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 Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:08 am
The trip had taken them much farther than Aki thought it would. When Janella said 'business in Tale,' he'd assumed she'd meant Tale, not edge-of-the-godforsaken-rainforest-filled-with-questionable-bug-eyed-alien-women-all prowling-around-waiting-to-attack cusp of Jauhar. This, unfortunately, despite his complaints about not being able to travel and explore the world, was not appealing. Everything felt sketchy, shady, and dangerous, and he found that he didn't trust a great many of the people he passed.
He'd never been to Jauhar, and he wasn't hugely familiar with the Alkidike women, apart from assuming that they were the reason his mother had been taken from him. This wasn't reassuring, and Janella (older, wiser, and more familiar with the terrain as she was) assured him as much.
"Ya big dope, ya oughtn't have come if you were gonna gripe and moan the whole time," the woman tutted stiffly as she secured the last of her goods to a pack to bring into the heart of the market. No sense in bringing a whole empty cart now. It'd just get in the way. Aki opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. "Ayeaiai... No, no, you don't hafta say nothing. Stay here, no one'll bother you if you don't bother them."
Whatever he'd been going to say previously slipped into the ether. "Alone," Akiyal prompted immediately.
"Of course 'alone,'" Jan retorted. "I'm taking my boy with me so's he can learn the trade, but you'll get in the way. If you don't wanna deal with the Alkidike, don't. Stay here, stay out of the way. Don't bother no one, and they won't bother you."
This did not sound even remotely likely, but Aki found himself leaning against an empty cart, anyway, impatiently glowering off in the direction his traveling companions had set off only seconds prior.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:25 am
Mnyiri hadn't known just how large Jauhar was until she set about exploring it. First it had been with Rhonann by her side, but these days she was solo adventuring it in the rainforest. At first such a trip would have been terribly lonely, but Mnyiri had found that she was pretty good at making friends, so despite her alkidike nature others warmed up to her fairly quickly.
That or they chased her away with spears.
It was a 50/50 gamble.
Said bug-eyed woman was doing less crawling than she was poking about with an open journal nestled in her left hand. Mnyiri had been taking less and less notes on earthling culture as the weeks passed by, which was something she didn't like in the least! She needed to study them, to prob and see how far their little minds worked...but first she needed money. Unfortunately, that seemed more important in their culture and in order to buy little trinkets she would need to pay them for it. Which was precisely why she held in a lute in the other hand, and not her trusty spear.
Flipping her journal closed, Mnyiri stuffed it into the hood of her halter top (because where else would it fit?). Hopefully Senja's lessons would be good enough to score her a little bit of coin, which was all she needed really to buy some goodies.
It seemed ridiculous that they wouldn't let her set up in the settlement's square, however, so Mnyiri found herself skulking around the edges, looking for a spot to set up. That empty cart seemed like a good enough place to do it...but as she got close Mnyiri found that it was less empty and more occupied by an odd looking little girl.
For once Mnyiri wasn't wearing the bells in her dreads, so she slipped up behind the girl-child from the side, and abruptly chirped, "Hello!"
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 1:47 pm
He didn't want to be here. Jauhar was no place for Wind earthlings accustomed to the great open plains in one direction and nothing but snow-caped mountains in the other. These trees were weird and shadowy and the terrain was questionable, and the people were just as bad, and he wasn't especially skilled in bartering or... merchant-ing, himself. The Shifters were fine. Shifters, Leaf, Wind, and Ice were all completely fine and totally normal, and he imagined he could probably get along with any of them who'd let him. Unfortunately, that wasn't all that lived in Jauhar.
The border in particular seemed a weird hub for hybrids of all sorts. And purebloods traveling out of the southern lands, through Jauhar, and up to the north. He wasn't especially fond of any of them. Akiyal expected, on some level, that if he appeared unwelcoming and closed off, people would leave him be.
He leaned stiffly against the cart, arms crossed, head dipped, eyes closed, all limbs dragged in close. The world was not welcome beyond that border. Not that everyone seemed to get the message.
When a voice cropped up painfully close to him, Aki lurched to the side with a short grunt. His gaze snapped to the intruder as he reached out to steady himself against the cart once more. A girl- a woman, he supposed with all the trademark characteristics of the Alkidike. Maybe she was of mixed blood like so many others here, but the antennae and dark black eyes were his focus.
