Closed Cliffhangers!

[Prakash]

Timestamp: 14th of Summer, 514 AV Blazing sunrays were shining down all over Riverfall, to the extent where the city was almost a no-man's land around midday when everyone was either cooling off in-doors and trying to hold a siesta or downing water like they were on fire. Because of this heatwave, Prakash and Drath were forced to maintain their (almost) daily training either during the crisp early morning hours or late in the evening, around dusk. Prakash always joked to Drath, who is more of a nightowl than an early riser: 'Thzie Darkness; She Scares Meeee~~' resulting in an amused scoffing huff & puff, which was a clearcut sign to Prakash that Drath was no longer grumpy and easy to convince. Today was no different, resulting in the Akalak jogging at a low tempo throughout Riverfall's streets until Drath halted Prakash in his steps. "What? We're not going back now!" " It's not that you fool, I wanted to change scenery for a bit; How about we run up the cliffside outside the city for once? It's been ages since we've been there!" "Up the cliffside? You're daft...But alright...If we fall and die, I hope you reincarnate as a damn mountain goat!" Drath laughed out hard as Prakash jogged towards and out of the city gates, chit chatting with his twin soul cheerfully and in a jolly good mood; Which slowly dwindled in grumpy mumbling as they had reached the rocky cliffside and Prakash was forced on by Drath to keep up his pace while jogging up the natural staircase of flattened rocks leading up to the cliff. "Curse you and your petching idea! Curse all your ideas!!!" Prakash growled while trying his hardest to maintain the pace as he hopped from one stepping stone to the next. Thankfully the leaves of the trees on either side of the twisting and curving staircase blocked the scorching heat a bit and the cool breeze helped the Akalak survive this ordeal as well. Nevertheless a thin layer of sweat was covering his bare sapphire torso and beads were rolling down over his chest as he finally made it up to the plateau on the cliff. Ignoring anyone and anything around him, not that he expected someone to be there, he let himself fall on his back on the cold stone and spread his arms wide as he waited until his breathing became normal again and his fatigue left him. Once his strength and stamina were regained, he pushed himself up and turned to face the beautiful paronamic view, but what his eyes focused on wasn't the view; It was a person, with beautiful golden locks flowing through the gentle breeze and a thin fragile figure from what he could tell so far. The woman was sitting with her back towards him and apparently concentrating on something as she showed no sign of having noticed him, which was something Prakash would fix right now, as he walked up to her sneakily as to not startle her right off the bat. Once near her, he peered over her shoulder and saw she was drawing the scape before her. He couldn't help but blurt out: "Woah...Gorgeous!"

[Alaia]

The mountainside was beautiful; it was so rare that Alaia traveled out to this secluded part of Riverfall that she felt like her breath was taken every time she did. She had rose early from bed to make it out here by the sun rise, she wanted to see the warm peach glow hit the trees and really she wanted to be done by mid day so that she wasn’t stuck outside in the hottest part of the day. With her charcoals and a canvas she found a clear spot of grass to settle in, her lace dress fanning out behind her so she didn’t get any grass stains on it and she started to sketch the woods before her. Landscapes were not her forte but she wanted to try. Something about the lack of emotion she saw in the forest made it quite a task for her but she kept replacing lines she erased with new ones determined to get it right. Her mind drifted as she drew, there were so many things going on it felt as if her life had sped from boring town to excitement avenue within the past few weeks and she was enjoying it. It was exhausting to be what she felt was constantly on the go now but it was well worth it – she was finally meeting people since living in Riverfall and she was expanding her knowledge of things she barely had advanced in Mura. Drawing though, drawing was her passionate hobby that she did ever chance she got. In the quiet bells of the morning she soaked up the quietness of her surroundings and held her face to the morning rays allowing them to warm her skin. A smile splayed across her lips and she just breathed in the scents, they were so different then the ocean she typically clung to and that was refreshing in its own way. Peace. She was at peace in her quiet little bubble of aloneness as she drew the trees towering before her in careful lines only daring to give shape to those in the foreground first. Time passed, she didn’t know how much, she just knew the sun was up now and the heat was starting to cling to her skin trying to claim her as it’s slave. She put down the canvas she was working on and braided her hair back into a loose cord though she had no tie for it so it would eventually come free. For now it kept some of the heat off the nape of her neck and she picked up her charcoal again feathering out some leaves in the trees that she was creating. She didn’t hear him coming up on her but when his voice cut through her pleasant world of silence she nearly jumped and something akin to a startled cry left her lips. Quickly she ditched her canvas and turned around to get a look at her offender, her crystal eyes wide in shock and her mouth parted gaping for words. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and then the heat of a blush creep across her cheeks at her own embarrassment. “I’m .. well … Thank you …” She stammered over the words as she slowly stood up brushing herself off and letting her bare webbed feet wiggle in the grass as she looked the man over. His blue skin gave him away as an akalak and then she grinned from ear to ear. It wasn’t often she could use Tukant and her Tukant was by far from conversational but she greeted him in one of the only Tukant greetings she knew. “Hello, nice to meet you.” “I’m sorry you scared me. It’s not nearly finish though …” She drifted off in common and then wrapped her arms around her waist a bit self consciously. Normally she was proud of her work, when it was people and faces and emotions but suddenly she felt as if it wasn’t good enough. Moving forward she’d go to grasp her canvas and hold it purposefully so that the back of it was facing the stranger in her midst. “I’m Alaia.” She offered lightly while chewing on her bottom lip “What are you doing out? I didn’t think anyone would be out.”

