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 Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:05 pm
The trip from Zena back to Chibale seemed longer than ever now that Zakia wasn't with her. It just wasn't as fun without her little girl to poke, tease, and swap stories with. In the early days of her travels the loneliness hadn't bothered her, but now? Now she was seriously debating turning tail and going back to Zena.
Then she'd seen it.
Mnyiri had only planned on stopping in Yera for the night, but a glorious festival had kept her attention. When she'd been informed that it wasn't any normal gathering, but rather a wedding she couldn't believe it. The entire village was invited and even strangers were invited to join! Never one to turn away a party Mnyiri eagerly jumped in, especially once she found out they were willing to feed her for free.
It wasn't even that strange to her anymore to mingle with earthlings. She was as tall as any alk could be and towered over so many of them, but Mnyiri maneuvered around as naturally as any of their ilk.
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:14 pm
[1/10]
In sharp contrast, Elsheba stuck out at the event like a sore thumb. It had been pure happenstance that she was stuck here. In the aftermath of the battle with the extremists, trade with the shifter settlements and Chibale had picked up, and loath though she was to leave Jauhar, it sometimes fell to Elsheba to help defend these merchants. And just their luck, they'd happened upon Yera in the midst of a celebration that her companions were all too eager to enjoy.
Elsheba loomed large upon the gathering, but hid along the fringe of the settlement, avoiding a young and particularly amorous young beau who seemed enthralled with her size. Oh, how far they'd come in the past few decades... once feared among the earthlings, and now... now this. Elsheba had sided with her homeland, and not the extremists, but that never meant she was particularly fond of the earthlings, or one to promote interbreeding, so she tried to scare the man off with a scowl and sharp cuff to the shoulder, but he'd only seemed encouraged, and now she, a powerful Alkidike huntress, was hiding. Scoffing at herself, she took a long draw of a drink she'd been given - some ridiculously sweet flavor of wine that was 'imported' from somewhere she hadn't bothered to learn the name of.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:22 pm
Mnyiri alternated bouncing from one foot the other, rocking up onto the tips of her toes while she munched on some roasted vegetables. She'd been offered anything she wanted, but options were limited for an alkidike that wouldn't eat meat. So, she was content with taking bites of roasted veggie kabobs throughout the evening. It was easier to hold and meant she could still dance to the music while holding onto it.
Of course that also meant she was moving toward the center of the gathering and had a better vantage point of the surrounding area. At first she thought she was seeing things, but after getting a better look she was surprised to see another alkidike! When an earthling woman swayed a little closer to her, clearly too enraptured with her own partner to notice, Mnyiri casually 'bumped' her hip against the woman's shoulder and slipped around her.
She didn't look comfortable, that was for sure, and Mnyiri surmised it was the earthlings fault. So, when she got close enough to him, Mnyiri dropped her kabob with a dramatic 'gasp' and bent over to pick it up, exposing herself in more ways than one. "Oh no, now it's all dirty." With a pout, she turned to him and smiled prettily. "Do you mind getting me a new one?"
He could leave, they could both get some space and it was a win win, right?
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:30 pm
[2/10] Was she truly seeing this? Elsheba paused in her drink, turning her head to watch the approach of a hybrid looking Alkidike. For a moment, the pureblood felt a flash of contempt for the earthling man as his eyes, quite obviously, ogled her as she bent over, nearly fumbling the kabob as it was passed to him. Somehow, when she was actually speaking to him, he seemed to go starry eyed and agreed eagerly, eyes dropping over her one last time before he took his leave of them, hurrying off to get her more food.
For a moment, Elsheba wondered if this was one of those hybrids who found their exotic bloodline exciting, and enjoyed the attention (good or bad) of those around them - and that once the object of her attention was gone, she might float away to flirt with another earthling. But instead she remained, and with a surge of realization (and a bit of guilt), El realized the truth of it. She sighed, then offered a quirk of a smile, toasting her drink towards her fellow sister. "He'll be floating after you all night now like a pesky fly. ... Thank you." She took a sip of her drink, then stood a bit straighter, turning to properly face the other woman, hip propped against the fencing of the wooden walkway she'd been leaning against.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:38 pm
For a moment the earthling man paused to look back and she waved, waggling her fingers after him with a sweet smile that remained even after he disappeared into the crowd. In reality she was upset over having lost her meal, but it wasn't like there weren't other food stalls floating around.
When she turned back to the alkidike herself, Mnyiri adjusted her top and made sure everyone was in their proper place before gathering more attention than she needed that evening. At her comment Mnyiri let out little laugh and smirked. "There are worse fates. So long as he keeps his hands to himself and doesn't say anything rude I don't mind." Ever since she'd been young she had a hard time staying still. So, now that the situation had 'passed', Mnyiri was swaying from side to side, pausing at intervals to bounce her hip at the changes in tempo.
"So, friend of the bride or the groom? Or are you family?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:47 pm
[3/10] Elsheba fought not to comment, but her lips twitched in amusement as the other Alkidike readjusted herself. That she'd gone so far to drive the man away was... incomprehensible to her, and when she waved it off as 'not the worst fate', Elsheba stared at her as if she'd lost her mind, then shrugged her shoulders. Clearly, this hybrid wasn't horrified by earthlings' attentions. Had she grown up around them? She dressed like an alkidike, but held herself like an earthling... strange.
