forum The Queen and her Bear (Reboot) // OxO // Closed

Started February 02, 2020 by @ElderGod-Icefire

tune

Nixie glared angrily at the portrait above the bed, the one of Jacos and Arin, on their wedding day. Her lips twisted into a scowl, thoughts turning to the man who had brought the queen there in the first place. That sonovabitch, she thought furiously.

After she finished cleaning, she pulled out a first aid kit and helped the queen out of the bath, helping her dress and treat her wounds. She started to hum a little lullaby from her childhood, one to sooth and comfort. She handed the tray with the now-cold contraceptive tea and a slice of toast. "Eat, my lady."

Arin could only stare at the things for a long moment, before she reached out and took a small sip of the tea, knowing that that, at least, was important. She needed to drink that. If she didn't…she really didn't want to bear Jacos's child. But she wasn't sure she wanted to eat, nor that she was even capable of it.

The queen didn't touch the toast. The maid sighed and let it go; she knew that there wasn't much she could do. Maybe she would bring Arin a fresh meal soon, some hot broth or something filling and light.

Arin sipped at the tea silently, closing her eyes and letting out a faint breath. She didn't speak, just sat in the warm water with the tea in her hands, sipping at it every now and again. She looked thinner than when she had arrived; the muscle she had had from living in the forest had shrunk and faded away.

Watching the queen drink her tea slowly, wearily, Nixie's anger grew. How could such a mighty woman be brought down by this? How could she be so- so broken? She thought of the bastard who had brought Arin here in the first place. Kaden Vyldburn. That nasty, no good, lying sonovabitch deserved to rot, to die in pain, slowly. She dreamed about dragging her nails across his face as she finished cleaning and helping Arin dress.

Finally, she bowed. "Is there anything you would like, Your Majesty? A book, perhaps, or something to draw with?"

She shook her head faintly. "No. Thank you." her voice was quiet, hushed and soft. She wanted to go home, but where was home? Was it the forest she had lived in with Ryke? But that did not feel right. Was it here, then? The palace where she had been born and now lived again? But this did not feel like a home, either.

"Don't thank me." The maid helped her into the Queen into a chair, started a fire in the fireplace - it was getting gradually colder - and slipped out of the room. She was shutting the door when she saw a package laying by the wall, hidden in shadow.

She knelt down, examining it, and her lips twisted into a scowl when she noticed the handwriting on it. All it said was, to Queen Arin, but she would have recognized the handwriting even if it had been scribbled over. She was about to throw it away when she heard a light clunking. She opened it.

It was more contraceptive tea, which the kitchen had been running out of.

She glared at the package, but hoisted it under her arm and went to hide it in her room.

Arin curled up on the chair, a soft blanket wrapped around her body, her gaze fixed, slightly unfocused, on the fire. Her damp hair hung around her face; it was longer than it used to be. Jacos was making her grow it out, and often made her put extensions in it when they were in public. He said it was not lady-like for a woman to have hair as short and raggedly cut as hers had been. She used to cut it with a sharp rock, just to keep it short and out of her face. It was now slightly longer, and professionally trimmed so it would grow out evenly.

(yeah np)

It had been another month or so. Arin was hardly seen in court anymore, and when she was…well. Most days it was in long sleeves and high collars, hiding the bruising from Jacos. Alternatively, when there wasn't any bruising on her throat, he would put her in dresses with plunging necklines. No matter what she was wearing, though, he would often touch her whenever they were alone for even a moment, his hands wandering across her body. She didn't have any fight left anymore, and would just let him do as he wished. He didn't hurt her as much when she didn't fight. There were dark shadows under her eyes, and her eyes looked lifeless. Dead. Glazed over like a doll's, and that was exactly how Jacos liked her. Cowed and broken and perfectly submissive. A token to placate those who had said he had no right to the throne, and, to those who opposed him, a symbol of what happened to his enemies. He had made her grow her hair out, too, and where it was once chin-length, it had now crept longer. When she appeared in public, he often had the maids put extensions in it to make it even longer, saying that short hair was unbecoming for a woman.

