A Midnight Walk

Re: A Midnight Walk

Postby Glenn » Sat Nov 17, 2012 2:48 pm

Rhaena Olwak's smile was irresistible here. For a moment, Burnie was inwardly glad it was aimed at Galacia and not himself. For the last three years he has been different with her than anyone else with truth only getting to rule for perhaps three months of that time; there were many sorts of truth though, so many, and apparently, as Galacia was learning, so many aspects to the current Governor. They were all him, though, all thoroughly him in their own way.

"Galacia," he said, having withdrawn from Rhaena now, even as he sipped his tea, even as he smiled pleasantly while the full force of the oft-veiled woman's smile was upon her, "and I were just discussing how limited and tiresome a certain view of the world could be. The old ways." Oh, things were brimming with propriety here, but it was a new sort, a combination, a gestalt, a brand new thing of Rhaena's creation. "Fear and exhibitionism. I think now she better understands, though, how civility and restraint can add so much more flavor to life."
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Re: A Midnight Walk

Postby Galacia Tarin » Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:07 am

There is a returned smile, so strange in its very presentation. The two who sat before her, each seemed to have their own agenda. Each was a very different person, despite the illusions presented here at a tea party that even Catch might be worrisome over. And he did so love his tea parties.

Her head did not move, her vision did not change directions. She faced them both, looked at them both equally. And in that moment presented each with their own special smile. For Rhaena, it was a sweet and cordial smile. One two ladies would exchange if this were a gathering for the elite and privileged, despite how they might feel about one another outside such an event. It was practiced, perfected, expected.

For Glenn it was something else entirely. The smile was, if nothing else, quite genuine. Lips curled, teeth nearly bared, more like a wild animal would greet another. No bite, but a simple 'stop right there'. It was as much a warning as it was a pleasantry.

"I understand a great deal more than when I first arrived, Governor Burnie, certainly. I would purpose, however, that the old ways have merit. There is much to be said for tradition. Do not mistake me, there is always room for growth. Though I do not always find it proper, or necessary, to throw the baby out with the bathwater."

"You would speak to me of change. Of civility and restraint. I will be the first to admit that restraint has never been a favorite trait for me. This does not mean that I am not more than capable of it, should the need present itself. I understand, to some degree, your vision, Governor. I understand your desire for perfection and it is an admirable goal. I do have a question for you, about this perfection. How do your humans factor into it? Do they factor at all, or are they merely food for the beast?"

It would be then that she would sit back in her chair slightly, raising the cup finally to her lips. The cup which touches her lips is ebon glass. The delicate handle a vine of thorns. On the table in front of them the set was complete. Beautiful in its darkness, perfect in its shadow. This was her world too Governor, and she would not be a pawn within it.

"And you, Lady Olwak, what do you think of this New Myrken? Oh, please, do drink your tea before it becomes cold."

The cloying scent of peppermint has vanished from the air around them, replaced with an almost subtle scent of copper. The liquid in the cups no longer steams, but, congeals.

"I would enjoy the perspective of a woman in this matter."
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Re: A Midnight Walk

Postby Jirai » Mon Nov 19, 2012 1:29 pm

Galacia's smile was practiced. Rhaena's genuine. It was a sharp difference between the two - for all the bindings of propriety implicit in this setting, there was nothing false about the bronze-haired woman. But still... just as Rhaena's eyes never look beyond the close confines of their table to the darkness beyond, so some of what Galacia says slips unheard past her ears. Not much, but some.

At the change in the tea service, the young woman's smile does falter, though her frown is very nearly as pretty as the smile had been. Along with that frown went a wash of disappointment. Rhaena has had enough of nightmares, thank-you-very-much, the firedream very nearly overwhelming. She did not wish a repeat. This is not the firedream, though, nor the other dreams before it where she had been held helpless within her own mind, and just as quickly the cup Rhaena held had changed back, and the woman is smiling again, calmly happy, taking a sip of the peppermint tea.

"I think, Galacia, that listening is a skill that must, like all, be practiced and honed to be effective. And it is thence that understanding is born."
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Re: A Midnight Walk

Postby Glenn » Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:08 pm

She looked at both of them in the same moment, two moments in one, and both replied to her in kind. Glenn was aware of Rhaena, was aware of the tea changing, changing back, but more than that, he was aware of the dreamwitch. She had seen him enraged, proud, loving and doting. She had seen him insulting and an absolute gentleman.

None of that, however, could have prepared her for this. She spoke. He listened. It was such an admirable trait. As he listened, however, his smile would fade. His head would slowly turn to the left and then back to the right. A shaking. When he spoke back, it was with a softer tone, something kind, a prelude. "Oh, Galacia Talin." But not Vraal. Never Vraal. Did she see that? His voice now would not voice that word, would not sully her with such smallness.

