Open The Road Ahead

[Sarshassilivoss]

The Road Ahead
1st of Fall, 514 A.V.

Voss and his den were slightly behind a larger and more experienced group of Iyvess that were delivering their artifact to the denizens of Riverfall. This of course suited the young Dhani quite fine. They were going to land, but it didn't mean he had to like it, or cozy up to these land dwellers. As the land drew closer he felt a twinge of nervousness rise in his stomach. He had lived his whole life in the Sea, and though he did not fear a Great Hunt, nor Giant Squid, nor massive sharks. Yet the idea of being bereft from the water, for much longer than he had ever been before...the realization of that sunk into his gullet like a thick heavy stone sailing down to the bottom of the sea bed.

He recalled the gathering vividly in his mind as he swam, the largest collection of Iyvess together without fighting over territory and rank that he had ever seen. The oldest of the den leaders reaching an agreement. The event of a couple years prior, the strange storm that had disrupted the sea and Charbosi so much...that had been a sign, a sign of changing times, and the Iyvess would not swim idly by and let the times change without them. The land was just another challenge to conquer, and the vicious saltwater Dhani would show their land dwelling cousins just what their hostility had made. Voss wasn't sure how he felt about this prophecy, to him the tales of their freshwater counterparts were simply legends, after all, there had been so few of them according to every story he had heard. How could they have managed to survive all this time? No, they were probably all dead, and this attempt to rejoin with them was just some old legend that would come to nothing...or so Voss liked to tell himself. Just re-living it all made him all the angrier of their return. The sea was where they belonged, the great expanse where no one could touch them, where they could live free and strong, this? This?! It was...it was...

As he approached the shoreline, he felt something. It was like a wave washing over him, a hand gripping his shoulder and squeezing comfortingly, something he could not put words to in any sense, and with each undulation of his tail, webbed fingers passing easily through the water, all of these fears, concerns, and even bitterness towards the land dwellers melted away. This was something new...not something to fear, but an adventure. Perhaps if Voss could oversee the swift and rapid alterations of his mind he would have balked at himself, but there was no such sense, only a sudden urge to reach the shore all the faster, his yellow streaked underside weaving rapidly to and fro, speeding ahead of the rest of his den and catapulting out of the water and out on to the sand, where he flopped in quite the undignified manner for quite a few ticks.

With a chuckle at his own silliness, the saltwater Iyvess began to shift, a relaxing sigh escaping his throat as his tail shrunk slowly, the bright yellow and deep charcoal grey immediately fading to match the sand he was immersed in. His arms shrank, losing their webbing, gills disappearing and for a moment confused gasping escaped his throat as he processed the oxygen through his mouth and newly formed lungs.

30 ticks later a mostly naked deeply tanned male lay panting excitedly on the shore. The seaweed around him which bound his trident had fallen to the side, but as Voss glanced at the weapon, he couldn't imagine why he would even need such a thing. The rest of his things were strapped to a Typor at the back of the Den, but even though he'd need his money and things, Voss simply wanted to get going.

He lifted himself to his feet, utterly naked and loosely holding his trident, and determined to sprint into the city lumbered forward only to pitch wildly and land face first into the sand again. How long had it been since he had used this form? Much too long, that was for sure. The Dhani rolled himself over and began laughing again a deep pleasant sound as the rest of his den began surfacing behind him. What an utterly embarrassing start to the day this had been!

[Kyo]

The coyote was full of running. That was what he knew. He was so full of running right now and he could not stop.

He raced through what his coyote-mind called the big home-cave-group and what his human-mind called a city. His slim, furred body was vibrating with happy-joy. His tail whirring behind him. His feet dancing and skidding and occasionally slipping out from beneath as he ran.

His speed hardly faltered when he hit a patch of down-cuts in the stone path, strange decorations on the slope that his human-mind remembered as stairs. He did not slow, even though his paws hit air and he tumbled gracelessly down, did not slow even though he was bumped and possibly bruised. The experience was great. He decided he loved the stairs, even the pain of falling on them. He loved the human stone paths --called streets?-- in between the huge pretty home-caves --his mind called these buildings. He loved it all so much he had to run and run and run to see it, all of it.

Most who saw him coming stepped out of the way; he would have stopped to greet and rub-hug-against and lick but there were just so many and he had to see them all, and right now.

