The peace that formerly reigned in Terra Nova has eroded, now little more than a memory. War ravages the continent. Disputes divide kingdoms; ideals divide families. The quest for power consumes absolutely and indiscriminately. None are immune to its allure.
Who will rise and who will fall? Only time—and ambition—will tell.
UPDATES
05.26.2023
2 month character creation hold for all existing members begins 6/5/2023. Ended 8/5/2023.
10.29.2023
Change in how times flows. Was 4 IC seasons, now only 2 IC seasons per 1 OOC year.
5 whole years of Heir Apparent goodness! When I started the site, I knew I was hunkering down for the long haul, but I never could have predicted the numerous twists and turns this roleplay site has seen. Hundreds of plots, characters, and members have come and gone, all leaving marks on the site. I am so very thankful for those who have invested. Because you keep coming back, keep getting on, and keep writing, Heir Apparent has the legacy it does today. Three cheers to us!
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 3, 2023 21:21:19 GMT -5
She nodded, “Yeah, way worse than willowbark. Charcoal is nasty!”
Then they were interrupted by Cady again. It was just as well, it gave Rhedara a chance to get some food in her belly while the siblings talked. The scene unfolding in front of her was so domestic, it made her feel a little nostalgic. It’d been so long since she’d been so close to something as normal as a younger sister asking her brother to help her with whatever it was she was learning.
The nostalgic feeling was replaced with utter shock when Cady used Raff’s title. It took exactly two heartbeats before it properly processed in her head, and when it did, she nearly spat out the coffee. If either took any notice of her choking, she would wave it off and say, “Went down the cough pipe.”
Goddess, she really couldn’t do anything by half could she? Talk about being an overachiever. Oh shit indeed. She’d had relations with a superior officer last night. She never would have guessed…but maybe she should have? He didn’t mention it while they were talking. Maybe she should have asked? Ranked soldiers usually didn’t fail to remind those under them what their rank was though, she just figured…she didn’t know what. She was reeling, wondering if the two of them would be in trouble if anyone found out…but he wasn’t her superior officer—that was Abbott—so maybe not?
Raff picking his sister up and spinning her was adorable, and it did make Rhedara smile despite her shock. When Cady finally disappeared inside the house again, Rhedara waited for Raff to sit down before she spoke.
“Lieutenant, huh?” Her eyes roved over him and she managed to crack a smile, “Should I have been calling you ‘Sir’ this whole time?”
"Sounds like someone's a great cook in yer house." he smirked and returned to teaching Cady her quick verbal lessons. When he'd called out what he thought was a random code, he had to wonder if it was subconsciously on purpose. Their eyes met for a brief second and Red's face was pretty much reading the same oh shit factor too.
As they moved further through it, Red sputtered on the coffee and he heard her muttered comment with a nod. It happened. With the kid in the house and kept busy, he sat down to talk with Red, who looked awfully worried.
Raff grinned at her comment and answered easily. "Told ya back in the tavern I'm a former Paired Soldier-that plus me being ten years older means I would definitely have rank above a new trainee still working under a DI. I thought cadets knew the basics Red. Cady does."
He shook his head with a sigh and emptied his cup of coffee. "Fuck no, no sirring at me needed here at home. We ain't on the clock today, not on the grounds, and it's my day off for the ball. If yer not sure, check yer CoC. Who's yer Di?"
He nodded when she answered and asked, "What does he look like so I know?"
She gave the description and he remembered it.
"So then DI Abbott would be your first direct link in the chain of command, after that is Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Captain. These names can change so check the boards each week. Because I'm not a DI, yer not in my chain of command. Now going to the ball tonight.."
Raff walked the two steps over to Red, a hickey showing on his neck just under his ear and he sat behind her with a leg on each side and wrapped his long arms around her.
"It's a Ball, we drink, we laugh, and only need to mention rank when it's necessary. It's ta have fun. But it also means that if anything bad happens that has to do with yer DI or anyone else in your direct chain of command doing anything military, I walk, hear me? Ain't my problem Red. As long as I don't interfere with that, and you don't fuckin ask me to interfere, we're golden."
