[center][h1][b][color=c4df9b]Tayla[/color][/b]
[color=a2d39c]Sil[/color][/h1][/center]

Mentioned [@HokumPocus]

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[color=a2d39c]”WAKE UP! CHRES IS IN TROUBLE!!!”[/color] Sil screamed directly into Tayla’s ear.

Tayla bolted up right in her bed, ears ringing and heart pounding. [b][color=c4df9b]“Pierce my eardrums,Sil!”[/color][/b] She cursed, her left hand leaping to cover her ear. She had awoken next to Octavio and Lynx. The two did apparently sleep together. New development or no, it was fair to say the bed was quite crowded.

[b][color=c4df9b]“What the hell is your problem?!”[/color][/b]

[color=a2d39c]”Lots of things actually.”[/color] She replied back merrily, completely oblivious to the pain and probable loss of hearing that she just caused. [color=a2d39c]”-or at least that’s what Chres likes to tell me, but I like to think it’s part of my charm.”[/color] She said, hands clasped behind her back and head tilted to the side. She looked up to Tayla and gave her an innocent smile.

Tayla groaned. Was the fairy really so clueless, or did she just get a kick out of torturing others while feinting ignorance. [b][color=c4df9b]“Why are you here, Sil?”[/color][/b]

[color=a2d39c]”Oooooooooh, no reason, really. I was just doing my nightly hobby of watching you sleep is all.”[/color]

Tayla’s jaw dropped. [b][color=c4df9b]“You… were watching me sle-”[/color][/b] She cut off abruptly and shook her head. Her mind doing a mental double take. [b][color=c4df9b]”I’m sorry did you say this was nightly hobby?”[/color][/b]

[color=a2d39c]”Hmmmmmmmmm…”[/color] She hummed contemplatively. [color=a2d39c]”Would it be weird if I said, ‘yes’?”[/color]

[b][color=c4df9b]“Um… yes?”[/color][/b]

[color=a2d39c]”Then of course not, silly,”[/color] She scoffed, trying to downplay the situation, [color=a2d39c]”-this is hardly an obsessive hobby which you should definitely lose sleep over! Tonight was only a one-time affair.”[/color]

[b][color=c4df9b]“Riiiiiiiiiiiight…”[/color][/b] Tayla shifted in her sheets uncomfortably. She shifted her gaze around the room. Strange, the door was left open.

She rubbed her eyes for a second and tried to clear her head. She could make out strange scuffles and grunts coming from elsewhere in the guest wing. She eyed the night stand next to her, and the place where she had left her twin blades and bag of swabs. One of the blades was missing.

Tayla’s back stiffened. [b][color=c4df9b]“Sil… what was it that you were yelling about again? Something about Chres being in trouble?”[/color][/b]

[color=a2d39c]”Oh, that? Just a minor detail. He went out for a stroll, and got into a little scrape, is all.”[/color]

[b][color=c4df9b]“A… little scrape?”[/color][/b]

[color=a2d39c]”Yeah, something about, ‘Magic’s not working -blah, blah, blah- Servants trying to kill me -yada, yada yada- Princess Lys is kidnapped -etc, etc’ ...”[/color]

Magic not working? Murderous servants? Lys, kidnapped?!?!?! Shit! Tayla’s eyes darted from the open door, the missing blade and the seemingly empty room.

[b][color=c4df9b]“Sil.”[/color][/b] She whispered. [b][color=c4df9b]“Are we alone?”[/color][/b]

[color=a2d39c]”Alone? No, of course not silly. Someone is playing hide-n-seek under the bed!”[/color]

Tayla’s eyes widened. The bed?!

[color=a2d39c]”But hey, back to the important stuff - did you know that you puddle from your mouth when you sleep? In fact, you still have a little bit on your chin over there-”[/color]

Tayla leapt out of the bed dressed in nothing but her sleepwear, just in time to avoid a blade piercing through the mattress where she had just been.

The woman under the bed cursed. She was now in a vulnerable position. Her chance to strike, lost. Tayla swept up her remaining blade in one hand and a bag of her swabs in the other. Then in one fluid turn she thrust the blade into the woman’s side and through her gut. 

The woman let out a dying cry. Her form changing and shifting in the process. The servant… was she one of those Chameleon Crazed that Lord Ru’Tev showed them? 

Another servant entered her room. More? Was this whole thing just a ploy then? This whole time?

Tayla made a dash for the new foe. Swung her sword and-

The new servant took a deep breath. Tayla’s sword burst apart into a gaseous blur and slithered away like a snake into the man’s nasal cavity.

Tayla abruptly stopped her assault and dashed backwards. The man took that chance to charge at her. Swinging his arms, he then breathed out. Tayla’s sword reappeared in his hands.

[b][color=c4df9b]”Ah, fuck me!”[/color][/b] Tayla cursed; crude as ever. She dove under the wild attack and shot past him. Fortunately for her, the man clearly wasn’t familiar with how to properly swing a blade.

Sliding on the floor she kicked the back of the man’s knees. The man collapsed to the ground screaming in pain.

[b][color=c4df9b]”Sil!”[/color][/b] She cried. The whole incident seemed to have frightened the familiar. Tayla could barely make Sil out in her winged ferret form. Hiding and shivering under the bed. [b][color=c4df9b]“Warn the others, Sil!”[/color][/b]

[color=a2d39c]”I-”[/color]

[b][color=c4df9b]“Warn the others!”[/color][/b] She repeated. [b][color=c4df9b]“And for senses sake, go find Chres!”[/color][/b]

Sil yiped. Though she needed no further prodding. She flew off, out of the bed and into the guest wing. Screaming warnings for the others.

The man she had kicked laughed despite the pain he was in. “It’s too late. That Normie, all on his own? He’s probably dead already.”

Tayla shrugged. Honestly she didn’t care. From what she had seen thus far, the drunk fool was pretty useless anyway. Sil, however…

She thought back to the poor thing, shivering under the bed. Too scared to move. Too scared to do anything. She had been that girl before. Chained up and cowering under her father’s shadow. A runaway teen, homeless and balled up on her side, as the imperial patrol kicked and beat her for stealing bread. A broken woman, locked as a prisoner in a cell. The closest thing she had to a friend now dead because of her stubbornness.

No. She didn’t care for Chres. But this other feeling she had… This was new.

She looked at her opponent, as they both regained their posture. Just to make sure, she put one of the swabs in her mouth and frowned. Her magic also wasn’t working. The trigger for her power, and the power itself was there, but it felt like there was a wall of resistance in between.

She exhaled, She could make out the sounds of others in the guest wing. Things certainly looked bleak. If she died here, so be it. At the very least she could ensure that she wouldn’t die as that girl, crying in a corner.

Her attacker closed in.[/hider]