Serva Tenebrarum

“please for the love of god help you’re the only one here who speaks English” AU

“i go to this restaurant every week and sit at the same table and suddenly you’re my new server” AU

“i’ve been breaking my phone on purpose just because you work at the help desk” AU

“i saw you taking selfies and i wondered if i could take one with you” AU

“i’m the sarcastic techie who got dragged into running your stupid presentation” AU

“we somehow ended up in charge of senior prank” AU

“i’ve walked into your classroom four times by mistake can you please help me learn my way around this stupid school” AU

“your music’s way too loud bUT THAT’S MY FAVORITE SONG” AU

“bored single parents at a OneDirection concert” AU

“mutual drunk friend called BOTH of us to pick them up from a party well this is awkward” AU

“for the last time we do not sell hydrochloric acid I’M CALLING THE COPS” AU

“your email address is one letter different from my friend’s so i keep emailing you by mistake” AU

“i’m at a climbing gym and i need someone to belay me and hey you look about the right size” AU

“good old fashioned pawn shop waffle iron bidding war” AU

“Netflix support” AU

“rival sandwich shops” AU

“met at a panel at a convention” AU

“we work at the same office and never really interacted but suddenly we’ve been taken hostage” AU

“i thought someone was breaking into my apartment but it turns out you just forgot your key and thought this was your place” AU

“you think i always forget pencils in this class but actually i just want to talk to you and now have a little over 200 pencils at home” AU

“STOP BEATING ME AT THIS STUPID MMO” AU

“actor at a haunted house/person who punches the actor in the face” AU

“somehow we’re both closeted fans of the same stupid thing” AU

“hate each other but got thrown in the same group during a team building exercise” AU

"i know i stole your headphones but believe me I REALLY NEED THEM” AU

“i need to knit my friend a present so can you maybe teach me how to knit” AU

“does anyone here have an iPhone 5 charger? ANYONE?” AU

“you’re my gardener and i hired you to plant some roses but would you like to stay and plant some sunflowers and stay and have some dinner” AU

“is that REALLY what you want us to write on your custom-order cake?” AU

“our stage got flooded, can we borrow your theater?” AU

“at a concert and you kinda saved me from being trampled” AU

“we work at opposite ends of a library but we have this book swap thing going on and somehow we started leaving notes in the books” AU

“can i borrow your blanket? i need to cry.” AU

“OMG, you speak Klingon too?!” AU

“THAT IS NOT HOW YOU HOLD A CHILD” AU

“hang on a second, that’s my car you’re towing!” AU

She narrowed her eyes. ‘’Perhaps that’s true; you should have told me what you were doing, but even so, you’ve bought me a good gift, although I’d want to know next time what you’re up to~’’ she replied. Naomi has proved time after time how valuable she was being at the empress’ side, so Gyokuen didn’t really like the idea of punishing her after proving her loyalty so many times. ‘’I see, and by the looks of it, I’d assume it must have been difficult the way you described it, but you’re a clever girl and you know how to convince people on your own special, cunning way. So have they said anything else to you?’’

P x p p e t m a s t e r ( ☼ ) — —

     A kind - in a twisted way - Empress and master she viewed her as. There wasn’t so much punishment for her independent decisions only because she would always return to her master. 

     Like a loyal hound.

     To her former master she served as similar except she wasn’t completely loyal. Oh no, she was questionable with him. There were times where she would have betrayed him. Not in the worst way possible but perhaps a more petty way. Instead of betraying him like a coward, she took the honorable route for herself. She choose a new master with just as questionable ambitions.

     “I shall be sure to tell you in the future, it will not happen again,” The thin lipped look turned into a soft, gentle smile that hid the wickedness in her very being, “Their military and armory may prove the Kou well. Extra men doesn’t hurt but certainly it will raise your political strength. They were stubborn but a bit of gentle persuasion had them bend their will and bow to the Kou.

     I would think in several weeks that this alliance will make their country part of the Kou. An expansive branch to reach the much harder to obtain lands. Or islands in this case should the Kou empire expand to the sea more. Perhaps give us a better view and preparation to be able to fight not only by land but the sea too. A bit of dimensional magic made it easier for me to reach there in time. I could point it on the map if you wish for me to.”

‘’Don’t worry, though, you’re forgiven for your long absence. You’re the subordinate I trust the most, after all.’’  A smile made its way onto her porcelain visage. ‘’An alliance?’’ she inquired, putting a sleeve before her lips. ‘’Oh my, that sounds really interesting. Care to tell me more about it~?’’

P x p p e t m a s t e r ( ☼ ) — —

     “I should still suffer some consequence for doing this behind your back,” A small frown forms, a treatment she was used to being given and expected, “I had no time to reach to you and the chance would slip away. One of the Empires struck up a non-aggression pact with us in truth but a bit of persuasion lead to an alliance. I told them to share the details and take the rest with you.”

[Felix felt confused, looking down at his clothes, somewhat puzzled.]

(The colors might be a bit odd, but… I don’t really know. I just don’t have the eye for style. Must be something really obvious that I’m not getting…)

[His thoughts were diverted when she corrected him on the location. Oops.]

Well, uh…

I’m not really looking into going into ports at the moment. I’m not really a huge fan of large bodies of water.

    “I see.”

