Completed Welcome to Ravok

[Vayl]

x

Vayl gingerly opened the front door to the group of flats that he lived in. Looking around carefully, he quickly ushered in his companion, her head covered by his hooded jacket, making it such that there was not one inch of exposed skin.

He had received interesting glances in the street to say the least. Some smiled mischeviously, some frowned in disapproval. He assumed there was a variety of assumptions ranging from she was a prostitute, to he had just murdered her. Either way he returned the same look to all of them. Unbridled hostility, make any move towards him and they'd meet a fast, painful end. His hand, gently cradling his charge's head, also flashed the glint of cold steel for anyone looking at the pair of them. This was as obviously hostile as Vayl could act without baring his fangs. He somehow doubted that would bring a favourable reaction in this city. He'd yet to see another of his kind here, and he had a pretty decent guess why after seeing the Kelvic research institute.

Vayl entered his apartment, gently laying the clothed form down on his bed. He didn't use it anyway, he'd fashioned a hammock out of the bedsheets for himself, finding beds far too solid and uncomfy for himself. In Kalinor everyone slept in hammocks anyway, he'd like to continue as such. Shutting the door securely behind him, and pushing a chair under the handlebar, and tentatively turning to the purple covered female.

"Redd. Are you ok?" he whispered, scared to raise his voice, for some stupid reason, its not like he wasn't allowed company. But back at Kalinor, that was certainly the case. Well it was his fault anyway back then..

His violet eyes returned to the present and they slid back to his bed.

"Redd?"

x

ah, death at last
my escort to blissful frailty

[Redd]

x

Redd had never felt such fine material like this jacket, it felt softer and much warmer than her cloak, but she understood why he had made her put it on. Vayl had said that Kelvics were not treated very well in Ravok, not that she understood why, but given the treatment her mother had given her, perhaps all humans were exactly the same in nature.

When she felt a soft mattress underneath her, she couldn't help but marvel at it and she ran her right hand over it and angled her head to the right. While humans may be harmful in nature they sure knew how to make soft things.

The woman also recalled back to their silent trip through the city of Ravok, the people, plus the sights and smells was very much over whelming, basically a sensory over-load really and she was still processing them inside her mind. She had wanted to sniff out these smells, but instead she had done what Vayl had asked her to. Remain silent and not move.

She lifted her head and turned her hazel gaze to the male a smile curving her lips as she pushed back the hood. Shaking her head she licked her lips before speaking, "All of those scents and how people live here, it's so strange." She paused as she glanced back down at the mattress, "This is so very soft, it's amazing I've never felt such a thing."

She looked to the male, taking in his form for a moment, before her gaze shifted to the roof taking time to slip back into her thoughts. This whole city was just so different and she never imagined that there would be so many people around, it was certainly a different environment. As her eyes flickered back to the male she paused before asking, "What else do we have to do to make sure that we keep from prying eyes?"

In truth, Redd felt like a puppy all over again, having to learn certain protocols. What territory not to cross into and what territory was the safest. Yet, the species had changed and she knew that humans were not her best friend. She would probably clutch to Vayl like no tomorrow, making sure to stay by his side, regardless of the situation.

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Vayl]

x

Vayl looked down at Redd. She seemed so slender and frail, yet untainted and almost angelic in her appearance. He slowly took his coat back off her and draped it over his shoulders, smoothing his hair subconsciously. He seemed humble before her, but in his logical mind she was the one totally dependant on him, which she was.. a non-slave Kelvic in Ravok.

But somehow all the time he felt he needed to thank her. He ran a hand through his hair, daydreaming. His lavender eyes gently scanned across Redd's body, not taking it in hungrily like some glutton, merely standing back and appreciating it for what it was, what she was to him.

The first person to ever need him, and her the first person to let him need her.

His eyes turned a shade lighter and his gaze refocused on her golden eyes, which stared back at him. She almost seemed obsessed with him. He'd have to be careful not to get carried away. Both of them would.

