|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:11 pm
ஐ----тһε ßlα¢кšмıтһ----ஐ
εviε Evie shook her head negatively as he rattled out all the things she made for him and his family when they'd asked for it. That was what she was made to do. She was MADE to be in the forge and she knew what she was doing. It was the one thing she excelled at no matter how much of a man's world it seemed to be. There was no reason to over pay her and there was no reason for his charity. In fact...even though it was a sweet gesture, Evie wasn't one who liked it when people thought she needed their charity. She was perfectly capable of managing on her own.
"I don't need your charity Iago." Evie said sternly, it was the first time she'd used his name in a long while. She avoided it whenever possible and usually called him by his titles, never by first name.
"This is how I make a living....by forging things out of metals. It is what I've done for you and your family and I have been getting the same pay since I've started here. That gold piece....I don't need it. Give it to someone who does. There are orphans at the Home that go a few days without food....they need it more than I." Evie said and that was the end to that, Evie didn't take charity donations....ever.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:16 pm
Iago sighed. She was stubborn, but she was right. Little did she know, he did exactly that, ever now and again: dropped off, anonymously, a gold piece to the Home whenever he could.
"Alright. I just..." he flipped the coin into the air and caught it, then examined his own reflection in it.
"I wish that I could do something for this village, ya know?" he asked softly, not looking at her, instead looking into his own eyes, in the reflection on the coin.
"My parents squander their fortune away...and I can't touch it. If I could...this would be different. You'd be payed better, and there wouldn't be a need for the Home." he told her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:23 pm
ஐ----тһε ßlα¢кšмıтһ----ஐ
εviε Evie looked at him curiously and pondered his expression. He spoke of giving money to those who needed it if he could unlike his parents who spent it on needless objects and wasteful baubles. Was he so different from his family? Was he putting on an act? It was hard to tell with people these days, she didn't know who to trust and who to stay away from. It was almost as if she had to steer clear of everyone which would have made her life less savory and she'd be less likely to live. For a short moment Evie almost felt something for him other than hatred. A spark of something foreign and unknown to her sparked somewhere in her chest and she softened for a moment.
"Iago..." Evie whispered the name as if it were a prayer and caught herself in the act. It was too late, she'd already uttered the word. She let it go.
"You are not like your family." It wasn't a question, Evie went out on a limb and declared it so.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:27 pm
"Took you that long to realize it?" Iago asked. He had heard his name whispered by her, and it sounded strange to his ears. Maybe she wasn't as cold hearted as he thought. She probably didn't like him, but at least she understood now that he was different.
"Of course not." he said, flipping the coin in the air again and catching it, putting it away in a pocket on his pants.
"For many reasons. One is...a little selfish, and that's that an unhappy town is likely to revolt...and I rather like my position, and life. The other reason is...this town is unhappy." he said simply, looking around and sighing.
"It used to be a nice little town, if I remember correctly. I just...hate knowing that it can be brought back to its former glory, but my parents don't care for doing that. All they care for is money and power." he said bitterly, not looking at her, lest she see a bit of a twinkle in his eye that came from a slight wetness there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:35 pm
ஐ----тһε ßlα¢кšмıтһ----ஐ
εviε Evie chuckled a humor-less chuckle when he'd taken a quick little jab at her observation. She wasn't one to trust people as quickly as others did and in return, there were many things that went unnoticed to her. She had to thank him though, that little remark snapped her back into her Evie-ness that she knew and grew accustomed to over the years.
"Yes....you live such a cushy life. Never needing to work, servants waiting on you hand and foot, catering to your every whim and desire. It's not wonder you don't want to give that up." Evie couldn't stand people who knew nothing of the real world. Everything was spoon fed to them for their entire lives and they didn't know what working was. They didn't know what it was like to work at the age of ten in the fields, plowing and handling the animals that were three times larger than she and could crush her at any given moment if they had the anger to. Evie had worked all her childhood away and had nothing gained from it. She was never allowed to finish her schooling so any intellectual job was out of her reach.
"I heard your family has something of some sort arranged that may be able to fix our little town? Or was that some false rumor?" Evie didn't know much about it and didn't want to research the idea, whatever it was...it was probably false. Evie noticed a slight glitter at the corner of Iago's eyes and hoped that it wasn't tears. She didn't deal well with tears.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:40 pm
Whatever tenderness may have been in Evie's voice, it was gone now. Iago looked over at her, any trace of tear in his eye now gone as well.
"You think I want that?" he asked, annoyed. Everyone thought being in the palace was some great thing: servants waiting on them, and all that. "It's horrible. I'm rarely allowed out, unless it's to go to this forge, to the training grounds, or to the university." he said. "If I go anywhere else, I need an armed escort. And most times, my parents won't let me go. That, and the servants aren't exactly the greatest either. They're miserable too, and that's why I try to help 'em out as much as possible by doing stuff myself." he informed her, then he sighed. She had to bring that rumour up.
