Zephrun’s Imperium

"I'm a-sorry, miss, I'm a-sorry." His throat burned with held-back sobs. "Oh, for all that's good, I mean it, I'm sorry. I'm terrible, I knows I am, just, please don't let her have me."

Nicolae's ears picked up the screaming. "Oh, dear gods, help me." He covered his face with his hands and started praying, begging forgiveness for each individual sin from every god he could think of. "I promised I'd be good, I did, yet I still end up like this. Oh..." He sniffled.

"Aww, the Raven now?" He whimpered. "No, no, I doesn't wanna go to the Raveness miss." Nicolae teared up and trembled.

Sweat shone on the guard's forehead and he assumed a defensive stance with his spear. "Lady Raven, this castle is on lockdown. Raveness or not, any attempt to break the lockdown on your part will result in violent retaliation. Is that clear?" Riva smiled evilly. "Oh, yes. Very much so." With that, she threw a small orb on the ground. The Raveness did not spend much time in public; after all, her death was a dream to many a man because of her nasty reputation. Thus she made sure that when she was in public, she had more than a few tricks up her sleeve. The orb was one such trick. When shattered, it quickly released thick smoke, obscuring her. She was no witch, as many claimed she was, but stunts like this certainly did a good job of fueling those rumors. While the foolish, disoriented guard stumbled, Riva gracefully stepped behind him, unsheathing a small poison-coated dagger hidden on her garter and swiping at the man's neck. The incision she made was a small one, but the heavily concentrated poison made all the difference. When the smoke cleared, the man was screaming and writing on the floor, a smug-looking Raveness standing over him. "Anyone else?" she boomed. In the now-silent hall, her slightly-raspy voice was like a thunderclap. Even Nicolae stirred, sitting up suddenly. "Mm, what, yer Majesty?" @Condensation

There, was, of course, one tactic that Riva knew with a surety could boost the crowd's fear of her. She'd have to be careful - with this many people watching, a screw up could potentially be very dangerous for her - but she was in the right mood for it and felt confident she could pull it off. If she did it right, everyone in this room would remember to fear her power for the rest of their lives and pass that fear down to the next generation. Just how she liked it. Unfortunately, her plan would likely result in the death of a few men who didn't deserve it, but... Oh well. She couldn't bring herself to care. With a sweep of her skirt, Riva marched towards the front of the room where guards stood around the great entrance doors. Her steep heels - designed to make a woman of her painfully average stature appear intimidatingly tall - pounded on the ground, drawing the attention of a good portion of people. Not enough yet, but more more stares would come soon. The Raveness picked out a particularly buff-looking man and pointed at him with a gloved finger. "You there!" she boomed. "I DEMAND to be let out of this room this instant!" To his credit, the man hid his fear quite well; he didn't flinch and he looked her in the eyes which was quite a feat. Riva immediately respected the man. "I'm sorry, Lady Raven, but we cannot open, not even for you." "Oh, you're not sorry yet, boy. But I can promise you will be if you refuse me. I will not say it again. Let. Me. Out." The guard hesitated, biting his lip.

"No," she sobbed. "I just... I just..." I'm tired, she thought, unwilling to say it aloud. Though she longed to be able to trust him more than she did, she just... couldn't. Rose curled up into a ball on the gravel.

Rose suddenly fell to her knees. "I can't," she cried, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't...."

She was shaking, trying to hold back tears. This was perhaps one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. "I'm scared..." she whispered. She held onto Jahora's arm.

Rose stayed close to Jahora the whole time. She didn't want to move. And after a little while she realized. "You're not taking me to a safe place," she growled.

Rose, shaking, stepped towards Jahora. "Quiet," she mumbled. "Yes."

"I think you express it very eloquently... in how you express it." - Xino "Some good old existential agony will do the trick." - Xino "So how do you plan to torture him?" - Me "With life." - Xino

Rose stood in shame. She was thoroughly humiliated. Deep down, she wanted nothing but love, but her heart was far too tired to even come close to voicing that.

Rose could feel his sincerity and it pierced her soul. The wooden shards fell to the floor. She hung her head and nodded, as if too tired to speak or move.

"They should be scared," Rose muttered. She stood, trembling. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and her hair was a ratty mess. "All of you should be scared." And yet, she didn't look angry. Rose was the scared one.

Voices. She could hear them. Hear their thoughts. All the people around her, wondering what had happened, wondering what kind of monster was inside the cage of wood. "Make them stop..." Rose whispered. Her hands were in her hair, her eyes wide. "Oh, stars, make them stop..." She whimpered and suddenly, the wood broke apart again, forming sharp spears pointing outward offensively. "Stop it, stop it..."

"You're mean and you don't make sense." She turned her back towards him. A crowd of people had gathered, shocked upon seeing the brief fight and then the wood rearranging.

As Jahora approached, the shards of wood rearranged, forming a protective cage around Rose while she cried.

Shards, it's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I dusted off my markers today and finally finished this piece of Caden and Acalia Praetorium from Masquerade.

Rose tripped backwards, landing in a pile of crates. Pain shot through her back and when she tried to get up by supporting herself on a crate beside her, her hand broke through the wood. She screamed - in pain, but mostly in frustration - and then broke down crying. "Something's wrong with you," Rose said. Her words were meant with Jahora, but when she said them aloud, she was reminded of things her aunt and uncle had told her. "Rose!!" Darrin ripped the feral thirteen year old off of her preteen brother. Rose - a sweaty, red-faced young woman wearing a tank top, her braid a mess - was screaming in anger. "Don't TOUCH me!" She tried to rip her arms free of her uncle's grip, but he held her tighter. "He's a devil! A manipulative devil! He's perfect around you, but the moment you turn your backs, he'll tease me relentlessly. Why can't you see?!?! You're BLIND!" "Right now, this isn't about your brother. You need to calm down." "He never gets in trouble! He doesn't care about me, or any of you, he's a psychopath!" "Rose, stop it." She was crying. Yelling but completely unheard. They didn't care. Why didn't they care?! Rose started cussing them out and her uncle tossed her over his shoulder, carrying the ferocious girl over his shoulder to her room. As she was forced out, she heard Aunt Riva asking Granite if he was okay, softly chiding him for teasing his sister. "You're not in trouble," said Riva. "But your sister... There's something wrong with that girl." The words seemed to echo in her mind. Rose remembered blacking out soon after that moment. Entering a vision of the future, having a seizure. It was the first time that had happened to her and had confirmed what they'd thought. There was something wrong with her. And nobody could help her.

Rose let loose. She slammed him against the ground and started kicking him. "SHUT UP!!"

But Rose wasn't done. She strode towards him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling his face towards his. "Stop. Teasing. ME!"

Rose glared and, with a cry, threw a punch at his head.

“You’re a jerk and a tyrant, you know that? Every word out of your moth gives me ample reason to magic a stone through your throat.” She couldn’t do that on command of course, but the threat was real. “And even more reason to leave right now. All that talk about caring about me? Absolute crap. So CUT IT OUT!”