RP:Speechless

The Slippery Eel

If you want to meet local people this is the place to be. Everyone from the lowest field hand to the e Tenebris themselves frequent the inn. Smoked eels hang from the ceiling, their preparation a closely guarded local secret, something to do with the dark, warm places they are cured. You are most likely to find friendly wenches serving drinks, keen to earn the extra gold. There's a jovial air to the inn apart from the darkest corner where a group of men, who look like smugglers, talk quietly, heads together. Two off-duty guardsmen occasionally glance at them from their seats at the bar. A door lies at the back of the inn. This leads to a large square with buildings running off it and a sandy track winding South. A battered board gives some messages posted about the local area.

Skylei hasn't seen in Tyler in days. She probably would have come to look for the human sooner after her return to Chartsend had she not been so distracted by the return of the bard to the apartment that the two shared. Making her way into the tavern she would mutter a couple of words to the girl behind the bar to ascertain exactly where Tyler was in the Eel. It takes her a good few descriptive words and gestures to convey exactly who she was looking for as the girl daren't use names. With information conveyed and appropriate response garnered, the half-elf would nod in thanks and made her way over to the rooms for rent. Reaching the one that she has been assured that Tyler was in, Sky pauses and knocks once, twice, three times to let him know that she was there. Today she is dressed rather nicely, having given most of her everydaywear to a certain lycan a few days earlier. She looks healthy, cheerful and almost pretty; a stark contrast to Tyler. Pausing for a moment, Skylei waits for a response to come from within. Whether she got one or not she would attempt to push the door open.

Tyler is surprised by the sudden knock on the door and the scene before him shatters to pieces, scattering upon the blanket as caramel hues quickly dart to the door. A brow is raised as he moves to reach for his shirt at the end of the bed but is stopped in his tracks by a sharp pain through his right ribs. Squinting and offering a whine in an attempt to halt the pain he curses beneath his breath before returning to his original position and calling out in a dry, scratchy voice; "Come in?" He tried to fool himself with thoughts of "Who could it be?" but he the male knew full well the only person who would be looking for him in Chartsend. A rush of excitement and horror came over him as he longed to see the face of his beloved wood elf once more but also dreaded the thought of her reaction upon his battered form. A moments thought is given to the idea of cloaking himself in an illusion to look perfectly healthy but he figures that would only make it worse in the long run. Instead, he simply sighs and allows all negative emotions to escape from him. Half a smile even falls across his complexion as he suddenly finds a hint of humor in the irony of the entire situation. Oh how he wished it was just some self-battered hands once again.

Skylei :: As Skylei sticks her head around the door, the bright smile on her face fades to an expression of concern and shock. She slides the rest of her body around the door without opening it much wider and closes it behind her. Leaning back against the stable surface the half-elf pushes one hand against her mouth in the hope it will hide the look of shock. It doesn't. Eyes scan his form, noting each and every injury with an increased worried fervour. His neck is the thing that bothers her most. Eventually the hand falls from her face, revealing that her mouth is ever so slightly open with pure shock. She doesn't move from the door; she couldn't move even if she wanted to. Mouth is opened to speak, but no words come to her tongue and it is swiftly shut again. That same hand reaches up and grips the back of her neck as she struggles for something - anything - to say. She has only been away for a few days, damn it! A few lousy days and he looked like this. Why had she not come to find him sooner? Cursing internally, the half-elf criticises every choice she has made in the past few days. She should have known that something was wrong when she arrived home and didn't find him waiting on her doorstep. One word eventually falls from opened lips, "Tyler."

Tyler examines Skylei's reaction with a surprisingly cheerful look in his eyes. A chuckle escapes from his beaten vocals and as if sub-consciously mimicking the wood elf his hand finds its way to the back of his neck and begins to rub as he drops his gaze for a moment and continues to laugh. Upon lifting his head to face her once more his cracked voice escapes in a painful display; "Surely this can't be a surprise anymore?" Still showing a toothy grin his hand moves from his neck to pat at the open spot beside him on the bed. "Come'ere then. It's been ages, I want to touch and feel with hugs and what not." As his voice strained he reached over to the bottle of water and forced himself to take a tiny sip and winced as it rushed down. Setting the beverage back upon the nightstand he continued to stare at Skylei as he awaited her approach with eager anticipation. Despite four nights of living hell, not a single memory managed to cloud his mind as she stood before him.

