A Strange Land (Open)

[Revy Hiroe]

The only thing Revy could pick up from what the Chaktawe girl said was 'Dhani', the rest, being spoken in myrian, was still a mystery to her, but judging from the reaction of Siiri, it couldn't be much good. That girl was digging herself a deeper grave by the minute it seems. "That girl will be a goner if she keeps going at it like that. I won't save her ass, too much trouble for me. Don't want to piss Siiri off either.", she thought. Just then, she saw a myrian breaking through the crowd and started barking at Siiri. This would get interesting, or so the mercenary hoped. It would make her day at least a little less bad. The first part was the myrians obviously bumping into her on purpose, but that couldn't be helped. She was still an outsider, one shunned and not trusted yet. The other part was bumping into the one that stood next to her. As Siiri pushed the girl to the myrian that had came out, Revy was a bit dissapointed. Apparently there wasn't going to be a fight. That was too bad. The least she could do now, was examine the other myrian. Perhaps she could be a good adversary as well? But after a good look, it didn't seem so. Another joy down the drain. Was today only for breaking her joy or something?

[Zolaj]

The girl sunk deeper into her shoulders as the warrior's anger rose. Zolaj, realizing she had said something wrong when she was babbling on about getting rescued, flinched at each cold word the Myrian threw at her. She felt the sting of the blade digging deeper into her cheek. Just as Zolaj knew she was going to die, a well built woman stepped through the crowd. The weight of fear lifted when Zolaj recognized the face of the woman coming towards them. She was going to thank this Myrian for rescuing her earlier from the snake, but she became so caught up with everything in the city that she completely forgot. Not realizing what the two Myrians were saying, the thumping of her heart began to ease for she thought someone had come to rescue her. But the feeling of relief soon faded when she heard the word that punched her in the gut and slapped her in the face. Slaver. Fear struck her once again as the situation dawned on her. The thought of being controlled and trapped sent chills up her spine. Her breath now trembled as she looked at the woman. With a forceful push, Zolaj lurched forward, almost tripping towards the other Myrian. Zolaj stepped back as soon as she regained her balance. With the fear of being enslaved, Zolaj turned and bolted towards the crowd. However, she did not get far. When she tried to break through the crowd, she slammed her shoulder into a human man's arm, making her loose her balance and sending her tumbling towards on the pavement. Her head collided hard on the floor. Zolaj rolled over to her back, groaning from the fall. A hint of blood seeped through the lump forming on the side of her forehead. Her brain pounded itself against her skull with her thoughts slurring together. Her vision was hindered by little black dots floating in the air.

[Nyaela]

Nyaela was more than used to the tone the Myrian used when questioning her. Smiling sweetly, she flourished an exaggerated bow, "I am Nyaela of the Rampant Tskanna. A slaver clan," she added delicately, in confirmation to the Myrian's question.

She kept her face straight when reprimanded by the woman, concentrating on catching Zolaj before the girl had a chance to run, her arm outstretched to pull the girl to her. "Most assuredly, miss," she murmured distractedly, "This one will not be far away from me until she has learned a few things, that's for sure. My thanks for being so kind and returning my captive without any marks or scratches." While she was aware of the Myrian's obvious feelings for her as a slaver, Nyaela didn't seem to be put off by them. In fact, Nyaela did her best to make it seem as though she could not tell at all that her profession disgusted the Myrian. Better to ignore distaste than lash out and make it worse. "Might I know the name of the one I have to thank for helping me find her in one piece? You must know how hard that is in a city like Taloba."

But just as she finished her sentence, sending a warning glance to Zolaj, who really did not know just how lucky she was, the girl dashed away from her, breaking off an attempt to grab her elbow before she could run into the crowd. Nyaela could feel her cheeks start to warm at the shame of a Chaktawe slipping through her grasp in front of everyone.

What luck, then, that the girl ran into someone else as she tried to get away, the jolt sending her off balance and onto the floor. She walked past him - another non-Myrian? She allowed herself a quick glance, noting that he stood beside yet another female non-Myrian. Not to mention that both of them seemed free of a patron Myrian. Wondering why the other Myrian she just met did not try to kill them either, she pushed past the human male and walked over to her fallen slave-girl; priorities first.

