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 Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 12:05 pm
It came to no surprise to the teen when his mother had approached him with a bag that contained a few scrolls, a list of supplies, and a package yesterday morning. It was fairly common for him to run errands for her, especially since his father was busy getting ready for the war. Little did he know, so was he. His mom had only just found out about her pregnancy so they estimated her to be in the very early stages, probably only a few weeks. Chimelu had been an only child up to this point so it was a little weird to think that soon he would have a little brother or sister. Or more. He had seen some of the other members of his very tiny town have two and that one couple had three. The thought of it made him shiver. His mother had told him that giving birth was extremely painful, worth it, but oh so painful. Having to go through that three times? He couldn't imagine it. He hoped that if he ever chose to have kids that he wouldn't cause anyone to go through that. One kid at a time. Maybe. Chimelu wasn't too interested in having kids and settling down just yet. Then again he had never met anyone who had made him want to. His mother told him that your views on things changed when you met that special someone. Chimelu just rolled his eyes.
The thoughts just kept swirling around in his brain, each one leading him to a new train of thought. He was a little relieved when he saw the signs of Yera off in the distance. His bag felt a little heavy considering how far he had walked and with the temperature differences he had needed to put his shorts in his bag. Chimelu wasn't walking around naked, but the boy had no shirt on and only his thin pants covering himself. It wasn't enough. Chimelu was used to heat in the summer months and colder temperatures in the winter months. Mez was near the border of Zena after all. Sauti was hot but for some reason this seemed worse. "Should I put my shorts back on?" The teen asked himself, his blue eyes scanned his body before they fell upon the shorts hanging out of the bag he had attached to him. "Probably a good idea." Chimelu nearly blushed, putting his shorts back on and being thankful for the fact that he was a guy. At least he didn't have to wear a shirt. Or if he did he wouldn't be so exposed. Once his shorts were on he grinned and continued on his way to the border of Yera. It was pretty big. Okay, it was much bigger than he was giving it credit for. In comparison Mez was equivalent to a pebble and Yera, a boulder.
Once he crossed the edge of town and dove into the heart of the town Chimelu began digging through his bag in search of the first item he had to deliver. The boy deduced it was better to deliver everything and then pick up the items he would have to tote back home. "I think this package is first. . . ." Chimelu dug out the package and inspected it right there in the middle of the pathway, not even thinking about the fact that people were having to swerve around him and even at times bumping shoulders with him.
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Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 4:04 pm
Yera was a large, bustling town - and the amount of people milling about, or shouting from business stalls would make any new person feel overwhelmed. Uquin had only been here for a short few weeks, so though he felt desensitized to the intimidating crowd, he still had to pause every now and again in a quiet place to catch his breath. After first settling in, Uquin had had plenty to do - mostly as an errand boy, and to collect ruined clothes from his new neighbors that he could fix and patch together.
But after busily mending all he could, and returning it in exchange for tools or food, there was less broken or ripped items to collect. After making his rounds in the central hubof town for the duration of the busy morning, the young prentice came to the conclusion that he had to find some other enterprise to trade for food - that or venture past the heavily harvested grasses near town, and instead further into the savannah to harvest it for himself.
Which was an exciting prospect, but equally terrifying. He didn't have any sort of weapon, except the crystal needles he used for sewing. If he didn't collect food himself, he could try and get work from one of the craftsmen or traders in the tribe market - but an actual job left little time for him to train. As he turned the prospects over in his mind, Uquin raised his eyes to look over the marketplace, examining the vendors in hopes of finding someone who was overworked. Maybe he would find someone who only needed a spare hand occassionally, someone who...
His thoughts were interrupted when someone stopped in the middle of the market, shuffling through his pack and entirely ignoring the crowd around him - as if the glares and annoyed grumbles didn't bother him in the least. At least... that was what Uquin thought, at first, but as the boy continued to shuffle through his bag, Uquin realized it was the opposite - the poor thing had no clue. He would have laughed, if he didn't understand just what it was like! After all, he still did much the same when he wasn't thinking. Growing up in the country, where standing idly by never presented much of a hassle to anyone, it never crossed your mind where you stopped - not like here in the city.
