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 Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:33 pm
Who : Kenth, Xuelian, Ripley and Rong Wei
Where : a small, quiet park
When : afternoon
Weather : Early spring weather, sunny and windy.
"I'm going to say this again, don't leave my side."
Kenth warned his Raevan for the nth time, starting from lunch. Even for Xuelian's cloudy mind, the warning may seemed a little too redundant. Nevertheless, the female Raevan nodded diligently with a serious expression. If any regular human beings were around the two, the situation would appear more humorous than serious. Kenth was not aware of this fact, however, for his expression spelled nothing but alert and caution.
He had a reason to be cautious. After all, this was the first time ever, since he had obtained Xuelian from Dr. Kyou's lab, to take Xuelian outside of his office. Kenth would not admit that he was being overly protective. Rather, he was uncertain if he would be able to keep the Raevan under control. Xuelian was not a human, nor a creature that he had ever studied before. From the months he had spent with the Raevan Kenth received the impression that Xuelian was, if to be described in human terms, a good little girl. This made Kenth a little bolder in his research and, after seeing Xuelian meeting other people in his clinic due to some unforeseen reasons, the doctor decided that it was perhaps time to show the Raevan a little more.
It was with that thought Kenth made a schedule to take Xuelian out for a walk today, in a nearby park that almost nobody visited especially during the winter time. The Raevan at first didn't seem to understand the concept of outside world, but after a whole morning of lecturing she finally agreed, with much excitement on her face, to go outside.
At the moment, the two was about to enter the park. Since Kenth did not have a car the destination was reached by a 15 minute walk. It was not known whether Kenth was seriously afraid of what was going to happen or he was just nervous, but the doctor had spent most of the walking time telling the Raevan not to leave his side. If Xuelian had showed a sign of annoyance the doctor was sure that he'd turn and drag the Raevan back to this office right away, but the female did not. Like an obedient child Xuelian nodded at Kenth's words every time he repeated them, with a firm and reassuring "okay". On one hand Kenth was relieved that Xuelian was easy to get along with, on the other hand...he'd have to continue with his plan, and face possible hardships and unexpected situations.
But Xuelian seemed to be cheerful and content, it was a good sign to start off.
The 15 minute walk, while it did not seem much to normal people, gave Kenth a lot of tension. As soon as they walked into the park the doctor found a nearby bench to sit down. His Raevan followed him, and floated quietly by his side like she was told to. Her eyes, however, already started to wander off from the doctor. She was no longer in his office, her little corner, but in a strange place, with things that she only saw on picture books. As Xuelian looked around her mouth opened slightly, forming a soundless "wow" with the shape of her lips. Then, finally picking out something she knew, the Raevan turned back to Kenth.
"Trees!" The Raevan commented, pointing a finger at a row of oaks. Kenth nodded with her comment, indicating that she was correct. Seeing the doctor's approval Xuelian giggled, and moved around a little, trying to make out every object that she learned.
This place...so interesting!
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Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 1:45 pm
"Does your arm hurt? You look as though you're in pain."
Rong Wei looked up from her book and over towards the questioning figure floating a few feet away, her nerves shaking slightly with rage at the careless nature of his words. Almost instinctively her hand flew over and touched the bright orange cast, her fingers tightening against the hardened plaster and wrap. This was probably some ploy of his to illicit an emotional response from her, an effort to make her complain so he could declare her weak, and Rong Wei bit her lower lip to remain silent. She'd long learned since this last incident to not respond to many of Ripley's questions or statements what with his responses turning away from verbally violent to physically so the more time they spent together. Her arm and her face spoke as to proof that he was growing, but at what cost?
"Rong Wei?"
The use of her name startled her even more, and she now squeezed her eyes shut so as to ignore him even further. If he kept on talking, kept on poking, she'd have to respond eventually - and then so would he. Ripley didn't go for her unprovoked, or so she hoped, but it was a fool's gambit. Rong Wei could only remain silent for so long before he went after her anyway and a glance down at the fingers that poked from her cast, fingers that still were hues of dark black, blue, and purple, reminded her of his strength.
"Rong Wei, look. There are...what are those?"
