Endrykas (Ruari)

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Not found on any map, Endrykas is a large migrating tent city wherein the horseclans of Cyphrus gather to trade and exchange information. [Lore]

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Endrykas (Ruari)

Postby Kyo on September 6th, 2015, 10:25 pm

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33rd of Fall, 515 AV
mid-morning

He ran. He ran fast.

The coyote was so thirsty his tongue was dry and his throat was like burrs. His belly was empty and burning. His nose and paws were ripped from exposure, from searching out the scent, from endless running and backtracking and running again. His bones felt like rocks grinding together. His muscles shook.

And still he ran. He ran fast. Too fast for his dogs to keep up, panting and whining behind, lost in the grey-whiteness of fallen clouds.
Because there was a city.
There were people.

---

The closer to the city, the longer he ran, the harder it was for him to breathe. His gasping closed up in his chest, his heart beating too fast and hard. However much it hurt, it didn't matter; his happiness was too much to mind the pain. The coyote was back where he was not alone. After days and days and the hopelessness of the empty wild. Though it was getting ever harder to breathe, he yearned to catch that breath, and chased it faster yet on the still, foggy wind.

He wanted to inhale the damp, horsey scent of the city. The people scent: the seams and folds of clothes and leather and something else he didn't quite know, the not-as-soapy-flower smell of braided hair and tanned skin (very different from the blue men), the cooking of rich food and smoke that tickled his tortured stomach.

---

It was a while before he actually saw the place; it was so foggy that he didn't see much until he was actually there. What he saw then was enough to confuse him. The coyote straggled from a sprint to a run to a limping trot, barely able to keep his feet as he looked around with large eyes and perked ears.

He expected strong stone walls that reached to the sky and streets that folded on top of each other, stairways and dizzying walkways and pretty carvings, flowering gardens, strange bright colors, and underneath it all the smell of the sea and many large blue bodies, a close, friendly, wary, sharp thing.

This was not that.

It was strange, pale above-ground burrows made of something he didn't know. The smell reminded him loosely of the market called bazaar in Riverfall, of the stalls called tents; strange stretched cloth-stuff that snapped in the wind and bounced the rain. But the bazaar there had been colorful; this place was more like dried, bleached bones in the sun, like the bent humps of a peculiar, many-backed creature twisted in on itself, around and around into a unidentifiable mass. Flat. It was so flat. And disperse. As he approached and the fog lifted back to the sky --mixed now with grey-black cooking smoke-- the strange city, if it was a city, unfolded. It stretched far to either side of him, curving.

It was alive, he saw, in a way Riverfall wasn't. Moving. Open. And basic.

Without thinking he had dragged himself to the edge of this odd people-place; his dogs, frightened, stayed outside and out of sight. The coyote's tail wagged slightly as he became aware of the sparse crowds of people just within. They were busy, flitting between the tents and each other. His tail wagged harder. He picked up speed again, limping back into a trot, and then a lopsided run. He wanted to see it all. He wanted to see every person, to look into their human faces and feel their warmth.

There was an exclamation, a sound of surprise, though what it said he didn't know. He heard it as a greeting to this new and different place. The coyote turned a corner, now among the tents, and nearly ran headfirst into a pair of slender legs. At the last moment he turned, wobbling, and this time something ran into him, something fast and biting that shot past his eye and nipped his ear, causing him to yelp. His head turned, looked at the end of a stick-thing, the bottom lined with feathers, the sharp-point stuck quivering in the dirt behind.

Too slow, his mind said danger. His paws moved on their own, jumping beneath him, and another arrow hit where his body had been. He wheeled, stumbling, and leapt away, darting behind and around, hearing human calls that he didn't understand. He ran, but his legs were weak now and he nearly fell. He ducked further into the city. He didn't know how far he went, or where. Finally he passed around one of the tent-things into a tight, secluded space, and stopped, spitting the small bundle from his jaws that had dried up his mouth. There he shifted in a flicker like light glinting off still water.

Where the bedraggled, half-starved, dehydrated coyote had sat now was a bedraggled, half-starved, dehydrated (naked) young man. He put a dirty, raw hand to his ear, and found that the top of it had gone, bitten off by the arrow. Warm blood dripped to his shoulder. He was too tired to think what to do.