So in the gentlest way he could, Uquin slid from the spot between stalls he'd been lingering in and slid his hand lightly against the other man's arm, his touch feather-light, guiding the other a few steps away from the path. Only now, as Uquin turned to look at the other prentice, to offer apologies for getting in his space, did he realize that this wasn't a Leaf tribesman at all - the odd round ears and pale skin were most definitely not normal, at least to Uquin's eye. This made him drop his hand and pull it back quickly, looking over the other man with a shuttered expression, unsure if such a casual step into the man's personal space would be taken as an offense by a non-Leaf visitor. "The road." He suggested, lamely, in excuse, feeling suddenly foolish.
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Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:38 pm
The gentle hand that slid across Chimelu’s arm and led him out of the crowd may have caused a very different reaction had it been done by anyone else. Instead, Chimelu remained frozen in the position he had been in prior to the stranger arrival –both due to the confusion he had rushing through his brain and the practicality of the task he was in the process of completing. He still needed to figure out what item went where and the list of items he needed. So instead Chimelu remained frozen – apart from the motions needed in order to follow after the stranger. When they came to a halt the boy raised his head and gave the stranger a slight look of confusion. Then he noticed the other seemed to be afraid of him? No, was it fear? Chimelu wasn’t sure but he knew that no one had ever given him that look before. He was sure it was one he didn’t like though. "The road?" He asked curiously before slightly turning himself so that he could peer at the road he had been standing in the middle of. When he looked back at the Leaf boy for a couple moments. It just wasn’t clicking. "What about the road?" He further asked in a friendly but clearly confused tone.
Was there something he was missing? He wasn’t sure but it seemed to be important. He didn’t seem the least bit concerned about why the boy had pulled him away to a space that was occupied on either side by stalls, however, he assumed it had to do with the road. With a shrug Chimelu once more started digging around in his bag and then smiled when he found what he was looking for. "’Bout time!" Chimelu enthusiastically said. Then he remembered there was someone else with him. This time when Chimelu looked up at the stranger he actually registered what he looked like. He seemed to be the spitting image of what Talians were supposed to look like though he was maybe a bit odd? Considering he had pulled Chimelu to the spot between the stalls for a reason the boy still didn’t know or understand. It was a good thing he wasn’t being tested for something important right now because it was completely over his head. "Do you know where this persons house is?" The young prentice asked as he flashed the package to the stranger, once more not even considering the fact that the boy not be from the area.
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Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:59 pm
Well, at least the blonde boy hadn't freaked out and struck him - or begun to scream accusations. All things considered, dragging anyone out of the road and into a confined space would have alarmed most people - though not this one, apparently. This one didn't seem to care about much of anything, except that bag of his.
Uquin opened his mouth to answer the questions, only to snap it closed again when the stranger shrugged and resumed looking through his bag. 'At least he sounds friendly.' Uquin thought, cautiously. Was there a nice way to say 'you were in the way?' Uquin couldn't think of one at the moment, so he shook himself and decided to try his luck. "It's narrow - and... stopping in the middle of it is--"
Huh? Time for what?? Uquin stepped back a bit when the strange boy produced some sort of package from his bag, blinking at him as his sentence stuttered to a close gracelessly. At the very least Uquin didn't feel intimidated anymore - if anything, the way this easygoing stranger addressed him made him relax, even if it knocked him a bit off balance, figuratively speaking. Rather than be offended at the change of topic, Uquin leaned forward and squinted at the scrawled name on the package, trying to match the name to a face. " Mm... that is... I don't know which tree she lives in, but you could find her at the market." He suggested, flicking his eyes curiously from the package up to this stranger's face again, biting the edge of his lip in thought.
All things considered he should just shrug this person off and be on his way - it wasn't his concern whether or not this Wind tribesman delivered his goods or not. But it wasn't as if Uquin had much else to do... and at the least he could see if there was any sort of conduct a messenger lived by that he could study, and at least make wages or some kind running goods from one stall to the other.
"I could show you?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:11 pm
Seeing as how the boy had his face buried in his bag most of the time he hadn’t seen Uquin open and close his mouth and it took him several minutes to realize he had spoken at all. Not that he was quiet, just Chimelu was a little distracted. "What about it being narrow?" He once more had to ask. Apparently unless the boy spelled it out to him he wasn’t going to get it. Usually he wasn’t this dense but his mind was elsewhere and he was only slightly able to focus on each thing he had in front of him at the moment – including the stranger.
