Lifted.

by **Leda** on May 20th, 2013, 10:21 pm

Leda

Leda smiled with amusement at Akilia's reply on the subject of danger - it was such a bare-faced, childish response and said with such an air of innocence that it could not help but warm Leda to the girl.

"It's nice to meet you all too..."

Alabast certainly seemed charming and genuine, with a pleasant face and a cheeky grin, and it was nice to see someone admitting they didn't know something instead of making wild guesses.

"A surname can be all the rage in some parts of the world, yes. I acquiesce to the truthfulness of your comment. It does not, however, mean one should follow blindly the rules which society has lain down before us, especially when those rules negate our well-being, created by the tiny percentage of the population which rules the roost. Society was created to keep the higher classes at the top and the lower classes at the bottom, and the importance of a surname is part of the illusion created by those in power to insure that those whom they see as inferiors, quite wrongly, will think that it is a standard and hence will not take up arms to draw them out. To suck them and spit them out like one spits the venom out of a wound." Leda let her tone both suggest a severe seriousness and cynical humour, and she was lightly smiling, "Who knows? I don't hunger for a proletariat revolution but it might do a world of good to some of those who are just a little too comfortable with their position." She then turned her mind over to Ehati's other comment on surnames which she had received with a stab of wounded pride on behalf of those, including herself, who were born out of the bonds of marriage, "Should a bastard be ashamed? How very dispirited of you. I have never met a bastard who found themselves one by choice. Then again, maybe you hold much more store by a person's ancestry than by their personal value. It is a shame, admittedly, if it were the case, but I dare venture that it would not surprise me. You seem to be a pillar in a community which holds up an imposed hierarchy which apparently I have no right to criticise." Leda had played around the subject long enough in her eyes, "If you must know, my surname is Oceanripple. Hardly as sophisticated as some, but it is a common sort of name amongst the Svefra."

Leda listened to her talk of predators and prey with good humour.

"We are all prey, and most of us are predators... just to varying extents. I should not like to be wholly prey for, though that would be giving myself up to a most charming tragic melancholy, I'm afraid others should find such a pose tedious and pretentious. As for predator? Why would anyone play the part of a hawk plucking songbirds, such as the Cerulean Warbler which Akilia mentioned, out of the sky? For though a hawk is beautiful, and so is the passage of life and death, is there not something horrifically ugly in that which destroys beauty in others? Or maybe it will turn out not to be a hawk at all... just another mockingbird."

She said the last with pointedness, her dulcet, musical voice sinking deeply into some of the more meaningful words.

"Cuckoo spit isn't really a weed. It is the froth created by some sort of insect on a plant, and it is named Cuckoo Spit." Leda paused and looked back at the tree, tempted to clamber clumsily back into its great branches, where she had been sitting only minutes before the red-haired cow with the voice of a fishwife started darkening her thoughts, before turning back to Ehati, unabashedly looking straight at her, "You assume that you know a lot more about the forest than us. You also assume that you are obviously of a higher rank than any of us here present and that gives you the right to be rude. Perhaps you do and you probably are but, to be perfectly candid - and I always believe one should be candid if ever one has anything unpleasant to say - you also seem to vastly overestimate your own skill and talent. I suggest you keep a slice of the advice which you offer so freely, especially since most people are willing to give you respect from the outset... unless you treat them with disdain."

Leda sighed lightly. Maybe if she had been born in Syliras, had been bred there, she would have been more wary of the woman, but relatively-speaking, she looked harmless and Leda had far greater things to worry about. She had not been born and bred in Syliras but on the sea. When one was used to the true fear and deadliness of being caught in a huge storm, and making potentially deadly spur of the moment decisions, not showing any ill-deserved deference to a loudmouth Inarta didn't seem such a risky move. Leda stared at the woman for a bit, trying to figure her out, and a little ashamed as to how far she had gone with a perfect stranger. After all, many people only seemed arrogant and proud on the outside to hide weakness or timidity - it really was unfair to form a concrete judgment of someone so quickly.

"Now there's an atmosphere and I hate an atmosphere..." Best to change the subject, "Otaki is a pretty name. How long have you had him?"

by **Akilia Dosert** on May 22nd, 2013, 3:34 am

Akilia

Ehati's talk of bastards even though not aimed at her, cut Akilia deep. Am I a bastard? She wondered sourly, she had never known her father so she supposed she was and the possible fact tore at her like nothing before. Her face twisted into one of rage and hurt. She wanted to strangle Ehati, tear the flesh from her bones and leave it for her bird to devour.
The small girl clenched and unclenched her fists again and again in a failing attempt to control herself. Then she glanced over at Alabast and her temper cooled a little replaced for the most part by bafflement. How could he be so nice to a person who to Akilia possessed no likable quality what so ever.

