Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

[Ronin]

---

Ronin sat quietly and watched as Ariana moves to the vanity in front of him and pulls out a purple nightgown. Her eyes met his gaze and she glides to another room disappearing behind a wooden screen. She reappears a moment later dressed in the long, purple nightgown which clung to her petite body, her dark silken hair extending to her waist. He studies her every move not unlike a predator watching their prey as she took a washcloth and washed her arms, neck and face. Pulling up her gown, she extended each leg, one at a time, moving the washcloth down her silky skin as if oblivious to the uninterrupted gaze of Ronin watching her every move. She then brushed her hair, finishing with placing it into a single braid. Ronin’s gaze became momentarily interrupted as he noticed the reflection of tiny sparkling spots on her upper back. Fixating his sight, he can make out what appears to be small diamonds on her back.

As he watched the sparkling of the gems on her back, he remembered what brought him to her house earlier that evening. His control had been on edge the entire evening, even from the moment he had seen her lost in thought on her porch and grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder. He had deposited her on the couch and received a scolding by her for it. That gave way to several hours of talking, of which left him even more confused and irritated. One high point was the fact he extended her the position of his personal adviser and she had graciously accepted it with a gentle nod. So engrossed in the conversation, he had lost track of time until dawn was quickly approaching. He suggested to her that he spend the night, she seemed hesitant and he could feel a sense of unspoken fear from his suggestion. She relented and agreed, leading him upstairs to her private chambers which she said were the most secure and safe in the manor. They had stood for several long moments, looking at each other. It went without saying that this was a test of reluctant trust between them as each would be vulnerable to the other and it would have been obvious to any watching that neither were thrilled with the idea.

“Goodnight, Yer Majesty.” Those words breaking his trance, as she walks by him to the bed. Pulling back the covers, she climbed in and pulled the covers over her. As Ariana lay in bed with her back to the outside facing away from Ronin, he quietly approached her. Her braid draped down exposing her neck. “Why does she make this so easy for me,” he said quietly to himself as his fangs start to protrude from his lips and the whites of his eyes turn to crimson. He moves closer to her neck with his fangs protruded fully, and then noticed the tattoo on her back. He stops and begins to examine it.

The tattoo was of a large serpentine dragon with deep blue scales. The scales were tipped in various shades of light blue and teal. The entire tattoo was outlined in black and appeared to have been done by an artist of exceptional skill. It covered her entire back, even beyond the lower edge of her gown beyond the small of her back. The dragon had silver claws made to look as if they were digging into her skin. At various points there are tiny diamonds embedded partially under her skin as if they had been surgically placed with the faceted part visible. In place of the dragon's eyes were flawless star sapphires. These gemstones alone might be worth millions if they were sold on the open market.

Admiring the perfection of the design Ronin and without thinking of Ariana’s reaction to being touched, he gently places his hand over the design and traced it with his fingers. Ariana was fast asleep and oblivious to his touch as he traces the design around her back going over every gem, fascinated by its almost realistic look. Continuing, he traces it down her back past the under curve of her rear and back up to her shoulders and neck. “Enough of this,” he quietly whispers, “I will have my way with you." Instantly his face changed, his fangs fully protruding, eyes turning deep crimson as he moves to her neck to end this once and for all. Then, while lowering his hand down her back he feels something, something that explained why someone so prim and proper would have such a tattoo on their back.

What he felt on her back was much similar to the scar on his side. The tattoo was hiding something. He examined her back more closely, being careful to feel every imperfection upon it. “Torture,” he said quietly as he raised his head up in surprise. These were not just scars of a simple beating, they were much worse. The wounds appeared to have been made to be excruciatingly painful as if they were inflicted to severely torture her, but not kill her outright. The scarring seems aggravated in places as if the wounds had been irritated in some manner before it had healed.

Ronin moved to the open side of the bed and watch Ariana as she slept, wondering what untold horrors has she seen and who would have done this to her. “I will be doing her a favor,” he uttered to himself, convincing himself as he once more leans toward her neck, fangs dripping with the desire to taste her blood. He opens his mouth and begins to lunge toward her neck, and then, he notices a flutter in her leg, her breathing coming faster and faster. She was having a nightmare.

