First Steps into the World [Tabarnac + Lucette]

[Lucette]

Jey’s hand comforted her, as well as balanced her, and Lucette turned her face to offer him a smile. Her head felt oddly light and the Kelvic shook it, thinking she could shake the feeling away. But the sensation stayed. “I am not sure…that I like this,” she said finally, lifting the glass once more to her lips. Though this time Lucette only took a very small tentative sip and then another slightly longer, before she frowned again. As Oleg approached with the platter of meat, Lucette sat up straighter, leaning forward as if to smell it. A feral look clouded her gaze, but she remained still as the napkin was laid across her lap, and gingerly she took the offered fork from his hand. Roland had trained her well, and she used the utensil dexterously. But the Cheetah within instinctually consumed its food rapidly, wary that larger and stronger predators could come and take the meal from her. This response was something her old master was unable to train out of her. And as soon as the first forkful met her lips, the Kelvic’s head bent low, and the hand holding the fork moved more quickly. Shoveling the meat into her mouth, she devoured it the raw, bloody meat as fast as she could shovel it into her mouth. Her almond eyes scanned the table and the room as she choked it down. Just in case. Lucette had waited too long for eating. There was a vicious glint in her eye that was normally not apparent in the obedient slave. But within minutes, the platter had been cleared. And Lucette returned once more to her docile self, though there was a definite lounge apparent in the she sat upon the chair. Daintily, the Kelvic lifted her napkin and touched it to her reddened lips. “Thank you…” she said politely and took the last drink from the glass, to wash down the meat. “This is not so bad…after all.”

[Tabarnac]

Jey was nonplussed by her table manners, and Oleg just watched her with his head canted to the side, his whole posture giving a bemused huh of consideration. He would have his answers later, from Jey or Justus or some other denizen of the Temple. She might even see him again, tithing to the goddess of slaves in order to touch her under her clothes, to see if she was as voracious for sex as she was for raw meat. Certainly there was something graceful and alluring in her posture even now where he would probably have been unable to contain a belch and probably passed out in a food coma, or at least after a few more shots of the fiery degtine. "Dat didn' take long," Jey noted without rancor. "Ya wanna head back'r ya wanna lounge aroun' here f'awhile? Oleg's got all da answers if ya got questions 'bout Denval, 'bout most t'ings." "Psh," Oleg psh'd dismissively. But he did know a thing or two about a thing or two; one could see it in the cunning twinkle in his eyes. He was an information broker cursed by a world where information wasn't all that helpful, at least on the scale of which he was capable. "I hear a lot of news," he clarified, "but Jey here and Master Justus, they know about the deep secrets. Things my mind won't wrap itself around. Them and Haimon and Zahari, who's only alive because his insides are pickled with degtine, I'd say..." But he turned a curious eye upon her, wondering what she might wish to know, a newcomer to their town, a newborn to a life outside the confines of her old master's will.

[Lucette]

Oleg studied her. Lucette knew the look, having been subjected to it often, a measuring gaze, a deciding within the mind if she was wanted or not. She was not embarrassed by it, for she did not know how to be. So the Kelvic sat, comfortable beneath it. Only a lift of her brow and a shift of her shoulder showed she understood what ran through the man’s mind. She used her body, even in its stillness to please, to acknowledge. She knew what she was, and harbored no qualms regarding it, and if the tavern man came to see her, perhaps Justus would be as pleased for the coin as Roland had been. “I would like to stay and have one more… of these.” Lucette answered, lowering her eyes to the small, empty glass. Her long fingers ran soft circles around the edge of it, and the slave girl looked from Oleg to Jey. The younger man was intriguing in his own way. And Jey… Jey was like Justus, Lucette decided. Both the Temple men asked her questions… about her opinions. The freedoms that implied, unnerved Lucette, she wished they wouldn’t do it. But Jey was asking. And it almost seemed Oleg asked as well – and she had no wish to disappoint them. What could she wish to know? Hazel eyes narrowed, Lucette didn’t know much about Denval, or about how normal people lived their lives, or even current affairs. These thoughts had never bothered her before, but in this moment with her belly warmed with meat and drink it did. Leaning forward, as if suddenly interested in stalking elusive questions as prey, Lucette’s hands pressed into the wooden table, one then the next. “Tell me?” she ventured, suddenly whispering, “Tell me… about Justus?” He was known to her, yet… unknown also; he was beyond her comprehension and experience. “And… and why does Denval have a Temple to Nikali? But no other?” She did not understand worship of gods and goddesses. And with the approval to ask, her mind thought of other things… And another question poured out, suddenly freed. “And… And the people here… the people who visit the Temple. They feel… nervous. Is this not a safe place?”

