungs to sustain the holds. HIs face registered sorrow and loss as he stared from stare and gaze of the strangers who passed on the street. He even began to work his way across the lobby towards the desk of the deep-blue-skinned owner. Doubtless of his ability to draw the attention of the morbidly curious, a konti and her large red escort stepped into the shop and moved off to one side of the door; eyes fixed upon the dancing and singing sketchpad. Ever the showman, Allister turned his back on them with a careful crossing of his feet that left him leaning. As he finished the chorus, he took a breath and straightened his legs. This unwound him to face the newcomers who were greeted with a head tilted down but eyes looking up across the deep brow. His face was serious and almost threatening as he softly sung the last word of this first stanza- it’s notes meant to dangle like a butterfly trapped on a spider’s web covered in the glittering drops of morning dew.

“Ricochet”

[Madeira Dusk]

timestamp

Madeira pressed her cheek into the cold stone, her exposed skin already rippled with gooseflesh before the Drykas even touched the brush to her skin. And when she did, Madeira fought the need to squirm under the strange, tickilish feeling. Stifling the urge, she instead focused on the breathing of the artist leaning over her. Taurina was inhaling slow and even, her exhale ghosting over the wet ink. Without even looking at her face Madeira knew she was completely absorbed in her work. The short, meticulous strokes from the brush between her fingers made her imagine the crease she was sure was in her freckled brow.

That was, until Allister started singing. As always, his voice was rough and amateurish. But that's not what made him a great performer.

Madeira turned her head, pressing the opposite cheek to the stone so she could watch. The Kelvic was on his toes, his arms wide and a wild look in his eye. Unashamed and glowing he was belting out a song about a doomed love, with a voice that came from somewhere low in his chest. He looked ghastly, lit from behind by the sunlight slanting through the windows, throwing scars and sinew in sharp relief. His movements were dramatic, his expression tortured. Madeira smiled at the spectacle.

From somewhere behind her a small hand mirror was produced and held before her, as Taurina gave instructions on how she would see the tattoo's rough draft. And assured her she would make any changes she wanted.

Madeira took the mirror, clean but worn with use, and propped herself up by the elbows. Tinting the reflective surface she caught the line of sight to the mirror Taurina was holding, and down to her back. The red ink spread from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, a very rough version of the sketch the artist had shown her. But she could see the shape of it, and the proportions, and recognized the building blocks that Taurina was preparing to build upon. Madeira voiced her enthusiastic approval and handed back the mirror.

The question of whether she wanted the painkiller was also answered with a resounding yes. Though able to hold her own with more soul-based trauma, and able to grit her teeth through a fair helping of physical pain, she was not a masochist. Besides, she had had her fair share of recreational drugs, and didn't figure a pain-dampening herb would turn on her.

Thus doused and back on the slab, she was ready when the slivers of bone began poking holes in her flesh.

Taurina spoke in a kind bedside manner as she insisted Madeira not move while she worked, and 'just relax'. Madeira hummed tunelessly in affirmation, and steeled herself against the tiny stinging dots that were blooming across her skin.

OOCSorry I'm just laying there like a dead fish, guys. I promise I'm more fun when I'm on my feet.

x

[Taurina]

Ink mixed with blood as art took form across the blank canvas of skin. Taurina was careful, ever the perfectionist, in her work. No spot would be left blank. No ink that was not meant to would be allowed to wash away. When the pale woman left she would have what she desired and it would be beautiful in its brutal laughter. The Ethaefal would have it no other way. Failure was not an option.

Allister’s voice washed over the room in a song of broken love. There was something beautiful about the rawness of his melody, the haunting of the hollow echo woven through it. The Ethaefal found herself captivated though she did not look up to watch him. She just listened, tears threatening to form and fall. Memory of her lost love being brought to the very front part of her mind. It took a silent and steely resolve to shove those thoughts back and swallow the tears. It was not the time.

“What is the story of how you bonded?” Taurina asked Madeira softly, trying to focus on something -anything- else.

