[Mousen]

It was a warm morning in the jungle town of Nabias, there was a cool touch to the wind that rippled through the slightly worse-for-wear trees and ruffled the feathers of the starving birds. Small, but well stocked stores lined the little high street, while market trader's patter filled the air. The sky was a slightly greying shade of blue and it was on that warm winter day Cualli Acatl found herself in Nabias. Her eyes were wide with wonder  as she soaked it all in. Never before had she made the five day trek through the jungle to get where she was now. It was rather startling how different this was from her tree-top jungle home. Had she not been the practical sort she probably would have got swept away in a rather different jungle to the one she was used to. Instead the young woman sat on a set of steps and watched the goings on of the people in the city. She saw happy couples, rather severe looking explorers setting up for their next trip, she saw rich merchants and street performers dressed in rich vibrant silks. She also saw the darker side of the town, almost hidden within the dark alley ways. Cualli watched the starving beggars plead with the rich for food, she saw crying children without parents and she saw the occasional pick pocket making off with their next prize. While watching all this she did nothing to help the beggars, she did nothing to comfort the children, nor did she stop the pick pockets, many would see her as being like everyone else on this matter. That, would be quite wrong, unlike all the couples, the explorers and the merchants she didn't turn a blind eye. In fact she watched the goings on with the utmost curiosity, taking in the good and the bad of this world.

Never before had she seen such darkness, yet the happiness here was much louder, much brighter than the quiet melchanoly of her tribe. The books that she had been given sadly failed to describe the wonder and harshness of the outside world, they paled in comparison to what the place was really like. After a while the thought stayed into her head that someone should help those without homes, without family, those who had nothing. She assumed that some people did, for she couldn't be alone in her thinking. Yet the more she looked, the more poverty she found and the more people she found ignoring it. There was a whole world of suffering beneath the facade of a happy jungle town. After a moment Cualli frowned, all it took were rose tinted spectacles and a touch of ignorance and it was so easy to turn a blind eye. So easy to ignore what was going on around her. The more she thought about doing so, the more she thought about it, the more guilty she became. How could they just look away?

Cualli herself had little money with her, the few keystones she had were for her stay at the quiet little inn Nazahuatl had suggested she stay at during her time here. After all there was no point spending five days trekking through the jungle for a day trip. She'd just have to observe this time, maybe her and Nazahuatl could come back at some point, perhaps they could help. The young woman could tell you the names of every plant that surrounded her tribe's home, but put her with modern culture and he'd be completely clueless.

A hand reached out and grabbed a wrist, disturbing her thoughts and causing her to jump backwards several feet. The hand around her wrist only tightened. Without noticing it she must have wandered into one of the more unsavoury streets.
"'’Ello there, love."
"Let me go! You filthy itzcuintepolli.*" She snarled, trying to twist her wrist out of her grasp. She gasped slightly as another male came from the shadows of the rather dank alley she'd found herself in. He was much bigger than the man in the shadows and carried the look of a man who'd drunk much more than one ever should. He swayed slightly where he stood.
"Not a good idea, sunshine." He slurred.
In a swift movement she used her free hand to grab the machete from her side, the sharpened blade just touching the first man's skin. He let out a yell and let go of her wrists. Cualli might have been a slight novice to the way in which this place worked, but she wasn't stupid, or unable to defend herself for that matter.

Before she'd managed to comprehend it all she was running, following the slight imprints her dusty feet had made earlier. When she reached the high street she stopped, looking around as if she expected another attacker to be around the corner. She sighed her breath coming in short, sharp bursts. Her eyes were slightly wild, clearly she was very much shaken by her encounter. It had been a silly idea to come alone, now that she thought about it. Why did she have to be so independent and refuse any company on this trip? She leant against a store that seemed to be selling camping equipment, catching her breath and fighting the sense of panic that threatened to overwhelm her. She was bigger than this, she was one of the only females to be allowed to go hunting with the males of her tribe for Cipactli's sake! The young woman swallowed a lump in her throat and tried to calm herself down. There were no tears yet, but she could feel her eyes getting damper, after a moment or two she rubbed the corners of her eyes, willing herself not to make a fool  of herself here.

