Whitzz/544K-RP-Datasets huggingface dataset:
Thread: ~Clash~

The room was dulled by familiarity for Mireio--it was her refuge, but it held no surprises since she'd discovered the catch that worked the secret panel. That had been exciting, but it infused no new life into the furniture or wall hangings. Seeing them reflected in the prisoner's wondering gaze gave her a strange feeling, like she had been overlooking a gift she passed every day. How long had he been locked away? Though she was troubled by that, it was a passing shadow on the newness of the moment as she turned back toward the bed to see him reveling in it like a child on a holiday. She stifled a giggle, and then a faint flush crept into her cheeks when she came close and he framed his face between her hands. Like his earlier gesture, it was a startlingly personal touch, and she found herself holding her breath as he drew closer. Hoping for... what? She didn't have time to examine that fleeting impulse, as he wiped away the streak of soot and she blinked at her new name. And what he said next--it was a similar phrase, though not identical, to the clue that had taken her on her original mad hunt. It was like the completion of a half-remembered couplet. Who are you...? she wondered aloud, sinking to sit on the edge of the bed and tucking her legs demurely underneath her. Oh! I didn't even say, before. I'm Mireio. It seemed simpler, somehow, to omit titles. It hid this strange friendship just a little bit longer from the outside world. What's your name? And what does Ka'lee mean? She cut herself short before too broad a torrent of questions escaped, while other ones echoed inside her. Like Where is he going to stay? and What am I going to do with him? Instead of answering them she watched his face for a change, studying the markings and those bright golden eyes now that she wasn't distracted by running or hiding.
Thread: ~Clash~

Still eyeing her with his completely unflinching gaze, the circles of gold in his eyes seemed almost like another iteration of the markings upon his skin. Yet his eyes grew distant as he seemed to fall into consideration of her first question, and for a moment, he held them closed, before opening them with a slowly spreading grin. Mireio Ka'lee is she who will give me naming. He looked pleased at having been able to answer both her questions with a single answer, as if it were some game he played with speech. Now that he had said it however, he began to turn her name over and about in his mind, soon softly uttering varying versions of inflection. Mireio, Mireio, Mireio... His voice faded away as he met her gaze once more, and while he still smiled, his face went still, unblinking as he met her eyes, waiting for her part in his words had proposed. There was something else in that look though, something that seemed to be doing more then simply watching, but perhaps, learning, or studying would be the better word. On observation, it might have been noticeable that his demeanor had changed, adapted to what he had seen in his short time of freedom. And what he had seen was her, having been toying with the expressions she wore at different time, remembering and learning when she used each. He was calm on the surface, but his eyes betrayed a beehive of activity at work, as though he had managed to preserve the youthful capacity to absorb near limitless information. The gentle light of the room felt good on his strained eyes, and the warmth of the chamber as compared to the chill of the cells below was threatening to lull him into a hazy sleep if given an inch.
Thread: ~Clash~

Still eyeing her with his completely unflinching gaze, the circles of gold in his eyes seemed almost like another iteration of the markings upon his skin. Yet his eyes grew distant as he seemed to fall into consideration of her first question, and for a moment, he held them closed, before opening them with a slowly spreading grin. Mireio Ka'lee is she who will give me naming. He looked pleased at having been able to answer both her questions with a single answer, as if it were some game he played with speech. Now that he had said it however, he began to turn her name over and about in his mind, soon softly uttering varying versions of inflection. Mireio, Mireio, Mireio... His voice faded away as he met her gaze once more, and while he still smiled, his face went still, unblinking as he met her eyes, waiting for her part in his words had proposed. There was something else in that look though, something that seemed to be doing more then simply watching, but perhaps, learning, or studying would be the better word. On observation, it might have been noticeable that his demeanor had changed, adapted to what he had seen in his short time of freedom. And what he had seen was her, having been toying with the expressions she wore at different time, remembering and learning when she used each. He was calm on the surface, but his eyes betrayed a beehive of activity at work, as though he had managed to preserve the youthful capacity to absorb near limitless information. The gentle light of the room felt good on his strained eyes, and the warmth of the chamber as compared to the chill of the cells below was threatening to lull him into a hazy sleep if given an inch. For now however, he sat waiting, and watching.
Thread: ~Clash~

