Wildflowers [Isis or invite]

Being Royal Guard could be a massive headache when your Captain was a shit leader on the administration side of things. It really could be. He remembered his old Captain, from when he was a bushy-tailed greenhorn fresh out of school and with no idea how the world worked beyond the walls of the prep schools and manor-lands of the nobility, he was a minor noble by blood yes, but he had very important friends and family, so he grew up among them more so than his 'own' caste; not that anyone would question that now given his positon as Captain of the Royal Guard. For all it mattered he was high nobility now, but he never acted like it. That showed in his administration style, most Captains micromanaged, a hold over from that sense among the high nobility that the lower castes could be... well, unable to conduct themselves in a manner becoming of their position. Absolute bullshit, really; to become Royal Guard you had to be the absolute best of the best within in the military, often from the nobility castes to boot; so it was stupid to act like your men couldn't handle themselves.

So he didn't bother. He made sure that his people where well trained, his lieutenants had plenty to do, they had NCOs to handle the overrun and such, and so forth and so on down the line to the lowest ranks and those in the application pools. It meant that he had plenty of time to himself, both personal and professional; it looked really good that he could stand at the side of the reigning leaders of the people the way he was supposed to without being bothered to manage his troops; he was always perfectly relaxed and looked well rested without being soft with chair spread. A well run machine didn't need constant adjusting, and left the operator to keep an eye on it from a distance, only stepping in when needed, not all the time.

This free time, he abused it pretty hard sometimes. He was on duty, yes; he was 'training', yes; but he wasn't alone, he had a rather special guest with him where no guests where normally allowed; deep in the Royal Guard barracks, the special fields they used for training. It was little more than a garden at the moment, wildflowers brought in by the early spring winds sprouted after weeks spent resting in the fertile ground. The grounds had been shut down in a way, they had set down their weapons and taken up spades and hoes and garden tools to cultuvate the beauty; part of their creed was to preserve the beauty of this world, so it made sense for them to do this.

It also made the grounds a perfect place for a rest of sorts. Just him. Alone. With Isis. Yep. He'd 'snuck' her in and now they had the space to themselves. All the beauty of this place, a space meant to learn to fight better turned, for a time anyway, into a haven of life and color and beauty and peace. Fitting, really; the point of their existence as Royal Guard was to protect and nurture; but not everyone remember that. He was working to fix that, but at this moment, he wanted nothing more than what he had: a quiet moment among the field of flowers to share with his most precious person. His weapons laying in the shade of the far wall were a cover, if anyone bothered them he'd have his bow or halbert in his hand in an instant, ready to look busy and not like the lazy lump he was being.

Things had been quite interesting lately for Isis. Going blind only to recieve something far more powerful than eyesight could ever be: the ability through the touching of a person or objec t to see the past and present and future of anyone associated with said object. She had handled her handicap with grace and dignity and in the end found herself able to adapt and move about perfectly even without being able to see where she was going. It had taken some adjusting, and lots of practice, but Isis had been determined not to give anyone a handicap to use against her - not that anyone could actually get close enough to her to try and bring her harm.

Isis had even begun to get a grasp on controlling her new special gift; keeping her from having to wear gloves all of the time so that she didn't accidentlly invade the privacy of someone's past, or end up seeing and experiencing first hand their future. It had taken some work but with the help of her mother and Sasha, as well as the rest of her friends, it had been done easily enough.

For now though those thoughts were far from her mind. She was quite enjoying herself, sprawled out in the field. She was laying on her back for the moment with her arms behind her head as a makeshift pillow. Her usual blindfold that kept her useless eyes hidden was laying in the grass next to her. Her eyelids were shut, and a smile was on her face, as she simply enjoyed the feel of the sunlight warming her flesh.

"Mmm... this is perfect.", she said in a voice barely above a soft whisper. She shifted slightly, getting a tad bit more comfortable.

