Who

Kneesa, Casis

What

Fourteen-year-olds run into one another in the jungle, and both manage to scare the crap out of the other.

When

It is noon of the thirteenth day of the sixth month of the seventh turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Jungle

OOC Date 23 Mar 2016 06:00

 

kneesa15.jpg casis14.jpg

"Yessss… You have trespassed in my jungle. If you have any cookies, you must leave them for me as tribute."


jungle.jpg

Jungle

As the clearing is left behind, a deep silence permeates and soaks into the very ground that towering trees grow out of, accompanied by the humid heat of the enclosed rainforest. The silence is broken by the chittering call of wild firelizards, the chirruping of distant avians, and the ominous rustling of large, feline predators that stalk the deeper, heart of the jungle. Vines drape from the trees, falling to the jungle floor, which carries the hint of decay. Water drips from the canopy above, the soft sound almost musical against the echoing call of the jungles denizens. Westward, with the tangled overgrowth and the shadows of the deeper rainforest, the forest looms dangerous.
The area is thickly forested with many banyan and sandalwood trees.


It's another dreary day in the jungle, the sky full of thick grey clouds, the air full of raindrops. A wild girl, dressed in a matted fur mantle, weave-jumps her way across the ground, narrowly missing puddles, her frozen bare toes picking across roots and stumps. It's almost like she's playing a king of game. If the weather is terrible, it clearly isn't bothering her, judging by the huge smile on her rabbit-like face. She's carrying a carefully-crafted sack over her shoulder, and it bumps against her back with each jump.

In counter to the wildling jumping through, Casis is less well prepared for the whole being-in-the-jungle thing. She's got a rainslicker on, and rainboots! But she also looks like she's been out in the wet for longer than most people are. Seeing the movement in the trees Casis does what any softly bred girl would do. She screams, and puts her arms over her head because that's going to stop her from the furred monster that is about to eat her.

Hearing that scream, the wild girl freezes - fight or flight - and promptly disappears behind a tree. She pants rapidly through her nose, lips parted over her teeth, the hood of that matted mantle falling down over her eye. Safely behind the tree, she slides down and down and down the bark, trying to make herself as small as possible. What do they say about monsters being as scared of you are you are of them? Definitely applies here.

Casis crouches there for long seconds, but when there isn't a growl nor sudden lack of one of her arms the girl peeks up through her arm. Nothing? Slowly she unfolds and looks around. When full understanding that she is NOT going to die falls the thin girl slumps against a tree. "Thank Faranth. Master would kill me if I died here." The logic in that is lacking, but she DID just not die. So, it's excusable.

Hearing a young female voice, Kneesa, at a crouch, peeks around her tree, chin lifted curiously, eyes slanted, as if that will somehow make her less visible. She eyes Casis' clothes - that rainslicker, those boots. She straightens, sensing no danger but still incredibly shy of weyr people. "I have not seen many dragons today, so you should be alright." Her voice is timid, gentle, helpful, even as she still attempts to hide from the weyr girl.

Cue another scream from Casis when the voice breaks out of nowhere, nevermind the tone. "Are, are you, a… ghost?" That gets whispered as Casis does her level best to flatten herself against a tree. She doesn't know wood lore, she's fourteen and has never seen anything 'wild' in her life. "I heard Southern was haunted but I…"

A ghost? Have you ever seen a rabbit frown? It looks kind of like Kneesa's face right now, as she tries to decide how to answer that. She looks down at her clothes - leather and fur, brown and spotted, not white like Vella's doeskin. Liquid brown eyes widen with an idea. A wild, mischievous idea. Maybe this will keep them away! Although it may anger the forest spirits. But she'll deal with that later. "Yessss." Forest-dirty hands cover her mouth as she whispers, letting the whipping wind carry it to the weyr girl. All signs of friendliness are gone, replaced with spooky mystery. "You have trespassed in my jungle. If you have any cookies, you must leave them for me as tribute."

