|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 5:30 pm
 |
|
|
 |
Solo - Learning to tolerate a frog
Light filtered through wispy low morning clouds, the sounds of the night was slowly fading away and every morning seemed the same. The dawn would come slowly and its light would casually land upon two sleeping figures. The female's eyes would flutter open, and she would turn her head and stopping would...stare a bit startled at a creature which had somehow followed her home from the forest of Jauhar. Keilana still wasn't sure how it managed to follow her all this way, it was largely out of its habitat, having been used to fungi and forest and these ere the plains, fairly dry...it was a slow moving creature and a rather stupid looking one so how could it manage to follow her home?
When it had appeared, Keilana couldn't explain it to her brother. It had appeared when she had opened her bag, and while she was taking out the fruit that she had gathered she was surprised to discover it hidden in the bottom of the bag, amongst the fruit she had gathered. Startled it had freaked her out at first, for it was the last thing she expected it to be there. With a small peep the bag had dropped from her hands, nearly thrown to the ground and the contents spilled, the spitorog had come crawling out from the crushed contents of the bag. Once free it has sat there unblinking and blew spit bubbles at her.
She recalled her brother asking if it was edible, and she had no idea, for it looked dumb enough to club easily with a rock or the branch she had brought home for example, but it was so small..and covered in spikes. She also wasn't entirely sure if it was poisonous. Dismissing the idea she told her brother she wasn't going to risk her life on a possible meal and to leave it be it would either die from being out of its environment or hunger either way she wasn't going to waste energy killing it.
Disregarding it after discovering it Keilana and her brother went back to their ever day routine, but ever since its first appearance...it would vanish when you weren't looking and appear in the last place you would expect it. Always in a place you didn't think it could reach a high rock for example or the crutch of a branch in a low shrub...but most often it seemed to watch her while she slept, or at least this was what she assumed since every morning she would awake to the thing just a few feet from her face. Staring at her with that unblinking stare and spitting those bubbles from its mouth.
Every morning she wondered why she didn't just get rid of it, kill it and be done. It surprised her how she hesitated on killing the creature, after all she had no qualms when it came to feeding herself or her brother. Yet, when she looked at the pathetic excuse of a creature she felt sorry for it. Some how it felt taboo to kill something that had no reason to exist other than by pure luck. So she left it alone and for the most part learned to tolerate its presence.
This morning was like any other, she awoke found the spitorog she had nicknamed Slow watching her. She mouthed good morning to it as she would rather die than have her brother find out she was greeting the stalker frog thing every morning now. Keilana couldn't tell you why she did it, despite herself she was finding the spitorog a familiar comfort now. Though she would avidly deny it if anyone was to ask.
Today she was going to check her traps and snares like she routinely did in the breaking light, that way she would have enough time to check all her traps before the heat of the day as well reset them. If any of her traps yielded prey she would of course be delighted, but then would have to do in the critter, skin and gut it and prep the bodies so that the blood wouldn't settle and poison the meat. It wasn't pretty work, certainly not glamorous but she only flinched when she had to kill it before going about the task that was fairly easy for her to do now.
Knife in hand she would clean it off on the nearby grass retrieve her prizes and then trott off to the next spot. She would need to make sure to cook the meat, smoke it...to preserve it. Otherwise it would spoil quickly and would be pointless in their deaths. Keilana wasn't cruel to the animals, she didn't think that they didn't deserve to live. But in a world where eat or be eaten she had little choice if she and her brother wanted to survive.
Moving she found herself in quite a predicament, one of the largest prey she had ever caught in one of her snares was hissing and chewing at the line that had ensnared its back foot. Tail lashing violently its large ears flattened to its skull, sweeping along its supple spine. Keilana had never caught one of these creatures in her traps before, either it had been clumsy or her snares were getting better. Either way it was the biggest thing she had caught as well, with rows of sharp needle like teeth in that muzzle. Keilana had seen poscuta before, solitary creatures that tended to hunt at night...so she had to wonder how long this one had been ensnared.
It looked tired yet tenacious it eye's Keilana warily and hunching its back hissed at her, much like some smaller feline like species that Keilana had seen as a child. Unlike felines however you could see this creatures claws and its snarling muzzle full of teeth. It made the strangest trilling growl as she sat back on her heels pondering how to deal with it.
