Tavan Rakhsha (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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zenderael_rl2013-03-15 01:29 am
paper_crane) wrote in zenderael_rl2013-03-15 01:29 am
Entry tags:
[Anais/Tavan/Lynea] - Introductions and floorspace
Who: Anais, Tavan, Lynea
When: Tuesday, July 12
Where: Anais' apartment
Before/After: After Tavan shows up in Anais' class
Warnings: Minor nudity, Lynea's a jerk
In retrospect, Anais supposed she should have sent Lynea a text to warn her that she was bringing someone back to the apartment. As it was, however, Anais was far too concerned with making certain Tavan was fed, and she had spent far too much of their time at the restaurant attempting to figure out what to do with him. She couldn't just let him fend for himself, not here, and therefore the only option really was to bring the boy back to her apartment. Lynea would simply have to deal with the unexpected visitor. To Anais, it certainly seemed justified. After all, Lynea had sprung far too many things on her since she had moved in. As far as Anais was concerned, turnabout was fair play.
Though, really, if Tavan was going to stay with them permanently, she really needed to look into finding a larger apartment in this building. She needed to do that anyway, what with Lynea still camping out on her couch. Tavan remaining with them would simply be added incentive. Still, it was more work than she felt confident doing, especially when X-DAV had found the apartment for her.
Anais resisted the urge to sigh as she unlocked the door to the apartment, holding the door open for Tavan to enter the apartment first. She supposed there was one thing in her favor today. The apartment should have been in a decent-enough state to have company. At least everything was clean when she had left for the morning. Hopefully, it was still in that state, with everything neatly put away where it should have been. "Here we are. Do not mind Lynea. She is simply... eccentric." She supposed that was a polite way of putting it.
Unlike Anais, Tavan was unconcerned about anything. If he wound up on the streets, he'd adapt to survive Earth streets. He didn't imagine it'd be too difficult, especially once he saw how many people there were in this city, and how distracted many of them seemed to be with their daily lives. If he hadn't been with Anais, he may have found a few marks along the way.
Except for the fact that he was pretty much staring at everything because wow Earth was neat! Even with parts of Bastan mixed in, it was easy to tell the two different locales from one another. And traffic! After his initial introduction, which involved nearly getting run over and Anais lecturing him about traffic safety, he found the things fascinating. Dangerous, yet so many people drove! It even looked like it might be fun...
Even at Anais' apartment, the gaping continued, Tavan peeking into the place as if he were about to enter some fabled temple. Hesitant to enter, he looking up at her. "Are you sure it's all right, miss? I don't want to impose." He had no idea who Lynea was, or if the two were related or involved or what, and if she turned out to be another Bastan guardswoman, it would be far more awkward than just having the one to deal with.
Lynea wasn't really expecting anyone for the morning. It wasn't like Anais brought many friends over, even if she did have any; Especially when her assassin roommate could be home. That could always leave things awkward.
So it wasn't exactly any surprise when Anais and her guest came in just as Lyn stepped out of the bathroom, naked from the wait up save a small bath towel hanging over her shoulders.
She froze in place and looked over at the two.
...
Huh.
"...He's a little young for you, isn't he?" Lynea asked plainly, though her end of her lips curled in the start of her usual amused smile.
.......yes. Yes, she most certainly should have called first. Then she and Tavan could have been spared the sight of Lynea being half-naked. This was most certainly not the sort of thing an impressionable fifteen year-old boy should be looking at. Never mind that Lynea had made the exact assumption she had thought she would make. She'd address that later when Lynea was decent.
Immediately, Anais' hand shot out to cover Tavan's eyes as she shot a glare at Lynea. "For Xumurdad's sake, Lynea, cover yourself. I know you have clothing."
Having looked towards the stranger's voice, Tavan's eyes widened at the sight, even if he didn't catch much of a view before his vision was blocked. That... was certainly not what he'd expected. But at least he was pretty sure Lynea wasn't a paladin, at this point, unless he was totally incorrect in his assumptions of paladins.
He made no move to take a peek, instead averting his gaze by looking back to Anais. "Maybe I should find somewhere else..."
"Yeah. I do, but they're in the washer." Which were a really nifty earther machine. She wondered just how it managed to clean things so well.
"No, you are fine, and I have no intention of letting you sleep on the street," she said, smiling at Tavan before turning her glare back towards Lynea. "Then take something from my closet. I will not have you corrupting a fifteen-year-old boy."
"Fine fine. Let me grab something to drink first." Lynea wasn't going to argue about something this stupid this early in the day. She continued on her way to the kitchen and grab the bottle of juice before disappearing into the bedroom.