"Indeed." Resting and relaxing, yes; but sunbathing would send him into napping, and he was a rather heavy sleeper when he was with her, there was a real chance he'd not hear or sense someone coming, and that would be... well, not bad, he was basically above reprimand, but the ribbing from the boys got old after a while; so he was... standing, and working on what an outsider might recognize as Tai Chi, if they didn't know better. The styles were similar, however the art he was using was one his people had practiced since before humanity existed (Or since? It was confusing if you knew the true history of the Daione); and was far more... martial, in nature. Had he been doing it 'correctly', there would have been blades of some sort in his hands, and he would be mowing down waves of targets like a buzzsaw. However, when slowed down, and the weaponry removed, it was a rather graceful art, and it could be almost meditative in a way; once one focused on the resistance of the body and the way your breathing adjusted to the movements, you could lose yourself in it and find a peace that normally only existed in the heat of battle.

A rare, perfect peace, for a warrior without a war. A warrior that prefered peace, the peace of calm and prosperity over the ravages of war; but one that still needed that fire to burn through his soul occasionally. This worked to calm that urge, sate the desire. It allowed him to remain a peaceful soul, and he was content with that.

"We should have a few more hours yet, before anyone dares come this way. It won't be until shift change, some of the younglings will sneak through here to get to the mess hall faster. Never understood why; it's not like we ever run out of food, nor a time limit." He moved through the last of his katas, the songs of war were receding from his blood, his body was cooling and the need to move and be active fading with the heat; he could soon settle down to rest and enjoy the time even more. Hell, once he was seated beside her, he began to pluck the flowers gently from the earth, making sure to pull them with a good length of steam left, using that length to intertwine and weave them together into a halo of flowers that would fit upon Isis' head perfectly; a little gift to carry the beauty of this place with her; the flowers would wither and die here in a few weeks, but it was nothing for him to use a little trick of the magic of the world to preserve these specimens, at least for a bit. He was no mage, not truly; but that didn't stop him from knowing a few things, simple tricks and chants that could pull the ambient magic of the world that he had no real connection to normally and use it how he wished; within reason. Magic was Silver's domain, Snow's as well, even if it was never claimed. He was a being of the physical world, the truth of magic was beyond his experience, but that didn't stop him from the little things anyone could learn to do with time and patience. He set the ring of flowers upon her face, smiling that little mischievous grin that was reserved only for her, sitting and waiting to see how she'd react to it. The flowers were so full of pollen that the air was almost misty with it, but not in a bad way; it gave a sweet scent to the air, and made the sunlight dance and gleam beautifully. A fine day for this, time for youth and forgetting of duty and the world beyond them.

Isis was so content with the sun on her face and the knowledge that Sasha was not far off that she found herself day dreaming a bit. The day dream was simple enough; sitting on the beach of a gentle moving river with her toes resting in the water and small fish coming forth to nibble curiously and harmlessly at her. The daydream was so strong, so real to her, that the very scent of running water began to rise up around her. It wasn't until the flowers touched her that she realized she had actually manifested the scents from her daydream around her.

Giggling softly she sat up, reaching up and keeping the flowers from falling as she did so. She could smell their scent, and found it beautiful: she didn't need eyes to appreciate beauty after all - of course, this led to her nose being tickled enough for her to sneeze and laugh some more. She touched the petals very gently while the scent of the river she had been day dreaming about vanished around her. Normally such a thing wouldn't have happened, but she completely let her guard down around Sasha, so her power tended to manifest more - no reason to hide it after all.

"They smell wonderful, thank you.", she said softly before adjusting the flowers upon her head. She shifted then, getting comfortable once more, only with her head rested against Sasha. She was cuddly by nature, and wasn't going to waste a moment of her chance to be so. "Much better now.", she said with a smile.

"So, do you have any thoughts on what you wanted to to while away the next few hours?" She didn't really care what they did, or if they did anything at all. She was perfectly content with laying there next to him for the next few hours until they'd actually have to move and care about the world around them: Isis was rather enjoying the peace and quiet after all. But, she was also curious if he had any plans or not.