“There is much more I wish to learn about you, Ariana Lenoir. I will not take you this night,” was all Ronin said as he laid down on the open side of the bed and closed his eyes as he sensed the rising of the morning sun.
_________________
"Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc...
We gladly feast on those who would subdue us."

[Ariana Lenoir]

---

Ding.
Ding.
Ding.

The manor's dinner bell chimed downstairs, intruding reluctantly into Ariana's unconscious mind. She lay there with her eyes closed, enticing promises of more sleep broken as her mind sluggishly began to wake. As the bell grew silent, she became aware of the sensation of cold touching her skin. With eyes still closed, her brow furrowed slightly as her mind slowly attempted to wonder why her pillow felt as cold as ice against her cheek. She reached up with her hand to where her head lay, even as she silently resolved to fire the hearth manager for letting the fires die and the manor to become so chilled. As her hand touched what should have been her pillow, she went rigid and tense. It wasn't a pillow.

Her body quivered slightly as she reluctantly opened her eyes. Her room was pitch black. The candles that normally bathed it in a rosy, warm glow had long since burned out, blanketing her in the foreboding darkness. She blinked several times, attempting to adjust her eyes to what little light came through the covered stained glass windows. Only the strong throbbing of her heart against her chest and the hesitant fluttering of her breath seemed to mar the perfect stillness of her body, her body in full fight or flight mode. She listened intently for any sounds, but none reached her ears. Gradually, she began to make out general shapes in her room as her eyes began to adjust. Her eyes focused on the chair at her desk where Ronin should have been. It was empty.

Ariana hesitantly raised her head and looked at where it had laid. Ronin. Ariana narrowed her eyes at his sleeping forum. He looked like a corpse, perfectly serene in the torpor that claimed him as it did every sunrise. He was dressed in dark leather leggings and a black silk shirt. He looked different without the multiple layers of armor that normally protected him. "What is 'e doing in my bed..." she thought to herself, eyes still narrowed. She lifted the covers and looked down at her nightgown, but found nothing amiss in her dress. That knowledge with the fact that nothing felt different led her to the conclusion that she remained untouched. She looked back at him, smirking slightly in the darkness.

She raised herself up slowly as she drew herself into a sitting position next to him. "It would be so easy right now... so easy..." she thought as she studied him with a calculating gaze. She poked his chest with a finger several times, each time more forceful than the last. "Would serve 'im right f'avin the nerve t'think he could jus' crawl int'bed with me..." she whispered. She leaned over her side of the bed and reached under it. Her hand retrieved a polished wooden stake, which she gripped tightly in her hand as she slowly slid off the bed. Epoch's disturbing visit earlier that month had spurned the need for more knowledge of the kindred. It was that particular search which had revealed the stake and it was Epoch's visit that drove her to buy the best one gold could and keep it safely near by as she slept.

She turned the stake over in her hands as she walked to her window, looking outside. The sun was still in the sky, but in the process of beginning its descent into the mountains' shadow. She looked back to Ronin, with first tinges of anger in her eyes. She went back to the bed, crawling over to him. She smacked him on the chest as she said, "Wake up." Silence.

Taking advantage of the torpor that blanketed his senses and kept him asleep. Ariana hiked up her nightgown slightly and cautiously straddled his hips, resting her knees on either side as she settled her rear lightly upon the apex of his leather pants. She lightly dragged the stake down his chest, speaking softly aloud as if convinced she had no need of keeping her thoughts silent. "W'at do ye think gave ye the right t'sleep in my bed? I gave ye sanctuary an' ye thought ye could jus' sleep in my bed as if'n I would welcome ye t'ere an' think naythin' o' it? How dare ye. Ye presume t'much young Prince..." She slowly dragged the stake back up his chest, letting it come to rest where his heart should be. She smirked slightly, "The only man whom should be w'ere ye are is my future husband. Ye think I am jus' some dock slut o' one o' those women who pursue ye like a wolf does a rabbit? Ye are so blind t'the attentions o' women t'at it is only a matter o' time before one o' them use ye an' topple ye down from yer precious throne."

