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 Jun 2, 2023 20:42:19 GMT -5
“I yelled that?” She realized that she had. She started to rub at her face again, but remembered the sand stuck to them and put them back in her lap, “I just…I didn’t even mean to say it at all.”
The other part had her staring at him, eyes wide and mouth agape, “You’d die too because I said something stupid?” More incentive to watch her mouth and control her temper better.
He didn’t seem to be able to decide where to look at her. His eyes landed on her legs and almost seemed to rise up to her face before bouncing back at her legs again. She might have smiled and teased him by lifting her skirt just a little higher, but she was too upset for flirting…he was probably too upset to appreciate flirting, too.
But then he finally settled on her face, and she nearly smiled because he wasn’t avoiding her the way he was before. Arguing had sucked.
“I didn’t even know that he knew we were together,” she said, “Are you saying we don’t even have a choice? There’s no,” she waved her hand around, “loophole to use where we can just decide at our own pace?”
"Yea he'd torture me by kilin ya and then have me killed for lettin ya get away with talk like that coz I'm one of a number of.. hands he keeps on."
It was ugly but it was the truth. Red didn't know he was a hired killer/body guard/thug/left hand man so her sayin that put him on the spot to stop the threat-that was her.
"Actually, I think ya just gave the loophole. Ya said no. I followed his orders and asked but no one can make a woman say yes to gettin her palm sliced, am I right?"
Raff worked hard not to laugh out loud as she just kept digging the sand into her face and he was tempted to just let her keep doing it just to amuse him. Why did Red make it so impossible to stay mad? An adult shouldn't act so cute!
"Is the sand really buggin ya that much? Use yer hair. Here, close yer eyes fer a sec."
He leaned forward, took a handful of her hair and wiped it gently across her eyes and face before reluctantly letting it go. His face only inches from hers, he ached to hold her close and just let this whole headache fade away.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Jun 2, 2023 21:49:40 GMT -5
“That…” what to say to that possibility? Again, she wondered what that hidden part of Lord Morrigan’s business was and if she’d ever be privy to it, “That would be horrible.”
She thought about the loophole he’d found, and it sounded good to her. Still, “Would that work? You told me not to try to outsmart him or anything like that.” It was probably true that they couldn’t force her to consent to it…her mother had told her that things had changed to be more like that Lorendale place where women had more of a say…but she’d be fooling herself if she believed everything was completely equal in that regard. For all she knew, the elder witches could make her—especially if they found out they were having relations…but there was no need to bail out the boat before there’s a leak.
“It’s everywhere!” Her laugh came out as a huff, “I don’t even know how it got on my hands,” she closed her eyes when he asked, and felt him brush away the sand from her face with her hair. It was sweet…especially after the explosion they’d just had. She was glad. He’d be gone for a while and the last thing she wanted between them was an argument.
She opened her eyes and saw how close he was. Close enough to touch, to kiss. Slowly, in case she was reading his signals wrong, she leaned in and pressed a lingering peck on his lips, then put her arms around him, putting her face in the crook of his neck, just wanting to be held.
“You didn’t really answer my question earlier,” she said, not moving from where she was. A beat, then, “Do you want some of my hair?”
Her next question didn't even give him pause when he swiftly replied with full honesty.
"I did my part and asked ta marry ya. Ya turned me down and got mad yellin loud enough for everyone ta hear. When ya don't wanna ya don't wanna. He didn't order ya to get married did he? No. He ordered me which meant askin ya, which I did. The ball is in yer court on that. We both agreed it's bad timing, there's nothing more ta be said of it. Subject's closed and done."
Dammit all why did Red have to keep doing stuff like that?! She'd pushed right past his arms and legs to bury herself into his neck after a shy kiss and just hugs him. Then she was gonna do it and he'd-- and she did. She looked up at him with the those big beautiful trusting eyes, talking about fuckin wanting hair! Raff had stayed distant as humanly possible but this .. just..
He dropped both arms around her and held her tight, kissing that upturned mouth. When he finally stopped kissing her, he answered in a low quiet voice,
"Yea I'll take yer hair. I'd take all a ya with me if I could."
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Jun 3, 2023 20:40:13 GMT -5
Yeah that was life. Commoners weren’t often dealt a good hand. Sometimes they moved up, sometimes they just had to make do with arsenic instead of water. As far as commoners went, her life wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t pretty either, “Yeah,” she said gently, “That’s life.”
