Yesterday (open)

[ninjaofdoom]

((no problemo..^_^ ))

She felt him nuzzle into her side, getting more comfortable as he drifted off into sleep. This was good; he clearly needed the rest. He slept mostly silently, only making a noise when he grew close to waking. He would tighten his hold on her as he fell back asleep, always drawing her attention back to him.

The sun set slowly, but it did not take too long for the stars to appear and the temperature to drop more. She felt him shiver slightly and hugged him closer. She kept her focus on their surroundings, though. She doubted anything terribly dangerous would wander this close to civilization, but she knew better than to risk being caught off guard. Her eyes shifted, turning from their usual pale blue color to a golden yellow and her pupils turned into feline slits. She only ever noticed this change by the result, her eyesight growing better.

She waited out most of the night like this, watching fireflies bounce around in the grass and birds sleeping in their high up nests. She had turn her eyes from the birds, though, before they teased her more feline instincts. She watched the grasshoppers and listened as the crickets chirped.

Finally, as the sun started to rise, she felt Orion stir. She wasn't sure if he was going to keep sleeping or if he would wake up. She kept her eyes out toward the desert and scanned from there. She doubted the villagers would have any reason to be violent toward them. She spotted a black cat leap up the tree opposite them and snatch a bird from its nest. It sat there, gnawing on its prize with a greedy smile. Riki's stomach gurgled softly and she glared at the cat. Well, aren't you just proud of yourself? she thought sarcastically toward the cat, with a touch of jealousy. She looked back down toward Orion and noticed he was finally waking.

[orion]

Orion hummed quietly as his eyes blinked open, and, when he moved his wing away from his face, he almost expected to be somewhere else. But the thought was gone as soon as it had come, leaving Orion with an odd sort of confusion.

He licked his lips, but his tongue was too dry to be of any use. He sat up stiffly, his neck and shoulders complaining painfully that he had not moved for such a long time, and he had to blink several times before his eyes cleared themselves up. They hurt from crying the day before...

Orion turned his head, looking at Riki. He didn't speak. He didn't have anything to say. And anyway, his throat was too dry. He just looked at her, silently taking in her appearance. How long had he been sleeping? She looked tired. His head tilted ever so slightly to the left. Had she stayed awake to look after him?

[ninjaofdoom]

She laughed lightly at the expression on Orion's face and blinked her eyes as the sun rose higher into the morning sky, holding her eyelids closed for her eyes to become normal again. No need to scare the poor kid. When she opened them again, he was still looking at her curiously. "No need to worry," she said softly, not wanting to disturb the morning's silence. "I'll be fine. I've gone much longer without sleep before." She added a smile to reassure him, knowing she spoke the truth. Of course she was tired, though. It had probably been a couple of days since she last had a good night's sleep, but she had been forced to stay awake much longer than that before. She would be fine.

"Now, then. Did you sleep well?" she asked, wondering if he would be more willing to venture into the village for some food and maybe find a place that they could stay. "Are you feeling any better?"

[orion]

the corners of his mouth pulled slightly when she laughed. He liked that she seemed to be pleased, but his expression was soon blank again as he continued to look at her.

For some reason her reassurance wasn't very reassuring. She looked alright, and she said that she had suffered worse -- and he believed her. It was just... he seemed to feel such a heavy amount of guilt for such a small thing. He was sure that that wasn't quite right, somehow. She wasn't concerned, but he was.

And she was asking how he slept, and if he felt any better. Yes, at least her efforts had accomplished something. He didn't smile for her though.

"Yes," he said, his voice dry and scratchy.

[ninjaofdoom]

Riki watched Orion's face carefully. He looked at her...almost doubtfully. She wasn't sure how to make him believe she was okay, though. Maybe he felt bad about her staying up all night? He shouldn't. He got some well deserved rest, and that should have been what mattered to him. "Well, that's good, then, right?" she asked happily in response to his answer. "Do you think you'd feel up to a walk down to the village with me? We could get some food and maybe find a place to stay in for a while. Does that sound like a good idea?" She kept her voice gentle, as always, and left the decision up to him. She wouldn't take him anywhere he didn't want to go.

[orion]

His breath caught again. There was something... He wasn't sure. He just felt that maybe people were bad. And the village would have people, wouldn't it?

There was something in his head... maybe... He wanted to.

Why did it seem like a bad idea? He looked away from Riki, furrowing his brow. Why? Why? Why? It didn't seem to make sense...

"I... don't remember," he said to himself, then looked quickly back at Riki. "Yes." He wanted to go to the village. It seemed like a bad idea, so that's where the answer would be.

[ninjaofdoom]

Riki continued to watch Orion curiously. There seemed to be no end to his puzzling reactions. She was watching him as he turned his head away, trying to think of something. Or remember something. He spoke softly to himself, and her ear twitched a little, trying to pick it up. She smiled, though, when he said "yes."