Anais waited until Lynea had disappeared into her bedroom before groaning and uncovering Tavan's eyes. "I apologize for her. Apparently, assassins are not taught how to conduct themselves in another person's home." Never mind that the apartment counted as Lynea's home, too, although her name wasn't on the lease.
Tavan blinked at Anais, surprise clear on his face. "She's an assassin?" Why would a Bastan guardswoman live with an assassin? Was this some kind of star-crossed lovers thing? "That doesn't bother you?"
"It does to an extent." Anais shrugged as she knelt down to begin removing her boots. She was not about to track dirt into her nice, clean apartment. "However, once you get past that, she isn't horrible." Never mind that Anais hadn't been successful in trying to get Lynea to leave, either. "Do not tell her I told you that." Though Lynea probably heard it. Anais was fairly certain she hadn't heard her door close.
This situation seemed... complicated. Rather than say anything more on it, Tavan decided to observe and see how things played out. There had to be some reason Anais was willing to put up with an assassin, and if it wasn't romantic interest, perhaps it was necessity.
He followed Anais' example and knelt down to remove his shoes, aged and worn. They suited his image, so he hadn't bothered to try and replace them. On Earth, though, it might be better to get some Earth shoes so he could fit in better. Easier to disappear into a crowd when you looked like you belonged in it.
As he stood, he started peering around the apartment, curious about how Zendereans adapted to Earth living situations. "How long have you lived here?"
The worst part was that even if he had asked why Anais hadn't simply just kicked her out of the apartment, Anais wouldn't have been able to give him an answer. She had tried at first, of course, but she had eventually given up when she had realized it simply wouldn't work. Once Lynea had wormed her way into a place, extracting her seemed to be difficult, and it was something Anais supposed she would simply have to live with. Besides, it wasn't entirely terrible. At least Lynea could cook.
Fortunately, his next question wasn't nearly that awkward, and Anais smiled as she finally managed to pull off her boots. "Almost three months now. The company I was employed by when I first came to Earth provided it in exchange for helping to slaughter the more vicious monsters of ours that crossed over."
Hired to kill monsters. Guess there'd be worse jobs for a guardswoman. "Did they fire you?"
"Not as such. Those in charge were arrested when things began to get more intense. The company itself was shut down, and those who were arrested were killed." Anais shrugged, shifting to her feet and moving past Tavan towards the kitchen. It was strange, though, how casually she was able to talk about things like that. She might as well have been commenting on Fall City's near-constant rain. "Did you want something to drink?"
His browsing stopped as he turned to look at Anais. She seemed rather calm about the whole thing, and he felt a little uncomfortable asking about it. "I'm glad you weren't arrested," he said, deciding to leave it at that.
Having no idea what sort of drinks she'd even have, he peered around her into the kitchen. There was a sink, which meant at least she had water. Earth seemed to have a lot of plumbing. "Um, maybe some water?"
Wow, could someone be any more plain with their clothing style? Not that Lynea enjoyed really loud or slutty fashion or anything, but there wasn't even a single article of clothing that wasn't outside plain and unimaginably proper. It actually took a while to find something that she could simple slip on with little care.
At least, it was the best she could do, since as she stepped back into the living room, it was clear to the other two that Lynea didn't bother at at all to button up the dress shirt beyond the first few on either end of it. She sipped her drink as she made her way to the couch. She didn't bother to say anything, knowing full well Anais was bound to scowl at her some more.
And scowl Anais did, only catching a glimpse of Lynea out of the corner of her eye as she grabbed a glass from a cupboard. It was almost as if Lynea was determined to frustrate her. And with company over, too! Manners, it seemed, were lost on certain assassins.
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she finally got Tavan some water and handed him the glass, smiling at him as she walked past. Now that Lynea was clothed (better than a towel and nothing, she supposed, although how she had Anais' shirt buttoned certainly didn't leave much to the imagination), they could talk and get some business taken care of. Introductions first, though. "Lynea, this is Tavan Rakhsha. He arrived from Zenderael only just this morning. Tavan" -- it still felt strange addressing the boy by his given name, but it felt stranger still addressing him by his surname as she tended to do with everyone else -- "this is Lynea, who will hopefully behave herself."
Water in hand, Tavan turned to follow Anais for the introductions. He still wasn't sure how he felt about an assassin. At least a little uncomfortable, but he kept that hidden well, smiling pleasantly towards Lynea. "Nice to meet you, miss!"
