an unexpected arrival [open]

[Deleted]

"Slitherseed...toughest roots I've ever known..." a thick gruff voice trailed off in his own thoughts: In his native and mother tongue, there was a man on his hands and knees in the middle of the forests. It hadn't occurred to him that he had long since passed territory which could no longer be considered their own: Not that it was of any concern to this man. Plants grew where they grew. His hands, covered in muck and mud alike was almost squatting over a root: deftly rubbing through the roots to sift through the soil and garbage that he couldn't use. He was used to this. It was natural. He pulled out a small knife, cutting a few pieces of root here and there. Why? So they would grow back. It was unlike both his clan and himself to destroy their nature: They required to be able to survive. He would be able to return in a few months time and re-pick this particular herb.

Speaking of which, what was it? The plant was a green color. It was so stark in contrast to the darker green moss that the floor happened to be covered with. Its petals were of a difference, a pale yellow. Dangerous. Well, not exactly. It was just a warning: This particular plant would give a very sour and bitter taste when bitten into: The leaves could be used for mushing up into medicines and help the digestive process. The roots could be used for boiling: They were nice when given time to emanciate the flavour. The stem could be eaten on its own: Not recommended, but it was possible. As Kinos finished, he gave a whistle: covering up the roots with the loose dirt and moss he had been pulling apart. With the knife-wielding hand, up against the tree his arm came up, stabbing the tree as he stood himself up. He left it in there as he placed the plant in his bag: Rustic enough as it was, it was simply animal furs. He could sort them out at a later date. 

He smiled. Today was a good day indeed. His bag was mostly full from herb collecting: He had a nice variety. Nothing particularly dangerous: Something that if the juices got onto your skin, they would irritate the living hell out of you. They weren't spices: Just a red plant. What else was on his agenda today? He had spent since the sun's rise collecting herbs. Aside from his heavier bag, his clothes, knife and trusty set of bolas: He wasn't up to much else. So: He walked.

He had been around many of these forests and landscapes he found himself wondering if he would die in this place. His hand pulled the knife from the tree with a soft 'shhk' as it came loose. And he began walking. Mind wandering.

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Nicolette Carmichael]

Nicolette was on guard duty, which frankly bored her to no end. But it had to be done. It at least gave her a chance to think, coming up with stories about battles and like. It entertained her when she was most bored. She was walking around in the forest, not too far from camp. Things had been pretty quiet for some time, and guard duty was starting to become mindless and easy. She didn't complain though. Sometimes it was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the camp. She didn't always like big crowds much. That's what she liked about Earth. There was just so much space! So much freedom. Well freedom enough, the camp still restricted her. But she didn't dare venture out by herself, much further than she needed to for her duties.





She was just imagining her main character ending the battle, and being victorious, when she thought she heard a noise in the trees. She walked forward, holding her gun up and scanning the surroundings. She thought she heard footsteps and her nerves started to pick up. Was it an animal? A grounder? An enemy? She was ready for anything. "Hello? Anyone out there?" She cocked her head to the side a little, staring into the distance. It was sometimes hard to see in this forest, it was quite dense, so she couldn't make out anything other than trees and bushes.

[Deleted]

A noise snapped the man from his thoughts. Bringing a hand to his face as he covered it- stopping the sunlight from hitting his face as he looked. He could not be careless. But it was the specific enunciation and actual language itself that he drew attention to. Another warrior, perhaps? he thought in his own tongue. He closed his fist around the knife he had been wandering with. As he looked around, he couldn't actually see much. He would do what grounders do: Gather information. Scope.

"If it's a sky person..."he spoke softly. The situation had aroused his interest. He put away his knife, turned to the tree he was about to leave from: and took one big leap upwards as he grabbed onto the first branch: Underneath his clothes his muscled tensed and ripples as he began maneuvering his way up the tree. Slowly, but surely like a creeping shadow, he gained a vantage point. He strained his eyes out into the distance: leaning from one side of a tree branch to dotting over to the other side, and into another tree - when he caught it. A woman. Proportions of which he had not seen: A grounder.

To this day, he had not specifically interacted with one. He almost began shaking in anticipation and excitement. His eyes seemed to brighten and electrify his own aura. He began skulking closer to the woman - it wasn't a close distance, but he would move forward: If she was perceptive, she would see the smaller leaps he made as he went through the foliage in the trees above her. She would see a figure - a grounder: but not clearly. He would need to play it cool. He made his way down from a thicket treetrunk and would stand behind it. He had heard of their weapons. Mount Weather had them too. He knew the damage they could cause.

