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 Posted: Thu May 05, 2022 3:42 pm
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Daisicle It was a regular sort of day one might experience at any point, what with the scattered clouds, light breeze, and ever so warm temperature on the shore of Sunrise Terrace. But for a certain, single-clawed sprite, it was some sort of nervous and exciting prospect. Ever since they'd decided to start looking at places they could see themselves living together, he and Aurelia had split the various villages of Telrunya between them to visit and get a feel for. Their prerequisites, as they were, were simple - a close enough proximity to the Lake (so she could visit her family whenever her whims dictated) and disconnected enough from Laisidhiel to minimize faun interactions (so word of their relationship would not reach his adopted mother).
She'd chosen to visit the wine village of Koehaira and the merchant center of Zamarad, while he was perusing Sunrise Terrace and Breeheart... though honestly, he had a feeling the latter wouldn't actually fit any of their requirements as he thought on it further ... and StarGrove for later.
Not wanting to look like a buffoon struggling to get out of the water right upon reaching the docks, he surfaced from the lake a bit further down and, upon drying his skin and most of his hair off, began the journey to the village's south entrance by foot.
Wolfs Heart Khonsu was a more recent resident of the Sunrise Terrace village, finding it to be a place that was no stranger to odd- looking mixes and in close enough proximity to his mother. He had found a love for swimming since moving closer to the water, something that made his webbed arms actually useful. The village had actually been in need of someone with his knowledge of natural remedies. Almost everything he needed was not within the village boundaries so when he ran out of something he had to go gather it himself. Maybe eventually he could train an apprentice to help him since he couldn't be in two places at once. Khonsu was returning to Sunrise Terrace with a large bag of herbs he had gathered himself from south of the village. He stopped in front of the sentry at the southern entrance, engaging him in some small talk when another male began to approach. Khonsu was still new enough that he couldn't tell if the approaching pae was a resident or not. "Greetings," he said with a wave.
Daisicle Wellspring grew more anxious as he began to near the entrance, somehow not having thought far enough ahead to anticipate how he might talk to the other residents or otherwise interact. It'd been quite some time since he'd spoken with surface pae - excluding Aurelia's direct family, of course - that he was already falling into his head. This was a village of blood pae'il... sure, he'd -heard- they were generally more accepting of the elemental sorts, but what if that intel was bad? What if they were like the ones he'd grown up hearing about... Sure, Aurelia and her brother and parents had been pleasant enough, but they could be the exception. Wellspring didn't have enough experiences to determine otherwise.
Oh Laisidhiel... Was he making a mistake?
He reflexively shifted his claw behind him as he neared the sentry and tried to force on as pleasant of a smile as possible (re: visibly anxious). He raised his hand to offer a small wave and a, "Ah-- H-hello..." He was so awkward he could just -die-.
Wolfs Heart "Welcome to Sunrise Terrace," the sentry greeted, more easily recognizing an outsider. "Need any help finding your way around?" It was a friendly enough greeting. Khonsu stuck around, if only to continue his conversation with the sentry once the approaching pae was taken care of. By the sentries greeting, Khonsu was now cued in that the male wasn't a regular. He seemed nervous to Khonsu, and he wondered if that was just the effect sentries had on some pae. "Nice ear webs," he said with a friendly nod, lifting his arm to show off the webbing he had on his arms. Khonsu wasn't self conscious at all, his mom had feline features and his dad had a claw, these sorts of things were normal to him.
Daisicle "Oh... It's my first time visiting..." Wellspring's smile twitched slightly and he scratched his chin, cognizantly attempting to be as pleasant as possible. He then turned to look over at Khonsu and, his fake smile fading somewhat, reached up to pull at his earfins. "These? Uh... Thanks. They're fairly common in the Spring... At least..." He let his hand fall and blinked with a bit of a head tilt at the webbing - "Are you part-naiad then?" The concept of a blood pae'il having aquatic features was foreign to him.
