The Unspoken

"'ello, beu'tiful."

Taja'ki propped a foot on the stool before her, flashing her tusks in a coy grin.

The blood elf's eyes ascended from her drink and she regarded the troll with befuddled confusion, apparently taken aback.

"E-Excuse me?"

Collapsing into the seat, the troll warrior pounded a fist on the bar twice, signaling the bartender. He took a look at her sharply before recognition settled in and he began to prepare her unspoken order. Taji twisted in her chair, facing the woman again.

"C'in Taji ask joo a ques'ion, ja?"

The woman hesitated, seeming to try to decipher the troll's motives and odd behavior. Taja'ki decided it was taking the Sin'dorei too long to respond and took the liberty of asking anyway.

"Joo gotta' boyfrien', ja?"

The woman's rosy complexion darkened by a few hues either in embarrassment, indignation or anger, or maybe even a combination of the three.

"Pardon me?"

Taja'ki ran a hand through her braids, giving the woman a coquettish wink. "If joo no'ra got no boyfrien', den joo tink Taji sexy, ja?"

All emotion was wiped completely from the woman's face. Instead of addressing the troll, she spun in her seat, speaking to the man next to her.

"Is this... thing trying to hit on me?"

Korot shrugged, taking another long draught from his flagon of stout, downing it as if it were water.

"Seems to be that way. I would be wary if I were you. She's prone to biting."

Taji laughed a little too loud for the woman's comfort, the corners of her mouth curling slyly.

"'ey, Taji no'ra bite no mo'! Bu', she do nibble some, ja."

With this said, she again winked at the blood elf, who promptly lost all color in her face. "Who is responsible for letting you lose in our city? I was not aware that your kind was allowed entrance past the gates without a proper leash."

The woman flipped her hair, smiling venomously in the troll's face. Expression remaining unchanged, Taji brought the frothy mug that had been set before her closer, but did not lift it, chuckling a little too amicably for one who had just been insulted.

"Dey lost Taji's leash long time ago. Bu', if Taji fin' it, she give it to joo so joo c'in take Taji's 'eart wher'a eva' joo go."

The woman arched an eyebrow, perturbed yet unwilling to let the troll know. "I knew I left something at home this morning..." Korot muttered under his breath, shaking his head at the troll's antics.

Taja'ki ignored this comment and instead, reached behind her, slipping something into the woman's hand before she could protest. A single peacebloom stalk, recently picked, had been placed in the blood elf's hand. She blinked at it, unable to form her thoughts into coherent words.

"A flowa' fo' a flowa'," Taji stated softly, lifting her mug to her lips and taking a tentative sip.

"I can't believe you're still at it. The fair hand of any Sin'dorei woman is and shall always be beyond your lecherous reach. Two toed boars should not leave their mud pits to seek mates; Durotar is infested with tusked swine. Go take your courting there, where it belongs."

Taja'ki didn't have to turn in her seat; she recognized the voice without even seeing the face.

"Donna' worreh, Vyse. Taji know she only fin' joo motha' ou' dere. Taji thought she was de only one ta' mistake joo motha' fo' a dirty pig. Joo kinda' take afta' 'er. When joo get stuck, joo squeal jus' li' 'er, ja?"

The warrior drank deeply from her mug, her eyes slowly focusing on the blood elf that slid up to the bar, standing beside her.

"What are you two doing in my territory?" Vyse hissed under his breath, although his lips remained still.

"Since when is this your territory?" Korot's eyeless gaze remained fixated on the murky liquid in his mug. "We are free to go where we please."

"Wh... where does your liquor go?"

Korot sighed, although no breath escaped, not even obliging the other blood elf with a look.

"You know, Cindral, just because an asinine thought surfaces from that cloud of stupidity between your ears does not mean that it is necessary to let it escape as deification of the mouth. You appear a lot smarter when you're quiet, which is saying a lot. You're the only elf I know who's mental enough to have mana tapped his own brain into oblivion."

Vyse leveled a look at Korot before turning back to Taja'ki, saying lowly, "A Scourge puppet and a two toed sow are not welcome in my city. Corpses and animals are kept outside the gates for a reason; to keep the foul odors from polluting the city and to preserve the city's beauty. I consider this an insult. You dare come spit in my face by entering my city like two pieces of excrement in a sea of diamonds? Let me return the favor."

He paused to lean forward, looking Taja'ki straight in the eye, and spit directly into the mug in her hand, sloshing some of the liquid onto her hand. Without batting an eye, Vyse leaned back and spat a globule of saliva into Korot's mug as well. A rather odd, high pitched laughter spilled from Cindral who nudged Korot with an elbow, clinking his "Mug 'O Hurt" with the Forsaken's mug, then jeering with a wicked grin, "Cheers."

Taja'ki stood so fast that both her mug and stool toppled over, garnering wary glances from other tavern patrons.

"You have something to say, little boar?" Vyse purred, his face twisted in dark humor.

"Taja'ki."

Korot did not remove his eyes from his mug, nor did he say any more to the livid troll. He didn't have to. Grinding teeth against teeth, Taji slowly knelt to pick up her stool and set it upright once more, not trusting herself to lift her gaze to Vyse, lest she try to gouge his eyes out with the most unpleasant item she could reach.

The forsaken priest finally turned his gaze from his drink, plucking the mug from the counter top and holding it out near Cindral. His goldspun eyes leveled with the rogue's, and a hint of a smile graced his features.

"Cheers."

Korot lifted the mug to his mouth, and, tipping it back, drank the last remnants without a flinch. Cindral was left blinking uneasily, immediately looking to Vyse, who merely studied the forsaken with smoldering eyes. Rising from his seat, Korot gestured to Taja'ki, who was literally trembling in barely contained rage.

"Let's go, Taja'ki."

