Closed [The Bronze Woods] Cooling Off.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He couldn't stand to see that look of rejection on her face again, so of course he had to agree. "Yes, of course we can make a fort. It'd be nice to have somewhere a little more.. well, homely than Stormhold Castle." The place was far too large in all aspects; he'd always hated that about certain places, it felt as though it simply wasn't made for him. Well, realistically, it wasn't. None of the cities in all of Mizahar were. There were Pyves scattered loosely about the place, Pyconia being the one he'd heard the most about and Zeltyne being the closest one he could count at the moment. Even if there were only four or five Pycons living in all of Syliras that he knew about at the moment, it'd still be nice to make a little fort at some point and have some fun making a little project out of it. "I'm sure Ball or someone else will be willing to pitch in as well to make it a really cool fort, too."

Maybe shaping a new house would help shape a new body, too. "I think it's a little silly to start throwing around words like that. I hardly have more focus than anyone, that's not the cause." Though a smile twitched in the corner of his mouth, he met Nivel with a level gaze - and struggled not to drop his jaw at her sudden revelation. "Jeez, Nivel, I didn't know you were a part-time priestess." He'd always thought of himself as close to Harameus.. or at least as close as he could be when completely oblivious to his motives or interests. Never, not once, had it crossed his mind that his body actually had some connection. ".. You really think he has influence over our bodies and the changes it goes through? I mean.. I know he's a god and all, but that's a lot to monitor." Bizarrely enough he found abruptly wanting to look up at the sky, as if he could find the ancient creator staring down on them. Silly hopes.

Instead, he watched as Nivel ran around the bushes and thin spindly underbrush, picking off little flowers to tie together. "I don't remember the Grandmaster ever wearing a crown." Still, he didn't do anything to stop her. It was sweet, in a funny way, watching her create this tiny little crown to set between his ears. It probably would have settled quite comfortably on the ring finger of a normal human. Adjusting it, he struck a pose and stuck his tongue out at Nivel. "Don't be silly, I look pretty all the time!" Or handsome, whichever one it was supposed to be. "It's just what happens when you spend a lot of time up in the trees.. y'get a lot more sunlight than you do just walking about on the floor." He turned, ready to make the climb.. and then turned back around. "Oh, right. You've climbed trees before, right? And jumped between them and stuff? It's the best way to see everything the forest has to offer." At least in his opinion. You could just as easily wander around on the floor, but up above, you could see everything on the ground for metres and metres!

[Nivel]

“Oh yay” Nivel made a little leap of joy as Arch agreed with her proposition. “ I want to fill all of Mizahar with forts and tree castles.” The pycon proudly declared as she imagined all of the tiny wooden structors she could make and all the pycons and kelvics that could live in them. She was mostly just joking around but Nivel also liked to dream big and bold so there was a bit of truth in her words. The pycon would surely have to do countless amounts of research on the subject to ensure they were sturdy, not to mention all the extra bodies she would have to rally to help with the momentous task, but that was half the fun.
“Oh we’ll certainly have to get Ball and any other we find that would like to help with construction. It wouldn’t be fun without them.”

“Well I think you do” Nivel said with a slight shrug of her shoulders before nimbly climbing overtop a protruding tree root. She wasn’t going to push too hard on the subject but she really felt arch had more virtues that he realized. Nivel leaped off the root and landed in a pile of leaves below. After Nivel dusted herself off, Archailist met her gaze and made a jest about her being a part time priestess.
“Harameus is an all powerful being, of course SHE influences our changes” Nivel playfully nudged Arch like she would a sibling. “Probably in small ways we don’t realize like in our dreams or through some other subtle ways.”
Nivel tried to recall her recent dreams to see if they might hold some clue to the future but she couldn’t seem to remember them. She turned to see Arch looking skyward and knew what he was looking for.
“You aren’t going to see him up there Arch, but you might see some of his messages in the clouds” There wasn’t much that could be seen through the verdant pillars but she saw a fluffy thing that kind of looked like a deer, if you really squinted.

