Session Start: Sat Mar 09 13:25:07 2002 *** GMAmy changes topic to 'Grandia: New Horizons | Chapter 20.1: Feray and Nathan | Location: Western Talachian village, 3 am, June 29 | Lude Start' ==Session Start== * Syri kwuus off in the distance The night is clear and silent, the stars shining brightly above; they are far enough from the cluster of towns surrounding the capital that the city lights do not dim the night sky's brilliance. The silence makes it difficult for some to sleep... * Feray shifts restlessly on her pallet, turning from left to right to left again. She finally sits up with a frustrated exhalation of air. "(w) ....hell." * Feray squints in the dark and makes out the vague lumps that make up her friends.. * Feray pauses to run a hand through her hair and sighs again as she slides off her pallet, tiptoe-ing for the door. She opens it and glances over her shoulder... "...mmnh...don't wait up, sleeping beauties." * Feray heads out, closing the door softly and heading outside to gather her thoughts.. * Feray glances about as she steps outside, hugging herself a little against the chill. She idly mourns that she never brought Mitsuo's jacket with her. ^^; * Nathan can be seen camped out somewhat beneath one of the trees, wrapped in a blanket, his head resting on his pack * Feray raises both eyebrows at the camped out form of Nathan and then frowns, heading for him. . o O (Is he sleeping out here to avoid me?) ...Aren't you up a bit past your bedtime? Well, you know me, I'm the rebel. You know, breaking curfew, kissing the boys and making them blush, kicking various old people in their creaky old shins. * Nathan doesn't laugh or smile, and sits up a bit True enough * Feray sighs a little and crouches down, resting on all fours. She eyes Nathan. "Wow. Not even a crack of that stoic demeanor. I must've really done something wrong." * Nathan looks away a little It's hard to be jovial when your best friend would rather get sick and die than tell you that something might be wrong I don't find that very amusing Hey, it's not like I enjoyed keeping it under wraps, you know. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think I should've. And why did you think you should? Or is that something else you don't want to tell me? Or is it because you don't trust me enough to be honest with me? * Nathan looks back at Feray with a hurt expression Hey now, you know I trust you. It's nothing to do with trust here, Nate. I'd gladly have you watching my back anytime, you know that. Listen...I'll tell you what's going on. * Nathan listens and waits * Feray sighs and drags herself closer to Nate, settling down into sitting position beside him. "You remember when you came to see me on the ship? My mom had just stormed out." Yeah She had caught the tail end of one of those attacks. She's always been overprotective of me and when she saw I was sweating and shaking, she flipped out and was demanding I take herbs, demanding I go home, demanding that I let her tell Lily and get the ship stopped so we could see a doctor. And you didn't want to Because I know what I'd be told.....Nate, before you joined up with us, we had been doing our usual freelance gig, helping people out, whatnot...exploring ruins. The whole thing. We found this room and we each had to go through our own respective doorways, only we weren't told which. All there was was a vague description of who we were. We had to mix and match, you know? ....mine was 'one who walks between life and death'. ... * Feray scoots closer to Nate so he can see, turning her tattooed wrist over so he can see the two noticable purple marks on her skin. "And I'm walking that thin line because of this." And no one knows why those two little dots are trying to kill you? I know why. But it happened before I met you guys, before I fell in love for the first time, before I even became a hunter. My dad.... ... ....he died when I was young... * Feray looks a little sad as she mentions that but shakes her head. * Nathan tries to follow along mentally My mom, she had always been the wild one. You know how she is, you met her. Well, she was a lot like me when she was younger. She adventured about. Only....when my dad died, there was two of us. She took me with her. I thought it was great. Seein' the sights, you know...experiencing nature and blah blah blah! * Nathan nods again Well...one of the trips, we were near the Misty Forest. You know about that place? Only by name It's basically this creepy forest that most people avoid because of the danger within. Justin and Feena went through it but they're one of the few to survive. Ah * Feray chuckles lowly. "I went in." By yourself? Oh yeah. Mom didn't want to go in. But I saw something...it was all shiny and bronzey colored and it was very beautiful. I chased after it. You gotta understand... I was only 10. I didn't really understand the big deal.. Go on * Feray smiles wryly. "She chased me. But I was smaller and we ended up in a clearing...I caught up to the creature and it was a small lizardy thing. I was excited. It really was beautiful.....and then mom stumbled in behind me and started yelling at me. It ran away while I was being screamed at..." And