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Endrykas (Ruari)

Postby Ruari Darkwind on September 7th, 2015, 11:57 am

Image"Did you hear that?"

Ruari's murmur to Rhoswen was hushed. Rhoswen, unable to vocalise in pavi, spoke nothing. Her ears were pinned forward and her nostrils were flared, however, alerting Ruari that something was indeed amiss, and she was therefore alert herself.

Ruari was alone in the camp she shared with her family but for Rhoswen and a stray hen that seemed to come around a couple times a season. There was nothing to cause alarm when she looked around, when she listened for the sound of someone approaching, and when she tilted back her head and inhaled deeply for the scent of smoke on the breeze.

Rhoswen paced, though, and a deep-chested snort told Ruari all the story she needed to know about the horse's concerns. Ruari's response was instinctive, her hands smoothing along the strider's sides as she murmured calm sounds. Rhoswen, with her great heart and mischevious spirit, tugged at the sleeve of Ruari's shirt, and Ruari pushed her away with a laugh.

It was easy to forget her initial concern when she saw nothing to warrant continuing it, and she went right back to attending to the mare.

"Stay," Ruari told her friend as she made her way to Rhoswen's rump, keeping her lesser hand on the horse so she knew that she was there and that she shouldn't shy that way. Near them were an assortment of tools used amongst the camp on the horses there for the children. There were others, newer ones of higher quality, but they belonged to Cidhna first, and Ruari would rather use the ones she shared with her siblings and mothers than ask Cidhna for his tools.

Of them, she selected a curved bit of metal that was both well-used and old. She returned to Rhoswen and leaned down, running her hand down Rhoswen's rear right leg slowly, incredibly warily, to the hoof.

She'd seen a technique before, where a handler grabbed at the tendon of the leg and the horse lifted it for him, but she was too shy and concerned to do the same to her horse. Instead, she stood in a way that she could lean against the horse and lift the hoof for herself, which was actually more of a daunting task as Rhoswen had a lot of weight to throw around and Ruari wasn't a tall or particularly strong girl.

Ruari huffed as she took the metal tool, grasped firmly in her greater hand, and began to pick at the hoof of the horse. Dirt and rocks chipped free, clattering to the ground in a symphony of the earth. The Drykas girl was unaccustom and new to caring for a horse like this, so she proceeded with a great amount of caution, wary of harming her horse and friend and causing irreparable damage, but completely unsure of how to avoid causing the damage she feared. However, there was one danger spot she was well aware of: the frog.

Her pick remained far from that part of the hoof, and every time she got near it she found that her hands would shake. Rhoswen herself was unruffled, grazing contentedly and sometimes raising her head to look around as if still concerned.

When Ruari finished with the hoof and she released it, that was when she heard something. Again, Rhoswen was alert, but this time the culprit came into view on his own; it was a Watchguard, out of breath and armed with a spear.

"Coyote," He said, concern, alarm.

"We've not seen one," Ruari answered, and both her hands were on the flank of her horse. He stared at her for a single moment, nodded, and then returned the way he came.

She didn't finish the hooves of her horse, deciding instead that getting a look at the coyote would be something she should get involved in. The pick was returned to the assembled tools. With a bit of a rumbling stomach, Ruari returned to her tent and ducked within.

And there she froze, in complete and utter shock at the sight that greeted her.
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Endrykas (Ruari)

Postby Kyo on September 7th, 2015, 5:14 pm

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The young man sat where he had ended for some time, not moving much. He didn't know how long he sat, for what time. He didn't pay attention. He was very tired. Though his blue eyes were open they were dull. He felt asleep, dozing in his mind though his body was awake.

At some point he thought he should be doing something --the hurting of his ear and his hands and nose and his growling stomach and parched throat and everything else told him that-- but the something he should do was unknown to him. At least his lungs and heart had stopped their aching and slowed back to normal.

There was a sound nearby, and he was aware of what he thought was talking, though he didn't understand the words. The last time he had heard talking there had been the arrow. He really didn't want to run again, and this place, wherever he was --he realized for the first time that somehow he had gotten inside; he couldn't see the sky-- this place was cozy, homey. Like a den.

And then there was a movement from the side, and a girl appeared. She sighted him and held still, watching with surprised eyes.

