Re: The Grasping Talons (Javed & Nocme)

by **Nocme** Tue Dec 29, 2015 8:06 pm

He stared at her and she stare right back. He was judging her this she was sure. Although she refuse to believe that he is putting the condition of no cheating. He was definitely going to cheat and so will she. However at the same time the answer is there, right underneath his fingertips. Does it really hurt for her to play fair for once?

So far the tally was two wins for her and one win for him. Maybe just letting this one go will be okay. It does make the last roll more important than ever, but it still a good chance for her. Even if Dace didn’t think so. He was still squirming underneath her hand trying to get her to let go, pecking her to the point her finger is bleeding a little.

Carefully she lifted the cup straight up and let the dice fall naturally. It was a six, its Cho. He won this round.

Nocme couldn’t help but tighten her grip on the cup, almost cracking the thing. Dace stop wiggling and staring up in concern. Normally he gloat that he was right, but at the same time looking at her he didn’t have the heart to say that. Quietly he slipped out underneath her hand and into the pack. Coming out with a small silver pin in his beak, he threw it towards Javed before crawling into Nocme’s Lap. Providing comfort the only way he knows how.

“My go,” she said, trying to keep her voice even, and gathered the dice back again. Set the cup down the same way and held it carefully. Her finger twitched before lifting the cup. She wanted to cheat, she wanted to cheat so badly so she could get that card. Yet at the same time she wasn’t sure what the man would do to the card if she cheated.

Best to be cautious.

“Han,” she said and begin to lift the cup, straight up with no tricks. Hoping that either luck was on her side or that she could spot him cheating, either one will make her feel much better right now.

by **Javed** Sat Jan 09, 2016 11:06 am

“You are desperate to know, aren’t you?” Javed almost felt badly, that he was putting the elf girl through so much work for the possibility of no reward. Humming under his breath he tipped his head up for her to lift the cup. The silver trinket in his lap was pretty, gaudy and ready to be remade into something new. But he only glanced at it once before it was dropped into his pouch and forgotten.

With heavily scarred fingers Javed stroked the remaining deck of cards, careful not to catch on the silk they rested on. “Here, I’ll explain to you why you need all your questions in a row before I answer you. It takes magic to make them read true, like fuel for a fire.” He smiled at her with too many teeth, copper eyes bright even in the dim wagon. “It would be more work for me to call each answer and then stop while you threw your little dice and tried to cheat me.”

With a wave of his hands Javed seemed to dismiss the idea that cheating wouldn’t happen on either side. “And so, if you ask me all at once I can draw the same amount of power for more answers, yes? Instead of the same amount over and over. Does that make more sense to you, girl?” He laced his fingers together and rested them on his knee, his patronizing tone smooth and easy with his accent of a gentleman to soften their sting further.

“If you understand then lift the cup and hope, because we are surely running out of time before the owner of these wagons calls for a stop for the night.”

by **Nocme** Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:01 pm

“You are desperate to know, aren’t you?”

“You think?” she doesn’t even have the mindset to hide the sneer. Dace snuggle in closer trying to ease her anxious feelings. But they were like pythons in her belly. Always moving, always gnawing at her. Reminding her how long since she last saw her, that many things already changed about the land. Many more surely has changed her and made her recognizable to her friend. She was also told that when one go through slavery... They change.

Her hand stilled when he begin to explain his power, it made sense a little on why he was stalling. Was he waiting for her to get all the question out all at once to see it? She really only thought about one question and that question only. However remembering the card with the white wolf, she started to wonder about the details. What does she look like now? Does she still like chasing small critters? Has she let her hair grown long? Is she better with her magic now?

Those felt trivial, but at the same time... Important to her...

She said nothing with the cheating, though she suspected that he really isn’t planning to cheat, and now she doesn’t felt like she needs to cheat anymore. All she could hope for is that luck if on her side for once. Dace wanted to cheat, but he is wary of the man. He is not to be trusted. Any man that smile like that and with a patronizing tone.

Carefully Nocme lift the cup and the dice was revealed. She let out a sigh of relieve as the die show to be one and four, it is han and she won. She could finally get her answers! Maybe...