Though the nights were getting cool and the air smelt of the sweetness of plants just now beginning to cold-sleep, the coyote felt this moment was the budding of spring. New things. Wonderful new things born to him, for him to see and smell and taste and feel and hear. The sun was shining bright, not only above but out from inside him. His tongue lolled and he kept up his pattern of running and rolling through the down-cuts until his paws suddenly, unexpectedly hit sand.

Salty water-heavy air hit him in the face, and he lapped at the wind, swallowing it down. There were many new sights and sounds, not the least of which was the gigantic river-fall that he now saw flowing into the biggest strangest-smelling waviest lake he had ever seen. Around it, the city glimmered like the gold or silver or copper gleam of human-made stones --his human-mind called them coins, monies-- or the shining rocks that could be found in mountain rivers or caves.

It was so beautiful that the coyote could not draw breath. And ever-present amongst it all were the people, the strange blue humans. A new feeling swelled within, like belonging, like sad days and being comforted on either side by his dogs. It was-- He didn't know what it was. It was--

Gone.

Something shifted and the coyote felt different, felt bad, felt the scared that he hadn't had since he was a small pup. The towering city was going to fall on him. The blue strangers would hurt him, would catch him and he would never be free again. He had been wrong. He should not have come here. He needed to go away, and fast.

A new running filled him. A fear-running. The coyote recoiled, his feet staggering under him. And then he shot off, towards the huge salt-lake. He darted past a not-blue figure lying on the beach, his paws hit the first chill of the waves, and he leapt. The coyote splashed full-body into the water, salt and sudden cold stinging his nose and eyes, and he only paddled faster. Anything to get away. Anything--

And then he was surrounded by a den of swimming snake-human-things coming for him in a wave, they would hurt him, and the coyote turned tail and swam back towards the shore. His paws once more found ground and he struggled from the sucking, splashing water, drenched and needing something between him and it all.

A sound of joy came through the fear. Laughter his human-mind called it, and in turn the sound called to him. The not-snake not-blue figure on the beach was happy, and the coyote targeted that strength like a puppy does its mother's calls to stay close, stay safe.

The canine turned on his toes and streaked towards the figure. He pushed his shuddering hide against what scent identified as a male, the person not smelling like a human but looking like one, and that was enough. His paws scrabbled in the sand immediately next to the person, terror-driven to hide now. They dug out a shallow hole, and the coyote struggled to tuck himself into it as he dug, flinging wet-smattering sand behind him. He kept the figure between him and the snake-people who were coming out from the waves, though he also tried to keep him between himself and anyone else who happened to get too close.

[Yra]

The seafoam mist tasted bitter on Yra's tongue as she lapped it from her lips, nose wrinkling at the immediate bitter flavour that assaulted her senses. She recoiled from her position at the coast of the Suvan quickly afterwards, as if the taste had reminded her of her first encounter with it, and she huffed. Yra was not afraid of the sea. She'd come to understand that at the close of summer when her Svefra comrades had sailed onward to new shores, promising a return when the warmth once again crawled upon Riverfall, taking flight for cities further north, names she could not remember. She had briefly mourned her lack of interest in their adventures. They were all the family she had, if she excluded the Ethaefal she'd met, and they took with them any semblance of acceptance that did not include wonder or bitterness. They treated her as they treated one another. She should have gone with them. It was for herself and their memory that she'd gone to visit the coast and pretend she could see their casinors on the horizon. She knew she couldn't, but it was all in the imagination. With a quiet murmur, a plea to the God of Seas to protect her "pod", Yra drew her cutlass and sliced open her palm, allowing the drops of blood to stream into the water. As Calin had taught her, Laviku demanded sacrifice. He was a stern father: often protective, but not without his moments of unforgiving justice. His domain, the sea, was as merciless as her Svefra had said he was himself. She knew firsthand. Her nose wrinkled again at the memory of that day, and she withdrew her hand once her sacrifice had been made. With an inclination of her head, the Etheafal also withdrew from the water's edge, stepping back. As she turned, though, she saw the figures rising from the water and... well, she could only stare. For a moment, she believed them to be more fallen, like her, until she noticed that they did not possess the gilded horns she wore and that their skin did not shimmer as hers did. There could not be any other reaction. She was so lost. The people were serpents, yet many possessed the arms and torsos of the humans. They were like the sea beasts that were said to swim within the depths of the sea, and they were Yra's first encounter with anything like them. For a moment, it was all too much, but then that moment passed and she was in movement in order to greet these people and meet them as they came ashore. She was not the only one, having been beaten by the dog that ran ahead towards the one that had gracelessly tumbled to the ground. More would come also, down from the city. She did not doubt it. The Rivarians were a curious bunch, and they tended to stare. As she approached them, warily circling around the frantic beast, Yra cocked her head at the naked man. He no longer had the scales of his rising brethren, further building upon the belief that he could have been some strange form of whatever-she-was, or something otherwise tied to a deity. Moon? No. The moon had nothing to do with snakes. Snakes liked sunlight. She shook her head free of the distracting thoughts and then smiled down, offering him a hand- tentatively. He had, just moments ago, been a snake much larger than she, and she did not doubt he could become one again. Expounding on that was the strangeness of it all. She offered help to a stranger, believing him kind simply due to the fact he was laying in the sand, laughing. It was a strange situation, and she spoke with a small smile because of it. "Welcome to Riverfall..?" The dog could dig away to his contentment. It was a constant reminder that he was there if only because the wet sound of sand slapping sand, combined with his panting, made it only more apparent. She didn't know how to deal with him, though.

