Noli me tangere..
Friday, May 16, 2008
6:26 PM
He was..perhaps still is..angry with me. I watched him storm from the Square when I declined his request that I accompany him back to Serenus Aria. The muscle clenching in his jaw, I know what was going through his mind. I suppose that in some respects, it annoys me all the more. I warned him. Many times. If he wished a woman at his heel or on his arm, he should have taken one from his caste. Did he? Does he think to change me? You cannot change a person. To think you can is to set yourself up for disappointment.
I had work the evening that the vials of Virlium Medicinal Tonic were sold to the public. Though, the Savant son seems to assume if I am not elbow deep in a man's gore, then I am not technically working. While I would like to disclose truths to him, obligations to my caste and his previous breach of trust make that impossible. I cannot afford another slip of his tongue, certainly not in this regard. Not with his professed obligations to Scarlet.
Mika's displeasure with me, is soon to tenfold.
Brutus Aurelius returns to Ar this hand. I am curious as to if Claudius will celebrate the return, or meet him at the gates with his armies at his back. Mordred has summoned me. I can only fathom as pawns are slid into place, and houses find temporary succor in each others' feigned alliegances, that it will end not with a bang but a whimper.
Labels: Great Square of Ar
Crossroads
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
8:39 AM
There was an art show in the Great Square yesterday evening. I had never seen such a crowd gathered before like this in the Square. Peddlers of every kind of artisan craft were there displaying, selling, and some times even demonstrating their art. I had been meaning to get out for the last few days into the Square myself, and decided this was an opportune time to do so. The art being peddled were not the only masterpieces on display. Glaringly painted across the stone, was defacing
graffiti, it's message rather clear. By morning I assumed it would be washed off by guardsmen, if not even before.
Venor and Scarlet had begun to come over in our direction, but I believe due to the crowd, opted to seek refuge in the Cafe. It was probably a good idea. I briefly spoke to the Magistrate Szol, he bought me juice, there is trust between us. He is going to be producing another play, one I am looking forward to seeing. Knowing what I do of the Poet and playwrite, I have my suspicions that the script will be nothing short of ..provoking.
Tia seemed to be doing well in the Square financially, and if my memory serves me correctly, the freckled red headed horror that was with her is the girl I once knew as Frigid. I am certain I saw Kai and his female consort and slave, but then the next I looked they were also lost in the hubbub of the sea of people.
Perhaps most perplexing, was the large fellow that walked toward me. A small parcel exchanged between us. I slipped it into the inside of my cloak pocket, and went on my way. I waited. Waited for Mika to sleep. When all the residence was silent, and then by the fire in the library I opened the package I was given.
The satchel contained no note. Its contents; a salt tablet with a seal of two crossed paths. The Crossroads. In it pressed to the center was a silver coin. Also included was a handful of dark soil, and a crust of bread.
And here I thought my involvement was finally over.
Labels: Great Square of Ar
The Apothecary
Saturday, February 9, 2008
11:28 PM
Mastavius and I headed to the Great Square this evening, having heard that the Apothecary's shop was once more open. It was lucky that I caught her in time. She is an odd woman, and though she carried a cane walked with no limp. It led me to wonder of her nature and origin. Though it was with other intentions I had come to the kiosk, finding out her identity was not one of them. I gave her my symptoms and requested a cure.
She asked me a series of questions, from whether or not I was ambulatory during the visions, to whether I had killed the spirits in question. There are at least three I know are not my doing. It was for this reason I ensured that the sage and lavender she gave me to burn would only keep them out of my room, and not banish them from the house, which I believe to be more their residence than my own.
The tea and the powder will help me sleep, but I must be careful of the powder. I will use it sparingly. Tomorrow I meet with builders. I can't help but feel an odd sense of deja vu.
Labels: Great Square of Ar
The Mouth of Ar
Sunday, February 3, 2008
10:29 PM
After Mika's run in with the self professed prophet, we had stopped by the Diamond Back so I could check in on the state of the house. I picked up a bit of mail that had been waiting there. Among the missives was an announcement that Catastrophe Sekar had her son. I had wanted to stay at the Diamond Back for the night, given the fact we were now targets, returning to the Savant Estate was not high on my list of places to sleep. He protested, as he often tends to, and we ended up making the long walk back. The sky was looking ominous, I should have taken it as an omen.
We reached the Great Square and ran into Tia, nearly literally. Unfortunately she came in on the tail end of a rather awkward comment. By the look on her face and her subtle remarks, my guess is she believes I am with child. Then to make matters even more pleasant, the sky suddenly opened up and the storm rained down. Thunder, lightening, and a cold rain that sent the three of us for the inside of the cafe for shelter and some dinner.
