Grin and Bear It [Asim]

[Raiha]

Closed. Asim, please.

2nd of Spring, 510 AV.

They had gone straight to the harbor, bypassing the city entirely. This suited Raiha well - the less attention they attracted, the happier she would be. Yakini was stabled, and now the five of them--Asim, Yakini, Diallo, Uzima, and Raiha-- were below decks. The ship was on its way. With luck and good water... they would get down the Suvan quite quickly. Raiha didn't count on luck, though - so as it was, she was hoping Makutsi was in a good mood. Diallo rested in the straw with the Firemane mare, Raiha's bags and cloak bundled on a crate. The Akontak, her long white hair parted into two braids from the center of her forehead along her hairline until the braids became one, stroked Uzima's breast, the goshawk perched on her leather-covered forearm.

She had removed the leash, and the goshawk stretched her wings, looking around the wooden hold, listening for the squeaks that signaled her of food. The Akontak watched the bird, and then lowered her arm before launching the bird into flight. The goshawk's wings stretched and flapped, stirring dust, her tail fanned out. Letting out a cry, Uzima swooped down on a rat, landing on it, her tail fanned out, sinking her talons into it and sitting on it, wings still outstretched as the rodent struggled under the hawk's weight. Raiha made her way over to the bird, reaching for the hawk. The goshawk stepped up at a light nudge, and Raiha trapped the rat's tail with one boot, and brought her heel down on the rodent's head with the other, pushing out at the same time. The animal's cries stopped, and Raiha lowered the bird back down to the kill. "Good Uzima. Good hunting," she told her quietly, and returned let the bird get to work on eating. If she just let Uzima kill it, the goshawk would take her sweet time to do so. This way, the suffering was minimal, and Uzima got to eat.

Raiha knew they were on the way to Riverfall, and it would take some twenty days to get there, if Laviku smiled on them. She perched her long limbs in a hammock, and eyed Asim, head angled. "Thank you again for agreeing to come with me," she smiled slightly. "How is your back feeling?" She didn't want that to get infected, and she was forever reminding him not to pick.

[Asim]

Asim opened his eyes and sat up slowly, to look at Raiha. He had gone to his bunk as soon as they had boarded the ship, to get some sleep, since his last nap had been interrupted. With a grin, he shrugged. "You're welcome. Maybe I'll find a new den somewhere where I can get a good days sleep without getting shot," he replied as he scratched at his chest, his fingernails grating over the bandages. "And my back feels fine. Except when it itches. Which is all the time. I hate being constricted to one form for so long," he continued, pulling his hand away from the bandages. And then he slid off his bunk to place his feet on the floor, standing slowly. He was dressed in his loincloth, and nothing else, as his pack was laying under his bunk with his coat and boots still attached to it.

Glancing around, he raised an eyebrow. "Anything to eat?" he asked as he sat back on the bunk, picking at his bandages again. "I wouldn't mind a steak. Or something still moving, and the size of a horse. Hell, I wouldn't mind a horse, actually," he continued, using his free hand to scratch at his chin.

[Raiha]

He would sleep through another Valterrian, Kanikra remarked with some amusement. Let's hope he's less lethargic once he gets used to the sea. If pirates happen, you are in trouble, Diallo or not. This is why I tried to get you to get better at fighting.

Would you stop? Raiha asked her sister twin dryly. He's tired. Let him be. He'll be fine. "If you decide to take a nap anywhere it suits you, big bear though you are, and you get struck by a wayward arrow, I think the lesson is that you should be learning to pick a better den, not blaming me for someone coming through who might have anyway," she told the Kelvic from where she was perched on the hammock, watching Uzima rip at the rat, pulling strips of flesh off before throwing her head back and gulping them down. "And stop picking at your bandages," her attention was caught again by his scratching them. "That just makes it worse. If you want, I can take them off and you can go back to your bear shape. They should be looking better by now."