Akiyal stiffened, lips drawing back in a sneer. "What do you want?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:01 pm
"Did I scare you?" Mnyiri just beamed, as if the thought were more pleasing than distressing. Instead of being off put by the surly demeanor she saddled her way a little closer, but not so close so she couldn't see the creature. Earthlings were so small, after all, and even for a hybrid Mnyiri towered over most of her pure blooded sisters.
He/She/It wasn't as friendly as she would have liked though Mnyiri had been around worse. She leaned casually against the cart, brushing up against the side of it with one of her generous hips, little antennae twitching with the action. "Just wanted to talk, to say hi, maybe see if I could play some music for you. Or if you knew where I could go. They won't let me in the big areas sooooooo I'm out here."
Mnyiri rocked back and forth on her heels, as if the concept of standing still for more than a moment were foreign to her. "You're from Sauti, right? My friend's from Sauti; she has amnesia, though, and we didn't figure out what kind of earthling she was until recently. I don't travel much myself, so it was kind of hard to piece it together, but we got there."
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 5:12 pm
Akiyal could not immediately fathom a more sketchy conversation than the one he was having with this woman right now. He spared her a quick glance and hoped his expression conveyed how much her presence wasn't welcome. He would've made an effort to vocalize as much, but she was tall, as most Alkidike were, and didn't look especially weak, either.
Not weak, just weird. Pink in her hair and pink on her clothes, no weapon, musical instrument in one hand. He squinted at her. If there ever existed a pacifist Alkidike, this is probably what it looked like. He gave a minute shift of his weight off the cart, readying himself for... well, whatever might happen.
"I highly doubt your kind is particularly musically inclined. Doesn't seem... savage enough."
If it was weird before, the woman only served to make things weirder. Akiyal didn't know why she was going on about her friend with amnesia or what she hoped to gain from that part of the conversation, but his instinct wasn't to trust it. Especially since surely you could just look at near anyone and tell what kind of Earthling they were. Nothing she said made a great deal of sense. "You might've just asked any passerby to help you. Earthlings aren't exactly difficult to figure out."
He squinted back to the lute in one of her hands. "You can't really play that, can you?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 6:43 pm
Akiyal might as well have been staring at a wall. Mnyiri saw his glance, knew what he thought of her being there, but since he wasn't outright attacking her she didn't view the little weird girl / boy as a threat. Facts were that she could easily pick him up and fling him somewhere if he tried to attack. Mnyiri hoped he wouldn't though; she wasn't quite bored enough to find someone new to talk to.
"Okay, so, that's rude." Mnyiri shook her head, wondering just what kind of person would let this little shrimp of a kid wander around with that kind of mouth. Your kind and savage...pfft. Nasty words. "And earthlings might not be hard to figure out for another earthling, but as you're demonstrating, not a lot of your kind want to talk to me. So, even if I saw one of her tribe, how would I be able to find out? You're not armed, but plenty more are." Mnyiri had an entire life left to live; why would she throw that away by pressing her luck with an earthling warrior who clearly wouldn't answer an alks questions?
She gave him a squinting look, as if she were close to covering her finger in spit and jamming it down his ear. "You're not very imaginative, are you, kid?" Shaking her head, Mnyiri brought her lute up, adjusted the strings and began to play. The song was softer at first, then began to pick up a little bit of a jaunty rhythm. At first she was concentrating on her strings, so Mnyiri paid him little attention, but near the end she looked up at him with a look that said, 'oh yeah, this is happening.'
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 5:47 pm
"I'm rude...?" Akiyal muttered in quiet repetition. But was he, though? For being extremely suspicious of any member of the race that had most recently tried to take over Tendaji? Never mind how the whole business personally affected him. It might have been 'rude' if he was attempting to communicate with someone sensible, but these tree-bug-savage women? He glowered at her.
No, he didn't think he was being rude at all.
"You don't have much right to blame my kind for not wantin' to bother with you," he grunted, regardless of how 'helpful' she was being while trying to determine an Earthling's lineage. Not that anything about that assertion seemed quite right either. Why would an Earthling go to her? Why would an Alkidike help one of them to begin with. He didn't like it. It wasn't right. It didn't. Sound. Plausible. he shook his head and flicked a dismissive hand at her. "Why don't you flutter on, bug-lady. I-"
He was baffled is what he was. The sound of her strumming silenced him, and his words cut short as he gave pause to glower at the instrument. This was still not a favorable situation, but since she didn't look armed and he couldn't see anymore of Aisha's children lingering nearby and he wasn't about to scamper haphazardly off into the trees and a trap with her, maybe paying the woman a compliment wouldn't be too troublesome. "Alright, alright. Ya got me. You're not that bad at it, I suppose."