As Redd spoke he smiled paternally. It was so refreshing to see joy. He had never really seen it before..

"I'm glad you like it here. You may call this your home as much as it is mine."

When she mentioned 'prying eyes' his gaze darkened and thin eyebrows pressed together.

"I was thinking about that myself. The only safe, and permanent way for me to keep you alive is to make myself a citizen of Ravok. But.. if there's a race despised as much as yours, its mine."

Vayl sighed softly and slumped into his hammock, his legs sticking out seemingly awkwardly, although it was comfortable for him. Staring at the blank, wooden ceiling he thought.

"I guess it's best I tell you about my race."

"A long time ago, we used to live in the trees, amongst the leaves, or so they say. Then something happened, most of us died, a natural disaster, an unhappy god, who knows. All I know is we ended up moving to a cave. We named it Kalinor, 'Beneath Kalea'. But that is just the background. The real reason we're so unique is that, when..."

He bit his lip as his mauve eyes shone.

"When our women give birth to a child, the child eats them alive. There's nothing that can be helped, one bite from us and you die, eventually. The shorter the bite the longer it takes."

A single tear ran down Vayl's pale cheek. As much as he hated his race, no-one deserved that fate.

"So to stop our children from wiping our race off the earth, we started... persuading human women to bear our children for us. We'd woo them, and take them back to Kalinor, and they'd die bearing the future of our race."

Vayl casually waved a hand through the air as he swung his feet.

"While I see no problem with this seeing as how many humans there are and how few of us remain, the humans do not take kindly to us, in their words, murdering their females. So we are killed on sight in most cities, in this particular city, it will be next to impossible for me to gain any sort of rights or privileges if my identity was discovered." Vayl blew some hair out of his eyes irritably. "Why else would I live in a room like this, if it weren't for the easily corruptible owner."

A slightly disturbing smile crossed his mouth. "But that's the beauty of humanity for you Redd, so quick to hate, yet so quick to do what you tell them if it advantages them. That is why I'm alive here. Because people will do anything for little disks of gold."

Reaching down to the corner of the room, he picked up a Golden Miza and flicked it. It started rotating on the edge of his talon. Observing it silently Vayl pursed his lips. Eventually he caught the Miza in his palm and picked up five more. He flicked them one by one onto Redd's bed.

"I want you to keep these. In this city those five mizas are of greater value than you are. If you ever need some leverage of some sort, someone to do as you ask, to forget that they met you, give them those five mizas ok? Promise me you'll do that."

On the subject of Redd's life, Vayl covered his eyes with his hair, to make the room darker for himself. He needed dark when he thought.

He was going to need to get citizenship papers.. not only would this protect him, but it would protect Redd as his 'slave'. It would only be a matter of time before one of the pair of them was abducted, killed, or worse. Instinctively Vayl curled up into a tight ball, bringing his knees to his chin as he thought. It made him feel safer.

Redd was injured too.. he'd need papers to get her seen too. He suspected that there was more wrong with her than just flesh wounds. The problem with papers is that he couldn't get them legally, he was a Symenestra.. a beast.

He'd have to find them by some backdoor method. And frankly that scared him. He'd be walking straight into the mouth of the very people he was trying to hide from. The sword-happy, the rapists, the kidnappers.. Vayl shivered slightly. He had his Katana and finger blade. Neither were real weapons, but he guessed they would be better than nothing. And... Redd could probably be quite vicious as a wolf, but only if it came to that. If she ever publically showed as a wolf here they'd be leaving the city the next day. Either by boat or coffin.

x

ah, death at last
my escort to blissful frailty

[Redd]

x

Redd had listened quietly to Vayl's story about why his race was just as much as despised as her own. She shook her head, her gaze flickering down for a moment as she felt his sadness and a tear of her own escaped their hazel prison. Lifting a hand to gently wipe it away, she remained silent but she was thinking that although it was sad for the mothers, it wasn't as if he could have chosen his parentage.

