Forever Yours (Merik)

[Merik Dragmire]

"And as I recall you were generally quiet for a good thirty seconds afterwards before you had to start in with your giggling again." Merik retorted as he watched T.R. take another drink before grabbing the flask from her and having another himself.

His face remained impassive as she mentioned the poison grove, he knew that she knew about it and of course she'd make a point to mention it. He did chuckle when she said that she was going to cause some mayhem in Castle Town before heading home. Nodding at the plan he took a final drink before handing the flask back to her.

"When I visited the poison grove a few months ago I was certain that it was simply a dead-end but it appears to not be the case. However whatever is there is only for my master and I to know. I shall go in alone and face my destiny...and perhaps in a few hundred years I will be brought back to serve my master again...and perhaps I'll find myself another Tabula Rasa to join me."

[Tabula Rasa]

x x

TR giggled in response to Merik's comment about her giggling, before batting her hand dismissively. "The thrill of the hunt, or perhaps I always enjoy thinking about what your dear Kotone would say if she had caught us," she grinned, grabbing the flask back and taking a sip. She didn't swallow this one, but instead brought the flame in her palm up and spat the alcohol across the room. It caught fire and for a moment TR was breathing fire, lighting up the entire room, before the mist fell away.

And she started giggling again in the resounding darkness that came afterward as the flame in her palm was once more dismissed. "Oh I know you intend to go in alone, my dear captain," she shrugged, honestly a little disappointed. "What happens if any of the bloodhounds on your trail catch up to you before you can finish your little ritual?" she murmured, turning and placing her hand against the wound on his neck, dragging her finger along the length with a claw on either side, scratching the skin but not the wound. "They've had a taste of your blood now, they'll be right behind you."

"There's only one of me, my dear captain, and there'll only ever be one. But you know I survive, how do you know I won't be there when you come back to serve your master? I always do like to serve my master, as you do know," she grinned, her claws reaching the end of his wound and drifting downward to rest her hand against his chest. "You don't know much about me, after all, how do you know I haven't already seen a hundred years?" she giggled wickedly.

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[Merik Dragmire]

Merik shook his head as T.R. started breathing fire, blackening the ceiling a bit but overall not managing to cause any real damage. As darkness returned to the chamber he felt both finger and claws trailing along his neck, though he tried his best to ignore it as the conversation continued.

"I'm going there to die and IF any of them manage to show up they'll be there to kill me, not capture me. So as it stands they'll just be playing right into my hand if they do show up and try. And they won't BE right behind me, they ARE right behind me. I'd be surprised if there isn't a line of Knight's all around the edge of the forest to try and prevent my escape as we speak."

Her final words brought a smile to his face; it was true that she served him well (even during the times when she clearly didn't agree with what he ordered), and it was also true that he didn't know that much about her.

"I won't deny that your mind has, easily, seen hundreds of thousands of years from hundreds of thousands of lives. But this body..." his hand rose to stroke her cheek as her hand settled on his chest. "...has not seen one hundred years. There are far too few conflagrations in Hyrule's history for you to have lived that long."

[Tabula Rasa]

x x

"You play a dangerous game, Dragmire, and that's why I like you," TR cooed softly as Merik spoke of the people chasing him. Of course part of her felt some remorse for the fact that Merik was dying, but that part was buried behind layers upon layers of psychosis and rarely ever saw the light of day. It was that tiny voice speaking meekly in a room full of charismatic lawyers, all pitching their own points. And the loudest of them all saw the glee that was Merik's final salute to those who chased him, to have them corner him just to have . . . well it would be entertaining, to say the least.

'We could just set the forest on fire and retreat in the ensuing chaos, if you don't feel the need to die just yet. They certainly wouldn't expect any measure that drastic," TR commented innocently, before her tone switched again. "And I'd be happy to make sure more than a few of them got caught in the inferno, as well." The fire was back in her hand like some kind of compulsive response to the mention of fire, satisfying that deep giddiness that the thought brought to her by having it in hand. She let it dance among her fingers.

"You flatter me, my dear king, but don't pretend to think you know how I work. Perhaps I was laying low, waiting for you, and perhaps I will lay low for another hundred until you return. I can appear quite . . . sane, if I wanted to, if I needed to, as many have found," she grinned, like a child showing their perfect report card to a parent. "And together we can beckon in a new age, well, together as in you and I serving your master and all that~"

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[Merik Dragmire]

"The game isn't worth playing if there isn't a decent amount of risk involved, and lets be honest when you play with a dead-man's hand it's all or nothing." Merik said, allowing his own dark laughter to flow from him as the room lit up once more.

