Alone and Guilt-ridden }{ Open

[ninjaofdoom]

Riki walked through the forest as a slow pace, taking in all of the trees around her. The leaves were a lush green, filling the canopy and dimming the light that seeped through. She watched as little critters bounced around merrily in the daylight, running up and down tree trunks and through the patches of tall grass. Birds chirped from all directions while the wind rustled the leaves, creating a song by nature.

She closed her eyes as she walked, letting the sounds surround her and tell her where her next step should be. Her feet moved precisely, echoing the nature of her long past training. Her soft boots made very little sound, though they stepped over all sorts of forest debris, and the cloth of her clothing was silent. She smiled at the memories that swarmed around her in this secluded place, where the cacophonous chorus of the forest would hide her.

It had been many years since her instructor had died. He had been the only one left and had helped her finish off her training and education in his final weeks. He had been old, very old in fact, but she couldn't shake the feeling that his death had been her fault. After all, if she hadn't fooled around as a child, then she may have still been with what she had come to know as her family. She didn't remember the details of the incident, which only bugged her even more, but she knew it had been her fault.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes, her pupils forming slits and irises shifting from light blue to a golden color. She stopped dead as she heard a disturbance in the sound around her. A twig snapped and she heard a muffled curse. She turned around swiftly and held out her bostaff with a stiff hand. "Who's there?" she whispered toward the location of the disturbance.

[pikky]

It’s all too easy to notice when you’re being watched; however, it’s not always easy to see where you are being watched from, especially with someone like Pikky. Whilst the little birdies sang and the rabbits played hopscotch in the clearings and baby deer pranced around, it was disillusioning to think that there was something a little more violently inclined hiding amongst the happy scene. Something that had a mind that was a little more dark, and an evilness within it that was... well. We’ll see.

Whatever Riki expected to see, I doubt that it was a five-inch-tall winged fellow looking slightly demented; it was hard to imagine how someone so light could make a twig snap, but anger could make anyone clumsy, I suppose. As a rule, Pikky was always, always in a bad mood, and there was very little that anyone could do to stop that. He was also very tiny. And easily trodden on, I’m afraid. Riki hadn’t stepped on him whilst innocently walking through the forest, her eyes closed, her feet seeming to be able to avoid anything on the ground level through some sort of instinct—but she had come close enough to bug him.

Suddenly, the tiny pixie burst out of a hedge next to her, shooting towards her and bouncing (somewhat harmlessly) off of her leg. He’s not incredibly strong. His papery wings beat the air as he rose to face level. Pixies are not, as such, the beautiful little creatures that most imagine. Pikky did have the pointed ears, the slanted eyes, and the high-cheekbones; he also had a very long nose, a smattering of orange freckles over his green-tinged skin, and a shock of dark hair that appeared to be standing on end. “Oy! Watch where you’re going!” he snarled; he had a tiny voice, but it was said with much meanace. Hahaha.

He darted through the air again upon spotting the bostaff, not really fancying the look of being bludgeoned to death with one of those. His wings were the only part of him moving, a white blur, beating the still air around him with a fast, flitting noise. His arms were folded, his pointed face pulled into a scowl as he glared at the girl. She was probably quite bemused, at this point, seeing as a small man had just bounced against her leg as if expecting her to fall over, and was now giving her a searing glare that could have made her eyebrows catch fire. There was also a touch of defiance in there, a lifting of the chin that was unmistakeable.

[ninjaofdoom]

She glared into the forest, her bostaff held rigidly in her hand and balanced against her arm, somewhat expecting some sort of tall, dark, maybe even cloaked figure to step out of the darkness. Instead, she heard a light sound from in the darkness, and then felt a small something bounce against her leg. What the... she thought as her eyes darted around, looking for the source of the disturbance.

What her eyes finally rested on was an angered pixie, floating not too far from her nose. She found herself looking at him cross eyes, with an eyebrow raised, as he yelled at her in a tiny, almost amusing voice, "Oy! Watch where you're going!" She could tell she had somehow managed to irritate this little creature and held in the impulse to laugh a little. Instead, she felt her mouth twist into a small smile.

Riki started to lower her bostaff, and noticed when the pixie took sight of it. He darted out of reach until she had her arm wrapped around it and was resting comfortably against it. Folding his arms, he came a little closer to her again and gave her a look of defiance. His chin was raised as he glared over his pointed nose at her. She couldn't help it. She giggled, just a little. "What have I done to irritate you so?" she asked, making sure to maintain her composure.