The warrior slipped in step behind him without a word, her fists clenched tightly by her side.

"Try not to murder, cannibalize or drink the blood of the innocents of your kind on the way out, hm?" Vyse said dryly, flicking one of Taja'ki's tusks as she passed by. And that was all it took. A pair of crimson stained brass knuckles slipped over her fingers in one fluid motion, whipping herself around to face Vyse with an enraged snarl.

"Taji c'in see joo elfses be red, bu' Taji wonda' wha' color joor blood be. Taji c'in be kinda' slow, so it's gonna' take a lot 'a blood fo' Taji to be sur'a wha' color it is!"

To touch a troll's tusks without permission was about as insulting to a troll as one could get. Taja'ki especially took pride in her tusks, and for someone like Vyse to even look at them too hard was enough to make her blood boil like a lava pit of rage. However, Vyse knew this well and had been counting on this the entire time.

Shadows and light contorted behind the warrior as she lunged forward, only to be held back as something snake-like and black wound its way around her upraised arm, holding her fist in place. Taja'ki growled and turned about, thinking it to be Cindral, but rather, was met with horns, wings and two deep set aquamarine eyes that glowed with the purest blue only wrought from the depths of the Twisting Nether itself.

The warrior's reaction was immediate, laughing from the pit of her diaphragm.

"Wher'a joo been all Taji's life, 'eh, beu'tiful?," Taji said with a wink, unwinding the whip from her arm and letting it coil loosely on the ground. To her surprise and amusement, the succubus winked back, giving her an amorous look.

"Taja'ki, leave the succubus be before you wind up way over your head," Korot urged, pausing at the door. He then got a better view of how the succubus was looking at Taja'ki. "Or over her head."

Letting her previous anger dissolve, Taji slipped her brass knuckles off, concealing them once more. Vyse spat on the ground, barely missing Cindral who appeared at his side as the two blocked the troll's way.

"I thought you wanted to find out what color my blood was, boar," Vyse asked as the warrior faced the two obstructing her exit.

Taja'ki shrugged. "Taji already know. It be black."

She barged her way between the two men, wondering what possessed the two tiny elves to think that she would be intimidated by their frail, muscle-less bodies blocking her way. For just a split second, Taja'ki grasped Vyse's shoulder firmly, but only enough to cause discomfort, not pain.

"If joo wan'ed ta' swap spit so bad, joo shoulda' jus' asked. Next time we meet, if joo bring joo 'wooman' ova' dere, maybe Taji'll rock joor world an' show joo 'ow to be a real man, ja? Until den, try an' grow some tusks, eh?"

She pushed away and strolled out the tavern before Vyse could properly reply. The warlock started after her, but Cindral held him back, placing a hand on his arm. Vyse jerked his arm away, preparing a heated reply, but it died on his lips upon seeing the rogue's face.

The warlock sighed rather nervously, any of his previous arrogance conveniently absent, and murmured, "All right, Cin... let's go get you your stuff."

The pair exited quickly through the door opposite of the one Korot and Taja'ki took, not looking back.

"You shouldn't let him goad you into stuff like that," Korot grumbled, jamming his hands into his sleeves. "One, it's not good for business and two, we could get in considerable trouble from picking fights with our allies. And by we, I mean you. I'm beginning to feel like that whole talk about impulsiveness on the way here fell on deaf ears..."

Taji's saunter slowed, her rust colored eyes roaming over the forsaken's face carefully, seeming to search for something unseen. The priest noticed, frowning even harder in response.

"What?"

The troll blinked, then resigned with a shrug, stating, "Not'in. Jus' dat... If some'un be insultin' joo, den Taji tink joo shoul' at leas' say sometin'."

Korot snorted loudly, his moldy strands of hair waving slightly as an Arcane Guardian passed by him.

"I don't recall myself being insulted by that fool's words. Fool's like to hear themselves talk, and there is not a bigger wind bag in all of Silvermoon than Mister Vyse himself." His gaze wandered over to the warrior curiously. "What makes you think I was insulted?"

In a rare moment, Taja'ki paused to think before she opened her mouth. Although Korot may not have been aware of it, she had seen the expression on his face when Vyse had called him a corpse. Being that his features were rather flat and hard to make out anyway, she couldn't accurately label what particular emotion it was... but it had been enough to pull at something in her heart and warrant further inquiry. However, it seemed the perpetually stoic priest would rather deny the sudden facial anomaly had occurred.

"Ah, no'tin. Jus' Taji bein' impulsive ag'in, ja."

Korot nodded after a moment, coming to a stop as they neared the Court. "In any case, I have business I need to conduct elsewhere. Can I trust you to refrain yourself from choking Vyse with his own ears?"

"Taji no'ra make any promises, bu' she try. Fo' Korot." Nothing in her voice changed, but her eyes seemed to cool, seeming unable to find the forsaken's. They both knew where he was going. Korot turned to head toward the Sunfury Spire, but hesitated, much to Taja'ki's surprise.

"Taja'ki?" His voice was low, rougher and grittier than normal.

The troll tilted her head slightly, fixated on the man's inky silhouette. "Ja?"

"That 'a flower for a flower' line... needs work."

And then he walked away. Taji wanted to say a lot of things, but found herself rooted, only able to stare blankly at the hunched man's back. It felt as if an entire unspoken conversation had transpired between them and Taja'ki had gotten the short end.

"Umm... excuse me?" A woman's voice called out, unsure. The troll surfaced from her overflow of thoughts, turning to the voice. The woman held a peacebloom and a tiny square no bigger than a gold piece. From where she was standing, the warrior could see that the crystalline powder that she had concealed in the square was no longer there, the paper-like material deflated and empty. Taja'ki hid a smile. Korot had told her it sometimes scared the newer customers.

"'ello again, beu'tiful."