Anais gave the kid a smile. There was definitely something peculiar about this boy. She looked right back at the teenager in between the takes of her juice bottle, giving him a once over. He looked too disorderly to be a paladin, though he was awfully nice and careful for a teenager.
After a half of an awkward moment, she lowered her drink and replaced it with her normal plain smile she usually had on for people. "I suppose it's nice to meet you too, though I sort of expected her taste to be..older."
Apparently behaving didn't also include a little fun at Anais' expense.
Anais stared at Lynea for all of a minute, shock and horror written across her face the more Lynea's words sunk in. How could she even think that that was the reason why she had brought Tavan here? "Lynea! That is not---" What was she even supposed to say to that? "He is fifteen, for Xumurdad's sake, and I am most certainly not interested in him like that!"
Although he caught the insinuation immediately, Tavan gave Lynea a look of confusion until Anais' reaction to her words would have clued him in otherwise. At that point, his eyes went a little wide in shock.
He couldn't think of anything to say, however, so just turned away to glance about the apartment while sipping at his water.
Lynea chuckled at both of their responses, her smile turning into a full on grin. "Well what am I supposed to think? You don't exactly bring many people home with you or at all, much less men. Especially when you're giving that smile to someone else."
"It's even more rare that you're home at this hour." She moved her bottle-held hand over to the center of her own chest, dropping her face a little to look scandalized. Dramatically, of course "Am I supposed to be jealous? Was it all because I was too old for your refined taste?"
"That has nothing to do with it." Later, Anais would question why she was reassuring Lynea of that, but now as not the time. She was still somewhat scandalized from before, and, really, all she wanted to do was to try to defuse the situation before it became even more awkward than it already was. "He appeared in the middle of my class. I could not simply leave him there and allow him to fend for himself. If X-DAV was still operational, I would have brought him there, but since it is not, he had nowhere else to go."
As suddenly as she began, she paused and turned back to look at Lynea, raising an eyebrow. Was Lynea even genuinely upset about this? Or was it just an act she was putting on in an attempt to get a rise out of her? "Are you doing this simply because I neglected to call you first?"
Tavan really would have been fine on his own, but Anais didn't know that. Besides, with his friends all in another world, he'd probably get lonely out here all by himself. Having somewhere to start from wouldn't hurt, either.
He'd just have to be careful, though in truth he wasn't sure if he should be more wary of Anais or Lynea, at this point.
"Was X-Dav the people you worked for before they all got arrested and killed?" As much as he felt like it was interrupting to ask questions, he was hoping it would maybe draw away from their bickering.
If the question had been meant as a distraction, Anais didn't realize. To her, it seemed like a perfectly valid question. After all, for all she knew, Tavan didn't know much about X-DAV at all, or that they had supposedly "created" their world. How strange it must have been for him to be in a new place and not know anything about what had happened before your arrival.
"Yes," she replied, turning back to him and nodding. "They were also the ones who somehow gave the Earthers access to our world and claimed it was some sort of game. When people like us began crossing over to Earth, they took many of us in, as well."
"Not all of us were really from that world though." Lynea threw in, taking another drink of her juice. She was curious how Anais would explain that whole deal, if she could. As to her drama just seconds ago, Lynea didn't see to really give much answer to that either. Let the paladin fret for a while.
How did that even work? Tavan had heard about Earth and Zenderael merging, but hadn't heard about X-DAV or that Earthers had been able to go to Zenderael before. His research had been about Earth technology, for the most part- he hadn't thought to really dig into the background of the merge or any of that.
Lynea's comment only confused him further. "What do you mean?"
Anais sighed, resisting the urge to rub her temples. Lynea, why were you insisting on making things more complicated? Why couldn't they just work out arrangements for who went where and leave the heavier things for a time when Tavan wasn't new to Earth?
"I believe she means that some of the individuals in Zenderael were created by people from Earth via their game." There was really no way to figure out who those individuals were, either, which was particularly annoying.
"Pretty much anyone in a guild is created." Lynea threw in as-matter-of-factly, work closer and closer to finishing the juice bottle.
Now that he'd heard a little about, at least. Players, they'd called them, the people who'd created people in Zenderael. That was about all he knew about it, though. He hadn't really asked too much about it before the war had started.
His brow furrowed as he looked towards Lynea, then back to Anais for confirmation. Everyone seemed a little hard to believe, and even if she only meant most of them, that was a fair number of people that would have been made by others.
"We do not know that everyone in a guild has been created by a player, Lynea," Anais pointed out, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Individuals in leagues, most certainly, but we cannot say the same about the guilds."
