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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 2363529" data-attributes="member: 5203">Arrie and AutumnTHis is another player-written fiction, this one by Arrie's player, Anne.  It occurs immediately after the last one, picking up after Tolly presents the iron rose to Autumn.Just FYI, Anne tends to abbreviate her characters' name as 'Ari' while I've gotten in the habit of using 'Arrie'.  She says she doesn't mind either way.  Just didn't want people thinking 'Ari' was an NPC.-------------------------------Ari sighed and ran a hand over her damp forehead. Her hands were developing new calluses from hauling and handling the ships ropes. While she didn’t have specialized skills like Kyle, and she wasn’t as eerily talented as Xu, Ari was finding that she was pretty good at quite a few things that the sailors aboard the Mother, Maiden and Crone did daily. She was strong enough to handle hard physical labor, quick enough to handle the tasks that required nimbleness and generally clever enough to take on the easier tasks without supervision. She was so tired that she fell asleep the instant she curled up in her hammock at night and frankly it felt good. All the strangeness and uncertainty she’d felt while they were staying amongst the elven court was gone. She started rummaging in the foot locker for her nightshirt when the door flew open and Autumn strode in.Ari looked up, a smile on her face, ready to tease her adopted sister about being in a hurry but the words died on her lips as she saw tears glistening on the aasimar’s cheeks. The bundle of clothing fell from her hands and she reached for her chain without removing her eyes from the other woman’s lovely, tear-stained face.“Who am I killing?”A smile tried to brighten Autumn’s face, but she was so frustrated and confused that it came out as a lower-lip quiver.“If it was another fresh sailor, he’ll wish you’d gotten to him instead when I get through with him.” Ari’s fingertips found the familiar weight of her chain but Autumn didn’t seem angry enough to merit someone getting a beating in the name of sisterly love. “What’s the matter?”Autumn fumbled with her hammock, wanting to sit down, but the blasted thing was uncooperative and she ended up letting out a little whimper of dismay. She heard Ari’s chain drop back into the foot locker and a moment later, she felt a warm arm around her shoulder. The gesture was a little awkward since Ari was shorter than her sister, but the comfort of the gesture was certainly felt.“Its just… men.” She huffed out the last word, putting all her frustration and confusion into the single syllable.Ari interposed herself momentarily between the aasimar and the hammock and then guided her sister into it next to her. Seated, Ari could put her arms around her sister’s shoulders and gave her a fierce hug.“What’s the matter?” Ari withdrew, giving Autumn room to share what she needed to but trying to be careful not to push her sister into sharing anything too personal. They had grown apart since re-uniting and Ari was doing her darndest to respect the other woman’s privacy.Autumn took a few deep breaths. Her head cleared a bit and she realized that while they may have drifted apart, there was no one aboard who would more zealously defend her heart. Slowly, she told Ari about the interlude with Tolly on the deck.Ari waited for a moment, waiting to make sure that Autumn was done speaking before adding her advice. “Well, it sounds like Tolly is interested in you are more than a friend. He respects you and the gods know that you’re gorgeous and talented. You both have particularly strong faith; I know if I were an impressionable young man I’d be enamored of you. The question is, how do you feel about this attention?”Autumn frowned. “I’m not sure.”Ari pursed her lips and thought for a moment. “Well then, I’d recommend avoiding Tolly for a little bit. Not running at the sight of him, just avoiding being alone with him until your feelings are a little more clear. It wouldn’t be good to alienate him if you decide you do want his attention, but if you decide you don’t like it and he presses his suit then it could result in some seriously bruised ego. Men are tricky that way.”Autumn nodded and started to feel calmer. Too many problems on top of each other was overwhelming, but sitting in the tiny cabin with Ari’s earnest and occasionally bloodthirsty support was bringing things into perspective.“Really,” Ari continued, “You could probably socialize with some of our other friends a bit more. Kyle could certainly use your help working on social skills and he’s got a quick mind. Perhaps you could do with a bit more intelligent discussion that doesn’t involve theology. Lanara and Osborne are lots of fun too. Xu is quiet but she’s very deep when you get her to open up. Tor’s hounds, even Kavan’s got some really interesting views of the world.”Autumn nodded in agreement then frowned. “Is there a particular reason that you waxed poetic about Kyle and only briefly extolled the virtues of the others?” Perhaps their stolen moments had made her paranoid, but Ari seldom seemed to give anyone more than a two-word compliment and Kyle had earned a whole sentence. In the parlance of Ari’s mind that was akin to a glowing and poetic description.Ari smiled. Leave it to Autumn to latch onto anything out of the ordinary. It was a quality that made her a great sentinel. “Well, a little. I do like Kyle, I mean what’s not to like about someone who’s genuinely nice and aside from his little social gaffs has a certain homey charm? Xu is so quiet that its hard to get her out of her shell sometimes. Lanara and Osbourne are great fun for me but I don’t know if they annoy you. Kavan has a really dark past and I don’t know if you want to deal with that. As for me, I don’t know if you’re still upset with me so I don’t want to force my company on you. You’ve got a mean right and I don’t relish the thought of being on the receiving end of it.” Ari paused and then raised her eyebrows. “Besides, its not as though Kyle’s hard on the eyes. I certainly appreciate attractive male company, don’t you?”Autumn considered the other woman’s words for a moment. All of the assessment was pure Ari, colored by her remarkably simplified view of the world. “Well, while we’re talking about male company, I’ve got a question for you.”