Fables For The People

[Ixzo]

54th of Autumn, 515AV
16th Bell, Evening
Amethyst District

Even though the rain had stopped, Ixzo was none the more warm as she patrolled the market place. She was better now, but the Kelvic was still lost among the lanes of the tent city. It was the market place, where she felt most comfortable, simply because it was the first she saw of the city. But the lioness knew she would not be able to lounge for long. And so she walked.

Bare feet dug into the drying Autumn grass, and wide silver eyes flitted across the tents and through the faces. Much to her surprise, a majority of the horses in Endrykas did not fear her. Back home, she had been used to the beasts spooking at her presence, perhaps because they felt the lion before the human. But most of the horses in Endrykas seemed to see her for what she truly was, a mix of both. If the animals were comfortable, then she supposed she must be too.

After a few chimes of cautiously making her way through the tents, the Kelvic noticed a small crowd forming. Mostly kids, but there were more than enough interested adults on the edge, which crowded her view. Slowing, the lioness peaked over the heads of the horse-people to see what the spectacle was that attracted them. As she neared, she heard whispers of the strange language of the Drykas. She didn't understand most of it, especially since the language required hand-movements that she could not see.

Hesitantly, the Kelvic stepped forward. Her wiry fingers reached out to guide her through the crowd, but the sight of the bony digits forced her to pull them back. She was no longer starving, but it took more than three days to put on the necessary weight to return to herself. That with the ashy skin and chaotic dreads, despite how she tried to piece them back together, Ixzo could only imagine what she looked like. A crooked smile tipped the edge of her lips, as she thought about how these people must see her, but the huntress cared very little.

She was interested in what this woman was saying that attracted so much attention. Unwilling to shove through the crowd of strangers, Silver eyes slid to her left. They were met with a vivid pair of hazel orbs, belonging to a woman. Older, well worn in her age. The woman gave her a questioning look but said nothing and when Ixzo opened her mouth to speak, she found that the stranger's attention had been drawn back to the speech that she couldn't quite understand.

Sighing, Ixzo took a step forward, trying to piece together the broken Pavi that she did understand. There were words of horses, and warriors. Things that the kelvic would expect to hear among regular conversation with these people. But in the story words she didn't understand were through in. It was a tale of the Gods, as far as she could tell. A love story... With Aquiras, and Priskil.

Curiosity lit with flame, burning with the new need to understand what this culture thought of her beloved Priskil, and Ixzo took another step forward, finding herself side by side with a Drykas just as tall as her. Not hesitating, this time, she turned to the man beside her.

Ixzo gave a light tap on his shoulder to request his attention, but then quick flicked her fingers across her scared chest, signing the familiar word. Curiosity. "What she say?" The broken Pavi words rasped from her mouth, and silver eyes looked earnestly at the stranger. "She speaks of Priskil?" Ixzo probed, hoping to get information from the man.

[Erikal]

Having had a busy day at The Spit Fire tanning pelts, Erikal was grateful for a chance to take his ease and simply enjoy the pleasures that abounded in the moving city. Daylight waned and the air cooled noticably with Syna's descent. A carefree breeze stirred tent flaps, bent long blades of grass and undulated the mane of human and horse alike.

The young Drykas stood amid a sea of his people, listening intently to Na'Sula offer one of her usual captivating tales of the Gods. Erikal laughed and signed encouragement when a pair of young boys began to beat on their drums to embellish what he already considered a fine story. Na'Sula's voice rose above the beat of drums and the purring of the wind. She knew just how to suspend her audience with carefully calculated pauses at the most critical points in the story.

"Aquiras was attacked by powerful wizard," said Na'sula with a twiddle of her fingers that made many of the children giggle. "The destruction of the Valterrian had weakened Aquiras and from his chest, was heart stolen by wizard!"

The crowd reacted with a collective gasp of surprise, for a god to lose its heart was not such a common thing. Wind chimes rattled and drums beat on. Voices of outrage and curoisity came to fill the silence. But all the people quieted when Na'sula's shrill tone cut the evening wind like a knife.

"But Aquiras would not die that way. Priskil's love for him was so great that she risked her own life to drag Aquiras to safety and protect him during the raging storms of the Valterrian."

