Strange visitors the winds bring (open to two)

[Nephilium]

Nephilium walked down the gang plank of a newly docked ship in the Scara Brae harbor. One of the human males she had studied over the relatively short sea voyage rushed past her, his lips white from compression and a hand over his stomach. Nephilium concluded that the male must be ‘sea sick’ again. The source of the illness no longer was a mystery, yet another mystery presented itself for Nephilium. Why did one person not become ill, while another did, spending the subsequent time leaning over the ships railing and expelling the contents of their stomach forcibly.

Placing the question aside for further study at a later date, Nephilium took note of her surroundings. The docks bustled with many people hurrying on various errands. A strong breeze blew past and Nephilium looked up into the sky noting the darkening clouds. Watching for a moment she calculated that she had perhaps two hours before rain would fall, during her contemplations someone bumped into her, just barely jostling her.

“Watch where you’re going you stupid, b b bit…” Nephilium look at the man, his angry, harried tirade stopping with a stutter as the reflective surface of the dome that was her face showed him his own image.

“Excuse me sir but I was not moving, therefore, I was not ‘going’ anywhere. Perhaps there is something wrong with your eyes?” Nephilium leaned in towards the man to study his slightly blood shot eyes. Blanching, the man backed up a few steps before turning and hurried away from her, almost running.

Nephilium sighed, a habit she picked up from the humans she had long studied. She noted that several people around were staring at her. Glancing down at her body she made sure that her jumpsuit was immaculate as always. The same soft grey material that always covered her perfected frame was as it always had been, Nephilium conclude that they were staring at her lack of a distinctive face.

When none of the normally customary questions about her face were forth coming Nephilium headed in towards the city to find a suitable establishment to pass the night in. She found herself in a market square, filled with humans and members of other races, it would be perfect for gathering information about the city itself and the location of a suitable tavern. Looking around she judged a woman selling pottery near by would be the most ideal to speak with.

“Excuse me mam, might I inquire where an Inn of decent quality can be located?” The woman looked Nephilium up and down. Her features tightening in a mix of annoyance and disgust at the interruption and the girl that stood before her in a dove grey jumpsuit that hugged very bit of her ripe form.

“Get away with you, you hussy. I don’t help the likes of you.” The woman spat at her, showing teeth that were beginning to decay and yellow. A stiff breeze blew through the square, tossing the white filament strands of Nephilium’s hair into the woman’s face. The woman batted at the metallic strands, one hand accidentally striking out at the dome of Nephilium’s face. A soft metallic note rang out from the strike, the sound betraying that the dome itself was hollow, betraying the fact that there was no true face under the shiny metal.

“Demon, be gone you demon whore!” The woman drew back from Nephilium. In her clumsiness, she tripped over a large pottery bowl behind her and went sprawling, shattering many of the pieces she was trying to sell.

[Seraphima]

I'm experimenting with something in this thread, seeing if it works out.

The staccato sound of wood prodding cobblestone should have been the first hint to people to be courteous to the person behind them and not stopping suddenly. At least...that was Seraphima's thoughts on the matter. She thought she was making enough noise for three people with her cane, but apparently not.

It's slightly frustrating that most people that can see are at least partially deaf, she thought, apologizing for the fifteenth time in as many minutes. It was unusually crowded in the streets today...boats must have come in. Maurizio, normally so adept at guiding them through the streets, couldn't even find a hole to squeeze them through, and so they had to shuffle along with the crowd.

She sighed, gripping her dog's harness a bit harder. Maurizio was a beautiful dog with thick, soft fur and a solid muscle structure. Every time she stroked her dog, she could feel the compact muscles under the skin -- the perfect proportions, and such a healthy dog. Sara was proud of how well she took care of her dog on her own. It wasn't easy to do everything independently, being blind as she was.

Up ahead she could hear a break in the noise, and she tapped her dog lightly with her cane. "That way, Maurz. We can wait out the crowd and then look for a job some more."

