Tell Me a Story [Open]

[Dex]

After flopping in the dirt after missing his landing point, Dex watched as the little peoples scampered away by various noises, and the big person stood up with her hound. She then said something about "yahal protect you". Unsure of what that meant, he decided to accept it as an invitation. He was very good at accepting invitations. Picking himself up from the dirt and shaking some of it out of his coat, he scampered up to where she was, lightly brushing her ankle with his tail. Finding himself so excited, he jumped up and down a few times, moving sideways towards her, bumping into her leg. A small storm of happy chattering sounds escaped from his mouth before he calmed down, ready to continue on to .... where ever they were going.

[Ishara Dossari]

It was hard to resist. As Raj angled his ears back and slunk off ahead, Ishara bent and scooped the small mammal up, holding him out for a moment at eye-level. "You don't give up easy, do you?" A defeated sigh escaped her, "alright...but if some one thinks I have stolen you, I could be in some trouble," she murmured, casting a furtive glance about the park once again. Seeing no one who appeared to be searching for something they missed, Ishara shrugged, and tucked the ferret against her shoulder, letting him climb aboard. As his sharp little nails grazed her neck, she was glad for the clothing over her shoulders where he would rest. The sun was sinking lower in the sky, and as Ishara studied it's decent, she judged that she probably had just enough light to cook by before retiring to bed. Making her way past the garden entrance, she took the quickest route to the beach...and the roar of the waves greeted them over the sounds of the city in no time. It was Serriff's story of Mura, and the mornings she'd been spending here, that tipped the scales when she'd been considering where to move her tent. The first few nights she spent on the beach were almost restless with dreams of so much rushing water...but the natural rhythms of the earth began to lull her, and now the backdrop of crashing waves was a welcome precursor to sleep. Her tent was sheltered between two dunes, in a thicket of sorts, one you had to work around before you came upon sight of her little camp. It was positioned so that it was not easily seen from the beach, and the dunes that sheltered her nearly obscurred the glow from her fire when it was lit. Being on the sand reminded Ishara of home, and as they arrived she dropped her satchel and slipped off her shoes, toes digging into the fine grains beneath her feet. "Here we are," she announced, watching as Raj circled the place to determine if anything had visited in their absence. Seemingly satisfied, he flopped down alongside the charred fire pit, and Ishara knelt alongside him. "C'mon," she coaxed, offering her hand for the ferret to climb out on to that she may set him down.

[Dex]

John happily rode the warm shoulder to somewhere exciting. It rose and fell at a steady pace towards the beach. Feeling more excited, he made sure he had a tight grip on the shoulder, without trying to cause pain. He'd lived at sea for almost a whole year, with both good times and bad. The ocean always had a special place for him. She held her hand up, which he crawled up into, where she carried him down to the ground again. He found himself in a small campsite, surround by thick bushes. The place was swarmed with the scent of the big person and the dog, along with the typical smoky smell from a regular fire. The ocean also carried it's scent across the camp, with a soothing sound as the waves broke across the nearby shore. John crawled around, sniffing various items of the camp, following scent trails and checking out the items. He crawled forward and followed the big person around watching what she does.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCEYes it is time for a special Serrif guest appearance!!!

There were times when he was restless even in the night. Even though he worked almost endlessly all day with the rest of the staff to keep things together and provide them with the medicines they needed; there were still times that he could not sleep at night easily. So he had taken to running at night to help silence his mind. Running along the beach helped settle his mind because the crashing waves reminded him of Mura; of the serenity he found with those fair haired Konti women. The immense hospitality they showed him still humbled him to this day. He couldn’t believe his luck…out of everywhere he could’ve ended up he set foot in Mura…

But his head wouldn’t let him sleep so he took to a night run along the beach; the feeling of the warm sands under his feet and the auditory crashing of waves zoned his mind. This beach was far from being the beach he knew in Mura. The sand felt different under his feet and the coastline was a little different. But it was a beach meaning it was the closest thing he had to settle his mind. He was thinking about millions of things as usual. From herbal mixtures to remedies, all the way down to Raiha and how uneasy she made him. Well…her and Rath both…or was it Uruk? That was still something he had to figure out…did every Akalak have two names…and what about Akontaks?

But nearly the moment his bare feet hit the sand his mind evened out. Yes, this is familiar. Came a soft whisper inside his head as he brushed his hand against the climbers quiver attached to his right thigh. As the night was beginning to settle in the beach became even more serene to him. He had one of his daggers on his belt just in case; one never knew what they would find marauding about especially at night. Which was why he also carried his bow as well, because when it came down to it he was much more deadly with his bow than his daggers.

