[Central Square] Lead astray the gazers [open]

[Airisti E'lorroth]

19th Brightening of Kalendryas in the Season of Winter,
Era I of the Celestine Mandate, Era XV Post Fractum

With all the strength and grace of a panther, Airisti prowled through the Central Square -- also known as the Square of Lady Fire -- of Vortex as the overcast sky rumbled ominously overhead. Short-cropped white hair fell onto her smooth brow, barely brushing against the peak of her arching eyebrows as her violet-tinged eyes swept across those gathered within the square in a rather bored manner. Her elegant frame was clothed in a simple shirt of a rather drab grey color while her lower half was covered in a pair of black breeches with scuffed black boots reaching all the way up to her slim knees. A small dagger rested easily at her hip.

Sighing softly, Air moved towards the fountain gurgling in the center of the square. The spray raining down from the fixture misted against her skin in an icy dance that sent a cold shiver dancing down her spine. Perhaps it was a little bit too cool to perch upon the edge of the fountain so close to the water... but Air didn't care. She could feel the cold stone biting into her skin through her thin clothing, the sharp breeze of the season teasing her shaggy locks, and the sting of the water as it splashed against the back of her neck... and she loved every second of it. The sensations were harsh, but they were real.

Her violet eyes hooded, Airisti slumped forward slightly in her seat on the edge of the fountain as her dark fingers caressed along the smooth marble. She was waiting for something, that much was obvious to anyone who happened to glance her way. But what was she waiting for? Even Air did not know. Yet.

[Astraea Olath'barra]

It had been a long time since Strae had stepped back into the city proper.

It was quite easy to get lost in the caverns below...the interconnecting tunnels of Har'oloth were a dangerous place to vanish into. Astraea had done so, however, and with good reason. The Vysstichi had wished to help hone herself against the dangerous nature of the underworld. She wanted to be a top assassin, and so she would be...or she would die trying. She was not one to be taken lightly. Dressed in all black leather, from her tight, formfitting black shirt to her second skin of leather leggings, and protective leather greaves. They had seen some wear in her time down in the tunnels, and were not the fresh, new leather items they'd once been. They were worn, used, and absolutely, perfectly fitted. The shirt came up just short enough to expose the slightest bit of midnight-toned midriff, the rest of her ebony skin hidden except for her hands and from her collar up.

As she strode through the streets, gazing about, she winced. It was her first time back on the surface in quite a while, and the light was almost blinding. Her falchion was strapped to her back with a bandoleer of throwing knives going around her waist and one around each leg. Her Bagh Nakh were still gripped in her hands...in the down-below, she had almost never let them go because they had permitted her to survive. Several creatures had come after her, and several had died on those claws. To not be holding them made her feel almost naked.

Her shock-white hair was pulled back in a ponytail today, her scarlet eyes flickering with annoyance. She'd forgotten how soft the surface was. When she'd been up here previously she'd been a scheming and conniving bitch. Now she was all that plus a large bundle of attitude. She saw one of her racial sisters sitting on the edge of the fountain and began to move towards her. There was soemthing in the girl's eyes...something she recognized.

She'd seen that look before. It was a look that said they were searching for something. Strae had felt it herself. That same pull had been what had led her away from her family to lead her own life rather then serve her elder sister as the new Matron. When she'd been sitting at home, staring at her hands, listening to her elder sister gloat about how she had finally taken the job...she'd worn that same look. Someone who didn't know what they wanted, only that it was something different.

Strae did not have the compassion nor the conscience to walk someone through that stage of their life. Not that it would do much good. If one didn't find their way through that portion of their life on their own, then it didn't matter a damn bit. They would remain worthless and unable to rely on themselves for the rest of their life, however short it might wind up being. People who didn't learn how to rely on themselves became a corpse very quickly in the Vysstichi world, usually a corpse used as a stepping stone for someone far more ambitious and ruthless. Ambition and ruthlessness were things Strae had in spades. Perhaps it would be she who would use the lost little lamb.

A gentle breeze caressed Strae's lithe form, and though she didn't feel much of it through the thick leather, it did play lightly with her ponytail.as she approached. She stared at the woman for a long moment before eventually speaking up, her soft sultry alto voice escaping her throat in a way that made each syllable sound like rough, seductive caress in the same way that her large, violet-rimmed orbs seemed to absorb every detail about the girl, almost as though sizing up a meal.

