[Amethyst Baths] Past the Misty Veil (Paragon)

[Nashira]

Winter 23, 511 AV Location: The Baths- Tepidarium Nashira stepped through the threshold and into the tepidarium in near silence. She could hear laughter all about her, the sound of people whispering to one another about various goings on within the city's walls, or perhaps even her. As her eyes swept over them, she thought she could feel their eyes on her skin. Thought she could see them getting closer to one another, as they glanced back and forth between her sparkling flesh, and their conversational partner or partners. Humans, she thought, as a delicate smile crossed her lips, and Syna's glimmer returned to her molten amber eyes, never do seem to change, no matter where you go. Never seem to come to the realization that they're not the only ones about. Nashira sighed, almost entirely to herself, as she crossed the room, to the far side of the pool. Never get past the horns, or the sparkling skin, and their smiles, their lecherous smiles, and the mischievous gleam in their eyes... oh how tiring they become after a time, she thought, as she came to a halt, and simply stood, surveying those enjoying the warmth of the bath along with her. Shrugging her shoulders a bit, the Ethaefal drew her hands into her sides, and tilted her head back. She closed her eyes as they came closer and closer to making contact with Syna, her patron goddess; her love. The one woman, who was truly so radiant, that no one could bear to look upon her directly. She could feel her eyelids fluttering uneasily as a bright orange light enveloped them, as a growing sense of warmth cascaded down the length of her spine. Slowly, she could feel her fingers furling, clutching the soft fabric of her dress, encasing it entirely. Ruffling it between her fingers. She gave it a slight tug, feeling it coming away with her. Smiling to herself as her long brown hair dripped away from her back. Slowly, the Ethaefal pushed her hands upwards, allowing them to glide along the contours of her body. She pulled the fabric along with her, her body swaying slightly to accommodate the material as it bunched about her curves. Gingerly, she eased her hands higher until the dress had bunched around her breasts, and then, by extending her hands as far over her head as they would go, she managed to tug it the rest of the way over her head. She could sense it snagging on her horns. The curled green, which simply added to her appearance as an otherworldly forest maiden. She could feel her lockes being tucked up against the dress, the side of her head, tickling, as she dropped the fabric, and reached for her horns, tugging the fabric away in one swift motion, which sent her hair wildly whipping about her, as though a howling wind had just moved past. Smiling, at finally being free, Nashira dropped the dress on the floor beside her, and made her way over to the pool. She could see human eyes trained on her, which caused her cheeks to redden a little. Thankfully though, with her complexion, her embarrassment was likely to go unnoticed. She thought, if she listened, that she could hear whistling, and adulterous remarks. She thought, on the pale faces of the other women, she could see scowls, or perhaps hints of jealousy, as she dipped her toe into the water, watching it ripple, as she tested the temperature. Deciding it warm and inviting, she could feel herself being drawn into it. Feel it lapping up against her sides as she waded deeper and deeper, until it had covered her well past her middle. As Nashira basked in the water's warmth, she tilted her head back, and pushed it into the clear expanse. She listened to the rush; the sound of bubbles circling her, as she wet her hair, and then whipped her head back up, tossing droplets of moisture across the pool, dousing a few of the male guests. Smiling sweetly at them, she forced herself to stand at her full height as Syna's light reflected against the clear orbs which dotted her skin. She could feel her hair clinging to her back, dripping moisture as she stared out at them. Just one last look boys, Shira thought, before I slip into the shadows. The places devoid of Syna's light.

[Paragon]

Adarin took in the warm steam of the tepidarium, the air hot and cloying, yet refreshing all the same. Sweat emerged from his pores, cleansing them. Yet he couldn't forget. Judgement Day was nearing. He eyed the patrons around him. Most were human, pureblood Denvali that he had traced back as far as he could go. There were a few mongrels among them though. Those with disgusting blood, muddied by interracial breeding. He found his teeth grinding together slightly at the thought. His reverie was broken by the female form sauntering into the room, flaunting her body for all it was worth. And the horns. She was one of them. The aliens from the stars. As she climbed into the warm waters, he sat bolt upright on his lounger, staring at her. This wasn't just menace. This was cold hatred. She did not belong here. And nor did the rest of them. And yet here she was, showing off without a care in the world. He climbed up, combing a hand back through his mane of dark hair, and sidled into the water slowly. His eye did not leave her body.