[pikky]

Ah, it would have been nice to think that something actually worth fighting would have come tumbling from the ether, wouldn’t it? But no... instead, you got pint-sized Pikky, bouncing against legs, as ineffectual as a butterfly trying to pound a rhinoceros to death by force alone. As comical as he was, it really did bug him how he could barely do anything to the ‘tall people’, or the ‘bigs’ as he liked to call them. She was not the first to become amused by his irritating (but not much more) display of territorial protection, and he did not like it one bit. It was easy to get him riled up... the problem was, you could probably flick him away with a single finger.

If you’re willing to risk a bite or two.

When he saw that her staff was lowered, he buzzed forwards again, flitting up and down in the wind, all caution thrown to the wind. If she were to strike him with the bostaff now, he would probably end up buried ten inches into the ground. But that’s Pikky for you. Anyway, most people don’t see him as enough of a threat to start attacking. Bleh, bleh. Her giggles only made him more angry, and he drifted very close to her face, his little arms folded in fiery rebellion. “You’re walking on my land!” he growled.

His land? Since when was this his land? Well, pixies are a little territorial like that. Once you have a hive of them in your barn, it’s pretty hard to get them out again. A shame mace wasn’t invented, really. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” he asked, suspiciously. The poor girl must feel like she was being interrogated. Though it was strictly true that he was no real threat, pixies could do a minimal amount of magic, and when one was determined to cause trouble-- well, let's just say that trouble did indeed happen. But at the moment, he was hovering close enough that if Riki was to swipe forwards with her hand, she could probably catch him mid-air...

But then again, pixies are trickly little creatures.

{ ooc; I hope you don't mind my insane character. ;P }

[ninjaofdoom]

((ooc: haha...nope! I love him! XD ))

"You're walking on my land!" the pixie growled at her in his small voice. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Riki continued to stare at the small creature with an amused expression. If she were a cruel person, she probably would have flicked him away with a scoff and told him off. But she could never do that to anyone. It was one thing to fight in defense, it was another to beat up what was clearly a harmless creature. She knew pixies could wreak havoc, yes. She'd heard stories when she was little. But this rascal hardly seemed capable of the kinds of destruction she'd seen.

Smiling, she replied in a bright tone, contrasting this pixie's mood. She'd seemed to have angered him with her giggling. "I'm Riki. And this land is just as much mine as it is yours. Forests belong to all creatures, thankyouverymuch," she said as she crossed her arms. The irises of her eyes then turned from a bright blue to a yellow color as she brought her face closer, as if to prove that she, too, was not exactly human.

[pikky]

Her amusement did very little to sweeten his mood. But, well, very little could. A cruel person would indeed have simply flicked him away—apart from the fact that he would come back, and that time, probably bite them as hard as he could somewhere on the face. Pixie bites stayed for days, and though they weren’t a grievous injury... they could certainly be very annoying. He flitted around her again as she spoke, diving down to bounce his feet off of the top of her head before arriving in front of her face in time for her to finish talking.

“This land is not yours, Big!” he growled. “You bigfolk have been wrecking the land for years.” Being a pixie, he didn’t really understand the necessity for agriculture and for homes to be built. He was not intimidated by her as she leaned forwards, or as her irises suddenly switched colour. Despite their tiny size, pixies do have a certain... indestructible quality to them. Unfortunately for most humans who had come across them, pixies were not killed easily; if you threw them, they bounced—if you hit them, they rolled—if you tried to stamp on one, you would end up in a lot of trouble. Sort of.

He scowled at her for another moment, his sharp, white teeth bared, before he shot towards her face (which was already hovering fairly close to him) and made a grab for her nose, using it to propel himself forwards, aiming a headbutt directly into the centre of her forehead. Not exactly life-threatening, but pixies had hard heads. It could cause one hell of a headache. If it ever landed, of course.

{ ooc; woot! xDD i'm curious as to riki's species, now... *goes to look her up* }

[ninjaofdoom]

((ooc: haha..yeah. Feel free to read the bio. She's pretty...interesting. XD ))

She blinked as the pixie made a grap for her nose and swung her head back. It was a reflex, merely a habit to dodge things, that she had been taught as she grew up. She wasn't sure what his intent was, but she tried to refrain from having things collide with her face. Unfortunately, the pixie's momentum sent him tumbling into her anyway and he bounced off her head with a small sound. Her eyes flicked upward as if to try to see her forehead and check it for any injuries.

