"Somewhat Less Strange Strangers" Log Date: 2/9/02 Intro: A week after the shipwreck the castaways are up to beginning a search for their lost ship and crewmates. Kephissa has headed south along the beach, moving a bit inland later in the day, when the search for food and other supplies, and maybe just the urge to explore, becomes more pressing than the search for survivors. Cast: Kephissa Xhosa Shelbor Yellow (dog) baby bear Kephissa(#1653Pc2) Wavy auburn hair is tied back with a length of cord to reveal slightly sunburned ears with a close fitting gold band in the right one ... round ears. Although she looks nothing like the normal humans, it does appear that is what this being is. Apparently female too, about 5 and a half feet tall with a slight, but well toned body. She has pale green eyes set in a cheerful tanned face, which slightly chapped lips. She's clearly spent a lot of time under the open sun, more than usual in recent months. On the back of her left hand an abstract design has been tattooed, a triangle of interlacing and overlapping lines. She wears a loose, short sleeved tunic that falls to mid-thighs. Its obviously seen better days as its worn, and has several neatly mended rips and patches. At one point decorative braided cord encircled the ends of the sleeves and the bottom hem, but time obviously hasn't been spent repairing those unnecessary decorative features. A braided belt made out of slim rope encircles her waist. A iron knife is tucked into the right side of that belt, a cord wrapped around the hilt, and attached to the belt so its less likely to be lost. On the left side a pouch made of a heavy stiff cloth is sewwed to the belt. Her legs and feet are bare, and there are thin silver rings on the fourth toes of each foot. Several days have passed since the humans from across the sea have washed up upon this shore. Having recovered somewhat Kephissa and Valnek have gone in search of some sign of the ship or missing crewmates. Heading south along the beach, they find bits and pieces of wood from the ship, but nothing of significance. They've split up now and Kephissa moves a bit inland searching for food and other potential supplies from the natural environs. Yellow comes panting up to Xhosa, leaving Shelbor trudging tiredly behind. Xhosa stands near her camp, brushing her horse down. She seems much more settled and happy now that they're actually moving again. Some of her former restlessness is gone. She murmurs to the horse softly, then looks around for Shelbor or Coral. "We're getting closer now. It shouldn't be long." Of course, don't ask her what she's looking for. That's too much to require. Yellow A big, yellow nearwolf (dog), full grown but still acting much like a puppy. (use +yinfo for more) Shelbor nods. Until what, he doesn't know, and he doubts Xhosa knows... Yellow chases some partridges in the bushes, barking. Kephissa stops in her tracks and lifts her head. What's that sound. Barking? It sounds like barking. A dog? Or some strange creature that sounds like a dog. If its a dog it might mean people. If its not it could be death. So with the utmost care she moves slowly towards the sound. Her mind racing, a village? Hunters maybe? Maybe they aren't as far from home as they thought and all the strange things they've seen, just a dream. Shelbor says "Yellow! Come back here! Don't go spooking the game before we've even had a chance to hunt!" Xhosa pats Spiritwind's neck, letting the horse lop off to find some grass then turns to look for the dog. "Looks like he's found dinner." She grins. He's a good dog, even if he isn't hers. She looks back at Shelbor, arching a brow at his sweating self. "You need a bath." Shelbor shrugs, and reflexively looks around for a stream. Shelbor says "This place... I think I remember it. From when Olbar was near here." Shelbor says "I met my first elf... just west of here. A female. Galasia, I think. Neither of us spoke the other's language." Xhosa nods, looking around. "Really? I don't remember. Of course, I was just a little girl then." She shrugs, peering into the underbrush for her bear. "Have you seen the little one? She was rummaging through my pack this morning and I think she was hungry...." Voices, language. That's certainly what it sounds like, all though unfortunately not one she's familiar with. Kephissa picks up the pace, but not running full out so as not to alarm anybody. The sounds of footsteps should be audible. Shelbor says "Yellow! Find the bear cub! Find it!" Yellow lifts his head at the command, dances a bit on his forlegs until he figures it out, then gives a muffled "Wurf!" and is off. Xhosa peers around, curious. "Shelbor, did you hear that? Sounds like someone's coming. Where is Coral?" Now, a rational person may be afraid and looking for a weapon. Xhosa, however, still does not know the meaning of the word fear. Instead, she starts walking toward the sound of the footsteps. "Hello?" Then, once more, in elvish, Shelbor looks up to see Yellow returning, hearding the errant cub ahead of him. He looks up to tell Xhosa, then frowns as he sees Spiritwind grazing calmly alone. Kephissa comes in to view. Certainly doesn't look like any human, or elf, these humans have ever seen. She holds her palms in a peaceful gesture. And she speaks in her own language. "((Hello. Speak Vraeyan?))" Its to much to hope, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Shelbor climbs a low