Reclamation

Sometimes, the sun couple's path takes them off the beaten path. The back alleys of the Market District hold a myriad of things unusual for sale and delights and services to suit sailors and artisans alike. While much of these purveyors are to be found closer to the docks, a few are still to be found here, amid tink, dank, and dark brick-and-stone shops and cobblestone alleyways that smell faintly of urine.

Dolan doesn't want to admit it, but he is well and truly lost. He's never wandered in this particular direction, and now he slows his steps to examine the back alley in which he now finds himself. One door proclaims a tavern of questionable repute, two entirely unmarked wooden doors, one of which is half-rotted and the other of which is heavily locked with good quality locks. The last one, the one closest to them, bears a rotting wooden sign dangling from rusty, thin chains above the door, proclaiming "Jewelry".

Andelena walks close to Dolan the whole while. She hasn't quite caught onto the fact that Dolan's lost yet, as her hand is on the hilt of her sword the whole time as she keeps a wary eye out. It's nothing personal against the people here--hell, many are poised like they expect something to happen themselves--but better safe than sorry. Perhaps the one benefit of the scar that's on her face now is the fact that people are less likely to accost the Sunguard--although they weren't likely to do so anyway with her Redeemer by her side.

"Where are we headed anyway?" she asks Dolan, turning her steel-gray eyes onto him before she regards the jewelry store sign. "Huh. Jewelry store in this part of the market?" It's a personal curiosity, the kind that can get one into trouble.

Indeed, the pair are getting wary eyes from people on the street, and some calculating ones, but they have yet to be accosted. Why that is could be any number of things, but Dolan seems unconcerned. Instead, his eyes are on the sign as well. He doesn't answer the question about where they're headed right away, his face turning upwards towards the sign.

"Yeah, that's strange. Want to see what they have?" He turns a cheeky grin back towards her, the brown eye lit with challenge. Clearly he's feeling it, too.

Andelena's face turns to a similarly cheeky grin. "What the hell, why not," she says. "I don't think we've got anything else to do today. Maybe we'll find someone's fenced ring or something." The Sunguard isn't exactly on duty, but it's always worth looking for justice in the places where it might be hiding.

She waits by the door, waiting for Dolan to open it as he's usually the one doing so when they're both just prowling the city together, an old habit from their days as teenagers that's never died and probably never will.

Dolan's cheeky grin turns to a softer smile, and he reaches for the door handle and opens it for her, holding the door open for her to enter.

The interior is - unexpected. A front room greets them, light from manalamps falling on the counters and displays of metal jewelry. Some gems, but metal features prominently. Chains of bronze and steel and a few of gold, cuffs rather than the dainty bracelets of an upscale jewelry shop. Most is rather basic, although much of it is worked in patterns.

The last counter holds much smaller items - studs of metal, some with small gems set into them. Thin metal bars, perhaps an inch or two long, with discs or balls on the end. Metal balls.

Somewhere in the back of the shop, a bell jangles discordantly.

Andelena looks around as she steps inside, mystified by what's on display. She'd expected... Not this, not from the appearance of the rotting wooden sign, which is a good reminder that outward appearances are usually not a good indicator of their contents. Her eyes in particular go to the contents of the last counter, and she studies the items.

"How do you even wear those?" she asks Dolan in a quiet whisper, pointing to the bars. "Those are too long for ears, I'd think."

GAME: Dolan rolls diplomacy: (18)+15: 33

"Depends on where you put 'em, missy," comes a jaunty voice from the back of the shop. From the back emerges a figure, moving with a distinct limp from the sound. When the figure emerges, it proves to be a lucht with curly brown hair, a crooked left leg, and a number of metal bits in various place on his face. From three sparkly studs in each earlobe, a gold hoop in his nose, to what appears to be a silver ball on each side of the bridge of his nose, his appearance is most certainly unique. Nothing is tasteless or overdone, and really it's hard to take one's eyes away from him.

He stops short, suddenly alarmed, as the figures in armor come into view. "Oh no. I didn't do nothing! Please don't-"

Dolan's cheeky grin in response is really quite disarming. "No, no, good sir," he greets. "Brightest of days to you. We're just out walking." He, too, is eyeing the last counter - the chains and cuffs seem to have no interest for him, and indeed he'd turned away rather quickly. "Wondered what sort of jewelry a place all the way out here might have."

The suspicious look lingers for only a moment. "Well, if you're sure. Guildies, from the look of you two. Nobody else goes around armed like that. I was about to say when I saw your lady that I wouldn't have anything for you, but something tells me I might be wrong." He gazes keenly up at the scar. "No, you're no dainty little arm-candy, are you?" he muses.

