Private Tales "Uterus before Duderist"- Tahi

[Ysobel]

(Yes, I'll change the title eventually : ) )
Samstag night. (Very clear, no storms! Wow!)
Ysobel’s Dorm.


The first girls night in for-ev-er!

For Ysobel at least, who’d been gone on and off on a series very serious (and unsuccessful) missions over the past month or so. And it wasn’t technically a full girls night. She only invited Lumen because good GOD did she have things to share with that woman.

If anyone that wasn’t named Lumen even thought about showing up (Yes, that means YOU Aelita), they would be at the receiving end of a heavy wooden door being slammed right in their face. Hmph.

At least Caeso was kind enough to be forced into supplying the two of them with wine, nachos, and these little chocolate biscuits with some sort of sweet creme in the center. What a lad.

Did the snacks pair well together? Probably not. Still didn't stop Ysobel from scarfing down half of the chocolate cookies while she waited.

Not to worry.

Her room was decorated beautifully, if she did say so herself (and she did). The spread of snacks? Exquisite. The bottles of Diemut wine? One may have already been opened and poured into the glass Ysobel excitedly held on to. Were some of the portraits rearranged to account for a recently-not-deceased-former-dreadlord-initiate’s reappearance in her life? Maybe. At least she balanced it by putting all the men Lu had ever blushed over front and center. She wouldn’t even notice.

And now all that was left was to wait for her blonde best friend to show up!

Lumen

 

[Lumen]

She'd been away on a lot of missions.

And so had Ysobel.

Lumen had just gotten back from the disaster at Ganfarred Keep the night before when she'd woken up to a little not slipped beneath her door with Ysobel's tell-tale handwriting. She always made any of the dots on the i's with little hearts. And then any exclamation points as lightning bolts.

Lumen couldn't help the soft smile that spread on her lips as she read it as she found out they finally had some overlapping time together in the dorms. Some overlapping downtime! She couldn't remember the last time she'd been able to steal away to hang with her bestie.

Waking up drunk in some tavern didn't count.

And Friendsgiving didn't count when she'd been running the event.

Stopping outside Ysobel's door, she gave the signature knock before turning the knob to enter.

"Hey Yus! Stars I've missed you. And that. And that," she pointed to the snacks, wine, and infamous wall. But wasting no more time, she'd quickly pull her shorter friend into a fierce hug. Trying not to squish her too much.

 

[Ysobel]

Knock knock knock-knock knock!

Ysobel had fought every bone in her body not to smash through the door and greet the girl she called her best friend. Fortunately for both them and the school, Lumen had let herself in before Ysobel could cause any collateral damage.

“Hello hello!” Her greeting was muffled as the taller blonde squeezed her tightly. Upon her release, she would bounce behind Lu to peep out of the door for unwanted eavesdroppers (and those who could sense a wine bottle being opened from six miles away) before slamming it shut.

“Come on!” She ushered (dragged) her favorite blonde over to the table where she would pour her a glass of wine. A glass some (Aelita) would have considered wasted as the alcoholic contents had no effect on Lumen. Again, not to worry. Ysobel could, and would get drunk for the both of them. And probably more so today as she seemed to avoid the nachos like they had been infected by some plague, favoring the cookies and nursing the glass of wine she carried.

“How have you been? I feel like I haven’t seen you in months! Any fun missions? Any nice guys?”

 

[Lumen]

Lumen plucked one of the chocolate biscuits with cream between up from the table. Took a small sniff and then popped it into her mouth. "Mmmff, thesemfff armff good." Chewing, she swallowed and picked up the wine. A small sip.

"Where'd you get all this from?"

She knew it wasn't from Cook.

Looking at the wine, her mind briefly went to her other blonde friend, Aelita. She wondered where the other girl was right now. Snuck off campus? On another mission? Training? Perhaps reading a dirty romcom in her room.

"Lots of missions," she said and snatched another cookie. Had to make up for all the calories she lost in training and traveling, didn't she? "Nice guys?" Golden brows nearly launched into her hairline. "Just the guys from our class."

And she left it at that.

"But," she swallowed. "There was a really bad one. We were sent to a fort where we found all the guard there dead. Murdered." She took a weary-seat and a healthier swallow of the wine even though it wouldn't actually make her feel any different. And for a moment, she wished it would. Almost wished Leander was there to enable her to feel the effects of alcohol like everyone else.

"But that's not good talk for a night like tonight. I've missed you and hanging out. How have YOU been? How're you and Larkin doing?"

 

[Ysobel]

Ysobel fought the scowl she wanted to give Lumen for taking one of the biscuits. There were so many other things she could graze on and she chose the one thing Ysobel could stomach and the one thing Ysobel couldn't get enough of. Rude.

