[Anais/Tavan] - Exploring ftw~

[vallinar]

Who: Anais and Tavan
When: Saturday, 8/20 (sobs; Beth is so behind with her logs...)
Where: Pariskret! Specifically around the Eiffel Tower/World Library
Before/After: N/A
Warnings: N/A


The Nenakret was a large place. While Tavan wasn't actually worried he'd go get himself lost, he kind of liked the idea of exploring a new place completely with company, so he waited for Anais at the warp mage, leaning against a wall while he toiled over a sheet of paper, folding little creases into it here and there and trying to make it into a crane.

Origami was an interesting concept.

He pulled out his phone to double-check the pattern, to make sure he was doing it right, then went back to folding. By the time Anais arrived, he'd managed to create the little crane he'd been going for, and he was beaming triumphantly to himself with the thing perched in his palm.


It hadn't been particularly hard to find Tavan once Anais finally emerged from the warp, dressed in clothing more reminiscent of Earth than Zenderael. In spite of her lack of anything that particularly marked her as a paladin, she did still have her sword strapped to her back, her only real tie to her profession. As far as Anais was concerned, it would be good to get away from Bastan for a little while and do something completely unrelated to being a paladin.

Seeing Tavan against the wall was almost like a light at the end of a particularly dark tunnel, and she had to smile, especially when she noticed the little white bird-like thing resting carefully in his palm. "That is really very good. What is it?"


Aww yeah, praise. As independent as Tavan was, he was still a kid.

He beamed at Anais and held it out to her. "A paper crane! They got this whole paper-folding art so I thought I'd give it a shot." It was only his first attempt, and it wasn't perfect- the beak was a little crooked- but it was pretty good for a first-timer.

He crouched and set the thing down on the ledge near the base of the wall to watch over the warp portal, then stood and smiled to Anais. "You wanted to see that big Earth building, right?"


An art of paper folding? She frowned a little at that, peering at the little crane. There certainly had to be some amount of skill involved in it, but Anais couldn't imagine a place where folding paper a certain way was any sort of art. It seemed a bit too out there for her.

Still, it was fascinating.

"Yes, but..." Her frown deepened a bit as she glanced at the little crane where Tavan had left it. "Are you just going to leave it there? Do you not wish to keep it?"


Tavan didn't even glance back at the thing, shrugging. "It was just practice," he said, taking a look around the city. As far as he was concerned, the little crane deserved no further attention, but he paused to look back to Anais. "Unless you wanted it?"


Anais considered for a moment, studying the small paper bird. It had it's flaws, of course. That was undeniable. Still, a little paper thing like that was innocent enough where she thought that she would be capable of keeping it and not alerting any of the other paladins to the kinds of people she had associated with prior to her return. She nodded as she turned back to look at Tavan. "If you do not mind my keeping it, of course."


She wanted to keep it? Tavan couldn't see why. Perhaps simply because he had made it? He had to admit he wasn't entirely sure how fond of him Anais was.

He couldn't see any reason not to let her, though, so with a look that seemed pleased by the prospect, and perhaps a little prideful, he turned and retrieved the crane, offering it out to Anais.

Maybe he could make her something more interesting sometime, and see what she thought.


Smiling back at Tavan, Anais carefully took the crane from him and just as carefully tucked it away where it wouldn't get torn or bent. It had to stay intact until she got back to Bastan, after all. "Thank you. Now, I suppose we should be off, hmm?"


"Yeah!" Tavan agreed excitedly. He really did want to explore this place, and maybe with her along she could point out what was different from before. Assuming, of course, that she had been here before, since he'd never actually asked, but she'd been more interested in the Earth buildings than the Zenderean aspect, and the World Library was a pretty important place to see.

"You wanted to see the big Earth building, right? Uh, the Eiffel Tower?" Tavan glanced towards it, the thing easy enough to see above the other buildings. He had no idea what was so great about the thing. It was kind of ugly, and seemed to have no purpose outside of being tall. The research he'd done after Anais had mentioned it hadn't come up with a whole lot, either, outside of that Earthers seemed to really enjoy visiting it.

Maybe they just liked to be really high above everything. He had to admit that would be kind of cool.

