Get down off your horse....

His eyes went wide staring down at his feet, witnessing the ingenious creation that sprawled further than his eyes could see, and he had always been known for his hawk like perception. It was something that he had never conceived in all his days of dreaming, because he had never seen enough stone to make it happen.
The ground was made out of fricken rocks! Some how they had been molded together to form paths that ran between the different buildings that he didn't dare try to study on his first day. Darataka had never been to a city before, hell he had never been outside of his thirty people village that was so far up on the mountain the clouds often got confused with the snow drifts.

And the clothes! People wore colors and ruffles and fluffs and all sorts of crazy garb that were just as wild. Meanwhile he had arrived in a brown cloak and black robes, his left arm still in a sling.

" That man was right... I am out of my element..." he said aloud remembering how Mythal had commented on the young man's curiousness about the world when he saw grass for the first time. Dara had marveled at the color green while poking the feathery blades of emerald as if they were dangerous and would spike through his boots. He had only ever seen blues, greys, blacks, general colors that were not bright or a thing a painter would embrace.
Then his eyes scanned the buildings around him.
BLAMMO, COLORS!
"Yeah I am screwed...."

With a sigh he made his way through the city towards the building that Shane had suggested during their voyage from his old home to the new one. The two had adopted him in to the Rune Knights after a series of unfortunate events and helped escort him back through the country that he had never been able to see. It took reasonable constraint to not dawdle and gander at every single brick and outfit, each pigeon that seemed like a falcon and the strange dialects that sailed into his ears. It would take months to adjust to all of this.
Finally he found himself atop a high plateau, the head quarters of the Rune Knight assembly. More buildings, more colors, more craziness that he was damn near intimidated about.

Dara just stared at his feet and kicked a small rock. Very alone, very confused...

A gentle breeze lifted his hair up while he was gazing down at his feet, bringing with it the dozens of heavy scents that were unfamiliar to his existence and again he felt an overwhelming wonder and sadness within him. A quiet sigh said good bye to that wind and Darataka accepted that he must press forward and begin to learn more about the world around him.

Just as he was about to find a place to rest, a voice called out to him and would be met by his emerald colored eyes. With all the impressions of modern world that had been overwhelming his senses like waves against a brand new shipyard, his eyes were now hit with a tidal wave that made his cheeks flush in just the slightest.
A beautiful girl around his own age walked up to him, and he just stared for a moment blinking. He had only ever spoken to maybe fifty people in his life, and mountains in the deepest reaches of the world never really did much for looks. Perhaps Dara hadn't been paying proper attention to the new city around him, or maybe nothing had stood out before. Hopefully it was just that he was in a location he could relax in being his new home, and every other woman in Era would be equally as radiant.

Realizing he was probably sixty seconds into staring at this girl holding some weird device, he shook his head hoping to throw off the awkwardness and cleared his throat gently. "Uhm yes miss." he said meeting her own eyes for a minute before feeling his cheeks flush again and began staring at his deer skin boots again.
A deep breathe, and then he raised his gaze again to meet hers. "I guess I live here now."

Gazing around, he took in the different buildings for what they each were. Barracks, armory, living quarters.
" But where are my manners... I'm Darataka." a gentle bow of his head but not a full bow because he didn't wanna look like a total doofus. " Mythal and Shane recently brought me in... But now I have no idea what to do next. It's all so over whelming..."

And then his stomach growled causing him to smile sheepishly.

394 Words.

Rubbed his forehead as if easing up the tension of his embarrassment from the stomach grumble. He hadn't eaten since the previous day, and had been living off old venison jerky since leaving his destroyed home. His escorts hadn't wanted to stop to search for game, as Darataka was more of a happy accident than a sought out recruit.

Then Lili had wrapped her arm through his and began leading him in a direction to save him from his suffering!
"Y-yeah sure! And Dara is fine, I wouldn't want my name to get your tongue in a knot. " he said happily being lead away, trying to put on a false confidence to veil his hunger and exhaustion. Then reading over the words in his head, he gazed around the Rune Knights HQ and tried to drink in what he was seeing. The mass of strange colors were beginning to become less circus to him, the smells and warm air a little more welcome...

