Completed To Light a Spark (Belugnir)

Einar tends an injured Zavya.

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A city floating in the center of a lake, Ravok is a place of dark beauty, romance and culture. Behind it all though is the presence of Rhysol, God of Evil and Betrayal. The city is controlled by The Black Sun, a religious organization devoted to Rhysol. [Lore]

To Light a Spark (Belugnir)

Postby Zavya on February 26th, 2019, 5:14 am

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Zavya froze, however briefly, when Einar’s arm wrapped around her waist—another shiver running down her spine that had nothing to do with being cold. Lips parted and pupils wide, she glanced toward his face as if she might say something, but in the end simply settled against his shoulder and wrapped her own arm around him. The Kelvic nuzzled in with a deep breath, slowly relaxing against him when the wine found its way back into her hand.

Taking another swallow, she let loose a dreamy sigh as the alcohol loosened her muscles and her anxiety both. Einar’s voice was a rumble in her ear where it lay pillowed against his chest, listening in fascination while he explained about this “Sunberth,” a city that sounded even nastier than the cesspool she’d just escaped. And that was where he’d come from? Explains a lot about him, actually… she thought idly, though the play of his hand against her skin was making it harder and harder for her to think much of anything at all.

Distracted as she was, Zavya still found herself enthralled as Einar spoke of his upbringing, the harshness of the circumstances that had borne him. Sympathy wasn’t an emotion she was used to feeling, but here it was in spades… a man forged of a childhood no happier than her own. Perhaps there was a kinship of spirit between them, after all. The Kelvic never would have guessed they shared as much tragedy as they did; it managed to endear the man to her all the more.

“What brought you to Ravok from this ‘Sunberth?’” she asked curiously when he wrapped up his story, enjoying his loose tongue more than she ever thought she would. The words were flowing as freely as the wine now, and she found she only wanted to learn more.

It would seem she wasn’t the only one, Einar asking after her own past and causing her to shift uncomfortably. Her life wasn’t something she spoke of easily… or really, at all, beyond the few brief stories she’d shared with Shiress. Was she truly going to share them with this man too? In spite of her reservations, it would seem that way.

A harsh laugh parted Zavya’s lips at that last comment, shaking her head before releasing a shuddering breath. “No, nothing’s ever been easy,” she muttered in agreement, watching his thumb brush over the back of her hand with a near single-minded attention. “From the moment I was born… I… no one’s ever cared about me. I was just an animal. No… worse than that. Animals have at least some bit of dignity. I was a thing. A thing that could walk and talk and eat and breathe, but a thing all the same.”

The tigress parted just enough from her companion to straighten up and look at him, weaving her fingers through the hand that would stroke hers. Her free hand took hold of the wine bottle, pouring several swallows down her throat to bolster herself to tell the tale. They were memories she hardly liked to visit, but after he’d spilled enough of his own sad stories, she figured it was only fair if she did the same.

“I was born in the Kelvic Research Institute,” Zavya began, dropping her gaze to their intertwined hands where she was squeezing a little harder than she intended. Loosening her grip, she went on, “I’m not sure how much you know about that place, but just… Never hope you end up there.” A shudder wracked her body, swallowing hard. “All you have to do is look at me to figure out some of the things they did to us. Not all of these scars were by Ryker’s hands.

“The main thing they kept me for was breeding. Or well… attempted breeding. They tried again and again… god, I don’t even know how many times they tried… but I never carried a baby longer than a few months. I always miscarried, and they couldn’t figure out why.” Zavya knew very well why, but even in this sharing mood, it wasn’t something she was ready to divulge to Einar. Perhaps another night.

“This… infuriated them. They did something to me that…” Pulling her lip between her teeth, she paused. It was another memory she couldn’t bear to voice aloud, what she could even recall of it. “I couldn’t get pregnant any more after that. Since I couldn’t have babies, they didn’t have a use for me anymore, and sold me off with that season’s excess.”

