{PRP} A Cold Snap {Nyx+Ruelash+Selvei}

[MissMisnomer]

A Cold Snap

For being the beginnings of summer, the weather was unusually brisk this day in Tale. Large, fat grey clouds loomed in the sky, forecasting that there might be some rain in the forecast for them. Or there might not be. Weather was a fickle thing like that.

Nyx didn’t really mind either way what the clouds decided to do. Rain or shine, her day was sure to be a dull one. Maybe some mud might make for some exciting accidents in town at least… But Gods be praised, it would appear she wouldn’t have to suffer through boredom much longer, as she caught sight of a familiar swath of wild blue hair. She skittered down from her reclining spot on the roof of the apothecary, loping over eagerly to the out-of-towner.

As she got nearer though, her pace slowed, slinking from cover to cover until she was hidden behind a low stone wall. Heart beating solidly in her chest, Nyx tried to keep her breath as low as the crouch she was in, crawling until she was sure the blue man was close, just on the other side of the wall. All at once with a wide toothed grin, she jumped up from behind her cover, landing atop the partition as she hollered down at the Zenan, “RUELASH, DIDJA’ MISS ME??!”

[1/10]  

[DraconicFeline]

Selvei had never been to the Tale before, or to a village he didn't know. Mommy had wanted to take him, though, because that was where her people were from, so he had felt like he should go. To please her. But then Mommy had had to do something at the last minute and so here he was, cowering behind a man he feared.

Of course, Selvei knew that Uncle Ruelash was safe to be around. His sister called him Uncle Lashy, and he played nice with Rulu, and he always brought back bones and teeth and stuff for them. He was a friend of his mom's, and not a friend of his aunts, and he was family. But Selvei could sense that his uncle was a fierce man, like a predator - like the radaku that he'd seen once. Ruelash didn't have sharp teeth and claws, but he moved like that radaku, and he had the same sense of danger as that radaku. And he made Selvei scared.

But Mommy had told him not to worry, and Selvei supposed it was better to have the dangerous guy between him and the scary things than to be alone in a strange place.

That didn't stop him from shrieking in terror at the sudden, loud appearance of a strange horned woman and cowering behind Ruelash.  

[DraconicFeline]

MissMisnomer

Ruelash spun with all the speed that he had gained through his life a disliked and wandering marauder, hands on his blades before he realized what was happening and who it was. His face broke into a feral grin and he waved at her.

"HEY NYX!" he called back, delighted at the interruption, "WANNA SPAR AND FIND OUT?" he cackled happily.

He'd met the leaf girl on one of his migrations between Jauhar and Zena, and he'd recognized her as a kindred soul, just as he'd recognized Iroia all those years before. She wasn't a stupid sheep like the others. She had spirit, she had spunk, and she was tough. He sometimes forgot she was there, in this town, but he was always happy to see her. It was like being home.

'Course, he had to hold back a little against her when they sparred, and she used different weapons, but he'd gotten used to that with Volka. It was a lot of fun. "Get on over 'ere and gimme a punch!"

He had, in his excitement at seeing his friend, forgotten about the terrified child at his heels.  

[MissMisnomer]

Nyx eyed him from up on her perch, shrugging her shoulders in an exaggerated manner, “Oh I dunno about that: you’re lookin’ a little frayed around the edges, Old Man. Wouldn’t want to get in trouble for beating up a senior, would I?” Despite all the big talk, she did hop down, sauntering over with a brazen grin, “Suppose I could let you win one more fight though, give you a confidence boost. Since I’ve been oh-so-kind thus far…”

As she neared the Zenan, her fist shot out to slug him up-side the arm, before pulling her punch at the last second, angling instead for a lighthearted jab to his jaw line, “Ahhh, it’s a feint, Nyx goes for a blow to the geezer’s glass-jaw instead, how’s he gonna recover…” Chortling loudly, she propped her hands at her hips, beaming up at the man. “It’s been too long Ruelash, I was starting to think you might have finally bit the dust! Might’ve even shed a tear at the thought. Making a poor, sensitive, emotional girl like me worry about you like that, have you no shame?”

Wiping away an imaginary tear, she happened to glance down, finally noticing the small boy cowering behind his back, “Who’s the little Nugget you’ve brought along this time?”

[2/10]

DraconicFeline

 

[DraconicFeline]

Ruelash snickered. "I'll show you old. Got me experience and wis...wisedom." he said. "Yeah, Wisedom." he was pretty sure that was right. "Oh, were ya letting me win? Guess I was holdin back too much." he teased, "Wanna see if ya can let me win if I go all out?" Not that he'd do that. He wanted her to get better, not die in the sand.

