pandokofswamp

[pandokofswamp]

CLOSED STARTER FOR @zayaeze

Yazi had thrown his all into this matter of becoming a more responsible person. He’d asked advice from the most unlikely sources: his colleagues at the tavern. Half of them were women, half were men, some identified as something completely different, but they all agreed: he should court Zaya. Show her he was interested and he was willing to put in the effort. 

He’d spend over a week arranging it all, carefully planning things, writing it down, practicing, committing it all to memory, and creating a cheat sheet - he was going to need it.

So now he believed he was ready, standing outside their cottage in the woods in a white embroidered suit that he’d found on sale - and hassled the price off even further. His two footer hands were sweaty, and he looked over the little note in his hand again. Before pocketing it and stepping inside. 

“I wish to take you out to a fancy restaurant and stroll through town in the moonlight!” he proclaimed. It was overcast outside, but he hadn’t understood the phrase to begin with.

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi thought two footer children were strange, they were odd, all limbs and screams, cries and energy. He recalled having been a small Pandok, always on adventure, together with his siblings. But he’d been forced to grow up quickly, by the age he thought these children had, he was already on his own hunting. His mother only taking care of him the first year and a half. His father only appearing on occasion, often bringing some beautiful lizards for his mother. 

He narrowed his eyes for a moment when he heard the play of two footer children, then decided that if he wanted that kind of future with Zaya, he’d need to get over his judgement and understand them better. So he walked up to the playground, then stood and watched with interest. He felt like one stalking his prey, yet he did not move, staring forward and trying to make sense of what these kids were doing. 

“You have a child here?” he asked a tall and broad stranger. “Was raising them difficult?” he asked. 

Playtime || Yazi&Taurus

The young woman gave Taurus a small spin as she showed off the pants she had put on to play with the other children in. He had not wished for her to keep getting the nicer clothing she wore dirty and so had bought her some attire to play around in and she seemingly felt quite powerful in the clothing that was quite similar to her father's, showing off some weak punches.

"Don't actually hit any of the other kids though, yeah?" he checked with the young dark haired girl who gave her father a strong nod before she rushed towards the wooden play castle that had been erected in the Rochielles district by one of the locals. There were a few other children there, parents too it seemed that sat nearby watching. Taurus himself kept his eyes very firmly on his daughter, not intending to let them wander because there was every chance the young woman would try and hit someone who said the wrong thing to her.

For the moment, she seemed contented though, waving to him as she got to the top of the castle, having climbed around the edge of the wood so she could climb on top of the roof and seek the weather worn fake flag made of wood at the very top. He waved back, and probably should have been more concerned she would fall but as she wandered around the roof, holding onto the rod of the flag, he decided he was content she was willing to be so reckless. At least it meant she had his spirit for adventure.

@pandokofswamp

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi hadn’t picked out his own clothing since he’d become a two-footer. He thought it was ridiculous, that two footer skin wasn’t made to weather the elements. And Zaya always got the good deals. He had however brought clothes to the seamstress, since he ripped through them very quickly. He’d grown a lot in the past years.

“Oh! I think I know that place,” he said. “But I don’t know if I know the fastest route. I know how to get there from my place of work. So if you don’t mind a d-tour. If I were a Pandok right now I could fly you there, but I only have two feet.”

Nothing around them seemed even a little familiar and she wasn't even certain the place was still around so his response didn't particularly surprise her. A part of her thought of abandoning the task all together and just looking for some place to people watch. It didn't help that this was something she could put off to another time if she didn't find her way, she was in no rush.

"I need a seamstress or anyone who can mend clothes. I'm terribly hard on mine." She made a bit of a face then smiled as she picked up the hem of her cloak, revealing a tear.

[pandokofswamp]

Did he not need her bribery? Perhaps Hastalik would understand better if he was the one being bribed. It was very hard to say no to Zaya. Getting scratches on his head? Impossible to resist. “I shall try,” he promised, for that was all he could do. He was strong, yes, he was a Pandok, Hastalik had seen that well, but not THAT strong.

Yazi took a moment, looked around himself, and then surely walked into the direction he THOUGHT was where the place was. Though a two-footer, Yazi walked slightly like a Pandok, a bit more like stalking than walking. He never knew what to do with his hands, so he kept them at breast level. “I will treat you, as a thank you for your advice!” he decided.

"You've got to resist that," Hastalik insisted, a seriousness to his words. The man was surely under some sort of magic or trance this woman was controlling him with. Each time Hastalik spoke with him he seemed so content to be the woman's puppet. "You are strong, think about that next time she tries to bribe you. You don't need her bribery."

The idea of lizards was not good but Hastalik could hope there were other things, giving his friend, of sorts, a nod. "Okay, yeah, let's try that, lead the way." Spice was certainly his friend, he could handle that. Spice made the bland food he was given by the coven at least have some taste instead of just the nutritional value the coven insisted was more important than flavour.

