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All that the journey had netted him in the end, save for the shield and rank, had been that scruffy, stalker bird from Sauti who was welcomed into the family and had thus far been horribly spoiled by his siblings, and his first brush with heartache. It was one of those things that he meant to get over though, no reason to continue to focus on that one thing, right? After all Takoda was likely with his archer right now, doing... couple things. It wasn't something that he wanted to think about, not in the least bit. Thinking about him doing 'couple things' with that arrogant p***k just made the normally calm Chalcedony want to shield bash someone. It was due to that fact alone that he had thrown himself headlong into his training, deciding that he would just have to become stronger then the pain was all, until it was no longer important.

He'd been mimicking his father of late, something that he never thought that he would be doing since he'd been so annoyed by the man when he was younger, going on daily patrols to make sure nothing dangerous was approaching his home. He wouldn't let anything, be it man or beast, threaten his family. They were what mattered to him the most and they were the ones that he wanted to focus on the most right now while he mended. The journey home had helped, to a point, though the fact that he was alone throughout it hadn't allowed him to heal completely. Instead he'd just spent the time looking to his side, expecting his friend to be there... and when he realized that the further he walked the more space was being put between them... it was a depressing thought for certain, "Hn... it doesn't matter, what matters is this patrol, pull it together." He muttered to himself. As he walked along he would, as though by habit, wave bugs away to send them on their way. Takoda was afraid of bugs, cutely so, and had gotten used to chasing off any of them that he came across so that they wouldn't go after his friend.

As he walked along there was a little squawk from the ugly, scruffy avian that was sitting on his head at the moment, causing him to glance up at it before looking down to where the bird was looking... and found himself starring at someone that looked kind of familiar. He knew her, that loud Leaf Tribeswoman from the journey to Zena, right? If he recalled right she was related to jerk archer, wasn't she? What was she doing here in Jauhar of all places? Creeping his way down the tree, hands tightening on his shield, he found himself trying to figure that out. She didn't seem to be in the best condition by this point, making him wonder at first if perhaps she had been attacked by some sort of poisonous creature. They did skulk around in this area so he had no idea... but as he got closer he realized it was something else, it was the content of that bottle she had, some sort of liquor? His grandfather loved that stuff, though he could only wrinkle his nose, always having found the scent far too strong for his liking, "Silly girl... are you trying to get eaten?" He muttered, putting his shield onto his back before hopping down, landing next to her, and padded over.

"Alright, Scruffy, I am gonna have to carry her, so I need you to play look out." He told the bird which flew up off his head and started to circle a bit while Chalcedony scooped the young woman up, attaching her weapon to his belt, and started to long, arduous climb up into the trees. Best not to leave her on the ground in such a condition or she was gonna end up as an easy meal for whatever beast found her first or a prisoner of the Alkidike, neither a good thing, "Bah... your whole family is a pain in my a**, you know?" He muttered to her as he went.

The shifter gave a roll of his eyes, "You don't have to come with me all the way up but you are going to climb the tree, I can't very well leave you on the ground and let you become munchies for a passing beast." While he didn't really care for her brother, not in the least bit, he wasn't going to hold that against her. He had to do his best to remain unbiased, he had to help her out instead of just leaving her to drinking, "You know that stuff is terrible for you." He told her, not that he ever drank it but the smell of it was strong enough that he was guessing it couldn't be a healthy thing.

"Hrm? You mean Takoda I am guessing? Yes, I was the one with him and you were the one with that p***k of an archer, what of it?" He muttered, wanting nothing more then to ask her about his friend, wanting to know how he was doing, but given that he, as well as the rest of the Shifters, had been labeled the 'bane of her existence' he doubted she would want to really tell him about how Takoda was doing, would she? He sighed and then pointed up, "Come on, up. We are going to climb up a ways, to where we will be safer."

When the drink was offered to him he starred at it, looking for a moment as though he were almost considering it, before shaking his head, "I don't know about needing any of it, but thanks... I think..." He didn't need some strong drink to help to mask his feelings, did he? With his luck the best that would happen would be him falling out of the tree because he was too liquored up to keep his balance. Given that was the very last thing that he wanted to happened, certain he would look like quite the fool if he got hurt doing such a thing."

