SMS: Beauty and Beast

Today we have Taiba and Garrick, star-crossed lovers separated for 4 years whose lives took dark turns each.

A Nair orphan who travelled around Antis until she settled in a little town called Timpany, where she met Garrick. It was love at first sight and after only a few months of knowing each other, Garrick and Taiba knew they were meant to be together. Their harmony was disrupted by bad news that separated the two: Garrick's younger brother, Ryan, had become involved with the murderous bandit group, the Saijak Clan, and was in serious trouble with them. Garrick left to save his brother and promised to return to Taiba soon. Taiba waited for months before she began travelling again doing the only thing she knew how to do: dance, but this time for the purpose of finding Garrick. She quickly fell into bad crowds, looking for information on the Saijak Clan: gamblers, corrupt merchants and even assassins. It wasn't long before she started working for these people just to get inside information. After 3 years of spying, lying and even assassinating, she found Garrick's whereabouts and knew he was safe... but after 3 long years of doing horrible things for the sake of finding him, Taiba could not bare to face him. She continued to stay hidden for an entire year before they would reunite.

Attitude-wise, Taiba likes to keep everyone at arms length and puts up a playful persona. She's chatty and likable and giggles when she lies and gossips all the time. She can't read or write and displays no care at all to this. Her surname and stage name is Taiba, which is a kind of butterfly creature, and that's how most people address her.

Taiba's true love and the only person to call her by her first name, Parvana. He joined up with the Saijak Clan to get his brother out, but in order to earn the trust of the clan he ended up doing some dangerous missions, one of which left him scarred and disfigured. His right eye was severely damaged and although it is difficult to see out of, he prefers to leave it the way it is rather than use an eyepatch. This, as well as the choices he's had to make while he worked for the clan, made him realize he'd changed too much and could never face Taiba again. He harbours a deep regret for all the atrocities he's taken part in but he's got too much pride to ever let it show, and hides behind cocky carelessness that comes with being with a bunch of bandits that you're way smarter than. A man of average intelligence, he mainly keeps to himself for fear that his intelligence may get him noticed by higher ups who could use some extra brains and cunning. He knows Taiba could never love someone so grotesque, so he hid away and severed all contact with her. He blames Ryan for his life and the two treat each other with bitter contempt.

Parvana Taiba, Garrick Harding, Sun & Moon Stories (c)