Who: Andais & Deacon Flynn Where: Their Home When: Monday evening, November 22
Again, when he woke at Noon, he was the first of Andais' guards to rise. His companion tended to waken a hour or two after he did but grocery shopping needed to be done so Deacon had woken the other guard to be up as his replacement while he went out. Due to this, the lead guard hadn't be able to attend to his weapons until later that evening.
The dozen or so weapons were neatly displayed on the kitchen table where he sat at. Most were an assortment of blades from the tiniest that were meant to be concealed to one that looked like a small sword. He sometimes wore that one strapped to his back for a right hand, under draw. At that moment, however he was working on cleaning the three hand guns he owned; two were a pair of Walther P22's, slightly smaller than the Walther P99 he favored. The P22's had been a gift many years ago, the set had one gun in black, which he dubbed Ebony; It's counterpart was, of course, silver and thus named Ivory. Currently, he was disassembling, Ivory to clean her.
Andais woke up about five o'clock and she felt oddly mellow. After getting dressed in a black pair of yoga pants and a black tank top. She took her time in braiding her hair down her back, the braid reaching the underside of her ass, still very short for her people, but she liked to keep it that length. She felt it suited her better than it hitting her ankles, let alone the time that it took to dry. She was in the mood to exercise a little before getting into the evening. She exercised in bare feet, not liking tennis shoes at all. The fact that she was in pants of any sort was also a nod to the fact she was in the human realm. She walked downstairs to the kitchen, ignoring the other guard as he trailed behind her. She moved over to the fridge and got herself a bottle of water, taking a sip out of it before she even realized that Deacon's weapons were all over the table and he was cleaning them. "Good evening." she said simply.
A grin easily curved his lips at the Princess as he greeted her back, "Evening, Princess." He looked up from his task, reassembling the firearm after cleaning it. Deacon arched a brow at her surprising attire, "Well, don't you look cute this evening." He meant it as compliment, because let's face it. When did Andais ever wear anything that casual? Deacon found it refreshing.
She walked over to him and sipped from her bottle. "You look quite nice, as well, Deacon." she said as she let her fingers trail over his neck gently. While he kept his hair much shorter than the rest of the sidhe, she liked it, and sometimes found herself touching it without thinking whenever she was in good moods.
Deacon, even in the simplest of clothing, took great pains to make sure that it looked neat. He made sure the plain gray t-shirt he donned that day was not wrinkled along with the dark blue jeans he wore. As always when he was at the house, he went barefoot, hating the constrictions of footwear. At Andais' touch, Deacon's fingers on the gun stilled and his eyes drooped closed as the fae practically leaned into it. Honestly, one could almost compare the guard to a cat at that moment; All he needed was a purr.
Andais smiled as he leaned towards her hand. She liked having that affect on him. She knew that she was a lot like that whenever people played with her hair. Honestly, it was one of the easier ways of getting her to relax. She toyed with the short hairs before kissing the top of his head softly as he often did her. "Has your day been good so far?" she asked. She knew that her guards both got up before her, and went to bed after she did, sometimes she was curious as to what they did while she was asleep sometimes.
"Yes," was Deacon's response and he opened his tri-colored eyes to gaze up at her, the intriguing excitement of his day evident in his own gaze. Because of his love for the mortal world, he had been extremely excited to have grocery duty that day to which he wouldn't shut up about as he moved on to clean Ebony. Even as he talked about that and then other things he did on a daily basis around the house like check the wardings, it was amazing how precise Deacon was in disassembling the gun, cleaning it, and reassembling it without putting much concentration into the task. Hours upon hours upon hours of training and practice made the action second nature to the guard, a good sign of how dedicated he was to his duty to the Night Raven's and to Andais.
The fae excitedly regaled the Princess of using the self-checkout for the first time. Yes, the appropriate terms of Deacon was "dork" or "geek." Then again, he'd indulged in several sugar cookies not long before Andais woke up, so it was entirely possible that he was experiencing a sugar rush.
She liked to see him so excited about what he'd experienced. She didn't tend to go out shopping much, but she did enjoy it whenever she did go out. She trailed her fingers through his hair, relaxed. She smiled as she watched him and how easily he moved at cleaning his weapons even while he regaled his tale. "It certainly sounds like you had a good time." she said nodding her head softly. "I thought perhaps I'd go out into the back yard while it is still light and practice my sword skills."