"Not a rumour." he told her, shaking his head. "Yet another stupid tradition of my family. Arranged marriage." he said with barely concealed venom. "I'm to be wed, some time next year, or toward the end of this one. And the worst part is, I don't even know who my bride is." he sighed again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:46 pm
ஐ----тһε ßlα¢кšмıтһ----ஐ
εviε Evie noticed the traces of venom in Iago's words and held back a smile of her own. Now this was the kind of conversations that got her going. The sappy ones did nothing for her...it was the spirited debates that got her mind rolling and her witty comebacks waiting in line to be uttered by her tongue. She stopped however at the bit of the arranged marriage. Now that was a concept CLEARLY out of her league.
"That's stupid..." Evie started, hopping up on top of one of her work benches. She wasn't heavy so it supported her weight.
"How are you supposed to fall in love when you don't know who you're getting married to? What if you hate her? What if she hates you? What if....what if she's possessive and just wants land, land, and more land? You Royals are so odd with your traditions!" Evie was passionate about love though she'd never had the experience herself. Men steered clear of her most of the time.
"Love is such a complicated thing and if you marry her without knowing her then your marriage is bound to become ruin." Evie swung her legs back and forth, her hand over her heart. She wouldn't know how to cope if she knew she was to be married to someone she'd never known.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:49 pm
Iago sat down on the same stool as before. "I know. They don't care." he grumbled, shaking his head. " 'You'll learn to love each other' they tell me. Yeah, sure." he looked up into her eyes.
"See? My life isn't as gold plated as you thought it was. I'm rich, but that's about it. My life's as restricted as yours." he informed her. Then again, she was free. Her only restriction was she had to work to survive. Should she have the money he had...she'd be gone by now, and he knew that.
He shook his head again. "I don't much care for it, but it's a fact of life. I'm going to be married to someone who might not be bad, or might be the worst wife ever. I'm going to bear children, and hopefully do this area some good before passing on. What a great life." he said sarcastically.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:54 pm
ஐ----тһε ßlα¢кšмıтһ----ஐ
εviε A harsh laugh escaped her lips and she knew she'd been wrong. She thought HER life was awful and filled with dread. She didn't have to marry someone she didn't know, she didn't have to walk around with an escort everywhere she went, she didn't need money to be happy. It was as if she'd been completely enlightened in a matter of short moments.
"Then I feel entirely lucky that I do not have to marry someone I am not in love with. How heartbreaking it would be to find out that he or she might not be completely perfect for me and I would have to be stuck with them for the rest of my life." Evie shook her head, not able to wrap herself around the idea. It would happen to Iago though....he would go away and marry some woman he didn't know. Half of her would say good riddance and let him leave...but the other half for some odd reason wanted him to stay in their little town and be with her instead. Evie did her best to quell that side of her as it reared its ugly head every once and a blue moon.
"If you had your choice...who would you marry instead?" Evie wondered.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:58 pm
"I don't know." Iago said, resting his elbow on his knee, then his forehead on his hand. He closed his eyes. If she didn't hate him, he would have joked around and said her...but it would have only been half a joke.
"Someone. As long as I could get to know them first." he said after a moment of thinking about it.
"But, unfortunately, I know nobody like that." he added with a bit of a cynical chuckle. "I barely get out, and the whole town hates me. I'm sure that whoever this girl is, she's probably nicer to me than anyone here."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:08 pm
ஐ----тһε ßlα¢кšмıтһ----ஐ
εviε "It's okay....maybe she'll be something....special?" Evie could hardly choke out the words it made her laugh so much. It didn't make any sense, why would you force someone to marry someone they didn't love for money? Was a heart worth any dollar amount? There was no possible way that she would have gone through with it. Knowing who she was, Evie knew she'd never stand for something she didn't believe in, even if it meant losing her family. It just wasn't worth selling her heart for.
"You'll find that special woman." Evie stated matter-of-factly. "You just have to look." [♥`тһε Þяıиcεşş`♥]
Jocεlyn The town was dingy, it reeked of animals and it was noisy all of the time. Was her husband-to-be really living in a dump such as this? Jocelyn wandered the streets until she came upon some men dressed in armor that bore the crest of her soon to be husband.
"Where's the Prince?" Jocelyn demanded, not even introducing herself first.
The soldiers all pointed the same direction and told her to the forge. She'd probably smell the smoke before she saw it and Jocelyn scoffed, she'd have to walk the entire way? Well...it was a dirt poor town, maybe they couldn't afford transportation?
Jocelyn walked until she found the forge and she came upon it in her full skirts and jewels.
