Silk, Lace, and Flame

[Mira Nightingale]

Breath coming in ragged, shuddering gasps, Mira continued to run and limp as fast as she could. She had no idea where she was going, wasn’t even sure what she was going to do once she couldn’t run any longer. Maybe she could find a place to hide, find that small, homeless girl she had met at the library and stay with her in whatever alley she called home. Maybe she could find Shadow, or Reno, and they could help her leave. Maybe Alezand or Tyanno would help her again, taking her away on whatever adventure they were off to this time. Maybe Kane would finally take her with him to meet the gypsies he had grown up with. Maybe Verdan… no. Verdan hated her. Verdan despised her. There would be no comfort from Verdan; she had ruined that.

Her broken ankle gave way suddenly, tipping sideways at a disgustingly impossible angle, and Mira crashed to the ground. Picking herself up just as fast she ducked into one of the nearby alleys, ignoring her now stinging knee as well as the rest of the pain and horror she was engulfed in. The comfort of the shadows in a back alley late at night proved just as futile as running from Lord Bryant had, however. A dark figure appeared suddenly from one of the other alleys, and she slammed right into him, although it seemed that was what he had wanted in the first place.

Not able to see the person, although she knew he was male, she was afraid for her life once again. Maybe this person had heard the shouts and was going to throw her in jail. Maybe… struggling now, she jerked herself away from the loose grasp. Just as she managed to start running again, her ankle gave way and she fell at the person’s feet, crying out softly at the burning sensation that throbbed through her ankle.

[Verdan]

Catching the young woman before she could come into contact with the ground again, Verdan was forced to jerk forward abruptly, with that unwillingly throwing his hood off and exposing his face. She tried to break free of his grasp, but the mage would have none of that. Whoever she was, she was hurt and needed help. Picking the girl up in his arms with ease, careful not to jerk her hurt ankle around, Verdan gently brushed the red, hair out of her face. Originally, the Scholar could have sworn that it was Mira. No. It couldn't be. Mira was probably somewhere having a party or enjoying a peaceful evening with her beloved husband. Verdan shuddered. How could she marry him? Ugh.

As the mage brushed her hair from her face, he nearly dropped the young lady. "M- Mira?" he stuttered unsurely. Mira Nightingale had just jumped out of a window, broke her ankle and was sprinting out away from her house in terror? No. But it was. Verdan could recognize her out of a million faces. "Wha- What happened?" he managed to force out. His own legs were about to buckle from the shock.

[Mira Nightingale]

Instead of falling as her ankle twisted disgustingly, she was caught. As the dark, cloaked figure swept her up in his arms, his hood fell off. Mira gaped at him, just as shocked as he was, apparently. She had been positive that Verdan hated her. She had earned that hatred, after all, because of her foolish grip on her pride back at the ceremony. She wouldn’t have practically killed a man, she wouldn’t have a broken ankle and a scar down her cheek, and she wouldn’t be running in the middle of night half naked… none of that would have happened if she had just taken the mage’s hand that morning and run away like her brother had.

Verdan appeared to not recognize her for a moment, and a sudden flash of him slicing the guards apart flashed through her mind. Struggling again, she realized after a painful moment that she had absolutely no energy left. She was freezing and so, so tired. Giving up, and silently praying that Verdan still didn’t have his temper of earlier, she stopped fighting him just as he reached out a hand and brushed her hair away from her face, and then stuttered out her name.

His question was a simple one, and she should have been able to answer it. But, someone, her mouth couldn’t form the words, couldn’t speak that which would condemn her as a murderer, as… a witch. Her ears suddenly working again, she could hear noises. People, most likely Lord Bryant’s servants, were shouting. Neighbors were flocking to the house, wondering what could have happened to cause such a ruckus. And above all that, Mira heard one voice loud and clear. “That witch! Find her, find her! Lord Bryant is dead, murdered on his own wedding night! Find her! Find the heathen! She can’t be far!”

Muffling a silent cry, she let the words explain everything to Verdan as she buried her face in his chest, hoping for some sort of comfort that the harsh world couldn’t offer.

[Verdan]

“That witch! Find her, find her! Lord Bryant is dead, murdered on his own wedding night! Find her! Find the heathen! She can’t be far!”

Oh boy! This should be lots of fun. Apparently, Mira just went psycho-mage on Lord Bryant. She lit him and the house on fire and now everyone was going berserk trying to find her and catch her. She was apparently a heathen. One of us... Verdan smiled. "Well... that explains alot..." he said bluntly.

