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RuddyPup
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RuddyPup
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 5:57 pm
The Conscience
Text Color: #008950 Name: Phenyo Means: Victory Gender: Female Species: Alkidike Sexuality: Jerarda-sexual Status: Single
Aspiration: Amazon - Archer Hobby: Wood Carving Pet Peeve: Anyone that's not Jera
Personality Traits: - Patient: 1. bearing provocation, annoyance, misfortune, delay, hardship, pain, etc., with fortitude and calm and without complaint, anger, or the like. - Attentive: 1. characterized by or giving attention; observant. 2. thoughtful of others; considerate; polite; courteous. - Composed: 1. calm; tranquil; serene.
History: As a youngling, Phen was more interested in keeping her head down, being out of the way, and staying out of trouble. Jerarda changed all that by singling Phenyo out and dragging her along on one adventure after another. Maybe it was because Phenyo was the least threatening of the younglings their age, or maybe because Phen just looked like she needed a friend - you'd have to go ask Jer why she picked this quiet and unassuming girl, but regardless, Phen wouldn't have it any other way.
❖ Jerarda - Phenyo's best friend. Secretly in love with her. ❖ Nadhiri - A Clan Sister. Needs to think before she speaks. ❖ Rishima - A Clan...brother? Rather meek, hangs out with a Radaku. ❖ Yansa - Warrior Sister and Elder-in-Training. Always to be respected. ❖ Takoda - Shifter Tribe Member. Processing ... ... ... ❖ Ayo - Wind Tribe Member. Processing ... ... ...
Blade -> Warrior 3 Non-Battle RPs - RP - RP - RP 5 Substantial Journal Entries - Journal - Journal - Journal - Journal - Journal 2 Completed Battles - Battle - Battle 1 Completed Class Quest
Warrior -> Amazon Requirements Unknown
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:17 pm
Image Gallery
by Kaname423
RuddyPup
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RuddyPup
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:47 pm
Possessions/Familiars/Pets
- Phen's Knife: she started carving when she was younger, making crude figures for her and Jera to play with. She's moved on to jewelry, and is set on one day carving her own bow and arrows.
- Rock Scale from the Beast in the Sauti Mountain: A trophy from Sauti, this ancient Beast was the first major thing Phenyo ever killed with her bow.
Phenyo sat on a branch outside her secluded tree home, leaning her back against the great hollow trunk. The day was done, and it was a quiet evening; Jerarda had gone back to her own home for the night, which left the Alkidike woman alone with her thoughts. Even though Phenyo was not one to avoid speaking entirely, there were always things in her head that she would refrain from saying. Comments, ideas...quibs and snide remarks, usually things that were dangerous and would cause trouble for herself. For example: sometimes her sisters did dumb things; sometimes she wanted to smack Jerarda upside the head for the ridiculous way she responded to the world. These things must never be known to anyone in the world besides Phenyo herself.
During these quiet moments, Phenyo liked to write down all her thoughts and get them out of her head. She learned a long time ago - before she even knew Jera - that keeping herself bottled up for too long had dire consequences. So she had a journal which she wrote in whenever the mood was right. It was old and worn and in need of replacing, but not just yet. Phenyo had enough blank pages to make it worth keeping for a little bit longer before being retired and placed with the rest of her filled-up journals. There was years worth of writing in those books, and she often joked to herself that she should make them into a autobiography some day. Oh, but that would cause so much trouble; so no, they'd just stay with her and be burned with her upon her death. Phen thought it was rather beautiful and symbolic, having her ideas and feelings rejoining her spirit when she went back to the land.
That was many years in the future though, so Phenyo focused on something a little less morbid. Today's events - where to begin. Taking her pencil, Phenyo began to write. Today started normally, then spiraled out of control because of Jerarda, causing Phenyo to be clean-up control once more. Pausing a moment to think on a sentence she’d just written, Phenyo’s eyes unfocused just a moment as she looked at the page.
There is something beautiful about Jerarda, though…
Phen blinked…she hadn’t written that. She laughed at herself; no, she read must have read that wrong. Sure, that was it. With a shake of her head, Phen looked back at the page with nearly focused eyes, and felt a cold sweat form across her brow as she read it again.
There is something beautiful about Jerarda
Phen’s heart stopped while her mind raced. She flipped back through to the previous day’s journal: Jerarda’s pretty when she sweats like that. (which is just strange sounding, mind you. Anyway.)
The day before: she was gorgeous, bathing under the waterfall.
Jera doesn’t know her inner beauty. It‘s a shame.
She’s charming when she wants to be.