[How strange, his garb is different in style. She assumed otherwise. Perhaps he was going for the Silk Road? Well that required travel by water so he was avoiding that. Hard to do when the travel on foot would take much longer.]

     “So you’re no ordinary merchant then? Where do you come from?”

P x p p e t m a s t e r ( ☼ ) — —

“Aye. But I have no qualms with being a warrior, sir. It seems to be what I’m good at.” He had showed a remarkable aptitude for combat, even so young. All his training-masters said so. How he took after his father, they would whisper to one another, to be so talented with such a difficult weapon.

“Hmm…well, if there’s a cut, you must stop the bleeding, obviously. Ah, but letting blood will lower a fever, if I recall correctly. Um, dandelions can be used to treat many illnesses, and chamomile is good for fever as well…I think…?”

It was safe to say that Trevor knew little of medicine. He didn’t really need to–he was meant to kill, not to heal.

“I can bandage small wounds, sort of, but I’ve never had to do anything major. Mostly I run errands when I’m sent to help here.”

P x p p e t m a s t e r ( ☼ ) — —

     Just treatments for common ailments and maladies. She purses her lips to figure out what else to teach him should he be on his own one day. She wasn’t the best teacher and didn’t want to seem like she was condescending. She was positive the boy knew a little more than that if it had to be minor.      All warriors had to know how to care for themselves should the ever end up alone. Naomi was no different herself and simply not because of the norms. She had suffered worse burns to care for and gashes to sew herself to stop the profuse bleeding. As a result she ended up getting awful scars on her face, one across her nose even from a burn.

     “I see that’s good. For more severe open wounds, you shouldn’t exactly use salt on a wound but alcohol instead to clean it. Whiskey is what I use for my injuries,” Well that was obvious enough and still some doctors kept practicing the old ways than what was sanitation and still was rather rare with operations, “Do you know how to handle broken bones and splints?”

     It was normally the Nurse’s and regular doctors jobs to handle this sort of thing but no harm teaching him something  a little more. What else to add? Likely he wouldn’t need knowledge on how to handle an amputation. No need to scar the boy with that sort of scenario but should it come she would hope it wasn’t him getting one.

     “Erm, I’m sure you noticed on my face. Those scars are hand stitched myself but sometimes a bit of fire helps seal the injury to prevent profuse bleeding and a faster recovery. Except for the burn in the middle. Burns, you can’t do much about but lightly apply cool rags and bandages. Sometimes blisters will form so don’t pick them.” God, was that hell for her to deal with, the itchiness and the strange looks.

“Of that, you are no more guilty than I,” he murmured.  For the first time that afternoon, Hector’s attention left the woman, drifting to the rustling copse at his left before sinking to the toes of his boots.  Embarrassment bled in where adrenaline and devilish magic had burned moments before.  He should simply dismiss the whole matter.  Send her on her way after telling a tarnished half-truth of how he was but a quiet, innocent hermit that was unaccustomed to visitors.  And years before, he would have.

Now, he refused to waste his breath.  Even after they exchanged the overdue pleasantries, they’d still be strangers.  She hadn’t attacked him on sight and appeared to have calmed, but that didn’t mean he was willing to concede the depressing details that made him the creature he was.  Months had passed before Rosaly knew anything beyond his name, after all.

A long sigh escaped his lungs as he ambled along the length of the clothesline, testing the sheets and each of the garments to see which had dried.  “Please, accept my apologies as well, miss,” he said, glancing back to the woman.  As he removed a pair of socks and folded them, he swallowed against the knot tightening, twisting in his throat; Hector had bested humans, demons, and foul beasts with minimal effort, vanquished the greatest evil the world had known.  Yet somehow, giving his name felt like the most daunting challenge he’d had ever faced.  “You may call me Hector.”

     Noble of him to keep to his own responsibility. Yet, it was her who alarmed him much earlier. Set out the defenses and she herself had put him on the edge. Both still had their own reasons to be as forests weren’t all dainty and full of flowers or adorable animals. All in all both has admitted their responsibility without having to damage their own pride.      Much like herself keeping her chin up too high...

     There was no reason to attack him. Fear would be a petty excuse she found only a cowardly noble would use. Unless he was some infidel or violent fugitive that would attack her on sight she saw no reason to get aggressive. The wariness in itself was just enough to be on the defensive. Though she could have ran for her life than to sneak away like a rat...

     “A pleasure Hector, no harm done except the river soaking you to the bone.”

     A thin smile forms. Speaking her own name was akin to acting out a sin. Perhaps her own name was the very definition of how much she hated herself and her own past and both seemed to hold the very same struggle. It was forced in her reply.

     “I am Naomi,” A pregnant pause as if contemplating whether or not to give him her full name not that it wasn’t unheard of to, “Naomi Salvatici.”

     Outside her name held no significant importance. Her family would either be ports men or shipbuilders and on the other hand simple men using crafts for make tools and the like. She doesn’t expect anyone to find familiarity in her name like him.

RPNow.net is live!

Basically, you just go to the website, enter the title you want for your roleplay, and send the resulting link to your friends! It’s the fastest way imaginable to begin your next roleplaying adventure.

Also:

Free!

No signup process!

Works on phones too!

RPs don’t disappear after you close the page; you can go back to the link and the whole thing will still be there

Download a text copy of the story at any time