Nobody wants to play with me

[Whisper]

The Forest was still, and serene. Snow still dusted the leafy ground and trees, and all was quiet save for a few birds twittering happily somewhere towards the edge of the expanse of woodland. All of sudden, however, the twittering stopped. Utter silence lay as thick as the snow, and a figure emerged into a clearing.

It was a girl, but quite obviously not just any girl. Her skin was almost as white as the snow that surrounded the scene, and her hair was long, silken, and silvery. She moved with unearthly grace, and though her complexion spoke of one young and beautiful, there was a kind of infinite wisdom in the violet eyes that took in her surroundings. She was dressed in a long silk dress that was a creamy-silver, and although it seemed to suit the scene, anyone who saw her would wonder why she wasn't cold, why there was no rosy flush on her cheeks or nose.

Whisper's starbright gaze took in everything that was around her. Every bent tree, every snow-dusted rock - and beneath the snow, beneath the leaves, she could feel like a memory the footprints of those who had gone before her.

Only months ago, she had been here, intervening in a fight between Danawi, his followers, and a band of students who had come across his lair. She walked over to the tree where she had fallen, and touched its bark, feeling her surprise all over again when the shadowlord Danawi had called for Lothani to hold off her attack... to save the Valkerie. She knew it had been no more than his love, his obsession with power that had saved her from being harmed - he had been besotted with the Valkerie creature as soon as he had seen her - but Whisper had resolved to keep the battle on even footing until the end.

And had failed.

Through her inward eye, she could see that things had not turned out equally at all... though she had not wanted to see, the Oracle in her showed her once again the image of the broken and waif-like Headmistress Rose sucking the life out of Danawi, destroying him with a burning touch with as little remorse as any Valkerie. Something was terribly wrong now - nobody else could see it but Whisper knew there was something terribly out of balance in the cosmos.

But who would listen to her?

[Maí Lé Rosà]

The demoness had been resting upon one of the higher branches of the trees in the forest, her head back against the tree's trunk lazily. Her ivory tresses snaked down her spine and spilled over the branch to hang from the demoness' head like the strings of a puppet hanging from their wooden frame above. Only Mai's head was far from wooden, it was indeed flesh, bone, blood and knowledge. Perhaps as fragile as porcelain, as her face often imposed.

Fingers toyed with the black lace at the front of her corsét, tying it, then untying it, and then tying again. Her ruffled skirts of misty-rose fell in creamy swirls around her thighs, stopping where one could see the beginnings of her black knee-highs. Their pointed heels as deadly as arrow heads. The demoness let out a gentle yawn, her sharp teeth revealed between painted lips.

The birds she had been listening to suddenly stopped their singing, and her carmine eyes snapped open. Her fingers worked swiftly over the lace at the front of her corsét, tying it quickly. With the utmost silence, she swiveled her legs over the edge of the branch and dropped to the ground, rising slowly and scanning her surroundings. A chill swept over the demoness as she spotted a figure up ahead, and she ventured closer, cautiously.

A girl stood flawlessly in the center of the clearing, and the demoness let her head turn on an angle, her lips parting slightly as she continued to study the being before her. Her hands could have twitched at her sides and the sills of her eyes lifted in wonder at the girl, gosh how she just wanted to touch her delicate cheeks. Her violet eyes capturing something in Mai that made her exhale softly as though there was no breath left in her.

The girl was beautiful.
The Valkerie, was divine.

Ever so slowly, as if any faster might make time or her own face crack, Mai smiled in admiration. Her hand extended slightly to the Valkerie, but she carefully lowered it again soon after, thinking perhaps it was best if she did not approach her any further. These creatures were legendary, and very well-known for their powers. Then again, Mai knew Kaiser quite well and he had been one of the four legendary Valkeries. At one point in the ever-fading space of time, she had killed him. Whether the other Valkeries knew this or not, Mai did not know, and although he had returned, Mai had doubts that his sisters would forgive whomever it was that battled him to his first death.

