YASUF.
âNot yet doesnât sound very promising. If I see something weirdly red and short running around, Iâll let you know. And the tea⌠negotiable, some of the people Iâve met had to be on some sort of drug.â Yasuf grins, softly, even though the thought of a Queen of Hearts on the island isnât exactly reassuring. âMaybe we shouldnât talk too loudly about this, or else weâll give the island ideas.â If someone had told him ten years ago that he would talk of an island as if it was a living and breathing element, heâd have laughed and told himself to do less coke in the future.
A moment later, a loud snort left his lips and he raised his eyebrows. âWow, jumping straight to the point. Some guy told me to stay away from the farm for a while, but I didnât know that was because youâd jump right into canniballism. Do I look that delicious?â Jokingly flexing his arm muscles and turning a full 360, Yasuf comes back to a halt, the grin never leaving his lips. Heâs not afraid that Madiâs going to cook him into a nice dish - sounds less terrifying than being ripped into shreds by some ominous creature from the jungle, or by Emre Akbar.
âHey, Madi. Nice to meet you, too. Though Iâm not quite sure about that yet, with your army of bees and tendency to tell people theyâre fresh meat, right on this weird, living island. Super normal conversation weâre having, really.â Carefully, Yasuf leans closer to inspect some of the bees, and allows them to land on him along as they stay away from his face. âTheyâre looking healthy. Iâm sure youâre doing a great job with them.â
Taking a few steps back as the bees leave his body, he inspects the home. âIâm still searching for the place that feels.. right, you know?â, he asks her, âIâve been looking at so many houses, but most of them seem to carry so many ghosts of past lives, past stories. I donât want to feel like interrupting anything going on.â Curious, he looks her up and down - âWhatâs your attunement? Let me guess? Uh⌠air?â
â âż â âż â
Madi let out a small chuckle, her expression turning more pondering. âYou know, I never quite know if it really is listening or not. If the island is actually alive and all that, or if we just think too much about it and assume too much, but-- sometimes it does feel like it is alive. As crazy as it sounds. So yeah, maybe not giving it too many new ideas might be the best thing.â Then again, all the stuff this place already heard, it probably had plenty of things that could be interesting.
Madi could feel her face turning red completely as Yasuf teased her - and it was just that, teasing, she was aware of that! So why did her body have to betray her and turn her into a tomato and rise that awkwardness so far high into her throat. âNo, no-- I donât-- we really donât-- that is not at all-- what I meant. Just that-- sorry, just that youâre-- youâre new. Thatâs all, I-- I promise. You donât look delicious at all.â
A pause and then she added, âI mean, that isnât-- I am sure youâre delicious and all, you look really good in general, aesthetically and that is probably not related but I am just assuming that if anyone bit into you or something, theyâd find you tasting good and-- oh god do I sound like I am hitting on you now? I really am not, I promise, I would never-- well, that sounds rude, itâs nothing against you really, I promise, I just-- I am a lesbian and so youâre not really my type and-- and this got way out of hand and I really am going to stop talking now. Possibly sink into the ground and never come out again.â
At least him focusing on the bees gave her a bit of a distraction and a topic that she could safely talk about that will not lead to her embarrassing herself. âThank you. I attracted all of them myself, this place had no set hives around the farm, and all of this setup was built by me. With help, of course, I am not claiming that it wasnât, but it was mostly me. They are-- they mean a lot to me. I just hope they are thriving.â She was like a little proud mama over them, really.
She gave a nod. âYeah, it makes sense. This entire place is full of memories and people who have once lived here. If you cannot at all find the right place for you, you can just take one of the tents and set it up wherever youâd like, and there are a couple of people who are pretty good at building things. Willy built a bunch of the homes, mine included,â she nodded behind herself, towards her home near the apiary, âEmre is really handy and can make anything work, but others can do a bunch of stuff too. They can help you build your own home.â
She shook her head at his guess of her attunement. âNo, not air. Itâs fire.â Fire that sheâs been working on feeling better with, have been practicing lately to not feel like she just wanted to get away from it. It was a slow process, really. âBut you werenât that far from it. There was a few weeks a while back when all of our attunements got switched out and I got air. So it was a pretty good guess, really. Do you know what kind of things to pay attention to, by the way? When it comes to your attunement manifesting? I am assuming you didnât get yours yet.â















