A stroll through the mountains... (Audi and Gen)

In the dustier parts of Genivir's mind, where her earlier memories were kept, she had savored what remained of her recollections of growing up in the mountains. The people in her mind faded so easily, their faces blurred and smudged under the hand of time, accompanied by only faint ghosts of feelings she'd had for them. The actual events in her earlier life crumbled even easier, reduced to mere snap shots and flickering images, to the point where she questioned if half of them had ever happened. But the settings of her life stuck with her, and she hadn't been able to get the scent of clean mountain air from her mind. The only remedy had been to take an impromptu hike out into the Lauri mountains.

Now she sat in the grass, her chin resting on her legs, her shoulders hunched to the cold despite her winter coat, a serene smile on her face. The Lauri mountains were not quite the thundering tall mountains of her oldest memories, but they were closer than she had been in quite some time. Sometimes she was away from nature so long, she completely forgot that she actually enjoyed it in small doses.

Eventually, she'd have to return to the castle. The nagging, practical voice in the back of her head told her she needed to start making...friends. At least acquaintances whose hands she could shake every once and a while. The empty, hollowed feeling was spreading out through her, warning her she'd gone a little too long without making Contact. If she pushed it, it might be hard to get back to the castle on her own...and Gen couldn't have that. But five more minutes down memory lane wouldn't kill her.

The fact that she actually needed the mountains for something left a bad taste in Audi's mouth, but Sner was still wrong -- this was nothing as useless as aimless exploration in search of a vague anything. She knew what she needed, and she knew where to get it, and that was what she was doing.

The ratgirl trailed across the rocks and the half-dead grass, wrapped in a long cloak that billowed behind her as she walked, her head protected by its hood. It blocked her sight to the side, but that didn't matter, as her gaze was glued to the ground, searching. Every once in a while, she would stop and lean down to pick up a particularly promising smooth, round rock and spin it around in her deft hands to examine it, searching for any bumps or dents. If she found none, she shut her eyes and clutched the stone tight in her palm, its inner structure stretching before her mind's eye. She was getting better at it. She could see the mineral crystals, perfectly ordered at their basest level and the more chaotic-looking the bigger the scope. Every stone was a tiny fractal representation of the Universe.

So far, she had found only three rocks with a perfect flow of energy. She needed six, ideally eight. There was a while to spend here yet. Sighing in frustration, Audi flung an unsuitable stone away, not looking where it would fly.

After her allotted five minutes, Gen forced herself to her feet, reluctantly prepared to trek back to the castle. It would have been precarious to stroll down memory lane for too long, not a trap she was eager to fall back into. So, confident and sure footed, she began to pick her way back down the slopes, retracing her steps. In the mountains of her memories, there had been shooting trees and thick forest cliffs blocking her sight line. But Lillegard, for apparently how hard it was to find, seemed easy enough to navigate. A relief.

Gen drew short at the next hill, hesitating upon seeing a hooded figure near the bottom. The person (creature?) stooped down and seemed to pick something up from the ground, stood still, and then suddenly discarded the object Gen watched curiously, wondering if this was some type of magic she was witnessing. For a moment, she considered bypassing the stranger. She had decided upon her arrival to assume everyone was magical until proven otherwise, and past experience had taught her magical people could be touchy when they worked spells. And this one had rocks. But... Gen glanced

So as she approached, she cleared her throat to announce her presence, trying on a friendly smile. “Hi, um, is there anything you're looking for?” Doubtless Gen would be of no help, but it seemed...impolite not to offer.

It was not an interesting job in the least, so Audi did what was only natural when it came to menial labor -- tuned out. She continued down her path, mindlessly scanning the rugged ground, bare feet occasionally flipping rocks over to see if they showed any promise of suiting her needs.

So, as the noise of a throat being cleared and then a voice broke the quiet of the mountains, the ratgirl straightened out and looked to the source rather sharply, taken off-guard. The hood worked well at protecting her from the cold and sound, it seemed. Only the end of her muzzle with a twitching pink nose was unshaded, her head swiveling to the left to keep the other within the sight of her good eye. Appraisingly, she let her gaze linger on the stranger for a second before she judged her apparently harmless and worthy of an answer.