With every footfall his mind became clearer, the rolling waves washed away his cares and helped put his mind at ease. Everything drifted away silently…He had not a care as his senses sharpened to everything that was not the normal for him. If it wasn’t the sound of the undulating waves he would notice it almost immediately. He began to look around and he noticed two large sand dunes way off in the distance; as he continued to run. That would be a perfect place to setup a camp of sorts if he had seen one of these in Mura he surely would’ve setup camp there. But instead he had pitched his tent in the outskirts of the forest near the beach. Close enough to hear the waves but still far enough away to protect him from the sand the wind kicked up.

He had never been to a desert before, and he still didn’t quite understand Ishara’s fascination with water. Yes it was beautiful and sustained life; but he never understood just how it was to not have water in plethora. In Mura he had seen water much like here, but in Riverfall water was even more abundant. It flowed in wonderful blue veins all through the city; bringing life to all those that lived here. The nights cold bite nipped at him, even though he wore his bodysuit and cloth clothing. It was enough to keep his body warm while running.

He stopped to admire the dunes from afar. The pearly light playing off the sandy dunes was indeed beautiful in a very exotic kind of way. He never knew the wonderful silent beauty of desert-like dunes. He stopped and admired them for a few moments among the relatively silent night.

[Ishara Dossari]

It didn't take long to get a fire going. As the flames sprang to life, Ishara tossed on a few more small pieces of wood to satiate them, noting absently that her supply was thinning. About the only really good thing that Djed storm had brought was an ample supply of scrap wood to burn. It was still a haul down here on the sand, though. Raj eyed the ferret doubtfully as it scurried about, shifting his position so that he could keep an eye on it. Ishara noted this with a laugh, reaching over to tousle her dog's ears fondly. "Silly, Raj...he is only a little thing, what harm could he possibly do?" She turned to busy herself in preparations for dinner...a simple fare of dried fruit, and stewed rice and spices. She filled a pot with water from her skin, and set it alongside the fire pit to boil. Stirring the flames, she nudged a few fresh coals alongside it to speed up the process. The rice and spices were added next, and then there was nothing to do but sit back and wait... "Dinner will be ready soon," Ishara murmured, placing a few tidbits of fruit out for the ferret's inspection. She had no idea what the little guy's tastes were...but it did not hurt to offer, she presumed. Nibbling on the corner of a dried date, Ishara tilted her head back and studied the stars. The snap and glow of the fire combined with the rush of the waves made them seem so much further away, somehow...unreachable beyond all the noise. Back home, the stars hung silent above waves of sand. Silent, save for the prayers whispered up to greet them... "Blessed Yahal," Ishara whispered, "make for me a light in my heart, a light of lights to guide me through the days to come. Blessed Yahal, most compassionate in your divine mercy, help me through the paths I must take..."

[Dex]

John poked around a little, when some very interesting scents started wafting to him. Finding them coming form something the big person was doing on the fire, he wanted to poke his head in to see what it was. She poked him a few pieces of fruit, which was more of a dessert for a ferret diet. For a human though, it was perfectly normal. So, of course, he flashed into his nude human form in a small flash of light, and began snacking on the fruit tidbits. He looked at her with his head cocked sideways as she began saying something odd. Something about blessed yawns, lights in hearts, and paths. It didn't make much sense for him so he went to craning his neck to look at the funny stuff in the pot over the fire that was making the weird smells. It looked like tiny little flecks on top of bigger white flecks. Figuring he should wait till she took it off the fire, which was keeping him mostly warm from the coldness of the night, he cranked his neck around, just looking again, when the scent of something else caught his nose. It was mixed in with the salty ocean smell, and overlapped by all the interesting smells from the fire, but it was definitely something different. He stood up and tried to look over the bushes and dunes to see if he could see what it was. "What's over there?" He asked the big person, pointing past the sand dunes that they'd come past.

[Ishara Dossari]

Her eyes sky bound, Ishara missed the flash of light announcing the small mammals unexpected replacement.  As her prayer drifted up to greet the stars, she sat back and wrapped her arms about her knees, absorbed in thought. Raj's low, rumbling growl of warning was her first clue.  Before she could look to him, though, an unfamiliar voice rose from behind her... "Whats over there? "Wha--!" Anything she was about to say was choked on a startled yelp as her eyes landed on the naked man by the campfire. Backpedalling across the sand, Ishara's efforts to rise and bolt were foiled by her stack of firewood.  She hit the ground hard. Raj barked in concern, rising to dart around Ishara and place himself at her side...but his confusion was evident.  The man smelled just like the animal that was here only a few heartbeats ago. "Who are you?!  And wh-...what are you doing here?" Her voice broke, her panicked episode causing it some strain as one hand flattened over her pounding heart.  Her pale eyes were wide and wary... "I...I don't have much money, or--"  she gulped as she realized a naked man at her campsite was probably not after her valuables. Her eyes narrowed as a small spark of courage was ignited by her fear... "What do you want?" She bit out the words, reaching out slowly to wrap her fingers about a shaft of wood.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

