Mivuli

Ink On Your Soul

It's good to hear your mom's getting better! All the best to her! Tell her strangers from the internet are wishing her well.

Oh, yes, and present.

The Wards of The King- A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplay

Tayila burst into the common room. Dawn had long since passed, and Tayila had only just remembered while dancing through the kitchens as pies were baked and meals were prepared that the morn's feast was for the wards. One of whom Tayila was handmaiden to, and would have to apologise to - again - for having forgotten. It was not that she despised Manasa Stark - they had had too few days upon meeting for Tayila to truly form an opinion of the Northern lady - but she had no idea of what to think of her.

But she came to a sudden stop, slippered feet sliding against carpet in an effort to catch herself. There, before Manasa's door, was the Stark girl's lynx, standing sentry to her mistress' room. Tayila made to creep forward, but thought better of it as the lynx's watchful eyes weighed heavily on her approach. With a frustrated sound, Tayila ran back into the bellies of the common room, only to pass by a window and spy a familiar figure already halfway in the direction of the dining hall. "Seven hells," Tayila huffed under her breath. "Of course." With a sigh of growing irritation, Tayila weightlessly skipped a few steps before launching herself into the corridors again.

It took barrelling down several lesser-known passages and hallways before Tayila came to the dining hall. While her veins thrummed with rushing adrenaline, her breaths came easily and her forehead was free of perspiration. Running through throngs of peasants in Flea Bottom as one herself from angry merchants to avoid shaking fists gave one incredible stamina and calloused feet. Slowing her steps, Tayila walked into the hall, collecting her skirts so as to lengthen her strides. She could see the direwolf Echo among the wards, and right beside it sat Manasa.

She approached the wards at their table, and curtsied, feeling foolish as she did. "Milords and ladies," she greeted, a lowborn's cadence catching her words. She would strike casual conversation with someone, but she wagered lords and ladies did not find handmaidens very welcomed conversationalists.

Tayila turned to Manasa. "Lady Manasa." Her gaze flickered over Manasa's face, the markings drawing her eyes, before it skittered over her attire for the day. "I trust your sleep was restful. Will you be participating in the tourney today?" How odd for a lady. Most preferred to sit with their skirts about them and clap and gasp as lances clashed, and swoon and giggle as singers sang of victorious champions and fair maidens.

Ivy Wood Academy

Outside of Crescent Dormitory

William didn't get her name, but instead, "Where one cannot enter, it is safe to wait; patience is always rewarded." Perplexion wrinkled his brow - was that a riddle he was meant to decipher? It's meaning was clear enough, but the manner in which it was conveyed...that confused him. By the time he managed to wipe the expression of his face however, the girl was gone, cat in tow. Rubbing the nape of his neck, William found a wall to lean against. She hadn't expressly told him to be gone, had mentioned patience, so wait he did, for ten minutes to pass.

When the girl appeared once more from the dorm, William pushed himself off the wall, his bag swinging behind him. Her hair - long and silken - brushed her lower back. Even from the distance, he could see pitch-black lips and long eyelashes as the girl's gaze panned the courtyard. He blinked momentarily at her, taking in the details of her appearance, before he could remember to gather his feet and take a few steps towards her, a gentle grin on his face. Looking over her belongings, he offered open palms, though he didn't expect to be handed any books. He was a stranger, after all, and she didn't seem to be the very trusting type. But no matter if so.

"You still haven't told me your name," he said, one side of his lips curling upwards in an almost teasing manner. Turning on his heel to face the gate of Crescent Dormitory, he nodded down the path. "Where are you headed?"

@ViolentViolet

Ink On Your Soul

I was hoping to just wait for @Mugin to post before carrying on without him. (:

The Wards of The King- A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplay

Tayila was late. As she dashed through the corridors, her bare feet striking against the floor in a steady rhythm of swift pace, she gathered the cloth about her legs in her fists, crumpling them in a way which would make the washerwomen cry out. She had been in the streets having slipped out for the day, the prospected arrival of the wards but a forgotten memory in her mind, until it was resuscitated in sputters and gasps by the whinny of the first horses and entourages on the cobbled roads. She had sprinted back then, with her remembrance freshly jolted, but horses and carriages had a way of blockading the narrow streets of King's Landing and she had had to take side-alleys through Flea Bottom just to slip in through the kitchen doors.

