Advertise/Affiliate Other Forum Main Page The World Before You Play

Throw Some Shade If You Look Good (Avery)

Started by Cobalt, May 06, 2015, 12:02:32 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Cobalt

Disappointment was threatening to become resignation. This Avery might not really be ready for Zea. Not for his potential in all areas of her life, anyway. Perhaps she was just to be a glorified tour guide.

She supposed she could still keep looking. No harm in looking, right? Now she just had to explain what deities were. Zea predicted that the concept of religion might be a little beyond him, but maybe she could get across some notion of the scale she was talking about?

"Sort of. I have people who are my bosses, but Inima is..." If the word goddess hadn't meant anything, what other words were there? Was this just culture shock or was he impaired in some way? "...bigger than people. I suspect she's bigger than Chatter. She's the boss of death. She's the boss of things making babies. She's the boss of fate. She's a very very big boss, big enough that she doesn't always spend a lot of time talking directly to us. Inima just arranges things and we do our best not to muck up what she did."

Draconian

Oooooooooh.

Avery gave a nod. So she did exist, just not here. He could get that. Sort of. He wasn't used to the bosses not being here. Chatter bothered him constantly and that was a powerful demon dog thing. "I see." He nodded slowly, curiosity sated for the time being. "So Inima is here," He motioned around him, "But not actually here," he placed his hands on the ground. Hoping he got the concept which was just so beyond him.

The click of his tongue broke the momentary silence, "I'm not used to this place yet. You'll forgive me for my questions, yes?" Another smile, simply because she seemed to like them so much. Or was very good at pretending. "You're the only person I've found to tolerate my appearance without fear so you got my questions. I'm done. For now."  Avery stood up then, reaching his hand down to help her up if she felt like following him to her feet.

"You have done me a favour, Zea." He stated, "So by my laws, I owe you one in return. You may ask anything of me," He paused for a moment and gave her a suspicious look, "except to dissect me. I may squirm." Also he wasn't a fan of things that hurt unless it was gonna hurt so good. Dissecting didn't seem like that kind of hurt.

Cobalt

Avery was edging his way around the distinction between immanent deities and transcendant deities. Layman's vocabulary didn't do a good job of getting into the details and making things clear, but he had the gist of it! Zea nodded excitedly, pleased with him for figuring out a tricky thing and with herself for explaining it.

She took his hand to get up, mostly because he'd offered it and as sweet as he was... he was sort of a savage and it wouldn't help anybody to punish him when he showed consideration. Well... perhaps not so savage. He understood balance. He understood keeping relationships equal, without any debts. That was actually a far more fundamental thing than knowing what a god was, at least in Zea's opinion. Certainly for most people it came up a helluva lot more.

"I would love to actually but if you don't want me to, I won't. You're just really interesting and the tendons in your back alone are probably so complex. But I'm not going to cut you open without permission while you're alive. That's not an okay thing to do to a friend."

To a friend.

On other occasions she could make an exception, but Avery was so terribly sweet. How could she?

"But if there's ever a time when you don't need your body anymore, would it be all right if I tried to learn some things from it then?"

Please say yes please say yes please say yes please say yes.

Draconian

With the mention of the tendons in his back he looked over his shoulder and adjusted his wings. He supposed they were. The fleshy wing bits went all the way down his back along the top half of his tail and he adjusted them, letting the right wing arm drop down to take place of his missing limb. The fingers curled and he examined them again, curious. He'd probably taste awful. The hand was put back on his shoulder and he tilted his head, looking down at her amused.

When he didn't need his....?

Avery laughed then. To anyone looking in it would probably be absolutely horrifying looking. His mouth opened and his head tilted back. It was a hearty laugh. "You want my body when I don't need it anymore?" He repeated, entertained. Far more entertained than he thought he would be, "Sure. If I'm not using it you might as well get enjoyment from it."  He rubbed at his chest, giving a quiet giggle and stared at her. No thought to how old he might be or how long it would be until he'd passed on.

Weird girl. He decided that he liked her.

"That doesn't help the favour I owe you." Another owlish tilt of his head, "I don't have... objects from this... here, " he told her, "so I can't purchase things for you. Or give you anything."

Cobalt

Zea stood up on her tiptoes to get as good a view down into the back of Avery's throat as possible. His mouth really did go all the way back there. What an amazing creature. Where had he come from? Was this sort of mouth structure common there? Was there just some whole population of people who could open their whole head up like a snake? How slow she'd feel eating dinner with them; how sloooooow she would seem by comparison! With her teeny tiny mostly-sealed orifices.

The thought of a whole nation of Averys made Zea feel a bit like a freak, but not in the usual bad way. In the good way! The fun academic line of pondering sort of way was a good way.

