literature

Prompt 3 - Memory

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Literature Text

3.  Memory

Thrum.  Thrum.  Thrum.  Thrum.

Expression passive, Shale curled her toes into the dirt, fingers twitching ever so slightly with each beat as it flowed by.  On the ground to her left was Chrystel, calm but focused, kneeling before her younger brother Quertzo, whose hands wove together a rhythm on the wood-and-animal-skin drum with as much ease as a hand would glide through water.  It was no more than practice - he was still learning, and despite the skills that would seem apparent to a mere passerby, he would not be allowed to perform tonight alongside his sibling and her friend.  Skilled as he was, he was not skilled enough.

But it mattered not to Shale, for she felt that she would not be performing tonight, either.  Today, things were not in tune - her mood, the music, the world around her.  Something was off, and she couldn't be certain of what it was.  The pounding of the drum served only to leave a throbbing ache in her temples, and after a few more minutes of bearing it with nothing but a grim pursing of lips to show her displeasure, she fluidly turned on her heel, the scant cloths that covered her fluttering and leaving little to the imagination.

Her dark-haired friend's attention turned from the instrument, fixing on her as she meandered off towards some unknown destination.  "Shale?" came the soft prompt.

"My mind is elsewhere.  Forgive me, I may not be present for the later affairs," Shale supplied mildly, face betraying nothing - not that Chrystel expected it to.  She only gave a small nod and returned her gaze to her brother, quietly chiding him for letting a simple interruption break his concentration.  An only slight smile at the exchange escaped the older woman as she padded away, unsure of where her feet would take her - eyes fluttering mostly shut, she reined in her thoughts and let her body lead the way...

It wasn't much of a surprise that she'd ended up where she had.

The thick mahogany door creaked open, revealing someone she hadn't expected to have returned so soon, someone she'd hoped to never see again; so, her intuition hadn't been wrong after all.  Something had indeed been off, and she knew it now to be the presence of this man, this terrible being she'd rather have never known to exist.  For a long moment, crimson eyes roved over her calculatingly before, finally, Breccan stepped aside to allow her entry.  "Ben's out back with the horses," he supplied offhandedly, giving a little frown when Shale glided past him silently, not even sparing him an acknowledging glance, let alone a word of appreciation, bringing him to snap after her, "Yeah, you're welcome!"  This, too, was duly ignored.

Through the conjoined living and dining room and into the art room - empty, meaning Etoile had most likely gone off to deface public property - before she stepped out into sunlight once more, footsteps quiet against the smooth wood of the patio and its stairs, and even more so against grass as she headed for the stable.  The heavy doors were normally kept shut, but now that the elder Sullivan child was milling about, there was sufficient space between them for one of a thin enough stature to slip through, and slip through she did, gaze coming to rest on the large and powerful steed that concealed the person she most wanted to speak to.

"Ben," Shale hailed the other quietly, pushing back a smile that might have seemed amused when the single word had a surprised noise escaping the redhead, a wire brush clattering to the ground.  It was quickly snatched back up, and moments later Ben peered around the horse, glasses askew and face flushed in embarrassment.

"O-oh, Shale!  It's you!"  Though the dark tinge on his cheeks didn't fade, he offered her a pleased smile and adjusted his glasses.  "I wasn't expecting you to drop by today, what with that ceremony later on...  Is something the matter?"

An unconcerned shrug, and Shale ambled over to her friend, coming to a stop in front of the horse, who butted his muzzle against her shoulder in a demand for attention.  Smiling gently, the nomad complied, stroking between his eyes as she spoke.  "I am unsure, and I myself had not expected to arrive here.  I allowed myself to disregard the weekly performance, in order to wander as much as my thoughts...  And so...here I am."  The smile faded somewhat, and she glanced back at the stable door, wanting to be certain that there would be no unwelcome disturbances.

Picking up on the glance, Ben let out a hesitant chuckle and resumed his brushing of the large animal; a quite appreciated gesture, if the reaction was any indication.  "Cleo's been a bit moody lately," he told her, before directing to the horse himself, "Just like a couple other people I know."

"I am not moody."

"Seems to me like you are," Ben responded simply, shrugging a bit.  "But even if you're not, do you, um...want to go out riding with me?  Get away from...other...moody people...?  It'll do Cleo some good, too.  He's starting to get a little chubby."  He patted Cleo's back congenially, getting a little snort from the horse as though he had understood everything Ben had said.

Threading her fingers through Cleo's mane, a small huff of air escaped Shale.  "I would be more than happy to go riding if it will get the both of us far from that terrible man," she murmured softly.

The redhead was quiet for a moment, brows knitted and expression conflicted, before he simply turned and opened up the paddock gate for another horse, a sleek spotted mare who tossed her locks as she cheerfully pranced out, nuzzling Ben as she went and nearly knocking him over.  "Woah!  Easy, Clarice!" he laughed, holding up his hands to fend her off when she tried to lick his face.  When she'd calmed down enough to allow her owner to put the bridle on her, Ben directed over his shoulder, "Do you think you can handle Cleo today?"

