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Post by Faust on Aug 14, 2005 23:05:05 GMT -5
Lord Faust was walking from the bathhouse. He had been there for therapy for a chest injury he had sustained from a assassination attempt. He clutched his ribs as they were in pain, the therapy had done little more than make the pain worse.
He started down the street, his feet dragging somewhat. That night he had gotten his injury was the evening of the spring ball. He remembered dancing somewhat with Kalindria and then talking to Eve, then pain, pain for such a long time. It had been the last time he saw Eve, she disappearing, not even bothering to see if he was alive, though he knew that was not her way.
His wound had healed, leaving a large, round scar in it's place. It would occasionally reopen so he had to wear bandages under his clothes.
Eve had helped him during that night. Her song played in his head every once and a while, as if it was reminding him who made sure he was safe. He smiled as he walked down the street.
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Post by Eve on Aug 15, 2005 0:30:21 GMT -5
Eve sat atop a tree by the "clinic" where they held Faust, staring at the building. Her attire was as usual: black tank top, black shorts, and nothing of the jewelery that had adorned her body the day of the festival. He probably thought she ran when Faust was injured, leaving to puke her guts out or something. If only he knew what that song had cost her...
It didn't matter. She wouldn't sing again, and she knew Faust was safe as the bath house birds had kept watch on him for her. Raven helped too, the black Labrador Retriever that visited patients in the back of the bathhouse. They all kept track of him, keeping Eve posted on how his condition worsened or alleviated. In fact, a single bird now flew to her, but the sight heading down the road towards the tree Eve was in had more of Eve's attention.
Annie, Annie, there comes the white haired one! He's awake and moving and he's walking and- Eve cut in then, queitly, solemnly. "I know, Rolly, I know. He's coming this way, my winged friend." Rolly turned, saw Faust, then chirped, flying back to inform the rest of the little "guards."
In the meantime, however, Eve waited til Faust was five feet away, then rolled backwards off the branch she was on to land solidly on the floor in front of Faust. "Don't you think it is a little to soon to be walking about, My Lord?" Eve asked, more business than ever before, soft voice ice cold. "I believe from the way your arms strain as a result of minor spasms in your torso, you are not yet healed."
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Post by Faust on Aug 15, 2005 9:04:14 GMT -5
Faust nearly yelped in surprise as Eve landed in front of him. He would have yelled, if it were not for the pain that shot through him as his lungs filled. He exhaled slowly and he calmed himself.
"Hello Eve." He replied. His eyes moved up and down her and smiled lightly, she was wearing her usual outfit. "And I know I haven't healed yet but that place isn't helping. All they do is put me in treatments that are supposed to relax and restore me, but all that happens is it makes things worse."
He sighed and tried to straighten up more, more politely, but failed as more pain shot through him. "I have to thank you." He told her. "You saved me, without your help I'm sure another shot would have killed me." He paused, trying to make it sound as official as he could. He knew how she was, how she was detatched from him.
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Post by Eve on Aug 15, 2005 17:12:17 GMT -5
Nothing of emotion found its way flitting through Eve's eyes, no single twitch of the lips or crincle of the eyes. It was as if Faust was speaking in a different language, one Eve had never bothered to study. "I believe, My Lord, that you should return and let their little medications do their work." No hint of sarcasm, no bit of humor, just stone cold words left Eve's soft lips, all the lack of emotion looking out of place with her quiet, soft features.
Eve reached back, lifting her hair into a loose bun, and keeping it there with a black band. "The only alternate would be to have a healer stay with you at the castle, or stay in a healer's house for a few days." Some birds chirped above Eve and she looked up, seeing Rolly and another bird, Rass, above her. Looking back down while ignoring the louder, more insistant chirps as more birds came to join them, Eve set her cold eyes on Faust, awaiting his answer.
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Post by Faust on Aug 15, 2005 19:02:34 GMT -5
Faust was severely taken aback by her cold words. She sounded as if they were enemies, enemies that had agreed to speak civilly to each other. Her words were polite, though she always was polite, and were icy like the northern lands of his kingdom. At these less than friendly words reached his ears he found himself longing for the distant but good natured speech she had always used before now.
"So why such a cold tone?" He asked. "It sounds as if all warmth, every ounce of warmth, has been drained from your voice. Have I offended you in some way?"
Faust looked up at the birds and inwardly he smiled. During the two weeks he had been at the clinic the little birds had sat on his window sill, chirping, watching him politely. He enjoyed their little songs, them being some the only company he had. For the last week he had been leaving a tray of seed out for them on his sill so that they would come by more often. It had never occurred to him that they were spies for Eve, he was always kind of oblivious in that sense.
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Post by Eve on Aug 15, 2005 19:20:54 GMT -5
Eve smiled, but it, like the rest of her was freezing. She was finally who she was supposed to be, a cold, distant bodyguard responding in only the tones necessary, not an ounce of personality to her. She didn't even have enough of herself left to say, "Look what you've done to me, you son of a bitch! Happy now? Madam would be more than happy! Her star student finally grown up."
Instead she remained passive and cold, Faust's words sliding through her brain, skidding across the cold ice to crash on the other side. "A mark cannot offend their bodyguard, for there is nothing they can say to offend one without emotion or will." It was stated as a fact, without the disgust Eve normally carried. "The contract on your has gone up in value since your survival, but that is for me to deal with."