He wasn't always good at the trash talking. It was tiring in a way that fighting never was. Fighting made sense. However, with Iroia and Ruulu and meeting Nyx, he was getting better at the trash talk. He at least got it this time. He at least understood what sarcasm was, even if it took him a blink."Woo! Nyx gets a kick to the leg and goes down! Guess this geezers jaw ain't ready to break yet!" Did he do it?! Was that what he was supposed to do? This was fun but could he get to the mild hitting part yet?

Yes, apparently.

He gave her a bop on the shoulder. "Gonna take more than a few stupid people to take me down. Or an avalanche. Or a big ol' critter with teeth the size of yer arm!" he bragged smugly. "If it don't kill me, it makes me stronger, and give me some nice new boots..." he said. So how about that sparring? he was going to say, when...

Oh, right.

"Hey, remember a while back, when I first came through an' I had a little girl with me, comin' back to Jauhar? Volka? he pushed the kid forward a little "This is her little brother, Selvei."  

[DraconicFeline]

MissMisnomer

Selvei had lost the track of the 'conversation' early on. Mommy said things like that to Uncle Ruelash, and sometimes to Daddy, and sometimes to Auntie Kaa or Arron, but it was never like this. This was a lot scarier, like growling wild animals. Selvei was not sure what to make of it.

Suddenly, he was thrust out of the (maybe) safety of Ruelash's back into the shadow of the spiky lady. He looked up and up and up and up at her face. "Hi..." he managed shyly, his green eyes very wide, especially as he looked at the crystals on her head. She looked like Mommy, but the horns... "A... are you an Oban?" he asked, edging back towards Ruelash a little.  

[MissMisnomer]

Nyx assessed the boy from up above, the square of his shoulders, the placement of his feet. He didn’t carry himself with the same bold fearlessness as the Zenan, who if she figured correctly would be his…uncle? Yeah, that was probably right.

At the mention of Obans, her brow crinkled and she turned her head, spitting vehemently into the dirt, “No, I’m not one of those dirty sand rats.” Squatting down to get on eye level with the boy, she grinned proudly, tapping her crystal horns, “I’m pure Leaf, born and raised. Would a nasty Oban have ears like this?” At that she twitched her long pointed ears, poking the boy gently, but with purpose, on his chest, “Ears like yours? And judging from your skin and those big’ol green lady-killers of yours...you’ve got a fair portion of Tale in you too, dontcha’?”

She rested back on her haunches, holding her fist out for him with a grin, “So raise your head high and wipe the fear off your face Kiddo. You’re representing the best people in all of Tendaji!”

[3/10]

DraconicFeline

 

[DraconicFeline]

Selvei flinched and looked down, not even able to get out a sorry for his trouble. He struggled to hold back tears - his family didn't cry. He couldn't. He wouldn't. But when she came down to his level, he had to look, trying not to stare at her horns (which made her look like a monster.)

At this angle she was... less scary. He managed a tentative little smile and a giggle at her poke - Mommy did that all the time. It was familiar - she couldn't be that bad if she was doing that. Maybe she wasn't scary at all, but a friend? Maybe?

And smart too! "Wow!" he exclaimed, awed. She knew so much, and he hadn't even said anything about how he was a hybrid. It was obvious, even he knew that, but still - not as obvious as it was for Ruulu. He put his fist to hers tentatively.

"Are we really the best?!"  

[DraconicFeline]

MissMisnomer

"No, she ain't an Oban, Sel. She's completely different. Obans've got red eyes n red crystals. They're all red n' brown, inside and out." Ruelash snickered. He missed that war - that had been fun, all of those orderly armies getting torn apart by him and people like him. It'd been fun! Like a blender... ahh, the memories.

Though, to call them dirty sand rats wouldn't give them any credit. They'd been decent fighters. The Alkidike in that battle, though, they'd been something else. That had been fun too.
"I dunno about the best." Ruelash drawled, "Never been in a war with 'em - the Alkidike are some great fighters - real spirit in 'em!" he grinned, almost with pride. "His pop is half Alk - he's gonna get real big n' strong, ain't you Sel? Ain't you?" he poked the boy in the shoulder.

Suffice to say, Ruelash had surprisingly high hopes for his nephew/cousin... though honestly, he had a great deal of pride in the boy's sister, so he figured some of it must have rubbed off on Selvei. Thus was his logic. The kid was just in a weak phase... or something.  

[MissMisnomer]

Nyx was glad to see the kid was growing more comfortable; there’s nothing worse than a sensitive little butterfly that looks like they’ll burst into tears if you don’t handle them like a bloody glass vase. Those kinds of kids were boring and high maintenance. Hopefully this one wouldn’t turn out like that.

The earthling stuck her tongue out at Ruelash, squinting up at him, “The Best. Period.” She waved her hand dismissively, huffing dramatically, “Those giant bug ladies are only so good because they could barely wiggle their spears and swords around and they’d STILL be able to lop our heads off. It’s an unfair height advantage, if ya’ ask me. Shrink em’ down to our level and we’d see how well they fair, eh?”

