[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala, Raiha)

On Sam and Issima's wedding night, Ronan and Kavala drink a little too much. In the morning, Raiha intervenes...

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala, Raiha)

Postby Ronan on February 24th, 2012, 2:18 pm

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Timestamp: 8th of Winter (Evening), 511 AV

The wedding had been beautiful. Sudden, unadorned, but naturally beautiful. Sama'el and Issima had disappeared into private chambers, to do whatever newlyweds did... Ronan was proud, and happy for the couple. A great step had been taken towards rebuilding Sam's pavilion. He grinned, knowing children would be next.

The table next to him was cluttered with empty glasses. They had consumed... enough. He felt a little lightheaded, but didn't everyone? The wine had just kept on flowing. Kavala always was an attentive host.

He finished the last shimmering beads of his current glass of wine, and turned back round to face the room. People had dispersed. Only Kavala remained, sat out on the veranda, enjoying her own glass of wine.

He watched her for a moment, blinking heavily with the alcohol. She was still just as beautiful however, a blonde haired human for all intents and purposes, with the light scaling of a Konti essentuating her pale skin. It was hard to imagine, that such a delicate looking woman was so shackled in all directions. But she didn't see it like that. Kavala saw light in darkness, liberty in oppression.

Ronan loved that about her. An acceptance of the things that couldn't be changed, and a drive to alter what could.

His cheeks were flushed red, aided by copious amounts of alcohol. He figured it would be time to retire soon, but when he attempted to get up, he felt unsteayd on his feet and dropped back down into the chair. He'd leave it for a moment.

And until then, he'd watch the moonlight and the stars catch in Kavala's eyes. They were eyes he could never deny. Never.
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Last edited by Ronan on June 25th, 2012, 3:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala)

Postby Kavala on February 25th, 2012, 7:28 pm

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Kavala sat in what she thought was an abandoned center of the festivities. A stray wineglass was clutched in her hand, though she was not sipping at it. Kavala hadn't actually drank a lot that night. She couldn't. Her body was in its full fledged 'anything from the sea was fine' mode and grapes or anything fermented from them weren't on that list. She glanced down, realized she clutched it, and looked thoughtfully at it.

Clean up. Yes, that what was required next.

But still she lingered, quietly giving thanks. The Gods worked in mysterious ways, it seemed, and just that morning she'd sent a quiet prayer up into the world asking for just a little happiness to come Sanctuary's way. She hadn't realized that meant a wedding party piling through the gates not more than a bell later laughingly asking if a wedding could be performed on short notice.

Anything was possible. And Kavala knew to recognize and be thankful for a gift when she saw one. Sam and Issi were a gift. Sanctuary had needed the uplift, the joy, to have its bowels swelling with guests all merry and glad for the festivities. Even Leto, whom Kavala had kept a careful eye on, hadn't seemed to unhappy. Genuinely happy for his friend, the man was practically selfless when it came to Sama'el. So she'd hung close to him and had tried to offer him comfort in the form of amusements and engaging conversation when she could pull away from the roasting pig, the flowing wine, and keeping treats coming from the kitchen area.

Kavala had danced with everyone, but had partnered more with Ronan than was perhaps decent. She glanced down at the wineglass in her hand and caught sight of the bracelet on her wrist. It was a beautiful thick silver manacle that displayed her slavery without fettering her neck. He didn't seem to see it. And it didn't seem to matter to him. She quietly wondered about that. She missed her Talvas, whom she had strong feelings for, but Cugacon hadn't been around lately. It would have been nice for him to have been at the wedding. She could have danced with him along with Leto and Ronan and even Sama'el and probably been less confused about everything that was currently confusing her.

But the Akalak were always on the move. There were things that were obligations that they couldn't help. Had that been what happened to Hatot? He'd never returned, just vanished, and it broke her heart a little. She was worried about Cugacon and the same thing happening. The Rivarians didn't really know how to accept women into their lives and make them a day to day part of their family. Some overcame the obstacle, but far too many of them used women for sex and reproduction but otherwise didn't know how to interact. Cugacon had said he'd wanted a family with her. She wanted that to be true. But there were so many factors and so many obstacles.

And she had so much inside of her that needed to nurture and needed to be nurtured.

Kavala wasn't tipsy, having gone far past that point. She was flat out thinking drunkard thoughts. There was fine kelp beer from Zeltiva and that hadn't been unwelcome at all to her system. A lot of it, in fact, so when Ronan approached, silent in his usual soft footed manner, she didn't even glance up. Instead she spoke boldly, turning her head slightly so her left eye could catch his. It was dim, cool, the candles having almost all burned out.

