[PRP] Cheer up, boob lady! [Shaheen/Zhi]

[Kaiyumi]

If one were to wandering into the woods today, they would probably notice a particularly strange sight. There seemed to be a horseman standing below one of the strongly built trees, one of his overly long sleeves flopped over one of the lower branches. It seemed as if he was eying a corrividus that sat atop the very top of the tree--a corrividus that was holding...something in its beak. A small spool of thread? In either case, the horseman did not seem particularly pleased. It was obvious that he was the spool's rightful owner and that he wanted to get it back.

...And apparently his attempt to get it back involved some kind of convoluted pulley system that involved putting his sleeves to work. Grabbing the end of the sleeve that was draped over the branch, Zhi proceeded to then try and use it to hoist himself upwards.

It was hard to tell if he was creative or just dumb.

In either case, it soon proved to be a futile attempt. The first indication that this would not work in his favour was when he heard a distinct crack from overhead, and the second indication was...well, when he found himself falling back onto the ground. With a low moan, he rolled over and planted his face in the dirt.

Seussi

SO THIS IS LIKE TWO DAYS LATE sorry ilu ;__; <333 Also apparently I didn't know how to start it either SO UH...

 

[Seussi]

Shaheen wasn't wandering in the woods, but she was sleeping in them. Up in a tree, in fact, leaning sideways against the trunk with wings folded around her to keep her warm and comfortable. Sleep didn't come easily for the war chieftain anymore. Nightmares tormented her to the point where she found she was forcing herself awake for days on end. But it couldn't last, and it never did, no matter how much she tried. Eventually, she needed the sleep, and today as she had perched up in a tree, she had found herself resting comfortably in it's boughs before she could even stop herself.

But the nightmares came as well, as they always did, disturbing what might have appeared to be a very peaceful slumber to begin with. It started with a faint twitching, a low moan, and then wild thrashing that led to the inevitable.

Shaheen promptly fell out of her tree, tumbling to the ground in a screeching and disoriented mass of bronzed skin wrapped in robes and wings with feathers ruffled and out place, landing in a tangled heap with a cry of pain and a resounding thud not far away from where Zhi had fallen himself.

Classy.

Kaiyumi

Wow this only too forever ;; I'm sorry!!

 

[Kaiyumi]

Zhi heard the thud, but barely stirred, lifting his head only slightly and making a weak attempt to scan his immediate surroundings. Of course, the damp leaves that were stuck to his face made the task a little harder than necessary, and he blew at them half-heartedly before groaning and planting his back back down into the ground.

Everything ached.

Still, he was rather curious as to what that thud had been. Considering it had been accompanied by a cry, he assumed that someone had found themselves in a similar predicament to his own. So, spurred by his desire to know who it was and what had happened, he began to make his way towards the source of the noise...

...By rolling. On the forest floor. And getting his clothes dirty. His long sleeves wrapped themselves around him like a straitjacket as he tumbled along, but he either didn't notice or simply didn't care. Before long, he felt himself bump into someone or something warm.

Too bad he couldn't see with all those leaves stuck to his face.

Seussi

OUO <33 NO PROBLEM, YOU <33

 

[Seussi]

Zhi really didn't have too far to roll before he was bumping in to something warm and soft. Shaheen felt the assault on her person before she opened her eyes to see it, and the sight she was greeted with was a confusing one at first. a figure, covered in leaves and twigs and dirt and...

And whatever it was had plastered itself against her. By the horns of Ares, what the fresh hell was this?

But a little further looking over had her recognizing something else, though it took her a moment before she even knew that it was what she was looking at. Sleeves. Long ones, though they were wrapped around and around the form that had burrowed itself against her body, what might have been it's face dangerously close to a pair of somethings that it probably did not want to be near.

Her eye twitched as a scowl formed on her face. Falling out of a tree combined with almost no sleep in the last few weeks had soured her disposition mightily, and what she might once have viewed with amusement, she instead just found completely grating and annoying.

"Zhi." She said from between clenched teeth. "Kindly roll away. Now."

Oh yes, she was a real treat today.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

Now that was a familiar voice, though it sounded significantly more irritated than it usually did. Blowing at the wet leaf on his face, the conquest horseman let out a frustrated grumble before straining to wipe his face off on his shoulder. Finally, after a lot of struggling, he managed to shift the leaf enough so that he could see.

The first thing he saw were boobs. Zhi hastily backpedalled at that, rolling back a good foot or two before he glanced up to look at Shaheen. Despite the terse way in which she had addressed him, the horseman simply offered her his usual grin, wriggling about awkwardly as he tried to free his sleeves. "Hiiiiiii Shaheen! Whatcha doing?" More stupid grinning, and then he glanced up at the tree directly overhead, his gaze sliding between one of the branches and the War horsewoman that lay on the ground.

...

"The must have been a nice fall! Not as nice as mine was, mind you--I'd like to think that I landed with a more impressive 'THUD' than you did--but it wasn't a bad fall either!"

Either he didn't realize that she was in a bad mood, or he simply did not care.