[Sarshassilivoss]

Clumsily the den of Iyvess came upon the land. Their bodies were shaped specifically to be streamlined and near perfect beneath the water, but even damp sand was too much of a struggle for those normally powerful and muscular bodies. Voss tipped himself onto his rear only to find something had collided with him, something...fuzzy. He turned a shaved head to see a strange creature, one of the land dwelling ones. No scales or fins did this thing have, but then again it had no need of them, it needed to cross land not sea. It whimpered at him, and though lacking familiar traits its eyes held something Voss could identify with.

"There there." He began in undulating Snake Tongue, then realized that perhaps the creature wouldn't understand him, or perhaps even further, fear the sound of his language. That wouldn't do, not when they had just met, and it seemed to be cowering away from his den, who one by one were all shifting to their human forms. "Ssorry. My common no sso good." For a moment Voss contemplated why he was explaining himself to the fuzzy thing, but it seemed an apt moment to try out the common tongue again, the language he knew was somewhat universal. The young male Dhani was more adept at the the tongue than most of his denmates, but still not fully versed in the language of land dwellers.

And it was about then that another presence came. Another brand new sight for his dark eyes, this one was like a human in the way that it possessed the limbs and skin of one, yet it seemed so much more than one as well. She, yes, clearly a she had strange elegant horns sprouting out of her head, and it seemed as if as the sun cascaded down upon her that her body was absorbing the light, or reflecting it...or both. It was as if Voss was look at something...something not of this earth, and for a moment he contemplated her as a mirage, some strange effect of coming upon land and the strange feelings that had washed over him. One hand reached out to scratch behind the furry creature's ears if it was still nearby, but then...slowly he raised his hand up and allowed himself to be pulled upright.

"Th-thank you." He said once he had found his feet, legs still wobbly from the transition. Somewhere in the depths of his mind he had imagined all of this happening differently. What were these strange new creatures he had met, had the first den bestowing the artifact to Riverfall been met with such kindness and strange beings as well?

Soon there was a group of equally naked humans on the beach, gathering their supplies, taking stock of the city as individuals began to approach the edge of the beach, watching the Dhani transform and gazing at the additional newcomers that had simply swam out of the Sea. Voss seemed unaware of his nudity, and addressed the tall female, taking his time with the common. "My name isss Vosss, we are Iyvesss. A den came ahead to give giftsss to your leadersss, are you...a ahklack?"

He had stories of giant blue men, but this was a tall horned woman, perhaps this is what the females of the race appeared as to match the grandeur of the large blue men.

[Kyo]

The coyote was not sure what to do. He had his back pressed to the not-blue man, which he thought was good, because the not-blue man was not-blue and not-snake. He was human. He was familiar. Humans were good.

What wasn't good was the coyote's small sand-den he had dug. It wasn't big enough, and he was having trouble hiding out in the open. The not-blue man was good and would keep the snake-people-things from coming and biting and attacking and maybe eating the canine
--big snakes could eat big foods-- but what of the rest? The blue-men were just as dangerous; he could see their eyes, most of them were looking over. They would try to capture him, maybe they would capture even the not-blue man, and then what? Tiny spaces and hungry bellies and howling nights alone, not free, not free to run and search and someday find.

