Raining More Than Ever
Aliana
03-27-2022, 07:22 PM
Reila had mostly just kept to herself after her leg healed and really before that too. It wasn't easy being more outward in the real world but she had generally been more social with the other slaves on the ship. She had learned the hard way not to make friends or get too attached.
Chimera had asked her to talk to both Dalila and Aliana about the episodes and troubles she was having. She was rather open about her past, she didn't have anything to hide. But since these came to light it wasn't so easy to just get out there. It just seemed really awkward to search one of them out and bring up the fact that she was nearly insane and wanted... help? Maybe, she was mostly just going to bring it up because Chimera asked her to. Otherwise she would have stayed in silence unless asked.
She went to Chimera and Aliana's chambers before knocking on the slightly opened door and waiting outside for Aliana to respond, "Aliana? Did you have a moment to talk?" Probably not a visitor she was expecting, but hopefully they could get their interaction over and done with pretty quickly. Maybe she'd learn something too.
03-28-2022, 07:18 PM
The sounds of her children laughing and playing out in the atrium in the warm spring sunlight caught Aliana's attention away from her meticulous maintaining of her family's private space. She peered out the open window to the six boys running about in the gardens, playing amongst themselves while Bolero kept an eye on them from a branch of the ficus tree. She smiled, aqua eyes glimmering with joy while she returned to filling vases and windowsill boxes with fresh florals. She knew Chimera disliked the scent of florals on himself, so she's chosen very mild ones to fill the room with their delicate fragrance while a tropical sea breeze wafted through the open doors and windows, airing out the space from the damp winter they'd had. Daily life had become fairly routine for the young queen, but far from mundane. Between her half dozen boys to her regular duties as well as keeping the home maintained for Chimera. She strongly disliked using the slaves her mate kept as servants, as it reminded her of her past, though she never turned down their help when it came to things like cleaning the massive rooms or laundering the sheets and furs. Still, some old habits died hard.
Aliana was arranging a floral display in a grand glass vase when a knock at the door swiveled a single white ear. She glanced over her shoulder to find someone she hadn't been expecting calling upon her. Reila stood in the partially opened door, requesting a moment to talk. "Of course, Reila. Come on in." She then returned to her work while she waited to hear the sliding door open and Reila approach her. She hadn't seen much of the shipwreck survivor besides her usual checkups on her leg, but she just assumed the girl was a quiet introvert, as many on the island seemed to be. "How are you feeling today? How is your leg doing?" she asked, adjust a few stems of seasonal flowers about in the vase while keeping a mindful ear out for her children.
"Aliana"
Aliana was arranging a floral display in a grand glass vase when a knock at the door swiveled a single white ear. She glanced over her shoulder to find someone she hadn't been expecting calling upon her. Reila stood in the partially opened door, requesting a moment to talk. "Of course, Reila. Come on in." She then returned to her work while she waited to hear the sliding door open and Reila approach her. She hadn't seen much of the shipwreck survivor besides her usual checkups on her leg, but she just assumed the girl was a quiet introvert, as many on the island seemed to be. "How are you feeling today? How is your leg doing?" she asked, adjust a few stems of seasonal flowers about in the vase while keeping a mindful ear out for her children.
As her mate, Chimera may enter any thread Aliana is in.
____________________
04-03-2022, 07:41 PM
Reila tentatively entered the room as Aliana invited her in, probably just habit in her own ways. She would never see Chimera's queens as other slaves as their life prior, and would probably always look up more to them as masters even if she wasn't under contract here. It was just the way she was wired. Though maybe one day she could live a normal life among the Fenmyre residents, it didn't seem like anytime soon.
Reila picked up her once broken leg slightly to the mention, bending it without really thinking and only due to the subconscious reminder. "I'm doing well, I'm managing." She responded with a small smile before her paw moved back down to the ground. She carefully took a seat still near the doorway, maybe a bit awkwardly. But she made herself comfortable before she went to address why she had come to see Aliana. "I'm gong to be painfully honest, Chimera asked me to talk to you about the nightmares I've been having." She assumed she knew but wasn't sure of Reila attacking Chimera in her sleep on their hunting trip. Either way, the problem was out on the table. Reila wasn't unwilling, but wasn't confident that there was a fix or something of the sort to help her. Even tiny steps. She didn't believe there would ever be a way to make her normal. But she would do as Chimera asked and talk to his queens who were once slaves themselves.
04-08-2022, 08:23 PM
Reila was hesitant to enter the suite, and even then chose to remain by the door, noted easily by the perceptive queen going about her redecorating. The woman still hadn't truly incorporated herself into pack life with Fenmyre, hovering just on the fringes and not interacting with many of the others, if any at all. Initially, Aliana hadn't held it against the fae; she was a recently freed slave, that mindset was hard to break. She understood since it was something she was still struggling with from time to time herself. Freedom felt like a foreign concept, an odd sound in her brain. It took a lot to truly free someone. Although I suppose late night massages and extended hunting trips with someone else's mate tend to loosen one up... she thought with a bit of enmity, though whether it was directed toward Reila or Chimera, she didn't know. All she knew was that the stranger had washed up on their shores and immediately taken to the king. Being the dutiful woman she was, Ali held her tongue and said nothing. But she noticed everything.
