A failed Inflitraion (Open)

[Pbyer]

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Between the city of Lighthedge, and the castle of Alevale, is a small space of wilderness that separates the two. From one part of the path one is easily able to march right up to the front gates of the castle, which of course are guarded most hours of the day. And the other leads back to town. It was specifically designed this way to prevent unwanted visitors into the castle, by eliminating all access points sides from one which was easily guarded. Sound logic.

It was here that Jasmine was resting, her back up against a small oak tree with her long purple hair untied and trailing down her backside. She was wearing the same clothes she had one month ago, and hadn't had so much of a bath since then. Unless you counted the occasional rain that is. Her clothing consisted of a black gi, a one piece that covered the breadth of her body. She was careful in this respect, always stripping before shifting into her wolf form; otherwise her clothes would be scarce tatters now.

Currently, she was fast asleep, and only her breathing could be heard. However, she easily stuck out from the surrounding greens and browns of the tree behind her and the grassy plain in front of her. Yards away, was of course the road that led up to the castle. One she had tried earlier but had failed to take into the castle proper. Right now, it was too heavily guarded for her to slip past into. Should her eyes be opened, they would be revealed as a beautiful hazel a stark contrast between green and gold. Oh, and compared to the tree, she was a midget; after all she was only about nine.

[seadragoness]

Kastiel

Kastiel stumbled away from the city of Lightedge. It didn’t matter the direction he moved in, didn’t matter where he ended up. There was only the moment, the crippling pain inside of him. He had broken his promise, that he would never touch alcohol again. Then there had been that dancer, hair twirling in the morning breeze. It was in her eyes, the same love for life as, as she once held. The memory burned into his brain seemed only to brighten with the reminder. His stomach twisted and the breakfast he had been sitting down to only proved to increase the feeling of sickness. He had stumbled, painfully into the bar without even thinking. His voice, thick with emotion had spoken without his command, and the dammed bottle had been passed towards him. Moments passed; special kind of moments, the ones that changed your life forever. He paused, the moment of indecision that should have given him a chance to walk away. Then she moved passed the bar, dress flowing delicately behind her. He grabbed the drink and took a swig, the liquid burning as it poured down. His brain hazed, not after the first, and not until he was emptying the last drops of his second. He slammed the mug on the container, sickened with himself. Once he had started the first he couldn’t stop, he needed more, he needed to drown himself, cut off the pain that hollowed him out day after day.

When at last he had been able to pull free he felt terrible. Hours had passed, midday was now upon him. Stumbling, lost away from the city. He needed to get out of view, to hide his disgraced form from the world. The deep and desperate need to curl into a ball and cry away the world was to heavy upon his back. It was a slippery slope, the one that would drag him back down into the hell he thought he had escaped. His clean record was already broke. Why keep trying? What was the point?

Trees where around him now, he collapsed against the rough bark of an oak, held pushed despairingly into his hand. What had he done? His head pounded, he couldn’t think. He could barely even walk straight, when he had been working anyway. Now he wondered if he would ever find the will to stand again. His ragged breathing was a dominant sound, and it did little to calm his ragging mind. No, he couldn’t stay here, not like this. He struggled to stand, weight against the tree, leaning, it was easier like this. He took a breath, anything to steady the vision of the world tipping around him. He struggled forward, could barely see a thing.
Whack
His head slammed into a lowered branch. He groaned, shaking his head, adrenaline coursing through his body. For a moment everything cleared like his drunken haze was lifting. The adrenaline – it was sobering him. For a moment a battle raged inside of him – the want for his brain to be clean of it all was fighting against the need to drown away all his sorrows. He took a step forward, it was a battle not to turn around and head right back to the bar, sit down with another drink. It was uncertain what would have happened, what choice he might have made, but he heard a noise, he paused, weary. He took a step forward, a bird took flight from a tree-top. He shook his head, shame face, how could bird kin worry him so?
Then of course he saw her, leaning against a tree, eyes closed, tiny, she appeared for a moment utterly helpless.
Kas’s blue eyes showed his own hesitation, the want to turn around and walk away, leave others troubles to themselves. He blinked, no; he would never abandon a child.
“Hey there”
He called out softly, wanting her eyes to open, to prove she was as unharmed as she looked.

[Pbyer]

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If it hadn't been for the prior noise: the bird flying from the tree, the crack of his head across the bark, Jasmine might not have woken for such a soft toned voice. However, she had been brought already to a half-sleep stupor from the previous noises and the voice was just enough for her to let out a little yawn and open her eyes. For a few moments, she didn't move and just stared, her hazel eyes blinking a couple of times as the obviously older man came into view. Her nose twitched; she could smell the alcohol on him, but she wouldn't be so judging as most.

