Midsummer 11, 6107 RTR (May 20, 2007) Olivia learns a bit about Djivan's family during a bath.
(Olivia) (Stonebarrow) (Sylvania)
---

    Sunken Amphitheater
    The high stone walls of this wide chamber are almost completely covered in vegetation. Giant tree roots curl down from the upper rim like the claws of giants, while lianas, lichens and mosses hang down like green curtains. A channel has been worn in the north wall by a small stream that's eaten it away over the centuries. This feeds a clear pool that covers the stage for several feet, and drains out through two flooded passageways. The stone slab stadium seats are worn and weathered, and largely covered with layers of soil. Where part of the outer wall has collapsed and created a mound, a small stand of rubber trees has taken root, clustering close together. High above, the forest canopy tries to cover the sky, but even the giants of the Gnarly Wood are unable to completely block out the light.

It's only been a few minutes since Amelia has left the two rodents to their devices. Djivan is currently double-checking his stuff in his small and worn pack. "I still t'ink she may be up t' something wit' all this," he grouses a bit as he digs. "Though, she said she mainly doin' it for vou. I know she wouldn' do it fer me."

Olivia takes off her rose-hat and proceeds to unbraid her hair so that it can be washed. "I'm not exactly sure why Amy has it in for you, either," the Skeek admits, "but I know you don't help matters when you 'accidentally' grope her backside or tease her unmercifully about seeing her naked!"

"If she didn' treat me like crap I vouldn't do dat," Djivan points out with a small shrug. "No that it really matter. Can't make peoples like other peoples."

"True," Olivia muses in a softer voice. "Although an explanation would be nice… " More loudly, she adds, "Well, I'll just settle for you and Amy not killing one another!" Then she opens her pack and pulls out soap of her own, plus a much milder, powdered soap for washing her hair with, and two large towels.

"Hey, those towels bend. Dat's kinda cool," Djivan observes when he finally looks over to the Skeek. "Not gon' try the soap Amelia brought, eh? No feelin' adventurous?"

"Oh no, I'm willing to try out Amelia's soap," the Skeek counters with a wink, "but just in case the effects get a little, er, out of hand, we'll have a regular bar of soap to wash that soap off with!"

"I still bet it gon' turn something pink," Djivan asserts as he flips his bag closed and saunters over. "Y'know, in a place like dis, clothing coul' be optional."

"Ah, then we're thinking along the same lines," Olivia teases. "I was just about to get undressed for a bath. Care to join me?"

"Undressed, sure. Bath … eh," Djivan says with a grin. "But I suppose," he relents. And without another word, the rat starts to strip.

"I see I don't have to twist your arm much," Olivia laughs, watching the Skreek shed his clothes as fast as he can. She starts taking off her skirt and blouse and underthings, too, albeit a little more slowly and folding them into a neat little pile.

Djivan, for his part, could care less about folding anything. His stuff just sits in an unkempt pile on the ground. He then takes a running leap towards the water and curls up; fully intent on making a really large splash. He's not disappointed, either! SPLOOSH!

Fortunately for Olivia, she was standing in front of her clothes and backpack an instant before Djivan dove into the water – so the overflow splashes on her and not on anything else! Suddenly dripping, she turns to the gypsy with an evil glint in her eye and yells, "All right, you're asking for it now!" Then she runs towards the pool and dives in, but goes underneath the water's surface and swims to the Skreek. Not long after, Djivan feels her hands pull at his ankles, trying to drag him under!

"Yeargh!" goes Djivan right before he disappears beneath the water. The once calm pool turns into a thrashing, frothy, mess as the two battle it out beneath the surface. Now and then one of them pops up for some air … right before disappearing beneath the water again. After a couple minutes of this, both of them surface. Djivan, for his part, is laughing and sputtering at the same time.

Olivia paddles a few feet away from Djivan so she can splash water on his head, grinning. "That's what you get for trying to soak my clothes!" she laughs, tossing wet hair out of her eyes at the same time.

