[RP] Too Much of a Good Thing Pt. 3 [PG-13]

Too Much of a Good Thing Pt. 3

Author: Keilos & Ysani

Keilos leaned back against his makeshift pillow and popped another slice of apple into his mouth. He'd been roused from his bed by Silvermoon's alarm bells(and what the Nether was he doing in the bed anyway – he'd gone to sleep on the couch!) and had pelted out of the chapter house, shrugging his armor on, his training driving him, even half-asleep, to defend the city.

Once he'd gotten to the Midsummer fire, one thing had led to another, and he'd lost himself in the steady stream of combat resulting from the Alliance's attempts to steal the Sin'dorei's flame. It wasn't until much later, when Ysani called for him over the stone, that he dragged himself from the battle-trance he'd fallen into and realized that not only was it late afternoon, but he also hadn't had the first thing to eat that day.

She'd met him on his way back to the chapter house, aggravation and concern warring on the visible half of her face as she looked at him. Without a word, she'd taken his weapon and shield from him and carried them back for him. When the red-haired paladin had suggested that he go back to bed, he hadn't quite been able to restrain himself from snarling at her. Almost as quickly, he shook himself and apologized. “No,” he said. “I promised you a picnic, and I intend to keep that promise. Let me wash up and get the fruit prepared, and we can go.”

Now, sprawled under a Silvermoon tree with a belly full of food, more than a little good wine inside him, and his cloak rolled up to rest his head on, Keilos was watching Ysani eat skethyl berries with obvious enjoyment, wondering how to bring up the subject with her of his feelings.

“Keilos..?" She paused to pop another berry into her mouth. "Not that I mind, but do you realize you've been watching me like a hawk since we sat down? Why so tense?” Ysani cocked an eyebrow at the other Blood Knight as she licked the tart juice from her fingers. That, however, caused Kei to look away very quickly.

“Sorry. Just...have things on my mind.” And you doing that with that berry juice has just added a lot of other things to the list, damn it all.

Reading the gesture, she snatched her fingers away from her mouth with a red-faced 'oh'.

Keilos chuckled. He saw Ysani's blush out of the corner of his eye and shook his head. "It's not just that. Just...you. Me. Us. Stuff."

"Us?"

Kei shifted up on his elbows to catch the girl's eye. For a long moment, he hesitated, gathering up his courage. At the last moment before he spoke, he glanced away, chickening out. "Sure...us and stuff." Casting a desperate gaze across the picnic blanket, his eyes fell on the remains of their meal. "You did a good job with getting things ready - I hardly had to do anything. There just may be hope for you in the kitchen yet."

"Call me crazy, but I don't think my picnic basket is what's got you all worked up. I'd like to hear more about this mysterious 'stuff'." Ysani gathered up the stack of dishes and piled them in the basket, then sprawled out next to him on the blanket, hands under her head.

"Nothing important. Just - how different my life has been since you. I still feel like I don't deserve it." Kei kept his eyes fixed on the leaves on the branches over his head. "Like I don't deserve any of it."

She rolled over onto her side and studied him solemnly, one arm folded under her cheek. "What have you ever done not to deserve it? You're good to me. You make me happy, Kei. Why shouldn't you be happy too?"

"Every awful thing that Vranesh ever said about me - the things that Blood Knight in the Eye said. They're all quite true. Changed or not, they're still true. Makes me feel like I don't deserve to lo-live the life I currently am. Content, almost...happy." Keilos shrugged. "Probably sounds stupid, I know."

"You realize that's like me saying I'm worthless because I screwed up everything I ever tried until I joined the order, don't you? I don't care about what you used to do. I care about what you do now." She tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. It was a gentle and mercifully brief kiss, and she sighed as she pulled back.

Keilos closed his eyes, sighed, and did his best to remain absolutely still. "Do me a favor? The next time I get the bright idea that you need a medic to check you out for any reason...smack me." A second gusty sigh, and he opened his eyes to focus on the leaves again. Just tell her. Come on...how difficult can it really be? And what's the worst that could happen?

Strictly speaking, the absolute worst that could happen is that Ysani could decide that she wants to end the relationship immediately because, although the sex is amazing, she doesn't want to be tied down with those emotions to one person. So naturally, I'm more than a bit nervous about this. Not to mention it's not the sort of thing I've ever discussed with anyone before at all.

A thin worry-line creased her brow. "You did it because you care about me, right? I'd never ask you to stop caring... I don't know what I'd do if you did." One slim hand reached over the narrow space between him, seeking his.

Keilos barked a laugh, harsh with nervousness. "Care about you? Light, Ysani...I think it goes rather further than that." He wanted to sit up, curl up, get away - do something to protect himself, because Light, he felt dangerously vulnerable - but he couldn't make himself let go of her hand. Rebelliously, his fingers twined themselves further into hers, keeping him where he was. Her hand was as pale as her grave little face and she stared at him, wearing an expression of growing disbelief.

"You... you're afraid. What's the matter?"

