Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Annani and Sai (1x1)

"Lower the sails!" Sai barked from his perch by the great wheel that steered his ship's rudder. The poor Xebec, a three-mast ship known for its sturdiness and popularity with merchants, was limping into port, pitching with each roll of the waves. They'd encountered a violent storm that had ripped the foremost sail in two and the battered flag hung limply.

He gave a few more orders until the ship was anchored just a hundred feet from the already crowded port. Clearly they weren't the only ones who needed some repairs, Sai saw with chagrin. He gave some of his crew leave, including his First Mate, and rode to shore with them. Where he spent the first part of the afternoon negotiating the cost of getting his ship fixed, before finally retiring to the local inn and tavern aptly named The Drunken Sailor.

He missed the pitch and roll of the ship beneath his feet, but there were some advantages of coming ashore. For one thing, the food was varied, and so was the entertainment. The music in the tavern was catchy and while he was usually careful with his voice in crowded environments, he needed to blow off steam and so he joined in with his melodic deep bass, forgetting for the moment that his control over the luring lilt of his Sirenic voice was breaking.

It was a dampness in the air that the woman recognized first. She smelled the salt next, and eventually she could see the sea.She stopped when it came into view and only noticed the port town several moments later. She could see what was to be found there. Then she would need to decide whether to follow the coast or cross the sea.

Her sandalled feet plodded on to the town with the rhythm of her steps partway matched by the accompanying thud of her staff each time in hit the ground. The woman was an oddity. Her skin was dark but her hair was bright red, like liquid fire pouring from atop her head. Her golden eyes were just as fiery. Yet her face seemed entirely devoid of emotion. Blank, maybe even a little bored. Her staff was even more strange that she was. It was an artfully carved polished wood but a little golden ball floated in the top, suspended in air and looking like a tiny sun.

She perused the market first. Lots of fish of course, but there were other interesting items too. Her attention was pulled toward an inn though. A rowdy place by the look of it, but there was something strangely pleasant about it. She didn't know why, but she felt compelled to go in. She had the faintest of smiles as she entered, a rare sight on her face. Moments later she realized what was happening. It was bait to a trap. Her eyes narrowed and somehow that expressionless face held a quiet fury as she searched for the offender. She scanned the crowd and spotted... a male? With all the other voices it had been difficult to pick his out, but now his one voice seemed to ring clearest.

Sai wasn't initially aware that his voice was...leaking. Until the song ended and he found himself staring up at a fiery-haired, dark-skinned female who looked furious. At him. He blinked, his blue-green eyes puzzled. Why? He'd never seen her before, so unless she had mistaken him with someone else, there was no reason she should be mad at him.

He cleared his throat by taking a swig of ale and then offered a friendly smile at her, brushing back his black scruff of hair to reveal a tanned and sea-weathered complexion.

"Can I 'elp ya?" His deep baritone reverberated in his chest, but the dangerous Siren's lilt was gone.

"A serpant's t'roat." As low as the woman's heavily accented voice was it could almost have been a growl. "Your voice tells lies."

Her eyes ran over him. Her subtle expression carried a hint of indignant disgust but mostly plain confusion. She leaned forward, sniffed, and stood straight again.

"Why you are here, sea-singer?"

Normally such things were none of her business. If his voice hadn't pulled her in she probably would not have bothered getting involved. It had though, and that did not please her.

Sai's eyes flashed at the slang term she used, and he finally stood, grabbing his mug of ale as he did so.

"I'm not here to cause trouble, if that's what you're asking. I'm here because my ship is currently out of order and it's gonna to take a few days to patch it up again."

He looked her up and down, brows arching as he took in her clothing and accessories. "What brings you here, sun-walker?"

One such as him with a ship? The woman could have laughed at the idea if it weren't so perverse. It was already strange enough for him to be so openly among humans. And male. It was his recognition of what she was that really caught her off guard though. Her eyebrows twitched from the surprise, but that was about it. But perhaps it was not so strange that a creature such as he would know of her kind. It had just been s long since she had faced anyone who had any clue.

Curious, she asked in her native tongue, "You know of my people?" She switched back to the more common language then. "We are of d'e land and d'e humans. I have more of d'e right to be here d'an you do."

Confusion crossed his face when she switched languages. It was not something he was skilled at--languages. And he wasn't sure what to make of the switch, except that she was clearly better educated than him.

"I have no idea what you just said, but if you mean to send me back into the sea, you're in for a nasty surprise." His deep voice grated with his irritation. "I take it your something to do with the sun, given your staff," he gestured at the orb that floated over one end of it, "but there's nothing that says I have to obey your orders. Unless you mean to pitch me out of here by force--at which point, I'd have to say that I've already bought and paid for my room." And while technically he could sleep on his ship, he preferred not to at this time.

She stared at him impassively. He did not know then, but had merely guessed. The woman straightened up and held her chin high. "I do not act wit'out d'e reason."

It was not her place to protect the people of this town or anyone beyond herself for that matter. So long as he was not a problem for her, she had no care where he slept. She turned on her heal to leave, intent on better inspecting what fruit there was for purchase.

Sai watched her go, his grip on the mug slowly loosening. Interesting. His voice had called her to him. He still wasn't entirely sure what his voice could do, or the limits of it. But at least he knew there was one person who could decipher what he was. And apparently resist to some degree.

Intrigued, he drained his mug of ale and then followed her at a distance to see what she was up to. After all, why would one such as her be this close to the sea?

