Aelina & Pupnutie

[Pupnutie]

(yep =))

"Too bad there are so many that make it seem ugly," He mumbled before changing the subject.

"Alright. Enough Depressing stuff. What else is there...?" Zharron trailed off as he became lost in thought.

[Aelina]

(XD yaaaaay)

Len simply said nothing and began playing the harp again as they lapsed into a half comfortable half thoughtful silence. He really didn't know what else there was to talk about. Normally when in a mood like this, Zharron could make even sunlight seem depressing. But at least he was trying to lighten the mood this time.

Personally he was all for just staring at the ceiling and thinking, he really wasn't the type to just yap for nothing. Finishing the song and setting the harp aside he laid back as well, arms behind his head and closed his eyes. Breathing quietly he just started to relax to the sounds around him.

[Pupnutie]

(more foreshadowing FTW~)

Losing himself to his thoughts and relaxing to the music, Zharron fell asleep. Within his dreams, he began seeing and feeling hundreds of things at once. None of it really sticking to make him understand their origin.

He first saw figures. He recognized himself, Penni, and Leanthos, but all the others were too blurry to tell. He did know that Penni and another small flower were being held away from him and Len, but why or what for he didn't know. The feelings were desperate, fear, anger....many of which turned his stomach.

Then he saw white. He heard mumbles and little side comments that he couldn't quite hear right then. He felt angry, defeated, miserable. But the reason why he didn't know. There was tightness on his chest and hips, he itched all over, and his face had something on it, but his eyes remained uncovered. He felt like he was about to cry but at the same time was desperately not allowing himself to. He looked around, and saw the one lone figure of Leanthos. He appeared to be emotionless, but he radiated the same feelings that he himself was feeling. Len also refused to look at him even when Zharron felt himself being led to his by a blurry figure that he swore looked like Chryses. The feelings grew stronger to the point that he felt ill, his desire to cry grew with it, Len didn't look at him directly, but at a spot that made it seem so to the other figures present, and Zharron felt another emotion. One that he felt when Evalyn died and when he was sent to kill off comrades that had deviated from the army in the Lost War. The feeling that he was betraying another, but who he didn't know. All of it was over whelming.

Zharron woke with a jolt . It took him a while to clear his head enough to speak, "Huh? W-what?"

[Aelina]

(THAT WAS AWESOME!!! 8D....sorry mine sucks.)

Relaxing in the grass Leanthos almost fell asleep. The whole place was just...soothing. But just as he started to nod off something caught his attention. A whimper? Opening his eyes he sat up and looked around, confused as to what made the sound. He flicked his head sharply, There it is again... Eyes finally went downward to his almost friend who was now muttering something fierce and shifting restlessly in his sleep.

"Zharron?" Shifting his body so he was leaning over towards the boy he shook his shoulder gently. "Zharron wake up..." Shaking him gently again he opened his mouth to call again when the other woke suddenly, causing his hand to retreat while the other regained his bearings.

Len was staring at the boy, a hand still reached out to his shoulder as his face was etched in concern. "You were talking in your sleep...." He started to explain before the dim light caught something on the Rose's cheek glimmering. The hand moved and the back of his fingers brushed gently against the cheek out of reflex. "You're crying...Nightmare?"

Realizing WHAT he was doing he withdrew the hand. "Sorry about...touching...force of habit." Shaking his head slightly he regrouped. "But in any case.....you wanna talk about it?" He asked gently turning his body to give the male his full attention.

[Pupnutie]

(It is alright, I am writing things like this all the time so I have experience . .I imagine that sensing trouble is Z's version of Len's getting ill from negative emotion, so that is it.)

Deciding on forgiving Len for touching him, Zharron began retelling his dream. "I am not sure if it is just me or if it ties to my race, but sometimes I have these...visions. It happens when something is gonna happen, but it is always too blurry to see enough to understand it or to know enough to prevent it. I had one before the war that showed me killing soldiers, both from my side and the opposite one. Then came the battles from the Lost War. I had one where Penni cried and I felt nothing but misery and a feeling that can only be called suicidal. That was when Evalyn was killed."

He began to shake a little. "I...I had two. The first was filled with anger, panic, and fear, it wasn't just me feeling it either. You and I were facing some unknown figures, they had Penni and another small flower I couldn't see too well, too blurry. I don't know what else, it changed to a white scene. But there were no 'light' feelings to be felt. We were in a room filled with people who murmured amongst themselves. It felt like it was supposed to be a happy event, but There was only Anger, Misery, immense sadness, a sense of defeat, and for me a sense that I was betraying an unknown person to be felt. You didn't look at me, and I had my eye coverings off. I have no idea what all this is. I do not want to be the bearer of bad news, but I believe that something horrible is to happen. What though I do not know, and I personally do not want to know."