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Personal space. Yes, she needed it, and she actually felt a momentum of relief when Zhi realized who it was that he had rolled into, and promptly rolled away as well. She didn't stop glaring at him, however, irritated just by how incredibly silly he looked instead of finding it amusing as she usually did. When he grinned at her and greeted her with a cheerfulness that was absolutely grating, she winced and clenched her teeth, hissing at the way his voice made her throbbing headache feel about ten times worse.

Before she could open her mouth to give a curt reply, he was off on a tangent about falling out of tree's, and her upper lip curled back from her teeth.

"Shut up." She growled, fingers clutching at the damp earth, curling around leaves and dirt and bits of twig that she threw directly at his face before rolling onto her back with a groan, wings spreading out beneath her, likely getting covered in filth.

"I was trying to sleep. You woke me up so suddenly that I lost my balance." She lied, though her voice was no less angry and was full of accusation.

Kaiyumi

maybe shaheen just isn't a morning person.

 

[Kaiyumi]

The concept of personal space was foreign to Zhi...or at least, he would like people to think that. As empty-headed as the horseman liked to appear, he wasn't quite as dumb as he seemed. Occasionally, there would be a glint of intelligence in his dark eyes, a kind of mischievousness...

So whether or not the Conquest horseman was truly touched in the head was up for debate. When Shaheen snapped at him in displeasure, he obediently fell silent--for a minute. There was a moment of pause as he scanned her face, searching her expression...and then he shrugged and began to wriggle more in a newfound attempt to free himself.

"You're grumpy," He informed her in a matter-of-fact manner, as if she wasn't aware of this, "And I think you should stop being grumpy!" He finally managed to free himself then, stumbling up to his feet and whipping his sleeves this way and that in an attempt to fling all the mud and leaves off. "Weeee, are going to do something about that unhappiness of yours, Shaheen! But first we need to figure out what's wrong."

Zhi dropped back down, flopping directly over the horsewoman. Turning to look at her face, he grinned. "So--before I showed up--what was bothering you?"

Seussi

Zhi is a every-hour-of-the-day person! /o/

 

[Seussi]

"And you're obnoxious." She growled in response, "Is there a cure for that, Zhi?" Yes, she was certainly in a terrible mood, and Zhi was somehow doing everything possible to make it worse, and he hadn't even really begun to do anything yet. Mud and leaves splattered her already dirt and filth covered body when he flung his sleeves around, and she had to close her eyes and count, very slowly to ten, in her head, to keep herself from drawing her dagger on him right then and there.

She had just about made it to three when he was suddenly overtop of her, and her eyes flew open, golden orbs swimming in a sea of darkness, narrowed up at him in a manner that spoke volumes about how irritated he was making her.

If he was observant, she wouldn't even need to answer that question. Her robe had tangled around her body, but her face, her neck, her right shoulder were all left unadorned an exposed, the grey fissures that had spread across and down her skin, the taint of her insanity that streaked her hair so thickly, now so much worse then it had been before.

She wanted to murder him, right at that moment, but she somehow kept her twitching fingers down at her sides. But she continued to glare up at him, silently, refusing to answer his question out loud.

She was sure he wasn't stupid, and that most of it was just an act. He could figure this out.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

"Nope, there isn't! What a pity!" The fact that Zhi followed this declaration with a cackle was a very obvious indication that he didn't think it was a pity at all. After all, why be ashamed of who he was, right? This could have been a rather admirable mindset if it were not for the fact that what Zhi was was crazy.

He did not seem particularly troubled by her obvious irritation and her glare, remaining draped over her side for a good few seconds before rolling himself off. Flopping onto the ground directly beside her, he turned to look at her, gaze flickering over the tell-tale signs of the insanity infection. For a moment, his eyes darkened, and then he sat up, reached out...

And pat her on the forehead.

"Aside from themurderous rage that you'd obviously like to direct to me, how are you feeling?" It seemed like a pretty stupid question considering, but his voice had taken on a surprisingly level and serious tone, the dumb look fading from his face, "Does it....hurt?"

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

She nearly let out an audible sigh of relief when he rolled back to the side and stared at her from a more reasonable distance. She would not need to be murdering him today, it seemed, though the pat on her forehead nearly made her change her mind on that hasty decision.

"Zhi." She growled a warning, eyes shifting towards him though she didn't bother to move onto her side to see him better. Nope, she was just going to lay here on the ground, arms coming up to cross over her chest as she continued to huff out her annoyance.

But then his question caught her completely off guard, especially considering the more serious quality his tone of voice took on. It was so...un-Zhi like, that it shocked her out of her dark mood for the moment.

"I'm tired." She repeated. "I'm having trouble being around others, dealing with..this.." She didn't say what, because it was obvious.

"Physically? No, it does not hurt. It just..is." She sighed, and uncrossed her arms so that she could reach a hand up to her face and pinch the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes, because there was really no good way of explaining it to somebody who was not experiencing it for themselves.

Kaiyumi

HA! SPEED TAG! /zooms

 

[Kaiyumi]

Sitting up a little straighter, Zhi grimaced a little as he proceeded to try clearing his clothes of as much dirt and as many leaves as he could. Sometimes he wondered why he did things like roll around on the ground...but then he'd remember that he did it because it was fun and that was a good enough answer for him.

