Re: The Aftermath ... {Open, but please read prologue}

by Venis Jordianthan Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:52 am

It had not gone unnoticed that the traveler had not flinched when Venis approached, not that she would have killed him if he had. But there was a chance that physical contact would have resulted, with possible injury to him. But they had moved past that. And here he was saying that she wasn't ready to be helped. Helped with what? She had asked him a question twice already, and neither time did she get a straight answer. Which was a bad thing.

There was only so much cute and coy and aloof Venis could handle, in her normal state of being. But Venis wasn't in her normal state of being, so her tolerance of such things was even smaller. Venis was irritated, cranky and frustrated. So coy was just not the thing to be. Which would be why, if he made it to the door, he would find it not locked, but sealed. Nobody in, nobody out. Not until she was ready for that to change. She had more to say.

Without even so much as a bend of her knee, she rose from her sitting position to one of standing, ankles uncrossing to rest her feet upon the floor. The room would get warmer as her cloak rose up off her and to her throne of its own accord. A slight breeze, maybe only felt by her, began to blow her hair back from her face. The slightest trickle of flames ran up her arms from her fingertips. Her metal bikini being her only cover at this point.

With a clearing of her throat she spoke. "Monsieur, I would like to request that you give me a straight answer to my question." Her accent becoming rather thick as she strained to keep the anger from her tone. "I asked you, what it was that you thought I needed your help with. I said that I did not see anything wrong with the 'feel' of my Keep, I did not say that I saw nothing wrong with anything. Please do bear that in mind." She was not done yet.

She moved forward and slightly to the right the space of seven steps. With the cloak now gone, one could see the way that one foot pressed to the floor in front of the other as she walked. The gentle sway of her hips as she moved now became obvious. Once vampiric tricks to catch the eye of prey, now they were as natural to her as breathing was to mortals. Slightly up on her toes as she walked, one might be able to tell that she was used to high heels.

When she came to a stop, she placed her right hand on her hip. Her left side was in his direction, her left arm placid at her side. Small flames still dancing up her arms to dissipate at her shoulders. Her spiraled crimson locks spilled down her back and out behind her feet by over twenty-four inches at this point.Her head lowered and slightly turned to the left, she looked towards, but not at him. It was all in an attempt to remain calm and not loose control.

When she spoke, her voice was thick with a French accent, and was an octave lower than previous. "Now, I have been very calm, and very patient with you up to this point. I answered your questions for you, I took no offense to your implications that my Keep and it's residents were somehow lacking something. Nor did I take offense when you came right out and said that I had nothing, when you know nothing of what I do have." All of these being facts.

Her voice rose in volume slightly. Perhaps one decibel, or maybe two, if one was in tune to such things. "This little ... Interview has become quite accusatory and is bordering on insulting. I know not if you were hoping to flare my temper or not, but rest assured, you have done exactly that. I was in the middle of something when you knocked upon my door. I granted you an audience that I did not have to. And for that, you choose to play coy with me?"

A slight shift in her weight was made, resting more on her right leg. Her head rose to make eye contact with him. "I will tell you this. I did not come out here for any reason, I am not usually needed here. And perhaps that is because I spoil my employees and their families. But they are safe here. And they are free to come and go as they please, free to worship any God, Deity, or Idol they choose, free to speak their minds and be heard. No one is bound here."

Though that last sentence might not have held the usual ring of truth at that moment, given she had sealed the room, she continued. "So think what you will of the safety and freedom of those within these walls, for I know the truth, as do they all." Her anger making itself known through her tone. "And as far as not seeing anything wrong with anything, as I just stated, I did not come out here for a reason. So feel free to presume it was not by choice."

Now was the time to watch her tongue. "So what I find wrong, monsieur, is the fact that I am here at all. I was, just days ago, at an Inn. I was in the company of friends and family and was dealing with the things that I needed to deal with. Which happened to include a certain amount of gaiety and child's play for a moment. And when I thought it time to retire for the eve, I found myself here, instead of my intended destination." A pause to think.

The dated terminology of what she was using wasn't even registering to her ears as she spoke. That was how upset she had become. "And given that I ended up here, rather than where I had intended, I have been trying to leave. But so far, my efforts have failed. I have other idea's on how to accomplish my task, but they were postponed in order to grant you your requested audience. So since I have given you time, you can give me a straight answer."

The conversation had veered. A slight turn of her body as she now faced him straight on, wherever he had been standing. She was headed back to her original question. "So, what I need is to know why I was brought here, and why I cannot portal out when I am needed elsewhere." She had left that part out up to that point. A Freudian slip. "Neither of which you could help me with I am sure." Not that she would ask a stranger to help with such anyway.

She took a deep cleansing breath in an attempt to calm herself. Her flames had been growing little bits at a time. "So, I would like an answer to my question so that we may both move on with our lives. After all, I need to see if I can't get back to work, and I am sure you have other worshiped beings to harass." She chose a new way to phrase her question. "What need is it, exactly, that you believe you could likely help me with, monsieur?" Asked again.

by RusDring Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:53 pm

---- If he was going to take anything from this meeting, something that he had learned is that this goddess liked to talk. A lot. He never fully understood why people used so many words to relay a simple message. Why they felt the need to tell their tale to people who asked how they were doing or any other simple questions.

---- Simplicity. Perhaps people like her - for she was not the only one he has encountered who liked to talk, did so because they needed someone to share with. Needed to hear themselves talk so that they can sort out the things that were jostling around in their own heads. Or maybe they only wanted people to know everything about them that they could tell at that moment. She didn't tell him her life story but she had told him alot about her self that he hadn't even asked for. There is an old saying about loose lips . . .

---- Unfortunately, because he had turned in the direction of the door he missed the motion of her movement. There was a slight twitch of his ear as he heard the clothing fall from her form and take its rest upon the floor but he did not turn from the door. His own posture was relaxed but the emotion in his eyes that was hidden from her was slightly repeated. If she felt as though she had been repeating herself then he was feeling that she didn't hear a word that he said and that this trip had been wasted in general. She had all these excuses - there was no other word for him to call them - but nothing was relevant. Still, he would have a bit of patience. "I cannot tell you what you need, that was for you to do." Perhaps it would be clearer this time around.

---- "I said I can help you, in what? That is why I asked what you needed. If you need no help then you do not need me."

---- His words were said without a turn from the door. His left hand lifted, a finger in the air as a symbol of pause. "However, you said you don't know how to get back to where you were. The answer to that, unless it's on another plane of existence, is to walk." Ride a horse, take a carriage, whatever suited her fancy. Trying to leave, that was a laugh that would be made funnier if she was physically unable to leave her own home by any means other than the use of her abilities. Sometimes those with wealth or power forgot how to do the simple things.

---- "I'll show you. Open the door and we'll both walk out." She wanted him to leave, his time here was over, he told her why he couldn't answer her question, there was nothing else to be done but leave.

by Venis Jordianthan Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:43 am

It was fine that he had missed the walk. Venis wasn’t trying to use it against him. It really had just become her walk over the hundreds of years. And she did like to talk. Especially when she had too much on her mind, like she did now. By putting a voice to her thoughts, she was forcing herself to make them make sense. So it might have been unfortunate for this traveler that he was on the receiving end of her ranting, then again, maybe he learned something he might have wanted to know. Or something that could come in handy at a later time. She had been careful, nothing she had said was anything that people couldn’t easily find out from her or about her.

As she stood there listening to his responses to her latest rant, things did start to make more sense to her. Things in regards to him at least. So he was basically saying that he was there to help her, and wanted to know what she needed help with. Which sounded rather suspicious to her. But she was supposed to tell him what she needed and if he could help, he would consider doing so. She got that now. And she might have gotten it earlier had she not been so frustrated and irritated with other things and had been thinking clearer. So her distractions made her a little dense. She needed to be more careful of those things. It could become rather dangerous.

So as he was nearing the end of what he had to say, which was far less than she, as it had been throughout the entire ‘visit’, she found her posture changing again. She turned her side to him. Her left arm crossed her stomach, her right hand covered her mouth. All traces of anger left her face and her body was less stiffened. Though she still stood with her back straight. Too many years of doing just that. She was almost ready to correct him in that she did not say she didn’t know how to get back, just that she didn’t know why she couldn’t get back. But his answer to her problem caused her to bust out in a fit of laughter. True laughter with a twinkle to her ice blues.

It actually took her a moment to regain her composure. She could not remember the last time that she had laughed that hard. The blood tears were welling up in her eyes and threatening to fall. But she somehow managed to speak, eventually. “I am truly sorry. I mean no offence. It honestly isn’t that I was laughing at you. It’s just that … Well, I had been thinking that in order to leave, I might just have to physically walk out the front gates. And as that thought was starting to take shape in my thoughts, I was informed of your arrival. It just stuck me as funny. Please don’t think that I was laughing at you. Just the timing of it all.” She faced him once again.

The flames that had been dancing up her arms flickered out. She reached her right hand up over her head and snapped her fingers. There was a twinkling and sparkling effect that rained down from her fingers to cover her and swirl around her. As it ran down her body, clothes began to form. Her hair went up into a ponytail atop her head, and an off the shoulder black gown with short puffy sleeves and a belled skirt covered her frame. Six inch high stiletto heeled pumps formed on her feet as well. If he happened to look, that would have been what he saw. But once again, it wasn’t something she was trying to use against him, she was just getting dressed.

Once she was dressed, she waved her hand in the direction of the main door. Had she sealed all three? Of course she had. But it was irrelevant as the other two were obscured by the shadows and he might not have even noticed them. “After you.” The doors would open easily now, if he cared to try them. She moved towards them, and if she reached them first, she would open them. And she would then step out into the courtyard. She had no worries of the time of day, her Godhood caused her to no longer be allergic to sunlight. She still preferred the darkness, but she could survive the day. And once outside she would face the day, what was left of it.

She saw that there was a horse tied to the hitching post along the East wall. Without looking to see how close to him she was she spoke. “Beautiful animal. Yours I presume.” After all, he had gotten here somehow, yes? And the equine wasn’t hers. So unless someone else had come, it made sense that it was his. “I can portal within the Keep. I can get you back to the gate in seconds if you wish.” If he agreed to such, she would open the portal once they were across the drawbridge. If he chose to ride along at the pace that had brought him here then she would choose to simply walk. If he stayed with her, she would walk all the way to the front gate with him.

by RusDring Wed Jul 28, 2010 2:40 pm

---- Right.

---- She was just getting dressed the same as he was just an ordinary man. In his experience a person didn't stand in a person view to get dressed unless they wanted to be noticed and the way she went about dressing with the flash and sparkly light show was attention getting. He had felt the heat of the flames die down - how could he not when she was standing next to him - and turned his eyes only a little to catch a glimpse of the effects of her finger snap before attention was directed back to the door. She was a goddess and part of that package deal may have been that she couldn't do anything without there being a type of show. He had seen others go about without so perhaps she was bored and the flash helped to amuse herself.

---- No offense was taken with the laughter - she could laugh if she wanted to and think as she would about him - and her asking of apology got a little more than a shrug of his shoulders. "There's nothing to be sorry for." Once the door was unlocked his opened it so she wouldn't have to and held it for her to step through. The light outside caused the usual reactionary effect it would when it was brighter than the place a person came from. A small squint of the eyes coupled with a fractional turn of his head before everything returned to normal. Nothing else was said from him as they progressed.

---- Once he reached his horse he took up the animals head in his hands as it gave a huff or two before settling down. The traveler's hand moved across his horses face and neck in long and even strokes, his mouth moving closely to the animal, the horses ear even down shifted and its head lowered as thought it was getting in better position to listen to the unspoken words.

---- Unhitching his horse as he listened to her words and question. A hand was on the reigns to give the horse a pull, he wasn't going to get on and ride. Now was when he looked at her again though his eyes stayed on her face and didn't look her over or anywhere else. "My legs are not broken and I am not lazy. I will walk just as I have been." He had no need for flashy shows or extravagant ways of travel. If she wanted to shorten her time then she had no need to be slowed by him.

---- "As you were already leaving do not let me hold you up." Putting a voice to the thought in his head before he started to walk with his horse. "Thank you for your time."

by Venis Jordianthan Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:44 am

But she was just getting dressed. She had already been standing there in nothing more than a metal bikini, so to add clothes over it was less than actually changing clothes in front of the man. As far as the little show went, her bedroom was on the second floor. It was a combination of laziness and not wanting to hold him up that caused her to add her clothing in such a way.

But now they were making forward progress towards the drawbridge. It had been left down during his visit, so there was no need to wait for it to fall. Her heels would click as she walked across the stones of the courtyard floor. Because, despite what some may or may not think of her, she did actually walk. And that gentle, smooth, sway of her hips was even more present.

As she moved slowly across the courtyard, and he got reacquainted with his mount, she heard his answer to her question of a portal. A smile tugged at the corners of her crimson lips. “Actually, I was more worried of slowing you down. I tend to move rather leisurely in heels.” The roads in the Keep weren’t paved and her heels sank into the ground when she walked across it.

He added a thank you. Something he didn’t have to do, it was pure politeness. As was his earlier holding of the door for her. She had an appreciation for such chivalry. “No need to thank me. But you are welcome.” She had been the one thanking him before, for the door, and now he had thanked her. Such civility between strangers. Something which was usually hard to find.

She felt the need to put voice to an offer that she didn’t usually make to someone who had made her unsettled, even if it was only for a moment. “You are welcome back any time.” It was a bona fide offer. After all, even though he had made her uneasy, he had not harmed her or any within her Keep. So there was no legitimate reason to ask him politely to never return.