[pandokofswamp]

Talking about each other’s cultures was not new, they had done this plenty of times. But there were subjects they had never really gotten into. They had been kids when they met. Yazi was supposedly an adult, for a Pandok at least, but he had looked like a child and while his body had grown up quickly, his mind had needed - and still needed - plenty of time to catch up.

He considered the question and nodded. “I think so yes,” he admitted. “I know my parents had never had another mate.” He’d been one and ten when he left the swamp behind, and Pandok weren’t creatures who lived in big communities.

His whole world had been his mother, siblings, and on occasion father. He’d seen a few others from afar, but he had yet gone off to look for a mate, had yet been told by his father to leave his hunting grounds.

The Pandok offered a grin, happy to hear he would still enjoy mud, and that Zaya would enjoy it with him. He nodded. “No, I will not give up anything, I will learn new things and be more responsible and I will provide for you like my father did for my mother. But then with things two-footers need.”

Yazi leaned into the gesture more than he’d ever done. Maybe he’d taken it all for granted, maybe he did. There was a closeness always between them that never needed explanation or even to be requested. It was just natural. 

His face turned a bit sad, a bit contemplative, but he nodded. “I don’t ever want that to happen,” he said. Then he paused. “But if it does… yes, I will learn my food order, and I will learn how to pick clothes, and how to buy things for a good price.” All things he let Zaya do and dictate because she did that best. 

Yazi smiled, nuzzling his nose against her forehead. “I am glad I brought up the mud conversation,” he said. “So I could show you I am strong. I will show you I am the best Pandok you could’ve chosen!” he proclaimed. “Now let's go get chicken.”

end.

"Do pandok pick only one when they mate with one another?" Zaya asked, since she realised she never had. Yazi was young, even by pandok standards, when they had met. They both had been children so it had been, ultimately, of no interest to either of them to discuss such topics. Perhaps that was why they had lingered in a strange intimacy where they laid beside one another, held hands, cuddled, and Zaya kissed his cheeks when he was in various animal forms but not much beyond this. As they had grown Zaya had certainly enjoyed these more, falling asleep without Yazi in some form against her always left her with restless sleep, but she still felt very responsible for him, so any steps further based on his loyalty and handsomeness that certainly appealed were not quite able to be truly desired.

At his assurance he would learn more she did still feel guilty. It did seem unfair she could manipulate his form as she desired but he could not do the same for her. It certainly would have been easier since Zaya's upbringing had allowed her to have a less restricted view of the fact Yazi was a pandok, if she could be too she would, if only because it would make him happy, but she could not. "You should not take this to mean giving things up," she promised him instead of allowing her guilt to let a 'sorry' fall from her lips. "You should still enjoy the mud, I will enjoy it with you," Zaya continued to vow.

The soft fullness of his eyes became reflected in her own, matching his gesture as best she could as she listened to him assure her of facts she had always stated without any doubts. It was still different to hear him say them without doubts though. "You are right," she agreed, swallowing because she had allowed her concerns over his maturity to imply taking care of one another was wrong when it was not what she meant. She didn't ever wish to give up that they cared for each other. Zaya took the moment to shift as he blushed so they were nearer to one another. The restaurant filled with pairs in such a close position, shoulders touching and eyes near as they looked at each other, while groups seemed to laugh and eat. It was certainly busy enough no one paid them any mind. "I also like you more than I like anyone, my most handsome pandok," Zaya promised him, her shoulder finding purchase against the side of his chest as she leaned in and placing her lips to his cheek, a warm affection, the tip of her nose by his temples, her own braided hair likely tickling at the tip of his.

It hurt her to hear him say he felt he was not smart though and as she sank back to where she sat, form still against his side as she maintained their closeness. "It is hard to know things everyone grew up knowing," Zaya reasoned, her hand nearest his own resting on it. "Neither of us will be smart like them, I just wish for us to feel grown. Like if something happened where I could not come to you then you would be okay in this form until we got to each other. Like, you could learn your food order, yes?" she suggested, something simple, that would show Yazi was maturing.

Once more Zaya leaned in, knowing she was not quite ready to kiss him properly yet, especially as they were in public and she felt as neither had kissed anyone before they may not want witnesses to such an awkward display, but wanting him to see she wished to get there. "You have been so strong today," Zaya complimented him, her opposing hand reaching up so her nails might caress the scales at the back of his neck, dragging softly back and forth along them. "Two big topics. Most two footers would have already thrown a tantrum. We should get you your chicken and go home, yes?"

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi had been in Destarin for a while now. Not that it accounted for anything, he'd been taught how to read, but as a Pandok he looked to the ground, not his surroundings. Meaning aside from his own place of employ, his favourite food place, the docks, and Zaya's place of employ, he didn't actually know what was where and what.

Thus when he was asked about a specific - he figured - business, he drew a blank. He frowned, thought long and hard - not too long and not too hard - and then shook his head.

