[Knirin Gardens] First Days are Always the Hardest (Closed)

[Aren]

"Uh, sure. I- I'll wait for you in the tavern," Aren said, as he caught up to her. Again, he had to avoid the subject of his room at the inn. Fortunately, Meera wasn't all that difficult to distract, kind of like a cat. "So, you've finally decided that Severed Heads are just too delicious looking to ignore, huh?" the akalak asked the rhetorical question, trying to make sure the topic of conversation did not stray towards any unnecessary subjects. "Because I can assure you that they ARE," Aren stated proudly, doing his best to make sure Meera was thinking about the sweets she was going to be having later, and not about much of anything else. Hopefully, the bakery hadn't been decimated by the storm, as that would bring a real quick end to the excursion. Of course, if that was the case, they could always go back to the tavern and help with putting a dent on Nys' supply of ale. Aren had heard that the vineyards had been hit pretty badly in the storm, so this could be the last ale anyone in Riverfall drank for a while.

[Meera]

There it was again, that hesitation in his voice.

"Aren." She said softly, her eyes creased to block out some of the sun as she stared up at him.
"Is not what I say. What room are you in?" He tried to sway her back to the Severed Heads and she had to fight with herself to stay on topic. A little flicker of realization came over her as she recalled it was a 'severed head', not a 'cut head', and did her best to memorize the word, though it meant the same thing as cut. Common could be so tricky with all their words for one meaning.

"Serious. Are... Are we sharing room?" Did Aren spend the night with her, crawling into bed after she passed out, and waking up before she did? It was possible.

"Make little difference to me. Did sleep on same bedroll." Meera was so daft. No qualms about what people may think, because she wasn't aware what they could think. She personally did not see any difference between camping and the Inn. Sleep was neccessary, and being comfortable helped sleeping to a large degree. She wasn't particularly aware of any possible event that could happen when two adults shared a bed, and so the thought did not make her uncomfortable. Gods, Meera was naive.

"I wash first, and wear dress while you wash." Meera laid out the plans.

[Aren]

Aren conveniently ignored her insistence on knowing what room he was in, but he couldn't ignore her wondering if they were sharing the same room, "O- of course not," he said, correcting her notion that they were sharing a room. Even drunk as she was, he thought that was something she should be able to remember. Maybe Meera didn't understand, but sharing a bed was something reserved for very special circumstances. It wasn't something Aren's honor would allow him to do on a whim, and certainly not with an innocent, inebriated girl. When the drykas mentioned that they had shared a bedroll before, however, the akalak's eyes widened in surprise. That sounded like something he should be able to remember. He did vaguely recall a moment when Meera's face hovered above him while he rested inside a tent, but he certainly was not aware of her having slept there with him. Putting that aside for the time being, Aren nodded in agreement to the drykas' proposal, "Alright," he added, unnecessarily, his mind still preoccupied by the fact that the couldn't remember having slept with Meera. Uh, slept in the same bed, as Meera. It wasn't his fault, he tried to tell himself, he was unconscious at the time!

[Meera]

"If not in same room, what room are you? Are... Are you with another?" Her eyes showed her distaste at this prospect and she gave him a huff of air - the only hint of her frustration thus far. She was suspcious. He wasn't answering her questions, the Drykas was suddenly noticing; words were his weapon and his defence.

"Answer true, Aren: what room are you in? I will not be upset." A lie, but it wasn't as though her voice would convey it. It was more likely that Meera would be relieved than upset strictly because he would finally answer her question.

"Forget about sweets for moment." Was Aren just a gigantic child, his head always in the clouds and dreaming about lemon cakes and sweets? Heh, he was certainly tall enough that he wouldn't have to strain his neck far to wear a fluffy white hat made of cloud.

She took a step from him then, to gain distance between them.

[Aren]

"No! I'm not with another!" Aren answered, taking a step forward, noticing that Meera had put some distance between them. The akalak sighed, realizing that it was better if he just told her. He didn't want her to know, to worry about him. Worst of all, he didn't want her damn pride to lead her to returning his room, or some such nonsense, but the alternative was worse. "I don't have a room. I slept right here last night," Aren said, with a hopeless look of defeat. "There were no rooms left in the inn, so I convinced Nys to let you have mine. I had to tell him I had found some other place to stay, so don't, you know, tell him anything..." the akalak explained, looking a little embarrassed that Meera had managed to coax the story out of him. Aren's eyes scanned the drykas' face, looking for any reaction. If she wanted to be angry, she had that right, but he didn't regret having done what he did. She deserved a soft, warm bed to sleep in, and if he had to sleep on the ground to give it to her, then that was a rather small price to pay.

[Meera]

"..." Meera stood still, now having been rendered unable to move. Her mouth made a sound that did its best to convey her confusion mixed with surprise to combine some strange concotion of deformed emotion and she curved a lip at the sheer sound it made.

"Are you idiot?" Meera asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer. She stared at him, squinting for the sun.

"You gave up own room." She repeated as though to do her best to convince herself of it. It sounded so charitable, and at the same time, so weak... Meera would never have given up her room for Aren. She would have suggested they share it - after all, they had done no different out in the country, so why would the city be any different? Meera closed her eyes and brought her bandaged hand to press on the bridge of her nose between her index and thumb.

