Mistaken Intentions (Djute/Yukaida)

[Yukaida]

What an exciting day this had been! Yukaida was a bit annoyed that she'd had to drop her disguise so soon. The others had been wary to approach her recently, small wonder. Even Zach seemed more distant, though that seemed more from disappointment than fear. When she'd assumed her human form again, Djute had gone back to almost entirely ignoring her. This was exactly what she'd been afraid of.

That said, none of the men noticed when she stepped away to clean the filth of travel from this assumed form. The lake she found was far too small for her to enjoy a quick soak in her true form, so she'd have to make due with this fleshy body. They had so little protection, it was insane how they'd survived so long. Yukaida grew up on frozen mountains, and the cold of this water shook her to the core. Still, she adapted soon enough, as the human body became accustomed to the cold. She kept herself by the edge, not bothering to have learned how to swim as a human. Her clothing, not needed, set off to the side where it would remain dry. It served its purpose, keeping her warm and protected as they traveled, but it would be pointless here. Not to mention that it would be incredibly cold to try and sleep in soaking wet cloth.

She'd figured that one out a while ago.

And as cold as the water could be, she would rather not walk around covered in sweat and dirt. She had standards of class and prestige far greater than some common animal.

She began to wonder of her place among these humans. She'd followed them more out of boredom then anything else, but it seemed obvious that they no longer trusted her. She'd saved their lives, but all they could do was hide away from her. Fear ruled their lives. Wasn't it obvious that if she'd meant them any harm, she'd have done it by now?

Honestly, it was like dealing with children sometimes. She stood up in the water, stretching her back out as she looked up at the slowly darkening sky.

[Djute]

As far as first expeditions went, this one had been going rather poorly. In addition to nearly getting everyone killed, Djute then had to endure an entire lecture from Hammond about incompetence or something remarkably similar, it was hard to say. After a while, all the speeches sounded the same. By now, he had already figured out the best way to seem interested in what his teacher had to say without paying the slightest bit of attention. Regardless of whether he had actually listened or not, the whole thing had still put a damper on any enjoyment he had gotten out of this expedition. It was infuriating to have to be subordinate to a man who, by all Djtue's observations, was clearly an inferior cartographer. At this point, it almost seemed that he was still Hammond's apprentice because the man needed a whipping boy. There really wasn't any other explanation for it, unless Hammond had some sort of ulterior motive, which Djute highly doubted. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do until either Garoche or Hammond decided he was ready to become a journeyman, and that still seemed distant at best. It was then that Djute realized his teacher had stopped talking and was looking for an answer. "Well, Djute, do you understand?" There was something odd about his tone, almost as if he were concerned. He didn't thing to far into it, however, as he was rather anxious to get away from his teacher. He gave the man a quick nod, to which he replied, "Good. Get some rest. I don't want any mistakes tomorrow." With that, he turned an headed to where the mercenary was attempting to start a fire.

Djute let out a sigh, glad the scolding was over, and grabbed his mapping supplies. He had seen a small lake nearby and wanted to get a few good sketches of it while they were in the area. Then, perhaps, he would take a quick dip. It had been several days since he had a chance to bathe and he knew he would feel better if he was clean. It didn't take him long to reach the small body of water and as he drew near, he realized that there was someone else in the water. Puzzled, he drew a bit closer in an attempt to see who it was. It didn't take long to figure out who it was, however, because the person stood up in the water, revealing a distinctly feminine form and flowing purple hair. Then it struck him that she was quite naked and he had been staring a bit too long, perhaps. Djute's face turned a deep red as he rushed to cover his eyes. Sorry," he stammered, "I... I... I didn't... I just... oh no," he finally muttered as he sank to the ground, doing his best to keep his eyes covered.

[Yukaida]

Yukaida heard the brush shifting, but paid it no mind. She wasn't going to be the only one that thought to clean some of the filth off, or get water for cooking, or whatever. She noticed the map maker as he pushed through the last of the greenery, but he seemed distracted. She shrugged and went back to cleaning some of the dirt, when she heard the now familiar sound of his stammering. It would seem he had finally noticed her.

He was apologizing for something, but it was hard to decipher from the way he was talking. Oh, of course, he must have been apologizing for how that 'Hammond' had spoken to her, that made sense. "Oh, that? Don't worry about it, I should have expected it." She then noticed him crouch down, looking as if he were ill. "Djute, are you all right? You look like you are feeling sick. Perhaps you should take a soak as well, there is room enough," she suggested, not making any effort to cover or conceal herself.

She'd been meaning to talk to him as well. His discomfort with her had been very obvious, and she really wanted to put it to rest. There were already enough here who were either afraid to look at her, or just chose not to. For some reason, it felt different with Djute. He was always very polite, but she could not shake the feeling that there was something about her he found distasteful to look at.

His current reaction was supporting that theory.

[Djute]

At that moment, Djute was sure that no one ever had experienced such a confusing array of emotions as he was. He wanted to scream, cry, vomit, and run away all at once. And the worst part of this mess was that he wasn't even sure what his problem was. Something about Yukaida made his words catch in his throat and his heart beat twice as fast whenever he looked at her. Even just having her near made him stutter like a complete idiot. And of course, her very apparent nakedness and lack of human ethics wasn't making it any easier for him. He just didn't get it. The first time he had ever experienced anything like this was when he had first met Hester, but he had just chalked it up to the nervousness of being in a new place. However, it seemed now that wasn't the case. But why was it just him? Zach and Garrett never had any problem talking to her, so why did he? He would have to ask them about it later, but first, he would need to survive an incredibly awkward encounter.

