Closed Making Friends Rockhounding

[Kelski]

Timestamp :10th of Fall, 514 A.V.

The world was painted in gold and Kelski was in love with all of it.

The leaves had seemingly overnight turned to a hundred shades of orange, yellow, and red. And along with that turning, they’d started to fall. The Kelvic hadn’t seen anything like it though her Master at the Shining Diamond told her that was natures way of warning everyone that winter was coming. The trees knew, he said, because the days grew shorter and the nights longer and the trees reacted by shedding their leaves as a way to survive the killing cold that would come.

In his own quiet way Master Li had expressed his worry that Kelski wouldn’t be safe in her cave in winter. But the Kelvic wasn’t so sure he was right. Her cave had no flows of air other than near the top, and no drafts to speak of. A simple fire kept it warm and sheltered and it was far big enough for her to walk around in and stretch out. She felt it was far more cozy, in fact, than the apartments that Lhavit was so famous for. To her, they were exposed and out in the winds, subject to snow and rain and hail. Whereas her shelter was tucked deep in the bowels of the earth where it was cool in the winter without any effort and very warm in the winter if one knew how to stoke a fire.

But still, because of Li’s words, Kelski was out gathering supplies. She’d amassed an amazing quantity of firewood for the bad weather that her Master said would span the winter and lock Lhavit in ice and snow for seasons. He’d said she could make use of a small room in the Diamond where she could spread out a bedroll and live if the weather was too fierce to travel back and forth. Kelski might make use of it, and would need to get it supplied just in case. She could fly in cold weather, but not even a Sea Eagle liked roaming in a blizzard.

So Kelski was out gathering supplies which in turn twisted into a distracted adventure of wandering up an amazing rocky stream she’d found that was loaded with agates. She decided that most likely there was a cliff or some sort of exposed rose quartz shelf up the creek somewhere because as she walked she kept picking up both quartz and iron pyrite as well as some hematite and kaleaite. The Kelvic was intent on her pursuit of stones because she nimbly jumped from rock to rock, finding her footing on the odd moss and slick lichens. She’d peer into pools and pause where high water had overflowed and left rocky little washes of sorted gravels just loaded with semi-precious gems she could take back to the shop and work.

Today was her day off, and for that reason she felt unburdened and carefree. She was dressed for wilderness survival, with her pack firmly on her back and a machete at her sheathed at her side. She also had a little hand axe and a hand saw tucked into her pack with her other supplies. The pack, however, was growing heavy as she roamed, filling up with stones – some thumb sized and some as large as her fist – as she wandered up the stream.

There were very few people out, and in fact she’d seen almost no one save for a brief bridge crossing a bit down the stream where she assumed the trail of waterfalls crossed a bit of the streams falling water. That hadn’t been her access point to the stream though. Her access point had been her home where the water had flowed past where her steps lead up from the cave. She’d always wanted to follow the stream, and now she was doing just that.

It felt liberating, far different than the life she’d left behind in Alvadas when her owner had vanished. In fact, it was so liberating that she almost felt wrong about wandering out here on her day off, no work to do and nothing to prepare or accomplish except killing free time. She’d tried to come in to work, but Li had insisted she take time for herself.

So time she was having, though truthfully it would have been better shared. The Kelvic, as of late, was feeling lonely not having seen Sal or any of her other new acquaintances since the turn of the season.

[Shamus]