Zolaj rolled over just as Nyaela came up to her, green eyes smouldering with more heat than she felt at being shamed in front of the entire crowd of Myrians. The one thing Nyaela had learnt was that patience got you a lot farther with poor, scared slaves than treating them badly.

This was obviously one of those times where she allowed herself an exception.

She knelt smoothly, grabbing the girl's shirt and yanking her forward so that their noses almost touched. "I gave you a chance to set it right," she growled, "But we're doing this the hard way, it seems." She leaned back for a second before her hand came into contact with Zolaj's face, the slap resounding throughout the plaza. "First rule:," she took the leather whip from her waist and looped it around the girl's neck, taking care to knot it so that it would not tighten when pulled on. She rather preferred her slaves alive. She then bound the girl's hands in front of her, leaving a little bit of the whip between the knot at her neck and the knot at her hands so that the girl did not have to hold her hands up by her face uncomfortably, which was far nicer act than she was in the mood to do at the moment. To counter this, she responded by yanking sharply at the knot on Zolaj's hands. It was sure to burn if the girl tried to worm her way out of the bond.

"When I leave you in one place for a minute, I expect you to stay there. Second: IF you try to run away from me again, what this nice lady has offered would probably seem like paradise compared to what I will do to you ... no, it will." She gestured at the Myrian that had grabbed Zolaj first and then she took the rest of the whip in both hands, snapping the leather to accentuate her point, "Now," Nyaela stood up and yanked at the makeshift-chain. Not hard enough to pull Zolaj onto her feet unless the girl wanted to come, but Nyaela hoped that the girl had more sense than to challenge her authority more than once a day.

Turning around to the non-Myrian that Zolaj had bumped into, she inclined her head, "And to you, sir, I thank you. I just don't know how I could have gotten her back without your help." Of course she hadn't needed him in the first place, not to mention that he hadn't exactly done anything in the first place, but she would not be seen as anything but courteous. After she said those words, it dawned on Nyaela that insinuating that the human had helped her could be seen as insulting to him if he wasn't pro-enslavement. It couldn't be helped now, although some good may have come out of her thanks: hopefully Zolaj would now see other non-Myrians as more of a threat to her safety rather than try to gain the sympathy of one.

Nyaela then turned to Zolaj, taking the time to inspect her head wound. Yanking at the already frayed sleeve of her blouse, she tore off a strip and, tearing it lengthwise so that she had more cloth to work with, carefully bound it around Zolaj's head. No sense in having her fall unconscious in the middle of the city.

OOC:Thank you Siiri!

[Siiri]

Siiri could not prevent her lip from curling in disdain at the other Myrian. Likely used to such negative reactions from others due to her livelihood, this Nyaela deflected Siiri's contempt with fake smiles and soft-spoken words. It would have worked on someone who knew how to mask their feelings, but such things only served to fan the flames of Siiri's ire. It was mostly impotent fury however; as much as she despised slavery, the fact that it was at least mildly tolerated in the city meant she couldn't do much about it other than take the underhanded (and backstabbing) approach of messing with the other woman's clan's operations. While she loved the idea of making life miserable for any slaver, even those of her own kind, Siiri did not want to appear petty and spiteful. And so she could only seethe from within as she held her temper in check.

"Siiri of the Snapping Jaws," she replied in a stiff tone. No offer to grasp forearms, as was the customary greeting among Myrians, was made between them. It was difficult enough for her to not be any more insulting. "Collar your herd, slaver, so that everyone knows who the sheeps are that walk among us."

And she would have turned in a huff after that had the Chaktawe girl not given Nyaela the slip and ran from her grasp. The following scene would have been amusing for Siiri if she hadn't been in a foul mood already because of the slave and her careless captor. As it was, she could only smirk at Nyaela before the other Myrian ran after the girl. Pity that the girl bumped into someone else in the crowd - Carsten, it seemed - and did not get far. Granted, she would have been by one of the archers manning the walls before she got anywhere near the gates, but it would have been enjoyable to watch the slaver work to catch her slave again - in their own city, no less.

Siiri moved nearer the fallen Chaktawe, hoping to hear what was being said between her and Nyaela over the noise of the crowd as well as to indicate to both Carsten and Revy that she was aware of their presence.