"Do you think we can climb it?"


Truthfully, Anais wasn't entirely sure why this "Eiffel Tower" building was supposed to be so fantastic, either, but when Paris had disappeared, that was all anyone had been able to say about the thing. Other people had attempted to show her pictures, trying to change her mind, but Anais couldn't see it. The building itself didn't look all that impressive, especially now that she was in the same city as it. She could see it poking above the other buildings even now, and she still didn't get it.

Perhaps the view at the top was impressive? She didn't know.

She glanced over at Tavan, and shook her head. "I do not believe they would allow us to scale the side of the structure, Tavan." Or... wait. Did he mean just get to the top of the thing? "Nor do I know if they allow people to the highest part of it. I suppose it would not hurt to ask, however."


Tavan tilted his head as he peered up at the building, wondering if he even had the courage to attempt to scale it. Or would that be stupidity? One slip and he'd fall to his death, for sure.

Maybe after he was a much better rogue.

"The website I read about it said they let people go up pretty high, I forget how high it was." Mostly because he couldn't really grasp the height. The thing was taller than any building he'd ever seen! "There's three floors with restaurants and an observatory, but I don't know if the place is still letting visitors go up" Or even if it was still intact.


Anais shrugged. "Well, I suppose there is no harm in asking. The worst that can happen is that we are told 'no'." And "no" wasn't too bad, no matter how fascinating it would be to see all of the Nenakret from that height.


It was the only interest he had in the building, though, so he'd be really disappointed if they said 'no'. But there were other things to see, too. Tavan still hadn't ever been inside the World Library, but he'd heard a lot about flying books and such.

"Okay," he said to Anais, offering an accepting smile. He started down the street in the general direction of the towering Eiffel Tower.

"You keeping your apartment?" he asked curiously.


"I have not decided," Anais confessed, frowning a little as she matched his stride easily. "I am not even sure if I can."

Now that she thought of it, she had yet to ask whether or not it was possible for a paladin to live outside of the barracks. She had meant to the first day, but after the conversation she had with Ravindra, she had been too frustrated to even think about asking. She understood why he had reacted the way he had, of course, but it was still frustrating.


He tilted his head curiously. "Why couldn't you?" Did she not make enough to pay the rent, or was she more talking about being allowed to keep it...?


"I do not know if it would be allowed." After all, the guard and the majority of the paladins within Bastan lived in the barracks. She supposed that didn't stop a paladin from wanting to live outside of the barracks, but, at the same time, Anais didn't know of anyone who had even attempted it, apart from an alternate personality that lived in Ravindra's head, and she didn't think that really counted in the long run. "Within the paladins, our living space tends to be assigned to us."


"That doesn't seem fair," Tavan commented. "You couldn't have non-paladin roommates that way!" Like Lynea, or himself! Or, well, anyone else, he supposed.

Though it made him wonder if everyone who'd played a paladin had had their characters living in assigned spaces, or was it just those who were members of the guard...? Or... were all player-created paladins people who worked in Bastan...? And what about the other guilds?

So many questions!

"I think you should keep it. It's not like they can kick you out of the guild for having your own apartment, can they?"


"I do not believe so," she admitted, trying not to let her face fall too much as her conversation with Ravindra played back in her mind once again, "but they do not approve of paladins associating with certain individuals like Lynea." All assassins, really, and it was for a good reason. She understood that, but it didn't make it any less difficult. "I could get into quite a bit of trouble if they found out."


Tavan frowned. "But didn't the assassins help out in the war? That'd make them allies, wouldn't it?" Or did that no longer matter, with the war over...? And if a lot of them had been created by players, were they really all terrible people...?


"It is not that." Having not been there herself, Anais only had word of mouth to go on, and while the assassins had assisted them in the moment, part of her wasn't convinced that they had helped them out of the goodness of their hearts. That was not the way assassins were.

"Years ago, one of our own betrayed us because of the assassins." He was making amends for it now, so she heard, but the betrayal still stung a bit. "They found a way to get to him, and, in turn, he killed good people for them." She sighed, raising a hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind an ear. "If the paladins find out that I was associating with Lynea, I do not believe they would care about the situation on Earth. I might be branded similarly."


