"Ermm... uhh... excuse me." Talim clutched an old map in her hand and tried to catch someone's attention as the crowd hustled and bustled around her. The great city was lively and the night was young, enticing the people to go out and enjoy themselves. Unfortunately for her, the people had no time to care for her obvious need for directions. Either that, or she was too short for anyone to notice. With her rather soft and hesitant voice, it was also hard to hear her above the din.
"Oh wind," sighed the priestess as she gave up. Extricating herself from the crowded street, she leaned against the wall of building and her chocolate brown eyes wandered up and down, noting the wares the merchants had dished out. The smells of hot and good food wafted from opened restaurants, diners and bakeries and she felt her stomach rumble.
Ever since Yun-Seong left her, travelling had been rather difficult. She also felt rather lonely and she missed having a friend to travel with her. But being a nice and kind girl, she couldn't blame Seong-Mina for being the one responsible for his abrupt departure. After all, the Korean girl just wanted to help him...
Talim idly restrapped her elbow blades to her pink belt before continuing her search for a nice enough man or woman to help her with directions. Going on her tippy toes, she scanned the area to try and look for someone who didn't seem to be too busy and wouldn't mind her disturbing them.
After a few minutes, she finally caught sight of a man who was standing at a weapon stand. He was examining the weapons with a bored look on his handsome face. A gleaming red rapier was held loosely in his hand and she was sure he was just 'window' browsing. Plucking up the courage to go and ask where in the wind's name was the Grey Gull Inn, she began heading over.
Raphael turned around when he felt someone tug gently on his green cape. Seeing the young girl with big brown eyes and dark pigtails, he raised an eyebrow at her interruption. "That's my cape you have in your hands."
"I-I'm sorry sir." She dropped it and blinked those innocent brown eyes at him. "I was just wondering..."
"Wondering...?" Raphael tilted his head slightly and gazed at her curiously.
Talim bit her lips. Reading the wind around him, she knew immediately that he was a malfested. From her experience, this was a rather touchy subject and it was always hard to have them understand that she could heal them with the 'wind'. They either thought she was crazy or they tried to kill her, not wanting others to know their secret. In a quiet voice, she mumbled, "Err well... you... wind... swirling and... fested..."
"You're rambling, little one," Raphael said dryly. He usually did not show such patience to others but he had a soft spot for young girls. He couldn't be possibly be mean to one since he's reminded of the fact that his beloved daughter, Amy, is around their age. Judging from the look of this one, she seemed one or maybe two years older. As the young girl seemed flustered about something, he noted her oriental outfit. It was quite pretty and the quality of the silk seemed to be very finely made. However... her white pants were transparent. VERY transparent.
He flushed and immediately averted his eyes. But then something hit his mind. Was she one of those types to look around for customers to sell her body to? How horrible! Raphael quickly shook his head at the sad situation. If he hadn't rescued Amy from poverty back then, she might be in the same situation as this poor girl.
"Excuse me, are you people buying or what?" asked the irritated merchant, grumpy at the fact that they were blocking the way for other potential buyers.
"Oh! I-I'm sorr-" Talim was about to apologize until the blonde man spoke up.
"Shut your trap, peasant. You should be grateful that I even bothered to spare your wares the time of my day. These weapons are a complete joke and anyone who bought them was sorely duped." He picked up a simple rapier and narrowed his eyes. "Alloy of bronze and silver that's not even heated properly during its crafting process. This thing would break in three hits. How do you feel about selling this to someone? What if a man died because he trusted your weapon? Aren't you ashamed of yourself? In fact, you should give me money for wasting my time that I'll never get back because of such rubbish."
Talim gulped at the man's razor sharp tongue. He seemed to have a short temper and was easily angered. The dramatic accusation had started to attract a crowd and she felt slightly sorry for the merchant as his mouth dropped open like a gaping fish.
Wearing an irritated look, Raphael grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her out of there. They made their way to an empty alleyway and before she could speak, he took out his pouch. "How much money do you need?"
"Huh?" Confused, Talim said, "Err, I don't need money, sir."
"The name is Raphael Sorel." He dumped some gold coins into his hand and handed it to her. "Go on, I know you must be having a difficult time... doing what you're doing."
Flustered but slightly touched, Talim smiled. "Mr. Sorel, I'm very grateful that you would like to donate money for my journey. But I just needed help with directions."
He blinked at her for a few moments before sighing. "Why didn't you just say so, ma petite? You had misunderstood you." When she asked what he was misunderstanding, he flushed and said, "Never mind, just tell me where you wanted to go to."