"Mess hall? Why would you want to eat where it's messy...Also what will we be hunting for Lunch?" he asked as they strode among the cobblestone. Then he realized that the comment was dumb because people had been eating food in the streets bought from small carts, and there was no game to hunt for miles due to the size of the city.
"Er, so Lili you are one of the Rune Knights as well? What do you do for fun in your off time?"

Dara could have asked a million questions. And probably would.

Walking arm in arm with Lili he drank in the details of her features and listened in to the many things she spoke of, explaining the things that he would need to start to learn living in a civilized world. Every time she talked about something new she got this funny sparkle in her eyes and kind of did a hop skip, causing Dara to quicken for a step to keep pace. And the way her hair fell with that excitement was like waterfalls of chocolate cascading around her shoulders, a sight of pure beauty and curiosity to the young new wayfarer.
"You know, eating with out concern for cleanliness might be kind of fun." the youngster thought aloud, as they made their way towards the food hall. "Nothing wrong with getting a little messy now and then ya'know?" finishing with a wink, starting to pick up on her own mannerisms. He may have been naive to the wilds of these wonderful women, but he could pick up on the vibrations of a falling snow avalanche from a mile away.

The emerald orbs scanned the people around him as well, taking note that most of them wore similar garbs of several varients, and then it dawned on him why Mythal had suggested he go see the tailor. "Oh crap...There are uniforms..."

Stepping into the mess hall, it was a bustling single room filled with a line to serve yourself on and many different options of meats, cheeses, sweets and.....
"Vegetables!" his mouth dropped in half awe while listening to the lovely lady beside him, quickly snapping back to attention while loading his plate with natural foods. Back home, this shit was solid gold.

"Oh man I've never been to a party." they shuffled along each other down the line, loading their plates. " I also like socializing, and getting a little wild, but usually in the wilds. As for hunting , the bigger the better. I like a challenge, so the occasional Mammoth is fun to take down but Steppe Cats are exciting to go toe to toe with as well. Nothing like getting the blood pumping with a few scratches on your back yeah?"

Now loaded with foods they sat down at a table and began to pick at their plates, Darataka delicately eating the savory vegetables that were new to him, fluffy white branches of something weird. " I also enjoy exploring, sleeping under the stars, and drinking wine though. That's all there really was to do back home." shrug.

Dara waited a few bites for them each to quell their hunger, before grinning across the table at her. "So since we are both new to the guild, we should get a party right? We -deserve- a party." Taking a bite of steamed carrots.
" I just spent my whole life living away from the wonders of the world, and before I get to full blown work mode I'd enjoy blowing off some steam."

As he listened, Dara searched his plate for the many different new types of vegetation that were accessible to him for the first time in his life. His partner in crime on this day had gone with a grain basted pasta of some sort and a bright fruit drink, which he made a mental note to try next time he was in here. Or possibly later that day. How late was this place open, and did it come out of his salary?! The new concept that he didn't actually have to go hunt and gather for his food and drink but rather just go get it was making him feel a weird tingly sensation in his lower back and spine. A vague excitement that had no true definition to it other than eagerness and hope.

Popping a strange long green thing that looked like a reed into his mouth, his eyes lit up with delight at the sweetness of whatever syrup it had been cooked in, and the tenderness that allowed his teeth to easily tear apart what he expected to be a heavily fibrous food. Man, life here was good.
He looked over at Liliana as she asked him about where he was from. A short fall of his gaze towards the table as he thought about home, then back towards her he swallowed his bite and took a breathe. " I'm from a place far north called Shimoshikon De Valla, or the Village of Frost Fang. Its where my name comes from." He held himself from stabbing another vegetable with his fork, allowing Lili to get to work. Wait, was she currently on the clock!? Huh what a cool job to be a tourist guide or whatever.

She used what Mythal had called a long range communication device, or a phone. He veiled his ignorance on this and folded his arms while leaning back, making sure not to fall backwards at the picnic table esque seat. After a short declaration of demands with little negotiation, she slapped the phone shut and asked him an interesting question of her own.

Darataka raised his left hand to cup his chin while in thought, his right hand dropping the fork and resting on the table. "Wearing clothes while swimming?" he pondered to himself, looking upwards as if curious with the notion and the ceiling would bring him an answer. "I suppose I could make something in a flash."
His emerald orbs then crossing to his new tour guide. " We got thirty minutes to kill after eating right? Lets get to it."