"Well, this here's a piercing shop. Some of the sailors like to decorate themselves with stuff the ladies of the night can't or don't want to steal. That means it goes in your skin." He eyes the two keenly. "Your man, at least, probably won't bat an eye, from the look of him."

Andelena takes that as a compliment, grinning at the lucht man for it. "No, definitely not arm-candy," she says. But she does motion to Dolan. "If anyone here is, it's him." The grin takes on a cheeky little note as her eyes flick to him in good cheer.

She turns back to the lucht man as he explains the purpose of the shop. "Piercing shop," she says thoughtfully. "Sailors, huh. You know, that makes a lot of sense. You probably get more than men out at sea for weeks and months on end in here, though, yeah?"

The last remark gets her looking at Dolan again. That look is thoughtful, but she has nothing to say for the moment, like she's still sizing up an idea in her head.

"I haven't figured out how to bat this thing yet." Dolan grins down at the man, gesturing to his right temple, although the awkward look that takes on a life of its own across both sides of his face tells a different tale from the light words. Andie gets his attention next, though, and he turns his face fully towards her to answer. "Me? Arm-candy next to you? Please, baby. I got the better end of the deal."

The lucht looks back and forth between then, sizing the pair up. "Doesn't look like either one of you have ever done this before. No, not just sailors, some of the dockworkers and rougher types think it makes them look dangerous, too." He hops up on a stool cleverly placed behind the display so that he can see clearly over it, and hold a discussion. "Which one were you looking at, missy?"

Andelena looks at the man for a moment. "Ahhh--you know," she says, scratching her head, "I'm not like... a pierced ears kind of girl. Seems like too much upkeep for me just for the sake of some shiny shit dangling off my ears."

Then she looks thoughtful. "But there's more than just ears, ain't there. Huh. Where I come from, ears are all that get pierced, but that doesn't mean that's the only way it can be."

She looks at Dolan. "What do you think?" she asks.

"Ooh, you're an unusual one, missy. Right in one." Beady eyes brighten, and he points slyly at the bridge of his nose. "See? But those," he nods to the bars. "Those are too long for ears. Some men like to pierce their nipples, or even their -" He waggles his eyebrows at Andelena. "I don't see too many women here. Most aren't up for it. If it's not your cup of tea, I understand. Maybe the cuffs?" He goes to hop down off of his stool.

Dolan, though, has been listening to the proprietor's cheerful chatter with interest. "Nipple piercings. Huh. Never occurred to me to do that." The idea of piercing lower gets left on the floor, but he doesn't move, staring down at the array of small jewelry.

Abruptly, a memory flashes in him, and he freezes, left staring at the table. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five," he mutters to himself.

Andelena knows that freeze. She doesn't think about the proprietor in the moment, her hand going to take Dolan's as she leans into his ear. "Baby, it's me, Andelena. You're safe. We're in a shop in the markets. It's Ceriday, the eighth of Bernfleur in 1025. We're talking about nipples." The last is added on as a matter of the adage that Dolan has asked her to remember: be rude, because it helps.

The lucht stops, and is left staring at the pair in confusion, but Dolan grabs the edge of the table and grits his teeth. "Fucking Kol," he mutters with a short, squeezing Andelena's hand almost as soon as she mentions the word nipples. "I'm here, baby." Deep breaths. In, and out.

He opens his eyes again, and looks at the table, leaving the poor lucht to stare in confusion. "So which one of you is actually looking, if I might ask?" In that moment, it seems to have hit him that his assumptions may not be entirely correct.

Dolan's left in thoughtful silence, still holding Andelena's hand. "I wonder what that feels like," he murmurs.

Andelena squeezes Dolan's hand back, looking at him gently. When he murmurs the comment, the expression turns into a thoughtful sort of smile. "Do you wanna know what that feels like?" she asks. "You can ask, baby."

She looks at the lucht man. "Give us a moment here," she says. "Think we're thinking about something."

A small, lopsided quirk of a smile touches Dolan's features, and he doesn't let go of the hand. "I came to get you something, Andie," he starts, but his eyes are still on the table with the small studs, loops, and bars.

Sensing a shift, the lucht abandons the hop down, and turns his attention to Dolan. "Well, my apologies," he offers cheerfully. "You didn't strike me as the type, but - it goes to show what I know, now, doesn't it?" Intrigued, he turns those eyes to Dolan. "Thinking about the nipple piercing, are you? You're a brave one, to start there. That takes some work to keep clean so it heals properly. Most I've seen start with the ear and work down."