But he said yes! She clenched her hands in joyous little fists in front of her chest. She had a claim on the corpse. Anybody who could compel her to speak truthfully would know that she had officially been given proper legally-straightforward dibs.

She sobered a bit at his debt dilemma. It was a serious matter to him, and in this single way he was more well-grounded in a practical and pro-social perspective than most Thanati natives she'd grown up surrounded by. It was sometimes the only way to keep spirits earning their keep, so this was a need she understood.

"That is tricky. I would consider you bequeathing me your corpse to be payment, but if it doesn't satisfy the debt according to your way, then we are a little stuck." She sucked in her bottom lip and chewed it thoughtfully. "If that doesn't work I can keep thinking. I'll try not to leave you hanging too long."

Draconian

The interest in his mouth wasn't lost on him. If anything her interest made him interested in turn. What was so amazing about it? Half of him was waiting for her to ask about it. The other half was waiting for her to just shove her hand in his mouth and pull on his tongue. He would allow her. Once. Just the once though.  Another smile at her when she clenched her fists and obviously looked very pleased.

"Am I that interesting?" He examined her, looking at her features. Before she was just another tiny weird human creature. Now she was Zea. The tiny weird creature he considered one of these 'a friends'. "I find you interesting. You have no natural offence." He took her hand in his, examined her fingers gently and looked at her nails. His own hand was clawed, "Your teeth are slightly pointed but... laughably so." He smiled at her, and then looked out towards the crowds of people going about their daily business and politely ignoring the beast that was feeling up some poor lady.

"Though I'm sure if I did something terrible here...." Avery went quiet and imagined all of the things he really would prefer not to happen. He didn't age like humans and had been alive for quite a while did but he wasn't immortal. "You're interesting creatures, you humans."

Still he played with her hand, running his fingers back over the areas she had explained before while he pondered. "I can help you with something." He suggested, "A task?"

Cobalt

Avery somehow had doubts that he was interesting. A stronger agreement than a simple verbal yes was a quick sharp upward flick of her eyebrows. Interesting was the polite public word for what Zea thought of Avery. It would serve.

He kept touching her, too. Now that they had reached a comfortable level, he didn't seem shy about it at all. At least he assumed that there must be something potentially dangerous about humans, because it meant that he'd apply the principle to her. Zea enjoyed him so far but did not actually want him getting used to the idea that she was some harmless little plaything he was allowing to live. That sort of thing gave men all sorts of irritating ideas and then retraining them was a gigantic hassle. Best not to let things go there at all; it wouldn't do anything good for their rapport.

She looked up from watching him tracing his fingers over her skin.

"Maybe since I helped you by answering your questions, you can answer some of mine? That can be a thing we just do. Ask each other questions and give the best answer we can. What do you say? I like getting answers to my questions."

Draconian

Her questions? Avery looked down at himself and then back at her, letting her hand go for the moment. He was done looking at it, all small and delicate like as it was. They were mostly unimpressive alone, but in packs? Scary.

" I think this is a good idea," Avery nodded, "I also enjoy having answers to my questions." It was tempting to sit again since they were apparently going to have a conversation and he wasn't going to do some menial task for her. He'd have to admit that he didn't see that coming. He was huge, had more movable limbs than you could share a stick at and she wanted to talk.

No 'hey go haunt so and so' it was 'let's talk'. "You have helped me, so, I will answer anything you ask me." He paused, "To the best of my abilities." Avery wasn't one for knowing many facts which poor Zea would soon find out if she asked the right questions.

Cobalt

"Great!" Zea said brightly.

She picked up her bag, planning to continue shopping while she had a nice chitchat like normal people did when they were perusing market wares. A shockingly common sort of a thing. People looking at her would for once actually know precisely what she was doing and how ordinary her activities were. What a lark.

"So first question. Do you have a gag reflex? For example, if something were to touch your esophagus or the very back of the roof of your mouth, would you feel the urge to vomit?"

Having friends was grand.

Draconian

Obediently and a little bit like a puppy, Avery moved to follow her. A step behind and to her left. It was an unconscious decision on his part, putting himself into the lower ranking position. Zea would probably not know what it meant. But he did. This was her here and while Avery was a powerful individual she was going to be the leader for the time being.

Again, Avery should be getting used to this, her question caught him off guard. "Do I have...?" He smiled then, his head moving. "No." He stated simply, trying to recall ever having to do that. "I do not do that." Sure he'd thrown up before, but he couldn't remember gagging because of something in his mouth. What use was that?

He went quiet while he tried to think of ever gagging. "I ate something bad once, but..." Avery tapped at his chin, "I didn't gag. I just threw up."  He paused again, "Is gagging when you make that noise?" He demonstrated the noise and then looked down at her, making sure they were talking about the same thing. "I like this game," He smiled, "ask me another. You're so curious and interested, it's adorable." 