Jerarda’s alluring expression She’s so radiant Absolutely elegant
I wish I could tell her how wonderful she is. Maybe she‘d believe me.
They were everywhere, words everywhere, often just one or two lines that pointed out something about Jerarda…and feelings; feeling Phenyo did not realize where there. As the color drained out of her face, Phenyo quickly shut her journal and clutched it close to her chest, her eyes darting around frantically.
Phen had never thought about it before - this can’t be happening - but was quick to relive every moment of her life with Jera now from this newfound perspective and everything made perfect and clear sense. Yet at the same time, it made her head spin and confused Phenyo even more.
Jera was everything Phenyo wasn't...not that Phen wanted to be loud and obnoxious and pig-headed, but the other Alkidike added variety and excitement into her life. There was never a dull moment with Jerarda around, and the hours of joy greatly outweighed the moments of terror, worry, and strife. No one could make Phen laugh half as much as Jerarda did, or push her boundaries and level of comfort. At the same time, no one frustrated Phenyo the same way, and no one made her worry as much as she worried about Jera.
She felt a cold sweat on her forehead, and with the back of her hand Phenyo wiped it away. Ultimately, she had to figure out what to do next and for the barest moment, she had considered finding Jera again and telling her this terrifying revelation. After all, they were best friends and shared everything.
That was quickly squashed by the other parts of Phen’s brain, which all shouted in unison ‘ARE YOU NUTS?’
“She doesn‘t feel that way about me,” the Alkidike said out loud to herself. Hugging the book to her chest, then bringing her knees up as well, the sobering thought stopped the sweat on her brow and slowed her heart. “Jerarda would never think of me that way. She’d…she’d laugh at me.”
Phen could see the scene in her head now; she’d confess her feelings, spilling her heart out to her best friend. There would be a moment where Jerarda wouldn’t respond, and then she’d burst into stomach splitting laughter that’d bring her to her knees.
”Phenny! Seriously? Oh come on, we’ve known each other for forever! You’re my best friend! Oh…that’s a good one!”
Phenyo winced, resting her chin against the book. No…this was something that had to stay secret. Looking at the journal, the Alkidike opened to the next empty and blank page.
I have realized today the my feelings for Jerarda have grown beyond just…best friends and Sisters. Of course, doing something about this leads to more problems than I’d like to deal with right now. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to talk to her about this - you know as well as I do that Jerarda tends to not take serious feelings seriously.
I have to make sure I don’t allow this revelation to change things between us. Jerarda doesn’t take change well when it comes to our friendship, so I can’t allow anything to be different. I must keep this here, away from Jera’s eyes.
She must never know I love her.
Word Count: 1079 Total: 1079/4500
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 10:20 pm
This is how Phenyo starts her days: wake up. Eat. Get dressed and style her hair (which, mind you, does not take as long as you think it does). Wait around for Jerarda, who will then take her off on some adventure or spend the later part of the morning training. It was a comfortable routine, and a guarantee that Phen would be spending her time with her best friend. She was ok with this - all right, she was more than ok with this, she down right encouraged these day to day interactions.
Now, while Jera was usually there at the same point every day, there were some mornings it took her Sister a little longer to get up and get ready. Which is why it wasn’t a big shock to Phen when the other Alkidike didn’t show up exactly on time. It gave her a moment to sit, relax, and center herself in preparation for the day coming ahead of them - which Phen couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important about today. Like there was something happening…for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what it was.
Well, anyway, as the sun climbed higher into the sky, Phenyo realized that Jera still wasn’t around…and that was strange. She was almost always there before the warmth of late-morning set in. So where was she now?
“Did she really sleep in this late?,” Phenyo said to herself, ducking into her tree-hole home. “Guess I’ll have to go wake her up.”
Phenyo grabbed her carving knife and her practice bow, slinging the quiver of arrows over her shoulder as well. The trip was short, yes, but she knew Jerarda would want to go ahead and get started on the day right away once she was awake. No need to back-track home in order to get her supplies.
“Jera!” Phenyo called once she was outside her Sister’s tree. “Jerarda, wake up!” she said, almost laughing as she slipped inside. “I can’t believe I’m the one coming to find you today,” her voice teasing.
It wasn’t funny, however, as Phenyo realized Jera was not home. Not only was she not home, but she hand’t been home for a long time and everything seemed in complete disarray, like the Alkidike had left in a hurry. Immediately, Phen assumed the worst. Something had happened, Jera was in trouble - she needed to find her, now and fast.
