Many Places of the World

Status
Not open for further replies.
Roxanne rubs the back of her head and smiles a little, it's a tiny smile but a smile none the less. "No...It's fine...I...actually feel a little better...but I panic pretty bad whenever I hear the machine come on, it's not a good feeling. It's why I would rather live in the city but I can't even explore it." She shrugs a little and leans back; the furniture was indeed strong enough to keep his weight so it didn't bow or break when he sat down. Roxanne tilts her head to the side while listening to Meryg. "I get that it's to be expected, doesn't make it hurt any less though but I try not to think about it too much."

With a sigh she stretches and falls over on her bed laying down although she keeps her legs curled up for now so as to avoid kicking Meryg who still sat at the edge of her bed. "I will try and figure out if one of those roses can help enhance the growth of others or if one of them is the key to getting a portal to the Divine Gate, as for now, I'm tired; you probably are too." Even with her legs curled up her oddly duel colored eyes drifted closed as she relaxed in her bed.
 
The gnoll gave a nod.

"Then I'll be outside if you need me," he murmured.

With that, Meryg retrieved his bed roll and retreated to the balcony where he set up his temporary bed among the flowers. He set his spear next to the bedding, making certain that it would not roll from the balcony whilst he slept. Satisfied that everything was in order, the gnoll lay upon his bedding and sighed deeply.

"Maybe," he muttered, "it'll just be a dream. I'll wake up in the grass tomorrow."

Unfortunately, that would not be the case.
 
Roxanne manages to sleep peacefully through the night, used to the mechanical sounds, and she dreamed. Her dreams consisted of the Divine Gate, her roses, the red lightning she had met Meryg through, her sister, despite all the things that should have seemed bad they were peaceful to her and allowed her to sleep deeply with a smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roxanne sits up the next morning alerted to it being morning by the bright sunlight that was streaming in through her window and she had, had her door wide open just in case Meryg couldn't sleep on the balcony. I wonder if he even managed to sleep...I know he's not used to all the mechanical noise... She wonders idly as she gets up out of her bed and stretches with a yawn. She decides to check on the gnoll first and so she heads out her door and into the direct sunlight cringing a bit as her eyes adjusted before falling on him laying down. "Were you able to sleep, Meryg...?" She asks softly in case he was asleep she didn't want to wake him..
 
The gnoll groaned and turned over, opening one eye so that he might look at the person who had spoken to him. It was a female, which shattered any hope that the previous day had, in fact, only been an odd dream, for Meryg did not have a female with whom to speak in the morning. "Princess," he murmured, giving a sleep-faded smile as he sat up. "I slept a bit after awhile. It was a bit like sleeping in a thunder storm, what with the noises that Roserust makes."

"I never thought to ask," he began. "Your parents wouldn't think it . . . odd that you'd have a man sleeping in your quarters? A man they just met, and a man that's like nothing they've seen before, at that. I mean, my thoughts were nowhere near that sort of thing, but still. I only just thought of it."

He stood, brushing himself free of any metallic residue from the roses he had slept near. "Eh," he muttered, dismissing his own foolishness. "Nevermind it."
 
She laughs softly at him as he rolls over to look at her, "I am sorry for the noise but it's the sounds of my city...If you're stuck here for awhile it'll get easier to handle as time goes on. Though I don't plan on keeping you here for long! I'm actually just about to go start testing some of the properties of the roses I've collected." As she speaks of her roses she looks around at the rusty garden he had slept in, that must have been strange to him, seeing what should have been a leafy flower actually be made of metal and quite possibly dangerous to one's health. That made her think a little but she brushes it off not looking into it but she tilts her head curiously as she happens to notice a new metal bud rising from a plot of rust that hadn't been producing any flowers yet. "What...?" She shakes the thought away and turns away from the new bud, she would have to wait for it to bloom to actually examine it anyway.

Roxanne turned red at being asked the question about if her parents minded that a man had slept around the space that was generally "Roxanne's" and off limits to most everyone, since she was perfectly able to care for herself. With that red coloring her tanned face she turns away from him and mutters in response. "I don't exactly...how do I explain...I don't see myself as much of a woman as just a person so I never think of men in any way other than someone I can chat to, and that's how I am with pretty much everyone. I don't think that they think that I'll actually ever...how do you say...Pursue someone for a relationship, so they don't mind." Wow I just double talked around that, I hope he understood... She thinks as she heads back into her lab space pulling down a pile of red, green, and orange dust filled jars which she set beside her and got to examining the particles that made up the ground up metal roses.

It's a little sudden, and maybe a little random when she suddenly looks up and glances at Meryg over her shoulder, "Don't touch the jar with the black dust in it...that one is dangerous. Feel free to pick up any of the others though, I don't think they're dangerous but I haven't looked into them completely." She didn't explain why the black dust particularly was dangerous but she just turned her attention back to the red dust in front of her scooting it around with a long nail.
 