"Caeso, actually. It was weirdly considerate of him." She snatched another one off the plate. "I know you like the nachos, but I dunno..." She shrugged, shoveling another into her mouth. "I was getting sick of them." Like, literally. She added in her head. Truthfully, the smell of the cheese and greasy meat was making her a little nauseous but she would suck it up to spend some well deserved time with her friend.

But,

"But?" She interrupted before Lumen continued. She regretted letting her do so, noticing the shift in her attitude. Ysobel understood her sudden cessation of the conversation. She probably didn't want to ruin the mood, but she should have known Ysobel would always listen. She wouldn't push her for now, however.

"I've-" She began to speak but Larkin's name popped up and Ysobel looked like she had seen a ghost. She hadn't seen him in a couple months. Not since...Well. She left him for dead in the middle of the night, avoiding him ever since. It was only by word of mouth that she heard the damage she'd done to his face- fractal scarring that matched the scars she covered on her arm. No one would see that she matched him.

"We broke up a while ago." Not exactly the truth, but she couldn't just say she thought she killed him and abandoned the scene. "But..." Her face visibly brightened and she bit her lip to hide her smile. "My last mission, yeah? They sent me after one of the exiles from the class above us. Do you remember Gaage? Tall, red hair..." She stood and pointed him out on her wall. "Oh my days. He was even more beautiful than before he left. Lumen, you should have seen him."

She knew Lumen would disapprove, but Ysobel continued filling her in on the juicy details. "I found him in some...fighting ring or whatever and he came back with me to answer some questions." She explained how one thing led to the next, leaving out a few details (like how she let him leave, against her orders). "And I've had some downtime, so I have visited him a few times since. Isn't that just...so romantic?" There were practically stars in her eyes as she gushed over him.

Lumen

 

[Lumen]

"Caeso?" She paused mid-cookie bite. Swallowing, she said more quietly, eyes suddenly looking anywhere but Ysobel's face. "That is surprising."

Finishing off the cookie, she went for a nahco next, popping the salty chip in her mouth. She'd have to ask Ysobel if she could take some food to-go after this to drop off at Houri's room. She knew the older initiate would appreciate these snacks.

A surprised raise of golden brows at what Ysobel said about Larkin.

"Oh, Yus, I'm so-," but her friend didn't need consoling it seemed because she chattered quickly on about an exile. Funny, Lumen always thought his name had been Garage.

Tawny-eyes began to widen as Ysobel continued to speak.

Widen.

WIDEN.

Until they were nearly saucers on her face. She quickly swallowed and began coughing as a chip particle got caught in the back of her throat.

"What?" A strangled whisper.

Fist pounded her own chest as she sat up straighter. Finally coughed out that last piece of salt.

"You WHAT?!" A repeat. Voice quickly lowered, a worried glance around the room as if the proctors were watching them. Or had some listener trained on this very room. "You have been meeting with a known fugitive. Have you reported this? Are you working it to bring him in?"

Yeah, yeah. Surely, that's what Ysobel was doing. SURELY.

Her friend couldn't be that naive to...

 

[Ysobel]

Ysobel responded to Lumen’s concerns with a big toothy grin, clearly mistaking it for curiosity. Everyone knew Lu and Ysobel loved drama and gossip. PLUS! This was juicy. Of course she wanted to know more.

“You heard me!” She giggled after the taller blonde stopped her choking.

Have you reported this?

Ysobel cackled as she made her way back over to the snacks, grabbing two more chocolate biscuits, shoving one into her mouth and washing it down with the wine. She shivered at the taste. Wine never was her drink of choice, but she would swear up and down that just like the nachos, something was wrong with this. Maybe a seasonal change.

“Reeeelax, Lu.” She huffed. “He didn’t even do anything that bad.” Like she would know with the way her interview went. “Of course I haven’t reported it. Why on earth would I do that?”

She shoved the second cookie into her mouth, continuing, “I was working on that…at first.” She was being honest. If she had followed orders, she would have done so. Then her tone slightly shifted. She seemed a little sad.

“But I can’t right now. If I brought him back, he’d be put in jail…or worse…and I wouldn’t be able to see him again.”

Lumen

 

[Lumen]

"He's a wanted man, Yoh." Lumen's jaw clenched. But there was compassion in her tawny-gaze. "If anyone at the Academy ever found out." Head shook.

Ysobel would be in a lot of trouble.

She might even be branded a traitor herself.

Standing, she took another chocolate biscuit but offered it to her friend. A gently hand went to rest on her friend's shoulder. "This is serious. You...you two are close now?" She knew her friend. She fell hard and fast for guys. And it looked as if it happened between her and Gaage.

And if Gaage did anything to hurt her friend, Lumen would kill him.

 

[Ysobel]

Ysobel looked away as Lumen spoke. She had a point- even if Gaage never returned, if anyone found out that Ysobel had been in contact with the person she had orders to arrest...