Taurina paused in her work with the chisel and gently laid it down with needles facing up. She took one of the clothes she had gathered when getting supplies and dunked it in her bucket of water. Hands twisted rough to squeeze out as much water as possible so that it was left just damp instead of soaking. Taking the damp clothe, the Drykas pressed it against Madeira’s skin and dabbed gently. Blood and remnant ink was wiped away, revealing a partial but clean outline of the laughing hyena.

The black lines of the outline were straight and solid. The needles had struck true, leaving no random blank spaces or blurred edges. Taurina smiled softly to herself, proud of the work she had accomplished thus far. She put her clothe back to the side and took the chisel once more in hand, dunking it in a fresh pool of black ink. Once more the needles were sent into the soft, unmarred skin of the pale woman’s back. Taurina hummed a note, two, before the melody faded into nothing.

“My bondmate and I.. it was a surprise,” the Drykas woman decided to share, “completely instant and out of our control. I did not even know her before then.”

Taurina smiled vacantly at the memory of that night. Of the yes she had given, the promise she had made then and then remade recently when Alek came back to her. Things changed. Their lives had changed and everything was different now, but the bond had remained. Somehow it still pulsed and thrived within them, causing them to be two souls bound together by something different than love or blood. Something more than both of them.

A gentle breath was released, Taurina rising to stretch out her slowly stiffening back. Her gaze swept up to catch the red Akalak and the small Konti who had stepped inside to watch the captivating performance of the curious Kelvic. Taurina even noticed that Herrlock watched as well, the work at his desk paused. She found the whole situation interesting, but did not stay watching long. Though it would be easy to just watch the man with ruined skin preform for the shop, she had a job to do. The outline was almost finished.

“Where is home for you?” the Ethaefal asked gentle while filling in those last lines where red paint remained, it was almost time for the hard part, “takes a wanderer to know a wanderer.”

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

[Allister]

“That’s quite enough!” The large Akalak boomed from his desk. Allister grinned in such a way that his expression caused the Konti spectator to tuck into her mate’s huge body. The kelvic spun around and arched his back in a very exaggerated form that allowed him to stare upwards at the ceiling. He allowed his arms to dangle a bit and shuffled about in a very peculiar way which made those who watched slightly uncomfortable but unable to look away.

With his audience engaged, Allister returned to his song. His voice was quiet, almost spoken except he carried a melody that was aptly dark and mysterious as the verse had been. Moving around and trying to breath in time with the right amount of control was hard. His volume went up and down as he spent more energy regulating his breath than focusing on his control.

“All these broken souls
They never make me whole
They don't, they don't know my heart
They don't know my heart”

The owner was moving now, he circled around his desk and made a straight line for the slinking kelvic. Allister was aware as he danced about like a wounded animal. He embellished by gripping his heart and occasionally tossed his arm across his face with a look of distress. At one point, he looked from under his sleeve and winked at the konti woman. For some reason, she giggled and this made her companion angry. This man, too, began to stalk the kelvic with a grim expression on his big blue face. The hyena didn’t care, he moved himself in a place in front of the desk where Taurina had used to introduce herself and her artwork. The akalaks approached Allister like opposite jaws of a large mouth that closed down on an innocent morsel. With great gusto and a swollen chest -filled with breath- Allister erupted into song again but now he was yelling the melody at his pursuers.

“All these broken souls
Each one more beautiful
They don't, they don't know my heart
They don't know my heart”

The owner made a move for the kelvic but the lanky limbs dodged down and away. He was on all fours and still singing, his head pivoted to keep an eye on the second Riverfall native. The thin man coiled down with bent legs and stored up energy in his muscles as he prepared for the inevitable.

“I'll send out my soul
To worlds more beautiful”

Both of the big brutes made a move for the kelvic now, his shit-eating grin spurred them both onto the point of one bearing a scowl and the other grimacing through his teeth. The owner went center mass for a tackle while the offended boyfriend made a wild swipe for the pale face of the performer. Allister released the muscles in his legs and leapt into the air like a missle of leather and scribbles of ink. The body rose and arched over the desk and Allister’s projection leant him enough enertia to clear the small construct without much difficulty. He landed in a ball and rolled once then his boots made contact, he sprung back up to face the akalaks and the konti who was smiling at the kelvic’s antics. The pale man belted his last few lines in the faces of those who chased him.

