(FP!) Can't Make it Right....

[Amaryllis]

Nibavasi bounded down the dark alleys, her eyes wild and frantic pools of white. Her tail billowed out behind her like a banner, no matter how hard she tried to keep it tucked in behind her. She turned a corner and nearly ran into a dumpster full of something she didn't care to know about, forcing her to slow to a brisk walk, eventually leading to her first full stop in half an hour.

Gasping for breath, Ava staggered toward the wall, her entire body tight and tense. She leaned against it and sank to the ground, not caring how dirty her fur got in the process. Finally, finally, she was away from the watchful eyes of the others. She had forgotten how wonderful it was to be truly alone, without anyone breathing down her neck and making sure she wasn't bleeding anywhere.

It had taken quite a while for Ava to figure out how to escape. Bindi and Siba were always 'keeping an eye on her,' ensuring that she wasn't trying to add new red marks to her paws or attempting to hang herself from the rafters. What they didn't know was that, by being so condescending and vigilant, they were not only doing nothing good, but contributing to her desire to just get away. Nor could Ava find the words to tell them just how she felt.

But here she was. She had finally managed to bolt through the main doors of the theatre; having spent many years there had done wonders for her knowledge of the geography of Falichesco, a knowledge that Bindi and Siba could not match. And now that she had no responsibility, no one to make sure that she was in one piece, she had absolutely no idea what to do with herself.

Stretching her aching limbs, she decided to rest for a moment, doing her best to catch her breath. The sun was still up, and seeing its light made Ava feel slightly safer in this strange new place. She let her head fall onto a pile of moss-coated bricks that had been left there for years, ignoring the stains of blood on the ground around her. How wonderful it felt to rest.

crits.dracogrex.net/euclide/nibavasi.html

[FlyingPanther]

Rhajamanthus had merely been walking down the street, his bangles upon his legs jingling merrily with each step as he did so. His private thoughts had been suddenly interupted by a small mustiline creature, who had brushed her tail up against his side as she ran faster then anything he had ever heared. Her ragged breath and utter fear about her caused him to listen behind to make sure of just what she was running away from. When he heard nothing chasing her, he lifted an eyebrow a tiny bit and listened to her run. At some point she had disappeared down an alleyway, indicated by a slippery sound of clashing claws digging for traction, and he couldn't help but be curious.

It was never in his nature to be nosy, but it truely seemed like the poor creature needed some help, or at least some guidence, which he was never unhappy to give. He listened behind him once more to make sure nothing was following, and when he was sure, he troted over to the alleyway which he thought he heard her duck into. He stood at the corner of it, looking into it with blind eyes unaware she was curled up next to a trash can. He wondered how best to approach. She obviously wanted to be alone, for what right-minded creature would run so quickly away from nothing?

"Hello? Are you alright?"[/color]

[FlyingPanther]

((ACK! I just realized...i forgot he was blind...let me quickly fix the thingy above ;;;

Edit: Fixed!))

[Amaryllis]

(( Awwu, he's a sweetie! n_n ))

As she rested, Ava was becoming quite sure that she had sprained something. In fact, she supposed she had sprained several somethings, seeing as every part of her was aching to some degree. Even her head was pounding heavily, as though a drum were pounding against her forhead. This was very bothersome, and she wanted nothing more than to stick her head in a bucket of cold water. It had worked on her headaches before, although Sibine usually panicked and pulled her head out of the river before the headache was completely gone.

Because of this, the words coming from somewhere above sounded far too loud to be coming from one creature. Startled and somewhat frightened, Ava looked up, her blurry vision revealing something brown and somewhat larger than herself. Her fur bristling a bit and then flattening in worry, she squinted her eyes to bring the new presence into sharper focus. It appeared to be a canine with an expression displaying, of all things, worry and pity. Ava relaxed.

"Yes, thank you, I'm wonderful," Ava replied, her voice a bit sharper than she had intended - and she had intended that it be a bit sharp. Closing her eyes again, she stretched a hind leg several inches until it throbbed, making her flinch. "I appreciate your concern," she added, keeping her eyes tight shut. "I might be more interesting, but I've been under considerable physical stress today and I'm afraid my jaws are just as tired as the rest of me."

Having cleared that up, Ava moved each limb to a position that didn't make it throb or sting, assuming that her body would sort itself out soon enough so that she could get moving again. As it was, she didn't trust her legs to hold her up for longer than a few seconds, and she didn't fancy traveling like that.

