Garden of Ruins

Subject: Garden of Ruins Sun Nov 03, 2013 7:37 pm

Fragrant flora in rich, vibrant tones decorate this secluded grotto; it is, for all intents and purposes, the queen’s personal garden in the hidden yards of her castle’s land. Marble statues stand proud and crumble with dignity under the ageless sun overhead, as time worn and strong as their queen. Ancient architecture swathed in vines and populated by ghosts of memories and small furry creatures watches over the Edenesque sanctuary. Often, the queen comes here to reminisce and find peace; these broken stones and mossy walls hold a great deal of nostalgia for her.

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Mon Dec 23, 2013 1:37 am

Sweet night air filled Chimitsu’s lungs as she slipped beneath the bending boughs of a snow-dusted tree. Laced with honeysuckle, the decadent oxygen was a relief from those crowded halls she had left behind. She had long since ceased attempts to track even the most familiar signatures in the masses; a headache was beginning to throb behind her eyes. Here, though…out here in the gardens, she felt the shackles of responsibility, the hold of hostesship, fall from her form like a weight. No one knew how to find this private retreat of hers, much less had the means to access it without her advanced permission.

“And there is but one living who might wish to take advantage of that,” she murmured aloud, bending to scoop a small bundle of snow into her palms as she seated herself on a piece of shattered marble.

Nestled into a lap clothed with mint green silk and golden filigree, the frozen mound shifted. Two wet, tender leaves unfurled from its top, and a set of charming cranberry eyes gazed up at the forest queen. She smiled faintly and drew one finger down the back of the tiny creature. They were being handed out as “party favors” at the door, but many roamed free over the grounds. Docile and sweet, they did not even fear the beast that lurked beneath her crème skin or the makeup that had been painted on for the festivities. It gave her some measure of comfort.

Oh, but she must have looked a sight! Far from that beast, indeed, as the silk of her dress pooled out beneath her on the stone’s surface and moonlight washed over her form. Her hair was plaited simply to the side of her throat, loose tendrils curling over her brow. Somewhere in the verdant grass, her shoes lay discarded, mere golden ribbons now dressing some more deserving flower of the field. As a breeze caressed her cheek, she shut her eyes and breathed in—there was mint on the wind, and a hint of musk. She smiled again.

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 12:47 am

Achilles sat perched upon the wall of the garden, looking through the branches of a particularly tall tree at the beautiful creature who sat upon the pale stone that contributed almost as much as the moon to creating a nearly ethereal light all around the strong queen. His scent carried on the wind, and he knew she must feel him close by now.

His clothing fit his form well enough tonight. He had been out in the woods leading the traditional hunting party most of the day, and it showed in his appearance. Black boots were caked with the white snow that clung to many a branch of the forest surrounding the castle. A white cloak lay at the shoulders of his white leather vest; both of them were streaked with brown and held leaves and pieces of bark from the day's adventures. Sandy blonde hair that had begun the day neatly tied back and clean was now a bit greasy from sweat and fell loosely out of its tie to frame his face. The shirt he had worn beneath his vest had begun a verdant green and bark brown earlier, however it had since faded from the bleach of sweat and snow, falling open at his chest to reveal his lucky wolf pendant. His pants were of white fur and they held many a speck of dirt, bark, and various leaves throughout.

This all lent to his mystique, he felt. Golden eyes peered out from behind the fallen strands of hair and his olive-toned skin glowed in the moonlight. Achilles smiled then, and jumped to the ground, landing on the balls of his feet to muffle the sound easily. The hunter walked towards her out of the shadow of the wall and tree and into the faint light; his yew longbow drawing a line in the snow as he approached her.

Still smiling, he knelt before her, taking her hand and raising it to his lips to kiss her knuckles lightly. "My love. I've returned from the hunt. Shall I give you a report? Or are we due somewhere to make an appearance?" he asked, turning his piercing eyes to hers. "I'm well enough inclined to do either, but I fear I'll have to change if we plan on attending the party inside." the man smiled. "As much of a headache as I'm sure it's been, I think I'll be able to keep you distracted enough to keep you from being overburdened with tracking each and every person, hmm?" the captain asked in a knowing tone.

