Through the Mirror

It was Tavar's turn to whisk past her and she peered down towards the end of the tunnel. Ramona contemplated his sudden change of spirit - he'd been quite stoic on the way here, helping her but talking little. Perhaps that was just the sheer amount of talking Ramona had done, but either way, his sudden liveliness piqued her interest.

Also, underground house. Ramona ran her fingers lightly over the walls as they walked onwards. Tavar blocked the path in front of her, and with the smallest of pouts she stood in the shadows behind him, peeping over his shoulder only once, a pale moon of a face in the dark. She ducked back behind him, melting into the shadows. There were people here, conversation bubbling away between them. But Ramona didn't get the introductions she'd expected. In fact, Tavar was very careful to not let her push past him at all.

"Well now, who's this you got with you, Tavar? A new recruit, perhaps?" What, to bard school? Was this some sort of crazed music cult where they lived underground and played ditties that were deemed, heaven forbid, illegal? Ramona stifled a giggle.

"Oh golly," Ramona gushed in quiet whispers behind him. "Tavar, how did you know it was my greatest dream to join the underground bard movement? I am a great campaigner for music for the people. Free speech, I say! Down with the establishment." her tone was rife with devilish glee. Yes, she would make this hard for him, if he was planning on blocking her way the entire time.

Her hosts seemed disappointed in her arrival. Well, she thought, crazed music cults were notoriously difficult to break into these days.

"You know Aiden's not gonna be happy with you, right?" the woman from before said.

"She's right," Ramona breathed a soft sigh behind him, her face filled with grief. "He will be very disappointed to hear I can only play the harmonica."

Tavar was clearly in some sort of trouble for helping her. She felt for him for that. Just... not enough to be polite and amenable. Or make this easier for him in any way, shape or form. In fact, she was enjoying herself.

She wondered briefly if that made her a bad person. She wondered what this Aiden person was like, and what a Taker is, and how clearly this was not an underground bard school at all. She thought about how they wanted members for - for whatever it was they did - and how she didn't very much like being prevented from walking into the warm room in front of them.

"Navinta, would you take our guest and give her some boots? She rode all the way here without any. I'll go speak with him."
Freedom! Ramona stepped out into the room as Tavar disappeared elsewhere. She'd seen that ghost of a carefree smile he'd cast in her direction, as if to say, this is allll totally normal. Don't worry about any of it. Yeah, she didn't buy that for a second. Ramona had looked away.

A little bit peeved, perhaps?

A little childishly vengeful, even.

"I'll be honest, I don't know why Tavar brought someone here if you aren't going to join us, but I suppose we'll have to trust him. I'm Navinta. What's your name?"

"I'm Ramona." the girl cleared her throat and thrust out a hand. "and what Tavar means to say is that I'm currently undecided. He doesn't entirely approve, you know."
 
Navinta blinked those soft blue eyes at Ramona's sudden gesture, but she took it in stride and smiled. She seemed more amiable toward this newcomer's antics. "Well, a pleasure to meet you, Ramona," she said before she waved the girl away from the other people at the table. They all watched them walk from the room before they resumed eating, as if someone new was something to be expected. Some had even appeared excited, but the majority still seemed wary.

"You don't look too much like someone fit for us, but I've been surprised before," Navinta commented as she took Ramona down a short hall. There were no doors blocking any entrances except the one at the end, making the network of rooms seem more open and connected. Navinta opened the door to the separated room, revealing a circular room with several beds lined against the wall. Each bed had a small night stand beside it with a candle, making it hard to discern who slept where.

"Even if you don't join, Tavar knows the drill." Navinta crouched at one bedside stand, flinging a long piece of fabric away from the drawer. "Ah, here we are," she announced, holding up a pair of leather boots. The color was more worn than what one expected fresh leather to look like, but they weren't torn, and that was good enough for her. "These should work out for you." The woman went to speak farther, but the sound of steel on stone crashed from another room. However, instead of panicking about an attack, Navinta only sighed and shook her head.

"Those two idiots know not to spar so late in the night! And they go after the heavy training dummies no less. I ought to turn them into the dummies," she muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose in an effort to regain composure.
 
Ramona retracted her hand to her chest and flexed her fingers, confused. They didn't shake hands here, it seemed. This place was getting stranger and stranger. She cast a sheepish glance back at the people gathered in this room, wondering exactly how different this place would get. Not that she minded all that much... it was kind of exciting, to be in some unknown land, around strange people, underground at night. In fact, she decided, she better start writing things down if she was ever going to keep track of all this oddity. She'd rather take pictures, but she'd left her camera at home.