In the meantime, he calmly wondered whether the guards would be too upset if they found the man who had just murdered several people and crashed a very noble wedding holding the newfound heathen in his arms. Deciding that they might be mildly angered, just mildly, Verdan's next thoughts were whether he should run or not. Hm... well... if they were caught, they would probably get thrown into the dungeons, tortured and publicly hanged. If he ran away sometime around now, he could escape to Aesir and live there happily ever after. Tough choice....

Mira buried her face in the Scholars chest, which brought him back to reality. Well... it wasn't exactly possible to run very fast or very far while holding someone, even if they were as light and fragile as the "witch" - now Mira could officially be called that. Looking wildly around, Verdan decided that it would be best if he hid. The search party was fast approaching and they did not sound like they would let the pair go.

Gently squeezing Mira's small frame in his arms as a sign of assurance, Verdan quickly made his way into the alley from where he just stepped out of. Throwing his cloak around Mira, he killed two birds with one stone. First, he hid her light-colored nightgown with a darker color, thus making it harder for passerby to notice it. Also, it would keep her warm and comfortable. Ever so lightly, the mage touched Mira's lips with two of his fingers as a silent sign to keep quiet. Crouching down, all the mage could do was hope that the lynching party would run by this alley without noticing it.

[Mira Nightingale]

A search party was approaching the alley they were hidden in, and Verdan wasn’t showing any signs of putting her down so they could run. Maybe that was a good idea, though, since she really didn’t think she had any energy left what-so-ever, especially enough to make a run for her life. Where could they go though? Verdan appeared to have hiding on his mind, as he swept his cloak off his shoulders and covered her with it instead, and then moved farther back into the shadows of the alley.

He covered her lips with his fingers, meaning quiet, and if she wasn’t so exhausted then she probably would have argued. No one told her to be quiet, could order her around like a commoner! The truth came crashing down, though, and she realized that now she was no more than a common criminal, a plebian, and a heathen.

How could she be a heathen though? Her father wasn’t from Aesir, as he lived his life in Avaren, and so had his parents. Her mother, though… Mira had always assumed that her mother grew up in Avaren as well. Now that she thought about it though, she had never heard of the Ladson family name, and had never met her maternal grandparents. Maybe there was something she didn’t know about that side of the family.

Pushing aside the thoughts, yet reminding herself to ask Verdan later, she pulled away slowly, and by a small amount, and looked at him in the flickering shadows of the still young night. “Why are you doing this?” she whispered, ignoring his earlier command to be silent. The people were still much too far away to hear her soft words. Verdan probably would have a hard time hearing them. “I… I thought you hated me.”

[Verdan]

The "Loyalists" were approaching fast. Screams and shouts of anger and horror were escaping the mob. However, something held them back. They were probably too busy with the house which was most likely now entirely ablaze. That was some powerful magic: to control fire and to have it flare up to the point of it being hot enough to burn through human flesh. Plus, this all happened in a period of about three seconds, which was amazing in itself.

"Why are you doing this? I… I thought you hated me." Verdan calmly looked into Mira's eyes, not surprised by the question as might have been expected. "Who ever said that I hated you?.." he inquired. "Oh, right, the wedding. Me murdering people and all that. Well, one generally gets a bit upset when he publicly gets spit on." The mage's voice crescendoed with anger. Abruptly, it dropped back down to the calm tone with which he initiated his monologue. "And as for the reason I'm doing this... well..." his voice wavered just audibly "...I... Mira, I.... Hm... Us 'heathens' have to look out for one another." he finished the sentence with different words than he had initially planned to.

He smiled, pulling Mira's frail body closer to himself. Yes. That was the reason. Not anything else that's related to his emotions. Not at all. Verdan wondered how long he would be able to keep lying to himself.

[Mira Nightingale]

Flinching as Verdan’s voice turned harsh, Mira still couldn’t relax when he brought it down to a more manageable level. There was still something he wasn’t saying, that she knew very well. Having pushed it to the back of her mind weeks ago, it now came back out of her internal barriers. He had never really told her what he talked to the horses about. He had never really told her what he had started to say way back on that first day they had met. And now, she could sense those underlying words and emotions that he refused to speak, to let loose. Eyeing him, and knowing that her blue-gray gaze spoke magnitudes about her thoughts; she patiently waited for him to elaborate.

A shout sounded nearby and Mira’s eyes flew away from Verdan’s. There was no way that the few servants in the house could have come all this way in so short a time. There were other people there, more people then she could imagine, more people than she had ever predicted. And they were meandering about trying to help put out the flames on the house. Others were looking for her, and their group was divided. One half thought she killed her husband, pushed him into the fire. The other half thought she had run for her life, trying not to be devoured by the flames that could so easily eat away the lives of others.

