[FIN!] [PRP/Yael] Strange Tides (Taijana/Len)

[Painted Moose]

Taijana walked amidst a growing, thriving crowd outside of the Sanctum. While she wasn't entirely sure what was happening inside the petite teenager tried to get in close. When the crowd pushed her back, however, Tai found herself wandering away. She had come in Pajore with her Papa so he could attend a fitting for his new glasses, and desperately wanted to see the inside of the Sanctum. However, that didn't seem to be happening today.

She lived close enough that she could visit more if she wanted to, but it would have been a special trip for Taijana and going out on her own caused more stress than it alleviated. The little yaeli held onto the strings of her coin purse, letting the small satchel sway gently as she padded about the capital. What was she supposed to do with her time? Maybe she could-

"Hey now, lookit' this one." Taijana jerked her head to the left, where a pair of mainlanders leaned against the side of a building. They were larger than most of the yaeli by far, one with a darker brown skin and the other blue. The blue one noticed her blatant stare, and flashed her a grin, his odd orange eyes crinkling with mirth. "How about you come with us, hmm? Show us around a bit."

"N-no, thank you..." Her voice was a squeaked little murmur. Apparently it didn't endear the men to her, as the darker one stepped closer.

She jumped when he reached out to touch her face, cringing a bit when his thumb pushed locks of hair away from her eyes.

"There's no need to be rude. It's not like we won't pay you for...helping us."

Taijana couldn't meet his gaze, but when she looked away all she saw was the other man. Somehow they had maneuvered her against the wall, cornering her off from the crowd that seemed to care less.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Len licked her fingertips. Sweet still, from a surprise stolen treat from the morning. Or perhaps they weren’t, anymore. It had been quite some time since she’d finished off even the last bitty crumbs of it and her tongue had been over the pads of her fingers many times now, but if she imagined hard enough, she was fairly sure she could still taste it.

Around her, the crowd bustled, swaying like the sea with the people as its tide. Then her eyes — as they were tend to — latched on a swaying purse. This way and then that it swung, like a pendulum dangled from a small hand. Borderline hypnotic. The tip of Len’s thumb disappeared between her lips. n**, suck, debate. She let her hands drop to her sides, and started after the girl, weaving through the current of people like a fish.

It ought to have been easy.

The girl simply looked like the most unassuming of targets. Little older than Len herself, small, wide-eyed, and letting her coins dangle so freely. The set up all but begged for plucking fingers. Lenila froze, though, when someone else — or rather a pair of someone elses — beat her to the girl. Three people total. Two large, alien looking men. Ugly mainlanders.

It should have been about that point that she scuttled out, off, away somewhere. The stakes were raised above anything she bargained for and she had food in her belly, and she didn’t need—

“There's no need to be rude.”

Something chilled nastily in Lenila’s gut at the words, and it oughtn’t have mattered and she oughtn’t have looked, but she did look and see the way he reached and touched, and a prickle of something like anger but worse than that skittered up her spine. It reminded her of the men that lurked her mother’s brothel.

“It’s not like we won’t pay you for…helping us.”

Disgusting.

Disgusting.

Disgusting.

Vile, horrid, wretched, things thinking they could just touch anything they pleased—Len’s eyes skirted out, over the crowd, hopping one face to the next, one disinterested, apathetic citygoer to another. Did no one see?

No one saw.

A muted scream of frustration lodged, unleashed, in her throat, muffled by tightly pressed lips. She pushed forward. What to do, what to do, what to— “Oi, Narissa!” she snapped out, forcing her voice as loud as it would go through her tightening throat—and pleased that it came out sounding quite solid after all. “Wha’re you still doin’ this far to the side of town?” she demanded, addressing the girl directly as though the men weren’t there, at first. Then, she spared them a glance, squinting and paying them mind for the first time. “And who are these nellies? Y’know Ethran was expectin’ you a fair whole hour ago and sent me out t’ find you! You’ll get a whippin’ for sure if y’ don’t have an explanation for yourself by the time y’ get there.”  

