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 Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2004 7:52 pm
11/12/04 Well, it's certainly been an interesting day. First we had to stage an impromptu search-and-rescue to find Zydeco, who'd somehow burrowed into the rotten wreckage of the tree to save little animals. As bad as it sounds, it wouldn't be me in there for anything less than an actual person (ieldi, kyunru and kun-kuns included, since they're, for the most part, as intelligent as people). But I digress. Anyways, just as we'd sent in our tunneling team to rescue Zy, Rasu shows up quite suddenly. She was beside herself, the poor woman. Apparently she had been away in Durem on business when Death attacked, as soon as she saw the tree she spazzed out and started yelling for Imriel. I had to hold her back, or I'm sure she'd have started digging through the debris. Anyways, she calmed down after I told her that Imriel was safe in the woods with Time and the rest of the escapees. Well, then she told us about some pretty strange stuff happening while she was away in Durem. Something about kun-kuns and water falling from the clock tower, I wasn't paying as much attention as I likely should have. Anyways, then we all end up being transported to the top of the tower. Zy somehow managed to get out of the debris, though I think I sort of missed how that happened. Regardless, there we were, on top of a rather antique-looking clock tower, and what do we find? Believe it or not, a pond and two little trees. Don't even ask me how trees were growing on a metal floor, but I've found that since the appearance of the Pantheon, it's easier to just not ask. Of course then Rasu sticks her hand through some portal between the trees. I swear nothing can surprise me anymore. Lots of people were pretty amazed, but I was sorta worried. I mean, look at what happened last time any of us went through some portal. That was less than pleasant, let me tell you. Despite that, we all end up marching through this portal. And I don't mind saying that I was going to piss myself if I heard any trace of ground collapsing, or insane laughter. Thankfully for everyone (and my dignity, mind you), there were no collapses, or revivals of insane death-incarnations. Instead we found the most amazing tree I've ever seen in my life. And trust me, I've seen some wicked-huge trees before, but this one made them look like ants, seriously. I couldn't even make out the leaves at the top. And that's not even the coolest thing. There's all these buildings here at the bottom. I don't think they could have been built by ieldi, since they're on the ground, but who knows? Anyways, I'm currently sitting in a nice patch of grass next to one of the buildings as I write this. Actually, I'm feeling like a nap would be good right about now. ---Peace out
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Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2004 12:50 pm
(( RP from the main thread ))
Nai is obviously bored. Having wandered in and out of every building there more than once, she wanted something exciting to happen. She'd even be happy to see Siff, if it livened things up a bit. Sighing deeply, she wanders over to the garden, picking a large rose-like flower and taking a deep sniff.
Tia's ears slightly moved back from the sound of someone coming toward her. She turned her head a bit sleepily to Nai and smiled.
"Haven't talked to you in awhile,"
Nai glances over as Tia greets her.
"It has been a while, hasn't it."
She sits down near Tia, and tucks the flower behind one of her ears.
"I hope life's been more exciting for you than for me."
"Exceitement eh? I think I've been sleeping for three days straight," she laughs, sitting up straight.
"Well, unless you consider Leila excitement ... that diety is something else," she chuckles to herslef.
"Though ... this place seems promosing ... "
She chuckles, and shakes her head.
"Oh, is that what we call that now?"
She lays back, resting her head on her hands and shutting her eyes halfway.
"It's beautiful here, but nothing's happened. It almost makes me feel as if it's not real. I'm probably not making any sense, am I?"
"Apprently so ... " she smirkes, streching her arms.
"Oh no, perfect sense to me ... since the portal was in a clocktower, water was found in it and well it's hard to believe anything could be so real. Not to mention how quickly things happened ... it wasn't even in progression," she sighs pulling out a mint from her pocket.
"Would you like one?"
"Though, there is still time for something exciting to happen ... "
She shakes her head at the offer of a mint.
"Nah, none for me thanks. And I hope something semi-interesting happens soon. I'm gonna drive myself crazy at this rate, or Dazzle and Blues will do it for me."
She put the mint back into her pocket, sucking on her own.
"Perhaps ..." she pauses, "... A little excursion is in order then?"
Turning her head towards Tia slightly and raising an eyebrow, she inquires.
"Oh? What do you have in mind?"
"Well ... if it's excitement, then I'm sure exploring this area into deatil would be exciting ... of course we could just make the excuse that we're doing it to expand the village area or something ..." she chuckles with a smirk.
"Pfft. Who needs an excuse. We're bored, so we're going exploring."
She props herself up on her elbows and looks around the clearing.
"That's also true ... " she sits up from her seat as well, looking into some bushes.
"The bushes maybe? Something hidden behind things could reveal excitement ... "
She raises an eyebrow in amusement.
"Right. There's gonna be something hidden in the bushes at an abandoned town."
She snickers, and looks around for something else possibly worth exploring.
"If we got through a portal in a clocktower ... watch something pop up from a hole in the ground ... behind the bushes," she calls back with a snort.
Meanwhile, Leila kicks a few rocks into place.
There ... she smirks tossing her hair aside as if she's done something with ease. She moves carefully among the greenery appearing from behind the in in the shade of a nearby tree. She eases her back against it, cloak flowing with the breeze that had happened to sweep by.
Tia felt a small chill down her spine.
Oh goodness ... she sighes placing her palm to her forehead.
What's she been up to now ...
She looks slightly concerned at the odd expression on Tia's face.
"What's wrong? You look like you drank spoiled milk or something."
"Ah, well Leila's here ... and usually that's not a good thing," she gives a meek smile as Leila smirks once more beneath the hair covering her eyes.
"I don't understand why she acts that way when she's a big softie inside ..."
She thinks for a minute, then speaks slowly, as if hesitant.
"Leila is Present, right? Isn't she the one that Mili always gets into trouble with?"
"Yes, she is the Present. And well ... I suppose you could say he does ... really I think he just bugs her but that's my opinion on the situation ... regardless, I think if we asked her for excitement she'd give us something crazy enough to kill us," she looks over to Leila not wanting to know what her next move was. Then again, she couldn't really tell with her.
She smirks, and chuckles quietly.
"Well, Mili does seem to attract trouble just a bit. He's got a good heart though."
She glances around lazily.
"Well, I can't say I'm big on the idea of dying, but my brain's gonna rot if I don't do something."
"Also true," she smiles at the comment.
"Well, I doubt she's in a bad mood with those smirks ... so it can't be something bad ... we could go talk to her .... "
"Well, I'm up for a risk, let's go."
She climbs to her feet and straightens up her clothes a bit, and waits for Tia.
"Alright then," she smiles as she beings to walk forward.
Finally ... took them long enough to get moving ...
She shakes her head walking away from the tree to them as well.
"My my ..."
Walking a step behind Tia, Nai watches the goddess approach. As they meet in the middle, she bows her head respectfully.
"Good day, Lady Present."
"Leila," Tia acknowledges her.
Leila smirks to Tia in thought for a moment before turning her head to Nai.
"Good day, you see this Tia? This is the respect I should be treated in ... I can tell this one's got a mind," she scans Nai from head to toe and circles around them once.
"How'd you two like to go and find something in ... say oh ... 27 minutes hmm?"
"Whats the catch?" Tia asks raising an eyebrow.
"Oh heavens dear, why would there be a catch? All you have to do is find something ... that I think both of you should be capable of caring for ... in 27 minutes ... no catch."
"Find something in 27 minutes... I'm game."
She looks to Tia questioningly.
"What about you?"
"Well I guess it can't hurt to try ... right Leila?"
"Hurt you? No ... it shouldn't, either way you both accept then?" she looks to Tia manily.
"Alright then, how do we go about this?"