It was then that a soft 'thump' upon the bed caught her attention and her gaze flickered to the gold disks that he had mentioned and her eyes widened at this. Reaching forwards she gently picked it up, flipping the surface in her fingers as she couldn't help but stare amazed, so these have some kind of real value? She shook her head as she set the coin down upon the mattress as she turned to view him, noting that he covered his eyes. Was he thinking?

She then watched as he curled up in the odd hanging swing of his and she angled her head as she wondered what was going on in his head. Slowly, she slid off of the bed, her bare feet crossing the floor before coming to a stop before Vayl's odd swing.

The young woman wanted to reach out to gently touch a shoulder but instead, she clasp her hands in front of her form. "I can't say that I know what it's like to kill my own mother during birth, but I once had a human mother." She paused her hazel gaze drifted over towards the door, a door like the one she had been chased out of, "She was kind and very loving at first, I can't tell you about my father, because he was never there, but my mother was kind and caring."

She nodded her head almost as if it was herself that she was trying to convince of this. "Then, when I was two months old, I shifted into my wolf, it had felt very natural to me, but when I turned to look back at my mother seeking approval...." She took a deep breath just to feel the air expand her lungs, "It wasn't approval that I found but a stick. She was screaming demon in disguise and I had felt the end of that stick send me into a wall. Everything seemed fuzzy but my flight instinct had kicked in even at that age and I ran out the door. I lived outside of cities after that, most of the times I starved or I would eat carcasses."

"I did find myself outside of this city, I think it was during summer? But soon the seasons went by quickly and winter was soon upon me and I almost truly died, but a pack of local wolves took me in and raised me like their own young pup, sharing their food with me." She managed a small smile as she glanced back towards him, her gaze watching him quietly for a moment, "It was... Only recently that I had a falling out with them."

She nodded her head as she glanced to the floor, "So I know what it's like to not feel... Wanted. I cannot take those... Mizas from you because during my first year..." She winced, "I came across a dead human and instead of wasting something that could fill my starving stomach I ate him. It's not pleasant, this I can tell you, but he had a bag with him. These clothes and..."

Her words drew off as she turned to face the backpack, opening up the entrance before knocking it over, allowing the rest of its contents to spill out. 600 gold Mizas began to spill out, "These golden things, I never really knew what they were, I just thought they were pretty to look at."

She shifted on the spot as she glanced at the gold upon the bed, watching it for a moment, so these were worth a lot to these humans? She remembered the human male that she had come across in that clearing with those trees, was this what he was after?

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Vayl]

x

Vayl turned over to face Redd as the sound of her voice sounded quietly behind him. He rubbed his chin in thought.

"Well if your mother kicked you out, then your father must have been a Kelvic. At least one parent has to be Kelvic to have a child like you, and judging by your mother's reaction, she didn't seem to be one." he pursed his lips as he looked at the ceiling in thought.

"And apparently your father never showed the other side of himself to your mother. Humans..." he sighed, half to himself, half in sympathy. What a tragic life.

Then he heard the slow clinking of coins, hundreds of them.

"Wh- oh wow." Vayl breathed out in amazement. He was frankly too surprised to even be happy.

"Ugh Redd to put this into perspective the money you've got there could pay for this place we're living in twice over. That is a lot of money." His violet eyes darkened slightly. "The kind of amount people will kill you for Redd. Never take more than ten of those around with you unless absolutely necessary. If there is anything that drives humans to their limits it is greed."

Vayl swung his feet over the hammock and stood up slowly, before slowly piling the money back into the backpack, lifting up a loose floorboard and stashing it underneath the floor, his hair flowing over his face while he bent down.

"We have to be extra careful no one knows about how much money you own, as long as we keep it that way we are of no interest to anyone."

Vayl smiled a little to try and comfort the girl.