It wouldn’t be until much later, when Phenyo ran into a group of their Sisters, that she’d realize exactly where Jerarda had run off to. She remembered, almost at the same time as they were explaining it, that today was the day that the tribe had taken a group out to explore the rest of Tendaji. It had happened this morning, very early before the sun rose. Which meant Jera woke and made it to leave with the group, or was late and had taken off in an attempt to catch up.
Either way, she’d gone off without Phenyo.
Inside her own head, Phenyo began to scream and her heart broke down into tears. Jera had left without her - gone off on some great adventure and hadn’t stopped to come back for her. Phen knew, either way, that Jerarda hadn’t even stopped to think about her, her supposed “best friend”. She’d just taken off…and left Phen behind.
Blinded by her rage and despair and without even really thinking, the Alkidike took off in the direction she was told the exploration group had gone. Phen’s only hope was to catch up to someone - be it Jera herself, or to gain ground on her fellow tribe mates and beat her Sister there. She wasn’t sure which was the better idea - because she did know, whenever her and Jerarda met again, there was going to be a huge price to pay for being abandoned and forgotten.
Word Count: 673 Total: 1752/4500
RuddyPup
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 10:38 pm
Perhaps it was the fact that just the entire shape of the stone scale looked roughly like a piece of armor to begin with. It also could have been that it was Phenyo’s first “big kill”; even if she didn’t land the finishing blow, she had helped enough to make a difference. Either way, Phen had come to the decision that she was going to turn her souvenir from the great beast of Sauti’s mountains into an arm bracer. Completely set on becoming an Archer, she knew was going to need one at some point, and considering how obviously old the beast had been, a guard from his scale would definitely last well into her own old age.
The hard part was trying to figure out how to carve the damn thing. There was no way Phenyo was going to try and use her carving knife - that tool was entirely too precious to possibly ruin on the hard stone finish of the scale. Holding the scale in one hand and pressing it against her arm, she thought about the process - it would have to be chipped at some parts, smoothed down at others. She needed to get leather or some other type of strap to hold it on, but that she could get later, and be a much easier task. All of these steps lead back to the start: the scale needed to be shaped. The Alkidike woman knew that she had to find something that was stronger than the scale itself to start cutting it down.
The process started with just the basic rocks that were around her; taking the blunt end of the scale, Phen began beating it into the side of the mountain near her tribe's camp. Anything that broke off was obviously not strong enough...and goodness, there were a lot of rocks that just crumbled and shattered. It was a bit destructive, that was for sure, but how else was she going to figure out what would work?
"Any...time now," she muttered out loud, tucking the scale under her belt as she hoisted her body onto a ledge. "There's got to be something that'll break you apart."
There wasn't anything that glimmered, or jumped out at her in this new location. Quite the opposite, everything here was more densely covered in snow, and it made Phen's heart sag a bit. Sighing, she pulled the scale from her belt, looking it over - a few nicks here and there, but ultimately no changes. She'd been at this for hours, and all she had to show for it were blisters on her fingers and a warm burn in her upper arms from pounding the scale into the mountain.
Giving a huff, the Alkidike warrior(intraining) hefted the scale in her hand...and set back to work. There was no calculating this time, no testing the rock with a fingernail or the edge of one of her arrows; no, this time she just raised the scale into the air behind her head, and with all her strength brought it down into the rock wall.
There was a jarring moment where she was sure it hadn't worked again, but after a split second she felt something different...something gave. Suddenly, there wasn't just one piece of scale clenched in her palm, but two, and her heart stopped. Phenyo paused, blinking, wanting to make sure what she felt and what she was seeing were indeed real. Sure enough, opening her hand small particles of dust drifted away, revealing that the scale had split. Not completely in two...no, it was just a chunk that was broken off.
But it was broken. Phenyo had found her tool. Now she just had to set to work on refining it. Of course, there was this whole other problem now that she couldn't just take whatever rock she'd found and turn it into an actual tool to craft her arm bracer. If it was strong enough to break this scale, she had nothing else that would break off the rock into a usable object.
"Nicely done," Phen scolded herself, rubbing her empty hand against her face with a sigh. "Will I ever get this to work?" she said, looking up into the sky as if it would hold the answers.
Of course, there were no answers there, just like there was nothing she could do about the predicament she had somehow managed to get herself into. Feeling just entirely too worn for words, she tucked the rock back into her belt and decided to just go home for the rest of the day. Perhaps some time to think about it, letting the ideas roll around in her head...
Yes. That was what she needed to do. After hours of working, she just needed some time to mull things over. Tomorrow...tomorrow was another day, and a fresh start.