"There are two objects hidden here in Sabilasi. If you find them you are to keep them and care for them, understood?"
"Yes,"
"These two objects are hidden carefully ... so you best use your time wisely. Also ... if you do not find them ... I'll have to pick another two humans to complete this," she speaks almost playfully.
"Return to me with the objects before the time is finished,"
"I guess that means we're in. Ready Nai?" Tia questions her eyes darting around a little.
She nods, and also starts glancing around the clearing.
"Yeah, let's do this."
She starts to walk off, before suddenly turning back to Leila.
"Within the village, or outside?"
She smirks, "Where ever you think relics would ly," before turning off back to her spot under the tree.
Tia blinks repeatedly before looking to Nai, "... Did she just say what I think she said?"
"26 minutes!"
Tia smiles as she tries to remember where a relic would be.
"Think we should try behind the Inn? That's where we saw her come from ... "
Blinking with eyes wide, she replies.
"I... think she did..."
Leila's statement snaps her out of her semi-trance, and she looks around thouroughly.
"That'd be way too easy. The ieldi live in trees, so I think we should be looking up."
"Knowing Leila she probably stuck them on a cliff ... " she smirks.
"We could try tree tops though ..." she answers trailing off to some hidden trees.
She laughs as she starts peering upwards.
"Luckily for us I don't see any cliffs around here."
She walks over to one of the smaller trees and starts climbing, stopping occasionally to see where Tia's looking.
Tia makes her way around various shrubbery trying to to get caught by the branches.
"I wish Leila would make this easy ..." she mumbles while pushig further getting her foot stuck in the ground.
"A hole already ..." she laughes taking her foot out and gets on all fours looking up through the branches in the trees.
Nai reaches a fairly high branch in the tree, and sits down. She looks around the village from the higher vantage point. Failing to see anything looking remotely like a relic, she sighs.
"Hey, Tia! Any luck down there?"
Tia shakes her head.
"No, besides getting my foot stuck ... I would figure though that they would have to be camouflaged somewhere," she thinks aloud.
"Perhaps they aren't seeable right away maybe attached to something ... assuming they are made out of wood,"
She sighs, and jumps out of the tree.
"Of course they're made of wood. And you'd think that they'd be obvious, what with being covered in feathers and crap."
"Don't get too discouraged ... Leila doesn't make things obvious," she stands up from the ground grushes the dirt away.
"If they aren't in the trees or in the ground ... where's the only place left? ... there has to be some trick to all this ..."
She taps a finger against her chin idly as she thinks.
"If they're not in the trees or on the ground, that leaves the water, which there's nowhere near enough of here to hide anything, or the sky, and I think we'd have noticed floating relics before now."
She sighs and looks around again, then suddenly blinks several times.
"We're idiots. We should've checked the buildings first, there's tons of places to hide stuff inside."
"Wood would rot in water as well ... if they stayed their long enough," tia pauses to hear Nai.
"Yes I think that does make us idiots ... want to split up for the buildings? I think we've got about 15 minutes left ..."
She nods firmly, and glances around at the buildings once.
"You take the ones on the left, I'll take the ones on the right?"
"Gotcha!" she replies before darting to the largest building scanning the base first.
Her hands touch the wooden base nothing seeming out of the ordinary, before a small white fether falls from above.
"Feather?" she whispers squinting up to the Lumia hive.
"I have to climb up there?!"
Finally the game gets interesting ... took them long enough to get to the spots ... at least I know their brains work. Let's see thier physical strength. Leila thinks to herself sweeping slowly behind the trees observing.
"13 minutes ..."
Crap ... Tia gripped her fingers into the moss tightly attempting to scale the building.
Nai jogs over to the tavern, and walks quickly around it once. Seeing nothing, she drops to her knees and peers under the boardwalk at the front of the building. Cursing, she stands up and yells to Tia.
"You have a flashlight!? I can't see a damn thing under here!"
"I've got too much damn light!" Tia calls back as she crawled further to the Hive.
If the relic isn't up here and I become blind oh Leila you are going to get it! Tia huffs almost having to close her eyes.
"These may come in handy ..." she says under her breath tossing a pair of sunglasses into the high part of the moss.
"Thank god!" Tia edges over slowly grabbign the pair, grinning and climbing forward.
Leila glides over to the tavern flicking out a small lamp from inside her cloak and kicking it on the floor into the tavern.
"I'm so kind," she smirks to herslef heading back toward her tree.
Snatching the lamp off the floor, Nai turns around quickly, calling after Leila.
"Thank you very much!"
She drops to her knees again, lamp in hand, and pokes her head under the deck. Still unable to see very far into the darkness, she rolls the lamp ahead of her a few feet and starts to crawl underneath the building.
Tia places a hand at the very edge of the hive still haveing the light seep through her glasses.
She mangages herself up to the top covered in blinding white light. She shuts her eyes and aimlessly reaches out in front of her for anything. Lumia scatter a bit from her as she enters their territory.
Almost to the very core of the hive her hands falls into a hole where she feels something soft to the touch. She dares ot open one eye to find a pink feather between her fingers. She grins esctatically, until she finds that the relic is pushed into a hole much smaller, which means she can't pull it out.
"Now what?" she pauses, as she hears 9 minutes ring from below.
"Gah!"
Startled as she hears Leila announce 9 minutes, she curses colorfully as she smacks her head on the underside of the deck. Rubbing her head gently, she continues crawling around under the building.
"Damnit... Now why the hell did we agree to this again..."
Wrapped up in her muttering, Nai is startled again when the lamp smacks into something hard and smashes.
"Bloody hell! What did I do to deserve this!?"
Continuing her tirade, she crawls over to the object, careful to avoid the smashed glass of the lamp. Running her fingers over the object, she concludes that it's made of wood, and thinks that it's probably a support beam for the building. That is, until she feels feathers.
"Finally!"
Grasping the relic firmly, she gives it a yank, dissappointed when it only moves about an inch.
"Oh, this is gonna take a while..."
Tia's mind drifts at a fast rate, until she finally thinks of an idea out of desperation.
"Well, damn! If the thing won't be pulled out I'll push it!" she finds the hole small, but big enough for her to slide into. She drops straight onto the relic the blinding light gone.
"Well, finally the light is gone ... GAH!" she starts before a small scream is heard and she starts to swirl down as if on a slide.
"What the-?!" she comes flying out of a hole in the bottom landing face first into the grass.
"Ouch ..." she rubs her arms and head before noticing she was on the ground.
"Yes!" she replies in victory rolling the relic to Leila.
"That seemed to easy Leila ..." she speaks with a raised eyebrow to the relic.
"Only because you were helped, you might want to help your friend too, since their are only 4 minutes left ..."
Tia drops the relic by Leila and shouts out.
"Nai! Where are you? 4 minutes!"
She smacks her head again as Tia yells, and curses more.
"God damnit!"
She'd managed to move the relic a few feet, but that's it.
"I'm under the tavern! I found it though!"
Tia rushes toward the tavern from the opposite side of where Nai is and peeks her head under to see the glowing light.
"I pushed mine out! Try pushing yours! Will it roll?"
"It's too big, I can't tip it over! The deck's in the way!"
Frustrated with the lack of progress, she crawls behind the relic, putting her back to it, and pushes with her feet. The relic moves much faster than before, but still slowly.
Tia gets intto a combat position poking her head into the hole letting her arms reach out to the relic.
"Keep pushing!"
"Will they make it?" Leila snickers admiring her nails to pass the time.
Still pushing the relic along, she glances over her shoulder, able to see Tia's silhouette against the faint light outside.
"Geez, I'm going as fast as I can."
