Completed Take My Hand (Marxander)

[Tallis Ishtari]

Taja was in her glory as she opened her closet. “Have a look! Take whatever you need. It’s ok.” The bit her lip for a moment as her eyes studied Marx. She sat on the edge of her bed, her eyes alight with curiosity. “So what’s it like being bonded to my brother?”

Tallis took a seat in the living room and started to look through the books that were on the end table. Talia sat near him and started rattling on how her life had been while he had been away, and how their mom reacted to him leaving. He wasn’t all that interested in his youngest sisters’ love life but he was interested in how his mom reacted the days after he had left.

[Marxander]

She walked to the closet, not sure what to wear. She had never been fashionably conscious. She thumb through some things, deciding that whatever material felt the best would be her pick. She looked back at her and tilted her head slightly "I suppose it's like any other bond. I've never had a bondmate other than your brother so I wouldn't be able to give out any comparison notes. Though I can tell you that he's very nice, and treats me very well. But I have a feeling that that wasn't the type of answer you were looking for. You can just ask me directly. I don't mind."

She felt something nice and pulled it out. It was another dress, green in color and made for the summer season. She striped out of her clothes, not really minding or asking if Taja was squeamish about other nude people. A ribbon like scar on her side could be seen from when she fought a Kriital back near Syliras. She slipped on the dress, tying the knot that would rest on the back of her neck.

[Tallis Ishtari]

Tallis learned that his mother was very upset to learn why he had to leave. She berated his father and his own ties to organized crime. She went on and on how it was dangerous and that the Ebonstryfe should just hunt them all down and kill them. Talia said that their mother was depressed for quite a few days after and it wasn’t until they received news that he was fine in Syrilas. Tallis wondered how Marx was doing with his sister’s endless questions.

Taja pulled over one of her pillows and set in her lap as she sat cross legged on her bed. Seeing Marx strip down had no effect on her. “Oooo… that’s a nasty scar.” She said with her head tilted as if it would make seeing it any better. “What gave you that?” Taja quickly said in passing as she got to the question she really wanted to ask. “Are all Kelvics as nice as you? I have a few friends that have Kelvics as slaves but they are nothing like you. And well… there is this Kelvic down at the docks that I have eyes on. So I’m curious as to what it’s like to be bonded. I know mom isn’t too keen on it, but I don’t care. She should just be happy that I’m happy. Right?” She rattle on as if Marx had been her friend for her entire life.

[Marxander]

She welcomed the fact that Taja was so open about herself, but she did have to suppress herself upon mention of Kelvics being slaves. Chuckling, she shrugged "I suppose we're nice. Me and my dad are nice, I guess. And Kelvics can't really hurt humans, so you have nothing to fear about them. Ummm, as for the Kelvic you like, you should just talk to him or her. Normally, they would have already noticed you by now if they're bonded to you. Some just don't realize it, so they don't pursue it. And your mom should be proud, I guess. I'm not really the person to be asked what great mothering skills are. But I believe that should should be happy, no matter who you're with. I'm very happy with Tallis, and although your mother won't like it, I'll stay with him until our bond dissolves, if it ever does."

[Tallis Ishtari]

Taja’s eyes showed the recognition of Marx’s words and pushed to the pillow to the side to help Marx with the dress. “It looks really good on you! Do you need anything else, like pants or shirts before show you in this dress to my brother? I think he’ll be stunned to see you in green. It looks really good with your skin tone and hair.”

Looking about the room as his youngest sister disappeared to the kitchen to get him something to eat he discovered that something was different. He couldn’t figure it out. He paced the room looking at the walls but when Talia returned with some fruit he stopped looking. There was no reason to raise an alarm over something that could just be his moving furniture around.

[Marxander]

She nodded to Taja "Yeah, sure. Whatever you can spare. I hope I'm not taking anything you might really like though." Taja waved her off and grabbed some more clothing, walking her back to the living room. As she did, she told her the story of how she had gotten the scar "I was just walking, by Syliras, I didn't know that at the time though. When, out of the blue sky, a Kriital swoops right down and nicks my collarbone and cuts off the straps to my bag. If I hadn't heard the wind move around it, it would have had my head! So, I go down into my Dhole form and we have a little stare off. And it still wants to eat me, so naturally, right when it comes back down, I eat it. But, before I could kill it, it's claws got me right on the side. I would have died, or got seriously infected if those Syliras knights hadn't found me."

She laughed at her own story, making hand motions to depict herself and the monster that had attack her. She was such an avid storyteller too. It was always fun to share her little adventures. She skipped over to Tallis, once in the living room, kissing his cheek to let him know she was there.

