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 Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 10:01 am
At first, the change in landscape was slight enough that he did not notice it. They had come to a part of Sauti where there were more permanent trails were marked deeply into the ground, which meant that they no longer had to rely on their navigational skills every moment of the day. This in turn allowed them to keep moving into the dark of the night, and so they did -- just Juno, his father, a small cart and their little herd six capras. It was easy enough to stay on the trail with sound alone (you felt the terrain change underfoot if you strayed a little too far), and anyhow the animals seemed to have no trouble with it.
When they had grown tired, they set up camp in the darkness -- and when the sun came up again, Juno woke to the abrupt realization that they were in Tale.
* * *
As Oleksy had promised, it turned out that they were only a few hours’ travel from Isd. The settlement was nestled in a bit of forest… Juno was fairly impressed by it, having never seen a forest before, but his shifter father assured him that it was nothing to gape at -- not by Jauhar standards. They rolled into the town proper and found that they were right on track to set up in the local market, which was already fairly busy given the size of the whole thing.
After helping his father lay out their goods, Juno wandered off to satisfy his own curiosity; Tale was a new place, after all, and there were many new and unusual things on offer at the other stalls. A fair number of eyes followed his passage (he was an odd-looking boy, after all, half-Shifter and half-Wind, and now in the home of neither race), but Juno was fairly distracted by the piles and bundles of local herbs he now noticed. He hovered by one stall for a while, touching a strange rattling seed-pod and giving it an experimental sniff.
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 1:10 am
Padma didn't often come as far out as Isd, but she and her father were on their way back from exploring Sauti - and Isd just seemed like a good place to stop on their trip back home to Yera. Her father, Uquin, had taken packs full of Jauhar and Tale herbs and potions, trading them around Sauti for Sauti seeds, plant samples, and bits and baubles - some of which he gave to Padma to do with what she wanted, while he set up a small stall (more of a spread out blanket with jars of mixed poultices, herbal remedies, and bundles of herbs).
With her bag full of potential trade-goods, Padma stepped gingerly from stall to stall, eyeing a spool of dyed thread, before ultimately dismissing it, feeling she could make a similar brown at home, if she used some of the nuts her father had brought from his last Jauhar visit.
A few feet away, she noticed, was another herb stall (Padma felt she would need to scope it out, in case there were herbs her father would find useful) - and standing at it was a strange looking boy her age. The girl was no stranger to hybrids - her uncle and cousins were Alkidike. But she had never seen someone like this - he looked like those she'd met in Sauti, with his clothes and bright hair. But his skin was...
Flushing in embarassment at her staring, Padma instead looked at what he was doing - shaking about some sort of pod. The stall owner seemed unconcerned, so it was likely it was some sort of a grindable spice - but a spark of mischief shot through the girl. Coming closer, behind him, Padma feigned a gasp. "You know, I can't remember if those are used in cooking or if those are the seeds that make you go numb." She hummed in thought, tilting her head in looking to be thinking. She delivered her words with a sort of airy disregard, the tone of finality that read Well, what's done is done, without any real urgency to it.
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 8:20 am
It took him a moment to process what the words had been spoken to him – and another moment to properly digest what had been said, at which point Juno decided to set the pod down and peer down at his hands (as if they might have given him some clue to the seed-pod’s effect). They looked altogether normal, of a little browned from all the things he’d ben touching.
“Well, I don’t feel numb. Not yet, at least.” He ventured, sounding a little concerned but otherwise undisturbed. The prentice was no stranger to herbs with odd qualities, after all… he was even bit of an expert, really, where Sauti plants were concerned. And as for going numb, well, he was no stranger to that either. “If I fall over in the next little while, would you mind telling my father? You shouldn’t have any trouble finding him, he’s the only shifter I’ve seen in the market.”
But seeing as he was not falling over, and still not feeling numb, he took a closer look at the girl who had brought this possibility to his attention. She was clearly of the leaf tribe, with tan skin, brown hair and pink crystals prettily arranged about her face.
“Are there many herbs around here that make you feel different? See, I like to collect the particularly… intoxicating sort. It’s a hobby of mine. But I haven’t got the slightest clue about all these things. Only arrived in Tale this morning.”
