Written Wonderland

Ren gave a short, breathy laugh and quickly fell silent, giving Jaz the impression that, somehow, he didn't believe her.

But, before long, he smiled softly at her.

"Up ahead," he said with a nod, "that's one of the chickens."

Jaz looked ahead of them, seeing a small feathered being that would scarcely come up to her knee. She wanted a closer look and took a slow step in the creature's direction as Ren shifted his pack, but the chicken ran off quickly into the brush.

"They're pretty skittish creatures--that's actually one of the braver ones of the flock. Some might come investigate once I spread the grain, though, especially if we give them space."

Ren raised the bag now in his hand and walked further down the path before beginning to move through the long grass. With a moment a hesitation, Jaz followed.

There was a small clearing, and Ren opened the bag, holding it out to Jaz.

"Would you like to do the honors? I just scatter it around on the ground, they like to forage."

Jaz looked at Ren, assessing him and the lingering threads of their earlier conversation. He was so earnest in the ways he wanted her to experience his world. She felt like a child being shown around, and in some ways, in this new realm, she was. There was no reason to deny herself the joys of experiencing all this for the first time. That was, in fact, the point, if she understood the sorala correctly.

She grasped a handful of the hard seed from inside the bag and gently threw part of it toward the edge of the long grass, backing up to give the chickens some space. She scattered the grain in a semi-circle around the clearing and crouched down to wait, trying to look like less of a threat.

(OOC: I can imagine what would happen, but given that your system did the research, I wonder if you'd want to take it from here? I think Jaz will largely be in quiet awe and observation mode. <3))

Once Jaz had finished scattering the seed and stepped to the side of the clearing, Ren cupped a hand by his mouth and made a nasal cawing sound out into the brush, and then moved over to crouch down next to her. He eyed her along the way with a half playful, half warning sort of smile, his eyes squinted slightly and sharp but his lips relaxed and playful. A few excited clucks echoed through the brush, and soon one tentative chicken bobbed its beak out from under a bush by the edge of the clearing, curiously exploring the ground. It clocked Ren and Jaz and was still for half a moment, blinking at them with uncertainty, but then gobbled up some grain on the ground, and let out a small series of loud clucks caws, stirring another echo of clucks through the brush before more chickens tentatively entered the clearing. Some paused as the first had to contemplate Ren and Jaz, though some went straight to pecking at seeds, trusting that the group had already assessed the surroundings. One or two hesitated notably, keeping their bodies mostly in the bushes and just pecking what seeds they could reach from there.

Ren was still and quiet next to Jaz, watching the chickens with a contented smile. It was an honor to be so trusted by them, and it warmed him to watch them eat. He cast his gaze to Jaz eventually, wanting also to take in her response to the scene before them.

((OOC: In the end, I am rather just making things up here, but uh, Caleb helped lol))

Jaz wasn't sure what she expected to happen next, but Ren's cupped hand amplifying a strange bird-like call wasn't one of them. She nearly stumbled back into the long grass with laughter, but she stayed silent and unmoving, interested in seeing the chickens. She knew something of what to expect, given that she had briefly seen one on the path, but Jaz was still excited to see one up close and watch their behavior.

Ren came to crouch by her in the brush, his smile both acknowledging the ridiculousness of the sound he had made and warning her off saying anything about it, his eyes squinted and sharp.

Excited clucking echoed through the grass, and one chicken peeked their beak out of the brush, looking at the ground. Jaz took in the shimmering brown and white feathers and the strange red protrusions on their head and neck. Their feet were scaly and sharp, their talons impressive for such a small bird. Their movements were quick, almost too fast for her to see, as they pecked at the ground where she had spread the seed. Briefly, the chicken looked at Ren and Jaz as if calculating how safe it was to be near them. Soon, they decided the two of them were not a threat as they continued pecking at the ground. Jaz exhaled and looked at Ren with raised brows and a big smile, but of course, he knew this would happen. The chickens trusted him. How long had it taken them to develop this trust, she wondered? Is this why Ren thought she had no business trusting him this quickly?

Well, these chickens surely hadn't watched Ren bargain for a tent.

A series of clucks from the first brave chicken summoned an answering response from a whole group of them, several performing a similar song and dance as the first and others trusting more quickly. Still others did not move out of the brush at all.