"Great!" she said enthusiastically, helping him stand. She stood there for a second, unsure if he would mind he breaking his grip on her, but decided to let him be. Oh, what the hell, she thought lightly as she walked with one arm around him, leading him toward the village. She threw one quick smirk over her shoulder toward the cat in the tree, still chewing merrily away at its prize bird. Hah. I get people food now! she taunted in her mind happily.

[orion]

Orion walked contently next to her, watching the landscape. He noticed things -- peculiar things, like the exact number of birds in a flock that flew over them. He felt that this was odd, somehow. He wasn't sure why, exactly, but something told him that this kind of observation wasn't exactly... common?

maybe....

He looked around, counting things now. It was... fun. So why did it seem so strange. It must have been an odd thing to do wherever it was he came from. That was the only way this thought made any kind of sense. Perhaps it was odd here as well. Maybe he was just, in general, weird?

[ninjaofdoom]

She led Orion down into the village, noting his observance of his surroundings. She thought she heard him counting under his breath a couple of times, but it was never very loud, and never prolonged. Well, to each his own... she thought, knowing that most people didn't exactly count things on a regular basis. Then again, neither of them were really like most people. This made her chuckle a little.

The village was large, with houses and shops mixed in together. Riki was sure there was some sort of pattern to the village, and she looked closely for it. As they walked through the streets, she noticed that the shops seemed to gather more in the center. A few families had shops under their homes further out, but this seemed to be the general marketplace, which made sense. Marketplaces were also a social scene, not just for shopping.

As they walked into the marketplace, Riki reached into her pocket with her free hand to check for her money. She actually had quite a bit, seeing as how it had accumulated over time. She almost never had to steal anything anymore, which pleased her. Mostly, she tried to barter her skills for food and a place to sleep if she came across a small village or a traveling group. But, she was fairly self sufficient and did the hunting and gathering herself. She normally just stayed away from villages. The weight of the money felt good in her hand, and she was glad that she would be able to afford enough for the two of them.

Riki spotted a small inn not too far from all the shops and started heading in that direction. "We're going to go rent a room, first, so we can rest more comfortably," she explained to Orion, not wanting to make any move that would startle him. She led him in, and a small bell chimed as they walked in. The entrance was nicely crafted into a small pub, with a fireplace against the wall and tables with several patrons seated at them. A young waitress walked amongst them, serving drinks and bowls of warm oatmeal. Riki didn't pay much attention to the sights and smells, though. She walked right up to the desk and waited for the innkeeper.

The man that walked up to the desk was the epitome of an innkeeper, a large belly and a big smile. The smile, however, disappeared when he laid eyes on the two. He looked questioningly between Riki and Orion, letting his eyes linger on the boy's wings. Riki glared at the man and slapped a small handful of coins on the desk, drawing the man's attention away from the boy and to her. "We need to rent a room for the night," she said as pleasantly as she could, but she could feel a small bit of annoyance seep through her voice. Well, at least he should get the message that I'm not in the mood to deal with stupid prejudices and suspicions, she thought angrily.

The man looked at the boy again and shook his head. "Sorry, miss. We're full." He was a horrible liar. Maybe good by these villagers' standards, but she had known people who were much more believable. She took in a deep breath and placed a few more coins on the table.

"I said, we need a room for the night," she said with a more firm voice. The innkeeper narrowed his eyes at her and once again stated that they were full. Everything was wrong with his technique, she observed humorously. His eyes were lingering toward the boy's wings and everywhere else in the room but on Riki, and his voice wavered. Not much, not enough that would be ordinarily noticeable, but enough.

She leaned in across the table, keeping her arm wrapped around Orion, and let her eyes flash into their feline form. This caused the man to step back a little, reaching behind him for something. "If you're going to lie," she said angrily, "at least do it believably. Keep better control of your voice and don't let your eyes wander. Now, I would appreciate it if you would give us a room before I take my business elsewhere and inform these patrons that you're probably ripping them off." She leaned back with a smirk and shoved the money toward him.

He just nodded, his mouth gaping. Of course he was ripping everyone off. Did he really think that she couldn't figure that out? "Um.." he started, shaking his head and regathering himself, "up the stairs and the second on your right," he finished as he handed her a key.

She let her eyes rest back into their normal state and smiled more pleasantly now. "Thank you," she said with a genuine tone. She felt a little bad about letting her temper grow, but then again...sometimes such things were useful. It was just a matter of controlling it so as to not get out of hand. She softened her grip on Orion and led him up the stairs, moving him forward first up the narrow stairs. She unlocked the door to the room the innkeeper had assigned them and was pleased to see that there were two beds, one on either side of the room. She walked over and sat down on one, and waited a few moments. She wanted to give herself some time to calm down before she went out to the marketplace.