"I've got food in my bag," Raiha told him. "But you're not eating Yakini or Diallo." She got up from her hammock, going over to the stall to get her backpack, stopping to brush Diallo's ears with her fingers. She picked up her pack, and checked on her goshawk's progress. Now that Uzima was finishing her meal, Raiha held up her gloved arm and let out a short, piercing whistle. The goshawk took to the air to land on Raiha's arm, content now that she had had her meal. The Akontak shifted the straps of her backpack to stroke the bird's wing with one finger before returning to the hammock, putting the bag down beside her and opening it. "I've got dried beef, fish, bread, and some fruit," she offered it to him.

"So," Raiha tilted her head a little, opening her waterskin to have a sip. "Have you always lived on your own?"

[Asim]

Asim stared at the Blueskin for a minute, wondering, as she seemed to be arguing with herself. It was difficult to see, but her face showed some type of internal argument going on. As she began speaking, he stretched once more and leaned back on his bunk. "Well, excuse me for sitting down in an area where not many bandits go, falling asleep, and then getting shot at the one time the bandits do show," he replied, watching her as he defended his choice of a bed. "Also, I don't think the captain would enjoy coming down here to see a large grizzly bear sitting in his guest quarters. It might cause him to draw blade, and then I'd have to shift back, and I'd be naked, and every female in the room would get embarrassed. Not worth the trouble, really," he replied, watching her to see if she would blush at the reminder.

At the mention of eating either of her animals, he chuckled. "Nah. I wouldn't eat either of them. Dogs take forever to catch, and that horse didn't look all that appetizing anyways. But, I will take you up on the offer of the fish and fruit." Tilting his head slightly, he watched her. He didn't talk much about his personal life, since most people avoided him, and those that didn't normally died after trying to take his head for a trophy. But, she had asked, and she wasn't scared of him, or trying to kill him. So he replied. "Ever since I was able to hunt on my own, I've lived on my own. Out of the city, in the wild, away from the noise and bustle of cities. Just like it should be," he stated, staring at her with his large, brown eyes.

[Raiha]

He had come to notice that about the Blueskin. Sometimes she got this funny look in her eyes, sometimes fleeting, sometimes more protracted... that made it seem like she was looking far off into the distance, without focusing on any one thing in particular. It happened during conversations. It happened at random without warning. The longer they went on, the further out of it she appeared.

It could get disconcerting.

He's baiting you. Don't blink, don't blush, don't look away. He wins when you do. Kanikra warned her. Else the next time you're practicing Auristics, I'll take the time to do something very, very nasty. And you wouldn't like that, now, would you?

Oh, stop it, Raiha told her. We're on a ship. You think him too valuable despite your complaining to do something to him. You're not going to hurt us. You're too smart for that. So for once, you're contained, and there's nothing you can physically do right now. So what are you going to do about it? She pulled out a generous portion of fruit, wrapped in a brightly coloured cloth, and some paper-wrapped fish. While Uzima watched with interest, she brought the food over to him, passing the Kelvic the bundles. There was no sign of a blush on her face as she smiled faintly, looking him square in the eye, and returned to her own perch.

I never said on here, now, did I? There was a hint of smugness to her twin's voice. Don't worry. I'll know when the time is right. Raiha didn't even want to dignify that with a response as she placed Uzima on a perch beside her hammock so that she would be able to move both arms and eat a bite herself. She stripped off the leather gauntlet she wore and set it on top of her bag, and turned her attention back to Asim, listening with interest to his story. "Were your parents Kelvics?" she chose a small, round loaf of bread, sinking her fingers into it before peeling back the hard crust just enough to allow her to tear a small piece off, and open the loaf up. She wasn't entirely certain how this all worked, and how they came to be. Was it random? "How old are you now?" she nibbled on the hard crust, her golden eyes meeting brown.

[Asim]

There it was again. Internal arguments? About what? he questioned himself, watching her as he took the offered food and began to eat it, taking care to be polite about it. He didn't enjoy being in human form, but he wouldn't change back until they were off the boat, and while he was in human form, he was civilized. For the most part.

