Summer's heat had come fantastically quick. For Suliss'urn, heat or cold did not usually make much of a difference. She was one of those annoying few seen about during season changes bare foot in snow or barefoot in rain. Either way it did not make much difference.
But extreme heat...It reminded the drow of below the earth some times. It reminded the drow of life all around her each deep breath she took, flowers and crushed grass and blooming this and that, sweet or sick with sweat--the scent of summer was full of life. The female was not quiet sure of what to make of such things.
There was also something about this season which drove humans to mill about much more at night than they would any other time of the year. The side streets were filled with the usual lot, street walkers cooing subtly, women in long skirts ranging from peasant wool to finest silks, some on the arms of peacock-men, some not. Older children up to no good scuttled off to try and find the tavern that would allow them to drink ale without care of age, or white-wash dirty words on building faces. Suliss'urn observed all of this in her stalk toward a particular haunt which had become almost second nature.
In the distance, the Red Dragon inn loomed, quaint and spilling light into the streets the lamps along the road could not quite mimic.
She was not so unusual, this female drow along the road walking amidst pale skin, caramel skin, dark skin and even green or blue skin. But some made double and damn sure to not be on the same side of the road as she and others did their best not to look at her at all, fear rolling from them in acrid scent.
There weren't enough along the road that feared her enough to entirely please her, but the fact some were still scared to death ticked the corners of wide mouth. She might have even smiled, however it died as soon as the drow realized she wasn't alone.
Not only not alone, but had herself a fellow female drow companion walking side by side in pace.
Suliss'urn sucked an impatient breath inward--
"You really oughtn't to scare them just for fun," came the second female who had abruptly appeared beside Suliss'urn. "It really isn't the message I have been working to portray."
Suliss'urn took yellow eyes to glance aside once at fellow drow female. Silvery hair as long as the other female was tall crowned head and fell almost to dirty street behind her. She wore a simple patterned blue dress belted at the waist with wide blue silk sash--which was a bonus, because her other appearances were usually fully nude. While Suliss'urn was all for causing chaos and confusion, she wasn't sure that this female's nude appearance was the sort of mess she truly wished to deal with at the moment.
Though the other drow female wore a long, silver sword strapped to her back, it made no sound as she walked along. Suliss'urn turned her eyes toward the tavern and said naught.
The other, prettier, unmarked female clucked her tongue. "Is that anyway to think about me? Suliss', I did not abandon you, you know. It was you who--"
"I will naut speak of this with you," the scarred up, smaller drow abruptly snarled. Her snarling sent several people alone the road already cautiously eye balling up not one--but TWO female drow on the side streets--scattering like frightened birds.
The blue-dress wearing female's mouth down turned momentarily. To Suliss'urn and perhaps the few caught in summer's endless heat this evening, they might have seen the briefest flaring of silvery-aura around the female. Or they might have simply thought the sword at her back reflected the light oddly. The blue-dress wearing drow's expression cleared quickly, as it always did.
"They want to destroy it, you know." The blue-dress drow flicked a glance toward the set of mithril claws Suliss'urn wore upon single hand; the rough, uncut ruby Jodiah Ayreg had forged within it's middle hidden as Suliss' clutched hand to a fist.
"What does that have to do with me?" 'Mildly irritated' Suliss' sounded a lot like 'I'm going to eat your eyes,' Suliss', and so the crowds along the streets took steps to make themselves even further away from the two drow.
The blue-dress drow female considered her walking companion with a mixture of bemusement and exasperation, much like one might look at stubborn child. "You have the gem. It has imprinted on you and no one else. If anyone were to destroy it or give it away, it must be you. Certainly you can see that?"
Suliss'urn snorted in response. In truth however, the single solitary word destroy and give it away had filled her with such indescribable dread and fear momentarily that the drow almost faltered in step. She had not felt such emotions since she was knee high to her eldest sister--it made Suliss'urn wonder, actually, if she was losing her mind or if...Something else was influencing her...no, couldn't be.
"You say such things as if I should care," Suliss'urn retorted scathingly. Black lips twisted about in a sneer that made one woman passing by squeak, hike skirts, and go running off in an alleyway.
There is that suspicious flicker of silver again, though this time it is no longer in time than a second, a baby's breath, a flicker of eye.
"I know many things, Suliss'urn. You of all people should know that you cannot hide with me."
This. This above all had Suliss'urns unbridled rage flicker from a simmer to being barely withheld. Yellow eyes the color of melted gold wedding rings, reflective and skimmed with reflected heat turn toward her walking companion. She did stop, finally, to whirl herself about in clatter of mithril and hidden dagger.
"Then you know full well what I am on the verge of telling you," spat.
The female drow in blue patterned dress stopped as well. There was the world of unfathomable within the silver-sword bearing one's expression, a glass lake reflecting nothing but sky. After a few moments, the female canted her head in perfection of regal, then followed it with a deeper bow that only held the faintest touch of mocking to it.
"As you will it, then."
Suliss'urn was not one to facepalm, but at that moment as rage drained her veins in a manner so quick as to refill with ice, she could not help but wonder if her words would come back to regret her very soon. She did not apologize, however, as somehow, either by the trick of the eye or the night, the woman who had been walking beside her no longer remained. She was completely, utterly gone.