[Aelina]

((Hmm that would be a problem...*thinks on it* sorry bout length didn't really know what to to))

Listening intently to the Rose's words Len couldn't help but the pit of dread that started in his stomach. He didn't know the cause of the dread, the male's predictions could be wrong after all. But all the same it left a bitter taste on his tongue hearing the vivid descriptions.

Sighing heavily he ran a hand through his hair, pulling it out of its tie. Yanking on said hair gently he was quiet for a few moments. "....Well if or when it happens, we'll deal with it. Who knows maybe we'll be able to prevent it." He offered looking at Zharron again trying to be reassuring.

[Pupnutie]

(It is alright. As you can tell, they really mess Z up a bit.)

Thankful that Len couldn't see the doubt in his eyes, Zharron merely gave a smile none could see as fake and agreed before offering to teach Len a song he had made when he was a small seedling by listening to the wind.

---------------------

Somewhere else, Oriland waited in the secret court chambers for the others to come. Plans needed to be made. He knew Leanthos wouldn't force the Rose to love him, or try in any way. But they needed the Blood Rose in the Royal Class. His blood and power could not go to waist by wilting. If only he was younger, he'd had taken the Rose a long time ago. But he was too old for any of that now. Too bad, surely he and Zharron would've had powerful children. But now it was up to Leanthos to carry on, but now they needed to guarantee the two would marry. Planning would be much easier if the others would just hurry up and get there.

After a short while, three figures came into the room. After removing their hoods, they showed themselves to be a Tiger Lilly named Lord Triilar, A rose that was Delan's uncle, An old Snapdragon named Lord Arancis, and Lady Riverwisp, a wasp. They all bowed at the lavender before sitting.

"Ah, I see some of you have made it. Now where are the others?" Oriland asked a little impatiently.

"I beg your pardon M'Lord, The others should be here shortly." Arancis spoke from his seat.

[Aelina]

After a short while longer two more finally came, half dragging someone behind them. Removing their hoods revealed an Iris named Lady Iethius and Lord Yleous a Praying Mantis. The third, was Leanthos's father who was still somewhat resisting.

Iethius bowed in apology. "We beg pardon for our tardy." She cast a reproachful eye to the Orchid Lord. "Aithilus did not wish to join the meeting, and we needed to remind him of its importance." Striding to her seat and taking it, Yleous moved to pull the Orchid in further before he wretched his arm away. "You have no more need of me! Leanthos and the Rose have refused! What more can be done? Leanthos will not force the boy, it is against his nature!"

Yleous took his seat, leaving the Orchid as he didn't want to deal with him anymore. Iethius glared fiercely at Aithilus, "Be quiet." She half hissed, infuriated at the disrespect he was showing. Yleous sighed, "Cease your ramblings, you're complaints fall on deaf ears." Ignoring the Orchid the two newcomers looked to Oriland.

[Pupnutie]

(Welcome back. )

"I understand your place, Lord Aithilus," Began the Lavender. "But Zharron is too important of a plant to let slip from our grasps. He needs to be part of the royal class for there to be any more great warriors like him to further exist. There are no others near his age, and we cannot use another rose because it has been proven that the regular bush rose cannot mix with Zharron's breed because of various differences that are made due to the Dessert Blood Roses being of the vine family. There is no way We'd let most other vines breed with him because there are none of royal descent."

"Leanthos must marry Zharron and produce offspring. If they will not do it willingly, then, I'm afraid, they will have to be forced to," Oriland began offhandedly.

[Aelina]

(Thanks! Been busy like crazy. >< Theres no way Imma finish the event....OH! And the Rapier de James item is uncannily like Len's sword. owo)

Opening his mouth to protest and argue, Aithilus was only cut off and silenced. Sighing heavily as the Lavender answered all his questions without even having to ask them he wearily sat down. Resting his face in his hand he felt pity for his son and the Rose, but how on earth would Oriland change their minds? Leanthos did have his stubborn days, and on a matter such as this it would be near impossible- "I'm afraid, they will have to be forced to,"

Snapping his head up quickly, the elder Orchid stared in a fearful way at the Lavender. "What do you mean forced to?" His voice quiet as his hands gripped the arm rests of the chair. "What does it sound like Aithilus? If they don't consent to the marriage willingly, we'll have to make them."