[Painted Moose]

The Only Black Uke

Taijana tried to be as calm and submissive as her mother had taught her to be around strangers, but it was harder than she thought it would be. The way his fingers felt on her skin was reminiscent of a keldari undulating against her back while she slept. Taijana wasn't ignorant to what kind of things men 'paid' for and it was enough to bring tears to her glowing eyes. She turned her head to the side, closing her lids to avoid looking at the strangers...until a voice cut through her haze of fear.

"Narissa, huh? Looks like you're a popular one." The dark skinned man dropped his hand, though he didn't make any move to step away from her.

Taijana opened her eyes to peep warily at the voice. At first she didn't realize the strange, scrappy looking boy was talking to her, so she looked over her shoulder. When it became apparent it was her he was talking to Taijana almost called him out on the mistake. But...well, the man had pulled away and she took the line that was given to her.

"I-I'm sorry...Arthus." That was a good name, right? She brought her hands up to her chest, clutching her little coin purse like a raft in a storm. Every once in a while she would reach up to wipe little wisps of tears from her eyes. "I was c-comin' but I..."

"What's she's saying is that we were just inviting her out for the evening." The blue skinned fellow stepped up close enough to put his arm around Taijana's waist. She gave a squeaky gasp when he pulled her close. "We just didn't realize that she had an...overseer. Maybe you could tell Ethran that we'll return her tonight after we've seen the city."

Spirits above, this was going from bad to worse! They thought she was a prostitute! And this Ethran was looking for some girl who looked like her...What if he got his hands on her too?

"B-but I really should get back to Ethran, right, Arthus?"  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Good.

Len felt a flutter of satisfaction in her chest at the first responses, particularly from the girl. It just couldn’t have worked at all if she hadn’t joined in quickly enough to keep it convincing, but she had, and that was one hurdle leaped of many. She curbed the instinct to grimace outright — or run as her heart rata-tap-tapped wildly against her ribs — and instead subdued the look to a narrow squint towards the blue man, forcibly ignoring the sharp spin and lurch in her gut when his arm wound around the girl.

‘Don’t touch, don’t touch. No one said you could!’

“Aye, he wants her back quick like,” Len insisted, shaking her head. “He don’t run that sort o’ business, and isn’t the real patient sort, neither. Far as I figure she’ll be in enough trouble as is. If you’re lookin’ for a pretty lass t’ give you a proper, eh, tour as you’re lookin’ for…” Len notched her head, gesturing down the way of the main street. “Down that’a way if y’ follow through the center city just three blocks you’ll see a great ole hangin’ sign for the Fair Lady. The matron there can sure abouts find y’ just about any pretty type o’ guide that’d suit your fancy, eh?”

She tipped her head.

“And seems it’d be worth it t’ get yerselves a proper welcome to th’ island. Y’ look like you could need it. Nari here, she just cries a lot, she does, an’ you could get yourselves in with the wrong folks cross with ya. Ethran…he ain’t the most sweet tempered of old men if y’ catch me. But I do wish ya th’ best o’ times in your stay here, oi?”  

[Painted Moose]

The Only Black Uke

The Matorian passed a look to his Oban friend, who seemed more than a little torn. His eyes kept drifting over Taijana, as if he were reluctant to see her go, but in the end he nodded his acceptance of the changes. "This one's too much trouble; don't wanna have ta' fight someone just to get a piece." The way he looked at her was similar to how a man might look at a particularly nice weapon, or a creature that was just out of his grasp...something that he would only own by force.

The Matorian clucked his tongue, and let Taijana slip from his grasp. She hesitated only a moment before moving closer to the boy, only turning around when she was safely placed behind him. Her heart was beating so wildly against her chest that a roaring had built up in her ears. She half expected them to go back on their word, that's what the main landers did, right, and attack.

"Thanks for the tip, kid."

