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 Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 1:24 am
In the end, it didn't matter if healers were present at Neued - the settlement fell before any real fighting could be done, and the tents where the healers had assembled had been forced to flee before more than a handful of injured came in. Compared to the first Invasion, this wasn't a battle - the battle ended before it began, with any resistance crushed, and those who tried to stay and resist either caught or forced to run.
Uquin found he didn't like running, not in the least. The injured had been led north, towards Sol - though Uquin feared, slowed as they were, they would be outrun if the Obans bothered to chase at their heals. For his part, Uquin fled back home to Yera, his thoughts on Pahana, who had been mostly convinced that she was pregnant by the time he left to do some trade and offer his assistance in Jauhar. He'd been a fool to leave in the first place, even if he'd been sure he'd be back long before anything happened.
Breaking only to choke down what minimal supplies he could find (though they had run out after the first few days of travel), Uquin slept only in short bursts then proceeded as quickly as he could north and east towards his home of Yera, where Pahana was. He was getting close, but already it was falling to night and he knew he wouldn't make it home this day, and pushing through the night was a fool's errand when he was lightheaded from walking with so little food or rest.
Sighing, Uquin was just glad he was out of the oppressive heat and instead under the trees again - so he set his mind to looking about for food, when he heard voices in the distance. They weren't trying to hide themselves - but Uquin still pulled his beads from his pocket, rubbing the magic-imbued stones against his fingers as he crept through the undergrowth, peering around the thick trees in search of the owners of the voices. They could be Obans but...
... It was a foolish move, but Uquin had spoken before he thought twice about it. "Hello?
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 1:59 am
The group of hunters were taking a short rest before the final leg of their long journey that would take them back to Yera where they would be selling the various things that they had gathered to this point. Meat, all of which had been dressed and smoked, prepared skins, as well as herbs, precious stones, and everything else that would allow them to get paid before they would be on the move again. Their haul this time around was a little smaller then normal but that was only due to the fact that something seemed to be happening in Neued, something that had caused even the seasoned group to move quickly to get away from there. Yera may provide answers and details, all they knew for certain was that there were a few too many Obans in that area for their liking meaning one less village to sell too and a bit more danger to avoid.
"I don't much care for the fact that there are so many of them up there." The leader of the group said, glancing off in the decoration that Neued was located in, before looking away, "We will get back to Yera soon, once we are there we will know what it is that we are dealing with. We might see about healing more toward Sauti with our next hunting trip." Best to move away from the creeping danger. Glancing over toward Rilind he asked of him, "What are your plans? Will you be staying in Yera with your friend?"
Ril seemed to think on it for a moment then nodded, "I might, depends on if he is around... though I feel bad leaving the group behind." He kind of hoped that he did, wanting nothing more then to find Yaholo and make sure that he was alright what with everything else going on.
The man shook his head, "Don't feel bad, he is the one that..." He trailed off as he heard the nearby brush rustling before someone called out 'hello' to them and instantly two of the three members of the group, as well as Rilind despite the linger pain from past injuries, were on their feet, weapons drawn, just in case. Whoever it was might be calling out a friendly greeting but they could never be too safe with the Obans skulking around, this could be a trick or trap after all. Better to be safe then sorry with the world as it was currently.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:15 am
Uquin tilted his head after he called out, and felt rather disappointed to hear the conversation immediately end. He hadn't heard details, just the mumble of voices - soothing after a few days of travel by himself, fearful of being caught up by the Obans - though he expected they wouldn't come into Tale, at least not yet. He hoped. He took a deep breath, knowing he weighed the risk of a bow leveled at him, but Uquin took a step around the tree, and towards the voices - having to walk quite a few paces until he finally caught sight of them - a group of non-Obans. Instantly Uquin let his beads fall into his wrist, and instead held his hands aloft, a signal of surrender, stepping past the brush.
He only hoped in the dim light he didn't appear Oban - his skin was tanned, for a leaf earthling, and his hair auburn and red-hued. From a distance his orange-tinted clothing might be a bit of a set off as well - so he called out, "I am of Tale, from Yera - I am heading home after the battle, I want no trouble." If anything he'd sought them out because he was exhausted, and paranoid after being alone after the battle and he hoped for someone, even a stranger, to settle beside to watch his back if only for a few hours.