In private, Arin hardly did anything. Most days she barely left her bed save to bathe, or if Jacos ordered her to get up. Mostly, she just lay in bed and slept or stared, empty-eyed, at the ceiling, waiting for him to come and use her as he wished. Something was always aching, whether it was bruising or other. It was easier to just not move. She had lost a lot of weight, too. Most of the muscle she had had was gone; Jacos had said it was unbecoming for a woman and had essentially starved her to get rid of it. He liked her smaller anyways. Made her look more fragile, and he liked that. He liked that he was bigger and older and stronger than her. Liked that she was so broken she didn't fight him anymore, no matter how hard he hit her, no matter how roughly he took her on their bed. Liked that he could grope her– and worse –in plain view of servants and she could no longer bring herself to care.

Today, he had had to bring her to a public appearance. The court wanted to see her at least once a month to ensure she was "alright". No one really cared, they just wanted to know she was alive. So he had had her dressed up in a dress with a deeper neckline than she ever would have been comfortable in, and extensions were threaded into her hair and done into an elaborate style. Make-up was put onto her face, along with a few bits of natural make-up to cover some light bruising on her neck, and then they had appeared in court, her arm threaded through his and her eyes downcast. To someone paying close attention, it would have been obvious that each step brought pain. Jacos was becoming more and more frustrated with her lack of pregnancy, and had been taking it out on her rather violently.

Kade hid a yawn with his hand, uniform was so black it seemed to suck in all the light. He was standing next to the door in to the Queen's room… although she wasn't really a queen. More of a puppet, really. Or so he had heard. He had been gone for the last couple of months, working on cleaning out the crime central of a city. Or so Jacos thought. In reality, though, the man was working on building a Guild of spies, informers, thieves, mercenaries, and assassins. They would be trained, and they would be better than those people formerly known as rebels. The ones who had been wiped out ages ago.

But now he was back, back to see what was going to happen next.

When Aris walked out of the room, arm-in-arm with Jacos, he almost cried aloud. When he had first met her, she was strong, slightly muscular, and incredibly fierce. There had been a fire in her eyes that made him admire her, even if he hated her guts.

But this… this was a shell of what she had been.

No longer was her hair short. It was longer, but without the healthy sheen before. Her body was skinnier than a stick, and her arms trembled as she walked. And her eyes… they were dead, lifeless. There wasn't any pain, there, any emotion. Just blank submission.

He felt horror roar through him, especially when she stumbled slightly, wincing at the apparent pain in her limbs. He watched the two continue down the hallway for a moment before following. He needed to get her out later. This wasn't safe. She was being eaten alive from the inside.

Jacos didn't pause when she stumbled, just kept leading her along and expecting her to keep up. If she had fallen, he would have stopped, but he probably wouldn't have helped her back up. Might even have kicked her, just for falling. He had done it before. She just held onto his arm and let him pull her along, her body aching and sore and coated with bruises beneath her clothing. Her gaze had flickered over Kade, but while she recognized him, she hadn't reacted. Hadn't said anything, nor had her expression changed even the slightest. She just didn't care anymore. Not about him, not about anything. She had no idea where Ryke was, but that bear was probably the one thing on Earth she would have been able to bring herself to care about.

(Coolio, thanks.)

His plan was not at all going as planned. To be fair, when Kade had first joined the rebellion, and it had failed, he hadn't had much of an idea as to what he was going to do. He just knew that he needed to find a way to kill Jacos and get someone reliable on the throne.

He had underestimated exactly how much damage the false king would do to the Queen, how much she would be hurt, how it would drain the life from her body.

He needed to find the bear. That would help her.

(bro this RP is 2 years old!!)
(np! Also just wanna check in, like, are you doing ok? Because you're not really active at all (and that's ok, I don't mind waiting for responses, especially if you're busy) but is anything going on? like mentally or anything like that? because I totally understand life is busy and Notebook isn't usually a massive priority, so if it's just life, that's fine, but if anything's going on I'm here to listen if you need someone to rant/talk to?)

Arin was quiet as Jacos led her down the halls and to the main court. She looked lifeless, arm looped through Jacos's until he had her sit, and he sat beside her, hand resting on her leg in what could have been a harmless, loving gesture in anyone else. From Jacos, it was just another sign of possession, another way for him to say "I own you".

Ryke was caged in a dark, rather cramped outbuilding on the palace grounds. The big bear didn't get any access to the outdoors, and there was a chain around his neck to keep him confined. The servants were all petrified of him, though they cleaned up the floor per Jacos's orders. The big bear, however, had never hurt any of them, except those that came in armed. He had growled, sure, and scared the shit out of quite a few, but he had never attacked. He was fed once or twice a day, and had access to water. Despite that, though, he had lost weight and muscle tone, since he wasn't getting enough exercise or food.