A Tartan's Not Worth It (Open)

[phrostphyre]

The rustle of chain mail armor was not new to Ceunon, but Brian slinking through back alleys to avoid former flames was. Normally, he would have marched through the main streets, head held high. But he had seen four old flames within three feet of each other. To Brian, this was unacceptable. He would have been castrated and roasted if he had shown his face longer than it took to hide, and his clan’s tartan was extremely noticeable. It was mainly dark colors; reds, blues, green, and the primary color was black. He would have been spotted in an instant, especially since his kilt and plaid had been getting worn out. He needed a new one. Riding all over Broddring wasn’t the best way to keep a kilt in the best of shape, but neither was fighting.

Brian felt his shoe slide into a soft pile of something, and a muttered curse sparked him to dodge into a tavern. He stood looking longingly at the drinks, then slipped to the bar and took a stool. He ordered a whisky, and then settled in to enjoy the water of life at his stop. He was distracted, however, by a prejudiced Alagaësian commenting upon “men wearing sumthin’ a woman would be shamed in.” Brian stood, turned, and drew his sword. He looked upon the sword for a moment, kissed it, and then resheathed it. He settled himself into a comfortable boxing stance, and then issued his rebuttal to the challenger.

”Aye, weel, be that as it may sir, do pray tell what’s more comfortable than a kilt? Nothing! Any man what dares come up and can knock me down, I’ll buy him a drink!” Brian stood firm for a moment, but when no one stood up, he went back to his drink.

[[-Kay-]]

The Trinity knot around her neck shimmered a bit, as she walked towards the tavern where she had stayed the last night past. A voice she remembered quite well spoke a challenge and she smiled in amusement. Fate did have a way of bringing people near her. When he turned and went back to his drink, she moved forward silently, her feet making no noise as she slid her dagger silently from its sheath. She had it to his throat in a second, a small curling up the corners of her lips. "Does this count, sweetheart?" She said softly, releasing him after a moment to turn and walk towards a table in the back corner of the room, an amused half-purr escaping her lips. She paid the young bar-maid for a pint of whatever strong alcohol they may have had and settled back to enjoy the warmth that spread through her body from the alcohol. Darkened eyes glinted as she glanced around the room. Dark, viscious eyes that viewed everyone as an enemy, no one as ally.

[/blockquote]

[phrostphyre]

Brian didn’t show any hint that he felt the dagger across his throat. A smile crept across his face, but he clamped down on it. He heard the light footsteps leading away, and gave it a moment while he thought things through. He could get up and follow the footsteps, or he could play cool and stay here. It only took a few seconds; his decision was to finish his drink, stand, and begin looking for the culprit. The voice that had called him “sweetheart” was familiar, but not so much as to be instantly recognized. The pitch, tone, timbre, and inflection played in his ears, and soon he had it. Ivory. Damn, what is she doing here? I need a new to kilt and to go hunting, but that’s it. How could she have followed? Brian drank down the last of his drink, then stood. He stood a good head over the rest of the men in the room, and it took him only a moment to can the throng around him for a short woman. He had no luck, and began to circulate, pausing here, stopping there, listening now, and waiting then. He soon had her scent firmly in his powerful nose, and tracked her along her looping and twisting way to her table. Brian took the chair across from her, deliberately exposing his back. He was showing a level of trust in her.

Smiling, Brian unbelted his sword belt and placed it upon the table. Now seemingly unarmed, he ran a hand through his hair and put his shoes on the table. He had cleared the muck from them by kicking a man he had passed in the backside; the man never noticed. Brian cut right to the point with his harshly whispered words.”Madam. I see you have managed to find me once more. Fate, or were you following me?”

