A Road Outside a Small Town

[sorrelwing]

(I have discovered that it is largely futile to wait until people are on at the same time as me, so even though I haven't got a plot, and I usually abhor plotless roleplays, I have decided to start one here and now...
If anyone thinks up a plot, feel free to apply it. I hate roleplaying without a plot...always seems to grind to a halt.)

"I hate this stupid country...why did I ever decide to come here? It's so boring...they won't even let me perch on main roads...stupid crossbow-happy soldiers..."
This grumbling monologue was coming from a large boulder situated by the side of a small and rather dusty road, which led from nowhere very much to a small town that very few people outside of the immediate area had ever heard of. Draped across this boulder, in a languid, graceful pose that still somehow managed to convey tense watchfulness, was a strange figure. Soft, short tawny fur rippled across a lithely muscled lioness' body, impeccably clean, and a long tail ended in an impressively well-groomed tuft of darker hair. So far, so lion. But from the smooth shoulder-blades sprang two feathered wings, which sparkled bronze in the weak sunlight, and the head on the lion's neck was human.
A sphinx. Currently, a rather annoyed sphinx, for several reasons. One of them was her hair-it was bright red, and fell past her shoulders in softly curling ringlets. She hated her hair. Every single thing she'd tried to get it to straighten out had failed.
Another reason were the freckles that splashed across her nose and cheeks. Come on. Freckles on a sphinx? How were you supposed to get foolish mortals to pay attention to you when you had freckles?
Yet another reason was her nose itself. It turned up cutely at the end. Sphinx noses were not supposed to have a cute little turned-up tip, they were supposed to be straight and chiselled and slightly imposing.
These were all perennial and long-term reason for irritation, however. The main reason Sorrelwing the Sphinx was annoyed was because she was hungry. The first couple of days she'd been at that particular spot she'd been gorged-the people were ignorant and hadn't known the answer to any of her riddles. But they were avoiding the road now. For some reason, they didn't like getting eaten.
Sorrelwing couldn't think why. It worked out fine. They were spared the undoubted agonies of being the most uninspired and dull race of all (beating even gnomes), and she got a good meal. Win-win situation, right?
Acid-green eyes scanned the dusty road for the umpteenth time, and the sphinx sighed heavily.
"Ye gods, this kingdom is so dull..."

[»Kamui Syvil VII]

A seemingly young man, looking to be around nineteen human years, walked along the small rural road at a leisurely pace, seemingly going nowhere in particular. He whistled a cheery little tune as he went, though it was periodically interrupted, as he was simultaneously munching on a crisp and juicy nashi pear.
A gentle breeze struck up, slightly ruffling the man's already messy hair. It was spiky, lacking any real style (which perhaps was a style unto itself), and a striking orange color like that of the fiery orange you see during a sunset. Matching the color of the hair atop his head was the color of the fur on his thin, monkey-like tail, which was swaying and swishing in sync with the tune of his whistling.
Bright and observant, his almond shaped eyes indicated a Bokokun heritage. Though a certain sadness lingered in them if one looked close enough. His right eye was a deep emerald green; his left eye, however, was a fiery orange color, like his hair. His ears were long and delicately pointed, and though he had been mistaken for one in the past, he was no Elf. Both were pierced with silver rings. Around his neck was a silver chain necklace bearing a Christian cross upon it. His face, though marked by a thin and pitted scar running across his left cheek, was kind and calm looking. In build he stood around five foot seven and was somewhat thin, but possessing the lean muscle of a gymnast or, in his case, a martial artist. Though his physique wasn't really that noticeable because of his loose clothing.
Said clothing consisted of well worn, but comfortable, black boots that came up to a little above his ankle; black pants woven from simple, but breathable and comfortable, fabrics. They were baggy enough that they would probably slip off if not for his belt, which was mere strip of tattered black cloth tied around his waist, similar in appearance to those worn by many practitioners of the martial arts. His shirt was baggy as well, a white long-sleeved shirt made of the same fabric as his pants. He also wore a many pocketed orange vest, the length of which was a bit tattered and dirty, for it reached nearly to the ground.
A ratty looking brown rutsack that appeared to be only half-full was slung over his shoulder. A polished, dark grey light-weight iron sheath containing a katana was held at his right side by his belt. It was a high quality looking weapon that looked somewhat out of place, given his disheveled clothing and ratty rutsack. Slung across his back was scythe looking object, its shaft nearly as long as he was tall. It was tightly wrapped in tattered black cloth, with a black chain coiled around it. If one looking closely, they would find runes etched in each link of the chain and that said chain was made of no ordinary metal.
Both sword and scythe, as well as the man himself, gave off a demonic aura, each distinct.
However, the man's aura was very weak and the aura of the sword and scythe were suppressed by the sheath and chain, respectively. It would take a being possessing preternatural senses to detect any trace of the auras.
Walking beside the man was an elegant looking creature with a lean, muscular frame and a spotless coat of thick fur as white as fresh snow. Standing twenty-six inches at the shoulder, the female wolfdog's piercing blue eyes were as cold as ice, possessing a glint of intelligence not found in normal animals.
Also by his side trotted a small, pink creature with a curly tail. A whimsical looking piglet, he seemed lost in his own little world.
Sakurako, the wolfdog, and Yibbles, the piglet. These were the friends and companions of Kamui Syvil, the seemingly young man.
Spitting out the pit and wiping some pear juice of his chin with his sleeve, Kamui's nose twitched.
Sakurako barked.
"Yes, I smell it too," He replied, rubbing his right arm, "Sphinx."
Sure enough, as the trio continued down the path, the form of a large winged lion came into view in the distance.
"I... suppose I could turn around... nah."
He gave a shrug and continued at a leisurely pace, starting to whistle another cheery tune as they drew ever closer to the Sphinx, who was surely aware of their presence.

