Closed Return to Ximal [Morning]

[Ariann]

38 Summer, 513AV [Morning] It had been nearly ten hours since Ariann fled from Ximal, having been absent for a good decent time before she collapsed exhausted behind a bunch of crates. Luckily she hadn't been taken advantage of when the sailors began to move the boxes and ended up finding her tucked behind the crates, silently sleeping. It had been an interesting morning. She had woken up to find six or seven men staring at her, talking about mermaids and calling her a fish. She sat up quickly and startled half of the men, who leaped back. After a long explaination of what happened and how she had run away from Ximal after he took her first kiss from her, the older of the sailors made a snarky comment about how Ximal was being dirty again. Ariann was confused but the sailor wouldn't explain himself, he only helped her up and then sent her off to find Ximal. And so, Ariann paced the streets tiredly, having taken a dip in the ocean before walking up the road towards where she thought Ximal's school was. She had stopped at a stall to oggle at some seaweed wrapped rice, but when she realized she had left her belongings with Ximal, she quickly sped off, ending up lost in the streets again. "Just my luck..."She mumbled to herself as she walked on, feeling alone as she turned into an alley. Her head buzzed with thoughts on how she might get yelled at by Ximal for having run off so quickly and not returning until morning. She was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't hear or see the group of men in their twenties approach her. There were seven in all and Ariann was looking to the ground when she ran into the man who could have only been their leader. "Lookie 'ere!" The man called to the others as he caught Ariann by her shoulders, holding her still. Ariann was startled, her eyes widening in fear as she remembered when Ricky had told her. Be careful. There are dangerous people out there. This must be what Ricky meant. The head honcho of the group had to have been twenty four or so, with a shaved head and a long scar that ran over his right eye, which was shut permanently. He had a gruff look to his self, his arms, legs and chest all tightly toned from working down at the docks. He had a dagger on him and a strange, lustful look in his eyes."Guess I'm going to get to have meself a woman to bed tonight!" He said with a bellowing laugh, which carried out of the alley. The other men who accompanied him nodded in agreement, snickering darkly and making rude gestures towards Ariann. Ariann was too stunned to comprehend what was going on. The man had a tight grip on her shoulders, one that was hurting her arms but she couldn't bring herself to tell him to stop. He was... scary. Ariann could only stare at the man, who sneered back. "What? Not gonna say anythin'? Guess this'll be easier than I thought!" He let out another bellowing laugh before the grip on her shoulder tightened and pain shot down to her knees, which buckled. She hit the ground hard enough for a wet slap to be heard from her soft rear flesh hitting the hard cobblestone."Ow!"Ariann cried out in pain, reaching her hand up to grab the man's wrists as he lowered himself on top of her."Stop! That hurts!" The six other men formed an oddly-shaped circle around the two, four standing around Ariann and the man while the other two stood watch at the mouth of the alley, daggers cleverly concealed in their hands as they waited for anyone stupid enough to try and pass them up. Ariann began to sob as she felt the man press his tongue against the side of her face and run it along her cheeks and up to her brow. The weight of the man on her chest made it hard for her to breathe, let along resist when he grabbed her hands with one of his own and held them above her head, pinning her there. All she could do was cry... and hope.

[Ximal]

The morning was early and Xi'd finally been able to sleep better. Still that woman from the other night was half on his mind, was she a dream or ? Xi shook his head the thought's running through his skull too much for this early in the day. Xi ran his fingers over his beard lightly before a yawn escaped his lips. his eye's closed lightly as he stumbled through the streets the morning air doing little to help wake him. Xi tucked himself beneath his cloak Before long he headed off down a small alley in the eastern quarter. His body still not fully responding to him yet. Before long though he heard a voice call out about having a woman to bed. Xi in his usual manner didn't like the idea of someone being taken against their will for anything. Xi flicked his eye's up down the road that he head the voice come from only to hear a familiar voice calling out in pain, before asking him to stop. Xi stepped down the alley as the man fell atop her. Xi snorted lightly, tapped one of the men on the shoulder and as he turned to tell Xi to petch off Xi glared at him and the man bit his tongue before Xi brought a mailed fist into the man's face. Sending the bastard flying before announcing in an angry voice. "The lady said, no." Xi glowered at all of them as their comrade flew back. Xi wasn't going to hold back on people like this. and the odds of six thugs on one of him. That he could handle. Xi cracked his knuckles through his gauntlets before announcing loudly as the group stared at him. "Whose next?" Xi closed the gap between him and the next two charging at full running speed before catching the pair of their heads across both of his biceps. Almost taking their heads off as they flipped down slamming their heads into the stone. Three down, four to go...Better make that four down, three to go. Xi smirked as one of the men finally worked up the courage to try and stab him with a knife. Xi twisted his body letting the knife fly past his abdomen as he brought his elbow down sharply into the brute's skull. Sending him down to the cobbled stone floor like an anvil. Xi then shot a look to the thug who was just atop Ariann before saying. "The rest of you are free to run...But you...Your going to get your ass handed to you." Xi stepped forwards and the other two thugs bolted not even trying to stay behind shouting to each other for them to run, leaving their four unconscious friends there. Eventually the bald petcher spoke. "Who the petch do you think you are? I'll kill you!" Xi narrowed his now hard and cold eyes. Leering at him and Xi could see the colour drain from the man's face as he spoke. "I'm Ximal...And you just assaulted a friend of mine...Now...You remember what happened to the monk that assaulted a friend of mine...Just think what i'll do to a pathetic piece of trash who cant even defend himself and picks on unsuspecting women!" The thug burst into tears and dropped the knife. Apologizing and pleading for his life. Xi wasn't exactly in a pity taking mood. Xi hauled the bastard up by the front of his shirt and punched him five times in the chest. Breaking ten of his ribs. Then let the pathetic excuse for a human drop to the floor and wail in agony, as he turned back to Ariann and offered his hand. "And that my dear. Is why I offered for you to stay at my place." Xi finished with a smile upon his face and a softer look.

