Eagle Eye (Dor)

[Dhatzu]

Timestamp: 65th day of Summer, 511 AV Location: Various around Lhavit StatusL Closed, Tag Dor The Sharai Peak towered overhead, the acolyte peering over his shoulder up at its tiers. The sun dropping low behind it, already casting it in shadows. The spire was adorned with patches of green, dotted with gardens and the fabricated pastures for the okomo. The rich scent of the flora still clung in his nostrils as did the aroma of the okomo. He had just descended the mount, coming from the tier housing the okomo village. The facility was is quite an uproar. One of the younger okomo, barely more than a kid, had not returned. The okomo were free to wander the peak as they wished, always returning to their village. One had not. Aleto had sent him to the village to offer any help he could. His sponsor had mentioned to the main handler, Khana Rayastai, that Dhatzu possessed certain qualities that might aid in finding the errant animal. Especially if it somehow made its way off of the peaks and into the Misty's. So making his way towards Zintia Peak, the Shinya acolyte kept an eye out for the missing okomo, peering into suspicious shadows, and seeking some that may be willing to assist him. Dhatzu had only been to the okomo village once. Young acolytes were often taken to see the animals, for one day, many of them would come to ride an okomo as a mount. Dhatzu wanted to be one of those rider. Riders appeared noble and adventurous. So, the acolyte did not mind being assigned to help, it was a break from lessons, and to be honest, appealed to the side of him that love to uncover secrets. Consciously or not, the okomo kid was keeping his location secret form Dhatzu, and that only stirred the desire to find the creature more. But really, where could it have gone? With a sigh, the young man stopped and glanced around him. How could an okomo not be seen just walking around? Where would he even start looking for it? It was clear by the scrambling and frantic organization that quite a few lhavitians were already seeking for the beast. He decided he would make his way to the Amaranthine Gates, possibly interrogating any willing shadows along way.

[Dor]

The day lasted but a blink. Typically they stretched an aeon for the peregrine falcon whose hunting habits were closer to that of an owl’s. Yet the night previous found her lost in the bowl of the heavens, flown too far with an uncompromising nightmare hounding her from sleep. The result was a collapse into the curving branches of an agreeable birch, bright leaves flickering and fluttering to camouflage her from the remains of the world. The passage of squirrels and hopping robins, the fleet feet of hare coursing beneath failed to rouse her. Hunger, in the end, did the trick. There was little point in walking when one could fly. Fact of the matter was that she had not a lot of practice at walking, but she was not yet convinced that there would never be enough to make her graceful on two feet. Due to the fragile sensibilities of the rest of the world, she had even bothered to put on clothes. A pair of worn, supple leather trousers and a loose, tied linen shirt completed her efforts. Murder hair was tangled down her back and her feed were distinctly lacking in shoes. Shoes, she was convinced, were primarily instruments of torture and only rarely actually useful. The unfortunate result of little walking practice combined with no shoes and a mountainous landscape was a hotly cursing young woman, stumbling out of the tree line until she could hop on foot with an only mostly muffled whine. She had managed to stub her toe for the third time. Swearing like a sailor in a hodgepodge of language known only for their cuss words, she dropped the offending foot, rocked backs and began jerking at the ties of her shirt. So much for walking. It was right about then, however, that she realized she was not alone on the path and there was a figure appearing from around a twilit curve. It froze her with avian stillness, curiosity mingling with wariness as always.

[Dhatzu]

Of course, there was no sign of the stray okomo kid as Dhatzu made his way across the bridges and platforms of Lhavit. Nor did he find any shadows that knew, or were willing to talk about, seeing the animal. There were other Shinya and handlers from the Okomo Village, he could see, milling about in the crowds. Sighing, he questioned his usefulness randomly wandering about hoping to come across the thing. His original course, towards the gates, was resumed. The acolyte thought to see if, by some means, the okomo had made it out of the city. Arriving at the towering Amaranthine Gates, Dhatzu had inquired of the Shinya guards after the missing beast. As expected, they had seen nothing. But Dhatzu's heart lifted when they mentioned, as an afterthought, that the sentries on duty before them did mention a man leaving thought the gates leading a young okomo. Their impression was that the the man was not lhavitian. They thought nothing of it and let him pass out of the city. Aha...suspicious! Dhatzu's excitement sparked. He loved uncovering mysteries and secrets, and he just got a taste of something that, perhaps, maybe be subversive activity. Nearly bounding down the winding narrow path from the gates, the acolyte scanned the landscape below. The river, pockets of forests, and the ever looming slopes of the Misty peaks stretched out below and around him, the shroud of dusk beginning to creep along the mountains as Syna's light waned at days' end. It was all void of okomos. He questioned the guide at his shack at the foot of the path, who only confirmed someone with an Okomo passed by earlier in the day. Undeterred, Dhatzu set out, looking for the errant young okomo, or a shadow willing to give him information. The lhavitian followed a familiar trail, thinking perhaps the man with the okomo would too have followed it. Rounding a bend, a site both unexpected and admittedly welcomed met Dhatzu. Well...the sound met him first. a string of curses, only a few intelligible to him and all obviously obscene drifted across the evening air on a woman's voice. Only then did Dhatzu see the source, a woman stumbling out of the trees. The disheveled hair was unmistakable, and the tone of the voice tickled his memory. Dor. Dhatzu paused, crossed his arms over his chest and spoke up. "A falcon in the city, and a woman in the woods. Don't you have your shapes confused Dor?" His grin spread from ear to ear.