Fall 10th 514 AV The aroma filled his nose as he inhaled deeply, as if he was breathing in the essence of the sap itself. It smelled like a Spring day, reminding him of the fresh growth that sprang up with along side the fresh starts the longer days accompanied. The glint of sun reflecting off the metal blade emerged with his knife, which he gripped tightly in one hand while holding a smooth clay jar in the other. He used the knife as a spoon, sliding it under the sap gently and then lifting upwards, pulling the honey colored sticky substance from the tree. The knifes flat edge slid over the lip of the jar, depositing the sap inside. Its insides were nearly filled to the halfway point, for Shamus had been finding similar lumps of sap all around the slick mossy creeksides, collecting them in the same jar. He moved onward, feet slipping on the green rug every so often, knees slamming into the ground painfully and dirtying his pants. A grunt slipped through his lips as his foot slipped over a moist rock and into the chilly water. He moved it out of the shallow water, cursing himself for his awful balance. His arms positioned themselves slightly in front of him, casting dark shadows across the light green blanket that covered the steep banks, morphed by the curves of each rock. It helped him balance as his feet planted themselves on the largest rocks they could find, making an imprint in the ground with each step. A speck of bright purple to the side of him caught his attention. His head turned, feet glueing down to avoid another fall to the ground. It was barley peaking out from the moss, contrasting a great deal with the green under it. His feet carried him step after step toward it, stopping once to stabilize himself on the slick ground. The back bent, leading him toward the ground, he pinched the base of the flower stem between his thumb and pointer finger, the pads colliding around the edges. He jerked his hand upward in a swift plucking motion, carrying the flower and its delicate white roots up with it. He brought it to his nose, expecting the gentle scent of vanilla or lavender, but instead he received a pungent whiff of sweaty shoes. He sneezed loudly, tossing the flower to the ground in disgust and looking down the trail, spotting an approaching woman, trotting effortlessly across the moss that had beaten his balance multiple times. His face moved, a warm smile forming on his lips and a hand rising into the hair in a wave. He stopped to wait for her to catch up, hoping for some adequate company for the remainder if his plummets into the moss.

[Kelski]

She hadn't noticed him at first. Part of that failure was due to the fact her nose was tipped to the ground and scanning stones. She paused, nimbly jumping off rocks and onto rocks as gravel bars presented themselves to her scanning eyes. She picked up more quartz, though nothing spectacular, and roamed a particularly narrow place crossing the stream to the opposite side and carrying herself several more yards upstream. Then she recrossed to look through another gravel deposit and scored a rather nice hematite that she pocketed immediately.

She jumped up on another big boulder, glanced behind her, then to the sky, and jumped to one she saw out of the corner of her eye suddenly colliding with a man who was simply standing there as if waiting for her to catch up.

She grabbed at him, squawking slightly as she sought to not fall into the stream and braced her feet wide, reaching out to grab him as well. Her lips were full of apologies as she backed up and jumped off the boulder back onto the one she'd just vacated. Kelski didn't have a problem with the slipping, not really, because she had a secret weapon that was not so secret to those who traveled the outdoors. Her boots were a tall waterproof type that were finished off not in tough leather soles but instead thick felt pads that gripped the slick mossy rocks. The style was popular with fisherman and Kelski had readily adopted a set of them for her own use.

Once steadied and over her surprise, she offered the stranger a smile and brushed her hair out of her eyes impatiently.

"My apologies. I did not see you. I was busy looking for stones, you see." She offered, digging into her pocket and holding out a handful of the roughly tumbled finds. I'll share some with you." She said, trying to be friendly but at the same time on the lookout for any sign of aggression from the unknown stranger.

"I'm Kelski. I'm an apprentice for a local jeweler in Lhavit." She explained, knowing that looking for stones might be considered crazy to some. After all, you couldn't eat them or use them as tools. But Kelski could make beautiful things from them.

[Shamus]

Fall 10th 514 AV She came close, very close, without even spotting him. It truthfully worked to his advantage, for she had entered his sphere of influence, rendering her vulnerable to his upcoming assault of emotion. He let a puff of air out, focusing on his goal and visualizing it happen, gathering djed from deep inside himself while doing so. He let out with another puff, releasing djed with it, tasking the djed as it encircled his target and pushed into her. He focused, pushing the nail of trust into the back of her head. His mind emptied again, focusing again as she gripped onto him, his eyes stared at her, pushing djed out along with his voice, "I got you, don't worry." His hands wrapped around hers, making sure she was stable before letting go, pushing more trust into her the whole time. Her voice flowed out like the stream next to them, gentle and unthreatening, "my apologies. I did not see you. I was busy looking for stones, you see." He laughed lightly, finding it her slightly oblivious nature funny, she didn't see me when she nearly was on top of me? The stones were still we when she held them out, a shiny veil of water covering them, reflecting sunlight off the surface of each one. Shamus looked at them closely, admiring the beauty of each individual stone silently. "I'll share some with you," she said, possibly trying to make up for her earlier folly. Shamus held his hand out at a one hundred eighty degree angle, shaking his head slightly to enunciate the message, "no need, but if you want to be friendly, walk with me, would you?" He asked innocently, a small friendly smile playing on the edges of his lips, his attention turning to the water as he looked into its clear depths, as if trying to find one of the stones on his own. He put a little more effort into his charisma, turning his golden gaze back into Kelski's stormy irises, although in the bright light he could not make out the details of her face, he could tell her eyes were a brilliant shade of grey. His eyes pushed out, releasing djed as he focused in onto her eyes, forcing his foreign emotions into her own eyes. "Maybe you could even teach me a thing or two about those rocks you had."

