Maybe We're Not So Crazy After All [Dr. J!]

[Anonymous]

It had been a long day for her, another to add to the list of long, tiresome days. She couldn't really complain, though, she'd chosen her position and she'd have to stick with it or give up the good to be rid of the bad. It wasn't so much her occupation really, just that she'd fought with her dearest friend. Now she was separated from that friend and she didn't know what to do with herself, her wandering bringing her to strange places all around but now she was in the Niahi Woods and fully enjoying the quiet.

As she thought about it, though, it was really too quiet even for a place like that. The horses were oddly calm, the air remaining undisturbed instead of being pierced by the usual squeals of bickering. Maybe it would turn out to be a good day after all but she couldn't tell for sure. All she knew was that she wanted to forget about what had brought her to this strangely tranquil place and focus on the now. There were horses to move and things to do and she knew that she couldn't spare much time if her animals started up with their usual arguing again.

It was an argument that had led Sophia there, however, and when she slipped and started to think about it again it made her sad and wonder about where her beloved friend might be as well as whether she was taking care of herself or beating herself up. She walked like that for a long while, shuffling her feet across the dry earth beneath herself and just thinking about things that no longer mattered. A dweller she was and one that obviously showed it.

--

A few hours passed and Sophia noticed immediately when her horses began to show signs of thirst. She was a bit worried about them, more so because she couldn't hear any running water, but knew that if she stopped them now she'd have to walk just that much longer the next day. She turned to look back at them, the calmness they exuded astounding her still and her thoughts grew frantic as she now paid little attention to where she was going or what she was doing. Why are they so...normal?! There must be something wrong, there must! Could one be sick? That little sorrel wasn't eating well the other day, but why didn't I pay better attention to her!

[Anonymous]

Two months, Five days, and twenty-two hours of traveling. He marked this in his mental calender tiredly. Since the exile, trying to explain his situation, much less rationalize it was getting difficult to do. 'Yes I was Prince', 'No not anymore', 'I wanted to leave', 'No I don't have any gold for you'. Ryan, all he wanted was to go on adventure! See the world! Yet here he was, walking and walking by his lonesome. Well, to the naked eye that is. On his shoulder, an insect size female sat reclined and relaxed. Little Lily Lili, Ryan's companion and self-appointed torturer. He enjoyed her company most of the time, however her trickery knew no bounds, and despite her mature appearance, Lili was a deviant creature worse than a pack of children thrown together. As of today, Ryan counted 3 'hilarious' jokes. Resulting in a tooth ache, back pains, and a gooey substance on his shoe that made it hard to walk. Needless to say, silence was the topic of the day.

Ryan kept at a slow, steady stride. His silver eyes downcast, mentally counting small objects such as rocks and nuts. The very sight of them rippled across his features in unmistakable aggravation. A look of pure grimace. Meanwhile Lili sat back on her companion's shoulder, humming the raunchy versions of pixie tunes back home. Home, now that was a concept long gone...

"Lili, you sure you don't have any idea why they keep following us?"
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Lili..."
"Nope, no clue."
"Uh-huh, right."

Behind them, stalking at trees guise of protection, specks of red crawled and climbed one tree after the other. Always following the two as they made their way to no destination in particular. The Red-Tailed Squirrel Clan were on the hunt for revenge, each red bushy tailed soldier prepared to throw as many nuts as required for Ryan's unconditional surrender. For he who steals the holy acorn must pay. One month, Nine days, Thirteen hours. They counted since following the man and the lovable pixie girl whom entertained them so with stories of simple delight, if not for the acorn, they'd probably have followed to talk to her again. Rare occasion to meet people who knew the complex language of squirrel. They'd concluded Ryan as a stubborn one, but no one was as stubbornly driven as they of the Clan Red Tail.

"So we are lost then."
"Maybe."
"Oh, you know where we are?"
"Nope."
"Me neither, guess what that means Lili?"
"We are taking a detour?"
"Smartass."
"Your cute when your mad."
"uh... um... look we need to figure out where we are."
"Oh I know!"
"Really? Where?"
"We are here!"
"I give up..."

