Rats and Rabbits and All Sorts of Things [Open]

[Lyrt]

Rilcha sat on the floor of his tent, a rat perched atop his head and a few stale slices of bread clutched tightly in his fist. The boy was filthy, mud caked in his ragged pile of hair from where he had crawled in it to acquire his new friend. He hardly minded it, the second skin was comforting and smelled far better than the bathing oils he had been subjected to over the past year. It was a mystery, why did people have to smell?! It hardly meant anything, why did people act like the way one smelled was such an important topic?

Humming a gentle tune he had heard someone play once long ago he slipped down onto his belly, the rodent friend crawling onto his neck for a better perch. A small piece of the bread was offered to the pointy nosed fiend, and it accepted it with much fanfare, holding it tightly between it's grubby little paws as it nibbled away to squeaks of approval.

It was all peaceful, the boy entranced by his new little friend with it's soft little whiskers and beady small eyes. He liked the sheep better though, and the rabbits, especially the rabbits. Those were his favorite, he had never seen anything like that in Teirm. When he had found out that people had the gall to eat such wonderful things war had been declared on the cooks, and piles of mud and worms were found in their beds every night.

Suddenly a loud yowl broke the silence and a mangy cat stalked in, it's tail raised up and flicking side to side like a pendulum. Instantly the rat froze up, sharp little nails digging into the back of his neck as it prepared to flee for the inevitable chase. Rilcha was faster though, he had already taken off out of the tent with a yelp as the cat ran after him with eyes for the juicy snack nestled to his neck. "N-nae!" he yelped as he ran in circles around the tent in an effort to loose the frightful pursuer, oblivious to all but his own terror.

[Nayeli]

’introducing
{tasia anna georgios*}
featuring--! --! ---! ---!
I don't know if you can see
The changes that have come over me
In these last few days I've been afraid
That I might drift away
I've been telling old stories, singing songs
That make me think about where I've come from
That's the reason why I seem
So far away today

For a year, the riders had to deal with the human children and make sure they were taught like any of child of that city. These humans however were taught in the classes of elven children who were much younger. The elves were immortal, so they did not have to go to school until they were 20 years old or so, some came sooner though. As I walked around the tent city that the riders now lived within’, I pushed back a strand of black hair that had come into my face. My body wore normal wear. A black strip of fabric went around my torso and covered my breast easily and my stomach showed how tone I kept my body. At my waist was the same color skirt, but it was many strands of fabric that allowed my body easy movement over the land.

With my mind open to everything around me, it was easy to pick out the young boy known as Rilcha. As I made my way over towards his tent, I was surprised to feel his sudden calmness changes to panic and sprinted towards the tent. As I slowed, I watched him run past me, holding a rat and being chased by a cat. I chuckled and as they came around again, I grabbed the cat and him at the same time. ”Calm yourself Rilcha…”

[/color] I said before looking at the cat. My words changed into my native tongue and I spoke to the cat easily. ”Go now, find another rat to feast upon.”[/color] As I calmly placed the cat down, it licked it’s lips and ran off to find another rat. It was then that the scent of the young boy plagued my nostrils and I looked down at him.

”I know you are not fond of bathing, Rilcha, but since this land is unknown even to the riders, you need to stay as clean as possible… I do not know what sickness lurk in this land that can hurt you and if you are dirty, it will hurt you more.”[/color] Somewhere near, I felt the earth shake. One good thing, the children’s tents were close to the main tent and the main field where the dragons slept, rested, and landed. As I stood there, the golden dragon that was mine came and looked at the child with large yellow eyes. ”Yes, I can smell the child from here, my sister.”[/color]
[/blockquote][/blockquote]

Now I have moved and I've kept on moving
Proved the points that I needed proving
Lost the friends that I needed losing
Found others on the way
I have kissed the fellas and left them crying
Stolen dreams, yes, there's no denying
I have traveled hard, sometimes with conscience flying
Somewhere with the wind

’word count 0.404
’tagged Rilcha Winter
’song Caledonia--! Celtic Woman
’post status done or undone
’template creator nayeli

[/size]

[Lyrt]

With each time his feet slammed into the ground Rilcha took in a deep breath, hurrying away from the pursuing cat as quickly as he could until a hand grabbed his collar and he screeched to a stop, panting heavily. He had been breathing rather quickly, mind racing and in a battle against his rapidly beating heart. The cat though had not caught either him or his newly acquired friend, and for that he was thankful.

