Encounter at Jade Pool [Closed, Faval]

by **Maya Lapilis** on July 29th, 2012, 12:58 pm

71st of Summer, 512 AV

She took some soil into her hand, mixing it slowly with her fingers as small crumples of earth fell out of her grasp. The beauty of the place acted mesmerizing on the young girl who was sitting on a soft ground with her back leaned on a small boulder. The rock itself was not small at all, but it certainly looked that way compared to three huge stone formations that appeared to be rising towards the sky in front of the girl. The highest peak of the said formation must have been over 30 meters tall, and thus was a real wonder of nature. What laid in the bottom of the rocks was another one of nature’s jewels, perhaps even greater than then one before it. A medium sized pool was filled with perfectly clear water, with an unusual green color that came from the bottom and several trees which were surrounding it from all sides. Almost completely surrounded by stone stalagmites from three sides, it was a perfect place for someone who wanted to relax and enjoy some peace and quiet. Relaxation was exactly what Maya Lapilis needed.

Life hasn’t been easy on the girl in the last couple of months. She had lost two of the most important persons in her life in the same day. At first she could barely make herself get out of bed, but her wounds soothed over time. However, the girl then had to sell her house in order to pay the bills and was left with no place to go. For some time she was thinking of renting a room at a local Grotto, but that didn’t happen. Maya chose to leave the city, for some time. Being away from everything was supposed to help her feel better, and it was somewhat working. Fresh air did wonders to the brain, allowing the girl to feel more relaxed. She always loved being outdoors, in the wild. The nature had a soothing effect on the girl, who had learned to love everything about it and enjoy as much as she possibly could.

Maya opened her hand, letting the dirt slowly pour out of it. The water which was only about a meter away from her feet looked really tempting. Small waves occasionally hit the earth, making a tiny splash. It was rather warm today, even in the forest. Rays of sun were shining through tree branches, creating a show of shadow and light on the ground. The trees still couldn’t provide enough protection from the heat. Perhaps the girl should search for some refreshment in the water? Maya focused for a second, listening. Nothing could be heard except the sounds of water and little birds singing. The girl got up and climbed the boulder next to her. Turning around, she scouted the surroundings, checking if there was another accidental passenger traveling across the nearby forest.

The girl crouched before sitting down on the boulder. She slowly started undressing, taking off everything starting with her clothes and carefully folding her belongings over her backpack which was lying on the ground, leaned onto the rock next to her bow and quiver. Maya knew that it was important to wear several layers of clothes, and those which were of a certain qualify as well. At most times out in the wild that could be a life-saver, but at rare occasions like this one it was proving to be quite troublesome. Taking one last look around, the girl removed the final clothing pieces and walked down to the beautiful lake.

As soon as her foot touched the watery surface, Maya felt relieved. The water wasn’t too cold, in fact it was extremely pleasing, and a great way to fight off the heat of the day. Without stopping, the girl walked several steps forward, until the water level came up to her shoulders. The bottom of the lake wasn’t too steep, so she was now about 30 meters away from the boulder with her stuff. Maya could feel, and see, several small fishes swimming around her toes. The girl smiled and sank herself into the water. The cold substance felt refreshing on her face, as the sound of quiet helped the girl relax. This place was perfect.

by **Faval** on July 29th, 2012, 1:52 pm

It had been a long day. Despite his considerable kill at both stealth and the bow, Faval was never especially adept at the art that was hunting. Marksmanship and ability to remain undetected by humans did very little to aid him in actually hunting down a target. He could evade a target and pick them off as they were chasing him and he could even successfully kill multiple people before they ever got near him, but when he was required to actively move and pursue a target, Faval was woefully inept. He had left on this little hunting trip, mostly to get away from Zeltiva and because he didn't’ have any more food, a day ago and it had not been going especially well. The first day was full of opportunities that he did not capitalize on. His first two targets, deer, he had failed on rather spectacularly. He did not have enough room to shoot on the first one, having bumped his arm off a tree as he was pulling back and accidentally sending his arrow careening far off course and in to a nearby tree, which didn’t happen to be a nearby deer, which caused his prey to scamper off through the woods once more. His second opportunity came a few hours after, might have even been the same deer for all he knew, but this time his clothes had gotten stuck on a nearby branch, which was just enough noise to make the deer sprint away as if the Rhysol himself were after it. Quietly cursing his luck and his general ineptitude for moving through terrain such as this, Faval had spent the last several hours traveling without any luck. His canteen was empty and his spirits emptier when he came upon the stalagmite forest.