With another two questions asked, the Kelvic focused on her voice. At the question of parents, he frowned. "I didn't know my parents. And if I did, I don't remember them," he replied curtly. It was obvious that talk of his parents was not open to discussion. At the second question though, he was willing to answer. With a question of his own. "How old do I look to you?" he asked, before biting into an apple.

[Raiha]

Raiha didn't mind. She rather liked his company. Surly and sour though he may be, it wasn't a hindrance or even abrasive. She didn't need to be coddled or petted, and didn't want to be. To be treated fairly normally... which was never easy even if you were just a Konti, never mind an Akontak... was all that the blue-skinned young woman wanted. In that regard, Asim's attitude suited her just fine.

The rebuke about his parents made her pause at her actions of pinching off a piece of the crumb, her fingertips buried inside the loaf at where she had been picking. Raiha clearly enjoyed her food, she just took her sweet time eating it. But she didn't pursue it. Something told her not to. Just leave it be. Everyone had their own sensitive topics that they didn't want to pursue. Raiha wasn't about to push them with someone she had just met.

She stretched back in the hammock, then, resting her lanky form out on the webbing, resting her head comfortably as she went back to picking at the bread. "Everyone ages differently, don't they?" she smiled a little at that. "I'd think you were maybe eighteen, nineteen... but you're not a human... you are a Kelvic," she rocked herself a little bit in the hammock, chewing on another pinch of bread, eying the loaf for a moment. She turned her gaze to him, studying him through narrowing eyes. "Maybe seven years?" she took a guess. "Too old, too young...?"

[Asim]

Asim squinted at her for a minute, before answering. At least she wasn't having another internal argument. "I'm five. Fully grown," replied the Kelvic as he finished the apple and set the core down. It could be planted to grow a new apple tree when they reached land. Done with the fruit, he started in on the fish he had, gnawing at it slowly.

Looking at her, he decided to question her. "So, since you know how old I am, how old are you? And don't give me any of that, 'It's rude to ask a lady' crap. As you should know by now, I don't care."

[Raiha]

Charming, isn't he? A big, cuddly stuffed animal. Emphasis on big and stuffed... Kanikra mused.

Just be quiet, Raiha warned her. I'm not going to tell you again! He's not so bad. He's not like the rest of them. You are all talk right now and it's not attractive. What did you say about keeping your maw shut unless you could back it up? Do you have to belittle everyone we meet? Honestly. Get over yourself.

I'm just saying...

Stop saying. the Akontak refused to grit her teeth, instead focusing on gnawing on a bit of bread instead, droning her sister soul out and refusing to listen to her for a little while. "I'm twenty-two years old," Raiha told him as she picked at her food. "I'll be twenty-three in a few days," she swung herself in the hammock, rocking a little contentedly, the tension gone again without Kanikra's haranguing comments. "I'm from Mura... on Konti Island, to the east," she volunteered the information, then. She knew something about him, after all, but he didn't know so much about her. "I'm a falconer by trade, and I've been working Uzima for two years," she looked at the bird preening itself on the perch. "Have you ever heard of an Aktontak?" she watched him with solemn golden eyes.

[Asim]

Asim held up a hand to stop the current talk. "If you don't stop arguing with yourself, I'm gonna stop talking to you. Two conversations at once will not go well with me. So finish your internal argument now, or leave me alone," he stated, his eyes narrowed. He didn't like answering questions, but he hated it when people were talking with him, and doing something else at the time. It galled him beyond all belief.

Watching her to see if she would argue with herself again, and end current talks, he finished his food and set the remains back in its wrapping. "Konti Island. Where all them white women are? The ones who see the future? Sounds like a fun place. As for Aktontak, can't say I have. Don't get any in Sylrias. Well, until you showed up, that is," he replied, leaning back on his bunk. As he did, his cloth shifted, flashing the Blueskin, before the Kelvic moved the materiel back to it's proper place.