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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 0:35:01 GMT -5
We passed into a small room, and I smiled when I realized there was another door leading outside. I walked toward it and opened it so that we were standing outside toward the back of the temple. "Right there." I said pointing to a small hill with a nest of trees. "What do you say," I said looking back at her. "You interested in getting to know me better?" I asked with a chuckle.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 10:53:42 GMT -5
"Why not?" I laughed, enjoying the feel of the warm summer breeze on my skin. The area around the temple was beautiful, and obviously very well tended. It really was the perfect spot just to sit and be. "I wasn't expecting something so ..." I struggled for the word, but couldn't find what I was really looking for. Instead, I settled for, "...innocent, here."
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 11:44:47 GMT -5
I chuckled as I grinned at her and released her hand. I leaned in and placed a peck on her cheek. "Last one there's a rotten egg." I whispered in her ear before taking off running toward the hill not too far off.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 12:17:33 GMT -5
I laughed as he took off, and I knew I was going to be the rotten egg. Of course, I wasn't going to give up, so I took flight, running as fast as I could in my somewhat voluminous skirts. Still, he was ahead of me the entire was as we raced for the hill.
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 12:21:19 GMT -5
I laughed as I ran, glancing back to see Naia trailing behind me as I mounted the hill and when I reached the top I flopped into the grass, laying on my back. My hands tucked under my head and I chuckled softly, my breathing heavy as I relaxed, the sun shinning down on my face. I felt like I was back in Kusheth, spending time with others my age and I felt at least a little more relieved in the heaviness in my heart.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 12:29:22 GMT -5
I was only moments behind him, and I imitated him by flopping onto my back and copying his position. The grass was warm, and as I caught my breath, I looked over at him. "As I suspected, I am the rotten egg." I laughed.
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 12:32:35 GMT -5
I chuckled, sitting up a little as I leaned on my elbows and looked at her next to me. "I suspect you are." I chuckled again. "That was fun." I added.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 12:43:46 GMT -5
"It was, actually." I pulled my hair out from underneath me and fanned it around my head before clasping my hands back underneath. "I don't get as much exercise as I should since I got here." I was looking at him as I spoke, and I noticed that he seemed happier out here, in the fresh air, and I wondered if it was just that the temple inspired solemnity in people.
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 12:47:00 GMT -5
I nodded and then laid back down on my back, my hands under my head once more. I laid for a moment, sighing softly and enjoying the warmth of the sun. I finally turned onto my side, my head propped in my hand. "Alright, spill, tell me about yourself." I said with a soft grin on my face.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 12:53:08 GMT -5
I sighed loudly for effect. "I hate to disappoint you, but I'm really not all that interesting. Grew up with my father and sister in Kusheth, until she reached her majority and came here, then my father passed away and I joined her." I recited these events emotionlessly, thought in reality they had all been traumatic in their own way. "What about you, a similar dull existence, or a more exciting tale to tell?"
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 12:56:48 GMT -5
I watched her response and could tell there was something more, not that I thought she was lieing to me, just that it seemed like there was much that she was holding back on. "About the same I suppose, I've been living in Kusheth with my parents and my twin sister till I came here." I shrugged. "Where's your mother?" I asked, noticing that she hadn't mentioned her.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 13:15:34 GMT -5
The question was like a knife twisted in my heart, innocent though it was. At home, it was well-known in our area that she had passed, and no one had ever mentioned it in my presence. Only my father, and only to berate me with it, how I'd caused it ... even from birth I was naught but trouble. It took me several heartbeats to answer, but I managed to respond. "She died when I was a baby." I wanted to add that she had abandoned me like everyone else in my life, but that was too much, so I kept my mouth shut after that.
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 14:16:11 GMT -5
It took her a moment to respond, but when she did I felt foolish for not thinking that first, I should have guessed it since she didn't right off mention her. I knit my brows sadly at her as she spoke. I could see that same heart break look, that one she hid so well, when we started talking in the temple. It made more sense though, why she seemed to be hiding something, and I thought about what I had said I knew that it felt right when I said it. She was looking for love, in a sense. After meeting Lilli I understood better the feeling of loosing a parent and Naia was no different, except she had lost her mother very young. I imagined that she never really had the chance to know her mother's love and it must have pained her. I looked over her face, thinking how terrible it was, but how nice it was that she was opening up to me a little. "How old is your sister?" I asked, wanting to keep the dialog open as much as I can. I would not press on the topic of her mother but hoped she would tell me more later.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 15:46:40 GMT -5
"Sarielle? Oh, she's twenty-five." I dismissed her with a wave of my hand. "What about you, you have a twin? What is that like?" People had oft compared Sarielle and I to twins, but we were seven years apart, and it felt more like a hundred. I forced thoughts of my family down, and then rolled onto my side to face Maric, my elbow in the grass like his. I plucked a piece of grass and twirled it between my fingers while I waited for his response.
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 16:01:27 GMT -5
I shook my head. "Deflecting." I said softly. "I want to know more about you, tell me about your sister." I added, keeping a gentle smile on my face. I really did want to know more about her, I had few friends here and to have some one who was similar to me, who was from Kusheth... It just made it that much more appealing.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 18:23:14 GMT -5
I laughed and shook my head as well as I could from my position. "All right, I give up! But then it's only fair if you tell me somewhat about you!" I considered for a moment, what to say about Sarielle? "Well, about Sari... we were close when we were younger, she practically raised me after our mother died. But then when I was eleven, she came here, and I didn't really hear from her after that. When she invited me to come stay with her, I wasn't sure if I was going to, but I decided that perhaps we should get to know one another again." That was all true, I'd only left out my bitter feelings toward Sarielle for leaving, and what I thought was the true reason she'd left. "There you have it." I said, smiling.
