GET YOUR TOWELS READY [Closed]

[mikney]

Who: Mikney, Cordy, Cherry, Sonic, other NPCs
What: Team explorer'ing
Where: South road, outside Redinn
When: Thursday afternoon

Comments

[cherry_reyer]

Silently, Cherry followed after Tamber, taking vague interest in her surroundings. There was still enough time before sunset, she convinced herself half-heartedly. Distantly, she wondered if she should mention her little curse to Tamber, but decided it could wait for awhile. She was getting a little sick of explaining it all and, to be perfectly frank, she had not told the full, entire story to anyone. Yet. But somehow, she knew that would come in time

[cherry_reyer]

It was too close to sunset to argue the point. "I hope you'll believe I'm sincere in my sentiments toward your friend," she murmured, folding her arms and looking up at the sky. She shook her head slightly. The elves were reminding her far too much of Hylians. Not the occasional, philanthropic and tolerant Hylians she had known, like Maurice and Cordelia and Princess Amanda Harkin. No, these elves were a perfect counterpart to the old families, the Hagans and the Falcos and the Cortilinis. The ones who made her feel small. 'No,' she told herself harshly. 'Don't think that way.' If she started to feel small, she would lose control long before sunset.

[rowantree_npcs]

"I believe you," said Tamber. "I'm not sure you believe me."

He moved to his feet. "I was in my first large battle, days ago," he told her. "You see no army here, do you? Because it was broken, and we fled."

Because of poor tactics, but that was never a thought he would voice aloud. Not even a thought he would have had, before. Questioning the Family was not productive.

A soft trill interrupted the conversation; Tamber turned. There was a sylph, a tiny one, perched in the entrance to the room.

"Ankhyrad," said Tamber, in relief, holding out his hand. She flitted onto it, then onto his shoulder, half-hiding behind his neck as she stared, shyly, at Cherry.

[cherry_reyer]

Cherry's funk slipped beneath the surface when she saw the creature. Cordelia had described a sylph to her before, but this was her first real encounter with one. Her first impression was that it was...well...cute. Cherry didn't use the word a lot, it got over used, but it definitely applied here. "Ankhyrad?" she repeated uncertainly. She took one hesitant step forward, but halted almost immediately, standing back, still uncertain of her position in Tamber's respect.

[rowantree_npcs]

Tamber tilted his head, listening as Ankhyrad whispered in his ear - Cherry could, perhaps, catch a few words, such as southeast, or miles, or Nazarene.

His eyes flicked back to Cherry. "This is Ankhyrad," he introduced, allowing the sylph to hop to his hand, where she gave Cherry a bow.

[cherry_reyer]

"Hello," she said carefully. She didn't want to repeat the same mistakes she had made when first meeting Sonic. "They call me Cherry."

She shrugged. "Should I leave you two alone?"

[rowantree_npcs]

Ankhyrad had never seen a human this close before; she hopped into the air, hovering closer, curious.

"I see him all the time," said Ankhyrad. "I'd like to meet someone else." Not that she didn't love Tamber; he was hers, and she his, ever since she was hatched. Partners. Every Scout had a sylph.

[cherry_reyer]

Slowly, Cherry held out one hand, her palm up with her veins exposed. She had learned that to hold one's hand the other way meant holding back, protecting oneself. She figured it was best to be open, and, if necessary, vulnerable. It created trust. Or death, she supposed grimly. "I'm a little new around here," she quipped. "I've never seen anyone like you before."

[rowantree_npcs]

The sylph hopped onto the offered hand, folding her wings. Meant that she couldn't immediately leap into flight, which was, in itself, a gesture of trust.

Tamber looked a bit concerned - not so much like he thought Cherry would do something to hurt her, but that he cared so much for the sylph that he was always concerned for her safety.

"I'm a little unique," says Ankhyrad. "Or that's what Tamber tells me."

[cherry_reyer]

Cherry smiled. She was fighting every instinct in her body not to address the creature as a child. She had no idea how old it might actually be. The same still went for Tamber. "What are sylphs normally like?" she asked, thinking about Quahl's rather violent reaction to one so close to the ruined village.

[rowantree_npcs]

"Unmanageable, ridiculous, excitable, and childish," said Tamber, back at his post by the elf woman's side.

"Hey!" cried the sylph. "I'm not ridiculous."

And Tamber was part turned away, but there was something about the play of light on his face that hinted at a fond smile.

"It was my first battle," she told Cherry. "And I'm only four months old."

[cherry_reyer]

"Four months? Clearly, you're an advanced species. At four months, I wasn't exactly battle ready." She scowled. For all she knew, at four months, she had still been with her birth parents. Unlikely, but possible.

She paused. Now what? She was in such unfamiliar territory, she was lost. There were a million questions she wanted to ask, but her curiosity had already gotten her in hot water with several natives. Was there any subtle way to ask about the battle? Probably not. Best to start off on a better foot, if possible. "I'm from a place called Hyrule. It's a lot like here...I guess. We don't have elves or sylphs. But we have Hylians and faeries. Similar, I guess." Perhaps there were only a finite number of combinations in the universe.

[rowantree_npcs]

"The average lifespan of a sylph is twenty years," explained Tamber. "They mature very quickly. Quite unlike Elves."

Carefully, he poured some water into the mouth of the Elf woman.

Tamber frowned, briefly. "Hyrule?" he asked. "Very interesting. It seems to me as though there is much to learn from other worlds. Methods and technology being only the beginning of the possibilities inherent in it."

[cherry_reyer]

"Well," Cherry said politely, "Hyrule isn't so much a world as a kingdom. We have a tendency to refer to my world, itself, as the Crystal Realm." She made a face of disgust. "Not sure who came up with that one." She wrinkled her nose. "I suppose you could say that Hyrule is one of the two 'great' kingdoms. The other is Beigor. Hyrule is sort of the magical capital of the realm and Beigor is the technological center. It's become the sort of new, unspoken conflict between Hylians and Humans, I guess. Technology versus magic. Humans like me, who use magic, are particularly rare

[rowantree_npcs]

And, as far as teacher mode went, Tamber shifted very well into student mode, listening avidly and intently. Ankhyrad hopped back over to his shoulder, listening likewise.

He nodded, considering this. "Odd, isn't it," he said, "that there are so many different species, and names for them, and yet humans remain consistent." He paused. "Though perhaps that is merely the language equalization spell Mikney no doubt placed on the tree before your arrival."

"Draconian - is that some sort of variety of dragon? Or is that merely a coincidence in structure of word?"

[cherry_reyer]

"I find nothing consistent about Humans at all," Cherry murmured. "But that's more philosophy than biology. As far as Draconians go...well, they're a unique species. Shapeshifters. They go back and forth between three different forms, one nearly identical to a Human, one, as you guessed, as a dragon, and a third form in between." She smiled slightly, recalling the many lectures she had been given on the species, not by professors or scientists, but by kings and princesses. "They used to be quite the social pariahs. People are a little more accepting of them now. Certainly moreso than their demonoid cousins, the Andorians."