[FlyingPanther]

He senced her fustration then noted her startled reaction to obviously hearing him. He felt sorry that he had startled her. But before he could utter an appology or another word she spoke. Her sharpness with him made him blink once or twice, despite the fact he didn't need to blink. He was blind, no feeling in his eyes whatso ever, or at least, things like the wind didn't bother them.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you. You just...didn't seem ok." He paused when she flinched, hearing a small wincing sound before continueing. "Are you sure you're ok? I smell blood." When she thanked him he listened to what she had to say carefully, "Why were you running?" He knew that she was in pain, and that her jaw would be to tired to speak long, but none the less he was curious.

[Amaryllis]

Ava blinked, glancing up and noticing that the canine was still there. It wasn't a problem, or wouldn't have been in other circumstances - he seemed friendly enough, and certainly wasn't any sort of threat considering his obvious blindness, but she doubted very much her conversational skills at the moment. Nevertheless, she couldn't exactly get up and leave, and she assumed that, if he hadn't dissapeared as a result of her unnecessary harsh words, he had no intention of leaving her alone. Very well, she thought. It might be nice to have a chat while everything below her neck was still immobile.

"It's all right," Ava said, using the practiced politeness she had learned over the years. "If I'm bleeding, there's not much I can do about it now, is there? I'm just achy. Not used to running that fast for that long." She neglected to mention that, if she was bleeding, it probably wasn't from running, unless the constant strain and motion had opened up some old scabs. She didn't prefer to discuss that sort of thing with complete strangers, especially when there was no way for said stranger to see her type - suicide.

Sighing, Ava turned her mind to tackling this next question. "Why was I running?" she repeated. "I just needed to ... get away. I don't know if I can explain it very well. I needed breathing room, and I wasn't getting any, before."

"I'm Nibavasi, by the way," she added, remembering her manners, "But you can call me Ava. My name is a mouthfull, I know. It wasn't my idea." She smiled, even though she knew that this male couldn't see her. It seemed the right thing to do.

[FlyingPanther]

With the loss of his eyes Rhaja had gained other valuble tools to understanding what was going on around him. He could sence her annoyance, and her 'practiced politeness' rung clear in his ears. She was obviously not thrilled to have him around and asking her questions. He supposed he should leave when his questions were answered. He wouldn't want to upset anyone any further when they were clearly already very very upset.

He listened to her speak about her bloodloss like it was no big deal, like there was no value to it. His eyes blinked a tiny bit. She didn't seem like the fighting type from what he could tell from her aura and her voice. Most Fighting types had disregaurd for their bodies. He couldn't figure it out, at least at the moment. He decided to sit down, and moved just a small way into the alley, giving her plenty of room between them. "Well, you could wrap your wounds..."[/b] He sniffed around hoping to find the nice fresh smell of clean cotton. He couldn't smell anything though. Hmm, maybe there was something in the trash, but then again..who would want to wrap an open wound with somethign from the trash.

"Ah, I see...well I hope I'm not upsetting you to much with my presence. You can tell me to leave when you wish..."[/b] he said in reguard the the reason why she was running in the first place. He bowed his head in respectful greeting. "I'm fairly sure I've got you beat on the mouth full of name. I'm known as Rhajamanthus, however some have called me Rhaja for short. It's a pleasure to meet you Ava, I only wished I had clean cloth to wrap your wounds in..."[/b] He began sniffing around again to make sure he hadn't missed soemthing.

[Amaryllis]

"Oh, no, it's no problem," Ava said quickly as Rhaja began to search for a bandage for her innumerable small wounds. "If I am bleeding, I didn't notice it until you said something, so it's not going to hurt if it isn't bound. I must have scraped myself when I was running," she added. "I appreciate your concern, really."

Ava blinked her eyes at the male's next words. Okay, maybe he's not as blind as I thought he was, she thought awkwardly, peering up at him with her empty white eyes. Or maybe he's just developed ... a sixth sense. Weird. She quit staring at him, and shook her head, a gesture that might not be as meaningless as she would have thought moments ago. "You're fine," she said gently. "You're not upsetting me at all. I must say, it's nice to have a new conversational partner. At least, you know, while I catch my breath."

"Rhajamanthus," she repeated, laughing a bit as she said it. "Wow, you've got me beat. Who on earth came up with that one?" she asked incredulously. "I thought Bindikaei was long. It fits you, though," she added quickly, realizing that her words were getting out of her control again. "Rhaja ... yeah, you look like a Rhaja." Hoping those last words didn't seem too awkward or forced, Ava smiled awkwardly. "Pleasure to meet you, too. Where're you from?"

