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 Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:30 pm
 Heras Box ((sorry forgot if you had any details about the friend -- name, gender? If i got anything wrong lmk and i’ll fix it!!))
It had some similarities to Matori -- you know… trees. But trees in Jauhar were at a whole other level of tree-ness. Back in Matori, a thick stand of trees was one that provided a nice bit of shade for your afternoon nap. Here, a thick stand of trees was a wall. A wall thicker than the full spread of your arms, knotted together with vines and studded with glowing crystal. Making your way over the forest floor had been an endeavour, even along the trail. He saw now why the locals stuck to the trees, but he hadn’t a quarter of the nimbleness needed to follow suit.
And even then, Vodyanoi hadn’t been in Matori for a few years -- he’d been in Oba. Oba was flat and hot and gold. This was completely different, and he was… completely overwhelmed.
So he held on to the one shred of concrete purpose he had -- finding Rajani. Rajani. He repeated the name over and over again, as if afraid that he’d forget. A friend of his, a water earthling, had told him to seek out this shifter. Apparently she was a friend of his. He promised that she might help him along, give him some pointers at least, and he had a message to bring her. But how in the world was he supposed to find one woman in this whole jungle?
He figured Neued was his best best, so that was where he started. The city was the easiest place to get to, and full of non-locals who didn’t take to trees either. Once he got there, he bought a cheap meal, took a rest and got to asking around for Rajani. He found no clear leads, but a few folks wrinkled their noses and rubbed at their temples as if the name rang a bell.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:57 pm
Stereochrome Well, Rajani wouldn't be in the city but she would be outside it. <3 Also.. I didn't name the friend so we can call him Kofi. o wo
Since her encounter with Elsif the shifter had given her childhood town a wide berth. Such actions led her to the far south of Jauhar. Close to Oba. Too close for Rajani's taste. So she stayed on the northern side of Neued. Silent shivers ran down her spine as she thought about what lay on the other side and across the border. She could never bring herself to go there again. Even though she wanted to see how her friend was faring in Matori. There were times when she thought about taking the sea route to visit the home of the water tribe. That would take months though and there was no guarantee that she wouldn't be absconded by an Oba fisher. Then there were the steep cliffs from Sauti down into Matori, though not many survived that trip if they dared it.
"I hope he's doing well.." Rajani said as she stayed in the shadows of the forest. Her familiar, a Maglardilla named Ethra, clung to her back and leaned over her shoulder to rub his head against her cheek. She reached up and patted the insect affectionately. "I'm sure he is, boy." The thing was, Rajani had to believe that. If she even thought that something bad had happened to her friend, to the one person in the world that knew what she went through, then she could never forgive herself for being so afraid to cross the border. The young woman turned her head to look at her pet with a smile before she turned to walk away from the city. "Come on boy, we should get away from here before someone sees us." It was enough that she had ventured this far it would be something else altogether if someone spotted her.
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Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 7:18 pm
After a good half-hour of asking around, Vodyanoi happened upon a friendly-looking blacksmith who claimed that the only 'Rajani' he knew had just passed through the city. He figured that she had headed into the jungle on the northern side of town, and that if Vodyanoi hurried on down the same trail he might stand some chance of catching up with her. The water earthling wasn't exactly jumping at the opportunity to go jungle-trekking again, especially now that he had found himself in a city big enough to make some money in...
But this was the only lead he had, and he feared that if he didn't head right out to look for the woman, he might never find her.
Neued, and money-making, would have to wait. He thanked the blacksmith and set out on the road that was supposed to lead him out of town, together with his little menagerie of familiars -- a perzi, a zanteer and a little yellow-blue sprite. Soon enough, the houses (and tree-houses) grew less and less frequent, and he found himself back in the dark, blue-green Jauhar wilderness. Neued, however, was a big city, and by the time he made it all the way out here he was tired and close to regretting his decision.
"Hffff." He hissed, clambering over a tree-root as big as a janarim, "No wonder Kofi never tried coming out this way himself."
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Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 8:07 pm
Rather than travel along the ground where the roots were, as well as some predators, Rajani had decided that being up in the trees was the better route. She was about halfway up when she heard a hissing sound that made her pause. With her feet against the trunk and her hands holding onto a branch (ready to ascend even farther) she turned her head to look around. She just hoped that she wasn't going to find a Menzuri.
The young woman was surprised to see a person moving along the ground not too far below and close to the tree she was in. Rajani shifted a little to allow one hand to hold her weight on the branch as she used her other to tap Ethra and get the insect to move from her back to the trunk of the tree she was currently clung to like a monkey. When the first tap didn't seem to work she made a snapping noise with her fingers to get the bug's attention. It seemed that he too was watching the Matorian on the ground. "Ethra, get off." It wasn't that she didn't want him there it was just that it was easier for her to move and wield her weapon without him there. It also meant that if things got harry he wouldn't get hurt.
