PM to join [Harbour] Don't Get Caught In The Rain

[Zasantha]

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16th of Summer, 514AV

The morning sky bode ill for those passing under it. Darkness seemed to roll in from the sea, bring with it the unmistakeable smell of rain.
I hate rain one of the many people visiting the docks thought to herself. It seemed she wasn't alone in those thoughts, as people seemed hurried to get under whatever scant cover was around. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the smell, she'd never liked rain, she hated being wet.

Her eyes narrowed in the direction of the too fast approaching cloud front. It seemed abnormal, Zeltiva usually had very mild Summers, with sunshine and beautiful tropically warm weather.
She could not remember a rain storm that seemed to make the hairs on her nape stand up as this one did. For some strange reason, however, she could not bring herself to find shelter, like she surely should.

Why she'd come to the harbour was a mystery all of it's own. It was not uncommon to see her as far from the water as one could possibly be, usually stalking around the entrance to the pass, waiting for something, though what it was she didn't know.
However, instead of her feet leading her the path to the pass in the wee hours of the morning, they'd turned her in the direction of the docks, and she'd watched as the sun had rose, and then been covered by the impending deluge.
What on Mizahar am I waiting for? Her thoughts tumbled over each other, trying to come to terms with exactly what had brought her to the one place she avoided.
A delicate hand lifted to her head, and freshly scrubbed nails scratched at her scalp. It was a mystery she wasn't going to solve standing out here.


She heard it before she felt it. The sound so similar to thousands of running feet that it was uncanny. She'd turned to look down the streets for any suspicious behaviour, preferring to keep her coin purse well attached to her person, and had spun in the direction of the sound, only to be smacked full force by what felt like a wall of water.
An almost inhuman shreik left her lips as her mind registered the horrible wetness that was now covering her. Her mind repeating a mantra of NO over and over again as the clouds released their loads upon her, and any others caught out in the rain.

She felt stuck in place, her legs refusing to move towards any shelter, anything that would protect her from the disgusting rain. Ever few moments shadows within shadows flickered in the corner of her vision, the theives were out and about.
Her hand casually slipped to where her coin purse hung, and her fingers gripped around it, reassuring herself of it's safety.

Glancing down she noticed the water beginning to lap at her boots, it seemed the rain was increasing the tide, and she didn't know how to swim in her human form, her feline having mediocre ability at it. She had to make a decision, and quickly. That decision was to hasten with all speed towards Veraline Kendrick's building, the dockmaster, and hope that she could find some shelter under the eaves of the building.
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[Gilva Snowsong]

The boy had awoken in his bed in a hurry. Even though it had been 10 days since his humiliation the young Vantha still had not fully recovered from it. In order to prevent himself from reliving his failure, he remained in his cottage ever since. The only thing he had done for the past few days were showers, eating, and sleeping. They were a few select times when his mind wandered into space. But since he had trapped himself in his home, what else was there for him to do? Since he had effectively cut himself from all outside contact, Gilva decided that perhaps enough time had passed for everyone to forget about what happened. Though in the back of his mind he knew that he would have to relive the moment at least one more time, after all, she wasn't there.

During most of his ventures, the boy neglected to bring the spear. And it was during those times when he seemed to run into the most troubling situations. It was better to be safe than sorry, so he decided to take his father's twin-headed spear along with him today. As he was leaving his cottage, Gilva put on the hood of his black cloak, a habit of his that he never fully managed to break. However, it was also likely that this was a subconscious attempt to keep his identity hidden in order to preserve the little pride that he had left.

Stepping out onto West street with his spear in hand, the boy immediately found himself swept into the crowd. Petch! This is exactly the way it happened last time! But to his surprise, no one seemed to have paid any attention to him. In fact, his existence seemed to be oblivious to them in that everyone was moving frantically in a hurry though he didn't know why. Gilva stopped at the cobblestone stage in between East and West street, and his mind became invaded by the glory once lost. But it was soon replaced with broken ambition. If only I were better...