[Ariann]

It all happened too fast. First one of the men at the mouth of the alley dropped before he knew what hit him, then two others followed along with a fourth that had tried to stop Ximal. He had moved so fast that Ariann had trouble keeping up. The dull sound of bones cracking and heads hitting solid cobble caused Ariann's stomach to churn. There are dangerous people out there. Ricky had been right. It wasn't the sailors she should fear, it was the one who was supposedly protecting her. Ariann finally felt the man get off of her just moments before he began to plead for his life, yet Ximal did not listen to him, hauling him up by his shirt. Ariann saw Ximal's hand clench in preparation to strike. "Ximal, don't!"She tried to get Ximal to stop, but it was too late. In a split second, Ximal had shattered six, seven, eight... all ten of the man's ribs, causing him to howl in pain as he was tossed to the side. Ximal now stood before her, offering her his hand to help her up again. Fear filled Ariann and she began to scoot away from Ximal, the fright quite evident on her face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth agape in an astonished gaze. Her arms began to seize up from fear and she slowed to a stop, her arms shaking. He was supposed to be my friend... She thought to herself as she looked onto the monster that stood in Ximal's skin. This cannot be Ximal. Ximal is... What was Ximal before? She knew he was a violent man. She should have seen this coming. She felt her stomach churn and before she could stop it, the soft, almost inaudible, sound of her urinating on herself broke the silence, a puddle forming underneath her as her bottom lip quivered violently. Tears welled up in her eyes,"W... why? Why did you do that?"She whimpered, glancing for a second over to the man writhing in pain,"He was begging! Why did you hurt him?"She obviously didn't get what the man had tried to do to her. Her naivete was what caused her to begin to shiver in fear of the man that had single-handedly violently subdued five men and scared the wits out of the other two. She was sure that he would strike her next and out of instinct, she raised her arms up over her head, hiding behind them even though they would do no good. Tears now plainly ran down her face as she remembered Ricky. She might not get to see him again if Ximal went on a rampage against her.

[Ximal]

Xi felt his shoulders slump as she backed away from him. Here he was helping her and she'd lumped him in with the others. Xi just shook his head and closed his eyes. The silence between them was interrupted with the sound of running water Xi opened hie eyes to look down at her before seeing a puddle forming beneath her. Then there was the sound of crying. Why did he do what he did ? Xi closed his eyes again and exhaled slowly before kicking the knife off and out of the alley way. eventually he spoke after her asking him why he continued after he begged. "Because it's what i do. Believe it or not i used to be a guard...I still kind of am. And i continued even after he begged because now he knows that if he does what he planned to do to you to anyone else...He's going to get another meeting from me. And next time it wont be just his ribs." Xi offered his hand out to her again and in reaction she lifted her hands up to shield her self. Probably thinking that he was going to hit her. "I'm not going to hurt you. Jeez i think you would have learnt that from me saving you. I told you before. I'm a man of violence and i fight to protect what i believe in. I also fight to protect my friends and those who cannot protect themselves. Like you. But if you think i mean you harm then i'll leave." Xi shook his head and started to walk away, stepping over the unconscious men in his wake and leaving her in the alley with the five men. Xi was unsure if she'd follow him having begun to cower out of fear. Passing by the two men now cowering around the corner in mirrored fear. Xi shot them a look that brooked no argument and then told them bluntly to, leave. Xi paused again in the open air, the breeze from the docks coming down the main street. "Why am i always the villain?" Xi shifted his cloak around his shoulders before looking skyward.

[Ariann]

She felt bad. Bad because she'd noticed the look of disdain on Ximal's face when he left. Bad that she let herself become scared to the extent that she peed herself in front of him. Bad that she had allowed that man to climb on top of her. Bad that she couldn't defend herself. It took a while, but she found her feet again, standing slowly, her knees still shaking from the experience she'd witnessed. She quickly walked after Ximal, flashing an apologetic glance towards the men who had been frightened out of their wits."Ximal..."She said, grabbing his hand with two of her own and tugging on him to get him to stop,"I'm sorry. Okay? I shouldn't have run off."She said, her voice wavering slightly as she looked at him. She wondered if he would get mad and strike her like he had struck the men back there. She wondered if he would be angry at her for running off like she did. She wondered if he wouldn't have any feelings towards what happened."I'm sorry. Please, don't get mad like you did..."She wanted to say 'like you did back there', but she was afraid she might get the opposite of what she wanted from Ximal if she said that."I promise not to leave again without telling you, okay?"The guilt was going to kill her if she didn't apologize. It was just how she was. Now she needed to see how Ximal was and silence fell upon her as she waited for Ximal's reply.

