#plaguefated

“ You HIRED me. ” The abandoned building is nestled in the older part of town. There are hardly any skyscrapers around, and most places have pealing signs or dirty facades. The building across the street is advertising all kinds of things, a sauna, a stew place, and a karaoke. The neon signs had lost their color and most no longer lit up after nightfall. It’s the perfect place to have conversations that can’t be overheard.

The residents are usually old people, anyone younger than forty had moved to the center of the city, desperate to find or keep a job that will end up running them to the ground. “ You came here alone, I told you, you could come with someone, a bodyguard. ” Keeping his distance on the roof, he stands close to the edge. The rusty railing was the only thing keeping him from the thirty-meter fall. “ So, are you unsatisfied with the information I got you…” Impossible. “ Or do you want to hire me again? ” Probable.

this was a  difficult  way of moving forward. as memories began to resurface, and julian’s mind became  CLEARER,  recovering those spots of clarity became... interesting. to say the least. feeling like an ashamed child, almost  scolding  himself for his twisted heart, as feelings for asthora began to rise once more... and the  guilt  of pushing his broken heart on asra began to, as well.

sitting in the reading room, looking on as the two discussed their practice, julian felt very  OUT OF PLACE.  too big for the space he was taking up, and  unnecessarily  staunch. slowly pulling off his gloves, he wrung them between his hands, cautiously glancing over the two, before averting his eyes. was it wrong to even bring these things up ?  he supposed if they hadn’t mentioned much beyond what had been quietly settled between them, then it was done and over... but. julian wasn’t ready to let go of things.

For someone like her, whose eight hours of sleep were ultimately sacred and always carried out no matter the circumstances, was actually funny and a bit odd that such behavior wasn’t present when she shared those long session of studying and practicing along Asthore.

She couldn’t quite say why and never had thought on pondering about such particularity. It was, like many other things, it simply was like that. Maybe it had to do with how impressed she always felt about the knowledge of the other woman, or how magic acted obediently under her command, or maybe it had to do with the passionate need to learn as much as to get to her level, to be able to do the things that she was capable of, and so, whenever they were working together in a conjunct project or individually side by side, she never thought on the idea of going to sleep until her weariness was stronger than her will and her body demanded to rest for a bit.

And so it seems that it had happened once more.

As she was more of a heavy sleeper it took her a while to react to the movements coming from her friend. A couple minutes, long enough for Asthora to stand up until she opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times to understand the situation around her, smiling once she recognized who was standing in the room and aiming that sleepy smirk in her direction before she spoke.

“Hey…” She murmured, calling her before she abandoned the place to, presumably, head to her own quarters. “Breakfast time or going back to sleep for another couple of hours… time?”

@plaguefated sent ; " could we just be ordinary townspeople for a day? " (for aegon!) x.

"what would we do as ordinary townspeople?" aegon mused, watching his companion curiously from where he sat at the table. some part of him hated the idea of going out to pretend to be townspeople as if they did not have all he could want and more here within the red keep. though another part of himself could not deny the appeal of being someone no one else knew for just one day so that he might escape the controlling grasp of his mother and grandsire.

"It's just -- I fell."

Brows furrow at the explanation given, gaze flickering over the other in trying to notice any minor wounds on them.

“-You sure you’re ok then?”

tiathia was quick to follow when khiara slithered away quickly , pursuing someone she had not yet seen.   this was not unusual as the snakes certainly had their own minds and motives ...  she was attune to her children enough , after so many years together , that she could tell khiara was not 𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 in her following of the woman ... just curious.   intensely curious.    none the less ; a startled human could kill a snake , just as a snake could do the same to a human.   ❝ māzigon qrīdrughagon , ❞ ( come away )  tiathia said quietly in valyrian , in a chiding sort of tone , reaching to pluck the serpent from the tree she had begun climbing and lift her over her head , draping her back around her shoulders.

❝ hm , it appears you have piqued the interest of my friend here , ❞ tiathia commented to the woman with a small smile playing on her lips ,   ❝ khiara seems 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 about you , asthora marrek. ❞   there was very little of note that happened without word of it reaching her ears ; through rumour and gossip or something else —  men liked to talk when they were 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 , women too.   and they like to gossip most of all.    ❝ if you are the one the foolish folk whisper has cheated death itself , i would be the one who they whisper bedded a snake god and birthed his children. ❞

errick detoured on his route back to his forge , having delivered a sharpened and restored shortsword to a wealthy shop-owner , and paced leisurely through the semi-bustling marketplace.   𝒂 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 in the markets ; from fleabottom to his forget at the top of the street of steel , the taverns and brothels (many of the workers in them his dear friends) , and down upon the docks.   he felt comfortable on the streets and alleys that were as well-known to him as his tools at the forge.

errick took a bite of the apple he had purchased from a passing vendor , enjoying the feel of the afternoon sun warming his back.   the fair-haired 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉 paused then , and took in a woman he knew in passing and somewhat by rumour ... she was another shop-owner in the span of kings landings marketplace , but that was not what the rumours spoke of.   blue eyes skimmed over her wares with a curious quirk of his brow , errick didn’t put stock in rumours — he had plenty of his own attached to his name — but that didn’t mean the woman wasn’t 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈.   they had perhaps spoken before , but not at length as he couldn’t place her name ...

❝ there is more about you than appears on the surface...   if the rumours are to be believed , ❞ he took another bite of the apple before continuing ;   ❝ but rumours tend to have only the barest layer of truth , if any , to them.      tell me — do you think it helps your business ; the air of mystique and 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔?❞

❛❛ [ ... ] you're wearin' your skin like it's too tight. ❜❜