WAG1 WRATH <3 adventures of young noth and white please? <3 <3
“Are you dating Ruhtra?”
White doesn’t recognize the voice. He’s a little glad he doesn’t. When he turns around, the speaker is an older girl with light brown hair, eyes strangely orange and sharp. She looks at him like she wants to grind him under her foot like a cockroach.
He recognizes her appearance. He remembers her walking with Noth from her shadow theory classes, trying to coax Noth into conversation with only marginal success. White, personally, would like to grind her under his foot like weed. “Why do you ask?” he shoots back.
The girl scoffs. “If you are, you need to not hold her back,” she snaps. “She barely talks to anyone outside of lectures, and it’s a little sad. Especially because you’re older doesn’t give you any right to control who she does and doesn’t talk to.”
White doesn’t know whether to laugh in her face or spit at her feet. “I’m only six months older than her,” he corrects, forcing his face into the smile that gives his teachers nerves. “We’re both fifteen, and we’re year-mates, and Noth only doesn’t talk to people because she doesn’t want to. I don’t control her.”
“Really?” the girl deadpans. “Whenever someone asks her to do something outside of class, she drops your name.”
This makes White smile a little more genuinely now. “She’s a Sayieth, you know,” he says. “She’s an elf. And we’re not dating — I just happen to be her favorite human.”
At her dumbstruck expression, White throws a last smirk before walking away.
“Noth!” Karya exclaims once their class is over. “Do you want to go to ice-cream together?”
Noth shakes her head. “I’m meeting up with White,” she mumbles, focusing on putting everything in her bag.
“Why?” Noth looks up in surprise, winces at the irritated expression Karya has. Her orange eyes sometimes make Noth question why she isn’t studying for the Fire element instead of Shadow. “You’re always around him,” the older girl presses, “Are you dating or something?”
At that, Noth can’t help but turn cross. “I don’t get the question,” she snaps, standing up and heading for the door of the classroom. “He’s my…” She searches for the Common word, but it doesn’t come to her. “He’s my infei. Why do we have to be dating to be around each other?” Noth frowns. “Besides, dating is a human thing. We don’t- I don’t see the significance of it.”
Karya looks taken aback for a moment, but she follows Noth on the way out. “He’s your only friend,” she points out. “And you never talk to anyone else. So everyone thinks you’re together.”
“That’s silly.” Noth can almost physically feel her temper growing short. She scans the grounds for a flash of white hair, praying that White would save her from this awkward social situation. “Why are you asking, anyway? You always ask me to go for ice-cream, even when I say that I’m going to meet White.”
The girl falters a little, and Noth has a moment of savage pride when Karya has to take a moment to meet her eyes. “I’m interested in you, Noth,” she says, “But you’re always with Ahnas. I’ve been trying to ask you out for awhile.”
Oh. It’s Noth’s turn to duck her head now. She can’t help but feel awkward, and tightens her grasp on her bag. Where’s White? “I don’t-”
“Noth!” a familiar, welcome voice croons, and Noth steps back in time for White’s arms to come around her shoulders, relaxing in his hold. White’s touch is safe, like the dark corners she hides in whenever she misses the forest.
“Ahnas.” Karya says White’s last name like it’s something repulsive. Noth doesn’t like it.
“You,” White voice goes from welcoming to hostile, and Noth puts her hand on his arm. “Noth doesn’t want to go with you,” he says, words like poison. His grip on Noth tightens, and his tone switches in an instant. “Noth, do you want to go to the gardens with me?”
Noth nods, and White shifts to hook their arms together. “Why can’t Noth tell me that herself?” Karya demands as they turn away. Noth twitches. Help, she stares at White, knowing he’d understand her.
“Because Noth doesn’t like talking to people she doesn’t know well,” White explains. “So you should go away, because Noth doesn’t like you, so I don’t like you.” There’s an edge to his voice that Noth can’t quite define — it almost sounds hateful.
“You’re not her boyfri-”
She finally remembers the translation for infei. “He’s my favorite human,” Noth finally loses her patience; she just wants to be gone already. “He’s more to me than that. Don’t use human terms on me.”
Karya’s mouth clicks shut, and Noth sags against White’s side. She hates hates hates talking to people when she doesn’t have to. He immediately holds her closer, and they make a beeline for their shared room instead of the gardens.
“Humans are silly,” Noth mutters. “You’re the only one I want to be around. You’re my favorite human.”
The thing is, White gets her. He doesn’t expect her to speak Common tongue perfectly, asks why she does certain things instead of telling her how to change and fit in with humans more. White even picked up a bit of the Sayieth language for her, too, if only to understand her better. He’s her infei, and she doesn’t need anyone else as long as she has him with her.
“I’m yours,” White agrees. He always sounds satisfied whenever he says that.
Note: infei is a word in the Sayieth-elfish language that is best translated as “favorite creature”. It has more to do with affection than romance. Someone’s infei can be a pet, friend, or family. If someone is your infei to say that you love them or like them would be a little... shallow.