"I feel you when you are close to me... like a warmth. It's so strange. Maybe we've dipped too much in each other's webbing." She said abruptly then rolled her shoulders and glanced around at the mess around him. "I need to clean up." She added, her voice soft with a sapphire clan tilt to her Pavi. If he closed her eyes, she'd sound no different than any other Drykas. But Kavala was different. She was a Konti trapped in an Akalak society with a Drykas heart.


"Ronan, I'm sitting here thinking of my Talvis and missing him and wishing he'd have stopped by today so I could have at least caught a dance with him... and yet you are here... and its a little confusing to me. Thank you for dancing with me so much. We're both pretty terrible at it... "
She said with a slight laugh, no the cruel kind, but one that was all humility and admission. "I'm terrible at a lot of things... knowing what to do and think is often one of them." She said, setting down the wineglass abruptly and wiping something invisible off her cheek. It was a drunken gesture, that was supported by her eyes being overbright and just wet enough that it looked like she was on the verge of tears though it was hard to say if she was or she wasn't.

Kavala was perched on the edge of an overly large communal table. There was debris and party excess all over it. She swept a space beside her clear and then caught his hand to draw him over. "Sit with me a while. Lets look at Zintila's stars and pretend we are something we are not." She said, glancing at him, as she urged him to join her. Once he did she released his hand and folded her own neatly in her lap as if she wasn't sure what to do with them.

She was quiet then, but in the way of all silences, Ronan could perhaps tell Kavala had more to say. But she didn't speak again, not at least right then, and instead watched the sun set at the far end of the Courtyard. She turned to him, studied his features, and reached up to push a stray lock of hair out of his lovely eyes. She shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts, and glanced once more across the courtyard, the sounds of animals settling for the night reassuring.

"I don't know why things happen, Ronan. I don't want to sit back and loose the greater picture and become trapped in learning only the details. I like details. I thrive on them. I can't seem to help myself over them." She said, suddenly laying a hand on his thigh, patting it, and then replacing it in her lap.

"I can't go to bed either. I gave Sama'el and Issi my room. I thought clean up would take all night anyhow, then I'd slip down to the beach and sleep in the sea. Crazy huh? I love living here.. so close to it. I miss the grass, but I've made a home here." She said that as if it were some betrayal to her heritage, like it was a confession that the Sea of Grass now took second place.

"What about you Ronan? Have you made your home with Sama'el and now Issi?" She asked, the question seemed to be on a deeper level, as if it were more in depth than what it appeared to be on the surface.
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Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala)

Postby Ronan on February 26th, 2012, 7:39 pm

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“I know of the warmth that you speak of,” Ronan replied with a knowing nod and a tipsy smile, “I feel it too. When I touch your strands… I understand.”

He laughed aloud at what she said next, knowing he most probably looked quite the fool. But he suddenly grew sullen at the thought, memories of bad dancing taking him far back. Far back, indeed. He was there, amongst the dirge, amongst the drumming, and the heated dancing. And in the cairn were his parents, taken from him, now tethered to the Web.

When she touched his hands he came to the present again, heat flushing through his blood. Her touch always did that, as if it awakened a part of his soul so dormant. It awakened a past where he had lived freely, not constrained by dark tidings and tragedy. Even now, he could not be completely free from the past, yet she made him feel more alive than ever.

Pretend we are something we are not...

Ronan flinched at the notion. Didn't he wish for that every day? He always wanted what he couldn't have - his heart opened only to close again.

He sat down beside her, shuffling so he was close to her and could take in her delicate scent. They remained silent for a long while, but it was a companionable silence, with no awkwardness. Ronan almost got up to get another glass of wine, but he thought better of it, following Kavala's eyes to gaze upon the setting sun, casting an amber glow over the courtyard.

When her hand moved close to his face to push a fall of hair away, he turned and caught her gaze. There were moments like this in life, but they were rare. In the early hours, in nature's embrace, when thoughts seemed to kaleidoscope in ones mind, plunging deeper than they did in the day. A moment of clarity seemed to come in the small hours, only to drift away again in the morning.

He didn't want to leave Riverfall. At this moment, addled with wine, he was sure of that. He wanted to stay here with Kavala forever. And in the morning, he would half wonder if that sentiment was true.

"The devil's in the detail," he said back to her, "but don't worry yourself about it." She touched at his thigh, and he laid a hand over her own for a moment. "Sometimes I worry I'll lose myself. I did, for a long time. But..." he trailed off, looking at her again, before breaking into a grin, "I'm sure Sam and Issi are making good use of your room."

No. That was an odd thing to say. He cursed himself, and longed to be sober in the moment.

"I think Sama'el and Issi have made a home for themselves," he replied carefully, trying to grasp a little more control over his words. He wanted to hold her hand again, ever so tightly, and never let go. "By all means, I'll be there for them, I'll do anything and everything for Sama'el, but I don't think I've found a home with them."

