Welcome to Gaia! ::

The cloak was thin and light while also sturdy and securely woven. It was perfect for what Nok wanted, except for one thing. It was about as bright a white as he could ever have imagined a cloth could be. He needed it for hunting, but this was sure to glow in the dark! He had been warned by the sales clerk when he'd ordered it that it only came in lighter colors, but this was ridiculous!

So, it was time to experiment. While he could have asked his mother for assistance to make the process easier, Nok felt the need to accomplish this on his own. Sentiment could, on the rare occasion, outweigh efficiency. He sat at the shore of one of the smaller inland lakes that led to a cave system. There, he collected the dark soil from under the water and the deep moss that grew on the cave walls and combined it into a bucket with ashes from a fire back home. He sat on his knees, trying to scrub the dark tones into the unfortunately pale fabric, tongue flicking out with intent focus to tease along the scar that split his lips almost vertically, starting near one side of his nose and ending at the opposite end of his chin.

The first breath of a sound made Nok's entire body tense up, one muddy hand flashing to the handle of his dagger and legs bracing to spring away from the noise. It was already an instinctive reaction, but past events made him extra wary of surprises. When he realized that it was actual words being spoken to him rather than some manic war cry, his body relaxed while his hand remained on the dagger grip. "Friend? I know you?" Well, that certainly didn't seem right! He raised his other hand to move his hood and hair back out of his vision. After a moment, he shook his head. "No I don't."

After another long moment of studying the stranger, Nok let his hand drop away from the dagger. The guy didn't seem like much of a threat, but looks could be deceiving. He would just have to keep a close eye on the guy while he was there. "Different settlement," he observed. "Would know you for sure if you were in mine." His eyes squinted at the stare he was getting, but there was little other sign that he had noticed. Perhaps he was already used to it?

His brow rose with curiosity when Caolan seemed intent on remaining. These more 'cultured' Yaeli always had such interesting reactions to him, but "nice" was rarely an initial reaction he got. "..Thanks?" He cocked his head slightly, one hand reaching pack into the mud bucket to protectively touch the soaking cloak. "You said Caolan? My name's Nok. You here for something?"

The sudden shift in Caolan from awkward greeting to confident excitement surprised Nok enough to make him lean back from the onslaught of energy. Where had that come from?! His eyes dropped to look at the bucket, and then back up to his new acquaintance. This much excitement about moss? "I.. didn't know," he said while a slow smile curled his lips. That wasn't just excitement; that was passion. Passion was useful. "Never tried it dry before. ..I like the green." He pulled the cloak out of the bucket and shook it out for an inspection with no concern about where the mud might splatter. "Cloth was too bright. Need it for hunting, see?"

The next excited wave of energy was only a little less shocking that the first had been. No one had ever flashed a smile that big at him before, and then to just plop himself right here next to him? A strange guy, indeed!

He nodded in agreement with the observation, rather pleased to hear the praise toward his work. Still, his fingers kept a firm hold on the cloak. As tempting as it was to just relax around this unique figure, Caolan could change at any moment and attempt to take Nok's work. "Moss, water mud, and ashes." His free hand turned to point where he had gotten the first two ingredients nearby. "Ashes works good."

Nok nodded lightly. "The wood burns dark, transfer char to cloth. Right?" Caolan sure did ask a lot of questions. He shrugged his shoulders while folding the cloak back into the mud bucket. "Learned just now. I hunt, but ma dyes sometimes. Watched her a little." If his attempt at dyeing the cloth by throwing things that stained into one bucket made him seem smart... well, all the better.

"Do you dye things? You got all excited earlier," he observed plainly, both hands in the bucket once again to scrub the stains into the cloak again.

As usual, one hand remained in the bucket to grip the cloak. His other hand was used to brace against the ground, prepared to react to whatever it was Caolan was reaching for. Was this when the mean underside was revealed?! Oh.. a book? Once he was certain that the book wasn't going to harm him, he dared to lean forward the slightest bit to peek at the sketches.

"Paint.. is dye for paper?" he asked. The coal sketches were familiar, but the painted papers were new. "It's like what the shop has on the wall," he realized, thinking about the pictures that he had only ever seen from a distance. These images were unrecognizable and fantastical in nature. "What're you use the painting for?"

The mood shift was quite noticeable, as though the awkward boy that had first approached him was back again. He turned his head slightly with confusion and interest while waiting for the hesitant reply. He had to admit.. he didn't quite understand what Caolan was saying. What use was pretty? Ah, but the maps he could understand.

He wrinkled his nose slightly. "He chose to go over there?" He paused and looked Caolan up and down. He would never have guessed! "That mean you wanna go over there?"