Author's Notes: For those who have asked, the sense of smell is currently proving problematice for me while the other senses already have outlines and pairings attached to them.
Begin
It was a guilty joy that ran down Fa's spine, but it was joy nonetheless. She was finally going to leave Arcadia behind, to see the Outside World. She just had to do it quickly, before any of the elders found the note she had left them.
The young dragon knew that she shouldn't leave the safety of Arcadia without her guardian's permission, but she'd been waiting for her chance to leave these walls for years. Now she had a chance to do it and people to travel with- it was too good an opportunity to pass up!
Fa took one last look over her shoulder, realized that no one was following her, and then ran for all she was worth. The dark-haired dragon slipped through the city gates, leaving Nabata far behind, and vanished into the swirling sandstorm that perpetually covered the Nabata desert. She left the safety of Arcadia behind and struck out for the Outside World on the other side of the desert.
She ran for a long time.
After a while, Fa's legs began to hurt from running so hard. The girl slowed to a walk and took a look around. She was surprised to realize that she was still somewhere in the desert. Sandy dunes and swirling dust surrounded her from every angle. It was very strange, maybe The Outside World was farther away than she thought? It must be a very big Outside World if it was so far away- she'd been running for hours.
Fa felt a smile forming on her lips. It didn't matter how far away it was, she was finally going to see that Outside World! Everyone in Arcadia knew that Fa wanted to escape the confining city, but few knew why. That was a secret that Fa had carefully guarded for many, many, many, many years. It was her little secret and she'd never tell anyone else!
It had all started long ago when two strangers had arrived in Arcadia. That was special! It was something that never happened. Fa had been around for a long time, but she'd never seen anyone new come to Arcadia.
It was a man and a woman who had come to visit Arcadia, and they were very strange people. Fa knew that there were dragons, which was what she was, and that there were humans. She lived with both of them in Arcadia, so she didn't think that the man and woman were strange because they couldn't grow tails, feathers and wings. They were strange because they talked and acted funny. They acted so funny that even ArchSage Athos would laugh at them- and Fa had never seen him laugh before!
Sometimes the man would run his hand over the woman's yellow hair and say that she looked beautiful. Then the woman would blush and say something about the man being something-that-Fa-couldn't-pronounce. Then Athos would laugh- they were funny people.
But these people had to have come from somewhere. When Fa asked where they came from, the elders simply said 'The Outside World'. The problem was that Fa didn't know what 'The Outside World' was. So she'd asked about it. The elders didn't like that question.
So Fa went to the funny man and woman and asked them what The Outside World was. The woman had told her about a lot of things; about something called 'Rabbits' and something called 'Birds' that flew over 'Mountains'. Then they talked about this thing called 'Storms' that dropped 'Rain' instead of Sand and then about 'Snow' which was kind of like 'White Rice', although if they were alike then Fa didn't think she'd like this 'Snow' at all. She hated Rice.
It didn't matter how much they talked about it, though. Fa had no idea what any of these things were supposed to be. If it didn't involve Sand, then she didn't know what it was.
Fa wanted to see all these things that she had heard talked about. She wanted to see just how tall a 'Mountain' was and just how low a 'Valley' was supposed to be. It didn't matter how you described it, Fa just couldn't imagine it from words alone.
But that was only part of the reason that Fa wanted to see The Outside World so bad.
The man with silver hair and the woman with yellow hair were funny, but they weren't the only other funny people. Shortly after the funny man and woman came to Arcadia, more people arrived. Some were funny and some were scary. There was the man with red hair who talked funny to this lady with green hair. There was also this pretty lady with sharp eyes who argued with a giant most of the time. The giant was a very funny man who would bluster and shout. Fa never got tired of watching the giant's face turn red. He was very funny.
All of these people were odd. But they were funny to certain other people and they seemed to like being funny.
And something about that made Fa... feel weird. Watching all the funny people act funny made Fa want someone to act funny with her. She wanted people to play with her, yes; but she really wanted someone who would be funny to her.