"But don't hold your breath." Added in, finishing the last of her juice. She stared down into the bottle, just to make sure and then looked back up at Anais. "so if he's staying here, does that mean he's sleeping on the floor or...?" Because to be honest, he might as well be sleeping outside if that were the case.
"I don't mind the floor," he offered quietly. It would at least be indoors, which would offer some protection against weather. He'd read about the snowstorm they'd had recently, and didn't fancy being caught outside in one of those.
Anais considered this for a moment before turning back to look at Tavan once again. "Are you certain? I cannot imagine the floor would be comfortable, even if you were sleeping on top of blankets."
Tavan shrugged, and actually managed to look cheerful at the prospect. "I'm used to sleeping in alleys, miss. A clean floor is way more comfortable, and less smelly." Not to mention the lack of rodents.
"I guess that's that then." Lynea chucked the bottle into the wastebasket, with it's empty plastic bouncing off the rim and landing straight in. She looked over at Tavan. "I should warn you, our paladin friend here is a serious stickler about rules. Try not to get caught or you'll have to deal with her fierce scowl."
"You would not have to deal with it, either," Anais pointed out, casting a glance at Lynea over her shoulder, "if you simply paid for things like a normal person instead of taking whatever suited your fancy." That was how a good number of things wound up in her apartment, things that Anais hadn't imagined needing before, but now that they were there, she couldn't imagine not having them. "Admittedly, you have been better about that." Or, rather, if Lynea had stolen anything recently, she hadn't seen fit to tell Anais about it. She preferred it that way. If she didn't know about it, there was still a chance for plausible deniability.
Well, there was his confirmation as to Anais' guild affiliation.
Which only made their current living arrangements even more confusing. A paladin and an assassin? Really?
He was about to ask what Lynea meant by 'caught', but Anais cleared that up for him, and he looked at Lynea with shock. "You steal things?" There was a heartbeat before he added, "Ah, I mean, it's not really any of my business. Sorry, miss."
Alright. Something was fishy. No teen was that polite. From what she saw of teenagers, they were generally the more awkward and yet prideful little bunches of brat. They were not someone who would apologize for even stating what was already apparent between the conversation of adults. It took her a half a second more to respond, but little else seemed off with her normal humored mask. "Heh, It isn't so much stealing as simply moving it to people who need it more."
Oh, honestly. Who was Lynea attempting to fool? Never mind that stealing was illegal. Who exactly did stealing anything benefit? This was something she had never understood about the rogues, and something she supposed she never would understand. She wasn't sure she wanted to, either.
Anais resisted the urge to roll her eyes even as she folded her arms and turned back to Lynea. "Next, you will be saying you are simply 'borrowing' things that do not belong to you or that you are 'liberating' them. You cannot simply take whatever you like whenever you like. The things you do are against the law, no matter what you call it."
"But you haven't turned her in for it?" Tavan asked, looking back to Anais. If she were so against it, why didn't she do anything about it, rather than letting Lynea live here with her and show up with stolen items?
"The last thing she needs is less friends. Throwing one in the clink wouldn't be very good incentive." Lynea answered as she stood up and approached Anais.
As she started to pass Anais to reach the kitchen, she maneuvered herself to be more implicitly close to the paladin. "Besides, she wouldn't want to ruin what we have together..."
"..A stable understanding." She threw in at the end, just to make it sound like it was a boring and mundane statement.
The problem with Lynea's plan was that even if she attempted to make it sound otherwise, there was nothing boring and mundane about what had come out of her mouth at all. Anais twisted a little to stare at the assassin for a moment or two before rolling her eyes and pointedly moving back into the kitchen. She wasn't sure she wanted anything in there, mind, but it was better than standing there and dealing with more of Lynea and her ridiculousness. "I do not understand why I have not simply thrown you out yet. You are absolutely impossible, Lynea."
From what he could tell, Lyena enjoyed making Anais uncomfortable, or trying to at least. He suspected there wasn't actually anything going on between them, at this point, but it was a little entertaining, if nothing else.
Still, with the two of them wandering off to the kitchen, Tavan felt a little out of place. He didn't want to keep following Anais around, especially when all that would likely happen would be Lynea continuing to try to make her feel uncomfortable in front of him (these sorts of things were more fun with an audience, after all), and so he distracted himself by browsing around the rest of the apartment.
There was one thing that caught his eye. It looked kind of like the screen on a tablet, albeit larger. Oh! He'd read about these! And seen a few pictures of them. Things for letting you watch stuff, like movies or the news.
