Shelter from the Cold (Closed)

[Draemorticus]

"... going to stay this time?" he blurted out quietly, finishing her sentence. The words made him miss a step, and he stumbled slightly on the paving stones beneath their feet. "I mean... I, rather... I understand what happened."

He wasn't really sure if the second statement was intended to supercede the first, or if it even could, or if he even wanted it to. Somehow, knowing that he might have said too much made him feel more confident than if he had managed to mask his feelings properly, as per his usual.

”I… I’d hate to repeat our last meeting again, Min…” He stopped walking and turned towards her, looking down to study her face. ”At least, the going our separate ways at the end, I mean. I-“ He was vaguely aware that it was entirely possible that she’d interpret his words in a horribly wrong way – that she might think he was chastising her for seemingly “running away” at the end of their previous meeting. This, really, was the furthest from the truth. He simply wanted her to just stay. Not physically, though that would be helpful too – but just with him.

He was tired of all this wandering around, and as far as he could tell – though he scarcely let himself believe it – it seemed as if she felt about the same.

Amazing…

“I- … please, I want you to… Can we… just… start talking and never stop?”

He peered down into her eyes, trying to teach himself to read minds all in an instant, so he might know what she was thinking. The question probably wasn’t the most eloquently put, nor did it necessarily make very much sense to her, he imagined, but… perhaps it would do? How else could he say this, without sounding terribly presumptuous, demanding, and as if he were way ahead of himself?

Around him, a wind blew on relentlessly, and snowflakes began to drift down from the depths of the sky, tumbling lazily across his vision, and upon everything around the both of them. He scarcely noticed, however, waiting for Min to respond, hoping that this might be one of those rare moments in his life where he might make some sense to someone he really cared about.


-Drae
And I never met a girl like you before.

[Min]

Before he started speaking, she had considered turning down the next alley she saw in an attempt to find more familiar ground, without waiting to see if he was going to follow her. This – the moment between conversations – was approximately where the two had left matters before; Min felt fluid, as if she were drifting between two completely separate (but terrifically similar) moments in time.

When he spoke, she was grounded again, feeling the cold bite through her threadbare, tattered clothing. She listened with the air of one who was living for nothing more than the words spoken from another person’s mouth. By the end of his halting, hauntingly perfect speech, the cold was gone – banished in the swirling of her mind.

“We might have to stop talking on occasion. After all, I feel none-too-clean at the moment and could stand to find a bathhouse…” Min looked up, confused at what she’d said. Jokes are all well and good, but am I trying to tell him that being around him is like feeling unclean? My words are making me a leper.

She laughed, stepped forward, and impulsively embraced him. Words had fled from her mind; she wanted nothing more than to be able to respond in kind to what he’d said, without her mouth turning everything into a poor excuse for a joke. “I mean,” she began again, her face bravely attempting not to crumple into tears, “that I’d like nothing more than that – to start talking, that is, and never stop.”

She continued on with a breath, “I just meant before that we can’t hold conversations at all times; we have to sleep, after all, and watching someone talk while chewing isn’t the most pleasant sight in the world, and it’s probably not nice to talk through another conversation that another person might attempt to hold. But all the other times, yes…”

She nuzzled against his shoulder and neck, her eyelashes beginning to catch a few of the falling snowflakes. “So when do we begin?”

She smiled up at him, her eyes shining dark violet. Sometimes, the best information was exchanged in silence, and Min certainly wasn’t inclined to release her hold on Drae, unless he were going to carry her off into the sunset and…

Well. If that was going to occur, we’d have to stand around here through the rest of the morning and afternoon, and I doubt it’s going to get much warmer. Min beamed, feeling all the more steady now that the practical part of her mind seemed to have made its return. “I was a bit serious about the bath, though…”

[Draemorticus]

It was strange to have someone standing that close to him. Strange in a good way, vaguely familiar and most certainly welcome. He tentatively wrapped his arms around her back, clasped his hands somewhere below her shoulder blades, and peered down at her face.

It was beautiful the way she smiled at him, beautiful the way she talked, he couldn’t help but want to stare at her and listen to her voice forever.

