Hidden in the Dark

[Paonna]

summer 7th 512av, twilight A sunset walk. This was a lovely time of day, enhanced by Syna's graceful descent onto the other side. Soon it would be Leth's domain, sprinkling the city and its inhabitants with a silvery light. For now, it was bathed in a golden glow. Uyu had awoken, and she decided to pass her time by running around and trying to trip Paonna, which had more than once almost led to her tail being crushed underfoot. Her little game of "Let's Trip my Bondmate!" eventually came to a close when Paonna scooped her up and started feeding her some dried fruit she had in her pocket. Syna was sinking quickly, very quickly, and before long there was barely a glimmer of her light. It was Leth's turn to shine down on Mizahar's inhabitants. She still had Uyu's small form cradled in her arms, the cat-like red panda drifting to sleep once again. She slept so damned much. At least she was small. If she had been a bear kelvic...well, she wouldn't carry a bear around her neck all day. Briefly, Paonna felt like she was being watched, but after a cursory glance behind her, she decided it was just nerves. oocThe dried fruit comes from her 1-week's worth of food.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Sunset... The time in between... No longer full day, but not quite night... The time when shadows came alive in the world, ever greedy to sweep across the land, before the light failed... Until soon enough, the night lights were out and about, and giving them life anew... Rykanis grinned, as he thought of this, and as he moved about town... This was one of his favorite parts of the day, and no matter when he slept in the day, he almost always spent time talking during sundown... Talking to shadows that is. It seemed at this time they were the most vibrant, and a bit more talkative, even if not willing to help him. He listened, taking in what they said, not caring that most of it was useless, but keeping it in case it proved useful, or opened a door to a deeper relationship with a shadow later. They liked it when he recalled there words. Rykanis, he had little patience for such things. So usually it was he that ended up in control at that time... Which in and of itself was nice. During this time of walking about and conversing, he heard something of interest... A woman... A odd woman... Walking amongst the shadows... He listened to many whispers, a few telling him of what had crossed them so freshly, most either being silent or blathering about nothing... But this was intriguing... Why had they brought her up? A small woman... With an animal? So he sped up a bit, going in the direction most that spoken told him... Sped up, while still trying to keep silent, creeping along when he heard the sound of footsteps nearby... As he came into sight, he finally saw her... A woman short of stature, which blonde hair... With a odd red animal curled around her neck... Already he had moved on from the shadows, wanting to unravel the mystery that was this woman... Were was she going? What was she doing? Was that beast a kelvic, or just a well trained pet? And if it was a kelvic... Could it be another spy... He knew there were several of them in the city, spying around, he had found a few... Surely some that were owned might even convince there owners they were but normal beasts, only to report there intel back to there true masters... Or some other such treachery... If nothing else, he had grown a healthy caution against kelvics and there tricks... Best to be wary... But he was getting a bit to close, and so he darted around a corner, out of site... Best to let her get some more room... He did not want to be seen yet... Then he peaked around the corner, to see she was starting to move again... That had been close... He had almost been spotted... He had to be a bit more careful... Stick to the shadows a bit better, were his sight was better... And sneak a bit better, so he was not seen or heard...

[Paonna]

OOCSorry for a short post. I thought I got everything important. She was sure of it. Someone must be watching her, must be following her. She felt their eyes, heard their shuffling. It wasn't just paranoia, either. "Go find out what that is." She whispered to Uyu, before the red panda jumped from her shoulders and into the shadows behind her. Paonna turned around, watching where her companion went. Leth was definitely out tonight, covering everything in a sheen of silver. It was somewhat humid, causing the night air to be more on the warm, sticky side than cool. Little stars peeked from their blackish-blue home, forming constellations that she had never learned. She glanced up at the sky. She heard crickets, hiding, forming a chorus into the night the shuddered into silence whenever someone grew near. And some scratching noises from Uyu... In only a matter of chimes, she heard a crash and a dark-purpleish man came tumbling from the shadows, Uyu close behind. Almost instantly afterwards did she run back towards the Konti, turning around and hissing while standing on her hind legs. "It's alright, Uyu." She turned to the man, decidedly an Akalak. "And who are you?"