But what could he do? He was coyote, good for hunting and running and playing, and they were many, good for capturing and hurting. What could he do? Run... but they were getting closer. One of them --a female by the scent, though the coyote did not turn his head to look-- circled around him, and he tucked his tail between his legs and pressed his ears back, with his teeth showing and muzzle curled and hair bristling in caution. The man behind him spoke hissing words and scratched the coyote's ears, and the canine leaned into the gentle touch.

Still, it startled him when the man next moved, causing him to flinch and yelp. But the man only went to stand, not to attack. The coyote wound between his ankles, low to the ground, and pointed his teeth to the one who had reached out towards the not-blue man, the one who grasped his hand, the female who was going to trick him, get close and then pounce like a waiting lionness in the grass, going to do terrible things-- going to-- to--

The coyote's mind went blank. His eyes latched to the figure of the female, and his ears perked up, forward, his lips falling back over his canine fangs to hide them away in his confusion and wonderment.

She was beautiful. For the coyote, who had been so alone with only his dogs for so long, without people --without these frightening people, especially-- it was hard to look at her. She was like the sun, like looking into the sky and getting the sun-spots in the eyes, and feeling a sneeze in the nose. The coyote pawed his snout, eyes dimming momentarily from their full roundness of fear and aggression.

What was more, she had horns. A deer, elk, moose, ram? But no, unlike any horned creature he had ever seen, unlike anything in the wild world that the coyote knew. He was completely dazzled. Enough so that he stepped forward towards her out from the living shelter of the not-blue man, though his heart was blurring like the too-fast wings of a flower-bird and his coyote-mind said that she would use those horns like a raging buffalo, would crush his bones, prick his flesh, tear his fur straight from him. But he just had to know-- what was this female? The horns... she was animal? But human. Animal and human? So she was like the coyote, then... but her form, it was different, it was both at once not one or the other. The coyote could not have coyote-tail on human body. He could not have human-fingers on coyote paws. So how could she do that?

And... now that his head had been filled with a feeling like the mists over water, mystified, he crouched and peered around the legs of the sparkle-female and not-blue male, towards the snake-people. Because they were like the female, right, they were snakes and people, all at once. But how? How? The coyote had not ever been both forms at the same time. How? Were they all like him? Could he only half-shape, if he tried...?

There was a glimmer of low glinting light, like that of light off the surface of a flat lake... and then the coyote was suddenly a man. A young man, tall and slim, shoulders forward and forehead wrinkled to show his distress. He looked down at himself and let out a puzzled noise. No coyote-parts. No clicking nails to scratch behind the ear, and really the young man doubted his leg would stretch that far. No tail hung low to show submissive fear, or to wave high and straight and flag a warning of anger and offense. He reached up and felt his ears --human ears, not good for signaling emotion-- and then, curious, felt along his brow. No horns. He hadn't thought there would be horns, he had never had them before...

Before he could step further forward --mightily ignoring the urge that told his feet to pound and his arms to pump and his legs to run run run-- a noise caught at his ear like something rustling in the sand, and Kyo's head snapped to the side. The snake-people they were... they were shifting. Like Kyo, but very unlike. Kyo went from coyote to human in a heartbeat, maybe even less. These forms... they twisted and changed so he could see, the tails shortening, the arms losing their swim-web, the legs sprouting. And as he watched, they became human. Human, like the not-blue man, because on the salted breeze he could smell them. Could smell that they didn't smell human, they only looked it.

The young man took another step, this time backwards in the sand, so he was about as close to the sun-girl as he was to the not-blue man. He looked between them, hands folded together near his belly, gripping his fingers tight in anxiety and confusion. Something Kaie had said long ago came to him, something about trying to make Kyo be called Kelvic and herself be called Myrian, like they were two very different things even though when Kyo was in human-shape they looked the same. Now he wondered if something like that was happening here. These people... were they different? It didn't make sense. But he did feel different from them. And that was what scared him. Because they would get him if he was different. They would get mad and do bad things.

The once-coyote cleared his throat, eyes flicking back and forth like dragonflies over a puddle. "Ah~" he said, shuffling his feet under him, "Ah, friend." His voice was shaking; so were his hands as he took one and pressed it lightly to his chest. "Friend," he said more forcefully, trying to make it clear that he didn't pose a threat. He tapped his pale freckled-and-scarred chest again, palm flat to his skin and fingers spread. "Kyo. Kyo. Ooh--" He gestured at the two standing near, "Ooh good? Ooh friend? Uh-thers--" He licked his lips nervously, and then pointed to the once-snake-people who were approaching from the shore, bringing things with them, carrying things and turning to talk with some of the blue-men on the beach, "Uh-thers good?"

