Open The Lost and Hopeless

[Artur]

The Lost and Hopeless
Spring 1st, 513 AV; 12th Bell

Artur was lost. No, correction; Artur was clearly more than jut lost. The bear had woken from hibernation only to find that he wasn't back at his bear cave, no he left the Wolf's Den thinking that it was his cave; and now his adventure into what would've been the wilderness surprised him as he aimlessly wandered the city of Alvadas. He had little clue to where he was, and in turn he was scared for his life as every turn he made brought him to the same exact spot he became aware of his surroundings.

Confusion filled the bear as he fell to his bottom on the ground, and he rubbed his bum after forgetting he didn't have soft cushion of fur. He was hungry and already tired out from his panic, and now he felt like giving up on the whole idea of finding the Wolf's Den again. Though that feeling was also put aside, and Artur just focused on taking a break from his walk. 'Can't find a way then I might as well let the way find me.' He thought to himself as he looked up to the sky with wonder.

The last he recalled was arriving in Alvadas to hopefully find food and a place to sleep. From there it was all just a hazy black void in his memory, as if his hibernation was just a seasonal nap. Truth be told he actually thought coming to Alvadas was the dream, that is until today finally came along.

Artur sighed as he looked around, the street seemed to carry on left and right with a few turn offs, and of course the buildings that were here before are all changed up. How people could live in this place boggles Artie's mind, and his wonder just made him feel even hungrier.

[Licearsvansan]

Today was the first day of spring and the end of the brutal beast of a season known as winter. The door of the Cubacious In nearly burst open as Svan strolled out. He took in a deep breath and let the crisp air flow though his body. Still cold. But at least its not WINTER cold. The brown haired dhani adjusted his cloak, began his walk though the city with a smile on his face. Now that it was Spring, Svan planned to make preparations to leave the city, but today was simply a day to enjoy the transition of seasons.

Svan walked causally through the busy city, noticing the numerous numbers of people preparing for the festival of Illusion. While he was normally never the helpful type, Svan spent a good part of the morning aiding strangers in moving their wares and building stalls.

Now as the snake weaved through the confusing streets of the city he nibbled on a small bit of meat one man had been so kind to gift him with. The lightly charred bit of meat slid down the dhani's throat, and he licked his lips with satisfaction. As he sucked the last bits of juices of his fingers, he scanned the streets for anything else to do. Eventually his eyes came to rest on the lone figure of Artur. It didn't take long to realize that this being was lost. The man was searching up and down the streets in a similar fashion to the one that Svan had when he first arrived. The memory of being hopelessly lost spurred the snake to action in hopes of keeping this man from the same trouble. The dhani paused a moment and let his throat adjust to morph out his accent. In a few strides Svan was upon the stranger and in the kindest way a cold blooded murderer could, he asked, "Hello there friend, having trouble finding your way through the city of the lost?"

As Svan looked over the man, he noticed that there seemed to be a certain hunger in his eyes. Perhaps I should have saved some of that beef...

[Artur]

Artur's nose picked the smell of another person, a person who have meat with them. "Hello there friend, having trouble finding your way through the city of the lost?" It was a man with wild messy brown hair, he strode over to Artur in a sort of confident yet calm approach. Something the bear wasn't all to familiar with. Artur eyed the newcomer curiously as the smell of meat clung to him, his nose could pick faint traces but not as well in his human form.

"I-I woke up like, like, several bells ago. I-I just want to find my cave, find loads of food and go back to my cave!" Artur tried not to sound hopeless sor desperate; but after thinking he was alone in a city that never ends for the longest time, he couldn't help but sound like he was crying out for help.

His stomach churned to give the sound that it was empty, and waited to be filled after a long sleep through the wintery weather. "You shut up! I know your empty." He almost went to punch his belly, but remembered that it would do no good other than inflicting harm on himself. He looked back up to Svan again with the same pleading eyes fron earlier. "Do you know where they keep the food around here? My tummy does not know when to quit growlin."

[Licearsvansan]

It wasn't just any hunger this man was suffering. It was the "I just woke up after not eating a thing for over 60 days" kind of hunger. Being a dhani, this was a feeling Svan had plenty of familiarity with.

