Page 2 of 3
Re: Siv and Desty Do Ecith [Destynrael]
Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2023 5:35 pm
by Sivan
Sivan made a note to have more blueberries on hand for Destyn, and perhaps candied violets which were often quite blue, in fact. Perhaps there were even some blue insects the Fae might enjoy. He would figure it out. Laurevere had missed Destyn's confused response, and continued to scan the foliage rather than pay attention to his ward and his ward's little friend.
The younger elf considered.
"Why don't we look for the bigger ones by the creek," he suggested after swallowing another bite of the melon's flesh. His teeth were faintly bluish, almost matching his eyes. "It will be easier for me to see them. I'll see about adding their diversity to my own, and then we can follow the creek down to the beach...?" He had figured Destyn would have a million things he wanted to show him after all the stories he had shared. "And anything to do with the seed that's sprouted in my garden, of course. I'll want to see anything like that. So I know how to tend it as it grows."
Of course, he could speak to the seedling's spirit himself, but still...
They would avoid the slimy people and the fiery primates. That was already decided.
"I don't know that we should have a flying lesson here, though. Perhaps closer to home where it's safer. I mean, not in Kalzasi proper. Those Avialae know no laws of traffic." He grinned, having heard Destyn complain as much many a time. When he had ridden air taxis and airships, they had certainly not been shy about crossing paths with the larger vehicles. "Over Lake Udori? At least if I fall, it won't be on hard land that way."
The elf suspected he would do quite a bit of falling before he learned how to glide and then, eventually, to actually fly. He hoped Destyn was a good teacher; it was entirely possible he had been doing it for so long he wouldn't know how to break it down for a beginner. Not all masters were great teachers, after all.
Re: Siv and Desty Do Ecith [Destynrael]
Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 10:28 am
by Destyn
Siv and Desty Do Ecith45 Glade 123
Destyn smiled easily.
"Yes. Let us do this. " He obliged with a firm nod. He supposed even if larger mass wasn’t explicitly necessary for an Animist, it might make things easier to use a creature closer in size where possible. It would remove some of the calculations or the guesswork and likely spare days if not weeks of trial and error. That would have been boring and Destyn would have preferred his friend excel at an accelerated rate so they might fly together all the sooner. He started them on a path toward the creek.
Trudging through this part of the jungle on the ground proved more challenging than Destyn had anticipated. The foliage was thick and difficult to traverse, plus many of obstacles had thorns or jagged edges that were unpleasant on the skin. Eventually, he looked pleadingly to Laurevere and gave him big watery eyes until he forged ahead and slashed a path for them to trudge through.
”I already toldju, Sivan! I was just on the beach and the seed falled on my head out of nowhere. I wasn’t even near the tree line! The seed is, you see, very special and does not, you know, follow the rules of our expectation." He said this with questionably sagacious authority.
"Yes! This is so! Avialae are, you know, very boorish and uncouth in the air! They follow not the rules of courtesy. It is as though they were raised in a rookery!" He said, unwittingly paraphrasing a saying he must have picked up at some point.
"We can, you know, practise wherever you wish, Sivan. But do not, you know, get distracted and start wrestling in the water with Torin like you sometimes do. You must focus, or you will never ever learn and I will be alone in the sky frowning at you from above because I am lonely." With the help of Sivan’s guard, they would make their way to a broad waterway. If it wasn’t so shallow it might have been better dubbed a river than a creek, but the protruding rocks would indicate it went no higher than either of their knees at its deepest point. And it was impossible to miss their quarry, with the thunderous beat of their blurry wings resembling that of Destyn's when he was in flight.
Re: Siv and Desty Do Ecith [Destynrael]
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2023 12:38 am
by Sivan
"Yes, of course," he replied. "I suppose you are just fortunate like that."
At Destyn's obvious discomfort, Sivan availed the heavier greenery of his blade. Laurevere gave him a mildly offended look, but Sivan responded with a stare. After a sigh, both blades were used as machetes to clear the way. Normally, he might have asked the spirits to let the pass more easily, but the spirits here were strange and he got the sense that a few missing leaves would only encourage them to grow back more fully. Later, he would hear his blademaster dress him down for using his elegantly curved weapon as a mere tool, but this wasn't Silfanore.
