How's the weather? Dom silently cursed to himself as their progress together seemed to be going in the complete wrong direction. She had provided them with the perfect ice breaker, rescuing him from getting his ass kicked, and now here he was discussing the most cliche'd small talk topic ever.

"No complaints here, perfect travelling weather for me.."

He had to change the subject. At first he thought he had upset her, that sorrow in her eyes, but now he could see that he was wrong. She was interested too, if only mildly at this point. With another carefree wave of his hand, he declines her offer again.

"No thanks, I'm good...Look, if you're stuck here until the weather cools down, and I'm here for..well as long as I'd like to be..Should we maybe..spend the time together?"

Nara

Nara nodded as he spoke at first, most people liked this weather. She began to finish her ice fruit dish and watched as he waved away the offer. He had to be hungry or thirst didn't he? Any thoughts about his appetite left her as he spoke the last, however, and she blushed deeply. She hesitated a moment but finally admitted her answer in a quiet whisper.

"I...I think I'd like that"

Gisa

"If you can find a pretty stone" she responded lazily, inwardly dissecting his reaction. She watching him so closely it was easy to spot what he was about to do. She was not a demon of great strength but she was of speed. She reached out and caught the bowl as it fell so only a couple pieces of fruit escaped. Her claws had already appeared and she pierced the escaping pieces on the tips of them before eating each one. She held the bowl in her free hand a moment but it did seem he was spoiling for a fight... not that she'd give in.

"Aww throwing a temper tantrum like a child now? You really are like a model love" She said with laughing eyes. Soon her mouth was echoing the laughter and she just stood there laughing at him as she moved over a spot to finish her fruit. She seemed to have dismissed him like you would a small child... the only thing missing was if she patted him on the head. She only watched him out of the corner of her eyes, not really seeming to care how he reacted.

That definitely was not the reaction he had expected or wanted. For a moment the elf almost pouted. Almost. His expression remained rather blank, or it was more empty than blank. A light sigh passed his lips and he shrugged. "You cheated." He spoke the words under his breath and turned towards the bartender, asking for another glass of water. He glanced at the woman eating her fruit for a moment and then looked around the tavern. It wasn't lacking for drunks, but he wasn't interested in annoying a drunk. Things would go too far. There was a couple, looking awkwardly interested in one another.

Naerlodir picked up his glass of water and stood. He glanced over the female demon for a moment and turned from the bar. The elf moved to the table where the couple was, coming around to stand beside the female's chair. Naer moved quickly, he splashed his water in the face of the male, Dominic. At the same time his other hand grabbed Nara and pulled her to her feet. That arm snaking around her waist as he pulled her tight against his body and crushed his lips against hers. His eyes were on the male though. Waiting, watching for a reaction from him.

Dom congratulated himself inwardly for steering the conversation back to a semi-flirtatious atmosphere. Her blush showed her interest, and her acceptance to his offer was the nail in the coffin, so to speak. The commotion over a fruit bowl caused Dom to tear his cheerful gaze away from Nara only for a second. He looked on with a bored expression, though his eyebrows did raise ever so slightly with an impressed look as the woman not only caught the bowl, but skewered the escaping fruit as well. With a disinterested shrug, he returns his eyes to Naras, a smile replacing the bored expression he had thrown the other two.

"So what is it that phenomenally gorgeou--"

His sentence was interrupted as he suddenly had a face full of water. He shakes his head, utterly confused for a moment, and brings his hands up to wipe the liquid from his eyes. One second she was blushing, the next she was chucking water in his face like he was some pig spewing lewd comments? As his eyes cleared though, he realized it hadn't been Nara, but that elf who was acting out earlier with the fruit bowl.

His reaction was just as quick as the Elfs slight. His hand immediately went for the one around Nara's waist, snaking his fingers into the elfs palm and gripping with more force than his slender body may have hinted he was capable off. He pulls his arm back and to the side, peeling the arm from around Nara's waist and effectively freeing her from his grasp. His other hand then coils around her midrift and pulls her back, freeing her from his kiss as well. Dom stands there, anger clearly playing in his eyes, his arm still protectively wrapped around Nara.