Barking? Did he really hear barking? Whose dog would be out here at this time? Serrif didn’t know enough about animals but could a bark be distinctive? Because this one did seem familiar to him…like he knew the animal it belonged to. And there were only a few dogs he was around enough to say that about. One belonged to Ishara, and the others belonged to Rath and his pack. Either way an animal barking was usually not a sign of anything good…usually a warning of some kind. A warning of trouble maybe. Which meant someone was in some sort of danger.

Without much thought he started running off in the direction where he heard the barking come from. It echoed strange so he assumed it came from near the dunes…maybe even between them. Seems it was likely that someone made came there or was doing something there. Rushed feet trudged across the warm sands. His left hand clenched on his bow his right was free to help him balance as he fired up the dune. Sand was definitely more difficult to run on than he believed at first. His feet kept sinking in and making him expend three times as much energy as needed to trudge up it. The climb combined with the adrenaline had his heart beating wild…But this feeling was something that Ildin had acclimated him to through her extensive training.

He approached the crown of the dune and he drew a normal tipped arrow from his quiver and knocked it. He hunched over crouching as he moved over toward the top. Making sure he could see the situation at hand before acting. Acting before thinking was never a good thing, especially when lives could be at stake. He took in the situation…

Even in the dark he knew Raj when he saw him, that mean Ishara was here…somewhere. And she was..she looked like she took a fall as she hit a firewood pile. And there in the camp was a completely naked man…What is going on here? He asked himself as his mind went through the possibilities. And his mind was indeed a dark place. Part of him wanted to peg an arrow into the man without asking questions of any kind. But he was a Healer, and such actions couldn’t be morally justified now. So instead he took aim at the man and pulled the string of his compound recuve longbow back and issued a sharp whistle in the night.

The whistle was a warning more than anything. Issued to help ease Ishara’s mind letting her know that someone was here. He was overlooking the situation, easily able to reach out with an arrow or two and touch a few targets quickly. He kept his attention separated between Ishara and the man. The man was the focus of his sight and Ishara was in his peripheral vision; just out of his main focus so that he could keep an eye on her of some kind. He didn’t say anything more toward the man or Ishara. Instead he was here to back her up if she needed it. The man would likely be a fool to do anything testy now.

The man seemed to be alone, no match for Serrif’s longbow at this range. He could peg an arrow into the man rather easily if need be. If he made any motions Serrif saw as threatening he would allow a single warning arrow…then the next one would be aimed to kill. An aspect he didn’t like, but if it was for defending Ishara from a man’s lust he would do it. Rak’keli forgive him for the blood on his hands.

[Dex]

John shrugged when she started freaking out. The dog was perfectly fine with it, so maybe he might calm her down. "You really shouldn't run into that stack like that, it'll hurt your back. And besides, your the one who brought me here. And I .... well I'm me." He stood still, trying to figure out still what the new scent was. It got closer, and he smelled various things typical of a person from the city. He heard a whistle coming from whoever it was, but they just stayed on top of the dune somewhere, outside of his sight. "Hello! What are you doing up there?" John shouted, waving his hand happily at the person that was out there somewhere.

[Ishara Dossari]

The piercing whistle that rang out overhead startled Ishara almost as much as the naked man's appearence...What, more? There are more than one of-- she clutched the stick, rocking to her feet and whirled towards the signal. But...the countenance behind the raised bow struck her as oddly familiar. Serriff? It was then that her unexpected stranger's words carried to her. Brought him here? But, how could that be? She had only arrived with Raj, and...Ishara's hand flew up in Serriff's direction a moment before the words left her mouth..."Wait!" Glacial eyes returned to the man, carefully averted to encounter only his face. Could it be? Shape changers...Kelvic...they existed. Ishara had not only heard of them, she'd seen one. Once. An old woman, traveling with a caravan that drifted near home. The lady had taken the shape of a vulture, with parchment skin and eyes as beady and severe as her human counterpart. At the time, Ishara had thought it magic. And it was, in a way...from what she had gathered many stories and studies later. That would explain his nudity. And his confusion. Cautiously, Ishara lowered her make-shift weapon, the hand she'd raised to halt Serriff's intent to fire upon the naked man. Dimly, she was aware of how fortunate she was for Serriff to be walking this beach, at this hour, exactly. Thank Yahal... "Were you the--..." she ventured cautiously, her eyes narrowing, "I mean--are you Kelvic?!"