Aithilus looked confused, "But how? You don't kno-" Cutting himself off realization dawned on his face before it drained of color. "NO!" Standing suddenly, upturning his chair, the lord held a hand out in a stop motion. "I will NOT speak of any weakness of my son! I will tell you nothing! I already betrayed his one plea.....I will NOT help you in this!"

Iethius rose an eyebrow as she half sneered at the man. "Is that so." "Yes! I will take no part!" She curled her lip at his answer, "Such a shame...well then, what do you think of their weaknesses Lady Riverwisp?" She asked almost in a taunting manner.

[Pupnutie]

"Well, I think I have something on our little Zharron," Riverwisp giggled at her little piece of info. "There is this little Pansy worker, she was once a royal in another garden before turning up here a few months ago. Apparently, Her brother was engaged to Zharron at some point. The two were going to marry before Zharron's Fiance's untimely death. During that time, he had gotten rather close to his fiance's little sister, her name is Penitas or something, and even now they are close."

"Yes, I've seen that as well. Isn't Leanthos close with his litter sister as well?" Arancis took joy in the look on Aithilus' face.

"Then that is what we can use. We'll get the girls and force them that way," Triilar started.

"That may not work," Interrupted Dasiir, Delan's uncle. "Originally, Zharron had hated Penni's brother. He got the royals over there to back off because 1. He had been sent to war and 2. He threatened to commit suicide right there if they didn't. Not to mention he could take any one of us down in a fight. Leanthos isn't a push over either. If we do use the girls, We'll need something to gain leverage over the boys. "

[Aelina]

((IM ALIVE!))

Iethius smiled cruelly as Riverwisp shared her little tidbit and when Arancis finally let Aithilus in on their little plan. The old Orchid turned pale and horror and disbelief and started stuttering out his displeasure of the idea. Though he was cut off by Delan's uncle who unfortunately, or fortunately to Aithilus, brought up a decent point. Neither boy would give up the females without a fight.

Yleous was silent before his eyes flickered over to his lord. "A flytrap, as uncouth as they are, would serve the purpose of leverage well my liege." Iethius struggled not to giggle in her glee. "Of course! What a splendid idea!" It seemed however Aithilus had had enough. "N-no! Absolutely not! You'll not touch Bellyre! Or this other girl, I'll not allow it!"

"You'll not allow it?" Came a carefully quiet answer as silence reigned over the room. Staring now at the Lavender the Orchid gave him a pleading gesture falling to his knees. "My lord these girls are innocent! And Bellyre...Bellyre my youngest...I've already betrayed one child! I won't do so to another!" Oriland seemed to give a small sigh of patience. "Ah but my dear Lord Aithilus....you don't have a say in the matter."

The look on the Orchid's face was pleasing to everyone in the room, who really cared about the pain the old man was now going through. But Oriland, who had no more to speak of with the male dismissed him ignoring his pleas to change his mind. Moving to the door the Lavender narrowed his eyes. "And Aithilus.....remember. You speak of what you have heard or seen. It will be your wife's throat that will bear the consequence."

Pausing at the door the Orchid gave a broken sigh. "I understand milord...." he murmured before disappearing through the entry leaving the schemers to their own devices.

[Pupnutie]

A week has gone and past, and Zharron had gotten over being in yet another arranged marriage. His dream when Len was over still bothered him. He couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen. He hoped that he just had a nightmare and nothing more. Still, he made a note to take precaution in everything regarding Penny, Leanthos, and the mystery girl from his dreams.

Another thing that was bothering him was Len. He knew that some Orchids grew ill when they grew over emotional, mostly from stress, anger, and sadness. He new that the apparent issues between Len and his Rose friend hadn't gotten better, and Len was looking sicker each day. Zharron had tried to take the other's mind off of the issues when he came, but he didn't always succeed.

The relationship between the two had also changed. It was not friendship by Zharron's book, but Len had grown to be more than an ally. If anything, he was a close ally. Someone Zharron would make sure was happy, but not someone he would trust completely. Not enough to drop his wrappings. That was how the desert plant showed he trusted his friends, only friends saw his eyes. Since he never accomplished the task of controlling his eyes to hide his emotions, he had to learn to see without them as to not give himself away. Being caught in a lie could make all the difference in a Life or Death situation after all.

[Aelina]

Having found a similar view of the Desert Rose, Len was glad to at least have one friend to help him calm his mind slightly when the other did nothing but aggravate it more and more with each passing day. He couldn't be more grateful or happy that he and his, well supposed betrothed had become friendly acquaintances if not almost friends.

