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Kanone gave Nero a mock-downcast look when he responded to him that he didn't need any pets. "Aww, but all you'd have to do is make sure I have food. You wouldn't even have to clean up after me...much," he added the last bit with a bit of a smirk. If Nero had ever gotten a glance into Kanone's room at home he'd probably have already noticed that he was kind of a slob. Kanone turned his gaze back to Reyes when he called Mariah an air head and then laughed quietly. "Yeah...I think most girls are once they hit puberty, especially when they look like that," he said as he nodded toward Mariah. "Plus, I think all of the attention she gets kind of went to her head. We're a little short on girls in our village, so naturally she gets fawned over a lot more than she normally would." He shook his head a little and then half smiled at Reyes when he said that he didn't think that she would have left if he had been nice to her. He blinked when Reyes mentioned her dress and then tilted his head a little. "What's wrong with it?" he asked, sounding honestly confused. "It's a ballroom dance dress. That's more clothing than she normally wears." Of course, after he spoke he let his eyes wander around the room again, taking note of every other dress he saw. "...Well, I guess it is a little revealing for this territory," he amended. "But it's normal back home," he added offhandedly. He laughed a little and then shook his head. "I guess we're not as opposed to showing some skin as some are." He grinned when Reyes said that Aamori and Celestine probably would have gotten a kick out of what he had done to Mariah. "Probably," he agreed with a smirk, "or at least Aamori would have. Celestine may have gotten mad at me. He used to have a crush on that girl...granted, i think they were about five, but...," he just trailed off and shook his head with a laugh. "I don't think he likes her very much anymore," he said as he glanced out on the dance floor where he was trying to dance with Aamori now.
Celestine nodded his head slightly when Aamori told him that it was alright, she wasn't too good at dancing on this type of surface. That would have made him feel a little better if that hadn't meant that she was prone to being a tripping hazard. For a little while, he tried to at least simulate a waltz like everyone else was doing, but after a little time, he smiled he simply smiled at Aamori and started to pull her along with him much the same way that Reyes had been dragged around by Kanone, although he made sure to keep a firm hold on Aamori. Every time she came close to tipping, he grabbed her and pulled her closer to him so that she could steady herself before continuing. Given the complete lack of knowing what she was doing on Aamori's part, this wasn't turning out to be the most graceful dance on the floor, but Celestine was still obviously enjoying himself. Even in heels he practically glided across the floor while pulling Aamori along with him. ((Yay short posts before jetting out the door. XD)) |
Reyes wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Nero ignore Kanone almost completely when he responded that all he would have to do is make sure that he had food and then added that he wouldn’t have to clean up after him… much. Nero didn’t really do pets… if you couldn’t take care of yourself, he just didn’t have time for you. The only person that ever got better treatment than that most of the time was his little sister but that was probably to be expected. His family was kind of close and not even they had pets. They all just kind of doted on his little sister and that was good enough for them. He was looking at Kanone while he was responding to the airhead comment and was fully ready to shoot down his comment about most girls being airheads once they hit puberty, except until he had added the especially part. He didn’t feel exactly the same way. In his eyes not most girls turned out like that girl Mariah. Yes, a good portion of them sometimes did… but he supposed it really all came down to your upbringing. A good set of really on the ball parents could nip something like that in the tail before it got out of hand… if they wanted to or cared that is. He just kind of stared at Kanone like he was a dunce after he had asked what was wrong with Mariah’s dress though he wound up shaking his head when Kanone said that the dress was more clothing than she usually wore. He’d have hated to see what she normally wore… the dress was really revealing as it was… what more could you possibly share with the world? “A little?” He commented almost immediately after Kanone had said that that he guessed it was a little revealing for this territory. He shook his head a little more as Kanone continued speaking. “If you knew exactly what all these girls wear under their dresses I think you might completely re-think the amount of clothes that Mariah is wearing.” Of course he knew firsthand what all went under the dresses since he was in a dress… so it was a lot more fabric and cover than just what was showing in bulk on the exterior. “Her dress is… very… inappropriate for this party regardless of whether or not it’s normal back home.” He said as he glanced around the room a little. “…and obviously there was some form of dress code trying to be enforced… I mean look at what we’re all wearing. Half of us would have liked something more ‘normal’ for ourselves but we’re in another clan’s territory so we’re dressed the way they think is appropriate.” He shrugged a little after he finished his statement. “None of it matters anyway.” He said with a little wave of his hand. “I’m just glad I’m not someone’s boyfriend or husband right now. I’m pretty sure a good portion of the men here are going to have their ears reamed when they get home.”
Aamori probably very obviously didn’t know what she was doing when being looked at by someone else on the dance floor. She didn’t particularly care however, she was just really happy to be able to be dancing with Celestine. That alone probably showed pretty well on her face. She initially had been trying very hard not to be a hindrance and tried her best to follow any and all cues that Celestine may have given but she found when she focused on doing it right so intently… she tripped up more. It was far too hard to watch for cues in a dance style that you weren’t familiar with than it was to just go with it. Once she figured that out she tried to relax more into it and just go with it rather than second guess every little thing and wonder whether or not she was doing something right or wrong. She really was just happy to be able to dance with him, finally, so she was trying her very best to enjoy this while it lasted… which wasn’t that hard to do since she was with Celestine. |
Kanone sighed when Reyes continued to harp on Mariah's clothing. Honestly, he was already growing bored with this topic. However, he did grin a little when Reyes pointed out that if he knew how much was worn under these dresses he would change his mind about her clothes. "I'm sure Cel can enlighten me later," he responded playfully. "I'll probably have to help peel him out of that thing." Of course, when Reyes went back to talking about how inappropriate Mairah's dress was he merely shook his head, looking just he tiniest bit annoyed. He didn't know why Reyes was reaming his ears because Mariah wasn't dressed appropriately. It wasn't like he had been the one to bring her here; he couldn't pick her clothes out for her when he wasn't even anywhere near her. He shook his head a little when Reyes added that it didn't matter anyway. "No, not really," he responded flatly, "At any rate, whoever thought it would be a good idea to invite her here for entertainment should have looked into our clan's form of dance a little more carefully if what she wore was going to be such a big deal. She wasn't invited here strictly as a guest like the rest of us, she was brought in to perform. At any rate, I suppose they're just lucky she was decent enough to wear a one piece." Kanone wasn't trying to defend Mariah's choice of dress in any way, although he did think it was kind of ridiculous for Reyes to expect her to come wearing the light clan's form of clothing when they didn't even have things like that in their territory. There were others here who had been invited from different clans that he could see who were all wearing their own form of formal attire. He was sure the only reason they had been shoved into what they had was because they had been here days in advance.
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((Mini-skip because we need one so that we can actually progress... >.>; ))
Things became little more eventful as the ball dragged on. The sun gradually set over the horizon, leaving the sky dark, although the bright moons as well as the thousands of stars allowed for plenty enough light to see outside. Celestine had remained on the dance floor with Aamori for quite a while, until a few gentlemen asked if they might have a dance. He turned everyone down quietly before turning shyly back to Aamori again. Once people started to approach them, however, he drew back to the wall where Kanone and Nero were standing to try and get away from everyone. Unfortunately, even standing near Nero didn’t seem to deter a few people after they had gotten used to the idea that he was there. Someone else wandered over to ask him for a dance, at which point Kanone decided to save him by informing the man that ‘she’ was with him. He even draped his arms around his neck from behind to add to the effect. Celestine didn’t seem able to decide whether he was grateful for or annoyed by Kanone’s pretense, but either way, he didn’t object to it. It hadn’t taken long before Mariah and the others had taken over the music once again, and the style changed rather drastically from the proper waltz to the light, airy music that better suited the way that Kanone and Celestine had been dancing before. Not long after the switch, Kanone decided to solve Celestine’s problem by taking Celestine out onto the dance floor himself. Not a single person had asked Kanone for a dance since he had turned Mariah down, although if anyone had seen that he couldn’t say he blamed them. Not to mention, Kanone’s lead was a little too outlandish for the girls around here. Once they had gotten onto the dance floor, Celestine and Kanone almost became a show all on their own. Since the music was familiar to them, they danced to it much more easily and any of the light clan was able to. Waltzing to this just didn’t seem right to them, so much had taken to simply listening and watching, although…most of the watching seemed to be the males staring at Mairah while she danced. Celestine was not all that crazy about dancing with his cousin like this, but once he got started, he fell into the role of the female dancer very easily. With his small frame and graceful movements, it was not at all difficult for him to pull off dancing like a girl. If one hadn’t known that he was a boy, no one would have been able to tell the difference. There really was no real rhyme or reason to the dance, but the two of them seemed to move and flow together almost as if they were reading each other’s mind. Celestine did not even seem to entirely be having trouble maneuvering around in the heels he had been thrust into earlier. The flow of his dress made moving easy, and the light, billowing fabric only added to the mesmerizing effect as he spun and glided across the floor. Anyone who looked at him could tell that he was finally starting to enjoy himself. After all, this was one of the few things that Celestine enjoyed, he was just normally too shy to do anything of this sort where others could see him. After the first few dances that Kanone managed to get out of Celestine, Selenity finally came forward and asked Kanone for a dance. Seeing as how Kyran was avoiding her as though she had the plague, she thought that she might at least dance with one of her friends. She knew better than to ask Nero, although she thought that asking him might have been rather humorous. She knew exactly where Ellior was, though she had little care to really seek him out of the crowd. Unfortunately, trying to dance with Kanone turned out to be a mess in and of itself. Selenity wanted to dance with Kanone the way that he was comfortable, and she also wanted to attempt his clan’s style of dance. Unfortunately, she was not dressed for such a thing. The two of them did well for a few moments, but Kanone soon found himself tangled in the fabric of her dress, which caused both of them to trip and land in the middle of the floor in a heap of twisted body parts and mounds of fabric. Naturally, that caused a bit of a stir with the crows, but both Kanone and Selenity climbed off of the floor red-faced from embarrassment and laughing, Selenity having accepted Kanone’s extended hand to help her off of the floor even though she had been the one to fall on top of him. After that, Selenity simply gave Kanone a hug and an apology for tripping him up so badly and decided to call it quits on the dance. The incident seemed to be soon enough forgotten once Kanone returned to his corner and Selenity began dancing normally again. Of course, at length, Nanashi had managed to free himself from Sri, although it was a bit difficult. He had, after a few dances with the girl, noticed that LaRae was not where he had left her, and had since been searching the room for her. Once he finally convinced Sri to let him go for a while, he took to searching the room for LaRae only to return to Nero and the others to ask where she had gone. There was evident concern in his eyes, although he didn’t mention to anyone precisely why he was worried that she was gone. ((I'm leaving it there with Nanashi, since I have no idea what, if anything, you had planned for Renzo taking LaRae, so...yeah.... You place your own people. XD; )) |
Once men started to disrupt the time that Aamori was spending with Celestine and their dancing had come to end she wandered back to the area where the rest of their little group had been left standing. She of course didn’t really want to dance with anyone other than Celestine so she saw little reason to stay on the dance floor without him. She eventually wound up wrangled by Reyes, about the time that Kanone had finagled a way to get Celestine to on the dance floor with him. Reyes hadn’t particularly wanted to spend time alone with Aamori but he couldn’t resist the urge to tell her what had gone on while she was dancing with Celestine. Then of course… he had kinda wanted a buddy to go with him to get some food. Reyes didn’t have a problem with approaching the tables himself… but he thought it might go over a little better if he were linked arms and buddy-buddy with another girl while he wandered around. He and Aamori spent a little time just wandering around after getting something to snack on and of course they spent quite a few moments just staring at Kanone and Celestine while they danced. The two of them eventually found their ways back over to where they had left Nero.
