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Post by Tristan on Apr 19, 2007 22:45:50 GMT -5
"More hunting? But that's work... don't you think you could stand to take a day off, for once?" Funny, coming from him - he was as much a workaholic as they came, and for all the wrong reasons. Struggling with self-esteem issues and trying to prove yourself in every way imaginable to people who didn't even care about you was a full-time job, after all. Still, Syn put him at ease, made him forget about monster hunting, and he couldn't thank her enough for it. "Stargazing doesn't sound too bad, though. Been a long time since I've done that. Do you do it often?"
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Syn
Novice
Devilsbane
Posts: 75
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Post by Syn on Apr 20, 2007 12:01:46 GMT -5
An interesting question, especially considering the answer Syn had to it. "I sleep under the stars at night," she said. "So yes, if by often you mean every night that I have the chance to actually look, then yes. Yes I do."
After all, sometimes things happened to where she would fight off bad things until she dropped, or she'd be so exhausted from a hunt that she wouldn't even look up as she went to sleep. Life was tricky like that sometimes, but all in all, it was a decent living.
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Post by Tristan on Apr 20, 2007 14:19:05 GMT -5
He was a bit surprised at her answer, but only because the idea of sleeping outside was so foreign and unpleasant to him that he didn't even think about it before. Tristan wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty with his work (well, most of the time) but there were rougher aspects of the hunter lifestyle that he preferred to avoid. Given the fine condition of his gear, either he took almost obsessive care of it, or was a bit more cowardly than he let on... it certainly wasn't do to some surplus of skill that he was holding back in the village earlier.
"It's funny, you know..." He offered her a small smile, taking a sip of his water. "There's all these things that I did as a child that I enjoyed so much, and it takes another hunter to take my mind off of work and make me remember all of that. You have my appreciation."
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Syn
Novice
Devilsbane
Posts: 75
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Post by Syn on Apr 20, 2007 23:06:27 GMT -5
For some reason, Syn smirked mischievously. "No need to thank me," she said. "I'm good at bringing out the heathen in everyone. You'd be surprised the sorts of effects I have on people."
Some get angry, some get violent, some scream and run.. Very few accepted her. Very, very few.. Not even her own people accepted her, to put a scope on it. Then, quietly, she added, with a smaller, genuine smile, "I suppose it should be me thanking you." No explanation, only a statement..
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Post by Tristan on Apr 23, 2007 16:46:18 GMT -5
Tristan snickered quietly. "Heathen? I don't feel bad about dancing again, or reliving pleasant memories about my past. It's this job, really... always worried about where to find work next, what people will think if I turn down a particular bounty, all of that. It's a bit depressing, but you help that somehow, even though you've alluded to the idea of all the previous men in your life coming to unfortunate ends." He arched a thin brow at her, leaning his head into an up-turned hand.
"No thanks are necessary. If nothing else, this'll make for a good story down the road."
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Syn
Novice
Devilsbane
Posts: 75
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Post by Syn on Apr 25, 2007 6:52:06 GMT -5
The Nymandine woman smirked again, shrugging a bit. "You never know," she said. "Besides, last time I checked, anyone caught in public socializing with a Nymandine was largely considered to be a heathen. Lucky for you, no one seems to be saying anything even close to that yet."
She may have had wax plugs in her ears to keep the volume at a controllable level, but she could still hear many a thing in this tavern. She snickered. "They seem far too impressed with our dance to say much else."
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Post by Tristan on Apr 25, 2007 14:17:02 GMT -5
The youth actually blushed. She just had to remind him, didn't she? Just when he was about to launch himself into his usual "what will people think of me?" nonsense, her other comment took his mind off of it. "Really? Well, it was pretty good, though I'm sure we could do a lot better now that I'm warmed up... wait, how do you know that?" Tristan narrowed his eyes at her a bit, but the answer was really self-apparent. He frowned. "I wish I had ears like yours... like my father's. Mine look stupid." They didn't, really, but you know how self-conscious devil hunters could be. That said, it was probably for the best that he didn't have full-on Albian ears, because then he'd always be fretting about what people were saying about him.
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Syn
Novice
Devilsbane
Posts: 75
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Post by Syn on Apr 25, 2007 22:34:28 GMT -5
A thin brow raised, and Syn smirked maniacally, yet with a twist of playfullness about it. "You think so?" she asked, before leaning across the table and giving his ears each a light squeeze. "Hmmm.. Nah, I think they're fine." She smirked as she sat back, a sort of feigned innocence about her.
"Besides, they compliment the structure of your face.. If you had huge ears like mine, everything would be thrown off," she said with a decisive nod. "Yours are unobtrusive.. They make your eyes stand out as the dominating feature of your face. People look at me, and if the shock wears off, they see large ears and dark skin.. Nothing else. Be happy.. Proud, even. You could blend into a crowd."
