The Beginning of A Relationship (Private with Dynamic Oreo)

Nerezza was feeling pretty sleepy. She had stayed up till three last night, collecting herbs, though her home was already overflowing with them. It was an excuse to avoid sleeping; her nightmares about her childhood trauma were starting up again, causing her to wake up in the middle of the night, sweating, for the third time in a row. In the end, she decided not to go to sleep at all, but...she had to suffer the consequences of not sleeping. She was barely able to stay on her feet as she tottered towards a stream, falling into it. The cold water doused her face, and she felt much more awake; dragging herself out of the stream and shaking her body dry, she hoped no one had seen her.

The healer didn't have any patients to treat that day, so she was free to do anything she liked. She made her way towards the NightWing fortress, wondering whether its interior had changed; she hadn't visited it in a long time. Maybe it had. She didn't notice the dark shape of a Royal Guard exiting the fortress until she bumped into him. Startled, she looked up, and glowing silver eyes met hers. Her eyes widened, and for a moment she couldn't say anything. Those silver eyes.. They were so beautiful.. Oi! Apologise! Those words snapped her back to attention. Oh..right. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't see you..." Taking a step back, she could see that the slightly taller NightWing had a beautiful white stripe running along his body.

Oreo had been wandering down the halls of the NightWing fortress. It was impressive, the height of the ceilings and just the decor. A lot of work had gone into this building, from the arc of the halls to the carvings on the doors. It was a fine building.

Of course, he didn't have a lot of time to admire the structure that he was in. He was on a timeline to meet Oculus, or at least that's how he felt. The male was making his way out of the fortress when someone ran into him. Surprised, he quickly looked down, his face not showing any signs of being surprised.

A smaller NightWing had bumped into him, quickly apologizing. It was obvious she didn't realise that he was there, so there was no reason to get mad at her. "It's okay," he said to her. With another glance at her, he began to continue his walk.

Nerezza took one step forward, and halted. Curiousity about the NightWing with pretty eyes made her turn around, and she quickly followed after him. She had to run slightly to catch up with his long strides. "Say," she said, a little breathlessly, "You're a royal guard, right?" She could tell; only royal guards were as stoic as he was. "Um..." She lost track of what she was going to say when the NightWing looked at her with those pretty silver eyes again. "May I know your name?" It seemed like the only sensible question to ask. But there was a weird thing: she had never, never felt this shy around a NightWing before. Even an unfamiliar one. Never. Her ability to keep up a good conversation had deserted her today, too. Ehh... Who cared... Maybe it was from lack of sleep.

Nerezza finally managed to un-glue her eyes from the floor and look at the NightWing again. Rather tentatively, she added, "Where are you going?" Another stupid question. Of course he was going to meet the NightWing leader, right?

Oreo heard footsteps behind him and turned his head, seeing as the little NightWing from earlier caught up with him instead of heading wherever she was planning on going. The good thing was that she realized he was a Royal Guard, and also that she wasn't scared of him. Most dragons feared him in some way because he was the one that protected the king. It was either that or they envied him. This dragon was actually treating him like another individual.

"Well, my name is Oreo. What is yours?" he asked her, general curiousity in his voice. It was still hard and stern, as if he was addressing another guard, but had a note of curiousity. The Royal Guard was a bit hesitant at answering her other question, but she would probably just follow him there anyways. What real harm would it cause to tell her? "I'm just meeting Oculus." Hopefully.

Nerezza had thought that her questions would be met with silence, and then she would have to walk away awkwardly. Apparently not. Thank goodness. "So Oreo's your name, huh?" She glanced at the white stripe running along his body and smiled. "It really suits you. My name's Nerezza. I'm a healer. Do you mind if I tag along?"

After a moment, she asked, "Oculus... How is he like? I haven't met him before. I've only seen him from a distance, but one can't judge anything about another just by appearance, right?" Possibilites swirled in her mind: was he friendly? Too serious? Probably strict, for he was the NightWing leader; if he wasn't strict, he wouldn't be able to enforce rules. Nerezza wondered where Oreo would be meeting Oculus, and she looked around, trying to find some kind of building that the NightWing leader would be waiting in.

Oreo glanced at Nerezza after she finished her statement. Nerezza, huh? It was definitely an interesting name. "Uh, I guess you can tag along..." He replied after a few seconds of him thinking. He doubted that Oculus was hurt at all, but it couldn't hurt having a healer around. Plus, she was just a NightWing, and by the looks of it he could easily take her down if she had anything planned against him. Not that he thought that she did, but he always had to be alert to those types of things.