"Sorry, we've only got about 2 minutes," Tia says weith a wary smile.
Nai huffs in irritation, and gives the relic one last shove to get it clear of the deck. Crawling out after it, she sweeps some of the dust off her clothes and mutters various curse words.
"There. Finally got the damn thing. This'd better be worth it."
"I'm sure it will," Tia smiles as she makes her way back to Leila, helping Nai with the relic.
Leila puts down her hands folding them.
"Well, you've done brilliantly I should say," she gives half a smile.
"We've been waiting for responsible human caretakers, as you know relics aren't given at whim ..." she pauses to push the relic Tia found toward her.
"The relics you found are now your own. Welcome to the world of Ieldi," she places her hands on her hips triumphantly, before walking away. She turns once more,
"Oh, and by the way ... pick your shelves and you may start to attract a spirit and I'll be waiting for your little ones to show up, because remember without me, you wouldn't have gotten them now would you?" she gives a devious smile before heading into a shaded area twirling her cloak as she vanishes.
"Wow ... this feels so odd," Tia smiles admiring her relic for the first time.
Nai blinks after Leila, then whispers behind her hand to Tia.
"How do you deal with her on a regular basis?"
Shrugging, she turns to examine her relic, and busies herself cleaning all the dirt off it.
"Does feel strange, doesn't it? Oh well, I guess."
She peered around the new area, it looked friendly almost inviting. ?I could get used to this,? she whispered under her breath. Varen had already ran off investigating every nook and cranny. She saw some people and walked over to them with a wave and smile.
Tia whispers back,
"Honestly? Agree with her most of the time, or else she'll just go off into a tangent," she laughes, "Deep down she is just a big softie, and at least she isn't evil,"
Tia sits down beside her relic and give a small sigh,
"It's just so odd that we've been waiting for so long and all of a sudden ... we have two relics right infront of us," she smiles feeling the feathers.
"Wonder what kind of birds they'll attract?"
Tia spots another person walking toward them, she gives a friendly smile.
She puts a hand to her mouth at Tia's reply, glancing up to see if said diety was listening. Satisfied that Leila was far enough away, she removes her hand and bursts out laughing.
"Oh my... I'm sorry, but..."
She manages to pull herself together after a few minutes, and loks over at Tia as she touches the feathers of her relic. She does the same, runing her fingers along the soft feathers, but suddenly jerks her hand back, staring at her fingers oddly.
"Heh, you should see her in the mornings then,"
She pauses to turn to Nai.
"What's wrong?"
She looks at her right hand in confusion, then holds the other up next to it. She slowly curls her left hand into a fist, then uncurls it. The fingers of her right hand only twitch slightly.
"...My hand's gone numb."
Tia blinks suddenly, "We should probably get something on that hand!" She looks to the feathers curiously.
"And find out what kind of bird those feathers came from!"
Her eyebrows furrow together slightly as she peers at the feathers.
"Yeah, I guess we should..."
She tries to curl her fingers again, and they move only slightly more than before.
Did Nai and Tia had relics? She rubbed her eyes but the little wood shapes were still there. "Wow, congratulations you guys!" she shouted across the field. Coming closer she examined them more closely, "They really are beautiful." She stood in shock of the two new relics.
Seeing K approach, Nai waves with the hand that she still has feeling in.
"Hey, you wouldn't know how to get rid of numbness, would you?"
She thought about all the remddies she knew, "unless it's somesort of effect of poisioning I think it will eventually go away like when the dentist uses novicain. Rubbing it might make it feel better," she said with a little nod.
She groans loudly.
"With my f***ing luck it probably is poisoning."
Muttering curse words to herself, she starts rubbing her hand vigorously.
"Well I don't thinnk any birds are posionus to humans so I think you should be ok on that end," she touched the inflicted hand.
"Famous last words?"
She sighs and stops rubbing her hand. When she tries to curl her fingers again, they curl up about halfway before falling limp again.
"Well, it looks like it's getting better, a little bit."
"Thank you K! Was a bit of a hassle to get it but Leila's that way," she smirks before standing up.
"I think we could put some ointment of some kind, let me go get some from my room ..." she waves suddenly popping into the Inn and grabbing her bag, then heading back out.
She sits down next to Nai, feeling the crips blades of grass. She turns to Nia with a confused expression, "You never did say why your hand went numb?"
She gestures vaguely at the relic with her left hand, the one that still has feeling.
"Touched the feathers. I guess I'll have to go back to town tomorrow and do some research on poisonous feathers. Maybe I can pick up some sort of antidote. We'll see."
"I hope it's nothing too serious and that it dosen't effect other ideli." She thinks about what might happen if the little bird ever found a mate, she chuckles softly to herself.
"We'll just have to see, I suppose. I'd bet that I could find some sort of cure, if I look hard enough."
She sighs and pokes idly at her numbed hand, sometimes looking at the relic.
Tia rushes back franticially to the two of them.
"I've got some Neosporin ... not sure if it works with numbness though ... and a bird book," she pants a bit falling back into her place.
She shrugs and takes the Neosporin.
"Well, I've got nothing to lose."
As she rubs the cream onto her hand, she peers at the book a bit.
She takes the book from Tia, and looks under "p" in the glossary, "poison...poison...ah here it is page 58," she turns to it and starts reading.
As if drawn to the relics, Koniryu drifts over towards the humans and their new charges. "Ah..." the nature deity breathes, first looking at the relics and then peering, eyes narrowed, at the humans.
He walks quietly over to Naien and Tiagra, coming up behind them. "New relics, I see?" he asks, trying to be conversational - although he can't quite cover up all the suspicion in his voice.
She starts to dictate from the book, "The only two known poisonous birds are the Hooded Pitohui (Pitohui dichrous, also called the "garbage bird") and the Ifrita (Ifrita kowaldi) from Papua, New Guinea. The toxin (homobatrachotoxin, a steroidal alkaloid) is concentrated in these bird's feathers and skin, and is probably obtained from some plant that they eat." she stops for a second, "Wow, I had no idea birds could be poisonous."
She turns around rather quickly at the diety's voice, but regains her composure quickly.
"Ah, yes Sir. Lady Leila sent us on a search for them."
She bows her head respectfully, albeit a bit belatedly.
"Leila... ah." He sidestepped the humans, ignoring the three of them for now, and concentrated on the relics. They were the real thing... not just mock-ups or ordinary birdhouses. He quickly traced around the woodwork of one of them with one green finger.
So, there were more of the relics around... interesting. He would have to ask Leila where she found these. He turned around to the humans again, this time fixing them all with a long look. "Are you prepared for the responsibility these entail?" he asked, with a stern tone to his voice. "And... what happened to you?" He arched one eyebrow at Naien.
"Wow, a poisonous bird?"
Tia's reactions were quick to Koniryu. Leila was always sneaking up on her that it had become a habit, nodding her head in acknowledgement of the higher authority.
"Good afternoon," she smiled to the diety, "Leila mentioned that, I certainly am going to care for it as best I can ..."
She nods firmly at Koniryu's question, her expression serious.
"Yes Sir, I think we are."
She looks a bit startled at his second question, but again makes a fairly quick recovery.
"Oh, well I was just cleaning the relic up a bit, and when I touched the feathers my whole hand went numb right away. We think that the feathers are from a poisonous bird of some kind."
"Concluding from the book, I would think that Nai's bird would have to be a Hooded Pitohui or an Ifrita," she infored the group, giving a little nod
"A poisonous bird?" Koniryu held out his hand towards Naien. "Let me see," he ordered.
She holds her hand out to the nature diety obediantly, and watches to see what he might do.
"Urmm... Tia brought some cream that I put on it, but it didn't do much."