[Carsten]

The Chaktawe bumped into Carsten, and sent him back a step or two, but he regained his balance quickly and was about to kneel down and study the wound in Zolaj’s forehead. It could be lethal if the skull had been cracked, but before he got a close look she was yanked away by the slave handler. She was growling threats in her face, before she bound her with her whip. While this happened, Carsten’s eyes turned to Revy. She had not intervened, but was she really pro-enslavement? Such a free spirited warrior like herself did not strike Carsten as the woman who supported slavery. Of course she could be the opposite, ‘only the strong survive’. Certainly that was a possibility, and definitely something he would have to ask her. Then the Myrian turned to Carsten and thanked him for returning her. It was clear that he had done nothing; in fact the Chaktawe had just bumped into him. Was she mocking him? It was a strange way to do it, and Carsten heard no mockery in her voice either. Had she not seen what actually transpired, then? It could also be an insult to Siiri. Perhaps not everyone was happy with her bringing two outsiders into Taloba, the majority were probably unhappy about that, and so it seemed too subtle for it to be an insult to Siiri. The reasonable thing was that the slaver hadn’t seen what happened. It was impossible for him to think of what he should say. Slavery was too situational, sometimes it was necessary, sometimes it did nothing good. He did not know Zolaj, and he did not know Nyaela. It had surprised him that she even talked to him, and he had still not figured out why she would do it. But he should say something. Even though time had barely passed since Nyaela finished her sentence, Carsten had evaluated the situation and could not think of what the right answer would be. The answer that would not get Nyaela, Siiri or any other Myrian in the crowd to jump on him and break his neck. Finally, he sent a questioning look to both Revy and then Siiri, but he doubted they would bother to intervene.

[Revy Hiroe]

The mercenary couldn't help but laugh as she saw how the chaktawe girl managed to wriggle away from the myrian slaver. She was a slaver when she let her prey slip so easily? But unfortunately, she wouldn't witness a chase through the streets of Taloba as the girl bumped into Carsten. Why did he have to be standing just there and knock her over? She was just hoping to get some fun out of this. Her face regained the steel expression again as the slaver came to pick up her prey. She only overheard a bit of what was said, but the slap in the face of the little girl was more then she needed to hear. "I wonder if that girl will listen now. I might give her a hand later if she manages to escape again, just to get a laugh. Meh, hope she does. Right now I'm not exactly enjoying myself.", she thought to herself. After that, she noticed that Siiri was aware of their presence and smirked a little again as she saw that the myrian had been smirking about the little escape as well. "Shouldn't you be more careful if you're a slaver? I can't imagine that you'd do well if you let someone this weak slip away that easily.", she taunted the myrian. "I don't mean to insult you, I'll say that now. I'm just stating the facts." But even though she denied that she tried to insult her, it would probably look that way for Nyaela.

[Cayenne]

Interesting thread - another look at Myrian culture for Revy and Carsten. I would like to remind you all to make sure that your ledgers are up to date. I hereby award the following: Carsten Observation: 4 XP Rhetoric: 2 XP Interrogation: 1 XP Lore: Myrian Dislike of Outsiders Lore: Questioning Why Myrians are Matriarchal Lore: Being Kept at Arm's Length Lore: Why Revy Dislikes Him Lore: Myrians Have Slaves? Revy Hiroe Observation: 4 XP Intimidation: 2 XP Lore: Toughening Your Spine Against the Stares Lore: Being Kept at Arm's Length Lore: Irrational Dislikes from Personality Clashes Lore: Myrians Have Slaves? Siiri: Observation: 4 XP Stealth: 3 XP Intimidation: 3 XP Unarmed Combat: 2 XP Interrogation: 3 XP Lore: Blending In With the Crowd Lore: Hating Administrative Work Lore: Humans And Their Petty Hatreds Lore: Spotting Outsiders and their Tails Lore: Arrogant Slavers Zolaj: Observation: 1 XP Lore: Attempting Business in Taloba Lore: Being Accosted in Taloba Lore: Dhani and Myrians Are Not Friends Nyaela: Observation: 1 XP Persuasion: 1 XP Rhetoric: 2 XP Intimidation: 1 XP Knotwork: 1 XP Lore: Interrupting A Potential Blood-Letting Lore: Reclaiming Property Lore: Keeping a Honeyed Tongue