[PRP Tale] I'm The Kid Your Mama Warned You About [Oz | Nyx]

[MissMisnomer]

Nyxamora turned her attention away from the bird to the stocky woman who was talking. She seemed agreeable enough, and what she spoke of… there was legitimate wonder in her eyes as she looked back at the Chiavi. This was a legendary animal, right here, right in front of her, living and breathing. He looked small now, but there was an undeniable authority in its eyes, which demanded respect. And while Nyx had very little of that to spare for people, she always held powerful animals in the highest esteem.

So as directed, Nyx held her ground by Oz’s side, grinning at the jab made by this woman at Ozzrick’s expense. She decided then and there that she liked the lady, nodding her head and tapping encouragingly at the back of Oz’s hand that held the aforementioned fish.“This little miss is named Nyx. And she’d love to be able to feed Yobi.”


[8/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Nyx.

Oz hummed agreeably as she confirmed his suspicions — good, he hadn’t forgotten — and Fifika seemed abundantly pleased. “Fifika,” she provided, notching her head at Oz until he cooperatively let his ‘prize’ whap back and forth in his hand to incite Yobi’s already present interest before offering it to Nyx. “Give it a good arch and he’ll show off his feathers for you. He’s only newly caught, so he hasn’t learned all the rules yet, but takes a quick liking to anyone with a food source.”

“They were gone for months,” Oz said. “Fif and her team, climbing through the high snow—was a point we weren’t fully sure if they’d be back-”

“Ooii, ya knew we would. In pieces if we had to be but nothing could have kept us gone forever.” Her grip adjusted as Yobi hopped speculatively along the ledge of his cage before the open door. One rustling of feathers and a short, contemplative bird sound later, and he hopped, wings testing the limit of her leash before — at its limit — he became disgruntled and landed with a puffing of feathers at Fifika’s side, large eyes back fiercely intent on the fish.  

[MissMisnomer]

Nyx took the fish provided in hand, nodding to show that she registered the instructions. “Sounds like a journey that would make quite the story. Ya know, they say anything worth doing is worth telling. You should get Oz here working on a catchy ballad to go with it; he seems like the sort of bloke to be good at that kind of thing.” Nyx gave his side a good natured jab with her elbow, never taking her eyes off the large bird.

She widened her stance a bit more, hefting the limp fish in her hand. “Alright Big Boy, you look like you’ve waited long enough for this. So give us a good show of that chest of yours!”And after taking a moment to calculate the trajectory, she tossed the scaly offering in a high arch towards Yobi.

[9/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Catchy ballad.

Ozzrick snorted, though his lips curved up at the edges with amusement, green eyes bright. “Can’t say I’m much of an artful singer…”

“But loud,” Fifika piped in, and Oz flashed his teeth. “Sore on the ears-”

“Oi, it would be in your honor,” Oz said. “Ooohhhhhh, down from the mountains thence they came, five men and a bird not quite tame — but lo there the biggest and grandest of all, broadest and loudest with-”

“Aye, aye, aye, that’s enough. Broadest? Y’ need to work on your lyrics there.”

Oz opened his mouth, but instead found himself watching with full attention when Nyx made her toss and Yobi — as readily as a snake coiled to strike — darted up, beak opening as his wings spread to swallow the offering in a single gulp so smooth, the fish might not have existed but for knowing it was there a moment before. A pleased trill rumbled up from the fowl’s throat, and it cocked its head, attention intent on Nyx’s fingers: a now known source of sustenance. A very slight tug on his restraints from Fifika, more to remind him of them than anything else most likely, earned a disgruntled chirrup and faint ruffling of neck feathers as he settled himself.

“You’re a natural toss, girl,” Fifika noted, eyeing her assessingly. “Had much experience beast feedin’?”  

[MissMisnomer]

Nyx made a face as the fish flew through the air, glad for this opportunity but sorely missing another: she couldn’t focus on not getting her fingers chomped off by the bird and make fun of Oz’s lackluster singing at the same time. Alas, the universe gives her one gift and takes away another.

Once the scaly morsel disappeared down Yobi’s gullet, Nyx hummed very audibly and very appreciatively, grinning from ear to ear, “Gods, didja’ see how fast this blighter is? Could rip your nose clean off your face before you could even sneeze!” She turned her attention back to Fifika, absently rubbing any fishy residue off on the extra fabric of Oz’s conveniently placed rear, “Not really, a bit I guess? If you count diggin’ Virma out of trees and flinging them into a flock of Seriffin as ‘beast feedin’. Or tossing them into a herd of gossiping girls. Equally exciting results if you ask me, plenty of squawking.”

She turned to smile smugly at Oz, waving her clean hand in front of her nose, “Your a** smells like fish.”

[10/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Ozzrick hummed pleasantly, pleased that the bird show had been well received, and that-

“Oi.” His eyebrows snapped up, green eyes darting to Nyx with far more surprise than anything else—chased almost immediately after by bemused amusement. On the one hand, she was cleaning off her hand on his a**. On the other, she was cleaning off her hand on his a**, which just wasn’t very objectionable at all, and he found very quickly that that thought to precedence over anything else.

The next moment, Fifika was busting out a hearty laugh, and by the time Nyx’s hand waved smugly before his face, he found he couldn’t muster up much of anything more than equally pleased good humor. He offered up a shrug.

“Luckiest fish-smelling a** I know,” he said. “Prettiest girl that’s groped it all day, I sure wouldn’t be complainin’.”  