Tavan made his way over to it, searching for a way to turn it on, his curiosity overwhelming any other thoughts.
When: Tuesday, July 12
Where: Anais' apartment
Before/After: After Tavan shows up in Anais' class
Warnings: Minor nudity, Lynea's a jerk
In retrospect, Anais supposed she should have sent Lynea a text to warn her that she was bringing someone back to the apartment. As it was, however, Anais was far too concerned with making certain Tavan was fed, and she had spent far too much of their time at the restaurant attempting to figure out what to do with him. She couldn't just let him fend for himself, not here, and therefore the only option really was to bring the boy back to her apartment. Lynea would simply have to deal with the unexpected visitor. To Anais, it certainly seemed justified. After all, Lynea had sprung far too many things on her since she had moved in. As far as Anais was concerned, turnabout was fair play.
Though, really, if Tavan was going to stay with them permanently, she really needed to look into finding a larger apartment in this building. She needed to do that anyway, what with Lynea still camping out on her couch. Tavan remaining with them would simply be added incentive. Still, it was more work than she felt confident doing, especially when X-DAV had found the apartment for her.
Anais resisted the urge to sigh as she unlocked the door to the apartment, holding the door open for Tavan to enter the apartment first. She supposed there was one thing in her favor today. The apartment should have been in a decent-enough state to have company. At least everything was clean when she had left for the morning. Hopefully, it was still in that state, with everything neatly put away where it should have been. "Here we are. Do not mind Lynea. She is simply... eccentric." She supposed that was a polite way of putting it.
Unlike Anais, Tavan was unconcerned about anything. If he wound up on the streets, he'd adapt to survive Earth streets. He didn't imagine it'd be too difficult, especially once he saw how many people there were in this city, and how distracted many of them seemed to be with their daily lives. If he hadn't been with Anais, he may have found a few marks along the way.
Except for the fact that he was pretty much staring at everything because wow Earth was neat! Even with parts of Bastan mixed in, it was easy to tell the two different locales from one another. And traffic! After his initial introduction, which involved nearly getting run over and Anais lecturing him about traffic safety, he found the things fascinating. Dangerous, yet so many people drove! It even looked like it might be fun...
Even at Anais' apartment, the gaping continued, Tavan peeking into the place as if he were about to enter some fabled temple. Hesitant to enter, he looking up at her. "Are you sure it's all right, miss? I don't want to impose." He had no idea who Lynea was, or if the two were related or involved or what, and if she turned out to be another Bastan guardswoman, it would be far more awkward than just having the one to deal with.
Lynea wasn't really expecting anyone for the morning. It wasn't like Anais brought many friends over, even if she did have any; Especially when her assassin roommate could be home. That could always leave things awkward.
So it wasn't exactly any surprise when Anais and her guest came in just as Lyn stepped out of the bathroom, naked from the wait up save a small bath towel hanging over her shoulders.
She froze in place and looked over at the two.
...
Huh.
"...He's a little young for you, isn't he?" Lynea asked plainly, though her end of her lips curled in the start of her usual amused smile.
.......yes. Yes, she most certainly should have called first. Then she and Tavan could have been spared the sight of Lynea being half-naked. This was most certainly not the sort of thing an impressionable fifteen year-old boy should be looking at. Never mind that Lynea had made the exact assumption she had thought she would make. She'd address that later when Lynea was decent.
Immediately, Anais' hand shot out to cover Tavan's eyes as she shot a glare at Lynea. "For Xumurdad's sake, Lynea, cover yourself. I know you have clothing."
Having looked towards the stranger's voice, Tavan's eyes widened at the sight, even if he didn't catch much of a view before his vision was blocked. That... was certainly not what he'd expected. But at least he was pretty sure Lynea wasn't a paladin, at this point, unless he was totally incorrect in his assumptions of paladins.
He made no move to take a peek, instead averting his gaze by looking back to Anais. "Maybe I should find somewhere else..."
"Yeah. I do, but they're in the washer." Which were a really nifty earther machine. She wondered just how it managed to clean things so well.
"No, you are fine, and I have no intention of letting you sleep on the street," she said, smiling at Tavan before turning her glare back towards Lynea. "Then take something from my closet. I will not have you corrupting a fifteen-year-old boy."
"Fine fine. Let me grab something to drink first." Lynea wasn't going to argue about something this stupid this early in the day. She continued on her way to the kitchen and grab the bottle of juice before disappearing into the bedroom.