She scans the pages for some pictures, "ah here they are...um...they are both orange and black. But the Hooded Pitohui has more vivid colors, maybe that's your bird."
Koniryu reached out and cupped Naien's hand in his own. The pantheon tried not to cringe at the human's touch - even though he had initiated it, the unfamiliar feel of human still made him uneasy. A soft glow emanated from his hands, surrounding the human's hand as he felt for the affliction.
"Ah... yes, there is something unnatural there." He withdrew, then reached out to stroke one of the feathers. "Yes." His forehead wrinkled in thought. "I can try to heal it, although neither the toxin nor you is of Sabiliasi... I may not be as effective as if it were from my own world."
Tia sat back quietly before looking to her own relic. Why was it many differnt colored feathers were shown? For all she know it could be multiple birds ... unless there was a rainbow colored bird?
She watched the diety from her spot, he'd have more healing abilities than her ointment for sure.
She watched intently as the diety looked first at her hand, then at the feathers.
"I would appreciate it, but please don't feel obliged to. It might go away on it's own, and I'll just have to be careful with the relic."
Koniryu nodded. "I will try, then, with your permission. It will... teach me some about your kind." He knelt down and cupped her hand between his again, then closed his eyes.
A vivid green light seemed to flow out of his fingertips, enveloping Naien's numb hand in what felt like cool water.
Then, abruptly, the light faded and Koniryu stood up, shaking his hands as if they'd gotten pins and needles. "What a strange way of doing things," he murmured, to no one in particular. "Did it work?" He arched one eyebrow at Naien, questioning now.
She watches as her hand is cast in a green glow, then as Koniryu stands. She flexes her hand experimentally, and grins when her fingers curl into a fist.
"It did, thank you very much."
She glanced at the relic again, and said more to herself than anyone else.
"Now how am I going to get it anywhere?..."
Koniryu traced one finger down the wood of Naien's relic. "Simply covering it in cloth should suffice to move it," he said. "The wood does not seem affected, although I would be wary of touching where the feathers have rubbed. There are plants similar in Sabilasi that poison with oils that remain potent even when not on the parent leaf..."
He blinked. He was having a conversation with a human?
How odd.
"Hey, K do you think you could look up any rainbow colored birds? I'm guessing that this one has more than one color, like a parrot, but I've never seen a pastel colored parrot before," she asked softly.
Her hands brushed against the wood. If getting a relic was already this interesting, then actually raising an Ieldi would prove much more events.
She smiled at the thought.
She listens closely to the diety, and nods.
"That shouldn't be too hard then. I've got a blanket in my bag that I can use."
She blinks at the part about plants.
"That sounds a bit like poison ivy. It causes itching when touched."
She stops for a minute, then giggles.
"So I've got a poison ivy ieldi to look after."
"Quite possibly." Koniryu looked mildly amused, although he did not smile. "Where are you going to place them? Although one Ieldi has been born on the ground, those were extenuating circumstances indeed..."
She stops to think about the question, tapping her fingers against her leg idly.
"Well, I'm not sure. There are no shelves yet, and I certainly don't want to leave it on the ground."
She stops to think again, this time glancing around the village clearing.
"Maybe I could try and build a little shelf in one of those smaller trees near the edge of the clearing. Then the relic would be safe and off the ground, until something more permanent is availible."
Tia spoke, "If that was directed to both of us, I was going to choose a shelf, I would think being born to the ground may be a bit confusing," she scratched her head smiling before turning back to K.
"Hmm, the only other birds that could be different colors would be rollers ... or that I can think of,"
She gets no results for 'rainbow' this would be so much eaier if she had more information. She decied to look through the picture section for a bird that had colors like the relic's feathers. "maybe this one... no that's too colorful..how about this one," she pointed to a picture that had a caption of Lilac-Breasted Roller
"Ooo! That looks like a match! and what a beautiful bird to boot!" she grinned leaning over looking at the picture, skimming a few paragraphs on the page.
"We shall see." Koniryu looked up at the branches of the tree above them. "There is much to be found in the forests of Sabilasi. This is not your world, remember..."
With that, the nature deity nodded and turned on one hoofed foot, walking away from them briskly and into the forests around the new Kyendi clearing.
She blinks and stares after the retreating diety, and ponders his parting statement.
"...Goodbye."
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Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 4:57 pm
(( To read the Upper Kyendi RP, go here. )) 07/01/05 Bloody hell, we have houses! Real ieldi houses! No squatting on shelves for weeks on end, or worrying about falling off in the middle of the night. It's great! Mine has a nice round main room, and two smaller half-circle ones underneath. One of them is pretty bare, save a few cupboards set into the wall. I'll probably make it into a bedroom for the little ieldi. The other little room is about as empty, except instead of cabinets there's plumbing. It's obviously meant to be a bathroom, I'll just need to find a sink and toilet and stuff. I'm really glad that there's the bathroom, I was dreading midnight trips down the tree to use the bathroom at the inn. With my luck I'd trip and kill myself. But the best part of the house is the balcony. It's a nice little deck that runs all the way along one side of the house, with a short railing along the back edge. That's where I'm thinking of setting up the relic and all my spirit luring sparklies. It's really nice out there, and you can even see patches of sky through the leaves. It's gonna be really nice when I'm done. Anyways, I think I'm gonna go "acquire" some furniture from the inn. Hopefully nobody catches me. ---Nai
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 9:50 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:59 pm
Angie yawned widely as she went into the portal to upper kyendi, somewhat amused at the thought of what might be going into her mouth. She looked blankly around at the area, as if lost, though the reason for that might, perhaps, be the towel wrapped around her eyes.
"Aaa... uh.." She felt out in front of her for something, apperantly oblivious to the obvious problem.
Nai happened to be leaning against the side of her house at the time, having decided to take a short break from her work. Her keen hearing picks up the sound of Angie's arrival, and she wanders over to the ledge above Quinny's house to see who it might be. She recognised the girl, but couldn't manage to recall a name, only that she was one of the other future keepers. Taking a closer look as she wracks her brain for the girl's name, she notices her blind stumbling, as well as the towel around her eyes. Completely in the dark as to why in the world someone would walk around with a towel on their face, she decides to take the obvious course of action: Go ask.
"Hey! What're you doing?" She stops next to the girl, halfway waiting for an answer and halfway making sure she doesn't trip and kill herself.
"Augh!" She cried, not having heard Nai approach, and fell onto her backside in shock. After a moment's pause, she let out a great sniff, and the towel slowly fell off of her eyes. "Uhh.. uh.. I just wanted to get.. home," she said quietly, looking at the other wide-eyed. "But..everything was..dark..and.."
She looked around, realising where she was, and the towel lying on her lap quite innocently. "Um, yeah," she mumbled, scratching the back of her head embarrassedly as she realised her mistake. Yeah.. uh.. it was the wind, really.
Nai just raises an eyebrow and smiles, obviously amused. "Well, I'm sure you can find your way now?" She quickly wipes her hands on her pants to clean most of the grease off, then holds one out as an offer to help the girl up. "You're one of the new keepers, arent' you? I'm Nai, but I can't for the life of me remember your name..." She trails off, and scratches the back of her head sheepishly. "I'm sorta bad with names."
Angie hesistated before taking her hand and pulling herself up, dusting off her backside and pulling the towel off of the ground. "Keepers? Uh.. I guess I am, if you're talking about the relic-midget-things," she said, grey eyes staring blankly at Naien. "My name's Angie.. and don't worry about it," she said, giving her a small smile. "I'm pretty bad with names, too. Actually, I'm pretty bad with everything, but, uh.." she trailed off, suddenly finding the tip of her shoe quite interesting.
