"[Maybe] she grew up in an orphanage and started a gang with the girls there[...]
[That] tends to make people rough around the edges when they have no love from their mommy[.]" -EmilyNisCrazy
Thank you for giving me the missing piece to Faun's backstory! - Gratefully, Scout [aka cakewriter]
Butterfly. Elegance. Angel. Faun. Oak. Sugar.
...and Ryder.
Seven girls and only one book. But who's hiding it?
Lorne told me she slept with Angel that night and Todd slept with Elegance, but that doesn't mean that either of the two aren't hiding it; they just weren't participating in the actual raid.
Butterfly could have it, because she's the leader. Ryder could be told to have it, because she's the most mysterious and hard to get close to. But if Ryder has it, she might be letting Pinky get peeks, and if Pinky gets peeks, what if she tries to change the information...
Although, maybe neither Elegance nor Angel have it, because the two would be fighting over it, since they would feel the other isn't worthy of hiding the book.
I don't know much about Oak, I'm not sure about Sugar either, about whether or not she'd be interested enough to play this sort of game, and all I know about Faun is she has a vendetta against Pinky and now me.
Overall, I have...nothing. I don't even know what the heck this book looks like, the cover's color, if there's a title scrawled somewhere...I have nothing to work with. How am I supposed to find this mysterious book for the Flowers? How?!
I'm sitting outside in the bright morning, where the other maids frolicked happily through the green verdant gardens, the bluebirds twittered happily, and I'm unhappily contemplating my next move while sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard full of glass arches and green-black vines. The yellow sunlight couldn't cheer me up, I had my face frozen at a dour complexion.
"Pet."
I hear my nickname being called and I look up to see Faun sauntering over to me.
"What do you want?" I snapped. I don't trust her as far as I can throw her, and I'm still underweight, so I wouldn't be able to throw anyone anywhere.
Faun smirked. "I hear you're looking for a book...a stolen book to be returned."
"Do you know where it is?" I raised an eyebrow warily; Faun is still not to be trusted.
Faun turned around and walked away. "Sure. Follow me."
This was too easy, but I ran to catch up to her, against the sour feeling brewing in my gut. This was my only lead, no matter how much I didn't trust Faun. She walked us right back up to the maid bedrooms and I learned that her own room, a Favored's room, looked just the same as mine, the same as anyone else's. All maid rooms must look the same, except the one I hear Lorne and Todd appropriated for their own use.
Faun locked the door behind us and began rummaging through a chest. I sat on her bed and waited. This couldn't be it, right? I couldn't have such success this easily. Faun finally looked up while holding something behind her back with one hand and she kissed me.
Shocked, I closed my eyes and kissed Faun back. She grinned through the kiss and sucked on my bottom lip. I moaned and opened my mouth for Faun.
Faun backed me further on the bed and forced me to lie down as she got on top of me. Faun finally entered me with her tongue and I sighed as she explored my mouth.
I brought my hands up and held her face. Faun's muscular, meaty legs straddled my hips and she broke the kiss to look me in the eye. She was still smiling widely, for something I guess I didn't know about.
I could see what she was holding behind her back now. It looked like...a small strip of black cloth?
Faun traced my gaze and suddenly clamped a hand over my mouth. My eyes grew large as she brought the cloth up and covered my mouth instead with it. I started to struggle against her, to try and shove her, but Faun was too strong. She got the cloth firmly tied over my mouth, silencing me, and she yanked me to my feet. I tried to claw her with my hands, to rip off the cloth so I could scream for help, but Faun overpowered me. She revealed some heavy rope and tied my hands in front of me to one of the four bedposts. Faun reached under the bed and chained one of my legs with a shackle to a large object of some sort under there. I could barely move now and I couldn't scream for help.
Faun stepped back and surveyed her work.
"This should make good Pinky-bait." She noted.
My eyes no doubt showed their fury. I tried to curse Faun out, but the cloth muffled me.
Faun kissed my cheek. "What did you think I wanted you for? Of course I wasn't going to give up the Flowers' book so easily. I'm not even the one who has it, to help your search a bit."
I mumbled a bit, then gestured to the cloth with my eyes.
"You want to say something? I'll let you write it out. I don't want anyone's attention being drawn to your predicament until I have Pinky bleeding her life out on the floor, if you should so happen to scream." Faun handed me a pen, which I could jiggle around enough to scrawl a bit of writing, and held a paper up for me.
I wrote, "Why are you murdering Pinky?"
