[PRP Juahar] A New Breed {Kobina/Subira}

[PrinceFigment]

The young shifter had managed to leave his family's prying eyes, once again. Though, that didn't prove to be all that difficult, lately. His parents were quite busy training others for any sort of war that might ensue, be it another Alkidike conflict or the current strangeness. They would be certain that their people were prepared. Which was something that Kobina had absolutely no interest in.

Rather than duck between the leaves and branches, he had hurried down the thick trunks to the rocks below. Bright, curious eyes searched through the near-darkness of the forest floor, finding the brilliant glows far more pleasing than the sunlight above.

He dodged his way through the terrain with a practiced ease that may seem strange for one so young, but he had done this many a time. Pausing only briefly to observe a lethargic creature or a dimly lit plant, he hurried as far from the safety of the village as he could get, easily losing his way. His parents would send their hunters when they tired of his absence.  

[Heras Box]

PrinceFigment

Subira huffed as she continued to run through the roots f the towering trees. Her bow was in hand and an arrow at the ready. Mostly she was testing her accuracy while in motion. It needed some work and since her mothers were busy with her younger siblings and the tavern she had gone out on her own to practice. As she came closer to the X she'd marked in the trunk of one tree she brought her bow up to aim.

Almost.. She thought to herself as she pulled the string taunt. No-- Whoa! Subira lowered her bow and skidded to a halt as she noticed a random child. At first her instinct told her to look for her youngest siblings. Had they brought another little one out into the middle of no where? They were surely going to get into a lot of trouble if that were the case. But her pure black eyes didn't find any sign of Ujiri or Ika. So that meant that the parents were close behind or... the kid had wandered off.

Panting from her run and figuring there was no way she could fire an arrow in that direction with someone clearly there, she put the arrow away and slung the bow over her shoulder. The young alkidike moved out a bit farther into the open and looked at the kid, waiting to see the parents following behind.  

[PrinceFigment]

Heras Box

Picking up on the sound of footsteps, once they were close enough, the child hurried to hide himself, not wanting to be forced back to the village so soon. It typically took much longer for his parents to notice that he was missing than this. He usually had most of the day to himself. This was far too short of a venture for his liking.

As he started to step behind a tree, he caught sight of a very unusual creature. She looked a bit like him, but very much not. She was certainly not one of the forest inhabitants. He tensed a bit, shying back while still staying just visible enough to get a look at the person. Was this some trick? Did they send a stranger to look for him, this time?  

[Heras Box]

PrinceFigment

She noticed the way the child quickly hid, or tried to hide. Subira's eyes tracked him so she knew exactly where he was. Still, she stopped getting closer and simply watched for a moment. When it appeared that the child was just as curious about her as she was of him she crouched down. The alkidike wanted to make herself seem smaller so that she wouldn't frighten the poor thing. Even though she was young she was still quite tall compared to the earthlings.

After a moment of silence and staring she decided to speak, "Are you alright?" Subira figured that it would be best to figure out if the child was okay. "I won't hurt you, I promise." Just for good measure she wanted to make sure that he understood she was no threat.  

[PrinceFigment]

Heras Box

His eyes traveled over her, as she made herself more visible. There was no way she was one of his parents' friends. They wouldn't be stupid enough to let him see them, let alone give him a chance to further escape. She was doing both.

Usual, insatiable curiosity got the better of him, urging Kobina from his not-so-hidden hiding place and into a more full view. His overall dark appearance blended nicely into the shadows, though the glow from the plantlife around them made him much more visible, though it also helped him to discern a bit more of the person facing him.

The shifter crossed his arms in a very defiant, childish manner as she started to speak to him. "I'm not hurt."

There was something familiar in the pitch black eyes and the golden antennae, but he couldn't place it. Maybe it was something that he'd seen in his explorations, maybe something his parents had mentioned. Either way, he knew enough of animal postures to know she wasn't any sort of threat to him.  

[Heras Box]

PrinceFigment

As he came out a bit more so that she could see him more clearly she smiled. When he crossed his arms like a defiant child she practically grinned at him. Right now he reminded her of her little brother, Ujiri.

"Well that's good.You're not lost are you?" Subira thought she might want to ask that question as well. Just in case the kid needed to find his way back to where his parents were. While she might not know who they were she was sure she could find them if he directed her to where it was he lived. A landmark or something.

She took notice of the way he seemed to look her over and she looked at the ground in front of her, not that the pure color of her eyes would show it. "Are you afraid of Alkidikes?" Most people were. That or they hated them because of the Dretch taking people at random.  

[PrinceFigment]

Heras Box

He frowned lightly as he watched her, realizing that she wasn't in any sort of position to take him back to the village. She had no intention, so he was more alright with relaxing around her.