Nai chuckles, scratching at the base of one of her fluffy ears. "Well, I've never heard them refered to quite that way before, but yeah, that's what I mean." For a minute, she says nothing, apparently trying to remember the name for longer than last time. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Angie. And don't worry too much, this place is confusing for everyone at the start. Eventually nothing here can surprise you anymore." She smiles, reaching up to move her mask, which had fallen in front of one of her eyes. "But anyways, you like your house?"
"Um.. I think they're called.. ee-el-dee," she said, furrowing her brow and trying to remember what that one lady had called them. "I think.. I don't remember exactly.."
A pause. "It's nice to meet you, too," she said, giving her a small nod. "..my house? Uh.. it's big.. and woody," she said, trying to express how big it was with flailing arm movements, but failed. "Pretty dark, but I got some lanterns and stuff and it's better now. Is that yours?" She said distractedly, peering over Nai's shoulder to look at the house. "It's nice."
She nods. "Yeah, Ieldi. See, you're learning already."
She looks over her shoulder as well, then laughs. "Oh, that's not my house. Quinny lives there, mine is up over the ledge." She nods, for no apparent reason. "Mine is dark too, and I don't have lanterns up yet. I was busy putting the sink in when I heard you out here." She pauses for a minute. "It'll be really nice once I go get some light though."
Angie gave a small smile. It was nice to know something.
"Ah..oh! Quinn! I remember her," she said, scratching her head. "Yeah.. I met her at the inn.. and we had waffles," she said nodding. "Yours is a nice house, too, though.."
"...but, uh...where'd you get the sink from?" She queried, looking at her strangely. And people called her odd..
She smiles as well, and sits down on one of the nearby logs. "Yeah, Quinny's nice. It's good to hear that you've been meeting people. New places are always less scary if you've got a friend. Don't you think so?"
She suddenly looks a bit pained, and scratches the back of her head. "Oh, the sink?... Well... It was just around, yeah... Heh heh..." Her eyes dart from side to side, looking desperately for a distraction. "Oh! Which house is yours?"
Angie nodded, sitting down on one of the logs herself. "Yeah.. my onee-san's staying with me for a while, too, so I feel a little better. And it's nice here," she said, looking vaguely around at the area.
She blinked, tilting her head to the side questioningly. "Are you feeling okay..? You don't look too -- oh, my house is right near the bottom," she said, quite easily distracted as she waved a hand at the stairs heading down. "It's the one with the lopsided cone roof."
"Your onee-san?" She inquires, nodding afterwards. "Yeah, this place is gorgeous. You can see the stars a bit at night from my balcony, it's really pretty." She sighs happily, looking up at the bright green leaves overhead.
"Right at the bottom? I've not really been down there much, since my house is farther up. It sounds nice." She looks back up the stairs, and tilts her head. "Like I said, mine is the one up beyond the ledge. I really like it."
"My big sister," she explained, nodding. "She's really nice. She says she'll help me with raising my.. my Ieldi 'til I think I can take care of it myself." At this, she looked up as well, a small smile on her face. "It is pretty. It's too bad you can't see the moon, though.. I'm sure it'd be just lovely."
"If you want to visit sometime, you're welcome to," Angie said, grinning. "It's, uh.. a little messy.. but it's nice.. I'm glad I have a house. And a stumpy-relicy-thingy, too," she pondered, scratching her head.
She nods slowly, thinking. "It'll be nice to have help, but you'll have to be careful that the spirits don't get scared away. They're a bit skittish, from what I've heard." She pauses for a moment more, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "It will be a bit of work, taking care of the little ones. At least they start out old enough that there's no diapers involved." She shudders a bit at the thought, and makes a sour face.
She smiles brightly, the sour expression gone. "I'd like that. You can come visit me too, if you'd like. There's not much there yet though, and I need to clean up all the stol... Er, mess! Yeah, I need to clean up the mess." She scratches the back of her head again, before attempting another topic change. "Anyways... Your relic, what's it look like? Mine's a pain in the a**, honestly."
"Ummm.. I think onee-san's good with spirits, but yeah, I should probably introduce her later, when the spirit is more stable," she said, smiling. "Oh.. no diapers.." A pause. Under her breath, Angie muttered 'thank god', but whether Nai heard this or not was unknown to her.
"Okay," she said, grinning again. "My relic..?" She paused, rubbing the bridge of her nose in consideration. "..well.. the basic wood itself is a muted light blue.. the wing patterns on it, though, have a rich blue and purple sheen," she said, nodding. "And it has really pretty blue feathers, too." She pointed to the feather in her hair. "I think this came from Bob, but I'm not absolutely sure.. and.. it eats chocolate. Why's yours a.. uh, a pain in the..a**?" She said quizzically, blinking rapidly. What was an..a**?
Nai snickers, apparently having heard Angie. "I'll second that."
She listens intently through the description, occasionally squinting or tilting her head to the side, though how that would help her visualise the relic is unknown. "It sounds pretty." She sits up and blinks at the part about "Bob", and eating chocolate. "Well, mine doesn't eat anything... I don't think they're supposed to... And who's Bob?" Trying not to think too much about how or why a relic would eat chocolate, she continues. "Why? Well, because it's poisonous. I touched the feathers, and my whole hand went numb."
She shrugged innocently.
"Maybe you can come see it sometime," she said distractedly, looking back down the hill to her home. "Before it explodes. It's pretty. And uh.. his name is Bob," she said, nodding sagely. "Uh..poisonous..at the touch?" She gaped. Trying to picture that was.. very hard. How in the world was she going to deal with that? "I guess I'm lucky, mine isn't poisonous or anything," she said quietly, rubbing her arm. "Though the Ieldi's probably going to be a sugar fiend.. it's a hummingbird, I think.."
"I'd like that. All the relics are really pretty. Of course, the pantheon made them, so it's to be expected I suppose." She tilts her head at hearing that her relic has a name, but chooses not to comment. She simply shrugs at the incredulous tone, remembering the shock that she and everyone else got. "Yup, poisonous to the touch. We figured out that the feathers are from a pitohui, which stores poison in it's feathers and skin, sortof like a poison arrow frog." She winces at the word hummingbird, giving Angie a sympathetic look. "Oh, I'd take poison over ADHD anyday... If you ever need help with the bugger, you can call me, but I don't know if I'd be much help..." She shifts a bit, glaring at the log that she's sitting on, and muttering under her breath about cushions for sitting on. She seems to remember suddenly that she's not alone, and stops her mumbling. "Urmm... Well, I suppose you could come see my relic too, you just couldn't touch the feathers..."
"The..uh.. the pantheon?" Angie blinked, obviously confused. "What's..?"
"Wow.. poisonous to the touch," she mused, wondering how that would affect the Ieldi child. It would definately be..interesting.. "And thank you," she said, smiling at her. "I'll probably need all the help I can get."
"See it? Oooo.. okay," she said, apperantly not hearing her and grinning instead. "Is it pretty?"
She looked a bit surprised at that, and blinked several times. "You've not heard about the Pantheon? They're the gods of Sabilasi. They show up once in a while, but they mostly keep to themselves."
"Yeah. I'm planning on going back to gaia for a bit one of these days, and I was going to research some antidotes while I'm there. Maybe I can find something that people could drink to null the poison, or something like that. And it's no problem."
She smiles and laughs at Angie's excietment, grinning as well. "Yeah, it's really pretty. It's not as bright as yours sounds, but it's still really pretty. It's got this really pretty orange on it, with some black."
"Gods.." she said quietly, looking as if she were considering this closely. "No, I've never heard of them before now.. do they like humans much?"