"Please, return to the bath house or allow me to escort you to the nearest healer. Your body's stature is not as straight as it should and would be were you healed completely." Eve's eyes never left Faust's, even as the birds became frantic enough to land on her shoulders. There chirps and pecks were lost on Eve, she wasn't the forest friend of before. It was over. She was a bodyguard, a slayer, and that was how she would stay.
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Post by Faust on Aug 15, 2005 20:37:20 GMT -5
Faust took a step back. "Eve..." He said helplessly. "The animals are worried..." He knew suddenly why the birds were at his bedside, why they were looking at him.
His frightened him that she was so cold, cold to the animals she was usually so close to. He could take her being cold to him, but if it were to sacrifice her druid aspect, her oneness with animals, he could never live with himself.
"The birds..." He told her helplessly. He saw them land on her shoulders and peck at her gently.
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Post by Eve on Aug 15, 2005 20:55:09 GMT -5
One bird, Rolly, was not so gentle, drawing blood. It trickled slowly down the length of Eve's arm, a single stark red dropping to the road below. Eve stiffined imperceptably, then relaxed, leaving it be. Leave her to die in peace, bleeding to death from a wound only she could inflict.
Eve leaned over, covering the blood with dust so that it left no trace of their having been at that spot. As she moved a necklace swung out, glinting in a way only silver would. Eve dropped it back into her shirt, ignoring the nearly audible sizzle that came with it as silver touched her flesh. She straightened slowly, the birds on her shoulders moving their wings to keep balance.
Cold eyes focused on Faust once more, and Eve spoke out, "Bathhouse or healer, My Lord?"
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Post by Faust on Aug 15, 2005 21:01:34 GMT -5
Faust didn't move, he didn't answer. He saw the glint of silver, heard the sizzle of silver on her flesh. "Why are you doing that to yourself?" He asked, pointing at her neck where the necklace was.
He saw the birds grow more desparate. He felt like they were trying to tell him something through their actions. He wondered what would make such nice animals, animals he had observed for the past two weeks, act like this.
"Why are you doing that to yourself? Wearing that necklace?" He asked again, wanting the truth no matter what it was.
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Post by Eve on Aug 15, 2005 21:17:06 GMT -5
Eve smiled at him, again cold, and pulled the necklace from between her breasts. Her fingers began to blister, the silver setting fire to their delicate tips. "Don't you recognize the symbol?" she asked, showing it. It was a replica of the knives tattooed on her arm, except they were afire, blazing almost as much as the sensation on Eve's skin. "Its the mark of a full female bodyguard, a warning and a proclamation."
She dropped it back down her tank top, pain lancing through her torso in one sharp sweep. The birds were now so wild all of them nipped Eve. She would have left them to pull apart the tendons of her shoulders, but finally said. "Enough! Begone!" The birds took flight, settling on branches of trees so they could watch Eve. Patient as any bodyguard, Eve asked, "Bathhouse or healer, my Lord?"
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Post by Faust on Aug 15, 2005 21:25:18 GMT -5
Faust's stomach dropped, his insides knotted. Why in the goddess' name would she do this!? Is it because of me!? He thought wildly.
He looked around at the birds that had settled in the trees. He offered his arm to them, wondering why on earth he was doing such a thing.
He looked into Eve's eyes, his own afraid and guilty. "I- you- I mean..." He stuttered. He seemingly gave up, his body shrinking, almost deflating in defeat and failure. "The clinic I suppose..."
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Post by Eve on Aug 15, 2005 21:38:02 GMT -5
Eve nodded and walked forward, keeping a steady pace one foot behind Faust, watching all around him for trouble. She was silent the entire way there, silent as she grabbed the receptionist's silver pen and signed Faust back in, silent as she led him back to his room. "Where would you like me to guard?" she finally asked. Eve was a void, a black hole in her own morality and soul sucking away everything she had been. Only one part was left to her, something so important she'd never abandon it, but to bring her crashing back to herself would be to bring her wrath upon so many, and that would not be a choice anyone would make.
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Post by Faust on Aug 15, 2005 21:42:24 GMT -5
Faust looked on her, his eyes still fearful. "You will stand right there and explain yourself." He said firmly, though his voice threatened to waver. He wanted an answer, he wanted to know everything. No lies, no decite, just the plain, bare truth, no matter what the answer.
He looked at his window sill, the bird seed was still there. He hoped the birds would return, that they would help him. His insides writhed with guilt as he turned to hear Eve's answer.
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Post by Eve on Aug 15, 2005 22:05:26 GMT -5
Gold flitted across Eve's green eyes for a spare moment and she nodded silently, answering him. "I failed. I was speaking to you when I should not have been. I had to draw attention to myself to keep you safe and finally had to run away, tend to my shattered convictions." Eve turned towards the door, keeping an eye on it and the windows in turn.
"I did not even remember the song of healing. I am a failure as a bodyguard and a druid so now, I will be a bodyguard and I will do it correctly this time." Her eyes were on the door, so Faust did not see the gold in them pulse and fade away slowly. The room was silent, stark and cold, as empty of true life as Eve was.
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Post by Faust on Aug 15, 2005 22:18:33 GMT -5
"You were born a druid." He said quietly. "Then trained as a slayer..."
He felt his stomach contract. "Will you please take that necklace off before you go into a coma?" He half asked, half ordered.
She was giving up on her druid self. It was his fault, it was. If he would have just prepared better, he would not have been hit by that arrow, then she would not have needed to heal him.
He felt so guilty. He wanted to help her, he hesitated to take a step forward, not knowing what he would do if he did so. What would he do? Put a hand on her shoulder, talk to her? No, he was useless, helpless.
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