They weren't attacking... yet. But even coyotes could use such tricks, acting friendly and then biting, or playing games in order to hunt.

OOCSorry for the length... I write novels, I guess. ^_^'

[Islakossianya]

Fall 1st, 514 AV

For most of the trip from The Sea, she had trailed behind the rest of her Denmates, who in turn followed behind the original party sent to Riverfall with a gift. Sianya was reluctant to leave the place she'd grown up in and was even more hesitant to go on land. But the young Iyvess knew that if she ever wished to pursue the monster responsible for the death of her mother Islakos, she would need the resources that she could find above The Sea.

While growing up in Charbosi, most of her time had been spent as a Snake or an Iyvess. It was fairly difficult to survive more than a handful of ticks as a human at that particular depth. So the Dhani female had almost no familiarity with her human form, reserving the shape for rare occasions. The scales that coated her Snake and Dhani forms would not allow her the necessary grip out of the Water. The thought of being forced to actually use her human shape was petrifying to Sianya.

Her mind drifted like seaweed in a current from thoughts of the upcoming adventure to the potential horrors being trapped on land would surely bring. Shaking her head to keep herself from falling into the whirlpool that was fear any further, Sianya redoubled her efforts and surged towards the rest of her Denmates, ending up near the front of the pack of swimming snakemen.

They were close now. The Sea's floor began to slope upwards towards what the Dhani assumed was land. Water around her lightened in color. Pressure on her serpentine form decreased. As the Den grew nearer to the shore, one of her Denmates shot ahead of the rest. Flicking her eyes around to see if there was a dangerous creature nearby, and finding none, Sianya assumed he was eager. This was a feeling she could understand, though her current thoughts were more anxious than eager.

As the rest of her Den began to emerge from The Sea, the young Iyvess realized she would need to shift promptly. With an internal huff, she sped up and promptly shot out on shore into the sand, with which her scales blended nicely. She began the half-chime process of shifting from a Snake to a human. Scales elongated and blended into one another, and her body shrunk to a fourth of its snakely size. Her tail split in half and developed quickly into two individual legs while her arms began to grow out of her sides. There were several moments of intense discomfort as her gills disappeared, and then several more moments of the blissful relief of air flowing in and out of her lungs. Hair shot out of her scalp, and her eyes enlarged to become more human in shape.

When Sianya had completed the shifting process, she lay face-up in the sand for another half of a chime, getting a feel for her human body. Three times she tried to stand up, and three times she failed. On the fourth, she managed to remain upright, and with her arms extended out to help her balance, the Iyvess took an experimental step forward and mentally congratulated herself for staying on her feet and off the ground.

She cast her eyes around the land, taking in everything around her. The sight of a creature on all four of its limbs startled the Dhani, who lost her balance and fell into the damp sand. Blue eyes landed on the rest of her Den, struggling to adapt to the new environment and doing about as well as Sianya herself was. Lingering on the beach near The Sea was a strange woman whose head was adorned with hair and horns. Quizzically, she tilted her head and stared at hair-and-horns. Never in Charbosi or The Sea had she encountered any being with horns, although stories were often told of hair-and-horned creatures who fell into The Sea. How could that be possible? How could anyone fall from the sky? Questions overflowed from her mind down to her mouth and the urge to voice her inquiries became too much for Sianya to resist.

In Snake-Tongue, the young woman hissed at hair-and-horns. "Did you fall into The Sea? Where were you before that?" Only after her second query escaped from her lips did Sianya realize how unlikely it was for anyone save the Snake-cousins who supposedly needed them to understand her language. Frowning, she tried again, in the language most beings were capable of speaking. "You fell...from sssky to Sssea?" revised the Iyvess. Her words in common-tongue were slow out of necessity. Most talking she'd needed to do in The Sea could be done in Snake-Tongue, and as a result she was out of practice with the language.

Again, she tried to stand up, doing her best to put equal weight on each foot. To her delight, she managed to get up on the first try. Arms extended slightly to help her keep her balance, Sianya managed several more steps. Slowly, she wobbled her way over to claim her things.

