Open Log ➵

[warmare]

WHO: Hayame and YOU(?!)
WHAT: centaur cryptid action, the angriest breeding season ever, archery, a local lurker probably yelling at kids to get off her misty lawn and stop trying to care about her
WHERE: Lohkimareen [Greentruth heights, misty depths, and forest's edge]
WHEN: Beginning of Visoseri (June)
WARNINGS: potential suicidal ideation, mentions of csa, violence, estrus


01 ➵ IN MISTS [FORESTS BELOW GREENTRUTH]➵ 霧の靡に

[The Aions have been provided lodging among the tall, fortified trees of Greentruth... But one potential member of the Pleroma group has not made use of them a single night. In fact, for the more observant types... the centaur who had been among their number that first night through the portal from Godsblood, who had hung around the edges of the welcome banquet silent, brooding, and angrily eavesdropping... has barely been seen since.

There are whispers, though, the occasional bit of gossip amongst the natives. A man who often works one of the freight elevators that transports supplies up from caravans on the forest floor who complains about an occasional extra load who doesn't even tip. Merchants who talk about being watched by a strange monster or spirit in the mist, shaped like some unnatural combination of mount and man. An armorer who laments that as much as they ought to aid the Aions in their mist, there is just this one who keeps taking shortbows- what is she doing to them?

And if someone were to actually seek out that woman... The search will take them to the dangerous mists below the safety of the Greentruth trees, where shadows play across the mist and large beasts roam. But amongst the tracks left behind by reptiles are faint imprints of hoof, there is a hollow tree that seems to have been made into some sort of crude shelter, game hanging to dry high off the ground and half-prepared pelts stretched out over makeshift racks, and when you turn around-

There might be an arrowhead embedded in a tree near your face, the arrow shaft quivering with the force that has punctured the bark.]

02 ➵ FLETCHER [GREENTRUTH, NEAR GODSBLOOD PORTAL]➵ 矢作り

[There is a downside to the intense aversion Hayame feels to using her shard for so-called "communion". Mainly... she has refused the easy way to know where people are across the planet. To her it is normal, coming as she did from a world in the year 1590 where the most advanced technology consisted of woodblock printing, looms, and matchlock rifles, but...

It means she does a lot of waiting in exchange for trying to keep people out of her head, where she has so much less control than she would like people to think. Risk emotion bleed with inexperience into a conversation that, if held in person, she'd at least be able to control? She does not fancy it.

And in waiting for the man she has commissioned a bow from to appear from Godsblood... she stands (glowers) near the portal from the coastal town, hands crossed beneath her tightly bound breasts. After a few hours... she begins to resent herself for the wasted time, and right there, her large body taking up a decent amount of space near the portal...

She just commandeers a table and starts to work, pulling a feathered kill from its place hanging at her harness and beginning to pluck feathers off it right there, squinting at each one and beginning to cut them into arrow fletching. Sorry, did you need to get past her? Wondering why she's still standing there?

She isn't volunteering. She's working.]

03 ➵ NATURAL DESIRE [RIVER NEAR GREENTRUTH]➵ 発情期

[Hayame has always resented the fact that she was born a woman.

From the moment she had been old enough to watch the empty shell of an Armless woman that was her dam be led to the mounting post each year and understand why, she had known what women were best suited for in a breeding stable. Even as she trained herself in bow and polearm and blade, threw her entire effort into making herself a warrior who would be bought by a warlord to bring him victories in battle, the possibility of being sold as a broodmare or "companion" mount had always been a possibility. Always.

And nothing was a better reminder of the femininity she strove to cover with bindings, strength, and harshness than a jinba mare's heats. The urges frustrate her as they always do, turn normal scents in the air to tempting aromas, make her body into a traitor willing to lift her tail with interest at the sight of potential mates, and force her to burn with desire that anyone with a proper nose or eye would notice.

Which is what has led Hayame to the cold mountain river she is now immersed in up to her lower shoulders, letting the water wash away proof of her want and cool her body. Thinking herself alone... she allows herself the luxury of a moment of weakness, letting down her fetlock-length ebony hair and trying to work her fingers through the tangled strands that have grown difficult to handle without her master's women to provide oils and comb.