then all hell broke loose. This big.....big.. * Feray closes her eyes and shivers. Spider. It dropped down and grabbed me. * Nathan listens And my mom tried to get me down with her axe but it bit me, right there, where you see those marks and it was going to kill me....it would've killed me... I passed out from fear and pain but...mom told me later that two beastmen guides had stumbled upon us... They chased the spider off with some lances but I was bitten.... By a spider called the Reaper's Scourage. Sound familiar? Not particularly * Feray chuckles softly. "We got poisoned, remember? ....the venom was from that spider." Ah, THAT. That same poison huh? Yeah....but I was younger. Smaller. Much weaker. They took me to a village nearby and the doctor did all he could for me..people much older than me had died from the bite...he didn't expect me to pull through. Considering that I'm talking to you now, you did pull through. But there's more to this story, isn't there? Just a little more. The doctor treated me with herbs to try and kill the poison off...and it seemed they worked. I recovered. I suffered no real side effects save for these scars. Eventually, my mother took me to Leck and we settled down there. A few years passed..... things went on like normal. Began the whole hunting/farming shtick to support my mom...I was 16....I got my first attack out while I was hunting... Attack...like the one your mother saw Yeah....'cept the first one was really mild. I was shuddering uncontrollably and dizzy but it didn't last too long at all....it freaked me out but you have to understand, I couldn't tell her....she was so protective of me after the spider attack...she didn't even want me out of the house at first... Hmm... * Feray rubs her face with her hand. "So I hid it. And I've been hiding the attacks ever since...though...lately they've been happening more and been worse..." Not to appear dense...but how does hiding them help make them go away? It doesn't. I never believed hiding it would make it better. But at the same time, I never expected the attacks to get worse. I never thought I'd be 'walking between life and death'. But now it seems that you are, doesn't it? It certainly feels like it.. * Nathan's expression softens considerably Was it that hard to tell me that? * Feray shakes her head and avoids Nathan's eyes. "It was hard, because I don't want to be treated with kid's gloves. I don't want to be spoon fed or have choices made for me because I'm too weak...and from my mom's overprotectiveness, how was I supposed to know how you guys would react...?" Well, we could react in one of two ways... However everyone else is going to react when you decided to tell them Or absolute panic when you suddenly drop to the ground twitching and bleeding and we have no idea why you're suddenly dying for seemingly no reason * Feray can't help but laugh softly at that, quickly stifling it and looking guilty. So, how do you want everyone to react? I want them to treat me like me. I want them to be concerned, to be there for me, but not treat me like I'm already dead.. Fair enough Be be warned that they will want to find a way to make this condition go away * Feray looks worried. "But they can't. Or if they can, they can't do it yet. We have other things to attend to first..." The others may not see it that way. You'd best prepare yourself for that possbility * Feray sighs softly and rubs her neck... Ultimately the decision whether or not to tell them what you've told me is up to you. But the secret is working its way out, and you can't capture it again. You can either fight it, or let it out on your own Careful, Nate, you're bordering on cryptic and we all know Jalanda might get aggressive on your butt to defend her territory.. Funny, I thought what I said was pretty darn clear * Feray sighs again and lifts her face, eyeing Nate with her peculiar silver gaze. "You're right...about both accounts..." * Nathan smiles supportingly at her Look, I think its safe to way that this group will support you, no matter what happens. Have a little faith in them. If I can learn to trust surface dwellers after some thousand years of history telling me not to, I think you can too Yeah... I guess you're right....listen, Nate, I'm sorry for not telling you.... * Nathan reaches over and gives Feray a playful hug, ruffling her hair a bit You know what's funny about us merfolk? * Feray wrinkles her nose as her hair is messed up. "You have death wishes?" We're like a snake. If you make us upset, we get all pissy and we bite at you. But once its all said and done, it doesn't bother us anymore :) And everything is OK again Yeah? It's all good, huh? Cause I've had enough biting for my lifetime, thanks. ^^; * Nathan chuckles, genuinely this time I bet ;) * Feray grins slowly and then tickles Nate's side. "Now, are you going to stop your brooding and sleep inside where you won't get eaten by a bear?" Maybe ^_^ Maybe? ^_- I just wanted to be alone for a while really. Sometimes the way surface dwellers do things drive me nuts, and I have to bury those feelings to deal with them later. Otherwise I start throwing punches * Feray arches an eyebrow and taps her nose. "Ya