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 Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 11:16 am
Mnyiri flexed her bare toes into a mound of sand, and reveled in the warmth that seemed to consume her feet. She hadn't been in the area long, scant more than a few days, really, but already the hybrid loved it. Nadiya hadn't been lying when she spoke of her homeland. It was truly a thing of beauty that no amount of words could express.
The abnormally tall alk cautiously padded closer to the water. She had yet to actually go into the Ocean, despite all of her curiosity. It just...it seemed so endless, and despite all of her strength Mnyiri feared being taken out with the tide.
Her antennae twitched on impulse the moment the incoming tide lapped up against her legs. The movement atop her head caused the bells interlaced in her dreads to chime. When she cocked her head to the side, their tune changed to make her sense of unease. Slowly, ever so slowly she moved further into the water -
And all at once a great force slammed into her back and knocked her into the wet sand. Thankfully she had only waded out to her mid calf, so after a loud shriek Mnyiri only ended up with a mouthful of murky water and not a lungful. Spitting out a mouthful, she turned a sharp eye to the beach, where her radaku sat. "That wasn't funny, Mvua!" Something about his posture led her to believe that he thought it was hilarious.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 11:49 am
Thanks to Z’ran, Alassiel was slowly starting to be able t spend more and more time under water. Hand holding on to Rygha, she let him guide her through the deep waters as they hunted for some of the larger bottom feeding fishes. They weren’t too far off shore, but far enough that at this depth, the water was starting to get cold. Alassiel knew her limits however, and even with Rygha she made sure she respected them. She didn’t want them to end up lost in the middle of the ocean. She also knew how long she could stay under before they needed to surface for a breather.
Releasing Rygha, Alassiel took her spear in both hands and swam around the corals searching for what she needed. Her snaptrotter stayed close in case she needed him, but ventured around the corals himself for his own prey. He enjoyed the deep water game as much as she did. Spotting some movement, Alassiel jerked her trident into a crevice, smiling when it returned with an eight armed food item. Feeling the need for air, the Shifter signaled to Rygha who quickly came over and took her speeding up to the surface when she’d grabbed onto him.
Surfacing, Alassiel took a deep breath while Rygha pushed her up so she was sitting on him while he wadded in the ocean.
“Home,” Alassiel called and slowly the duo made their way back to land. They made it back to shore just as a Shifter Hybrid was pushed by her own Radaku into the water. Alassiel chuckled, got off Rygha when she was in knee high water and then planted one end of her spear into the sand nice to the girl. She was going to let the eight legged thing dry a bit before she took it home and of course it Rygha soak in some sun to recharge a bit.
“Don’t like the water?” She called to the girl.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 12:02 pm
This was not the first time Mnyiri had witnessed an earthling emerging from the sea, nor was it likely to be her last. However, this was her first time watching a shifter make their way onto the Matori coast and that in itself was enough to perk her mood up. Her large, black eyes moved from the woman to her snaptrotter, then back to the woman once more.
Mnyiri sat back on her haunches and whipped bits of sand off her face. "I like it just fine, but I don't think it likes me." She scrunched her face up, then stuck out her tongue to brush it off as well. Gross! Bits of sand were in her teeth now, making each touch grind which ultimately send a shiver down her spine. "I've never been in the ocean before, and I was taking my time, step by step you know, before that jerk over there pushed me."
The huntress pointed to her striped friend accusingly, more miffed than ever before when he blatantly ignored her in favor of picking sand out of his toes.
"So, were you hunting? Under the water? Did you catch that or did the snapper? Can you breath for a really long time under the water orrr....Sorry, I ramble."
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 9:48 am
“The water doesn’t anyone unless you’re a fish.” The Ocean could be a cruel mistress, taking boats and people to her depths never to be seen again. Alassiel wondered if anyone dared brave her during a storm.
“Do you know how to swim?” Alassiel moved closer to the girl. She was sure she probably had swum in rivers to a lake before, but you never knew. “The ocean is almost like a lake except that it can take you out there,” she pointed to the horizon. “And you’ll never been seen again.” The waves were almost like hands sometimes, grabbing you and dragging you out. Alassiel didn’t let Ziel go out to the ocean without Rygha, she simply didn’t think it was safe enough for her daughter. If anything happened, at least she knew that Rygha would drag her back to shore safe and sound.