Wolfs Heart "Feel free to look around, and let someone know if you need any help." The sentry mentioned. Khonsu nodded his head, although he didn't know where the spring was. "No, no naiad. Never really even touched the water until I moved here." Khonsu shifted his bag of herbs to a different shoulder. "So you're just visiting? What brings you to this village? I only moved in not so long ago myself." |
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2022 3:44 pm
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Daisicle Wellspring slightly jerked to look back at the sentry and nod - confirming he'd heard him - before turning his attention back to Khonsu. "H-Huh... interesting..." it seemed Wellspring wasn't the only one cursed by genetics (not that he knew of that term). He shook his head no, then paused as he thought before giving a shrug. "Maybe? I'm... well, my girlfriend," oh Earthmother's branches, for all their time together, this was the first time he was referring to Aurelia as his girlfriend to a stranger and boy did it feel strange, "and I... well... we're looking for a village to, y'know..." he trailed off without finishing his statement or making any sort of eye contact.
But he hadn't totally ruined the conversation yet. Victory for Wellspring!
Wolfs Heart Khonsu blinked at the guy, wondering why on Telrunya he was having trouble just saying what was going on. "Girlfriend, huh?" Maybe he would relax talking about his girl, Khonsu wondered. "Hm, I need to get these things to my hut, you can follow if you would like." "This village is welcoming enough, a lot of pae here. The guy who kind of runs the has wings that are soaked in water." Khonsu wasn't sure if that would be interesting to the other guy. "I hope you like fish and rice...lots and lots of rice."
Daisicle "Ah... Yeah." Wellspring nodded, confirming that he did, in fact, have a girlfriend. He blinked, concerned he was bothering, and had raised his hand in front of him to apologize to taking up his time (etcetera) before Khonsu started walking and talking.
Oh, good... Wellspring hadn't been a nuisance.
He glanced around as he walked and listened - rolling hills, light vegetation. It seemed nice enough. "I enjoy fish... But what's rice?"
Wolfs Heart "Oh rice, it's a grain. It kind of soaks up the flavor of whatever it's served with. And they serve it with everything." He said everything rather dramatically. "Oh, I'm Khonsu by the way," he said stopping in his tracks and turning around to face the other guy. "I'm the town's herbalist." He held out his hand to greet the other. Of course, offering the hand opposite of Wellspring's clawed hand that Khonsu still hadn't caught sight of.
Daisicle "Huh, interesting..." He didnt think such a food item was being served in Laisidhiel back when he lived there, but he might have just not known the name of it. "Does it at least taste good?"
Wellspring stopped a couple of steps beyond Khonsu and turned on the balls of his feet to look back at him, all while intentionally keeping his claw hidden. "Oh... Right, names... Aha... I'm Wellspring." Of course he'd have to introduce himself - how hadn't he realized that sooner? Dumbass. He looked down at Khonsu's hand, then offered his own (not the claw), even if it may have looked strange. "Nice to meet you."
Wolfs Heart Khonsu nodded his head in response to the question about the rice. "Yeah, I kind of like the texture it adds." He said with a shrug. Khonsu gave Wellspring a curious look as he offered the opposite hand than the one Khonsu had expected. How strange. "Nice to meet you too, Wellspring. You said you were from some sort of spring? Is that in the lake?" Maybe lake folk weren't used to handshakes or something. Khonsu didn't know. He turned back around to continue the walk towards his hut. |
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2022 3:45 pm
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Daisicle Mmm, good to know. Wellspring enjoyed good food as much as any typical pae.
He noted the hint of confusion and the way they didn't actually shake hands before Khonsu continued walking. Yeah... He looked so weird, huh? But he couldn't shake hands without one. "Yeah, the Spring is a sort of shorthand naiad use to refer to Alu Spring, their settlement in the lake." He paused before following up with, "You... Said you're new here - where are you from?"
For the amount of awkward that persisted, the sprite was notably less on edge as the conversation continued.
Wolfs Heart "I grew up in Star Grove when I was little, it's a village on the other side of the lake. Then I lived just outside of Laisidhiel until I decided to make my own way. This was the first village I stumbled on." They walked in front of a hut that Khonsu pointed at, "This is my place, I'm just going to drop this off." He went inside and placed his sack on a crudely constructed table.
Daisicle Star Grove... That was a settlement Wellspring couldn't say he was particularly familiar with. At most he'd heard it's name in passing, but it wasn't one they'd picked out as being a potential place to settle down - now why was that again? There had to have been some good, not 4th-wall-breaking reason. Oh well.
