Open The hunter and his dog

[Colt]

The other Drykas doubled over with a sudden roar, causing the hunter to wonder if the man was about to explode, and, if so, whether or not it would behoove him to vacate the area.

Wait, he was laughing? That seemed just as confusing. The wild Drykas blinked in surprise, then tilted his head. He perceived nothing amusing about the situation; did that mean that something had escaped his notice? Cautiously the hunter looked around, in case such a stunningly funny occurrence had come to be outside of his line of vision. He found nothing.

Still, the amusement meant that the irritation was gone; that much was good. At least, that was what he assumed. He couldn’t be too certain where humans were concerned.

Then the Syren did something very strange, indeed: he relaxed. The hunter blinked at him, wondering what exactly he was doing. His pose was not one of submission, so much as it was just… calm. Prepared. The hunter looked back and forth between the two men, unsure of what to do; the threat seemed to have vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. People were strange.

A loud bark encroached on his awareness, and he turned to see a dog barreling towards them. Though it was obviously aggressive, he couldn’t help but feel a small bit of relief; a dog, at least, would be easy to read. Animals didn’t toss up the strange facades and pretends that people did; they always displayed exactly what they felt. Why couldn’t these two men do that?

The hunter’s guard switched to face the dog, and this time he bared his teeth to the fullest. He wasn’t particularly frightened of the canine—he had taken on much greater beasts than she—but her message was clear: do not threaten my human. In response, the hunter turned his shoulder directly towards her, putting the Syren slightly behind him in a dismissive position. He then let his lips veil his teeth once more in his own clear message: I do not threaten your human.

And then he turned and half-bared his teeth at the other Drykas once more: he, however, is fair game.

[Orkis Strongwind]

Orkis' mood changed almost immediately after had stopped laughing, the anger was gone replaced with a new curiosity and humor towards these men.Since his life as he new it was destroyed his moods changed quicker then the weather, one moment he could be in a fit of rage and then collapse in a ball of self pity and despeir
This change in mood from anger to amusement was because both in there own ways were strange, the Drykas more obvious than the other, but that is what drew Orkis to them anyway, he himself was strange and mentally scared, and that's what he found so amusing about the situation. 'surely its not just coincidence that has brought three people such as ourselves together' he thought to himself, still having to suppress a chuckle, which instead rumbled in his chest like a big hiccup.

Orkis turned to Syren in answer to his first question and said, "If i wanted to fight you, you would have been bleeding by now, no i mean you no harm at the moment". As he was turning towards the hunter who, struck a funny image his face a mixture of canine wrath and massive confusion, his attention was drawn to a loud barking noise and he turned to see a dog of medium size barreling towards them. The dog did not concern Orkis as, as you may have already noticed, he was very confident in his fighting abilities, but he did turn to face the dog, legs shoulder width apart with one slightly behind the other braced ready if the dog decided to tackle him. The dog stopped just short of the two Drykas and growled, clearly in a display of defense towards her human, and to Orkis' huge amusement bit Syrens leg in a form of protest to being told off. Orkis beamed, 'another character!' he thought, his day was getting a lot more interesting than he first imagined. As Syren appologized for his Kelvic friend, Orkis ebnt down so he was the same level as the dog and spoke to it in common, "Don't worry yourself, i men your man no harm for now. It was a very impressive display you put on, very brave to face two men on your own." Orkis said this with no hint of sarcasm, indeed he meant it, anyone who showed they had a backbone impressed and intrigued him.

He stoop upright and addressed Syren in common, "Your dog is brave, and you seem to ahve spirit about you, i like that", then saying nothing more he turned towards the hunter, making sure his hands were away from his weapons, as this hunter clearly reacted more to body language than speech. He faced the hunter, who at this point had turned so it was clear the only threat he felt was Orkis, and relaxed his body expression. he signed slowly in Pavi, wondering if the Hunter understood what he was saying " Peace for now fellow Drykas, for the moment i mean you no harm and will not raise arm against you other than in self defense. Even though the fight would be glorious, and i am genuinely unsure about the outcome, something i have not been in many many seasons ". He let his arms fall to the side of his waist and waited for a response, still with a faint smile tugging the corner of his lips.

