"She's... not here?" Kyle said listlessly, the wind going out of his sails.
The trip to the small, out of the way rune shop had been entertaining to Faroush. He was used to involuntary travel, but that usually involved a mallet or, perhaps, a pretty girl dragging him around. Him being a man, and another man half-carrying, half-pulling him along had been a new experience. He was not sure he liked it, but it was novel to him all the same.
"Oh, we have customers?" a melodic voice asked, preceding its beautiful owner. She was a bit on the tall side for a woman, and wore what Faroush believed would easily pass for a skimpy, seductive swimsuit or a belly dancer's outfit.
"Oh, there is a god!" Kyle exclaimed, clapping Faroush on the shoulder several times. "Look at her, Prince! Isn't she lovely? Don't you have to hold yourself back constantly at the sight of such beauty?"
The bell at the door jingled, announcing a new customer. Tearing his eyes away from the proprietress, Jeanne, to Kyle's immeasurable disappointment, Faroush spotted his bodyguard come through the entrance.
"I think it's wrong!" Lyon said sternly, though Faroush could see her breathe heavily, and a light flush covered her cheeks. He was confused as to the reason at first, before realizing that she must have run after them since she was his bodyguard. Lyon was such a nice, dedicated girl, so professional in discharging her duties. "T-That outfit," she continued, stuttering mildly as she glanced at the proprietress and her flush deepened. Averting her eyes to look at the Prince only seemed to worsen her situation. "How indecent!" she accused, settling for staring down at her feet.
And yet, Faroush noticed that she made no move to take him away from the shop.
"--viously there is no way he would not be interested in girls," Lym was saying, entering the Rune shop.
"Can you say that from personal experience?" Miakis teased her from her side. "Despite my best efforts, I am not with you twenty four-seven."
Kyle perked up at the dialogue, but killing intent suddenly flooded the small establishment, and he shrunk back, correctly identifying its source as Miakis. Once he did so, it disappeared, as if it did not exist, and Faroush had to wonder whether he had imagined the whole thing. Probably not, if Kyle really did peep on her bathing. That always ended badly, he knew this quite well. A brief scan of his memories assured him that he did not indeed accompany Kyle, though a brief flash of disappointment stabbed at him then suddenly.
Meanwhile, Lymsleia flushed and looked away, bringing her thumbs together. "Of... of course not!" she responded, her voice low and hesitant. "I'm still this young, and Brother would never--" She stomped her foot and glared up at her bodyguard. "What are you making me say, Miakis?!"
Miakis, for her part, lifted her arms again to appease the young princess, though the smile she gave her was a satisfied one. "Myself, I am not a little girl," she mused out loud, eyeing the Prince. "If there were one man who could get away with sneaking into the baths with me, I'm sure he's smart enough to see that as a standing invitation."
Disappointment stabbed Faroush anew, confusing him as Miakis kept on smiling suggestively in his direction.
"Ah, I have just the rune for you, young prince," Jeanne spoke, catching his attention. On the one hand, runes were cheating, a way of getting power without training, just as Ryoga had done once with his tattoo. But on the other, you could train WITH the runes, and grow more powerful that way. And if the rune he got already helped him compensate for the special moves he couldn't do on his own, now, maybe this one could help as well?
"What is it, then?" he asked, ignoring her characterizing him as little.
"The Jusenkyo rune," Jeanne said, displaying it. He shivered, despite himself. "It--"
(Posted Sat, 16 Dec 2006 02:25)
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