"I don't know it, what kind of place is it?"

It had been much too long since Fiadh had been to Destarin and she was lost. Well not lost, she knew what she was looking for. She was just...turned around. She refused to admit she hadn't cared enough to remember where things were the last time she was here. There hadn't been much time to walk through the shops but she did recall there was a shop that could fix the clothes that hadn't made the journey in one piece. Fiadh grew bored of looking and tapped the closest person's shoulder, it was time to make new friends.

"I'm so sorry to bother you, can you point me in the direction of, uh," She paused as if she couldn't remember the name, "Red Thread?"

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi did not know what the word subdued meant, but it sounded very big and it sounded like something Zaya was doing to him. Afterall, her Magic dictated what he became. He was totally fine with that aspect however. He being able to change him was totally fine with him, as long as she changed him into creatures he wanted to be. “Yes, likely,” he agreed. “But it’s hard not to take her bribes, she knows how to bribe me very well.” Definitely one of her skills, she knew him so well. 

The Pandok smiled with glee, happy to be offered food by a two-footer who liked meat. Though he knew a lot of two-footers who liked meat, as they should. Meat was delicious. “We should go to Franci’s, she has the best meats, she even does lizards!” And everyone knew lizards were the best. “And she makes this spicy sauce that doesn’t make my mouth burn.” 

Hastalik was genuinely worried for the 'man' before him but there was little he could do. He didn't have anywhere safer to take him. To bring him to the coven would be no better, though his Uncle might be sympathetic to the plight of him being held captive by a hag and give him shelter Hastalik could not say what the coven would do beyond it. He wondered if he might ask his Uncle permission to attempt to kill the hag to save his friend, then he might have whatever estate remained and be free of her. "You should not take her bribes, you are likely being subdued with her magic."

"It is fine," he said with a shrug. Hastalik had the exact amount of meat that his coven deemed would be beneficial for his health each day, along with the right amount of grains and vegetables. All of which was to say he did not crave these items. He wished he might just eat cake constantly but he had only been able to try it twice. Sweet foods were always considered to be evil, the sweetness of them hid the bad things they did to you, as toxic as the monsters in the world. "We shall get it because you like it," Has told him, though he didn't know what went 'boom.'

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi nodded. “Yes that makes sense, two-footers need more two-footers.” He wouldn’t have survived without Zaya. At her question he nodded firmly. Yazi thought she was beautiful, as a two footer, but that her good qualities would also translate to a Pandok form. He was a strong male, in the swamp however, it was the females who decided who they would mate with. He imagined Zaya would have many suitors, and he was glad she wasn’t a Pandok because he feared she might not pick him. “You are very beautiful and you have confidence, I imagine you’d have the most beautiful scales and many Pandok would be jealous.”

He turned a bit shy as she spoke further. Blushing - which was very un-Pandok-like - as she spoke about the two footer way and him learning more. He was a Pandok first and foremost, but his brain chemistry had slightly altered as a two-footer. His desire for Zaya different from how he might desire another Pandok. “I will learn more,” he assured her, and while every day was still a struggle, he had a job and all that. He believed himself capable of being a good two-footer. 

He set his food down and stretched out his arms on the table, leaning his head onto them and looking up at Zaya with warm eyes. A gesture that was wholly Pandok, one that expressed vulnerability and kindness. His eyes were big. “You are the other half of my soul,” he said, because that’s what Zaya said and he believed it. “We are each other’s guardians.” He touched her hand, smiling as he did. “I like you more than I like someone who is a friend.” He paused, still shy, still blushing. “I think you’re the most beautiful.” He paused then. “But I know I’m not the smartest creature.” A true understatement.

"How have you survived this long?" Zaya responded, figuring that he would be able to answer his own question but clarifying further regardless. "You have survived because you have me, I have survived because I have you. It is about family and community," she explained, offering him a soft smile.

Zaya listened as he explained, unsure what exactly would be considered beautiful for female pandok, perhaps harder skin, greener maybe? "You think I would be a beautiful pandok?" she asked him, presuming this was more hopeful thinking on his part than because of any particular element of her. It was sweet, and warmed her.

In the end though, even if it would have been easier raising pandok children that was not - so far as she could fathom - an option. "I unfortunately cannot be pandok, if we wanted to have children it would have to be as two footers. You would have to learn more, be more okay without me," she told him, because it would have been nice, and though his words were sweet and made her smile, she worried he would not ever desire to be out of reliance from her. That he would prefer to keep things as they were than develop their connection more. Zaya wanted it, she had seen it, and so knew it was possible. In some ways she had to assume it was her fault, she had cultivated the relationship they had because she cared for him, selfishly wished to keep him by her side as much as she could.

"I should also want to have children with someone who...cared for me the way two footers do," she spoke, a vagueness to her words because she did not wish to confront Yazi with such things he might find unappealing. To presume her pretty as pandok enough to bear children did not mean he wished romance or intimacy with her beyond the affection they currently shared. "Do you think of me as your guardian more than you friend?" she asked Yazi, to at least understand his perception of what they were to one another.