The girl was small, very small, and it was almost as shocking for him to see her. He was used to the blue men-- huge, muscled, and male. There had been females in the blue city, but not many. And then he had been in the wild, tracking down the person he needed badly to talk to --whom he dearly feared talking to-- and out there, alone but for his dogs, he had known how sorry he was not to be able to see another human face. Now he did. Kyo smiled, and made no move to get closer, though he wished to.

He had learned the word for common greetings in Riverfall, listening to the blue men as they spoke to one another. "Hello [friend to friend, equal to equal, recognition of status, well met]," he said, a complex and oddly-bumping sound, then tried cautiously for calm, soothing words, because he couldn't tell if she looked frightened-- he didn't want her to be afraid. "My name is Kyo. No danger. You don't need to fear. Trust, trust. I'm a friend."

His mouth continued on, now the words blending smoothly, long and flowing and liquid, almost like a song, "I'm a friend{no-harm, safe}. I will not hurt you{you-good, friend}. I'm... don't-know-where, lost{confused}, hurting{bad}." He paused, switching back to the cruder, more direct flow, grimacing. "It hurts. I need to find help, ah, clean-wash, rest-sleep, warm..." It was hard, trying to think of the words. He didn't know how to shape his mouth to say food, or water. So he ended up saying the most important ones again. "Hurts. Rest, rest. Hurts." He leaned back slightly, rubbing one eye, and took his hand from his ear, showing her the wound and the bright, dripping red. "Arrow," he said, "Cut."

Even though he was hurting, and tired, and needed rest, he really was glad to see her, very glad, and he smiled again. It felt strange and almost wrong asking for help; usually he was offering to help people, not people helping him. But he could feel the weariness deep in his bones. He needed strength to help another, and strength he did not have.

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Postby Ruari Darkwind on September 15th, 2015, 2:02 am

When smiled at, Ruari's response was instinctive, and a pained and faltering smile of her own crept across her lips before quickly being replaced by nothing else. He was chattering at her, too quickly and too strangely for her to understand, but when she realised the lack of hands to help her understand at least some of his words, she thought that he wouldn't be speaking Pavi. He was from the outside, from beyond the wilderness even. A careful step backward was taken, as Ruari trusted outsiders little especially with the event that occurred earlier in the season involving them. They were dangerous.

Her eyes took a moment to assess him then, to find the threat he no doubt provided her. He had no clothes, but the fact was that he was in her tent, her safe place, shoulder bloody from a bite mark or some other point of damage. He had an earnest way of speaking, but she couldn't see the intention meant behind the strange sounds he made, and that put her on edge. How did the people from beyond the Sea ever trust one another when they couldn't even express the meanings in their words?

The man moved and Ruari started, thinking he'd reach to strike at her or grab a concealed weapon. However, his hand went to his ear and showed her fresh blood, redder than that which must have dried on his shoulder from the wound. Her brow furrowed, considering it as he showed it to her with his strange sounds backing it up, his foreign language, she knew it to be. None of the words were very familiar to her but for the very simple ones with simple meanings, like 'no'. It was a frustrating sensation, dealing with outsiders.

"What do you want?" She asked him, hands fluttering in concern, dismay, light anger. She was not furious yet; Ruari had not ever become so angry, but she was slightly at her home space having been invaded. Although, at least it wasn't the pavilion. There were children there. He would be put to death.

In his state, death may have to be the kindest thing she could do to him.

Ruari, however, had not killed a person before. She didn't think that she could. Maybe she'd gotten too invested in helping animals survive that killing a person was much more difficult. She should get a Watchman. She should get a knife and chase him out, this strange man, so he'd not come to her home and invade it again.

She didn't. Rather, she eyed him with suspicion and tilted her head to look at the wounded ear. He wasn't threatening her yet, but a lack of handsign did not make him a friend. Still, she could not let him go sitting there longer with blood on him getting into her belongings.

"Are you hurt?" She asked, Pavi flurrying and hands signing. It had an obvious answer, but she wanted him to acknowledge it and to tell her where it had come from. Was he a thief, a man caught with a woman, or some kind of criminal? She reached forward, hand shaking, to grab at her blanket and then throw it at him. There was no way she would enter her tent with a naked man.

