Shavi and Zeren {1x1: Dark & Krowe}

[Zeren the Morph]

"You too, Miss."

An embarrassed aura? But why be embarrassed about it? It was a different side to her silent, strong stoicism. Perhaps she associated her behavior as a sign of weakness. Too many people do that, nowadays. The cruel assholes of the world left uncheck are solely responsible for that. Nobody wants to let their guard down, even for a moment. They do, and the buzzards start circling.

He slid back into his bed, pulling the blanket over him as he curled into a ball. It was an odd day. Yesterday, he was merely an obedient drone. But today? Something weird was happening to him. He didn't feel broken, anymore. The Sources were louder, more insistent of his role to them. Even the angel's presence from back in the slave auction house still reverberated through his soul. His strict and regimented training forbade him from entertaining the thought of psychological independence, but it seems like... It didn't matter to him, anymore. All that training was... Silly. It's sole purpose to keep him subservient. <******** it. ******** it and ******** his abusive old master. He got what he deserved.

A long mental pause. That realization sure felt weird. Nevertheless, he felt a degree of liberation for the first time in what feels like... Ever. He knew why. Some part of that angel stayed with him, revitalizing his free will. Not to mention Shavi, who seemed to have kindled it by treating him with a level of dignity he had never really experienced before.

Whatever happens, he will stick with her, to the bitter end. She will be the only one he'll ever obey. Everyone else? Well, they can have a lengthy dialog session with the business end of his gun if they have a problem with it.

With that thought, he drifted off into sleep.  

[DarkWolfLove]

With the heavy warmth of the blankets and the heat from the day, somehow Shavi lost her pants. And her shirt. Thankfully, when she awoke to the sound of knocking at the door, she at least still had her panties on. The knocking persisted and she growled as she sat up. Her eyes were still glued shut from sleep and her hair was a complete mess. Again, the knocking. She hissed and threw a pillow at the door. If Zeren wanted to go out for whatever reason, he should have taken the key with him instead of waking her up.

She opened her eyes after a very nice rubbing, and peered over at his bed. Even in the dark of the room (thank goodness for cat's eyes) she could easily see him laying in bed. What? Wait. If he was there, then who was at the door?

The voice of the cobra drifted through the door in a sickeningly sweet tone and the cat's hair stood on end. She scrambled around for her clothing and hoped he would go away, thinking he had the wrong room. "I had to wait all day, dearies. That heat and all. But my friend who runs this inn just couldn't help but blab to me about the weirdest couple he saw today rent a room. A glass of good wine will get anyone talking. And some truth serum. Which you could have had, my little kitty, if you'd stuck around. Why don't you come on back with me, eh?"  

[Zeren the Morph]

Wake up. You can sleep when you're dead. WAKE UP!

Zeren's eyes snapped open. Damn Sources, always whispering s**t into his ears at night...

Another voice. Not one of the Sources. Someone else, in this plane. Through the door. His hand instinctively wrapped around the gun on the night stand, his finger flicking off the safety. He spied Shavi, up and awake, but not decent. He looked away from her out of respect and at the door. It was that cobra p***k. Pricks seem to have a tendency of making piss-poor life decisions. A side-effect of an over-inflated ego. And it turns out that egos are far from bulletproof.

He remained quiet, the sub machine gun trained on the door, but his finger off the trigger. He would like to avoid a shootout in such close quarters if he could, given that this guy could have more buddies nearby. He could also use his powers, but they always run the risk of exhausting him.

Maybe the psycho would get bored and go away?

... If only wishful thoughts were ponies.  

[DarkWolfLove]

She spied her shirt on the floor and reached for it, but it was quite a ways away. Her damn hand couldn't get close enough and before she knew it, her face was having a painful meeting with the floor. It was loud enough that the cobra must have been alerted to them being in the room. She figured such because the knocking stopped for a mere second before transforming into loud pounding. Shavi whispered a curse and grabbed her shirt, since having fallen to the floor face first brought her closer to it. She sat up to put it on. She noticed Zeren was sitting up and saw the shape in his hands pointed at the door. His new guns. She hoped he loaded them.

She stood quietly, even though the reptile now knew the room was indeed occupied, and padded towards her gear. Unfortunately, the door stood between her and her things. She couldn't remember if there was a creak in the floor, but she wouldn't doubt it in such an old building coupled with her luck. And sure enough, every step was accompanied by a loud squeak of floorboard beneath her feet. The pounding stopped and laughter began. He was laughing at her? ******** that. She ran to her things and aimed the loaded bow at the door. She wished she'd tipped the arrowheads with poison like she wanted, but there was no time for wishes now.

