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 Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 8:42 pm
A light rain pattered along the leaves as Constynce wandered the trails of the forest. The occasional drop would slip through and land on her, but she didn't mind it at all. Nature's caress was always welcome to her.
An important even in her life was rapidly approaching... and it was terrifying. Thankfully, no one seemed to mind or notice when she took her solitary walks. The walks were lasting longer and longer, and the sound of the rain would only encourage her to stay out late again.
Stopping at one of the large yellow trees, she sighed and patted the bark lightly. "You'd think I'd have adjusted to the fact by now... Why does it feel so difficult still?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 3:06 pm
The sound of someone approaching had been her first clue, and since she was hiding up in the tree she moved her feet back so that they weren't dangling. Rajani was put on high alert, however, when the girl put her hand on the tree that the shifter was hiding in. Did she know that Raj was hiding up there? No. She had made sure she was hidden away. Or at least she thought she had.
She leaned over and looked down at the leaf girl as she spoke, though since she wasn't looking up Rajani didn't answer. She did try to shift her position a little, which resulted in some water being shaken down onto Constynce.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 3:30 pm
When the water dripped onto her, her first reaction was to simply giggle and pat the tree's trunk again. "What a sweet tree you are. Thank you." Water was precious, so the tree must have been trying to comfort her if it was willing to spare some! She could always count on the compassion of the trees.
She looked up at the branches as she turned away to smile at the leaves that had dripped the water, and froze in place when she saw more than branches above. A shifter? Here? It took her a moment to register, and then she smiled kindly. The tree had used the shifter to help deliver the water kisses. Who was she to turn down the encounter? "Hello, there."
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 3:44 pm
For a second she froze waiting for the girl to look up and notice her, but it seemed as though she thought the water was just natural. Rajani let out a slow breath and tried to move again, this time more carefully. Only to have a pair of eyes, that were a very enchanting color she might add, lock onto her.
Her grip on the tree tightened to the point that it looked like her knuckles were going to shift colors. "Go away. Please." The shifter did her best impression of a smile, though it looked more like she was trying to gnash something between her teeth. Rajani thought she was doing good. She actually said please after all.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 4:20 pm
Her eyes widened slightly. Go away? Cocking her head slightly, Constynce's smile fell a tiny bit. Well, that was an abrupt ending to a new beginning. "If that's what you wish." She took a step back, but continued looking up at the woman. Slowly, her brow knit a little. If she was going to be a leader, then she would have to practice how to act a little. "You're not here to hurt the village, are you?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 6:16 pm
Yes, that was what she wanted. She wanted this leaf thing to go away. Her last encounter with her kind hadn't been so pleasant. Rajani nodded her head and watched as the girl moved back, though she frowned when it seemed that she had something else in mind. The question that was asked caught her off guard and she scoffed. "Hurt the-? Pft, I want nothing to do with leaf people.. or just people in general." The shifter could deal with only one person, okay, maybe two people, but they weren't anywhere to be found.
"I'm enjoying the peace and quiet of the tree. So.. shoo." Since she was still feeling the hurt of everything she seen, heard, witnessed and any other number of things, she wasn't so sure she could keep up with being even remotely nice to a stranger.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 6:29 pm
Despite the force behind the assurances, Constynce was comforted by the answer. The girl sounded sincere to her. What wasn't a comfort though.. was how adamant the girl really was. She couldn't resist her desire to help. "I like the peace of the trees, too," she said softly. "I'll be quiet." Giving the stranger a sweet smile, she walked over to a nearby tree and sat herself down, leaning back against the trunk and closing her eyes.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 6:39 pm
For a long moment she stared at the leaf girl in disbelief. Then she finally rolled her eyes and grunted. "Whatever. Sit in the mud for all I care. If you get sick it's not my fault." Rajani grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest as she turned her head away. There was no way she was going to look at the girl. Not in a.. Ugh! Get off the ground!" Before she could even become determined to ignore the leafling the annoyance got under her skin.
"Geeze! You leaf people are just..." Her hands were thrown into the air to finish her sentence. With a firm motion she pointed to the low branch of the tree that the girl was sitting under. "Get up there and sit if you must sit near by." There was murmuring about suicidal leaf people chasing after giant birds and now wanting to catch their death by a cold and she glared at the tree as though it were responsible.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 7:02 pm
Constynce smiled contently, listening to the rustle of the wind. The forest wouldn't make her sick; she was sure of it. Yet, the sudden snarl made her eyes pop open with surprise, and she quickly jumped to her feet. The girl was mad now? She looked around hesitantly, debating actually finding a different place to sit.
