An RP by PapillonCameo and Tachigami

He was away from the city today, as he usually was. There wasn't much else he could do at this point, really. He, like everyone of this small village, weren't allowed that far into the city, or around other villages. Falaaz---those who had yet to find a mate by their nineteenth season---were exiled here, which wasn't far away, but contained by a gate and fence that warned others when they were coming near, rather than forcing them to stay in. Salis twitched his overlarge ears, something others had deemed 'cute', but apparently not worthy enough of becoming a mate to. Azuna, their central city, shone up in the sparkling sunlight of morning as Salis left the quiet little village full of sad, lonely, and otherwise desperate Falaaz. He hadn't quite yet fallen into that same desperation, though he was terribly lonely.

Only no one wanted a Falaaz. Or to really spend much time around them. They were considered bad luck for those young, feisty ones searching for their lifelong mate, after all. And to those older ones already established. He had only recently reached his twentieth season, though, so Salis felt quite young still. Indeed, he was, despite his kind not living to extensive years. He walked the small path, digging his claws into the dirt every now and then and relishing the feel as the soft earth was displaced. His long tail twitched from side to side as he entered the city. Azuna was beautiful, bustling, full of life. But he kept to the outskirts. People knew a Falaaz when they saw one. But at the same time, Salis could see the young ones chasing one another, playing their games of teasing, temptation, and mystery. And those that had mated long ago, but still behaving like young ones. Indeed, they even looked young. Perhaps it was their happiness.

Salis let out a light sigh that ended in a pitiful mew, finding his way to the river their city was built right over. The largest of the community dwellings was arced over it, and while the bottom floor was home to fishermen and merchants, those selling catches and cloths and jewels they might have dug up, the upper floors were home to just about anyone, and the top floor, home to the Master and his advisors. The Master was seen nearly every day, and looked like their sun god. There was hardly any doubt that was indeed hat he was---spotted, with dark tear-trails around his eyes, long claws and a sleek build. It had to be what he was. But today he wasn't around. Salis reserved himself to the bank of the river where people rarely strayed, Salis curled up on a flat stone and watched the fish congregate at his shadow. They never seemed to realize he was an enemy...

The black haired, black eared, neko sniffed the air experimentally. He followed the scent, crouching low and wandering away from the others. His brother, he knew, was probably off sulking again, moaning over the fact that he would soon become Falaaz if he found no one. Rue couldn't understand Strive sometimes. The pale neko, older by a season, never actually tried! To think, he had been named Strive by his parents for their hope that he would do so.

Rue wanted nothing to do with his brother's black mood, nor did he want to watch others panting after each other because they were desperate to find someone, anyone, to prevent themselves from being one of the outcast ones. He wanted none of that, he wanted more ... He wanted ... love. Shaking his head, ears falling back against his head, the neko scampered towards the river side. It was the only place the sleek tailed young man knew would be unpopulated. No one ventured there.

Someone else's scent slammed through his nose, and as he crept forward, he noticed more. Falaaz! How he knew, how anyone did, Rue knew not. It was enough that he did. Cautiously, he slipped closer to the river banks. He'd never really talked to one of the outcasts before. "Hello?" He knelt by the river bank, tail sliding across the ground in an obvious show of nervousness.

Most Falaaz let their appearances go after they reached the deadline. Their hair and fur grew dull and lifeless, they grew large from laziness not even befit a neko, and they no longer cleaned the fleas and pestering parasites until they became especially bothersome and harmful Salis despised it there. He stuck out. His pale, white-and-yellow hair and fur still shone, and his tail's long, flowing fur was kept clean and shiny as he kept it lifted, away from the ground. Now, though, it laid across his leg, twitching with the splash of the water. He liked it here, with the bright-eyed and hopeful neko citygoers and those that lived in the outer villages. They came into the city to work, sell, and go home when the moon rose.

Salis lifted his head, ear twitching. He heard something, but didn't smell anything because the wind wasn't operating in his favor. footfalls, perhaps a fishing neko looking to check his or her net or drift down the river to collect fish traps. While the scaly swimming creatures in the water were hunted in bulk because of their stupidity and vast numbers, others went out with bows and spears to ambush small prey and hope to see an image of their sun god lounging in the trees or prowling somewhere distant. He sat up, twitching his tail around himself as the owner of the sound came into view. And instinctively, Salis backed away. This one still had a chance. He didn't look, nor smell, like he had lost his chance at finding a mate. And the bad luck Falaaz were said to carry would poison this one's chance...

