To the Mountains (NiSk)

This is a closed NiSk (Nirasi/Skjoldur) RP, Len and I are continuing where In The Name of Snacks left off.

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Nearly a week spent munching fresh fish and berries had gone to Skjoldur's head and he was determined to drag Nirasi with him kicking and screaming to the mountains. His muzzle and mask had purple stains on them from the berries and he had a faint aroma of fungus and earth about him - nothing new there. The nasty incident in the brambles had shocked him but he did what he usually did and ran away from it, traveling far, focussing on nature and ignoring the deep unsettling feeling in his gut.

He didn't like turning back to face his fears but these particular fears had a big fluffy friend involved in them, one he was determined to take into the same world as him, filled with birds and plants and only the problems of the wild to contend with. He trotted down the side of the waterfall and into the side entrance, tongue lolling cheerfully.

"Nirasi!" He called, "Nirasi, I'm back!"

Gamboling into the main room he did a quick scan and continued into the hallway, towards the side rooms.

"Nirasi!" he hallooed more loudly this time.

He peered into his room and saw the small forest he had grown looking a little sorry for themselves. Forgetting himself and his fear for a moment he willed them greener and immediately shoots sprung up around his feet through the rock and on his mask. He didn't notice and looked around, then turned to leave but suddenly realised there was something there that hadn't been before. Placed on a mossy log that commonly served as a perch for his woodland followers was a leather-bound book, beautiful decorated with delicate carvings of a bramble patch.

Skjoldur padded over and sat down, opening it and gasping lightly. Tiny pockets, clips, bigger pockets, holders, ties... The book was for his collections of natural curiosities, seeds, feathers, interesting sticks, unknown rocks... The perfect documentation tool for a wanderer. Such a beautiful carefully crafted gift for him: he took it that Nirasi wasn't sore at him for coming back late. In it was a note from blue 'lai himself, cajoling him to come back more often. He grinned and put it back gently.

"Nirasi, where are you, you big fluffy lummox!"

A completely undignified snort-whuffle echoed softly from the master room at the head of the hallway. Startled awake by his alarm system being tripped, Nirasi feigned alertness to the best of his abilities, felt his fur go into a ridge down his spine, and shuffled to his doorway. Do I even have an alarm system?

"Nirasi, where are you, you big fluffy lummox!"

Funny, that sounds like Skjoldur, he thought, yawning. He felt the fur pull at the corner of his mouth, matted with drool. "Mlaaar, mlull," he said, dropping the defensive posture and feeling silly for having assumed it in the first place. Wait, Skjoldur?

His feet had recognized his friend's return long before his sense did, and they'd already cleared a few scrapes across the floor before his paws got purchase and he lunged forward into the hallway. "Hey!" he chirped, baritone ceding to excitement. The hallway had never been a good place for a charge at full-tilt, and that remained true. As would be expected, he tried to skid to a stop, his hindquarters slid out to the side, and he jack-knifed, greeting Skjoldur with a hip-check and an unceremonious dogpile. It wasn't the first time he'd been toppled by a body pillow, and certainly wouldn't be the last, since he'd decided to come back after all. An up-kicked end of carpet completed the greet by landing upside-down on Nirasi's head, tassles falling into his eyes.

"When did my alarm system start calling me names?" Nirasi asked, not waiting for an answer. He took a huge, deep breath and exhaled into the fluff of Skjoldur's neck, making a huge mess of it. "Wow do you smell good! You smell like freedom and," he licked a purple mask stain and some sprouts stuck to his tongue, "deliciousness!" He bobbed his head to remove the carpet, rolled into a sitting position and vibrated with excitement. His tail would have swept up a dust cloud were the floor not so damp. Had to let Skjoldur get up, chiefest priority.

"Hey, so I figured it out!" Nirasi declared, "Fireflies!!"

"Hi! You smell like warm," Skjoldur muffled in return, pushing himself upright and spitting carpet from his mouth. He had felt Nirasi arrive before he had heard him and the electrifying vibrations had made him even more excited, the sprouts on his mask started waving and the carpet began to grow flowers. "I went all the way up to the field-fares and there were berries, you have to come and eat mushrooms, they're so apricoty!" Skjoldur was gesticulating and panting.

"Wait, what fireflies, were there some fireflies? I love fireflies." He rolled backwards onto his tail and threw his forelegs forward onto Nirasi's shoulders, "It's so good to see you!"