“So tell me... please... Just where is she?” she has many other questions, but she collect them all later if she has the time. If what he says is true then it would be risky for her to continue the game without getting this one important question answered for her.

by **Javed** Mon Jan 18, 2016 9:47 am

Javed watched the dice with a solemn expression before he sighed and placed his hand flat on top of the card that had rested between them as the game went on. “So be it.” He ran his fingers along the back of the waxed pasteboard before letting his scarred fingertips catch the edge and lift it up.

There was a shifting of light, from some crack in the wagon’s walls or Javed himself but it made the card seem ablaze for a moment, and the blonde human frowned. He shifted himself, light spilling from his fingers and completely coating the card in that moment. “I don’t think so. The little lady has asked for her fortune, and it will not be denied to her.” Something fought the card, briefly and with well planned strength. But Javed had will, and power in abundance to fight back. With a careless flare of magic he completely turned the card, showing the face to Nocme before he could even see it.

Figures were bound, chains looped around their necks and ankles and yet they were loose enough to be easily removed. Yet each shrouded figure instead looked up towards something shrouded on a throne. A person, but cast with the features of a grotesque monster instead of man. Each chained person seemed to see nothing but their captor, the monster holding each length of chain easily. There was nothing else on the card, and yet it was also upside down, the monster’s gnarled head pointing down to the ground instead of up to the sky.

“Unreachable and yet there is hope still. The chains may never be broken but bent, they could still be bent. She sees, and hears where before she was deaf. There has been a shift, a dislodge of obedience. But see, there is darkness all around her. She could wander for years and never be safe in the night. Not with the monster that gives her what she thought she needed still there to guide her steps.” Javed stared at the elf, light welling up from within and spilling free from his mouth and hands. It went no further than the space between them, but burned with its sluggish intensity.

“She is with the greatest of beasts, and she thought it was where she belonged. She only begins to wonder, in fear and confusion. You have to stalk the monster, see where her chains begin and trace them back to the heart. Only in the darkness and the chill will you find your target. But will your memories survive the meeting?” Javed smiled at her, coppery eyes never blinking until the light began to fade.

by **Nocme** Mon Jan 18, 2016 4:43 pm

Nocme sighed in relieve, she is finally getting her answer. Dace only huffed a little before squirming out of her lap and into the sack, nudging thing aside to look for something. He expect Nocme to be happy enough to give him some extra jewels, and he rather be the one picking the shinnies. Just to make sure she didn’t pick the one he wanted to keep.

Her eyes were glued to the display of magic, the bright light spilling forth and coating the card. There was a moment where her chest tightens, when it seems there are unseen forces trying to stop the reading. She doesn’t admit it, but she is scared. Magic is not something that is easy for her to understand, and particularly magic on fortune telling. As far as she knows there should be no powers in existence that could try to hinder a reading.

The image did not give her any solace either. Seeing the chains, they are all loose and seemed to be easy to escape from, but not one figure is trying. In fact all of them are looking at the monster, they look up at the throne as if in reverence of the monster. His explanation of the card could only send more shivers down her spine.

There is hope, but it seems so faint and shrouded with trials. And the way he explained... It seems like there will be lasting damage. The monster already did something to her that may never be fixed. What could it be though? What has they done to Ceberas?

It seems so unlikely though. She remembered her friend to be shy but always becoming fierce when the situation calls for it. Yelling profanities to her peers and elders with no regret afterwards, she would even fight someone bigger than her if they dare insult her family or her friends. So just what does he mean by her memories surviving the meeting?

Dace suddenly crowed, waking her up from her thought. He already dropped a sizable gold chain and pendant in front of the guy and now standing before her, tweeting quietly. They could feel the caravan slowly goes to a stop, even the light already taken on the orange hue. It must have taken them a long time and now the group is starting to set up camp.

“Y-yeah I’m fine... I kind of expected that you are not going to tell me where exactly she is...” she mumbled quietly, letting the bird hop into her lap again. “Still she is alive and a way to find her... that’s enough...” she couldn’t dare ask for more. That never ends well.

by **Javed** Sat Jan 23, 2016 12:15 pm

Javed blinked away the sunspots and the ruins behind his eyes. He didn’t have the voice to respond to the elf, his payment laying forgotten before him. Turning the card he seemed to come back to himself, resigned and nodding his head before going to place it back with it’s brothers. If it looked different as the magic faded from it surely that was only a trick of the light. The demon on it’s throne hadn’t become a falling tower. The light from the blond man dimmed to nothingness and he sighed, covering his cards in their silk cage.

