Closed A Thrown Fist[Tazrae]

[Moritz Craven]

87 Winter 521

The trick to running, Moritz had found, was finding a nice and safe part of the beach. Far enough from people to not get in there way or obstruct any ones work, but close enough to other people so he wasn't in danger of getting dragged off into the jungle as dinner by a snake or other such threats. This meant two things. One, he tended to run laps or circuits or a short length of the beach of Syka, and two he had to switch up where that circuit was depending on where other people were on a given day.

He was always close to Syka proper itself and the beaches near it, but sometimes he was closer to the docks and other times closer to the commons, it depended on what was going on and where people were.

Was a shipment coming in? Was someone pulling in some drift wood, or carving? Was someone throwing an impromptu bonfire? Moritz tried to consider such things each day, and use that to decide on where he would run.

Finishing up his work for the day Moritz stopped by his residence, dropped off his shoes and other items, and headed out barefoot onto the beach in just his button up silk suit he could shift in along with other objects he could not remove like his bracelet and the star in his hand.

By then it was late enough in the day that the sun was close to setting, but not quite late enough that it was too dark to see for a human. More importantly the days heat on the sands was beginning to dissipate, and while warm it did not burn his flesh if he stayed in a spot for more than a moment.

Picking a spot in his mind to mark as his lap marker, Moritz began with some simple stretches. Stretching, as Kyra had taught him back in Lhavit, was a important part of exercise or any physical activity.

And so he began with his arms, grabbing one shoulder with his hand and stretching the limb across his torso, pulling for a few moments, before he switched over to the other arm with the mirrored motion.

From there he flexed some more by bending to touch his toes, trying to keep his back straight, doing some toe touches on one side, then the other, then back, and then over again, feeling the stress for a moment in his back and legs as he reached the bottom of his stretch and reached his toes.

He finished things off with some more leg stretches, putting one leg in front and the other back and bending his hips and knees, before switching over to the other side and doing the same with the other leg.

Eventually he felt fully stretched out and with a turn of his head to make sure he wasn't about to run into anyone, set off along the beach.

Having been running most days after work of late by now many of the residents of Syka were used to seeing him running about, and did not pay much attention to it. He gave most people a nod as he passed in recognition, but besides a few waves in response and a tipped drink or two of recognition, most of the afternoon beach goers ignored Moritz. It also helped that he wasn't the only person running, often being lapped by a particular Verusk woman who seemed to be in much better shape than Moritz while also being better at running and who often jogged on the beach as well.

Focusing on the task at hand Moritz set off, feet pounding the sand. Left, right, left right, he felt his feet pad on the ground, focusing on how his feet hit the sand and how he pushed off with each motion of his run. Was it better to round his foot like this? Or to roll into the next motion like... This? The Kelvic subtly attempted to change up things in his running, while also considering how he had seen others run who were better than him.

Part of it, Moritz knew as a stitch began to form in his side, was tied to how in shape he was. Along with running he was also building up his endurance over time, but even once that was good he knew it would take time to perfect his technique in running to the most efficient and fast method.

As the stitch turned into a small hot needle poking him in the side Moritz tried to focus on his breathing, getting himself to a good running rhythm and trying to control his breathing. In, and out, big breaths with his mouth... Soon enough though he was gulping in greedy breaths, and the stitch in his side was growing.

For the most part Moritz focused on running, only turning away his attention if he neared someone or saw motion, giving a nod as he passed a person and not stopping unless they seemed to be trying to get his attention.

As usual Moritz would keep running until he got too tired or short of breath, trying to push himself, or until someone stopped him at which point he would stop and try to catch his breath while listening to what they had to say.

WC: 892

[Tazrae]

She itched. There was just no other way to describe it. Tazrae’s skin crawled and she itched.

There was a need burning in her, a restlessness, that would not let her go. She tried to bake something and burned it. She tried to clean something else and ended up dropping and breaking it. The four walls of the Inn seemed to convulse and flex in on her stifling her, so she fled outside breathing hard. Tazrae paced the length of the deck – wood she’d hammered into place with her own hands – and almost didn’t recognize it. At the far end, she turned, and paced back the way she’d come to stand before the fireplace.