Before he could answer though Zaya spoke once more, food still between her fingers uneaten. "I think you are very handsome Yazi. I should wish to be more of your friend." Not intending to influence him to agree, but hoping rather to make sure he was not afraid of more, like he had to fall into the role she considered her part in establishing.

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi wasn’t at all thrown off. He did understand that raising two-footers was different from raising Pandok. Pandok rarely had to be raised, they would hatch, learn how to swim and hunt, and then do their own thing. He nodded, Zaya teaching him these things that he was unfamiliar with. He’d seen two-footer children, they seemed hopeless if not for another older two-footer around, like they were always drunk. 

“Hmm, I will not listen to them,” he concluded. In the end, he often only listened to Zaya. Whatever someone else said depended on wether she agreed. If she didn’t, he’d decide these others didn’t know. Zaya did know better, she’d taught him everything there was to know about two-footers. Without her, he’d be forever confused. 

“That makes sense, I’ve seen two-footer children, they do not seem like they can go off on their own and hunt and swim without needing a parent there with them. How do two-footers survive this long?” Perhaps because there were so many of them. 

He took another bite of his food. “It does matter who the other Pandok is,” he did tell her. “You want someone who is strong and who is beautiful. If you were a Pandok, I’d choose you because then our children would be alright. Strong and beautiful Pandok make for strong children. They will survive the swamp.” Though sometimes they didn’t, chances of survival those first few years were slim. Yazi remembered crying for his lost siblings, he remembered his mother crying for them too. He wasn’t sure if his father had. But even that was different. The one who laid the eggs was responsible for teaching the babies to swim and hunt, the one who gave the seed wasn’t. 

Yazi would be the latter, and that worked in the swamp. He was certain it didn’t work here. There also weren’t any female Pandok here, so he couldn’t have Pandok children. 

The topic began rather standard for Yazi, someone had told him something that he did not understand that was a social norm either amongst people of a certain kingdom, or of this continent, but the shift to children seemed sudden for Zaya. It wasn't exactly uncommon for those of her age and Yazi's to have children where she was from but it was not something that they had ever discussed. Occasionally they kissed but, from Zaya's perspective, this was not a romantic or sexual action, it was simply due to their closeness. So far as Zaya was aware she was not attractive to Yazi in an intimate way because she was not pandok but surely he understood how they might have children.

"They are silly, you can do whatever you like if it makes you happy, do not listen to them," Zaya instructed, focused at first on this element, wishing people would simply leave Yazi to his fun and not confuse him with concepts of propriety that were irrelevant. "Children is not the same for 'two footers' as it is for pandok," she continued. "You have babies with another pandok so there are more pandok so it doesn't matter who the other pandok is," Zaya explained of the later half of what he said, to stunned to begin her own meal. "For two footers it matters who the other parent is or are, if there are two or more at least. You are not ready," she informed him.

Really Zaya was not sure if Yazi would ever be able to reach that level of maturity. Despite having spent over a decade together, sometimes it felt as though Yazi was still a child himself, which did make things challenging. Zaya knew things could be complicated when it came to the beings her kind soulbonded with but usually the aid of the witch helped mature the other being and with Yazi Zaya often wondered if her own challenges understanding the continent had stunted him.

"You asking me for that reason shows youa re not ready, being a parent means being responsible and selfless," Zaya concluded, finally reaching for some of her own food. It was sad to think she might never be able to have children because Yazi might never mature but she trusted the path that her lineage had lead her down. Whatever future she was meant to have was with Yazi.

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi didn’t think the subject was sad. He did not mind being prepared for such things, even though he felt like he could live for another hundred and eighty years and maybe Zaya could too. There were enough years to prepare.

But he was also hungry. “Yes, I am hungry too,” he said, saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth which he wiped away with the back of his hand. 

As he swallowed one big piece of meat, Yazi took a short break. “I met this strange person the other day, he said I shouldn’t play in the mud because that’s for children. But he did say that parents are allowed to play with children. So I thought: maybe one day we can raise children and then I can play in the mud with them.

Looking at how he physically had already aged Zaya had to remind herself that while he did physically look older than he was that would slow with time. Pandok's matured quickly but lived long lives, just because it looked as if he was ageing quickly did not mean he was, it didn't mean he would suddenly announce he needed to go to the swamp. "When you are old, maybe you will."

Zaya nodded her head in answer, he would get sick if he did not get gifted her soul and yet he seemed contented by the notion he might not, that he would pass. "If someone was able to gift you my aura maybe you would feel differently, because it would be like I was still with you," Zaya confirmed, not wishing for him to be as contented as he seemed with the idea he might die shortly after herself.