She kept silent through the talk about cuckoo spit, not knowing enough about the plant or its qualities to argue about it like Leda and Ehati did. She listened though, all the while rooting for Leda a hundred percent and Ehati not at all. The discussion left her confused, the two woman where both using a higher vocabulary than Akilia was even used to hearing let alone talking with so half of the things they said made Akilia feel stupider intellectually. Occasionally she gave Alabast questioning sideways glances when she wasn't looking back and forth between the older people. Akilia couldn't understand the need for the two of them fighting with words, why not just fight with your fists to see who's the most dominant and get it over with? Why waste your time with talking? She wondered, viewing the situation based on her Kelvic wolf instincts than her human ones.

Upon being addressed by the 'Snoby Snot' as Akilia had just nicknamed Ehati, the girl's temper flared once again. "I would survive in any environment any place, any time. No matter what nature or anyone for that matter throws at me. You seem to think just because I'm younger than you and because you hold the stupid title of a high and mighty knight, that by the way, nobody cares about...except maybe Alabast." She glanced the boys way dubiously, "That you inherit some type of right to step on whoever's toes you please. Take my advice, if you ever try to step on mine again, I won't have a polite and subtle argument like good Leda who deserves the title of Sera more than you ever did, I'll bite. And I wonder, will you? Or will you just keep hiding behind your little knight title and keep barking?" She snarled, shooting Ehati with a ice cold glare of defiance and anger, her head held high.

She looked at the bird Ehati was holding and growled at it, not caring how weird it probably seemed. The bird like practically all animals, would most likely see Akilia more in her wolf Kelvic form than her human one. Then again the bird was a fledgling predator in itself.

Akilia laughed heartily at Leda's own piece of 'advice' for 'Sera' Ehati. Almost putting up a high-five for the woman...almost. But all in all Akilia's respect for Leda skyrocketed while like all adults Akilia didn't like, Ehati's dropped like a rock. Once Leda made another try at being polite however, Akilia wanted to do a facepalm of frustration to herself. She had been expecting, hoping really that Leda would jump in there and attack Ehati so Akilia could jump in too and give the knight a piece of her mind. Sadly no such luck and the Kelvic crossed her arms pouting, she moved over to Alabast standing on his left and whispered, "Are all knights like her?" She asked sourly.

OOCI can't wait to see how this goes. XD

by **Alabast** on May 22nd, 2013, 6:33 am

Alabast couldn't help but to wince when Leda corrected Ehati on the cuckoo-spit, and went on about revolution and standards set by the few for the many. Much of it was over his head, but he thought he caught the blunt end of it. "Well, sometimes the many are wrong." He offered innocuously, not out of a bad place, but because he truly believed it. "Sometimes, the people who are doing the right thing is more, but sometimes it's the less. I guess the few people doing the right thing just have to work to make everyone do it then. I don't know about you, but when a lot of people start drawing out their weapons, well, I'm glad there's someone like the knights there to protect us." He smiled. "Oceanripple? It may be common where you're from, but I've never heard it."

Alabast swallowed hard. He didn't like to get torn into anymore than anyone else, even if it was less direct. But, there was an order to things. He wouldn't speak out to Ehati, he really couldn't. She was a knight, and he was a squire, and that was the way of the world. Alabast never found an overabundance of joy in struggling against the way things were, and found much more in dealing with the reality. When Sera Ehati began mentioning surnames, and the reluctance of bastards not to reveal their lack there of, he couldn't help but furrow his brows a bit. Things were getting unpleasant. "Oh! That's a good point Sera Ehati. My father, he goes on forever about how important a good family name is to him. It's always 'Hartbane' this and 'Hartbane' that, but I'm not so sure it matters that much when you think about." Alabast shrugged, not of indifference to the situation, but from a place of genuine carefree. "I'm not sure it matters really, when you think about it right? I mean, you can only live by what you do with your own name at the end of the day. What about you, Sera Ehati? What's your family's name? Oh! Is it Otaki? Is that why you named your bird that?"

