He stiffened, turning to look at her again, his gaze narrowing. "Excuse me?" he demanded, shifting so that his legs were dangling from the bed rather than stretched out across it. "What did you just say to me?" his voice was low and a bit angry, too.
Indigo slowly turned to face him. “Did I stutter?” They asked, raising an eyebrow. She turned back and continued with the clothes.
Riven frowned, running a hand through his hair. "You don't talk back to me." he said, standing up and glaring at them. "You are here to do as I say, not to talk back to me."
Her muscles tensed. She could feel his eyes boring into them. At first, no words came out of their mouth. Their movements subconsciously quickened, trying to get done as quickly as possible.
“Well, what if I don’t want to do as you say?” She asked.
He blinked, arching an eyebrow. "That doesn't matter. The point isn't whether yuo want to, it's whether you're going to obey like you are supposed to."
“Okay then, what if I just don’t do what I’m supposed to?” At this point she was just extending the conversation for the sake of time. They knew full well what would happen if she didn’t do what they were supposed to do, or at least, they thought she did.
He glared at them. "You know what would happen. If you really do not, then you have become a complete failure of a slave, rather than mostly a failure." he took in a breath, eyes still resting on them.
For some reason, an uncontrollable smile had grown on Indigo’s face. They had no clue why, it certainly wasn’t because they were happy. She could feel themself shaking, and her pace began to falter. Then suddenly, she was done. There were no more clothes. Indigo got their feet under them and dashed out of the room, their held breath bursting out in some kind of crazed laugh. When she reached their room, she shut the door and sank to the floor, their breath becoming ragged.
He watched her, brows arched and face somewhere between confusion and anger. He didn't know why they had run out of the room laughing, didn't really understand what had just happened. Perhaps his slave was having some sort of nervous breakdown? He hoped not; that would be very inconvenient.
Their gaze wandered over to where the loose tile was on the floor. They were still breathing heavily, and she felt her eyes well up with tears. What was going on? As Indigo wiped her eyes, they realized they had been… scared?
A memory surfaced out of the recesses of their mind. She had been maybe five or six years old. Hungry, with no sense of foresight. But they had known that the kitchens had better food than what she usually got to eat, so like an idiot, she had stolen some. It so happened that the head chef had caught them in the act, and raced after her. Indigo, scared and not wanting to give up the food in their arms, pretended it was a game. They were playing tag, that was all. She just had to make it into the slave’s quarters and hide before the chef caught them. Here Indigo’s memory faltered, but she could remember the sound of their own laughter bouncing off of the walls as they ran, the pounding in her chest when she could feel a towering figure close behind. She couldn’t remember what had happened after, though. Perhaps their father caught them first and took the food away. That felt the most likely.
Why was she remembering that now? She hadn’t stolen anything. Their gaze focused on the loose tile again. There was more cleaning they had been planning to do, but they did not want to go back outside. She stayed rooted to the spot, not moving except to shiver slightly.
He frowned, heading into the bathroom to take a bath. He didn't want to have to deal with his slave right now. He jst wanted to relax in the bath, then go out somewhere and perhaps do something. His slave would be fine, or they wouldn't. He didn't really care. He hadn't wanted one to begin with.
(Time skip?)
(yup! To when?)
(Hhhhhhhhhh)
(qsksgsvvsd uh)
(can we create a situation where Indigo gets the opportunity to deploy the poison?)
(ooh sure! Like, Riven is leaving and they drug the drink, and then he comes back and drinks some? or?)
(Yeah, that works!)
(perfect! Want me to handle the skip, then?)
(Yeah)
(alright!)
It had been about a week since Lor dropped off the poison. Riven was going to leave and go to a friend's place for the day; what he was going to be doing, he had not said. Then again, he normally did not, so this was nothing new in the least. He had gotten dressed in a cream toned chiton, his golden circlet perched in his dark curls.
There was a lot of poison in the bag. After a while, Indigo realized that she didn’t know how much poison she should use. Since it was separated into individual vials, they decided to use one. If it didn’t work, they would gradually use more until the prince was deader than a door nail.
When they learned of Riven’s arrangement with his friend (or lover, it was hard to tell) she managed to get a hold of some parchment and quickly wrote a letter to Lor using the same code words that they had used when she first received the bag. After hiding the letter, they watched for the moment when the prince would leave. The person that he was visiting was unknown, so it would be better to not make them a victim of the situation. Indigo would poison a stray bottle of wine once he was gone. With luck, he would drink it when he came back.
Riven eventually left, not giving them any instructions for when he was gone. He almost never did; he was so used to functioning without a slave that he still had not adjusted to having one. But it left Indigo with more free time, not that he cared about that. He just did whatever the hell he wanted to.
Indigo waited several minutes before venturing out of their room, just to be safe. As usual, there was a tall, dark bottle resting on the table in the sitting room. Indigo took a breath. Better not think too hard about what she was about to do. She uncorked the bottle, then produced one vial of the provided poison and opened it as well. The faint smell of strong wine tickled their nose. They poured the contents of the vial into the bottle, careful to make sure that nothing spilled. Then, she stoppered up the bottle again and went back to her room.
(Timeskip again?)
(No, I just stopped there in case there was anything you wanted to do with Riven. I can either post again or edit my post before we skip, if not)
(idc, I just don't really want to just,,, describe Riven going to his friend's house, it won't really help the RP lol)
(Yeah fair lol. Imma just post again later)
(alright!)
Indigo waited several minutes before venturing out of their room, just to be safe. As usual, there was a tall, dark bottle resting on the table in the sitting room. Indigo took a breath. Better not think too hard about what she was about to do. She uncorked the bottle, then produced one vial of the provided poison and opened it as well. The faint smell of strong wine tickled their nose. They poured the contents of the vial into the bottle, careful to make sure that nothing spilled. Then, she stoppered up the bottle again and went back to her room.
Even if the prince would be gone for some time, Indigo still wanted to work quickly. She grabbed the letter and went out again, then stopped. How could they get the letter to Lor?
They peeked out of the prince’s chambers. Maybe she could find the way to the rebellion’s hiding place. She remembered it was in an older part of the palace… oh! The tapestry, she thought. Lor had pulled it aside and pressed a stone. They couldn’t remember which one it was, but figured she could feel for the one that was loose.
She sighed to herself, then went out into the hall. The older the interior is, the closer you’ll be, they thought. Really, she just wanted to avoid any confrontation with the butler or the guard again.
It took a bit of rerouting, but eventually they found the right tapestry. Making sure no one was around, they pulled the fabric aside and felt the stone underneath. One brick seemed to shift with her touch. She pressed it, and after waiting, watched as the wall fell away into a corridor that yawned before them.