Now, the front of her dress freckled with spots of dirt which had a nasty habit of flying through the air of the capitol, she came to a sliding stop before the door to the common room. Her hands beat her skirts in an attempt to dust off the worst of the sully. The door was flung open by the doorman whose mouth widened first in preparation for proclamation, before rounding into a surprised O at Tayila's flushed cheeks. She smoothed her hair back and straightened her back, with a smile bordering on a smirk on her face as the man's voice died down to a mutter. "Tayila Waters," he stuttered in a quiet tone which only Tayila could hear, the murmur of noise from the wards overcoming the utterance of her name. "Seven forbid you herald me as you would a lady," she said in a mocking tone, to make the man blush even more, his face ruddier than hers. She knew him from her year in the Red Keep. Easily flustered, withdrawn, with eyes which skittered the floor nervously when faced by bold company. A good honest lad, but alas easy prey for Tayila when her claws felt sharp and in need of scratching. His variety of embarrassed reactions was almost enough to conjure some sorrow on behalf of the boy. Almost.

Fluidly, she glided past the man, and entered the common room. She was attired as befitted her station: in a fair dress of earthy colours and good cut, but not so well as to rival the garments of highborn. Fabrics of muted green and brown swayed about her legs as she strode through the thickness, surveying the wards in search for one Manasa Stark. The king had made her learn by heart the histories and lineage of the houses from whence the wards came, and she had spent hours staring at oil paintings several years outdated, brushed replicas of the little lords and ladies.

As it was, she hadn't needed to look far. Seated on a couch next to a boy who looked to be her brother Morgan Stark, she was accompanied by direwolves. With quiet barefoot steps, Tayila made not a sound as she drifted across the common room, her attention kept divided on the great wolves. She was fast and fleeting on her feet, to be sure, but so were these wolves, and their jaws were much stronger, the bites much sharper, than hers. Enough to be accorded a decent share of wariness from a girl who spent her life outpacing pain and suffering.

Tayila came to a smooth stop by the arm of the chair where the Stark girl sat, her hands coming to fold in front of her and her heart just starting to beat at its common pace again. "Lord Morgan," she said in a melodic voice which remained low and even, nodding to the boy. "Lady Manasa." Her eyes flicked to the girl with alarming green eyes, and her focus remained on her. "I am to be your handmaiden at King's Landing. I attended to Princess Viseria for a year, and now am in your service." She gave a curtsy, but did not look down or away. "I am Tayila, milady. Please forgive my lateness," she added in disgruntlement. Apologies - sincere ones, especially - came unnaturally to Tayila, and she absolutely loathed humbling herself to strangers. Even as she heard the heaving even breaths of the direwolves just paces away, her eyes remained on Manasa, defiant to an extent, bright and alert.

The Wards of The King- A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplay

@Kaalee Thank you very much!

The Wards of The King- A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplay

I decided to go with a handmaiden for Manasa Stark. (: This is the edited/touched-up version

Tayila Waters

Light-boned and slight, with large green eyes dark enough to pass for brown, Tayila's hair is thick and brown, with the occasional wave rippling through.

Quote About
She’ll turn anything into a mummer’s farce.

Quote By
I’ve seen babes die upon falling from their mothers’ wombs. I’ve seen one beggar spear another for a burnt block of bread. I’ve seen children with large eyes that only got wider as their cheeks turned hollow and those big eyes became sunken pits. I’ve seen death and ruin, come close to them, and I will avoid them like the bloody flux. Call me a craven if you wish; go forth to dance with death. For when you lie in a scarlet pool of your own folly, death will have you, and I will have my cowardice with my unnumbered heartbeats.

Name
Tayila Waters

Nickname
None; but it might be worth noting that she introduces herself as Tayila to all, without mention of her surname, for loathe of the stigma that follows bastards.

Age
15

House
-Non-Applicable-

Parents

Mother – Ilia Freid, a whore from one of the taverns. She was a comely woman – as most whores are – who was a tad too comfortable with the ale. She passed away early in Tayila’s life, but she does not remember much of her buxom, red-headed mother.
Father – Unknown

Siblings
None she knows of, but she wagers she has plenty scattered around King's Landing.