"No, its the time for this to end... even though running off into the burning night with you does sound amusing in it's own way. But as it stands things will probably be finished by this time tomorrow. I've got plans for the last of this evening, I'll give the healers a bit of time to get me in a good condition to walk tomorrow and then make for the grove." His eyes followed the flame as T.R. made it dance around her fingers in the air.

He laughed a little more when she said she might be waiting to rejoin him in the far future. He contemplated her words for a few seconds before shrugging slightly.

"Fine, if I get brought back in a century or two and you are here waiting for me, remind me that I owe you a drink."

[Tabula Rasa]

x x

"The dead man's hand is the best hand to play, because you have nothing to lose and everything to gain from every little play," TR cooed in response to Merik's words. She shrugged then, and smirked. "Are you sure you don't want me to set the forest ablaze around them still? Give you some friends to take into the afterlife, wherever you may be going, my dear captain," she said, eyes locked on the flame in her hand as her smirk turned diabolic.

"The 'healers' you say, huh, captain? Titania's one of them, isn't she? Quite the capable healer, she is, both physical and spiritual, from what I can see," she teased, twisting her fingers this way and that and letting the flame follow her movements. Each little movement she had swayed the flame in a new direction, offering it wind here and there. Throwing oxygen toward it and it gobbled the oxygen up hungrily this way and that. She grinned widely, like a child playing with a toy, as she flickered the flame to and fro, letting it do a little dance.

"I'll make sure to know where the best bars are," she giggled as Merik made his offer. "Or the most expensive. Can't keep a girl waiting for a hundred years and not buy her something expensive, my king," she grinned, resting her head on his shoulder again. "And by then Kotone will be dead and you don't have to sneak around and keep everything from her, nor will there be any whore daughters or frisky fairies, just you and me," she said with a sing-song tone.

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[Merik Dragmire]

"No no, the absolute last thing I want to deal with for any portion of my impending breaking are worthless Knights complaining about their failure." Merik said as he shifted to scratch at his burns lightly.

Conversation slipped back to the healers and as T.R. mentioned Titania's role as a healer he couldn't help but smile as the image of her in her nurse outfit came to mind.

"I'd be lying if I said she wasn't skilled...she knows plenty of ways to bring the mind and body a little peace."

And as things reached talk of the future again he smirked as she talked of finding an expensive bar.

"Make sure not to burn through the Bay's treasury then, I might need some extra rupees." When she mentioned it just being the two of them he had to fight off a growl as she spoke so casually of Kotone being dead. "If one didn't know better, they might suspect that you DO want to be queen to my king..."

[Tabula Rasa]

x x

"But imagine their faces when they die and find you there in the otherworld waiting for them. How despairing to be greeted and led by your mortal enemy. It's such a glorious thought, are you sure you don't want me to?" TR pouted, almost insisting. Her only lament is that she wouldn't be able to see such faces even if she did pull through with the plan and send off several Knights as well. But there was no place for her in the afterlife, even if she did want to see them.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't already know," TR giggled and let Merik mull over that thought for a moment before tapping his forehead with one of her claws. Just a gentle pinprick, all things considered. "I know everything, remember~" she cooed, bringing her finger down to flick Merik on the nose in an incredibly random and intimate gesture out of nowhere. Perhaps it fed into what she was getting at in her last comment.

"She is too fiery for her own good. Hardly even listens to you, my dear captain. You are a born leader, born into greatness, you deserve people who listen to your every word, carry out your every order, do exactly what is necessary to seal your place in history, that is all," she shrugged. "Some of your choice company was less than desirable. Kotone and Caramon, for example, only serve to get you into trouble, more trouble than you get yourself into."

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[Merik Dragmire]

"Regardless, I've seen enough of knight's to last me multiple lifetimes and I don't want to see them when I'm dead." Merik replied, completely ignoring T.R.'s pout as she tried to get her way.

He smirked as she flicked his nose, really not expecting it but knowing that it's damn near impossible to actually expect anything from T.R.; with the notable exception of fire...you should always expect and plan for fire whenever she was around as she was certainly proving tonight.

"I know you know, hell you've probably got a few dozen people, at least, in your head who are just as familiar with Titania as I am. You're the one person who has been with Titania the most and you've never even been with her." he said as the conversation turned back towards his personal life.

"And that is precisely why I chose Kotone. I told you long ago that I don't want my queen to bow and scrape, to try and say whatever she thinks I want to hear. I don't always make the right decisions and if I had all those people my stupid decisions wouldn't get challenged when they need to be. It doesn't mean I always listened when I'm challenged but there are times when I need Kotone to pull me back, which she does admirably."