“Ah yes I was hunting under the water,” Alassiel glanced at her catch. “I caught that haha, Rygha doesn’t catch anything he doesn’t eat almost right away.” She gave a soft chuckle. “I can’t breathe for as long as say a Matorian, but I’ve been practicing. My husband has been teaching me.” The Shifter waved her hand. “Don’t worry I have a rumbly daughter.”
“Are you visiting Matori?”
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 8:44 am
Those words had a lot of wisdom to them. Mnyiri had yet to meet anyone down here that saw the ocean for anything other than a beautiful tragedy. In an instant a relaxing, playful beach day could end in disaster, same as any boating expedition. How strange that they would choose to live so close to it.
"Sort of? I can float." Mnyiri's experiences with water usually ended up with frolicking and play time with friends. Her mothers hadn't seen it as something especially pertinent to teach their daughter, so her skills were minimal at best. "Wow you...really know how to creep someone out." Never to be seen from again...If she wasn't looking directly at the woman she would think those words had come out of an old grizzled sailor instead.
Mnyiri was on the verge of asking more hunting related questions when the topic changed to something far more interesting. "You're married to a matorian? A male matorian? And you have a daughter? So you've coupled together and had a child?!" By the end her voice was loud, excited, and more than a little bouncy. "I'm actually here to do research on the earthlings living here, so this is brilliant! You could help me! If you want to, of course, no pressure, sorry."
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2016 6:33 pm
Floating was no good, not in the ocean at least. Floating got you carried away from shore until there was only water around you and nothing else.
“Oh sorry,” Alassiel chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. Ah well, it looked like Ziel’s odd mannerisms were starting to rub off on her. “I really didn’t mean to creep you out.” She chuckled again, well it was true! She’d seen it happening to foreigners who came and weren’t paying attention to what they were doing while they were swimming. They kept boats nearby in case someone got lost at sea and Alassiel had seen them being used.
“Why yes I did,” she paused. “Do all of those things.” Alassiel made a face, now she was the one that was creeped out! That was certainly an interesting way to say she’d had a child with Z’ran. “Sure I could help you if you needed, what exactly are you studying?” She was hoping not to hear anything like Earthling coupling or something along those lines. She didn’t think this kind of thing would interest the Akidikes, but then Alkidikes didn’t really... couple together either. Alassiel was sure this girl would have gotten along famously with Ziel at this rate.
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:26 am
"This is just - I wish I - Goddess, I wish I had my notes." Mnyiri looked around her, hands spread akimbo as if her many scrolls, books and tomes would just magically appear in the water. Why had she decided to keep them at the inn?! She could have been writing all this down!
Her sisters would think her mad for going on about all of this. Yes, earthlings were copulating and producing life; didn't they do that all the time? It wasn't as if Mnyiri didn't know that tidbit of information but she had never really talked with someone about it. Naturally it didn't occur to her how unnerved her 'specimen' would be by the talk; not that it would have deterred her in the least to know!
Mnyiri stood to her full height then, which was impressive, even by alkidike standards. She clapped her hands together, barely containing the excitement vibrating in her blood. "I have been studying earthling anatomy for years. YEARS." Her voice rose in volume, and Mnyiri had to push it back down. "I have notes on ear structure, skeletal differences between your genders, pigmentation within particular races, etc. You name it, I'm interested in it. I just don't have a lot of information on hybrids, especially not shifter and matori hybrids. What brought the two of you together? The distance alone between your native habitats should make you incompatible, but here you are! Are there any others like your daughter, or is she the only one?" Despite her attempts at pausing, Mnyiri's words came out on one long, breathless exhale.
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Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 2:46 pm
“We can always go and get them?” Alassiel shrugged, “Unless you can remember everything by memory?” Though considering the amount of questions she’d already asked, Alassiel would find it amazing if she could remember the answer to every single question she ended up asking her.
The shifter gave a small surprised expression when the Alkidike clapped her hands together, but also at the subject that the Akidike had been study.
“Wait, earthling anatomy!?” Alassiel looked at her incredulous. She was kidding right? What an odd subject to study! Especially for an Alkidike.