"Yeah, but if dey gots vet, vou couldn't vear dem," Djivan counters and splashes some more water at the Skeek in retaliation.

"Ohhhh, so that's your evil plan!" Olivia says, shaking her head. "Well, give it a rest – I need to have something dry to wear when Amelia comes back to get us tomorrow! Besides, I think I could be… persuaded… to keep it all off until then." She glances at the soap the Kadie girl gave him and asks, "Want me to scrub you up now? Then you can do the same for me. Although you might want to use my own soap for that - I don't know if Amy's soap is meant for girls!"

"Heheheh," goes Djivan as he floats lazily in the water. "Sure, g' for it. Just iffin I turn pink, I expect you's to help me tackle Amelia s' I kin poodle-shave 'er tail," he says with one of his trademarked crooked grins.

The 'witch soap' has a medicinal odor to it, a bit like menthol.

Olivia smiles back and gets out of the pool for a few moments to collect their soaps, plus the one for washing her hair with. When she submerges again, she swims over to the gypsy and pulls him into a shallower area. Then she turns him so he has his back to her and starts rubbing Amy's soap over his fur. When it lathers up sufficiently, the Skeek starts washing his back with slow, lazy circles of her hands. "How does that feel?" she asks.

Djivan's expression is amusing to say the least throughout the back-washing procedure. It starts off relaxed, but after a few minutes his head tilts to the side and his whiskers start to twitch wildly. It also takes him a few seconds to even register Olivia asked a question. "It, uh, tingly," the rat comments. It doesn't sound like a complaint, either.

Olivia smirks behind Djivan's back and asks, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Do I need to rinse you off, already?"

"Oh … it definitely no' be a bad t'ing," Djivan says as his lips curl into a small grin.

Olivia chokes back a laugh and says, "All right, I'll finish washing your back before I move on." She continues to scrub his fur for a few more seconds before speaking again. "Can I ask you something?"

That causes Djivan to pause. "Y'know, vhen anyone asks dat question, it mean dey vant t' ask somet'ing unpleasant," the Skreek notes. He looks over his shoulder, "Y' kin always ask, I can't always promise an answer."

Olivia nods. "Fair enough." She pauses uncomfortably, then forges ahead. "I just wanted to ask about your family, that's all. About your mom… and your dad. Now, I know you don't like talking about him much," she hurries on before he can complain, "but since I was chased around by his hired goons and kidnapped by him not too long ago, I figured that gives me the right to a few answers, at least?"

Djivan groans and looks forward again. One of his wet hands comes up to rub over his face briefly. "Dat no' exactly somet'ing interestin' to talk about," he complains anyway. "But yeah, I guess vou might deserve a few answers after all dat."

"Okay." Olivia takes a deep breath and asks first, "Did your mom ever tell you where she was from, and how she met your dad?"

"Yeah, she did," Djivan answers. Apparently, the rat is going to only answer as much as he has to on that.

"Will you tell me about that, or should I move on to my next question?" Olivia says as gently as she can, noticing his hesitation.

"Eh. Mom's from a town up north a bit. Near de Northern Shore, she was," Djivan finally starts explaining. "Family vas actually a bit vell off. Vell, as vell off as you kin get in dese lands anyvay. A proper lady she vas."

Olivia merely 'mmm-hmms' to let Djivan know that she is listening, then starts rinsing off his back so she can reach around him to scrub the fur on his chest.

"An vou know vhat ladies are like. Dey read an other such perverse hobbies," Djivan continues on. "An vou know how books like to play up bandits, right? All misunderstood heroes and such nonsense."

"Right," Olivia agrees. "That's why I don't read the romance novels, I stick to the mysteries. At least in those, all the bad guys are proper bad guys. They're not pretending to be anything else!"

"Vell, good ol' Dad vas running amok up dere. Ran into m' Mom in de streets once vhen he was bein' chased. Course, bein' he good lookin' back den … kinda like me now… she helped 'im escape. He tol' her all sortsa tales about how he was really helpin' de downtrodden. Vell, bein' young, she fell for it," Djivan continues on, sounding a bit more and more annoyed. "After a few months of ilicit meetin's and such, vell. De bed vas a rockin'."

