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 Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 9:13 pm
"Morning, Kayde~"
"Uh, morning...Pamalaya."
The amused smile the young Wind girl shot at him from across the counter only made the Leaf more uncomfortable than usual. It was always like she knew more than she let on. That she knew all of your secrets. And maybe she did. He had no doubt she had eyes and ears all over the town, the better to hear about all the newest and juiciest gossip. And if it wasn't that making him feel like hurrying across the floor to his destination, it was all the flirting. Married, dating, single, it never mattered to Pamalaya. So of course Kayde was getting a douse of that look, as well.
"You finally stopped by! It's been so long since we've seen you~"
Laughing nervously, the young man continued to walk towards the corridor at the back of the building, keeping the flirty woman in his sights. He'd never given her any cause to pursue him as she was, but than she never did need any persuasion.
"Why don't you sit down and we have a chat?" She patted the counter invitingly. Kayde continued to move his feet in the same direction. He opened his mouth to politely decline.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2022 8:22 pm
Elka had been sitting on her bed, her ear pressed against the door to listen for the arrival of Kayde. Easy enough to do when the room was small, the bed only a few inches from the door. The room was a bit longer on the other side of the door, enough for her dresser and a table and chair. A chest sat at the end of the bed, with enough room on the floor for four or five people to stand and not touch each other. Hardly the kind of space she was used to. Her closet back in Zena would have fit in here, while her room would have been the entire restaurant area just outside. Oh, how she missed having that much space to herself. What they planned to do today, she hoped would be the first step to making that a reality once more. Once she became a famous dancer, that is, she'd have the biggest mansion and never want for anything ever again.
Soon the telltale signs that the young man was there filtered through the wood to the Ice's pointed ears. Scrunching up her face in sudden anger, Elka pulled the door open, marching out to grab Kayde by the sleeve.
"I'm sorry. He is not here to talk to shameless flirts like you!" she spat out at the Wind behind the counter, sending a vicious glare her way, tugging on Kayde's sleeve to make him move faster than the hallway towards her room. Not before noticing the equally angry look from Pamalaya sent back her way. Like a spoiled child who had her declared favorite toy taken away before she could even get her hands on it. And she never would. Kayde was loyal to a fault, he'd never allow himself to get distracted by another woman. Not that it made the attempts at it any less infuriating. You couldn't just have everything or anyone you laid your eyes on!
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2022 4:16 pm
Kayde could have laughed out loud at the expression on both the women's faces, but he knew better than to even whisper anything to anyone. It wasn't like Elka was wrong. He'd known Pamalaya for a while, as her boss was an important person to Murie, helping him with various tasks and business deals around the city of Neued. Sometimes she supplied potential talents she had scouted out before his next arrivals. Sometimes she acted as a walking ad, suggesting his company to those curious about local entertainments. Sometimes she helped him get rid of those workers he no longer wished to invest in, such as the time he'd left Elka here in her care. The connection between the two was still an unclear one to everyone, but it was obvious that they were, or had been, very close. Maybe they owed each other a lot of debt that kept them in such tight business ever since. Who could say.
Pamalaya had not been one of these, just a random Wind who had walked in one day, looking for a job many, many years ago. She'd been boy-crazy back than, and she still was to this day. Kayde always remained polite to her, never encouraging her into thinking he was interested. Which he never had been.
Still, as he allowed the Ice woman to pull him along towards the corridor in the back, he offered Pamalaya a sheepish, apologetic grin. She returned it with a wink. He sighed. It really never took much.
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2022 5:23 pm
How infuriating. Elka was fuming as she tugged on Kayde's shirt sleeve, maybe a little too hard. Not that he said anything about the rougher treatment. She couldn't hurt him by just doing that and it wasn't like she was mad at him, exactly. He was always just being polite, nothing more. Certainly not encouraging that sly Wind girl to pursue him.
Oh, how she couldn't wait to be gone from this place. Maybe they could find somewhere more quiet, jobs that didn't take them into close quarters with people like Pamalaya. A person she wouldn't miss.
