Wanderlust (Skyswimsky x Minibit)

[Minibit]

@Skyswimsky
From a distance, the figure washed up on the island's shore probably looked like a large bird of some kind. Two large, white and brown-freckled wings were spread out, sopping with seawater and soiled with seaweed and sand. The wings, which seemed a bit uneven, sprouted from not the similarly feathered body of a bird, but a darkly tanned human. Well, humanoid, anyway.

The being seemed altogether too slight for any normal human race; toe to top of head, he could hot have been more than five feet tall, if that. A thumb and forefinger could easily be made to fit around his wrists, elbows, and other joints gave the impression of a form altogether too frailly reminiscent of the narrow, hollow bones of avian species. Even his face was sharp-featured and thin, topped with a shock of longish, white hair of the same brown-flecked pattern as his wings. Hidden in the hair, two ears as long as an adult's hand stretched out. He was dressed in what must have once been clothes of some strange fashion, which the sea or something else had torn to rags, except for the leathery belt across his hips, which still held fast to an empty sword-sheath. He lay motionless, except for the faint movements of unconscious breathing, among the other driftwood the tide had brought in; logs, clumps of seaweed, stones, and shells.

The sun was rising over the beach, slowly and steadily spreading its light over the unconscious wretch and the only part of this relatively small island that could pass for a rambling wilderness; a two-kilometer stretch of forest what took up the southern quarter of the island, ending in mostly rock-and-sand beaches. Shadows from the trees stretched out as movement began in the village on the other side of the woods as people stirred to wakefulness.

 

[Skyswimsky]

@Minibit
Scavenger, a name of a profession that made one think about those that risked their life day in day out for the survival of their community, something exciting, something dangerous. Though, in reality, at least on this particular island, it was just a glorified term for something akin to a garbage collector. It was a simple job, really, every 2 days, more often if the weather was particularly moody, a bunch of people scavenged the shores for new garbage. Of course, 1 time out of 100 there was something interesting among the usual rubbish, and where there was once a young lady excited about doing it everyday there was now a gloomy lady which motivation was somewhere in the negative. How easily fooled she was, lured with the promise of excitement and change from the boring everyday life the small community she was part of led. To make things even worse, the part of the beach she was to check was close enough to the village that she didn't even need to go in pairs! Of course, one could simply think about mixing their assigned locations up each week or something, but no, something dumb about traditions and whatnot. Well, it could have been worse, like tradition that the woman had to stay at home for the entirety of the day and just cook and tend to the children...urgh. Still, routine over routine, they even had the technology to go beyond what the eyes could see upon the horizon, more than just some simple fishing boat, but no, they were apparently happy with this boring day in day out always the same. She was probably not the only one who thought like that but clearly not the majority, and while freedom of speech was kind of a thing some traditions were...dangerous. A small sigh escaped from her followed by a slight slap on her own cheeks

"Worrying about that brings you nowhere Kaya! You have to look forward!"

Talking to herself was still better than talking to no one.With that, the woman simply continued her way through the jungle, and while there was a cut-out path to the beach, there wasn't any dangers to be expected. The dress she wore was another stupid tradition thing, just as the few bits of jewellery, it wasn't really uncomfortable or anything, but sometimes, it just got in her way. Though sometimes, thanks to her muscles, she had the feeling of simply being ugly, and none of the two answers one could give was satisfying to her. Or maybe it was just because of her rather fast growing hair that she crudely cut with her bone-knife, that everyone in the village owned? Kaya would have loved to let it grow out sometimes, alas, more stupid traditions. Nonetheless the villager girl finally arrived at her destination, a quick glance with her yellow eyes already told her this would just be another boring day, or...wait...was that a "Treasure chest?!" Whatever that something there was, it was better not some really big rock! Disregarding other parts of the beach for closer inspection for now Kaya quickened her steps, faster and faster, until she was actually sprinting.

"...?" The loud breathing of her stopped for a moment upon getting a closer look on that humanoid creature? Disappointment spread like a wildfire, sure, this creature looked like something she had never seen before, but who cared about that if it was already d- was it even dead?! New hope. Kaya quickly got onto her knees and got her ear closer to his face, breathing, it was actually alive! "Yes!" With a smile as she had just won some jackpot her mood quickly turned tides again. Without putting much more thought into it she began shaking the avian being, hopefully waking it up!

 

[Minibit]

Alarm bells ringing in the foggy depths of the bird-man's consciousness clued his brain into the inertia picked up by being shaken so violently. Eyes as blue as the ocean behind them shot open as his aching head finally clued in to what his inner ears were trying to communicate. Reflexively, the wings on his back - which were a bit taller than himself - beat, stirring up mostly sea spray as they were still halfway in the surf.

"Augh!"

He gave a cry as the bating and the shaking and another roll of the morning tide jolted him out of Kaya's hands and backward, wings splaying out similarly to his thin arms as he hit the wet sand with a thud.

Everything. Hurt.

Moving his wings had been a knee-jerk reaction, but every muscle in them and his back ached as though they'd been pounded with a hammer. There were bruises on his arms, knees, and shoulders, and probably under the once-white remains of clothes that covered the rest of his body, too. He was sopping wet from the waist down - the rest of him dried by the receding tides and the risen sun, and given a thin dusting of dried sand and sea salt by the same. The hair on his head was as white as the clouds, and puffed out as though it were feathers. It was long, and fell around his face like a fur hood.