"Plans? No, I don't have to do anything tonight; my SiC handles shift changes and evening muster. I only go for weekend muster, and even then because the other Generals only show up then. I have to put in facetime, sadly. I see my people all day most days, I work with and among them, so they don't go weeks or months without seeing me outside of parade and such. Stupid old farts." He was laughing even as he spoke the words; his disdain for the old guard running the show was well known, so he left it there; merely reaching for more flowers to make himself a matching wreath. He worked quickly enough, his would be larger to reflect his massively larger size; but it didn't take much longer to make. Nor did making a set of matching rings from the flowers; one of which he placed on her nose for the giggles after she settled against him; hands moving to weave and sift through her hair once she was comfortable. He was the type to be doing things with his hands, this was better than just idly flexing fingers or whatever. Even with his claws, he was able to be so gentle that at most it would feel like the soft fingertips of 'normal' hands; his claws weren't retractable like most, but he refused to cut them so short that they couldn't be used. There was no point to it; they didn't bother him in the least, and so long as he kept them clean they were no bother to anyone else that mattered. Given he was a bit of a clean-freak when it came to personal hygiene (a quirk he got from his feline grandmother), this was literally a non-issue at best. "We can do whatever we wish; although I am rather content to relax and talk. Or just sunbathe. Or whatever. So long as you are here, I am happy."

No plans? Good. That made her quite happy. She never complained about his schedule; she was simply more than happy to steal away the hours that they could when they could. Knowing that she wouldn't have to move for a while unless someone happened to appear again she shifted into a slightly more comfortable position with a big smile now plastered on her face.

The smell of flowers reaching her nose told her that Sasha was likely doing something else with the flowers, perhaps for himself, and she found herself wondering what - one of the few times anymore that she wished she could see. Still, she didn't let the thought dampen her mood, she was far too happy for that.

"Hm. I too am happy to just relax and talk. Although.. my daydream about a river was quite nice.", she said with a soft laugh. "I was day dreaming that we were laying on a little beach and fish were trying to nibble on my toes.", she explained, grinning. Even as she thought about the scents roared to life once more; the very scent of the river appearing around her. Realizing again what she was doing she giggled again and gained control of herself once more, "Oops."

"River? We haven't been down that way in a while, have we? Maybe that's why, we should go have a picnic when I have leave again. It shouldn't be that long off, I've been saving up here and there, taking extra shifts and the like to bring it on faster. These moments are nice, but being able to leave this place and the weight of duty behind for a bit... it's extremely appealing." Oh, he couldn't ever forget his duties entirely; it was too ingrained in his nature to be a soldier and a protector of his people, but little breaks, a day here, a wee there... it kept him happy and ready to do his job when needed. Those times were gems meant to be treasured, the reward for his work and effort; not the norm of his life, he appreciated it all the more because it was a rare treat.

"Tell me dear, did you have any plans for the festivals coming up? With summer upon us there will be plenty of them; and while I'll have to be a good soldier and appear in formal fashions... there will be plenty of time for us to enjoy them alone. I've already started seeing the manifests for shipments of fireworks coming into the city. It seems some noble is planning on a rather large party; both private and for the public celebrations."

A picnic by the river? That sounded like a perfect idea to her. There had always been something calming for her about water; she could easily fall asleep to the sound of rain or the rushing flow of a nearby stream or river. Lovely, really. It would definitely make for a good time, and another chance for the two of them to spend some time together: not that Isis minded where they were when they spended time together. The pair of them could walk through the depths of Hell itself and she wouldn't care so long as they had each other.

"I like that idea. You know how much I love rivers..", she said with a very happy grin spreadinga cross her face.

She fell silent then, thinking about the question he had asked her. In truth she hadn't really thought about it. Her mother and her had been so busy lately with various lessons her mother wanted her to learn that she hadn't spared a thought for the upcoming festivals. "Honestly, I hadn't really given it much thought. I've been so busy with my mom that I hadn't taken the time to realize the festivals were coming up so soon." It had her mind wandering, ideas coming and going as she thought about it. She rather liked festivals of any kind, but especially those held during summer. She was sure her mother was likely planning something, even something small: the god's knew her mother liked to keep herself busy and was quite social. "My mom is likely planning something, but she hasn't mentioned it to me yet..."