He did not know a whole lot about places outside of Zeltiva. When you spend all your life in one place, information on anywhere else needs to be secondhand. Consequently, Faval knew that there was a green lake and giant brain eating caterpillars stalking the stalagmites shaped like cucumbers. Faval, shaking his waterskin around dejectedly to look for any small hope of water remaining, decided that he should shoot for the green lake, if only to get more water. Finding it wasn’t easy, given how directionally challenged Faval had proven to be, but eventually, with the sun beating down on his neck, Faval located the lake. Exhausted due to having been up and about for going on twelve bells now, when Faval approached the lake he had not been as attentive as he usually would have been, if he were fresh he would have immediately noticed he was not alone and he would have noticed the neatly folded clothing not too far from him. It would seem he was not going to be blessed with such luck however as he didn’t fully notice that the water was not calm until his shirt was already up and over his head. Awareness finally struck him while he was halfway through undoing his pants when he noticed the ripples in the water reaching the edge of the lake. The boy’s head slowly picked up and noticed the female form in the water. Her shoulders were bare as well, which meant that beneath that horizon of water she wasn’t clothed either. Faval’s face quickly shaded red, unnerved by what he saw and frozen stiff in the process, his fly undone and his pants only held up by his equally frozen arms as the woman ducked under the water, the boy praying to any god he could think of that when she came up for air, she wasn’t looking at him.

by **Maya Lapilis** on July 29th, 2012, 3:29 pm

Maya’s hair was left floating in the water as the girl kneeled, bringing herself down to the very bottom of the pool. As soon as she lowered her arms and put her hands on the ground of the lake, Maya could tell what gave the water such a unique look. Entire pool floor was made of tiny green plant like things which resembled seaweed. They were growing out of the sandy ground beneath, only reaching a height of several centimeters, giving a feeling as if someone was walking on grass. The small fish which swam away when the girl ducked into the water were now slowly returning, swimming around the girl’s shoulders. Maya really enjoyed nature, and nature and its creatures seemed to like Maya back. The girl knelt there for a few seconds before she felt that her air supplies were getting thin. In a slow movement, the girl extended her knees, and used her ankles to easily expel herself back to the surface.

As soon as her head left the water, Maya lifted her arms and went through her hair with her fingers in order to get it in place. The girl cared a lot about her hair, and it was important for her to keep it in perfect shape at all times. Sure, she didn’t bring a soap in the water this time, but washing it in such a clear water could only help. Quickly brushing trough the hair with her hands a few times, Maya wiped her eyes and looked around, just to make sure that no thief had come by and stole her things.

As her eyes scanned the area, Maya was in for a surprise. Across her, not too far from her belongings, a boy was standing in a rather weird pose. His shirt was off and he looked as if he was about to take his pants down as well. This situation both surprised and somewhat scared Maya. For all that she knew, that guy could be some freak who likes spying on naked girls. The problem was that without her bow there was little chance she could make him leave. The girl instinctively lowered her right hand over her breasts, covering them. The water was really clear, so she couldn’t tell how much someone could see from the boy’s position. It was better to be sure.

Now that she was decent, well related to the circumstances, Maya took a second look at the boy. He seemed to be around her age, perhaps a bit older, but was kind of skinny. His blonde hair had bangs which fell just above his eyes. For some reason hair was one of the first things that Maya noticed on a person. At most times one could find out a lot about someone just by looking at how well he takes care of his hair. Once her, quite irrelevant, thinking about the boy’s hair was done, the girl noticed another weird thing about the boy. He didn’t seem to be moving much. What the hell was he doing there?

