[PRP Sauti]Watering...the plants? [Takoda and Shukri]FIN

[jayoku]

After his encounter with the wind tribe woman Takoda wasn't really sure if he should wander away from his tribe again. It wasn't that she had been scary...more...overly friendly and it had thrown him off. But...he did want a chance to practice his magic and he was too nervous to do it while there was a bunch of other people around.

Moving off Takoda hoped that no one would worry with him going off alone after all he had done it once before...hopefully that woman ...wouldn't show up again just yet. He felt his face faintly blush upon recalling her and her forwardness. Coughing slightly he found himself a large stone he could sit upon and climbed it.

Sitting down he sighed, letting the breeze that never seemed to go away tussle his hair softly. Taking out his book he laid it in front of him and then read as he practiced drawing water to his hands and 'playing' with it. He could Takoda discovered actually keep the water in a ball form it took a lot of concentration but it was manageable.

It was then he noticed on his rock there was a little plant struggling to survive in the crag it had clung to. Blinking Takoda took a small portion of the ball and then watered the plant. Looking up into the sky he wondered just how often it rained here. But..perhaps it was more a matter of lack of dirt than ...lack of water.  

[ladyumbra]

News traveled fast in Sauti, what with so much of the wind tribe being nomadic, the tales of one group's encounters with anything out of the ordinary was quickly passed on to other bands as they met up on their various travels. It had not taken long for Shukri to learn of the strange peoples that had entered the lands he called home. He was naturally curious about them, what they wanted and from just where they had come. Perhaps, if they could be trusted, he might even be able to trade with them, not that he had much of value if Shukri was honest.

Determined to be among the first in his band to bring first hand knowledge of these outsiders he had split off from the main group and headed off towards where the travelers were last known to be. It was luck that lead the wind tribe male into practically stumbling across one of the dark skinned newcomers as he rounded a bend in the valley. Hugging a rocky wall Shukri carefully approached the stranger from behind. He paused, pale eyes widened in surprise as he watched a ball of summoned water be used on one of the local weeds.

Shukri should have been irritated at what was a blatant waste of a precious resource, or perhaps awed by the control the silver haired stranger upon the rock displayed. Instead he found himself unable to stifle a chortle at the absurdity of anyone caring about a good for nothing weed, it wasn't even one of the pretty looking ones.  

[jayoku]

Takoda had gotten himself distracted by watering each and every struggling scraggly plant he discovered. They were never close together and he actually had to slip off his rock to move to the next one. Unknowing that he had a shadow behind him quite curiously watching him.

When the chuckle came in the direction of his back side Takoda scurried forward in surprise and shock. Half turning his eye's wide from the fright he took a deep breath as he realized it was just another wind tribe member. Spirits above they needed to stop doing that! He was going to develop a worse complex at the rate he was going.

"Ahhh...all you wind people seem to be able to sneak up on me." Takoda managed resting a hand on his chest as if his heart was beating hard.  

[ladyumbra]

Shukri gave the other an amused grin at his startled words, taking having blown his cover in stride. "We are at home among the mountains, though your darkness would let you blend here and sneak too." the pale skin male conceded. Still those in the wind tribe knew how to sneak in their lands, how to stay in the shadows of cliffs or walk thin outcroppings unseen and unheard merely a few feet above that which they stalked. Good balance, flexibility and strength were needed to be fully at home anywhere in Sauti as far as Shukri was concerned, well that and a good head on one's shoulders, you could never be too careful here.


As the wind rustled his hair Shukri reached up to brush his bangs from his eyes before continuing to speak. " Those are weeds you know," he pointed out gesturing to several of the plants the stranger had been trying to quench the thirst of. "They aren't good for anything but dying and giving back some of the dirt they used up." Even then Shukri didn't know why the other male was watering them, plants had gotten by without assistance for a very long time and there would still be weeds dotting the mountains long after Shukri himself died. "Who are you?" he finally asked as the wind tribe boy began to venture closer, ready to properly meet with this stranger.  

[jayoku]

Weeds? The words seemed unfamiliar to the shifter, for yes there were plants with no medical, digestible value but he never considered them....useless and that was what he was getting from the wind tribe member. Looking down at the one plant he had just watered, it already looked like it was perking up at the sudden unexplained shower.

"But...all plants ...should be treasured...and there seem so few here." Takoda sounded unconvinced that it was just a waste of time watering them, a finger came out to stroke the leaves of one before pulling it back. True these were different than the ones he had come across with the woman named Ayo...she seemed to think the plant he had found was a rare treasure. Maybe...that other one had more value than these.

"Ah..." The subject had switched, turning onto him and he felt a small blush rise up in his face. "I am Takoda of the shifter tribe." He introduced himself slowly, watching as the other boy came closer.  