When she thought he didn't understand her language, she huffed at him. Her mouth formed the unfamiliar sounds of the Common tongue, with which she had no real practice, and she spoke the word for 'hurt' in it, although it lacked the inflection she'd have put into a proper Pavi word with hands. She pointed to her own ear and then to his, shaking hands nervous.
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Postby Kyo on September 15th, 2015, 4:53 pm

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The girl didn't seem to know what he was saying, and she herself spoke in a way that he could not understand. Her hands fluttered, and she seemed to shiver, to show some sort of discomfort.

It was difficult for him to read her face and posture. He usually knew how people were feeling, they smiled or frowned. Her smile had turned up the corners of her mouth, but it had been bad. Not-a-smile. She didn't look frightened exactly, but he thought maybe she was. Or maybe she was just tired, like him. Her hands quivered noticeably.

Kyo's slow thoughts dragged along as he tried to make himself pay good attention, to keep from letting his head fog up. After a few moments he came to a realization, something he had noticed before but not thought further about: he was inside, inside a tent, and looking around he could see people-things, like a bed and blanket. She had come in-- did that mean she was wanting to go to sleep? That this was her place, her territory? Or something else?

The girl soon picked up a blanket, so yes, then, she must be tired, but then she threw it at him, confusing him. He reached out to pick it up with one dirty, cut-up hand, holding a corner of it gently, and then looked at her. Another realization came: clothes. Human-forms didn't much like bareness; they preferred covering themselves. He should have remembered sooner, but it was so hard to make his head work right now. He picked up the bundle he had dropped from his mouth earlier and tugged the ragged pants on.

Now the girl was saying something else, but this time he understood, though the words were different-sounding than he was used to, like her mouth was not good for shaping them.

"Hurt, yes," he said, touching his ear again, then showing her his scuffed-up hands and feet, and touching lightly at the small cuts on his face. It had been a long, hard travel to get here. Very hard. His relief at having finally gotten to the tent-city --to a place with people-- had been cut short, because of the arrow. And now because of the girl, too, and the tenseness he could feel from her. His gladness at her presence was fading, replaced by a subtle uneasy feeling. He didn't know what he was doing, but it was something she didn't like. Was she scared or worried or-- or angry? His shoulders sagged a little; he felt like he was not thinking fast enough --good enough-- to do what was right. What did she want?

He didn't know.

Finally he just repeated, "Yes, I'm hurt." Those few words felt like they were not enough. He wanted to say why, as if that might somehow soothe her.

The coyote-man settled on miming, one arm up and cocked back, one stretched in front of him as if he was holding a bow. Then he pointed his finger and thrust it out: shooting. "Arrow," he said again, though he didn't know if she knew what he meant. "Arrow make me hurt." He did the arrow motion again, then touched his ear, and then he shifted, flicker-fast, coyote and then back to man again in a glimmer of light that briefly lit up the inside of the tent-place, shining.

"They... tent-people see me, they arrow me. Don't know why{confused, question} they bow-arrow me. I come here... I need help. I need to find place for--" he struggled to find a word for it, "--for me-to-belong, for me to stay."

"Hungry{much}, and thirsty{much}," he added softly after a moment, pressing a hand to his throat and then his belly. Then he sighed, and rubbed his eyes again, yawning. Once more he remembered something he had forgotten, too late. "I'm Kyo." He pressed a hand to his chest. "Kyo. You are?" He thought she would understand the sound of that question. "What is you-name?"

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Postby Ruari Darkwind on September 17th, 2015, 10:09 am

There were many things Ruari was to think about that the strange man presented her. He was a threat; strange men in an unwed woman's tent were nothing better than threats, typically, and she knew she should call for someone. There was a Watchman nearby no doubt, still looking for the coyote, and Rhoswen grazed even nearer. The horse, large than Ruari, would prove to be a good defense if she were attacked.

Strangely, though, he did not move at her. His hands lifted to show her wounds, strange scratches that she never saw on human hands, and the bloody ear. His miming of how it became bloody fell short, however. She watched him like he may have lost his mind with heat-sickness, and maybe that was reason enough for him to be in here like this.

But then he changed and Ruari understood. She was no less alarmed, but the dawning realisation that loomed within her told her that questions had been answered and she'd found the coyote the Watchman had been looking for. Although Ruari knew little of the skin-changers that he must be, other than that they could be person and beast at once, her skin crawled at the sudden way in which he became coyote and then human again. It was unsettling at best.