"That was so disrespectful.."

Nara

Nara glanced up as she sensed someone approaching their table. The next thing she knew Dominic was getting splashed. She stood in his defense on instinct but that only helped the man pull her in for the forceful, bruising kiss. It was the first kiss she'd had since finding her prior lovers mangled, bloody body. Instantly fire began to appear over her lips, a cold blue fire that burned despite producing no heat as she almost lost herself to anger.

Before the man could be burned, however, she was snatched back by Dominic and she clutched to him as she forced down the anger and tears began to fall down her cheeks. That her first kiss since her first true love to be taken like this... just to make someone else react.... Without the anger there was only sorrow and silent tears. She couldn't even slip into her fight mode for a moment and she trembled lightly. It was clear that she'd been hurt far more seriously then the elf had likely intended and for a moment she wanted nothing more then to claw those lips off his face despite her sorrow.

"Leave....I do not believe your presence is welcome" she said in a child like tone but the air in the inn had become cold and ice crystals were forming in her hair. The air held a feeling of danger, as if a great beast was about to be released. Nara did not allow her anger to release the curse fire but if he touched her again she would kill him. She pressed back into Dominic, power rolling off her in waves.

Gisa

Gisa sighed as she watched the group, that boy needed a leash. Anger flashed in her own eyes, her own memories of being molested and used as a sex toy during her brief captivity as a young lass managing to anger her as he had not. She slowly stood and ate the last bite of her fruit as she did so. She then walked over, sensing Nara's power and the chill. She did not do well with ice so was non to anxious to let him start something stupid with her.

"Perhaps you are not a child but a dog who needs a leash" She said without emotion to Naer as she reached up and grabbed his hair. She wrapped a large chunk of it around her fist and pulled him back with her demonic strength. She had received a room key now and she began to drag the elf towards the stairs. What she intended to do was not clear, but one thing was clear. She wasn't going to let him stay downstairs and molest random women. She didn't seem to even look at the elf or care if he fell but simply continued to drag him forward like a dog. It seemed she had decided if he wanted to be treated that way... he would be.

The girl was being ripped from his grip. That was alright, he wasn't interested in the girl anyway. His eyes were on her boy, watching carefully for signs of a fight. Though the woman seemed more inclined to fight than the boy did. That was alright, he supposed. A fight was a fight, and Naerlodir did not intend to actually fight back. He didn't smile, he didn't smirk, he just watched, waiting for a hit or some kind of attack.

The attack didn't come from in front of him though. The demon had come over, he glanced at her as she approached. Well it didn't matter who the fight was with, as long as there was pain. Punishment. Who it came from wasn't important. Naer flinched and let out a sound mostly startled and a little from pain when the demon grabbed his hair and yanked him about. He bit his bottom lip, to keep from making soft noises of discomfort or pain. The head was a sensitive area, and she was tugging on his hair. Still the pain was welcomed, not enough as far as he was concerned but still welcomed. He stumbled a bit as she pulled him towards the stairs but somehow he managed to keep his balance. "Dogs often bite the hands that hold their leashes." He spoke the words lightly, not resisting or struggling, just going along with her.

Gisa

"And then they get kicked..." Was her even reply as she dragged him up the stairs and into the hallway. She then slammed him into a wall face first, knowing this was what he wanted but not caring. If he wanted to be hurt, if he wanted to be dominated, it would not be at the expense of others. One hand kept its grip on his 'leash' of hair while the other hand pushed into the small of his back. Sure he could push back against it but he'd find her claws ensured it wasn't too far.