"Im going to assume that you are a kelvic, and not just a very hungry caveman. Well I got good news and bad news. The good news is I'm gonna help you look for food. The bad news is you woke up in the single worst city to find anything."

Svan looked around the plaza, held out his key, and followed its pull. "Come on, follow me. I have some food back at my house."

Svan wouldn't normaly share, but he was in a good mood and this man seemed to need some help badly. Svan of course, would look for any other way to feed the man without sacrificing his own food. In fact, as he moved towards the direction of his key's pull he noticed a few shrubs with edible plants. "So, What kind of kelvic are you?"

[Artur]

Artur watched curiously when Svan pulled out his key, and wasted no time into following the man at the mere mention of food. At last he would finally kill this seasonal hunger he hsd developed, the mere thought of a fresh salmon to chomp down on made his mouth water.

I'm a bear," Artur looked at the man curiously, "Are you a Kelvic? The man didn't look as though he could be, Artur couldn't pick up any animal scents from this man. Usually animal's like wolves had that wet dog smell, provided Artur was capable of picking it up. This man had no animal scent Artie was familiar with, and that intrigued him even more.

"I go by Artur by the way, what do people call you?" He inquired as he followed the mans gaze, a bush was in his line of sight. 'Does he need to use a private break already?'

[Licearsvansan]

Svan marched over to the shrubs and poked through the bushes muttering all the while. What do bears eat? Svan's hand brushed over several plants. Roots? Leaves? Bark? out of the corner of his eye, the snake caught sight of several blackberries that were deeper into the garden. "Perfect!"

Svan turned back to the bear and waved for him to follow. The snake then moved deeper into the garden towards the berries and began to pluck them. Svan didn't even think twice about the fact that it was an entire season too early for these berries to be in season. Even if he knew they were out of season he wouldn't have cared. It was Alvadas after all. Svan gathered a handful of berries and then moved even further into the garden until he could no longer see past the hedges that lined the garden. There was a plethora of plants and it could be said that everything was...ripe...for the taking.

One other unfortunate bit of information that the dhani lack was that he had just entered into a garden of no return. The bushes, vines and trees of the area would soon conspire to lock the pair within. Actually, if Artur entered, he might find that the entrance to the maze had already begun to move.

Unfortunately Svan was already moving deep into the heart of the garden, greedily picking the fruits of plants as he passed by.

Deep into the garden, at the end of a narrow path was a strange looking plant Svan had never seen before. It was a bright red plant that looked like a bell and smelled like meat. As he dashed towards it Svan's mind thought of only one thing. The taste. "Hurry over here Artur! I found a plant made out of steak!"

[Artur]

Svan started to pick berries and fruits as they moved along, Artur followed with great curiosity as Svan picked a bunch of blackberries. He wasn't aware that Svan was leading the both of them into the Garden of No Return when they continued on, and even though he would glance over his shoulder to find their exit wasn't there anymore; Artur shrugged the idea of being lost off. He was being led by someone who knew Alvadas better than him, therefore food was something that was sure to come.

Artur was curious about Svan the more he followed the man, he wanted to learn things about him; who he was, how long he lived here, what he was, where he came from. All these were curiosities he would have to sate after his apetite was taken care of first, for now their primary focus was to get the growl in his stomach to stop.

Finally Svan called him to a red bell shaped plant, he claimed that it had the taste of a steak. Artur's curiosity branched even further, he knew not what a steak was exactly but the idea of a meaty fruit sounded appealing. Artur plucked the plant up and sniffed it long and hard, the aroma of raw meat filled his nostrils and made his mouth water. His tummy echoed its call for food as he exhaled, his mind now lost on the plant.

"Smells good." He finally admitted before he sank his teeth in the plant, its flavor filled his sense of taste that madd him yearn to have more. He wasted no time and scarfed down the plant with gluttony. His stomach begged him for more even after he swallowed the last of the bite he stuffed in his mouth. He wanted to shift into his animal form, to be free of these clothes he wore and enjoy eating as the bear he really was. He looked to Svan first though, curious whether or not the man wouldn't be afraid. "Is it cool with you if I change? I can eat more that way." He gave Svan a smile, and waited to hear the man's answer.

