Dragons Claws and Roses Thorns (Ahmoria)

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

Ahmoria Mayy reached up toward the head of a Venus Flytrap and gently stroked the plant-like substance of its face, except this wasn't any ordinary Venus Flytrap. The plant that she was tending to was more well known by people as the Cow Plant: a plant that was eyeless, but had the facial shape and nature of a cow. Even the flesh of the plant had the color of a spotted black and white cow, though it was only the head of the plant that was colored as such. It was known as a plant more vicious than the Venus Flytrap, hence why it was classified under its species. In fact, the main diet of this plant was human, and was typically known to swallow a human whole it it became agitated enough. Perhaps that was the reason why Ahmoria was currently tending to it, as it was getting rather famished from its lack of food. However, none of Sol's servants were currently around, so it wasn't like she could simply demand one of the to retrieve food for her.

The second she thought of Sol, his voice seemingly echoed through the gardens, making her wonder if she was just imagining about him that well or if he was actually there. Giving the plant a final pat on the nose, the woman turned away from it and headed toward the gates of the garden. Before long, the top of her red hair could easily be seen bobbing above the rather tall plants and as she maneuvered through them. "Is there something you need, Master Sol?" the woman inquired, brushing side from plant leaves as she stepped out of the gloom of the foliage. Her toxic-green eyes studied the dragon slayer with mild curiosity, her head slightly tilted to the left to show it. She noted that it wasn't often that Sol came into the gardens unless it was to check up on her, but she never knew. "If you're here to check upon the plants, they're doing absolutely wonderful," she informed Sol before he could ask.

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

Ahmoria fixed the position of her head to stare straight at Sol with her vibrant, green eyes, and crossed her arms below her bosom. "You are the master of this castle, no?" she inquired, already knowing what his answer would be to the question. "As long as you are the master of this castle, your name will always be Master Sol to me, no matter what level of inheritance I am in here. A castle is a castle and whether you are royalty or not, the castle is owned by you and therefore, you are its master and the master of those within it." She didn't care if she was subordinate to the magus, but she knew when to respect those that held authority over her. He may not lay claim to authority over her, but deep down, the male would always hold some form of power over her. What kind of power that was, that was something the two of them would find out over time or not at all.

The stern nature of the woman quickly disappeared when Sol admitted to having come to check up on her as well. "I'm doing fine," she responded to him in a softer tone of voice, one that lacked the stubbornness from earlier. "This is my home and I am happier here than I ever was anywhere else in the world, even in my old home." Her gaze had wandered from Sol's face to glance around at the greenhouse they were standing in, decked in plants and other assortments. A soft misting trickled down over them as the eldest of the weeping trees watered the plants from its place upon the hilltop. One of the Ojigi plants swayed from side to side as it soaked up the water that misted down upon it, happy and content. Various other plants outstretched their heads toward the sky in order to gobble up the droplets of water that fell upon them.

Their reunion was quick to be ruined as one of Sol's many servants mysteriously appeared from the shadows in between them. The arc demon stretched out its hand toward its master and gave Sol what looked to be a shard of glass to Ahmoria. She didn't know what "dragon lacrima" were, just that what was held in the hand of the demon was a shard of glass. Mori watched Sol take it from the hand of his servant and held it within the palm of his hand, the form of it steadily changing as he spoke. "A 'dragon lacrima'?" she repeated, her voice a slightly higher pitch than it was before, condoning her curiosity. Ahmoria didn't want to sound stupid, but at this point in time, she was beginning to show a bit of blonde through that red of hers. Of course, that was to be expected from someone who lived in the forest all of her life like a nymph in hiding.

However, she didn't get much of an answer from Sol before the arc demon broke through again and handed him something else. This time, it was a strange object, something she truly hadn't seen before now, and something that made her curious. Mori tilted her head again and leaned forward slightly to get a better view of the scale that was secured in his hand. It glittered and shimmered in the dim lighting of the greenhouse, appearing almost iridescent in nature despite its lackluster blackness. What startled her the most was when Sol begin to shiver and shake, quickly dropping the scale within his hand. Ahmoria snatched the scale out of the air and tucked it away into her leaves, where it wasn't able to be seen. If it was causing Sol this much distress, there wasn't a need for him to have it in his possession until he was able to properly hold it.