The door to her room was still open. Elka ushered Kayde in quickly and closed it, harder than normal. Than sat roughly on the bed, a large huff escaping her lips.
"She has no shame!"
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2022 5:39 pm
Obediently, the young Leaf man followed, a smile still on his lips. He found her reactions adorable and hilarious, but also understandable. He was indeed fully aware she wasn't mad at him and wouldn't turn that anger his way when they were alone. All the more proof that no one ever gave her enough credit. Elka might be selfish, might enjoy preening and vanity a bit too much, not that he was complaining with the results of the extra care to her person. But she was also fairly reasonable. She wasn't jealous of other women's attentions to him, because she knew he wasn't going to be turned away from her for someone else. He liked the familiar and the comfortable.
He stepped back as she closed the door, giving her lots of space. He waited until she was settled on the bed before sitting down more gently beside her, hands in his lap. Beside one hip was a shoulder bag, which he ignored for the moment. Better to let her calm down, first.
"I've never known her to be any other way." Kayde agreed.
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2022 6:13 pm
Huffing once more, Elka leaned back on the bed, her arms resting palm down on the bed behind her. "Hope I was never that bad when I was still in Zena." she commented softly, than blinked a few times when she realized she'd said that out loud. Being with Kayde was so comfortable, sometimes she forgot he was even there. In a good way, of course. Not in the way that she was forgetting him. She could never forget him. Not in a million years.
Studying him, she suddenly got a devious idea in her head, something she was both very curious about and was also afraid to hear the answer of. "If I wasn't here, would you have accepted whatever invitations she was sending out?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2022 6:24 pm
Oof. That was a dangerous question. Would he? He honestly didn't know. Maybe, if Elka had never followed the trope of entertainers all those years back. It wasn't like he'd had other prospects since or before then. At least that he was aware of. Sometimes he could be kind of clueless to the attentions of others. He didn't exactly go looking for that sort of fun, so his mind wasn't turned on to the possibilities that other women might be interested.
"Um...Pamalaya's not really my type, but who's to say? If you'd never left Zena and I never got to know you. If you'd still left Zena, but than moved on from Neued before I made a return, I don't think I would. You're a hard one to get off the mind." Tilting his head, also leaning back on his hands casually, Kayde directed one of his boyish grins her way.
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2022 7:15 pm
Smooth. When did Kayde get so smooth?
But instead of swooning over his words, Elka just gave him a look, one eyebrow raised. "Sorry I asked," she told him, the smile on her face saying she was only teasing him. She was getting too old to be taken in by sweet words.
It had been an odd question, she would readily admit. The kind of thing an insecure girlfriend would have asked. She was not insecure. Not in the least. And she trusted him for all the world. She hadn't asked because she really needed to know, like her confidence depended on it. It was just a silly thing to bring up for the sake of being silly.
Stretching her arms above her head, Elka straightened up on the edge of the bed, giving a sigh of contentment this time. She could already feel most of her anger slipping away. Pamalaya wasn't worth a lot of her energy.
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2022 8:31 pm
Quiet descended around them as Kayde watched Elka stretching. She'd pulled her hair back up into a loose bun almost on the top of her head, so he could see her long neck reaching up towards the ceiling with her arms. A loud noise came from outside the door, in the main dining area. The words were muffled by the door, but he could assume it was just someone yelling to get a servers attention.
Absently, he reached out a hand and brushed aside a loose curl, tucking it behind one of her ears. Elka gave a start and he quickly pulled his hand back, clasping both of them once more in his lap.
"Sorry," he answered her look. To try and distract more from his random touch, he pulled the bag into his lap and went to open it. "Should we get started?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 11:52 am
Kayde's touch had sent a shock through Elka's body, starting at her cheek where his finger first brushed her skin. She didn't dislike it, but it had been unexpected, her sitting there with her eyes on the ceiling and not paying attention to his movements. Though now wasn't really the time, or place, to be indulging in anything too romantic. He hadn't come here just to see her. He had come with a purpose.
