PM to join An encounter between predator and prey... (Beodan)

[Verinskae]

"Beodan..." The name fell from her tongue like a waterfall, she savored the sweetness of the syllables. His expression seemed almost apologetic, as if he had delayed too long in the telling of his name. Among her old clan, giving one's name was a sign of great trust. Yet, that was a lifetime ago. She had become too used to the Human way of greetings at first sight. Dan pulled her in close, his sturdy arms embracing her tightly. The way he rested his head on her shoulder, the way he squeezed her tightly, it did not feel like a lover's embrace, but of one in need of comfort.

She squeezed his shoulders tightly and created a small gap between them. A drop of moisture was running down the side of his cheek. She had seen this reaction before. A way for humans to vent great happiness, or sorrow. She assumed it worked the same for Kelvics, a feature she did not possess. It seemed Dan, much like herself, had a lot on his mind. She lowered her eyes to his abdomen and traced the outline of the great white scar with a finger. She had been in many fights, obtaining many such scars as this in the past. It looks to have been a mortal wound.... She thought musingly as her fingertips brushed against the firm muscles of his torso.

Curiosity gripped her. "Thisss sscar... How did you come by it?" She continued to squeeze his shoulders, reassuringly. "...it lookss to be a wound of battle, posssibly life threatening?" Skae took hold of one of the Kelvic's index fingers, and used it to trace a faint, barely visible scar on her own abdomen. A thin, straight line that started under her right breast and ended just above her navel. "A grievousss wound, in sssimilar sseverity to your own, faded with time. We Dhani regularly sshed our ssskin. Scars do not remain forever upon us..." A smirk crept upon her features, a hint of malice in her eyes. "Whoever did that to you, I hope you ripped their head off..."

[Beodan Clathony]

Beodan’s chest tightened as her cold fingers traced over the long, roping scare on his chest. He wiped away his tear with the back of his hand, his brow furrowing at her touch. That was a memory he did not like to think about, it represented so much abuse long past. He was relieved when her hand moved away from the scar in favor of caressing his chest. Maybe she would not say anything of it after all. “Thisss sscar…” Beodan sighed softly, hope had been futile. He resigned himself to opening up this part of his past for her to see. He had never talked about it with anyone, having avoided the truth by dodging the question entirely. “How did you come by it? It lookss to be a wound of battle, posssibly life threatening?”

The Kelvic was working up the courage to speak, the Dhani brought his hand to her own chest. He could see a faint line stretching from her breast to her belly button. He winced in sympathy, and she continued, “A grievousss wound, in sssimilar sseverity to your own, faded with time. We Dhani regularly sshed our ssskin. Scars do not remain forever upon us..." Her face twisted into a predatory smile with a glare he would never want directed at him, “Whoever did that to you, I hope you ripped their head off..." He smiled at her, taking the violent sentiment as her own way of sympathy. He spoke finally, seeming to go off topic, “I’ve met my father, despite what I tell people. And I don’t truly believe that I have, it’s much nicer to pretend I haven’t and just imagine how great my parents would’ve been.” He looked down at his hands, and continued in a softer voice, “I have met him, once. A few years ago, he found me somehow, and knew I was living with the Old Herbalist. Lovely woman, she raised me. He didn’t like that I had been stolen away from him, or at least, that’s how he saw it. He..”

Dan trailed off, a sob wracking his wiry frame. Why was this so hard, it happened so long ago. He closed his eyes for a few long moments, and when they opened again he spoke. “He started yelling at her, and I yelled at him to stop. He looked at me and drew a sword. I froze, I didn’t know what to do, I just looked at the blade and started to back away. He had fire in his eyes, and the last thing I saw was the sword descending towards me. After that, just pain until I blacked out. I woke up around a week later.” He met her eyes, his chocolate orbs brimming with anguish, “What kind of father does that?” his voice was frail and defeated. “I haven’t seen him since, and I’m glad I haven’t. I decided that he couldn’t be my father, he didn’t deserve that much.”

[Verinskae]

It was obvious she had reopened an old wound, even before he began explaining. A great reluctance seemed to hang over him, his face a mask of grief. The Kelvic's eyes began to redden as he told his story, his voice cracking every now and again as he tried not to break his composure. He was about halfway through explaining when he was overcome with minor convulsions, his voice racked with anguish and pain. Beodan took a moment, closing his eyes and breathing in heavily. Her lips parted, hoping words of comfort would flow from them. They did not come. She decided it best to let him finish. The Kelvic continued, seemingly collecting himself. Moments later, with a contorted expression of despair, his tale came to an end.