Keilos turned her hand over in his, running fingers over the calluses on her thumb and the heel of her palm. Idly, he thought that perhaps he should spend more time sketching them - they fascinated him, so much strength in those small, slender fingers - before forcibly dragging his mind back to the current situation. "You'd think some things would be easy to say, especially when they're true. Never works out that way, though."

"You can tell me anything, Kei." She shivered, her eyes half-closing as he ran his fingers over her hand. "Please don't stop doing that."

The Blood Knight's voice grew softer as his fingers caressed her hand. "I can't say it. I've been trying...can't do it. Not in words, anyway. I try, and they scatter like sand."

Her shoulder lifted in a gentle shrug, eyes drooping shut. "You can tell me later, if it's not important for me to know right this minute. I just want you to be okay." Ysani carefully extended the arm supporting her head and curled her fingers into the golden hair at the nape of his neck, brushing lightly against his ear in the process.

For a moment or two, Keilos forgot how to breathe. He shivered, feeling the last of his self-control begin to slip. When he remembered to inhale, he relaxed his grip on Ysani's hand as he attempted to pull himself back together. He brushed his thumb down the heel of the girl's hand and across the vein in her wrist and said, "It's something important. At least I think it's important. Dorri would probably say it doesn't matter."

"I don't care about what Dorri would say." Her lips brushed his ear. Hadn't there been a buffer between them? The thin strip of blanket was no longer visible there, one or both of them having closed the gap while they talked. Her breath was warm on his skin as she whispered to him between intermittent soft kisses below his ear. "Not even a little."

It took about five more seconds for Kei's self-control to disintegrate completely. As he turned his head to met Ysani's lips with his own, his last coherent thought was that there was by far too much cloth between her skin and his, and he really should do something about that situation - right now.

Retro RP: Too Much of a Good Thing Pt. 2

It should be noted that Meithrin is Keilos' older and tinkering-minded brother.

____________________________________________

Too Much of a Good Thing Pt. 2

Author: Ysani

Dishes clattered in the guild's shared kitchen as Ysani set out plates, cutlery and napkins on the large table that served as a prep area and bar for those who might choose to spend their time in the cavernous room. Very few ever did, which made it a wonderful and private place to sit and watch (ogle) Keilos while he cooked. She'd come to think of the kitchen as 'theirs', she realized, and the notion brought a smile to her lips.

A sturdy woven basket rested on one of the tall barstools and she set a bright tablecloth in the bottom, folding it neatly under the flatware. Packing for their outings didn't require much concentration, and her thoughts kept wandering to places that, in the interest of her sanity, they oughtn't go. Each time she caught herself thinking on those certain topics (usually by startling herself with an involuntary whimper in the semi-quiet room), she darted to the sink, which was full to the brim with water and not a few chunks of melting ice, and dunked her head in it.

Toweling dry after the most recent dip, it felt as though her lower lip couldn't possibly stick out any more. Liiiiiiight, this needs to be over. Her tired spells were gone, her sleep was restful, but she was far from happy, and that sorta negated the benefits of the whole stupid episode, didn't it? She thought it did. The towel was thoroughly soaked after several uses, so she dropped it on the pile and pulled the last dry one from a drawer and set it aside for the next time.

Apples, grapes, and a basket of skethyl berries. She rinsed them all and set them aside, then hoisted a large melon up to the counter and dropped it. It broke into ragged halves with a satisfying squishy crump and she scooped out the golden fruit with a spoon. No matter how many hours she put into weapons training, no matter how precise she could be with the axe that was an entity unto itself, she always managed to cut herself with simple kitchen knives every single time she tried to use one, until Keilos barred her from them entirely. It didn't much matter anyway. The tasks she could do without them were simple but many, and she knew it would save him a lot of time when he woke up. Speaking of which...

She'd been wakened early, just after dawn, by the thud his body made as he landed on the floor for the umpteenth time that week. In a flash she was out of her bed and at his side, helping him up, walking his dazed and still-sleeping form to the bed and settling him there. He'd burrowed into the pillows, still warm as she'd left them and likely smelling of her, and it was all she could do not to curl up beside him and wake him with a kiss. Instead she'd fled the bedroom, the feverish preparations in the kitchen a distraction that was rapidly becoming ineffective. She couldn't think of anything else she could do, and he still slept. She sat on a stool and tapped her foot, waiting. And waiting. Just when she thought she might explode, a tiny squirrel made its way into the room and whirred over to where she sat, bumping repeatedly into her shoe.

"Hey little guy! I didn't know you could find me from the bedroom. Meithrin sure knows some neat tricks, huh?" It felt oddly natural to chat with the robot. Ysani grinned as she plucked it up off the floor by its gemmed head and set it on the bar in front of her. It chirped a tinny greeting. "Here to keep me company, I see. What makes you tick, I wonder?" The gnomish toolkit unfolded with a soft snick in her hand. She sat there quietly in the detritus of her picnic-packing for the next several hours, head lowered, all other concerns chased out of her head as the happy squirrel slowly came apart.

