"I'll never understand why some parents name their children what they do..."
Ayla looks up from the fire, her eyes strange when they catch the moonlight.
"Some are named after what they are, or what they are expected to do. Names can tell you a lot about someone, sometimes more than is wise.""How is everyone liking their time her on the island?"
"Except for the titanic lizards attacking us, it's been.. enjoyable?"
It takes all of his self-control, not to draw his blade and plunge it right between the strange man's jaw and throat, and watching him bleed his life away. Or calling on his dark powers to blast the flesh from his bones. Instad he smiles, a bit shakily, and replys to the girl Alyn, Or your parents could have wanted a girl instead of a boy, he he....he. His voice dies out.
He shakes it off, nothing he hasn't heard before, but why did you want to kill him so much? he hears from his inner voice .
"Well, I don't think a career in tourist guide here is wise, but it does have a certain...charm, he he.
"So far the island has been preferable to the cities I have been in. The people have been...refreshing in their honesty." Dao says looking over at Selyne, arms covered in blood tossing meat to be smoked.
The conversations seems to totally pass Selyne, who goes about fashioning skewers and such for people to eat their meal. She blinks at Dao,
"The land is what it is. So far I have seen more dangerous creatures thrown from the Sky Canoes than the animals whith which I live." It is the flat and neutral tone she uses that makes the others realize she still classes them along with the others that have been cast away here. Her glance holds no recriminations however, she simply sees who is ready to eat which portion.
At her waist, the whip wrapped about her hips seems to move within the shadows of the fireside.
Reonnyn, after smelling the cooked meats, realized he hadn't eaten right since he got marooned on this rock. Of that his stmach left no doubt. He eagerly grabs a double portion and wolfs it down without saying a word.
"I agree with you about the animals on this island. They can be really nice, and many are very caring for their young. They aren't mean or vicious because they want to be, they just want to live like they always have. From hatchling to adult, the instinct to live is strong."
"I think you saw the Rexes and smaller carnivores running in one direction earlier today, right? Well, some fool took one of the Rexes eggs, and they were only trying to get it back. Once they had their young one back, and left without any trouble. No person would have stopped once they had their child back, they would have wanted blood..."
The man takes one of the smaller portions, savoring the smell and eating slowly.
Reonnyn lets out a loud belch after wolfing down his portion. (one of the advantages of his dark powers was the ability to digest even half cooked food without getting sick).
He looks over at the stunning figure who prepared dinner, and says, "That was a compliment, by the way!".
Continuing on to the unnamed man, he replies, "Dunno about you but I am fine if I never see those things again, thank you very much."
The new Half-ling lets out a loud belch after wolfing down his portion. He looks over at the stunning figure who prepared dinner, and says, "That was a compliment, by the way!".
Selyne simply glances at Reonnyn blankly, as if not understanding what a compliment is. She adds,
"This land is their land, even the lakes are home to creatures such as Bobo." She smiles absently then she looks to the still unnamed man at the fire side and frowns in thought at this fellow,
"You evaded a question before." She notes quietly to the still unnamed man between bites. "I am Selyne and you are...?" She lets her restated question hang as she eats, not looking at the source of her inquiry, seeming far more interested in eating her fill.
As she sits by the fire side the group can see she eats as she lives, quickly, efficiently, not wanting to waste any more effort than she has too to get the 'job' done.
"It seems I have found a perceptive group! If you need to know my name to trust me, or just to identify me, you may call me Bo. Everyone else does, after they meet me." He looks up at the night sky and sighs. "The sky is so different from the ground. The stars are especially bright tonight, and so is the moon."
Selyne keeps her gaze more upon the practical matters of cooking and eating at the moment, rather than looking at twinkles above the trees.
A calm seems to have fallen on the forest, as if all the animals have stopped moving to look at the sky. A soft breeze causes the fire to flare momentarily, sending sparks higher into the air. The man whispers something, takes a deep breath, and blows into the fire. Shapes begin to form in the fire, most of them are the various animals that live on this vast island, but some are of the prisoners of times past and present. The man speaks as the fire forms the figure of a woman, a wicked smile on her face.
"This woman will make it down from the moutains tommorrow, and then she will start killing this beautiful paradise. My question is, would you stop her if you could? Fighting her up close is dangerous, but so is trying to fight her from afar. She is the worst kind of person that could have been put on this island.. a blighter."