He bowed his head, away from the nervous newcomer. "H-hello..." Salis replied carefully. It had been a while since he'd been confronted by anyone, even as passive as it was now. He crouched down, turning his deep blue eyes anywhere but at the newcomer.

The other man seemed as nervous as he. Tilting his head, he lifted his tail slightly and brushed the dirt from it with slender hands. "I haven't seen you around here..." Rue glanced at the other neko quickly, green eyes lingering over smooth, long coated, tail and a pretty blue gaze that avoided his own. Suddenly, he wanted to know this one.

Rue looked over his shoulder to make sure his white coated brother was still distracted by all the people fawning over him. He knew he didn't stand a chance if he stuck around Strive, and yet their parents insisted on them always going out together. Shaking his head, he sniffed the air and sneezed loudly. "You like the river?" Rue plucked invisible dirt from his tail as he spoke, keeping his eyes upon his own dark fur, rather then staring at the other neko like he was so tempted to. He'd never seen a coat as nice as this stranger's ...

Like a shadow, such a dark creature. Black hair, ears, fur. Green eyes, like grass, or like the air in the mornings after an especially strong storm. Not that storms were rare in the rainforest, of course. He sat up straighter, twitching his tail around his legs as they folded under him. "I... do like the river." Salis replied, glancing around before finally settling his gaze respectfully on the dark newcomer. "The fish always come to me like I'm a friend to them." He smiled, looking into the water from the lip he sat on so that he was right above it. He never had much of a heart to grab one out of the water after they so foolishly came swimming up in a congregation. Though his cat-like tendencies made it so tempting to actually go about snapping one after the other up to take home, Salis did well to squash that down out of a strange form of respect.

So instead, he looked back at the dark neko, playing with the fur on his tail. His eyes watched the tip of his tail move left and right. "Um... I've never seen you around these parts of the river." He offered as a bit of conversation. "Usually when someone sees me here, they... run." It was impossible to keep his voice from breaking, and his ears from drooping. Now it was natural, as the gloomy and depressive state of the Falaaz began overtaking his heart a little at a time.

Rue couldn't help but smile at the way the other neko spoke so fondly of the fish. Such a sweet creature ... Why had he been made to suffer the curse of the Falaaz? Alone forever .. It wasn't fair. Anger flashed briefly in his eyes, before being pushed aside quickly. He could help no one if he let the emotion run rampant, a cold thing sweeping through body and soul that was so hard to control when let loose. It was Rue's main fault, and he knew it too.

He was pulled from thinking of himself at the heartwrenching tone of the other man's voice. Instinctively, with a small mewing sound, the dark eared neko shifted closer to the other man's side. He rubbed his head on the Falaaz's shoulder, and nuzzled the sun and snow haired neko's neck. "I wanted to avoid my brother," confessed Rue. " And maybe find someone who wasn't already infatuated with him. Whenever someone likes me, which is rare, he always ends up stealing them away." He nuzzled the other neko's cheek lightly. "But that doesn't matter really... You seem too nice to have been left all alone..." Rue deliberately didn't mention the forever part, or the curse.

He didn't care about the curse. In fact, he thought it was pure good luck that had brought him to the river side.

Salis froze, his mind filling with a series of past emotions that overrode the ones that had been imbued within his mind. No one else would get so close out of fear---fear that he and his kind would ruin their lives. And this dark neko didn't even seem to take that into account. No one had thrown caution to the wind to even be within shouting distance of him, and this one... what was wrong with him? Of course, he could find anyone else... Anyone out of line of sight of his brother, perhaps. Not everyone could gravitate toward this one's sibling, right? Salis couldn't control the direction of his thoughts---he nearly melted from his rigid position as the dark-haired newcomer rubbed against him. "M-maybe the problem is I... I'm too nice."

