Warden-Commander Ciara Tabris

Hero of Ferelden Ciara Tabris 18+, Isola-affiliated App - Link Stats - Link Rules - Link OOC Blog - @thelearnedsoldiertoo

[tainted-chains]

Ciara flopped onto her bed, burying her face in the pillow and letting out a frustrated groan. She hadn't expected to be stuck here this long, and had finally knuckled under and gotten a job--since 'Grey Warden' wasn't exactly an acceptable career choice in this strange city.

And on top of having to deal with the dizzying array of strangers who still all somehow acted like entitled humans, she'd caught something from one of them and felt like she'd lost a fight with an angry ogre.

It wasn't all bad. She'd made some new friends and met some old ones...but she missed Thedas, baffling as that was.

Hopefully she'd be able to get out of here soon.

Hopefully.

[tainted-chains]

She blinked, tilting her head. Her brain was stuttering a bit, something she'd gotten into an unfortunate habit of today.

Raising her finger and trying not to make it too obvious how lost she was--though partially failing because her ears and tail betrayed her--she asked, brightly, "Two questions! What's a 'sub-marine', and why did your horse...shrink?"

[railheist]

"It, uh, takes you underwater. It's a machine that goes down to the Gulf. And I can't tell you why my horse shrank, he was just like that when I got here."

There's the sound of neighing behind the door.

"Hold your horses, Mister Blue!"

She opens the door, and a small blue horse, no taller than a guard dog, comes galloping out. He runs right up to Maria and gives her hand a friendly lick.

"Easy, boy!" Maria says with a smile. She turns to Ciara to introduce her to the horse.

"This here is Mister Blue. We've been together through thick and thin. If you hold out your hand, he should warm right up to you... though I haven't seen him with cat folks before. Or elves, for that matter..." she adds.

Mister Blue, for his sake, seems to be eager to meet anyone, no matter who they are. Maria rubs the spot where his neck meets his shoulder, which seems to be a good spot to pet a new horse.

[tainted-chains]

Ciara blinks. Then blinks again. Then pinches herself. Then nods, confirming that, yep, she didn't fall and hit herself on the way over.

She knelt beside Mister Blue and gave his neck some pats, after letting him sniff her hand first, "So when you said he shrank you, uh, you were serious."

[tainted-chains]

"I know what crocs are, yeah. Just never heard of a gator, sorry." She followed Maria, absently curious, but she felt she had a pretty good idea of what a 'gator' was, now.

"I...can't breathe underwater. That's not a problem, right?"

[railheist]

"Huh? No, you, uh... you take a submarine. The locals call it the Swirling Gulf. It's just west of Golden, right under the water. We don't gotta go over there if you don't want to, though."

Considering she's part cat, maybe the water's a bad idea.

"Like I said, there's plenty of places to eat fish in Golden. But let's get to my place first, my horse'll be waiting."

After paying for the horse feed, Maria leads to way to House 115, not far from the pet store.

"Well, this is me."

Before she opens the door, she turns to Ciara.

"Oh, uh, just so you know..."

"My horse is still shrunk from the day that I got here, so he's gonna be about..." She holds a hand down to waist height. "This big. That alright?"

[tainted-chains]

She blinked, tilting her head. Her brain was stuttering a bit, something she'd gotten into an unfortunate habit of today.

Raising her finger and trying not to make it too obvious how lost she was--though partially failing because her ears and tail betrayed her--she asked, brightly, "Two questions! What's a 'sub-marine', and why did your horse...shrink?"

[railheist]

She turns her nose up at cat food, but she'd go for tuna? Huh.

Maria gets it, though. Cat food isn't in the same league as genuine tuna fresh from the sea.

"They're like crocodiles, if you know what those are. Or dragons, but without any wings. Can't breathe fire, neither, but they've got a hell of a bite. You can find 'em in swamps, or in caves where I'm from."

"Let's get this horse chow to where it belongs, then we can go grab a bite," she says. "There's some pretty good places over in Golden. Or if you go underwater, then it's real fresh."

[tainted-chains]

"I know what crocs are, yeah. Just never heard of a gator, sorry." She followed Maria, absently curious, but she felt she had a pretty good idea of what a 'gator' was, now.

"I...can't breathe underwater. That's not a problem, right?"

[tainted-chains]

Ciara covered her mouth to stifle a deeply undignified giggle, "I'm not--I don't eat cat food, Maria. I just eat people food. Maybe I have a bit of a bias for fish, but I'm more girl than cat in that equation."