Assuming the strangers were friendly at all, and even allowed him to stay with them for the night. Maybe share food, though he doubted it - with war looming many were hoarding their food away.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:36 am
There was a long moment of silence from the group, all of them seeming to be study the stranger before them even as he called out where he was from and where he was headed. He might very well be just that, or he could be an Oban spy, in the end if was the pink jewels that accented his skin that really spoke volumes. He might appear as though he had darker skin then the average member of the Leaf Tribe but the jewels couldn't be mistaken, especially not when when the Obans bore bright, fiery crystals upon their bodies instead, ones that were far bigger then those carried by any other race.
After the leader of the group lowered his weapon everyone else seemed to relax their guard, weapons lowering, and the man nodded to him, "If you are friend then you are welcome to stay and rest a spell or be on your way." The leader said, turning when Rilind suddenly collapsed, giving a muttered curse under his breath as he motioned for their healer to take a look at him, "You could have left it to us, fool boy." He scolded Rilind who at least had the grace to flush a bit.
"It's fine, I'm fine. Just a bit sore is all." Some of his wounds, still wrapped in bandages, were more healed then others at this point, some were even completely healed leaving behind only more scars that were added to his collection. The only one that really hurt these days, and seemed to drain him more then the others, was the injury to his shoulder. It had been a through a through by a sword, not something that one recovered easily from. Despite trying to wave off the healer the man inspected his wounds never the less before finally giving the all clear, "See? It hurts but that is all." He really wasn't the sort to complain, mostly due to just not being used to people actually caring. Before leaving home complaining likely would have gotten him even more roughed up. He was still getting used to the idea that voicing things wouldn't get him in trouble since not everyone was like his father.
Settling down near to his the healer said, "If your shoulder continues to act up let me know, I will look it over for you again, even give you a little healing session." It seemed that the scare caused over Uquin's arrival had passed, with everyone returning to how they had been before they had thought danger was approaching.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:48 am
If an attacker paused long enough to look at his jewels, that would be one thing - but in the paranoia of war, Uquin didn't trust everyone to wait that long. An archer with an itchy trigger finger could see 'red' and shoot - though, as he looked around the group, Uquin realized they had another redhead among them, and that might explain their ability to look deeper. All in all, as the group lowered their weapons, Uquin sighed silently in relief - only to tense when the aforementioned redhead collapsed.
Uquin's first instinct was to take a few quick steps forward, but before he could move too much closer the man was already fussed over, and someone who was clearly a healer bustled to his side, looking over the wound with efficient professionalism. Uquin found himself watching, eagerly soaking in the way the man checked the wound with the least bit of disruption and prodding, not even having to unwind all the bandages to be sure it had not torn and rebled again.
After a moment, the leafling backed off enough to whistle into the woods, and trotting from the darkness came his aldabuck, Ishtu, his back laden with what bags of healing goods Uquin had been able to salvage before his escape. Shifting through a few bags, Uquin clasped a small vial of a Jauhar potion he'd been taught, as well as thick, waxy leaves that had a salve spread inside them - moving with one item in each hand until he was infront of the redhaired man.
"My name is Uquin - a healer. I doubt I have any abilities your ownhealer has not used already, but I do have a drink for pain - or a topical agent, if the ache is too intense. As an apology for startling you." Uquin bowed his head, briefly, then moved to sit by the man, waiting until he'd picked his 'poison', per se - or dismissed both entirely.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 3:17 am
Rilind glanced toward the new comer as he whistled into the woods, for a moment wondering what in the world he was doing... and much to his surprise an animal appeared, seeming to be carrying a bunch of things on its back. He didn't know a whole lot about animals, having rarely dealt with them in the past save for eating them, but this one seemed to be rather useful, didn't it? Aldabuk if he recalled right, it was something the hunters often saw as good game due to its meat tasting good... something he felt he shouldn't say out loud, not wanting to insult the one that owned the creature and seemed to be using it for something other then meat.
"It is good to meet you Uquin, my name is Duarte, this is our resident healer Arrats, Jarka, and Rilind." The leader of the group said, pointing at each member of the group as he introduced them, before he watched the manner in which the healer was getting out some various healing items for Rilind, watching as the man approached him, "Good luck with him." He said with a chuckle.