At the question, Elsheba tilted back her head and laughed, loudly, pushing back some of her heavy dreads with an amused gleam to her eyes. "Oh, yes - sister to the bride of course--" She joked, only to laugh again at the ridiculousness of the statement.
"My group has been stranded here due to the celebrations. We are headed to Vers to pick up a shipment of Kinfa to bring back to Jauhar with us. ... You? You seem comfortable enough here." She made a vague gesture towards her own bust, arching an eyebrow with a subdued smirk.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:20 pm
"You could have been." Mnyiri shrugged her shoulder with an arched, very earthling, brow. "Family is so much more than blood." Mnyiri herself had a handful of half-bloom sisters and a gaggle of earthlings she considered family. They may have been smaller than her, with softer ears and pointed crystals but they may as well be kin.
So, even though she kept up her smile, there was an edge to it now. She really didn't appreciate the laugh, but Mnyiri wasn't surprised by it. How very...alkidike of her.
"I'm on my way to Oba from Zena. I was visiting my daughter for a few months, but I thought it would be good to go south before the weather turns." It was one thing to be in the North while it was chilly, but during an intense blizzard? Mnyiri had no desire to experience that ever again.
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:26 pm
[4/10] Ahhh. Right. This was a hybrid, and clearly Elsheba's amusement hadn't been contagious. The look on the woman's face almost dared her to argue with her pointed statement, but the pureblood had no desire to start such a debate, not here. She supposed she should feel lucky that the woman hadn't stuck up her nose and floated away to enrapture more earthlings.
And... ridiculous though it was, Elsheba felt excited to spend a conversation with another sister. Living in Chibale, even leaving now and again as she did, you quickly grew tired of the blur of familiar faces.
"Oba and Zena? My my, but the sprouts drop far from the tree." A silly metaphor, but very apt in this situation. "I can't imagine freezing your antennae off in such a place willingly! Wise of you to evacuate when you did. And I suppose your daughter is reluctant to come back to your sunny desert with you?"
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:45 pm
Mnyiri had almost expected a verbal spat or at the very least a heated debate. When the sister simply moved on with the conversation Mnyiri's smile returned. "It might sound silly, but I've never been a fan of restrictive clothing. Certain fabrics make my skin crawl." A shudder ran up her spine, causing the woman to shiver. "So, the less time I spend up North the better! My daughter, however...Aisha bless her, she loves it there. She's found a huntress to train under and has convinced herself it will make her a better shot with a bow."
Granted, she probably would become a better archer in the end, but Mnyiri still hated it! Her baby should be with her at all times.
"I'm not as worried about leaving her, though. We have friends in the area that will be checking on her."
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:56 pm
[5/10] This was just normal conversation, of course... but talking with this Alkidike about her child made something like envy coil in her gut. She'd attempted the whole 'parent' thing once, when she was much younger - mentions of 'Zena' and wayward children brought to mind flashes of amber eyes and a somber, pouty face. But it had been ages since then, and over the years she'd come to recognize that back then she'd been too flighty, impatient, and self centered to have been a good parent back then.
She wondered if, in another world, she would have been able to respond back with the adventures her 'son' had been on, what he had been up to. But she stubbornly shoved the thought away, and instead fixed the other woman with an attentive gaze, nodding at the appropriate intervals, like a real socialized person. "But so far away! Surely there had to be as good a teacher somewhere been Oba and Zena!" She scoffed, downing the last of her sweet drink - and pouting when she realized it was all gone.
Should she also flash her bosom at the earthling man, in hopes he would bring her back something to drink? She thought over the idea, but quickly shoved it away. It had been a long time since she'd fraternized with anything with even a drop of earthling blood, and the last experience had rather turned her off to the experience.
"As you no doubt noticed, I've not strayed far from Aisha's branches, myself." Elsheba admitted, flatly, because that sharpness to the other woman's gaze had made it clear it hadn't gone unnoticed. "Why Oba? It feels like half of the jungle left to that place after the war - is it really so fantastic?"
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 6:55 pm
Mnyiri was just catching on that the drink the woman had been holding was alcoholic. Something about the scent of it had tipped her off, and once she'd figured it out Mnyiri was waving an earthling woman over. The plump little server bopped over to her with a tray of wine, happily handing one over to Mnyiri. If she was surprised when the hybrid snuck another three from her tray before she departed she did her best not to show it.
"Would you like another glass? I took a few more because I thought you might. If you don't that's fine; I don't plan on walking back to the inn tonight." Mnyiri laughed, perhaps a little theatrically, and started in on her first glass.
