Something About us...Something About this Place...

[Genkai]

Kanowa glanced to Casey as he leaned over and muttered something to her. She flushed slightly at his small comment and then looked back at the elders across from them. Of course when she was rambling, Casey nudged her to stop. She frowned slightly and simply rolled her eyes a bit. Now it seemed like he wanted to play along with whole ordeal. Great. Kanowa cleared her throat and simply nodded as a young busty girl came in to their aid. How typical, a woman to serve them. Kanowa held her tongue and simple snorted when Casey mentioned a cheeseburger. "As if..." She muttered under her breathe. If there were myths about tears making a whole river, she doubted they knew what a cheeseburger was. She seated and allowed the girls to serve them, she didn't really pay mind to them.

She smiled slightly when they were done, "Thank you." She then picked up a strawberry and ate it. It was different than the ones in the city. These tasted so fresh and untouched. "Mmm!" She looked up when the man cleared his throat. She picked up her wine and sipped it. She caught Casey's look and glared a bit. It seemed like she would have to do the talking and it also seemed like giving them the story that they were two strangers from New York, wouldn't go over well. "We uh..." She fidgeted and could feel a lot of eyes watching her. "Well um we...uh...my friend and I are from a...different land...y-yeah." She set her drink down and almost spilled it. It was likely best to leave out the technology of the internet and cars. Kanowa sighed deeply, trying to calm her nerves. "We were um...we're here to..." She trailed off.

What was she supposed to say? She had no idea. She had no idea where they were or any of their traditions. Sure, she was creative but she couldn't just make up a lie that might be thrown back in their face. "Casey and I have come here to...to help this land." That was all she could think of. "And...uh...the rest, we cannot say. I'm sorry. I do hope you understand. But our...it's not our place to say but I do promise our intentions are very good. I personally would love to talk to Talimay a little more...hear about the myths and stories that this land has to offer..." She said, changing the subject. Kanowa glanced down and ate some cheese, followed by some bread. Lying about her gender was one thing but lying about her origin was rather hard. She looked to the elders as they muttered amongst themselves and nodded.

"You two can stay here as long as you wish. We can have a banquet tonight to celebrate the Lost Ones' arrival."

More food! Kanowa smiled and bowed her head. Hopefully things would work out. "Thank you kindly." She said and sipped her drink and smiled. It seemed like things were getting back on track. Sort of. Kanowa slowly got to her feet. "If you'll excuse me..." She said and turned and hurried out. She looked around and wondered what Talimay could have run off to. She felt utterly lost, despite the small village. She walked around and saw a few kids staring at her. She looked down at her male's school uniform and sneakers. She wondered if she should find something less suspicious to wear. About to give up and go back to Casey, she heard someone call out her name. Or part of it. She turned and saw Talimay hurrying to her. "Oh hey there, I was looking for you..."

"Really?" She seemed rather happy. "Our village could use your help! Those pests, those flying goblins have been messing with our housing and crops, we need you and Casey to help us."

"W-what?" Kanowa sighed. "I um...I don't think we'll be much help..." Kanowa tried to explain, now regretting having found Talimay.

[tirgesfu]

Oh great, Casey thought. The kids leaves me alone with these guys. He smiled and kept eating as they whispered to each other. Casey couldn’t hear all of it but he got the idea some were saying they were the ones they were waiting for and others were saying they were not. Casey couldn’t decide which part would be better to play. If he told them they were wrong, they might put them in jail or toss them out into the wild with the thing that screeched. If he pretended they were right then they might have some sort of sacrifice or make them do something there was no way they could.

So Casey just kept eating. And although the food seemed pretty simple, strawberries and bread, it was good. Finally one of the old guys turned toward Casey and asked, “Our prophecies tell of a man and woman, how is it you are here as two young males?”

Casey couldn’t quite understand the question. “I was born a male?” He shrugged. “I am not sure I know what to say. I don’t know of your prophecies.”

The same man looked him over closely and then asked, “What are your skills?”