The sound of her heels changed when she walked across the wood of the downed drawbridge. It became more of a clunk than a click. And once off the drawbridge on the other side, it would become muted by the soil road. If he was near her, or even along side her, she would discover such if he spoke or if she caught glimpse of him out of the corner of her ice blue eyes.

If he chose to keep pace with her, she figured that they could either travel in silence, or find something to talk about. Perhaps he had more questions of her, or maybe he had a tale of his own to tell. She was rather curious of the rings as he had hid them from her view the moment he saw her catch glimpse of them. Maybe the lovely silver adornments would be discussed?

by RusDring Sat Jul 31, 2010 9:43 am

---- When he had thanked her for her time he was meaning that she did not have to bother herself with him anymore. He had come her with a purpose in mind but he wasn't needed so therefore he had no more business there in her Keep. With that done he was on his way to other things outside of here. Perhaps he would find a place to stay for a while. He had no doubt that the people here would take care of him if he stayed here for another night but the place was such a Utopian society that it was unreal.

---- How the people here did not go crazy was a testament and he had the innate urge to kill someone just to break the monotony of peace. However, even if he moved to make such an attempt the deed would be stopped and handled before anything got to serious Venis, this goddess of protection, would ensure that. Therein lay the problem and it was one that she couldn't, wouldn't, or simply didn't want to see or find fault with. She had said so herself: emotions of that kind made her sick.

---- As he was holding on to the reigns he was not hiding the three rings on his fingers and if she were walking on his right side then she would clearly see them. If not...

---- He nodded at her invitation to come back whenever he wanted and nearly sighed. Of course he was welcome back, why wouldn't he be? She didn't know anything about him and yet she was inviting him back whenever he wanted. Yes, he would only nod. If they were walking at the same pace then it wasn't his purposeful doing. He was walking leisurely with his horse and she said that her walk was faster. Technically if she was true to what she said then she would be ahead of him.

---- This traveler wasn't a talker as he was use to spending long periods of time alone and he had asked of her all that he wished to know. Unless he was interrupted he would continue until it was night; if he hadn't reached the gates by then he would rest on the side of the road.

by Venis Jordianthan Tue Aug 03, 2010 12:29 am

She walked along in silence. She was in stiletto heels on a dirt road, so she wasn't moving at her usual pace. No reason to tear up a nice pair of shoes. Besides, it was getting close to dusk. And she so loved watching sunsets. It stemmed from so many years of not seeing them.

She was on his left side, and not his right, so she had no view of his rings. Not that she would have asked of them if she did. She was busying herself with looking around and taking things in. She wanted the residents to think she was out for a leisurely stroll to enjoy the evening.

If they suspected something was wrong, they would all be clamoring to try and help. She didn't want to worry anyone. If the traveler could read minds, he would have known that it wasn't just extreme sadness and pain that made her sick, but extreme joy, pleasure and happiness as well.

So she walked along and just took in the sights. A look to her left reassured her that the fires were still burning at the Forge. By her son's order, they were to never be allowed to go out. She smiled seeing that someone had been keeping up with them. Dre would be happy to know that.

Life was going on around her as if all was right with the world. And she aimed to keep it that way. She stopped at one point to take off a shoe and dump a small stone out of it. This allowed for the traveler to pull ahead of her. When she slipped the shoe back on, she continued on.

She had no reason to try to catch up with the traveler, it wasn't like they had been wrapped up in a conversation or anything. So she continued on her way. She watched the sun drop behind some mountains that were off in the West. They were barely visible over the Keep's walls.

It wasn't quite night time yet, the sun wasn't truly down, just out of sight because of the mountains. There were still children out playing and people running around doing their various jobs. She even stopped to help a little girl, Tracy was her name, tie her little pink tennis shoe.

She could still see the traveler up ahead. Though he was moving farther and farther ahead of her. She paid him no mind as the sky grew darker. He was on his way, and she on hers. If he chose to stop somewhere it was up to him. He would be offered food and drink once again.

Venis wouldn't be as bothered by the people in the Keep as the traveler would. Most of them simply said hello or nodded as they passed her. Of course, she didn't need to eat or drink. Not regular food anyway. So they had no reason to bother her unless they needed her help.

It was dark out, and he had no idea if the traveler had stopped for the night or not. If she had passed him somewhere, she didn't notice. That was due simply because she wasn't looking for him. She could still feel his presence in the Keep though. Everyone had a presence to them.

She was coming up on the second cross road. She was thinking that maybe she should give the streets names. And then a scent caught her attention. A glance to her left would reveal the source of the smell. She saw sparks of light above the houses to the South East of her.

She stood there for a moment and watched. It took her a moment to realize that the little sparks of light were fireworks. The scent was sulfur and gun powder. She continued forward. Some kids were playing with fireworks out at the South East public pool. It wasn't a problem.

Or at least not at first. Another hours worth of travel told her that fuel had been delivered earlier in the day. The fuel was stored in the barns until the next day. Then it was distributed to those who needed it. It was all sitting in trailers in and around the barn, down near the fireworks.

Almost as if she could smell catastrophe on the horizon, Venis began to run. There was only about ninety to a hundred yards between the pool and the barn. And in that space was any number of living beings and creatures. It was mostly pasture. And it was all very dry and flammable.

The teenagers were shooting mostly aerial fireworks. They had 500 gram cakes, repeaters, artillery shells, festival balls, mortars, tubes, fountains, rockets, roman candles, smoke bombs, missiles, parachutes, novelty fireworks, Saturn missiles and many more. Not all of them went high.

The rockets and the roman candles only went so far up. And they were usually still hot when they came back down. This was what worried Venis. Any one of those fireworks could ignite the fumes from the fuel trailers. Which was why Venis ran, as fast as she could, headed for the pool.

But she was too far away, or had smelt the fumes too late. Either way, that one spark did exactly what she was afraid it was going to do. She didn't see it happen, but later she found out that a roman candle ball fell too close to the barn. She did hear the explosion and see the flames.

As she ran, she slit a portal into the air. She ran through it not even bothering to close it behind her. Given that she left it open, anyone, within the Keep, could follow her through it. Which was completely fine with her, because she could use all the extra hands she could get.

She came out of the portal just inside of the fence that surrounded the pasture. She looked over to the kids at the pool. There was a panel in the ground at the side of the pool. It held hoses and a wheel to turn on the water flow. It pulled water from the pool to clean it or whatever.

Each of the four pools had this set up. And the water was needed now. She looked to the teenagers as she yelled. "Get those hoses out and spray down the houses and yards. Now!" No time for pleasantries. She wanted to make sure that they flying sparks didn't spread the fire.

There were already men and women pulling the trailers of fuel away from the flames. They were moving them towards the gates of the Keep, the other end of the pasture. Venis kicked off her shoes and began to move quickly towards the burning barn. She opened her arms to the flames.

The flames were answering her. They bent and danced towards her as she walked into them with open arms. The animals that had been around the barn were running to the other end of the pasture as well. Meanwhile, Venis began to absorb the flames. Taking in the accelerant and all.

There were heartbeats within the barn. And they were frantic ones at this point. Venis began to look for the sources of the heartbeats as she continued to draw the fire into herself. There was a goat that had been tied to a post. A milk bucket was beside it. A touch of the rope freed it.

There were still more living things in the barn. Venis was absorbing the flames as fast as she could. She hoped that none of the kids turned the water towards the barn because the water would spread the fuel and the fire both. Beings were running in to try and get animals out as well.

by Employees of the Goddess Wed Aug 11, 2010 4:38 am

Hearing the explosion, Carol, the dry cleaner, ran out of her shop and saw the Goddess running through a portal. Others were coming out to help as well. The walls of the Keep worked as a sort of valley when it came to sound. Something as loud as an explosion would be heard throughout.

Carol ran over an put her hand through the portal. She wanted to mark it and keep it open so that the others who were running out to help could get through it. In total, seven men and two women took advantage of the portal being open. They came out of the portal to find the chaos at the barn.

Some of the men went to get the hoses from the teenagers. They hopped the fence that was around the pasture and then ran through the gate to the pool. Taking over, they were hosing down houses and yards to protect them from flying sparks from the fire and the falling hot ashes.

The other men, and the women, went to helping the animals escape. No one stood around asking questions or took the time to try to figure out what to do. They just got in there and did what needed to be done. Two sheep came running out of the barn fast with their wool on fire.

Some people came running out of the houses that were nearest the barn. They carried blankets and some even had actual fire extinguishers. Two blankets were thrown over the sheep to put out their flames. They couldn't use water on them because of the fuel that was feeding the flames.

As the flames died down on the barn, Venis could be seen standing there. Her dress and shoes had burned away. She had her hands out to her sides and her head tilted back. She was absorbing the flames as fast as she could. That was when one woman screamed. Someone else was in there.

When the flames were completely out, Venis lowered her arms and bowed her head. Then she dropped to her knees and collapsed on the ground. Employees rushed in to asses the damages. They began to remove the charred remains of the animals that were closer to the edges of the barn.

One man, Greg, went to the Goddess' side and knelt down beside her. He reached out to touch her arm to try and wake her. Her flesh was so hot to the touch that it burnt his fingertips. Taking in a sharp breath through gritted teeth he pulled his hand back. "Goddess, are you ... Alive?"

Everyone was still busy trying to get the animals out. It took four men to remove the remains of a horse. Another four to remove the two cows that had been caught inside. The carcasses were being laid out near the remains of the barn so they could be buried. But there were still more in there.

The middle of the barn was still too hot to go and get animals from. So they worked their way inward, letting the area cool as much as they could first. No one wanted to get burnt trying to remove a dead animal. And the remains of the equipment were all too hot to touch, they were left for now.

With all the shards of metal from the equipment, it made it that much more difficult to remove animals. But that didn't stop anyone from trying. And now people were bringing out water bottles and wet cloths for those who were trying to clean up the mess of charred death that remained.

by Venis Jordianthan Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:00 am

Venis saw the other being within the barn. Unfortunately, she saw them too late. They had already passed on. It was their passing that had drawn her attention to them in the first place. Because the fuel within the flames was making her ill, but she nearly vomited the moment that the life of the being in the barn left his body.

She could see everyone coming and getting animals, and then animal carcasses. Her stomach was in turmoil. She wasn't even sure she could hold on long enough to absorb all the fire. There was far too much fuel in it, and with lives ending around her on top of it. It was a miracle that she held her stomach long enough at all.

When the flames were out she barely had a chance to focus her vision. In fact, it didn't focus. Her arms fell heavy to her sides and her head bobbed forward. With her chin upon her chest she felt her legs give out from under her. She crashed to her knees with a resounding thud. Then she toppled to her side and passed out.

She felt the touch of the one who dared to heat to come to her side. When she heard his words, her eyes fluttered open. They weren't their usual blue. They were completely darkened with a smoke so gray it was nearly black. The fact that it was smoke could be seen with closer examination. If anyone dared that was.

She turned her head and saw the man. He was hopping from one foot to the other as the ground was so hot that it was heating him through his boots. She saw him holding his wrist with his opposite hand. "I am, thank you. Go and get that burn treated. I shall be fine. Sorry to put a scare into you." And she pushed herself up.

As the man ran off to get his burnt fingers treated, Venis moved so that she was back upon her knees. Then she slowly rose to her feet. Her equilibrium was off and she swayed as she regained her feet. She shook her head and blinked a few times. She could still see, but everything seemed to be shaded. She looked around.

When she saw the lifeless body laying upon the floor approximately ten feet away from her, she moved towards it slowly. She didn't want to loose her balance and stumble. She knelt down and scooped the body up, cradled in her arms. Then barefooted and clad in only her metal bikini, she carried the body out of the barn.

She took the charred remains of what had once been someones loved one, and laid them gently in the back of a cart. She spoke not another word to anyone before she went over behind the burnt remains of the barn. Once there she doubled over and threw up. It was loud and there was a lot. But she had to expel the nasty fuel.

She was back there, mostly hidden from view, for nearly five minutes. Between the death and the fuel, she was surprised she wasn't back there longer. When she finally came out from behind the barn, she wiped her mouth with the back of one hand, the other was laid across her abdomen. She walked smoothly, but slowly.

She dared not sit as her flesh was still as hot as it had been when Greg had been burnt. But she did look to the teenagers and motioned for them with her finger. When they came to her, their heads were hung in shame. "You five children will rebuild my barn. And you will care for the burns on all the animals that survived."

She looked down at them, not a one of them being over five foot ten. They were so young. "And that is just your punishment from me. Your parents will still wish to deal with you I would presume. Speak with Ivan about when you are to rebuild. Joshua about the animals." Joshua was the vet for the livestock throughout the Keep.

She dismissed them with the wave of her hand and the clutching of her stomach. They ran off to check on the animals that were all at the end of the pasture. She turned around and looked at the area to survey the damages. It brought a weary sigh from her lips. Just when she was headed out to the main gate, a catastrophe struck.

She shook her head and moved towards the animals that were injured. She chose to not touch anything or anyone as her flesh was still too hot. But she looked over the animals and took stock of their wounds. Joshua had already arrived on the scene and he was starting to care for burn wounds. He was treating humans as well.

She made note that she needed a physician or a healer on call for the Keep. She had never thought about it before, because Tasha had always been able to come when she was needed, or Venis herself. After all, she had attended medical school more than once. Boredom for Venis usually meant going back to college for a while.

She sighed and shook her head. She was so upset over the loss of life. Both animal and human. To her it had seemed needless. But she couldn't simply undo what had happened. For one, she couldn't turn back time. For two, she didn't resurrect animals. And for three, she didn't have the soul gem of the human to resurrect them either.

She walked over to Greg, given he had been the one willing to brave the heat to check on her. "Let me know when the funeral is. I have to go burn off this fuel and settle my stomach. If anyone needs me, I will be in my throne room." She smiled wearily at him and turned to walk back to the castle. She was too sick to leave.