Jaz felt Ren looking at her, and Jaz met his gaze with a soft smile, appreciating his deep care. He looked happy, or content at least, with a relaxed brow and lips. She wanted to lean forward and kiss him there in the brush, but she knew she should not. She hadn't yet earned that trust.

Were they both chickens, in this metaphor? From separate meadows, perhaps? Or was she the human?

Though Jaz was content to watch the chickens, she wondered about the eggs. Did Ren go and collect them while the chickens were distracted? And... how did they feel about that?

Jaz looked happy, and Ren was glad. It was nice to have the company of another--well, not human, but close enough, he supposed--while also being here, with the chickens. He shook his head at himself with a small smile.

Eventually, though, he started to become restless, and he slowly and carefully shifted in his crouched position to face away from the chickens. He mouthed 'eggs' to Jaz, cupping his hands over each other as though holding an egg delicately between his palms before pointing in a direction. He realized only now he wished he had told her ahead of time that she could come with him or stay to watch the chickens feed, and he wondered briefly about touching her as a way to communicate more deeply without startling the chickens, but he wasn't sure that was a good idea. In the end, he decided to let his small nonverbal gestures stand, and he made a cautious exit from the brush where they observed the chickens, letting Jaz decide for herself whether she would follow him.

It wasn't long before he arrived at a few small, simple wooden structures sprinkled among more bushes and brush. He paused to pull a wooden bowl from his pack *, and then he moved over by the first wooden structure before glancing back to Jaz**, inviting her to come see if she would like. He opened the structure to reveal several eggs nestled in and amongst leaves, grasses, and twigs, and let Jaz take in the sight for a moment. He reached into the pouch of feed to grab a small handful and sprinkled it on the ground near the far side of the structure, where there was a permanent opening into the brush. Then, he carefully collected two of the eggs into his wooden bowl, and looked to Jaz a little expectantly, wondering what was on her mind with all this.

((OOC: * It's ocurring to me that probably a basket would actually be the most convenient way to carry eggs and realistically Ren might've been carrying a basket this whole time knowing they were going to collect eggs but I wasn't up for thinking through anything that might've changed up til now, so, uh, he stuffed a bowl in his pack instead lol.

** Assuming Jaz does indeed follow, and I guess also assuming she is quiet for his first few gestures. If Jaz doesn't actually have anything to say right this moment, Ren will close this structure and move on to the next one. I'm torn on how many total structures and whether he gathers from all of them today or leaves some alone. But I'm thinking we'd want like at least 5 or 6 eggs for Baer, and probably about as many for him and Jaz for a few days, so maybe he gets a dozen total? Probably taking two or three eggs from each nest he visits depending on how many eggs are in the nest. He might take from nests that are just on the ground under the brush in the area, also; if he does, he would leave a little feed next to each of those nests, also. I'm also torn on whether they would run into any brooding hens who'd already gotten up to eat today and were not lured away by Ren's call. Maybe they spot one or two and give those hens plenty of space? Course, he wouldn't know if one's in one of the structures until he opens it I guess? Or maybe there's a little like peep window or something??? idk, these are the sorts of thoughts that have had us dragging our feet on this lol. Or, we do the easy thing and say everybody was exited to go eat Ren's feed. Like I said, torn. Anyway, feel free to respond to just what's in this post, or extrapolate from some or all of this in your next post, whatever feels most fun. Apparently my brain just wanted to go ahead and think through and document the overall plan.))

When Ren shook his head and smiled, he looked almost content, happy even. Jaz tilted her head, curious about what exactly had caused the improvement in his mood and almost reached out to touch him to find out, but she stilled her hand before it moved. Soon, Ren shifted away from the chickens in his crouch.

"Eggs," he mouthed, holding his hands together in front of himself delicately. Jaz furrowed her eyebrows in confusion about what he was trying to communicate, but after taking one more look at the chickens pecking their way across the ground--were they really getting the grain up with those sharp beaks or just hitting ground?--she turned and followed Ren's lead.