"They're better than bees!" Nirasi whispered through a grin. He leaned in to complete a hug and extended his standard fur-poofing welcome. "It's always way more vibrant when you're here," he said, noting the new flowers and whipping sprouts everywhere. Powerless to remain on topic, he continued, "Been a while since I had apricots...! I have to tackle a tree, no one likes that. But you're saying I can have apricot-y and ground-level-y?"

He released his grip and danced from forepaw to forepaw. "Oh! Your book! I was worried that-" he let the thought drop, only room for positives right now! "It's, well you're here so that note seems...but I'm so glad you're here! I hope you like it, it's got all sorts of places to hide things, and I can re-lace it if it gets worn out, give you another little paper pad? I wanted to make sure that...if you," blah he came back, no need to explain the 'please come back!' bits, Zee! "I hope it's useful and not too...it was a rough day, but we got through it, and I hope the cover's not too...it's supposed to be like, a...happy reminder? Hah, I sound like an idiot. I'm so glad you came back. I can hardly stand to be here myself, but I'd be done for if I just...turned my back on everything like I want to," his words were starting to get to a more normal pace, "I'm lucky to have you, someone I can say this to without feeling too much like an immature coward. I've been going stir-crazy, I've faced down the embarrassment and I need to move forward. I need to move. I want to put distance between myself and the anxiety of the past week."

Hearing his voice out loud after so long in silence was addicting! So he continued, "But the fireflies, yes! You should have seen the way that day wound to a close. A few lingered to try to make me feel better I guess, but all I could think as the sun set was how...you could summon a swarm of fireflies, and how nice it'd have been to have you there," he sighed, "social protocol leaves a lot to be desired when you're the one who needs the attention. I like being able to say selfish things like that."

"Would you like to crash out here for the night? We could gather up some supplies, prepare, get a fresh start in the morning? Or we could leave right now, I really don't care either way. I've never felt so unwelcome in my own home. But I think good company would shake my demons regardless of the setting!"

He was grinning from ear to ear and nodding, "We'll set off tomorrow at day-break." He was so happy to see Nirasi the incident in the brambles didn't even register as a bad experience. "As for the book and the note... I'm just... Happy to know I'm wanted here, Zee, and that you care enough to make me come back. Of course I'll come back, you're always so enthusiastic about the stuff I find and it's so much fun... As for the cover, well it's a great reminder of how we should never host parties... Ha!"

Barking and leaping up onto his hind legs he literally jumped for joy. "I'm just so happy to see you! But I'm thirsty. And I'm hungry too," he turned and started trotting through to the main room, "hungry for some seeds..." said quietly with a sly smile, he turned and waited for Nirasi. "Tell me what happened after I left, I have a morbid curiosity. You're much braver than I am, what did the purple one say? She terrified me."

"Grumpy Purple's not so bad. I'm also not very brave. But she stuck around and cleaned up the house, which was...I don't know what it was. Anyway, there were only three left by the time everything got shut down for the night, Lynndercote - nice fellow - Phlorian, and Alkyone...and I suppose Pip counts, but she was asleep by then. We went outside, Lynn kept the pool warm and Phlo kept it lit, but all I could think about was how nice it'd have been to have fireflies. I think I spent the rest of the night being exhausted and introspective. Some host, heh."

He paused his animated narration at his next thought. "Luckily, Candy wasn't here...hey, I was wondering whether you'd...help me out with her, maybe? I've been tinkering with something for her as a thank you and apology. She gave me a bunch of ore to make new tools, and this," he pulled a chain with a golden feather from his ample furbosom, "I can tell she worked really hard on it, and she was one of the few who had the forethought to bring a gift, something I never expected. What I'm asking is...there's no way I can really utilize these other things without her help - I think that was the point of the gesture - but it'll be hard to solicit such help, as far in the doghouse as I've gotten myself."

Nirasi sighed, "I can't abide by burned bridges. I've made a little hair clasp with snowy egrets on it (sorta like a bird version of her I thought), laced it up and everything, and there are trailing ribbons to weave through her hair...but do you think you could help me get actual white feathers to put onto it? Maybe use your element to make some beads out of the ore? I need to show that I appreciate everything and that I want to make use of things, and I wonder if this would be enough of a gesture that she'd be willing to talk to us again? Could be a team effort to regain favor!"

A sudden smile crossed his face, "Worst case scenario, she never talks to me again and you and I can figure out something cool to do with this metal, eh? Let's get our bags packed!"



He hadn't spend ten minutes scrambling for supplies before he blurted "Can't sleep."