"Yes. Rocks."

The cloaked figure had seemed so focused and intent, that Gen felt a vague stir of guilt for startling her and interrupting her progress. Perhaps the stranger had magical powers with rocks then?. Somehow it seemed rude to ask, just as it seemed rude to ask what kind of creature she was. The pink nose and whiskers brought a faint smile to Gen's face, but she kept any opinions to herself. After once telling a dragon-boy it was cute when he sneezed smoke, it had first resulted in her investing in a fire extinguisher and, secondly, taking more care with the compliments she handed out.

Deciding to match the simple and to the point tone of conversation, she merely asked, “Can I help?”

Why not? It wasn't like she had anything better to do in this precise moment. Her only plan had been to make her way back to the castle and meet people. Well, here was a person- er, creature?- to meet. If she stayed and helped, she'd have an excuse to linger in the open air for a bit longer.

The weirdness of humans would never cease to amaze her.

Audi raised her head to see the girl better, letting the hood slide back a little, revealing her intrigued expression. Meeting a stranger in the wilderness, doing something rather peculiar, and the first reaction was to offer help. Well, it was not a bad instinct, by far -- maybe it was out of some sense of community that she wanted to help Audi in whatever she was doing? That, the ratgirl could understand, even if she'd never seen that girl before.

Still. She gave a little shrug, amused. "I doubt it."

Upon seeing that the stranger was a rat- the whiskers and pink nose had at least prepared her for some type of animal- Gen was careful to maintain her poker face. So there were ratpeople. And really, it wasn't that earth shattering of knowledge- the longer she lived, the stranger the world got. More than likely, tucked away in some small corner, there were antpeople and squidpeople and who knew what else. Better to just keep an open mind towards everything.

The ratgirl seemed more intrigued than offended that Gen had interrupted whatever important task she was working on, and Gen was inclined to take that as a good sign. A sign that meant she could ask a question rather than high tail it to the castle and mind her own business. “If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you doing?” She asked.

It would be better if she could stay, too. The walk back seemed tiring, and she was hungry. It wasn't that she was starving- she wasn't even shaky yet. But the hollowed, empty feeling- like someone had reached inside and scooped out her blood and guts- was back. Until she established new friends, she expected that the uncomfortable sensation would linger for a while in order to motivate her to do so. But a handshake here and there would be enough to stave off the worst of it.

Audi tilted her head. "Why, looking for rocks." It was said with such puzzlement, one could be fooled she did not have an idea what was Gen asking. Of course, she was not that clueless; she just did not feel like explaining the whole business to a person she'd just met. Too much effort, and... potential trouble...?

When did she get so paranoid?

Her hand rose to rub the scar on the right side of her muzzle as she glanced away. When she looked back to the other, her eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you doing here?"

Gen was a little insulted. Afterall, the ratgirl had just implied she doubted Gen's ability to help look for rocks, but she held her tongue. Perhaps the stranger was more miffed than she first let on about being interrupted, and Gen had just sort of appeared from no where. She was sure that if their positions were reversed, she wouldn't be overly friendly either. Weariness towards strangers was completely understandable.

But when the ratgirl's eyes narrowed, Gen noticeably stiffened, before forcibly relaxing. It was an automatic response that she mentally scolded herself for. One suspicious look was enough to make her jump now days, but that reaction was unacceptable. If she clammed up, it normally only increased the other person's discomfort or suspicion, and she had nothing to apologize for other than simply exploring. “I was just on my way back to the castle,” she explained, her tone even. “I'm sorry if I interrupted you- I thought it might be nice to have some help, or at least some company, but perhaps you'd prefer it if I just let you be.”

It would be a tiresome walk back to the castle without Contact, but Gen wasn't about to force company on someone who would prefer to be left alone. She knew she had days were she preferred solitude- not that she ever took it, as that was rarely a good policy for a creature dependent on physical contact with other living creatures, but...she understood the urge.