After it was clear the man meant her know harm, Jasmine began to stretch. Her body curled up against the bark of the tree, despite its roughness. Her arms reached up, and higher than her head and her face contorted with relief as she lowered them back down. She let out a few gasps of air, and finally as her movements stopped she turned her attention back to him, her eyes filled with fading curiosity. Why had he woken her? More importantly,why was he drunk so far away from any town; granted Lighthedge was miles down the road? To come this far while intoxicated was almost impressive.

"You're out far from town sir; thanks for waking me though." She commented innocently, her voice displayed fatigue more than anything else It still had that lingering hoarseness which sleep provided. She hadn't gained it all the way back after sleeping through the night, and obviously through the morning as well. At this point, she rubbed her eyes, wiping away the remaining crust around their rims. "Midday already huh?" She yawned, and narrowed her eyes; still obviously getting used to the light of day that was now so prevalent in front of her.

[seadragoness]

Kastiel felt it inside of him, for better or worse, he was breaking free of the alcohol swirling through his system. It never lasted long for him anyway, even when he managed to drive himself into a haze. It was some sort of tolerance, built up through overuse, or a side of a side effect of his, condition... or something like that. Well the girl peeled her eyes slowly open he took in a little information about her – now that his mind was clear enough to think. She couldn’t be older then eleven, surely, and yet she didn’t hold a naive, innocent air of a child – or was that just his imagination? When her eyes finally flickered open, he caught site of there hazel glow, faint tint of colours shinning through the background. He liked her eyes, they weren’t just one colour, like his own dark/light blue eyes, swirling with flecks of silver.

She took her time to stretch out, flex her muscles and properly awaken. He watched this process through sombre eyes, ashamed now for the stench of drink beneath his breath, the nearly blackish rims around his eyes. He was mid-twenties, Kas, and yet something about him gave him the appearance of an old, old man. It wouldn’t surprise him if others had built up an image in there head of him stumbling slowly, painstakingly along, a walking stick to keep him upright, old eyes reminiscing on the past, seeing things not there.

Her voice cut through his heavy thoughts, speaking upon the distance from the town and a thanks for waking her. He wouldn’t know the distance, all there had been was his beating head and the stumbling, on and on as through the world would never end.
He was so ashamed, now. It was settling on his shoulders, the failure. He had promised himself he would make it work, he would never even look at beer again. He would travel, far, far from home... he would fight for others, and forget himself, his past in that way opposed to the other, slopping road.
The young girl spoke again, and he was struck at last by an odd thought, what was she doing all the way out here, all alone? His brow furrowed in worry, wondering what would bring her so far from anyone’s home, to be alone in what could be a dangerous forest.
She spoke of the time – midday, and he stumbled for a moment, lost on what to say. He blinked closed his eyes, flicking open, taking in her little frame.
“Why are you out here?”
He asked softly, finding for a moment he could forget his own pain, his own problems.
Why was she out here?

[Pbyer]

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Jasmine blinked her eyes a couple times at the man's question and yet didn't seem taken aback at it at all. In fact, a small smile stretched across her face; only broken up when she replied to him. Although, there was a brief reprieve before that happened. She adjusted herself, shifting her position and removing a twig from her backside. With a tilt of her head she tossed it off to the right, and then went about answering the man's question as if nothing happened at all. "I was trying to get into the castle last night. Seems they have guards posted 24/7 though." She sighed sadly and then her nose twitched again, taken in full force the stench of alcohol.

Her smile faded into a frown and her eyes suddenly became wary as she looked him up in down. In a few seconds however, they weren't filled with judgment but with crescents of misplaced worry. "So you managed to get out here drunk. I have to say I'm impressed." She giggled, and decided to help herself onto her feet by grabbing onto a conveniently placed bush and pulling. From there she brushed herself off, sending both dirt, grass and a few pieces of broken twig flying. Thereafter she winced, feeling an aching pain radiating up from her legs.

Now that she was standing, the man would be able to see full well that her legs had a few cuts and bruises on them. Probably had something to do with sleeping outside, and roaming about the night. Strangely, there almost seemed to be a pattern to them: bite marks, in fact were present on her right leg; although she hardly paid her now healing wounds any mind as she once again began to stretch both arm and leg. This time she leaned to the left, bringing out and bending her left knee and allowing her right leg to stay straight. After several seconds she switched legs and repeated. Finally, with both sides done she went about stretching out her arms. One arm brought up, and pushed down behind her back; and held, then repeated after several seconds.

"You gonna tell me why you were drinking last night?" She asked in an expecting tone, as if he should have already. Although, she still threw on a wide smile as she finished up her stretching; as if the question didn't bare a serious demeanor to it.