Int check
Reonnyn stares at the vision, transfixed. Blighter? The word meant nothing to him.
"Hm. I can see by the expressions on your faces you either know little or nothing about the danger this lady represents. She is one who has turned her back on nature, an evil druid who decided killing nature was better than protecting it. She draws her magic from the death of plant life, and will do so as long as she is alive and there is enough on the island to support her needs. If she kills all the vegetation, the plant-eaters on this island will starve and die. If the plant-eaters die, so will their predators. If that happens, she will turn this island into a barren wasteland. If all the plants and animals die, you will have no food, and she will try to kill you at any chance she can get!"
The man glares at the fire, rage mixing with sadness in his eyes.
"Why do some turn away from their path if they have the chance?"
Listening to the man's words Selyne continues to chew her meat and bush veggies thoughtfully.
"So...she has just become the lands top predator...?" She asks simply.
"Even if this thing you say comes to pass, what will this unnamed woman do next? Dive into the ocean and kill all of the sea weed? This land takes as much life from the ocean as the land. So she destroys all the plants? How will she stop the rivers flowing? Will she stop the fungus from eating the dead trees? From death, there is always life. Even from seemingly total death of a great forest tree, something emerges to claim the open space within the forest." Selyne's says her words slowly, as she tries to think her way around the implications of what the man has said to the way in which she understands the world to work.
Reonnyn listens to the pretty speeches given by the strange Nameless Man and the native woman and is not impressed. He knows where this is heading, but he decides to play along, nevertheless. His reaction to her suggests something else was going on here.
"Hmmm, sounds like you have a personal grudge with her. You, uhh. don't happen to know her from somewhere, do ya?"
"Yes, but not in any way you could imagine."
The lady in the fire fades away as he continues.
"What Selyne said is, in a way, correct. She cannot stop the rivers from flowing, the wind from blowing. But she is dirupting nature, in one way or another. But after she kills something, what is to stop her from lighting it on fire? She no longer has any respect for the natural world, and will kill it all. Obad-Hai, the god of Nature, cannot even interfere more than he already has."
"Selyne, what about Bobo? When the prey dies, he will starve, and starvation is a horrible way to die. If not for the island, will you take her down for him? She may be a "top predator", but she is more like a rabid monster than any animal you know."
"She does not kill for food, or safety. She kills and destroys for pleasure. She destroys because she can. She must be stopped before more suffer unnecessarily."
Selyne raises an eyebrow at Dao's comment.
"Um, and she is different from some of the others that have been tossed away here?" She sighs.
"This is an idea for thinking about after sleep." She stands and stretches. "I am going to wash."
"The nearest amount of water for us too do so is that way.." She points into the darkness, before scooping up one of the remaining leaf wrapped bundles of meat and sauntering off. Before disappearing into the dusk she looks over a shoulder.
"I have spare soap." She adds before continuing her slow walk.
Reonnyn, torn between two desires, one is to get clean (he hdn't had a decent bath in weeks), anf the other to stay as far away from the native woman as far as humanly possible. Crap, she sounds less than excited about this, but she did mention soap. That blighter chick sounds more friendly, he he.
He sighs to himself, Gods I hate this place.
"Wait up, I could use a bath, any, uhh, private place over there?
"Wait up, I could use a bath, any, uhh, private place over there?
Selyne deftly pulls a small round cake of soap from one of the pouches attached to the netting wrapped about her form. Tossing both it and one of the meat packets to the Half-ling.
At his use of the word 'private' she just looks blankly at him as they continue to walk towards the nearby
"The meat is to distract whatever lives in or near by the water." She explains simply. "Why fight and have to kill again when you can simply distract the creature and get time to yourself?" She adds practically.
"Smell? All you giants smell the same to me. When I'm dirty I just do this." Jimpy casts Prestidigitation and the dirt and smell sloughs off him like water off a platypus' back.
Reonnyn shoots Jimpy a black look and mutters something to himself, the only thing you hear clearly is the word 'showoff'
Dao quietly joins Selyne making her way through the brush after the tall half elf. "Yes, a bath would be a welcome pleasure."
Hey what the heck is this doing here, bumped my head on this...thread?? whats a thread doing out here in the middle of nowhere??