Of course Nero hadn’t moved from where he had been left. He had practically glued himself to the wall and refused to budge for anything… not that he really had a reason to move now that no one was pestering him. He kind of relished in the quiet of not having anyone talking to him for a little while. Kanone and Celestine had left and gone to dance, although he hadn’t been sure how long that would last. Reyes had half dragged Aamori away to use an ice-breaker for lack of anything better to call it. LaRae was off with that man from her clan, though he had no idea where they had gone. He hadn’t been watching that closely so of course he had no idea. Then he hadn’t seen Kyran in ages, again, not that he cared. It was kind of quiet and no one was pestering him, not even Ellior… not that Ellior had really pestered him… At any rate, he hadn’t moved and he was enjoying the silence and well, the occasional chuckle since he hadn’t been able to help himself when Selenity wound up tripping Kanone and making a pile on the floor. Naturally any humor he found in that quickly left his features. The last thing he needed was to get flack for laughing at something like that. Kyran had eventually slipped back inside for a short while. He had found it easier to stand out on the balcony rather than stand inside where anyone could see him. That feeling got reinforced thoroughly after awhile of being inside. He had wandered back in and was trying to seem as… discreet as possible and just watch the festivities and the other people dancing; namely Kanone and Celestine and eventually Kanone and Selenity. He hadn’t managed to stick around long enough to watch Kanone get tripped up in her dress, seeing as he found himself being run off again by other female guests. He really had no desire to dance with anyone and it felt like no matter how hard he tried to look uninterested a girl or two still seemed to spot him and think to ask him if he wouldn’t mind dancing with them. Of course every time he would politely turn them down but once enough girls had asked him he wound up just creeping back outside into the night air to avoid them. Out of sight, out of mind… he supposed. LaRae had at some point during the dance Nanashi shared with Sri found herself being lead outside onto the balcony. Of course she had seen Kyran there off to the side and forced up a smile while waving at him nonchalantly as she and Renzo passed. Renzo had managed to get her to lace arms with him a little so that it looked like a gentleman was leading her and talking to her, obviously it didn’t draw a whole lot of suspicion. Plus it helped that she didn’t do, look, or say anything to alarm Kyran… if anything she had more or less been silently assuring him that it was alright. Not that he had any reason to be on the watch for strange Earth dragons around her. She hadn’t told a single person in the group other than Nanashi about Renzo… so of course Kyran wouldn’t really see the danger in her wandering around with this Earth dragon. This whole little sighting had happened before Kyran had wound up out on the balcony the second time. LaRae had quietly gone where Renzo lead her without so much as a peep. She knew that he wanted to talk to her and kept her mouth shut until he was prepared to talk. She did wonder just how far he was going to make her walk though. She knew that whatever he had to say couldn’t really be said where the walls could hear… but she hadn’t exactly expected him to lead her all the way down the steps from the balcony and eventually out to the maze. Once they had reached the maze though… it was clear it was probably one of the better places to go. Most of the party would be inside and while being surrounded by all the lush greenery of the maze it would be easier for him to sense when others were close to him… plus… as she soon found out…. He had that damn dog like Nobu wandering around and keeping an eye on things. The dog wasn’t really all that noticeable though she supposed…. Seeing as once he had spoken to it and given it orders it just kind of seeped into the dirt and disappeared. She had a sneaking suspicion however that the dog wasn’t gone. With that, Renzo continued leading her into the maze and tried casual chit-chat for awhile, she assumed to confuse her while he got her lost in the maze. When Nanashi came back upon the group, which consisted of pretty much everyone but Selenity, Kyran and LaRae… no one could really help him on where exactly LaRae had gone. Aamori quite easily piped up that she had wandered off with some good looking Earth dragon, but she had thought it was just a request to dance and asked if he were sure he hadn’t just wandered past LaRae. There were a lot of people here and surely there was a chance that he could’ve missed her. As far as she was concerned if you weren’t careful you could even lose yourself in the amount of people… but then maybe that was just because she felt small and a little short compared to some of the other people here. Neither Nero nor Reyes really had anything to add. Nero obviously wouldn’t have said anything even if he had known and Reyes was kind of at a loss since she hadn’t watched the girl for very long. He had watched her leave and then shifted his attentions like most of the others did. [[blarg… I still don’t know exactly what I’m doing… but there… a post. XD]] |
Nanashi was not very pleased to hear that no one had any idea where LaRae was now. Both Kanone and Celestine had merely shook their heads when he asked where she was and Kanone had pointed out that they had been a little preoccupied. Celestine did point out that the last time he had seen her she had been walking away with someone from her clan, which did absolutely nothing to settle his nerves. He shook his head at Aamori when she started to ask him if he was sure that he hadn’t just overlooked her. “No, she isn’t in this room,” he told her, sounding unnaturally certain of himself. LaRae stood out a bit in the crowd, or at least in this one. Considering that the majority of the people here had very fair hair, LaRae’s dark chestnut hair stood out almost as badly as Nero and Reye’s midnight black and his own bright apple red hue. Not to mention, she was one of the few women who sported a more form fitting dress than the large, bell-like dresses more of the women from the light clan were wearing. She wasn’t all that hard to spot…had he hadn’t seen her anywhere, let alone anyone who looked like Renzo. There was only a small handful of Earth dragons in this room to begin with.
Ellior turned out to be the only one of the group who provided any potentially useful information to him, although he had not sounded entirely certain of himself. “I…thought that I might have seen her going toward the balcony,” he spoke up once everyone else had finished, “although I’m not certain that it was her. Everyone looks about the same at these parties with all of the face paint….” He, like everyone else, had paid very little attention to where LaRae had gone and who she had gone with, partially because he was still half asleep. “If that was her, she was being escorted by someone from her clan.” He blinked, seeming a little surprised at how agitated that bit of information seemed to make Nanashi. “Like I said, I’m not certain it was her…,” he reminded him, “and even if it was, I am sure she will be back. She might have seen someone that she knows.” Nanashi didn’t say a word when Ellior started to tell him where he thought LaRae might have gone, although he did look toward the balcony. He was prepared to thank him and go check out back, although he stopped when he mentioned that she was being escorted by someone from her clan. Nanashi’s eyes narrowed at the door in poorly veiled resentment as he pictured Renzo nonchalantly bullying her into walking outside with him and LaRae going peacefully to avoid a scene. He blinked when he heard Ellior fumbling to cover for LaRae and then sighed. The look faded from his face, although his voice gave away his displeasure when he responded to him. “…She did,” he replied shortly when Ellior pointed out that she might have seen someone that she knew. He would have liked to have added that the person she had seen was not a friend, but since LaRae had been trying to keep Renzo a secret, he said nothing more on the subject. “…I’m going to go see if I can find her,” he announced after a few moments. He made his way over to the large glass doors, which were still standing wide open and then hesitated at the threshold. He glanced back to the group almost uncertainly, looking almost as if he wanted to say something more or ask one of them to come with him. He wouldn’t have minded telling them to come and look for him if he wasn’t back in twenty minutes, but…he didn’t need to worry anyone. After another few seconds he turned his attention to the front again and stepped out onto the balcony. He didn’t even notice Kyran standing by the outer wall, although that was partially because he hadn’t been looking for him and hadn’t really expected him to be out here. Absently, he wrapped his arms around himself as he stepped further out onto the balcony. The night air was chilly to him, even in the long sleeves he was wearing; they weren’t thick or tight enough to withhold any heat, really. Once he reached the railing he simply stood behind it silently, staring down at the vast garden. Of course, he didn’t see anyone right away, although if he stood there long enough he was liable to see one of the two of them wandering through the maze at some point. The balcony was high enough that it was easy to watch people wandering through the maze, although they were not visible at all times. If they were too close to the front of the maze or standing right behind one of the tall bushes, then they would not be visible. Even still, identifying anyone by nothing but moonlight would be a bit difficult, but his eyes were busy vigilantly scanning every inch of the garden below before he got down there wandering around. Kanone blinked after Nanashi had dismissed himself and made his way out onto the balcony. "...So was that jealousy I just sensed?" he commented casually. It was almost scary seeing Nanashi look anything similar to angry. The guy was always so soft spoken and cautious that it was hard to imagine him giving anything a dirty look...but that was definitely what he had been giving that door. Of course, he knew nothing about the man that LaRae had been with and had no idea that Nanashi knew who it was and what he was like or he would have thought differently. From his perspective, it seemed that Nanashi just wasn't happy to hear that LaRae was possibly off alone with another guy while he'd been stuck entertaining the little princess. |
LaRae wasn’t exactly sure how far into the maze that Renzo was planning to go and she was having trouble already in trying to remember where exactly they had turned. With him babbling at her about nothing of importance really she was indeed neglecting to remember every step that they took. It was hard to make it appear like you were listening to him, without actually listening and when she was listening she’d forget to remember a step. She supposed it wasn’t that big a deal though… once he was done with her she could find her own way out, eventually… that is if he didn’t insist on walking her back out and back into the party. She hadn’t been paying too close of attention to how they were walking but Renzo was keeping relatively close to the tall hedges that faced the palace. Although, occasionally that was impossible to do because some of the paths he had to take went vertically rather than horizontally, which would kind of leave them visible for a few moments if you were really looking that closely. LaRae would eventually find out that Renzo was intent on getting to the center most part of the maze. It was usually the part in a maze that had a large center decoration of some sort and was a decently wide opened area. Sometimes there were even benches and whatnot so that people could sit down and rest. Then of course there would be multiple exits and entrances into the center part, which would only make it more confusing when you finally did make it there. But that was all supposing that this maze was like most other lavishly well planned out mazes.
