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[Ditto Armunn]

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Tossing about in bed, kicking and punching out at times, proved Ditto to be having a restless night. Visions of everchanging Xiomborg and the prodding, laughing Jester invaded her mind while she slept. Both seemed to be trying to turn her against the man she loved. Both wanting to warp her heart for their own gain.

Sitting up suddenly and trying to catch her breath, she felt panic and looked around for Tarothin. The place beside her was empty and cold. She had joined her husband in bed earlier and it was too soon for him to be getting up yet. Where was he?
Sliding out of the large bed, Ditto walked to the fireplace and picked up her chemise to slip into before starting for the door.
Once in the hallway, she spotted Sir Criss standing at guardstance in front of Tarothin's study door. Walking over to enter the study, Criss stood even straighter and shook his head no at her slowly. Curious, but not thinking much about it, Ditto turned to take the teleporter downstairs. But there stood Tarothin on the teleporter, dressed in full armor and looking down at her. Even through the helm she could see he was angry. She turned back towards Criss and the study door. There was light and a play of shadows like someone was moving around inside the study.
"Criss, someone is in the study." She said, wondering why he didn't move for her or Tarothin.
Criss only nodded and said, "Tarothin is inside."
Ditto shook her head and turned to say something to Tarothin but he wasn't there. This was odd, but still, she didn't think much about it and continued on her way to downstairs and was about to step into the inner hall when she heard loud crashing and screams from the servants upstairs. Holding her chemise above her ankles, she darted for the teleporter that led to the throneroom to see what was wrong. Three paces into the room and she nearly tripped and fell over a body. It was then that she saw the house hold staff laying around the room, their bodies ripped to shreds, some marred so badly she couldn't recognize them any longer.
A low, deep breathing brought her attention towards the throne itself. It was in pieces, the deamon-beast stood over it, and stared at her in a way he never had before. As if on some instinct, Ditto placed a fisted hand over her heart. She couldn't feel him. This couldn't be Tarothin. It had to be someone...or something else. It looked just like him though, and why couldn't she feel him? Looking around the room in confusion, none of this made any sense to her. A sudden movement caught her eye and the beast was coming at her with it's claws. She tried to turn to move though knowing it was too late, when her foot caught under the leg of a dead body and she went toppling down on top of it, an enormous, clawed hand barely missing her head but scratched her arm. Yelling out in pain, she tried quickly to escape. Crawling around on top of what seemed now to be a carpet of blood and corpses. Hundreds. Had he killed the entire town in this room? The teleporter seemed so far away and why couldn't she get up and run? Why was it taking so long for the beast to kill her?
She felt herself picked up by the throat with a single hand, a claw biting into the top of her shoulder, and his strength cutting off her breathing. She wiggled and kicked, though the more she did so, the more pain there was and she knew she was about to die.
She closed her eyes. Not to stop from seeing her own death, but to concentrate. None of this made sense. It was like a dream...a nightmare.
At that realization the hand let go and she felt herself drop from his grasp suddenly and landed in her own bed.