"Now, now, pussycat," the cobra said after his bought of laughter. "You can't be sneaky when you have a metaphorical bell around your metaphorical neck. Let me in. Please? See, now you have me begging." She didn't understand what he could want. She didn't steal anything. So what, he thought he was getting money for shitty wares and he didn't. "Why did you run away, billi?" Who the ******** was Billy? A thick accent came through when he said it, but what the ******** did that mean? And what, he just wanted to talk? Yeah, right. She'd rather just kick his a** and scare him off. Instead of swinging the door open and shooting a few arrows into his hide, as she fantasized about for a few moments, she looked to Zeren.

{{"Billi" means cat in Hindi. razz Thought it was a nice touch~}}  

[Zeren the Morph]

{{ Nice touch, indeed. :3 }}

He stared back at Shavi, not entirely sure what to do. He had his weapons loaded, but ammunition was in short supply. He was hoping to buy more the next day. He had enough to deal with the cobra, but certainly not enough for the whole town. Most towns don't take kindly to shootouts, regardless of who's fault it is and given his rare nature and the fact he is a slave, he'd rather avoid dealing with the militias. They might try to sell him off or worse... Just the thought of grimy hands on him produced shudders of disgust.

He then stared at the balcony door behind her. It would lead out behind the Inn. If they were quiet enough, they could slip out undetected while the cobra banged on the front since they were at ground level. He pointed to it before quietly sliding out of bed and putting on his clothes swiftly.

Better to skip town while they still can.  

[DarkWolfLove]

Shavi watched as he headed for the balcony and tilted her head. They were just gonna run away? She didn’t like that idea at all. But the only other option was dangerous. While she rather liked the danger, the cubus obviously didn’t. She padded towards it, and hoped either the squeaky boards would play nice, or the cobra’s incessant pounding on the door would drown it out. Neither happened. ********. The cobra must’ve heard the boards again because he began to hiss. The pounding stopped and everything was quiet for a moment. “Oh, kitty? What are you up to,” he asked the door. An even louder bang sounded. It was much larger than a fist or two. “Let me in, kitty, or I’ll do it myself!”

He was trying to break the door down! She wanted desperately to rush to the outside door, fling it open, and escape, but she had to gather her things together first. She couldn’t just leave it all behind because then she’d be left with less than nothing. She flung her coat on, shoved the rest of her clothes into her bag, and took a very quick look around the room. She hoped the white one had all his s**t together.

The door slide open blessedly quiet and she was able to get out and drag Zeren with her before the crazy snake could get inside. He was still banging at the door when she shouldered her bag and sprinted away from the inn.  

[Zeren the Morph]

Zeren easily kept up. Running was the first option. And it was a thin option, given that it was more than likely someone that crazy was going to give chase. As for why? It was a good way to go crazy yourself, asking why the insane did the things they do.

They found themselves under the fallen building once more, in the middle of the night. Traveling by night was a task just as dangerous as daytime travel. Many of the mutated animals were nocturnal hunters, much less opportunistic muggers and serial killers. Staying on the road was imperative if anything. Even in town.

He felt his sickened aura again. As to where, it was impossible to pinpoint it. Most likely behind them.

"He's chasing us!" He hissed. "I'm sure of it!"

He is going to persist. Stand your ground and bring him unto justice. A Source whispered into his mind. As to which one was difficult. The demon liked to pretend to be angelic, always trying to mislead him into back to the path of darkness. Nevertheless, it was right. They can't always run from people like this. No... They needed to kill him.

He stared at her, his eyes stoical and his SMG still out. He was waiting for orders, but his demeanor betrayed his sudden desire to fight back.  

[DarkWolfLove]

Shavi was breathing only slightly heavy, but not enough to pant. She moved to put her back against the building to get rid of vulnerable spots. The cat scanned the crowded streets. The rain stopped, unfortunately. These were the only times she actually wanted it. It would get rid of their scent. Otherwise, they had to leave the city behind. She peered up at the darkened sky, asking for at least one drop, but nothing came. The decision was made then.

“He won’t follow us if we leave, I think.” There would be no need for him to follow them out of the city. Here was his livelihood. There would be others to buy his poisoned wares. And even if he chased them, two against one were good odds. She had no problems with bandits; often times, she was one. She didn’t steal from innocents, but when someone tried to jump her, she jumped them instead. Quite the surprise. “We can’t take the roads. Too easy for him.” The cobra would want to take the roads. “Stick close.”

She looked left and spotted the cobra, scenting the air for them. He was still far off. Shavi looked behind her and subtly nodded in that direction. “This way.” She pulled the bag closer and shoved through the crowd. She didn’t really like this direction. This was the way they came from. The way to the slave house. She didn’t like backtracking, but she wasn’t going anywhere close to the snake. They’d just circle around.  

[Zeren the Morph]

"Yes, Miss." He replied. While his tone was respectful, it was curt. The idea of this man continuing his evil deeds, poisoning others while they escaped...

