[Flashback] They Grow Up So Fast (solo)

[Keyta]

64th Day of Summer, 510 AV The middle of summer brings unbelievable heat to the city of Ravok, and a small new born child is found playing outside. This new born, however, already has the physical appearance and mental understanding of a pre-teen. This child, born in Ravok, is not a human, but a Kelvic Fruit Bat being raised by her parents in secrecy and completely unaware of the danger she is in everyday from living in this city. The little girl runs playfully around the house, her eyes closed and mouth open, making noises no human can hear, training her in using echolocation. Keyta was only born three weeks ago and she has already begun learning what fruits she enjoys most. “Come inside and eat something for lunch Keyta dear,” the child’s mother calls out catching her as she comes running around the corner heading toward the door. The Kelvic girl continues running but leans to the left and turns into the house bolting right by her mother and heads toward the table. Taking her seat Keyta waits patiently for the meal her mother has made for lunch today and for her father to join her at the table. Looking side to side, the small girl sees neither parent near, can’t hear them either. Feeling anxious, the Kelvic quickly removes the clothing that bond her to her human form and turns back to her bat form flying in circles above the table. A tall man enters the room and sees the bat fluttering within the home and gives it a stare of disapproval. “Keyta, down please,” her father asks as he continues examining the bats flight pattern. The bat changes her direction and flips in the air turning back into her human self landing on her feet in front of her father; then she reaches her arms up to the ceiling and smiles with her eyes still closed. “Perfect as usual!” says the mother as she returns with a plate full of different fruits for all three of them. As Keyta turns to smile at her mother, Keyta’s father says “yes, a perfect landing for our beautiful daughter,” said the old man with a smirk on his face. “However Keyta,” he continued, “I need you to remember something, I need you to be careful to not let anyone see that you are actually a kelvic, the world is a cruel place, and one day you will see why.” Looks of worry cross his face as he kneels down to look his daughter in her eyes, “You shouldn’t let anyone you don’t trust see you transform or show your teeth to, we will let you do this inside but please, when anyone else is around you, stay in the form that you are currently using, and if you are in this form like you are now,” he stands back up and jokingly says “try to always be clothed.” The young child looks at her father blankly at first, but then seeing he was serious about his request, the girl nods and goes to sit down back at the table along with her mother who was already seated. “Come sit with us hun.” The family sits together and the tiny girl starts with one of the fruits on her plate and happens to notice her parents’ food is completely different. While her father and mother eat this food they called chicken, Keyta has only known the taste of the fruits her mother has given her. Finishing her fruit slower than before, she continues to examine the odd food her parents are eating. She touches her father’s arm and when he meets his eye with hers she looks away at first. Looking back up at him she, as politely as she can, points at his plate and then back to herself. The old man chuckles softly and cuts a small piece off, Keyta looks back at her plate and gets a lime to offer a trade with him. She places the lime on his plate and he hands the curious child the food called chicken. She looks at it for a moment, smells it, and puts it in her mouth, almost instantly she makes a face of displeasure but attempts to finish the small piece anyways. She manages to swallow the food only to end up squeezing her eyes shut and sticking her tongue out. “Didn’t think you would like it,” Keyta’s father says as they all continue the food on their own plates.

[Keyta]

The family continues their meals and cleaning the table of its contents. The small, still naked child grabs her clothes from the corner she had thrown them to earlier; as she does, the sound of knocking comes from the door she had run through before and in the door way stands an older lady, and three smaller children around her. Keyta’s mother sees them and then realizes her daughter is still unclothed and in the open, “Go along and get dressed Keyta, welcome Velyte, what brings you this way dear?” The small girl quickly huddles her clothes and runs into the next room to do as her mother asked. “We came to see the baby, the children were excited to meet their newborn cousin Marlia,” the other lady, Velyte, explains to her sister, Keyta’s mother, Marlia. Keyta takes it to heart to remember their names for it was the first time she had heard her mother’s true name before. Quickly, the small Kelvic child returns her small Tunic and boots upon her body and returns to the room with her mother. “So where is the child? Are you going to keep it from us?” Marlia places her hand on Keyta’s shoulder and tells the other lady “This, Velyte, is my daughter, their cousin.” Keyta looks at the crowd of four and bows slightly returning upright with a large, bright smile on her face. “But your child was born nearly a month ago, how could she be so big?” Keyta’s aunt questions as she looks down at her newly born niece. “Well Velyte, it would seem that someone in our family was of a different race, our daughter is a small newborn Kelvic, and she is still a blessing,” the Kelvic’s mother explains as she hugs her daughter from behind. “Oh my god Marlia, don’t you fear the trouble you can get into for raising this child? Has she been recorded in the Books of Ravok?” “I do not care to worry of the people of Ravok, Keyta is my daughter, and she will stay here with me. If you are displeased Velyte, then you may take your leave.” “I promised the children they would get to know their cousin, so we shall stay, and the children shall play while we speak in private.” With those words, the mother of the Kelvic child sends the small girl outside to play with her cousins. After Keyta runs outside, her mother shuts the down behind them and the two mothers begin to talk in private.