RP: A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 7

A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 7

Author: Ysani

The afternoon light was fading by the time Ysani made it to the lake, bounding out of the forest like a deer, trailing the limp bag of evidence behind her. Without slowing, she dropped it on the low-smoldering fire, stripped her shirt off over her head, and yanked her pants down over her thighs, kicking them off gracelessly as she ran, leaping off a small overhang into the cool water with a noisy splash. Twenty feet out she reappeared with a gasp, red hair dark and plastered to her face, and tread water. Her eye sought Keilos, and found him not far off, and swimming toward her. She leaped nearly halfway out of the water throwing herself at him and wrapped her arms and legs around his body. "Keiiilos." She tasted the lakewater on his mouth.

"You're late."

Dragging him closer to the shore, Ysani stopped just past the place where her feet touched bottom and dug her toes in the sand. "I know, I'm sorry. Vranesh almost caught me jumping out the window. He lectured me for a good hour before I could get away... luckily, he didn't seem to suspect any immediate mischief."

Keilos snorted. "What's he got to lecture you about, anyway? You work harder than he does, and doing far more important things. It's jealousy, I'm telling you."

She shrugged and pulled him in closer, smoothing his hair back and kissing his forehead affectionately. "He said I ought to 'present a less slovenly appearance' in public, even if I'm just going out for a jog. Some other things about timeliness of paperwork- he asked about you, too. I guess he doesn't know about us." She blushed faintly, remembering the sneering words that accompanied the inquiry. Tell me, Cloudbreaker, does Dawnstar still stay out at all hours, drinking the taverns dry and fucking anything with a pulse? She'd meted out punishment for his crassness on the spot, knuckles meeting aristocratic nose with a dull (and disturbingly moist) crunch. He'd bent over to save his shirt, blood dripping a steady tattoo on the rusty cobblestones of the common, cursing, and she ran, leaping over a nearby bench to duck a pair of bored-looking city guards in their crisp red and gold uniforms.

"Ysani...?" His concerned voice broke her reverie and she smiled brightly.

"It's nothing, just got a little distracted. Where's the soap?"

RP: A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 6

A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 6

Author: Ysani

Ysani leaped lightly from Keltyr's bedroom window and pulled it shut behind her, empty box inside the waterproof bag in her hand. She stripped the smelly gloves off with a grimace and chucked them into the bag, then unknotted the kerchief tied snugly under her nose and it followed the gloves. From inside a manicured shrub just beside the window she pulled another bag and crammed the first inside it, tying it off to contain the stronger smell. That done, she took her first deep breath since turning the key in Keltyr's lock and beginning her task, dropping chunks of fungus in everything.

AAAGH. So disgusting. She gagged remembering the full power of the stench, even dulled with the strong and cooling peppermint oil it was a ripe and rank entity of its own. She paused and peered in the window, momentary guilt squeezing her belly, then shrugged and picked up the bag, ready to dash to their meeting point on foot (her charger was not fond of the smell, either). For Ysani, it was always a pleasure to run, and in these raggy old clothes she felt extraordinarily unburdened, as though she could fly. A quick jog out of the alleyway and she smacked into an obstruction and fell on her ass.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Madame Cloudbreaker. What sort of trouble are we getting into today?" Vranesh looked her up and down as she scrambled to her feet. And hadn't she filled out since he last saw her, grown muscular on a slim frame? She didn't avoid his gaze with a meek duck of the head as he would have expected. Instead, she glared up at him with baleful fire in her green eye. Her hair appeared to have been brushed recently, he noted with vague surprise.

"If you're finished creeping around alleys on my blind side, sir, I've got somewhere to be."

"Oh? And what exactly are you doing here, darting out of alleys dressed like a street urchin in her pajamas..? What's in the bag?"

Her pulse nearly doubled at that, but it didn't show. She held the bag a little closer to him, hoping he would catch a whiff of the former contents. The revolted look on his face told her yes, he had. "Just taking out the trash on my afternoon jog, sir. As you can probably tell, it needed doing. Yes?" She took no small amount of satisfaction from the horrified look on his face.

Meanwhile, Vranesh was observing her. She twitched, and he smiled. "Come with me, Cloudbreaker. We have a little catching up to do, you and I." Her heart rose up into her throat. Did he just catch me...? Am I in trouble for something else? Another thought occured to her, and she growled low in her throat as she followed him across the square.

... he's delaying me just to be a dick.

RP: A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 5

A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 5

Author: Keilos

Keilos looked down at the sealed bag at his feet, then looked around the room. It hadn't taken him overly long to locate Dorri and Keltyr's apartment – after all, he'd just had to count doors down from his own, then step out on his balcony to make sure the balconies squared with the doors before he started out. Climbing from one balcony to the next three stories up had made him nervous, especially when the bag shifted in his grip and he had to make some very fast adjustments or risk either dropping it or falling himself. When he'd arrived on their balcony, it had taken a few minutes of fishing with the long, thin metal ruler he used to block out illuminations to unhook the latch on the door and let himself in. And now, here he was, in the Dalaran rooms of his superior officers, about to do something he really probably shouldn't.