He swallowed against a rising tide of embarrassment.

"Kavala," he whispered darkly, looking at her intensely, "I think I've found my home elsewhere. Home isn't a place, more a... concept. I think I found my home right here."
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[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala)

Postby Kavala on February 27th, 2012, 5:45 pm

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Kavala studied Ronan, smiled slightly, and then hopped off the table. She fetched a fresh cooled bottle of wine for him and more kelp beer for her. She handed him the bottle, reversed and hopped back up on the table, and this time made no pretense about keeping distance. She just settled down comfortably beside him, her thigh and lower body touching him like two children, sitting together, conspiring. "We both haven't had enough to drink." She said softly, refilling her mug from the jug she'd brought along.

Kavala's Pavi was excellent. In fact, it flavored her common with a slight soft lilt to her accent. Pavi was comfortable to her, familiar, the language of her thinking. It was a language meant for drunken revelations and soft half-uttered truths.

"I'd drink wine, I like it better, but sometimes being Konti your body doesn't want anything except what comes from the sea. So Kelp Beer it is for me tonight, and it won't rebel too badly for the large quantities." She said, lifting the mug to her lips and drinking. She hadn't responded to what Ronan said because she needed time... just a little, to process it.

After her drink, she gently laid her head on his shoulder and stared out into the quickly falling night, almost counting stars as they winked into existence. A soft straight snowfall of white hair cascade down his shoulder as her warmth infused his right side. She was smaller than he was, delicate, but he could feel the muscles in her arms and thighs as they pressed against him. Small but strong, in more than just her own mind.

She breathed in his scent which reminded her of tall grass and summer sun. Kavala was used to warriors that smelled of leather and sword oil and the deep honest scent of a man working hard. Ronan was different than that, but not of any lesser value for it. He'd never be two hundred pounds of fighting strength or seven feet of lean muscle. He was what he was, a child of the Drykas, wandering lost because so many of them lived so hard and so fast. It was the price they paid for not having walls... one she knew well.

Kavala also knew he'd never look at her like the Akalak's did. They might not breed horses like the Drykas, but each and every female that stepped foot into Riverfall was a potential broodmare and sized up like that. She set the mug down, and found his hand again, coiling her scaled digits around his strong larger sun-kissed own. Ronan would never smooth his hands over her stomach and envision his offspring there, growing, and with it his rank and place in the city hierarchy. He'd never cup her breasts and weigh them in his hands, wondering if they were big enough to nourish his child appropriately in the first months of his life. He'd never demand a fully body inspection because it would never be his right to have her restrained and stripped so he could explore every part of her with his eyes and his hands all in the name of making a decision about his own future.

Her life was so different than his. And she'd been content with it, to a certain extent, until now. Now the rules seemed to harsh, the penalties to stiff, the freedom too illusional.

She opened her mouth and slowly, almost at a whisper, told him about her life. It was a quiet sort of confession, the kind a woman would whisper to a God and not to a mere mortal man. Kavala didn't seem to care though, and certainly didn't seem to think Ronan even less worth such a thing.

Kavala started with her childhood, reciting the happiness and fear, growing up with Vanator and Bolden, and all the trouble they'd gotten into. She talked about her sister who was a Konti as well and who loved blades more than life itself. She talked about the Denusk curse and how everyone in her pavilion fell in love and then lost the ones they loved the most. She told him about riding north to Mura, studying there for several years, becoming a true healer, and then riding back.

Slowly, into the magical stillness of the night, she told him about the fall from Windsong and the slavers that orchestrated it. She told him about life in the caravan, and how she became a non-person addicted to pain to feel alive. She showed him the tiny etchings on her skin, the ones a slaver had made on her to bring about reactions when forcing her no longer produced any sound from her. Silence, then had been a sort of death to her.

She moved on, telling him about her rescue and about being taken to Godiva's then the Oathmaster's Tower. Kavala softly went into detail there, telling him about the training, the rules, the Talvas' and what was expected of them. She told him about the narrow claustrophobic rooms with the manacles on the cots for women that ran away or did not obey.

Kavala kept speaking, kept passing her history on to him so he'd know just what he was saying and what he was doing. She paused only to take sips of the beer when her throat ran dry. She left nothing out, not the first contact with her first Talvas, nor the birth of Tasival. She spoke of Shayru's emergence as Tasival's second soul and of her rest period and then being put up for availability again.

She told him of negotiations with Cugacon's father and how she thought he was to be the one to own and use her. Then she told him of meeting Cugacon and falling from the roof in a rainstorm while she was trying to fix a leak. Kavala softly spilled the details of their first meeting, and then how she'd caught quickly and now carried his child. His twice daily visits, all negotiated for, were only for pleasure at this point.