Remembering his english, he got close enough as to be in shouting distance. From behind one of the thicker trunks of the tree he had made his way down from, he spoke and broke the silence that had probably been suffocating her. "err.. Hello there, Sky-person. I mean you no harm..." his voice: unlike her own accent and clearly not of an arker descent spoke from behind the tree, there would be the slightest reverberation and volume decrease since he was hiding himself from harm. His right hand came out of the side of the tree - waving upwards and downwards a few times as to draw her attention. Now, had he been a malicious and ill-intented man, this would've been the perfect distraction for one of his psuedo-friends to slice her throat. He, however, was not anything of the sort. He was a scholar of the earth. He wanted to know.

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Nicolette Carmichael]

It took a while before she heard a reply, and she was startled if she had to be honest with herself. She doubted many of the grounders would actually reply if they wanted to kill her. "err.. Hello there, Sky-person. I mean you no harm..." She heard the shout. 
She took a step forward, squinting, and there in the distance she could see an arm sticking out from behind a tree. A big wave to catch her attention. And attention it did bring. She was curious. Most of the grounders she had encountered tried to attack her. She continued to hold her gun up, now pointed in the direction of the person. 
"If you come forth I won't harm you." She shouted back, not sure what else to do. There was so much more they could learn about the grounders. If this grounder didn't want to harm, could she talk to him? Did she have to capture him? In this moment she wasn't entirely sure what to do. There were no set rules as to what to do when they saw a grounder, with the exception of them attacking, she would have to defend the camp. 


She waited, not daring to move in case this could be a trap. Her eyes scanned the rest of the surroundings, but she couldn't make out anything else. The grounders were sneaky, able to move quietly in their surroundings, easily able to fool the people who did not know the area, aka the arkers. Nic was observant, but not enough to know everything about the surroundings, and with her prosthetic leg it made it difficult to move quietly. She would make a horrible grounder if that was the case, she thought to herself. 

[Deleted]

If he came forth? What did that mean? Out? He understood most of the sentence, but it almost made him chuckle. His eyes closed briefly and he laid his head back against the tree, a grin spread across his face. As if she thought she could harm him. Unless she had one of those weapons, in which case he would be more anxious

"ok-" he responded, his hand came from behind the tree and pulled out his knife - his hand came out again, slowly, this time: knife pointed to the floor. He dropped it. And with that, a second hand came out - showing empty palms. And with that, given a few moments that his hands still existed he closed his eyes. 

'Do not let me regret this.' he thought in his native language. He slunk out from behind the tree, stepping in front of the knife he had dropped - hands directly in front of him. He kept close to the trunk. A way of safety.

Unbeknownst to the woman, this was not a grounder like the others she had met: If she had conversed with one before. Kinos was not a warrior and so had spent far less time being taught the bilingual language that the woman before him had learned as a native tongue. He did not speak with as much clarity and grace as the others did. He was good at understanding: But not in reciprocation.

This was a time in which he could look at her better. And that he did. He looked at her features and his eyes squinted slightly, he was definitely scoping her out. He stared. His eyes would've seemed untrustworthy. He was curious. He hadn't been shot in these past few moments... was that a good sign?

He could be seen from far away, and so would take the chance to take some steps closer so that he would not have to shout in order to speak. His hands kept up, as he edged himself forward. Passively, palms facing her. If it wasn't already obvious, he was being very cautious.

He spoke loudly, being somewhat closer than before. Obviously that wasn't the correct way to talk, but it was the closest translation he knew.

"What do they call you, sky person?" 

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Nicolette Carmichael]

The grounder slowly dropped the knife on the ground, and Nic felt a little better about it, she just hoped he didn't have any other weapons, which he most likely did, having known grounders, or anyone that knew how to fight. She herself had several knives. The grounder slowly revealed himself, but stayed close to the tree. He held his hands up in surrender and slowly took a few steps forward. She continued to point the gun at him, but she wasn't sure if she needed to. But just to be safe, until she could see that he wasn't a threat anymore. 
He stopped to ask a question, "What do they call you, sky person?" It was a curious question to ask. His speech wasn't the greatest, so it meant he wasn't fluent in English, so she would have to try and speak in an easy way to him. 
He didn't look very dangerous either, with his wide curious eyes. He seemed different than the others, but she didn't want to underestimate him. "I'm Nicolette, but Nic is good too." She replied. "And you are?" 


