Closed A Walk in the Park[M'ki, Dust]

[M'ki]

51 Fall, 513AV

M'ki wandered the paths of Semele Park, stopping every so often to study the plants or statues scattered alongside the pathways. She'd been in Riverfall for a while now, and had had many Akalaks proposition her for future arrangements, given that she wasn't old enough yet to safely bear children-- she'd known that Kontis were popular choices for Nakivaks, but she hadn't expected to receive as many proposals as she had.

However, M'ki didn't feel the need, or even the desire, to have children. She wasn't too badly off for money; she still had almost all of the one hundred gold mizas that she'd left Mura with, since she lived simply. She hadn't found a job, but then again, she didn't feel... connected to Riverfall yet. Like she hadn't found what her Call was Calling her to do. Like she hadn't found her--

Wait a second. M'ki's eyes narrowed. Was that...? It was. It was a bag and a pile of clothes next to one of the statues. M'ki frowned. Who in Riverfall would leave a bag of belongings and their clothing laying around? Granted, Semele Park, and Riverfall in general, was probably the safest place in which to do so, but still. Either someone had left them here as a change of clothes, or someone was running around nude.

Checking to be sure she had her dagger well within reach should she need it, M'ki carefully approached the clothes. They were feminine, sitting upon a backpack. There was a cloak next to the pile, and the pile itself appeared to consist of a simple white shirt, a beaded headband, sandals, and brown trousers. A broad-brim hat was perched on the corner of the statue's pedestal.

M'ki tilted her head curiously. She glanced around, but still didn't see anyone. "Hello?" she called. "Is anyone around here?"

[Dust]

Who in Riverfall -- why, a Kelvic, of course! There were certainly enough of them running around the place... though not Dust. No, she didn't run. Instead, the white raven was currently perched in one of the park's trees, eyeing a crimson jay across the way. It wasn't nesting season, which meant the jay didn't care too much about her presence... except that she was watching. And it really wanted to cache the nut in its beak. Dust had no intention of stealing it -- she wasn't hungry just now -- but the black-crested red bird didn't know that. Finally, it scurried over to a drift of leaves and rustled through them until it found the earth below. Picking at the soil and at last burying the nut, the jay fluttered up into nearby shrubbery and eyed the raven again. It warbled a series of notes -- mine, it's mine, it's mine -- to which Dust cocked her head. Then the raven warbled right back -- mine, it's mine, it's mine -- in an off-key semblance of the jay's vocalization. But even off-key proved close enough to pass, as the smaller bird drew itself up, feathers partially fluffing out with its ire. The jay repeated its mantra -- -- and Dust would've kept right on figuratively tweaking its crestfeathers, just because she could, but pale glints in the sunlight caught her eye. Shiny things moving by the statue -- oh, it was a Konti! And it was checking out her own clothes... One dusty-blue eye peered at the slim little figure... she seemed more worried than anything, which was okay by Dust. But in any case, a person was way more interesting than the silly jay. The white-feathered raven launched herself from the treelimb she perched upon, spreading her wings and gliding smoothly down. A long, unhurried arc down to the statue's level, the flare and flutter of wings -- she came to rest atop the sculpture. Dust tipped her head and peered quizzically down at the Konti. She repeated the jay's warbling phrase... paused a moment... then raised her head slightly and chortled something suspiciously like laughter, for all that it came from a raven's beak.

[M'ki]

M'ki started at the strange warbling coming from the trees, and her gaze found the raven and jay quickly. She watched curiously as the raven seemed to catch sight of her, and then fly over, a graceful arc of wings and feathers, to land on the statue. The raven repeated the warble from before, and then... laughed?

With a grin, M'ki realized what she was looking at-- a Kelvic. "Hello," she greeted, raising a hand. "You the owner of these clothes? Love the headband; it's very pretty," she complimented, smiling at the raven. It wasnt truly white, she saw now; rather, the bird was more the shade of the ivory carvings M'ki had seen in merchants's wares over the years. Its eyes were a gorgeous shade of blue, with an almost silver tint to them. "And youre gorgeous, too," she added. "Very fine form."

[Dust]

The raven preened at the compliment given her appearance, then leapt from the statue and glided down to the grass near the Konti. There, she shifted, the bird-form coming apart in uncountable points of light which then flowed into a larger, human shape. Dust rose from her crouch and grinned at her companion. "Hello!" she greeted, her tone warm and chipper. "You're a Konti! Like Kavala and Tia'aria. Do you know them?" She took a moment to consider the other woman -- pale hair, very pale eyes, slender for her height, and with the drifts of scales across her skin gleaming in the sunlight. The Kelvic had yet to get tired of comparing Konti coloring to her own; if not for the lack of scales, and being a little more stocky of build, she might have been Konti in shape instead of human. It took a while to occur to Dust that her companion probably wasn't too comfortable with her own lack of clothing, at least if the examples of other people were anything to go by; she bent to pick up her clothes and started putting them back on. "I'm Dust," she offered, belatedly remembering the ritual of introduction. "What's your name?"

