[PRP] Shades of Brown (Atica x Tinashe)

[Geyser Eelborn]

The desert was now behind him, and stretching in front of Atica, the endless dusty plains. There was grass here, and water, too, and every so often, the sky would turn grey with clouds, and then water fell down from the sky. Some might think these the obvious observations of a simpleton, but Atica had awoken in the desert. Besides his little oasis, he knew there was precious little life around him there. But here? Here it was all around, in the brush and in the grass and in the sky. It was not frightening...but it was intimidating. It was all unfamiliar to Atica, and he did not quite know what was going on.

But he was on his way. That was important to him. He had known for a long time that there was a journey ahead of him, just waiting to get started. And now that he finally had gotten started, he had begun by going north into the plains. Not on purpose--he had not known that it was there--but he had ended up here. Wherever this was.

There was so much life here, and yet, he had hardly met any B'alam--he had not, in fact, met anyone else so far on his journey. He had hoped that he might meet someone. Anyone. Anyone to convince him that he was not the only B'alam that existed. But it was not until a week had passed on the seemingly endless grasslands that he caught a scent in the air that hinted at another person. At least, he thought so--something about the smell smelled B'alamish. It was instinct, and he turned himself towards that scent. He started to lope towards it--he did not want whoever it was to get away! Wait for me! he wanted to shout.

Hoshi Lockhart

 

[Geyser Eelborn]

As he got closer, Atica swore he could sense something different about the scent, as if it had a different scent, or a different flavor. It was probably something unique to just that B'alam--after all, no two birds smelled exactly identical, no matter how well their plumage matched each other. So...if there was another B'alam, of course he would not smell just like Atica! That was just common sense, really. The other B'alam did not seem to sense him, which was, when he thought about it later, a good thing--she might have startled if she'd seen a stranger racing towards her! But at the moment, still caught up in exuberance at the very idea of not being alone in this world, he kept up his fast pace until he was just a few tail-lengths from the other B'alam.

He slowed to a halt and padded slowly forward--not so close as to touch or to cast a shadow, but close enough to not have to shout. He could tell how fast he was talking--he had practiced! He had talked to rocks back home, and they had echoed his words back, so he could gauge how loud they were. "Hello and greetings!" he called out to the stranger. "I don't know you, and didn't even know there were others like me! I think of myself as Atica. What do you think of yourself as?"

His brain belatedly told him that the word he was looking for was actually closer to "mame" or "mane" or something--he was panting and not really in the mood for words, and besides, other than that, his brain had no complaint about that speech. The volume had been right, not too quiet, not too loud, and he had said words, and those words had even meant something. Not bad for his first social interaction with another of his kind, right? And he could tell from this distance that he was another of his kind, with four legs and two ears and a tail and everything. The colors were different, which was a bit of a surprise, since every bird looked just like a member of its own kind, so why would two B'alam have different markings? Oh well, he was brown. That made sense. They were broth brown! So B'alam were brown with darker spots on their tails.

Atica was satisfied with this deep mental treatise on the complexities of biodiversity, and thus stood beside the stranger with a great big smile on his face that radiated satisfaction--and relief.

Hoshi Lockhart

Oh, Attica, you dork.