Skylei remains backed up against the door as though Tyler might break if she takes another step towards him. Eventually she drops her hand from her neck, though it quickly makes its way back up to her mouth and she absentmindedly begins chewing on her nails. She would take a few seconds to stare at the spot on the bed before shaking her head once or twice. She doesn't trust herself to move, speak or even open her mouth just in case she bursts into tears. Her face is screwed up; it wouldn't take Tyler much brainpower to work out that the Halfling is fighting the urge to cry like a small child. He was right; she should be used to coming back to Tyler and finding him in this state. When had she ever seen him completely intact, save for the very first time they met? Why had she left him? If she hadn't, perhaps - just perhaps - she could have prevented this. But she couldn't say any of this to him, however much she wants to. She just stands there and shakes her head at him looking as though she is about to cry.

Tyler keeps his sights on Skylei and as she trembles he finds himself having the urge to simply get up and hug the woman, but he knows his legs won't allow it. Instead, he keeps his cheerful expression and speaks once more; "Well, are you just going to stand there all day?" He tries to play it off as if he doesn't notice her emotional state but after allowing his eyes to fall for just a moment he speaks again; "It's alright, Sky. I'm fine. Your fine. We're fine." His palms press into the mattress as he forces himself to lean forward and grunts as he does so. "Stop holding it in, it's only gonna' make it worse. You can let it out." He begins to bend his knees in so that he can sit with crossed legs and he resists the urge to let out another whimper, though his stomach releases an audible growl. Once he is in an seated position, demonstrating that he can at least move himself about and sit up without a prop he pats the spot beside him once more. "Either you come to me, or I'll come to you." Placing his right elbow upon his knee he props his head with a balled fist to the chin and stares to Skylei, still refusing to show any sign of defeat or negativity within his eyes.

Skylei screws up her face into one of defiance and after a few seconds manages to choke out a few defensive words, "Not holding anything in." This obvious lie sounds as though it comes out of the mouth of a sulky child and her face looks as though she has been smacked several times. She can't keep this up for long and within seconds of his threat has taken the few steps across the room and she has sat on his bed besides him. Her back is turned to him so that she doesn't have to look at his battered and broken body. With it out of sight, Sky can push it somewhat out of mind and thus she is able to open her mouth without wanting to burst into tears or needing to put on a face of defiance, "What happened, Tyler? For the love of the gods don't tell me you managed to do this to yourself training?" She is thinking of the last fight that the two had, praying that he had not managed to cause this much agony to himself. She highly doubts it, but she had to ask.

Tyler sat idle while Skylei approached the bed side and allowed her remark to fall upon deaf ears. It isn't until she speaks to him in questioning of his beaten state that he offers three simple words; "Close your eyes". Her back to him, his right hand finds it way to her back and would slowly slide up past her neck and his fingertips would glide through the roots of her hair until his palm rests at the back of her skull. A deep breath is inhaled as he begins to feed his mana into her body allowing the events of the past few days to literally play out before her in her mind. It starts with Tyler walking through Chartsend alone, the man unarmed and tired, he is caught off guard by multiple hooded foes and awakes to find himself chained by the neck to a cool stone wall within a damp cave. The leader of the group, a drow, repeatedly taunts him and provides relentless insults to his character with ruthless assaults to the disarmed man including repeated punches to the face that busts Tyler's lips and causes him to bite his tongue, a flow of blood exiting his maw only to be barricaded by a filthy cloth that the drow pulls from within his own undergarments. Another joins Tyler's side in a massive steel cage, it's the woman from the other night, the one who had offered the two of them cloaks during their argument over Tyler's training. A fast forward of the next few days is given providing glances of the drow caring for the warrior woman while abusing Tyler, talks of selling them off or executing the male and taking the female to slavers in Gualon. Other members of the smugglers are shown, the two most dominant a Preklek who is constantly referred too as Halifax and a giant green skinned Ogre by the name of Og. The imagery is brutal and Tyler feels a bit of guilt as he shows it to Sky, his defenseless body constantly assaulted and spit upon for fun. As the final day approached, shouting can be heard and a ruckus ensues, only flashes of Tyler's memory show him being pulled by the collar on his neck to the top of the caves head and tossed to the dirt below with the woman following. A black veil covering the cave face as the drow, an elf and a dark hooded figure stand atop and finally the figure of Skylei's old friend Linken breaking the collar around his neck and then escorting him home with the aid of the woman. As the play is concluded his hand would fall back to his side as he smirks and leans back against the headboard once again, his own weight causing him discomfort. "It's been a hell of a week. The elf saved us. I came here. I slept. Now, I'm sitting here with you." A sharp sigh is provided before he attempts to lighten the mood with an idle joke; "How've you been?"