Kissing her hand once more, his eyes closed for a moment before turning his gaze back to her. "I've missed your scent. It's been awhile since I've smelled beautiful." Achilles said with a chuckle.

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 1:25 am

Think of the devil. The queen’s smile blossomed with the resurgence of her favorite signal. More than twenty-four hours had passed since he had been within a mile of the castle grounds, and it was pleasant to have her one constant return. He knelt before her and she opened her eyes as he took her hand. Cupping his cheeks with her palms, she bowed her head over his and kissed his lips.

“You taste of the earth,” she murmured against his mouth, and pulled back to look into his eyes.

Rakish and handsomely disheveled as ever, she felt a twinge of jealousy in her heart. It looked as if Nature herself had taken him to bed, and Chimitsu almost desperately wished to do the same. She placated her lust by brushing her free hand through his hair and running it down his cheek as he spoke. She never tired of feeling his muscles surge beneath her fingertips, even if it were just to move his jaw in speech. Her eyes shut as he kissed her hand again, breathing in his words like oxygen.

“We can return, if you wish, but I’ve had my fill of appearances and dancing with strangers. I’m a terrible hostess, I’m afraid—I came out here for a bit of a reprieve,” she said. “And,” another kiss to his mouth, her hand straying to stroke the pendant against his chest, “I rather like you dressed the way you are now.”

The small creature in her lap stirred, and, squirming out from under her arm, bounded away into the shadows of the garden. She laughed. It had probably had enough of being squished close between two bodies. Taking Achilles’ hands into her own, she stood and wandered slowly deeper into the garden. Snow crystals and dew collected on the fabric of her train and her bare feet, but she didn’t seem to notice the cold.

“This place holds many a memory for me,” she said after a stretch of silence. “…Does it for you?”

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 1:57 am

Her kiss filled his mouth with a taste much like the one she described. His queen most always tasted that way, however. Mayhaps it was something about her centuries spent wandering many forests, or in her many more centuries spent here, or even more ruling a forest. Any of those were possibilities. It could be all of them or none of them, and it wouldn't bother him. A wise man had once taught him not to question good things.

Her response about the party meant his assessment of what she'd been up to while he was out hunting was dead on. It made him chuckle aloud, but she'd know what about. Blinking, he looked back at the beautiful woman standing before him and stood with her, answering her first remark before even letting his mind wander to her question. "I'd make a shoddy lover if I didn't give you at least one public dance, and a shoddier captain of your guard if I didn't fulfill at least some of my duties to the castle upon my return." he responded smoothly, poking her nose lightly with a smile adorning his face.

"We'll get there later, and you won't regret the patience, I promise." he added with a lust-filled gaze for the moment as he drew her in for a deep kiss to seal the deal he'd proposed.

After what seemed like an hour, he finally felt like drawing away from her lips, and even then it was a fight. There was still a question unanswered, however, and he was never one to let a single thing she said fall by the wayside. Revisiting those memories tended to be painful in a general sense, but some of them were not so terrible. The ones lingering in this garden seemed alright, but nothing he wanted to linger on. Suddenly, the pang of what the memories must've meant to her hit him square in the gut, and his gaze turned to the ground, sending what felt like a shockwave through his head.

The force of it would've sent him to the ground a few weeks ago when he began having this reaction, but he'd grown so accustomed that it had only the power to make him grimace. This time was no exception, and his answer was less verbal and more just a nodding of his head as he fought to keep from squeezing her hands.

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 2:23 am

If he could not have his fill of her, neither could she have hers of him. Her tongue held memory traces of him even when their lips had parted, and she flicked it gracefully along the contours of her own mouth. Greedy creature that it was, she all but had to bite it to keep from diving in for another kiss. His promises of tossed bed sheets and arching spines sent an electric jolt down to her toes. She let out a low, rumbling growl at his stare, her own eyes flashing gold for all of a second.

“To that promise, I will hold you firmly,” she said beneath her breath. “Perhaps we can secure the final dance of the affair and end things the way it should have begun, hm?”

Their tryst in the shadows put, at least momentarily, on pause, she resumed walking. Night flowers with sweet-scented nectar showered glittering pollen on their shoulders from overhanging lattices. Vines crept up walls and snaked along the grass like lace, much like the ruins they had once explored together in the skies. Great stone statues, broken to fragments like so many fallen chess pieces, towered over them before she had her answer.