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Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:26 am
Oh good, the weird girl / boy was finally starting to see reason. Too bad those pretty little blue peepers couldnt' do something more than glower. It might have made him / her a little less odd, and a lot more pleasant to be around. Maybe the little earthling wouldn't be on their own then, and instead would have some friends to talk to.
She brought her music to an abrupt end, and leaned back confidently against the cart. Mnyiri canted her head up at an angle giving the normally bubbly alkidike an almost smug look that lasted all of two seconds. "Thank you. I've been practicing every night for months, you know, when I'm not busy scurrying around like a bug." She didn't appreciate the earthlings racial slurs, and wouldn't tolerate them for long. The little earthling didn't' have to be nice to her, but he didn't have to be rude.
"Do you...would you want to go into the village with me? With you there they'll have to let me play. I'll let you keep the coins; I just want some practice with a crowd." Mnyiri doubted very highly that he / she would want to go anywhere with her, but perhaps the tempting offer of coin would bring them along.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 12:06 pm
He really wouldn't have been terribly surprised if all Alkidike practiced nothing except tree-climbing, slaughtering, torture, and maybe dissection. They probably did that. At least, Akiyal imagined they did, when he spared the time to imagine anything about them at all. But because she wasn't completely inept at her instrument, he did have to assume maybe this one, at least, devoted a bit of time to other things.
He still didn't trust her or like her, and his first impulse was to refuse any offer she made him. Especially one that seemed so suspiciously selfless. The former thought that she wanted to lure him farther from the town and out into the trees for an ambush returned, but Aki tempered the scowl the tugged at his lips. He sluggishly sifted through thoughts of what could possibly be her angle by getting him to go into the village, though. There wasn't anything in the cart, so nothing for her to steal. Anyone in the heart of the town would probably take his side over hers, surely, maybe.
And he did want the coin. Akiyal clucked his tongue and crossed his arms. "Alright, sure. I'll go with you, I guess. You got a name, or do I just call you 'Bug Lady?' Y'know, if it's something weird and unpronounceable in your people's language, I could just make up my own name for you."
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 7:44 pm
Mnyiri sat her lute down on the ground between her feet, then pressed her calves around the upper portion to hold it so she could fix her top. She shuffled the vibrantly pink material around, fixing her bountiful girls so that they would feel less like making a break for it. When she was finished she gave them a little shimmy just to make sure, and satisfied, he crouched back down to pick up the lute.
"There you go!" Her smile couldn't have been brighter if she'd tried. "Was it so hard not being a bigoted sour puss for a few moments? Hmm? I bet you'd be cuter if you smiled." She wanted to reach out and pinch it's cheeks, but she doubted that would go over well. "My name's Mnyiri. Not too hard to pronounce. What about you? Got a weird earthling name, or what? And come on already, let's go, slow poke."
Mnyiri kicked off from the card and made her way towards the village. She stopped quite often to look over her shoulder, making sure the little windling was with her. They were so different from Rhonann! She was nice, this one was grumpy, she was a definite she, and this one...Well, Mnyiri thought it was a boy because of the lack of obvious breasts, but maybe they were somewhere in between?
"So, I gotta ask; are you a boy, or a weird girl?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 5:13 pm
Painted Moose We're apparently about to go on a Pokemon adventure, okay. =w=
He couldn't say for sure, seeing as how he didn't have any especially fancy schooling, but he was fairly certain you could only be a bigot if you didn't have a reason to dislike something. Bigotry was an unfair and unreasonable dislike. And Akiyal had reason to detest and distrust the green-skinned, bug-eyed females. But it seemed a moot point and wouldn't win him any favors with the smiley woman that he wanted to take coin from. "Bet if it was easy, everyone would do it," he grunted instead.
He scratched a hand back through his blond tresses as he pushed away from the cart and strode after Mnyiri. It wasn't a terrible name, he supposed. Plus, "It kind of reminds me of that sound rodents make when they eat. Y'know, nyee nyee nyee." Cute-sounding. And Alkidike needed as much help with cute as they could get. "But the name's Akiyal. Most everyone calls me Aki. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue." His gaze flicked down, briefly to her scantily clad backside and the ripple of barely long enough fabric covering it. "And it's easy to remember."
