Private Tales Walk A Mile In My Shoes

[Esme]

Esmeralda gaped. It was thoroughly disconcerting to see herself smile like that. Like a mirror had suddenly become possessed, mocking her with haunting images...

She shook her head, snapping out of it. "Your Mistress?" She hissed. "You're not my Mistress, you're my charge. Don't touch me. You're the one that got us into this mess. Maybe I can get us out."

She blinked, realizing she couldn't do any such thing. She didn't have her powers.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh rolled her eyes, a petulant expression on Esmeralda's face. "Well it's what they assume we are. Especially with you being so young". She managed a smirk, "Besides, better they think you're my apprentice than my servant". Her face fell a little as she realised that meant it was what they thought of her.

"Just...don't do anything stupid with my body until we can figure this out". She tested the water and sighed in delight at its warmth. "Finally. The one bit of good news all day".

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda pursed her lips at her, looking like a pouting doll as she did so.

"Fine."

A glint entered her eyes, a bit of devilishness that creeped into her voice. "Well you wanted to bathe first Mistress. Go ahead. I'll just be studying this box."

She grinned in victory at the person inside her own, dirty body, picking up the chest and moving to the bed with it. Ha. She won there at least. "And wash behind the ears. "

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh's mouth opened and shut at the comment before glaring at Esmeralda. She was stumped. She was getting the bath first but it wasn't her body going to benefit. She didn't have a retort. She wasn't going to deny herself the pleasure of a bath over this. "Fine" she said through gritted teeth.

She was irritated by the pouting look on her face. She didn't look like that did she?! She stomped over to the bath and began to undress, shivering a little as the cold hit her bare skin. She stepped into the steaming water with a sigh of delight, sinking down.

It felt...odd running her hands over a body not hers. Feeling the smooth skin under the dirt, the slender limbs, or the rough scar tissue. She knew better than to press on that topic though. Dunking her head in the water, she came up with a grunt. "You need to take better care of your hair">

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda snorted, picking up the box and peering at the outside decorations. "And you could lose some weight," she threatened back.

"You jiggle everywhere," she grumbled, trying to peek through the crack in the box. Most notably on the body Dian occupied was a tattoo of twisting black ink on her wrist. The scars were numerous, though curiously only gained from fights. No signs of a whipping marred her back.

"Was there anything inside of this when you opened it?"

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

"No I could not!" Dianaimh argued back, not appreciating the comments about her own figure. She was noticeably heavier than her bodyguard but Dian had always preferred lounging around than storming through the wilderness. She gritted her teeth as Esmeralda grumbled. "That" she corrected, "Is how a real woman should be" she couldn't help but sound smug at that.

The scar collection was impressive, she traced on on her leg that had come from a knife, another she guessed was an arrow wound. But it was the tattoo that caught her attention, she'd never seen one like it before.

"Well I don't bloody well know now do I?" she said, "You told me to open it. I did. Boom. Now I'm stuck inside you!"

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda glanced up, a frown forming on the face she occupied, emphasizing incoming wrinkles.

"Stop touching me like that. You can wash it but don't oogle," she chastised, indignant. She wasn't prude, or even self-conscious. But there was only so much someone could be okay with happening to their body while it was occupied by another.

She shook her head, looking back down to the box. Maybe if she just ... open it!

A stash of something gold and jeweled was revealed inside, expensive to Esmeralda's eyes but meaning nothing more to her. What she did notice though was that nothing happened. She was still stuck inside this squishy body. She cursed, closing the box briskly. "We're screwed."

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh did not appreciate just how ugly Esmeralda was making her look. Her face meant for smiling, not scowls and frowns. "I am washing" she said primly before running her hand up her other arm with a soft almost sensual motion. She rolled her eyes at the chastising, "There's hardly much to oogle now is there?"

She rose up in the water as Esmeralda cursed, "Give it here girl" she said, snapping one of her fingers. "Let the one with education look at it".

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda glanced up, giving her a smoldering glare.

"I'll have you know. I'm royal," she revealed, anticlimactic in its measure. She was so sick of the way Dian spoke to her, it was almost worth having to deal with the future questions just to shut her up for a moment.

"Stop touching my body or I cut off a tit." She tossed the box roughly at her.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh met the glare with a smirk, "A royal pain in the arse is right" she said, her tone dismissive. She didn't sound like she believed her. "O grow up-hey!". The squeal sounded jarring from Esmeralda's body, not a sound she often made but one Dian did when a box was roughly tossed at her. She caught it though it banged off her.

She placed it on the floor and stepped out, shivering until she'd grabbed a towel and wrapped herself in it. "You can have the rest" she said graciously, throwing on her underlayers so she could warm up a bit. She glared at the box as if she could threaten it into revealing more.

 

[Esme]

"Nah. I'm good," she dismissed, running a hand through her hair. It really did seem fine. Barely any knots at all. "There's a chalice in there. You familiar with it?"

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh glared. The effect didn't work as well on Esmeralda's face but she did her best. "I have been on the road without a proper bath for weeks" she said in a strained voice, "I washed yours, you can bloody well wash mine".

