[IOU RP] Treat Yourself (Pachua & Aldara)

[Skye Starrfyre]

"Pachuaaaa." The harpy ghoul was leaning against the door to the quetz's dorm room, looking more than a little bored, arms crossed over her chest. "You promised that if I left you alone for two more hours you would come to the maul with me. It's been two and a half. I didn't forget like I'm sure you were hoping I would. Besides I have something exciting to show you and you're.... Ugh, you're being a boil and ruining everything."

She stomped her foot to emphasize her final words, but she was mostly being childish about the whole thing. She had been jittering with so much excitement earlier and it had turned, selfishly, into a small bout of the grumps. She bit down on her lower lip for a moment before turning to gently knock on the door. "Pachua? You are okay in there, aren't you? I'm sorry if I was sharp when I glided by earlier. Pleeaasee open the door?"  

[endejester]

The door opened slowly and he peered out at her. “I’m alright I just… Shopping?” He said anxiously. “Couldn’t we do like… swimming?” He hedged hopefully. “Or…flying? I’m just… I don’t know…it’s a lot of people after the Um…” He hesitated thinking to the strange events just recently with the horsemen and the sky opening… and death, death DYING…

He gave her a thin smile. “… we could go get you tattoos…to celebrate your wings.”

Skye Starrfyre

 

[Skye Starrfyre]

"Shopping." She nodded, taking the crack of the door opening as a chance to wedge herself in so he wouldn't shut it again. "Shopping because it's mindless and you don't have to concentrate or thing or really do anything but try things on. Or say 'yes' or 'no' when I try things on..." Although he probably wouldn't enjoy that much she thought afterwards as she shook her head.

"We can fly to the maul, if you'd like? And talk about tattoos while we're out?" Her eyes brightened as she tried to be optimistic for him, the enthusiasm softening out after a moment. "I won't let anything happen to you, Pachua. It's just the maul. Promise." She held up her pinkie.

endejester

 

[endejester]

“…. Alright.” He said reluctantly and then cautiously held up a pinkie finger of his own after a moment of fighting with making it the only one to stick up. “Let me just adjust my wrap… should I wear shoes?” He added making a face.
He didn’t much care for shoes.

“I’ll try things on if you say no.” He added. “But you also have to help me if I start looking…flounder-ish in flight. I’m still working on the body motion AND flapping properly.” He huffed turning a slight red under the smattering of scales that pattered his cheeks.

He left the door open but vanished for a moment, choosing a different wrap than the shorter one that had once been sufficient to cover his growing wings and instead used a more toga-like length that fit closer to him, covered what he wanted it to and yet still allowed him to fly before appearing again.

“Alright… let’s doing this.”

Skye Starrfyre

 

[Skye Starrfyre]

"We'll find you something that flatters your wings so you can show them off. They're beautiful and you spend too much time hiding them." She gave him a gentle nudge before stepping away from the door so that he could gather himself together.

Once he was ready she flashed him a smile that said she was up for a challenge. "Here I was hoping you might give me some flight tips... Considering most of what I've been doing was just gliding, which is a lot easier if you know what kind of current you have to ride. I promise to not laugh, though, ok?" She stepped out into the hall so they could head for the stairs, figuring it would be better to pick up the right draft to lift them into the sky from higher than just starting off on the ground.

endejester

 

[endejester]

“I don’t…always hide them.” He said shifting them a touch. “I’ll do my best to give you tips! I mean I’ve memorized most of the traditional flying methods, its application that can rather be a pain. At least you don’t have to do the side-to-side swim motion with… Uh…sorry, rambling.” He trailed off.

“Do…do you want to practice before we go to the maul? It might be good… otherwise you…you get to deal with me trying to um, trying to carry you! Which I guess… means that some people get nauseous.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked anxious.

Skye Starrfyre

 

[Skye Starrfyre]

"Nope." She said with a bright smile as she rounded the spiral staircase. "Today is the day we just do things. No thinking, no analyzing. We trust our instincts, close our eyes... And leap." She hopped down a stair for emphasis before turning to resume her climb.

"We have wings and we defy gravity because we are wonderful creatures, you and I..." With the way she was rambling on she could write a book, or be a motivational speaker for the empowerment of winged monster kind. "If I fall you'll catch me... And besides, it's not like I haven't fallen before. I trust you. You should trust me, ok?" Her head turned, eyes drifting back over her shoulder to the quetz.

endejester

 

[endejester]

He looked a little dubious. “…a…I suppose if we dissipate we’ll be… alright…ish.” He said with a wincing thought at the damage that they could honestly do to him and her, even being flying creatures by nature.

“Have you been taking care of your feathers? I mean I’m sure they taught you but, they are so newly full that some of them are …very likely blood feathers still.” He said, and fingered some of his own.

“S…Sorry, I’ve got um… I had some younger siblings.” He gave a small laugh that had an undertone of birds.