Others hadn't liked that, apparently. Maybe it was true, and he was, indeed, too nice. Too sweet, too much of a pushover. Left alone. Forever. Salis breathed in carefully and shook his head. "I don't... see why your brother would want to steal anyone frm you when he's got so many following..." Was he competitive? Salis's siblings hadn't been competitive with him... Not that they would have had to be, since no one had come even close to showing interest. In fact, this dark neko's attention, his closeness, was the first sign of anyone showing interest. And after he'd become Falaaz! How did that happen...? Or perhaps this was just a cruel joke and there were eyes all around them, watching and waiting for Salis to retaliate just so they could laugh at him... Drag him around by the tail and throw him in the water. Those that didn't believe in the 'curse' but liked to torment the Falaaz anyway.

Salis sniffed, lowering his head and his gaze and shifting a little away. He couldn't risk it...

He mewed plaintively, hurt radiating from his eyes as the other neko shifted away. The movement was so small, and yet there seemed to be such a large gulf between them now all of a sudden. Rue couldn't understand why he felt it so ... It reminded him a little of what his parents had spoken of, when they'd met each and simply known.. It had been mutual though. "Because the only ones he ever really likes are the ones I do, and I think he likes seeing me hurt like that for some odd reason. A real brother wouldn't do that." Rue mumbled the last to himself. They had been raised as brothers, but one of them was a foundling, Strive, which was why he had a luxurious soft tail, long furred, and nice fluffy ears that begged to be touched. It was no wonder everyone wanted to be around him.

"I'm sorry for being so ... forward. I .. was just trying to comfort you. My name, my name's Rue." He should have said it before. Spoken up about his identity. Then maybe the other neko wouldn't have pulled back. His ears drooped, and his tail lay still instead of moving about independently to mirror is moods.

He just didn't feel that malicious air around this one. That whispered about a hidden intention... There didn't seem to be one, and in fact, the way the neko reacted to Salis backing away was... horrible. It made him feel worse. Rue, as he introduced himself as, wasn't like the others... The ones that braved the supposed 'curse' to beat him around and toss him in the river from time to time. "I'm sorry..." He muttered, looking around to the dark-haired creature and moving forward. "I... I don't mean to be so distant... It's just the way I am... Or, I mean... it's the way I... started to be. Others like to take advantage of me... I'm pushed around a lot... Like a group of kittens, and I'm the runt."

He cut his pity story short and rubbed his ear against Rue's shoulder. "I apologize. My name is Salis, by the way." He smiled, hoping he hadn't wasted the chance to have a... friend. It couldn't be more than that, could it? He was Falaaz, after all---he was alone, forever, with no chance of a mate. Others wondered why Falaaz didn't just mate with one another, become lifelong partners through everything life had to offer. But their spirits were broken at that point---they didn't have the will. Perhaps Salis was just different, because he had a bit of will left---and Rue had appeared out of nothing. He was glad to feel another neko so close to him.

The younger neko leaned into the small contact, and a purr escaped him before he could stop it. Immediately, Rue grinned as the sound trailed off. "Nice to meet you Salis." The thought of how the other neko had been bullied made Rue want to scuttle away in order to repay the people who'd made Salis feel so. Instead, he shifted, twisting slightly so his bright eyes could remain entirely upon the big eared neko.

"I wouldn't treat you that way, you know? That's not how friends act!" And he so desperately wanted to be the Falaaz's friend, while his mind wandered through thoughts of being so much more.

"A Falaaz now, Rue? Are you really that desperate?" The sneering words made the dark neko whirl around with a snarl.

Strive simply raised an eyebrow and crouched down, lifting a clawed hand to run his fingers through Salis's hair. "I have to admit, you are indeed a pretty one ..." He was jealous, of course. No one was suppose to get Rue's attention save himself.

He was starting to feel more confident now, at the attention he was being given by this stranger that didn't seem to believe in the curse of the Falaaz. He held his head a little higher, and lifted his tail a bit more. He didn't look at Rue through his bangs so much now, either. Friend. He'd love a friend. The Falaaz, as a whole, kept to themselves. Instead of living in community quarters, where normally nekos would lounge about in groups or keep to their pairs or families, they had tiny, one-room huts with a bed, a little table, and a small stone fireplace to cook certain things or dry clothes after washing, or even keep the room warm during those chilly evenings. But it was sad. Those singular huts were akin to being isolated, with no warmth from another to keep bad dreams or worry away.

