With My Eyes Sealed In Blood... [M]

[TattooedGraphics506]

     "Simply to live." She replied, her smile fading. "I apologize for bringing it up. However, you do have something driving you, you just don't know it yet." Her dark hair blew back, swept up in the breeze.
     They suddenly came upon a small stream that connected to a clear pond, a lone, gorgeous weeping willow spreading it's saddened branches into the purifying water. Mae pulled the cart to a stop and got up. "I haven't bathed in a little while. This shouldn't take very long. You can take one, too, if you want. I won't look." She said, pulling off her leather outfit and laying it on the cart. She stood in her undergarments after pulling off her shoes. Soon she was completely naked, not really caring if he saw her or not.
     Maelynn draped a large cloth used for drying water on the willow's branches. She then waded her way into the water before diving in, disappearing for what seemed like minutes. Elves had many strange, extensive abilities...

[Wicked Basket]

While Tien did see her naked, he didn't really care. Being Thanati, he was used to seeing exposed women. He didn't bathe himself, because that would involve exposing himself and his heritage. Even though Mae already knew he was Thanati, old habits die hard. When she did not surface for an extended amount of time, he became slightly concerned. He got down from the cart and walked to the water's edge. Surely she would surface soon.

[TattooedGraphics506]

     She did, sure enough, popping up with a little water fairy friend. She was smiling, her dark hair wet and trailing in a flow behind her. "Tien, you have to see this. It's... amazing." She said as she dove underwater again, taking the small fae with her.

[Wicked Basket]

Before Tien could say anything she had already dove back underwater. How was he supposed to see whatever it was she wanted him to see? There was no way he would be able to hold his breath as long as she could. Tien merely shrugged and went to sit down under a tree. He then found a stick and started writing Thanati characters in the dirt. For some reason or another it relaxed him, as well as keeping him in practice with Thanati.

[TattooedGraphics506]

     She stayed down for a long while before getting out completely. "That was amazing, Tien. You should have seen it. This isn't a pond. It's a whole underwater cavern." She says excitedly. As she tells of it, she's just standing there naked. Then the breeze blows and makes her shiver. "Oh! Clothes." She says, and grabs her towel and dries off.

[Wicked Basket]

When Mae got out of the water Tien immediately drug his foot over everything he wrote in order to get rid of it. Tien, again, was completely unfazed by her nudity, though it wasn't unwelcome.

"Are such delays normal," Tien asked.

[TattooedGraphics506]

     She sticks her tongue out at him, but smiles anyways. She then pulls on her clothes and boards the cart. "Sometimes. Anyways, what does it take for Thanati to get a simple boner?" She asks, laughing to herself.

[Wicked Basket]

"Women are always very exposed in Thanatos," Tien told her. "It's nothing I haven't seen before."

[TattooedGraphics506]

     "Well, that makes things boring." She said softly, pursing her lips in a little disappointment. "I've never seen someone naked before. My father kept me away from everyone and everything. Still a virgin. He told me to wait until I got married, but, what kind of merchant ever settles down?" She says, the question more of a statement. "It's strange that this lifestyle is so lonely. I've never had a proper relationship. Never been kissed or held or talked to in a way that made me feel wanted." Her voice was filled with a saddening sense of loneliness and desperation.

[Wicked Basket]

"You don't think my lifestyle is lonely," Tien asked. "I have no family, no friends, no one to talk to. If I go home they'll try to kill me."

Tien climbed into the cart.

"At least you have a job and something to live for."

[TattooedGraphics506]

     "A family? Friends? I wish I had had one in the first place." She says, flicking the horse into a trot, dragging the cart behind him. "A job, I have. But nothing to honestly live for. An excuse is all I have." She said, looking over at him. "You live a lonely life. That's something to live for. Looking for someone who won't make you feel lonely."
     "You will move on and find people who make you happy. I won't. You have a chance, and I never will." She said, her voice no longer sad, but telling the truth.

[Wicked Basket]

"How do I have more of a chance than you," Tien asked. "I can't even show my face."

[TattooedGraphics506]

     "You could show it to me." She suggests softly. "You know I wouldn't judge you. And I already know who you are and where you are from."

[Wicked Basket]

"Why would I do that," he asked softly.

[TattooedGraphics506]

     "Why not?" She asked, looking over. "You've seen me. Why not simply show me your face? Why hide and be so depressed instead of standing up and fighting back? You let it drag you under, and you don't even try."

[Wicked Basket]

"It's hard to try when you know that you'd fail," Tien told her. "I have absolutely nothing to name. My name itself doesn't even have worth anymore. If I died tomorrow no one would know or even care."