Kyran lifted his eyes almost immediately when he saw someone coming out of the doors just a little ways beside him. Not too many people had really bothered to come out here and honestly, he was kind of surprised to see it was Nanashi and that he was alone. But then… he had seen LaRae pass by not all that long ago. He wasn’t sure he was surprised that Nanashi hadn’t seen or noticed him. He did kind of blend in well to the wall without the proper lighting and he was being incredibly quiet while he stood there. He hadn’t bothered to move but he watched Nanashi for a moment before he opened his mouth. “Are you looking for LaRae?” He asked, since that was probably the most logical conclusion. Those two were almost always connected at the hip… and right now they were very much separated and obviously Nanashi didn’t know exactly where she was. Nero glanced to Kanone briefly when he made the comment about that being jealousy that he just sensed. He shook his head a little, intent on just ignoring whatever that was with Nanashi but he couldn’t help responding to what Kanone had said. “If it was jealousy, he is likely to get his tail handed to him on a silver platter. He is a halfbreed after all and she isn’t.” He was pretty sure, mostly positive, that if Nanashi was indeed jealous and did anything to confront the guy that had escorted LaRae off than he was bound to get hurt. No halfbreed ever had the right to try and stake a claim in a full blooded dragon, especially not if another full blooded dragon was already in the picture. That was his opinion of course, along with many others who still weren’t ready to just accept that a halfbreed was as good as any full blooded dragon. |
Nanashi really wasn’t paying any mind to anything outside the door. As far as he could tell, there was really no one else out here. For the most part, everyone seemed to be staying inside. As the night grew later, people had started getting a little more excited. From what little he had gathered from conversations that he was passing up, everyone expected that Ellior was going to propose to the princess around midnight. Of course…that was of little concern to him. He somehow doubted that Ellior really intended to do anything of the sort given the way that he had been standing by Nero all night and hadn’t even approached Selenity once. His main focus right now, was figuring out where LaRae was. He knew full well that so long as she was with Renzo, there was really nothing that he could do, but he did at least want to make sure that he wasn’t hurting her; not that there was much he could do to stop him. He had already seen what lengths Renzo would go to in order to show him up and prove a point, so he didn’t intend to interfere with whatever he was doing (for LaRae’s sake), merely try to keep an eye on things and make sure that they didn’t get out of hand. He was so busy staring over the edge of the balcony and so lost in his own thoughts that he startled violently when Kyran spoke to him, even though there was nothing really alarming about Kyran’s voice. His grip on his arms tightened momentarily before he relaxed and started to turn around. His feet didn’t move his feet at all, simply turned the upper part of his body around slowly. He looked at Kyran for a few seconds, and his eyes held a solemn uneasiness that he was unable to fully veil. “Yes,” he responded simply before he turned back around and resumed staring out over the garden. “…Ellior said that he thought he saw her come out here…with someone.” He sighed softly and his ears fell back just a little. He wished Kyran knew about Renzo and what that man was capable of doing, and had done in the past, but he was afraid to say anything even to him. Renzo was not his problem to discuss openly, as much as he would have liked to. LaRae still had not offered to tell anyone else about Renzo, and the only reason he knew was because he had stumbled upon them before…so he doubted that LaRae would be too pleased with him if he told anyone else about her problem with him. Then again…maybe he should say something anyway. He really didn’t know what he should do right now, and that was almost as irritating as knowing that he couldn’t really do anything on his own. His ears perked back up a little when his eyes caught a bit of movement inside the maze. He raised his eyes just a little and narrowed his eyes slightly. He could see two figures making their way along one of the maze passages, one of which appeared to be in a dress. He was too far away and there wasn’t quite enough light for him to see too clearly…but he was pretty sure that he had finally found LaRae.
Kanone glanced over to Nero when he heard him say that if Nanashi was jealous he was liable to get his tail kicked. He blinked, looking just a little surprised to hear Nero bring up the fact that Nanashi was a halfbreed, although the surprise faded soon enough. He shook his head a little and gave Nero a sideways glance. “…You really shouldn’t say things like that…,” he said quietly before he let out a heavy sigh, “…but you’re probably right.” He glanced away again and absently folded his arms behind his head. “…Though I don’t think he’s that stupid. Hell, he wouldn’t even eat before any of the rest of you when he was at my house, I doubt he’d go and try to get between a full-blood and his mate if he’s too afraid to get between one and a plate of food.” He was quiet for a few moments before he glanced over to the door and then sighed. “…I guess if he’s not back in a few minutes we should probably go check on him….” |
Kyran felt a little bad for startling Nanashi as badly as he had but he hadn’t done it on purpose and there wasn’t anything he could have done differently to not startle him that he could think of. He still hadn’t bothered to move away from the wall he was leaning against, partially because no one could see him where he was standing and he didn’t particularly want to be seen. He could hear and speak to Nanashi just fine from where he was standing anyway, so he stayed put. He listened silently to Nanashi when he brought up what Ellior had said, though he did make a little bit of a face at the sound of Ellior’s name. “She did come out here with someone.” He confirmed. “She and a man from her clan went into the maze.” He added. “She didn’t seem like there was a problem, is everything alright?” He asked a little curiously. He remembered LaRae waving him off, a subtle way of saying that she was alright and she had smiled a little on top of that so he hadn’t thought anything of her going down to the maze with the young man. But now that Nanashi was here and obviously concerned he was a little concerned himself, though he had no idea what for. Nothing had seemed off about her being escorted somewhere by some male from her clan… maybe Nanashi was just concerned because she had disappeared on him without telling him where she was going. It would have been hard to tell Nanashi anything while he was dancing with the little Princess.
Nero looked briefly at Kanone when he told him that he really shouldn’t say things like that. He shrugged slightly and looked away. He didn’t care if it offended anyone that he referred to a halfbreed as a halfbreed or talked about them the way that he did. They were halfbreeds and as far as most of the dragon population was concerned they were lesser beings. He cast a brief glance at Kanone when he brought up that he didn’t think Nanashi was that stupid and eventually said that if Nanashi wasn’t back in a few minutes ‘we’ should probably go check on him. “…Unlike you, when it comes to him and LaRae, I do think he is that stupid.” He paused. “She’s done some pretty stupid stuff to either protect him or stick up for him, I doubt he’d willingly stand idly by while some other guy tried to wedge himself between them.” He commented without bothering to look at Kanone. “And as far as checking on him, you’re more than welcome to do that by yourself.” |
Nanashi had already looked away from Kyran by the time he had made that face, although he assumed already that Kyran would simply like to forget about Ellior's very existence. He started to glance back toward Kyran when he conformed that LaRae had come outside with someone, although he seemed to catch himself before he turned around enough for his eyes to be visible and stood there stiffly while Kyran continued. His jaw clenched a little when he heard Kyran say that she had gone down to the maze with a man from her clan and he turned his gaze on the maze once again. Of course, he had already gathered that much after he had looked down into the maze. Once again, his grip on his arms tightened, this time out of sheer frustration. He shut his eyes for a moment when Kyran told him that LaRae hadn't looked like there was a problem. Of course she hadn't...which made it even harder for him to think to tell Kyran who exactly that man that she was with was. He gritted his teeth just a little, fighting back the urge to want to just curse out loud. It killed him that he couldn't do anything about this on his own, and that he knew that LaRae wouldn't want him to tell about what he knew. That put in him a pitiful position, and it irritated him that he couldn't come up with some other plan. Really, what could he do if he could do nothing and couldn't ask for help? It took him a few seconds to realize that Kyran had tagged a question onto the end of that last statement. Finally he let out his breath in a sigh and shook his head just a little. "...Everything is fine," he replied simply, his tone admittedly defeated. He looked back up at the maze once again, but he could no longer really see anything since the two of them had already turned another corner. After a moment he finally turned to look at Kyran and forced up a placid smile. "...Don't worry about it; she'll come back," he said in a lighter tone. He turned his eyes to the doors that led back inside again and then laid his ears back just a little. He didn't want to go back in there again, not right now. "I'm going to go take a walk," he informed Kyran simply before he turned and started to make his way toward the stairs. He really didn't give Kyran much time to acknowledge his announcement or say anything about where he was going; he just started walking and didn't bother looking behind him again.