"You're going to get use both eaten." He complained as he looked down at the stubborn woman that was telling him that she wasn't climbing any tree, that if he should sit with her if he was so worried. He gritted his teeth, looked toward the trees, and a part of him just wanted to leave... but instead he sighed and sat down. He just didn't have it in him to abandon someone to the nonexistent mercy of the beasts of Jauhar. If he left it was likely something was going to eat her and he didn't want to have that on his conscious, even if he didn't like her brother, "We can sit here for a bit but we aren't staying, if we sit around in one place too long something will find us."

Was he sure he didn't want something that helped to drown out the things that annoyed him? Eesh, she was rather good at selling that stuff, wasn't she? He found himself actually considering it all of a sudden, "I... don't know.." He murmured, trying to remind himself it was a terrible idea. Did he really want to dull his senses? Still, it would be nice to have a bit of time where his mind wasn't go through various 'what if' scenarios. Giving a bit of a sigh he lifted his hand, hesitated, then finally took it, "Fine... just a little, then we really should consider moving to a safer place." Maybe if he played along then she would be more likely to go with him? Hard to tell, she seemed as though she were going to be difficult, if not impossible, to move without her consent. It was a bothersome problem but, as a guard of this area, he couldn't really leave her to her drinking. He would protect her as he would anyone that needed him.

Taking a sip of the strong drink the woman had handed him his eyes got wide, squeezed half closed, and started to water a bit, "Wow that... ugh... terrible..." He muttered, a rather strong taste of it, a touch of sweet, and leave a burning path from his mouth to his stomach, "You must really have something annoying to deal with if you are actually drinking this stuff." He said when he was able to speak normally again.

Chalcedony couldn't help but to stare at the Leaf Tribeswoman, wondering if they were all like this... that would be one rather tough and intimidating tribe, wouldn't it? Even the Alkidike would be sure to be scared of them he thought to himself as he took the drink that was foisted on him once more, sighing as he took another, longer sip. He wasn't sure why he was doing this, he really didn't have to prove his manhood to this person in particular given that he'd already gone through the various rites to do so in his tribe. Still, he doubted saying that he had rank in his tribe would be a good enough way to convince her. Easier to just take a bigger, 'manly' sip and get it over with he thought to himself.

When the girl started to talk about what was so 'annoying' to her he couldn't help but to roll his eyes a little bit, watching her as she tried to take her drunken aggressions out on a rock, seemingly failing for the most part, "Feh... I know full well that your idiot brother took a boy home with him, that a*****e stole him from me!" He declared, blinked, flushed, and dropped his gaze, "Ahh... well... I suppose not exactly, not like Takoda knew what I felt..." He muttered, finding himself taking another sip of the strong drink to keep from saying anything else foolish at the moment. Takoda wasn't his, never had been, they were friends and it was what they were meant to remain. Things would have gone a lot better, been a lot smoother going, had he not opened his mouth in the way that he had. He might even have been able to stay friends with Takoda instead of running off in the middle of the night so that he wouldn't have to face the healer hanging on the archer. In the long run leaving Zena alone had been the best idea, it kept him from taking another swing at Jacinthus after all.

Handing the drink back to the girl he said, "Hard to relax when someone is trying to jab answers out of me... Are you always so demanding?" He found himself asking, words he might not have uttered otherwise but maybe his inexperience when it came to drinking was already showing by giving him a looser then normal tongue? He gave a snort and turned his attention to starring at his feet, "Besides, how can I relax when I am drinking with the kin of the one that ran off with my best friend?" That's what he had to continue to label Takoda, it made it easier that way to try to put it behind him, right?

Chal jerked his head up, "What? I don't know... I just... like him." He said, then shook his head, "And he doesn't really need breasts given he is a guy..." He said, his cheeks getting red over having to say that particular, incredibly weird sentence. That was not something he'd ever envisioned having to say, that was for sure, "I wish I knew what made him so appealing as well, maybe I could have better defended him against your idiot brother then." He muttered, as though knowing Takoda's secret when it came to attracting men might have made it easier to chase off the competition or something.

