The time of day was nearing sun high; there had been a scheduled trade with Solarisclan and Lunarisclan in only a short while. Yuuka had been given a list of herbs and berries to trade with the opposing clan, but unfortunately, names were not her strong point. She could remember everything about them- except the name. Although, Yuuka remembered the plants by her own methods.
Scanning over the list, Yuuka found that there were short, very brief descriptions of each berry/herb being traded. She silently thanked whoever had taken the time to write the summarized notes and found what she needed in a flash, hastily packing her knapsack.
Once Yuuka had finished, she walked out of the storage tent in camp, and headed out to the butte, otherwise known as the Otero. She climbed to the top of it, under watch by a warrior or two, and made way to the center of it. Seemingly, the other mender wasn't there, so she was forced to wait. Best thought from her at the time was to sit down for the moment being, since the bag she carried weighed enough as it was.
Yuuka sat and shifted the bag in front of her, tugging on her written list that she stuffed into the backpack earlier, and took it out to review the names. Since she could not have her own apprentice until she learned and memorized the names, she tried her best to remember. However, it was a lost cause. Even with studying, nothing would help her. All the time Yuuka sat there- all the time she stared at the paper with a clueless look- her mind replacing each word with another. 'Numia? Isn't it Vipor's Tongue...?' She shook her head, 'What strange names these clans call each herb and berry.'
if you close your eyes does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
WORDS: 282
TAGGED: Yuuka
A/N: n/a
Golden orbs stared above, calculating the time only to find that it was now midday. It was time for him to engage in a pointless activity called trading. Why his clan insisted on doing this every season was beyond him and honestly, none of his concern.
Ookami reached for the list of ores beside his bedding, quickly transported them into a bag and headed towards Otero to meet a woman called Yuuka. He wondered for a moment, she could not be called a woman, she was still a girl. She was a mere child, according to her age at the very least. He stared at the bag, watched his psychic abilities gently lift it off the ground and carry itself beside him as he made his way.
He almost sighed, wondering why his thoughts wandered towards the girl anyway. She was of no interest to him whatsoever, on the contrary, if he could have exchanged activities with another Mender, he would have.
Arriving at the small butte situated between both clans, the first thing he noticed was her sitting on the ground with a large bag in her possession. She hadn't noticed his presence and looked as though she were deep in thought. Ookami quickly dismissed it, he didn't care, all he wanted was for this trade to cease quickly.
The purple highlighted bag set itself in front of her with a thud, loud enough to, hopefully, snap her out of her thoughts.
"..." His eyes flicked towards the now deposited bag. Assuming the other bag, as it was the only one around other than his, was for his clan, his powers covered it in a purple hue before lifting it towards him.
The jolt of shock Yuuka got from the sudden dropping of the bag made her flick invisible. Just like that, and without thinking. She looked up at Ookami, sighing in relief to realize that he was who she had to meet.
Noticing that she had gone invisible for the moment, she squinted her eyes shut and focused on reappearing. Luckily for her, she did. That deserved another sigh of it's own, but Yuuka was too busy stuffing her list she had looked over away into a pocket on her clothing.
Yuuka stood up, obtaining the new bag that had been traded over. She clutched it tightly as she stumbled to find words to the silent other mender, "I-In the bag, you've got Vipor's tongue, Feather patch, Bee's spike, and a few other berries and herbs. Those are all I can remember off the top of my head."
What slipped past Yuuka's mind was the thought of an introduction for herself, and, perhaps the actual names for the berries that she had just been staring on with the list of her's. Only after her brief listing did she think to do mention her own name. "Oh! I'm Yuuki Kokoro." She slightly bowed to him, "Shall I assume you're Ookami, healer for Lunarisclan?"
if you close your eyes does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
WORDS: 283
TAGGED: Yuuka
A/N: n/a
Fascinating, she had the invisibility ability. So far, no one in his clan possessed such a power. He wondered if she flicked on and off due to physical stimulations such as shock or if she consciously controlled it.