Silence befell the two. Chimitsu ceased walking, her sudden halt pulling her lover at their conjoined hands so that he would turn back towards her. Pressing a cool palm to his cheek and circling her fingertips about his temple, she smoothed her thumb carefully across his eyelids to close them and drew in closer to his person.

“I didn’t mean to cause you pain. We can go, if you wish.”

They had never been together in this place before. No painful memories existed here—merely those she held fondly of the times she and the Old Man would spar in the gardens. Many of these statues had been broken by her body or a joint effort of their powers. Still, she felt she ought to have known better than to keep her lover in a place where he felt caged by the past, no matter how beautiful or pleasing it was to her own senses. There was a brief sorrow in her eyes, an apology as she met his gaze again.

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 2:48 am

His eyes felt nothing but remorse for showing weakness in front of her, no matter the apology in her eyes. Feeling nothing but his own fault, he leaned his face towards her touch, opening his eyes to gaze at her once more with that same smile on his face, strained through the fading pain that wracked his brain. A gentle shake of his head attempted to dismiss her worry. She did not show it often, or well, but there was little a lover's intuition did not know after all this time.

That thought brought on the worry that she knew nothing of the pain that had been appearing in increasing intensity, however desensitized he was attempting to make himself. "It's me who should be sorry. I have not been open with you about this sensation that befalls me." he began, wondering where to truly begin explaining. "I don't remember precisely when it began, but you know of my consistent effort to flush out the memories that don't belong to me so that I may be free to be myself. It's been an effort since shortly after my arrival." he said, pausing for a moment to arrange his thoughts.

"I've been wracked with pain every time I've tried to peer into those memories the past few months." he said bluntly, caring not to sugar-coat his words for this woman. "It began as a pain that brought me to my knees and it has intensified intervals now. I've simply desensitized myself to it so that I may show less weakness. It would not do to have my position compromise you, the castle, or the guild for my weakness in this regard." the man said, his tone humbled by the confession.

"I'm sorry I haven't told you. I just....simply didn't want for things to get complicated. And I fear they have. I just haven't had the time to track this down to figure out why. Again, I'm very sorry my love. We can return to the dance floor. I'll clean up, and we can think on this another time." he said in an attempt to push past the issue and leave himself to his own devices for discovering this pain on his own. He knew it was futile now that she was aware, but it could not be helped. She deserved for him to share his experiences, both good and bad. After all, his situation was clearly unique.

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 3:18 am

“Enough.”

With one finger, Chimitsu silenced her lover. Then, dropping it to her side, she replaced it with a tender brush of her lips. Not often, nor well, indeed, were her shows of disconcertment, but she knew he would understand. Would still feel how, beneath her empty shell of an exterior, her chest ached for his discomfort. She took his hand in hers again.

“I wish you had told me sooner. I have a good friend, a mage—the head of the guild, in fact—who might be of assistance, if you wish to accept his aid.”

Regardless, she communicated with a squeeze of his fingers, I am here for you.

He was stubborn, the same as she. Neither of them would willingly seek the help of another for a personal problem, and she took it as a sign of the great affection and trust he felt for her that he had told her instead of trying to push it down again. Though it was clear he was still attempting the latter, at least now she had an in as to the source of his discomfort. At least now, she could try to spare him this.

“For now…yes, let’s put this aside, and we,” she said with proper emphasis, “will attend to it at some later time. I do not wish to cause you any further headaches, nor do I think that I will get much of anything that you have not already told me. You are honest and I…trust you.” Her hand lingered on his chest, above his heart. “With both myself, and the one who brought her out of the grave.”

If he wanted, she would stay again in the gardens with him. He looked less than enthusiastic about the proposal, however: face wan and eyes pained. Offering another kiss to her lover, Chimitsu paced away so that their fingertips alone touched and gestured to an unobtrusive exit. Memories he would surely want to avoid existed all over this castle, and she was lucky that he had decided to stay around them for her. There was, at least, one place she could take him where those memories would never bother him, and it waited up a staircase just beyond her fingertips.

“You may find less pleasant memories in the ballroom, and a less than pleasant amount of company. I will go wherever you wish, darling, but maybe tonight I can spirit your mind far from the place where it rests…?”