“Well if you want the details now, Z’ran and I met on the road. He was returning to Matori from Oba and I was heading here to get some proper training for my snaptrotter.” She inclined her head towards Ryhga. “So while yes the distance to go see my family is quite large, I’ve been living here since my daughter was born. Once she’s of age we’ll be traveling the road again.” Alassiel was looking forward to that, Z’ran hadn’t gotten around much and now they’d be able to travel together. Ziel might not travel with them as a family but she knew she’d always find her way back to them none the less.
“I have a friend whose daughter is actually an Alkidike and water earthling. Very pretty girl if you haven’t seen her. I can’t recall any others though. I do believe they’re still quite a rare sight.” She might have seen others but had not really taken notice since it seem natural to her now.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 10:14 am
"So long as I write it all down as soon as I can I'll be fine. My memory is really good, but it's random, little here little there, so all I have to do is write down little notes and I can bring up the other information later." Mostly Mnyiri was afraid that if they were to take the time to go gather her books the moment would be lost, and all of the pertinent information would slip through the cracks. She just couldn't have that!
"YES, yesyesyesyes, anatomy! Haven't you ever wondered why we look and act so different? Deities and their influences aside I've always been curious about why. Like, why do certain races have long pointed ears while others are smaller points or even rounded. What kind of purposes does it serve? Were they always like that or did something change?" On the last word Mnyiri wiggled her fingers. "My sisters think I'm crazy; they think my shifter blood makes me a little loopy, but I just know that if we knew more about them and they knew more about us, about what makes us similar on a basic level, that we could cut down on the amount of wars that seem to crop up. Especially now that the extremists are gone. Do you know what a relief that was? I hid in a cave for weeks, waiting for them to scuttle away and- Whoops, off topic." Mnyiri laughed.
If she hadn't been born mostly alkidike Mnyiri knew she would have been a true researcher. Not that she thought her culture was holding her back; she just wished they were a little more supportive of her 'strange' hobby.
"Alkidike and water? I hadn't...I hadn't thought such a combination existed!" It would be like if she and Nadiya had a child, except not really because Mnyiri wasn't pure but it would basically be the same thing. Right? Right.
"What does your daughter look like? Does she take more after you or Z'ran?" She hoped she'd gotten the males name right. In all honesty she hadn't been paying as close attention to him as she had the story in general. "Does her skin shift throughout the day? Her eyes?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 9:17 am
“Whatever suits you really! I’m just talking.” Alassiel gave a small chuckle before looking surprised as the girl went on about differences between the races and goddess and oh! She was having trouble keeping up with her!
“Well you sure have a lot of questions to ask!” The Shifter laughed a little again. “But you haven’t even given me your name yet. I’m Alassiel by the way.” She didn’t want to forget the girl and she was hoping maybe to introduce her to Ziel, the two of them would get along and her Hybrid child would be able to keep up much better with her than she could. “To answer your question though, no I’ve never really wondered about those things I guess,” Alassiel rubbed the back of her head. “What is just is?” She didn’t fret over such things but then again she wasn’t that curious either.
“She’s quite pretty; seek an Alkidike called V’demha, that’s her daughter.” She didn’t know if Masika would want to speak to her but couldn’t hurt to see and try.
“I think, she takes on a perfect combination of us?” it was hard to explain for her. “She has the skin color of a shifter, so her skin does shift but she has the Matori markings and those shift as well. Her eyes are water earthling, a gold color and don’t shift, while her hair begins as water and ends in shifter. Her ears are like mine but the bottom is Matori.” Alassiel gave it some thought; she didn’t think she was missing anything. “Yea I think that just about covers it for what she looks like.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 9:02 am
As she spoke Mnyiri was taking her dreads out of the mini-pigtails she'd had them in and shaking them out. The little bells that were looped into them chimed out a frenzied melody before calming as she herself calmed. No matter what she did it would take hours for them to dry out, but at least this way it would go a little faster.
"Oh, that's right! Sorry about that - I'm Mnyiri. A little wind boy told me once that my name sounded like a noise a little rodent might make. He said it was cute, but I'm not so sure; I think he was a little weird." That last part she said in an attempted whisper, even going so far as to cover half of her mouth with her hand and lean forward.