This is going to require change…

The thought came calmly, and he nodded inwardly, acknowledging it. He was passive, stagnant, and apathetic. He could feel the both of them on the verge of something, standing with their toes at a line, peering across it in tentative glances at each others’ face, and he knew he couldn’t be who he was now if he was going to step across. It would destroy him, and it would destroy whatever it was that lay ahead.

He suddenly became acutely aware of her, all of her. Her ruddy, dirty complexion, the dirt on her skin and surely in her hair, her tattered, soiled clothes; the way her arms wrapped around his back, and how her face pressed gently at his neck. He wanted to see her clean.

The first time he had met her, they had been beneath guises of lords and ladies – made up, dressed up, puffed up, born to impress and conceal, restricted by rules, courtesies, customs and manners. He hadn’t been able to see her then, and he still couldn’t quite see her now.

With all the dirt and mishaps, it was just as bad as if she were wearing pounds of make up and hidden behind a mask. She was hidden beneath it somewhere, beneath the clothes, and everything that must have happened to her recently. Somewhere beneath all that, there was a woman that he was looking for, and he suddenly wanted more than anything just to find her.

”Then a bath it is then.” he said affirmatively, pushing back from her a bit, placing her hand on his arm. ”However…” he continued, his tone truly unlike anything it had been in years, ”How about we get out of this part of town and find something a bit more… upscale?” He looked around their surroundings deliberately, wrinkling his nose.

He could see snowflakes at the edges of his vision, caught on the loose strands of hair hanging down one side of his face. ”I just want to see you, comfortable and happy. I’m not even sure I’ve done that yet.” He was amazed how much his words reflected his thoughts.

Tugging gently at her arm, he began to lead her down the street.


-Draemorticus
And there you stayed, 'til morning came, you were not the same after that.

[Min]

She struggled for a moment with the implications of what he was saying; at the moment, she was happy, but not entirely comfortable. Her dirt encrusted skin had begun to itch, and he likely felt slightly uncomfortable at having hugged a woman so dirty. She allowed him to lead her for the first several steps, being as her mind was having enough trouble remembering to perform involuntary actions, much less voluntary ones.

So he actually wants to stay around me – or, at least, will want to, once I’m more presentable… That simple thought send her mind spinning back in the direction of being able to sit in a bath for an hour or so uninterrupted. For that to occur, they would indeed require their steps to head to a more upscale section of the city. Despite her appearance, Min was carrying a fair amount of money; for all that had happened, she usually found herself with comfortably lined pockets.

“I’ve a place in mind, though it’s a bit expensive. I believe I’m carrying enough to cover the price for two rooms for a bit – perhaps a little over a week, if we’re to remain in one another’s company that long.” Min inexpertly attempted to make her tone businesslike to disguise the hope in her voice that they would remain together for far longer than just a matter of days. “And then, after…I suppose we’ll just have to see where we want to go?”

She was annoyed; her words weren’t coming out in the manner she’d planned. He seemed to be able to speak well enough, however. “That isn’t to say that I only want to remain with you for a week, of course, just that…” Min sighed. “Damn the dirt; I believe it’s begun to take up residence in my brain.”

With a wry smile quirking at her lips, she continued walking, her arm still in his grasp. At the moment, they both seemed to be leading, their steps well in sync even though her thoughts were uncoordinated, rolling about and mewling in her head like days old kittens. If her memory served her correctly about the inn to which their steps were taking them, they would both be able to request a change of clothing there instead of having to wait around in the cold for one of the markets to open.