Mireio had never realized before how seldom people looked at each other so directly. Their gazes flitted around because they were dissembling, or searching for a turn of phrase, or slanting a meaningful glance at some other target. If they stared you down without blinking it was an attempt to intimidate, and could be met with a little bracing of anger. But people never just rested their eyes on your face steadily, as if you were the most important thing in the world to be listening to. She almost felt an urge to apologize, to explain to him that she wasn't worth taking so seriously. That warm but self-conscious moment lasted until he handed the responsibility of his name over to her. It took a few seconds to sink in, and then her mouth dropped open in dismay. Oh, no. I couldn't... But the words dried up there, as she remembered how he had answered the first time she asked his identity. In her father's name, he had been locked in the dark. Now, it had fallen to her to return things long deferred--light, friendship, apparently even a name. She was quiet for a second, falling into the contemplation that lay behind her sometimes flighty exterior. Tilting her head to the side as she looked at him, she finally said, The Albanesian philosophers said that a person's soul was divided into higher and lower halves, the ein and oin . And that a person was born weighed down by their lower soul, because the principles of their ein were scattered about in the world, so they could only become complete by seeking out those pieces and understanding their truth. She smiled with unaccustomed shyness, finishing in a rush. Well. They may have been heretical, but I always liked the idea. Would that suit you? Ein? Her hands, folded on her knee, had begun to fidget lightly with a fold of the blankets as she answered. She didn't notice in her distraction that her fingers had taken up a tendril of his hair from the wide pool spreading around him on the bed.
Thread: ~Clash~

His gaze stayed locked upon hers, calm and serene, throughout Mireio's speaking. He seemed to absorb what she told him about the Albanesian with great interest, and though she may not have known it, the mode of thought which she described was a very close cousin to the ideas of the prisoners homeland. Musings about those ideas were cut short however, as suddenly, he was no longer the prisoner, he was Ein, and her explanation of the name gave him a sense of great pride. Remembering her earlier comment, naming him malfice, he suddenly saw their journey from his cell to this room in new light. He had been empty when she found him, yet now he was filling up, moving about the world and seeking his Ein, himself. The thought caused a great and wide smile to spread across Ein's face, growing in a slow and fluid manner. Mireio Ka'lee and Ein Ka'tem. He confirmed, touching two fingers to the small nook just below her neck as he said her name, and doing likewise for himself. He was full of little ritualistic gestures it seemed. Feeling some sifting weight, he was momentarily confused before he realized it was the slight sensation of Mireio absently playing with a strand of his hair. Smiling wide once more, he leaned close to her, lifting a length of her own hair and letting it run through his fingers, enjoying the tactile feeling of it. No sense of personal space seemed to exist in the youth, having been taken from his people at an age where closeness and contact were the norm. Such lack was demonstrated as he moved on to join his hand withe one of hers which had unintentionally taken hold if his lengthy growth of hair. With his other hand he looped a long strand about the digits he had meshed with Mireio, letting it bind them for a moment before letting it fall. There was no ritual meaning in what he did, only simple play. The sensation of contact with his Ka'lee was wonderful to say the least, so he felt no hindrance in exploring the feeling. He connected his fingertips with her own as he looked to her eyes once more, his expression still mirthful, but showing what looked like appreciation as well. Ein will bare his name with pride Mireio Ka'lee. His tone carried a seriousness to it that mixed oddly well with his bliss. Almost as an afterthought, he drew her hand close to his face, examining her fingers for a moment before slowly bringing his lips into contact with one of her knuckles, getting a better sense of it's feel for one delighful moment before drawing away and looking up at her again. Mireio teaches many things. He commented softly. Perhaps she had not intended to, but Ein had taken many 'lessons' already from his Ka'lee.
Thread: ~Clash~