A multitude of questions rolled around his brain as he groaned, propping himself up on his elbows and staring at the girl with wide eyes. She was looking at him quite excitedly; as if in anticipation, but his mind couldn't seem to sort itself, it shuffled about before settling on one thing to say.

"Where am I?"

 

[Skyswimsky]

Kaya's lovely attempts seemed to bear fruit. Much to her demise however, the first thing the avian being did was ruining her dress. "Kyaa!" Crying out in unison with him, Kaya tried to save herself from the mix of, luckily, mostly water and some filth by putting all her strength into her legs to press herself from the ground and jump back. Alas, all that was for naught and if anything it only made matters worse by dirtying the backside of her dress. But seriously, who would even care about silly things like this right now? It was alive! That was way better than any treasure chest she could have found...maybe.

Kaya gave this thing another good luck, she had never seen anything like that before, though felt suddenly kinda bad of thinking of him as a 'it'. It was...male, no? Yeah, she was pretty sure the avian being was of the male species. Opening her mouth she was just about to say something when the winged one itself spoke up, in her language! Or at least, she could understand him. Sure, it could have also been exciting if they didn't understand each other but that was just as good! Her facial expression changed to something similar like a young girl that was about to visit for a concert of her favourite pop idol or something...which was maybe even creepy.

Kaya needed a few seconds before she realized she was supposed to answer his question, which also removed that stupid look on her face. "O-Oh! Right." Demonstratively clearing her throat, she stood up and made some silly attempts of cleaning her own dress before she extended her hand. "My name's Kaya." If he was some sort of ruthless predator he would have surely eaten her by now, no? "And welcome to the most unimportant and boring island ever...we call our home 'Jawaii'."

 

[Minibit]

He stared at her grinning face with wide eyes as she explained. As his brain eased its way into consciousness, the aches in his bone and muscular tissue started to register. He settled into a sitting position with his legs before him and his arms and protesting, thin shoulders supporting him. He released one arm to reach into his hair and scratch his head - disturbingly, his hand came back with a piece of seaweed - and looked around the place. Trees loomed up in the middling distance, sand spread out around them with short hills slightly beyond. "Stable" seemed to be the best word, at the moment.

"Jawaii" he repeated softly. The tide lapped at his hips and the hem of his tattered shirt, and he pulled himself to his feet, standing a rather unimpressive four-nine. His wings beat lazily behind him, fanning to dry the bedraggled feathers. The sand and salt would dry and fall off eventually, high they'd be irritating until that time. He was lost in thought, taking in his surroundings when it occurred to him that this girl had introduced himself, and so he owed her a name back.

A name.

Dear gods, what name?

Mentally, he panicked, sorting through sounds in his head; none of them sounded familiar or right. Seconds dragged on; he had to say something.

"I'm, uh..." He glanced around, and his eyes settled on the treelike in the distance

"Lee - layf. Leif. My names Leif" he decided, altering "leaf" at the last second.

 

[Skyswimsky]

No reply to her out-stretched hand? Well, maybe he had different customs? Or different problems for that matter. Taking no offense in that she nodded. "Yes, Jawaii...ever heard of it?" Maybe this piece of floating bore was more famous than Kaya initially thought? Whatever. Nodding in response to his name the island girl tilted her head. "Leif?" That sounded SOMEHOW familiar...but what could it be? Shaking her head the girl now looked around once again. "So...what happened to you? Are there others?" Maybe she should show him some hospitality first? But...she still had a job to do, which was also why she looked around for more interesting things, and wasn't exactly sure how the villagers would take in a guy with gigantic wings that stranded here.

 

[Minibit]

Leif stared blankly back at her, the tide lapping at his bare feet in the sand. His mind whirled, fishing desperately for any moment prior to two minutes ago, but came up with nothing.

"I don't know" he said apologetically, lowering his gaze as he shook his head. "I'm just really sore" he added, folding his wings behind him and cringing when they laid against what felt like large, tender bruises

 

[Skyswimsky]

Kaya couldn't deny she was pretty excited for his answer, not even daring to think about the worst case scenario. Though before she was able to let her imagination run too wild the avian being shattered everything with precisely those words.

"I don't know."

He didn't know? He. Did. Not. Know? A slightly morbid expression came over her own face as the words made her realize in a painful slow fashion. "..." And while it probably felt like a few minutes for her, was in reality just a few seconds, as the green haired girl nodded in a slight smile. "Yeah, right! What was I thinking? Maybe your memories come back, or something, after I treated your wounds." Her village was anything but barbaric, so it wouldn't be THAT bad to smuggle bring him to her hut, no? Taking the initiative by grabbing his hands she finally led the way through the dense vegetation. "Follow me!" Not like he had any other choice, while she didn't have that much power Kaya was still kinda forceful.

 

[Minibit]

Leif followed after her as best he could, his bare feet slipping on the hot sand as they made tracks toward the settlement.

The buildings seemed to be constructed mostly of a pale wood, cut in narrow planks. Between them, a few people meandered to and fro, they seemed to be dressed in similar clothing to what Kaya was wearing, in that it was colourful, and made of loose-flowing fabric. Leif plucked at the sand-soiled white clothes hanging off of his waifish frame, his feathery wings folded gingerly behind him.