She still regarded him as a stranger, a person she should not trust, although one both wounded and sick. He may be a rapist, a criminal from the place beyond the grassland. There was an innocence in him though, something that spoke clearly of wounded and exhausted, even kind. It was surface though, like the subtle way the Drykas spoke with their bodies when their hands were full, and the message was far from clear. She didn't trust him, but she didn't wish to see him killed for his sickness.

"Turn back," she said, although she sighed the Pavi as if coming to terms with the decision she'd made, signing urgency and concern. Ruari meant to the coyote-skin he wore. As an animal, she had more confidence to deal with his wounds, and she could find a way to keep him from harm if found in her tent, but as a man there was no such benefit.

Remembering he didn't speak her language, although she didn't actually forget, she pointed at him, snapped her fingers, and then mimed the ears of his coyote-skin. And then, as if to suddenly gain inspiration from his own introduction of himself, she pronounced her own name, Ruari, with the rolled r and the drawn vowels.

Once more, Ruari stretched out, reaching into her tent as well as attempting to keep her distance from him, to grasp the medical kit her kind mother had given her. It was deeper in the tent than the blanket had been, though, and she edged forward to get at it.
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Postby Kyo on September 17th, 2015, 1:33 pm

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Maybe he had done right by explaining; maybe she had understood. She spoke something, and moved her hands again in a way that he knew was a different kind of speaking, not random or just a regular human-form gesture. The way her tone was seemed like a command, telling him what to do, and he was glad again, and smiled weakly even though he didn't understand. No matter what she had said --maybe to get out!, though he hoped not-- he was happy she had said something that sounded like what she wanted him to do. This was good. He could do whatever she wanted, if he was able, and then she would be happy, maybe even show a real-smile. He yawned again, struggling to decipher her words though he could not know them, and then nodded his head when she mimed.

These were not the same motion-type as her hands had done before. They were broader, and he thought he understood better. She pointed to him, that was clear enough, and then did something with her fingers to make a noise. He had seen others do that before, though he wasn't sure what it meant or how to do it himself; vaguely his own fingers twitched, as if to copy the fast movement. This was followed by holding her hands up by her head, and he looked at her, blank and frustrated for a moment, before he saw the crook of her hands and knew them to mean ears. "Yes, hurt," he said again; at least he knew she understood that. But why do that with her hands, when she could just point to her own ear in recognition? No, she had put her hands up, and--

And suddenly he thought he understood. Coyote-ears. The finger-noise and coyote-ears. Her voice had told him an order, that she wanted him to do something. Coyote-ears. He could do that, almost grateful to have a reason to be in his other form, which was smaller --less weight to control in tiredness-- and had better balance to keep him from falling over.

He shifted, but not before he caught the final thing she said and repeated it once back, "Ruari." He couldn't do that strange tongue-roll noise with his own inexperienced mouth, but --he was getting better at this, she was becoming easier to read-- he recognized her intent: her name. "Kyo like Ruari, friend to Ruari, good." Then he shifted, blurring back to animal-form.

He stood to shake the human-form pants he had been wearing back off, then sat, and went one further, laying on his belly with his head still tiredly raised, though he held it as if he wanted to put it down. His ear was crying with pain, but he thought the bleeding would stop soon now. For some reason it had seemed to bleed more in the other form, maybe because of the ear-shape. Though he couldn't see it, he knew the top of it was gone; he had felt that with his human-form hands.

He watched the girl creep closer, and huffed out a sad breath that she still seemed wary of him, maybe because he was a coyote again, though he had thought that was what she wanted. He didn't move when she did, though he wished he could be close to her. He had been alone for too long when he had run here, away from people, and it hurt him more than any flesh wound could. Hurt him deep in his chest like his heart had gone. He looked at her with sad yearning brown eyes, but made himself stay still and quiet and peaceful, because that was what he thought she wanted.

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Postby Ruari Darkwind on September 18th, 2015, 12:14 pm

When Ruari had her hand firmly upon the medical kit she was grasping for and she dragged it to her, she heard him repeat her name, and again there was a sort of half-smile that answered, to say that she was pleased he took her name and could say it back to her (despite the strange accent he said it with).