"You'd still feel as though I was there, even though we couldn't talk or play," she explained as food was placed before them in varying metal plates, the tray laid down and the wait staff giving both Yazi and Zaya small bows to both apologise for the interruption and to step away. "You might miss those things but you wouldn't feel...alone." Him being sick was already an image she did not like but certainly him feeling abandoned by her was one she didn't wish to think about.

Starting to plate their food Zaya pushed one towards him, adding what she knew he liked to it. "Let's not keep talking about sad things," she insisted. "We are together now, and we have food and I am hungry."

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi considered the question, which confused him to no end. He didn’t know if that was what Zaya really wanted. He’d have to ask her. “I don’t know,” he admitted, raising both eyebrows in a way he’d seen other two-footers do - non-verbal communication had been taught to him over the years, as a Pandok he only ever bared his teeth to show how he felt, as a two-footer there were so many more muscles in the face, and two-footers had no interest in learning how Pandoks communicated, except for Zaya of course. “I will ask her,” he decided. At the comment that he didn’t have to do what she said, he nodded. “I tell her that all the time, but when I really don’t want to do something she always offers me something.” Food mostly, sometimes time as a Pandok. Zaya knew what he liked. 

Not understanding death in that sense, Yazi nodded. The idea that the dead could hear was new to him, but he didn’t question that maybe it was true for others. He’d already decided that two-footers were weird, but they were weird in more ways than one. They could do all this stuff, with magic and all that. Like Zaya changing his shape. He liked being a Pandok because it was uncomplicated: he could fly, swim really fast, and spit fire. That was all he needed to be able to do. 

“Yes, food would be nice,” he agreed, suddenly giddy. “Something with a lot of meat, I like meat, do you like meat?” he decided. At the confusion about the light show, Yazi looked for a better way to describe it, but he couldn’t other than saying. “With things that go ‘boom’.” It made perfect sense to him, but he lacked the vocabulary to add more words to it. Two-footer language just had too many words. 

The pandok's own pride was evident but Hastalik did not fully fathom it. He didn't really have much he had ever been proud of though. Moments when perhaps he should have felt such a thing his family - his coven - crushed into guilt. Maybe it was why he didn't quite believe Yazi still. "So she doesn't want you telling people when she does things to you that you don't like?" he asked, since that seemed to have been what the man said. It didn't sound good, his instinct once more to try and keep the man away from this woman. "You don't have to do as she says."

Hastalik nodded his head. "It can be," he acknowledged of the cold, far less concerned with his brethren taking blankets to remain warm than he probably should have been. "I don't know," he responded as to whether or not his mother could hear him. "I hope so."

"We can go eat something," he offered, hoping he might be able to convince the other to stay away from his witch a little longer. "I'm not sure what you mean," Hastalik tried to think of light shows that exploded and could only think about the ships by the docks letting off canons.

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi nodded. To him it seemed to make sense that he shouldn't tell people always when Zaya was being mean to him, she'd explained it to him in a way that made sense. He looked confused when Hastalik said he didn't have to do everything that his witch told him to. Obviously he knew that, and he didn't always do what Zaya told him to do, but when she wanted him to do something she explained why, and he didn't have the arguments against it.

"Not always," he agreed, thinking it was the right answer. He figured Zaya would agree with him on the answer too.

"It would be nice if she could hear you, else you'd just be talking to yourself." Which was odd, obviously. Though Yazi had seen many who spoke out loud while walking around the town as well, and they spoke with nobody, so it seemed to be something that two-footers just did.

His eyes grew a bit wider, and he nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, lets eat something!" Then remembering it was a festival, holiday-type of situation, he blinked. "What do you eat these days?" he asked. He looked surprised that Hastalik didn't know about the light show with the booms. It wasn't really a boom, more the crackling of fire. "Where they set wood on fire."

The pandok's own pride was evident but Hastalik did not fully fathom it. He didn't really have much he had ever been proud of though. Moments when perhaps he should have felt such a thing his family - his coven - crushed into guilt. Maybe it was why he didn't quite believe Yazi still. "So she doesn't want you telling people when she does things to you that you don't like?" he asked, since that seemed to have been what the man said. It didn't sound good, his instinct once more to try and keep the man away from this woman. "You don't have to do as she says."

Hastalik nodded his head. "It can be," he acknowledged of the cold, far less concerned with his brethren taking blankets to remain warm than he probably should have been. "I don't know," he responded as to whether or not his mother could hear him. "I hope so."

"We can go eat something," he offered, hoping he might be able to convince the other to stay away from his witch a little longer. "I'm not sure what you mean," Hastalik tried to think of light shows that exploded and could only think about the ships by the docks letting off canons.

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi nodded appreciatively. Only because sometimes he felt like Zaya was the one who made him better, who helped him to be more of a two-footer, to understand the world around him. At his heart, he was still a kid, even if he looked far older in this form. But Zaya always made sure that he knew that he was helping her too. It made him a lot more confident in that people just didn't understand him and Zaya, and that others were the odd ones.