The dog wagged his tail and slowly guided them out of the main street and onto the other street, a not-much traversed street leading to the docks. Once she was out in the more open air, Sara breathed a sigh of relief. It was overwhelming in crowds -- so many sounds created, and so many blocked out. She was learning to accept being in crowds, but for now it still made her feel a little claustrophobic.

Sara was a rather attractive woman -- she knew this by feel. She had a soft and smooth complexion, slender hands, and a firm, slender figure. Her face was symmetrical (save for the bandage over her useless eyes, which she could never get entirely perfect), and her hair was soft and silky and fell almost to the middle of her back in big curls.

"Come on, Maurizio," she said to her dog, rapping the ground in front of her. At this cue, he led them on. It was a fairly quiet road. Maybe if someone is looking for a job I can take, I can get a job here, the blind woman thought. It wouldn't be too bad.

The sound of a woman shouting and pottery shattering caught the attention of both woman and dog, and Sara quickened her pace.

Demon?! She hadn't heard anything, and weren't demons dangerous? Maurz would never let her near one...but Maurz was hurrying along just as fast.

She got to the area where all the chaos was happening, but could not glean enough sensory data to know what was happening.

"What's going on here?" she asked, her sweet and clear voice rising a little above the panicked noises. "Is anyone hurt?"

[Nephilium]

Nephilium held out her hand to the woman, to assist her out of the shattered shards of crockery. As the offered hand was struck, Nephilium visually check the woman over for any wounds. Complaining loudly the woman climbed to her feet.

“Look at what you did, demon. My lively hood shattered, how am I suppose to make a living?” The woman screeched, her voice rising to tones that made the people gathering around winch.

“I am quite sorry mam, but I have done nothing. It was your lack of balance that led you to fall.” Nephilium bent, picked up a piece of a bowl and studied the material for a moment. “To recover your losses you might powder the broken pieces of the pottery to create new pieces. They were made out of simple clay.” Nephilium turned her head to look at the people gathering around, judging if a retreat was in order. A new voice speaking in clear tones rose over the murmuring of the gathered people and the angry, semi coherent words of the woman, capturing Nephilium's attention.

“A mishap occurred due to an imbalance. The woman’s shell was not damaged.” Nephilium looked to the unique person that seemed to be neither angry, afraid, nor on the verge of violence. A pretty young woman with a length of cloth around her eyes, just an inch shorter than herself, stood there.

[Hollis Brown]

Hollis let out a grumble as he reached down into his right front breast pocket to retrieve a poorly rolled cigarette, he had few left and little money to buy them let alone anything else that would be deemed a necessity. Again he let out another inaudible mumble under is breath as he struck a match and lit the tobacco product, this was a habit he had since he was the young boy of his teenage years. The unique smell of the burning tobacco and rice paper filled the air around him, a smell most unwelcome to some and soothing to others. He drew the smoke into his lungs, soothing him, ageing him, and surely but slowly killing him. If he was not killed by man or beast in the next twenty or thirty years this would undoubtedly do him in.

He scanned the market square unsure of what he was looking for if anything, perhaps if something caught his eye it might pry open his pocket but he was unwilling to spend his money, not until he needed something of real importance did he feel like starving.

People of all races and stature roamed through, looking, buying, and selling he observed what appeared to be a half man and half something unknown to him inspecting pots at a shop. The creature picked up one pot, looked it over then moved on to the next. He did this for a few minutes and moved on to the next shop, no sooner did this occur then a very strange looking woman appeared at the shop and asked the woman at the pottery stand a question. Hollis was to far away to hear what was asked but did hear the woman scream something about a demon whore.

Hollis burst into a fit of laughter. true the odd looking woman had on some very form fitting cloths that had not gone unnoticed by Hollis but there was nothing there that reminded him of the "women of easy virtue" he had met in his days. This "demon whore" showed far to less skin and was far to clean to obtain that title in Hollis’s eyes. The laughter quickly turned into a coughing hacking fit as it went on. Years of beating his lungs with smoke had taken its tole.