“But they won't, they won't know my heart
It's the darkest part”

Allister tore his jacket off and threw it at the owner then ran around the man as he struggled with the coat. The other akalak had circled behind the desk and was stalking slowly after his prey. When he realized what the hyena was up to, he couldn’t move fast enough. Allister ran straight at the konti with a smile on his face and whispered words that parted his lips.

“We were one in the same
Running like moths to the flame
You'd hang on every word I'd say
But now they only ricochet”

He took the woman in his arms and dipped her small frame over his lanky frame right across his bent knee. The kelvic smiled and the woman blushed and looked towards her lover with a sheepish grin. Something larger was at play here but the foolish performer was too dense to see it. He serenaded the woman with his lips a breath from his prop’s and his free hand came up to brush her hair back from her face.

“We were falling away
You left me with a bittersweet taste
but when I send my heart your way
It bounces off the walls you made”

Without warning, the kelvic kissed the woman fiercely for a solid few ticks then as he broke the embrace with his tongue licking across the center of her upper lip, he uttered “Ricochet.” Allister was very pleased with himself and started to stand only to be taken by the scruff of his neck and flung straight up into the air. He hit the low ceiling of the shop with his back and watched as he descended towards the stone floor as the akalak took his woman around the waist and led her from the tattoo parlor. Allister tried to correct himself during his fall but such balance was not his to command. He landed in a heap with a yelp and pain shot through every limb, bone and feature. Still groggy, he was kicked in the stomach by the owner who used enough force to roll the creature onto his back up against the store’s front wall.

“When your master is done, you are gone. If I ever see you again in this place, I’ll kill you for your shameful display.” The akalak turned towards his apprentice and barked an order. “Finish her today!” then he stormed back over to his desk and buried himself in his studies. Allister pouted and winced as he moved to his hands and knees. He shifted into his animal form and used his muzzle and snout to gather his clothes in a ball. He took them in his mouth and padded back to where Madeira was getting her tattoo. The hyena dropped his belongings off to the side then went and leaned up against the slab so that Madeira could dangle an arm down and smack him or pet him as she chose. He was still proud of himself for his work but whimpered and licked at his wounds.

[Madeira Dusk]

Madeira could hear the smile in Taurina's voice as she spoke of her Kelvic and the spontaneity of their bonding. The spiritist had never had the opportunity to talk to another human being about the powerful partnership found in a bond. She found herself listening raptly to the simply explanation and comparing it to her own experience.

"That's just the same as us. I had never met him before. I found him squatting in a haunted house", her lips twisted at the memory. "He was a mad, half-starved runaway slave. Gods, I'd never seen anything so broken. And somehow we just... fit. It was like everything fell into place and you couldn't imagine how you lived without them, you know?"

She had never talked about it before. She wasn't sure anybody could really understand what it took to be paired with someone so completely like that. But Taurina would. Perhaps it was the intimacy and trust of having someone permanently marking your bare skin that made the conversation easy. She listened to Allister without really watching as she talked.

"Home is far away, in Alvadas. I never knew how much I needed it until I left." She paused for a chime. "I've seen a couple of your people in this city, Taurina. They never really look like they belong. You all have something so... wild about you. Uncontainable. You must miss your home.” She imagined they did not do well in these stone walls, those strange barbarian people.

Allister's song and dance, which had been in the background of Madeira's mind, suddenly roared to the forefront as the Kelvic gave into the destructive side of his dramatic flare. Madeira interrupted Taurina by leaning up on her elbows with a gasp as Allister started shouting, throwing things, and jumping around as several burly Akalaks
gave chase. The sudden whirlwind ended with him assaulting someone’s Konti wife. Her husband caught the Kelvic by the neck and launched him into the air, only for him to come crashing down with a blow that rattled Madeira's teeth and made her voice eek out in a strangled panicked sound.

Never the less, that throw she was sure he deserved. But when the owner added a solid kick to his belly Madeira bristled like a cat.