"No black dust. Understood," he said.

He approached a jar of red-orange dust and picked it up, smiling. "This is the same color as the clay beside the southern river," he muttered, opening the jar and putting a bit of the metallic dust into his open palm. "My pack stayed there for nearly two years. It was a good place."

Meryg though on what the princess had said before he had become side-tracked by the rose dust. He chuckled. "I don't suppose that any parent would ever think of their child pursuing anyone. Much less a princess, I mean. Your parents probably have a mate picked out for you already, hm? That's how the chief-king does things in the Plains. The daughter-whelps are given to the other packs to form alliances. The males take daughters from the other packs. The higher blood never gets diluted that way, I suppose."

"I personally could never have a woman. For one, no father would have her daughter marry a low-born male," he said, motioning to the scarification tattoo upon his face, the likes of which marked his station in society. "Second, I could never afford a bride-price."

The gnoll shrugged, putting the dust back into its jar and shutting it tightly. "Being on my own is easier, though. I've a lot less people to answer to," he said, chuckling quietly.
 
Roxanne listens to him talk about clay beside a river and tries to imagine what it would look like, she can't though and sighs a bit under her breath. "No I'm fairly certain they would just rather me not get married; I would rather not get married..." Her hands go to the collaring ring of letters around her neck. "If I can stop it...I don't want to pass this mark on to anyone else. No more in my family anyway, I can't stop the Gods from choosing a new connection but I can stop it from being one of my family." She sounded serious about this and somewhere in her mind she knew she was making a dark, glum expression.

Upon hearing the words 'bride-price' this makes Roxanne tilt her head shifting from confusion to down right shock. "Wait wait wait! You have to buy a bride? You're going to have to explain your customs to me a bit better...and I don't see how being low-born or not has anything to do with who you end up falling in love with..." To use it as an example she gestures to Meryg, "I could fall in love with you, and so what if I did? Do you think the people involved would take into account that it is what makes me happy? I think people should be with who they want to be, and be allowed to do what they wish. I hate restraints." She started to sound a little angry by this point but she stopped before she got too deep into her actual hate of being restrained though she mutters one last thing before she drops the subject, "I feel like I'm chained to a wall with no escape and I don't like it." She let him think on that for a moment before moving away from the red dust and onto the orange dust she had pulled down.
 
"Your parents would make me into a rug, that's 'so what if you did'," he muttered, a small smirk on his face. He watched her as she went about her work for a moment before moving to his bedroll and taking a seat upon it. He yawned, speaking before he was completely done with the yawn. "And, to answer your question, yes, I would have to 'buy' my woman. I pay her father in property, service, slaves, livestock or what-have-you and he gives me the daughter I've chosen in return. He gains something of value in place of his daughter, and I gain a way to pass on my name. It's not about love, Princess. It's about connections and family politics. Even in the low-born world, it's always about how important your name is."

He thought for a long moment, deciding that it was probably for the best that he not mention how she had said she felt chained and restrained. It was, to be honest, none of his business. She was of high-blood, and there were certain sacrifices that those of high-blood had to make. It was just the way things worked. He imagined that it was scarcely different in Roserust than it was in the Plains in that regard.

The only thing he said on the matter was, "Perhaps someone will someday bring a key for your chains, Princess."
 
"In case you haven't noticed my parents aren't all that strict; except when it comes to letting me go outside. Probably because they didn't want to risk losing their only other child, but being in the castle is just as dangerous, but, that aside, I was merely using that as an example." Roxanne rests her head on her arms, the way he thought, the way his customs had raised him made her curious but also...sad in a way. "I think I wouldn't like that...I'm a woman who thinks for myself, it's probably a good thing I wasn't born a gnoll...Or I might well have been exiled or killed from the way you talk of women." She says this while glancing at him over her shoulder, those customs really bothered her but they were his customs and she wouldn't question them.

When he told her that someone may bring her key to freedom one day though she laughed, it was a loud laugh, one that immediately lifted her mood. "N-No I don't think so...but thank you for thinking as much." Her lime green and cyan blue eyes glittered in amusement, it was an amusing look that made her actually look far childish than she had seemed this whole time.

As this passes though she returns to her seriousness and dusts the orange ground up rose off into the jar then moving on to examine the green powder with her magnifying glass, repeating the process of shuffling around the dust and with a curious tilt of her head she gets up and boils some water, repeating the process she had yesterday when she had given him the blue tea. "Don't worry, I'm not going to make you drink it." she told him quickly before he could even call her a witch again.
 
"Good," he muttered. "I didn't plan on drinking anything else here in Roserust." He was joking of course; he had already forgiven the princess for giving him the odd tea the day before. It had done no harm at all. Why, it had actually done him some good, it seemed.