Nudity was a common practice among her Den, and the idea that surface dwellers needed special coverings to go about their daily lives puzzled her. But she'd been told that if she wanted to walk around publicly on land, she should wear coverings. Especially puzzling? The hair-beast was gone, and in its place was a surface man who wore no coverings. Sianya decided she'd file the thought away for further investigation later-their Den was still behind the first Den, after all.

Hair-and-horns was engaged in a conversation with father-brother-Voss, to Sianya's relief. He was better with common-tongue than most of their Den, and he might have better luck talking to hair-and-horns than she had. Carefully stepping towards the pair, she stopped a few steps behind father-brother-Voss and waited for one of the pair to make a comment.

[Lynx]

The ethaefal had heard whispers from the citizens of Riverfall that a new kind of race was appearing on the beach, it had peeked her curiousity. Although she had been in the library at the time she heard the whispers, she was now making her way towards the beach, her pair of Silkena dogs quick upon her heels. They were growing like weeds and were now beginning to obey her commands a lot more often, something which she was very pleased about. She didn’t want them growing up and not learning a damn thing; at least she knew they were loyal, for they had grown to tail her steps closely. It appeared they were very loyal in nature, a trait which she enjoyed and cherished. However, she hadn’t changed her outfit on her brief stop by her room to pick up her dogs. So she was wearing the long white dress that she normally wore when she was at the library, her white hair flowing freely around her shoulders and down her back. Upon this day, she was in her simple earth bound form, a Konti in appearance, even though she remembered nothing but the Konti isle from her previous life. It was a fact that continued to evade her, no matter what she tried to jog her memories.

Upon reaching the outer edges of the beach, her violet hues took note of the group of people that had come up onto shore, their naked bodies pulling themselves up out of the water. Some were still in a different form and others were in the process of changing and a frown fell across her brow. It was most definitely a race that she did not know and a sudden frustration descended upon the woman. Something that did not happen for she was usually a patient woman, someone who usually sort out the unknown answers or she waited for them to come to her. The fact that there was a new race upon the beach and she did not know what it was, annoyed her greatly. The female rolled back onto the balls of her feet as she observed the situation. There appeared to be a dog and another ethaefal there. A Syna one no less. She hadn’t met any other ethaefals and there, suddenly as the seasons change, one appears. Where have you been hiding? She silently asked as she observed the interaction with the new race and the Synafal. Her concentration of the two was broken when the dog looking animal began to shift, a light surrounding the animal and as it dispersed another naked male stood in the animal’s place.

The Lethafal pressed her lips together as began to growl at herself, as yet another race presented itself to her. Snipe and Shadow had been sitting beside her, occasionally playfully nipping at each other until their little green eyes spotted the fact that the other presence that looked like a dog had shifted. They stood up, their ears pricking forwards and Lynx knew from experience that they would chase after such a new presence if she didn’t tell them to sit. Lifting her right hand, her gaze flickered to the dogs and she pointed a finger to the ground, ”Snipe, Shadow. Sit, stay.” She kind of hoped that the use of the word ’stay,’ would help her keep the dogs sitting in one spot for a longer period of time. She would then lift her gaze to just in time, see another new-comer approach the small off-side group. A group of two, had now become four and she pressed her lips together, as she pondered as to whether she should just go down there and satisfy her curiousity about the two new races that she had no knowledge about.

[Yra]

Yra's smile came easily, although inwardly she cringed at what she perceived as wonderment for her appearance. She realised she was silly to think that her appearance would not garner attention. It was with resignation that she resolved to use it to her advantage. However, these were not troubles that she shared with this newcomer. Rather, she inclined her head, dipping the curling horns in greeting. "I am Yra," she said. The words had come serenely, murmured thoughtfully with his question. "I am not Akalak, though. I am Ethaefal," she tacked on, for added benefit. "Iyvess are snake-people?" The concept of animal people confused Yra. Her head tilted as they rose from the waves and also took the forms of people like the humans coming to meet them. She knew what she was, and the limitations of her shifting faces, but theirs was something new, and for that she was consumed with unrequited curiosity. She was so intrigued and entranced that the flash of light was almost missed, however she caught the last flicker and immediately jumped aside with a sharp gasp at the dog who was now man. Her eyes narrowed, accusing both him and Voss of an unfair advantage, but the look was only half serious, combined with amusement. The dog-man had a sort of unease about him that tugged at Yra's budding compassion, and she cared that he was so... uncomfortable. She extended her arm, slowly and warily like one might do when encountering a strange animal they wanted to pet, and sought to pat his arm comfortingly, feeling only alarmed at the whole incident. But she was also interested in Voss' response. She'd opened her mouth to repeat the question, as she'd understood it, and was completely side-tracked by the female and her own question. Yra could not help her response- her fall was fresh in her mind, having not been even a season past, and the query tugged upon her as if someone were prying apart a fresh wound and exposing it to the air. It stung, and it took a moment for her to articulate a response that would not be too terse. "I did, yes," she managed to respond, and her smile returned. She thought to help this woman, who seemed to have more trouble navigating her human form than the male who preceded her did. She did not wish to leave the dog-man alone, though, and perhaps believed she could offer him some sort of comfort. After all, she was just as startled as he when it came to these Iyvess. She decided that they must not be a cruel people, given that they were not speaking harshly, and they did not turn cruelty upon the dog-man or herself. It was her limited sense of morality that assigned them as good, so she would treat them as good. "Do you need help with anything?"

