RP:Sick of Waiting

Skylei is walking. Just walking. With the pass through to Xalious out of the hands of the bandits and back under the arcane authority of the stewards of the town, it had been safe for her to walk between her current abode and the lawless town for a good couple of weeks and she is making the most of that freedom. Hair pulled back in a tight braid and only a light cloak over her usual leathers for warmth, after all, Spring is well and truly on its way, Skylei walks. Today’s plan: Head into Kelay, pick up a wagon and head over into Cenril and visit the library. Now that Skylei was more or less unoccupied with friends or acquaintances; indeed, the half-elf has burnt near enough every bridge, snapped every olive branch and well and truly isolated herself, she is at least able to get on with her studies. Small blessings.

Tyler as fate would have it, is also walking. The pale human clothed in a plain white shirt, a sleeveless wolf-fur vest, a pair of cargo shorts, dirtied old boots and an oversized pair of cartoon-esque looking gloves holds onto the hilt of the katana resting in it's hold on his hip with his left hand. The right lifted across his chest to allow the palm to rest on a rather sore left shoulder. Having only just found his way back to the small village of Kelay, Tyler doesn't seem to have a destination of a goal. The now blue haired human has spent the past hour aimlessly wandering around in search of... something, or well, anything. His line of sight doesn't often break from the dirt road pressed beneath his feet excluding to catch a glimpse of passersby as he hears oncoming footsteps. Most of the strangers pay him no mind, those that do either offer a casual smile or nod while some scowl with malice in their heart. However, as he lifts his head this time he catches sight of Skylei. The familiar wood elf with muddied blood. The human doesn't have much time to think much less react and as such walks right past her. Though once she's a mere five or six feet away he stops in his tracks and pulls his right hand from his shoulder to examine the amulet hanging from his neck before turning on his heel to look to the back of her head. "Sky?" He calls out in a curious tone, hoping he wasn't mistaken in the identity of the elf.

Skylei would keep on walking until she hears her name spoken from very familiar lips. Her brow furrows, eyes clench and teeth bite down her lower lip for the few second after her feet stop walking. Then she dismisses all signs of anguish from her face and places her best emotionless mask on and turns to face the human. They haven’t seen each other in weeks. Skylei had simply assumed that, as her last words had been that he should make a decision and then let her know, that he had made his decision and that it didn’t involve her. Had it hurt? Yes, like a knife through the heart. But she’d come to terms with that and his sbsence from her life had provided her with enough time to ‘move on’. Of course, not that she could see him, dressed in his ridiculous clothing, right before her eyes, that knife wound in her chest starts to burn again, as though simply his face can set her heart alight in a torturous burning rage of conflicting emotions. None of this internal mess plays out on her emotionless visage and all that Skylei offers the human is what he had offered her; a name, “Tyler.” She wants to leave; run; get away from whatever this encounter might mean. But she stands routed to the spot and waits.

Tyler carries the same expression. His face glued to a bland lack of features with the exception of his eyes. The shining caramel hues are teeming with life and they bounce about in examination of Skylei's visage. His efforts prove futile as a coy, soft half smile takes over the left side of his face. Approaching the woman until they were at a more reasonable distance he finds himself digging through his thoughts to try and find something to say. While the wood elf does a splendid job of masking her emotions it's this exact charade that gives her away. Why isn't she happy, or much more likely angry? It's clear that something is wrong and Tyler already assumes it's his disappearance and notices the fact that she likely believes he ran off with the other woman. But in an effort to -not- make an ass of himself he doesn't touch on these subjects. Perhaps Skylei has simply moved on and forgotten he'd existed until this very moment. None of these thoughts plague him to the point of loosing his smile and despite his best efforts he is unable to present this as a casual meeting and play as if nothing happened. His face tints red as he exhales a soft chuckle at the situation and let's his eyes drop to the ground before rising back up to face Skylei. "It's good to see you." He states before biting on his lip for a moment. "You look like you've been keeping up well."