It was a shame that such an innocent act as lighting off fireworks had to end in such a tragedy. The children should have been supervised, and she thought to punish the parents as well. She would decided that later. As well as posting a sign disallowing fireworks at the Southern pools. Now, she just wanted to feel better.

by Venis Jordianthan Fri Sep 24, 2010 3:04 am

Eros had finally had enough of waiting for Venis, he knew that she needed some space, but normally it was only for a day or so. Now it was going on day 5 … Well that was a different story. So he closed his eyes looking for her. When he finally sensed her she was still at her keep. So he got dressed and disappeared, reappearing at the front gate. It was there that he waited for someone to speak to him.

Ernesto sensed someone popping up outside of the gate. He went to the window to see who it was. Shock and a slight bit of fear consumed him when he looked out the window and saw the God Eros standing there. He immediately started to open the doors. "Good day to you Lord Eros." He moved from the window to yell out the door. "Ready Spartan for Lord Eros." The mount was pulled from the pasture and saddled. While the horse was being prepared to ride, the huge doors were opening to let Eros in. Ernesto was back at his window quickly. "Pleasure to see you M'Lord. I have ordered a mount for you so you may have a speedy trip to the castle." He wanted to make sure that Eros got to the castle quickly.

God's had wraths that were far worse than those of man. Ernesto didn't want anyone to feel Eros' wrath if he got irritated taking almost twenty-four hours to get to the castle. So he would be offered one of the fastest Transylvanian Thoroughbreds within the Keep to get him there in about one forth the time.

He just raised his eye brow a little and he gave a little chuckle. It was funny when humans saw him and they got a look of fear in them. He was the God of Love not the God of Stare At Me Wrong and Die. But none the less, he just nodded at the man and walked into the gated area. "Thank you, and it was not needed to rush for me, I am here as a guest nothing more." He walked up to the horse looking at him and smiled. He put his hand on the horn of the saddle and lifted himself up. "There we go." He smiled a little as he moved the horse around for a moment. "Well you all have a good day. And take it easy.“

Ernesto sighed with relief and sank down into his chair. Then he realized that the gates were still open. So he got up and cranked them closed again. Then he peeked his head out of the door to talk to the man who had prepared the horse. "I know he wasn't mad, but I didn't want us to be the ones who made him angry. Ya know?" The other guy nodded and began to put things away. Ernesto resumed his position in his gate room.

He walked his horse on the road just taking in the sights. It was then that he looked down speaking to the horse. "Well we have two options, the first one being that you run up to the castle to get me off your back or we can go at this pace and get there when we get there. I am in no rush." He patted the side of the horses neck. He saw the remains of a barn off to the East. It looked like it had burned down. And from the smell of it, it hadn’t been too long ago. He spoke to the mount again. “Well, she’s going to be in a lovely mood. Either she did it, or she’s going to be mad that it even happened.” He chuckled about that.

The horse just continued to move at the leisurely pace. He was in no hurry either. The horses were bred for the purpose of speed, but sometimes it was nice to just move along at a nice leisurely canter. So unless the God upon his back was going to hurry him along, canter he would do. Even taking time to pause for employees crossing the road. He did move a little faster though when he saw a woman with a basket of fruits, plenty of big red apples on top.

He felt the horse move a little bit faster so he scanned the area. He saw the woman with the apples and saw how the horse was darting over to her. He chuckled and smiled. "I see what you are after, just give me a few and I will get a few for you." He waited until they got closer. "Excuse me miss."

The woman stopped and looked up at the man who was addressing her. Turned out, it wasn't a man at all, at least not a mortal one. It was the God Eros. Everyone, or at least almost everyone, within the Keep knew him. As well as a few other God’s who frequented the region. "Yes, how may I help you Lord Eros?" She smiled brightly at him. He was so handsome. She straightened her back a little as she looked up at him. The roundness that was already straining against her bodice looked ready to overflow.

He smiled as he looked at her. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was on a mission, granted a slow moving one, he would have seen about having his way with this fair lass, but now was not the time. "Would it be possible to get a few of those apples that you have there to give to this horse?" He just smiled again at her.

His smile made her legs quiver. She smiled even more. "But of course sir." She took two apples in her free hand and reached up to give them to him. His scent was intoxicating. She closed her eyes as she breathed him in. Once he had the two apples, she took a third one and fed it to the horse from the palm of her hand. As the horse ate the apple she looked up to him again. "My name is Janice, Lord. If you require anything else, please feel free to let me know." She pulled a slip of paper from the pocket of her apron and a pencil. She wrote her name and number down and handed it to him. "Have a lovely day sir." She smiled at him again, and there was a whole lot of flirtation in that smile.

He smirked as he moved his hand over to reach for her number, yes he would keep it in mind and just to let her know about his interest, as soon as his fingers touched her hand a small burst of lust and pleasure coursed through her body. And since she was holding the basket, his other hand made it lift into the air, that way the apples and things inside would not spill from her almost sitting down right there on the road. "Thank you very much and I will keep that in mind." With that he moved his fingers away and smiled at the lady. "You have a good day, ok?" With that he would start to trot away on the horse.

There was no almost to it. That burst of lust and pleasure dropped the woman to her knees with a sigh. A very content sigh. She didn't even notice her basket levitating or lowering to the ground slowly. "Ok." Spoken in a very soft and breathy voice. Then she cleared her throat. "Um, I mean yes, yes sir. You too." She sighed again as he rode away and fell to her side on the ground.

He just smiled as he looked around. "Man do I love my title." He chuckled again. Yes being the God of Love really had its advantages. But there was here nor there so he just kept on going down the road, every once ina while he would give the horse a piece of the apples that he had with him.

The horse was appreciative of the apples. He even made sure that he moved at a decent pace. That way it would only take about twelve hours to get to the drawbridge rather than almost a full twenty-four.

Here and there he saw many people, some running from him others getting closer to talk to him. There were even more women who gave him their numbers and names. He was polite and took the papers and put them into one of his pockets. Yes this happened everywhere that he went. And he did not care one bit.

When they arrived at the mote, Spartan stopped. He was close enough to the call box for Eros to simply dismount and use the box. And of course, being a well trained mount, he would stand there waiting patiently.

He smiled as he patted the horse. "Thanks for the ride." He gave the horse the rest of the apple. He got off the horse and smiled. "Go ahead and head back, I should be good here." He patted the horse again before he went to he box, picked up the receiver, and pressed the button.

Spartan took the rest of the apple and munched on it. When Eros told him to head back he shook his head. If Eros didn't want to take him into the castle, that was fine, but he was going to hang out here in case he needed a ride back to the gates later.

When the buzz of the call box was heard in the gate room, Robert shook his head. "Another guest." He picked up the phone. "Yes, may I help you?" He sounded perfectly polite on the phone, even though he was having a bad day.

He just smiled as he looked the horse before looking back at the speaker. "Hi.....my name is Eros and I am here to speak with Venis." He was waiting for the response that came next.

Robert's eyes widened and he was silent for a brief moment. "Um, forgive me Lord Eros, but uh, I fear her wrath more than I fear yours. So if you could be so kind as to give me a moment? I will check with her and see if she will receive you." He waited for permission before setting the phone down.

He gave a light chuckle. "That is fine by all means. I can wait here." He was not going to say ‘let me in or else‘. So he just waited until he was allowed to enter.

Robert set the phone down and ran, as fast as he could, to the throne room. He knocked as he pushed the door open. "Um, Goddess, ummm. Eros is here." Again he tried to sink his head into his shoulders like a turtle.

Venis stopped pacing and sighed. She shook her head no as she spoke. "Let him in." And she waited for the door to close. "Damn, I'm never going to figure this out with all these distractions." And she started pacing again.

Robert ran back to his gate room and snatched up the receiver as he cranked the drawbridge so it would start to lower. "You're in luck sir, as am I, given I lived long enough to tell you that she has granted you audience." The drawbridge was slowly coming down, chains creaking against the weight of the heavy wood. When they were finally down, there would be a thud and the ground would shake slightly.

He smiled, "Thank you, and get some sleep ok?" He walked over the bridge and got half way. He then turned around a looked at the horse. "Well are you coming or you are going to stay outside the castle?" He just smiled waiting for the horses reply.

The horse looked up at him and turned so he could run over to him. He would have stayed outside grazing, but inside he would get attention from employees. So he followed him in. Robert on the other hand. He spoke to himself after he hung up. "Sleep? I wasn't aware I needed sleep." He chuckled. When he saw out the window that Eros and the horse had made it across the drawbridge, he began to pull it up.

As the employees came out of the various doors to start tending to the horse, one of them pointed towards the double doors in the North wall across the courtyard. "The Goddess is in her throne room sir." They brought out a feed bag for the horse and began to brush him down.

He smiled and nodded at them. "Thank you very much." With that he started to walk over to the double doors. Then he moved his hands a little making the double doors open in front of him and close behind him. He was seeing her pace around as he leaned up against the door seal. The smile never leaving his face.

She looked over at the doors when they opened, still pacing. When the doors closed behind him and he leaned against them she spoke. "Hello dear. What can I do for you?" Emphasis on the you. She kept pacing. Her voice was calmer than she had thought it would be.

He pushed off the door and walked over to her. "Actually, I came here for you." He made sure to get as close as he could to her.

Which wouldn't be too close as she was a ball of flames. But here was another man who was here to help her. Which was rather frustrating to her. "Ok, what can you do for me then dear?" Her voice still calm and level. Surprisingly.

He put his hands down and looked at her. " Dear......something is bothering you. What is it?" He walked closer to her.

She kept pacing as she shook her head. "I honestly don't know." She reached up and sliced at the air in front of her. When the little silver line appeared she started to put her hand though it. There was a pop as it snapped shut on her fingers again. "It's been like that for two days now. And no one else can open one for me, well, save for Dre or Kyra." But she wasn't even sure if one of their portals would work at this point.

He just looked at her. "Hm.....that normally does not happen huh?" He closed his eyes as he felt around Venis. "Well from what I see you are unstable for some reason." He put his hands down and looked at her. "Come here dear."

She shook her head. "I can move within the keep, the instability is my frustration. And the fuel from last night when I absorbed that barn fire." She shook her head again. She wasn't willing to extinguish her flames right at that moment. "I was headed out to use the gate when the barn blew up." People had not even bothered to wonder about why she had poofed in but tried to walk out. There hadn’t been time for all that.

His eyes washed over Venis as he looked at her. "I saw the remains of the barn, it looks like it's completely gone. And I am sorry that you are going through this love. Did it have something to do with your family?" He knew that he felt a few people in the Inn for a few moments that were her family. As far as the barn went, he didn't have to ask about the possible loss of life, he could feel the sorrow and sadness throughout the Keep when he was headed to the castle.

She shook her head. "I have no idea. One moment I was hanging out with Dre, Gawain, and Madeline, the next I was here and couldn't portal out." She looked towards the bottle of blood wine that was left unfinished and chose to keep trying to get out. She wasn't exactly hungry at the moment. She was too stressed to eat. Not to mention still nauseous from the fuel and the death that resulted from the fire.

"What exactly happened when they were at the Inn?" He just stood there waiting for her to cool down.

His question caused her to sigh. And that sigh caused her flames to shoot up from her almost all the way to the ceiling. "Well, I popped in to say hi to Gawain when I felt him show up. Then Dre showed up as well, cause you know he and Kyra had rented a cottage. So then Madeline came down, I'm guessing from seeing Andrew, though after Valentine's he probably didn't want to see her. Gawain had turned Dre pink, Madeline turned Gawain into a rainbow Chihuahua, Gawain turned me into a goat and Madeline into a cheerleader, Dre turned Madeline into Paris Hilton, I made Gawain's rainbow colors start to swirl, Gawain turned the lower half of me back to human. I painstakingly undid the rest while they all stood around shooting the breeze with Kyra when she arrived, and I opened a portal to head to bed and ended up here. So see, nothing that would cause me to be trapped." Whatever had her trapped was an outside force that had nothing to do with her playing games with her family.

He listened to the whole thing and the thought of the Adam's family came to mind, but would he say that out loud? Nope. And Inion had told them that it had felt to her like harmless playing. So after taking everything in, he walked around for a few moments coming up with ideas and what not before he looked back at her. "Could it be that you are trapping yourself within the keep?"

She shook her head. "I doubt it. After all, why would I?" This was only her third or fourth trip to the Keep ever. She had avoided it for so many years that she just wasn't in the habit of coming out here, let alone, sticking around.

"Well, with everything that is going on, could it be your subconscious putting the barrier up?" He may not look smart at times, but he had his moments. Hey, after living for so long things due tend to go missing.

She shook her head, pacing again. "I don't think I would trap myself somewhere where I don't really want to be. It wouldn't make sense for me to do so." The thought that she had done this to herself had never crossed her mind. But she was pondering it now.

"Our minds do odd things love, There have been times when people have not gone outside because in their mind something is happening or is going to happen. It is the minds way of protecting its body."

She nodded as she paced, looking like she was lost in thought. But she was still there, she was listening, she was just thinking at the same time. "I know, I've dealt with agoraphobic people before. I don't think that this is agoraphobia though love." She didn't think that she would have that problem. She had no fear of things that could or would happen if she left the Keep. There was so little in the universe that she feared in any way.

He sighed. "Well I do not know love. I am just giving out ideas." With that he took a few more steps closer to her. Granted he could feel the heat coming off of her flames but he did not care. "Love, stop for a moment and come here, ok?"