Assassins were bad news, as far as Tavan was concerned, so he didn't feel too inclined to argue in their favour. Especially since he didn't particularly like Lynea to begin with. Plus, a part of him wondered if it'd be easier to get closer to Anais without Lynea around much...

"I guess you just gotta make sure they don't find out," he said, settling for encouraging it without arguing. He gave her a smile. "If you want to keep hanging out with her, that is."


"Now, why in Xumurdad's name would I want to do that?" she asked, smiling back at him as she reached over to ruffle his hair a little bit. Never mind that she was still thinking about that kiss... It didn't mean anything. She was convinced of that now, but not associating with Lynea after having her around for so long would be strange. "Lynea was more trouble than she was worth."

Maybe if she told herself that enough times, it would finally sink in.


Tavan gave her a dopey grin as he ducked away from her hand, reaching up to comb his hair back with his fingers. He was left wondering why Anais had put up with Lynea at all, but... Somehow he suspected she'd grown used to having the assassin around. Even if Lynea spent most of her time being a nuisance.

He said nothing more on it, though. It felt too much like an 'adult' topic, not something he should have an opinion on one way or the other.

"Did you get to ask if you could keep teaching, yet?" he asked, changing the subject.


Truthfully, Anais was grateful for the subject change, although she tried not to let it show too much. Lynea was still an uncomfortable topic for her, especially after Ravindra's reaction to her. Even so, Anais supposed she really had no one to blame for that but herself. She really shouldn't have slipped up and mentioned Lynea was an assassin...

"Not yet, but I do not believe they will have much choice in the matter," she replied, smiling a little. "The Vahishta has asked me to teach him, and I intend to do so." It was acceptable to tell Tavan that, wasn't it? As long as she didn't give him any intimate details, that was fine, she was sure. Even Ravindra couldn't get mad at that.


His brows quirked. "You know the Vahishta?" he asked, seeming interested. It was interesting, in a way. Most of the guild leaders were Earthers now, and there was some curiosity about what sort of people they were, or why they'd taken the jobs. He wasn't sure the Khshathra would actually tell him, or any of them really...

Though, he supposed it wasn't all that surprising that she'd know the Vahishta. Even before the war, many of the guilds had worked closely with their country's companion guilds. Everea's paladins and clerics, all of Safta's guilds.

But if she were going to be training the Vahishta, that meant she'd need to get pretty close to him, if only for training purposes. "What sort of person is he?" Tavan asked, letting his curiosity show.


"I do not know yet," she confessed, frowning a little. She supposed she should have anticipated the question. After all, with all the guild leaders changing so suddenly, it was a question that was bound to come up, but... "Not really. He was a student of mine while I taught at the University, which is why he asked, but past that, I do not know much about him." It had never come up, really. She had never made much of a point of learning too much about her students, and she almost regretted it now. Maybe it would have helped her a bit.


"Was he in the class when I showed up?" That was even more interesting. The Khshathra had been in that class, and if the Vahishta had, as well, he kind of wondered if any of her other students wound up, or would wind up, as guild leaders...


"I believe so." Truthfully, though, Anais couldn't quite remember who had been there that day and who hadn't. The minute Tavan had shown up, the entire day had become one giant blur. "I do not believe you would recognize him if I were to describe him, however. You were a bit disoriented upon arrival."


"Yeah," Tavan agreed. It wasn't every day you found yourself suddenly teleported to another world, though it had been surprisingly similar to warp portals... Then again, he'd only used those all of twice before it had happened.

"I recognized Harriet, though," he added. "Did you know she's Khshathra now?"


"Yes, actually," she replied. Was Tavan hoping to have some sort of information that she didn't know? It was kind of cute, if that was the case. "A colleague of mine and I were guards for her when she went to discuss a few things with Queen Omid." Anais frowned a little at that. Of course, that hadn't gone entirely as planned due to Keidra interfering, but the deities did what they chose to do regardless of what people wanted.