Judging from her jolt due to the sound of the deposited bag, he assumed it was due to shock. On the other hand, no physical stimulation was necessary to revert back to her visible form. Which meant her ability could be controlled both ways.
How peculiar and yet so simple to decipher. This girl gave away the basic functions of her ability in that one movement. How simple.
The purple highlighted bag stopped in front of him, for his eyes to inspect. She began speaking of the bag's contents but with different terms. He wondered...
His arm reached inside the bag to pull out a Simpatisan, Numia and Mudah. There were no strange plants insides the bag and yet she referred to them with different names. How intriguing.
She continued speaking to introduce herself and inquired if he was this 'Ookami' person. He frowned slightly, who else would be here after all? Would she simply hand a bag filled with precious contents to a stranger without verifying his identity?
It was a good thing she was not part of his clan, Lunarisclan did not need such like her after all. She was careless, revealing the secrets and functions of her ability and handing resources to a stranger whose name she hadn't even asked.
"What are these?" He inquired quietly. This was the only positive attribute she currently had, mystery. His sense of curiosity took over, once that was satisfied and dealt with, he would leave.
From what Yuuka saw, Ookami was most certainly the silent type. Usually she was quiet, but she foretold that she would have to speak up if there were any chance of ongoing conversations.
"Vipor's tongue, feather patch, and bee's spike." Yuuka recited, yawning as though she need not to repeat herself when the answer was clear from the start. "Weren't you listening?"
In an instant, it all came back to Yuuka. She wasn't saying the names on the paper list she was given. Again. Sighing, she took out the piece of paper in her pocket, scanned over it a moment for herself, and handed it over for Ookami to examine.
"Actually, here they are. Vipor's tongue translates to one of them on the list. If I looked at it right, then it should be Numia." Yuuka mumbled, looking away from him. She could practically facepalm at that moment for her awful mistake. She was actually quite disappointed in herself for not realizing she was saying the specific names wrong again, when it was right in front of her face only a second before the start of the exchange. Aside from slight disappointment in herself, Yuuka shrugged the feeling off and swung the bag around her shoulder.
"Forget what I had said about the names." Yuuka mentioned, whispering, "Though the true names are the ones I spoke of." She didn't mind if he had heard the last part of not. What she said she thought was nothing but the truth, and she didn't need another to validate or deny it.
if you close your eyes does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
WORDS: 245
TAGGED: Yuuka
A/N: xxx
Ookami watched, with a lifted brow, as Yuuka recited the same foreign names from earlier while motioning to each herb. He wondered if she realized what she was doing. Could it be possible that Solarisclan used separate terms? No. That wouldn't be possible considering the names on the list are the same. This girl was the only anomaly, a breath of fresh air from the usual boring atmosphere around clan.
'Ah, that's what they mean.' He thought in fascination. Never in his time of medicine had he heard someone using separate names for certain items.
She handed him a list of the items, their actual names in Lalonia. He quickly fumbled inside his pouch, situated on his hip, for something to write with. Once he found it, his fingers quickly jotted down the foreign names she'd spoken.
"Bee's spike you say correct?" He muttered, mostly to himself.
She turned around but the mender barely registered it, finding new information was a thrill for him.
"What is Vipor's tongue used for?" He inquired. If his thoughts were correct, she merely called the same plant by a different name. If so, her description of the plant's functions should be parallel to its actual function.
Another set of thoughts wracked his mind. Were there more names? Where did she get them? He heard her whisper something which he did not quite catch.
"Where are you from?" He asked, curiously. "Definitely not from these parts considering the terms you use."
Though Ookami had been in total fascination with the words Yuuka spoke, and less of anything else, she didn't notice and it never occurred to her that was the case. When she was questioned, every answer came natural to her.
Yuuka gazed over at Ookami's writing, watching him jot down notes of some sort, which she didn't care to specifically read.
