Trees Need to Smile Too[Sseevrakressha]

[Faval]

Summer 14, 512


Bow pointed down, arrow resting on the shelf, pulled slowly back, arrow is nocked, holding the bowstring in its grip, cock feather pointing away from the bow. Three fingers grip the end of the arrow, index finger resting on top while two more grip it from the bottom. The bow is then lifted and drawn, the boy’s body being perpendicular to the his target as his left arm reaches out toward the target, the bow in tow as his right hand pulls back the arrow, the bowstring straining as it comes to rest beside the boy’s right eye, his gaze fully focused down the sight. The fingers release and the arrow soars through the air, piercing the wind with a light whistling sound that mesmerized all around it.

At least that’s the dramatic description of the action in Faval’s head. Drawing a bow and nocking an arrow wasn’t nearly that dramatic, but it did help him enjoy his archery practice that much more. The arrow he had unleashed crashed in to a nearby tree with a terrifying “thwop” as the hard metal tip embedded itself deep in to the bark. Faval repeated the process several more times. Reaching behind his back, notching another arrow, and firing it with trained precision at the tree, Faval kept hit the tree a few inches to the left and down from his previous shot. He did not have time to go purchase an actual target to practice with, so he just used trees in sparsely populated areas that children didn’t tend to run around in, he didn’t want to hit one with a stray arrow and most adults knew not to stand in the line of fire. Faval fired another arrow that whistled through the air and struck the tree a few inches to the right again. Once more an arrow punched through the air and struck a few inches more to the right and up. Dropping his bow slightly, Faval admired his handy work. A nice, four arrow smiley face was now carved in to the tree. Faval gently stroke his non-existent chin beard and gazed ponderingly at the tree. Yes, it could use a little more detail. Faval reached once more behind his back, grasped ahold of a fifth arrow, notched the shaft and fired. He had some more work to do.

[Kressha]

14th of Summer, 512 AV Beach Outside of Zeltiva The summer sun felt good on Kressha's bare shoulders as she walked through the loose sand along the water's edge. With her boots held in her hand, she let her toes sift through the sand as she walked. It wasn't hot sand like back home in Ahnatep, but it was sand and it gave her fond memories of her time spent there. It had to be one of the few things she liked about taking ships to get to places. The memory of home was always welcome, too bad she had to cross the water usually before she got to experience this simple pleasure. Kressha wasn't particularly fond of ships, or water for that matter. But with only two ways of getting into the port city... Kressha had choosen the lesser of the two evils. If she had to travel by ship just to avoid cold weather, so be it. Even though it was the beginning of summer, she was sure that the air on Mirahil Pass was still probably a little cooler than her liking. It felt good to be on solid ground again, even if the sand under toes wasn't exactly solid. Hearing a faint "thwop" sound in the distance, Kressha tilted her head as she listened harder. The area had seemed pretty empty when she had first gotten there, but now she was thinking someone was there. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Dusting her feet off, she slipped her leather boots back on and ventured off the beach toward the trees. Catching a few more "thwoping" sounds, she quickly found where they were coming from. Staying just behind and to the side of him, she let herself lean against a tree as she watched him bury two more arrows into the tree, effectively giving it a smile. "Making friendsss out here?" She asks as the fifth arrow left his bow and joined the others in the tree. "It will be lonely when you leave for the night, you ssshould make more friendsss for it too." Her voice was smooth and soft, coming off her tongue easily, though the drawn out s's she couldn't help.

[Faval]

Faval was already readying the sixth arrow when a voice echoed out from behind him. Reacting purely on instinct, Faval did exactly as he was trained to do when he was snuck up upon. The boy’s left leg kicked across his body while his center of gravity dropped, the left foot planting firmly in to the ground and dragging the rest of Faval’s body around. As he moved, he quickly drew the bow and in one fluid motion in conjunction with his pivot, had readied himself a few feet away from his initial point with an arrowhead pointed straight at the source of the voice. He had been trained to defend himself like this if someone got the drop on him, which was something he should not have let happen to begin with, and his body reacted on his own. It was only after he was fully ready to put an arrow in to the woman’s head that his brain finally caught up with his instincts and realized that the woman wasn’t armed and was in no way and immediate threat to him and after that, his brain fully caught up by translating what the woman said. Faval released the tension on the bow string and the arrow meandered off the shelf, swaying like a pendulum as Faval pointed his bow to the ground.