“I haven’t seen him since, and I’m glad I haven’t. I decided that he couldn’t be my father, he didn’t deserve that much.”

He stood for a moment, his body shaking, a soft whimpering noise escaping his lips. Skae started to raise a hand to his cheek, only to draw it back hesitantly, feeling more than a little awkward. The Dhani was not entirely sure what to do in a situation like this. “I apologissse, I did not intend to unbury a painful memory…” Skae paused to think. She decided trading past grievances was the best course of action. Perhaps they would comfort each other in their sorrows. “Sufferings at the hands of family… yesss, a pain I know all too well… Exiled, condemned to death by my own mother. Abandoned by my father… my sister conspires to end my life, even as we speak…” She chuckled lightly to herself. Her life had been a series of most unfortunate events. Skae hoped the mockery in her tone at her own misfortunes would lighten the mood that hung between them. She could tell by his expression it only made it worse.

She searched for something deeper within, something that held equal emotion. She needn’t look far. No, not that… anything but that… The words seemed to escape her lips, completely out of her control. “I had a child once… a daughter… sshe-” Skae felt a constricting grip upon her heart. She felt a tormenting pain in her chest and stomach. The rest of the words would not come out, no matter how hard she struggled. The Dhani looked as a fish, gasping for breath. She thought she had locked away that memory decades ago and thrown away the key. Tears did not come for her, as they had done for the Kelvic. Yet, the pain was there, ready to consume her in a wave of flame. I should not have come here…

After taking sometime to compose, Skae thrust herself on to Beodan’s lips, where they stood, embracing one another for the longest while. She stared into his dark eyes, they seemed to pull her in, further and further. She gave one last kiss before pushing away from him once again. Her eyes, pits of despair. Skae took a good several strides behind, her back facing the entrance of the pavilion. “I thank you for tonight… You ignited sssomething in me I feared not posssible to ever feel again.” She paused, swallowing in a dry throat. “...but undersstand Dan, we cannot be together anymore, I am too dangerouss to be near, everyone diesss around me. There are thingsss out there, far worssse than I. Creaturess that hunt me day and night. They will not sstop, until I lay a cold and bloody corpssse. You are not ssafe by my ssside… I-... I cannot lose another, I am ssorry Beodan, I sshould not have come here tonight...” She took a few more steps backward, her eyes never leaving his. It was strange, like she was staring back at a reflection of herself. Eyes of anguish and sorrow. The drapes of the pavilion’s entrance were within reach. She would need to make her leave quickly. Lest she fall unconscious from the pain.

OOCSorry for the long post, and sorry for breaking Beodan's heart... again!

[Beodan Clathony]

Beodan nodded at her apology, murmuring, “It’s okay. About time I talked about it with someone. Keeping it all bottled up can’t be good for you.” The topic of conversation had put him in a somber mood, and he stared at the tan tent walls illuminated by the flickering lamp, his mind far away in another time. Skae broke through his thoughts with a story of her own. He listened as she spoke of her family turning against her, condemned, abandoned, and hunted by her own flesh and blood. He managed a small smile at her dark humor, thought it only turned his thoughts to further ‘what-ifs’. The smile slipped off his face and the brooding began again in full force. He let the silence stretch on painfully, too torn away from the present to care.

The silence grew louder and more malevolent, the thoughts swirling around his head filling up the space where sound should have gone. As the girl opened her mouth the speak, it all froze. The world seemed to crack, tiny webbing fractures spreading out invisibly over and through everything that existed in that one moment. The shards hung, suspended as if waiting for the perfect moment to fall. “I had a child once.... a daughter… sshe-” Skae spoke to the still air, her voice wavering as it rebelled against her mind. Dan could see such great emotions spread across her face, and he was shocked that she was not crying or screaming or something. He looked on in concern, his own woes forgotten. He could not imagine the pain of losing a child.’

