[Lilith]

Somewhere on the border between the Fae and Chandric Forests there exists a commune that has come to be known as Tartaros. It has become famous through out Nymph culture for the impressive Furies that they turn out, but has also become infamous for it having a particularly strict day to day life. This reputation stems from the reason the commune was founded. In order to survive living so close to the Chandric Forest, and manage it, a strict lifestyle training strong Furies became necessary. However, today is not about the dangers of the Chandric Forests, or Furies. At least not directly. Today is a Festival of Philos. The commune holds many parties and festivals as another of its necessities. The strict society and constant threat of the Chandric Forest creates a great deal of stress and anxiety that needs to be periodically relieved.

Normally, Lilith does not attend these gatherings, but she had the misfortune of running out of groceries during the festival. She at first attempted to not leave her cabin until the festival was over, starving herself, but her hunger won out in the end.

As soon as she stepped outside her normally far removed cabin, on the ground below the tree tops where the main commune was, she was surrounded by the tussle and bustle of the festival. She hated how they loved to setup their stands and stages all around her cabin, but of course the tree tops couldn't hold all of festivities. The normally deserted forest floor was filled with Nymphs and Sidhes from all over. Lilith took a moment to stop and look past the cheerful crowd that milled around her towards the direction she knew the Chandric Forest to be in. She knew that the festival meant that her father and the rest of the Furies of the commune must be working overtime in full force to keep everyone safe.

As she thought of her father, she looked down and noticed a stand in front of her that was selling small heart shaped cakes. The sign near them read, 'Give one to the Sidhe you love!'

Lilith could feel her face flush, and knew that her pale skin would easily betray her and so she quickly looked away and put on a disgruntled sneer. She quickly hurried off towards where she collected the necessities she had earned from her work for he commune, expecting everyone in the crowd to make way for her, and becoming more and more out off each time she had to stop or go around someone or something.

Her red hair and dark black intricate lace dress, complete with matching thigh high boots and arm warmers, attracted many stares and even earned a few double takes as she made her way through the crowd. She paid them little mind, and her scowl kept most people from bothering her. Most people except, two rather ambitious Therians. Lilith found them blocking her way, and immediately tried to go around, only to be blocked again.

"The Hel do you want?" Lilith raged with a scowl on her face.

"Whoa, easy babe... I just want to fing- ...ah, I mean... Shake your hand," the large Therian man grinned widely, leaning close to Lilith.

"Find some other chew toy," Lilith shot back, trying to get around them yet again. Once again one of the two stepped in her way. In her rush to move forward, Lilith didn't stop in time and ended up walking into the wall of muscle. He grabbed her by the upper arms, and held her against him.

"Aww, don't be that way. Stay, and play with us," he said as he did.

"L-let go of me, right now!" Lilith screamed as she struggled to escape his grip in vain.

They were surrounded by a crowd, but no one was watching. They all pretended to not notice and just kept walking by, averting their eyes with guilt obvious on most of their faces. The Therians were noticeably taller than most of the crowd that was made of mostly Nymphs and Sidhes. Most people didn't want to have to deal with something like this if they didn't have to. They were at the festival to have fun and enjoy themselves. Why did they have to intervene? Besides, it's not like any one of them could do anything against the two Therians. They hadn't done anything wrong either. They were just a little overzealous in their approach, but Therians are naturally passionate. That girl was asking for it anyway, dressing like that. She probably was enjoying the attention. It's wasn't 'my' problem, nothing could be done, she deserved it, this is a festival of love anyway. These thoughts occupied the minds of those who passed by, along with a million other reasons and excuses as to why they shouldn't get involved.

Meanwhile, Lilith did not want this, she was doing everything she could to resist, and she was in desperate need of help.

[NPC]

((I hope you don't mind a NPC. None of my PCs would be out this far. This is Jericho's Misha -- but it's not because I'm too lazy to come up with a new Nymph, I swears! Er, this is Emma, btw...))

Nimisha adored the Love Festival. He was a very eager attendant, even if it did mean being out on the Chandric border. If the heart-shaped cakes could have survived the trip, he would have bought one for each of his long-term partners (he currently had three). As it was, he was having fun looking at the different stalls in search of more suitable souvenirs.

As he was leaving the cake stand where he'd spent a full ten minutes flirting heavily with the Nymph there, Misha spotted two men crowding a young Nymph. At first, he paid them no mind. Then he noticed the girl's outfit and raised a slender eyebrow. Then he realised that she was entirely not enjoying their attentions.

It didn't take much to figure out why the other festival-goers were ignoring her plight. That hair alone was asking to be ostracised, and those clothes... Where under Hel had she got an outfit like that in the first place? Misha wasn't normally the type to intervene; she looked old enough to have bonded with an element, so she must be perfectly capable of defending herself. Yet, as a male, it was his duty to protect females, regardless of their hair colour or choice in clothing, and he couldn't just look the other way.