Mireio was, frankly, used to being looked at somewhat askance by the time she had finished one of her offbeat explanations. She was half-resigned to the same treatment from the nameless boy, and the smile that spread over his face instead conjured an answering light on her own. Ka'tem , she mouthed silently, unsure if it was a piece of his name or a title, the way Ka'lee seemed to be an honorific. His light touch in the hollow of her throat made her feel a strange tingle of awareness, reminding her afresh that she was sitting on her bed with a stranger. When he leaned forward to tug at a strand of her hair, she suddenly realized that she had been fidgeting with a bit of his. She would have snatched her hand back, but he was gently twining his fingers around hers, and a bit of his innocent joy couldn't help rubbing off. He was just so clearly grateful for the contact, it was hard for embarrassment at the impropriety to last. That ease was tested as he drew her hand up to his face and brushed his mouth across the back, and a faint pink tinged her cheeks. She had seen the same gesture dozens of times--hundreds of times--as a piece of courtly artifice, signaling everything from polite necessity of greeting to positively indecent interest. His guileless affection was something else entirely, and she shook her head in baffled wonder when he said that she was teaching him. I don't know what to do with you, she said aloud. There's so much... She was cut off by the sound of a rap on the door, the thick wooden portal they had bypassed on their entrance through the secret panel. She sat up straight, fingers squeezing his and sudden worry sharp in her eyes. After a second of furious thought, she put a finger to his lips to caution him for silence, eyes pleading that he understand the urgency. A moment, she called over her shoulder, and then she was moving, reluctantly letting go of his hand and sliding from the bed, grabbing up a dressing gown laid over the end and pulling it on to cover her dust-marked dress. She stared at Ein for a moment longer before reaching up to whisk the bed curtains closed, enclosing him in a rich velvet darkness. Her footsteps went to the door, followed by a clank of unlocking, and then a muffled exchange of voices. Mireio's, soft and a little irritable as if she'd been pulled from sleep, the apologetic murmur of a maid, and a smoothly condescending and somehow insinuating reply from a man.
Thread: ~Clash~

The sound at the door caught Ein off guard. He wasn't used to such levels of ambient noise, or of so much stimulation, and had not heard the approaching footsteps at all. His muscles soon relaxed and his curiosity leapt forth, but he kept it controlled, hoping Mireio Ka'lee would approve. Her next actions confused him a bit though, and he struggled with them as if they were a riddle he had been tasked to solve. Her gesture was know to him, but meant not the same as it did to him. The darkness she enclosed him in helped him to think, and as she threw her gown on, he began to understand. She wants me hidden. He realized, and as the door swung ajar he was struck with not only what she wanted, but why. A bad man was at the door, he felt it in his voice, in the way he spoke, even if he could not make out the words. Ka'lee protects me from the Bad Man. The thought ran through his mind like a swift breeze, and all of a sudden he was filled with both gratitude and frustration. She was Ka'lee, and to him, that meant he was to protect her as well. I will not be bloodfly. It was another of the sayings he still remembered, expressing his peoples custom, to never take without giving in return. He knew she did not want him seen, and he respected that as best he could while creeping from the curtained bed, moving out along the the wall and hidden from view of those in the doorway. Silent as the grave, he padded along the wall, stopping just beside the doorway, back pressed firmly to the stone as he silenced even his breathing. He could hear the words a bit better now, but for the moment, his mind was preoccupied with a singular determination. He would not let the man into this room. He knew not whether the man would try to enter, but some part of Ein compelled that he must not let him if so.It was a compulsion he did not fully understand, but one he trusted completely without doubt. They told me to protect Ka'lee. The thought came unbidden, but once it did, he could scarcely believe he had forgotten it. They had told him many things he must do, but a great majority of it was covered as if by some nebulous fog, obscuring it from view. That one command though, now that danger had presented itself, it came to him as naturally as breathing. His fingers curled and relaxed, repeating the motion every few seconds.It was strange how quickly his demeanor had shifted, and for the first time, there seemed something almost lethal about him, something savage. His control over it seemed in line however, and his mind was clear, focused sharply and intensely aware.
Thread: ~Clash~