Giving Duarte a glance Rilind gave a little shake of his head before turning back to the healer, starring at what he was holding, before he shifted in place, "Huh? Oh... ummm." He starred a moment at the things that he was being offered, a drink for pain or something to smear on his wound to help if the 'ache was too intense' for him. He looked down at his shoulder a moment before he said, "Well, I am alright... really, I mean it aches but I will heal." He told the guy, not wanting for him to fret when he was certain that he was already over the worst of it, right? He didn't want the man to waste his supplies when they might be needed by someone else down the line.
The deep thought that he was lost in gave Arrats an opening, "I think we should see about using that salve of yours on the wound of his. It was a pretty nasty one when we first found him, in one sound, out the other, with one side full of debris. It's one that took some time to really get to a good stage where it would be able to heal right. Having another set of eyes looking at it might be good for him." He gave Rilind a smile before he said, "We are going to give your wound a once over, Ril." He said, ignoring the redheads protests as he set to undoing the bandages, letting Uquin look the wound over.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 3:44 am
Ishtu hadn't been with Uquin for a long amount of time, but for whatever reason the creature had tamed incredibly quickly - for that Uquin could only think that he had been tamed, before, that or the manner in which Uquin found him had instilled enough trust in the animal that the Aldabuck did as bid for that reason. On top of that, Ishtu was intelligent and that was something Uquin had never expected when he took the creature in - and something he'd quickly ground fond of. Standing outside the ring of people, the familiar stamped his hooves and snorted, frustrated, and Uquin recognized that Ishtu wanted the heavy packs removed from his back. Normally Uquin would pour water over the skin that was covered by the pack-saddle, cooling it from where the load had rubbed against fur and skin.
For now though he simply made a soothing sound, then turned his attention to each man as he was introduced, nodding in greeting. Then he cracked a small, confused smile at the warning, blinking and turning to look at Rilind out of the corner of his eyes, almost suspiciously. As the redhead spoke, however, Uquin's look shifted more to one of thoughtfulness.
He was concerned, really, but Uquin's bedside manner wasn't the best and rather than express it he pursed his lips and set the vial, carefully, in his lap, turning his eyes to watch as Arrats pulled the bandages free, despite Rilind's weak complaints.
The wound itself was definitely grisly - but had been cared for well. It was clean, but he could see evidence of it having been irritated - and parts of untorn skin around the wound looked flushed, but not enough to be of immediate concerned.
"It is... a well cared for wound." He conceded, retrieving clean bandages from his bag. Before he packed the wound back up, however, Uq turned his gaze back to Rilind. "You seem averse to treating pain. I don't know your reasoning, but in my experience I've learned one thing." Gingerly, Uquin picked up the vial - the pain killer, and extended it out for Rilind. "Pain is how your body alerts you to an injury. Beyond that it has few functions, and instead causes your body stress - instead of focusing on building the humors in your body back up, your mind focuses on the discomfort and dwelling on it interrupts your body's natural systems. Blocking the pain, and sleeping, takes your pain and mind out of the equation and lets your body and energy focus on building." With this said, Uquin set the vial in Rilind's hands, then moved to apply the salve - laying the leaves, with the orange paste, over the wound, and lightly pressing so that it contoured into the healing gouge on one side, a second leaf handed to Arrats to do the back. Once applied, Uquin bandaged Rilind's shoulder back up, then sat back. That would be enough to disinfect and numb some of the surface pain, but he wouldn't force the man to imbibe the potion - that as his decision.
Thus 'finished' with the man, Uquin stood and took a step to Ishtu, who stamped his feet impatiently, until the heavy packs were removed and set on the ground in a neat pile. He was still beside the man, watching him out of the corner of his eye, but for now Uquin left him to consider the potion, and recover from whatever stinging discomfort the paste had brought him.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:34 pm
Rilind glanced over at Uquin but really said nothing in response to the man's comment about him being 'averse to treating pain' since explaining would take too much time. The two healers, not out numbering him, would do whatever they wanted he supposed and in the long run it would probably be a benefit to him. As such there was probably no reason to complain about it. He had a feeling that even with all the treatment that he would likely still get one hell of a scar and his arm might remain a bit stiffer then he'd like. He could only hope that it didn't put too much strain on him were he to end up in another fight which was likely inevitable given the many dangerous that were present in the world today.
