RP:The Blue Haired Bully

Josleen bends over wild bushes in the Xalious plains just beyond the boundaries of Xalious Village proper. A shallow basket hangs from the crook of one elbow. Her free hand is thickly gloved and plucking short yellow stalks free from their home beneath the bushes. Her hair, normally worn long, has been cut into a rather unattractive pixie cut, though the bulk of the disastrous hairstyle is hidden beneath a sunhat. From a distance it would appear as though her sunhat has a chinstrap, but closer inspection would reveal that Josleen wears a metal and leather brace that supports her left jawbone. Whatever caused the need for that brace also put The Fear in Josleen. Alert eyes seek out the patroling Xalious Guard frequently, and her weeding is halting, like a deer drinking from a stream.

Tyler strolls casually into view upon the plains looking like something out of a cartoon. The human wearing some exaggerated cargo shorts with a fur-trimmed sleeveless vest and a pair of over-sized gloves with matching boots. His blue hair is shining brightly beneath the suns reflective rays. He makes little of an entrance. Hands hang heavily by his sides swinging mindlessly as he proceeds through the area with caramel hues bouncing back and forth to examine those near the area. He catches sight of the woman with the sunhat and a brow immediately lifts into an arch as he hesitates only for a moment before calling out in a questioning voice, "Josleen?". Some of her features are different but the man can't mistake the face that would surely jerk his way in her wary state of mind. Once eye contact is made, Tyler erupts into a fit of laughter. The gloves snap to slap against his stomach as he allows the heartiest of laughs to echo through Xalious. The human actually loosing balance while stumbling forward and collapsing onto the ground. "Th-This is too perfect! Look at your stupid little mouth! Ahaha! Oh, Oh God I'm dying!" The man's face is red as he humors himself to Josleen's current state. "Who'd you lip off too this time!? PLEASE tell me it was an ogre! Or, or, or! Better yet! A pixie! Bahaha!" The man can't move. He's stricken in a giggle fit.

The sight of Tyler sets Josleen's stupid little mouth into humorless line. She rights herself, dumps the last of the stalks in her basket, and trudges due west towards Xalious. With her back to the flamboyantly-tressed and ridiculously-dressed, she rolls her eyes. She has put up with too much in the past few months for Tyler to be relevant to her life anymore.

Tyler is still dying from laughter when Josleen tries to make her retreat. The human forcing himself to his feet and taking a second to slow his laughter and catch his breath before sprinting to catch up with the woman. "Oh no you don't. You aren't getting off that easy." He states as he cuts her off, stepping to her forward to block her advance. "Alright, alright. Maybe I came on a little strong there. C'mon, be a doll, tell Tyler what happened." The amused grin spills across his features again as he reaches up to touch at the brace. "If you can even move this machine that is. I knew you had to be a cyborg to be so heartless!" He's dying again, but he quickly forces it under control and waves his hands rapidly in front of Josleen. "Ok. Ok. Ok. Seriously. At least tell me what happened, I mean c'mon, it can't be that bad. Here! I've got an idea." Tyler's eyes would flash a familiar blue as mana rushes through the human and his figure is quickly altered to be the form of Josleen, if she were to wear the same clothes and hair as the man. "Now c'mon", his voice matches hers "You can tell me." This is a trick he's picked up in his time far away from home. The ability to ease others by reflecting features of themselves if not their full form, or a friends. It's worked on everyone so far. Tyler only hopes Josleen would at least indulge him the details of how she got clocked.

Josleen snarls at the word 'doll.' "Don't touch me!" Her wrist collides agaist his to push his hand away from her face. Her body is closed to him, and she tries to shoulder past him just as he turns into a blue-haired Josleen. "An improvement over your typical look. Now scram! I'm not telling you a damn thing, you! you!" It's difficult to insult one's reflection. Insufferable prick would do nicely here, but unfortunately Josleen cannot insult a proxy of herself, much to her frustration. "GAH! Leave me alone!"

Tyler's smirk refuses to fade as Josleen slams into him and moves past. The human quick to place his palm on her shoulder and tug to turn her around. "Oh COME ON!" He cries in a desperate attempt to get an answer out of her. "Alright, alright. I'm being harsh, but c'mon you can't blame me! You'd do the same damn thing if it were me with the mech-jaw!" He's chuckling again but quickly corrects his action with another wave of the hand. Taking a deep inhale he exhales quickly and calms himself. "Look, I'm sorry, but as said, you'd have the same reaction. It's pretty common knowledge that the two of us get along like a viper and a mongoose. But seriously, look, relax. I'm just curious is all. Humor me, why won't ya'?" He pushes his blue bangs from his face, or well, her face and is offering a comforting smile. "It's all in good fun, Josleen. Bare with me on this one thing. It's not like I'm asking you to dinner or to actually have a full blown conversation even! C'moooon~." He pleads with her and reaches out to touch the jaw again, if she'd allow it the touch would be gentle enough though the smile would return swiftly to his visage.

