Step Right Over (Edalene)

[Ariel]

18 Winter, 510 AV Ariel was walking through the grass a few feet away from a large fire, which had several people gathered around it, sitting on fallen logs and large stones, trying to heat themselves up. As she was merrily strolling along, whistling a wordless tune, she noticed a large shadow looming over her. Sparing only an instant to look up, when she realized a foot was going to come down flat on her face if she wasn't careful. Ariel quickly dove out of the way, brushing herself off as she got back up, noticing that a little speckle of dirt had clung to her clay form. "Hey, watch where you're going!" she said with a scowl, waving her tiny fists up at the large figure that was a few feet away from her, as if nothing had happened here. Perhaps the woman didn't hear her, she couldn't be sure of how far her voice would carry, or if the woman would bother to look down, so she ran as quick as she could, leaping over tiny rocks, so that she could be next to the woman who easily towered over her. She punched the woman's shoes, doubting that she had felt it. Ariel was simply angry, why was it that no one bothered to look down? After all, they may step on someone, like herself. So she punched the woman's shoe again, but harder this time. It hurt her clay hand, stifling an "owww," as she waved her aching hand about miserably. It probably looked like she was waving at the woman, Ariel thought, as she looked into the woman's aura, quickly, seeing nothing but horses. What a surprise, another drykas, Ariel thought to herself as she howled to the woman, "would you look down?" certain that the woman hadn't noticed her yet. How could she possibly when she had nearly stepped on Ariel just a moment before.

[Edalene]

Eda, having been wandering for most of the day, found her footsteps bringing her back to the Stalk Meet. Looking around, she wondered at how she had got there, as she did not remember making any of the twists and turns through the pavillions that were necessary to get to the Endrykas meeting place. It was subconcious, Eda guessed. A subconcious wandering back to the place where she had met a certain handsome Drykas. Perhaps a subconcious hoping that she would bump into him again? Eda shook her head, reminding herself not to have such high hopes, and just to take the day as it came - even if it were without Ka--. But no, she stopped her throughts there.

Glancing down absently, she saw a sudden shifting of grass and a shadow. Strange, Eda thought, that the grass should be moving when there was no wind and a frost. Looking back up, Eda kept walking, when she thought she heard the murmur of a shout towards her. Looking around hopefully, hoping it were... well, guess who, she tried to locate the source of the maybe-voice. She couldn't find anything, however. She kept walking. As she walked, she felt a twinge on her foot, but shook her foot off, hoping to stretch it out. Eda collapsed with a sigh on one of the stones surrounding the fire, warming her chilled bones and wrapping her dark brown cloak closer around her.

[Ariel]

The woman seemed to be ignoring her, merely shaking her foot as though she were trying to get something out of her shoe- liking an annoying pebble. Ariel took a slight offense- why was it that no one ever seemed to notice her existence? she wondered, as she watched the woman collapse on a stone by the fire, and wrap her dark brown cloak more closely around her. Looking up at her, Ariel tuned into her aura for a brief moment, it was a swirl of warm brown tinged with green and other earthen tones. The woman didn't seem to be experiencing anything in particular, as far as Ariel could tell. Browns in an aura always confused her- unlike other colors, such as red, their meanings were subtle, and differed greatly based off a slight change in the shade of the brown, something that she didn't always pick up on with a quick glance. So she hoped to Harameus that she was right, and wasn't about to start a scene. Taking in a deep breath, and puffing up her chest to seem larger, placing her hands on her hips, Ariel marched up to the woman, stopping right next to her shoe, and giving it the hardest kick she could muster. "Hey! I was talking to you!" she called up to the woman. "And it's rather rude when you ignore someone," she stopped to remove her hands from her hips, and begin using the woman's shoe as a punching bag for her frustrations, punching so hard, and with such poor form, over and over again, that she chipped a few clay nails in the process, yet, she thought very little of it, knowing they'd grow back with time. "And you really should watch where you're going!" Ariel hollered up at the women, thinking her utterly rude, clueless, and generally unobservant. Giants, Ariel thought, always had their stupid heads in the clouds. Giving the woman's shoe one last punch for good measure, before stopping, allowing herself to catch her breath, and start to slow her little clay heart, which was beating furiously in her chest. It truly did match her emotions, as she waited for the woman's response, having heard nothing, should she have said something, or noticed Ariel during her angry outbursts.