Ripley grabbed her shoulder (when did he get so close?!) and jerked her attention up towards the trees, more specifically towards one of the branches that happened to hold a birds next. there was an adult bird resting on the nest and another standing near it, their tweets some form of animal conversation. It seemed so odd that Ripley wouldn't know what a bird was, seeing as he loved to read about the world around him, but then again Rong Wei supposed she didn't take him out nearly enough to really know nature. The fact that his hand hadn't left her shoulder really meant that he wanted her to answer him, and she tried to shrug herself free while she spoke.
"That's a sparrow. I don't know what kind and can't get any more specific than that, so when we get home you can look it up in a book or something. Can I go back to reading my book now and you go off and get lost while exploring? I'll be here when you get back."
Even if she was scared, even if she was nervous towards him, Rong Wei was Rong Wei - she was going to speak her mind whenever she opened her mouth. Ripley let her go and smirked as he floated a bit higher and away from the woman, taking a few glances here and there at the birds. They were small, somewhat...cute? He wanted to get a better look at them so he floated nearer to the tree...only to find himself coming closer to a creature he was far more familiar with. A small female, such beautiful colors, was floating nearby. His attention was had far more than with these birds, and he pulled himself closer to her yet still a distance away.
"A Raeven. Hello there."
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Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 5:53 pm
Point, "trees." Point, "bird." Point, "chair (this is not a chair, this is a bench, Kenth replied.)" Point, "....?"
Xuelian's busy finger stopped as her mouth failed to make out a word that would describe the creature in front of her. He was...dark, but he had parts just like her, the torso-only body, the wings, the flowing ribbons...She scratched her head, confused at the familiar creature. Retracting her finger she looked at Kenth and the new creature back and forth, wondering if there was anything she had missed. Kenth had taught her the word for her race (and the creature had mentioned it too, but she failed to catch the word), but what was it...?
Now listen. Kenth said, your are Xuelian, and you are <---insert the word here--->.
In other words, Xuelian is <--insert the word here-->, so that must mean <--insert word here--> is Xuelian right?
There's TWO Xuelians?
The thought of having a twin (that looked nothing like her) shocked the dainty Raevan, but the idea also amused her. Before her guardian would react, her quick finger returned pointing at the new creature in triumph. "Xuelian." She proclaimed, sticking her own name to define Ripley, the Raevan.
Kenth wasn't paying attention to his subject, he thought he could take a short, 1 minute break from staring at her back all the time to relax his tense shoulders that were stressed starting from this morning. He was sadly mistaken. The doctor nearly fell out of the bench upon hearing Xuelian calling another by her name. What was she thinking? Didn't he tell her that her name was unique? Shifting his glasses the doctor quickly got up from his temporary comfort zone and approached the two Raevans, then grabbed his subject's wrist, yanking her behind him.
"That is not you, Xuelian. That is a Raevan." He explained. The female gulped, mouth silently forming an "oh", and ducked her head down, embarrassed by her misuse of words. After a few seconds Xuelian looked up again, her cheeks slightly flustered. Meekly she raised her finger to point at Ripley again, this time with less confidence. "Raevan...sorry."
Kenth felt himself facepalming at the whole finger-pointing motion. "Xuelian, don't point your fingers at living creatures, it's a bad thing to do."
"Oh..." The finger quickly retracted as if shocked by electricity. Xuelian lowered her head again, her mood obviously brought down by her mistakes. This was the first time she was outside, and she had done so many things wrong already....
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Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 11:55 pm
Ripley's first thoughts on this new Raeven, her apparent level of mental development set aside, was that she was well...lovely. Beautiful actually, pale and small. The two other females that Ripley had seen before were dark and filled with a sort of strong presence, an emotional sense that seemed to indicate they were quite strong with who and what they are, but this new one? She seemed so fragile, like he could easily break her in half with his hands.
Part of him wanted to know if that were possible.
Other things he noticed was indeed how small she was, not that he'd seen so many other Raevens to really compare sizes properly (two Sigel and two Frei didn't count in his collection of proofs), but he could say she was certainly smaller than he was, smaller than Cordelia and Lulu. She was paler than them, as he'd already thought, but in a way her coloring was far more vibrant. She could be considered a treat for the eyes with the way she looked, and Ripley did find himself enjoying her wings. Overall his opinion on her appearance had been made quickly, without even hearing her speak much.
She would be worth something to him, eventually. He would need her.
"No, not 'Xuelian' or just 'Raeven'. Ripley. My name is Ripley. You are Xuelian? Hello."
