[FIN!] The Samurai and the Knight (Ren/Kuari)

[jinxgirl5]

Kuari hummed happily and snatched at a few leaves while he walked. He'd be moving through the trees rather than on the ground, but ever since he'd accidently dropped a pinecone on Ren's head she gave him really spectacular glares everytime he tried. Kuari would meekly take his paws off the tree and place them on the ground, the follow after Ren when she took off.

He glanced ahead to see said vixen, walking ahead of him like always. Kuari grinned widely. He liked Ren, even though he was pretty sure both of them were still trying to figure out the other, and Ren was mostly focused on this journey she was on. Kuari still didn't quite understand it, but in the end it didn't matter since he'd follow Ren anyways. He couldn't help but at times wonder if she thought of him as a companion or just an annoyance.  

[Nasaiki]

Ren bit down making a rather mean sounding ‘tch’. She obviously needed way more training if she could be hit in the head by a pine cone. Luckily growing up with Xesani had paid off, at least for Kuari. When she had been hit by a pinecone her first thought was to instill great bodily harm. Luckily she had talked her self down to just glaring at him and never letting him into a tree again.

She briefly wondered why she had allowed him to come along on the journey. Maybe it was because perhaps he could teach her something about the thing she was looking for. She wasn’t quite sure what it was either considering she had practically just been out of the bcr when she was sent off with Xesani and told she had to bring back something new. With such vague answers of course it would be awhile before she returned, and here they where saying they missed her. Okay so that did earn a verbal ‘tch’
 

[jinxgirl5]

Kuari jumped after another leaf and came down about two feet behind Ren, a happy look on his face. "Lots of fun here, Ren. Betcha the trees are really nice." He craned his head back to peer longingly up at the trees, but didn't make a move for them. He sighed, then looked back down with a mournful expression.

Then he noticed Ren's expression, and tilted his head curiously. "Ren grumpy," he asked.  

[Nasaiki]

“Uhuh, they also happen to be pine trees, thus the Ren is not letting you into them. No matter how much you pout.” Ren stated turning back with a slight glare. She liked having a bump free head. Perhaps she would let him into them after they cleared this forest and she was safe in a clearing. Then again he could go into them any time he wanted he just had to leave her company. She was a bit glad he wasn’t even though she wouldn’t tell him.
“I suppose you could call it being grumpy” Ren stated. “Its my neutral expression” she replied. Even thought that wasn’t exactly the truth.
 

[jinxgirl5]

"Said I was sorry," Kuari muttered. He really didn't think Ren would be under the tree or he'd have watched his bouncing around a bit closer. Even then he thought she'd have dodged it. Probably didn't help that he'd giggled a little...

Kuari was pretty good at sulking, but he was able to put it aside for a moment to reply to Ren. "Ren almost always on neutral face. She made grumpy sound though. Like thought is poking at her brain and not leaving her in neutral peace." He blinked, not even sure exactly what he'd said. It made sense as he'd been talking though.  

[Nasaiki]

“Its… beside the point. You laughed and that is a blow to my honor, thus you don’t get to be in your tree. Lets just drop the subject or I won’t let you go into another pine tree when we get out of the forest and I’m safe from such pointy abominations.” Ren stated admitting that eventually she would allow him back up into his beloved trees.

“well its wise to be on ‘Neutral face’ it allows you to steal away your gaze from other foxes, the one that shows emotion on their face looses the fight” Ren pointed out. She sighed and looked back at him. “and you have no idea what you just said do you?” and back to a straight face.
 

[jinxgirl5]

Kuari got a slightly stubborn look on his face as he weighed the pros and cons of not dropping the subject versus how serious Ren was about not letting him back in a tree...

"Not blow to honor, blow to pride." Apparently he was taking a chance that Ren wasn't serious about the tree thing. He tried for a wide-eyed, innocent look, the one that made Ren just stare at him like she wanted to roll her eyes before she turned back to whatever she'd been doing.

His ears drooped a little when Ren called him out on his babbling. "Know what I was thinking, mouth didn't say it right," he protested. He stopped and tried to organize his thoughts. Kuari was actually very smart despite his simplized form of speak, and he'd been trying really hard to talk in proper sentences in case Ren met someone important so that he wouldn't embarass her. It felt like trying to speak with an accent though, and he couldn't keep it up for long.

"What I'm trying to say is that a thought seems to pok-, bother you," he corrected himself, "and it's threatening to disturb your neutral expression." Kuari's muscles visably relaxed once he'd finished speaking, and he looked at Ren hopeful that she'd understood it that time.  

