[1v1] Tread Lightly [Mengyao/Shaheen]

[kuropeco]

He remembered.

He remembered everything, from the tall, glittering towers of Edric to the last thing he saw, Lifen's face, before everything dissipated into blackness and he was sent back to that reclusive place within his own mind.

He remembered his court. And one of them - one of them in particular, who had stood by him, who had been at the forefront of those he trusted most, one who was neither a Halloween student nor one of the traitorous human hunters.

Whether or not she would remember was an entirely different story. But regardless, he desired answers, he needed them.

Which was why Mengyao was searching for her, for the one called Shaheen. He had been directed to her living quarters by those of her clan, and now he stood outside them, his lips pressed together in a thin line, his brows drawn together.

After a moment he knocked.

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Shaheen didn't live here anymore, though to be fair she never really had. It was meant to be her home, but she had never really filled it with any of her possessions. Empty rooms save for a small bed in one, a bed that she never used, because she tried her damnedest to never sleep. A room with a broken window, the glass still scattered across the floor, and that was the room she stood in now, staring at the broken glass, comparing them to the fragments of her former life and wondering how everything had changed so much in such a short span of time.

A knock roused her out of her thoughts, and she blinked, her head turning towards the sound. A feeling of dread welled up inside of her, a feeling that the whispers in her head only helped to intensify as she placed a hand along the edge of her bedroom door, hesitating for a moment before stepping through, and making her way to the front door itself.

She reached for the handle, and then stopped. She doubted it was either of her parents, not after their last encounter. If it was Shik, he would have just come in without bothering to knock. Not many others even knew that this house, if it could even be called that, belonged to her. Paranoia washed over her in a wave and her hand pulled away as though it had been burned, before she heard herself calling out in a hoarse and almost panicked voice.

"Who is it?"

kurotomato

 

[Seussi]

((This is a roll for above because I am a derp~))  

[kuropeco]

He did not know why he was doing this, only that he needed to do this. The voices in his head were as strong as they ever were - perhaps even stronger now - but the dream, the vision he had seen...that was at the forefront of his thoughts, burying him until he reached out and figured it out.

Her voice sounded the same as it had in his dream, and Mengyao hesitated momentarily before he answered her.

"Is this the residence of Shaheen, the War Horsewoman?" he said. "It is...Mengyao Miao, of Conquest. I wish to speak with you."

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Shaheen kept shifting her stance on the other side of the door as she awaited the answer, moving between a defensive posture as though certain that whoever it was would break through and attack her at any moment, and something that might have been considered more "normal", though the muscles in her back and shoulders were tensed. It was like she just couldn't decide whether or not there was truly any danger, the voices in her head exasperating that feeling horribly.

When a reply did come, she paused in her shifting to c**k her head to the side, momentarily surprised by the voice that she heard, because it was one that she recognized, but mostly from another world and realm entirely. "It is." She found herself replying almost instantly, and she reached out towards the door handle to tug it open, revealing a tall woman who was wrapped in a robe that hid much, but did not conceal all. The hood was down, so the thick grey streaks that adorned her hair were more then visible, as were the fissures that clawed their way across her face. Her golden eyes were made brighter, almost seeming to glow, because of the black that surrounded them, and those eyes now remained very steadily locked on the tall figure that she had now stood before.

She felt a sudden and mostly absurd urge to bow, but she shook it off, mentally reminding herself that this was not her emeprorer, and she bowed to no man, not even the one that so wished to control her.

If Mengyao chose to look to the room beyond Shaheen, he would have seen something bare and unadorned by any furniture, any type of possessions at all. Most of what she did have was kept in her bedroom, and that was all going to be packed up soon, ready to move to what would be her new home...for now.

Her eyes suddenly narrowed as suspcioun and paranoia reared their ugly heads. What was he doing here? What cause would spur him towards confronting her here? How had he found her home (not that it would have been difficult, if he'd asked the right people)?

"What do you want?" Her voice came out more of a growl then she intended, more accusatory though what she might have been accusing him of was a complete mystery.

kurotomato

 

[kuropeco]

He didn't want to go in there, but at the same time there was a part of him that needed it, that needed answers, in spite of the fact that he might not like what those answers were. His head was already swimming with confusion, dizziness, the voices pressing inwards, buzzing brightly, painfully through his thoughts.

The Shaheen that opened the door was not the one that he had seen in his dreams.

