Closed The day before [Daekos]

[Delilah]

Season of Summer, Day 49, 513 AV The day before the big one. Tomorrow, Delilah would officially leave Riverfall behind, and leave with the rest of the members to explore Syka. She desperately hoped she would find something worthwhile in going. Being useful was something else too, as she had no real idea of what she could to in order to help with the settling of Syka. She was also still contemplating what her sacrifice should be. She had never sacrificed before, and was worried that she wouldn't end up giving something substantial enough for the god of the sea. The picture was a possibility, though she really didn't want to give that away. It meant so much to her, and was the last thing she had from Alvadas. Stocking up for Syka was important, and she wasn't sure how much clay would be brought, if any at all. Delilah stopped earlier that day to pick some up, and had already stored it in her room with her small bag of things that she was bringing on the trip. She wondered how much the other Pycon was bringing. Once afternoon came around, Delilah decided she would spend her last day enjoying the natural beauty of Riverfall on her last day here. First she stopped at Rookery Park. After enjoying few chimes on the observation deck with a nice breeze looking for birds and watching the tide roll across the beach, she realized she had never actually been down to the beach itself. Since it was her last chance, Delilah figured now was as good a time as ever to visit the beach. As she walked through town, she thought she spotted a few other from the previous night. None of them seemed to notice her though, all busy with last minute preparations for the big journey. Traveling through town towards the beach was a bit confusing, never being down there, she had no real idea of the direction and just wandered. After wandering around for a while, she made her way onto the beach. She walked along the shore watching some boats that sailed in and out of the port, and a few even further out towards the Suvan Sea. She walked a little closer to the water after a while, going in ankle deep after a while, and continued to enjoy the scenery. Though she began to tire from all the walking, and walked further up the beach to lie down and enjoy the sun. When she looked around, she saw another person on the beach. A bit unsure of who it was, they seemed to be walking her direction, but she was quite sure they didn't notice her yet. Delilah recognized him as one of the members of the party last night, though she didn't quite recall his name.

[Daekos Volundur]

One more day before I start on my journey for Syka. I wonder, what awaits me there?

Daekos was slowly walking in ankle-deep waters, enjoying the cooling, soothing effect of the fluid that felt only more potent after a short jog around parts of Riverfall. Hundwin was by his side, braving deeper waters and dog-paddling with abandon, evidently enjoying the experience. The physical exertion was quite literally a walk in the park - albeit more fast-paced.

The Isur was himself playing with water - but more of the magical kind. Daekos slowly drew out Res from his left hand, transforming it into water, the element he was most comfortable with, and letting it slowly drip through his hands. He was careful to control the amount of Res he was using though; he didn't want to hear the Sweet Whispers again.

Practice is essential to becoming good at what you do, Daekos.

The easiest part was transforming the Res into water, but he had to concentrate on limiting the flow. There was always that subtle desire to do much more, even if he could not hear the Sweet Whispers, and it had to be fought against. He would be throwing away Djed - that which made him 'Daekos', that which defined him and allowed the concept of Daekos to exist - and he would not be at full strength when he most needed it.

Breathing in and out slowly and rhythmically, Daekos let out a little Res with every exhaled breath, transforming it into that life-giving fluid even as it floated up into the air, seeming to be a gas-like substance lighter than air (but was actually due to the efforts of Daekos).

After a minute of concentrating on this exercise, Daekos decided to increase the intensity of his practice. He let his left hand drop to his side, still dripping Res and water, and raised his right hand to roughly chest-level, eyebrows furrowed, and mentally grasped at the Djed, pushing it outwards as Res. The stream of Res was slightly too large than what he wanted, and so he lessened the flow until it was moving out at a pace similar to that in his left hand.

Earth now. Sand. Let's try doing this...

Taking a few breaths, he exhaled slowly and thought.

Grains of sand appeared slowly, seeping through his fingers. The stream of Res in his left hand stopped momentarily when the sand started appearing, but it soon continued.

This is... harder than I thought it would be. Concentrating on one process, while making the other instinctive.

He moved both hands together, letting the Res cross each other in twin strands before transmuting them into two different elements. The Res moved smoothly around his hands, twining around them and his wrists before dropping into the waters as their respective elements.

Bah. Strange taste in my mouth. Not blood. Sweet whispers breaking in.

His hands were starting to tremble slightly. Before he could overgive further, he slammed his hands together, channeling roughly a handful of Res in gel form in each hand as swiftly as possible.

Water. Earth. Combined, it will give Mud. I say it will; therefore it has happened. Reality is shaped by thought, and my thought is master of my Res.

A mudball formed in between his hands, and he threw it in front of him before it could get too large for him to hold it properly.