The woman was strikingly beautiful and the red that was rushing to Faval’s face was not only caused by the embarrassment of almost trying to kill someone on the beach for saying that his tree could use some friends. Faval guiltily averted his eyes before returning to the tree that he had been shooting at before. He would have to find a more private place to practice from now on, lest he not be able to stop himself next time someone interrupts his practice.

“You really shouldn’t sneak up on people with weapons…it’s not wise, miss. I might have hurt you…”

Faval wrenched the first arrow out of the tree, checking to make sure that the arrow head was well enough to still be used before pocketing it. Normally he’d have enjoyed her comment and proceeded to make it a friend as she had suggested, but he was a little too guilty about almost putting an arrow through her forehead that he figured it best if he stop for the night. Faval wrenched the second arrow out of the tree and after a close examination returned it to the quiver before turning back to the woman, both because he wanted to speak and because he wanted to look at her again, not that he’d admit that.

“No one’s ever out here…do you need something?”

[Kressha]

She hadn't expected him to react the way he did to her voice. The fast and effective movement of his body into the defensive position had her stunned. She herself could move fast, but this didn't seem like the same kinda speed she had. Realizing a moment too late that she should have probably moved out of the way as soon as she saw him move, instead of standing there openly staring at him, she felt her body clench up as she looked past the head of the arrow to the boy's eyes. Was her traveling days over now? Ended by a blonde haired boy in the middle of the woods just outside a city? As the tension on the bow string loosened and the arrow swung downwards, Kressha let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. The boy honestly hadn't appeared to be that much of a threat from behind as he buried his arrows into the tree, but figures if he could do that to a tree, he could pin her to a tree just as easily with one of the arrows. She felt her shoulders slump a little then as she heard his voice. "I did not mean to ssstartle you..." She said, a hand lifting to press against her chest in an attempt to steady her heart. Taking a deep breath to regain her composure, she straightened herself a little and slowly pushed herself away from the tree that nearly became her grave. She could see the flushed color on the boys' cheeks, it stood out rather well against his paler skin and blonde hair. Taking a tentative closer toward him, she let her head tilt to the side a little as she watched him pull the arrows from the tree. "You don't have to ssstop..." She said, stopping after only a few feet. She didn't really wanna risk somehow startling him again and get a dagger to her throat this time. Seeing him turn then, she was glad she stopped as she felt his eyes on her. "Didn't realize I needed sssomessing to walk on sse beach. I was jussst curiousss asss to what wasss making ssossse sssoundsss."

[Faval]

Faval pried the final arrow as she got closer and he was uncomfortable with that for a multitude of reasons, most of which involved not knowing how to deal with a woman at this point much less than trying to ward off an enemy combatant but the desire to flee was just as strong. Her answer to his question was annoying, but in any other condition he probably would have found it humorous. Faval’s eyes shifted gently over to her after she spoke, noting the apprehension she felt to get closer which Faval was happy, yet strangely disappointed with. He didn’t understand it. Either way though, he now knew that the woman was there and consequently, she had nothing to fear in terms of startling him. The boy was decently competent in keeping his calm when he knew every variable around him, it was just an unknown and rather odd voice hissing at him in the middle of nowhere when he thought he was alone sort of threw him off. Faval had heard of the snake people once before in passing but had never met one before and he honestly wasn’t quite sure how to react to one. He didn’t know anything about them other than that they were called snake people and given that she was hissing at him, he supposed that’s where the name came from.

Faval, taking her words in to consideration, plucked the last arrow from the tree and turned to walk back to where he was standing earlier, now wanting to shoot again just so the sensation would block out whatever else he was thinking of. That was usually how he dealt with stress and things he did not feel like dealing with, he practiced. He practiced often. Faval returned to his earlier spot before turning back around to the woman who had encroached upon his private little shooting gallery, forcing a warm smile to his face.