Collecting herself, Mai blinked, before raising her head slightly at the girl and tipping her eyebrows together faintly. "Hello." Mai uttered. "To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing one such as yourself here?" The demoness asked curiously. It was known that the Valkeries had their own hideaway, and the demoness found it most unusual that one would pay a visit to the forest. Sinking in to her own territorial manner, Mai in fact was very set on figuring out what exactly the Valkerie was doing here. Surely it had to be of importance.

[Whisper]

The vibrations of Danawi's painful end were flowing through her, making every inch of her skin tingle. The Valkerie was so wrapped up in experiencing this secondary death that the soft voice from behind her almost went unnoticed.

Whisper turned, tilting her head to the side, and studied the demon through wide, expressionless eyes. She could not sense what kind of creature stood before her, only that it was not Lycan or Vampire, the creatures she had expected to come across on her venture into the forest. There was something almost Valkerie-like about the beautiful creature in front of Whisper, and the Valkerie had to resist a strong urge to reach out and feel her soft ivory hair and lose herself in the carmine eyes that were almost like her own dear sister's.

Understanding that, at least for now, this creature was of no threat to her, Whisper turned her gaze away again and looked at the tree she had been touching, considering the question. It was true, she did not get out much. She was not even sure what had called her here today... but her wings had enjoyed a good stretch.

"I am not sure I know the answer... yet..." said Whisper honestly, tracing another slender finger down the icy bark of the tree. "I suddenly needed to be here... so I came."

She blinked, and turned again to Mai. Suddenly, she realised she had forgotten all her manners. And she so often scolded her younger sisters for doing the same! "Pardon my intrusion, I did not mean to disturb anybody... I came as quietly as I could. My name is Whisper, eldest of the Valkeries..." Her eyes lingered on the girl's beautiful hair and deep red eyes. "May I... ask your name?"

[Maí Lé Rosà]

A piece of Mai's hair fell from behind her ear to flitter in front of her face as a southerly breeze whispered through the forest in a serene manner. It was picturesque, the two other worldly creatures standing before one another, each thinking the other beautiful, each holding thoughts and secrets untold. Neither knowing each other's name.

The silence between when the Valkerie turned to look at Mai, and when she spoke, kept the demoness' heart beating steadily. It was visible that any attack from the Valkerie would come as a complete shock, though the demoness knew to keep herself very on-guard. Perhaps the look in her eyes grew bold as she sifted these facts through her mind, for the Valkerie turned to glance at the tree beside her.

When she spoke, Mai's heart flipped and she scolded herself inwardly. She had been so tense in the expectation of some unexpected flurry of movements that she had quite forgotten her own question. Smirking lightly at herself she nodded to the other, taking in her words carefully. The being's finger raised to touch the bark of the tree and Mai watched it, wondering what power it was that the Valkerie held that had her so edgy.

The Valkerie looked at Mai again, but the demoness kept her own scarlet eyes on the tree now, pondering what it was that she had heard of Valkeries. Someone had once uttered to her that they could foresee the future, and this had Mai's curiosity in an instant. Perhaps the Valkerie woman could see something coming, and this was the demoness' opportunity to get one step ahead of those who were still naive to what could have been danger.

"You did not disturb anyone, Whisper." Mai reassured the Valkerie with a submissive smile, now returning her gaze to those of violet. "You are quite like your name..." She added quietly, unable to prevent her arm from outstretching and her fingers gently following Whisper's cheek down to her chin, before falling and letting go. A silent apology appeared in Mai's eyes as her hand dropped back to her own side smoothly.

"I am Maí Lé Rosà." She said softly, using her full name as a sign of respect. Mai's gaze dropped to the ground subtly and she inhaled almost painfully. She felt as though she had tainted something untouchable, something, from heaven. All in caressing the pretty face of this Valkerie; Whisper.