Another bitter laugh had her shaking her head, taking another long draught of the tart beverage. “Ryker bought me then. When he first took me home, I thought my dreams had come true. He was so kind, so gentle, so handsome…” Shaking her head, Zavya scoffed with a sneer of her own. “That didn’t last long. It was only a week before I saw the monster he really is. I was back in the same cage I’d always been in… this one was just a little prettier.”

Finally, her eyes raised to his again, raw pain warring with tired resignation in her gaze. Scooting a little closer, she gently pushed an errant strand of hair from the scarred half of his face. Her fingers lingered briefly on the ruined flesh, wondering at the story behind whatever had created such a horrific visage. She thought her own scars were bad, but his… Zavya shook her head.

“I’ve always been a slave, known I’ve always would be a slave, and my whole life… I’ve never had a choice. Not in anything.” There was passion in her voice, resisting a hiccup as she learned forward and continued, “From when I wake up to when I go to sleep. What I wear. What I eat, where I go, what I say… What I fight for. When I lay still.” Her heart throbbed within her chest as she took his hand, gently pulling it up her arm and to her waist. She continued in a husky murmur, “Whose hands caress my skin…” Leaning forward yet further, golden eyes were affixed to his mouth as she went on, “Whose lips taste mine…”

Zavya’s mouth came within a hairsbreadth of his, pausing for an agonizing tick as her voice dropped yet further to a whisper, “Who I lay with at night…” Closing her eyes, her forehead touched his before releasing a shuddering breath. Hesitating another moment longer, the tigress leaned back and dropped her gaze again to the ground—her hand still clutched tight around his. “None of it has ever been mine to choose. I’ve always had to live for stolen moments, the only times in my life I’ve ever been able to decide for myself. Before I met Shiress… or you… those moments were very few and far between.”

She paused before she lifted her gaze again. The Kelvic wasn’t sure why she was still talking, but once started, she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “But you know what? Sometimes these moments are even more frightening than the times I’m utterly helpless. At least then, whatever happens is out of my hands. I didn’t choose it, so I’m free of whatever follows. But moments like this? Where a word… or a touch… can change a life?” Zavya leaned back in, stopping a few inches from his face. Slowly, she shook her head, gaze raking across his mangled features. “I’m… paralyzed. Because I’ve never had… a choice.”

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To Light a Spark (Belugnir)

Postby Belugnir on March 1st, 2019, 1:15 am

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Ein could understand plenty of things. That folk were depraved, that they'd get a high from pushing about someone else with a brand and a shackle about their neck, that pig-faced whoresons would buy fair girls and force them to their bed side, that lazy, arrogant folk would pour coin into attaining another human being and then work them to death at their bidding...

Breeding...

They tried again and again...

They did something to me.

I couldn't get preagnant anymore after that.

They sold me off with that season's excess.


Apparently, however, folk here at Ravok went bounds beyond slavery. To take a living, thinking, talking being and give it less courtesy than sane folk gave to livestock... It really shouldn't have surprised him, yet his hands turned still, and Ein turned distant and seething, eyes wandering ahead, over the fire and through the woods, southward. His gaze was lowered back to the woman, however, once she'd taken him by the hand and began to speak of the hardship of her slavery. Slavery taught and beaten into her since she took her first breath. One that she couldn't claw and bite her way out of like he could in the lawless city of beggars and thugs... She spoke of her master's foul nature and of the fright that came with stolen freedom and the consequences of owning one's decisions... And Ein finally found himself at a loss of sly and snarky things to say... yet there it was, a gnawing sense of obligation to speak up, to say anything.

Yet he found no words, instead freezing up once again when Zavya guided his hands to fondle her marred form and closed in, emphasizing the sweet intimacy that Ravok had bastardized for her. A tremble passed Einar's lip while he came to taste tender heat upon the girl's breath, their lips brushing upon each other as she spoke. The air in his chest stilled once again and longingly narrowed eyes began darting from holding Zavya's gaze to her lips.