Looking where the stranger pointed, she nodded quickly and scrambled up the tree with ease. Straddling the branch, she laid out along it and looked up at the girl curiously. "Thank you for your concern, but I've never gotten sick from the damp before. The trees protect me." Lips pursing, she set her chin onto her crossed arms and frowned. "It's too bad that you've met people of Tale who've left such a sore impression on you. You seem nice."
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 7:08 pm
Once the girl was off the ground and in the tree Rajani seemed to settle, though she didn't quite meet those intense green eyes. Instead she turned so that she didn't have to fully face the girl. "Yea well, I've never gotten caught in a Menzuri web but you don't see me dancing on the threads." Tempting fate was never a good idea, regardless of how one was protected.
"It was more than just the people of Tale that left a sore impression, trust me. It's people. All people." Rajani moved her hand to play with the scars on her neck.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 7:46 pm
Thinking on the analogy a moment, she smiled and nodded. "True enough, though walking on those strands seems a greater risk than a walk in the rain, to me."
As the woman spoke of impressions, her own expression softened quite a bit. All people... Was it really so bad out there?
Her mind flicked to the terror the Alkidike had caused, and lowered her gaze. "There are bad people out there," she agreed softly. Sighing, she looked up and tried to smile again. "I wish you had been able to meet my family then. ..Perhaps not my grandparents, but my parents and brothers. You could have seen the good side of Tale."
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 7:58 pm
A frown kept her eyes trained on leafless twig. "I don't know if there is any good left in people." Supposedly the man she called her dad now had some secrets. Rajani wasn't sure she wanted to know what those were. Or if she even had a right to know. The man that was an Uncle to her dad's twin sons had said some things that made her wonder. "Everyone is bad it seems." Even she was bad.
Look at how she'd treated a child back in Jauhar. Rajani leaned her head back against the tree and stared up at the dots of sky she could see through the leaves. "Someone told me they were going to try and find a mother that actually loved her children. How bad is the world for them to feel that way?" How cruel it had to have been to that person. For so many years too.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 8:29 pm
Constynce lowered her gaze again. It was true that many good people were gone... but she couldn't believe that all were bad! "There is bad in everyone, but everyone is not bad," she said firmly.
With the sad declaration of what the woman heard, her eyes began to water. "I know I was lucky to have my mother for the time that I did," she murmured, more trying to comfort herself against the ache. Biting her lip, she looked back to the woman and gave her a tiny smile. "As long as some people keep acting with kindness, the good will never fully leave the world, right? After all, you were concerned for my health. That has to count for something."
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2016 5:45 pm
"Most people are." She murmured. Rajani had only really found one person that was truly kind. She had thought him to be a monk in the beginning. Now she was questioning his goodness due to some stupid leaf man. The shifter girl sighed. "I had a mother once.. she forgot about me and replaced me with another daughter." It was then that she brought her eyes down to meet Constynce's gaze.
"My concern for you was simply so that no one could say I intentionally made you sick." Rajani had only meant to cover her own behind in case things went badly, but if the other girl wanted to see it as kindness then sure. "I'm not all that good either... I've hurt people." Rajani turned her head back so that she was no longer letting the girl see her expression.
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:35 pm
Hearing such a sad tale, Constynce lowered her eyes to the ground. She'd been very lucky, indeed. To be forgotten by a loved one... She quickly asked a silent request to the nature surrounding her, that it might see fit to provide this stranger with some kind of contentment.
Looking back up, she met the other girl's eyes, brow cocking slightly. "But you would not have been forcing me to stay down there," she offered. "I would not blame you if I became ill, and my word is what the others would take if they did believe otherwise." The following comment did surprise her. Slowly, she hugged herself to the branch she was stretched out on. "It sounds like you regret what you did," she said softly. "It.. may be too late to change whatever your past was, but your future can be different."
The future... Her own was still surrounded with uncertainty. Perhaps she should take her own advice though. She couldn't change what was going to happen... so she should make the best of it. Do what she can to make her grandparents proud.
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