"You really should, though! There's so many wonderful places to see." The tempo of the music changed as the sky darkened around them. Despite the hour of day the musicians chose a wilder set of instruments and the party was clearly just finding it's groove. "I'm just passing through Oba, really; I'm hoping to catch a ship and go to Belrea. It's nicer than you think, though. Okay, so, imagine-" With one glass stem balnced between seperate fingers, Mnyiri started to gesticulate as she talked, "You're traveling for days in the hot desert. Sweat is in places you didn't even know you HAD and you see this oasis. You think 'oh that's not real, I've heard of these' but it IS real and it's gorgeous. Big, thick treats for shade, the coolest water you've ever felt and it's so fresh." Mnyiri gave a big, thick sigh. She really did miss it.
"I don't think I've been back to Chibale in...three years? Four?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:12 pm
[6/10] Hm. Well - Elsheba found it harder and harder to mind this woman's company, when she was proving to be so resourceful. She hummed her agreement and reached for a glass, snorting elegantly at the woman's honest expectations for the night ahead of her. Neither woman had bothered to introduce themselves, but Elsheba sort of preferred it - the families of Alkidike could be so interwoven, and she would rather enjoy her company than recognize the name and have it cast a pall on her evening.
"Thank you. I always worry if I snatch things, it'll start a whole new war." Of course - it only proved that she had little interaction with earthlings, because such fraught relationships between their people hadn't been seen in Jauhar and Tale in nearly a generation now.
It was curious, hearing Oba described so prettily. Of course - if Elsheba had her way, she'd never suffer through the heat of the desert, even if the promise at the other side was as gilded and refreshing as was promised. ... And yet, she couldn't deny a flicker of curiosity. "Ah. Belrea. The first I heard of this place, I thought they were pirates, carting people off to drown them in the ocean with promises of flying like birds into some godlike paradise. Imagine my surprise when people came back - I still think the lot of you are playing a prank on the rest of us, and are instead having a good right party on an island close to Yael or some such." She giggled to herself and sipped approvingly at her wine, peering around at the earthlings around her.
"Are these places really so fantastic that you have no desire to return to your mother? Don't you miss her?"
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:33 pm
Mnyiri rolled snorted and raised her brows as if to roll her eyes. Although the act itself wasn't as visual as it may have been with an earthling, she had all the same eyebrow ques. "I think you're more at risk of offending them if you didn't. It's a party, remember? Let loose. Have fun."
When her first glass was empty Mnyiri reached over to sit it down on the closest flat surface. It left her with a much more manageable two which gave her fingers a needed break.
"At first I was sure they were some kind of living spirit, honestly. I couldn't believe that their ships could fly! With all of that metal you'd think they would just fall right out of the sky." Granted, the first time Belreans had breached their shores it had been because of a crash, but Mnyiri tended not to focus on that too much. "I've already been told that the living quarters of airships are much too small and cramped for me, so I'll be taking a regular ship. It's sad, really; I was looking forward to it." After all, she was the tallest sort of alkidike and the earthling she'd talked to had to duck just to get into his bunk room. Where did that really leave her?
"Of course I miss her! It's just...I've never really felt right staying with her? It took me a long time to find my place in the world and I know that doing what I'm doing is helping. I can send my research back to help with earthling relations and in turn it's helping to build peaceful relations with earthlings. We're all neighbors anyway, so why should we be fighting?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2021 8:32 am
[7/10] Ugh. Right. Party. Elsheba pursed her lips doubtfully, but had to concede that the hybrid was probably right. It wasn't as if Alkidike had different views when playing host to visitors, after all. She watched her companion discard one of her glasses, and tentatively did the same with her own empty one from before, relieved to have it out of her grasp for the moment.
For all her judgemental tendencies when it came to the other races, Elsheba was still childishly delighted as the other woman spoke more of Belrea. She hadn't had the opportunity to see the ships herself, but had to grunt sympathetically in disappointment when the subject of their small cabins was brought up.
Now, though, the woman talked more of helping - and she was referring to earthlings collectively, which broke Elsheba's view that the hybrid was, somehow, more familiar with THEM than with Aishans. She tilted her head, curious and intrigued, "I agree on that point." She said. Elsheba might feel strange around earthlings, but she saw little reason to fight them as long as the earthlings didn't encroach too close to Chibale. Of course... these days, the population growth wasn't as big a problem as it had been in the past - so many of their people had chosen to travel, and losing half of their numbers decades ago to the extremists had definitely made that worse.
"So. You study earthlings, is that it? Or are you some manner of mapmaker?"
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2021 2:19 pm
"Yep, that's it! Well, half of it." The wine itself wasn't very strong, but Mnyiri needed little help to keep her mouth moving. It wasn't often that others showed interest in her studies so when she found someone, and an alkidike at that, who would actively ask questions she couldn't help feeling excited.
"Growing up I always wondered what our differences were. If you look really closely-" As if she was giving Elsheba to do anything but. Mnyiri leaned in, raising a finger to skim her brow line, "-you can see that my eyebrows are different than yours. Why is that? Why are shifter eyebrows any different than an alkidikes? Does it serve a purpose or is it just visual?"
When she leaned back Mnyiri used her free hand to mime an 'explosion' near her head and made a popping noise with her mouth. "I got a fair amount of research done in Yael, but then I met the Elaria and....well, this was before the truce, you know? So it was...a little....okay, it was really bad, but I got out."
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