With a deep breath, the boy decided that it was time to move on. He began walking towards the docks, where he was supposed to meet Black. Though the boy had forgotten one important detail. She stated that she would only be there at night. It was practically pointless for him to go there at this time of day, after all no one would be there.

From a distance, the boy saw a figure clad in all black, which was eerily similar to how he had seen Black. Surely it had to be her! His stomach dropped, for he still didn't know her name since he neglected to ask, and of all the pieces of information he could tell her about, she would most likely be interested in his superior. Suddenly, small water droplets began to fall from the sky, pelting the boy's hood. Finally he understood why everyone was in such a hurry. They knew that it was going to rain so , but because he was in his cottage for 10 days the news had never been distributed to him.

It was a fitting setting which set the mood for him to wallow in despair. Gilva ran towards the black figure, whom in turn was running to seek shelter from the rain towards a building near the docks. It stopped outside of one that he was unfamiliar with, but he pursued it nonetheless.

"Hey wait for me! We have a few things we need to discuss today! I'm sorry for the late notice! I know it's been a while but I..."

As the boy neared closer and closer to the figure, he realized his mistake. The woman he was expecting to meet was noticeably shorter than him. But this person towered even over Gilva! Since the person's back was to the boy, his quick observation only included that of the height for he didn't even notice the person's hair. Since he had never seen a woman with such an intimidating height, the boy quickly assumed that this person was a man.

"Oh, I'm sorry for bothering you sir..."

"Petch! Why does stuff like this always happen to me?!"

[Ronin Invictus]

The mischievous kelvic slinked along through the busy streets of the market, up to no good as usual. Presently it was just business as usual for him, smirking slightly as one of his latest victims let yelled out in an outraged voice about a missing coin-purse. I have to put some distance between myself and this spot now, he thought inevitably, and as he turned into a side street and from there into a darkened alley he became more relaxed, dumping all the coins in the purse he lifted from the man's pocket into his own before throwing the empty coin purse away. Now even if the guards were to search him they would find no proof that he had done anything.

Just like Black had promised, 'business', as he liked to call it was quite easy around here. In the markets it was just a manner of picking one's pocket as they inspected wares at the various carts. The carts that sold the various random trinkets and keep-sakes were the easiest as customers there mostly were tourists or travelers just passing through the town, anyone who has lived in Zeltiva for even a week knew thieves were a very real threat.

He had made out pretty lucky today, the man he had stolen from had a pretty good sum of coins on his person, about twenty mizas. With this Ronin decided he would take the rest of the day off, It seems like its going to rain soon anyway, he thought.

Ronin didn't particularly like rain, or the notion of getting wet. Rain in itself was also intriguing to him however, from where he came from in the southern regions of Eyktol, water falling from the sky was unthinkable. He decided he would go over to the harbour perhaps and watch the storm roll in from the ocean, preferably sheltered from the rain, he didn't have anything better to do as any possible marks he could steal from would seek shelter from the rain.

Once he got to the harbor he took shelter under the eaves of just a random building with a good view of the harbor and the water beyond. He sighed then watching the choppy ocean, stirred up by the storm beyond the harbor as the first few drops fell. The rain then quickly picked up pace turning into a downpour within seconds.

Ronin was glad he had found shelter preemptively, he would have never expected the rain to arrive so quickly. He could not say the same as a rather tall woman who hurried over to the same building he was hiding from the rain under, it seems she had been caught in it from her drenched black clothes. He only gave her a half interested glance before looking out into the harbor again, it seemed she hadn't noticed him, sitting against the building a couple of feet away.

When the other boy came over, seeming hopelessly confused as he mistook the woman for someone else, he grew slightly curious as to who he mistook her as. She did wear all black as someone else he knew from this city, but unlike the man he could tell right away it was not the same person. Now that they were all stuck under the eaves of the same building seeking shelter from the rain he figured he would ask the boy who he was looking for, eventually. For now he just looked out into the harbor as if he didn't hear anything.