The air grew humid as the sun continued to rise in the sky, Keilana was thirsty and taking her water skin uncorked it and began to drink. The poscuta who had by now laid down glaring at her distrustfully, perked up. Its nose wiggling as it sniffed the air, probably detecting the water in her pouch. Raising its head it started at the girl and licked its lips. Blinking she at first laughed, the critter thinking she was going to give it water must of been seriously dehydrated.
That gave her pause, the creature was probably very dehydrated, and upon looking at it again she realized it wasn't a full grown poscuta...but a kit. Still a very sharped teeth thing..but just a young one. Gritting her teeth she looked away from it, trying to remind herself she was going to kill it and eat it just like the other creatures. Keilana always hesitated for the briefest of moments before she was about to do them in, but she had never before felt ...bad about killing them. They were food, meat and she and her brother needed it.
Still, looking over the poscuta was panting looking overheated and past exhaustion. Surely it would be safe now to get close. Dragging a branch close in case it decided to lunge she inched herself closer. The poscuta though had no interest at this point to try and take a bite out of her hand, instead lowering its head it lay panting to the point where she could of sworn that it was going to pass out. Pity flooded through her though she tried to push it away.
Keilana was only inches away from the creature, the snare on its leg had bit in deep from it flailing around and thrashing. She could see that it had just barely managed to withstand being gnawed through, in fact if it had been only a bit thinner the kit probably could of made an escape. Sighing she first off scrounged for something she could use as a make shift bowel. Once something suitable had been found she filled it with water and nudged it towards the creature's snout before turning her attention to the line.
Hoping that it would be more focused on drinking water than trying to attack her whilst she took out a knife and began cutting away the snare. One part of her was annoyed that the creature had made so much of a mess of her snare. There was the snip sound as the knife cut through the thick rope, another snip sound as she tried to cut the rope a bit closer to the poscuta's leg. Last thing she needed on her mind was worrying about it getting the rope caught on something.
The poscuta had stilled and watching her out of the corner of her eyes and as soon as the line was cleanly cut it sprang away offering a hiss before it turned and lept away. Rolling her eye's the leaf tribe girl continued to gather her rope before she noticed the water was completely gone in the make shift bowl. Greedy little bugger.
Standing up Keilana sighed, wondering how she would explain to her brother what had happened today. Maybe she wouldn't tell him at all... with a sigh she turned around only to stop suddenly noticing that upon a rock sat the spitorog, as if it had been watching her this entire time.
TBC ~ Word count: 1616
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 12:05 am
|
|
|
|
Solo - One of these things..is not like the other
The sun had set, the dry hot air was finally starting to cool and it was when they were both preparing for bed, that a youngling came running up to them proclaiming that they had a message for her brother Jac. The message had been brief, and her brother had been summoned to a 'event'. It was the only way she could describe it as the youngling was quite out of breath and quite excited to be doing such an important task. Her brother on the other hand only vague of what the message had meant or entailed, so she could only guess as much herself.
They had gone to bed a bit rattled and though the message had nothing to do with her, she couldn't help but feel a bit chilled by it. As well irritated. Sleep was reluctant to come to her and the stars were well placed into the night sky before her eyes became heavy and sleep claimed her.
At dawn, he broter had gotten up, gotten ready to go and then firmly instructed that she stay here while he went to see what the elder's wanted. As he left however Keilana couldn't help but stick her tongue out at her brothers broad back and then think that he was being tested by the elder's for something. Something very important, a trails of sorts. Thinking on it, it made sense, after all they were the right age for it, those with potential would be summoned to perform some deed for the elder. And though she should be proud that her brother was going ...all that consumed her thoughts were Why wasn't it me?.
Keilana was still laying in her bed as the sun continued to rise not waiting for her to get up. The morning air was still cool, and her brother was long gone for whatever it was he was being summoned for and finally decided she should continue with her day before it ran away without her. Keilana sat up slowly and ran her fingers through her hair. Her mind was still rolling around the question of why her brother was chosen to perform in front of an elder and not herself. A few reason's floated to the surface of her mind, perhaps it was because he was the older sibling. But even that didn't make sense for he wasn't that much older than herself and there were no set rules on how old you had to be in order to be tested. What had they seen in him that they wanted to test him?