"I'm not lost," his tone was very sure, though he was far from certain where, exactly, he was. He'd lost track of things after a few circles through the forest. It was really much different from below, not that he minded. The more lost he was, the harder it would be to have his parents' friends retrieve him.

When she asked if he was afraid, it clicked. Those eyes and those antenna were what his parents had warned him about. They were the enemy his parents trained to fight against. Still, she didn't seem like much of a problem. He'd seen a lot of wild animals attacking each other, fighting for territory or food or just fighting to fight. She didn't look like any of them. If anything, she almost looked afraid, herself. With even more certainty in his tone, he puffed his cheeks out indignantly, "I'm not scared, either."  

[Heras Box]

PrinceFigment

So the child was unharmed and not lost. That meant he'd gotten away to explore. Subira chuckled and shook her head as she looked from the ground back to the boy. "I see, so how much have you explored?" To make a point of it she turned her head to the left and looked through the trees.

Her two younger siblings did the same thing. Almost all younglings did. It was understandable since it allowed them to test the boundaries and also learn about their world first hand. "I've lived here for a few years now and I love this part of the forest." It was the most relaxing out of all the other places she went to. Partly because the trees were more dense and people more scarce.  

[PrinceFigment]

Heras Box

He let out a huff, listening to all of her questions. She was almost worse than his parents, but she wasn't trying to drag him back home. At least there was that. Still, he was tired of answering.

"I explored enough." With that, he started back on his uncharted path, eyes darting here and there as he tried to find something interesting to get into. The girl seemed okay, but he didn't want to sit there while she tried to figure out everything about him. Of course, if she wanted to follow, he wasn't going to stop her.  

[Heras Box]

PrinceFigment

The boy sure liked to huff didn't he? Subira smiled to herself as she thought of her younger sister. Ika huffed a lot too when someone was holding her up. With Kobina starting to look around again she stayed where she was for the time being, simply watching him. There was a part of her that wanted to pick the child up and carry him back to his home but then there was the part of her that said she really didn't want her hair pulled.

As she debated with herself mentally he started to get farther and farther away. Finally Subira sighed and got to her feet again, shaking off the tingling she felt in her calves. With a prayer sent up to Aisha she turned and followed the little one. "I don't suppose I could convince you not to go any farther? I'm sure no one would want you to get hurt." She didn't even believe she could make the curious child stop so her words likely fell of deaf ears. "Maybe you'd like to go back toward town and we can get you some sweets?" That always worked on Ujiri; her youngest brother.  

[PrinceFigment]

Heras Box

"Not going back." He continued moving along, ducking through when there was an opening in the trees. The child was certainly not the best with directions, though, and in a few short moments had walked himself in a circle.

Frowning, he tried to look for another route, or something interesting to follow. There were plenty of creatures around the forest, but most were either a bit too dangerous or simply not willing to be tailed.

Kobina paused in his tracks, surveying the path ahead, behind, to both sides, but he couldn't quite find a way he hadn't gone. Or one that he had, really. He didn't care, typically, but when there were people following him, trying to drag him back to the village, he cared a little more.  

[Heras Box]

PrinceFigment

The child was very determined to not go back. Subira raised her gaze to the branches and half shook her head. Yep, he definitely reminded her of her own little siblings. Stubborn to a fault. Unless that was just how all younglings were in general. In which case Subira was really considering not having any kids of her own.

So she watched the child for a while more before taking a deep breath. It was clear that she wasn't going to get any training done. Not when she worried about the little one. "Well, alright then.." The Alkidike moved over to the boy and scooped him up, mindful of any flailing limbs if he started to thrash around. "You can come with me so I know you're not in danger." If he was agreeable then Subira would offer him a place on her back for a piggyback ride.  

[PrinceFigment]

Heras Box

He'd done this enough times to know that there was no use in swinging. Most people who were sent to get him were trained well enough to not be taken aback when he tried to squirm his way out. Instead, he crossed his arms and pouted. "Not going back."

There was no telling where the Alkidike was wanting to take him, but he definitely didn't have to tell her how to get back to his parents. They'd have their hands full with their students, anyway, so it wasn't as if he needed to go back, already. Just stay away from there until they sent someone after him, since it didn't seem like she'd been the one to come after him. As far as he was concerned, she was just keeping him from exploring.  

[Heras Box]

PrinceFigment

She looked at him again before shaking her head. "I'm not taking you back, but I can't just leave you out here by yourself." Subira didn't have it in her to leave a child alone with all the beasts that lurked about. Not to mention her mothers would knock her senseless.

Since it didn't look like she was going to have to deal with the boy fighting her she simply started to walk toward where it was she would be going to next. Her training would have to be put on hold for now but that didn't mean that she couldn't tend to her arrows and hopefully make a few more. "I don't suppose you know how to swim?" Where she was going there was a pond of sorts and if the kid said he couldn't swim then she would have to keep an eye on him there as well.