Private Tales First Tour of Duty

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
Alyxander had experienced whiplash before, but it had always been physical, during the heat of a battle. Whether or not you wanted to call his and Aristeia's little back and forth a battle was one thing, but the mental whiplash she'd just delivered was enough to handily secure the victory over him, either way.

She had never spoken of her power renewing since the last time they visited her world some months ago. Alyx knew she'd hoped it would return, but that she'd been back to the Dream Realm was news to him. Then came the knowledge of newfound wealth, a paltry thing really; Alyx never cared to be rich, but the security of a nice cushion was pleasant...

Then, she spoke of wedding him.

There was more she said, no doubt explaining her reasoning, the ways they might go about such a thing, but Quellchrist found himself quite frankly overwhelmed after the very mention of marraige. Aris pulled him along into the market, his head shaking as he tried to fight off the momentary shock her words had offered him. Even his feet seemed clumsy as they followed hers.

"I... It's quite a sudden thing, isn't it?" He didn't sound disappointed, his face tilting to watch hers as they walked, eyes still widened with lingering disbelief. "Yes, it would mean freedom to leave but... It's a massive decision, and..."

His men would have been howling. Aristeia Darke had totally flummoxed the Commander.

"You would... would want that?"

Aristeia Darke
 
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Aristeia looked to him with a heavily amused expression, enjoying the fact she was witness to him scrambling for words and semblence. "Well, you would be the one doing the asking. There are some traditions of my people we should uphold..." It was a dare if anything else. A challenge, a forfeit of control to him to make that fateful decision.

He loved it here, she knew that. If she helped him build a home here, build a place he knew they would return to, perhaps the idea of travelling for pleasure would give him ease of any anxieties he would have to leave Dornoch. A home to return to, to tend to, to build a future Aristeia wanted only with him.

"I do not see myself feeling this way about anyone else." She assured him, but it sounded as if she had made her decision on the matter. Aris did not speak as a Princess, but as a soldier trained for special operations and being on her own for extended periods of time. She was forced to be independent, but Alyxander had been the first to make her feel... connected to someone.

And the time since they first met only further drove in how right she had been to remain at his side.
 
It was when Aristeia spoke in the casual tones of a soldier, rather than the remnants of what had once been a princess within her that Alyxander felt most at ease by her side. It was not the Princess of Dreams that had so handily stolen his heart, but the warrior that had slept within her, the woman that had yearned to be free. As nerve-wracking as the topic of marriage was, the way she so easily assessed her own feelings and so simply brushed aside his concerns calmed him greatly.

"Pfft." Alyx huffed, some of that freneticism tapering off as he tightened his arm around her. "It's not like you to make me do the hard work." How many times had she jumped in to take the lion's share of the action before he had a chance to object? As his eyes lingered on her own, her expression that of a cat watching a mouse run in panicked circles, he felt that heat in his chest that reminded him exactly why they'd been inseparable since waking from that incredible dream.

"So what do you propose?" He tilted his head to lean against hers as they continued to move side by side through the market, reaching one of the more dwindling edges. Still, they received looks, and still he heard eager merchants calling in the hopes of winning some money straight from the Matriarchy's finest. Funny... Alyx almost found he enjoyed the attention, now.

"A big ceremony? A cake and a party with all the boys at the Roost?" Certainly, their relationship was no secret among the other soldiers, not after Aristeia had offered up her room to a new recruit and began sharing Alyx's chambers with him. "Or maybe something private? In the middle of the night? We could join under the moonlight and be gone by dawn."

Gods, he was actually considering it.

Aristeia Darke
 
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Aristeia snorted, peering up at the Commander as he pulled her closer under his arm.

"Small ceremony, private. Then you and the men can drink the Roost dry." She had not been able to make her own friends, not when she was so different to these parts, no one else could understand Darke was a foreigner of another definition. Her lack of knowledge of this world greatly hindered her, but studying the maps back at the Roost showed her the continent in which they were in.

"Ever been to Valenntenia? It's only a week's stretch, but... they are soon to host a famous masquerade. Saw some flyers in the nicer Districts. We could dress up... find a priestess or whatever they have over there..."

Because she had considered seeing the world with him. Had considered creating memories with Alyx.

"You should... give it some thought."

Alyxander Quellchrist
 
Valenntenia? He'd heard of the place. Far to the north, quite an old bunch of folk, thought themselves the original settlers of the world or some nonsense like that. He knew nothing of any masquerade though, and while such a long trip seemed rather arbitrary when they wanted something simple and subtle...