She shook her head again. "I don't want to burn you hon." She kept pacing. "I know you're just throwing idea's out there. I appreciate it. Honestly, I do." He was giving her food for thought. After all, he was coming up with idea's that she hadn't come up with herself.

"Then why don’t you turn the flames off." He chuckled a little as he waited for her response.

She chuckled. "I guess. For now. I‘m still burning off the fuel from last night‘s fire." She closed her eyes and the flames slowly died down and dissipated. She was left standing there in her metal bikini and her bare feet. The bare feet were unusual for her to say the least. And when the flames were out, the nausea was worse because she was no longer burning the fuel from her system.

He chuckled as he walked over her and he smiled as he put his arms around her. "There, that is much better."

She leaned against him and closed her eyes slowly. That was followed by a soft sigh. "I just don't know what to do." She was so frustrated.

He chuckled a little. "Well, you know I am here for you love." He gave her forehead a little kiss.

She pulled back from the hug and offered a half hearted hug before walking away. "I know, and it means a lot to me that you are." She just wasn't sure what he could do exactly. He couldn't open a portal within the walls of the Keep. And the enchantment used to make that so was not something she could reverse. She always accounted for all possibilities If it could be reversed, someone could potentially find a way to force her to reverse it and then they would have access to her Keep and all those who lived within. Never going to happen. So she was, for now, stuck. Maybe she would find an excuse to try for the front gates again, if she got pissed enough. But for now, she fired up her flames again as she started to pace more.

He just looked at her and smiled. "Is there really a need for the flames love?" He looked at her again.

She had her back to him as she was walking away in her pacing. "They're comforting, which helps me keep a clear head, for the most part at least. And like I said, I‘m burning the fuel from my system." She turned towards him in her pacing again, walking with her head down. She was going through a thousand and one reasons for this problem in her mind.

He took a look at her. He had never seen her this way in all the time that he had known her. He was trying to figure out what was going on in her head and why this was happening to her. Granted, there was only so much that he could do at the moment since she would not let him near her.

What could he do if she let him near her anyway? Even if she let him near, he still wouldn't be able to portal her out, she would still be stuck, and he would be a bit of a distraction as well. It wasn't Eros' fault that he emitted waves of lust and pleasure by simply being present. Venis was never completely unaffected by his presence. She stood a better chance than most other beings, but she wasn't one hundred percent unaffected.

He just smiled as he walked over to the door of the throne room, opened it, and pointed to the nearest servant. "Hey, you there." He pointed to someone walking in the courtyard. "Come here for a minute please."

The man looked over to see who had called for him. Seeing Lord Eros he walked over rather quickly. "Yes Lord Eros, how may I be of service to you?" He stood with his hands clasped behind his back and awaited his instructions.

He smiled as he looked at the man. "Relax, I am not going to do anything to you, I just need to you get Venis and I some food. Would you be able to do that?" He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a platinum piece, He put it next to his thumb and flicked it at the man. "That is for you, don’t tell anyone ok?" He chuckled a little.

The man, who was probably the most relaxed of Venis' employees as of yet, reached his hand up and snatched the platinum as it flew towards him. "Payment is not necessary sir." He offered him the platinum back in his open palm. "I would be more than happy to fetch you some food from the kitchen. What would you like?" He had no way of knowing that Venis had never finished the bottle of blood wine that they had brought for her the day she went into the throne room. So he would bring her another.

"Keep it. It’s not like I have any other use for it." He chuckled a little. "And just bring anything that is ready at the moment." Venis nor Eros were really picky about what to eat so he would just wait until the man was back with the food.

The man closed his hand over the coin and put his hands back behind his back. "Very well sir." He listened to what was said about the food and he gave a bow of his head. "Right away Lord Eros." With that having been said, he turned on his heels and headed across the courtyard and slightly to the left to the kitchen door. Once inside he told the cook that Lord Eros was hungry. Then he went to retrieve a bottle of blood wine for Venis. He put it on a tray with a clean crystal goblet.

The cook added a plate with a steak, baked potato, and an ear of corn. She set out utensils and napkins. She added a bottle of wine and a matching goblet. Then she set some small bowls of things to add to the potato. She put some salt and pepper shakers on the tray and motioned to the man that it was ready. He lifted the tray with both hands and carried it back to the throne room. He used his foot to knock on the door five times.

by Venis Jordianthan Mon Dec 13, 2010 5:39 am

He smiled as he opened up the door and smiled at the man. "Well thank you very much my good man." He extended his arm and lifted the tray up from the man carrying it. " Again thank you very much for the food. If there is anything else I will let you know ok?" He smiled as the man left. With that he closed the door behind him and moved his hand a little as the folding table lifted into the air as well as two folding chairs, They started to move to the middle of the throne room, The table unfolded itself as well at the chairs when he went over to it and placed the food onto it. "Ok Venis is lunch time." He smiled as he placed her food on the side opposite of his.

He nodded and walked away once the door was closed.

She chuckled and shook her head. "I have a bottle already open, thank you dear." She walked over and picked up the bottle of blood wine off of the step, where it had rested between her throne and Kahn's. She carried it over to the table, and then she extinguished her flames. She sat down and crossed her left leg over her right. She pulled the cork from the bottle and poured herself a glass using the fresh goblet. She picked it up and heated it with her hand. She placed it to her lips and took a sip. She knew she would have to or he wouldn't eat.

He just smiled. She knew him well. That was all that was needed to be said. So he finally sat down and looked over at her. "Are there any other reasons that this might have happened?" He was curious about the problem. He looked at the potato and took a knife to cut into it. Little by little he would mash the potato and he added butter to it when needed.

She sat there watching him prepare his potato and listened to him. She pondered his question for a brief moment. "Well, at first I thought it was because of how much energy I used the other day at the Inn. But I am feeling better from all that. So then I thought it was a side effect of Gawain's weaves, but it couldn't be, because he's used them on me before. Maybe it's because there's a difference between then and now, something about me is different. But I really don't think that it is that. I mean, that theory doesn't make sense. Not really. And I could undo the something different, but it would be a permanent undoing, and I can't justify doing it based upon a theory. Maybe there's a hex or spell of some sort involved. But anyone who could have done it would have to have a motive, and I have no idea what that could be. Plus they would have to either have perfect timing or have had contact with me somehow." That was what she was thinking over the most.

He bit into his potato and pondered for a moment, It was not that he was really hungry it was just a way to make her stop pacing around. But again he thought for a moment, He felt around the Keep when he first got there and there was nothing that he could sense unless maybe he needing to look harder, So with that in mind, he closed his eyes and sent feelers out to see if there was anything he could pick up.

He might be able to pick up on what it was that was holding her within her Keep. But it wasn't something that one being could undo, unless that one being was the one who had done the deed itself. The being who had caused the issue had taken into account that the Goddess would have other God's around her. The being had wanted to make sure that the Goddess of Protection couldn't show up and protect. It would disrupt their plans. But Venis wouldn't know this, and it couldn't be figured out by simply detecting that there was a hint of something there. The most that could maybe be figured out, was that it wasn't caused by the fact that there was something different about Venis than there had been the last time Gawain had used his weaves on her.

He tilted his head a little bit with an eye brow up, He did feel something there but it was faint so he used a little bit more of his power to try and feel it out better. "Hmmm......" That is all he said as he keep on trying to figure out what was holding her there and why he could not feel it better, He was an old God so there were a lot of things out there that he could get through, but this thing was different.

She sat there watching him as he tried to figure out what was going on. "What is it love?" She had seen the way his facial expression had changed and he followed that with a 'Hmmm.' Which made her wonder what he had found that she hadn't.

"Just give me a moment." With that he put more power into trying to figure out what it was but still he could not figure it out. It was then that he sat up straight and he opened up his eyes. "Well you are right, there is something there, like a shell around the keep. I even tried to see if I can poke through it but I couldn't...Me, a primeval God.. So what ever it is is strong enough to block my abilities." He looked at her again and took another bite from his potato.

She furrowed her brows. "That's a comforting thought." Note the sarcasm. A shell would have been an apt analogy. So the question remained, could she even walk out of the Keep given Eros could walk in? She wasn't quite ready to find out yet.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I am sorry love. That is all I could get out of feeling it." He cut into the steak that he had and took a small bite.

The right side of her mouth curled slightly as she shrugged her right shoulder. "That's alright, it's more than I knew before. At least I know it's not a side effect of something I allowed to be done to me." She put the goblet to her lips for a second sip of the blood wine. She continued to hold the goblet as she sat there leaning on her crossed legs. She knew he was just trying to find an excuse to make her sit still. She would sit still while he ate. She really didn't mind. She sighed and then changed the subject. "So, has Emilia emerged from her room yet?" She was still worried for her depressed friend.

He swallowed a piece of steak before he answered her. "Not that I can recall. Hell she has not even spoken to me about the entire thing." He just shrugged again, unless his daughter came to him about the problem, he would stay out of it.

She looked down for a moment. "Poor dear, I can only empathize with her. After all, the only kids of mine that have disappeared are adults, and they didn't run away. So it's just not quite the same." The closest she came to Emilia's situation was Dre and his running hot and cold as to wanting to be around her or not. And at the moment, she wasn't sure where he stood. But she was glad that he wasn't at The Starry Myst, given Iluvenis was now living at Darkmane Castle. So it was time for another topic change. "How's Tasha doing with the whole being in charge thing?" She figured he would have had to have seen her at least once. She would have had to have gone up to Venis' room for papers and coin.

He chuckled a little. "She is wishing that either you were back at the Inn or that Seleen would get off of her honey moon so she could put some of the work on her." He chuckled again. "It's it not your work keeping her busy, its Ha'Ruil." He poured some wine in to the glass and took a sip.

She chuckled. "Oh he has her on her toes does he?" She knew the two were insatiable, so she figured that Tasha was probably near ready to curse her to the other God's for not being there. Which only served to make her chuckle more. "Poor girl. But she can handle it." If she couldn't, she would have Manny contacted and have him take over.

"But other than that she is doing fine, and Ha'Ruil is actually helping her where he can. He has been very supportive with the whole thing." He took another bite of his steak.

She nodded. "That's good. It's good that he is there for her. It means that he can handle what life has in store for him. Well, unless she is starting to sway in the other direction. But I don't think she is." Venis figured that Tasha was eventually going to choose Ha'Ruil as her mate. And she would have to face a few other things as well. So in a way, this was good for the Furgirl. It gave her a chance to see what she could handle.

He nodded as he took a bit of his potato. "Yep I know what you mean. It is amazing how much time it took Tasha to warm up to Ha'Ruil" He chuckled a little. "But anyways......what shall we do about the shell around the keep? Or do we just wait it out?" He was letting her know that he would be there for her.

She shook her head before taking a third sip from her goblet. "I don't know yet. Whatever it is, it can't last forever. No one would be able to sustain the power it would take to keep a God trapped for eternity. So I guess we could give it a few days or so. Well, a few more days that is. Maybe it will weaken enough for me to bring it down." She hoped anyway.

He nodded at that idea. "That sounds like a plan, So what would you like to do in the mean time. You really have never shown me this place." He chuckled a little.

She nodded. "True. I could give you a tour." That would kill some time. It would also give her a chance to think about something else for a while. Which, at this point, was a good thing.

He smiled as he kept on eating. "Good. So lets begin when I get done eating here." He chuckled a little, even for a God he ate really slowly.

She smiled. "Ok, where would you like to start?" She needed a general idea of where to start so she could take them through the best route possible for the tour.

He chuckled a little bit and gave her the best straight face that he could. "Your bedroom?"

She put the goblet to her lips and began to sip from it when he answered her. Hearing his response, she spit the blood wine from her mouth in shock. "I should have guessed." She laughed and shook her head. It was real laughter and it even made her eyes twinkle.

He chuckled as he looked at her. "See I even made you laugh. I did my good deed of the year." He smirked a little.

She laughed harder. "Oh that's a good one coming from a God. Good deed for the year. Yea, ok." She really was laughing. His jocularity was always refreshing. And right now, she definitely needed it.

"Yeah that was not thought out to well now was it?" He smirked as he took a drink from his wine.

She was still chuckling. "What, the good deed for the year thing wasn't on purpose?" She was picking on him now.

He looked up as if to think. "You know, I really do not know." Yeah, right now he was confused.

She laughed harder. "You've got to stop. You make me laugh too hard and I'll start crying. You don't want a crying Goddess on your hands now do you?" She was already holding her stomach with her empty hand.

He looked at her and smiled. Yes he was able to make her laugh, and at the moment it looked like she needed some laughter. So with that he slowly got up and walked around to her side. He took her hand into his and pulled her up gently, He slowly put his arms around her and gave her a kiss. "There we go that is the Goddess that I love to see." He gave her a smirk.

She uncrossed her legs and rose to her feet when he took her hand. When he wrapped his arms around her she wrapped hers around his neck. Then she returned his kiss. "Oh it is huh?" In response to his comment. He hadn't released her so she didn't release him. She still held her goblet in one hand, her other just hung from her arm as both arms remained around his neck.

"Yep who likes to see a grouchy Goddess. Besides you can see wrinkles when you are grouchy." He now braced himself for the slap that he was about to recieve.

Her free hand moved from behind his head and she immediately slapped him against his rock hard bicep. "Ass." She started laughing again. "Twenty-one year olds don't have wrinkles." She was twenty-one when she was changed, so she was twenty-one for eternity.

((The log is almost done ... One maybe two more posts, but probably no more than three. LOL))

by Venis Jordianthan Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:12 am

He chuckled again. "There we go, much better." He leaned down and kissed her again. Yes, he really did have a certain way with women.

She returned his kiss. She contemplated just kicking his ass, but she wasn't quite in the mood for all that. Not at the moment anyway.