The sounds of the water, unfortunately, mean that she is somewhat unprepared for visitors. Her bow and knife, however... are still within reach.]

04 ↣ WILDCARD ↣ 鬼札

[Hit my plotting comment/send a PM/hit me up on stormcoming if you'd prefer a starter or want to discuss a specific thread you'd like to do!]

Comments

03

[goldendeceiver]

[ The Man-Dog here spends most of his time within the city of Godsblood, excepting a recent lengthy stay at Venera that lasted some time after most of the Aions had already departed. While he's spent a good chunk of his life out in the wilderness as well, he's always found he thrives in bustling cities full of people. With skills that veer more towards the communications side of things, there's not a lot of reasons for him to wander out into the wilds this way.

Except...

Except he'd been working with Himeka for away to kick off and establish a spice trade from these woods and Godsblood. Though he'd must rather have Himeka and all of the rebels gather up the spices for him, there were murmurs and questions raised over his ability to bring in such rare and hard to find spices from so far away, so it behooved him to disappear from time to time.

He didn't even have to pretend to be venturing all the way into the woods himself, but if he could make it seem like he was traveling to a village near Godsblood in order to conduct his trade, then people would be less likely to question him when he showed up several days later with spice in tow.

But if he was going to be away pretending he was doing work to throw suspicion off himself, he might as well use the portal to go all the way to Greentruth and actually do a little spice gathering too.

That's what he's doing now as he makes his way along the river; his eyes are peeled for a specific plant that grows well on riverbanks, and can be dried and ground into something very tangy tasting.

Ernesto is absorbed enough in this work that he doesn't actually notice Hayame at first himself as he stoops down, brows furrowed while he scans the ground, which keeps his eyes off of the water. ]

sorry for the delay! business trip kicked my butt

[warmare]

[The flush of the river might do something to dilute her own musk, the way that many a jinba had tried to avoid keen-nosed hunting dogs when attempting escape from her master's breeding stable... But it did nothing to disguise the scents on the wind from outside of the water. Hayame doesn't want to... but she notices.

The smell of a man.

Also... the small of a dog.

And as tempting as it was to reach for her bow (her third, she's cracked and broken the others) or her knife nearby on the rocks... The only good thing (hah) about being the only jinba in this place had been that as long as she avoided horses she should also avoid most olfactory notice... But what if that man had the nose of a dog as well?

Hayame swallows her shame... and tries to move as silently through the river as she can, mane and tail leaving inky trails behind as she attempts to creep behind the rocks.]

no worries!

[goldendeceiver]

[ Hayame's nose might be sharp enough to notice Ernesto from his spot on the riverbank, but his own nose is as dull as any other human. The dog features might hint at some extraordinary senses, but for the most part his anatomy isn't too terribly strange, and his sense of smell isn't anything to write home about.

His hearing though? That's another matter. He has four separate, fully-functioning ears, and two of those are actually dog-like in nature. While he might not smell the heat scent radiating off of Hayame from this distance, he sure as hell hears the ripping in the water. Considering these woods are dino-central? He's fast to whip his head around to check out the source of the noise.

And that's when he spots a deceptively human looking head in the water, though he misses the tail. They're probably swimming just fine, but just to make sure... ]

Hey! You alright in there?

[warmare]

[At this depth, only the more human-looking parts of her body are visible at first glance, her heavier lower body become shadows under the water's surface and hints of black tail flowing in the current. The face though, even though its flushed with heat... Well, maybe it's more the bark in her voice that might give it away.]

I am perfectly fine! Mind your own business!

[She'd been so close to the rocks... but now, if she continued towards them, it might look as if she were trying to hide away like some sort of cowardly maiden... But where is she supposed to go instead? Just- just stand there? Annoyed, her heat making her even more quick to frustrate, Hayame glares at him from the water, her clothing clinging wet and revealing, her long black hair slicking to her skin like some sort of bitchy Lady Godiva.]

[goldendeceiver]

[ Ah....

Yeah, he recognizes that voice. It's kind of hard not to, even though their interaction was brief. Hayame was very... memorable. ]

Aha... Sorry, Señorita. I didn't realize it was you. I'm sure you can swim just fine.

