Exploited Anguish

[Jirai]

Niall was perfectly still as she listened to the other talk, with one exception. The fingers on one tattooed hand tapped rhythmically against the log she was seated on. Agitation? Restlessness? Reading Niall tended to be a challenge.

"And that limits you. She limits you." An observation, nothing more. Academic, even. This was not an aspect of magic that Niall was familiar with, which made it even more interesting. She chose not to respond to Elliot's name or Gloria's, but leaned back slightly, one leg outstretched. "When I speak with her I speak with you, and the other way as well, no? I wished to speak to either of you." She murmured before giving a sharp shake of her head.

"It is not affection," She was quick to protest that word, though she did not offer up another in its place. That comment had irritated the scarred young woman though, and she did not bother to hide it.

"If I wanted this town, it would have been mine already. The town is not what I want."

[Guppy]

"She may limit me or she may be a boon. That remains to be seen and depends entirely on those she fixates on and their treatment of her," the creature mentioned, giving another gesture towards the scarred woman across from her. She inclined her chin, debating the validity of Niall's statement about speaking to both of them. "Maybe, but the responses tend to vary considerably," she mused. It was clear that she liked the sound of her own voice.

There was that shark-smile, all teeth, when Niall insisted that it was not affection that drove her to protect the little whelp. She did not mention it further, but she did not seem to believe the woman.

As she mentioned that the town was not what she wanted, those lips quirked, twitched at the corners. "No? Well, then. I hope that your goals are fixated higher, rather than lower. Our magics are volatile against one another. Imagine what they could do together," she offered, eyes half-lidded. There was that almost-flirting, again. It was likely more than a little confusing. "Has the boy recovered yet?," inquired, passively. Feigning only mild interest. "He has such potential. ... Wasted potential. He sees nothing in the mirror? That is just.. depressing." Nose scrunched with abhorrence.

[Jirai]

"Unfortunate that you need to rely on another at all, or do you disagree?" The tapping of her fingers paused for a moment, then resumed.

"Of course they do. You are not the same." What she had said earlier to the other one, said to this one as well. It was well enough that It liked the sound of its own voice. Niall was the opposite. One did better to watch her actions than her words, usually, and right now the mention of combining their magics clearly had some impact on the tattooed woman, a slight narrowing of her eyes, a more intense focus on the other, even if those words weren't the ones she replied to. Not directly.

"He is not for you."

[Guppy]

The spirit wearing Whelp's skin lifted her slim shoulders in a casual shrug, unapologetic. "Unfortunate, yes," she agreed. "But manageable." The creature smiled when Niall narrowed her eyes and seemed to tense, to some extent, at the mention of their magic. She did not respond, which seemed to suit the creature just fine. Dark eyes settled upon the brush at the edge of the clearing as Niall insisted that Elliot was not for her. "No? Is he for the whelp, then?," she asked, almost sounding as if she were tiring of their conversation.

[Jirai]

"Mine." She hissed. "And do not pretend that you do not know this already. He is not for you, else I give you nothing." There were things she wanted from this one, and things she could provide in turn. But Elliot was off limits. Completely.

"I dislike that name." She said, arms folding across her chest. Then the scarred girl gave a toss of her head. "I will help you. But you must make it worth my while."

[Guppy]

The creature smiled. "Among others," she mentioned, casually. "Elliot seems to have more girls than he knows what to do with. Anyway, I can promise nothing, when it comes to the boy. He approaches me," she insisted, peering at those nails again. It seems that she thought herself without blame. She glanced up at Niall again. "Besides, the girl is clearly attached already. You would deny her that?," she questioned, expression lazy.

Her brows lofted. "You hate the name Whelp? It wasn't a name. She just mistook it as one," she admitted. The creature suddenly lifted her arms to stretch the lean muscles there taut. Legs followed suit, toes curling within the leather confines of her soft boots. "You let me know what you want from me, then. Then we can both judge whether it is worth it to trust one another," she drawled.

There was that shift in the air again and pale eyes were blinking at her owlishly. A hand rose to rub over her face, wearily, eyelashes fluttering closed.

[Jirai]

Niall looked at the other, her scarred face expressionless, giving no hint as to what she was thinking. "It is quite simple." she said. "If you hurt him, I will destroy you. Even if he approached you first." Very simple.

The rest, though, was much less simple. What did she want. She knew, didn't she? She knew what she wanted. She knew this creature was a potential avenue to exactly that. "Since when were we speaking of trust? I don't..." A pause, reaction to the shift in the air, the shift of control.

"Welcome back."

[Guppy]

It smiled at the scarred young woman. "Since when did I wish him harm?," she questioned, idly. Elliot was a special case for the creature. It wanted him alive and well. At least for the moment. Soon enough, the creature left the other to think on what she wanted, to think on the issue of trust. Like it or not, if they were going to work together, there had to be some measure of trust. Some measure of faith.

When the girl was back, the look she leveled on Niall was nothing short of guilty. Still, she nodded in thanks of the welcome. "Sometimes, I feel as if I should leave," she admitted, cautiously. "Maybe I should never have come to the tavern." The girl was feeling sorry for herself, clearly.

[Jirai]

Trust was not a word that Niall liked. Much like the word affection. Love. Anything like that. Her people did not use such words, but even if they called it something else, looked at it a different way, did that change the end result? These were the sorts of things Niall occasionally found herself pondering. She disliked such thoughts, though, and would generally find something else to distract herself with. Like the girl.

"Self-pity is not particularly useful." The scarred young woman pushed herself to her feet. "Nor is guilt." Maybe the girl wasn't the best distraction, actually, given that Niall tended towards an odd protectiveness where she was concerned. The tattooed woman could not explain that to herself. She paused, then looked intently at the other. When she spoke, her words were not for the girl, though.

"I want to go home. I cannot do that on my own."

[Guppy]

The girl's brows furrowed when Niall chided her for her self pity. She was right, of course. She was getting to her feet, as well, which made Whelp scramble to her own booted feet. She hesitated then, standing there uncertainly. It seemed as if Niall were leaving, but she couldn't be confident of that, though she was happy to fall in line behind the other. When Niall admitted that she wanted to return home, Whelp's expression was almost comically crestfallen. She assumed that Niall's home was quite far from here, if she needed help in returning there. "Why do you want to return there? We will miss you, if you leave. Could you come back?," she asked, firing off these questions in rapid succession and wringing her hands in front of her. Distressed at the assumed leaving, which was likely some possible, undetermined time in the future.

[Jirai]

"It doesn't matter." The young woman said, refusing to offer the girl's questions in typical Niall-fashion. "Come on, I'll show you the way back to the tavern." Without waiting for a response, she began pacing out of the clearing.

[Guppy]

Whelp knew that Niall was aware that she did not want to return; knew that she was debating leaving. Still, she only hesitated for a moment before trailing after the scarred young woman like a sullen child, muttering under her breath the entire way.