[Kelski]

If Kelski had been more aware of what was out in the world and what people could do with their power, she might have blinked and taken heed of the fact that she wasn't immediately afraid of the man or defensive in his presence. Her nature as a predator made her dangerous to other birds and sometimes a bit hostile to things bigger and stronger than she was. The man definitely fit those two categories. But he wasn't threatening, not in that sense, and she wasn't upset that she'd bumped into him nor did his voice seem so threatening. She tilted her head, met his gaze, and gave herself a little shake almost like a bird would. The leather of her boots creaked as she lightly jumped from the mossy rock she was on to the one he was standing on and restuffed the stones back in her pocket.

"Sure, I could show you. These are agates. Most of them anyhow. There are a few pieces of quartz and hematite in there as well.. and a good hunk of iron pyrite. The iron pyrite is called 'fools gold' because it looks like gold but is much much softer. You can't really do anything with it as a jeweler because it just crumbles, but its beautiful to look at nonetheless." She said and shifted, tapping her boots on the stone for a moment in a muted thud that revealed her boots weren't soled with the normal hardened leather but instead a soft thick fabric that was soaked through yet seemed to grip the stone. Felt. She had felt on the bottom of her boots which explained the agile way she moved across the wet rocks.

"I can show you how to find them, sure.... but only if you tell me your name." She said, noting that he hadn't repeated the introduction and offered his name like she'd offered him hers. There was a flicker for a moment of distrust in that. People in Lhavit weren't always forthcoming with who they were. She wondered suddenly if he'd be willing to tell her about himself.

"You know my name is Kelski and I'm a jeweler. What about you? What do you do?" She asked, meaning in regards to work, but leaving the question general enough he might not feel like she was asking for too much personal information. But Kelski was curious, and here was someone willing to share some time with her that day, doing something she really loved doing. So she was not willing to chase him away yet with too many questions, but she wanted to seem interested as well.

Balance. Kelski always fought to find it. But sometimes it was hard. Press and she seemed pushy. Be politely quiet and she seemed standoffish. People were hard to understand sometimes.

[Shamus]

Fall 10th 514 AV His mouth opened in a beaming grin, warm like the sun that shined down upon the two, good, a companion for the trip. He looked over her rocks interestedly, eyeing the sparkles emitted from the silver rock. Her feet moved in a quick bounce, he noticed the muted clap against the ground as she did so, what could she have on her shoes? Something to help her balance maybe, a clear giveaway that she came out here often. Shamus deducted several this about her instantly, watching her body's language as he looked for hints to peer into her personality. She has shoes meant for this it seems. Must come out here a lot, then maybe she enjoys isolation from the rest of Lhavit? Why would that be? Does she dislike people? He listened to her words, trying to figure her out as he always did with new people, "I can show you how to find them, sure.... but only if you tell me your name." Untrusting are we? Needs something to identify me with later. Keep it soft, keep it unthreatening Shamus. He kept his voice slightly quiet, doing his best to sound innocent and small, as if he didn't want to scare her off, like a person approaching a timid dear, "Shamus. I am just trying to find my way right now, saving for a business I am in the process of acquiring funds for." His heart pounded in his chest, hoping he was leaving the right impression, slightly paranoid of not being accepted by her, as he always was. "Are those little rocks worth anything?" He asked, trying to find something familiar for her to discuss, slowly easing off of the sliver of trust he added to her, instead implanting a mere sliver of belonging, hoping it would help her be more open to avoid a awkward standoff of silence and staring. He gazed into the clear water, trying to find something of interest, but finding nothing.