[ Assuming she'd even need to. There's a good chance those hooves are reaching the bottom of the river, huh? There's a few seconds where Ernesto looks the water in front of Hayame curiously, trying to gauge just how deep it is, considering it looks like she's standing still.

And then it hits him as he stares at the area immediately around her, that it looks like he's staring at her, and the lady happens to be wearing some very clingy clothing at the moment. He also remembers how mortified she'd been to even admit to having breasts that needed binding to begin with, so he probably shouldn't be doing that.

Without trying to make a big deal of it, he looks away back to the shoreline where he was searching for plants a moment before. ]

You don't have to mind me then. I'll just go back to my business.

[ Which unfortunately for her means he's not planning on leaving.

He has absolutely no idea how awkward a position he's putting her in by doing that. ]

[warmare]

Hayame.

[She hadn’t actually intended to give out her name today, least of all to someone so rude, but she also… can’t just keep letting him call her by something completely different. Señorita? What kind of name was that even?

And though she glared (yes, with her hooves planted firmly on the riverbed beneath the water here in the safer, slower area of flow that she had scouted out…

He doesn’t go away. He just looks away, which might be acceptable on another day, but-]

Have you no business that will take you elsewhere?

[Seeing as she wasn’t actually trying to take a bath to cleanse her body she has no excuse for needing to remove her clothing that might drive him away, but still…

That smell.]

01; (1/2)

[inutilis]

[ there are, of course, much safer and simpler places for one to take a walk to 'clear their head', as it were. it begs the question of why Abel is here out of the lot of them, lingering among the shadowy mist filled with threats just as liable to kill him as any other man on the forest floor. (or woman, as it were.)

regardless of his reasons for this odd excursion, Hayame will find her shot - tried and true and too close for comfort - buried into the thick bark of the tree behind Abel's head; an inch or two further? he'd be pushing up daisies. (do daisies grow in Horos...? --what an idle thought; maybe he should keep his head in the game at present--) it seems he is, at the least, very aware of how close he'd come to losing his noggin for the way he has bodily frozen, the hood of his cloak fallen back and away from the momentum of her shot. blue eyes have flown wide in surprise, his foot sliding back just a step in his startlement-- ]

[inutilis]

[ ...and then,

a rapid recognition settles over him much like one hearing the tolling of the bells upon realizing their imminent demise

as he realizes whose 'territory' he has haplessly stumbled into............




ah. ]

I... suppose. This, ah. Means you're-- s-still quite angry with me, then, that's... understandable. Understandable; unfortunate, yes. --And understandable. Very understandable, mm.

sorry for the delay! business trip kicked my butt

[warmare]

[Abel is a very unfortunate man. Perhaps he might think himself lucky because he avoided getting shot by mere inches, but that was not luck that was precision and design on Hayame's part, intending to warn first instead of kill. He is unfortunate because the woman whose territory he has stumbled in to, unwitting or no, is a woman in heat, and he smells...

Good. So good that it makes her want to move her bow a few inches to the right and let the hand carved arrowhead puncture the thick bone of his brow.

Emerging from the thick undergrown is first a cracked and damaged hoof, a slender dun fetlock, and then the woman comes into sight, looking... Far worse than she had when they had met, in that Godsblood safehouse. SInce then, she seems to have lost enough weight for her equine ribs and shoulders to grow bony and prominent, her coat and mane to begin to dull.

But the capacity in her eyes for offense and rage seem to burn as bright as ever. He stumbles and stutters through his speech again, and she leaves him waiting for a word, an arrow still notched on the string until-]

What are you doing here?

it's all good, welcome back! 🤗

[inutilis]

[ ...and just like that, Hayame's emergence has all signs of the usual idiotic facade dissolving with suddenness.

Abel's countenance conveys nothing but a stark concern and disbelief; her condition is... deplorable, and for her to have sunken to this state means she has been neglecting herself since her arrival. this isn't the damage of a few days worth of ill care and it speaks to a deep-rooted problem, one that must have wormed its way through her upon waking in the Shrine. ]

Are you-- alright? Ah, you're...

[ ...he trails off, the furrow at his brow deepening as he gently, slowly, holds his hands up in a placating gesture. ]

🤗!!!!