[[-Kay-]]

Ivory smiled as Brian tracked her to the table. His voice and the curiosity there made he want to giggle like a little girl. She was in a rather good mood tonight, though she was always such a pain in the neck whenever she was. It made her more persistent. His harshly whispered words made her grin even more. "How could I have followed you? After all. I left the city two days after you did, yet I made it here two days earlier and I stopped in many cities along the way to cause trouble." She said, her head tilted to the side like a little kitten confused and intrigued by something. "I came to speak with a certain friend of mine before moving on towards Du Weldenvarden. Though I doubt you'd be able to stand that forest. It's too wonderful for many, and many can't handle the fog of magic that lies thickly there." She smiled, her mismatched eyes glittering with mischievousness. She was strange, this little werecat. She had glittering eyes that captured gazes, a voice that held people fixed in place, and a voice that drew people in. But she wasn't alone. It wasn't like she was a helpless youngling. The one she sought here in Ceunon was an elf. He was a strange one, twisted in the mind and many thought he was mad. He was young, but insane. With bright eyes that glittered with an incomprehensible light he was definitely a connundrum. As was the little were-cat he kept for company half the year. But he wasn't important right now. He was just a sidenote. She was the main focus.

[/blockquote]

[phrostphyre]

”All right, I’ll trust ye now.” Brian took the seat across from Ivory and placed both hands on the table. He began twiddling his thumbs, waiting for something to happen. However, due to his not so great experience with were cats, he had no idea what they might have in common, other than being able to shapeshift. He looked at the wall, studiously ignoring the werecat across from him as he thought about what he would do in the Spine. Go bear hunting? Find a pack to join? Brian soon came to a decision; he would go running until he could run no more. He was about to put his sword belt back on when he had an all-too familiar scent wafting to his nose. It was an old lover, and it seemed she had brought friends. He took a quick look around, noticed that no one had snitched on him, and then moved around the table to sit next to Ivory. Another look, and then a whispered explanation before embarking upon his course of action chosen for him by circumstance and nature.

”I’m verra sorry for this, lass.” Brian took a breath then leaned towards Ivory’s face and began kissing her, hoping she would not take his manhood, his life, or both.

[[-Kay-]]

Will I come up for air, come up for air

After awhile the current is calling me
Lulling me, waving goodbye

[/color]

Ivory smiled as he said that he'd trust her. Her mind was wandering, unnoticed things went on around her. Unbeknownest to her, she had begun humming a song, but the next thing she knew Brian was in the chair beside her, words whispered softly as she was where his gaze had gone. The girls that had walked in had caught her attention, but she hadn't been paying very much attention to Brian at that point. She was slightly shocked when he started to kiss her but got a devilish grin. Her first reaction had to take the dagger that was sheathed on her thigh and peg it into his throat. But one glance at the thoughts in the girls' minds and she played along. giving the girls that had entered the room a wink. She broke off, a small whisper escaping her before she grasped his hand and grabbed the sword from under the table. "If you want to escape them, just follow me. Play along." She had said, using the hilt of the sword to brush her hood back from her face. A cold and amused look was given to the girls. Like she was gloating or something. Ivory was an excellent actress, you had to give her that. Ivory led Brian up the stairs and out of the main room before she stopped in the hallway. "Look, I'm not going to force you to do anything, but if you can contain yourself you can come in here with me. If you want you can stay here until you leave. I wouldn't really expect you to want to stay somewhere alone with that lot hunting you.." she said with a snicker. She sighed, going and opening the door to the room she had paid for, tossing his sword on the spare bed and flopping down onto the one she had slept in the night before. "Why are you even here, Brian?" She asked, her eyes searching him from where she was. [/color]

I'm out here alone, oh God can you save me now?

[/color]Sinking my heart turns to stone[/color][/left]

Word Count

[/color] -000000-

Tagged [/color] None
[/color]
Lyrics[/color] Lead Sails (And A Paper Anchor)- Atreyu
[/left][/center][/blockquote][/font]

[phrostphyre]