The reaction that Knessa was going for might not quite be the one that she gets. Because before the wildling girl can even come close to that really awesome line about the cookies Casis' eyes roll up into her head and she faints dead away onto the forest floor. She probably won't be out for long, considering it's wet down there, but for now she is out cold.

Oh no! Kneesa sees the weyr girl go down. She worries her bottom lip. She meant this as a prank, like she and Keelie used to do to Vella. Not something like this! Kneesa might be a scaredy cat, but she also has a big heart, and she rushes out to check on the other girl, her wet mantle soggy and dripping with water. She hovers over her, nose squished with concern, eyes wild. Did I kill her? She silently asks the trees, her constant companions. Her pointer-finger comes up to poke her experimentally… in the cheek. And she skitters back two feet, as if afraid Casis might come to life and bite her.

Casis was already starting to stir, her mind foggy in the post-faint world. That poke to the face brings her out of it swiftly though, and she tries to get away from Kneesa as quickly as the other girl is doing to her. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I mean, they said the catacombs were haunted but I didn't realize the jungle was haunted, please please please please don't hurt me, I promise I swear I'll try to leave, I'm just lost, I don't know where I am, please, please, please!" Yes, that does all come out in one long jumbled sentence.

Kneesa just kind of stares at Casis, as if trying to put everything together that just happened. Is she relieved that she's ok, and then like totally afraid again? Looks like. "I am not going to hurt you." She says softly, without thinking. A reluctant sigh. "And I am not a ghost." There goes her plans for keeping weyrfolk away. She tries to hide behind her mantle, now, but doesn't retreat to the shadows just yet. "Will anyone come looking for you?" She glances around, as if afraid someone might jump out at any moment.

For all her fear Casis recovers quickly enough. It doesn't even occur to her to doubt the other girl's words, and she lowers her arms and really looks at Kneesa. "Are.. you a wildling? I mean, I'm cool if you aren't. But… are you?" Pushing herself up from her crouch Casis tries to brush off some of the dirt, wrinkling her nose in the process for what won't come off. "No, Mas… OH NO." The thought just occuring to her Casis claws the bag over her shoulder off and rips it open, "Please don't be broken, please don't be… oh goodness thank you."

"Maybe." Kneesa is half hiding behind her hood. But Casis is probably right on the mark - what kind of weyrfolk would wear such ratty old thing? "Are you… a dragonrider?" She gives a little shiver that has nothing to do with the cold. She blinks as the other girl freaks out momentarily over the contents of her bag. She re-shoulders her own, peering at her curiously. She opens her mouth as if to ask… and then changes her mind. It might be cursed. "I am sorry I pretended to be a ghost." She is looking around at the trees, almost like she's apologizing to them. Maybe she is. Will she be cursed now? Is she being cursed just by talking to this person?

Clutching that bag to her chest Casis looks back up. "Oh… it's okay." There's a bright red blush on her cheeks, embarassment at the misunderstanding. "My Master says I shouldn't be so skittish, or ready to belive people about things like… well, Ghosts." She takes a step closer, her inante curiosity giving her more courage than shown so far. "I'm Casis, and no… I'm too young for that."

Kneesa's head is cocked shyly as she smiles, the expression lighting up her face briefly and drawing attention to her overly large two front teeth. "I know what that is like." Being told not to hide so much. "But it can be helpful. Keeps you safe." A firm, self-actualizing nod. "Oh, Ghosts are real." Her eyes widen and she looks up into the trees. As the other steps forward, she steps quickly back on filthy gelfling feet. "You give your name so freely. What if I was lying and really was a ghost?"

"Well… I guess…" Casis nibbles on her lip for a second, trying to figure out exactly what to say to that. "Um… Then hopefully you'd friendly? Which, obviously, you are. Because you said sorry." Casis is about to launch into more rambling when the faint sound of her name can be heard off to the northwest. "Oh drat, he's waiting." Slinging her bag across her shoulder the girl smiles at the wildling. "I'll try to come see you again, okay? Promise!" Before she's dashing off towards the sound of that voice. If she just follows it she shouldn't get lost again, right?

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