[Zasantha]

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16th of Summer, 514AV

The rain hammered against the protected eaves of the building; the pressure in the air shifted in such a way that she could feel the change pressing against her ears, a downfall of being more attuned than most to changes.
The protection of this building was not complete, and every few moments water would fall too hard against the ground, splashing up onto her pants, or fall on a peculiar angle from the guttering above her, and soak into her already saturated cloak.
Damn this rain and damn this town she thought to herself as she watched wave after wave or rain roll into the shore, much like the swells of the seas were also doing.

The time she stood there felt infinite and some part of her wanted to laugh at the people who were too slow to find shelter, much as she had been. The laughter in her eyes died when some called out to her. She did not know anyone in this city, so why...
She turned her gaze towards the newcomer, a man slightly smaller than her with black eyes that would seem to have the problem of constantly falling into his eyes. In the beginning he seemed to think he knew her, but he corrected his mistake with a worse one, he called me a man! she growled to herself at this, she was neither ugly nor manly beneath her black garb, how dare he! She glared down into his greyish eyes, a more or less common sight around these parts, and growled deep in her throat; almost animalistic.
"How dare you mistake me for a man!" It took the strength of her will not to screech at him, and instead allowed her voice to raise a few octanes. She flipped the hood of her cloak back, revealing her crystalline green eyes and hair reminiscent of midnight. "Do I look like a damn man?" She asked, lowering her voice again.

It was at that moment someone else seemed to dissolve nearby. Her senses were on high alert and she heard him long before she'd seen him. He reeked of thief. She allowed herself a glance out of the corner of her eyes, noting his tan coloured shirt and knee high boots. She wondered if those boots were designed for silence or speed. She gave him a quick appraisal, noting his blonde hair. Another thing stood out to her, but not in a physical sense, a part of him screamed Kelvic. Understanding what that scream was surprised her, she'd not thought to see another Kelvic here, although she knew she was fooling herself, the scent of Kelvic had been on her nose for days, but just not his.
"And you, do you think I'm a man?" She asked menacingly, her eyes narrowing at him. She could almost feel herself wanting to change, but kept a hold on that. Changing often gave her a strange feeling deep in her stomach; she often wondered if it was because she spent so much time in her human form.




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[Gilva Snowsong]

The words that were spoken were cemented in stone. Upon hearing a voice doused in femininity, as well as the revelation of the person's appearance, the boy realized his grave mistake. If she wanted to, the girl had earned the right to cause the boy physical harm. If she did, he wouldn't be angered by it. Even though he was a fairly informal person, he had inadvertently overstepped his boundaries in this particular situation.

But in addition to his guilt, the boy was also intimidated by the woman. He didn't even know that it was possible for one of them to be so tall! She was clearly not a Vantha. Was this person Zeltiva born? This encounter only served to further demonstrate his ignorance of the world. The boy gripped the spear tightly, though he still lacked the experience to use it properly. He looked the woman in her eyes apologetically, though he couldn't shake the feeling of how awkward it was to be looked down on for a change.

"I had no idea! I just...I mean...what are you?! You're even taller than I am!"

As the boy stammered over his words, he found himself walking in a circle around the newly discovered woman. To the naked eye, he was essentially checking out her figure. This was pretty close to the truth, though it was merely for him to see if the woman possessed any abnormalities apart from her height. He finally stopped in his original position, unable to find anything that would pique his interest.

It wasn't until after his examination, did the boy look over to the side and discover that they were not alone. Another male had also been present. If he had noticed him earlier, then perhaps he could have tried to save himself from embarrassment by lying and saying that he was referring to the other boy when he had called her a man. But there was no point in dwelling in the past.

The boy was eager to have the attention on himself, but he feared that they knew of his failure in the few days past. He was swarmed with conflicting feelings, unable to fully decide what course of action would be appropriate. Perhaps this was the beginning of a change, for the boy decided to forsake his selfishness by asking about the others for a change. Though in a twisted form, by instigating the current situation, he would still retain some form of attention that he could savor for himself.

"So...what brings you all out here? I mean...this weather...I didn't see this coming when I got up from my bed y'know?"