Casey pretended there was more food in his mouth then there really was. Skills? Think, think. If he says he is a musician what will they think? For some reason Casey didn’t believe that was the skills they were looking for. But if he lied and they tested him, then what?

Casey swallowed hard, “Ah, I have yet to, um, well really define my skills.” He looked at the old men and could tell by their eyes they did not really like that answer. “I, um, got high marks in school.” The men shifted uncomfortably. “I play lots of instruments.”

Some of the elder’s eyes opened wide in pleasant surprise. “A musician?’ the same old man asked.Casey nodded. A few smiled. “And the other? What are his skills?”

Casey looked around and thought about how he should answer. “Um, ah, I’m not sure. He is a student. He swim well?” A few whispered between themselves excitedly. “I think you should ask him.” Casey added quickly. He was beginning to get a just a bit nervous. In the back of his mind he was still sure he would wake up, or someone would jump out and say it’s all a joke.

“Maybe I should go find him.” Casey stood up slowly.

The old man snapped his fingers and a young boy ran out. “Stay with Casey. Show him around the village and keep him comfortable.,” the man paused and turned toward Casey, “Rest. We will have an honored celebration tonight. We will tell your our story and provide a place to stay.”

“Thank you.” Feeling sort of strange Casey bowed and then followed the boy outside.

[Genkai]

"Don't be so bashful." Talimay said easily. "Now where is the other...." Her voice trailed off as she saw Casey exiting the elders' home. "Oh there he is. You two should rest now. You'll need your energy for tonight and for vanishing the-"

"Okay okay, enough of that talk. Heh." Kanowa said quickly and hurried over to Casey. "Hey..."

Talimay joined them soon. "There's a small home we've prepared for you two." She said. The boy nodded and led Casey and Kanowa to a small hut. It had two beds and a basin of water, as well as table with two chairs. Clearly it needed cleaning or something but Kanowa wasn't about to complain or anything so she walked over and sat on the bed. It creaked and she jumped up. Was it safe? "Don't worry, just rest." Talimay laughed and left the two alone. Kanowa slowly sat back on the bed and folded her arms. This sucked.

"We have been given such a wonderful task...we get to go play exterminator to those flying whatevers." She told Casey and laid down and remained still, just in case the bed decided she was too fat for it. She let out a soft sigh and looked up at the ceiling. Suddenly she really missed home. She missed heating and blankets and frozen foods and the internet. She looked under the bed and sat a spider curling up on the blanket. "Ahh spider!" She jumped off the bed and looked to Casey. Despite her facade, she did not like spiders. They irk'ed her. "Can we switch beds or...can you kill that thing?" Kanowa asked Casey. Luckily it wasn't too cold so she wasn't about to use the blanket that the spider had contaminated. It was warm outside, like summer almost. But summers in the city were hardly this pleasant.

She remained standing where she could keep her eye on the little pest. If you asked her, spiders and nasty bugs needed to be dealt with before anything else could happen. Kanowa looked to Casey, she knew they were still pretty much strangers but it was clear that they weren't going home anytime soon. And now had to deal with the mess they somehow made for themselves. That meant, they needed to get to know each other if their journey was going to be bearable. She could hear people outside around them, going about their day and happily talking about her and Casey. She caught people surprised that it was two men instead of a man and and woman. Kanowa shook her head and wondered if everyone around her was an idiot of sorts. "I don't think I can even sleep but it would be nice if I could..." She sighed, mostly to herself.

[tirgesfu]

Casey smiled. “What you don’t like spiders?” He shook his head, leaned over bed, and picked the eight legged arachnids up. “Guess I won’t tell the elders that’s your talent.” Casey didn’t kill the thing he just opened the door and tossed it outside.

“Hey, listen,” he turned back around. “We need to figure out what to do here. Just to make sure, you didn’t piss some really bad dude off or anything did you? I mean this isn’t revenge directed at you for anything is it? Because I am new to the city and don’t know many people at all so if this is a joke or some mean trick it is not directed at me.”

