lj idol week 2-Poison Rose
The first sound to break the silence of the dimly lit room in which I sat was the soft footstep behind my chair. the man who moved through these rooms always walked on padded cat's feet, even if he wasn't a cat himself. Next came the sounds of him setting out what would be needed for the task at hand. These were several piles of gloves-which were made for either hand- and a half-ounce vial which I heard the gentle click of as it was set down in front of me.
I could have sworn I felt eyes boring in to the back of my head. I could have also sworn they were blue and laser-like. I blinked and very gently reached...
"Trausio, no!" The irish tambor (yet again!) stopped me in my reaching. Cedar...there was no other who could be both commanding and cold-steel at the same time. He wasn't pissed, only slightly anoyed. "Ya been in me class for three weeks now, an' ye still don't know what to do fuckin' first?"
Shit! Gloves...it is always the gloves first. "The simplest of things will get ye killed," he'd often said, "and the simplest things are always the first forgotten. Whatever ye do, don't forget the gloves. Never forget the gloves." I reached for said gloves, sliding them over my hands where they fit nearly like a second skin. Second thing-don't touch the cap of the vial, touch the sides. The cap tends to have some of the substance (whatever that happened to be on any given day) still on it, and if you touch the cap, you may well ruin the gloves. Only problem with this was that sometimes Cedar would trick his pupils by coating the sides *and* the cap of the vial as a test. This day I was the unlucky one to get the coting...
I lightly grazed the vial with one gloved fingertip and hissed as I felt the hole begin. With the speed borne of long practice, I stripped off the glove and donned a new one of a different-and slightly sturdier-material. I replaced the second one on the pile and finished re-outfitting myself by sliding the sturdier one's mate on my other hand. This material would need to be tested...
And so I did, and it held. "OK, so it's not truly acid based, then," I thought.
Plant based, maybe?" I would need to further find out. This sort of breaking down was always a challenge for me, and it never ceased to amaze me how many poisons Cedar could churn out for these classes of his.
I had my wings down today, and pulled them closer to my back in concentration, the feathers
wrapping around my torso a bit without me being aware of it. This allowed the scarlet, gold and bits of silver-along with hints of various other colors-to show briefly in the dim light of the stark white walled room I had been placed in for this task.
OK so not acid. Back to the poison. If it's not acid, what is it then? I can't sniff at it, just in case inhaling the fumes kills, and I don't think I can...
I tried sending a bit of an energetic tendril at it, only to be stopped again, "No' tha way, ye." he was gentle this time-this had been the first time I had tried that technique-and apparently it wasn't what he'd been looking for. "What if it be energetically activated, hmm? What if yer tendril come back wi'some of it on there, then what ye do?"
Well shit. He did have a point. "I hold it out," I said, "and down. Like a straw so that it comes off."
"Sticky. If it be havin' oil in it, it could get in ye that way."
"And in somecases one drop is enough to kill. Well shit." I sighed, looking up at him, "Would...probing do? Asking what is there? I'm not supposed to use magery to do this, am I?"
"No, use yer other senses. What's it feel like to ye. Poisons have energy, too, ye ken. Not like auras, per say, but they do. get the essence of it."
Hoo boy. Energy. Getting the energy without tendriling for it? This was going to be interesting. OK so... the escence...oil. I thought I had faintly scented rose when he set it down, but I'd passed it off as the scent of the flower he'd chosen to wear in his lapel today-a blood red rose that looked almost black in the light here-or so I was told.
But-wait. Didn't he always use a base for his poisons? I had said earlier that it wasn't acid based, because acid based poisons were tricky things. They would eat through almost any material no matter what it was, and one had to wear gloves that were nearly too thick to be comfortable or useful. No wonder he didn't use too many of those in beginner or intermediat classes. (Of which this was the latter)
"So?" Cedar looked down at me, his piercing blue eyes taking my measure.
"Rose oil." I said, a bit hesitantly. I wasn't used to 'feeling' without...feeling, so to speak, and while it 'felt' like rose oile...
"Very good., next?"
I noticed that he was trying not to preen. I had the feeling that not many had been able to place this poison into its proper components.
Um... Energy...what.'s next? The rose oil felt thick and sweet. But there was something else there now. A lighter feel, something like...
"Nightshade...I think?"
I heard a very slight plop and a chuckle. He'd apparently had the vial enchanted so that when the correct ingredient was named it would come to land somewhere safe. "Good girl." He stroked my wings, causing me to purr slightly and arch my back a bit. Dear gods, how did he...
"Goo d gods, Cedar!" I tried to keep my mind on the task in front of me, and all I heard was another chuckle.
"Next?"
Rose oil base, nightshade...secondary, or so I thought. Most of his projects have a base then two or perhaps three other ingredients. If we were lucky. Sometimes he tossed us about and gave us poisons that had many more ingredients-but thankfully that wasn't today.