“Of corse you do” Nivel giggled as the squirel made a dynamic pose “And maybe Grand masters don’t wear crowns, you’d just be an extra fancy grandmaster, the most blessed of syna’s divine light” She made a flourish of the hands to the sky. “hrm maybe I do sound like a priestess” She grinned slightly at arch before following him to the base of a particularly thick tree.

“I haven’t done much tree climbing, mostly just tables and Squires” Nivel said as she extended her hand to the nearest protrusion in the trees bark. She pulled on it and the pieces came tumbling towards her head. “ I also haven’t done much jumping around trees ether” She sighed as the bark hit her head, she brushed it off and looked for another thing she could grab. She spotted a tiny trig a little farther up and extended both of her arms to grip onto it and pull herself up like a little spider.
"Why is this so hard" Nivel sighed as she tried to look for something else to grap on to before the branch she was clinging to broke.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He rose a ridge of clay just above his eye, like a quizzical eyebrow. "I think Ball's a lot more suited to destruction than construction.. but we'll definitely have to include him as well." For all the quips he could throw at Ball, he still valued him deeply, just as he did Nivel. At least they knew how to have some fun. If he ever forgot, all he'd have to do was look up and catch the broken stalks hanging off his wildflower circlet. He intended to keep wearing it until he got back to the city.. maybe he'd even keep it a while longer as well, store it in a desk drawer. He knew that it wouldn't last long, broken up like it was.. but hey, who said he couldn't at least enjoy it to its fullest while it lasted.

"If you think so, then I won't argue." It wasn't that he didn't want to admit his strengths. There just seemed to be a line between modesty and arrogance that he could never quite find a balance on. Better to just throw himself onto one side rather than the other and take the consequences of the lesser of two evils, if they could even be called that. Better to be safe than sorry. "Pfffft.. haha, yeah. What was I thinking, of course she does." His cheeky grin probably gave away more than he was intending. "Though I'll never see any of it. This isn't me just being pessimistic, I don't mind not knowing.. I mean, I just won't. You probably will." He gave her a playful nudge. "You're good at that stuff. Me, I still can't even understand how flux is supposed to work." He'd never used it since Nivel had shown him. Maybe there was something in him that rejected the magic, or he'd lost all his djed somehow. Who knew? He didn't mind not knowing any more.

He chuckled again; stopping to strike yet another quick pose before they brushed on. "See? Told you so." By that point they were finally ready to begin the climbing.. or, at least, they would have been if Nivel had actually done much climbing lately. "It's because trees aren't the same as tables or squires. The bark can't support your weight for very long.. you'll need to plan out a route in your head before you apply it to your hands and you need to be constantly looking up, mapping where you'll next go. The key is to keep moving." She looked like she was struggling quite a bit, grasping at tiny branches for dear life. "Err.. I know this is going to sound a little strange, but.. when you were last telling me about how flux made you faster and stuff? ... Why not start using that here? If you need to, anyway."

Since there was no chance he'd be able to give advice from down on the ground where her body was blocking the way, he made a running start for the base of the tree and managed to run up the trunk for about three steps before his fingers needed to take over and dig deep into the corners between the bark, quickly changing his weight focus from legs to arms so that he could bring both feet up and, in turn, dig them deep into the next two gaps. "See that little break in the bark to your left? It's got a tiny ledge in the base of the tree that you should be able to hold onto, if you really push your fingers past the bark.

[Nivel]

“You always over complicate things” Nivel shook her head and let a slight smile form on her face “I’m just talking about the pictures in the clouds silly!” She pointed a finger up “I see a deer what do you see in the clouds?” She paused as she realized the cloud had drifted out of sight “hrm we might need to get a closer look”

“-and don’t worry about the flux, Magic IS actually a difficult thing to understand especially at first. It gives you a whole other set of rules to live by and it can some times be hard to let the old ones go.” Nivel had learned magic fairly early when she was only just starting to grasp how the world worked, Arch learned much later so his view of the world was much more established. She knew if she was going to teach him that she would have to take it slow and carefully, not so much out of worry that he would be reckless but more so that he could adjust to it slowly. She didn’t want to overwhelm him again like she did the first time.