[Kelski]

If Kelski could have heard Shamus' thoughts, she would have laughed outright. Not because he was funny, but because he was worried she wouldn't enjoy his company or want it? The kelvic craved attention and companionship with others. She got so little of it with her Master, though not because Li was bad company. The old man was the best sort of company, informative and a great teacher. But she sometimes wanted to get away from the jewelcrafting, the tedious meticulous work, and to go out into the world and just live. Li was too old for such things. A journey from one end of his workshop to another was often taxing.

Shamus? Ahh. His name. Kelski tilted her head and nodded when he introduced himself. She liked that it was short, simple, and had a tilt to it that made it seem almost foreign. But his accent wasn't foreign. He sounded like he was from Lhavit and dressed very much like others in the region. His soft voice soothed her and she nodded, noting that he was not specific about what he did, though he gave her an overview that did indeed satisfy her question without being overly personal or rudely ignoring her inquiry.

"Valuable? To me, perhaps, or others that like pretty things. But could you sell them for coin? Some maybe... but not many. I will take them and drill them to string on a strand or set them in rings and frame them with metal that will make them more desirable. Then they will have more value. I like finding them ... these things... more than I like buying them from suppliers. There is so much quartz in this stream I wonder if there is not a source upstream that brings it down during floods and rain. That's why I'm hiking up it. I'm looking for the source of the quartz. It's a good project, I think, for a day of no work. I will work tomorrow and have a pocket full of stones to inspire me on my own project time when my Master gives me free time." She said, offering him a smile and a piece of quartz to demonstrate her belief.

The Kelvic had energy. Her body was animated as she spoke. And she glanced around constantly, not as if she was nervous, but as if she was more willing to be 'aware' of her surroundings than she was to just exist in them. There was a quality to her that made Kelski seemingly engaged in what she was doing - in this case the conversation with Shamus. And strangely, rather than standing talking to him, she seemed to lure him higher as if she wanted the journey to continue. She beckoned him, moving forward, continuing upstream.

"And you? Why are you here? I mean in this place this time... were you hunting or searching for something of your own?" She asked, not shy at all he'd notice. The small woman liked to talk and words flowed easily off her lips, her features animated and friendly. Her own voice was soft and slightly raspy as if it wasn't used to being utilized. But the woman didn't let it stop her. She paused, jumping off her boulder, and down to a gravel bar to pluck another stone up off the gravel bar. "Sunstone." She claimed in delight, holding up the large walnut sized stone that looked like a dirty white and yellow rough stone. It didn't look much different than some of the other pale stones in the small gravel bar she'd discovered in the shadows. But her certainty was absolute and she offered him another smile, this one bright with discovery.

[Shamus]

Fall 10th 514 AV He kicked up a gear on his talkatively and energy, moving a bit more as if to mirror her own energy levels, which seemed to be peaking at the moment, seeing as she was using body language a lot more than only a moment ago. He was slightly discouraged when she said they had little to no value, but then he reconsidered, maybe he could help make a sort of polish for the gems, if she didn't already have some, and then implant them into his bathhouse as a sort of decorative touch. He had a vision of a long thin chain, with a large smooth piece of quartz drilled in every so often, glinting in the light of the windows. That would be perfect, he did need decorations after all, and gems would make it seem delicate and luxurious, a perfect touch of beauty and nature mixed into a final product. It made him eager to experiment with oils, herbs, and sap to create the perfect polish that would make the gems shine, if he learned to find and identify them. His feet began to move on the slippery moss, holding his arms slightly out to the side for a bit of balance and preparation for a plummet. Whatever shoes she has, I need, he thought, envious at her ease of travel. Her words whispered with the wind, a slight rasp lacing them, "And you? Why are you here? I mean in this place this time... were you hunting or searching for something of your own?" He nodded, then realized she couldn't see behind her, and began to speak, continuing ease off of his djed assaults and let conversation flow, "searching for scents to use as incense, for my business, which will be a spa of sorts if I can find somewhere to get a rather large loan, or somehow find a high paying occupation until I can get enough to pay for the buildings." He must have made the right impression, for her words were flowing as easy as the creek next to them. She likes to talk. But that rasp, usually from under usage of the voice, maybe she fears not being accepted? He watched as she launched from the boulder with near predatory form, as if she would be grabbing a fish or some sort of animal. Her hands dipped into the water, taking out a round stone, this one a uneven combination of white and yellow. He looked at it in awe, for it glowed slightly as she held it up to the sun, creating a strange affect that circled the sunstone. She flashed a smile toward him, which he reciprocated with his own pearly white grin, sharing her happiness. "I have never seen you before, do you live in the apartments or somewhere else?" He asked, trying to find why he didn't recognize her stormy eyes that kept catching his gaze.