“'Allo, mates.” Throwing an arm around the shoulders of one of the men (judging him Therian by his smell and the simple fact that the shapeshifters were clearly not Sylvan), Misha snuggled up close. “Looking for some fun? Leave her alone, eh, she's boring.” He winked at the girl. “I'm much prettier.”

[Lilith]

Lilith's struggles and complaints stopped suddenly as soon as the newcomer arrived, but kept the scowl on her face. She honestly didn't know what to make of him. Was he here to join them or save her? It seemed too good to be true, that he was just there to help her. While at the same time, she couldn't believe he was honestly hitting on them in this situation. Then there was that wink. What did that mean? She never liked winks, not ever being able to read them. Of course, she tended to find fault with everything people did.

"The Hel?" the Therian being snuggled couldn't find anything more intelligent to respond with.

"Get off of me!" he snarled as he let go of one of Lilith's arms to try and push the Sylvan man off of him. The irony was clearly lost on him.

It was a big mistake to let go of one of Lilith's arms. She normally hated the idea of burning someone to death, but she was mad enough to do it right now.

She looked around, not having a lantern with her. The odd thing was, if it weren't for this festival, she would have brought one with her to protect against the dangers of the forests. The festival had lulled her into a false sense of security, and the truth was, she would have had an easier time facing an abomination of the Chandric Forest. There were no torches set up, since everyone used light stones, and the same thing with stands cooking things, so she didn't bother looking there for fire. This was a festival for Nymphs, so the stands celebrated Nymph culture. The elements being a huge part of it. So it was natural that there would be a booth dedicated to fire here and there. Balance was also a huge part of the culture Lilith struggled against so much, so that meant she was just as likely to find a fire booth as any other element, with enough booths around her to safely have them all covered.

However, she only cared for the one element. She quickly found one, a booth with a large golden bowl, holding a flame, with a large sign over head that read, 'Find Your Flame!'

She didn't care what kind of idiotic attraction it was, or what the smiling couple standing in front of it were about to do. She reached out and pulled some flames from it, whipped it up over the crowd, and then arched it down at the Therian's crotch, while he was distracted by the Sylvan. It was a small amount of flames, but it was still fire on his crotch. The worst place for a man to hold fire. He let out a high pitched yelp and jumped away from Lilith and the Sylvan to pat his crotch desperately.

"Siren!" The other Therian screamed the racial slur for Nymphs as he swung at her. Lilith was caught off guard. She naively believed that these big strong men wouldn't ever actually hit a young girl like her. His speed and power was impressive, and came down on her mercilessly. She slammed into the ground, after catching it with her face. She froze up, not sure what had happened. The last thing she was thinking was how she would respond to being called a siren, and the next thing she knew she was on the ground, a sharp pain slowly screaming at her louder and louder as her head became less and less numb.

---

ooc: Of course I don't mind. I'm really glad you decided to join. Feel free to control the Therians as needed.

---

[NPC]

The irony wasn't lost on Misha, and he pouted as he was shaken off. “Awww, what, you don't like guys? I'm sure I could change your mind...” Actually, he would have respected the man's preferences, if he had shown any respect for the Nymph's.

His friend was just as dismayed at the thought, quickly lurching forward to pull the slender Sidhe away from his buddy. Still wearing a flirtatious smile, Misha looped his arm through the second Therian's and tugged him away a few steps, patting his chest. “No need to feel jealous, friend, there's more than enough of me to go around.” His less Sylvan partners would have called him outrageous, he was sure, but Misha would try anything once. Or twice.

Or three times.

“And if you really don't like me, I'm sure there are plenty of other Nymphs for you to choose from, so why don't we —”

“Argh!” The Therian's scream drew Misha's attention, as well as that of the man he was attempting to divert, and he turned to find the Therian standing over the fallen Nymph with flames still simmering on the front of his scorched trousers. A few of the crowd had stopped to gasp in horror, pointing and gossiping amongst themselves, but Misha couldn't tell if it was horror at what the Therian had done, or vice versa. Probably both, actually, because Therians were normally their protectors, not aggressors; for one of them to hit a Nymph, regardless of her element, was to invite more political trouble than the 'Shifters would want.

Shouts of "Call the Furies!" went up as the Therian's friend paced forward to clutch at his fellow's arm. “Let's go! She's not worth it, let's go!”

“Should have taken me up on my offer, eh?” The man with the smoking crotch was pulled bodily into the crowd by his slightly more intelligent partner. Misha stooped forward to offer the Nereid a hand up. “Eioté kala, lass? Your brain sharp? Some strength in him, that one.”