Well, best get started. Those two won't stay gone forever, and I have a redhead that will be waiting for me. To start with, he pulled a small bundle from his pants pocket and unrolled it, revealing a small bottle wrapped in a bandana. Folding the cloth, the young knight unscrewed the top on the bottle and tipped a few drops of the liquid inside on it. The bracing scent of peppermint filled the air as Keilos stoppered the bottle and slipped it back in his pocket. He tied the cloth around his face to cover his nose and mouth and then began to untie the knots that held the bag shut.

The peppermint oil didn't completely kill the stench of the fungus – Keilos was starting to think it would take a vampire hunter with a stake and hammer to do that – but it helped enormously. Quickly, the young knight retrieved a towel from the bathing chamber and used it to block the bottom of the door that led to the hallways of the Legerdemain...no sense in treating the rest of the residents on this floor to this. Once that was done, Keilos Dawnstar began the careful work of fungal sabotage, dropping pieces of the smelly stuff in boots, shoes, and dresser drawers.

In the closet, he found several hangers occupied by Dorri's dresses. Keilos pondered them momentarily, thinking of some of the conversations over the goblin stone he'd heard that had involved the garments. After a few more seconds of consideration, the young knight shucked the outer bag off the package he'd brought in with him. Turning the sack inside-out, he gathered the dresses into it and tied the bag shut with a bit of string, leaving the odd-looking package supported by the clothes hangers the gowns were on. There. They may get wrinkled, but at least they won't get ruined.

As he finished his foray into chemical warfare, Keilos realized that the peppermint oil on the bandana was doing much less against the stench than it had when he'd started. Light, that stuff is strong. I best finish up and get out of here before I start reeking too much myself. A few more pieces of fungus dropped in various spots, and he was done. Quickly, he gathered up the bag and his ruler and exited the room the way he came in – the balcony, making sure to shut the double doors well behind him.

After a second, less heart-stopping trek across the balconies to his own room, Keilos shucked off gloves and bandana and stuffed them in the bag that had held the fungus. At his feet, Elphi mewed protestingly at the odor.

“I know, girl. It reeks. But now, we're off – and we can get rid of this stuff and meet Ysani.” Lifting the cat to his shoulder, Kei made sure his own balcony door was locked and braced with his desk chair – after all, if he could think to get to their room that way, his superiors could certainly think to return the favor. Then, cat and elf ducked out the door, locking the entry behind them and racing for the portal to Silvermoon.

* * *

Keilos fed a little more tinder to the small campfire, then a piece or two more of wood. I'd have preferred the bath-houses for this...but we couldn't get rid of the rest of the evidence there. Once the fire was crackling merrily, the knight began to shuck off the clothing he'd used for the prank and tossed the garments on the blaze, followed promptly by the sack that had held the ammunition. For a moment, he and Elphi had identical expressions on their faces as whiffs of the scent from the fire hit them. Then, Kei fished soap out of the bundles they'd hidden beneath the bushes and dove into the small, sun-dappled Eversong pool.

But then, the bath-houses wouldn't have been quite this much fun. As he scrubbed the scent out of his skin and hair in the waterfall-fed pond, Keilos hoped Ysani would arrive soon.

RP: A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 4

After Keltyr played his dirty trick on Ysani, she and Keilos came up with a plan for revenge involving an extremely foul piece of fungus taken from a type of cave beast incapable of excreting its own waste. Needless to say, it's really, truly disgusting.

_________________________________________

A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 4

Author: Ysani

Roast chicken, crunchy-sweet coleslaw and pear muffins studded with tart skethyl berries would have been quite enough on their own, but there was an ice-cold watermelon besides, and a nice bottle of wine split between them. It made her sleepy, head swimming as she lay on her back on a blanket under a towering tree, admiring the contrast of shivering leaves against a backdrop of golden sunshine and blue sky. Then Keilos was in her line of vision, obscuring the Eversong sky, dropping a kiss on her berry-stained mouth with his hand on her waist under the baggy shirt she wore. We look like a couple of bums, she thought, and grinned. Picnicking bums. "Careful, we might forget what we're supposed to be doing."

He chuckled, his breath sweet and slightly boozy, and tickled her ribs. She shrieked laughter and squirmed out from under him. "Nooooo, no tickle! We have to pack up, I bet they're gone by now. It's late."

In response, Keilos pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her, lifting her crimson hair off her neck to kiss it softly. She shivered and tugged lightly on his ponytail. "Looks nice tied back. You should do that more. But really... really we've got to get going. And we're bound to get an audience sooner or later. People walk on this path all the time." He reluctantly pulled back after one last peck on her smiling lips and they crammed the leftovers into the basket Fabrio loaned them.