After a short moment of staring at the boy, Maya decided it was better for her to say something, as the guy sure didn’t seem to be willing to start explaining himself. “Umm… hey there” she said as she raised her left arm and waved at the boy a few times, “What are you doing?” In her mind she was praying that the he wasn’t some sort of pervert, or even worse, rapist. She soon regretted deciding to take a swim.

by **Faval** on July 30th, 2012, 5:11 am

The gods did not seem to care very much for him. As she popped up and out of the water she happened to look right at him. Why she chose to look exactly where he was standing instead of anywhere else in the rather large clearing that they resided in was beyond him but as was previously mentioned, the gods of luck did not seem to care very much for him it seemed as Faval got to continue to stare, dumbfounded, at a pair of eyes that were glaring right back at him. Kressha would have way too much fun with this if she saw how hopeless he looked at the moment. She had way too much fun with everything to be perfectly fair but the sight of Faval, halfway to naked with a stunned look on his face while gawking at a beautiful naked woman would give her endless material for jokes and jabs.

The woman’s voice brought him back down to earth just the slightest bit however and Faval quickly pulled his pants back up around his waist and in to a perfectly covered and concealing position as he desperately tried to find the words to explain what he was doing there. It was remarkable how much easier it was for dishonest people to lie about ill intentions than it was for honest people to explain a misunderstanding, but Faval couldn’t seem to muster out more than several “ums” and “uhhs” as he desperately tried to indicate that he didn’t realize anyone was already here and using the pool for the same purpose he was planning to through a cadre of poorly choreographed charades that could only be interpreted as rabid arm flailing. Deciding that he looked more idiotic with body language than he did with oral language, he went back to trying his words.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was here…I was just going to get a bath and I didn’t know a beautiful woman was going to be getting a…I mean…someone was getting a bath…it was a mistake and I didn’t mean to…I’m sorry.”

by **Maya Lapilis** on July 30th, 2012, 12:43 pm

As Maya finished asking her question, the boy finally decided to snap out of his statue-like state. He acted quickly, pulling his partially dropped pants back into their place. That proved he at least had some manners, or else he would have not minded having his underwear exposed. On the other hand, that did not make up for the rudeness which made him spy on her what so ever. If there was one thing in the world Maya did not understand it was perverts who spy on women… well that and math but that doesn’t really matter now. If a guy wanted to get together with a girl why wouldn’t he just walk up to her and ask her out? It worked most of the time, but it seemed that some people were just creeps.

For a few more seconds, the boy across her just stood there before he started flailing his arms around and muttering some unarticulated sounds. Maya partially closed her eyes, trying to sharpen her vision, but not even that helped her understand what the numerous arm movements the boy made meant. His verbal communication skills didn’t seem to be top notch either, as the girl couldn’t understand a word of what he was trying to say. That’s when it hit her. Maybe the guy had some sort of mental illness. That would explain the freezing in spot and the inability to speak, even the rabid hand gestures. Suddenly Maya felt somewhat sorry for the boy, as maybe it wasn’t his fault they were in this kind of a situation.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was here…I was just going to get a bath and I didn’t know a beautiful woman was going to be getting a…I mean…someone was getting a bath…it was a mistake and I didn’t mean to…I’m sorry.” the boy finally managed to formulate a full sentence. It wasn’t said in a perfect manner, but there was at least one part of it that sounded really well. Maya blushed slightly when the boy called her beautiful. It wasn’t as if she wasn’t getting compliments like that before, but she was in a rather bad mood lately because of everything that happened to her in the last few months, and this simple statement put a smile on her face. Looking at the boy, Maya could notice that he wasn’t ugly either, in fact he was kind of cute in some way. He wasn’t that well built, but that wasn’t a bad thing. It was somewhat of a turn-off for Maya when a guy had too much muscle. That just made them look purely barbarian.