When questioned about her leg, Aliana was pleased to watch Reila demonstrate the range of movement she had regained. An earnest smile touched her lips, glad to see her patient recovering. There had been a moment near the beginning where she dreaded the possibility of needing to amputate the leg, but fortunately it had healed well. "Good! I'm glad to see you recovering." Aliana didn't need to ask any follow up questions around Reila's presence, since the woman launched straight into an explanation of why she was here. She'd been having nightmares, and Chimera had told her to come seek the healer out. Aliana paused for but a second mid-arrangement of some stems of jasmine, biting her tongue again. Calm... Composure... She took a slow breath and glanced back to Reila once more, putting on her medic hat and shifting into work mode.
"Oh dear... Nightmares are unpleasant business." Aliana abandoned her work and came closer to Reila, leaving a respectful amount of space between the two ladies. She couldn't do a thorough exam from this far, but she didn't need to. Nightmares and night terrors were a plague of the mind anyway. Ali furrowed her brow and looked over the larger wolf with concern painting her features. She didn't want to ask to know how Chimera knew about these nightmares, though she had a suspicion that it was where the bites to her mate's neck had come from following their hunting trips. At least they came from a nightmare and not from other things... "How long have you been having nightmares for? Are they occurring every night?"
"Aliana"
When questioned about her leg, Aliana was pleased to watch Reila demonstrate the range of movement she had regained. An earnest smile touched her lips, glad to see her patient recovering. There had been a moment near the beginning where she dreaded the possibility of needing to amputate the leg, but fortunately it had healed well. "Good! I'm glad to see you recovering." Aliana didn't need to ask any follow up questions around Reila's presence, since the woman launched straight into an explanation of why she was here. She'd been having nightmares, and Chimera had told her to come seek the healer out. Aliana paused for but a second mid-arrangement of some stems of jasmine, biting her tongue again. Calm... Composure... She took a slow breath and glanced back to Reila once more, putting on her medic hat and shifting into work mode.
"Oh dear... Nightmares are unpleasant business." Aliana abandoned her work and came closer to Reila, leaving a respectful amount of space between the two ladies. She couldn't do a thorough exam from this far, but she didn't need to. Nightmares and night terrors were a plague of the mind anyway. Ali furrowed her brow and looked over the larger wolf with concern painting her features. She didn't want to ask to know how Chimera knew about these nightmares, though she had a suspicion that it was where the bites to her mate's neck had come from following their hunting trips. At least they came from a nightmare and not from other things... "How long have you been having nightmares for? Are they occurring every night?"
As her mate, Chimera may enter any thread Aliana is in.
____________________
04-08-2022, 08:55 PM
Reila hadn't suspected that her time with Chimera was upsetting to Aliana. And she was actually rather oblivious to the more mature things Chimera felt from time to time. For a long while she wouldn't have thought of laying next to Chimera, touching him, or actually wanting to do those things. As a slave, and as Aliana may have known, she was forced to be willing and also forced to be unwilling. She had to bend to the demands of the masters, and it was rather traumatic. She didn't think when she woke up free on Fenmyre that she would ever feel the way she was with Chimera. And somehow in this life of freedom it was almost as if she was a young woman experiencing all these things for the first time. And she never saw any harm in her actions, she didn't know better.
Aliana proceed their conversation about the nightmares, and Reila was prompt not to let her go unanswered. "Um, often?" Her tone was questioning herself, because she really couldn't be sure. It wasn't like there was someone in her den every night as a test subject. "I think I'm more aware when they happen than I'm not." Her eyes fell from Aliana for a moment, biting her cheek. She felt a little awkward in the situation, probably because she thought it was rather pointless. But maybe at least talking to someone else about it, someone else who had experienced a similar way of life, maybe that would make her feel better just to get off her chest in a sense. "How much has Chimera told you? I'm open about all of it I'm just wondering if you know the context."
04-09-2022, 01:04 AM
Aliana didn't live under the pretense that she knew what Reila had endured, just as Ali didn't expect her to know what she had. They had a mutual start to life it seemed, yet every slaver was wholly different, and life as merchandise varied from seller to seller. But in an interest of trying to avoid bringing up traumatic memories both in Reila and in herself, she simply never addressed that aspect of their histories. She instead focused on the here and now, and on the future in the forms of six wiggly, energetic boys. Reila answered her question of frequency of the nightmares, but offered little else in the way of information. Hmm, looks like she'd have to do most of the probing. The tawny woman seemed like she was here under duress and out of obligation, so extracting any information from her would be akin to pulling teeth.
Reila asked how much Chimera had told her, and Ali answered honestly. "He hasn't told me anything about you having nightmares." Chimera was a man of few words. He gave commands and he let his will be known, but he wasn't one for small talk or chatter he found unnecessary. But Reila had made an interesting statement about being open to anything, so that gave her an opening she could use if the newest member of Fenmyre truly wanted help. "Should he have told me something?" asked Ali with a slight tilt of curiosity to her head. Already she was mentally making a decoction that would help with the night terrors, but if Reila had pertinent information for her, then she was all ears, especially if it was about all the time the fae seemed to be spending with Fenmyre's king.
