Dax and Tai-San "talk" in His Room

[_dax]

Dax left the Cafe silently, he was tired of not being able to break his thoughts of May, his anger at the situation, his anger with himself. He didn't know what he wanted when he arrived back in his room, was he hoping to find May in there? Was he hoping that she'd be in there, reading his note, and the minute he opened the door, she'd forgive him

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[_tai_san_]

Tai-San slipped down the hallway after leaving the shower room and came to a stop at the door to the room she'd once inhabited. When she noticed it was already open a bit, she hessitated, if May was in the room, she certainly wouldn't appreciate Tai-San barging in as if she still lived there, and if she was entertaining that rather large man...well Tai-San didn't want to walk in on anything either. She faltered, what if May wouldn't let her get what she needed, certainly she wouldn't deny her, they were her belongings, if they hadn't thrown them out, and she wanted them for the ceremony.

Tai-San took a deep breath, centered herself, and knocked, waiting for a reply. She hadn't seen May in a while, she'd seen her at the Techno Headquaters when the fall of the Technos, she knew how May felt towards things sometimes, she could hold a grudge for things like Tai-San working for the Chosen, and the Technos, and she was good at giving people grief and a hard time, but Tai-San wasn't afraid of her, she just hoped this could be a copacetic visit, drama free.

[_dax]

Dax sat up, glancing at the door, "Come in?" Who would knock? He stood up and straightened his clothes, heading for the doorway and pulling the door open, "Oh, uh, hey," he said to the pretty asian girl standing outside of his room. What was her name...Ta..Tal..Tah..."What ah, what's your name again?" He instinctively pointed his fore finger at her, his thumb in the air and his other fingers curled under, a natural hand motion for him. He quickly extended that hand and offered it for a shake, Danni had shaken his hand, so he assumed all Mall Rat girls would do the same, they all seemed head strong and tough anyway, "I'm Dax, by the way, we met earlier, I think, in the Cafe? I'm terrible with names," he lied. He was great with names, but he'd been so distracted with his own thoughts all day that he hadn't been paying very good attention to much of anything around here, and for that he felt sorry. If she was a Mall Rat, he too was her body guard, and he'd done a terrible job already.

[_tai_san_]

Tai-San eyed the man warily, she'd met him earlier in the Cafe, she'd told him her name but Salene had interrupted their meeting. She took his hand this time, gently, she had a firm handshake, but for Dax she gave him the dainty girl handshake, mostly just her fingertips. "I'm sorry to bother you, Dax," she said his name firmly, bowing her head in a silent nice to meet you movement, "but this used to be my room, and I think I left a few things behind, some herbs, candles, crystals?" Tai-San lifted her chin at this and looked him squarely in the face. He was so very tall, and she didn't retract her hand, instead she grasped his a bit more firmly as he tried to pull back, studying his face intently, reading him.

She let go of him in a quick movement, pulling her hand back as if he'd burned her, or as if it was he who was grasping on and she was offended, pushing into the room past him, knowing now that May was not here. "I left them in the bottom drawer of the dresser," she informed him, looking around. The room hadn't changed too much, the Chosen memorabilia was gone, but her silk sheets on her bed remained, and she walked towards the bed, running her fingers across the smooth material. Tai-San spun back around and eyed the man, he lived here with May? He didn't seem May's type, she'd dated Pride the Eco, of all people, what did Dax have in common with Pride that had interested May?

"So, have you lived here for very long?" she left it open, not indicating the room or the Mall, wondering which he would choose to tell her first. She moved across to the dresser, surely they'd cleaned that out as well, she just hoped they hadn't thrown it out, some of those crystals were irreplaceable, and she'd need them if she was to perform the particular ceremony she had in mind for tonight. Tai-San's eyebrows moved expectantly, as if there was a time limit on how long she had exactly. That wasn't untrue, she needed to go meditate and center herself, as well as prepare the ceremony. She wasn't exactly sure about how it went anymore, her mind was fuzzy in places, and she wanted to meditate and find the answer, it was locked away in her brain somewhere, she just had to figure out how to unlock it, and she didn't have time to stand here all day talking to someone who almost seemed as if he was too stupid to make conversation.