“As long as it doesn’t involve re-introduction to Miss Right, I’ll answer any question you want.” Ari shifted a bit to get more comfortable and escape even for a few seconds her sister’s piercing blue gaze. Ever since they had first met, Ari had been strangely at ease with the god-touched girl but she’d always found the intensity of Autumn’s gaze disconcerting.Autumn took a moment to gather and re-organize her thoughts. The question had been gnawing at her for quite some time but she had held it back, unsure if she really wanted to know the answer. “How do you think the family would take it if a man were to start courting me?”Ari almost laughed with relief. She’d dreaded that Autumn’s question would involve a certain elven prince and she wasn’t quite sure how she felt and where she stood with Herion. With her family, she always knew where she stood and could generally trust on opposite notion to match her family’s thoughts. On the issue of familial duty though, Ari was pretty sure she knew their stance.“Well, I can’t read Mother’s mind, but since we’ve had some rather spectacular discussions about it recently I think I can speak intelligently about it. Really, as long as you’re not interested in someone who is rooting for the downfall of the kingdom I think they’ll be ok with it. Really, they’ve already gotten their sacrificial virgin and you can’t marry into better in-kingdom alliances since Mother married Father and Aiden is helping the twins. There’s no trumping our alliance with the elven imperials unless you want to be Haxtha’s consort.” Ari paused a moment to shudder at that thought. “And if they do have an objection, they can lump it. Really, you’re the ideal daughter to them and you’ve already done so much to please them that I don’t think you can do much more. No matter what you do, Mom will disapprove, that’s what Mom does. Dad will be quietly happy, that’s what Dad does. These are like fundamental laws of the universe.I mean, if you think about it, there are even some men we know who would work out. Take Kyle for instance. He’s human so you won’t run into my problem with marrying someone so many times your own age. He’s got a career ahead of him, the gods know that wizards are always useful. Tor’s hounds, he may not be cultured but at least he tries and its not like he’s of a mind to overthrow the kingdom.”Autumn arched her eyebrow at her adopted sister.Ari hurried on. “There are others who aren’t exactly the best choices. Take Tolly for example.” She held up a forestalling hand in case Autumn was going to protest. “This is all hypothetical. But look at some of his qualities. He’s so zealous about his faith, good in a cleric true, but bad in a politician. He’s good with words and at times I’m quite sure that he thinks of just the exact wrong thing to say to someone so that he gets them really riled up. He’s capable of good sense, but sometimes he chooses not to exercise it.”Autumn leaned back and thought about that for a moment. Her mind would not be still. She decided to confide something in Ari that only a handful of other people knew. Her eyes hooded and distant, she put her hand on Ari’s shoulder. “What if there were more? I mean, what if there were more to me than just being adopted by your mother and father?”Ari shook her head, confused. “I don’t understand.”“Well, I know that you’ve never pressed it. I remember you hitting a boy who dared to ask about my parentage when we were little because it made me look upset. Ari, I know who my mother and father are.”Ari looked excited, then worried. “So is it bad then?”Autumn shook her head and laughed softly. “Not really. You remember your mother’s sister, yes?”Ari nodded, remembering her aunt, Lysanne Coviere; the queen of Merlion. “She was always nice to me, and I remember she always treated you…” She trailed off.Autumn nodded. “She was my mother.”“But why would she have fostered you with us? Why didn’t she keep you with her?” Ari’s cheeks flushed a bit, her eyes flashing.“No, don’t be angry. Its not bad at all, really. When she was young, she was visited by a servitor of one of the good gods. She fell in love with him and he cared for her. They were together for only a short time, but I was the result. Mother couldn’t marry him, she needed a consort to help her rule the kingdom.” Autumn looked down at her hands, wondering once more about the relationship between her father and her mother. “To make sure that there weren’t any problems in the line of succession, she gave me up. She couldn’t bear to let me go far so she gave me to her sister, your mother. The twins know, and your parents and now you.”Ari took her sister’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Thank you for trusting me with this. I always knew you were special.”Autumn nodded and squeezed back. “No more secrets.”Ari grinned. “But now you’ve got to stop pretending to be a maid. I should pretend to be yours if you really think about it.”Autumn flashed her sister a shy smile. “No more pretending.”</blockquote>

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