forum I am the people//I am the storm//I am the riot//I am the swarm // private! we welcome stalkers, but this is closed to rpers!

Started September 22, 2019 by @croccin-champagne

tune

Nordali’s hand slid into her hair, holding her head near his. Truth be told, he was nervous beyond nervous, and it showed itself in the way his fingers played in her hair.

Amira pulled away slowly, a few moments later, when she needed air. Her lips were swollen and red, face flushed but eyes sparkling with a dazed sort of happy look. "Huh."

Nordali blushed lightly, shifting his feet back and forth. He too looked a little dazed, his silver eyes darting across her face. “H-huh indeed…” he replied softly, laughing.

"Did I just hear a little stutter, hallaski?" Amira teased, sliding her hands from his hair but keeping them up to trace his features. "And was I the cause of that?" That sure did wonders for someone's self confidence, to say the least.

He leaned into her hands, staring down at her with a faked pout. "No, you didn't." He huffed playfully, letting the ghost of a grin come to his features. "But if you had heard a stutter, yes it would have been you that caused it. Guild leaders don't stutter, my lady."

"Mmm, that's a fair point. I'll have to keep that in mind, though, because I could really get used to kissing you like that." She purred, thumbs pressing lightly to the corners of his mouth, like feeling the way he smiled. Her own smile didn't match her tone of voice, bright and almost giddy. "We would not want you stuttering in front of the guild members waiting so patiently outside the tent."

Nordali’s smile grew as she spoke and touched his face. He let out a small, happy rumble and stole her face away for another quick kiss. “I could get used to kissing you like that too. I’m a little awkward at it, but it was amazing nevertheless.”

“For someone who is supposedly awkward at it, you sure are doing wonderful.” Amira said, huffing a small laugh at him stealing another kiss. “But sadly, we really must get going.”

He nodded gently, sighing deeply. He wanted more kisses and more time to rest and relax but it wasn't going to happen. "We really do need to." He murmured gently, wandering out into the main area of his tent to search for the one who called for him. There was no-one outside but a note had been pinned to the flap of his tent. He pulled it down and read its contents. "Ah hell… We're going to have to go out and get food… we're running low."

She looped her arm through his, leaning against his shoulder as he read the note. "Oh, that could be fun. Where do your people usually go to acquire food that is needed?" She asked, dark eyes blinking up at him as she tilted her head.

"We either steal it or buy it from poor farmers…" He mumbled lightly. "We don't like harming the poor who are affected by the noble's pride and greed…" Nordali looked to her and smiled. "Would you like to help me find a place to steal from?"

Amira brightened visibly at that, her whole face lighting up with the most brilliantly excited expression one could possibly have at the mention of stealing. "Yes! I would love to!" She exclaimed, squeezing his arm happily as she nodded. "I know a million different places, but I would love to learn of some of the places you know."

"We have a few in the main town just North of here, but they're starting to bump up security. I would love to see and hear of the places you've gone." He responded, smiling at her enthusiasm. "I've stolen directly from the stores of the guardsmen at times. It's rather fun. The entire guard is corrupt and rather dumb."

"Guardsmen are either the dumbest beings in existence or smarter than you expect. No in between at all." She stated, dragging him back into the tent. "I have maps in my belt and bag, of cities and towns near here. And layouts of the buildings I have raided before. Well, raided is an overstatement, but still."

Nordali suddenly stopped his idle swaying, staring at her in interest. "You've mapped places out?" He looked her up and down in amazement and laughed gently. "You're even more amazing than I could ever be, Amira. I cannot map things out alone. I get confused and lost too easily."

"You won't be saying that when you actually see the maps I speak of, but I adore the compliments very much. My maps, however, are illegible, I am told." She said, posing for him as he looked her up and down. Then she was moving back to where she'd left her things, riffling around and pulling out a number of rolled up maps both big and small. "Ta-da!"

He beamed at the sight of the maps, gesturing for her to join him at the small table he used as a desk. His things were pushed to the side, and a certain book bound in silver and blue was quickly hidden away before the title could be read. But it appeared to be some sort of history. "Set down your maps here, you can show me them."

She stole a quick kiss as she came up next to him, dumping the rolled paper on the table. Some were napkins, some parchment, some scraps of paper and some full and large pieces of paper. And when one was unrolled, she wasn't kidding. They were illegible. For now. "It's a code."

He purred at the kiss, looking down at the different papers and napkins. Nordali lowered his head to look at the code, sighing gently. "How do you read your code?"

"I don't. I hum it. Or play it or sing it. The ones I don't have memorized." She said, eyes sparkling with a wickedly conspiratorial gleam. "Picture it like reading music. But in a spiral, with the lines here as your bars. See these little dots? Those mark the corners, the walls and lines and things that make up the building. Could I bother you for a piece of paper?"

Nordali's eyes fell across the paper as she spoke, his brain whirring as he tried to picture the place the map was detailing. He nodded softly and pulled a few pieces of parchment from a box on the floor, offering it to her. "Music..? It's a strange map indeed. Very nice to keep things hidden."

"Watch." Amira said simply, placing a piece of paper down and pulling a pencil from somewhere. She didn't have to look at the paper she was writing on, didn't even technically have to look at the map, because she knew this one. But she did anyway, for his sake. And then she started singing. That wondrous voice of hers floated about the tent, singing words to a song she'd learned from a rowdy group of sailors at the docks of a shipping port, somehow making the shanty sound like something beautiful. And she drew with it, following the notes on the spiral as she went. Slowly forming the inner workings of a building.

Nordali watched in a silent amazement, his hands following the pattern she sang. He had heard the song before, but never had it sounded so beautiful to his ears. A low sound left his throat as he began to notice the building forming from her soft voice and hand working together.

"Absolutely gorgeous."

Amira glanced up at him in confusion, voice never faltering, but her cheeks heating up slightly as she realized what he was referring to. Smiling slightly, she focused back down. Soon enough, there was a mapped out building plan in front of them. “There.”

Nordali nearly poured himself over the map, his eyes trying to figure out how she had done something so complex with only song.

His mind didn’t understand notes as well as it understood the hum of nature.

“Incredible. And you memorize your maps this way?”