The sooner the better…

The sun was fitfully competing with the snow by the time they reached the inn’s door. She led him inside, thankful to be surrounded by air that didn’t prickle her skin due to its lack of heat. She negotiated with the innkeeper easily enough, though the woman didn’t seem to remember her; Min didn’t particularly find the innkeeper’s face familiar either, however. At the end of the conversation, Min blinked down into her hand, and saw only one key there. The innkeeper had already left, probably to prepare the room-

“We’re…in luck? I suppose?” She was a bit confused, but bits of the previous conversation were beginning to surface in her mind; the woman had only said that there was a single room available. “There’s only…well…” Min held up the key to Draemorticus. “There’s…only one room. I…well, I think I’m still going to go make use of the water and such in the room; there’s a partition between the bath and the bed in the room, as I recall, if you want to… I mean, we can leave afterwards if you want; they have a fine common room, and all, so you could just wait down here if you wanted, or you could wait upstairs, or we could just decide to stay here, whatever you’d rather…”

Min released the hold on his arm and smiled as best she was able, despite her current confusion. “So I’m still going to go and…try to make myself presentable. You’re welcome to do whatever you think is best…” She trailed off, blinking rapidly, and turned her feet toward the stairs. “It’s room three, she said, second door on the left…” With a backwards grin, she moved toward the stairs and climbed them quickly, then made her way into the room without locking the door behind her.

[Draemorticus]

He stared up the stairs with his mouth hanging open for several long minutes, eyes full of confusion.

Well now what was he supposed to do?

Honestly, he knew what he should have done – and that was to immediately tell Min that it was alright, she could have the room and he would simply find somewhere else to stay. That was the gentlemanly thing to do, and the sort of thing he’d had drilled into him by countless etiquette instructors. (There was a time when he fancied himself too crude, and made the decision to learn more proper manners).

But at this point, it was just a bit too late for that. He certainly couldn’t just leave to find another room somewhere – that wouldn’t do, and would probably be a greater offense than walking in on a woman’s chambers. The only other option he could think of was to stay where he was and just wait, however… how long did it take a lady to bathe?

Considering his cruel, cruel plight – which probably wasn’t really that cruel, except for the fact it was happening to him – he took a moment to look around the common room where he stood. In doing so, he became aware of a rather elderly woman sitting in a chair, staring up at him with bright, fond eyes, probably enjoying the early morning hours of the sun’s rising. (As people of her age were apt to do). She was smiling, almost amusedly. He was sure she must have heard their entire conversation.

All things change…

In a rather uncharacteristic display, he approached the woman, smiling back at her. ”So what should I do now, madame?”

Her eyes widened happily at the question. “Well…” she began, scratching absently at her hair, “The old woman in me says you’d better sit right down and mind that girl’s privacy.”

He nodded. Honestly, it was what he should probably do. What was he even considering? Marching upstairs and waiting in a woman’s bedchambers for her to finish a bath? It was absurd. It was irresponsible. It was-

“… But the girl in me is hoping you’ll git’ moving up those stairs already, cause that lass is waitin’ for you, y’cotton headed goat!”

She peered at him most seriously. His mouth hung open for the second time in the evening. Or morning, or whatever it was.

“I-” he began wide eyed. He was interrupted by a sharp pain in his leg as the woman prodded his shin with her cane.

”Go, ‘fore y’miss your chance, or ‘fore I advise y’the other way.” Her voice was softer now, a slight, motherly smile curling her aged lips.

As he had said, things change, and at this point, he was a long way away from the need for simple courtesies and manners. Perhaps now is the time to show a bit of self confidence… cotton headed goat.

Leaning down, he pecked the elderly woman on the cheek and grinned, spun away from her and bounded up the stairs three at a time, or sometimes two – he missed a step at one point.

Reaching the top he slowed down and searched for the correct door.

“Room three!” he heard the old woman’s scratchy voice call out from below. Scanning around, he found it and moved down the hall. “Second door on the…“ an aged voice from below trailed off.

Not completely forgetting himself, he knocked. He still had some sense of what might be decent and proper – and it being that Min might not even be “decent” at the moment, he thought better of simply walking in.

”… Min?” He felt collected, but his heart thumped so loudly he could scarcely hear himself say the word.


-Draemorticus
And that to me, ladies and gentlemen… is love. Kinda makes you cry, doesn’t it?

[Min]

She wasn’t sure how to proceed once she’d crested the stairs. Based upon what she’d given him to work with, the man might decide to follow any number of different courses of action. She’d managed the easy part, really; all she had to do now was conduct herself in a proper manner.