As Djute had been questioning his myriads of personal issues, Yukaida had still made no effort to cover herself and instead had invited him to join her. Which, of course, only made him blush more. He tried to stutter out some sort of response, but even words had failed him now. Instead all that came out was something along the lines of a whimper mixed with a cough. This continued for a few moments until, finally, he closed his eyes as tight as they would go, let out a long, slow breath, and tried to block out any image of Yukaida from his mind. It seemed to have an affect, as his heart started to slow and words finally returned to him. Very slowly, he said, "Could you... put... put some... clothes on... please...?"

[Yukaida]

Yukaida watched him and scowled. "Clothing? Why would I be wearing that? I am bathing now. Clothing in here would be silly, plus I don't need it since we aren't moving." She paused for a moment to watch him, but her next comment wasn't angry. Now she was confused.

"I don't quite understand your human standards of beauty, but I thought this form would have been considered attractive. Apparently I misjudged human aesthetics, however. You seem to be the only one willing to tell me so, so I will ask you. Exactly what is so wrong about this body that you cannot even look at it? You had no difficulty looking at my true form, but this form seems to repulse you. Is the skin tone wrong? The hair design? Perhaps the shape?"

Yukaida sighed a bit. "I know that my true form makes many of your companions ill at ease, but you've been like this since well before you knew. It would be difficult traveling if none of you could even bear to look at me."

She stood there in the water, watching him and waiting for an answer.

[Djute]

The more time he spent with Yukaida, the more it became evident that she had a very minute grasp on human culture and norms. Of course, he couldn't exactly blame her. Any casual observer probably would have come to the same conclusion, especially with how infuriatingly often he had to look away from her. However, the those conclusions couldn't have been any further from the truth. It was not from aversion that he turned away, but embarrassment. To be quite honest, Djute found Yuikaida quite striking, beautiful in a rather exotic way. She was a far cry from any of the women he had seen back in both the village he had grown up in and the one where they had met, and some of those women had been rather attractive in their own right. Yukaida was in a league of her own, and he supposed it was only right to tell her, if only to assuage her worries. Making no attempt to look up at her, he spoke, shakily, "There is nothing... wrong with your... your current form. It's... it's pretty, actually. It just... you just... I get, I don't know... embarrassed when... when I look at you. I... I honestly... don't know why."

He realized after a moment that he was still crouched low and covering his eyes. Slowly, and taking great care to avoid glimpsing Yukaida's naked form, he stood and picked up his satchel from where it had fallen. "As for your clothes... it's... it's generally seen as... as rude to look at someone... while they're... well... um, naked. If you don't... you know, want to... put anything on... could you at least get back in the water?" he asked, hoping she didn't see that as rude.

[Yukaida]

She waited patiently as Djute stumbled over his words. Normally when humans were this nervous around her it was due to fear. That also required, however, knowledge of her true form. They feared reprisal for saying something wrong, and were very timid. Djute was acting similarly, but she suspected that the reasoning was quite different.

Sure enough, his explanation was quite different. It made no sense to her, why would you be put on guard by beauty? It was something that should be appreciated, adored even. "I do not understand, is there some aversion to beauty? I would think one would want to spend more time looking at something they found pleasing to their eyes." She sank back into the water as she spoke, unsure as to how much she was supposed to cover. Well, human clothing tended to cut off at about the neck line, so that was a safe bet, she supposed.

"I cannot understand some of your human customs, but I do not wish to make you uncomfortable. I will trust your word, and if showing this body is inappropriate, I will abide." So silly, these humans could be. Clothing was functional, serving a purpose of survival, but they had attached what seemed to be something like a social taboo on obscuring their body from others. For what purpose? She kept the question to herself as she noticed he had his drawing supplies with him.

"Ah! Were you going to work on one of your maps again? That is a very interesting skill you have For one who can not see from the air to produce a map that seems like it was taken from the sky is quite a feet. Most impressive."

[Djute]

Djute breathed a sigh of relief and silently thanked whatever being created him as Yukaida slid back into the water. He removed his hands from his eyes, and found a comfortable place to sit where he could maintain a conversation with his companion. Opening his satchel, he retrieved the map he had been working on and his quill and got to work. The map was nearing completion, and with the sketches he had made today, it would stretch from end to end on the parchment. It was finally beginning to look official and that made Djute very excited. So excited, in fact, that it took him a few moments to remember that he had been talking to Yukaida. He looked up, embarrassed, then looked back down, remembering his speech problems. He hoped he hadn't offended her. "I honestly don't... understand it either. Maybe... maybe it's something wrong with... with me. I don't dislike you're beauty... but it... it does this to me. Who knows... maybe it'll go away," he added hopefully. He certainly wished that this stupid problem would go away. He honestly enjoyed Yukaida's company wanted very much to be friends. However, he wasn't sure he knew how to make a friend without talking. A problem for another time, he supposed.

He returned his attention to drawing the map, he hand creating flowing hills on the eastern side of the parchment. This area was turning out to be a heck of a lot easier to draw, as it was mostly just one hill after another. It essentially kept going until in hit the edge of the parchment, which left Djute's mind open. He figured that he might as well continue the conversation. "Yeah, I am," he said in reply to her earlier question, "It's just about done. I'll... I'll let you know when it's done... you know... if you want to see it. It's... it's looking... pretty nice. It's really not... hard to do... when you get used to it. I just... I don't know... see it."