Summer Solitude [Open]

[Reyshi Nylecoj]

Reyshi sighed as she leaned against a tree in the orchard. It was time to collect the last spring fruits and the early summer ones, but she was not supposed to be doing it. It had just been a few weeks since her stay at the hospital thanks to that lunatic, and she had not fully recovered from her wounds. Bandages were wound around her arms and her feet still ached from the long trudge to and from the village to the graveyard, and she was often tired more easily than others. Still she had returned to training as soon as she left the infirmary and was steadily gaining control of her power, but still did not feel at ease. Always feeling like someone was watching her she had become more secluded from everyone else and had snapped at her healers, refusing to let them touch her or for some kind stranger to lend her a hand.

Reaching out a hand she wrapped her fingers around a few ripe berries and pulled them off of the bush, tossing them in their new home that was her basket. It was quiet at the moment, eerily so, but she was grateful of the solitude. Even if a monster ate her then and there for not bringing a hunter she would be content, and maybe get to try out using her power in a fight. “Son of a…” She mumbled, thinking back to her fight with the Boogieman. She had told no one so far, hadn’t even thought of it, but knew that she might have to sooner or later. Secrets, however, were one of her strong suits. Unless push came to shove she would tell no one—her own way of spitting Hexus—and instead popped a berry into her mouth to staunch her thoughts.

The summer heat made picking fruit a tedious and uncomfortable job for her, and her black baggy clothes were not helping her. Sun beat down on her from the cracks in the leaves, and the humidity coupled with the occasional wind made her want to quit her job. She sat down against the trunk of a tree and took shelter in its shade, protected from the wind by the wood. Wiping her forehead she checked if her dagger was in its holster before trying to run a hand through her tangled lavender hair. Taking a deep breath she ungloved her hand and rubbed the skin free of sweat that had accumulated and closed her eyes.

Placing her hand against the wood she felt the all too familiar sensation of her power taking over involuntarily. A flurry of sight and sound hit her from all sides, her sight twisted like a toy kaleidoscope or as if she was a fly. Everything was the tree’s shadow touched was visible for her even if it was in her blind spot, all sounds were amplified and distorted so they were nearly unbearable from the smallest bird chirp to the monstrous roar of a creature far away. Focusing with great difficulty she toned down the sounds and tried to focus the images so they created a clear image, but it came out fuzzy and scrambled. Better than last time. She thought as she tried harder.

[Destati Moretti]

Why did it have to be so hot? A few planks had begun to rot shortly after a rain shower, and since it wasn't expected to rain any time soon, Des thought it wise to fix it while she had the chance. Unfortunately, that meant working in the sweltering heat. It was times like this that made the young woman wish for about five seconds that she could swim. She had no plans to do such a thing, so Destati settled with keeping a small breeze going around the village the heat was a bit more bearable. However, this took a lot of her attention, so the only flying she could manage was simple hovering. In fact, that was what she was practicing at the moment, trying to strengthen her powers. She'd been at it since the weather turned hot and she'd taken to fanning the village during the heat of the day. So far, she could hover down as much as she wanted, but she could barely hover upward at all. She could only get a few inches off the ground, and that slowed the breeze in the village.

Deciding to stop practice for the day, she sat on the edge of the platform, her legs dangling down and swinging to some unheard beat. From her vantage point on the platforms, she could just barely spot a shape down in the orchard. She didn't have the eye-sight of Hayyel, so she was unable to identify the figure. Just to be safe, Des darted to her bed and grabbed Sciopero and her quiver from where she kept them, hanging above her pillow. As soon as she had them situated, she summoned up an orb of wind and floated down as silently as she could manage.

Alighting in a nearby tree, Destati realized it was one of the Children harvesting. But why was she alone? Though she hadn't spoke to the girl often, she'd seen her about the village. Hadn't she been injured recently, though? Curious, Des sat crossed-legged on her branch to watch her work. After she didn't see anyone else appear, she decided to take up guarding the other girl.

As she leaned against the tree, Destati blinked in wonder. What was going on now? Reyshi seemed to be concentrating intently on something. The wood worker certainly didn't want to be the one to interrupt her. So, she watched from her perch a few yards away, keeping her thoughts to herself.

[Reyshi Nylecoj]

Images shifted as she attempted to concentrate, some becoming blurry while others shined so brightly that they were blinding. It was always frustrating trying to get everything to look like the real images, and she was often staring at dizzying shadows of the things she wanted. The images shifted in clarity once more as she attempted to focus and find the right amount of power to utilize in each, to pull away from useless information and focus on a single thing. This would be useful if she ever needed to watch someone, but that situation would most likely never come about since she shied away from the village’s dealings.

