Lost, but not Lonely // open

[Jamie]

Who knew running away from home, neglecting one's duties and defying the sacred rituals of one's tribe could be so... rewarding. Jamie felt guilt wherever she went, though. Her family must be worried sick; she was the one chosen to take care of the tribe... but she fled. She was currently supposed to be on a mission to find a suitable Minish husband, but she grew sidetracked. Hyrule was a wonderful place to explore. A mission that should have only taken a few months turned into a few years...

Even though the guilt lingered in her heart, she couldn't go home just yet. There were still plenty of sites to see! Besides, she had heard whispers during her ventures in Castle Town that there was a special village, just for Minish! Maybe that's where she could find herself a good husband.

That goal would have to wait just a bit more. While traveling through the Ordona Province, in search of that peculiar Minish village, Jamie grew a bit lost. "Hauu au..." Nervous whimpers echoed through the trees. At least this place wasn't as scary as Faron Woods. Now that place was creeeeeee~py~. This place had a bit more light fluttering through the leaves, but it was still sort of scary. Her lupine tail was tucked between her legs as she kept her ears open for unusual sounds. "Where is that village... It has to be around here somewhere... ne?"

Jamie's keen ears picked up the sound of animals, and cloth fluttering gently in the wind. Just what was it? The playful pup quickened her pace as her curiosity grew. She had to climb up a hill, but as soon as she reached the top... She found herself coming out of the woods, looking down at a round, fenced in area. There was a large man who was hauling buckets on his shoulders. Large, blue beasts stood lazily about, grazing on the lush grass. Her ears pricked as she scooted low to the ground. Hopefully her stark white dress wouldn't stand out among the dark greens of the forest.

With her eyes set on the man, she made her way to level ground, and hid behind some wonderful-smelling straw. Jamie could tell it was fresh~ It took every ounce of her not to roll around in it. That was, until she saw the barn next to her, and heard some interesting noises coming from inside. The smell of the straw came wafting through the large, open windows as well. A jolt of energy rushed through her, so she leaped through the window and into the depths of the dark barn.

Inside, there were even more blue, horned beasts! Just what were they? The skittish creatures, upon seeing her, moved immediately to the other side of their pen. Poor dears, they couldn't get far with that fence in the way. Jamie sensed their discomfort, so she popped up from her comfortable spot in the hay, and held out a hand to them, cooing gently. "It's okie, little dears. Jamie will not hurt you!" A brave younger one popped forward and nuzzled her hand. Adventurous little thing, it was~ Completely overjoyed, Jamie wrapped an arm around it's neck and nuzzled into it. "Oh, you are soooo cute~" Once her little cuddlings were done, Jamie flopped back down into the hay and rolled around. 'Round and 'round she went, not caring if her thick, wild hair picked up any strands of straw. She was having fun, and one could tell simply by the echoing laughter that rang forth from the barn.

[Ryst Seraphine]

It was unbecoming of the lord to not tend to his duties. But lately Ryst was becoming more and more adventurous in testing the limits of the steward’s loyalty. There was little else for the lord regent to do to entertain himself. All that came to court were petty issues that simply didn’t need him. The steward can handle that. When he wasn’t stressing out about where the Oocca Lord had ventured off to. Hopefully he’d get over that dreadful habit soon; the City didn’t have the manpower to lead search parties every time Ryst decided to skip out on his duties.

This time was a little different. They were down on the land on a sort of diplomatic mission, though the semantics were very complex and not something necessary to get into. Ryst had designed them just so, that when he disappeared the steward would spend hours trying to figure out if Ryst really was going to take care of private business as per the trip’s purpose or not. That was time the oocca had to see Hyrule once more, something he hadn’t done since he was younger, when he was the Vagrant Prince, and such trips were purely for pleasure. Maybe sometime soon he would be able to leave the steward to handle petty affairs on his own and actually leave the City for pleasure again.

The trivialities of court. If Ryst wasn’t careful he’d dig himself into a hole he couldn’t escape from. Red tape was his ally right now, but it could easily restrict him. Such was the courtly game. He shook away the thoughts, however, as he walked through the woods. This was a different experience than in the sky, where forests were not exactly a common thing. Most oocca hated it simply because the brush tangled with their wings, but Ryst found it refreshing in a way. In the City no one touched him because he was the lord. Down here the plants couldn’t give a damn.