[Keyta]

Four human children and Kelvic girl sit in a circle outside in the heat of the middle of summer, the four human boys all stare at the lone girl, the only Kelvic of the group. “How did you grow so fast?” asks the youngest of the four, a small child of blonde hair and freckles on his face. “She isn’t human, that’s why, she is an animal,” says the child who appears second oldest of the group. “Shut up Lavidyth, she is still family, she is one of us,” replies the oldest, black hair covering half of his face. He looks away from Keyta for a moment to look at his cruel bother. Anger sweeps the face of the boy named Lavidyth, and he exclaims “I would rather die than accept this thing as one of us!” With those words, the Kelvic looks up at this boy in time to see him stagger to his feet while rushing toward her. She rolls to the side as Lavidyth stubbles across the land she was once sitting. Regaining his balance, the angered child redirections himself to give the Kelvic a frightening stare. “Enough!” yells out the oldest standing between them. “I will not let you get to her,” he ensures his younger brother standing tall over both of us. “You don’t even know what you protect, she could threaten our very lives,” he yells out with extreme anger, “I will not let you stand in my way!” With those words he rushes toward his brother, crashing into him having both of them collapse on the ground, and Keyta left to watch in awe. Dirt flies into the sky as the two brothers wrestle on the ground, arms swinging at each other with every movement. Lavidyth eventually lands a perfect punch directly into the stomach of his brother, leaving the boy limp, and with that, Lavidyth arose from the battle grounds to face the Kelvic once more. The youngest brothers starts to cry in fear as he sees his oldest brother lying in front of him and Lavidyth still standing to fight their newest family member. Keyta stand with her hands in front of her trying to get ready to defend herself as needed, hopefully this would end before it starts. With no relief in sight, the Kelvic begins to cry as she sees such anger in her cousin’s face. The troubled boy charges toward his Kelvic cousin yelling in anger as he runs with heavy footsteps. The bat inside this girl hears the footsteps over the sight of his moving toward her and takes a step to the left. Remembering this similar move from before, he plants his foot to the right and tackles Keyta taking her to the ground. Thoughts of the oldest brother still lying on the ground, the girl knows she must regain her feet or suffer the same or worse from this boy. Lavidyth throws his fist toward her face but misses when she moves just out of the way; Keyta turns her head and bites firmly in his wrist. Blood dripping to the ground from her mouth as he shrieks in pain and she takes her knee to his groin to attempt t free herself from his grip. By this time, the youngst boy has run back to the house and begun banging his fists against the door as Keyta and Lavidyth regain their footing giving each other stares. Blood drips from the mouth of the Kelvic and from the wrist of the human boy, each waiting for the other to move, waiting to see what they need to do next. Keyta goes to wipe the blood from her lips when the angered child leaps forward, rolling across the ground grabbing a full hand of dirt in the process. The tosses this dirt into the face of the girl forcing the girl to cover her eyes and rubs at them vigorously trying to get the dirt out of her eyes. The boy gets back to his feet and begins running toward Keyta and jumps at her to tackle her again; the Kelvic hears the lack of steps in time to duck out of his reach and sends him flying over her. He tumbles across the ground and she remains low, her eyes burning from the sand collected in her eyes, and he begins to run again. Keyta take notice of each step, heavy in the dirt, his clothes fluttering as he runs, his voice getting closer to her by each second. She waits till he gets closer and jumps out to try and tackle him herself, but he was further then she thought he was, landing short at his feet, but tripping him sending him plummeting to the ground. His face hitting the solid ground first, blood gushing from his nose as the two mothers finally emerge from the house. The once angered boy, now crying in pain, gets up and runs toward his mother, the blinded girl, only sits up and continues rubbing her eyes, crying as she was before. Both mother arguing about who is to blame as two boys are now blooded and injured, and only one girl, blood still dripping from her mouth, who has left a mark on the wrist of Lavidyth.