[warmare]

[Abel is not incorrect. The condition of the jinba mare in front of him is not something that occurred in mere days. Though the roots were planted the moment she was "born" into a world her mind struggled to even accept as real, it began in earnest on her long trek back over land and water and mountain from the city of Venera, something that had cost her nearly two weeks' time in her attempt to avoid the horrors of teleportation. Once the shortbow too weak for her draw strength had broken midway, she had been left unable to hunt, surviving only barely through stubbornness and foraging, but even after she finally made it back to Greentruth...

She hasn't found anything yet worth living for.

And after speaking to the so-called leader of the resistance, the Aion who said that she had been here for years and years, that there was no way back to their worlds that she knew of...

What was the point? To eating. To combing her mane. To oiling her hooves. To trying to eat enough to get the weight back on her bones. To taking care of herself. To all of it.]

I said "what are you doing here"?

[Her voice doesn't crack, though, when she repeats her demand, hating the concern she sees in the whoremonger's eyes. Hating the fact that she was such a coward that she was still alive to see it.]

[inutilis]

I'm-- I'm heading back to the settlement, but...

[ why he's here isn't important. has she been making due outside of the comforts of Greentruth or Godsblood all this time--? Abel doesn't move, doesn't test his fortune (or lack thereof) by attempting to approach her; he remains still for now. but it's impossible to miss the light of that worry alight in blue eyes. ]

...I feel that's a question much better asked of you.

[ he bobs his head cautiously toward her make-shift living arrangements.

Hayame... this, she can't truly be planning to live this way, can she...? ]

01!

[recursive]

( it's not the first time yuuta has gone looking for hayame, but it's maybe the second or third time he's really gone looking for her. in the weeks leading up to this decision he had bundled the intention to try to find her with excursions largely pinioned on different goals: getting a lay of the land, general exploration, taking a look at the local flora and fauna, maybe even trying to gather useful resources and supplies that had been pointed out to him by those more familiar with the area... even keeping an eye out for her, he never found anything. he started to get worried. there's a lot about her disposition that reminds him of maki, and thinking about his friend, he knows she would hate it if he came looking for her out of worry (hell, she'd probably beat him up for it), but... he just can't seem to quiet the little voice of concern clamoring in his head, so out he goes! off to try and find a centaur woman in an primordial forest that does not want to be found.

other jujutsu sorcerers might have had an easier time tracking her down, opening their awareness for any sense of the cursed energy that all sapient creatures hold in their hearts — a coal at the center of their being that burned with all of the fear, despair, guilt, shame, and anger that would have given rise to cursed spirits in his own world. one of the major drawbacks of yuuta's "bottomless" cursed energy is that it completely blows out his "radar," so to speak. so he tracks the old fashioned way, even if it is with all the clumsiness of a bespoke city boy trying to find tracks and evidence of someone living down here in the forest.

it's sheer luck that leads him on the correct path. he finds the game trail first, a line worn through the forest underneath greentruth by hundreds if not thousands of herds of the reptilian megafauna that populate these jungles. he follows it, telling himself at least he found the tracks of something out here, but after five or so minutes he stops dead — cut far more sharply into the soft loam is the telltale imprint of a hoof, set out in stark contrast to the softer impressions of feet and claws. yuuta's eyes go wide, and he looks around, finding another and another. soon that trail leads him to a hollow that looks very much lived in — a success! she might not be "home," but it definitely seems to be the place that she's been living!

...yuuta! behind you!

rika's warning sends a shiver of alarm down his spine; he moves on instinct, both leaping back from where he'd been standing and twisting around in the direction that rika had detected someone's approach. doing so gives him a perfect view of an arrow that goes streaking right past his nose to embed itself with a reverberating twang into the bark of a nearby tree, just a foot or two away from him and right behind where he'd been standing a second before. his heart races, his narrow chest rising and falling with rapid breath — on secondary instinct, he immediately begins to reinforce his body with cursed energy. )

H - Hayame-san?! ( he knows where the arrow came from, but with the dense foliage all around, he can't necessarily see her. he does know where she is roughly, given that rika is keeping fiercely close tabs on her. the cursed apparition actually wants very much to manifest a hand to reach out and snap the bow in her hands, but yuuta beseeches her mentally to hold off. he raises his hands slowly, indicating surrender. ) I'm sorry, I didn't really mean to surprise you by dropping in unannounced, but, um, haha... you make it very hard to get a hold of you...!

