[PRP Yael] Just Girly Things [Naqenni | Ku]

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Just Girly Things
(Vindictive, Cut-Throat Sibling Rivalry and Subterranean Adventures)

Rain trickled down from the canopy to the tune of a thousand tiny footsteps—ptt, ptt, ptt, ptt—and Naqenni sat with her back to the trunk of a great tree. If she shut her eyes, she could imagine an army in the leaves and branches, each pitter-pattering drop beat a progression of fingernail-sized soldiers marching their way down through the brush to the jungle floor. Below her, white mist still churned like a spirit-sea despite the rain, and when she exhaled, she opened her eyes, squinting out over the wild terrain as one leg slipped to dangle over the side of her chosen perch and swing free.

It was a slow, wet day.

The inactivity made her skin itch. Restless, and jittery as though impatience were a physical sensation, and in the distance—thanks to her close proximity still to the tribe—she heard the hollow, airy tone of a wooden instrument blow, its tune winding through the jungle and meshing with the rainy backdrop. She stood, bracing her weight, catching at the branch above, hoisting herself, and then reaching to snatch up one of the dangling fruits of her current tree before starting her way down. At the bottom branch, she took a bite, hummed, and took the final drop to the forest floor, damp, and giving.

If nothing else was going on today, it seemed an open invitation to take her own initiative and take an exploratory stroll. Young though she still was, she and her fellow first blooms were ahead of her fellow sisters, and at least nearing the age when they would begin to learn to use proper weapons—and explore at more length. Not that she had hesitated to attempt to push the limits before, but it meant that making it further away was at least marginally easier, within limits. Forgoing her usual path directly towards the sea, Naq debated only a moment before heading off towards the east, similar to but not directly on point with the path she’d been shown earlier, leading to one of the island’s underground rivers.  

[Stereochrome]

The Only Black Uke

Ku crept through the undergrowth.

She would have made a funny picture, had anyone seen her -- couched over like a hook, balanced on her tip-toes, knees bent and green eyes stubbornly focused on the thick foliage around her. But nobody saw her, hidden (and little) as she was, and as far as she was concerned she looked deadly. And she was deadly; in her imagination at least. She was a stalking predator, moving soundlessly through the trees, searching out a halpless target upon which she would then sneak up, and strike --

The gray-pink of a familiar figure darted past a gap in the leaves just ahead of her, and Ku straightened suddenly so as not to get caught in her game. However, the other little Elaria hadn’t noticed her at all, and was already a good way up the narrow eastbound path. Ku crept up just far enough to recognize Naqenni’s long, swinging hair… and notice how boldly she started to venture off from the track, walking now into the deep jungle where there was no marked trail to follow. Ku had been doing some wandering of her own lately (for it was only in the last little while that their elders had allowed them some freedom to tramp around on their own), but for the most part she had stuck to the routes and paths she already knew. The jungle was vast, and the vague knowledge of some ‘eathlings’ who lived elsewhere in it had kept her from going too far.

But now -- it Naqenni could do it, so could she!

After giving the girl a short headstart, she followed after her… and in some time caught up to her beside the gaping mouth of a large cavern. A river ran out of it, and thick leaves hung down from the top arch, having some resemblance to a set of curtains.

“Dare you to go in there.” She said by way of greeting. “I already did.”  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Naqenni had never traveled especially far off in this particular direction before, so she had no clear idea what to expect, other than terrain at least similar what she had encountered previously—but the mystery, of course, was part of the adventure. That, and the trickle of misty rainfall down through the canopy towards the jungle floor all added a sense of burgeoning newness. Fresh water everywhere, a wet texture underfoot, movement in all directions great and small, caused as a domino effect of both the rain directly on the plant life itself and on the scurrying creatures that reacted to it.

