A note for 'Blaze' Whiteclaw

[Blaze]

Rook's panic became her own as he flailed against her. She tried to soothe him. When she saw his reaction to the idol she pushed it away with her hand then cupped his face to look into his eyes. "I stop, I stop." Blaze blinked not understanding what just happened.

"Do, what? Rook, what happen?" As he ground his forehead into her collarbone she crooned and cooed into his hair nuzzling his head.

[valrae]

Rook's hands loosened on her shoulders as the pain faded and he calmed, once again gaining control over his breathing. He pulled his head away and looked at her sheepishly, though his hands arms stayed around her.

"The figurine... Is meant to control me. ...Us.. There's one for each of us. So we could never turn against our masters. If you hold it and say my true name and wish for me to die, I die."

There was no use trying to hide the truth from her. She'd already seen enough.

"So we could never stray." He whispered, a haunted look in his eyes.

[Blaze]

Blaze cupped his jaw with one hand her eyes full of concern, then her face fell. So it wasn't a tool to contact Elune. Visions of her father danced across her mind before she refocused and looked away from him. "Didn't mean to hurt you. Didn't know." She looked around for the idol and found it about two feet away from them the rubied wrists facing her.

Taking his hand she turned it over slowly and traced her finger down his underarm to his wrist where his pulse hammered away. When she came to the tip of the tattoo she remembered it glowing red in the cave. Red like a ruby. What had she just done to him?

"Rook... I- Not know." she stammered quietly.

Mushal stared between the two elves, not particularly phased by what had just happened, but now unhappy Rook was all over his mistress. He uttered a low growl but as he did it seemed to deflate him and he sunk back down onto the bed his head and front paws hanging off the end. He was very tired, and his mistress didn't seem to be in any immediate danger so it was okay to relax.

[valrae]

"It's alright," he smiled softly. "You didn't know."

He looked at the figure laying a few feet away and resisted the very powerful urge to pick it up, to run with it, hide it right there and then. But if he did that she would think that he did it so he wouldn't have to help her father, which is why he'd let her keep it in the first place. He let it lay where it was, instead pulling closer to her, sighing warmly against her neck.

He felt her trace the sigil on his wrist amid the swirls of his other tattoos. "That was the first." He murmured. "They gave it to me when I joined... The rest I did later, to try to to cover it up."

[Blaze]

She hmm'd reflectively at his answer, then said without thinking, "Someday I want an arm to match yours." Once it was out she blinked and the tips of her ears went eggplant purple again. There was more then one reason she did not speak often. His sigh against her neck made her shiver and she shifted uneasily. This was going against everything, her personal code. But you're not heartless, she told herself, and you were the one that just hurt him. He deserves some comfort.

Nodding Blaze took a deep breath secretly enjoying his scent. "Destroy it?" Even though she knew it was a tool that could harm him, she still didn't like the thought of destroying something she thought was so beautiful. "Maybe Elune priestess' can purify?"

[valrae]

"Someday I want an arm to match yours."

He smiled, trailing a finger from her shoulder to her wrist, and back up again. "I could do that." he said softly, examining her skin. "I think it would look good on you. And if you liked that, I could go from here-" He looped his fingers over her shoulder and across her back, then down her side, tracing the contour down to her hips and along the outside of her thigh, to end at the knee. -"to here." He smiled, and moved his hand back to her shoulder. It was nice being this close to her, he thought, it had only been... What? Less than a day and he found he'd been missing it. She was warm like the air at sunset.


He murred and thought a moment before answering her question about the idol. "I'm not certain what would happen if I destroyed it... There's a lot more I need to know. Until I do I was planning on hiding it."

[Blaze]

It felt so strange, to be so close to a male that she hadn't hunted for herself for her one sole purpose. One would describe her as very straight forward, aggressive even, yet sitting here on the floor in a small one bed room in an inn with this male she felt very... strange. She had already mated with him, by her own code she shouldn't be touching him again, or allowing him to touch her. Yet here they were. She struggled with her inner feelings of wanting to slap him across the face and leave to find her own place to rest, or to jump on him and have her way with him, over and over.

She had never considered such extensive tattoo work. The two on her face had always done her fine enough and helped keep the suns glare out of her eyes when she was hunting. The thought of having even more work done purely for appearances was new water for her. But she liked Rook's... And he said he would do it. Nodding Blaze smiled faintly at the idea. Such work might not just be for appearance, could help work as camouflage like Mushal's stripes worked for him. It was a sound thought.

The murring sound he made caused her to mimic it on instinct, and to lean into him more. Making a face she went back to where she was and tried to refocus. "Hiding good idea." she fell silent a moment thinking, "I have a good place to put it, if want?" She looked away and mumbled, "Could come with of course." Her voice fell even lower, "Could find place in Feralas, it quiet there."