Watching the projectile fly, he watched with some amusement (A flying ball of mud!) before he noticed the small figure it was heading towards.

Oh, bugger.

"Ho there! Fore! Watch out! There's a ball of mud heading in your direction!"

Looks like one of the strange clay people I saw yesterday.

[Delilah]

As Delilah watched the man walk on the beach, he looked like he was doing something a bit strange, staring at his hands sometimes. She decided to ignore it and continue enjoying her last day at this beach. She lay down and started pushing her feet a bit deep into the wet sand, almost covering them entirely as waves brought more sand up onto them, only barely touching her calves on the highest of waves. She enjoyed the water, and was beginning to wonder why she didn't spend more time here. Then she heard someone yell. It didn't sound too frantic to worry horridly about. Just as if someone was trying to get her attention. She slowly propped herself up on her elbows, and then lifted herself to a sitting position. Just when she looked over to where the last place she saw her fellow Syka adventure member, a mudball seeming to come from nowhere knocked her back and completely covered her in something like what was already on her feet, but much more earthy. She shrieked at the initial impact and stood up very huffy. What kind of person would just throw mud at an unsuspecting person relaxing on the beach? Wiping as much mud off her face as she could, Delilah stood to make her way to the water and scrub the rest of the mud off, when she fell face-first into the shallow tide in front of her. She had forgotten about her buried feet, and when she tried to walk, her body went forward, but her feet remained planted, resulting in aforementioned face plant into the water. Two things she had not expected so far, the mudball itself, and the temperature of the water. Perhaps it was just her over-reacting and needing another thing to be angry about, but it was surprisingly cold. She lifted her feet out from the sand, walked out a little further into the water, and wiped the rest of the mud off herself. When she walked back up onto the beach, she looked around for the source of the mudball. The only possible way it could have come her way was the man walking on the beach. Delilah angrily stormed up the beach heading right for the mud ball slinging beach walker. She wished now that she had payed attention so at least she could yell at him using his name. But she had not, so simply yelling would have to suffice. As Delilah got closer and closer to the mud slinger, she found her anger slowly slipping away. He did yell, perhaps it was her fault for not paying attention. She did also bury her own feet, and it wasn't his fault that the water was cold. The more she walked the more she realized she really wasn't that angry, it was just mud after all. Once she finally got close to the man, it became more apparent that he was Isur by the look of his black arm and the silver veins. She gave sort of a sheepish wave from a bit of a distance. She really didn't know what to say anymore though. At somewhat of a loss for words, she ended up saying "Hi.... umm I'm Delilah, I don't really know if you remember me from last night. I'm sort of embarrassed, but I have forgotten your name already heh..... I suppose that earned me a hit with a mudball huh?"

[Daekos Volundur]

Oh dear...

Daekos dashed towards the Pycon, hoping that she was alright, and he hadn't taken off a limb or a head. It was only a mudball, and she looked like she was made of clay, so that wouldn't be so dangerous... right?

He slowed down once he noticed that she was intact, with the exception of a few mud splatters. Moving closer to her, he noted her small size and heard her greeting - perhaps a hint of anger remained, but it was mostly hidden by other emotions. He couldn't read into the nuances of tone and voice, so he decided to go for an apology first.

"Yes, I think I remember you, though you were being rather quiet then. My name is Daekos. My... apologies for hitting you with that mudball. I was practicing, and I'm afraid I didn't see where it would land."

He fiddled with a piece of driftwood he had picked up from the beach, slowly shaping it into a sphere.

Hundwin, having had enough of splashing around in the sea, moved over to Delilah and started sniffing at her.

[Delilah]

"It's okay, as long as you didn't mean to I suppose. And I was fairly quiet last night I suppose. I really didn't know anyone there, and I wasn't quite sure how to approach the others." She started to watch him shape the drift wood with wide eyes. She'd never seen anyone do anything like that before. "What exactly are you doing with the wood? What were you practicing before you hit me with the mud?" She fired off the two questions in rapid succession, and then covered her mouth a bit embarrassed. "That is if you don't mind my asking." The dog frightened Delilah, she had never really been around one before, and their barking always startled her, even when she was expecting it. She nervously edged away from it as the dog sniffed her. "Is it going to bite me?" She asked a little shakily with her words.

