Private Tales The White Rose of Alliria

[AMonroe]

Aisha tried to hide any reaction to his assertion that his people would kill her especially since her reaction was to the news that she would be aboard a ship. A SHIP! She had long dreamed of being on a ship after reading about pirates and princesses. She attempted to keep herself composed but she was not sure if she had actually been successful.

When the waiter arrived, she ordered a drink for each of them. She would not tell him that she did not do ale until it arrived. By the looks some of the patrons had leveled at them, she had a feeling she wouldn't be welcome back here thanks to him. It was a good thing she was leaving anyways, she supposed.

"Isn't that a little rude?" She asked Bhan. Stealing from her parents was one thing but stealing from others? Who were innocent? She had no idea why anyone would want to do that. "Why would you want to steal from random people?" Aisha had read about the bad guys but she was in denial that she had just placed her life in the hands of one.

A single brow rose in his direction when he spoke of his Gods and the possible protection if she believed in them. She did not respond though - which was probably for the best - because two mismatched short glasses were placed on the table.

Aisha picked hers up and swirled the amber liquid before taking a small sip. She waited for Bhan to do the same because she wanted to see his reaction especially if ale is all he had been drinking.

 

[Bhan]

Aisha Monroe

He took the glass and eyed it curiously.

This didn't really look like ale. Leaning in slightly he sniffed and then scrunched his nose at the sharp aroma forcing itself up his nostrils. "You drink this?" He asked quizzically as Bhan looked around briefly. The nasty looks were entirely ignored but also accepted.

It did seem that some of them had these sort of drinks in hand. Not poison then.

Without further ado the vikingr tipped the glass over and gulped down the contents of the short glass as if it was an ale worth swallowing whole.

His eyes immediately widened as he swallowed.

Oh, fuck me.

With difficulty Bhan managed to get it all through his throat without spitting it out, but then the coughing fit started. "Holy Gods..." He grunted, voice hoarse from the drink that really should have been sipped a little bit rather than... that.

"What is that?" Importantly: Bhan did not seem to be hating it.

At least for the moment her question seemed to be forgotten.

 

[AMonroe]

Aisha simply nodded when Bhan asked if she drank the stuff. To prove it, she took another sip.

She started laughing and slapped the table as he drank the whole thing in a single gulp. His reaction was priceless. Perhaps she should have warned him. Nah...he was a big bad Northerner. They were just soft Southerners here.

"It is called Whiskey. It is strong and meant to be enjoyed," she laughed out.

Aisha was not nice to give him more time to recover though. She still wanted the answer to her question.

"You didn't answer my question," she prompted.

 

[Bhan]

Aisha Monroe

"And enjoy it I do." He says with a wild grin before slamming his fist into the table. "Another!"

The waiter went a-running. The ugly laughters at his expense subsided as the southern lads realized the asshole was planning on repeating the trick again. Still, Bhan paid them no mind, instead refocusing his attention on Aisha.

What a woman.

"Why not? If they have what you want and you can take it? If they can't keep you from it, then they didn't deserve it in the first place." The declaration easy and simple. This came straight from the bones, the veins, the ancient blood flowing.

The Vikingr way was anathema to many.

Besides.

"If you can rob those closest to you, surely you don't give a fig if we rob those you never even met."

It was the idea of robbing a neighbor or godsforbid his father that made him a little queasy. His own weakness that he was still battling... not that Aisha had to know that.

 

[AMonroe]

A new glass was brought to the table and set down in front of Bhan. She was still working on hers. She did not need wasted when running off with a stranger. She really did not know much about him at all. She had, clearly, lost her mind.

"My parents have enough that they will not miss it but you do not know how well off anyone else is. You could be taking all they have and making them destitute."

Aisha was not sure why she was so fired up about this subject. He was right, she did not know these people but she cared about them. She had read too many books that involved a thief destroying lives and she did not want to be a part of it.

"It is also," she paused as she tried to think of the word. "It is just wrong!"

 

[Bhan]

Aisha Monroe

He was very focused on the glass until she said all that.

The look Bhan send her was confused at first.

"For a rich southern lass you sure as fuck are concerned about what some random person is doing with their life." It was kind of out of the left field for Bhan. Was every southerner like this and had Bhan just been meeting fake ones up until now?

Or was Aisha special for some reason?

"Wrong, right, bad, good." Bhan shrugged as he picked up the glass with a measured caution now. He knew it could bite him this time around.

"Life don't give a shit about that kind of morality plays, princess. It just cares about survival. And so should you for that matter." He tipped over the glass but only took half of the liquid into his mouth. Instead of swallowing Bhan closed his eyes and let the burning fire sit on his tongue. A slow hum ran through his chest at that pleasant pain.

Then an even slower swallow.

A quick study, this one.

"If you don't wanna go a-viking with me, we can bring you back to your parents and you can enjoy your gilded cage some more."

The Gods were not pleased with that one. A sharp pain embedded itself into his skull. Bhan didn't even wince, because he knew his path was righteous. He asked them for patience. That's all the Skald needed. "Or I guess you can sit and mop on the ship, while I enjoy a good fucking raid."