Back at the chapter house, they dropped off their things and went around to the back of the building. Two bulky packages sat beside each other, tightly-sealed boxes wrapped in waterproof bags. They emitted a very faint odor through these two layers, in spite of her thorough seals. She handed one to Keilos and kept one for herself, carrying it by the neck of the bag.

"I'll have to be fast to get done and out of the house before Fabrio notices.. I already cut it up into small chunks. There are a dozen in each.. I could have broken them up smaller, but I started to get lightheaded from the smell." She smiled ruefully, remembering the long twenty minutes spent carving up the disgusting fungus with a long blade, her arm swathed in a thick rubber glove. Nevermind that she'd had to keep a bucket at her feet to vomit in once or twice. This would be worth it.

"Your job will be harder, but you'll have more time to get it done. You know what to do, yes?" He nodded and she flashed him a brilliant grin, pulling a pair of gloves out of her pocket. "These are for you. I'll see you at the rendezvous point." Ysani watched him hearth, her stomach fluttering with nerves. Good luck, Keilos... we're going to need it.

RP: A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 3 [PG-13]

A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 3

Authors: Keilos & Ysani

After reading the note, Kei saw red for a moment. I'll kill him. There's a scroll in my pocket, I can get to Dalaran fast enough. I'll kill him. Then, a soft sniff from over his shoulder dissipated his rage and reminded him that there were two here that needed seeing to. Keilos handed the note to Ysani, then knelt and carefully eased the lid away from the box.

A baby tickbird stared up at him, beak wide, panting in fear. One ruined wing flailed uselessly as it attempted to flap, to defend itself. Oh, Light...the poor little thing. And poor Ysani. Gently, Kei rested a forefinger against the bird's breast, sending a trickle of Light into the hatchling. The bird pecked at his hand, making him wince and pull away. Taking a deep breath, the young paladin drew himself up to his feet and turned to look at the red-haired elf standing behind him.

"All right," he said softly, as though he didn't quite trust his voice at full volume at the moment. "You gather up your mail and take it back to the chapter house...just go straight to the room if you want." He glanced down at the bird, then back to Ysani. "Our little friend here needs medical treatment...so I'm going to take it to that Tauren druid around the corner and see if she can do anything. I'll be back right after you as soon as the bird's seen to - then we'll discuss things. Will that work for you?"

___

Fabrio had made himself scarce, and she didn't blame him. Ysani crept into the hall, wincing at the axe sprouting from the dense hardwood of Keltyr's bedroom door. It took a surprising amount of effort to pull it loose. The room she shared with Keilos was cool and dark, and Elphi greeted her with a cautious mew from a safe, distant perch on top of a dresser. "Sorry about the fuss, kitty. It's safe to come down now, if you want." She propped her weapon against the wall and let out a heavy sigh, numb to her toes. She wiggled them. Rage departed, she felt oddly deflated and tired.

Rather than stew, she decided to sit at his desk and look over his drawings. Slowly thumbing through his sketchbook, she found more dragons, a miniature of Elphi. Another sketch of herself, reading with the cat on her lap. A lot of blank pages after that, the paper heavy, rich and naked in its whiteness, and she flipped through them, fanning the air. The leather-bound book fell open on the last page. ...Oh my. He must have done that when I was asleep. ... it's not half bad.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when the door finally opened and Keilos appeared, but it was long enough for the light to change. He paused, eyes widening slightly as he found her perched in his chair in the semi-dark, as nude as his covert illustration. Her mouth turned up at the corner. "I'm tired. Can we wait to talk 'til after...?" Nodding, he scooped her up and kissed her, obliterating all but her last coherent thought of the evening. Light, this is so much better than burnwine.

RP: A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 2

A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 2

Authors: Keilos & Ysani

Keilos brought up his other hand, just in case Ysani decided that he was as good a target as any and tried to take a swing with the axe. "What in the Light's name happened? You just went out to get the mail."

It didn't seem that she was listening to him, as she was still glaring daggers at the closed door. With a sigh, Keilos added, "They're not in. They didn't come in last night, so I'd assume they stayed in Dalaran." Slowly, very slowly, he felt the wrist in his hand begin to relax.

Kei glanced at the scored wood of the Grand Master's bedroom door and began to quietly chuckle. "While I approve of your choice of invective - and may I mention that you're gorgeous when you're angry - why don't you show me what's wrong, and we'll see if we can take care of it without knocking the walls down around ourselves."

The snarl in her throat died when she recognized the voice in her ear. Keep talking... please, just keep talking... And he did, the words slowly articulating themselves in her head, clearing the haze, soothing her. She dropped her free hand from the axe handle to her side, leaving the weapon jammed, slightly askew, into the thick plank. As her wrist loosened, so did his grip. She carefully withdrew and turned to him, leaning her forehead on his chest and breathing deeply. "Can't explain. I'll show you... it's outside. I left-" My stuff is out there! My gems, I need those, someone will take them if I don't hurry!