The boy's pride had taken a bigger hit than he thought, for when he spoke his confidence was completely shattered. His voice quivered and it presented a timid disposition for the others to take advantage.

[Ronin Invictus]

The kelvic chuckled lightly to himself as he eavesdropped on the two's ensuing conversation. The woman seemed infuriated as she turned around. Ronin could only imagine being in such a position himself, he would do anything to get himself out of such a predicament. Ronin could have perhaps came to the boy's resuce, but he thought it was way more fun to witness how it played out.

Once he stopped chuckling he glanced over making eye contact with the boy as he held a slight smirk as if to say, 'You really messed up bad.'

The woman seemed to notice him at the same time as well as she called him out menacingly as well, maybe she had noticed him chuckling before as well. A mischievous glint could be seen in his eyes now, "Nah, I thought you were a Myrian judging from your height and temper."

When the boy tried to make small talk by mentioning the weather it was all Ronin could do from making another joke about the woman's height, "Well nothing really brings me out here, well, I was always curious about the ocean since I've come here and I've never seen it during a storm." he said giving a sideways glance to the boy.

[Zasantha]

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16th Summer, 514AV

She continued to glare down the two males. A memory stirred in the back of her mind of another person long ago making the same mistake of her gender. It had not ended well...

Zas shook herself from the memories and stared at the other kelvic. Surely by now he had smelt her. She gave him another once over, now ignoring the boy that seemed flustered.
"My name is Zasantha," she stated, narrowing her eyes at his apparent innocence of being out here. She could smell the scent of the stolen coins, they'd barely held his scent for scan moments. A pretty sure sign that they weren't his until very recently.

"I am only tempermental when I end up wet, I hate the water," she admitted, running a hand through the soaked hair under her hood. Oh how she hated the water.
"I can't swim very well," she admitted, staring off into the docks and the growing water level. She surpressed a shudder at the thought of trying to swim in that turmoil. Already stray pieces of wood were floating on the surface, smashing against the pylons.

"This is miserable, I shouldn't have left the house today," she growled, turning her attention back to the boys.
"Young man, I am a panther," she finally replied to the younger appearing of the two, her voice low.



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[Gilva Snowsong]

The tension between the other two would have infuriated Gilva, since they were paying attention to each other and not him. But when the boy made a response in respect to him, he felt a part of the conversation once more. Gilva thought it was interesting that the other male had come to see the ocean, despite indicating that he knew how the weather would transpire throughout the day, while the woman seemingly ignored that aspect of his question and admitted that she disliked water. Perhaps this was why there was so much tension I'm the air? One whom appreciated water was in the presence of another that despised it.

If there was more to it than that, the boy was completely oblivious to it. After the woman stated her name, he felt timid about revealing his identity in the chance that somehow he would be discovered as the boy who had "the accident. " But some attention, positive or negative, was still better than no recognition at all. With that in mind, the boy finally decided to declare his name.

"Gilva Snowsong."

Unfortunately, the boy had spent so much time deliberating on whether he should say his name or not, he had unintentionally spoken while the woman was explaining her panther origins. First, he had mistaken her for another woman, then made the situation worse by referring to her as a male. And to add insult to injury, he had spoken whilst she was doing so. No matter what he did, it seemed that he would not be able to get on the right foot with the woman.

But, Gilva didn't fully understand the consequences of his action. To him, they were having a casual conversation so the order of speech should not have been of importance. But, this disorganization was merely a reflection of the boy's immaturity, and there was no guarantee that they would feel the same way that he did.

"Swimming? Panther? What?! What's a panther? Is that the Zeltivan word for tall woman? If so, then you are the only panther I've ever seen in my life!"

Gilva was mildly interested in that the woman had described herself with a word that he didnt know the meaning of, but still was able to understand what he had said in Vani. But ultimately, it seemed as if common were the language to use for further communication. The boy then turned his attention towards the other male. He had stated his intentions, but where did he intend to go from there, he wondered.

"So now that you've seen the ocean...then what will you do? Is there something special about this ocean?"