"If you wait for it to come to you, you'll be waiting forever," she spoke, "what you need to do is go out and seek it." What 'it' even was she didn't know, but she did know that everyone had an 'it'. Some goal that they would drive for, attempt to achieve, even risk death to grasp. Everyone's 'it' was different, and she was curious what this woman's 'it' would wind up being. In nudging her to do something, it was possible to find worth in her...make her worthier of being a stepping stone for Strae to become something greater.

Time to see what this little girl was made of, and if she was even with Strae's time.

[Airisti E'lorroth]

With an almost bored indifference, Air's violet eyes slowly riveted themselves upon the figure of the other woman as she approached from across the square. She was armed and quite obviously dangerous -- a person Airisti would not want to cross. And yet, she did not feel threatened by her racial sister, though even the most foolish would have been at least wary. Her angular features smooth of all emotion, the dark elf raised her head to meet the crimson eyes of the other boldly with her own violet. She did not stand, indeed, Air didn't even move -- not even when the nameless stranger came to a stop before her and proceeded to stare her down for many long moments. The Vyssie girl took it all in stride, her short-cropped white hair dancing wildly in the chill winter breeze.

"Will I now?" Air lilted in her husky voice that was still rich and full, the words passing from her lips in the darkest of whispers, like leaves rustling over an abandoned path in the middle of the night. "And who's to say I haven't already found it?" Her slender hands grasped loosely around the edge of the marble fountain as she tilted her face upward to fully meet the gaze of the other. There was a quiet determination to her features combined with an almost feline predator instinct poorly suppressed beneath a facade of cool collection born from the season.

"Who's to say it's an 'it' and not a 'who'?" Falling into silence once more, Air waited, her violet eyes slightly hopeful despite her best efforts to remain neutral. She had been alone for many brightenings, for many cycles, for many months, for many eras -- forsaken, having to fend for herself in the harsh reality that was Vortex and the underground city of Har'oloth. But she had survived, hadn't she? She had made it that far.

But perhaps this stranger was what she was looking for.

[Astraea Olath'barra]

As the other Vysstichi met her gaze fearlessly, a mild chord of approval ran through the other woman's mind, though she was careful to leave it out of her expression. Any female worth her salt could control her expression and at least offer up false bravado when necessary. All her current expression did was denote that she was not an immediate outcast by her people. It proved nothing of her worth aside from the fact that she wasn't openly despised by all. When she heard her speak, Strae's full, thick lips curved upwards into a half-smirk.

"No one has to say it, your eyes say it for you." Her hands slowly tightened then loosened on the Bagh Nakh in her grip, repeating that pattern over and over It was a way of flexing the muscles to keep them sharp and ready on a moments notice. It had become habit by now.

"And 'it' can be a 'who'...I meant 'it' in the more universal sense...but you haven't found it yet. At least, not definitively. If you had, your eyes wouldn't look the way they do...searching for something greater." She shook her head slowly, her unpigmented ponytail swaying slightly as she did. The surface was soft...too soft. If she--if anyone--spent too much time up here in the comfort of a city, they would lose their edge. That defining edge that made one a true Vysstichi, versus a dark-skinned elf. Oh yes, there was a difference. When she'd been up here last, she'd been a dark-skinned ef. Now she was Vysstichi. This she understood with certainty.

This girl...she was just a dark-skinned elf. At least at the moment she was. She was soft, even if she herself didn't recognize it. Anyone who bore that look that made it clear they hadn't found 'it' was soft. At the moment, she was hardly fit to be a stepping stone. When one is ascending a pillar and they have already surpassed ground level, one does not purposefully descend again. Using this girl, at the moment, would be a descent. Perhaps she'd been mistaken...perhaps this girl was not fit to be used after all.

She would need to either undergo a revelation of self or at least show signs of stepping down the proper path before Strae would consider her even worth grooming to be a stepping stone. Even were that to happen, to the Vysstichi woman this girl would still a long way off of being someone worthy of ascending with. She hoped to find someone worthy, and she hoped to find it soon. After her brother--the weak male that he was--had vanished, she understood the worth of having someone who would watch her back. That didn't mean she wouldn't continue to watch it herself, it just meant she could relax and only worry about the other person slipping a knife into it rather then the entire rest of telath. A situation of mutual need would probably be best, as much as she hated to admit it. In that form, one would be resistant to killing the other, which meant that they could be trusted out of necessity. It was the only kind of trust that Strae believed in.