When she was done, there was no secret left. He already knew her to be a Dreamwalker and about what she was building here in Sanctuary alongside the animals and healing. She offered up her entire soul to him, laid it bare, and let him see everything that she was in that small uninvited monolog.

And when she was finally done, she took a long drink of beer, set the mug aside once more, and studied him.

"I hear you Ronan. I hear so deeply what you have to say. And more importantly I think I understand what you are saying about home. But you need to know the dwelling you want to live in, Ronan. It's not a pavilion that will bend and sway with the wind able to uproot in a moments notice. It has solid earthen walls and a past that would bring pause to most men." There was such pain and joy mixed into her voice then. It was her real voice, not the strange factual recitation voice she'd used to tell him of her life. Her expression was guarded too, but softened as she reached across him and upwards, capturing his chin and tilting his head downward. She ran the pad of her thumb, the one not captured in his hand, across his lips, slowly and thoughtfully.

"His child is planted firmly inside me, growing and healthy, with no question at all to his parentage, and yet even now a kiss is forbidden." She said softly, her eyes meeting his, asking for one.
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The Sanctuary The Sanctuary Forum Riverfall The Cytali
Reverie Isle Wolf Creek Training Course
Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
User avatar
Kavala
I am more than the sum of my parts.
 
Posts: 3025
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Joined roleplay: October 25th, 2009, 1:46 am
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[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala)

Postby Ronan on February 27th, 2012, 6:51 pm

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Ronan gratefully accepted more wine, knowing he shouldn't, but desiring to drink it all the same. As he raised the glass back to his lips, Kavala settled in beside him, head rested against his shoulder. Her pale white hair drifted over his shirt.

There was something so pure about the situation. Ronan placed his wine back on the table, and moved towards her a little more, so he could support her head better. The wedding and everything after had been magic. He couldn't help but wonder what might lay in the night's wake.

When she began to whisper in that knowing voice, he listened to the meanderings of her life. He couldn't help feeling like she had been treated as somewhat of a possession, passed from person to person.

She was well travelled. From the cloth city of Endrykas, to the seer's isle of Mura. And even then, her journey had just begun. He winced at the marks in her skin. They were only faint, but they would always act as reminders of the past. Inflictions of a different time, that spoke of endurance and ordeal. And the baby in her womb... that was a permanent reminder too. But new life, was new life. It could not be hated, nor could it be blamed. It was wholly innocent, spun from the twisted weaves of humanity.

"A twisted road indeed," he whispered, almost into her ear, since his mouth lay close to her tilted head. "My own has been no straighter, no simpler. And your childhood, it sounds familiar."

Ronan wet his tongue with just a dash more of the almost fruity wine.

"Halcyon days, of play, and of imagination. I spent them with my brother Darus, and he taught me a little of hunting, of using the dagger. He was my best friend. But it seems nothing can last forever Kavala," his voice went even lower, taking on a darker tone, "not truly. He was taken from me by the wilds, and my parents shortly after. Glassbeaks, Zith. Whatever they were, they were agents of change, I'm sure of it."

His next words were spoken bitterly. Kavala was truly the first female he had opened up so much to. The words had flowed with Khiara, but Vanator had stood in the way, and the whole scenario had been a big mistake. It wasn't like Kavala was free either though, far from it. But alcohol, and a night like this, they made the tongue loosen, and the heart ever more lucid.

"And then there was Siyana. The final nail in my coffin. I was young and naive, and I was grateful for the love so soon after my family's demise. But our relationship was slow, slow for the Drykas, and in the end, it transpired she didn't even care for me at all. She became pregnant with another man. And when I found out... she disappeared, crying, apologising. But the truth is - she meant nothing to me." He turned his head slightly, face pressed against Kavala's hair, taking in her scent again. "My Pavilion had collapsed into ruin - or so I accepted. I began to live on the fringes of Endrykas, never truly leaving the city, but never truly living in its circle either. That lasted for a long time. Most of my life. But then friends came. Solicah. Sama'el. And family. Akilah, and the rest of my broken Pavilion. They survived, yet they weren't my family. We live for our pavilions, for our family, but I'll never be able to fit back into the Windsong Pavilion, not without my brother, not without my parents."

He took more wine, turning back to stare out into the courtyard again.

"Sama'el is my brother now. I feel a bond with him like no other. And though I feel guilty for it, I don't think I'll ever be as close to my cousin. There's a severed connection there that I don't think I can ever bridge again."

He fell silent, drained by his own story. When Kavala spoke again, he sighed quietely. He knew this was not a Pavilion. He knew these solid walls held a life so contradictory to his own. But Mizahar was full of hypocrisies; hidden truths and fragile drama's.

Her hand suddenly found his face, thumb outlining his lips, before she turned to face him. Those brilliant azure eyes burned with something wild, something fierce - that free spirit that lurked beneath her position in the Akalak cycle.