The guard paused at the Princess' statement, taking a moment to think on it and nodded in agreement, "Yes, I did enjoy my day." He shrugged as he stood and began gathering up the assortment of blades, the Walther P99 going into it's holster at the small of his back. The daggers and knives disappeared on his person as he added, "I'm not sure what it is, but I find pleasure in things that most human's take for granted. They don't realize just how short their lives are." With the last weapon tucked away, Deacon inquired, "Do you need a sparring partner?"
She nodded her head as she smiled. "They do not realize just how short 100 years is... But if it wsn't for that, then they would not change as fast as they do." she said shrugging. "I would greatly appreciate sparring partner. He does not enjoy sparring with me." she said nodding towards where the other guard was in the living room. She shifted from one foot to the other.
Without another word, Deacon strapped the foot long blade to his back. He checked the underhand draw several times to make sure it was comfortable and smooth, making any necessary adjustments as needed. Finally, he lifted an arm toward the exit leading to the backyard, "After you, Your Highness," Deacon said with an amused grin.
She lifted up her pair of katanas and walked out into the back hard. she sat them down on the arms of a chair before rolling her neck and then stretching her arms up over her head. She knew that Deacon wouldn't just take it easy on her because of who she was. At least she liked to think he wouldn't. She moved out into the yard after stretching, leaving the sheaths for the swords on the porch, one sword in each hand. She could be quite dangerous whenever she chose to be. That might be part of the reason that the other guard did not like sparring with her. That and she didn't hold back.
The elemental fae enjoyed every sparring match between himself and Andais whenever she decided to get some exercise. Of the royalty that he'd guarded over the years, only a handful actively kept up their skills which always increased his respect for a charge he was assigned to. Because there was always the fear, or excitement, of a duel in a fae's life most were skilled with a blade, but Deacon was always more impressed with the ones who continued to learn.
Deacon also delighted in the fact that Andais never held back in their matches. Why should she when those that would seek to harm her certainly wouldn't. Which, of course, was the guard's goal in each match and the challenge that he craved.
He unholstered the gun at his back, placing it next to the katana sheaths with the safety on, of course. The blades hidden on his body, he kept and his toes curled into the grass when he stepped onto it. Excitement and tension suddenly clogged the air as he hooked a finger into the ring at the end of the hilt (his preference with all the blades he carried) and rapidly twirled the long blade, his free hand producing another. Deacon's challenge in this spar were Andais' blades; The katana were far longer than those that he held.
Andais had been trained from the time she was old enough to pick up a blade in her father's eyes. He had insisted that the girl be able to protect herself if she was to be able to accept Duel Challenges. She had the reputation of decimating her challengers. While her blades were longer than his, he had the benefit that his arms and legs were longer than hers. She took her starting position, one blade in either hand, Her left hand in front of her, the blade at an angle. The other hand above her head as she eyed him. She was spry, and small. that tended to give her an advantage. "What are our rules?" she asked, arching a brow.
The guard paused in twirling the knives, both blades pressed flat against the underside of his forearms. Deacon considered the question a moment and then grinned, "Third blood." The first fae to draw blood three times would win the match. Deacon hunkered his frame a bit to equal the playing field, as it were ,in their height and held the shorter blade in his left fist, holding it up to act as a shielf. The Longer blade was held like any other sword and was positioned at the ready.
She nodded her head and the corner of her mouth quirked up as she nodded. "Third blood it is." she said as she moved just to her right, sizing him up. She would let him make the first move. Her mind focused on strategy and on his movements.
Deacon sporadically twirled either knife as he circled Andais, looking for a weakness to exploit and exploded into a flurry of action when he found one. The guard twirled the shielding knife toward her left, the purpose in the action was to guide her toward his right where he could slash the longer knife at her upper left arm and draw first blood. Which of course may or may not have happened, depending whether or not she blocked or otherwise defended herself against his attacks.
She moved to her right, and frowned as she felt the slash on her upper arm. She looked at the small slash on her skin and her eyes narrowed. She looked at him and exploded into movement, her blades moving with smooth and quick movements as she spun and slashed towards him.
He was pressed backward due to her attack, but Deacon effectively blocked the initial onslaught until a small, but large enough, rock caused him to misstep. The guard was not surprised to feel the sting of the Princess' blade as he fell backward. Not the least bit discouraged, he used the momentum of his fall to kick his legs upward in the hopes of catching one of her hands to knock a katana out of her hands. Even if he didn't, it was a good tactic to push her away as his feet were then thrown over his head by the continuing momentum and effectively rolling Deacon to his feet.