This Shaheen was gaunter, her face a bit thinner, her skin and hair streaked with grey. The gold of her eyes stood out starkly against her darker face, glowing absurdly bright in combination to the black hood she had on, and for a moment Mengyao stood transfixed, his own gold eye staring back, his heart hammering inside of his chest.

Her room looked startling like his own.

"I was..." Mengyao started, slightly taken off guard, but quickly pulling himself back together, his eyes narrowing slightly to meet Shaheen's. "You are the Shaheen from my dream, are you not? From Edric? I just wished to ask you a few questions, if you would not mind."

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

She told herself to breathe, to just relax. He wasn't here to harm her, and if he was, he could have easily made his move by now. Besides, he was a friend of Lifen's, which meant that he could probably be trusted, though finding it in her to trust anybody anymore was proving to be difficult. After a few seconds, however, some of the tension visibly left her body, her shoulders relaxing slightly, her wings settling down behind her. She wasn't about to throw open her arms and greet him like a friend, but she had at least managed to suppress her new found instincts to stab first and ask questions later.

She didn't lower her gaze from his, either, but as he spoke her lips pulled up into a smirk. "So you remember that, then. Yes, I am the same Shaheen...well, no I should not say I am the same." She stepped back from her doorway, and made a gesture like he should come inside, not feeling comfortable having a conversation like this out where anybody could be watching them.

"I was there." She continued on. "But that was not me." She had turned away from him, staring now at the open door of a bedroom, eyes drifting to the broken glass on the floor once again, before she moved over towards the nearest wall, and leaned against it, arms crossing over her chest.

"Ask away, but do not expect me to have the answers to all that you seek to know." The smirk had slipped away, and she was still eyeing him warily, even if she did seem to have relaxed quite a lot since moments before.

kurotomato

 

[kuropeco]

He knew this already, and yet strangely it did not deter him from wanting to ask her what he had already planned. They were vastly different, he and Shaheen, but there was something in that dream world that had made him trust her. The War Clan was hardly a clan which Mengyao held any respect for whatsoever (Senga being a part of it was enough to make him sick with disgust and revulsion at their mere presence), but he could not deny that Shaheen was different, even if that difference had stemmed from a reality that did not had and not existed, not really.

"I am aware of that," said Mengyao, stepping into her abode and folding his arms together. His eyes flickered towards the broken glass on the floor of her home and narrowed a bit, his mind tingling, a few whispers stirring his thoughts. Odd, how they seemed a little similar in that regard.

"I am also aware that something about you made me..." He struggled for words, surprising for him. "...made me trust you. I cannot say that I do right now, but there is still some lingering feelings that are difficult to dissuade. You were, as I recall, a very accomplished and capable general of mine."

Mengyao took a breath. "Therefore I would like to ask if you would not mind teaching me how to defend myself properly."

It was embarrassing, to lower himself to this level, ask a War Clan to assist, but something in that land, in that dream, must have allowed him to choose her, out of all of those in his kingdom.

"Teach me how to fight."

seussi

 

[Seussi]

He trusted her? She wanted to scoff, to shake her head and point out to him just how silly that was. He didn't know her, and that woman that had been a part of a kingdom of gold had not held even an ounce of similarity to the woman that stood in front of him now.

Maybe once, before the insanity....

But she didn't do it. She didn't laugh or scoff, she didn't lecture. She simply gave him a hard and steady look with peircing golden eyes, and said with an even tone. "You can trust me." Because it was true. She was trustworthy, and loyal, no matter what of the rest of her became washed away by whispers and streaks of grey.

"Yes, and here I am a chieftain of war. An elder chieftain, I suppose, since Medea decided to give me a sudden and impromptu promotion." She did scoff now, because to her, it was hardly deserved, and a title she would not put much value in until she felt like she had truely earned it for herself. Going on some meaningless task and coming back more broken then before was hardly inspiring.

As he continued, she raised an eyebrow, her stern expression finally changing, as her lips began to twitch up at their corners. If she knew how he'd felt, that he considered this to be lowering himself to ask her, a chieftain for help, she might not have looked quite so amused. But as it was, she found this all rather...funny.

"Outside. Behind the house there is space enough for a.... lesson." Her smile widened, though the look in her eyes was much darker, and did not match up.

And without any further hesitation, she strode her way to the door and outside, expecting him to follow. He had meant right now, right?

kurotomato