"It would make sense that she has plans for you, and for herself. The nobles like to preen and show off this time of year; with the weather this nice it makes them willing to leave their happy little world behind the walls they build. Keeps the rest of the peoples happy, to see the 'leaders' intermingling like that, and the chance to wander the quiet paths and parks of the upper castes is always a treat for the kids. Reminds them what they go to school for, and all that jazz; that chance to move up into those areas. Although to be fair, I prefer the public areas; louder maybe, less... exotic fare, but it feels more like home to me."

He allowed himself to yawn softly for a moment, the pollen made him slightly drowsy, a mild not-allergy that would drag him into a looooong sun-nap if allowed too. "I just bet I could drag you away from whatever your mother has planned for you. We could lose ourselves in the crowds and just wander without anyone trailing us, or demanding we do things. Find a nice hill somewhere to watch the sunset and the fireworks; or maybe 'vanish' to the port city and enjoy some fun times of a more... rowdy nature." The capital was a wash with prim and proper festivities; a sense of fun and excitement, yes; but still proper and whatnot. The port though... rowdy madness of the best kind. Various spirits of dubious proof flowing like water, the best of the fishermen's catches at every corner and lots of music and dancing and real living; living for fun and happiness and the sheer joy of living; no expectations and fronts and faces.

Isis toyed with the thought of a chance to 'escape' her mother during the festival and grinned. Oh, her mother wasn't a horrible person by any standards, she loved her mother in fact, but Isis wanted to be able to fully be herself instead of having to pretend to be all prim and proper - at least depending on the people her mother would likely invite to the party she was definitly planning. No, hanging out with Sasha and having some geniune fun was a much, much better idea. "I like that idea.. I'm sure my mom won't mind too much either because it's you. One thing I'll never have to worry about - she approves of you whole heartedly." Isis was, of course, beaming as she made this statement. It was definitely true: her mother loved Sasha because he made Isis happy, and whatever made her daughter happy was perfectly okay in her book.

As Isis allowed her mind to wander on what they could do during this festival time she felt a playfulness creeping up in her. It didn't matter how old she was, she sometimes had her moments of playfulness, such as now. Suddenly, yet gently, she shifted and then pounced on Sasha. If he would allow - given she wasn't putting much weight behind it at all - she would push him down into the grass before leaning down and placing a light kiss on his nose.

Unless stopped she would roll off with a giggle, clearly expecting him to follow her. Oh yes, she could very much act like a playful kitten when she wanted to, and the fact that she could be herself around Sasha made that playfulness all that much better.

For a moment the male's eyes unfocused as he tried to stare at her while she dashed inside of his focused range and tweaked his brain into lagging behind a bit; giving him the effect of a doofy grin and cross-eyed gaze that would have been hilarious to anyone around but them. Ah, these moments of playful openness, something they rarely managed to have, yet enjoyed all the more for it. With nobility came protocol, and with protocol came stifling rules and expectations that drove one mad, if moments of escape were not had. This was one of those moments; far away from duty and nobility and all those things that birthrights and work and all the minutia of daily life brought.

As it was, the chase was on, it would seem. He was quick, but she was ahead of him now, his larger bulk taking long moments to shift and move compared to her quicksilver playfulness. He was no hulking brute, being a tiger meant he was agile and lithe, but he was slow compared to a cheetah or other speedy cats; he was the perfect balance between a walking tank and a quick sprinter; it made him versatile and adaptable, but still left him slow and lagging behind in some instances. A gentle rumble deep in his chest spoke of his own playful feline nature awakening; if she wanted to play, he would play, always. Shifting to a crouch, he allowed his legs and arms to almost sink into themselves; it was the moments before he leaped that the pure feline nature of his body was most apparent; for all the world he looked like a tiger perching on a rock edge launching into a massive tackling leap. Oh, he could probably catch her, if she left him, and if he did, he'd take her down; but the impact would be gentle and light, a play tap at best; massive or otherwise he was still damn good at what he did, and shifting his weight to not impact onto her was easy enough. "Run little kitten, before the big bad tiger gets you.~"