The meal had been exceptional for being his first in a new land, and the company was on a whole new level of socializing that he still didn't quite understand. Much as he was having to take his time coming to grip the concept of fresh vegetables that hadn't been dried out for preservation or cream from a cow that had been sweet and frozen, he didn't quite pick up on a lot of the social cues or lingo that this strange and exotic girl was using. Things like run on sentences.
But after the few hours that he sort of shadow'd her about his day, Darataka started to relax a bit and become comfortable with this new land of colors and sensations. He even got to try a thing called coffee that made him so energized and alert he could feel his eyes vibrating, and gained the ability to focus so deeply that he didn't even let Lili finish her sentences before cutting her off and blabbering on like a gee dang idiot.

All in all by the time they had to part ways for a moment, he was happy to collect his thoughts and change into more suitable clothes. Reflecting on the days events allowed him to appreciate what he had now come into for the world, and respect what he had been given from the past. Ah, such wisdom. Yes.


- Later that day -

Dara stepped out of the mechanical wagon, and immediately placed his hands into the pockets of his tan shorts, well suited for the weather and paired with a blue shirt with white stripes. with white stripes. He realistically didn't know crap about fashion, but his new friend had helped him buy some clothes that weren't made of wool and suited for weather that would make him shrink into himself.

Looking over towards her as the taxi took off with a small puff of obsidian smoke, he gave her a smile and nod as he stepped beside her looking up at the manor. "Any one who lives in a house like this probably gets her money from daddy." he smirked, looping his arm around Lilith's in a manner of escort. "If she gives you any trouble let me know. I'll freeze her pool." giving her a keen wink of his emerald eyes, taking the lead to walk towards the massive estate.

The smells in the area here and the sounds that vibrated through the air were stronger than they had been any where else in the day, but he sort of liked it.

Time to have some new experiences, and live a little.

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Dara smirked back as he was tugged along towards the lavish house, the shined up shoes that suffocated his feet clickity clackiting as he kept pace with her, eyes of sea glass scanning over the people on the porch as they did so. A few dozen eyes of others fell their way as they came up the steps, and the new member of the RK tried to drink in the general feel or 'vibe' as Lilith kept calling it.
Red cups filled the hands of male and female alike, people's cheeks flushed to a cousin color that did not fit the temperate air around them. Not long before reaching the first steps of the white painted wooden stairs, he was hit with the scents of the place. Tobacco smoke of multiple variants were scarce, as well as a skunk pungent smell he did not recognize from anything he had ever inhaled before. Then again, the whole green plant life was new to him as a whole.
By the third stair having been ascended he had counted the number of people on the porch and accessed that the situation was safe, a back ground paranoia that swam through his mind like the way many of these people swam where they stood trying to find purchase against gravity.

"Fair warning, crazed bestie incoming."

Lilith whispered into his ear, and Darataka perked up at the idea of meeting a close and personal friend of his new party hopping buddy. " Oh so you mean -my- new best friend?" he teased as their arms fell apart so the two girls could huggle. After the short platonic love session it was time for Dara to introduce himself.
"Carla, an honest pleasure to meet you." he said with a flash of a smile and raising his brows to exaggerate his expression of impress. "You are an absolutely stunning sight, a canary in this coal mine." a wink thrown her way at the end. "Thank you again for the invite. Let me know if I can ever repay the fav-" and almost immediately after that he was yanked away, as the beautiful fire headed girl gave warning for Lili to not cause trouble while they were there.

"She single?" Dara joked as they made their way through the crowd, his eyes again darting around like a bouncy ball going from one person to another to read the rooms that they passed through. Nothing crazy. just a bunch of drunks. Sweet, his shoulders eased up and he relaxed from his usual pose of 'on the watch'.

While in the kitchen, some options were laid out and the Wolf like boy smiled and made a suggestion. "Why not a bit of both?" he said smiling, grabbing a pair of small glasses that were used specifically for shots.  Nearby there was some cut up limes, and a salt shaker as well.
Finding an Agave liquid known as Tequila, he poured them each a double and slid Lilith a lime, holding one in his spare hand while pouring salt on the hand. He had seen this trick done while traveling here with Mythal. That dude did this a few times with Shane.
"Why not a bit of both? A shot of this stuff, and then you make me your signature cocktail. I'd love to see what you can mix up." as sly as he could.


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