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 5, 2023 19:39:40 GMT -5
Well, when he put it like that, then yes she realized that she really should have guessed, “Point taken,” she said, “You’re the first ranked soldier I’ve met who didn’t immediately correct me. I’ll have to read the boards more often.”
She nodded when he told her to not ‘sir’ him when they were off duty, “Sounds good to me,” it’d be more than weird to call someone she’d…frolicked with ‘sir.’ She’d just have to try not to blush if she ever had to call him that while on duty…not that she foresaw many times that she’d have to do that since she wasn’t in his unit.
When he asked her who her DI was, she told him and described him when prompted then nodded as he explained the chain of command to her. She’d known that, but she wasn’t about to interject with a petulant, “I know.” She’d earned that when she didn’t figure out his rank. Damn it.
When he sat behind her again, she automatically leaned back as she had earlier and enjoyed how his arms felt wrapped around her. At first she rested her hand on his thigh then remembered Cady and her eavesdropping ways and moved her hand to his forearm. His arm felt nice and solid under her fingers.
“That works for me,” she nodded, “I prefer it that way. I don’t want people to think I’m giving anyone those kinds of favors to get out of hot water,” she admitted to herself that there would be a certain appeal to a lover standing up for her like that, but she needed to be able to look at herself in the mirror. It would be like a kind of prostitution if she did that, and she was no soiled dove.
She had spied the love bite on his neck when he stood up before moving behind her and she didn’t bother to hold back the satisfied little smile that tugged on her mouth. She was’t the only one marked from last night. She will try to twist in her spot just enough that she could reach out and poke it, “Looks like I gotcha.”
Raff was glad he'd eased her mind about things. He'd thought that she knew but that was taken care of thoroughly to the point where she even gave him a Cady look. He looked down at the hand casually placed on his thigh and his glance flicked to the house where Cady's big brown eyes were watching intently. Either Red had seen Cady or figured it out herself because she removed her hand soon after.
Cady was only fourteen and ... Raff looked down at Red now touching his forearm. Yikes. Age was more than just a number. Red was only four years older than Cady. Fuck. Red was awfully young compared to his 'ancient' twenty-eight. She was closer in age to Cady, than him. He frowned hard at the thought and wasn't too crazy about it. That meant that he was underestimating Cady--treating her like a baby--when she was clearly a teenager now. He'd have to crack down on his own behavior and start regulating shit more. Oh shit--that meant that Cady's mind was more on chasing boys! Raff's face turned thunderous at the thought of any boy getting near his baby sister. The talk! Fuck on a rope! He couldn't possibly give Cady that kinda subject to talk about. Maybe if Red..
Something distracting poked at his neck and he looked down to smile at the woman. "Whatcha mean gotcha?"
His arms squeezed a little tighter around her. "I thought I gotcha-right now."
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 6, 2023 10:29:48 GMT -5
Rhedara was too self-absorbed at that moment to notice Raff’s expression, or how his arms might have stiffened with the beginning of his protective brotherly thoughts—although she surely would have been highly amused had she known what was going through his head. She had a brother once, and she would sympathize with Cady’s predicament. As it was, she was focusing on how nice it felt to be embraced. His warm arms were an especially a nice contract against the chilly Hiems air. A girl could get used to this.
She returned his smile, grinning with her teeth. At his little squeeze, she actually giggled—she’d think about that later. She really wasn't one to giggle, but she also wasn't normally one to go and get drunk and then do indecent things with a man. Again, she thought about all these knew experiences she had in the past day. Maybe she should have been ashamed of her actions. She'd done things that arguably should have waited until the marriage bed, but she instead felt pretty good about it...she wouldn't mind doing it again in the near future.
She bit her lip playfully as she followed his mood, “Yeah you do,” she poked his neck again, “But I left a mark.”
"So now we got matching love bites huh?" He answered easily, "I could always add more if you don't think it's enough.. accessories." It felt nice to have a woman just laying back in his arms. Raff hadn't ever allowed himself that luxury. In his world, physical contact was strictly regulated to just sex, helping family or pain in combat with no in between. Affectionate touching like this was different, but he was damn sure he'd like to get more used to it. He put his chin down to rest on top of Red's head, liking the warmth and very close contact. He didn't get to relax often and this was a hella nice change from his day to day existence of work eat sleep repeat.