Olivia says quietly, "I see." Then she guesses and adds, "After that, she got pregnant?"

"Ooooh yeah," Djivan says with a nod. "'Er parents veren't happy about dat at all. In fact, dey, vell, disowned 'er. She just had her clothes and some jewelry t' her name. So, she did vhat she thought she coul' do, go stay vit m' dad. After he got ahold o' her jewels, vell, he threw 'er out an tol' her he never vanted t' see her an her offspring again."

Olivia mutters a few colorful phrases in Skeek under her breath, her hands shaking a little in anger as she lathers up the fur on the gypsy's chest. "So, did your mother meet the gypsies after that?" she asks next, whenever she feels more in control of herself again.

"Not too long after dat," Djivan says with a nod, then looks over her shoulder. "Ve veren't kiddin' vhen ve've said dat de Shadowsvalk tribe is home for people no-one else vants. T'ing is, Mom was never mad about it that I ever remember. A little sad now and den, but never mad. She spent lots of time teachin' de tribesmen how t' read and such."

"She sounds like she was a really nice, caring person," Olivia comments, working the soap gently through Djivan's chest-fur. "I kinda wish I could have met her."

"Yeah, she vas. Took vhat life gave her and did the best she coul' wit it," Djivan says. He grows quiet for a bit, then adds, "I always kinna felt some of it vas my fault. I mean, I am de kid dat tore up her life an all. Told her dat once an she got upset. Tol' me t' never t'ink dat. Dat I was de treasure of her life." He shrugs a bit.

Olivia remains silent for a few moments while she rinses off the gypsy's chest before going to work on his arms. At last, she says, "If she told you that, then it must have been true. You were probably what kept her going for all those years." After another pause, she adds, "We're kinda alike in our thinking, you and I – as strange as that sounds. I still blame myself for my mother's insanity… I mean, if I had died when I was born, just like my sister, then maybe my mom wouldn't be having these problems now. Just being around seems to remind her of what she lost, you know?"

"Yeah. Funny t'ing is, it no somet'ing either of us kin control. Ve exist, dat shoul' no be a crime," Djivan says. He pauses then smirks, "Even if Amelia disagree abou' dat."

Olivia smiles distantly, as if remembering something pleasant. "Now you sound like my father," she says lightly, making a real effort to shake off her gloom. At his comment about Amelia, she laughs quickly and asks, "Speaking of Amelia, that reminds me – how's the soap making you feel now? I've had a chance to rub it over most of your body… "

"Verra tingly," Djivan has to admit, "An no' in a bad vay. Vou shoul' try it." He grins for a moment. The grin falters a bit at a memory, though and he says, "An I still miss her. Natasha made sure she had a beautiful funeral, though. Never had seen one like dat."

"That sounds like Natasha," Olivia says fondly, splashing water on the Skreek's arms to wash off the soap. Then she hangs her head over his shoulder and asks, "How do you want me to wash your legs? Do you want to stand up or float on your back?"

Djivan answers that by floating away. A bit of a shuffle and Djivan now lazily floats on his back in the pool. "Still remember it. She took us out to a river at night. On the banks she asked dat each of us tell a memory ve had of 'er. Dun know how she did it, but as each of us did, Natasha crafted a small glowing ball, like a star vou sometimes kin see through the clouds? She then sent it out onto the river. By de time everyone has spoken, she had turned de river into a trail of stars of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Said she wanted de world t' know and remember just like ve did, about someone vho vill be missed. Sent 'er stars into the sky, she did, an let them rain down around all of us," he explains. "An' I'm not doing it justice. It vas one of de most beautiful t'ings I ever seen."

Olivia listens with rapt attention as she works on soaping up the Skreek's legs. "That really does sound incredible," she sighs. "And what a neat image – turning memories into stars! I bet I could use that concept in my art sometime. It would probably make a beautiful picture."

