The Fox and the Cat [Soren]

by **Isette** on March 15th, 2011, 7:46 am

He said something about Mika and then…Water! Isette smiled. She knew that word. And she thought he mentioned that he had extra. “Water, please?” she asked in common. This was again repeated in Lhavitian. She liked this new game. His speech was heavily accented, but he was probably experiencing the same thing from her. Isette was starting to relax. She was even smiling.

The meat was almost gone. But before she had a chance to mourn over the fact, Soren Thundersong offered her more food. Or something. She wasn’t too clear on that part, but she did gather that he had cheese and an apple and…What else? More meat? She sniffed in the direction of his bag but found the only meat smell coming from her own bag. Nope. She smelled…bread. And there was another smell that she did not recognize. “Cheese, please? And, what is…peesh?” Once more, her words were repeated in Lhavitian.

But then Soren Thundersong asked a hard question. What did she know in Common? “I know…” Isette struggled to find the right words to say. She wanted to say, ‘I know the basics,’ but didn’t know how. So instead she started listing things. “What is your name? My name is Isette. I am. You are. He, she, it. Today. Tonight. Boy. Girl. Cat. Dog. Cheese. Apple. Water. Eat. Drink. Learn. Dance. You. Me. Beautiful…” There were more things, but that should give him an idea. Her mother had wanted her to be fluent, but Isette was not a quick learner when it came to languages. She could also count, but decided to leave that out for now. She didn’t know how to say ‘numbers’ or ‘count’ and didn’t really feel like listing all the numbers she could say. But there was one question she had. “The fox speaks Common?” She didn’t know the word for ‘fox’, but hoped he would get her meaning.

by **Soren Thundersong** on March 15th, 2011, 8:52 am

At her request Soren handed the girl his water, carried in an extra wineskin. She seemed happy, smiling. Her eyes seemed to twinkle when she smiled. When he offered more food she looked at him expectantly, sniffing. She must still have feline senses. Soren thought to himself. She asked him for cheese, still repeating herself in Lhatvian. He copied her, slowly starting to learn simple words, learning where to stress vowels and pronounce things. He pulled out a small wooden plate and the cheese, along with some bread.

"What is....peesh?" She spoke haltingly, then repeated in the local language. Soren smiled and dug into his pack and pulled out a peach. "This is Peach." Putting strong ephasis on the Ch, he held out the soft orange fruit. Soren sat the peach down on the plate with the cheese and bread. He slid the plate to her. When he asked the words she new in common, she looked thoughtful for a moment then said "I know.." Soren cocked his head. She continued, listing mostly basic words untill she reached the last couple. "Dancing, beautiful..." She trailed off.

This is harder than i expected. The words are more complex. Of course if I wasn't distracted so...wait did she just say beautiful?! Oh no..not good. She probably knows how I feel Slightly shaken, Soren hung his head, feeling the blush creeping back into his face. Pull it togather Soren. Your making a fool of yourself. He slowly pulled his head up and smiled lightly. She asked "The foxis speaks common?" It stumped him for a moment. Not entirelly sure, He guessed. "Fox? If that's what you mean, she doesnts speak it, but knows it." Not sure if she understood, he continued teaching. He pointed to the food and said slowly. "Food." Pointing to each one in turn he continued. "Bread. Peach. Cheese, which you know."

by **Isette** on March 15th, 2011, 10:27 am

Water! Isette grinned when he offered the water to her. She accepted the wineskin and drank, greedily at first but then she slowed down to a more reasonable pace. And more food! Isette liked cheese. And bread was a good thing, too. Isette didn’t even think about the fact that it was getting a bit chilly and she still didn’t have her clothes. She was enjoying herself to put much thought into such trivial things. Clothing? That hardly concerned her. She was learning! And her new friend was giving her free food. This night was going really well. Isette hoped it stayed that way.

“This is peach.”

Oh. One of those. Isette repeated the word in common, focusing on the ‘ch’ and then said it again in Lhavitian. Peach. Common sounded weird.

Okay, this was getting a little easier. Using the few words she did know, Isette was beginning to put together the things he was saying. The fox did not speak Common, but understood Common. That made sense. The fox would not have had the vocal structure to actually speak the language…For the same reason Isette could not speak Lhavitian in cat form.