(I hope this intro will do, I just typed it up now.

Oh, and the thingy at the bottom of the front page says it's your birthday.
So... Happy Birthday!)

[sorrelwing]

('Sfine. I typed mine up on the spot as well. =3 Always do.
And thankyouverymuch. =3)

The sphinx was indeed aware of their presence. She'd heard and smelt them pretty much as soon as they became even vaguely visible as dots on the horizon. At first, their smells had blurred into one another and she had merely tensed in anticipation of a meal, but then they singled themselves out, which had caused her to pause.
The pig was easy enough. She might save that for a snack. The wolfdog thing and the person were giving her more trouble.
She didn't like wolves very much. Despite her superior strength, they tended to put up a fight rather than standing still to be pounced on, and they didn't make a very filling snack anyway. Sorrelwing had very sensitive nostrils (when it came to smelling out odd things, at least), and this wolfdog's smell had something in it that she didn't like.
So did the smell of the person. Definately not all human. The sphinx was wary of crossbreeds. You never could tell what they would do. They could do /anything/.
This one also smelled of demon. Demons were to be avoided. But it was a relatively weak smell...
Wariness warred with hunger. It was a difficult battle. Sorrel had had some unpleasant experiences when she'd underestimated certain creatures before, but on the other hand she hadn't eaten for days and her stomach growled unhappily. There didn't seem to be much chance of anyone else passing by for a while, and since she was inherently lazy she didn't feel much like going off to find another road to terrorize.
She flexed her red-painted talons irritably, leaving deep grooves in the stone. She wasn't very good at these logical thoughts. She preferred to ask slightly pointless trivia and then eat people.
She glared at Kamui as he approached, as though it was his fault that she wasn't terribly intelligent.

[»Kamui Syvil VII]

Kamui yawned audibly, displaying a set of fangs, as he drew near the sphinx. He seemed terribly relaxed, considering the proximity of Sorrelwing.
’Is... Is she glarin’ at me?’ He thought to himself coolly, casting a casual glance in the Sphinx’s direction.
He gave a goofy, but friendly, grin and a pleasant wave as the trio made to pass by the rock, still at his leisurely pace, as if one passed by sphinxes on a regular basis.
’Just smile an’ wave, smile an’ wave… Yeah…Like that’ll work…,’ If anything, he seemed amused.
Sakurako seemed a little more tense, keeping a wary eye on her as they drew ever closer, looking liable to pounce in a flurry of tooth and claw at any second.
The piglet seemed not to notice anything at all, as if in a perpetual daze, without a care in the world.

[sorrelwing]

Sorrelwing fidgeted, annoyed by the smiling, and then hunger beat wariness by two falls to a submission, helped out by irritation in a controversial last-minute move.
She spread her wings and leapt out in front of them as the trio passed by her rock.
"Halt! You-oops, sorry-thou shalt not pass!"
Sorrel did like to add a bit of olde-worlde charm to her threats, although she usually forgot after the first sentence.
She fluffed out her wing feathers and flexed her talons, attempting to look appropriately menacing. The generally intimdating effect was spoilt by her face, which managed to make even a fearsome scowl look slightly cute.
"You must answer a riddle! If you answer correctly, you may pass. If your answer is incorrect, you will be devoured."
She smiled at him, showing her teeth, and suddenly she didn't look quite so sweet. She had four rows of them-two at the top, two at the bottom-and they were unpleasantly sharp.