She moved both her hands to the base of the stake as if she prepared to lift it and thrust it into his precious heart. "It was with my permission I allowed ye t'spend the evenin' out o' a courtesy an' this is how ye show yer gratitude? Prince o' nay, nay everythin' this world belongs t'ye without earnin' it an' me an' my bed are two o' those things out o' yer reach. I dinnae' want ye t'be in 'ere, but the livin' room is nay safe enough f'ye an' out o' loyalty I could nay leave ye vunerable, but I'll be damned if any man, alive o' nay, is goin' t'displace me from my own bed. Yer self-righteous arrogance is goin' t'get ye killed someday, what better day than now an' 'ave it over with..." She stared down at him, her blue eyes seeming to burn with anger.

Her mind quietly seethed about this breach of etiquette and personal disrespect to her. Silently, she debated the next move and the words, "He could 'ave killed ye as ye slept... or worse, but he dinnae'." seemed to counter each time she almost lifted the stake to plunge it into his chest. She scowled, her knuckles turning white as they tightened their grip on the stake as if in frustration. It was true. If he had wanted to kill her or do anything else, he could have easily and she wouldn't have been unable to stop him. She muttered softly aloud, "I suppose in yer own stupid, primitive way ye were showin' me respect by nay attemptin' t'kill me as I slept. Would it be honorable t'jus' kill ye without ye havin' a chance?"

She continued to talk aloud as her hands relaxed their grip slightly, "Suppose it isn't yer fault... cannae' blame ye f'yer own ignorance an' w'atever barbaric childhood blessed ye with all the manners o' a gorilla. I donnae' know who raised ye, but ye 'ave t'learn some goddamn manners from someone an' it might as well be me bein' t'at ye made me yer personal adviser last night. This probably wouldn't go o'er well with any future clients if'n I off'd ye off nay even a day since I received the position..."

She pulled the stake back, resting it on the purple silk that draped over her right thigh. "Course I could use this as a tool t'secure me a much better adviser position with one o' yer enemies. Only ye an' I know o' the acceptance o' the position by me. I wonder w'at Sanctus o' the Protectorate would grant me if'n I delivered ye all staked t'them." She smirked down at him, reaching up and tapping him on the head with the stake as raised her voice slightly, "See Ronin? This is why ye need me. I think 'bout things, I can see things ye donnae'. If'n I 'ad been an assassin, ye'd be staked an' out sunbathin' by now. The risk t'my life would 'ave been worth it considerin' the pay off... deliverin' the Prince t'the protectorate all staked and wrapped up neatly in a bow an' yer precious clan ye care 'bout would topple under the chaos."

She tapped the tip of the stake to her lips with her right hand. "Of course I wouldn't be so careless as t'stake ye through the shirt... t'at would be evidence against the betrayal especially when it was nay yer armor t'at was pierced as well." She used her free hand to slowly work his shirt up to uncover his chest, "It would lead any o' yer clan whom found ye t'suspect someone ye felt comfortable enough t'remove yer armor f', which would most likely lead them t'a woman given yer current romantic prospects. While it would be a good chance the drow woman o' the matriarch would lead their suspicions, it would be messy on my part t'leave any chance o' it bein' traced back t'me."

After a minute, she had succeeded and she let her eyes drift down to look. She frowned slightly, pausing as she saw the horrendous scar from what appeared to be from a devastating bite wound. This was unexpected and Ariana paused to study it quietly. It was several minutes before she spoke again, "Seems ye are nay as weak as I 'ad presumed t'survive such a horrific wound. The way I 'ave ye seen yer kind heal themselves, chances are this happened when ye were mortal which makes it far more impressive." She reached up and gently pulled his silk shirt back down, "It seems we both share a painful past t'at we keep hidden from others." She studied his face a moment thoughtfully, "Perhaps I was t'hasty in judgment regardin' yer qualifications. Ye need t'find balance an' 'elp t'keep yer power. Ye 'ave promise an' if'n I am mistaken, I am sure I will 'ave a future opportunity t'correct it..."

She slowly straightened his silk shirt, smoothing it gently against his skin. Sliding from his still body, she crawled carefully over to her side of the bed. Reaching down, she replaced the stake back in its resting spot underneath and gracefully got off the bed. She glided to the window, peeking outside. The sun was beginning to dip below the mountain peaks and nightfall was imminent. She quietly walked back to the bed and climbed under the covers on her side. She laid her head down on her pillow and watched him silently as she waited for night to come and for him to awaken... alive and whole... well, ... whole anyways...
_________________