|
|
Post by syrusmorgan on Mar 17, 2008 21:51:28 GMT -5
The afternoon sun shone overhead as the people of a small Reyl camp busied themselves with their daily chores. Tonight was one of the larger festivals his tribe held each year; it wasn't anything too terribly special, just a party to celebrate good health, long life, and prosperity for the remainder of the year. It was light hearted, you didn't need to have a festival to celebrate such, but it was always fun to do so.
Luca found himself absently twirling himself around the unlit bonfire, imagining himself dancing better then he normally did and enjoying the claps and cheers of the crowd as he pulled off complex moves. His thoughts where shaken back to the day when he nearly tripped over a small rock. He never was very graceful.
Back in the real world, he hurried himself to hit tent, determined to find his better sashes. It would start getting dark soon, the festivities usually starting when the sun finally faded behind the horizon; he needed to look his best, there where usually a few visitors from the cities who came to enjoy the party.
|
|
|
|
Post by tehlionqueen on Mar 17, 2008 22:10:49 GMT -5
Eru was travelling, as usual, when he heard the music from the camp. He remembered another time, and another place where he had seen and laughed with the Reyls, and he thought it would be fun to join in the festivities again. He made his way there, forgetting he was still in his cat form. He was sleek and black, like his hair, and his eyes were gray, contrasting with his cat-like pupil. He quickly transformed. The prayer beads around his neck grew to withstand the new human-ness about the man.
Eru surveyed the grounds and adjusted his robes. No one could say he was an actual Zercan, because he smelled like none of them, so getting into the festival was no big deal. He smiled at the tribesmen as they danced and sang. He couldn't dance, which might tip them off... but he could begin selling some of the graphite prints he had drawn on the other worlds...
He began pulling them from a small beaded bag around his waist. As he was going so, he hadn't seen where he was looking, and bumped into a Luca, "I'm sorry..." he said quickly, bowing.
|
|
|
|
Post by syrusmorgan on Mar 17, 2008 22:27:10 GMT -5
The festivities had been running for just a bit, the sun had finally set, the torches and bonfire alight and burning bright. Luca spent some of his time helping with the preparation of food and drink, humming happily as he performed the busy tasks behind the scenes. He'd found three of his fine sashes earlier, all a deep sapphire blue and soft as river water to the touch. He'd laced one around his right wrist, another about his left forearm, and the final one hugging loosely to his hips. Through the night, he'd seen more then a couple pairs of eyes follow him as he walked in tempo to the music and let his sashes sway freely as he moved.
He lightly yipped as, just as he was making his way back to one of the tents to gather more wood for the fire, someone had collided with his back, slightly sending him off balance, though not enough to topple him over. He quickly recovered, only catching a slight glimpse of the man that had bumped into him before he bowed. "I'm sorry," he hastily apologized. "I think that was my fault."
|
|
|
|
Post by tehlionqueen on Mar 17, 2008 22:30:49 GMT -5
Eru looked up and studied the other boy with his gray eyes. He smiled warmly, "Well... I don't want to argue with you, but I was the one who wasn't looking where I was going... again, I'm sorry... I'm Eru Matsuda, by the way..." he said, extending a pale hand.
|
|
|
|
Post by syrusmorgan on Mar 17, 2008 22:41:05 GMT -5
Luca stared at the offered hand with a hesitant eye. His arm crossed over his chest and he lightly gripped his other elbow, slightly leaning away from him. "Th-that's alright..." There was a slight unease in his voice. A foot lifted off the ground, though instead of visibly moving him backwards a bit, placed the toe of his sandal against the ground. "I'm sorry...but only mates are allowed to hold hands."
|
|
|
|
Post by tehlionqueen on Mar 17, 2008 22:45:43 GMT -5
Eru nodded and smiled again, "I had forgotten the ways of Zerca. I apologize. May I at least have your name? Unless only mates can know each other's names, as well... I guess I would have broken that one..." he put a hand over his mouth to keep back the giggle.
|
|
|
|
Post by syrusmorgan on Mar 17, 2008 22:57:45 GMT -5
An off-worlder? Luca stared at him, curious eyes glancing over the other male. He certainly didn't look like some of the Zercan he'd seen from the cities, and clasifying his looks as a Reyl of another tribe was probably a similar stretch. He couldn't blame the person for not knowing, that was for sure, and the slight unease was beginning to lift. "A name is something I can give," he smiled lightly. "It's Luca. Luca Petsha."
|
|
|
|
Post by tehlionqueen on Mar 17, 2008 23:05:03 GMT -5
Eru looked off into the distance, as if trying to remember something. He was reminded of his surrounding a few minutes later and looked at Luca, "What a nice name for a Reyl boy... are you a dancer, perhaps?" he asked.