Even the kiss was forbidden. His eyes full upon her lips, and he found himself moving closer. The wine swirled in his head. Tomorrow didn't matter. The moment did. Only the moment.

She was intoxicating. And he hated her for being so entangled, so unattainable.

"I hate it," he whispered, "be free Kavala. Be free."

His lips met hers. He drank the moment in, the sky dull as morning seemed to break beyond them. The metaphor was true, a glimmer in the shadow of time. Her taste was undeniable.

The regret, the guilt. They would come, he knew. They had come often enough. But he didn't care. His hands went to the sides of her head, sliding through her hair. Forbidden things... they were often woven from the light of one's soul. Not wrong: just difficult, twisted. In the kiss their pasts met and touched, and recoiled at their own agonies.

In the kiss, Ronan could finally grasp a fleeting moment of feeling content.
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[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala)

Postby Kavala on February 29th, 2012, 6:30 pm

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With her ear pressed against his chest and his heartbeat thumping quietly in time with hers, she listened to him talk of himself. There was a great deal of joy and pain mixed into his existence, and she recognized that as he spoke. She could physically feel his mind travel back and forth on his own personal timeline, plucking at it like it was some exotic musical instrument to extract the best and worst of his memories. Her heart broke a little when she realized Ronan had been one of the fringe males unattached on the outskirts of Endrykas. Life was never easy for them, never easy at all, and unless they convinced some Ankal to allow them to marry into a Pavilion, they often had no title for the whole of their existence unless they managed to start their own.

He spoke onward, and she noticed several things. His voice was soothing, with a matching lilt to it that gave it away he was born on the Grass. And as they sat there talking, their biorhythms slowly leveled out. Kavala could tell that both she and Ronan breathed as one, taking each breath together even though he was the one talking and she was the one listening. Heartbeats meshed up too and as they sat together it seemed like their bodies somehow fell in sync with each others. It was such an unusual startling situation that the healer almost lost her concentration on his words.

It was peaceful. It was beautiful. And she was reluctant to change it.

She couldn't help but notice him as a man. It was forbidden because he was human and she was property, but there was a strong attraction there that she couldn't deny. Her Talvis' were forthright, the type that knew what they wanted and knew what a Nakivak was for. In a way it was terrible for her to think like that, but she was what she was, and couldn't help it. Those that held her contract visited her, mostly once a day, and took what they wanted checking the flatness of her stomach daily to see if their actions were having any effect. She had no choice but to let them lay their hands on her, and the truth was it wasn't a wholly unpleasant situation. But this was different. Kavala's mind whirled, close to Ronan, listening to his story. This was no artificial situation. This was no cultural tradition.

Ronan was a man who's life crossed paths with her own naturally and there was something different and wholly beautiful about their togetherness after the wedding. Kavala's relaxed against him completely. Her mind slowly forgot her worries, her capacity to overthink things, and simply enjoyed being there in that simple pleasurable moment. He smelled of grass and horses and a spice that was all his own. She shifted her head slowly, gently nuzzling him without thought, before her one act of boldness.

He didn't turn away. He didn't reject anything at all about her. Instead they flowed together, lips meeting, and suddenly the world around them completely and utterly was forgotten. In her more fanciful moments, she'd read about things like this. Later, she'd think of a million bards raising their voices about emotions she'd never truly understood and their songs would suddenly make sense.

Kavala and Ronan didn't just brush lips, instead they met, explored, and then lingered. No, Kavala was too bold for simplicities and too much of an explorer of things she wanted to understand to leave things simple. She lingered, her hand releasing his until she turned and settled in his arms facing him to deepen the kiss. To an outsider it might have seemed too much, but in that moment, when their energies met and she tasted the wine on his lips for the first time, there was no counting of chimes or bells. There was only the feel of his shoulders beneath her hands, the silken hair gracing his head as her webbed hands brushed through it.

She lingered, eyes concealed behind pale unadorned lids, as she tasted him and stretched out the kiss so long that it would not have surprised her to see dawn breaking over the far wall of the courtyard. When they were done, finally done, both because they needed to breath and because that place life had just taken them to was not meant to be lingered in, Kavala sat up and studied him. Azure eyes gone to ice blue held a sense of shock and wonder in them as she scanned his face, speechless for once in her life. Ronan wasn't expected, asked for, nor anticipated.

He was a gift she could not unwrap, but one that meant the world to her regardless. The mess of the wedding was forgotten. It could be cleaned up later. Instead she wanted him all to herself, to hold onto the magic of the night without complicating it more with laws she could not change.