"Meddling phraktos," explosively muttered to the night air and the wind. On silver toe, Suliss' whirled about a second time to continue her march to the Inn and the porch itself.
But extreme heat...It reminded the drow of below the earth some times. It reminded the drow of life all around her each deep breath she took, flowers and crushed grass and blooming this and that, sweet or sick with sweat--the scent of summer was full of life. The female was not quiet sure of what to make of such things.
There was also something about this season which drove humans to mill about much more at night than they would any other time of the year. The side streets were filled with the usual lot, street walkers cooing subtly, women in long skirts ranging from peasant wool to finest silks, some on the arms of peacock-men, some not. Older children up to no good scuttled off to try and find the tavern that would allow them to drink ale without care of age, or white-wash dirty words on building faces. Suliss'urn observed all of this in her stalk toward a particular haunt which had become almost second nature.
In the distance, the Red Dragon inn loomed, quaint and spilling light into the streets the lamps along the road could not quite mimic.
She was not so unusual, this female drow along the road walking amidst pale skin, caramel skin, dark skin and even green or blue skin. But some made double and damn sure to not be on the same side of the road as she and others did their best not to look at her at all, fear rolling from them in acrid scent.
There weren't enough along the road that feared her enough to entirely please her, but the fact some were still scared to death ticked the corners of wide mouth. She might have even smiled, however it died as soon as the drow realized she wasn't alone.
Not only not alone, but had herself a fellow female drow companion walking side by side in pace.
Suliss'urn sucked an impatient breath inward--
"You really oughtn't to scare them just for fun," came the second female who had abruptly appeared beside Suliss'urn. "It really isn't the message I have been working to portray."
Suliss'urn took yellow eyes to glance aside once at fellow drow female. Silvery hair as long as the other female was tall crowned head and fell almost to dirty street behind her. She wore a simple patterned blue dress belted at the waist with wide blue silk sash--which was a bonus, because her other appearances were usually fully nude. While Suliss'urn was all for causing chaos and confusion, she wasn't sure that this female's nude appearance was the sort of mess she truly wished to deal with at the moment.
Though the other drow female wore a long, silver sword strapped to her back, it made no sound as she walked along. Suliss'urn turned her eyes toward the tavern and said naught.
The other, prettier, unmarked female clucked her tongue. "Is that anyway to think about me? Suliss', I did not abandon you, you know. It was you who--"
"I will naut speak of this with you," the scarred up, smaller drow abruptly snarled. Her snarling sent several people alone the road already cautiously eye balling up not one--but TWO female drow on the side streets--scattering like frightened birds.
The blue-dress wearing female's mouth down turned momentarily. To Suliss'urn and perhaps the few caught in summer's endless heat this evening, they might have seen the briefest flaring of silvery-aura around the female. Or they might have simply thought the sword at her back reflected the light oddly. The blue-dress wearing drow's expression cleared quickly, as it always did.
"They want to destroy it, you know." The blue-dress drow flicked a glance toward the set of mithril claws Suliss'urn wore upon single hand; the rough, uncut ruby Jodiah Ayreg had forged within it's middle hidden as Suliss' clutched hand to a fist.
"What does that have to do with me?" 'Mildly irritated' Suliss' sounded a lot like 'I'm going to eat your eyes,' Suliss', and so the crowds along the streets took steps to make themselves even further away from the two drow.
The blue-dress drow female considered her walking companion with a mixture of bemusement and exasperation, much like one might look at stubborn child. "You have the gem. It has imprinted on you and no one else. If anyone were to destroy it or give it away, it must be you. Certainly you can see that?"
Suliss'urn snorted in response. In truth however, the single solitary word destroy and give it away had filled her with such indescribable dread and fear momentarily that the drow almost faltered in step. She had not felt such emotions since she was knee high to her eldest sister--it made Suliss'urn wonder, actually, if she was losing her mind or if...Something else was influencing her...no, couldn't be.
"You say such things as if I should care," Suliss'urn retorted scathingly. Black lips twisted about in a sneer that made one woman passing by squeak, hike skirts, and go running off in an alleyway.
There is that suspicious flicker of silver again, though this time it is no longer in time than a second, a baby's breath, a flicker of eye.
"I know many things, Suliss'urn. You of all people should know that you cannot hide with me."
This. This above all had Suliss'urns unbridled rage flicker from a simmer to being barely withheld. Yellow eyes the color of melted gold wedding rings, reflective and skimmed with reflected heat turn toward her walking companion. She did stop, finally, to whirl herself about in clatter of mithril and hidden dagger.
"Then you know full well what I am on the verge of telling you," spat.
The female drow in blue patterned dress stopped as well. There was the world of unfathomable within the silver-sword bearing one's expression, a glass lake reflecting nothing but sky. After a few moments, the female canted her head in perfection of regal, then followed it with a deeper bow that only held the faintest touch of mocking to it.
"As you will it, then."
Suliss'urn was not one to facepalm, but at that moment as rage drained her veins in a manner so quick as to refill with ice, she could not help but wonder if her words would come back to regret her very soon. She did not apologize, however, as somehow, either by the trick of the eye or the night, the woman who had been walking beside her no longer remained. She was completely, utterly gone.
"Meddling phraktos," explosively muttered to the night air and the wind. On silver toe, Suliss' whirled about a second time to continue her march to the Inn and the porch itself.