Her guide led her down a short hall nearby. She peered into the room, making a note of the bunks.

"Like an underground fortress." she commented, eyebrow raised, "Do you get much trouble in these parts, then?"

"These should work out for you." at her words Ramona slinked into the room, coming over to Navita's shoulder.

"oh wow, real leather and all. And they have that lived in feel!" she flumped down on the bed and carefully put on the shoes, not seeming to mind if they were a little worn. Ramona clicked her heels together, lifting a foot off the floor and spinning her toes around.

"I like them!" she said finally, jumping to her feet. At the sound of combat, Ramona's eyes lit up. "What, actual sparring? Now? Can we go watch?"
 
Ramona was almost too happy at the prospect of getting new boots. Navinta had never seen anyone excited to wear such shoes, especially with the amount of blood they'd been in recently. Of course, she'd sent the two blockheads--the ones currently sparring--to rid the unused boots of their bloody coating for this reason. No recruit, or non-recruit as Ramona was, wanted their boots stained red.

"Well, we don't get much trouble here, except from those two in the other room. As for seeing them...." Navinta hesitated there. They always fawned over new recruits, but because Ramona seemed to be a special case, Aiden would be furious to know that Navinta had shown someone around.

Then again, if that happened, she could always blame Tavar. After all, he was the one who'd brought Ramona back, and he was the one suffering Aiden's wrath at that very moment.

"There shouldn't be any harm in meeting them," Navinta finally decided. She'd done her assigned task and was free to go where she wanted. Besides, they all knew the drill if Ramona decided not to join their ranks. Whether or not she saw the interior of their home was irrelevant.

"Be warned," she said as she opened the door, "they like to ask lots of questions. If only they ran their feet as fast as they ran their mouths." The walk from the barracks to the sounds of sparring was a short one. There was no door barring the entrance, and the room appeared much like the barracks. However, where there were beds, targets lined the walls. In the far corner, a rack holding blunt-ended staffs sat beside a shield rack. Directly next to those were hooks buried in the stone, holding up different colored bows. A table of glass cases perched beneath the bows, containing heavily weighted daggers and throwing knives. Finally, swords leaned against various corners and against two massive, wooden support pillars in the room.

The two men sparring didn't hear Navinta or Ramona enter, for they were too engrossed in ravaging the cloth-covered dummies set up. Several parts of the fabric had been torn, revealing that the dummies were crafted from stone and wood to withstand the beating they were currently receiving.

One finally looked over and grinned so wide, Navinta thought it would stretch his face right off. "'Ey, Gray! Navinta got a new one!"

"Man, why ya gotta interrupt me when--" The one called Gray slammed his weapon, a long, one handed sword, into the dummy's neck and turned. At the sight of Ramona, he got the same grin as his twin brother, because no one else could create that same expression but someone related to him. Both had the same dark brown, shaggy locks that waved in their eyes and the same tall, skinny build. Where the one known as Gray had one blue eye and one gray eye, his brother had one brown and one red. They were a strange pair, to say the least.

"Well, ya weren't kiddin', Red. Who's this, Navinta?" Gray didn't give her a chance to answer before both twins stepped forward. Both chattered over one another about Ramona, speaking faster than Navinta could catch up.

"What's your name? Where'd ya come from?"

"What're ya wearin'? Looks funny. I bet ya she's from somewhere real far, right?"

"Depends on what her fav'rite color is. Ya know a person by their color, 'member? And breed of dog... and weapon! Don't forget weapon!"
 
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"There shouldn't be any harm in meeting them..." she seemed unsure.

Ramona grinned wide. "I solemnly swear not to hurt or maim them in any shape or form to the best of my potentially limited ability." She said, raising one hand with the other over her heart. She followed Navinta through to the barracks and peered past her, rocking on her heels with her hands shoved in her pockets, lest she be tempted to induct these poor souls into – heaven forbid – hand-shaking rituals.

"Be warned, they like to ask lots of questions. If only they ran their feet as fast as they ran their mouths."

"oh how wonderful. I love giving difficult answers, I'm sure we'll get on famously." She replied, her eyes drifting over the vast array of medieval weaponry.

Hmm. Maybe Tavar was a bard for some medieval event troop? The re-enactment type that went yelling through fields in heavy armour during summer and rode astride two horses to the amusement of crowds? Now that Ramona could get behind, in fact, it seemed a profession made for someone with her lack of concern for physical safety and rules.