Due to those overtones, however — the perpetual soft rush of water and wind in the trees and the crackle of leaves and pattering animal feet — she did not immediately distinguish the sound of rushing groundwater when she heard it. It meshed into the backdrop, part of the conglomeration of white noise. By the time she did realize it was a separate and distinct water source, she was nearly upon it, and a half-minute later, the river and the cave it lead into, came into view.

She couldn’t really have asked for a better discovery, and she was almost to the bank of the river, eyeing the green ‘curtain’ of overgrowth masking the yawning opening, when her company made herself known. Naqenni hopped, spinning and tensing, narrowing her eyes and—

Oh.

She rolled her shoulders back to a more relaxed state, though her expression remained pinched with petulance. “Ku, you—” She blinked as the greeting sank in more fully, some of the initial irritated startlement in her expression easing—and replaced almost immediately by the rising of her nubby eyebrows and an indignant huff. “I was going in anyway,” she insisted. She had, at least, been considering it. Given that she’d fallen in and nearly drowned herself in the last river cave she’d explored, there was a distinct amount of trepidation niggling at the back of her neck at the thought—but Ku didn’t need to know that. This river, at least, looked decidedly more tame than the last. “I don’t need—” Her eyelids narrowed again suspiciously as she grappled with the latter part of her sister’s assertion. “When did you go in? You’ve been out here before? Were you following me?”  

[Stereochrome]

The Only Black Uke

Ku tilted her head, pleased with the startled little dance that the other girl had made. Admittedly, it wasn’t much of an accompaniment to sneak up on someone over the rushing sound of river-water and the echo of the cave, but it was sort of funny anyway, wasn’t it?

The rest of Naqenni’s response was not quite as endearing.

“I wasn’t following you.” She folded her arms over her chest, sticking her chin up proudly. “I told you. I already went in. I’ve been here before. So there.”

This was, of course, a complete and utter lie. Ku had never come this way before. They were quite far out from the settlement now, by a youngling’s standards anyway, and she hadn’t ever dared go this far on her own. But she wasn’t on her own now, was she? Naqenni was here, and that made Ku more determined to stay here for two reasons. Firstly because she wasn’t going to let her sister get away with exploring anything Ku wasn’t exploring, and secondly because… well, there was some strength in numbers, after all, and a dual expedition was not entirely a bad idea.

“Come on then.” She commanded, leading the way and springing up over flattened stepping-stones to get to the mouth of the cave. Once she got there, however, she hesitated. It was quite dark inside, what with the leaves hanging over the entrance like that… and the river sounded so much louder. What if there was some creature living inside? A big, scaly thing with claws and teeth and glowing eyes? Had she been alone now, the young elaria might have backed down and chosen to spend her time playing in the stream outside the cavern.

But instead, she pulled aside the curtain of leaves and… turned to Naqenni expectantly.

“Well?”

At least the beast could eat her instead!  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Naqenni squinted, opening her mouth to say that just because Ku had been this way didn’t mean she couldn’t have followed Naqenni here this time—either to mock or taunt or simply come this way again and be amused at knowing its nooks and crannies while Naqenni didn’t. Yet.

But it seemed a moot point.

It didn’t matter so much as other things, and besides, Ku was already strutting off in a half moment towards the cave entrance and since — regardless of whether or not her sister had made this trek in the past — Naqenni had arrived first this time, she had no desire to let her take point. So she followed, trotting to come even with her as opposed to moving on her heels as though she were ‘tagging along.’ It was an exciting scene, wasn’t it? The leafy veil of vines over the front leant it all a sort of mysterious air, and it made Naqenni’s pulse quicken with curiosity and her antennae twitch. Her toes curled against the soft, mossy earth, and—

‘Well?’

Naqenni shot her sister a Look. It occurred to her to point out that since Ku had been here before it made far more sense that she go first, since she knew what to expect already. That, though, unfortunately implied that she thought Ku’s experience in the matter would make her better for the job of leading, and that left a displeasing taste in her mouth. The fact that Ku looked so pointedly eager for her to lead, however, did set a seed of suspicion into place all its own: there was probably something in there. Something Ku knew of and had grappled with before, and she wanted Naqenni to go first so that she could laugh at her when she messed it up or was surprised.

