Of bones and clay [ariel]

[Conrad]

Winter 7th 510 AV Early morning: Conrad slowly woke up as the first ray of the sun peeked trough the tiny crack in between the tent flaps and shined right into his eyes. Grumbling he tried to turn around and try to catch a few more bells of sleep, he stayed up late again last night looking around in the city and getting lost. However as much he tossed and turned and tried to get comfortable he couldn't get to sleep again. Conrad let out a loud sigh and reached for his pants, no use in letting daylight go to waste when he can't sleep trough it. A few moments later conrad walked out off his tent with his carving kit and his eating knife in hand. He dropped them in front of his tent and reached up for one of the dead rats that he had left on top of his tent, he didn't want to have those dead rats stinking up the entire tent, and sat down in front of it. Grabbing his knife he looked at the rat and he thought about how he should gut it without breaking or otherwise ruining the bones inside it. seeing as he still had 3 rats left to practice with he just shrugged and carefully cut the rat open from right underneath its ribcage to its groin,having some trouble with the rather blunt knife, exposing its intestines. Not bothered from the horrid smell coming from the cut Conrad just dug is knife in the cut right at the top of the wound and scraped out the organs, dropping them on the ground right in front of his tent, he would dig a hole to get rid of them later. He fiddled a bit more with the dead rat trying to get the skin and the remaining organs out of the body without damaging the bones. A few chimes later Conrad was sorting the broken bones from the ones that where still usable. He threw the rather big pile of unuseble bones on the pile of waste. He grabbed what was still useful, which was a the hipbone, the skull and a section from the spinal column. he slowly rolled the still wet pieces of flesh trough his fingers as he was trying to think of a use he could have for them. Slowly listing the possibility's he had trough his head. Rats where quick beasties, and he already had a gailed attempt with a skull,him e so maybe the hipbone would grant him some off the rats agility He carefully laid the other good stuff to the side and dug inside his carving kit to get his pick and slowly and carefully began to scratch out a circle.

[Ariel]

It was early morning. The sun was just making its way out of a pile of clouds, and the soft yellow rays were shining down upon Ariel, who was curled up beside a large nail. The nail had been pummeled into the dirt, and was connected to a thin piece of rope that supported the right side of one of the many Drykas tents. Ariel's eyes twitched as the sun's rays hit them dead on, she yawned, opening her mouth wide, exposing all of her tiny clay teeth, before closing her mouth again. Ariel rolled over so that she lay on her back, and balled her hands into tiny fists, lazily, she brought her hands to her eyes, and rubbed them, trying to get all the tiny sleep crystals out. When she was done, she sat up slowly, and removed her hands from her eyes. She set them down in her lap, and opened her eyes. The sun was rather bright, and it took her a moment to adjust.

Ariel yawned again, just as her nostrils started to flare up a bit. There was something in the air... some sort of strange scent that reminded Ariel distinctly of death. Aello straightened out her back, before turning her body to the right, she picked up the bag she had been using as a pillow, and slung it over her shoulder. She then turned back around, and stared at her feet, and then at the over-sized blades of grass that surrounded her. She looked from left to right, but couldn't see much other than the tall grass, and tent next to her.

Slowly, Ariel got to her feet, she walked, following her nose to the source of that horrible smell. Eventually, her nose brought her to a grinding halt in front of a rather tall man with brown eyes, and hair tied back in a ponytail. He was gutting a rat. Guess that was what she had been smelling, Ariel thought, as crimson red blood dripped off the man's fingers and onto the ground.

"Guess you couldn't have waited a few more minutes to do that?" Ariel called up to him. "You know, that smells just plain nasty, and I wouldn't be surprised if you woke everyone up with that stuff... and you know... I wake up far more nicely than most, and if I was just about anyone else, you would certainly be getting your butt kicked right now... so you should consider yourself lucky!" Ariel waited a moment for the man to respond.

"But honestly though, you couldn't have gone back to sleep and done that later, when everyone had more than likely left their tents and wouldn't have to smell... that um..." Ariel struggled for the word, 'rat,' and proceeded to gesture confusedly and hurriedly at the stranger she had stumbled upon. "Rat, ahh yes, that's the word, RAT!" she said, after she had retrieved the term from the tip of her tongue. Again, she waited only a moment before pressing onwards with her little speech, "so mister, with the smelly dead rats, whatcha doing playing with all those bones? You seem to be wasting a good portion of the meat there, and even though I wouldn't eat it, I know your kind might if they got hungry enough." Ariel paused for a moment, tilting her head to the side, "wouldn't they?"

