Grin and Bear It [Asim]

[Raiha]

Raiha's head snapped up when he made that comment about arguing with herself. Her golden eyes widened, only to narrow as she regarded him for a long time without saying anything. How did he know? How could he know? "It's not that easy. You can say that, but you have no idea," the Akontak was quiet as she eyed him, lips pursed, ears drawn back, her bread forgotten. "I can't stop it. It just happens. And it would be a lot worse if I didn't talk with her all the time. So I'm sorry if you don't like it, but if I'm getting used to your surly demeanor, then you can get used to this. Because it's not something that can be changed. It's part of me like breathing is."

I guess he had better get off at the next port, because otherwise, he is going to be very unhappy... Kanikra chuckled. Raiha did her best to try to keep any sign of her internal argument from coming to the forefront. This was interesting. Very interesting. Clearly, she needed to do better at this, and improve fast. Else, well... it would be too obvious. She couldn't have that. That was not good, not in the slightest...

Be quiet. Just be quiet. She managed it a little better this time as she focused her intent gaze on Asim and made sure it stayed there as she worked deft fingers inside the loaf, pinching another piece of crumb. "Yes, that is where the Konti call home. An Akontak is a mixed-blood that sometimes happens when a Konti and an Akalak come together. When an Akalak fathers a child, the resulting baby is always an Akalak... and the Konti work the same way. Whenever a Konti has a child, the baby is always a Konti," she nibbled on the bread. "But when a Konti and an Akalak produce a child... it can go either way. And sometimes, you get me. Neither one nor quite the other. That is what an Akontak is."

[Asim]

Asim lifted an eyebrow slightly. "Excuse me? 'Her'? So, what, it's like, a split personality, or something?" asked the Kelvic as he leaned forward on his bunk, staring at her. He didn't like the sound of this. It smelled like trouble. With a growl, the Kelvic shrugged. He'd deal with it, if it became a problem. But otherwise, I could care less. I'm ony traveling with her till Riverfall, thought the Kelvic as he leaned back on his bunk again.

On hearing her response to his question on her race, he nodded slightly, although he still caught sings of an internal argument. But he let it go, this time. "So, you're the product of two 'children of the Gods' having a kid?" he asked. "Isn't that a bit...much? You'd think someone would have tried to take advantage of a claim like that," he replied, lifting his eyebrow even further up his head, so that it dissapeared behind a wall of grizzly brown hair.

[Raiha]

At 'split personality', Raiha just smiled. "Yes," she nodded slightly. "Split personalities. One's a violent sadist, the other is me. Not that you'll have any problem with her," the Akontak's smile became a bit of a grin. "I don't think she's anything you can't handle, though," Raiha fiddled with her loaf of bread, the grin slowly fading. "She comes out sometimes. You'll meet her. She thinks you're interesting." She worked herself back into the hammock, snuggling in to make herself comfortable once more. "You'll know if it happens. Subtlety is not her strong suit. Just watch out for the suvai. They're poisonous."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Kanikra let her have it. You will be the death of us yet! Do you have to tell everyone everything? Use your head! I know it's not empty! Use it! Raiha's knuckles went white under her dusky blue skin as she sank her fingers into the loaf of bread to the knuckle, almost like she was going to tear it apart. What do I have to do to make you realize that you're only making things harder for yourself by giving away your secrets?! You are making yourself a sitting duck! Raiha's face contorted as she ground her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, even as her purple lips twisted and pursed before flattening against her teeth. Suddenly, her eyes were wide open again, staring at nothing as they rolled before she blinked and remembered where she was as Kanikra eased up. I could have and I didn't. Next time, I will.

Raiha breathed heavily for a moment as she worked on disentangling her fingers from her bread, looking almost sadly at the new ten holes she had forced through the heavy crust. "That's about right, yes. The Konti are the children of Avalis and Laviku, while the Akalak are born of Akajia and Wysar," she nibbled on a piece of crust as she considered what he had asked, continuing the conversation as if nothing had happened. He could mean that in a lot of different ways, really... "What do you mean, 'take advantage'?" Diallo had emerged from where Yakini was stalled with the single rope across the stall's entryway to come over to nose the Akontak, who fed him a piece of her bread. The dog swallowed it, and nosed her hand, looking for more as her fingers caressed his fur. Brown eyes met gold as Raiha smiled a little at the dog, who went back to rubbing his head against her hand.