"Sure," the Ice responded, moving away from him on the bed to make room between them. When she ended up on her pillow, she threw it against the wall, out of the way, so she could go all the way to the wall. "What did you bring?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 4:15 pm
With a triumphant smile, Kayde opened the flap on the bag, digging one hand in to retrieve a book. He laid it out on the bed between them, the cover facing Elka so she could see what it said. It was a book of Tendaji, with maps and information on the different lands and tribes that shared the continent. They had already agreed not to go overseas, at least not just yet. So that left a handful of options.
"We shouldn't need anything else but this to decide." Reaching back into the bag, the Leaf man pulled out a small stack of maps, placing them in the middle of the bed, out of the way but still in reach if needed. "Or if we need to look at something on a larger scale, maps." He gestured with a hand once he had put them down, than opened the book. A few sketches of a snowy town were displayed on one page. Not by intention had he opened it there. However, the sight of it brought up a reoccurring question that had been in his mind for a while. "Ever thought about going back to Zena?" She had never brought it up as an option, which struck him as very odd. She had way more of a connection to it than he did to Oba, after all. He'd be fine never seeing Oba again, though he could also move there. His feelings on the place were neutral. Elka...She had family in Zena. Family that never really knew what happened to her.
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 4:41 pm
Elka chuckled softly at Kayde's sudden reaction. Such an odd thing to be proud of, she thought. All he did was find a book and some maps. Her happiness was cut short as the book was opened to a page of her home, the smile quickly erasing off her face. With a snap, she closed the book, almost catching his fingers in the process.
"We cannot!" Realizing she'd raised her voice, Elka lowered it to almost a whisper, her hands clasped in her lap. "Of course I have, but we can't. They'd never accept it. They'd split us up and force me to marry some other noble's son instead, as was the plan." Maybe that was a leading reason as to why she'd left with Kayde, the other half being how much she enjoyed being with him. She'd always known that would have been her fate in Zena, to be married off to profit the family. She'd accepted it. At least she thought she had, until she'd met Kayde and realized what else was out there for her. Like real love and companionship.
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 6:05 pm
"Oh." Was all Kayde could come up with to say. He tried not to sound disappointed. Being an orphan who never had a single clue as to who his real parents were, Elka's family was the closest to one he thought he'd ever had. She never spoke about them much, so he didn't have much of an idea of what to expect from them. Still, he had hoped one day to meet them, maybe feel like a part of a family for the first time in his life. See if he liked it. Guess that was now officially off the table.
"There's still Oba, Sauti, Matori, and Tale." He flipped to a world map and pointed to each one in turn.
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 7:04 pm
The look on his face hadn't escaped Elka's notice and she reached out a hand to place over his, trying to share some comfort with him. She wasn't sure why he had suddenly looked so down. She assumed it was to do with her, with her unwillingness to even try. If she truly loved him, she would have presented him to her family regardless, right? Defy them to their face. But no. She was not that brave. Nor had the faith in herself to be able to resist an entire lifetime of being taught to obey ones parents in all decisions they made for you.
They shared a silent look before he started naming off other places. She looked down, following his finger.
"Oba's too much heat. Too many people." She didn't want to live somewhere secluded, but the sheer population of that desert was overwhelming to think about. "And I'm tired of living a nomadic life, so Sauti is also out. Tale seems just as difficult to live in than Jauhar. And Matori's just all sand, so no better than the rest."
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 7:43 pm
Turns out ringing all those maps and the book had been a pointless effort, as Elka spouted her opinion about each one flawlessly. Kayde felt ashamed of himself for assuming she didn't know her way around her own continent. She'd been to half of these places, at least, while traveling with the company. Had he thought she'd simply forgotten about all those places or hadn't been paying attention in the first place? He couldn't be sure. He just liked being prepared.
Leaning back away from the book, Kayde placed one hand on his knee and the other he kept on the bed, still secured under her warm palm. It shifted a bit on the bed with his movement and she shifted forward to keep them connected. "Sounds like everywhere would be awful. Which is the worse of the evils?" Having spent so much of his teenage-hood traveling around, even across the sea, he didn't have an opinion about where she picked them to go. He considered himself extremely adaptable.
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