[Lilith]

Lilith allowed herself to be helped up, although it hurt her pride. Being smacked down in the first place, in the middle of a crowd no less, had devastated her fragile pride already. Giving into this man's kindness couldn't hurt much more. Or could it?

She fought back tears and clutched her head, a nasty black eye already beginning to form. She heard his kind words, but was too focused on the Therians making their hasty exit.

"Yeah, you better run!" Lilith screamed, only half standing up and shaking her fist in the air.

She only then realized that she was holding hands with some Sylvan, and leaning against his chest. Her pale skin flushed, and somehow she believed scowling would hide that fact.

"I-I'm-fine!-Get-off!" She squealed, spitting the words out as fast as Nymph-ly possible, and pushing off of him.

Obviously, she wasn't fine, because as soon as she was away she was on her cute little bottom again. What remained of her pride wouldn't let her be helped up again, so she quickly stood up on her own. She then heard murmurs of calling the Furies amongst the crowd. If dad heard about this, well when he heard about this (news if Lilith always seemed to reach her dad, and everyone else in the colony), there'd be Hel to pay.

She quickly turned away from her savior with out so much as a thank you, and began to walk towards her home. She didn't get two steps before stumbling, evidently still not fine. She managed not to fall again, but it was awfully difficult to walk tall and proud with a budding black eye and your legs feeling like they were gel slimes. That didn't stop Lilith from trying though.

[NPC]

Misha washed his hands of the Nymph, both of them up palms flat and facing her in a gesture meant to say something along the lines of "Fine, your death rites". When she fell the first time, he snorted, figuring it would be bad form to laugh outright. He was turning away, fully intent on finding a new playmate, when she stumbled the second time, and even then it took him a few paces for his conscience to get the better of him.

“Look, here's the thing.” His hand cupping her elbow, he leaned in close to her ear, this time with no ulterior or flirtatious intentions evident. As he pulled at her arm to drag her away from the spot, he continued. “I'm a traditional Sidhe, and what's a man to do but help out a girl when she's in need, eh?” Against her wishes or no. “Besides.” He thought to put her at ease, but the gaze that raked her from head to foot was not as dismissive as he'd meant it. “I do have some rules, and you're a tad on the young side for me.”

[Lilith]

Lilith found herself leaning on the Sidhe again. This time she was forced to listen to him. His breath on her ear made her cringe. She noticed her own breath had become labored just slightly, but she wasn't sure if it was from the exchange with the Therian or the exchange happening right now. She closed her eyes, but kept seeing things. Confusion kept crawling through her mind. When he was done whispering his sweet nothings, she turned away with a look of disgust. Was this one of those rumored 'gentlemen'? She honestly didn't hate it, but she had a lot of practice pretending that she did. She thought back and felt like she had only met one of those rare creatures once before.

"T-take me home," She said in a defeated voice, still wearing an angry scowl.

"Mine... I need to lie down... That way," she decided to add after realizing how what she had ended up saying might've sounded. She pointed the way weakly. She tried to take the first step, but was completely dependant on her living crutch by now.

She hung her head, and bit her lip, practically allowing him to hold her up completely. Her head was still swimming from being knocked around by that Therian. It was eating away at her that she let that guy get her so good. That was definitely not normal behavior. She couldn't believe how he had just grabbed her and then slugged her. Even if she was asking for it. Which she would claim that she wasn't. Lil dismissed it with him simply having been in heat. What burned her up the most was that she hated how she had let her guard down long enough for it to happen.

[NPC]

The girl sure did know how to boss people around. Misha actually liked that in some people, but she wouldn't look at him so it wasn't confidence or arrogance talking. He wasn't quite sure what to say when she invited him home, then sighed and twisted his lips a little when she elaborated.

“The Furies, the Furies are coming!”

Deciding that being interrogated about a near-political disaster wasn't the kind of fun he'd had in mind, Misha cupped the girl's elbow and guided her away, glancing back to be sure they weren't being pursued. As they moved through the crowd, several people glanced at the Nereid and gave them a wide berth. Misha might have been more sympathetic toward her, but in truth he'd been raised with the same beliefs (though a little less strict, perhaps), and she didn't exactly make it easy to like her.

“Up here?” He automatically assumed that, since she'd begrudgingly explained that she had a home here, she must live with the other Nymphs in the tree-top commune, so he guided her toward the nearest route skyward, lit by shevrocks no doubt provided by the local Therian clan. It was a long climb up, so he debated using his element to give them a boost, but the girl still looked a little shell-shocked so a slower pace was probably the best thing for her.

[Lilith]

Lilith started to try and hold herself up as best she could once they started to get going. Being anywhere but there would have been better for her, so she just went with even though it seemed like he was taking her a bit off course. When he alerted her to the fact that they had neared the closest way up, she felt it was time to speak up.