Brian sat on the bed opposite Ivory and buried his head in hands. He sat for a moment, then stood and went to the window. He moved the curtains aside for a moment, then went back to stand in the room. [Color-black]”I’m headed to the Spine. I can lose myself among the mountains and crags as a wolf. I spend at least a week out of three months there every three months.”[/color] Brian began pacing, searching for a way out. He had seen two hired men out front, and the back surely had to be covered. Pacing back and forth, he measured each step and counted how many it took from wall to wall. Twenty-five paces. I can go out the window, up the wall, and across the roofs. But what about Ivory? My exes will come up here looking for me to find me gone, and this is too similar to how I left them. Damn it all! Brian stopped pacing, then opened the window and faced Ivory. ”This is where we should part. However, do to your nature either you’re going to rat me out or follow me. I don’t mind what you do, but give me thirty seconds of a head start, alright? After that, if you want to find me, look for the two mountains that form a valley and in the valley is an oak tree. Biggest one there. To find the mountains, find the river with an abandoned homestead at the lake it starts at.” Brian reached through the window and grasped a ledge and pulled himself out of the window to hang from the ledge. He began going up the wall, using every ounce of strength to keep his fingertips on each ledge as he climbed.

[[-Kay-]]

Will I come up for air, come up for air

After awhile the current is calling me
Lulling me, waving goodbye

[/color]

Ivory smirked as some of the thoughts running through his mind reached hers. "Brian, you realize that.....never mind." She paused mid-sentence, her mouth closing abruptly. She didn't say anything further, her eyes cast downward, not saying anything. She listened to him speak, but didn't offer anything of her own. She had a few thoughts running through her mind, but they were all rather apprehensive. It was almost as if she were nervous around him. Like her mind had gone a complete change. She watched him climb out the window, waiting a good five minutes before she collected her things, slipped a dagger into the casing on her forearm, and left the room. She moved silently through the halls, down to the main room. The girls that Brian had tried to avoid were standing near the doorway. Ivory sighed, a weary look on her face. "'scuse me..." She said softly, moving to get past one. One, a redhead, shoved her as she tried to get past. Ivory gave her a dirty look, but nothing more. She was a bit off at the moment. She passed into the stables, her mismatched eyes dark as she slipped between stalls towards where her big black horse was. She slipped the saddle onto him, tacking the big stallion before she mounted, slipping into the worn leather saddle easily. She spurred him out of the stable, his big clattering hooves knocking against the cobblestones with a rhythmic pattern all his own. She reached the edges of the city in a decent amount of time, the silence of the countryside calming her considerably. Her mismatched eyes were troubled, but she was composed. She started humming, a soft song that only those with excellent hearing could hear. Sure, there always the chance of a bandit or something. But she didn't care. She could protect herself. Her soft voice carried the lyrics softly across the moors that surrounded her, a soft little bit that harmonized well with the birds that fluttered around and the steady beat of her horse's hooves. She sighed, turning the horse towards the forest, towards the inside of the Spine. She passed between the mountains in the Spine, the darkening horizon and she dismounted from her big black horse to give him some rest. She made a fire, and headed into the forest. She reached out with her mind and found six or seven rabbits huddled in some brush nearby. She neatly dispatched them, her quick hands snatching at them at slitting their little bunny throats. She discarded the entrails in a hole, kicking some dirt into it before she took the skinned rabbits back to where her fire was. She stuck them through with branches, letting them spit and sizzle over the rocks and flames. She untacked her horse, picketing the stallion nearby so he would have at least something to graze on. She leaned up against the saddle, the saddle blanket beneath her. Her eyes barely shut and she was asleep, dozing by the warmth of the fire. She awoke, some time later, her eyes adjusting to the light as she prodded a rabbit. Nope, still not completely done. She didn't want to get sick, it seemed her human body could get ill from rabbits that weren't cooked, unlike whenever she was a cat. She sighed, leaning back again and closing her eyes as she dozed lightly, in a half asleep, half awake sort of sleep. "Will I come up for air, come up for air......" She said, her voice soft and rather sleepy as she spoke it in her sing-song voice. "After awhile the current is calling me, Lulling me, waving goodbye....." It was clear by this point that she was tired. Her voice sort of even more sleepy as it got here. "I'm out here alone, oh God can you save me now? Sinking my heart turns to stone......" By this point she had drifted off again, curled up like a little child. Her arms were bare and the black ink could be seen by the firelight, as her cloak was in her bag. Some of the designs seemed to flicker along with the fire, moving little shapes. She shivered a bit, but atleast she had taken the rabbits off from over the fire and propped them up near it, just to keep them from burning. A small sigh came from her as her hands dug into the saddle blanket, a little whimper as the nightmare assailed her thoughts, then no sound at all as her nails dug into her palms. There would be little crescent moon cuts on her palms when she woke up, the blood from which was dripping slowly from her hands. Her horse was wide awake though, keeping tabs on everything in this little valley. The big oak that Brian had talked about was a quarter mile away, but Ivory didn't know that. She didn't' know much really. She was just....different.
[/color]

