Unfamiliar Streets (Nehsmay, Seliarus, Lelio, and Tohka))

[Nehsmay]

Nehsmay stopped in her tracks and glanced at the surrounding forest. The wind was blowing softly making the leaves sing a rustling song in their trees. Somewhere near a river was sparkling softly adding its sound to the symphony of natural sounds. All in all it was a beautiful time to be outside in the wild. The Vantha girl took a rubber band from her pocket in order to bind her hair in a ponytail leaving two strands of hair to hang loosely around her face. "The weather is so beautiful we may as well take a walk and see what we find in the woods. We have all the time in the world to return to the city in time for sunset so that we can find a room and you guys can see about your jobs." She pondered what they could find interesting in the woods and absentmindedly touched her shortbow. She hadn't practiced her weapon of choice in a long time, perhaps it was time to see to it. "Maybe we can even have a competition of some sorts if we stop somewhere in the forest to rest." She smiled and asked brightly "Which direction should we go: north, south, east, west? What do you think?"

[Seliarus]

Seliarus silently followed until they stopped, and he managed to let out a soft sigh, as he could relate to the peace and quiet in the outside of the town. He took a moment to look around faintly, forcing a faint, fake smile on his lips. The tip of his tongue traveled across his own lips, as he tried to taste the air, that was so different, yet to same at the same moment. he quickly snapped out and looked around, at his two companions, and listening to the Vantha talking. "Competsssition? What kind of competsstiton?" He managed to ask, wondering what she might have in mind. "Jussst...Go wesst. It alwaysss feelsss like a nicssse way. Sssun leavesss wessst. It looksss...ssspecial." He added, but then shrugging in return. "Unlessss you two have...Anything againssst?"

With those words, he managed to peer in the sky, his smile now fading, and as he looked back down, he was already wearing his emotionless mask, just waiting for them to say the last word.

[Nidassasyae]

Nidae took a deep breath, feeling the sun warm her face. Out here, out of the city, there were no walls, no barriers. Though this was no wilderness, there was still some wild land, the forest before her was proof of that. Nothing to stop her from running free, no restraints, no crowd. Just freedom. She grinned, tasting the scents of the forest with the roof of her mouth. She yearned to change back into her true form, to be back on the security of four legs again, yet she did not. Nidassasyae understood that this was a brief time of leisure, a small break from their traveling. She'd not be able to talk with her friends while they were still in good humor, if she reverted back to leopard form. Her grin widened as Nidae observed Sel doing something similar, tasting the air with his tongue. She supposed his brief taste produced much better results than hers, her human form's sense of smell was almost insulting. "Competition?" Nidassasyae shrugged. She didn't know what it was that people did in competitions. With her siblings, it was about hunting and play fighting. Who knew what humans did for competitions? "West sounds great," Nidae grinned, not really caring which direction they went. North, South, East, West. It didn't really mean anything. Too soon, they would have to come back here, back to the city. Back to those Gods cursed walls.

[Nehsmay]

West... west was where the sun left the sky letting the moon take its place. West was were an abundance of colors appeared on the sky at sunset just before night fell. West was good.... "West sounds perfect." Nehsmay said happily clearly in her element between the rustling leaves. "I'm not sure what kind of competition, I never took part in one. Most of the other kids did, but I spent most of the time inside. Let's see there are singing competitions, storytelling competitions, archery ones, riding, basically humans are able to turn almost everything in a competition." She walked a few steps forwards heading west and inhaled the fresh scent of the forest. "Well, let's go, shall we? We can take the time to think about a competition on the road, right?"

[Seliarus]

Seliarus simply shrugged. West it was. He didn't really, in all honesty to himself mind which way, but, heck at least they are not making unnecessary long breaks and just pity themselves because of not knowing which way to go. He hated that. So when the Vantha started to move, the Dhani was sure to follow, keeping his distance. Just so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable, then even though both of them said they don't mind what he was, he still had problems believing that. That prejudgment might as well stick for a bit more.

"Competicssion...Ssssilly thingsss that make people mad, and they ssstart a blood river, with their ssswords, and axsses, and bright ssstave- " He quickly went silent, as he realized that maybe speaking of a massacre as a competition wouldn't be exactly wise. But he liked blood. Well... "What I'm trying to sssay, let'sss not get carried away." He nodded, trying to make up for the mistake. He hoped the two would understand his a bit sadistic nature, but, even if they didn't, he warned them before they even started. "Nevermind..." he simply added, shaking his head.