The healer named Uquin continued to talk, explaining to him what pain was, as well as all the negative effects that it had, something that made him give a bit of a snort, "I am pretty well aware of what pain can do to a person, you might not have noticed but I am not exactly a stranger to it." He said, motioned to himself and the various scars that he was covered in. As though he had no clue what pain could do to a person, it was just that there were worse things out there then pain, normally the psychological stuff that went along with the pain that he'd experienced in the first half of his life. What was a bit more pain he'd always thought to himself, though the battle with the Dretch that almost killed him had gone beyond even what he could easily shrug off. That was saying something given he was pretty good at working through pain since it was something he'd almost been trained to do.
A bit of a hiss escaped from Rilind's lips as he felt the salve covered leaves getting stuck to either side of the wound, a shiver going through him, teeth gritting. That was an unpleasant sensation... but one that slowly started to feel better much to his suprise. In fact the pain dulled enough that muscles that had been clenched seemingly since he'd gotten the wound had a chance to relax a bit. Letting his head fall back, eyes closing, he seemed to just enjoy the feeling of the pain fading. Of course as he did that Durate cleared his throat and said, "Take your medicine, Rilind." While it seemed that Quin was leaving it up to Rilind the leader of the group was most certainly not doing so, "You need to get better if you are ever going to see that friend of yours again, right?"
Rilind's bright green eyes opened up and dropped to the item that he held in his hands, looking it over, before he gave a nod, "I guess you're right." He said before popping the vial open so he could down the stuff. Not the best tasting stuff but if it helped speed up the healing process then he'd try anything at this point.
Arats turned to Uquin and gave him a smile, "Thank you, I have been doing what I can but my own healing powers are stretched a little thin with the group I have to look after. This is just a small part of our group, the rest are either still out hunting or they have already gone ahead to Yera." He didn't like that his own lack of enough power was hindering Rilind but having Uquin arrive to aid him had taken a great weight off his shoulders. To see Rilind actually able to relax and breath was a good thing, even if it wasn't by his own doing.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 11:04 pm
Uquin certainly had noticed the rather liberal scarring just on the bits of torso that had been bared to review the wound - so Rilind's observation rung true. Uq didn't know if it was a sense of bravado, or if there was a deeper story to those marks, but he felt he should give the fighter the benefit of the doubt rather than lecturing him more, especially when the man was obviously his elder by a handful of seasons, at the least. So he nodded his head at the words, showing he was listening and not shrugging the man's input away, and continued to tending the wound. The hissed response was expected, even if Uquin had only applied this treatment a handful of times - so he watched Rilind's expression, noting the way he reacted with a rather pointed, almost overly intense stare, until the expression smoothed into one of almost surprised relief. Then Uquin turned to deal with Ishtu.
It didn't take long to placate his familiar. Here, under the cover of trees, water was scarce but the Aldabuck knew how to find water, and it disappeared into the treeline to search for any water bearing plants the trees offered, distinguishable as tamed only by the bridal Uquin kept around Ishtu's face. With the creature settled, Uquin stepped back to the group, listening with only limited interest. So Riling had a 'friend' - family or a lover in Yera, one who was important enough that even with his pride (or whatever it was making him reluctant to imbibe a potion) he had downed the drink with only a brief mention. It was always intriguing, to see how people were affected by intimacy - Uquin hadn't quite understood it until very recently, himself.
He had only just sat when Arats turned to him and spoke, surprising the younger healer, who flushed in pride, while also feeling strange and unused to the praise. Even if the compliment amounted to 'my resources are limited.'
Had Uquin been on his own, he may have offered to give the man a handful of supplies to take on his way - but with the possibility of a family blossoming back in Yera, the idea of giving away items he'd had to import, buy, or spend so much time gathering and making, he felt rather stingy and loathe to offer more than the potions he'd already parted with. Although, he thought, more could be offered as thanks for food and drink, which had already been offered to him freely. "I can sympathize - I'm confident in my abilities dealing with a single patient, but I... can't imagine having to spread out supplies over a large group. That's impressive." A compliment for a compliment.