“I can’t just use flux for everything, I have to use restra-“ She was interrupted with a cracking noise from the tiny branch she was holding on to. “Oh! Okay maybe I will”
She did as Arch suggested and quickly mapped out a route of protruding bark that she could climb up. She did her best to ignore her predicament and focus on moving her djed to where she needed it, In this case it would be her arms. When she finished carefully willing the energy to just the right amount of disproportion, she was ready to make her way up the tree. She swung herself to the first spot, and continued from there. She looked up the entire time, always looking for the next protrusion to grasp with her tiny clay fingers. It was definitely stressful and exhausting but also quite fun in it’s own little way, She could certainly see why Arch did it so much.

She managed to get herself to a fairly high branch, one that a average sized tall folk would have to stretch their arms to reach. She was a bit tired after achieving the feat and laid herself against the stump of the tree to catch her breath.
“You do this all the time?” Nivel said between breaths in bewilderment.

“Anyway, how do squirrels usually make their nests?” She asked while looking among the trees to see if she could find any examples.
“We don’t need to gather fallen twigs do we?” Nivel looked down at the ground and wondered how she was ever going to get down. The thought of having to repeat the climbing processes was an comfortable thought but she would do it if she had too. She had wanted to experience the life of a squirrel after all.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He stuck his little grey tongue out at Nivel. "It's your fault for not saying that!" He wasn't an Aurist, he couldn't read minds or whatever it was they did. She was probably talking about the auras in the sky as well because the clouds didn't look like anything.. they were just big white clouds hovering in the sky. No deer to be seen. She really could be a priest of Harameus. He had absolutely no idea what either of them were talking about half of the time, after all. Maybe he should pray someday for Harameus to help learn Flux, since he couldn't even grasp any of the so-called rules. He'd just have to assume that it all came with practice. One day he'd make it work.

Like Nivel did. She obviously had very little experience in climbing, since most of the focus was in her arms and not where her feet were going. "Push with your feet as well!" Yet, even without experience, she was making much better progress than normal, given her speed. It wasn't phenomenal, but it seemed like enough to stop the bark from collapsing between her fingers. At least until she'd moved to the next hand-hold. "There you go, up to the next one on your right." As she climbed, he followed close behind. Occasionally, whenever she struggled, he slid up beside her and pointed to the next hold. "Over there, grab that with your hand." Then he pulled back, digging his fingers into the deeper gaps in the bark and spreading his weight - that'd stop the bark from ripping off in his hands as quickly, hopefully.

When they finally reached the first branch, Nivel looked exhausted. Really, she wondered how he could climb? "Of course I do! I climb things all the time, I guess it just comes from a lot of experience." He climbed up his bed before every night and that was a serious challenge without any bark to grapple. Did she live in a doll house or something? "It takes work but you'll get used to it at some point. Plus, I bet if you used it with Flux a lot more, you'd become a seriously fast climber.. much faster than me." For all her poor technique, Nivel was still pretty speedy on her feet.

Oh. Nests. "I can't remember, haven't seen any around.. I don't think." He joined in the search and after several long chimes of looking, a little movement caught his attention. "Over there!" A tiny animal was jittering and jumping between the branches. But it wasn't a squirrel; just a little bird, chirping on its way to find branches of its own for a different nest. "D'awwwh. Oh well, we don't need to build a nest of our own today, I don't think." A hand rubbed sheepishly behind one ear, brushing over the little flower crown. Just because he'd seen a few squirrels making a nest at some point, didn't mean he'd paid attention to how they'd built it. Not likely he'd be able to remake it, even if he wanted to. "Even I wouldn't be able to make the run up and down this tree to collect all the twigs and stuff we'd need to make a nest here."