"Leave him!" she barked, her eyes flashing cold.

The owner made his threats while Allister shifted and picked up his clothes. And as the Kelvic slunk to the table Madeira cleared her throat, mastered her anger, and addressed the owner in the quiet, even tone of diffusion. "I'm sorry, sir. He's quite young, and doesn’t really know how to act in public. Four-year-olds can be unruly", she added, transparently trying to blame his actions on his age. "But that gives you no excuse to threaten us. I take full responsibility. We’ll be out of here soon, I promise."

She laid back down, hoping the thin sheen of nervous sweat on her face wasn't extending to her back. Allister leaned up against the slab, licking the fresh wounds that were atop the still bleeding wounds from less than a bell ago. Pain was a good teacher, but the Kelvic was so saturated with it so constantly that she feared physical harm had stopped being a motivator for him. He needed something else to show him that there were things that were not okay. And riling men bigger than himself, sexually assaulting Konti's and embarrassing her were leagues into the realm of not okay.

So she didn't smack him, but she didn't pet him either. She folded her arms up on the table and let him suffer her apathy. She was going to get Emma to take them to the medical centre the moment they got outside so the healers could bandage his cuts, bandage what was sure to be some bruised ribs, and maybe wheedle something out of them to give him for the pain. But until then she was going to let her disapproval simmer in the bond. All she wanted to do was jump off the table and make sure he was alright, but the higher parts of her brain insisted he had to learn. Instead she turned her head to the side to speak to the Drykas.

"What are the chances we can have this done very quickly?" she asked nervously under her breath.

x

[Taurina]

Taurina listened careful to Madeira’s response to her questions, allowing the pale woman to take her to a different place. A different time. A surprise their bonding had been; just like her own had been with Alekxandra. Yet it had also been exactly what they needed. Pieces fit together like a puzzle finished because of the chord of magic taunt between them. A move of the supernatural, perhaps a blessing from the gods, or even just a really good dose of luck. The way Madeira spoke of it, with such fondness and care, caused a smile to form over the Ethaefal’s lips. Whatever the reason for the bond was, whatever had caused its happening, did not matter. All that mattered was this. The care that so clearly showed shared between them.

“Yeah, I understand,” Taurina said spoke softly, her focus trapped in the bubble they had create around themselves, “for Alek and I… Things are different than that. We are still trying to figure it out I think, but lately I see that between us. That need for each other, that inability to be without.”

The Ethaefal sighed softly and shook her head. How she had let seasons go by without even giving her bondmate a thought she did not understand. It was easy to say that it had been the grief, that it had consumed her so thoroughly that everything else got buried, but it was just an excuse. She had pushed Alek out of her thoughts before the Stormblood Ankal had even disappeared. She did not know what the real reason was. If she had just been afraid to face the woman who had not sought her out. If she had just been too scared to tell her family of the Kelvic who had bound herself to her. Taurina did not think on it too hard now. Did not wish to let herself dive into that hole for there was no guarantee that she would make it back out. Not without some help.

Herrlock was yelling about something, that Kelvic’s brutal melodies rising and falling in a way that was not completely focused and even. Taurina did not focus on them, did not allow her gaze to wander from the lines she continued to etch in Madeira’s skin. She was shading now, creating a hyena instead of just the outline of one. She had to make him feel alive, feel real. The Kelvic made into art. Besides, Madeira had gone to answer her other question and the words caused Taurina’s hands to still.

“More than you know..” she whispered softly, “I miss it more than you know..”

Jasmine, Rufio, Asher, Lodai, Haena and the kids.. the herd of goats and horses and zibri, the hunting cats and Grey… Taurina missed it all. She missed the Lilacwind pavilion; Jarrora’s friendly voice and bubbly personality, Injal’s kind ways of teaching, and even Keil’s stoic nature. She missed the way the breeze played over the grasses and swept into her hair. She missed the feeling of sleeping on a bedroll with her family all around her, knowing she was always safe. She missed watching Starfire fly across the plains without a care in the world and nothing to hinder him. She missed it all. Tears pricked at her eyes as she thought about it before she had to shake her head and wipe them away with the back of her hand. Not the time.