Just as he was about to whisper something to Red, a trio of teen girls waved at Raff and giggled, heading toward the house. The tallest of them called out,
"Is Cady inside? I'm having a sleepover tonight because nearly everyone's going to be at the ball. Mother said she wouldn't mind."
She literally looked down her nose at Raff and then her eyes locked on Red's hickies and widened. The fourteen year old noble's condemnation was written plainly across her face. Raff moved up his large arms to place them directly over Red's shoulders, with a bicep on each side of Red's neck, effectively blocking the kid's cruel gaze.
While he wasn't fond of the the young noble, he was at least glad that Cady had her own troop of friends to keep her from being alone too much.
"Yep. Move it along inside prinsiss--oh and don't worry 'bout the rats, roaches and bed bugs..." he added in a snide voice and thickening his commoner tone.
They didn't have any of those but types like that always assumed the worst. Even as kids, most nobles were way too high n mighty for his taste.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 7, 2023 18:43:10 GMT -5
She’d nearly forgotten about her own marks and she snorted at the reminder, “Maybe,” she drew out the word then traced her finger over her neck with a playful smile, “if it’s all along here like a necklace. Wouldn’t that be pretty?”
Giggling teens interrupted anything else they may have done. The posse moved toward them, asking Raff is Cady was home. The tallest—and arguably best dressed—was rude enough to stare at the love bites on Rhedara’s neck. Her own noble born mother had taught her not to stare like this kid was. Maybe her mother had better teachers—she really didn’t know how rich her maternal family was to know for sure. All she knew was, if Rhedara had been caught staring at anything like this girl was staring at her, snide look or not, she would have gotten a good slap in the face.
Rhedara wasn’t about to slap around a young teenager (even if it would be funny). Instead she smiled as sweetly as she could and tilted her head as giving he teen a better view, but Raff moved his arms before she could tilt very much.
“Ah nobles,” she sighed, leaning her head against one of his arms. It occurred to her that she just needed to turn her head just a little bit and she could kiss his arm…no, no…behave, “As glamorous as they are insufferable.”
With a huff, the tall girl went in the house but made a point of looking closely at the floor and carefully keeping the hem of her elegant dress from touching it. The door closed and four teens giggled from within, chattering and whispering.
Raff snorted at Red's comment and put his mouth right next to her ear, their cheeks touching. "With the exception of Atwood, I'd have to say that glamorous is the last thing that comes to my mind about the nobles in Nevermere. But ya know those love bites could--"
"Oh my goddess is that a HOOKER out there?!" *snorts* "Nah he couldn't afford one with the way we eat!" "But she looks like one to have... those." "Yea she woke up here. Raff totally smashed her." "No way!" "Those hickies weren't a rash unless it was from Raff's gross face on her neck!" "I dunno he's kinda cut--" "THAT'S DISGUSTING JYNNIE!" "I'm just saying he's got nice blue eyes." "NO. GROSS. I'm not comin ta yer stupid party if yer gonna be nasty like that!" "Ok Cady, I'm sorry. But he's still doing that... girl right now probably!" "He don't smash girls here Jynnie. That's the only one he's ever brought here. And iffen ya say one more fuckin thin about ma brother I'll punch ya in tha nose!"
Fierce whispering and scurrying ensued within the house, their voices inaudible, however four sets of eyes watched out the window avidly.
Crimson faced, Raff raised his chin and repeatedly slammed the back of his head into the wooden fence behind him, removing his arms from Red and lowered his legs to the ground. 'Someone kill me now please.' he thought fervently.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 8, 2023 9:26:58 GMT -5
Rhedara was starting to think that dark alleys had more appeal than she initially thought. At least she wouldn’t be peeped on and insulted by a murder of young teenagers. She really didn’t appreciate being called a prostitute either. She’d die before she joined that profession, and didn’t much like being labeled as one. It was all very irksome.
The urge to curse the noble girl was very strong. A number of things that could be done rolled through her head. Perhaps squirming like a worm, or maybe all her hair will fall out of her head. She smiled as she thought about having her break out in all sorts of lovely marks: Pimples, boils, and blisters. It would be so easy, and she could watch and hear the result right where she sat. It would be delicious.