There was no need to rush. The velvet pouch was long gone, the only clearly valuable item in the mess, likely nabbed by a passing street urchin or perhaps just a magister looking for a little spare coin for his unnecessaries. The dented box was still there, however, flat on its side with streaks of elixir creeping up into the paper. It was soggy and silent. Wordlessly, Ysani pointed at it, then stooped to pick up the accompanying note as Keilos bent to examine the makeshift birdcage.

His look of bewilderment was answered with a warm fold of paper pressed into his palm. She stared at what remained of her mail and the soaked, crumbled muffin pieces over all (from a safe distance, mind you) as he read.

RP: Too Much of a Good Thing Pt. 1

This arc, concerning Ysani's chronic fatigue 'issue', predates the story of her abduction, and is the sequel to their fungus capers (see A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge). Destril/Keilos wrote this particular segment.

______________________________________________

Too Much of a Good Thing

Author: Keilos

Keilos sat on the couch and watched Ysani sleep. She hadn't been in the room when he'd returned from venting his frustrations on opponents in the Tourney, and when he discovered their shared room was empty, he'd felt a sickly turn of worry and unease in his stomach. He was considerably relieved when she'd come back around midnight.

They hadn't really spoken, even then – she'd silently shed her armor and headed for the bathing chamber, leaving him to wipe the plate down with a soft cloth and put it away on the rack as he tried desperately to ignore the tell-tale sounds of running water and splashing from the bath. It didn't much help that his imagination was more than happy to supply images of Ysani in the tub. Keilos gritted his teeth and went to the chapter house’s kitchen to get some water to make Ysani her tea.

He'd steeped the foul-tasting herbs for her and poured her a cup when the tea was ready. The look she gave him when she'd picked up the white china had hurt him – he knew she hated the stuff, but he also knew that, at least before Dorri had butted in, she had been looking better. Less worn anyway.

Now, the red-haired blood knight was asleep in what should have been their bed, and Keilos was resigning himself to another night of broken sleep and uneasy dreams on the couch. It was comfortable enough, for a couch...but it wasn't the bed. Several times a night he found himself crashing to the floor as he rolled over in his sleep, trying to curl himself around Ysani as he usually did.

Maybe I should just sleep on the floor and save myself the trouble...it's where I usually wind up anyway. He didn't think Ysani was exactly aware of what she looked like in the dress she'd worn earlier that afternoon. The dark fabric had paled her skin and complimented her red hair, and the bare expanse around her belly that the dress revealed had nearly destroyed his resolve to follow the medics' orders regarding their intimacy. She was beautiful in that dress. It made him think of the time they'd watched an Orgrimmar sunset together, back around Noblegarden. Somewhere, he still had an unfinished illumination of her wearing the dress he'd given her.

Keilos winced as the disapproving face of the female night elf in the medics' tent interrupted his thoughts. The matronly Kal'dorei had taken him out in the hall, scowling at him, and proceeded to give him a dressing-down the likes of which he hadn't received since shortly before he'd joined the Prophecy of Light. ”Just like most of the other men out there, boy – start thinking more of her. Stop pestering her. Didn't you know she was exhausted? If you really wanted the best for her, you'd have let her sleep, rather than keeping her up all night doing...whatever it is that blood elves do.” Kei had winced and tried to explain to the elf that the situation wasn't entirely of his creation, but she wasn't inclined to listen. ”Now look here, my randy young buck. Not another word out of you. For the next two weeks – at least – you're going to put her well-being above your desires. So it's hands off until she's had a chance to get some proper rest without you bothering her at all hours.”

He'd wilted under the disapproving glares of the medics, their words and their looks making him feel every inch the selfish jerk that Dorri had accused him of being at the Legerdemain. He hadn't told Ysani all they'd said to him, just let them give her an edited version of their diagnosis. He hadn't thought the fortnight would be all that bad. He had been sadly, sorely mistaken. It had certainly made him aware of all the little intimacies that'd he'd come to take for granted in their day-to-day lives – the looks, the touches, the little nudges in passing just to tease or give comfort.

A soft murmur from the bed jerked Keilos out of his ponderings. He saw Ysani frown in her sleep, muttering as she turned over, one hand questing across the other pillow where he usually slept. Softly, the young man sighed. He loved this little madcap Blood Knight, loved her temper and her sense of humor and her courage. He'd never found the right words to tell her, and thought that since she'd never given much hint of feeling the same, there might never be the right words. I don't know what I'm going to do when she decides the dalliance is over. She's never said anything to make me think it could be anything more than that, has she? There was that one time, over the stone - “It makes me want to hunt you down and kiss you.” But that could mean anything. Not like conversations over that goblin rock have all the context of face-to-face talks anyway. I'll be grateful for whatever I get, though. I know full well I don't deserve to be as happy as I have been the last little while.

Kei levered himself off the couch and paced over to the desk, glancing at the blank sheet of paper speculatively. Dorri's anger had made him feel selfish and guilty again, and hearing the two women snarling at each other over the stone had made him feel worse. Why does she put up with me? Or why do I put up with her? She keeps saying she's my friend – does that make it so? And if it does, why am I so awful at being a friend in return? Light, I can't do anything right, love or friendship.