Distracted Keilana moved off searching the damp grass for a moment before returning and offering Slow the spitorog a slug for breakfast. Its presence there so habitual that she had taken to saying good morning to it. Then she went to get her own breakfast which consisted of a strip of dried meat. Nibbling on it she walked past the spitorog who seemed to be having troubles focusing on its own breakfast placed before it. This was a treat for Slow since she would never do it while her brother was around. Keilana could only imagine her brothers reaction that she seemed to be softening towards the strange creature who stalks her every move.
Mulling over various things, the shifter girl went about her morning routine as if in a daze. Wondering when her brother would be back, if her hunch had been right and what he was being tested for. Chewing on her thumb nail she set about gnawing it almost to the nail bed, and only stopped when it started to sting from the abuse. As if annoyed that she was forced to stop she went to brush her hair rather roughly and giving a small squeal as it was caught in a tangle and yanked the roots.
Sighing she attempted to calm herself down and undo the knot, slowly she began to hum, rocking slightly back and forth the song was a lullaby that her mother use to sing. It was one of the few things she could remember about her, that and her combing her hair. Patting it she wondered if she could grow it long, her mother had always said she had pretty hair. With a pause in her song she looked to the little clump of hair that was the know in her hair now in the palm of her hand.
Dropping it to the ground she got up and decided to get on with her day, no sense in waiting for her brother to get back since she had no idea when he would return. Running it over in her head, she imagined the types of weapons he had shown interest in. The bow was the primary one. Since it would be advantages in hunting. Imagining herself holding a bow she pulled the invisible draw string and whispered 'got ya' when she let go. But when it came right down to it...she didn't think she would have the patience to sit and wait for prey to happen upon her. The bow...never captured her attention in fact she felt more comfortable with a large tree branch in her hand. The bark biting into her hand as she swung it around...
Just like when she had gone after the shifter in the Jahaur forest, there was some smug satisfaction of looking that intimidating that a person would think twice about annoying her. Thinking on it she went to gather that same branch she had stubbornly dragged back from the forest and felt its weight in her hands. It felt comfortable there, comforting...like an old friend. Looking down at it she knew she would look silly wielding a tree branch as a weapon. Sifting through her head she pondered on what...exactly she could wield.
When she was young she recalled seeing beserkers, and how scary they looked wielding their fists as their weapons. Keilana had always thought she would make a good beserker, she was always punching her brother or lashing out at those who were rude to her. But as she was older she knew fist fights...wouldn't last her forever, nor would people take her seriously with a punch of her hand. Besides she could break her hands fighting like that...and she didn't want to risk losing her hands that way.
No she liked the feel of the weight in her hands, the satisfaction of lifting it and being able to swing it. Looking down at the branch in hand she hefted it, her muscles were not quite use to wielding its weight. Keilana recalled when she had hit the tree in the Jahaur forest with it, how it had numbed both her arms after she had smashed it against the tree trunk. It had taken days for her arms to return to normal. They ache'd so badly she was much crankier when it came to her brother, and in general she had to force her way through the pain else be taunted continuously about being weak.
Keilana pondered if using a mace would have the same effect. Would her arm become numb with each blow that was struck? Somehow she doubted it. After all how would Brutes be able to wield such weapons if they were constantly dropping them after each hit. Maybe you got use to it? Keilana had no idea, given her only experience with hitting things was with a large tree branch. Pondering briefly if training would help to null that experience, or at least shorten the duration.
Branch in hand she felt her muscle quiver as she lifted it over her head, she took a couple practice swings but found herself tiring out quickly.
The sun was not that high and she found that it was getting immensely warm from her activities. Keilana was glad that no one could see her as she practiced overhead and underhand blows. Her hands were quick and nimble and soon the branch was being dropped over and over. Fumbling and sweaty she hunched down to look at the branch accusingly.
Keilana had dropped it trying to do some fancy hand work by tossing the branch from one to the other, but she was too tired and her reaction time too late, the thudded heavy against the ground rising the dust around it and then stilled. Coughing Keilana waved a hand trying to disperse the dirt in the air, glaring down at the make shift weapon before retrieving it. Her muscles were tired even though it hadn't been a very long practice.
Pursing her lips she laid it on her shoulder and figured that this sort of weapon would be most suited to her. Something she could use to intimidate her opponents, make her feel stronger. Maybe if she wielded such a weapon her brother would figure she could take care of herself.
