[The People's Market]Meeting near meat[Aello]

[Clyde Sullins]

20 Summer 511 Today Clyde went for a bit of a walk, having decided to go shopping. He usually stayed near his room on the dock, or at the institute, however he could use a bit of food. And so he found himself here, looking around at the different food stands, trying to decide what to get. He was not to picky, and tended to eat just enough to get by, though perhaps he should splurge for once? Finally he settled on a stand with different types of beef, trying to see what looked the most palatable... It was always a trade off, between flavor, and cost, if you wanted something cheap, it would not taste good... Maybe he would find something to surprise him though.

[Aello]

Aello was walking through the people's market, her deep brown eyes rapidly passing from one stall to the next, trying to find something worth spending a few mizas on. She was unimpressed by the stalls selling citrus fruits- thinking the lemons looked more like limes than anything else, and that most if not all of the oranges had started to grow mold if you looked closely enough. The herbs, although they smelled amazing, and did more than enough to tickle her nostrils, remained uninteresting simply because she knew not what to do with the majority of them. The other dried goods, being shriveled up, nearly wrinkled beyond recognition, looked unappetizing, and the young spiritist stuck up her nose at them. "You'd think one could find something to eat in a market such as this," Aello commented in a slightly irritated tone to the sparrow that sat on her shoulder. As Aello pushed past those that crowded before each individual stall, looking for a deal, her bag sank into her back, as her quiver filled with arrows was thrown around a few times, producing low, tinkling sounds as the arrowheads slid around the bottom. The feathers they were fletched with swayed softly in the wind, much as the long black fabric that fell behind the woman, casting most of her body in shadow. Her hood was pulled up over her head, concealing everything but a few bunches of wavy brown hair. "But it seems as though once again, this illustrious city disappoints us," Aello commented as her grip tightened around her father's old bow, her slender fingers winding themselves around the wooden frame. Aello quickened her pace as the smell of fish caused her nostrils to flare. Best to hurry past this bit, she thought, as she continued towards a section of the market largely devoted to meat sales. And this bit too, it doesn't smell any better, she thought, knowing instinctually that some of the meats had been out too long. She was just about to high tail it out of the place when she bumped into a man about a foot taller than she. "Sorry," she muttered as she took a half step back to get a better look at him. He seemed to be about her age- long and lanky, with a pointy noise, unruly brown hair, and sky blue eyes. He was inspecting several cuts of beef, more than likely trying to determine which would be best to buy. "Now why would you buy such a thing when you could so easily go out and get it yourself... for free?" Aello asked, her eyes sparkling as they glanced up and down Clyde's body once more. She tilted her head slightly to the side as she awaited her answer, taking notice of how Yune seemed to be growing nervous, how she kept inching closer and closer to the young spiritist's neck.

[Clyde Sullins]

Looking through the different meats, Clyde tried to find one that took his interest. So absorbed in his task was he that he did not notice the girl run into him. She was much smaller than him, and seemed to almost bounce off. Holding onto his staff, he looked over to see what had occurred, and saw the young woman there. Though she seemed to not be to far from his age. She had a bit of an odd look about her, as if something he could not place, but he was not sure of what... She asked him an odd question, why did he not hunt? He had never really been to interested in hunting, and he had little skill in combat... It had just never been something he did... "Do you mean hunting? I don't know, I have never really tried my hand at it. Plus, I am not to skilled with weapons, I have a few, but my handling is rough at best. Are you skilled in such things?" He looked her over once more, wondering what she was hiding. She spoke as if she had some decent skills in such things, though you would not see her as threatening at first glance. Though often it was the little ones that were the wildest and most aggressive, perhaps to make up for there short stature?

[Aello]