Kavala stood up, took his hand, and tugged at him to follow. If he complied, she'd lead him out into the stable yard, past the tack room where she gathered two overlarge soft horse blankets. Then, if still he came, she'd slip into Windsongs stall which had plenty of room for some overnight guests and spread out one of the blankets in the corner on the hay that was piled there. It was where she'd planned on sleeping that night anyhow.

"Lay down. No one will bother us here or even think to look." She said softly, and if he did so, she'd join him in the soft nest she'd made and throw the second blanket over them both. She'd join him on the blanket and then whisper into the dark, the stallion in the box shifting quietly, seemingly undisturbed by his mistress and her guest. "I want to get to know you before you're gone. Life is too short not too. We're both drunk, and that's a good thing... so lets play a game... until we can't keep our eyes open any more. Then lets sleep like this... safe just for tonight. I'll trade you one question, anything you want to ask Ronan, for a question of yours... neither of us can lie and we cannot ask the same question twice in a row. If we do, it costs." As she talked she fitted herself neatly against him, stretching out along his length. She wasn't facing away from him spooned, but instead just tangled her limbs in his as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to do. Snuggled in the straw, the smell of hay and horses around them, it was incredibly comfortable.

"It's my game. I get to ask first...." She said softly, and in the near dark he could almost sense her closing her eyes to concentrate. "What are you most proud of in your life, Ronan?" She asked, rejecting the obvious questions about his likes or dislikes until later in the game.
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Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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Kavala
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[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala)

Postby Ronan on March 1st, 2012, 9:48 am

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Kavala gave into the kiss, and Ronan felt fire course through his body. She kissed him back with a sense of curiosity, as if the sensation was something new entirely. He returned the endeavour, lost in the moment.

When they finally, and softly, pulled back from one another, Kavala sat back to gaze at him for a moment. There was wonder in those cool, blue eyes. Ronan returned the stare, his soft green eyes watching her, seeing her properly, and truthfully. He saw not just the Konti before him, but the untamed spirit beneath. She could be more. Much more.

With no words, she abruptly stood up, and took his hand again to motion for him to follow. His face melted into a smile, and he got up to walk with her. The night was cold, but he didn't feel it against the beating of his heart and the fire coursing through his blood. They ended up in the stable yard, and she left him momentarily to gather two large and warm looking blankets.

Settling down on the blanket, she joined him and threw the second blanket over them both. Her voice came out in whispers, as if this moment was their secret - a good secret, one they could share, and remember. The horse, Windsong, remained quiet, barely noticing them. It was a different situation to the last time he had met the stallion. Acknowledging their drunken stupor, Kavala tasked him with a game, her voice and face playful.

Cuddling up to him, he realised how perfect this place was. The smell of hay only reminded him of home, the aroma a pervasive one among the cloth tents of Endrykas. He returned the hold, slipping his arms around her to carefully cradle her.

"Proud of..." he mused, trying to think straight. It was hard, the wine taking its toll, and Kavala's presence leaving him stupefied. "There is not a lot in my past to be proud of. But now... oh, let me twist the question a little. I'm proud of myself and everything round me. Now, at least. I'm proud I followed Sama'el. I'm proud I came here. I'm proud of you, us, this moment." He sifted his hands through her soft hair, doubting the answer was the one she was looking for.

He went quiet again, fingers exploring her back. His mind went to the questions he could ask. An eye for an eye.

"My turn. What are your hopes and dreams for the future Kavala?"

The future was a transitory concept. His image of it changed by the day, blurring until he could no longer second guess tomorrow. One thing was stable though, the fact he wanted to remain here forever - however long that was. He felt the safest and happiest he had ever felt, here, on the stable floor, with the Konti who had taken a chunk of his drunken heart.
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[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala)

Postby Kavala on March 4th, 2012, 7:02 pm

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She smiled in the dark warm nest they were lying in. Kavala didn't add useless words, but instead listened. He spoke a long time and when he was finished, she added something softly with a slight shake of her head. "Survival is a prideful thing, Ronan. I know that first hand. I think you do too." She countered softly at his statement that there was not a lot in his past to be proud of. She flushed slightly when he said he was proud of his decisions, of her, and of following Sama'el.

Ronan was unique. Most men would have wanted to be leaders, but instead Ronan knew he was best supporting others for now. It was something she hadn't run across much. All the Alakak around her prided themselves on leadership, initiative, and support held a lesser place as if left simmering on the fire while another dish stole the show.

His hands on her back were soft, fingers splayed out across her skin. Gentle, respectful, everything she'd ever wanted. In that moment, she didn't want to think of him as human, of how short his lifespan would be, or how the here and now and what they were both feeling would make things harder for each of them. Instead, selfishly, Kavala snuggled closer.

It was stolen time, that was all, harmless and amounting to nothing that would break any of her oaths.

