Completed Things that Go Bump in the Night (with Savio)

[Ireth Telemnar]

The Night of Fall 61, 513 A.V.

Ireth's eyes flew open in the dark. Savio was there in the bed with her, his arms around her bare middle and his breathing soft in her hair. He was so warm, but the small hairs on Ireth's arms and neck were rising in chill. Something was there.

She pulled away carefully and sat up, the blankets falling to expose her unclothed torso. She felt around in the dark until she happened upon Savio's shirt, which she pulled on. It almost swallowed her, and in a different situation she might have felt sexy. But there was a strange presence about that Ireth couldn't see, and it scared her.

Savio murmured in his sleep and Ireth grew still, listening blindly in the dark. She knew that Savio and Xeona had warned her against going out after dark, and she'd heeded the request. She still didn't understand why, but she had heard things. The folk of the Hostel sometimes spoke of creatures, monsters even. And if she listened hard at night, she could hear strange noises outside too. Shuffling. Scratching. And...

Tink.

Ireth's heart rate sped up like a bird taking off. There had been a tap at the window, across the room from the bed.

Tink tink.

"Savio?" Her voice sounded like a whimper.

Tink tink tink.

Ireth took a hold of Savio's shoulder and shook her lover gently. "Savio? There's someone at the window." A second story window... "There's something at the window."

Tink tink tink tink.

x

[Savio]

Savio was awoken from a dream sleep by hands shaking him. He gasped and sat up in bed and looked around, searching for danger only to see his darling Ireth. “W-whats wrong, Ire?” Savio mumbled as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. When she informed him that there was someone or something outside their window, Savio looked over at it with widened eyes.

Tink tink tink tink.

The tapping was familiar to him, and he gulped nervously. He pulled Ireth back into bed and put the covers over both of them. In a short while, the tapping went away. Savio had his arms wrapping tightly and protectively around his woman. “Sounds like its gone now.” Savio sighed. He didn’t want to think about when he had heard that tapping before. It didn’t matter that they were two stories above the ground. The tapping meant bad news. A trip into the Aperture and an unpleasant experience was testament to that.

[Ireth Telemnar]

Ireth curled up closer to Savio, somewhat comforted by his scent and his protective hold on her. The tapping stopped, but the chill Ireth felt didn't go away. If anything, it got stronger.

She still could hardly see, but the window was somewhat illuminated by the moonlight, even though it was also hidden behind clouds. Another shiver coursed through her body, and she buried her face into the warm nook at the base of Savio's neck.

"Savi... what was that? What did it want?"

x

[Savio]

Savio nuzzled into Ireth’s neck. In all honesty, he needed comfort just as much as she did. The memories from what happened last season were still haunting him. Feeling her pressed against his bare body pleased him beyond just physically. It also gave him a sense of pride knowing that she was wearing his shirt and nothing else.

“Ireth my love, first you need to understand that Nyka isn’t like…most cities. Many of the natives believe that Nyka is alive. A living entity, so to speak. It has thoughts and feelings, likes and dislikes… And many things happen that we as outsiders have never seen before. An example is the knocking. I don’t know exactly what it’s called, but it happens every so often to different people. If you look out the window that is being knocked out, you can see a different scene that what is normally out of the window. But sometimes, it’s best to ignore it so it doesn’t get you into trouble.” Savio propped himself up on his arm so he could look at her better. She was amazingly beautiful when the moonlight touched her skin. And quite frankly, he had other things on his mind than the phenomena of Nyka now that he was wide awake.

[Ireth Telemnar]

Ireth lay still as Savio looked down on her. She blushed, but her mind was still revolving around what he had said. The city was alive. She knew that it could be true. She thought she had felt her beloved Ravok breath before, just at the break of day as the people of the city were rising from their sleep. The birds would be crooning from their perches, the Lake lapping against the docks and walks. There shouldn't be a reason why Ravok was alive and Nyka was not.

She watched Savio, reaching up to rub the stubble on his cheek. Her interest in the subject had been peaked. "Are there more of the knockers? Or things like them? More... phenomena?" She'd never used that word before, and she wasn't sure if it was correct.

x

[Savio]

Savio could see that the young woman was not interested in the same thing he was so he gave a little sigh and tucked her into his side, feeling her tender warmed against his bare skin. It was a comforting thing after the unpleasant awaking he had experienced.