Anais waited until Lynea had disappeared into her bedroom before groaning and uncovering Tavan's eyes. "I apologize for her. Apparently, assassins are not taught how to conduct themselves in another person's home." Never mind that the apartment counted as Lynea's home, too, although her name wasn't on the lease.
Tavan blinked at Anais, surprise clear on his face. "She's an assassin?" Why would a Bastan guardswoman live with an assassin? Was this some kind of star-crossed lovers thing? "That doesn't bother you?"
"It does to an extent." Anais shrugged as she knelt down to begin removing her boots. She was not about to track dirt into her nice, clean apartment. "However, once you get past that, she isn't horrible." Never mind that Anais hadn't been successful in trying to get Lynea to leave, either. "Do not tell her I told you that." Though Lynea probably heard it. Anais was fairly certain she hadn't heard her door close.
This situation seemed... complicated. Rather than say anything more on it, Tavan decided to observe and see how things played out. There had to be some reason Anais was willing to put up with an assassin, and if it wasn't romantic interest, perhaps it was necessity.
He followed Anais' example and knelt down to remove his shoes, aged and worn. They suited his image, so he hadn't bothered to try and replace them. On Earth, though, it might be better to get some Earth shoes so he could fit in better. Easier to disappear into a crowd when you looked like you belonged in it.
As he stood, he started peering around the apartment, curious about how Zendereans adapted to Earth living situations. "How long have you lived here?"
The worst part was that even if he had asked why Anais hadn't simply just kicked her out of the apartment, Anais wouldn't have been able to give him an answer. She had tried at first, of course, but she had eventually given up when she had realized it simply wouldn't work. Once Lynea had wormed her way into a place, extracting her seemed to be difficult, and it was something Anais supposed she would simply have to live with. Besides, it wasn't entirely terrible. At least Lynea could cook.
Fortunately, his next question wasn't nearly that awkward, and Anais smiled as she finally managed to pull off her boots. "Almost three months now. The company I was employed by when I first came to Earth provided it in exchange for helping to slaughter the more vicious monsters of ours that crossed over."
Hired to kill monsters. Guess there'd be worse jobs for a guardswoman. "Did they fire you?"
"Not as such. Those in charge were arrested when things began to get more intense. The company itself was shut down, and those who were arrested were killed." Anais shrugged, shifting to her feet and moving past Tavan towards the kitchen. It was strange, though, how casually she was able to talk about things like that. She might as well have been commenting on Fall City's near-constant rain. "Did you want something to drink?"
His browsing stopped as he turned to look at Anais. She seemed rather calm about the whole thing, and he felt a little uncomfortable asking about it. "I'm glad you weren't arrested," he said, deciding to leave it at that.
Having no idea what sort of drinks she'd even have, he peered around her into the kitchen. There was a sink, which meant at least she had water. Earth seemed to have a lot of plumbing. "Um, maybe some water?"
Wow, could someone be any more plain with their clothing style? Not that Lynea enjoyed really loud or slutty fashion or anything, but there wasn't even a single article of clothing that wasn't outside plain and unimaginably proper. It actually took a while to find something that she could simple slip on with little care.
At least, it was the best she could do, since as she stepped back into the living room, it was clear to the other two that Lynea didn't bother at at all to button up the dress shirt beyond the first few on either end of it. She sipped her drink as she made her way to the couch. She didn't bother to say anything, knowing full well Anais was bound to scowl at her some more.
And scowl Anais did, only catching a glimpse of Lynea out of the corner of her eye as she grabbed a glass from a cupboard. It was almost as if Lynea was determined to frustrate her. And with company over, too! Manners, it seemed, were lost on certain assassins.
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she finally got Tavan some water and handed him the glass, smiling at him as she walked past. Now that Lynea was clothed (better than a towel and nothing, she supposed, although how she had Anais' shirt buttoned certainly didn't leave much to the imagination), they could talk and get some business taken care of. Introductions first, though. "Lynea, this is Tavan Rakhsha. He arrived from Zenderael only just this morning. Tavan" -- it still felt strange addressing the boy by his given name, but it felt stranger still addressing him by his surname as she tended to do with everyone else -- "this is Lynea, who will hopefully behave herself."
Water in hand, Tavan turned to follow Anais for the introductions. He still wasn't sure how he felt about an assassin. At least a little uncomfortable, but he kept that hidden well, smiling pleasantly towards Lynea. "Nice to meet you, miss!"
Anais gave the kid a smile. There was definitely something peculiar about this boy. She looked right back at the teenager in between the takes of her juice bottle, giving him a once over. He looked too disorderly to be a paladin, though he was awfully nice and careful for a teenager.
