RP:Surrender

It’s been three days since Skylei’s conversation with Hildegarde that has prompted this recent bout of mania. The sun has just reached its peak in the sky when she eventually makes her way through Xalious; Xalious is not the first place she had visited. She’s barely slept since she left Frostmaw. Her clothes are worn and dirty from travel and the single braid she wears her hair in is fraying and her hair attempting to escape from its confines. Big black circles rim her eyes, though those eyes are filled with new steel as she spots the human sat at the foot of the tree. There’s no ceremony in her greeting. There isn’t even any acknowledgement of the awkward way that they had left each other. Perhaps it’s a blessing that Skylei is too exhausted to acknowledge this because they have work to do and she’s not willing to delay. It does, however make her brusquer in her actions than she would be on any other day. Skylei grabs hold of his hand, giving him no choice in the matter of whether he was going to stand or not. It’s stand, or have his arm ripped off; Skylei has always been the physically stronger of the duo, “Get up and put that down. It’s the middle of the bloody day.” Biting her lip, Skylei attempts to tone down the aggression from hyper-bitch to normal, and perhaps offer an explanation for her violence, though she keeps a grip on his hand. “We’ve got a problem and we need to fix it.”

Tyler is enjoying the warmth of the spring afternoon as he rests at the base of the Xalious tree with a bottle of ale in hand, and quite a few empty ones scattered around him. His eyes are closed and head swaying back and forth in rhythm with the tune carried by a near by hobbit bard who is playing a mean lute. His peace is interrupted by the sudden appearance of an all too familiar woman. As she speaks his eyes are squinting to try and block the rays from the sun and he is setting his bottle down though he knocks it over as Skylei takes hold and jerks him to his feet. The man is dressed in his usual attire, though a bit cleaner than Skylei. One big difference would be the art that now lay claim to Tyler's left arm that would be in full view of the half elf as she jerks him to his feet. Where simple flesh once lay now resides a beautiful work of art. Calming blues, silent blacks, burning reds and shimmering whites lay claim in a full sleeve replication of the night sky above hollow. Planets and stars decorate the human nicely in one of the most professional jobs ever performed in Hollow. Though Tyler is now standing he's still a bit dizzy and confused. Blinking rapidly he's tuning his focus onto Skylei and would provide a simple nod. "Alright. Let's fix it." He states without any more thought. He's staggering slightly but isn't drunk enough to be without his mind. He bends over to pick his Katana from the ground stumbles into a trip but catches himself before fastening the blade to his belt and turning to Skylei. He waves her onward expressing for her to move forward.

It’s only now that she actually speaks with him that Skylei realises that every piece of advice she has ever received from every single person regarding this man has been completely correct. He is a useless waste of space and she is a gazillion times better off without him. Yet she continues to ignore the one golden piece of advice; Skylei, stay away from Tyler. For the first time in her entire life Skylei actually seriously considers this advice. All she has to do is walk away. It’s just that she can’t. Instead, she rolls her eyes and drops his hand as though it’s red hot. In spite of this, she doesn’t do as he expects. She stands still and waits, lifting an eyebrow, “Do you even know what I’m talking about?

Tyler can feel the reaction within Skylei and the man's face quickly turns into one of disgust. "What the piss does it matter what I know? You said we've got something to take care of, well, god dammit let's take care of it!" The human's frustration comes from no where as he shakes his head and backs away from Skylei holding up his hands in surrender and shaking his head. "Actually, y'know what? Screw you. Screw you and your problems. You came here looking for me right? You said you've got a problem and that it needed fixin', I said let's do it and you suddenly start giving off a vibe of just utter disgust and upset." Tyler's unfastening his Katana again and throws it back to the grass. "Why don't you take your problem and shove it up your ass along side yer' head, Skylei. I'm not playing this stupid *explicit* anymore." The man is already collapsing back to the ground and promptly snatches his bottle only to find the contents drained. He responds to this by tossing the garbage a few feet away from him and shaking his head violently while his gloved fingers begin to dig into the dirt at his side. Why the man had blown up so easily is just as much a mystery to himself. The recent encounter with Josleen still fresh in his mind and making him want to vomit. He doesn't pay Skylei any attention now. He merely stares off into the distance.

Don’t wake the beat, Tyler. There’s a demon dressed as a wolf haunting Skylei’s subconscious and she likes to come out to play. She literally has to suppress a bestial growl in her throat before she snarls back, “Do you think I’d come looking for you if I had -any- other options? Do you think I even want to look at you? Because, trust me, if I -never- see you again after this, that’ll be too damn soon. So stop acting like a spoiled brat and grow the hell up and listen. How are we supposed to fix anything if you don’t even know what I’m asking of you?” Tyler’s probably still looking off into the distance like the hormonally imbalanced adolescent that he secretly is but either way Skylei doesn’t have a choice but to attempt to continue. She could try to play nicely-nicely and win the human round but he’s such an immature idiot, she doesn’t even think it’s worth attempting that method, “Down in Kelay, the paper; I take it you’ve seen it because everyone else has. That thing has my face on it. Now you can thank my gods’ forsaken ex-fiancé for that, but unfortunately for you, you wear his skin and you are just as implicated as I am in this crap.” She doesn’t even both to give him a summary of the incident. Everyone knows what happens by now. It’s plastered everywhere, after all. “The only thing that I know for certain is that he had more money after that incident, and given he was constantly living off of my back I can only assume that the two things are related.” Now she loses her temper having likely received nothing in terms of response from the idiot human, “For the love of the gods, look at me Tyler. Do you even understand what I’m talking about?”