Naqenni pushed a stiff, curt puff of a breath between her lips, and then dipped to crouch, snagging up a pebble from the river bank. If there was anything alive in there, at least in the first part, it was likely to respond to a disturbance, and regardless of the overall outcome, it seemed better for her no matter what to know now — while side by side with her sister and outside of the cave — if there was such a thing than than later — while in front of her sister and enveloped in darkness and standing on slippery stone.

She tossed the stone inside with a flick of the wrist.

Tap, tap, tap, came the hollow reply. Then: plunk — into water, she assumed.

She waited a breath. Two. Three.

Nothing else disturbed the constant rush of the water. Satisfied, Naqenni stooped to pick up another slightly larger rock, and then strut past her sister, into the cavern opening. It always intrigued her how immediately cooler the air of caves felt. It made her skin prickle, as though more instantly alive under the brush of chill, and her buggish turquoise eyes stayed wide and alert, taking in what she could of the dark environment.  

[Stereochrome]

The Only Black Uke

“Hm.” Ku rolled her eyes as Naqenni picked up and tossed a little pebble into the darkness of the cave, apparently unimpressed by this cautious move. She did, however, listen very carefully as it clattered inside -- clack, clack, clack against rock, and then the wet, sinking splash into water. No terrifying growls or scuffling claws followed, so at the very least they hadn’t woken up some large and toothy creature from the depths of the cave.

Not yet, at least. The cave may very well be deeper than a pebble-toss, as caves were apt to be.

She followed her sister into the cavern, taking a double-step or sorts to stand by her side rather than behind her. The curtain of plants fell behind them, filtering out what little light there was. A cool, drifting air settled over them, smelling strongly of mineral-heavy wetness. The ground was rough under her feet, and if she had been older and heavier the added weight might even have made it painful. But she was used to running about in her bare skin, just as Naqenni was no doubt, and this didn’t turn out to be much of a bother.

They waited for their eyes to adjust, and after a while began to see the shimmering passage of the river-water. It was narrow and quick near the mouth, but as it stretched back into the depths, it seemed to widen out and lie almost still. This seemed interesting enough, and Ku hopped forward along the edge of the stream until she came to the bank of that pool. For as much of it that she could see, it looked rather shallow -- and a cautious dip of her foot into the water revealed that the walls of it had been worn down into a pleasantly smooth surface, like the sloping edge of a bowl.

“Hmmm… no. I haven’t been here.” She announced, stepping into the pool and splashing a bit of water at Naqenni. It was cold, but Ku had long since taught herself to bear with such discomforts. “I thought I was. But that was another cave. This one is different. What do you wanna play?”  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

As her eyes adjusted to the dim light and the wider, almost-still pool came into view, Naqenni’s antennae coiled curiously. While perhaps not as ‘exciting’ in the dangerous sense as the underground river she’d been lead to last, this was far more promising in other ways, most notably: it looked easily still enough to swim in. In the last, the vicious, pounding currents would have pulverized her, but this pool looked almost glassy in sections—until Ku dipped her toe in, sending out a ripple of disturbance.

Naqenni stood back, watching and still warily vigilant. Anything might still leap out of the water to bite off a toe, and — perhaps contrary to logic — while she trusted the great ocean at the island’s shore, there was something more darkly mysterious about the inner pools of the island that seemed cause enough for at least mild trepidation and a watchful eye.

Nothing ate Ku’s foot.

Naqenni stepped closer, to the pool’s edge. It was beautiful, in a dark way, like much of the island, and it didn’t take much stretch of the imagination to see beasts lurking in its waters or the darker nooks and crannies further along, filled with shadows. Then, Ku spoke up—and splashed her. Naqenni puffed, shooting her sister a look and squaring her shoulders.