[Tabarnac]

Oleg was unabashed in his admiration of her; he saw no reason to dissemble. The body had needs, the mind had desires, and so long as the satiation of those needs and desires caused no harm, he saw no reason to mar them with undue judgment. In fact, most Denvali were more frank and open with their sexuality than other human cultures in Mizahar. Perhaps it was the military background, or the centuries of a nearly scientific approach to breeding humans; while they had managed to maintain the mystery, the spiritual and emotional side of things, the physical bore little of the taint of old ways of thinking. He refilled her glass, only too happy to do so. What he had in common with Justus was a desire to put people at their ease, whether or not he was trying to milk them for information. But Oleg shook his head, only a brief flash of something deeper in his eyes before he looked away. Those were the deep questions of which he spoke, those better suited to the priests. Jey paused thoughtfully, "We got da Chapel, mostly f' Father Aquiras an' Father Viratas, but dey open f'any sorta worship, really, an' dere smaller chapels too here an' dere. Some 'a dem focus on some goddess'r anotha. An' dere's da Chapterhouse 'a da Order 'a Radiance... fa Priskil, Astrid's goddess. Nikali's gotta temple because some priest 'a Nikali got da idea da make one. An' dey started a line 'a priests, Justus bein' da latest. "He's a healer, jus' like Masta Cian Noc in da Opal Clinic... dat place like a place fa Rak'keli, too. Place ta heal, place ta do service... But Justus know what a body needs, what a mind an' a soul needs. Diff'rent kinda healin'..." His pale gray eyes began to water a bit. "We's nervous because... because we come with such damage an' we're embarrassed... broken, injured... Dere's a lot ta heal wit' some 'a us." He looked at her serious, ignoring the threatening tears. "Justus is love."

[Lucette]

Oleg understood. And Lucette understood Oleg. There was simplicity in the order of natural things. No pretensions. No guilt. No remorse. Most humans had these in plenty, at least many of the visitors that came to see her before her arrival in Denval. Oleg did not. Lucette watched him as she took the glass once more, and a tentative tongue darted out to taste its contents. The Kelvic lightly scrunched her face, and took another sip instead of lowering the alcohol to the table. Oleg didn’t answer her questions, so Lucette turned to Jey as he replied instead. Her body felt delightfully warm and comfortable as she laid her hand upon his, and squeezed his wrist gently. The Temple man’s words confused her. Gods and goddess meant nothing to the Kelvic, Roland had not instructed her in them. Others trusted them, she knew… or even feared them. But the girl had no experience of her own to go by. So Lucette tried to follow along as Jey spoke, and her whole head moved to watch his eyes as he formed the words. “Master Cian? I have not met him… I am very healthy.” …And cared for, she thought, and never allowed to fight, for which she was grateful. She had no wish to have an altercation with anyone. The drink burned her core and made her bold as it worked its way through her. Lucette took another delicate taste, her lips soft upon the glass. “But how? How does Justus fix the damaged ones? When it looks like nothing is wrong?” Jey had already told her what he must do to remain okay, and what Justus allowed him to do... His tears though, and his emotion seemed to overwhelm him. Lucette felt bad, as if her questions had brought about this change in mood. “Sometimes… I help people,” her eyes shifted to Oleg’s then back to Jey’s,” though I am not marked like Justus, or the others in the Temple... is it truly so different to be marked… like them?” Her fingers played on his hand “Do you need that much help Jey?” she whispered, a sense of offering in her tone. The girl thought a minute and looked down into the glass, “Or am I damaged too?” Lucette didn’t feel that she was, but Jey knew more than she. And he also knew Justus much better than she, yet she couldn’t say how, for Justus had touched her as well the night of her arrival. But it was more than a simple physical coupling; it had been deeper, more comforting than that act alone.