[Nidassasyae]

Nidassasyae sniffed at the dried leaves, eyeing them with uncertainty. On their way here, she'd seen many such trees shed their leaves, and it seemed a bit unnatural to her. The leopard liked the scent of the evergreens, and their small green needles. They were not bare, and did not turn such odd shades of gold and orange. She grimaced at the crackle that sounded as she delicately walked through the leaves. Yes, the trees were certainly much better up North. She felt a twinge of longing and homesickness. Regret was certainly an odd feeling, and though she did not regret leaving her home, she regretted leaving her family. She felt shame at running. Such emotions were foreign to her, and the leopard girl did not understand them. Animals did not feel such things, though the emotions were certainly not strong. A wild thing, she only thought of the now, not of the distant future. Nidae dealt with problems as they came, and did not let her mind linger on them. It might seem callous to some, but it was simply how any wild animal lived. Death did not preoccupy their minds, neither did the coming winter. The hunt and survival were what she only used to think of. Now she thought of friendship. Nidae loved her family, it was as simple as that. But, if life had gone on as it had, she would have left them anyways. In a full rotation of the seasons, she would have traveled miles, crossed wild territory, to find her own place. She would never have seen them again. It wasn't cold practicality, rather how her kind lived. If she found them again, then the world would be perfect. But they would still go back to Taldera, still go their separate ways. Regardless, she would never see them again. Nidassasyae came out of her musings when Seliarus began to talk about competitions. After listening to him speak, and licking her lips when he mentioned blood, she shook her head. "If that's how humans compete, then I'm not too sure that a competition would be wise." She didn't realize that Sel had made a mistake. She, who knew nothing about human ways, simply thought that was what humans did. It seemed terribly wasteful to Nidae, to compete and then only to kill each other. There was no point! Then again, was there a point to living in a house? And just how did humans think to build beds? Awful things, beds. 'What's a sword?" Nidassasyae asked brightly, remembering the unknown word Seliarus had used. She supposed it was some kind of weapon, hearing it mentioned with the word 'axe'. The leopard had helped chop wood before, so she knew what an axe was, and she supposed that it could do some damage to a person, as Seliarus had implied when speaking of a 'blood river'.

[Nehsmay]

Nehsmay pondered on what Seliarus had said... sure competition tended to start wars and wars brought destruction, but not always. There were friendly competitions too that made people laugh and be happy. "You're right in one sense, Seliarus. Competition brews war and war brews destruction, pain and anguish, but there are friendly competitions too like those between two children who race in order to find out who can reach his mother first or storytelling competitions when the storytellers sit around a fire weaving tales while the other one listen with rapture what is going to happen next." She smiled remembering fondly some of those said competitions. "The winner will then be voted by the listeners and will win a mug of cider and a delicious apple tart." "A sword?" Nehsmay asked in surprise then remembered that probably the Kelvic never saw an item like that. "A sword is like a dagger, only longer and wider. It is very sharp and used in duels or to defend oneself. The Syliran Knights carry swords everywhere they go. Personally I find a bow easier to handle, but who am I to judge them?"

[Nidassasyae]

OOCLet's try and wrap this up so we can be in Zeltiva for Winter 1. Nidae didn't exactly think the idea of an apple tart sounded very rewarding, but she didn't say anything. After all, humans liked to eat prey foods, it wasn't their fault they had no taste for meat. "Oh," nodded Nidassasyae as she heard Nehsmay's explanation of a sword. A super long and sharp dagger? Oh yes, she had seen a few knights with those strapped to their belts. It hadn't really seemed important at the time, so she didn't worry about it. Now she tried to remember exactly what it looked like, so she could be wary of it in the future. "A bow does seem smart, you can pick your enemies off from a distance." It seemed like the most intelligent weapon Nidae had yet heard of. Your enemy would be dead before it even came within biting distance! Now that was a weapon! Of course, she much preferred good claws and fangs, having never tried wielding anything except a spear. The leaves rustled when the companions moved Westward. Syna's golden glow warmed the air, and it smelled of trees and grass. Of freedom. Their footsteps fell amongst crackling leaves, and a sense of peace fell upon Nidae.

[Seliarus]

"...Hhmm." He hummed, thinking over that. Who is going to compete in a storytelling competition? The Dhani couldn't even pronounce a sentence without hissing, and he didn't even know any stories. But, if the two girls would be okay with that, he'd simply listen. Cider? Oh, that apple drink he got introduced before. That wasn't exactly tempting, but, what was tempting to him? He doubt he could share his own ideas.

Besides, his own ideas were not exactly that what most people would call fun. And it probably did not contain two people running to their mothers. Well, maybe the running would be included. After that thought, he forced himself not to chuckle. Instead, he let out a fake cough, before looking up in the air. "That...Or we make a little game of luck ssome merchantss once sshown me." He said, deciding that could work. All they would do was just throwing dices, and they could make some tasks for the one who loses. He lightly shrugged. He had no idea if the two would agree with that or not, but he was ready to drop that idea if no one was interested.

[Nehsmay]

Nehsmay loved her surroundings... she loved the crystal clear whisper of the river hidden deep in the forest, the rustle of the golden leaves barely hanging on their branches, the smell of dirt and freshness... She loved everything because it made her feel free, made her feel alive and healthy able to do anything she wanted. "We could do that.We could play that game..." she pondered then her face broke into a brilliant smile. "We can do anything we want... there's no one to say no here." In childlike amazement as if she just noticed a shiny toy Nehsmay ran ahead of the others a few paces and started twirling around in a pile of leaves, streaks of red and yellow flying everywhere around her as she laughed in delight. "I'm free..." she whispered to the wind and gazed at the horizon smiling.