Swan Lake (Rennal/Open)

[Nik Nak]

What could be more fitting for a swan than to be perched by the lakeside enjoying the scenery. Her raven black curls twirled with the light breeze like tassels as her eyes gazed out over the distance enjoying the peaceful afternoon. Perched next to the water's edge sat the young Oocca woman, staring at the depths of the clear blue water, almost memorized by the beauty.

Leaning over slightly to the edge, she dipped her hand into the chilly waters, enjoying the cool sensation that crept up and down her spine. The afternoon heat was mild, which Claire didn't mind at all being that it was cool hanging out by the lake. The warm rays illuminating the colors all around, and there wasn't a single soul alive that could tarnish her tranquility at the moment.

It wasn't that she didn't like company, but as of recently many people have proven to be fools than acquaintances to pass the time. Certainly this wasn't the best surface dwellers had to offer? If Claire had to pick what she liked while wandering around Hyrule, it was the simple fact that it held vast number of scenic regions. The colors were far more diverse than back at home. Still, noting could change the fact that being up in the sky, brought a sense of freedom the surface dwellers lacked.

A mighty proud Ooccan woman, Claire was.

[Rennal]

Oh, by the gods. Rennal stumbled down the hill towards the shore of the lake, sighing. He should have brought money with him. Trekking across the land without a waterskin wasn't a good idea. He knelt next to the water, dropping his bag beside him, and began to drink near-unhealthy doses of water, then splashed his face with it to get rid of the grim and sweat of his journeys. He shook his face out and used a clean spot on his tunic to wipe off the water.

He flopped onto the ground, exhausted. But it only took a few moments for him to notice a disturbance in the water, brought on by his keen sense of perception, and he looked around. And laid eyes on a gorgeous woman with wings extending from her back. He sat up, his gaze held not but her beauty but the wings on her back. He'd never seen a person with wings. He almost wanted to reach out and touch them, and remembered someone who came to the island with wings when he was small. He remembered asking why, and only being told that the Ooccan people were a different race, therefore, not normal.

She had a very pretty exterior, to be sure. But she was doubtless full of malice inside, so he chose to ignore her. Moments passed, but his eyes kept straying to her. Finally, he could stand it no longer and asked her from where he was, "What are you?"

[Nik Nak]

How rude! A surface dweller has the nerve to approach her in his unclean demeanor. He smelled of the road, a vagrant, who no doubt must've traveled the distance. Even travelers had a sense of hygiene, Claire bathes every single day, never going about her day without a wash. Her beautiful feathers would be covered in dust if she didn't take care of herself, after all. The spoiled oocca wasn't aware of the difference in cultures that other races had, some travelers were poor and couldn't afford to bathe on a daily basis. Thus she reacted accordingly. "Are you that stupid that you're blind to my wings?" she asked flatly, flashing her beautiful black wings, "Honestly, surface dwellers are truly deprived creatures."

Claire wasn't one of malice, she was just... proud. Her pride, and vanity were her strongest assets, and what limited her retrospect of others. To her, she believed wholeheartedly that this man should be honored that he was gazing at her proud visage. After all, if not for circumstances, she would not be caught dead with the likes of him around her. He just so happen to be here out of all the things that she could've encountered. Her dark jewels for eyes narrowed at the stranger before she ran her slim fingers through her hands.

"I don't suppose you're human, are you not?" she asked, but her voice was laced with mockery. "And judging from your looks, a vagrant, no doubt. What brings you here from your wayward travel?" Now don't get her wrong, she could care less about whatever the hell surface dwellers did with their lives. It was something to past the time of her boredom. When she gets bored with her new acquaintance she'll just fly off somewhere else, and be done with him.

[Rennal]

Rennal blinked, unsure what to make of her tone of voice. She had a pretty voice, to be sure, but he didn't appreciate the way he was speaking to her. Most women at his home were raised to be spoiled or passive, so the fact that she just seemed to be another one of those women irritated him. But he didn't show it, only kept his eyes fixed on her wings, in what he hoped was a dazed sort of expression. "Your wings were the first thing I noticed."

But it was when she started putting him down that he truly got angry, and he stood. "Okay, I'll have none of that. I come from a noble household, and just because I haven't bathed yet today doesn't mean I'm any less a person than you. And yes, I am human. I just don't prefer to dress noble because I hate where I come from. People there are... cruel. Can you understand that, winged creature?" He added the nickname on for mockery, and been about to call her a winged beast, but then decided she was far from one and changed his decision last minute.

[Nik Nak]

Her wings. Her gorgeous obsidian black wings were always the first thing to be noticed whenever eyes laid upon her slender form. The anomaly behind it was such an attention consumer that she couldn't help but lavish in the attention it brought. Nonetheless, it didn't mean she gave right for everyone to stare at her as if she was on display. This man's ill-mannered demeanor would not go without reprimanding. "My wings are as black as the night sky on a new moon," she boasted with a voice laced with vanity. It was quite clear to see the amount of pride that poured out of her form of her beautiful wings.