“Alvadas… Never heard of it. What kind of place is it?” Taurina asked, keeping her voice low and trying to keep it formal though tears worked to break up her words, “I think it is always sort of like that… We take home for granted, think it mundane, until we leave and then it is becomes everything that is wanted. Everything that it needed.”

Taurina sniffled softly and channeled her energy into steadying her hands. Enough delving into her emotions. The chisel moved over the skin, needles pressing in. Ink stained beneath the top layers of skin as excess bubbled up over top the newly created holes. Taurina wiped the excess carefully away with her clothe when she needed to. One hand stretched skin while the other wielded the chisel making for slower work than if another had been working with her. She was too proud too ask for help. Too stubborn. She wanted to do this on her own, sure that if she asked Herrlock to assist he would just use it as reason to say she was not ready.

The sound of Allister being thrown into the ceiling startled the Drykas from her bubble of focus. Her gaze lifted has hands stilled and nerves went on edge. What had happened? She did not know, but she saw the anger in the room. She saw the red Akalak grab his wife and take her outside with a hold that did not look completely gentle. She saw as Herrlock came over and further assault the scrawny male, Madeira’s shout of protest shaking the room. Herrlock seemed unimpressed with her demand, but he did not bring further harm to Allister. Instead he made a threat and sent a demand Taurina’s way. "Finish her today!" Taurina shrunk back and nodded, complete agreement. She suddenly wished to get the strange pair out of here as quickly as possible. For their sake as much as her own. An Akalak’s wrath was best left untested.

Allister came to them looking like a dog beaten and bruised. Taurina looked the hyena with pity in her eyes, knowing that whatever he had done had not been cause for the punishment he had received. He was not her responsibility, however, not hers to feel sorrow for or scold. So she did nothing but return her focus to her client and the work to be done. Madeira was asking if they could get this finished quickly, very quickly. Taurina did not blame her.

“I only have some shading left to do,” she promised the woman, “shading and finishing touches. A bell, maybe one and a half more.”

The Ethaefal buckled down on her work after that. Her voice was silent as a crease formed in her brow. Her tongue stuck out just slightly, teeth biting down with just enough pressure to sting. Needles were buried into Madeira’s skin again and again, black ink sinking into her milk toned skin. Where she used little ink and used less pressure the black was grey. Where she pressed harder and used more ink, the color was dark as a shadow. Where there was no ink white was left. The negative space left be in a way that created highlights and shadows. Where she needed it, Taurina used a little white to fix a mistake or two but it was mostly unneeded. Mostly she just used Madeira’s pale skin to her advantage.

Time passed by in a slow series of ticks that never grew any faster or slower though it seemed as if they had halted altogether. Taurina felt nerves bunch in her stomach, the need to rush ever present but she also knew that she could not if she wanted this to be good. If she wanted to give Madeira the quality she deserved. The Eth was just not good enough to be fast and good. Only slow and good or fast and sloppy. She always chose the former. Quality over everything else. Pride demanded it.

“Nearly finished,” Taurina assured as they neared the two bell mark, Herrlock was growing increasingly antsy over there at his desk and kept shooting glares their way.

The clothe was wiped over Madeira’s back, dabbing away sweat and blood and ink. The work was complete and seeing it in full force caused Taurina to smile. A laughing hyena rolling on its back with tongue lulling and legs in the air. She spent chimes stretching the tender skin and looking it over for any gaps in the ink. It was speckled in small scabs and swollen from the irritation of the skin, but otherwise everything was as it should be. For the competent artist it was something to be proud of. Something Madeira could be proud of as she wore it for the rest of her life.

“Take a look,” Taurina said once she was sure all was well, handing the same mirror back to the woman and using the same system as before, “do you like it?”

The artist looked to the hyena Kelvic then and smiled softly. She stood from her chair and patted the seat with her free hand, offering it to him as she stood beside it angling the mirror left in her hand so Madeira could get a good look.

“Come and look Allister,” she encouraged, “what do you think?”

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

Word CountPost Total: 1,461
Overall Total: 5,868