When she finally pulled away after gently locking heads with him, Ein took a deep breath and heard through the last of what the girl had to say... He was unnerved, yet still mesmerised... And then she closed in again.

You's the one paralyzed?... Bugger me sideways what's that make me?

As they lingered, long and tense, their bodies but a nudge apart, Ein let go of the woman's waist, fingertips trailing upward, between her breasts, across the freshly wrapped bandage, over the faded ligature marks left upon her neck on the night she escaped her master's manor, before finally cupping the girl's head in the palms of his hands, cradling her in a tender hold, before leaning in, belike a playful child, tucking the tip of his nose against her own and moving upward to press a long kiss upon her forehead. He would remain so for what felt belike chimes, before pulling away and staring her in the eyes with churning emotions he hadn't known he had... and with a sudden fright.

''I told...'', his voice cracked, as if weeping... and he paused, instead of feigning a cough, Ein gave a long sigh shrouded with mild, apologetic laughter. ''I told you already when we set off from the town.'', his voice settled back to its usual depth, if an ounce calmer. ''That life's one vast pain in the arse most days, free or not...'', having long since let go, his arm went around Zavya again, pulling her in to lean against his chest, only this time he would be the one adjusting the pelts more closely about her, and at the end his hand would linger upon the side of her head, curling fingers twined with sloppily trimmed dark locks.

''Thinking for ourselves is how we decide upon dumb shyke. It's how we settle for nagging foul-mooded whoresons to rob an abandoned cart, it's how we get mauled by lone wolves and nearly wind up dead... But it's also how we end up merry, drunk, and laying on a pile of plush pelts with a full belly and food to spare, prattling the night away with street-child good for naught's...''', though he smiled and cuddled her on with uncanny tenderness, his voice became bittersweet as the man whispered on against the crown of her head. ''I, for one, rather like where your choices lead us when you do get to have 'em, Zavya.''


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To Light a Spark (Belugnir)

Postby Zavya on March 1st, 2019, 6:27 pm

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The brush of his fingers against Zavya’s skin when they trailed up her body to cup her face ignited a flame, a slow-blazing inferno that sparked from deep within. She leaned into that touch, a touch that threatened to burn her alive, but it was a fire she’d happily surrender herself to. Golden eyes closed of their own volition, the Kelvic shuddering as lips pressed to her forehead and remained for what seemed an eternity.

Confused desire lingered with abashed gratitude and cloying sweetness, Einar tucking her back in his embrace and pulling her in against him. Trembling arms encircled his waist, that catch in his voice after telling her tale dissolving yet more of the hardness around her heart. In spite of their rocky beginning, in spite of the attitude and snark the man wore like a cloak, he actually… cared. Someone cared about her. Someone besides the emerald-eyed beauty they’d left behind. Who ever cared about a Kelvic slave? It was a novel feeling, and one that scared her as much as it warmed her.

To be held so tenderly by arms as scarred as her own, it moved something deep within her, something that had lain dormant for most of her life. There’d been hints of it in her time with Shiress, a lazy stirring of desire for another that confounded her in its single-minded demand. Zavya was a tiger, a creature of shadows and isolation—she felt little need for the company of others. But here and now? Had Einar left her side for even a moment, she wasn’t sure she could have borne it. And that desire… it demanded more.

I, for one, rather like where your choices lead us when you do get to have 'em, Zavya.

His voice was a nearly inaudible murmur against her hair, another shiver finding its way down her spine, even as he pulled the furs tighter around them both. Shifting within his grasp, she tilted her head back to look at him, golden orbs catching and holding his own mismatched pair. An electric silence filled the air, lasting for ticks or chimes or bells, she wasn’t sure, but at last a cracked whisper broke it,

“So do I.”

