Brook & Jenna Walker

It was a dreary day-- the entire sky had been a giant cloud, leftover from some morning showers. That was earlier today. The sky was fortunately clearing up and rays of warm sunshine were beginning to flood across the damp ground. The air was surprisingly cool and light. They had been told that they should at least take a small umbrella with them, but they refused. Neither wanted to carry around one of those things all day. This was actually the first day they bothered to see what all Atroe City had to offer. Carver's Bridge, the old dilapidated string of wood that had once connected the City from side to side, was their first destination, although not on purpose.

Being prepared to combat the weather, both girls dressed lightly. Brook had slipped on a plain tank top that was a shade of light green, with a pair of dark blue jean shorts. Both articles of clothing fit snugly and quite comfortably, allowing her to stay cool in the sun. On her feet were flip flops. Her twin sister, Jenna, was wearing a short sleeved pink polo shirt and shorts that matched the ones Brook had, except hers had a rectangular outline in one pocket-- her cell phone, just in case they should need it. She also wore flip flops. Both had their light brown hair pulled back into loose buns that bobbed with each step they took. Their first rule of summer was to dress comfortably and cool. They both easily achieved that. Another rule, have something fun or interesting to do. With school out, they were finding random things to be done.

Brook would be the first to uneasily glance around the old wooden bridge as it came into view. She was obviously unsure about whether they should hang around or not, since it didn't seem like such a safe place. This was evident when she asked her sister, "Do you think it's a good idea to come here?" Her voice reflected her uneasiness, but Jenna simply waved it off. "Oh, we won't stay around long." she replied.

Jenna was eyeing the bridge warily, noticing how some boards seemed less sturdy than others. She began walking across though with no difficulty and was soon halfway to the other side. There, she paused and turned to look out over the river below, holding onto the railing but being sure not to apply weight to it, just in case.

Brook once again followed after. She came to a stop next to Jenna and also looked down at the water. It seemed like such a long ways down. She shuddered at the thought of actually falling. That would be bad. After idly standing there for a couple of minutes, they began chatting about the rest of their day, such as where they would go next, when they would go home, what Paige might make for dinner...

Nadeem Tarak & Abhay

Clop, clop, clop, clop. The distinct sound of horse hooves striking against pavement sounded from the far side of the bridge, echoing faintly across the span of the river and the unsteady bridge that stretched over it. "Nch, nch, come along Abhay." The horse apparently needed the encouragement he was getting from the man that was walking in front of him, for he would frequently stop and sniff at the air, or lean his muzzle down to check out a promising patch of grass, all with a slight air of aloofness. "Nch, enough." Nadeem gave the lead a slight tug and clicked his tongue again, and this time, managed to coax Abhay away from the grass and to continue on walking the length of the road.

Upon reaching the bridge, Nadeem tethered his horse to a light pole and started out across the bridge. The young man stopped once to resettle the olive backpack he was carrying, then to briefly check the time on his cellphone, before continuing on in a careful stride over the wooden boards that he didn't trust Abhay stepping upon. On Nadeem went, until he noticed the two young ladies who where also on the bridge. Nadeem squinted his dark brown eyes across the distance to see if he could recognize the two, and finding that neither looked familiar to him, he decided to wave a hand and give them a hearty, "Nice day." A brief, pleasant smile was given, white teeth standing out against skin that was a dark brown-tan color.

Brook & Jenna Walker

The two girls, after having spoken a few more words of no immediate importance, drifted into silence. Jenna kept her arms pressed very lightly against the boarded railing of the bridge and still squinted her brown eyes across the landscape. The bridge provided a simple vantage point but there wasn't much else to see beyond the river, besides some hills that blocked her view. Then she heard the clopping of a nearby animal. Sounds like a horse... she thought to herself, before turning her head just in time to see the unknown man tether his horse to a pole, and then start across the bridge. She was wary of him when he spoke his greeting but to be polite, smiled and nodded in return. The young teen offered a greeting. "Hello," she said. Having never seen him around before, she decided to inquire about his name. "Um, who are you?" she asked, her words coming out rather bluntly.

Brook was always wary around all strangers and typically wasn't as outgoing as her sister when it came to these things. She stood back, but also gave a small smile in the form of the edges of her lips turning up just a bit. He obviously appeared friendly. Then her eyes drifted to the horse that he previously tied up.

Nadeem Tarak & Abhay

Off in the distance, Abhay pawed at the ground and tossed his head with an indignant flare. "There's no good grazing here." Of course, the horse's complaints were lost on Nadeem, Brook, and Jenna, but that didn't stop him from going on. "This grass taste chalky!" His inward-pointing ears, one of the trademark characteristics of the Marwari blood that ran through him, flicked and swiveled to shoo away a pesky fly that was buzzing around them. Giving a huff, Abhay cast Nadeem and the two ladies contemplative look before he lipped at the sparse vegetation within reach, mumbling to himself as he did so.