“That only shows how much you pay attention,” she began, and almost finished with, ‘…and I don’t play games.’ But that wasn’t fully true. Not that Ku needed to know it, but there wasn’t anyone else around, so since Ku had suggested it, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt. So long as it was entertaining. And she had asked for her suggestion, besides. That seemed to make the idea all the more promising. Naqenni stepped into the water, toes curling at the cool stone beneath the chilly surface as her eyes scanned along the pool and to the far shore, debating what ‘game’ she might like to play. After wading out deep enough that she could swim if she kicked off, Naqenni flashed her teeth. “Race you to the other side.”

She took off all but the moment the words left her mouth.  

[Stereochrome]

The Only Black Uke

Ku stuck her tongue out. No games? They played games all the time! They raced, and they climbed, and they shouted and all that sort of thing. If Naqenni wanted to pretend to be a grown-up, well, she could try -- but Ku knew better. Besides, there was nothing wrong with playing games. Playing games was a lot more fun than doing some (but not all) grown-up things. Hunting and training and all that kind of stuff, that was fun, Ku couldn’t wait to do that. But some of the more mundane facts of adult life, like making food and cleaning huts? Bo-ring. She’d take splashing about in a dark cave any day.

She put her hands on her hips, watching her sister climb into the water. Then, out of nowhere, the challenge was called out, and Naqenni took off into the darkness.

Ku didn’t hesitate. She let out a howl that echoed between the rough rock walls and took off after the other Elaria, their little bodies ruining what sense of stillness the water had left.

Of course, running through water was much harder than it looked -- even though the water had looked still and smooth as glass when they stood outside it. Now that they were knee-deep in it, though, it was a significant barrier to movement. It was mineral-rich and somehow felt heavier than sea-water, and it tugged at their calves and legs as they ran (or tried to, at least). Soon enough Ku’s muscles were screaming from effort, and perhaps in some other part of the world, among some other two girls, the race would have stopped short in the middle of the pond.

But the Elaria waded deeper and deeper into the darkness, barely seeing anything now, until they came -- at the same abrupt moment -- to a wall of jagged stone.

“That’s it?” Ku scoffed, trying to hide her labored breathing. “I could’ve gone longer.”  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Naqenni expected to be able to swim at some point. That was what water did. It got deeper. And she loved to swim. When no one was watching and she had a space to herself, she could close her eyes and float, imagining that she were suspended not in water, but air, flying listlessly over the earth and all its beings far below.

It did not get deeper.

It was only ever deep enough for a lot of things: to make every rushing step faced with resistance, to make her feel as though she was running through something physically holding her back, like a dream where something pursued but the ground below held fast as quick sand. It had all the disadvantages of swimming and none of the advantages of running. But it did make great splashes, and it did make her forget the darkness of the cave — for the most part — and all the possibilities of what might lurk underneath. All that mattered was that she not lose—no.

All that mattered was that she win. ‘Not losing’ was just as unacceptable, and by the time she came splashing to the rock of the other side, her breath labored and ragged in her chest as she willed herself to tame it and cheeks flush with exertion, she felt she made good time—except that Ku was directly beside her. Her breath skittered from her lungs and back in as she worked to calm it to a more even pace, making no effort to contain the distempered flick of her antennae.

“I—” she began.

‘I could’ve gone longer.’

She narrowed her eyes. Opened her mouth. But still, her breath came fast enough that she couldn’t immediately answer, and she swallowed another inhale before huffing. “Of course I could too. I got here first.” She hadn’t really been able to tell. She’d been paying all her focus to getting to her destination. But it seemed fair enough to guess that she’d made it first. It made the most sense. “It wasn’t that hard.”  

[Stereochrome]

The Only Black Uke

“No you didn’t.” Came the immediate reply from Ku, who felt a little betrayed by this outlandish claim. Why, she had been ok with calling it a tie! They were sisters, after all, and both from the first blooms of the mother tree. It made some sense that they were equally good at some things. There were some things at which Ku especially thought she was better, but there were some things at which she was equal.