However, both men only gave her a passing glance before moving down the main street. Taijana couldn't have watched them pass if she wanted too. The entire area was shifting around her, little black dots covering her vision. She reached for the boy's shirt, only to find her sweaty palms slipping away from him as she dropped to the ground in a dead faint.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Len felt a slow, building flutter in her gut as she watched the men weigh their options, consider, and then very gradually, begin to back off. She kept her face schooled, best she could, not wanting to give herself away or tip them off to an oddity by celebrating too soon. So, not trusting her tongue for once, she nodded and kept a steady eye on them, containing and holding herself back. One breath. Two. Three.

She waited as they moved off and out, her eyes locked on them as the crowd swallowed them up. A pace or two after that, her pulse truly began to flutter. It had worked. She’d done it. They were actually gone. Her lips tugged back in a broad, beaming grin for all of three seconds before—

She blinked, gaze twitching down and forward to the girl who was clutching at her shirt and then—falling, she was falling. Lenila reached for her, an instinctive move to try to slow or stop the inevitable, but because she wasn’t any larger than the girl herself and blessed with the body of a willow leaf, it was a hodge-podge effort with mixed results. She was fairly sure she at least slowed the fall. Possibly.

Then the girl was on the ground.

Len squinted at her, giving a small puff of dissatisfaction. All that work and excitement and success and the girl just fell to the ground. Then again, she reminded herself, she hadn’t been the one being grappled about by those men, and while she liked to think she’d have been quicker to bolt than to faint afterward, it was always hard to predict a fear reaction. The question that remained, however, was what to do. She didn’t really have any remaining duty to the girl. But just the same, she decided she didn’t want to leave her, regardless.

If she’d been one of the girls at the orphanage, she wouldn’t have left her. Besides, she’d likely wake soon, and now that they had gotten through the dangerous part of the adventure, it only seemed fair to get to bask in the success for a bit, and who better with than the one who’d lived it with her? She couched.

“Ey, ey…” she said, flicking her fingertips across the girl’s cheek just enough to dust her short purple hair from her face. “C’mon, then, s’alright now. They’re gone an’ the street ain’t so clean or good for makin’ bed on. I don’t so much know if I could even lift you m’self…”

She might be able to, Len thought, sizing her up. She wasn’t big at all. But it wouldn’t be easy, either. Better, she thought, to wait it out. Such things usually didn’t last long did they?  

[Painted Moose]

The Only Black Uke

Thanks to Len's efforts Taijana had been spared from a potentially nasty head wound, but because of her limp, limber position her head had still made contact with the ground. Though it was nothing more than a bump it still took her a while to come around, and when she did the young yaeli became aware of a pain near her right temple; the exact spot where her cranium had connected with traffic worn street.

She groaned, and reached up to cup her head, spindly legs pulling up closer to her torso. Noises assaulted her, confusing Taijana for a moment before she remembered exactly where she was...and what had happened. Instantaneously she opened her eyes, only to have them attempt to focus on the fingers brushing back her hair. A sense of cottonmouth overcame her while the skin along her neck, necks, and cheeks seemed to burn. A boy was touching her! Not only had he saved her, but now he was touching her and saying things...oh no, she hadn't heard a word of it.

"It's okay, I'm fine now, really." She spoke a little too quickly; obviously flustered. Who wouldn't be?! To demonstrate just how fine she was Taijana sat up, and rubbed a little more on her head before letting her hand fall to the wayside. "Thank you for your help, but I-I'm not Narissa...but I can help you find her if you want!" There was an innate fear inside of her that warned Tai this wasn't the best thing to say. What if he was angry at her now, cursed her for wasting his time, and went to retrieve the men from earlier?  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Len’s attention snapped to the girl as soon as she made noise, and held there when she stirred, rigidly curious. Waiting. Then, she opened her eyes—and began to blush. It was a curious thing to watch. Len knew of it, but had never been the catalyst for one to her knowledge, or felt the heat of it in quite so close quarters. The quick, skittery and hastened speech that followed only added to the look, and Len’s curiosity peaked.