Skylei doesn't want to make jokes. She had done as he asked, closing her eyes and allowing her mind to be fed a constant assault of images of the man she loved battered, beaten and broken. She feels as though she might vomit at some of the scenes that are broadcast into her mind and from behind her closed eyes a number of tears begin to fall. She wants to beg him to stop; to take those images away and make everything better. But what has been seen cannot be unseen and when she finally opens her eyes and the half-elf twists her body to view Tyler's injuries all she now sees are the faces of the drow (as if she needs another reason to hate the entire race), the preklek and the ogre. Frustration at her own uselessness rises within her and the half-elf thumps the table on which Tyler's drink rests on. Such force is put behind the fist that the bottle physically jumps up from the table as the two collide with a dull thud. Only then does the half-elf burst into guilty tears. Loud, hacking sobs fill the room and the girl buries her head in her hands; one of which is now a lovely shade of red, utterly ashamed of her inability to control her emotions.

Tyler jolts at the sudden impact from Skylei's blow. She bursts into tears and Tyler's heart finally begins to feel heavy the happy demeanor fading as he begins to adjust himself, despite the pain, until he is at her side at the edge of the bed. He slides his left arm underneath her elbow and moves his hand to hers pulling it away from her face until he can hold it in his own. "We're alright, Sky..." he whispers out as he begins to rub her arm with his free hand. "I'll get a healer in here soon, then I'll be right as rain and I'll... I'll... I guess I'll just keep my head down for a while. Resist so much as a paper cut." His chest rises with three quick hits due to a stressful sigh as he finds himself having to close his eyes to resist his own tears forming at the sight of Skylei so defeated. "This is nothing. It's over." Not quite sure of what he was saying the man only wished to ease Skylei's obvious pain. He cared little for his own wounds, finding it much more unbearable to see the wood elf so distraught.

Skylei barely notices as Tyler pulls her hand away from her face. She is too upset to object, or to lie and tell him that she is okay and that he doesn't need to worry about her. As he comforts her Sky simply continues to sob. She can't get those images Tyler granted her out of her head, no matter how many times, or how hard she tries. The half-elf is crying so hard that she begins to hiccup and each sob is now punctuated by an awkward, undignified hiccup. In spite of her misery Sky cannot help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the cacophony of sound she is creating. She would raise the hand that holds his to her mouth and place a kiss on the back of his hand. Then she carries on crying.

Tyler begins to feel his stomach churn and not from the lack of nourishment. As Skylei presses a kiss to the back of his hand and he continues to stare while tears flow heavily from her eyes he can only feel like scum. His mind traverses back to a time not long ago when no one on this earth or any other would spare the man even a single thought. Yet, here sits the love of his life in pain because of his own doing, though it is unbeknown to him. As she cries his teeth grit tightly as he ponders long and hard on his next few words. He wonders if he will mean them, if he will honestly mean them and if he will regret them. It's something he never wants to say, something that kills him inside but he says it anyway. Lips part and an open mouth hesitates before his voice carries out a painful tone; "You can leave, Skylei." A hard, rough swallow is given as tears begin to fall from his eyes though he makes no audible sounds of crying apart from the occasional gasp of air. "You don't have to deal with all of this." His hand remains locked with hers though the caress to her arm is put on hold while he moves to scratch where Javier's sword had pierced his torso and then rubbing at his neck where the deep sore lay it's mark. "I wouldn't blame you." His nails dig across the sore and small pockets of blood begin to rise to the surface of his flesh as he drops his hand back to his lap. "I don't want you to worry about me. I don't want you to hurt. It's all I've managed to do since we've met, cause you panic, frustration and pain..." He pauses while he berates himself for his choice of words before repeating himself; "You can go."