"Vipor's Tongue? It's a berry that practically had no effect on the skin, though there is a poisonous area on it. Surely you would know, if I'm capable of remembering." Yuuka shrugged, the sudden rising interest that Ookami had with the names and descriptions going unnoticed by the small mender.
Yuuka tilted her head slightly, "I've lived in Solarisclan all my life. Born and raised." She blinked, "I have a reason why I call the names like so, though. Isn't too important of a fact, but ever since I woke up from a two year coma, I've been told a number of things changed. About me, my memory, who knows. All can be blamed on the menders that liked to experiment. Didn't find out anything, but it must have been fun for them, I bet." Though there was no reason to, Yuuka chuckled to herself. The fact that she didn't even recall anything, and had to be retold everything about what happened to her she found funny. Supposing what she said backed up her story even more so.
Suddenly, Yuuka realized, she turned a simple exchange of materials into her personal story time on accident. Woops.
if you close your eyes does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
WORDS: 371
TAGGED: Yuuka
A/N: n/a
Meaning she merely spoke different names for the same berry, which was quite interesting in itself. Ookami loved new knowledge and after learning about all the herbs, being a mender was rather tiresome and uneventful. Mistake nothing, he did enjoy helping his clan members.
After inquiring about her origins, he assumed she would stop after saying she was born and raised in clan. To his surprise, she continued speaking. He came to the conclusion that she was quite talkative. He wondered if this was a natural occurrence for her, or if she was attempting to fill the gap in his lack of speech. Ookami didn't care enough to ask.
A coma however, now that was interesting. Such a long state of sleep would definitely impact the brain in some way. Gaining a new personality, knowledge and the likes was definitely unnatural.
He wondered if a simple remedy for head injuries would suffice in mending her...condition. He remained stagnant while several herbs, a piece of cloth, a pestle and mortar floated in between them. The herbs gently laid inside the mortar and lost their purple hue. Meanwhile, the pestle began crushing it into a gooey substance with which he used a cloth to strain. Several minutes passed with nothing happening, Ookami merely stood there briefly eyeing the sun for the time. Soon after, the watery residue landed on the ground. He didn't care, it would dry soon. What was left over was a small quantity of a yellow powder that floated over to Yuuka, enclosed in the small piece of cloth.
"Drink it." Ookami ordered, "Every day at sunhigh. It should help with the coma effects." The bag to his left quickly closed while he turned around, ready to leave.
"You may choose not to drink it." He commented soon after, his face facing her though his head turning around to look at her for a brief moment before turning back around. "I don't care."
And with that, he stepped down from the butte to make his way towards his cave den. Today was rather eventful, he would see her at the next trading session. Depending on whether she actually drank his remedy or not, he would assess her condition then.
"It's been years since the coma I was in occurred, you know." Yuuka stared as Ookami brewed some sort of medical concoction. She remained silent during the procedure, after her short comment, of course, thinking that Ookami wouldn't care if she talked or stayed silent the entire time as he did so.
Not that her load to carry wasn't heavy enough as it was, Yuuka held a shaky arm out to retrieve the yellow powder kept away in the cloth. Since she had watched it being made, she found no purpose in removing part of the cloth to visualize its contents.
"Uh-" Just as Yuuka was about to ask about the powder, she was cut off by the directions that Ookami had instructed her.
Though the two came from opposite clans, most of the time menders had no reason to fear each other, and distrust another's opinion. This was the logic that Yuuka had obtained, and followed it. There was no reason to distrust the mender she had just encountered, and finding no need to ponder on the issue for more than a moment, she decided that she'd try out what she had been given. She knew what herbs were mixed together, after all. Rather, she thought so.
By the time Yuuka came to a decision, Ookami had already left her alone standing on the butte with her heavy bag, and the new sort of medicine. Nothing more left for her, Yuuka stepped down off the butte, and back to camp in her own clan, away from the border.