[valrae]

Rook's smile widened slightly... Oh, there was something about this big, strong, fierce and apparently fearless Huntress that made her just so adorable when she became embarassed. He kept a tight reign over his face however. He'd learned last night that she didn't like to be laughed at, even for innocent reasons. But he did smile.

He wasn't sure if she knew it, but she was asking him to put his life in her hands, literally. She knew his name, and if she knew the location of the figurine as well, there was nothing at all to stop her from simply picking it up and killing him on a whim. Or from passing the information on to others, willingly or under duress...

"I'd like that," he said, smiling softly at her, his eyes shining. "If we could find a quiet hiding spot, that would be good."

[Blaze]

Suddenly her face lit up. "Rook," she said wistfully, "Why not drop it into the twisting nether in Netherstorm? The void is bottomless. It would fall forever, no one would ever be able to get it."

[valrae]

He nodded slowly, happy and amused to see her excited about something, but a little disappointed that Feralas seemed out of the picture again. "It's a possibility... And a good one.. But until I know more about it I'd prefer to keep it where I can get it again, if need be." He frowned a little. "Plus, that's a journey I most likely wouldn't be able to make. I've not yet set foot in outlands, only heard of it."

He smiled again. "But you're very clever.. If we need to dispose of it without destroying it, that will be my choice."

[Blaze]

"Not want to go to Outlands alone." she shook her head, "Much danger."

The moment seeming to slowly pass she began to feel strange so she tried to inch a bit away from him, "Feralas place to go then?" She looked into his eyes a moment then away quickly turning attention to the idol. "Nice place." She blinked and turned back to him her expression serious again, "When make cure for father."

[valrae]

((Soo.. Over the weekend things were picked up from this point in-game. I'll post a synopsis of the goings-on soon, hopefully))

[valrae]

As sunlight filtered in through the small, thick windows of the room, Rook climbed his way out of sleep. There was a feeling about him, one he was very familiar with from many many nights of drinking, that as soon as he moved or really thought about anything, he would regret it.

Still, he cautiously opened an eye and looked around. There was the ceiling, that was good, he was still in the same room. That was a good start. Grey light was coming in through the window, it was morning. Out of all the candles that had been burning when he'd entered the room, only one still did, flickering and guttering in a pool of wax at the bottom of it's holder. Bah. He should have put them out before sleeping, now he'd have to pay for all of them.

Against his better judgement he leaned his head forward and took stock. His head didn't spin or burst into pain -he hadn't been drinking after all- but the rest of him complained bitterly. The wounds to his chest has closed overnight, he saw, but they were still tender and very very sore. His new wound, four long slashes down his right forearm, stung like wasps as he propped himself up and looked around.

Oh.

He had certainly lost his deposit on the room.

The bed was a shambles, not just stained but covered in places with dried blood, his if he remembered correctly, when the tiger had clawed him as he'd tried to shove it off the bed. The sheets themselves were torn and so was the mattress, clumps of straw poking through, and feathers from a shredded pillow.

He shook his head, but couldn't really bring himself to be upset about it. In fact he smiled, sore and bone-tired as he still was. The Huntress lay curled next to him, apparently sleeping soundly. That was reason enough to be happy. He looked down at her, watching her breathe in silence for a moment, remembering.

They'd talked, back and forth for a long time, until he could hear the strain in her seldom-used voice. About the figurine, about him, about the cure, about her father... He'd never suspected the depths of her feeling on that issue, how it had affected her entire life.

As they'd spoken he watched her draw close to him and then pull away over and over, fighting with herself, until finally he kissed her, sending her skittering into panic, wanting to run in two directions at once, caught between herself.

In time, mercifully, between his words and her own, she had begun to accept and allow the strange attraction they shared, ...or at least seemed willing to give it a chance. Having freed her heart, inwardly he'd promised to see it stayed safe, aware that perhaps it wouldn't be quite as easy for him as for some.

There was one other party that had wanted a say, however. Mushal wasn't about about to have his place at his mistress' side usurped, figuratively or literally. In the end the elf and the tiger had butted heads while Blaze looked on amused, a brief conflict that ended with him forcing the tiger away, though he paid a little in blood to do so.

She'd bandaged his arm, and after that... Well, after that things had been wonderful.

He blinked, coming back to the present, to her asleep beside him, to her warmth still on his skin. He smiled, loath to move, but there was a lot that needed to be done, and they couldn't afford to miss their ferry.

Reluctantly he pulled away from her and sat up, noticing as he did that the tiger had curled up on her other side, his tail across one of her legs. He must have climbed up while they both slept. He rolled his eyes. She'd said that Mushal wouldn't give up easily. Standing he flicked the cat's tail off with his hand, snorting at the tiger.