[ladyumbra]

Shukri could admit that Sauti did not have much plant life along he had never been anywhere that did so he could not have known how little of it the mountainous area truly had. It was simply his experience that plants did not grow often or in big enough numbers to make most people he knew happy. Still that should mean even more that you didn't waste time or energy helping plants that took up what precious growing space there was. The other man was clearly too fond of plants to be able to look at them practically.

Takoda hmm, a strange name but a strong sounding one, Shukri approved of it. He reached out slowly, offering his hand to the shifter in greeting. " Welcome Takoda, I am Shukri of the wind tribe." This was going well enough, Shukri noted, the shifter seemed friendly and gentle by nature, he probably wouldn't object to answering all of the other young male's questions. There was so much to ask too, so many things about these strangers to know and understand especially if more of them were to come to Sauti some day or if Shukri himself ever chose to venture beyond the borders of his homeland.

He was not the sort to simply abandon his family for fun even if the desire to adventure made his blood quicken a little. The idea that somewhere else there might be mountains to climb greater than the tallest in Sauti or creatures more dangerous than the fiercest to battle or shiny gems and trinkets to collect and trade for valuable resources. Shukri had never needed anything beyond the mysteries that Sauti had to offer in some of it's harder to reach places. Still, he did entertain the idea that there was was potential for good things to happen outside the land of golden air and jutting purple and grey peaks.  

[jayoku]

Takoda looked to Shukri's hand and he took it lightly as if embarrassed and didn't want to seem to weak to the other. But he shook that hand and then went about clearing his throat, looking around he gave a small shiver though smiled despite the cool air.

"It's a lot cooler here than what I am use to, though I am happy to see there are not any large insects...the ones you do have here...seem to be fairly small. " Takoda mentioned glared of this fact, and almost hoping that the other person wasn't going to prove him wrong on this.

"Tell me...has the rock always been this color?" Takoda was curious about its purple hue, though there were some fantastic trees in Jahaur they had little in the way of stone besides crystals.  

[ladyumbra]

Shukri wondered if Takoda's homeland had particularly large insects that the shifter didn't care for. Not that a bug could really get so big that it should be that bothersome unless it was poisonous or something. As for the coldness, well Shukri had nothing to compare Sauti with though he didn't find it particularly bad, in fact he hated it more when the weather was warm and sticky right before a thunder storm, it felt like the air itself got thick and hard to breathe.

Freeing his hand after the greeting handshake the wind tribe boy reached out to runs the pads of his fingers across a rough, dusty, slab of cliff wall. "Yes, is it not so where you are from?" Every rock and mountain in Sauti was not purple but many were and Shukri found it hard to imagine that something as common as rocks might change depending on where you lived. After all mountains were ancient things that had existed for as long as anyone remembered, surely they had all been made at the same time by the same rocks. Though that didn't explain why Takoda had asked about them then.

"You should tell me more about your home," the words were presented as a suggestion but Shukri fully intended to have Takoda answer the question, he was here to get information after all.  

[jayoku]

If only Shukri knew, the insects in Takoda's homeland got so big you had to worry about becoming their meals. Shivering at the thought and not because of the temperature he refocused his attention to Shukri again, looking as he patted the purple stone. When asked to explain more about his home land Takoda blinked and then sat back and thought on it.

"The tree's are thick and straight, we live in them. I will admit I miss my home in the branches, the sounds of the birds...and I am not familiar with plants ...or rather lack of plants here. What do your people use for medicine?" He inquired looking suddenly worried. what if they had no healer here? The immediate want to help surged in Takoda.

"We have so much in the way of plants...some are poisonous and others nutritious, some help to speed up the mending of bone others reduce fever.." Takoda could speak about plants for a better part of the day, but he reigned in his enthusiasm since there was no garuntee that Shukri would care about such things.

"Um...we have ...mostly...bugs in our forest...though a fearsome predator the radaku is a reptile...canine? But you have to watch out for the menzui...its a giant cyrstal spider. It spins webs that produce a toxin that induces you into a nightmarish delusion."  

[ladyumbra]

Wait there were trees big and strong enough to live in! Shukri closed his eyes momentarily and tried to imagine how that would work, he supposed you could spread tent covering amongst branches and sit under it but that didn't exactly sound like a fun life. As it was the young man was still awed by the idea of trees somehow being big and numerous enough to be a choice of housing to sustain a tribe. Sure Sauti had trees and even a few worth climbing but most were simply not made to be lived in by anything but birds and reptiles. Takoda's home and the shifters that lived there were more foreign than Shukri realized.


Giant crystal spiders, bugs, dangerous reptiles and living in trees, while it sounded like a grand place to adventure in, this other territory was not one Shukri would want to call home. He supposed more plants might be nice but he wasn't about to trade having the firm ground beneath him when he slept just for some pretty petals.