She certainly wasn’t worse, or weaker, or slower or… anything of that sort!

“Don’t pretend. You got here at the same time as I did… at best. I might be being generous. You’re just being petty.”

Arguments, however, were not Ku’s favorite sport. She liked to be right, of course, but… well, all the yelling and name-calling never seemed worth the reward, which was sour attitudes and too-long hours left sulking alone until the whole issue was forgotten, and a new game or challenge invented. So she let the matter drop on her end, and plopped down into the water. Sitting, it reached just to her chest, and the feeling of it was quite pleasant. It smelled like stone and minerals. The scent might have been offensive to someone unused to Yael’s toxicity, but… Ku had been born here, and didn’t seem to mind.

“Did you find other cool caves? I want to find some treasure. Or some critters. I want a pet. Something big maybe."  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Naqenni puffed, and squinted, and—well, perhaps her sister was right. It had all happened in such a mess, she hadn’t really been able to tell at the time, but it seemed just as reasonable to assume, in the event of uncertainty, that she’d come in first. Had it been any of her younger sisters, she never would have let it rest.

But then, had it been any of her younger sisters, she never would have left any doubt as to who won. So, Naqenni supposed, in the interest of enjoying the rest of her time spent, she could just not press as hard. She rolled her shoulders instead, antennae flicking and hands dusting down over herself as she squinted towards the deeper parts of the cave.

“I’m not,” she said. “Maybe we did. We were close…” She touched her tongue to the back of her teeth as though it were almost difficult to say: “You’re pretty fast.” She had to be, if she’d managed to keep pace with her, and maybe it would make things more fun after, to admit it. Just this once. Her gaze flit back to her sister as the topic moved to, admittedly, more pleasant things, and she curled her toes against the cave’s river bottom.

“I have.” Naqenni’s chest puffed a fraction at the thought, buggish eyes alight with the thought. “There’s another underground river, but it’s steep on the way in, and the water’s fast…” She’d slipped and nearly been drowned in it, but that part didn’t seem to bear mentioning. “It was exciting. Cliffs, too…” She trailed off at the mention of a pet, immediately thinking of one of the elder cousins, Lumikani, and the beast she had—but her eyes scrunched on the thought of the woman alone. “Only the biggest,” she said. “We’ll be able to. They are so many, they just won’t let us go get them yet. But I could, if we could go out farther. I’ll feed mine earthlings when it’s big enough.”  

[Stereochrome]

The Only Black Uke

ow o

“We did.” Ku insisted with what she hoped was a definitive formality, her antennae bobbing as she nodded. “Anway, it wasn’t just about going fast, right? It was about going fast and being strong, having to step through the water like that. Not everyone could do it like we did, I bet.”

She turned then to listen to Naquenni’s retellings of the things she had found. All this was genuinely exciting, and she didn’t mind so much that it was her sister who had found some of these things before her. After all, there were a lot of things for the finding. The older alkidikes didn’t even know the land all that well, so there was a good chance that if you stumbled on something cool, you were the first person to ever do it. Or, well, the first person who mattered at least. Maybe there had been some earthlings here before the Alkidikes came, but who cared about them anyway? They were probably just afraid of everything and lived in a tree.

Ku giggled when Naquenni mentioned earthlings as well -- this time with the intent of feeding them to her imaginary beast. “You would scare them good! Chase them right across the jungle just for fun, and then CHOMP!”

She had stretched her hands in front of her for that last word, and brought them together with a big clap -- sending water spraying all over the place. Ku giggled at the thought, although of course the image in her mind was far more cleanly comical than the actual mauling of an earthling would probably look like. Nor, of course, was she actually stopping to process the thought of an actual death, for if she actually took the time to consider it, she wasn’t sure what she’d think.