Ditto sat up immediatly and gasped for air, putting her hand to her throat. Still breathing hard from her nightmare, she turned to look down at Tarothin's sleeping frame, his chest gently rising and subsiding in his sleep. Reaching a hand out to stroke his hair, she caught sight of the deep long gash on her arm. Holding the arm up closer revealed little, other than that it did indeed look as though she'd gotten snagged by a single large claw. Giving her sleeping husband a suspicious look, she turned to get out of bed and fetch her chemise on to cover herself...reminding her that she had done just this very thing in her dream and making her dash to the door on tip toe. Breathing in deeply to work up her courage, she opened the heavy door and peered out into the hallway. No guard. No light under the study. And the only sound was the sigh she let out in relief.
She made her way downstairs into the foyer to go to the kitchen, but the sound of the harp caught her by surprise and she stood there, staring at it. A strong breeze came in from the inner hall and caught the harp again, making a low chime sound. The sound was pretty but the breeze made her cold and she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. 'This place always gets drafty when there's a storm', she thought to herself. Annoyed now, because she didn't have the stubborness to brave the cold to get a snack, she went back upstairs to join her husband in the warm bed.
Upon entering the bedchamber, Ditto was looking down at her bare feet and grinned at how the cold floor made even her dark skin look pale. Looking up in the direction of the bed, she thought at first that she had made a wrong turn and ended up in the wrong room. For, across the room was an oversized bed in purple shades. Candelabras on night stands on either side of the bed. She turned to leave but instead of the heavy door, was stone. Double doors to the north and the south and a dining table of sorts, just in front of her. This was not her room nor any room in the keep. This was Balbanes' bedchamber!
Ditto groaned, "Oh, no. Na again." At least in this dream she seemed to have the sense to recognize when things weren't alltogether right.
"Champagne?"
Ditto turned to see Balbanes coming up beside her. So quiet he stepped, that she hadn't heard him coming. He was good at doing that. At least this dream had some detail, she mused. Ah, why not? She already discovered it was a dream and would be waking up anytime now....this time for real, so why not play along. She nodded and smiled at him and took the offered glass of bubbley liquid and drank it down. It wasn't until she'd nearly finished off the whole thing when she tasted the familiar, exotic honeysuckle spices. Looking into the glass suddenly, she saw the drink had changed to the thick black Melnibonean wine she'd given her word never to drink. Even knowing this was just a dream, she still felt guilty, as Balbanes gave an evil laugh that shook her into anger. Throwing, and breaking the glass against him, Ditto stepped into the middle of the room and looked up into the ceiling to yell.
"Alright! I'm dreaming! I know that, so lets wake up now!" She waited, as though listening for something. But nothing happened. "Come on! Wakey wakey!"
Still nothing.
"Taro! Elbow me in your sleep...somethin! Helloooo! I need to wake up now! Come On, Ditto Louisa Francesca....arghh! WAKE UP!"
Frustrated, and near to tears, Ditto sat on the floor, and wrapped her arms around her knees in a near fetal-possition. She murmured her husband's name, as though trying to drown out the dream.


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The dream continued throughout the night and into the wee hours of predawn. Ditto's yells in her dreams, only slight mummerings in the bed. Ocassionally tossing and turning...sometimes slowly, sometimes violently. But all the while, she remained asleep. A long, bleeding trail ran down her arm where she had dug her nails into herself during some part of her dream. Another, less severe scratch on her shoulder. Still she slept...and dreamed. A series of dreams she could not seem to awaken from....
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The Dark Lady, Ditto Armunn, D|O -(hawk# 232286048 )
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Quote: "Oh Great! First I get stabbed and now I'm bleeding!" - Ditto
[quote="Tarothin Armunn"]I know and I have mood swings like a pregnant woman at times. :/ I'm very random.[/quote]

[Ditto Armunn]

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With a start, Ditto awoke, gasping and shivering. Cold water pounded her head as it was getting dumped on top of her. Yelling out, she opened her eyes wide to see a tall, darkskinned, old woman. "Zirazinn?", she coughed out the name. "What are you doin in my dream?"
The old woman, shook her head. "It is no dream, Lady Armunn. You are awake and well now. A simple victim of Imryrrajhan."

Ditto was familiar with the phrase. It was a term given long ago to describe a dream-state side effect, brought on by the repeated use of the Melnibonean black wine. It could and often did occur even after one ceased drinking the wine, and was closer to that of a coma than actual sleep.
Zirazinn continued speaking," You put your husband under some concern, so I explained it to him in common-speak. He expects you awake and seeing to your duties when upon his return."

Stepping out of the tub and her lips quivering from the cold, Ditto looked around cautiously, still not convinced she was actually awake. She saw that she was in her bedchamber and it was late in the day. The room had been cleaned and clothes laid out for her on the bed that was made up so well it seemed stiff. A definate sign that Zirazinn had arrived. Accepting a towel from the woman, and beginning to feel that she was indeed awake, she asked her first, clear question, with a note of worry on her voice. "If you are here, then where is my son? Where is Daer?"

Folding the towel and bending to wipe up the water trails, Zirazinn, answered placidly, "He is safe. He waits, well guarded to join you here in DarkCove. I didn't want to send for him yet until you were awake, and someone other than that half-elf, was in charge of his safety."
Ditto snarled down at the woman's back, "LORD Gerhart is your better here. And as the Armunn governess I expect you to know your place."
The old woman stood up slowly, her height of 5'10, towering over Ditto, her eyes aged, but seriously accepting what was just told to her, and she nodded once to Ditto, very low, out of respect.

