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Denouement's Beginning; Private for Oop
Topic Started: Jun 2 2012, 02:58 PM (697 Views)
Oop
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so they scream
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
((This is going to be short. Sorry it's not much of a pipperoo.))

The words pour from Dio's mouth like water over a cliff, and Yiska listens attentively. Of course, he already knows what Dio wants to say, so he simply smiles and nods at the end of it.

"All is well, brother," he says, running a finger quickly between Dio's eyes and down the bridge of his nose before pinching the end gently - a gesture he used to make when they were both younger and hasn't done in many years. "Now go and get some rest. I can see you teetering on your feet like a tree in a windstorm. Tomorrow is a new day."

Yiska can hardly believe that they've resolved the issue so easily, although they haven't truly. The next Ceremony of Passing will come and they will again butt heads. For now, though, it seems like they've reached some kind of middle ground on the subject, and that's enough to lift Yiska's spirits even higher. He doesn't want to think about the future - he just wants to bask in the pleasant glow of the present.

---

Although he can hardly bring himself to do so, he follows Dio and their mother back home shortly after they leave. He settles in on his skins to sleep, near enough Dio to pull some warmth from him, but not so near as to smother him (although they both know that when they wake up, Yiska will be firmly tucked into his younger brother's side). He lays awake for a long while after the rest of his family has fallen asleep, listening to the beat of the drums and longing to taste the wind outside.

Then, finally, he sleeps.

As usual, Yiska wakes up at Dio's not-so-gentle shoving. Namely a sharp elbow to the spine. Yiska groans in response, refusing to move away from the warmth that Dio emanates. Of course, Dio is probably roasting, but Yiska can barely feel his toes.

"Alright, I'm up," he finally grunts, rolling away with a deep sense of loss. Sprawled on the ground, it takes him another minute or so to motivate himself to sit up.

Just moments after he has, their mother steps into their hut, two carved wooden bowls in her hands. She hands one to Yiska and one to Dio. "Good morning, my gnaji! Sleep well?" she asks with a pointed look at Yiska, who can still barely hold his eyes open. He nods groggily, and she smiles again.

"You two should go spend some time away from the village today. Go and blow the stink off." She wrinkles her nose, and Yiska simply nods again, taking some berries from the bowl and placing them in his mouth. His own nose wrinkles as he bites into a slightly underripe berry and tart juice fills his mouth.

"I thought that might help you wake up," his mother says with a smile, and Yiska glares at her, partly because she knows he hates bitter berries, and partly because she's right.

"Put them in your pouches and get going!" she says as she steps out again. As soon as she has, Yiska offers his bowl to Dio.

"Trade me?" he asks hopefully.
Edited by Oop, Jun 28 2013, 06:46 PM.
If you're gonna hit it, hit it until it breaks.
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Marching On
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Morning comes much too early, and for once, Dio finds himself wanting for more sleep. The overwhelming heat emanating from his brother is enough to rouse him, however, and by the time he's shoved Yiska away and is cradling his bowl of berries, he's as wide awake as usual.

Dio, of course, barks his laughter when Yiska holds out his own bowl, his smile wide and pleading. Dio's half a mind to deny him like any good sibling would do, but the previous night's atonement for the strain on their relationship comes to mind, and although he knows Yiska would recognize it as the good-natured fun it would be, Dio finds he would rather not risk any form of negativity so soon and swaps bowls with a roll of his eyes. "The air will wake you more effectively, anyway," he says as he spills his new berries into a small, sheep-skin pouch.

Very little preparation is needed for the day's activities, so it isn't long before Dio steps outside their hut and into the blinding light of the morning. The air is not yet too heavy with heat, so Dio takes a deep breath and raises his arms up toward the <whatever name we had for the sun>. His back arches with the effort as he tips his head, groaning contentedly. He flaps his arms once, twice, before lowering them to his sides once more, but the thrill that races down his spine is enough.