[Sarshassilivoss]

As if the already new stimulus hadn't been enough, a sudden shifting to Voss's side caused him to leap out of the way of the furry creature's transformation, losing what little balance he had had in the first place and collapsed back into the sand. It was not that Voss was unfamiliar with Kelvic. He had met more than one in Charbosi, but nothing could prepare him for a transformation so unexpected and close by, when the concept of land-dwelling Kelvic hadn't even occurred to the newly land bound Iyvess.

He did not require, Yra's hand this time when he rose, however, shifting to his knees and getting up in time to see Sianya making her way over, clearly more familiar with the female Akalak than he was. Ethaefal. Not Akalak. Something else to process. There was a race of other worldly beings that fell from the sky, into the sea, but dwelled on land instead...

The being who had formerly been a canine spoke, nervously, clearly uncertain with the entire situation, and Voss was quick to assure the poor creature of his assumption that they were friends. "Vosss." He pointed to himself. "Ssianya." He pointed to his half sister. "Iyvess." He gestured to himself and the group of mostly transformed Iyvess, carefully piecing together his next sentence. "We are...all friendsss."

He smiled, in what he hoped was something approaching reassurance, though he wasn't precisely sure how land dweller's forced their faces into such a thing, and thus it was more of an awkward tweaking of his face, eyebrows raised, unsure. Vaguely, the Iyvess was aware of the amassing crowds, and those that stared down upon them. He glanced at Yra again, trying to appear less dazed the second time he took the strange form in.

"Ah...help? I no ssure. Party came ahead. Deliver gift of...peace. We are ssimply resst." He gestured around vaguely. "Isss there...iss there place..." He searched for a word that would help. "Sleep. Sleeping place? That hasss water?" A strange question, most of the Iyvess might stay around the docks, content to stay out at sea, but Voss was suddenly curious about venturing further in the city. Of course, if they were going to be staying here he would need a place to rest...but by the waterfalls, the ships, it had to be this city had a relationship with the water, if that was so, perhaps they had a place for aquatic beings like them...surely Charoda must visit this city from time to time?

[Kyo]

Another once-snake-person approached the group, a female one by the scent and look, and Kyo did not know how to feel. At once he was frightened. There were too many new faces, he did not know what to do with each one. The not-blue man had seemed the best to run towards. The sun-girl --what was it she had called herself, some special word?-- was now alright to be around, after Kyo had realized how very pretty she was, and how she had animal horns sprouting from her brow, and how she hadn't yet done anything bad towards him or his not-blue friend. But now that the female snake-person had come up, that was getting a little... much. He had trouble keeping his eyes on all of them at once.

Two of them, in fact, caused him to near jump out of this skin --and right back into his coyote-skin, which was better for biting and running-- when they both made similar, jumping movements at the same time. Not until after he'd cringed back from their sharp motions did he understand: Kyo had scared them somehow. He had shifted, he had become human-shape. Maybe how tall he was as he stood on two long human legs, or how close he was to the both of them, had surprised them. The young man hunkered further down, ducking his head and bending his legs and keeping his long human arms in close, trying to make himself seem smaller so as to further show he wasn't trying to be a threat.

It worked. The sun-girl was doing something, looking over at him with one hand reaching carefully out, but Kyo did not think it was in an angry or hitting way. At the same time, the not-blue man rose up out of the sand where he had leapt in his surprise, but now as he spoke he did not seem mad. The human-sound, though tickling in Kyo's ears with its long snake-whisper, seemed kind and helpful. "Vosss."

