Open [Fire Island H&E] The First Days Of A New LIfe

[Haeli]

Timestamp: Early Fall, 513 AV

The old Syliran Knight Outpost was hers. The wagon holding her stuff had dropped off the dozens upon dozens of crates, barrels, and boxes that she'd packed up and transported from All Things Wild to this new place with its new name. Inside, things were stacked that should have been out on display. Crates were labeled neatly. She didn't know what she needed nor how her precious plants had faired all packed up in the loose crates.

There was a lot to do and Haeli had no idea of where to get started. She knew all the live plants had to be uncrated, watered heavily, and then either repotted or planted on the acreage that lay around the outpost. The best she could do was sort things out, making the living a priority over what which had already given up its life.

After having toured the place and agreed on the price, she knew the main showroom would be the old main hall, just up the stairway from the beach. Her living quarters would be in the mid levels, while all the plants would be grown on to rocky courtyard up top. The actual garden itself would need work, hours and hours if not days. The soil was poor quality on the rocks but Haeli felt she could amend it by adding in river mud which was about as nutritious as plants could ask for.

But first.. before any of the true unpacking went, she'd need to start cleaning. And so with a small bucket, mop, and cloth, she heated water on a hearth that needed swept out and got to work. Her first project was making a broom. Going outside, she picked a small tree and with her hatchet she deftly cut it down. Then she started breaking off branches of the right size and using some twine she had wrapped around boxes, she began to weave the branches and bind them to the small sappling she cut down to make herself a broom. It wasn't the prettiest of brooms. In fact it was rougher than most, but by the time she got done securing everything, it was functional and the water in the hearth was hot enough to use for cleaning along with the vinegar soap she had.

[Dulcie]

Thunk, thunk, thunk! Dulcie's head snapped to the sound, her large ears twitching. Somewhere close, a tree was being felled. Crack! Unable to resist, the bushbaby moved toward the noises. She reached the end of the branch she was on and prepared to leap to the next tree. Squatting back on her haunches, Dulcie propelled herself through the air, tucking her limbs close to her body, then shooting them out at the last minute to grab the next tree, a yard away. She deftly skipped over the next few branches and after another long jump, she was almost in sight of whatever was making the sounds. Hopping down a few branches, Dulcie then tiptoed to the end of a long, sturdy tree limb and pushed aside some leaves. Just below her, a young woman with long brown hair was busily breaking off twigs and bundling them together. Dulcie tilted her head to the side as she watched the woman, attempting to understand what she was doing. When the woman stood up with her makeshift tool of thin branches bound to a sapling, Dulcie caught sight of her bright turquoise eyes. She chittered in delight, then quickly let the leaves fall back into place and conceal her, lest the woman had heard the chatter. When nothing happened after a moment, Dulcie carefully moved aside the leaves again with her tiny forearm and peered down. The woman was walking away. A mosquito buzzed near Dulcie's head and she snatched it in a flash, stuffing the insect into her mouth and chewing and swallowing it quickly. Then, she followed the mysterious woman, whose face had looked so wild that Dulcie wondered if she were another Kelvic. Once out of the trees, Dulcie had to swing down and creep low in the grass. She prayed there were no snakes in the weeds, watching her and waiting to strike out and snap a squirrel-sized primate up into their jaws, just as she had grabbed the mosquito. Suddenly, the woman went into a small building. Dulcie sniffed as she neared the outpost and poked her head inside. She saw a bunch of crates and boxes and there were some odd scents coming from some of the crates. Curious, the bushbaby hopped up on top of one and tried to stick her little nose between the wooden slats, completely forgetting she was now visible to whatever eyes might look in her direction.

[Haeli]

The chittering gave the creature away. Haeli glanced up, her eyes looking green against the blue sky, then glanced down again, continuing back to into the old outpost. She wasn't afraid of the creatures here yet, but she was cautious. Keeping her eyes open, she carefully checked the water to make sure it wasn't heating too rapidly, swung the heated pail out a bit from the fire to keep it from boiling, and then set to work with the broom.