"Null the poison? If you find something, be sure to share it with us," she said, grinning shrewedly. "I'm sure we'll all probably need it.."
"Wow, orange? Black? It does sound nice," she said, nodding happily. "I'm sure the Ieldi will be very lovely!"
She tilts her head a bit, and shrugs. "Some of them do, and some don't. It's best to avoid Siff, he's the god of Shadows. But Ullue, the goddess of Light, is nice."
She laughs, shaking her head. "You might. Let's hope not though."
She nods, smiling. "Yeah, it's really pretty, fairly dark though. But I like it a lot." Then she laughs again. "All the Ieldi have been lovely, I can't see any of the new batch being any different."
"Oh. Okay," she said happily. Even though she now knew what he looked like, it was doubtful that she would actually leave him alone -- Angie being Angie, she'd probably try to make him 'happy' again. If he ever was happy, that is.
"Aaa-aaa.. I see," she murmured, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Maybe she'd luck out and her midget Ieldi thing would be mellowed out when it was reborn..
....
Probably not.
She looked somewhat worried at the happy tone, but was slightly reassured by the fact that Ahnema would likely be anywhere Siff was, and might save the poor kid from the Shadow god.
"Well, I think some of them are outgoing enough. I've heard stories about Youko's boy..." She dissolves into laughter at the thought, and can't manage to say anything for several minutes.
Angie couldn't help but crack into a lopsided grin as she stared at Naien quizzically. "Wha..? What? Huh? What is it? Did I say something..?"
She shakes her head, still giggling, and clutches at her sides almost painfully. "N-no... " She finally pulls herself together, and wipes the tears from her eyes. "Sorry... But have you ever thought of something, and just couldn't stop laughing?"
Angie paused, then nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Just like..like.."
She started to crack up, doubling over and clutching her stomach. "I-I'm sorry..just.."
Of course, Angie's laughing fit sets Nai off again, who this time falls off the log she's laughing so hard. "Oh man..."
"Wh-why are you laughing?" She choked, her eyes watering with tears as she laughed. "Y-you don't.."
She snorted again and fell backwards off the log in a fit of girly giggles, her legs waving helplessly in the air. "Ah --"
Still chuckling uncontrollably, Nai reaches over to pull Angie back up onto the log. She takes a few minutes to compose herself slightly, wiping her eyes again. "Oh man, I've not laughed that hard in a long time..."
Angie was slightly red in the face, her face looking as if it were stuck in a grin. She didn't seem to mind falling off the log that much, though. "So what's so funny about this kid, huh?"
She fights the urge to burst out laughing again, an manages a reply. "Well I've heard stories about him jumping off buildings." She snickers a bit into her sleeve, trying not to keel over in laughter again. "I'm sure you could ask around though and find some good dirt on anyone."
She blinks stupidly, and can't help but grin a little wider. "Jumps.. off buildings? But..why?"
Maybe he liked heights a little too much..
She shrugs. "Maybe it's close enough to flying? I mean, why do people bungee-jump?"
"That's true," she mused, scratching her head. "..still.. maybe he should try and learn to fly with a.. urm.. safer program.."
She shook her head, as if the thought went flying out of her ear. "I bet my Ieldi would have to learn to fly really quickly," she murmured, then sighed. Hopefully he wouldn't go to such..extents, though...
She giggles some more, shaking her head. "With a hummingbird? You wish." She leans back a bit, looking up at the leaves and patches of sky once again.
"But..well, I'd definately have to teach him to walk well and work on his leg strength," she murmured, "so he wouldn't have to FLY everywhere, and then his arm strength, because it's like 50 wing-flaps in a second, and he needs to support his own weight too, and.. and.."
She started quietly spazzing, twitching randomly. She was probably more worried about flying than the actual Ieldi would be.. poor thing.
Trying to avoid the oncoming breakdown, she somewhat awkwardly pats Angie on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it yet, eh? They can't actually fly as kids, so he or she will have to do plenty of walking first..."
Slowly it subsided, and she shivered slightly as she came back to her senses. "I guess that's true.. still, um.. blarg," she mumbled, putting her head between her knees. "I don't feel too good, all of a sudden.."
"Urmm, well, I'm no doctor or anything, so I don't think I can really help you there..."
Deep breaths didn't seem to be working well. "..um..maybe I should go home," she said quietly, hugging herself gently. "It was nice meeting you, Naien. Sorry.."
She nods, looking fairly concerned. "Well, you should get some rest I suppose... I dunno. Hope you feel better soon, Angie." She stands up, stretching and dusting herself off, and looking down at Angie worredly.
One last deep breath, and she stood up as well, forcing a smile. "Heh, maybe I made myself sick with my cooking. Anyway, I'll see you again soon, hopefully," she said, nodding. "G'bye.."
With that, she raced down the stairs to the lower area of upper kyendi, arms still wrapped around her stomach.
Waving half-heartedly after her, Nai sighs and heads back to her own house, muttering. "Poor kid..."
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 3:31 pm
Appearing through the portal into Upper Kyendi heavily laden with cardboard boxes, Nai slowly makes her way up the flight of stairs and to her house, peering frequently around the huge stack of boxes in her arms. Finally reaching her door, she sets the boxes down amongst the piles of boxes already stacked near the little house. Sighing in relief that those were the last of them, Nai leans against the wall for a minute resting.
"I'm glad that's over with. Damn boxes."
Pushing herself off the wall, she heads over to the nearest stack of boxes, peering into the top one. Soap and toiletries. Muttering about having abused her arms enough for the day, she picks the box up and takes it inside. Returning to the pile outside, she continues to go through all the remaining boxes in the same way, either taking them inside or leaving them near the balcony. Eventually, all the boxes are sorted out, and only about four remain outside. She looks at the small pile for a minute, then pushes them under the overhang of the roof before disappearing inside, presumably to deal with all the boxes there first.
~
Several hours later, Nai rather proudly surveys her now fully furnished main room. The bathroom too has been finished, and the second small room is currently being used for storage, and is otherwise empty. Rolling her shoulders a bit to relieve the tension, she heads back outside to finish the last of her decorating: the balcony. After several minutes spent staring at the empty deck from several angles, she smiles and nods, then turns back into the house. She dons a pair of ratty-looking old oven mitts, and heads over to the relic, which was sitting near the edge of the room, out of the way. She takes a firm hold of the stump, the mitts guarding her hands against the poison, and manages, after nearly dropping the relic several times, to get it outside. After a bit more deliberation, she decides to place it just behind the house near the end of the balcony. That way, it?s not visible to anyone just walking by, and there?s less chance of a spirit being scared off by passers-by.
Nodding in satisfaction, she takes the oven mitts off and lays them on top of the relic, then heads over to the boxes still piled next to the house. She opens the largest one first, full of paper lanterns, and starts to hang them on the edge of the roof all around the house, but mostly above the balcony. Finished with hanging the lamps, she moves over to the smaller boxes and starts unpacking various trinkets and sparklies, laying them all by her feet. After arranging a few of the items, she stops and taps her chin thoughtfully, looking over her work so far. Snapping her fingers, she disappears into the house, returning with a beautiful gilded cage covered in climbing roses, with a ruby red butterfly fluttering inside. After some consideration, she decides to place the cage near the outside railing, at the other end from where the relic sits. Pleased with the placement, she continues with arranging the smaller items, some hanging on the outside wall and others just sitting on the deck.
~
After about an hour of arranging and re-arranging everything (save the relic and butterfly cage), Nai is finally satisfied with the balcony's decor. Looking rather pleased with herself, she returns to the house, likely for a nice long nap, knowing her.
