Timestamp: 68 Summer, 513
Day fifteen.
She only knew it was because she no longer lay in that forsaken pit, staring up at a crack waiting and hoping. Three days of varying degrees of darkness and heat and that nauseating, lung-smothering smell and the looming presence of those eyes, those awful, awful eyes. Oh how she hated it, oh how she loathed it and feared it. That sense of helplessness, accentuated by the overwhelming feeling of abandonment. For all of his words that day, the emotions they'd shared, the awfulness of his omission during her recovery...The pain was nearly as bad as the fading ache in her side. She could not tell if it was simply psychosomatic or real anyways, but what difference did it make in the end?
The young woman was dressing in her room, working slowly and methodically, a precision of each action involved in tightening the knot of her vinati, straightening the waist of her bryda, securing the sontav. Vira looked at the last of these things with a slight frown, as if the sight of it was slightly alien, or perhaps it was regret. She couldn't tell. Tulaj was sitting above the door like usual, his well-worn perch steady as he stared down upon his handler, she who had been incapacitated for what felt ages. Vira removed the sontav and returned it to the tiny table of her room.
The chiet's eyes looked own onto the note resting on the tabletop beside her the bracer. It'd read:
Lavira, wondered if you were practicing your archery! Haven't seen you around, heard a woman had a terrible fall, I hope you had nothing to do with that. Maybe that crazy bird of yours finally did you in.
Anyway, the real reason I had wanted to run into you was because I enjoyed getting to know you at the range, and wondered if you would accompany me to the Inclement Weather sometime, to get to know each other better. Give the Dek that delivered this your reply, he knows where to find me.
Hope to see you soon.
~Kocav
The Inclement was one of the few places in Wind Reach the ginger would not have enjoyed visiting at any time. It was far too boisterous for her and the temptations within were more than she wanted to indulge; besides, if she let herself go, the eaglets might suffer, and that was her job, her life now. But was it really? Was it really worth it? How could she let herself keep going on separated from the rest of the City, secluding herself from it with work, study, training, and home. Lander had shown her how to have fun! But it was the day that came after that which she remembered best, that same day which she now hated to even think about. He really had used her...And now look where it got her?
Still, Vira had responded, sending a note back with the Dek Kovac had used.
Kovac,
I've been in the infirmary healing. Sorry for the late reply; I'll meet you at the Inclement on the 68th, okay?
~Lavira
It was short and simple, her writing a bit rough and unpracticed, the young woman not really wanting to go into detail in the note should it not reach the proper hands. It was strange to be the source of the rumor that he had mentioned in his note. Stranger still to be asked out on what she assumed a date. The dance club really wasn't her style, but...maybe she could drown herself in the raucous of it...stifle the nightmares that plagued her as much in the day now as it did at night; soften the load upon her shoulders of that arrogant Akalaks abandonment.
Vira turned her gaze away, taking up her brush instead and pulling the tangles from her long hair out with each measured stroke, counting in her head obsessively. Ten...eleven...twelve....twenty one...twenty two....forty five....She cut herself off, hurrying through the rest of the red strands and laying the brush down, gathering up the little heirloom she always wore. That compulsion to count had begun in the hours spent alone in that darkness, a need to keep her mind busy and active as much as possible while she waited and hoped. Someone had to have seen her fall, but why would it have taken so long?
The thong and feather were quickly woven into a single braid at the right side of her head, the plume hanging beneath her ear and the beads bouncing lightly against the red strands the whole of it had been knitted into. Her dressing done, Vira went to the door, beside which lay her sandals. These were slipped on easily, a finger settling the heel into a comfortable spot. All finished, she paused, looking down in assessment. It was not the most colorful of arrays, but unlike some of the other Inartans, Vira was not physically flashy. Her passion was seen in other ways.
