Welcome to Gaia! ::

Well that lowblood hadn't been much help. He obviously had no clue what she was talking about so she had decided to go for broke and look for herself again. However, once she had left LaRoce behind she once more found herself wandering deserted streets alone and without another troll in sight. How was she supposed to ask questions if there was no one to ask? The young redblood had mentioned others in the old city, so she had to find someone else, right? Hopefully someone who could tell her how to get her old body back. She was already getting so tired walking around on these short legs. Looking around she spotted a good place to take a rest. It looked like the building used to be a restaurant with outdoor seating. Of course most of the chairs had been removed from the patio by some thieves, but there were still a couple she could kick her feet up on.

Before she sat down, though, she made a face. The chair before her was covered in dust, the others seemed to be afflicted as well. She couldn't very well let her bum get covered in that filth! Making a noise of annoyance she untied the cloth at her hip and started to use it as a dust rag. While she wasn't particularly found of using her clothes for cleaning purposes sacrifices had to be made. Why was no one out here doing this for her? Did they really expect her to sit on filthy chairs? The nerve of some trolls. Letting the city get so messy!

After wiping down the chair she then shook her hipcloth in the air. With each snap of the fabric another cloud of dust swirled in the air and Khanda was unfortunate enough to breathe in just as the dust particles began to saturate her breathing air. This sent her into a fit of coughs, trying to dislodge the offending particles and clear her airways.

With watering eyes Khanda took a deep breath as one last cough ravaged her chest. Wiping her eyes she looked up at the sound of a nearby voice. Oh! It was another seadweller! Eyes widening she smiled brightly. Maybe he could help her. "Y-yeah, I'm fine," she said as she re-tied the cloth around her hip, brushing off some more dust as well. "It's just all this dust. I just wanted a place to rest, but the chairs were all yucky!" She rolled her eyes as she explained to cleanliness of the seating arrangement before turning around and climbing up on the chair. Situating herself neatly she smiled back at Thalia, feet gently swinging over the edge of the chair.

"I've been wandering around for ages!" she complained. "But I can't seem to find anything useful in this place. You're only the second person I've seen all night!" She really did hope he could help her. She had spent enough time moping around in her hive after she woke up. . . like this. Once she had made her escape she felt like things were looking up, but as she had wandered around the city she began to feel more dejected. She couldn't bare to go through the whole ordeal of growing up again! Surely another seadweller would be smart enough to at least lead her in the right direction to avoid such a fate and find a way to reverse that mysterious elixir she had drunk.

She blinked as he talked about theives and the possibility of someone hurting her. LaRoce hadn't tried to hurt her, but then again he was just a kid. Perhaps Beskytte hadn't just been blowing bubbles all those sweeps and landwellers really were dangerous, here was another seadweller telling her as such! Speaking of her lusus he mentioned how worried she must be right now and Khanda felt a pang of guilt. Of course she was worried, she was livid when Khanda had crawled out of her recuperacoon looking far younger than she had when she went in. She had been even stricter for the week following. She had been so upset when Khanda had escaped the first time of course she would be even more when she escaped in her current condition. Holding her hands in her lap and curling her toes Khanda looked off to the side and chewed her lower lip.

"I know she is. It's just. . . I just want my old body back! I don't want to be a kid anymore!" With that she started to cry. Everything seemed to just be crashing down on her like torrential waves. Confusion over why she was like this. Frustrations at her limitations and having no answers. Guilt over leaving poor Bessy to worry. Fear of what was going to happen to her. It was all too much! Even if she had been in her older form and less susceptible to childish emotions she would still have started to bawl her eyes out. After all, she was still a childish troll, aging a few sweeps could only help so much. Of course, being 4 or 5 sweeps again helped the emotional turmoil bubble up faster.

She tried to explain, she really did, but all that came out was blubbering and whimpering. She tried to tell him about how mean her lusus was to keep her cooped up and how she ran away and came across Bloodfest and how she met this troll wearing funny glasses and a mustache who told her about an elixir that would keep her looking young and pretty and how Bessy was so mad at her and how she got the elixir and it tasted so good but the next night she woke up and she was like this and all she wanted to do was find that stupid troll and get them to turn her back and how everything was just so awful! She tried, but she didn't succeed. The words kept chocking her and she would just wheeze and cry. A few words might have escaped mutilation and Thalia may have been able to understand them, but not enough to give a clear picture.