She inhaled, ready to chant the curse into existence, but Raff dropped his arms and straight his legs out on either side of her. Her head bounced against his chest each time his head hit the post behind them, and a little sanity and cognitive thinking retired. Goddess, was she about to curse a fourteen year old? Sure, she needed to learn to watch her tongue, but a curse? And after she’d promised herself that she’d lay low and suppress that urge more than she already had.
She took a long, deep breath in an attempt to chase away the kind of ire that compelled her to curse the cause of her anger. Then she turned her head toward the house and tried to see if she could see the teenagers peeking out at them, and whether or not she makes eye contact, she’ll call out, “The filthy slut can hear you, you know!”
"Scoot yer ass over Red, I'm ending this shit now." Raff worked to stand up and bent forward to move beneath the window, crouching. Saying nothing, he scooped up some snow and mud and flung it hard at the window, splattering it everywhere. Four teens shrieked inside and it sounded like a couple fell over. Mud totally slathered all over the window and it was completely covered in brown dripping slime.
With a heavy stride of his heels jarring the ground beneath him, he opened the door, stood in the threshold and just loomed for a solid minute before closing the door. What he said was in a very low growl of voice that was nearly inaudible from outside. Treble voices answered but it was still too quiet to hear from Red's position. A few minutes later four silent teens exited the house in a flash, scurrying through the yard and all of them went around the corner except the tallest noble girl.
"Now." Raff growled out in very angry voice, urging the teen forward at Rhedara.
"I'm sorry I said bad things about you miss soldier. I promise not to do it again." Crimson faced and ashamed, Jynnie didn't meet the woman's eyes and ran out soon after the very quiet and timid apology.
He grabbed up the coffee mugs and didn't look at Red for a few minutes as he washed and rinsed them, setting them back on the water bucket. He hefted the clean water bucket in his left hand and gestured at her to come inside with him as he opened the door with his free hand.
"It's cold out Red, let's git inside." There were no smiles, no grins and no hint of amusement whatsoever.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 10, 2023 8:12:42 GMT -5
She craned her head back to look at him a moment before she actually moved away from him. Given the way they were sitting together, her sitting between his legs with her back resting against his chest, there would be no scooting. After a moment of figuring out how to get out of the way, she ended up partially standing, partially crawling over his leg so that she ended up crouching beside him.
Then she watched what happened after that with the same mixture of feelings she felt at the tavern the previous night when he'd gotten rough with the poker players. A small part of her wondered if the social niceties dictated that she should leave, but the rest of her wanted to see the outcome of what sounded like the scolding of the century inside the house. She leaned closer to hear better. The voices were still muffled, and curiosity made her step forward to put her ear to the door, but the door burst open before she could move more than that single step. As she watched the teenagers stampede out of the house as if a blazing inferno were behind them, she thanked her lucky stars that she hadn’t managed to put her ear to the door. That would have been embarrassing to say the least.
She looked back toward the house and was surprised to see the noble teen and blinked a couple times at the apology. Was that what all the growling and murmuring were about? If Rhedara were not a selfish creature, she would likely have reasoned that there were a number of other things that Raff could have scolded the girls about in addition to the things they had said about her. But Rhedara was a selfish creature and those thoughts did not occur to her right then. It was attractive. He’d made it clear he wouldn’t put his neck out for her on a professional basis, but it was nice to see that for the things that happened off duty was a different story.
At the noble’s apology Red nodded, “Thanks,” and only years of having her mother drill the words ‘your forgiven’ into her as a response to an apology—she used to say that forgiving was as difficult as apologizing—had her opening her mouth to say just that, but the girl had already hurried away after the other girls. It was nice to have an apology, but she thought that cursing the girl might have been more satisfying and memorable. Maybe.
“Do you want some help?” She said tentatively to his silent cleaning. She realized that although she’d slept with him that she wasn’t sure if he was the kind of person that you needed to just let seethe or if a flippant one-liner was the best course of action. She almost said something sassy anyways, but bit it back. He’d obviously been bothered by the teens’ behavior—and so had she for that matter. Who would like to be called a prostitute by anybody?