With each word that came out of his mouth, the boy expressed both his foreignty and his ignorance. Hopefully this wouldnt be viewed as an opportunity to take advantage of him.

[Ronin Invictus]

The kelvic introduced himself as Ronin shortly after the panther stated her name. After a few moments the boy introduced himself, somewhat nervously from what Ronin could tell in the tone of his voice, he only nodded in response however, Ronin hadn't heard of him before.

Ronin smiled sympathetically when Zasthansa admitted her hatred of water and being wet. Ronin himself actually didn't really enjoy getting wet either, at least when he first started his journey outside of his desert home. After that shelter from the rain was not always readily available and he had a couple storms he had to walk through on the wide open plains of Cyphrus that made him absolutely miserable at first. After a while he had grown somewhat desensitized to water and getting wet, but he was still not a very good swimmer himself.

At the same time the woman declared she was a panther. He was somewhat surprised by this, as he had some suspicions she was different but he could not tell. His sense of smell was not up to par as most would expect of a big cat, after all cheetahs hunted primarily by sight.

"And I am a cheetah," he said easily. He did not worry about keeping the fact of being a kelvic a secret anymore. He liked the name of the animal he morphed into, and it was quite interesting to him when he first learned it from his former bond-mate when she researched into his animal form. He had not however seen a cheetah in the wild before.

He continued watching as the water-line continued to rise and the rough seas grew even more choppy, with some debris even in the water. Ronin began pondering how high the water would rise, where would it stop? Would the whole city be flooded? he tried to imagine in his mind the streets of Zeltiva replaced by many canals of water weaving through buildings then. He didn't know why but the thought of that interested him the most for unfathomable reasons. Perhaps because an event like that would be interesting; something out of the norm that doesn't happen everyday. Many good stories could be told about something like that after the fact.

Ronin was only pulled from his daydreaming when the boy, Gilva spoke again. Ronin shrugged then, "I don't know, I really don't have anything else to do today, and besides the storm just got here. This ocean is not really special, it is the first ocean I have seen though." he said this as he looked towards a darker building where he could see the light rain drops flush against the darker backdrop, he could see no indication that the rainfall had started to waiver, and he could feel the winds were still blowing strong.

Ronin sighed then, "I guess the ocean is so interesting to me because I lived so long in Eyktol." he paused thinking of his next few words, "The whole place is a desert, a sea of sand and water there is about as valuable as gold. So it's sort of unthinkable to see such a huge body of water right in front of me like this, even if people say you can't drink it."

[Zasantha]

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16th Summer, 514AV

Zasantha managed an exasperated roll of her eyes in response to the boys awkward enthusiasm. She supposed panthers probably weren't real common around these parts, although she'd never seen one other than herself.
"Gilva, a panther is a very large, very black cat. I might show you one day," she stated, baring her teeth in what could either be seen as a smile or a snarl, it was open to interpretation.

Ronin's statement that he was a cheetah hardly surprised her, she'd been expecting something sneakier, perhaps a fox or rat, but cheetah made sense as well. Perhaps the speed had carried over for him.
"Cheetah's are quite interesting, very fast, though very small," her smile this time dripped with malice, an unspoken warning don't mess with me.

"Oceans are fascinating, less so when they are swollening you into their black depths," she added, glancing at the still rising tide. The rain showed no sign of abating and she was beginning to worry about the fact. She should probably get home soon. If it wasn't for the 8th chime of the bell she wouldn't have known the time, but her stomach knew it was hungry. Thankfully she had a few pieces of smoked wolf in her bag, it was tough and flavourless, and over-smoked, but it sated her appetite enough that it would hopefully last until the rain went away.

"Fancy some?" She asked Ronin, holding out a piece of the meat. She didn't think to offer the boy any, but perhaps he needed to learn that running up to random women and calling them men could be bad for your health, even if it was simply being hungrier for a little while.

She watched Ronin closely. He was almost attractive in a steal your heart and your purse kind of way.

"I feel like a fish out of water, around all this water," she refrained herself from giggling, though she thought herself quite the comedian.



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