Kanone sighed when Nero pointed out that he didn't think that Nanashi would stand idly by and allow some other guy to wedge his way between him and LaRae. "...Maybe not," he responded quietly. "Who knows...I just don't want him getting hurt because someone's got a big ego." All in all, Kanone liked Nanashi well enough. Sure, he was kind of quiet and flinchy for his tastes, but he was still a nice guy, and he liked nice people. Then again, Kanone kind of liked just about everyone. He blinked when Nero added that he could go check on him by himself if he wanted to and then stared at him for a moment. "Geez, you can be a real ruel jerk, you know that?" he commented in a somewhat whiny tone. Of course, he was only half joking, even though he did think that Nero was being unnecessarily callous where Nanashi was concerned. He knew well enough that Nero wasn't always that way when it came to Nanashi, but still...listening to Nero one would think that Nanashi didn't have a right to have feelings for anyone except someone on his own low level. "I guess I'll just have to get Aamori to come with me then," he said simply before he glanced over to the girl briefly. |
Kyran remained silent while he waited for some response from Nanashi. He just kind of tilted his head to the side a little when he did finally speak and used such a defeated tone to say that everything was fine. Given the tone he was pretty sure that not everything was fine, but he didn’t bother to push the subject. He was kind of glad he hadn’t bothered pushing it either once Nanashi had turned to look at him and put up the smile that he had and told him not to worry about it, that she would come back. It was kind of hard to throw out the previous tone that he had used and just accept that everything was fine, when… clearly, it wasn’t. Something was amiss, he could sense it… he just had no idea what the issue was. Well… other than maybe Nanashi wasn’t too happy that LaRae had been whisked away by some male from her own clan. He supposed maybe he was reading too much into Nanashi’s tone and body language but he kind of wanted something to distract himself from his own thoughts. It was hard to stay distracted inside or outside for that matter. Out here without anyone with him he was stuck on his own thoughts and then inside he was being pestered by many a women and he was too busy avoiding Selenity and conversations concerning her. He raised his eyebrows a little when Nanashi announced that he was going to take a walk and just… took off without waiting for a response. He continued to stand there leaning against the wall for a moment before he finally pushed off of it and started to wander after Nanashi. “You don’t mind company, do you?” He asked as he followed after Nanashi.
Nero’s eyes trailed over to Kanone and just kind of stared at him when he whined that he could be a real cruel jerk. “I know.” He responded flatly. He knew he could be a cruel jerk… that was just part of his personality. He was blatantly honest when it came to some things and in this case he had only said what most of the full blooded dragons in the world thought about halfbreeds. Why sugarcoat it? What good was that going to do? He’d much rather be honest and speak his mind than be gentle and nice when he didn’t feel like being that way in the slightest. And besides, it was the truth, whether anyone wanted to admit it or not. Aamori hadn’t really had anything else to say since Nanashi had taken off to look for LaRae and she had merely taken to standing quietly near Celestine while Kanone and Nero bantered back and forth. She jerked very slightly at the mention of her name and looked over at Kanone. She hadn’t been paying too close of attention to what they were talking about but after trying to recall what she may have heard she just stared at Kanone for a moment. “….I’ll go, I guess…” She didn’t really have a reason to say no… well, other than she didn’t really want to leave Celestine’s side. But then again she’d only be away from him long enough for Kanone to check on Nanashi, that wouldn’t take that long, would it? |
Nanashi had fully intended to simply leave Kyran alone and wander down into the garden for a little while. As much as he wanted to, he knew better than to go wandering into that maze after LaRae and Renzo. With no witnesses around, other than LaRae, he knew that Renzo was liable to become aggressive and...well, he couldn't defend himself against Renzo's earth magic. He was already halfway down the stairs when Kyran decided to call after him. He stopped short and looked back at him with obvious surprise on his face. He hadn't expected Kyran to want to come with him. He had assumed that he was out here in an attempt to get away from everyone. Besides, he knew very well that Kyran had plenty enough on his mind without worrying about his problems. After a moment, however, he offered Kyran another weak smile. "...Of course not," he responded quietly. He never really minded Kyran's company. Kyran was the only other person he felt entirely comfortable around, and although he didn't feel like pretending that he wasn't being bothered, he supposed it wouldn't really hurt to allow Kyran to come with him if he wanted. Nanashi had very little to say as he continued down the stairs. He wasn't entirely sure where he was going to go once he had gotten down to the cobblestone walkway. He glanced around for a few moments once he had reached the end of the stairs and absently pulled his arms a little closer to his body and let out his breath in a heavy sigh. His eyes wandered down to the ground at his feet and he started to move again. He wasn't entirely sure where he was going, exactly, he was simply following the path wherever it went. He knew, of course, that eventually it would lead to the maze, but he had already raised his head long before then. He veered off onto one of the small side paths that led into the rose garden absently, and found his way back to the bench that he had rested on the day he had been playing with Sri and the others. He wasn't sure what else to do with himself, so he simply walked over to the bench silently and sat down on one edge of it quietly. From there, he was shielded from view of the balcony by some of the large, flowering bushes, but he still had a good view of the opening of the maze so that he could see when LaRae or Renzo exited.
Kanone merely shook his head a little when Nero responded to him with nothing more than 'I know'. "I know you know," he replied simply before he glanced back to Aamori. He smiled slightly when she told him that she would come with him and nodded his head a little. He wasn't really surprised that she agreed. Even though the two of them were from opposing clans, she and Nanashi didn't seem to have any animosity toward one another. "Well, glad I'm not completely on my own," he said lightly before he glanced over to Nero and stuck out his tongue at him. Of course, he had no intention of running off after Nanashi right this moment; the guy had only just gone out the door. |
Kyran hadn’t really expected Nanashi to object to his joining him, but if he had, he would have given Nanashi his space. He continued after Nanashi rather silently, giving him a little space while he walked but staying close enough that you would notice his presence. He didn’t particularly care where Nanashi was headed, away was just fine with him. Once Nanashi finally stopped and sat down on the edge of the bench amidst the rose garden he stopped and stood off to the side of the bench for a moment. He was still concerned with whatever it was that was bothering Nanashi but he didn’t want to pry trying to get it out of him. Nanashi would talk about it when he was ready to, if he ever got around to being ready. He looked around a little taking note of exactly where they had wound up and how easily you could see or been seen from where they were. He didn’t particularly want to be easily spotted if someone happened out onto the balcony looking for him… not that a lot of people knew he had been outside to begin with. After he was satisfied enough with the visual aspects of where they were he edged closer to the bench and slowly sat himself down beside Nanashi without a word, partially because he wasn’t one hundred percent sure what to say. In the long run he supposed at least sitting with him quietly said a lot and let him know that he was here for him if he needed him.
Renzo carefully and wisely led LaRae through the maze all the while babbling at her to distract her, at least until they made it to the center of the maze. Once the maze had opened up into the lavishly decorated center piece he quit talking at her and led her over to a bench that would put her back against a hedge and keep them both hidden from sight of the balcony. He rather forcefully sat her down while simultaneously using magic to force relatively thick branches out of the hedge to lace around her wrists and upper arms. Once the branches were tight enough to keep her from standing up he made them loose slack so there really was nowhere for her to go or move unless she felt confident enough to try and break his magic’s hold on her. He supposed in the back of his mind that he didn’t need to force her to stay put but he’d much rather ensure that she wasn’t going to get away than have her make a break for it the first time that it looked like he wasn’t watching her completely. Of course he was well aware that by binding her wrists and upper arms in place like he did that he was going to set her into a bit of panic, but he didn’t really care. It was her own fault that she still wasn’t over being tied up in any manner. He took a couple steps back once he was done, taking note of exactly where he could and couldn’t move and still be shrouded from too much view. He lowered his eyes back down to LaRae and almost immediately rolled them slightly. “Oh, c’mon, stop looking at me like that.” He told her. “They aren’t even tight enough to cut off circulation.” He added since she was already starting to look panicked. LaRae couldn’t help but stare up at Renzo with a panicked look to her eyes after he had bound her in place on the bench. The way the branches were positioned and the fact that there was no give to them made it nearly impossible to move without causing self-inflicted pain. She didn’t want to be bothered by the fact that she couldn’t move and was tied in place… but her fear slowly started seeping in and making her feel frantic and on edge. She continued to stare at Renzo after he told her not to look at him like she was and that the bindings weren’t even tight enough to cut off circulation. If she weren’t working on being completely panicked she might have snapped at him and told him that that was only true if she didn’t fight the bindings. If she tried to move or tried to break free of them she was going to wind up with friction burns and bruises, she just knew it. Of course with that… somewhere… in her mind, she was trying to be calm… and failing a little. She was working herself up into such a frenzy that she couldn’t seem to find her voice and all she wanted to do was yell at him and scream, anything. Renzo could tell by watching the expressions that crossed LaRae’s face that he was going to lose her pretty soon if he didn’t derail her train of thought. She was far too focused on the bindings and it was going to get out of control and then he really would have a problem on his hands. He sighed heavily and decided to just get straight to the point. Perhaps shocking her with the news he had would keep her from freaking out completely. “The Elder has requested that you put a stop to this mission.” He stated in their native tongue, on the off chance that anyone else was in the maze or within earshot. “You’d have known that if you had read the previous letter that I gave you.” He added. He had figured just from the initial look she gave him that she hadn’t understood. Even with her panic set in she was still able to look relatively confused by his statement that the Elder wanted the mission ended. “In the letter it stated that the only way he saw fit to make sure the mission failed was for one of the chosen to die.” He continued rather bluntly. “He expects you to kill one of the few that remain who have yet to gather their relic.” He added, slightly amused by the looks that crossed her face as she took in what she was being told. He moved closer to the bench and put a leg up on it and then rested his forearm against it so that he could kind of lean into her while he spoke. “...I think …that leaves… what, three to choose from?” He said, rather than made it a question. LaRae had slipped out of her panic enough that she was following Renzo’s conversation, just as Renzo had hoped. She hadn’t really read that other letter he had given her and she kind of wished that she had now that she was hearing him talk. He was so… haughty about the way he spoke that she would have much rather red the slightly diplomatic words written on paper from her Elder rather than listen to him. She didn’t like it either way, be it reading it or listening to it. She couldn’t fathom why the Elder would request such a thing and frankly she was a little confused by the matter. Although, unfortunately she did understand what he meant when he said that she was expected to kill someone… She didn’t like that at all… she had become friends with most of the people in the group so she really didn’t want to have to hurt any of them… but at the same time she understood what would happen if she didn’t listen to what she was told. She started to open her mouth to tell him that she wouldn’t do it and she wouldn’t listen to another word of this treason. That’s what it was… it