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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 5:01 pm
Stereochrome I'm so sorry for the long wait! If you ever need to, you can poke me to post, like if you want to grow him. <3
His bland response had taken the fun out of it, but also did a good job at making her realize how childish the little prank was. Flushing in embarassment, the girl huffed a sigh, then looked at the boy again, this time skeptically. "'Intoxicating' herbs? You collect those sorts of things?" Perhaps her tone was somewhat judgemental - she smoothed it over somewhat with a more curious expression, but she had never heard of people going out of their way to find off-herbs! Her father sometimes collected poisonous things, but that was because they had healing properties!
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:09 pm
Scarlett Arbuckle no worries -- Juno's pretty far from growing, all his RPs are kind of in the early stages. o wo
“Aw, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that I doubted you. It was all very convincing. Just… well, I suppose going numb all over just doesn’t strike me as too terrible a side-effect, not relative to all the other… horrific fates one might encounter while touching things they shouldn’t. If you’d told me it was going to make me break out in boils, I would have dropped the thing and ran screaming. Can’t be ruining my beautiful complexion, can I?”
He didn’t sound particularly serious about that either – if anything, it was a bit of a jab at the oddity of his own skin in a place like this.
“M-hm.” Juno confirmed when she asked about his collection. “Some of them are quite good when you distill them down into drink. Well, in Sauti they are, at least. I haven’t the slightest clue about anything here. Although it’s not just those sorts that interest me -- anything that has a good flavor, too… see, I don’t really know much about distilling right now, it’s all very complicated. But I have been fooling around with mixing things up in liquor, you know, to give it some variety. Herbs, berries, that kind of stuff? You can have a taste if you like.”
He pulled a small glass vial out of his satchel, shaking it about to show the pinkish-colored liquid inside. “This one’s quite sweet. A little on the… strong side, though.”
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Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2015 6:28 pm
Stereochrome It's taken me so long to do any responses. Please let me know if you don't need or want this play anymore and want to cancel <3
Curious, Padma eyed the offered vial. She had never seen such a pleasantly colored tincture before - even from the glowing juice Jauhar fruits produced. "Thank you - that's kind of you to offer." Padma responded politely, accepting the drink. She daintily sniffed at the vial, then took a sip. The initial taste was as he'd promised - a sweet sort of thing she'd never experienced before. But soon after the initial tease of flavor came ... not quite an aftertaste, as much as a reaction. She gasped and gave herself a shake, returning the vial quickly to his waiting hand.
"By the spirits, is that alcohol? " She queried, coughing and patting a hand against her chest. He wasn't joking when he said it was strong! Tale was a place of plenty of parties and jovial celebrations, and even at her age she'd tasted the stuff before - but she hadn't equated 'distillation' with it, out of her own ignorance. "Somehow, I've never thought to ask where the stuff comes from - how interesting!" She coughed again, then smiled past her brief surprise.
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Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:55 am
Juno watched curiously as she sipped, then cracked a huge grin at the look on her face. He took a sip himself right after, then stoppered the vial and slid it back into his pouch. He was rather proud of this little concoction of his, even if it did make people gasp and screw up their faces all funny.
“Well, of course it is. Told you it was strong.”
Juno’s mother had never made much of a big fuss about alcohol, regardless of his age. He had begun to gather (from his father, and others along the way) that this wasn’t normal for the rest of Tendaji. Well, that didn’t bother him much either. It was just another way he was different from others around him, which was old news and really nothing to write home about. And anyway, when he got older, it wouldn’t be the slightest bit odd.
“Well, that’s my little project, anyhow. And you, what are you up to? Do you live in this town here?”
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2016 7:35 pm
Somehow, Padma knew that her father would have a field day if he found out she'd imbibed something from a stranger. But it was all innocent fun, wasn't it? And after trying to be so mean spirited and startling him, she wouldn't be very kind to just turn her nose at this stranger's offer. Right? Even so, there was a thrill to it, as if she was doing something 'adult', even though she knew thinking that way only solidified just what a child she was!!
Huffing petulantly at his gentle scolding, Padma rolled her eyes then gestured briefly around the small clearing, where the different stalls had been set up. "Oh, no. I live further west - in Yera." Tapping her hand against the full satchel at her hip, Padma swept her eyes over the wares presented at the table, then finally looked back at the boy again. "I'm Padma. My father is a healer, so we travel around a bit every now and then. Are you passing through too? Where are you headed?" She asked, nosily, because he'd already let it slip that he was from Sauti - but he looked too young to be traveling by himself!
Well, not that that meant much. Her parents had both been traveling all over Tale and Jauhar when they were her age.
