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 Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:39 am
Really that should say Kouichi eventually. Mostly this is a private, solo RP for my Clea. Kouichi will come in briefly towards the end. There may be cameos from other soquili but nothing big enough to be worth mentioning here.  
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:52 am
When Clea awoke to birdsong the morning after she first met Vivace. She stood still, blinking in the sunlight, until she was able to come to her senses and remember where she was and what she had been doing. Clea was at her empty home with Vivace and she was waiting for Dark, her mentor. Out of the corner of her eye she could spot the pale blue form that was Vivace, still asleep. She smiled and shook herself to banish the remaining feelings of drowsiness before poking around the edges of the small territory in the trees. She was hoping to find some sign that Dark had returned in the night. Even some clue as to where he had gone would have been nice. Fate was not kind to Clea today as she found nothing.
It was all okay, she told herself. This was not the first time he had gone off without warning. She could wait for his return with a smile on her face as usual. With a flick of her leonine tail she headed back to the central area when she had left Vivace to slumber. It wouldn't be so bad waiting, she thought, after all, she had someone to keep her company this time.
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:23 am
Weeks had passed with no sign of her mentor. The days were steadily growing shorter and the night held more of a chill than it had for months. Vivace had left Clea after a week by her side. It had been a pleasant week and he seemed to be far happier than when she had met him. He needed to go back to his family. That is what Vivace had told her and she understood. Before he departed he told her how to get to his homeland so she could bring Dark there if he came back. It was almost funny for Clea to hear him say if Dark came back. Vivace didn't think her mentor would come back at all.
Now Clea was beginning to think that he was right.
She wandered around the empty area that she had once thought of as a home. Now it was simply another place in the woods. She was not naive enough to think that Dark was dead which was reassuring in some ways and devastating in others. He had taken his things with him. Wherever he had gone, it was clear to Clea now, he intended to stay there. She looked to leaves in the trees surrounding her; they were beginning to lose their brilliant green hue. They were dying. It would start getting cold soon and the nights would eventually get to be longer than the days. It was time that she followed Vivace's example and left.
As she stared into the rustling leaves she wondered to herself, where would she go? Home? She could see the faces of her mother, her sisters and her other relatives clear as day. They would be happy to see her for sure but still she felt herself hesitate. She didn't really want to return home. She had enjoyed her time spent away and didn't want to see that now. In the distance Clea could see smoke rising and knew that the humans were cooking something. She could go to the village and hope that they put up with her thieving ways until the land began to warm again. She remembered their rage after she accidentally took something precious from them the last time and thought better of it.
She shook her head to rid herself of the thought and when she stopped Clea found herself looking upon a blue bird. "I know a bird like you...though he's not really a bird at all." She said smiling as she thought of her newest friend Vivace. He had a large family. Slowly she turned the thought about in her head. Would they mind if she spent the cold season with them? She was Vivace's friend and that had to count for something. The little bird she had been staring at suddenly took off and that was when Clea decided to do the same.
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:44 am
Her journey from the eastern borders of the mainland woods to the mountains on the western peninsula took a couple of weeks. By all rights if she had been moving a little faster the trip would have taken about half that but there was just so much to be seen.
On the way there she had met a trio of cousins and their purple winged friend discussing sending out a search party for some baskets that had gone missing in the night. Clea had offered to help but the youngest of the group had politely declined. It seemed that the snows started to fall early in the mountains and she hadn't wanted Clea to get trapped on the wrong side waiting for safe passage. Instead she had promised to send word back if she saw anything while on her travels.
Two nights later she slept in the company of a small black crow with a backwards skull marking his head. He had just come from the area that she was heading to and reported that the weather was still good for travel in the mountains. Clea had considered going back to assist with the search party but she was already approaching the flood plains and the bird hadn't known what condition they were in. In the end, when the sun rose, Clea continued on her way to the mountains and Vivace.
The floodplains were mercifully cross-able albeit a bit soggy. Once she reached the other side she met a brightly colored mare with vibrant plumage and the spaded tail of a kalona. After a day and night together Clea learned that she was a daughter of the Padmapani's protector and also a relative of Vivace. She politely asked Clea to bring word to her mother and father that she would be returning home weeks before the longest night of the year.
Clea had a few more encounters of this nature before she ever reached the mountains. By the time she arrived at the borders of the Padmapani territory Clea had all but forgotten about Dark's vanishing act and her bright outlook had been restored.