The Kelvic watched as he taught her more words. Food. Bread. She put those in her mind along with ‘fox’ and ‘peach.’ “You speak fox?” She was curious to know if the language thing went both ways. If he learned how to speak fox, maybe he could learn to speak feline! That would be fun. Isette had never taught a human how to speak feline before. Actually, she had never taught a person anything. This was new territory for her. Being the teacher was strange. She felt…proud of herself. Ha! She wasn’t too stupid after all. Isette could teach her new friend all kinds of things!

by **Soren Thundersong** on March 15th, 2011, 12:32 pm

"You speak fox?" Soren laughed gently. "Not true fox, no. I understand her more by how she moves and her voice tones." Isette seemed to enjoy learning, and was picking up words without to much trouble, even stringing basic sentences togather. Feelng good tried to ask her a question. "How ald are yeu?" He smilied at his success, or atleast he thought it was. His eyes, which he had kept on her face slowly looked down at her body. It was different from a man, softer, almost fragile. She didn't seem to care or otice she was naked. Soren had the sudden urge to hold her in his arms, to protect her and take care of her.

Soren you cant, she's only a young girl. But she doesn't even have clothes, maybe not even a home. If you tell her she could leave. Soren's mind raced, thoughts fighting In his head. Suddenly he got an idea. If I can lead the teaching to affection maybe I can explain it to her, how I feel. he smiled. Here goes something. "Isette, do you know what like is? As an example he pointed to the food. "You like food. What about friend? Do you know that?"
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Trying to avoid emberassment, he nerviously blundered on. "What about affection? Kissing? Love? Soren slowly moved closer to the kelvic. "I like you Isette." with hishands shaking, he gently grabbed her hands, loose enough she could pull away. Thi was a terrible idea. She's gonna leave. Im such an idiot. " Still shaking he leaned close to her. "You are friend and I like you. And this..this is a kiss." With that, Soren leaned in close and ever so softly placed his lips on hers. Oh my Everything seemed to disapear excet Soren and Isette. Her lips, velvet soft sent. Jolt down his spine. Hopeing it would never end, he waited for her to shove him away.

by **Isette** on March 15th, 2011, 6:16 pm

He laughed at her, but the laughter was gentle and kind. She gathered that he could not speak fox, but had no idea what he said after that. Something about tone? She blinked and shrugged to show her lack of understanding. “You no speak fox,” she responded in Common. Then, as before, she repeated herself in Lhavitian. “I know not…” Isette trailed off, not knowing how to say she didn’t understand the rest. Even so, she continued to repeat her words in Lhavitian. Hopefully he would get her meaning. If not, maybe her shrugging would give it away. If not, oh well.

“How old are you?”

Isette smiled at his question, impressed. “Two!” she responded in both languages. “How old are you?” She asked only in Lhavitian, figuring he already knew this one and didn’t need the translation. She said it slowly so that he could get a better sense of the pronunciation.

Then he spoke again. She listened, but wasn’t quite sure what he was asking. Eventually she caught the last part. She liked food. And he wanted to know the word for friend. “Friend!” she said happily, repeating it again in common, “You are friend.” She was very happy about that.

He went on, wanting to know the words for kissing and love and…something else. “To kiss, to love…” Again, these were repeated in Common. She was enjoying herself so much that she wasn’t paying much attention to the theme of the words. He said something to her. Something about her. She couldn’t catch the verb, though, so she wasn’t really sure. She did know that he was suddenly touching her. The feline tensed, her eyes widening ever so slowly. Why was he touching her?

Oh. She understood the next part. He said she was a friend and…that he liked her? “And this…this is a kiss.” Isette froze. Huh? His lips pressed against hers and instinct told her to respond. Because if she didn’t, he would kill her. Or hurt her. Or make her respond anyway. So she kissed him and then, after a few moments, pulled away. There was a new suspicious fear in her eyes as she looked at him now, and she was leaning away. If he was going to take liberties with her body, he had better pay her for it. “You have kinos?” she asked in Common, her gaze hardening.

by **Soren Thundersong** on March 15th, 2011, 11:24 pm

To Soren's great suprise at first she kissed him back. Maybe she likes me too! Then she pulled away. Her eyes hardened and she seem to tense back up. "You have kinos?" Her voice was suspicoious. Soren sat back, sadness in his eyes. "I..im sorry.I didnt mean to. If you want to go then i understand." A tear ran down his cheek. How can i make her understand.