Nodding his head and offering a small twitch of his lips as a half-smile, Uquin peeked at Rilind again, who seemed to have relaxed a great deal after just a few moments of soaking in the salve. The potion would take longer to numb the edges of his discomfort. "Rilind, was it? I ... I can't say I've seen you around Yera. I've been there a few months, so perhaps you passed through before I took up residence there. Do you have family there?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 12:54 am
Rilind gave a slight jerk at the guy's words, ducking his head slightly, hiding behind his red dyed bangs, not one that liked to really talk about himself. He knew full well that not everyone was out to get him, knew full well that not everyone would alert his father as to his whereabouts, but it didn't make it any easier to be more open with people. It was all he could do to tell the healer that it was none of his daman business where he lived... but it wasn't something he allowed himself to say. The guy was being nice, like a lot of people could actually be, so he really should try to do the same, right? Of course that was until the guy made mention of his family and instantly he responded by snapping out, "They are far from here and I hope it remains as such." He'd much rather his father stay in Zena where he would never have to see him again, or, better yet hear the news that he'd been devoured by a Ghost of the Mountain. He doubted he'd have such luck though, men as awful as his father had stupidly good luck when it came to survival. Shaking his head, smoothing his hands back through his hair he finally said, "Sorry... I just... would rather he stay where he belongs." He didn't want the man coming here because that would put at risk the tenuous peace that he was finally able to enjoy now that the person he used to be had been declared dead a while ago according to Yaholo. He was safe here, with this group, in this place, and with his new look he told himself before he finally said, "I don't live in Yera, I've never even been there actually, I just... know someone who has family there. I hope he can help me to figure out where I might find him." Of course now that he thought about it he knew little to nothing about Yaholo's family, all he knew was that they lived in Yera. The question then became how many people were in Yera and how was he supposed to find the right people without asking around about Yaholo? That was something he hadn't exactly thought out in detail he realized. "Ahhh... you seem to be familar with the place, even if you haven't been there in a while. Do you know someone named Yaholo?" He hated to ask more Uquin, he'd done more then enough, but if the man really wanted to know about Rilind and his reasoning for going to Yera then he might as well, right?
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:47 pm
...Oh. Uquin merely leaned back, blinking slowly at the man's rather... strong reaction. The relaxed curve of his shoulders slammed tight and tense, spine straightening - and it didn't take someone observant with body gestures to realize how stressed the redhead had become by the sentence. For a long moment, it was unclear what exactly had triggered this reaction - until, finally, a clipped and terse response came. Ah. On that front.. Uquin could understand. He nodded his head, averting his eyes - wondering when he had finally started to consider the people, of Yera, a sort of adopted family, rather than his mother and sister.
He hadn't actually thought about them for a long time - and so he quickly steered his thoughts away. At times he greatly missed his sister, but his mother... he would rather avoid any thoughts of her. Even a snippet of thought concerning her made him feel ill to the stomach. "No offense taken - I can at least see where you are coming from, if only a little." Uquin responded, brushing away the apology with a shake of his head.
That at least explained why he'd never met the man before - other than his recent wanderings in Jauhar, and the war there, Uquin hadn't been much else beyond the road to Yera. The rest of the world - Sauti and beyond - was a strange void to his mind, unexplored and foreign territory, and while he yearned to explore it he also preferred not to pass back by his birth town on the way there, and risk being sucked back into his mother's madness.
He had begun to think about this train of thought, of travel and the road, when Rilind continued - and spoke a familiar name. Instantly Uquin felt guilty to have thought longingly about traveling, not when back home Pahana was waiting, no doubt with child if their suspicions were correct. Disappearing to Jauhar for a 'routine herb run', being detained, and now falling into silence with most of Tale aware that Neued had been lost, by now, was already a horrible thing to do to his... what was Pahana, to him? Lover? Not wife, certainly, and it felt disrespectful to think of her simply as the mother of his (possible) children.