He stood in the center of the room and stretched, feeling his joints pop. Tired, and sore still, but serviceable, he decided.

He changed the bandages on his arm and dressed, not in his leathers but in dark street clothes. One of his weapons hung from his belt in a more conventional scabbard, off to his side. He noticed the figurine on the bed by Blaze's feet, and he picked it up, considering putting it away in his own pack, but then placing it by her things. It was hers until he'd cured her father. The rest of his things he gathered up and stowed neatly. With nothing more to do he returned to the bed, placing a hand on her shoulder and nipping at her cheek.

"It's time. We need to get going."

[Blaze]

Mushal's eyes snapped open the moment Rook touched his tail. His nose wrinkled up and he uttered a quiet snarl as he watched him go about his business. Blaze however remained asleep. It was odd how one so at home in the wild still managed to sleep like a rock. When Rook came back over he pulled his lips back from his teeth in a full but silent snarl, but slid off the bed anyway shooting hateful glares and guttural noises of protest.

Blaze snorted and groaned like a teenager who was up too late the night before and sunk deeper into the pillow still pretty much asleep. Her hand reached out and grabbed a handful of Rook's hair jerking him close.

[valrae]

Rook eep'd in surprise but couldn't help grinning in spite of himself. Much as he'd love to let her slumber or better still crawl back beside her, they had to be going... the tide waited for no man or elf.

"Sunshine. We have to go or we'll miss the boat," he said a little more firmly, close to her ear. "You can sleep again once we're onboard."

Calling upon his extensive training and experience in the roguish arts, he then reached down and pinched her on the butt.

[Blaze]

There was that nick name again. Sunshine... Damn him. Blaze slowly opened her eyes and focused around the room and his face. She didn't scowl but smiled faintly instead. Today was the day they would help her father and... And what? Despite what happened last night what would happen after her father was cured and he was not bound by any duty or word. She wasn't allowed to mull on the idea because she felt a sharp pinch on her butt. Blaze yelped and jerked away from him with a snarl.

With barely open eyes she pulled off the bed, and stepped on Mushal's tail. The tiger let loose a comical howl of pain and skittered across the floor to the other end of the small room to watch her. She mumbled an apology and set about getting her items in order scratching the spot where Rook had pinched her absently. In her pack she found the idol and she brushed her fingertips over it gently with a smile of mixed emotions. She then put away her soot covered mail gear and brought out her comfortable leather wear that made her look more like a rogue herself. She dressed quickly, more and more alert with each moment. She stood then, and faced him hefting her sack over a shoulder. Taking a few steps toward him she flipped a lock of his hair and smirked, "Need to tie back?"

Mushal stood up on the door frame like an over sized house cat preparing to sharpen his large claws when he succeeded in getting her attention and pulling her away from Rook. She gave him a scolding look but Mushal only ignored it and stared over at Rook quietly before following Blaze downstairs.

"No miss boat!" she called on her way.

[valrae]

He sat on the bed and watched her dress, aware of the somewhat silly grin on his face but unable to wipe it off. He wrinkled his nose at her when she teased him about his hair. "That's your fault, as I recall," he said, pulling and tying it back with a leather strip.

He followed her downstairs a moment later, closing the door firmly behind him with a wince and waving away the cleaning boy. Arriving downstairs he thanked the innkeeper for his hospitality and dumped a number of gold coins into his hand, prompting a wide smile and a bow from the dwarf, who would probably be considerable less happy once he saw the state of the room, which the extra gold would barely cover (hopefully). He stopped in the kitchen long enough to wheedle some breakfast out of the cook, hardboiled raptor eggs still in the shell and some sausages, then ducked out of the building before anyone could run at him shrieking about the room.

The port was wrapped in fog, not yet dispelled by the fresh breeze which would arise with the sun. The docks were already busy, however, teeming with dockhands and sailors and travellers... He didn't bother putting up his mask when he passed the quay that berthed his old ship, there was no activity on deck at this hour and it wouldn't have helped anyway.

At length he found the ferry to Auberdine and was waved aboard with some other waiting passengers. He set down his things and made himself comfortable, looking around for Blaze so he could share his breakfast.

The sun rose more fully, breaking some of the fog and clearing patches or sky. Rook's eyes read the distant clouds and sky. It was likely to be a very nice day. He smiled. They would arrive at their destination in the afternoon, if all went well.

[Blaze]

Blaze walked over and winked at him as she climbed up on a barrel beside him. Mushal stalked around to her side farthest from Rook. She looked from Rook to out over the water and sighed.

"Start make potion when dock?" she spoke to him, her Darnassian thick, but didn't look at him.

[valrae]

"While we were under way, I was thinking." He said, tossing her a still-warm boiled egg whenever she looked back to him. He flicked his own with a finger until the shell cracked, then half-peeled it and took a bite. ...Would have been nice with a little salt, but he didn't have any with him. He leaned over a moment later to offer her a piece of sausage.