[Edalene]

Eda jumped as the largest twinge yet wracked her foot. Really, the pain was unprecedented. Eda glanced down, preparing to take off her boot, bracing the cold in order to get whatever was causing her foot so much pain out of her petching shoe, when Eda saw probably the strangest thing she had seen in... well, forever. Standing right next to her boot, yelling angrily up at her, was a small clay statue. Eda did a double take, certain she had lost her mind. A clay midget was sitting there punching the living daylights out of her shoe. Eda had lost it. "I've gone insane, petch, I've gone insane... damn, and life was beginning to go so well too!"

She screwed her eyes shut, hoping that when she opened them, her delusion would be gone. She opened her eyes. It wasn't. Maybe, if she spoke to her delusion, it would disappear. "Hi, no, I wasn't ignoring you. One cannot ignore a figment of imagination." Eda was determinedly staring up at the sky whilst talking to the strange clay stature, hoping to the Gods that no one she knew would walk in and see her talking to herself.

[Ariel]

"I've gone insane, petch, I've gone insane... damn, and life was beginning to go so well too!" the woman cried as Ariel continued punching her shoe. Ariel looked up, the woman's face seemed so distant and far away, and so strangely distraught, etched with creases, on her now-furrowed brow, little crows feet by the edges of the eyes, as the woman continued to struggle with the notion that she may very well be insane, in her eyes; but Ariel knew better, this woman wasn't insane, just unobservant and rude. Or maybe she was insane too, it was too early to truly tell, wasn't it? "Hi, no, I wasn't ignoring you. One cannot ignore a figment of imagination," the woman said to Ariel, as she looked up at the sky, as if willing it to explain the current state of things to her. Ariel shook her head, and crossed her arms over her chest, her bag was slung over her side, and resting just below her left elbow. They never learn, she thought to herself as a little candle lit up over her head. Surely it would be more fun to go with this woman's crazy notion than to inform her that she was indeed, a true entity. Ariel leaned in a little bit as she said this, nose practically touching the woman's dirty shoe, "well," she began, "you could ignore your imagination," she paused again, "although that might not always be a good idea," she said as she unfolded her arms, and pointed her right hand at the woman again, before giving her shoe another little poke with her right pointer finger. "After all," another pause, "we may have something rather IMPORTANT to tell you," she said as she gazed up at the woman, whose head appeared to be floating way up high in the clouds.

[Edalene]

Eda sneaked a glance down again, then quickly shot her eyes back up. "There is a clay midget right beside my feet. Why, Gods, where is there a clay midget in my imagination? Why?" Eda jumped as the said delusion began speaking to her. Perhaps the little clay statue was right,perhaps she shouldn't ignore her imagination. No good could come of that. That would be like completely disregarding every thought she'd ever had. Eda therefore looked down, and examined the little delusion.

The clay statue was small, only reaching up to the tip of her boot. It was in the form of a little woman with wings, and was currently poking her foot, and hard. This statue had quite a strong punch, Eda realised. It was far too firm and rather too painful to be a delusion. Eda began to question her strong reaction, when the statue spoke again. "Really, now, little statue, you have something important to tell me? And what could that be? That you are not a figment of my imagination at all, and are rather real?" Eda had realised that believing this strange little being a hallucination was ridiculous. After all, why should she dream up a talking clay statue? Why would said hallucination be so violent, and how could Eda recieve actual pain from the punches and pokes? Eda had realised, with some embarrassment, that the being was real. "But what are you?"

[Ariel]

"There is a clay midget right beside my feet. Why, Gods, where is there a clay midget in my imagination? Why?" the woman said, as she glanced down at her, and then back up, jumping up at Ariel's words, and nearly hitting her, but Ariel, thankfully, managed to get out of the way just in the nick of time. Having to pull herself off the bottom of one's shoes would not be a good use of her time, Ariel thought, as she gazed up at the peculiar woman. "Or perhaps you should be asking, why hasn't your mind imagined a small clay woman before," Ariel said, giving the woman's shoe another poke, as the giantess said, "really, now, little statue, you have something important to tell me? And what could that be? That you are not a figment of my imagination at all, and are rather real?" Ariel gazed up at her, not wanting to end her little game so soon, but starting to realize she may have to from the woman's aura. It was foggy, a strange grey all around, but with a little yellow light starting to shine through in the top, it reminded Ariel of the sun, and it kept on growing and growing and getting brighter. Ariel turned away, the aura seeming to disappear in a puff of misty grey fog. "But what are you?" the woman asked. "What am I?" Ariel began, hands moving directly to her hips, as she turned her head back to gaze up at the woman. "WHAT AM I?" Ariel said again, but louder this time, "SHOULDN'T YOU BE TELLING ME WHO ARE YOU?" she shouted, before muttering under her breath, a single word, and that was "rude."