The look of pain crossing over his face caused Ahmoria to drop to her knees with him and place her slender hands on his shoulders to steady him. She carefully looked him in the eye, being greeted with a cry of pain which caused her to glance toward the plants around her. "Saesa, amin anta Tua! Ona amin y' orn en' Arvandor! Ri' peony! Ri' lily en' i' tum. Ai' olva! Saesa!" she wailed out. Normally, she would have been one to take action first and shoo everyone away, but with only herself there in a sea of plants, she didn't know what to do. "Amin uma il- sinta mani um-!" Mori pleaded, glancing around herself at the emptiness before turning back to Sol. "Are you okay? Do you need assistance? Please, tell me you are all right and that you don't need some sort of medical attention. I'm not good at medicine, not in the least bit, and I don't know any demons in here that know medicine from experience."

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

She let out a strangulated huff, as though she wanted to do something to help Sol, but knew she wasn't able to. A soft pout came upon her lips when she stared back into his eyes, only to let her hands drop to her sides as Sol began to shift and change. Ahmoria stood to her feet and slowly backed away from him, the pain from him radiating into the air like she could feel it. Her eyes watched him change before her, melding flesh into blackened scales like they had been simply hidden beneath his skin. The pain he was feeling, she could sense it deep within her, like he was nothing more than just an animal in a human hide. Confusion crossed over her face, but she kept her distance from him, not wanting to be hurt by his transformation. His words merely slipped in one ear and out the other, her brain hot-wired into thinking she needed to do something to help.

Despite the painstakingly long transformation that had quickly taken its toll on Sol's body, he ended up still being himself to her. He was still gaudy and brazen, abrasive in his words and always demanding with a sense of authoritative nature to him. When he asked her if she had anything to eat, her first instinct was to look around at the greenhouse in hope of something appearing. It was only when it dawned on her that Sol was a Poison Dragon Slayer, and likely wanted poison to eat, that she stepped toward him again. Not much thought went into her actions when she cupped his face in her hands and pulled him into a kiss like before. Seconds later, she pulled away and looked wide-eyed at him, as though she realized exactly what she had done. "I'm sorry. It's just. . . the poison and all, I figured you wanted that. . ." she tried to explain the strangeness of her plant matter.

"The. . . um. . . the blood in my body is also poison, though it probably tastes more like sap than anything else." She cleared her throat and glanced down at the ground out of embarrassment before she extended her wrist out to him. "Here. . . take what you need," Mori added, waiting for him to bite down on her wrist to take the poison from her system.

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

Ahmoria held her breath partially, cheeks slightly puffed out as she felt the heat coming to them from embarrassment and enjoyment of the compliment. She only let the breath out once he stopped talking and felt that her cheeks wouldn't threaten to turn a brighter green from his words. While it was meant to be flirtatious, Mori tended to be more oblivious toward such advances and only took them as compliments. Praises of her work ethic that she felt hadn't always been the greatest, but any and all praise meant a lot to her. Hearing Sol say that he liked the poison on her lips only caused her to blush because no one had ever said such a thing to her. However, anyone she had ever kissed had died a fairly painful, but quick death as the poison entered their systems. They didn't have time to tell her they liked her kiss and they, most certainly, didn't like the poison her lips exuded.

She watched him settle down in a cross-legged position on the ground, staring back at her over the bent wrist of the woman. Her eyes grazed over him and only when they landed back upon his did she blush and look away from him so he couldn't catch it. When she looked away, however, the male's clawed hand grasped around her wrist and gently tugged on her, pulling her into his lap. Mori let her body move with the motion and collapsed down into Sol's lap, cushioning herself into the crook of his legs. The first expectation she had was that he would carelessly bite down onto her wrist and viciously suck the poison out like a vampire. Yet, that wasn't something he had done; instead, he placed a few gentle kisses where he planned to bite, then sunk his teeth into her flesh. While it certainly pinched when he stuck his teeth into her, it only lasted but a few seconds before the pain subsided.