Bound up in fear of discovery and the swift decisions that attended it, Mireio missed the significance of the gesture she had made to warn him to silence. She was a quiet but efficient swirl of motion and energy until she was properly night-attired and at the door, and then she took a slow, deep breath before opening it. She also put a discreet foot down to stop it swinging open more than part of the way, so that her body blocked the available space. As Ein emerged from the bed and moved along the wall, the conversation coalesced from murmurs into words. Mireio had been noticed missing from her room a bit earlier, and when the maid couldn't account for her whereabouts, concern had escalated. Mireio's sweet but firm rejoinder was that she had taken a walk in the gardens to help her go to sleep. It wasn't entirely clear that her excuse was believed, but after a few back-and-forth exchanges, an impasse was reached with no evidence to the contrary. Be more thoughtful in the future, your highness, the unseen man finally said, tone velvet with concern. The night air can be upsetting to a girl's health, and we are all concerned for you. Mireio gave a bright, brittle smile entirely unlike the expressions she had shown to Ein thus far. Thank you, duke. But I assure you, you needn't concern yourself about me again at this time of night. With a courteous parting nod and slightly more haste than necessary, she pushed the door shut, leaning her forehead against it and closing her eyes as if that short conversation had tired her out more than all the catacombs walking. It wasn't until she opened her eyes a moment later that she surfaced from her distraction enough to notice Ein, standing much closer than she expected and with a fierce look about him that held nothing of the innocent boy. She caught her breath and just stared at him for a second, as the footsteps receded outside. Her hands were shaking a little, still pressed against the door.
Thread: ~Clash~

During their conversation, Ein kept perfectly still, his muscles tensed in preparation for... For what? In truth, he had no real idea what he was doing, it was as if his body knew the proper course of action better than he did. It frightened him a little, and it would be a lie to say he wasn't relived when the door shut and he heard the sound of retreating footsteps. His instinctual impulses were not through with him quite yet however, for he soon found himself moving once more. Moving with the same lethal quite he had before, he moved closer to Mireio, and for a moment, it may have looked like his intent was with her, but in a flash he was passed her, pressing his ear to the grain of the wooden door, listening to the sound of footsteps. As they faded further and further away, his posture became ever more relaxed, and finally, as the last sounds slipped into inaudibility, he let out a deeply held breathe, his demeanor seeming to return to its former state. Quite suddenly, he whirled about, eyes bright and large once more. He seemed not at all concerned with his recent behavior, for no matter how it might have frightened him, some part of him knew he had done what he was meant to. Still, he made note to consider the bizarre later, during his meditations. Is Mireio well? He asked, so discombobulated by the recent happenings that he completely forgot to include her title. The more he spoke, the more it sounded like he was speaking a language that was not his native tongue. An observation that would be too far off the mark. His eyes were studying her once again, and he seemed to come to some conclusion. The man caused you grief. It was more of a statement then a question, though there were elements of both. He paused a moment before seeming to some to a conclusion, and he took a step toward her, bringing himself quite close to her. Without speaking further, he repeated back the gesture she had made to him, placing a finger upon her lips, his eyes meeting hers with vivid intensity. For a long moment he stayed that way, a loose smile upon his face. Yet as he stood, he finally reached his limit. He wavered just enough to be noticeable, and his smile seemed to droop ever so slightly. Ka'lee, my body... He did not know quite how to say what he meant. It felt as though a thousand tiny string were pulled him downward. Since being freed, he had used his muscles to the full capacity they would allow, and with a final shudder, he simply fell to the ground, only just barely twisting himself so that he ended up sitting, his legs folded beneath him. Giving another small shudder as he steadied himself, savoring the rest his body so desperately cried for, he looked up to her and gave her a helpless smile, a little ashamed at his lack of will. I am sorry. He breathed, the words quite and soft.
Thread: ~Clash~