Her bare feet liked the cool stone beneath them as she padded back and forth, using the newly fashioned broom to sweep twigs and leaves and dust and dirt from around the hearth. She liked the openness of the old outpost and its lofty ceilings. But those ceilings were a problem. She dragged a chair over to the wall, stood on it, and reached up with the broom, dusting away cobwebs and the carefully laid traps of spiders.

Her vantage point gave her a clear view of the creature that snuck into the outpost behind her and was busy sniffing at her crates. She'd never seen its like before and was curious beyond belief at what it was. It had hands like a human, but a body that looked more like a opossum. Haeli tilted her head, her blue-green eyes wide, and called out softly in a strangely accented voice. "Hello there. You're welcome to take a closer look. That crate has live plants in it, all snuggled up and waiting to get opened up for more light and water now that its trip has been finished." She said, looking thoughtful as she swept more cobwebs off the walls this time. She hopped down, dragged the chair over, and remounted it, starting all over again.

"I'm Haeli." The witch said suddenly, unsure if the creature knew common or not or even cared if she spoke. If Haeli could touch her, she could speak to her with Nura. That would have to come later though, as busy as the witch was now, stopping to coax a creature to let her stroke its fur was not on the agenda.

But she was lonely, and this place was so unfamiliar to her... so it was nice to have someone, anything, to speak with, even if it was just a tiny squirrel sized creature with the largest most appealing eyes ever. "I'm not from here, so I do not know anyone. It would be nice to know you. Do you like treats? I have dried berries and grains around here somewhere if I can remember what box I packed them in. Do you eat those sorts of things or do you like meat better? I haven't seen your teeth so I can't tell. Do you know that's how you tell? Sharp teeth and creatures generally eat meat, but blunt teeth, they like to grind grains and berries. Humans do both, but we don't have sharp teeth." She added, glancing away from the creature for a moment to hop down and move the chair again. Slowly, but surely, the ceiling was getting swept clean and so too were the walls. Once that was done, she'd give the whole floor a once over and broom everything out the door.

Then she could start unpacking.

[Dulcie]

The strange woman spoke and Dulcie froze in her position on the top of one of the crates. The lady was not looking at her, concentrating on her task. Dulcie swung her head from side to side, checking to see if there were any other beings around. She could not spot a soul so she hopped over to another crate and began sniffing it. The woman spoke again. Haeli? That was a nice name. And though she could not be entirely sure, Dulcie had an inkling that she was speaking to her and not to anyone else. As she watched the woman clean the ceiling, Dulcie contemplated changing into her human form. Though she'd left her clothes in a hollowed out section of her tree, she didn't really care all that much. Besides, this Haeli might have something she could use as a cover-up. She only hoped Haeli wasn't dangerous, but as she chattered on about different kinds of teeth, she really didn't seem to be. The bushbaby had been wanting to find someone to answer her questions about Kenash, since this was the first time she had ever left Riverfall. Dulcie was decided then. As Haeli's back was turned, Dulcie shifted her form. There was a swift swirling of lights and a short woman with large eyes and strawberry blonde hair appeared, perched precariously on top of a wooden crate. Dulcie shook her head once to get used to this form and cleared her throat. "Hello, Haeli!" she said, her voice high and squeaky. "I hope you don't mind my intruding." She stood up from the crate and pushed her left hip out, balancing her weight on that leg. "I'm Dulcie! Would you like some help with this?" she asked, gesturing around the room with her small hand.

[Haeli]

Haeli had hoped beyond hope that the sound of her voice hadn't scared off the creature. She missed talking to someone, anyone, and here there was no one to actually talk to that she wasn't either ashamed to speak in front of or was cautious of. The little creature though had such appealing eyes, big huge windows that seemed to shime forth a happy soul. Everything about its expression invited Haeli to open up, and so she did, chattering in a soft spoken voice about things that made no sense like teeth shape. But still it felt good, it felt warm, and she was almost happy for the first time since starting the job of unpacking.