“I’m really sorry for almost…yeah. You’re fine now though, I won’t point another one at you. You might want to step away from the tree though.”

Faval nocked the arrow that was originally destined for the woman’s face and in one clean motion, swept the bow from its downward position, backward, up and then down level with his sight and quickly released the arrow, the motion looked like he was almost firing it from a catapult as the arrow cleanly struck the tree once more. Retrieving another arrow from his quiver, the boy readied his next shot while speaking.

“I’m Faval. What’s your name?”

[Kressha]

Kressha didn't move any closer to him as he went back to retrieve the last arrow that was still in the tree. As he moved back to his original spot, she stepped to the side a little at his words. She wasn't really all that close to his target tree, but perhaps he was going to make the other tree a friend outta the one she had been leaning against. She watched him as he moved, watched where he looked and how he readied the next arrow he was going to fire. The boy was cute, and him nearly killing her had defiantly gotten her attention. Biting at her lower lip slightly, she let her gaze look him over as the loosened arrow made a "thwop" sound against the tree again. "You didn't releassse it and now you are apologetic for what you did, itsss ok." She said, looking away before he could have seen how she was looking at him. Instead, she focused on the tree again. Wanting to see from his angle she moved more behind him and peeked from around his side a few feet behind him. She could clearly see the holes dug into the bark from his first shorts. "You isss very good wisss ssat." She said as her eyes shifted from the tree to, well, his backside. Biting at her lip again, she stood and looked around. The place really was rather private. If she hadn't decided to come this way down the beach, nobody would have probably bothered him all day. Since he didn't seem to be shooing her away, she remained behind him but found a spot where the sun hit the ground and moved over there. Settling herself down to the ground, she pulled her boots off once again and dug her toes into the dirt, mmmming a little at the warmth against her skin. She was a creature of simple pleasures most times, and what snake didn't like laying in the sun? "Kressssssha." She said a moment later in response to his question.

[Faval]

Faval noticed, oh did he notice. The main reason he was noticing however was that he kept stealing equally intrusive looks at the girl in the clearing, despite his better judgment. He wasn’t sure if the fact that she was looking at him similarly was a good or bad thing though. From what he could tell, she was a snake person. Maybe he was mistaking the looks for her sizing him up as her next meal or something. That’d be an awkward mixed signal. Faval drove another arrow through the tree bark once more, putting a little more force in to it than necessary after her compliment prompted him to show off a little bit. He wasn’t making any especially ornate pattern this time, just placing the arrows as close to one another as he could without damaging them, but he was pretty sure he just cost himself an arrow in his quest to show off as the metal tip embedded too far in to the tree and the wooden shaft snapped from the stress. Faval let out an irritated sight as he fetched the two arrows that were still intact out of the tree and returned one to the quiver and held one in his hand before turning back around and facing the girl, a question on his mind.

“I don’t…mean to be offensive but…I don’t know much about other races and is it true that you…eat people?”

It was one of the few rumors that he heard about snake people, that they turned in to giant snake monsters and ate children out of their windows in the middle of the night. Sufficed to say, Faval was suitably terrified and while he asked. The arrow was still being gripped rather defensively in his hand as his eyes did not leave the girl whose name he was afraid to pronounce. He wasn’t sure if he should stretch the “S” of Kressssha like she did like it was her actual name or if she would think he was mocking her if he did. He’d approach that potential disaster after he dealt with the present one he was dangerously assailing.

[Kressha]

