Wandering...Wande- WHERE THE #$%@ AM I!? (Closed)

[Djiann]

20th Summer, 510 AV Grass. Grass, grass and yet more grass. At least it's edible. Thank whatever powers are out there that I am vegetarian... That little chain of thoughts reminded his stomach that it needed sustenance. So finding the one tree in sight, he hitched his horse to it and disrobed. Transforming into his kangaroo form, he began to graze with his horse. After sufficient grass had been ingested, Djiann transformed back into his human form. Unhitching his horse, he jumped back on. With his lack of horsemanship, he slipped up and fell on the other side. His horse neighed, as in laughing. "You're lucky I can't understand you." Climbing gracelessly back on, he followed the path of the wind. He took it at a normal speed for the time being. Not too slow, but not too fast, somewhere between a trot and a canter. Djiann kicked his horse to spur it on, yet he didn't realize how hard his kicks were, and his horse freaked. Sprinting ahead, the horse bucked and kicked wildly. Djiann held on for dear life, because this horse had most of his stuff attached to it. For about another five minutes this continued, until the horse tired itself out and stopped. "Great, now I have to find some water for us." Sliding off the saddle, Djiann led the horse onward, towards the clouds in the distance. Clouds meant water, water meant healthy horse, healthy horse means less walking. "If only you can understand what I'm saying...Sha'vat horse..."

[Nina]

Grass, grass, more grass… it all stretched as far into the distance as Nina could see. Her feet were killing her. And she was starving.

She stopped to swing her pack down from her shoulders. What possessed her to make this journey alone? Why didn’t she wait with the Ruby Clan until they passed near to Riverfall instead of going on her own? Undoubtedly she’d die out here after a while. Undoubtedly some of the Web mages of the Drykas knew she was here and undoubtedly the Ruby Clan had contacted them to explain that she was just travelling toward Riverfall and most definitely not planning an attack of any kind.

Nina opened the pack and rummaged around inside it, extracting a small bag that smelled so good her mouth watered. To her left, the north, storm clouds were gathering, and the Chaktawe watched them with mixed apprehension and longing. Although she’d lived in Cyphrus for a good number of years, rain still enthralled her. She loved to sit outside when it rained and allow it to wash over her, cleansing her, while her hosts sat in their Pavilions and muttered to themselves about the crazy foreign girl with the strange eyes and habits.

Nina brought a piece of bread to her mouth. There wasn’t much food left in the bag, maybe enough for a week of one meal a day. What made her go out into this godforsaken land in the first place, she didn’t know. It was as hostile as the Burning Lands. Already she’d had to make large detours to skirt around groups of glassbeaks.

Suddenly fearing that she’d been snuck up on by a couple of the vicious birds, she swung her head in a large arc and felt around with her hands, focusing on feeling movement with the sensitive freckle-like dots sprinkling her fingertips.

A sudden motion disturbed the air and Nina felt it like somebody had pushed her hand. Shocked, she looked to her right, and nearly cried out.

A young man was coming toward her, leading a tired-looking horse. She had been so caught up in her memories she hadn’t noticed him coming. He was about five meters away and getting closer by the second. Thinking fast, Nina shoved her food back into her pack and closed her eyes.

She focused with all her might on the young man leading his horse toward her. She tried to grasp on to him with her consciousness. It slid, and she almost focused on the horse, so she took a deep breath and tried again, focusing her Djed toward him.

A couple of dull sensations came to her. She could see a brief flash of an image of him against her eyelids; she felt a muted surge of energy; and she knew at once he was able to morph.

Nina didn’t know much about morphing. She couldn’t even say for sure what it was. But she knew this man was able to change shape somehow, although her skill in Auristics wasn’t advanced enough for her to know what or for how long. She was suddenly drained and she felt tired. Her head hurt a little. She still didn’t know if this man was dangerous, but his ability to morph frightened her a little as we are all frightened of the unknown.

He was nearly upon her. She was suddenly thankful the grass was so long, otherwise she would undoubtedly have been spotted much earlier. If she didn’t move, he would trip over her. Making a split second decision, Nina bolted, her eyes searching desperately for some kind of cover. Miraculously, there was a short tree nearby, and Nina shot toward it, climbing to the highest branch. She was about two meters off the ground. The tree was very short. She brought her knees to her chest and stared, black eyes wide, at the man, breathing hard, her hair tangled and her expression rather feral.

[[Wheee for long posts! My first posts are always unhealthily long. ^-^ I think this thread'll be great! But what about the Drykas Web Mages? Won't they have noticed Djiann's movement through the Sea? Ehhh, I don't know...]]