~Just because you were 21 when you were changed does not mean that wrinkles are not showing up.~ He chuckled in their heads.

~The hell you say. Vampires don't wrinkle, and neither do God's.~ She laughed in their heads then.

~Yeah thats true. I mean if you were getting wrinkles then you would be sagging as well.~ He chuckled in their heads. His hands when down to her waist holding her close.

Laughter would ring through their heads. ~I would die first.~ Which in a way was true. Once she died that great big permanent death, she would wrinkle and sag and turn to dust.

He smirked as he looked at her. "Yeah and then what fun would I have." He gave her a little bit of a pout before he removed his hands from her waist and pulled back a little. "So ok, where would you like to start the tour?"

She laughed. "That pout is about as fake as a WWE Diva's chest." She laughed some more. "I don't know, you want just the castle, or the whole Keep?" It was up to him.

He laughed as the comment. "That is very true." and at her second comment he thought for a moment. "Well either way is fine by me."

She laughed some more. "Castle then." She thought for a moment. His room was on the second floor, so either way, it was near the middle and they were probably going to end up there for a little while. She knew how he was. "Top to bottom I think." After all, there was a play room in the basement and if he saw that room, they would never get to the rest of the castle.

He just nodded to her. "But don't you think you want to put something else on." He looked her up and down and all she had on was her metal bikini.

She tilted her head and sighed. "I guess." She winked at him. Then she snapped her fingers over her own head and she began to sparkle and shimmer. As the sparkling moved down her body, her hair twisted up into a loose bun on the back of her head. The chain that wrapped around her neck to hold her metal bikini on disappeared. It reappeared on her dresser in her room. A strapless gown began to appear. It was an ice blue, almost the exact shade of her eyes, and it fell into a full bell skirt. Matching heels formed on her feet. Closed toe, slightly pointed, with a six inch stiletto heel. "Better?" She smiled as she reached over to put the goblet on the table.

He chuckled as he looked her up and down. "Yes much better." He would have loved to have seen her with just her bikini on for longer, but not if they were touring the castle. So he took the final sip of his wine before he was done with his meal.

She chuckled. "Good. Now this still works." She ran her finger through the air in front of them and a little silver strand split the air. She put her hand into it and it opened wide enough for them to step through. On the other side was the top of the tower that was on the South West corner of the castle. They were outside, and they had a view of the entire Keep.

He looked around and smiled. "I like the view." He walked around for a few, seeing everything from this height.

She chuckled. "So do I. I hadn't seen this view before I came out here with Gwendolyn." She hadn't been to the Keep much before that day.

He smiled as he walked over behind her and put his arms around her pulling her into a hug. "I think this is a nice little spot that you have here love."

She smiled as she placed her arms over his and leaned back against him. "Yes, it has potential. There are still things that need to be rebuilt. And even though the smoke still billows from the Armory, it's not the same when I know in my heart that the only member of my family who is ever around here is Kyra. And she runs hot and cold when it comes to speaking to me. Just like her father." She loved her family more than anything. She wrestled with the fact that for some reason they didn't feel the same. It really did torture her. But she just had to live with it until she could figure out how to fix it.

"It will always be that way love. Just look at my family." He chuckled a little. "There is not a day that goes by without someone wanting nothing more than to kill the other but knowing that can't happen."

She chuckled. "Yea, at least my family isn't out for each other's blood." Most of the time anyway. She was sure that at times, at least one of them, wanted her blood.

"That is very true. But anyways, lets keeps going on the tour." He leaned down and gently kissed her on the neck.

She closed her eyes and smiled as she let out a soft moan. "Mmm, ok babe." She pulled herself free of his arms and walked over to the center of the tower. She knelt down and pulled up the hatch. Then she proceeded down the steps. "Close the hatch behind you dear. I don't want animals getting in or getting hurt if it falls closed on them." There were a lot of birds in the area. Once she got to the bottom of the ladder like steps, they were in a small room. If someone were claustrophobic, they would be freaking out in the room. It was round and windowless. It was absent of furnishings and simply held another hatch in the floor that lead to another set of stairs. She opened that one and headed down it as well.

He followed her lead and walked behind her closing the hatch behind him first one and then the other. His eyes were going every where to take in the sight of her keep, even if this part was just an empty room. Granted, he had known her for a long time and not once had she invited him over to her home. But he did not care.

When she hit the bottom of the second stairs they were in a second room, much like the one that was directly above them. But this room had a window that faced the South. And there was a place to sit in this room. Plus, the ceiling was higher. And there was a door that lead out into the hall way. From there they could head North, or they could head East. Venis chose East. There were several rooms along the South wall of the castle. And the ones that ran along this fifth floor hall all held Furniture. They were used as storage for excess furniture that the employees could use in their homes throughout the Keep. She walked along showing him inside of the rooms.

He walked behind her the entire time. He bowed when there were servants walking around. So he was having fun. And when the people actually knew who he was they tried to keep him happy, like he could make them a unic or something......Oh wait, he could.

Not that there were many employees up on the fifth floor. Most of the employees stayed on the bottom floor, except for those who had to do the daily cleaning. So there were some maids up there at the time. Couldn't let the furniture get dirty or anything. When they reached the South East tower, they didn't go in, instead they headed North. She showed him the rooms along the way. They too were used as furniture storage. As they turned at the North East tower, she showed him that again, all the rooms were used as furniture storage. And as They turned the corner at the North West tower to head South they found even more furniture. Then they were back at the South West tower. But they had to go East along the South hall again, so they could go into the room in the tower and take the stairs down to the fourth floor.

He followed behind her again, for the most part, smiling and listening to her talk about the keep. The talking was nice. "You know, for someone that is not here a lot, you sure know your way around." He gave a slight chuckle.

She laughed. "I already explored the castle a while back." She looked over at him. "With Gwendolan." She looked forward again as they made their way to the stairs in the South East tower. When they were on the fourth floor they headed North. "All the rooms on this floor are empty. Though, I am considering some redecorating and moving of rooms." She wasn't sure she was going to keep her room on the floor it was one, she was thinking that she might move the family's rooms up higher and utilize more of the castle, now that the spooks were gone.

He chuckled again. "Ah are you going to make the Keep a Bed and Breakfast?" He smiled a little as he kept his eyes going from here to there, taking in everything that he saw.

She laughed. "Naa. Just think that there are some people who need rooms and don't have them, and that some people could use bigger rooms." There were so many rooms, she could afford to do some rearranging and not even begin to run out of space.

He smiled as he walked up beside her and put an arm around her waist. "I am glad that you are feeling better." And he really was glad about it. It sucked when she was unhappy. So he tried everything that he could to make her smile. And he actually did a good job at doing that.

She smiled as she leaned against him and put her hand over his. "I'm not, but I am thoroughly distracted. Which is a good thing, it gives my mind a chance to process things." She showed him what the rooms looked like when they were empty. Each room had a king sized bed, two armoires, two dressers, a sitting area with a couch, two chairs, two end tables, and a coffee table. A television, lamps, a private bathroom, and a walk-in closet. They were rather large rooms. And the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors all had rooms this size on them. Although, the North hall on the third floor had been altered by the employees.

He chuckled a little as he looked at all the rooms. "So where is my room?" He gave her side a little tickle. He was now wondering what kind of response he would get for that question. So at the moment he was all ears.

She laughed. "Oh yea, that's right, you've never had to use your room before. It's in the North hall on the second floor. But I might relocate you." She giggled. There were rooms along both sides of each hall. The East and West halls each held six rooms per floor, and the North and South halls held Eight rooms per floor. Which made for a total of twenty-eight king sized rooms per floor. And that was for floors two through five. Making one hundred and two king sized rooms, because there were alterations done to the North hall on the third floor, and on the second floor there were two rooms missing from the South hall due to the drawbridge.

He stopped and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her as he pulled her into a hug. He then whispered into her ear. "Oh really? and where would you relocate me to?"

She wrapped her arms around him and giggled when he whispered to her. "If I change floors, then I have to move you so I can keep you close at hand lover." She grinned as she used her fang to gently nip at his ear.

He gave a little shiver as he felt her fang go across his ear. "Hey now you better watch it. If you keep that up we might not make the whole tour." He gave a little chuckle as he just held her.

She giggled again. "Je suppose que nous devrons simplement de s'assurer que votre chambre est à votre goût." She nibbled on his ear again. "Quand nous en serons là, bien sûr." She leaned back slightly and then kissed him deeply for a moment. When she broke the kiss she winked at him. "Shall we continue?" Her accent had been impeccable given French was her native tongue. So she was sporting the most wicked of grins.

((I guess we'll just have to make sure that your room is to your liking. When we get to it of course.))

He smirked as he kept a hand on her body and let a burst of lust and pleasure if she let it run through her body. "You my dear are a tease." He chuckled a little as he moved his hand down to her rear to give her a pinch.

Oh she felt it alright. She definitely felt it. And she had muscles tightening all over her body because of it. "Who's teasing?" She winked as she turned in his arms, shaking her head at the pinch, and began to pull herself free of him to continue on the tour. "We have eight rooms in each of the North and each of the South halls. Six rooms in Each of the East and each of the West halls. Save for the North hall on the third floor and the South wall on the second. The employees altered things in the North hall and the drawbridge takes out two rooms in the South wall. But that's only for floors two through five. The first floor has a different floor plan."

He chuckled and nodded. "So when was the place built?" He did have a smart side to him every once in a while. And he did like the way mortals made homes, some where nice and neat and some where just......Yeah.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure exactly. Maybe the twelfth or thirteenth Earth Century. It seems rather Medieval to me. With all the exposed stone, the stone floors and the heavy wooden doors." Maybe that was why she hadn't torn it down and built it over again, yet.

He nodded again and just kept in step with her to make sure that he heard everything that she said. But while they were moving he would move closer and closer to her to the point they were one person walking.

She could feel him getting closer. Soon he was right up on her. She reached behind her and took both of his hands in hers as they continued to walk. "Did you want to see all these empty rooms or did you want to just head down to the next floor? The rooms all look the same, save for the color pallets and such. Nothing changes till the third floor." She wasn't interested in seeing each room again, but if he wanted to she would accommodate him.

He just smiled as he walked with her. He moved his hands to her hips as he leaned down and kissed her on the neck. "So where is the next place that you are going to show me.?"

She chuckled. "Well, this next staircase will take us down to the third floor, and its a short trip to the North hall, where the remodel was done." So when they hit the tower, they took the steps down. And it was a simple case of walking out the door and turning right. That put them in the North hall. There were less doors in this hall, and they were spaced differently. She smiled as she walked over to the first door on the right. When she opened it up she was happy to see that the room was silent. When he looked in he would see a snack bar. Like one from an Earth movie theater. "My employees figured I was missing some things for their entertainment around here, so they remodeled some of my castle." There was laughter in her tone as she said all that.

He chuckled again as he let her go and walked over to the snack bar. "I have not seen one of these in a long while." He then gave a smirk and chuckled at her. "So what exactly kind of movie am I going to be seeing today?"

She laughed. "I have no idea what they even have in stock." She smiled as she moved to the next door, having never entered the room herself. When he joined her he would find that the darkened room that she had opened up held an old reel projector.

He did walk over to her and smiled as he saw the projector and all. "Wow, it has been a while since I have seen one of those." He looked over everything.

She chuckled. "Maybe I should have built them a theater?" She laughed again as she moved to the next room. It was a large room with theater seating and a giant screen. "Because, evidently, they wanted one." She headed across the hall. The two doors across from the theater were marked with men’s and women’s restroom signs. So she moved to the other door. "But I love this addition." She opened the door to a fully functioning arcade. There were games, and a prize counter, and even another snack bar. The lights were all lit up and the games were all on. But they were set so that you didn't need coins to operate them.

He laughed at all of this and smiled at her. "You have your own Chuckie Cheeses in your house. So where is the mouse at and where are my tokens?" He opened his hand to do the give me give me sign.

She busted up laughing. "You're so cute. The games are free." She went inside and went straight to the ski ball table. She pulled the lever and released the balls. Then she started to roll them up the ramp at a rapid fire pace. She was trying to beat her highest score for a single game.

He just looked at her and chuckled. "Why are you doing it like that?" With that he walked over to the ski ball court next to her and used his power to start moving the balls at a fast rate at the 100 point area.

She grinned. "Because it gives me better aim for that ten thousand hole." She laughed some more as she threw her last ball. She got seventeen thousand, not a bad score, but not her best. But some of the machines had higher scoring holes than others.

He chuckled again. “I did not know that you had a problem getting it into the hole." He gave her another smirk as he looked at her.

She laughed as she turned around to sit on the game. "I'm not the one who has to worry about getting it in the hole love." She winked at him as she sat there for a moment longer.

He smirked as he walked over to her. "Are you telling me that I have a problem getting it into the hole?" He pulled her up into another hug.

She laughed some more as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh no, not at all love. You are actually quite skilled at getting it in the hole." She winked at him and then gently kissed his lips.

He kissed her back. "I would hope so. I have had a lot of practice." He chuckled again as he kept his arms around her.

She laughed as she moved in to kiss him again. "Yes, you are my little man whore, aren't you?" And she kissed him again, deeper this time. And she let her tongue explore the inside of his mouth as she pressed her body to his.

He kept the kiss going as he let his tongue explore her mouth. ~Yes I am, I would not be Eros if I wasn't~

): A soft laughter filled their heads. ~And I wouldn't love you any other way.~ She remained in the kiss for a few more minutes. Then she finally released him, though she still had her hands on his arms. Where they would stay until he released her. "Come on, next stop, second floor." She grinned at him.