Not knowing what else to do Khanda flung herself at the other troll and continued to cry on his shoulder as her arms wrapped around his neck. When she was the age she appeared to be and she'd start to cry she would curl up under Bessy's flippers and cry into her blubber. It always comforted her, but with her lusus far away clinging to this troll would have to do. It never once crossed her mind that he may not appreciate the sudden contact, she was far too upset to think of anything rather than just wanting to get all this emotion out.

It felt nice, him rubbing her back like that. His hug helped calm her down and eventually she was soothed enough that she ceased making pathetic noises and she pulled away to wipe the purple streaks from her face. Taking a deep breath she said, "Thanks. . . I've just been through a lot." Looking back in his face she reached up and fixed her mussed up bangs. Steadying herself she let out a sigh and got ready to explain again. "O.K., so my lusus never let me go on land and always kept me in her sights. I hated being cooped up in my hive all the time so last week I ran away. There was some sort of festival going on down on the beach and while I was walking around I found this weird troll who was kind of hiding in the shadows. They wore these funny looking glasses and had a mustache. They told me about this elixir that would keep me pretty and youthful so I signed up to have a free bottle. Later, at my hive, I tried it and went to sleep. When I woke up I was like this and my lusus was so upset. She was even stricter than before! I couldn't stand being stuck like this so I found a way to escape again and now I'm trying to find a way to change back and I met this other troll, but he wasn't any help and then I met you." she said. Hopefully he believed her. He seemed really nice, he had to believe her! Then he could help her and she could finally get back to normal and everything would be fine!

Her face broke into a wide smile at that. Oh he would help her! She just knew it! "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! she said as she hopped of her chair and hugged him. Things were looking up for her, finally! Looking at her no one would have suspected that only a moment ago she had be bawling her eyes out, now she stood straight a proud, beaming at her new friend cheerily.

"I'm Khanda, by the way, what's your name?" she asked when she suddenly realized she didn't even know what to call her helper. Actually, this was the first time she really looked at him too. Befoe she had just been so excited to see another seadweller and then she started crying, but now she carefully examined him. He had nice hair, a comfy sweater, and a pretty belt with some masks attached to it. That was odd. Why was he carrying around a bunch of masks? "Why are you carrying around a bunch of masks?" she blurted out as she pointed to the curious items.

"Well that seems silly." she responded just as bluntly as her question. She shrugged and then grabbed his hand, trying to drag off with her. "Come on, Thalia! We need to find that merchant!" she said as she gently tugged at his hand. Then she suddenly remembered all those etiquette lessons Bessy made her sit through. She was in the presence of an equal, not some lowly landdweller. She hadn't been behaving properly at all! Bessy would be so disappointed in her! Clearing her throat she dropped his hand and stood a littler straighter. "I wish to thank you for your help in this endeavor. It is greatly appreciated." she said in what she hoped was a regal sounding voice. She had never really had the chance to address anyone as an equal before, so she wanted to make up for lost time and start addressing Thalia properly. Bessy may not like that she ran off again, she Khanda was at least going to behave how she wanted her to! Just because she was stuck in this body didn't mean she was any less a part of the highclass and she should act as such.

A plan of attack? Ooooh! This was going to be like those war games Bessy would sometimes make her play! To teach her how to lead and take the helm of a war ship (as was her right) once she was old enough to be shipped off planet! Khanda felt of tinge of excitement as she pondered his question. "Weeeelll, it was a week ago on the beach down by all that stalls that were set up for, um, Bloodfest! They're not there anymore, though, I checked when I came out of the water. That's why I came into the city." she said. She had hoped that someone in the city would be able to tell her where the mysterious merchant had gone, but it would seem she was out of luck on that front. It would seem the troll had simply vanished! Then again she might have had better luck had she escaped sooner, but Bessy had been a tough jailer to slip past. At least Thalia here seemed eager to help her in her search for the vendor, so surely she'd find her answers!