Then she asked her second question. It kind of startled him a bit, for one how did she not know her own leader? And also, how much did he know about Oculus himself? Oreo's mouth tightened into a line as he thought about it. "Well..." he started, "Oculus is a good leader for starters. He might be a little mischievous in nature but over all he's well-rounded. And I guess he doesn't like lectures because he never listens to them." A slight growl accompanied his last sentence before he let out a small sigh. No, he couldn't be talking bad about his leader. "But, he's a kind and generous leader."

Nerezza beamed when Oreo said that she could tag along. That was great! She had always wanted to meet the NightWing leader in person and talk to him. But her excitement was quickly replaced with surprise. Oculus had a mischievous nature? She thought that leaders were all-serious and never mischievous. Oh well..I suppose I'm wrong... She let out a soft chuckle when she heard Oreo's growl of annoyance about Oculus's inability to listen to Oreo's lectures, and then spoke up when he was done talking. "What did he do to earn your lectures?" she asked, amused. "I rarely see guards lecturing the leader; it's usually the other way around." Her expression suddenly turned thoughtful. "But I'm glad to hear that he's kind and generous. Those two traits are something that should be present in a leader, right?"

At that moment, something white caught her attention; it was a white marble fountain in the shape of a crescent moon. Water (spewed?) from the upper tip of the crescent. "Are you meeting Oculus there?" She gestured towards the fountain. "Because I don't see him." Was the NightWing leader planning to play a prank or something? Or had he run off? She had no idea, and she looked at Oreo expectantly, as if Oculus would appear the moment Oreo said something.

Oreo huffed at her question. Oculus couldn't do a lot to get lectures, but yet the one thing that he did multiple times was one of the ways to get one. Before he could reply though she spoke again. He was glad that she liked that he had those traits. It made the male smile for once on the walk.

"Well, the only reason he got those lectures was..." Oreo trailed off, looking up at the fountain in the distance, the sound of the water reaching his ears. Along with the sight of the fountain there was one thing missing- Oculus. His smile dropped into a frown, as if it already hadn't the moment he looked at the scene. "Well this," he growled, "Is the reason that he's been getting all of those lectures." Galloping forward his sniffed around, not scenting him anywhere around there. Either he deliberately avoided here or he was still back at the castle. Oreo hopped for the latter.

Nerezza watched Oreo gallop forward to try finding a trace of Oculus's scent. Ah.. "So he runs away from you often?" She walked forward, wanting to help Oreo, but the tip of her right wing accidentally brushed his; the slight touch sent tingles throughout her whole body. Her response was to hastily jump backwards, but her claws tripped over her own tail, causing her to fall to the ground; she winced as the rough stone floor scraped against her back. Ugh..how embarrassing... The blush on her cheeks were clearer than ever as she scrambled back into a standing position. Lowering her gaze to the ground, she felt utterly humiliated. What would Oreo think of her now?

"Err..." She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Have you any idea where Oculus is?" Her attempt to distract him from what had just happened was seriously lame. She gritted her teeth, wishing that there was a hole for her to climb into. Some said that she overreacted, but Nerezza hated to embarrass herself; falling down was not something she wanted a stranger to see.

Oreo lightly sighed. He debated telling her or not, and if Oculus would even care. No Leader could be perfect, could they? "Well... yes. He's ran away at least two times and it gets very annoying when I'm supposed to guard him and he runs off without saying." The Royal Guard huffed. He felt something brush against his wing, and he didn't think of it at first until he heard a thump on the ground. Looking at her he slightly tilted his head, mostly wondering if she was okay.

Before he could ask she got back up and asked her own question. It reminded him what he was here for. "Right. Oculus could either be far away from here, back at the palace, or... just making his way here." He slightly gritted his teeth, glancing around as if Oculus was just going to magically appear. Either he could overreact and try and find him or he could wait here for him to possibly come.

Nerezza forgot about what happened earlier when Oreo mentioned Oculus running away twice, for she was so astonished. "Twice!?" she gasped. "Are you serious?" She wrinkled her nose. "Poor you.." she murmured, and suddenly felt herself longing to hug him. No. She could not do that; it would end very badly. But still she found her claws twitching slightly, and with a soft, barely inaudible growl, she dug her claws into the ground. Hearing a growl from her was very rare, but for matters like this where her body wanted to do something stupid which was totally against her principles, it irritated her greatly.

"Yeah, maybe he is on the way here," she agreed with Oreo, trying to distract herself from those weird feelings. Each time she locked gazes with him, her heart fluttered. This'd better not be what she was suspecting... She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, a colourful stream of curses flowing through her mind. When she opened her eyes again, she found Oreo staring at her, those silvery eyes enthralling her. She frowned and tore her gaze away, focusing on the ground. Her heart still fluttered as she remembered those beautiful silver eyes focused on her.. a nobody...

If only she had a club to beat herself up to a bloody pulp for even letting herself think he would love her. No. It was not possible. He was such a high ranker, what would he want to do with a lowly healer like her?