Tyler allows Skylei to finish before he picks himself and the Katana back up once more, not bothering to strap it in this time. He moves to her side and brings his face very close to hers. "You don't want to see me? Good. You want this problem taken care of? Fine. I'll handle it. Until then. Stay the hell away from me." Tyler doesn't hide his growl. The human's intoxication has mostly faded through his anger and he's now heading off to Kelay Tavern. Her words had struck him like knives, and the man suddenly found himself placing Skylei across the line from a nobody to an enemy. His destination was Kelay Tavern, the human had a plan to make this all go away. He completely ignores if she attempts to follow him on his way to the tavern. After a while he finally finds his destination and makes his way into the tavern and promptly walks to the board. He snags a piece of loose parchment and uses the provided quill to scribble a note; 'The town crier recently reported a story of some wretched soul being abducted in this town. Her assailant is me. My name is Tyler Dyalus, and I am a mutant among humans. I have the ability to create illusions out of thin air. I used these to lure the woman into my trap and capture her. She is gone. The woman in the sketch was merely a replication of my mind. This deed was performed without any aid. My confession comes with the acceptance of any punishment that may come my way. This town has no law, so I will gladly await the arrival of any who wish justice for the lady of Kelay. I'm not hard to find. Look for the drunk with the blue hair. I will provide a small warning, those who attempt to take me will not do so without a fight. Come prepared.' Once he's finished the letter, Tyler quickly tacks it to the board and turns to the patrons of the bar. He cries out to them. "My name is Tyler Dyalus. I am a guilty man. A slaver, a brute and a drunk." His slender index finger extends to point to the board. "My confession stands for all to see. So take note, and make your choices commoners of Kelay, for you might not have a second chance." That said, the man moves to the bar with little interest and orders a full glass of straight vodka from Mesthak as the tavern comes to life with chatter of the odd confession, the patrons rushing to crowd around the board, making any attempt to remove the note one of great effort. Mesthak gladly serves the man and grunts something out about his honesty and stupidity. Tyler holds up the glass in cheers before chugging it.

Skylei had followed after Tyler for the entire journey, oscilating between shouting abuse, begging him to listen and simply uttering his name at various volumes and pitches. None of these things have succeeded at getting his attention. It’s as they reach the tavern that Skylei freezes. Tyler enters as though he doesn’t have a care in the world but Skylei is terrified. Her face is a known face. She’s been actively avoiding Kelay and particularly the tavern for that reason. Those few seconds of panicked debate cost her time and by the time that she enters Tyler is already making his confession. Now, Skylei is utterly confused by this entire incident. There’s a beast in her mind, yes, but after this incident Skylei is starting to think she might not be the only one. This isn’t how Tyler behaves. This really wasn’t what she had in mind, but, yet again, Tyler and his pig headed ignorance had got in the way and caused the entire situation to blow up in both of their faces. With the clamour of nearly all of the patrons around the message board, Skylei can easily reach the self-professed criminal whose response to professing his guilt is to… have another drink? What the hell is going on? She reaches a hand to her head and runs her fingers through her hair silently. What is she meant to say? Is she meant to thank him for absolving her guilt? Hit him for being such a hard-headed idiot? Beg him to take it back? There is one final option… if he’ll even listen. “You shouldn’t have done that.” Is the first tentative attempts to actually converse with him over the clamour of shouting of the tavern goers as they repeat passages of Tyler’s message to each other, “And I swear if you don’t take that back right now, then I’ll profess my own guilt in exactly the same way. That picture is of my face, after all.” How is this even a threat? Tyler clearly couldn’t give less of a crap about her, so why is her threatening to take the blame going to change anything? But desperate Skylei is desperate. “He died so that you could live a better life in his stead, and you’re damn well not wasting it.”

Tyler doesn't offer Skylei eye contact, he doesn't even turn his head. Elbows resting on the bar the human keeps his vodka tightly in his hold and takes another hit, his face pulling back in disgust at the strength and stench of the drink. Shaking it off her merely reaching up to his lips and pulls out a single strand of hair that had lodged itself in his mouth, Mesthak's of course, which was revolting but he paid it no mind. Rubbing his fingers together to free the hair from his hold he merely speaks to Skylei without looking at her. "You wanted the problem solved. It's solved. You never want to see me again. Solved. As for my life, I'd hope you to stay the hell out of it. You've done a fantastic job of that and I'd like you to keep doing so." Tyler finally turns to face the woman and reiterate his previous statement. "Now stay the hell away from me." He pays her empty threat no mind as he turns back to the bar and pushes the vodka to the seat beside him. He had no want for it.

Skylei can smell the vodka and the smell makes her feel as though she’s about to cry again. Tyler doesn’t even like vodka! Who is this man and why the hell is he here doing these stupid things. His words are vile where hers had been neutral and Skylei still can’t quite understand how they got here. “Maybe you’re right. I have no idea who you are anymore.” She pauses for a few moments, her eyes lingering on the back of his head as yet again he fails to even show her the basic courtesy of looking at her. Then she can’t stay anymore. She’s got to get the hell out of there. “Goodbye, Tyler.” Skylei hasn’t made her mind up as to whether she’s going to follow through on that threat but her eyes are already starting to smart with tears that she’s unwilling to cry in front of this cruel, heartless man. Whoever he is, he isn’t Tyler.

The man that sits before Skylei at the bar is, without a doubt, Tyler. Though he might not be the man she remembers, he is the one and only. As she speaks out to him the man simply raises his right hand and waves goodbye to the woman. He has no use for the half elf. She'd made her choice and the human had grown to appreciate it. He was alone and fine that way. He didn't want the dramatics that came intact with friends. Besides Skylei was never truly his friend. She merely liked his skin. He has nothing else to say. He's made his choice and his point. Skylei is free to leave.