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 3:39 am

He knew her trust meant more than anything, and it was very difficult for her to express. That, in itself, was the best gift he'd likely receive in a lifetime of being with her. Besides her latter offer, he thought to himself with a private smirk. The promise of the alone time gave him the energy to fulfill what he saw as duty and she saw as pointless banter. Appearances were never really her thing though, and he was the political one.

Taking her hand in his once more, Achilles pulled her close enough to kiss deeply before turning toward the ballroom. "The pain comes with actively thinking about the possibility of memories, and I think with as entertaining as seeing you in that dress is going to be for my imagination, I'll have little to worry about." he replied with a wink, kissing her again, slowly.

"I think you'll have to suffer my lack of clothing here, however. I've brought my change of clothes with me. I think you'll approve." the sandy blonde captain remarked as he walked towards the wall from whence he came, picking up a bag and looking up at her with a slightly innocent mischief in his eyes.

"Care to help? I have alot of...freshening up to do." he said while removing his shirt and vest with one fluid motion.

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 4:04 am

Being trapped in a room full of people really couldn’t be all that bad, she resigned with a sigh. Not, at least, with a man like this at her side. It was a rare chance that she got to show him off, and he was bound to be a much better dancer than any of the fools she had traipsed around with earlier that night.

“Is there something wrong with my dress?” She quirked her brow and tried to hide a smile as he kissed her again. “Mmm, suffer indeed…”

Gliding across the gardens, she closed the distance between them with ease. Her hands rested on his shoulders as she stood on her toes to give him a kiss. Then, she had snatched away his satchel, and with it, the belt holding up his pants. The same mischievous gleam in his eyes whipped across hers like the blade of a knife. With a flick of her free wrist, the dew from the garden surged towards her lover, splashing over his bare chest and through his hair.

Gods, he looked sexy, standing there naked and dripping with water in her gardens. He’d freeze if she left him like that, though, and so with another motion, she swished the water about to gather up the dirt molecules and with another, she flung it aside so that he was dry. Stepping in again, she kissed him and let her body rest warmly against his for a brief moment before beckoning a nearby branch of honeysuckle. As the flowers sacrificed their nectar, she worked it into his hair like a perfumed shampoo, combing water through as she saw fit.

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 4:28 am

There was little this woman could do to surprise him at this point, and her stripping of him was no exception. As a matter of fact, he could've predicted it. Her cleaning of him was a little of a surprise, but it felt something of a little piece of heaven to have her fingers about him. Even her water droplets, teeming with her energy, felt intimate. Every little thing she did he could fantasize about every second of every day, and that was one of the many things that kept him so in love with her.

Kissing her back, then, he smiled as he was being cleaned. "There's something incredibly right with your dress." he began, placing his hands at her cheek and tracing down her jawline to her throat and down to her bosom, slipping a solitary finger beneath the fabric and around. "It compliments you perfectly." he finished, offering another teasing wink.

"I suppose we should get me dressed and head inside so that we can sooner act on this pent up need, hmm?" he asked, running his lips to her throat and murmuring another promise softly. "I really love being your arm candy, but I'd like to be your candy for many other things tonight as well, so let's get this done so I can enjoy you tasting your sweet victory, hmm?" he offered her teasingly.

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 4:45 am

Chimitsu sucked in a breath. Her hands stilled, fingers twisting in knots up in his golden mane. She was growling again, she knew it, her chest vibrating in the space between their bodies. It was a warm sound, travelling from his hands on her body down to her toes and back up through her throat again. The snow started to matter less and less. Surrounded by the floral scents of her garden and burning with heat, it could have been summer for all of the attentions she paid her surrounding area.

“I’m still under the impression that your dancing skills could be better put to use in my bed, but if you insist,” she said when she could catch her breath.

Helping him dress, she inspected her handiwork and combed his hair back into rights with her fingers. A slow kiss later, a pause to pick up her shoes and have him help her put them on, and they were off to the ballroom she couldn’t wait to leave.

Subject: Re: Garden of Ruins Tue Dec 24, 2013 4:57 am

*I'd post now, but I think we're better off just responding in the ballroom. See you there tomorrow! Night! Thanks for the RP!*

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