[Conrad]

Conrad looked up from his work when he heard a voice call to him and he carefully removed the pick from the bone not wanting to ruin his work that he already did. He arched his eyebrows in confusion as he looked around for the source of the voice, his eye fell on a tiny winged clay doll that was looking up at him and what seemed was talking to him. He paused for a minute to take in the scene,there was a clay doll talking to him? Did he fall asleep when he was working on the bone and was he dreaming this crazy stuff up? Carefully he pressed the sharp point of the pick in his skin, quickly pulling back when he felt a stinking pain. So he wasn't dreaming! He put away his tool and material and looked at the clay figure that was now rambling about her being nice when she woke up. Disregarding what she was saying in favor of his curiosity right stood up and walked closer too the strange being and knelt down right next to it,giving it a curious look over. As it waited to begin to speak again, Conrad realized it was probably waiting for an answer. "Well I guess it slipped my mind when I woke up, I never really did this so early in the morning, besides I am still a bit groggy from a lack of sleep so yes I just didn't think about the other people when I started." Conrad gave an embarrassed smile as he scratched his scar. Though a impish smile crept on his face. "Though I doubt just anybody can beat me up little ....." conrad paused, what did he had to call ..her? she sounded female. "what can I call you?" He was ignored for a while though when she just rambled on. "But honestly though, you couldn't have gone back to sleep and done that later, when everyone had more than likely left their tents and wouldn't have to smell... that um..." Conrad just patently waited on her to finish her sentence. "Rat, ahh yes, that's the word, RAT!" She waited for a moment, though why conrad couldn't even guess, at before she began to speak again."so mister, with the smelly dead rats, whatcha doing playing with all those bones? You seem to be wasting a good portion of the meat there, and even though I wouldn't eat it, I know your kind might if they got hungry enough, wouldn't they?" Conrad just mulled over her questions trying to come up with a good explanation that wouldn't send the little critter screaming in disgust. "Well I was carving things out of the bones of the rats I bought," Conrad said, evading the question why he did that. "And no most humans won't eat a rat unless they are really pressed for money or there is nothing else." He poked slightly at the little doll's wing. "Now that I answered your questions, what are you? I never saw something like you before."

[Ariel]

Ariel cleared her throat, placing her balled right fist in front of her mouth for an added effect. Slowly, she lowered her hand, and proceeded to speak, "I," Ariel began puffing out her chest a bit and standing up as straight as she could, so as to seem a little larger, "am Ariel. And who might you be?" she asked, reaching a finger out to poke the individual who stood before her. Not truly waiting for an answer before she continued speaking.

"The little clay people, whom are much like myself, are pycons, and in case you are wondering, which I am certain you are, because everyone I just meet seems to, pycons were created using alchemy, and thus, we can speak and talk much like the other Mizaharian races," Ariel continued, grunting, and taking a few cautious steps back as the man continued to poke her wings, as though questioning whether or not she were real.

Why does everyone think she is a hallucination? A figment of one's imagination? Ariel wondered, sighing heavily, before shouting, "would you cut that out! It got to be quite old the first time!" As she crossed her arms over her chest, and her eyes turned to tiny daggers, and then back again. She breathed heavily, before continuing her speech, "and, yes, I can understand that... surely people have, standards for the types of things they shove into their mouth... and if their smell alone is any indication of their taste, then I would imagine that rats are a rather vile sort of creature; especially to eat..." Ariel's voice trailed off for a moment as her mind wandered, deep in thought.

If the man wasn't going to eat the things, then why on earth did he buy them? What was the point in carving them, and stinking the whole place up? Ariel tilted her head to the side again, and stroked her imaginary beard as the possibilities filled her brain- he was just plain crazy, had a sick mind, liked gutting animals.... "Say mister, what are you carving those rats up for?" Ariel asked, scrunching up her nose in disgust. They smelled awful.