"I never want you to be lonely, Destyn," he said seriously, and then they were there. He finished his fruit and tossed the rind into the bushes for ants and the like. Perhaps it would even attract some insects that Destyn would make a snack out of. He didn't know this biome at all. After carefully wiping his blade clean on his sleeve, he sheathed the blade and nodded, half to himself and half to his expectant companions.
Stepping forward, he held out his hand as if in entreaty. It was callused now, both from crafting magical things and from his sparring with Laurevere and anyone he could get to test himself against. Dropping into a light trance, he sought the spirits of the flitting dragonflies, and from them, the greater spirit of their species. It was easier now. He had spoken to Wolf, and then to Bear. He had communed with the nest of bees that had become his friends and tenants. Others might think him strange for settling on Dragonfly as his third form, but they had merely to see Destyn in the air or these great dragonflies here present to see how agile they were.
And Sivan was a strange one, anyway.
Laurevere was curious how long this sort of thing took, but he hadn't been present for either Sivan's initiation or his spelunking in the cave of a hibernating bear. All the same, he wasn't going to deign to ask the flighty Fae'ethalan. It didn't take a terribly long time, though; Sivan had been communing with spirits long before he ever received his Rune of Summoning. The Dratori part of him was a gift in that regard, even if Laurevere would have preferred his friend be entirely Hytori—which was, he would admit, hypocritical given his own mixed heritage. He would have been popular in Solunarium, he supposed, but he liked neither deserts nor worshipping mere demigods.
When Sivan came to, several dragonflies took wing from where they had perched upon his outstretched hand. The elf seemed pleased, but he shouldered out of his tunic all the same so someone could verify that the Rune between his shoulderblades had changed to incorporate Dragonfly.
"How does it look?" Standing in the sun, he realized he had begun sweating profusely in the humidity. "And... is the water safe to drink...? And swim in? I promise I won't wrestle."
Laurevere's eyebrow rose at that, but he merely nodded to affirm that the Rune was changed. He glanced to the Fae, however, knowing the eager beaver would want to speak as well.
Re: Siv and Desty Do Ecith [Destynrael]
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2023 11:35 am
by Destyn
Siv and Desty Do Ecith45 Glade 123
Destyn executed a cavalier shrug.
"This is, you know, simply my fate." He declined to use its synonym which sounded too much like his name for his comfort. He might have gone into an oration about his feelings on the matter, but Sivan had heard it multiple times and the sounds of blades slashing through air and vine was enough to silence him a spell.
"This is why you must learn how to fly, Sivan, so I am no longer lonely in the sky. But I would rather be lonely up there than knocked over by Avialae. That is why South Ecith is nice, because there is not as much sky traffic. Or most of it is, at least, smaller than Avialaes which are, I think, too big and unwieldy. This is why they fly poorly and I do not understand how they mate with regular sized people, but this is not my business like the sky is." He held his hands up in resignation as if yielding to an argument no one outside of his head actually posed.
While Sivan went about his rites, Destyn strutted over to Laurevere and stared at him. At first he was trying to think of something to say, but he found the elf intimidating so that didn't come easily. Eventually he decided to just stare until Laurevere himself said something or Sivan came out of his trance. Either way, he would turn to inspect Sivan's back when bidden to.
"It looks like a snáthaid mhór which is, I imagine, what it is supposed to look like because that it what you are trying to, I think, take features of. Yes, the water is safe it is... Pure. It is like as to water from another realm where water is the central element. Hard to explain, but perhaps you will taste this. And you can swim and wrestle, but just do not ignore me like you do sometimes, because you are my guest here and I must tend to you so you do not get ett."
Re: Siv and Desty Do Ecith [Destynrael]
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2023 1:26 pm
by Sivan
While Sivan was entranced, Laurevere met Destyn's gaze unblinking as any housecat. He was not overtly hostile; he merely found the Fae too mercurial to rely upon, but respected Sivan for making charity of his time with the wild thing. He could understand too why he had befriended the runesmith; their magical disciplines complemented each other. In any case, he wore a relatively bland expression and exuded an air of noblesse oblige.
Thankfully, Sivan's Dratori blood—while impure—made communication with spirits seem effortless.
