Open Following the Rainbow

[Kuvarakh]

Seeing the new arrival inquire with Jiltse about the mention of "Nuit", Kuvarakh took the opportunity to look skyward for errant orbs as he allowed the imbued wind to loft his "Sail-net" overhead. It was not difficult to handle on a still day, since the sail always blew directly forward. Holding the "reins" on the top edge and giving slack along the bottom would bring the bottom swinging up, pivoting on the held top line. The same with side-to-side motion. Holding the top and bottom lines along one side and giving slack to the other sides' two lines would bring the sail swinging to the side, pivoting like a door, the held line being the equivalent of the hinges. All very easy to grasp and master when there was no natural wind in the area. Such was not the case today, unfortunately for Kuvarakh. Even though he had enjoyed some small success gathering the little airborne gems, more than once he had watched in frustration as an updraft had turned the axis of the sail's direction against him, and his gathered orbs had spilled free. In a state of annoyance, he had allowed his imagination to embellish his loss with the sound of mocking laughter. Now he "reeled in" his net after every catch. He might have had a dozen or more had he employed this strategy from the start. As it was, he had five. He tracked one now, floating in at single-story roof level. He released the sail to the general altitude and gave himself some leeway to make last second adjustments to its height with arm movements alone. He did not, however, account for the shifting horizon as he took several steps forward to equalize his forward motion with his target. The disorienting effect of the gravity rotation caused his sail to get off track with the orb's path of flight. There were two discoveries to be made from this. The first being that the orbs did not seem to be affected by this shift. They did not follow a track coinciding with the shifting tracks of geography as it turned on its head. The orb did not stay in line with the rooftops as the buildings slid up to the side on their way to vertical inversion. The second being that, if you jumped, while you were airborne, your perpendicular orientation with the ground did not adjust with the rotation of the geography until you came down again. What this meant to Kuvarakh was that, while leaping forward, his initial launch was at a ninety-degree relative vertical position. However, he landed at about an eighty-degree angle. With so much ice on the walkway, his footing betrayed him and he was left to provide his fellow orb-hunters a visual display of clumsiness and windmilling arms and legs that was equal parts comedy and dance. What's more, his ultimate impact bounced his pockets and flaps with sufficient force to allow two of his captured five orbs to slip free. Though a Nuit lacks the ability to blush, his facial expression conveyed his embarrassment with no fear of misinterpretation. He stood, rubbing his backside, "Still a few bugs to work out, it seems."

[Licearsvansan]

"Well done" remarked the blond person, "Might I suggest less painful methods for catching stars? Or at least bending and rolling."
Svan simply gave a small laugh and a dumb smile at the man's teasing. The fall had knocked a few gear loose in his head, and it was taking time for his fuzzy mind to gather itself. A bit of sarcasm coated his voice "Yeah, you don't s-" a part of Svan's mind, that always seemed a beat to slow, caught his tounge. Svan closed his eyes and tried to focus on the morph to hide his accent. No luck. The numbness in his head kept him from focusing the needed dijd. Svan worried for a moment that someone might pick up on his little secret should he speak, but slowly pushed the fear from his mind. I haven't seen another dhani anywhere near this city. he thought to himself. I doubt anyone's first thought at hearing my lisp would be to think that I'm a dhan-.

A soft kick to his bruised ribs tore Svan from his thoughts. "It's not a ssmart idea to go falling off buildings, even for a Star."

Shyke...

Of all the things to find him when he was unable to guise his lisp it HAD to be another dhani. Svan's entire body tensed up, and had he been warm blooded he would have been sweating bullets. Most would assume that another dhani would be a welcome find, but for someone like Svan it was a nightmare. As far as most were conncerned, Svan was a traitor to his kind for abandoning Siku and his duties at the nest. Unfortunately, traitors to the dhani were rarely welcomed back with open arms. Svan was also all too aware that other dhani subraces wouldn't exactly be kind to him either. To make matters worse, a dhani would certainly know what to expect from a lisp, and should they shift into their more serpentine forms, Svan doubted that they would easily ignore the fact that he had near zero body heat in the cold.

He reminded himself that he would have to be very careful not to draw attention to himself until he could finish morphing his accent. Svan's body however had different plans. Before he knew what he was doing, his two arms had made a rather rude sign to the dhani woman. Apparently his subconcious hadn't enjoyed the amusement in her voice at his expense. Luckily she had turned away, and couldn't see him as he unravelled the rude gesture.

The blonde man's hand reached out to him, “There are better ways of falling than face first”
"Ain't...that... the true." Svan awkwardly dodged around any words that might make a hiss. Thank you. Svan reached out to catch the man's hand. As he did so, a chill went down his spine. The man's hands were frigid. Much colder than any normal person's hand's should be. Slowly his mind traced over what this man had said searching for the telltale lisp, and he grew increasingly aware that this man might be a dhani as well. As he rose, Svan gave another uneasy smile to the man. With a heavy swallowing noice he worked his morph into place. Thanks again. I've been chasing these stars for 8 bells now, I'm afraid that my hands might freeze off, Svan lied in attempt to explain the why his own hands were so cold. Before he could say more a loud thump sounded behind him. He turned to see that another man had fallen to the road. Svan smiled and shouted, "That ground is a little shyke today isn't it?" He made sure to emphasize that he could properly pronounce his "s" words in an attempt to confuse any idea to his dhani nature.

[Tapestry]

Your Reward is in the Weave

Kuvarakh:

XP Award:

• +2 Observation
• +1 Detection
• +1 Socialization

Lore:

• Jilitse: Nuit Inventor

Sinoa:

XP Award:

• +1 Flute
• +1 Observation

Comments :

Sorry there wasn't a lot to give guys. Those who update their CS's can ask me to regrade for them. If you think I missed anything, let me know. Since I think those star things were temporary, I didn't add any in for the encounter.

TAPESTRY