He thought about it. Then shook his head. "I would like to be in the swamp after I die," he stated. "But I don't want you to be sad, so if you'd want to visit me while I merge with the swamp," - because Yazi had seen cemeteries and been told about them - "then I'd want you to visit me." He thought about it for a moment longer. "I think if I die when I'm old, I'll realise that I need to go back to the swamp." Like some instinct.

Zaya had a very nice way of explaining things, but maybe that was because Yazi knew the words she used and how she went about things, he nodded along and tried to envision it. His soul being passed from his body and given to Zaya. "Would I also get sick if I don't get gifted your soul?" he asked. He'd have no problems with his soul - something that Yazi understood but didn't really fit in his understanding of nature - being gifted to Zaya, as long as his body was in the swamp.

He thought about living without Zaya, and he didn't like that idea. "I don't think I'd mind if I died soon after you did," he stated. Death didn't scare him, but living without Zaya didn't make him feel nice. "Even if I were a Pandok after it happened."

He also turned to the food. Slightly frowning. "So you'd still be with me?" he asked. Confused by it as well.

Once sat Zaya offered him a nod. "It is important," she confirmed to him, hearing him reiterate what he was. It didn't bother her, it never bothered her. She wished she could explain to people more directly she wasn't the same as them too even if she looked it. Only Yazi really understood how hard it had been for both of them to adjust and how much having him as a two footer, as he put it, helped her get there. She seemed smarter than him only because she had more context for the form she was in, not because she actually was. "We make each other better as our souls," Zaya promised.

Bringing her water to her lips as he answered she took a small sip. "Is this what you would like for me to do when you die?" she asked, unconcerned this might imply any sort of oncoming death and doubting he would take it this way as typical people of this continent might. "Leave you in a swamp and stay away?"

Zaya nodded, still holding her cup of water. "When people of my region pass someone harvests our aura and gifts it to our 'familiar' or the same in reverse," Zaya explained. "It is hard to live without our paired soul. If you were to pass and someone could not gift me your aura I would likely not survive very long." It sounded rather dramatic, or perhaps romantic to some, but she had seen other's experience it, when their soulbonded being died far from their connection. It wasn't simply sorrow, it was like being tied to something festering, the decay of death polluting the other being. "I would become very sick, and probably follow you to the grave."

It only occurred to her as she said this how badly it could go for Yazi if she was to pass before him. "Hopefully some witch could fathom how to help you if I died first, but you would be returned to pandok," she offered, so he at least did not worry about being stuck in his current form.

Placing her drink down she looked up at the food laid out for the spirits or ghosts or whatever was assumed to potentially be coming. "Once our aura is passed on our bodies are unimportant, we would be removed in whatever way makes the most sense. Sometimes it is easier to be thrown to sea, sometimes buried or burned. Our auras are ourselves, so if you had mine, you would be the part of me people wished to honour or remember. You would be what they give food to."

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi nodded with great excitement. He certainly thought scales were one of the most important things on a Pandok - or on any creature though some did not have scales at all. He also had feathers, and now in other forms he had any type of covering: fur, skin, scales, feathers, and so forth. But scales were what showed if a Pandok was healthy, the biggest Pandok had the best scales. And Yazi believed he saw a difference in the healthiness of his scales when Zaya had taken care of his skin in two-footer form. Maybe he was wrong, but he didn’t care, because he thought he could see the difference, and that was the most important. “Yes!” he agreed. 

“That’s important right? I hear people talk about that all the time, like… when they find someone they spend their life with that that person should make them a better person. Or Pandok.” He added Pandok because he was of course still a Pandok. Always a Pandok first. Familiar second. And then whatever Zaya wanted him to be next.

Yazi stood behind Zaya, looking around while she ordered, then following to the table and sitting down with his long two-footer legs, knowing he needed them to sit normally because he wouldn’t be able to sit as a Pandok. And Zaya poured them both water, which he gladly accepted because he was thirsty after the walk. As he drank he thought about the question. He hadn’t really heard a lot of stories about his own kind dying. Pandoks were family creatures until they reached a certain age, then they’d go off on their own. Hunt, live, start a family, and then back to hunting and living. 

“Not really,” he said. “Pandoks usually go off on their own to die somewhere. And it’s a very distinct smell, so we stay away from the body as well until it has properly merged back with the swamp.” This was totally normal, of course. And while it was sad, it was also very much part of life. Though Yazi did not wish to die until he was very old. “Do you?” he asked.

Zaya nodded at Yazi's assertion that mortals should ask. He was right, at least for himself. For some it was easy to discern from feeling but for other's not so much. Zaya certainly knew that the way Yazi spoke and smiled could present something other than what he meant but in the end asking offered the most clarity. "I am," she agreed of her own talents.