But quickly diverted, when the girl said she was ‘not Narissa.’ Len’s own expression twitched into befuddled amusement.

“‘Course you’re not,” she said. “Just as I ain’t Arthus, but I let you say as much, didn’t I? Seems it mattered more that they believed me an’ put their eyes and hands elsewhere than on you.” A pause. “Unless y’ want me t’ be Arthus, I s’pose.” She grinned with the words, a flash of teeth seconds before she held out a hand. “I’m Lennart. An’ you are, fair street princess…?”  

[Painted Moose]

The Only Black Uke

If at all possible Taijana's skin would have darkened to the color of her crystals. "Right, of course, that was stupid to say." She couldn't have been lucky enough to just guess his name, now could she? "I don't like main landers. I haven't seen many, but what ones I have seen only come over here to brag to their friends. They act like we're something to look at, and that if we aren't entertaining then we can be pushed away." There was a pouty sort of petulance to her voice, but Taijana meant every word. Until recently they hadn't even existed in her world, so who were they to grab hold of anyone they wanted to off the street? It was scary and disgusting and all she wanted to do was go home.

"Oh, no," Suddenly drug back to reality, Taijana hesitantly took his hand and stood. "If you're Lennart then you shouldn't be Arthus, unless you want to, of course." Who was she to judge if he wanted to go by a different name? Sometimes she fancied herself a different person, so why not change everything and not just your personality?

"Fair street...?" For a moment she was genuinely confused, as if she still thought he either was confused or mentally ill. It didn't take her long to smile and give into a little laugh. "I'm Taijana. Do you do much damsel saving, Lennart?"  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Len tipped her head as she listened. She hadn’t experienced many mainlanders herself, but aside from one obscure run in with one of the alien invaders, all the encounters she had were from a distance. Watching, never directly interacting. She preferred it that way, and was inclined to take the girl’s word for it in regards to their attitude on the whole. “Think I’d sooner be pushed out th’ way than have ‘em find me entertainin’,” she mumbled, more a passing thought that had accidentally been verbalized than something she directly intended to say, and after it, she shook her head.

“Lennart’s good,” she said, picking up volume and tempo and flashing a toothy grin as the subject changed in a more amicable direction. “Can’t say I have, though so far, it doesn’t seem so bad of a trade. Were ya headed somewheres?”

She knocked back her posture at that, thumbs hooking at the hems of her pockets and eyes flicking out to scan the market crowd. She had been intent on nabbing coin from the girl, but her stomach was satisfied for the moment, making that need feel less pressing, and there was value in acquaintances. The more people who knew and liked you, the easier it was to find help later.

“I could walk ya, if y’ like. Keep my damsel-savin’ skills brushed up right an’ shiney.”  

[Painted Moose]

The Only Black Uke

"Not really. Papa's getting new lenses, and I was exploring the city. I should have stayed at the shop, I guess." If it had been Tyrios or Trilanna that had come today then they wouldn't have gotten into this mess. Tri could have charmed her way out of it, and Ty would have just beaten them senseless. More than once Tai had wondered if her siblings had taken all the good traits while they shared a womb, and left her with the undesirable ones.

Lennart seemed so cool in that moment. He was confident, smooth, and looked as if he completely owned the city behind him. Her glowing gaze couldn't get enough of him as a sort of hero worship built up within her. "I would appreciate that very much." She moved a little closer, moving her arms so that it looped around his right one with a little smile. "Is it okay if I...if I stay this close?"  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Len shook her head fervently with a puff from her lips. “Stayin’ any place long’s no fun. S’good to get out an’ about, it is. Just gotta keep yer eyes open is all, an’ even then, untrustworthy folk’ll make a pain for you. ‘Specially men. ‘Specially since you’re pretty li—iii…ke.”