It was a few moments before she noticed the pain in her foot, a small pool of blood surrounding her right heel. "Not now." She moaned quietly, wincing. She must have stood on some glass when she was running. The glass thankfully seemed long gone, but now she had an injury to tend to. Sitting down, she sighed, it wasn't like she didn't have enough problems. Cualli quickly searched through her bag, looking for something to stop the bleeding. After a moment or two she pulled out a rather thin looking piece of fabric which she quickly pressed to the small wound. How she was going to get home in this state she didn't know.

(( *A word which shouldn't really be in Cualli's vocabulary XD;; // D8;; Sorry Millie~ The post itself is utter tosh, I kinda ended up rushing because it's like almost two AM and I wanted to get it done tonight. <33 Click pet image for human form~  ))

[MillietheWarrior]

(Thrix Ref)

Uh-huh. Boring.

If Thrix could pick one word to describe his ’reassignment’ it would be ’boring.’ The people in this town walked around on eggshells around him. He didn’t seem much point in being here to begin with; they didn’t need him. There was no inkling of any sort of separatist involvement in the small, out of the way, jungle village. There was no threat here. So why, by all that was good and holy, had he been sent here again? Thrix groaned privately in the confines of his helmet, leaning against one of the walls to a rather ancient looking building. The twin blasters at his hips often offered him both a wide berth and curious stares. People seemed baffled by him and his armor, and even more baffled by his sudden appearance. The mayor of the small town had assured his people that the ‘strange armored man meant them no harm’ and he would just be hanging around a few weeks to ensure their safety in the on-going war that had yet to truly touch such a remote location.

Thrix thought it was all some kind of military crock, and a serious misallocation of excellent resources; he should be out on the front line, not stuck at some desk jockey job, babysitting some silly little town that didn’t even need his help. Thrix resisted the urge to throw his hands into the air and curse himself hoarse. He could probably come up with some pretty creative ones right about now. Thrix narrowed his eyes as another passerby shot him a scathing look, as if questioning his reason for being here. Thrix purposefully turned his helmet audio on and let his well-timed growl filter through to the pedestrian, who’s pace quickened and took him well out of firing range of the angry lieutenant. Thrix felt like a ridiculously useless soldier right now, and he was certain that if he didn’t do something soon, he was either going to shoot a civilian, or go literally crazy. And a literally crazy ARC trooper was not a good thing. They already had a few screws loose to begin with.

Thrix pushed himself off the wall, kama swinging around his legs as he strolled down the street, arms behind his back, face a mask of doom and gloom beneath his helmet. Maybe if something interesting happened, he might- ….wait a minute…What the shab was that? Thrix narrowed his eyes, and then blinked to enhance the image on his HUD. A strange looking woman was hiding partially in the shadow of an alley; Thrix had never seen her before. Not once. He knew every person in this town by face, but hers was utterly foreign to him. His eyes narrowed darkly, and he wondered if his idea that there was nothing ‘abnormal’ about this town was wrong. Everyone was a potential threat until they’d been cleared. And everyone HAD been cleared. Everyone…but her. Thrix’s pace remained lazy, but it sped up almost imperceptibly as he made a beeline for the strange woman, his eyes never leaving her. The nearby civilians quickly scattered; an ARC with a purpose was an ARC you didn’t tangle with, and Thrix certainly had a purpose.

As he reached her, his body blocked out the light at the front of the alley; Thrix had schematics of every single part of this city; she could run, but she could never hide. “Afternoon,” he drawled lazily, HUD taking readings on her height, skin tone, eye color, hair color, build, and visible weapons. Nothing but a machete, it looked like. That could be dangerous. “Something wrong there, miss? Looks like you could use a bit of help.” He kept his voice light and airy, not giving any of his suspicions away. “You new in town? haven’t seen you around before…and I know everyone here.”