Riki decided that nothing too tremendous had been inflicted upon her and she shook her head before she turned back to him. She took a couple moments to spot him flitting around in the air, but quickly stepped up to him. "It is one thing to make use of your resources, tiny," she said, mimicking his vocabulary for an insult, "and another to destroy what is around you. You would be wise not to make generalizations, for no individual is exactly like the other."

As she spoke, she felt a small pain growing inside her head, and she glared at the small green and orange tinted pixie. "You have one hard head, you know that?" she asked as she rubbed her temples, pushing the pain away.

[pikky]

Eh, barrelling into her was good enough for him. As he bounced off of her forehead with some amount of force, Pikky triumphantly swerved around her head, his small eyes glinting. “Have at you!” he cried, in his odd little voice. Pikky’s voice is similar to... Louis Armstrong on helium, in an odd sense. With perhaps a streak of Darth Vader thrown in there, too. It’s high and squeaky, with a Cornwall lilt and an aggressive roughness to it that reflected his nature. Suddenly, she had walked up to him, and she had dared to call him... tiny?!

“I am not tiny, you gigantic freak!” he fumed. Yeah, most pixies are a little touchy about that, and they’re all certain that they are the proper size, and that everybody else was simply massive in comparison. Yes, it’s an odd world, but pixies—specifically male pixies—were a hot-headed and stubborn bunch. At her second point, he shook his head, his wild hair flying. “You bigfolk all look the same to me,” Pikky said, squinting slightly at Riki.

He flitted around so that he was bobbing next to her head. You have one hard head, you know that? Pikky tutted lightly, but there was a big, nasty smile on his face. “No, it’s you Bigs that have weak skulls,” he said, somewhat predictably. There was hardly any point in arguing with him. Then, he pointed condemningly at her, flying around to the front of her face once more. “Now, you never told me what you wanted here!”

[ninjaofdoom]

Weak skulls? Had he really just said that she had a weak skull? Well, that'd have be deal with later. However, she had some 'splaining to do, it looked like. But first, she had to throw in what the poor pixie had set himself up for. "We all look the same to you because you're too little to see anything different," she spewed before answering his question. She saw his anger rise, and laughed. "Oh, hush you. I only tease. I'm here because this is where I like to be."

She felt it unnecessary to explain herself otherwise. Words could not describe how she felt when walking through the forest. How she could just forget everything as she walked silently amongst the creatures and the plants. She could be everything and nothing at the same time. It was her own little escape, where she could fall into what seemed to a state of nirvana.

"Now, I'm curious. You have my name, would it be so rude to ask about who you might be?"

[pikky]

Her little comeback made him narrow his eyes, and fold his arms sulkily, but he didn’t say much else. He flitted up and then down again, before seeming to accept the fact that she wasn’t going to attack him—yet. However, her explanation got her a doubtful look. “Oh, aye?” he muttered, suspiciously. Pikky didn’t really understand reasons for gazing at the scenery, or walking miles out of your way to see a sunset, or why artists often came and sketched pictures whilst nobody was there. What was the point? Pixies—especially Pikky—were never the most artistic bunch. Hum.

“I am Pikky,” he said, swooping around her head once more, looking for any sort of bag or satchel that she might be carrying. He wanted something shiny. Pixies have a demented penchant for anything that sparkles or shines; they are like ravens, in that respect. It was one of the reasons that they were so fickle—getting them on your side was easy, if you had shinies and perhaps some milk. He flitted over to her front again. Pikky didn’t often stand—or fly—still. “Only here because you want to be, ay?” Pikky squinted one eye at her, as if wondering whether to trust her or not.

His lips pursed slightly. “Bigfolk were in here just three days ago, choppin’ down trees. Why should I believe you be any different?” Yes, again with the generalizations.

{ ooc; heehee, were-cat. love it. (: }

[ninjaofdoom]

((ooc: ^_^ thankies!))

