Something in the Air [Jynx]

by **Sodrel Frostfawn** on September 10th, 2012, 12:47 pm

8th of Fall, 512
The Menagerie

The Menagerie's morning crowd was thinner than usual. There was still snow in the air, but it wasn’t nearly as thick as it had been during yesterday’s blizzard. The day before, Sodrel could hardly see her hands in front of her face. It would have been impossible to see Amaya’s white fur if not for her blue eyes. They were used to the cold and the heavy snow. That wasn't what was causing the unease in the air. There was another kind of buzz at the market. She felt the apprehension too, but she didn't know why.

Sodrel scratched her fingers behind Amaya’s ears and ran her hand over her thick coat. The dog was close at her heels, reluctant to leave her side. She understood Amaya’s hesitation, but she hadn’t been to Reikanni’s pet shop since summer and she wanted to see what new dogs had come in to remind herself shy she worked so hard. Once she’d saved enough money, she could buy a second dog and finally breed Amaya.

Her steps quickened as she neared the shop. Amaya matched her pace and they were quickly standing at the entrance. She went inside, shaking the snow out of her dark hair as she entered. The fire inside instantly melted what was left on her coat.

A black cat stared up at her from Reikanni’s lap as Sodrel stood just inside the door. There were cages scattered around the floor. Her blue eyes scanned the ones closest to the front, circling the fire. Some held birds. Some cats. The cats were beautiful, with shiny fur. Reikanni always took very good care of the animals in her shop, but there was none of what Sodrel was looking for.

She wiped her boots on the floor at the entrance and walked deeper into the shop. Amaya relaxed a little bit, but her body was still tense and she didn’t let Sodrel get far without her. She gave the dog’s back another long rub and wandered through the shop, looking for something to soothe the unease she couldn’t quite shake.

by **Jynx** on September 11th, 2012, 1:57 am

The blizzard had surprised Jynx. He arrived the night before, rented a room at the Savintar Warrens and got his first good night's sleep in weeks. He awoke to find the city wrapped in a blizzard. Jynx was no stranger to blizzards, of course, and he was used to the cold, having lived his entire life in Novallas. But Avanthal was colder than he had expected. He spent the day in his room, coming out only for food and then retreating again. The blizzard had blown itself out when he climbed out of another deep sleep the next morning. He dressed, pulled on brown leather boots, wrapped himself in a dark gray ankle-length cloak and headed out to find some warmer clothes, hood pulled up to cover his head. At Laria's Furs he found what he was looking for but at higher prices than he could really afford. Nonetheless, he bought what he needed:

Fur-Lined Leather Trousers – 20GM
2 Cotton shirts – 6SM
Wool shirt – 10SM
Fur-Lined Leather Boots – 35GM
Long Cotton Tunic – 5SM

He planned to use the long cotton tunic as a sleeping gown.

A bag under his arm, he shuffled through the fresh snow that covered the ground and the fresh snow that was still falling from above. It was so white it hurt his eyes to look at it. Through the marketplace came the pleasant bleat of a goat. “Huh,” he said to no one in particular. “That's odd.” His feet brought him to a section of the marketplace devoted to animals. All kinds of animals. Including goats. Jynx liked goats.

Something struck the back of his head, knocking him to his knees. A long, descending kee-ree rang out as he was hit again and something sharp dug into the back of his head. He recognized the cry immediately. He threw his arm up, trying to knock the bird loose but it was determined to hang on to him. His bag skidded away on the ice. Finally he rolled, which broke the creature's death grip and gave him his first look at his attacker. It was the biggest hawk Jynx had ever seen, and as blindingly white as the snow. He scrambled to his feet as it screeched again and came at his face. He put a quick left jab into its chest, which sent it flopping to the ground. It leaped into the air and hovered, eyeing him with beady black eyes, screeching repeatedly. Jynx yelled back, "You dumb bird! I'm ten times your size. What are you gonna do? Carry me off?" He took a step back and his feet went out from under him, landing him solidly on his butt. The bird again attacked but Jynx threw up a blocking arm and then rolled to one side and regained his feet. The bird again hovered a few feet off the ground, looking as though it was wondering what to do next.

OOC :

LEDGER :

by **Sodrel Frostfawn** on September 12th, 2012, 12:57 am

There were so many animals in the pet shop, Sodrel didn’t have time to look at all of them. I should get back to the hold. Her fingers lingered on the cage in front of her. There was still a tight knot of apprehension in her stomach. It didn't seem to matter that she was trying to ignore it.

The sound of a screech startled her out of the strange place her head was in. Not sure where it was coming from, she whirled around to see a blond-haired man outside of the shop being attacked by a huge white bird. The hawk was relentless. Even though the man fought back, it didn’t let up.