 

[AMonroe]

“Going back to my parents is sounding like a better idea than stealing from the poor! I don’t have to worry about survival or how terrible you are there!”

Aisha was not shouting but her words were stern and punctuated. She could just rob her parents and leave by herself. She didn’t need him or anyone else.

She grabbed her glass and drank the rest in one drink. She slammed the glass down and started to scoot out of the booth.

Aisha was done with him.

 

[Bhan]

Aisha Monroe

Bhan did not follow... immediately.

Instead amusement colored his eyes as he watched her stand up to leave. No words were spoken as she made her move to go. Instead Bhan recentered his attention to his drink and took a more measured sip. Then a scowl as that sharp pain embedded itself behind his eyes.

She is a pain in my arse.

The voices did not disagree with it.

Ah, that's the point, is it?

Again they did not refute him.

That scowl deepened. Then it broke as Bhan inclined his head and finished the cup with one final shot. Then he pushed himself up to follow Aisha. Who had presumably already made some headway with her 'leaving' motion.

Whichever way she went or what she was doing, Bhan was in no mood for these sort of games. So from out of nowhere, with her most likely not even realizing he was following her (since he hadn't done so immediately) she'd suddenly be pushed to the side and pinned to the wall in the alleyway leading out of the tavern.

"Tsk, tsk, did I say I was finished with you yet?" He murmured while looking down on her. "Yar a pain in mah arse, but my Gods were never that easy to please. Rather the point of it."

A slow sharp smirk developed there.

"You have never been out in the real world, have you? Just drowned yourself in sentimental pretty stories of good and bad... and you so desperately would like to be good."

 

[AMonroe]

She had not noticed that he had stood. He had told her to go home so she figured he would let her just go.

Aisha was surprised as she was pushed against the hard stone wall of the alley. A soft hmph escaped her lips as she looked up to Bhan staring down at her with his icy eyes. She was also keenly aware that his much larger body was pressed against her own.

Her breath caught at his first question.

"Tsk, tsk, did I say I was finished with you yet?"

Prickles danced along her exposed skin at his tone. Deep, sharp, and slightly scary.

His smirk. These shivers were a mix of fear and excitement.

"I am a good person," she sneered back at Bhan. "And I have been out in the real world...I come here!"

 

[Bhan]

Aisha Monroe

His hand reached out to cup her jaw.

"This ain't the real world, darling." Such a gentle touch and gentle voice. A juxtaposition to the way he roughly pinned her against the wall and kept her right there. "This... is a place for people to pretend. That they are rough... and fierce... and strong."

It was clear what Bhan thought about that.

"But out in the real world? Good people... they die... and it ain't good deaths either." It was easy to be good when you didn't have to sacrifice anything.

When your life wasn't on the line.

When you could just preach and cry and feel oh so good about yourself. The real world stripped you of those ideas sooner or later. Once you were on your knees and bleeding out. When it was your life or the life of a stranger... well, then you would know what you were made of.

And most?

Were very bad men.

"Well, if you are so good... then you can travel with me, can't you? You won't be tempted to do bad things..." Almost murmured against the line of her jaw there. "You will see a bit of the world... and you will only do good things..."

The smirk only deepened there.

 

[AMonroe]

His rough hands cupped her jaw but he did not hold it tight. She just stared unwavering into his icy eyes and tried to steady her breathing. She had been keeping up the fake bravado but it was gone now. She was worried for the first time that he might actually kill her.

Aisha was starting to regret wanting to leave her cage and go out into the real world. It was starting to seem less and less enticing especially with Bhan.

He moved even closer (if that was possible) to her as he continued to speak. His lips were near her ear and she visibly shivered this time as his hot breath rolled over her neck and jaw.

"No..." Aisha finally said with a quivering voice. "You can go fuck yourself and so can your gods!" The last part was slightly more reassured than the no.

In the back of her mind, she knew she should not have said that. She knew he was not going to let her go home now. She was his. His gods had decreed it.

---

Bhan

 

[Bhan]

Aisha Monroe

A raspy smile escaped his lips and ran straight through the core of her being.

"If you were meek... my Gods would not want you so, this I know." And so Bhan knew he had to have her. This was the only way. "So I will take you... regardless of what you say." His hand slid down her jaw and fingers curled around her throat with a soft slow squeeze.

A warning more than a threat.

"If you do not follow... I will burn your house down with your family in it. Let's see how long you will last on the streets without your gilded cage... and without anyone so friendly as me."

Now that was a threat accompanied with a harder squeeze.

"Think carefully before you answer. My Gods love recklessness... but they won't protect you against suicide."

And talking back to him right now was certainly akin to suicide.

 

[AMonroe]

Internally Aisha was panicking. His hand around her throat, his promise that he would take her, his threat against her family.

He was terrifying.

And she knew he was right. She would not survive without her family plus they didn’t deserve to burn to death.

Bhan’s grip tightened around her throat and she stood expressionless. She was trying not to betray how she was feeling inside right now.

Aisha continued to glare at him for a few moments of dreadful silence then she nodded slowly. “Fine, I will join you,” she rasped out finally.

---

Bhan