"If I am as moody as you believe, it may not be advisable," Shale responded blandly, stepping up to Clarice and petting down her long neck; she received a wet horse kiss right to the face for the attention.  Ben stifled a laugh, biting down on his bottom lip and pretending to be very busy with saddling the affectionate mare.  He couldn't help but let slip an amused grin, however, when the woman leveled an unimpressed stare his way; she hadn't even bothered to wipe her face off.

When both horses had been saddled and mounted, they made their way out of the stable and down to the cobbled road, no real destination in mind.  As they ambled past the front porch, only Ben paid any heed to his roommate, who had his arms draped over the wooden rail as he pinned the couple with an oddly smug look, as though he'd known they were coming and had thus achieved perfect results in some grandly devious scheme.  The redhead found himself flushing inexplicably, and gave a slight unnerved shudder at the other man's gaze before he quickly turned his head away, glancing to the nomad riding alongside him.  "I just don't understand him," he grumbled, wishing he could ignore Breccan as easily as Shale seemed to.

Though it was brief, the woman shot an almost icy look to him then, taking him by surprise.  While not intentionally, she didn't often show such emotion, and certainly not in so open a manner.  "You should not have to worry about understanding him - he should not be here at all."  Her tone had a clear note of finality; she didn't want to discuss it any further.  To her, it should never have been an issue.

The blunt response brought Ben's cheeks to flush pink again, gold eyes dropping down guiltily to the reins he held.  He knew that the situation worried her in some way, and knew too that she disapproved of her friend's so-called 'guest', but she was never so straightforward about it, as her culture frowned upon intervening in the matters of others.  All things happen for a reason, the Velzen believed.  He hated to worry her so, truly he did, but he would never be able to fully explain to Shale just why he couldn't leave Breccan to fend for himself; or at least, he couldn't explain it in a way that would console her.  Mumbling uncertainly for a moment, he finally managed a shaky, "I'm sorry."  It was all he could think to say.

Shale only sighed, a touch of exasperation to the sound, and she waved a hand dismissively.  "I do not blame you," she replied quietly, and, after a long silence that bordered on awkward, she added on, "I believe that I shall perform tonight after all...but only if you would be willing to attend."  It was practically an insistence, and it brought a slight and hesitant smile to Ben's face, which became a pleasant grin when the woman glanced over at him briefly, gray eyes betraying her inner conflict.  

She had indeed wanted to perform tonight, he knew then.  But at the same time, she hadn't wanted to leave him to the whims of someone she thought to be akin to a tyrant.

"I'd love to," Ben replied gladly, urging Cleo into a trot and directing him towards the Velzen camp, Shale following behind; already her mood seemed to have improved.  The sweet mare she rode reflected this easily; glad that her rider was in better spirits, Clarice was quite nearly prancing along after the other horse.  "And you know, Shale...seeing as I want to go, now you can tell your friends that you're not just helping me out by having me join you."  He grinned over his shoulder to show that he was only teasing her, bringing her to flick her eyes skyward in a barely perceptible show of playful disdain.  Had he not turned back around, he might have also noticed that a slight blush had settled across her pale cheeks.

"I was not intending to help you," Shale replied quietly, though, to one who knew her well, she sounded almost shy, unsure of herself.  "You know how my clan would feel about such an action."

A wry grin spread across Ben's face.  "It's never really stopped you before, has it?  Remind me again...who saved me and Etoile from the Horned Bandit?  Hmm?"

"I will indeed remind you once more, my friend, that my intervention was merely a fortunate accident," she responded swiftly, torn between amusement and annoyance.  The former won out when her companion laughed, and she let a small smile escape her, even as she added in her defense, "He had stolen my wares, and though we Velzen do not care for attempting to change the happenings of life, we also do not care for thieves reducing our profit margin."  Ben laughed again, shaking his head incredulously, and she knew that the excuse hadn't convinced him.

Not that she minded.

Despite everything that had happened so far - disregarding her soul-shattering brush with the Afterlife, ignoring the inexplicable arrival of Breccan - things were not truly so different than they had been before.  Ben was still here with her, no matter what life threw at them, talking and laughing with her as though nothing had changed, and she was willing to bet that it would always be so.  The slight smile that graced her lips widened somewhat at the thought, and became almost something of a grin when Ben looked back at her, expression one of simple happiness as he chuckled, "Just like old times, huh, Shale?"
Once again, preview image to come later; too lazy to draw it right now. 8D Edit: THERE'S A PREVIEW NOW, WUT WUT

This wasn't originally going to be a prompt; rather, it was both practice in writing for Shale's character and the response to ~Matrixx suggesting I write 'a cool thing with Shale'. And, while I'm not sure if it's cool, per se, it certainly does have Shale in it.

Her original design was that of an almost completely emotionless character; she has since evolved to be very subtle in showing her feelings, especially in comparison to how she behaved before the events in the prologue (which may be subject to revising). I quite like the change, as it makes her much more interesting to write for, if not a bit challenging at times.

Feel free to guess at why Breccan was acting so smug; fifty points to whoever manages to figure it out from the attempted subtle clues given. xD

The next prompt will be 'Box', starring Etoile, unless I go crazy again and decide to write for a topic farther down the list. ...Which is likely. 8|

Heavenshine & characters = mine
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DarkestElemental616's avatar
He was acting smug...? :?