Topic: This is what happens when I pass out?!

Rayvinn

Date: 2011-11-13 15:02 EST
Thank you to the player of Tavarius (Suits and Ties) for his collaboration.

Prior to Raye's return to RhyDin


When Raye finally awoke, her surroundings were quite different. She was in an old, but relatively soft and quite clean bed in a small, dark room. The only light came from a sliver of the sun through a crack in the thick, heavy drapes that covered the window opposite her. The covers were tucked in tight around her body. On the nightstand beside where she lay rested her ruck sac, beside that was a chair that had the clothes she had been wearing. They were cleaned and neatly folded, the small leather pouch sat undisturbed atop them. Her swords hung over the back of the chair, everything else looked to be untouched. The wound had been cleaned and sewn and thick bandages covered it for an added measure of precaution. In addition, she had been cleaned to the best of her caretaker's ability.

The room was cool but the covers were thick and did a decent job of keeping her warm. Outside were the sounds of voices, and if she managed to climb out of bed and take a peek, she'd see that they were in a small, rural town. Just outside the window was a long, wooden porch that hooked around the building she was in and on this porch sat an elderly couple in wicker chairs, speaking with Tavarius who leaned against the rail and smiled brightly at the pair of them as they applauded cheerfully at the sight of his famous Flower Ball. It was bright outside, a calm day with the sounds of children playing in a nearby field and the playful barking of hounds easily discernable not too-far off.


Raye had awakened numerous times over the the next several days. Sometimes she was mostly upright with something quite warm pressed to her back and firmly around her midsection to keep her in place. She would weakly try to struggle against whatever held her only to hear a soothing voice muttering bits of oddities. She would quickly settle down, her subconscious deeming this a safe "place" before shutting down once more.

Other times she had been in a bed with various faces and voices drifting in and out of her vision and hearing. She could remember struggling as her clothing had been removed but nothing beyond that moment.

She awoke slowly, her eyes remaining closed as she heard the sounds of chirping birds, soft laughter and rambunctious children and dogs playing. A slight smile began to form upon the corners of her lips and she was quite content in this still near dream state. Her mind tried to linger, to continue to protect her injured body and mind but Rayvinn's will to do something asserted itself and the thick sooty lashes fluttered and lifted.

With a cursory glance about the room, her body unmoving, the events of the past several days rushed back. She found herself moving far too quickly, legs being slung over the bed as her torso contorted to rise from the bed. "Aghhh. Gods be damned for their incessant meddling in my life!" She shouted as loudly as her dry throat and cottony tongue allowed. She tasted the faint bitterness of Valerian root, which explained the cottony tongue and the lack of further resistance during her care.

A hand pressed to her sore side as she arose from the bed, drew one of her swords and moved out the door of her room and into a more open area of...wherever she was staying. "Tavarius?! Hello?"


It opened to a wide hallway with two other doors on either side of it. This hall went into a large, open room brightly lit by sunlight flooding in through the windows. Her cry was enough for Tavarius' rather keen ears to pick up and he tossed the Flower Ball into the hands of the older gentleman on the porch before darting off into the small house. He came into view in the center of that large room as he turned to face the hall, blinking in surprise at the sight of Raye standing there naked with a sword in her hand.

"You're supposed to be in bed," he explained quite simply, pointing with a long finger back toward the room she had came from. "Go on, shoo!" he approached, waving another hand to try and get her to back away. "Why are you holding a sword? No one's here to fight, get back to bed now."

It had never occurred to Raye that she was naked. She had awakened in a strange place, dosed with Valerian root. Tavarius was lucky she wasn't running through the house and outside shouting threats and then carrying through with them.

"I..I am?" She lowered the sword so the point was near the floor, head canting slightly to the side. "And...I am holding a sword because I was drugged. I didn't know what was happening or where I am." She backed up a couple of steps as he approached and shooed her, until she was standing in the doorway of the room. "Where are we? Who drugged me? Who took care of me? How do you know there is no one to fight? How long have I been asleep? And I don't want to go back to bed. I am bored." She rapid fired the questions at him in what had been affectionately termed "rapid elf speak" once upon a time. Her behavior lacked any sort of threat; if anything, she seemed quite docile at the moment with her soft voice and wide eyes.

"I drugged you," he replied. "So you would sleep more, you lost a lot of blood. I took care of you, and this is a small town and the strongest man is a hunter who provides meat for the town. He's quite nice, so, I don't think there's anyone to fight," he waved again, shooing her off. "Back into bed. I don't care if you're bored, you aren't healed all the way yet. I'll bring you something to eat. What would you like?"