[FlyingPanther]

He didn't want to push the blood issue. The scent was strong indicating that it was probably more then the little scrape that she was making it out to be. But then again, he mused, it might be over heightened sence of smell, it could really be as she said and he was just smelling it as something more. Whatever the case, she didn't want to be bugged about it, and seeing how he had upsetted her earlier, he didnt want to remind her of the annoying feeling of his presence. He would let it slide.

His head just cocked slightly, had she just realized he was blind or something? He couldn't nessesarily read her motion unless she made a sound, she couldnt tell if she was smiling or frowning or if she even looked angry. His only insite into her feelings was the way that she spoke. Her voice was soft and sounded slightly suprised. He wondered breifly about what she might be suprised about.

He smiled a little at her suprise at his name. "I suppose my mother came up with it. My father wasn't much of a family man, not uncommon amoung our kind."[/color] his face didn't indicate that he was upseted by this, in fact, his aura didn't speak of anything of that sort either, it was almost as if him not being around had been the best thing that his father could have done for him. He chuckled a bit with a statement of morbid humor "Well, it's good to know what I look like then. As for where I came from, well, here. I was born and raised in this city, I remember more grass then the hardness of this concrete, which makes me believe we lived in a park...but other then that I dont know. I was seperated from my mother at a young age."

[Amaryllis]

Oh dear, Ava thought. I hope I haven't offended him. Though she wasn't usually one for pleasentries and politeness, perhaps the rules she had lived by for many years were still in play; you were polite to strangers, you never snapped at someone you didn't know, and, if you offended them, you apologized. Sometimes she had forgotten those rules, and it had been extremely embarrassing, even though, in the long run, she hadn't cared about being embarrassed.

"Fathers," Ava snorted in response to Rhaja's first comment. "Wonderful examples of society, are they not?" Ava had been lucky enough to have her father in her life, if you could call it 'lucky.' She never felt that her father cared that much about her. In reality, of course, her father had cared very much, but he hadn't noticed much about Ava, and that which he noticed he didn't understand. In any case, he wasn't much of an issue in Ava's life anymore; she had passed far beyond her need of a father figure.

"Oh, a park, lovely," she said. "It's nice you got to enjoy it while you did, then, I suppose. What happened that cut you off from your mother?" In hindsight, she supposed that this was a terribly insensitive question, but what was she going to do about it now? She was out of practice with conversation; when talking to Sib and Kael, one didn't have to censor oneself, and ... well, Ava didn't talk to Bindi much. It was awkward, and neither Bindi nor Ava ever enjoyed it.

Talking to Rhaja, though, this was pleasant. He seemed a fair bit more mellow than any Euclides she had ever seen before - he was a Euclides, wasn't he? - and he certainly was putting up well with her lack of people-skills. And, with the distraction, Ava noticed that the ache in her legs was slowly but steadily fading. Maybe there was something to this 'getting out and socializing' thing that Sibine was always bringing up.

[FlyingPanther]

Rhaja smiled a little at the retorical question, be decided to answer it anyway, and with a little bit of a chuckle. "Well, I would have to say yes, seeing as our society isn't nessarily role model worthy. I can almost understand why the Amuni hate us so." He added the last part nervously. After all, most Euclides HATED the Amuni and vica verca, and to ever agree with them was one of the greatest sins in their societies eyes. Rhaja hated to admit to anyone but himself that he did share in some of the same beliefs of the Amuni, though he would never do anything to harm another Euclide. He quickly added "I hope to be a better parent when the time comes then my father was, like my mother was."

This obviously led into the next conversation. "Yes, it was really nice, back then I felt almost as if I could see. The way the sun beat down on me and my siblings as we tussled about, it was almost as if I could see the color of the light. My mother called it yellow....she said that I had markings the color of the sun, I don't know if it's true or not, but it always brightens my day a little to remember that." He was a rather open fellow, far more then he knew was wise around strangers, but it was hard not to. After all, he subcribed to the idea that euclides were inherintly good, but it was that their socity changed them into hideous corrupted beasts. This female seemed to have no intention of harming him either, which helped, though from the sound of her voice, he could tell she was alot smaller then he. This made him wonder if she could even really harm him at all. His happy gaze faltered slightly when she asked him what happened to his mother. He took a moment to replace his happy smile before replying. "It was her time to leave this world." he said simply, tilting his head slightly.