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 Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:37 pm
This is a [PRP] Private Roleplay
between Ezhno Paiute (Whirlwing) and Enyeto Sioux (Kanove)
set at the Shald River.
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
The day was clear but not too hot, and Ezhno was hiking the length of the island, armed with a sharpened stick and a knife he'd swiped from the breakfast hall. At meals, the room held more people than he'd seen in his lifetime, many of them ridiculous-looking, and perfectly content to be living on top of each other in the same house, the men and the women all together. Ezhno would hardly call himself a traditionalist, not like those zealots who sacrificed all their prime cuts to Chahliye and fasted thrice a ten-day, but to share their dwelling with their fellows, strangers and girls they'd not bedded? Did the men here have no pride?
It was one of many things Ezhno found repugnant about this new land, along with its wastefulness, wet winds and improper women. Like that harpy Cecilie, who'd shown him where he would sleep, taken his furs and dagger, and could probably talk an enemy tribe to its knees. He scowled at the memory. Who was she to order him about like his mother?
...It was a sound that distracted him, followed quickly by his nose. Grizzled desert nomads could smell water trapped beneath the sand, and with a stab in the right spot, bring it surging to the surface. Ezhno was not quite so skilled, but there was no mistaking the scent of it. He followed as instinct demanded, and sure enough, there it was beyond the line of trees, just a few steps from the path.
A river. Not calm and placid as Nodin had imagined it to be, but choppy and terrifying, like the sudden turn in Ezhno's mood. One day here and the next day gone, only Ezhno kept expecting to see him appear, smiling and apologising for sleeping so long.
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:14 am
His position on the subject had been the same now, he simply refused to take part in the student lunch. His meal was what he harvested from the hidden garden by the river. Staring down from a tree branch at the winding river Enyeto took a deep breath and reminisced.
He remembered the rolling hills and flattened plains of his homeland, and the many a river that came sprawling forth from the hills. The rivers granted them life and prosperity for their harvest. The river also guided them, led them to the seas and their sister village when times got hard. Though Enyeto had found by one journey that the river ended in dunes of restless desert sand as they neared the mother sea. Was it their own land that was fertile with sparse trees, frolicking fish, and dancing water? He hopped not, for Enyeto was not one for suffering.
Returning to his own mind by the tug of a passing breeze Enyeto blinked a couple of times and stared daringly down at the river. It seemed to surge more than it had in previous days for the whispers and cries of the fish were louder than ever. Looking up the embankment he saw a curious figure, a Common Student, and possibly a Sacrifice, staring into the rolling seas.
With his intentions pure the Nateev boy jumped from the tree branch and landed with a silent thud, only to stand and offer his hand to the other. Granted he was still feet away, but it was better to be safe then to land himself in a bad spot.
Using his hand to wave the Nateev greeting sign of 'Welcome' he nodded with a smile, "Hello there."
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:59 pm
Everyone knew it was faster and easier to travel alone. Ezhno had sneered before as Maachk's men geared up to hunt, not understanding why people preferred to move in groups like ground squirrels, making twice as much noise, fleeing back to their colonies at the first sign of danger and leading a hunter in to slaughter the lot. Nodin had rolled his eyes, but fondly. At the time, Ezhno hadn't thought anything of the fact that Nodin was standing right beside him.
He'd never minded walking in empty places, chasing quarry at noontide over dunes where there were no shadows. The earth had never seen fit to harm him. Maybe Nodin had cut himself when shaping the wood of his amulet, or wrapped hair in the twine; he could count on it to take him home, and when he returned, Nodin would be there to comment on his raggedness, fill him in on what he'd missed or tell him he stank to Halan. Now all places were empty, lost.
Ezhno bit down on his tongue hard enough to taste blood. He hated to be wrong almost as much as he hated being weak, and now he discovered he was both. Half-mortal terror, they called him, and he'd been fool enough to believe he was untouchable. Maar was death, and the god had brushed right past him, like a reminder.
A displacement of air snapped his thread of thought. He spun, and his heart skipped at the familiar gesture, the fleeting impression of hair and skin. Nodin's face faded, like a mirage, the sound of imagined rain.
The boy - phantom - said something, but Ezhno didn't hear, the blood rushing through his ears at a volume that threatened to drown him.
"Who are you?" he snarled, stricken. He did not really look like Nodin at all.
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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:30 pm
The words hit him like ice, but with a nod he detained the feeling in the back of his mind. He knew he would have to introduce himself, but he was becoming tired of it already. It was the same old introduction over and over, but it was the easiest way to introduce yourself to another Sacrifice. It gave a lot of information real quick.
He took a breath,"My name is Enyeto Sioux, I am from Nateev, and am of the Ranger Core."He paused for a moment before returning the question and dropping his hand. He felt as if this individual was not going to be one for friendly introductions right off the bat. Instead, Zhong stood properly and eyed the river next to them with curiosity. He had rode a rive before and knew how they flowed across the land, but this one felt angry to him.
Dismissing himself from the formalities the nateev climbed over a couple of rocks and angled himself far enough over the water where he could sink his hand in. It was bitter, cold, like something had disturbed it upstream.
"Do you know if there has been any rain in the hills?" he questioned, climbing back to where he originally stood. He asked without consideration to if the gentleman was listening or not, he merely wanted to know if there had been a disturbance. If not, he wanted to find out what was causing the water to surge.
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Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:19 am
A heartbeat of stillness as the boy spoke quickly and clearly. A child. The darkness within receded a few steps as he copied the greeting, but sloppily, a half-hearted motion that was either disrespectful or lazy.
Inlander, he snorted indelicately, not bothering to hide his derision as he recognised the tribe. Up on the cushy reserve, no doubt they grew fat on spiced carcasses; he'd heard tell the traders would barter their own children for the right price. And maybe that explained why they refused yearly to send their sons and daughters to the Paiute for marriage negotiations – their blood ran too thin.
