Dark clouds rolled overhead and screams of terror echoed through the valley from the small village below their Estate. Redridge was under assault and the reports all clearly made the assailants to be Scourge. Not the militarized Forsaken, but a far more lethal and untamed force as though Icecrown itself had suddenly descended upon them. The Estate guard had mobilized and was doing what they could to reinforce their barriers while still assisting the townsfolk where they could. Her first priority was to get as many refugees as possible into the safety of the estate that had wards, walls, and soldiers to defend it.
Everyone had been rushing around for hours, with no warning at all. It had started out just like any other normal day before the clouds rolled in and the screams of terror began. Since then Catisa had not ceased to direct the flow of staff members and guards wherever they lacked it. Constant running around and shouting took its toll, half a day passed and evening descended, though it looked no different than the daytime at this point. Fires illuminated the horizon, places where the scourge had broken through their ranks.
“Miss Wells?” One of the chambermaids paused her bustling about to peer at the aspiring sorceress inquisitively, “Are you alright?”
The truth was she had felt light-headed all day and hadn’t eaten a thing, but in the state of things she hardly felt like she could eat. “I’m fine, thank you! Please, keep…” Her breath escaped her and the world began to spin as her legs gave out. The chambermaid let out a gasp and caught her just before she hit the ground, though the mage was out cold. After the woman dragged her off to the side of the courtyard Catisa stirred once more. She drew a deep breath and jumped to her feet.
“Miss Wells, I really must insist you take it easy!” The older woman cautioned.
“No!” Catisa snapped as she glared at the woman, whose expression was suddenly one of fear. Something had clearly startled the woman. “I can’t, not yet. The people need me.” She brushed herself off and trotted out, ignoring what sounded like further protest from the senior staff member. The woman’s concern made her glad Dairon had been assisting the soldiers with corralling the refugees and didn’t see that just now.
Warm light from the morning sun filled the lavish chambers provided by The Violet Bastion for her duties as Executive Assistant. They were really quite expansive, down a wing where the only other individual was Mason Kohler, though she hardly ever heard a peep from him. It was almost as though he hardly spent time in his personal chambers. Private washrooms and even a study available where she kept the plethora of reading material she wanted readily at hand.
After she pulled her robes over her head the aspiring sorceress brought a steaming cup of coffee to her lips, delivered each morning first thing by Aveem. Sometimes it was on time. This morning happened to be one of them and she was thankful for that. Catisa stretched and wandered over to the balcony to push open the doors and look out upon the courtyard. It had been a long night, up late catching up on paperwork so that she could actually take a rare night off for a change and surprise Dairon.
Just as she brought the cup to her lips once more some movement below caught her eye. The familiar figure of her partner, Dairon, was just below stretched out with her rear end in the air in one of her monk exercises. Catisa took a long drink of the warm and soothing liquid as she leaned over the side to admire the toned muscles on the woman’s body. How they tensed up just the right way to accent her curves and she caught herself smirking. She thought about saying something, but part of her just wanted to enjoy the sight for a little bit longer. After all, no one else would be up for a while.
@ronqueesha @masonkohler @arcanist-starweaver for mention))
It had been Dairon in the end who did manage to convince her to rest. Of course it was her, she could tell when something was wrong no matter how much the aspiring sorceress tried to hide it. They had both agreed to try and get some rest despite the fighting and shouting and alarms that filled the crisp morning air. While difficult at first they both had quickly drifted off to a deep slumber, exhausted from little sleep or rest for the past couple of days. Comforted by the warmth from each other’s arms, the girls clung to each other uncertain if they would ever have the chance again in the coming days.
Amidst their slumber Catisa’s brow furrowed and once more she was within her dreams, though unlike before she was aware of it. Visions of that same darkness and frost accompanied now by ghouls swarmed about her in quickly fading images until the very ground beneath her feet began to tremble. Deafening cracks like air rushing to fill a vacuum filled her ears and her head started to feel as though it were splitting open. The very sky above opened up to consume everything in a black abyss. She wanted to scream, to cry out, but it hurt so much she could hardly move.
The aspiring sorceress’s eyes fluttered open as tears rolled down her cheeks and pulled free from Dairon to stumble across the room. She clutched her head with one hand while searching through the cupboards with another until she located some kind of pain relief for her head. After she had managed to swallow the medicine she kept stowed away in case the night terrors became too much and her sobbing gave her a splitting headache as it often did, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Cat…?” She heard from the other side of the chamber as Dairon stirred from her movement, the monk always seemed to be aware of her surroundings even in her sleep. Though she was bleary eyed and tired, she could still sense something off about her partner. “Is everything alright?”
“Of course!” The mage quickly wiped away any trace of her tears before she turned and rejoined her partner on their luxurious bed with a smile, despite the sounds of fighting still ongoing outside. “Just a headache, that’s all. Nothing some more rest won’t fix.”
“Alright, I think I’m ready!” Catisa called out from the private washroom attached to her chambers and stepped out. Dairon had been trying to convince her to do a workout routine with her for ages and she finally conceded. She could use the exercise, after all. The majority of her days had been spent sitting either doing paperwork or staff meetings or what have you, outside of that her usual exercise was only when she had the chance to practice her magic or occasionally during particularly active study sessions with the Director. Though she had gotten quite a workout from building her latest creation, A.V.E.E.M., she still felt like she should be in better shape.
As she stepped out into the bedchamber, Dairon had been waiting in her typical tight shorts and exercise wraps, but her jaw fell open wide as she looked her partner over.
“What?” Catisa asked in a worried fashion as she looked down to her garb, thin shorts that were just a bit too tight with a sportier bra. Her midriff was exposed and she felt exposed along with it as she found it difficult to keep herself from covering herself up with her forearms in front. “I-is it too much? I can change!”
“No!” Dairon felt herself exclaim before she really had the words to explain why and took a moment to compose herself. “I like it! You look amazing!” It took all she had to contain herself, this was going to be the best workout ever!