Ayla walks to were Selyne is bathing, careful to keep her distance in case Selyne wanted to be alone. Everyone is close enough together to hear her though.
"I'm going to scout the surrounding forest, to make sure we're not to close to any nests. Bo was still next to the fire when I came out here, but keep your guard up. Something about him..." She trails off, looking back at the light of the cook fire. After a moment, she shakes her head and leaves, dashing off into the forest.
Ayla walks to were Selyne is bathing, careful to keep her distance in case Selyne wanted to be alone. Everyone is close enough together to hear her though.
"I'm going to scout the surrounding forest, to make sure we're not to close to any nests. Bo was still next to the fire when I came out here, but keep your guard up. Something about him..." She trails off, looking back at the light of the cook fire. After a moment, she shakes her head and leaves, dashing off into the forest.
Selyne stands mid thigh deep in the water, using some soap and reeds to wash the blood from her hands and fore arms. She looks about carefully as Ayla scoots away, wondering if something spooked the other woman.
Reonnyn pulls out a wand, thinking Glad I snagged this from that good fer nuttin' sea-priest, 'fore I got here. Nows a good time ta see if I can use it, he he.
Once that experiment is a success, he turns his attention to find a private spot to wash...
Stripping down to only her amulet and ring, Dao takes great pleasure in washing the sweat and grime of the island off of her body, the briskness of the river's water reminding her of her mornings at the monastary. To any observing it is clear that the little woman's tight frame is canvas for quite a few scars.
After a minute or two, a howl rises far in the distance as the forest falls silent around. Moments later the sounds of a forest at night return, seeming even louder than before.
You manage to find a spot that allows for privacy.
Reonnyn takes off this clothing, mindful of the warning Selyn has given. He tosses the meat on the other sde to distract predators, and seeing the place still undisturbed, jumps in for a relaxing dip...
AHHH, that's cold!!! Why did they not tell me this would be so cold...I'm gonna find her and tell her...Hey what's that noise? Crap, this is really getting old, grrrr. Will I be doing this all my life?
He finishes soaping off, very quickly and dries off as best he can, then puts on his clothing. In record time...for a halfling.
Dao's skin breaks out into gooseflesh as she witnnesses the strange occurrence. Shaking off an involuntary shiver she shares a look with the amazonian native.
Selyne
"Did you know there were shapechangers here on the island?"
Selyne turns at Dao's question. Finishing with wiping the soap and suds from her arms, she wades closer to the other woman, not bothering to hide anything from any one else.
"No, then again the other woman could have been employing magic to aid her."
Selyne begins to unfasten the items holding the net around her figure with nonchalant ease.
You manage to get a very good look at her shape before she vanishes into the undergrowth. Moonlight has never been more useful.
Dao shakes her head quietly then be gins liberally soaping the body.
"She will bear watching closely,"she says to Selyne,
Selyne strips out of her 'netting' folding it and all its accessories carefully upon the shore, though her whip stays wrapped around her arm and waist somehow, while a dagger is sheathed upon one shapely calf. Taking a small round disc of soap, Selyne follows Dao's actions.
"If she can turn into such animals, I do hope she gives us more warning. I am liable to attack strange creatures first more than try and talk to them." She tries her best to describe the type of animal that Alya turned into.
"Though, truth be told, it seems far less an intimidating beast than the one that Tsu calls a companion." Selyne confides in Dao before looking at the other woman seriously.
"Watching more closely than who?" She asks.
Dao smiles at the confused look on Selyne's face. "More closely than we were watching her before."
"Ooh! Did someone turn into an animal? I turned into a oxcart once! Well it wasn't really an oxcart, but I did pull a desk from Shelton to Culver City! Though I'm not sure why I did that."
Reonnyn rejoins the group after his all-too-brief bath, unnerved by the sounds he heard (and by the women, as well).
"Hey, what's this about a wolf changer here?" He thinks for a moment, and exclaims, "Crap, a werewolf? You saw a werewolf? Where?"
Selyne just blinks at Dao looking to Jimpy and Reonnyn as they come splashing closer.
"Yes, the Elf woman seems to have more tricks about her. What is this 'Werewolf' thing you speak of, Reonnyn?" She continues to clean away the days sweat and grime, "Are they good eating?" She adds pragmatically.