Well, that made sense, since it was still daylight out. And they weren't settling down for the evening or anything. He'd just come to the conclusion that he'd toss around sleeplessly, and felt the need to share his abandonment of the prospect.

Skjoldur rifled through boxes and cupboards while Nirasi recounted his lady troubles, and successfully found edible matter. This he sat down to chew on and listened pensively, trying to remember Candy and why Nirasi was worried about her and if she liked him. His mask shoots had died down a bit and the lawn appearing at his feet was getting less enthusiastic, the party was still a black eye for him.

"Could be a team effort to regain favor!"

He swallowed, seeds around his muzzle. "Oh she was the one with the hair clip. I like the beads idea, I've never tried to make anything so small though, but I'll give it a go. The feathers are a nice touch too," he scratched behind his ear, "but I don't have any white feathers on me and it's not moulting season. We'll have to go and relinquish a swan of it's down and I don't think it will appreciate it. But it can be done, think Candy will mind ill-gotten feathers?"

He stood up, snack devoured, and started nosing in cupboards again. "The beads will give me something to do while we're in the wilds, meditation's not all it's cracked up to be."

Time was spent making a hectic pile in the middle of the room. Skjoldur didn't understand the concept of supplies but wanted Nirasi to feel relaxed and tried his best to help. He brought things like pillows, a log, some nice fabric he found and a saucepan. It took him a while to carefully select them from the myriad choices in the den and soon he was tired of it, so decided to turn his attentions to food. Again.

"Can't sleep."

His head was deep in a cupboard - he was sniffing out potatoes. "Why don't we camp tonight then," he extracted his fizzog from the store, "That might sufficiently exhaust you. We can go a little way into the woods and see how you like it and if you realise we need something extra we forgot," here he looked at the dubious pile, "then you can pick it up when we set off properly. I'll treat you to a nice meal out," he added, remembering the forests bounty of mushrooms, fish and berries.

((haha I can so see Nirasi being the textbook example of overflowing rucksacks and frying pans and useless supplies, especially since he's burly enough to lug it around for a day or so before the '...duh.' sets in. My first few hikes (lol can I even call them that, futzing around wartorn mountainscapes) had a bunch of stuff I didn't need but wasn't sure about...but eventually I learned the zone between 'creature comforts' and ounces = pounds and pounds = pain))

"Bah, I've been working on this hair thing for days and I'd like the break from it, so if you want to put it off that doesn't really bother me. I just...buried myself in making things so I didn't have to agonize over being stuck in my own house. Still kinda edgy," he jutted his chin at the slowing growth at Skjoldur's toes, "and you too, I see. I also have less than no interest in messing with a swan if I don't have to. Kinda how I got into this, tormenting something just as pretty and volitile. Having a plan is eough for me, lifts some of the stress. Don't have to get to the plan just now, as much as I love the phrase 'ill-gotten feathers'," he laughed.

"I'll let you know up front that if you're present as a victim for conversation, you're not going to get much meditation done with me around. Alone I can manage to still myself to bring down a deer, but I guarantee with you as a guide I'll be babbling you to madness. What you're saying makes sense though, I can stay tethered to a structure for the night and figure out what I do and don't need to lug around with me...but before we leave for good I swear I'll try to limit myself to what I can get in my tail-saddlebag thingers. I...just kinda made them, never thought to name them since I don't think I have ever had to explain them to anyone. Heh," he trailed off sheepishly.

"But hey, I like the sauce pan idea, I should really get to cooking things instead of being satisfied eating ingredients separately. So let me bring some spices, and..." and almost immediately he'd piled enough things on the table to completely debunk his claim of bare-bones travel. "Yeah, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know why this is so different for me. I've just never...traveled, I guess? I kinda came out here all those years ago and settled in, built that shack out there and focused on really one or two things. Strange to think I can't come back 'home' this time, at least for a while. But part of me knows that I can just step off right now without a second thought, I can protect us from the wetter elements and you can keep us fed. That's really taking care of 99% of the issues anyone would have."

"It'll be nice not having to worry about the rain for once," he mused, tossing a potato from hand to hand carelessly. His eyes travelled to the pile of "equipment" and he let out a low rumble. "We have to take everything for camping in one trip. Saddle-bag-thingers and mouths, that's all."

As Nirasi rummaged through herbs he padded back to his room and gently picked up the field book. "Hey Nirasi," he called, "do you have some sort of strap or something for me to carry this around with?"