“Where can I go?” she whispered back, trying to get Verdan to set her down on the ground. She could walk with her disgusting black and blue swollen ankle, and if she was caught then she didn’t want Verdan to be caught as well. She had to face her punishments herself, alone. That was what she had brought upon herself, and that would be what she had to live with.

[Verdan]

As Verdan went through his wave of tone changes, Mira suddenly tensed up. However, when Verdan relaxed once more from his sudden outburst of anger, she did not. She knew. Yes. She knew. Everything that the Scholar tried to keep quiet, tried to crush inside himself was spilling out, falling free for everyone to know. Of course, 'everyone' referred to only the most observant, and those who are at least mildly aware of the situation and seeing as Mira was the only one, 'everyone' referred to only her. No matter. What she knew were only suspicions, only guesses. She knew nothing and Verdan was going to tell her only as much as she knew already. Hah. She actually expected him to admit the fact that he.... admit what? There was nothing to admit. And there never will be. Verdan stared back into Mira's eyes with a blank look of ignorance. What more did she want from him? The mage explained his reasons for helping her. There was nothing more to say.

A shout was heard somewhere close by. Mira tore her eyes away from Verdan's and he mirrored her actions. Swarms of people were coming and they weren't just servants. There couldn't possibly be so many servants in one house, and they all couldn't have gotten here so soon. Many people were milling around the house, attempting to douse the flames, but the amount of people and lack of organization merely got in the way. Everyone was screaming at each other, bumping into one another and causing total chaos. All the better for the pair of heathens. Verdan's face turned into a grimace of determination. He was going to bring Mira to Aesir. Even if it cost him his life. She had many things ahead of her, and Verdan was already a wanted criminal. He may not even be welcomed in the City of the Mages.

Mira mumbled something to Verdan as she struggled against his hold. However, over all the commotion, Verdan merely felt her movement. He felt a powerful rush of adrenaline course through his body. What was he to do? Should he try to blend into the crowd and try to escape? Should he wait until everything settles down? It wouldn't settle down for a while, though. Mira was still struggling. Apparently she wanted to be set down. Tensing his arms, Verdan shook his head in sign of the fact that he was not going to let her go. And he wasn't. He will not lose her again. Not now.

(So... like... uhh... what should I do? It's your plot, after all.)

[Mira Nightingale]

People could be so stubborn. That was one thing Mira realized as Verdan refused to put her down and shook his head to indicate his firm decision. With an annoyed sigh she stopped struggling, but then as he just continued to stand there she swiveled her head around again and managed to bite out, “So if you refuse to put me down, than can you at least get us out of here?”

A lifetime of ordering around servants was in her voice, and it was more a demand than a question. Exhaustion and stress were two key players in her tone, and right now she could think of nothing that she wanted more than a good night’s sleep. Possibly a bath as well, but at the moment sleep was much more appealing.

Eyes swiveled away from Verdan’s once again as she heard a very familiar voice cry out. A response died in her throat as she realized that she couldn’t answer her mother’s cry of distress and pain. There was more in the woman’s cry, though, more guilt and responsibility for the fire than anything else. Pondering that for a long moment, Mira completely forgot Verdan’s lack of a response to her unasked question.

((You’re doing fine. Just post what you want to. You can’t know what’s going to happen to me after all. ^_~))

[Verdan]

((Gah. I need something to build off of. I don't wanna do something stupid and ruin your whole plot thingy. Ah well, if I do, it's your fault.))

The Scholar gave Mira a reproachful look as she emitted a sigh of annoyance and sharply demanded that she be gotten out of there. Clamping her mouth shut rather roughly with his free hand, Verdan hissed at her. "Why don't you scream a bit louder and make sure that we're seen, caught, jailed, and hanged?" His voice fell back down to a gentle whisper as he caught himself in time. This was no time or place to get into an argument, especially with the person he lo-- er... looked at several times today. "Hush," he said mildly, "I'm thinking." After a short pause, he finally decided on his course of actions.

Staying there would be too risky: there are too many people milling around, chances are someone will run by, trip over them, raise the alarm and then the mages would be screwed, if that's a word one is willing to use. Straightening out, and slowly, carefully setting Mira down on her feet he explained his plan. "Alright, listen: this is very risky, but it's the best chance we have. We're an old married couple out for an evening walk. The fire caught our attention so we came to see what was going on. Seeing as we're not much use, we decided to leave so as not to get in the way. Come here." he added, taking a step toward her. He pulled his cloak tightly around her and placed the hood over her head. Wrapping his arm around her waist for support of her hurt ankle, he took the first few steps toward the main road: the only way out.