[Dor]

For the longest span of breaths, Dor seemed to be holding her's. The laces of her tunic were tangled about her fingers, her weight still rested on one foot because the one too often stubbed had been lifted off the ground, and only the hem of her trousers and the tangles of her hair drifted in the lazy breeze. Abruptly, she smiled, spell breaking around her as she jerked her fingers loose and rolled forward to approach the acolyte. "Dhatzu," she greeted, fumbling more than walking her way to a halt just out of arm's reach. The dying light of day spread over them, setting her hair alight and drawing out the golden hues in the Lhatvian's skin. Hands lifted in a perplexed gesture, unbuttoned sleeves crumbling back. A bruise against the delicate line of a wrist bone, a bit of fresh turned earth beneath her fingernails. Dirty little creature, but fresh as the night blooming around them. "I am both in both places." Duh.

[Dhatzu]

Dor was the last thing he expected to see stumble out of the trees that late evening. Dhatzu would have to admit a jolt of excitement at the sight of the kelvic. Dor had made quite an impression upon him the first time they met, the falcon girl a magical enigma that flew in and then out his life in a few bells. She had been the first kelvic he had met, of only two he knew, and that magical experience had lingered often in his thoughts, as did the mysterious girl herself. Encouraged by Dor's sudden smile, Dhatzu's grin persisted, partly due to the bubbling joy he felt at seeing Dor again, and partly due to her current appearance. The girl looked as if she had never worn close before. barefoot, unbuttoned, untied, staggering about fumbling with tethers, Dor replied to him as if he were the ridiculous one. "I am both in both places." The Shinya acolyte tugged at one of his sleeves self-consciously. "Indeed, but how often do you dress the girl?" He teased. During their first meeting, he had been at a disadvantage, stunned by the kelvic shifting, off-balance by the eccentric nature of the girl herself. Now, finding the falcon girl in a moment of disorientation, Dhatzu felt an ease in her presence. His pressing task momentarily forgotten, the lhavitian studied again the most curious woman. The light of sundown gave her mane a fiery sheen, even more brilliant against her porcelain skin, touched by a warm tint of orange in the deepening hues of the setting sun. She was still thin, though nothing of her appearance could be interpreted as weakness. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

[Dor]

Dor watched the acolyte tug at the sky blue sleeve of his robe. The robe she had not forgotten. After all, he had thrown it at her upon their first meeting, far too flustered by her lack of clothing than she privately thought anyone should be. The robe was soft and had the misfortune of being her favorite color: that of Up. Without thinking about it, she darted out a hand to rub at the hem of his sleeve. This, of course, brought her within his reach; but she seemed to be less concerned with that as she had been even a minute ago. “Fair enough,” she decided, initial smile having vanished like the star behind storm clouds; but now it hinted along the line of her mouth, awaiting opportunity. “Only sometimes. And I was out,” she released her hold on his sleeve to fling out her arms in apparent illustration. Out flying was her clear meaning. “Then I got tired so took to roost and now,” she sighed. Never had there been a more put upon ‘now’. “I’m practicing walking.” She stuck her tongue in her cheek and eyed him out of the corners of things, perhaps attempting to discern the probability of his disdain for her admission. “But I stubbed my toe. Thrice.” A beat. “What are you doing out here?”

[Dhatzu]

The young man had attempted to present a collected and confident exhibition for Dor. But the sudden sight of the kelvic elicited a visceral response within the lhavitian. Dhatzu had thought of Dor often after the night they met, and he wondered at it sometimes as if it was a dream. He had seen it, the falcon turn into a girl, over and over in his mind. He still recalled her nude form and her complete lack of modesty. Her curious words, her demeanor, so eccentric, were etched in his memory. To suddenly see the memory living and breathing again was a bit of a shock. When Dor reached out unexpectedly, Dhaztu froze, as if the falcon had been the one to touch his sleeve. He looked at her curiously still, probably no different than when he gawked at her at Surya Plaza. Roosting, practicing walking? She was a falcon, he had to repeat to himself, only barely grasping still the concept of the kelvics. Once he realized the girl had asked him a question, Dhaztu's head shook almost imperceptibly, as if to knock his attention back into place. "Oh, me? I am looking for a missing okomo." He answered almost flippantly. The lhavitian looked up the path a ways before setting his gaze back on Dor's dark eyes. "If you want, you can walk with me." The acolyte jumped at the chance to spend more time with the fascinating woman. "I know these paths well." He stopped, not wanting to insult her by suggesting he find an easy path for her. It was an odd irony. Dor could fly, soar about a world he could never see, more free than any human, yet, she had not mastered the simplest means of travel. "By the way, did you see anyone come by leading a young okomo kid?"

[Dor]

"Okomo?" Dor repeated like a parrot, eyebrows going up. Up, too, went her hands to curl out from her head in apparent indication of horns. It was ultimately a question of clarification, the girl not having much chance for acquaintance with the mysterious creature inhabiting the City of Stars. "Big beasts?" She tilted her head in a decidedly avian manner, hands dropping when she whirled around to fall into step with Dhatzu. That did not work very well due to the difference in their height and actual ability -- laughable as that was. Within a few steps she had already fallen behind, but whether that was due to her stubbed toe or the fact that a scraggly, flowering weed had caught her fascination was up in the air. "No," she said finally. "I haven't seen anything like that, but I'll walk with.." She trailed off and words were replaced by a bubbling of laughter. A hand clamped over her mouth in an attempt to suppress it, but dark eyes glinted at him despite. "I, um," she finally managed, muffled and mumbling around laughter and hand, "Could go Up, look about for you."

[Dhatzu]

"Uh, yeah." Dhatzu anwered with a grin, amused at Dor's gestures, adding a visual aid to her inquiry. "Those things are called Okomos. Some of the Shinya ride them." Whether Dor knew what a Shinya was or not, the lhavitian had no clue, and he laughed as he tried to imagine a gesture that would help explain what they were. Maybe a dramatic martial arts pose, or a reflective meditation posture. After only a few steps, Dhatzu opened his mouth to speak to Dor, only to find that she had fallen behind already. Slowing his stride, he turned enough to see her, waiting for her momentary distraction to pass. The acolyte had forgotten how unusual Dor's behavior could be, her demeanor serving to remind him that, as he walked and talked to the girl, he was walking and talking to a falcon. The concept still both confused and amazed the young man, and assured his continued interest in the woman. There was no disappointment that she had not seen the missing okomo, and the hint that she would accompany him was certainly no disappointment either. That was until Dor suddenly began to giggle. He had not seen the girl behave so...giddy. Her laughter was contagious, and Dhatzu chuckled too, though he wondered at what the two of them were laughing. He did not catch her inference at first, still clinging to the "this is a girl" perception of the kelvic. Then his eyes widened in understanding, his grin expanding. "Yes, yes!" He pointed at her enthusiastically, then waved his hands in front of her in a swirling motion. "You could...do that..thing..." His hands then came together and swung up towards the sky. "And fly up there and look around!"

[Dor]

As Dhatzu's gestures appeared and grew increasingly more enthusiastic, Dor's eyebrows climbed higher and higher. Either the acolyte was ridiculously worried about this horned okomo beast creature or, for reasons equally as beyond her imaginings, he was making fun of her. Language might have been a thing with which she struggled, but there were at least two in which she was most fluent: Symenos and Butt Kicking. Hands fell to the slant of hips, chin tilting up as she waited for him to finish making swirly motions in front of her face. Throughout, eyes of pitch regarded him with the bright power and fierce consciousness; but mayhaps he could console himself with the fact that she did observe him, unfailing, hanging on his every word. "O-kay." she said when he was finished, the shrug lifting her shoulders and through the rest of her as she caught the hem of her shirt. Okay, she would go do the swirly thing and go Up and take a look around for the silly horned monster. No biggie. The shirt was pulled over her head, twilight gilding porcelain flesh that remained too lean but boasted the curves of a woman newly grown. She wore no under clothes, but one might imagine the fact that she had been wearing anything at all was a giant's step. A silver chain sparkled with night-shine, a jeweled pendant dangling between the lush curve of her breasts. She balled up the shirt and threw it at his chest before squirming her way out of calfskin trousers, buttons popping free before she ending up hopping and kicking a bit to untangle herself from the legs. That article of clothing, too, was bunched up and tossed at Dhatzu, the apparent Keeper of Her Clothing. "Keep walking," she flapped her hands at the path, clad in nothing but the sky, nothing but the Up as she preferred. "I'll find you," she promised. By the time his heart beat again, she had exploded in burst of glimmering lights not unlike a swarm of lightning bugs caught in some strange frenzy. The air surrounding them seemed to crystallize and shatter, falling beneath the sudden crack of powerful wings. Wind buffeted Dhatzu as the peregrine falcon pummeled the air on her way up, up, up and within short order wheeled away in a widening gyre.