She stood up again, propping her hands at her hips, “Is that why you brought the squirt here? To toughen him up a bit with some REAL warriors? I bet this cold-snap is your fault; ya brought the shite weather with you, dintcha’ Snowboy?”

[4/10]  

[DraconicFeline]

Selvei's dark eyes shone a little - half with excitement and half with fear. The best... Mommy was Leaf, and she was a warrior! She was definitely the best. If he was like her, then that would mean she would be proud of him, and he did want to make her proud. And then this leaf lady would be proud of him too, but she wasn't family so Selvei wasn't sure if that counted.

But at the same time...

It was scary! Being a warrior meant getting hurt - Mommy and Daddy got hurt a lot. They got better, but Selvei didn't want to get hurt. Not at all. He didn't want to lop off heads, or any of the things that she was saying about Alkidikes.

He looked up at Ruelash, frowning. "... is that why we're here?" Was he here to be a warrior?  

[DraconicFeline]

MissMisnomer

Ruelash

Ruelash smirked. "I'll believe it when they go an' cut me." he teased. Iroia was damn good, but, in all honesty, he hadn't fought many other pure leaf warriors. Aside from bandits, that was. Those were fun, but bandits were all the same whatever they were racewise, and thus didn't count.

"Can't lop heads off with a bow." he added. He wasn't going to argue the point that the Alkidike had their size in thier favor, because they definitely did. Also their antennae. Also the fact that they were women, and thus generally not s**t at everything. They had a couple of advantages, and they were a lot of fun to fight.

Ruelash showed his teeth in a bit of violent playfulness. "Ha! It's baking hot! You wish Bergchi would bless ya with some of 'er cool breath!" He certainly wished it. Often.

He looked down at Selvei as he tugged at his sleeve. "Huh? What?" Oh yeah, they were actually here for a reason. "Nah, he's some kinda mage or something. He does... spell things." Hell if Ruelash knew. Ruelash had one spell he could manage and that was about it. "Had to get 'im out of their home, though. It'll toughen him up a bit." Though, to be honest, Ruelash would rather be here with Selvei's sister. Now that girl had energy!  

[MissMisnomer]

Nyx puffed air through her lips and waved her hand, dismissing Ruelash’s ridiculous statement. It was cold. Plain and simple. Clouds in the sky meant no sunshine, and no sunshine meant things were weird in Tale. She hadn’t even sweated half her weight off yet, and they were through most of the day already. So yeah, it was cold.

But he was moving on, explaining what had brought the pair to the area. So the kid was gifted with magic? That was pretty cool; he seemed like the type. From what she’d experienced of their kind already, anyways; they had a tendency to want to hang back and stay out of encounters. But he wouldn’t always be able to avoid that.

The horned girl perched her fists at her hips. “Well then, they made the right call. Nothing will get ya used to pain quite like having to spend the day drowning in your shining personality.” She punched at his arm, addressing Eurig with a grin. “What do you say, Kiddo? Want to try spending some time with me instead? I could show you some moves, things even a mage should know?"

She crouched down, speaking in a whisper behind her hand. "We shorties gotta look out for each other. Plus this guy's got all the grace and temperament of a drunken aldabuk, am I right?" Nyx winked, sticking her tongue out playfully. Her whisper was anything but quiet, and meant more more dramatic effect than anything else.

[5/10]

DraconicFeline

 

[DraconicFeline]

Selvei hadn't realized that Ruelash knew about his magic. It was supposed to be a secret - for him and mama and maybe Arron.

But then again, he hadn't told Mama that it was a secret, and if she decided to tell his Uncle, then that was... probably all right. Right? She would never do anything wrong.

In any respect, even though Selvei thought that maybe meeting the horned lady was random chance, it was starting to look more and more like the purpose of the visit was really this - this horned lady, teaching him to fight. Selvei didn't like it. But what else could he say?

"Allright." he siad, looking from her to Ruelash and back to her with misgiving.  

[DraconicFeline]

MissMisnomer

"No..." Ruelash gave Selvei a baffled look, nudging him with a foot, "No, Sel, we ain't here for you to learn from some..." he turned now to grin toothily at Nyx, "This wet-behind-the-ears kid, here, who hasn't held herself a blade o' her own." He bet she hadn't stabbed anyone properly yet. She'd get around to it soon enough, but... pah!

He squinted in challenge at her - because she was challenging him a little, wasn't she? Nipping at him a little? It was fun, hanging around her. She really wasn't like the others. He hoped they'd get a spar in, either way. "If he learns how to fight, then it'll be from his Ma or from me."

As for the drunken Aldabuck... "Or from Direk, who'd rip yer tongue out with her horns if she heard you call her drunk." As far as Ruelash knew, she never took alcohol. He did, though -- it kept forever, and it felt great, showing that he could, indeed, care less about how everyone wanted him to behave.