His pace quickened, as Aki stepped to catch up to her, enough so to shoot Mnyiri a miffed half-squint. "You'd think if you'd done nothing but live around girls all your life, you'd be able to tell when someone wasn't. Whatcha tryna say, huh? Do we all look the same to you?"
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2016 3:30 pm
Her gut reaction was to feel offended at having her name compared to a rodent noise, until Mnyiri realized he was actually complimenting her. In his own special way. Maybe that meant he was starting to warm up to her? Mnyiri didn't want to get her hopes up, but at least it was a start. "Short and sweet; just like you. I like it." Granted, compared to her, most alkidike could be considered short, let alone young earthlings. He was positively precious to her in the way most toddlers were to strangers.
She slowed down for him to catch up, and had the grace to look awkward. "Not all of us are curvaceous. Some of our warriors lack visible breasts, and definable hips. I thought I should ask instead of assuming you were the wrong gender. Besides, some earthlings are born one and identify as the other, right? How was I supposed to know what you viewed yourself as." Mnyiri moved further into the little village, fully aware of the looks coming her way. They weren't kind, and most were openly antagonistic. Others stared at her as if she were some kind of exotic plant. "And by the way, no, you don't all look the same. You're all just grouchy."
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 2:41 pm
Painted Moose He's so gross, I'm so sorry. OTL Daddy Xil would be beyond deeply ashamed.
And before his mind could convince his tongue that there wasn't any sense in saying as much to an Alkidike barbarian, he was already blurting, "Guess you're in luck. I like tall women with skinny legs and big tits."
As they moved toward the village center, Akiyal caught displeased looks from the corner of his eyes. It seemed most others weren't particularly fond of her either. She didn't seem to mind, but if all Earthlings were as 'grouchy' as she claimed, he couldn't imagine she'd had many positive experiences. He shoved his hands in his pockets and fixed her with a mischievous half-smirk. "Whatcha say, Mnyiri. Maybe you could put that talkative mouth of yours to good use and sing while you play? It'd certainly make me a little happier, though I can't say how the rest of everyone else would feel about it." Not that Aki could imagine a woman with so much body being an exceptionally talented singer. A lute was surprising enough.
He sucked in a slow breath before exhaling. "And, look, if anybody says anything to you about it, I'll punch 'em right in the mouth. They can be mad at me instead a you, yeah?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 11:13 am
Monstrously. Mnyiri clucked her tongue and turned back to look at the little earthling boy. For a full second she gave him a full view of her displeased face before flicking him on the forehead with her forefinger. Little brat needed to be taught a lesson!
Annnndddd they hadn't walked much further past that when he blurted out his little comment about her physique. That one she was much happier to listen to. Mnyiri popped her hips from side to side, making her very visible breasts vibrate as well, before tossing him a grin. Too bad he was so grouchy; otherwise she might let him hold her hand or whatever it was that made earthling boys happy.
"Sing? I don't know, I've never really tried..." She couldn't miss the way a shifter man spat in their path, even if he thought he was being subtle. "I could try...if you, you know, if they you punch him in the mouth if he does that again. That would be really awesome to see." Mnyiri moved towards the village square, slipping in through the crowd that seemed to magically disperse around her. They treated her as if she were diseased, which...was a little disheartening, if she were to be honest.
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 2:20 pm
Ah, there were surely worse Alkidike than this one out and about. Aki quirked the oversized woman a wayward grin as he rubbed at the spot on his forehead she'd flicked. If he'd expected retaliation, he definitely imagined something angrier than this. He still had his suspicions, and doubted he'd ever especially like any of the tree-birthed bug women, but this one, Mnyiri, didn't seem especially like the murdering type. Or at least not what he pegged most Alkidike as. She was almost friendly, and 'pretending' to be any such thing didn't seem to be the way of these amazons. Maybe she didn't deserve the distaste most Earthlings gave her.
She was still ugly and weird, though and (since he was rewriting his opinions, anyway) was probably only out here because other Alkidike didn't like her. An improper warrior. Yes, that was it.
He rolled his shoulders and let out an inquisitive hum. "I'd take you up on that," Akiyal retorted. "Nothing wrong with punching a guy to make a girl happy. 'Specially if he's bein' a nasty pisshead," he snapped in the man's direction. He fell into step behind her as she pushed onward, despite the adversity. "Hey, at least yer never short on space. Think they'll throw things at you? Feels like that'd be something people might do."
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