Aro I

IC Time: 05/17/09 - Afternoon
Location: Volterra Public Gardens
Synopsis: Aro gives Inari the task of seeing to the wolves in the dungeons.
Submitted by: Inari


Inari is playing a word game with herself. Telling herself lies, seeing if she can gain more control over her ability and her senses. She's seated Indian style in the middle of her cell. The door isn't actually locked but she's in there never-the-less. Her words are whispered, not really even spoken out loud, just subliminally. Apparently she's not having much success as she occasionally still winces.

The overheard lights are on again, although in light of being one of their own kind, Inari was provided with a lit torch near her cell, unlike the wolves. Aro descends — alone this time — he must not be here to see the wolves. It only takes a few rapid steps to get to Inari's cell. He smiles, not in a cruel fashion, and speaks: "Good afternoon, Inari. Care to go for a walk with me?"

Inari opens her eyes, though she knows the voice well enough. Already rising to her feet, she smiles, meeting Aro's eyes only briefly. Shame seems to make her turn her eyes away. "Of course, Master. I'd be delighted to." She approaches her own cell door and opens it, stepping out to greet Aro properly with a short little bow. "Where to, Master?"

"I've had the city officials reserve the gardens for us in town. I thought it might be nice to get outside," Aro comments, offering another smile before turning and leading the way out of the dungeons. As he reaches the stone entry room, he glances over his shoulder. "The conversation needs to be rather private, as I'm sure you'll understand. …You must be hungry. After you perform one little task for me be assured that you will be free to roam Volterra as you please once more."

Inari begins smiling at the generosity, her smile growing till she is beaming. Following after Aro she almost has a bounce in her step at the mention of some sort of mobility and freedom, "Thank you Master. Just name it." She follows the Elder up the stairs with just a quick glance over her shoulder back down into the dungeon. "I do like the Gardens." she comments her mind a flutter iwth good thoughts suddenly so relieved.

Change of Location to the Gardens in Volterra

Two human police officers flank the entrance to the garden. "Reserved as you asked, sir," the shorter one says, allowing the two to pass. Aro leads Inari down one of the tangled paths and toward a bench, where he sits and gestures for her to do the same. "Before I ask you to complete the task, I'd like to explain why we brought the wolves here. Surely, you're wondering why we asked to negotiate peace but seem to be doing the opposite." He pauses and then elaborates: "Peace is still our goal, rest assured. We don't want a war with the Children of the Moon right now… but we do need to take precautions. The two were brought here for question and study. It's the only way I could get a read on them personally. With the advances in science, we also thought it wise to obtain a few samples for study in case that war does happen. Do you understand our intents so far?"

Inari perches herself on the very edge of the bench, facing Aro as politely as possible, speaking hesitantly at first, not meeting his gaze. "I understand that you would not leave something so important to be handled from only one angle." She words pick up as she frames the thoughts and feelings in her head more precisely, looking up occasionally now with more confidence. "I knew you would have to eventually determine his sincerity yourself - that there are more important matters that also weigh your decisions."

Aro sets his arm on the metal armrest of the bench and alternates between enjoying the gardenview and glancing at Inari as she responds. He nods, "Quite right." Aro's gaze directs toward Inari with a certain sincerity, "Your understanding and maturity was one reason I selected you for the negotiations in the first place." He closes his eyes and relaxes for a moment. It's a cloudy day, luckily, and really not that warm; but it is still a welcome change from the castle. "Now, here is what will happen. This is privalaged information, my dear, that Caius might not be completely happy with you hearing; however, I feel it is essential for you to know our plans so you can more effectively act." He pauses once more. "There is an offer from another Child of the Moon for some kind of deal. Contingent on the details of the deal, we might take her up on it — that will be determined by my brothers and I. Either way, we will be releasing at least one of the prisoners, if not both, but keeping a royal hostage for good faith. Before this can happen, we need to obtain blood samples, saliva, DNA, and fur from the current prisoners. Your level of trust with the two makes me think you'd be the best candidate. It will be interesting to see if you can 'negotiate' so to speak with the mongrels to convince them to let you do such a thing. Now, we /could/ do it while they sleep, but what fun is that?"

Inari listens attentively, eyebrows furring several times as she digests the intentions of The Three. "I'm fairly certain Aset will give me no trouble. His mate, however, I'm not so sure about. I've never actually met her, or any of the others except very briefly. Aset seems convinced they will follow his lead, but I haven't determined the truth of that." She drops her gaze to examine the intricate tiling for the garden paths, "It won't be a problem, however. A hostage makes negotiations much easier and the necessity not so immediate." She looks back up at this point, "I have already gotten Aset to potentially agree to terms that he realizes would amount to subjugation of his people."

"Ah. But be careful with the male; Caius is suspicious of his intentions. I have yet to do a reading on him… there are other matters." Aro waves a hand dismissively, not wanting to go into detail about other worries of the three. "However, your ability to create trust with the wolves /is/ remarkable and those terms would be most ideal. So, when you get the chance, please do make sure those samples are collected and sent to our lab. Do not speak of our intentions with the male or female just yet as far as the trade offer from Forks or the royal hostage situation, but do make sure they begin to feel as if we might deal with them. The female seems hopeless, really. She says no matter what she says or does, she will be tortured or killed… now that just isn't true!" He grins.

Inari studies the hands folded in her lap as she considers Aro's words. "I can't create trust, like Chelsea can. They have to be willing - I can just tell whether they are sincere about it or not, and perhaps what they are feeling on the matter." She shrugs apologetically as she looks up at Aro. "I'll get the samples and alleviate some of the female's fears to a manageable level. Easily enough done, Master." She glances away again as she starts to smile, not wanting to seem too cocky in the face of her recent failures.

"Chelsea will be working with them as well, don't worry about that. Still, trust through words and actions will help, and that's where you will come in. Also — since I don't plan on getting a reading on the male immediately, why don't you go ahead and determine if the male truly had all of the tapes in his possession detroyed? I know the female did her part, but we wanted to make sure the male did away with them, too." Aro rises, his cloaks swirling arond him for a moment. "Good. Do not fail me this time, Inari," he adds softly. "I need to return to the castle. You may come, or if you wish to spend more time out here, the area should be clear of humans for the next hour or so."

Inari rises from her spot on the bench, bowing slightly once again, "I will leave you to your thoughts, Master. No need to have me straggling behind you distracting." She drops her gaze at the mention of failure, speaking rather demurely, "I won't fail you, Master." Smiling at the thought of having the Gardens to herself for so long she looks up again, "Thank you for the use of the Gardens, Master - I do so love them."

"I thought you might enjoy them. Farewell," Aro offers quietly, turning and then heading for the gates and back toward the castle.

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