[orion]

Orion clung noticeably to Riki when they came into the village. The people weren't terribly threatening, but he once again had that feeling that he was, somehow, going to die. He tried to ignore it, focusing on the pattern that the village was laid out in. He had picked up on it almost immediately: the further they walked, the more shops there were, and the more crowded the village was. The center was everything -- and of course he knew the exact number of buildings on the street they had taken to get there.

But that sense of peril was still lurking.

He was still clinging to Riki when she led him into an inn. Four tables. Five patrons. He barely had to glance at them. Plus the waitress, the innkeeper, and themselves, there were nine people in the room.

Orion stared at the innkeeper, and pulled his wings in closer to his head when he realized what the man was looking at. He counted the coins on the counter without looking at them. He could see them on the edge of his vision-- until Riki leaned across the table. Orion closed his eyes and held his breath. His wings were held tight over his ears, drowning out the sound of Riki's voice as she negotiated with the innkeeper.

Then he was being ushered upstairs and into a room. He sat on the bed that Riki had left open and stared at the floor. His difference had caused them trouble... but it was deeper than that... he thought... perhaps...

[ninjaofdoom]

"Orion?" she asked, looking up to him after she had taken a few deep breaths to calm herself. She didn't really understand why she was being so protective of the boy. Perhaps an inner sense of wanting to fix past mistakes? Well, she did know that the innkeeper was a total jerk and she doubted she would have responded much differently on any other day alone. It was just rude.

When he looked up at the sound of his name, she noticed the sullen look she had already been sure was there. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked gently.

[orion]

Orion didn't speak, but rather he just stretched his wings out to their full span (which was rather impressive, in spite of how closely he kept them settled against himself).

"I don't remember," he said quietly, the full weight of his situation finally coming down on him.

He knew nothing. Anything past the day that he wandered out of the desert didn't exist. There was nothing there.

[ninjaofdoom]

She pondered those words carefully. This was the second time he's spoken them. He clearly remembered his name, so that was good. But was everything blacked out? She couldn't help a small wave of pity rising in her. She quickly quelled it, though. Emotions always needed to be kept in check, at least for her.

A million questions raced through her mind, none of which she knew he wouldn't be able to answer. They were questions about why he didn't remember, and what had drawn him to a place that was clearly so far from home. He didn't seem to have been hit. He showed no visible wounds, and never showed any signs of having a head injury. Perhaps something had happened to him? She could only relate too well to that possibility.

"I'm sure it'll be okay. Maybe you'll remember someday," she said cheerfully. Maybe we'll both remember someday, she added to herself. "Would you like to stay here while I get us some more food? I can lock the door in case you're worried, so nobody but me can get in. Or would you rather come with me?"

[orion]

"No," he said. He wanted to stay here.

He turned his head to look out the window. Everything about this place made him want to hide. There were people everywhere, and the innkeeper hadn't helped at all to ease his fear that they were all out to get him. Maybe once he could convince himself otherwise, the lingering feeling would help him remember... something... but until then it was just frightening. And he was going to stay inside.

"There are fifty-six floor boards," he said without looking at Riki, "rows, I mean.. fifty-six rows of floor boards in this room." He had counted them just a minute ago. "...and... if every row has three boards," he continued, still not looking at her, "then there are one hundred and sixty-eight... about." Orion shrugged lightly and turned to look at Riki.

It was the most he had ever spoken to her, and it was all nonsense and numbers. It had nothing to do with anything. But it was something he knew.

[ninjaofdoom]

She smiled and walked over to him, patting him on the head. "You like to count, then? Maybe I'll find some stuff you can count in the marketplace, then. And, of course, I'll make sure to pick up plenty of water. You need it," she said before turning her back to him. She reached in her pocket and took out the key. "I'm going to lock you in, so don't worry. If anything happens, shout through the window, okay? I'll be up before you know it," she added with a small wink, finally showing him her cat eyes. They glowed in the dimly lit room, and she felt her awareness rise and fall with the shifts. Then she turned and walked out of the room, and locked the door. She tested a couple of times, making sure the door would hold firmly. She was surprised that it was made of a solid plank of oak. Well, that should keep anyone out long enough... she thought, never really finishing the sentence.

As she walked down the stairs, she nodded a polite greeting toward the innkeeper, who eyed her warily. She threw in a smile, and then left the inn through the jingling doors.

The marketplace was bustling with people, all mingling as they did their shopping. Riki, however, wanted to make this quick and keep a minimum on the mingling. She would be polite, but she didn't want to talk to anyone for too long. One, she couldn't help being concerned about Orion. Two, she was just downright . As if to make her point, her stomach gurgled loudly. "Ugh...let's just find some food, then," she mumbled as she started looking around for small vendors.