He noticed the other boy beginning to ease up. He nodded knowingly, remembering being that way on his first voyage to Earth. The captain had been so nice about him being so young... But here came the loneliness in Eru's heart he had affectionately called his 'missing piece'... A pained look crossed his ironically graceful features.
|
|
|
|
Post by syrusmorgan on Mar 17, 2008 23:14:20 GMT -5
Luca lightly blushed. He never really thought his name was all that special. It didn't particularly mean anything, unlike the names of his Giver and Bearer. He always thought it seemed rather plain. "Um...thank you," he gave a weak laugh at the unusual complement.
"A-and no, I'm not a dancer," he added. "I've never been very good at dancing," Thoughts of fetching more wood for the fire where all but lost as he continued to chat with Eru.
|
|
|
|
Post by tehlionqueen on Mar 17, 2008 23:21:16 GMT -5
Eru looked at him and smiled. It seemed forced. Eru willed the feeling to go away.
"That's too bad. I think I grew up somewhere around here, but I don't think I ever learned how to dance myself. I'm an artist..." he replied.
He didn't want Luca to know that he had no idea even what 'family' meant. He only knew art, travel, and the emptiness he felt whenever he thought about what he was missing in life... whatever it was.
|
|
|
|
Post by syrusmorgan on Mar 17, 2008 23:31:52 GMT -5
"What kind of art do you make?" Luca's eyebrows rose in genuine interest at this. Reyl festivals, ones that attracted visitors from the cities, where a nice time to get come trading done. Some, in the past, where willing to buy pieces of jewelry or, he almost wanted to think it was a tattoo one of the city-dwelling Zircans had bought one year.
"If you're lucky and catch our visitors at the right time, you might be able to make some money with your art," in the back of his head, Luca, personally, just wanted to see what kind of art the other male made.
|
|
|
|
Post by tehlionqueen on Mar 17, 2008 23:42:15 GMT -5
The younger boy nodded, "It's not very good art, I must admit..." Eru said, taking a stack of papers from the jeweled bag, "Just graphite sketches I make in my spare time from voyage to voyage."
The top paper was an almost psychedelic picture of an almost naked man two or three years older than Eru himself, winged in comparison to any Zercan. The man was spotted all the way down his body, with only a tree branch covering his manhood. He was holding a small mouse-like creature. The tree itself had only been half drawn, Eru wouldn't admit that he had merely gotten tired of drawing the picture, but had decided that what he had done was interesting enough. The other papers were other men with different animals, some even riding dragons. Each man had something different about him, half of a horse's body, or an ethereal glow. Looking back on the drawings, Eru felt embarrassed, but he handed the stack of papers to the older boy anyway, blushing madly.
|
|
|
|
Post by syrusmorgan on Mar 17, 2008 23:51:44 GMT -5
Luca looked at the top image, he wasn't interested so much of the content, more how it was drawn. When it came right down to it, while content was important to a potential buyer, the skill put into making it was probably the most important.
All of them looked completely beyond what he'd seen before. They were all very life-like and the light touches of off-world fantasy, at least he assumed it was, made them seem all the more amazing to the eye. "These are...beautiful," he commented, flipping though the pages one after the other.
|
|
|
|
Post by tehlionqueen on Mar 17, 2008 23:56:48 GMT -5
Eru's blush deepened, "I'm glad you think so... I don't think I could sell them... they're too... sensual. I don't know what I was thinking when I drew these..." he snatched the drawing from the older boy and stuffed them into his bag again.
He looked around wildly, then finally settled down, "So if you don't dance... what DO you do?" he asked, patting his back lightly, wondering if he was crazy for showing his art to... anyone, really, let alone someone close to his own age.
|
|
|
|
Post by syrusmorgan on Mar 18, 2008 0:10:07 GMT -5
Luca brought himself back to the present, thanks in part to the mesmerizing works of art he'd looked at only a second ago being taken back and, if he didn't miss his guess, a blushing frenzy. He chuckled under his breath. The boy's art truly was good, and probably more then enough to sell during festival times. The younger just needed some more positive feedback, probably more then he, a simple Reyl, was able to give on it.
He was taken slightly by surprise at Eru's question, though. He knew what he did during times of festivals, since he couldn't dance and entertain the crowds, that much was certain, but he'd never been asked about it. "Well," he paused for a breath. "I'm usually just working in the back, making sure the food is plentiful and drinks are always filled. It's not much, really.*
|
|
