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Vale of the White Horse
Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,318 Views)
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'We?' Rufus's eyebrows shot up.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Yes,’ she repeated. ‘We.’ He’d hoped to catch her in complete absence of anyone else, Essylt assumed. ‘It’s nothing indiscreet – if a man like you would care much for that.’ Her legs twitched as if they wanted to get up and walk away on their own accord. She lowered her gaze. ‘Just protection.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He didn't go into her remark about indescretions, instead simply sat smiling. 'How clever of you. I see that I needn't worry about your well-being.' Rufus stretched his legs out in front of him and turned his head to face Essylt. 'It must be uncomfortable to sleep on the floor, though. I think I can get you a bed, and perhaps another chair or two.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered and meant it; her back was aching from all those many nights sleeping on nothing but hard earth, ‘It is probably best you leave now and make no attempt to see me again. He…my protection wouldn’t like the idea of this talk, let alone accepting your offerings.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Rufus pursed his lips. Like he cared for what this protection of hers would think. 'You may tell him that as a Tribune of the People, I take much interest in the safety and comfort of those living in this settlement. I will not stand for anyone sleeping on the floor out of necessity.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Oh. I’ll tell him that, then,’ she said, with no intention to do that. ‘I assume you haven’t been to Two Lakes after – that night. Or before, I thought,’ she continued quickly. ‘You’re stationed here now, aren’t you?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Yes,' he said slowly, 'I am. Though stationed isn't exactly the right word. Let's just say I volunteered to go here, and my superiors agreed.' Rufus flashed a smile her way.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘So why were you at Two Lakes at that time?’ She moistened her lips, pushing her curls back. ‘I had no idea you were still occasionally discussing affairs with my father. Apparently I was mistaken. Most Roman officials have been invited to the caer, you see. You - barely.'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I heard about your disappearance, and I thought it may have something to do with an..., ah, occurance here in the Vale I thought I would conduct a little investigation. I hadn't really expected to find you in your room.' His eyes twinkled. He couldn't really tell her that he'd been looking for a good excuse to break in somewhere for a long time, of course. 'I like to keep myself to the background, mixing with the local politics as little as possible,' Rufus continued. 'That's why your father hardly if ever invited me.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘You don’t even sound like you regret it,’ she said, dismissing all his other words. What was this feeling now? Insult, fascination? It made her shiver like he’d made her shiver before. ‘Is it normal in Rome, perhaps?’
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Sonja
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'Not really. You might consider it one of my idiosyncrasies, I suppose.' His face grew serious then. 'I never had any intention to harm you, Essylt.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘I’ve often heard different stories about Roman intentions,’ she replied softly. ‘I suppose you didn’t tie me down, at least. And it’s I that have done the hurting, isn’t it?’ She showed him his hands. ‘Aren’t you superstitious? Army men often are…and you are a man of the army in some sense, aren’t you, Rufus?’
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Sonja
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'Hardly,' he laughed. 'I'm a man of the people. Only out of necessity do I put up with legionaires and centurions. But I'd be lying if I said that what you did hasn't scared me.' Rufus ran a hand through his hair and looked at Essylt's hands. 'What was it that you did?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘I don’t know,’ she said flatly. ‘It must be a gift from the Fair Folk. Or a curse. I’m quite safe these days; it happens only when I panic.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
That was good to know. If he didn't overwhelm her, it would not happen again. Now only the challenge of actually succesfully seducing her remained. Rufus wasn't superstitious, yet in his time in this land he had come to consider the Fair Folk to be as real as these people all believed them. Most of his people would make him out to be insane, but he knew better than to underestimate these things - especially now that he had seen them with his own eyes, so to say. 'I see,' he said quietly and reached out a hand to take one of hers. 'It must be a safe thought, though, knowing that you don't need strength or a weapon to defend yourself.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘And knowing that you can turn a man into a pillar of ice and shatter him if I’d give him a good kick?’ Why didn’t they understand, him and Morcant both, that this was nothing to be glad about? Coping with it, curbing it in, was the most she could hope to do. Essylt lifted her eyelashes. ‘If I ever commit a crime of such magnitude again, I’ll find someone to chop them both off for me. I swear.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'You say again, indicating that you've turned a man to a pillar of ice before,' he said slowly, starting to put two and two together. A day after he'd returned from Cavern Hill, he'd gotten a communication from Two Lakes that a quarter of a legion had been killed in a river of ice that had come streaming down the hill. If that had been Essylt, her power was truly formidable. And he also had something to hold over her head, now. Getting better and better.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Yes,’ Essylt replied, feeling more out of her depth than before. If he hadn’t drawn his conclusions by now he wouldn’t be half the politician Gwyddien had feared him to be. ‘A man, or a tree, or a wild boar. It wouldn’t make much difference if I decide to freeze it through and through. All I need is a touch.’ And her owl, but she wouldn’t tell him that. Instead she nodded down at the way he was holding her hand. Much like Morcant, only quite different. This hand felt greedy. ‘Like this.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Rufus was never one to turn down a challenge, nor one to back out when someone called his bluff, so he did not let go of Essylt's hand. 'Fascinating,' he merely said. So here he was, holding the hand of a girl who could kill whole armies in a heartbeat - except that she didn't want to. 'But you're not a murderer.' His thumb slid across the back of her hand from left to right - but nothing more than that.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘No,’ she said, biting her jaws together. If he was so undisturbed by this, would that turn him into a second Morcant? Gods, if he wanted to use her to do his assassinations, she’d be better off throwing herself in a lake. Her hand felt cold, but that was probably just the sensation of his stroke. There was a threat in that simple gesture; she could almost see it, like a shadow. ‘So?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'That would make it quite safe for me to sit here holding your hand, don't you agree?' he smiled and then released her fingers. This was exciting, dangerous; almost as good as his break-ins. But he didn't want to push her to that point where she lost control. Not yet, anyway. 'Or had you hoped that I would run away and never come near you again?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Yes,’ she confessed. 'I had.'
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Sonja
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'You could have just asked me,' he said with a soft laugh.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
'But I did.'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I never said I would go if you asked,' he answered her. 'What I'm trying to say is that you can ask me anything or say anything to me. There's not much I take offense to, and I do dislike beating around the bush.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Essylt didn’t understand this interest he showed in her. All she could think of was what Morcant had driven to keep her with him. And it scared her. So what that she thought she held some control over the power now? Did it matter that she had managed to coat him with ice instead of killing him right through the heart? But perhaps he was like Morcant, seeing only the dark potential in her hands, intending to press them into the wet soil or against another person’s body…who knew what a man capable of undressing her in her own room would do? ‘If I tell you to stay away from me and protect your own life, would you?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I'm quite capable of taking care of myself, Essylt. I think I know when my life's in danger and when it's not, and this is a situation where the latter applies. You might be able to freeze many men in theory, but you admitted that you do not want to. Even if you would, I assume you're clever enough not to kill me in plain sight. Am I right?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
'Of course,' Essylt said unwillingly. 'And that means no, doesn't it?'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Yes.' Rufus slightly bent towards her. 'But you still have my word that I will not tell anyone that I've met you before -' he emphazised met a little '- if you don't, either.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘No. You made it clear last time that you’ve seen too much of this power to have me talk, haven’t you?’ She followed his movement toward her guardedly.
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