Kavala blinked at his question. "That's two, Ronan. I'll answer the first though. You can ask the second one later." She went silent for along time, leaning into him and gently nuzzling her cheek along the fur on his chin and jawline. It was sensual and she was fascinated by the feeling of it against her scaled skin. She shifted slightly, sliding an arm around him and then leaned back enough to stare into his eyes in the near darkness. She couldn't see well, but the gleam of eyeshine and his occasional blinks told her exactly where they were. She almost wished she could see his expression.

"I hope for freedom. I want that more than anything. I don't want to continue to be living in the illusion of freedom with the reality being a tight leash. My undan tracks my movements and if I leave the proximity of Riverfall they get upset. I've done it several times but I was told on the last time it will be tolerated no more." The bracelet on her wrist rubbed against his shoulder blade and he realized that was what she was talking about. Her bracelet. "I want it gone. Cut off. I want my wrist free of any ornamentation, ever. Its a small thing, but its truthfully what I hope for more than anything. I want people to look at me for me, for what I've done, and not because I have a debt and a womb and all these Akalak need women." She said, leaning in and nuzzling his neck again. Kavala was far more affectionate than she usually let on. The calm quiet facade held a tightly leashed passionate Konti beneath.

And somehow, in the quiet and with all the alcohol between them, Kavala was far bolder than she would have been. She was no Oathbreaker, not one to turn against her vows, but she'd certainly toe the line here and now with Ronan. Clothing between them was a good idea, but it was warm in the horse blankets and she wanted to feel his warm chest against hers. Kavala shifted, tugged, and pulled her tunic free of her body suddenly, wadding it up as a makeshift pillow beneath her head. Then, if he'd let her she'd snuggle closer, pushing his shirt up so her bare skin was against his. Once settled, she seemed satisfied. Later, she'd talk him out of the shirt altogether. Maybe his pants too. Kavala grinned in the darkness. She had her next question easily enough. It was time, anyhow, for something lighter hearted. With a laugh, a soft one, she asked him her question.

"Will you take off your things so I can touch you? All of you?" She was forbidden to him, but there was nothing in the rules that said he was forbidden to her.
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The Sanctuary The Sanctuary Forum Riverfall The Cytali
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Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
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Kavala
I am more than the sum of my parts.
 
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Joined roleplay: October 25th, 2009, 1:46 am
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[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala)

Postby Ronan on March 4th, 2012, 9:12 pm

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Survival was prideful, he supposed. She was right, as usual. Her wisdom... sometimes it took his breath away. She had insights into things that he had never truly pondered on. But she was Konti. They were a race renowned for their insightfulness.

Nuzzling him, cuddling him, she answered his question. Her bracelet - her manacle - rubbed against his shoulder. A forlorn sadness took him, the drink only exaggerating the feeling. He wanted her to be free. She was a caged bird, so much potential in that wild heart of the sea, and of the grass. And yet she was held back, wings clipped by the Akalak and their laws and contracts.

Screw them all, he thought wickedly. But he was being selfish. He had no right to her. Just like everyone else. Just like the Akalak in actuality.

"I don't see you like that, Kavala," he whispered into her ear, hands still exploring her back, "never."

Her fingers were suddenly moving, and she pulled her tunic off, baring her Konti nakedness to him. In the darkness, he could only see specks of moonlight against her pallid skin. She was beautiful. And blinking heavily, he realised it was not just the wine talking. She had always been beautiful - had he ever thought any different?

When she pushed his shirt up, he gave a start. Drink, or no drink, this was... different. Women had been a foreign concept to him for a long time. He had been burned enough for one life. And yet, even now, knowing Kavala was impossibly off limits, he allowed her to feel his bare chest. Her touch sent his mind into an inferno of sensation and thought. That fire was back, burning through his skin, heart thumping at the wall of his chest like it wanted to come out.

Her question was not as surprising as it could have been. Her words were genuine. Not lust, but desire, curiosity, a sense of adventure and wonder. He breathed heavily in the darkness, wriggling awkwardly under the blanket to pull his clothes off after only a moments hesitation.

He had not gotten naked with a woman for the longest of times. No one had seen his body like this for many years, exposed like a baby fresh into the world, moonlight dancing on his flesh. She would see his windmarks, on his chest and his arm, dark patterns intertwining, symbols of his heritage and his heart.

His arms went back around her, and he pulled her close again. His body against hers. There was enough warmth to last them the whole of winter in that embrace. His hands grasped tighter, moving downwards, then upwards, simply exploring her form. One hand went to the bottom of her face, tilting it up so he could look at her; so he could look into those immeasurable azure eyes in the light.