The skin on her arms pebbled, goosebumps rising, as she rolled her shoulders and felt her nipples peak beneath the thin blouse she wore. Tazrae dragged her hands through her hair and all but hissed in discomfort. She could no longer be inside. It just wasn’t going to happen today. She kicked off her sandals and padded down into the sand barefoot. Better… that was better. But it wasn’t enough. She peeled off her shirt and let the skirt slide from where it had been wrapped around her waist. She left the fabric in a neat pile and felt just a little better with the ocean breeze on her bare skin. Digging her toes into the sand she started forward until she sprinted, passing through flowers and tall grass that surrounded The Protea and passed into the luminous white sand of the beach. She ran steadily down the sand, pulling a last small leather thong out of her hair that had kept the curls over her eyes tucked into a braid.

Better… better still…. she thought as she kept running, her bare feet slapping the hot sand then the wet packed sand until they finally waded into the warm turquoise water. It wasn’t cool. It was a bathtub warm and welcoming. She sprang out, dropping her head, and diving into the gentle oncoming wave. The water helped tremendously. Taz wasn’t sure what was wrong with her. Glancing ashore, back up at The Protea, she studied her home. But she couldn’t help the fact that her eyes slid past the buildings and onwards towards the jungle. It called to her, as the sea did, and she turned, splashing the water upon her irritated skin. The saltwater wrapped her in its warm embrace, and she backed up, deeper into the folds until the water was up to her chest and lifting her as the waves rolled gently in. She loved the feel of the sea, especially when it buoyed her up so her toes lost their tenuous grasp on the sand and seagrass that made up the seafloor.

Tazrae spread her arms, fell backward, and let the sea lift her until she floated on her back. It felt so good… being out of her clothing. It felt so good being away from the buildings and the four walls. Gulls circled overhead and she could feel the sea life all around her. The clouds were puffy white islands drifting across some distance equally blue sea. She reached up to them, laughing, and wondering how she’d ever been afraid of the water. She wasn’t a strong swimmer, but the ocean was pushing her gently ashore. It would be so until the tide turned, but that would be bells from now.

The young bard turned wildling embraced the isolation of the beach and the water at that moment. She turned, arched her back, and dove beneath the waves. She smiled, inhaling deeply, the necklace around her neck giving her plenty of breath beneath the waves. She swam further out, past glittering fan corals and through a bit of kelp that created a patch of green forest that was completely invisible from the surface of the water. Fish swam everywhere, darting here and there, some coming boldly up to greet her, others flashing away. Tazrae forced herself down, folding her legs, settling to the bottom of the sea on a sandy patch of ground, and watched a pair of crabs battle for territory over what looked like a prime hiding cavern in a rock outcropping of coral.

A dark shadow passed overhead. She glanced up, noted the shark, but paid it little mind. She could feel its curiosity, not its hunger, and she had no interest in it being something that would fight back. Taz lifted a hand, palm out, and tipped her well. She pulled djed from her core, pushed it forth from her palm, and watched the colors of sunset fill her palm. The glittering Res felt different now like it had more potential, and so she concentrated, opening itself up to her. She remembered Duncan asking her what his Res invading her felt like and she had told him it burned. Fire had been her first element. But… this was potential for more. She narrowed her eyes at it, even underwater, and studied the luminous sunset ball of Res. It had the potential to burn. She could feel it. But there was more there… so much more. It felt lighter, stronger, like a … like a breath of fresh air.

Instinctively, instead of asking it to ignite which would have never worked underwater, she asked it to become a bubble of air. Almost immediately the sunset glittering Res transmuted itself into a bubble of air and drifted away from her grasp, dancing towards the surface. She tipped her head back and laughed, the sound completely muted underwater. So in her excitement, Tazrae rolled her legs under her, thrust off hard from the seafloor, and splashed up out of the water still laughing.

Then she swam carefully to the beach, only setting her legs down in the sand when the sand of the beach brushed her breasts indicating she was out of room to swim. The waves practically washed her up on the sand. She rose then, first to her knees then rising up to her feet and where she walked out of the water.