"I never got de courage up t' ask Natasha about all dat. Lili did, though, and she said Natasha said that memories make up the most potent magic of all; dat our memories shape de magic around us and remain long after we are gone," Djivan explains as he rather enjoys the bath.

Olivia finally finishes cleaning Djivan's legs and even soaps up his feet – but she doesn't spend a whole lot of time there, remembering the state of his socks! At last, she arches an eyebrow at him and says suggestively, "There, all finished – except for certain other parts of you, of course! Although you may want to wash those later, after you've finished scrubbing me up… or else I have a feeling that I won't get bathed at all!"

Djivan wiggles his toes playfully as they're bathed. When Olivia finishes, he holds his breath and lets himself sink under the water to rinse off. After a minute, he pops back up and whacks himself on the head a few times on each side to get the water out of his ears. "Righ! So, dat de end of all de questions?" he asks hopefully.

"Unless you have some for me," Olivia says with a smile. "Just to keep things fair."

"Sure. I vant to know de names an addresses of all vour former boyfriends. For research o'course," Djivan says with a grin as he takes the 'witches' soap away from Olivia. He slides around the Skeek in the water and starts lathering her back up gently now.

The insides of Olivia's ears turn a dull pink as she stammers, "Ah, w-well, that one's easy enough to answer. Believe it or not… you're the first. Serious boyfriend, I mean. I knew some boys who taught me how to kiss when I was younger, but that's it."

"Dey count. Names and addresses, please," Djivan says with a straight face. The Skreek starts to rinse off the soap on Olivia's back with light splashes of water. "But in all seriousness, I dun have anything specific t'ask you right now. Well, one t'ing, mebbe."

Olivia turns half-around and looks at the Skreek over her shoulder. "And what's that?"

"Has Lili snogged yas yet? Dere's a running bet on how long it vill take wit' de otters," Djivan says and grins.

Olivia tries to sigh at this, but it comes out as a laugh, instead. "That figures! Well, you can tell the otters from me that no, Lili hasn't snogged me yet – and if I have my way about it, she never will!"

"It be easier t' just get it over vith," Djivan offers and grins widely now. "She actually pretty good. Den ve haf more in common, too!"

"Oh no!" Olivia says firmly, slapping the water for emphasis. "I am not giving in to her! You know how Liliana is – you give her an inch and she'll take a mile! The next thing you know, she'll invite us to join in with her and Miranda!"

"Actually, 'er, Miranda, an Buffy … but who's keepin' track," Djivan replies with yet another grim. "Betacha didn't know dat Buffy kinda seduced 'er, eh? Never thought I see the day on dat. Now, hol' still so I kin keep soapin!"

Olivia blinks and holds still, although more out of surprise than from Djivan telling her to. "Buffy seduced Liliana?" she asks, incredulous. "Wow. Er. Hmm. I didn't know Buffy swung that way… "

"Don' look at me, I never met 'er. Lili is pretty smittin wit' her, though. Vants t'see her again sometime," Djivan says with a shrug. The Skreek floats up so he's chest to back with Olivia and reaches around her with both arms so he can soap her front now. "I kin think of all sorts of fun tingles dis soap could do from this position," he whispers in her ear.

Olivia smirks and half-turns her head again so she can nip at the side of the gypsy's neck. "If you're a good boy and finish bathing me, maybe I'll let you do that," she murmurs in response.

"Really? Vell now," Djivan murmurs, "Let's see vhat I kin do, then… "

---

GMed by Jared

Previous Log: A Date in Amy's Secret GardenNext Log: Djivan and Olivia's Admirers
Thread Links
(Olivia)
(Stonebarrow)
(Sylvania)

Back to list of Logs 2176-2200


Log listings page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96
Recent Logs - Thread Listing

Home Page
Player Guide
Log Library
Recent Logs
Encyclopedia
Dramatis Personae
Art Gallery
Moz Ezley Asylum

Today is 14 days after Candlemass, Year 29 of the Reign of Archelaus the First (6128)