Despite the young squire's valiant attempts to diffuse the situation, the women present seemed much more intent on not liking each other. Ehati went on to point out the likely hood of any of them dying if they were caught out here unawares. Part of him wanted to rebel. Part of him wanted to point out that he probably knew more about survival in his little finger than Sera Ehati did in her entire body. But, that was not the way things worked. Sera Ehati was a knight, and Alabast was a squire. The world had to have order, or it meant nothing, and you had to respect that order, or it meant nothing. Alabast's head sunk as she mentioned his misadventure with the rabbit urine. He simply accepted it as the advice of someone older and wiser. He never lingered on feelings of embarrassment. As often as he was humbled, he'd have to live in the past to keep up, and protocol was more important that his personal feelings either way.

He noticed Akilia looking over at him. He met her expression with a solemn sympathy. He could definitely understand what was eating her about the knight. Sera Ehati did have a way with the words. But when she busted out with her verbal attack on her, Alabast was dumbfounded. To talk to a senior, let alone a knight, like that? This girl had to have been insane! And when she turned to him, and the way she looked at him, it cut. Well, of course I care about her title of knight! She's a-a knight! he thought. He was too struck with the moment to verbalize that, and since nothing he'd said had diffused the situation, he figured he'd just keep his mouth shut. Or hanging open, as it was after Akilia's retort was over. Threatening a knight? That was dangerous. But he couldn't help being impressed with her, he searched for the word. Fire. When she came to his side and whispered to him, things came back to reality.

"Akilia!" He was excited, but didn't yell, it was more a breathless whisper. "Girl are you insane!? That's a Syliran Knight! You could get it big trouble over this. You could get me in big trouble over this." He paused for a moment, and then continued much lower and whispered much quieter to be sure only she could hear it to answer her question "That's not how the knights act, just jerks. Don't let her get you."

by **Ehati** on June 21st, 2013, 5:14 am

Ehati was unpurturbed, although her expression said she was smug. The words of the girls, they did manage to get under her skin and prickle her hide, but she looked almost... amused as she tended to Otaki. The bird had been unsettled by the glare the one girl pointedly shot at him and Ehati was more concerned with tending to his concerns than that of overconfident children. Finally, after dragging out the silence to the awkward affair it could have been before, she raised her eyes.

"Unlike the ashamed bastards, I am proud that I have no parents. Where I am from, we don't know our parents or cousins or anything but our twins, and there is usually a twin to help us through the problems of the world. That is where Otaki came from. My twin gave me his name to pass to my bird." The smile on her face showed her amusement, and condescension, at the strange ways people directed themselves to defend strangers. "I wouldn't be one of my people if my life hadn't been lived the way it was and if I hadn't managed to hold my tongue when facing those in higher positions. My tongue would be cut out if I spoke the way you do now. It's too bad Syliras offers compassion as a reward to such greivances, though, isn't it?" Carefully, she spoke as though they were talking of the weather, again. Nonchalance was a tone she was gifted with.

There was the thought, the barest thing, that she should just step over there, grab the half-wild little git, and give her a good beating to let her know who stepped on who out here, but instead her smile grew more strained and the glare she returned to the girl was one that said she would gladly, gladly go over there and cut off her tongue so she learned to respect the meaning of silence in the face of your betters.

She wouldn't get anywhere with that, though. Her glare remained settled on the eyes of the girl, as though to reinforce that she would attack if provoked further and that it wouldn't be nice as well as that she wouldn't back down. There was something to be had in pride and the bolster it gave to nerves. Ehati wasn't often a nervous wreck so easily pushed to violence.

Again, she softened at the mention of birds. She was an Inarta, after all, and the lot of her race had been bred to love birds since before the Rending.

"Yes, he is a charming little bird," her wounds still stung from where he bit her, the blood dripping to the ground, or onto her glove when she finished stroking along his nape. "Like I said, named for my twin, my only family member. I've had him for about forty days, now." She was content to change the subject to something more menial, but her opinion about their safety still stuck.

by **Radiant** on January 24th, 2014, 8:06 am

Ehati :

Alabast :

Leda :

Akilia :

Notes :

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+2 XP
Falconry	+1 XP
Socialization	+3 XP
Rhetoric	+2 XP
Philosophy	+1 XP

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+2 XP
Hunting	+1 XP
Socialization	+3 XP

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+2 XP
Rhetoric	+2 XP
Socialization	+2 XP
Philosophy	+1 XP

Completed Lifted.

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