Personality
Wily, cunning, and living to her bastard name, Tayila is as malleable as the ocean, changeable and inconstant when needed. She can play the part of a blushing maiden; she can smile and flutter her eyelashes alluringly if she must. She can giggle and gossip like a heady girl; she can run and tumble until her hair is tangled and her knees are scraped bloody and her breaths are coming short. Tayila is willful, and she will do whatever she needs to survive and thrive in a place as cruel and heartless and political as King’s Landing. She is smart, and growing up in Flea Bottom has enabled her to dismiss her morals when she must be unscrupulous. But she is not without discipline; most of the time she plays along, and stays in her place. But her ears are always hearing and her eyes are always observing, and she is unafraid to show defiance when she wants. But never to the king or particularly influential highborn. She does enough to remain in good graces, but can be dangerous if incited. She will not actively withhold information of her bastardy, but it is not something she mentions in casual conversation to those she meets. It is nothing she is ashamed of.

Skills

Needlework – Initially poor at this skill, Tayila eventually learnt how to sew fine stitches and threads when put to it. Not a half-bad seamstress now, she can make a few dresses, and has the knowledge to hold a household together.
Escaping – Born on the streets, with her fair share of trouble-making, Tayila knows how to dart through uneven and cobbled alleys, slip like a slippery fish through a crowd of jostling elbows and humid air, and disappear in a breath in a stream of rowdy merchants. In the castle, she has explored secret passageways, and when she wishes not to be found or caught she can slide away easily, by taking twisting corners and labyrinthine corridors.
Agility – It helps her escapades to be light-boned and quick on her feet. She can dash and sprint well, and dodge lunges swiftly.
Literacy – When she was taken in, Tayila had been taught to read and write, to better serve in the castle. She took to the quill and ink well, and is eloquent with her words, penning letters easily when asked. Though perhaps not as intelligent or well-read as highborn children, she is certainly not dim-witted.

Religion
The Seven.

Bio
Tayila was born to a whore, and spent the best part of her life skipping through the markets and harbour on sunbaked days. She would play in Flea Bottom, and splash in the Blackwater. Her days were carefree and happy, even after her mother’s death. Her childhood was marred at times by the grim straits of the populace, but she once did dance over a warm corpse in the market. One learns to overlook these things, even if they stay in the back of your eyelids for days. The whores in the brothel were thick as thieves, and cared for each other like their own. Tayila lived with them, grew up as they went about their business, and was raised by them. Promiscuity was their way of life and income, and Tayila picked up on their sultry skills. She saw grown men drool and become enamored by them, knights shedding their chainmail with their honour before their flirtatious beckons and smouldering looks, and learnt of all the advantages to be had by playing others as they wished to be played.

Tayila always assumed she would either live the rest of her days nicking from carts in the marketplace or join a mummers’ band – she could tell a tale convincingly enough. But one day when she sneaked into the Red Keep just so that she could tell the other street urchins she could, a guard grabbed her by her ratty collar and plunked her down before the king. Tayila had stared up at King Daerys, had remembered tales of his mercy from the pardoned peasants themselves, but saw only a graying man with stern wrinkles. So she burst into tears, hoping a girl’s saltwater would soften the king’s tempered heart and send her out the gates with little more than stern warning.

Instead, she had been granted a place at the hearth of his kitchens, and served as handmaiden to Princess Viseria for a year, during which she learnt to read and write, and to listen to those who spoke around her. When she crept in shadows in play, the walls had ears, and - oh - did people talk when they thought only darkness remained to hear them!

Other
Now that the King’s Wards are coming, Tayila will serve Lady Manasa Stark of Winterfell.

*edit: just changed the picture.

The Wards of The King- A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplay

@ViolentViolet@Emma Wow, I didn't expect people to be down with the idea. XD I'll look at the CS and possibilities!

The Wards of The King- A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplay

Would this be open for, say, a streetboy or a chambermaid?

Ivy Wood Academy

Outside of Crescent Dormitory

The first thing William noted of the girl was that she looked positively frazzled. The second was that she was incredibly pale, and that was no trick of the light. She asked for the return of the cat who'd run away in annoyance for being evicted off the bed, and William passed the cat over to her extended arms, surveying her carefully. If she was in a hurry, he wouldn't want to keep her. But if she needed a hand, well - William had two free.

Though, technically, he wasn't supposed to be there, on the grounds of the girls' dormitory. But so simple a transgression could hardly count against him too badly. Before she could turn on her heel and hurry off, however, William tucked his thumbs into his pockets. "If you don't mind me saying, you seem like you could use some help," he said in an off-hand way, an offer in itself. It occurred to him that he didn't know her name, and he figured the trade would be fair only if he introduced himself first. "My name is William, by the way. William Cresthall. May I know yours?"

@ViolentViolet