"But don't worry, we can use the same money to bribe humans into doing what we want, which means I can make myself what is known as a 'citizen' in this city, meaning I can keep myself and yourself from most harm."

Vayl's eyes flickered over to his training Katana resting against the wall.

"And... if you genuinely have no need for this money I could buy a weapon to protect us should we ever get into a fight."

Vayl slumped slightly, he still felt horrendously guilty about using another person's money, especially when they didn't quite realise how much they were holding on them. He tried to persuade himself that the katana wasn't just for himself, it was also for protecting Redd..

He failed, there was simply many other cheaper ways of doing the same thing, but Vayl refused to touch any weapon that wasn't a katana, it simply wouldn't be the right thing for him.

x

ah, death at last
my escort to blissful frailty

[Redd]

x

She had remained quiet as she watched Vayl pile the coins back into the back pack and then hide them underneath the floorboards and she turned away glancing at the door as she listened to his words, nodding her head. The woman didn't fully understand their worth, but apparently they had a lot of worth especially the way Vayl reacted when he saw it.

Redd took a moment to remember the male in the woods and his gaze when he had place a hand at the bottom of her pack, was that because he knew of the gold disks? Had she unintentionally put them in danger?

Turning to view the male with hazel eyes, she fidgeted for a moment with her cloak, "I'm not too sure, but a human male might have already seen what's inside that pack. I had stashed the bag before going off on a hunt with a local pack of wolves, but when I returned... He was already going through it. We had a scuffle and then his beast spooked and dragged him with it, although he had dropped the bag before the beast spooked."

The woman glanced down at the floor then, "You see, being as I was in wolf form I got very territorial and chased after him. He managed a hit but then this is here it gets weird. I was forced to shift and then everything blacks out before I wake with a bandage around my shoulder. I don't know how long I was out but it took me a while to shift again and when I did, I returned to the site of my pack and everything was still in there."

Lifting a hand, she rubbed it across her face as she leaned backwards, so her back was pressed against a wall, wincing as her fractured rib protested at this movement but she couldn't be bothered to accommodate it. "He was an odd human to say in the least."

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Vayl]

x

Vayl frowned.

That definitely did not add up right. Vayl rubbed his chin. It was of no matter any more. He could only guess that the human either felt guilt, or a second, more morally centred individual came afterwards and sorted the problem out. She really could be lucky sometimes.

Smiling ruefully, he realised the irony of that thought. Here he was sitting on a literal goldmine of money, with a new, and possibly lasting companion. If anyone was lucky, he was.

"So Redd" he smiled coldly, which was a friendly as he could look. "We should probably sort out some arrangements in here. Naturally you get the bed to sleep in, I never use it either way. If we go out hunting, say, weekly that should give you enough food to live off, I can quite happily live off berries, and its vastly cheaper for me too. Do you think you need some new clothes?" he rambled on, until slowing down suddenly.

Vayl's lavender eyes slid to Redd, standing in front of him, and he moved forwards slowly, reaching a hand up to her cheek, and looking deep into her dark eyes. It rested there and Vayl tensed. He wanted to do something.. but he wasn't quite sure what it was. As the seconds dragged on, he grew more tense visibly, until he moved his hand to Redd's shoulder and gave it a friendly pat, before turning away, looking at the ground in shame.

Vayl's eyes looked out the window and watched the boats drift by. What was he doing?

He hardly knew himself anymore..

x

But one day
you will stand before death's decrepit gate,
without really knowing why

[Redd]

x

She listened to the male quietly before she leaned forwards to shift her weight back into her feet to finally accommodate her aching rib and a sigh escaped her lips as she merely shook her head in thought. Meat did not keep very well and she was a far cry to being a vegetarian, but even a wolf had to eat more regular than once a week. She'd work something out and then there was the problem of the wolves.

Her hazel gaze watched the male as he seemed to start rambling on about new clothes and she angled her head, wondering what was going on in his head. Blinking a little as she noticed his gaze sliding over to her.