“More knockers? Phenomena?” He asked before thinking back on what he knew. “Well, there are many strange occurrences that happened here. Um… I suppose one could be The Lady in Purple. She appears randomly over the city, and it is said that bad things follow after seeing her. I saw her myself on the first of this season. She sat next to me on the rooftop of the Iron Fist School. Shortly thereafter, Ximal, the headmaster of our school was declared missing even though he had been missing for a while. Now Revy is the headmistress of the school, but the Iron Fist is owned by the monks. So I suppose it was pretty bad since Revy calls the shots now.” Savio became silent once more, thinking back on the other strange things he had experienced since coming to the city.

“I have also had the misfortune of experiencing the ‘Lecher’s Palm.’” He made a sour face at that. “Basically, you get fondled by some unseen being when someone close by thinks…um…provocative thoughts about you. And that’s all I know thus far. I am sure there are plenty more, but I hope not to find out.” With that, he placed a tender kiss on her forehead.

[Ireth Telemnar]

Knockers...

A Lady in Purple...

The Lecher's Palm?...

They all sounded so disturbing, as if they were not meant to be in this time. Ireth wrapped an arm around the cool muscles of Savio's chest, feeling safe. "I don't think we have anything like those in my city. I'm not sure though, perhaps we do and I don't know about them. That's always..." She yawned, "Highly possible." Although she prided herself on knowing a good bit about Ravok, she had always steered clear of the more supernatural elements of life such as magic and the like.

Her lover's lips were warm and comforting against her forhead, and Ireth hummed lightly. She was fairly certain that his mind was not on the conversation, but she'd been curious. And, to be fair, he'd answered all of her questions. Tilting her head back, she met his lips and kissed him soundly.

x

[Savio]

A low sound of pleasure rumbled in Savio chest as he felt the press of his beloved’s lips against his own. He wrapped his arms tighter around her so that he beautiful body was flush against his own while he deepened the kiss. He explored her delicate mouth gently, savoring her taste that he had become quite familiar with.

When he finally pulled back for air, he was smiling like an idiot at her. “I will do my best to protect you from any oddities in this city. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” He murmured softly before nuzzling against her neck, trailing kisses along the tender flesh there. “Because I love you, Ireth.” And he did love her, with all of his heart and soul. Even though Nyka proved such strange and dangerous things, he had still found this amazing and talented young woman here. For that, he was grateful.

[Ireth Telemnar]

A sigh escaped Ireth's lips as she listened to Savio whisper his reassurances into her skin. She knew that he was not going to always be at her side, but his guarantees made her unreasonably happy. What was it about this man that made her so giggly and warm?

She curled her fingers into his hair, reveling in the sweet sensations that his lips were making against the vulnerable parts of her neck. It was like he knew all the right places to touch, to kiss, to nip. His hair was soft, slipping over her fingers like water over stones. She pressed her body against his torso, giggling at her childish attempts to get closer to him.

All thoughts of what had been stirring in the blackness outside the window had vanished like the flame of a candle going out. Searching in the dark, Ireth found one of Savio's hands with hers and entangled their fingers. His hands were warm, almost swallowing hers up. His fingers and palm were calloused from the fighting that he was learning over at that school of his. It was the grip though, that held her fingers. Strong, confident, honest. And it was all for her.

After a long silence of them simply holding each other, Ireth murmured into the shadows. "I love you too Savio... I love you too." And she meant every word.

x

[Savio]

Savio chuckled softly against her soft skin, loving all of her little reactions. He shifted his body so that he was atop of her’s, gently pinning her down by the hands she held. He smiled down at her, even though he doubted that she could see it in the dark. He lowered himself further, kissing the flesh he felt against his lips. He couldn’t fathom as to why or how he lived without this young woman before. But now that he had her, he cherished every moment. She was his. He had thought he loved Raven back home in Syliras but such feelings were nothing compared to what he felt with Ireth. It wasn’t just a physical attraction; it was something more fulfilling because she loved him back.

He lips trailed across the body laid out before him, burning each curve and texture into his memory. He wanted to become as familiar with her body as he was his own. All of his previous struggles, his training, his sour luck, his self-loathing… Everything was put out of his mind when she was around. He felt like she make him into a better person and he wanted to show her that. He wanted to please her and take care of her because he deserved that from him. Which he was going to do, right then and there. And by the Gods, he was going to make sure she never thought about the things that went bump in the night when he shared her bed.