He meticulously picked off bits of foliage from his robes, his gaze briefly sliding over towards Shaheen as she spoke. Looking away, he gave a light shrug of his shoulders. "Honestly Shaheen, I don't know if avoiding people will help any in the long run. Maybe it'll make you feel a little better for a bit, but..."

Was he actually making some sense here? Giving up on his filthy clothes, he crossed his legs and propped his elbow up on his knee, setting his chin in the palm of his hand and staring down at the horsewoman. "I'm sure it's not surprising to you, but I'm afraid that I don't understand. Care to elaborate?"

Seussi

PFFFF YOU adfgjk *noogies* <3

 

[Seussi]

"Zhi." She opened her eyes, and leveled a stare at him. "It does not make me feel better. Nothing makes me feel better." She was finally moving, finally pushing herself up from her spot on the damp and leaf strewn ground. Once she was sitting upright, she stared at him for a long moment, trying to decide what was the best way to explain it, or if she even wanted to try, or if she even cared if he understood or not.

"What hurts is that, on a good day, I still can not always separate what is real, and what is just in my head. What hurts is knowing that, eventually, this affliction is going to tear me apart, and leave me a monster that tries to destroy all of my friends, again.[i/]"

She paused for a moment, letting that sink in before she continued.

"I've been having nightmares. Not...the usual kind of nightmares. These ones are worse, and when you're experiencing them, it feels like they go on for days and days. They feel real. In fact, sometimes I do not even know ireally awoken, or if I am still asleep."

[Kaiyumi]

He let her talk, partly because he genuinely wanted to know what she was going through, but mostly because it seemed as if she needed to do exactly that--talk and vent her frustrations. Ultimately, as she had said, it probably wouldn't help her feel a lot better in the long-run...but perhaps it would at least alleviate a bit of the frustration she was feeling, if only for a second.

Something flickered over his face at the idea of Shaheen descending into madness and lashing out again someday, but it disappeared almost just as quickly as it had appeared. Zhi wasn't about to deny the fact that fighting against his fellow horsemen--and his friends--was something that he dread doing, but considering how the infection was spreading throughout the horsewomen, he wouldn't be surprised if the day soon came upon them. Was there a way to stop the insanity? To slow it?

Not to his knowledge, at least. He wasn't really that dumb, but matters like this were definitely out of his range of information and understanding.

Nightmares, a feeling of disconnect from herself--no wonder Shaheen had seemed so out of it. At the question, a corner of the man's lips quirked upwards in a lopsided smile. "I suppose, but...what is it that you plan on doing now? Have you talked to Medea?"

Seussi

SORRY I JUST CAUGHT UP IN MIDTERMS ;; ...and I'm rly tired so this tag probably doesn't make any sense?!

 

[Seussi]

The smile she received after she was given a chance to vent did actually make her feel a bit better. She felt silly for having let her overtired and emotional state get the better of her, as well as embarrassed that she had lashed out at Zhi in such an angry and unnecessary way. But she could feel it, the doubt that gnawed away inside of her, the paranoia that washed over her, making her cast quick glances left and right and over her shoulder on occasion, as though somebody was out there, watching their exchange.

And what did she plan on doing, now? "I plan on living what part of my life I have left to live. Medea is..." What did she say about Medea? That she was useless? That wasn't exactly true. She had no doubt that the woman could help her in some way, but after she had been part of the reason Shaheen now found herself in a much worsened state of insanity, she was finding it hard to drag herself back to the priestess to ask for help that might not be given, to have hope and then to have it dashed away.

"She is unpredictable, you know that. And she never tells things straight, but speaks in riddles. I was never good at puzzles." She sighed, shaking her head so that her blonde curls bounced around her shoulders. "I will go to her eventually, when I feel it is time to do so." Which would probably be soon.

Time to change the subject. "What were you trying to do before you fell?"

Kaiyumi

this is totally not a post that I've owed forever what are you talking about

 

[Kaiyumi]

The more he thought about Shaheen's situation, the more uncomfortable he felt. This feeling was familiar to him, one that had gnawed at him for days--weeks--after the destruction of the isles. Helplessness. He hadn't been able to do anything to save his family or his island back then, and from how things were proceeding, it felt as if he lacked the capability of saving Shaheen too. It was clear that she didn't have the brightest outlook on the future either.

"That's true," He admitted, giving a little shrug of his shoulders, "Though she is pretty sharp, that much you have to admit. Of everyone here, at least, you'd have the best chance at getting some answers if you were to go and talk to her."

Honestly, Zhi wasn't entirely sure how he himself felt about Medea--he never really thought about it, actually--but he had never doubted her role as their leader.

At the horsewoman's question, the serious expression faded from his face as his expression suddenly became blank. There was a moment of silence, and then he scrambled up to his feet, turning and angrily pointing to one of the trees. "AAH, RIGHT! That corrividus! It stole my spool of thread! When I get my hands around that feathery peabrain...!" Insert more flailing and yelling here.

Seussi