[Whisper]

Whisper froze as the creature extended an arm to do what the Valkerie had restrained herself from doing - trace a finger slowly down the curve of the other's face. Although she didn't mean to, the Valkerie sensed the demon's thoughts and feelings in that brief moment - but so similar to own emotions of wonder and hesitance, that she was barely able to pick apart from the two.

"Thankyou... your name is beautiful," said Whisper, casting her own gaze away from the demoness. She wondered why she had come across this beautiful creature on her venture, who intrigued and confused her, when all she was meant to be here for was trying to find out what was wrong. She could feel it in every inch of her - both her and her siblings had been having the same dark dreams, premonitions for sure, of blood and fire and - overwhelming it all - the feeling of true evil.

But she still could not see how.

Whisper raised her eyes, looking at Mai once again. Perhaps there was something she could tell her about what was coming. There are no coincidences in life, Whisper had been shown this time and time again, and there was a reason that the pair had been brought to each other in the Forest. The only real question now was what the demoness would want from her...

Casting the thoughts aside, Whisper slowly extended her arm and took the demoness's hand, holding it gently in her own. "Forgive me for being so forward, but I must ask something of you, and I would be eternally in your debt if you would oblige me. I have been sensing a great evil brewing, a kind of evil I thought had been banished from here - do you know anything about it? I have tried to See, but the evil is so great that I am sure I would be corrupted by it were I to look directly at its face. Do you know anything, anything at all?"

She gazed with an almost childlike hopefulness at Mai... it was answers she sought today, and no more.

[Maí Lé Rosà]

Mai smiled faintly as Whisper commented on her name, and now she raised her scarlet eyes, only to have the Valkerie turn her own violet ones away. Studying the other being as best as she could, the demoness noticed an aura of uncertainty. Mai did not know exactly what seemed 'off', though there was certainly a sense of discomfort and confused concern spiralling off the Valkerie.

As Whisper raised her orbs and her hand reached out to take Mai's hand in her own, the demoness looked at their connected grasp gently before returning her attention to Whisper. The worried words that followed the silence in the clearing sent a very fine shiver up Mai's spine and she could not help swallowing back nerves as Whisper continued informing her of some unknown evil coming.

It was very clear in the moments of tense quiet that followed Whisper's voice that the demoness was thinking very deeply. She was a being of Hell, and whether she graced honesty to admit it or not, if there was anyone who could look into the eyes of evil and depart from it untainted, it was her. This heavenly being before her had the ability to sense it, yes, but Mai had the ability to find it and lure it out.

Now Mai considered the different evils she had seen recently. There was Danawi, though she had heard on the passing wind that he had fallen, then there was Fenris, though he was no more of a threat than herself, and this drew her mind toward the snippets of conversation she had caught in her own dreams, by the boughing branches of trees, their creaking howls to one another about a new danger. Could that have been it?

"Angelus Morti.." She uttered almost silently, surprising herself as the two words rolled off her tongue. Her eyes seemed to return to focus on Whisper and a frown creased her brow; her hand carefully leaving that of the Valkerie as an edgy look passed through her irises. What was it she had spoken of? She was not sure, but deep in the confines of her mind there stood a knowledge that this could be perhaps the only thing unnerving the powerful being before her.

"Angel of Death.." She translated softly, stepping back from the Valkerie as a sense of great cautiousness swept over her. Mai's expression read confusion now, and she tilted her head at Whisper slightly, curious as to whether the Valkerie could help her understand. "What is this 'Angelus Morti' my mind refuses to let pass?" She asked, now searching for her own answers. Perhaps it was not at all what the Valkerie was looking for, but it certainly surprised Mai that a deep look into her own thoughts had raised such a title.


EDIT: {ooc}: I really have no idea where I'm going with this... >.<

[Whisper]

Whisper dropped the demoness's hand and instead clutched her own to herself, cradling her hand as though it had been burned.

"Yes," she whispered, shaking her head, shadows dancing in her violent purple eyes. "That is what has been in my head. Day and night, shadows gather in my head, they wouldn't let me See what was coming..."