[Edalene]

Eda began to get a little irritated at this silly clay statue thing, if she were being honest with herself. How dare it make so many demands of her? If it was a figment of her imagination, well, then shouldn't it be nice to herself, and if it weren't, it could at least have some common decency and manners! For example, NOT poking her foot and punching her boot! Eda growled with irritation. She reached out and placed one hand on either wing, pinching it between forefinger and thumb, and lisfted the strange being onto the stone beside her.

"Rude?" Eda raised an eyebrow at this stange creature, feeling, for the first time in a while, rather more mature than the person she was conversing with. "I should say, unless manners are completely different in the Land of the Clay Midgets, that rude constitutes punching someones foot and yelling at them, making demands for information they have no right to." Eda smiled smugly at the "thing", certain she had just won a battle. "but seeing as you are impatient and evidently used to being given what they want, I shall make introductions first."

Eda stood up suddenly, having realised that she could have some fun with the strange, but definitely real, being at her feet. She threw back her furlined coat, trying to ignore the sudden chill she felt. "I am Edalene, First Class Warrior of the Diamond Clan, Lord of Endrykas!" Eda drew out her broadsword dramatically, watching the winter frost shimmer against the blade. Hopefully, Eda's little moment of dramatics put the strange thing in its place.

[Ariel]

Ariel kicked her legs and flailed her arms wildly as the woman reached out and grabbed each of her wings in her fingers, and placed Ariel on the stone beside her. Ariel placed her arms back over her chest when she her feet touched back down on solid ground. "Rude?" the woman said as she raised one of her eyebrows. Ariel glared up at her, as the woman continued, "I should say, unless manners are completely different in the Land of the Clay Midgets, that rude constitutes punching someone's foot and yelling at them, making demands for information they have no right to." Ariel glared up at her. "Well YOU were the one who nearly stepped on me! Apparently it's too difficult for your kind to bother to look where they're going!" Ariel shouted back as she put her hands on her hips and stuck out her little clay tongue. Perhaps the woman didn't hear her, or was simply ignoring her, because she continued on in her little speech, "but seeing as you are impatient and evidently used to being given what they want, I shall make introductions first." The woman stood up suddenly, and threw back her fur-lined coat; a gust of wind hitting her in the chest. "I am Edalene, First Class Warrior of the Diamond Clan, Lord of Endrykas!" Edalene proclaimed, as she drew her sword and it began to glint in the winter light. Ariel looked up at it, never having really gotten a good look at it before. She retracted her tongue, but left her hands on her hips. She eyed the sword, it seemed to shine a bright silver color, and waver a bit in the light. The blade seemed to be shaking. "Well Ms. Edalene," Ariel began, "I'm Ariel," she said as she stuck out her little right hand to Edalene, as though she may actually shake it with one of her giant fingers. "And if you are who you claim to be, shouldn't you be able to hold your own blade without making it sway like a wheat field on a windy day?" She paused for a moment, "and shouldn't you have a crown, or even a scepter?"

[Edalene]

Having finished her little dramatic act, Eda paused. Why did she do that? Surely the thing… ‎whatever It was… wasn’t stupid enough to actually believe what she had said. Some rubbish ‎about being the Lord of Endrykas? Eda smiled to herself as she remembered the days of her ‎youth when she had dreamt of being Endrykas’ queen, on a gleaming white Strider, with a ‎glittering broadsword in her hands. Well, she had the glittering broadsword… didn’t have ‎the Strider… Little kids dreams weren’t attainable, it seemed. But she was brought back to ‎the present when the clay thing began to speak again.
‎
Eda hesitantly reached out her hand, not quite sure how this handshake with the so called ‎‎“Ariel” was going to work. Her pinky finger was about three times bigger than the statues ‎enitre hand, for petching sake. “Ariel… you have not told me what you are, Ariel. You ‎probably know I am a Drykas, unless you are completely ignorant, but I must admit, I have ‎no idea as to what you are.”‎

Eda smiled slightly as the statue began to pull her up on her tales. “Well, it seems you have ‎figured me out. I am not the Lord of Endrykas, so I do not have a crown, or a sceptre. I do ‎however, have this broadsword. And I can indeed hold my own blade without making it ‎sway.” Eda stood up and concentrated on the muscles in her right arm, tensing and relaxing ‎them, making sure their strength was up to scratch. She raised the blade so that she could ‎see her face reflected in it, as if a mirror, and tensed all muscles in her shoulder. Using the ‎training she had been taught since she was young, she flicked the sword in diagonals, faster ‎and faster around her body, the blade slicing the air and creating a ‘whoosh’ of noise. This ‎got faster and faster until Eda stopped, the blade at a right angle to her body, held out. ‎There was not a quiver in the blade. ‎