She had warned him, but here he was. She had warned away his smile but drawn in his hand. It was a pleasant thing, a compassionate thing, caring, nurturing, as it would lay itself down upon her cheek. "I watch. I learn. Always. The new ways will blend with the old, but never for the sake of it, never for ritual, never as a slave. More. More than even you can imagine." Almost lyrical, sweet, young. Such youth in his eyes. She had likely seen this tone from Bromn, but with the former governor it was naivete, innocence of the simple, foolishness. With Glenn, it was something else. She had seen such emotion in him, yet such control. "All you have seen, all I have said and you still don't understand.

"I think you can't," and sadness, remorse, was that pity? Did this human dare pity her after insulting her, after trying to bind her, after overwhelming her with the very tamest of passions. Before, though, that love, that gesture had been focused on Rhaena. Now? Now, that selfsame force that he had generated through resisting propriety in the most measured of ways would be turned directly upon Galacia herself. Before she could bask in the sensation indirectly. Now it was for her and her alone. A sweet touch. A tender gaze. Caring words. The tiny kiss for Rhaena only had meaning and power because there was awareness behind it, realization. Truth.

So was there in this.

The frown had faded now, faded in the face of such compassion, of such sweetness. Now it was blossoming as something else, a gift of youth, an honest, earnest thing; insane? Perhaps but that did not make it less. It only made the emotion behind it stronger, more vehement, more assured, more confident but more open and giving. Would Rhaena fault him for the hand upon Galacia's face, for the taboo within? Of course not. Glenn Burnie's heart was large enough to encompass the world? Why else would she love him as she did? When he spoke again, two fingers brushing at her cheek so, so slightly, it was with hope. It was with determination, and it was all, for her. The smile that bloomed upon his face, that shined upon her, young and charming and most of all compassionate: that was for her. As was the wave of emotion that went with it. "You will though. You'll see. I'll break your chains too."
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Re: A Midnight Walk

Postby Galacia Tarin » Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:45 am

In the tiny moment before the touch, there was the stifling, cloying, almost overwhelming sense of his compassion. Of his caring. With his touch was carried the pity, the disappointment in her choices and her refusal to be bound like this. She would not shy away from the touch. Instead, her cheek turned into it and the emotion that was no longer just in the air, but in that small touch, would fill her. It would not perhaps have the effect he was looking for. There would be no moment of clarity at his brilliance. There would be no sigh of relief, or look of deep understanding. There would not even be the fury for his pity. What Glenn Burnie did not understand was she did not care what he thought of her.

As her eyes opened, she was once more renewed. A clawed hand would reach out and grasp that wrist. Firmly, calmly, removing it from her cheek, pressing it down on the table, perhaps a bit too harshly.

"You take liberties, Governor."

"Lady Olwak, perhaps you are correct. Perhaps I have not listened. Perhaps your beloved is also correct, perhaps I simply do not understand. Perhaps in time I will. However, this subjugation of humanity is not something even I desire. Without freedom the spirit is damaged, even destroyed, and with it their usefulness ends. This is not something I wish to assist with. If this makes me your enemy, then so be it."

She would rise from the table then, a cordial nod for them each, as she prepares to leave this place.
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Re: A Midnight Walk

Postby Jirai » Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:31 pm

Could Rhaena fault him? Hardly. Never. She loved him. She knew him. Nothing else mattered. Rhaena smiled as she watched and sipped her tea - though she was not nearly so pleased at the harshness with which Galacia treated Glenn in return.

"Both." She says gently. "The listening and the understanding. There is no subjugation," and that Galacia had come to that conclusion speaks volumes, does it not? "There is no enslavement. There is freedom. And is that not as it should be?"
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Re: A Midnight Walk

Postby Glenn » Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:59 pm

"I take liberties?" Burnie smiled, but it was no longer a compassionate thing. "I take liberties yet I also take freedom. Such contradictory impulses." He couldn't help but laugh a little. "You've much to learn Galacia. Keep your eyes and your ears open and then make the best decision for yourself. I'm rather confident you'll come to realize that the best decision for yourself, for Myrken, for everything in the middle, is me. I look forward to that evening." A little pause,taunting. "A warning though. You're fond of those. Keep your wits about you. Keep your focus. Don't become complacent. If you do, when you least expect it, you might blink only to find yourself in that pink dress again, and liking it."

One last wink before he turned his eyes back to his bethrothed. It was only polite after all.
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