Len blinked, luminous eyes focusing on the smalls arm winding themselves around hers, and—a small bubble of heat crawled up her throat, blooming in her cheeks. But it wasn’t bad. Just another girl, after all. In fact, after the very brief flicker of surprise, it seemed pleasant. Fun, even. So, very quickly, she relaxed, posture puffing up again with a new surge of almost giddy confidence, because really, this was almost like a story, wasn’t it? Where she got to be the prince, rescuing fair damsels, and this girl the loveliest lady in all the kingdom?

It seemed to fit nicely, so far as she was concerned.

So her grin returned, and her eyes danced with mischievous good humor. “‘Course it is,” she said. “But seein’ as you’re just explorin’ free like, where all’ve you been or would like t’ see? I’ve been all abouts, I have. Lived here all my life. I could show you a place or two unless you’d sooner be on your way home? Or have an idea o’ your own in mind…”  

[Painted Moose]

The Only Black Uke

Short tag is short forgive meeeeeeee!

Taijana's cheeks felt just as warm as the tips of her ears. There was nothing wrong with someone saying you were pretty; if you were her sister. Trilanna would have had something clever to say, but all Tai could do was smile like an ignorant fool. It felt nice to be complimented, even if she was sure Lennart was just being nice.

"I've been to the lens crafter, and to the Sanctum and....and...here?" She ended sheepishly. Taijana had to work up quite a bit of nerve to walk away from Papa, and even then she hadn't really known what to do with her free time. "If you've lived here that long, then could you show me around? I don't get to come to the city often; Mama keeps me at home a lot." Someone had to help with Auntie. Someone had to do the cooking, the mending, and everything else Mama was too busy to work on. Unfortunately, that someone always ended up being her.  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Painted Moose

Shhhhh, shhhhhhhhh. Perfection. No fear.

“Figure I could.” Len flashed her teeth with the comment. “Stayin’ cooped sounds like no fun at all. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t. Come this a’way with me then, eh? I’ll show you a neat spot, prettier’n the rest o’ the city by loads…”

With that, Len took point, tugging at the other girl’s arm and guiding her along. It took some navigating, of course, with the city as full and bustling as it was, but she knew it well, and so long as they stayed towards the edges, the crowds weren’t as thick. That and, fortunately, her planned-for destination was more out of the way. So, along they went, skirting through a maze of streets and alleys that Len took for granted understanding, all without regard to whether or not Taijana would know her way back—it genuinely did not occur to Len in the moment.

Instead, her focus was elsewhere, honed on the path forward, and as they neared the city’s edge and outer wall, she glanced to her company. “So how come you let your mum tell you you can’t go out an’ such? Why don’t you just go? Seems there must ought to be time for it some days…”  

[Painted Moose]

The Only Black Uke

Tai kept her body as close to Len's as she could without tripping up the boy. As interesting as the city was to her, it was also a dangerous place, and she didn't want to get mixed up with any more ruffians. She just wasn't sure if her heart could take it! There was no mental mapping or memorization going on in her mind; she never thought for a moment that Len would simply leave her behind, so her eyes just ate up the scenery. The people, the buildings, the refuse in the streets...It was all like something out of a strange story book to her.

Taijana's naive, happy look turned sour in an instant. "Because she's my mom. I'm supposed to listen to her, or the spirits will eat my eyes." She spoke with such a resolute melancholy that it was hard to tell if she actually like the woman or not. "When I was little I was sick, so I stayed home with Mama a lot and my siblings got out with Papa. I think it made her happy because she wasn't alone, but when I got better she didn't want me to go. I feel bad leaving her alone, but she's scary, so I don't..." Taijana shook her head. If she talked bad about her mother then that was bad, but if she didn't she was lying.

She sacrificed a lot for her mother. Trilanna didn't care how much she made Mama angry, but Tai did. Her sister just didn't fear her in the same way that she did. Trilanna had never known Mama when she was nice, when she was cunning and things got confusing. Was she mad, or was she happy?