The Beast and the Machine

[Lilac-tea]

Rainn gently sets down the heavy boulder and wipes a streak of sweat off his brow. It has been three weeks since he has entered the modest mining village of Adem, a fairly grungy place that was nonetheless his safe haven. His green tunic shirt is drenched with more of his sticky sweat, a product of the harsh manual labor he must perform to make a living. Of course, his biggest expense would be good, but it it isn't truly necessary for survival. It might be better to eat square meals keep up appearances, however.

Rainn bends back down to his task, fearful of dallying too much lest he be reprimanded. The servos in his knees click and whirr, mimicking the pop of cracking joints. He toils the rest of the way up the incline the slopes away from the silver mine, heaving the stone into a scrap pile. Smiling wearily, he takes a step back and contacts loose gravel. His balance sensors are still unadjusted to hilly terrain, and he plunges down the side of the pile into the dense woods. He tumbles for seconds that seem to stretch on for days before smacking into a crag beside a crooked tree. Metal jams against the delicate wires in his brain, which promptly reboots to preserve his memories. Rainn sighs softly as his marbled hazel eyes swing shut.

 

[Yanaike]

Wandering through the thick forest was what looked like a little girl. In a short sweet white dress Yanaike hopped around. Her soft white boots gently touched the ground before bouncing back into the air. If one would pay close attention, it would be noticed that her steps left almost no sound. The twigs beneath her feet didn't crack and the ground didn't rustle as she moved her feet. It almost seemed like she was floating on an infinitive thin layer of air instead of actually touching the ground. Like a falling feather dancing on the currents of the wind.

By her clothes no-one would have guessed that Yanaike had been surviving in the wilderness alone for a few weeks. A dress didn't seem very practical for that matter and the dress looked way to tidy by the way. Her black jacket hinted more towards a popular city girl type, but then the black witch hat on her head would be rather odd. And then there was the long brown haired tail coming from underneath her dress. Due to her weird appearance it might seem like she'd stepped out of some kind of wonderland or another one of those Japanese anime shows to say the least. But as weird as she looked like, these were the clothes Yanaike felt most comfortable in, the clothes she wore most often. Or well, her only clothes for that matter.

Yanaike's eyes followed a butterfly searching for little patches of flowers between the trees. Butterflies were such fascinating creatures. As a child Yanaike had always been amazed by their process of metamorphosis. It was so wonderful how a simple ground-bound creature could suddenly gain a pair of wings and just fly away. Why didn't humans have a concept like that? She sure would have loved to gain a pair of wings and to fly away at some point during her life. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she heard a loud noise of rumbling stones followed by a crash-like sound. Without hesitation Yanaike ran in the direction where the sound had came from. Near a dangerously steep looking hill she'd found a man, eyes shut, lying against a piece of rock. It looked like he had fallen down.
"Are you okay?" Yanaike exclaimed. She bended over his body and slapped him near his cheek in the hope that he was still conscious.

 

[Lilac-tea]

Rainn's eyes popped open and he jerked his head away from the sting of the slap against his skin.

"Yeeeowch..." he softly muttered. He lifted his hand to his forehead and when he brought it down, his palm was sticky with synthetic blood. As his eyes slowly readjusted to the light, a small butterfly landed gently on one red-stained finger. He gazed at it softly as it slowly flapped its colorful wings back and forth, up and down. It's antennae quivered just before the creature took flight and alighted on a branch next to a young girl- a young girl!

Rainn scrambled back, his awkward movements mingling streaks of blood with the leaves that carpeted the forest floor. If a girl saw him, and any of his skin was severely broken, then there was a chance she would see mechanical parts and he would be in serious trouble... His clean hand snaked behind his back and probed the back of his skull with shaky fingers, meeting only with skin and soft hair. His identity was safe. His eyes returned again to the girl, and he managed to crack a bleak smile.

"Well, I could be worse off, couldn't I?"

 

[Yanaike]

Yanaike was temporarly distracted by the butterfly that appeared on the strange man's finger. As soon as she heard the noise she'd lost track of the little innocent animal. She had no idea the butterfly had actually followed her. It took flight again to land on a branch of a tree next to her.

Yanaike turned her head back to the stranger again. She studied him. There was blood on his forehead and blood covering the leaves around him. Luckily he seemed to have no severe injuries however, which was fortunate if the height he'd fallen from would be taken into account.
"Well, I could be worse off, couldn't I?"
Yanaike nodded lightly followed by a faint smile.
"I... suppose so?" Was he being sarcastic? He looked pretty bad, not to mention the pain he must feel right now. Yanaike turned again twice more, first looking at the butterfly which was again taking flight ready to find a nice flower, and then looking to the hill. Wait... what Yanaike was thinking about before, about having a pair of wings. Could it actually be that he thought...
"Were you trying to fly?" The question popped out of Yanaike's mouth before she realized it.

 

[Lilac-tea]

Rainn blinked his eyes in a moderate degree of shock.
"I... I'm... Yeah. I was trying to fly away from this village, to fly away from my fears, to fly away from all of my problems."

He stood up, dusted off his trousers, and suddenly bitter, started to march away somewhat aimlessly.

 

[Yanaike]

Yanaike was a bit shocked by his reaction. Was he really serious? Fears, problems? She decided he owed her at least a bit more elaborated explanation. She tried formulating a new question in her head. What could she possibly ask him, without the risk of striking his innermost feelings? But instead of waiting what Yanaike had to ask, he stood up and he just walked away.

Yanaike got up as well.
"Wait" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry! Did I said something to upset you?" She followed him and tried to adjust to his walking pace, which was pretty hard as his steps were quite large compared to Yanaike's, and she had to resort to a rather awkward half-walking, half-running style to keep up with him. "Sorry," she said again. "But can you at least introduce yourself? What is your name?"