It left a bad taste in his mouth, but now wasn't the place for a sanctimonious crusade. While both Sources protested not going back and ending the creature, he was the one in control. So he ignored them and followed Shavi through the heavy crowds. Back to the slave auction house? They were backtracking. Perhaps circling around. A good idea. Avoid the cobra's usual location.  

[DarkWolfLove]

As they left the city, the darkness of light continued to swallow them. Shavi could still see quite well and scents filled her nose. It wasn’t as confusing as when she was in the city, so she could tell exactly how close the cobra was. The snake followed them well out of the city limits. He was persistent, but she began to angle away from the slave building and headed east. She hadn’t been east, but she could see trees high against the bright streaks in the sky. Those were some tall trees.

When she was confident the cobra had given up, the cat began to relax. Her pace slowed and her shoulders slumped. Finally, all was well again. She even chuckled and thumbed her nose. “One of many, my friend,” she said to Zeren. First she’d ever run from, but not the first to threaten her for no true reason. It happened.

Her eyes scanned the immediate area, but not for danger. She spotted a small shrub and ran to it. She crouched down and took a leaf between her fingers. It oozed orange. Perfect. She took an arrow and sliced off a sprig with the tip. She plucked the leaves and put them in a vial, then bent the twig into a smaller space and shoved that into a separate vial. She flashed a grin at the cubus and ran back to him. “Keep a lookout.” For anything.  

[Zeren the Morph]

One of many. That was an unopposed truth in this world.

"Still... Nice to see a crazy person who was able to form coherent sentences. It's the ones running around naked, waving a knife and screaming gibberish that you really have to keep an eye out for."

He did what he was told and scanned the horizon. He didn't feel the cobra's presence anymore, but that didn't mean there weren't other dangerous in the treeline. Animals, mutated creatures, bandits, crazed survivalists and tribals... One could go on and on. But at the moment, they were alone. As he stared at the city limits, he ventured that since their stay at an Inn was an obvious indicator that she had no home there.

"Are you a wanderer, Shavi?" He asked. A lot of people wandered. But as to why they wandered was diverse.  

[DarkWolfLove]

Shavi smirked at Zeren’s description of crazies. It was true. People were ******** up now. It was a matter of beating them before they ******** her up. She shrugged though. It was just another aspect of this life. Beat ‘em or join ‘em. And she spotted a skeleton near another bush that clearly hadn’t beaten anything. She avoided that bush. Too bad because she needed a distraction from Zeren’s question.

“Wanderer,” she asked, stalling. She coughed, clearing her throat, into her hand. “Um, yeah.” She couldn’t figure out anyway to sugarcoat it. She told him she left her home years ago, she figured it was quietly assumed she never went back to one. Guess not.

It’s not a bad thing: wandering. But she did not have a permanent place. “Were you expecting a house?” Not like anything could be done about it now. Well, she could set him free, but what use would that do? With his exoticism, he’d be captured again and sold off. Possibly to someone much worse than a Wanderer, and he would still have a house.  

[Zeren the Morph]

"No, Miss. I sorta... Assumed you wandered. But that's okay. I'm no stranger to wandering... Actually, I'm preferential to it." He said as he resumed spotting. Still nothing. "There are still many things left in the world to see. Canyons, more forests... All my years on this world and I still haven't ever seen the beach with my own two eyes, you know? The things I hear about it... Like palm trees that still grow, waters clear and unpolluted. All naive fancy, perhaps... Still, I enjoy traveling, even if it's to nowhere in particular." He said, his words full of pause. He felt strangely open to her. then again, she was the closest he'd ever experienced to having a person who was just a friend than anything. Owners and lovers made for poor confidants. It was nice just to talk for once without knowing that it was just foreplay.

He crossed his arms. He wished he had bought a rifle. The .454 at his side was accurate, but if any hostile auras was to come into view, it would've been better to pick them off from at range.  

[DarkWolfLove]

Shavi smiled discreetly. The beaches were nice, even the polluted ones. They often glowed green; no one could be close to them for very long, but it was fascinating to see, even briefly. She’d only seen one palm tree, in all her travels. And it was plastic. In an old building. Wasn’t very tall. Shorter than her. Nothing special. The trees in the forest they were fast approaching however had plenty to boast about. They were huge! The plants also grew more plentiful and various as they got closer.

Every other step the feline was bending over to snip off another twig or flower or fruit. They all went into various vials. This would definitely be fun for her. She couldn’t tell yet what trees were in the forest, but she definitely smelled pine.  

[Zeren the Morph]

Zeren eyed her stopping every few paces to collect flora, his curiosity threatening to get the best of him. He looked up to observe the near treeline were quite the spectacular sight. Some of them, taller than any he has ever seen before. He nearly tripped over Shavi as he admired. Luckily, he stopped before running into her.

"May I ask what you're collecting, Miss?"