Well, This Is Embarrassing [Big Hill][Anadwen]

[Looshi]

Kalfur had to escape home for a little while. His mother had people over, and he could hardly stand them; with their glances to him out of the corner of their eyes. His mind thought the worst of it; the terrible judgements they would make on his character when they didn't even know it. His mother was trying to save what little reputation she had after he was born to her. It had been fifty-seven years, and the matter had cooled in some hearts - but not all. Kalfur knew his mother's company in passing; they were an odd pair, and perhaps that was why they had been drawn to their family. He had a bad feeling, yet he wasn't about to voice it. She had been so lonely, and friends were one of the things he wished she had.

Nancy, the pig, squawked at his side as she trotted down the road with him, bringing Kalfur out of his thoughts. It was brief, but he smiled down at her. The animal had a sixth sense to know when he needed a kick in the head.

The wind carried the sweet smell of apples. There usually were no apple orchards in town. Apparently this was a day where there was. Without a signal of warning, Nancy changed her direction, following the smell.

"H-hey! Nancy!" Kalfur called out. It didn't matter. Once she had her mind set on something there was no stopping her. Or at least it was very hard to. It was one habit that Kalfur had not been able to break in training. He followed her, trying to keep up with her fast pace. Soon enough his vision was filled with the sight of the apple trees. Blue and vibrant.

Blue? Are you serious?

Kalfur frowned, not knowing what to make of it. Nancy sure did, as she was attempting to climb a tree.

"Nancy, that's not how it works." He said, and she snorted, ignoring him. Kalfur frowned deeper, and made his way to the tree. The leaves shimmered in the sunlight, and shuddered with the passing of the breeze. The branches were spread out above him, and he squinted his eyes.

He was not tall enough to grab an apple.

[Anadwen]

It's been a beautiful afternoon. Sunny, only somewhat windy... And Enedith was utilizing this calm, serene weather in an apple orchard. He's been catching up on sleep since morning, when Ori entrusted her companion to the apple trees. He, off course, didn't listen to her advice about the ideal place to sleep on. He climbed one of the trees, and made himself comfortable between its leaves and fruits, almost entirely hidden. His bright crimson hair wasn't even that visible, and his black clothes were just shadows between the branches.

Twisted high upon the ground, he spent several hours straight without any interruptions. After a few sleepless days being dragged by her around the city markets - off course, once they had money she had to spend them - he was grateful to rest. And he slept for a long, long time!

However, everyone with at least a bit common sense knows that sleeping in a tree is generally very unsafe. Enedith wasn't such a lucky person to avoid the main danger of this activity - falling off.

Something in his dream made him move abruptly, flinching to the side, but there was no more support of the branches underneath. In the middle of his sliding off, he woke up. As he was sliding down the branches, he stared before himself for a moment, confused and unsure about what is happening. Then, he added two to two as his body flew through the air. A loud scream emerged from his mouth, almost immediately followed by a dull thud when he hit the ground, bashing into it like a sack of potatoes.

For a moment, he lost his breath. That was... Painful! Ori was right about telling him not to sleep there, but when did he ever listen? Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his cheekbone, slightly grazed from the fall. And then, his almond-shaped eyes widened even more when he noticed a man... Well, whatever he was... And a pig, standing straight in front of him.

"W-what are you staring at?" he burst at him in a mix of anger and embarrasment, himself staring more than obviously.

[Looshi]

Kalfur's instincts kicked into gear when he heard the rustling above him, and the brief form of a leg. His jaw clenched and he stepped out of the way as the fellow fell down, screaming mind you, before he hit the ground. Nancy snorted, displeased at being disturbed by this.. creature.

"What am I staring at?" Kalfur said, his frown deep and his brow furrowed. That was a stupid question. Either that was the man's normal intelligence or he hit his head pretty hard. Nancy voted normal intelligence. Kalfur looked the person over, his eyes first spotting the red of his hair, and then the point of his ears. He swallowed. An elf. Kalfur stood up straighter, trying to seem taller than his four feet eleven inches. The Dwelf made for a tall dwarf, and a short elf. A shorter and stockier than normal elf, with fat pointed ears and thick eyebrows. His long dark hair was in a mess, with haphazard braids along the sides.

"You're the one that fell from the tree. Not the smartest place to be. Even if it isn't Big Hill." He said, "If you didn't want people to stare you shouldn't have made such an entrance and nearly fall on top of them."

He was grumpy today. Kalfur had no time for fools.

Nancy padded over, and sniffed at the stranger's hair, then backed away. She didn't care for it.

[Anadwen]

Enedith frowned at the stranger and his pig. "I was sleeping there. Where is it written or said that it's forbidden to sleep in an orchard?" he asked, still obviously angry, and blushing crimson almost as vibrant as the scruffy hair, now pinned in a high ponytail, resembling a red pineapple. He started dusting off his black clothes, and one hand instinctively reached after the sheath with his cleaver at his back.

Some people would laugh at someone carrying a sword almost as tall as himself. Though, that sword, if having a strong enough wielder like himself, could very easily cleave those fools in half.

He eased up a little when he felt the familiar handle above his shoulder, connected to a quite thick and long chain.