I'm out here alone, oh God can you save me now?

[/color]Sinking my heart turns to stone[/color][/left]

Word Count

[/color] -825-
Tagged [/color] None[/color]
Lyrics[/color] Lead Sails (And A Paper Anchor)- Atreyu
[/left][/center][/blockquote][/font]

[phrostphyre]

After Brian had got onto the roof, he took off for the city wall, climbing up chimneys and using them as platforms to leap off of onto the next roof. He ran using his momentum and natural rhythm to get over obstacles. As he ran, Brian thought. Once he made into the woods beyond the city wall, he would find a place to leave his weapons. While he ran, he caught a glimpse of another ex-flame; all the more reason to leave the city behind. Eventually Brian came to the wall. He climbed down the back wall of the building he was on, and then began scaling the wall. He crossed the top and was halfway down before dropping the rest of the way. Stealthily he crept from the wall to the woods, where he searched for a previously used hidey-hole. Brian found it after a moment, and then placed his blades, shoes, kilt hose, shirt, and plaid from the kilt into it. Brian replaced the dirt from the top and waited. After a time, the air around him seemed to shimmer, his face elongated, his ears moved up his head, his limbs began to lengthen and change shape, and after a moment a large black wolf sat where Brian had stood. It looked left, right, sampled the air, and ran into the forest, ears back, tongue hanging out. Tireless muscles ran endlessly, loping over logs, around trees, and only stopping to playfully try and dig rabbits out of their holes.

Tirelessly, endlessly, the wolf ran. He searched for a particular scent, and finally, after two hours of playing chase with a group of red deer, he found it. Ears pricked up, tail wagged, and the wolf was off. Back up a mountain, pause to bring down a cougar threatening a herd of deer, eat part of it, then the wolf was off once more. He eventually came to a clearing with a black stallion tied to a tree, a fire going, and a small woman near the fire. His eyes narrowed, taking in everything. He flopped to his belly and began crawling towards the woman and the fire, softly whining the whole time. The stallion caught a scent of the wolf, but the man inside the wolf eased the stallion. The wolf wriggled like a bug, and eased itself next to the woman. He licked her forehead, and then settled almost on top of her. Eyes closed, he appeared to be asleep. The only thing that gave him away was the flicking of an ear back and forth, listening for a hostile sound among the trees.

[[-Kay-]]

Will I come up for air, come up for air

After awhile the current is calling me
Lulling me, waving goodbye

[/color]