Much happy sighing commenced then among the women. Erikal felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to come face to face with someone he had never seen before in Endrykas. A woman. A very tall woman. Dark skinned and barely clothed. Erikal could see a few of the Drykas around him were affronted by her presence. He had to strain his ears to catch her crude articulation of Pavi over the murmurs of the crowd. The horseman nodded slowly, realization springing to blue-gray eyes. After a quick gesture of greeting he spoke in a measured tone for her benefit, motioning toward Na'Sula who had begun to weave her tale again. "Yes. Priskil saved the life of Aquiras," he explained.

Erikal found himself wondering where the woman had come from. His first notion was that she was a slave. But he saw no bonds or tattoo's to give credence to the idea. The strange woman did have many scars, though. Knowing it was probably not so polite to have his gaze roam freely, the young Drykas directed his stare to the woman's face once more. Who are you? Where from? He flashed in quick-succession with Grassland Sign. Gesturing to his chest, he said, "I am named Erikal."

Though a few of the Drykas seemed a little put off by the odd woman's appearance, Erikal's expression betrayed only curiosity.

OOC :

Note: Changed A Hunter's Rest to The Spit Fire as modifications were made to his place of employment. Thanks!

[Ixzo]

Word Count: 255

"Ahhh… Priskil," She purred the name, her attention once more distracted as she tried to take a look at the woman. She didn’t hope to properly understand the story, but she knew it well enough. Missing his first sign, Ixzo turned back to catch the second question, but barely understand it. Only when the Drykas man provided is name, did Ixzo put it together.

"Ixzo." She tapped her own chest. The Slug Heart bristling with goosebumps under her finger tips. She didn't much like the constant eye contact, but had to remind herself that didn't always mean aggression to the humans. Although new to the city, she quickly learned of the recent issues and why the Drykas reacted so… dryly to strangers. Besides Injal, and the occasional tanner at the Spit Fire, Erikal was one of the few who actually paid attention to her and as a result the Kelvic was hungry to keep him in conversation.

She wanted to keep him in conversation, so Ixzo scrambled for words to keep going with. "You…" The kelvic relentless racked her thoughts for a question to ask the man before realizing she hadn't caught his signs from earlier. For all she knew he was waiting on answers from her.

"…what did you say?" She asked, thinking she sounded a little stupid. She didn't quite know how to communicate that she hadn't heard. "Don't speak well." New, foreigner. She signed, trying to explain her embarrassing reaction to the man. This was starting off great.

OOC :

So sorry about the late reply, I totally forgot you had replied to this one until I checked!

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign

[Erikal]

"The Drykas would have perished if not for Caiyha's aid. The land provided sustenance for him to recover from the grevious injuries suffered at the hands of terrible Zith...." Na'Sula said theatrically, having moved on from Priskil and Aquiras to the Goddess of Flora and Fauna.

That brought a shadow of a smile to Erikal's lips. If any god or goddess claimed his heart, it would surely be Caiyha. His father had told him as a child often enough that he was to respect Caiyha. That she was the mother of the land and all the creatures in it. It was the people's way after all, to prosper with the herd and take only what was needed to live well, but to never disrespect Caiyha and allow a greedy heart to scar the land.

Coincidentally, the tall woman before him also made him smile. He could tell she was trying really hard to communicate in his language. "Ixzo," Erikal repeated, "Good name." The warrior-hunter chuckled as Ixzo puzzled over the meaning of his words and signs while also trying to express herself. The young Drykas saw the slight frustration and abashed look mar the woman's exotic dark features. Her admission to being a foreigner was hardly necessary, but he saw that she was trying to make a good impression and he sensed a strong spirit in her.

Look, he signed, taking her hand in his and slowly going through the hand placements and motions to mimic what he had done earlier. "Who are you?" he said when they had finished the first sign. "Ixzo," he said for her with a grin, having already been enlightened to who she was. Then he raised her hand and bent the thumb the index digits down, brought that hand to cup in her other hand before having her point to finish the sign. "Where from?" he intoned, arching his eyebrow expectantly and grinning at her.