He walked delicately across the shorter grass to the first of several wooden structures that were slightly taller than the chickens and four or five times as wide. Pulling a wooden bowl from his pack, Ren then opened a side hatch on the first structure where there were carefully constructed nests inside. Had Ren built the structures? Jaz didn't get the impression that the chickens had built them by themselves. The nests, though, sprinkled with leaves, brush, and twigs, held small collections of eggs that would easily fit in the palm of Jaz's hand. There were many of them, more than Jaz had ever seen in her life. She stood, mouth agape, looking at them, thinking of all the baby birds that might one day hatch.

Oblivious to her frozen awe, Ren continued with his routine, depositing some additional feed near the chickens' entrance to the structure before picking up one egg from two of the three nests in the structure and placing them in the bowl. How does he choose? Jaz wondered. She felt him looking at her, but the chickens were still too nearby for them to comfortably speak, and she was trying to suspend judgment. She was here to learn his way of life, after all, not to force him into hers.

On the way to the second structure, Ren stepped carefully around some tall grass and pointed down at it. At first, Jaz didn't see anything, but then she saw the outline of another nest in the brush. She was excited at first at the discovery, enjoying the sight of seeing a nest in a more wild location, but her face softened back toward neutral as she watched Ren pick up one of the three eggs in that nest and put it in his bowl. Before they left, he reached into his pouch and scattered some grain nearby, as a gift, she realized. Food for food.

At the second structure, Ren opened the hatch to find a hen still sitting there on her eggs in one of the nests. She clucked loudly at him, and he held his hands up in surrender, gently closing the door of the hatch and moving onto the next one. Interesting. Jaz was grateful that he didn't press her.

At the third and fourth structures, there were yet more eggs, and even just taking a few of them at a time, Ren soon had ten. He found another wild nest and took two more, a sense of completion in the sound of his breath.

Jaz pressed her lips together, warring with herself about what she wanted next. Finally, she asked Ren, "May I?" gesturing at one of the last eggs Ren had taken. He didn't object, so Jaz gingerly picked one up and held it, closing her eyes. Could she feel inside the egg if she touched it? She tried to listen, gently offering her presence to the egg to see if anything answered. After a moment, there was a flash of light in the center, a little brown flame in her mind's eye. Jaz laughed lightly with surprise and delight, her eyes snapping open to look at Ren. But, again, her face fell as she realized that the eggs in the bowl were intended as a meal. With furrowed brows, Jaz looked again at the bowl and picked up another egg, comparing the two in her hands. When she touched the second and tried to listen, there was no flame. No answer. Would it still be safe to eat if there were no signs of life in the egg? Jaz didn't know.

Quietly, she said, "This one," holding the first one out toward Ren, "has started the long journey toward hatching, I think. And this one," she said, holding out the second, "might never make it there." There was a question somewhere in what she said, trying to understand what he wanted and if any of that mattered to him.

((OOC: I made an assumption that he would let her hold an egg. Lmk if that's a problem.))

Jaz seemed perhaps nervous, but also quiet and curious, and so Ren went about his routine, checking in on her with brief glances as he went. He paused again once he'd gathered the eggs he intended to gather today, his eyes flicking once more to Jaz. She pressed her lips together, uncertainty scrunching her expression, but after a moment, she gestured toward the last egg he had gathered and asked, "May I?"

Ren tilted his head slightly, but nodded. Jaz picked it up gently and closed her eyes, and Ren tried to simply watch with open curiosity, not yet guessing at what exactly she was doing. After a moment she laughed, surprise and delight dancing in the sound, and her eyes snapped open to meet his--and then her expression fell. There was a defensive tightenting in his chest in response, but also a complex nostalgia; a certainty that, at some point in Ren's distant past, he had made that same expression.

With furrowed brows, Jaz picked up another egg, holding one in each of her hands now, paying them careful attention.

"This one," she said after a moment, holding the first egg out toward Ren, "has started the long journey toward hatching, I think. And this one," she said, holding out the second, "might never make it there."

Ren blinked at the eggs, nodding slowly in understanding, though he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do with this information. He looked from the eggs to Jaz, studying her eyes and pondering what all lay within them. She did not look judgemental, but she was certainly questioning, wanting to know something.

"Normally," Ren said softly after a moment, "I would have no way of knowing until I cracked them open." It wasn't a defense--although his chest was still tight with the impulse--but rather just information, his tone not unlike other explanations he had given her since taking her under his wing. His shoulders gave a small, subtle shrug, his eyes still watching Jaz closely to see how that landed in the silence between them.