As she heard the amplified sound of leaves rustling in a nearby tree where her tree’s shadow fell she hastily opened her eyes and yanked her hand away from the trunk. Scanning the area she made like she didn’t notice the stranger at first, but eventually her eyes remained studying the other tree. Having no clue what was in it she slipped her glove back on, uncaring towards the splinters gained, and picked up a fruit in her basket. Although it would be a dumb move she tossed it into the tree where she thought she had heard the leaves rustling and hoped that she would hit her target.

Standing up she grabbed her dagger and held it in her hand as the fruit hit a branch and harmlessly thudded down onto the ground. It rolled and jumped over the dirt and halted in between the two girls, asking to be picked up and eaten. Reyshi glanced down at it, then her fruit basket. Would it be alright for her to leave it there and waste all that food? Certainly she shouldn’t waste the food that could go to feeding people in the village, but was it worth her life? No, she decided. Cautiously Reyshi moved towards the platforms and stayed alert for any monsters close by.

OCC: Sorry for the late reply. I was working on an application to another site.

[Destati Moretti]

Okay, so that hadn't gone as she'd planned. Apparently Des wasn't as stealthy as she thought. The other girl had thrown a fruit and pulled a knife. For a moment, Des was tempted to shoot the fruit through with an arrow, but that might cause the other girl to attack, thinking she was some mutant animal or something. If someone was surprised enough, it was easy to attack without looking first. Instead, she watched it hit the ground and roll back toward the girl. To Destati's surprise, the girl left it and starting moving away from her and back toward the village.

Without another thought, Des swirled air around herself and jumped from her branch. The wind slowed her down so she landed with a soft thump. She reached down and grabbed the fruit, giving the other girl a crooked smile. "Did I startle you? Sorry. I saw someone out here alone, so I came to check it out," she explained taking aim and tossing the fruit toward Reyshi. She hadn't throw it far enough, so she sent a quick burst of wind to force it back up so Reyshi could actually catch it. Truth be told, if it weren't for her control over wind, Destati would have horrible aim.

Her thoughts wandered for a moment. How had Reyshi known she was there, anyway? The leaves had moved a bit, but not enough to alert someone. Des was pretty sure Hayyel was the only villager with super-hearing. Logically, there had to be some other way of sensing, but Destati had no clue what it could be. It was probably something obvious. So obvious it was right in front of her face, but she still couldn't see it. 'If it were a snake, it would've bitten you,' as the phrase goes.

((I really have no excuse for the wait for this post other than the fact my muse died. I would have posted yesterday with my other posts, but I ran out of time.))

[Reyshi Nylecoj]

Turning quickly as the leaves rustled from movement in the tree she’d been watching Reyshi held her dagger defensively as a girl appeared. A tall blue eyed brunette the first thing that struck her about the girl was that she had not landed with as much noise that was to be expected from that height, so her power must have had something to do with air or possibly the earth. She’d seen this girl around sometimes working on the platforms, but Reyshi had never truly paid attention to her. Why bother? A wood worker wasn’t all that interesting to her—even those that were good looking.

Glancing at the bow and quivers the girl carried on her back Reyshi watched as she tossed the apple casually towards her. It wouldn’t reach and she wasn’t going to run and catch it, so she preoccupied herself by backtracking towards her basket and retrieving it. Her purple eyes never left her companion and she watched as the apple unnaturally changed course towards her. Startled Reyshi side stepped so the apple would fall to the ground and bruise, and did not bother picking it up as she turned towards Destati. The apple didn’t look any different from the other ones so it certainly wasn’t a magical holy fruit, and that only left one explanation as to why it had moved: Destati must have used her power.

The question was what was her power? It certainly wasn’t fire, shadows, light, or water. It was either an earth or air based power. Shaking her head she focused on her current company and contemplated what to reply. Reyshi looked Destati up and down once more, as if sizing the girl up, and replied rudely in a slightly hostile tone, “I don’t need to be babysat.” Who was this girl who thought she could just skulk in a tree and watch over her as if she was an infant that needed protection? Sure she wasn’t that good at fighting, but Reyshi had never liked being watched without her knowledge. It made her uneasy to think that she could have been attacked and killed, and she didn’t want someone else to realize that they could have.

“You didn’t need to come.”

OCC: D= Darn muse!