Once Takoda was done speaking he answered the other's question " We use plants here too, there's just not a lot of them " he shrugged. "Oh and a lot of animals have medicine in their blood, spit and bones so that gets used too, I'm not a healer though so I don't know how it all works." While he wasn't some weakling who passed out at a drop of his own blood Shukri had no interest in seeing others if he didn't have to or holding people while they vomited or gave birth or any of the number of smelly, wet and strange things healers got up to. The young prentice respected his band's healers of course but he had no intention of joining their number.

"Are you a healer?" Shukri asked suddenly, it sort of made sense with the way Takoda acted and talked. He supposed healers even cared about plants more than most people would.  

[jayoku]

Takoda knew there was value in what the other was saying but he still paled and shuddered at the thought of using those things for healing. It was a curious thought though if he had been born here would he still find it gross? Probably not. Takoda watched the flash of expression's on Shukri's face when suddenly he was being asked if he was a healer himself.

Blushing slightly he nodded, "Y..es I am...well I am a pretty new one anyway." Takoda explained as he didn't want to give the other the impression he had been doing this for a long time. The title of healer was still fairly new to him. "I am guessing your not?" He inquired not meaning to seem rude. But Shukri didn't have the...'feeling' of a healer if that made any sense.

"Tell me..there is so much rock here...how does your people survive?"  

[ladyumbra]

" I'm not anything yet," Shukri admitted. He hadn't settled on the path he wished to take in life just yet and enjoyed the freedom being merely a Prentice offered him. He still contributed of course but he had none of the serious training or responsibilities those who had chosen did. Soon enough it would be time to pick and Shukri had ideas of what he wished to do but he wasn't ready just yet to make a final choice.

" Sauti is very big, most of us travel from place to place to find new resources, there are a few groups who live in just one spot though." Shukri wrinkled his nose at that, he had a wanderers' spirit and would never have been satisfied with a life where you were stuck in the same place day in and day out. "If you have so much why aren't you bigger?", he asked, while drawing idly in the dirt with one foot. Those of the wind tribe he had seen who lived in one resource filled place that they controlled had always seemed a bit bigger to Shukri, a little rounder and slower. Shouldn't Takoda also be this way if he came from a place with so many plants to eat.  

[jayoku]

Takoda tilted his head to the side curious about what Shukri meant by 'bigger'. did he mean like the Alkidikes? They were very tall..taller than any other tribes he had seen.

"Um..well...I don't eat a lot of meat...mostly vegetation..." Takoda began though he was getting the sense that Shukri meant bigger as in rounder. "Um...we tend to have to stay on our feet...the bugs in our forest can be tenacious...and living in the tree's takes a certain amount of agility." He continued looking the fair haired wind tribe over.

"How are you not skin and bones?" Takoda asked in more of a teasing fashion, since he had only seen..rock. And hardly any prey to be seen. "You know...you should meet the alkidikes if you want to see 'bigger'...but I imagine you havn't seen anything like them before.."  

[ladyumbra]

Hmm that made sense then, there probbaly were a few bigger shifters but they likely suffered for it since their environment while rich in food did not allow for laziness. That said Shukri still struggled a little to imagine living in trees although he was quite curious to know how fun it must be to clamber about in them all day. Perhaps if he ever had reason to visit the other's home he could make a game of seeing how far he could get before he had to touch the ground. "You really don't like bugs do you?" he murmured. It made sense in some cases with the giant spiders but Takoda seemed really focused on bugs, bugs and plants, he was just a little odd as far as Shukri was concerned.

"There's lots of stuff in Sauti if you know where to look for it," the strawberry blonde boy noted. "Perhaps I'll show you if you tell me more about these Alkidikes." Ah bargaining Shukri was good at this and really if the other tribes were going to be staying a while the things he knew were valuable information. If in return he could learn about this Alkidike tribe before he met one he was certain he could figure out how to impress them as well.  

[jayoku]

Takoda perked at the idea of learning more about Sauti, after all his thirst for knowledge was vast and he would gladly learn about anything he could. As to the first question it must of been Takoda's expression that betrayed his obvious dislike for the creatures. OR rather his fear of them. Shrinking back a little he looked embarrassed and nodded his head solemnly.

"The..they terrify me..." He admitted quietly as if he as too timid to say it louder than he had to. When it came to telling the other about the Alkidikes he wasn't entirely sure on what he could tell about them since his own knowledge was very little. Personal experience was all he could really draw from.

"Um...the Alkidikes are an entirely female race...they stand taller than anyone I have ever known." He started trying to think of the first Alkidike he had ever met, the one named Maya. "They are...proud...they think the land belongs to them....I ..think the best way to know them is to meet one..." Takoda explained as he was drawing a blank on the most obvious things he should mention like the fact they had yellow/green skin as well the bug like black eyes..and the antenna...