[Ximal]

Xi'd begun to start walking again but before he could he'd felt a tug at one of his hands. He took a deep breath about to yell at someone but stopped when he heard and saw ariann. She shouldn't have run off? Was she still scared of him ? Xi sighed heavily. "It's got nothing to do with that... I wasn't even mad about that, nor will i be i just hate seeing petchers like that who think they can get away with anything they want because it's against someone weaker than them. I've lived with people like that all my life...So Now that i'm strong enough i don't intend to let the get away with it." Xi's eyes and voice had grown hard like cut stone. He wasn't upset annoyed ro mad at her for running of that was true every thing he'd said was true but he couldn't help but think back about what had happened with ana..."I'nm sorry i lost my calm back there...It's just something like that happened before to a close friend of mine and i....I wasn't there to stop it that time...So now any-time i see something like that...Yeah i lose it." Xi pulled his hand out from hers the steel sliding fee of her grip easily enough. "You may wanna get cleaned up...After all you've still got the smell of "fear" on you." Xi suggested with a rather snarky grin. Stepping forwards he headed back to the docks. Something he'd liked to have done in sunberth...if the slaver markets hadn't been next to the damn docks...Xi drank in a slow deep breath of the sea air...Something in his bones told him that the sea was somewhere he liked and as such he couldn't bear to be far from it for too long...Mostly evident in the spires with his spats of completely losing his cool and killing those slavers...Xi then looked over his shoulder at ariann..."Ari, i hope you can forgive me but ...I'm not exactly well up on the gods names...What's the name of the god of the sea ? "

[Ariann]

He mentioned the smell of 'fear' and Ariann's face flushed, a purplish blush upon her cheeks. She'd absently forgotten about the fact that she had pee'd herself. She swallowed lightly and nodded, staying silent. The smell of the sea brought about a sense of homesickness like it always did, but she forced the thought aside when Ximal asked of the god of the sea's name. "My kind call him 'The Father', but he is formally referred to as Laviku." She said with a knowledgeful nod, "The charoda are the children of Laviku. But I follow Rik'kiel second to the Father." She said with a nod, reaching out and grabbing his arm again and pulling her body against his arm.

"Ximal... do you... Like me?" Her eyes focused on the ground and her face turned purple again as she blushed, her head inclined slightly.

[Ximal]

"Laviku" The god of the sea...Strange I've not heard his name till now... Xi exhaled and took a step forwards but as he did he felt a tug on his arm almost pinning him in place.Then a rather odd question came at him. Did he like her ? "Whadda ya mean ? Or rather how do you mean? It's kind of a strange question to ask. A, this early in the morning and B, that abruptly."Xi yawned loudly stretching his other arm up into the air almost completely forgetting the group of seven people he'd just dealt with and instead was now focusing on the tiredness and the smell of the fresh sea air. Xi's eyes were now half lidded as he looked skywards still feeling her weight tugging on his arm. Xi closed his eye's and exhaled looking at the sky. "Fells almost like it's gonna rain...Wouldn't be a bad thing after almost ten days of straight sunshine...I wouldn't mind." Xi smirked and took in a deep breath through his nose. Hang on...She's still wearing nothing...So what is my hand touching ? Xi pressed his hand lightly against what he assumed was her stomach. Passing it off as if he was doing nothing at all.

[Ariann]

Ariann's eyes squinted closed as a soft squeal slipped from her lips as Ximal put his hand onto her naval. She didn't say anything, though. She kind of... liked the feeling of his hand on his stomach. She let her eyes open slowly as her head lifted up to look at him. "Are we... just friends?" She asked, pausing for a moment, "Or... do you like me as... something more?" She paused, letting her cheeks turn purple again as she blushed. Ricky said that I would find a man that would hold the same feelings for me as I did for him... and I think he might be the one...

She waited for a bit longer, hugging his arm tighter to her body and standing on her tippy-toes so that Ximal's hand began to slowly creep closer to her 'special spot'. "Do you... like me?" She repeated.

[Ximal]

Xi held his eyes skyward as she spoke, asking if they were just friends or if he liked her as something more. Xi wondered on this thinking. Eventually Xi spoke. "Well i definitely like you, however i thought you said that humans couldn't breed with charoda? So wouldn't that put a hitch in your plans even if i did like you as something more?" It was almost as if she wasn't listing as he felt his hand moving own her front slowly. Was she trying to put his hand there in the middle of the entirety of nyka? And again she asked if he liked her. "Well...I...Can find out cant i? But what about what happened back there ? I thought you were scared of me? Or does that not matter ?" Xi waited for her response. A little unsure how to react.