Back on the bridge, Nadeem was quietly gauging the reaction of the two people he'd come across, for much the same reason as that they were watching him. He'd been in this town for many years now, and had had his fair share of run-ins with... less friendly individuals. It paid to keep one's eyes open and perception sharp, to avoid getting tangled with the wrong crowds. Right off the bat however, he didn't find anything troubling about Brook or Jenna; they didn't appear to be wearing any gang-related clothing, and much like his pair of jeans and dusky-blue t-shirt, their attire was casual. "Nadeem." The young man offered his name freely when it was asked, "I don't mean to be a bother at all. I come here often to monitor birds in the area." As he said this, Nadeem was slipping the backpack off and rummaging through the contents, searching for the notebook he'd packed in there before leaving home this morning.

Brook & Jenna Walker Jenna had by now decided that Nadeem was a friendly individual, not unlike the other people that they had met in the valley. The few people that they did know appeared to be very respectable people, which was probably a very good thing. Jenna listened as he spoke his name, and then nodded. "I'm Jenna and she's Brook." she replied with just as much ease. He went on to talk about monitoring birds. She'd never heard of anyone doing that before. She paused for a moment, silent. "Really? How does that work?" she asked curiously. She found it difficult to even keep track of one bird.

Nadeem Tarak & Abhay

Always hungry for attention, Abhay didn't miss the way one of the humans was looking at him. For a few moments he forget about the 'chalky' grass he'd been feeding absently on, and raised his ebony head to look out across the bridge at Brook. Both of his peculiar ears swiveled in her general direction, only to catch the unintelligible words being traded between Jenna and his master. Quickly, the gelding's attention was distracted, leading him to making more random, under-breath comments to himself. "There he goes with all that noise making again. Humans are so strange."

Before long, Nadeem had a notebook in one hand, and after setting the backpack on the ground, he fished out a pair of binoculars. During all of this, he didn't let his manners slide, "It's nice to meet the both of you." He turned his dark eyes briefly to Brook, to acknowledge her even though she had remained quiet thus far. Then it was back to Jenna, to whom Nadeem replied with a note of excitement in his voice - not often did he find others who took interest in his job. "It mostly involves a lot of patience, and a deal of luck. What I do is count the number of birds that pass by, and catalog their species and gender, if I can determine it. Some of them also have bands on their legs, so I can monitor individual birds and learn more about their habits here in the valley."

Brook & Jenna Walker Jenna watched as Nadeem began to search for things in his backpack. She saw him take out a notebook and binoculars-- not wanting to be nosy, but curious as to what he did. She then smiled and nodded, listening to what he had to say about his job. It sounded sort of like a tough thing to do. She could imagine herself getting swamped and unable to keep track of things. "Is it hard to do?" she asked, eyes then diverted to look over the bridge once more. She wasn't sure how much more time they had, but she was enjoying this conversation.

"I wouldn't trust that bridge, you silly humans." From his distance, the horse's perked ears could hear the subtle creaks and groans that the dilapidated old bridge made, and it didn't sound all the safe to him. Of course, the weight of three little humans wasn't going to collapse it by any means, but Abhay shivered at the thought of even taking such a risk. "The view is much better over here anyway, with me." Seeing that one of the humans was still looking at him, the ebony horse couldn't help but give his head another toss, along with a throaty neigh.

Nadeem didn't bother looking over at the gelding, for he was well use to the horse's attention seeking habits. He did chuckle however, when he noticed that Brook had been watching Abhay. "He's something of a showoff, that horse." It was a small effort on the man's part to draw Brook into the conversation a little, or at least give her some acknowledgement so that he didn't come across as ignoring her. "It takes a bit of practice, but once you start to get to know the birds and their habits, it's not quite so difficult. And certainly safer than studying some of the larger animals in the Valley." The binoculars were hung around his neck as he flipped through the notebook to get to the right page, where he'd last left off cataloging the feathered creatures here. As he did that, Nadeem decided to turn the questions around, "How about you two? What brings you out this way?"

Brook's light brown eyes diverted once again to Nadeem as she realized he was speaking to her. This entire time she had been somewhat disconnected from the conversation as Jenna took over. However, it didn't bother her in the slightest. She gave a smile, and nodded. "One of the best types," she stated, finally speaking her first words. She was instantly reminded of their own horse, Ladybird. She was a bit of a showoff herself although at other times she preferred to be alone-- and often made it known. Her face lit up with another smile when Abhay neighed. She was also beginning to get drawn into the conversation between her sister and Nadeem more and more, as topics concerning animals typically did.

Jenna, finding that this meeting was taking longer than what she had anticipated, absentmindedly settled herself against the railing of the bridge. She looked at Nadeem, nodding away at each thing he had to say about his work. By now, she had just about forgotten that Brook was even there, and now he was asking about themselves. "Oh, we just came here to look around-- we haven't been in Atroe for long. We traveled out with our sister a few months ago." she said, sparing any little details as she figured she shouldn't bore him with them. "It's a nice place," she added, "although we would like to see some more of the wildlife." to which Brook nodded her head in agreement.