She had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, Amaya didn’t like it at all. The dog’s already tense body coiled and she slipped out from behind Sodrel to stand between her and the fight.

Her grip tightened on the back of Amaya’s neck. She dug her fingers into the dog’s fur as the hawk continued to attack the man.

Sodrel was afraid to look at the man’s wounds. He had to be hurting from the blows he was receiving and when the hawk went for his face, she covered her mouth with her free hand.

A heartbeat later the man's voice belted out and that was the final straw for Amaya. She didn’t like that anyone was fighting so close to Sodrel. The dog barked at the bird and strained to get free from Sodrel’s hand.

She loosened her grip to get a better hold. The dog ran out and positioned herself closer to the man, while keeping her eyes pinned to his attacker.

“Amaya! Come back here.” Sodrel ran out after her.

by **Jynx** on September 12th, 2012, 2:25 am

The hawk hesitated when a white husky came bounding out of a nearby shop and ran toward them. Then its powerful wings carried it up high into the air with just a few beats. Its wingspan looked to be ten or twelve feet across. It flew off toward the sea, continuing to gain altitude as it went. The entire encounter had lasted all of half a chime and then it was over. Jynx turned to face the dog. Fighting off a hawk was one thing. Fighting off a good sized dog was a different matter altogether. He assumed a fighting stance, with his left foot half a step forward and his back foot half a step back and turned outward forty-five degrees. He unlocked his knees and let his body sink just a bit. Both fists were up at chest height and close in. He wasn't sure how effective fists would be against teeth, but it was the best he could do.

Then he noticed the girl. And promptly forgot about the dog. She was about his height, maybe a couple inches shorter, with long wavy black hair framing a perfectly proportioned face highlighted by deep blue eyes that a man could get lost in. He stared at her for what must have seemed like a long time to her. Time had stopped completely for him. He gradually became aware that she was looking at him oddly, and realized that he was staring at her with his mouth hanging open. He snapped it shut.

“Oh, uhm ...” he said profoundly. “Sorry. Uhm … hello.” He dropped his hands to his sides.

The dog was standing between him and the girl now, watching him warily. Jynx decided it belonged to her and was prepared to defend her if he should do something it didn't like. He also decided to try not to do anything it didn't like. A few people had noticed the altercation but were returning to their own business. He spotted his bag of clothing and retrieved it. Then his eyes were drawn irresistibly back to the girl's face. He tilted his head to one side.

“That was really strange,” he said. “Are all the birds around here like that?”

OOC :

by **Sodrel Frostfawn** on September 12th, 2012, 11:12 pm

The fight happened so quickly, the rest of it was a blur to Sodrel as she ran out the door after Amaya. “Petch it, Amaya!” That dog was as stubborn as her owner was, but when the frost hawk took off, Amaya finally settled down. She stopped growling and the rigidness left the lines of her body. Her dog seemed to have made up her mind about the man standing in front of her, but Sodrel still hadn’t made up her mind. His eyes were a faded yellow-orange but they looked as wild as his hair. She kept her eyes on his as she reigned Amaya back in.

From a distance, the man had been attractive, but up close, he looked even better, and for someone who’d just survived an attack, he looked pretty petching good. He had to be strong if he was still standing there. Sodrel found his strength even more attractive than his face.

“I’ve never seen a bird attack a man like that. Are you all right?” She looked over what she could see of his body. The wounds on the back of his neck were bleeding. There were scrapes on his arms and his face was red and puffy with scratches. She reached out to touch a particularly nasty gash on his cheek, but thought better of it and let her hand fall to her side. Her hands had been touching the cages and Morwen knew what else. She didn’t want to risk giving him an infection. “I’m sorry about Amaya. She doesn’t usually run away from me like that. I think the fighting upset her.”

Amaya must have heard her name. She lifted her head to look up at the man and then back to Sodrel before making her way back to her side. Sodrel sent her dog back to the shop to stay out of trouble, then turned back to the man, who was still looking at her. “I’m Sodrel. Who are you?”

OOC :

by **Jynx** on September 13th, 2012, 3:55 pm

“Who am I.” Jynx echoed her question as though was wondering the same thing. “Oh, I am Jynx. I am so sorry to have upset you and your dog. I did not intend to offend." He brushed snow off his bag. "I arrived in town the day before yesterday. Other than a few people at the inn and the shop keeper, you are the first person I have met.” His head tilted this way and that as he spoke, a nervous twitch that emerged whenever he found himself in a social situation with people he did not know. For almost his entire life his mistress had taken care of such things and he had only to follow her lead. But now he was on his own. Now he had to navigate complicated human interactions by himself. He was not very good at it.