Dolan's humor blooms at that, a wicked glint in the brown eye. "There's only one thing I work down on." A squeeze of Andelena's hand, and a knowing look, makes his meaning clear, and rather than being offended, the lucht just gives a wink. "Well, then, what say you? It'll have to stay in for several seasons, in order to heal right, but I think your lady'll like it as much as you will. I'd suggest, to start, one of these," and he indicates a particular row of bars about an inch and a half long, of thin metal, some with spikes on the ends, some with balls, one or two with pearls, even.

"He's the bravest man I know," Andelena says with a grin to the lucht man. "And it ain't about what I like--although I will like it, Bry--it's about what he wants. I'm here to support him, because that's what I do in everything."

There's an unspoken message that passes as she looks back at him with the wicked grin in that moment. You, me, and the Knight. As always, she is by his side. But then the man explains about the healing and she turns her attention to the piercings that the man points out.

"I kind of like all of those, babe," Andelena remarks as she looks at them. Then she looks back up at the man. "Anything we gotta look out for specifically when it comes to the piercing? I'm a healer but, heh, this usually doesn't come up much."

"A healer, are you? That'll help." The lucht sounds surprised, but puts a good face on it, smiling affably. "Mostly, you've just got to keep it clean, missy. Some of the sailors use saltwater on it, but from the look of you, I doubt you swim much, or at all. You'd drown if you tried, in all that. If you've got magic to hand, that'll eliminate the problem, really." Andelena gets an appraising, almost questioning look. "It's just a wound. It's not even a big one, or a very deep one. Begging your pardon, but if you've managed to come through whatever happened to you, sir, I think you'll barely notice." He gestures to Dolan's missing eye and furrowed face. "Not too many I've seen still fighting after something like that."

From Dolan's look, he's barely listening, instead inspecting the options. "I 'spose they all pretty much feel the same, yeah?"

"Well, yes," the proprietor responds. "How it feels depends more on how thick the bar is than what's on the end of it. Obviously, the thicker the bar, the bigger the needle, but it's also more stable and won't tear out as easy. Not that that's a problem for you, in that thing. Most people pick based on what they look like."

"Don't care so much what they look like," Dolan answers, still studying. "Just the plain gold ones," he gestures to a set of gold bars with simple balls on the ends."

"Just figured I'd check in and see if there was anything else I needed to be aware of," Andelena says with a little smile. "I know that I overheard some of the other ladies back home grumbling about some types of metal turning their ears green, but that was more to do with the earrings themselves than the piercing, if I remember right. Keeping it clean won't be a problem, then."

She looks at Dolan's choice and nods. "Good choice, baby," she says with a smile. "Those will look great on you." Her hand squeezes his with all of the warmth and affirmation he needs.

"Would you like to do just one, or both? Is this something you'd like to do today, or think about it and come back?" The lucht is clearly well-pleased, and pauses before picking up the small gold pieces Dolan gestured to, clearly waiting for an answer.

Dolan hesitates, but at the squeeze of the hand, he smiles, that quirky, lopsided expression that is full of aw shucks affection. "Let's do it now, and do both of them. I'm fine." He doesn't let go of her hand, though. "What - do you need to do?"

"Follow me, both of you." He hops down from his stool, picking up both gold bars as he goes, and ambles up to lock the door of the shop. "Come on back. You'll need to take all that stuff off. Can't pierce something I can't see, now can I?"

Andelena isn't letting go of his hand until he does, so she walks with him according to the lucht man's directive. There's a sort of sympathetic excitement in her eyes. "I can sit with him, yeah?" she asks. "I'd like to hold his hand if you don't mind."

She gives Dolan's hand a squeeze, and she pauses in her walking only to murmur into her man's ear. "I'll be by your side the whole time, okay, babe? Not going anywhere. You're the one getting it but I'm your corner the whole damn way." Warmth and affection rule in her voice and in her smile.

"Yes, of course." Somehow, the lucht seems amused, but he doesn't comment, instead leading the way into a back room that has a table and several chairs, a side table, and tools. It is quiet, and not all that bright, looking not so very different from a healer's area if it were to be better lit. Dolan looks around him, his hand still in Andelena's, and frowns.

"I'll need you to strip to the waist, I don't want any clothing getting in my way." The lucht bustles into the room, and begins to assemble his tools - the gold bars, and a sharp, thick needle the same thickness as the gold bars in his hand. "Lay down on the table when you're done."