[Ixzo]

Word Count: 554

Who are you? She committed the foreign sign to memory. The Kelvic's finger's warmed with his. Partially because the jungle-raised woman was so unused to even the small amount of cold that she was grateful for any warmth. The other part was the two seasons she spent without contact with any human. As a kelvic, she craved the contact, and so the sparking in her fingers at the touch of another was enthralling at the very least. Where from? She committed the signs to memory, grinning with childish excitement at progressing in the foreign language.

"Ixzo." She repeated, actually answering his questions this time. "Of Taloba." Nostalgia laced her words as she thought about the lush canopy that she was used to being constantly above her. While she didn't mind it, at times the open sky scared her. She would wake up expecting the soft pitter-patter of the dripping trees, but instead meet the shrill songs of the wind across the open sky. Only when it thundered was she truly scared.

Her pause to think about the differences warped into a faint expression of thought as she struggled to put together the words to best describe this memory to the man. "Jungle, with Myrians." She tried to explain further, finally finding the best words, but still keeping her sentences as simple as possible. Arcing her hands about her head, she looked up, almost expected to see the green above her but was only met with the blue and grey of the cloudy sky. "Rain trees, always." She wished she had learned the sign for the rainforest. "Not here, no trees." She didn't need to show the man, if she could get it across, perhaps he would understand her comparison. "Different here. Speak wind, not rain fall here." She thought wistfully wishing she could speak as she thoughts. The wind didn’t speak, it sang, just like the rain didn't fall, it danced. Ixzo was getting frustrated with her lack of understanding of the language. It wasn't as if she was a poet, but she was coming across as an idiot at this pace.

At least she hadn't needed to talk with… Ixzo stopped her thoughts before the painful name could intrude. Her heart ached at the thought, but at least by not speaking his name she would not cripple in pain.

"I love your language, but Priskil bless it, you have the worst way of communicating. With your hands? It's confusing!" She jabbered at him, comfortable in her own tongue. She didn't hope for him to understand, but it felt a little better to speak her mind clearly, even if it couldn't be heard. Knowing he wouldn't understand her, she offered a friendly smile with the last of her words, convincing him they were good and not critical.

Who are you? Where from? She repeated the signs, but no longer to commit them to memory, but genuinely asking the question this time. To prove that, she extended a lithe finger to poke his chest. "Erikal." She spoke his name waiting for an answer.

Her interest in the woman's storytelling had all but vanished. Distractions were so usual for Ixzo, she hardly wished to return to the stories of the Gods, however intriguing. Like a cat, she now focused whole heartedly on her new interest, Erikal.

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign

[Erikal]

He had to admit, she was an apt student; having no difficulty putting the signs to memory. Erikal hardly heard the storyteller, her words droned on, rising and falling like a breath of wind. The Drykas listened intently, learning she was from Taloba. He knew very little of the western land or of Myrians. A rare occasion indeed it was when a Myrian came to Endrykas. Still, he had observed a few and could tell they were a strong and fierce lot.

Ixzo's Pavi words were sparse. Erikal found himself more than a little confused as he tried to piece her statements together to garner understanding. "Ah trees," he said with understanding, raising his arm vertically and spreading his callused fingers apart to mimic the branches. It pleased him that he managed to follow her trail of thoughts despite the language barrier. The tall nomad nodded again. "Not as much rain here, but much wind." Erikal trailed his fingers downward in a motion to represent raindrops and blew out a comical breath very wildly for that of wind.

The woman switched languages on him, nattering on like a gossiping midwife. All of which made no sense to the Drykas. But she smiled gaily and he followed suit with a grin and a bout of laughter along with a scratching of his head as if entirely perplexed. Erikal trapped her finger in his hand when she poked him, a wry smile on his lips. "You learn quickly," he complimented with her repeating of the signs and his name. Her finger still in his hand, he waved it all about them in answer to her question. "Here. Endrykas. Moving city of the Drykas people." Releasing her finger, he shadowed his eyes with his hand, peering toward the sunny western horizon. "Not far from here was I born. Just over there maybe," he said, indicating a spot slightly northward.

"My father said, I shed enough tears to end all thirst for the season when I was a baby," he said with a chuckle and slap of his leg. Then he frowned a bit, remembering Ixzo was not overly familiar with Pavi and that perhaps he had spoken too quickly and with words she did not know. "Umm I cried a lot," he said simply and balled up his hands over his eyes whilst making "waaaaa" noises incessantly.