[M'ki]

M'ki watched in delight as the Kelvic raven shifted to human form-- naked human form, as M'ki had expected-- entranced by the shifting lights. When the Kelvic was done, M'ki offered her a grin. "No, I haven't met either of them, though I've heard of them," she responded. "And my name is M'ki." The Konti studied the Kelvic curiously; she'd met other Kelvics, briefly, but she'd never actually had a chance to truly have a conversation with one before.

As Dust was dressing, M'ki didn't feel the need to avert her eyes; they were both women, nothing they hadn't seen before, and her nudity didn't seem to bother Dust. "What's it feel like?" M'ki asked curiously. "To shift, I mean. It looks like it's either very pleasurable or very painful; like you're taking yourself apart and then putting yourself back together in a different shape."

[Dust]

Dust paused on the very cusp of pulling her shirt over her head, blinking across at M'ki. That wasn't quite a usual question! She squirmed into the garment before replying; it gave the Kelvic a convenient moment to review something she'd never even given much thought. "It doesn't really feel like anything at all," she answered after a few moments. "First I'm small, and then I'm not; it just... goes." Dust blinked again, then shrugged at her companion. "It's kinda like breathing that way, except I have to think about it a little more; it doesn't just happen by itself." A small red bird swooped past, Dust turning to watch it go -- the crimson jay again, off to find other things to cache against the impending winter. Dust smiled after its choppy flight, the series of beats and swoops which were characteristic of jays and finches. But she had someone new to talk with now, and that was infinitely more interesting! Now fully dressed except for shoes and hat, Dust flopped down on the grass beside her pack, a gesture inviting M'ki to sit as well. "Pretty much everyone in the city knows of Kavala," she allowed with a bit of a grin, returning to the earlier subject. "So do you live in Riverfall? All the other Konti I've met do. Sometimes it seems like it's almost a Konti city too, except there's way more Akalaks than anything else!"

[M'ki]

The Konti listened intently to the Kelvic's explanation, nodding slowly. "I guess that makes sense," she conceded. "Kelvics can shift since they're born, can't they? Makes sense that it's just... instinctual."

M'ki grinned at Dust's last comment. "Yes, there are," she laughed, folding her limbs to sit next to Dust. "And yes, I do live here; I've only been in Riverfall since mid-season. I grew up on Mura. But I... Well, I guess I never really felt at home in Mura. Sometimes Konti feel the Call, and I guess I'm one of them." She smiled at Dust again. "What about you? Do you live here?" Another thought occurred to her, and M'ki added, "Are you bonded? I've heard Kelvics bond to other races."

[Dust]

Dust tipped her head curiously as M'ki mentioned a place she'd never been. It sounded vaguely familiar... "Is Mura that place in the ocean? Out past Zeltiva?" Inasmuch as it was easily traveled to from Zeltiva... and that's where she had been when hearing of the city. Points clicked together in her head, reaching the obvious conclusion. "Is that where Konti are from?" The Konti mentioned something else interesting, along with Kelvic bonds, and the Kelvic's head tilted the other way. "Is the 'call' like a bond? Or like not having one?" Though that peculiarly Kelvic impulse was just as foreign to the Konti as her Call was to Dust. The Kelvic glanced in the direction of the city's gates, though they weren't quite visible from this point. "Well, I live at Sanctuary, which isn't quite in the city. It's a little ways up the road..." There followed a hesitation, a moment's pause, after which Dust shrugged and shook her head. "I'm not bonded yet. I've been here..." She stopped to count, ticking off on her fingers. "More than four seasons now. That's a long time --" to a young Kelvic's perspective " -- and I haven't found my bondmate here. I think I might need to look somewhere else; the Akalaks don't feel right, and they're... well, like I said, almost the whole city!"

[M'ki]

M'ki nodded. "Yes; Konti call Mura home. And yes, the call is like your bond, I think. Kelvics are driven to find their bondmates, aren't they? Sometimes Konti are driven to find their true purpose." The Konti watched the Kelvic, noting the similarities in behavior between the woman and the raven.

When Dust spoke of her lack of bondmate, M'ki made a sympathetic noise. "I know Kelvics don't necessarily need a bondmate, but it seems like it would be nice, to have someone like that." She was quiet for a moment before asking, "There's nothing you can do to actually find your bondmate? You just need to run into them?"

[Dust]

Something about the Konti's statements -- that was, the ones about Kelvics -- didn't ring true with Dust. She sat back, folding up her legs and loosely draping her arms about her knees, lips pressed together in thought. Did she not need a bondmate? Well, she hadn't found one yet, and she was doing just fine... so maybe that was true. But... "Do you need a purpose?" she asked of the Konti. "I mean, what kind of purpose would you have other than, well, living? Do you know what your purpose is?" The subject of how to find a bondmate, Dust let wait for the moment -- she wanted to know more about this 'Call' thing first.