[Syren]

It was funny funny watching the dog and the Drykas communicate. Meliyah looked warily at the other male, but was obviously more at ease now. Syren smiled happily. The situation felt a whole lot better now. He could relax a little. What did make him short was the tough-guy over there saying how he'd already be bleeding if he'd wanted to fight. So sure of himself. Peh. No matter. If he let the guy have his pride for now, maybe he could spar with him another time. That could be fun. As for the nameless hunter, well he was a lot like Meliyah in her animal form. IN her human form she wouldn't shut up, and somewhat unsurprisingly, she would bite him a lot as well, with the forever sharp teeth that carried over into both forms. Meliyah responded to the man by looking back at Syren with a kind of smug expression, then she would turn back to the man and, wag her tail. "Don't give her too much credit, she'll get a big head" a comment that Maliyah responded to with a low growl of irritation "Oh would you learn to take a joke already" Syren said, not fancying another bite mark on his lower leg. "She is brave, Alright. The kind of brave that gives me a friggen heart attack when she throws herself into danger" He said through chuckles "And you seem like a cocky bighead" His tone was relaxed and joking. "You can't safely not be spirited in a plase like Endrykas, really." Syren laughed "Though I wouldn't get too confident, Drykas. Maybe one day we can have a spar, I think I'll be here for a while yet." Meliyah barked as if Syren was forgetting her. Sy just roled his eyes and "I'm not forgetting you, Meli, don't worry yourself" Maybe the day wan't turning out so badly after all. Though this wasn't the sort of company he was expecting, he found that he was happy with how it had turned out. They could have all ended up killing each other, yet all it too to get the mood friendly again had been some shared amusement, and of course, his faithful companion. It was nice to have others for company, even if they were as weird, and as hotheaded as Syren was, probably more so. He thought this could work out alright. Sy found himself smiling happily. A bad day could turn good, just as a good day could turn sour. Luckily, it had been the first today. Sy had to sort out his Pavi though. Seriously. this visual signing stuff was boggling. His language, and even Meli's native language were both very different. If this loudmouth here could help him with his Pavi or signing in the future, that'd be ideal. A friendship with another Drykas was pretty good anyway.

[Colt]

The dog perceived his meaning and turned her attention towards the other Drykas, who still had yet to introduce himself. He seemed to be Diamond clan, which made some sense; the hunter had never met a Diamond warrior who was not odd in some way. The Akilah had even seemed delusional, insisting that they had met before when he could not even remember her name, much less any encounters they might have had.

The Syren and the Drykas exchanged more words, and then the warrior turned to him. The hunter prepared to snap his guard up once more, but the man’s posture was completely different now; he, too, seemed to have relaxed. As strange as the Akilah, it seemed.

Once again, the words had little meaning to his ears, as he was focusing on the warrior’s body posture, but the signs were a bit distracting. He remained relaxed, and slowly, ever so slowly, the hunter relaxed as well. Nevertheless, he continued to regard the warrior with some degree of mistrust,

He glanced at the Syren, giving no acknowledgement to the warrior to signal that he recognized the words he had made; the words were not interesting to him. What did interest him was the two men themselves; they seemed to like their words, so why couldn’t they just talk to each other instead of him? Then he could slip away quietly and be free of this most irritating event.

[Orkis Strongwind]

Orkis watched, as the hunter relaxed but not because of his words Orkis thought, he got the distinct impression that this hunter had not understand a word of what he said, yet this just piqued his interest more. Undeterred Orkis turned to face Syren and in reply to his questions answered "Braveness is a rare tribute it seems these days, it needs to be cherished and praised at every opportunity, else people may fall prey to thoughts of a more cowardly nature". Orkis laughed at being called big headed, "that i may be but you do not live long around here just with bravado, so rest assured mine is backed up with tested skill, and you are right about being spirited in Endrykas, i would like to test your resolve and skill one day", at the mention to sparring his eyes lit up with an almost pitying want and his hand strayed absentmindedly to his spear that was on his back, then back down to his side.

Orkis hadn't really socialized properly for many many seasons, but something about these people brought out an interest in him to know more, otherwise he would not have stayed or asked Syren "What brought you to Endrakas?" His curiosity was also drawn towards this brave dog, who Syren mentioned was a Kelvic, he had never seen a Kelvic before and a curiosity that had not become him for and age started to tug at his thoughts.