"Indeed, and it's quite the pity, you might actually be good at it," Aello commented, "if you find a way to conceal yourself fairly well, you're a bit tall you know. Likely to stick out in a crowd or open field for that matter. The forest is probably your best bet." There was a slight pause as she looked up at Clyde again, a silver mist shrouding his body. Swirling around it like a storm cloud around the sun. Tiny specks of black sparkled around the edges. This one wields magic much like you, but he does not believe it is real. He thinks magic is nothing more than an illusion... Confused, Aello kept staring, wondering how on earth such a state could have come about. Her eyes sparkled as her heart began to pound in her tiny rib cage, she was trying to direct her magic; force it to give her the answer to how this could be. She closed her eyes a moment, taking a deep breath in through the nose, and out through the mouth, concentrating. But the voice inside her head whispered nothing to her, and soon, she had opened her eyes to look at him once again. There is something blocking that which you seek. Something which has changed within him; made him see the world as a place without magic. But he knows not what that is, Aello's mind whispered as she gave a slight nod, tightening her grip on her father's old bow as she did so. "It is strange for a man to have gone so long without so much as trying to hunt; to gather his own food," Aello went on. "Don't they begin to teach boys how do such things, at quite a young age where you come from?" she asked, thinking him all the more peculiar the longer she took to study him. But that was what kept her interested in him; his many oddities. "And don't they teach you how to fight, at least with your fists if they don't let you handle a blade?" she went on. "Oh don't say you're from a more peaceful area, where nothing bad ever happens, and you live off the fruits that grow on the trees, and whatever one may import?" There was a slight pause as Aello shook her head, finding such a suggestion completely ridiculous. "Anyway... yes, why do you think you see a quiver filled with arrows upon my back, and a bow in my hand?" Aello asked, before her smile widened. "On second thought, people may bring those things along for show... just to scare people off. Good call stranger." Aello sighed. "But alas, you have not come to meet one who carries these along for show. No, you have met someone who knows how to use a bow." There was a slight pause, "it seems like there is nothing that suits your fancy here. So why don't we find something that will? You can come into the wild with us if you'd like, and we can show you what we can do. Find ourselves a halfway decent meal, instead of settling for this rubbish." The girl's eyes sparkled as she motioned towards the stalls filled with meat with her free hand. "So what do you say?" she asked, as she swiftly pulled her hood off her head, shaking it softly so that her long brown hair tumbled down her shoulders, before looking up at Clyde again. "Would you like to come along? Or do you need more convincing?" OOCAlso note, Aello is wearing a hood, I don't know how easy it would be to determine her features.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde listened as she spoke, what she said made sense. Why had he never learned to fight? Why did he have no skills to defend himself... He had been wondering that for a while... He concentrated, wracking his brain on it, but it simply made his head hurt.... He could not remember. Surely he had some skills... "I never bothered to learn to fight with a blade, I preferred to use my..." However he would stop here, with a confused look on his face. He might have once answered this in one way... But he could not recall how... What had he been saying... Having lost his train of thought, he grew a distant look in his eyes, before blinking a few times and returning to the conversation. He tried to run through what she had just said, making a quick judgement on it, since he did not want to stand there to long without answering... Though this time he spoke with less conviction, and less energy behind it. "I suppose I would not be against going for a hunt, since you are skilled in it. Maybe you can teach me a few things?" He would say this with a smile, trying to cover up his awkward actions before.

[Aello]

Aello's right brow lifted into an arch which matched the shape of her father's old bow. Well he sure does have an odd way of speaking... as though his mind forces him to dance around the subject of magic. It's as though he knows somewhere inside of himself that he was once taught a way of defending himself, but simply cannot put his finger on the name of the discipline, Aello's mind whispered. On one hand, she wanted to prompt the boy, simply to see if it made any sort of difference, but on the other, she knew that Clyde didn't know her well, and that she probably shouldn't force the matter. Perhaps when he knew her a little better, she'd try to draw out the truth; how much he honestly recalled. Where his brain seemed to have shut off... "As you wish," Aello finally replied, after having let herself fall silent for an awkwardly long period of time. Her mind lost in thought; in analysis and questions she wanted to ask. How strange of her really, to wish to poke and prod another human being quite so much. Usually, she wasn't quite so curious. "If we hurry, we could make it out of the city and into the wilderness before the sun reaches its peak within the sky," she commented, glancing up only for a moment to determine its current location before returning her gaze to Clyde. "The name's Aello by the way, and this is Yune," the young spiritist explained. "Keep close to us, and serve as an extra set of eyes. Unless you're armed, it seems unlikely that there is anything else you can do to help with the hunt." With that, Aello walked past Clyde, hoping to escape row upon row of food stalls. "Come," was all she said, calling over her shoulder, but not bothering to look back. If the boy couldn't keep up, he wasn't worth allowing to come along on the trip. Swiftly, Aello weaved her way through the crowd, through city streets, bridges, and other narrow passageways. By the time she made it to the outskirts of town, it was nearly noon. "Almost there," she muttered, as she kept walking, glancing over her shoulder only once to see what was around her, before looking ahead of her again. Finally, shortly after noon, she and Yune arrived at the outskirts of the forest, a line of pine trees serving as her welcome committee. "Well here we are," she whispered with a sigh. "The wilderness. Best be on your guard, lest you want something nasty to try and take a bite out of you." OOCSorry I sped it up so much... erm, if you need me to backtrack ask. But I figured we'd be doing lots of wandering through the forest before we found anything exciting... so. >.<

[Clyde Sullins]

Following along, Clyde decided to trust her. She did not have much to gain if she was lying, since he did not carry much with him, and he might gain some skill if he went along. Plus he did have a weapon... Though he doubted he would actually hit with his slingshot... "Aello.... I am Clyde... and nice to meet you Yune..." He did his best to stay close, and with his much longer legs, it was not to difficult to keep up. After all, she was about a foot shorter than him... He did try to look, though his eyesight was not the best... But he checked more for motion than anything else, as that was easier. He did pay attention, as she mentioned something trying to bite him... As he liked to keep all of his current toes and body parts... Hopefully things would work out well. "So, what are we looking for? I am not really sure what all creatures there are to hunt near here..." Saying this, he looked through his bag and took out his slingshot, and the bullets for it. Just in case he needed it.

[Aello]

Aello looked over her shoulder at Clyde with an amused grin. Her eyes passed over the slingshot, and she could not help but emit a small giggle, her eyes flashing playfully. "First of all, it's not likely that you'll kill anything other than squirrels and chipmunks with that," Aello began, an edge of laughter in her voice. "The things in this forest, well the things worth hunting are far larger than that, and the only thing you're likely to do with that, is piss them off. Well, the larger, crankier, carnivorous things we may encounter anyway. You see Clyde, hidden within the trees are a number of things, things which we may see, and things we may not take notice of- like insects for example. Then there are the birds, most of them are small, not worth hunting, and even if they were, how fair would it be to do so when Yune is among us? There are also rabbits, deer, the occasional fox, and wolves... and those, those are pretty petching nasty. Especially when you encounter them in a group." Aello shuddered, "but not too worry. A few well-placed arrows to their gut brings them down, no problem." Her smile widened as she spoke, and soon, the words stopped coming, at which point she turned back around, towards the forest. Within a few moments, Aello had resumed walking, driving into the line of trees, not at all afraid of what they may be concealing from her. What the forest may have in store for them. After surviving a few wolf attacks, you quit worrying quite so much, growing more confident in your skills. "Just keep your eyes peeled, and remain as quiet as you can, that way you will be open to receiving more sound," Aello explained, in little more than a whisper. "Should you need to get our attention, try to use hand motions, or have us read your lips or something," she suggested, looking over her shoulder only to speak to Clyde face to face, before turning around again. At which point, she stepped on a stick, splitting it loudly in two. Instantly, she tensed, scrunching her eyes shut and practically cringing. "And be mindful what you step on. Since we don't want to be making so much noise we alert everything to our presence, and scare all the prey away," she added, as her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. Aello quickly shook her embarrassment off, and continued walking, just a bit faster, keeping her eyes peeled for any other sign of life. Slowly, she reached over her shoulder with her right hand, and plucked a raven-feather fletched arrow from her quiver. She held it delicately, between her fingertips as she brought it forward, careful not to accidently hit Clyde as she did so. By the time she had brought her arrow all the way forward, Aello had turned her bow to the side, so that the wooden frame ran horizontally across her body. Swiftly, the girl laced her arrow onto the bowstring, knowing that the nock had taken when she heard a soft click. At which point, she wrapped the three middle fingers of her right hand around the arrow. The ring finger below the arrow, and the middle and index above. Gently, she pulled the string back only slightly, as she adjusted her bow so that the arrow was pointed just a few inches before her feet; at the forest terrain just in front of her. Should she see or hear anything, she could always lift her bow to shoot.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde was a bit disheartened by hearing her speak of his slingshot. It might not be the most impressive thing, but it could do a decent bit of damage if it hit well... Though he was not really the best shot... But still... He smiled a bit, going on with a story he had heard. "It might not look that impressive, but I once heard of a story of a man killing a mountain of a creature with but one stone to the head. Dropped him dead!" So this was mostly just bragging, but still it was not to bad of a story... Even if it was unlikely for that to happen unless it hit just perfectly... But he did not really have any weapons that strong, just his slingshot, and a dagger, neither of which he was all that good with... Continuing along, Clyde followed Aello into the forest, seeing were she was leading him. Nothing appeared close that he could see. Though he did his best to keep a straight face when she made a loud sound just after telling him to be quiet. But he decided to make sure he did not make the same mistake, and kept careful notice of the ground before him. So close that he did not notice as he neared a tree, and his elbow sticking out smashed into its trunk, dislodging a loose branch from the upper part of the tree, which came crashing down loudly. Rubbing his sore elbow, he said a quiet "Oops... Well I did not step on a twig..." As the branch smashed down. Seeing that Aello was knocking her bow, he also prepared his slingshot, taking out a stone from the pouch, and putting it in the slingshot, preparing it to fire. If nothing else, he could at least distract something long enough for her to shoot it.

[Aello]

As soon as the branch snapped, Aello's eyes grew wide, and her head twisted to face Clyde. Well aren't we both a noisy lot? the girl thought, breaking every darn twig and branch in this darn forest. Alerting all the animals to our presence. "We seriously need to work on that," Aello commented, her voice soft. "If we intend on catching anything to eat," she finished, turning back around. She shook her head softly. Now if we can cut that out, we'll be ok, she thought, as she took a deep breath in through her nose, and then let it out through her mouth. As soon as she had calmed down again, Aello continued moving through the forest, looking for something to eat. Now where did all those darn rabbits get to? she wondered, glancing at the bird on her shoulder for a moment. "Yune, take to the sky, stretch your wings. See if there is anything for us to find," she whispered, before the bird leapt off her shoulder, and into the air. Flapping its tiny brown wings rapidly, sending it upwards and into the sky, far over the line of trees. Aello watched her go, "perhaps she will find something. If not, at least she will be out of the way," she whispered, doubting that Clyde could hear her. "Come on, lets keep going. We are more likely to find things the deeper we delve into the forest," Aello whispered, as she crept forward. She was carefully maneuvering her way through the trees so that unlike Clyde, she would not accidently break any more branches, or crunch on any old, dead, dried brown leaves. "If we keep our eyes peeled, we may find something up ahead. There are several berry bushes, where smaller animals choose to hang out sometimes." With that, Aello fell silent; she had spoken more than enough, and now it was time to pretend that she was without tongue.