For the love of all things good and… I don’t have the slightest clue what’s proper…

And really, she didn’t. Having invited him up to her room was likely a grievous breech of etiquette in the circles of polite company, but Min had found herself far distant from those circles many years previous. Well, since I left all the decision making to him, I may as well allow the decisions to remain in his hands. After all, it’s not as if I can act on his behalf, nor can I take back something I meant to say.

With a shrug, Min pushed the door to the room open, slipped inside, and then pushed the door closed behind her. The air was slightly hazy with steam; she walked forward to the bath, ignoring all of the other objects in the room except for a chair which held a change of clothing and several sizes of towels. She wasted no time in removing the grimy clothing of the past few weeks; some of the fabric gave way as she pulled at it, attesting to its poor condition.

One. Two. Three… She stepped into the bath with her breath held and quickly folded herself into the water, all but disappearing beneath its surface. For a few seconds, she felt nothing; the dirt on her skin retained its presence. She submerged herself entirely, waiting.

Then, suddenly, it felt as if the dirt were being burned off, as if she had been placed in the centre of a fire’s burning coals. She sat up violently, bit her lip, and began scrubbing at her skin with one of the washcloths that had been placed around the bath. It was too easy a metaphor, really, but she couldn’t help feeling that she was shedding her skin…

Min didn’t hear the knock on the door; dirt was being sluiced from her skin every time she so much as moved. The water’s colour was beginning to turn muddy, and it sounded as if, in her splashing, she’d heard her name.

“I’m…!” She stood up, then, trying to consider a more helpful selection of words while the water poured off her skin, taking the last remnants of dirt down into what remained of the bath. “Just a moment!” Her voice sounded loud and brassy to her own ears, discordant in a room filled with steam and heat.

She managed to use the entire selection of towels on the chair before she felt presentably dry; her skin was rubbed red and everything was a little too vibrant for her eyes. She decided she’d dress later, and formed a suitable outfit of the towels, hoping to err on the side of modesty.

Min wasn’t entirely surprised to find herself giggling – things were working out almost as if she’d planned properly. She removed the towel draped over her shoulders; if he had gone to all the trouble to decide to climb the stairs, he might as well get some benefit for his efforts. The major portions of her anatomy retained their coverage, however; she stepped towards the door quickly while attempting to untangle her hair with her fingers.

The door swung open with the slightest push from her palm; she stood in front of him a moment, eyes shining violet. “So…despite the tangled bits,” she gestured to her hair, “this is a fair approximation of what I look like, comfortable and happy…”

She moved back slightly from the door, providing him an entrance if he so chose, and then smiled, keeping her eyes raised to his, and hoped for his acceptance. “I suppose I might be a bit happier if you'd come in?”

[Draemorticus]

He stumbled through his mind, looking for any single thought that might describe exactly what he was feeling, or even what he should say.

Most likely, accepting the invitation might be a good place to start. Somehow, that seemed rather reasonable.

"I... imagine I'd be quite a bit happier too." he said quietly, unable to remove his eyes from her.

He was sure that there was probably something ungentlemanly about letting one's gaze roam relatively unchecked about a woman's form, but even if he could have had enough foresight to keep himself from allowing his rogue eyes to do as they wished, he wasn't entirely sure he would have.

It wasn't exactly like he could even see that much really - below her shoulders the rest of her was rather thoroughly hidden. He found himself vaguely wishing her attire left a bit less to his imagination, and he could feel his face blush slightly as the thought sauntered unbidden into his mind.

In the hopes that she wouldn't notice the color in his cheeks, he took a few long strides into the room and peered around it, half-unconsciously trying to divert her attention from him and onto their surroundings.

"This is quite a lovely place... I... Hmm." he said, the words trailing off near the end as he realized the attempt was probably futile as well as foolish.

Turning back to Min, he took a step or two back towards her, tentatively placing his hands on her shoulders. Her skin was warm under his fingers, and surprisingly smooth; her appearance earlier had served to undo some of his notions of her as some sort of soft, gentle, radiant lady, yet now may of those impressions were happily returning as well -- albeit slightly altered, complimented by the strength, intelligence and ruggedness he'd seen more recently.