She peered at the chalice and shook her head, "It's a chalice" she pronounced, "And I'm not drinking from it either. With our luck we'd end up like frogs".

She put aside the chest and rummaged through Esmeralda's sparse clothing. Nothing too flattering. "Do you have any clothes that aren't mannish?"

 

[Esme]

There was one pair of clothes and one pair only-- the ones she had taken off.

Esmeralda scoffed at her. "All I have was on my back. Your mission destroyed my other set. Put it on and shut up," she grumbled, begrudgingly slipping off the bed and stripping. She moved towards the bath only to stop, frowning down at the way her body rippled against her actions.

She visibly shuddered, then stepped in, immediately submersing to her eyes and blowing angry bubbles.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh grimaced as she pulled back on the dirty clothes, not at all enthused at having to wear the same set again. "We need to get more" was all she declared. She crossed her arms and watched as Esmeralda got into the bath, not satisfied until she was in the water.

"Just wash" she said, going to have another gawk at the chest. "I think....we're going to have to lay down some ground rules while we're....like this".

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda snorted outward, nose still under water.

After a moment she brought her head up, wasting the hot water by just lazing in it. "Ground rules?" she echoed back, not entirely following that. "I already told you, the mission is done, you don't boss me around anymore."

The childish words were a touch amusing from her mouth, the pout returning.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh's mouth was open. "Now you listen here" she warned. As far as she was concerned, she'd gotten the raw end of the deal here. She was not about to let Esmeralda abscond with her body. She felt like some poor servant girl at the moment.

"You're not going anywhere while we're still like this. We need to fix it" she insisted. She couldn't imagine being stuck in this form. She was bound to end up killing herself with the magic. She glared as she saw the pout on the face, that was hers.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda jutted out her chin. "Ask me nicely," she ordered, not bending at all to the woman's will. Dian would quickly begin to realize how actively obedient Esmeralda had been to her before-- whatever it took to get the job done and get her money. But now? There wasn't an inch of that girl that was willing to be shoved around, every ounce of her participation demanding it be earned.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Her mouth made a perfect o as she began to realise how the power had shifted. Esmeralda had put up with a lot before...but she had been getting paid then. Now, Dianaimh was just some other woman and she wasn't going to grovel to her. Her haughty expression suited Dian's face as she tilted up her chin. She looked like a queen reclining in the tub.

Dianaimh gritted her teeth and took a moment to compose herself. She took a breath and forced her voice to be sweet and winning. "Please" she began, "Please...work with me on this. As....an equal". It nearly killed her to say it. The girl was a peasant.

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda gave her a slow smile, then dipped under the water, scrubbing out the woman's hair.

When she popped back up she continued to scrub the rest of the body, thoroughly put off by how different and thick it felt.

"You know, if you're gonna make it a habit to run out of money, you really should learn to protect yourself. You were useless back there."

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh could feel her cheeks flushing in embarrassment, Esmeralda enjoying her discomfort. She sat there silently, waiting until she deigned to speak to her again. "Excuse me?" she began. Her tone was sharp but she forced herself to tone it down. "I was not" she said with frosty dignity. "I...I just haven't studied all the intricacies of battle magic".

She could cast a fireball, blast lightning from her fingers, but she was very rusty. She'd not had call to use it for a long time. "And it's why I hired you!".

 

[Esme]

"Well I can't help you anymore, now can I? I'm stuck in this soft body, lotta good it'll do you if I end up having to fight to keep it alive." She ducked back under, giving herself one last wash before popping up and pulling back out. She reached briskly for something to dry with, shivering. She was not use to being cold. Her abilities had always taken care of that.

"What's the point of learning magic if you won't use it to make yourself capable. You have one thing that no one else done-- a strength that could make you untouchable. And you squander it with hair brushing spells. You don't see that as a problem?"

She reached for the clothing she was wearing before, going to slip in.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

"Can you stop calling it that just because your one is scrawny?" Dianaimh demanded. She folded her arms and pouted while Esmeralda got out. "I studied magic, probably a lot longer than you girl. I won't deny that you have some impressive innate talent but at the end of the day, all you've managed so far is manipulate matter around you".

Another glare, "A sorceress should look presentable and not like she was dragged through a ditch backwards".

 

[Esme]

Esmeralda gave her a long, deadpan look.

"You really are blind to how inept you are," she stated in disbelief. She slowly shook her head and pulled on the clothing. "Give me that," she ordered roughly, reaching out to snap the box away. There was nothing she could trust the woman to handle or do here. She was like a child. An arrogant, stupid child whom she wouldn't even trust a butter knife with.

It was up to her to right this. As it always was.

 

[Dianaimh Ui Muirgheal]

Dianaimh gave up the box after a cursory struggle, she folded her arms and seemed happy to sulk. She was happy to fume for a few moments and feel sorry for herself.

Sadly the reality of the situation bled through to her. Fuming and sulking with Esmeralda wasn't going to help her out of his mess. "Do you read Elvish?" she asked her, her voice was still frosty but it was empty of any grumpiness at least. She moved to sit near the other woman.

 

[Esme]

"A little," Esme amended, glancing up over the symbols of the box. "You?"She asked pointedly.