"Well, you're the only one who knows." She huffed, crossing her arms. That was one reason Lumen was the only one invited tonight. She knew Aelita had a big mouth and if she was invited, Ysobel would be in jail before the sun rose. Lumen loved gossip, but she thought she could at least trust her not to say anything.

Then again, maybe this was all a mistake. She was suddenly having doubts about all of this. Could Lu betray her friend over something so small? Ysobel really didn't know.

She gingerly accepted the biscuit and looked up at Lumen. The wine was a bad combination with the cookies, she determined. Lu could probably also tell by the look on Ysobel's face. Perhaps peanut butter would be better...

This is serious.....

"Yes. He said he loves me." Maybe Ysobel misunderstood her, but to her that was as serious as it could be.

Lumen

 

[Lumen]

Lumen released Ysobel's shoulder and pivoted to perch on the edge of her friend's bed. Teeth gnawing on the outer edge of her lip. Concern painted clearly across her face. Blonde-brows scrunched together in worry and thought.

Any appetite for chips or chocolate-cream biscuits was gone. Her own wine glass held loosely in one hand as she stared at Ysobel. Sitting probably closer to eye-level.

It was no secret that Ysobel was boy crazy. Just look at Larkin. Look at the wall, which Lu's attention momentarily went to. All the different men. Some boys. Her nose scrunched in distaste as she saw a picture of Leander.

"He loves you? Isn't he with Delilah?" How could someone switch so fast? Lumen was more than worried that her friend was being used.

 

[Ysobel]

"Delaney." Ysobel corrected her friend as she sat, though immediately regretting her decision to do so. The very name sent a shiver down her spine. Neither her nor Gaage (as far as she knew) had any idea of where the older dreadlord had gone after graduation. It was her understanding that they were no longer together, but it was just as vague as her and Larkin's relationship was. You cannot court a dead man. For her sake, she hoped Delaney was dead.

But the worry of insulting the wrong woman did loom over her. The fear of her not being dead. The fear of her returning and Gaage choosing her over Ysobel.

"And no. She left him some time after their graduation. In the middle of the night." She wanted desperately for this conversation to be over now and so she stood up to go find something else to talk about. But she stood a little too quickly. The color drained from her face and she couldn't tell if she was going to puke or pass out. She sat back down and rested her head in her hands, looking down towards the floor. It seemed she was trapped in this hellish conversation for a little while longer.

Lumen

 

[Lumen]

Delaney had been one of those older classmates that tended to swing the pendulum more on the unstable side of things. Like Charon. A shiver ran through her spine. Lu just hoped for Ysobel's sake, the older initiate stayed gone.

Still, she questioned Gaage's intentions with her best friend.

He was a runaway.

Wanted.

Barely out of one relationship and now he potentially had his eyes on her fellow blonde?!

"Ysobel. You barely know Gaage. I just want you to be careful. You...," she paused, her head canting to the side as she suddenly sensed a spike in her friend's normal temperature. "Lix's tits, Yoh. Are you pregnant?"

 

[Ysobel]

"Huh?" Ysobels head snapped in Lumen's direction. Her expression shifted from confused to concerned, then ultimately angry. "Why would you ask something like that?"

She stood once more and steadied herself before stomping over to the mirror next to her wardrobe. "Are you trying to tell me that I look fat?" She examined herself at different angles, pulling her shirt up slightly. Nothing looked blatantly out of the ordinary. "I mean maybe I'm a little bloated, but blame that on the moons."

She huffed, dropping her shirt and heading right back to the food. She'd never been thin like Odessa, or muscular like some of the other girls. She was more toned than anything. Not today, she supposed. But she had eaten about thirty seven cookies, so it made sense. In her head.

 

[Lumen]

Careful eyes watched her friend closely. Nothing was lost on her. Not that small stumble of feeling off-balance. The small flicker of doubt in the other girl's face.

Lumen remained perched on the edge of the bed.

Worry evident in her eyes and face. "I ask," she began gently and quietly, "because I care about you. And because your temperature is slightly elevated." A pause. How to put this delicately?

"More so than when you and I are on our monthly," voice trailed off as she took this as a great time to pop a salty chip into her mouth.

A small snort thinking back to what her friend had just said. She chewed and swallowed the chip. "And puh-lease, Yos. The day I think you're fat is the day Leander starts putting others first instead of himself."

 

[Ysobel]

Ysobel was almost mad that she let out a little laugh at Lumen's comment about Leander. Maybe she was being honest, but deep down Ysobel couldn't get over that her best friend, her sister, would think she was getting fat.

"Fever?" She tried her hand at another excuse rather than facing things head on. The look on Lu's face told her that she wasn't buying it.