"Look here little boy, I don't care what your problem is. Just know this. You will act like a decent human being and not go around molesting or hitting people or anything hurtful to others during your stay here... and I will treat you as a descent human being accordingly. Or you will continue to behave like a wild dog humping the furniture and I will treat you as such a creature deserves. You will not punish others for your problems while I am here. You other choice is to leave this Inn so I don't have to look at your ugly face. So are you going to be a man? or are you going to be a dog? or are you going to run?" She said her words slowly and still in that dead voice without emotion. Still, beneath it all was the promise it was all not a threat and the danger was very real. She would find out what this was all about here and now... and she'd put a stop to it.

Naerlodir was quiet until she shoved him face first into a wall. He grunted lightly when she did that, he did push back against her hand that pressed against the small of his back. He pushed back and when he felt those claws he only pushed harder against them. "But I'm not human, and I have no intention of hitting anyone." Naer's lips had turned down the slightest bit into a frown, it was the first time he'd let an expression slip across his face. "It doesn't matter what I tell you or what choice I make. You can't trust me. My name is Naerlodir Achasthuri. My name means deceitful and sorrow, it means dreaded and feared. And besides, kissing is not quite the same as molesting." He pushed back against her hand with more force. As if he wanted to feel the bite of her claws in his flesh. "I won't be a man, nor a dog, neither will I run. I will just be myself. If you don't like that, then go to a different tavern because I was here first."

Gisa

"Did you really not see in her eyes that for her it was the same? Blind and stupid... You punish her when you want to punish yourself, don't you?" She mused as if suddenly understanding something. Still she didn't move her hand and let him push into her claws even as he began to bleed. The elven blood tempted the demon in her but she merely tugged his hair harder to indicate she had no intention of letting him talk his way out of anything. She simply pinned him there a moment before she spoke again.

"You are a sentient being no matter your species with a choice, you chose if you deceive just as I choose if I snap your neck or not. You're already a man or a dog, your only choice is which one. Do you choose to be a man or a wild dog threatening sheep? Do you really want to be punished so badly you'd rather be a wild dog picking fights then a man?" She almost taunted as she slid into the almost dominatrix role absently. She had already gathered much of his personality... and it seemed she would have to keep him on a short leash and treat him like a dog unless he wised up. She doubted very much, however, that he could. The kind of thing that made a man want to self destruct and be punished did not go away from fear of pain...

She would do what was needed to guard the others... if she had to punish him every few hours then she would. As long as she didn't have to sleep with the man she didn't care. No sex was something reserved for someone she loved and who could fill her with joy. A strange way for a demon to think perhaps but she was only half...

"It was just a kiss. Kisses don't hurt people." He didn't stop pressing against her hand. He continued to push, as if trying to see how deep her claws could go. "I wasn't punishing the girl, a kiss isn't a punishing thing. It's delicious. Besides, I was trying to get her boyfriend to hit me." It wasn't enough, almost violently Naer pushed back against those claws. Grunting softly. It would never be enough though. No matter what kind of pain, no matter what he did. None of it would ever be enough.

"By elven law I am nothing. So I'll be a dog then. Will you leash me? Take me out for walks and kick me when I bite you? Will you make me eat from a bowl on the floor and beat me when I shit on that floor? Or will you sell me to someone that can handle me better, since I'll be a very disobedient dog?" Naer had relaxed against the wall, no longer pushing against her hand, now he seemed to try to pull away from that hand just the slightest bit. Though if she didn't move that hand, he would probably shove himself against it again in a few moments.

Gisa

'That pain her eyes, you think that was an illusion? the hurt in her voice? Or did you really care so very little that you didn't even look? Using her like a chew toy. You are not a dog because of your precious elven law, you are a dog because you refuse to use the understanding of a man. If you refuse to use the mind you've been given and remain a dog, I will treat you as one but that is what you want isn't it? To be hurt, and sleep on the floor, and treated as nothing" She said coldly, not stopping him from nearly humping her claws it his back. She couldn't understand him... but perhaps it was because of her own upbringing of others trying to break her until she broke them instead. She shook her head a moment and sighed before she looked towards him a moment.