Turning to look around with a faint little mrrp, she asked, "...I wonder what you'd even feed a pet dragon. Meat?"

[railheist]

"Huh? No, I don't mean... I just meant if you wanted to go to a restaurant or somethin'."

Not quite what she was thinking about. She's just trying to save some face.

Looking away for a moment with her hat tilted over her eyes, Maria composes herself before she answers her question about dragons.

"Yeah, probably. They're like... big gators. Now those I've got more experience with."

She wonders if either of Ciara's selves have had to fend off gators.

[tainted-chains]

"Not...entirely sure what a 'gator' is, sorry." She padded over to a bag of cat food, mostly curious to examine the ingredients. She quickly realised that this was mostly just trash proteins and filler, and she make a 'blech' sort of face, scrunching up her nose and hopping back over to Maria, "Definitely not eating cat food."

One ear twitched in amusement as she flashed a toothy grin at her--revealing she had fangs, "Restaurant sounds nice, though. Do you know any good seafood places? I could go for tuna."

[railheist]

Maria shrugs. "She seemed to have it tamed pretty well. But yeah, usually, when I hear dragons, I think of the old stories of people slayin' them. Y'know, with knights in armor and such."

She trades another pair of glances between the cat food and the cat-tailed woman. She thinks about the best way to phrase this.

"You, uh... need a bite to eat after this?"

Better than asking her if she would eat something here.

[tainted-chains]

Ciara covered her mouth to stifle a deeply undignified giggle, "I'm not--I don't eat cat food, Maria. I just eat people food. Maybe I have a bit of a bias for fish, but I'm more girl than cat in that equation."

Turning to look around with a faint little mrrp, she asked, "...I wonder what you'd even feed a pet dragon. Meat?"

[rookanisstuff]

Rook got her dance

[alnat-art]

Oops… (>/////< " )

[tainted-chains]

She tilted her head, but just assumed, generously, that she didn't literally mean a blue horse, but some kind of regional term to refer to a grey horse with a bluish tinge to their coat.

"Sounds good to me. Lead the way."

She didn't know where to find a store for feed in the city, but once they arrived she was caught off guard by the variety of supplies on offer. She blinked, first once, then twice, her tail lashing slightly behind her as she stepped forward into the shelves, fully mesmerised. She hadn't really made a point of going shopping much since she'd arrived, and she hadn't realised just how much stuff there was!

"...how many pets does this city have?" she wondered, aloud.

[railheist]

"I'd say it's got a good number of 'em. And they've got some pretty wild ones, too. Met a woman the other month who was ridin' a dragon, if you can believe it," Maria remarks.

She puts several bags of horse feed into her shopping cart. They're heavy, but she seems to have little trouble picking them up and stashing them.

Idly, she looks over to the cat food aisle across the way, then back at the cat-eared woman shopping with her.

She doesn't know if it's rude to comment or not... She'll wait to see her reaction.

[tainted-chains]

She chuckles, "I've fought dragons before. Or one of me has, anyway. They don't make the best pets, but I suppose there's a first time for everything."

Ciara's mostly focused on helping Maria load her feed into the cart, and doesn't notice the Look at first, tail twitching with curious enjoyment as she leaned over the edge of the cart to lower another one into it. She was even making a little ':3' face.

Definitely catgirl mode.

[tainted-chains]

She tilted her head, ears twitching slightly, then nodded. "The Elf version had a horse name Chevaliére. Big beautiful mare. I think I can figure out how to help with that."

The Elf/Faunus hopped up next to her, keeping pace as they walked, "What kind of horse do you have?"

[railheist]

That's a fancy name. Reminds her of the tailor that she met in these parts. Maria looks ahead as she thinks about her horse, and thinks of ways that Ciara could help.

"He's a blue... blue horse. A mustang, I reckon. Brought him up when we were both kids.

"He's been eatin' a lot... a lot more than usual. So we're gonna get him oats."

[tainted-chains]

She tilted her head, but just assumed, generously, that she didn't literally mean a blue horse, but some kind of regional term to refer to a grey horse with a bluish tinge to their coat.

"Sounds good to me. Lead the way."

She didn't know where to find a store for feed in the city, but once they arrived she was caught off guard by the variety of supplies on offer. She blinked, first once, then twice, her tail lashing slightly behind her as she stepped forward into the shelves, fully mesmerised. She hadn't really made a point of going shopping much since she'd arrived, and she hadn't realised just how much stuff there was!

"...how many pets does this city have?" she wondered, aloud.