[Asim]

Asim lowered his eyebrow as he listened to Raiha Blueskin outline the basics of her split personality. Hearing about the violence, he shrugged. "I'll just punch her in the head. She'll leave me alone," he replied. Most people stayed out for a bit after getting one of his punches. They hurt.

As soon as she was done speaking, she seemed to have problems, so Asim let out a low growl, and when that didn't work, a louder one that shook the bunks in the room. He could see she was having problems controlling the other "side" of her. When she was done, though, he cut off his growl, though he scowled at her. "You need to work on your control. And you shouldn't give out all your secrets. It's a mistake to tell someone everything about yourself. It'll get you killed one day, when I'm not there to help."

Done reprimanding her, he leaned down to pull his pack out. He had a bit of apple pie hidden in his pack, wrapped in leather, which he felt like sharing. So, reaching into his pack, he pulled the leather bundle out, un-wrapped it, and held out the pie to her. "Want some?" he asked, before thinking over her reply on how the two races came to be. When she asked about 'taking advantage', he lifted his eyebrow again. "You mean one of you has never tried to ascend?" he asked, raising both eyebrows in disbelief.

[Raiha]

See? He has some sense, and he's five, Kanikra was scathing. Smarten up.

She accepted his lecture without complaint, only to shrug slightly and nod. "Who's going to hear it but you? And who would you tell? I don't make a practice of it. But that is fine. I won't warn you what other tricks she has up her sleeve, but I didn't want you to see these," she tapped the pair of sheathed suvai on the leather belt that encircled her hips, "and think they were just something to scratch your back with." But sure. Talk less, be quiet. Raiha could do that. There was something to be said for it, now, wasn't there? Let him learn by trial and error like the rest of them.

He's a big boy. What do you really think you can protect him from? You really can't. If I can get him with the suvai, he deserves whatever he gets. You're just insulting him by telling him all of this. Sure, he may not be the sharpest knife on the block, but really...

Oh! Apple pie. She smiled briefly at that, and pulled herself from the hammock, bypassing Diallo. She handed the dog a fairly decent chunk of bread to gnaw on as she made her way across the floor to accept some of the pie. Raiha did like sweets. "Thank you," she retreated back to the hammock, lowering herself into it, content to pick at the pie much as she had with her bread. She considered his question and the explanation he had given. "Maybe some have tried," Raiha said slowly. "But I've never given it much thought. I don't anticipate it ever happening, either." She had never thought about it, actually, somehow becoming a god or an Alvina. Though maybe stranger things had happened.

She swallowed a piece of apple. "What's it like being a bear? Do you prefer that shape over the one you're in now?"

[Asim]

"You never know. There might be a member of the crew right outside the door, and we wouldn't know about it, unless my ears were working really well," replied the Kelvic as he narrowed his eyes slightly. On hearing her warn him about the suvai, he chuckled. "I doubt I would have gotten to them anyways, considering where they're at," he returned, his narrowed eyes returning to normal, as a lewd grin spread across his face. At least she wasn't arguing with herself anymore.

"You're quite welcome," he replied as he bit off a piece of his own pie. At least she's polite, which was more than could be said for most other people I've met. Leaning back on his bunk, he chewed on his pie. "Really? Mortals have done it before. And I'm sure somewhere, one of the other Blueskins has designs on becoming an immortal."

"Being a bear? Well....It's...Hmm...Hard one. Can't answer it. What's it like having two separate personalities?" he asked.

[Raiha]

"Or your nose," Raiha smiled faintly. "As they say... when a pin falls in a forest, the eagle sees it, the deer hears it, but the bear smells it." She could have said something about having some proficiency with the whalebone blades, and that included actually removing them from the sheaths, but... well, that was kind of obvious, now, wasn't it? Her smile became a bit of a grin back at him. But at least she wasn't blushing now.