He just kept her close as he smiled at her. "So what is on the second floor?" He chuckled a little at her as he slowly let a burst of lust and pleasure go through this fingers and into her body. He did that every once in a while just to see what her reaction would be.

She chuckled at the little burst of lust. "Be nice or I'll fire back." That could be taken in more than one way. "And on the second floor, my dear, is the bedrooms of friends and family, including mine, and yours." Of course, that would be two different rooms. For anyone who might have thought otherwise.

He smirked as he looked at her again. "Oh by all means then lets head down to the second floor" He chuckled again as he saw her. He was glad that he did come to see her. He knew just how to lift her mode. When ever she was down he was there to cheer her up, either by talking to her or by his bad jokes.

She laughed as they headed for the stairs. When they hit the second floor, She took him West along the South hall. "This hall has my kids bedrooms. All eight of them." She chuckled. None of the rooms had ever even been slept in. When they turned to go North along the West hall she smiled. "This hall has my room, Tasha's room, Kr ..." She went silent for a moment. "Casie's room, Gawain's room, and Wally's room." Now there was a blast from the past. She hadn't even spoken of Wally in quite some time. "I guess I could turn that one room into Seleen's." Though she was rather reluctant to change it. "My room is in the North West corner at the end of the hall." If he wanted to see it they could, but she wanted to show him his room more.

He looked down the hall way and smiled as he looked at her. "Well I see all those rooms, but where is mine at, I mean you did say it was on the floor as well." He chuckled a little again as he kept an arm around her keeping her close to him.

She chuckled again. "Right this way." Down the hall they went. Around the corner and to the North Hall. "First door on the left is your room love." He was the first room out of the eight rooms in the hall. Across from him and a couple of feet down was Kyra's room. And the other six rooms in the hall were for other friends use. She walked over to his door and opened it. "So, what do you think?" She waited to see his reaction. There was a king sized four poster solid oak bed. There was a chest of drawers and a dresser that matched. There was a private bathroom with a Jacuzzi garden tub. Inside the walk in closet were two armoires and plenty of room to hang clothes, shelves to put things on and racks for shoes. In the sitting area there was a black leather sofa and two matching chairs. There was a round coffee table, that was made of wood and painted white, and two matching end tables. Upon the end tables were black glass lamps. They all sat facing a big TV with a stereo and surround sound. Off to the side of the room there was a wet bar and a small area where one could cook or whatever. Not quite a kitchenette, but close.

He smiled as he let her go. He took a few minutes to take in the room. It looked great. He walked over to the TV turned it on and smiled as he saw the TV guide. He walked over to the bed and smirked as he looked at it, plus it was a four post, oh he could really have some fun with this bed. He loved the look of the leather sofa, and it was then he went over to the wet bar and made himself a Bloody Mary. "Dear, would you like one?"

She chuckled as she walked into the room and closed the door behind her. "No thank you dear." She walked over and sat down on the couch. She crossed her right leg over her left. "So, I take it that you like your room love?" She grinned from ear to ear.

He smirked as he walked over to her and sat next to her. He leaned in and gave her a deep kiss. ~I absolutely love it dear. And a four post bed, you shouldn’t have, you know how much fun I have with those.~ He removed his lips from hers as he took another drink from the drink. It was not like he was going to get drunk from it but he did like the taste of the drink.

She returned his kiss, placing her hand on the side of his face. ~I thought you might like that love.~ When he broke the kiss she leaned back into the corner of the couch. "When I was asked what furniture to put in here, I thought about you and picked each piece to match and yet fit you." His room had been one of the easier ones to decorate.

"Oh I am loving this room love I really am." With that he gave her a smirk as he waved his hand and the stereo turned on. "Hmmmm I wonder what we could do now. Well we could just sit here and watch TV."

She chuckled. "Yes, we could do that." She let her shoe dangle off her toes as she swung her right leg lightly. "Is there anything good on?" The entire Keep had satellite TV with no blocked channels.

He started to flip through the channels as, he stopped on a HBO channel. He really was not that much into watching movies but at the moment that was fine. He put an arm across the sofa as he sat there drinking his drink.

She smiled and shook her head. The last thing she expected was for Eros to actually sit there and find something to watch on TV. But it was all good. It was actually nice to just chill with him for a bit. After all, that was what friends did, they hung out and chilled with each other. So, given she was so comfortable and relaxed, she slipped her shoes off and put her feet up in his lap to watch the movie. "So what are we watching dear?" The couch really was quite comfortable.

He put a hand on her leg and letting it slowly go to her feet giving her a little tickle. "Actually I do not know, Is there anything that you would like to watch." As stated before, he was not really into watching TV that much so he did not know what was good or not.

She giggled and kicked her feet. "Quit that." She rubbed her feet together now that they itched from being tickled. "I have no idea what's even playing this month." She put one arm up on the arm of the couch, the other across the back. Which made it so that she could lace her fingers through his.

He chuckled as he made her giggle. "Oh, is someone ticklish?" He got a really wicked smirk on his face as he looked at her, he made his hand move slowly as his slowly moved it down to her feet seeing what her reaction would be. "I think I found something better than TV at the moment."

She kicked her feet again and laughed. She unlaced her fingers from his as she sat up and smacked his arm. "Not funny." She tried to pull her feet away.

He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. "What? I have not done anything......yet." Yeah the smirk on his face has not left his face yet. His hand moved behind her back as slowly started to flick at her zipper.

She was practically in his lap now that he had scooted her closer to him. That was the downside of leather, fabrics had a tendency to slide across it without resistance. And the other effect of his pulling her close was now her floor length gown was riding high on her thighs. "Yet huh?" She chuckled again. "Problem with the zipper love?" She wrapped her arms around his neck.

He chuckled as he took the zipper within his fingers and pulled it down. "Now what makes you think that?" He just smiled as he heard the zipper get lower and lower. His hand then moved to the inside of her dress and lightly touched the tattoo on her lower back.

She chuckled as she heard her zipper going down, and felt the coolness of the air upon her back that resulted. But what she wasn't expecting was for him to touch her tattoo. He usually left it alone. The novelty of it had worn off. But every once in a while ... The tattoo got hot and waves of pleasure rolled through her body. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She moaned and started to breathe deeper.

He smiled as he lightly went over her tattoo with his finger. He did it ever so gentle as he leaned forward and took her mouth with his. His other hand slowly made its way over to her side placing it on her hip as he moved a little to get a better position.

She returned his kiss, sliding her arms so that she held him a little tighter. When he moved she moved as her legs were still across his lap. The more he traced her tattoo the more aroused she became. It was definitely cheating.

No it was not, it was him taking advantage of something he knew would work. He slowly removed his mouth from hers and smirked. "So what is the first thing that we should break in love?" Yes he was shrewd but hey he was Eros after all.

): She chuckled as she leaned forward and placed her forehead against his shoulder. "Well, we are already on the sofa." She could have been joking, but the chances were, she wasn't.

He chuckled as he leaned forward and took her lips with his again. ~Is someone getting horny?~ He just smiled through the kiss as his one hand moved to her side and slowly pulled on the dress that she was covered in.

She looked up just in time to be taken by his kiss. And she returned his kiss with passion and fervor. "You do tend to have that effect on me love." Said in response to his question. When his hand moved he caused the stiff bodice of her gown to move away from her body. Just the right amount of pressure would lay the boned fabric in her lap. This left her in the strapless version of her metal bikini top. As she had removed the upper chain when she put on the dress. Her skirts were bunched up in her lap and gathered near her waist. Held there by the fact that she was still sitting upon them with her legs across his lap. Her metal bikini bottoms would snag the gown if it was removed wrong.

His hand went around her body and he felt the metal bikini. He gave a little bit of a growl as he moved his hand to the side to make the bikini top disappear and reappear on the night stand. He did the same with the bottoms. They always spoiled his fun, but right now they were not going to.

She chuckled through their kiss as she felt the metal disappear from her body. ~Awe, was my son's masterpiece in your way love?~ She thought it was funny that he removed it so quickly.

He chuckled as his hand cupped her and gave her a pinch. ~Yes it did, and what are you going to do about it? Huh love?~ He removed his lips from her lips and gave her collar bone a nibble.

She leaned her head back and moaned softly. ~Absolutely nothing.~ She smiled. She knew that the metal bikini was in a safe place, she had nothing to worry about.

~Now lets get rid of the rest of it shall we?~ With that he waved his free hand and her dress disappeared and reappeared on a hanger floating in the corner. With that he removed his teeth from her collar bone and his eyes moved up and down her body wanting to see every little bit with his eyes.

She laughed in their heads when he made her dress disappear. It left the same way it came. When he started to look her up and down she grinned. She was a little pale, even for her. Otherwise, she looked just like her usual self. Sure, she needed a hair cut, and her nails could use a fresh coat of polish, but she was still just as flawless as ever. Gone were the scars from her abduction, and the only marks upon her flesh, the only breaks in the flawlessness of her silken skin, was her tattoo's and her piercings. Those included three pair in her ears, and her belly button, and the lone top hole in her left ear. So there was not really anything new for him to see. The dragon's head tattoo on her pelvic bone could use some touch ups though. "Enjoying the view love?" She couldn't help but ask, given he seemed to be admiring the Goddess before him.

He just smiled as his eyes moved up and down her body. She had one of the most beautiful bodies that he had ever seen. He slowly moved a hand and gently took a finger and slowly moved it around the skin, He eyes would trace the path that his finger would move. "Oh yes, I always enjoy the view when its you love." He chuckled as he leaned forward and kissed her deeply. His finger still doing little traces on her skin.

She blushed slightly, which was a little more difficult that usual. "Awe, honey." She returned his kiss, placing her hand upon his cheek. His finger tickled in spots, but she managed to avoid giggling.

): ~Is the goddess blushing~ He gave a little chuckle as he felt her cheeks get even redder. He moved his hand back down to her waist holding her close.

She chuckled in their heads. ~You do that on purpose.~ She knew him well enough to know that he intentionally tried to make her blush. Her hand slid from his cheek and she brought her other arm up so she could wrap them around his neck loosely.

~Yes, and your point?~ He chuckled a little again. His hands would slowly move up her sides to let his thumbs rub the sides of her.

She moved her hand so that she could run her hand down his body. A slight turn of her hand as she continued to move it down. When she reached his pants, she continued to move until she cupped him through his pants. ~At the moment, this is my point, right here between your legs.~ And with those words, his pants dissolved so that there was nothing between her hand and him. She touched the collar of his shirt with her other hand and it dissolved as well.

He gave out a moan as he felt her cup him. It was then that he chuckled, as he felt his clothing disappear. ~And where would you like me to put your point love.~ He was already reacting her touch. He then decided to move a hand down between them and cup her. ~Hmm...~ He gave a chuckle again. With that he removed his lips from hers and started to give her little kisses every where that he could place his lips.

by Venis Jordianthan Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:12 am

Later ... About two hours later ...

“Now I think it is time to eat and time for a drink." He walked her over to the bed and sat her down before he walked door, still butt naked, and opened the door. He poked his head out and smiled as he saw a maid. He stepped out in all his glory and spoke to the lady. "Excuse me ma'am, would you be so kind as to tell the cook to have some heated blood wine, as well a warm still bloodied stake, and a medium rare steak and a bottle of the best wine there is here as well as some divinity candy brought up here." He gave her a big smile. "Please."

Venis sat down on the bed and crossed her legs as she lifted them up to place them in front of her on the bed. "Oh, are you hungry dear?" She watched him as he walked naked across the room and to the door. She smiled and shook her head knowing that if he caught someone out in the hall he would ... Yep, he stepped out into the hall in all his glory. She chuckled and shook her head.

The maid was caught off guard when she heard a voice. No one had been staying in the castle to her knowledge, and here was Lord Eros coming out of his room, naked. She blushed, seeing him as he stood there with everything in full view. But she did manage to listen to everything he said, while averting her eyes and trying not to peek at his perfect form. He was causing stirrings within her that her husband had not even caused in several years. Once he was done placing his order she nodded. "Yes Lord Eros." She turned around and quickly headed to the stairs that would take her down to the first floor. From there she would head stright to the kitchen and give the cook his order.

He smiled again as he nodded toward the maid, he then turned around and walked back into the room and closed the door. "Yep I am a little hungry but I know of someone else that is more hungry than I am." He chuckled as he waved his hand making the table move around as well as two chairs.

She arched her eyebrows and tilted her head. "Oh? Who?" She had plans to deny, deny, deny.

): He arched an eye brow himself as he looked at her. "Oh do not give me that. I know your weight and everything about you by heart, I know when you are not eating or drinking like you are suppose to." He walked over to her.

Her hand went to her neck and she grinned. "Maybe I've just lost some weight." But he would probably see right through that as she had less than three percent body fat. The vast majority of her body weight stemmed from her height. and the reason she was at the heavy end for her height was her muscle tone. So the loss of weight could only be attributed to low water weight, a sure sign on lack of nourishment. So she was truly busted. But she was still trying to pull it off.

"You, my dear, are a bad liar when it comes to me. I can read you like a book." He chuckled again as he smiled at her. He opened his hand and motioned to the chair that moved open. "Please take a seat."

She shook her head and smiled and then scooted off the bed. She had no more plans of putting on clothes than he did. When their meal was delivered, the person bringing it would just have to see them both naked. She sat down in the chair and crossed her right leg over her left. "Wha ... Lying? What possible reason would I have to lie? You saw for yourself that there was a bottle of blood wine in the throne room." Which was true. The problem was that she had been at the Keep for six days at this point, and that was the bottle that they had brought her two days previous.

He just looked at her. "And how long was that bottle sitting there?" He took the other chair and sat down next to her. He put his arm around her. "Remember love, I know you better than most people do, I can tell when you are not at your peak." He just chuckled again.