[Djiann]

Sighing, oblivious to any sort of movement in the rolling hills, Djiann continued to have his conversation with his horse. "You know, if you were like me, I mean in race and such, you'd be a terrible example to people like me. You'd be the exact reason I simply refuse on this 'imprinting'." Djiann, stopped, and sniffed the air for a little bit. Human? Here? In this godsforsaken place? Following his nose while leading his horse, he found tracks in the grass in his direct path. Well obviously someone WAS here, but it seems like they left...quickly. Not bothering to continue following it, he stopped to think for a second. He wasn't a carnivore, so there wasn't any point to seem like he was hunting for anyone nearby. The last thing he wanted to do was give off the wrong impression when he was lost. That's when he saw the small tree. "Good, I can tether you there, and we can graze again. And then maybe I'll consider giving you more water. For a desert horse you seem to just love guzzling all of my water..." With that he walked to the tree and tied the horses reins to the trunk. Disrobing smoothly, he was just about to start transforming when he heard a branch move unnaturally above him. Gazing up he noticed the Human female, "Oh, hello there! Mind joining me for a graze?" He asked jovially. Finally sentient contact, and one that didn't look armed! He then realized how truly small the tree was, that the top of it was only about an inch or so above his head. Then he noticed the fact that he was looking straight at her. "You know this tree isn't that tall, right? You would've fared better hiding on top of my head, at that." He joked lightly. Holding a hand out, "You probably should come down though, those big bird freak things would most likely consider you like an apple that needs to be picked out of this tree." [Well they might have, but then again he wouldn't know anything about them. He's only two years old >_>]

[Nina]

Nina briefly considered bolting again as the young man who was able to morph approached with his horse. In her mind, she ran through a scenario where she dropped from the tree and landed on top of him, then ran away while he was still dazed, possibly stealing his horse. Two problems: firstly, she was quite heavy, what with the water-storing organ which added a considerable amount of weight to her already chubby body, and she wasn’t sure how strong this man was or if she would seriously injure him by dropping on to his shoulders. Secondly, Nina had almost no idea how to ride a horse, except for extremely rudimentary knowledge taught to her (against her will) by her closest friend. Not to mention Nina just didn’t think she could pull it off. Undoubtedly she’d end up missing the man completely and landing on something hard, like the ground.

So when the man noticed her (and, holy Eywaat, he had taken off his clothes!), Nina made a small noise somewhere between a gasp and a shout of surprise. She covered her hands with her eyes and pressed her lips together, shaking her head vehemently. “I’m alright up here, thanks,” she said, pulling her knees up to her chest. It was obvious she was sitting uncomfortably on the branch. “I was just meditating. It’s good for the mind, you know. Not so great for the body.”

It occurred to her that she would indeed have had an easier time of hiding if she had hidden elsewhere, such as behind the tree instead of in it. It also occurred to her that she would have a better time escaping if she were on the ground. Removing her hands from her eyes, she grasped the branch and all but fell from the tree, landing ungracefully in front of the young man. Nina brushed some bark off of her skirt, blushed, and averted her eyes, turning her pitch-black gaze on the tree trunk. She tried to think of something to say. She’d been travelling for a while and human contact was something she had begun to forget.

“I know you can morph. Please don’t hurt me.”

How in Makutsi’s name did I make a jump from ‘you can morph’ to ‘don’t hurt me’? Nina scrunched up her face in confusion at her own words. “What I mean to say is, I’m just heading north,” she tried to correct her mistake. “Nothing in my possession is valuable,” she continued, lying easily. She had food and lots of water left over seeing as she barely ever needed to drink in the space of a week or so. She also had the fairly valuable beads at her left temple and the extremely valuable tattooing kit in her backpack. Then again, the young man seemed nice enough, and who was she to judge people just because they could use magic?

“Er… I’m sorry. I don’t quite know what I’m saying.”

[Djiann]

"Hurt you?" Djiann had a confused look on his face. "But...why would I hurt you? You haven't DONE anything to deserve getting hurt. Or at least that I know of. Come on down, seriously. You don't want those glassbeaks to find you here." He still held out his hand. This child was a strange one indeed. What she said sent a chain of thoughts spinning through Djiann's head. Hmph, I suppose she thinks I'm a sort of thug. Well I do guess I look thuggish, seeing as I am 6'4"... But still doesn't mean I'm a mean or nasty person. Then again the only people out here are slavers... He gave a shudder at that thought. If there was one kind of person he hated, he really despised, it was slavers. He had a sort of personal vendetta against slavers. If he ever ran into any that he could take down, he vowed that he would destroy them utterly. Noticing he was drifting off again, he snapped back into reality. "North...That's away from Eyktol, isn't it? I think I want to go that way! Can I accompany you!?" He already lost his dour mood after he caught the scent of travelling. His eyes light up and he got bouncy again. He didn't even bother to wait for a reply. He threw on his clothes again and picked her out of the tree deftly. "Let's go north! C'mon!" He was beaming, until a look of consternation came across his face. Looking over to her, slung over his shoulder, he asked innocently, "Uhhhhh, which way is north?"