After a half of an awkward moment, she lowered her drink and replaced it with her normal plain smile she usually had on for people. "I suppose it's nice to meet you too, though I sort of expected her taste to be..older."
Apparently behaving didn't also include a little fun at Anais' expense.
Anais stared at Lynea for all of a minute, shock and horror written across her face the more Lynea's words sunk in. How could she even think that that was the reason why she had brought Tavan here? "Lynea! That is not---" What was she even supposed to say to that? "He is fifteen, for Xumurdad's sake, and I am most certainly not interested in him like that!"
Although he caught the insinuation immediately, Tavan gave Lynea a look of confusion until Anais' reaction to her words would have clued him in otherwise. At that point, his eyes went a little wide in shock.
He couldn't think of anything to say, however, so just turned away to glance about the apartment while sipping at his water.
Lynea chuckled at both of their responses, her smile turning into a full on grin. "Well what am I supposed to think? You don't exactly bring many people home with you or at all, much less men. Especially when you're giving that smile to someone else."
"It's even more rare that you're home at this hour." She moved her bottle-held hand over to the center of her own chest, dropping her face a little to look scandalized. Dramatically, of course "Am I supposed to be jealous? Was it all because I was too old for your refined taste?"
"That has nothing to do with it." Later, Anais would question why she was reassuring Lynea of that, but now as not the time. She was still somewhat scandalized from before, and, really, all she wanted to do was to try to defuse the situation before it became even more awkward than it already was. "He appeared in the middle of my class. I could not simply leave him there and allow him to fend for himself. If X-DAV was still operational, I would have brought him there, but since it is not, he had nowhere else to go."
As suddenly as she began, she paused and turned back to look at Lynea, raising an eyebrow. Was Lynea even genuinely upset about this? Or was it just an act she was putting on in an attempt to get a rise out of her? "Are you doing this simply because I neglected to call you first?"
Tavan really would have been fine on his own, but Anais didn't know that. Besides, with his friends all in another world, he'd probably get lonely out here all by himself. Having somewhere to start from wouldn't hurt, either.
He'd just have to be careful, though in truth he wasn't sure if he should be more wary of Anais or Lynea, at this point.
"Was X-Dav the people you worked for before they all got arrested and killed?" As much as he felt like it was interrupting to ask questions, he was hoping it would maybe draw away from their bickering.
If the question had been meant as a distraction, Anais didn't realize. To her, it seemed like a perfectly valid question. After all, for all she knew, Tavan didn't know much about X-DAV at all, or that they had supposedly "created" their world. How strange it must have been for him to be in a new place and not know anything about what had happened before your arrival.
"Yes," she replied, turning back to him and nodding. "They were also the ones who somehow gave the Earthers access to our world and claimed it was some sort of game. When people like us began crossing over to Earth, they took many of us in, as well."
"Not all of us were really from that world though." Lynea threw in, taking another drink of her juice. She was curious how Anais would explain that whole deal, if she could. As to her drama just seconds ago, Lynea didn't see to really give much answer to that either. Let the paladin fret for a while.
How did that even work? Tavan had heard about Earth and Zenderael merging, but hadn't heard about X-DAV or that Earthers had been able to go to Zenderael before. His research had been about Earth technology, for the most part- he hadn't thought to really dig into the background of the merge or any of that.
Lynea's comment only confused him further. "What do you mean?"
Anais sighed, resisting the urge to rub her temples. Lynea, why were you insisting on making things more complicated? Why couldn't they just work out arrangements for who went where and leave the heavier things for a time when Tavan wasn't new to Earth?
"I believe she means that some of the individuals in Zenderael were created by people from Earth via their game." There was really no way to figure out who those individuals were, either, which was particularly annoying.
"Pretty much anyone in a guild is created." Lynea threw in as-matter-of-factly, work closer and closer to finishing the juice bottle.
Now that he'd heard a little about, at least. Players, they'd called them, the people who'd created people in Zenderael. That was about all he knew about it, though. He hadn't really asked too much about it before the war had started.
His brow furrowed as he looked towards Lynea, then back to Anais for confirmation. Everyone seemed a little hard to believe, and even if she only meant most of them, that was a fair number of people that would have been made by others.
"We do not know that everyone in a guild has been created by a player, Lynea," Anais pointed out, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Individuals in leagues, most certainly, but we cannot say the same about the guilds."