[Keyta]

Sounds of footsteps, screaming children, yelling words, so overwhelming, as chaotic as it all is, the small girl still sitting by herself, eyes shut with pain, can tell almost exactly where everyone is. The sound of her own mother rushing toward her, “Keyta!” she yells while on the move. “Oh my god! Come here baby, we’re going to get you cleaned up and everything will be ok.” Her mother’s words soothing the fear that still lay in Keyta’s mind, the whole fight still fresh, every detail still fixed as if she were still fighting it. The anger sounds of Keyta’s aunt yelling words in a jumble, we passed them so quickly, but as we passed, sounds of her father stepping outside and he begins to talk with Velyte. Keyta is rushed into the bathing room and told to stand in the room as her mother strips her daughter in preparations for her bathing. The smell of the water within the pool fills the room and her mother continues to remove the clothing stained in the blood of the boy who attacked her. Lifted in the pool, the Kelvic girl feels the cooling water cover her completely; refreshing her from the heat, her mother takes a rag and wipes her eyes to remove the dirt that burns beneath. The mother cleans her daughter as she hums a melody, comforting the young Kelvic, and hoping for this day to not scar her daughter past her dreams. Marlia carries her child out of the bathing room and takes her back to her bed room, setting her carefully on her soft bed. Keyta opens her eyes, finally able to see again, and see her mother smiling at her as she gets up to let her child sleep for the night. The young Kelvic’s eyes feel heavy, and slowly begin to close, a smirk crosses her face as her mother leaves the room, allowing her to sleep for the night.

[Keyta]

The small, uninjured girl awakens, within the safety of her soft bed, to see the oldest brother entering her room. He quietly enters with a look of fear as he thinks he has just awoken the small Kelvic; he continues to walk in anyways and approaches her bedside. He gets on his knees and rests his arms on her bed, he says “I must apologize for my brother, you see, we are all shocked is all, we were expecting to meet a small baby child, and your size just startled us.” The girl looks at him with her lightly colored eyes, mouth slightly opened and her hands still on her pillow resting in front of her face. “We are still family, so if you need anything, be sure to get me, I will help you surely.” With those finishing words, he pushed himself up, and started walking out of her room, it wasn’t until then she noticed him walking with a limp, careful to not let too much weight on his left leg. The little girl climbs out of her bed and looks around realizing her clothes had been discarded due to the blood that stained them. Still naked, she left her room to look for her mother and bring the matter to her attention; she was in need of new clothes, which meant she would get to go to the market with her mother again. Keyta enjoyed going places with her mother, the market was a place of many smells, many people, and so many items to look at, once there was a man selling little Kelvic puppies, the girl looked at them with such awe of how cute there were to her, but her mother quickly snatched her up and carried her back home. It was from that day the little Kelvic had figured out where babies came from, so she never had to ask her parents, she was extremely proud of herself for figuring out something so important. Keyta finds her mother in the main room and at that moment, she notices a robe next to her that she is given to wear until they find new clothes in the market later today. The robe was a plain brown robe, no extra special details except for a pocket on the outside, and only one at that. Aunt Velyte was still there, and she actually got up and apologized to Keyta, telling her that her oldest son, Bryan, had just told her the full story of how Lavidyth had become enraged. Hoping to find forgiveness, Velyte offered a hug to the Kelvic which she happily accepted and even kissed her neck; it seems the aunt wasn’t expecting the kiss as she jumped when Keyta did so. It would seem the boy who attacked her had been properly punished for her was sitting in the corner of the room crying to himself. The Kelvic felt bad for him and started walking toward him to see if she might be able to make him feel better; she was however stopped by her mother “Keyta, leave the boy be.” Lavidyth bowed his head and started crying quietly now, and Keyta, still confused by the whole thing, left him and walked over to her mother. “So when does William return?” asked the old aunt, looking right over Keyta and to her mother. The Kelvic’s mother picks up the small girl and places her in her own lap, “I’m not sure, he said he had business to attend to, only the god’s know when he plans to return.” “The fool doesn’t still gamble on those fights does he?” sounding a little sarcastic but yet still very serious. The Kelvic looks at her aunt in confusion, who is William? And what is gambling? And is this William truly a fool? “Velyte, he gave up those games when we gave birth to Keyta, it truly is amazing to see how worlds change when a child is born,” says Keyta’s mother, patting her little head and smiling down to her. Keyta had finally put the puzzle together; William is her father’s real name, like Marlia is her mother’s actual name. Is the Kelvic’s father really a fool? And she still wishes she knew what gambling meant, and how that makes a father a fool. “Well that’s good, putting up money on those creatures…” “Shush!” Marlia interrupted suddenly, even Keyta jumped from the volume of her mother’s voice. “Things like that need not be mentioned with…” she looks down at Keyta who is innocently looking back up at her mother, “with the children around.” “I do apologize, I did not think of the children when the thought came through my head, well if you would like dear, I can watch the home while you take Keyta out to get new clothes, are you sure I gave you enough?” “Yes dear, twenty miza is well over enough, I even told you you do not even need to pay for it, I only accepted it because you were so persistent.” “Well I still feel bad, and I would give more, but please, let the child bring back clothes that light her face with a smile, I will let William know if he returns before you where you are.” With those words, the mothers both stand up, exchanged hugs and the Kelvic along with her mother head out to the market to look for new clothes for the young child.