[Licearsvansan]

Svan was almost heart broken when he saw the bear snatch up the plant and scarf it down. Unlike Artur, Svan wasn't able to handle most plants. A meat plant however might have been the only vegitable that Svan could have enjoyed. Now it was gone.

Well you DID say you would find him food didn't you Svan? he thought to himself as he let out a breath of disapointment.

"Is it cool with you if I change? I can eat more that way." There kelvic looked at Svan as if he was unsure if turning into a bear right infront of Svan would be rude or not.

Svan nodded his head at Artur and turned away from him to gather some more food. "You can transform right there, just make sure you keep hold of your clothes. If you lose something in this city you will never find it again." The snake was attempting to be bashful of the bear's naked for like most human's but was finding it rather difficult. He knew what it was like to have a beastly form to transform into, and as far as Svan cared clothing had no other purpose than to keep him warm.

As the snake looked through the bushes he began to grow less interested in the food the plants offered, and more interested in the design and features of each plant. He had traveled quite a bit but had never seen such a variety of strange plants in a single place. There were mundane plants too, but even those seemed different in some way. Blue strawberrys, melon sized black berries, vines that seemed to writhe like snakes, apples that grew on vines, and plants that tasted like meat. The dhani's mind began to wander as he pondered the advantages of each strange mutation. Svan wasn't familiar with Darwin's theory, but the knowlage he had about the way Caiyha worked was that the weak die out and the strong remain. He wished he had a notebook to write down all the strange things in this garden down.

But that was for another time, right now he had to find food for a hungry bear.

[Artur]

Artur smiled when Svan said he didn't mind, though he wasn't sure if the man was bashful of a Kelvic getting nude around him. Still the bear nodded as he stripped his shirt off and dropped it near him, next he slipped his straw sandals off, then loosened the hemph that held his baggy pants at his waist. When they slipped to his ankles he took a step forward and then closed his eyes. Light enveloped him in a shroud and soon faded away just as fast as it came, and on Artur stood on his hind legs as a bear. He was taller than Svan now, but the bear wasn't going to walk like a human now was he.

Artur picked up his clothes and sandals with his mouth, however odd it would look for a bear to do so Artur really didn't care. He followed Svan now and his stomach grumbled for more food, the shift probably didn't help in his favor. Artur wanted to be the form he was now, he enjoyed being a bear very much. He sniffed at some of the bushes while he followed Svan, some of the scents were tangy while others sweet. All had a sharpness to him that made his nose it those, and when he came to the overgrown blackberries he found himself unable to resist the aroma. Thus he sat his clothes down and plopped right next to them, and then used his forearms to bring the bush close. When Artur had a blackberry inside his mouth he would chew with joy at the sweet flavor that resided in them, each time he swallowed the one he ate already another one would be on standby.

Artur looked to Svan to make sure the guy didn't leave him behind, his brown eyes filled with curiosity as he swallowed another round.

[Licearsvansan]

The snake turned to to see Artur eating the giant blackberries and laughed. Each berry was a literal mouthful, and yet the bear managed to squeeze each one into his mouth with another one ready to go the minute he swallowed. Dhani moved over to the bears side and plucked a single berry. The dhani held it in his palm and looked it over. It was plump and juicy looking and Svan wanted more than anything to join the bear in eating, but realized the danger it posed to his body. With a disappointed sigh Svan tossed the fruit aside and looked around the garden.

And realized that they were lost. Well, he didn't realize it immediately, but instead he noticed that the way the garden looked slightly different than it used to be. The straight route they had taken into the garden was now gone, and in its place was a group of winding paths. Svan scanned the surroundings in hopes of finding the path they had taken but to no avail. It took him only a minute to realize what was going on. The garden was changing. Not wanting to alarm the bear, Svan causally strolled over to the direction they came from and began tugging lightly at the hedges in an attempt to find a way through them. Unfortunately the bushes proved tougher than they looked. He could neither uproot the bushes nor part them.

Backing away from the bushes, Svan began to scowl. They were lost. Hopelessly lost.