The outfit was a matching ensemble, though it was missing a single piece, a piece Vira did not think was right to take the compact hall of the Inclement Weather. It was a soft red, a little lighter than blood, with short sleeves that were loose enough around her biceps to breath comfortably. The trim of the vinati had been braided and dyed a quiet pink; willowy threads hung from the neckline and bottom trim of the garment while flecks of white and pink dotted the top, shining softly when the light danced across it. The long, skirt-like bryda that she wore had a thick belt-line, the knot that kept it up tucked inside. It had a double-layer look to it, the outside most layer a little thicker and having the same pink-trim, speckled pattern while the undermost layer was a solid shade. Her abdomen and back were left exposed and there was a mid-thigh length split in the material in the front. The red did not contrast with her own firey hair and did an okay job in hiding the scarring on her left side, though some of the spots Iosha was not able to mend completely peeked over the top of the byrda's waist. In all, it was a pretty outfit.
And with the ensemble completed, she was ready to go. "Go hunting, Tulaj. I don't know what time I'll be back." The chiet told the harrier watching over her. The bird scree'd lowly before alighting from his perch and exiting the door that was opened for him. Part of her almost hoped that Kovac would let her go home when she arrived, the woman actually afraid of going to the giant, closed-off hole. She was genuinely terrified...
Thoughts of the club collapsing around them all filled her mind as she walked the paths, leaving the Common-rooms behind and heading for the aforementioned club. The images of hundreds of screaming citizens, crushed beneath boulders, the hot stink of lava boiling through the walls, made Vira shudder. Could she really go in there now? There was only one exit! But if it all came crumbling down, at least she wouldn't die alone.
The entrance to the club loomed ahead, the last light from Syna shining through the glasswork of one of the archways nearby. Vira stopped. She bent slightly to rub at non-existant pain that pulsed through her right joint, the echo of the trauma still in her mind even if it was gone from her body. Maybe she should just go back...He wouldn't understand why, and maybe that was for the better. The Avora archer would probably laugh if she tried to explain any of why it'd taken so long to get a reply back to him, his note having arrived around the 59th and her reply sent back on the 65th. Hell, they'd all laugh at her.
"This was a horrible idea..." The woman crossed her arms under chest and clasped her elbows, if only to subdue the shudder that wanted to overtake her. Vira had no idea if he was waiting inside or had yet to arrive, but the populace that regulared the club was already beginning to gather.
Day fifteen.
She only knew it was because she no longer lay in that forsaken pit, staring up at a crack waiting and hoping. Three days of varying degrees of darkness and heat and that nauseating, lung-smothering smell and the looming presence of those eyes, those awful, awful eyes. Oh how she hated it, oh how she loathed it and feared it. That sense of helplessness, accentuated by the overwhelming feeling of abandonment. For all of his words that day, the emotions they'd shared, the awfulness of his omission during her recovery...The pain was nearly as bad as the fading ache in her side. She could not tell if it was simply psychosomatic or real anyways, but what difference did it make in the end?
The young woman was dressing in her room, working slowly and methodically, a precision of each action involved in tightening the knot of her vinati, straightening the waist of her bryda, securing the sontav. Vira looked at the last of these things with a slight frown, as if the sight of it was slightly alien, or perhaps it was regret. She couldn't tell. Tulaj was sitting above the door like usual, his well-worn perch steady as he stared down upon his handler, she who had been incapacitated for what felt ages. Vira removed the sontav and returned it to the tiny table of her room.
The chiet's eyes looked own onto the note resting on the tabletop beside her the bracer. It'd read:
Lavira, wondered if you were practicing your archery! Haven't seen you around, heard a woman had a terrible fall, I hope you had nothing to do with that. Maybe that crazy bird of yours finally did you in.
Anyway, the real reason I had wanted to run into you was because I enjoyed getting to know you at the range, and wondered if you would accompany me to the Inclement Weather sometime, to get to know each other better. Give the Dek that delivered this your reply, he knows where to find me.
Hope to see you soon.
~Kocav
The Inclement was one of the few places in Wind Reach the ginger would not have enjoyed visiting at any time. It was far too boisterous for her and the temptations within were more than she wanted to indulge; besides, if she let herself go, the eaglets might suffer, and that was her job, her life now. But was it really? Was it really worth it? How could she let herself keep going on separated from the rest of the City, secluding herself from it with work, study, training, and home. Lander had shown her how to have fun! But it was the day that came after that which she remembered best, that same day which she now hated to even think about. He really had used her...And now look where it got her?