Another thought to push away, for the moment. Instead, he flushed then looked at Rilind, furrowing his eyebrows. "...I do. Although the last I had seen of him was him leaving for the battle - and that was months ago." He paused, hesitating, then finally looked at Rilind once more, tilting his head towards him in question. "... If he isn't in Yera, I could at the very least deliver you to his sister and father."
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Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 2:40 am
He could see where he was coming from? It had him wondering exactly what he meant. Did he look at his scars and understand why he wanted nothing to do with his 'family' or was it something else? Perhaps he knew what it was to have family that would sooner hit you then care about you. Not something he would wish on anyone though so he kind of hoped it was the former. Dropping his gaze he set to scratching the tips of his fingers against one of his scars as though thinking for too long on his monster of a father had caused it to itch again. It was only when Uquin spoke up again that he stopped himself from scratching too much, giving the man his attention once more. Rilind seemed to feel a moment of instant suspicion as Uquin said that he actually knew Yaholo. It was a surprise that he was so lucky as to find someone that knew him so easily after all. Which got him to wondering, was he telling the truth? At least that was what a voice in the back of his head couldn't help but to ask. At the same time why would he bother to pretend to know about the guy? Uquin had nothing on him after all, not unless he somehow knew who he really was. As such he was probably answering honestly, trying to help, and because of that he couldn't allow his paranoia get the best of him. He had to relax, to breath, and to remember that not everyone was out to get him. Why would the guy help to heal him only to stab him the back after all. Once he was able to talk himself down into a calmer and more receptive state he lifted his green eyed gaze to look toward Uquin, "Well... even if it's just his family it might help me to find him." He said finally, feeling that even if it wasn't Yaholo that he went to intially that it would be alright, so long as he found someone that might know where he could find the giant halfbreed then things would be alright. "I would hate to put you out though." He quickly added this as he realized that maybe it would be too much to actually ask the guy to deliver him straight to the people that he was looking for. He likely had far better things to do then act as a guide, right? He didn't want to be a bother to anyone, "I mean... even just the names of those I should seek out would help." Even just a clue to finding the one he was looking for was good enough by him, he wasn't picky.
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 1:52 am
Was he covered in scars, like Rilind was? No. No, but he did sympathize with having a family he would rather avoid - even if something told him he couldn't really understand the sort of trouble the redhead infront of him had experienced in his lifetime. Uquin didn't quite know what had garnered that stare from the other man - it was unreadable, honestly, and not being able to stare at a face and decipher what someone was thinking was driving the leaf earthling crazy. He was so used to just knowing what someone was brooding on, that meeting a face that was more secretive than he could crack was... strange to him.
So when Rilind finally conceded, Uquin nodded his head in relief. Some sort of checks and balances had gone on in the other man's mind, but he'd come through deciding to take Uquin up on his offer of information. It felt like he'd passed a test - although he didn't know what the test was of, or why he felt so concerned about whether he'd passed it or not.
"Well..." Uquin began, raising his hand to rub the back of his neck, shrugging a shoulder in a slight 'ehh' gesture. IT was still so strange to admit it, even though he knew that the knowledge he was about to impart wasn't strange in the world he lived in. "I would be heading there anyway. I am... I don't know how to explain my connection, but the easiest way would be to say I am... involved... with Pahana - his sister." And probably expecting children. How far along would she be, at this point? A routine trek into Jauhar, which should have lasted only a few weeks, had stretched longer, after he decided to stay in Neued. Then the battle... and these last few days coming home...
By now she surely would have confirmation of her condition, if not evidence of a swollen belly, right? With his gaze ducked, Uquin felt ridiculous for feeling so shy about admitting he was intimate with someone. But as wonderful as Pahana was, it was still... scary, having some connection to someone else. As much as he yearned for someone to be close to, he also felt himself trying to close her out. Why else would he suddenly disappear to Jauhar? And spirits, how ashamed he was to realize that was what it was - him fleeing so he could think about what it was their drunken actions had wrought.
And how dishonest he felt, trying to be intimate and caring, like a father and lover should be, when he barely knew Pahana - and honestly sometimes wondered if he was even capable of connecting in such a way. So deep into his thoughts, Uquin had ducked his head, his elbows propped against his legs, fingers tangling infront of him, fingers nervously picking at the dead root that twined its way, as an ornament, around his wrist, eyes ducked down to stare at the camp fire infront of him.
