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 Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 6:58 pm
Xilarn had every reason to be as pleased about leaving the jungle as Damis. Though he was more familiar with Jauhar's rainforests than the younger man, that by no means made it more hospitable to him. Between the natives, the creatures, and the generally disenchanting sunlight-deprived atmosphere, Jauhar was likely the most dangerous area they'd have to pass through on this voyage. To see an end to it and the beginnings of the more 'neutral' territory of Tale's border should have been a relief.
But it felt like little more than a passing fact, something to take note of as he determined how to proceed with the journey from this point. Alkidike would be less of a threat. Real meat would be more readily available. The terrain would be more forgiving.
If Damis happened to stray too far from him, it was at least less likely to be detrimental to the boy's health. Xilarn didn't look up as his younger charge darted forward out of the trees. It was keeping with his demeanor over the past several days. Damissan did not need to be consistently within his sight, just as Xil did not need to be perpetually attentive to him. Or attentive to him at all, so long as there weren't any unsavory or suspicious activities going on.
Gadot was ever-so-slightly more aware and eager to be a part of these antics. A short, clipped whine slipped from him. He kneaded his claws into the dirt, his tail flicked, his wings fluttered. He wanted permission, and it felt suspiciously like this would be one of those instances where he wasn't going to get it. But the raptrix bounced anyway, keeping up with the slow pace at Xil's side, but clearly restless and impatient for more. He barked when Damis his the treeline and fidgeted, obviously wanting nothing more than to chase that dumb two-legger right into the sun. It was the most excitement anyone had gotten in days, maybe even weeks, and standing behind felt like being deprived of it.
Xilarn's gaze shifted imperceptibly, head still down but attention flicking briefly up toward Damis' back. He scoffed and twitched his shoulder in what must have appeared to be a dismissive manner to Gadot, because the raptrix pelted away from him in the next second.
His wings fanned in full, and it was hardly more than an instant that his paws were right at Damis' heels, chasing the young man with all the vigor and enthusiasm that he would prey, if not the viciousness of it. He barked in high, chirping noises, joining in with Damissan's whistling while beating his wings and pawing at his legs.
Xilarn lingered back at his own pace and didn't bother with trying to interrupt.
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 10:23 am
Damis hadn’t necessarily been expecting company in his sunshine chase—Xilarn kept a good hand on Gadot and hadn’t been much disposed towards games as of late, and he certainly hoped it would take a good bit more excitement to inspire Nazakai into chase. He was, however, about to turn and run backwards to at least beckon the opportunity and see how persuasive he could be—when it became clear that his noise making had already been persuasion enough.
There was a moment where his pulse thudded roughly in his chest because by God, the animal was fast. Damissan had only just looked and in what felt like a blink, his wings unfurled and he closed the distance from treeline to his heels, and he made some sound of startlement, inevitably—dangerously close to a yelp, but that could be ignored. Because as soon as it came, the upsurge of instinctive fear-jerk reaction petered down, and his breathlessness became loose, open laughter as he jogged away to ‘flee’ for several more paces before conceding to Gadot the fruits of his chase. He scruffed his fingers through the fur at the beast’s nape and behind his ears (still a wonder to him that he had to lean some to do so, given Gadot’s size).
“Alright,” he said, “you win. I still made it to the sun first, though.” Crouching before Gadot, he spared a glance back to his master—decidedly less enthused about running and whooping, from the looks of things. “Now all we’ve left to do is get Xilarn into this. Do you think the sun will improve his mood? You’ve known him for longer than I have.”
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 12:25 pm
Even on a good day, Xilarn would have not torn off through the grass like a moronic child. He disliked running on principle and didn't have the energy reserves for it, anyway. Besides, he'd said when they first entered the jungle, that the sun would be there when they emerged, and there was no reason to feel anything toward it whether it was visible or not. Lo and behold, it was waiting for them, as he expected it would be.
Moving at the same pace he had for the past several days, Xil stepped out from the cover of trees and into what immediately felt like obnoxiously bright, unnecessarily bright light. He squinted in Damis' direction.
Gadot kept at Damissan's ankles. Even once the younger man had slowed, then eventually stopped and gave the full of his attention to the raptrix, Gadot circled around him. He stuck his nose to the boy's stomach, pushed at him with his wings, trod so close to his feet that he was practically atop them, and released a symphony of chattering bark sounds as he tossed his head against Damis' hands. As Xil made his way nearer, Gadot's pushes became more insistent, impatiently herding his flighty charge back toward the relative protection of their 'group' and only becoming mildly distracted by Damissan's efforts to scruffle his fur.
When Xilarn moved close enough to manage the two-legged pup on his own, Gadot skipped forward again, eager to 'patrol' the new expanse of territory available to him. Xilarn didn't bother to pause. "If you're quite finished, it's sill dozens of miles to Yera and the next real bed available to you," he informed Damis in a low, soft tone. "I'd rather not stop just because you exhausted yourself by frolicking about like a fawn."
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 1:15 pm
Gadot didn’t seem intent on providing him with any deep insight into his master’s psyche—at least, not in any language Damis understood. The raptrix did, however, seem to have a goal to his frolicking and nudgings of excitement which took Damis a moment longer to pick up on, but became clear when the direction of Gadot’s pawing, nosing, and barking did herd him closer to Xilarn’s significantly slower approach.
Damissan left Gadot to his ‘scouting’ when he seemed satisfied and meandered off, and faced Xilarn instead with a grin. Even if the other man was still determined to be sour — or passively disinterested — it seemed no reason to let it dampen this particular moment. He stretched his arms above his head, shaking it.
“No need to stop. It’s day, we can walk for miles, and even when it’s night, we’ll be able to see stars. So far as my energy is concerned we can walk to Yera from now until we arrive there—it would be worth the bed and the view besides…”
He had been so intent on the sheer event of arrival and familiar light that he hadn’t actually looked much about his surroundings. For the first time, his eyes took more proper survey of the land, and it was startling how different it all managed to be despite its proximity to the morass of jungle now at their back.
“I’ve never been to Tale.” Only after the words left his mouth did it occur to Damis how unnecessary they were, but even so, the moment seemed to merit its re-emphasis.
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 1:58 pm
What possible reason could he have for caring if the stars were out or not? Xilarn felt similarly toward them as he had with the sun. They were there, he'd seen hem before, and he didn't feel like he was missing out on much when they didn't happen to be in his line of sight. There'd been a great abundance of stars in Oba, just as there would be in Tale, and they weren't likely different between the two places. He'd seen them before. Damis had seen them before. There wasn't much special about that.
So the presence of stars didn't lend any extra encouragement to Xil's thoughts on their progress. He was not interested in traveling through the night. He was hardly interested in traveling through the day, but since he'd previously been in inhospitable territory and was now essentially in the middle of nowhere, he didn't have much choice in the matter. Home was still so far away.
The look he sent Damis was some hybrid cross between annoyance and dissatisfaction, something that wasn't quite a grimace, but looking as though it could be any second.
"Wonderful. Though not all of us have your... verve for travel. Stop wasting mine." He stepped decidedly away and turned his attention ahead. Tale was, while not expressly boring or even unappealing, not as especially exciting as some of the other places he could be, in Xilarn's opinion. It was, in sight, exactly as a map would have it look: a comfortable, grassy medium between Sauti's rocky wasteland and the terrifying overgrowth of Jauhar. So at least it was nice in it's own way, just not one that currently had any importance to Xilarn.
He scoffed softly at Damissan's commentary, but paid it little more mind than that. "Obviously."
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