[tainted-chains]

She hesitated a moment, blushing slightly as her ears fell and her tail twitched, but after a moment her desire not to be alone won out over her stubborn embarassment, and she nodded, "I'd...love company, thank you. I'm a bit overwhelmed right now and all."

Ciara stepped up beside her, looking around with her ears shooting back up in curiosity, then looked at Maria, "What were you thinking about doing?"

[railheist]

Maria gives her an encouraging smile, then thinks about her plan for the day. What'd be good for her to get done, and where can she bring Ciara?

"Let's see... I was gonna get some stuff for my horse. You know anything about horse rearin'?" she asks. With Ciara's two sets of memories, Maria figures she might know a thing or two about it.

[tainted-chains]

She tilted her head, ears twitching slightly, then nodded. "The Elf version had a horse name Chevaliére. Big beautiful mare. I think I can figure out how to help with that."

The Elf/Faunus hopped up next to her, keeping pace as they walked, "What kind of horse do you have?"

[luniidae]

According to the results of my last poll...

Some nice time in the bath 💦

[wshingwells]

" Oh !! Why, I'm Snow White ! It really is lovely to meet you Lady Tabris ! I do wish it would've been under less- Well, icy conditions ! " Snow chuckled at her own words, gladly taking the offered hand. Warden Commander... Well the title certainly sounded important, and it was enough to make Snow almost use her proper princess title ! ( Even if that really didn't carry any weight here )

" But, it is nice nonetheless ! "

The girl couldn't help it when her eyes flickered to the twitching ears, but she did quickly divert back to Ciara's face. Don't be rude Snow White ! ...She was still getting used to so many different kinds of people, still totally fascinated by all of the different qualities everyone around her seemed to have.

" Well, everyone just looked so whimsical, gliding across the ice ! Why, it seemed easy from a viewer's standpoint ! Fun even ! I have been seriously corrected in that notion though haven't I ? "

[tainted-chains]

She laughed, "You don't need to call me 'Lady' anything. Just Ciara's fine. So long as you don't call me anything rude, it's fine."

After a moment, she asked, perhaps impertinently, though mostly just cheekily "...shouldn't someone named 'Snow White' be better with ice?"

Flashing a lopsided grin, she added, "It is fun though, yes."

[railheist]

"Well, as long as you're stuck with both memories, then I reckon that's what I'd do for now. Who knows? Maybe you'll come across something that'll clear things up."

Maria takes Ciara's hand and gives it a firm shake. "The name's Maria. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I was just figurin' out what to do for today. You wanna join me, or are you good goin' out on your own?"

[tainted-chains]

She hesitated a moment, blushing slightly as her ears fell and her tail twitched, but after a moment her desire not to be alone won out over her stubborn embarassment, and she nodded, "I'd...love company, thank you. I'm a bit overwhelmed right now and all."

Ciara stepped up beside her, looking around with her ears shooting back up in curiosity, then looked at Maria, "What were you thinking about doing?"

[railheist]

Maria sighs. "I guess there's no way to tell. Unless you've got, I dunno, a photograph or somethin'?"

"But I don't see how you can really pick one. You might look like a Faunus, but you got two sets of memories."

"It's like... It's like you lived two different lives."

"That's what I think. What do you think about that?"

Maria rests her hands on her hips, and waits to hear what the woman thinks of her conclusion.

[tainted-chains]

Her tail swishes behind her as one ear perks to the side and the other folds down, her brow furrowed in conclusion, "So...I should consider them both 'me' until something proves otherwise?"

That sounded like it would get confusing, quickly. "I suppose. Sorry to spring this on you--I didn't even give you my name, did I? I'm Ciara. Both mes agree on that at least." She extended her hand, ears perking up, "Nice to meet you, miss."

[nev-jpgg]

A crow suddenly finds out he's appreciated not only for seduction and murder

[railheist]

Maria rubs her chin. Neither of those places are Lonestar, to be sure, but she still feels like she should help this woman get a little less confused.

"Hmm. Can't say I've heard of either of those places. If you look like a Faunus now, did you look like that before?"

"Maybe it's best to stay in the realm of things you've both experienced," she says. "You fought for a living and you were oppressed by humans. No need to make it confusing if you're stuck like this."

[tainted-chains]

She shrugged, "I don't know if I looked like this before. That's why I'm confused. I could try to just assume that because I have ears and a tail I'm clearly actually the Faunus, but maybe I was changed physically too, you know?"

Ciara scratched the back of her neck, ears flattening slightly, "I guess I could try to make the best of it and...y'know, try to fuse them, but...I guess it just feels like I ought to 'pick' one."