Flaming Water (Open)

[Matasol]

1st of Spring 511AV The last time Matasol had juggled balls of flaming water in the air, he had met a girl who he could now call his friend. They had conversed on the very nature of magic, and had become friends through a somewhat heated debate. Today he hoped to just be left in peace to practice the art of reimancy. He wanted to become one with the earth around him, not lose himself in a crowd of people. He was sitting directly outside of the Sunkiss pavilion, both his mother and him had moved in shortly after Matasol had heard of his fathers death. The days following the move had been full of mixed emotion's, joy came from the joining of a broken family, and sorrow from the death of the Ankal of their pavilion, the father of the two remaining men of the Sunkiss family. But everything seemed to have smoothed out by now, the hole of a lost father could never, and indeed should never be filled, but the family had returned to a semi normal state of being. Matasol had returned to his daily rites of searching the web and communing with the word around him. At this very moment he lay prostrate outside his pavilion immersed in the web, he marvelled at the intricacies of the webbing in the city. Every path he took seemed to be teaming with life, every string was connected to myriads of other pathways. It was thrilling to watch the interactions of people, and the movement of the herds in the city. Many pavilions had even linked their family pets into the web in case they ever wandered off. It was when Matasol began to fear that he might overextend himself that he began to retrace his paths. As he retreated to his position he did his duty by refilling a string here, re-attching a link there, doing general upkeep to the communal web. It was the duty of all webbers to refuel the webs of Cyprhrus and to keep the system running, and routine maintenance prevents any catastrophic failures. When Matasol neared his physical body he gently reentered it, being careful to properly enter and damage his astral body.

[Ariel]

The sun was high in the sky, and the breeze was soft and cool. Only enough to ruffle Rafael's fur a bit, and chill Ariel's face. Ariel was sitting up with her back straight in the saddle, Rafael's leather reins were resting in her hands. Her feet were planted in the stirrups. "Ahhh what a lovely day," Ariel commented as Raphael weaved in-between the legs of the Drykas, as he passed several of their tents, largely unnoticed. "Ripe for an adventure," she added. The two had crossed into a quieter area of tents, and both seemed to simply be enjoying the fresh air. After awhile, Ariel saw something up ahead of them, it looked like a body lying in the grass. "What in all of Mizahar?" Ariel whispered into the whistling wind that swirled around her. It carried the distinct scent of grass and horses. Ariel flicked the reins, and reluctantly, Rafael picked up the pace, and approached the body. They reached it within a few moments. The person who was lying in the grass was distinctly male. His skin ebony colored. His build both tall and muscular. Far more than ten times Ariel's size. The man's eyes were closed. "Hello?" Ariel called as she pulled back on Rafael's reins, bringing him to a halt beside the body. "Are you still sleeping you silly sleepy head?" Ariel asked. "Because the sun is rising, and there is much for you to do I am sure... if your clan is anything like the others." Ariel waited for a moment for any sort of response. Rafael's tail was swishing silently back and forth, and his front paws were stamping in the dirt. Displacing only a single grain here and there. "Wakey wakey Drykas food in bakey!" Ariel called, her voice growing a little louder as she tried again. She looked at his chest and didn't notice it rising or falling. Was he dead? Ariel wondered as Rafael swatted the man's left hand. "Are you dead Mr. Drykas?" Ariel asked, knowing right after she had asked that it was a rather stupid question. After all, if the guy was dead, he couldn't exactly answer her. Ariel scrunched up her nose and thought about what to do. If this guy really was dead she couldn't just let him lie there and rot. She had to do something. Ariel leaned forward in the saddle and then swung her left leg over the side. She then hopped down and walked forward a few steps. She grabbed Rafael's reins in her left hand so that he couldn't get away from her and approached the body. "Does he look dead to you?" Ariel asked Rafael, wondering if perhaps the kitten could smell the death that lingered upon him. Meow! Rafael replied. "Well that helps," Ariel grumbled as he rubbed the side of his head up against Ariel's side. Ariel pushed him away with her free hand. "Ohh cut it out you!" she scolded. Meow! he replied. Ariel sighed, before she took a step closer and then extended her right hand. She poked the man in the side. "Wake up mister!" she said, "mister?" she poked him again. "Rafael, I think he really is dead," Ariel said as she looked up at him, and he looked down at her. Then they both looked back at the body, and then back at each other. Then back at the body. Rafael's eyes were wide, and seemed to blink more often than usual, Ariel's on the other hand, seemed wide and unblinking; rather eerie. "What do you think we should do about him?" Ariel asked, as Rafael's ears twitched. Meow! Rafael said. "That is a good idea, Rafael, thank you!" Ariel said. Now why hadn't she thought of that? Ariel wondered as she concentrated on the body. Stared at it with her unblinking gaze. Breathing in through the nose out through the mouth. Relaxing, concentrating until she saw it. The man's aura. The aura was thin, and seemed to cling to his body. It hovered maybe an inch above it all around, and stretched to his skin. A black-colored aura seemed to swirl around him; a transparent mist that had been tied into place by thin white strands that glimmered a pale silver in the sunlight. They reminded Ariel of spider webs. "What in the name of Harameus?" Ariel whispered as she looked away from the body, and the aura slowly disappeared in a puff of misty smoke. Immediately, her eyes felt heavy, and she blinked a few times. A peculiar sort of action for someone like her. She really had stumbled into a dead guy, she thought. "Just our luck," Ariel commented. "Just when I thought our luck was returning, we stumble into this mess," she cried as she gave Matasol a swift kick in the side with her right foot. "Ugh... now we have to find a way to deal with this," she explained to Rafael. Deciding that she was too lazy to remount and go off and find someone, she merely yelled. "HELP!!! There's a dead guy lying in the grass... and no we didn't kill him! Figured we'd mention that because it probably looks that way! But Rafael and I didn't do it! I swear!" OOCI am not too familiar with webbing, so if I got something wrong, please pm me and I can fix my post. Ariel associates webs with old things, things that haven't been touched for a long time... think cobwebs. P.S. I know Ariel can't actually communicate to her cat, but she's a crazy, lonely mage in the making, and this is the best she can do as far as friends go. Pitiful, I know.