[Naomi/Taiga] Prologue: Secret Rivals

[Mysticsage]

Morning Day 2
Troupe's Choice Inn

Taiga struggled to sleep the night after Thalia's announcement that the Familia would be heading to Orario. His mind was too full of dreams and excitement to stop long enough to let him find rest, so after a handful of hours of pretending, he finally decided to get up and spend his energy being useful. Without taking the time to put on a shirt he moved out of the small room that Tella let him have as payment for working as a bouncer and as the occasional actor. Tiptoeing on the balls of his feet, as to not wake of the other guests, he made his way downstairs jumping over the last bum step that always squeaked when too much weight was put on it.

He landed with a soft but heavy thud as his bare feet hit the wood floor of the main dining room. Weaving through the tables and the miniature stage he made his way behind the bar and into the kitchen. He pulled down a mug from a shelf on the wall and took a moment to fill it with water from the nearby bucket. From there it would be a short walk out the back door to begin his daily exercises.

He stood by the axe where they chopped wood for the oven and began going through the motions his teacher had taught him. Maintaining his breathing he moved his body, feeling the energy, tensing and thrusting each muscle as he went through a series of routines meant to strengthen his body and calm his mind. Feeling the cool breeze of the autumn morning helping with the heat from the building exertion.

[Throndir]

Troupe's Choice Inn
Day 2 - Early Morning

The mention of Orario that night before flooded memories back into Naomi's mind. She had traveled all the way from the Far-East to look for her sister who had gone off to Orario in search for adventure, fame, and treasure. Naomi didn't follow after her sibling then, but when she finally decided to, and had even made most of the journey towards the so-called 'center of the world', she found out instead that her sister had already been killed. This sent her on a rather aimless path visiting taverns village by village, selling her own body to make end's meet, until Thalia had taken pity on her and taken her in to work at this particular tavern.

Naomi prided herself in keeping a keen mind, and being able to intellectually separate herself from situations, yet, the shock of her sister's death, perhaps the only family she realized she cared about, ate away at her mental fortitude. She did her best not thinking about that city far-off, only focusing on the matters here in Thalia village. So when the announcement was made that they would be heading towards the fabled city.

Well... Naomi wasn't sure what to think.

Her face rather blank from lack of sleep, but she heard the tell-tale sounds of an axe splitting wood. Before she knew it, she was already headed out the door to see who it was. She had a guess of course. Who else would be chopping wood at the Troupe's Choice?

"Couldn't sleep either huh Taiga?" Naomi purred. Taiga had a well-built form, a broad thick chest, and rippling well-toned muscles. Naomi wasn't the most perceptive, but even she would notice the stares of traveling women, be it adventurers, merchants, or the wives of such hungrily eyeing the large man.

It's not that Naomi wasn't interested. Taiga was in better shape than most of the traveling merchants, and a large chunk of adventurers that visited the tavern. For a big brutish-looking guy, working as a bouncer for the Troupe's Choice, he had a particular almost naturally kind-hearted demeanor to him that Naomi found fascinating. To her, 'kindness' and all matters of outward personalities was all but an act designed to simply obtain one thing or another.

Yet for all of Taiga's qualities, there was just one problem. Taiga wasn't very bright, and to Naomi that was an instant turn off.

She went over to the large man, stepping in after one of his strikes to split some wood, and hooked on to his arm, holding it as if they were a couple. "Maybe you need to tire yourself out more each night before bed." Naomi teased. "I know a couple of ways. ♥"

As much as Naomi loved the man, she didn't really mean it either. Her time before working at the Troupe's Choice had caused some severe trauma for her when it came to men, and how she acted was just a way for her to better partition that segment of her life. At least, that's what she told herself. Besides... Taiga the whole meat-head thing wasn't her type.