"Snáthaid mhór," he agreed, adding it to his lexicon of Valasren words. He grinned, anticipating flying lessons with Destyn when they returned to Kalzasi.
"I shan't ignore you," he promised. "And you are welcome to swim and wrestle with me if you'd like. Or not."
That said, he refilled his canteen with fresh water, and then began to shuck off his clothes.
"Really?" Laurevere asked. "Now?" There was a faint glisten of perspiration upon his brow, but he hardly seemed bothered by the heat. Neither did Sivan to be fair.
"Really," he replied. "Now." Then, with a laugh, he ran into the water, trusting the water spirits to warn him if anything came along with a taste for golden elf.
Laurevere sighed, and stood sentinel. Nudity didn't bother even a half-Hytori, but this entire trip seemed ill-advised to him.
"Go ahead: swim and wrestle. I'll stand guard." He would have anyway, but of course, he phrased it as a kindness done to Destyn as well. If nobody joined him, Sivan likely wouldn't paddle about for long, but he was going to enjoy the water while he could. At least he could return to Karnor and say without lying that he had swum a river in Ecith and lived to tell the tale.
Re: Siv and Desty Do Ecith [Destynrael]
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 9:24 pm
by Destyn
Siv and Desty Do Ecith45 Glade 123
Destyn seemed satisfied by Sivan's statement. If his friend promised to pay attention to him, attention would be paid.
"Of course I will swim and wrestle with you!" Destyn replied, as if such was the most obvious thing in South Ecith, if not the world. He, too, began to undress, which was no great ordeal for the Fae, given how he tended to dress for this part of the world. It was hot, muggy and replete with fun places to play that were also wont to ruin his garments. Not one to dress in finery at the best of times, Destyn was particularly disinclined to overdress for this jungle. So he simply had to unfasten his tatters of trousers and wiggle out of them, allowing them to drop unceremoniously into the grass before padding up to the bank of the brook.
Hearing Laurevere's, at this point expectable, curmudgeonly response, the Fae'ethalan would pout profusely as he turned on his heel in the mud to face him.
"But but but but it is fun, though! And also you will do a better job of guarding him if you come into the water with us, because there are, um... You know... giant slalumandohs that could gobble him up. They live in the mud and are, you know, probably hungry and curious, which I understand for I am often the same, but I would not want Sivan to be their food all the same." If it wasn't abundantly clear from the content of his claims, Laurevere would certainly glean from the way they were delivered that Destyn was fabricating this entire threat as a ploy to get him to play. He certainly didn't seem concerned about any amphibious assaults to his own person as he was backing into the shallows without so much as a backward glance, as he stared pleadingly at the icy expression on the elf.
Re: Siv and Desty Do Ecith [Destynrael]
Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2023 2:28 am
by Sivan
Grinning, Sivan was already in the water. Zin was chattering to the local water sprites, communicating in the way that spirits did. They were more complicated and advanced now than they had been when Sivan first made a seasonal compact with them. Spirits had a tendency to learn and grow when working with him, much as he learned and grew with them. While the local spirits were curious about Sivan, his own familiars kept a proprietary air about them. He was their corporeal pet. In any case, Zin and the others were on the lookout for dangers, which allowed Sivan to enjoy himself.
Laurevere, for his part, seemed to be considering Destyn's gambit. Then, with a flick of the aether, he sent the pretty Fae'ethalan flying. His kinetics weren't aiming to hurt, but they sent Destyn hurtling into the air and thence into the water. He may or may not have had the smallest of smiles curling the ends of his mouth when Destyn broke the surface. But he stood guard all the same, over the one he believed to be the heir of Sol'Miaren and his feckless fae friend.
"Laurevere!" Sivan spluttered, though Destyn was unhurt and Sivan was only splashed.
The elf from Sol'Valen looked unperturbed. Sivan still had a deep-rooted respect for Hytori above him in the social structure, but they had met in Kalzasi and now they were in Ecith. All the same, it was done. He paddled over toward the ripples that Destyn had left in the water in case he needed help.
Re: Siv and Desty Do Ecith [Destynrael]
Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 5:08 pm
by Destyn
Siv and Desty Do Ecith45 Glade 123
Destyn nodded encouragingly as he backed onto the bank and Laurevere seemed to be weighing his words with all due gravitas. Then, before he knew it, his dragonfly wings were spread eagle smacking the surface of the water. As he reflexively drew them to his body, he dipped beneath the small waves Sivan had elicited with his body and his effect on the local spirits.