Then after a bit more mirth, his facial expression grew somewhat serious. "Why are you not in the place where trees and rain are easy to find? Endrykas is far away from there. Why did you move away from your home?" he asked, hoping she could comprehend the gist of his meaning. He had noticed a longing in her eyes when she spoke of the place of her birth and wondered what had caused her to leave.

[Ixzo]

Word Count: 393

The Kelvic only stared at the man blankly as he talked. She did her best to grasp his words, but she didn't think she understood him correctly. Did the Drykas drink tears? The Kelvic rubbed her arms with the cold, a small smile creeping into her face as he realized she didn't understand. The lioness chuckled when he mocked they crying of a baby.

"Oh… yeah, yeah…" She grinned at him, speaking slowly through her thick accent. She imagined that her inability to fluidly grasp the language would make her look like an idiot, but it was only proving the opposite. Of course when the playfulness subsided, Ixzo mirrored his expression. Seriousness smoothed out her lips and silver eyes grew wide with wary curiosity for the sudden mood change. He was asking her why she left.

Ixzo's eyes flitted back to the woman, although she didn't wish to waste her concentration by trying to understand her. The lioness knew how well she was easily distracted. But it took Ixzo only a tick before she looked back to the man. "Love." She said simply, trying to force the sudden lump in her throat down. Only an idiot would have called that bond love. "Lost... Lost love." She amended. "In wild land."[/color] She added. Running. She tried to supplement. Ixzo had never been secretive, but she didn't think trying to explain forming and breaking a bond in a language she didn't know would save her dignity. And Ixzo would rather keep her dignity than try to explain a story that surely wasn't prideful. There was only shame to accompany the bond and the break, and there was no need for a stranger to think of her like that.

"Curious me." She added, realizing her answer was all over the place at this point. Instead the Kelvic turned to the side, motioning back, away from the crowd they stood behind, and towards the tents. "This city… moves?" She chose her words carefully. That would explain the tents instead of buildings. She raised her two palms to look at them curiously for a moment before finding the signs she was looking for. How? When? She moved slowly, making sure she didn't actually state the name of a sickle or sack. Her vocabulary was limited to the certain subject of field work, and the very basics of conversation.

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign

[Erikal]

Erikal was enjoying the scarred-woman's company. There was something enticingly real about her. Almost child-like in how open she was...and how naivete. But was the love she spoke of, the love one had for a parent or close friend? He doubted it. The way in which she reacted; her dark stare brimmed with a memory there. A memory of heart-loss and pain. Erikal remained stoic in expression, pondering what it would be like to lose the love one felt toward a wife. He knew not. Still young, his heart was open and free and full of play. There were girls he was fond of, of course. But nothing that went so deep as a lake.

Erikal placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. "It is enough. You need not return yourself to such thoughts to satisfy my curiosity." His face broke out into a wolfish grin once more. As if his lighthearted mood was contagious and could pull her out of the depths of painful memories. Erikal still had only the vaguest notion of what the woman was getting at in the conversation. It made little sense to him, but he was respectfully attentive, nonetheless.

Ixzo's Grassland Sign could use some work. Causing Erikal to have to adapt to slightly incorrect gestures to guess her meaning. Still, to her credit, she adventured on, despite her lack of knowledge. Once he had puzzled her next inquiry out, Erikal laughed good-naturedly, turning with the woman to view the sea of tents that made up the city of Endrykas.

"Aye, it moves," he answered in straight forward fashion, mulling over the best way to explain things to her without leaving her nearly as confused (more so!) as she was before. He slid callused fingers through a wild brown mane, his expression thoughtful. "It moves like the herd. Never staying in one place too long," he explained. Pointing to the ground at their feet that had seen much foot traffic of late. What little grass still remained was trampled and struggling. "Just like the ground, if the city does not move, Caiyha will be unhappy and the land will suffer. Animals eat the vegetation. We eat the animals. This cannot last forever. Eventually there will be no more plants. No more animals. No more Drykas," he said, returning his blue-gray gaze to her.