After all, there was no way these weapons could possibly be used for anything else, right?

Right…

Her train of thought was interrupted when she realised "Twins!" Ramona squealed. Ramona had never had the pleasure of making friends with twins, or even knowing a pair before, but it was something she'd always been curious about.

She wasn't the only curious one however.

"Well, ya weren't kiddin', Red. Who's this, Navinta?"

"Yes Navita, who are these people?" she replied, before drowning in a torrent of questions, looking this way and that at the two twins as if jubilantly engrossed in an exotic ping pong match.

"What's your name? Where'd ya come from?"
"What're ya wearin'? Looks funny. I bet ya she's from somewhere real far, right?"

"oh-ah-Ramona-" she paused, looking down and shrugging. "Clothes, duh! And some fancy shoes provided by the lovely Navita." she did a small jig with her feet. Her own grin grew as wide to rival theirs as she thrusted one finger to the ceiling, pointing proudly.

"I came from the sky, silly, can't you tell?" she replied, inwardly delighted that no one would ever believe her.

"Depends on what her fav'rite color is. Ya know a person by their color, 'member? And breed of dog... and weapon! Don't forget weapon!"

"Probably a spooky purple. My favourite type of dog is the run-wild-on-full-moon type. As for weapon… the tongue is far mightier than the sword, no?"

"Your turn! Same questions back to you! Also are you guys, like, crazy psychic? Can you finish each other's sentances and read reach other's thoughts? Is that why you have super cool eyes? It's like some manifestation of your psychic-twin abilities, or you know, whatever?"
 
It may or may not have been a mistake to introduce Ramona to the Color Twins, since it meant nothing but questioning exchanges and strange answers. Even then, Gray and Red were smiling at Ramona's responses, but what had to be weirdest of all was the fact that she said she had fallen from the sky. That was downright impossible, since such a fall should have killed any normal person. It had to be a lie, something to jump start the twins' curiosity, right?

She shook her head at the newest additions to their odd family, though it didn't seem like it was going to last. The base of this meeting was the fact that Tavar had brought Ramona back with no intention of her joining. While she was quirky, she didn't seem to have the skills required to make it with them. While Gray and Red were similar to her in speech, they had a rather nasty past. Ramona seemed far too innocent for that sort of thing, but it was something she would have to bring up with Tavar.

"Your turn! Same questions back to you! Also are you guys, like, crazy psychic? Can you finish each other's sentences and read reach other's thoughts? Is that why you have super cool eyes? It's like some manifestation of your psychic-twin abilities, or you know, whatever?"

"Damn, if only!" Gray chuckled, giving his brother a glance. Red returned it and only grinned.

"I like yer answers, Ramona! I think we'll like hangin' 'round with ya," Red continued. Having new people to ask about was always fun. Navinta almost didn't have the heart to tell them that Ramona might not be sticking around for too much longer.

"Well, I think you two," her blue eyed gaze caught the twins in a hard glare, "have had your fun for the night. You know Savinash doesn't like his swords being used this late when he's not around. And now you both have to remain up later to clean the dummies." She wore their cunning grin as they groaned at the prospect of cleaning.

"Do we hafta?" Red pleaded, clasping his hands together in a desperate motion. Navinta narrowed her eyes, and it was answer enough.

"We ought to go find Tavar. I reckon he's had enough time talking to Aiden and the Taker about your situation." She could only imagine the beating he was getting for such a thing, but if he came back unscathed, she was sure he could come up with something to ensure Ramona that he was fine. She motioned for them to leave, watching with smug satisfaction as the Color Twins set about picking up broken pieces of the dummies and cleaning the swords.

"So, Ramona, what did Tavar tell you about us?" Navinta asked while they made their way down the hall again. The light from the dining room was dim, signifying the exit of the other people to their rooms.
 
"I like yer answers, Ramona! I think we'll like hangin' 'round with ya."

"oh how wonderful. Perhaps we can set up some experiments to tap into your latent psychic abilities. Surely with a bit of practice you could move planets with your combined twin-powers." She replied with a lopsided grin. She hadn't been sure by her welcome, but these guys were a riot. She definitely planned to stick around.

"Hey, maybe later you guys could show me some nifty tricks with those things?"Ramona asked hopefully, pouting her lips and batting her eyelashes in a deliberate and unnecessary exaggerated matter. But they had their chores to do for the time being, and at the mention of the elusive and frightening Aiden Ramona's attention was whisked away to other things. Still, her eyes lingered on the weaponry as it was cleared away.