Meryg watched, as best as he might from his spot upon the floor, as the woman brewed whatever it was that she was brewing. He let his mind wander for a moment, for her work did not much interest him. He thought of his home, of Roserust, of the kind princess and of many other things.

"You shouldn't be so quick to discount you finding someone, Princess," he said after awhile, his train of thought having taken him back to her easy dismissal of his words on the subject. "I personally think there's someone for everyone, however unlikely."
 
"If you're thirsty don't be afraid to get some water; but be careful, after the bell tolls in the castle, wait an hour before even attempting to drink the water. I told you this before but we purify the pollution here and the people in the castle have certain periods of time when the water isn't safe. Also...sorry, I know this is boring but you wanna get home right?" She glances at him as she finished brewing a green tea; it smelled heavily of mint and Roxanne takes the green liquid out to her garden where she sprinkles it on the roses and the rust patches they grew from. A lot of the roses immediately respond by beginning to open up their blooms a bit. "That's good! It worked!"

She goes over to the bud she had noticed before and gives a healthy dose of the green liquid to this particular flower which began to grow a little faster at least. Roxanne smiles over her shoulder after she waters the rose that was still small, she'd pushed what Meryg had said out of her mind once again until this point in which she finally responds. "As I said, it's a personal opinion, a personal outlook on a life lead very different than mine. Even though I try to be optimistic...I don't have much faith in the fact that there's someone for me, and even if there is. I won't ever meet them, that's how I feel. If I run away from the castle it'd just cause problems for everyone involved."

Roxanne shakes her head a bit as the thought of running from the castle passes through her mind again as it did so often now-a-days, "Like I said it's all a personal outlook. Thank you though, for thinking that way." She drops the subject before stretching and yawning a little. "I don't suppose you're hungry are you?" They'd been up for awhile now without eating and Roxanne's stomach was starting to grumble.
 
The gnoll gave a nod, deciding that leaving the princess' love life alone would be best for him. After all, it had no bearing on him in the least whether or not the princess spent her days as a spinster, just as his wandering and dying in the Plains' wildernesses had no bearing on her. "I'm famished, actually."

His pack, the likes of which was probably already ravaged and scavenged by the many opportunistic creatures of his homeland, was not with him; therefore, his supplies were not with him. The dried meats and wild nuts he had taken with him were lost to him now. "What sort of things do humans eat?"
 
Roxanne's smile is kind as she starts the trek to the kitchen while talking to Meryg, "We eat meat, various vegetables, and different kinds of fruits. There are people who live in the mountains, it's the only way the city can get the food it needs, although....most people in the city believe the workers out in the mountains to be exiles my father sent away so they aren't treated very fairly. Of course that's not the case, but it's best the city believes my father to be a hard man. Obviously you've seen that he is not actually a difficult man to reason with."

"Of course there are those on the opposite side of that coin too. Lately crazy things have been going on in the city," she talks as she walks down the stairs making sure to watch her feet so she doesn't fall again, "Everyone outside the city has left willingly; father keeps crazy criminals locked in the dungeons down below; among the ones outside the city are a crazy group of nature lovers who think the city in Roserust is an abomination of the world...but as far as any of us know our city has been this way for forever." The trek to the kitchen doesn't take as long as to the throne room, simply because a person doesn't have to keep going through corridors to get to their destination.

Once in the kitchen it's surprising not to see any servants in it working and Roxanne presses her lips together a bit, "This...could be unlucky..." She mutters this under her breath as she goes looking around the kitchen to see if there's anyone around. "Oh man...I can't...I can't cook to save my life...Um we might not be able to get anything to eat just yet..." Looking embarrassed Roxanne looks down kind of spinning her foot in a circle with her hands behind her back and a red tint to her face.

"Oh Roxanne..." The voice is kind of sudden and startles Roxanne into looking up at her mother who had just happened to walk into the kitchen. "I told you to stop focusing so much on those roses of yours. I would be willing to teach you to cook you know." Roseanne looks up and smiles at Meryg, "I never did get your name, call me Rose or else you may confuse my daughter's name with mine." She's a polite woman and while she had given Roxanne her strange eye colors, she looked normal otherwise with dusty blonde hair although it was strange to look at the two side by side, because while Roxanne's left eye was cyan blue, her mother's right eye was the cyan blue one; their eye colors had been flipped but other than Roxanne's odd hair color she looked almost like a copy of her mother.
 
"Your Grace," he said, nodding his head at the queen. The words felt right to say, the human-tongue comparable words for how a low-born gnoll might address his superiors. "My name is Meryg Al'Asong-Khalye. Just Meryg is plenty enough, though. The other is no real family name to begin with, I'm afraid." It was true. His surname was an often used one for orphaned street waifs. Most dropped it in favor of something of their own creation or some title garnered in battle; however, Meryg had simply kept the name for his own. His name quite literally was Meryg the Street Dog.