And the subject closed of an impending forced marriage was over. Good…but if Lord Morrigan was interfering by telling Raff to marry her, she figured it was only a matter of time before he’d start to work on her about it. Why was he acting like a matchmaking mama in the worst way? She wanted to ask Raff, but she had no desire to risk arguing again because she was curious about their boss’s reasoning. She’d likely find out soon enough anyways.
Her question was answered with a kiss. She returned the kiss, thinking that things between them were going to be okay after all.
“You know,” she smiled and reached up to stroke the edge of his beard, “I’m small enough that I could probably fit in a bag, pass off as an extra set of clothes or something.”
He’d agreed to having her hair though, her heard did a little dance, “Do you have a knife I can borrow? Getting mine would involve moving.”
As she stroked her hand through his beard, Raff consciously worked not to smile at it instantly. Dammit she played him well and knew exactly how to break through his defenses! She was an obvious weakness that Keelan had blatantly used against him so coldly like a punch in the nuts. There was no way of knowing for sure what his boss planned at him now. When he'd used Red to get to Raff personally and directly interfered with a barely know last names two week old commoner relationship, he'd gone too damn far. The overreach now had him second guessing her motives and concessions that he normally allowed so he no longer fully trusted Red. How much was the boss' influence and how much was Red's own personal doing? How far did the manipulation reach? He didn't let anyone take his space or control him like that-not since Merk. Another kick in the ballsac.
He returned his attention back to the soft warm bundle of affection and smiles in his arms and replied smoothly.
"Hmm.. could work if I take out all my clothes and equipment because we're given a weight limit on what we can take with us..." Raff joked, pinching playfully at her waist. "And I ain't supposed ta ask a girl how much she weighs right?"
His dark blue eyes gleamed at her question and squeezing her tighter so he could reach, his right hand removed a small knife from his left calf while an even smaller knife slid down from his left sleeve to his palm.
"Small or extra small? I got nine on me right now. No, wait ten, coz of --" Raff stopped abruptly, realizing he was way oversharing too much information.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Jun 5, 2023 18:37:56 GMT -5
Touching him was such a comfort after arguing the way they had. With the way he’d looked at her, and the things he’d accused her of, she’d worried he wouldn’t let her touch him like this again. She savored the rough texture of his beard under her fingers. It might be a while before she could caress him like this, so she savored it, moving her fingers soothingly slow.
His pinching tickled, and she’d try and wiggle away from each one, laughing, “Well you already asked me how old I am!”
She’d asked for a knife, and he produced two, the first from his calf, and the second…she wasn’t sure, it just appeared in his hand. Her mouth made an ‘O’ shape as he showed her the two knives, “I think I just got more attracted to you,” she admitted with no shame, “How’d you do that?” She gestured toward the hand that’d produced the knife seemingly out of thin air.
She smiled almost knowingly when he made mention of a tenth knife. He might have meant an actual knife, but she chose to take it as an innuendo since he didn’t seem to want to share, “Mhm, I think I’m familiar with that knife,” she was practically in his lap, and if they had not just quarreled and were also not on a beach where anyone could see them, she might have moved her body provocatively against him to punctuate her point, but she stayed still. She was more than content just being held.
“How about the extra small one?” She moved just far enough away from him that she could reach for the back of her head, moving the hair she wanted cut out for him—a small finger-full starting at the base of her neck, "Can you cut it? I can't see what I'm doing."
His arms full with Red, he couldn't not smile as he tickled her and she sassed him. Raff's amused smile turned to outright laughter at her guileless comment over just offering knives.
"Damn Red you make me laugh at the weirdest stuff. They're just throwin knives." Raff shrugged and the smile stayed on his face. His grin turned salacious and he barely restrained himself from answering with what he knew she wanted him to say. Just three small inches away from full physical contact, he knew she was testing him again. The minx was using now what he'd only taught her a short while ago with taking space! And he was letting her! Raff damn well didn't wanna keep his own personal space. With Red it was never an invasion-it was welcomed, hell he wanted it, her more than anything. They both knew what she was doing and couldn't deny her their shared closeness. It would be ripped away all too soon and he'd take what he could allow himself to.