Weird underground settlement: check. Old fashioned bunks lined up like a creepy dormitory: check. Mysterious twins in a room full of knives and bolts: check. Grumpy horse and suspicious bard who liked to avoid questions: check. Ramona had never gone on holiday to any exotic places before, but this weird adventure trumped anything she could have imagined. Screw tropical beaches or trips through Venice, this mysterious underground barracks was better than any five star hotel to Ramona.

"So, Ramona, what did Tavar tell you about us?"

She peered over her shoulder at Navinta and narrowly avoided the impulse to spin a web of amusing lies about the subject. It would be all too easy to drop Tavar into deep trouble. Not that Ramona was holding a petty grudge, of course. That would be childish and definitely below her. Instead, she hid a grin and clasped her hands behind her back, walking with very deliberate steps.

"Tavar has told me so many delightful things! Really each word was spoken with unfathomable love and respect for you guys. In fact, when he said 'hm" and "oh" I was almost brought to tears by the multidimensional meaning of each syllable."

She grinned. "But really, it's alright. You have your secrets and I'm not one to pry. I've decided I'm not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, so you can rest easy." It was obvious to Ramona that her guide seemed a little antsy by her presence here… perhaps she was worried about giving away the location of their secret underground base, Ramona could only assume.
 
"Tavar has told me so many delightful things! Really each word was spoken with unfathomable love and respect for you guys. In fact, when he said 'hm" and "oh" I was almost brought to tears by the multidimensional meaning of each syllable."

Ramona's answer simultaneously told her everything and nothing, but then she continued. She didn't want to pry, and she also agreed to stay. Now there was no reason for Tavar to be punished, right? He'd brought a new recruit, even if she was a little quirky in her own way. They all were, so she wouldn't be out of place.

"Well, I'm glad you've decided to join us. We're happy to have anyone that believes in this," Navinta replied with a smile. They had rounded the corner past the dining room when a very, very angry person slammed a nearby door closed with such force that a few particles of dirt fluttered from the ceiling.

"Well, let's not be too hasty about being mad, eh? It's not all bad," Tavar said, voice muffled from the door. Navinta and Ramona had reached a short hallway leading only to a single room at the end. It seemed Tavar was trapped in that room, and it made Navinta slow without knocking on the door.

"You brought a random girl wearing strange clothes who didn't know how to ride a horse inside our hideout," the angry person replied, revealing himself as male. Given everything anyone had said about Aiden, that sort of speech secured him as none other than Aiden.

"Aaand she said she was undecided. She didn't have anywhere to go, and I didn't think letting her stay out there was a good idea," Tavar countered. He had lost the joking tone from earlier; the situation was far more serious than he'd let on.

"Now, now, Aiden," a third voice chimed in. Even through the door, the voice held a gentle, but firm authority. "Perhaps we should meet this girl and decide for ourselves. Even if she doesn't work out, I trust Tavar. He's performed admirably in the past few months, and there's no reason to assume he's betrayed that trust now."

The other room became silent, but that ended as the door flung open, revealing a white haired man who was far too young to have such a hair color. Deep, golden brown eyes glared at Navinta but then shifted to Ramona. He shoved the door open further, allowing Ramona inside. Navinta, despite not having a word said to her, booked it from the room with a brisk walk, knowing when she wasn't wanted.

The tension radiating from Aiden was palpable, but Tavar had adopted a relaxed, goofy grin as he spotted Ramona. "Glad to see ya made it," he said with a two-fingered wave.

"Ramona, is it? Allow me to formally welcome you to our hideout. Tavar has told us a little bit about you, but perhaps you can give us a little more." The source of the older voice was a man seated in a chair fashioned from smooth wood, tree roots, and metal scraps combined. His face was covered by a gray, peppered beard and an almost kind smile. It was hard to believe he was the Taker, the leader of Tavar's strange group.
 
Ramona slowed to a halt, clasping her arms behind her back as she stared at the door in front of her. Did they realize how loud they were? And that Aiden chap certainly had a sharp tone to him, didn't he? Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Or rather, cot in the communal living space. Ramona grinned. She couldn't really imagine the faceless owner of the voice to be the communal-living-space type, but she was having a lot of fun trying to envision him as bleary-eyed Sir-Grump-Alot in the morning anyway. Maybe puffing on a pipe reading a newspaper and yelling at those darn kids to stop playing by his petunias... or, she supposed in this case, secret underground entrances.