"Either way, if you don't find it soon, you will be swallowed whole by someone else's ambition."

Not mine...not yet...you're not yet worth it...but that doesn't mean there aren't others beneath myself who wouldn't hesitate to use your corpse as a ladder.

[Airisti E'lorroth]

The smile that curled Airisti's thin lips was cold in its blandness. Had Astraea accused her aloud of being nothing more than a dark-skinned elf, Air would have agreed with her, though rather reluctantly. The girl was soft. She was weak. She did fear her weakness, yes, though it was one of the only things she feared. Airisti embraced that fear with a quiet sense of defeat, knowing that if she did not embrace it, it would surely control her. She did not like being controlled.

"My eyes betray me," she murmured deeply, her hooded violet eyes flashing as she did so. Yet, her tone was not one of annoyance, but rather one of simple fact. Either the windows to her soul were wide open on that brightening, or this other woman was very skilled at reading subtle signs. Either way, Air felt exposed beneath the crimson gaze of her racial sister... but she didn't shift uncomfortably or look away. It was perhaps her one strength -- her ability to hold a gaze no matter how uncomfortable, awkward, or tense it was.

"Either way, if you don't find it soon, you will be swallowed whole by someone else's ambition." Airisti's lips twisted into a smirk -- the first sign of emotion she had shown thus far in their brief meeting. Wry amusement. "I doubt I am of enough worth to be of interest to another's ambition." In a fluid motion, she rose from her perch on the edge of the marble fountain, reaching up to her full height of 5'9". The other woman was just barely taller, so their eyes were still on about the same level as Air gazed steadily into the other's face, her eyes blinking languidly every few minutes. Her hands were limp at her sides, her fingers barely brushing against her black breeches as the chill winter wind teased her short-cropped hair of a ghostly white hue. Her very demeanor radiated indifference in such a heavy quantity that it could easily be confused with laziness by the obtuse. A more observant person however would note the straightness of her posture, the relaxed strength in her shoulders, and the quiet calculating of her violet eyes.

Airisti might be cold, even brutally dispassionate at times, but she was definitely not lazy.

[Astraea Olath'barra]

Ah, the smile. The smile could mean so many different things, generally speaking. An expression of happiness, of arrogance or pride, of contentment, of sarcasm, of excitement, of cold, bitter anger and mild hostility quite possibly at oneself veiled in passive-aggressive social niceties...

Out of that interesting list of possibilities, Strae had to go with the last one in the list. Oh sure, it would seem the most obvious because of the comparative detail, but sometimes predictability could be fun.

"Everyone's eyes betray them. Some are just more difficult to read is all. Some people are masters at hiding themselves in their eyes...but that doesn't mean they're not there to be found." A slight smirk curled at the corner of her full, dark lips.

"However, one such as yourself...people like you who haven't found it--I was one such, once--they are all easier to read...yet another reason to find it." The gaze was held, neither looking away, but both of them practical and mature enough to blink--a staring contest would have probably put them on par with most of the surface races...a grievous sin--and when the woman answered her comment, she broke it by letting out a hearty laugh, full of a strange, cynical mirth.

"Never doubt the pettiness of some people's ambitions. The adage of 'no matter how good you are there is always someone better' is true, but so is the reverse. No matter how poor, weak, or worthless you are, there is always someone worse. And if that someone finds their 'it' before you, you just might become their stepping stone to better things." Why was she bothering with this creature? What did she hope to gain from this dark-skinned elf? Why was she offering advice?

To make her more worthy, her inner voice spoke hungrily, To make her rise and become worth using to become greater yourself. Sometimes the challenge we learn the most from and rise the farthest from is the challenge we make for ourselves.

Strae shook her head and walked past the dark-skinned elf, the move blatant in its sense of superiority.

"But you have one thing right. At least for me, you aren't worth it. You're lower than what matters to me." She wasn't even looking at her racial sister anymore. "If you ever want to gain any worth in this world, if you ever want to accomplish anything other then sitting on your hands and bemoaning your lack of ability, then create your own opportunities. Rise, and become greater. Become greater then me. Make yourself worth my notice rather then not even fit to clean my boots."