"Where is the Prince?" Jocelyn asked again, eyeing the forge girl and a rather well-dressed man who sat with her. Could this have been him? "I am Princess Jocelyn and I have come to seek the Prince of these parts...would you know him by any chance?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:13 pm
Iago looked at her quizzically for a moment. What she had just said...was a little unexpected. She actually sounded sincere. "Thank you, Evie." he said, using her name on it's own for the first time since he'd met her. It had always been "Miss Evie".
He heard some footsteps approach, and he looked over at the door to the forge...and saw a rather stunning woman standing there. She was good looking, that's for sure...but he wasn't so sure. She had a bit of a stern looking face...and she seemed a little...aloof. Full of herself. He still preferred Evie, wishing secretly he could have her instead.
He stood up and gave her a bow. "Prince Iago." he said in an emotionless voice. It was clear, at least to Evie, that he wasn't terribly excited at the prospect of meeting her.
[Second to last post, then I need SLEEEEEP.]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:44 am
ஐ----тһε ßlα¢кšмıтһ----ஐ
εviε Evie eyed the girl at the entrance to her forge and fought back any emotion her face might have displayed when the woman had announced she was a Princess...the Princess that was to be wed to Iago sooner or later. She was amazingly beautiful and immediately made Evie envious of her. The Princess didn't even hide the fact that she was rich, she was dripping in diamonds and pearls and furs. Evie shook her head with a smirk, if she dressed like that any more she would probably be mugged sooner than she would be married off to Iago.
Evie soon felt a strange pang in her heart. It was some kind of sadness mixed with jealousy and longing. Iago would marry this Jocelyn character and soon he would leave her forever. If he married this woman, Evie feared that he would never come back. Even though she displayed various levels of hatred towards him, it was to hide the fact that she'd had some strange feelings for him for awhile now and couldn't stop herself from sneaking glances at him every now and again. Evie was a bit relieved when he'd announced himself, it seemed as if the two would have to take some time before they married and that would give Evie herself some time to figure out what she was to do about her current situation. [♥`тһε Þяıиcεşş`♥]
Jocεlyn Jocelyn eyed the man known as Prince Iago with a careful eye. She didn't want to be married off to some bard or crazed lunatic. At least he was dressed nicely otherwise she would have turned away immediately and walked off to find another husband-to-be. She noticed the forge girl looking at her and scowled, if there was one thing she hated it was the peasants eying her beauty. She knew how envious they all were of her and she didn't care to hide that she was wealthy beyond belief.
"It is quite a pleasure to meet you Prince Iago. There is word that I am to be married to you in the near future?" Jocelyn's voice was sugar-coated and sweet as could be when she spoke to others.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 8:11 am
"It is true." Iago said. Already, he disliked her. He was wealthy, but the only way he flaunted it was in his clothes, and sometimes, when he was feeling particularly adventurous, he would mess up his hair, dirty it a little, and put on some commoner's clothes, and mingle around. Everyone he passed greeted him then, and it made him feel accepted.
Jocelyn, on the other hand, was dressed up as could be, and that voice...he preferred any woman's voice over it: it wasn't sincere. It was obviously put on to be sweet.
This was going to be an unhappy marriage, he knew already.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 8:24 am
ஐ----тһε ßlα¢кšмıтһ----ஐ
εviε Evie watched from afar as the two talked to each other. It seemed that Jocelyn wasn't the nicest woman around...neither was she but she at least wasn't a faker. Evie didn't like her at all and got up off of her perch to go clean off some tools. She still couldn't get over the painful feeling in her chest and would press a hand to it to try and ease some of the pain she felt. For some reason it wouldn't go away completely, there was always that dull throbbing that seemed to bury itself in her heart.
Part of Evie wanted Jocelyn to be a good woman and make Iago happy...but her more greedy side wanted Jocelyn to be as she was and make Iago miserable and so in the end they would divorce and maybe she could have Iago then. Since she'd constantly berate him and chide him for his actions and belittle his family, there was no way in the seven hells Iago would fall for a girl like herself. A peasant was never meant to be with a Prince. [♥`тһε Þяıиcεşş`♥]
Jocεlyn Well, one thing was for sure...Iago wasn't the talkative type. Maybe it was the way she presented herself, beautiful and confident and sprinkled with sparkly gems, it was enough to catch any man's eye and leave him speechless. Jocelyn took this as a compliment of course. When the forge girl started getting back to work, Jocelyn smiled.
"Well it's nice to know the peasants know their place here. They are not to be meddling in the affairs of Royalty in my opinion." Jocelyn spoke tritely and her tone was clipped and snobby. She looked around and frowned.
"Forge girl...do you expect me to sit on the dirt or do you have manners enough to fetch me a chair? I don't suspect you have something more comfortable in a place like this hm?" Jocelyn ran her finger along a piece of stone and some form of dust came off. Jocelyn wrinkled her delicate nose and turned away from it. Dirt was something she'd hated since she was a child.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
