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Post by The Jenn on Jul 2, 2009 10:25:03 GMT -5
The grapes... those grapes had done it. Fetu didn't know how, but a small handkerchief full of grapes sitting invitingly on a table in an inn. He'd been told to help himself to any food he found in the place after charming the owner with a small song, the woman being a pleasant Villa partridge, but had fallen to the ground in searing agony after he finished the fruit. For a wild few seconds, in a haze of pain, he wondered what sort of magical trap had been laid and if it was for him or merely any traveler. Then the pain had stopped, and he had felt hair falling into his eyes in the darkened common room, and his body felt strange in those places where everything had burned. It had felt strange in other ways that took him a while to understand. A full day passed before he finally accepted that he was using the wrong pronoun. Something in her was terrified that she had lost intelligence in the transformation. Her mother was really the only woman she'd had prolonged contact with and Lleur had been a fluffy little butterball both inside and out. It took a few days of travel before the odd Hisstor had finally convinced herself that her mental faculties were intact, though her moods seemed to be affected in some way. When she started bleeding later that month, she had an utter panic attack before someone on her travels explained to her what it meant, figuring she was just a very late bloomer without female influences in her life. She had been horrified. No one ever told her about that. Feeling more like a freak and an outcast than ever, she traveled to the only place she had ever felt like people weren't staring at her strangely just because of the ribs around her torso or the color of her fur. She went back for the third time to the Wastes. Maybe she would stay for more than a week this time. Maybe not. She didn't have anywhere else to go or any other demands on her time. So long as she could find enough food and a place to curl up during the searing daylight hours, she would be fine. Her paws were so used to walking after two years living a nomadic lifestyle that she could just put them on autopilot and gaze up at the stars. Tonight there wasn't much moonlight, which meant they shone even more brightly across the arid desert sky. How beautiful. |
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Post by Kari Muffin on Jul 2, 2009 10:47:59 GMT -5
Coming back to the Wastes had been a good idea. However, he wasn't quite ready to show his face to Javaid again. He had once again done something stupid. And this had reached a whole new level. The only good thing was no one was dead. He had been at his usual wandering when he had found a rather strange artifact at one of the less than wholesome shops at the Capital. He had thought it was a rather pretty petrified piece of someone, and was debating on actually buying it for the sake of curiosity. However, as soon as he had picked it up to inspect it more closely he had felt a searing pain in his right hand. To his absolute horror the hand had started grafting itself to his. In his usual silent to all but one panic he tried to tear the hand off.... only making things worse. And then he had promptly passed out. Only to wake up an hour later to an angry and horrified shopkeeper. Things just went down hill from there. Until he had discovered that more than one person could hear him speak. The shocking discovery and forced him to make the trip back to the Wastes. And now that he was finally here he had to work up the nerve to go back to Javaid. Conway continued his walk in the dark mentally beating himself up and not taking particular notice if anyone was around him. |
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Post by The Jenn on Jul 2, 2009 11:13:40 GMT -5
Padding on all fours on the harder-packed road that wound its way through the scrubland and desert to some tribe's doorstep, Fetu glanced down from the brilliant night sky every now and again, letting her paws do the rest. If they strayed off the firmer surface, they strayed back towards it. She probably looked strange, doing her slow weave along the roadway as she paid more attention to the stars than the ground.
A sound intruded on her quiet thoughts and she paused mid-step, slowly letting her paw rest on the ground as furry chipmunk ears swiveled to catch the sound. Yes, there it was again, faint but continuous. It was an odd clacking, reminding her of her father's tail bones when he walked. The memory made her claws clench in the dirt and she glanced around to see if there was any convenient cover. No, it didn't seem so, and the sound was moving closer. It seemed to be coming up behind her. The person was either walking faster or had longer strides, or both.
She slowly made her way to the side of the road, settling down a few feet away in the sand to wait. She wasn't concealed, but if she held still then she might not be spotted very quickly.
A man eventually came into view, wearing a human form and a long coat. A strong of bone and possibly other material swung loosely at his side, the cause of the clacking. He seemed very much a Hisstor, though one with a paler mane. Should she say anything? They were walking in the same direction and there were no other roads, else she would probably take one. It would be hard to avoid one another if she continued on her way, and she had no desire to turn around.
Sigh.
He had nearly walked past her when she rose carefully on her haunches and looked at him, dark eyes a stark contrast in her pale face. "Excuse me," she said in a quiet, high-pitched voice. It had been high enough as a male chipmunk - now it was much more like her mother's. He could make whatever assumptions he liked from the statement. Would he jump? Did he have something to hide, or poor nerves? Peoples' reactions were quite telling.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Jul 2, 2009 11:28:51 GMT -5
Conway had been completely oblivious to the other person on the road. It wasn't until he heard the high pitched words that he realized he wasn't alone. His head snapped around to find the source of the voice, ready at a moments notice if it was hostile. Unfortunately he didn't have a pocket knife this time, so if it was real trouble he would be screwed.
When his eyes decided to come into proper focus he noted the other card. She was a rather pretty little thing, though he wasn't sure if he should trust her. They may have been from the same realm but that didn't change the fact that he shouldn't have existed. Conway kept his hands in his pockets, clearly on guard.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." He bit his lower lip as he looked at her. High ranking card. Dangerous. But he was in Hisstor, so this might not be too bad. And anyway... he could see what this hand could really do if he met more than one person.