He reached for a pencil, intending to do a quick sketch of the older Blood Knight, but stopped when he saw the fine tremor in his hands, knowing he was too tired at the moment to draw anything worth keeping. Better not...I'll only mess it up, which is about par for the course right now.

Wearily, Keilos extinguished the lamps and returned to the couch. As he stretched out and arranged the spare blanket he covered himself with, Elphi hopped up to drape herself over his feet, purring noisily in the almost-dark. As his eyes began to drag themselves shut, Kei glanced over to check on Ysani one more time. She'd turned back over, one calloused hand right on the edge of the mattress. For a moment, her lips curled in a smile, as though her dreams were pleasant. Just as he thought he really should tell her how he felt, maybe at the picnic tomorrow, his eyes closed, capturing the image of the girl's dreaming smile on the inside of his eyelids.

RP: A Little Mischief and Petty Revenge Pt. 1

Yummmmm. Ysani walked slowly through the square, intent on the fresh-baked muffin nestled in her palm. Keilos was really starting to master the fine art of baking, especially where muffins were concerned. Sometimes she helped - this morning she'd grated carrots for him, and soaked the raisins until they were plump - but more often she'd just boil a little water and make them some tea before settling on a stool to watch him work over the rim of her mug. Lately he'd taken to baking in large ramekins, resulting in muffins nearly as big as her head. I'm not about to complain, she thought, chewing blissfully. Mmm. Cinnamon.

She picked up her mail, resting the half-eaten treat on top of the tidy stack. There were a few envelopes, a heavy box of vials, a pouch filled with sparkling gems, and a curious cardboard box with a red ribbon tied around it. The note on top was addressed to 'Dame Cloudbreaker', and she snorted quietly to herself as she pulled it off its string, balancing her load in the crook of her left arm.

In recognition of three months of membership in the order we felt it appropriate to reward your effort and improvement. Congratulations, Knight!

She recognized Keltyr's angular script and grinned. A present! I wonder what it is... it's so light. Couldn't be armor, too big to be just a .. an insignia, or something- Holding the note in her mouth, she shifted on her hips and used her free hand to tug on the bow, releasing the ribbon with a silky whishing sound. Her fingers felt at the back of the box seeking for a seam to tear and found three small holes spaced a few inches apart halfway down the side. Odd. She dug into one of them and tore it across to the next, pulling a strip of the heavy paper away and dropping it to the ground for the brooms to pick up. The tower in her arms wobbled slightly and she steadied herself quickly before rotating the box and peering inside.

For a moment she could see nothing; the interior of the box was dark. Irritated, Ysani leaned in closer, trying to see down into the bottom of the dark box. A blast of squawking, angry feathers smacked her in the face, a single yellow talon gripping the edge of the jagged hole not an inch from her good eye. With a blood-curdling scream, she dropped the box (along with the pile of mail on which it sat, shattering every last vial in the heavier box beneath it, soiling the lot in a multicolored puddle of various elixirs) and quickly backed up a half-dozen paces, the note fluttering from her lips to the cobbled courtyard.

A bird! was the only coherent thought she could muster. She turned a brisk about-face, ignoring the stares of the people who'd heard her scream, ignoring the squawking, dented, soaked pile she left behind. A bloody bird. What kind of sick joke is this? Ha ha, Master Sunsworn. Bloody fucking hilarious. I'm going to kill him. The door of the chapter house slammed inward with the force of her entry, and she shoved an aghast Fabrio aside on her way down the hall. Unhooking her axe from the rack in Kei's room, she retraced her steps and pounded on the door of the room Keltyr shared with Dorritow.

"Come out of there, you bastard!" Silence. Two bright spots of color smoldered high on her ghostly-pale cheeks, her lips drawn into a tight white line. She rattled the handle, her rage a hot red thing in her head, quickly filling up her entire body with dully thudding anger that made it impossible to think clearly. 3... 2... 1... "I SAID COME OUT!!" She swung, her heavy axe sinking into the door with a sickening shunk. She was about to yank it out and try again when a hand closed tightly on her wrist.

Retro RP: A Square Peg

Weeee. I've written up a few new Lamis posts, but they are depressing and besides, there's continuity to consider. Once I've posted more of Ysani's unplanned vacation and the events stemming from it, I'll put up more of that stuff. Today though, you get a piece from Ysani's days as a fledgling with the Prophecy of Light, training her ass off out in the scourge-ridden plaguelands. Most of what makes her a good paladin came from what she learned there. Funny what working for a noble cause can do for you... finally a square peg finds a square hole.
___________________________________________________

"Uuuuugghhh." Ysani dropped her heavy pack at the front door. Normally she'd begin to shed her armor on the way down the hall- boots here, gauntlets there, a noisy molting of her dirty, heavy plate skin- but she was home late tonight and didn't want to wake her guildmates. The door of her cluttered little room clicked shut behind her. The heavy sword on her back was first to go, hung on a small rack she'd installed directly into the wall behind the door, much to Fabrio's chagrin. (The small holes from her misplaced screws were neatly patched, a task that Fabrio insisted on, and supervised, in spite of Ysani's protestations that she could manage just fine without him looking over her shoulder.)