[Mysticsage]

Troupe's Choice Inn
Day 2 - Early Morning

Taiga felt Naomi's presence before she spoke, the Renard always enjoyed the fact that she could command any space or man with her presence. This time he could smell the lasts of the previous day's perfume she must have forgotten to scrub it totally off. With his training, he could barely pick it up on the wind as she approached. It was far from a bad smell, she always wore the good stuff when she knew Thalia was putting on a big show. The lingering scent of some exotic flower that he couldn't place as she approached him.

Naomi was an interesting woman having joined before he got his position at the tavern. he spent the first few years watching and studying all the other staff to understand his place and that included her. She was exotic, beautiful, graceful, a great conversationalist, had curves in all the right places and was as sharp as a blade's edge. In fact, every time he saw her he thought about her like a sword, able to cut a man in half with a simple bat of her eyes but hold her wrong and she would shatter like glass. She liked to use her wiles and her confidence both as a shell to hide her true self away from the world hiding where she thought no one could see her to lick her wounds.

However, she did not hide herself as well as she thought, at least not against someone with talents for reading others like Taiga.

He had learned early on as a child that there were benefits being seen as one of the dumber people in the room and he played it to his advantage He created a mask of blissful ignorance, as to be overlooked whenever anyone wanted to go unnoticed. It made it much easier to hear and see things that would get you in a great deal of trouble for a 'smarter' man knowing. It held that the weretiger had an eye for the small details. Things like old perfume, makeup that had to be reapplied for the sake of tears, or the sounds of sobs in the night did not escape him.

While he had no idea why Naomi did what she did, he knew her flirting and toying with men was little more than a mask. How she always shrank away when they held her to close, or how she made sure that she was never around when one of her new subjects of affection got drunk and needed to be carried to bed.

He knew the look of old festering scars as well as anyone due to his own childhood and chose not to judge, at least as long as she managed to keep herself functioning. If she wanted help with her problems it was not yet his place to speak up. So he played stupid, far from a hard task, and let the song and dance playout between them.

She would come to him playing her games and making her jokes, and he would play the part of the blushing schoolboy. Pretending not to enjoy being looked at by others, and the power he had. He treated her like the porcelain doll he had seen his sister make once.

One false move and like the face of that doll the facade she built might start to crack, and Taiga wasn't sure what would come out of the wreckage. Taiga knew the importance of masks himself after all, and to deny someone their public persona seemed somehow cruel.

In his opinion, there was already too much pain in the world as it was and he did not need to add to it without cause.

It was for that reason that he purposely ignored the catch in her throat when she asked about not being able to sleep. He focused on his work for a moment to let the tension pass.

Then she was there in front of him, only to wrap herself around his arm. He made sure to put a bit of extra tension in his bicep as she did so to make it stand out and so she could feel the raw energy for a moment.

Because who said he couldn't have a bit of fun in the process.

"Oh, I'm sorry Naomi, I was lost in the rhythm of it all," he stammered.

"I hope I didn't wake you. Just what Lady Thalia said yesterday came as such a surprise that I was a bit too mentally overloaded to sleep. I never thought I would get to see the big city," he said flashing a toothy but sheepish grin. He was curious about what kept her here instead of in the big city that would easily be a better fit. Before he had the chance to question her more however she was already off with her own set of teasing.

At the mention of doing something to pass the time he could not help but feel red touch his cheeks. His tail twitching slightly at the excitement. He knew she didn't mean it, of course, in all their time under the same roof he had never once seriously invite a man upstairs.

"I don't know what you mean-" he said honestly flattered as he felt the crimson creeping across his cheeks.

Naomi was a strong independent woman who knows what she wanted and got it. She didn't let anything stop her he respected that determination. She would have honestly been his type if she let herself out from under that pain and was more honest with herself. She could be sweet but it always soured when you realized that she was using you. Which seemed to be a cover for her own insecurities.


Besides his code as a courtesan was to provide what people needed. That more often than not abstaining from certain activities. So, for the time being, he would pretend as if he was too innocent to understand what she intended.

After all, she was not that much of his type.