[Nashira]

Nashira's smile faltered as she caught sight of a few more stares. The penetrating gaze cast by those with green hearts and lecherous eyes. By eyes filled with fire and smoke. As she forced herself to look back, despite the uneasiness that crept into her heart, the Ethaefal found that she couldn't help but run her hand through her hair, tearing apart the knotted, clumped masses as she slowly, eased herself back through the water. Ripples gliding around her body, curling past her wavering reflection as the soles of her feet brushed up against the smooth stone surface beneath her. Over and over, shuffling, until the gentle curve of her back met with the bath's edge. The barrier between it and the outside world. As her skin skidded against the length of the rough stone, Nashira could feel her gaze falter with the sudden onset of a support. With its reassuring hand on her back. She could feel her gaze coming closer, almost self-consciously, to the pool of clear water just before her. The water that glowed with Syna's radiance. No need to fear a simple barrier, Nashira told herself, it's nothing more than a few looks from a human, warranted only by the exotic nature of your skin, and general appearance. Sighing, at how often her mind failed to comfort her the Ethaefal's right hand trailed, slowly, down the side of her head, her neck, until it settled on her left shoulder, and her left hand, made its way up the supple lines of her curves, to her right shoulder bone. The woman's lips parted, allowing for a small tendril of steam, which rose off the surface of the water, to push past them, and into her mouth. The sudden taste of it, the heat, made her feel as though she were trying to drink the summer rain, so rapidly, that she may drown in it. With her hands delicately riding the subtle rise of her bones, easing their way back and forth across her shoulders, Nashira could feel herself relaxing despite the unpleasant sensation which danced across her tongue, and wound its way down her neck. She felt as though her crossed arms provided a shield; protecting her from the prying eyes of male patrons. That the shadows which lined the edge of the pool only added to that; the sense of mystery that surrounded her. The pull the men must have felt to explore the exotic, that which they didn't get the chance to see every day. Sighing silently to herself as she allowed her body to sink into the water up to her neck, Nashira wondered how long it would take for man to finally accept what she was. That she was no longer like them. Sometimes, when those thoughts seemed to press too greatly against the confines of her mind, she too wondered, how long it would take for her to come to truly accept herself, and what had already come to pass.

[Paragon]

Adarin took in the warm water, wetting his hair, but being careful to keep his eyepatch dry. Once he felt more refreshed, he began to move towards the woman. The alien. She seemed unsure suddenly, perhaps aware of his gaze. It mattered not. Sympathy... well, he had just about had enough of that emotion. Life went wrong. You had to adapt, or you'd die. It was simple. Survival of the fittest. And half-bloods and foreigners were certainly not made of fortified blood stock. He intended to simply menace her through glares, until she felt so uncomfortable she left. He did not want to have to share the water with her for long. He began to move past her, swimming back and forth, every time sneering at her. He showed his teeth one time, adding a bit of the feral to his approach. When he figured she wasn't getting the message, he stopped right beside her and thought over his words. When he spoke, he did so quietly but forcefully. "Leave the Baths. Your kind are not wanted here."

[Nashira]

As she rested against the side of the bath, Nashira's gaze followed the form of one man in particular. A man whose gaze sent tremors up her spine, despite the warm nature of the water she surrounded herself in. She watched him swim laps and forth, his eye patch sinking in and out of the water as he turned his head up for air. She watched his arms swinging as though they were a mill, his legs pumping, his body gliding through the moisture. It glistened as it clung to his form, in the morning light. Gave his otherwise cool appearance a touch of warmth. The Ethaefal studied the crook of the man's mouth, the fire in his eyes, so similar to the radiance of Syna's sun. Although, there was a darkness there, far more similar to a large portion of Leth's milky moon. An aspect merely added to by the man's fairly white teeth. Petcher looks like he wants to eat me, Nashira thought, as she pressed her arms more tightly across her chest, as though trying to push herself into the bath's perimeter. Into the smooth stone. There was something about the man that simply unnerved her, causing her heart to skip a few beats, and then a few more when he neared. "Well that's no way to talk," Nashira responded, as her eyes followed him. As they settled upon his own after a time, adding to her cool tone. Her eyes though, did not betray the playful edge she laced into her words. Only, the anger she felt swelling within her heart, as she straightened herself out, to her full height. "Especially when it seemed as though your eyes were lingering a bit lower than my face." A cruel smile crossed the Ethaefal's lips as she took a step closer to Adarin, moving into the light, which glowed in her molten amber eyes, causing them to appear as though they were the remnants of a recently active volcano. "Just what were you looking at anyway, when you dipped your head below the surface?" The Ethaefal's smile widened, as she slowly pulled her right hand away from her shoulder, and extended it towards Adarin, reaching for his neck. In the few seconds it took for her to cross the empty space between them, Nashira concentrated heavily on the magic she stored in the pit of her stomach. Her web of hypnotic djed, which seemed to climb up the length of her spine. She could sense imaginary spiders skittering across her innards, causing her body to tingle as they wove their web. Danced across the sticky silk, until they had formed a series of silver-grey lines that reached her eyes. It was then that Nashira released the power she always held within her. As she kept her eyes trained on the one of Adarin's she could see, as her fingers, hopefully, wound around his neck, her palm sinking into his Adam's apple, pushing it in, so that he'd have to look at her. Have to pay attention, as he struggled to catch his breath. As Nashira let go of her restraint, and forced her magic into him, she'd let her hand slide a little lower, towards Adarin's left pectoral muscle. For although she liked the control holding his neck in her hand would provide, she didn't want to cause too many eyes to linger on her; there being enough as is. Nor did she intend on causing too much trouble. "Listen," she hissed, her words sounding colder now that they had been laced with her hypnotic djed, "carefully." Nashira paused a moment, collecting her thoughts. "Go back. Swim your laps. Don't return." As the words left her lips, she'd do her best to give the man a rough shove. "Got it?" Nashira asked, as she took a step back into the shadows, allowing the stranger to linger in the light. Now go, the magic roared as Nashira simply stared at the man, drawing her fallen hand across the water between them. Sending a series of small ripples off in every direction. A disturbance in the water; in the air, in the peace and tranquility of the bath. Or else.