---
That next day, after her daily duties to the Tribe and making sure Jera wasn't getting Rishima into too much trouble, Phenyo stole the moment to go continue working on her newest piece of equipment. To keep the pieces safe and together, she'd wrapped them in cloth with some leather strands and tucked them away; now, retrieving them from their hiding place, she climbed up again into the mountains, back to the spot where she was first able to break the scale apart.
Settling onto the packed snow, Phen began unwrapping the scale parts...and was amazed to find that there was even more dust in the bundle than she remembered. Hoping she hadn't damaged the scale, she quickly pulled each piece out, inspecting the sides and edges.
"No, you're not damaged," Phen said, the quiet awe in her voice. "You've been...sanded."
Indeed, on each chunk of the scale where the rough outer sides had pressed and rubbed together during Phen's trips home and to her 'work space', the scale was slightly smoother than the other parts around it.
"Have you been your own undoing this whole time?" she mused.
Taking the smaller chunk of scale and starting to work it against the larger piece, using the same method and motions that worked with the wood trinkets and beads she'd made so many times for herself and for Jera. It didn't take much; soon there was more dust falling away from the scale, and the sides were being smoothed and shaped. Phenyo laughed, both to herself and at herself - all this time, and the secret was in the scale.
"Well, now the real work begins."
Phen spent the rest of the day working on her new arm guard. On the plus side, it wasn't too terribly different from working with wood, and she made her progress quickly. She figured how to use the smaller chunk of the scale to chip the main part into the rough shape that she wanted, then sanded down what would become the 'inside' until it was soft and smooth so it wouldn't irritate her skin while she was wearing it. She even managed to make it curved and better fit the shape of her arm. The down side was that as she worked, not only was she re-shaping the larger piece, but the smaller one was being worn down as well.
Phenyo began to worry that she'd run out of material for her tool before the job was finished.
"You can not wear out on me," the Alkidike muttered sharply at the now much...much smaller chunk of scale. "We're almost done, and then you can crumble into nothingness if you want."
The day was almost done, with long shadows starting to crawl across the ground, and while holding a breath Phen smoothed her working half around the edge of the larger scale, smoothing it just half of a fraction more. As she exhaled, she paused...looking at her work. She ran her fingers around the shape almost gingerly, inspecting it for the last few imperfections. She found none; everything was as it needed to be.
Taking in another small breath, she smiled. Rather, she beamed, but who could tell with Phenyo? With her pride and sense of self worth growing, she held the scale arm guard against her skin, shifting it into the proper place. It was probably a ridiculous sight as she used her knee to keep the scale in place while she reached for the leather straps, wrapping them around both guard and her arm and tying a secure knot.
Phenyo stood, swinging her arm around to test the weight and the feel. She grabbed her bow, notching some arrows and letting them loose into a distant snow bank. Without holding back, she climbed across the mountain side to retrieve her arrows, and made it back to her workplace. It stayed in place fairly well, and soon the guard was like a natural part of her, merely an extension to her arm.
She hadn't felt so proud of herself in a good, long while. Gathering up the left over pieces, Phenyo decided to keep the smaller piece in case she needed to further refine the guard after having it for some time. Besides, she pondered as she tucked everything into her belt and started to climb back down to her tribe's base camp...perhaps in the future, she could turn the left overs into new, stronger arrow heads.
For now, though, she was just going to be proud of her work.
Word Count: 1592 Total: 3344/4500
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:01 am
Despite the snow that fell around her, Phenyo ran across the wintery world without worry nor care, laughing at the snowflakes as they clung to her hair and melted upon her pale skin. Not bothering to pause, she leaped across a small ravine, her hand catching a rocky outcropping which allowed her to skid through a turn, sliding towards a downward slope.
She couldn't remember a time she felt as free as she did in this very moment. Sure, her feet were cold - frigid even - but the rest of her body felt warm and alive, and besides the rush of her running, there was only one other thought on her mind...
Find Jerarda.
As if answering a call, there was the Alkidike's Sister, best friend, and secret love...standing in the whistling winds of Zena. Her short dreads whipped about her face, and she seemed so strong. Not too strong...just enough to remind Phenyo why she cared so deeply for this woman. Her heart lifting her higher, Phen ignored the cold and charged towards Jera, swinging her arms around that sturdy frame, pulling their two bodies together and enveloping Jerarda's lips with a passionate kiss.
It was magic. It was beautiful. Somewhere, music played and everything seemed to melt away...become blurry...why were her feet so cold? Why was she feeling...heavy?