“Hello Moritz,” she said in surprise, not knowing where the young Kelvic had come from. Taz wore only her jewelry and her pride in the form of a triumphant smile on her face for discovering her second element. Fire and Air. Of course, it wouldn’t be Earth or Water yet. She was too much of a bard to come into one of them before Air.

“I was just out getting some fresh air.” She said, glancing around as if trying to explain why she’d just come from the water.

Words: 1112

[Moritz Craven]

Running, Moritz found, was a repetitive action. You moved your left leg, foot touching the ground, and then pushed off while pivoting with the right leg... Moved forward, and landed on your right foot... And over and over repeating the same action more or less.

Of course Moritz did try to focus on what he was doing and refine his process. The next time his left foot landed he altered how his foot landed like so... Rolling from that into the next step he tried to see if his fine tuning was helping or hindering, repeating it for a few steps of each leg while trying to gauge it. Then he would refine it some more, altering things a bit, and repeat that as well in an ever continuing attempt at improvement.

Even this too eventually became monotonous, and the Kelvic found himself sinking into the repetition. His mind wandering and clearing, and soothing into the background sound of the surf hitting the beach, while his body continued the same motions over and over.

Shaking off this feeling Moritz tried to focus again, actively paying attention to his work, but this just brought to the forefront of his attention the sharp pain slowly growing in his side, and his ever increasing trouble in pulling in air. The growing weight of his limbs both legs and arms as he tried to endure and force himself to keep going. It was not long though before these grew too much to ignore, and his body began screaming to take a break.

Panting by now, Moritz noticed something out of his peripheral vision on the water side, and turned to see what it was. Slowing down he moved from a run to a trot and then a walk, checking to see what the motion had been. After a moment more the motion resolved itself into a human form, a woman coming up out of the water and swimming into the shore. Or... Perhaps, Moritz reasoned, swimming wasn't the right term. Beached perhaps? Moritz nodded to himself on this. Beached, the woman had beached herself, that seemed a more apropos term for the action.

When he saw the person, a woman, wasn't dead but moving and breathing, he was relieved, though was also confused why a woman would randomly be beaching herself on some beach. Growing up in Lhavit his mind moved to Ethaefal, and for a moment he considered if she was a newly fallen one, but looking her over she seemed human enough... So less likely.... Though, he thought to himself, he knew only the vaguest bits about how that worked so couldn't rule that out entirely.

The woman, now standing and walking a bit in front of Moritz, the Kelvic pondered over her while unsure of what to say. Should he greet her? Ask her name? Welcome her to Syka? He was unsure on this, and was still thinking it through when the woman spoke instead. What she said though confused him even more, as she greeted him by name. Confusion clear on his face Moritz canted his head, trying to work out why the woman knew him. Or did he know her?

He wasn't off put by the nudity, being a Kelvic that was normal enough and no different than any other choice of clothing he had seen. It was no different to him than seeing someone wearing a particularly distinct hat.

That being said the lack of clothing did make it trickier to figure out who the person was, as he had lost the indicator of common clothing he might have seen the person wearing before... Turning up from there he focused on her head and eyes, not able to tell her eye color from there in the less than ideal lighting, and also- he realized - he was unsure he knew the eye color of anyone in Syka. Had he ever actually paid attention to that.

Her hair was a wet mess mostly down her back, long, though he could not tell the color. Perhaps due to it being an odd hue, or perhaps due to the wetness changing its color or appearance...

Giving up on physical markers Moritz willed his Iraso sight to activate, inspecting her djed with his now alight eyes. Eying her djed he felt a note of familiarity in it, he was fairly certain from looking at it he had seen the djed before, but he was unsure who specifically it was... Likely a resident of Syka then? Otherwise he would not know the djed... But not someone from Lhavit, such as the few people he had spent the time to memorize their djed's appearance.

Still clearly confused Moritz nodded at the womans words, still trying to work out who she was.

"Uh, yes... Hello. Nice to... See you..."

At her comment on the water Moritz turned, staring out over the water for a moment, his eyes taking in its similar yet distinct djed like a... Sea, of djed. Which, he supposed, it was... By now having spent a bit standing and catching his breath his panting had slowed somewhat, and he at least felt like he was able to catch a proper breath. Which made continuing to speak a bit easier in something other than short clipped words.