He practically bounces from foot to foot as he pops his head back into the hut. "Hurry up, Yiska! I'll be molting if you don't get out here soon!" he cries, darts back out, then back in to add, "Or you will, for that matter, and I don't think either of us wants a repeat of the last time Mother found your skin on the rug."

It takes much too long, in Dio's opinion, but eventually they are ready to go... and go, they do. Dio, anyway, and in his defense, he does do his very best to walk beside Yiska for a time as the morning air works on his tired mind, but walking is so boring! Mere minutes pass before he suddenly darts ahead, taking long strides that leave his arms swinging. He laughs freely as the wind whips through his hair, and it's all he can do to run back to Yiska and not just take off into the sky.

Hopping backward, Dio sticks out his tongue and starts flapping his arms again, a gesture so natural and exciting that he's tempted to just Shift already. But no, he wants to spend time with Yiska first, and his unfortunate brother is bound to the dirt. "Come on, you lazy serpent!"
"Que sera, sera."
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Oop
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so they scream
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
((I have found Yiska's shift snake! I don't care what I said it was before, it is now an Inland Taipan.))

As well as Dio knows Yiska, of course he was right when he said that getting outside would wake him. He remains groggy for only another few minutes after he gets outside into the warm summer air, an immediate balm to the general chill that falls over their hut at night and remains through the early hours.

He walks beside Dio quietly, breathing deeply through his mouth to taste the air, which is slightly dry and grassy, tinged with the ever-present dust of the outdoors.

Dio suddenly takes off through the long grass that separates the village from the brothers' destination: the edge of the woods that all in the village are familiar with. They're not the only ones making their way there today, but they are of the few. Most in the village Shift into creatures that enjoy the large, open space of the long grass, and Yiska is no exception. He knows, though, that as much as Dio loves to fly, he also needs an occasional place to perch. Honestly, if Yiska can find a sunbathed rock, he'll enjoy the afternoon no matter where they are. Or perhaps some swimming. It has been a long time since he's slid into the river, and it should be warm enough now.

He laughs as his brother flaps his arms. It makes him look ridiculous. "You're the lazy one, you overgrown chicken," Yiska teases affectionately, not picking up his pace. With the narrow strip of his hair braided as usual, the end tickling between his shoulder blades, he's enjoying just feeling the sun on his exposed shoulders and chest. But then, what's the fun in that? He's got all day to lay around while Dio flies around eating bugs, or whatever it is he does up in the air.

With a sudden speed so quick that it's nearly dizzying, Yiska catches up to Dio in just a few strides. With the same faultless timing he uses while playing the drums, he ducks down and gently knocks on the back on Dio's supporting knee, and then catches him easily under the arms and puts him back on his feet.

"Race you!" he says once Dio takes another step on his own, and then takes off without waiting for Dio's response. Yiska is all raw speed, quick as a snapping branch, but he and Dio both know that he's not built for maintaining such speeds. Dio is not quite so fast - Yiska could eat things Dio's speed for breakfast - but his stamina is superior. Judging the distance left to the trees, either of them could win.

Yiska's feet move so fast that he can't even feel them touch before they're off the ground again. His vision blurs at the edges, and, as he just barely manages to jump over a large boulder in time, he maybe gets a glimpse of how Dio must feel in the air. It feels like it takes Yiska's feet years to touch the ground again (and at his speed, he surely covered more distance than most could), like he's just hovering there in the air, weightless.

However, the feeling doesn't mean to Yiska what it does to his brother, and he finds that when his feet again touch the ground, the comforting weight of it reverberates up his legs and spine. The reassuring solidarity of the ground is a relief to him.

He doesn't know where Dio is - somewhere behind him, presumably - but he can taste the sharp, damp tanginess of the woods on the wind even as he can feel himself beginning to slow and knows that, unless he's gained himself a large lead indeed, Dio will overtake him any second now.

((Lordy, that was much easier to write!))
If you're gonna hit it, hit it until it breaks.
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