[Paragon]

Adarin flushed with shame. "I was not looking at anything... I don't see past your dirty, alien blood," he growled angrily. Suddenly she was holding him, a pulse of djed rising through his flesh. He began to choke, thrashing with his free hand. But he could only comply with her power. A cool wave washed over him, jolting his memory, rewriting his thoughts. "Go...? Of course." He turned and began to swim away, confusion filling his mind. What had just happened? He couldn't piece anything together properly, and he began to panic. He swam further away, to the other side of the pool, and revelled in the warm water for a moment. His eye flitted back towards her, and he resolved to concentrate on what was going on. The distance, and his resilience, helped to shatter the spell the Ethaefal had put him under. His mind burned. The wench hypnotised me, he thought with rage. Flustered, he began to move towards her again. Force was required. And nothing could stop him now, anger filling every pore in his body. She was faced away when he came to her, and he grabbed her neck, hiding the motion from other bathers with his body. He gripped hard, teeth grinding. "Leave," he said, all the force required in that one word, "or else."

[Nashira]

Nashira followed Adarin with her eyes as he turned to go. As he dove under the water, and kicked away, into a new series of laps. His eye patch rising and falling below the surface, the same as before. Much better, the Ethaefal thought, as she stepped back, and sank back into the shadows. Doused by Akajia's realm, by her people, the Ethaefal soon found her confidence rising, as she let her body drip back into the water, becoming one with the larger entity. She could feel her body temperature rising, slowly, as wave after wave washed over her, soothing the tension the strange man with one eye had induced. Slowly, Nashira tilted her head back, allowing it to rest against the stone. Her damp hair cascading over its length as she closed her eyes, and held her shoulders a little less tightly in her hands. She could feel her sense of relaxation deepening, until another shadow crossed over her skin. Confused as to what it could be, the Ethaefal's brow furrowed as her eyelid scrunched, and the shadows crept closer. Something rough drew across Nashira's skin, causing the veins in her neck to pulse and twitch, as though trying to get away, as her eyes fluttered back open, to take in the sight of the man who had wound his hand around her. The man who had pulled her out of her relaxation, and away from her quiet corner. Her eyes grew wide as his hand's grip tightened, much as hers had done before. She could feel her chest tightening as her lips released several hot wisps of breath, loosing them into the air, where they were lost to their cloaks of invisibility. "What the petch is your problem?" Nashira whispered, the words tumbling past her lips with the last of her breath. Let go, the magic insisted as her hands fell from her shoulder, before rising to her neck, pressing against Adarin's hands, into his fingers. Trying to pry the meaty sausages away from her flesh. Flesh which would more than likely betray her, for this sort of abuse tended to leave nothing behind. Let go, it insisted again, as her eyes locked on his, and she grit her teeth. Trying to suck another breath in past the rising vapors of heat and moisture. Let go... NOW! The magic finally roared after a time. Sparks of hypnotic djed leaping from Nashira's eyes towards the Denvali pureblood. Or else... face the consequences. Nashira didn't bother to remind the man that he should defend himself.