"I'm afraid I won't be much use cooking here, either," he said to Roxanne. "All my food has always been prepared over an open flame."
 
Roxanne's mother chides the gnoll, "don't all me 'Your Grace' I'm simply Rose to everyone unless I'm by my husband's side. See I was a woman not born of high blood, just a commoner girl barely making a living. This life is nice but I don't forget where I come from." The woman insisting on being called Rose begins to cook up something for the two who had finally gotten hungry, slicing up vegetables and meat and various other things into a pot of water that had started to boil in the time they had begun speaking to each other.

Roxanne herself has gone relatively quiet as she watches her mother cook before going over to sit on a stool in the kitchen. "Just give up Meryg, she's more stubborn than me...but she's also a good cook so the food should taste good even if it's not something you're used to." Roxanne rests her head on her arms once again hiding her face as she falls into thought, Maybe...I could talk to mom and convince her to let me wander the streets with Meryg, he seems strong... She glances up but can't seem to find a way to ask about it. She runs a hand through her rust red hair before tilting her head back and looking for all the world like she was trying to stare at the sky through a metal floor.
 
The gnoll made his way over to the counter beside where Roxanne sat. He leaned against the counter slightly, his arms crossed over his chest. "See?" he muttered at the girl. "Your mother found her way into a castle from her place on the streets. There's no reason things won't work out for yourself," he continued, apparently not having entirely dropped Roxanne's odds at finding a happy life.

He offered a small, toothy smile before he set his eyes back on Rose, watching her as she went about her cooking. "We have a way of cooking fish from the southern river," he chimed out. "There were palms near there, so you got a palm leaf, wrapped the fish up and tied it tightly with vines. Then you'd dig a hole and put stones in it, big flat stones. You'd put hot coals over those, then lay the fish on top. You cover it up with the sand, wait for awhile, and you have a delicious fish when you come back later."

"Though," he added, "I'm not certain it's to your style, Your Gra-- Rose."
 
Rose overheard Meryg's comment about her daughter's chance at a happy life and goes a little quiet before turning to the gnoll and asking a very strange question, "If she chose to run away...I wonder...would you go with her? She's you're only possible way home right?" Suddenly the older woman smiles at him and waves her hand at him, "I'm kidding of course." She laughs before smiling at Roxanne who was sitting there shocked for a moment but recovered quickly remaining silent. "That little not funny joke aside...That actually sounds like an amazing way to cook fish, especially the saving it for later part."

Roxanne was still in shock from her mother's odd question but didn't say anything or show anything else, making it seem like she had recovered if only for the sake of appearances and she turns Meryg's comment about her mother finding her way to living in a castle against him, "Really? She was what you would consider 'low born' and you still think you couldn't find a woman who would love you either high or low born? Wait, never mind, I forgot you said you just find one you think attractive and pay for her..." She doesn't sound like she's judging him just more of reminding herself of what his customs were.
 
Meryg had gone rather quiet due to the queen's retort and his eyes had wandered less to the cooking and more to the floor.

It was after a moment of this that the princess spoke, and he spoke in return, looking at Roxanne. "I only told you what gnolls do, Princess. I never once said that I agreed with it. Why do you think it is that I have no woman? I held out for love. My people don't love, though. We don't love the things that count, at least. We love war, we love blood. We don't love one another unless it benefits us. We don't love our children. Everything, to my people, is a means to an end. The fact that I disagreed with this was the reason I wasn't at home in my yurt beside my warm fire, instead out wandering the Plains on my own."

He sighed, his gaze turning back downward and his arms folding across his broad chest a bit more tightly.
 
Roxanne blinks at this and turns red, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know, I didn't understand what...you didn't clearly explain that you know!" With a sigh she turns back to her mother who sets bowls in front of both of them and gives a warm smile, Rose was being quiet as she has a trend of doing when people get into a disagreement, simply so she can diffuse it if it seems to get out of hand.

The stew put in front of the two smelled really good but Roxanne had begun to lose her appetite because of how bad she was feeling now, though she makes herself eat with the spoon that was in the bowl. "I really am sorry...I wasn't trying to offend you Meryg..." Although even as she apologizes she laughs kind of suddenly. "Oh...now I get it. That's actually pretty funny..." She doesn't specify what was so funny though glancing at Meryg to see if he would use the spoon or just drink the soup. Roxanne found him curious and now she could probably get along with him better knowing his view on his own customs.
 
"What's funny?" he asked, looking at the princess from the corners of his eyes. He looked at the stew in front of him for a moment before he pushed the spoon aside and brought the bowl up to his face. He began to drink at the stew slowly, did so for a moment, and then set the bowl back down in front of him. He licked his maw and looked back at the princess.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.