There was a tension in the air between them as they stood there, Ren nodding slowly. When he looked up at her, his eyes were not sharp but were instead searching, like there were answers he deeply wanted within her. Gods, how she wanted to give them. But, for now, she had delicate eggs in her hands, their fate hanging in the balance of a held breath.

"Normally," Ren said, still speaking softly, "I would have no way of knowing until I cracked them open." It wasn't an apology. It wasn't a statement of what he would do now either, and he didn't continue. His voice had the sound of teaching, Jaz supposed, and she considered that. Her presence here, with these eggs and these chickens, was changing what was available here. By being present in this realm, she was affecting it, and there was no way around that.

She could put the egg back in Ren's bowl, sending it toward the fate it would likely have had if she were not here, but Ren would know now, and when he did crack it open, maybe in Jaz's presence, they would both know what had been lost. It would change how it tasted, surely, to know. Jaz thought of the eggs she had eaten in the morning, her mouth souring the memory of the fluffy texture. Jaz was stunned for a moment, her face shock still, and she wanted to cry, but she didn't think she could. She felt frozen.

She could trade the egg for another that might not hatch. She could sort through all the eggs and find the ones that weren't fertilized yet until they had a dozen. She could throw both of the eggs she held at the wall of the coop and just watch their gooey insides drip down. She could squeeze them in her hand and feel the egg shell crack, their ooze sliding through her fingers on their way to the ground.

Jaz blinked, shocked at her own thoughts of violence. Where had they come from?

And what if everything she had felt about the eggs was wrong? What if it had only been a trick of her imagination?

Quickly, Jaz broke her freeze to set both eggs down in Ren's bowl again just to make sure she wasn't going to do something rash, but she still couldn't stop staring at them.

She was affecting Ren. She was affecting the grass she was standing on. She had affected Monica and Sonya and Sage and even that man in front of the temple. She wasn't here merely as an observer, but she was meant to learn, to discover, to experiment. But what did that all mean when it came to these two eggs?

Jaz wasn't going to be able to starve herself forever.

She looked at the chickens pecking at the ground and looked again to one of the caches of grain that Ren had deposited alongside a wild nest. He was doing right by them--Jaz felt assured of that--but was she doing right by them?

Surely there was a gift Jaz could leave the chickens of her own, but as she thought through her options--warming the ground, encouraging the grass to grow longer, calling to the rain--she felt deeply uncertain about if the cycles of nourishment were the same here as in Dehaljadrun's realm. What if it didn't rain here? What if nothing answered her call? What if the chickens preferred a colder temperature? Jaz simply didn't know enough to be confident in her gift.

Tears were not only welling but streaming down her face now, her uncertainty mixing in her gut with her homesickness and her growing hunger, making it impossible to see straight. Still, she managed to gently tug the bag of grain out of Ren's hand and spread another little pile near the wild nest. Jaz then handed the bag back and walked back toward the path they had come in on, looking past Ren entirely as she said with unnerving levelness, "Maybe it's better not to know."

Ren watched Jaz's expression closely as she considered his words, the eggs, and whatever implications her mind was playing through. She looked distressed, but he wasn't sure how to help. He wasn't sure that he could help her with this. This was a deeply personal thing, if he understood where she was snagging. He did hold some annoyance in his body, at having to deal with this level of naivety, but he held sympathy for it, too, and he could be patient. They had time and space to offer to this.

After a long moment, Jaz set the eggs back down in Ren's bowl, looking a little sheepish. She looked still deep in thought, tears welling in her eyes. Ren just simply kept watching, not sensing that Jaz wanted him to look away. He was just observing, letting the emotionality in her expression roll over him gently.

Finally, tears overflowing and streaming down her face, Jaz reached for Ren's bag of grain, and he allowed her to take it. She spread another handful by one of the wild nests and then returned the bag into his care, and then turned to walk back toward the main path.

"Maybe it's better not to know," she said, her voice detached from her emotions. Ren sighed softly before following after her, sad that she was stuck in a difficult spot. As they walked, his mind mulled over words he might offer, or perhaps even touch for comfort, but nothing felt right in the moment. His hands were full, his mind somber and uncertain. Patient silence was the best he had to offer, at least for a time. But he kept watching her, attentive, unsure what he was looking for but determined not to miss it.