He went to Kan’s bed and looked around for more spiders. Casey spread his hand over the blanket checking. “And if this is like really happening, we have to get our stories straight.” He rubbed his hands up and down. Quickly he turned to his bed and did the same. “Do we tell them we are clueless or do we pretend we know what they are talking about?” He opened his hands to show Kan there were no more spiders.

“Those old guys want to know our skills.” Casey rolled his eyes. “And you say they want us to do what? Like we are in some movie and have to kill something? Unreal.” He flopped onto his bed the one that had the displaced spider. “We have to meet with them tonight.” He looked over to Kan and smiled, “Do we want to play the heroes or the unwilling victims?”

[Genkai]

"Why would someone like them would be a better question..." Kanowa muttered and kept an eye out for anything thiny and creeping. "Oh shut up..." She sighed when Casey started to talk about about her pissing anyone off. "Hey! You're not being very fair ya know...what makes you think I have any idea what's going on, huh?" She glared. "This is partly your fault, I'll have you know...if you didn't make me do all the talking, maybe you'd have a better clue..." She folded her arms. She knew it wasn't good to already start fighting with one another but she couldn't help but get defensive.

Kanowa glanced off and stared at the wall. "....It might easier to pretend that we got a clue...I mean, they might not like it if we try to tell them the truth. Besides, isn't everyone happier when they're being fed lies?" She asked quietly. "We're in this situation, we'll figure a way out." She slowly walked back over to her bed when casey was done making sure there weren't any more creepies crawling around. Then again, if she trusted his insepection and there was a spider hiding around, she would never forgive him. Kanowa sat down and curled her legs up and hugged them to her chest.

She flinched when she saw another spider near Casey. "This place is creepy!" She groaned. "I saw, we try to help and try to go someplace else...someplace not so...infested." Kanowa sighed and looked around again, thinking she felt something like a spider. "I mean I know this sounds crazy but what if we do have powers or something...and just don't know it." That would be kind of cool. She slowly laid down and glanced to Casey. She still didn't know anything about him and now they were forced to fight against some weird other wordly creatures. Just great...

[tirgesfu]

“Ya” Casey jumped up not being able to help himself. “What if we have to fight a huge, gigantic spider.” He wiggled his fingers toward Kan as he laid on the bed. Casey came and stood over top of him. “Only to find out you can speak spidereze.” He smiled and shook his head. “I can’t imagine having any power. But I will tell you the elders seemed mighty impressed that you were a student.”

Casey sat back down on the bed and looked at Kan, “What are you studying? I mean I figure you might be in one of those good school, you know like learning Latin and crap like that.” Casey shrugged, “That’s why you should be the talker. School smarts and stuff."

Casey stood quickly again and moved to Ken’s bedside. He smiled and gave Kan a quick tap on the shoulder sort of a light punch. “I’ll be the silent side kick.” Casey sort of shrugged and plopped down sitting on the edge of Kan’s bed. “I think I am going crazy. I go from I can’t believe this is happening freak out to just thinking it is all a joke.”

He looked to Kan. Casey thought the kid was holding up better than he was. He was cool. He was together even when spiders freaked him out. He wasn’t trying so hard to be funny or cool like Casey was. Just as he felt maybe he was looking at the guy too hard Casey tuned his head away.

“I don’t feel like resting. What do you say we just sneak around a bit?” Casey went to the door and peaked outside. He turned back and smiled, "Beside I think I see a spider right by your bed.”

[Genkai]

"If we have to fight a spider, I'll leave that up to you." Kanowa said simply and put her hands behind her head. "Spiderze...hm...they did?" She glanced to Casey as he moved to his bed. She could gather now that Casey really didn't go to school. It seemed like that was becoming clear. "I'm just studying general stuff, none of it seems real interesting. My parents want me to be a doctor or something...I would just rather relax and do my own thing." Whatever that would be. "I haven't picked out something in the long run. It's hard to think about the future when you can't change it. The more you worry about people and stuff like that, the more you start missing out on stuff around you." Like this acid trip for example. Kanowa then saw Casey move back to her bed and sit down. She shifted her legs and sat up, deciding that was less weird.