"I... I'm glad..." he began, searching for the words, "... you look beautiful. I mean- You're beautiful, Min. Not that I'm 'glad' that you look like you are, or..." He let the sentence drop; trying desperately to avoid tumbling into a pit of apologies and corrections.

He had already idly brushed his thumb along her bare shoulder a few times before he noticed that he was even doing it. With a bit of a jerk he pulled his hand back and let it drop to his side, the other remaining on her left shoulder. "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do... that."

Shaking his head, he laughed slightly and let his other hand fall as well. "Maybe I ought to just sit down, eh? That way I can enjoy the beauty of my surroundings without worrying about offending them in the process."

He didn't move right away, however, and merely gave her a rueful smile. Going to sit down somewhere wasn't exactly what he would have preferred to do, yet nevertheless, he made an effort to at least locate the nearest chair.


-Drae
The breath that blows these cool winds...

[Min]

She considered, for a few moments, dropping the towels entirely. The thought, even after she’d discarded its action as too impossibly brazen for her to achieve with any manner of grace, quirked her lips into a mischievous smirk.

“Sit down?” Min’s voice purred out of her mouth as she made a show of checking to insure that her towels were still properly held together. Maybe I have managed to unearth some coquettish vein somewhere… “Worried about standing too close to a woman who you could manage to undress in two quick tugs of fabric?”

Her smile softened. “All in good time, I suppose.” Her eyes roved over the room, looking for the clothing that the innkeeper had promised to provide; she moved slightly after seeing a pile of promising colour on top of the bed. Her movement shifted the towels covering her body just enough that they both began to slip. She managed to catch them, inexpertly, before any real exposure, and felt her face flush crimson.

“Maybe I should be the one seeking a chair…” She murmured the words as she moved toward the bed; she sat down gingerly, with several glances down that dared any more fabric to move. “I suppose I shouldn’t joke about matters as serious as being unclothed.” She laughed, wryly, thankful that the heat in her cheeks was beginning to fade.

“Of course, being as I’m sitting next to a new set of clothing, I suppose I may as well change into something that has less revealing tendencies. That, in turn, begs the question of your preference. The towels have a tendency to slip, but we haven’t yet discussed if you’d be turning around while I changed…” She laughed, unsure of exactly how much she was speaking in jest.

She was nervous, certainly; she also had absolutely no idea how she should conduct herself. Her – remarkably poor – attempts at innuendo seemed at least slightly amusing to her, but she had no idea how he felt. …and seeing how that’s the most important thing…

“My apologies…I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing, which is probably painfully obvious. I don’t mean that I’m not sure what I’m doing here with you – well, I don’t know exactly what it is that I’m doing, or what we’re doing, or what we’re thinking or anything of the sort – but I am terribly glad that I’m here with you even though neither of us seems too entirely sure what we should do, and…” She stopped after tripping over a number of words; her mouth felt tired, as if she’d been eating a meal for several hours.

“And I haven’t forgotten about everything you said – it really is a beautiful room, and I’m glad I brought you here, even if I’ve ruined everything by behaving so stupidly. I used to stay here when I was feeling particularly lonely – it’s nice to know that they are other people around, even if they are in separate rooms. It’s nicer, though, to know that you’re here, in the same room.” She blinked. “That sounds terribly selfish…”

Still, her words continued on, unhindered. “I’m not certain why you think I’m beautiful, but I’m…I’m…I didn’t think you’d think that of me, not to say that I don’t trust your judgment. Your hands are nice, too, when they’re brushing against my shoulders, and…” Min sighed, and squirmed on the bed, looking the part of a child who knew she was saying too much, but couldn’t stop herself from a full confession.

“I’d tell you I love you, because it’s true, but I’d hate to have it buried in all of my tripe and drivel, and I don’t know if that’s what you’d prefer to hear now or if you’d rather just have me stop talking so we could get on with…with whatever it is we’re going to do.”

She blanched. “I don’t mean that as what we’re going to do together, just what we’re going to do in general, and-” Shut up, Min… “…and I think I’ll stop talking now.”