Closed Sweet Toothes and Chance Encounters (Ximal)

[Asha]

Fall 16, 512 Asha stood and stretched her arms above her head, lengthening her spine and sighing as the troublesome kinks worked their way out of her back. She loved to meditate at the Lectern of Eyris and hear the wonderful debates but it made her back sore and tight. She waved goodbye to some of the people around and let one thick, black-furred leg swing out and begin to carry her forward. Asha was determined to write down a few notes from the lecture and debate before she forgot so she moved quickly towards Grath’s Rest where her room held the necessary writing supplies. Asha’s large body lumbered forward as quickly as she could make it go without running. She did hate to run and she knew she looked silly doing so. A broad creature like herself was not well built for running though she could certainly do so if she chose. Her steps slowed as they passed by the Petal of Vibrant Essences, the intoxicating aromas of chocolate, honey, and sugar blended together and assaulted her nose. Instantly saliva filled her mouth and her belly rumbled, she had not eaten for a few bells. She briefly considered stopping at a shop to purchase a sweet but she decided against that idea. A sweet would be lovely but a single sweet would not fill her belly and too many sweets would make her belly upset. Besides, whoever heard of eating a single sweet? Asha wished she had the self control to do so but she knew that she did not. Her sweet tooth was too massive to settle for just one sweet. On and on her legs carried her until she finally reached Grath’s Rest and entered quickly through the door. Around and up the stairs to the doorway of her room she reached out and batted aside the cloth that concealed her room. There were no doors in the Spires but a moveable cloth was pleasant for a little privacy while sleeping. The parchment and quill were laid out on the floor from before she had left for the Lectern. She let her immense weight fall to the floor with a sudden fold of her legs and her knees thumped down noisily. Reaching forward she uncapped a vial of ink and grasped the quill. Dipping the quill in, she fumbled a moment to hold the inked quill tip away and recap the ink vial. Leaning over the parchment she began to write: Notes from Lectern of Eyris lecture and debate Brom claimed that desires are what motivate all of our actions rather than reasoning and logical thought processes. He proposed the idea that we have specific needs and all of our actions are an attempt to fulfill those needs. Once imperative needs are fulfilled then we begin to attempt to fulfill the slightly less imperative needs. He supposed that we are mostly unaware of these desires and rationalize our decisions with what we perceive to be logic. Some of the other individuals listening in seemed to grow very angry by his speech and insisted that we are logical beings who have moved beyond the animalistic urges of the past. Brom rebutted that argument with….. Asha’s hand began to slow as her mind began to drift. What did she desire? Sweets was the immediate answer. Oh how lovely that sounded, a mouthful of honey drizzled ants to crunch and tickle her tongue with sugary bursts of delight. Mmmm. Her mind snapped back to awareness and she realized the ink on the tip of her quill was pooling rapidly on the parchment below. Clearly she was not going to get any further on this at the moment. She carefully cleaned her quill and set it aside gently. She stood and stretched once more, the brief period of sitting had made the knots return to her back. Asha sighed heavily, considering where she might be able to obtain some sweets that wouldn’t make her ill in great quantity nor cost a significant amount of money. She smiled as she finally thought of it. She knew of a luscious blackberry patch that ought to still have a few berries to pluck on it at this time of the year. She stepped quickly and swatted aside the cloth in the doorway. Her furred body moved through the building until she came to the entrance. She heard her name called from behind her, distracting her from her movements. She turned her head and hesitated momentarily as her legs continued to move her through the entry way. She did not notice the human trying to enter as she attempted to exit until she felt her chest collide with that of another. She stumbled back a step and her head snapped around to see who she had run into. “Pardon me! I was not looking where I ought to have been and did not see you coming in!”

[Ximal]