"That is not a good reason to drug someone. You will not do that to me again." Jade hues took on a much
cooler appearance but her voice wasn't raised at all. In a move that was all too familiar, the elf placed a hand to her hip and outright glared at him.

"Well I care if I am bored. And just who appointed you as my keeper? I am obviously capable of deciding for myself. I dislike being bored and I am not going back to bed."

She would, however retreat into the room, still glaring at him, to get dressed as she just realized she was standing there without a stitch on. He would hear her from the room, cursing and muttering as she dressed herself despite the pain. "Cannot believe he took my clothes off. Nooo he couldn't just have the mistress of the house take care of me. Oh no, he had to find some way to embarrass me to death, he did!" Finally she was finished dressing and venting and called out. "I will eat whatever...without the VALERIAN ROOT!"

Tavarius' head tilted as he heard her cursing. "Embarrass you half to death. How can you be half dead? Is that like, zombies? I've seen zombies. They look all dead, but can't be. Otherwise they wouldn't make all that noise, right?" he bounced on his heels and smiled at the doorway, regardless of whether or not he could see her at this point. "It's a good place, this town. They're nice folks, said we can stay here until you're fit for travel again."

She half growled her displeasure at what she perceived as eavesdropping. "No, I am not a zombie. And being embarrassed half to death is an expression people use when they are very, very embarrassed," she explained as she padded barefoot across the cool wooden floor to stand in the doorway; finishing the buttoning of her pants as she moved. Her arms were crossed gingerly over her chest; a slight grimace crossed over too pale features as she regarded him.

"Didn't they even bother to ask who we were and why I was covered in blood and passed out? Or why we appeared to have wallowed in a fire pit?"

Her chin lifted ever so slightly in defiance. "I am fit to travel right this instant. I have no intention of staying. I will, however, pay for your room and board since you led me to safety and took care of me."

Rayvinn

Date: 2011-11-13 15:04 EST
"I said we were attacked by raiders," he replied, smiling brightly as though that there was perhaps the most genius answer ever. "Why are you embarrassed? Is it because you were passed out? That's okay, I passed out from blood-loss once, too. I had this hole in my side," he pointed right beneath his ribs on the left side of his torso. "Blood everywhere. But I'm okay now. So are you."

"Where are we going?"

She nodded a little curtly. "That is a very good answer."

Her lips pursed and twitched to either side as she thought of how best to convey her reasons for embarrassment. Direct honesty had always worked for her and so she attempted. "I was embarrassed because...," and suddenly the bold former mercenary, hell...former General of Alorian's military, felt the heat of a wicked blush creeping up her neck and over her dainty elven features. This only served to aggravate her further which in turn caused more cursing. "By the gods, may they choke upon their taunting laughter as they pull the puppet strings!" She was tempted to stomp her foot with that profession of sacrilege but refrained.

After she took a soothing breath and exhaled it, she looked at him as matter-of-factly as she could and attempted once again to convey the irksome information. "I was embarrassed because...it is improper for a man to see a woman unclothed." Well, not always, but she was not about to add that part. "And yes, also because I passed out. A stronger woman could have maintained proper control of her faculties."

Her head tilted slightly to his last question. "I have no idea where I am going yet. I had planned to go to RhyDin City. I think, instead, I will find where that raiding party came from. How far are we from the inn we were staying in?"

"A couple of days ride. I like Rhy'Din, did I tell you I've been there before? I used to live there, but my brother came and so I had to leave," he shrugged and pivoted on a heel. "The horses are nice and well fed, we even have supplies now! I love trips, they're wonderful, get to see the countryside and there's that anticipation of reaching your destination."

"I've seen women naked before," he added, as though that would make things better. "Multiple times, actually. They didn't think there was anything wrong with it."

"A couple days ride in what direction? I need to know where we are." She nibbled at her lower lip as she realized just how long she had been unconscious. Her shoulders were rolled as she tilted her head, first to one side and then the next, in attempt to pop the vertebrae and relax the muscles from all of the tension she had been carrying in them. It was during this moment of soothing that she decided she needed to possibly be more calm and kind. He had taken care of her for several days, apparently, when a lesser person would have let her drop from her horse and robbed her or worse.

Rayvinn sighed softly and attempted a smile that didn't quite reach her troubled eyes. "No, you didn't tell me you lived there. And why would you have to leave because of your brother coming there?"