[Keyta]

The sun still high in the sky, the two women walk down the roads of the famous Ravok Market. It was nice living so close to the market, everything anyone would ever need was sold here, and everyone was letting the walkers know what they sold. Hundreds of voices blended together, “Come get your fishelling the finest selection of dimats, new born Kelvic cats, all of the finest fruits, fruits of the world, as far as Koood, get your meals for the day here,” so many voices, barely making any sense as they scream over each other. The Kelvic and her mother continue walking, the small girl following each step as Marlia seems to know exactly where she is going. Keyta’s mother lead her daughter into a building, and this building was full of different clothes of all colors and sizes, it was wonderful. “Alright Keyta, Mrs. Velyte was nice enough to give us more than enough silver to buy you a full new outfit to wear, I want you to take your time and pick out what you like,” said the girl’s mother, showing the room of clothes to her, allowing her to run freely for a moment. Keyta smiles with joy and runs into the labyrinth of clothes in search of her next outfit. Running through the assortment of clothes, the small Kelvic runs across a top that seemed odd compared to traditional top wear; it was a tunic that looked like a vest cross over and made of leather. Still far larger than Keyta was, the tunic fit over her easily, and at her current height, reached down to her knees. Excited she had found a tunic that fit comfortably, she went in search for a shirt to wear underneath, eventually stumbling upon an orange cloth shirt. Checking around her, she quickly striped the robe and put the shirt on followed by the tunic, liking her pick, she carried the robe back to her mother and get her invoice. “Aw, that looks rather cute Keyta,” said her mother, “Looks like you can grow into this for awhile too; now I think your of the right age to need some shorts, here, try these,” Keyta’s mother hands her daughter a pair of cloth shorts matching the under shirt she was wearing. “Great, now just go find some foot wear you like and come back so I can pay for them.” With those words, the Kelvic girl runs back into the store and before running into the shoes, she run across a stripe of leather that is used as a belt, but since it matched so perfectly, she thought she would try it on, and help give her a little shape to the tunic. Happy with the find, she runs to the back of the store to find some kind of foot wear and stumbles along rather short black leather boots that fit like they were made for her. After Marlia paid for the new clothes, the two found themselves back on the road and heading back home, however, on the trip, there was an odd collection of Slave and Pet traders lining the streets. Keyta still oblivious to the truth, her mother covered her ears and quickened their pace past them all. Looking at all the faces they passed, the Kelvic girl couldn’t understand why some where happy, others sad, most naked, few clothed, and how where they being sold like clothes? Hurried along, Keyta and her mother made it back home before even her father managed to return, aunt Velyte scavenging through the food in the shelves. “Ah! You have returned, and just as I thought I might be able to surprise you with dinner, oh well, let me see Keyta’s new clothes, I’m excited to see what she has chosen.” The tiny girl quickly perks up and shows off her new outfit, “Quite a taste, I don’t think I have ever seen an outfit quite like that before.” A smile found its way onto Keyta’s face and she twirled in happiness, just as she did, her father came walking in through the door. “Sorry I’m so late, I…” his voice trailed off as he caught glance of his daughter, “Nice outfit, anyways, I’m sorry for being late, but I have made a nice trade, now, let us get dinner started.” With those words, William and Marlia walked into the kitchen and Velyte watched the children as they all played peacefully together, all but Lavidyth, who still sits in his corner by himself.

[Keyta]

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[Seth]

+1 Brawling XP +1 Blind Fighting XP +1 Running XP Lores: The Love of a Mother, Kelvics in Ravok, Keeping your Darn Clothes on!, Sorrow of Slavery, Dirty Tactics (Sand in the face!). The Method behind my Madness : The Brawling and Blind-Fighting XP were awarded because of your little scuffle. I awarded a point in Brawling because of the way you fought in the first half of the "match". With the biting, and the general "rough" way you fought... it reminded me of a brawl. You got the point in blind fighting because of the second part of the match, where you had the sand in your eyes. The Running XP was awarded because Keyta runs EVERYWHERE. She is a hyper little Kelvic! I would like to bring up one problem I found. A human, even a human with a Kelvic form, would not be able to use echolocation. Human ears just aren't built to hear such sounds, and their throats definitely aren't built to make such sound. Especially since you are mute. That confused me a bit. You may happen to have above-average hearing or smelling while in your human form, though! That is possible, although it wouldn't be as good as it would be in Bat form. Also, when I did a little research... According to Wikipedia, Fruit Bats don't use echolocation. Only one does, and he does it by making clicking noises. I don't mean to totally badmouth your character, here. I actually enjoyed reading this. I just wanted to keep you informed!