Ysobel turned to face the starry skies. Anything to avoid Lumen's gaze. "I don't...know..." She brought a hand to her mouth, chewing her nails as her mind raced. It wasn't possible, was it? No. Certainly not.

 

[Lumen]

Lumen sighed and slowly stood from the bed. Coming up to the side of her friend, she rested a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Whether it's a fever or...something else, Yus, we'll figure it out. Together, okay?" She just wanted her friend to know she wasn't alone. Maybe she could take care of the 'Gaage' thing later. If Ysobel got caught meeting with him again...

Her friend would be in DEEP trouble.

And she didn't want that for her. Maybe there was a way Lumen could track Gaage Eberwhit down herself...

 

[Ysobel]

The moment Lumen's hand rested on Ysobel's shoulder, the tension her body held melted away and she released the breath she was holding onto for far too long. "I'll be okay, Lu. I promise. No need to worry."

There was absolutely no way Lumen couldn't hear the obvious fear in Ysobel's voice. She was lying to comfort her friend when it was she who needed the reassurance. Lumen was always more emotional than Ysobel (in her head, not in reality).

"Maybe you can help me..." She turned, looking up at the taller blonde. "He's asked to see me again. He told me he'd write me when and where to meet him. Can you cover for me? Please?"

Lumen

 

[Lumen]

Lumen released her hand from her friend’s shoulder. A look down at the petite blonde. She couldn't help the high loft of her golden brows on her face at what her bestie said next.

Jaw clenched. Face scrunched up in thought and stress. She wouldn’t rat her friend out. But there was no way she was letting her go off to meet a convict by herself. A convict whose intentions were HIGHLY questionable.

“Im not letting you go off alone. Let me come with you.” Arms crossed. “I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

 

[Ysobel]

With a dramatic roll of her eyes, Ysobel crossed her arms and turned away from her friend as she headed towards her small bedside table. "You know I can't let you come with." She chuckled quietly, unlocking the drawer and pulling out a small folded piece of paper and an even smaller map which she handed to Lumen.

"I am showing you this just in case. But Lu, please please please. I am begging you not to follow me." Refreshed from their conversation, she returned to the table overflowing with food. "I promise I will come back. I have to...I would never leave the Dreadlords." She tried her best to reassure Lu, though the tone in her voice made it unclear if she believed what she said aloud.

Still, Lumen's words worried her. She couldn't be...

Right?

Lumen

 

[Lumen]

Lumen opened up the folded piece of paper. Jaw clenched harder as she began to read the messy scrawl of one Gaage Eberwhit. And who was Z? Did he mean Zael Castomir?

None of this boded well for her friend.

What in the nine levels of Anirian Hell were they trying to drag her friend into? And if her suspicions about Ysobel's...state....were right, this made things all the more serious. Folding up the letter, she handed it back to Ysobel and pocketed the map.

"You're right. You can't let me come with you. But don't ask me to not follow you. Because I"m not promising that. Can we just spend the rest of the night looking at your wall and talking about boys? Drinking some of Caeso Diemut's wine?"

That's what normal 'kids' their age did, right?

Might as well try to enjoy this night one more time. Because Lumen had a feeling things were about to change soon.

"Let's play kill, kiss, or marry. Okay you go first out of Leander Urahil, Caeso Diemut, and @Henk?"

 

[Ysobel]

"Well..." Ysobel sighed as Lu refused Ysobel's request. She figured it would be the case regardless. "Don't follow too close." The corners of her lips twitched into a small smile. "I don't think Gaage would be fond of me sharing his location with..well...you."

She laughed, hoping Lumen was not offended by Ysobel's bold suggestion that Lumen Adagio was known to be a goody-two-shoes.

Can we just spend the rest of the night looking at your wall and talking about boys? Drinking some of Caeso Diemut's wine?

Ysobel's face lit up at such a brilliant idea. "Yes yesyesyesyes!" She dragged Lumen by the arm just in front of the wall where sleeping bags were set up. Yes, Ysobel had her own bed, but what fun was a sleepover if you didn't join in the fun of sleeping on hard wooden floors?

"Kill, kiss, or marry...oh goodness." She gazed toward the wall to examine the portrait of each boy. First to Henk.

"Kill...Henk...I just don't know him that well. It's nothing personal." She felt a little guilty, even if it were only a game.

Then to Leander. "Kiss Leander..." She added no unnecessary commentary. Lumen would probably wring her neck had she known that Ysobel had done more than kiss Leander.

And finally, Caeso. "I guess that means I get to marry the rich boy."

"Now, you! Kill, kiss or marry... Kalix, Maseno Luana, and Silas Artesto?"

 

[Lumen]

"Pass."

 

[Ysobel]

: )

 

[Lumen]

-_-

 

[Ysobel]

"No!"