It was then that he moved forwards to stand directly in front of her and she felt his hand upon her cheek, confusion filling her eyes as he then began to tense when the seconds ticked by. Just as she was about to question him, he patted her shoulder and turned away, noting that his gaze had dropped to the floor.

Redd couldn't place why, but she felt as if she had just been rejected and her shoulders angled downwards for a moment before she turned to face the door. She couldn't place what was going on between the two of them, but she felt a sudden urge to go sniff out the new territory, anything rather than this awkward silence.

She stood there silent, trying to work out her thoughts that were currently chaotic in tying to work out what the male's actions meant. The young wolf sometimes did not understand certain actions because she had spent most of her life on her own and unexplained actions really confused her.

Taking a chime to take a deep breath, she lifted her hands to pull the hood of her cloak up and over her head, shadowing her features. "I should perhaps go listen for danger or find out where the danger zones might be so we can avoid them." She lifted a hand to settle upon the chair that was wedged up against the door.

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Vayl]

x

A single, large tear ran down Vayl's cheek as he looked out the window. What had he done?

Redd then meekly turned towards the door and spoke of leaving, and a torrent of fear mixed with remorse washed over Vayl.

"No! Don't go!" he shouted, unconsciously reaching out to Redd. He looked at his hand oddly, then put it down, calming himself.

"Redd. I didn't mean to give you any wrong impression, you have done nothing wrong, I promise. I-" Vayl sighed, slumping slightly and looking away.

"My whole life, Redd, I've been alone. My kind rejected me, and my kind are rejected from the world. I've never shared any interests with anyone, and never felt close enough to anyone to trust them. Perhaps what is worse is that no one has ever trusted me." he looked down, lavender eyes shining.

"All my life, I've been trying to find someone to devote my time to.. and now.. you're here, and I'm scared."

He turned around fast, looking at Redd, openly crying now. The floodgates of emotion had been opened and Vayl sank to his knees.

"I've waited my whole life for a person like you and I'm too scared to surrender myself." he whispered.

"I'm scared you'll go now.. It's only been a day but I don't think I could live the same any more."

Curling up into a ball, he shook on the ground softly, crying to himself.

x

But one day
you will stand before death's decrepit gate,
without really knowing why

[Redd]

x

Redd had jumped at the sound of his voice and she spun around on the balls of her feet, successfully jarring all of her wounds and she held a hand to her side, her hazel eyes wide with fright. She didn't know what had happened for this outburst to happen, but she had a feeling that she would soon find out.

Her heart would break at the sight of Vayl in front of her as he looked resigned, beaten by life itself and she shook her head, it didn't seem right. He had been so strong for her when he had brought her into the actual city itself, but to see him like this...

Listening to his words, she remained where she was for the moment unsure what she should do. Rejection? She knew what that felt, it did indeed hurt and she angled her head to the side as he spoke about finding someone to devote his life to and now that he had, he was scared.

She watched him openly cry before sinking to his knees upon the floor and then curl into a ball and she couldn't just stand there any more. Crossing the small distance she reached him, kneeling down before him as a tear escaped their hazel prison. She felt his pain, a pain shared and she reached a hand out to gently touch his shoulder, her touch light so not to spook him.

"I won't be leaving you Vayl, because believe it or not I don't judge you because of your race, but of your actions and your actions speak of a man with a kind heart, a kind heart inside of, from what I can tell, a noble man." She gave him a small smile at this, actually forgetting that the hood of her cloak was still shadowing her face.

Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Also, someone does trust you. I trust you, I trusted you to carry me inside of the city limits without palming me off to the first bad guy. For me, that took a lot, because I have never been able to trust someone like that till now."

Lifting her free hand, she pressed it to her chest, "I also have a feeling that if I left you behind and did not look back, it would very much hurt so there is no way that I would leave you. Well, not intentionally anyway."

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x