”Calm yourself Rilcha…”

He nodded his head and continued doing what he had been in the first place, pulling the fat rat down from his neck and stroking it gently. After a few moments he had become so engrossed that he had not even noticed the cruel cat had been sent on it's way. Recently he had come to the conclusion that he did not like most cats very much, they scared away far too many of his friends and scratched him when he stroked their bellies and felt their tails. Those things fascinated him, so long and floppy yet they were so lively moving in all sorts of directions.

”I know you are not fond of bathing, Rilcha, but since this land is unknown even to the riders, you need to stay as clean as possible… I do not know what sickness lurk in this land that can hurt you and if you are dirty, it will hurt you more.”

It took Rilcha a good long moment to even notice that he was being addressed by the elder, the boy engrossed in his own thoughts and the rat. Yet, once he had finally ran the woman's words though his mind they did not please him in the slightest, nor did it make any sense to him. He kicked at the ground under his feet, sending a small cloud onto Tasia's leg to prove his point. "Dirt not hurtin'..." Slowly the bright green pools rose and met the elder's searching for any sign of pain just to be sure.

"Hurt?" the boy asked just to be sure, his hand raising up and gently stroking the dragon's snout before attempting to plug it up with his fingers. It of course was unsuccessful, but a good try none the less. Some nasal fluid had stuck to his fingers and he simply wiped it on the woman's side, not liking the feeling of it on his fingers very much. "...Nae...no warsh..."

[Nayeli]

’introducing
{sunglow*}
featuring--! tasia anne georgios! ---! ---!

As my rider sent the feline away, I landed close to the tent. Luckily, the tent of the children were close to our field. This was a good thing since they needed to learn all about the dragons if they were to become riders. As I stood strong over the tent, it had been my job to watch over the children, but as soon as everything was settled more, it would be my job to make sure they all bathed. Letting out a breath of warm air, I watched from above and observed everything that was happening both around the tent and around the land. With my mind open like I had been taught, I could hear the soldiers arguing about something stupid. Such simple minded creatures they were, but for some reason, they were needed. The true-king, Turin, had brought them when they fled from the mad-woman, Nayeli.

Turning my large golden eye upon the child as he seemed to comfort the simple-minded rodent. One day, maybe, he would have more than just a rodent as his companion, but a large dragon as his brother or sister. It was such a blessing on young elves, but a young human child? That was something that we were all wanting to see. How would this effect the humans? Elves were already blessed with their long lives, would this new pact lengthen the life of a human as well? If so… How long would these human’s live? So many questions that came to mind…

As my sister spoke to the child, she glanced up at me. ”He will not like this.”

[/color] It seemed like I smiled at the elf below me. Already, my mind was spinning on ideas that would make this child get a bath. ”Dirt not hurtin'..." Looking at him, with both just seemed to shake out head. As he kicked the dust towards Tasia, I let out a small growl. My voice could be heard even though my lips did not move like that of an elf or human. ”It is not hurting now, child… But it can make you sick and cause death to come upon you…”[/color] With my head now lowered towards the ground to be even with my sister’s body, the boy put his hand up towards me before going for my nose, which I allowed him to do.

The child held a simple mind, one that I could only hope would expand. ”Nae...no warsh...” Tasia let out a sigh and shook her head. ”Yes… Wash… And your English lessons must not be going good.”[/color] Unfortunately, the child needed to learn better speech before we could continue to the elven language. Glancing at me, I smiled and lifted my head and went over the child, grabbing him by the back his clothing and lifting him into the air. ”Time for a bath.”[/color] It was really the only way to handle this child. ”And I promise, no smell good stuff.”[/color] I chuckled deeply in my chest and we walked towards the bathing tent.[/blockquote][/blockquote]

’word count zero. zero. zero.
’tagged Rilcha
’song nothing--! no one
’post status done
’template creator nayeli

[/size]

[Lyrt]

Rilcha bent his head and gently kissed the rat's head, turning away from the elder two as he did. He was happy, he didn't want to bathe, and he didn't have to if he ran fast enough. The boy was most certainly able to outrun most people a majority of the time when he really wished to, and this was without a doubt a time that fit the criteria.