Also all this attention was pretty sweet.

Cobalt

Avery explained, trotting along behind her, that she could essentially jam her whole arm down his throat and aside from probably annoying him... nothing else would happen. That was a skill that could make a person fairly popular in the right contexts.

"I am curious and interested and adorable. Thank you, Avery. But see, that's not how most humans are. For most of us, we're prompted to regurgitate if you stick something in our mouths, especially down our throats." She turned sideways to face him and laid her index finger across her tongue before tightening her lips around it and pulling it back out. "Not me. But I've worked on it."

Draconian

Slowly his eyebrows rose and he tilted his head, watching her put her finger in her mouth and then remove it. Avery's mind went somewhere totally different and he stared at her mouth for a good few moments.

"Worked on..." He nodded towards her mouth and he smirked as suggestively as a too large mouth could, "Eating?" Gently he took her chin in his hand and tilted her head, examining her cheeks. He'd seen cheeks before, he just wanted to check her out better while looking as innocent as he could. Avery felt very tall.

For a few moments he'd wished he had his other arm so that he could walk with his hands behind his back and puff out his chest. As it was, all he could do was shift his wing hands on his shoulders and flick his tail. "No more questions?" His voice took on a disappointed lilt and he moved his wings around a bit more and it totally wasn't to call attention to them or anything.

Cobalt

There he went. Finally, Zea'd managed to prompt recognizable glazed focus. The boy had caught on.

Bless Inima's gentle heart, but she did make Zea work for it sometimes. Still, look how far back those jaws opened. Night of the Dead might be coming early this year, at least for one priestess. She couldn't return that precise favor as easily, but her physiology had its advantages too. When he came in closer to get a more direct look, Zea hoped that he was considering just what those advantages might be.

She smiled primly and blinked twice up at Avery. "Oh, plenty! Don't you worry. Curious and interested. That's me."

Draconian

Politely, Avery waited. Then there were no questions and just silence and he looked down at her simply because he couldn't continue to crouch down and do it. Again his wing hands shifted on his shoulders and he looked away for a moment, his eyebrows drawing together.

"Are you..." He trailed off, looking back at her, his tail flicking again, "Are you going to ask any of them?" Avery had gotten what he wanted out of coming to this Thanatos place. There was a solution to his little chattering problem, he didn't have to hide anymore because screw everyone else, at least one person wasn't afraid of him.

Now there were no questions. Had he worn out his welcome? Was she just being nice now? Maybe... "You seem fascinated with my mouth." He started, shifting his weight and again, adjusting his wing arms, moving them slightly before giving them a wide stretch. Flaring them out to their full length which startled quite a few people before he tucked them back, returning to their unobtrusive place on his shoulders. "Is that all you're fascinated by?"

Cobalt

Zea had never in all her days actually wanted to tell anybody what nice teeth you have. Still. The things she could install Avery's teeth into might surprise even him. She imagined toucans with beaks filled with the things, flying to snatch tissue samples from her enemies or just anybody particularly weird. It would save so much time she'd have otherwise spent traveling.

"Oh! Sorry. Thinking, planning." She winked and turned to get walking again. She needed those hooks. "Got distracted. Do you have any specific dietary requirements? How do you excrete the food your body is done with? Do you have any allergies, anything you just absolutely can't physically tolerate? And how old are you? Are you unique or a member of a species?" A grin warmed her voice. "Enough questions for the moment?"

Draconian

Again he moved to follow her, keeping close to her side and basically towering over absolutely everyone. Her questions were, again, something unexpected and he stared at her, wide eyed, for a moment after she asked how he excreted the food he ate.

"Yes." Avery said, nodding slowly. Those weren't the questions he was hoping for, but still. It was attention and good attention at that. He shuffled after her, it being too slow a pace for him to actually walk like he'd want to.  "Nothing specific. I think. All food is good food, I think. I eat my meat raw,"He added, hopefully helpfully, cooked meat... Blegh. He'd tried it, didn't like it!

"And I... Excrete... As humans do." His eyes narrowed while they wandered along and he answered her questions, "I can't tolerate..." Avery paused and tilted his head, trying to think of things he just couldn't stand. "Fabric on my teeth... And I believe I am... Unique, as it were." Avery paused, trying to think of things he'd seen like himself.

"I just know... I existed. I've been aware for a very long time, I don't remember everything." Significant things, sure, little things though, those were long gone. "Do you remember being born?"

