Naya

- Naya had possibly never been more uncomfortable in all her short life span. From the moment that her master had brought her to the doorstep of his home and ushered her into his his life in full, she felt more and more like a stranger. A nothing and nobody she seemed to think herself fitting for such a role. Her tiny frame was dirty, ragged and scrawny. Nothing to look at despite the beautiful array of tattoos that now graced her ivory skin. She was able to fit into the shadowy pillars easily enough though so at least she had that going for her. One would think that she was either part stone or mute from the silent way she acted when she slid into the backdrop entirely too easily for it not to be normal for her to do so. Pondering Vier's statement about meeting her teachers to really pay attention to the grandeur of this interior decorating, her gaze was listless and merely waiting for the initial meeting in which her master spoke of. Though.. the stairs certainly caught her eye. Di..did they move? Of course they did, she was in a magical mansion after all. Stupid girl.

 Luminous, strange eyes were unfocused, deep in thought as she was prone to do more and more these days.  It was strange enough to make her  think harder about  the logistics to get ones staircase to move with a mind of its own. The  immortal child-woman would have delved further into this thought process had she not heard the strange noises nor seen the sudden burst of.. something.. someone? Bursting through at breakneck speeds. The aura she felt... it was like nothing she had ever witnessed with her unique vision before. Glaringly radiant yet deeply lined with a strange ethereal sense, Naya only cocked her head to the side in her confusion. A confusion that only grew when the tiny frame of a golden haired, cat eared woman wrapped herself around Vier in mere seconds. It took Naya back a bit, so much so that she felt herself slide a step and hit her back into the pillar silently. Japanese set eyes widen with surprise at the words exchanged, the scene before her so intimate she found herself averting her gaze awkwardly. Yet.. before she yanked her vision to the side and stared at some art work on the expansive walls lining through the winding hallways she caught herself staring. An intruder and a guilty one at that, she had caught a sense of... something she couldn't put a finger on right away. It certainly set her stomach into a fit of anxiety knots, her very breath catching into the back of her throat.

 Ahh.. that's what it was. Never.. not even once in the five years she had known this powerful mage.. had she ever seen him look happy. Happy like her foster parents had when they caught one another sneaking glances across the dinner table. She found herself unable to help the staring, much as she did when she was but a child. It had fascinated her as a kid to see sweet Miwa and steadfast Isao express their love in the smallest of ways. She saw it there with Vier and this strange woman and it made her heart squeeze painfully inside of her rib cage. The dark part of her mind that ever lurked inside whispering that she would never have that.  Unlovable. Unwanted. Silly, stupid girl. What made you think you deserved that?

It was that gods bedamend voice that made her tear her gaze away. To shuffle silently from one dusty boot to the next. Unsure of what to do, what to say, she was mute when Vier finally turned the gorgeous woman around and she found herself gazing at his wife for the first time ever. Oh.. Oh gods. It took every bit of effort out of the young woman standing there all alone to not blanch visibly, to not pale and go rigid with fear. The tips of her fingers at her sides would flex inward to the first knuckle without much thought behind the gesture. The smallest undetected motion of ragged and unkempt nails suddenly dragging pain filled scratches into her palm to help keep her expressionless. Oh no.. Ohonoohnono. Panic welled despite the jolt of raking pain, only to be forced back down into a swallow when she found herself face to face with a woman possibly even shorter than her. Smaller perhaps.. but even at first glance Nayanna knew that she was dangerous. Possibly even more so than she. An ancient being to be sure, though the youth in her face would never testify to that. Aye, no it was something she felt in the very marrow of her bones. Naya felt herself suddenly very desperate to vanish from sight, yet she only pushed her tiny weight off of the stone pillar and swept into a low bow. It contorted her leather covered frame perfectly into the formal, most honorable bow her custom would dictate. Holding that position with her hands clasped in respect, her voice straining to murmur out and sound normal- " Kon'nichiwa, oaidekiteureshīdesu." (It's good to meet you.)"