Next came her plates, unbuckled with cold, fumbling fingers and set down neatly on a low bench. Her arms were tired, so tired that they shook under the weight of each piece and the effort of setting them down quietly. The light, soft woven shirt and pants she wore under her armor went last, crumpled in an undignified (and decidedly dirty) heap at the end of the bench. Hands in the small of her back, she stretched and twisted, eliciting a series of dry pops up her spine. Time for a soak.

The private bathroom adjacent to her room made up for the tiny living quarters. She had the smallest bedroom in the guildhouse, she knew, but the bathtub was positively enormous. Most of the grime and death of the day's work rinsed off easily, but it was beginning to feel like the musty, dank decay of the plaguelands was settling deep into her skin and muscle, leaving its grit in her mouth, its ache in her bones. She scrubbed herself raw, then filled the tub with hot water and sunk in up to her chin, the ends of her wet hair floating on the surface like strands of blood.

The note in her mailbox was brief, but it allayed the fear that her guildmates might have hurt each other after Dorri confronted them on the cathedral steps and ordered Ysani to leave. It was hard to focus on her work afterward, but she threw herself into every last menial errand the Argent Dawn would give her until she was too busy to think about anything else. "Feel free to come knock on my door if you want to talk," he'd written, and of course she did. The night was nearly half-over by now, though, and she thought with no small amount of regret that it would be better to let him sleep.

Then again...

A quick towel-dry later she squirmed into a pair of warm, clean pajamas and crept across the hall. One long ear pressed to the heavy door, perfectly still, she listened. No rustle of paper, no clearing of the throat to indicate he might be awake, and certainly there was little to no light showing under the door. Still, she didn't hear any snoring, either.

The softest knock she could manage still sounded loud to her ears in the sleeping house. Her stomach was a bitter knot and she suddenly felt very foolish trying to wake Keilos at 2 in the morning for small talk. She herself was running on fumes and had nearly fallen asleep on her feet walking home. Turning quickly, she padded back to her own room and was turning the knob when she heard his door swing open behind her.

Retro RP: Ysani and the Orphan

Children's Week is celebrated in WoW with an orphan-sponsoring event. You pick up a small orc or elf child from the orphanage for the week and run around the world doing different things they want to do. Ysani's orc really wanted to eat ice cream.

__________________________________________________

The small orc stared at her from across the glass-topped table where they sat, kicking his short legs absently in the air. They made an odd couple in the Legerdemain's dining area. It seemed that ice cream had emboldened the little fellow, and he finally spoke the first full sentence she'd heard him utter since she'd had him thrust upon her in Orgrimmar, smears of strawberry courage painting much of his mouth and jaw. "What happened to your face?" Ysani blinked. Usually people were too polite to ask. Poor little guy hasn't got parents OR manners...

She coughed. "A bird tried to eat it."

"Neat." She grimaced as the tyke (how old IS he anyway? I hope he doesn't need diapers. Please, Light help me if he wets the bed) lowered his head to the dish of melted pink soup at his elbow and tipped it up to his mouth, slurping it loudly down. It was her turn to stare, and she tossed her hair forward a bit to hide more of her face from the matter-of-fact little beast.

"So... is it your bedtime now?"

The boy shook his head. "Matron lets me stay up late late, long as I want."

Oh c'mon, he's being sly. Don't fall for that. "You need your sleep, you're a growing young soldier of the Horde." Now she had his attention.

"I can't wait to get big and strong! I want my very own axe and a wolf to ride and I wanna chop off a.. a... a MILLION elf heads!" Is he frothing at the mouth....? Oh, it's just ice cream... ugh...

"Well, if you don't sleep plenty growing up, you won't get the big strong muscles you need to swing a big axe like this." She lifted the huge battleaxe off her back and held it beside her, the solid ironwood handle slipping through her loose fist until the lightly-weighted end banged against the floor, the faintly glowing, razor-sharp blade showcased proudly next to her face. The look of awe on his green-pink countenance was almost overwhelmingly funny, and she grinned, pushing back a laugh as he gawked at her weapon.

"So, think you can be a sport and get to bed now? I'll even let you sleep on the floor. It'll be like camping, but with nicer blankets."

"Well.... okay. But tomorrow, can you show me where I can find elfs to kill? I wanna know where I can start choppin'!"

"I dunno... what's the magic word?"

A brief pause, his face contorted with a mighty effort. "...Please, ma'am."

I suppose that'll do. Even an orc can learn please, thank you and how d'ye do.

"Lady?"

"Hmm?"

"I gotta piss."

... this is going to be a very long week.