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Apparently Rykanis attempt at sneaking had not been as successful as he might have hoped. He had kept out of sight, but had forgotten to be vigilant in keeping silent... He would have to recall that for next time, to be careful with his steps, so as to make as little noise as possible... He had been walking along, about to round the corner, when a odd fury creature smashed head first into his legs... Why could he not go five feet without running into a!!! But wait... It was that woman's pet, not a rat, as he had first thought... Regardless, it ended up tripping him up a bit in his walk, and he stumbled, coming out into the clear sight of the woman he had been tracking... He had managed to keep on his feet, but had made quite a bit of noise, and had ended up clearly visible, which meant he had to quickly spin a story for why he was going along behind her... As she turned to him, and asked who he was, Rykanis just looked her in the eyes, a smile coming onto his face... He found often a genuine smile did help a situation, lessen tension, and make people more willing to go along with things. "Who am I? I am..." Having spoken in common, he paused, thinking for a bit... To be honest, he was not the best with common... His best language was Tukant, his native tongue. And while it tended to be a bit more long winded, and descriptive, many people in the city spoke it... He also knew a smattering of kontinese, but not really enough to talk with... "I am Rykanis... Rykanis Dakshata. And you are? And just wondering, but do you by chance speak Tukant? I am a bit more comfortable in that tongue."

[Paonna]

Tukant. He wanted her to speak Tukant. She was much better at her native Kontinese, just as she only knew a smattering of Tukant. Common was most likely the best language that they had in common, but no doubt he would rather speak his native language. While she was mostly incompetent in the language, Uyu was not. She could at least speak it better than Paonna. "I'm not very good at that language...but Uyu can speak much better Tukant than I." She glanced down at the red panda, switching to Kontinese, the language they both knew fluently. "Go into your human form, dear. Then could you translate what I say? I'll speak to you in Kontinese and you can repeat it in Tukant, and vice versa. You know how horrid I am at Tukant." Uyu looked up at Paonna, almost nodding. In seconds, through a flash, Uyu was standing next to her in her naked human form. She looked at Pao a bit and shivered, obviously cold from her lack of clothing. It was still humid, though, and somewhat warm, which made up for her lack of clothing to give the poor kelvic. oocRyk will have to speak to her through the Kelvic, mostly, because Paonna is absolutely dreadful at Tukant. They both speak fluent Kontinese, and Uyu speaks conversational Tukant. I won't always write that Uyu repeated something, but just assume that she does. If she doesn't, I'll write it. Also, she won't be repeating it exactly. It will be like, "Her name is Paonna." She glanced at the girl. "Tell him my name is Paonna." The Kelvic repeated this, looking at Rykanis. Her voice was tinged with a Kontinese accent, showing that she spoke Kontinese much more than Tukant or Common. "Ask him what he was doing, following us."

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Really, speaking in tukant had been a swing in the dark. Perhaps it would make things easier, if she did speak it. It seemed a lot of konti learned the language, for the fact of possibly mating with an akalak. So it had not been to crazy a thought, to see if she spoke it... Not when he could see the scales visibly on her flesh... But he was a bit confused, as she made reference to what he guessed was her pet... That could speak Tukant? She quickly spoke something he only caught a few bits of, since he was not to good with kontinese. So he was momentarilly caught off guard, when the animal suddenly turned into a woman... A naked one. What was with all the naked woman he kept running into around here? Really, it was getting a bit ridiculous. But he soon calmed himself, and kept his cool, at learning the beast was a kelvic, as his paranoid suspicions had thought was possible... Besides, she was not really a naked woman, she was just a kelvic. That was not the same as a real person being naked. But really, this was far to complicated, he had not expected for this to happen, when he had made such a simple proposal. And upon hearing the questions in Tukant, he instead answered in common, which it appeared the woman spoke about as well as he did. "Paonna, nice to meet you.... Now that is not necessary, I was just asking to see if you spoke Tukant well, in which case we could use it. If you do not know it well, it seems silly to use your pet as a translator. You did not have to just take my suggestion, and run with it! Neither did you need to just jump to things, and make your kelvic shift." Rykanis did his best to not look at the naked kelvic, keeping his eyes instead on the konti. Though what appeared to be a naked woman standing in front of him, even if it was just in reality a kelvic, was a bit distracting. Though at least his suspicion that her pet might be a kelvic spy had been answered... "As for that, we were simply walking in the same direction. Do you suspect everyone of going on the same street as you as following you? I also like a night time stroll, and to enjoy the view as the sun goes down, as apparently you do."