- As always, her native tongue slipped with the fraying of her last nerves. It was a habit that had yet to be broken. Words slip out, the silence came with it and she forced herself to mechanically straighten and face the pair. Hopefully this could be blamed on nerves. Seeing as she couldn’t control every reaction the way she wanted to, but her brain had gone into overdrive when she stepped into uncharted territory. Err.. more like thrown overboard and drowning into the ocean of uncharted waters with no life jacket. Straight to the fuckin’ deep end. She watched Vier with his arm around the petite woman, looking casual yet tensing his arm in a subtle way that Naya would certainly would catch with a sweep of her gaze. She saw the meaning, the taut line in his jaw standing out and almost hissed in anger. He blamed her. She knew it, he knew it, but they had never spoken of what had happened and if Naya had anything to say about it.. they never would. It had been a mistake, she pleaded silently, trying so damn hard to not let the pain show in her cobalt blue and gold flecked through eyes. Her body was stiff while trying to look relaxed. Half moon etchings in her palms becoming more prominent to let the pain soothe her  but much to her chagrin, not even that helped her warped mind ease as it had become accustomed to over the years. Being tortured for days on end for a year straight  really made one befriend pain in the strangest of ways, and after what had been done to her while enslaved, it was all she could do not to tear bloody furrows from the way her nails worried into flesh.

The smell of blood would be scented though, along with the scent of fear so.. the cursed halfling expressed neither. Only let her lip curl into the slightest of snarls from the way they had both talked about her as if she weren't there to speak for herself. The curse, what's wrong? The concern was for him and her affliction only. Only because she was dangerous. It would always be about the curse, and the person who had to endure it’s maddening power would remain faceless. So was Naya's lot in life. The emotion was welling all the same, growing in a tumor massing to bursting  and if she didn't get out of this situation soon she feared the guilt would eat her up, spit her out and let her master’s wife do what she wanted with the remains. She was sure that this woman could do it, and would with a smile on her face. To Naya, only a powerful being could be Vier's wife.. and strangely the thought didn't scare her. It only made sense that this woman could tear her apart as easily as slicing through tissue paper. There was simply no way he would have gone for someone weak. Naya knew at least that much about the man to know this for a fact.

 It felt weird nonetheless to stand before the pair.  Each ticking second cementing the fact that the poor girl couldn't bare it anymore. It was too much, too soon. Her saving grace during those futile moments where Naya was about ready to jump down the stairs and simply vanish into the night, was ironically enough.. named Grace. Who appeared like a vibrant bubble of radiance that blinded the shadow standing at five foot nothing.

Her skin was itching, twitching like a horse flicking a fly off its hide yet the presence of Grace eased her initial freak out in just the fraction needed in the form of a perfect distraction. Vier practically ignored her,  Naya refused to look at his wife, and Grace eyed her up and down in a way naya would become accustomed to when people connected awful God like curse and Nayanna together.  She only cocked her head to one side, giving herself a proud tilt to the chin to get her curious eye full of this bubbly woman in silent retaliation. Eyeing the auburn haired one  in a similar fashion, and finding herself quite desperate for the  much needed distraction this sentinel provided. Grace talked a mile a minute and only seemed to stop when Vier told her to find a room, which only made it more awkward.. At least for her. Naya flinched in the smallest of ways and dropped her gaze.  At the dismissal. Gods it was like she was a child, being told to go to her room without supper. It was ungodly irritating. Well deserved but.. it cut her to the core all the same. Her teeth set, jaw working until she plastered a friendly look on her face when her angular features rose up to meet Grace's once more. Oh.. little one.. Ryuu's voice sounded out in the maddening rush her mind had become, the rumble sudden and making her flinch at the sympathy such an ancient voice could hold in just her head alone. She merely shook the dragon spirit off for now and focused on keeping herself together. Just a little longer. Get to the room! Get somewhere other than here!

 " Err..eh? Friends?" - Sadly.. it was the first thing that Naya could think to blurt out when Grace wasted no time in grabbing her hand and squeezing the ever loving daylights out of it. The pressure was returned instinctively, no real thought behind it but Naya found herself slipping her fingers from the hold all too quickly all the same. She just.. she didn't like touching people. It typically got her into a lot of trouble though.. she was leaning towards preferring the killing side of trouble rather than the latest bout she had gotten herself into. What a mess you are. Awful, ungrateful child. So fuckin selfish. She peered at Grace and shifted as if to walk after her, her feet sounding like dead fall on top of the magical stairs.- " I.. I suppose we could be friends." - Whatever the hell friends were.  Up the stairs the strange pair went and not once did the over emotionally feyling look over her shoulder. Merely focused on putting one foot in front of the other while concentrating on never  letting anyone see the water trying in vain to claw pathways from her tear ducts.- " Have you lived here long?" - At least her curiosity had a light of its own, it could keep the air.. not so awkward. Maybe. Perhaps it was good to let Grace keep talking, it seemed to help. In a weirdly, annoying sort of way. Please don't stop talking.-