"Or I could start now, I suppose. Just let me finish breakfast."

This had been one of the most-considered parts of his plan. Here was where he would have had to make the potion, exchange it for the figurine and make his escape, all without being killed... So much had changed since then, though, it was hard to believe. The plan was unnecessary now. He looked up at Blaze perched on her barrel. Hard to believe indeed. He smiled. He'd hever been one to be overconcerned with the gods, and certainly didn't see their hand in everything, as some did. He didn't subscribe much to fate. But there were some moments that made him wonder, and this was one of them.

Two days ago they had met on these docks as wary strangers, and now, two short days later, they were lovers... and not only in the physical sense, he suspected, and indeed hoped. He kept his eyes on Blaze, and his smile only grew wider.

After a surprisingly small amount of fuss for a well-loaded ferry, they cast away from the dock, rigged sails and were off, pushing smoothly through the calm and breezy morning. Rook finished his meal and began his work. He found the noise and motion of the boat pleasing, as he often did. He loved the sea. He hummed, going about his task with a jubilance that belied the concentration he was putting in. The mixture required no heat, which was fortunate, but exact amounts have to be mixed at specific intervals, or the effect would be spoiled, or worse, affect the imbimer in ways other than was intended.

He could feel the spark of nervousness in his chest and he mixed and measured, turning a small sand timer over and over to keep track of the passing hours. But that was good. It kept him alert and careful, and he would need to be both.

The voyage was a pleasant one though he missed most of it, absorbed as he was in constructing his cure. Finally though, as the sky turned orange and the shoreline faded distantly into view, he was finished.

The final result contained little more liquid than a perfume bottle, bluish in color and sparkling with tiny flecks of brilliance. He peered through it, then brought it under his nose to smell. It was perfect. It would work.

He closed both hands around the crystal vial, and went to find Blaze. He showed her the tincture with equal parts pride and weariness, pressing it carefully into her hands.

"This is for you. It will save him." He said quietly, looking into her eyes. He took his hands away, leaving her with it. She had what she wanted now, and he had just forefeited any remaining advantage he had over her. She was free now to leave him or even kill him, and there was nothing he could do to stop her.

He smiled softly and sat down, sleepiness gnawing as his edges now that there was nothing left for him to do. He sat back and relaxed, letting the wind and the afternoon sun wash over him.

[Blaze]

Blaze mused over how he had brought her breakfast. She caught the egg and pulled down her mask to show smiling lips. Knocking the egg lightly on side of the barrel she cracked the shell and peeled it off. Mushal sniffed at it warily then just ignored it and laid down closing his eyes. When Rook offered sausage she took it, but immediately gave it to Mushal who happened to love the stuff.

"Or I could start now, I suppose. Just let me finish breakfast." Rook said. Blaze nodded in reply and ate her egg quietly still staring out over the ocean, not even noticing the rogues continuous smile at her. She was soon to get the cure for her father and yet she still wasn't sure if it was really that. Awake or asleep, she figured he'd still be a prisoner to his mind, and it had dawned on her, even in his death he may end up like her mother, trapped still. Blaze sighed heavily and closed her eyes hoping to draw some comfort from the rocking of the boat. Rook had gone off to begin his work moments earlier, leaving her alone to her thoughts.

She stared at the vacant are where he had been sitting. All that remained now was empty egg shells. Blaze touched her sack where the idol was nestled inside and bit her lip. Part of her didn't want to give it up. Part of her wanted to keep it because then she'd always have a part of him no matter what happened. But if someone else got hold of it, they could hurt him, and then she'd end up like her parents. Blaze growled. She didn't want that. memories came back from last night, how he had looked at her and touched her. Her neck was still sore and she liked that.

"Mine..." He had said touching her, before he touched his hand to his own chest and told her, "Yours." Was he really? Was it really safe for it to be so? Did Elune really give him to her as a gift for all her devotion over the millenia.

"Is it safe..." she whispered quietly into the wind as she crept down to sit where he had been running her fingers over the wood floor. Her troubled thoughts carried her over the voyage while Rook worked. She must have fallen asleep at some point, because when she opened her eyes again Mushal was laying beside her and Rook was talking to her.

"This is for you. It will save him." He said giving her the little vial. She took it carefully and stared back into his eyes while his hands lingered on hers. When he let his hands drop it felt like a part of her dropped with them and she felt suddenly alone. She stared at the vial for a long time as he sat down.

While his eyes were closed, he suddenly felt a weight in his lap. When he opened his eyes the diamond in the idol winked back up at him. Blaze stared at it as she spoke, her tone very quiet, "This is for you. Crow fly free."