Good job Soren thought. You succesfully pissed off the only friend you have in the city. He looked away, keeping his eyes off the young kelvic. "Do you still learn?" He tried to keep speaking in Lhavitian, slowly improving. "I dont have kino's but i can give you some gold mizas." With his hands shaking he pulled out a small coin pouch and drew some mizas from it. "I...here. Soren went to hand her the gold coins, and choked up, dropping them to clatter on the ground.

Soren scrambled to pick up the coins, settting them in a pile before her. He sat back again, hands on his knees. Soren looked at the ground, not knowing what to do or say. Without warning tears started up. Is this what love is. This hurt in my chest. I feel so helpless.

by **Isette** on March 16th, 2011, 12:23 am

She understood his apology. She did not understand what he said after that or why he was starting to tear up. He was a strange man.

Isette stared at him as he looked away from her, entirely baffled. This was not the usual reaction of people who wanted to play with her. She sat silently, in quiet contemplation of this anomaly. He, however, had more to say. “Do you still learn?” Isette frowned, her head tilting to the side as she considered the question. His grammar was strange. Was he asking if she still wanted to trade language lessons? If so then…she supposed so. As long as he kept his hands to himself. Because this situation was weird and awkward and she wasn’t sure how to respond. Especially when he actually offered her money. Did he want to use her body or not? This was frustrating for her. Maybe he wanted to play, but was ashamed of it because she was dirty and a Kelvic. Was her body not good enough?

She felt panicked because he was crying. What was she supposed to do? “Why…do you…cry?” she asked, blurring together the two languages. She pointed just below her eye, where a tear would be if she were crying.

by **Soren Thundersong** on March 16th, 2011, 1:15 am

"Why do you.." Soren wasn't sure of the last word until he looked at her again. She was pointing at her cheek, as if pointing out a tear. She must mean cry. He sniffed and wiped away the tears. "I cry.." Soren struggled to explain. "I cry because I don't want to use you, because you are beautiful and I like you for you. But you do not like me." He thought she would understand his words, but he didn't know if she knew his meaning.

Soren closed his eyes, but Isette was still there in his mind. Her sweet smile, sparkling eyes, and long flowing hair, but mostly the feel of her lips. Its too late, get her out of your head. You messed up. Inside he fought himself, twin urges one to go and the other to stay. He sighed and shook his head. Soren opened his eyes, mouth dry and heart pounding. With sadness in his eyes he waited to see what she would do.

by **Isette** on March 16th, 2011, 1:54 am

He didn’t want to use her? Why was that a reason to cry? She listened closely, slowly beginning to figure out his Common. This man was confusing to her. Even if she did understand his words, this was all very confusing to her. Isette didn’t know if she wanted to comfort him or run away. She felt helpless when people cried. “You not like use me? Not use me.” She said with a shrug. It was very simple in her mind. If he didn’t want to use her, then he shouldn’t use her. He didn’t need to cry about it.

“Soren Thundersong, I like friend. I like learn.” Not sure what to do to console this man, she hesitantly pushed his money back to him, keeping only one gold miza for herself. For the kiss. Then she tried a smile. “Please don’t cry,” she murmured. There was a hint of panic in her eyes along with concern. She felt like a fish out of water. How had this situation turned around so quickly? Foreigners were weird. Maybe he was lonely. Ah, this was all so confusing! Isette wanted to climb up a tree and hide. But that would be mean.

by **Soren Thundersong** on March 16th, 2011, 4:03 am

"Soren Thundersong, I like friend, I like learn." Her voice was soft. Hearing this Soren smiled the smallest little bit. Slightly encouraged he said to her. "Beautiful Isette you are friend, I like you." a slight scraping caught his attention. She was pushing the money back to him. He shook his head. "No, you keep you need it, ok." Only a whisper, she spoke to him. "Please don't cry." Soren looked up, catching the small smile. No sparkle this time, only worry in her eyes. I made her uncomfortable.

Thinking back he remembered something from earlier. "Wait, your only two? but your so well..." His eyes traveled to her chest. "Ehhh. Nevermind. I'm 19." The more they talked the better his Lhavitian got, but Soren was still having trouble with the language. He could have short basic conversations at the most, but none of that mattered to him. All he cared about right now was Isette.

This is so frusterating. How can make her understand. The next question he asked quietly, afraid he would scare her. "Can I hold your hand?" He pointed to his own hand, and ever so slowly held it out to her.

(OOC: Ledger - 10 gm)