[_dax]

Dax looked at the weird girl as she eyed him, holding his hand firmly, not letting him go, what was she doing? She was spooking him is what she was doing, what a strange little person. He wondered if May knew her very well, or even at all, she hadn't mentioned her much, just that this had been her room as Supreme Mother. He gulped when he remembered that fact, and his Chosen training came rushing back to him, it had been so long since that had happened, it hadn't happened with KC, only the name, but this time he felt overwhelmed with information, his brain showed him a million images and facts about Tai-San all at once, and he felt completely nervous, really wishing May or even Trudy were here right now.

When she pulled her hand back and walked around his room, touching things, he moved to back out of the door, only, his feet felt glued to the floor, it was like a nightmare, and he couldn't move. He even glanced down to see if the spikes that tortured him in his nightmares were there, but he found nothing but his own boots. He looked back up as she asked how long he'd lived here, his mouth opening but no sound coming out.

Dax closed his mouth and cleared his throat, taking a deep breath and trying to remember all that Trudy had taught him, licking his lips slowly. Why had the information been so delayed? Was that a sign that he was healing? He finally found his voice and shook his head, "I've lived here for about a week," he got out, and he found that he was walking towards a box shoved under a side table with a cloth over it, pulling it out. "May put your things in this box, she wasn't sure you'd ever come back or want them again, something about she couldn't bear to," he searched for nicer ways to put what she'd said, "to get rid of something she knew was special that wasn't hers," he finally got out, setting it at her feet. He backed up again, moving almost around the perimeter of the room to get to the door again, watching with wide eyes. Supreme Mother...they could be scary little women, couldn't they? He had no idea how Tai-San would be, and if she was going to treat him as Trudy had in the beginning, he wanted to keep a safe distance.

[_tai_san_]

Tai-San watched him move around the room like a frightened kitten, a look of disinterested disgust on her face, this was what May was into now? He was nothing like Pride, easily spooked. "What, do you do here, Dax?" Why was he a Mall Rat? No, he didn't wear the pentagram, or maybe he forgot it today. "Where's your Pentagram? Are you too good to bear the mark of a Mall Rat?" She advanced slowly towards him, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly as she studied him. He bore the karmaic mark of someone with great power, protective, and he had a pure soul, in complete harmony with someone else's, May's she supposed, but he also had marks of someone who'd done bad things in the past, things he was hiding from people, even maybe lying about. "The Pentagram is a symbol of protection, everyone outside in the City will be able to identify you as a Mall Rat," she explained, moving and taking his large left hand in both of hers, tracing the back of his hand with her forefinger, "Here, on the left hand, wearing your symbol will make sure no harm comes to you," she looked up at him, her head tilted slightly to the side, "or do you think you're too good even for a symbol of protection?"

[_dax]

Dax almost flinched when she came towards him and touched him, but he stood his ground, frowning. "I ah, I'm body guard to Salene, protector of the Mall Rats, that's all," he explained, watching her trace her finger on his hand, pulling it away from her finally. "No, ma'am, I'm not too good for it, I haven't been accepted as a Mall Rat, initiated, whatever, invited to wear the symbol? So I don't. I have this though," he fumbled for his back pocket, reaching into it and pulling out his militia arm band, it velcroed on, and when he went out into the City with Salene, or on the rare detail with the militia, he wore it, marking him as a member of the protective city forces.

[_tai_san_]

Tai-San was amused by his reaction, he spoke as if trained, like someone's puppy dog. May hadn't done that, as good as she was at bossing others around, there was no way she'd trained him in a week. "Where did you come from, Dax, before you moved into the Mall?" she asked softly as she let his hand drop, still studying his aural output and face. "Your energy is very positive, very good, and strong, but you need to come clean about what you are hiding from your loved ones. What is it Dax? You can tell me, I'm very trustworthy," she said the last part very firmly, a bit coyly, arching her right eyebrow and smiling at him a little seductively, the smile that worked on all men, never fail.