Has he regained the ability to breathe without coughing, hacking or wheezing another woman appeared on the scene, she had a very well kept dog. Kept in the manner that speaks of the love the owner had for the animal, the friendship they had, and the undoubtable bond. The woman herself was attractive, but something caught his attention. The bandage over her eyes was very odd. This arose more then one question in Hollis's mind.

He drew another deep breath of smoke into his lungs has the bandaged woman spoke and asked if anyone was hurt. From this distance he could hear little so he decided to take a few steps closer to get a better listen. Has he drew closer he could hear the shop keeper and the strange woman discussing some transaction that he must have missed from his distance

[Seraphima]

Shell? What a curious manner of speech.

Sara made her way forward, and the people in front of her moved from her path (so hard to tell if it was just three or if it was three dozen, for they'd gone almost silent). Her cane tapped the ground more heavily than before, as each step was more measured...she didn't want to come right up and into a bunch of pottery shards.

The woman who had spoken had had a nice voice...very pretty...more melodious and precise than any Sara had ever heard. It also sounded like it had a slight reverberation to it, as though there was an empty space the words had to pass through before they could be spoken. It was all very curious.

"It's good that no one was injured here." She turned to the woman. "Please, it does no good to blame. Humans aren't the only race in Scara Brae, and perhaps she startled you, but that is no reason to call her a demon. I'm sure demons pass through here all the time, and maybe Angels, too...as well as Elves and Dwarves and all the other races. Maybe she's the first of her kind to come."

Her long-winded reasoning completed, Sara smiled, just a slight upward curl of the thin pink lips. "It's always scary, meeting someone or something new...but if you're too afraid of the unknown, you wouldn't be able to step foot out of the door in the morning."

That thought gave her a pause. It IS scary to go out...I don't know if I could if not for Maurz...

While she was thinking, her head turned to the strange woman, and she opened her mouth to speak, but the stench of tobacco smoke, bitter and cloying, caught in her nose and mouth, and she started coughing.

It only lasted a moment, though, and she straightened back up, still strained slightly to breathe through the smell of the smoke. "I'm Seraphima, and my dog is Maurizio."

[Nephilium]

Nephilium spent a moment studying the canine that stood beside the woman, the fact that humans and other species kept animals of lower intelligence with them intrigued her. What was the point of retaining a creature of lower intelligence, it was unable to converse or perform tasks. Shaking off her thoughts she focused on her surroundings, now was not a time to analyze why humans did what they did.

“Fear of something unknown is a logical reaction. It occurs in all living species, mammals in particular have evolved a heightened sense of the fight or flight reaction. I am a prototype for the Bol’el alpha one. At last count there were three thousand and eight of the Bol’el type, currently I am the only one on this world.”

The woman stood there, her face a mixture of anger and embarrassment until she caught sight of Nephilium turning back to her. She huffed in annoyance and looked away.

“I don’t know of any Bol’el types or any of the other rot. You just keep away from me, that mask of yours don’t scare me. Now get, I have enough work cut out for myself. I have to salvage what I can.” The woman turned away and knelt, picking up the shattered pottery and placing them in a basket. Nephilium watched her for a moment, her sensitive ears picking up the woman’s muttered words.

“Eh, perhaps I can hire some girl to do the powdering for me, these hands aren’t as young as they use to be.”

Using the limited mobility she had in the filaments that made up her hair, she shifted the loosened stands back over her shoulder and kept the mass there. They easily resisted the pull and tug of the wind as they wound around one another and locked into place. A grey wisp of smoke drifted by and while she possessed no means to take in a scent Nephilium judged it moderately acidic. She followed the winds trajectory and located a man, standing nearby. A concoction of dried plants compressed into a small cylinder burned in his hand.

Nephilium added another thought to the list of things she must study. Why was it most races, humans in particular, ingested materials that were obviously hazardous to them? Formalities a directive, Nephilium bowed slightly to the young woman.

“I am designated as Nephilium, a pleasure to meet you and your animal companion.”