[MissMisnomer]

Nyx snorted, casting the other woman a wry side-look, “With the way he struts about winking and smiling at anything that breathes, I assume these particular glutes have gotten their fair share of attention.” She then gave Ozzrick a smirk, taking a step away from the pair, “And with the way Yobi is eyeing him now, I suspect his arse might be getting a bit more action, though it will probably be much more painful. So unless you’d like to offer yourself as further entertainment for the afternoon, we might want to be on our way.”

She turned to offer Fifika a hearty pat on the arm and a toothy grin, having quite enjoyed the woman’s company, “Thanks for letting me see this little guy, it was really something else. If I’m lucky, I’d like to see just how big he will get someday.”

[11/10]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

I assume these particular glutes have gotten their fair share of attention.

Ozzrick decided to take that part as a compliment, humming amusedly to himself until—a bit more action mentioned with regard to Yobi, and his eyes narrowed to a suspicious squint. Was she really suggesting…? Apparently she was. He grunted shook his head. What a strange girl. Fifika, for her part, did not appear put off—further amused, if anything, and Oz was happy enough to get them off along their way again. There was certainly no shortage of things that could have been shown off, but-

A whistle from one of the tents, just as he had begun to lead Nyx off again, drew his attention, and he raised his eyebrows at one of their stage dancers leaning out of the costume tent, his belly bare but neck and shoulders decorated with a thin, gauzy dancing jacket and ornamental neck piece, legs in bedangled pants and toes naked to the world.

“Who’s your girlfriend, Ozzy?” Tiyan asked, his deep green eyes happily skipping down Nyx’s frame. “Not gonna bring her around and avoid me are you? You know,” he proferred, directing this latter comment toward Nyx herself, “your friend here is a great dancer, but he gets a little shy when I’m involved since I make him look like a newblood.”  

[MissMisnomer]

Nyx was all too happy to let the fiery redhead lead the way to whatever spectacle this roving band of gypsies was toting around next, when a whistle came from one of the colorful tents―leading to the appearance of exactly the kind of spectacle she was expecting by now.

Still, she could honestly say she’d never seen a guy dressed up in quite this level of…bling…before. Hell, half the women in town wouldn’t even put on that much jewelry, let alone any men for that matter. So her eyebrows made a pretty arch mimicking Ozzrick’s, honestly unable to take her eyes off the stranger until she was able to properly wrap her head around the ridiculousness.

And the light flush that spread on her face had absolutely nothing to do with the sudden blatant flaunting of masculine muscles. That’d be ridiculous.

Finding her tongue again after the initial shock wore off, Nyx barked out a curt laugh, shifting in place as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Uhhh yeah…no. Not his girlfriend. Just met the fool a few hours ago almost getting his arse arrested by the hired help; I assume he pulls those kinds of stunts regularly.”

She paused, pivoting to point a smirk and a questioning eyebrow Ozzrick’s way.“But he has failed to mention those particular talents as of yet…” She pouted her full lips at him, putting a hand to her chest as well as an air of hurt feelings, “How could you keep a delicious little tidbit like that from me, 'Ozzy'? And here I thought we were turning out to be real chums...”

[12/20]  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

“Oh, aye, he’s good at that,” Tiyan answered without pause, taking the opportunity of Nyx’s gaze to stretch his arms behind himself casually and put himself on display, a bead-like line of small dark fuchsia crystals catching the light just above the hemline of his pants. “I think his arse enjoys the attention.”

Ozzrick curbed a rising snort and shook his head. “I can dance,” he said, “it wasn’t a secret so much as a…” He flicked his fingers dismissively, making some effort not to squint as Tiyan slipped in to wind an arm around his waist, “…unnecessary mention. And he doesn’t make me ‘look like a newblood.’ He just wants to see me in bangles.”

“Aren’t I making progress toward it?” Tiyan interjected easily. “Besides…” He tapped a hand to Nyx’s shoulder, “our lady friend could dress up with us too if she wants a dancing lesson. Come, you’re behind for tonight’s show.”

“Tonight’s-?” Ozzrick did scoff then, but gave little resistance when Tiyan tugged to lead them both in toward the tent he’d emerged from. A costume room, for the most part, with lines of outfits and decorations, but with a large, open space in the middle carpeted to practice routines upon. Everything smelled strongly of incense, fabric, and smoke with an undercurrent of sweat from activity, carefully ‘disguised’ by the other dominating odors.  

[MissMisnomer]

Instinctually catching the glint of light on the man’s crystals as he moved, Nyx’s eyes were drawn down to the lower regions of Tiyan’s torso, mouth set into a straight grimace as she looked away again, not wanting to be caught looking too interested. Which she wasn’t. Well…she might be.

No. No she wasn’t.

She huffed, keeping her attention on Ozzrick as he spoke. The notion of dancing as a career felt just as alien as this whole gaudy troupe itself, something that seemed like it should be a dream, not a reality. It was like everyone here existed in their own little multi-hued world, a place fueled by fancy rather than practicality. And before she knew it, a hand was at her shoulder and she was getting dragged further into its silk covered depths, sputtering out a distracted objection, “O-oi! What makes you think I wanna―”

But then it was too late and she was already in, surrounded by even more beads and sequins and gossamer fabrics and bells and OH GOOD LORD, it all just kept going, every foot occupied by some blingy-thing. It was enough to make her tongue catch in her throat, simply trying to comprehend it all. People LIVED like this? She’d never seen anything like it before, not ever. Eventually she was able to swallow, blinking the bewilderment out of her eyes as she made a three-sixty degree turn in place, looking all around her. “Where do you people even find the inspiration to MAKE all this stuff? Are you drunk half the time; I feel like I’ve stepped right into a vain woman’s fever dream??”

[13/20]