She looked back at him in time to be dazzled by the bright flare of light that told her he'd changed again, and swiftly she rubbed her eyes to clear the ache from it. With her little kit, worn box and fresh supplies, she finally had a moment to look at him. Without the awkward shape of humans to unsettle Ruari, and the threat of physical attack at least somewhat behind her, she could grab at a bit of confidence again. Now she knew that she wouldn't be caught with a strange man in her tent. That alone eased a lot of the stiffness from her limbs, warming her slightly more to his plight.

When she looked at him as if he were an animal, and thankfully he was, Ruari could better see the signs of flagging exhaustion. He had sunk down, as if grateful to lay, and now the way his head hung spoke to her of the desire, or need, to lay it down as well and rest. In his human skin, he'd yawned much more than most did at this bell. It was all speaking to her, even if not in the unfamiliar language of traders and travelers, and she felt like she could better understand it now.

"Calm," she said to him, slow and heavy. Although a foreign word, it paired with Pavi sign, the signs that repeated calm and added on breath and tired. Altogether, a person familiar with Pavi would read her request for him to rest, but she felt like he could not and the message came only as reflex with her words. She'd never spoken without her hands unless her hands were preoccupied.

With the message given, she eased forward slowly. Exhausted animals were not something she was intimately familiar with, especially coyotes; her medical history knew of dogs and that was as far into that particular world that she'd ventured. Now, it was time she tried to apply what she could to the man-animal, and she did so by first reaching to him and laying a hand upon his side, introducing him to the way it felt when she touched him so he wouldn't startle when she touched him again.

Moving nearer, Ruari gave the coyote before her tentative pets, feeling uncharacteristically awkward when she realised she was actually petting another person, simply one in a different shape. It bemused her, at the very least.

As she pet him and urged him to relax, she got a good look at the wound to his ear. What had caused the wound, she didn't know, but given that she knew a Watchman was looking for him, she thought it might have something to do with running afoul of one of them. As the wound was strange, not like cat scratches or the split skin of horse-hooves, and he was far from unconscious, Ruari could really only assume it had been caused by a weapon. Perhaps a spear; the Watchman that had come had been armed with a spear but she could remember there hadn't been blood on it.

The hand not on the coyote went to work opening the medical kit, grasping for a roll of clean bandages before she leaned away and returned not two chimes later with her waterskin and a rag.

Now, Ruari was not used to talking to the animals she treated. She often helped other veterinarians with them and was too busy talking to them and reassuring the animal to try to converse to the beast, or even warn it, but given the fact that this animal was also a person, she felt as if it would be wise to give him at least a bit of a warning. After all, she would like to be warned, even if she didn't understand the language the warning came from.

"This will hurt," she said, confident in that being true, as she removed her hand from him to wet the cloth. The hand returned easily enough, placed near his shoulders with a bit of a light scratch, habit telling her to not alarm him.

And the hand that held the cloth, wet with water, came down upon his ear.

Somewhere deep down, Ruari kind of regretted that she didn't give him something to bite upon.
Last edited by Ruari Darkwind on September 26th, 2015, 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Kyo on September 18th, 2015, 3:11 pm

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She seemed to like his coyote-form better, which was maybe a little odd
--coyotes could not talk and human-forms usually enjoyed speaking with one another-- but he didn't think much of it. He wasn't thinking of much at all. As soon as he laid down his mind tried to shut off, and he had to fight to keep his eyes open. His body started to ache, as if being still and comfortable was somehow the wrong position after so much time spent hurrying around. His paws throbbed along with the pain of the cut ear.

The coyote sighed, laying his head forward on his paws, eyes watching the girl Ruari curiously but with a certain vagueness. He didn't know what she was doing or what was in the small box she reached for and was looking through. Maybe he should have been doing something, been human-form and trying to help her find whatever it was, or maybe he should have gotten back up and left this tent-place to find someplace more permanent in the city he might stay and hide. He still didn't know where he was supposed to go, though, or what to do now that he was here.