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Post by The Jenn on Jul 2, 2009 11:49:58 GMT -5
Twitchy and tense. Fetu had been told before that normal people sometimes traveled at night in the desert to avoid the worst of the heat, but this one looked potentially dangerous. At least he was polite about it. Maybe he was one of those thieves or criminals or shady people with a sense of manners? Or maybe he was just a distracted Diamond. She didn't particularly want to travel alongside him. Too bad there didn't seem to be much choice.
She stayed sitting by the side of the road on her haunches, watching him with her solid eyes. She could pick out every detail in the darkness. The hands in his pockets worried her. Did he have weapons? She wasn't exactly a threat... whatever.
"That's fine. I heard you behind me. We seem to be going in the same direction." The lip-biting was an odd habit. Nerves? Probably. Was he expecting dangerous folk to be walking at night as well? Habitual night traveler or twitchy because he didn't do it often? It was hard to say.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Jul 2, 2009 12:07:42 GMT -5
"The only other direction is back the way we came," Conway said rather flatly. In other words they were going the same direction and they would either be paranoid of each other the entire time or have to suck it up. It was a frustrating situation.
Fine. He should just pretend to be normal. He had done it plenty of times before, this time would be no different. And he was inside a different realm. This was nothing like the Capital or any other realm where they would stare at his region and question what he was. Here he was more at home, at least to some degree.
"I didn't mean to sound rude," Conway corrected himself. He visibly relaxed a bit. "I'm just used to people Outside of here. It always puts me in a sour mood--dealing with people who are constantly suspicious of my region."
Suck it up.
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Post by The Jenn on Jul 2, 2009 12:43:47 GMT -5
Taken aback by the blunt and unfriendly rebuttal, Fetu leaned to the side and placed one foot on the ground, prepared to run if the man pulled out anything resembling a weapon. Not a Diamond, then, or that probably would have seemed far more flattering than it did.
And he didn't mean the rudeness? Yes, in no way a Diamond. "That's fine. I'm more used to other realms as well. I've only met two or three Hisstors outside this place, and none of them were very personable either. It's just people. At least you don't stare." And it was true, he didn't have any reason to comment on her fur color or bones. The fact that he wasn't visibly curious about her eyes was nice, if strange. He didn't seem to be paying them much attention at all. Then again, something about him seemed quite introverted. Maybe he just didn't care.
She could certainly appreciate that.
"I don't know where I'm going beyond the next village or tribal territory along this road. Someone a few hours back told me the area was called 'Ussturi', but I wasn't sure if that was geographical or cultural. If you're heading there as well, I can either let you pass and wait here a few moments or walk with you. Neither particularly bothers me." Having a faster walking pace, he would probably outdistance her easily if she let him get ahead.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Jul 2, 2009 12:56:09 GMT -5
Well at least she was nice. Of course this made Conway feel bad ultimately. Clearly he had been a bit of a jackass to a complete stranger who didn't mean him any arm. And from the looks of it she couldn't do that much harm unless she pulled a knife out of thin air.
And now she was giving him options. The expression on his face was one of pure guilt when he turned to look at her. He honestly felt awful about everything he had just said even if he couldn't properly express it in words.
He took a deep breath before actually saying anything. "I really am sorry about being such a bastard. I did something pretty damn stupid to my hand recently and I'm worried that someone dear to me isn't going to be particularly thrilled. I didn't mean to take it out on you when you're clearly a nice person."
This sociable thing was pretty damn hard when it came to interacting with "normal" people. But from the looks of it she had something strange with her eyes so she may not have been perfectly "normal." Conway could feel a blush forming from his embarrassment. He ignored it as he continued to consider his options. "I have a long way to go past the village. You can walk with me if you want, I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything."
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Post by The Jenn on Jul 2, 2009 13:11:29 GMT -5
Fetu listened, tilting her head as she slowly returned to her haunches from the crouch. This was why she usually tried to avoid people during her travels, this awkward social dance of manners. She had been raised in the Court of Spades. She knew what manners were. She still found them tedious, but they were a good defense from actually having to talk to people most of the time. That's probably what he was doing. He didn't really want to talk. It was just manners. They were convenient.
But he wasn't leaving, and that made something inside of her relax that she hadn't realized was tense. Awkward or not, he was a traveling companion, at least for a little while. "I'm not a nice person. I don't really like people. I like company, though, and you don't seem obnoxious or chattery. You seem quiet. I wouldn't mind walking with you. I wouldn't have offered, otherwise." And there went manners, somewhere on the ground next to her, looking at her disapprovingly. She didn't give them the satisfaction of looking uncomfortable.
That must have been why his hand was in his pocket, though, if he even still had a hand. 'Something stupid' could mean a lot of things. He was lucky to have someone dear to him, though.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Jul 2, 2009 13:25:11 GMT -5
Conway gave a sigh of relief. It was a rare occasion to find someone who didn't like talking. Quiet people were far easier to get along with than people who were constantly rattling something off. And to top it off she didn't seem to be passing judgment.
"All right then, we should probably get going. It's a long road ahead if I remember correctly." And he wasn't sure if he did or not. Sometimes things bled into another after a while. Places were far easier to remember than the copious amounts of people, true, but he hadn't really met anyone that stood out in the region beyond Javaid. And he didn't particularly remember how long it took to get there and back since he had been ill getting there. He just knew how to get there.
One day he would get the time thing right along with these mythical "manners" that so many people spoke about.
As for now, he would be silent unless spoken to.
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