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 4:51 pm
As the sun begins to dip below the horizon, Nai steps outside her little house holding a few slices of bread and a small bowl of honey. Standing near the lanterns hung at the door, she breaks off a small piece of bread and dips it into the honey. Tapping the excess honey off on the edge of the bowl, she reaches up the bottom of the lantern and places the honey-soaked crumb inside, on the place a candle would normally sit. As she continues around the outside of the house doing the same with all the lanterns, it soon becomes apparent why; a number of the lumina faeries have begun to gather around the honey-soaked bread left in the lanterns, probably attracted by the sweet smell of the honey. Nai shoos a few away from the bowl in her hands, and finishes with the last lantern, before going back inside.
A few minutes later she returns, after having washed the bowl, and put the leftover bread back in the makeshift pantry. She smiles as she sees the lanterns, now all brightly lit from within by the lumina. She stares at the softly flickering lights for a while, smiling softly. She shakes her head slightly to clear her thoughts, and turns her eyes to the rest of Upper Kyendi. Her smile wavers, and she chews her lip lightly.
It seems lonely now. I've not seen anyone in so long...
Resolving to go and find people sometime soon, she turns away from the rest of the houses, heading around the house to the part of the balcony set aside for spirit-luring.
As she was about to start lighting the candles set around the balcony, she notices that several of the bottles and trinkets have been moved around or knocked over. She glances around suspiciously, despite being aware that the culprit is more than likely long gone. Muttering mild curses under her breath, she returns everything to its place, glad that none of the fragile bottles had been broken or opened.
With everything tidy, and the candles lit, she plops herself down on her pile of cushions and reaches over to turn the soft music up slightly. Then, lying back with her head propped on her hands, she shuts her eyes and relaxes.
~
Hiding behind the leaves above the house, a shadowy form with vividly glowing eyes watches the kitsune girl closely.
Several minutes after Nai laid down the spirit blinks once, and slips away into the shadows silently.
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:31 pm
Stepping out of her house into the warm afternoon sunshine, Nai ambles down the steps and into the courtyard, settling herself down on one of the logs. She sighs loudly and rests her chin on her hands, staring around Upper Kyendi idly, and tapping her foot to break the uneasy silence.
Now, Nai usually doesn't mind silence, in fact, she usually goes out of her way to get some peace and quiet at least once a day. But the oddest thing had been happening recently, and it had Nai wishing that she could find other people more often. It seemed that every time she so much as stepped out of her little house, she'd suddenly get this disturbing feeling of being watched. Now, she wouldn't think this at all unusual normally, but seeing as she'd not seen another soul in weeks, it had her quite on edge. So she'd taken to staying safely within the shelter of her home for most hours of the day to elude the mysterious gaze. But, even recluses need to get out once in a while, which brings us back to why she'd ventured out of her house today to sit in the dappled sunlight.
Past the stairs and down the path, Angie was trying to shove a little boy into a sweater. And, as it appeared, failing horribly.
"Koko, come on," she whined, trying to pull down the bottom quickly. The boy countered this action by stepping back quickly, and he ran past her, flapping his arm-wings madly. "Phree!" He cried, running up the path and away from his guardian.
Angie wrinkled her nose and folded up the sweater. Maybe he didn't really need it, anyway, since the weather was so nice, but.. she would feel so bad if he got sick, and.. and it had taken her a while to even find one in his size.. She sighed, draped the sweater over her arm, and ran after the Ieldi. "Koko, slow down! Stay away from the edges!"
Kokoro continued to run up the path, grinning widely, and climbed up the stairs. You know, this tree thing was Cool. It had its own built-in obstactle course! First the thirty-meter dash, and then the mountain, and -- and then he would climb over a giant pit of boiling lava and spaghetti sauce and get a prize and be King of the Tree! And everybody would give him cuddles and shiny stuff and he would ban Swethers from his kingdom and rule for all eternity! Puffing, he pulled himself up the last step, and, giggling, ran over to the meeting area and tripped over one of the logs.
"Koko, SLOW DOWN!" Angie wailed, running up the stairs. "You'll hurt yourself, and then I'll have to find a -- a microscopic band-aid," she said, sobbing inwardly. Why did she have to get the teeny-tiny one?!
Nai had been just about to beat it back to her house, as the unsettling feeling of being watched had returned mere minutes after she'd sat down. Just as she was standing, something bright blue came tearing up the stairs behind her and tripped over the log she'd just vacated. The unfortunate part? Nai was still standing right there, so when Kokoro went flying over the log, he ran right into the back of Nai's legs, sending them both sprawling.
Of course Nai, on edge as she was, screamed at the top of her lungs and scrambled away wildly, ending up with her back pressed against the base of the statue as she gasps for air, her hand pressed to her chest. Looking back towards the log, she sees a rather disheveled blob of blue feathers, and assumes correctly that it must have been what hurtled into her knees moments ago.
"Bloody hell... Ten years off my life..."
Kokoro's face was briefly crossed by a look of terror, but it left as quickly as it came, and soon he was bouncing up and down on his heels. "Bloothy ell! Bloothy ell!" He said merrily, then stood up and proceeded to jump back and forth over the log he had just tripped over.
"Nai!" Angie rushed over towards her. "Are you okay? I -- gods, I'm so sorry, I -- I swear I'll need a leash or something for that boy," she murmured. "Can you stand up? Do you need help? Do you need a --"
"Sweeter!" Kokoro announced, pulling the clothing article from Angie's arm. He pulled its arms so that it was stretched in front of him, and begun to dance, singing an odd melody with no words.
Nai's eyes widened as the ball of feathers hopped up and looked at her with bright blue eyes, and she merely blinked at the little boy's attempted reiteration of her cursing. She appeared to come back to her senses as Angie came dashing up the steps and over to her, stuttering apologies and offering help.
"...No, I think I'm fine. Was startled, that's all."
Using Angie's arm to help herself to her feet, she takes a closer look at the now dancing little boy. She then looks back over at Angie.
"Yours, I take it? I do feel sorry for you, really."
"He takes after me," she said mournfully, "a bit more than I'd like, if you know what I mean."
Kokoro, on the other hand, was completely absorbed in his dance; at least, until a butterfly came along. His eyes widened and he dropped the sweater immediately, chasing after it and trying to grab it. "Agah! Home!"
"Don't go too far!" She called after him, then sighed and picked up the sweater. She begun to dust it off and fold it. Again.
Nai simply nods. "Yes, it's rather clear, actually."
She gives a breathy little chuckle and flops back down on the log she'd vacated earlier, resuming her earlier position, only without the tapping of her foot. There certainly wasn't any silence left, that's for sure. As her eyes followed Angie's little boy and the butterfly, she suddenly stiffens up, and starts peering around again. The watched feeling had disappeared when Kokoro and Angie had appeared, and she'd only just realized it now, when the feeling had returned. But, as usual, she couldn't see anyone watching her.
"...Hey, Angie. Do... Do you see anyone other than us here?"
"..." Angie sat down beside her, hands tangled in the sweater (she always knew that she wasn't built to fold). "Actually, no. I haven't seen or heard anything in a.. long time. It's kind of creepy.." She bit her lip and looked at her feet. "Do you think.. what happened last time..?"
Kokoro, meanwhile, was still immersed in his own world. That butterfly was much faster than he thought..
... he rushed back to Angie. "Ungry!" He demanded, tugging on her sleeve.
"Um," she replied, then begun to rummage through her pockets. A moment later, she pulled out a candy bar. "Go nuts."
Kokoro happily took it and plopped down on a log to eat it.
Nai shakes her head quickly, and when she replies her voice is certain. "No, that can't happen again. We're safe here."