“Umm, it’s ok” Maya said after he finished talking. Perhaps he was telling the truth. He didn’t seem as a pervert material after all, being that shy and everything. “You didn’t see me in the water. I get it.” The girl was smiling all the time while talking, but as soon as she realized that her face turned back to its normal expression. “But, umm… could you turn around and look away so that I can get out and get dressed. I’m not really decent at the moment.” Maya raised her left arm slightly, so that it was above the water, and made a small circling motion with her index finger as she was talking, indicating to the boy to turn around. The fact that the boy was ‘probably’ not a rapist still didn’t change the fact that the girl was standing naked in front of him and that made her feel uncomfortable. Perhaps he couldn’t see all that much because of the water, but it still wasn’t the best position to be in.

by **Faval** on July 31st, 2012, 3:56 pm

Despite the accusations of mental retardation, Faval had actually come a decently long way when it came to dealing with women, specifically ones with particular aversions to clothing. If he hadn’t met Kressha and spent so much time with her involving various levels of clothing, he would have been even more awkward at seeing someone like Maya swimming around naked. He most likely would have an artery burst from the amount of blood rushing to his face, she was that pretty and he was just that pathetic. On second thought, perhaps the accusations of mental retardation weren’t that far off. Faval’s lack of social skills around naked or scantily clad women certainly weren’t normal or even acceptable so perhaps there was something clinically wrong with him.

“Oh! Sorry.”

That was further stressed by the delay in following Maya’s instructions as she directed him to turn around and stop glaring at her less than clothed form and the exclamation that followed as he quickly stumbled around in a circle and away from the pool. Normally, that’d be a tactical nightmare, turning your back on an unknown person was generally a horrible idea; it would be incredibly easy for her to come up behind him and shoot him in the back or something similar and equally disastrous. He had been making a lot of mistakes lately, his commanding officer would not be at all happy with him at this rate. Faval at least made some progress as he, regaining some of his senses at the very least, made sure to listen attentively to any of her movements, which would probably be pretty easy while she moved through the water. Faval bent down to gently pick his shirt up off the ground and he gently slung it over his shoulder. He wanted to know more about her, but he simultaneously was standing on a very precarious ledge of creepiness. Thankfully, he wasn’t tactful enough to notice that precarious edge he was teetering over, so he went with it anyway.

“I didn’t expect to see anyone out here…do you live in the Wildlands?”

by **Maya Lapilis** on August 1st, 2012, 8:06 am

“Oh! Sorry.” the boy said before turning around and walking a few steps forward, away from the pool that she was in. Maya waited for a second or two as the boy was moving and as soon as he was far enough the girl started swimming towards the firm ground. She wasn’t much of a swimmer, mostly because her everyday life didn’t exactly require that, but it wouldn’t be true if the girl said she didn’t enjoy spending time in the water. In fact, some of Maya’s most precious memories were connected to a pond just outside her home town. She remembered her father taking there, as a reward for hunting down her first rabbit. The girl was still young, so she was sad for taking the innocent creature’s life, but that’s when she realized that things like this had to be done in order for one to provide a meal for his family. Spending time at the pond cheered her up, and it was one of her childhood memories she is most fond of.

Maya quickly made her way and once the water was shallow enough, up to somewhere around her knees, she decided to get up in order to leave the water sooner. The girl never stopped looking at the boy who was now just several meters away from her, just to make sure he wasn’t trying to peek at her. Just as she made her final steps, Maya saw the guy bend down. For a second the girl didn’t realize what he was doing. Thinking that he was about to turn around, she was quick to loudly say, “No peeking.” Of course, she soon realized that was completely unnecessary, as the boy slowly picked his shirt up and put it over his shoulder. Another sudden layer of blushing appeared on the girl’s face, as she realized how embarrassing that was. The guy was obviously not here because of her and it was purely a coincidence they even met, so there was no reason for him to peek at all.

Hoping that the boy didn’t hear what she just said, which was somewhat impossible, Maya quickly walked towards the boulder that her stuff were next to, as soft grass tickled her feet. Luckily, her clothes were nicely folded, so Maya was able to quickly put them on and finally remove the awkwardness her nudity was producing. While the girl was finishing tying her scarf, the boy spoke again. “I didn’t expect to see anyone out here…do you live in the Wildlands?” he asked, and Maya realized that he had hit the soft spot. She didn’t exactly know how to answer him, because she didn’t really know the answer herself. A few days ago the girl was still a regular citizen of Zeltiva, but right now she didn’t exactly have a place to stay