boulder, sees someone, and waves... then realizes it's not Xhosa, who's over _there_. Xhosa stops, looking at the strange girl for a moment. Hmm. She shakes her head at the language, not understanding at all. Her eyes zero in on the weapon, more curious than afraid. And that tatoo. Is that the mark of some god? Xhosa knows hers is, so it makes a certain amount of sense. Not any god that she knows, which really piques her interest. Then she sees all those sunburns and frowns. Oh, dear. She smiles at the other woman, friendly if completely no understanding a word she's saying. "Hey, Shelbor...we have company." Shelbor says "I see... her?" Well a smile is better than a frown, or a sword or a spear poking you. Kephissa forces her own mouth into a smile. And knowing she's talking more to herself than anything. "((Guess not. We must be really far from home, at least these guys look a more more normal than the...others.))" Xhosa Curious and bright-eyed, Xhosa is a woman of uncommon beauty. It's not beauty in the refined, feminine, almost unattainable way of the rest of the women in her family. Instead, Xo has an open, friendly and very earthy quality about her. Her pale hair is long, pulled into a braid that falls to her waist. Lots of time spent in the sun have left her with streaks of burnished gold and skin the color of honey. A spiral has been painted on her forehead in a shade of emerald that brings out her eyes. Her eyes are flecked with speckles of silver and black that dance when she's excited or angry, which is fairly often given Xo's passionate nature. She's dressed in a doe-suede halter top that loops around her neck and is tied behind her back. It leaves her arms and sholders bare, making it impossible to ignore the fact that she's far more muscular than most women. The top is beaded, embellished with tiny wren feathers and glittery fish scales. Xo's waist is bare, obscured only by the feathers that hang there. Instead of a skirt, she wears a pair of men's leggings. They're make of tanned buckskin and fit loosely to give her room to move. She also wears a pair of leather hunting boots. Xhosa nods to Shelbor. "Her. Definately." She looks over her shoulder at him and grins. "I told you it wouldn't be long now." She walks down toward the girl, holding out her hand. "Come with me. You need to put something on those burns or they'll blister." Shelbor rolls his eyes. She's found another pet... Speaking of pets...the little brown bear, now safely returned to come, comes lumbering over, yawling for her Mommy. She skids to a stop, bumping into Xhosa's leg, peering around at the new human with curious eyes. Kephissa stops walking as Xhosa comes towards her, standing in a relaxed but ready stance. She shakes her head, trying to show she doesn't understand what Xhosa is saying. Just her luck, this language appears to be different from the one she picked up snippets of from the other strangers. She blinks a bit. Pets? Dog, bear? Takes a brave person to have a bear for a pet. Xhosa mmms, looking at the other woman. She peers over at SHelbor with a sigh. "Looks like we have to learn another language." She shakes her head. At this rate, she's going go from being village witch to village linguist. She grins down at the bear, scratching her head fondly. Brave? Nah, she just doesn't know any better. She looks at the woman, pointing to her sunburn, then making a face like pain. "I can fix that." SHe points over to her tent. "I have plants that help." Kephissa looks in the direction Xhosa points. Looks like a little camp. The woman must want her to join them at her camp. Well, it can't hurt. As to her sunburn, that's the least of Kephissa's worries right now, and she's so completely unaware that its still there, that even if she could understand the words she'd probably still be perplexed. She moves towards the camp, pointing at her chest and speaking her name. "((Kephissa))" Xhosa is pleased the woman is moving toward the camp. She nods. "Kephissa..." The name is a bit strange, but not nearly as odd as the elven names she's been learning lately. "I'm Xhosa." She points toward Shelbor. "He's Shelbor. Are you hungry? Thirsty?" Kephissa repeats the names. Simpler too than the ones she's been learing lately. "Xhosa, Shelbor." As to the rest of what Xhosa went on to say she can only shrug again and shake her head in response. She has no answers to questions she doesn't understand. Shelbor is content for now to keep watch and let Xhosa handle the social matters. Xhosa waits until she gets the woman to the camp, then ducks into her tent to pull out some water skins and a package of dried meat. She offers it to her, then looks at Shelbor. "Do you see any others out there? I doubt she was wandering around alone." Well, alright, so Xhosa herself likes to wander alone, but details. Shelbor takes a final look around, shakes his head and steps down. Shelbor says "I'm Shelbor. Can you understand me? " Kephissa isn't quite starving. No person at home at the sea could ever be starving this close to the ocean and its abundence of food. But anything is appreciated. She takes the dried meat and water. "((Thanks.))" Tearing into the meat she turns to Shelbor as it seems if he's speaking to her. She shakes her head, a common occurence these days. Nope, no glimmer of understanding there. Shelbor grins, points to himself. "Shelbor." He points to the dog. "Yellow." Xhosa mmms, deciding to put some