"Aliana"
Reila asked how much Chimera had told her, and Ali answered honestly. "He hasn't told me anything about you having nightmares." Chimera was a man of few words. He gave commands and he let his will be known, but he wasn't one for small talk or chatter he found unnecessary. But Reila had made an interesting statement about being open to anything, so that gave her an opening she could use if the newest member of Fenmyre truly wanted help. "Should he have told me something?" asked Ali with a slight tilt of curiosity to her head. Already she was mentally making a decoction that would help with the night terrors, but if Reila had pertinent information for her, then she was all ears, especially if it was about all the time the fae seemed to be spending with Fenmyre's king.
As her mate, Chimera may enter any thread Aliana is in.
____________________
04-25-2022, 07:05 PM
Reila turned her cheek in to Aliana just slightly as she had asked if Chimera should have told her anything. "I'm not sure what you mean." It was genuine because while Reila may have tried to get Chimera's attention, nothing had really happened between the two. And as was unspoken, Reila was starting to believe that Chimera didn't really see anything in her after all. "I just thought... well I attacked him that one night on a hunting trip." It was blunt but the only way to get it out. She had assumed Chimera would have explained the mark on him, but she must have been wrong. She was feeling a bit uncomfortable around Aliana right now, but that didn't mean she would withhold anything from her.
"I guess that's all. I don't really see a way to help my condition." Reila didn't want to come off as rude, but she was certainly coming off as nervous. She did start to stand and back up a couple steps with her head slightly lowered before turning to go and leave Aliana's room. She'd stop if Aliana pulled her attention, otherwise she was done here.
04-30-2022, 08:57 PM
Reila feigned confusion at her interrogative, or perhaps she really was that dense that she didn't understand the implication behind Aliana's words. Either way told the clouded gray queen a little more about the other woman. Aliana may not have been a very worldly wolf, but she was perceptive. All her time in captivity and indentured servitude had taught her the value of silent observation and perception. And as it always did, being patient and quiet paid off as Reila confessed that she had been the one to attack Chimera that night. Chimera hadn't told her the details of what happened during their hunting trip, only that he'd been injured and Reila was having night terrors. Granted, it didn't take a genius to put two and two together, but hearing the words of affirmation from the once-slave's lips was all the conclusion she needed.
"Ah, I see," Ali murmured, nodding her head in understanding. It did raise further questions in her mind—not ones she would ask the other woman, however. Like "Why was Chimera close enough to her to get bitten in their sleep?". But she would save the fae further embarrassment and let sleeping dogs lie. Reila tried to dismiss herself then, claiming there was nothing that could be done to help her condition while also nervously heading for the door with her head lowered. Despite her own personal feelings on the situation and the stranger in her room, Aliana had a duty as queen to help those in need in the pack. Reila fit that category. "Reila, stop." Ali stepped over to the taller woman and gestured for her to follow with a small smile. "Come with me, please."
Taking the lead, Aliana led Reila out of the bedroom suite and down the hall to where her study was. She slid open the door and stepped inside. The room was filled with all sorts of plants, laboratory equipment and supplies, and tinctures and poultices she'd manufactured over time. Ali moved over to a cabinet hung on the wall and opened up the doors to reveal a number of shelves holding numerous vials filled with different colored liquids. "Just because you can't see a fix doesn't mean there isn't one. Sometimes you just need the right pair of eyes, or a new perspective." Ali lifted a clear bottle out of the cabinet with dainty paws. A label on it bore the crude drawing of a moon. She turned back to Reila and passed the bottle off to her. "Here. Drink a third of the bottle every night before you go to sleep. It should help keep away the nightmares and let you rest peacefully. I can craft you a custom medicine more tailored to your symptoms, if you'd like. That is just a general all-purpose sleep tonic. It should help, even just a little bit." Aliana couldn't shake the feeling that her kindness and generosity would end up being snubbed by the tawny woman, but at least now she could say she'd done everything to be kind to Reila in advance.
As her mate, Chimera may enter any thread Aliana is in.
____________________
05-10-2022, 09:24 AM
Reila did stop immediately in her steps as Aliana had asked, but she stayed silent even as she followed her. There was a tension between the two if only in different ways from each of the women. Reila was mostly calm and kind but making friends was not the easiest task for her given that making friends on the ship was not a way of life as she had learned on her own. She could put on a face, she could listen and be kind. But she could also turn around back to her den and drop it all. It would no doubt be that way today.
Aliana was still gentle in her tones as she offered more support and the medication she prescribed. Reila took the bottle with soft but nearly dead eyes, "Thank you." Was really all she could say at least for now. She didn't turn to run, but she took a few seconds before dipping her head again to dismiss herself and then turning to leave. She'd only hope the next time her and Aliana met it would be a new day and a new start. She would be able to look at it that way from her side at least.