After the most wretched chime, she closed the gap between them. He held her, words could not do anything for her now. She pressed her mouth to his, in a desperate kiss. He obliged her, moving his lips tenderly over hers. Why did this normally wonderful contact fill him with such a sense of foreboding? She tugged lightly on his bottom lip as she pulled away, her emerald eyes locked onto his sweet, brown ones. They looked so sad and defeated, loss soaked irises they were. His arms slowly fell to his sides as she moved away from him, towards the tent’s entrance. Hurt gripped him. She was going to leave, too? “I thank you for tonight… You ignited sssomething in me I feared not posssible to ever feel again… But undersstand Dan, we cannot be together anymore, I am too dangerouss to be near, everyone diesss around me. There are thingsss out there, far worssse than I. Creaturess that hunt me day and night. They will not sstop, until I lay a cold and bloody corpssse. You are not ssafe by my ssside… I-... I cannot lose another, I am ssorry Beodan, I sshould not have come here tonight...”

The Kelvic’s mouth had fallen open during her pain riddled speech. He shut it mechanically, teeth clicking together, gritting ask she stepped further away from him. He took a single step forward and reached a hand out to her. “N-no, y-you…” he stammered, his voice frail and wounded, “You can’t just..” He pasued to looked at her, eyes pleading. He needed her to understand, to not leave ever. “Isn’t not seeing me the same as losing me?” he asked with a childlike tone, the naive question posed seriously, not rhetorically. Strength seemed to leave him, and his eyes fell to the floor, a hand coming up to hold his chest together. “Don’t go,” he whispered.

[Verinskae]

Beodan took a step forward, his hand stretching out in her direction. The Kelvic mumbled something that she couldn't quite pick up. His voice had lost all strength, barely even a whisper. Her heart sank when he brought his eyes up to meet hers. It was the look of total and utter defeat. The look someone had in their eyes once they knew all hope was gone, never to return. After some time of silence, the Kelvic found his voice again.

"Isn’t not seeing me the same as losing me?”

Skae blinked in shock, she had not expected his words to make such an impact. He was right, in an odd sentimental sort of way. To Skae the Kelvic's words had translated more on the lines of, 'What's the point in living, if you have nothing and no one to live for?...' The original question had been different, yet she was sure the words held a similar meaning. It was not enough to deter her decision.

No, I cannot put my own selfish desires before his life... She brooded darkly, moving ever closer to the entrance of the tent. She halted her retreat. But, what of his desires?.. She needed only to look upon his face to see leaving him in this state, may have resulted in something worse than death. It will heal in time… She took another tentative step back, reaching for the heavy drapes.

“Don’t go,”

His words were barely audible from the other side of the tent, yet they found her ears. Skae stood there for a moment, the drapes above her head, the cool night wind licking at her bare skin. By Caiyha, my time here in Syliras has made me too soft… With a great, drawn out sigh she lowered the hefty fabric and turned to face Beodan. “You may sstay by me, under one condition… you train with me to fight.” The Dhani looked him over assessingly, much like she had done the first time they encountered one another. He looked naturally strong and agile, half the work was already done. He appeared gentle by nature, she would need to place a fire in him if he were to survive against her foes.

“It will be dangerousss, of coursse, asss I ssaid, every moment you linger with me is a chance you will end up ass food for the vulturesss. If you are willing to risssk all for our…” She took a moment, searching for the right word. “...bond, then meet with me tomorrow morning, jusst ass the sssun risess. From here follow the north most river until it forksss, take the east path for two clickss until you reach an opening. I will be waiting there.” Skae felt it unnecessary to go into any further detail, she assumed the Kelvic new his territory well enough. The Dhani shot him one last smile before leaving him to his thoughts. She dropped the drapes behind her, and disappeared into the dark of night.

[Exit]

[Ball]

A note to both of you guys: It isn't very good practice to just copy and paste each other's spoken words. It makes it so there is more copying and pasting and less actual content to grade.

Verinskae

Please update your ledger and thread list to contain all your threads, I have done some digging and found that you have threads from the Summer of 515, but you have not paid seasonal expenses. Please take the time to deduct the necessary expenses, as can be found here for the Summer. Please remember to list all threads and grades you have received since your creation date.

Once this has been completed, please PM me and I will grade this thread for you, when doing this please be sure to link me to the start of this thread so that I may start from the beginning, thank you.

Beodan Clathony

Skills

Observation	+2
Cooking	+1
Socialization	+2
Storytelling	+1
Interrogation	+1
Seduction	+1

Lores

• Cooking: Prepping Tea
• Cooking: Steeping Tea
• Kelvic Bond: Feels like Icy Hands
• Feeling an Attraction to Skae
• Skae is a Dhani
• Skae: Someone is hunting her
• Skae: Lost a child?