was treason… against every other clan who was involved in this… As soon as she started to speak she felt another branch snake out from the hedge behind her and cover her mouth which only made her more angry and she knew that Renzo could see that. “Not-uh, no you don’t.” He said as he covered her mouth with a branch and let it wrap around the back of her head so that she couldn’t wiggle free of it. “Don’t go all high and mighty on us now.” He told her, having already picked up on her intentions just by watching her face. For all intents and purposes the dragons in their clan like LaRae who were nothing but trash where used for whatever they were needed for and assassination wasn’t above them. Of course that had never been asked of LaRae until now… but it wasn’t like she couldn’t do it. “Now… let’s see.” He paused. “There’s… three left.” He told her. “Four if you count you, but you can’t count yourself. The Elder wouldn’t allow you to be a martyr and kill yourself.” He said rather lightly, almost like this whole thing did delight him. “My vote goes for the halfbreed, obviously.” He told her. “He would be the easiest for you to kill, especially since he’s so fond of you. He would be totally unsuspecting.” He said with a sly smile. “But then there are also the light dragon and the dark dragon as options.” He paused. “I think the dark dragon would be the challenging choice… I think he might come close to killing you… but you know I wouldn’t let that happen.” He shifted slightly and stood up a little straighter though he still kept his foot on the bench beside her. “Then there’s the light princess… that one would probably get you killed too. You can’t just go around knocking off royalty.” He said with a small chuckle. “But that would be amusing. I mean seeing as she’s such a figure head and she’s got the potential to bring more clans together.” He paused and stared at LaRae for a moment. “What, it’s true. Everyone can see it about her, especially with the way she sticks up for a dark dragon of all things…” He shook his head slightly and finally took his foot off the bench and started to straighten up completely. “Well, ultimately, it is your choice. You have to kill one of them in order to put a stop to this debauchery.” He told her rather calmly, like it was second nature to be talking about killing people and figure heads. He stood there for a few moments and watched silently as everything was sinking in and watched her fight a little against the bindings and noting just how furious she looked. It amused him to no end just how upset she seemed over this news but there wasn’t anything that she could do about it. She had to obey or they would just take matters into their own hands and she wouldn’t like it if that happened. LaRae wanted to make him stop talking, she really did but it was impossible. She couldn’t yell at him because her mouth was covered and she couldn’t hit him or throw things at him, she couldn’t get up and leave… she couldn’t move. She was stuck… and she was stuck listening to orders that she didn’t want to follow. She was pretty infuriated by the time that he was done talking and she was pissed at how amused he had been during all of that. She hated that he had suggestions and opinions about each and every person remaining and she… well… she hated this. She fought against the bindings almost half-heartedly. She wanted free… but she didn’t want to hurt herself… she didn’t want it to be noticeable that something bad had gone on while she was with Renzo. But the more she had listened and the more she hadn’t liked what he had said the more she gave in the struggle… so if anything she was bound to at least have slight red marks on her arms. Once it appeared that Renzo was good and done with what he had to say he started backing off of her completely. She watched as it looked like he was heading for an opening that led back into the maze. Of course as soon as it looked like he was leaving her anger left her and was quickly replaced with panic. He was leaving and she was still stuck to the bench. That only made her squirm more and as soon as he saw how frantic she started getting he tried to reassure her that she was going to be released, he just wanted to get out of the maze before he let her go. He had a party to get back to, after all. That only made her more uncomfortable. He was leaving out an opening that they hadn’t come in through and he was leaving her stuck to the bench all by herself until he had left the maze. That hadn’t sat well with her at all and as soon as he was out of sight and it really did sound like he wasn’t near anymore and the bindings weren’t loosening she started to cry a little. She hated feeling helpless like this and certainly didn’t like the idea of being stuck in here alone with the chance that Renzo wouldn’t keep his word and let her loose once he was free of the maze. Renzo hadn’t entirely planned to just drop a bomb like that on her and flee, but he didn’t really feel like sticking around after she had been so angry. Plus, she needed a little time to let everything sink in and that would be best done while she was by herself. He left through an opening that was different from the one they had come in on, purposely. He hoped to confuse her a little on top of everything else. Ultimately he planned to get far enough away from her that she wouldn’t be able to hear him or sense him and then he just used his magic to make an opening straight out of the maze and then sealed it behind him before starting to make his way back towards the balcony and it’s stairs so that he could get back to the party. He hadn’t bothered letting her loose just yet like he said he would. He planned on waiting until he got up to the balcony, or at least until he got closer to the stairs. A small part of him, or well… maybe not a small part of him, but a part of him liked the idea of torturing her a little and he hadn’t gotten to do it in awhile so he was kind of relishing in it. [[BOOK... I didn't in realize I typed that much... I just started and didn't stop right away... XD]] |
Nanashi raised his head slightly when he noticed that Kyran was standing off to the side of the bench. Of course, he said nothing to encourage or discourage him from sitting down with him. He really didn't mind what he did. For a moment, he took to looking around himself. He could easily see the opening of the maze from here, and he could still see the balcony through the leaves and flowers that were spaced far enough apart, but that was only because he was sitting so close. From a distance, those leaves were almost like an impenetrable shield. He sighed softly and then lowered his gaze down to the walkway for a moment before turning his head in Kyran's direction when he saw him start to sit down as well. He said nothing to him as he seated himself, although he did manage a tiny, rather pathetic attempt at a smile before he looked away again. In a way, he was glad that Kyran was here. That was probably helping him to not do something completely stupid. He knew better than to go and confront Renzo himself, but having Kyran here and not wanting to drag him into the middle of things was helping to keep him on that bench more than his knowledge that Renzo would probably crush him would have been able to do on its own.
He turned his eyes back to the opening of the maze anxiously, wishing he would see one of them emerge, and knowing that it was far too soon for that. He sighed softly, just as the breeze picked up and pushed his hair back. The lake made the air chill, and the wind cut right through his thin, silken clothing. He shuddered again and once more crossed his arms over his chest, clutching at his elbows. The sun had long since gone down, and the air was only getting colder. Of course, for most it was probably a nice, comfortable breeze, but the chill was only leaving him shivering. His hands would already feel like ice if someone was to take a hold of them, and his arms were not feeling much better. After a few moments, he glanced over to Kyran once again and looked at him for a moment before turning his head away and edging a little closer to him. He leaned up against his side almost hesitantly, starting to rest his head against his shoulder and then seeming to change his mind before giving in and just letting his head rest lightly against Kyran's shoulder. He didn't really bother looking at him, but if Kyran gave him any signs that he wanted him to move away he would. It was probably obvious why he had moved closer, however, aside from the fact that he obviously had things on his mind that were bothering him. He was still shivering slightly every now and then, and even his ears would probably feel a little cold where they touched the thin fabric that made up Kyran's shirt. Nanashi still did not offer to speak, even after he had leaned closer to Kyran. As much as he did want to talk about everything that was bothering him, he knew that he shouldn't. LaRae had made it a point not to tell anyone else in the group about Renzo, and Renzo was her business to discuss, not his. On top of that, he knew that Kyran still had his own problems weighing on his mind. He didn't really want to add to them if he could help it. His eyes remained trained intently on the entrance of the maze while he waited, what was starting to seem like forever for some sign of movement. Finally, something caught his attention from the other side of the maze. He could hear footsteps on the walkway and he spotted Renzo making his way back toward the balcony, seemingly having exited the maze from somewhere other than the actual exit. He sat there, perfectly still while he watched him make his way toward the balcony, and once he had passed the area where they were sitting he raised his head quickly, his ears perked up as if he was listening intently to his footsteps. In all honesty, he was listening for another set. He turned his head back to the area where Renzo had come from and watched intently for a few moments before looking back to the balcony. He leaned back a little, watching until he had gone back inside before he stood up and looked at the maze again. Absently, he balled his hands at his sides and his tail flicked the ground behind him in distress. Looking at his face, his eyes held a look of rage, fear, and worry all rolled into one. Without warning, he took a quick step forward and then stopped himself short before looking at the balcony again, where he now had a very clear view. There was no one there, but nonetheless he glared up at the window with blatant resentment before he turned away and hurried toward the entrance to the maze, his expression immediately converting into concern again. Obviously, LaRae had not come out of the maze with Renzo...meaning that she must still be in there somewhere, and knowing Renzo the way that he did, he couldn't help but assume that she was probably injured in some way or another. |
Kyran wasn’t really bothered by the cool temperature outside like Nanashi was and the longer that they sat outside the more obvious it became just how the temperature was affecting Nanashi. He wasn’t blatantly staring at Nanashi to notice that he was shivering or anything but he had noticed, especially once Nanashi had started to edge a little closer to him. He didn’t even so much as flinch when he felt Nanashi leaning against his side nor when he had finally decided to lean his head against his shoulder. He didn’t mind Nanashi that close to him and he certainly didn’t mind sharing a little of his own body warmth with him if he could. He also wasn’t the least bit worried about how it might look for him to be sitting there with Nanashi that close to him and leaning against him the way that he was. He still hadn’t bothered to speak, primarily because Nanashi hadn’t really said anything himself. He also didn’t really think that he needed to speak up and draw attention to the fact that Nanashi was cold, he was adult enough to know when he couldn’t handle the cold anymore and when he should go inside… even if it was kind of obvious the longer that they sat there that he was waiting on LaRae. He remained silent while he sat there and allowed Nanashi lean against him and just kind of relaxed in place, enjoying the quiet cool air and the extremely less noisy and tension filled atmosphere. He was finding it a little easier to stray his thoughts away from the party and how he was feeling while he was sitting out here with Nanashi so far away from everything. In all honesty he was starting to think that he should’ve just come out this far to begin with. He hadn’t been paying as much attention to the maze as Nanashi was so he hadn’t really been watching or listening for anyone and he certainly hadn’t paid as much attention to the earth dragon as he headed for the balcony. His interest hadn’t even been piqued until Nanashi had stood up and started eyeing the maze the way that he had. He couldn’t help but glance at the balcony once Nanashi had wound up looking so intently in that direction. He stood up and edged away from the roses so that he could have a better view of the balcony. He hadn’t seen anything and his eyes lingered there for a moment while he looked a little perplexed. He almost didn’t return his attention to Nanashi quickly enough because he almost missed him in his hurry to head for the entrance of the maze. He couldn’t help but be a little concerned… mostly because he wasn’t sure exactly why Nanashi seemed so… well… distraught, maybe. He started to follow after him though he paused for a moment, almost as if second guessing whether or not he should follow him but quickly enough overrode that idea and quickly followed after him to try and catch up to him.