She wasn't sure what to think about Grounders anymore, seeing this man had already changed her view on them. Of course she was still going to be on her guard, but she didn't think she had to worry too much about his intentions. "What are you doing here?" She asked him. This was their territory after all, he technically shouldn't be here. 

[Deleted]

The woman seemed... just as cautious if not more so. 

Drilled in his instinct, his arms kept firmly in front of him: unwavering and almost ridiculously still. Something that had been instilled to him in his life here on earth. It was something that these sky-people did not possess. 

He had found out her name was Nicolette, or Nic. He thoughtfully nodded to himself. He kind of edged forward, the top half of his body bending forward as he didn't actually move: and he tapped himself lightly. "Vine." he grinned as he tapped himself. He wasn't about to give her his real name, Kinos was... more personal to him. No easy amount of niceness would be required to coax these personal details from him. 

It had been a sufficient amount of time to make Kinos forget his danger, and his hands came down. Like being asked about his favorite hobby but under gunpoint, there was mixed part care and mixed part hurriedness as one of his hands came to the side of the bag of animal furs strung together as a duffel bag of sorts. Instead of trying to use a second hand and risk getting hurt: he used this one hand to pull up the 'lid' and pulled it forwards, tipping the bag forward slightly and showing the contents to the sky person known as Nic. Kinos - checking her expression to see if it was of approval, would take that moment to sit down and place the bag on his lap cheerfully. 

"Is that... a .. battle . name, sky person?" almost simply forgoing the use of her name in a comical fashion, this was absolutely normal to him and so was spoken with what would've been his next move: curious inquisition. His eyes squinted at her as he spoke - the tone and physicality had proven enough of the curious nature of the question. 

Obviously, unlike her (he assumed), he did not mind the rough floor and mud and dirtiness the earth provided. He also had a light amount of furs to keep him warm and clean, barring his hands - rough and dirty from the work he had been doing for the past couple of hours. 

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Nicolette Carmichael]

He man revealed his name was Vine. He moved cautiously, trying not to do anything too quickly. She knew that he was just trying to keep himself safe. He slowly pulled open the satchel hanging at his side, and she glanced at it. What was inside? She was surprised to see that it was filled with plants, different kinds. He looked at her, seeming to look for approval and she nodded, no longer pointing the gun at him. He seemed somewhat harmless, if all he had was plants, than surely he wasn't a warrior. Warrior's wouldn't go forage for plants. Maybe he was a healer looking for medicine? She wasn't sure, but she knew that he was ok. He wasn't going to hurt her unless she provoked him. 


He sat on the ground, looking up at her with an odd expression of curiousness. She had never seen this expression on a grounder before. Who was this guy? Everything she knew was thrown out the window. And now she wasn't sure what to do. This was new territory. Strangers weren't her specialty, so she would have to do the best she could, try not to be so nervous about talking to him. Her hands shook lightly, as she decided to also sit down, but it was difficult with her leg. She struggled having to bring her left leg down on the ground while her right one bent as far as it could, and she fell on her butt to the floor, giving a light grunt. It didn't hurt really, it was just so annoying, even after all these years. 



"Is that... a .. battle . name, sky person?" The man asked her. 
She gave a small chuckle, rested her gun beside her, pointed away from the man, after having clicked the gun on safety. "Oh. No. We don't have battle names. Just one name." She told him. 
Nic was already starting to be really interested in him. She didn't feel as awkward around him, because he wasn't like her. She felt like she could have a better conversation with him, than a stranger from the Ark. 

[Deleted]

She was half right. He was not a warrior: But had learned how to protect himself. But he was not a healer either: He was just a... clever person. He found things and made things. At times he would work with the healers - but largely the plants they required were grown in their home. This was for safety. 

He noticed the way she sat down. She has a problem with her leg... That was an unfortunate thing. He listened intently to her response. One name for everything. He could see the reasoning. 

With the bag on his lap, he opened it up further and his hands went inside, shuffling around through the greenery to find something. A few moments later, he pulled out a large rod looking plants. They were a mix of green and yellow. He placed them on his lap, and placed the bag to his side. He started taking off the leaves, pulling them off: leaving small indents in the rods. 