"Then tell me the other half," he whispered, smiling, touching, grinning. He couldn't control any of it. This was just... escape. "What are your dreams for the future? What do you dream of Kavala?
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[Sanctuary] Loose Tongues, and Lucid Hearts (Kavala)

Postby Kavala on March 8th, 2012, 8:06 pm

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She was drunk, so completely and utterly drunk, but she knew enough to know it was wrong what she did. Ronan effected her in ways she'd never felt before. He excited her mind and heart and made her think other things besides her own reality were possible. Watching him slide off his clothing and then drinking in his Sea of Grass hardened body set off all kind of alarm bells in her. Could she stop? Would she? He was so enticing and she was starved for what he offered, even if he had no idea what that was.

Scaled hands traced his windmarks, learning them and impressed by them all at once. Even as she did so, the Konti kicked off her own boots, and wiggled out of her leggings. When he pulled her close she signed in contentment and felt their energies blending in a way that sent both of them to a place they really wanted to be. She took her time, feeling more than seeing the scars his body bore, learning them, stroking her hand over his navel and up across the curve of a strong hip.

When he pulled her back to him, close, so their skin touched full length, Kavala was surprised at how well their two bodies meshed together. Limbs tangled, hips pressed together, and even the intimacy of the core of his maleness pressed against her femininity made her not pause at all. She simply shifted, making room for all the parts, and then sighed softly. It was a happy stolen moment that she knew she could live on for a lifetime.

She ran her lips over his pulse at the apex of his neck and drank in his scent. The scales on her cheek lightly abraded his shoulder as she nuzzled him there as well. She was glad he hadn't bulked at her question but had instead embraced it. Their connection was deepening in this moment. She could feel it as almost tangible now.

Kavala pulled away slightly to study his eyes in the near darkness. "Would you believe me if I told you it changes, all the time? When I was young, I wanted the Denusk curse to get resolved and I wanted to be the one to do it. Later, on Mura, I dreamed of going back the Sea of Grass. Mura was so alien to me. But I loved the sea. I really do Ronan. And I didn't want to leave it, not really. When I was captured, I dreamed of freedom and revenge. When I was rescued, I dreamed of sort of redoing my life, changing my mistakes, and making it home safely. When I finally made it home, I found out it was the same as ever before, but it wasn't really my home. Riverfall has become that for me. After my first talvas left and broke my heart, I dreamed of one that would fall madly in love with me and marry me so I'd have security and family. I've always dreamed of a place of security with a family that loves me and someone who stands at my side as an equal partner. I've never wanted a pavilion and I don't actually like moving around as part of life now that I've built a home here. And now that I've met you, my dreams have changed even further." She whispered all of this softly in an alto that embraced Pavi perfectly.

Listening to her in the dark she sounded so human, like one of his sisters or cousins, anyone really in Endrykas. It was only when the dim light caught her scales and they gleamed that she took on the ethereal konti qualities again.

"There have been lots of little dreams in between. I dreamed of someday not being afraid of men or of being with them, and now I am not because the Akalaks who have taken my contract have shown me that not everything is rape and violence and bloodshed. I dreamed of creating a breed of horse for them and I've done that. I dream of starting to serve a higher purpose, making more of myself than just myself so that I can help people. I'm starting to do that... slowly. I dream of being a protector and "
She said softly. Then she moved back to what she started to say before.

Her next words were hesitant. They were playing a game, really, between the two of them, but there was nothing playful about what she said. The words were delivered softly, so soft in fact he had to strain to hear them even though she was wrapped against him, snuggled in his arms.

"I also dream now that someday after your northern trip you will make it back safe. I dream that you will forgive me being Konti and not human and somehow discover a love of place or maybe even the Suvan Sea as well. And I dream that you will want to stay here, at least for a time, and I'll be free to let you and no one will be able to say a word. I dream of being your friend, your confidant, and your lover. Because I know together we can do real and true good in the world." Kavala said, absolutely meaning it.

She laid it all out just like that, simply, to the point, and knew in a heartbeat it spoke volumes about herself.

Then, she gently rolled him to his back and sat up over him so she was sprawled across his chest in preparation for her question. She laid a gentle kiss on his forehead, then on each eyelid before she spoke. Her words were soft, almost childlike in their wonder, as she asked. "My turn." She said softly. "I want to know what you usually think about when you lay in the tall grass on your back staring up at the stars at night. I want to know what kinds of thoughts generally fills your head. Will you share?" She asked, curious. Staring up at the stars used to be one of her favorite things to do ever when she was growing up on the grass.
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The Sanctuary The Sanctuary Forum Riverfall The Cytali
Reverie Isle Wolf Creek Training Course
Please Note:
  • This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.
  • Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.
  • This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.
  • Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.
User avatar
Kavala
I am more than the sum of my parts.
 
Posts: 3025
Words: 3295757
Joined roleplay: October 25th, 2009, 1:46 am
Location: Riverfall
Race: Konti
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Plotnotes
Medals: 17
Featured Thread (1) Mizahar Grader (1)
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