He spoke plainly, as though he were addressing a child (he used his limited interactions with Rong Wei's niece as a reference), and he placed a hand on his chest when speaking his name before he outwardly motioned and said what he assumed to be the name of this female Raeven. The human male with her had said just as much (twice) and it would have taken a mistake for him to think anything else now. Ripley could pride himself on how fast he caught on...sort of.
"And you are?"
This time his question was directed towards Kenth. Normally he wouldn't have wasted the time of day talking to a human, they bothered him in a way he couldn't explain, but Ripley was certain he'd get far more information from the man than the Raeven.
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Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 4:51 pm
Xuelian looked up and peeked at the other Raevan upon hearing his greeting. She was immediately amazed by how well Ripley spoke. His dialogue was smooth, almost like Kenth, unlike her, who was still struggling with sentence structures and would only spit them out in fragments. A faint blush surfaced on her cheeks, both in her embarrassment and in awe. The female nodded a little, and dared to inch a little closer to the male Raevan. In her memory she vaguely recalled another male Raevan she had met upon her birth. This one looked darker, but the vibe he gave off was somewhat similar to Zul, who she thought was a nice being.
The thought of Zul made her smile. Xuelian then proceeded to assume the Raevan in front of her was just as nice. What was the word that was used to describe two people who were nice to each other again...? Friends, that must be it. The dainty Raevan extended out her hand, not pointing at Ripley as she learned it was not a good thing to do, but instead in a hand-shaking gesture---what Kenth taught as a way to greet a stranger.
"Hello." Xuelian chirped happily. She flung her arm up and down as if shaking hands with air, inviting Ripley to do the same. "Ripli, friends?"
Kenth was about to shield his precious subject behind his back for longer time, but the attempt failed. The doctor found Xuelian to be overly friendly to everyone, something he found difficult to fix. It was perhaps in her nature, to be happy-go-lucky all the time. It wasn't a bad trait, but in this situation it was troublesome. Being socially inadequate himself, Kenth did not trust people easily. He was fully aware of the potential danger trust could bring. Though trust was important in relationships, the doctor frowned upon it, which was why he was quite unhappy with Xuelian's reaction. Ripley's reply made him frown even further. This Raevan did not have so much manners as ones he had encountered before. What was it...an air of arrogance? The doctor shifted uncomfortably, hands grabbing onto his subject to prevent her from getting even closer.
"I'm Kenth, Xuelian's guardian...if that wasn't so obvious already."
The word that left Kenth's mouth also made his aware that Ripley was here all by himself. Should he say this Raevan was independent, or should he blame his guardian for doing an inadequate job at keeping the Raevan by his/her side?
"Where's your guardian?" Kenth asked, with the same question in mind. If possible, he'd want to have Ripley under control. This was a whole different creature that Kenth was dealing with, caution was never a bad thing.
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Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:40 am
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kenth. As for my guardian, she's resting over near that tree. I happened to hear and see the two of you, and I couldn't help but come over and give my greetings. I've not seen another Raeven this small before and - well. She's very pretty, I just wanted to pay a compliment. Rong Wei says it's always good to compliment others."
Rong Wei never actually said something like that, seeing as the woman barely spoke anything to Ripley expect to curse at him in Chinese or to call him something even more hateful in English. It seemed as though she was still quite sore over having her arm broken by him and the manner in which he did it, but Ripley had no regrets. It had been a very fun learning process (on his end) and certainly was something that he'd like to repeat in the future, only with perhaps a harder bone. He'd heard (and read) that the femur was the strongest bone in the body, and he was curious to rest this theory.
"And yes, I'd like to be your friend Xuelian, if you'd like that. Many of the others have said that we Raevens should all get along, and I'm wanting to believe that they are right. We're all the same, aren't we?"
There was something akin to genuine warmth in Ripley's smile and the strange twinkle in his eyes, but that didn't mean there wasn't anything else either. He was likely calculating, thinking. This human man was nervous around him, rightfully so since Ripley's fondness for humans was moving towards a low, but he seemed well spoken and quite protective of this 'Xuelian'. There could be a use for that.
As for the female Raeven herself, his opinion hadn't much changed. She was very pretty, not very bright. He assumed it was because she was young, but then how was he any older than her? Rong Wei had mentioned before his soul was that of a creature known for being one of the wisest beings in all of creation, so maybe that's why he was capable of thought and speech so early into his life?
"Are you wanting to meet Rong Wei, Kenth? I'm sure she'd like to speak to another who cares for one of my kind as well."
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