[Daekos Volundur]

"You might want to try being a little more open - you'd be surprised how much people will tell you." The questions she asked were anticipated by Daekos; it was natural that she would be curious about things that she apparently had not encountered before. Should I tell her? I do not know her attitude with regards to magic, and she might... react negatively if I tell her the truth. Her knowing the properties of my arm should be fine, but... Well, she's going on the Syka expedition with us. She'll see my Reimancy sooner or later, even if I try to hide. I'll be spending many a year there, if everything goes alright. "Have a look then. See my left hand? Nothing there." Daekos held it up for Delilah to see for a few seconds, then closed it, making a fist. He concentrated on it, forcing more Res out before transmuting it into sand, which fell to the beach. He blinked rapidly as his eyes suddenly felt dry, and he made an effort to still his trembling hands. Alright, I'll have to stop for today, or at least rest for a while. "There. As for this ball-like thing..." Daekos held up the wooden object, now a vaguely spherical piece of wood; the surfaces were more or less smooth, with a few minor protusions here and there. However, it looked more like the bastard child of an ellipsoid and a sphere than any other three-dimensional geometric shape. "Well, I'm not very good at moulding wood with just my arm. This arm of mine," Daekos rolled up his left sleeve to allow Delilah to see the ebony colour and the many silver veins that ran up the presented limb, "allows me to mould wood and stone without much effort. The results aren't that good though, as you can see." Daekos smiled slightly as he bent down and gently pushed the inquisitive canine away from Delilah, giving it a rub behind its ears. As the dog enjoyed the treatment, pushing himself closer to Daekos, Daekos continued speaking. "No, he doesn't bite people much. He's just curious about you. Speaking of which, what are you?"

[Delilah]

Delilah was a fan of magic, though she didn't often get to see it, nor did she ever learn it herself. But when Daekos made the sand fall from his hand after showing her nothing was in it, she was excited and watched with wide eyes, looking at him as if to say 'how did you do that?' His ability to mold things didn't seem quite as interesting to her, especially if he claimed not to be very good at it. Thought it was still another neat trick. The neatest part about the second trick was how his arm looked. Delilah had never before seen the arm of an Isur, and the blue veins intrigued her. She stared at it for a moment, before returning her gaze to his hands as he finished the trick, afraid she was being rude for staring. Though still seeming a little scared, Delilah opened up to the dog much more once she watched how it enjoyed the affection given to it, and the affection returned by the dog. Perhaps they weren't all that bad, just a little loud. When he asked 'what are you,' Delilah was unsure if he had meant profession or race. So she concluded that she would answer both. "I'm a Pycon. We aren't much in size, but we try our best to match others in skill! We spend most of our lives trying to become perfect. Though not everyone reaches it before they die. I myself am a boxer! I learned how to box from a friend in Alvadas. But he's umm.... gone." She said seeming almost to wince when she heard herself say it. "I try my best, though I really don't know what to do with it, and I'm not really all that great at it yet. I'm really worried about Syka though. I don't know how to do much beside box, and I don't know how that will help out on the trip, especially if I'm no good at it." Delilah sheepishly kicked around some sand before looking up and asking another question "Well now that I've told you, what exactly are you?"

[Daekos Volundur]

"Pycon..." Ah, that strange race. Nothing I read really mentioned them in detail; I had always imagined them to be sentient little creatures in strange shapes - not like this one. Striving for perfection? A goal many have, but few ever achieve. A boxer? Can't say I have much experience with that style of fighting. But a Pycon using close combat skills... Well, how would Delilah fare against someone else - a non-Pycon? "Boxing? Interesting. I suppose you could try to defend yourself - perhaps some others - in Syka, although I'm unsure of how effective it would be. Perhaps you could give a demonstration?" Delilah appeared to be slightly affected by the death of someone close to her. Daekos was unsure of how he was supposed to respond to that; very rarely had anyone close to him died, and he didn't exactly have much experience with sadness and death. He elected to ignore that part. "I am an Isur, descendant of Lord Izurdin. I am of the Volundur family - not that you would know who they were. We are all craftsmen and craftswomen in one way or another, though I specialize in blacksmithing. I will be setting up a smithy in Syka once we reach there, although I suspect that there will be much preparation required before I am able to set up a suitable building for it over there."

[Delilah]

OOCSorry for the delay! I got dragged on a surprise summer vacation! I'm working on something right now. Again sorry for the wait!

[Delilah]

Delilah looked particularly excited when she Daekos asked about her boxing. Though she had never actually fought anyone before, she supposed it could be fun. It would be practice, and that's what she needed, especially since they were heading to Syka. The place sounded more and more dangerous every time she heard something about the place. She was excited though. Nonetheless, Syka is where she needed to go, and nothing would stop her. Though it might help to learn some new skills. Perhaps she would ask Daekos to teach her metal working one day. "Well, I don't know anything about blacksmithing, but if you need help with anything in Syka, don't hesitate to ask me. Though I'm not sure that I would be the most helpful. As for boxing, I've never fought anyone before, but I wouldn't mind giving you a demonstration I suppose. As long as it's just for fun!"