Cobalt

Raw meat. Relevant to Zea's interests, but moreso that he could at least endure eating other things. She didn't know how many conures she could help him stuff down that throat of his without attracting extra attention. He stood out already, but looking funny was no excuse to be... well... uncivilized. Thanati could be weird-looking; what mattered was them being Thanati. If this was the first real culture he'd encountered... maybe it could work. It would be a challenging project, assuming neither of them got bored too soon in.

Food facilities. Latrines and toilets. Those would all work just fine, leaving a certain roughness and rudeness as Avery's main obstacle, with expensive custom tailoring as his second. Possibly dealable, if only remotely probable.

"I don't, and my experience is pretty typical for humans. I do count my age in seasonal years, but I suppose once I deal with the mortality issue the precise number will matter less and less over time." She continued scanning the market for the butcher and barber-surgeon who shared a stall, and pointed when she found it. "That's where we're headed. If you see any tiny eensy bitty hooks about this big?" Zea held her finger and thumb only a little apart. "Will you let me know?"

Draconian

"Mortality issue?" He said back, quickly. Did humans have issues with that? Avery frowned down at her slightly, "Ah yes. You die of old age, do you not?" Eventually he would too, he was sure of it. Just not any time soon. As she was scanning for something, Avery just watched her. Curiosity was the only thing he was feeling. It was.. Nice. There were no under currents of fear or shame or hate.

At least not around Zea.

Avery gave a visible jerk when she pointed and spoke, slowly he followed the invisible line and looked at the stall, his eyebrows going up. "Tiny eensy bitty hooks?" He repeated and mirrored the hand movement, watching her carefully. "Yes. Of course." Sure, tiny hooks.

What could you hang up with tiny hooks? As they made their way over, his hand was on his hip as he walked. It was hard to look bigger while being lopsided, he stood at his full height when they got to the stall and he shifted his wings slightly. "Hello, I am looking for 'tiny eensy bitty hooks' they are about this big, " Avery made the hand movement that Zea had made at him, "My a friends would like some for..." Avery paused and simply stopped talking not able to finish the sentence because he didn't know what they were for.

The men at the stall pointed to the tiny eensy bitty hooks, one of them trembling visibly and both sort of just staring at him.

Cobalt

Look at Avery going all proactive and helpful. It was probably a good thing Zea had gotten to him first. What if some kind of antisocial weirdo had gotten hold of him? There'd have been no convincing him that they were... well, an antisocial weirdo. Or maybe she could? But then she'd have had to explain why being an antisocial weirdo was undesirable. Far better to have him just... follow her lead as best he could. More folks ought to, in Zea's opinion.

Zea peeked around from behind her much larger a friends. "Hi!" she said. "Thanks cutie," she said, patting Avery on the wing and maybe lingering longer on the folded skin than was strictly required by the gesture. "It's me again. I almost left without hooks."

The vendors looked from Zea up to Avery's completely sincere purple face, and she knew she had to say something.

"He's foreign." The barber-surgeon cocked his jaw to the side and looked at her levelly, as if to say that yes he had figured that bit out for himself. The bubbly sweetness drained out of her expression and posture. "Was he wrong to visit Thanatos? Are we uncivilized and rude?" Annoyance began seeping up into their expressions, warring with fear for the honor of being suppressed very badly. She sucked at her front teeth in quiet disapproval. "Your names, please?"

At this the butcher unlocked first, backing away from the both of them and leaving the barber-surgeon alone at the front. "I will just... see if I can find those hooks for you, Priestess."

Trusting Avery with very important glowering duties, Zea kept her eyes on the butcher in the hopes that he'd check over his shoulder and see her still staring.

Draconian

If Avery's features could soften, they would have. Was she offended for him? Avery looked down at her, giving the top of her head a rather fond look before gazing back at the two human males that Zea was telling off. His regular face did enough to intimidate most people, this Zea was truly an oddity. At least the whole island wasn't weird after all. People had appropriate reactions here. Or at least, they had reactions he was expecting.

The barber-surgeon gave a quick glance over his shoulder, made eye contact with Zea and quickly turned about around, looking for the small hooks. Eventually, after some panicked looking around the  sound of metal hitting metal was heard and he looked at the Priestess, "H-how many do you need?"He asked his eyes flicking between Zea and Avery, giving him another look like he was trying to decide if the monster was going to eat him or let him get away. This time.

Avery took a deep breath, looking at the mans hand. He'd pricked his finger and there was a swell of blood there. He could smell it. There was a slight urge to let Zea know that he could scent blood, perhaps she could find that interesting as well? Instead Avery simply opened his mouth, to which the Barber-surgeon watching him gave a slightly muted whimper - an attempt at not being rude - and watched Zea.

If that was him there he'd have just eaten them. It wasn't though. They were as big as she was, anyway.

Tags: