Road to the White Tower- In the Lead

[redcoat]

Migration from the enjin platform

[opius]

Taliesin:
:: Taliesin had just completed briefing everyone on the actual occurrence regarding his female night visitor. Unfortunately Sae was further ahead and made no motion to suggest that she had heard him. He turned from the group and broke into a run in order to catch up with Sae.

It took nearly a minute due to her lead and constant pace, but he finally caught up and took position on her right side. "The Deori woman was an Allurani. And she led me out of the room at knife point." He reached up and touched the remaining mark of the cut. "Couldn't very well mention that in the Inn when she might still be around for you to start a row. Especially since you did so good to keep me from doing the same." ::

The Red Coat:
+Sae was angry- it radiated off of her in waves. Her hand twitched with it. First, he'd said she was too busy swindling rubes to help him- when she'd done her best to help him after the fact, keeping him from getting in trouble with the guard, calming him down, simplifying his request to the barkeep and even paying a good bit of coin to help deliver the message and smooth over the tensions with the Deori.

Then... she found out that he'd been sneaking off in the middle of the night with some tall, pretty elven woman, returning bleeding. That was the truth of the matter- she wasn't going to ignore several witnesses telling her that fact. Telling her gleefully, even, as if the fact wasn't a poison dart in her chest. He'd had the audacity to deny the fact, in such a way that she wasn't sure what the hell was going on.

Sae knew she wasn't a smart woman. Usually, she accepted her flaws with a shrug of her shoulders. She could read, slowly and not well. She could figure out traps, if she had a lot of time and her mind didn't wander too much. But this... this left her confused, and that confusion led to frustration and anger.

To keep herself from lashing out, she'd put distance between her and Tali, but the others as well. She liked their little group, and knew that her usual method of dealing with her anger would only cause wounds not quickly healed. Perhaps Jaeger would spar with her later- he seemed the sort to understand the need to vent energy.

As Tali approached, she didn't turn her head to look at him, instead watching him out of the corner of her eye as he explained.

"I figured she was an Alurani. Hence me keeping my distance after you sprinted into the stables. I figured my presence wouldn't have helped anything." Taking a deep breath, she held it for a moment before letting it out. "So, instead of telling me that it was just a conversation that got heated, or letting me know everything was fine, you instead just let everyone try to convince me you were sneaking around on me. Let everyone think that you were sneaking around with some other woman." +

Taliesin:
:: Taliesin tilted his head in some confusion as if he had missed something. He looked back to their little convoy group and then back to Sae. "But I did tell you it was okay and I told you I was protecting you. Whether you were willing to hear that over the din of the gossip is not something that I have control over."

Taliesin relaxed into longer strides to keep up with Sae's speed. "And it wasn't a conversation that got heated where others had glimpsed." He let out a low growl of frustration as she still refused to actually look at him. He took larger steps to pull ahead and the shifted to a sideways straddle run to force himself into the forefront instead of the periphery.

"She took me by surprise mid-trance. I was brought out by the feel of metal at my neck." Presumptuously he reached to take her hand, only to find that she avoided it. "At knife's edge I had to defend that I was who I said I was, my purpose, and that not all Mareki are monsters. I e-" His words cut short as he stumbled over his own legs and went to the ground.

Cursing in every language he knew he rose to his feet and moved after Sae once more. "She seemed swayed after actually believing that Hectapol is amassing power - probably because she saw the blade I summoned with Sylvanis' crest. After that she let me return, but in the heat of her anger regarding my willingness to stay by your side she had dug the blade in. I have no clue how a slice would appear a 'love bite' to you or others." ::

The Red Coat:
+Sae let out a deep breath as he explained himself, letting him ramble in his quick way, as he defended himself against any and all blame that could be set to him. She let out another sigh as he fell, smoothly offering him a hand and helping him to his feet. Stopping her quick pace, she gave him a moment to collect himself, dusting off the front of his shirt.

"I am very tired, Tali. I am tired of you yelling at me, or in my direction, for things that I do not control or know. I am tired of constantly fighting. You are the one person I used to be able to let my guard down around, to say how I feel and what I thought without being judged or mocked. But... I really don't feel like that is the case anymore. I go to play a game of darts and learn the lay of the local guard, and you act like I've abandoned you. You yell at me or in my direction constantly. You let me believe I'd been cuckolded at breakfast instead of just being honest and trusting me." She rubbed her hand over her face and shrugged her shoulders.

"I love you Tali, but I feel like I'm balancing on a knife edge with you constantly."+

Taliesin:
::Taliesin's expression was gentle and almost hopeful when she assisted him to his feet. This quickly gave way to confusion, sadness, and rage. He was thinking of how to respond as she continued, but each statement only dug him further in his own mind. As he finally did reply his voice was kept at a steady conversational volume in spite of his expression which was clearly an attempt to hide emotion coupled with growing petty anger.

"I'm sorry that in the last few weeks all I've done is yell at you without stop." This spoken with clear sarcasm. "I'm sorry that I remembered the Sae that would immediately attack anyone who would dare say a bad word of me or her family let alone actually harm me."

His steps beside her added space between them while still being in the same eye line. His voice turned to a venomous sarcasm "And clearly I preferred wasting time to build you up just to cuckold you in front of people that you deemed friends or acquaintances. So I should just stop faking and let you wallow while I enjoy the view."

With the last salvo launched he began to fall back. Never once in those words had he raised his voice to her. But he figured, if she could use emotional hyperbole to make him feel guilty about his choices that he might as well work with it. After all, he had to be the bad guy in this scenario no matter what.

No matter the facade he put up, he was raw from the night before. For the first time in quite a while Sae was not there standing guard while he tranced. And that one time with his guard down led to him literally at knife's edge and out of control. He'd apologized for prior outbursts many days prior, and even the day before. But the stress of their situation and his identity seemed which she knew seemed not to count. He did not blame her for what happened, but he had at least hoped she would understand his choice - clear to him now was the fact that she didn't. More apparent also that somehow he misjudged her character in spite of all their past experiences. ::

The Red Coat:
+While he responded with anger, and would likely expect her to snap back as well... something seemed a bit broken in the little elf as he spat venomously and sarcastically at her. She'd been trying to be honest, to open up about her feelings... and it, once again, had not gone well. Had been twisted and thrown in her face as he proved exactly what she was trying to express.

She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand and felt the tears gather at the corner of her eyes. She rapidly blinked them back, letting him fall back and have the finishing words as Sae put all of her energy into not letting him see her cry about all this nonsense.


Sae Cairel- Gunslinger, the Butcher of Kel Mar, Mareki war dog- was crying.+

Taliesin:
:: Taliesin hadn't expected silence. Hanging midway between the others and Sae he mulled over the interaction. He was reactionary to what he saw as hyperbolic accusations and completely missed her last sentence. As he thought about it he realized that he'd only proved her last point. It was too late now. He betrayed her trust and might as well walk away from the group. ::