All seemed civil enough. I sipped tea and watched the water run down the window panes while Tia and Mika discussed the bill owed to her from the Masquerade party. It was quite a feast, the left overs were donated, since they couldn't obviously be kept before they'd spoil. I saw little point in letting the food go to waste. So for a day, the poor of the city ate well. Mika invited Tia to dinner, in hopes of encouraging her relationship with Shane, which seems to be budding into something promising. I have no problem with the match, to the contrary, my stomach would profit from the union.
I don't know when it all went downhill, but there began the talk of politics. One thing led to another between the Baker and the Savant heir, and it ended with Tia storming off. Mika I don't think understands her, but I do. "It is difficult to be a woman of this city," I had informed him, "If she were a man she would be Ubar, but she is only a woman, and a baker."
Tia is not the sort of woman that enjoys her helplessness. She loathes even more when those that have the power to make a change, balk. The rain storm broke, and aside from a few sprinkles here and there, it was safe to venture home. We were not met by flames, nor the torches of a lynch mob, for that I am thankful. It had been a long day.
Labels: Great Square of Ar
Salt and Legumes
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
10:46 PM
Mika had taken me to the office of a scribe in the Great Square to turn in papers regarding his land. A house will be built, set back from Savant Estates. Perhaps there I will not be plagued by the ancestral wraiths that still wander his hallways.
It wasn't until we had gotten back out onto the street that I heard the sound of the bells, and the chanting. I had not seen a procession of Initiates in a long time. Even longer, since I came face-to-face with a raving religious freak. His warnings of harder times to come if Ar did not return to her Temples, frightened more than a few into following the procession. Others quickly vacated the area.
The delka sign was found defacing one of the prominent temples in the city a few days later. City Administrators still shrug off the emblem as merely the work of youthful vandals. I am not so confident in that theory.
Labels: Great Square of Ar
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
10:48 PM
I could protect him from the mob. I could not protect him from one of my own. As the bolt tore through, and he crumpled to the ground bleeding, the herd did as one would expect: they stampeded.
I pushed my way through the crowd. As I reached him there, I knelt, trying to help staunch the steady flow of blood. I was angry. Ripping strips from his shirt to quell the bleeding, I cursed at him. I doubt he heard me. My hands were covered in his blood.
In my haste, I had not realized I was causing another similar frustration. Mika tried without success to extricate me from the Square. There was the possibility I could have been a target as well. Or that knowing the first attempt was botched on Szol, a second would come to finish the job. At that time, I did not think of these things.
The physicians came, and took him away to the clinic across the Square. Trahkam was there as well, it was comforting to see him. I knew he would be there. He is divine sent. An honest love that stands for the ages. Perhaps the only faith I still retain.
I spent the night in the Hawthorne Clinic, in a chair outside of the Poet's room with my crossbow in my lap. There I sat until I was relieved by Pontius the next morning.
Mika is angry at me. A problem I will attempt to remedy when time warrants.
Labels: Great Square of Ar
Forgive us our debts..
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
10:01 PM
I owe the Poet a favor. Initially, I was to fulfill my obligation by seizing the woman Noemi and bringing her to him hooded and bound. Though when she turned herself in, this was made moot. I dislike debts, even small ones.
Were I less trusting of the Poet, I might have merely paid him for the usage of the slave girl portia. Though as time progresses, I am of the mind that he could perhaps be considered a friend. As much a friend as a man of his nature could be to me, without endangering myself needlessly.
Labels: Great Square of Ar
The Price of a Favor..
Monday, August 20, 2007
10:36 PM
Venor's visits are few and far between of late. He did however find the time to fulfill a promise. I found portia in a public garden and led her off, much to the chagrin of a protesting fellow that wished her black ass to serve him a drink. There at the Fountain of Hesius, we met up with the Magistrate and proceeded to a shop that the black whore seemed to be well acquainted with. Something about large hands. The slave girl Ana will need to be outfitted. Using portia as a model, I charged Venor with the task of garbing the bitch, since I have little skill the way of fashion. His fascination with chains is a bit perturbing, but men all have their preferences I suppose.
He purchased the costuming himself. I was surprised, but did not protest. Portia has a mouth on her. I was likened to 'ice chips'. Something I won't soon forget. Though her punishment will come in time, when it suits me to deliver it. Venor walked Portia home, and I went in another direction, back to the Rabid Sleen for the evening. Though I am now in the possession of both the girl Ana, and her garments, I am without Venor. He is once again remiss in his visits, and so I have begun devising an alternate method.
This one however will be far more dangerous than I was intending on undertaking alone. There is also the little matter of the Poet and his favor. He wishes to speak to me. I can only imagine...
Labels: Great Square of Ar
