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 Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:30 am
Winter was sputtering on its last legs, and yet it was still too dark and too cold for Keeya's tastes as she wandered around, her hoody up covering her full head of leaves and her branch-like ears, her beloved jumping stilts jangling against her back, the metal cold and biting through her jacket. However, the cold didn't mean nearly as much as the loneliness and drive.
Edinkira had spoke to her again, after over a year of silence. The tree goddess always took her time, and it was driving the young actress nuts in the process, waiting for guidance, praying to her for help, for a goal.
And now, all she got from her Goddess was "Go outside and I will guide your feet.".
Nonsense of a mission, Keeya frowned as a cool breeze made her shiver, chilled to the bone, though considering how my first mission ended before it could truly begin, how I only can make her bonzai baobab grow faster then usual, I'm not exactly someone they'd call for anything in this game. And I'm still... Just a kid. A bystander, about as useful as an ordinary person...
She sniffed, eyes filling with tears, Edinkira, why me? Why did you make me so useless? I need help, I need guidance, training and I've been alone. Stopping, she rubbed her eyes, stinging from the salty tears, and slowly pressed herself against the side of a building and slid down onto the ground, trying to hold the bitter grief back, "I dont even know who to turn to."
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:36 am
It was good to be alive, decided Fish. He had a new haircut, a newly-grown body, and newly-borrowed clothes. Bizarre and kinky dreams aside, road burn on his a** aside, it was a good day to be alive. The air smelled particularly crisp. The city was finally shaking winter off and preparing for Spring.
He felt stronger. Power crackled through his veins like lightning. Had Writ felt like this when he returned from the desert...? He launched himself over the side of the fire escape, not bothering with the stairs. He was that much of a badass now. He landed, legs bending beneath him to absorb the impact, and headed for the street.
Fish stopped. He turned and looked at a small form hunched by the side of the building. He sensed another player.
Sighing, Fish took a few steps towards them and knelt. "Hey, kid, kind of a bad place to take a nap," he said.
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:46 am
Lifting her face to look at him, Keeya sniffed, tears staining dark streaks across her cheeks, her green eyes wet and shimmering as she sniffed back the drainage from her sinuses, "I'm not Napping."
She winced slightly -- that sounded like she was whining even to her own ears, especially since this older looking fellow felt of power, "Are you.... are you a... Player?" The twelve year old girl stood slowly, rubbing her eyes with a gloved hand, trying to look stronger and braver then she was, and ready to bolt if things got ugly.
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:52 am
Fish laughed and stood up - so his suspicions had been on target. "I am," he said. "And if I'm not mistaken, so are you."
He sniffed. The kid looked sort of familiar - he hated to say that this sort of thing had been happening a lot lately, except for that it really had been.
"You," he said, trying to place her, "Were at Persy's shop that night. A little over a year ago."
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:11 pm
Keeya nodded, rubbing the back of her neck through the hoody, and winced as one of her branches snapped, "Over a year ago, yeah.. Until today, it was the last time I've been involved with the 'game'... Since we got called back just after ambushing and knocking out one of the guards." She smiled slightly -- she had done pretty well in that instant, "It was my first introduction to the game, officially.. And the last time I've seen anyone from it, as well."
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:17 pm
Fish nodded. The night it had all gone to hell. "We're usually not that well organized," he said, and motioned for her to stand up.
"You don't want to sit there," he said. "The junkies puke there. The whores ******** there. Come on, what are you doing down in the Scene, anyway? It's the a*****e of the city."
So much for child-friendly language.
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:57 pm
Keeya made a face under her hood, and a soft discusted noise: both at Fish's vulgar language, as well as the fact she quite possibly had the back of her pants covered in dry vomit and other bodily fluids, "Edinkira -- my goddess, told me to simply go out and start walking. And apparently sent me here to meet you for some unknown reason."
Her gaze went to the side, becoming somewhat distant as she heard the weak whispers that was Edinkira, "Apparently... Poseidon is one of Edinkira's alliances, and she wants me to bid you congratulations on your recent advancement... And ask if their is anyway you could help me get introduced to the rest of our alliance for possible training. I've been trying to teach myself since Edin's been so quiet and slow to speak."
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:03 pm
"Alliance," sniffed Fish. He'd almost forgotten all about that. Well, better late than never.
"I couldn't tell you where to find Quinn," he said, "And I'm not sure who the fourth member is."