”Yes… Wash… And your English lessons must not be going good.”

He started to fiddle with his hair idly as he listened, gaze focused on on the rat as he mulled over the words in his mind. "...Well...nawt well" the boy corrected the elder, his shoulders tensing as if expecting to be slapped for his little bit of cheek. It had already been a year, yet some old habits seemed to have not faded away, while new ones were not yet in place.

Unfortunately the retaliation was worse than he feared, jowls gripping the back of his collar and lifting him up like a pup, leaving him little time to run as he was dragged to the bathing tents. "NAE! GREGOREE! GREGOREE! SAHVEEN!!" the child screamed, kicking his legs as he started to strike out at the arm that held him, his rat friend slipping down into his shirt for safety. The boy was not happy, and he made it clear as he screamed every bit of profanity he could pull from the corners of his mind, cracked lips trembling as he reached near tears. It was only a bath to other people, but to him it was hellish.

[Nayeli]

’introducing
{tasia anne georgios*}
featuring--! sunglow! ---! ---!

Watching the young boy kiss the rat, I couldn’t help but smile at him. The rat probably needed to be cleaned too, but I would do that after getting him into the bath himself. As I looked up at my sister, Sunglow, I couldn’t help but find this situation funny. One of our future riders was scared of a cat and he had a pet rat. ”Well, he is an original, Tasia.”

[/color] This was very much on the true side and that was someone I had come to enjoy about Rilcha. As I mentioned his English lessons, his words shot back at me and I gave him a scolding look. ”Well...nawt well." Okay, well… At least he was learning something, right? I chuckled and looked up at Sunglow as she reached over and picked the child up.

As he started to thrash around, I merely chuckled and turned to lead the way to the bath house. ”NAE! GREGOREE! GREGOREE! SAHVEEN!!" It was always like this. Why? I was not sure, but it was. As we got to the bath house, I asked the other elves to move and open the tent as wide as possible. With the help of a few other elven women, we stripped down his clothes. As the rat curled up in one of the pieces of cloth, I spoke to it in the ancient language. ”Calm down my small friend. You can trust me.”[/color] As the ancient language rolled off my tongue, the rat calmed and I instructed one of the other elves to clean it as well.

As the water was warmed in the wood tub, I turned to my sister. ”Alright Sunglow, drop him in!”[/color] Snaking her head into the tent, she lifted him high enough to let him fall straight into the water and I stood over the edge. With the help of a few other elves, who were told to only us non-scented soap, we washed the boy and his new pet. ”Now Rilcha, if you promise not to get dirty again, I won’t wash you until next week, but you can’t get to dirty.”[/color] It was the only way to even attempt to keep him somewhat clean and I had to try. [/blockquote][/blockquote]

’word count zero. zero. zero.
’tagged Rilcha
’song nothing--! no one
’post status done
’template creator nayeli

[/size]

[Lyrt]

Rilcha continued his little tantrum as he was stripped down, weakly clawing about at the many people who tried to soothe him as they tore off his reeking garments. It was rather pathetic how large his pupils soon became as his breathing became labored. Working himself into a corner over something so small, one of the Elven women clicked her tongue in obvious disapproval at the lack of proper decorum, yet with a year having passed it was unlikely she had not heard rumors of it.

He liked it when there was the human women better, they cooed and stroked his hair, even gave him little sweets when he sat still long enough to get off the top layer of dirt. The Elves felt no such obligation to gain his approval in the matter, seeming to find his reaction to being bathed fiendish and juvenile of which he was most certainly both.

Once he had been dropped in the steaming bath the cries subsided to soft whimpers, too tired to thrash about in the water. Instead he grudgingly accepted his fate, making it clear though with a few snaps of his jaws and gnashing of his teeth that he was still not very pleased nor completely docile.

”Now Rilcha, if you promise not to get dirty again, I won’t wash you until next week, but you can’t get to dirty.”