[»Kamui Syvil VII]

"Eh?" He said quizzically, coming to a stop as the sphinx leapt in front of them.
Sakurako also stopped as well, standing tense and rigid, hackles on the back of her neck raised. There was a low growl in her throat and her piercing eyes were narrow, staring challengingly at Sorrelwing. This show of aggression was clearly a warning for the sphinx to back off.
Yibbles had wandered off a bit, digging in the dirt with his snout, still seemingly unaware of the sphinx.
"Hmm... Oh, hush, Sakurako. This could be fun, eh?" Kamui said with a small chuckle.
For the moment he remained seemingly unperturbed. This was not the first time he had dealt with a sphinx. However, he was no fool, and carefully took mental note of her talons and sharp teeth. He was well aware of what they could do to him if he got careless... He rubbed his right arm again.
"Yes, I think this'll be fun. Give me your best riddle, Madam Sphinx."

[sorrelwing]

Sorrelwing growled back at Sakurako, then recovered her poise. This person, standing there, looking at her and laughing, was getting on her nerves, and she was trying to think up a terribly fiendishly difficult riddle to hit him with, so she'd get to eat him and wipe the smile off his face.
Unfortunately, she was blessed with no imagination whatsoever. It even gave her trouble with metaphors, which had led to an amusing interlude with a wandering poet.
The lyre had got stuck in her teeth, but he'd had a wonderfully piquant flavour.
She scowled at him, once again as though it were his fault that she wasn't able to think anything up, and fell back on an old favourite of hers.
She drew herself up inportantly, and delivered the riddle.
"How big is the kingdom of Ri Yan in miles?"
She smirked at him. No-one had yet been able to answer this one correctly.

(You have several choices here. xD Answer it wrongly, answer it correctly, or completely confuse her by asking if she wants area or perimeter...)

[»Kamui Syvil VII]

(Honestly, Kamui wouldn't even know the answer, even though he's traversed Ri Yan before, as he doesn't pay attention to things like that. Not to mention that I think getting it wrong would be the most amusing, at least in my opinion.)

"Hmm...," He crossed his arms, scratching his head with his tail, a pensive look on his face.
After a moment Kamui looked at Sakurako, "Do you know?"
Her response was only a bark, but Kamui nodded as if he understood it, "Yeah, it's not comin' ta' me either. I mean, I know we've been there many times, but I never cared to check its area, perimeter, or even its diameter... No, wait, is diameter just for circles? Nah, I think I'm thinkin' of radius... or... somethin'? Then, what was circumference again... I think that had ta' do with circles..."
He babbled on for a moment or two, but only ended up deciding that he could go for some pie, after babbling about pi, which he couldn't quite recall either.
"Bah, I guess don't know the correct answer. I'm just not so good with numbers. The arts are more my cup of tea... Ya' know a cup of tea would go good with that pie... Do you know the answer, Madam Sphinx?"
Kamui's cheery demeanor, Sakurako's aggression, and Yibbles obliviousness all remained unchanged.
"So... I guess I'll hafta do better next time we meet, eh? Until then...," He grinned and tipped a non-existent hat at Sorrelwing took a step to the side, as if to walk around her.
'Jus' grin an' walk, grin an' walk... Tch. Like that'll work...'

[sorrelwing]

Sorrel seemed slightly flummoxed by the quick babble, but was able to fight her way through the flood of big words well enough to realise that he didn't know the answer. She knew how it was supposed to go when people didn't know the answer-she would leap upon them and devour them, leaving only a pile of bloodstained clothes which she would leave by the road as a warning to others what to expect.
She'd never met anyone who seemed to assume that it wouldn't happen to them, and she had certainly never met anyone who started talking about tea and pie. Her face was a picture. An extremely confused picture, possibly by an Impressionist or maybe a Surrealist.
But when Sorrelwing was confused, she quickly reverted to what she knew, and her face soon settled back into a snarl.
"Halt! Your answer is incorrect, and so I shall devour you!"
She spread her wings and crouched ready to leap upon him.

[»Kamui Syvil VII]

'...and it never does work.' He stopped and took a quick step back, but made no apparent effort to escape her. Just the opposite, Sakurako stepped forward ready to leap upon Sorrelwing as she was ready to leap upon Kamui.
"Now, now, Sak." Kamui said calmly, soothingly causing Sakurako to step back also. Though she still looked liable to pounce...
"I believe we have situation here, Madam Sphinx." He spoke rather quickly, but as if they were having a discussion over tea, not as if he were about to be pounced upon, "I'm afraid I just don't feel like bein' devoured today. How 'bout we talk this out? I'm sure we can come ta' some kind of agreement. I do believe there's a town nearby, so mayhaps I could go an' get you some fresh meat from the butcher? I can get some pie as well, then we can all sit an' have a good laugh about this 'devouring' thing. How's that sound?" He finished with another goofy, but pleasant, grin.