"You're my side kick huh?" She snorted slightly and imagined it. It wasn't very pretty. "Eh...we'll see." Kanowa said. "At any rate, we're both stuck here...I don't think anyone would go this far to trick me...maybe for payback but..." She trailed off. She noticed Casey staring and blushed slightly. "What?" She asked him. Then Casey went on to talk about sneaking around. "I don't think that's a good-" She then jumped to her feet when he mentioned a spider. "You are such a jerk!" She took the billow and smacked his face. "Besides, sneaking around might be rude but..." Kanowa couldn't be but be curious about their new surroundings. "I guess we could." She set her weapon down and walked past Casey and headed outside. The sun was pretty bright but as far as Kanowa could see, it would be setting soon.

"The views around here are pretty amazing huh?" Kanowa sighed softly and turned around. "I mean green hills and a river and all this stuff. You never see any of this stuff in the city. I should really get out more often." She smiled and pocketed her hands. "So...what about you huh? You don't seem so fazed by the outdoorsy stuff...I should assume you dropped out of school or what...?" Was he too cool for it or something. Kanowa wasn't sure what to make of Casey. He seemed to be an onion. Lots of layers. Some people were and some people weren't. "Anyway...come on...I didn't eat much and now I'm paying for it, let's see if anyone wants to feed us...new arrivals or whatever they call us." She figured they could talk and explore at the same time if Casey was up for it. It was still hard to get a good read on him. He seemed closed off for some reason.

Then again, wasn't everyone? She wasn't one to talk about secrets. She just didn't want to be walking around with some child molester or something. "You not some rapist or anything right?" Kanowa asked with a slightly amused smirk. Though she was seriously concerned.

[tirgesfu]

Casey followed Kan. As he did, just a step or two behind, he watched. Why did he keep watching that kid? He shook his head confused. It must just be this place and all the craziness. As Kan talked about the beauty of the place Casey looked around and then back to him with a smile, “You should get out more. But lots of it, I mean the interpretation of beauty, comes from where you set your eyes. Mine were always in the mountains so I was pretty blown away by the different beauty of the city. And,” another slight punch was given to Kan by Casey. After it landed Casey wondered why he wanted to hit the guy. And they weren't hits really just some need to touch him. It was like he was in the fourth grade again.

“I finished high school but my red neck school didn’t even know there was a language such as Latin. Oh wait, they knew, they just said it was dead so best let it rest in peace. I just don’t,” he glanced to Kan thinking maybe he was talking too much, “I don’t want to go to college.” That sounded so full and so real Casey couldn’t say anything else for a while.

So to change the mood Casey walked beside Kan and asked, “So if you could pick a super magic newly developed talent what would you pick? “ He smiled keeping pace with the school boy. They walked up the main street getting more than one look from the people who hung about. The street had activity and for a minute Casey thought of the streets of New York City. But here everyone greeted each other, sort of like his small hometown.

Suddenly one small boy, a bit dirties than most with a mix of dirt and freckles over his face came up to them and began to talk, fast, softly, “Ya guys otta run. Let me tell ay. Next thing you’ll be the latest in the line of hangers. I know. I know.” He nodded as he spoke and held out his hand as if to shake to Ken, “I seen ‘em. Who’s the bad guy?” He pulled his hand back before either had a taken it. “Ask Talimay. She knows she just don’t want to say.”

Casey stopped, “What?”

That seemed to spook the kid and he dashed off. Casey nudged Kan and said, “See, I can’t even ask a question. You should do the talking.”

Just as he left a girl that served then fruit and bread was in front of them she blushed and curtsies, kept her eyes down and smile sweet, “Hello. I don’t think you should be just walking around all by yourselves.”

Casey looked to Kan thinking he better not say anything. Instead he leaned over and whispered to Kan, “This is not sneaking.”