Slowly but surely, Phenyo's body began to wake up out of her dream. Her limbs were what felt the most real first, followed by her torso and finally her head...which made sense, because her mind tried to cling so desperately to that wonderful dream. It kicked and screamed into the real world, and when Phen finally found herself truly awake, she groaned and pulled the blanket up over her head, blocking out the atrocious sunlight which was filtering into her room.
The Alkidike laid there, trying to keep the wisps of her dream fresh behind her closed eyes, but like morning mist they faded and soon all that was left was the memory that they were even there in the first place. Quietly sighing, she flung the blanket off her face, sitting up and rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. It was the second night in a row, and the fourth time in the week since coming home from Zena, that Phenyo had experienced these new and powerful dreams about her Sister.
While in the dream, she felt unstoppable - as if she had all the energy in the world, and could go on forever - but once coming out of them, it was as if she was a wilted flower, forgotten in the shadows with no sun and no life. Worse, it was starting to affect her training. She was not as steady with her shots, often finding herself trembling as she took aim, and every day she was having more and more trouble keeping up with Jera.
Which just...would not do. It was already a sore spot that her Sister had advanced to the next level of a Blade, and while Phenyo was immensely proud and happy for Jera, the constant reminder that she was lagging behind needed to be dealt with and quickly. That certainly was not going to happen if she kept loosing her footing, missing her marks, and just generally slipping up.
"Well, sitting here isn't going to help me any," Phenyo said out loud. "Might as well get up."
---
After making breakfast and getting herself ready for the day ahead - which would certainly at some point include Jerarda, of course - Phenyo decided to take the moment and read through her journal. After all, she'd been trying to write as much down about these dreams as she could remember, and found that if she allowed her brain some time to settle, she found she had an easier time seeing them in her mind's eye again.
Sitting outside on her branch, she leaned against the wood of the bark and breathed in slowly. Her eyes closed, her antennae arched up and around the trunk...twitching, but only as she tried to bring herself into a meditative state. As if walking through doors, Phenyo brought back details from the dream she'd nearly forgotten, like the memory of the snow crunching under her feet. Better yet, the softness of Jera's lips against her own, which seemed so real despite the fact Phen had never actually kissed her best friend.
I doubt her lips would be that soft, anyway she snorted in her mind. This is Jera we're talking about.
As she came to the point where the dream ended, Phen's eyes opened again...but instead of mist and fog, she had the dream clear in her memories. Pencil in hand, she began to write down everything...every detail she could grasp, went straight into her journal. Once finished, Phenyo sat back with a content sigh. It felt good to get these thoughts out of her head...because surely, she would have gone mad with these memories years ago if she didn't have somewhere to put them.
Flipping back through her earlier pages, Phenyo inspected all her dreams for their common elements and themes. They all took place in the new worlds that had been discovered beyond her homeland - the first one and these last two had both taken place in Zena, while the second had been some strange mix between Tale and Sauti. She was always running - though she never knew where that started, she only understood is wasn't away from something. Rather, her feet were carrying her forward with glee and freedom.
Of course, it was always towards Jera. The ends of these dreams were the same...she'd find the other Alkidike and they'd embrace. At first, it had merely been tight hugs, clinging to each other and laughing. These last two had been more than just that, and while there was a part of Phenyo that looked forward to how else it would progress...another part was more than a bit concerned. After all, how difficult would it be for her to contain her feelings around Jera if her dreams suddenly took a more...carnal turn?
Shaking her head, Phenyo sighed and once again tried to look for the hidden meanings. Dreams were important, and dreams that repeated themselves were messages that required attention and heading.
"Now if I could just find out what they're trying to tell me," Phen lamented quietly, shutting her journal.
There was a very...desperate part of her that wanted to go over her dreams with someone else. Of course, her first thought was the root of all her problems, but no way was Phen going to tell Jerarda about any of these dreams. Not without doing a heavy dose of lying, and even then Phen wasn't sure if she'd be able to tell an convincing enough fib to keep Jera from being suspicious. There were always the Elders...
But do you really wanna know what the message is? she asked herself, and with a sinking feeling, Phen knew she didn't. It meant one of two things, and neither would make her life any easier.
"Maybe I just won't sleep ever again," she chuckled, rubbing her eyes once more before getting up to put her journal away, and wait for Jerarda to come collect her so that they could start another day together.
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Text Color: 
- Phen's Knife: she started carving when she was younger, making crude figures for her and Jera to play with. She's moved on to jewelry, and is set on one day carving her own bow and arrows.
- Rock Scale from the Beast in the Sauti Mountain: A trophy from Sauti, this ancient Beast was the first major thing Phenyo ever killed with her bow.