When she suddenly declared that, since Takoda had stolen her brother and her brother had stolen Takoda that the two of them were even he gave a snort, "Oh yeah, look how happy and even we are." He said in a sarcastic sort of tone, giving a roll of his eyes. If he could just take Takoda back by force he would but at the same time he knew that it would likely break Takoda's heart and make his friend hate him. Better that he take the pain on personally and let Takoda be happy... but he doubted this girl felt the same. She seemed the sort that would likely stampede instead like a herd of aldabuk. The best that he could do in such a case was to just try to stay out of her way, especially given that giant hammer that she was carrying with her... the last thing he wanted was to get blindsided by such a weapon.

"Eh?" When the girl was suddenly demanding of him what was wrong with her breasts his eyes went quite wide, "Eh... I... what?" Was she not appealing? He had no idea, she might be more so if she wasn't related to that p***k of an archer, sure? As for what he might think was wrong with that particular part of her he couldn't say. Nothing, really that could be seen... or felt... Chalcedony's cheeks were soon burning brightly as the girl grabbed hold of his wrist and put his hand against her, as though he could magically figure out what it was that was or wasn't wrong with them, "Ahh... what? I... guess their perky...?" He said, starring at his own hand in shock for a moment before looking away, as though he couldn't believe what was going on at the moment. This had taken a turn for the bizarre, that was for sure... where was that flask of alcohol? He could really use a bit more he thought to himself as he searched for it with his free hand, the other trapped in a rather solid grip at the moment.

Chal looked at the flask that was nudged his way, looking it over, then scooped it up with his free hand... though as he did so he realized that he couldn't really open it with his hand trapped as it was. So much for distracting himself with another sip of the strong tasting brew he thought to himself before looking over at the girl when she demanded that he do, "W-What? I... yeah, I know I can look at you it's just... embarrassing..." He said, cheeks flushed a bit. How was he supposed to react to this? It was pretty well impossible to act normally when it came to this sort of situation because there was nothing normal about what was going on at the moment.

After a moment he seemed to realize that she was pressing closer to him, something that made his blush that much worse, "Eh? What? Done with that?" He asked, wondering what she was referring to. His eyes went to the hand that was still holding onto her and his blush got worse, "I would be if you weren't holding my hand in place." He said in a whispered tone, mistaking what it was that she was referring to. Finally able to figure out how to get into the spirits with his free hand he did so, taking a much longer draw from it this time around, choking the strong stuff down, before he offered it to her. Maybe he could distract her long enough to free himself from her? Even if he did though he feared that he wasn't really going to be going anywhere soon, not when he was feeling a little bit on the dizzy side already and what he'd just swallowed down hadn't even caught up with him yet.

"You know you really should just... just pick a guy you want and beat him into submission.. seems something you would be good at..." He said as he waited for her to take the drink and let him go free.

"Ahh... sure?" He wasn't sure if it was what he thought deep down, he knew nothing about her, but if it perked her up then it couldn't be a bad thing to just agree to make her happy right? When she mentioned that 'he was a man' he gave a nod of his head, "Yeah, last I checked." He said, not exactly putting two and two together until the woman was lunging at him in a manner that drew a squeak of surprise from his lips. Her body hit his, he flailed for a moment, and ended up falling off the log that he'd been sitting on, ending up in a heap on the ground with her on top of him. He blinked a couple times, sighed, and tried to sit up... only to find that the shield that he had attached to his back had gotten jammed between the log and some tree roots behind him. He was stuck he realized, a little startled by this turn of events and his reflexes, slowed by the drink, weren't helping any.

He opened his mouth to protest, to tell her that he'd gotten himself stuff, that she was pinning him, or any other thing that might get her to give up and let him go but it was all forgotten when her hands grabbed hold of his hand and yanked on it, jerking his head back, and more effectively pinned the Shifter in place, "Ahh... what are you..." Well he kind of knew what she was doing, it was his fault too. Stupid idea, encouraging her to just beat a guy into submission since it would appear as though he had become that guy when he'd just meant... well... any one. Surely she had to have someone back home among her people she wanted to pounce instead? Even if there was though it seemed he was the target of her current... 'affections' he wanted to say, even if her version of affection was a little on the rough side, especially compared to say Takoda. Not that he was stupid enough to say something like that out loud since he might end up on the dead side.