Word Count: 526 :: Fail, OnO
The lunar gaze drifted from its lowered place upon the floor of the cabin to a space higher up. In her periphery, the enslaved female was able to observe the facial features of her master. At first, the dark woman did not recognized what she sensed there. It was something strange and foreign to her now, something that she received too infrequently to store within the re-stocked crevices of her mind. TaeKyung wasn’t sure whether to expect punishment or inaction from the earthen-hued Slavia. A strange tension was caught within her sinew, a feeling that arose (almost never, these days) within her when she could not decide between fight or flight—not fear but simply indecision. The change within her was almost imperceptible, but she was sure that Salvia would see it within her. TaeKyung’s request of the annual, birthday ritual of consuming the seaweed broth seemed simple, but all at once she knew it could also be profound, for it was not a ritual familiar to the culture of Salsola. Yet, to her surprise, Salvia did not bring forth punishment in the form of words or a blow.
Slavia’s response was almost—warm? The dark, horn-like auricles twitched as they attempted to assess the strange, unfamiliar emotion. A small, imperceptible frown touched her mirthless features—foreign and exotic, but cold. White, lunar orbs traced the small lines of her master’s given smile. It was a familiar shape. For a moment, the white orbs drifted to those brilliant green orbs, seeking the answer to her question there. But she averted her gaze to a place behind the earthen-hued body. The last words resonated with the enslaved one. …reward you. The Korean Jindo-wolf bowed respectfully. “Thank you,” the alto voice sounded, thick with her Eastern tongue. “I receive reward.” The broken English was somehow pleasant, crisp and clean despite the darkness that lurked within her tarnished soul. For now there was silence as she received the gift with which Salvia had chosen to reward her. The tension of her indecision fell away and she became relaxed once more in the presence of her master.
The dark plume flickered behind her form, thoughtfully. The young woman wondered what her master’s first task would be, now that she had returned home. “Salvia have task for TaeKyung?” While TaeKyung lived primarily to fight and die, she could not refuse any task that Salvia would assign her. Indeed, that was the cost of receiving permission to practice her precious Taewondo. And so, even grudgingly, she would perform menial tasks assigned her, quieting the anger and aggression that so violently swam within her soul. She hoped, however, that Salvia would have a more active task for her. The dog-like Salsolan, the one who had called her ‘Phantom,’ had provided her a task that involved the attack and subduing of a trespassing male. It was for moments like that that the fighter lived. But she knew also that the world was never in constant turmoil. Before, she had caused that turmoil, wounding and killing beneath the wide heavens of the world. But now that thirst was enslaved, chained to a place called Salsola.
.TaeSS-2011 {font-family:'times new roman', times, serif; color:#000000; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing:0px; word-spacing:2px; text-align: left; margin:0px 25px; background-image:url(http://i.imgur.com/q8yiF.png); background-position:bottom left; background-repeat:no-repeat; padding:0px 0px 50px 0px;}
.TaeSS-2011 .ooc {font-style:italic; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:justify; }
.TaeSS-2011 .divider {border-bottom:1px dotted #000000; margin:5px auto; width:100%;}
.TaeSS-2011 .wc {text-transform: uppercase; font-weight:bold;}
.TaeSS-2011 p {text-indent: 25px; margin:0px; padding:0px 5px;}
.TaeSS-2011 b {letter-spacing:1px; font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:12px; letter-spacing:-.05em;}
</style>
[/html]