[warmare]

[Hayame has never considered herself to be someone that others seek out.

She has always known what she was, and how she was. She held no delusions about her manners and how they might come off to others, and she had no regrets for them either- she was (trying to be) a warrior, someone cold and stalwart, serious and silent… Not the sort of person you enjoyed chatting with. Not even someone you’d want take tea with, or view the cherry blossoms with, or even… care about. But that was fine. It had been fine once.

So the idea that someone might be looking for her? She suspects foul things from the moment she hears the snap of branch and approach of someone from the wood, she arms herself in preparation for defense or barking dismissal… and she sent her warning.

Once he turns, though, and she sees the face… She remembers. “Yuuta”. The bridge sorcerer. Supposedly someone… on her side. If she were to choose this… “side”.

Slowly, the paltry shortbow still held at the ready and an arrow notched on the sinew string, Hayame emerges into view from the shadows of the underbrush. She looks… worse, than the last time they met. Her dun coat had begun to look a bit dull, her hooves are cracked, and the bones of ribs and shoulder have become more prominent.

But she still looks just as proud, and just as angry. Both were enough to cover her confusion. Because why-]

What business do you have with me?

[Nevermind the arrow quivering in the tree trunk.]

[recursive]

( the jinba steps into view, and at first yuuta is relieved to see she's in one piece, but... he realizes swiftly that that's too low of a bar. a line of concern forms, creasing his brow; he truly can't say he knows much about animals, let alone horses or centaurs, but she doesn't look well. she looks thin, the sharp landmarks of bone protruding more than he remembered as muscle has receded; the dull color and somewhat unkempt look to her pelt just make her look... haggard. he immediately starts to feel guilty for not having checked in on her sooner. is this because she's been living down here on her own? maybe if he'd come sooner, if he'd spoken to her enough to convince her to accept some small amount of supplies from the city above —

but he can't think about all that right now. she had shot an arrow at him a moment before, after all, and even though she didn't presently have another aimed at his heart, he knows he's not out of the woods. he keeps his hands raised in their conciliatory gesture, speaking in earnest. ) I - I was worried about you. It's been a while since I've seen you, and... you're down here on your own.

( he knows it's her decision. he does! he also knows that aiding her in that doesn't really make him responsible for her or anything. but... there's just something that sticks in his mind, that had nagged at him and made him want to come make sure...

he might not entirely realize it yet, but in many ways, she reminds him of his friend maki. she'd been unswervingly severe to him when he'd first arrived at school, both harsh-tongued and without mercy when training him with weapons, but he'd eventually come to realize that she had her own reasons for being so stringent with herself, for pushing herself to such lengths. and even though she too had been sharpening herself into a peerless warrior, one that could serve as a highly-ranked sorcerer even without the cursed energy necessary to see curse spirits unaided (just to spite her family), that engineered strength didn't really make someone immune to solitude. even when you thought you were okay with it, that sort of loneliness... it wears at you. he knows from personal experience. he, maki, toge, and even panda had had their elements of it, disparate misfits as they were — it had made them opposing magnetic poles to one another, drawing them together and giving them what had felt like an unbreakable bond.

he's not sure if he will ever see maki ever again. perhaps he copes with that loss by attempting to do what he can to care for hayame, even if she tries to give him every reason not to. it's not the first time someone had tried to keep him at arm's-length like that... )

I just wanted to make sure you were okay.

[warmare]

[It took a lot of food to power the body of a woman over seven feet tall who at peak health weighed more than half a ton. If she had a proper bow... perhaps it wouldn't be a problem to hunt down enough game to survive off of. More importantly... If she had found a reason to live, perhaps she wouldn't be down here in the mists, hiding from the realizations she needs to face before she can move forward. That, or make the decision to attempt to break her shard again.

And he... He says he was worried. Worried. About her.

And what is she supposed to do about that? Someone is worried about here, and came down to this dangerous place to make sure she was alright. Perhaps another might be touched, honored by the care shown to them, but Hayame...