Still, Vira had responded, sending a note back with the Dek Kovac had used.
Kovac,
I've been in the infirmary healing. Sorry for the late reply; I'll meet you at the Inclement on the 68th, okay?
~Lavira
It was short and simple, her writing a bit rough and unpracticed, the young woman not really wanting to go into detail in the note should it not reach the proper hands. It was strange to be the source of the rumor that he had mentioned in his note. Stranger still to be asked out on what she assumed a date. The dance club really wasn't her style, but...maybe she could drown herself in the raucous of it...stifle the nightmares that plagued her as much in the day now as it did at night; soften the load upon her shoulders of that arrogant Akalaks abandonment.
Vira turned her gaze away, taking up her brush instead and pulling the tangles from her long hair out with each measured stroke, counting in her head obsessively. Ten...eleven...twelve....twenty one...twenty two....forty five....She cut herself off, hurrying through the rest of the red strands and laying the brush down, gathering up the little heirloom she always wore. That compulsion to count had begun in the hours spent alone in that darkness, a need to keep her mind busy and active as much as possible while she waited and hoped. Someone had to have seen her fall, but why would it have taken so long?
The thong and feather were quickly woven into a single braid at the right side of her head, the plume hanging beneath her ear and the beads bouncing lightly against the red strands the whole of it had been knitted into. Her dressing done, Vira went to the door, beside which lay her sandals. These were slipped on easily, a finger settling the heel into a comfortable spot. All finished, she paused, looking down in assessment. It was not the most colorful of arrays, but unlike some of the other Inartans, Vira was not physically flashy. Her passion was seen in other ways.
The outfit was a matching ensemble, though it was missing a single piece, a piece Vira did not think was right to take the compact hall of the Inclement Weather. It was a soft red, a little lighter than blood, with short sleeves that were loose enough around her biceps to breath comfortably. The trim of the vinati had been braided and dyed a quiet pink; willowy threads hung from the neckline and bottom trim of the garment while flecks of white and pink dotted the top, shining softly when the light danced across it. The long, skirt-like bryda that she wore had a thick belt-line, the knot that kept it up tucked inside. It had a double-layer look to it, the outside most layer a little thicker and having the same pink-trim, speckled pattern while the undermost layer was a solid shade. Her abdomen and back were left exposed and there was a mid-thigh length split in the material in the front. The red did not contrast with her own firey hair and did an okay job in hiding the scarring on her left side, though some of the spots Iosha was not able to mend completely peeked over the top of the byrda's waist. In all, it was a pretty outfit.
And with the ensemble completed, she was ready to go. "Go hunting, Tulaj. I don't know what time I'll be back." The chiet told the harrier watching over her. The bird scree'd lowly before alighting from his perch and exiting the door that was opened for him. Part of her almost hoped that Kovac would let her go home when she arrived, the woman actually afraid of going to the giant, closed-off hole. She was genuinely terrified...
Thoughts of the club collapsing around them all filled her mind as she walked the paths, leaving the Common-rooms behind and heading for the aforementioned club. The images of hundreds of screaming citizens, crushed beneath boulders, the hot stink of lava boiling through the walls, made Vira shudder. Could she really go in there now? There was only one exit! But if it all came crumbling down, at least she wouldn't die alone.
The entrance to the club loomed ahead, the last light from Syna shining through the glasswork of one of the archways nearby. Vira stopped. She bent slightly to rub at non-existant pain that pulsed through her right joint, the echo of the trauma still in her mind even if it was gone from her body. Maybe she should just go back...He wouldn't understand why, and maybe that was for the better. The Avora archer would probably laugh if she tried to explain any of why it'd taken so long to get a reply back to him, his note having arrived around the 59th and her reply sent back on the 65th. Hell, they'd all laugh at her.
"This was a horrible idea..." The woman crossed her arms under chest and clasped her elbows, if only to subdue the shudder that wanted to overtake her. Vira had no idea if he was waiting inside or had yet to arrive, but the populace that regulared the club was already beginning to gather.
