Hello Again (Timshel, Fallan)

[Taylani]

Time Stamp 33 Fall 513

The evening light was brighter then one might expect the night time to be, however with the fires lit around the Tent City and the general joviality of the Drykas as they wound down their day with evening meals and the meeting of minds. Crafter's often use this time to ply their trade since they are not moving the city during the night time hours.

Others use this time to sing, dance, or converse with like minded individuals, families often use it to grow closer and talk about their days. To Taylani it looked like a Hodge-podge of sensations, and she might have enjoyed it more if she wasn't trying so hard not to enjoy it. It wasn't right for her to enjoy her time her, it certainly wasn't right for her to enjoy spending time with him. Not to mention that she was intent on giving him his two children that he seemed so desperate to have and returning to Syliras, attachments of any kind would make that difficult. So instead of moving amid the others, she sat on the ground beside a fire that was built outside of the Windchaser pavilion.

Her jewelry kit was with her, and she debated whether or not if she wanted to take out her beads and string some more knot bracelets. By now she had quite a few done in her kit, enough to give to Fallan for his next trading run if he wanted. Enough to make her feel like she might be able to pull a little of her own weight..and to be less under his thumb.

Her red hair was still loose around her shoulders, no matter how certain women kept suggesting that she braid it, or put beads in it. Stubbornly refusing to even bend that much to the Drykas culture, she endures it becoming tangled and more difficult to manage. She enjoyed it actually, it gave her something to focus on rather then the conflict that was never far from the surface.

She wanted to enjoy the singing, and she certainly had to try hard not to watch a pair of young Drykas children dancing along. But she also didn't want to, and that was the conflict that happened over everything in her life now. The desire to enjoy, the guilt over it, the anger over the situation, the understanding that on some level the Drykas were responsible for saving her life. It was not a pleasant existence for her, but she hoped that it would not tarry long.

[Timshel]

Timshel fancied Endrykas to look an array of embers in the dusk. Internal fires roared in each pavilion, making the tents glimmer through the fog. Small smoke stacks puffed up from flaps, vents leading up to the tent tops. Smaller tents didn't have vents, so they held fires outside, creating a warm, red light that would dance around corners and turn the deep-blue or purple tents black. Even the warmer colors changed. Yellows turned to purple, and darker reds turned into a rusty brown. Walking down from the higher plain of the outskirts, all Timshel saw was a cluster of coals, flicking and fizzling in the eve. Throughout the city, music mingled with laughter and the crackle of fire. To his left, children were bouncing and waving their arms in a circle around a mandolin player and a singer. Behind them, an older group sat on wicker chairs or hemp blankets. One young woman was leaning her head on a man's shoulder. Another was sitting behind a girl, braiding her hair. Two elderly men were laughing and drinking. One elderly woman was sitting cross-legged and mending a shirt. Timshel let out a deep breath and pulled his cloak close, adding his own plume of precipitation to the fog. He smiled. Only the weather was different here. To his right and down the path, he saw Taylani sitting. Her hair still loose and slightly tangled, it had turned a rusty red in the firelight. She had a box on her lap, but was watching the group of dancing children. Then she looked down to her box, fingering a knotted bracelet. “Hey Tay,” Timshel said, walking up to squat down beside her and look at the dancing children. “How goes it?”

[Taylani]

Taylani starts a little from her reverie when she hears another voice, a familiar voice. Blue eyes turn toward the sound, and finally a smile lifts the corners of her lips, a small one but a smile indeed. "It's Taylani." She reminds him, only because Tay is something Fallan called her. Names were important to Taylani for they represented who a person was, and Tay was a confused mess of a person at times loathing herself at other loathing Fallan. There was also a small seed within her soul that reminded her that a part of her enjoyed the way the shortened version of her name fell from Fallan's tongue.

That thought sent a shiver through Taylani, and mental hardening of her mind trying to force unwelcome thoughts out. "It goes as well as it can I suppose. One more day behind me so that is something. Finding your way around Endrykas any better?" Her legs shift so that they bend and raise, allowing her arms to lock around them close to her chest, resting her chin on her knee tops easily. "The nightly ..entertainment.. in Endrykas seems to be fairly festive. Not something that I have ever experienced, at least not so often."

InfoI am so sorry Timshel, I was waiting on Fallan and didn't want to annoy him when he was pushing for nano awards on his other character and it turns out he had been waiting on me so that Tay and Tim could be in a conversation for him to interrupt! My fault entirely.

[Timshel]

“It's Taylani.” “Lani.” Timshel said, nodding. He bounced on his ankles, enjoying the stretch they gave to his calves. Then he sat completely, with one foot under him and the other flat, so his knee was raised. He rested his elbow there. “It goes as well as it can I suppose. One more day behind me so that is something..." Timshel gave her a sidelong glance and pursed his lips as she continued. “Finding your way around Endrykas any better?” “Which Endrykas?” he said, “Today's or yesterday's? I think I have last weeks scribbled down somewhere...” He reached into the sleeve of his tunic- “The nightly...entertainment...Not something that I have ever experienced, at least not so often.” “No?” he asked, taking his hand out of his sleeve. “You with all your dancing experience? This should be your time to shine." A wooden flute had joined the mandolin then, adding another layer to the bouncing song. Kids were clapping around the musicians-- the younger ones completely out of tune. Timshel looked back at Taylani. “What about your man?” he said. Then added, “Uh, I mean. Where is the one who owns you? Don't you have a curfew?”