Whisper raised her head again, her eyes gazing into Mai's. Purple and red clashed in meeting, and the Valkerie only now noticed whom she was speaking to; how opposed they really were. Mai was a creature of Hell, naturally born to evil, and Whisper... had no idea what she had been made to be, but there was no birth or life for her, simply a creation and existence. She wondered what two beings that looked so similar could have done to be placed at opposing ends of the good versus evil spectrum. It was a shame, really, that Whisper had not tended towards war and destruction like her brother Kaiser... then maybe she would find a place, find friends, among the other creatures that dwelled within the castle's grounds.

"I do not know what Angelus Morti shall mean for you, but for the school it means death, without exception," said Whisper, the fog in her visions beginning to clear. She sighed inwardly, thinking of the Headmistress, who, after her last ordeal, was about to be put through an even more vicious and uncertain one. But what could she do? It was her duty to remain neutral.

Whisper smiled, her soft mouth curving slightly at the corners. "I apologise, again... I came here seeking answers, and you have helped, thank you. I am in your debt. Let me know if there is anything I can do to repay this kindness." Whisper turned her head skywards, wondering if now was the time to return to the Hideaway. But something was telling her to remain her, a curiosity lingered about the beautiful being before her.

Deciding to stay, Whisper leaned gently against the nearby tree, the one she had so lovingly touched only moments before.

ooc: No need to apologise, my post was frightfully vague. It's a pleasure roleplaying with you.

[Maí Lé Rosà]

{ooc}: The pleasure is all mine. -smiles-

{bic}: Mai listened ever so carefully to the Valkerie, taking in each hint of emotion on her tongue and expression, and every word uttered. Taking it all and imprinting this meeting in her memory may have assisted Mai in future dealings, and so that was what she did. She remembered as much as she could take in, which was easily everything so far.

She nodded distantly as Whisper spoke of death for the school, and silently she wondered much to herself than anything else, what it could be that had the power to cause such havoc over the castle's inhabitants. The demoness also wondered, more seriously now, what this meant for her, and she grew very still, deep in thought.

When Whisper apologised, Mai's eyes snapped out of their trance-like state and she floated back into the current situation, offering a tweak of a smile in return to the Valkerie's. Such a darling creature she was, she with her lavender eyes and heavenly hair. Why, Mai almost wished she were her sister, for the kindness of this creature before her only illuminated her power, and the demoness adored such beings, for she felt right at home with them.

Then it occurred to her.

I am in your debt. Let me know if there is anything I can do to repay this kindness.

Although Mai did not think of herself as kind, or one to provide answers in the moment, chiefly since she felt she had raised but another issue, she could not help but take to heart the Valkerie's final words, and a very sensitive idea began to weave strings through her insides. As she saw Whisper look up, and obviously consider leaving, Mai choked out, "I.." but lost it all after that, and had to start again.

Whisper leaned against the tree, and Mai was silently relieved to see her stay, perhaps even if it was only for a few moments. "You are so very genuine." She said suddenly, attempting to bring to her lips what she was getting at, even though she was not quite certain herself. "I, want to be able to see you, again.." She trailed off, thinking that perhaps any further would be too much to ask.

It had been a very long time since Mai had come across such welcomed company, if ever. This reinforced her idea and she decided to unlock it for the Valkerie, bracing herself for whatever answer or even reaction she may receive. "Will you let me visit you, whenever I wish for your company?" Mai's cheeks paled, yet held a rosy tint at the very same time, and she reached out with a look in her eyes that almost said she wanted to run in the other direction.

She held Whisper's hands in her own, and blinked, hiding for that minute second behind a shade of darkness. "Will you protect me from your sisters, and your brother, if I come to visit you?" She whispered, swallowing back tears that had somehow sprung from honesty in her being. All she desired was this beautiful creature's company, for whenever the demoness felt alone.

Mai's breathe stopped short in her throat.
Would she be rejected?