[Action | Closed] Good choice, bad choice

[treesus]

Who: Trahearne and Tannusen
What: Dumb tiger is a hobo, Trahearne tries to convince him not to do that.
Where: Somewhere in Fayren



Trahearne was sore and tired after today's round of 'building'. Not in an unpleasant way, it was nice to work hard and not have to look at a list of casualties at the end of the day. He knew he could go home and rest, read something, there wouldn't be any hurried knocking on his door to announce another disaster, another loss, another hairbrained experiment that went wrong and exploded.

It was late in the day, a good time for him. Dusk was his preferred time. He stretched lazily, thinking over what he might have for dinner as he walked. No matter what, he kept an eye out, though he didn't need to be too alert to notice something off today.

There was a tiger. A giant white tiger, beautiful and terrifying at the same time, curled up under a tree with low hanging branches. It was a good shelter for a wild animal. Not a person!

"Tannusen?" Trahearne called from a safe distance. He'd nearly lost his face a couple time to twitchy charr and knew well enough to not try to poke a big cat awake.

Comments

[black_black_heart]

The giant white cat stretched out a little, uncurling. His eyes cracked open and he regarded Trahearne without any apparent aggression. An ear flicked forward. Hmm?

[treesus]

"...What are you doing out here?" That was a good one to start with. Trahearne wasn't going to begrudge a giant deadly cat his nap but why here?

[black_black_heart]

Tannusen let out a whuff and then yawned, tail lashing.

Very carefully, he extended a huge paw and made a circular motion against the ground. Turn around.

[treesus]

"Oh. Sorry." Trahearne turned on his heel and waited. He couldn't determine much about fae from the books Tannusen had lent him and this building project kept him too occupied to find more. What he did know is that they had very strange and fickle rules. How sight prevented a tiger from turning into a man, he didn't know.

[black_black_heart]

"What are you doing out here?" Tannusen asked a moment later, now seated on the ground with his back to the tree. He gave a luxurious, spine-popping stretch with his arms over his head.

[treesus]

Trahearne looked over his shoulder quickly before turning back around. How did this man manage to look graceful even while sitting on the ground under a tree?

"There was someone, a mage, that needed help constructing a home high in the trees. I was best suited to the task so I offered to help." For free at that.

[black_black_heart]

"Best suited?" Tannusen found asking questions easier than giving straight answers, most of the time. Many pooka did. And then he grinned, "Is it because you're a tree?"

[treesus]

"Yes...Actually. In a sense." Trahearne sighed softly, the plant jokes would never end. "I can encourage plants to grow in a certain way and speed up their growth, enough so to form structures. It is a convenient addition to being what I am.

"Now, I'm unsure how to ask you what you're doing here in a way you can answer. Being anything but direct is difficult. Can you give me anything...?"

[black_black_heart]

"Mmff, sleeping," said the cat in human skin, "until a tree woke me up."

[treesus]

"In a forest of Fayren? Do fae prefer to sleep out here?" Trahearne frowned, he really didn't know how to ask the right questions.

[black_black_heart]

"Wouldn't know," Tannusen gave an elegant shrug, "haven't met one to ask. Cats sleep wherever. Big cats especially. You've been creating? Shaping? Marvelous. It helps your glow."

[treesus]

"Ah, yes, the 'glamour' glow you mentioned. I didn't know that would help that, it's something I'm so used to." Trahearne hadn't been able to see the Grove again before he was torn away here. Maybe that was for the best.

"Are you usually in Fayren? It's not what I would picture for your usual hangout."

[black_black_heart]

"Mmhm, creating, creative; it helps," Tannusen climbed to his feet and dusted the butt of his jeans off for any sticking leaves or bits of mud. He was in a t-shirt, for crying out loud. Not exactly damp forest camping clothes. Not that he needed them when he was a cat.

"Short statements, I can usually do. Usually. Sometimes they get boring, too. I sleep wherever."

Hadn't he told Trahearne he was a hobo at one point?

[treesus]

Trahearne wasn't sure all what Tannusen said was true! Finding him sleeping in the woods leant some truth to what he'd said before.

"You don't have a place to go?" He sounded dismayed at the thought. He barely knew Tannusen but... well, he was someone who needed help right...?

"That's too direct, mmm. I have a place with room, enough to sleep at least. If you have no objection to cats much smaller than you."

[black_black_heart]

"I could," have a place to go, "just haven't cared."

Tannusen gave another sinuous stretch and stalked over to Trahearne, moving to drape an arm across one planty shoulder. "Why?"

[treesus]

Trahearne froze. Um? He didn't object, he just wasn't used to this. Well there was that one charr commander that gave him backbreaking hugs on occasion but Tannusen was much scarier.

"Why not?"

[black_black_heart]

Tannusen grinned again, and leaned up to nibble the edge of a headleaf. Not hard enough to even bruise the leaf, just to make a point. Cats ate grass too, didn't they?

"Whyyyyy?" the question was given in a delicious purr. "Take in stray cats, do you?"

[treesus]

Trahearne flushed and stared at the ground, wishing deeply he could hide the glow on his cheeks. As it was a quite literal glow, he was out of luck.

"I've always attracted strays, I don't find it to be a negative." He paused. "That sounded a great deal ruder than I intended."

[black_black_heart]

Aw look at that literal glow! Tannusen chuckled, the sound deep and rumbling.

"Me? Attracted? Maybe," he purred, if only to see if he could make that blush brighter. "Let's go."

[treesus]

Trahearne indeed glowed brighter. Pale Tree give him strength he was renowned scholar and military leader and he still wasn't prepared to deal with flirtation.

"It's in Genessia, yes." He ducked away from Tannusen and started off in the direction of the portal. "That city doesn't offend your tastes I take it?"