Not that that was invitation for Keidra or any of the other deities to do anything ridiculous to them, and Anais couldn't help but glance up at the sky as if that could ensure that they wouldn't do anything to them. After a few moments, she was satisfied that another freak storm wasn't coming and she turned her attention back to the walk ahead.


That was something Tavan had only gathered vague information on, the visit to Queen Omid's castle. Something about diplomatic relations and then a snow storm in the middle of the summer that confused everyone in the city. But not just any old snow storm- the snow had come to life, apparently. He'd seen some videos online of snow constructs running around, dancing snowmen and the likes.

It was kind of a shame he'd missed it, really. He would've loved to see it first-hand!

They came to the World Library, the Eiffel Tower standing tall at one corner, and Tavan stopped walking to stare up at the sight. The thing was a lot taller than he'd expected, having been distracted with speaking to Anais during the walk. And then he was torn. He wanted so badly to see the Library, to get a look at the books flying through the air that he'd heard about, but the tower was huge!

Anais had wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, though. He could always see the Library after.

It was fortunate that traffic was limited to mostly horses or other animals these days, with the shortage of fuel, because after giving Anais' hand a tug, Tavan bolted across the road. "Let's go see if they'll let us go up!" he called back excitedly.


They were here.

Anais had forgotten how much the structure had merged with the World Library, but even just looking at it now, she still didn't understand what was meant to be so impressive about the tower itself. It looked plain compared to the World Library it was attached to. Still, though, the structure held some fascination for the Earthers, otherwise they wouldn't have mentioned it whenever the missing Paris had been brought up. She still wasn't impressed.

And then, without warning, Tavan tugged at her hand and bolted across the road. It was safer here, of course, due to car traffic being ridiculously limited in Zenderael, but it was still dangerous. After glancing both ways across the street (Anais was careful, not reckless, even here), she took off after him. "Tavan! You still need to watch where you are going!"


Tavan ducked out of the way of a cart turning up the road and stepped off of the road on the other side, turning to wait not-so-patiently for Anais to catch up. "You're so slooooow," he whined, though there was a hint of a grin there, the boy only meaning to tease. "They're not as fast as cars! I can get out of the way!"


Anais was most certainly not slow, thank you very much. She simply didn't have any desire to get trampled by a horse or a cart or something. Still, it wasn't something she voiced as she hurried across the road to rejoin Tavan.

"You still need to be cautious," she reminded him. "There are no cars here, but I do not want you to get hurt."


Tavan managed to refrain from pursing his lips or rolling his eyes, or otherwise showing annoyance, and instead gave Anais an apologetic smile as he nodded. "Okay." It wouldn't hurt to be cautious when she was around, at least.

"Now can we go see if they'll let us go up?" he asked her eagerly.


Sometimes, Anais forgot that Tavan had to be older than he looked. He wasn't a young child or incapable of looking after himself. Even so, sometimes, Anais would close her eyes and picture Tavan unconscious on the floor of the building after the lamia had fed on him. He had needed her then, and losing him hadn't been an option. She had to remind herself there was no lamia here, however, and they would be fine in the event something did happen.

She pushed that out of her mind, however, as she nodded and motioned for Tavan to lead the way, assuming he would do so, anyway. "Do you suppose it costs money to get up there?" She had some on her, of course, but she wasn't entirely certain she had enough, depending.


Tavan actually had a decent amount of money thanks to his trip to Earth and Fall City. If he'd been stuck in Kakoresh all that time, he'd have been broke! Not to mention having never met Anais in the first place, nor acquired the taste for exploration that he had now, but still.

He glanced back at her as he headed towards the building, grinning, and shrugged. "I have no idea!" He wasn't worried if they did. If they couldn't cover it, he could probably talk the price down easily. Earthers were pretty easy targets, he'd found.


If Anais knew what Tavan had been thinking with regards to Earthers, she would have been incredibly disappointed in him. Earthers were people, not just easy targets to fleece. How none of her paladin sensibilities rubbed off on him, she didn't know, but then again, if she had been unsuccessful in changing Lynea, why should she have been successful in changing Tavan any?

"Well, I suppose we will simply have to ask." She shrugged. If it cost more money than they had between them, she supposed there was really nothing they could do about it.