"So. . ." he spoke as he worked, eyes glued to the rods. His gaze flickered up to her. "Sky person .. how do you finding the world?"

He placed the now naked rod over the side of his leg, away from her - and began using both of his hands to break them in half: They were tough. Now, if he had his knife it would've been done in a heartbeat. But he did not right now. "Ai'nevit Kha she..." ["Come on..."] he spoke in his own language as he pulled. Slowly but surely they began bending - and making a 'crrk' sound as they began to splinter before finally giving way and was then separated into two pieces. 

This was the easy part. He took one of the pieces, held it by both sides and began peeling away at both sides - they would split once more, providing two halves. In the middle of the rod, there were pods of a sort. He did the same to the other side, providing four halves of a rod. Showing her, he took out one of the pips and popped them into his mouth. He then offered her two of the rods - each with their own pips. 

He began eating, placing the pips in his mouth and cracking them. "They are tough." he spoke, and you could hear a crunch as he chewed on them. He grinned at her lasciviously. It would be wise for the woman to remember he was still a grounder: Their way was different. He was different. To the Sky people.

If she took some of them to eat, she would notice a starting taste of a somewhat bitter pod - but that would completely evaporate and begin to give off a sweet taste. She may have known it's taste, and on the ark they would have called it something different: sugar. Kinos did not know this: He only knew it by it's plant name and it's taste. 

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Nicolette Carmichael]

Having sat down the man started to rustle through his bag until he found what he was looking for. A plant, it rod shaped with green and yellow. She wondered what this did. 

"So. . ." he said as he worked, not looking at her for a moment. His eyes finally flickered up to her. "Sky person .. how do you finding the world?"
She didn't know how to respond to that question at first. She continued to watch curiously as he tried to pull apart the plant. It looked really difficult. What was inside? And what was this used for? 
She gave a small sigh and a smile. "Amazing. There is so much space. I am not stuck anymore. Well. I guess, I am stuck in camp." She shrugged, but not that he was looking anyway. "But it's beautiful here. So many things to look at. Breathing here is much easier. There is quiet." 
She wasn't sure if he could understand everything she was saying, she hoped he could. 

Finally he got the plant open, and started to pull it apart a little, revealing pips. He put one in his mouth and grinned at her. "They are tough." 
He held out one of the rods to her. She looked at it a moment wondering if she should take it. But she was curious. She doubted he was going to eat it if it was going to kill her. She took it from him and placed one in her mouth. At first there was a bitter taste and she scrunched up her face, but continued to bite into the pip. Then she tasted it. The sweetness. It was familiar. But what was it? 
She began to laugh happily. "Sugar!" She announced. "This is a sugar plant." 
She was really excited, maybe they could have sugar again. She would have to inform some of the gatherers, they would know what to do with the plant. 

"What do you do for your people?" She decided to ask him. To herself it was interesting that she could feel so comfortable around this complete stranger, someone who didn't act or live like she did. She just hoped that it wouldn't backfire. 

[Deleted]

He was not aware of the particular problems they would have faced up on the ark. The earth was all he had ever known. He nodded and could empathize with her.  

His curiosity was definitely piqued at her outburst. "Shu-gar?" he repeated after her. How did she have access to a plant from the earth? She was a Sky-Person. He cleared his mouth, before popping another one into his mouth. "Have you had this before? This... Sugar?" 

He listened to her question. Well, that was an interesting one. Truth be told: He had no specific role. He was not a healer, or a warrior or even a farmer. But he knew a little about each and every one of them. That had a name too, a Jack of trades. He did not know this. "I have no role." he shrugged it off. While not technically true as he did collect herbs and create poisons, it was not something she needed to know. 

One of her thoughts could prove very dangerous to her, however. If she decided to get gatherers to collect these plants: It could  be deadly. The bitterness did not come from anywhere, and it so happened that these pods happened to be ripe enough to eat, but before that time, they were poisonous. The irradiation the earth had suffered over the hundred years the Arkers had been gone had physically changed the physiology of many plants. It was through trial and error that the grounders had learned how to harvest their surroundings. Unfortunately for her, it would be most likely that they would gather some poisonous varieties. Since she had not voiced this, it would be her later downfall... and it would come back to Kinos. 