"You are what you chose to be. If you wish to be my dog I will treat you as one until you learn to be a man.... but you'll have to walk yourself and i'd hate to dirty the floor so you will eat like a man even if you've forgotten how to live as one." She said with a sigh, and pulled away her hand just a fraction so he would have to push back to reach her claws. He was bitter, defiant, but he still wanted to be her dog it seemed... she never had liked pets of any kind...

"I saw it, I heard it. I just didn't want to see it or hear it." A soft sigh passed Naer's lips. It was just another thing to add to his list of things he should be punished for. A punishment should always fit the crime, but he had been exiled all because he was an elven king's son. Though living with the guilt was probably much worse than being executed. Naerlodir just leaned against the wall, he didn't push back into her claws. He just sighed again. "Punishment is what I want. Painful, violent punishment. I'd much rather not sleep on the floor though."

This demon didn't really need to know anymore about him. She didn't need to know why he sought to punish himself. He might end up telling her, though not right now. He wasn't going to volunteer that information at all. Naer just pressed himself against the wall, almost as if he were shrinking away from her claws. He wasn't, not really shrinking away from her claws. He was just tired. Not physically but emotionally, mentally. He'd been so tired for so long, and no pain, no punishment was ever enough. "It doesn't matter, Lady. There's no punishment, no pain that could ever be enough...So I'll behave, for a little while at least."

Dom decided to ignore the elf as soon as he heard Naras sobs, and saw the tears flowing from those beautiful eyes. The elf was out of his mind as quickly as he was out of his sight. Doms arm unraveled itself from around her waist, and he shifted his footing so that they were face to face. His hands reached up to cup her face, and his thumbs gently caressed away the tears that started to stream down her cheeks. He hadn't really registered that she had actually pressed her back into him before, not until he was looking into her eyes did that realization strike him. She felt safe with him, and that brought a small, weak smile to his face. He hadn't even noticed the change in temperature either, too focused on trying calm her down and make her feel better.

"I should have swung..I'm sorry."

Gisa

"You are a fool then to keep on, but I've already told you what I must do if you reach out to get a little bit of that pain from someone who doesn't want to give it...... Next time you need a dose of self mutilation, find me or some sadist instead of an innocent couple whose done you no harm huh? And I'm not a Lady if you haven't noticed... My name is Gisa, Call me that if you have to call me anything... " She said in a tone that though still cold held a small note of exhaustion. It was as if she had encountered his kind before. She shook her head and finally released him, her claws returning to harmless looking nails. She glanced at the blood on her finger tips and started to head to her room to wash her hands. She didn't' seem to particularly care if he followed her or went back to the bar to get something to eat.

Nara

"N-No... I'm okay. I just... I haven't been kissed for a very long time and for it to be taken that way, instead of by someone I like of my own free will..... I wanted to kill him." She admitted in a quiet whisper as he wiped away her tears. She took a few deep breaths and lowered her head a little as she tried to stop her tears. She felt so torn... she had realized how much she had missed being touched, how deep the loneliness reached, but she also felt so violated she wanted to hate him. She shook her head and wiped her eye one more time.

"I'm sorry, we were talking about spending time with each other?" She said with a small smile as she looked at him. She began to cheer up and the air temperature returned to normal. The ice in her hair disappeared and she blushed faintly but gave him a warm hug of thanks. She whispered a soft 'thank you' and then let him go before she stepped back a little to give him space. She said nothing to him for a moment, wondering if she shouldn't hug him.

Naerlodir was silent until she finally released him. He turned towards her, and as she walked towards her room the elf came up behind her, his hands reaching around as if to hug her from behind. But those hands went towards her chest. "Are you sure you aren't a lady? These are much to big to be a man's." Naer was just trying to cause more trouble it would seem. Trying to get another reaction from her. There had been a time when Naer wouldn't do things like that, or act so callous. But that had been when he went by a different name, his true name. All that was gone, there was nothing left but to seek pain and punishment for his crimes. If only to make his soul feel better for a little while.