LaRae couldn’t help but sit where she had been left and feel utterly pathetic for crying. She knew vaguely that by crying she had probably done a decent job of messing up, if not ruining the face paint or makeup... or whatever it was. She was also aware that she was going to have a little trouble hiding the marks on her arms and wrists… it was kind of hard to cover those spaces up when you were stuck in a dress that showed as much of her upper body as it did. She still didn’t like the fact that her back was exposed but that wasn’t at the forefront of her mind any longer. She had been a little lost in her panicked thoughts while she was alone and didn’t notice right away when the bindings had finally started to loosen. The retraction of the branches had been slow at first and then it just kind of sped up so fast that she lost her balance on the bench and fell forward. She hit the ground first with her hands, having the forethought at least to notice that she was falling so she managed to catch herself, though her knees hit the ground too. Her wrists were sore and the sudden weight from falling forward caused her elbows to start to buckle but she pushed herself back up before her face hit the ground too. She stayed there for a moment, just staring at the ground through tear filled eyes and eventually started to blink back the tears once she noticed that they were escaping and falling to the ground below her. It took her a few minutes but she did finally push herself up so that she could sit back on the bench again. She didn’t particularly want to stay in the maze after everything that had gone on but then at the same time she didn’t really want to go rushing back to that party in the shape she was in. She knew she couldn’t possibly look alright, although with her mind where it was she was imagining her arms and wrists looked pretty bad. They did have an obvious redness to them but they weren’t quite as bad as she thought they were. She just kind of felt like sitting out here by herself for awhile, at least until she figured out a way to go back without it looking like someone had roughed her up. Frankly… that was what it looked like. She had redness to her exposed arms, her dress was a little dirty at the knees from falling and her makeup had come out a little worse for wear thanks to her tears. After she had gotten herself reseated on the bench she curled in on herself a little, wrapping her arms around herself and trying to hide her face behind her hair out of habit. |
Nanashi was grateful that Kyran allowed him to borrow his shoulder, even though in the back of his mind he hated the idea of showing Kyran just how easily he was bothered by the night chill. Of course, those thoughts were not at the forefront of his mind now, and certainly wasn't the most important. As soon as his eyes caught on Renzo, he forgot about Kyran's presence. His mind was consumed with aggravation and concern for LaRae. He didn't think to explain anything to Kyran, not that he would have really been able to put it into words. He wasn't even entirely sure what to call what he was feeling now. It wasn't jealousy. It could have only been jealousy if LaRae had any feelings for Renzo, which he knew that she did not. He was angry...more so for the simple fact that he wasn't able to do anything about this than anything. He hated that he had to sit back and allow that bastard to do whatever he wanted because he wasn't strong enough to stand up to him.
Once he had started into the maze, he had no idea that Kyran intended to follow him. He heart Kyran's footsteps behind him, so he knew that he was there, however he didn't really seem to acknowledge the fact that Kyran was trying to keep up with him. He hurried through the beginning of the maze without stopping, slowing only to make the sharp turns. Only once did he actually stop to look around at a crossroads before he turned to the left and continued on. It almost seemed as if he knew exactly where he was going from an outside standpoint. However, he wasn't entirely sure where he needed to go, he was just going. The time he had spent standing on the balcony overlooking the hedges had given him a clear view of the entire maze, and his photographic memory had more or less mapped out the entire thing. Consciously, he had no idea if he was going the right way, but somehow he still managed to avoid the dead ends. If his gut told him to go right, he turned right, and if it told him to go left, then left he would go. He had no real idea how far into the maze he was, or how long he had been trying to navigate it until he finally emerged into the center where Renzo had taken LaRae. By the time he got there, he was out of breath, mostly because it was a rather large maze and it had not taken him more than three minutes to find his way to the center. He stood at the entrance, his eyes wide and his chest heaving for a moment before he stepped further into the circular opening. "...LaRae?" he called breathlessly. He started to round the large center bush, which appeared to be trimmed in the shape of a simple large dome which was surrounded by a singular marble bench that ran in a complete circle around it. It didn't take him more than a few steps to the left to spot LaRae's legs handing over the edge of the bench, and he let out his breath in a heavy sigh before walking over to her quickly. "Are you alright?" he asked her quietly in her native tongue and he reached her. Apparently, he was aware enough that Kyran had been following him to make sure that he didn't quite understand what was being said. Gently, he reached over to place his hand on LaRae's shoulder while his eyes wandered over her in concern. The easiest thing to notice was the dirt on her dress from where he was standing, but he was more concerned about the rest of her than her clothes. |
Kyran silently followed after Nanashi as he navigated the maze. He knew he had the ability to keep up with Nanashi completely, if he chose to do so. But rather than stay completely on his heels he stuck just close enough that he could follow and know where he had gone without losing him. Sometimes that put Nanashi momentarily out of sight, but it didn’t bother him too much. He was able to keep tabs on him and not get lost in the maze. Seeing as he was simply following Nanashi, he wasn’t exactly paying as much attention to maze himself as he probably should have. By the time that Nanashi had made it to the center of the maze, he had fallen a slight bit behind as he had taken to long strides rather than trying to hurry along like Nanashi had. He was rather surprised to find that Nanashi had found the center of the maze as quickly as he had and the thought almost kept him from noticing the way that LaRae had been seated on the bench or the fact that what little he could hear out of Nanashi didn’t quite sound like something he understood… which told him Nanashi wasn’t speaking any language that he understood too well. He got the distinct impression that maybe he shouldn’t have been there, but he hadn’t been able to help but follow Nanashi. He had run off like something was seriously wrong… He kept an eye on Nanashi and LaRae for a brief moment before he edged back a little towards the entrance that he and Nanashi had come in, thinking it might be better to give them a little space… even if he was wanting to ask questions.
LaRae hadn’t really expected to see anyone else after Renzo had left. To her knowledge the only person who really knew where she had gone was Kyran and surely he wouldn’t have bothered coming out here and if he had seen Renzo returning without her, Renzo would’ve said something to quell any concern. But again… that wasn’t really something she was actively thinking about. She wasn’t really thinking about too much, to be honest. She was just kind of sitting there holding herself in silence while she tried to hide her face behind the currently nonexistence curtain of hair that she usually hid behind. She was just kind of numb at the moment. The past few minutes or so had given her a lot to take in and she was absently trying not to take any of it in and failing. The way that she had been told what she had been told had somewhat brought back one of her biggest fears and caused a mini trauma, like being tied up or bound always did. Then of course being told she had to kill one of her friends… well… she didn’t want to do that, obviously. She didn’t notice that anyone had shown up in the center of the maze where she was. She hadn’t noticed that anyone had called out her name; she just continued to sit there unmoving. She startled terribly and then tensed a little at the sound of her native tongue being spoken and almost simultaneously shied away from the hand that she caught out of the corner of her eye. She hadn’t registered the voice that had spoken at all, the trigger had been that it was her clan’s language and she hadn’t even thought of Nanashi when she heard that language… she just thought that she needed to put some distance between herself and whomever had spoken. After a moment though her brain kind of caught up with her and she slowly realized that the voice was one that she recognized and it was one that she wasn’t generally afraid of. Even though she began to realize that it was only Nanashi and that there was no reason to be afraid of him, she didn’t bother to move closer to him and didn’t bother to lift her face so that she could look at him. She was kind of ashamed… of… well… everything. She was ashamed that she had reacted like she had just now. She was ashamed that he had to find her like this… and that she couldn’t just tell him everything that had gone on… and… well, it was hard for her to put into clear thoughts really. She was just ashamed of everything and kind of wanted to sink into the ground the way that Renzo’s dog could… |
Naturally, Nanashi's concern grew a little when LaRae did not respond to the sound of her name. He wanted her to at least look at him, although he was a little surprised when she startled so badly at the sound of his voice. It wasn't so much the fact that he had startled her as it was the fact that she had pulled away from him that worried him. Of course, after thinking about it...using her own tongue probably wasn't the best thing that he could have done when she was just left alone with Renzo. Typically, only other Earth dragons would know the Earth clan's tongue, so he wasn't all that surprised that he had scared her. Even still, he felt bad for causing her to flinch that way, and he supposed that it was likely she felt a little bad for flinching. For a moment, he just stood there looking at her while she stared at the ground before he started to lower his hand to his side. "...LaRae...," he started again quietly before he sighed and lowered his head just a little. Slowly, he edged around so that he was standing in front of her and then knelt down on one knee slowly. For a moment, all he offered to do was stare up at her with evident concern in his ruby colored eyes before he raised his hands to rest on her knee gently. "...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to scare you," he told her softly, reverting back to the common language easily. He kept his eyes on hers, although he could see the trails that her tears had cut through her makeup. The light out here was not great, but for whatever reason, he had always had excellent night vision. So long as there was light, he could see well enough to know his surroundings. "...Are you alright?" he asked again quietly, lowering his voice just a little. "...Please, say something." He raised his hands just a little, reaching for hers. Now that he was still again, his shivering was a little more evident, but he did not even seem to notice it anymore. His mind was far from being on the weather.