[sorrelwing]

This had never happened to Sorrel before. The only thing her victims usually said after she told them they were wrong was 'Arrgh!'. She was so startled that she flopped down into the road and stared at him bemusedly instead of pouncing.
"Aren't you afraid?" she demanded. "I'm a sphinx, I asked you a riddle, don't you know how it goes? You got wrong, so I eat you, you don't take me out to lunch in a town!"
She lashed her tail and got to her paws, scraping her talons in the dust distractedly. Despite herself, she was curious. No-one had ever tried to talk themselves out of being eaten before. They'd never really had the time. Only the presence of Sakurako had delayed her leap long enough for him to get his quick speech in. She shook her head, ringletted hair flopping down over her face, and glared up at him.
"Much as I enjoy being called Madam, my name is Sorrelwing. But don't go thinking me telling you my name is going to change anything. I'm still going to eat you. But..."
She stalked up to him, showing off her rippling muscles under the tawny lion-fur.
"...I might let you talk a bit first. You amuse me."

[»Kamui Syvil VII]

Sakurako snarled viciously as Sorrelwing drew closer and her paws nearly left the ground as she began to pounce, but was stopped by a gentle touch on her back from Kamui. The two seemed to share some unspoken language.
Stepping forward, he spoke, "Nice ta' meetcha, Sorrelwing. Ya' can me Sy, but I'm afraid I can't say that I'm afraid of you. I mean, who could be with your freckles an' cute lit'le button nose?" He gave a small chuckle. "Just kiddin'. I'm sure you're a ferocious lit'le sphinx!"
"An' you're right...," He said slowly, scratching the back of his head, "I couldn't answer you're riddle, but I never agreed ta' be eaten if I got it wrong. I never signed any contract or sworn an oath... we never even shook on it. What is there ta' bind me ta' such an agreement, especially one with a rather unpleasant endin' on my part? If I were to ask you a riddle, an' you got it wrong, would ya' stand there an' allow me ta' eat you? 'Do unto others...' an' all that."
All the while he talked, he followed her movements closely, but true to what he said, there was no sign of fear towards her.
Yibbles continued sniffing around and digging with his snout in search of anything that might be edible, remaining unaware of the sphinx to the point of wandering directly towards her.
"Uh, heh heh... Ignore him." Kamui chuckled slightly as he gently nudged Yibbles in another direction with his foot.

[sorrelwing]

Sorrelwing was most affronted. This person had no respect for tradition, and if you didn't have that where were you?
She showed her teeth, fur bristling.
"I don't need an oath or an agreement! It's traditional that you get eaten! It's been like that for...for millennia! Ever since the first sphinx was created! You can't just refuse! It doesn't work like that!"
The last sentence was almost a wail. Sorrelwing was starving. The sight of Yibbles wandering towards her made her salivate, but before she could make a lightning sideways pounce to break the pig's back, something Kamui had said earlier filtered through.
He wasn't afraid of her? Because of her freckles?
She stiffened with furious anger, and then something else nudged her mind.
He said her nose was cute?
This made her rather confused. Basic sphinx nature told her that she should already be devouring this upstart human creature, but her vanity was yelling that anyone who said her nose was cute deserved at least another five minutes of life, in case he said anything else that implied she was attractive. True, cute wasn't really what she was looking for, but it was a start and with some more persuasion he might move on to 'beautiful'.
This entire internal monologue was pretty much written on her face-she had never been one for concealing her emotions.

(He seems to have a talent for confusing her long enough that she doesn't immediately try and kill him. xDDD
Not that she wouldn't, in a fraction of a second...)

[»Kamui Syvil VII]

"Well, I'm sorry, but what can I say?" He shrugged, holding up his hands and shaking his head, "That's just... just a horrible tradition from my perspective, Sorrel... Ya' don't mind if I call ya' Sorrel, do ya', Sorrel?"
'Hmm...' He observed her as he talked.
"My offer of gettin' us some food from town is still on the table. I mean, what's ta' stop us from makin' a new tradition? 'Cuz bah, I say, bah, to old traditions with the end result of non-sphinxes bein' devoured! I mean, sphinxes such as yourself are gorgeous creatures, really, an' I bet more people would appreciate that if they didn't hafta face bein' devoured. Am I right?"
He put on another goofy grin, looking up at her.

(What can I say? He just has that effect on ferocious man-eating beasts ;D.)

[sorrelwing]

Sorrelwing stared at him a bit. You could practically see the gears churning in her pretty little head.
It was the word 'gorgeous' that tipped her mind in favour of one decision. She gave a smug smile and began to purr. Anyone who called her 'gorgeous' deserved a bit more life, perhaps. Especially if they were offering food as well. She could always keep him for later, as a sort of walking, talking, complimenting larder.
However, that didn't mean she could allow him to shorten her name. After all, she didn't like him. And he definately wasn't the boss.
She stretched out luxuriously and nodded briefly.
"All right. You may take me to get food. But you cannot call me Sorrel."
She flicked her tail briefly and smiled almost affectionately at him.
"And you're right. Sphinxes are gorgeous."

(Wow, it's, like, talent. xDD A very useful talent...)