By the time the door was flung open before her, Ramona was silently shaking with the effort of containing her giggles. The figure in the doorway should have instilled the fear of god in her, but all she could do was stare fixedly at his white hair.

It was suddenly all the more plausible that he'd gone white spending his mornings yelling angrily at the uncouth youth of today, what with their unsavory fashion and inability to ride horses, not like it was back in the good old days...

She angled her body away from the door and clamped a hand over her mouth, pretending to watch Navinta disappear down the hallway as she desperately tried to stifle her laughter, her back to the open room.

That would not be a good first impression. Do not anger the legendary Sir-Grump-Alot, for round these parts he was truly feared by all who knew him. She doubled over a little. No no no, stop it. This was really serious. Don't, whatever you do, burst out laughing in front of the people who clearly ran this establishment.

She could feel three pairs of eyes gouging into the back of her head. Ramona straightened up, spun on her feet, and fixed Aiden with an unnaturally bright beaming smile.

"Random girl wearing strange clothes reporting for duty!" she said with a salute, whisking past him into the room. She couldn't help throwing him a sideways glance as she walked past, biting her lip to choke back her laughter as her eyes twinkled with unabashed glee. "You look younger then I imagined." she said absentmindedly as her gaze drifting across the two other people inhabiting the room.

Ramona pulled a face at Tavar when she saw him, somewhere caught between "What the hell is going on here" and "Wow this place is absolutely brilliant I love it here" and coming out as some sort of strangely delighted grimace. She could feel Aiden's clear dislike from somewhere behind her radiating off him like waves, and that only seemed to boost her mood even more. It was almost like the angrier he got, the happier she was.

Her eyes lingered on the chair the Taker was seated in, and she found herself yearning for her camera. She was dying to take a picture of this scene. That chair was nothing sort of surreal, and the older man looked all the more poised for sitting on it. But even so, if her mental image of Sir-Grump-Alot seemed all too plausible, it was hard to envision this guy as the Big Boss of this strange re-enactment troupe.

Ramona relaxed. This wasn't so bad. Grumpy-Mc-Grump-Face was alot more fun than Ramona was expecting, this guy had a friendly air about him, and Tavar was very much Tavar, whom she was still slightly peeved at but not in the least intimidated by. She shuffled over to the center of the room and shoved her hands in her pockets.

"Hi, thanks for letting me drop in, this place is great." Now that she thought about it, she really didn't know what the Taker did, or why he was called the Taker, and she wondered if she should of asked Navinta on the way. Oh well, too late now.
 
There was no doubting Aiden's expression. Whoever Tavar had brought inside their home was indeed strange and lacked incredible amounts of tact or respect. By all rights, she should have feared Aiden, for he was the most angry and intimidating individual in the group. Everything about him, from his clothes to the very aura he gave off, was meant to scare. Except, perhaps, the white hair, but the strands only served to make him angrier most of the time.

It seemed that now, however, there was a new record for fury as Ramona bounced around the Taker's room like she owned the place. She had the gall to speak to him directly without even using his title or even some form of formality. The Taker, noting his right hand man was about to wring Ramona's neck, turned to face the young man. "Aiden, leave us, please. I will call for your return later," he said, though the slight smile still remained on his face. Aiden, like all loyal lieutenants, bowed his head and stalked away with one final glare at Tavar, one that said the bard would get what was coming to him.

When the door closed, the Taker turned his dark, but kind gaze back on the strangely dressed female. "I'm glad you enjoy our home. Though, I take it you are interested in joining us? Tavar has not stated this, but we have a strict system for dealing with those who do not join us." There was no inherent threat in the words, and they weren't spoken rudely, but Tavar winced anyway. He knew the system all too well, being the active recruiter that he was. As a bard, he saw many things, including those who had skills in killing.

"Aiden tends to frighten most of our potential recruits, but you seem to have no fear. Tell me, how did Tavar come to believe that you might be fit to join us? It's not every day that we find a female skilled with weapons and stealth, but appearances can be deceiving."

"Yeah... 'bout that, sir. I didn't bring her here to join us. She was lost and a little confused, and I figured she'd be safe here instead of out there. It ain't good to be stuck out there after dark," Tavar interjected, stepping forward. The Taker gave him a strange look, as if he didn't enjoy being interrupted, but he allowed the bard to speak. "I don't think she's cut out for this kinda thing."

"I suppose that is up to her, is it not?" the Taker asked, turning his gaze back on Ramona.
 
(posting to prevent locking, sorry I'm taking forever @_@)
 
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