Watching Annani was no great show. She perused the market stands but bought little more than water. There was a booth selling jewelry made of shells, driftwood, and other items likely brought up by divers or scavenged from a nearby beach. She lingered there and ran her fingers over the smooth surface of a dark shell that had been polished down to where the shiny pearl colors glinted perfectly, but soon moved on to fruit stands. After some consideration she purchased a mango.

The woman pulled a small white knife from under her wrap skirt and cut pieces from the mango. Whenever she used the knife she rested her staff in the crook of her arm, and otherwise she held it in the same hand as the knife. She wandered toward the water as she ate and gazed sometimes at the moored ships, sometimes to the curve of the coast.

He still wasn't sure what he was waiting to see from the sun-walker, but her longing glances at the sea were easy enough to decipher. He sighed and contemplated his next move before finally dragging himself from the crowd of people to come stand next to her. Not close enough that she could wallop him with her staff.

"The sea is beautiful isn't it?" he asked softly, glancing sidelong at her. "But she's as treacherous as she is beautiful. So what brings you here?"

Had she been paying attention the woman would have noticed his approach. He caught her off guard though and if he had been closer, a wallop with the staff is exactly what he'd get. But he stayed for enough back that he only got a brief, cold glare before her golden eyes went back out to the water.

"It is." Her voice was just as low and her words still came out in percussion but the harshness from before was gone. "As is fire. Beautiful. Powerful. Deadly."

She scraped the last of the fruit from the large pit. When it was gone she dropped the pit, licked the knife clean and slipped it back away beneath her wrap.

"I follow my feet. Why you do come to land and have a boat?"

He watched the pit drop to the ground and scowled. At least the pit would be food for the crabs and seagulls.

"I only come to land when I must," he replied. "Food, repairs, or a new crew." He gazed back at the Xebec with the torn sail. "I just picked up a crew last port. Food rations are fine at the moment, but that last storm could have been from Poseidon's arm."

He considered her for a moment. "You mentioned crossing the sea. Where are you from?"

(Her crossing the sea was only mentioned in PM. It can work though.)

The woman missed the scowl entirely while looking out to the water. Even if she had seen it she would not have understood why dropping a seed that would either grow or dissolve into nutrients would be a problem.

"It is still strange. Your people do normally prey on d'e ships and d'e humans, d'ey do not?" As flatly as she stated it, it was hard to tell whether or not it was intended to be any kind of insult or accusation.

Her body stiffened almost imperceptibly when he asked where she was from. As impassive as her face was when she looked at him there was something more in her eyes. Maybe sorrow, maybe irritation, maybe indignation, maybe all three. "Where I come from is not d'e concern to you. It is not d'e concern to any."

(Ah, whoops. Sorry 'bout that. )

Sai shrugged noncommittally at her question of his type. "I wouldn't know," he said. "I was raised on land, near the sea; not in it." Although her use of "type" would have fit his Siren background as well as his pirating ways. "I like the Gulls too much to leave it; and the people you meet at a port town are far more fascinating than any inland." Not that he had any experience there. He often didn't venture farther than the view of the ocean unless need or desperateness required it.

He arched a brow at her own reaction to her origins, and he suppressed the urge to smile. He liked secrets--especially those that made others uncomfortable.

"So you can't go back, I take it? Too bright for the others of your kind to handle?" he jested, watching for her reaction.

Annani looked the man over unabashedly, studying his face in particular. He looked old enough that he should have had some experience with other sirens even if he had never spent much time with them. She considered pressing the issue, but decided against it. Too many questions tended to lead to unpleasant findings.

"Too bright...?" His words confused her and it took her some time to remember that he had an idea of what she was but otherwise knew nothing. When she worked it out the woman just frowned a little. "O'ters, you mean d'e..." She struggled a moment to find the right phrase. "...whole people." The woman shifted her staff in front of her to bring attention to it. "I was not d'e only."

The woman turned away and began walking again. Her eyes followed the coast as she continued to ponder how to continue onward.

"I can go back. I do not have d'e wish to."

"Oh." Sai realized he'd hit a nerve with her on the subject of where she came from, but instead of pressing her mercilessly, he let the subject drop.

He let her walk a few strides on, before jogging to catch up to her again. "So, do you normally travel alone? Or are you just that confident in your abilities?"

At least on the ocean he didn't have to worry so much about thieves and robbers. Just other pirates.

"Yes." The answer was the same for both questions so she felt no need to elaborate.

She walked a little further then whirled on him. "You do normally follow d'ose d'at are displeased wit' you? Or it is d'at you are displeased d'at I knew your lying voice?" The woman straightened her spine and held her head proudly up. "If it is d'at your questions were to seek weakness, I tell you d'at d'e last to attack me I left in d'e sleep and wit' a broken leg."

He arched his brow at her response, stopping abruptly when she turned on him suddenly.

"Well, since you ask...I'm not exactly happy that you figured me out so quickly," he admitted. "Which makes me wonder where and when you encountered others like me."

As for her last attacker, he shrugged. "That was his fault. I don't plan to attack you." He preferred his own 'victims' amenable. His voice was easy enough to manipulate, but given how alert she was to its coercion, he decided not to let his tone slip.

He half turned back to the tavern they had left behind them a good ways back. "Just try not to make a habit of interfering, will you?"

The woman's eyes narrowed and the glow of the orb in her staff brightened almost imperceptibly. "Interfere wit' what?" Her voice had turned harsher. She quickly caught herself though and mentally berated herself. It was not her place to get involved. The man's use of his deceptive voice was wrong especially now that there was no doubt he did it intentionally, but these people were strangers. She had no reason to protect anyone but herself.

She forced herself to relax but a hint of anger still showed in her otherwise placid face. "Do not'ing around me and do not'ing to give me d'e reason, and I will not... interfere."