"A noble?" she began to chortle, "Have you no shame then dressing like a commoner?" Her dark jewels for eyes staring down at the meager human whose ire was easily ignited. There was obviously an arrogance he possessed that Claire didn't quite understand. Cruelty? Cruelty only falls upon those who accept the fact that they're weak in this world, and been placed on display for all to see their insignificant existence humiliated. The black swan would not have her elegant form sullied by associated with the wrong people. "Or perhaps..."

She lifted herself up from her perch, and crossed her arms over her chest. Her head tilted down, but her eyes were pierced into the young man's eyes. "Perhaps you're a noble on the run?" she was only taking a lucky guest. She's heard of these situations before. Noble children running away from their households from whatever reasons it could be. They want to escape the responsibilities handed down to them by their parents. "Speak up if I'm wrong. I'll have you know, I am an Oocca, human."

[Rennal]

Rennal folded his arms as she spoke. Clearly she took great pride in herself, another quality he hated in those women. They thought they were all that. Rennal knew from experience as a child from others and all the ridicule he'd obtained from his mother that clearly, he was not all that. He was nothing in his mother's eyes. His father had been more compassionate of his situation, but still hated other races. His father had often fought with his mother about the kind of privileges Rennal would have. Even though she was a woman, his mother had had great power while he was growing up, and probably still did.

Then she said something that both baffled him and made him hate her all the more. He unfolded his arms and eyed her, hoping she wouldn't be the type to tell, but clearly, she was. She was too proud not to turn someone in. So he lied instead. "Why would I run away from home?" he said, his voice steady, thankfully. "That's stupid."

Ooccan. The race from the City in the Sky he'd read about. He'd heard they were proud, beautiful creatures, but he'd never actually seen one until now. Learning of her race made him feel all that more resentful of her. "I'll have you know I was well cared for at home, Ooccan. I had no reason to leave. I just wanted to, for my own personal reasons."

Quick to get off the topic so she wouldn't push further, he unfolded his arms and looked her in the eye for the first time. He'd been too afraid his eyes would reveal something. "My name is Iadar. Do you have a name, Ooccan?" And to flatter her and stray her from himself, he added, "And do all Oocca look as beautiful as you?"

[Nik Nak]

Claire noticed an underlying turmoil struggling within the human. There was a tinge of curiosity poking in the corner of her mind, but she quickly brushed the errant thought away. She had no time to be dealing with other people's personal problems. It wasn't her place or in her nature to be considerate of stranger's plights. There in resided a mutual dislike for one another, but she couldn't find it in her heart to just leave things as it was. No, the black swan would leave when she was satisfied well, and ready when she was through with this pompous nobody.

"So you're telling me, that you can return home any time you wished?" she asked coyly, "That you'd be welcomed and revered with open arms back from the household you left for your... personal reasons?" She could tell that he was lying straight through his teeth, but decided to go about this in a slow, and painstakingly method as she could make it. She would not call him out so easily on his fib, but why try dodging putting the limelight on him. She could care less of his biased eyes, or the resent that was ever so plastered in his eyes of the girl. So long as she had his attention, it mattered not that she was liked or hated. Claire lived to have eyes on her one way or another.

So long as it wasn't her own.

"I am Claire, Le Cyne Noire," she proudly proclaimed her name and title. A smile graced upon her slender lips as she took full aware of the diversion he was attempting to create. So, if he wanted to play games with her, she'll play right along. He was nothing more than a rodent running away from the hawk's talons, seeking sanctuary by burrowing in his hole of lies to live, and see another day. That wary look in his eyes was quite entertaining to say the least. Just because she wasn't being straight forward didn't mean she was straying away from her own intentions. "I'll have you know that I am one of a kind, my fickle friend. My people hold in their right a beauty, with wings the color of the clouds, and coats of cream."

[Rennal]

Rennal sighed, putting his head in his hands. "Yes, they will welcome me. But I wouldn't return home, because I don't want to." Sure, they'd welcome him. And then they'd lecture him for leaving, making him feel guilty for worrying them (which wasn't actually worry for him, but worry that they don't have an heir to take over their house), and then dress him up in noble clothes once again, making him be the heir he's supposed to be. Sure, he could go home. He just wouldn't go back even if his life depended on it. "It's not that I have a problem with home, it's that I led a sheltered life and I wish to broaden my horizons." Which wasn't a lie, at least the last part.

Then she said her name in the most arrogant, prideful way possible, and it struck an annoyed nerve within him. His mother used to introduce herself that way. And something inside him snapped. Suddenly, she didn't matter. Nothing mattered. He felt cold, indifferent. And he recalled the words of Jarreth, his loyal servant: The opposite of love is not hate. It is indifference.

For a moment, he felt warmth creep into his heart, until she spoke again. Then he was cold again. And he gazed at her, apathetic in all terms. "I've seen Oocca in my books, while I was learning at home. You don't look much different from the rest of them," he said, hoping to make her angry. It would get her off her ****ing high horse, at least. Maybe getting her off her prideful stance would be a plus. He didn't know. All he knew was that right now, he didn't feel anything. He's shut himself down.