Ditto, still annoyed by the racist tone of the governess' comment, walked towards the bed, purposefully bypassing the clothing. "And where is Lord Armunn? Is he with Daer now?"
Ziraziin watched her mistress pull the top blanket off the bed to wrap herself up in it, the newly laid out clothes dropping to the floor in a jumbled pile. "I also delivered a letter to him from your father's island. It explained the reason why Daerauko was sent here and requesting that he take care of a small problem there before Daerauko can return."

Ditto knew that the war in the YoungKingdoms was still raging and from time to time, to assure their son's safety, Tarothin had to make small trips there to see to things. She had hoped that he had gotten the oppurtunity to visit w/ Daer, even if just briefly. The young Armunn heir was growing up rapidly in the other realm compared to Sosaria. Each month here seemed closer to a year there, and they were missing such important parts of his childhood. It was an overwhelmingly sad necessity to keep him safe, to be able to grow up at all.

"You will go at once to get Daerauko and bring him home here. Take as many of the personal guard as you'll need, and his travel here is to be completely covert. Do nau breath his name to anyone. Even after he is here and safe."
Again the governess nodded low before her mistress, before turning to leave. "We will be here at first light, my Lady."
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The Dark Lady, Ditto Armunn, D|O -(hawk# 232286048 )
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Quote: "Oh Great! First I get stabbed and now I'm bleeding!" - Ditto
[quote="Tarothin Armunn"]I know and I have mood swings like a pregnant woman at times. :/ I'm very random.[/quote]

[Tarothin Armunn]

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Comming out of his study while finishing what he needed to do, and thinking about the pawn still, he almost bumped into a servant girl.

The girl apologized perfusely while the whole time it was I that was carelessly walking around and not her. But then again it was good that she knew her place. I held up my hand to halt her apologies. "No need to apologize. Twas my falt. Have you seen the Lady Armunn around? I have just come back this day and have yet to see her. Does she fare well again?"

The servent girl lowered her eyes and shook her head 'no'. "I am sorry my lord. I have not seen your lady this day. But I do hear that she is well now."

Thanking her, I waved her off to continue with her duties.

I must speak to Ditto about a few matters, as well as finding out her health. I wonder where she can be...

[Ditto Armunn]

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She never wanted to talk to another vendor again. In preparing for the dinner with Tarothin and Balbanes, she seemed to have overlooked one small detail. The dinner itself.
After getting with her friend and cohort, Cat Lyxen, the last minute details were made and Ditto owed her pal a big thanks for helping to gather everything so quickly.

Ditto spent her time cleaning the dust and cobwebs from an empty room of the cottage and worked hard turning the attic room into a charming dining hall.
Tarothin was expected home later that day and if hurried she would just be able to have enough time to clean the dirt and soot from her body and change into clean clothes to greet her husband home properly. As she walked across the yardway to the main house, she pondered her current wardrobe and what to wear. She wanted to look her very best for her Lord and love. Perhaps she should ask Cat to make another one of her wonderful tailoring creations for the occassion. Nau, she'd worked hard all day helping to get things ready. Ditto couldn't ask even more from her. With a mischivous grin, another thought came to her mind and what to wear to welcome Tarothin home, or rather, what not to wear. An image of her standing on the docks wearing only her flower garland came into her mind, as wondered what reaction she were to indeed do that. Giggling at inpropiety of it all and knowing she'd simply end up wearing her one of her best simple dresses, she entered the hall of the main house. A clock somewhere in the distance was just striking the hour and Ditto knew she was running terribly late. A quick look, up and down the hall revealed no sign of servants. She would have to have a fast, cold bath, for there would be no time to heat the water now. Walking quickly down the hall, she began getting undressed. Pulling her shirt up over her head to remove it, she failed to see letters and notices from Tarothin sitting on a side table awaiting a messenger for delivery to various people. Nor did she see the whisp of a soft blue cloak as came from behind a corner, when she bent to unhook the skirt from her sandal when it got caught as she tried to slip out of it hurriedly. She was thinking only of removing the unsightly soot and dust when the shadow of the Dark Knight towered over her, unnoticed....
_________________
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The Dark Lady, Ditto Armunn, D|O -(hawk# 232286048 )
*************************************

*************************************
Quote: "Oh Great! First I get stabbed and now I'm bleeding!" - Ditto
[quote="Tarothin Armunn"]I know and I have mood swings like a pregnant woman at times. :/ I'm very random.[/quote]