Audi stood still, watching the other's body language carefully. It seemed that the girl was wary, perhaps more concerned for her safety than Audi.

Good.

The answer was acceptable, she supposed -- though it could as well have been an excuse, the words didn't matter as much as the fact that the girl didn't look or sound like she was lying. Audi gave a nod. "Wouldn't mind company." She was busy, sure, but it was with quite the mindless and boring task. Looking down to the ground again, hood sliding over her face, she proceeded down her path, apparently expecting the other simply to follow.

At least the stranger seemed to accept her answer without further interrogation, although the truth was really that simple; she had merely been on her way back to the castle. It was a small relief that, combined with the opportunity to stay in the open air, made her half smile.

Gen hesitated before she committed to falling into step behind the ratgirl, careful not to walk too close and risk stepping on the cloak or invading the other's personal space. She had wanted to introduce herself before they started walking, increasing the likelihood of some sort of greeting like a handshake, but hadn't been given much of a chance before the other had simply turned around and continued ambling along. There was always the possibility the ratpeople had no physical greeting anyways. Which meant she would just have to wait and see where this conversation went, if any Contact were to be made.

“I'm Gen. If you don't mind me asking, who are you? And...what are you looking for in the rocks?”

Scanning the ground just as before they'd met, Audi kicked over a stone to its other side, squinting unhappily as she saw its unevenness. "I'm Audi," she said, not looking up. There was a moment of pause and a few paces walked, then she tilted her head as to give the other a sidelong glance in thought. There was no harm in saying, she supposed.

"They need to be round on the outside and orderly on the inside." Looking away again, she turned another rock over, hummed, then leaned down to pick it up.

“How do you tell if they're orderly on the inside?” She couldn't help but to ask, curious despite herself.

Well certainly she could find round rocks. And if they weren't “orderly” on the inside, then Audi would tell her. She walked a few feet from Audi, crouching down and searching for rocks that felt smooth and easy under her hands. Although the differences between the humans and the Arindi were minimal, Gen supposed the biggest one was that she preferred to rely on her sense of touch over sight, if given the opportunity. So she closed her eyes and felt the cold, hard surfaces, fingers rising over bumps and dipping into the small crooks in the stone. She sorted through the handful she had, and finally stood up and offered one to Audi. “Will this one work?”

Glancing from above the rock she'd picked up, Audi parted her mouth to speak -- but before she did, the girl walked off. She watched her curiously. So keen on helping... Shaking her head a little, Audi focused instead on her find, shutting her eyes.

When she opened them again a few seconds later, the complicated structures faded from her imagination to be replaced by the sight of Gen offering another stone. "Magic," she answered, still a bit off-handed as she threw the old rock over her shoulder. Gen's finding was picked out of her hand and the ratgirl proceeded to examine it, first feeling up the shape and approving with a nod. "It's round, alright," she said. "A bit small though." Then, she closed her eyes again and peered inside the stone. It was not quite like looking, more like sensing, like the feeling you get when you know there is a presence in the dark that you can't see or hear.

"It's good." With a smile, she looked up at the girl, then reached underneath her cape to slip the rock into the bag at her hip.

Gen watched Audi close her eyes, the ratgirl appearing to intently focus on the stone for a moment. The Arindi shifted her weight from one foot to another, wiping the moss and dirt from her palms onto her jacket. Was Audi working some type of magic? She could never decide if it was better to be fascinated or wary of people when they were working spells.

“How many do you need?” Gen asked, returning the smile upon Audi's approval of the rock she had selected. She was tempted to ask what Audi planned to do with the rocks, but decided it was better to wait until that information was volunteered rather than push too hard. It didn't matter in the end, anyways. What the rocks were for was of little consequence to Gen, although she was interested in a vague way.

As she asked her question, she bent down to examine some more rocks, sifting through them by feel alone, looking up at Audi for the answer. But her attention was jerked from the situation when a spider danced across the knuckles of one of her hands. She froze, held her breath, waiting to see what would happen. There was no telling what trait she'd get when she came into contact with another living being. And Gen certainly didn't want to have to explain suddenly developing eight legs.