Then someone else arrived, and it made Salis jump and look around worriedly. It seemed like Rue knew this one, and they shared similar scents---really, the pale neko had a different scent, but seemed to wear a coat of one more familiar. But Salis immediately lowered his gaze again, shying back a little at the touch. Perhaps brothers---but they would have the same scent specifically, not... somewhat different. Not a mix. Had one been abandoned and adopted? Salis didn't necessarily think of that, though. It was hard to breathe with two available nekos so close suddenly. He didn't quite know how to react, and was frozen to the riverbank. He couldn't even utter 'thanks' to the pale one.

"Strive, look what you did!" Rue tilted his head, shifting closer to Salis with a beseeching hand held out. "It's alright, calm down ... My brother's not going to do anything bad. He just seems mean."

"As if saying that will help.. You've no idea how to comfort anyone." Strive shook his head quickly, but made no move to near the sun and snow neko. Instead, his eyes fell upon Rue. They were unreadable, dark gold and simply waiting for something ... But what that was, even Strive couldn't really guess at. He shrugged after a while, and tilted his head to glance at the one person he didn't know.

He suddenly felt like running away to cry. His parents had only ever shown him a lot of attention, and that was seasons ago. Parents didn't coddle their children, and after thirteen seasons they would be independent, though they stayed around their family, in their community dwellings. He still couldn't unstick his bare feet from the ground, though, and suddenly, his lightweight lavender-toned tunic felt constricting and itchy, despite its smooth fabric made of durable cave-worm silk. He grasped Rue's hand swiftly.

"I... I'm sorry, I... I'm just not used to s-so much... attention." He released the other neko's hand and forced himself to take a step back, his tail low to the ground and sweeping the green brush. "M-maybe I should just... just leave..." He shook, feeling like a runt again, a weak little creature, the smallest of all his siblings. But now he was in public, trying to find someone but being ignored no matter how much he tried to talk to other nekos. The thought brought a familiar pressure building up behind his eyes, the feeling that came around when he was about to break down.

"No, please don't go, Salis." He mewed plaintively, and received a slight shove on the shoulder from his brother. Rue shrugged off the touch, and would have stepped forward if Strive hadn't caught his arm and shaken his head. It was hard to understand why the pale neko was stopping him. Then there was Salis, so obviously near tears, and Rue without any way to try and ease the sadness he could see. He hadn't even noticed that he'd stood, or that his brother had echoed the movement.

Strive found himself trying to think of what he could do to make things more comfortable for the distraught neko. He tugged at his long sleeved shirt, embroidered with gold threads that made the sea colored fabric all the more beautiful, before finally speaking again. "And go back to the lonely life of a Falaaz, when there are two here who want to be your friends? Perhaps more?" There was more honesty to the statement then he'd realized when he'd started to speak. Strive felt a strange kind of protective urge when he stood with Salis so near.

He'd stood upright and intended to try to disappear amongst the fish baskets and nets hanging on the docks nearby, so his scent would be lost among the brightly colored fish and strange sea creatures washed down the mighty river from their original ocean home. But something was keeping him from bounding off and weaving his way through the others walking and working the docks. Maybe it was the way Rue sounded. And what the other one said. Strive---he remembered Rue calling him that.

Perhaps more?

What did that mean? Salis felt his heart leaping, but tempered with reality. Everyone knew he was a Falaaz. Everyone knew, somehow. What would they say to an available neko deciding to take a Falaaz as their mate? He'd never heard of that! No one had... Right? Few people knew of the true history of Azune, except the Master and his advisors. He sat at the edge of the river, staring at himself. Shards of yellow pierced the white of his hair, and stuck out well in the sunlight. "I... perhaps I've just... declined into the state of sadness that all Falaaz endure." He muttered to both of them. "Perhaps I... am too far gone." It couldn't be that, though. "Or... I just... never handled attention well." And he still didn't. Two... normal nekos showing me attention at all is... strange to me." He shook his head, twisting his tail around him snugly.