Skylei :: Well yes, considering the last time Tyler had seen Skylei she’d been an emotional wreck with a broken shoulder (again), she does look good. A clear face, unbruised and washed body, clearly eating and sleeping well; this might be the healthiest Skylei has ever been in Tyler’s presence. And if that wasn’t another reason why it was good that he had chosen someone else, then Skylei didn’t know what was. It’s at that thought that Skylei’s emotionless charade begins to wobble. She’s never been good at masking her emotions for long (it’s that blasted human blood that keeps working its way to the surface of the façade) and the first crack in her mask becomes visible; a slightly wobbling lower lip. Skylei has to fight ever so hard to stop that lip from wobbling at such a pace Now that she’s gurning like an idiot, Skylei gives up on masking her emotions. Those ever expressive eyes give way to clouds and her lips fall into an unplanned pout. Skylei wants an explanation for his absence; why hadn’t he sent a note, did he have no manners? She’s just too proud to ask for any kind of answers. And so she’d keep playing along with Tyler’s charade, biting the inside of her lip to stop herself from blurting out words of anger or affection, “And to see you. Things have been busy since you… went away. How have you been keeping?” She shuffles her feet awkwardly and keeps her gaze on anything and everything but Tyler; wasn’t the brick work on that house fascinating?

Tyler watches Skylei with absolute attention to detail, he spots her lip and the shift in her eyes the man is left with a growing smile as he watches her struggle to maintain. Reaching up to brush his blue bangs away from his eyes he shakes his head. "It's a long story." He turns to face the restaurant just down the road from them and nods towards it. "Why don't you let me tell you about it over lunch?" He notes the position of the sun and exhales again while correcting himself. "Dinner, rather." Those eyes of his have fallen in line with her own, the storm in them calling for him to remain hopeful. He doesn't budge nor does he falter. He simply awaits her answer with high hopes, with a light brace behind ready for them to be dashed.

Skylei visibly bites at her lip at this request. She’s torn in two but before her mind can fully form a debate and answer with logic, her lips are open “That would be lovely.” Skylei’s emotions betray her and the muscles in her back and forearms tighten with this realisation and as she trys desperately to reigh herself back in. Tyler is trouble. Stay away, Skylei, “But… shouldn’t you be getting home? I don’t want you to be keeping anyone waiting.” Skylei is visibly fishing for information here. She should be ashamed of her transparency but she’s not. She wants answers and she certainly doesn’t want to hear answers that she doesn’t want to hear in the horrendously public and visible setting that is Kelay restraint. She doesn’t have much dignity left thanks to this man and what little she does have she would like to maintain.

Tyler is laughing once more as Skylei makes mention of home and keeping someone waiting. "No one's waiting on me, Skylei." He takes a step forward and turns to face the direction she was already heading, his left palm releasing the hilt of the katana to rest against her shoulder and he motions to guide her to the restaurant. "And I don't have a home." His voice is still kind and relaxed. If she allowed it, he would head to the restaurant with her at his side. He wouldn't take her hand, and he would release his hold on her shoulder once she walked with him. The man can feel it in his bones. His choice had been felt and his goal was reached. Despite having yet to come across Emilia he knew it true, neither of the woman wanted him any longer.

Skylei manages a single word. “Oh.” Could she have explained the emotions that she was feeling at that moment? No. It was like the most intense cocktail of anger, irritation, relief and confusion. She felt nauseous. If Tyler hadn’t been near enough guiding her forward then she wouldn’t have moved. She certainly didn’t want to eat dinner. There’s one question that keeps whirling around her head, though she doesn’t ask it. If there was no one waiting for him, then why hadn’t he contacted her? Skylei hates the thoughts I her ead that buzz around, telling her things she doesn’t want to hear; Tyler didn’t, doesn’t care. Her hands slip into her pockets and she walks alongside the human. She has no words.