[Nasaiki]

“That isn’t always necessarily true. To some pride is tied to ones honor. Thus the two are the same thing.” Ren stated in a strained voice, she had told herself she wasn’t going to be as temperamental but at the same time she wasn’t going to let up about the tree thing. She was extremely stubborn and no puppy dog eyes or innocent looks where going to persuade her. She gave Kuari a slightly stronger stare before looking at the path in front of her.
“You know I understood the first time my comment was more a bit sarcastic quip than anything else and don’t try to change your way of thinking. It’s how you talk, if people don’t like it then it’s their problem, not yours” Ren spoke up. “I can understand you just fine; you should always go into something hiding nothing back about your personality. Thus if you ever lose you’ll know straight where your problems are and how to fix it later if the defeat bothers you.”
“as for the thought that caused the small ‘tch’ it is nothing really of great importance and something I have mostly been pondering on my spare time these last few weeks.” Ren replied. Ugh Xesani would be good right about now she would probably have a better idea on the whole find something new. Then again Ren also wanted to travel around a bit more before trying to figure the whole thing out.
 

[jinxgirl5]

Kuari pouted a little bit more, but it was a token more than an act of protest. When it came to being stubborn, Ren was a master. So was Kuari, for that matter, but essentially he was chosing to let Ren win this one.

He chuckled a little when Ren lectured him about being himself. "I'm always me. Can't be anyone else, would be too hard," he simply stated. He didn't know exactly why his "normal" speech bothered her more than his natural speech that she would comment on it, but it was something he accepted as part of their relationship. They were both very different foxes, and certainly an odd pair.

"Ren want to share thought," Kuari asked, bounding forward a bit so he was walking next to her. "Might help to speak it aloud, even if I can't give answer. Can't make worse. Hope not, anyway," he amended.  

[Nasaiki]

Ren resisted the urge to roll her eyes and went about clearing the twigs and other such debris that suddenly found its self in front of her. She had said as soon as they left the forest and she was safely in a meadow he could go back into the trees. He better not make her regret her decision.

“Fine talk how ever you want” ren shook her head. Now it was Kuari missing the point. Ah well if he didn’t get it was perfectly fine with her. There was no need to explain her self more than once. She just needed to concentrate on the mission in front of her and get it over with. Some thing easier said then done as she had no idea where she was going or where she wanted to go. The foxes that preached things would just come to one while traveling should be mauled for lying. The advice stank.

“Its about the same old thing, on why in the world am I still on this quest” Ren answered and that was she was going to say on the subject. Personally it annoyed her that it popped up so frequently. Of course it shouldn’t dictate how she treated other foxes so she quickly shoved the whole thing to the back of her mind
 

[jinxgirl5]

Kuari pondered what Ren had said for a moment. "Ren always thinking about reason for quest, but Ren not like talking about reason for quest," he mused, mostly out loud as though trying to get his thoughts in order. "Maybe Ren think too much? Always people say you find what you look for when you stop looking."

Kuari was pretty sure Ren would take that with either a snort or rolling her eyes or a sigh, her usual responses, and say something along the lines of how Kuari just didn't get it. And he was fine with that, mostly cause it was true. Kuari's upbringing and way of thinking was quite simple in comparison, and very different from Ren's. Perhaps that was why he followed her as much as he did, in some hopes to understand how Ren thought. He'd love to help his friend if possible as well, it seemed this quest bothered her a bit more than she let on.  

[Nasaiki]

Ren resisted the urge to blow her temper all over the poor fellow and decided on the safer target of the ground. Family quests where important to her, actually to her knowledge her clan was very prominent for producing excellent shamans and so everyone was imbued with a high sense of success, if you where told to succeed with something you went out and succeeded at it. Sure she didn’t understand why they threw their young out in to the world at such a young age but she figured no matter how much she thought on the matter she wouldn’t understand her clan, after all she wasn’t really at her family’s long enough to get a sense of why they did this custom.

“You just had to say that line… it doesn’t work you know” She pointed out with a shake of her head. Figures too he would speak up and say it right after she had done arguing with her self about how it never worked. She turned her gaze to Kuari and stared at him for a while before shaking her head again. Stupid coincidences.
 

[jinxgirl5]

Kuari tilted his head. "Why not," he asked curiously. "I thought it would be nice to find friend, but was just wandering around not looking for one. Found Ren by total surprise." It was true that the thought of how nice it would be to have a friend was usually on his mind, but Kuari really hadn't been actively seeking one out about the time he found Ren.  

[Nasaiki]

Ren sighed and tilted her head trying to find the best way to explain this all without yelling. She was trying to cut back and befriend other foxes, which is what landed her with Kuari as a companion but it wasn’t always easy. “Well because I’ve been on this for years. I haven’t been actively searching out things for the quest but nothing ever comes up. Perhaps I just have bad luck, it wouldn’t surprise me” she lightly snorted.  

[jinxgirl5]

As per the norm, when Kuari talked with Ren he tended to end up confused. "So Ren is on quest for something but doesn't know what but isn't looking for specific anyway but thinks not looking for specific does not work even though Ren does not know what she looks for in first place. And does not understand reason for quest and not very happy with no understanding, but does anyway and questions why she does but when others ask why she defends quest but doesn't seem to believe answer in her head."

Kuari stopped and thought about all that he had just said. "Huh. Why Ren life so confusing?"