He took one more glance at her, making sure that the masquerade was completely overshadowing her face. "There. Not even your mother will recognize you now." Almost as if mocking his words, a cry of pain resonated through the air around them. The cry was a woman's, very similar to the one Verdan heard emanating from Mira's mother earlier that day, at the wedding which he crashed. He smiled bitterly, helping Mira along.

[Mira Nightingale]

Sharply closing her mouth, Mira turned her head away from Verdan, pointedly refusing to look at him as he snapped at her once again. She knew that something was bothering him, something that he refused to say, but she didn’t deserve to be yelled at no matter what was flying around his thoughts. Then, as rapidly as he had clamped her mouth shut, his tone turned softer, and more mild, as if he regretted yelling at her again. Well, she wasn’t about to forgive him for acting so stubborn and uncaring!

He had a plan, as well. Humbly allowing herself to be swaddled in his cloak, she resigned herself to following his lead. He was acting so headstrong and seemed to want to be in charge, so she’d just let him. But if he didn’t start acting more to her rather exhausted tastes, he was going to be in for hell from her tomorrow.

“Well, aren’t they going to recognize you?” she added after a moment as they neared the exit to the shadowed alleyway. Her parents were there, as she had just heard her mother freaking out. Both of them, as well as several nobles outside, were at the wedding. Everyone knew Verdan’s face, now. He was… he was… a criminal. She realized that after a long heartbeat, and the thought sent her mind working once again. Not only was Verdan a criminal, now, though. She was as well. Vidar would be out for their heads, both of them. Avaren was no longer safe. So where could they go? The word came to her rapidly, but she swallowed her doubts. She was a heathen, and now only Aesir would be safe… if it really existed.

((Just get us to Aesir, lol. How you do doesn’t matter.))

[Verdan]

Mira turned away from Verdan dejectedly, obviously upset about him snapping at her. Though it was necessary, seeing as it was not exactly in Verdan's best interests to get slaughtered by psycho warriors and nobles. So, pushing aside the thought for the moment, the Scholar concentrated on more vital matters. Like getting the hell out of there.

“Well, aren’t they going to recognize you?”

"Who is there to recognize me? None of these people have ever seen me before, except for maybe your father. Plus, it's dark, so nobody will be able to see my face anyways. You're different, seeing as it's not verty often that people walk around on the streets in tattered nightgowns, y'know?" he spoke with logic, his words obvious. Leading Mira through the crowd, doing his best to support most of her weight, Verdan kept his head down, hiding his face, in case his logic was somewhat flawed. Avoiding Mira's relatives was not much of a problem seeing as they were all looking for her, running around haphazardly. Why would anyone notice a couple peacefully walking away from the scene? Typical ignorant commoners...

Clearing out of the area of danger, Verdan cautiously led Mira to a nearby bench and sat her down. "Alright, you live here. How do we get out? I was lost since a while ago. You're lucky I wandered over here... Otherwise you'd probably be lynched right about now..." he sighed. "Are you alright? Ugh, of course you're not alright. You need to see a medic, a healer, a priest. Aesir is the best place to go at the moment, they'll patch you up in no time. Now all we have to do is get there without getting killed in the Outer Territories and get out of the gate without getting caught. But you need rest." Verdan looked over her beat-up figure with much concern. "What do you want to do? I don't know if you can go on in this condition...." he said worriedly.

[Mira Nightingale]

OOC:

Due to the fact that Verdan deleted himself, and is now back, but not… an official RPer, I guess you could say, I have decided his fate! MUHAHAHAHAHA…. ahem.

Anyways, if anyone is even reading this, then Verdan and I escaped, but got caught on the way to Heaven’s Altar. Verdan held off the mob so I could escape, and the mob eventually slew him. So… bye bye Verdan.

UPDATE:
Verdan said, in a PM:

Alright, seeing as I'm hated here now by most people, methinks I'm gonna leave. So, like, consider the Silk something thingy thread my last on this site. I'll get Verdan killed on the way to Aesir w/ Mira or something. So enjoy while you can.

[DEMIGODDESS]

Ok, Mira, I hope you asked him about killing his character. We know that Verdan left, however:

admin said:

-=NO God RP-ing=-

Also, remember that there is no killing characters without the owner's mutual consent, unless under certain circumstances in which they are clearly attempting to abuse this rule. After all, saying a character is dead is, in essence, saying how a character is reacting to the given situation and thus god RP-ing.

Just because he left does not give you permission to violate that rule.


Unless you have an agreement with Verdan (if so please modify your post and state you do.), either ask him, or come up with another way that he is no longer involved with your character.



UPDATE: Thanks for clarifying, Mira