[Paonna]

And now he didn't want to speak Tukant. As soon as Uyu heard this, she shifted back into her more comfortable form. She sat upright, like a cat, and wrapped her tail around her toes, looking up at the Akalak. The kelvic was very glad to be back in her warm fur, as it had been getting quite chilly. "I wouldn't have thought you were following me if you weren't hiding in the shadows and creeping along so quietly." She stated it simply, as if he should know this as well. She picked up the kelvic in her arms, holding her against her body, while still looking at the Akalak. "Whatever false story you're trying to imprint on my brain is not appreciated. Have I done something wrong for you to attempt to spy on me? Unsuccessfully, that is. Although, it depends on how long this has been happening." She said the last sentence as almost a question, one she hoped and expected that he answer. There was no reason that she knew of for anyone to follow her, much less someone whose politeness rang hollow in her ears. Could she see through him? No. But his story and actions didn't match up enough for her to pass it by as him just going on an evening stroll.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

Rkyanis stood silent for a moment, listening... Listening as always... Listening to his other side, giving him advice as to what to say... Ignoring some, and implementing other bits... Listening to the shadows, a constant murmur around him, there little whispered words that only he could hear... Mutterings, information he had no way of knowing its truth... Things that distracted him... And so much more... The shadows knew so much, but rarely could he simply get a straight answer, and get what he wanted from one. "Well obviously if you heard me, I was not creeping along to well. And at this time of day, in the city, there is little that is not covered in shadows. This is the time that they are the biggest. Were would I be walking in a shadowy alley or street, to not be in the shadows." "Though I admit, I do have a habit of sneaking. I usually do, as I try to get better at moving silently, for it helps when I am hunting. The best practice, is to make it a habit of your life. How else can you sneak and be stealthy, when you need to, if it is not as automatic as breathing. So I usually am sneaking." Of course, all of this was true, none was an outright lie. Though some of the comments were actually unrelated, and more of statements, when added in appeared to fit in, while really being statements. Still though, he kept on a air of civility, and his smile to ease her a bit, trying to persuade her with it he was a good person. "False story? Why would you call me a liar. I am offended that you would think me to be a liar. On my honor, I am not a liar. And I only just knew of you today. I heard it mentioned as I walked, of a small woman with blonde hair walking nearby with a animal on her. I decided to go that way, to perhaps meet her. And can you blame me for wanting to get a closer look at a pretty girl, before approaching?" If nothing else, his saying upon his honor he was not lying, might convince her. If nothing else, Akalaks were deeply honor bound, little meant more to them than it. For him to stake his honor on him telling the truth, was a bold move, and not to be taken lightly. Of course, he also did not tell everything, and certainly on purpose did not mention who he had heard speaking of her... How would he even explain if he wanted to, that he had heard a shadow mention her? She would think him insane.

[Paonna]

OOCYes, the post's a little short. I'm sorry

Honor. What a fickle thing. Everyone had a different view of honor, and you could never keep track of which was which. For some, it was the simple act of only stealing from the rich. That, they'd say, was honor. For others, it was much deeper. It was ground into their minds and their souls and their hearts. Some had no sense of honor, or so they'd say. They didn't need the grand illusion that was honor. They didn't want a moral code to direct themselves by. And Paonna, with all the races she knew, couldn't think of one more bewitched by the idea of Honor than the Akalak. They lived for it, they strived for it. And if he was swearing on his honor, he was serious.

"Honor...yes...alright, I'll believe you." She partially blushed at the compliment, but a sudden flush of colour to her face would have been hidden by Leth's light peeking through the slight clouds that were now scattered across the sky. Looking at him now, she could see the uneasy glances he cast at Uyu. Perhaps he had something wrong with Kelvic? She wasn't sure what they had done to him, but she didn't bother to ask. He most likely wouldn't tell.

[Rykanis Dakshata]

It was a bit hard to expect, what exactly a person would believe, or go along with. Honestly, Rykanis was an honest person, and told the truth. However, he was not always straight up with it, nor did he reveal all of the truth... More often than not, he was hiding something. Of course, that was just his nature, to be secretive. It was painful to him, to even consider revealing his precious secrets. In all honesty, he had expected the woman to not believe him at all, or to yell in his face. For things to go horribly wrong, as they often enough did... But it seemed today was his lucky day, as he persuaded the woman of his truth, and true purpose. Of course, adding in a true statement, a compliment to her, did not hurt. Often that helped a good bit, when dealing with woman... Though not all... Sometimes, that could completely backfire, and make things worse. But by looking at her face, her expression and words, not the color, he could tell his words had affected her a bit. Perhaps she was not used to such people saying nice things about her? "So, now that we have worked that out, were are you headed? You and your little pet here. Perhaps I could accompany you? It would be nice to learn a bit more of you. Paonna."