Chimelu was pleased to hear that at least he was close to the person who he had to deliver this package to. It was a woman? Chimelu had to look at the package again to finally notice that fact. "I didn’t notice it was a lady. Huh." He admitted out loud. Maybe it was better to keep those things to himself? He didn’t seem to be too worried about the impression he was making on the stranger. Then he noticed the stranger bite his lip, almost like he was thinking about something or fighting an inner battle. He could understand that considering he had odd quirks when he did the same. His blue eyes grew a little when the stranger offered to take him to the woman he’d never met before. A grin quickly came to his lips before Chimelu outstretched his arms and wrapped them around the boy, lifting him up and spinning him around once. "Thank you!" Chimelu grinned from ear to ear as he said so, before setting the boy down. "I’m Chimelu!" He extended his hand to the stranger. Most people would do those events in reverse, if at all, but apparently Chimelu didn’t seem to know the meaning of the word personal boundaries. The stranger could very well hit him or just completely walk off and Chimelu probably wouldn’t have known why.
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Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 6:39 pm
This person was so odd, Uquin thought mutinously. How could he not notice the name on the package was a woman? It was a very effiminate name - or... or maybe Wind earthlings just had strange names, and didn't really understand Leaf names very well? That must have been it, Uquin concluded with a slight nod to himself, pleased with the deduction. What Uquin HADN'T expected was the overjoyed reaction the other man had when told he would help him find the receiver of the package.
For one, this poor earthling must have been quite desperate to be so utterly relieved at the aid! But Uquin... NEVER, in his life, had been manhandled this way!! He let out a sudden yelp of surprise when he was grabbed up and spun - then deposited neatly where he'd been previously standing, reaching to grab the corner of one of the stands they were settled beside. That ... was... strange. But rather than be prickly about it, Uquin let out a disbelieving laugh, shaking his head and staring at the blonde with the ghost of a smile rising up onto his lips. He should have been offended, but this person was so oblivious and just so happy that it made Uquin feel more giddy and happy to have helped than offended.
"You're very strange - Chimelu." He said slowly, shaking his head again before carefully reaching to grasp the friendly boy's hand, giving it a firm squeeze and a shake. "My name is Uquin, and... I'm glad to have pleased you." he admitted with just a small bit of embarassment.
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Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2014 9:09 am
Desperation was an accurate term that could be used to describe just how Chimelu felt as he attempted to deliver these packages. Or maybe it was a bit of laziness. Either way he would be traveling around the town with Uquin and that at least made him happy because there would be someone to talk with while he did his task. His burst of excitement had caused the other boy to yelp yet this was of little concern to Chimelu. In fact, it was possible he hadn’t really heard it at all.
As Uquin laughed, Chimelu grinned happily—unaware of the reason behind Uquin’s laughter. When the boy commented on him being strange he tilted his head slight, confused as to why he would say such a thing but not at all hurt by it. "Strange is good?" He kept smiling. Once Uquin returned the handshake he placed his hands on either side of his hips. "Nice to meet you Uquin! Glad to have a partner on this journey. I was wandering around and thought for sure I had come to the wrong town." Chimelu laughed happily. Of course he hadn’t ended up in the wrong place but seeing as how he wasn’t familiar with this town—or area—he found it to be a bit of a challenge. Luckily he was at least able to find his destination.
"What were you doing between the stands?" Chimelu asked as he moved some of the things around his bag. When he had finished his blue eyes once more rested upon his new found friend and now partner in crime. "Ready when you are!" He grinned again.
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 4:45 pm
"Yes - strange is good." Uquin confirmed with a soft laugh, watching the blonde boy with curiosity. Chimelu seemed incredibly energetic, and it was something that Uquin found himself drawn to - since he was such a slow and ponderous person, himself, this carefree person appealed to him. And he was incredibly friendly too, so that made Uquin even more eager to call him a friend. "Oh - that." He said slowly, blushing in minor embarassment. "Sometimes... this place can be a bit too busy, so I was trying to relax a little, is all."
"So you -- deliver these for a living?" Uquin asked, changing the subject and stepping away from the space between the stands to once again step onto the well-worn pathway of the marketplace. The crowd had died down a bit, so there was less likelihood of holding anyone up, for the moment at least.
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