She stepped back quickly as he kicked out with his feet and she hunkered down as she allowed him to get to his feet. She was focused on making him bleed again. She wasn't in a blood lust though, so there was no worry of her not stopping. The fact that she slowed to let him get to his feet rather than powering on was a good testimony of that.
He remained in a crouch a moment, kicking the offending rock aside just as he spun his blades. Each lay flat against his forearms, which he raised into a defensive position while he rose to his full height. Deacon then lunged at Andais, his right leg shooting out to hook around hers. If done right, the guard would be able to use his body and right arm to push Andais off balance.
She slashed out with her right blade as he knocked her off balance, making her fall back on her back. She swept her left leg up under his as she rolled quickly out of the way, disappearing into the shadows.
The guard cursed as he went down, just catching her disappearing body in his gaze before all he saw was sky. Deacon lay there flat on his back, catching his breath while he listened for movement rather than trying to track it with his eyes.
She got to her feet quietly. She stood still where she was, watching him. She wasn't going to strike while he was flat on his back. That was beneath her. She didn't really see using her ability to blend in with the shadows as Cheating, though Roz would have disagreed. She saw it as using something that she was able to do as a benefit, an advantage, just as his height and length of arms was to his advantage.
If the debate came up, Deacon would have sided with Andais; He was of the solid mind to "use what the Goddess gave you" and the Princess' tactic was hardly cheating in his eyes. He muttered another curse as he glanced down to his forearm which was pulled tight against his chest where a nice big gash flowed freely with blood. Andais had gotten him good, which was no small sting to his pride. Not only that, but she needed only one more chance to win the spar. So...he decided to see how long she could wait before coming out of hiding. As Deacon waited, he freed his hand from the weapon, drawing inspiration from the Princess to use his own power of fire. If his tactic proved fruitful, he could use a flash of fire to temporarily blind the faerie princess and get in an attack.
She stood quietly as he waited. She didn't want to draw his attention. After a few minutes, she started to get bored, and slowly moved, as silently as she could. When she crossed in front of the light of the porch, her shadow could be seen for only a moment before she moved faster out of the light.
Deacon took full advantage of what he heard and saw, sending a bright bolt of fire toward the shadow. He was instantly on his feet and throwing the smaller knife in Andais' direction.
She was startled by the flames and dropped , tumbling out of the way of the smaller knife that was thrown in her direction. She blinked several times, one of her hands moving up to rub her eyes that were now watering. She retreated further into the shadows.
The knife that he'd thrown was quickly replaced by any one of the others he kept on his person. Deacon rapidly twirled both blades, his arms a continuous smooth flow of movement as he turned slowly about the yard.
Andais blinked several times, wiping her eyes again. She pursed her lips as she considered her next move. She was amazingly patient in their match. She weighed her options and figured worse come to worse, they'd be even in the blood count. She moved quickly, keeping up her focus on maintaining the shadows as much as she could, flickers of her coming into focus as she dropped it and went into a vicious and quick paced attack, her blades swinging quickly.
Deacon gave Andais a serious amount of brownie points for using her advantage and pressing her attack hard against him. The guard would freely admit, if given the chance, that the two of them were evenly matched. But that evening, it was clear that Andais would win the match as Deacon ended up on the ground once more, the Princess having gotten him on the cheek. However, before he went down, Deacon had nicked her forearm again.
Andais saw his blood well on his cheek and the blood on her arm and realized that she had managed to beat him. It wasn't the first time, but it wasn't honestly something she had expected after the flash of light that had startled her. She stabbed her weapons into the grass and knelt down next to him. "I didn't damage you too bad did I?" she asked as she just ignored her own injuries. She never had been one to fret too much over spilled blood. But she hadn't meant to go for the face.
His fingers probed at the wound on his cheek and came away with blood. A slow grin curved his lips at her question, "It comes with the territory, Princess, I don't mind in the least what happened." Deacon, too, stabbed his own weapons into the dirt beside his body and let out a satisfied sigh. The match had been well played, so the guard held no complaints.
She leaned down and kissed his forehead softly. "Good, because I did not mean to strike you in the face... You just moved..." she said as if that explained it all. She moved back to sit on her heels and watched him. "I feel invigorated."
As she leaned over him and kissed his forehead, Deacon lifted his hand so that his fingers could drag through her hair as she sat back up. The guard didn't make a fuss of the fact that she'd won, a well earned victory in Deacon's opinion and instead chuckled at the Princess' last statement, "A good fight will do that."