On occasion, she would catch him glancing at her, likely reassuring himself that he wasn't hurting her, but who knew. In this close of a proximity, she was able to see the structure of his face better, each curvature and each dip. The slenderness of his brows, the slimness of his eyes, the glittering orbs of green as they peered up at her from time to time. Her eyes partially lidded as she fell into a deep thought, staring back at him and subsequently watching as he drained her blood. Perhaps it wasn't a deep thought at all because seconds later she began to feel woozy, which caused her eyes to go wide. Unconsciously, she jerked her hand away from his mouth, tearing the flesh where his teeth had sunken deep into it. Ahmoria's hand limply dropped to her side as she turned away and covered her mouth, ill at the sight of her own blood.

"Sorry, I hadn't meant that; I had a temporary moment of fear for some reason and that was just how I reacted," she apologized. While the flesh had torn fairly deeply and excessively across her wrist, her plant blood was already beginning to repair itself. Where the two little holes the teeth had punctured at were was now simple scarring that would be gone in a day. "Do forgive me. . ."

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

"Oh. . . uhm. . . It's okay, really. . . I'm just not used to being able to give my blood to people to help them restore their own strength," she responded to him. "You could say, in a way, that it's something new to me because I've never really been around any other living being that could utilize toxins. In fact, I don't really know much about your world or the human's world; it's all new to me and while I hate the humans, it's quite fascinating. There's so much going on and it's all so different from what I know, it's like I'm experiencing the world all over again." Ahmoria giggled and leaned against him, letting out a long, drawn out sigh as she stared out across the gardens. "I feared homesickness as a major illness when out exploring this new world, that was the reason why I took up the offer of living here. It's a strange thing to bring up, I realize, but I thought I'd be honest and tell you the truth of why I am here with you now."

She turned her head slightly and gazed back into his fiery orbs, momentarily lost in their lovely and mesmerizing color. His voice was soft and low, almost to the point she wasn't able to hear it herself, but she could just barely make out the words. In return, the woman lowered her own voice, glancing over his features as she thought and contemplated over her words. "Why would I ever be scared of you?" Mori inquired, her eyes half lidded as she looked back to his alluring eyes. "You haven't done anything to warrant my fear, and it takes a lot for a person to lose the trust I put into them. Don't think otherwise, Master, because there isn't anything you can do that will ever make me fear you or fear for my own life. Besides, I am not just any plant demon, I am a nature demon, wholly, I was raised in the wild, so I know the wild by heart."

A soft smile laced her lips and she shifted in her place in his lap so that she faced him head on from where they were. She watched him as he lifted her hand back up and gently kissed the injured part of her wrist that had long since been healed. "There is more to this world than the eye can see, and while the eye can't see it, the mind is aware of it. So, let me put it into simple English for you. . . I will remain at your side as whatever you wish me to be. I'll be yours and you'll be mine until we both see the end of time and how you see me is entirely up to you."

WELL, LATE AT NIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING,

Sol offered taking her to the old resort near her home forest and the thought made a shiver run down her spine. It wasn't a shiver of fear and it wasn't a shiver of disgust, but rather, it was a shiver of excitement at the thought. All the things she would be able to show him while she was back in the forest, how he wouldn't give a damn about it all, but she'd still be happy to show him. Every little plant that would greet her and be happy with her return, only for them to be sad as she leaves them again. This all brought a beaming smile to her face, the pearly whites of her teeth apparent from the light green skin of her face. "That would be wonderful!" Ahmoria exclaimed, bouncing lightly in his lap at the happiness she felt deep within. "I'd be able to show you everything that ever taught me how to survive, all my uncles and aunts and many relatives!"

Her chatter was abruptly stopped as Sol pulled her in for a kiss, momentarily shutting her up over the thought of bringing him to Akane Forest. Seconds later, Mori broke the kiss and glossed over his face once more, a softer smile upon her face as she looked at him. His words reached her ears on a gentle wave of air and she would pull him in for another brief kiss before pulling back. "A king only deserves the best," she murmured in reply to him, running her tongue seductively over her lips, as though she was tasting him on her. "And so it shall be. . . the dragon king will have what he wants the most and I will be the dragon's queen." After saying this, the woman leaned forward again, kissing Sol upon the lips and using her weight to push him to his back. "And together, we shall rule the world. . ."