Dolan squeezes Andelena's hand. "Give me a hand, baby? Getting out of armor is more complicated than you'd think," he explains to the lucht. "Mine's easier than hers, at least." As he talks, he begins to shed layers. He'll need help getting out of the leather cuff, but most of the rest of it he can manage himself. Still, he's more than willing to allow Andelena to help, shucking layers to the floor in the corner one by one. It is the last layer that is the most difficult, and before he begins to undo the shirt, he pulls off the stylized dragon pendant, and touches it with his other hand. It begins to glow softly, as a spell she has seen many times, but never just by touching something! Reassured, he smiles at it with deep, reverent affection and lays it atop the other stuff.

Then - the shirt. A deep breath, and he removes the shirt, setting it off to one side so that he can see the light clearly.

"Oh, now that's a useful trick!" The lucht looks up, and claps his hands with delight. "Bring that here, it'll help me see."

Andelena doesn't exactly look thrilled about the room not being that bright, but... it is what it is. She helps Dolan out with the armor, taking care with the cuff, but she, too, marvels at the pendant as it glows, her steel-gray eyes bright with awe. She looks at Dolan and murmurs, "Clearly, He approves," with a wide, wide smile.

Then she turns to the lucht. "That's his," she responds, "but you can can borrow mine." Her hand goes to the pendant that hangs around her neck, and she touches it and gives it a murmured prayer. It glows with the light, and she hands it over to the lucht man. "Just give it back when you're done, yeah? I've had that thing for a long time."

That seems to explain something to the lucht, who eyes Andelena suspiciously. "Never thought I'd see one of the Sunlord's people in my shop," he says carefully and just a little warily. "Don't you worry, missy, I've got no desire to keep your pendant." He does take it and, after a skeptical sniff, hangs it around his neck. "Bring that one over here too. I really do need more light in here, yes, yes."

Dolan doesn't seem to mind, bringing the pendant over to the table with him. Laying down on it is not especially fun, especially not when the table is metal, but he does so while the lucht is not watching. "It's okay," he tells Andelena, once he's settled.

"Hey, we're the Knight's servants, not the Knight's stuck-up pricks," Andelena says with a wide grin as she walks up to the side of the table where Dolan lies down. She looks down at her man and affectionately puts a hand in his hair while the lucht is occupied.

"I know, baby. I'm looking forward to seeing you with the new stuff," she says warmly, her hand finding his. She squeezes it gently, giving him the support that's likely comforting when his back's on such a cold and hard surface. "This is... This is exciting, seeing you make a choice like this." It's an honest admission.

"Ha! You know the type, I see. You know, missy, I like you. I daresay I've been taught a thing or two about judging a book by its cover today." Now ready to go, the lucht comes up to the other side of the table, across from Andelena, and sets his tools down on it, at Dolan's left shoulder. Beady brown eyes rove over the scars on Dolan's chest, but he doesn't say anything about it, and instead sets to work.

Dolan, meanwhile, turns his head towards Andelena, and grins lopsidedly at her. He, too, had laughed at the remark. "She's not kidding. Some of the Sunblades, you could ram their swords up their asses and it wouldn't make a difference." This is accompanied by a wide grin, and a soft gaze for Andelena. He continues to hold the hand, the pendant sitting on his stomach while the lucht works. "You know, I'd come in here meaning to get something for you, baby. Keep talking, will you? Honest, I was curious what having something that wasn't a six-inch knife felt like," he chatters on while the lucht sets to work.

In the end, the process is quick and efficient, taking only a few minutes, and he wipes away the blood with a soft cloth, It looks like two gold balls, one on each side of a very pert and erect nipple. The look is daring and rebellious, and yet seems to suit him well.

"So fucking true," Andelena replies with a grin to the Sunblade comments. She looks at the lucht in particular as she holds Dolan's hand. "Some people think being aligned with the gods of light means being a judgmental asshole. Now, I'm here to judge--but I'm here to judge people for evil, not here to judge people on anything else, and that's the iron fuckin' word."

She admires the work once it's done, smiling at Dolan. "Babe, those look awesome on you," she says. "Damn tempting to get one myself? But I think I'll wait til after we have kids that aren't nursing."

Andelena squeezes Dolan's hand again. "This is your body. Not anyone else's, babe. You get to call the shots, and I'm just the lucky lady you let paw at you."