Still, color him surprised that the faun let a blood pae'il live so close to the tree - the guy even had the pronunciation right! Things must have calmed down somewhat since he'd left. "Oh, I can just--" Wellspring started to talk about leaving Khonsu to do whatever it was the guy needed doing, but it seemed he hadn't spoken up in time.
When Khonsu arrived, he rubbed the back of his head with his hand as he apologized. "Sorry... You must have things you need to do. If you - if it's not trouble anyways - if you could just point me to an inn or whatever this place has for visitors to sleep in, I'd be grateful."
Wolfs Heart "Not really things to do, I just got back from my 'things to do'" Khonsu laughed. "Yeah, just this way to the village center and there's someplace that you should be able to rest." Khonsu was slightly amused that he had somehow ended up on the welcoming committee, but it had made sense since he was on his way in and at least knew someway around. As long as Wellspring didn't ask anything too complicated.
Daisicle "Ah..." Wellspring quietly mumbled as he nodded along to Khonsu's explanation. That made as much sense as anything really. "If you could then..." He trailed off and waited for him to begin leading the way before following slightly behind him. He tended to keep to the rear of a pack - it helped keep his claw out of sight.
Still though... "I can't tell if this place is small... or large..." Wellspring commented as he glanced around, noting how houses seemed rather spread out. It was far different that what he was used to seeing in either the Tree or the Spring.
Wolfs Heart "Uh, well, I only really have one other place to compare it too." Khonsu said thoughtfully. "But it feels pretty small to me, but maybe because of how spread out it is it feels bigger?" Khonsu shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, here's a guest hut." Khonsu said, standing next to the doorway so that Wellspring could pass him. |
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2022 3:46 pm
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Daisicle Wellspring nodded at the observation that closely aligned his own. "Well... Thanks again." He offered a small smile before moving in a way that, albeit a bit strange, largely kept his claw out of view (or at least he hoped so). "See you later...?"
Wolfs Heart Khonsu definitely noticed the odd way Wellspring tried to maneuver around. How strange. It made Khonsu pay more attention to him though, wondering if he had something to hide, not even thinking it might be physical. "Yeah, if you decide to move in and ever are in need for a healer, you know where to find me now." And then he saw it, the thing Wellspring had been trying to hide, Khonsu was just at the right angle it couldn't easily be hidden anymore. "Hm, my dad has one of those..." He said curiously, pinching his fingers together like a claw. Did his dad have other kids he didn't know about? That didn't make sense.
Daisicle "I'll keep that in mind... Thanks." He was about to disappear inside when he literally froze mid movement as his claw was noticed. A bright flush quickly spread from his cheeks to the tips of his ears - he'd been caught. He looked over, embarrassed, but so caught in his own mind that he didn't actually process what Khonsu said.
"Well... Uh... Uh... Well..." He turned so he directly faced Khonsu and his the claw again without making eye contact
Wolfs Heart Khonsu shook his head, he too was buried in his own thoughts, trying to figure out if it was remotely possible this guy was related to him. In some ways it shouldn't have struck him as such an impossibility that there was at least one other pae on the island with a claw, but he couldn't help but wonder. "Who are your parents?" Yeah it might have sounded like Khonsu was suddenly giving him the 3rd degree.
Daisicle Oh no. No no. Wellspring was NOT going to say who his parents were - he did NOT need someone telling his mom or the Chieftain that he was here, that he'd already said he had a girlfriend and that not much digging at all would show that she was a blood pae. Oh Earthmother no. He averted eye contact to the opposite side as she shifted uncomfortably and mumbled. "They... They're faun......"
Wolfs Heart Well faun didn't really make sense to Khonsu. He took a deep breath, he couldn't shake the feeling that the other male was hiding something. Honestly, Khonsu was now putting together that most of Wellspring's strange tendencies were probably attempts at hiding his claw. Why would the guy go so far out of his way to hide a claw... And then still act so strange. Yes, Khonsu was convinced that his father had another kid he didn't know about and this guy was trying to hide it from him. It didn't seem like there was much he could do about it though if the guy was just going to stand there and lie. "Right... Well... If you need herbs..." He flicked a finger in the direction of his hut.
Daisicle It seemed that Wellspring had almost, just almost, managed to get a decent first impression for the first time in his life... And then just threw it at the last second. "Right..." This was the worst - it was always cause of this damn claw... He internally sighed before silently retreating behind the door. |
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