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 9:43 am
Scarlett Arbuckle heyy! ow o Juno's my next growth priority so I'll prolly be posting a bit faster for him. just fyi. <3
He had an inclination to smooth this over, whatever uncertainty lay between them. To be entirely honest, it had been a while since he’d been able to talk to anyone his own age, and… well, it was sort of nice. Fortunately, Juno was generally quite good at making himself liked and getting along with folks, and saw no reason not to depend on the same abilities in the present moment.
“Pleased to meet you, Padma. I’m Juno -- from Sauti, like you heard. Funny, I’m travelling with my dad too. He’s a merchant, though. And as for where we’re headed… well, I want to go to Jauhar. But he wants to go to Oba. He’s avoiding something, if you ask me. I mean, Jauhar is his home, he’s a shifter. Humph.” He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head a little, a cross look coming over his face. This had been a bit of a subject of contention between him and his father over this matter, apparently.
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Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 6:38 pm
Padma may not have realized what sort of face she was making, so as soon as he began to express some sort of concern over it she smoothed out her features, smiling somewhat guiltily. "Thanks - but I don't know if being modest suits you. You should be proud of what you do!" She replied, laughing and shaking her head. She didn't know why, exactly, but him talking down about his brewing, which was interesting and impressive for someone her age, just seemed odd. He was a kid with a handle on what he wanted to do, and who was traveling around researching and making it happen - what could she say about herself? She traveled a bit, sure, but her own future was just so cloudy in comparison.
Settling so her hip was leaning against the booth they'd both been gazing at, Padma settled her arms loosely across her middle, watching him as he spoke. He was very honest - maybe a little too honest and talkative, but she didn't mind. Others might not be as invested in his life story, or whatever issues he had with his father's trade route, but Padma could somewhat sympathize. At the mention of Jauhar, her gaze darkened, and she hummed noncommitally. "I don't know about your dad, but a lot of people are staying clear of Jauhar. After the extremists -- it's been tense there. Shifters always fought with the Alkidike, but after that... Lets just say I don't think it's strange, to want to stay away right now." She shook her head, thoughts turning to her mother, to Ujana. Lost in the fighting in Jauhar, even if Uquin couldn't admit it to himself, or to her.
The flash of sadness must have shown for a long moment, but Padma did what she could to clear her mind of it, instead clearing her throat. "Oba huh? I've never been, but that actually sounds exciting! And you can always see about traveling Jauhar a bit on the way back from Oba, right?
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2016 6:47 am
“It’s not much to be proud of.” He shrugged sheepishly. “I mean, it’s an old trick. My friends and I, back in Sauti, we did that kind of stuff all the time when we had bonfires and all that. To make strong liquor more… well, drinkable. Some of the stuff my family used to drink would have half burned your throat out if you drank it straight.”
To be honest, he probably didn’t recognize exactly how unusual it was for a kid his age to be a prolific drinker… but the nomadic lifestyle his family group had followed back home had been rather more relaxed than most folks’ upbringing. Their parents had wanted them to be independent, so that they would best be able to take care of themselves. You couldn’t depend on things being stable, when you grew up like that. You just took opportunities as they came to you, and if the opportunity was for a strong drink and a good time, you didn’t let it pass you by.
“Is it that serious?” He turned to more important matters now, focusing on her warning about Jauhar. “I thought… well, I thought with the extremists out of there, things would be a little more calm.”
The girl looked sad, he noticed. Like she was thinking of something. He shifted his weight and scratched at the back of his neck, feeling sorry for burdening her with his silly concerns about going to Jauhar. What if she had something entirely more serious on her mind? It surely seemed that way. But the sad look soon slipped off her face, replaced again by a congenial smile, and really, Juno couldn’t help but confide in her.
“Yeah, well… I don’t have anything against Oba. Would surely like to go there one day. But Jauhar’s at least half my home, isn’t it? I ought to go see it. Who’s going to take offense to me coming and going? I’m not even armed!”
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 10:28 am
So strange, how differently people the same age were raised, in different places. She had seen all sorts of illnesses and injuries in horrible detail, things that others her age might quail at - but the very concept of drinking with friends was strange to her. She listened, growing more and more curious, trying to imagine what it would be like to live such a life, herself. That, plus the darker thoughts about Jauhar, made her feel somewhat out of her depth, and she supposed that to this boy, who was an accomplished drinker and traveler already, she must appear childish and boring in comparison.