It had been a long day for Xi the time had crawled by at a snails pace, the jungle floor was empty of anything out of the ordinary and the ground camp was becoming more and more vacant by the day. And the consistent boredom was beginning to drag on him, the monotonous day had grated on his mental state.To be frank he'd spent most of the early morning and after noon just taking his mind and beating it into condition. The nightmare which always hung around him was ebbing it's way beck into him. Still he'd just check out of his duties and begun to take one last walk around town, checking up on it's well being. After the events on the tenth he'd grown a little wary about the state of things in the city. Still the stillness of the city was better than a hugely eventful calamity. Closing his eyes and rubbing his temples he sighed and began his trek back to the tavern, grath's rest. He wasn't tired but right now what he needed was a chance to unwind. To release the tensions and issues of the day and a drink was the best way to do so in his mind. His eye's closed even then he was avoided. Mostly due to his imposing height and hard cold look. Both carried him forth throughout the spires being avoided however this wasn't the case. He wasn't a mean spires person he just had a very shallow temper that he was learning to control better. Closing upon grath's rest from memory Xi drew upon the doorway, and then almost as if by sheer accident welted into something that sent him stumbling back a step or two. Just as he was about too apologize for crashing into someone he heard a voice apologize instead. And that they weren't looking where they were going. Xi Cracked his neck and brought his hand down a smidgen just to peer over his hand and look at what he'd bumped into, and he'd bumped into a jamouran woman. Taking a deep slow breath to both calm his mind and hold back that monster he locked the deep black blue eye into one of hers and spoke slowly not and low in both volume and pitch. "I'm sorry it's my fault that we collided i wasn't exactly looking where i was going. My names is Xi and i'm a member of the spires guard...Is everything ok miss you arent hurt at all?"

[Asha]

Asha looked at the human man standing before her, Xi he had called himself. The man was quite large for a human, standing almost at her own height. That was somewhat unusual for a human but no matter, large creatures had never been a fear for her. Asha graciously held out a hand to shake if Xi so chose to take it. “I’m Asha and I’m quite alright. It’s nice to meet you Xi, though I’m sorry we had to meet under such clumsy circumstances. Are you alright yourself?” she asked politely. Asha was more used to wondering if the human was alright, not the Jamoura. Jamoura were large and steady creatures that were difficult to damage by such simple means as bumping them around a bit. Humans seemed to be a bit more fragile. Asha felt a little torn about how she should approach this situation. She desperately wanted to sate her craving for sugar yet she knew the polite thing was to ensure that Ximal was quite alright. Perhaps she could entice him to come along with her and then she could ensure that he was alright and get some delicious blackberries. The path down to the blackberry patch that she enjoyed was rather distant after all and she could always use an extra set of eyes to help keep a look out for any dangerous wildlife about. Asha determined that she would have to wait and feel out how the man might feel about such a proposition before actually voicing it. After all, he might have his own things to attend to and places that were in need of him. Wait and see, that was the best approach.

[Ximal]

So her name was asha, and she was fine, that was good to hear. And that she was sorry that they had to meet by colliding like that. Then she did the first thing he'd ever heard anyone ask. If he was alright. Was he alright? The first time anyone had asked him that question. He'd always checked if others were alright but no-one ever asked him. He'd taken many a knocks and he'd been carved up like a joint of pork more often than not. Still he replied keeping his face covered but in a slightly lighter tone now that he knew she wasn't like a lot of the others ion the spires. "I'm fine, i've taken a lot of abuse and damage over the years so it's alright, thank you for expressing a concern though. You look a little...anxious. Something on your mind ? Or is it perhaps something that i can help with? " Xi wasn't the best observer in the world but he could see plainly on her face that she wanted something. What it was he couldn't tell, but something was bugging her. He smiled and moved out of the way to allow her to come outside if she so desired after shaking her "hand" with is right hand. keeping his left over his face whilst he massaged his temples lightly. It eased the headaches.

[Asha]

Asha stepped outside as Ximal made room for her and placed her hands on her hips. She nodded slowly as he asked if she wanted something and felt a little embarrassed that she had been so transparent. She didn’t like people feeling like they had to do things for her as she liked to maintain a sense of independence……. but blackberries made the situation an exception. The forest floor could often be dangerous and company would be most helpful. Plus, she still felt bad about knocking into the poor man and didn’t want to just rush off. He said he was used to taking hard knocks but she was a big creature and she sometimes forgot how powerful she could be. “Well, yes in fact. Though of course if you have somewhere else you need to be then don’t mind me at all! But I was rather hoping to go down to the forest floor and find a particular blackberry patch that I enjoy. I can always go by myself if I need to but the forest floor can be rather dangerous you know, there is always safety in numbers.” Asha said with a small smile and lifted one of her hands to absently rub the back of her head. She always felt so shy when she first met someone. She never knew how they would react to things. “So if you would be interested in going with me, that would be lovely. Two sets of eyes and ears will be most helpful. Plus, there should be enough blackberries left for this season for both of us!” Asha’s smile widened and her eyes grew bright at the idea of sweet, sweet blackberries. Most Jamoura had sweet toothes as large as their massive tummies and Asha had a special fondness for berries. To her, blackberries were a just and reasonable reward for risking the dangers below the city.