[Kelski]

Kelski found that she was having fun. Her companion was agile and in good shape so he didn't hinder their movement upstream. And he could talk and walk which she noted was somewhat difficult for some of the softer city dwellers in Lhavit. But when he spoke, he ventured off into places she didn't understand using words that were foreign to her.

"What exactly is a spa?" She asked curiously, trying only moments before to put it together with the other things she did understand. "Is it a place to smell things at? I know what incense is. Priests use it sometimes and others to sit quietly and open their minds. I'm sorry I don't know a lot outside of my own profession. I haven't been in the city long... only a season. And I've been busy with my work so I don't really know the... the... vernacular of Lhavit." She explained, somewhat proud of herself for using the big term. Her Master and his incredible vocabulary was having an effect on her, even if the growth of her own was slower than most.

"I don't live in the city. I actually live out here. There was a nice cave I moved into when I first got here. I thought it was warmer and more secure than those apartments. It's close to the city so I can travel back and forth for my apprenticeship. What about you? Do you live in those apartments with everyone? It would feel so crowded to me... having so many neighbors." Kelski added, thoughtfully. She continued onward, pocketing the sunstone only pausing to examine things here and there. She discarded more stones than she pcoketed giving Shamus the sense that she was picky about her finds.

[Shamus]

Fall 10th 514 AV He noted her rather confused expression at such a simple term as spa, watching her as she tried to piece together the word's meaning through its context. "What exactly is a spa?" She asked, showing Shamus she was a very curious person and asked questions that others would have found too simple to keep their 'dignity' and ask. Shamus like the fact she wasn't afraid to ask questions, for not knowing is natural, but not asking is ignorant and pointless. A foreigner? I wonder where she is from. Maybe that would explain some things, he thought, thinking of how to explain his spa at the same time, "A spa is a sort of bathhouse, made for relaxation and thinking. It is a sort of sleep without sleeping, the incense helps people think and puts them in a sort of trance like state. I make special drinks with calming herbs for the people inside, or will when I own the business. I can make things like bath salts, skin products, and hair products to make the experience special for everyone." He explained, happy to tell someone of his hopeful future. He listened attentively as she spoke of her home in a cave outside the city, furthering his previous acquisition that he had kept to himself. "Are you lonely out here, all by yourself?" He asked, slightly confused on how she lived out here alone, maybe a Kelvic? His head cocked slightly on instinct, showing his sliver of confusion. She thought that the apartments were not as secure as a cave in the forest, a rather strange opinion, but Shamus just deducted it came with her Kelvic nature, which was becoming more prominent as she spoke. "Yes, I live in the apartments," he said, looking into the sublime stream's gentle current as it flowed down, "I don't mind the people, I just keep to myself when I want and talk to others when I feel like it." He shrugged, showing that he didn't really mind crowds but also liked the quiet of the forest. "It would be difficult to philter out here, with all the equipment, otherwise I may find my own cave," he laughed lightly, finding the idea of a cave-life rather humorous. His eyes followed her hands as the went from her sides to her pocket, where they gripped stones that looked just like all the others and tossed them back into the stream. Perfectionist maybe? He watched her as she picked another stone, tossing it, creating a small splash as the stone plummeted into the water. "Where did you come from, if you are not a local?" He asked, curious as to where she gained the life lessons that let her live in the woods.