He shrugged and motioned again for her to stand up. "But I guess I can help you, since we're allies for the moment. What's your name?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:13 pm
"Keeya" She held her hand out to be shaken as she stepped forwards, then took her hood off so he could see the tree's leafy branches and the twineing roots, like cornrows against her scalp, "Keeya Johnson. And Thank you, so much -- I can barely do anything power wise -- I can make this bonzai tree in my house a little grow now after lots of practice, but I had to depend on my acting skills to help us ambush that guard."
The young girl smiled hopefully at Fish as she lifted her hood back up to hide her hair from the chill of the city, "I dont even know where to start to get something of actual use.."
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:39 pm
"Fish," replied the young man, nodding at her hair. Interesting adaptation... He presumed it was a goddess of plants, then. Sort of like Miss Floros (Thanos?), then. Although Miss Floros had the added asset of being queen of the underworld.
"Powers aren't something you find," he shrugged. "They're something you're given."
He paused, pondering the best way to phrase it.
"You grow into them," he explained. "Once you're strong enough to handle the ones you've got, you'll get more."
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:33 pm
Keeya gave a lopsided smile, "Well, I still have a lot of growing into to do, and I'm having a little trouble getting it all started up, mostly. I suppose I have to get used to having powers at all before I can have any powers actually worth anything." Maybe I need to simply grow more trees so Edinkira can have the energy to give me more, she pondered, "Do you have any suggestions for someone who's still rather new to the whole thing?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:49 pm
Fish shrugged. "Get familiar with the city. Explore. Meet as many people as you can before they begin to see you as a threat."
He motioned for him to follow her out into the street.
"This, for example, is the Scene," he explained. "Heart of the City's counterculture. We are going to take this road, McCartney Boulevard, all the way until it takes us out of the Scene, and you are not going to come back here until you look at least fifteen years old."
He started walking, and motioned for her to follow.
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:42 am
"So no coming back till I look three years older, gotcha." the girl trotted after the older looking boy, her stilts rattling against her back as she walked quickly to keep up with Fish's longer stride, "And Meet people.... I meet people almost all the time, though not in that way -- I'm usually in costume, on my stilts, passing out flyers to plays."
Keeya frowned, eyebrows furrowing slightly, "Though, I suppose thats not exactly what you were meaning by meeting people. Its a good way to go around without people realizing this is my actual hair rather then a costume with really good makeup." She laughed, her skin darkening slightly in the strip of face that actually showed, "However, I've already learned something today -- Why I was told never to pass out fliers to people in this part of the city."
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:51 am
"When I say 'Meet people'," clarified Fish, "I mean people who can help you in the Game. Other players. Gods. Goddesses. Contacts. The City's crawling with people who are potentially useful."
He slowed his stride a bit so they could walk side by side now that they were into a tamer area. McCartney Boulevard spat them out in Baby Bangkok. The last time Fish had been here, he'd been alternately setting of fireworks and having some kind of complex heart-to-heart with Writ and trying to resolve a sexuality crisis. He vaguely envied Keeya - she was still weeks or moths away from any sort of the confusion that invariably accompanied growth.
"What's your goddess got power over?" he asked. "Maybe we can find somewhere good to practice."
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:06 am
That last question made Keeya sigh, "Her power is over "African Trees and things related to them" from what I understand. So far the only thing I've discovered I can do Is make Bonzai baobabs grow." She snarled slightly bearing her teeth, "And whether I have any power over animals related to trees is something I haven't been able to learn yet since I haven't encountered any that were originally native to Africa."
Gripping at her hoody, she groaned, obviously needing to Vent a little, "I just keep growing little saplings, and you're the first person in this group to actually spend any time talking to me outside of Anubis, so I'm just so frustrated, you know? I Want to be useful and want to know what I can do, learn more about the game itself and what it's about, what we're up against, but every time I went looking for Seasons I kept getting turned around, and finding anyone willing to communicate has been near impossible! Its like I'm always... One step behind." She sighed, deflating slightly and looking up at Fish with wet, emerald eyes, "Always one step behind, one minute to late to "meet" anyone who would be able to help me find out what to do."
She rubbed a finger under her nose, walking in silence for a while, "...Thank you..." She smiled softly, laughing nervously, "Usually I'm not quite this chatty, but I haven't had anyone I could talk to about this. My family doesnt understand and wouldn't approve of me being part of the game, even if they accept having an adoptive daughter with a tree for hair, and I don't have any friends 'my age'... And, like I said, you're the first person to actually talk to me in over a year thats related to this whole situation. So thank you."
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