He tracked the Sioux's movements as he scaled the rocks overhanging the river, belatedly taking in the skin paint, the intent way he dipped his hand into the water, and marvelled that the churning rapids didn't rip it right off and carry it all the way to the ocean. He opened his mouth to ask what a cub was doing so far from home - because the idea of this kid being remotely like a boar was laughable - and that was when he noticed it; Enyeto's distinct lack of a braid.
The distance between them disappeared. In the space of a blink, Ezhno's fingers held Enyeto's neck in a hold that wasn't quite rough as he tried to get a better look, but at the same time careful not to actually touch the other boy's hair. "Did they do this to you?" he hissed, suspicions heightened by the short, uneven ends that looked as though they'd been hacked off in a hurry. "Maar and Asha, those ******** bastards." Sacrilege. The measure of a man's spirit was the length of their hair - if those so-called priests had the gall to commit such desecration, he'd spill their blood all over the temple steps before Halan's Light. Let them see what Sacrifice they required then.
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Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:17 pm
"My hair was cut before I came to this place, yes."he replied, shoving the other away. Enyeto was no giant but his strength surpassed his appearance. He would not be approached in another way not by a countryman. Granted in Nateev each tribe was their own power, but he knew better than to treat any other person in Nateev in that manner.
he scrutinized the other in his mind, looking him up and down with precision. "I guess you hail from Northern Nateev, the drier of the Nateev tribes?"he questioned blankly. His tone was rid of emotion as he stared at the other. Whether or not he meant to be rude by his approach was his call, but Enyeto didn't approve of it and he wouldn't stand for it.
Taking rest on a boulder on the river's edge he stared faintly into the water."I'm guessing you too were taken from your land without choice?"he sighed with the question but kept his shoulders erect. His posture and the way he looked pointed to his origin to the southern home tribe.
Enyeto's tribe sat between the fork of a river that ran out to Ezhno's tribe. The land of Nateev was drier the further you got to the ocean waters. The further south you go the thicker the lines of trees became and the more forceful the weather acted. Whether or not it was their location or ties with nature that prevented true communication between the two allies, Enyeto recognized one thing- they were still allied under one bond.
They were both Nateevs and they were both brought here of no agreement to their will."I know not of the gods you speak for I guess our tribes call them by different names." he whispered. He meant no insult by thee statement and hoped that the other would take it in better judgment.
"You name means?" he questioned, touching the patch of thinner hair on his head.
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Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 9:43 pm
Ezhno gave a grunt of surprise at the sudden pressure on his abdomen. He only backed up a step, but the force required him to dig his heels into the mud-softened ground. Huh. He met Enyeto's eyes, as jarringly unnatural as his own and blue like lapis lazulis. The little guy was stronger than he looked.
He quirked a grin that was more feral than friendly, feeling it pull on the scars that proved just what a disobedient cur he was. Good to know the kid wouldn't stand still and let himself be manhandled, but it didn't escape Ezhno's notice that he hadn't answered the question. "Before," he repeated, and didn't ask whether it had been a witchdoctor or the boy's own father, or the ignorant whim of the priest that went to collect him, like a brand to mark which goat belonged to you, and which belonged to your neighbours. Ezhno didn't know a thing about tact, but he did know something about pride.
He lifted his shoulder in a half-shrug. "The East, near the Persa border." There was only one tribe that lived so deep in that direction, but Ezhno had no particular desire to say the name, not wanting to be burdened by what was left behind. And rumour was powerful; the Paiute had a reputation among the Nateev as bloodthirsty warmongers. Moreover, this wasn't entirely untrue.
"As if those lily-handed holymen could take me anywhere I didn't want to go." He bared his teeth, daring Enyeto to comment, and splashed into the chilly depths without particular care for his clothes, which were already dirt-streaked and fraying, or the fact that he couldn’t swim.
"Halan, who was the First, who is everywhere and everything, and who made creation by breathing life into the blackness. He who shaped the world and shares it with his brother, Asha, who undoes as Halan builds, so that the earth will not collapse under the weight of people and trees and houses that live forever." The words came easily, a story even babes knew.
"Call me Ezhno, 'I walk alone.'" He took several probing steps against the flow of the stream and glanced back at Enyeto as if in challenge. "So tell me, 'he who walks like a boar,' are you handing the foreigners their backsides in your ranger classes?" He asked it mockingly, but not in a way that was truly unkind.
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Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 7:08 pm
He had maintained his silence in respect of the other. That he commended to himself Ezhno deserved. At least, until he or Enyeto could prove himself otherwise. Pausing for a moment and staring at the character he kept his tongue sealed. There was not much to say to another Nateev. Unlike other countries the tribes were distinct but held a few common traits- they believed in the same gods with different names, hunt was the source of food, and their beliefs about the after life and life itself.
Pausing, Enyeto dropped his hand and reapproached the other. His body was a good arms length away but he felt insulted by how he was called 'boar'."Bear." he noted curtly. His correction was not meant to disrespect but to correct.
Instead of lingering and commenting on the others explanation of the gods, he went forward with answering the question. "You know as I that the other cultures train not in the skill of observation and tactics," he paused, "Though I faced to bloodshed I have obtained the skills of my forefathers and ancestors and therefore- yes, I am hanging the foreigners their backsides."
Enyeto still wasn't used to communicating in the language they were learning here. It was simple enough but talking so much wasn't a strong skill. None of the Nateevs were particularly skilled in it. At least, not from his tribe. Enyeto recognized one thing, communicating with anything but words seemed obsolete to many of these people.
"Do you find it odd as I to use your tongue so much?" he questioned, positioning himself comfortably on his feet.
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