"Get stuff." She sighed. "Share room." She averted her gaze and shook her head, half-laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it.
"Sleeping in the park... Gods be good, what have I gotten myself into here?" The Drykas mumbled to herself between breathy laughs that sounded like ice tinkling in a glass. Being that Aren freely gave his room for Meera, she had to wonder how generous he would be to others. Was this something that people in relationships did - offer up their stuff without words to request it?

"I ask for room, not yours!" She laughed out now. "If any, I should be sleeping out of doors, not you. But I refuse, so we must share room."

Her lips curled in almost a malicious smile. From his touch, her chapped lips smiled a ruthless grin. It was quite half a terror to behold, as though there was a secret agenda behind it. Meera quite liked Aren so childish around her. For some reason it made her feel tall, taller than him even. She outright enjoyed his company for her own comfort and desire, but now she was seeing a gracious pattern in Aren that pleased a deeper part of her psyche. She promised she would not take advantage of him, but at the moment, reveling in the cruelty of his self-sacrifice for her, she couldn't be sure how long the promise would last.

"Come, let us wash for sweets, Aren."

[Aren]

"It has been said, on occasion..." Aren replied to her question regarding whether he was an idiot. He didn't even seem all that ashamed about it, either. Sometimes, he knew, being an idiot wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and he counted this very moment as one of those times. "We're not sharing. Those rooms are barely big enough for one person as it is," the akalak noted, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation why they couldn't share. The truth was that he didn't think he had enough honor to be able to sleep in the same room as Meera. He respected her too much to put himself in that position. "Well, mine was the only one there was!" Aren cried, still somewhat embarrassed that the drykas had forced him to spill his guts so easily. "Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine sleeping out here," the akalak mentioned, doing his best to convey the fact that he was perfectly content sleeping by a black river and having to keep one eye open because of djed affected animals. "I mean, what's not to love," he added, "I've got a riverside view, if you can still call that a river, and the sound of nature to keep me company, at least I hope the things making those sounds are natural," he continued, mumbling here and there rather pathetically, and all around not doing a very good job of convincing even himself that he was fine sleeping in the gardens.

[Meera]

"You are not fine." Her eyes followed his words, looking at the river, and the squawking of mutilated birds called on cue.

"More used to sleep outdoors. Can have room back if you do not wish to sleep with me." Meera sighed, almost tired of the conversation. Her previous mood to torture the poor warrior was gone, and back was the feeling that she was not what he wanted. He would rather sleep outside with Djed affected birds and a lovely backdrop of what appeared to be sewage tumbling over the rocks.

Her words were meant to bruise him, and it surprised her. It was almost an attempt to see how he would rush to her defense. Manipulation.

"I will take tent from storage, I will sleep on very hard rock and sleep alone. Night is still cold. You say cold would not bother Akalaks, another... uhm." She dropped her eyes to the grass which at least looked normal as she did her best to remember what he had said.

"Uhm. Akalaks find cold annoying." That's not what she wanted to say. She could remember that he had said the cold did not bother him because it was just another thing their minds had to fight against, but she couldn't find the words.

"Will go to sweet shop now? Meet you in tavern, then." She shrugged her shoulders and slapped her thighs, almost with a look of defeat on her face.

[Aren]

Meera's suggestion that he didn't want to sleep with her sort of made a knot of his stomach. The way she had phrased it simply made him sweat, the combination of words rattling around his mind like an echo. "I don't want my room back, and you are not going to sleep here, even if I have to tie you to that bed every night!" Aren said, composing himself long enough to express the unintentionally kinky sentiment. He sounded like he wasn't willing to back off this particular point of view, either. Meera was not going to sleep out here and that was the end of that, in his mind. As she described the accommodations she could expect out here, it made Aren grit his teeth. She wasn't wrong, and he knew that she was stubborn enough to do exactly what she meant. With a bit of an exasperated sigh, the akalak figured that a little compromised couldn't hurt anyone. "We... could share the room, I suppose," he said, trying to sub-textually communicate that there would be no sharing of the bed. Just the thought of both of them sleeping in a bed meant for one person, with no room for personal space, parts rubbing all up against each other as they sought out warmth in the still cold nights of early spring... Aren was going to need a cold bath before they went out to Bastani. "Y-yes..." the akalak just managed to get out, in response to her suggested plans. Hopefully, Nys would let him have that bath, even though he wasn't officially a tenant of the Kulkukan anymore.

[Indigo]

Character: Aren Skills: +1 Rhetoric, +1 Evasion, +1 Linguistics Lore: Hardcore warnings, No mercy vs. affection, Truth wins out Character: Meera Skills: +1 Unarmed Combat, +1 Interrogation, +1 Linguistics Lore: Ready for a challenge, Misunderstanding Djed, Feminine powerplay Notes: Meera, you need to allow a full round (post) to switch between weapons. Aren, please acknowlege that an arrow going through your entire arm does hurt, restrict your movements and requires medical flushing/cleaning before cauterization of a puncture. Also, when using any form of Djed or magic, please describe the res, style and use, in order to be credited skill points for it. As always, both of your conversational/language skills are displayed with notable excellence. If you have any questions or comments about your grade, please PM me.