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 Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 8:50 pm
It was so much warmer in Tale than she expected. She knew she was in Tale now because the trees were so tall and the sand was white and all shifty. She had heard about it before but seeing it and feeling it was a whole other story. Right now in her satchel she had a small sewn skin half filled with the strange sand just to see how it would mix in with her other paints later. The war was coming and she was on her way to a camp but didn’t know the way to find one. Originally she left Mez trailing a group but it seems they made much better travel than she did after a particularly bad rain had made Mella hole up and miss their departure that day. Sleeping in hadn’t helped matters. None of them would have woken her because she had never made her presence known to them just in case one of those heading out might have known her parents and sent her back. Her original idea to set out from Liem had been changed when she heard a group of not so quite volunteers boasting they would be setting out the next day. Not wanting to alert anyone given the note she left her mother Mella had crawled up to her favorite painting spot and slept on the cold rocks half awake most of the night so as not to miss the group in the morning. That sleep deprivation was costing her now as she was lost in a strange land with no idea of where she was supposed to be headed.
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Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 5:53 am
Nuawahn loved Sauti. He often said that home was where his Amma was, and Amma's home was Sauti, but even wandering the mountains he felt somewhat restless.
Sauti was a beautiful land, with majestic purple mountains and a golden haze that dimmed the sky. But in his travels, Nuawahn had been to many places, and there was always something that each one lacked, that the other - or one other - could provide.
It was never enough to make him dislike the place - it was hard for Nuawahn to dislike anything - but it was just enough of a difference to make him want to move on.
In Zena it was the lack of heat. In Jahuar, it was the lack of space among the clustered trees. In the Tale, it was the flatness of the land. And for Sauti, the land which had given him birth and which he had recently left, it was a lack of sunlight that made him antsy. The push and pull of each land was what kept him moving, and he loved it.
Nuawahn had made his way towards the Tale after he had done some wandering around Zena, seeking its heat and light. Not that there wasn't light in Zena - but he wanted warmth, too. It had taken a while, but now he was in one of the small Eastern forests near the Tale/Sauti border. Isd was nearby, and he couldn't wait to visit and buy some supplies.
"It's great to be back here!" he said to La'amu as she clopped unhappily behind him, "Feel that? Thats warmth! Thats sunlight!" He started skipping, his mood boueyed by the light. "Isn't it great, Amma?!"La'amu did not like the Tale. She had been fine in Sauti, and fine in Zena, but then her notcalf had had to come back HERE to this dry, flat, sandy land. Allright, fine, it was warm and made her joints stop aching so much, and the browse in the forests wasn't quite so hard and glassy as elsewhere, but La'amu wished that her boy would just stop travelling and settle somewhere nice where she could sleep and NOT HAVE TO FOLLOW HIM EVERYWHERE.
She harrumphed at him as he began to skip, and kept plodding onward. She could scent someone in the still Tale air, but didn't particularly care. She had to make sure her notcalf didn't get lost, and that meant keeping up with the energetic brat. Which got harder and harder with every passing moon.
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:10 pm
As fascinating as the sand was to see it was becoming a nuisance to walk in and she found herself floundering quite a bit. It was about her third trip and tumble that she took a moment to sit and frown for a bit. She carefully felt her bag making certain nothing was broken before she stumbled to get back to her feet. It was never hard to find balance it was keeping it while the ground slowly shifted out from under her that made things difficult. While getting to her feet she noticed a strange series of markings in the sand. Perhaps painting the cause of the markings in the sand would help to distract her a bit from the heat and the strangeness of this land.
Tumbling along she wasn’t to certain what she would be coming across but hoped to catch up to it before dark. She wasn’t even certain what she would do when dark came. Perhaps burrow in the sand and cover up for the most part? Yes that sounded feasible to do. First though she would find the maker of these tracks and do a quick sketch, perhaps she would find something she hadn’t seen before. That perked her up and even if it was a small detour from her goal of heading to the camps it wasn’t like she could get any more lost by going down a path for a change.