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Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 8:02 pm
His sister? Rilind shifted in place slightly and found himself wondering about that. How much about Yaholo and his life was he unaware of? He felt that there was quite a bit if he didn't even know about this sister of his. He supposed it was what came of doing his best to avoid both Yaholo and most every other living person up until recently. Hard to learn things about people, even those that you liked, when you weren't around them. It was one of those things that he really wanted to make up for though. Following Uquin it would appear was a way for him to try to make up for that. He just had to get back to Yaholo, try to spend more time with him, things like that. It was the things that should be the most simple that Ril had the hardest time with though... but really he meant to try harder now. He'd had a close brush with death, something like that changed a person or at least he hoped so. "I see." He finally said, though not really. What 'involved with' meant was beyond him. He'd guess that it meant that they were sleeping together? Sneaking around doing it, maybe? Hard to tell but that would be his assumption given the way that the guy was acting. Did that mean Yaholo didn't know? Or was it something hidden from everyone? He really didn't care about anyone else's business before now but at the moment he couldn't help but to be a bit curious about what the 'involved with' really equated. He wouldn't ask though, it wasn't any of his business and to this point Uquin had been good about not asking too many questions himself. As such Ril saw no reason to ruin the good, if at times tense, atmosphere of understanding between them. "Any help in finding him would be appreciated." He added after a bit more though, recalling that he should at least attempt to use manners. Yet another thing that he wasn't exactly used to doing but was trying to learn. It was almost funny, how many things he was just that bad at when it came to what was normal life for everyone else. He had time to figure it all out though he supposed as he set to shifting his injured shoulder, pleased to find that for at least the moment that the pain had receded. It made it a lot easier to do basically everything else when he didn't have to worry about the radiating pain. One of those things that he was grateful for. Should he comment on that? He wasn't sure. He seemed to debate it for a moment before saying, "That salve stuff seems to be working, thanks for that." Then set to chewing on his lower lip, wondering if that came out as genuine or sarcastic... he was hoping for the former instead of the latter since he was being honest enough with his words even if he wasn't good at such things as talking with strangers for extended periods of time.
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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:30 pm
While Uquin had fallen into a thoughtful reverie, so had Rilind, apparently. The older man slowly spoke, letting Uquin know he had heard, but he also looked to be thinking hard about something. Had Uquin said the wrong thing? Ah, well - after looking back over his words briefly, he shrugged a shoulder and dismissed the thought, and instead made a soft noise of agreement, nodding his head and letting his lips quirk into a brief smile. Brief because Uquin quickly let it fall and instead eyed the food that the camp members had by the fire.
They'd offered him some, and yet it still felt strange to take their food - they were a larger group, and would need it much more than he would, since he was almost to Yera. Ishtu was hungry as well - after passing through the savannah, with only dry plants to nibble on, the aldabuck was happily nosing at the ground and chomping on any greenery it could find. Now that he was in Tale again, Uquin could dig up some bulbs - but he was also tired from his travels, so he didn't stir from the side of the fire.
Of course, he didn't realize that Rilind was worrying about his manners. Uquin was quite content, and didn't seem to think the antisocial man was being strange in any way - so when he went out of his way to mention it, the younger man looked back at him and cracked another smile, tilting his head at the man. He seemed to worry about something - but he had already made it clear he would prefer Uquin not pry.
Even so, the earthling felt his features softening, if only a little. "I'm glad it helped somebody, rather than sitting in my bag, unused." Uquin said, politely accepting the thanks. He wanted to continue to speak to the man, if only to help him with that quiet anxiety - but he wasn't sure what to ask. He wanted to inquire about his injuries, but he didn't know if that was a barred topic, like his family. Tapping his fingers against his knee, Uq was quiet for a long moment, then finally thought of something. "Besides that... I'm glad to help anyone who is a friend Yaholo. He was very welcoming to me when I moved to Yera - it truly meant a lot to me, to see a kind face." Of course, at the time he'd been startled about the tall Alkidike man, but he had been kind when everything felt so hopeless.
Besides that, he felt it would be better to talk about himself, if he wished to speak to Rilind, so that the man could volunteer any information he wanted to the conversation without feeling pressured.
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