[Conrad]

Conrad couldn't suppress a smile as the little clay creature puffed up her chest and made a dramatic show out of scraping her throat and he thought he saw her standing up a bit more straight to make herself seem a little bit larger, though he couldn't be sure, she was kinda tiny to begin with. "The little clay people, whom are much like myself, are pycons, and in case you are wondering, which I am certain you are, because everyone I just meet seems to, pycons were created using alchemy, and thus, we can speak and talk much like the other Mizaharian races," Conrad just blinked at the mention of alchemy? He never heard of that before, but as far as he knew, but creating an entire race of people? That had to be magic though he didn't really know if it was divine or just magic that was practiced by the races. He gave her another poke in the wing and immediately pulled back his hand as the littly pycon began to shout at him, well at least they had as much spunk as the normal races despite their shorter statue. He snickered a bit at the glare he got in his direction, if was fairly funny seeing a thing that much smaller then him glaring at somebody that could probably crush them with only one had if they wanted. "Okay I'm sorry for poking you little pycon." He didn't know if she listened or not though, because she quickly continued to talk, rambling about how she could understand that nobody ate rats because of the smell, Conrad tuned her out after that. Just nodding with her was she spoke, yes she was female alright. "Say mister, what are you carving those rats up for?" Conrad froze as she asked about that, did he really have to go over that so early in the morning? Conrad let out a long sigh and reached for the bone he had laid away a few moments ago and showed it to the little thing. "See this?" he pointed to the not even quarter finished circle. "That is a symbol that is used in the magic of malediction. It makes magic items from body parts. I still need a lot of practice though." He shrugged an put the circle away, hoping she wasn't one of those magic hating people or he had a slight problem. "Anyway, I'm conrad and my parrot little buddy is still sleeping inside the tent, whats your name shorty?" Conrad said in an amiable tone

[Ariel]

"First of all," Ariel begun, puffing up her tiny chest again, "I AM NOT SHORT, I am fun-sized, or travel-sized for your convenience," Ariel said in a loud, booming voice, a very sharp contrast to her tiny size. She then proceeded to poke Conrad playfully. "You can just stick me in your pocket should you ever want to go on a little trip..." Ariel's voice trailed off as she looked at the circle the man had drawn on one of the bones.

Another magic user? Ariel thought, tilting her head to the side. "Well that is interesting," Ariel said, "although I must say, it would be nice if you studied a less smelly form of magic, especially this early in the morning," Ariel gestured to some of the other Drykas tents around them, tents that clearly displayed several tired and slightly cranky looking Drykas in the door flaps. "See, what did I tell you?" she asked, poking him playfully again, "I wasn't going to be the only one you would wake up with that mess," Ariel laughed.

"And, if you must know, my name is Ariel," Ariel said, giving a tiny bow, curling one of her hands under her chest, while the other hand was stretched out and to the side, so as to make the bow appear fancier. After holding the position for a grand total of two seconds, Ariel straightened herself up again. "And I daresay, I am quite surprised your parrot has managed to sleep through that, perhaps he is simply used to the rancid smells that float up and into the air around your tent, and cling to your skin like moss clings to a tree, or a newborn babe to her mother," Ariel paused, giving just a moment for Conrad to process her words before she pressed onwards, "and should this be the case, which it certainly appears to be, I must ask what drew you to this form of magic at all?"

[Conrad]

Conrad jumped back a little bit as he heard the booming voice coming form such a tiny creature. "okay okay, I won't call you short anymore, but you do know that the rest is just a nicer word for the same thing don't you?" Conrad just glared at her when she sugested that he should study a less smelly kind of magic, People who want to teach you magic didn't grow on trees you know! Still he blanched when she casually made him aware of the consequences of his rather smelly actions at this early hour. He followed her gesture and saw a few drykas poking their heads out of their tents and after they had noticed where the smell came from, glaring at him. Conrad just chuckled embarasdly while scratching the scar on his face. before facing away form them and back to the little pycon, who just introduced itself as ariel. An amused grin got on his face as he saw her make that elaborate bow. "And I daresay, I am quite surprised your parrot has managed to sleep through that, perhaps he is simply used to the rancid smells that float up and into the air around your tent, and cling to your skin like moss clings to a tree, or a newborn babe to her mother and should this be the case, which it certainly appears to be, I must ask what drew you to this form of magic at all?" Conrad's eye just twitched as he glared at the little clay woman for the insult. He quickly snatched her up by the top of her wings and held her up to his eyelevel. "First of ariel, I don't stink and my parrot could sleep through a war if you let him.Secondly I don't think its fairly smart to insult somebody who is quite a bit bigger then you. Or that big person might be tempted to squish you. So be nice." He put her back down on the grass after he said that and silently mulled over her last question. "Well I practiced it because somebody wanted to teach it to me, there really wasn't a lot of other choice from other magic." He shrugged, "Besides once you get used to the dangers and the bad smell you get a pretty good trade off in my opinion."