[Genkai]

That was truth, she needed to get out more. Kanowa just never did. But now she felt like a fish out of water. When Casey called the city beautiful, she arched a brow. She had to admit, it had its charm and stuff but she often just thought of it as another dirty hole or something. But she did love it, but she knew there was always more stuff to see in the world. Kanowa blinked when she was hit lightly by the supposed farm boy. She wondered when she would break the news to him or if he would find out on his own. Then again, it was interesting being seen as an equal. She was sure if he found out she was a girl, he'd think less of her somehow. By either patronizing her in some way. "You're lucky, we get languages like that shoved down our throats." She said as they walked along. "Hmm magic power huh?" As she was thinking, a kid came up to them.

At first, almost out of instinct, Kanowa was sure he wanted money or something. But it seemed that was not the case. Maybe it was buried maternal instincts but, she thought the dirty kid was kind of cute. Endearing at most though. She got the general gist of what he was saying but she didn't feel very good since it only made the mystery of everything even more worrisome. "You should be nicer." She smacked Casey's arm as the kid just scurried off. "You can be more elloqent, it's not hard. Just a lot of BS and a smile." She laughed. Kanowa then say the blond girl from before. "Oh really...?" She asked and rubbed her neck. "This was your idea." She whispered back to Casey and decided to smooth things over like any guy should do. "My dearest apologies miss," She took the girl's hand and kissed it.

"We were just interested in looking around is all, this place is very warm and friendly. Hospitable." She corrected herself and smiled. "You do you know where we might find Talimay? We'd like to talk her about tonight. I guess you could say we're too excited and honored to think anything else." She said softly. This made the girl in front of Talimay blush and simply point to a hut a few meters away. "Thank you, much." Kanowa grinned and grabbed Casey's arm. "Say bye to the nice girl..." She said as she dragged him along. Kanowa was getting a feeling that the girl was taking a shining to her and Casey. Kanowa was used to it and was more amused than anything else. But not totally interested, if she had to pick a girl, she wouldn't be her type. Once they got to Talimay's she let go of Casey and cleared her throat.

"Anyway...it seems there's more to these things then we've been told...maybe we are in over our heads." She muttered and knocked on the door. Talimay answered and seemed very surprised to see them. She of course allowed them both entry. She and Casey sat down at the table while Talimay placed some cut up apples in front of them. Kanowa snagged one and wondered how to approach the topic as it was clearly an important and sensitive one. "So Talimay...we were wondering if you could tell us more about the...beasts lurking around here...if we're gonna help, we need all the information we can get, otherwise we can't do our job right..." Kanowa said slowly. She glanced to Casey for a moment and grabbed another apple.

[tirgesfu]

Casey grinned to Kan, he was good at this, as the guy lead him along to Talimay’s house, or shed, or hut, or whatever. He glanced back quickly to the girl that seemed to flirt a bit with them. But let that all go as he walked with Kan. “See, you do the talking.” In a silly voice Casey repeated, “It’s so warm and friendly.” Casey chuckled. “But at least you didn’t send her running.”
So when they got to Talimay’s and she let them inside he nodded to Kan to take the words and go. And Kan did. Casey couldn’t help but hide a smile as the guy gently wooed the girl. You could tell she wanted Kan to like her but she was hesitant to say much. Kan coxed her just fine.

“Well,” Talimay sat beside Kan. “I have not been given permission to say much. And I don’t have all the information the elders’ do. But I know you can help us.” She put her hand on Kan’s arm. “I just know you can. The beasts have only shown themselves recently. We don’t know what they want.” She lowered her eyes, “Or I don’t.” She was silent for a minute and Casey kicked Kan under the table. But he didn’t need to because Talimay went on. “The things attack but don’t really take anything. We tried giving them food, water. Tried leaving them messages. They just seem to want to kill us for no reason.” Talimay looked up to Kan with big tear-filled puppy eyes and said. “We don’t understand why.”

She stopped and Casey glanced to Kan. He couldn’t help but ask. “What are they? How many? How do they attack?” Then he quickly put something in his mouth to shut up and he nodded to Kan to get her to answer.