Staggering along after the tracks for a good hour she finally say in the distance an earthling with something following along behind it. “Hello!” She called out hoping to slow the figure down a bit so she could catch up. Sadly in her hast to get to the figure she found herself with a mouthful of sand after a fall and a yelp.
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Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 7:11 pm
When the person she scented made a noise, La'amu took a reluctant interest, huffing and looking in Mella's direction.
Well?
What would it be?Nuawahn was happily skipping along the sand, enjoying how it felt between his toes. It wasn't so fun if he stepped on one of the sharp grasses, but he tried to avoid them for just that reason.
The Tale wasn't silent so much as it had quiet noises. The shifting sand, the winds far above in the sky, the calls of Witu and Aldabuk and other creatures far in the distance.
But among the living quiet of the Tale, he thought he heard something. A... hello... perhaps. He stopped and looked around curiously, but he could see nobody on the savannah around him, save for some lumps that looked like sandy rock. Funny, he didn't remember passing those, but he wasn't paying that much attention to where he was going, so oh well! New things appeared where they appeared he supposed.
So was it a hello, or was the Tale playing tricks on him? Only one way to tell! "Hello?" he called out. Worst case scenario, he was saying hello to the Tale or a critter, and that wasn't really so bad.
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Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:38 am
Mella spit out the sand and saw a creature heading toward her when she stood up and dusted off which took a bit since the first thing she checked on was her bag. Shaking her head she wished she could take a bath because she had sand in places she really didn’t want to think about right now. She coughed a few times and tried wiping the sand off her tongue with her hand which only left more sand in her mouth than before. Cringing she brushed off as much of the sand as she could. A small part of her brain was laughing at her telling her she needed have wasted a sewn skin on sand from the place because no matter where she went now she was sure she would have sand from Tale forever in her bag and hair. The creature was coming closer but it didn’t look deadly or even all that scary. The golden coat stood out from the white sands and with each step it seemed like swaying elegant grass. A greeting called out made her take her eyes from the one approaching. “Y-Yes. Hello I’m Mella!” This time she stayed on her feet for the greeting and wondered if the other figure knew his traveling companion had switched coarse.
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Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 5:33 pm
Oh! It was a person! Nuawahn jogged towards the sound of the voice, seeing a light-colored figure up ahead. "I'm Nuawahn!" he said, slowing as he came closer. He noticed La'amu approaching and smiled. His capramel was a smart one!
"Thats Amma!" he looked her over, decided that - like many strangers he met on the road, this person was harmless - and smiled. "Need help?"La'amu trotted right up to Mella, sniffing her vaguely before turning away to trot right back to her notcalf's side. This person was not a threat, she decided. She shook some sand off of her hoof. She did not like the sand and... this twoleg didn't either. She didn't knwo why her notcalf liked it, all grainy and miserable. She huffed. Sometiems, she just didn't get her notcalf at all.
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:07 pm
Nuawahn? That was an interesting name though her focus was more on the Amma who was sniffing her. She didn’t make any movements because she didn’t know if Amma had a temper or not but it didn’t so because shortly after inspecting her Amma wandered off. Mella looked back at the boy who was grinning at her. “eh.. yeah.” She brushed off more sand feeling a bit embarrassed. “I just fell down. I can’t stand the slippery sand. It wasn’t like this in Mez or on the Zena boarder. ” She made a face and hoped her supplies were ok. They had felt fine enough. Should she ask him where those headed to the camps were at? Still he might not know and she didn’t want to bother him too much. edit: ( oh look a drop from the future~)
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Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 12:05 pm
Nuawahn laughed and attempted to help her up. "Its hard to get used to!" he said, "But when you go to Zena, the ice is lots worse and not nearly as nice to fall on!" he gave her a curious look. "Are you an explorer too, Mella?" he asked, offering her some water, "I've been all over the place, so I can help you with a few things if you've never been to the tale before!"