[Fallan Windchaser]

Sitting inside the tent, Fallan had been working on his kit, taking out each item in turn and checking it for wear or damage then carefully returning it whilst at the same time applying the same level of inspection to the leather packs and belts that contained it. In part it was pride, in part it was training, but mostly it was common sense, the same sense that kept his kit packed even inside his tent in the middle of the tented city.

It wasn't unheard of for Taylani to speak to passers by for the Drykas were on the whole a very open race and thought nothing of throwing out a greeting to an attractive woman in the hope of some response and whilst he wasn't actually listening to the words, the tone of them caught his attention and he packed away the pouch of herbs which he'd been checking.

The pair spoke Common with a facility that Fallan had never mastered but he didn't need to understand every word to recognise the fact that the man she spoke to was familiar to her yet it wasn't a voice that he knew. He was curious and yet that wasn't what got him to his feet, nor was it that which saw him slip through the entrance to the tent with his left hand casually upon the hilt of his dagger, finger and thumb toying with the tip of the handle which protruded from the leather sheath.

The scene outside was absorbed in a glance; her closed posture and the strangers more open and relaxed one, which told him much that he wanted to know yet revealed more questions to be answered. He moved casually and dropped into a squat casually that allowed him his balance with his right knee against the ground for stability.

"Welcome, stranger," he said in Pavi, testing just how much this man was of the city, "A pleasant evening is it not?" He ended the gesture with a wave to the rest of the camp, whilst his left still played with his dagger hilt which would be bordering an insult to any Drykas.

[Taylani]

Taylani shifted just a little to curl her legs beneath her, she couldn't help but grin as Timshel was just as frazzled by the layout of Endrykas as he had been the first she had met. Though she did quirk her brow when he still shortened her name, but it wasn't one that held any meaning for her, stirred any emotions within her so she didn't remark. It was amusing to her though how often people shortened her name. "They set down in the same layout, mostly. It shouldn't be too hard for you to eventually learn your way around the place after a bit."

Taylani only stared at him for a moment when he spoke on her time to shine before she shook her head, the spray of red hair swaying along her back silkily. "Not the kind of dancing I did, though it would be easy to pick it up. I danced in a theater, told stories with song and body. I don't see you out there.." As she was speaking another presence slipped from the tent, and she did not have to look up to know who it was. Her face shuttered closed once more, leaving behind a blank neutral face that she so often adopted with him.

"A curfew?" She asked, but before she could elaborate Fallan began to speak in the gesturing language of Pavi. She recognized one word, the first 'welcome' but the rest was lost upon her, what else was not lost upon her was the way his hand lingered around his dagger hilt. A little confused by the action she folded her hands in her lap but turned a questioning glance toward Fallan.

[Timshel]

“...It shouldn't be too hard for you to eventually learn your way around the place after a bit.” She was grinning. “Tch. I got lost in the grass the other day. If it wasn't for this guy Nathan...” Timshel halted. His foot was beginning to fall asleep. When he'd sat, his gladius had moved beneath him so that it was now pinching his calve. He shifted his weight. “...Let's not talk about it,” he said, wiggling his toes to the tingling pins and needles. Taylani looked at him blankly for a moment before commenting on the dancers. Her bangs bounced as she shook her head.“Not the kind of dancing I did... I don't see you out there.” Timshel opened his mouth to speak, but he closed it when he noticed the tent-flaps part behind her. A wind-swept man walked out wearing a dark cloak and darker hair. Tawny and rugged, he stepped lightly. His boots let out soft, casual thuds as he walked towards the two of them. When he moved to squat next to them, Timshel saw that they were well broken and worn, but they did not squeek and they had the shiny gloss from a recent oiling. When he sat, a small movement at the man's side caught Timshel's glance. He was fingering the hilt of his dagger. Gentle. Almost like one would pet the head of a newborn chick. He heard Taylani begin to speak again. She was cut off by the man. “Emoclew, regnarts,” Timshel heard, “A tnasealp gnineve si ti ton?” He followed the man's broad gesture to view the rest of camp-- unfazed by the moment. Songs continued as his dropped towards the circle of dancers. Timshel saw one boy trip over himself and fall into the middle of the circle. He laughed through chubby cheeks while a woman came over and pulled him up. Timshel turned his attention back to the man, searching for what he meant. Nothing. His face was still, and his posture was the same. His left hand continued to finger the dagger. Timshel forced himself a wide smile. His foot felt much worse than it had earlier; the pins were painful now, and his gladius was still stuck between his calf and thigh. That was a mistake. He was sweating. No choice. Timshel stood up. He threw his hands wide, stood on his right leg and softly tapped the ground with his left. He felt his gladius move free and bounce with the motion. The two acts only enhanced the waves of tingles that spurred each time his toes touched the earth. “Tay's master I presume?” Timshel's cheeks were already beginning to fatigue from the smile, “You speak common?”

[Khida]

Taylani

Should you return, PM me and I'll grade your posts.

Timshel

Skill	Points
Diplomacy	+1
Observation	+2
Socialization	+1

• Diplomacy: presenting a nonthreatening appearance
• Taylani: don't call her Tay

Fallan Windchaser

Skill	Points
Intelligence	+1
Observation	+1
Intimidation	+1

• Intimidation: drawing attention to one's weapon
• Timshel: known to Taylani?

Notes

Too bad this got cut short; the interactions here could've gotten interesting! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade. Also, Timshel, please edit your request to show this thread has been graded.