[Prakash]

Curiousity killed the cat, or so it seemed at first. The blonde jumped up and nearly rammed her shoulder in Prakash's face by doing so. Once up and about the girl started tripping over her words, which was too endearing. Even Drath found it adorable, although he'd never admit it. Once she regained her composure she started opening up and smiling wide though, even spoke to Prakash in broken Tukant, to which he responded in feigned broken Tukant as well. "Pleasure to meet you, my name is Prakash." Finding the distance between them odd and annoying to yell across from, to one another, Prakash moved towards the woman and circled her to look at the painting from over her shoulder again. "I like how you can make it so ... vibrant, whilst only using black charcoal! Keep it up!" He could sense the scent of her hair from this close, smelled like fresh citrus or lime, moving back to her front, as he answered her question by stating he was here to work out and change scenery as he had grown tired of the urban view in Riverfall's center. He went on about how running up the cliffside was a spur of the moment decision. "Got to say, it's alot nicer up here with you around, rather than being here alone...With my imaginary friend...Pedro...The Sombrero!" Prakash grinned sheepishly as he told one of his lame jokes, he was an expert at those; Usually they're so lame they end up making people smile or laugh anyway, albeit more at him than the joke. "So how about you? What brought you here? To the cliff, Riverfall, the continent...Take your pick."

[Alaia]

Alaia held still when the Akalak, Prakash, decided to circle her. It was almost as if she was playing possum and holding her breath while doing so since she didn’t really know what he was trying to do or what he was planning on doing. His compliment only served to make her hold her head up slightly and frown because she didn’t feel it deserved the praise just yet since it wasn’t even close to being finished. The moment he stepped back in front of her she shifted her weight back a little letting space grow between their bodies but not quite as much as before. “You were running? Up here?” Her jaw just about dropped at the thought, alls she was doing was drawing and she couldn’t think about anything else other than getting in the water and cooling off. “Do you at least have water? You could dehydrate.” There it was, the natural worry for anyone’s wellbeing showing itself as she let her canvas drop to the ground and she stepped slightly closer trying to examine him with the slow graze of her eyes. It was hard to tell if someone was dehydrated from just a look but that didn’t stop her from trying before his next words cut into her attention, her brows knitted in confusion at his words. “What is a … sombrero?” Common was not her first language and she never heard this word before. Clearly her lack of knowledge didn’t do well with the joke he was trying to tell because she didn’t laugh – not for lack of wanting to be kind but simply because she didn’t know. She’d wait for him to explain a sombrero to her before she answered his questions, a delicate shrug of the shoulders accompanying her words. “I’m here …” she motioned to where they were standing “… to draw.” A smile slowly etched its way into her feature as she continued. “I came to Riverfall to do my job, I’m a healer. I work at the Gilla Medical Center in town.” There was clear pride in her words and the way she held herself when she talked about healing but she also didn’t like the light focusing on her to much so she directed her next words to his life. “What do you do in town Prakash? Would you like to sit….” She motioned to the grass below them since he had been running and exercising if he was taking the time to stop and talk to her she figured he might want to take the time to actually rest. In a fluid motion she let herself lower to the grass carefully so that he might feel more comfortable sitting as well. Reaching up Alaia ran her fingers through her hair pulling it all over one shoulder and brushing it out in a few calm strokes to undo the twist she had created before.

[Ragdoll]

Fur your hard work...

Alaia :

Skills

Skill	Points
Observation	1
Drawing	1
Socialization	1

Lores

Identifying Akalaks

Comments

I'm sorry there wasn't much to award here-this looked like it would've been a fun thread. Hopefully Alaia finds out what a sombrero is!

Though I try my hardest to award you what you deserve, I may occasionally mess things up! If there's something you'd like to discuss about your grade, then please don't hesitate to send me a PM and I'll be happy to work things out with you.