Laughter echoed from somewhere not too far off. Ryst trotted through the forest until he, too, came across the farm. There was a farmer, hard at work and oblivious to the forest. The laughter was coming from the barn instead. Ryst took another step then teleported from where he was into the barn using one of the ooccan innate abilities. He didn’t want to deal with the farmer, but the laughter was enticing; Ryst wanted fun, he was tired of the dreary court, and laughter often accompanied fun.

It was there he saw the minish girl rolling around in the hay. His father had had a soft spot for minish—it had been what tore their family apart in the end—and Ryst had inherited a similar weakness. A smile spread across his face, a quaint, peaceful one, as he watched her laugh. Muscles in his face stretched after a long slumber as a more genuine smile had not been worn by him in quite some time. ”You seem to be enjoying yourself,” he said after a moment, leaning against one of the wooden support beams in the barn.

[Jamie]

Normally, Jamie would have been able to tell when someone had approached. Having keen wolf senses were very helpful with situations like that. However, she was having so much fun and was so immersed in the rolling around that she didn't even notice someone had approached. The smell of the alfalfa was so strong, it blocked out any other scents. Her head was dipped beneath the surface of the pile, strands of the dry grass were getting stuck in her thick hair, no doubt. But did she care? Not one bit! The new friend she made rest by her, warming her up as she rolled right next to the goat.

It was only when the other spoke that she was aware that someone else had joined her. Well, not joined her... but was watching her. She could feel it then, eyes on her, watching her as she rolled like a buffoon. Jamie froze. There was not a nerve in her body that twitched. A moment of silence passed before she finally moved. It was a panicked attempt to get up quickly, though it only resulted in her stumbling and fumbling over her long robe. When she finally gained her footing, she stood outside of the straw and bowed deeply. "I'm so very sorry! Is this your hay? I probably messed it all up!" A whine rumbled out of her throat as her ears and tail drooped, becoming quite lifeless.

Slowly, she allowed herself to stand upright once more. It was then that she rest her eyes on her company. It appeared they were not angry at all, in fact... they were smiling. This brought a smile to her face and she tilted her head to the side, eyes closed soon after as she smiled back. Her waved hair bounced around the frame of her face as she leaned to the side, her hands folded behind her back. "I was enjoying myself, yes I was! You should do it too!" Her voice drifted off slowly toward the end of her sentence, once she caught sight of his wings. "Oh, but you'll get all these icky things in your wings! That wouldn't be very good, nope nope." She had yet to notice she had "those icky things" all over her hair and dress.

The warmth she previously felt by her leg had disappeared as soon as the newcomer approached, but Jamie hadn't noticed until she looked down. "Where... did he go?" She lifted the hems of her robe and looked around her feet. Silly Jamie, the goat was bigger than that, but she had to look there anyway! She hopped in a circle, keeping her gaze on the ground around her. A shaking pile of hay caught her eye. "Aha! Found you~!" The poor, timid goat no longer had a safe hiding spot as Jamie lifted a handful of hay away from its face and horn. "He was having fun too! This... um..." A finger pressed against her lip, a sign that her brain was reeling as much as it could, trying to gather up some thoughts. With her head tilted to the side again, she gazed over to the Oocca. "Um... just what is that, anyway?"

Such was the life of a sheltered little Minish girl. She knew hardly anything of the world outside of the desolate peaks of Snowpeak.

[Ryst Seraphine]

This was an interesting one, to say the least. Ryst had considered his own upbringing sheltered, living among the nobles of the court. But he had gotten out. He had ventured about the City and even to Hyrule on many occasions as the Vagrant Prince. But he was trapped by the title, by the court, and couldn’t see much of the world. Not without some reason, some red tape, or a little bit of rank pulling. All of which led to various repercussions. This one, however, was incredible sheltered to not even be able to identify the simple farm animal.

Ryst laughed at this. A jovial, happy laugh, not the purposeful, double-sided courtly laugh he was so used to giving. ”That is a goat, my dear,” he answered, laughter still in his voice even after it had stopped itself. It even danced in his piercing blue eyes after it was gone. ”And I’m Ryst,” he added, deciding that if she was too sheltered to know what a goat was she wouldn’t be able to identify his name either. It was sort of comforting, actually, to give his own name and not some pseudonym so that they don’t know him. There was no need to hide here.