“Have you seen one? An earthling, I mean?”  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

‘Anway, it wasn’t just about going fast, right? It was about going fast and being strong…’

There was truth in the words, of course. Re-invigorating, rallying truth, and while there was an instinct to add in that yes, that was what she meant—perhaps that wasn’t entirely necessary this time around. Naqenni’s instinct was ever to try to come out on top somehow, but if there was anyone in the tribe with whom it might be acceptable to just agree with, at least on some things, then surely that was her fellow sisters of the first three. So, she nodded, and when Ku agreed with her after, entertaining the idea of taming the wild beasts of the jungle beyond, she brightened in spite of herself, almost grinning openly, though look was fleeting.

After, at the question, she nibbled at her lower lip, grunting and debating. She had heard Ai and others among her alkidike cousins talk of earthlings and what they looked like, and that was close. But…

At length, she gave a small shake of the head. “Not yet, but I will. I know they’re ugly, and misshapen, and small. And they don’t even have a tree, so they can’t bloom babies properly. Once we’re grown and have more here, we’ll get rid of them quick for sure.” After saying it, Naq squinted, hesitating a moment before asking, “You haven’t seen one, have you?”

She didn’t want to hear yes, of course, and fully intended not to believe her sister if she said such a thing — or, that was the plan — but it still seemed necessary at the last moment to couch the question, just in case there was information out there she hadn’t had access to yet.  

[Stereochrome]

The Only Black Uke

“M-hm.” Ku nodded, agreeing with her sister’s description of the earthlings. “Heard they had funny eyes, too. And ugly crystals all over. And no antennae. And some of them are blue.”

All this, of course, she had only gathered from overhearing random snatches of conversation in the settlement. The Alkidikes didn’t seem to want to talk about Earthlings much, for all that Ku had bothered them about it -- but if you listened close to the stories they told, you could soon start figuring out a thing or two, as she had. So although she shook her head at Naquenni’s question about whether she had seen any or not (because she certainly hadn’t, nor was she allowed to), her greater interest seemed to be in retelling everything she knew about the topic.

“There’s different types, of course. There’s the kind that live here, the ones we’ll get rid off I guess. But then on the old place, where the grown-ups came from, there’s a whole bunch of other kinds. Like the blue ones. And there’s ones that change color sometimes. And then sometimes they all have wars. About stuff, I guess. I don’t know what. But I didn’t know they didn’t have any trees! How come there’s so many, then? Do you think they… come from rocks, or something? Apparently they’re ugly like rocks. Hm.”

There were, after all, plenty of rocks in Yael… so this seemed like a reasonable theory to her.

“I’m not sure about the blue kind, though. I don’t know if there are blue rocks.”  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Naqenni squinted, listened with rapt, though admittedly bewildered and somewhat skeptical attention. Were there really blue earthlings? Her own mothers rarely talked about what they looked like, other than that they were ugly, and weak, their focus always more centered around how they had come to pollute the original mother tree and force grotesque hybridizations on her—as well as, of course, talk of the mutated earthlings present here, on their island.

What her sister said, though, did sound exciting — if bizarre — and it made her all the more curious to see these things for herself one day.

“I know about the wars,” she said. “Mother Kasama talks about those lots.” Her eyelids pinched, narrowing to suspicious slits, and she glanced to the nearest rock. “That’s stupid. Rocks can’t make anything. They’re dead. Trees are alive, and our goddess trees are special, so they can make us. Mother Izari says that they have males, like animals do. And the males attack the women and infect them when they touch, and a tumor grows inside the woman until it’s too big, and they break free, bloody and screaming. Sometimes it kills the woman, but that’s how they make more. I think if they were smart, they’d just kill the males and find a tree instead.”

After a pause, Naqenni flicked at the water.

“But they’re not smart, so they don’t. And that’s why we have to get rid of them…” She glanced to Ku. “Blue rocks don’t sound too weird. There’s probably some somewhere.”