[Paragon]

Adarin grappled with the Ethaefal, the horned female turning on him, her eyes emitting that power again. A power of greed and lust... so rich, so strong. "No..." he growled, fingers half relaxed, half trying to grip. Her hypnotic powers were flowing into him, and the act became a battle of wills. He would not be overcome by an alien, an outsider to this place. "How dare you!" his fingers wrapped back round her neck, trying to strangle. He became vaguely aware of people watching around him. But that didn't matter. What mattered was this battle for domination. "Do not ever try to control me." But all of a sudden her eyes burned with an intensity like nothing before. There was almost a blast. Adarin fell backwards, blinded momentarily, dazed. His mind was like oblivion. And she came for him, with the eyes of the night.

[Nashira]

"You need to be controlled," Nashira hissed. The words coming out as frightened gasps as her head tilted up a little. Her chin rising. Her hair falling down her back as her eyes grew wider. Her chest was growing tighter, her breath flowing in and out of her mouth in ragged wisps as her fingers clawed frantically at the meaty hands. Nails brushing up against hair-lined skin. Imperfection; raw ugliness. Humanity. But nothing seemed to change. Nashira's far more animalistic side seemed to do nothing. Her frenzy seemed to have failed, and although she could feel the heat of more than Syna's sun, of more than a single pair of eyes, she knew no one would come. No one would break up a fight between two crazed beasts. Fighting for territory, fighting for dominance. She was startled then, to find the man slipping. To see his eyes grow as wide as hers. To see him so frightened. It was the only way she knew that it hadn't been purposeful. An attempt at drowning her into submission. Adarin's back crashed through the surface of the clear waters first. Disturbing the peace. Sending ripples ricocheting off the rocky walls as Nashira's body followed. She could feel the air embracing them, buffering them, slowing their descent into oblivion. She could feel her hands sliding from her neck and onto his chest as she choked down another breath, just before she broke the surface after him. She could feel his hand tightening its hold, as small bubbles and foam replaced the air. As her vision wavered, and flowed with the undulations of the water. Their frantic movements to get away from each other, and right themselves, without fully giving up their position over the other. The thin pockets of air popped as they tickled Nashira's skin, as Adarin's fingers loosened their grip a little, as though he had finally realized that they would both drown unless they let go. Or perhaps, he had finally realized that he could never win. Seizing the opportunity, Nashira pushed up against Adarin's skin, forcing her body back. Her head breached each layer of water, and found itself back in the air. Her hair smacked against her back, releasing droplet after droplet of moisture. Air ground into her lungs. Fresh air. Full, stinging breaths. Her eyes fluttered open, taking in a world that no longer rocked. Nashira's body straightened, as she peered down at the water. The darkness within; the puny man who thought he could best her. Darkness sank into her heart then, despite the radiance that poured off her body. The sparkling glow, which only Syna could provide. Her eyes glowed. The light of a fire held within. The ferocity of an erupting volcano. Get up, the magic roared. Up. Onto your feet, it commanded, as she watched his arms waver. His feet sinking into the floor. He seemed to be righting himself, preparing to rise so he too, could breath again. Be reborn, as she had once been, in the water. Now, it hissed, as his body grew, his reflection rocking with the pool's surface. The form seemed to get closer and closer until it pushed through the surface of the water. His eyes were shut, keeping it out as he waited for most of it to fall. For his body to be free, to look at her again. "Nice of you to join me," Nashira said sarcastically, a cold edge in her voice. "Now, where were we?" Nashira asked, as she took a single, menacing step forward. "Or are you too afraid to finish what we began? Human." The magic danced in the Ethaefal's eyes, sparklers in a display of larger fireworks. "So what'll it be?" Nashira asked. "Care to see what I can do?"

[Paragon]

They battled underneath the warm water for some time, each grappling for supremacy. The Ethaefal managed to break free first, however. Adarin blindly groping with his hands, cussing as he lost his grip agan. Her foul magic had to be stopped. She was a danger to everyone. But when he breached the surface, she was staring him down with those eyes again. Those eyes of fire, and a burned past. A reckoning. He moved back slowly, refusing to accept that he had met his match. He tried to move his arms, but he was dazed, weak. He was still bound somewhat by her spell, and his limbs did not seem to react as they should. "I curse you, alien," he spat. "I promise you this - your kind will not last much longer. Not much longer at all." He began to sink into the warm water, heart fallen into darkness. Defeated, he still pursued. "The clock is ticking." OOCSo the battle of hypnotic wills is over - Nashira can get some extra XP now. Adarin is out for the count, and you can do whatever you wish. Publicly shame him. That will be so fun to watch XD