And while she kept an eye on the creature, hoping not to chase it away, she also kept an eye on what she was doing... so she missed the transformation, and the fact that the creature was a kelvic and not a wild thing at all. The voice out of nowhere startled Haeli, and she swung her head around, looking defensive, and relaxed when all she saw was a naked young woman standing there. It took a moment for her brain to register the change and understand what she was seeing. Haeli was familiar with kelvics for once upon a time her best friend had been a rather mischievous raccoon named Brig. She missed her friend fiercely, something having happened to him one day and him never having returned.

Delight filled her once she fully registered that the kelvic was a kelvic and not some other woman having wandered in. Haeli opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again, grinning broadly. "You're a kelvic!" She said excitedly, wanting to hug the woman, but restraining herself because they were after all strangers. Haeli studied the girls face, noting that her eyes were just as large and expressive as they had been when she was in her animal form. And she was pretty too, really pretty, the kind of pretty Haeli would never be but often admired.

"I.. yes.. please... I could use some help. I... don't know a single person here and I'm trying to unpack my shop. I'm an herbalist, and many of these crates have plants and seeds in them. Some are spices... and.... well ... " Haeli ground to a halt in her rambling and laughed. "I'm sorry, I'm just surprised. I had a kelvic friend once, a raccoon and I miss him terribly. I never thought I'd see another one, and certainly not one like you. You are a happy surprise. I meant what I said... are you hungry? I have stuff to eat. I might even have a dress that will fit you, but most of my clothes are pretty worn. I need to get some new ones soon." She added, though the nudity in the other girl did not bother her in the least. If she had a choice, she'd never bother putting on the dress she wore herself. Haeli grew up in a place where no one owned cloth and to acquire it was rare. You kept dresses for special occasions, much like shoes, and never wore either unless necessity required it.

[Dulcie]

Giggling at the other woman's excitement upon seeing a kelvic, Dulcie pressed her hands together under her chin. "Wonderful!" she cried, grabbing the broom from Haeli's hands and hopping around the shop with frenzied motions. "I'll do what I can," she promised as she swept out cobwebs and flecks of dirt. "I'm new here as well and I don't know anyone here either. For that matter, I don't really know anyone at all. So, I'm glad that you spotted me." Unable to move her eyes, Dulcie snapped her head around as she looked at Haeli, then in front of her, then behind to see what she had missed. She was a bundle of nervous energy and this woman was so calm, so serene. Yet there was something wild in her beautiful teal blue eyes... "A raccoon?" she asked suddenly, in response to Haeli's chatter. "What's that?" Not giving the human a moment to answer, she whirled around and smiled broadly. "I'm not hungry now, thanks. I had a few insects today already and some berries. But, if you have an extra piece of fabric to throw about myself, I wouldn't turn it down. It's just that without any fur, the breeze sends a chill up my spine, I'm sure you understand." Dulcie squeaked and jabbered some more as she frittered about the place. "You have your own business then? How absolutely wondrous! You must be so talented. I wouldn't know where to begin when it comes to running a shop." Dulcie set the broom against one wall. All of the sweeping wasn't really done yet, but she tended to have a short attention span. She ran her fingers through her hair, in an attempt to smooth it down. "Plants and seeds and spices," she mulled. Squealing a little in delight, Dulcie stooped over one of the crates and tried to pry it open with her fingers. "I can help you set up shop, sure. I'm happy that there's some other life somewhere on this little island. Speaking of which, do you know where I might be able to find some supplies to build myself a treehouse? I don't mind staying in my animal form as much as I do, but well, there are predators of bushbabies in these parts and I'd probably be much safer as a human between four walls and a roof..." Try as she might, the top of the crate would not come off. "Petch!" she shrieked. "How do you open these things?"