"N-no..." She found it hard to speak, like all her energy had been drained. "I live just past..." She had to take a moment to get her bearings. The area looked a lot different during the festival.

"...Those stands," She pointed again.

She tried to lead the way again, but her legs were still not up to it. "Huh-hurry up..." She barked.

She was already used to the looks and stares, and normally paid little mind to it. This time was a bit different. Every stare, every murmur made her bruised eye burn a little more. Really it was her ego that had taken the worst hit.

[NPC]

“Hurry up? Listen, lady, you know you could be a bit more appreciative of the fact that I'm even helping you out.” Rolling his eyes, Misha nevertheless changed direction, his hand still cupped around the girl's elbow to steady her. “And you're the one staggering all over the place, so you tell me who needs to hurry up, eh?” Having decided she was in no way receptive to his flirtatiousness, he'd given up on the niceties and told it straight.

But as he glanced around to get his bearings, he realised, “I think your sense of direction is off. If we go that way, we'll not be able to get topside.” Other routes were blocked by stalls and crowds, and he was a little miffed that she was correcting him when she was the one in the wrong.

[Lilith]

"Che," she sucked her teeth. She knew she was being rude, but she couldn't bring herself to apologize. What he said wasn't lost on her at least. She figured she'd keep her mouth shut at least until she was close enough to get home, in case she drove him away with what she wanted to say. The silent treatment was her being nice.

She didn't address the thought much more than that.

"Don't live top side," was the next thing she said, after he started to voice his complaints. As she did the top of a small cabin could be seen past a few more stands. The cabin was usually very isolated, but at the moment it was surrounded by stands, stalls, and happy couples.

It was enough to make Lilith cringe, not to mention that she and the stranger Sidhe might have looked like one of those couples. Though she was certain that neither of them looked happy. For some reason that put her at ease. Arriving at the cabin's front door, Lilith slipped out a key and unlocked the front door. She pulled away from him, cracked the door open, and slipped inside. She peeked out from inside the door, blocking him from entering.

She looked directly at him for the first time, her face brightly flushed. His good looks weren't completely missed by her, but she managed to maintain her almost perpetually put off face. She glared at him as if she were about shout at him or order him around again.

"Tha-thanks," was what she peeped out in a meek voice, instead.

She then tried to slam the door shut, but lost her balance again. She ended up falling onto her back again, and the door was slammed so hard it bounced back open. Lilith's head swimming again, she tried to get up, only to falter and fall again.

[NPC]

Misha stood in the open doorway, a silhouette against the backdrop of the already dim light dappling through the thick forest canopy, and rolled his eyes. He was so close to washing his hands of the Nymph altogether. “You're a nasty piece of work, you.” Still, he was stepping forward to offer her his hand yet again, taking the opportunity to glance about her little cabin.

“Why?” It was a simple question, and probably obvious. Why live on the ground, separate from her people? The very idea was anathema to a man who had been raised as part of a commune, rather than as an individual. He could imagine she might have been ostracised, but if that happened to Misha he probably would have done his best to fit in, not separate himself even further.

He didn't expect her to answer him, though. The question was quite intrusive, in retrospect, and she'd already proven herself unfriendly. “Well, you're home now. I'd suggest lying down for a while, but it's really none of my business.”

[Lilith]

Lilith didn't understand his question. 'Why?' She herself had asked many times before. Why should she change who she was just because other people told or expected her to? She had always chosen her own way, and she liked the way she was. It was how people didn't accept her that made her unhappy.

At the heart of it, that's what she wanted above all else, to be accepted for who 'she' was.

If she had changed who 'she' was, then 'she'd' never be accepted. It would have been someone else entirely who was accepted and she would have lost herself.

To her it had always been this way, no matter how many people told her different or that she was wrong, she always asked that question, 'why?' Why was she wrong and who did she hurt by being a little different?

But st the moment, she couldn't really ponder these things. She was preoccupied with how much pain she was in.

"My... Bed..." she pointed to a corner in the back of the main room, slightly obscured by a few curtains. She clung to him as he helped her up. The more her senses returned the more pain she could process. She perhaps didn't need him to stand anymore, but she felt the need to cling to him even more.

[NPC]

She was giving very mixed signals here, and Misha began to realise he was treading on thin ice. Either she wanted his help, or she didn't; he wanted to tell her she couldn't have it both ways.

Instead, he assisted her to the bed, and dumped her there rather more unceremoniously than was really necessary. “Well, you're home now. I'm off to enjoy what's left of the festival.” He paused at the doorway, however, and turned back with a sigh. “Is there anyone you'd like me to inform?” He was aware that being beaten was entirely unpleasant, but he was kind of hoping she'd say no and let him off the hook. He wouldn't have minded looking after her if she'd been less unfriendly, but there wasn't much use in trying to help someone who didn't want it.