03-01-2010, 10:57 PM
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@$%&Being a creature born of desert and plain, the wide ocean still intimidated Alacrity. Although she’d survived the Atlantic crossing on a rather rickety old vessel, the sight rolling waves still threw off her sense of what was right in the world. And the sand! Desert sand flew up in every direction when the wind blew, but beach sand was sticky. It clung to toes and lodged itself in uncomfortable places. Alacrity was more practical than fastidious, but the unshakable coarse grains were damned annoying. Of course, she was perfectly willing to ignore both wave and sand for the promise of an ocean-borne meal – for her, fish was still a delicious and rare novelty.
@$%&For now, however, such thoughts were abandoned in favor of the present. The injured hybrid hadn’t sent her away, which Alacrity took as consent to her presence for the time being. So she settled herself in the sand near – but not too close – to the other woman, shuffling awkwardly with her jacket for a moment until the folds were comfortable enough to sit on. A brief, thoughtful nod indicated her understanding. "Do you want to talk about it?" Alacrity’s tone implied that while she was a willing listener, she wasn’t about to press the other into a conversation on personal matters. They were scarcely acquainted, after all.
@$%&Alacrity understood the confusion her appearance caused. Even while traveling through Europe, much closer to her clan’s homeland, her odd figure and coloration had drawn stares and awkward questions. In time, she’d developed a strategy for dealing with such questions, both the outright and the subtle. "My name’s Alacrity," she said, deliberately mistranslating the “what” for “who” (a common enough mistake for a poor listener or a new language learner, although she was neither), but continued with an indirect answer to the hybrid’s intended question. "Anselm invited me to stay with him for the winter. My homeland is far south and across the sea, and we have no cold season to endure." After time in this acute cold, Alacrity now doubted her ability to survive unaided. Fortunately, Anselm had been willing to help, and they'd both been eager for the company.
@$%&For now, however, such thoughts were abandoned in favor of the present. The injured hybrid hadn’t sent her away, which Alacrity took as consent to her presence for the time being. So she settled herself in the sand near – but not too close – to the other woman, shuffling awkwardly with her jacket for a moment until the folds were comfortable enough to sit on. A brief, thoughtful nod indicated her understanding. "Do you want to talk about it?" Alacrity’s tone implied that while she was a willing listener, she wasn’t about to press the other into a conversation on personal matters. They were scarcely acquainted, after all.
@$%&Alacrity understood the confusion her appearance caused. Even while traveling through Europe, much closer to her clan’s homeland, her odd figure and coloration had drawn stares and awkward questions. In time, she’d developed a strategy for dealing with such questions, both the outright and the subtle. "My name’s Alacrity," she said, deliberately mistranslating the “what” for “who” (a common enough mistake for a poor listener or a new language learner, although she was neither), but continued with an indirect answer to the hybrid’s intended question. "Anselm invited me to stay with him for the winter. My homeland is far south and across the sea, and we have no cold season to endure." After time in this acute cold, Alacrity now doubted her ability to survive unaided. Fortunately, Anselm had been willing to help, and they'd both been eager for the company.
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