"Oh no no no no, you have to wonder! If we don't wonder then who will?" That philosophy of letting life just live was one that never ceased to annoy her. There was so much to learn and she was supposed to just walk by? As if! How could she enjoy something without dissecting it first?
Mentally Mnyiri was ticking off all of the girls characteristics. Of course she would like to see them for herself one day, but for now this was valuable knowledge. "So the markings shift?" She murmured to herself. It was mostly a rhetorical question, but goddess, was it nifty to imagine such a thing. "She sounds amazing. Can I meet her someday? I won't poke and prod too much; I promise. I just want to ask some questions, maybe do a sketch or two."
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Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 12:33 pm
“Nice to meet you Mnyiri,” Alassiel’s head bobbed once. This girl was so amusing; Alassiel couldn’t stop having a smile on her lips. “I don’t think it sounds like a rodent.” She didn’t know if the little boy had meant it as an insult or just a random fact, but Alassiel didn’t think it sounded like that at all.
“Well truthfully, the only things I wonder about now a days is how my daughter will fair without me to get her out of trouble.” Well she didn’t really wonder about it, more like worried herself to death about it. However, this trip with V’dem and Masika was making her feel better; at least she knew her daughter would stay within sight for a little longer.
“Yes of course! This week whenever you are free if you like. I’m sure she’d love to meet you.” Oh yes, Alassiel could picture the two now she was looking forward to that meeting! “I know Ziel wants to go out and travel soon, so better catch her now before she slips away.” Alassiel paused. “Her name is Ziel if you ever see her in the street.” She was sure her daughter would be recognizable by anyone in the streets.
“So did you want to go and sit somewhere to ask your questions or maybe just sit here?”
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Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 10:51 am
"If she's anything like you I'm sure she'll be fine." At least, that was the hope. Also Mnyiri pondered on the fact that she hadn't known this shifter long enough to classify her as 'capable', let alone the daughter she had never met. Ah well, best not to dwell on that sort of thing.
"Ziel. I'll try to remember that." She would need to write it down to be sure, but she supposed she should go grab her notes first then..."I've been staying in a little hut just up the beach - I think it may have belonged to someone at some time, but it's full of holes now so I don't think anyone would mind if I camped there. If you wouldn't mind, we could go there and talk? It isn't far, and I have some comfortable cushions. Plus, I could grab my notes; that's the key."
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 8:17 am
Alassiel didn’t say anything and tried to keep her face straight. Ziel was nothing like her, they couldn’t be further apart than they were now. Perhaps Ziel just needed to do some growing up. Yes that was it, when she would be Alassiel’s age surely she would see reason.
“Sure, lead the way.” Alassiel nodded and the followed after the girl as they walked along the beach. She didn’t mind a small pause or break now and again. Plus, what Mnyiri was doing seemed interesting, it was only natural that she help her and allow her to take notes. Otherwise this would all have been for nothing and Ally knew she couldn’t remember everything that Alassiel told her. “So have you visited any other places? Ever gone to Yael?” She was getting curious about the place, perhaps she’d travel there one day. “I’d like to travel there some time in the far future.”
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 7:48 pm
Mnyiri led the way up the shore towards her little 'hut'. It wasn't too terribly far away, which was helpful. It kept her mind on the topic at hand, instead of randomly floating off to something else, as it was prone to do.
Mvua walked at her side, occasionally looking over his shoulder to the shifter. When he did so Mnyiri would usually reach out to ruffle his mane, distracting him from his critical watch guard routine.
"I haven't! So far I've only been to Oba and Matori, but I would like to see Yael some day. When they sent the extremists away I thought it was a barren island, but it's kind of neat that so many live there, you know? Seems like something to check out. Where have you been? How far have - Oh, we're here."
Mnyiri stepped back to hold her arms out, displaying her little shack proudly. It was dilapidated, with a make shift roof. Obviously no one had lived there for many years before the hybrid took over. She motioned towards the inside, which was a mixture of book stacks, scrolls, and random bobbles thrown around.
"Find a seat wherever you can. I'm going to grab my notebook."
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