can sock me one if you want. Really!" Sometimes I want to sock the lot of you, honestly * Feray relaxes a little. "I can't say I blame you." Back home, we believe that secrets can only hurt people, and are evil. The only time secrets are allowed as a necesary evil is when you are dealing with people you can't trust, period But here, secrets are commonplace, even acceptable * Feray eyes Nathan... I can't give you a reason. We're different from you. Our lives don't work the same. They never will. It's a matter of accepting the difference and letting go of cultural limitations. Secrets are bad but at the same time, you show respect by letting someone keep their secret, especially if it's painful to them. I'm sorry, but I can't accept that Secrets fester like hidden wounds * Nathan looses his smile competely and looks glum again Do you know much of a hypocrite I felt like when I was when I first met you guys? * Feray chuckles lowly. "Because you were spying on us in secret?" Because I wasn't being 100% honest with you At the time I didn't trust any of you one bit. But by the time we made that trip where Mits got captured and dragged under the water, I felt that maybe it was time to show you all the truth and see what happened * Feray nods slightly.. I decides to risk everything, and show you the truth finally. I wanted to trust you all, 'cause I liked you guys at that point * Nathan glares off to one side, "Well, most of you at least. There was one exception." * Feray shakes her head and grins ruefully at that. Don't get me wrong, I like you guys, I really do. You're the first group of real friends I've ever had * Feray reaches out to wrap an arm around Nate's shoulders. "Aww. Stop, you're giving me warm fuzzies." * Nathan grins a little again I just wish that things could have gone a little differently You know? * Feray nods slightly, seriousness once again emerging.. "I know...but this is how things are right now...and we need to deal with it..." Yeah, I guess But I don't have to like it ^_- * Syri poings along and looks at the two curiously (and from a safe distance, considering his experience with THIS party) No, you don't have to--... hey, is that Syri? ^^; * Nathan blinks, and looks over in the indicated direction I think it is * Syri crouches down, almost trying to hide.. I think he's scared. ^^; Hey, Syri...c'mon, we won't eat you. We don't have any ketchup! Kwuuuu... Come on buddy. Plenty of room under the tree ^_^ Oh yeah. You can join this snuggle fest. ;) Kwuu.. kwu? Howdy :) Kwuu. * Syri cautiously inches forward. Wow..I don't think he likes us.. ^^; Nah, he's just being cautious Kwuuuuuuuu. Just because we've almost gotten eaten by merpeople, almost gotten blown up, almost died several times in fights... Just because Mikari drugged him up, Dylan almost sat on him.. He seems to like you. ^_- Maybe ^_^ * Syri curls up on Nathan's lap, his tail glowing softly.. kwuuing gently. ^^ I guess he just wants a lap ;) Kwuu kwuu. Oh sure...and my wonderful womanly warm lap won't do the trick? ;) * Nathan chuckles * Nathan looks at Feray again, "Thanks for talking to me, and listening to me gripe and all." Well, hey, I have these big freakish ears for a reason ^_- Hey, I like yer ears. They have these little dangly hairs on 'em *runs a finger down them* ;) * Feray squeaks and flattens her ears against her head. "Gah! That tickles! Gah! In a good way! Watch it, you! I might think you're getting all fresh with me!" Hmm...interesting reaction. I'll have to remember that ;) * Feray wrinkles her nose at Nathan's words and snorts. "You're a cad, you know that?" ;) I know. Its genetic ^_- * Feray reaches out to pet Syri idly. "I suppose I should head back inside, huh? You probably want to hug the tree some more..." ;) I'll leave you two alone to 'bond' ^_- * Feray waggles her eyebrows. * Syri kwuupurrs Nah, trees don't hug back ^_- But I will admit that I'm sleepy * Feray tilts her head and casts Nate another wry grin before stretching. "Alright. Assuming you don't want another cuddly sleepfest like one the floor of the messhall on the boat, I'll leave ya to it, then." ;) What say we both get some sleep? Morning isn't too far off ya know * Nathan nods See ya in the morning then And behave now ^_- * Feray pushes herself up off the ground and yawns softly, before waving idly. "You know me. I'm a saint. Night, handsome, don't miss me too much." ^_- * Feray trots off towards the house again... ^^ * Nathan chuckles a bit to himself, and looks down at Syri * Syri looks up. "Kwuu?" Well sport, time for me to get some shuteye. If you want to hang out, that's fine by me ;) * Syri kwuus. * Nathan grabs his blanket again, and prepares to stretch out again Goodnight Syri. Seeya in the morning Kwu kwuu kwuu. * Syri hops off elsewhere * Nathan gets comfy again, and tries to get some sleep The stars shine brightly in the sky, soon to be disspelled by the coming dawn. Feray and Nathan head for bed and what little sleep is left to them before morning. ==Session End== *** Amy changes topic to 'Grandia: New Horizons | Chapter 20.1: Feray and Nathan | Location: Western Talachian village, 3 am, June 29 | Lude End' Session Close: Sat Mar 09 15:20:51 2002