"Vauss," Kyo tried out. He knew what this meant. Voss was the not-blue man's own 'Kyo' sound, noises that humans and human-types gave one another instead of going by scent, relationship, and by other such clues.

The Voss-man continued with "Ssianya," pointing a hand at the once-snake-female who had approached. Kyo repeated after again, this time feeling like his jaws had gotten cold-dumbed with ice as he tried to make the right noise back, not having ever made one like it before: "Sih-ahnya." As he spoke he pawed shyly at his nose with the back of one hand. A new thought came to him. What if they didn't know how to understand his stumbling-bad words? A misunderstanding would only add to his discomfort.

These feelings... it was like he was a small pup again, intimidated and confused and alone, and just not-good-enough. He was thinking that his mouth hadn't been making the right noises, and probably the Voss-one wouldn't get mad, but maybe the Sianya-one would? Though she had been introduced as a friend, as good... she had also been called Iyvess, and Kyo had a feeling like a fly buzzing by his ear that maybe that sound was one of those ones like Kelvic and Myrian. Those were the sounds he didn't like the most because they meant different, and he didn't understand what the difference was or why it was important to so many people.

The young man drifted closer to the sun-girl, even though she too had called herself earlier by some other word which he hadn't really understood. Along with Voss, she had been bumped up to 'friend' in his pack-oriented mind. There were just so many others all around which Kyo felt no family with, no kinship with at all, and so he needed friends right now to be safe. Voss was good, and sun-girl. But he wasn't sure about Sianya, who was a newcomer, and who was known as Iyvess, as different. In his need for security, he got near enough to the sun-girl that he felt his arm brush against hers. But he was oddly comforted by the accidental touch, and didn't back off. If he thought to call her a friend then he would try not to act scared towards her any longer.

That didn't mean, though, that he didn't wish his Sister and Brother were here, his dog-family, his real and true friends who would snarl and fight to protect him, and keep him out of trouble. He nudged his own shoulder with his chin as he continued to slouch, sniffing once as if the grass-fur-homey scent of his skin might reassure him--

--and then he turned sharply and stood grass-stalk straight as a familiar smell found his sensitive nose. Dogs, dogs! Another sniff and he could tell that they were not his dogs... but Kyo liked all the dogs he had ever met, and so these ones would not be any different.

A moment later and he spotted them, a bit along the beach, more towards the scary-towering city above and standing next to a bright white-haired girl, a stranger. Both of those things --city and stranger-- he wasn't sure he liked. But the dogs were looking at him too, watching with ears perked forward, and they didn't look too unfriendly. Unlike most of the people here, he could actually tell how it was they were feeling, and he would be able to tell if they were going to attack, because dogs told with their bodies, with their tails and ears and posture, things the coyote-boy understood naturally. Unlike these three others, which he mostly liked, but whose motivations he was still really uncertain about.

That was, until the Voss-man spoke again. He asked about resting, about sleeping places to go, places that might have water. Kyo didn't know about that, but he did know some things, the memory fresh-placed in his mind.

"Ah~" he said, regretfully dragging his gaze from the pups to turn towards the sun-girl, then to the other two. "Ah, sleep plah-os. Ah, rules." He turned, eyes searching, and then pointed to the group of once-snake-people --called Iyvess?-- that were now human-shape and flopping around and rolling on their backs in the warm sand, or wobbly-standing, or hissing in strange snake-voices to one another. Blue-men were approaching the group, handing out thin rolled-things with human sound-scribbles --his human-mind called them writings-- on which Kyo thought it told where to go or what to do in this big place. He himself had gotten one earlier this morning when he'd come into the city by a door-place that they called the Land Gates. "Scroll well-come, ah, live... live city...? For Vauss, Sih-ahnya, for live-stay city."

The young man, throughout this short display of knowledge, was paw-stepping back and forth on the balls of his feet, obviously antsy. He cast another longing look at the two dog-pups, and the white-haired stranger-girl, but was too anxious to go over by himself. Then he had a thought. He shaped his mouth --something his boy had taught him when they were back home and together and playing with the boy's dogs-- and made a high whistle-noise. Not really like a bird's song, and not pretty, but good for calling dogs from far away to come close.

Good too, he saw a moment later, for calling people to look. As soon as he whistled, some of the blue-men's eyes turned towards the small group standing apart from the rest. Probably they would come over to say hello, or at least someone would pass a welcome scroll to help out the newcomers.