|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 7:34 am
 Cornelia wandered slowly through the woods that surrounded Hometree, her paws matching almost exactly with the floor beneath her feet. It was getting closer and closer to dusk now, but Nel felt she needed some time away, to reflect in silence.
Because while of course she was more than pleased and more than happy about all of Oma's new members, she also found them...well, a bit loud on occasion. Maybe it was just because she had spent most of her adult life alone and with only herself for company that they seemed particularly grating, but maybe not.
Shaking her head at herself, she leaned down an plucked a couple of herbs from the ground--she recognized both as good ingredients for healing droughts in case anyone got sick--then continued walking.
It seemed a little strange, Cornelia wondered to herself, that Ecthelion and I are mates, yet because it is what must be, we hardly know each other. For some reason, that thought depressed the young Shaman-to-be as she wandered her way through the rapidly-darkening forest.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:07 pm
 Ecthelion lifted his head as he heard footsteps below him. Even he needed time alone from his recent followers; to go from living only with the sounds of the forest to a...well, certainly not a crowded Hometree, but a more occupied one was still taking him time to adjust to. There were times he yearned to have that silence back.
The future Elder shook his head to be rid of the thoughts. Eywa had deemed him worthy of trying to raise a tribe, it wouldn't do to doubt that now.
Which lead him back to the footsteps. The camoflauged fox craned his neck to peer through the branches to see who it was...and promptly slipped off the branch and tumbled to the ground with an embarassingly undignified 'oof!.
After making a mental note not to trust that particular tree with his life, Ecthelion checked to make sure he could feel all of his limbs and then tilted his head at an angle to see who he'd just ruined his so-called reputation in front of.
Ecthelion closed his eyes in self-exasperation. Of course it was Cornelia. Smooth, Ecthelion.
The male took a deep breath to try and shake off the humiliation sinking into him and murmured to his mate: "I don't suppose we could pretend that didn't just happen?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:13 pm
Cornelia blinked in surprise as someone--Ecthelion--landed directly in front of her. Well, of all the darndest things...so much for her quiet time. But she didn't mind, not for Ecthelion.
Chuckling softly, Neli breached the gap between them to nuzzle his cheek affectionately, although she whispered in his ear, "Not on your life, my love," Smiling faintly, she leaned back and sat down, tilting her head slightly.
"Why are you here, instead of at Hometree?" Neli asked--which wasn't to say she minded in the least. She had just been thinking of him, and apparently Ewya had seen fit to give her the opportunity to rectify the situation between them. "Testing the strength of the branches of our trees?" Cornelia teased gently, letting him the side of her that rarely made its way to the rest of the tribe; relaxed, more smiling, less serious. She could only hope that that would be enough to make him relax too; and maybe then she could really get to know him, like other couples got to know eachother.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:24 pm
"You scoff, but it's quite the important task," Ecthelion quietly teased back. "Someone has to make sure the trees don't go breaking on us. It's terrible for the scenery, you know."
After checking once more that all of his nerves were still firing, he started to stiffly sit back up, trying his best not to hiss as his body protested. Dear Eywa, he was going to be feeling this for days. He managed to sit up without giving away just how much the action hurt, and looked back at his mate.
"So far, I'm giving them a failing grade," he joked, managing a small smile despite the fact that--oh, yea, he was humiliated. Wasn't he supposed to be the ever graceful and wise leader of Omaticaya?
Suppose she was going to find out one day anyway.
He put off a good air, but Ecthelion hadn't been born as emotionless as a tree stump and steadfast as a rock. He still remembered how to be less serious, but having a tribe forming around him had made him start acting more like the leader the Omaticaya Elder was expected to be. "In all seriousness, I imagine we both wandered away for the same reasons."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:30 pm
Cornelia nodded, too distracted by his careful and hesitant moving--mate by choice or no, she was still his mate, which meant she was concerned for him...and any bones he might have broken while being so terribly ungraceful.
"Are you alright?" Neli asked, chuckling softly. "Perhaps we should appoint someone with wings for this important task," she gently teased, chuckling some. She curled her tail around herself, suddenly realizing she didn't quite know what to say to him--the two of them hadn't had much time when neither of them were doing their jobs, thinking about their jobs, or asleep.
This was...new.
"You're probably right," Neli admitted, nodding once again. "I suppose even wise, ever-patient Elders-to-be need a break, mm?" She asked kindly, a small smile lighting her face.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:50 pm
"Yes, I'm fine. Believe it or not, this is not the first time a tree has dropped me." He could still recall the time in his kithood that he had tried to climb the Tree of Souls--that had been a far more painful lesson. "Just bruised, I think." He continued to stubbornly stay sitting up.
"The 'Phims? Half of them don't have the attention span for this kind of task," he chuckled, rolling his eyes fondly at the thought of their more boisterous members. He wasn't exactly sure what to say either, but the adrenaline seemed to be giving him unusual amounts of word vomit. He never casually talked this much...or did he ever?