Skylei is so shocked to hear these words that the sobs dissolve into nothingness almost instantly. Eyes are wide, as she turns to look Tyler in the eyes; to try and work out what he is trying to say. Does he want her to leave? Is her crying that irritating that he simply cannot bear to be in her company for a second longer? Utterly confused the half-elf scans his face, searching for any sign of emotion on his face. And she finds it quickly and easily. The words he speaks are not what he wants; not at all. He is trying, yet again, to give her a get out of jail free card. She could get up, leave and never look back and it would all be his doing. And she considers it, if only for a second. Sky feels as though the past weeks with Tyler have led her to shed an ocean of tears and more. She has felt more emotions than she thought she had; from the most amazing highs when he had told her that he loved her to the terrible lows when she believed him dead. And so her answer is obvious, "I couldn't leave you. Not even if I wanted to."

Tyler held his breath while he awaited Skylei's reply and an exhale is given as she speaks followed by his head falling into her shoulder and the laughter returns to the human once more. "Thank. The. Gods." The feeling of weight being lifted from his shoulders is immense as relief washes over him. The hand that had scratched his neck finds its way back to her arm once more and both hands grip their holds tightly. "I love you, Skylei. I really, really... -really- do." Another hard swallow is given as his throat aches with each word. Refusing to pick his head up from Sky's shoulder he simply applies the rest of his weight and eventually slides off falling onto his side into the beds comforting embrace. A long whine is given as he picks his feet up to lay on the bed, his torso now rested behind her back causing him to bend her arm in a surely uncomfortable way as he refused to release her hand. He pressed himself not to make some snide comment about how he didn't much care for the gods as he took Skylei's constant reference to Sven as a sign that she was likely a believer. Instead of mocking the creators he decided to take the conversation in a different direction as best he could with half of his mouth burrowed into the covers. "The one that came to help me... You know him, don't you? I think his name was... Linkor? Lincook? Summin' or the other like that. A real "pretty boy" type deal."

Skylei realises how uncomfortable Tyler must be in such an odd position and, kicking off her boots, swings her legs up onto the bed beside her. Then she lies down beside him, basking for a few moments in his embrace before opening her mouth to refute Tyler's nonsensical rubbish, "Linken. His name is Linken. Gods, Tyler, you've met him before, surely you could remember his name." Another reference to the gods. It seems as though Sky cannot get through a single sentence without making some reference to them and nor should she. A good elven-bred girl such as herself had been taught of the gods since before she could even speak or walk and had been taught the correct rituals and rites so that she knew them by heart. Years of estrangement from enclave life has done nothing to dull the importance of these customs in the girls mind and, though she rarely speaks of her faith, it is clear how close it lies to her heart. Sighing the half-elf would continue this new line of conversation, "What does it matter what his name is?"

Tyler shrugs before laying his right arm across her torso and closing his eyes while he speaks. "Yeah, I met the sly bastard. I never caught his name though. It's important because I need to properly thank him... I didn't too much care for conversation yesterday when he sprang us." The human moves his head closer to Skylei's as he feels exhaustion setting over his beaten body, he yawns. "Uggh. Besides. He seems like a nice guy. Maybe I'll have someone that I can properly speak too besides you sometime soon."

Skylei moves in a little closer to Tyler as he places his arm over her body. She finds herself yawning in echo with his own utterance and rolls her shoulders backwards to stretch her tired muscles. Shaking her head and scrunching her face up to hide the fact that she is tired the half-elf continues with her conversation, "Mmm, I've known him for years. He lives over near Kelay. It's strange that you hadn't met him sooner to be honest; but he's nice and you could do much worse than him as a friend." The girl flexes her ankles, kicking each foot back and forward to keep herself from falling asleep. She is so comfy in this embrace that she could easily fall asleep, in spite of the fact that she is not truly tired. She remembers something that she meant to tell him earlier, before she saw the state of his body, "Joss is back. She came back to the apartment yesterday."

