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"Where are you from?" Rue asked curiously. Maybe she was from a different country; that would help explain it.

Ooc:// Blegh, WB, sorry.

"Well...erm..." Setsuko stammered, "I live in the Southern Water Tribe, but I travel a lot." That had to be the best answer, she figured. After all, even if she was half Air Nomad, that was were her house was located, and she and her family did travel often, increasingly so as the youngest, Kyo, got old enough to walk on his own.

"Southern Water Tribe?" Rue echoed, incredibly confused. "I've never heard of it. Where is that, exactly?" she asked.

Setsuko stared towards her again, increasingly confused. "Er, the South Pole? Where else would it be?" How could anyone her age not know about it, she thought. Where did this Rue live that she hadn't heard of it, under a rock?

"I don't know," Rue replied. "That's why I asked." It answered her question of where she was from, but the Southern Water Tribe? She still had no clue as to what that was. Who named a place the Southern Water Tribe anyway? It honestly sounded like something that Setsuko had made up, and Rue frowned.

Setsuko narrowed her eyes. So Rue honestly didn't know? Maybe she really did live under a rock.

Jaci padded forwards cautiously, approaching Rue. He gave her a few tentative sniffs. She did have a human scent, but there was something else under there...something, strangely, avian. He moved closer to Rue's partially-outstretched tawny wings. The avian scent was stronger there, yet it was still the distinct smell of Rue. Were these wings...part of her body? How strange, Jaci thought. He moved slowly back to Setsuko, who hadn't seemed to notice Rue's physical oddities, then glanced up at the sky through the many leaves of the thick trees. When would the sun be coming back?

Rue flinched away from Jaci as he neared her, pulling in her wings closer to her body protectively.

A few cracks of sunlight began to penetrate the forest floor, allowing Setsuko's vision to warm up. She glanced skyward. "Strange," she muttered. "Didn't the sun just set a while ago?" She gazed back at Rue, now being able to really see her for the first time. The girl's dark hair and freckles reminded her, for a moment, of Samiia, but she laughed inwardly, knowing that Samiia would never wear purple. Besides, her cousin's eyes were green, not brown like Rue's.

Suddenly, Setsuko jumped back in surprise, gasping, noticing Rue's wings sticking just out of her back. For a moment she held her glider ready again but then gradually calmed down, though a nervous stammer remained in her voice when she spoke. "You...your...you...back...er..." she gestured to Rue's wings.




ooc--Apparently, it was a different time in Ayumu's world than in was in Setsuko's and Rue's. :|

Rue noticed the sun as well, and opened her mouth to reply. However, she was interrupted by Setsuko's reaction to her wings. Rue's cheeks flushed red and she tucked her wings in fully. "Yeah, I know. I have wings," she shrugged, unsure of how else to respond.

Used to living with just her family, she was unprepared for others' reaction. "I guess you probably don't see many people with wings, huh?" she continued.

Setsuko shook her head vigorously. "No, never." After a moment's pause, she added, "Are you a spirit?"

"No," Rue replied, eyes wide in surprise. "Honestly, my parents were experimented on to make them part bird. That's how I got the wings. I'm not a....spirit."

Setsuko blinked. "Part bird? Really?"

Jaci listened intently to the humans' discussion. Rue being part bird would explain the wings and the light avian scent, but was that possible? He shook his head to clear it. Could this be his imagination? No, Rue was still there, and she still had wings.

"Uh, yeah," Rue replied, her cheeks flushing a brighter shade of red.

"Huh," mused Setsuko. "Part bird. How's that even possible? Don't answer that. But it's bright again, and...well, I need to get going." she glanced at Jaci, who stared back up at her with his amber feline eyes. She looked at Rue one last time. "See you around, I guess."

And with that, she turned and began to walk away, Jaci following casually behind.

"Hey, wait!" Rue called, dashing after her. "I have one question; if your from the South Pole, how'd you end up in Arizona? And where are your parents?"