[Tabula Rasa]

x x

"A few, but they're not really noteworthy enough to remember," she said with a dismissive shrug. "Kotone's favorite bug might be seasoned, but she doesn't know half the things I do," she said and giggled in response, a naughty giggle which . . . well there's no need for a comparison considering the true meaning behind her last few words. Her hand found its way to his chest again and she grinned. "You remember what I'm capable of, don't you," she said, her grin probably a bit more devious than was necessary for the subject matter.

And then topics changed completely once more. TR never stayed in one place long and, at least by appearances, her mind was much the same. "While you've been away she's been trying to keep the hunt off of you. Though some of her means are questionable, I heard a few rumors about her even trying to take the Gerudo Crown for herself. Not the kind of woman I'd trust as my adviser, but then its your head, now, isn't it. If you made the mistakes that got you caught then you wouldn't be the man I follow, so clearly something's going right."

TR sat upright in the bed and spun so her feet fell over the edge. As far as dismounts went this one was rather calm for TR despite its abruptness. "Sounds like you have a busy night ahead of you before you croak. Shall I light a candle for you when you're gone?" she teased as she stood up and stretched. Her definition of candle was always very liberal, and no doubt by now Merik would be well aware of this fact, and the fact that her meaning could be anywhere. Or she could just be asking for some orders to burn something down. Nothing was ever straightforward with TR.

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[Merik Dragmire]

"Yes but you've got a useful little advantage for picking up all the tricks that many others have to work to find." Merik said as he patted T.R.'s hand for a second. "I remember vividly what you are capable of...I think it'd be difficult to forget anything about what you can do."

'"She's hardly taking the crown from me when I'm leaving it to her, besides she's the next eldest Dragmire and we're still the reigning family." he replied as he closed his eyes again. "It figures that she'd try to pull me out of the fire again. With you to get me into trouble, and Titania and Kotone to drag me out I'm surprised I'm not standing still."

And next thing he knew T.R. was out of the bed and back on her feet, seemingly getting ready to go. He smirked as he sent a little mental message to her about what exactly he wanted her to do.

"Expect a letter from me when you return to the Bay. I've got a last little mission I'd like you to undertake but I've still got to finalize a few details on the matter."

[Tabula Rasa]

x x

TR was no stranger to the impression she left on people. Merik, however, was a special exception. He was her king and she followed him with utmost loyalty . . . though she sometimes took creative license with his orders and how they were worded. It was her little way of making the more boring missions more fun. Boring by her terms; her kind of loyalty and the missions he sent her on could never expressly be defined as boring. She wasn't a diplomat, not for him, though she was entirely capable of such. She briefly considered if she'd ever shown him everything she was capable of, but dismissed the thought when she got a new set of orders through the Pirate Stone.

"You know I am standing right here, you don't need to use your little toys," she cooed, thumbing the stone where it was wrapped around her neck, somehow hidden behind the outfit she wore that could be very loosely defined as scant. She grinned widely, all the same, as her orders were exactly the kind of thing she enjoyed. "You do know how to show a girl a good time, my dear captain. Anarchy shall reign upon your return," she said, her words falling into some tune that was entirely unrecognizable.

"I will await my final mission day and night, as I have always waited for word from you, my king," she said, dipping into an extremely low bow with one hand over her stomach and the other one behind her. Remarkably formal and, bizarrely, remarkably refined. Like she had done it far too often. Such was TR's way. "I will look for stories of your death and I expect them to be glorious," she said as she walked over the window of the room. "I will see you when you return, my king and captain," she said finally, setting herself on the window ledge, giving him a salute, and then letting herself fall backward and out the window.

[EXIT]

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[Merik Dragmire]

Merik smiled darkly when T.R. acknowledged her orders, he knew she'd have her fun with the matter but overall she should be able to do what he asked easily...and as she said, if done correctly anarchy would reign.

"Good luck to you Tabula Rasa. Always remember to take a little time out of your busy schedule to appreciate the finer things in life, before you set them aflame and make them better that is." he said as she bowed before him and climbed onto the window's ledge.

"I expect my actual death will pass quietly, but the events soon to follow should make a fair bit of noise." he managed to get out before she saluted and fell through the window and out of sight.

He waited a few minutes after she had left before sending off a message to one of his guards back at the fortress. It was time for his next goodbye and he had a feeling this one would not be as easy as the one he had just concluded.

[exit and finished]