A slight look of shock on her face as she looked over at him to answer. "I opened it yesterday." Which was true. But it had been sitting there for a day before she opened it.

): He just gave her a look. "And how long were you here before the bottle was sent to you and how long was it sitting there before you opened it?" He kissed her forehead.

She shrugged. "I was here for three days before I went to the throne room, the bottle was delivered that day, so it was day four I believe. Yes, because I slept for seventy-five hours, which made it the fourth day here when I went down to the throne room. So it sat there for a day before I opened it. I had a guest and so I opened it to calm my nerves." There, no lies, she went four days without a drop, then on the fifth day she drank a glass, and here they were on day six. She double checked her math, knowing how long she had been here had taken her a bit of time to figure out once she had gone to her throne room.

): He just gave her this look like 'your kidding right?' "Um, love, I know for a simple fact that when a bottle of blood wine is opened you are suppose to drink it that day. Or close it back up and keep it cold."

She shook her head. "It wasn't even open for twenty-four hours, and it wasn't opened when I got it. So when I was sipping from it earlier it was fine. I wouldn't have touched it had it gone bad, you know that." She wasn't trying to kill herself.

He just shook his head. "I don’t care either way, You are eating and drinking." He chuckled as he looked at her, He then wondered what was keeping the cook.

She sighed and put her hands on her hips. "I am fully capable of taking care of myself love. I've been doing so for hundreds of years you know." Wasn't that a rather smart assed response?

"And what’s your point?" He really did not care about if she was able to take care of herself or not, there were times when she would let her self go. So at the moment he was going to help her.

She laughed, and laughed hard. "I do believe we established that a few hours ago love." Yes, they had been at it for hours, which suited her just fine.

He just smiled as he looked at her. Yes he loved her laugh and he was going to make sure that it would be there for years to come. "Yes and still you are going to eat love."

She laughed some more. "I'll think about it." She was glad to have a friend like him.

That was when there was a knock upon the door. It wouldn't be the maid that Eros had stopped in the hall, oh no, this was worse. It was none other than Isah. He had been in the kitchen and the cook told him to take the food up to Eros' room. The maid has to resume her rounds of cleaning rooms. He knocked five times upon the door with no sense of urgency to the knocks at all.

He heard the knock and smiled as he got up. "Hold on a sec." He said as he walked over to the door and opened it and smiled as he knew who the person was. "Ah, Isah, thanks for bringing the food." With that he opened up the door wider to let Isah in with the food, him being nude did not phase him one bit.

Isah was no stranger to nudity, so he had no issues with seeing naked people. So he brought the large tray in and headed for the table. But he did blush when he saw Venis. Not for the fact that she was nude, but for the fact that he had just left her Granddaughters house.

Venis saw the blush rush to his cheeks and she furrowed her brow. "Isah, you have seen me naked before, what's up?" She knew it had to be something other than her nudity.

He was busted. He knew it the second she spoke. He sat the tray on the table and started to set the plates and goblets out. "Um, no big deal, I uh ..." Ok, maybe it was a big deal. It might make Venis mad. He pulled the cork on her bottle and poured some into her goblet. A force of habit when serving a female. "I um, just left Kyra's house, that's all." He wasn't going to tell anything more, after all, the pair of God's in the room were going to instantly know what had happened in that house.

Venis started laughing and couldn't even stop long enough to respond to him.

He laughed with Venis. "It is about time. I was wondering if I was going to have to do something drastic. For you two to get to home base. But at least you were not like Tasha and Ha'Ruil" Now those two in the beginning, you could have cut their sexual tension with a dull butter knife it was so thick.

That made Venis laugh even harder. "Or how about Casie and Ivan, now that was a long time coming, or should I say cuming?" She was laughing even harder now.

Ivan chuckled, though he was still blushing. "At least you're not mad Venis." Which was what he was worried about.

Venis shook her head, still laughing, and picked up her goblet of blood wine. "No, no, no, not mad at all. She's of legal age now. You waited." She was still chuckling as she heated the goblet and then sipped from the blood wine.

He laughed again. "Yes or Manny and Gwen. Either way, do you realize how hard it is for me not to interfere sometimes with peoples love lives. Hell just talk to Shuda and Seleen, or as a matter of fact remember love when you appeared in front of Tash and Ha'Ruil because you thought that she was getting hurt." He laughed really hard at that one.

She shook her head, still laughing. "That was not my fault. Nice blessing of Ha'Ruil though love, no wonder my little hell cat screams like a banshee." She laughed even harder.

Isah arched an eyebrow. "I never heard this one. Do tell." He was chuckling as well.

Venis was just laughing and shaking her head.

He shook his head as well. "Nah, Isah, that one is put into the private collection, lets just say that Venis' protectiveness got her an eye full." It was then that he laughed again as he sent her a mental note. ~That blessing is all his love, I have had nothing to do with that, He is just one hung elf.~ He laughed even harder.

Venis laughed even harder. "But the God's created him that way love, so take credit where credit is given." Granted, Ha'Ruil wasn't Greek, but the Greek God's were the first God's, so even if it was via a trickle down effect, Eros could boast some of the credit.

Isah snapped his fingers and shook his head. "I guess if I want details I have to hit up Tash. But for now I will leave you two to your meal. You guys have a good day, and uh, don't do anything I wouldn't do." He laughed and winked at Venis. She had second hand knowledge that Isah liked to breathe though his ears. And he had second hand knowledge that she enjoyed it when men did so. Hence the comment. He headed out of the room and let them eat in peace.

Venis caught the innuendo and winked back at him. She was still laughing as he was leaving.

He laughed some more as he closed the door behind Isah. "Well that was quite fun." He walked over to the table and sat down next to her getting his food and putting her food next to her.

She was still chuckling slightly. "Yes, entertaining if nothing else." She made no move towards the steak yet, but she did take another sip of her blood wine that Isah had poured for her.

He just smiled and looked at her. "Love please eat the steak." He chuckled a little as he motioned for her to start cutting the steak.

She looked over at him. "What? I didn't say I wasn't going to eat it." It was heated on one side then flipped over and heated on the other side, not even browned. Which was just the way she liked it. It made it a lot easier to digest. But that didn't mean she wanted to eat at the moment.

): He sighed as he smirked, He had a really bad idea and he was going to have some fun at the moment. He moved his arm to her other side and gently lifted her up and slowly put her in his lap facing the table. He would then let her sit in his lap.

Venis had just put some wine into her mouth as he moved her from her seat to his lap. The unexpected movement caught her off guard and she almost spit her blood wine all over the table. "Love, what in the hell are you doing?" She wasn't used to him teasing her so badly.

"What I cant tease you love?" He slowly let her down so that she would feel him, but then he would pull her up again.

She growled at him when he moved her like he did. "Ok, the teasing is the obvious what. So let's move onto the why. As in why are you teasing me like this?" She was curious, she hadn't gotten bothered by it in any way ... Yet.

"Oh because I can." He let her side down in his lap again before lifting her up again. He leaned forward and nipped at her shoulder.

She growled again. "Love, you keep that up and it's going to get very hot in here very quickly." She smiled, but she was also serious. She hated to be teased, but she would put up with it, to a point.

"Oh I think it is already hot in here." And once again he did it. He then smirked. "Lets make a deal, shall we?"

She growled at him again. "What's the deal?" For some reason, she felt like she was about to make a deal with the devil.

He smirked as he kept her there where she was. She would know very well that he could hold her there for a very long time. "For each bite you take of the steak, I will let you down little by little until you are completely finished with the steak."

She shook her head. "Wrong, that is dirty pool." She knew that he was going to be a devil about it, and she was right.

"Aww, what’s wrong?" He let her slide down just and inch before lifting her back up. "Eat the steak and I will promise not to tease you."

She shook her head. "I have a better idea. I eat the steak, and you let me tie you down and tease you. And that has to come with a sworn promise to not escape just to be escaping, you have to stay tied down until I let you go." Yea, she liked that idea much better.

He shook his head as he lowered her down another two inches. "How about you eat the steak and when you get done I use the golden feather on you?"

She shook her head. "Nope, I like my idea better." She remembered the feather, very, very, very well in fact.

He smirked as he whispered in her ear. "And I like mine." With that he let her go and let gravity do its work.

She wasn't expecting him to let her go. And gravity did do it's work, bringing her down quickly upon him. She dropped the goblet onto the stone floor as she grabbed the table as a knee jerk reaction to his releasing her. She looked down at it as it fell and it stopped just shy of shattering on the stone. She brought it back up and set it upon the table, of course, the blood wine had spilt.

He smirked as he slowly moved his hips. "How about a compromise? I move my hips while you eat your steak?" He waved a hand to make the bottle of blood wine float and pour of the blood wine into her goblet.

She put her hands on his hips and stopped him. "I can't eat like this love." She would rather sit still if she was going to be forced to eat.

He just smiled as he leaned forward and kissed her on the neck. "Ok love." He had been waiting for her to eat.

She remained sitting on his lap. She reached over and scooted the plate towards her and cut a piece of her steak off. She showed it to him, holding her hand under it to catch the dripping blood, and put it in her mouth. She smiled as she chewed. ~Happy baby?~ She knew he wanted her to eat, but she had no idea the extremes to which he would go to make her. She was a fast learner though.

The teasing continued as she ate her steak. Each one of them taking turns to use a little divine power on the other in the process. It was a pretty pleasant way to stay entertained during a meal. When her steak was finished, so was the teasing. Then about an hour later, he moved them to the bed. They curled up in each others arms and fell asleep.

by Venis Jordianthan Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:17 am

Venis’ eyes shot open as she lay wrapped in Eros’ arms using his chest as a pillow. Unsure of what woke her, she looked around the room. The light, or lack there of, would indicate the time of day. Just as she had suspected. The sun had set. Or at least had lowered enough to darken the room with the Northern exposure. This would be what had woken her from the first slumber she’d had in days. The vampire in her always awoke at this time. Well, almost always. Apparently, she was capable of using too much power and burning herself out. Hence the seventy-five hours of sleep she had gotten only days ago.

Eros’ arm lay loosely over her shoulders as she lay there. So she held his arm up while she slipped out of his grasp. She replaced herself with a pillow from beside them on the bed. Not that she was soft like a pillow, but at least his arm wouldn’t fall and wake him. She moved to the nightstand where he had deposited her metal bikini. She picked up the top and put it on, fastening the chain that went around her ribs. Then she picked up the bottoms and slid them on, fastening the chains that connected the front to the back on her hips.

A glance to Eros showed him still asleep. This made her smile. He looked so peaceful. She envied him his ability to block out stress. Of course, him being the God that he was, he was a cure for stress. He spread love and passion and lust, those things were the anti-stress. She was the Goddess of Protection. It was in her nature to stress, over everything. Because she needed to protect everything. At least that was how she saw the world. She moved over to where he had hung her gown, floating in the air. It was floating there like a helium filled balloon. She chuckled silently and reached to remove the garment from it’s invisible hanger.

She scribbled a note for him that read simply that she was going down to the throne room. She left it on the nightstand beside his head. Then she gathered her shoes and snuck out the door. Closing it silently behind her. Her room was just around the corner from his, so there was no need to be lazy about things. She went into her room and hung the dress up where it could be gathered to be taken to the cleaners. Her shoes she took to her closet where she put them back in their plastic box upon the shelf. All her shoes were sealed in plastic boxes to prevent damage to them from outside forces.

She moved to her dressing table, where the other chain for her metal bikini rested. She removed the bikini and placed it with the chain. Then it was to the shower. She turned the hot water on full blast, and let it heat up. Then she added some cold, only turning it on half way. She stepped inside and stood under the steaming hot streams for some time. After a few minutes, she adjusted the water flow to a hard flow. Standing under the hard flow allowed for her hair to get wet all the way to her scalp. A full bottle of shampoo was used to wash the fiery red tresses that filled the tub at her feet. After all, the spiral curls had a tendency to straighten out when wet.

Once she was sure she had all the shampoo rinsed out of her hair, she used a full bottle of conditioner. She let that sit in her hair while she used soaps with strawberry and raspberry oils in them to wash her body. Then she rinsed herself, and her hair, and turned off the water. She used her own body heat to begin drying herself off. From the shower she moved to her dressing table once again. She slipped on a dressing gown and took a seat. After all, she did not know if the employees were making evening cleaning rounds or anything. So decency was a consideration.

There was no mirror at the dressing table, she had no need of one, she had no reflection. Top left-hand drawer was pulled out and she reached inside. She pulled out a little white tube. It contained her special sun screen. She began to apply it all over her body. While she did that, she used a little magic on herself. She had no desire to call in others to deal with her hair. So her hair moved out behind her and began to twist and move of it’s own accord. She pulled her arms into the dressing gown so she could apply the sun screen to places within the gown. She had to make sure that she didn’t miss a spot.

Once that was done, while her hair was still twisting and intertwining itself into a French braid, she reached in to get her foundation. She was a natural red-head, and being such gave her freckles. She had been able to avoid making them worse by spending as little time in the sun as possible. But she now had her foundation to cover the ones she had, and it also had SPF in it. It was the same chemical mixture that she made for Tasha. The werepanther was also a natural red-head and was prone to freckles. The entire tube was used so as to cover her entire body. Giving the appearance of flawless porcelain like skin.

Once that was done, she applied her water proof eyeliner and mascara. Some smokey shades of eye shadow, and her crimson lipstick finished the look. Then she took out some baby wipes. Those were kept in the upper right-hand drawer. She used them to wash her metal bikini. She always kept it clean. Wearing metal without cloth under it could lead to problems if the metal was not kept clean. Then baby powder was applied to the metal to prevent chaffing. Once that was done, off came the dressing gown, and on went the metal bikini. Her son was an artist with metal, and this one had been made even more special than the last.