Hayame does not know how to be cared for. She does not know how to take such a thing as anything but offense, when she is in such a place and looking for such things.]

Do you think I can not survive in this place?

[It is perhaps notable that though she looks weakened, both in spirit and in body, she does not have many actual injuries, no bite marks or rents from claws in her flesh. She did not ask for this, and so what can it be but some sick form of pity, some condescension? He says that he came down simply out of his own concern, but surely that could not be the case.]

Did your new Pleroma masters send you? Run back and tell them I will not be bought so simply with grand tales of becoming a hero in this land I care not for.

[recursive]

Wh — No, not at all! ( he waves his arms to emphasize his point. ) And - I don't even know who would be sending me to do something like that? ( who are these "masters"? he's pretty sure they don't have any sort of leadership?? ) It's not about that at all, I promise.

( in a way, he gets it. when he had been brought in by the jujutsu administration and put up for secret execution (only after several sorcerers lost their lives to rika fighting tooth and nail to keep them away from them, regardless of yuuta's desire to go willingly), he hadn't fought it. he had accepted the looming inevitability of his own execution until his future teacher had visited him, asking if he really thought it was the option — asking if he would accept an alternative. to go to jujutsu high, to learn how to use rika's curse to help people instead of hurt them...

but really, the thing that had most convinced him was the possibility that he could be around people again. it had been the loneliness that had been killing him, even when rika had been fighting with lethal force to keep him alive.

his shoulders are starting to ache, keeping his hands up; he lowers them somewhat, arms bending at the elbow. )

I didn't doubt that you could take care of yourself down here. But... bad things and accidents can happen to anyone! And, ( he pauses, expression mellowing into faint melancholy before he continues in a gentler, less strident tone of voice, ) Even if you're surviving... it doesn't always mean you're doing "well," you know?

[warmare]

[Hayame may not know who these masters are either, but there had to be... somewhere, there had to be masters. There always were. The Greentruth rebels acted like they all had a voice or a say, the Aion they claimed among their number hadn't even been around more than half the time she'd been in this realm, but...

Without one, who did they serve? How did they ever hope to stand against that so-called Regent and the Kenoma they claimed to be against? Why did she bother even wondering, when it wasn't her gods damned business-

While her mind rages, her body is still. Eerily still, stiff and ready to attack, to defend, she is equipped for almost anything but to have a conversation with some man that is... worried about whether she had an "accident" or not. If she could even easily believe that he was. They had spoken a grand total of once, she's the one who'd ended up in his debt... Perhaps that was it. He wanted to make sure he could call in some favor, leverage the magic he had used...]

And what does it matter to you, then?

[Finally, her voice cracks out again, her knuckles tight on her bow. Too tight. The weapon wasn't meant for a woman of her strength or size.]

If I'm well or not.

[She isn't. Despite her talent for denial, even she knows she isn't. But she'd also rather bite off her own tongue than admit it.]

2 (but hints of 1)

[dragon_rider]

[ When you spend half of your time with the people of Greentruth you pick up on things. Whispers of things they don't understand from the forest floor below or, eventually, the whispers being a person. An Aion. Hiccup had considered going down there and checking up, but it seemed just as likely right now that he was being saved the trip.

He doesn't go to Godsblood often, but having returned some hours before to the glowering horse-person with a satchel of supplies he couldn't help but notice her. A strange mixture of concern and apprehension, but not enough to either bother her or stop for — Until later when he's passing on through again, in the general area — not intentional, really, and he sees her.

Except now she's just kind of made this place her home and doesn't look to be keen on moving anytime soon. He tilts his head to his side before approaching, he allows for some spacing as he asks: ]

Don't you think you should... I don't know, ask before you steal someone's whole table?

[ There's a touch of reprimand in his tone, but mostly it's just confused at the necessity. ]

sorry for the delay! business trip kicked my butt

[warmare]

[Not many people have tried speaking to Hayame since she set up shop near the portal. Not even quite intentionally, she has what many might call a resting bitch face, one that could compete with the best in the world... and one that is even more dour than usual, thanks to her growing frustration and realization that if she wished to meet with the person she hoped to see then she might need to reach into her body and pull a shard of crystal out of it.