[Tallis Ishtari]

Talia had returned with a plate of cut up fruit. He meager rations that he had in his apartment paled in comparison to the freshness of what was in front of him. Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted Marx in a green dress. He had never seen is sister wearing it so it had to have been something knew, and there was a good chance that she never had worn it before. Marx took radiant in it. It was so much to his liking that his pulse rate increased over the pleasure of seeing her in it.

After the kiss on the cheek he cast a glance over at Taja and she was beaming. He hoped that his sister would break the news of him choosing a Kelvic to be bonded to their mother. With Taja though he could never be sure what she would do. She could wait and let him take the lecture that was sure to come, or tell their mother herself and lessen the berating, some. Either way, he was going to catch and earful from their mother.

“You look perfect in that dress, and I see you’ve gotten a few other things as well.” He was happy that she had what she needed after last night’s attack. If Marx was going to blend in with the rest of Ravok then she needed to dress as one of them. “We should be going. I still have some ‘business’ to attend to.” Tallis said softly so his sisters wouldn’t hear.

“We need to be going.” Tallis said as he looked at his sisters who were muttering something to each other but with grins on their faces. He could only guess as to what they were saying to each other in hushed whispers. “You will tell Mom and Dad I came by, right?”

Taja smirked. “You know I will.” The way his sister said the words made him groan inside. All he could hope for was to have Taja tell their mother about Marx in the best of ways.

[Marxander]

She waved goodbye to Tallis' little sisters and made her way out with him, one hand holding his and the other holding her new clothes. Once outside, Marxander noticed that the dress did in fact sparkle a bit when it shifted in the wind. It made her giggled and purposly shake her hips in an attempt to get the skirt of her dress to fly about and have the light catch the sparkles. She was completely entranced by it. She had to make herself stop before she got dizzy and fall in the water.

It was a sad thought that she knew she would have to return to the apartment and change into something else if she was going to go look around at the different jobs of Ravok. She didn't want to get this one dirty, at least for now. It was so pretty and sparkily. She had to ensure that nothing bad would happen to the sparkily dress. It oocured to her that this sparkily dress had almost nothing to do with anything, it was just another piece of fabric for her, but those sparkles. It could have just been that she was a Kelvic, or a Dhole, but she felt very easily distracted by the sparkles. Hopefully no one would find out just how much she could get off course with something like that.

She shook her head, trying to stop thinking about the sparkles, and instead looked to Tallis "I'll have to go home and change. I don't want to ruin this dress." Because of course, she could care less unless they too had sparkles. They did not.

[Tallis Ishtari]

It would be on his mind for what was left of the day. How could he get his mother to accept his feelings toward Marx? It probably would not be easy to coax her into acceptance that he and Marx were a couple. Then a thought came to his mind that raised a new question. When it came to leave Ravok and go on their adventure to see the world how would he tell them. It was almost too much to think about. So he decided not to, for now.

As he flagged down canal boat to take them closer to the docks Tallis watched Marx and her new dress. She seemed enthralled with how it looked, and he was enthralled by how it looked on her. The dress really did suit her and her personality. As the light hit the dress he could see it sparkle. Inside the home he never would have spotted it, but out in the sunlight it was stunning.

“Of course, definitely don’t need to be seen in that dress when you’re out looking for a job.” They didn’t have long to wait when a boat pulled up to the landing. Tallis breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it wasn’t his Uncle Revis. He could only think of what the man would say if he say Marx in the dress she was wearing. “If you’re going to look for a job you probably are best to look for one around the docks. Even if you don’t find one right away they will probably refer you to someone who does.”

In the back of his mind he was still worried for Marx. In some ways she was still innocent to the ways of humans. It would be a dangerous situation if she wasn’t careful. He would just have to trust that she would be alright. The possibility of reaching out to his contacts, like Gilroy Sardis, to watch after her, but they might want something in return. Those thoughts made him nervous. After his run in with Gilroy he didn’t want to reach out to them quite yet.

[Marxander]

She nodded, getting into the boat "I'll try my best and if I can't find anything, I'll come looking for you." She watched him puzzle in the back of his mind and felt the worry and the need of protectiveness stemming form him "And Tallis. Don't do anything stupid." The last thing she wanted was for him to reach out to any of his 'friends' to watch her. She would be fine, and if she got in trouble, well, she guessed that another dip in the canals wouldn't be a bad idea.

The boat ride felt shorter this time and again they entered the rougher parts of Ravok. She looked around, knowing Tallis wouldn't pick the same road again. He was being overly conscious of his and her whereabouts since last nights incident. It was understandable, but Marx had been on her own long before him. She knew how to take care of herself. She'd be fine.