The second thing he did was to redo his hair. Strings of spiky scarlet were falling into his eyes and annoying him to no end - the result of a long sleep with his hair tied. And so, he untied the thread at the back of his head, and let the long, unruly red fall down onto his shoulders and around his face. Their color seemed even more vibrant next to his pale skin. He bent his head back and his hands slicked the hair back, tying it up a moment later.

Were those two still staring at him?

And besides, where was Ori?

[Looshi]

"I didn't say it was forbidden. I said it was stupid to sleep in a tree." He said. "You can roll over in your sleep and fall off, for one. Which you did."

Was that so hard to grasp?

Kalfur turned away as the red-headed elf fixed his hair. Elves always made him nervous, despite having grown up with them. He wanted to be just as good as they were, but somehow he fell short. And no that was not a pun on his height.

Nancy rolled an apple that had fallen from the tree around with her snout. Kalfur sighed - she liked to play with her food, and no doubt thought she was conquering the world. The apple being the world she was going to chomp on. Kalfur picked up the apple, inciting a squeal from his best friend.

"Just a minute." He said to his impatient pig. Kalfur took one of his knives off of his belt - they were for defense incase something terrible came out of the bushes as they do on Wednesdays - and cut off a deep slice for Nancy. He handed it down to her, and with glee she ate it, sat and waited for more.

"The apples are safe." He said, advising the elf, "She wouldn't eat it if it wasn't."

[Anadwen]

"Huh?" Enedith raised a brow in confusion. He didn't ask about the apples... But hey, if they were edible, then that was fine. He managed to get his hair into a better condition, and got back up on his feet. The bright red spikes of his ponytail were long enough to fall down onto his shoulders, and looked just as bright against his black clothes as they were beside his pale skin.

As he stood there, he was much taller than the man - or elf or whatever he was, Enedith couldn't care less about that - but looked a good deal thinner, even though he had gained quite a lot of muscle mass since he was no longer left in the streets.

He stepped back towards the tree in which he slept, and jumped up towards the branches, and grabbed one large apple into his left hand, while the right one caught a branch to hold onto while he'd tear the fruit off. For a while, he was dangling there like some weird ornament, before he landed back on the ground, accompanied by a loud thud and little grace that was said to be characteristic for elves. More accurately, he landed like a boulder on his bent legs.

He looked the apple over, and proceeded to bite into it. The way he ate it wasn't exactly elegant or in any way amazing - actually, it was rather piggish, and he chomped on the apple like a horse, and not like an elf. "Thanks for informing me, tho." he mumbled through the large bite in his mouth, and shrugged, leaning onto the tree behind him.

Though, the question about Ori was still there. "Haven't you seen a girl - ginger hair, that," he pointed at his chest, "this," he pointed at his hips, "and all?"

[Looshi]

Kalfur fed Nancy another slice, and his eyebrows perked up at the sound of the red head addressing him. What now, he thought. He watched the elf's gestures with a serious face, well, his normal face. And decided it wasn't that terrible of a request.

"That's awfully non-specific." He said, his mouth tightening into a thin line of a frown. "There are a lot of people here by that description."

"However..." He looked down at Nancy to his side, and she stared up at him with knowing eyes. "Nancy is a tracker. If you have something of hers she can get the smell."

Wait, why was he offering this? Well, because Big Hill could be a dangerous place, and he was a little fond of that danger.

[Anadwen]

Enedith made an expression of distress, tossing what was left of the apple over his shoulder, and sighed. "Long ginger hair, ginger, not red, grey-ish eyes..." he explained, scratching his head. He gestured at his chest. "Big this, and she's, well, neither short nor tall. Looks... Like twenty-something or so." he attempted to describe her better. "I doubt I have something that smells like her..."

He reached into the satchel over his shoulder, hanging on the same belt as the sheath of the cleaver, and pulled out a crushed pack of something that could have held food a long time ago. "This might just smell like honey steak, but she ate the stuff that was in and I didn't. Would it work?" he asked, handing the pack to Kalfur.

"Besides, we forgot to introduce ourselves, man." he remembered then, and wiping one hand into his trousers, offered it to him. "Enedith. No, you can't call me Ene or anything similar. Or 'pineapple'. Or anything except my name." he spoke, narrowing his eyes. His outstretched hand in a fingerless black glove was straight before Kalfur. "Also, no puns 'bout the name."

[Adelinde]

  Adelinde was flying around some mountains, surveying the land around her. There was a large town, many houses, a few farms, and even an orchard. She could smell apples in the cool evening air. On the opposite side of town was the sea, the sun sinking below it. There was also a small castle, near it was a wide road. It would be so easy to land on the road and take over the city, but Adelinde was content with what she had.
  She wished she could get closer and plan things out for later, but a dragon doesn't simply land anywhere she pleases and expect people to still be there. Most would leave, so she wouldn't gain as much. It was best to act now, if ever, before she was spotted. But wait, she could just demand gold, jewels, and livestock! Who denies those to a dragon? Well, she still had plenty, maybe she'd tear up the orchard, or even the castle.
  "Hey! I'm going to destroy the castle and anyone in it unless I get a few heaps of gold and some sheep!" She yelled so all could hear. It was decided, she'd get the loot. Adelinde flew out into the open so she could be seen, but who can miss a 50-foot dragon? Just to make herself understood, she ignited a small shack.

[Anadwen]

(((I'm sorry, but this is a closed topic which other people can't join. It's tagged with my name, meaning its between me and the person who created it, and isn't open for other people at all.)