There was a heavier feel now, that must be the ingredient with the largest pull, I thought-and immediately I was put in mind of woods and snow... and the flash of blades shining in the weak light of the sun in winter...
"Mistletoe." I said quietly. Thinking of the several times Brigh had sung the calling and purifying song over the ones she had caught before hanging them to swing over the doors of her beloved inns. "Then...wait..." I felt something else there, too, right undr the mistletoe. "And...sumac, I think."
I heard another plop, and he chuckled again. I also felt him stroke down my wings-and this time it caused me to squeal.
"Me love..." His deep voice was in my head, causing me to turn pink.
I merrr'd...and tried to focus again. Rose oil, nightshade...mistletoe...sumac. Was that the last ingredient?No, no it wasn't. I could feel one of them still skirting around in the vial...and I couldn't make it out. Slippery...wait...wasn't there a snake on his world that was mildly venimous that when placed against latex...
"Dragon nose." I said and was rewarded with a hiss of rubber and a chuckle. "Good girl. Dragon noses are mildly poisonous," He told me, "An' on their own only cause mild discomfort, but when placed along with these other ingredients, it becomes a very nasty combination. All ye need is..." He stopped. He would never give out the proper dosage of his poisons to anyone unless they and he were alone, and we certainly weren't enough that way for him. I doubted the was the only one using this hallway for testing purposes-and one never knew who was traversing the corridors here.
"Almost done." He said, this time taking to preening away some of the fluff from my wings that had been stirred up by his attentions. "Write it out now."
"Rose oil," I said softly, "Nightshade, sumac, mistletoe, dragon nose..." I sighed, His attentions were no longer making me lose concentration. In fact now they were soothing me. "Order. What's the order..."
I took up my pen and began to write, "Rose oil," I said the ingredients aloud and hoped I would get them right, "Sumac..."
"No..." He stopped me.
"Rose oil, Dragon nose..."
"Ye little imp, no!" He was grinning now. "Try again."
"Mmm..." He'd never stopped preening my wings and I could have sworn he was putting the fluff into a neat little package for me.
"Rose oil," I said, "Mistletoe, sumac, nightshade then dragon nose?"
It was either that or dragon nose then the nightshade...and I didn't know which it was.
"The former." He said softly, "Yer first guess. Mistletoe, Sumac, nightshade then the dragon nose. Ye be spot on there." He chuckled, "Ye jus past the poison test, Trausio. Congratulations, ye. Feel special. Ye be one o'the first to be passin it in this amount o'time. Yer sister be another of'em."
"Welcome to the second half o'me poison master's course, ye."
**this entry was written for LJ idoll**
I could have sworn I felt eyes boring in to the back of my head. I could have also sworn they were blue and laser-like. I blinked and very gently reached...
"Trausio, no!" The irish tambor (yet again!) stopped me in my reaching. Cedar...there was no other who could be both commanding and cold-steel at the same time. He wasn't pissed, only slightly anoyed. "Ya been in me class for three weeks now, an' ye still don't know what to do fuckin' first?"
Shit! Gloves...it is always the gloves first. "The simplest of things will get ye killed," he'd often said, "and the simplest things are always the first forgotten. Whatever ye do, don't forget the gloves. Never forget the gloves." I reached for said gloves, sliding them over my hands where they fit nearly like a second skin. Second thing-don't touch the cap of the vial, touch the sides. The cap tends to have some of the substance (whatever that happened to be on any given day) still on it, and if you touch the cap, you may well ruin the gloves. Only problem with this was that sometimes Cedar would trick his pupils by coating the sides *and* the cap of the vial as a test. This day I was the unlucky one to get the coting...
I lightly grazed the vial with one gloved fingertip and hissed as I felt the hole begin. With the speed borne of long practice, I stripped off the glove and donned a new one of a different-and slightly sturdier-material. I replaced the second one on the pile and finished re-outfitting myself by sliding the sturdier one's mate on my other hand. This material would need to be tested...
And so I did, and it held. "OK, so it's not truly acid based, then," I thought.
Plant based, maybe?" I would need to further find out. This sort of breaking down was always a challenge for me, and it never ceased to amaze me how many poisons Cedar could churn out for these classes of his.
I had my wings down today, and pulled them closer to my back in concentration, the feathers
wrapping around my torso a bit without me being aware of it. This allowed the scarlet, gold and bits of silver-along with hints of various other colors-to show briefly in the dim light of the stark white walled room I had been placed in for this task.
OK so not acid. Back to the poison. If it's not acid, what is it then? I can't sniff at it, just in case inhaling the fumes kills, and I don't think I can...
I tried sending a bit of an energetic tendril at it, only to be stopped again, "No' tha way, ye." he was gentle this time-this had been the first time I had tried that technique-and apparently it wasn't what he'd been looking for. "What if it be energetically activated, hmm? What if yer tendril come back wi'some of it on there, then what ye do?"