She sighed as Pikky began to search her for anything shiny. He probably wouldn't be able to grasp that she came with no ill intent to him or the forest. And Riki could just about guarantee that he would never understand many of the other things she had been taught as well. But, she could try to explain some. "Because I have no need to chop down trees," she replied, eying the pixie closely as he darted through the air around her. "I do not often stay in one place for very long, so I do not need to build myself a home. If I need warmth, or a way to cook my food, I find it easier, and kinder, to build a fire from dead twigs, branches, and leaves. I mean no harm, and I mean not to disturb anything. I prefer to just slip through the shadows, unnoticed," she explained, her pupils turning into slits and her teeth growing sharper as she spoke. As she finished, she turned into a large, black panther and lay herself down on the ground, staring up at him with a feline smile.

((I have to go now. School...and I'm technically not even allowed on until Saturday. XD ))

[pikky]

Shiny, shiny! Disappointed that this person appeared to have nothing of the shiny persuasion on her, Pikky drifted back to the front and listened to her explanation with his head tilted to one side. He didn’t even interrupt her, which was a miracle in itself—but he was still scowling, as per usual. He folded his arms and tucked his legs upwards as he flew, drifting back and forth slightly... Pikky, as a rule, never stood (or flew) still. Her explanation seemed to be acceptable to him, though that didn’t mean that he trusted her any more than he had before. Pikky’s... like that.

“Well, I’ve never liked bigfolk,” he said stubbornly, before watching with renewed interest as Riki suddenly underwent a rather sudden change; he simply watched as she suddenly morphed into a panther, which was unexpected to say the least. After hovering for a moment, he cautiously floated downwards to land on the top of her head, ankle-deep in black fur. Ah, now, he couldn’t stand the ‘bigfolk’, but being a pixie—a creature of ‘nature’—animals he found much easier to abide.

He bounced off of her head again and landed on the ground in front of the panther (I could just imagine a giant paw landing on him). “What creature are you?” he demanded. Very diplomatic.

{ ooc; heh, okay! }

[ninjaofdoom]

Riki watched him as he observed her new form, watching his reaction with curiosity. At first, Pikky seemed shocked. Of course, it wasn't like people just walked around changing into panthers and such everyday. At least not that she had seen. It had been a long, long time since she'd seen another werecat. She didn't expect much else.

But then he actually stood on her head and seemed to relax more. One would think that someone of his size would be more...cautious. Of course, he hadn't exactly shown much caution so far. At all. After he bounced off of her head, she rolled backwards into her human form, grabbing her ankles and seating back down in a criss-cross-apple-sauce fashion. She suppressed herself from bubbling with laughter. That had always been one of her favorite 'tricks' when she was younger, much to her mentors' dismay.

"I am a werecat," she said proudly. After all, how many people could boast that?

[pikky]

No, Pikky was never the most cautious of creatures. Pixies were pretty hard to destroy. It was perhaps a little bit bland, at times, to bounce off of people’s heads and glower at everyone that came within a meter of his nest, but then again, he felt the need to protect his ‘territory’. And pixies usually travelled in swarms, remember—that was even less cause to be jumpy. Though Pikky had lost contact with his old clan a long time ago.

He hovered around her head as she rolled back into ‘human form’. Pikky disliked humans—the bigfolk—but as for panthers, not so bad. As creatures of the forest, pixies had always had to get along with the animals. Some pixies had even tamed forest creatures to do their bidding, with their crooning songs and rewards... though Pikky had no such talent. He flitted around for another moment as she boasted her species. “A were-cat? Ain’t seen one of those for... nigh a year and a half, now,” Pikky said, squinting at her, again suspicious. “Aren’t you controlled by the moon, or some such thing?”

Never mix your mythologies, Pikky.

[ninjaofdoom]

Riki laughed as he asked about if she was controlled by the moon. She couldn't blame him, really. A year and half since he'd last seen a were-cat? She hadn't seen another one in a much longer time, but still...that would be enough to get it confused with other things. She shook her head at him, smiling. "No, that's a werewolf. We were-cats are much harder to restrain by outside forces, I'd have to say," she said with mock thoughtfulness.

Of course, she could restrain herself, which she did quite often. At least, at a younger age she was restraining herself all the time. After a while, she just grew into the behaviors she needed to do the kinds of things being asked of her. She was thankful, though, that she had never really lost touch with her personality. "But, a year and a half, you say? I'm afraid it's been quite a bit longer since I've seen any of my own kind. How about you, though?" she asked, switching the topic of discussion from her. "Surely there are more pixies about somewhere nearby. I can't imagine one out all by his lonesome."