Tyler had begun to drift to sleep his ears perking at the mention of Josleen. Confused at first it takes him a moment to recall who the aforementioned was until it clicks and he utters a very soft spoken; "Oh." His right arm pulls tighter around Skylei's waist as he moves his head closer and nuzzles into her neck. "I assume you two had a reunion then? Any stories from her trip?"

Skylei would have shaken her head but, what with Tyler's head resting on her neck, any movement like that would have likely crushed him or at least given him a faceful of hair. So she keep her head still and with another yawn of relaxation would offer a verbal response instead, "Aye, it was good to see her again. It'll be nice to have her back around the apartment. From the sounds of things she won't mind you being around… y'know, if you can bear to be in the place with the two of us and such little space." Sky was glad that Tyler had decided to stay in Chartsend but, if she had her way, then the two of them would be sleeping in the same place; and she did not intend to stay in the Eel when she had a bed (sofa) waiting for her only a few streets away. This was also Sky's subtle way of telling Tyler that Joss knew of his existence. If he was awake enough to realise this.

Tyler had once again nearly fell asleep but as Skylei speaks his eyes jolt open and he slowly picks his head up to stare down at her in confusion. Caramel hues bounce rapidly back and forth in search of whatever it was Skylei was trying to tell him as if he sought to steal the information from her eyes though it finally clicks; "She knows I exist?" He doesn't allow her time to answer instead simply biting his lip before offing a "Huh." and collapsing back down to her side. "Well then... I guess I've got to meet your room mate..." His arm is wrapped around her once more as he readies himself to sleep. Truth be told, he was nearly ready to give up his identity issues. The night Skylei acted as if she didn't know him nearly killed the man, for some reason a wave of jealousy had rushed over him as she interacted with Linken and he wanted nothing more than to toss his arm around her in claim. Perhaps it was time to move on and face social anxiety rather than letting it run him over... or, well, try at least.

Skylei blushes a little, the red rising from her neck to the bottom of her cheeks. Her head is curled into her chest to it seems likely that Tyler would not spy her embarrassment in this instance, "Aye, I made a mistake. I went out of town for a few days and I assumed that you wouldn't be locked up in a cave somewhere." Sky scowls as these unpleasant thoughts return to her mind. Pushing them away in favour of continuing her story, "Anyway, I left a note for you on the door in case you came by looking for me. And whilst you didn't find it, she did. It wasn't exactly subtle; I mean, I wrote your name on it assuming it would be you who found it. So as soon she came through the door I got bombarded with questions as to exactly who 'Tyler' was." Sky doesn't share what Joss' opinion on the whole matter had been. There was no need to burden him with that.

Tyler exhales quickly through his nostrils in a show of humor. The man simply moving to kiss Skylei on the cheek in reassurance that he wasn't upset with her giving him up so freaking easily. After all, he'd only been chained to a wall for god sake, notes were the last thing on his mind. Though he failed to find any sort of ill will at the thought of someone else besides Skylei knowing his true identity or his relationship with her. He instead reaches over to the side of the bed and pulls half of the comforter up and tosses it over the two of them before resuming his embrace and allowing himself to drift into a light sleep. The thoughts of Halifax and the slavers replaced with excitement to be with Skylei once again and nervousness of having to meet Josleen in the future. What if she was bitter? Rude? Hell, worse, what if she was actually nice? He had no idea how he would react and decided for once to just let fate decide how things would play out.

Skylei hadn't intended to give him up so easily, honest! She'd assumed that he would have found the note within a day or two and taken it down. And she certainly hadn't expected Josleen to come back at that exact moment. It was all just an awful ill-fated coincidence. "You'll have to come over soon. She wants to meet you", the Halfling murmurs as he covers the two with the comforter and lies back down beside her. She would wiggle in a little closer and close her eyes, drifting off just as he has done.