Closed Scales and Stripes [Alva]

[Tinnok]

Scales and Stripes 11th of Winter, 512 A.V. They sank into her flesh like stones the stares that were thrown her way: Like needles under her skin or knives beneath fingernails. She wished she had brought Nissila with her, the constrictor always made her feel better, yet on the same hand tended to make the stares thrown her way even more venomous, and she didn’t want some hyped up idiot killing her friend, so she felt it best if the snake stayed home. That being said the missing weight curled around her shoulders felt like a physical pang as she walked through the streets. Tin stared straight ahead, posture near flawless as she strutted down the crowded streets, regardless if she could feel every hate filled glance and demeaning sneer, she would refuse to show it. She wondered how long it would take to spread that she was a servant of Caiyha, that she no longer lived in the city walls, and yet was safer than most Myrian could claim to be out in the jungle. Probably not long, she suspected. She could hunt for herself well enough in the woods, her skills with weapons enough to take down the small deer or ground fowl, but what she really missed was the fresh fruit. She had almost no Bikkas left to speak of after purchasing a new long bow, but it would be enough…it had to be. The mixed blood strode into the Trading Square, heading with intent towards the Fruit stalls, yet drawn from her original journey by the distinctive sound of someone attempting not to cry out in pain as they received a tattoo. Clearly they had gone for the cheaper alternative of having nothing to numb the pain, but couldn’t handle it. Intrigued, the Tin walked into the midst of the vendors, walking past bent back and focused gazes, wooden and metal needles piercing the flesh and ink dying the skin. Her golden eyes darted from person to person, and stopped in front of a stall where a female was getting a sleeve done. Her brow was covered with sweat, but she didn’t utter a sound as her skin was punctured over and over, the black ink of an intricate sleeve crawling down her arms. It looked to be a waterfall the color of blood, skulls and gore at the bottom, but it was still merely an outline upon her flesh. Tin gave a low whistle of approval, but smiled secretly to herself as she glanced at the radiant Gnosis mark upon her arm, the strangler fig curling around her muscles and revealing plant life and fauna in equal measure. Her left arm sported a black dagger, and a coiled serpent lay upon the back of her neck where it met the spine. She folded her arms over themselves, content to watch the show where everyone’s gazes were on the artists and victims instead of the half Dhani in the crowds.

[Alva]

It was an off duty day for the Kelvic woman, so the took the liberty of buying a few things she could use in her house, namely food. She could use some clay dishes as well, being that there might come that optimistic day when she would have company that wouldn't like to eat food raw, in a bloody heap right off the table or ground.

She stretched as she walked, relishing the feeling of her muscles moving sinuously. She cracked her neck and shivered as her vertebrae popped. She closed her eyes and took in the sunlight blessing of Syna that so often made her actually seem lovely in a way that Myrians wouldn't share. Her hair caught the light perfectly at times and burst as though lit on fire. Her skin didn't seem so pale sometimes when Syna graced it with her glowing fingers.

Opening her eyes, her nose caught the scent of pain and ink. She recognised the mixture including the scent of fear and approached with a smile slowly spreading across her mouth, parting her lips over her feline teeth with glee. She loved seeing new tattoos and enjoyed the pain on people's faces when they had new ink added to their skin. She enjoyed getting her own tattoo herself, the pain of the needle digging holes into her skin fueling the flames of her masochism. There wasn't a day that went by that the woman didn't think about getting another tattoo done. Maybe she could have the stripes on her arm extended. Just as long as she didn't encroach onto copying tribal tattoos, she was fairly certain most Myrians would be quite intrigued by her choice. She liked to wear the reminder of what she was proud for others to see and know that she was more than them. Even though she longed for them to love her on their own, her tattoo was her way to bring attention to herself. Attention that didn't come.

She circled the tattoo stall, trying to get a better look at the victim and her torturer to see if she was in pain but as she passed a group her nose caught an interesting scent that turned her attention away.

Alva was very familiar with the smell of the jungle, being that she liked to swim and climb and roll in the foliage like most natural tigers did. She hadn't smelled it this heavily on a person in a long while and found herself staring at a woman that reeked of the freedom of the jungle. It had been hard to pick her out since she was standing so close to a few others, but after going back and forth in an attempt to pinpoint her scent, she realised who she was scenting.