[Ariel]

Ariel stared angrily into Conrad's eyes and folded her arms over her chest as he plucked her up by the wings and dangled her in front of his face. "You know, that's not very nice," Ariel began, "and it kind of hurts, and I would appreciate it if you put me back down now since you are making my wings somewhat sore," she huffed, making a funny face at the human, and then proceeding to stick out her tongue, until he placed her back down on the ground. My, it was annoying when humans picked her up like that, Ariel thought, as she brushed herself off, wildly whacking her clay clothing with her hands before looking up at Conrad again angrily.

"And I suppose we will just have to agree to disagree when it comes to your... stench." There was a short pause before Ariel muttered under her breath, "after all I forget who it is that told me, that people oftentimes do not realize it when they are bathing in their own filth; in fact, they get so used to their own stench, that they fail to smell anything foul at all." Ariel smiled pleasantly up at Conrad as she uttered the last portion of her statement. She ran her tiny clay foot back and forth over the dirt, and glanced down at the ground from time to time, as though she were suddenly feeling rather shy, or attempting to determine what so say next.

"And as for your parrot... I am also surprised, considering how birds tend to be rather flighty, for lack of a better word." There was a slight pause before Ariel spoke again, "And if I may be so bold, may I ask why you allowed yourself to be taught something, that until recently, you had no apparent interest in?"

[Conrad]

Conrad just flicked his fingers against ariel sending her flying for a short distance. "I'll have you know, I always bathe when I stink thank you very much, besides this is the first time in this season I had the chance to work on this again, so I doubt the smell could have creeped into my clothes already." Resisting the urge to pick her up again, she did say she didn't like it, he just put his finger in the middle of her chest pinning her to the ground, a cheeky grin on his face. "And don't think its strange that my parrot is so fast asleep, the ball of fluff doesn't sleep that much, only deep, and he is pretty active during the hours that he is awake." A soft smile got on his face as conrad began to talk about his pet. "And I really have no clue why you think I only recently took up malediction, I have been practicing it for years!" He let out an embarrassed chuckle, "Sure I am more busy with practicing other skills then this one but that doesn't mean I don't like it, I just didn't have the materials nor some of the safety measures to practice it." A slight mischievous smile came over his face and he grabbed her with his hand and kept her pushed to the ground. "Since I have you in a rather bad situation for you lets make a deal?"

[Ariel]

Ariel coughed a couple of times as Conrad pushed her into the ground with his thumb. Ariel was lying on her back, her tiny clay wings being crushed beneath her by the force of his thumb. Small piles of dirt curled around the tips of her feathery wings, as she sank slightly in the ground. Ariel scrunched her eyes shut tightly, and said, "you know, that's not very nice... although, I still can't decide which is worse, picking me up by my wings, or shoving me into the dirt with your finger." Ariel paused, finishing the last portion of her speech with a huff, "and I don't quite appreciate you picking on me like this, just because I am..." Ariel whispered the last word, "tiny."

And I still think you're smelly, so mweh, Ariel thought, hypothetically sticking her tongue out and grinning mischievously up at Conrad as he pinned her to the ground. And... And... he wouldn't like it if Ariel were really tall and could squish all the world like a pile of bugs, now would he? Ariel thought, forcing herself to try and find a way to make the current situation seem even the slightest bit better, which proved to be nearly impossible to do.

Ariel smiled warily up at Conrad, and after a few short moments of consideration, she spoke again. "Fine, I'll hear what you have to say, just make it precise and to the point, if you please, after all, I don't think you want to spend all day working out a deal with me, now do ya?" Ariel asked, tilting her head to the side as she spoke, even if her head had to scrape its way across a mixture of grass and dirt in order to move.

OCCThis makes me Pillsbury Dough Boy! Er... Girl!