[Ximal]

Xi had fully expected her to shrug of his offer to help her like all other jamoura did in an attempt to prove themselves however in this circumstance this was not the case. Most thought him a simple human. Ignorant and brutish, however whilst being in the spires his manner had changed significantly. Still he listened to her words whilst pondering on what she was offering. An offer to come down to the forest floor with her and escort her to a blackberry patch? Still the female jamoura was smart enough to know how dangerous the forest floor was. Xi pondered over this idea for a moment before looking back at her and then began to lower the hand from his face. the stern and cold look softened slightly as he curled his mouth into a smile at the side lightly. Still she pleaded her case about taking him with her as some way fo making sure that the ground floor was safe and that then she said it enough for both of them...Xi doubted that, jamoura could eat almost three times the weight of food he could. Still, he pondered the situation for a moment before tilting his head anf focusing on the task at had he had to make it upto this lady some how and this seemed like a viable option. nodding his head he responded to her with a small grin still there. "Well i'd be more than happy to accompany you, i spend a lot of my time on the ground floor of the forest so i'm accustomed to making sure things down there are alright, so yes i would be more than happy to make sure that people from the city are safer when they head down there. In short i would be happy to go with you, though i do make one request...We make this trip fairly short the days aren't long now and the light of the sun only has a few more hours before either we use a torch or were stuck in complete darkness.

[Asha]

Asha nodded and smiled at Ximal agreed to go with her. Well that was easily done. Now she could go down for some delicious blackberries with someone to watch her back and she would not have to bluster off impolitely. Asha was not the most perceptive being in the world but she had better sense then to rush off after so rudely bumping into someone. “Excellent. And yes, we can keep it short. All the animals are beginning their bulking up for winter and I do not wish to become another one of their layer’s of fat. Or food stored in a tree.” Asha chuckled to herself at the joke. Forest humor, I guess you could say. With becoming some beasts food an actual threat it often seemed like the best response was just to make a joke about it. No need in being too serious. “Well, should we be on our way then?” Asha said and stepped forward, waiting for a sign from Ximal that he was prepared to go. If Ximal moved to begin their little journey Asha would begin walking towards the nearest petal edge so that they could begin the trip down the tree trunks to the forest floor. “What sorts of things do you usually do with your time Xi? I recall you saying that you spend much time on the forest floor, but doing what exactly?” Asha asked with another smile. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to get to know yet another new face in the Spires. There was a time when she was younger and she knew absolutely everyone that walked the petals of the Spires. But the last few years saw an influx of strangers, particularly this year, and she saw so many new faces she could hardly keep track of them. Though it did often present an excellent opportunity to learn more about races and places that she had never been exposed to before.

[Ximal]

Heading off with the jamoura she seemed some what...More agreeable and friendly than most jamoura. Though her sense of humor was a little askew. Still Xi went with her, it was his job after all, he was a guard and he'd taken this up knowing full well that he had to protect the entirety of this city regardless of the nature of the people requesting his help. As Xi triled after her letting her lead the way towards the bush of black berries that she so desperately craved. Though the questions which she asked him was a bit off kilter. Did the other jamoura not mention of what he did down there...? Oh wait he'd never told them about what he'd done down there. So he believe he better keep it that way with his answers towards asha. "On the grounfd floor of the jungle i make my rounds... I'm a spires guard and i patrol about down there to make sure that no-one is kidnapped and taken to be sold as a slave and to make sure that no wild life is taken or poached. I'm a guard of the ground. Mostly as the majority of the city doesn't think me as capable as some of the other creatures that inhabit the skyline. Particularly the jamoura, because i' not as strong or adept as them at climbing i'm somewhat looked down upon. Still i do my job without arguing. I let them think what they want and i do my job faithfully." Xi took a deep breath and exhaled slowly pushing the stiffness from his system. He';d just come off shit and now he was making this climbing trip for another time. "Well asha mind if i ask what it is that you do ? I mean not to be disrespectful but i've not seen you around , or then again maybe i have i'm kinda forgetful as things stand. Still what do you do around the spires?"

[Ayviss]

Asha and Ximal, if you become active with your characters again, please PM me so I can give you your grades!