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Post by Tristan on Apr 28, 2007 1:20:41 GMT -5
Naturally, he flushed bright red, both because a woman was actually touching him and what she said was technically a compliment. No one ever really had all that much to say about his features; his parents would often say that he was "cute when he was a baby" without mentioning his current looks, and most of the girls he'd grown up with didn't give him a second glance, content with a "big brother" or "best friend" sort of relationship. Needless to say, he only knew one way to handle comments like Syn's: awkwardly.
"Oh, well... I think you have really nice ears... and skin... and do you really think that my ears are fine? Are my eyes really the dominant feature of my face? I never really liked them..." Naturally, he strung this all together in a semi-coherent rambling, looking down all the while as his voice grew smaller and smaller with each word.
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Syn
Novice
Devilsbane
Posts: 75
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Post by Syn on Apr 28, 2007 14:03:38 GMT -5
It was impossible for Syn to not be amused by that. She laughed, a gentle, yet bemused laugh, and then grinned. "Tristan, you certainly are something," she said. "You have nothing to fear. I, myself, think that you're quite attractive, and there's no reason why anyone else should think differently, lest it's a personal thing on their part."
How was it that it was so easy to talk to this man? Ah, this young man.. She kept forgetting that he was much younger than she was, and young even by human standards. He was quite mature, really, and something about him made it easy for her to pretend that she fit into society once again. It was almost chilling, and she couldn't help but smile softly at the irony of it all. The normalcy.
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Post by Tristan on May 1, 2007 11:37:27 GMT -5
Quite mature, yes, but apparently not used to compliments given the way he'd been continually blushing since she touched his ears. The admittance that Syn actually thoguht he was attractive certainly didn't help - he felt his heart flutter a bit and turned a fiercer shade of red. "Oh, well... thank you. No one's ever really said that to me before." He spoke up as much as he could with his tiny voice, but it didn't make much of an impact. Did she really think he was good-looking? She could just be teasing him again...
"So... what did happen to all those other guys? If I may ask, that is?" He knew he was being foolish, knew that she'd probably killed the lot of them when she got bored or they displeased her. Still, he couldn't help himself... he liked Syn. Maybe it was the profession they shared or their similar roles as outcasts, but he not only found her attractive, but felt attracted to her... wouldn't mind seeing their friendship turn into something more, Nymandine or not.
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Syn
Novice
Devilsbane
Posts: 75
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Post by Syn on May 6, 2007 11:37:35 GMT -5
It was impossible for Syn not to crack a grin at that. The men in her life.. Such an interesting topic, really. And it was sooo difficult for Syn not to pinch Tristan's reddening cheeks. So hard not to tease him.
"Of all the men in my life," she began, deciding to tease him later. "I don't believe I was ever even with one of them. A lot of them were just men that I fought because they thought that I was going to eat their children, and the rest were those who thought it would help their reputation to slay a Nymandine outcast. Many died, but by their own foolishness rather than my own hand. Have you ever seen those people, man or woman, who were so stubborn that they thought a bandage would cure anything..?"
She didn't like admitting that she was merciful towards people, but it was a true fact of her life. She didn't like killing people unless it was necessary, or unless she was drunk. She didn't drink often.
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Post by Tristan on May 6, 2007 14:25:06 GMT -5
Oh... was that what she meant about the men in her life? In his naive little mind, he'd pictured people seeking certain entanglements and being maimed in the process. Was that really not the case? "So you were never... romantically involved?" That was all he wanted to know in the first place, but Syn would probably laugh at him now for making such a silly assumption. Maybe she'd cut him some slack, since it was so laughably obvious that he didn't know anything about relationships...
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Syn
Novice
Devilsbane
Posts: 75
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Post by Syn on May 6, 2007 21:45:52 GMT -5
Whether Syn noticed his lack of knowledge in the ways of romantic relationships or not, she made no mention, gave no signs. She would cut him some slack anyways, being as he was the first person she'd ever felt comfortable with.. And in all honesty, she was almost tired of being unkind.
"No," she said. And then, tilting her head in thought, eyes gaining the distance of recollection, she added, "My father encouraged me to date a gentleman once, but both of us were too aggressive and wild to let the other tame us. We fought a lot, and my father gave up after I nearly claimed the gentleman's.. extremity for my mantle."
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Post by Tristan on May 7, 2007 17:05:10 GMT -5
As curious as he was about her father, he willed himself not to press any questions about it. He could faintly recall something about her desire (or lack thereof) to discuss family, and castration wasn't that great of a conversation piece anyway. Well... probably in certain circles, but he didn't care to think of that. "You don't seem all that wild to me, but I guess if it doesn't work out, it doesn't. I can imagine that happening." He stared down into his glass, wondering if he should say what he wanted to say, wondering if Syn could read his mind this whole time and was silently laughing at how ridiculous he was.
"Well," he chimed up, looking at her with a helpful gaze. "Maybe aggressive isn't really your type. Maybe you'd be more compatible with someone more soft-spoken and empathetic. They say opposites attract, y'know..." He blushed cutely at all of this.
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