Her gaze softened as he continued to speak, and she shrugged a shoulder, looking down as she traced the outline of a carefully emroidered design on the hem of her skirt. "I can see what you mean, actually. I'm not saying you shouldn't go, just - that I can understand your father being worried. Things are... tense these days, that's all." Padma and her father had spent so much time in Jauhar, visiting her uncle and cousins or simply tending to the sick, as healers, and so she felt a sort of affinity for the place. But it wasn't her homeland by blood, as Tale was - and so she couldn't fully understand the curiosity that a hybrid such as this young man felt, though not for lack of trying. So instead she reached out to set a hand on his shoulder, and offered a supportive smile. "I'm sure he'll take you - some day."
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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 6:41 am
She was probably right, he knew. About the tension, and the dangers of going to Jauhar. But the jungle seemed to call to him. As Padma rested a careful hand on her shoulder, her voice supportive and kind, he couldn’t help but confide in her.
“It’s just that… when I was living with my folks in Sauti, Jauhar seemed so far away and… I was always curious about it, but not so curious I couldn’t distract myself with other things. But now that I’m travelling, and it’s right there, just beyond Tale, suddenly it seems almost urgent to see it. My dad says it’s a tough place to travel, what with all the trees and stuff, that there’s barely a proper road that runs through it that isn’t watched by bandits, but…” He shrugged, and said nothing more about it. He was having, he supposed, a hard time swallowing her ‘some day’ promise. He wanted it now. And he was old enough to go get what he wanted, wasn’t he?
“Oh, nevermind it. I mean, we’ve still got all of Tale to cross, and there’s lotsa new stuff to see here. Besides, I’m hungry. My dad gave me some money to spend… I’ll buy you lunch if you show me the best place to grab a bite!”
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Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2016 9:28 am
That he was opening up and telling her all this must have meant he'd kept it bottled up for quite a while... he must be traveling only with his father, so no wonder he'd been bursting with these doubts. Padma instantly thought of her father, of his stubborn refusal to move on to Sauti as he'd been planning to, before the extremists... before her sister and mother went missing. There being bandits guarding the roads was a bit of a stretch, but Padma couldn't fault the stranger for being cautious, and so she didn't mention it. Instead, she shifted closer and gave him a brief, one armed hug, before breaking away. They were still strangers, after all, and she didn't think he'd want her pity any longer than he could stand it.
And then he changed topic so quickly, Padma's head was spinning ! One moment he was upset, and longing for Jauhar, the next he was shoving such thoughts backwards, and forcing up an optimism he hadn't had just a moment ago. Furrowing her eyebrows, Padma forced a smile as well, though she didn't fake it quite as well as he had. "You know what - yeah. Yeah, I know just the place."
Pulling away from the booth they'd been standing at this entire while, Padma stood on her toes and craned to peek over the crowd, looking for the specific booth that she knew was here, somewhere... ah! There! Smiling broadly, Padma headed in that direction, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Juno was still following. Through the crowd were a series of traders who had come from Jauhar, and at one of the booths was a plethora of swollen, colorful berries, and fat nuts settled into a large basket. Beside it was a sheet of bamboo, on which were kebabs of round, fried mystery meats and other strange looking things. "How about this? Does it look good?" She asked, airily, shooting him a mischievous smile.
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 5:13 pm
This was a good change of pace! As nice as it had been to have Padma’s support in his moment of self-doubt, he much preferred doing something exciting than simply moaning on about his father and all his excuses. And roaming through the marketplace in search of something to eat was certainly exciting -- well, at least it seemed like it when you were hungry and in a strange new place.
He followed her eagerly as she lead the way through the crowded stalls, the colours and textures of all the different goods on display turning into a dizzying blur as they moved hurried past. Juno grinned; he absolutely loved marketplaces, he had discovered. Not only were they welcome oases between long stretches of lonesome travel, but they were just so… rich, so full of different scents and smells and sights and people. Even here on the edges of Tale he saw Shifters and other races, all with their own sorts of regional offerings. It was like a chance to see the whole world… and all in one crowded town square.
As it turned out, Padma had lead him to a section of the market mostly taken up by traders from Jauhar. There was a variety of goods on offer, but he immediately noticed the stall that must be the destination. It was the only one that offered food items, and it smelled… like a wild mixture of things, from the aromatic sweetness of the berries to the unfamiliar spices on the meats.
“I’m not sure.” He shrugged openly. “I’ve never seen if before, but… if you say it’s good, I’ll take your word for it. What should I try first?"
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