”And no, that’s not my hay, though I think the farmer will soon realize the laughter was coming from his own barn,” he said with a grin, crossing his arms. ”He might not like a little wolf like you in here, as he may think you’re frightening his goats. They can be somewhat unreasonable, from what I’ve heard,” he said with a nod, though truth be told all he had heard were kids stories and tales read to him when he was but a little child himself.

”But how does one so . . . peaceful come to wander so far away from home? You never saw a goat before, so your home isn’t around here, meaning you’ve wandered far. Where do you hail from, pup?” he asked, quirking a brow curiously. The minish were as far apart as the oocca—one had even been in the City, for example, and gave birth to his own half-sister—but for her to be sheltered, so new to the world, she had to have come far.

^{OOC: sorry! 5 AM makes posting somewhat difficult! :3}

[Jamie]

A goat... She silently mouthed the words to herself. A goat. That thing was a goat? She had seen normal goats before, but never blue goats with rounded horns. There were big, fluffy goats on Snowpeak, if you looked hard enough! Mountain goats the size of a chair! Jamie sighed softly. Thoughts of home should not be filling her thoughts and muddling them. How she missed those goats...

At least she had a newfound goat friend right in front of her, and a newfound winged friend, as well! Jamie let a smile grow on her lips as she pointed to herself. "I'm Jamie!" Her ink-dipped tail waggled happily for a moment, before it brushed against the hay, which led her thoughts right back to her panic.

"Oh... Oh no... So that means the owner of this hay could still find me! I promise I meant no harm to the goats! I love them!" Jamie fell to her knees in quite a dramatic manner, her arms spread and her eyes closed as she frowned. Without even looking to see where she was going, she wrapped her arms around her buried friend and nuzzled whatever it was she hit. It felt like a horn or something. "I promise I'm a good wolf!"

For a moment, her bottom lip puffed out in a pout. Her pouting subsided when she had something else to focus on, and that was his question about why she was even here. "You are correct, I am not from around here. I am very far from home... My home is on Snowpeak. I was supposed to be on a mission, but I got sidetracked. My poor family..." Jamie didn't reveal anything else about her purposes, but the saddened look on her face meant it was a rather big burden for her. She just wasn't quite sure if she should reveal it or not.

The wolf sighed a little and fell against the hay. Perhaps it'd be better to talk about lighter things. She patted the spot next to her and gazed up at the man with her bright crimson eyes. "It really is comfy~ You should try it, Ryst! I will help you get the hay out of your feathers when you're done!" This hay was probably the equivalent to catnip, but for a dog. The smell was intoxicating. It was so fresh and crisp~ The air was tainted with the smell of the goats, but it wasn't unpleasant to her. All of her surroundings at the moment just helped ease her mind of the guilt she felt for not returning to her family. It was easy for Jamie to get lost in the fun she was having, even if she was simply rolling around like a pup~

[Ryst Seraphine]

She really was a curious one. Ryst, from his position against the support beam, watched as she went through a whole bunch of emotions. Happy, worried, sad, concerned, passive, happy again. Ryst had no idea what we going to come next. Kind of reminded him of Vriska, actually. The thought of his sister still being alive was, however, another story. He felt guilty for abandoning her, though he'd really thought something had happened to her and all was lost. But she was alive, so he was glad.

Perhaps that was a similar kind feeling as this minish girl felt, so chaotic and unsettling. Emotions coming from all angles, fighting for the spot as the most dominant. Ryst was glad he didn't constantly feel like that, though. Just the chaos brought on by thoughts of Vriska was enough to make his head hurt. He tucked all that aside and decided it was not necessary right now. He was standing in a barn belonging to a stranger, miles away from the City talking to a naive little minish who seemed far too fond of hay. Okay, that's where he was. Let's go from there.

She invited him down into the hay. He looked at the crop piled up underneath the girl, who labelled herself Jamie, and couldn't help but smile. "I'm fine right here, thanks," he said dismissively, hoping he wouldn't hurt her feelings. Such behavior was unbecoming of the Oocca Lord, though that wasn't really his entire reasoning. He had escaped from that title for a bit. However large feathered wings were a little harder to roll around with than one would think. It wasn't so much the hay in his feathers, but his bones were hollow and the wings cumbersome.

"Though I'm not sure if the farmer would listen to your reasoning. Down here they have a saying, something about wolves and sheep's clothing. Either way your intent may be innocent, but he'll just see a wolf in his goats and most farmers react to that pretty negatively, from what I heard," he said with a laugh, though at this point it was mostly him pulling her leg.