Well there was a frightening thought.
"I don't know where you got this wise, ever-patient notion from," he chuckled. "Perhaps you're confusing me with another male who has a propensity for toppling out of trees."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:56 pm
"Oh, yes, perhaps I'm thinking of...I don't know, Imri," Neli said with a smile, rolling her eyes goodnaturedly. "You and he seem to have many similarities,"
She couldn't help it. She laughed.
Which was surprising, because she couldn't ever remember...really laughing with Ecthelion. That was...disturbing, to say the least.
"For some reason, though, I do believe it," Neli added in response to his first statement--was her Elder-to-be a secret klutz?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2010 1:43 pm
Ecthelion couldn't help but laugh too. "Now that was just an insult, Cornelia," he chided her playfully. "At least give me credit for not tripping over my own feet like that poor boy does." He shook his head in mild exasperation at the thought of Imri; he still thought it was a miracle he had been able to keep following his 'Uncle' Jiriki and Zen as a kit.
"Perhaps I do not fall out of trees quite that much," he chuckled. "More like trees throw me out. I tried climbing the Tree of Souls as a kit. As you can imagine, Eywa did not much appreciate that."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2010 5:51 pm
"Oh, I suppose I can give you that," Neli teased him gently, chuckling softly. "You can walk upright for more than a few minutes," she rolled her eyes fondly--even if he was a bit...well, actually, there was no good adjective for that boy.
Shaking her head to clear it, Neli raised her eyebrows, blinking. "...You tried to...climb the Tree of Souls?" She blinked once, then twice, not sure what to make of that.
No wonder trees were constantly throwing him about...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 4:47 pm
Ecthelion shrugged one shoulder. "I was bored, and I was bitter. It seemed the properly rebellious thing to do at the time." He glanced up at the tree that had tossed him as its leaves suspiciously rattled. "Needless to say, I gave up on rebellion that day."
The moving tree was a little unnerving for Ecthelion; not because he wasn't used to the spirits of the forest by this point, but because he had the pestering feeling the tree had every intention of trying to pull one of its roots out of the ground to give him a good knocking about.
"I suggest we find safer ground to be sitting on," he mused absently as he cautiously stepped away from the tree. "I do not think the tree quite shares my sense of humor." Clear from the tree, Ecthelion waited for Cornlia to join him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 4:52 pm
Cornelia raised an eyebrow as he started edging away from the tree; while it wasn't out of the question that a spirit of the forest would disagree with him, Ecthelion looked like he suspected the thing of falling on him just to be spiteful.
Deciding not to question him, Neli just chuckled softly and padded next to him. "Well, you were insulting it," Cornelia argued gently, absently brushing the tip of her tail at his nose as she passed him.
"Come, let us find this safer ground,"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:03 pm
Ecthelion couldn't help his sneeze as Cornelia tickled his nose. Huffing, the brown male scrubbed at his still-tingling nose, trying to be rid of the male. "I was not insulting it. I just said I attempted to climb the Tree of Souls..." he glanced back at the tree in the distance. "A long time ago."
Grateful he wasn't injured enough to be limping, Ecthelion kept pace with his mate.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:11 pm
Cornelia laughed softly as he sneezed, flicking her tail behind her gently. She was glad that he was walking with her; while of course she knew how to heal him if he required it, she simply wasn't in the mood to work--it was finally 'play' time, for the both of them.
"Trees have a long memory," Neli responded with a light chuckle, shrugging one shoulder. "But anyway, apart from being beaten up by trees, how are you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:56 pm
Ecthelion shrugged. "I'm...fine, I suppose. Glad to have some time away from Hometree." Of all the people he knew--admittedly a small pool, even now--Neli was the only one he trusted to hear that sometimes he didn't want to be around the others. He had grown up completely alone, after all. He still found silence comforting.
"It's been busy lately, mm?" he chuckled some. Things were settling down now as everyone found their jobs and met each other, but there were stil lthings to take care of.
He shook his head. He had a feeling she didn't want to talk about tribe business anymore than he did. "How are you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 7:58 pm
"Alright," Neli replied with an easy shrug, brushing some of her snow-white hair out of her eyes with a puff of breath. "Busy, as you say," She added, chuckling some. "Glad to have some time away as well,"
Neli didn't think it was that strange--the two of them had grown up in largely the same situation, if not the same place, and the two of them bore the most stress for helping Omaticaya to take its proper place in the Modifox world. It was only natural that they both be relieved to have some time away, wasn't it?
For the first time, Neli found herself growing a little bit uncomfrotable--did he want to continue his walk in silence, alone? She didn't want to bother her elder-to-be, but she didn't want to seem rude, either...
Neli sighed softly and once again cursed the social intricacies that came with being a mate to someone and continued in silence, having run out of intelligent things to say.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
