Insomnia

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Chase had heard about things that were happening around him but he had not really been paying much attention. Having heard something pertaining to texts that people had gotten he was rather confused but he could tell that something seemed different when he finally allowed himself to leave his ‘room’ so to speak. He had been much to busy with his head buried in a book to be concerned with what was going on. He was heading back to the library to return some books when he moved quickly out of the way as he turned the corner before he almost ran into someone. “Oops excuse me.” He says, not noticing that he dropped a book on the ground as he turned the corner. 

Gavrielle had been tasked with walking a claimed slave back to their master’s home, out of hidden generosity since the student had a habit of mouthing off the the guards. In the middle of small talk, her gaze averted to see another student and twisting her body to try and avoid them to the bed of her abilities. That was until she heard the known ‘thwack’ of a book landing on the floor. She turned around, to notice the book and then the student. “Excuse me.” She muttered to the other student before picking up the book and catching up to him and lightly tapping him on the shoulder. “I think this belongs to you.”

“Yes. I admired her confidence and courage in the beginning, but then her god-complex got the better of her. So...I..left.”

“Turned my progeny. She deserves a life far more meaningful and full of love than the world I pulled her into out of sheer selfishness and loneliness.”

Raksha’s walk took longer than she expected and she needed to get back to her room, shich by the way, she still had no idea where it was. Her grunt was audible when she was presented with a large forest instead of buildings. Against her better judgement she decided to walk into the woods, what if she found a shortcut?

She was deep into the forest and when she knew, she was lost again. Cursing her stupid udeas, she turned to where she imagined the way back was when the sound of something sharp cutting the wind reached her ears, it was approaching in fast speed but she was able to look at it before one hand came to stop the arrow centimeters before it reached her eye, it was more of a team work because when she noticed, a very pretty woman was holding the other side of the arrow and apologizing to her. “Nah… Bit this certainly would give me a hell of a headache…” She let go of the arrow so the woman could take it back. “Raksha….” She held put her hand. “Aaaaand I happen to be lost…”

She was impressed by the way the other had caught the arrow just in time as she had. Clearly she was not human and that was more of a relief than anything. Gavrielle wasn’t in the mood to heal with certain humanisms when it came to abilities. When the other woman let go of her arrow, she was quick to sheath it back in her quiver, glancing at her hand for a moment before shaking it with a small smile. “You’re staying on campus? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” She asked with small tilt of her head. “I’m Gavrielle. I’d be happy to lead you back to the dorms.”

“Hey, ye’d do a wonderful job. So dinna try tae sell yerself short.” Booker said with a grin before focusing her attention on the steak once more. Gav seemed to have the cheetah feeding covered on her own, so she ate calmly, not worrying too much about the furred bairns. Well, she could only sigh and hold back the urge to roll her eyes at Gav at that comment. It stung, more than it should’ve, but the dragon tried her best to stay calm. She was terribly hungover but suddenly wished she had a bottle of wine nearby. “Well that sounds wonderful, does yer boot camp training help tae grow eyes back?” She asked and frowned at her, then shook her head. She knew her vampire friend meant well, but the scar on her face was still a touchy subject. “Fuckinell, sorry, mo caraid, it’s… still hard tae talk about that. Ye say ye can train me, I say am still bumping into walls like a fucking pigeon, feeling like I’ll never be the woman I was before. I think ma fighting days are over… I actually…” she chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. God, this happened a couple of weeks ago but every day she wondered how Gavrielle would react to it. “Am not fighting anymore, made an oath tae my sister, the queen. I buried that bonny sword ye gave me, named it Fuiluach. Buried it like the Vikings of old. Promised I wouldna fight anymore…” please, please don’t murder me. “The sword saw blood and war, but after all that happened I couldna go on fighting no more. I only have one eye left and am trying tae hold on tae it.”

Oh her way in from feeding her cheetahs, she grabbed a wine glass and a special carafe of blood, making herself comfortable as she poured a glass of the rather thick and dark liquid. The sharp and bitter tone of the dragon was not lost on Gavrielle as she poured, stopping when half full. She dealt with many a bitter warrior suffering at the hands of battle. Men and women who were once the greatest or skilled warriors in their villages, reduced to being bitter raging alcoholics in the streets due to losing arms, hands, fingers or legs. In this instance, Booker reminded her of them. Lifting her glass to her lips, she took small, savoring sips of the blood while her eyes never left her friend. She was going through it, that she knew well enough. It was the news of the rather proud woman giving up her sword and lifestyle that surprised the vampire the most. After a moment of being frozen in place, she slowly lowered her glass to the counter, licking her lips clean of residuals before giving a small humming sound. “That’s an awfully mighty promise of you to keep Booker.” There was a small side of her that was at least glad that sword had seen battle once more before being buried in dirt. “But..you do what you must. Every warrior has to stop fighting at some point. Some earlier than others.”

“You don’t.”

“For a brief moment in my long time, I got to taste what it meant to be truly human. I would never trade this moment for the world.”