[Tabarnac]

Jey seemed at a loss for words and, as he looked down, searching for them in the grain of the wood of the table under its varnish, Oleg spoke up matter-of-factly. "I know things," he explained. "I have knowledge. Justus understands. He has wisdom. He'd be the one to look at you and know you need a shoulder to cry on, or if you need the distraction of a good deep dicking. And he wouldn't have to ask if your lover had abandoned you or you're just having your moon blood. He understands what you need and gives it to you in such a way that it's a balm to those aches on the inside..." He trailed off, realized Jey was watching him with those eerie gray eyes. Making a gruff noise, he poured more degtine, drank more degtine. There was a pause, but Jey seemed to have found his voice. "He knows what's good fa what ails ya. An'... an' sometimes Ah do." There was a slither of coiling self-loathing within him, but he breathed through it. He was no clean slate, but Justus helped him learn to cope and to work past those stumbling blocks that had previously been mountains in his path. "Ah dunno if ya broken, but he c'n help ya grow."

[Lucette]

Lucette looked down at the swirling, amber liquid in her glass. She knew how Justus affected her, and she had observed how he affected those who came to the Temple. The man knew what they needed, without words, or explanations. And the Kelvic was in awe of that talent. She wished that she also knew the needs of people, on that deep level. Lucette also knew that she would never have an understanding of things like Oleg did either… But her place was her place though, and she had learned never to question it. Oleg drank his degtine, and Lucette not knowing what to say, drank hers as well. And when she lowered the empty glass her eyes were relaxed half slits, as the alcohol further softened her already serene features, “I could help you too Jey… if you needed more help…” Unused to such strong drink, the Kelvic settled further into her chair, trying to find the comfort in it. But there was less than she hoped for on the hard surface. It annoyed the inner feline that craved the touch of finer things. The Cheetah within drew closer to the surface, and the human began to withdraw. Lucette’s mind followed the conversation slowly. “But why would I need to grow?” She looked back and forth between the two men, puzzlement in her eyes. “Am I lacking in some way? Since I am not… marked like the others?”

[Tabarnac]

"No one's saying that, Lucette," Oleg grunted. "He's saying... There's no perfection at all ever for people. Humans have a drive to make themselves better." He shrugged, then glanced at some other patrons walking in and looking for food or degtine. "Can I get you anything else?" "Ah t'ink we fine, Oleg, t'anks." After the older man had shoved off to yell good humored profanities at his new guests, a bunch of locals, Jey smiled to Lucette. "It don't always make t'ings easier, nor better... not da person neither. Jus' means Mistress Nikali got work fa ya t'do. But who knows if She'll call ya, eh? Anyway, ya wanna head back, stick aroun', or keep explorin'?"

[Lucette]

Lucette couldn’t imagine what Nikali would want from a Kelvic, since she was already working in the Temple as it was... It was increasingly hard to think with the meat and drink settled contentedly within to relax and calm her. Gods and goddess! Never would she understand their ways. Shaking her lovely head, the Kelvic now only wished to curl up in a comfortable corner and nap. “Please,” she purred, as she stood, somewhat wobbly, pressing her hands into the table to lift herself, “let’s go back to the Temple.” Unconsciously, her fingers lifted to touch upon her neck where Roland’s collar had once lain. But it was gone now, and its absence freed her. Her hand slid down her long throat slowly, to the clasp at her dress. Easily it came undone as she played with it, and the garment fell away, billowing to the floor. Holding Jey’s eyes she dissolved into a shimmer of flickering white lights and remerged Cheetah. Feline eyes caught the man’s again, and slowly, and languidly, as if there was nothing to the meaning of time, Lucette slunk toward the door.

[Tabarnac]

XP Award! Lucette XP Award: Observation +5; Interrogation +5; Hunting +1; Stealth +1 Additional Notes: Sorry for the delay! So she learned a lot about Denval and whatnot, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it to list as lore. If you want it, I will give it, but I hate giving out lore that won’t actually do anything. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or concerns. Keep writing!