“Hmm, let’s just say that I decided to take a break from city life, so I am staying in the nature for a while…” Maya finally answered, reaching into her backpack and taking a wooden comb out. In a few short steps she climbed the boulder and sat on top of it. The girl crossed her legs and started combing her hair. She knew that it was important to do this now, because if her hair dried without being combed it would just turn into a big mess. “What about you? What brings you to our lovely Wildlands?” Maya asked with a smile, “And you can turn around now by the way.”

by **Faval** on August 2nd, 2012, 8:58 am

Faval was not quite as innocent as the girl was now thinking he was to be perfectly fair. He had, on multiple occasions during the short walk back to his shirt, which was a testament to both how scatterbrained he could be and just how not at all innocent he really was nowadays. A season ago he probably wouldn't have even entertained the thought of peeking at her, much less actually thinking of ways to pull it off. Kressha had been a rather negative influence on him it would seem. While it was true that it was coincidence that they met at all and his original purpose for visiting had nothing at all to do with Maya's adventures in skinny dipping, he wasn't above wanting to see as much as he possibly could. There was plenty of reason for him to want to peek. The boy's body stiffened as she called him out on the thoughts that were spreading like wildfire through his rather distracted brain before he hurriedly finished picking up his shirt, just happy he had a goal to keep his brain focused on something other than the embarrassment that the girl had unwittingly generated. She had generated enough embarrassment that Faval didn't quite finish the action of putting his shirt back on as the focus seemed to leave him once he picked it up and he turned his attention to asking why she was out here by herself.

Once he was given permission, Faval turned around to look back at the red tressed beauty as she sat upon a boulder, dutifully combing her hair of the water that was soaking it. He wasn't sure why she had hopped up on the boulder, maybe she just wanted to be higher than he was, it was a pretty classic animal behavior to seek higher ground for the purposes of dominance, but he doubted that's really what the woman was going for, maybe she just liked being high up. He didn't pursue his question much farther either, if she wanted to tell him more about her presence in the wildlands, she would have. It wasn't easy to survive out here by herself either, so that was awarded with a certain sense of respect as well. If Kressha hadn't been with him, he probably would be struggling as well, especially since he was remarkably bad at what he was out here to do. He still hadn't killed any of the animals that he had come out here to do and it was rather disappointing how poorly had had been doing. Which he supposed was the answer to her question in hindsight. What brought him to her lovely Wildlands was fear for not having food for any trips he was planning on taking.

"I'm out here on a hunting trip...well sort of. Not a very successful one at least. I'm trying."

by **Maya Lapilis** on August 2nd, 2012, 4:05 pm

"I'm out here on a hunting trip...well sort of. Not a very successful one at least. I'm trying." the boy turned around and answered Maya’s question. His answer made the girl instantly start looking around the spot he was standing, trying to find some sort of bow nearby. For some reason, every time hunting was mentioned, Maya presumed it was done with a bow. Of course, some people used crossbows as their tool for catching animals, but the girl wasn’t fond of that way of killing. It made much more damage to the meat and fur and it also caused more pain to the poor creature. She remembered her grandfather always calling it a “barbaric slaying crap”. Maya had never actually seen anyone use crossbows for hunting, but she had always believed her grandpa. She even remembered one time when they encountered a man who was going out to the woods with a spear, trying to catch a deer. Now, that was freaky.

As she thought, the boy didn’t belong to any of the weird hunting types, as the girl spotted a bow and quiver near the spot where his shirt was laying a few moments ago. It was a bit bigger than her own, so Maya assumed it was a longbow, a nice piece as well. “Oh, I see you have a bow over there” she said, giving a slight nod towards where the boy’s weapon was laying, “Are you good with it?” The fact was that Maya always admired people who were using longbows. When she was little and just starting out training her bow skills, her grandpa made her a shortbow thinking that it would be easier for her because of her height and everything. As the girl grew older she got confident with using shortbow and didn’t really wish to change her specialty. However, she always had a respect to longbow archers, as they seemed to be a lot better in both range and power.

The girl stopped combing and jumped off the boulder, reaching for her own weapon. “I have one here as well.” she said, raising the bow and running her fingers along it’s string, “It’s a bit old but it’s also a dear friend.” This bow was a gift from her father for her birthday a few years back. It was one of the things that were connected to dear memories, and the fact that it was a present from dad made it even more important to the girl.