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LaRae didn’t bother to look up at Nanashi when she heard him say her name. She continued to just stare at the ground and try her best to hide her face and her shame. She couldn’t help but ease back just a little when Nanashi wound up on his knee knelt in front of her and looking at her the way that he was. Of course she felt like she had lost her place to hide, not that it had been much of a hiding place to begin with. She couldn’t help but stare back at him with an almost indescribable expression to her eyes, at least for a moment before she became aware enough to turn her eyes to the side and look away from him again. She still didn’t look at him when he said that he hadn’t meant to scare her, she just kind of nodded her head very slightly. It was more a general motion just to acknowledge that she had heard him say something. She continued to remain silent for a while after he had asked her if she was alright and practically begged her to say something. She didn’t know what to say really. Her thoughts were still kind of a jumble and she felt as if she were lucky to know what direction was up and what direction was down. The news had been somewhat of a shock to the system and of course the way she had been told hadn’t helped in the slightest. She wanted to be able to brush this whole thing aside and lie to him and tell him everything was fine and just kind of down play what had happened. But that was kind of hard to do when being bound or tied up was a childhood trauma. She was rattled, still and uneasy and nervous… and she just wanted to go curl up somewhere and rest. After a good sleep and after she woke up, surely she would have more wits about her. She almost reluctantly let Nanashi find her hands since he had been reaching for them. She hadn’t shied away from him when he touched her knee and still didn’t shy away after he had been able to touch her hands. Since she knew it was him it was a little easier to not be quite so jumpy… although she still felt the need to try and conceal everything… primarily because she was embarrassed by it all. She hadn’t wanted Nanashi to find her like this… she had hoped to go wherever Renzo had wanted to go, have the talk and then make it back to the party without Nanashi even noticing that she was gone. But clearly… she had forgotten that Renzo couldn’t just talk to her… it was almost always a show of force with him. She knew that… but she had rather stupidly gone along with everything, anyway. Not that she could have stopped him… She rather slowly lifted her eyes and started to look at Nanashi after a moment more of silence but got just far enough to see a glimpse of his eyes and concern they held before she forced herself to look away. “….I’m alright….” She lied rather poorly. Her voice shook a little while she spoke and it didn’t have the conviction it should have, although she didn’t notice it. To her it sounded believable. She stared down at their hands for a moment or two almost absently before noticing the red marks on her wrists. Instantly she tried to pull her hands back from him and hide them so that the marks would maybe, just maybe, go unnoticed. Unfortunately if you looked close enough you’d see the ones that were on her upper arms a bit shy of her shoulders and just a little higher than her elbows. The wrists and arms were the most noticeable red marks the ones that would be a little harder to see would be on the sides of her face mostly behind her jaw, just a little below her ear from where the one branch had rather snuggly shut her up. Those marks did creep onto her face just a little but they really weren’t as noticeable as some of the others.
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Nanashi kept a steady gaze on LaRae's face while he waited for her to say something. He was eying her so intently, that once again, Kyran seemed forgotten. It was a little hard to remember that he was there when he was being so quiet and keeping such a distance, not to mention when his mind was somewhere else. His ears fell back a little when LaRae finally managed to look at him only to turn her eyes away again. He wanted her to look at him so that he could try to help her calm down. He did take some solace in the fact that she allowed him to take her hands, although he still wished that she would just look at him. When she finally spoke he could only shake his head a little at the pathetic, wavering tone that she used to try and convince him that she was alright. "...I thought we were past lying to each other...," he remarked softly, considering that LaRae had quite often gotten onto him for telling her that he was fine when he clearly wasn't. He watched as her eyes went to her hands and then blinked when he felt her trying to pull her hands away. Without thinking, he held onto them more tightly and looked down at them, as if trying to figure out why she suddenly did not want him touching her. Normally, he would never force his touch on a purebred, but with LaRae...he was a little different. He wasn't going to let her have her hands back quite so easily, at least not until he spotted what she was trying to hide. It didn't take much effort to see the red marks against her skin, especially seeing as her was much paler than his. The marks stood out on her more than they would have on someone with his complexion. Once he had spotted the marks, he slowly relaxed his grip and raised his eyes again, looking at the similar marks on her upper arms. Of course, it was not difficult to remember what had happened and the state that LaRae had been in after the last time that she had been tied up, and it was not difficult to see that was what had been done to her. His eyes narrowed in irritation momentarily before they melted again into sympathy when his eyes reached LaRae's face. With a quiet sigh, he lowered his head and then started to stand himself up only to edge around to her side where he could sit down beside her. Rather than continue to speak to her, he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him before wrapping his other arm around her and nuzzling his face against her hair gently before simply allowing his head to rest against hers. He was still looking down at her with concern in his eyes, however, he was careful not to restrain her with his hold. His hold was loose enough that she could move around a little, and he laced his one arm beneath hers so that they were not pinned to her sides. "...It's over now," he finally whispered to her quietly. He wished that she would tell him what Renzo had wanted...but he was pretty sure that whatever it was could wait a while.
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LaRae’s ears fell slightly when she heard Nanashi comment that he thought they were past lying to each other. She hadn’t thought it sounded like she had been lying, but obviously her perception of her own speech was off if he had been able to tell that she hadn’t been being truthful. She didn’t really know how to respond to the comment, not that she thought he was looking for her to say something in response to that. She just kind of sat there with a slight aura of defeat emanating from her on top of everything else that she was already feeling. She hated feeling like she was completely helpless and had no direction. She knew that she couldn’t really talk about what Renzo had said to her, even though she kind of wanted to share it just to get it out there and off of just her chest alone. But clearly… that was not something that she could share, with anyone. She had been vaguely surprised that Nanashi hadn’t let go of her hands right away and had in fact made it harder for her to get free of him… kinda. She felt a twinge worse once it was evident that Nanashi had spotted what she had hoped to try and hide from him. She hadn’t wanted to worry him and certainly not anymore than he had already been worried by the fact that she had been alone with Renzo, again. But then again he had probably already gathered long before now that nothing good ever came from her being alone with that man. She lifted her eyes very slightly to look up at Nanashi when he started to get to his feet though she lowered them again just as quickly as she had lifted them. She still didn’t feel that great about looking at him right this moment. She knew well enough that her eyes would probably hold more than enough information to answer a few questions and she had already looked at Nanashi long enough for her tastes, at least until she managed to get a hold on her emotions and expressions a little.
She almost instantly started to jump a little when Nanashi sat down beside her and put his arm around her to pull her close but managed to put a cap on it before it got too noticeable. She wasn’t really against the touch, it had just been a rather involuntarily response to his actions after everything that happened to her in the last fifteen minutes or so. It took her a few moments but she did eventually start to relax a little into his hold. It had been a matter of putting her mind over her instincts, but she had slowly eased into it. She usually found some good degree of comfort in being near and around Nanashi, especially when they were close like this, she knew that… she just had to force her body… and parts of her brain to remember that. She was trying really hard to calm herself down and just get back to a place of normalcy, especially now that Nanashi was so close and showing her some affection, but as soon as he had whispered that it was over now she started to cry again. She was completely quiet about it, but the tears just kind of started trailing down her cheeks again. She hadn’t meant to cry and didn’t want to, but she couldn’t help it. Something about his telling her that it was over now and holding her the way that he was just kind of meant something strong to her that she couldn’t entirely put words to at the present moment. It wasn’t every day that she had someone hold her after something like this and even tell her that it was over, or okay now. Usually she had to deal with the after math herself. Of course since she had met Nanashi he had always tried to be there for her after encounters with Renzo but for some reason this time was different. Maybe it was because they were closer now than they had been the previous time[s] that Renzo had come around… She was aware that she had started crying again, or at least that the tears had started spilling again and she absently started to lift her bare feet up onto the bench [breaking his hold yet, if need be] so that she could curl in on herself a little more and then leaned closer to him as if it were possible for her to hide her whole body in the crevice that his arm made between his arm and the side of his body by being wrapped around her shoulder. |
Nanashi knew that LaRae was a little defeated when he pointed out that he knew that she was lying to him, but he said nothing more on the matter, especially seeing as she had nothing to say either. Of course, he wanted her to talk to him, but he knew that pushing her was not going to help matters, especially not right now. Renzo had done enough damage to her as it was, he didn't need to stress her out even more by trying to force her to tell him what had happened. He also wanted her to look at him, but the same thought processes applied. She would look at him when she was ready, and not a moment before then. As much as he wanted LaRae to magically be alright, he knew both from past experiences of dealing with her and from his own experience that such a thing was impossible. When something upset you this badly, it was impossible to just get over it, no matter how badly you or anyone else may want you to. He may not have known what exactly was wrong with her, but he did know that there was something definitely eating at her, and he was not certain that it was entirely the fact that she had been bound.
