i'll get high if i want to
07-09-2019, 12:29 PM
'I haven't yet met any tusked creature I ought to be afraid of,' she spoke up, taking a step forward, and it took a great amount of self-control to not try to startle her through any means possible - whether by feigning a pounce or simply barking loudly - but he was able to contain himself. Perhaps he had given her enough grief for one day. "That is... until today, right?" Kai quipped, though he was grining. Truthfully he wasn't much of a threat, not unless he really wanted to be. His size, as well as the tusks that extended from his upper jaw, were an intimidating combination... but needless violence wasn't really his style. What'd be the fun in that? He'd much sooner spill the blood of a willing participant in a friend spar of sorts. His mind wandered briefly back to the tournament, the one that had resulted in his torn ear, and he flicked both gently as he swung his head away from her, as if looking at what she was describing. "You're right, there's plenty of beauty here," he conceded quickly. "..and everywhere, really. Sometimes you just have to look a little harder than other times." But he was less interested in musing over the beauty than he was in this strange, youthful female before him. Not that her oddness was a bad thing - no, at least to him, it was quite a good thing indeed. Muses, was her name, and he nodded at her greeting, watching as she examined him in turn. "Ah, fine then. The name's Kai Jarvela." Sometimes he didn't care enough to give a surname, other times he decided to offer it - it made little difference to him whether or not they knew his lineage. If strangers knew anything at all about his family, it wouldn't take long for them to figure out he was a Jarvela himself. He doubted he'd see any recognition in her eyes when he introduced himself. Her next comment earned a hearty chuckle. "Of course there's a good story behind it," he fibbed easily, trying to recall one particular tale his father had told him as a child. For a long moment he considered telling a much more fantastical tale than was close to reality - perhaps he could weave a story about the god Leibolmmai had blessed him with his tusks during a great hunt, or even a more fantastical tale about how he'd been birthed as a weird wolf-boar hybrid. "My father told me a story once about a white reindeer he and his siblings took down," he started, losing the goofy, teasing tone he'd briefly adopted earlier. "To my people, white reindeer - or caribou, whatever you want to call them... they're signs of good luck. They're very rare to find, and most live without ever seeing one. Taking one down when it's time... well, apparently it's a surefire way to bring about eternal happiness." Kai wouldn't get into the finer specifics of the Jarvela tradition of reindeer herding. Killing a young reindeer was rarely a good thing to do, and to not allow a white reindeer to live out its life would surely bring a mountain of bad luck. He wasn't as superstitious as his father, but he still lived by many of his principles, this one included. "I've never seen one myself, but my father did, and he said it was one of the better hunts of his life. He felt truly connected to the universe that night. After he and his siblings ate, that night, he slept soundly and dreamed of someday having a son with tusks just like him," he explained with a faint smile. The tale had seemed silly to him as a child, as he hadn't been born with his tusks, but... miraculously, almost, they had suddenly began to grow in. Somehow he correlated that incidence with the likely death of his father, wherever he was - and though he couldn't be sure, he had an inkling he was right. "I consider them a gift from the gods. A reminder of why I'm here - why we're all here - and a reminder to live life to its fullest." Kai shrugged, though his words had been serious. He doubted she would believe everything he'd said, but he said it with enough conviction that it'd be hard to pretend he was trying to pull her leg. |
