Cities of Sand // One on One // Closed

The two arrows were still clearly in his back, and Kasim had muttered something - not in English - underneath his breath before their approach. Onvu sighed, she’d hoped Kasim would’ve removed the arrows himself, or at least make an attempt to treat himself. But no. It was always going to this shrine first. The helmet he’d worn was at the foot of the shrine - Kasim kept his bandana up, most of the time. He’d be even less likely to want to take it off now that there were strangers.

Onvu approached, aiming to be able to keep an eye on her Maj.

Kasim tilted his head towards the ceiling, briefly closing his eyes, but looked to the Maj from before. He glanced at Onvu, silently wondering if she’d brought them here. Onvu only nodded, as if sensing his thoughts.
“Who are you…?” Kasim muttered.

Kasim was completely still during the entire process, never saying anything, never making a noise. Not even an ‘ouch.’ He simply held his gaze to the wall as she worked.
Onvu seemed slightly happier at the fact her Maj had the arrows gone and wrapped. Although, she’d not let her guard go completely down just yet.
“Onvu.. Ste jih pripeljali sem?” Kasim barely muttered out, not looking away from the wall.
“Jaz sem,” Onvu seemed to answer to whatever Kasim had asked her. It was a question about how Onvu had brought the two to their home. Onvu decided to answer honestly. She had no reason not to. Kasim didn’t react to her reply.

“Were my wounds really that bad that you needed to ask that question?” Kasim finally said after a moment. He referred to the question of ‘how are you still alive?’ Truth be told, Kasim didn’t know that answer. He didn’t realize much, that his wounds were so bad. He could only see the blood on his clothing, on his hands as he touched the wound when Onvu first told him. He tilted his head towards her, looking at the blood.
That’s…a lot of blood.

Kasim moved himself onto his feet, pretty flawlessly for a person who’d just had quite a horrible injury. Although it was easy to see that he’d lost a lot of blood; even if he could exactly feel the affects, it took its toll, and it meant he would move a bit slower for the time being, his reaction level lowered. And he was tired.

“Oh, that’s just..” His tone became rougher, as though he’d been offended by what she’d said, but he didn’t finish his sentence. Onvu knew it was unlikely for Kasim to explain the thing on his own.
“All Maj have a weakness, I’m sure you both are familiar with that. And normally, that weakness means whatever affected sense is at the normal human level.” Onvu began, lifting her neck up. “However, he,” she lifted up a single claw, gesturing to Kasim, “is in the unfortunate few where he lacks little to no strength in that sense. He has a complete lack of touch, meaning he is unable to feel anything.” Meaning non-fatal injuries that would’ve been good for most people, could very easily become fatal to him.
This time, Kasim seemed a bit bothered by how Onvu had went ahead and explained. He looked away, pushing himself back to the wall and resting against it.

The idea of dying to him was weird. The fact that if he - if Onvu hadn’t grabbed them - he could have died on this day. Judging by his silence, he was in thought. He did have Onvu to thank though, for that.

“He is, truly,” Onvu quietly replied from her spot.

Kasim tilted his head up and sniffed the air. He had other interests. Although the dried blood scent was still thick in the area, but he wasn’t worried about others following the trail. Outside, the scent had to have been swept around a bit, making it harder to follow. His real focus were on these two.

“You’re city folk, aren’t you?” He observed. He could still catch a scent off of them - the type that he only caught from city dwellers. “Why aren’t you back there? And why…” His thoughts momentarily drifted off to the scenario before. “..Why did you have people pursuing you two?”

Kasim sniffed. “Your scent. That’s what gave you away.” The scent of an individual was unique, yet Kasim could easily tell when someone had lived in a city, or at least had been in one recently. It wasn’t noticeable by normal humans or people with regular scent strength. But to Kasim, it was easily among one of his most disliked scents - from a combination of memories and legitimate dislike of the scent. Mostly the latter.

Kasim briefly stiffened when she explained that the two were to find something from the old city. It wasn’t for very long, but Onvu, due to her close distance to him, had noticed how his fingers curled briefly, brushing against the residue sand on the ground. He seemed to have gotten himself under control quite quickly, though.
“Looks like you’ve been booted off of your city, then.” He lifted his head so that he was looking at the ceiling. His tone carried a faint air of amusement to it.

“Hmm. Sounds like a few people that I know,” Onvu said, her gaze sweeping across the room. She did know some peculiar individuals that seemed to have a knack for making people mad, whether it was on purpose or not. At times, it could be Kasim, although it wasn’t often she witnessed it, due to the pair’s reclusive nature.

Kasim looked back down as to watch the exchange. Surprisingly, he didn’t interject between the whole thing. Instead, he moved to fiddling with some small pieces of sand on the floor.

Onvu sighed. “He didn’t mean anything by it,” she said. “His..and my tone too, can sometimes come a little off at times. We just don’t talk to others often and thus tone can be an issue sometimes,” Onvu had attempted to apologize. Even though she knew that Kasim most likely had a hidden undertone to it all, as opposed to just wanting to poke fun at someone who had been kicked from their city.

If his expression were visible, he’d be smirking right now. Either way, it was somewhat visible in his eyes as he looked up.

“Oh, offend important people? I’ve already done that! Why do you think I don’t reside in any city?”
Onvu glanced up, watching from her position.
“At this point, what ‘important people’ can I-“ He was interrupted from a growl by Onvu. Though the dragon kept to her spot, her eyes were on Kasim, narrowed and all.
“Enough.” She said, her voice low, and Kasim seemed to fall silent right after that.

It’s a miracle I’m even here at all, Kasim had wanted to say, but Onvu’s warning had seemed to shut him down. Normally, he would have retorted back. His eyes cast back down to the ground.

”How about we all just..switch to a different topic? Clearly, remaining on this isn’t good for any of us. Like..” Onvu paused, thinking. ”Introductions. My name is Onvu.”