She closed her eyes as his fingers trailed through her hair. That was a sure fire way to get her to do anything someone wanted, play with her hair. Well almost anything. She smiled at him and nodded. "I do enjoy whenever you're here to spar with much more than whenever I'm left to my own devices."
Deacon always marveled at how soft Andais' hair could be, or any woman's for that matter. He grinned, "Well, the pleasure is mine, too, Your Highness. You are skilled and it shows," the guard indicated the obvious signs of her victory on Deacon's body.
She moved to lay next to him on the grass, letting her hair fall over her shoulder. "You have helped helped train me well." she said simply as she looked over at him.
As he shifted closer to Andais, Deacon quipped back, "I would be remiss in my duty to you if I didn't, Your Highness." The guard rolled his head to the side, looking back at her with a small smile on his lips.
She shifted closer to him, laying her head on his arm. She rested her hand on his chest. "And we wouldn't want that, now would we?" she quipped back at him as she tapped his nose playfully.
Deacon comically rolled his eyes away, "Uhhh...no, no we wouldn't." He shook head and looked back at her, chuckling again at the playful tap to his nose. His response to that was nuzzle her hair and tickle her cheek with the coarse hair upon his chin.
She smiled as he nuzzled her hair and couldn't help but laugh as he tickled her cheek with the coarse hair on his chin. She looked up at him, completely at ease in the night. She was more relaxed than she had been since she got to Los Angeles.
It pleased the guard to see Andais smile and made him happy not because she wasn't going to fly into one of her fatal rages, but because it meant she wasn't in pain. Deacon's fingers sought Andais' and he laced them together to lightly squeeze her hand.
She let him lace their fingers together, as she nuzzled closer to him, her tricolored eyes closed as she kissed his jaw softly and let out a contented sigh. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze back and ran her thumb back and forth over his.
The slightest hiss fell from his lips as his wounded arm was jostled just right when Andais snuggled closer. Deacon ignored the flare of pain as it would lessen eventually and instead stared upward at the sky, noting that there was hardly a star in it just before another thought occurred to him that made him grin, "So...I guess we're not going out tonight, huh." Deacon commented.
She thought for a few moments. "I hadn't intended to go out tonight, otherwise I would not have initiated sparring." she said as she looked at him. "Did you wish to go out?"
He shook his head, laughing a little as he replied, "Andais, I could stay like this forever with you." Uh-oh, those were serious words coming from Deacon seeing as how anyone could count on one hand the number of times the guard addressed the Princess by her given name. It was also, perhaps, the closest he'd ever come to even hinting how he felt about Andais.
She was always a little startled whenever he actually called her by her name. She was so used to him calling her Princess or Your Magesty or whatever titles he called her. Hearing him call her Andais was a welcome thing in her mind. His words melted her in ways that no one had ever managed to melt her. "I think that would be nice, though nicer if it wouldn't get sunny and me get a sunburn eventually." she said as she nuzzled his neck.
Deacon, for whatever reason, found the sunburn comment to be incredibly funny. It was probably due to the humorous picture he'd conjured up in his mind of the poor Princess red as a lobster. He did his damnedest to be polite and contain the humor, but try as he might, the guard could not. Snorted peals of laughter came from the fiery fae and he immediately rolled to press his face into the grass to muffle the noise. Deacon's whole body shook with the action of laughing and great gasps of air were taken into his lungs when he could.
Andais didn't understand his sudden outburst of laughter, and frowned whenever he rolled away from her. She didn't know why he was laughing, but assumed it was at her expense. She sat up and felt not like she should be there anymore. She got up silently and walked up the stairs of the porch, letting herself blend into the shadows as she entered the house quietly. She disappeared up the stairs just as quietly as the night itself and closed the door before crawling into her bed and pulled the darkness around herself like a soft silken blanket.
His laughter had eventually died just as she got up from the ground. Deacon immediately realized his infraction and sat up, silently watching as she descended the porch steps, disappearing into the darkness that she loved. Deacon groaned at himself and fell back against the grass once more.
"Nice job, Deacon, piss her off, you idiot." The guard berated himself to the night and stared angrily at the black sky. Eventually, he sighed and got to his feet to pull out Andais' katana and sheathed them both. He collected his own weapons and headed inside to the Princess' room where he quietly entered the suite.
There was a weapons rack attached to one of the walls in Andais' play area and he returned the katana to their rightful place. As Deacon passed her bed for the second time, he hesitated.