When he spoke of seeing women naked, she simply blinked dumbly at him several times before clearing her throat, opening her mouth to speak and then immediately closing it again. Raye lifted her index finger in the universal sign to "hold on" and moved out of the doorway and back into the room. She closed the door before moving to a chair on the other side of the room where she flopped down before snickering and whispering to herself, "I bet they didn't think there was anything wrong with it."

"North, I think we were going north. I'm not sure, someone in the village can tell you where we are, exactly," he reassured her with another shrug and smile as he twisted around to face her again. It was just then that she had turned and walked back into the room. Blinking, Tavarius followed until the door was closed in his face, then he leaned against it. "Hello?" he asked, knocking quietly with his knuckles. "What are you doing? Are you alright? Helloooooooo?"

She shook her head slightly and heaved a long suffering sigh, before calling out to him from across the room and through the door, "I am fine. You may enter." She had managed to compose herself in that couple of minutes alone; standing up and wincing slightly, she made her way to her belongings and pilfered through the sack for a hair brush. Sitting down once again, she began the process of removing the knots and rats from the unkempt hip length waves.

His head poked through the door and he glanced around before eying her curiously. "What were you doing?" he asked, nudging the door wider so he could step in. "And when do you want to leave? Rhy'Din shouldn't be too far, maybe Madison's back. I haven't heard from her in a while, she's always getting into crazy stuff."

"I was brushing my hair." The brush was dragged through the lower portion of a handful of hair she was holding onto, snags and snarls finally giving way so that she could run the brush unfettered through that portion of hair. Not hesitating in her task, she glanced up at him. "I am going to leave at first light but I am not going back to RhyDin just yet. If you need assistance to find your way there, I don't mind escorting you but I am not ready to return just yet."

She wasn't going to mention anything about the fiance she had ran out on without saying goodbye. Though the impending marriage wasn?t the reason she had left, it was the reason she wasn't returning just yet. She didn't know how to face Jonothon and she didn't want to rekindle something that terrified her more than facing down an entire army.

She smiled up at him, continuing the tedious chore of brushing hair that would be better suited to a pair of scissors. "Who is Madison?" There was a flash of a question flitting through her mind, wondering if this might be one of those women he had seen naked. She quickly banished the intrusive curiosity and immediately pinked up due to the rudeness of her thoughts. It was definitely not any of her business who saw whom naked, when, where, or how often!

"Madison Rye is a very good person," he replied vaguely, nodding several times. "She helps people," that was it. He tilted his head at her curiously and bounced on the balls of his feet. "So, where are we going to go first, if not Rhy'Din? Can we see mountains? I like mountains, they're enormous and you can see for miles from a peak. Plus, the snow does fun things with my light, especially when it's dark out and the moon is full."

"Helping people is important. Especially the ones that cannot help themselves." She nodded a few times, though she felt odd for saying that out loud to anyone. There were so many different personalities that people saw in Raye, this wasn't a very common one.

"I am unsure where I will be going first. I will speak with the villagers and hope to find out where we are. If you wish to see mountains, Tavarius, then you should. Your light is a gift, it makes people smile and feel less weary. You should be where that gift is able to be used to its full potential." She was slightly distracted now and gazing past him as she finished brushing her hair and began to braid it.

"You should probably go find out then," Tavarius replied excitedly. "I'll make sure everything's packed and ready to go! I love traveling!" he darted off quite suddenly, disappearing down the hall and bounding out of the building entirely to see to it that the horses would be properly taken care of for the last rest in the village before leaving in the morning.

She was drawn back from the pull of memory and frowned as he darted off. "How did...when...I didn't say you were going with me!" She finally called out in frustration.

Finishing the braids, she put the hairbrush away and packed up all of her belongings except for the small leather pouch that was stuffed into the middle of her bra between her non-existent cleavage. It had apparently not been as untouchable in its previous hiding place as she had first guessed!

"Okay, I am gonna have to take him back to RhyDin and find this Madison woman, perhaps she is his caretaker. Or perhaps his brother. Wait...no, didn't he say he had to leave because of his brother?" She mused quietly to herself as the end of one of her braids was lightly twirled around in her hand.

Out in the town, Tavarius rushed about, feeding and grooming the horses, making sure they had all the supplies they'd need for a lengthy trip and that they were all packed. In all, it took him no more than an hour and many of the townsfolk assisting him seemed quite haggard by the time he was done, if only because of how incredibly fast he moved and spoke in the face of all the excitement.