Kressha could tell that he was still nervous but when he preformed his little move to show off and it back fired, she did her best not to let her amusement show. The arrow breaking obviously hadn't been the intent. Shifting her legs around a bit so she was a bit more comfortable on the ground and so the sun hit most of her body, she just watched him as he saved the other two arrows. Lifting her head at his question, she just looked at him. Other than her speech, she looked like any other human, well, a tiny weak human. Feeling a grin start to spread across her cheeks then, she shifted again and let herself stretch out on the ground before rolling over onto her back, her arms lifted above her head. She could practically smell the fear coming off him now. Why hadn't she realize that his silence now was cause he realized what she was. What was the best way to answer him? She rather liked the kid and didn't wanna scare him of just yet. Licking her lips slowly as she kept her eyes on him, she brought one of her fingers down and prodded it against her lower lip until she pulled her jaw open to show him her rather human looking teeth. "My mouss not big enough to eat people..." She said, her finger dragging along her lower lip. She wasn't about to admit that in her Dhani form she did infact happen to eat a few people, but perhaps she'd get lucky and he wouldn't ask about it when she was in her other forms. Rolling over, she crawled up onto her knees and peered up at him, her arms wrapping around herself and gripping at the cotton sleeves of her shirt. She really didn't look all that dangerous. Biting at her lower lip again, she couldn't stop the movement of her eyes from looking him over again before returning to his face. His fear of her got her excited, well, anyone who feared her when she was in her human form excited her. Dropping her hand down to the ground, she crawls a bit closer to him, her hips swaying from side to side with each move. "Am I really ssat ssscary?" She asked, moving slowly on her hands and knees until she was right infront of him, peering up at him from the ground.

[Faval]

Faval seemed to lose himself for a moment as she played with her lower lip and showed him that she wasn’t actually capable of eating him with so small a mouth. That did make sense, he supposed, Faval was pretty sure she couldn’t fit his head in there, but then he remembered things about snakes that he was told before. They have unhingable jaws to stretch around food and stuff like that but even then, there was no way there was actually enough flesh to stretch to actually consume a person. The most she could fit was a human baby, proportionally speaking. Of course, Faval had absolutely no mathematical backing to any of the dimensions he was running through his head, so they were absolutely irrelevant, but they were comforting for the time being. Faval’s train of thought was soon broken as the girl crawled toward him in a manner that excited him for some reason. Not many women were all that interested in a homeless child so he had very little interaction with the opposite sex and while he was in the military, he had no time to dedicate to pursuits like that so he was very confused as to what was happening at the moment and his reddened face was pretty indicative of this.

“Um…no…not really…I just…heard rumors and…things and I…wanted to know if they were…true and…stuff…you’re really close…”

Never before did he have such a difficult time forcing words out of his mouth. Faval barely got them out as he responded to the woman’s question and increasingly closer presence. Faval reactively leaned back and away from the woman’s encroaching face but he was having trouble getting the rest of his body to come with him, probably too embarrassed to move. Being stuck there did give him time to remember his earlier thought that they said the snake people turned in to giant monster snakes…and a giant monster snake could eat a person regardless of how old they were. Faval gulped nervously as the thought came to his mind but he was afraid to mention it, he didn’t really want to give her any ideas.

[Kressha]

Kressha knew that her answer really hadn't actually answered his question, she could almost see the gears in his head trying to process stuff as she got closer and closer to him. She had to admit, not aloud of course, that she liked how his cheeks darkened in color as she got closer to him. She'd never played with someone that seemed so innocent. Perhaps he wasn't innocent, maybe it was just the fear taking over and making it seem that way. She'd had men flat out run from her, some had insisted she was purposely making her dialect sound the way it was to try and act tough, and then she'd had some men think that because of her size she wasn't a threat and tried putting her in her place. But this blushing was new, and Kressha liked new things just as much as she liked traveling new places. His little babbling sentance didn't really help his cause at all as she slowly pushed herself back up to her knees, her gaze still locked on him. "Do you want me to move away?" She asked, her voice sounding almost human as there weren't any s's in that question. Pulling her gaze away from his face, she looked down at the arrow he held clutched between his fingers. Peeking up at him for a moment, she bit at her lower lip again as she slowly reached out for that hand. Her movements were slow, very unlike the type of Dhani she was. Her fingertips brushed up softly against his knuckles before she pushed against his hand a bit, guiding it and the arrow up toward her face only to lean in and rub her cheek against the head of the deadly bolt as she glanced up at him again. Kressha was almost a little sad they were in such a private setting. From where she had positioned herself, if someone were to have come up on them, Kressha's head would be at a very convenient level to give the wrong idea. How much more would the boy blush then? Would he jump back away from her? She let her eyes close a little at the thought and groaned a little before smirking. She hadn't ment to let that little sound escape.