"Wait, you went into the sea... To find fresh air? How does that work? I wasn't aware the sea had too much air.... Although I suppose it wouldn't be fresh water, since its salt..."

His mind wandering off on a tangent for a moment Moritz vision wandered off, before he reminded himself of the conversation and focused back on the woman. Trying to reciprocate on the woman's comment of explaining what she had been doing, Moritz tried to explain what he was doing in his usual overly informative fashion.

"Well, I was just going for a run, trying to get into better fighting shape and all that. And I guess if you can't win a fight you should at least be able to run away from it... One of the Verusk ladies does it as well, though she's much better at it than me. Running and fighting..."

Unsure of what else to say, and after puzzling for a few more moments the Kelvic finally gave up and decided to simply ask the woman who she was.

"Right... So... Who exactly are you? I'm fairly certain I know you, your djed is familiar, but... I can't quite place you. But you clearly know me..."

WC: 1,086

[Tazrae]

Tazrae was used to seeing various people pass up and down the beach. Syka's coastline was like the Kabrin Road coming into Riverfall at times - used by anyone and everyone to travel north and south. Sometimes it was far more comfortable if the sun was mild and the breeze good as well. The cobbled pathway was lined with palms and often damp with the wet of the jungle, and inland under the trees. The beach was more welcoming, and so seeing people stretching their legs on the beach wasn't uncommon.

Taz wasn't surprised to see Moritz.

Smiling, she stopped where she'd dropped her clothing, scooped up the pile of fabric, and wrapped the skirt around her waist. Taz slid the shirt over her shoulders, knotted it across her stomach, and shook out her hair. She was almost ready to work on her building plans. The bit of meditation in the water had helped tremendously to reconnect her to the world... to Syka and to what she was trying to do here... build a home.

Taz shook her head. "No, I had to get out of the Inn..." She said, gesturing to the building sitting up on the rise overlooking the sea. "Been doing a lot of work and wanted to catch some fresh air out on the beach. The four walls were closing in on me." She added, then nodded towards the ocean.

"I went for a swim." She added. Then she nodded at his words about going for a run.

"Many people like to run the beach here. I see tracks even in the early mornings at time. It might very well be one of the Verusk." Taz wasn't sure which one and Moritz didn't name her.

Then she stared at Moritz when he asked his next question. Her face lost its smile and she studied him to make sure he wasn't making fun of her somehow. She saw that he was serious and simply sighed. With a frown, she shrugged.

"It's Tazrae." She supplied her name, figuring he probably forgot it already, which was fine. She wasn't always good with names either. But it just seemed rather rude that he failed to recognize her in any way shape or form when she'd traveled with him to the Swine Swells and harvested pigs with Uta where Moritz had been there to pack meat for the woman. Then she'd had a ten-day feast with him, Ialari, and Ori where they'd all ended up back at the Inn in her philtering lab where Ialari had given them lessons on philtering and had talked about magic.

Even after that, she'd traveled with him and Oralie to Caihya's Arbor and met the Jamoura who called himself Brosh. Literally, Moritz had spent bells and bells with Tazrae off and on this season. To not recognize her? It was... odd and made Tazrae uncomfortable.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your run. Have a nice day!" She said cheerfully, offering another smile. The truth was, she just didn't want to be around people - not at that moment - and she had a lot to do up at the Inn.

"We'll serve dinner later if you get hungry. You are always welcome to drop by for food... and there's often a game or two going on out on the deck with the guests." She added politely. Then Tazrae gave a little wave, shrugged to herself, and headed back up the beach towards the Inn... leaving Moritz to finish his run uninterrupted.

Words: 583

[Tazrae]

Grading!

Moritz-

Running +2, Endurance +1, Pathfinding +1, Socialization +1, Interrogation +1, Rhetoric +1

Running: The Importance of Stretching Before A Run, Running: Using Lap Markers, Tazrae: Mannerisms and Appearance

Tazrae –

Running +1, Swimming +1, Reimancy +1, Rhetoric +2

Running: To Ease Restlessness, Reimancy: Practicing one element within another, Moritz: Didn’t Recognize Her, Moritz: Rude, Rhetoric: Extracting Oneself From An Unwanted Situation