Briefly, she thought about pushing back, but it was cold out and there was really no reason to push back. Impulsive she may be, but she was capable of reading a room. She went in, feeling the pleasant warmth of the house envelope her. She studied him and decided that diverting his attention from what just happened would be best. There was a lot of things she could have done to do this, appropriate to the mood or not, but she decided on a question that had been nagging at her since she’d woken up that morning.
“I’m a little fuzzy about how I got here,” now that the hangover was dulled from the willow bark, details were starting coming back. She remembered she’d been so tired afterwards, her legs feeling like jelly. She’d definitely consented to coming back here with him. She remembered some of the places they walked by…or did he carry her? Maybe it was both, “I kind of remember, but I don’t at the same time.” It might not have been the best conversation starter if she was going for a diversion, but she was fairly sure that a more flirtatious route would have not landed well.
"Aight miss uppity, why dja call her names like that?" Raff asked in a low voice, working to keep his temper around the kids. "She's wearing strawberry tattoos. I'm fourteen, not stupid!" she sneered, raising her noble little chin. "Well I'm wearing one too. What name ya gonna call me?" Raff retorted. "To my face or behind my back?"
Jynnie stepped back toward the door, not liking the line of questioning. "I wanna know. If a girl has the same marks I do, and she gets called names, what are ya calling ME?" "Nnothing." "Nothin coz yer scared or nothin coz Imma guy?" "I don't know." "Ya sure about that?" Her brown eyes were huge in that young face and Raff stepped back from her two paces. He turned to his sister, hoping that she wasn't picking up the same mean habits and asked her just as quietly, "Do any of ya girls call the guys names for havin a strawberry Cady?" "No." "Why not?" "I dunno."
Raff frowned angrily at the repeated phrase that every teen on the planet seemed to give for everything.
"So ya girls think it's ok to bully another girl but say nothing about the guy? Cady I thought I raised ya bett-.." he dropped the scolding mid-word until it faded into silence and he just stared hard at his sister before turning away with a look of disgust.
"Can't believe yer my sister Cady. Can't even look at ya right now."
Blue eyes looked back at the noble teen as he spoke to her swiftly, "Jynnie, ya gonna call me a whore for my marks? No? Then ya better go out and think about a woman out there that's only four years old than ya. She's a soldier too. I suggest a real apology unless yer calling me the same thing as her."
He looked at the teens in disgust, not even looking at his sister.
"Get the fuck out. Go rip apart some other women fer yer petty fuckin amusement."
He put out both of his arms in a shooing motion and the teens fled before him, running down the stairs and across the yard. Raff had no idea if that snotty noble kid would do what she should, but it was worth a shot. As it was, he was going to have to rethink his opinion of teenage girls if that was how they treated each other. Even his own damn sister!
Jynnie paused and Raff figured maybe she needed a little incentive to give her some courage to not be a piece of shit.
"Now!" he growled, curling his fists at his sides.
It wasn't great, and the teen probably didn't mean a word of it, but it was an attempt at some order around here. He wasn't sorry to see the back of her head running away. Managing teen girls was like trying to herd a dozen wet cats! Red looked pretty pissed and he didn't blame her. That inside look into the feminine mind was a harsh one and something he didn't want a repeat of any time soon.
Raff shook his head briefly at her offer, keeping his eyes on the cups. "I'm good. It don't take long."
He wiped his hands on his pants to dry and shut the door behind them both and set the bucket beside it. He took off his shoes and set them by the other side of the door and walked over near one of the cots. Dropping his weight to the floor with a tired sigh, he leaned back against a cot, pulling down a pillow and blanket from it. Raff gestured Red over for some decent time together in normal privacy and respect.