"How long is a long time..?"

Dom was a hopeless romantic through and through. Her having not kissed someone for a long time, paired with her reaction to having her kiss stolen like that, gave him the hope that she was as well. When she hugged him, he nearly melted. Her head fitting squarely in the nook of his shoulder, his arm coming down to lay perfectly around the small of her back. It was like they were two pieces of a puzzle, fitting perfectly together. He almost didn't want to let go as she pulled away, lost in that simple moment of such innocent joy. But giving the recent event, his mind quickly won out over his heart, and he let go with only the faintest hint of resistance.

"Er..yeah, I was saying.. What do pheno..er..Phenomenally gorgeous women do to..to..to pass time?"

A slight red coloring had found his cheeks, and his voice came out in cracks as he stuttered through his line. He was completely embarrassed with himself, having fallen in love over a simple gesture such as a hug..

Gisa

She tensed as he approached her and her hands would capture his. She would bend them back just enough he would be unable to grab her breasts and inflict a little pain. She took a deep breath as she tried to retain her temper, she did not like to be touched without her permission in certain places. They were the places she'd once been touched without her permission for so many years, even as a child who had no business being touched.

"Do you need pain again so soon? I will 'punish' you at your will, I will let you stay in my room if you need a leash so short, I will play master as long as long as you choose to be a dog.... but if you touch me sexually without my permission I will rip out your throat." She said icily. She then pulled away from him and headed towards her room again. She shook her head, ready to throw him over her shoulder if he tried something so stupid again.

Nara

"Ever since my first and only lover... was murdered. I have lost track of the years but decades..." She admitted sadly a moment. She glanced downward a moment in thought but soon he was saying that line. She flushed deeply as she looked up. He said it so nervously she could not dismiss it as a line and found her breath caught a moment. He seemed so embarrassed but it was sweet... even if with her scared face she doubted very much she was gorgeous.

"I wouldn't know... but I like the cooled garden myself and I like to read, I like hearing stories or poems...I like bird watching... what about you?" She answered almost shyly. His shyness was making her a little shy. She pushed away the thought, however, and gave him a warm smile. She wondered if he enjoyed any of those things too..

Naerlodir hadn't meant anything sexual by his gesture. Not really. He was just trying to prove a point. She was a lady, she had all the right parts as such. Still he had grimaced just slightly when she grabbed his hands. "Was only trying to prove a point." Naer shrugged lightly and when she released him, he turned from her and started back down stairs. Adjusting his clothing a bit as he went. The elf returned to his seat at the bar and ordered another glass of water. Those eyes drifting over this person or that as he surveyed the drunks in the building, then that couple he had rudely disturbed earlier. He wasn't interested in any of these people. For now, he would just keep to himself and drink his water, thinking how easy it would be for him to start a fight with one of the many drunks in the tavern. Still that kind of fight would be far too messy.

Gisa

"WHAT.POINT....I'm sorry. I just do not like to be touched there except by lovers for reasons of my own. Just don't do something like that again, okay?" She had said the first sharply, each of the first two words more spat then said before she realized what she had done. As she issued her apology she gripped his upper arm to keep him from going down stairs. She glanced towards him, her eyes briefly studied his face. She wasn't sure if the feeling she had gotten from him of surprise and genuinely no mal-intent was there or trickery. He could loathe himself and still be deceitful. She had a feeling , however, this time he wasn't picking a fight...

Well, Naer had intended to go downstairs, order a water and contemplate picking fights with drunks. He never made it that far because Gisa had grabbed him. He blinked at her. "You said you weren't a lady, but only ladies have breasts. That was my point. Unless you're hiding something between your legs?" He gave her a quick once over, but he didn't reach or attempt or even think about reaching for anything that may or may not be between her thighs. Did she really think his names accurate labels for him? It was only the names he had been given as he was exiled. He studied her eyes, she was wary of him. He could understand that, he had done nothing but cause trouble and make an ass of himself since she had met him.