The scales on him were odd in other forms, mostly anything covered in feathers or fur but on his two footer form it was not so bad. They offered complimentary colouring to the soft brown of his humanoid skin, the shifting scales in their pretty colour that showed what he truly was. "You picked me so you would have nicer scales?" she laughed, not to tease but because it would not shock her if for Yazi's soul it had been so simple as someone who would care for him, since that's what, in her mind, it represented. "Ai, Yazi, you are right," she assured him. "We picked each other so we could be our best."

Zaya nodded, though he simply said lamb, no indicator of what on it, she knew he meant what he'd had last and stepped towards the wooden counter, most in the establishment sat on various rugs on the floor, ceramic dishes filled with food shared amongst groups. There were a few low wooden tables with pillows, mostly customers with accents aligning to Withermore seemed to have taken to them, obviously not as accustomed to the dining as those from Cheridi or even Crirtha. There were still many open spaces and stairs that lead to a secondary level with even more. It took Zaya only a few moments to ask for a few different things before she handed over some gold pieces and was told she could sit and the food would be brought to them.

A smaller rug of deep reds and oranges was where Zaya took a seat, someone bringing a metal jug of water to them with two cups on a small tray, sitting it on the ground. Zaya offered Yazi a smile as she began to pour them each a cup. "Do pandoks do anything when one of you dies?" Zaya asked him.

[pandokofswamp]

“She was very proud,” Yazi said, tutting out his chin. He was proud as well, mostly because Zaya had said it. And he’d of course dropped the dead mice right at her feat, like a good furball would. He thought for a moment on the word mean. What did it mean to him. “Hmmm, to do something that another person might not like.” Did that make Zaya mean, in a way yes. But mostly because Yazi didn’t like to be a two-footers, even though he understood that it might be saver for him to be one at times. 

“Graveyard?” He frowned. “Like where they put dead bodies? I always thought those places were very cold. Do they bring enough blankets?” Yazi was always much colder in his two-footer form than when he was a Pandok. As a Pandok he barely noticed. “Oh that’s sad.” Yazi didn’t know if two-footer mothers stuck with their children after birth. He’d been taught and raised by both parents, because his father had made sure he became a good hunter, and his mother had looked after all of them until they were big enough to fly. “Can she hear you?” he asked. 

He hummed. “Eat things,” he decided. “I think that’s what I’ll do, and look at things.” Stare was more like it. He found it fascinating, even if he didn’t have any clue what was happening. “I like the light shows. With the booms.”

"She turned you into a furball?" he asked, presuming he meant cat. Hastalik didn't think it sounded too awful. He'd like to be a cat sometime. Would make sneaking around easier. "You caught the mice? That's good, hopefully she was nice after that."

Hastalik frowned, much as the man's witch had imagined, the male witch before him got the wrong impression about his words. He too having been told he was not meant to tell people when his family was 'mean.' He'd have offered the other a bed, some place to run to, but he had nowhere to offer and in his experience running did little good. "What does the word 'mean' represent to you?" he asked instead.

"My coven uses this time of year to replenish our strength," Hastalik answered, unsure how much of his coven's beliefs he should share. An apocalyptic death diety tended to scare people off. "Some sleep in the graveyard surrounding our temple. Other's offer themselves to the spirits for use. We do a great many things but I tend to avoid as much of it as I can. I visit my mother's grave," he admitted, not that it was really her grave so much as a grave he had decided was hers when he was little because it had the prettiest tree over it. "Tell her of myself. I never met her." Maybe she didn't care to know any of it...

"Anything you intend to do?" Hastalik asked, mostly to be polite because he was slightly concerned the man's answer would involve some cruelty from his witch.

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi nodded, he understood that. "Yes, that makes sense," he said. Even if he didn't like that people didn't ask, he thought it would be easier to just avoid those people than to have to ask it or - even worse - notice it before it happened. "You dance very good, so it makes sense that people want to dance with you, but I think two-footers should ask." Animals didn't dance... or well, not in the same way as two-footers did. He'd been a bird once and seen the dancing some birds did. Realising that now, however, shed even more light on the situation. No, it would be best if he danced just with Zaya.

He never lied about his feelings, and he also never suggested he might have other expectations. He would however say things a certain way in the hopes he could become a Pandok again. Even if he could only talk with Zaya as a two-footer, he did miss his own skin at times. Often. If he could, he'd be the two forms at the same time. Talk with Zaya and be a Pandok.

Yazi set out his jaw, proudly. He'd been an adolescent Pandok, not big, but Zaya calling him big meant something. And he was very proud of his scales and his wings. In any form he was in, some of the scales remained, somewhere on him, a hint at his original form. "Yes," he agreed. He was a Pandok through and through, but any creature wanted to be flattered, and the fact that Zaya recognised him as a handsome Pandok meant more than he could put into words.

"Maybe that's why I choose you, because you make my skin look better, not as good as your skin. Your skin looks much more healthy and shining."