Strive chuckled a little. "Rue's a cream puff, and I swear to you I won't do you any harm." He thought over the neko's statement. Falaaz and their depression, the horror of not having anyone by your side before the fateful day ... He shivered, a haunted look slipping through his eyes. He didn't want that. Anything was better then that.

"Maybe we can help cheer you up?" Rue sounded hopeful. Now that he knew why the other neko had been so jumpy earlier. He moved easily to settle down beside Salis. He leaned over to nuzzle him while Strive watched on. It was strange, acting so affectionate while the pale haired neko watched on. The way Strive's scent suddenly wafted closer wasn't nearly warning enough.

The white furred neko had knelt down, and his nimble fingers scratched lightly at the base of the Falaaz's ear. So cute, those large appendages, just waiting to be pet.

Salis wasn't used to attention, but he was gradually feeling more and more comfortable around them. Perhaps if he'd known these two a little earlier---two seasons ago, perhaps---he wouldn't have been exiled to the Falaaz's outer village. And thinking about that made him realize he wouldn't be able to go anywhere but back to his tiny, one-roomed hut at the end of the day, and it was already afternoon. Then the thought was gone when he felt both of them flanking him. One on the left, and on on the right. His heart was beating erratically, leaning one way and the other in turn with the touch from the two.

A buzzing was snapping in his mind, especially as Strive scratched his ear lightly. No one had done that before---generally parents only stroked their children when they did well, or to clean them at bathtime every two days. Salis couldn't quite control the low growl---tempered with a purring sigh---that escaped him, until the sound registered and he backed away quickly, feeling himself grow pink. "I-I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't... harm me. I'll learn to... to accept others, given a... a little time." He sat, nervously shaking himself. But there was something... gnawing at him. Like a tick in a place he just couldn't see and itched at it in a vain attempt to get it off. "Don't you believe in the curse? Aren't you worried you'll... poison your chance of finding someone that hasn't been exiled?" They had to be nearing that day. The day they would be turned away by their families and 'friends' and become Falaaz as well. Maybe that was why they were desperate enough to be around Salis---Or, Rue anyway. Strive was described as having nekos gravitate toward him.

The purr, the growl... It had both of the brothers wanting to do what they could to hear more. Rue would have leaned nearer, but Salis had already shifted away, just out of reach. The dark haired neko glanced at his brother, and let out a growl of his ow when he saw Strive catching one of Salis' hands in his own.

"It seems like the curse is nothing more then loneliness, and that can be remedied easily enough... If it's wanted." He ignored Rue's growling, letting his golden eyes focus on Salis alone. "Would you let me try?" Was this someone who could get past his barriers? It certainly seemed so, he hoped so. No matter what he thought of the curse, he didn't want to be thought of as Falaaz, because then he knew the chance of anyone falling for him would fall tremendously.

Salis could feel his heart racing in his hand, grasped by Strive. It thudded in his fingertips, brought a little more color to his face. Now he realized that, if he'd been confronted before his exile, by someone that might have been interested, he would have reacted the exact same way. He'd have been nervous and jumpy and reluctant---though reluctant wasn't necessarily the right word. Reserved, perhaps, out of worry or fear. Maybe both. He felt a combination of new and old emotions in this situation---worry and fear, of course. Sadness. A forlorn sensation. But hope. Perhaps a little happiness tempered with caution. Perhaps that was what was constricting Salis' throat a little uncomfortably.

His breath caught, and he looked to Rue. "I-I... don't know... I..." After a long search and resignation to his fate, now two nekos had approached him. They weren't afraid of the supposed curse. It felt like a soul-crushing thing to focus all his attention on one and not the other, though. "M-maybe... I could, uhm... spend time with both of you? I-I don't... think it's fair to ignore... either of you." How did Strive---the one that Salis was told had everyone fawning over him---handle it? It felt like a huge moral decision that would leave a mess in everyone's wake, and he hoped to avoid that.

"Not both of us together! Look at Strive, already stealing the spotlight."

"That only happens because you don't know how to keep anyone's attention."

"As if you're running around with all your admirers gives you any more chance at finding someone, in fact you have less of one! You'll choose wrong." He stopped, realizing what he'd said.