Upon hearing that Angie hadn't seen anyone either, it's not certain whether she's relieved or not, but she continues looking around. "That's not what I mean. I mean, have you ever got that feeling... That you're being watched? And there's no one around?"
She stops peering around, but it's obvious that it takes some effort. Instead she watches impassively as the little ieldi munches on his candy bar. "Because every time I've left my house in the past few weeks, I've felt as if someone's eyes are following me. And it's really creeping me out..."
"Mmm.." she scratched her head. "Yeah, a lot of the time. It's a long story, but I'll just say that I'm .. easily trackable."
Angie paused, rubbing her chin. ".. hey, maybe it's a spirit or something? Yeah, maybe you're being followed around by a spirit. A nice one," she added quickly, shivering slightly. "I mean, you... you never know.. I kinda felt that way before Koko's spirit appeared."
Kokoro quickly finished off the candy bar and begun to run around the logs again, apperantly oblivious to the current situation.
She raises an eyebrow at the comment about being easily traceable, but says nothing. After all, it's not her place to pry. There are certainly things that Nai would rather not be asked about too.
She blinks as Angie suggests that it's a spirit stalking her, then looks thoughtful for a moment. "It might be, I suppose. But... It almost seems like I'm being judged. It's really creepy, regardless..."
Her eyes are drawn back to Kokoro as he resumes running around. After a moment, she looks back to Angie.
"...You didn't name him Bob, did you?"
"Well, think of it this way," she said, then held out her hands to nothing in particular. "If you were a spirit, you would want to see how good a possible home this place would be, right? And how good a person is, or something? Yeah, something like that."
She promptly turned red and let her hands fall at her question. "I, um, wanted to name him Little Bob," she mumbled, shifting slightly. "But he started to yell and I had to shut him up somehow. He gave me his name a little later on, as soon as he learned to make the right sounds."
"No Bob!" He protested immediately, shaking his head furiously, then jumped on Angie's back. "YOU BE BOB!"
"Ack! Koko, g-get off," she wailed, frantically trying to secure his weight so he, at least, wouldn't snap her neck.
Nai tilts her head and nods, apparently at least partially satisfied with that explanation. "That's true, I'd probably have some standards too if I were a spirit."
As Angie turns red and explains, Nai gets a strained look on her face for several seconds before she outright bursts out laughing. And her laughter only gets louder as Kokoro pitches in his two cents. "Oh... Oh my god..." She pauses, as a fresh wave of giggles overcomes her, and tries to dry her streaming eyes. "You two... Are absolutely hilarious."
"Yeswebelonginacircus," she said quickly, gasping for air as she doubled over. The Ieldi deftly rolled off her back and landed on his feet in front of his guardian, raising his arms in triumph. "Koko win!" He announced, then bowed to an imaginary audience.
"I can't breathe," Angie whined, clutching her chest as she sat back up. "I swear, he's going to kill me some day."
"No I wun," he pouted, then sat down beside her on the log and sung 'row your boat' at the top of his lungs. Which were quite spacious, apperantly.
When Nai finally managed to stop laughing, she offers Angie an apologetic smile. "Sorry, but... You're okay though, right?"
As Kokoro starts singing, she winces and folds her ears back against her head. She glances back at Angie out of the corner of one eye. "He's got some volume, doesn't he." It wasn't a question. She sighs, which isn't audible over the ieldi's singing, and tries to continue the conversation anyways.
"So, if not Bob, then what is the little bugger's name?"
"For now," she said, rubbing her throat as she spoke over a loud round of 'GENTLEE DOWN DE STREEEEEEM.'
"It --" she shook her head. "IT'S KOKORO." He immediately perked up and looked at Angie expectantly. "Gee?"
"Um." She hesitated before awkwardly patting him on the head. "... good Ieldi."
He grinned widely at her and continued to sing.
Nai sniggers quietly at the two, still apparently finding their interactions amusing. "That's a nice name. He seems to like it, at any rate."
She smiles, though her ears remain folded back against the little boy's singing. These two were entertaining enough that she could actually ignore the watched feeling, which she was feeling rather thankful for. She stands up and stretches, then sweeps off her skirt idly with her hands.
"Well, I suppose I should go. I've not cleaned the house in nearly a week, there's probably things growing under the furniture." She shudders slightly at the thought. "It was nice seeing someone at last, though. We'll have to keep in touch better."
Angie nodded. "I'm sure Kokoro will drag me outside either way. Good luck with your spirit business, though."
Kokoro stopped his singing to grin and hold out his hand to her. "Go bye?"
Nai laughed at that, and turned to go. "Yeah, good luck with him too. I get the feeling you'll need it." She had started to walk towards the opposite stairs, but stopped and turned back when Kokoro spoke. "Yup, go bye. See you again, though."
She waves to them both, then trots up the stairs and disappears over the top, heading back towards her house.
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:45 pm
Stepping quietly out of her house and into the early evening air, Nai pads around to her balcony and sits down heavily on her cushion-pile. She spends more time than is really necessary arranging the pillows, before flopping back with a loud sigh.
After the conversation with Angie the previous day, Nai had been thinking a lot about the other keeper's thought that her "stalker" might be a spirit. So, with that in mind, she'd decided that, if a spirit really was watching her, she wanted to give a good impression. Which, sadly for Nai, means no more hiding out in the house. So, here she is, trying her hardest to look like the constant feeling of being stared at isn't bothering her, and resisting the urge to pull a blanket up over her head.
In the end, she decides to bring out her journal. Serves a double purpose, you see, because not only should she probably write in it more often anyways, but also it serves as a nice distraction. So, she pulls the slightly battered little spiral-bound notebook out of a pocket and starts to write. 20/07/05 Well, there hasn't been much worth writing about for the past weeks, hence why I've been neglecting this little journal. Well, except for the stalker bit, but I didn't want to write about that because then if anyone got a hold of this they'd think I'm off my rocker. Actually, I was starting to think that too, honestly. I still might. Okay, I'd better rewind a little. You see, for the past several weeks, I'm not sure exactly when it started, I've been getting this odd feeling of being watched. Only when I've been outside, mind you. At first it only happened sometimes, mostly at dusk or early evening, but it just kept getting progressively worse until I didn't even want to go out anymore. Yeah yeah, I know I'm a pansy, being scared of imaginary stalkers, but believe you me, if it were you; you'd become reclusive too. It isn't even the feeling of being watched that bothers me so much, it's how the gaze feels. Like whoever it is can see right through me, and judges everything. I should write a horror story about it, I'd probably make a few bucks. Stephen King, eat your heart out. Ermm, anyways. As I said, it just kept getting creepier, and I started staying in the house for days. Hell, there's food, pillows, and indoor plumbing, what more could you need! But you know, one has to get out of the house sooner or later. Personally, at this point, I preferred the latter, but it had to happen sometime. So, yesterday I dragged my sorry a** out to the courtyard/square bit out in front of Quinny's place. And just as I was going to make a beeline back home, Angie's twerp comes barreling into me. Damnit, I nearly jumped out of my skin right then, and I'm damn sure that I screamed loud enough to wake the dead. But, once I could breathe again and all that, it was really nice to see someone else after so long. Even though the little brat is a handful, Kokoro I think his name was..? I pity Angie, I really do. But anyways, as we were sitting there trying to talk over Kokoro's singing, I sort of told Angie about my 'stalker' issue. Then she said immediately that it might be a spirit. I really felt like smacking myself in the head right then, honestly. You'd think I could come up with that on my own, but noooo. So, that brings us up to date. I'm sitting out here on my balcony trying to make a good impression on the maybe-spirit, without freaking out and hiding in the house again. Geez though, spirit or not, it's got a supremely creepy stare... ---Nai
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