Myrians that lived out in the jungle weren't much of an oddity. There were many clans that chose to do so and Alva saw them as agents looking to spread Taloba's claim as far as possible. Whatever it was that drew her attention to this woman, Alva couldn't place immediately. She looked different, although not as strange as Alva herself did.

[Tinnok]

She wasn't sure when she truly felt the weight of the woman's eyes on her, for it seemed to be a gradual thing. One moment she was watching an artist at work upon a woman's arm, ink and needle burrowing into muscled flesh, the next she felt a set of eyes boring into her from somewhere near her. Slowly her head rotated to catch the yellow green gaze of the woman who was peering at her curiously, her own scales glinting slightly in Syna's warm rays, giving her skin the faintest shimmer.

Her golden eyes narrowed a bit under the scrutiny, trying to place the fair, freckled skin and petite frame, knowing it from somewhere, her appearance unique in the way that it certainly wasn't Myrian. Then it hit her: The Kelvic tiger, a relatively new soldier that had been admitted to the ranks just as she was on her way out. Tinnok inclined her head to the Kelvic, taking a step back from the stall and moving to face the feline in human form.

"Well met, Kelvic. Apologies, but since we last saw each other I have forgotten your name. I am Tinnok of the Tempered Steel, and we have met before during our service."

She placed a fist upon her chest and gave a half bow in greeting. Kelvic did not fall under Caiyha's domain, but they were creatures of the earth, no stranger an abomination than she, and a tiger Kelvic was a welcome thing indeed within Taloba. She gestured to the tattooing stalls around them with a small smile upon her features. "Looking to get a new one?"

The thought of new tattoos was always on Tinnok's mind, but her clan was quite serious about them. Unless a deed or event had earned you the right to mark your skin, it was best you bare the shame of it plain before your peers lest you make yourself out to be something greater than you truly are. That being said, a Tempered Steel festooned with ink was a terrifying sight indeed, for one who looked upon them knew that every mark had been earned. Tinnok was no such beast, at least...not yet.

[Alva]

It took Alva a good few chimes to figure out whether or not the feeling of recognition was mutual. She had met many people in her lifetime, which was admittedly short, and couldn't always be blamed for forgetting a face. Her brow furrowed as she looked at the woman, her mind working. The eyes, the skin... They rang at her memory.

It was her name that invoked a response from the Kelvic: a smile that displayed her teeth. Yes, she recognised her now. They had survived together when their Fang had been decimated that one strange, fateful day she still had no explanation for. Tinnok, who had proven the snake in her blood was worthy of being considered Myrian as well.

"Yes, I remember you," she said, nodding and including her head to the taller woman. "It has been some time. How are you?" From what she understood, Tinnok stayed outside of Taloba, but not in her clan's village. There was a story why, she was sure, but family matters weren't hers to pry in. She, afterall, was considered a pet in many cases when she dealt with the Myrians that didn't know her.

She looked to the tattoo stall they stood at, a softer smile pulling at her lips as the woman being inked gripped the table tighter in her hand. Alva liked tattoos. She recognised that a prominence of them often entailed the wearer was quite strong in will. She wanted to be welcomed wholly by the Myrians, that was her greatest desire. Tattoos were one way to show she was as strong as them.

"I am thinking of another one, but I don't know what I want yet." She pondered this briefly. She didn't want to expand upon the stripes that marked her forearm, feeling this would begin to become offensive to the men and women that used the Myrian Tigers as mounts. She didn't have the most outstanding of imaginations when it came to aesthetics. "And you?"

[Tinnok]

"I am well, freedom from the military has done wonders for my free time." She smiled. Leaving the military had done wonders for a lot of things, but there was no need to burden the Kelvic with any of that. "How has your term treated you thus far?"

Tinnok glanced towards the stall for a moment in thought. Tattoos were a serious affair, she looked at the fairly blank slate the Kelvic had at her disposal. "Done any deeds worth noting in your service yet?" She smirked. It generally how Myrians chose to mark themselves, and event or hunt could always become something worth remembering if the ones involved played a big enough role. And then there was the question of her own aesthetic choices... She rolled the idea around in her mind, hand unconciously brushing her Gnosis mark for a moment before turning her head to respond.

