fashion sense. (Show)

Xela was hungry, and slightly lonely. Both of those were remedied by a trip to the dining hall, and having some shred of sense, that's what she did. She got herself a bowl of whatever type of stew they happened to be serving today and immediately started looking for companionship, or, failing that, a group of people who were having an interesting conversation upon which she could eavesdrop. Instead, though, she saw quite the strange site: someone littler like her sitting by herself, wearing clothes that would look more fitting at a summertime gather than at a wintertime everyday meal. Her choice in seat was obvious.

She plopped down unceremoniously next to Emrin. "Why are you wearing that stuff? Aren't you freezing?" she said in way of a greeting, shoving the first spoonful of stew into her mouth. Then, she got a closer look at the person wearing the strange clothes, and she nearly upset the bowl. "Shells, are you a boy?!" she exclaimed in disbelief, grabbing Emrin's face and peering, uncomfortably close, at him. "Faranth, you are!" She gave another incredulous look at the floral print shirt and very short shorts. Currently being raised with two of them, the young Candidate was well acquainted with gay men, but even still... this was ridiculous!

She continued to stare unabashedly at Emrin and his bizarre ensemble. She shoved her food away. This was far more interesting. "Do, tell me," she demanded, moving to straddle the bench and face him properly. "What made you think walking around like this was a good idea? Who are you, anyways?" she said, once again peering closely at him to see if she could recognize him. He wasn't a Candidate, she knew that. She then realized that introducing herself might be a good idea. "I'm Xela, by the way."

Xela found herself feeling bad for the boy in front of her. She was quite capable of lashing out to those who thought they were above her, to assert herself, but she was not mean. She was no pushover; but she was also no bully. Any fool could see that this helpless sap was no real threat to anybody. Any boy who let himself be dressed in girls' clothes against his will probably wasn't. And since she had nothing to fear from him, he had nothing to fear from her.

She waited, mostly patiently, for him to get to the point of his story. Faranth, it was like catching a stubborn runner in a round pen. The dang thing insisted on going around and around and around when it would have been much simpler to just get to the inevitable ending. Unfortunately, rushing either Emrin or the runner would do nothing to hurry up the ending-- it'd just prolong the process. So she waited.

X'ni was his dad? X'ni, the ex-renegade 'rider? Her interest was piqued at that. She'd have to ask T'el or M'kiru about that later... as far as both of them seemed from the fatherly type, X'ni might just be worse! Then again, stranger things had happened, and it was just like X'ni to dress up the poor kid like this.

Now it was time for Xela to set this kid straight. She hated to see someone get kicked around like this. X'ni had no right to force his fetishes on others! She decided right then and there that she would teach Emrin to stand up for himself. She'd make him man up! He made a cute girl, but she was sure that he would be a cuter boy. That is, once he got some masculinity. He was quite lacking in that department at the moment.

"Now, look here!" she said, grabbing his shoulders and giving him a little shake. She was blunt and aggressive, but that was just how she got things done. She was obviously on his side, she was just a little... overzealous about it. "X'ni is not the boss of you. You are the boss of you! If you don't want to be a girl, then you gotta start behaving like a man! Do I make myself clear?" She once again got uncomfortably close to him, staring him down.

She stared at him for a few seconds more before abruptly swinging her legs off of the bench and getting to her feet. "Come on!" she said, grabbing his hand and tugging on it insistently. "I've got a shirt and some pants you can borrow. They might be a little small, but anything's better than," she said, gesturing to his amusing get-up, "this! Then, you know what you're going to do? You're going to take these crazy clothes and burn them. With fire!" She tugged on her hand again. "Now, are you coming or not?"