"Well I tried to get directions from ya while I was carrying ya but after we'd gone around the same block three times, I figured I'd just let ya have a cot here. Denzul and Ewan are good kids. Sorry 'bout what happened though. I had no idea that Cady... was so.." Raff looked ahead, his expression grim.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 11, 2023 21:09:07 GMT -5
She followed suit and took off her shoes and set them near the door before she sad next to him on the floor, sitting the width of two or three of her fingers away from him. Close enough to feel his body heat, but far enough that if he wasn’t in a cuddling mood, she wasn’t invading it as much as she wanted to
“Oh right,” that jogged her memory. He’d carried her on his back and had told her to give him directions as they went, “I was um…pretty incoherent, huh? Wait,” she snickered, “Was I trying to steer you where I wanted you to go by tugging your ears, or was that a dream?” She sort of hoped that part was a dream…it wasn’t the most attractive way to end that kind of a night, but she supposed she’d just have to live with it if she had done it.
She waved off his apology, “It’s alright, really,” she shrugged, “Not the first time a noble’s sneered at me, won’t be the last,” an early memory of an old woman looking down her nose at her surfaced. She’d always believed it was her grandmother, but her mother wouldn’t talk about it to her afterwards, “and it could have been worse…” she paused, wondering if she really wanted to share it with him, but she’d already shared it with Captain Woodwick when she’d helped pull an old lady’s carriage out of the mud, “when I was fifteen, I cursed a noble so that his socks wouldn’t stay out of the toes of his shoes…only the purpose wasn’t to bully him for the sake of being spiteful. Just petty revenge for something nasty he’d said to me on the wrong day,” she bit her lip, looking back on that day, “I wasn’t in a good place.”
"Well yeah ya started out tugging my ears." he grinned at her and wrapped his arm around Red's waist to close the distance between them. "Then when that wasn't steering me fast enough fer yer likin, ya grabbed two handful o hair and yanked my fuckin head the way ya wanted me to go. All the while yelling giddy up! Whoa horsey!" Raff laughed at the memory, and was more than happy to share it with her. He smirked at her reaction to his enlightening information. Truth really was stranger than fiction!
Red's response to the situation didn't please him one bit. If she accepted that shit as normal, then something was far more wrong than he'd ever glimpsed on the surface. "Ya tellin me what those girls did to ya was normal? Jynnie was only one of the four that's noble born, and Cady was complicit. I thought I brought her up ta think fer herself, but I was dead fuckin wrong on that."
He listened quietly to her tale and looked down at the woman as she spoke and asked her curiously, "That's it? Ya have the power ta curse someone and ya waste it on socks? You were in a bad place and that's all ya could come up with? Just how old were ya?"
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 12, 2023 14:46:40 GMT -5
She looked at him with wide, horrified eyes, “I did?” Oh goddess, she had! A fuzzy memory of her saying just that surfaced. If he hadn’t been holding her, she would have slid down until her back hit the floor, but anchored as she was, she just smacked her forehead into his chest. Everything she did just had to be cute, didn’t it? How mortifying.
She shrugged, “That’s young teenage girls for you. They prefer to hurt with words instead of their hands,” she said it as if she hadn’t been one of those recently, “It’s a weird age where you feel like a woman because you’re starting to look like one and everything below the belt is working like it should, but you’re not a woman yet really,” she peeked up at him to get an idea of what he felt about that. Cady was old enough that she should be bleeding every month, and given their close living situation, she’d be surprised if he didn’t notice the kind of laundry the girl would be doing, “Your friend’s opinions suddenly become the most important thing and it becomes more instinct than intellect to to blend in even if it’s wrong because losing the friendship seems like a tragedy among tragedies. It will be that way until they abandon you because you stood up for yourself,” she was silent a beat, “It’s a weird thing. As long as the bad behavior is pointed out though, she’ll grow out of it.”
“I was fifteen,” she said defensively. She supposed should have been happy that he wasn’t immediately condemning her for casting the curse. When she’d told Woodwick, he’d punished her even though it had been almost three years since she’d done it, “and I didn’t want to hurt him, just irritate him. Everything else I thought of was too obvious,” she’d thought about giving him an itchy rash in his downstairs, or making his body contort painfully, but she’d had the presence of mind that time to not do either of them, “That curse was really effective for what it was,” she bit her lip against a smile at the memory, “That noble boy was really full of himself and he liked to remind you of how great he was. He kept sitting down and taking his boots off every five minutes to fix his socks no matter what we were all doing or what the drill instructor said. I don’t remember what his punishment was for doing that.”