[Hollis Brown]

Hollis walked at a slow lumbering pace, each step seeming to take an eternity, and each seeming to take longer than the last. From his current distance he still couldn’t hear the targeted conversation. Only the garble of the crowds around him. People talking about one thing or another. Has he neared the two women and the pottery stand he heard the first audible words.

"I'm Seraphima, and my dog is Maurizio."

He had no idea what was said before this but could only assume that all the hubbub that was prevalent only a few minutes before had died down and was done with. Hollis stopped his lumbering walk and gazed at the pair. Listening intently so he would be able to hear. If anyone had any sense to them they could clearly see that Hollis was snooping, the complete lack of movement, the obvious starring, and the peculiar look on his face.

“Eh, perhaps I can hire some girl to do the powdering for me, these hands aren’t as young as they use to be.”

The shop keeper spoke. It was obvious that the event was over, but Hollis's curiosity wasn’t. He was still intent on ease dropping on this conversation. A rather rude action but then again Hollis wasn’t a very classy man. He drew in another puff of his cigarette and continued to listen.

The next thing that filled his ears was the introduction from the woman, although strange she still appeared to be. Her name was Nephilium. A odd name but then again so was every other name he heard in these towns.

His interest did not fade and he stood unwavering in anticipation for what was next to be said. Rather silly he thought, this was an ordinary situation but it seemed to have his undivided attention. Maybe it was the total lack of anything he had going on, maybe not, who knows.

[Seraphima]

"Nephilium? That's a nice sort of a name."

Sara smiled warmly. "I've never heard of Bol'el before...but there are many things I do not know."

She was about to continue when she felt her throat begin to constrict.

There it was again, that smell, acrid and cloying. It was smoke, but not from a fire. Wood smoke somehow always smelled refreshing, a type of smoke that heralded warmth on her cheeks and laughter in her ears.

This was cloying and acrid, carrying on it the scent of death. But then there was no smell, just the feeling of choking as she tried to breathe and couldn't. It was around her, all around her, she knew it, drowning her, invading her, stabbing through her lungs. It would kill her.

"Maurz..." she gasped once, desperately, before descending back into a fit of coughing and choking.

The dog understood at once, and immediately Sara felt the tug on the strap she held in her hand as the dog led her away from the deadly smoke and into clearer air.

Not too far upwind of it was a little bench, and when Maurizio had brought Sara up alongside it he nudged her to sit down. She coughed for a few more minutes, until her lungs were cleared.

The dog hadn't stopped looking at her thoughout, intent upon his mistress' face and her well-being. Even after she had ceased coughing, there was a slight wheeze to her breath, indicating the strain she had been put through.

He nudged her hand softly as her breath returned to her and whined softly. Her response was to scratch his head to reassure him.

"I'm all right now, Maurz."

[Nephilium]

Nephilium stared at Seraphima, observing as the young woman was racked by harsh coughs. The convulsions of the muscles involved in the hash cough must be a bit painful, Nephilium decided. At a signal from her, her companion, Maruz, led her away. Nephilium stood her ground for a moment, watching the young woman then looking over to the man with the burning cylinder of noxious plants.

“Hey. De, ah, girl, are you going to stand here forever? You’re obstructing my business. Besides that young lady that helped you looks to need help of her own now. Be polite and offer to help.” Nephilium slowly turned to the woman, she found herself at a loss as how to reply to the scathing tone. Human discourtesy was something to learn how to respond to, Nephilium judged.

Nephilium nodded once, an affirmative to the older woman. She strode towards the man that had given in to natural human curiosity and moved closer to listen in on what was happening.

“Sir, I must request that for the moment you extinguish the cylinder you hold. Some peoples systems can not tolerate the acidic smoke it expels.” Nephilium refrained from extinguishing the slowly smoldering cylinder her self. She bypassed the man and headed for the young woman. She knelt in front of her, dismissing the looks that her animal companion was giving her.