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:03 pm
Kouichi had spent the last three days and nights patrolling the borders of the herd territory. It was a lonely and occasionally dangerous task but it needed to be done to keep them all safe. He was happy to take on this job and he was good at it but he found that it was a bit more lonesome this time than usual. He had needed to leave Winnie, his black bear cub, behind this time. On a normal day she would ride on his back like a clingy boulder or plod along at his side. Unfortunately she would have only slowed him down this time. She had begun to eat almost non-stop in preparation for the winter months. He had wondered all throughout the summer if she would hibernate like a regular bear or stay awake like certain spirit touched animals. That mystery seemed to have been solved. She would sleep through the winter and awaken in the spring. Perhaps Winnie was just a regular after all. Just an exceptionally clever regular bear. Kouichi frowned, he was beginning to get the feeling that he would never actually know if she was spirit touched or not.
As Kouichi passed a turn in the path all of his senses went on full alert. The wind had brought the faint scent of another horse, a mare, to his nose. After only a few seconds he spotted her coming down a ridge not twenty feet away from him. Kouichi looked her over carefully it was a uni mare with a combination of peach and a dirty white making up her coat. He didn't get the impression that she was dangerous not with the way she was shuffling down the steep slope.
"Excuse me, miss." He said in his best diplomatic voice. "Do you need some help?" He stopped at the bottom of the slope waiting to hear her response.
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:12 pm
Clea looked up from her feet when she heard someone call out to her. She watched as a pale stallion wearing deep purple human clothes. It shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did, Dark and her own mother wore vests, but all the same it startled her and she found herself suddenly moving down the side of the hill at an alarming rate. Only by planting her feet firmly did she manage to stop before she crashed into him.
"Sorry about that." She said laughing awkwardly. "Steep." Clea nodded at the hill before maneuvering herself onto less treacherous ground. "I'm Clea and I'm actually trying to find the Padmapani, I have a friend who lives with them, is that around here or...am I completely in the wrong spot?" It wouldn't have been the first time she had gone and gotten herself lost.
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:18 pm
Kouichi felt the blood drain from his face as the mare suddenly started down the hill at an alarming rate. For a brief moment he thought that they were under attack, again, or at least her was. Thankfully it turned out that she was just clumsy and, evidently, not good on hills. He forced himself to laugh politely when she did but it came out sounding even more awkward than her own laughter so he quickly abandoned the effort.
"You're trying to find...us?" He blinked. That was not the answer that he had been expecting. He was used to people that were just passing through for one reason or another. This was the first time he'd heard of anyone specifically seeking out his family. Or rather, it was the first time anyone with seemingly pure intentions had specifically sought after his family. "Well, you are currently standing in Padmapani land miss. Who are you looking for? I can take you to her."
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:24 pm
"I am?" Clea felt a sense of pure joy wash over her body. She had found them and she hadn't lost her way! Clearly she was meant to come this way. "Him, actually. I'm looking for Vivace. He's blue, feathery wings, long hair, ice on his shoulders that doesn't melt. Do you know him?" She looked at the white stallion hopefully, Clea didn't want to have to search the entire territory for him. Knowing her habits she would end up with five necklaces, two bracelets and some fruit before she ever located her friend.
"Oh! And I'm also supposed to talk to...what were their names?" She bit her lip as she tried to remember what the mare on the plains had said. "Hayagreba and Riviera?" Somehow that didn't sound quite right to her but it was as close as she was going to get. They had been very strange names. "It's from their daughter, Bhikkuni."
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:37 pm
She was an odd one, this Clea, but after some deciphering Kouichi was able to determine that she was definitely not a threat. Vivace had gone missing a little while ago and had come back seeming a lot happier than he had been since the attack and that had been quite a while ago. He had said that he had met some weird girl that had helped him and Kouichi got the feeling that this was the girl Vivace meant.
"I know him." He confirmed with a smile. "I even think he's here today. Hayagriva and Revyra someone else can take you to. I don't know where they'll be." They were always on the move within the herd those two. "If no one knows than have someone take you to Shrivatsa, she's usually easier to find." He had almost suggested that Clea go in search of Phala if she couldn't find Shri. That was a bad idea on a number of levels though, so he let it die.
"Now, if you'll come with me we can go find Vivace." He said turning to lead the way down a path. "I'm Kouichi, by the way, welcome to the Padmapani's lands."
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