[Mousen]

(Sorry for the wait <33 My muse went all 'now you see me, now you don't 8D!' on me. D8;; <33)

Cualli glanced up at the figure, fear flashing across her face. After a moment she let out a slightly feral sounding hiss through her teeth. "I've read about many things, my tribe prides itself on it's knowledge. What-- what are you? I'm sorry if I sound rude, but I..." She trailed off, looking up at the man before quickly looking back to the ground. In the tribe she came from knowledge was very important, always Cipactli told them that they should never cut themselves off from the outside world, that it was important to see things themselves. As much as books taught them (and Cualli lived off books) they had to go and live. She knew many things, the young woman was far from dim. Though never had she heard of someone quite like the imposing man before her. Her free hand gripped the machete more tightly than before.

Even when he spoke her hand only loosened ever so slightly, clearly she was far from relaxed, yellow-brown eyes darted around, as if looked for an escape, even if she found one there would be no running, anyway. "I stepped on some glass." Cualli replied curtly, her voice carried only a touch on an accent. However imposing he was, she couldn't help but feel curious. Where there many people like him in this town? Nazahuatl, the small, quick thinking monkey of a youth had never mentioned people like this, but if it were normal, why should he? It was only after several moments of thought that Cualli could think of anything that was even vaguely similar to this man. When she had been alot younger she had read alot of fiction, the knights of old had worn... Armour, like this man was. Did this mean he was an odd sort of knight? The young woman shook the notion from her head quickly, what a silly thing to think. There were no knights anymore, she was fairly sure about that.

"Yes," she answered slowly, still not lifting her gaze. "I come from a small tribe in the Tengel." There was no point going into details, he wouldn't believe her anyway. Who would? As Cipactli frequently reminded her, who would believe that their deity was a forgetful malachite hunter who got into more mischief than your average child? Not many, only the foolish or the young. "You know everyone around here?" Cualli asked suddenly, her expression turning quizzical. "I know everyone in my tribe, but my tribe is very small. Here is... So large compared to what I am used to." She was used to the Tengel with it's large trees and cackling rengosetts, she was used to the snakes that slithered along the branches and she was used to the exotic birds and she was used to the lack of her own species, the animals she was used to seeing. Never had she seen so many people. While she was infinitely more educated than the people of the other tribes, infact they regarded the Tonuac tribe with much apprehension their ways were so different to their own. They learned much of the world outside their tribe, they left and learnt much and they returned and taught the next generation. They were much less naive than one might think.

It suddenly stuck her from the passing glances of other people, that they too were a little fearful of the armored man, she watched them closely. It seemed odd to her, if he knew everyone, why were they scared of him? Though was it wise to ask? She brought her odd blue eyes to meet this stranger's. It was odd, while her skin was rather dark, her eyes held the same odd hue as her father's. She was a curious young woman, full of questions and right now she was just wondering if it was wise to ask them. While the figure seemed calm, he had every right to be. She on the other hand? It was most certainly a debatable point. As Cipactli would say, it's better of asking a stupid question and getting a stupid answer than not asking one at all, really the poor hunter wasn't good at making up sayings. None of them were ever particularly useful or even remember-able, most of them involved trees or the universe. Had he not been the deity of the Tonuac Tribe, he could have easily wrote the sayings for fortune cookies. It was nice to know that if he ever failed them he'd have another line of work to go into.

"Why is it that all the people you know don't seem to like you all that much? The people that know me seem to like me, does that make you particularly unlikeable?" Cualli was certainly no coward once she'd managed to gather herself. Infact she'd managed to out do herself this time, a rather impish grin seemed to be playing around her face.

(Sorry, sorry, sorry <33 I need to write better. D8 <3 /should stop moaning. I moan to much~ <33 D8 See? <33)