No blushing. If you blush, it's giving away your feelings. Keep them between us. They don't belong with anyone else.

"Maybe they have," she agreed. "But they are them, and I'm me, and I'm not one of them. I've never had any designs on trying to become an Alvina or a Goddess. It's unlikely to ever happen. But there's very, very few of us. Most Akontak do not survive. I only did because of the Opal Order... that's a camaraderie of healers in Mura, on Konti Isle... priests and priestesses of Rak'keli, the goddess of healing. It's a place of medicine and doctors. I was very lucky to live in Mura as a child, else I likely would have died," Raiha relaxed in her hammock once more, picking carefully at the flaky crust of the pie. It was delicious. Raiha liked to eat, after all. Well, she loved it. Luckily enough for her, she got enough exercise. "Confusing. But didn't you just tell me not to give away my secrets? How do you know if it's one personality, or two, or three, or five?" she smiled a little at that.

Just keep your mouth shut, and we'll be fine.

[Asim]

With a snort, the Kelvic took another bite of his pie. While doing so, he allowed a grin to slip into place, hidden by the pastry. He lowered the pie once his smile was gone and chewed for a minute in silence. "They say that, do they?" asked Asim, staring at her. "Well, what do they know?" he grumbled to himself.

"Healers, huh?" replied Asim, picking out what he thought was interesting in her reply. "Is that where you learned how to pull arrows?" he asked as he downed the rest of his pie and licked his fingers clean. As he finished, he watched her pick at the crust. Leaning forward slowly, he lifted an eyebrow. "Because if it turns out to be any more than one, I'll knock you out and then leave, and you'll never see me again. So, how many is it?" he growled. He didn't like being played with like this.

[Raiha]

Raiha shrugged a little. "Some. I'm a novice at medicine and herbalism. I'll get better at them as I go. Like I said before... the Healers saved my life many times when I was a child... so I'm doing my best to help others out, too. Returning the favour, as it were," She didn't mention her Rak'keli mark. Maybe some other time, though he might have seen it already - her shoulders were exposed, after all, and she had turned her back on him to return to her hammock with her pie. "There's always injuries and sickness to tend to. Someone needs to," she smiled a bit, reclining in the hammock.

She wasn't prepared for his growled out threat. Her ears practically drew back, her lips pursed, and her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she regarded him, an almost animalistic way to her features, as if she was ready to throw decorum out the door too. There are always going to be people like this, Kanikra told her. They tell you not to tell your secrets, and then when you stop, they get annoyed now that you're actually taking their advice. Just stand your ground. Do not back down. If you back down, he's going to think he can intimidate you and walk all over you whenever he wants to. Stand your ground, or shame the both of us and divinity. You can't let the Gods down, can you? There was bite to Kanikra's words, but there was also a ring of truth.

"Then you decide for yourself," Raiha shrugged, leaning forward in the hammock, letting the dog lick the remainder of the crumbs from her fingers before catching Diallo's head with her hands, working her fingers in along the skin and fur, scratching him as the big beast leaned into her, though he twisted to stare at the Kelvic, sensing the tension. "If you want to get off at the next port, you can, and hike back to Sylira or get a boat. That's your call. You've gone above and beyond by coming with me this far. But I'll thank you not to waste your breath on threats against me." She gathered as severe a look as she could muster, and for one who had the look of a teenager, wasn't very severe at all. Not when you were used to threatening wolves and poachers and people.

[Asim]

He wondered, for only a minute, if he should ask about the mark on her back, but decided it wasn't his place. If she wanted to talk about it, she would. And he had time. They had a ways to go before they reached their destination.

Asim stared at her for a minute, his eyes narrowed. Then he started to laugh, a deep booming laugh. "No. I think I shall stay a while longer. You've got spunk, and that interests me," he replied between laughs. He lay back on his bunk and continued to chuckle. Hmm....Chances are high that sticking with her is gonna get me injured again, but also high that I'll have some fun as long as I travel with her, thought the Kelvic, still chuckling. He looked at her once more and dissolved into laughter again. He couldn't help it. Her reply, along with the look on her face kept him laughing.