TBC ~ Word Count: 1534
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:11 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:03 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 7:02 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:01 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:39 am
|
|
|
|
Reserved for Solo - The trip home
The trip home had been awkward, so very awkward as she was forced to be cival to the one who now was stealing her brothers attention. Jealous? Yes...she supposed she could acknowledge she was jealous of Takoda. After all she spent her entire life time having her brother faun over her and protect her and now that attention was being split and not evenly in her mind.
She supposed she could blame it on it being Jacinthu's first love...he had never shown any interest in a woman (though she knew why now..) and so she had figured he would be with her always. Though she had her own crushes...she felt slightly childish thinking over them. Crushing on an older man was doomed to fail, she should of seen that...and now she was going to end up by herself.
It was night, everyone had turned in for the night, her brother with the shifter though there had been a bit of flushing and flustered gestures upon the decision where everyone was to sleep. Keilana took a deep breath, the air was warmer already...they had moved back through the mountain, retracing their steps as they went.
Keilana had taken a few more trinkets from the hoard that was in the cave, tucking them away for future trades in her own village. Though...who knew if any of them would actually want to trade for a bauble..rather than something useful. But it was shiny, and she was sure she could find some sap who wanted it as a sign of..power...or wealth...or some nonsense. Pulling the cloak tighter around her shoulders she felt rather isolated, despite her brother and the shifter being opposite to her on the other side of the small fire they had built to fend off the cold.
Though her front was cold she turned herself around so that her back faced the fire, she couldn't help but want to avoid looking at the two bodies huddled together on the other side. Now her back was warm, but it was little comfort when she felt like she was very cold everywhere else. Even in the warmer climate...it still felt bitterly cold. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the cold from Zena had permanently seeped into her bones. The girl doubted she would ever travel to that place again...too many memories, and disappointments had occurred there.
Grumbling she wondered if she should leave right now, she knew the way home..and she could make better time if she was by herself. Though she knew that..her brother would worry, and probably waste of lot of time trying to find her and then once found lecture her. Sighing a hand came up for her to lean against, her gaze looking up at the twinkling lights above and wondering if this was some cruel joke that the gods were playing on her.
Replacing her with a a man...not just a man but a shifter male stung. Keilana supposed you could find love in all sorts of places, but this had been the last one she ever thought her brother would go to. His distrust of the other tribes...well...she didn't think he would go for someone from a different race and perhaps part of that was what bothered her. Keilana thought she knew her brother well, well enough she could predict his thoughts and actions...and how he had proved her wrong.
Though she had worried about him never finding the right girl, she supposed now she knew why he showed no interest in women...he preferred the company of men. Another sight as she adjusted her cloak around her shoulders and brought her legs in closer to her body in an attempt to warm herself. Her gaze was stuck looking above her, at the night sky and the moon. How they seemed so distant, twinkling as if silently judging her or rather laughing at her predicament.
Her gaze moved back to look at the horizon, even illuminated by the moon there wasn't a lot to look at besides the looming forms of rocks, boulders and the few scrabbles of what would be described as bushes. The landscape only helped her feel more isolated and hunkering down she sighed. Perhaps trying to think about what she could look forward to home would be better.
The familiar hunting grounds, the people..perhaps she could arrange to see Animah, she missed the girl and that surprised her greatly especially since upon their first meeting she had thought her a bit...too...girly for her. Was that the right description? No..girly wasn't it...too..happy. Yep happy was the proper choice of words. Animah was the type of girl who just...boiled over with happiness and Keilana wistfully wished the girl was around.
Keilana made a note to make sure that she got together with her, after all she could use a bit of bubbly happiness right now, though she had to wonder if even Animah would be able to make her feel better. There was little point she supposed worrying about it now, she felt herself resist a yawn and then unable to stop herself she found herself yawning. The night seemed endless and perhaps it was best she got some sleep, after all the last thing she needed was her brother getting irritated with her because she was being too slow on the trek home.
Settling she went to get herself more comfortable, settling herself before the fire her eyes feeling very heavy all of a sudden. The ground was uncomfortable and the fire was dying down and caused her to shiver. Why did she have to be looking at her brother and his lover just before she was falling asleep. She was sure to have nightmares about the pair of them...or worse...her being alone. Either way she wasn't going to sleep well...and in the morning it should show how she had tossed and turned.
Word Count: 1016 (new req count)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