Fa wanted someone to stroke her hair and tell her that she was pretty. She wanted to be able to say something funny to a man that would make the ArchSage Athos laugh.
The silver-haired man and the yellow-haired lady were always being funny. She was always hearing them talk about things. Sometimes she heard them say that they only needed each other, or that the pale-haired lady would follow the silver-haired man all over The Outside World. Fa always had to work hard to avoid laughing when she heard them talking all funny. It was weird.
Then there was the green-haired lady and the blue-haired man. Fa liked hearing them pretend to be angry with each other and make up funny insults. Fa also liked listening to them pick out everything that the other did wrong and pretend that they couldn't stand it. They were really funny; really weird.
But the green lady and the blue man didn't act the same way that the green lady and the red-haired man who sat on a horse did. It was always strange to listen to them after the green lady and the blue man got done pestering each other. Fa found it strange how the green lady could be fighting with the blue man one minute, and then turn around and act all... weird... around the red man. She remembered hearing the green lady talk to the red man and how neither of them seemed to really understand how to be relaxed around the other. It wasn't fun listening to them talk. It was awkward. Fa felt awkward talking to them. Fa imagined that they felt awkward talking to each other.
But the red-haired man in blue clothes and the teal-haired lady were really 'cute' together. Fa remembered the yellow-haired man saying that. Fa didn't know what 'cute' was, but the yellow man looked like he knew what he was talking about, so she figured that it must be true.
Fa liked the teal lady; there was something really familiar about her. But she didn't know what. She smelled like a human, but there was something about her that seemed... odd...
Whenever she listened to the teal lady and the blue man, she couldn't help but feel fuzzy inside. At first, Fa had worried that hearing the two talk was giving her a cold, but that hadn't been the case. The teal lady liked the blue man, and their words weren't as funny as the silver man and yellow lady's, Fa remembered that their words sounded more 'cute' than the others. And that made her feel all funny inside.
But the funniest thing Fa could remember hearing were the words between the blue man and the girl with funny hair. The girl's hair wasn't really blue, but it wasn't really purple either. Fa didn't know what color it was, but it was somewhere between blue and purple. She had always liked listening to those two, they were the funniest of all the people who had come to Arcadia.
The girl would walk up behind the blue man and act like she was talking, but no words would come out of her mouth. Instead the girl would squeak and whimper. The girl would then act more and more nervous. Then the blue man would turn around and look at the girl, and the girl would just run away. Fa always fell over laughing when the two tried to talk. It was funny that the funniest people never really said anything.
Fa had assumed that they were playing a game or something. So one time after the girl had finished running away, Fa decided to join them. She had slipped up behind the blue man with the axe and started moving her mouth without speaking. After a few minutes Fa had a hard time not laughing, because the blue man hadn't noticed her yet. Finally, the blue man heard her and turned around- which caused Fa to laugh really hard and run away as fast she could. For some reason, her face had turned really, really red as she ran away. Fa didn't know why.
The blue-haired man had jumped really high and started talking really loud and fast about how now every 'blasted, fickle female was out to mess with his head'. Fa had fallen over laughing after hearing that.
Fa had really liked hearing all the ways that these funny people talked to each other. But she couldn't help but feel... sad... too. Fa really wanted someone to be funny with her, or to treat her in funny ways. She felt all alone that she had no one to be funny with her.
So that was why Fa had left. Fa wanted someone to be funny, so Fa would just go out into 'The Outside World' and find someone. The Outside World was a really big place, she was sure of that since the desert was pretty big and she hadn't even found the end of the desert yet. So surely someone in The Outside World there would be a person who found her funny. She'd just have to find her funny person.
And then she wouldn't have to settle for just listening to the funny people. She could be a funny person.
End
A.N.: Fa proved both fun and awkward to right; from what I've seen, she's ridiculously simple minded but pretty sharp on the uptake when she wants to be. Finding a balance of that was slightly difficult.