[black_black_heart]

"Nothing offends my tastes," which wasn't true, of course. Meat that had been cooked for too long offended his tastes. Such a waste! And squirrels. Squirrels were the worst.

The tiger in human skin followed after the walking tree. So fae, this all was. He liked it.

"I've been living everywhere," not technically true. He didn't like the noise and pollution of Nova City enough to nap there.

[treesus]

"It's best to have somewhere to come home to, wherever you might travel to." Trahearne felt his own words sting as he said them. That would've hurt even if he was 'home', here it dung even deeper. He tried not to think about it.

[black_black_heart]

"Sentiment. How domestic," Tannusen sighed in disappointment, and caught up with Trahearne in a brief jog. "I'll try not to eat your other cats."

[treesus]

"Domestic? I guess. That's something very new to me, I can enjoy the change of pace. I haven't really had the chance since, mmm, I haven't had the chance before." Trahearne shrugged. Tannusen could say what he wanted about it, Trahearne liked having a soft bed and doubted the fae would mind a nicer place to rest himself. The comment about his cats was stubbornly ignored.

The forest thinned dramatically as they neared the archway. It was bigger than the portals Trahearne was used to but plenty familiar in concept. So convenient.

[black_black_heart]

"So if you're a tree, why are you living in the city and not in something like you're building that other person?" Tannusen followed through the archway, long legs easily keeping pace with the Marshal.

[treesus]

Trahearne laughed, he expected a question like that. He wondered how many questions he was going to get here about various aspects of being a plant. It was like being a sapling again.

"I live across from a park, it helps." He flashed a brief smile at Tannusen. "I'm not obligated to live in grown housing. The city doesn't bother me greatly and there's no benefit to living away from it on this world, is there? I've grown fond of all the wonderful amenities that come with homes in the city as well. It's very comfortable."

[black_black_heart]

"Most exotic pooka hate living in cities," an exaggeration, but not by much. "Can't just blend in in animal form like the others can."

Tannusen stretched again as they walked, linking his hands high over his head.

"Mortals have fits if they see a tiger through a window, let alone roaming the streets." An understatement, this time. "But this place is full of strange people and things. I blend in better than I'm used to."

[treesus]

"Despite being foreign even to many here, I've noticed little surprise. So yes, I would say that you blend in well here. You wouldn't be terribly out of place in Tyria either, I wouldn't think." Tannusen would fascinate the norn, if nothing else.

"Have you gotten any bad reactions so far?"

[black_black_heart]

"To being a tiger?" Tannusen asked, "Being fae? Or being an asshole." And he laughed.

[treesus]

"All three?" Trahearne looked away to hide a smile. "Or pick one?"

[black_black_heart]

"Hmmm," Tannusen mused a moment, "No, kind of, and a little bit." There we go.

"Some tiny dragon thing thought it was the only thing to call itself fae," Tannusen added, "if you don't have to worry about Banality unraveling you slowly over time, overwhelming your Glamour and ejecting your soul from your Autumn World body, then you're not real fae."

[treesus]

"A tiny dragon? A gold one? Seemed shy? I might have spoken to the same one. It's very strange to talk to a dragon instead of having it scream at me." He kept a humorous tone in his voice but really, it was strange. If it wasn't really fae maybe it also wasn't really a dragon. It didn't look like one.

[black_black_heart]

"Fought a dragon once," Tannusen sighed wistfully, "or was that a jabberwock... or a manticore. Or a Duke! Two Dukes? They run together. Lots of fighting. I miss my kirin, I'll have to get a new motorcycle."

[treesus]

"...I know what most of those things are." Trahearne shook his head and suddenly turned towards a building across the street. "You'll have to tell me about the fight with the dragon, if it was a dragon. We are here, by the way."

The apartment building was nice enough. Small but pleasant. Trahearne paused to hold the door open for Tannusen.

"It's up the stairs."

[black_black_heart]

Tannusen trotted up the stairs, and began roaming down the hall, dragging his gloved fingertips along the wall as he went. One could nearly see the claws that weren't there.

[treesus]

Trahearne followed him up and headed straight for his door. As soon as the door was open he hissed, "Back, back!" nudging a patchy grey and white cat with his foot.

"I hope cats of a smaller variety don't bother you. It's just the one. I've found I get lonely quite quickly." Trahearne sighed and scooped the insistent animal up so he could get through the door. The problem animal, having gotten what it wanted, purred.

"I swear..." he said softly. Inside was, to be expected, small. It was well lit and neat, except for the cat toys laying here and there. There wasn't much to it; a couch, a table, a mostly empty bookcase, a small kitchen open to the main room and doors leading to the bedroom and bathroom. The blinds were pulled back from the sliding glass door out to the balcony, several pots stacked out in the sun, waiting for him to get around to planting something

[black_black_heart]

"No wonder you take in strays," Tannusen chuckled, stepping inside, "and this one can actually talk. Well, so could that one, if I used the right cantrip. Wonder if it would have anything interesting to say?"

The pooka wandered further inside, and plopped down onto one end of the couch.

[treesus]

"I'd ask you not to give anything to allow her to talk. I'd never have any peace." Said cat leapt from Trahearne's arms and scrambled her way up onto the back of the couch to peer at Tannusen. She reached a paw out to him.

"I would take that as a sign of approval from her. I'll um, hrm. I'll see if there are blankets I can spare..." He headed for the bedroom door, already fretting again. He wasn't used to guests, not like this.

[black_black_heart]

"It wouldn't last forever," Tannusen chuckled, and booped the bottom of the reaching cat's paw, letting her curl her claws around his fingertip. Aw, lookit the tiny cat.

He stretched out on the couch, content to resume his nap.