So Zavya made another choice, emboldened by his words and a now empty bottle of wine that lay forgotten at their feet. A shaking hand reached up to run through his streaked hair—he has stripes too…—and down to rest against the heavy scars on his cheek. The ball of her thumb brushed against his bottom lip before her fingers trailed to his neck. Another pause, a gentle tug, and a soft exhale saw her mouth pressed to his… that deep-seated smolder roaring to life on the surface.

The Kelvic would wait for his reaction, holding herself still until she was sure he’d respond in kind. If he did, she’d deepen the kiss—hands clasped to either side of his face as passion grew within that caress. Once, twice, thrice she’d brush her lips over his, lingering in that last for who knew how long. Finally, she pulled back with a ragged breath, rendered speechless once more. Even she was shocked at her own audacity, but it was nothing if not a night of firsts. Zavya waited for him to say something, anything, her heart fluttering beneath the bandages he’d so carefully wound around her chest.

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Last edited by Zavya on March 4th, 2019, 5:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Zavya
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To Light a Spark (Belugnir)

Postby Belugnir on March 4th, 2019, 1:09 am

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It was so inviting and relieving, when they came to ease into each other's embrace within the warm mess of stolen furs, drunk and worryless...

Long unkempt fingernails easing through his tangled, mismatched hair had his head tilting as if it'd come loose. Albeit past a moment's hesitation, he'd already begun holding the girl closer, wishing that they could simply remain as they were for nights and days on end, nuzzled against each other without strain or stress... happy. Zavya, however, had a more ambitious idea in mind.

Sorrowful self-awareness shone in Ein's eyes as his gaze went sideways and downward to the hand that caressed the ruin that occupied half of his face... Yet he still came to meet a lusting gaze of amber before things turned to a blur in the midst of the kiss Zavya leaned in for... Once, twice, thrice, ever deepening, reluctance was left aside as the two shared the warmth of their breaths... A warmth that came spreading inward, gathering and bitterly teasing within his chest and descending lower yet... And he surrendered to it hungrily, one hand coming to the back of the girl's head to cradle and caress and encourage and keep their kiss alive for that much longer, the other fondling eagerly at her side and descending to her hip... While he began to taste the shape of Zavya's pointed teeth and the roughness of her feline tongue...

Until a single blink of the eyes amidst the intoxicated, passionate blur muddled his mind without cause and warning... In place of tender, nimble fingers, he came to feel a bulky, calloused hand in a merciless grasp upon his throat, in place of their kiss, he recalled the touch of gnarled claws, pressing upon the side of his head with the sudden force of a ravenous gale... and the horrid, jagged scar that spanned the girth of his neck was suddenly set aflame.

Einar pulled away with an unrelenting grunt of panic, instantly sobered and swathed in cold sweat, with the stillness of a corpse clutching at his heart. He found his hands had darted together to clutch around Zavya's neck, and he had just barely stopped himself from retaining a stiff choke hold... Another gulp of wine and it would have been all he could have done before biting the girl's lip off, wringing her neck and fleeing into the woods hollering like a broken madman... As his fingers relaxed and his arms slumped down beside him belike loose rags, he finally drew a torn breath and looked away, his one good pupil reduced to but a single dot encased in shaking copper, in which all the disbelief a human being could come to feel had gathered at once.

Uncontrollably did his jaw tremble for long, long ticks before he settled it still, clenching it to where all the muscles that held it together could have been counted beneath his skin... He closed his eyes long and hard, both hands coming up to cover his mouth, shaking, almost beginning to rock back and forth where he was knelt, before a deep, heavy saw him conjure up the courage to look at the girl again, eyes wide and tearing, still at a loss for words.

There was shock, sorrow, fear... and a plea of forgiveness lost and struggling between them.