"I am in need of an update to this arm." She rotated to show her bare left arm with a tribal dagger dripping blood stamped upon it. "As you grow to master more weapons, our clan likes to note that upon your body, as it is a few more weapons could be added....I am also in need of a wolf somewhere, but alas, I dont have the bikkas at present, so just window watching for me, as it were."

Tinnok's eyes squinted at the Kelvic. She did not nderstand much about the race as it was, and had always been curious of why Nura did not affect them as it did other animals. It was a question for another time, however, so instead the half breed gestured to the surrounding market. "So what exactly does a kelvic tiger need to buy in the market if not a tattoo?"

[Alva]

"My service so far has been treating me well." She bore her teeth in a fierce smile and looked down at herself, noting she still looked rather unremarkable after her term in the army, and shrugged. She didn't mean to make tattoos look like they were trivial, however. "Sometimes, I feel like I should show more that I have pride in what I am, even if some other people think I should not be so." She squinted to appraise Tinnok herself, noting that large tattoo-like mark on her arm , and the dagger, but the lack of any other markings. Alva only had a band of striping, which was supposed to be as she said: a physical show of her pride at being something different. It was also a reminder to herself to feel pride on the side, but that only applied when she was feeling particularly bullied when she was younger. It hadn't needed to be used in such a way in a while.

"You must be pretty fierce-some with your weapons, then," Alva said, nodding appreciatively. She had only moderate skill in her weapon of choice. She didn't know what the wolf was meant to show, but it also sounded like it was quite an impressive depiction to have on oneself. She figured Tinnok must have hunted wolves remarkably in the past.

She chuckled at Tinnok's question next, averting her eyes from the other woman and smirking slightly. "Sometimes, I like to think I'll have guests in my home, so I thought to buy plates for them. I don't use plates, or other things, often. Call me an animal, but it's a preference I've had for a while to eat my kills while still warm, and fresh, and on the ground." She paused for a bit and her smile widened. "Sometimes, the hunters bring back meat I haven't had in a while and I like to buy it here." She also ventured every so often to the fruit stalls, but fruit wasn't a favorite food of hers. It didn't appeal to her nor did it satisfy her properly. "Were you also looking to do some shopping here as well?"

[Tinnok]

Tinnok cocked her head to the side inquisitively, her lips twitching slightly. "It is good to take pride in one's blood, but you can show it by proving yourself first, marking your skin second."

She scoffed at herself and waved a hand. "Don't listen to me ramble like a sage, ach, I sound like some old woman." As for the compliment, Tinnok shrugged. "I have not truly mastered anything, but I try to learn and grow as I am able."

She bade the tiger Kelvic walk with her, seeing as the two of them were not actually going to be inking their flesh today, heading down the thoroughfare of the Trading Square, through the bustling crowds and loud shouts. Tinnok did not like the crowds much, the way the sheer numbers pressed against your lungs and the sickly sweet smells of barbarian perfumes hung in the air like a dead carcass. She liked it out in the open jungle, that sort of muggy heat was fine...this cramped one created by Myrian bodies? Not so much.

As the tiger spoke of getting dish ware for her guests, Tinnok barked a laugh. "You are a much kinder host than I, Kelvic. When I have guests I make them eat with their hands off of leaves." As for the question... "I actually came to buy some fruit. I have meat a plenty in the woods, some of the fish is nice in the markets, but fruit is harder to find, at least in the section of the Wilds where I reside, so I come every now and then to pick some up."

She walked in silence for a while, glancing about the crowds and the vendors, and spotted a glint of something in the light. Weaving her way through the crowds she came upon a haphazard pottery stall, clay fired in giant brick ovens and coated with a strange coated substance that melted over the stoneware to give is a glossy sheen. Tinnok whistled appreciatively at the green and blue solid bowls, plates, and vases, and tapped Alva good-naturedly on the shoulder. "That the sort of stuff your lookin' for?"

[Alva]

Alva nodded at Tinnok's words, unable to disagree with the logic the woman presented. Alva could see where people would consider her adding marks to her skin without due reason as nothing short of bragging, and Alva did not like to brag. There was a difference between that and pride.

She laughed, short and uncharacteristic for her, at Tinnok's ease of waving aside her own words. "Not so much as you might think. You give good advice. I will prove first I deserve markings, yes," she said.

Walking with Tinnok, Alva found they garnered more attention together than they did when they were alone, which she found slightly amusing. They must have made an impressive sight, really. Red haired Kelvic, slightly scaled half-Dhani. People must be impressed by the nerve of being seen in company with one another. Still, black sheep stick together.

She found the crowding as unlikeable as her companion. She could smell the sweat weighing down upon her, heavy in her nose and on her skin. She smelled blood, dirt, and other unmentionables. It sickened her in a way that she was accustom to. This wasn't her first time in the Trading Square and nor would it be her last. She liked to be alone, swimming, or fighting somewhere, not boxed in by oppressive bodies.

Weaving through the crowd proved to be an impressive skill to possess as well. Especially since they managed to stick together, when others could get separated, Alva fancied themselves talented.

"Well, my guests don't like the thought of eating off the ground, when I have them, otherwise I would be fine making them do so. They like to think of people that do eat on the dirt as animals, so why not aim to please their sensitive tastes?" She said, laughing. She didn't often eat fruit, it didn't sit well in her stomach, so she couldn't adequately sympathise with Tinnok. "I agree with the fish. I can't do anything about fishing on my own, so I buy some here when the need strikes me. What kind of fruit are you looking for?" She spotted a stall in an opening in the bodies that had some brightly coloured orbs and ovals in them, a fruit stall she assumed, that she could point Tinnok to and help her shop at.

However, the woman's words about the pottery she hadn't yet noticed got her attention more and she turned to look with a 'hmm?' of interest. Her eyes gleamed at the sight of the green and blue objects lined up at the stall, excited to see the simple things she so often took for granted. Bowls and plates, to her there wasn't much different. She didn't cook her food or make liquid out of it.

"This looks perfect," she said, lifting a green plate to feel the weight of it. These things were surprisingly heavy and unwieldy. She looked to the craftsman selling the wares and smiled, revealing teeth aplenty. "How much are these?" She lifted the plate to show what she meant.

Those are two bikka," the man said. "We have bigger for three, however." Alva didn't know if bigger meant better, so she looked at Tinnok for something to say on behalf of them, some information. The one she held was about as big as her hand across, but if that was large already was unknown to her. She didn't eat at other's houses so she wouldn't have seen one in use before but for the rough wood ones used by the soldiers on patrol when fashion wasn't necessary.

[Tinnok]

oocYay for three posting template changes in a single thread!

"Two bikka, that isn't a bad price..." Tinnok said somewhat to herself, though it was audible to Alva and the shop keep just as well. She glanced up and caught the well muscled man staring at her arms, and then making contact with her eyes. The good thing about store vendors was that they tended to be the more amiable of entities within Taloba, fierce about haggling and acquiring and making their goods, yet forced to trade with barbarians, they generally had more open minds about people not of their own race. Of course...one needn't like Dhani much, and she saw confusion, anger, and questioning intent within his gaze.

Tinnok herself ignored him as he clearly struggled with the idea of throwing out his customers or taking their business. She glanced at Alva, who clearly not used to shopping for dishware was looking for a second opinion. "Ach, don't look at me, I don't have any plates!" She smiled. "Well, just think of it, would you like something a little fancier, just a bit pricier, or simpler and cheaper? You could impress your guests I supposed, and I know which option this fellow would pick." She pointed toward the potter in question, who was glowering at the fact that his customers were discussing lesser wares right in front of him. Tinnok clearly couldn't give a damn.

She threw her hands up in mock frustration. "I'm not cut out for this whole interior decorating thing, Kelvic, you're on your own!" She began walking through the crowd, her head turning back with a smirk to say, "I'll be over at the fruit stalls."

Weaving her way through the crowds and getting a few vicious elbows, Tinnok made her way over to a collection of screaming women all hawking their fruit as the freshest and best tasting. Star fruit, mangos, even coconuts lay in their stalls, and Tinnok casually began browsing their stock, wondering herself what precisely she had been looking to get when she had wondered into town today...