The problem was that he didn't know why the tent-people had shot at him, though he thought through it to give his mind something to do besides go to sleep. Maybe they had thought he was a danger, though he had not growled or showed his teeth or fluffed his fur to make himself looked bigger and more intimidating. Maybe he had come to the wrong part of the city too fast; was there a gate-place he was supposed to go, like in Riverfall? That might be it. He remembered receiving a thump from the gate-guardians of the blue city when he had been a coyote who had wanted to come in. He had not been allowed until he was human and clothed properly. So this could be like that.

He almost wanted to go out and try again, maybe loop around and look for the right place to enter, but his body wouldn't move, too tired, and then
--somewhat unexpectedly-- Ruari reached out to touch him. Immediately he forgot his plan. His tail wagged drowsily and he sighed again, this time closing his eyes. The empty hole in his chest seemed to tug and pull, not a good feeling and not exactly a bad one, like the soreness of healing. It was nice being here and he could stay in this place for a while.

The girl continued to pet him, moving closer --maybe she thought he was a dog? he didn't mind-- and scratched the ruff of his shoulders, saying something. She had said something before, calm, which his mind had glanced over, body already relaxing. Now the tone was different, but he didn't look too closely at it. A moment later he wished he had.

Something touched his ear and it hurt, such a surprise he let out a yelp. His whole body twitched as if to run, eyes flying open, paws tensing underneath him. It was not an effort to stay down, however, to not scare the girl with a sudden fast movement-- not an effort because his body couldn't move. Too exhausted, the muscles had given up and now held him here.

That was both good and bad. Good because he didn't want to make her distressed again, as she had been earlier, and he thought jumping out from under her small, soft hand might do that. Bad because he needed to be able to run. It was a fundamental part of his being. Not being able to run and still being conscious was something foreign and frightening. He had literally run himself to the ground before, to a point that he could run no further, but that had been a long long time ago. And that had been in the time of sickness. A bad time. The worst.

He did not want to think he was going to that place again.

Throughout this the coyote's breathing had picked up, and now he tried to control himself, taking deep slow breaths though he was no longer anywhere close to the brink of sleep. He rolled more to his left side, thinking that might help, surrendering completely. He understood why she had touched his ear: she wanted to help him. To clean it maybe. To fix it? He knew this pain was not out of meanness, or as some sort of attack.

But it still hurt. The coyote put a paw over his muzzle as if to hide his face, and then lay completely still. He was on his left side and the bad ear was on the right, so she would still be able to reach it. As if to let her know it hurt, though, he whimpered slightly. But that didn't last long either. He didn't want to make her feel like it was her fault that it felt so bad.

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Endrykas (Ruari)

Postby Ruari Darkwind on September 26th, 2015, 11:54 am

His distress was expected, but Ruari was grateful he didn't lash out in response to it and, rather than flight, he submitted to the care she exacted over him. Habit let her talk to him, murmuring words meant to soothe and calm him even while she inflicted pain upon him. In the end, she believed herself to be doing him good. Cleaning his wound would help.

Ruari, finished with cleaning much of the blood, placed it aside. The bleeding had stopped before she had cleaned it, for which she was grateful, and the blood was fresh enough that she wasn't peeling away scabs. In her cleaning, however, and given how vigorous she was in it, she did manage to make him bleed again. Keeping in mind the human part of him, she murmured an apology in Pavi, a few short syllables before cleaning the next trails of blood.

When it was done and she thought he'd stop bleeding, Ruari once again dug in her kit. From there she pulled out an ointment, a bit of something she'd bought when she last filled her kit. Soon she would have replaced it, but she was glad to get use out of it as she applied it to the wound and forming scab with light taps of her fingertip to get it to stick. She continued to acknowledge it would hurt by speaking idle words to him that would have been senseless to any other Drykas.

"Soon done," she finally told him in Common when she'd tossed aside the ointment and dried her hand on another clean cloth. This time, she'd grabbed the bandages and she reached for the paw thrown over his nose to remove it. Ruari knew how to bandage a dog's wound, and since he was in a dog-like form, she would have wrapped it then and there, but she did remember that he came to her in the skin of a human. "I'll be putting this on now," she told him in Pavi, holding up the bandage so he could see it. "Do you want it as coyote, or not-coyote?" If she knew Common, she would have expressed the concern behind her question to him clearly, but as she suspected him to not understand Pavi, and she herself didn't speak Common, she didn't spend time trying to convey the ideas to him. Hopefully he could understand it on his own.
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