Rue turned to Salis with a soft mewing sound. He shifted to rub up against the Falaaz. "I'm sorry ..." He felt so ... horrible for having snapped at Strive in front of Salis. One thing was certain, the gold and ice neko certainly knew Rue's faults. Well, some of them. There were more, of course there were. Rue was normal that way. Not perfect at all.

Strive let his hand fall, pulling it away slightly. He watched the pair, having to admit that they looked good together. He almost had to remind himself that if he gave up too quickly, the chance at a happy life might slip through his fingers.

Salis shifted a little at the presence of Rue beside him, and returned the affection by rubbing his ear on the other neko's shoulder, though lightly. He did like what attention he'd been given, felt as if some huge, freezing void in his chest had been filled a little, though not enough to take the edge off that feeling entirely. Still, considering everything, he would feel like a horrible neko if he just... ignored someone for their sibling.

"It's okay, Rue, I just... wouldn't feel right in... in ignoring or avoiding one of you... Or not paying attention... You might not like me when you get to know me." That might have been why he'd run others off. He'd heard them talking about him later, saying he was too... clingy. Or couldn't stand up for himself. It wasn't Salis's fault that he was too weak-willed to do any of that. To feel comfortable functioning on his own, or... letting go of someone. And he didn't want to develop too strong a bond with either of them just to be let down because they couldn't stand more than just a little of him. He sniffed a little, taking in the scent Rue was cloaked in. His own personal scent, unlike anyone else's. Even individual family members had their personal scents.

Rue smiled, reassured by the words. "Of course I'll still like you! Well I think I will ..."

"For my part, all I can say is that I like you well enough now, Salis." Pragmatic as usual, Strive spoke the truth honestly and without any thought for how the other neko might react. No, that wasn't quite true. Strive did think of how Salis would react, but refused to mince words and try to make them what the other neko might want them to be. It didn't matter that Rue sent him a look of anger, frustration.

Rue pouted. The dark haired neko didn't like how his brother acted. Sometimes .... Strive could be such an ass. Mule headed, stubborn, and oh so utterly annoying. His dark tail swept across the ground as he tried to push down his anger. It was always rearing its head at the most unwelcome times.

Salis smiled a little, reassured by both of them until he sensed an odd shift in Rue's emotions. The way his tail slashed left and right and hit the tall grass and tossed little stones. He shifted uncomfortably and turned his gaze down. "I... I'd hope you would." He muttered, to both of them, and looked at Rue specifically. "But I don't want anyone feeling... negatively. Because of me." Salis looked around, feeling the urge to run again. Run and hope this was just some fluke, or very vivid dream.

But then curiosity started gnawing at the back of his head, and he steadied himself. "How much time do you two have left? Before you... um... turn into what I am?" He didn't like saying what he was. What he and others were. It sounded like a curse. Like a filthy word and no one really liked to say it. Let alone the ones pegged with the tag. Like a big, ugly headdress.

Rue shook his head quickly and moved to nuzzle the other neko reassuringly. At the mention of the fatal day, date of becoming an outcast, the dark haired neko tensed slightly, but then relaxed. "I have a year and a few months. I was born during the winter season." He shot his brother a warning look. It was hard not to, when he knew just how touchy Strive was about the Falaaz in general now, and his day of birth.

"Three months, in my case." Strain, stress, filled his voice. His white ears flicked down to lay across his head. "But I don't want to choose just anyone ..." Strive could have chosen a mate already, he knew that. There had been so many chances already, but none of them had seemed like the person he kept looking for... And he wouldn't settle for less til his time was near past.

Salis gasped, going forward a little toward the pale neko. Three months? Just three months? It seemed impossible... Impossible, anyway, for someone to be so close to a lifetime of assured isolation and sadness when they had so many nekos clambering for attention. There had to be one suitable choice---one that could make him happy, and he be able to return the feeling. There had to be someone... Someone that was still permitted to be among civilized citylife.

Still, the thought that time was so very short for Strive had Salis purring at him, going forward a bit and rubbing against him. "I'm sorry you can't seem to find someone..." He muttered. "Maybe... a little time. Not much... but a little. If... if both of you would want to waste some time on me, I wouldn't see the harm... in..." ... trying to save one of you. If only he could save both... could he? No, that was just a fool's thought. Stupid.