Tyler holds the door open for Skylei as the two enter the crowded restaurant. The man holds up two fingers to the hostess as she provides a warm-hearted smile to the two of them and offers a booth seat near a window looking out into the way. Explaining she'd be back in just a moment to take their orders as another couple entered, he sends her on her way with a thank you and a nod. The menu sitting before him receives only a glance before he looks to Skylei. "Get whatever you'd like, Sky. I'm paying." The human still holding a large sum of wealth from his lucky break not long ago here in Kelay. His attention is shifted to the window as he runs his tongue across the back of his teeth before speaking. "Y'know, if you have any questions. I'm happy to answer them." He's looking at her again. "Honestly." The hostess arrives to their table and offers to take their drink orders, "Water and a coffee for me please." Scribbling down his order she'd turn to Skylei.

Skylei hangs her head low as the pair enter the restaurant and lets Tyler deal with all of the arrangements. The male might think that Skylei’s sudden show of self-conscious shyness was on his behalf but no, Skylei really isn’t particularly well liked in this restaurant, most likely due to the fact that she had screamed blue murder at one of the waitresses on one of occasions she had frequented the place. All she says from the time between entering the doors and the hostess leaving to deal with their drinks order is a couple of mumbled ‘thank you’s and her order, “Just water, please.” She keeps her head low until the woman moves away from the table to handle their request. She’d mutter a comment as to Tyler’s suggestion that he would pay, “You don’t have any money, unless you’ve just found some gold lying on the street. I’ve been funding your broke ass since the day we met.” It’s only tinged with the slightest hint of bitterness. Then she would fall back into her sullen silence. Of course, she’d heard Tyler’s offer to answer her questions and mulls it over in her mind. She comes up with only one question that doesn’t come across as though she is a crazy person, or a psychopathic ex, without presenting the façade that she doesn’t care at all, “Where have you been?”

Tyler places his hand on the table and interlocks his fingers to cup his hands. Skylei's remark of the gold bringing out quite the smile just before her question arrives. He inhales through his nostrils as he leans back in the booth to prepare himself. "Wandering." He knows this isn't enough to satisfy Skylei's curiosity and continues promptly. "All around to be honest. I'd left for Frostmaw to visit Hildegarde. Came to find that I wasn't ready to come back here and so... I took the long way." The hostess arrives and hands the duo their respective drinks. She asks if they are ready to order but Tyler shakes his head and requests a few more minutes to look over the menu. Cupping the steaming cup of coffee the man takes a heavy drink. Bitter. Disgusting. He hated it. Yet, he keeps it in his hands ready to take another sip when needed. "I didn't pick her you know." He exclaims before moving back to her earlier remark. "And yes, you have. And yes, I did." He reaches down to his belt and tugs loose a medium sized coin purse before setting it on the table before Skylei. The purse containing no less than three-thousand gold coins. "I have more in the bank, much more, and I'm more than happy to pay you back for every good deed you've done for me if you'd so wish it." It's the first time Tyler's referred to himself, as well, himself. No mention of the crazed events as of late.

Skylei didn’t believe for one second that Tyler had just found the money, true as it might be. Her thoughts turn to his predecessor and the deeds that he had led himself to in his sick pursuit of gold. She feels as though she can see the two Tyler’s morphing back into one before her eyes and that thought makes her feel completely and utterly sick. She even pushes her water away as though the clear liquid will upset her stomach more than it already is. Instead she turns back to the elephant in the room. He states that he didn’t pick her and again, Skylei’s lips work faster than her brain, “You say that as though I should be grateful, but you didn’t pick me either.” Her words are just as bitter as his coffee. What more can she say? They’ve laid the situation clear as day and Skylei is visibly unhappy. Defeated, she would mutter out a couple more words in order to address the smaller of the two elephants in the room, “And I don’t want your damn coin, Tyler.” Did he not get that the fact that she had spent more money on funding him and keeping him alive and safe than she had spent on her own well-being since they met didn’t matter? Did he honestly think that the bitterness he carried was due to the fact that she’d wasted her money on him? Then he was more of a fool that she always thought he was. Her hands wrap around the glass of water but she doesn’t lift it to her lips. She doesn’t want to drink, she just needs to focus on something that doesn’t make her eyes burn with unfallen tears and her chest sting with regret.