Destyn’s eyes were wide as they rose just above the waterline and peeped up at Laurevere. His nose and mother were still submerged, but his submerged lips were grinning broadly as one could see in the resultant squint of his eyes. So, Laurevere did know how to play after all. His gaze turned briefly sinister as he pondered retaliation, but then Sivan was drawing up to distract him, at least temporarily, from such an exploit.
"Oh, hi" He exclaimed to Sivan as he burst up and lifted his chin out of the water, no longer evoking a harbour seal as he had been moments earlier.
“I am sorry, Sivan, but your bodyguard has attacked me. This has put you in danger, because now I must, you know, seek retribooshun and he has flung me right by you, so… You know.” And with that, he burst up, put both hands on Sivan’s head and dunked him under the water, sticking his tongue out at Laurevere.
“See?” He called out loudly over the splashes and bubbles Sivan stirred, “You are very, you know, not good at your job of guarding Sivan's body. See how it is flailing under the surface? You should come also into the water and help him because he is not good at swimming!”
Re: Siv and Desty Do Ecith [Destynrael]
Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2023 10:54 am
by Sivan
As Sivan went underwater, his noble neighbor may or may not have had a glint of humor in his eye at Destyn's challenge. In the end, he turned to survey the treeline and began his self-imposed sentinel duties. Sivan had no idea why the well-born Val'Istra was so protective of him, but it was nice to feel accepted by someone from the land that ought to have been his home but had never truly felt like one. Perhaps it was one of those half-breed things, though he Siltori were the more acceptable cousin-race than Dratori, full of rage.
For his part, Laurevere was unconcerned with Destyn's threats. If he thought the Fae'ethalan flighty, he also thought him harmless unless it were to lead the good-natured Sivan into danger, such as this unnecessary venture into the savage jungles of Ecith. And if the bug boy was to go feral, he knew Sivan could handle himself with magic even if his curved sword was out of reach.
Sivan gulped air when he came up next to Destyn, but he laughed as he pulled his slender friend close in strong arms. After a moment, his head cocked curiously to the side as he used the moth as a flotation device.
"Destyn... does it... bother you that... Torin and I...?" He frowned momentarily. "You know we have become lovers, too. I just don't want you to think that it... diminishes our friendship. Or your friendship with Torin." Aware that they were both naked in the water, he plowed forward. "If you ever want that... with me... I would be glad to..." He flushed, but then, Ecith was warm despite the eclipse. "Or if not... I would not be offended... Ah... I just want you to know that you are my beloved friend."
Re: Siv and Desty Do Ecith [Destynrael]
Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2023 11:19 am
by Destyn
Siv and Desty Do Ecith45 Glade 123
With Laurevere summarily ignoring the real and present danger Destyn represented to his charge, and Sivan bursting free of his loose grip to merge, the Fae pouted and relinquished his playful ruse. He didn't have much time to ponder the matter, as it seemed from his friend's tone, that Sivan wanted to have a Talk with a capital T. He furrowed his brow, concerned that there was something the elf seemed anxious to broach with him. Had something horrible happened? Was this whole trip meant to be one last day of carefree fun, before everything was turned on its ear?
"Oh." Destyn blew a relieved raspberry, "No, it is only weird to be because I think of us as a clan. In my clan we only mate with outsiders, because sometimes when you mate within your own clan the babies, you know, come out not so good." He wrinkled his nose, his expression projecting pity rather than revulsion.
"But we are not a clan in that way and also you cannot have babies together anyhow, so it is fine I guess..." His eyes went wide and he trailed off as Sivan, like Captain Kynne before him, opened a door right in front of him seemingly out of nowhere. This one hung in the air more ponderously than its more literal counterpart, and Destyn took a moment, treading water and considering.
"...I have never before mated. I was not of age the last time our clan crossed paths with another of our kind, and then they were gone." He paused again, "It would be good to learn how. I do not know if it would be better with someone I love or worse, because if I am embarrassed the memories will be more, you know, ummm... not avoidable?" His eyes darted to the shoreline, "Does Laurevere also know how to mate?"