Ivory vaguley registered the low noises that the wolf was making until it licked her forhead. Her eyes opened a little bit, registering now the big shaggy creature that hadn't been there whenever she'd fallen asleep. A slight gasp escaped her as she unclenched her fists, blood flowing freely from the cuts now. "Dammit..." She muttered, sitting up and eyeing the large shaggy creature laying there, supposedly asleep. "Did I invite you to sit on my blanket?" She asked him, a smile lightly appearing on her face. She was just giving him a hard time. She turned, her back almost completely exposed, and started digging through her bag for a rag or two she could use to wrap her palms and stanch the bleeding. For a normal person they might have just been shallow cuts. But for a werecat, with nails that were sharper than normal, these went a bit deeper. A sharp hiss came out when she went to bind her right hand, the one that would be more difficult for her. Damn it all to hell! A sound, almost like a snarl, came from her as she bound it, moving on to the other hand. "This might make things a bit difficult....why can't I just effing use some sort of magic and heal this....." She grumbled to herself, knowing good and well the cuts would be healed in a couple of hours. She sighed, leaning against the saddle again, eyeing one of the rabbits. She leaned forward, grabbing one and tossing half of it the wolf. By this point she figured it was either an incredibly stupid wolf that was overly friendly, or it was Brian. Her eyes shut halfway falling asleep after a few more minutes. She was exhausted. She had had a long day. Up at the crack of dawn two days before, she had tracked some man and murdered him, as per her instructions from her 'employer.' Then she had sparred with some man for a while, ridden for half a day and hunted. She had done alot and that warranted her a nap as she figured it. She was only dozing though, waking up again when she heard the sound of a cougar. It was near the edge of the firelight and her horse snorted in fear. An angry hiss rippled from her, a threatening snarl on her face. The cat challenged her back but left, skulking back up into the mountains. "Goddamn cougars think they own the whole goddamned mountains..." She mumbled before she slipped back off. Was she narcoleptic or something? No, just tired. If it had been any other day, she would have been wide awake at this time of night...occupying her time some other way. But it wasn't any other night and it wasn't under the same circumstances that it could have been. Her dark hair fell down halfway across her face as she slept, unknowingly leaning into the wolf a little bit. Her hands were still clenched into fists, but they were loose fists that weren't going to damage her hands this time. [/color]

I'm out here alone, oh God can you save me now?

[/color]Sinking my heart turns to stone[/color][/left]

Word Count

[/color] -235-
Tagged [/color] None[/color]
Lyrics[/color] Lead Sails (And A Paper Anchor)- Atreyu
[/left][/center][/blockquote][/font]

[phrostphyre]

The wolf felt Ivory lean just a tiny bit into his warmth. His ears picked up, both of them, and swiveled. His head followed, and there were the yellow eyes of the cougar Ivory had growled at. The wolf stood and growled himself, a rasping threat ripping from his throat. Powerful muscles tensed, and then like a coiled spring released, sending the wolf over Ivory, and bounding towards the cougar. Growling the whole way across the clearing, the wolf and cougar met in the woods. The wolf locked its teeth around the cougar’s neck, while claws scrabbled for a hold against the thick ruff of fur and skin protecting the wolf’s life-vein. This cougar was female, while the one the wolf had brought down earlier in the day was male. The wolf suspected that they had been mates, and deepened his hold on the back of the cougar’s neck. Had he been able to chew, the wolf would have won then. However, wolf jaws are made to grasp and tear, not chew. The cougar rolled, putting the wolf on the bottom and then rolled again, using the momentum to spring up, letting the wolf take the blow of an overhanging rock. The wolf let go, backed away from his enemy, and then sprang forward. A slash of a paw brought the cougar down, and then the wolf had ripped the life-vein of the cougar out as it went down. Grinning his wolfy-smile, the wolf licked the claw wounds on its chest, then gripped the cougar and dragged it to the fire and Ivory, where he began to lick her face, grinning and panting. Projecting his thoughts, the wolf expressed extreme satisfaction with himself. Dammit, woman, wake up. I brought down the cougar that had you pissed off. Want me to show you how I did it? I did well. No more than a minute’s worth of fight. I won, pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. You want to share the cougar with me?

[[-Kay-]]

Will I come up for air, come up for air

After awhile the current is calling me
Lulling me, waving goodbye

[/color]

Ivory was happily asleep, the sound of the growl waking her up yet again. She groaned and rolled over, watching as wolf-Brian launched himself at the mountain cat. She sighed, shutting her eyes again as she went back to sleep. Until, of course, he started licking her face, panting and projecting his thoughts at her. 'Brian...I swear by whatever diety you may find holy.......if you even think of waking me up again after this, I will shoot you.' She thought, cracking open one multi-colored eye. She smiled, her eyes opening up fully as she eyed him. 'A little full of ourself are we?' She asked, her expression turning to the tawny colored cat laying dead by the fire. She couldn't help but grin at his happy smile, but her expression grew a little concerned at the injuries on his chest. 'Want me to take a look at those?' She asked in her mind, projecting her thoughts to him, showing her concern for the cuts. [/color]

I'm out here alone, oh God can you save me now?