Tai-San licked her bottom lip in the center and moved back towards her box, kneeling down and beginning to go through the supplies inside of it. Everything was there, and for that she smiled. She pulled out a small package of dried herbs and smelled them, though not fresh, they weren't moldy either, which was a very good sign. She couldn't introduce foreign things into the ceremony if she wanted it to go as planned, the use of incorrect herbs or incantations could have catastrophic effects, though Tai-San had never witnessed these herself, she'd heard plenty about it as a child.

[_dax]

Dax gulped, he didn't want to tell her that part, she'd been one of them, one of the Chosen, the Supreme Mother, what would she say? How would she react? Was she still a part of that? Dax's eyebrows moved ever so slightly in a furrow, "I ah," he started, letting his breath out when she started to talk about his energies, giving her a wary look. Energies? What was this cockamamie stuff about? "Energies? I'm not hiding any energies," he replied, confused. He watched her face as she promised she was trust worthy, was she flirting with him?!

"I ah, you should go, May is coming back any minute now, we were going to spend a little time together before this Hen Party, she won't like it if I'm entertaining strange women, er, women, alone in the room," he lied, repeatedly. He watched as she poked through the box, hopeful that she was just cataloging everything, that she wouldn't declare something was missing. He wrinkled her nose as she sniffed a package of something, wondering what she was doing. She was very strange, very strange indeed. "Is ah, everything there?" he asked, hoping to rush her out fo the room.

[_tai_san_]

Tai-San let out a small laugh as he muttered about not hiding energies then claimed May was coming back and she wouldn't like it if he had women in their room. Dax was owned, Tai-San could sense that, and he didn't wear the pants in the relationship. "Yes, everything is here," she said softly, amused, but I didn't find your balls, if that's what you're wondering, she thought sarcastically, to herself. She tested the weight of the box before standing up and picking it up, carrying it just fine.

"I thank you for keeping my things safe, Dax, thank May for me," she instructed breezily, moving past him, pausing in the doorway. "Whatever you are hiding, inside, your secrets? You should come clean, it's not good to carry the weight of our guilt around," she could take that advice herself, but she didn't think about that, turning swiftly and moving down the hallway.

[_dax]

Dax frowned, what was that tone about? He shook his head and made sure he closed the door completely this time, listening for the click. He considered locking it too, just in case anyone else weird decided that he was the perfect person to visit with tonight. He had a limit to how much whack job he could take, and Tai-San had reached it quite rapidly. He didn't, however, want to lock May out and give her the wrong impression. He considered looking for a lock with a key, maybe Jack had one in his workshop, and Dax knew there was a key making machine down there, hopefully it'd have a manual and blank keys and maybe he could make a copy of it too. Would the Mall Rats be offended if he locked them out of what was essentially their domain too?

Dax moved to the bed and laid down again as he had before. Her words, demanding to know why he hadn't put his stamp on, they cut him more than she could know. Just today he'd been having issues with not having a place to belong. God, if I lose May what am I going to do, he thought bitterly, I love her, and if I have screwed this up, I'll never forgive myself. I'll lose the woman of my dreams and a Tribe I respect, Dax frowned, he wasn't a man who cried, but if he was, he was sure the tears would be flowing now. Instead, he clenched and unclenched his jaw, thinking over and over about all that he'd lose, and where he'd go. May had told him she didn't want him to leave, she'd said not to leave, but what if time apart, instead of fixing things and talking, had messed it all up instead of fixed it? What if she went out there and got angry and changed her mind. Dax was torn, and now everything Tai-San had said...what was he hiding? He couldn't think of anything he was hiding from anyone, other than his big secret, but he wasn't about to go screaming that into the streets, and anyone who asked knew. He was confused, and she hadn't helped, not one tiny bit.