[Nina]

Look, Nina, he’s harmless. And naked, but you can’t really blame him for – ohhhh, I get it, he’s probably a Kelvic, why didn’t I see it before, what with him being able to morph and being naked and such, he mentioned something about grazing didn’t he, you’re so dim sometimes, Nina, get a hold of yourself.

“Er,” said Nina, starting to protest but being cut off as she was slung over the young man’s shoulder. Alarmed, she managed to grab her pack from where it had been on the branch next to her before she was tugged out of reach of the tree. “I think it’s that way.” She pointed in the general direction of the clouds. “I hope so, at least, seeing as I’ve been going that way for the last week. Maybe I’ve been going in circles.”

Curious, she looked over her shoulder at the young man. “You’re Kelvic, aren’t you? If you don’t mind me asking, what do you turn into?” Nina liked Kelvics. Generally, they were the most amiable race, and amiability was a quality Nina admired.

[Djiann]

Djiann sighed, "Yes, yes I am. You better not tell anyone. Last time someone found out I had to launch an eight-year-old out of a window. Anyway." He placed the girl on the ground and stripped down. It was slightly awkward, seeing as how short she was she barely hit his pectorals with the top of her head. "Besides, if you tried to run to spread the news about me, I'd be able to catch you." He said, shifting his eyes. "Anyway! Here goes." With that he began the transformation process, a bright light shining forth, blocking out vision of all the fine details of it happening. When it was all said and done, a kangaroo stood in front of Nina. Keeping at least a little of his humanish insticts, he didn't instantly bolt the second he noticed the human in front of him. Getting distracted by all the grass, he began to graze next to her. He hoped to any lord above Mizahar that she would not try to ride him. He absolutely hated that, it was as if he was conceding to her being better than him, and deserving to ride him. He would not be subservient to anybody, unless they truly deserved it. What that meant he wasn't entirely certain of, but that was his little truth that he kept to himself. His animal form quietly mused how long she would want him to be like this until he could return to his normal form and proceed north.

[Nina]

Nina politely averted her eyes as the young man undressed. She was about to speak but was cut off once again, this time by the light. Fascinated, she looked back at him. The light was beautiful, and, as far as Nina could tell, it wasn’t being reflected off of him; he was the one creating the light.

When the fog of light cleared, there was a kangaroo in place of the young man. Nina grinned, pleased as only a young child can be by something so simple. “I promise not to tell. Er, also, you could have just told me what you turn into. You didn’t have to show me, silly. But that is definitely the most awesome thing I have seen in some time. Thanks for showing me that! Why did you throw an eight-year-old out of the window? I’m Nina. Can we be friends?” Nina ended her verbal diarrhea and put on her largest, most puppy-like eyes. The effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that her eyes had no whites to them, and she ended up looking rather creepy. The childish pout did, however, help a lot to make her look cuter.

[Djiann]

Djiann changed back and stood there, naked. "Sorry, but there's only me. There aren't any creatures like me that I know of, so it's pretty impossible to describe." Waiting for the stream of words to finally finish coming out of her mouth, he tried to compose a response. Getting twitchy he said, "Uhmmm, you don't want to really know... And Sure! Where are you headed? Because right now I have no realy direction I'm going." Looking around, he noticed his horse moved a little around the tree. It was grazing and he rubbed him stomach, full of grass and shrubbery. His mind wandered to his darker thoughts, like why he kicked the kid out window and the events leading up to it. Snapping back to reality he waited for the small one's reply, not realizing that he was completely naked. It's not really his fault in fact, because he's so used to being naked that he never feels completely comfortable in his own clothes.

[Etaria]

Aamina's ear's whirled around deciphering the noise and the direction it came from.

"Odd," whispered Etaria, "Rarely see a pair like that wandering the grasslands." They mustn't have been a danger or Dryka warrior's would have already swarmed them.

Etaria trotted over to the noise and was shocked to see a small naked man and a Chaktawe standing in the middle of no where in particular. She smiled at the strangeness of the whole ordeal.

"Hail," She called out to the two humanoids. "Lost? Or simply looking for something to do?" Her smile widened. It truly was a bizarre site on the Sea of Grass.