"But don't hold your breath." Added in, finishing the last of her juice. She stared down into the bottle, just to make sure and then looked back up at Anais. "so if he's staying here, does that mean he's sleeping on the floor or...?" Because to be honest, he might as well be sleeping outside if that were the case.
"I don't mind the floor," he offered quietly. It would at least be indoors, which would offer some protection against weather. He'd read about the snowstorm they'd had recently, and didn't fancy being caught outside in one of those.
Anais considered this for a moment before turning back to look at Tavan once again. "Are you certain? I cannot imagine the floor would be comfortable, even if you were sleeping on top of blankets."
Tavan shrugged, and actually managed to look cheerful at the prospect. "I'm used to sleeping in alleys, miss. A clean floor is way more comfortable, and less smelly." Not to mention the lack of rodents.
"I guess that's that then." Lynea chucked the bottle into the wastebasket, with it's empty plastic bouncing off the rim and landing straight in. She looked over at Tavan. "I should warn you, our paladin friend here is a serious stickler about rules. Try not to get caught or you'll have to deal with her fierce scowl."
"You would not have to deal with it, either," Anais pointed out, casting a glance at Lynea over her shoulder, "if you simply paid for things like a normal person instead of taking whatever suited your fancy." That was how a good number of things wound up in her apartment, things that Anais hadn't imagined needing before, but now that they were there, she couldn't imagine not having them. "Admittedly, you have been better about that." Or, rather, if Lynea had stolen anything recently, she hadn't seen fit to tell Anais about it. She preferred it that way. If she didn't know about it, there was still a chance for plausible deniability.
Well, there was his confirmation as to Anais' guild affiliation.
Which only made their current living arrangements even more confusing. A paladin and an assassin? Really?
He was about to ask what Lynea meant by 'caught', but Anais cleared that up for him, and he looked at Lynea with shock. "You steal things?" There was a heartbeat before he added, "Ah, I mean, it's not really any of my business. Sorry, miss."
Alright. Something was fishy. No teen was that polite. From what she saw of teenagers, they were generally the more awkward and yet prideful little bunches of brat. They were not someone who would apologize for even stating what was already apparent between the conversation of adults. It took her a half a second more to respond, but little else seemed off with her normal humored mask. "Heh, It isn't so much stealing as simply moving it to people who need it more."
Oh, honestly. Who was Lynea attempting to fool? Never mind that stealing was illegal. Who exactly did stealing anything benefit? This was something she had never understood about the rogues, and something she supposed she never would understand. She wasn't sure she wanted to, either.
Anais resisted the urge to roll her eyes even as she folded her arms and turned back to Lynea. "Next, you will be saying you are simply 'borrowing' things that do not belong to you or that you are 'liberating' them. You cannot simply take whatever you like whenever you like. The things you do are against the law, no matter what you call it."
"But you haven't turned her in for it?" Tavan asked, looking back to Anais. If she were so against it, why didn't she do anything about it, rather than letting Lynea live here with her and show up with stolen items?
"The last thing she needs is less friends. Throwing one in the clink wouldn't be very good incentive." Lynea answered as she stood up and approached Anais.
As she started to pass Anais to reach the kitchen, she maneuvered herself to be more implicitly close to the paladin. "Besides, she wouldn't want to ruin what we have together..."
"..A stable understanding." She threw in at the end, just to make it sound like it was a boring and mundane statement.
The problem with Lynea's plan was that even if she attempted to make it sound otherwise, there was nothing boring and mundane about what had come out of her mouth at all. Anais twisted a little to stare at the assassin for a moment or two before rolling her eyes and pointedly moving back into the kitchen. She wasn't sure she wanted anything in there, mind, but it was better than standing there and dealing with more of Lynea and her ridiculousness. "I do not understand why I have not simply thrown you out yet. You are absolutely impossible, Lynea."
From what he could tell, Lyena enjoyed making Anais uncomfortable, or trying to at least. He suspected there wasn't actually anything going on between them, at this point, but it was a little entertaining, if nothing else.
Still, with the two of them wandering off to the kitchen, Tavan felt a little out of place. He didn't want to keep following Anais around, especially when all that would likely happen would be Lynea continuing to try to make her feel uncomfortable in front of him (these sorts of things were more fun with an audience, after all), and so he distracted himself by browsing around the rest of the apartment.
There was one thing that caught his eye. It looked kind of like the screen on a tablet, albeit larger. Oh! He'd read about these! And seen a few pictures of them. Things for letting you watch stuff, like movies or the news.
Tavan made his way over to it, searching for a way to turn it on, his curiosity overwhelming any other thoughts.