“May I offer my assistance? I must inform you that I have limited knowledge as to how the human body is structured.”

[Hollis Brown]

The woman with the bandaged eyes began to cough, and appeared to have trouble breathing. Hollis wondered what could the problem be, he smelt nothing out of the usual, nothing that would give way to such an episode. The idea that it could have been the very cigarette he was smoking never even crossed his mind. It wasn’t something he thought about anymore, he was so used to it and forgot that some people, most people infact are repulsed by it.

The girl moved away and found comfort on a bench, the bench itself wasn’t to far away so what ever could have caused the problem would still be in the immediate area, He failed to see how she could be fine in one spot and another a few feet away she was struggling to breath. He also failed to notice that she was now upwind and would have explained the situation.

hmmm wonder whats up

He spoke to himself loud enough for anyone standing next to him to hear.

The strange looking woman began to approach him. He wondered what was going on. Had she realized that he was ease dropping and was coming to voice her disapproval, was she merely walking past him? The woman stopped in front of Hollis. She asked him to put out his cigarette. The thought finally connected for Hollis, it was his cigarette that had caused the fit for the other young woman, not some other outside source, it was him.

umm.. sorry

He mumbled. He tossed the burning cigarette to the floor, red ambers shot up has it bounced off the surface below his feet. He smashed the burning tobacco into the ground with his boot. Hollis looked up with an embarrassed look on his face. He was not used to being around people who didn’t enjoy the smell or taste of the plant and forgot how to conduct himself around those type of people.

Hollis walked up to the young woman who had been coughing a few minutes before.

im sorry about that

He said still with the embarrassed look upon his face.

[Seraphima]

Sara heard Nephilium as the Bol'el came and knelt before her. Instead of the easy rustling that most beings sounded like when they moved, her sounds were much softer and much more abrupt, like a machine i good repair.

She asked if she could help, musical voice ringing hollowly before it came to her. Sara shook her head.

"I'm fine now. Maurz got me out of the area before it got too bad." She smiled at her dog, petting him. "I'd be lost without him."

A man approached the trio. She knew it was a man for the heavy footsteps and the swagger they fell in. Maurizio's head turned beneath her hand, to look at the new comer, but apparently not all was well, for the normally docile creature let a low growl rumble from his throat.

"Maurz..." Sara's tone was stern, but it only softened the growl.

As the man got close, she could tell why her dog was growling. The smoke scent that had sent her into a fit hung thickly about the man as though he were merely a solidified version of the smoke.

He made an apology, and Sara nodded. "It's all right...you couldn't have known if someone else would have a bad reaction to the smoke."

[Nephilium]

Nephilium silently watched the interactions of the young woman with her companion as she resumed standing. It intrigued Nephilium that only a word was needed to restrain the animal’s aggressive vocalizations.

“Admirable training. What methods were used?”

Nephilium moved slightly to her right to bring the man into clear view. Splitting her attention she mentally began categorizing features of the people, tracking the most likely history based on her database.

The man seemed to indicate nothing more than pure human, if any breeding deviations had occurred in his ancestors if was of a time frame so far back that breeding had wiped out any traces of other races. The woman on the other hand seemed a little different. Her pale coloring indicated that there may have been a race other than human in her background but with out more information Nephilium was left to speculate. The cloth the woman wore to cover her eyes also add to Nephilium’s incomplete assessment.

“Excuse me, Sara. What is the reason you wear that cloth around your face. Is it for a religious or aesthetic purpose?" Another option occurred to Nephilium, one that she knew might be taken in a bad manner given typical human reactions. She decided that hesitation and curiosity would be the best actions to gain a favorable reply.

“Or, is it to hide a, physical deformity?” Nephilium lowered the volume she used, speaking just loud enough for Sara to hear her.

[Taskmienster]

This thread has been sitting for a full year. Since no response has been made to create activity I am going to be moving this. If you would like it to be reopened please feel free to PM myself or another admin and they will be able to move it for you back to Scara Brae.

[Lye]

exp and gp added