[Nivel]

Nivel only shook her head back and forth in mock disapproval at the squirrels actions. She though it was silly that he couldn’t clearly tell what she meant when she said signs. Gods work in subtle ways but not so subtle that one would need magic to see them. Arch certainly had a doorway in his mind that needed to be opened when it came to the mystical world, although his knowledge of living in the wild and of weapons still far surpassed hers. Nivel was glad they could both learn from each other.

When Nivel stumbled up the tree Arch was right behind her barking out useful instructions to keep her on track. She was a touch slow on putting his first suggestion to use with the focus she had to maintain. Once she did however, she found it considerably easier once she started paying more attention to her feet. They weren’t enhanced by flux but they still helped a great deal as she made her way up the tree.

Even with the aid of flux keeping her moving forward with abnormal strength and speed she still stumbled quite a bit. She was sure she would fall each and ever time but Arch was there to keep her on the right track. Nivel didn’t have the energy to thank him as she climbed but she nonetheless greatly appreciated all his help with doing what in her nexus should have been an impossible task for someone so small.

“I Should probably climb more then” Nivel said between laboured breaths. “Things that really push me instead of just….tables..and chairs made for Tall Folk.” These were really the only things that she needed to climb and while they were a testing challenge at first they quickly became routine. Trees should have been easier with their many foot holds but they also weren’t as stable. Nivel could take her time and extend her arms to the higher foot holds to cheat her way up, but this simply wasn’t possible with trees.

“I want to try doing it without flux, It’s dangerous to rely too much on magic for day to day things.” Nivel respectfully retorted “The go to rule that you should try to follow as well is that if you can do it without magic that you should just do it without magic.” She was a little ashamed that she had allowed herself to use flux for something as simple as climbing a tree, she could only imagine what patron or even her father would think of her reckless behaviour.
“Though I suppose If there was an emergency it would be nice to know I could quickly shoot up a tree with the help of flux. So you are right about that.”

Nivel turned her head to see the cute little bird with a tiny twig held in its beak, but it flew away without any hope of seeing it’s nest building skills in action though.
“Well I’m probably far to exhausted to make a nest anyway but once I get better at this climbing thing we should try to make one.” Nivel suggested “Maybe we can implement a Pulley system to get branches up, so we won’t have to haul our clay bodies up each time. I’ll have to look into that, in the mean time you should study squirrel architecture so we can be inspired by their designs.” She rambled on a bit more as she continued to lay on the branch. She didn’t even want to think about climbing down just yet. When she felt less like a chewed up piece of beltor root she would ask Arch to aid in her decent and they would both head back to their home before nightfall.

[ooc=Ooc] I thought now was a good time to conclude it, you can make another post if you want but I'm probably going to turn it in soon if that's okay.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Reflection]

Hello Archailist and Nivel!

 

Archailist

XP

• Riding 1
• Subterfuge 2
• Scavenge 1
• Philosophy 2
• Negotiation 2
• Climbing 2

Lores

• Self: A Soft Spot for Helpless Animals
• Subterfuge: Keeping a Lookout
• Philosophy: Traps are a Necassary Evil
• Sabotage: Hide the Evidence
• Self: Is this My Final Form?
• Nivel: Part-time Pristess?

 

Nivel

XP

• Riding 1
• Endurance 2
• Subterfuge 2
• Intelligence 1
• Climbing 3
• Planning 2
• Philosophy 1
• Flux 1

Lores

• Traps are Terrible
• Subterfuge: Teamwork is Beter than Solo
• Subterfuge: Hide the Evidence
• Self: Perhaps Being a Squirrel Would Better Suit Me
• Planning: The Best Way To Fly Without Dying
• Archailist: Grandmaster of Squirrels

Comments: This was a cute read I love the dynamics between your two characters.

Enjoy your grade! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me a PM.