Well shit. He did have a point. "I hold it out," I said, "and down. Like a straw so that it comes off."
"Sticky. If it be havin' oil in it, it could get in ye that way."
"And in somecases one drop is enough to kill. Well shit." I sighed, looking up at him, "Would...probing do? Asking what is there? I'm not supposed to use magery to do this, am I?"
"No, use yer other senses. What's it feel like to ye. Poisons have energy, too, ye ken. Not like auras, per say, but they do. get the essence of it."
Hoo boy. Energy. Getting the energy without tendriling for it? This was going to be interesting. OK so... the escence...oil. I thought I had faintly scented rose when he set it down, but I'd passed it off as the scent of the flower he'd chosen to wear in his lapel today-a blood red rose that looked almost black in the light here-or so I was told.
But-wait. Didn't he always use a base for his poisons? I had said earlier that it wasn't acid based, because acid based poisons were tricky things. They would eat through almost any material no matter what it was, and one had to wear gloves that were nearly too thick to be comfortable or useful. No wonder he didn't use too many of those in beginner or intermediat classes. (Of which this was the latter)
"So?" Cedar looked down at me, his piercing blue eyes taking my measure.
"Rose oil." I said, a bit hesitantly. I wasn't used to 'feeling' without...feeling, so to speak, and while it 'felt' like rose oile...
"Very good., next?"
I noticed that he was trying not to preen. I had the feeling that not many had been able to place this poison into its proper components.
Um... Energy...what.'s next? The rose oil felt thick and sweet. But there was something else there now. A lighter feel, something like...
"Nightshade...I think?"
I heard a very slight plop and a chuckle. He'd apparently had the vial enchanted so that when the correct ingredient was named it would come to land somewhere safe. "Good girl." He stroked my wings, causing me to purr slightly and arch my back a bit. Dear gods, how did he...
"Goo d gods, Cedar!" I tried to keep my mind on the task in front of me, and all I heard was another chuckle.
"Next?"
Rose oil base, nightshade...secondary, or so I thought. Most of his projects have a base then two or perhaps three other ingredients. If we were lucky. Sometimes he tossed us about and gave us poisons that had many more ingredients-but thankfully that wasn't today.
There was a heavier feel now, that must be the ingredient with the largest pull, I thought-and immediately I was put in mind of woods and snow... and the flash of blades shining in the weak light of the sun in winter...
"Mistletoe." I said quietly. Thinking of the several times Brigh had sung the calling and purifying song over the ones she had caught before hanging them to swing over the doors of her beloved inns. "Then...wait..." I felt something else there, too, right undr the mistletoe. "And...sumac, I think."
I heard another plop, and he chuckled again. I also felt him stroke down my wings-and this time it caused me to squeal.
"Me love..." His deep voice was in my head, causing me to turn pink.
I merrr'd...and tried to focus again. Rose oil, nightshade...mistletoe...sumac. Was that the last ingredient?No, no it wasn't. I could feel one of them still skirting around in the vial...and I couldn't make it out. Slippery...wait...wasn't there a snake on his world that was mildly venimous that when placed against latex...
"Dragon nose." I said and was rewarded with a hiss of rubber and a chuckle. "Good girl. Dragon noses are mildly poisonous," He told me, "An' on their own only cause mild discomfort, but when placed along with these other ingredients, it becomes a very nasty combination. All ye need is..." He stopped. He would never give out the proper dosage of his poisons to anyone unless they and he were alone, and we certainly weren't enough that way for him. I doubted the was the only one using this hallway for testing purposes-and one never knew who was traversing the corridors here.
"Almost done." He said, this time taking to preening away some of the fluff from my wings that had been stirred up by his attentions. "Write it out now."
"Rose oil," I said softly, "Nightshade, sumac, mistletoe, dragon nose..." I sighed, His attentions were no longer making me lose concentration. In fact now they were soothing me. "Order. What's the order..."
I took up my pen and began to write, "Rose oil," I said the ingredients aloud and hoped I would get them right, "Sumac..."
"No..." He stopped me.
"Rose oil, Dragon nose..."
"Ye little imp, no!" He was grinning now. "Try again."
"Mmm..." He'd never stopped preening my wings and I could have sworn he was putting the fluff into a neat little package for me.
"Rose oil," I said, "Mistletoe, sumac, nightshade then dragon nose?"
It was either that or dragon nose then the nightshade...and I didn't know which it was.
"The former." He said softly, "Yer first guess. Mistletoe, Sumac, nightshade then the dragon nose. Ye be spot on there." He chuckled, "Ye jus past the poison test, Trausio. Congratulations, ye. Feel special. Ye be one o'the first to be passin it in this amount o'time. Yer sister be another of'em."
"Welcome to the second half o'me poison master's course, ye."
**this entry was written for LJ idoll**