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Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:48 pm
Grateful for the help she ended up leaning more on the boy than she wanted to and did her best to steady herself. “The Zena/ Sauti boarder isn’t too bad. I’ve been no deeper into Zenna than that but I think I might like the ice to this.” She kicked the sand annoyed with it. She shook her head. “I’m not much of an explorer. I like to paint things though so I have been traveling more recently to find things to paint.” He was just so cheery she didn’t really want to mention the camps to him. He might not even know about the call if he had been out of villages for a while. "Any advice would be welcome."
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 1:56 pm
"Ice is nice too!" said the boy, giggling, "and thats up to you, liking one thing over another. I like them all!"he grinned, helping to support her, "Sand, rocks, ice, mud... Everything." He helped her along, " You just have to be careful and get used to it! Don't run too much, and be careful when you do, and you shouldn't slip!" he laughed again, glancing over with clear and obvious interest. "An artist, though? I've never met an artist! So do you paint things or do you paint pictures?" he asked, his eyes glittering with mirth, "Those are really different things to do with paint!!"
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 4:46 pm
He was so cheery. Mella couldn’t help but smile at him. When he supported her she was surprised but he didn’t seem the bad kind so she trusted him and leaned on him. “I don’t like everything, but painting it all is fine.” She laughed. “I can do both but I like to paint pictures the most. I can show you if you want.” She used her free hand to dig around in her side bag for the supplies she wanted. A bit of charcoal and one of her wrapped skins. It would be enough to make a doodle first. Then she could show him what it was to paint them. It wouldn’t take long either. She was getting better and better since the last time she made a picture for someone.
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 8:11 pm
"Oooo! Show me!" he chirped, leaning in to see until he realized he was unbalancing her and she was... slipping a bit. Oops!
He led them to a nice rock in the whispering tale forest. "There, thats better!" he said, "Now you won't fall into the sand again!"
He leaned against the rock, watching her intently. So, she was going to do... what? He had to see!
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 7:49 pm
Almost falling again Mella ended up clinging to Nu while he helped to hold her steady. “ah. I’m fine thanks.” Her stomach did a few flip flops but that always happened when she thought she might fall or trip. She held onto him following his lead having no idea where they were headed until she saw the rock. Nodding she had never been so happy to see a rock in all her life!
She considered getting a skin out but she had all this rock surface right in front of her. “Here.” She gently scrolled out a doodle outline of the four legged friend that was following along with them. She didn’t really have much in the way of orange but she did have a sandy orange mix from a berry or two in her bag. Riffling along she found it and smeared a very light coating on the rock wanting to save more of it for her own art and not just a demonstration. “This is just quick as you can see, but do you recognize the figure?” she looked at him with a soft smile.
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:13 pm
Nuawahn watched her draw on the rock with awe. Not that he hadn't tried to draw on rocks and trees himself, especially when he was younger, but those were just doodles. She made it look like something. That was amazing. Nuawahn was easily impressed.
At her question, he scrutinized her drawing, tilting his head one way, and then the other. It was orange, it had four legs, and a hump...
"It's Amma!" he cried, clapping his hands together in delight, "You drew Amma!" he gave Mella a random hug, "Yay!"La'amu was unimpressed. To her, it was a smudge on a rock done by a falling-down girl. Nothing to get excited about.
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:59 pm
The hug nearly knocked her into the wall. Chuckling she patted Nu’s head without thinking. “Yes. Even if washes away every time you are in Tale you can think of your Amma on the rock.” It was little things like this that made Mella think the world was beautiful even if things like war and violence were a part of it all. “Watch this though.” Breaking from the boy she moved to his furry companion. She showed her paint colored hands to the capramel. The paint was nothing more than dried berries that ended up soaked to make them bleed a bit. Simply put Mella’s paint could be eaten or in some cases licked. “This is one of the funniest parts though. Let’s see if your Ama likes berries and imagine what will happen with the wild creatures in the area figure out what the paint I use is.” She winked at Nuawahn.
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