Ryan held out a map of poor quality he'd picked up for cheap, just going to show that you get your moneys worth, and attempted to decipher their possible location with Lili fluttering about the paper in front of him, touching different names of roads and landscapes and rivers with a particular interest she'd neglected to show before. However obstructing Ryan's vision was only beginning to grate on his nerves once again. On the side he made note that he should be used to this by now, yet somehow that didn't calm him. "I'm trying to figure this out." He said, straining for the nicest smile he could muster, which wasn't much, as his 'fangs' provided a not so subtle touch of menace. "Fine!" Lili pouted, raising up above Ryan's head. She began plotting another trick when she spotted her red-tail friends behind them. She smiled devilishly, retrieving the holy acorn from Ryan's pack, and held it up as an act of intentional defiance to the Clan's wishes. A 'Come and Get it If you Can' Gesture.
---
Half an Hour of running and maybe 500 projectiles later, Ryan and Lili managed to outrun the extremely pissed off bunch when the sheer quite hit him like a sledgehammer. Before, all sorts of sounds common to forests flooded on them constantly. Yet somewhere during their running, it all came to cease almost immediately as Ryan began to recall. Strangely, he didn't feel angry like he should, knowing full well that Lili was somehow to blame for that episode. It felt good. Calm.

"Lookie Lookie!" Leave it to Lili to break the moment. "What now Lili?" He groaned, one hand covering half his face in growing irritation. "Horses and a Woman." Ryan's head shot up, "She might be able to help us." He broke into a light jog with Lili flying at shoulder height until he came within speaking distance of the young woman and her horses. Peaceful like all else in the wood. "Good day." Ryan humbly nodded, eyes passing from her to the horses and back again. "We are a bit lost, would you mind helping us?" He felt slightly rude for asking so straightforward, but he was beginning to feel desperate with his luck turning on him at every point. His lip curved into a small smile, as he reached for his map, pointed, and shrugged.

[Anonymous]

None of them seemed upset, though. None so much as uncomfortable and it made her wonder if they might be plotting against her or were trying to distract her from something much worse than she might be expecting. Regardless, she was worried and far from wary of anything else that was going on around her as she scanned each animal in her search for some sort of hint that things were not as peaceful and calm as they seemed. However, after her search which resulted in finding nothing out of the ordinary she turned her attention to the environment, wondering if perhaps they were going through an area struck by some sort of magic. It certainly would explain the sudden truce between her horses but she decided to be more cautious about things, allowing her eyes to dart around in hopes of finding something amiss.

Distracted like she was, Sophia didn't hear the man approach and was unaware of his presence until he spoke to her. Shaking her head a bit before looking up, she found herself a bit confused about why he was there. He seemed to be expecting an answer of some sort and she backtracked through her mind to figure out what he'd even said. It didn't make sense, though, she was sure he'd said we. Scanning him and his immediate surroundings, even leaning to the side a bit to see if someone was behind him, she began to wonder if he might be a bit...unstable. He'd asked for her help, though, and she figured it would be too rude to just pass him by and not say a thing.

"Do you travel much?" she asked, glancing down to the map in his hand. "We're in the Niahi Woods, at least we are if I took the right turn back there...but I'm going all the way through to La'marri and if I'm making good time then I should be able to make it in a few days." She trailed off there at the end, beginning to think out loud instead of answering his question. When she became aware of what she'd done she twitched her lips into a smile and focused on him again. "Anyway, sure. I have enough food packed if you'd like to join me. Or I could just give you directions if you're in a hurry. My horses don't seem in the mood for long run, you see, I've never seen them act like this before."

[Anonymous]

My luck is finally turning, he thought absent-minded for a second. He lipped the words Niahi Woods silently, face nearly pressed against the shoddy map until his eyes widened and he smiled big. "Here it is! About time too. No more distractions Lili or I'm putting you back in the cage." Weeks had passed since their last conversation with anyone new, so the sudden realization that this woman was no doubt absolutely clueless as to whom he meant by 'we' and what was going on dawned on him all at once, twisting his gut and draining the color in his face. "Oh uh...heh yes I'm kinda knew at this." Ryan lowered the map and laughed hesitantly, scratching the back of his head as he did so. Lili's eyes narrowed in on Ryan. "Why are you acting like that? Hmm? Whats so special about her?!" The red-headed pixie demanded answers, unused to seeing Ryan act so... flustered when it wasn't about her. She bit his ear lobe and started flying around his face, shaking her finger at him and shouting as loud as she could, which sounded like a buzzing to people not close enough to make out her meaning.  