For the first time in a long time emotions flitted behind his gold specked eyes. Sorrow and remorse. Pain that went deeper than any physical pain, but those things were there only for a moment. Then they were gone. As he spoke again he sounded utterly exhausted. "Once I was called TrueHeart in the tongue of my people, but a name like that is not fitting for a criminal. So they took my true name, and exiled me. I was given a new name, one more fitting for an exile." He wasn't even sure why he was telling her those things, it wasn't something he normally volunteered

Gisa

"No I am a female.... but Lady is a term for someone a little more...civilized then me... and who says they should pick your name. Pick your own and choose your own path?" She responded with a sigh and a shake of her head. She bit her lip in thought, surprised he was opening up to her. He had seemed to want only pain earlier, not feeling, and seemed more interested in being her dog then being anyone's friend. She just didn't understand him.... he just didn't make sense to her. She was tempted to say a former slave couldn't be a lady but she kept that to herself. No one need know how a majority of her childhood had been spent... besides. More often then not when someone spoke of such things as he was, they wanted someone to listen, not talk about their own pasts.

"You are exiled... but you are also free. Your life is your choice now..." She added quietly, not seeming to care about what crime he committed. Then again, why would she? When he was already constantly punishing himself in any way he could? When he had begged her claws to cut him instead of resisting them. No, He tore himself up enough that she did not think she needed to judge him too. He did enough of that himself and Gisa..... gisa just didn't care. Her own past was not clean itself.

"I have chosen my path. My path is the path of a criminal." Naer shook his head slightly. "I can't choose my own name. Names are given or earned. True names are earned, I don't even remember what my name was before I was given a true name. But my true name is taken from me, I can't even speak the words in my people's tongue. I am exiled. There is no freedom in exile." Naerlodir pulled away from her, took a step away from her. "Exile is too good for me." Naer turned from her. Intending to go back downstairs, unless she stopped him again.

Gisa

"Your path is only that of the criminal as long as you choose to remain on it. You can continue to whine and cry and repeat your past mistakes like you did down stairs...or you can spend the rest of your life actually doing good and making up for it. You can choose the path of the repentant, the protector, or anything you want. That is the freedom of exile, the power to be reborn. At any rate ask the bartender for a second key to my room...there's suppose to be couches in the rooms so you won't be on the floor." She said coldly as she grabbed his hand. It was clear that to her he was taking the easy way out. Seeking pain and death instead of living better for it. She shrugged, however, and released him.

She turned to head for her room. She would enter it and head to the bathroom to clean the blood from her fingernails and hands. He really had done a number to his back hadn't he? He would likely scar... little crescent moons across his back. She shook her head as she continued to scrub her nails and let herself fall to her own thoughts a moment. She was taking care of a lost puppy it seemed... again. It wasn't the first time or likely the last.

Naerlodir just shrugged and kept walking. He didn't grace her with a response he just made his way down stairs to return to his seat at the bar. Motioning the bartender over so he could ask for a key to Gisa's room and a glass of water. Once he had his key and water he sat there with one hand resting over the key and the fingers of the other curled around the glass. He seemed to be thinking. Maybe he was contemplating the things Gisa said, or maybe he was trying to come up with a new way to inflict pain on himself or starting a fight with one of the drunks. Naer's face was empty save for that slightly contemplative look in his eyes.

Gisa

Gisa had finally managed to clean her fingers and with a sigh she left the room. She locked it behind her and headed for the bar where she expected him to be. Unsurprised to find him there she would sat down. She walked behind him and gave his hair a gentle tug to get his attention. She then wordlessly sat next to him and pulled out a book of hers. She began to read the familiar poetry absently, being her mother had written it all. She watched the male out of the corner of her eyes, wondering absently if he would ask her to hurt him later...