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 19:58:55 GMT -5
I took her words as they were, but there was still something dark there. That 'put on' cheery attitude that didn't seem like her at all. "And your father, what was he like?" I asked after she finished speaking.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 20:55:24 GMT -5
I shrugged, twirling the little blade of grass between my fingers. "Just a man. We weren't close. He made sure I was fed and clothed and I stayed out of his hair. Truth be told, his passing was more of a relief than anything." I was sticking to the truth, but the bare bones of it only. There wasn't much chance I'd tell a stranger about my father's abuse; I hadn't even told my sister. "Family hasn't exactly been the high point in my life." I said with a wry chuckle.
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 21:37:08 GMT -5
Again, truth, but with that underlying edge that I knew she didn't see. But I smiled never the less, happy for another tidbit. "You never spent time with your Shahrizai family?"
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 22:21:08 GMT -5
"No, odd isn't it?" It was, considering that there were so many of us. "My father kept to himself, he was a bit of a loner." I privately assumed that it had to do with the massive amount of alcohol he consumed daily and his incredibly bad temper. Another Shahrizai wouldn't have put up with his endless tirades and litanies of my disappointments. Why had I? I rolled onto my stomach and began to pick apart the blade of grass. "He wasn't a very happy person, I suppose that made him bad company."
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 22:34:20 GMT -5
More information, more openness with out some facade and I smiled as I watched her. "Have you had a chance to visit much of your kin now that you've been here?" I asked.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 23:33:12 GMT -5
"Not yet." I thought of Gadleon and felt a small flush of pleasure remembering not only my time with him, but the fact that if Sarielle knew of it, it would be sure to anger her. "Only one cousin thus far. I'm sure it won't be long before I meet more of us, I'm sure." I laughed softly. "Like I said, you can't throw a rock without hitting one of us!"
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 21, 2009 23:42:22 GMT -5
I saw something but couldn't figure out what it was, so I noted it and locked it away for later. "Will you..." I swallowed when I realized what I was about to asked, but smiled at her never the less. "Will you go to Valerian House?" It was more then just a passing curiosity though, I was curious to know it all Shahrizai favoured Valerians.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 21, 2009 23:55:14 GMT -5
I was caught off guard by the question, mostly because I didn't have a ready answer for it. I remembered seeing Sarielle and that man with the two women I believed to be Valerians and the feelings it had evoked. But I wasn't sure if that was me yet... I knew it was inside of me, my predeliction for rough sex had to come from somewhere, but I didn't know if I could handle a Valerian.
"I'm not sure." I said, finally, plucking another blade of grass and shredding it. "Probably, at some point, if only to see what it's like." It was something I had been thinking about, but I just wasn't as sure of myself in this regard as I was in everything else. "You're Kusheline, have you been?"
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 22, 2009 0:10:42 GMT -5
I chuckled and shifted so that I was leaning on my arm, tucking it under me as I reached out and toyed with a few blades of grass too. My cheeks went warm as I thought of Avianna and smiled, glancing back to Naia. "I've been to Mandrake." I said softly, my eyes casting down to the ground, wondering what sort of response that would get from her.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 22, 2009 0:28:21 GMT -5
Now that was an interesting tidbit. "Mandrake, really?" I looked at him in a new light, a bit of a predatory one, I had to admit. "What was that like?"
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 23, 2009 22:13:48 GMT -5
I smiled a little more widely at her response, more just because it was amusing, but partly because I wondered about what side she fell on. "I was." I chuckled feeling a little nervous as I finally looked at her. "The most amazing experience of my young life." I chuckled softly at the over dramatic tone of the sentence. But I smiled at her never the less, curious at what else she would ask about.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 23, 2009 22:35:19 GMT -5
"I can imagine," I said dryly, and I was. I didn't think I would enjoy a Mandrake, as much as I liked to play power games and a little roughness, I definitely was not submissive in any sense of the word. But I would have liked to watch a Mandrake at work, perhaps I could learn something. "Would it be too personal of me to ask what it was about Mandrake that drew you to it?" I was curious, not having the desire to visit that particular house myself.
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Post by Maric du Verais on Apr 23, 2009 22:41:07 GMT -5
Her response was not quite what I thought it would be and my smile faded a little and I looked nervously at the ground. I wasn't sure if it was imagination, but she seemed to be mocking me for going to Mandrake House. "A girl, I suppose is the easiest way to answer that." I said softly and then rolled onto my back, my hands going behind my head again. "Theres something about the pain, being able to withstand it, pushing your boundaries of what life gives you." I shrugged as I tried to calm my nervous thoughts and wondered if I should switch topics.
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Post by Naia Shahrizai on Apr 23, 2009 23:04:00 GMT -5
I supposed I could understand that, it was almost like what I had been doing most of my life - pushing boundaries. "That makes sense. I suppose it is a mistake to think that people visit Mandrake for only one reason." Then I seized on something else he had said and added, "A girl, hmm? Do tell." I looked over at him and grinned. Now it was my turn to ask the questions!
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