Jaz walked along the path, hugging her arms around herself as she did so. It wasn't cold, but she felt hollow and confused. She felt miserably out of place and uncertain of what she could offer this realm with its mysterious rhythms and affectations.

Almost back to where they had turned off the path, far from the chickens, Jaz stopped, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She didn't know what she was going to do before she did it, but she turned to face Ren and sank down to her knees, closing her eyes again. After a few moments, she began to sing.

It was a soft, slow, solemn song, at least at first, in the words in her own tongue. Maybe that, too, would be foreign and therefore meaningless to this place, but she had to believe that something of the emotion still seeped into the soil, still spoke to the magic at the core of this place.

But then Jaz wondered if she could reach for this world's magic again, if she could hear the thrums and beats beneath the ground. And, they began to emerge in her awareness, the song picking up speed and becoming more lively as Jaz sang what may have been nonsense words--syllables that attempted to translate what she heard. The sound hummed with golden, molten fire in Jaz's mouth, and she raised her hands up to the sky, throwing her head back and singing praise and wonder without words she fully understood, though she was confident in their meaning all the same.

Jaz brought her hands down in front of her mouth, about six inches away, and sang quietly into them, then gesturing the sound toward the bowl that Ren held. Reaching back toward the chickens, Jaz sang out flaming currents of blessing, invisible but palpable nonetheless.

She was learning. She did have gifts to offer this place, and she could travel the pathways toward this realm's mystery. It was waiting for her.

Jaz might eat the eggs who might otherwise have grown into chickens. She might not save one fertilized egg, but that didn't mean she was turning away from this realm entirely. She was building a relationship. Jaz couldn't get to know the land in all its creatures in the span of two days.

Finally, Jaz stopped her singing and looked up at Ren from where she still knelt on the ground. What had he thought about this whole display? Her own chest felt lighter as she breathed heavily, eyes shining with hope as she tentatively held a palm his direction.

Jaz hugged herself as she walked, but came to a stop once they neared the main path. Ren stopped a pace behind her, giving her space. He was surprised when she turned to face him and sank down to her knees. Briefly, a confusing mix of discomfort and intrigue flared, but it subsided a little as Jaz closed her eyes, and then began to sing. He did not understand the words, but the tune seemed reverent, contemplative maybe. Slow, solemn, soft.

Ren enjoyed the song, for a time, just being with Jaz's voice as it carried on the subtle breeze through the brush and trees around them. He wondered with a small, idle amusement whether the chickens would hear, and what they'd make of it. Had they ever heard singing before?

Ren brought his attention back to Jaz as something about the song began to shift. The rhythm was picking up speed, the tune becoming more lively. Ren hoped that was a good sign, although something about it also made him a little uneasy, though he couldn't say why. Maybe it was in the way the words themselves seemed different--still very clearly a language Ren did not understand, and yet... he almost felt as though he ought to understand it. Jaz raised her hands and threw her head back, looking nearly rapturous, and Ren took an instinctive step back, feeling a powerful but inarticulable impulse to imitate stone.

After a moment, Jaz brought her hands down in front of her mouth, her singing quieting some, and then she gestured toward the bowl in Ren's hand. He almost drew the bowl behind him in some strange impulse to 'protect', but he remained still instead; after all, the eggs within that bowl were very much a part of whatever Jaz was going through, and it would only complicate matters to interfere. This was not his food; it was their food, and he needed to let Jaz explore her own relationship with it, even if it seemed strange to him.

Finally, Jaz's singing came to silence, and she opened her eyes to look at Ren. He felt a brief flash of embarrassment, perhaps worried that whatever stony exterior he'd instinctively adopted would interfere with whatever progress Jaz had made in this experience. He let out a soft breath, trying to relax some. It helped to take in her expression--undoubtedly lighter, with hope in her eyes. She tentatively held out a palm his direction, which did fill him with some warmth, although he wasn't entirely sure how he wanted to respond. After a moment, and another soft breath helping him to shed his stony shell, Ren tilted his head slightly, his eyebrows raising with a subtle curiosity now that he was less on-guard about it all.