Since there was no enunciation of the thought, it would go unheard of. Kinos, on the other hand kept popping them into his mouth, and you could still hear the crunch as they popped open. They were quite the treat. Either way, he had many questions. He didn't quite know where to start. He stopped eating for a moment, both of his hands came up to his hair - the braid. He ran his hands across the rough skin that had been shaved: and pulled his hair back tightly, to allow his braid to tighten up once more - his other hand pulled on a string of sorts, and it was re-fastened once more. 

"How did you stay there?" he pointed to the sky.

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Nicolette Carmichael]

He tried to sound out the word sugar and she smiled, nodding. "Yes. But... It doesn't look like that. They are small grains. But same taste." She explained to him. If only she had some sugar on her, she could show him. But unfortunately she didn't. Which was a little disappointing. 
She ate another one, trying to savor the flavour. Ever since crashing to the ground they didn't have any of their normal foods from when they lived up in Space. So this was a small luxury only she had gotten to experience. 

He told her that he had no role and she was very curious. She would have thought that everyone had a specific role, that's what she had gathered anyway. Nic and her people did. Everyone had their role, and that made everything run smoothly enough. "So, do you do jobs here and there?" She asked, wondering. If he didn't have a specific job, then what did he do?

He continued to eat, and finally he asked another question. He pointed to the sky, "How did you stay there?" 
She liked to talk about the sciences, those were her best subjects at school. Or had been. She hadn't studied science in a long time. "Oh. Well, there is thing called gravity, which is why we stay on the ground and not fly. Our home stayed just outside of this gravity. We also had mechanisms that helped keep us in the same place, which would push air in the directions we wanted. It's all very complicated." She tried to explain. Of course she could go into more detail, but she doubted this man would understand many concepts of science. She glanced up at the sky, that's where her home used to be, up there, in space. She still couldn't believe she had survived. After all that has happened to her, she had survived the trip to the ground. With no one she loved, but then again she hadn't had anyone to love for many years. She sighed glancing at the ground, ok, she didn't need these negative thoughts. She was over the death of her parents and best friend. She had years to get over it. And she was. But sometimes these feelings would creep back in. 

[Deleted]

He gave a small 'ahh' in response. It was different for them. No matter. Then she enquired a little further, to which made Kinos look at her again. 

"Yes. I collect. I hunt, track and find all of things." he responded, pointing at either of his shoulders which both holstered a rope, attached to the rope were some weighted balls. It was a vague sort of response but allowed enough information as to not be avoiding the question. Still no mention of him being a poison maker. 

Questions only became more questions. "If that is the truth.... how did you fall?" Kinos remembered the first day they had actually arrived in a ball of fire. First of all, it was nothing more than a light. Then fire. The sound was what had drawn the grounder's attention to the Sky People first. 

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Nicolette Carmichael]

She nodded along to his answer of what he did. So it seemed he did the odd jobs, she could appreciate that. Someone had to do it. Just like her odd jobs as being guard. Sometimes she just had to do boring things. Such as standing in a forest, watching the trees for danger. 

He continued to question her about the ark, and she smiled at his question. "Oh. We did it on purpose. We wanted to come down here. We. Uh. We were going to run out of oxygen, you know, what we breathe. If we stayed we would have died. So we took the risk of going down to earth because we knew the kids were safe." She explained. "We made sure the thrusters were pushing us into Earth's gravity, and that's when we fell." She hoped that it was a good explanation. She had never tried to explain it to anyone, in her mind it all made sense. She understood what had had to happen, and had known the risks.

She wondered why this particular grounder was so curious. But she supposed that some people were just curious by nature, and he just happened to be one of them. But in the back of her mind she wondered if she should be telling him all this stuff. She was smart, but very curious right now. Surely things would be good? 

[Deleted]

As she explained he listened intently. Of course he didn't understand everything she happened to say, but gave his best shot at trying to understand. "I see" he spoke softly. One thing that mildly surprised him was that she did not seem surprised to see that he could speak English, however broken it may have been. He was trying to improve. 

"And what is it you do?" he was now asking about her. He took the time to smile at her. He looked slightly to the right, but kept his eyes on her as he smiled, blue piercing eyes that stared at her. He took this time to actually look at her. Fair proportioned, looked as much as a foreigner as they got: The paler skin was the main thing. It was very different to his own. 

And look her did. He popped another one of the seeds into his mouth as he looked. "Are you nervous? Of my here?" he spoke. He edged forward slightly and innocently to her.

MADE BY VEL OF GS