"Hm, you didn't get egocentric and ask, 'why are you using me?' like all the others chose to. Well Pet, let me tell you my story." Faun sat on the bed near me.
Faun started. "Once upon a time, a girl named something very different from Faun grew up with a nomad tribe who followed their game, those large beasts in the arctic lands of our fair island. I was one of the best hunters and well-respected for it. I brought our tribe much-needed gold from the sales of what I could catch. Sometimes, I was the only hunter bringing food to the table for the whole traveling tribe.
I used my reputation to my advantage. I gained a high rank in the tribe. I've known I'm a lesbian for a long time, and with my status, I slept with many girls long before I met Hachi. I waved my higher rank around the girls of middle to lower class to make them think it was a honor for me to bed them. Indeed, it became considered that way among the ladies of our tribe.
There's one girl I just can't get over, I'll be honest with you, Pet. She wasn't a member of my tribe; I met her when our two tribes ran into each other and kept the other's company for the night to tell stories and trade. I noticed her, a very pretty girl, and checking me out, so I figured she was fair game. I invited her back to my tent to sleep with me and found out the hard way that the girl was a stone butch. You know what a stone butch is, right, Pet?"
I nodded.
"Very good. So I let her take her turn first with me and she was great. I try to flip her so I can have a turn at her, when she up and leaves. She put on her clothes and left me. She just left me, suddenly vulnerable, naked, and so, so alone.
I don't take kindly to being humiliated and left vulnerable thanks to my upbringing. My mother didn't want me, I never knew who she was. I still, to this day, don't know who the h-ll she is, my father is probably as unknown to her as she is to me, my guess is. It's the case with most of the orphans of my tribe. My tribe doesn't just throw out orphans, they get put through what is known as the Determine-or-Discharge trials. Every member of the tribe has to successfully complete one of these trials, usually involving killing some large animal without aid, in order to be determined as a part of the tribe, or they'll be discharged, also known as exiled. Most of the time the person dies during the trial instead of having to be formally discharged. Orphans have to complete these trials continuously from the age of nine to sixteen. I've had to complete six trials in one day before.
I wanted to get revenge on this girl. I wanted to challenge her to a duel, considered a mandatory Determine-or-Discharge trial between nomadic tribes. I've dueled before, always winning, always killing the offender, male or female. But she eluded my grasp, her tribe left before I could find her again and win back my pride. I still hate her. Pinky looks just like her, acts a lot like her. So I consider Pinky her and once I kill Pinky, I'll finally exorcise these feelings of shame." Faun tried to keep her head high and her eyes dry, but she was fighting a losing battle.
Faun stood up and let out a deep exhale. "So that's my story, Pet. I never had a mommy's love, unlike you or probably every other d-mn girl here. But I'm probably a h-ll of a lot stronger for it, and I refuse to back down over this. Pinky will die in this girl's place. And you will lure her into her death. Maybe afterwards, I'll be in the mood for some fun. You're a good kisser, Pet; I'd bet you'd be a better f-ck."
My face bloomed red, both a blush and me being thoroughly enraged.
Faun cupped the curve of my bosom into her hand. "I'd hold you here..." Faun slid her other hand up my dress and held my upper thigh. "I'd move over here and you'd be begging for my touch..." Faun's thumb traced the waistband of my underwear. "...and then I'd give you your release under my hand."
I wanted to beat Faun up, then shove her face-first into a corihor wraith's open maws.
"Hachi would have to get over it, that I took you first. You're too cute for your own good, attracting the lust of every girl here. You don't even know that you do, do you? Do you know how many girls are going to make you offers once Hachi takes you? You and your body are the new hot commodity that NO ONE can have, so we all can't wait to have our way with you. I'll try and get Pinky killed off here real quick, that way I can get to the better part of this plan: you and your honeypot." Faun cackled and I finally lost my temper.
I saw my family ring turn red-colored on the normally-black portion right before I cracked the solid wooden bedpost, swung, and slammed Faun in the head with it. She yelped loudly and fell to the floor.
There had been nothing in me but pure rage in that moment, now that the feeling wore off, I slumped over from the heaviness of the post.
Someone came and opened the door to see what the ruckus was. She took one look at the situation she saw, me tied up and holding a broken bedpost, Faun clutching her head on the floor, cursing me out under her breath, and the maid walked into the hallway to get additional help to figure out what the h-ll just happened in this room.
I am just feeding entry upon entry into the Flowers' new book, aren't I? No matter what I do...