Ryan instinctively felt like swatting her away like a fly, but forced his hand steady, and attempted to best explain the situation before they spooked the woman. "This here is what I meant by us, uh, say hello to Little Lily the Pixie." The former prince raised a gloved hand up and pointed his index finger inches away from his face, where on top of his nose Lili was throwing another tantrum. "Food would be great! Don't mind her though, she just likes to make trouble." The statement seemed to add fuel to the fire, as she bit him square on the nose. "Ouch!" He lept back, rubbed his nose where she just was, and looked up. "See what I mean? Names Ryan, pleasure to meet ya miss..." He stepped forward, outstretching his hand to shake hers, hoping it wasn't too bold a move. Back home, it was custom of his position to shake hands and do well with all he came across, subjects and equals alike. Lili left the two momentarily to introduce herself to 'better company' as she put it to herself, and came upon Sophia's horses curiously. In all her time she never found a creature she enjoyed better than the horse. She whispered amongst them in a fae tongue, the dialect used for interaction between Faerie and Nature.

[Anonymous]

It was amusing to her to watch him search for their general location on the map, his intent staring at the symbols reminding her of how she'd been when she first started her seemingly endless wandering. She merely nodded as he explained himself, understanding how rough it could be if one was lost in an unfamiliar place. She'd chosen to ignore his comment about "Lili" for the moment, still unsure about his level of sanity, but she couldn't help but smile when she saw a blur of movement across his face. Taking a few steps forward to get a better look, she now could see what he was talking about and why he'd seemed a bit nervous when she'd looked at him strangely. Sophia lifted a hand and made a small waving gesture at the small creature, watching as she darted this way and that.

"Hello Ryan, Lily, I'm Sophia Rayner. It's nice to meet you two, I don't usually get a chance to talk much with fellow travelers...and I've never met a pixie before but you're very beautiful, Lily." She moved away then towards her horses, mindful that Ryan had been quite enthusiastic upon the mentioning of food. From one of her packs she retrieved a piece of bread and an apple before walking back to her new acquaintances. Extending her hands, she offered the food to him. "Here, I picked the apples yesterday and the bread isn't that bad... Where are you two headed anyhow?"

[Anonymous]

Ryan returned her smiling gesture with one of his own, happy to meet Sophia when things were starting to look down in the dumps indefinably. Lili was making trips from the horses to Ryan and back again, making sure he wasn't getting any ideas and entertaining herself at the same time. Sophia acknowledged her presence and she stopped in mid-flight. Beautiful she said, Lili smiled innocently and shrugged what was her best thank you, blushing all the while. She'd badger Ryan later why he didn't compliment her like that, but for now, she nabbed a piece of bread and returned with the horses. The only question now was, How can I make the day interesting?

"Well then Sophia, I'll have to take you up on that offer." The former prince accepted one of the spare apples and sunk in, retrieving a large chunk of it at once. Chewing, he held it in one hand and paced around in small circles, thinking of what to say. They never really set a location to walk towards, no, he started walking down the road out of Serendipity one morning and never looked back. Lili ended up joining him down the path, and the two never spoke of plans aside from what to eat and what general direction they might be going. "We haven't had the opportunity either I'm sure you can gather, but to be frank, I have no idea where I'm going." Ryan paused as if to contemplate, then bit again into the green apple in his gloved grasp. "I picked a road to walk on and kept moving ever since." The philosophy behind this statement would have been fine talk for the monks they passed about two weeks ago, but he shied away from it as much as possible. Not a great way to start off, he thought embarrassed. Even with Lili explained, Ryan was still an odd one in a strange life predicament.

It was time to change the topic. "And you said you were heading to La'marri with these horses right?" He motioned over to her steeds, "Do you raise them to sell?" Ryan briefly recalled the horses of his homeland, how he enjoyed learning horsemanship and going for rides along the banks of the river basins. It was an exhilarating feeling. Lili was over there with them, and it took all of his willpower to ignore her. If he didn't, he'd get paranoid and demand answers to questions she wouldn't acknowledge. Why did this feel like some sort of marriage arrangement?

[Anonymous]

She watched the two eat for a moment, glad she was able to offer them something. Her eyes flickered to Lily whenever she came back from the horses, smiling at the soft whirring sound her wings put forth. The pacing she ignored, knowing that Ryan must be thinking about what she'd said. When he spoke she nodded, finding the need to just get away an understandable motivation. Ryan didn't continue talking about it, though, so she let it be thinking that his reasons were rather personal.

Turning her head when he mentioned her horses, Sophia nodded, glad to talk about her trade. "Yes, that's where I'm headed. I've sold them here and there but I usually buy another just as soon as one is sold. You see, I don't just work with my horses I sometimes buy other animals to bring to different regions if I know they will be worth more somewhere else," she explained, her feet unconsciously bringing her closer to her beloved equines. "And I work with the pets of nobles as well, most are too lazy or busy to train them themselves plus it's easy for me...I just understand them." By then she felt like she'd said too much and giggled airily as she reached a hand up to stroke the neck of the nearest horse.