This was an interesting proposal...one that made little sense, was he to suffer sitting still a whole week and the next, and the next to avoid the bathing hell? The nice layer of dirt came from him enjoying himself, what reason was there to avoid it if he would be miserable. On the other hand without the fear of dirtying himself he could properly look for a good place to hide when Tasia came about looking to bathe him. Somewhere with worms and spiders, girls hated worms and spiders, and he could place them in Sunglow's nose and see what came of it. Would he sneeze? Could he stick his tongue in there and get it out? Was he like a bird? Did he eat worms? Were worms bread? Birds ate bread, birds ate worms, and with that thought he decided to forsake eating bread. Sweets were likely to be fine though, birds didn't eat sweet rolls or cakes...he was sure of it.

"...Nae..." he replied after a few moments of thought, his arms gently wrapped around his ratty little rodent friend, the two both released from their bathing captors and clean. "Nae..." the boy repeated as he ran out of the tent as bare as the day he was born, sprinting through the camp to escape the woman. "NAE!!!"' he screamed behind himself one last time, wet curls plastered to his head.

Note: I am having way too much fun with this...[/i][/size]

[Amur]

If Savan had to pick just one word to sum-up his experiences over the past year-or-so, he would have to have said that the word "overwhelming" was the best one he could come up with. He had met more people than he had ever thought possible, and experienced new things he had never known had even existed that it had all simply been too much for him had he had, had no idea how to react to any of what he had seen or experienced.

If there was just one positive that he had to say had been drawn from all of this, however, it was that ever since his first bath way back when this had all started Savan had actually come to quite dislike the feeling of being dirty and had rapidly come to the conclusion that he actually liked taking time to himself simply to bathe... Not that he had said as much to anyone else, his compatriots hardly needed to know what he had come to like, such information was hardly likely to help them in any kind of situation.

Nevertheless, for every positive that Savan had been able to draw from his time spent among his still relatively new compatriots, there were a large number of either confusing experiences or outright negative experiences to counter-act that. Not that, that actually bothered him all that much, his existence wasn't worth all that much, he was so used to the negatives of life that he had largely become desensitised to them. After all, that was the one major advantage of being worthless even to his own birth-parents, life had to try harder to put him down than it did for anyone else. And that was the simple truth of it.

He sat in his tent simply staring down at his signet ring as he gently used his index finger to push it up against his thumb and then twist it ever so slightly as he sat reflecting on his recent life... Which had become another negative of his life that he had come to dislike, with no wars to fight, Savan had found himself with unusual amounts of free time between his tutelage. Which in its own way had just been one big maelstrom in of itself.

Upon learning that he was illiterate his superiors had added to the list of things that they were supposed to be teaching him. He had tried to protest that, he was a soldier, he had no need to read or write for any given reason. But they had vehemently insisted that reading and writing were skills that he needed to learn. Which, had rapidly put an end to any further protests that Savan had planned to put forward, they had as good as ordered him to learn, and so he would follow those orders.

And then there were the clothes they now had him wearing. They felt far too thin for his liking. While he had to admit that it was actually quite nice to be wearing clothes that actually fit him properly, that feeling was constantly mitigated by the very uncomfortable feeling of nakedness that these same clothes gave him. He had brought that up with one of his superiors, however, he had been assured that he "would get used to it" and subsequently dismissed. While he had yet to "get used to it" they had allowed him to keep his sword and his shield, a fact for which he was very grateful for, it had been for that reason alone that Savan had not complained about how vulnerable these clothes made him feel, as long as he had his sword close-by, he could feel just that little bit more comfortable, regardless.

He took his gaze away from his ring just long enough to glance at the sword resting across his crossed legs, as if to confirm that it was still there before absently turning his attention back to the ring on his thumb.

Savan's thoughts turned onto subject of the people he had met so far, of his compatriots, he couldn't say much. They all seemed to live fairly easy lives, but, there were always those who were oddly fascinated by him solely because he was not native to this land. At first, they had tried to ask him all kinds of questions, many of which he had been unable to answer and had instead told them to look out for Lord Kaime or Lord Morona in order to have their questions answered. However, by far the most interesting question had been cantered around his name, plenty of people had asked him the meaning behind his name. And as that was the one question that he had been able to answer accurately he had given them their request with a very simply answer.

"My name, 'Savan', in my native tongue means Sieben , and in the common-tongue of this land it means seven."
Many of those asking questions had looked shocked, while others had looked disgusted by the meaning of his name. He was unperturbed by their shock and their disgust, he had been named accordingly, and that was all he had said to them on the matter before walking away and leaving them with whatever questions they may have had thereafter.

He sighed audibly, looking up from his ring to the entrance of his tent. Undoubtedly he had woken up early, again. While the floor was the kind of bed he was used to, it was the quietness of this place that had unnerved Savan and made finding sleep difficult. Back when he had been among the armies of Warlord Sol, there had been so much noise, that it had made sleeping easy, but here there was just too much silence for him to be comfortable with.

Picking his sword up as he stood Savan decided that he would go for a walk, with so much time to himself, he had started to find the monotonous and time-consuming task of walking to allow him to really just focus on something else other than the silence he now found himself surrounded by. It didn't always work, but he was grateful when it did.

Leaving his tent, Savan decided on walking in the one direction he really knew well. He had almost gotten lost once, and that had not been well received by his superiors. After that he had decided to stick to walking in the directions he knew, why his superiors had insisted on treating him like a child, he would never know, he was a soldier.

He had only spent a short while walking before he heard a shout and noticed a face he recognised running in his direction. Rilcha, one of Savan's compatriots. He was a hard one to understand, and each and every time Savan spoke to him, he was only just about to get the gist of what he was saying.

Wait, why was Rilcha naked? Savan blinked, his bewilderment obvious. Of course, it was nothing he hadn't seen before, but out it was odd.

"Rilcha, was sie sind-"
It took him several seconds to remember that his compatriots couldn't understand Nirvanian-Common.

"W-what are you doing?"
He attempted to question his compatriot, he already knew that there was no chance of attack from Rilcha, which was why he had kept his sword firmly in its sheath. In fact, this wasn't even unusual behaviour from him. It was likely that he had been forced to take a bath again, judging by the past results of such events... He still found it unusual that anyone could hate getting cleaned so much, then again, Rilcha seemed to be the kind that enjoyed rolling around in filth... Ever the difficult one to understand, he was.

[Nayeli]

’introducing
{sunglow*}
featuring--! tasia anne georgios! ---! ---!

I watched from outside the tent, my eyes focused on the opening in the tent as I watched the human child being bathed. It was beyond pathetic to see one squirm around so much. Maybe the child would be picked by an egg and the hatchling would not allow the child to come near him or her without the child having a proper bath. It was possible. Would the child ever grow out of this stage? If he didn’t, he would get nowhere in this world would he? My sister did not seemed bothered by my thoughts as she stood off at the side before being pulled over by one of the elven woman and helped pick out the clothes the boy would need to be put in. Watching through her mind I noticed the clothing was a dark brown, a color that would hid the mud stains at least for a little while. It was wool and held long sleeves too. Maybe that would keep the boy from getting too dirty. And the paints were the same, long and wool… Shoes were given to Tasia as well, but as she turned, the child was darting out of the tent and pass me. Yelling at the two of us after my sister’s proposal.

”Oh, that crazy child! I must cloth you first!”

[/color] With words that came out in the ancient language, most the humans merely looked at her. Shaking her head, she looked up at me and I smiled. Lifting my head, I watched as the boy ran towards the tents of the children. ”Can you fly ahead? I have a feeling we might need to do this all over again.”[/color] Lifting myself onto all my feet, I was soon in the air with an easy flick of my wings and a jump. Yellow eyes landed on the boy and Tasia ran after him as un-human like speeds. As I looked towards the tents, I watched as the boy ran straight into another child that Leilani had found. ”My sister, Savan is with him, you should be able to catch him now.”[/color] I flanked towards the landing fields and soon, was to where I could walk towards them.

Tasia was there when I arrived, smiling at the older boy. ”Rilcha, you must be clothed and don’t make me have Sunglow pick you up again.”[/color] I lowered my body and looked down at the child, my front feet crossed over at the joints. ”Good morning Savan. I hope you slept well.”[/color] Already, she had managed to put the shirt on the boy and easily pulled his pants up and the shoes. At least he was no longer naked and maybe he would stay clearer with the newer clothing. ”I hope you grow out of this stage child… I doubt a dragon, if you are picked to become a rider, will enjoy this.”[/color]
[/blockquote][/blockquote]

’word count zero. zero. zero.
’tagged Rilcha
’song nothing--! no one
’post status done
’template creator nayeli

[/size]

[Lyrt]

Rilcha scrambled madly through the camp, his emerald eyes wide with an odd mix of fear and excitement. Running was quite the large amount of fun but the stakes that was bound to be following after him was rather heavy for his tastes, not that he had not been in worse situations in the past. It was rather curious how a year of living in pampered glory could relax a person, it almost felt like another life that he had scrapped for food in piles of waste and fought rats for the last crumb of moldy bread.

"Sah!"

He skidded to a stop at the sight of the familiar boy zipping past his sights and changed course, darting towards him and lifting up his cloak to hide under. It was good that the boy was tall, he made the perfect stumbling block for any pursuers and his stoic face made people generally stay away. "Shhh..." he wrapped an arm around his waist and stayed quiet and still, hoping that he was safe for the moment from the bathing horror.

Yet it was not so, Tasia by his side in moments to dress him up in the stiff stuffy clothes. With a soft squeak he complied, holding up one arm, and then slowly unhooking the other from Savan's waist so she could pull the shirt over his head. Grudgingly he did the same with the pants, and then the horrible pinching shoes, at least happy that he didn't have to wear those scratchy underclothes.

Sullenly he set his rat up on Savan's shoulder and glanced back at the woman and the dragon, his arms encircling the older boy once again for comfort. "...Are mums like you?" The words were quiet and spoken softly, the child taking care to pronounce them together and use proper grammar. He could speak rather well after a year of being immersed in a place where everyone did, but it always felt odd and formal on his tongue and he disliked it greatly.

[Amur]

And everything seemed to unfold far too rapidly for Savan to be able to keep up, first Rilcha ran past him, then stopped and ran back to him and hid beneath his cloak and wrapped his arm around Savan's waist, telling him to be quiet as he did this. What did he think this would accomplish? Did his compatriot not know just how ineffectual hiding beneath one's cloak was? He was about to voice his confusion to his compatriot when another face that Savan recognised seemed to just suddenly appear shortly after Rilcha. He blinked up at Tasia as she gave him an odd verbal expression. Savan allowed his bewilderment to show, even as Rilcha was taken from his hiding place bit-by-bit from beneath Savan's cloak and dressed.

"Not that I see the meaning behind such an expression, ma'am, but I suppose I slept as well as can be expected while dressed in clothes that are far too thin for my liking."
He replied rather flatly, taking a moment to use his arms to shake his cloak firmly once, in order to make it sit on his shoulders just that little bit more comfortably. In fact, he still wasn't used to any of the expressions that most of the people around here used in everyday talk. It had gotten to the point where Savan actively tried to avoid conversing with people too much since they often ended up confusing him with some of their expressions. And while Savan acknowledged his very limited worth in life, he didn't want to come across as a clueless individual.

He cast a quick glance at the rat that Rilcha set on his shoulder, and ignored it. Back in his, and his compatriots quarters around the fortress of Warlord Sol, rats were often crawling all over the place. And more often than not, he, and his compatriots had been forced to use them as a source of sustenance when Mother-Lilith revoked their food privileges for any number of days. What he could not ignore, however, was the gesture of affection -or was it comfort?- that Rilcha offered him by wrapping his arms around Savan. This was a gesture that Savan still didn't understand, so the best he could do was stand rigid and confused as Rilcha took whatever comfort he wanted from the contact. He cast a bewildered look at Rilcha as the contact continued and his compatriot turned his attention back to Tasia without breaking the contact.

And then he asked a question that only further perplexed Savan. Well, he could definitely say that Mother-Lilith was nowhere near as soft as Tasia was being with Rilcha, even when she seemed to be getting impatient with him. And his birth-mother? Well, Savan had never known her. She hadn't loved him enough to actually keep him, so it wasn't really a topic that Savan had ever really discussed with anyone. He shook his head gently.

"Mother-Lilith certainly wasn't so soft. Even when she was calm."
He offered uncertainly.