...But the fact that it seemed to be costing him his childhood friend in such a manner as this was truly disheartening. In fact in the passing week Leanthos had found himself going up almost every day to escape everything back home. Delan refused to speak to him unless he was screaming at him about something, he refused to cover for him leaving him to apologize and have Vizier after Vizier on his head for explanations and so forth. Which was starting to stress him out, which was making his family worry, which was making him more stressed. And with it all building with Delan's constant glares and bickering he knew that sooner or later it would all snap, after all he could only take so much.

Staring at his growing haggared appearance in the mirror, Leanthos sighed and rubbed at the dark circles under his eyes with a quiet groan. Sleep, he'd only been granted a few hours here and there when he slept up in the peaceful chamber of Zharron's home. His own bed having too many worries circling around it for him to sleep. Irritation furrowed at his brow at the thought, causing him to stop and breathe till he relaxed again. Hearing footsteps behind him and knowing only one person to enter his own bedchamber so boldly he bit back a groan when he saw angry gold eyes through the mirror. If someone had told him he'd dread seeing his friend two weeks ago he would of called them mad and told them to lay off on the work load, now however...

He'd managed to tune out most of the cold starting words from the Rose going back to pulling his hair back into the ponytail. Which in turn caused the Rose to take in the "outside" clothing making his face curl into a snarl.
"Going to your precious little death flower again are you? Tch! So damn typical! Ever since you met him you've been slacking off like I've never seen! How can you stand being around him! He's a murderer! He-"

Having clenched the sink with tight hands for long enough, Len felt something inside of him snap and snap hard. "At least he doesn't scream at me like a child throwing a tantrum every time he sees me!" Whirling around on the shocked male Len's eyes glittered dangerously dark. "You want to know why I go up there almost every day Delan? BECAUSE OF YOU! I've tried to ask and help but no. You refuse to tell me what has gotten your petals all up in a flurry and now go so far to take it out ON ME! Well you know what. ENOUGH! I'VE HAD IT WITH YOUR FIVE YEAR OLD ATTITUDE. SO MAN UP AND TELL ME OR GO BE THE BRAT IN THE CORNER SULKING!"

Delan blinked eyes wide before the two engaged in yet another shouting match, leaving Len almost hoarse. Sweat broke on his brow and his skin turned a rather sickly pale but both were too angry to notice. "-FINE! GO! GO UP YOUR STUPID MOUNTAIN AND STAY THERE!" "I WILL! AT LEAST ZHARRON IS PLEASANT MATURE COMPANY!" Brushing hard past the Rose the Orchid left him standing there as he pulled the cloak over his clothes and headed to the mountain, forgetting his water gourd.

Though the path was short...ish, the male found himself stopping five times. Each time finding it harder to breath, his dry throat not helping. But in his rage simply kept climbing cursing and muttering to himself about Delan. All the while working the fury deeper and tighter in his gut. Reaching the platform he hauled himself up, panting and after every so shakily standing to his feet he faced the land below. "THERE! I'M HERE, ARE YOU HAPPY! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW!?" A cough, one single cough followed the shout and like an idiot he ignored it.

Panting and now trembling finely with the horrid coloring, he turned to the entrance of the cavern hoping Zharron would be able to offer some solace. Good lord knew he needed it now. Though he didn't always succeed at least the male tried and he couldn't ask for more.

((LONG THING IS LONG D8 HOPE IS GOOD.))

[Pupnutie]

(YAY FOR LONG POSTS!)

Zharron stopped what he was doing when he heard Len shouting outside his home. The Orchid had screamed before, but the desert Rose's ears heard the cough afterwards. When the male he was betrothed to came in, he knew the other wouldn't last if he left. He made his way toward the male to access the damage done to his almost friend.

"Hold still," Zharron said as he went up to the male and felt his forehead with his own. If it weren't for his species being able to handle extreme conditions, he would have moved away from the other in fear of catching on fire. A frown took hold of his features at his discovery.

"Follow me. Fuss and I will kill you myself instead of that illness that you have gotten does," Came the command as he grabbed Len's hand and led him behind the in-cave waterfall where his bedroom was. Once at his bed, Zharron pushed the lord onto it.

"Lay down, get comfortable, and sleep off that illness. I'll be here. Do not worry about going home or anything, I'll cover you when you are better. I'll even go down with you and everything. Do not argue, I win. You loose. End of argument. You need to get better or you will just die. I doubt you want that so sleep and get better. You need more than four hours on the ground," He took a seat near the bed and got into a position one would expect a soldier on guard to have. "If you need it, I'll play music or sing to you or something to put you to sleep."