"The Grey Gull." She beamed and handed him her map. Talim watched as he scanned the piece of paper and she idly twiddled with her thumbs behind her back. When he lowered the paper from his face, he wore a perplexed expression.
"Where did you get this?"
"I bought it from a merchant. He said this map would be able to show me every single place I wanted to go to in Europe," she chirped brightly.
"Little one... this is the entire map of Europe." When he saw the confused look on her face, he sighed. "Unless this 'Grey Gull' is a city or town or country of Europe, it's not on here. You were either duped or you didn't pay attention when you bought this."
Talim's eyes began to sparkle with tears. "Bu-but... I was tricked?" She lowered her head and sniffed. She had just began to get the hang of English but reading was still far far far very far away. Also, she very inexperienced with map reading. However, that meant she was just ignorant and she couldn't really blame anyone. "I... it's all my fault, for not being able to read maps. I can't really blame that merchant. It might even be just a misunderstanding," Talim said hopefully, not really willing to believe that someone would trick her."
Raphael said slowly, "It's from two hundred years ago."
Her lips quivered as she wailed, "I paid a gold bangle for that map!"
"How old are you?" He put a hand on his hip and gave her an exasperated look. Barely knowing her for five minutes, he could already see how naive, unsuspecting and innocent she was. A giant sign that spelled 'Sitting Duck' over her head was practically flashing at him. "Are you travelling by yourself?" The young girl bobbed her head in answer and he cringed. How in the world would someone like her make it by herself, with the way she was? He had seen baby rabbits stand a better chance of survival than she did.
While the man was seemingly thinking to himself, Talim thought it'd be best if she spoke up about his condition. "Ummm, ... I noticed that you... fested..."
"Excuse me? Did you say I'm infested?" He quirked an eyebrow at her.
"N-no. I said you were...malfested."
"What?" He leaned closer to her. "I can't hear you, ma petite."
Taking in a deep breath, Talim said quickly, "IreadthewindandittoldmeyourmalfestedandI'mreallysorryifyou'reoffendedbutIcanusethewindtohealyousinceI'maholywindpriestessbutifyourconditionisreallyseriousthenitmightbeharderformetotryandhealyou."
It was rather amazing that she said that in one breath. But Raphael was more stunned that she knew he was malfested from reading the wind. She must have some kind of unusual power and would prove to be a great asset to him if he made her help him search for Soul Calibur. He stroked his chin and looked down at her. He had never bitten young girls before since he prefer to treat them well; after all, they reminded him of his daughter and they were around her age. But... in this case, it would be better if this wind priestess became his minion. At least she wouldn't get duped with a map of the world and he would feed and take care of her. He also had a feeling her survival chance was rather slim since she seemed a bit too innocent for this dark world. "Alright then..."
"Hmmm?" Talim was completely caught off guard when he pushed her against the wall and pushed his face at the crook of her neck. Her first thought was that he was molesting her but then he sunk his sharp teeth into her neck. Opening her mouth, she tried to scream for help but he had wisely covered her mouth.
"Urmphhh! Ermph!" When Talim thought he was going to drain her dry, he finally let her go and she looked at him with dazed eyes, disoriented by the blood loss. "Why..." She wasn't prepared for it when he threw up on her. "Eeeeeeeeeek!" She jumped back and looked at her white outfit and her blood trickling down between her breasts under her soiled white top. How in the world would she be able to wash this off?! When he groaned and collapsed on the ground, she pushed aside the thought of probably having to spend hours on washing and came to his side. "Mr. Sorel? Are you alright?"
He wiped away the blood from his lips and gasped, "Your blood... it's so pure..." He gagged and spat some more out. "This is the most foulest thing to have ever crossed my lips."
At that, she immediately pouted at him. "Maybe you shouldn't have bitten someone before you even know them. I almost don't feel like healing you."
The taste stuck in his mind forever. No matter how thirsty he was, he would never bite her. One, it could probably kill him. Two, he couldn't bring himself to bite her. The sweet thing had offered to help him even though she got nothing out of it and instead, she had to change her sleeping schedule, suffer curses and glares whenever people discover what he was and she helped clean up after him by healing those he bit, out of compassion for them and him both. She had to deal with his coldness and bossy ways as well but she never complained, as she truly wanted to help him.
They made a good team and he grew incredibly fond of her. Over time, he believed that it wasn't her lineage or powers that made her blood so pure. It was her heart.
*It's implied Raphael doesn't like the blood of characters that have purifying abilities or is associated with Soul Calibur when he bites for ex, Siggy in SCV. Talim's not only a holy priestess, 'purity' lies in her soul ;D
Anyways, this is the first of my random collection of drabbles. IT is not a story. I'm going to throw in random scenarios and etc. Thanks for reading :)