But for now, she resists the unnatural action and the magic that might lay bare her emotions or thoughts in ways she did not actually intend, still unused to controlling the communion. The few people who have attempted conversation have left very quickly after trying, and this time-

Hayame lifts her head from her work, skilled, calloused hands continuing to pluck the bird even while looking at this... man. This man who seems to think, what- ? That he owns this area of the trees? Even just the tiniest touch of reprimand in his tone is enough to set her jaw to tightening.]

I have not stolen it, I am making use of something no one else was.

[The heavy sound of game meat slapping against the table accompanies her words, more pinions plucked from the feathered reptile-thing's body to hopefully soon grace a new batch of arrows.]

Do you claim it?

02!

[wolof]

[ Scouting the right place to set up the planned... event that Akua was putting together for later meant she needed to travel between the two cities frequently. Between working for both shelter and sustenance -- and trying to plan something for the mages among them, Akua's traveling back and forth almost daily.

Coming through the Portal, she had her head buried in a few papers, ideas and sketches all before her, a floating array of them, spread out like a tableau before her. She's arranging them with gentle gestures of her hands, not really paying attention to the space immediately in front of the portal --

Which means that it's a flurry of paper and human that bump into Hayame's haunches. She's startled enough that her papers drop to the ground, and she took a step back, and narrowed her eyes.

Ah. Well. ]

Quite the welcoming committee for me today, hm?

[warmare]

[In the process of moving from the table where her game... "bird"... is half-fletched and to the side of the tree scaffolding holding the portal up in the air hundreds of feet from the ground where people with feet belonged, something bumps into Hayame's haunches. Only fine control and how tight her body was with annoyance and nerves over her height in the air kept that from being an accident that ended with a shattered bone or at minimum a hoof-shaped bruise, but-

It's not the person she was waiting for. In addition... It's someone she didn't even want to see to begin with, necessarily, and so to hear something about a welcoming committee, even in sarcasm...]

You are very mistaken.

[Let her nip that very idea in the bud. And also finish her trip to the edge of the wooden ledge to toss the feathers worthless for fletching off the side.]

[wolof]

Ah, apologies.

[ She said, and hid the amusement with a hand to her lips. She bent to collect the pages that had fallen to the ground, collecting each one with deliberate care. If someone stepped through and bumped into her -- well, she could suffer the indignity she supposed.

With those gathered, she stood, and watched Hayame strut away. Not a surprising thing, honestly, and she walked slowly, deliberately to watch her throw the feathers over the side. ]

So... throwing things off the side today? Very useful. [ She eyed the bird on the table. Was she... trying to make fletching? She'd watch Archer do that on occasion. ] Or were they not up to snuff?

[warmare]

[It is difficult for Hayame not to twitch, and just immediately tell the other woman to mind her own business. What did it matter to here what she was doing with the feathers? What did it matter to anyone why she was discarding the useless ones?

But at the same time... With that tone, she could easily imagine only encouraging the other if she tried to be dismissive, and so in the interest of hopefully getting rid of her quicker...]

I have no need for the feathers useless for fletching.

[If she were some housewife or something, perhaps a use could be found, stuffing a pillow or some sort. If she was some weak human who needed blankets to keep warm in the chill, she could make some sort of garment. But she wasn't.

She is moving back to her makeshift "table", though, getting back to plucking without much more acknowledgement.]

[wolof]

[ Unfortunately for Hayame, Akua had spent the past few years around a woman with the name Archer -- although now she was the Ranger. Indrani was good at a few things. Drinking, nocturnal activities, shooting across long distances, and annoying people.

Akua was no slouch herself, but the fact that she could tell that Hayame wasn't interested in even getting to know her fellow Aions at even the base level...

Well. Akua knew what that was like. She knew what it was to see oneself as superior to those around you, to be ever-alone in one's kingdom of superiority. How wrong it was. How much it hurt her, when she'd found something different. Started to actually care, even if she'd pretended that she didn't. ]

Ah, of course. I know the Archer -- she was Archer -- could shoot further than anyone alive. [ She eyed Hayame, almost curious. ] What sorts of arrows are these? Stock? Any tricks to them?

[ Indrani had kept quite the collection of trick arrows. ]