Of course, when he had wrapped her up in his arms, he was trying to soothe her. He did notice that she was a little stiff at first, but he didn't let her go. He knew that it wasn't because he was touching her that she was so tense. He had touched her too many times for it to be because he was touching her now. He smiled just a little when she finally relaxed against him a little, although he was a little surprised at what happened next. He blinked when she suddenly started to pull her feet up onto the bench as well and was forced to move his arm out of the way of her legs. He raised his head up and started down at her with a look of evident surprise on his face as she curled in on herself and then started to try and burrow into his chest. The look of surprise melted into a gaze of concern, and mild confusion, when he realized that she was crying. He felt more than heard her tears in the way that her breathing changed and her body moved. He didn't really understand why she was crying now, and for a moment, he finally seemed to acknowledge Kyran's presence by the entrance by looking up at him as if he wasn't entirely sure what to do now. Some sort of guidance would have been lovely since it wasn't often that he had anyone crying on his shoulder, although after a brief moment, he looked down to her again and relaxed a little. He didn't really know what LaRae wanted him to do...but he knew what he would have wanted anyone else to do if it were him. Slowly, he replaced his arm around her, once again circling her with both arms and then raised his hand back to her hair. He gently pushed some of her hair back and then watched it fall back into place before pushing it back again gently. He pulled her a little closer, hugging her tighter and more securely against him before simply leaning his head over against hers again and closing his eyes. "...It's alright," he told her softly, partially so she would know that he wasn't in a hurry for her to stop crying. If crying would help her, he would stay with her as long as she needed. "...I don't know what happened...and you don't have to tell me," he assured her quietly, "...but it will be alright. I won't leave you, okay?" Obviously, by the way that she was trying to burrow inside of him, she didn't want him to leave now...or at least that was how he took it. She wanted him there, but she didn't want to look at him. She was ashamed, a feeling he understood wholeheartedly. What she was ashamed of, he had no idea...nor did he really care. He was sure that whatever had happened, she was not the one who should be ashamed of herself in all of this. However, the one who should have been he was sure wasn't capable of such a feeling. |
Kyran had been doing his very best to act as if he wasn’t even standing within any bit of hearing or visual range of Nanashi and LaRae. He had long picked up on the fact that whatever was going on between the two of them wasn’t exactly meant to be watched closely. He tried to give them both as much space as he possibly could without completely vanishing on them. He also hadn’t been trying too hard to follow their conversation. As far as his ears were concerned all he really heard were mumbles of incoherent sounds that clearly one would assume were words. It wasn’t too hard he supposed to pick up on the mood given the body language between them but that was as far as his attention was willing to go. Delving too much further into what was going on with them just kind of seemed like an invasion of privacy. He just barely noticed when Nanashi wound up looking at him. He just kind of stared at him for a moment, a little unsure of what exactly Nanashi had wanted out of him. He felt a minor wave of relief when Nanashi wound up looking away and putting his attentions back to LaRae. He still wasn’t willing to focus too much on what was going on between the two of them, but he could tell that something seemed to really have bothered LaRae. He may not have been as close to LaRae as Nanashi was but it was kind of obvious by the way that she plastered to his side like she was that something was wrong. She had always seemed too… brazen or maybe proud to just fold in on herself against someone else like that. If not for knowing the relationship between Nanashi and LaRae he probably would have already gone over to try and see if there was anything he could do to help. But seeing as they were as close as they were he felt as if Nanashi should have a chance to try and make things alright before anyone else stepped in… not that he was positive that he could fix whatever was wrong any more than Nanashi could.
LaRae wasn’t really even sure what she wanted out of Nanashi right now. All that she really knew was that she was feeling a combination of things that she wasn’t sure that she had ever really felt before, or at least not all at the same time… and she wanted to hide, at least for awhile. She hated that she was crying again and that she felt as vulnerable as she did. She didn’t really know what to do, or say for that matter. She had just done the first thing that had come to her mind… which had been to curl up and hide herself as much as possible against Nanashi’s side. Somewhere in her mind she was aware that if she had had the means of easily escaping to a bedroom she probably would have done that just to be away from everything and everyone, but oddly enough being with Nanashi even after everything she had heard and been through... well… it was somewhat comforting… especially since he was trying so hard to make her feel better or at least at ease. That hadn’t gone unnoticed by her, it really hadn’t… she just wasn’t showing much gratitude for it at the moment. She continued to stay curled up at his side on the bench even after he had replaced his arm and held her closer and continued saying reassurances. Her tears didn’t stop right away even though she would have liked them to. But eventually they did start to dry up again, she just wished that her shame could have dried up with them. She was shamed of so many different things… the most obvious being the fact that she had cried and then cried again in his presence… and of course she was ashamed of sitting where she was curled up and hiding against him like some small child. Then, not quite so obviously known… she was ashamed of how things had worked out with Renzo… and that she hadn’t tried to fight being brought out here, knowing full well that something like what had happened would happen. Then… she was also ashamed of the fact that she had even briefly considered everything that Renzo had told her. She hated knowing what she had been told and hated that her own Elder would expect her to kill someone just to stop the mission they were on as a group. She was ashamed that she had even briefly thought about killing any of them, especially Nanashi. She wouldn’t have been able to deny it to someone who knew what Renzo had told her, if they had asked if she had thought about killing any of the three remaining… because she had. Sadly, she had thought about it as Renzo was bringing them up individually… and… well… that kind of pained her. She couldn’t believe that she could even think about it, even in passing. She was so ashamed of herself… and if she had it in her, she had even more reason to want to kill Renzo. Unfortunately… she knew exactly where her place was when compared to him… After a few minutes she shifted slightly but remained close to Nanashi. She shifted just enough that she was able to lift her eyes a little and glance up at him. She hadn’t bothered trying to make perfect eye contact; she just wanted a glimpse of him before she lowered her eyes again. “….I’m sorry….” She uttered quietly, almost in a whisper. |
Nanashi kept both arms around LaRae tightly while she was trying to burrow into his side. He didn't offer to say a word to her while she cried, merely held onto her and rubbed his hands along her arms gently. He wished he could think of something to say to her, but not knowing exactly what had happened made it a little more difficult to know exactly what to say to her. He leaned his head against hers as best as he could from that angle and then nuzzled his cheek against her hair lightly. "It's alright...," he told her again softly after a few minutes, "it's going to be alright." He continued to sit there just as he was, not offering to move on her in the slightest. He sighed softly to himself in relief when it seemed that she had managed to stop crying after a while and he gave her another gentle squeeze to let her know that he had noticed the change. Once she started to shift positions, he loosened his grip just a little to give her a little more mobility and then looked back to to her again. His large ruby eyes were still filled with concern as he looked down into hers. He still wasn't too sure what to say or what to do. All that he knew to do now was hold onto her and tell her that it was alright now. Once she had lowered her gaze again he started to shift positions just a little, only to get a better hold on her. Once he heard the soft apology that escaped her lips he shook his head a little and only hugged her a little more tightly. "LaRae...you don't have to apologize," he told her quietly. "...It is not your fault, I know it isn't. He just...knows all of the right buttons to push...," he finished sadly. He really wished that he could do something about Renzo. "...You don't have to apologize for this....especially not to me. I would probably cry too if it were me," he admitted quietly. After a moment he turned a little so that he was facing her a little more fully and pulled her closer to his chest while he leaned his head down to rest on top of hers. "...If anything...I am sorry...for not being able to protect you...," he told her quietly, his soft voice filled with regret. "...I knew he had you in here...but I knew if I tried to help...it would just make things worse...for both of us." He sat there for a long moment and then simply pressed his lips to her forehead gently before raising his head again. "...But...whatever he did...it's over now," he told her again quietly, "...you're alright, aren't you?" He raised his hand to her head and gently pushed back some of her hair and tried to tilt her chin up just a little so that she was looking at him. "...Just stay with me...I won't leave you again, no matter what." He gave her another gentle squeeze and then leaned his head down to rest against hers again lightly. "...Is that alright?" he asked her quietly.
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LaRae didn’t really move very much after she had chanced a glance up at him, caught his eyes and eventually lowered her gaze again. She was almost ragdoll-ish in her movements as far as any direction that Nanashi felt like taking. As far as she was concerned she was content curled up beside him and if he felt like moving and directly or indirectly moving her in the process… well, she would just go with it without much effort on her part [for the time being]. She had known in the back of her mind that Nanashi would tell her that she didn’t need to apologize, but she had still felt the need to say it. She hadn’t meant to cry in front of him like she did and she certainly hadn’t intended to show him such and weak and fragile version of herself. In her opinion what he had just seen and was still witnessing… well, it was the lowest she had ever felt. Or at least for right now that was how it felt, she wasn’t really pushing too hard to compare it to anything else that he had witnessed. She felt a little bad for the tones that Nanashi was using while he was speaking to her. She hadn’t wanted to worry him, concern him or even make him sad in any way shape or form. She hadn’t wanted him to have to deal with this or even know that Renzo had sought her out. Unfortunately there wasn’t really anything that she could do about any of it… Nanashi had found out and he had seen the aftermath. She gave in easily when Nanashi pulled her to closer to his chest, not that she would have fought the motion in normal circumstances. She remained silent while he continued to speak although the further he got after saying that he was sorry the more disconsolate she felt.
She was torn with her feelings as far as his feeling sorry was concerned. It touched her that he was sorry he hadn’t been able to protect her but at the same time she hated that he was trying to apologize for something like that. No one could protect her from Renzo, she knew that… and she thought Nanashi knew that too… She shook her head very faintly soon after he had said that helping would have only made things worse, for both of them. She shook her head more at the apology rather than the end of the statement but hadn’t bothered to utter a word in response. Seeing as her feelings were torn she wasn’t exactly sure what words would fall out of her mouth if she opened her lips to speak in response, so the shake of the head had to suffice. She absently lifted her eyes slightly when she felt Nanashi press his lips to her forehead but as usual as he started to speak again she promptly averted her eyes. She wasn’t entirely looking away from him knowingly on purpose. It was just the usual response that came when you felt ashamed and felt as if you couldn’t look the person in the eye without the feeling of shame swelling up. Her feelings of shame were subsiding a little here and there the longer they were together and the more Nanashi said to her, but she hadn’t bothered really actively looking at him. She nodded her head a little when he asked if she were alright. For the most part she was. Physically she was a little sore in a couple places, her ego was bruised again… she felt at war with herself on the inside… but for all intents and purposes, she was alright. There wasn’t anything terribly wrong with her at the moment… She didn’t fight him when he took to trying to tilt her chin up, which of course resulted in her eyes meeting his. Her first fluttering instinct was to look away but the feeling slipped away after he had said that he wouldn’t leave her again, no matter what. The declaration made her feel better. Not one hundred percent better, but better. B y the time that he asked if that was alright she couldn’t help but smile very faintly and chuckle so softly that it would have been hard to notice if he weren’t so close. There hadn’t really been anything distinctly funny about what he had said but the fact that he had to ask her if it was alright, concerning his little declaration… well, it was a little funny. Most people after saying something like that wouldn’t turn around and ask the person they said it to if what they said was alright. |
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