The curry place smelled wonderful, and one day Yazi would ask if he could be a cat while they were here, to really enjoy the smells. At the question, he paused for a moment. He never could remember the names of dishes, he could remember how it smelled, tasted, and looked. But he remembered the good dish he'd had last. "Lamb!" he exclaimed.

"For some people it doesn't matter if you have me," she insisted. Either through a grayer morality, or, in the case of some, because multiple partners or openess was what suited them. To Zaya it was less about a concern for monogamy as it was that it seemed arduous to try and seek others who could not compete with the bond she had magically formed with him. It would only cause drama and distress, neither of which she was interested in. She liked an easy life with the soul she had bound herself to through, what she believed, was predestined. "So they won't ask because they don't care. You have to make sure you don't end up in other huts, just as I won't invite other's to live in ours."

Zaya took him at his word as their hands swung together, Yazi was not one to hide how he felt. Sometimes she wondered if he did for her. Hid things so he might be pandok more often, but Zaya tried her best not to worry on those things. Surely he liked being two footer enough so he could interact with her? And understood it was easiest for him in this place.

"Yes, a bigger pandok," she agreed. Honestly she liked pandok better than 'dragon.' Either way she smiled at him, happy that he agreed. "Even though you were already so big, the biggest I have seen," she complimented, figuring she might feed his ego a little, keep their night a happy one. "The best most brilliant scales and wings with the most feathers. It's why you are so handsome like this, even with your wrinkles, my handsome Yazi."

A few people looked when they heard her describing him with traits he did not have but most looked on quickly. With all the 'were' beings that existed, who was to say he wasn't some sort of were-bird-lizard. They were far more concerned with their offerings, some on display in the window of the curry establishment they approached, a shelf covered in filled dishes, offerings to the spirits, a feast if there ever was one. "What are you hungry for, Yazi?" she asked, unsure if he would remember a specific dish or simply the colour of it and she would have to start guessing.

[pandokofswamp]

Yazi counted on Zaya for everything, he took everything she said as the truth, because he did know he was a Pandok and she was a two-footer by nature. He knew the way through any swamp, different animals, dangers to look out for, and how to hunt. But he didn't understand two-footer things. They were confusing when half of your life was spend on four feet, belly to the ground.

And Zaya explained things in a way that Yazi understood, that made sense. Not always of course, when she was agitated she might as easily confuse him, but it was almost impossible that he got confused by her. While the world out there confused him constantly. "So they would think I don't already have you," he decided. "And that I am still free to live in someone else's hut? Why don't they just ask that, instead of assuming?"

He shrugged and kept on swinging. "I don't know, just checking," he suggested.

The town was different, a holiday was what they'd said at the bar. Yazi had asked if that meant there was more food, and he'd not been wrong. He might be a two-footer, but he could still smell well. And he smelled so much out there. "Yes," he agreed. He didn't know how, but he did. He didn't understand Zaya's magic, but he did think they were connected. He probably didn't pick her consciously, but he knew the shift that had happened, how he'd become a dragon from a Pandok wasn't something that just was done to him. He'd allowed it to happen.

"I picked you when you made me a bigger pandok so I could chase the hunters away."

When she had first made Yazi human in appearance she had not expected the frequency with which he asked her what things meant or what they were. The connection that her coven held with their soulbonded beings was known, beings capable of it were almost expecting it. Yazi had not, hadn't known the potential inside him. Just known what he was and was happy as such. With time Zaya had become ready, often admitting in this strange continent that she did not know. This, however, she did.

"Because they will think...," Zaya paused, trying to find a word or a phrasing that would make sense to Yazi. He was not stupid, she did not think that, but his mind was more literal. If she insisted dancing with people would mean they thought he liked them he would insist he did like some of them, because 'like' held one meaning in his mind, unaffected by tone or situation. "You want to be with them as often as you are with me. Some things attractive people do or say make people think that being wants to be with them always. You only want to be with me always." A statement, not a question.

Her gesture did not lessen as they spoke, arms swinging back and forth with volume, bringing him such happiness it infected her own expression, pulling deep into her cheeks, as well as her step, that began to bounce slightly. "Of course, why would you be mine and I not be yours, Yazi?" she asked him back, the lights of the town close now.

For Zaya his behaviour did not seem 'childish.' Instead the world here seemed too serious, too broken and pained, so much so they had lost the joy of simple things. Often Zaya wished she could bring Yazi back home with her, so he could see he was not alone. That other bonded pairs were like them, enjoyed jumping into lakes from high rocks, lounging in the light of the sun for hours, dancing by the firelight. It was not so simple as to return though, so Zaya made do, focusing her happiness on her companion.

"You picked me, you just don't know how because this continent is strange," she insisted, slowing the swinging of their arms as they entered the town so they did not knock anything, instead drawing their grasp against the knit brown skirt she wore, caramel skin seen through small holes. "I picked you and you picked me back. You feel this, yes? Inside?" Zaya asked as strangers began passing them. She presumed some part of him, even a part that he may not understand, could surely tell.