“So… tattoos, we do them to celebrate…” He said and shifted some of his cover to display the designs that trailed over his chest, twisting his hand to show off the designs that vanished under a plethora of bracelets.
“You seriously interested or do harpies think of them as ah… bad?”

Skye Starrfyre

 

[Skye Starrfyre]

"I learned a lot about feathers and flight from the den mother when I was young. She would make certain that we were all taking care of ourselves and I remember..." She laughed, shaking her head slowly. "She snatched one of the boils by their ear once and gave him a good lecture because he wasn't preening properly. I never wanted to wind up on the bad end of one of her lectures."

Aldara skipped along up the last few stairs before pausing on the landing, rocking on her heels as she waited for Pachua to catch up. "Some of the members of my clan wear permanent markings... But mostly the designs are painted on before battle. They're signs of our power and strength... And our ability to inflict fear on our enemies." She reached out, lightly tracing one of the lines on his arm without thinking too much of it before drawing her hand back quickly, hoping she hadn't bothered him.

"I think it's a good idea to let people know that you're strong always and markings are a fine way to celebrate."

endejester

 

[endejester]

He waved a hand at the markings over his eyes. “Th…this is just charcoal, I wouldn’t… yeah. I know some places do tattoos were all over faces but I don’t…trust the people who made these near my eyes.” He laughed.

“Do… do you have designs that mean particular things? Or is it primarily color and placement?” He tipped his head.

“I mean, I’m curious but at the same time I’m glad that I’ve never had harpies being mad at me. But I’d like to know more.”

Skye Starrfyre

 

[Skye Starrfyre]

"Some clans pick their own symbols that mean things to them, but mostly it's the color. Something like that, for instance," she pointed to the same marking over his eyes that he had just referenced. "To us would be painted on for fighting at night, so that our enemies would only be able to see our eyes peering at them from the darkness; to shield us from their sight. Red streaks or slashes show that we are not afraid of the blood that will be shed. The pigment they use for the paint makes many think that it is blood. Brown and green, like black, are for blending... They save the more vibrant colors for celebrations and special ceremonies; in my clan, at least."

endejester

 

[endejester]

“What about purple?” He said carefully. “You wear a lot of purples and blues, is that for the clan or?” He tipped his head curiously. “For us… well, its best to either look like a ‘natural’ pattered serpent, with particularly vibrant wings.”
He bit his lip. “Or to have a –really- bright body with brightly TIPPED wings, if you’re just…bright then you’re pretty much the equivalent to a blood way model.” He sighed.

“If you’re like me… then you have … white base, decent markings, and colorful yet –subdued’ wings and it just gets complicated.” He laughed but there was less humor in it. “Flat out albinos well… at least with them they never hold out hope that you MIGHT become less muted. I’m not.”

“And we’re all about jewelry because there’s a lot of …tradition behind looking royal or…better godly, though the latter may be a bit more myth than I thought it was when I grew up.”

Skye Starrfyre

 

[Skye Starrfyre]

"Purples, blues, greens... They're complimentary; nice, cool colors that go well with raven black." She flashed Pachua a grin as she pulled her hair back, using one of her stretchy band bracelets as a tie to keep it from getting too mussed when they took to the air. "I wear them because I think they're beautiful and I don't particularly care who notices me here. Back home, though? Leather, earth tones; more 'natural' things."

She sighed at the thought as she stepped up on to the ledge, thinking briefly of Mayaa and how bold and bright she was. It made her smile somewhere inside to know that there were other harpy clans that held different values than her own. She wondered of there were other quetzalcoatl clans too. "I still think your wings are lovely just as they are, Pachua." She held her hand out to him to help him up onto the ledge alongside her. "And I like your jewelry too. It's much more interesting than just wearing talons, teeth and claws like some of my family."

endejester

 

[endejester]

“…. I kind of like that the bracelets jingle” He said with a chuckle. “At least you didn’t ask how you tattoo scales.” He grinned and then rubbed the back of his neck slightly. “I… I appreciate that you like my wings.” He said with a slow but sincere smile.

“I… I think that’s one of the cool things about coming back to the school. People ah, like my feathers.” He laughed delighted.

“Actually people want some of my feathers.” He teased and reached to flick the one she wore.

Skye Starrfyre

 

[Skye Starrfyre]

"Wearing feathers can mean one of two things," well, they could mean many things, but she was only going to cover two of them in her lesson on 'Harpy Culture' for today, "it means you either plucked them from an adversary or they were given to you by an ally... So you're either strong or you know others who are strong and either way those who approach you should do so carefully." She was grinning as she spoke, leaving it up to his imagination whether or not she was telling a true tale or if she was simply spinning one as she went along.

"They also make a stylish fashion accessory and some of them make me think fondly of people when they aren't around... Or flicking me." She teased. "Are we ready to fly, Pachua?"

endejester