[Syren]

The Drykas turned to Syren again and answered his questions. Syren was rather amused by what he was saying. He saw the guy reach for his weapon momentarily,but he dropped his hand soon after. His eyes lit up at the mention of a spar. He had a feeling there was a lot more to this Drykas than he had originally thought. He could say the same for the Hunter, but he had no idea how to communicate with him? It was boggling to Syren how one could live around people and yet prefer not to speak. Maybe he couldn't speak? Anyway, he didn't really know how he could involve the guy in what was happening here. Syren turned his attention back to the Drykas who knew common, and thought about how to answer his question. It had been sort of spur of the moment really. It wasn't like he'd set out for it. When he left The deserts the moving tent city happened to be close by. The reason he stayed? Well... he missed home and although the area was completely different, it was this sort of community, a cluster of tents although much, much smaller than Endrykas. Syren still missed home. He still missed his friends and family. it was his own decision to go with Meliyah. It hurt, a lot, the disownment. Because even though, really, he knew that would happen, he had hoped that his parents would be different. He had hoped they would still care about him. Of course it was in vain. It was still painful to think about. Syren realised he'd been quite for a few seconds too long, so he looked up at the Drykas again, the smile back on his face as if it had never left. Syren wasn't exactly closed in, but they guy hadn't asked for anything more than why he came to Endrykas, so he put a grin back on his face and said, "Well it just found me really" He said "I left home when this place was nearest to Eyktol. I ran in to a bit of trouble in Ahnatep, and eventually stumbled my way here. It was lucky, I hadn't the faintest where Endrykas would be at that time, there were a lot of things that might have gone terribly wrong."

[Colt]

The Drykas regarded him with an expression of sudden, intense curiosity. The hunter shifted under the scrutiny, but his own gaze was unwavering in return. These men seemed to be quite ignorant of common body language, so he did his best to hide his discomfort at the focus. The last creature to stare at him so had been a night lion, one which he had slain immediately after.

The Syren and the Drykas began to exchange words again, and the hunter saw his chance. He kept his shoulders to them so that they would not be alerted by a change in posture, and with utmost care he took a careful step backwards. When they continued to speak, he took another step backwards.

He had managed four steps when the Syren ended his string of words. The hunter froze, unsure if he could continue without either of them noticing.

[Orkis Strongwind]

Orkis acknowledged what Syren was saying with a nod, sensing there was something more that was not being said, but did not press because he would not tell Syren truths about his past or reasons for why he did things so why should Syren. He then addressed Syren in Pavi, speaking and signing slowly "if you are to stay here you should learn Pavi, you will forever be an outsider in our eyes if you do not", he then repeated his sentence in common, sencing that Syren did not understand what he had said. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Hunter start to back away. He thought 'i am sure our paths will cross again, and then Hunter, i will challenge you to a duel then we will see how quiet you are' and just before he turned his full attention back onto Syren he signed "we will meet again" in Pavi to the hunter, then turned his back on him to symbol the conversation was over. To Syren he spoke once more in common "Your spirit is strong and your mind sharp, if i saw you again it would not be a bad thing". And that's all he said before he turned and walked away smiling happily to himself at the prospect of two new people to spar, and secretly he wanted to know more about them, but for now a good spar would be just fine.

[Syren]

Syren smiled and nodded, trying to commit that sentence to memory. He recognised very little of the sentence, so he was glad when he repeated it in common so he could understand. He signed back 'I know.'. And then said in common "Languages are difficult, but I intend to do my best.". The man signed to the Hunter. It seemed familiar, Syren guessed it was some kind of goodbye. Maybe 'another time' or 'until next time'. He wasn't too far off the mark. Then the man spoke to him again, and turned away "I wouldn't be so sure about that, you might lose some of the pride of your when we spar" He jested seeing the man smiling as he walked into the crowd. He looked to the hunter and gave him a nod, and a wave, before walking off himself, Meliyah in toe at his feet. It had been a nice turn of events, hadn't it? He had a feeling he'd be seeing these two again.

[Colt]

They seemed to have lost interest in him, and for that the hunter was thankful. He continued his tentative departure, but halted the instant the Drykas turned to him.

We will meet again, the man signed.

The hunter sincerely hoped not.

The Syren turned and spared the hunter a farewell nod, then turned and melted back into the bustling crowd with the dog at his heels. The wild man took that as a sign that this encounter had ended, and without any farther response to the Drykas he turned and did the same.