"Okay." he answered her quietly, feeling humbled that Red trusted Raff enough to have a knife literally at her back after what had just happened.
He counted out ten strands of hair and moved a gentle finger beneath the strand and cut off the long locks with a deft swipe. Sliding the knife back into the small inner holster, he held out the long dark raven tresses near her face.
"Ten hairs good? I ain't a knight going to joust ya know. Whatcha got in mind Red?"
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Jun 7, 2023 18:11:45 GMT -5
She was still feeling raw from their argument and her tears, but she grinned with her own laughter when her provocative little statement had the desired effect. It was good to see him laugh. They’d both been so upset, and she wasn’t sure if they’d see each other before he had to leave. It’d be like going to bed angry, and she didn’t want that between them for a span of days let alone months.
“Yeah, but I asked you if you had a knife to cut my hair with and you just whipped one out of nowhere! It was sexy.”
Rhedara noted his quiet tone as he agreed to cut her hair for her, but she didn’t grasp the humility behind it. They’d fought, yes, he’d said he’d have to kill her if she didn’t take back her words, yes, but she trusted him. Goddess be good, she trusted him, and she wanted him close.
She waited while he cut her hair, little goosebumps appearing as his fingers brushed over the back of her neck. She’d twist back around when he held the strand in front of her eyes.
“Ten hairs is good,” she confirmed, “You can have a little more if you want,” she rolled her lips together as if smoothing about pigment, “I don’t have anything in mind with it. I just wanted you to have it.” She’d take the strands and look at them before looking back at him, “How do you wanna keep it?”
The gleam in his dark blue eyes ramped up a notch when Red said she thought the knives were sexy, and his grin widened. Oh yea, she knew damn well what she was doing to him.
"Merk taught me how ta use throwing knives pretty good and the small ones come in handy. I could show.. well I could show ya more when I get back." Damn the fight, damn Cambria and double damn Keelan. Raff scooted forward and wrapped both arms around Rhedara for a long moment, just resting his chin on her hair. She smelled so good and felt so right, he just wanted this moment right here to stay in his memory. Just having her closeness with him and no games. Raff had no idea how he got so fuckin lucky to find a gem like her, but the thought of leaving her in two weeks was nothing less than soul crushing. He closed his eyes for a brief minute before opening them and turned his attention to her question.
"Well I figure, I took out ten so if I use one ta wrap the nine, I can divide it in three and ya braid it into my hair so I can keep a piece o ya with me."
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Jun 8, 2023 21:57:01 GMT -5
He seemed to like what she said about him whipping out his knives like that, and she grinned back at him, “I’ll hold you to that then,” she said as he pulled her closer to him. She settled into him, content that things were okay again. He smelled like sweat and a long day’s work. She let her face nestle into his neck anyways and wrapped her arm around his waist. His arms were warm and comfortable despite the firmness of his body.
What he wanted to do with her hair was unexpectedly sweet. Not that she didn’t think he was capable of being sweet, but he was usually teasing in his affection instead of sentimental. It made her heart give a little squeeze. That had been the point of her giving him some of her hair to keep in the first place.
“Yeah, let’s do that,” and she’d wait for him to do as he suggested and she’d take the strands from him. Then she’d shift around until she was facing him so she could braid the strands in his hair. It took her a second to decide how to do it. She didn’t want him stuck wearing his hair down or something, and she didn’t want his hair to pull uncomfortably. She also wanted it in a spot where it wouldn’t look weird to have a decorative braid (even if it would be funny to put it on top of his head near his hairline so the braid would dangle over his forehead). She picked a spot on the side of his head, just above the ear and carefully braided her hair into his.
When she was finished, she’d give it a light tug, not to hurt, but to check for any hairs that were braided too tightly, “How’s that feel?”
He laid out the strands along Red's lap and pulled out one from it to tie around the top of them, leaving a long enough part to weave through it as she went. Raff wasn't a hair expert but he had helped Cady with her hair since she was born. Raff held the raven tresses in his left hand and gave it to her, turning his head down and to the side. "Cady used to spend hours braiding my hair when she was a kid. Got in my best naps ever."
He leaned his arms forward to bend, easily wrapping his long arms around her waist and kept his head close to hers. Again it was another vulnerable position that he'd seen a lotta guys get killed in but he knew Red wouldn't do that. At least not until he got through showing her how to use throwing knives.