“My thanks for the payment, little girl.” The necklace joined the silken bundle in Javed’s belt pouch and he took a moment to remove the skull from his head to run a hand through the slightly damp curls there. He seemed unwilling to discuss her fortune further, instead gathering his items and standing to move and open the flap on the back of the wagon.

The sun was indeed going down, and each wagon had begun to be placed in a semi-circle to give the people here some form of protection from the elements and the beasts that roamed Vida. The headman spotted him watching and raised a hand in greeting which Javed returned with a nod.

Turning back to the young elf still within the dark of the wagon he sighed through his nose. “If you make a run for it soon he might be too busy to catch you.” Yawning with exaggeration Javed settled his bone helm a little easier on his head. “Or stay and try and convince him not to take your hand for thievery. I’ll be sure to heal the wound for you.” The dark skinned man grinned at his own joke.

by **Nocme** Sat Jan 23, 2016 4:33 pm

The headsman was in a cheery mood – they manage to catch up on schedule right now and a quick inventory check made sure nothing seems to be lost or stolen during the frequent stop. He came to Javed and thanked him for keeping an eye on the elf. “Not sure if she is a thieve or some sort of scout for them, so it might be safer and nicer to keep an eye on her for the whole trip. Which might become your job,” he gave a soft chuckle, “don’t worry I will still pay you for doing that if it comes to it. For now I’m gonna have a talk with her, feel free to go to Chelsea over there to get your meal.”

Nocme did not respond to Javed for a little while, didn’t even notice him leaving the caravan. Still lost in her thought as the headman came along, in fact it was once again Dace who has to call her back to reality and look up at the man. She mentally kicked herself for forgetting that she was a stowaway.

“Now, now, don’t be scared,” Nocme still scoot a little into her corner. He sighed but continue on, “are you a thieve?” She shook her head, she hasn’t stolen anything in this caravan save for a few piece of fruit before. He stare at her up and down before smiling, seems to be satisfied that she wasn’t one. “Are you familiar with the area? I understand most stowaways just want a good route to the next town. If you head over to our cartographer and navigator there,” he points to the man currently try to take some extra bread and got his hands slapped. “If you help him update maps and provide any new information, I can let you stay.”

The first thought that comes across both Nocme and Dace’s mind was how the hell no one took advantage of this man? Still it was an offer they really couldn’t refuse. “Thank you sir, I will go to him now,” she said softly with a little bow. She headed straight for the man, but stopping in front of Javed.

She stare him for a while, struggling to think up a word to say until Dace gently tweet to her ears. Nocme merely snorted, “I’m hearing this from someone who wanted to peck his eye out a few moments before...” Dace also made a laughing noise, well it was true, but the man did help them cut down on the hunting time. He deserve a little more than the trinkets given during the game, even its something that is hard for her to say sometime.

“Th- Thank you, for showing me where she is,” she managed to say it but instantly she turn on her heels and went on her way. Trying to cover up her reddening face, it felt embarrassing to say that after trying to kill him and thinking about swindling him, or him making morbid joke on her. But by the looks of it they might end up traveling for a while so might as well make sure everything is neutral again.

by **Javed** Wed Jan 27, 2016 10:19 am

Javed watched the elf turn and leave, his eyes narrow and his mouth a thin line. Sometimes he saw too much, his magic running rampant and showing him sights he wanted to remain blind to. But clinging to that girl was something. He had seen it on other people in the past. On a pale swordsman and on a dark haired man he wished he could forget. Always different but with a feeling of sameness. Of fate, destiny touching and molding them one step at a time.

He wondered once, if the same hand was on his shoulder. Now he ran from it and refused to look back. But sometimes… He wondered if it was better to embrace it all. Looking at the way the elf’s shoulders were set, her determination to find whomever he had read in the cards made him feel something. Maybe pride. Maybe relief that he would be free of her once they reached the next village.

Free of fate that tried to cling to his feet as he turned away from her and back to the pair of satyrs speaking to him, one with a sling to support their arm and the other there to support the first. He closed his eyes to fate and destiny and focused on accidents and the present, as it should be.

~End~

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