Once her familiar was safely on the tree rather than her she moved up onto the branch and straddled it so she could have better balance. Rajani took hold of her hammer and arched a brow in curiosity. Why was one of the fish people here? "You're a long way from home, aren't ya?" She called out. If she wanted to find out why he was in the jungle of Jauhar then she needed to speak to him. It wasn't likely that she was going to come down from her perch though.
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Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 5:09 pm
His familiars were having an easier time of it than he was. Dez, the perzi, balanced his way along tree-trunks, roots and big vines as easily as he walked roof-tops and walls back in Oba. Delis the zanteer seemed pleased with the jungle damp, clambering over rocks and rotting tree-stumps and sniffing at every little nook and cranny. Ika, of course, had her wings, and fluttered idly about Vodyanoi's head as he walked, sometimes settling down to rest on his shoulder.
But Vodyanoi was laden with his drum and his bag and his water-skin, plus of course the usual array of jewelry, and it seemed like everying was conspiring to get in his way and hang down in the most awkward manner possible.
"You're a long way from home, aren't ya?" Without forewarning, a voice called out from right over his head. He let out a "AI!" of surprise, stumbling forward a little, then catching his footing and squinting up at the tree-tops. He thought he saw a glimmer of shifter-skin up there, but the leaves were thick and the glow of the crystals on the jungle floor obscured the details.
"Well that isn't so unusual." He shrugged. "I'm travelling. Are you a bandit? I'll warn you, Delis is trained to attack. And Dez isn't the friendliest either."
This was entirely a lie, but it couldn't hurt, could it?
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Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 9:32 am
She nodded her head as the fishy male below said that being so far from home wasn't an unusual thing. However she tipped her head back a little when he asked if she was a bandit. There was a time when Rajani thought that she might have gone that path in life but not now. Now she had a home and a new family that she adored. When the guy went on to tell her how ferocious his familiars were she only let the side of her mouth quirk upward in a slight smirk. There was a moment of silence shared between the two before she finally looked away from him and shook her head only to bring her grey eyes back to his face. "I have no intention of coming down from this tree let alone to rob you." It was all the shifter could give in the means of comfort that he was safe from having his things stolen. At least by her.
There were no promises made that there wasn't a bandit lurking somewhere else in the woods. Rajani wasn't the patrol.
"I am surprised that you made it through Oba in one piece." She hadn't been there in some time so she didn't know how safe or unsafe it was now for outsiders. Given her history she wasn't about to go find out either. "Travelling for business or pleasure?" Rajani had wanted to call him "little fish" but knew it could be taken offensively. A lesson she had learned from her new family and one she planned to follow.
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 7:35 pm
"Well that's a bit extreme, I have to say." Vodyanoi looked up as the woman in the trees told him that she intended to stay up there. He knew the Shifters were fond of trees, but... staying up in one for the duration of the conversion, in which the other party hadn't either the skill or desire the move up off the ground, was an inconvenient choice. Apt to put a real crick in his neck, if he tried to be polite and keep his eyes on her.
But, well, if she wasn't a bandit, he wasn't going to complain about it.
"Psh, Oba? I've been travelling through Oba for years. I grew up there, and I spent the last few years there. Oba doesn't worry me!"
Well, there was that whole matter of being almost-stranded in the desert on his way up to the border, but... he'd made it out fine, hadn't he?
"It's this jungle that's harder to deal with. And the bugs! Ugh. Well, anyway. As hard as it might be to believe, I'm travelling for both. I do want to see the place. But I've also got two business matters to look after. I'm a musician, see. I'm travelling around to learn about the different sorts of music folks play in Tendaji. I've only been to Matori and Oba until now."
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 3:37 pm
Extreme? She blinked and wondered why he would think such a thing. Staying in the tree was the safest thing for her. Rajani pushed those thoughts aside, however, when she heard that the fish male below had grown up in Oba. It was something that made her look at him with pity. "I'm sorry to hear that. Were you a slave?" It was an assumed truth since she didn't think any non-Oban would choose to live in the harsh climates among the oppressive race. "I knew someone from your tribe who was a slave." The shifter neglected to mention that she knew them from her time as a slave as well.
Her grey eyes moved to the side to look at her Maglardilla with a smirk as the male complained about the bugs. Rajani seemed to like them well enough. If it weren't obvious from the fact that she had one as a familiar. "They aren't so bad." Her shoulders lifted up with indifference.
"Well Sol has good music but it's pretty far north." She had to wonder if the guy wanted to go that far just to hear the music in Jauhar. Though if he was dedicated to his trade then he might want to.
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