“I think I might know why that bird attacked me,” he said shrugging his shoulders. "It will be easier for me to show you than to tell you.” He undid the two clasps holding his cloak closed and started to slide it off his shoulders. "Ouch!" He said. He touched the back of his head and came away with blood. He looked at the scratches on his hands and then at a few blood splatters on his cloak. “I am bleeding.” He stated. He wasn't quite sure what to do about it so he looked expectantly at Sodrel and asked, “Is there someplace I can clean myself?”

OOC :

by **Sodrel Frostfawn** on September 15th, 2012, 1:46 pm

The man introduced himself as Jynx, but he didn’t seem very comfortable talking to her. The way he tilted his head reminded her more of a bird than a person, but his eyes were strange too, she reminded herself.

Having been the first person he met in Avanthal, she felt a tad responsible for him—an awkward position for her to be in considering she was wasn’t used to being quite as social as her other Vantha friends; more often preferring to spin her tales to Amaya than the people who surrounded her.

Sodrel smiled, still feeling wary herself, but unable to help it. Something about him made it hard to keep the smile from spreading. He seemed so lost. “Don’t worry about us. You didn’t offend me, just startled me—and given me plenty to talk about later.” A small laugh left her lips. “Which, if you know us Vantha, is all that really matters.”

The smile slipped from her face just briefly, as she remembered the stories she heard around her Hold last night. Something strange had walked the streets the night before and almost everyone was still on edge wondering what it really was. The stories had gotten bigger and bigger until no one really knew what happened.

She did her best to push the thoughts out of her head the chime she realized she was lingering on them. This stranger came at an odd time for Avanthal. She still didn’t know if she could trust him, but she couldn’t let him stand outside the pet shop with his blood dripping into the snow either.

When he asked for help, he didn’t ask for much—only a place to clean up. She could give him that couldn’t she? There was nothing she could do for his wounds. She wouldn’t even know where to start, but helping him clean himself up, was something she could do.

She motioned for him to follow her back into the shop. “I think I saw some bowls of water inside on a table. I’m sure no one would complain about us using a little to fix you up. Maybe you can tell me why the bird attacked you when we clean off that blood?” She paused at the entrance, waiting to see if he’d follow her.

by **Jynx** on September 15th, 2012, 5:27 pm

Jynx followed her into the shop and came to a halt just inside the entrance to survey the interior before continuing. Cages of various sizes containing small animals of various sorts were everywhere. He convinced himself that they were indeed secure in their cages and approached the girl who appeared to be the shopkeeper. She gave him a bowl of water and a rag, which he used to dab at his cuts and scratches. Satisfied that he didn't have any sustained bleeding, he returned the bowl and rag to the girl, whose named turned out to be Reikanni.

“Thank you for your kindness,” he said to her. Then he turned back to Sodrel and said, “Now, to explain.”

His cloak dropped to the ground at his feet, followed by his shirt, boots and pants, leaving him naked in front of the two woman. He did not appear to be the least bit bothered by this. A swirl of colored sparkles surrounded him, his perspective changed and he found himself at ground level looking up at Sodrel. He extended his wings and gracefully lifted off the floor to hover mid-room at eye-level. The hawk was mostly light brown with quite a bit of white speckling. His body was about two feet long and his wing span about 4 feet. The sound of his slowly beating wings filled the room, along with a considerable breeze. He heard a screech behind him and spun around in the air just in time to see a black cat fleeing from Reikanni's lap and disappearing from sight. He dropped to the floor and transformed back into a man.

“I think that white hawk knew I was also a hawk and decided I was a threat,” he explained to Sodrel as he pulled his new clothes out of the bag. “It was pretty confused because I was obviously too big to be a hawk.” He frowned and tilted his head to one side. “But there was more to it than that. It seemed tense, almost out of control, as though it was under some kind of compulsion.” He pulled on a pair of fur-lined leather trousers, a wool shirt and a pair of fur-lined boots. “Much better for Avanthal's cold weather.” He stuffed his old clothes into the bag.

He eyed Sodrel again, tilting his head to the left and then to the right. “I feel I owe you something. I am a trained masseuse. It would make me happy to give you a massage sometime, at no charge of course. I have been told I am good at it, and my mistress always enjoyed ..." He stopped. "Anyway, I am staying in a cabin at the Savintar Warrens. Please come by sometime and allow me to repay your kindness.”

OOC :

by **Valkyrie** on September 17th, 2012, 4:24 pm

Sodrel Frostfawn :

Jynx :

You Will Be Collected if Worthy

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.