A few moments of quiet permitted her to think a bit, remembering what Ryan had said about his method of travel. She admitted to herself that she was still curious about what he'd left behind, knowing that he hadn't mentioned anything about why he was where he was. Feeling that it would be best to let the subject be, though, she didn't know if it might bring up something painful, Sophia ignored that it had occurred in the first place and pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind.

[Anonymous]

Ryan allowed Sophia to speak her mind whilst he ate down to the apple's core, observing her every sway and motion. She was a fine looking girl, sweetly spoken and well-mannered. The contrast with a certain someone playing with the horses was too obvious for him to not ignore. He smiled a toothy grin, forgetting the marks of magic flowing through him. Eyes are understandable to be odd, too many fantastic and exotic creations walking about to define a 'normal' look. But fangs always tended to put people on edge. Ryan would explain if he had to. On topic however, it seemed that Sophia was a beast master, or so was the term for animal trainers back home. He recalled riding with Tarrish, an elven beast soother who, like Sophia, attended the horses and pets of Royalty and Nobles too caught up in work or lazy to do so themselves. Tarrish, long blond hair, keen hawk eyes. The former prince always remembered that the smell of the wild clung to him wherever he went.

"Yes I see, A friend of mine back home attended to my family's pets the same as you do for others." Ryan carefully glanced over to her, "Some of my fondest memories were from his lessons on such matters." He sighed, then lightly chuckled, "Though I'm not very good at it." For those few moments, his expression was distant, somewhere else, and then all at once he chunked his apple core to the side and shrugged. "No matter, I'm rambling. Thank you so much for your hospitality." Ryan said genuinely, folding his hands across his chest before turning to face the way he'd came. He was being a bit awkward and knew it. Normally it wasn't so difficult to get aquatinted but the squirrels had put him on edge again. Squirrels...Animal Trainer...Connection! Ryan's face lit up, his body rotated 180 degrees and he said with a grin, "Looking for a quick coin? I think you might be able to help me with my problem."

A small red blur fluttered between the two, and stopped shy of connecting with Ryan's ear. "What are you talking about now?" Lili's attention had been diverted, as she sensed the prince deviating a plan. As far as she was concerned, she was the only one allowed to make them, and if not, she had to be informed. "I'll tell you if you'd like to tell me why those squirrels keep attacking me." Ryan had gone over this a hundred times, and didn't expect to hear anything new. "No idea Ryan." She said innocently, swaying her tiny body and mustering the biggest doe eyes she could perform without tearing up. "Yeah I figured." Ryan shook his head, then turned to Sophia. "Miss Rayner, I have a clan of squirrels stalking me for reasons I don't know. Think you could help me out?" Ryan listened to himself talk and wanted a re-do. It seemed everything he said was nonsensical and looney. In retrospect, that was a good summary of his journey thus far.

[Anonymous]

Listening as he shared a small bit of his past with her, Sophia angled her head to keep an eye on the horses while still giving him her full attention. He seemed very fond of his friend and his countenance gave light to it as well as his words. A soft smile appeared across her own lips as she watched him, silence spreading between them when he stopped speaking. For a moment she studied him, noting the light eyes especially, and thinking of what she might say, wanting to express how she understood what he meant without sounding corny. Her thoughts were interrupted when he turned and announced, indirectly, that he was leaving. This puzzled her greatly and she wondered if she'd sparked some sort of painful memory to incite his departure. Just as she was about to call after him, though, he stopped and turned again. This time he looked happy, an obvious plan gleaming in his eye as he came back towards her. Her own expression was expectant, wondering what he had to say. However, what he did say was not what she might have expected to hear.

She almost laughed at the thought of helping someone else, her only strong suit being in her natural gift with animals. When Ryan mentioned squirrels she relaxed her tense smile, knowing that she might be able to help him now that she knew it involved some sort of troublesome animal. The thought of squirrels made her giggle, though, she knew how mischievous they could be. They were quite skilled in ambush tactics, that she knew from personal experience, but also that they could be very kind and thoughtful. Hearing that this man was being followed by them, though, was quite amusing to her. "Have you upset them somehow, Ryan? They usually don't bother others unless they have a reason for it," she explained.

ooc: Ahhhh! I have Short Post Syndrome today xD