Tyler doesn't flinch as Skylei lashes out at him. The words trying to bite into his flesh and drip venom into his veins, but it fails the human standing by his decision. Providing a slow nod he raises the coffee and sips at it again. His nose wrinkling in disgust this time before he wipes his upper lip and continues. "You're right. I didn't." He would attempt to make eye contact again, the mans gaze unnerving as he tries to see everything Skylei is attempting to hide. "And there's a reason for that." He sips from the mug once more before deciding he can no longer take the foul taste, sliding it off to the side to replace it with his water. "Let me ask you this, Sky. Since I've been gone, how many times have you found yourself stuck with hopeless drama, beaten to a pulp or worried sick over me? Excluding any thoughts you may've had when I initially left. I mean since the wound had scabbed and begun to heal." Leaning back in the booth again he offers her a kind smile while shaking his head. "I didn't pick you because it wasn't the right thing to do. The farm girl has no idea who I am. She's just been left out of an engagement and was simply using me as a rebound, I'm sure of it. The thought of her and I becoming something was a far-fetched one that I only wanted to believe when I couldn't handle being alone." His right boot slides forward to nudge against Skylei's heel. "You and I on the other hand had a chance. But that chance wasn't worth the risk. I've seen the things that have happened to us in the past, the stupid things we've put each other through." Waving his hand he proceeds, "And don't get me wrong I've seen the great things. The sweet things. But it was a constant stress, was it not? For you more so than I. You had friends that couldn't stand the sight of me, you constantly worried where I was getting the next payment and when the next time I was going to get impaled was." He's still grinning as he sips from the glass of water before setting it to the side as well. "The bottom line is that without me around, you've grown stronger. I mean, look at you, you've flourished." He nods to her appearance, his own vastly improved since the last they saw one another. "If I would've picked either of you it would've ended badly. Trust me, I'm not worth the time Sky." Picking the oversized glove from his right hand he places his palm down on the table just before her hand. "What I mean is, I'm not the man I used to be. I didn't want you to try and fall for someone completely different and end up hurt. I'm here now. Be it as your lover, friend, enemy or nobody. I'm here. We're both here, and we're in one piece." His nails dig at the wood for a moment before he pulls his hand back to slide it into the glove once more. The amulet around his neck pulsating with a low white light as he notes the hostess returning for their orders. "Now please, order something and then when the food gets here... You can say anything you need to say, don't hold back." The woman arrives and Tyler greets her as usual, ordering a slice of toast, some crackers and a bowl of beef and vegetable soup.

Skylei doesn’t order food. She offers Tyler two words in a stony cold tone, “I see” before turning back to the waitress. She waves her hand dismissively to the woman until she leaves, flat out refusing to comply with Tyler’s requests or any attempts to coerce her into eating food. Once the pair are alone again, Skylei would take a deep breath and repeat her first two words, “I see.” She doesn’t see. She doesn’t understand where this lunacy comes from and it hurts her deeply. Suddenly her tone changes and Skylei would sit up and look the human dead in the eye. “Well, you clearly have this all figured out. It’s just a shame that you decided that telling me you’d suddenly seen the light and knew what was best for us was simply an afterthought. Thank you so very much for leaving me with some deluded hope in my mind that maybe, just maybe, after all we’ve been through you might want to try and make this work.” Laced with sarcasm, dripping with venom, Skylei does the only thing that people who have been hurt so very deeply know how to do; she tries to hurt back. Cutting words are all she has, though she longs to lob the glass of water resting between her hands at his stupid face in an effort to make him hurt as badly as she does. But there’s no physical injury that she could induce that would cut as deeply as his words and so she doesn’t. She should get up and leave. But actually, the only thing that could possibly make her feel better is to scream and shout vile words of abuse that she doesn’t mean at Tyler until the dull aching pain is sated and she can crawl away and cry and be broken alone.

Tyler expresses his disappointment in her refusal to order with a stare and shake of the head. He allows her to say her piece, he refuses to cut her off and his expression fails to change from disappointment. Once she's finished he puts his elbows on the table and leans in to look right back at her. "Five minutes I've been back, and you're already upset." His eyes shift between hers. "My point is proven. Yet, your right with your sarcastic tone y'know? Maybe I should've told you. Maybe I should of just came right to your door step and said, "Hey Sky. I'm leaving. Sorry.", Perhaps that would've worked out much better than just letting nature take it's course. But yet, something keeps nagging at me. Maybe she's right, maybe I don't know or didn't know what I was doing. But then, that nagging comes back and details that this is exactly why I left." He hesitates as his expression finally changes from disappointment to one of assurance. "You hate me Skylei Lucindio, you might not know it... but you hate me." His food arrives quickly and he shares the same kind attitude to the waitress. Tearing open a pack of crackers and smashing them up into the soup he stirs them in with the spoon before breaking off a piece of the toast and dipping it before taking a bite. He speaks between chews while covering his mouth in courtesy. "Yet, despite all that hate, you still fail to realize that I'm here now. I could've stayed gone. I could've just left for good, hell I had the chance twice honestly." Chuckling as he swallows and glares to her, "What does that tell you, Sky?" Breaking the glare he goes back to the soup. He expects it. Soon she will lash out, twist his words and attempt to hurt him. He's played this scenario over and over many times. Yet here he is, with blue hair and that damn amulet just dangling from his neck.

Skylei can’t even handle this response. How dare he suggest that this is her fault? She has always waited faithfully for him. In spite of every evil and plague he has brought down on her, her loyalty has never faltered, her eye never strayed and her love never faded. So how can this be her fault? Still, the anger that bubbles within churns out a very different picture, “You’re so very right. I absolutely despise you. If I could go back to that day, that very first day when we met and remove you from my life, you’re damn right in thinking that I would. And I’m damn sure you would do the same. What have I ever brought you except confusion and misery? Hell, I’m the damn reason you exist! Without me, he never would have done as he did and you would simply be floating around, a spare soul in the ether of nothingness!” By this point Skylei is close to shouting and at least a fair few people within the restaurant are paying attention to the couple’s ‘argument’. She reaches out with her hand and thumps down attempting to knock the spoon from his grasp, or at least catch his attention, “You don’t even care! Look at you sitting there, eating your soup as if this is just another day. You won’t even give me the decency of your attention.” If he looked at her, at least for a few seconds she might calm down enough to utter a final few much calmer thoughts. “We’re destructive together, we destroy things, people, especially ourselves, and yet, you don’t seem to realise that, amidst all this chaos you’ve wrecked on my life, I’ve never walked away from you either. So I don’t hate you half as much as you think I do. There is and won’t ever be a person in this world that can hurt me like you do, and gods know you’ve hurt me. But you’re damn wrong if you think I’m letting you walk away without a fight.”

Tyler continues eating as she rants, offering her a glance every few words and pulling his lips back into a 'not bad' expression at each stinging insult. When she moves to knock his spoon away he pulls back and shakes his head is disapproval. The man never once showing signs of distress, upset or anger. His demeanor keeping calm the entire time until she's finished. To which he promptly takes another bite of his soup before shaking his head again and waving the spoon about. "Y'see, that's where you're wrong." Swallowing he would set the spoon in the soup and reach out to take hold of Skylei's flailing hand and grip it. "There is no me and him. It's just me. And to be blunt, I'd be happy to leave the past where it belongs. I'm giving you all my attention, Skylove, and I've gotta' say these fine people are doing the same." He smiles to her before releasing her hand and moving back to his soup. "Things have changed. I ain't no damn spare soul anymore, and you'd be wise to realize that. I'm Tyler, and I'm starvin'. So you can keep on with your insults until you bleed yourself dry of hate, then you can refuel with something to eat like I brought you here for in the first place." He shrugs as he goes to get another spoonful. "I ain't your ex, and I ain't opposed to being your next." With that, he's munching down once again.

Skylei scoffs as he tries to imply that there weren’t two Tyler’s. Well, if she’d ever heard a load of bull in her life, it was that. “That’s very damn easy for you to say. Whether you like it or not, whether you want to convince yourself that that’s your skin and not his and that you exist in your own right, it’s not true. You’re only a matter of weeks old, for god’s sake.” Exasperated she would throw her hands up in the air, as she fires off insults and abuse that don’t even have anything to do with their actual fight. What was she even initially angry with him for…? She couldn’t quite remember, she just knew that she wanted him to feel as crap as she did and that nothing she had done so far had reached that goal. She has managed to lower her voice to a normal conversational level so that, whilst the patrons might be able to overhear snippets, she wasn’t forcing the entire restaurant to tune into their personal soap opera. “There! I said it. You’re just some soul trapped in his body and you’ll never be able to fill the role that he played, and I was bloody okay with that. It wasn’t a replacement for him that I wanted. I wanted you.” Skylei is reeling from overbearingly angry to pathetic. This is pathetic. “And I already told you, I don’t want any damn food.” Hand clenches around the glass lifting it from the table and holding it sickeningly tight as though she is about to lob it in his direction. Then she sets it back down with a crash.

Tyler does the same as he has been. He continues eating and looks to her at key points. Her words are like knives but he doesn't allow them to pierce the skin. Once she's finished and busted the glass he is dipping his last bit of toast into the soup before shrugging as he takes a bite. "If that's the way you see everything, then I s'pose I made a mistake coming back here. So this time I'll be straight forward with you, I'll leave, and you can go on about smashing glasses and insulting people." Snagging a napkin from the side of the table he begins to pick up her mess. The hostess giving him an angered look, he knows it's time to leave and that they are no longer welcome in the shop. He offers a knowing nod as he continues to clean up before neatly stacking his mess to the center of the table. "Now - Would you like me to walk you wherever you were going, or would you prefer me to just take of?" Her attempts have failed. Tyler isn't distressed. He doesn't allow himself to be. This isn't what he wanted, but it's Skylei's final choice and he's gone with it. He plans to flee back to the north at the weeks end but until then, would gladly escort her. He also leaves the pouch of coin on the table in a massive tip for the crew.

Skylei loses. Tyler is unflappable and perfect and, yet again she is the one having an embarrassing freak out bitch fit like the lunatic she clearly is. Of course, it’s hard to keep your lunatic side under control when your mind is fluid with that of a feral lycanthrope. In times of emotional distress, Skylei has found more and more that Senka’s influence seeps into her psyche and the urge to hurt, destroy and simply go on a murderous rampage becomes harder and harder to control. When she does manage to pull herself together all she can see is the havoc that she has wrecked around the pair. There’s smashed glass and she’s being glared at as though she’s just committed murder. Skylei hadn’t exactly been welcome in this restaurant before, and now she doubted she would ever be welcome again. She’s flustered and embarrassed by Tyler, for the first time in his life seems able to handle the situation without any help on her behalf. Instead of responding she would grab for his hand, not in an aggressive manner. Indeed the way she reaches for his hand simply screams, ‘please I need you to get me out of here’ in a way that words wouldn’t have been able to. Whether he let her take his hand or not, Skylei wouldn’t reply until they were outside and safely away from the glaring eyes of the people who worked within the peaceful restaurant she had destroyed in her rage. “I...” Skylei falters and has to start again, “I don’t want either of those options.”

Tyler would allow Skylei to take his hand just as he's finished with the mess and promptly rises to his feet to move out of the restaurant. His movement and pace casual as he offers a mouthed apology to the waitress. Once outside the night has crept upon the couple and Tyler's free hand is already extended with a palm to the sky allowing the familiar sight of mana falling from his flesh as his gloves sparks a single flame to life. Retracting his hand the flame remains in place, hovering a few feet from the human as he turns to face Skylei with a disproving look. "Then stop acting like a child, and think about what I said."

Skylei wants to object. She wants to tell Tyler that she’s not acting like a child and that if she had scorned him in the way that he had just scorned her then he likely wouldn’t have reacted well either. Most of all, she wants to tell him about the beast that’s sharing her mind, that forces her, in situations where she would have usually been able to keep her rage under control, to lose all control. But what would be the point of any of those things? To object would be foolish, to deny would be a lie and to explain would likely leave Tyler running for the hills. She forgets, of course, that this man doesn’t know her. He has never seen her sweet and loving side. All he knows is broken, angry, hurting Skylei and, had she realised this perhaps she would have sympathised with the way he treated her. Instead she drops his hand and folds her arms across her chest. Eyes are cast briefly to the flame and then down to the ground. She bites her lower lip, internally fighting the urge to tell him to put that thing out, but instead utters only a word, “Alright.” For now, at least, Skylei has control of her own psyche.

Tyler provides a quick nod as Skylei submits and allows her gaze to fall to the dirtied path. Caramel hues casting up to the clear night sky taking in the twinkle of the stars and the bright planet off of the horizon before moving to face the establishment behind them and finding a crowd looking out the windows gossiping on and on about the duo. "Well then." He speaks before turning back to the mud blooded elf. "I s'pose I'm fresh out of ideas of where to go or what to do now. So, how about you take point?" As Skylei stands with her arms crossed and head facing down in a defeated slump, the human offers the polar opposite. His posture is bright and high as his hands rest on his hips with both thumbs running through belt loops of the cargo shorts, the gloves wrinkling up from the pressure. The levitating fire illuminating his hair in a way that it shines like the very mana that runs through his veins. Yet, despite his clear conscious and proud standing he looks to Skylei for direction. This is no mere coincidence. Seeing her surrender so easily, the man still feels disturbed by her presence. She doesn't seem the same as the night he was attacked by the wolf pack, a night much like this one only much, much colder. She seemed much more aware and perhaps reasonable if only just. He provides the opportunity for her to pick herself up and reassert her presence as a woman and companion, to feel as if she is more than just a tag-along and maybe provide some contribution to the figurative team. Whether she takes this opportunity of course, is her own choosing.

Skylei doesn’t lift her eyes from the ground yet but lifts a hand to gesture down the path in the direction of the tavern, “I’m going to Cenril.” Her direct assertion seems to suggest that she doesn’t see the duo as a team any more. She, and only she, is going to Cenril. It seems as though Tyler isn’t even given figurative consideration in this plan until she speaks again, “You’re welcome to accompany me on the walk, if you wish.” Skylei lifts her head and meets Tyler’s eyes and offers a shrug. That shrug states that whether Tyler wants to accompany her or not - she’s going. Pretending that she doesn’t care what he does leaves her coming across as cold. It’s a strange change, and Tyler’s already picked up on it. Skylei is like fire personified; she rages, she burns, she’s bright and warm and uncontrollable. The new front she wears, if it is a front, is icy, hard and uncaring. She shrugs once more and then turns and begins to walk away. If he wanted to follow her, he would. If he didn’t… well, Skylei was tired of waiting anyway.

Tyler's eyes are shifting between Skylei's though she is hard pressed to hold his gaze. Her tone is heard and understood. The ice that runs through her veins is bringing the human to a realization that Skylei is not the person he knew her as. Though Tyler has only known her for a short time, the message is clear. They aren't friends. He remains still as she provides little time for him to make up his mind and continues toward the metropolis to the east. As he stands with his hands hanging by his side he makes the choice to let her walk alone. 'You tried.' his inner voice calls to mind. As she moves away carelessly the human is left standing outside the restaurant. Raising his left hand, the flaming orb comes into contact with his glove and is quickly diminished. The man promptly turns on his heel and escapes to the west. Alone.