Strae, finding no value in idle chatter with the girl, decided to move forward past her. That was the real test...would this young babe find the desire to move forward too, or would she remain where she was and not advance? And even if she did move forward, would it be for the sake of moving forward, or for the sake of chasing the back of someone already moving? It mattered little to the Vysstichi woman...she was just curious what the Dark-skinned elfling would do.

[Airisti E'lorroth]

A chill winter breeze wrapped Airisti's form in its numbing embrace, sending a light shiver skipping down her spine. The laugh of her racial sister was unsettling in its jovial harshness... unsettling to the point that Air finally had to avert her violet gaze from the other's crimson. She had yet to experience the trying tests of Har'oloth, having fled from her underground home of Herrozal almost an era before when her older blood sister had tried to murder her. Such was the Vysstichi way and Airisti had only further proven her weakness by fleeing instead of standing and fighting for her right to live. But she was young and she had suffered from the gnawing disease of fear... so it was that she had found Vortex, keeping to the shadows and night-shrouded streets of the surface city rather than braving the underground nightmare below.

She wasn't ready... not yet.

Make yourself worth my notice rather then not even fit to clean my boots. The other woman's words stung harsher than any slap to the face would have and Airisti found herself quite at a loss as to how to respond. Why should she care what this stranger thought, anyway? She didn't even know her name. But as the other moved off, leaving Air alone with her seething pride, she knew she could not let such an insult go. Yes, she had fled from her home like some weak lightborn. True, she was hardly anyone of note... but she would be damned before she took such a verbal blow meekly.

Airisti was far from meek.

Prowling forward, the young Vyssie kept pace with the other, falling in at her side rather than walking behind like the "lesser being" she obviously was -- at least in the nameless woman's eyes. "If I am not worth your notice, then why do you speak to me?" Her voice was little more than a slithering purr as she kept her violet eyes trained ahead, not bothering to glance at the one beside her except for a few sly sideways glances as they moved through the square.

[Astraea Olath'barra]

As she strode through the crowded streets, Strae's hands still clenching and unclenching the bagh nakh in her hands, she noticed that the girl had come to move in stride with her. She let a slight smirk of arrogant superiority slither onto her face as the pair maneuvered through the crowd, Strae contemplating the girl's words. It was indeed a good question; one Strae wasn't even sure she knew the entire answer to. She did know a few parts of it, however, and she'd be damned if she let this dark-skinned elf know any better than that she knew the full and absolute truth.

"Because I am at an interesting stage...or rather, I will be soon. That stage will be a period where many stagnate. I will need to find a concrete reason; a way to move myself forward by force if I must, for fear of never advancing again, if not sliding backwards. The best way to accomplish that is to find a worthy stepping stone." She glanced sideways at the girl out of the corner of her eyes before letting her crimson orbs return forward as they moved in time.

"Currently you are not worthy...but when one cannot be found, the next best option is to create one yourself. I recognized the look in your eye, because I had it once myself. You hunger for something, you just don't know what. With the proper nudgings you could begin to move forward and make something of yourself...thus I speak to you in hopes of crafting a stepping stone to help me advance that's worth my time." Her grin cracked wider to reveal a flash of pearl-white teeth.

"If you fail, all I have done is waste a few breaths and moved on with my life, and you pass into the footnotes of history. If you succeed, than you become so much more, and at the cost of a few breaths I potentially gain something of great worth...something that will help me move forward by making you worth my time." She knew exactly what she was saying, so she decided to say it plainly...she always was a bit more direct then most of the more tricky Vysstichi.

"So yes, at the moment, I am using you. And if it works, I will continue to use you, until I find you worth the ultimate use. If you rise even beyond that; if you succeed in becoming my stepping stone without dying, so much the better for you." Telling her racial sister this was a huge risk; it was possible she would leave or go away from Strae, but though she couldn't explain it, she had a feeling.

A feeling that she had hooked this girl's interest. Even if she knew she was going to be used, it was quite possible that at the cost of being helped in moving forward, she would accept the price of being used. It was a small price to pay, after all, and if she did well enough, she just might live through it all.