The idea of Aristeia dressed to kill, and a city that knew nothing of them but their love for one another... It was one that drew him in the longer he paid thought to it.

"I... I can't say it doesn't sound pleasant. Though I'm loathe to let you cover that face with anything." The entire concept of masquerades were rather silly in his opinion, but then Darke had made him reevaluate how he felt about a great many things in such a short time. "I suppose I can allow it, though, so long as I'm the one to take it off." A snicker left his lips as his hand slid to the small of her back.

"But yes. I think... I have a great deal to think about tonight." Not only about their future, but what it meant for his past. His position. To leave behind what had been his entire life, for so long... Even with the companionship of a woman like Aristeia, fear gnawed at his mind.

"So long as my dreams allow it, anyways..." He added, a coy smirk curling up at the edge of his mouth.

Aristeia Darke
 
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She smiled at him, yet said no more on the matter. Even if he were warming to an idea of it, she was not one to push on a subject longer than it needed. Her smile turned devilish as she looked ahead, to the scores of people swarming this market.

"You'll be off the hook tonight. I'll be back in the Dreamlands." Another night monitoring the front lines, unseen. The people believed her to be dead now, time moving much swifter than the present in the Waking Realm, but Aristeia knew the end of her father's kingdom neared. What should have been hers to inherit, Aristeia let go that part of her that wished to fight for the losing side.

A Princess of Ruins and Desolation had a ring to it.

"Besides, I think the men genuinely miss your presence for a drink. Can't have them thinking I have stolen you away." Aris snorted, her grin breaking strong onto her face. Her comfort, her haven, Alyx brought it out so easily from her, but after all this time she came to view it as something not to fear of opening herself like an exposed wound.

Alyxander Quellchrist
 
Unfinished business, it seemed. Alyxander had been quite hands off with Darke when it came to taking trips back home. While she'd decided on a life here, with him, that did not sever the ties to the Dreamlands. She was still borne of them, and still it called to her. Alyx understood. He did not pry or question, but let her do what she felt she needed to do, even if it was simply being there.

"I fear we're well beyond that now, love. Putting aside that they've been calling you Lady Quellchrist for a month now, the fact of the matter is that you have stolen me away, or you're about to, rather." There was guilt, aching in the back of his heart, over the idea of leaving The Roost, leaving the men who'd served him so loyally for his entire adult life. That he'd so often touted the virtue of staying your ground and serving with pride only to be whisked away by a woman... It was impossible not to feel some conflict.

"I've had... some thoughts. About the others." The idea of leaving to travel the world with Aristeia by his side was lovely, but there was a large part of him that feared the emptiness that leaving would bring. There had been some conversations with others in the unit, and an idea had been brewing, slowly. "We're both busy tonight, but... In the morning, I'd like to meet with you."

Truthfully, it wouldn't take him long to find his answer to her proposal. And a drink with his men would make up his mind as to what leaving meant.

"One last date, before we make such a vital decision."

Aristeia Darke
 
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Aristeia looked to him, a wry smile on her lips.

"I am intrigued. Truly." Alyxander knew how to keep her interested. He had learned that fast, had figured out that leaving all the details out was a way to hook her with his bait. "But what about the others? You plan on bringing them along too?" To Valenntenia for a couple of weeks or perhaps he would agree to leaving this city, Aristeia could not know for certain what went on inside his head.

"How early in the morning? When you crawl into our bed or we are to meet for breakfast?"
 
Alyx let out a laugh, shaking his head at the thought of dragging along his whole unit to an outing with Ariasteia. The Princess was enough of a handful, without having to keep one eye on a bunch of rowdy buffoons with too much energy to burn.

Especially not after what happened last time the whole Roost crew had gone out for the night together. He wondered if poor Ennio was still scrubbing Jarlax blood off his floorboards.

"The others actually suggested this detour. You see, there's something we'd been working on since before you ever arrived here in Dornoch." As invasive as Aristeia could be on his mind when she wanted to be, she was no mind reader, and there was a hint of shame in his voice as he made an admission. "When you showed up, I put the plans on hold, and thought perhaps to do away with them entirely. You... changed my view on a lot of things, after all."

To say he was the same person as he'd once been was categorically false.

"But if I am to leave, and we are to wed, there are things you should know. Tell me, have you ever had a chance to use the Palace's baths? They're usually reserved for special use, but with how those ladies loved you in that barracks, I figure maybe they'd snuck you in."

The smirk on his lips told her everything she needed to know about the location of their little meeting.

"If no, would you like to?"

Aristeia Darke
 
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