Let's see how far we've come!

Orin Takekuro · 02-04-2010, 06:53 AM

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WC: 922 - I'm tired, I babbled. X.x 8D

If the young wolfess could blush through her pale fur as the King took her hand and brushed a gentle kiss across it, she would have. Her grin could not get any wider, and was genuinely innocent. She nearly giggled again with budding excitement as his smooth voice crooned the greatest words she could have hoped to hear from her champion. She did her best to maintain ladylike poise and grace through it all, though her age and innocence ensured that her enthusiasm was not well veiled. "Oh my... Would you really let me stay? I... I would be honored to be a part of it! Reading about you and your escapades is what inspired me to try to make the trek north in the first place."

The girl had just noticed a slight shift in Firefly's demeanor that trailed her attention off course in just the slightest way. It was the small growl that she noted, though because of her rapid speech and excitement about meeting Jacquez she hadn't noticed the fair woman's agitation right away. It registered in her mind all too quickly, though her naiveté kept her from reacting too quickly to the grumble, and soon enough Firefly burst out in laughter. It was quite obviously at something she had said, and Orin's eyes quickly turned from Jac to Firefly, wide in surprise.

Confusion is written across her features for a moment as she processes the woman's nearly erratic behavior. In seconds she had gone from pleasantly friendly, to annoyed, to amused? Though, Orin had no way of understanding Firefly's perspective of the history of Jac and everything that led up to this point between himself and Firefly. It did not worry her too greatly, as many characters in many of the books she had read were apt to having sporadic mood swings, too.

But, why didn't she think Jacquez was a hero? Orin couldn't wrap her mind around Firefly's reasoning... It was so plainly obvious! Anyone who knew about him would know... Orin had read it herself; the quickly jotted chronicles of some of Jac's former pack's tribulations and how he valiantly defended his people. How he bravely mapped out a course for this northern land and led them to salvation. Even if there had been a shipwreck, surely that did not make his actions any less admirable!

"Oh, but it is true. I read it all in this book I salvaged..." She knew she was right because Jac had confirmed it himself! Then she realized... "Oh, it... sank?" Suddenly, the realization of what Firefly said crept in (although none of the woman's intended meaning made it through), and her ears drooped as her eyes went wide. She clasped her hands in front of her face in shock as she jerked her gaze back to peer at the King's countenance. True, Jac was the hero in her story, but all of the others, those that had been mentioned in vague notes or sometimes more descriptive recollections in the journal she had read, had certainly become an important part of the tale, too. It seemed as though a heavy weight had been hung from her heart, and her eyes began to sparkle with colleting moisture, though no tears gathered enough to roll down her cheeks. Oh! The sadness he must have felt, for this tragedy to happen after all he had been through. Had Jacquez lost them all? "Oh no! Is it true? The journal ended at your ship's departure for the north, I had no idea..."

She shook her head, and for a moment it seemed her emotion would well up so great that she would throw her arms around the King to comfort him, though that moment never quite came. Perhaps the girl had enough sense to have read Firefly after all. Instead, she placed her hands gently on his shoulder as she gazed at him with reverential sadness. Her jaw hung open for a moment, stunned. She swallowed hard and blinked against the welling tears in her eyes as she took a deep breath to steady herself. Her mind roiled with pictures and scenarios as Jacquez elaborated the story of the great storm that had bested the ship and crew. It was a harrowing conclusion to the tale that she so loved, and she hung on his every word, committed to scratching it down in her own diary as soon as she had the chance. As he compared the storm of that fateful day to the one that loomed overhead, she glanced skyward. Although she was already soaked to the core from the ocean waters and drizzling sky, she had no mind to be caught in such horrid weather! She clutched the edges of her cloak and pulled it tighter around her, suddenly feeling more chilled from the grisly end of Jac's maritime adventure. "After everything you've been through, all your accomplishments... I'm so sorry. Still, at least the fates gave you something you deserve! This place."

Her attention was detracted soon enough as Jacquez snatched this opportunity to entice her with the story about his greatest battle scar yet (that she knew of) - the loss of his arm. Her eyes brightened once again, and the liveliness came back to her features. "No! It didn't say, not clearly anyway. I've always wondered but I don't think I would have ever had the courage to ask..." ...her brother knew better, she would have asked the moment she had found the opportunity... "Would you tell me? Please?"

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