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To Light a Spark (Belugnir)

Postby Zavya on March 4th, 2019, 10:47 pm

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At first, all seemed well, Einar returning her kiss with as much ardor as she gave. His tongue sought to tangle with hers, a groan finding its way from Zavya’s mouth to his. Encouraged by his reaction, the Kelvic leaned in closer, her fingers tangling themselves more firmly in his hair. Her heart was an eager thrum within her chest, her very bones seeming to melt until suddenly… It abruptly ended, the man tearing himself away with an abject look of horror, fingers finding their way around her neck that lacked the passion of only ticks before.

Zavya pulled back just as swiftly with a look of horror that mirrored Einar’s own, tumbling free of the swaddling pelts and leaping to her feet with her hands pressed to her throat. She hissed in his direction, golden eyes aflame with a look that threatened yet more blood that night. What the hell just happened?! What had she done wrong? How had he gone from sweet and solicitous to borderline murderous so petching quickly?

It was eerily similar to the shifting mood swings Ryker exhibited so often, tenderness turned to something else with just the wrong button pushed. The Kelvic trembled as she looked down on the equally trembling human, at a loss for words or even a simple gesture that could encompass all of what she felt at that moment. Confusion, anger, lust, fear—they all gelled together in a roiling mass in her belly, her hastily consumed dinner threatening to find its way back up her gullet. Desire interrupted by terror and violence… It was something she was unfortunately all too familiar with. She just hadn’t expected to find it here.

What was different from her previous experiences, however, was the halt to the violence and the contrite look on Einar’s face, an unspoken plea for forgiveness that shone through watery eyes. Zavya was at a loss. Whatever had come over him had scared him as much as it scared her. And once again, she found herself wondering at a past that could cause a man to react in such a way over the simple flutter of lips against his.

Silence stretched between them as she watched the emotions chase each other across his face, his own inner battle plain for the world to see. When he looked up to face her again, the expression he wore struck a nerve deep inside—the anger that had filled her mere ticks before simply trickling out like water through a sieve.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, drawing in a breath as shaky as his jaw. The tigress settled back to her knees on the furs beside him, though this time she was careful to keep her hands to herself. So much for liking the choices I make, she thought bitterly as she dropped her gaze to the ground. “I… I didn’t mean to… I shouldn’t have…”

Swallowing hard, she lapsed back into silence, unsure what else to say. “I’m tired,” she finally murmured, gathering up a couple of the furs he’d set to the side. Normally, she’d simply shift to her tiger form and curl up in the softest patch of dirt, but with the bandages in place, Zavya assumed it wouldn’t be the best decision. Stepping a short distance from where he’d set up their little nest, she turned away to hide the tears stinging her gaze. Legs wobbly from exhaustion, blood loss, intoxication, and sorrow alike, she laid out the furs as quickly as she could and situated herself among them.

“Goodnight, Einar,” was the last thing she said that night, a soft and broken whisper cutting through the stillness of the camp.

Turning on her side with her back to the fire, she let loose another sigh. Pulling a bear pelt up over her shoulders, she closed her eyes, though sleep would not find her for bells yet. In spite of the rather unexpected and confusing end to their even more unusual night, something had changed between them—something that wasn’t likely to change back any time soon. What exactly that change was, Zavya wasn’t sure if she was ready to face, but she knew when she woke up the next morning, things would not simply go back to the way they were before. A spark had been lit, and the young Kelvic could not possibly conceive of the fire that would blaze in the weeks to come.

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Zavya
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To Light a Spark (Belugnir)

Postby Belugnir on March 5th, 2019, 1:40 am

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Einar was terrified when Zavya's startled hiss pierced the night, and he nearly keeled over weeping. Yet his horror was not of fear that she might attack him... nay that wasn't half of it. He'd made himself vulnerable for comfort's sake... and it was crippling, the realization pushed upon him by the weight of repressed memories awakening when their welcome was illest... And his sorrow only deepened when he saw realization upon Zavya's face. She'd been the one abused and tortured from her first breath... yet she was not the one losing her damn mind... And what anger the man came to feel creeping upon him was over letting his weakness ruin a moment that would have lead up to something beautiful for them both... His shoulders slumped down and his head hunched over his chest...