Something .. happened the moment she started running her fingers through his hair to start the braid. Raff exhaled long and slow and his whole body relaxed with his eyes half closed. His arms were still around her but they hung limply and utterly calm as he nearly bent in half, his eyes closing.
When Red spoke, Raff snorted awake, mumbling, "Nomoregoatsoup!"
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Jun 9, 2023 12:03:37 GMT -5
“Got some nice naps, huh?” She could picture Raff sitting with Cady weaving in a million braids in his hair, “Did she just take a long time to do it or did she wait until you were unconscious first?” Cady had come off as a bit of an imp to Rhedara, and she could see the girl trying to prank her big brother that way.
He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her as she started separating the hair to braid. The position made braiding a little harder, but not impossibly harder. As she braided the hair however, more and more of his weight settled on her even as his arms loosened around her waist.
Did he just…? He did!
It was an odd position to fall sleep in, bent over like that. He couldn’t be comfortable. Was he that tired? Or was it something else? He didn’t seem like the type to just fall asleep like that, especially after the fight they just had…unless the fight took more out of him than he let on? That didn’t seem right. Some people liked their hair played with. Rhedara certainly enjoyed it depending on the person touching her hair. She’d never thought that braiding a tiny braid would relax someone so much.
He was probably just tired. He had a really full schedule.
She gave the braid a little tug and asked how the braid felt, and it startled him awake. She bit her lip against a burst of laughter.
“'No more goat soup?' Raff, I think you were dreaming.”
"That brat has done both, but she's made me late for both my jobs when she catches me asleep! Falling asleep around Cady before she did, had me waking up with a pretty hairstyle most of the time." Raff laughed, thinking how much he was gonna miss that kid.
Raff rubbed a hand over his face as he sat up, scratching at his beard. He blinked a few times, truly not even knowing he'd been asleep so he looked at her owlishly for a long minute. Well that was weird...
"Dreaming? Huh. Must be something about braiding I guess. Strange." Damn he was tired and that little so called nap just made him even more so. He put up a hand to feel the small thin braid and gave Red a fleeting grin. It faded soon as the reality of it all set in. The specialists would go in on their mission while Raff floated around in Cambria as yet another anonymous Nevermere soldier in an ocean full of people just like him. While he rode the tide in, it was to relieve another nameless soldier to go back home. Kinda like prison-do your time and eventually you're released.
Feeling entirely too pensive, he held onto the woman in front of him and watched the ocean waves break on the beach. In and out, like waves of army soldiers entering and leaving Cambria in their own waves. Raff would have to put in his time and just deal with it. Nevermere had occupied Cambria for years now so it was just a matter of his turn to wait for the next ones to come and relieve him to get back to Nevermere. He saw a gull set down on one of the waves as if watching him. Yep. Pretty soon that would be him, waiting on the tides to move him in and out and back again. Orders was orders.
Last Edit: Jun 11, 2023 18:33:14 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Jun 12, 2023 18:04:44 GMT -5
Rhedara tried to imagine Raff showing up for his job—either one—with an elaborately done hairstyle and didn’t try to hide her laugh, “I bet you looked very pretty and confident for work those days.”
Raff seemed a little disoriented after his impromptu nap. It was kind of endearing. It was also tempting to reach for his hair to see if he’d fall asleep again—for science. But she didn’t. Instead, she returned his fleeting grin with one that lingered, “Yeah, strange,” she said, and she would lean in a little and try to give him a quick peck on the lips before she would snuggle into him again, still nearly in his lap, and her cheek would be resting on his chest.
She traced idle patterns on his arm with her fingertip and listened to the sounds of the waves for a while, thinking. The sun had gone down, but she was in no hurry to move. If they hadn’t just fought, if he wasn’t about to leave for a while, she might have tried to spark some passion and try to get him to make love to her. She wanted to feel close to him, and it would have been a send off to remember. But it would be a terrible time if she got pregnant from being intimate that night. For one thing, he’d be far away. For another thing, she didn’t think her employer would like to have an unwed woman that was with child on his payroll. And another thing still, given what they had just argued about, he might think she did it on purpose to entrap him in marriage. Just a bad idea all around at that moment.
Besides, it was nice just being held.
“What are you thinking about?” She asked quietly, even though she knew what was probably going through his head.