Andais sniffled softly as she curled up even smaller on the bed. She looked tiny in the large bed, the top of her head was the only thing peaking out from the blanket. She had pulled the tie out of her hair and it fell in a curtain around her body. He hadn't pissed her off. He had hurt her feelings, though most of the time that would have sent her into a rage, tonight, it made her wish she could disappear for real.
The sniffles is what did him in. Deacon felt like an utter beast for not comporting himself in a better manner not long ago around the princess. The guard moved to the bed and silently crawled onto it next to the princess as he tried not to get too much blood all over her most likely nice sheets. Deacon laid, what he hoped would be, a comforting hand on her head, his fingers curling in her hair and combing through it in silent apology.
Her sheets were black this time, so even if he had gotten blood on them, she wouldn't have noticed. She felt him climb up onto her bed next to her. She felt his fingers curling though her hair and she stilled, refusing to let him see her cry. She closed herself off as she did whenever she didn't want to admit she felt someway.
"I should have been more respectful of your feelings, Andais." Deacon paused and then murmured, "...I'm sorry." The guard propped himself up to press a kiss to her hair and then scooted off the bed. He quietly made he way to the door to leave.
She kept her eyes closed until she felt him scoot off of the bed. Her eyes stared at the wall. "Please don't leave..." she said quietly. It wasn't often that she used the word please, even with him. it wasn't her normal vocabulary. But she didn't want to be alone. She didn't want him to leave.
He had his hand on the doorknob and the door halfway open when the word "please" descended on Deacon's ears. The guard froze in utter shock. The fact that Andais had even used the word meant that she'd taken a bit hit to her pride to say it. He closed the door and returned to the bed, crawling into it beside her.
She heard the door close and closed her eyes, scared that he had left. She felt him climb into the bed and relief radiated through her muscles. She rolled over and curled up into him, burying her face against his chest, letting the darkness fade from around her, only her hair remaining in the curtain around her.
His fingers found their way back into her hair, combing through the dark the locks. Deacon pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, and leaned in close. The guard's tongue flicked out to lick the tears away that remained on Andais' exposed cheek. He could practically taste the salt of her pain. Deacon pulled away enough to whisper a final apology, "I'm sorry, Princess."
She let him move her face so that he could lick away the remaining tears on her cheek. She settled her hand on his hip and she looked up at him. "It is alright, Deacon..." she said softly. She let her eyes settle on his as she remained close to him. She moved her hand up to his hair and trailed her fingers through the hair at the base of his skull.
Deacon let the tension he'd been feeling drain away at both her words and touch. He exhaled a sigh and relaxed further, settling into the bed more comfortably and snuggled closer to the princess.
She closed what little distance was between them still, her fingers trailing through his hair still. She pulled his face down to her, placing a soft kiss against the cut on his cheek, where she had bled him last.
His previously closed eyes blinked open in surprise and a silent question appeared in his tri-colored gaze at the princess. Deacon had never been overly intimate with Andais; Cuddling between the two, or any fae for that matter, was never uncommon, but the guard had made it a point to put his duty to her first above all things. He'd been handpicked to protect the princess, not play around with he. So the fact that he'd let himself indulge in licking away her tears and she kissing his wound might have been an indicator to him that he was slipping in his duty. Despite these thoughts, a small smile curved his lips and Deacon brushed the tip of his nose against her's as he couldn't very well insult her further by not responding to the gesture.
She let her own tri-colored eyes meet his as she felt his nose brush against hers. She had never pursued something with Deacon. He was one of the constants in her life... And the one person outside of her father and Rozenwyn that she truly loved. Her eyes which she shielded so hard from people to hide what she was feeling, she never hid completely from him. They were wide open to him now. Showing him just how much she cared about him
Deacon knew that somewhere within Andais, the princess cared and knew that she truly cared for only a few. The guard had always supposed that the reason she cared for him was because he was one of the few that remained by her side; He'd seen the guards come and go around her, so very little surprised him. Yet tonight he was surprised, twice, by the princess. One corner of his mouth was pulled into a smile that faded as he lifted a finger to trace the length of her nose before he moved to kiss the corner of her mouth. Deacon then murmured, "Good night, Andais."
She watched him and felt him kiss the corner of her mouth. She let her eyes shift down from his face whenever he said good night to her. She let her hands move down from his hair to curl around herself. "good night, Deacon..." she said quietly. She moved her head to cover herself in her long tangle of hair. She closed her eyes and tried to will herself to just go to sleep, even though she had only been awake a few hours.