coffee on while she figures out what to do next. Well, she can fix her sunburn at least. She pulls out a small pot of aloe cream and moves to the woman. Kephissa isn't sure if Shelbor is refering to the name of the dog, or their word for dog, so she just repeats the strange word. "Yellow." And she eyes Xhosa warily. What's she planning on doing with that stuff. Some primative ritual. She's not sure she wants to be part of that, she's not cut out to be a diplomat. That's the captians job. Xhosa motions to the sunburn, then holds the jar out. "It will help the pain." She frowns at the woman's clothing. "Do you think she could fit into my extra cloths? She's kind of small..." Yellow hears his name and comes forward, tail wagging hopefully. Shelbor says "I'm sure we can piece something together." Kephissa takes the jar, at least its not going to get painted on her. She sniffs it, and pokes a pinkie finger in it. "((Some kind of cooling cream. Might be good for sunburn.))" Taking her finger out she dabs a little on the back of her hand. Hmmm. Not bad. She hands the jar back to Xhosa. "((I might look a fright, but I don't need it.))" Gotta find something to act like a mirror soon. Xhosa frowns, taking the jar back. She doesn't want it? Hmmmm. Oh well. She tucks the jar back into her pouch, then looks at the tatoo on the woman's hand curiously. "What does that mean?" She reachs out to trace it lightly. "Is that your god's symbol?" She touchs the spiral on her forehead, looking back at you. "Are you a witch too?" Shelbor Shelbor is in his middle twenties, tall and broad and fairly muscular, with a full beard. He has dark brown eyes, and untidy, dark brown hair with a hint of curl. His beard is a lighter brown with a hint of red and no curl. He is obviously fit, and dressed simply but appropriately for the conditions. He carries a heavy spear which does double service as a walking stick, and has an unstrung bow in a quiver on his back. His belt holds a pouch and a chert knife. Carrying: Piece of Preserver Cocoon Amber Necklace Shelbor examines the tattoo, and the rest of the woman. "Don't know where she's from, but she's obviously had a hard time of it." Kephissa resists jerking her hand back. Boy this woman is forward. She points at the tattoo on her hand. "((Tattoo.))" Giving her own word for it. She repeats the word as she points towards Xhosa's forehead. Guess they know how to tattoo here, unless that's not permanent. Once again Kephissa wishes for the services of the ships linguist. Or the captain, or even Valnek. This is just way to frustrating, not being able to communicate. Shelbor sees the stranger's reaction. He spreads his hands and smiles, careful not to overdoo it. "Be careful, Xhosa. She's on edge. You might scare her off." Xhosa sighs, having no idea what that means. She looks at Shelbor, frustrated again. "Well, now what? Did you see any signs of others?" She frowns. "Well, I'm not going to hurt her, Shelbor." Xhosa wouldn't hurt anyone, not unless they tried to hurt her. She sits back, looking at the woman, and her bear comes up to her, propping it's head against her lap and yawling at the stranger. Shelbor says "I say we make clear she's welcome to stay, and go on setting up camp and preparing supper." Xhosa nods, petting the bear absently. "Alright." She smiles at the woman again, then stands, letting the bear curl up in her spot. The animal keeps it's eyes on the stranger, not sure yet what to make of her. "I'll take Spiritwind and look around, see if there are any others like her out there." Shelbor scowls briefly; in this terrain the horse has little advantage over a human or elf. "Be careful. We don't know how much this area has changed in 14 Turns." Kephissa frowns as the woman stands and keeps one eye on the bear too. It looks like a young tamed one, but you can never be sure. Maybe these guys are parts of a travelling troupe of some sort. They certainly have the animals for it. Since it looks like the initial greetings are over, maybe she should go find Valnek and repeat her find. She stands as well. Xhosa nods, turning to call to her horse. She trots over and Xhosa slips onto her back, peering down at the woman. "Stay. You're safe here." She checks the quiver and bow looped on Spiritwind's back and nods. Good, plenty of arrows should she need them. "I'll be back before sundown." Shelbor says "You're welcome to stay here," hoping his tone will say enough. Kephissa shakes her head. How to get this across. She uses her fingers to mimic walking. "((Go.))" She turns her hand around and mimics walking in the opposite direction. "((Come Back Later.))" She could stay for a bit, but she must meet up with Valnek soon or he'll be worried. And theres the fact that sitting here isn't searching. And she holds out hope that there might be more surivivors out there, somewhere. Shelbor nods... She wants to go somewhere and come back. With others? Well, she must not be planning anything underhanded or she wouldn't tell him this. Shelbor thinks for a moment, then digs in to the bundle of leave and pulls out several strips of deer jerky. He smiles and hands them over. Kephissa takes the jerky, and gives a little half bow. "((Thank you.))" She sticks it in the pouch on her belt. "((Valnek will appreciate this. If he'll believe me.))" This land is definately strange. Shelbor nods back, deep enough that it's almost a bow. Kephissa heads back down to the beach.