"So. We move like this, " he said, demonstrating a clockwise motion. "This allows the land time to heal. All shelters can be taken down quickly. Horses and pack animals carry the people and things we own."

To Erikal such questions seemed self explanatory. But this was the life he had been born to. Not all people followed the Drykas way, he had to remind himself. Still, it was refreshing to have met someone new - a unique person, he judged. He hoped their paths would cross again in the future. It wasn't every day that Erikal got to have questions of his own answered about places he had never traveled to.

"I must return to my home," he said regretfully after awhile. Taking the time out to show her the Grassland sign for Home. He smiled broadly at how quickly she picked that particular sign up, wondering if she had not already known of it. "My Uncle works me like the pavilion's mule. Would not be pleased if I abandoned my duties to talk with girls," he said with an admonishing wave of his hand at an imaginary self to bring the point home in case words had failed.

Chuckling, Erikal studied her a moment longer. Her dark eyes seemed so very eager to know things. He felt almost guilty to leave her. But he did, offering her a friendly farewell before striding away. The vision of her watching him leave, lost in a sea of his people burned itself into his memory.

[Ixzo]

Word Count: 403

"Ah," She nodded at the explanation. She understood most of the big words to know what he meant, and with what she had seen of the human's ties to their horses. The strange horses that didn't spook from her, much to her own curiosity, she understood why the analogy had been used. Ixzo found she was actually happy he had explained it to her. Although she hadn't seen it happen, the talk of 'The Run' was floating around. Most Drykas so simply accepted it as a normal thing, that not even Injal thought it important enough to explain to her. When she had asked, her employer laughed as if she was telling a rhetorical joke, much to her disappointment.

Just as soon as he was done talking, Ixzo was lining up the words for another question. She wanted to know about the horses and why their ties were so strong. Were they gifts from Caiyha like the tigers are to the Myrians? The man spoke of the Goddess fondly, which made Ixzo think the Drykas shared the Myrian's reverence for the First Witch. That thought broadened her smile. But she wouldn't know where to begin with the Pavi words to ask these questions. And before she could find them, Erikal was excusing herself.

Home. The new word intrigued her. She knew manor and hut, which she assumed could compare. When she copied his motions, she found they shared similar details, but otherwise remained utterly different signs. Pavi was weird, and while her personal understanding of the language was not particularly impressive, she realized there were patterns to the strange signs that she might be missing. She was getting distracted again.

"Goodbye, Erikal." She waved to him before he turned to leave, offering a warm smile. She just met him, but the Kelvic wanted to hug him as she would a fellow Myrian. But she had learned that the humans were often… surprised at he very least with sporadic intimacy. She would probably fair better not doing so. But it would make an impression.

Not one to give herself boundaries, the thin woman lurched forward, throwing her arms around the one Drykas beside Injal who had taken interest in her. She squeezed him for only a moment before releasing the man, grinning as he left. She wasn't sure about his opinion, but she thought she had finally made a friend among the strange horse-people.

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign

[Tribal]

G R A D E S

Ixzo

Experience

• Investigation: 1
• Observation: 3
• Rhetoric: 4
• Socialisation: 4
• Logic: 2
• Storytelling: 2
• Flirting: 1
• Acting: 1

Lore

• Striders: Calm around Kelvics
• The tale of Aquiras and Priskil
• Erikal: Drykas
• Socialisation: The important of making eye-contact when speaking
• Pavi: Basic greetings and questions
• Erikal: Native to Endrykas
• Endrykas: Less rain, more wind
• Endrykas: The moving city
• Why Endrykas moves
• Endrykas: The Run

Erikal

Experience

• Socialisation: 4
• Observation: 3
• Teaching: 1
• Stroytelling: 1
• Rhetoric: 2

Lore

• Na'Sula: The old storyteller
• The tale of Aquiras and Priskil
• The storms of the Valterrian
• Ixzo: The foreigner
• Ixzo: Struggles with Pavi
• Ixzo: From Taloba
• Myrians: Dark skinned
• Myrians: From the jungle
• Taloba: A jungle city
• Ixzo: Easily distracted
• Ixzo: Child-like

Notes

Nice thread, a pleasure to read and grade. I enjoy both your writing styles.