[/color]Sinking my heart turns to stone[/color][/left]

Word Count

[/color] -0000-
Tagged [/color] Phrost- Brian[/color]
Lyrics[/color] Lead Sails (And A Paper Anchor)- Atreyu
[/left][/center][/blockquote][/font]

[phrostphyre]

The wolf shook his head, then laid down and rolled over. No…. You should rub my stomach! Pet me! Brian had gone from a quiet young man to a boastful young wolf. However, his womanizing traits remained ingrained quite deep and acting like a ham while a wolf was merely this manifesting itself. The wolf stretched, then stuck his tongue out and licked the grass. He began chewing it from the side while keeping his stomach visible to Ivory, in the hope of a stomach rub. However, a fully reasoning wolf, Brian still had to deal with the instincts that came with the wolf brain and body. A natural result of this was to wriggle closer to Ivory using his back muscles. After waiting in vain for a stomach rub, he rolled, stood, and stalked off to lie down and sleep, facing the woods with a back turned to Ivory. Tail curled around his nose, he angled each ear to a different direction and waited for something to happen.

[[-Kay-]]

Will I come up for air, come up for air

After awhile the current is calling me
Lulling me, waving goodbye

[/color]

'If you say so.' She thought at him, her eyes rolling in amusement as he rolled over and started wriggling in the grass. She reached a hand out and patted his chest once or twice, but was NOT going to rub his tummy. 'That's about all you're gettin outta me right now, hun.' She said, giggling a bit. She sighed as he walked away, her eyes halfway shut. She drifted off halway, startling back awake when the big black horse started snorting. She sighed, getting up to calm the beast when he reared up. She took a stumble back, and tripped, her small frame slightly under the horse when he landed on her arm. A hiss and a bit of a crunch was all that was heard before she was out from under him, on the other side of camp, arm pinned to her stomach. She was half curled around it, trying not to move the black and blue thing. She gritted her teeth, trying not to let the tears that wanted to flow escape, but she was unsuccessful. Her mismatched eyes were dark with pain and she glared at the stallion, thinking multiple curses at the stupid creature in her mind. Great, he had spooked at a LEAF of all things! She snarled, her hand clenching into a fist. Well...her good hand anyway. [/color]

I'm out here alone, oh God can you save me now?

[/color]Sinking my heart turns to stone[/color][/left]

Word Count

[/color] -000-
Tagged [/color] None[/color]
Lyrics[/color] Lead Sails (And A Paper Anchor)- Atreyu
[/left][/center][/blockquote][/font]

[phrostphyre]

The Brian-wolf, grinning, was across the clearing in two bounds. He harried the horse into a quiet state of silenced terror. Pacing back and forth in front of the stallion, all the wolf had to do was bare his teeth and send the silly beast into hysterics. Still grinning like a drunk squirrel, the wolf moved over to Ivory and licked her face, then lied down and stared at the horse, threat plain in his eyes.

[[-Kay-]]

Will I come up for air, come up for air

After awhile the current is calling me
Lulling me, waving goodbye

[/color]

Ivory glared at him as he bounded across the clearing and started harassing her horse. She reached out, unthinkingly, with the one the horse had stomped on and swatted his flank. "Dammit!" Her arm came back to her torso, cradling it after a moment. "Brian, quit harassing my horse!" She grumbled at him, her eyes turning down and not really meaning it even though she was in pain. She glared at him out of the corner of her eye, not really keeping the irritated look as he licked the side of her face and laid down. "How are you always so damn happy?" She asked, shaking her head after a moment. [/color]

I'm out here alone, oh God can you save me now?

[/color]Sinking my heart turns to stone[/color][/left]

Word Count

[/color] -00000-
Tagged [/color] None[/color]
Lyrics[/color] Lead Sails (And A Paper Anchor)- Atreyu
[/left][/center][/blockquote][/font]