Mireio's eyes widened as Ein approached with that sharp intent look about him, then he was past and leaning his head against the heavy wooden door to listen. When the last echo of footsteps had vanished and he turned back to her, she was still looking at him in bemusement, a feeling not entirely laid to rest by his sudden return to his normal attitude. The thought flashed through her mind that she had been taken in by a dangerous creature after all, but she shoved it aside as unworthy. At his question, she broke out of that reflection, and his follow-up declaration made her eyes slide to one side. They returned to his face quickly, a bright green-blue and full of unhappiness for a moment before she smiled a little. Mireio is--I'm well. The man is my uncle, and some things in the castle are... complicated, that's all. She was saved from essaying further into that conversational swamp by the touch of his finger against her lips, that gesture he had made before which seemed so heavy with meaning to him. It was strangely comforting, to let the half-formed awkward explanation slip away and just meet his gaze. The eyes of a friend, although she didn't really understand him or what that meant for them. She caught the crack in his composure and realized something was wrong just before he wobbled and half-fell. Too slow to catch him, she knelt down beside him swiftly, any unease about his earlier flash of intensity now banished. Her arm slipped around his shoulders to steady him, and she prayed that he was only tired and not ill in some fashion he couldn't communicate. Then she wondered if you were allowed to pray for a malfice that you had let out of prison. Ignoring that spiritual sticking point, she said, Rest a minute, and then we'll get you over to the bed and you can sleep, all right? Everything is going to be fine. She just hadn't worked out how, yet. Searching for a few seconds' talk to distract him, a question popped out. When you put your finger here, she touched her lips, what did it mean?
Thread: ~Clash~

Tired and pained as he was, Ein still felt joy in the immediate concern that Mireio showed for him, meeting her eyes as she knelt before him, her statement about her uncle registering somewhere in his mind, but certainly not his conscious thought. Watching her as she brought her finger to her lips, her question seemed once again more like a riddle meant to grow his understanding than a genuine curiosity. Mulling it over, he saw the value in pondering the question, in meditating upon the meaning of such symbols. A long moment of silence passed, during which time his mind was completely distracted from the pain of his muscles. Finally, a slow grin began to spread across his face, starting from one corner of his mouth and sliding across till it seemed it would swallow up his entire head. His eyes focused again and they met Mireio's. Slowly, he raised his finger to her lips, touch them briefly and softly, the strain of movement was obvious, but it seemed the pain was beginning to recede. Lowering his hand back into his lap, he spoke, offering more words than he had spoken in total up to this point. The lips are sensitive, and through them flows the breathe of life, they feel what touches them more fully then any other part of the body. Pausing a moment, he took a deep and soothing breathe, his lungs almost as unaccustomed to such use as his body. The touch is to remind us that we seek to know each other as our lips know all they meet, to breathe as one, as Ka'oh. Once he had found this answer, the words came as easily as if he had know them all his life, though if that was actually the case, he could not tell, the fog that pervaded parts of his mind seemed to lurk around that question as well. He was pleased with his answer however, and fell once more into silence, waiting for her response, hoping he had responded well. Now that the pain had subsided, he was beginning to stretch himself as well, his posture straightening and his legs moving to lay crossed beneath him, a pose he was quite familiar with. She had mentioned a bed before her question, he recalled that now, and the thought had him giddy excitement, remembering how wonderful it had felt to lay upon it. Tilting his head slightly to one side, his eyes still intent on Mireio's own, the former prisoner, now Ein, felt as though he had reached some new level of understanding. He knew he must wait for his Ka'lee to speak first, but the thought kept him further distracted from the aching of his joints, so he held to it while he waited.