She went about her room and bathroom, picking up the empty containers of the items she had used. She placed them all in the rubbish tin to be removed by the house keepers. Then she moved to the closet. A glance inside told her that there was nothing she really wanted to put on. She thought she might end up on fire again, and would have hated to ruin any of the clothes she kept here. Which, for some odd reason, was ninety percent formal wear. She didn’t see much in the way of casual wear in the closet. A shrug of her shoulders and she closed the closet door. When her hair was finished French braiding itself, she picked up a hair tie off her dressing table and wound it around the thick end of the braid. Then she let the braid fall behind her, and it almost touched the floor, even being braided tight enough to pull at her face.

She left the room through the door, like a normal person. But, not wanting to offend anyone, she opened a portal to her throne room and stepped through it. When she got back into the throne room she moved to sit upon her throne. She sat slightly askew and threw her right leg over the arm. Then, as almost an after thought, threw her left leg over the arm as well. Then she crossed her right over her left at the knee. She leaned on her left elbow on the other arm of the throne. Already she was bored. Bare right foot bounced as she sat there thinking over what could possibly be the cause of her entrapment. What could be holding her within Le loup est protégé Conserver against her will?

by Gwendolan Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:48 am

(continuation from here )

Gwen smiled as Inion approached and asked for permission to ride. Empyrean took the apple from her hand and touched her head with the tip of his horn. Rapture did the same thing and bowed her head just a little bit.

She watched as Inion's back was loaded with the other items and climbed into the saddle. She hated to make them use the heavy leather seats but Manny insisted on Gwen using one on long rides. Gwen could fall asleep riding if she was tired so Manny worried. She didn't want him to worry so she used the saddle.

She spoke gently to the unicorns.

"We need to go to the Keep."

She let the reigns loose and Empyrean and Rapture turned and left the stable walking toward the Inn. They began picking up speed as they neared the cliff. There was a bright light that came from the horns as they jumped off the cliff. Instead off falling they went through a portal and came out the other side at a gallop stopping about fifty feet from the main gates to the keep.

The time between the unicorns jumping and opening the portal to them landing that close to the main gates was almost instant. Gwen had not been prepared for it. She could feel the magic being used she saw it expended through the horns. She could see the portal open. It was more like a rip in a piece of fabric. On one side was the cliffs of the Inn; on the other the gates of the keep.

As soon as they were on the other side the rip repaired itself. Gwen felt a bit cold but sweaty at the same time. She wondered if Inion saw it as well. She turned to look at her and smiled.

"Welcome to Le loup est protégé Conserver."

by Inion Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:02 am

Inion excepted the touch of each of the unicorns and then climbed into the saddle. She was use to saddles, but it did feel a bit strange using one on a unicorn. Not one to question she took the reins loosely and let the unicorns lead. She did have that moment of being unsure as the unicorns raced toward the cliff then relaxed and put her trust in them.

Inion was use to magic and traveling through portals but it still always caused a bit of disorientation once on the other side. Eyes closed for a moment as they landed so that she could recover faster. When the spinning feeling stopped she looked over at Gwendolan and noticed that the portal travel effected her also. She smiled at her then looked at the gates. "wow, well the hard part is over." she grinned being silly at the travel and trying to lighten the mood a bit. "If this is just the outside gate I cant wait to see the inside."

by Employees of the Goddess Fri Mar 18, 2011 3:09 am

"Workin hard to get my fill. Everybody wants a thrill. Payin' anything to roll the dice, just one more time. Some will win, some will loose, some are born to sing the blues ..." All motion stopped and the singing quieted the moment the two unicorns stepped hoof to ground. Slowly, the five foot six blonde haired and blue eyed woman turned around within the room of the gate keeper.

Long, slender fingers rose to her ears and two little buds were pulled out by their cords. She moved to the window to peer out. She needed to know who was approaching the Keep. Whomever they were, they were a little shaken, apparently from the way that they had arrived. Perhaps they had never traveled such a way before. But they seemed to be recovering rather quickly.

As the pair approached she could feel their inner turmoil, they were worried of something. She shook her head. Long, wavy, locks of blonde bounced about her head. "No, no, no. This will never do. The Goddess has said no visitors." She sighed and waited for the pair to be within ear shot before she would address them. She furrowed her brows at seeing upon whom the women rode.

Once the women were within ear shot, she spoke up. "Sorry t' interrupt you ladies, but the Goddess ain't takin' in no visitors t'day." She had a very thick accent. It gave her away as being British, without a doubt. "Perhaps, I can get a message t' her for ya?" And not the upper crust area of Brittan either. She had been born and bread a peasant. But she took her job very seriously.

She thought about it for a moment, then chose to ask. "Ow is it that ya came t' be in possession of me ladies pair o' whites?" She meant the unicorns of course, but she didn't know if they knew they were riding unicorns or not. So she wasn't about to be the one to tell them. "They be a rare pair in deed. Pure white like that an all. She don't be loanin' them out t' just anybody."

She watched the pair to see how they would react to her knowing the pair of equines. Gwendolan might have been to the Keep before, but she didn't know everyone within its walls as of yet. And this woman didn't know her. Or the other woman for that matter. So as it stood at that moment, neither of them was entering the walls of the Keep. She was in no mood to get fired today.

by Inion Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:09 am

Inion looked toward the voice and put on a polite smile. She listened to what the young woman had to say. She was just doing her job and Inion did not wish to cause any conflict or get the young lady in any kind of trouble so she choose to not use any magic or force to enter the keep. "Good Morning. It is unforntuate that the Lady isn't accepting vistors as we have traveled to see her." She kept her Irish accent light but it was still there. "If you could get a message to her that the Lady Gwendolan and the Lady Inion are wishing to see her. If she is unable to see us today is it possible for us to stay within the keep."

Inion knew that riding the unicorns would draw alot of attention, of course she also knew that not everybody saw them for what they really were, much like believing in fairies. If you didn't truely believe in such creatures you wouldn't know one even if it was standing right in front of you. Giving that the young lady didn't say anything about them being unicorns, Inion was not going to say anything different "these rare equines graceiously agreed to help us travel here. The lady and I are staying at the same Inn as the Lady Venis." She sat there and waited for the young lady to respond.

by Gwendolan Wed Mar 23, 2011 1:51 am

Gwen was confused. She had never considered that they may be stopped and told that they could not come in. She was glad that Inion had spoken up first. She tried to gather her thoughts. Had the woman said something about the unicorns?

"I ride Rapture all the time. I like to help Lady Venis as much as I can. Empyrean normally just follows us around. He doesn't want me to ride him."

Should she have said that? She was starting to get nervous. When she got nervous she started to ramble. She took a deep breath as she pushed her hair back behind her ears.

"I was here with Lady Venis a while back. She told me I was welcome here any time I wanted to come. I helped her with something."

She would never tell anyone what that something was it was not her story to tell.

"Please; the Lady Venis is a friend. I just want to make sure she is ok."

She had rambled on enough she got very quiet and folded her hands in her lap.

by Employees of the Goddess Thu Mar 24, 2011 3:36 am

She listened to the pair of women on the unicorns attentivly. She even leaned into the window, laying her right arm across the stone bottom and resting her chin upon it. When they both quieted, she responded to them. After all, it was rude to interupt, right?

She looked first to the woman on Empyrean, then to the woman on Rapture. "I see. Well 'ello Lady Inion, Lady Gwend'ln." Her accent was rather thick. "My name's Mander. Pleasure t' make yer 'quaintance." That would be Amanda to those without such a thick accent.

She smiled at them both. She moved to pull the wheel and crank the doors open as she continued to speak. "I's just gunna let ya in. No need fer ya t' stay out 'ere or go back. If ya want fresh mounts, we can get 'em fer ya. But Empyrean and Rapture is faster, a little."

It was a long ride to the castle the normal way. The Transylvanian Thoroughbreds could get one there in about half the time, sometimes a third of the time. But the unicorns turned what was almost a twenty-four hour trip into only about six hours. That's one fourth.

The doors were slowly opening before the two women. "Ya can ride t' the castle, an give word t' the gate keeper. He'll be the one t' deliver a message to me'lady fer ya. Iffin yer denied an audience, you'll be told where t' go fer a nights rest." It was easier that way.

Now that wasn't to say that they would be asked to leave in the morning or anything. If they stayed at the same Inn as Venis, and were riding her unicorns, chances were they were important to her. So it made sense that they would be welcome to stay within the Keep.

The comment about the Inn was given nothing more than a nod of acknowledgment. "Empyrean don't be likin' the ladies much. I's s'prised that the Lady Inion is even on him." Said rather matter of factly, after all, it was fact. The doors moved slow, they were rather huge.

There was no doubt that the pair were welcome within the Keep. "Aye, I believe you is welcomed any time. No worries of that." Very few were ever turned away from the Keep itself. Though, not everyone is welcomed within the castle. Though, they might be.

The woman was rambling on now wasn't she? She seemed very nervous and agitated. The other one, Lady Inion, she seemed calm. Amanda was glad for the calm woman, frustration was never agreeable with her. Other emotions were fine, nerves upset her stomach.

The doors came to a stop, they had opened enough for the two women to pass through side by side. "Welcome to Le loup est protégé Conserver Ladies. Would ya be needin those horses then? Or are Empyrean and Rapture your transports?" She needed to know.

by Gwendolan Sun Mar 27, 2011 6:51 pm

Gwendolan breathed a deep sigh of relief. The woman was going to let them in. She patted Rapture on the neck.

"Thank you Amanda."

She patted Rapture's neck again and nodded at the woman. She was sure that she would not be turned away from the castle. Venis would let her in.

"Thank you Amanda; I am sure that we will be just fine after we get to the castle."

She looked over at Empyrean and Inion with a smile.

"I believe that Lady Inion asked him nicely."

She had warned her about Empyrean she was sure Inion could handle him. She probably could if the need were great enough but she was happy to stick to riding Rapture. She took a deep breath in as the gates came to a stop and she began to move towards them.

"Thank you Amanda for the welcome. We will not be needing other transportation we will be keeping Empyrean and Rapture."

She looked at Inion again as the road through the gates.

"Are you ready? They move fast."

by Unicorns Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:39 pm

Empyrean and Rapture were waiting patiently. But the more the bipeds spoke of them, the more Empyrean jostled about. He wasn't one for standing around while bipeds talked. He liked to move, get things done, he had a bit of a lack of patience. He started out just stomping his hooves. And this got Rapture's attention. ~Empyrean, love, calm down. We will be moving again soon.~ And she moved so she could nudge him with her nose.

Of course, Empyrean wouldn't listen. ~Not fast enough. Are these bipeds going to start giggling and have a hen party or are we going to get a move on?~ He started jerking his head upward. He wanted to go, and he wanted to go now. Rapture wasn't crazy enough to stick her head near him again. It was a good thing the gates were open. Miss Gwendolan began to move her through the gates. Soon, Empyrean would want to bolt.

by Inion Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:13 am

Inion could feel Empyrean getting anxouis and his desire to get moving. She let him move about and laid her hand on his neck and whispered very softly "I know I want to get moving too, we just have to be polite first." She was pretty sure he could hear what she whispered when no one else could.

She gave the young lady a polite smile as they all began to move through the gate, "thank you so very much for all your help." She let Empyrean have a loose rein while they moved through the gate. Looking at Gwendolan, "I am as ready as I will ever be." and with that she braced herself for the movement she knew was coming.

by Unicorns Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:51 am

Lady Inion might have thought herself ready for the movements she knew to be coming, but she might have underestimated Empyreans spirit, or his eagerness to get moving. He heard her. He walked through the gate easily enough. ~Are you ready to go love?~ Asked of his mate as she walked with him. ~Don't hurt her dear.~ Said in response to his question.

Once they were clear of the gates, Empyrean rose up to stand upon his back legs. He neighed as he moved his front legs as if he were running in the air. And once he came down, he bolted. Rapture was right beside him. They were at a full run. They both hoped that their bipeds had good holds on the reigns. The scenery as flying by at their sides.

They passed a burned down barn to their right. Then a gaping hole in the ground to their left, down the first cross road. That hole had consumed two houses. There were people everywhere, but most of them would only feel a breeze as the group practically flew by. They were moving that fast.~Lady Gwendolan has some lunch for us dear, I can smell it.~

This revelation made Rapture happy. Running at such high speeds made her hungry. But they almost never got to run at top speed. So for them, this was a treat. ~Shall we stop at the second cross road? That's the halfway point~ She asked as they ran. He made another neighing noise to signal a yes. And three hours into the ride, they stopped to eat.

by Inion Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:09 pm

It was true Inion was not totally prepared for the movement of the unicorns, when he reared up it took her by surprise but thankfully years of riding warhorses had taught her to recover quickly. She leaned forward so that she wouldn't slip from the saddle and was thankful she had chosen to hold the saddle also. The full run was amazing to her. Fairies had a flight they called flit which allowed them to fly very fast. Sadly flit took alot of energy so it only lasted about 10 minutes, but Inion always loved the feeling of the flight. So it was amazing to be moving at such a speed for as long as they were. She leaned so that the wind would not be to harsh on her eyes as she watched the keep pass them by quickly. She noticed the burned barn and the gaping hole both of which gave her cause for concern. They seemed recent and knowing the Venis was an empath she could only imagine how it affected her.

When the ride came to an end suddenly she sat up on the saddle and the world started to spin for a moment. Once it stipped she hopped to the ground only to realize the movement was once again to fast and her legs wobbled a bit. She glanced at Gwendolan and once her balance was gained she moved to her side in case she needed help.

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