"I told you not to touch me." Her shoulder shrugs out from under his hand. When he reaches for her jaw brace yet again, she swats the hand away for a second time, but with less fury than the first time. It is easier to gaze upon a reflection of herself than Tyler's stupid face. "Why do you even care?" The edge in her tone is tempered with genuine curiosity. "What difference does it make to you?" She continues walking towards the safety of the Tower, the best guarded building in Xalious Village, but her pace slows so that Josleen-Tyler can follow.

Tyler scrunches his nose in disappointment as his hand is swatted away but he is pleased to see her moving at a slowed pace and takes the offering to fall in line by her side. "What kinda' question is that? I care because someone hurt my secret lover! Gotta' get vengeful and burn some stuff now. Y'know, like the novels. It's pretty much required!" He jokes before moving onto to reply to her second question. "Hell, I dunno', Nothing makes much difference to me anymore. I've been walking around here and Kelay for damn near two weeks with nothing to do, no one to talk to and I sure as hell haven't laughed that hard since... well I've been around." He would nudge into her lightly just to rouse her up on the no touching policy she was so eager to place. "But seriously, c'mon, tell me. Don't keep me waiting. Who clocked 'cha? Who do I need to kill?" His voice is playful though not venomous. His ears, well, her ears, are perked and he's pushing hair behind his ear to make sure he doesn't miss a word.

Josleen chafes at his nudging, but doesn't say anything this time. A long side-eye takes stock of him, then she turns to appraise him critically from head to toe, but it's hard to get a read on Tyler when he looks like Josleen herself. "You have a strange cross-dressing fetish." His jest at being her secret lover is so improbable that she doesn't even respond to it. "And no one clocked me. No one needs to be killed. I didn't mouth off to anyone. You're really bad at inference. You should never consider becoming a detective, and instead dedicate the rest of your life to being a drag performer. I hear Gualon is putting on a spring concert. I'll put in a good word for you." Ah, that feels better, familiar. Insulting Tyler is like a breath of fresh air; it's a salve to the sting of humiliation she felt when he laughed at her. "I was actually visiting with a monk who has helped me in the past. He's a young guru, even if he doesn't realize it. Partway through my visit, he started to seize. I tried to hold him still so he wouldn't hurt himself, but didn't know that touching him in such a state is dangerous. I was trying to help him." Speaking to a double of herself does make it easier to explain what she suffered. Josleen realizes she hasn't really told those close to her, except for Ezekiel, what exactly happened to her. "He suffers from a duality of spirit and magic, and it afflicted me. I am not sure how else to explain it. He explained if afterwards and claimed one of his hands brought me suffering and the other brought me bliss. It affected me on a spiritual, mental, and physical level. The dualities wrestled within me, and I looked much worse than through throughout the course of the event. I was torn apart and put back together countless times. By the end of it, I was half bald, my lips were gone, my brow too, my elbow dislocated, my leg shredded, and my lungs were severely damaged. I couldn't breathe on my own, and when the Monk stopped seizing he took me to Yerrel's. If it weren't for that monk, I'd likely be dead. It was an accident, and it occurred months ago. I am much better now. My hair is finally regrowing, my lungs are back. My jaw is close to setting. It had caved in."

Tyler stands wide-eyed with his mouth slightly open as Josleen finally unleashes the truth of her current state. As she proceeds, the illusion of herself would slowly grow the same disfigurement that the real Josleen holds in silent retaliation to her snide comments, though he never interrupts her. 'It had caved in.' She concludes, leaving Tyler still standing there dumb founded in silence for a good five seconds before finally blinking a few times and shaking his head to return back to earth. "Well.. I understood some of those words." He proclaims before reaching up to scratch the back of his head as the look of pure confusion remains plastered upon his visage. "That's, uh, well, erm, that's not quite as fun as you getting socked by a pixie or an Ogre but I guess I'll take it." His hands drop and suddenly the mans caramel eyes begin to glide up and down Josleen's figure taking in the sight of it all. "Dead, huh?" His voice has lost all amusement as he has some sort of mental conflict about the bard before him. Slowly his features would start to return to his own. The metal on his face fading and stubble replacing the smooth, clean skin of Josleen. After only a few seconds Tyler is once more standing before Josleen and he seems lost. He doesn't speak for a moment before swallowing the lump in his throat and shaking his head slowly. "Ah, well... I guess I'll jet outta' here, get outta' yer' hair and let you do your thing then." The fun has died and now Tyler is left in a far different state of mind. As he turns to make his exit he would pause just for a moment and turn to face the woman one more time. His index finger rising as his lips part and it seems as if the man is about to speak. He thinks better of it and simply shakes his head with a heavy exhale and drops his hand back to his side. "Guess I'm off to Gualon." He comments with what could be considered for the sorriest smile in the world, and with that he's moving back to where he had appeared, arms crossed and head hanging low. How the hell did Josleen just win this thing?

"You'll -take- it?" She narrows her eyes sternly on him, but that expression is short-lived. Tyler's discomfort with the truth of her injuries confuses her. While she didn't expect him to rejoice in her tale, she didn't quite expect this level of fumbling either. Though it is clear that on some level Tyler is disappointed she wasn't harmed in a manner more humorous. Maybe Josleen is disappointed by that too. It would have been better to have been punched by a pixie than to have gone through what she suffered, and the months of recovery after that. She doesn't bother with a good-bye.