Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

Adrian Bishop · Adventurer Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 95

“Think what you’re doing, Lainey,” Adrian pleaded as he knelt before the girl. She sat in a tapestry-draped wooden chair, knees hugged tightly against her chest. She rocked slightly forward and back, eyes a wild silver-blue by lanternlight. She looked straight ahead, unblinking, never sparing a glance down at him.

Hot tears veiled Adrian’s eyes. He knew that Lainey had so much to offer. She was warm and charming, intelligent, funny, and refined. It never made sense that she would fall in love with a gypsy. But as destiny would have it, he was braiding wildflower circlets and wrapping them with ribbons one day as she perused the local market. She was a young woman of privilege, not the type who usually gives a second glance to a twenty-year old gypsy selling wildflowers.

But she had. Her long golden hair fell in cascading ringlets down her back, and they bounced gleefully as she laughed and talked with Adrian throughout the afternoon. When the time came for her to return home, they parted reluctantly. She loved poetry and had a voice that entangled the heavens with the here and now. And when stood just so, in the brilliant glow of the sunset, she looked like an angel. Her features were soft. She didn’t fit the waiflike mold that high society demanded, but dressed to accentuate her curves. Adrian sometimes found himself distracted even by the tilt of her head, or the curve of her neck. She was a woman in every single way, and she carried herself as such.

She was a woman with daemons. They spent every waking moment together for months, and Adrian saw her fall into depression again and again. They could be laughing one moment, and she could fall into despair the next. She always said she didn’t know why, and Adrian had no reason to doubt her. He wondered sometimes if some ancient magic prevented her from ever being truly happy. Could any spell be so hurtful, so powerful? He knew in his heart that it could. But those moments when she was lucid and ecstatic in his company – those moments were worth every tear, every tempestuous heartache he endured with her.

And so had begun this night. This night, of all nights. This night, when she had come to his tent in the purple twilight, taking him by surprise. She wore nothing but her chemise and padded barefoot inside where he lay on his bedroll, reading by lanternlight.

“Are you sure this is what you want, Mi Vida?” Adrian took her hands and kissed them, then looked into her eyes. “We can wait until our wedding night. You are my world, and it is only a few short months until the Sol Invictus. You needn’t throw away your reputation on a single night of desire.

Lainey smiled dreamily, leaned in, and kissed him slowly. Then she whispered into his ear. “My reputation be damned. You will be my husband, and I your loving wife. Isn’t time just a technicality?” She winked, leaning back and allowing her chemise to slip off one shoulder.

Adrian Bishop · Adventurer Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 95

Adrian’s heart ached as Lainey blushed in her attempt at seduction. He didn’t know anyone could love so deeply as he did, and he smiled broadly at the vision before him. “Will you be my bride tonight then, My Love? We can go to the priestess, even now.”

Something changed in Lainey’s eyes. They emptied of emotion, as he had seen so many times before. She sank onto the chair and curled her knees to her chest. Adrian struggled to discern what he might have done wrong.

“You shouldn’t knit your soul to mine so readily, Adrian,” Lainey chided. “You see what I am, what my life is. You could never be happy for the rest of your days with someone like me, always worrying, wondering when I’ll crack next. Please don’t make me watch you hurt that way day after day until you are as hollow as I am.”

Adrian was dumbfounded. “Lainey, you are my life. This…” he gestured to an aura around her…”This is not you. This is your affliction. I love you not in spite of this, but because of it. And because of all else that makes you who you are.”

Lainey smirked slightly and continued to rock. “I won’t let you hurt because of me. I won’t let you lie awake some distant night and wonder why you ever fell in love with me.” With this, she finally ceased rocking and looked down at Adrian. Her eyes were again filled with emotion, but they brimmed with tears.

“Think what you’re doing, Lainey.”

She stroked her hand lightly down over Adrian’s rusty blonde hair, pausing to look at the tiny silver feather charm that dangled from a single thin braid. She held it in her palm, watching it glitter in the lantern’s glow. “I know what I am doing, Adrian. I’m setting you free.”

Adrian rested his forehead against her knees, his soul agape, torn wide open. He shook his head, feeling the warmth of his tears as they soaked her chemise. Lainey must have wept too, as he felt her hand leave his hair. She jolted, a muffled sob perhaps, as the gravity of her words finally struck her. She gasped, nearly choking.

Adrian raised his head to look into her eyes. There had to be something he could say. But her eyes were fixed on the ceiling of the tent, which only thinly veiled the stars that shone down on a moonless night. The front of her chemise was soaked with blood, and a black dagger was clutched tightly in her hand.

“No. No Lainey, no no no…” Adrian’s heart beat in his ears as the blood poured down over her chest. Her throat was slashed wide open, and a look of panic had beset her face. She jolted again, making motions as if to swallow, or to gasp for breath. Her chest heaved thrice, and then it was done.

Adrian pried the hateful dagger from her hand and gave it only a quick glance. He wiped the blood from the blade with the girl’s chemise and noted an inscription on the blade. Night’s Kiss. Adrian threw it into a chest at the corner of his tent and buried his face against the crimson, blood-soaked bosom of his Love. “Mi Vida, Mi Vida, Mi Vida…” Adrian repeated the phrase against her warmth, even as it slipped away. Time had no meaning, and the night closed in on him as he held her, finally, mercifully, stripping his consciousness away and allowing him the sweet relief of slumber.