All in all, Dolan weathers the process reasonably well. A sharp squeeze at the beginning, but after that, he blinked and didn't seem to mind after the first minutes. By the end, he is fully alert and talking, looking over at Andelena. "You know, baby? You're right. I can handle anything they throw at me." There's that cheeky grin, even as the lucht dabs at the fresh piercings. "You want one too, baby?"

The lucht looks up, and shakes his head. "I've never done one on a woman, missy. I don't know what that'll do if you're planning on having kids. It might not work, if you know what I mean." He finishes up with his cleanup, then tells Dolan, "There, I'm done. Go look." He nods to a mirror hanging on the far wall.

Dolan sits up, and stops short, grabbing for the edge of the table as a whole flood of sensation pours over him like a tidal wave. "Whoa," is all he says. "Fuck me," he breathes, clearly getting his bearings.

"Nah, I figured as much," Andelena says with a grin to the lucht. "I'll just wait until after I have the kids and they aren't needing to nurse."

She turns that grin onto Dolan as he looks at himself in the mirror, her arm wrapping around his waist. "That's you," she says. "That's my man. Making his own decisions, walking his own path. That's your body. Not Kol's. Yours."

Andelena leans in and kisses him on the cheek, and remains close enough to his ear to murmur, "And you look pretty damn good, too."

It takes Dolan a minute, first sitting, and then standing up, staring at the bits of metal in him. Totally different, he finds, in every way from what Kol had done to him. This was - fantastic. In every way. Andelena being a fan is the icing on the cake. A thousand new sensations, and it wasn't necessary to seriously hurt anyone. It hurt, a little, sure, but a little thrill runs through him as he realizes that that's just making this even better. He packs that one away for the moment, for later examination, and instead leans over to kiss Andelena, quite soundly and without warning.

"Hey now, you two. Not in my shop, you don't. Wait for those to heal before you go playing with them, missy. They're gonna hurt for a little while. Unless you want to speed up the process for him?" There's something teasing in the question.

Andelena returns that kiss with a grin pulling at the corners of her mouth, although she pulls away long enough to start laughing. "Sorry, buddy," she apologizes to the lucht man. "I'll see what I can do for 'speeding up'--we'll get home before we do that, though." There's a teasing note in her voice, too. Sounds like there might be more than healing involved.

She looks back at Dolan and grins brightly, admiring all of him. The sparkle in her eye declares her pride and her happiness for him in reclaiming what he'd let a monster occupy for so long. "Let's get your shit back on so we can go take it off again, yeah?" That's been an awfully common phrase lately out of her lips, but then again--it's her.

Reluctantly, Dolan pulls away, laughing as well, sheer joy and a hint of something wicked mingling in the mobile half of his face, and in his remaining eye. "You're right, baby," he tells her. "This is going to be one of the better decisions I've made lately." A warm feeling is already spreading through him, amid definite twinges. "Let's get me dressed, pay this man his money, and figure out where in all the green garden hells we are." There's the admission!

The lucht brightens visibly at the mention of money. "Yes, yes, you'll also want to use saltwater or vinegar to clean it while it heals, but I think your lady knows that," he explains, bustling away. Dolan takes this opportunity to put his shirt back on, although much more slowly and with a deep awareness of every brush and movement. It will take a few minutes to get everything back on him, but the process is well familiar to both of them.

The lucht comes back and names a figure, which Dolan pays without haggling or hesitation - usually he haggles, but this time he does not seem so inclined.

Once everything's put back onto Bry--which Andelena manages without wanting to put her hands all over her man, as she is somewhat capable of patience in the face of 'decorum', whatever that means for the Sunguard--and the figure is paid, Andelena looks to Dolan. She takes his hand. "I know you wanted to get something for me, babe," she says, "but you being this happy and excited's gift enough for me. Honestly."

She looks over her shoulder at the lucht man. "Brightest of days!" Andelena offers, giving him a wave, before she looks at Dolan. "Let's get outta here."

And then she realizes something. "Oh gods. I'm gonna have to be careful about letting the girls climb on you. Those needle claws are gonna hurt."

Grinning sheepishly, Dolan looks back at her, once he is dressed, the figure is paid, and he reaches to open the door to the shop. The lucht, quite satisfied and well-pleased, waves them out of the shop, and as they are leaving, Andelena points out about the girls. "Sweet and holy gods, and they're going to think they're toys," he adds as the shop door closes behind them. The sensations beneath the breastplate are still intense, but in a very different and pleasurable way. A way that just might light his path forward.

A step away from the shop, and his hand reaches once again for Andelena's. A step forward on the journey they'll walk together.