You did nothing wrong., waning shock still lingered in eyes that blinked away in denial, without the strength of will to speak up in reply to the girl, though his mouth opened several times with vain intent of doing so.

His heart sank as he watched her approach to gather up a number of pelts and make a bed for herself, apart from where he still sat like a dumbfounded toddler. All he could muster at her goodnight courtesy was an apologetic nod and a muffled breath.

It would take a long while for him to move from the spot where she left him, to get his bearings, to begin seeking refuge for his mind in menial tasks. Within a pair of bells rich in self-reproach, their doe was skinned, chopped up for meat, salted from their stolen supply and arranged into packs wrapped of linen, so that it would last them a good week and be uncontested by the maggots that would have settled in had the corpse been left alone for much longer... He did away with another dozen chimes by pointlessly arranging things across the camp, checking if Fin was properly bound still, double checking the contents of their poached cargo... reluctantly approaching the campfire by Zavya's side to toss another firewood in and keep it going...

Finally, he'd settled into a seat, the girl's back firmly turned to him, and under a firm impression that she was fast asleep... Reluctantly, Einar had gone about eating what was left of the doe's leg that they shared previously. Warm food had only seen his uncanny guilt deepen, however, and instead of keeping on his watch, he sought refuge in slumber... Seated up on the hard soil, opposite of Zavya on the other side of their campfire, poleaxe leaned over his shoulder... It was plenty of times Ein fell asleep that night, yet never for past a couple chimes, and deprived of any relief or ease for his mind, for every brief, shallow sleep was quick to give way to nightmarish scenarios playing his mind away into a wreck... Until he finally forsook sleep altogether.

So it was, Einar would greet the dawn spent and remorseful, nourishing their campfire with deadwood and watching on and on as embers gave way to cinder.


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To Light a Spark (Belugnir)

Postby Zavya on March 5th, 2019, 6:11 am

Grades!

 
Zavya
Skills Earned:
  • Endurance +2
  • Observation +4
  • Persuasion +1
  • Rhetoric +1
  • Seduction +3
  • Socialization +4
  • Storytelling +1
Lores:
  • Belugnir: An equally broken soul
  • Belugnir: An orphan from Sunberth
  • Belugnir: A spark ignited
  • Belugnir: First kiss
  • Belugnir: Raised by a pair of retired knight brothers
  • Food: Deer is good, but boar is better
  • Self: Doesn't like the taste of predator
  • Self: No longer wants to die
  • Self: Prefers raw meat over cooked
  • Sunberth: A city to the south of Ravok
  • Sunberth: Full of thieves
  • Sunberth: Nothing like Ravok
 
Belugnir
Skills Earned:
  • Animal Husbandry +1
  • Cooking +2
  • Medicine +2
  • Observation +3
  • Seduction +3
  • Socialization +4
  • Storytelling +1
Lores:
  • Cooking: Roasting a deer leg
  • Cooking: Skinning a deer
  • Cooking: Salting meat to preserve it
  • Home: Wherever we rest our heads
  • Medicine: Cleansing a wound with alcohol and water
  • Medicine: Wounds will fester if not kept clean and covered
  • Medicine: Wrapping a bandage
  • Self: Has eaten raw meat before
  • Self: PTSD strikes at the worst moments
  • Zavya: An unexpected attraction
  • Zavya: Born and raised in the Kelvic Research Institute
  • Zavya: Born of a wolf Kelvic and a bat Kelvic
  • Zavya: First kiss
  • Zavya: Has always been a slave
  • Zavya: No longer able to get pregnant
Comments: This thread was... ;~; Who would've known there was such a sweetheart lurking beneath all the assholery? Thank you so much for weaving all this cheesiness with me, and I can't wait for the next one. <3


If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!
Zavya
Hear me roar
 
Posts: 139
Words: 151900
Joined roleplay: October 15th, 2018, 9:58 pm
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