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 Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 9:40 am
It was another night of gathering for Malta, and she was actually in a fairly good mood. She had made medicine for one of the elders, and had been praised for it, and she could still feel the good feelings of it glowing underneath her skin. If she wasn't too fat and had the physical ability to skip, she would. As it was, she was humming happily as she dug up a handy bit of root. She heard her bodyguards grumble in annoyance at her, but she wasn't upset. Let them be annoyed. At one time, she had been willing to be nice to them and accomodate them and be as little of a burden to them as possible, but at some point she had realized that she was going to be a burden and they were going to dislike her, no matter what she did. It wasn't that she didn't care she did, and she felt bad, but there wasn't anything she could do. She was tired of caring. Besides, it was better to leave them to their grumbling - they would only snap at her if she tried to do anything. So she continued humming and digging and, finally, the root came free. She smiled at it, and decided she was feeling good enough to try to talk to her bodyguards. They were, after all, her cousins, and she had to live with them. She felt that, right now, she could try to be friendly. "So, Vorkin..." she began, slightly nervous, "How is... uh... your uh... potential mate doing...?" she asked, turning towards his distinctive grumble. She stopped, puzzled. He wasn't there. "Vorkin?" she called out, looking around. The other bodyguards weren't there either. "Kumog? Regeel?" She sniffed the air, worried. They had been here, only moments ago. Someone was still here... Kumog? She heard him laugh far to the side, deep in the brush. "Where did you all go?" she called out, following it. The laugh did not come back, and soon their smells were faint. They were not here anymore. "Kumog?! Regeel?! Vorkin?!" she called again, bounding through the brush, growing more and more frantic. They were gone. She sat on her haunches heavily and undignified, her girth giving her a little bounce as she looked piteously around her. They'd done it again! They'd left her alone in the woods, far away from the tribe again. Why? Why did they do this?! Malta was not afraid of the dark, or of the woods, or of Soldul. She could see in the dark and was used to its presence, and her magic dealt with the forests - she had nothing to fear from plants and trees and soil. But there were scary things that lived in the forest here, and she was alone and defenseless, nevermind that she had claws and teeth and was larger than some threats - she was not a fighter, and she knew it and they knew it. Her heart began to beat faster with fear, and she cringed back from the leafy depths that were suddenly so frightening, as directions became twisted and confused, like in a nightmare. She whimpered, cowering to the ground, at the daunting task of finding her way through these deep woods. "I wanna go home..." she said piteously, good mood gone, "I want to go hooome..." she fell silent, suddenly aware that her sounds could lure scary things to her. She hated it when her cousins did this... She really hated it.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 3:25 pm
Imoogi has just finsihed hunting Magbits when he hears a strange call that shouldn't be in the middle of a forest. "I wanna go home......I wanna go hooome...."The small voice floating on the wind sounded like a young Khehora.... What is a young Khehora doing out in the middle of the forest in the night? Imoogi shakes the debris from his chase off of his body and pack and starts trotting towards the direction of the wind, maybe he can find this child and guard it till its parents show up to take it home. Sighing, "and why in the middle of land, why can't this happen in the middle of the ocean so I can swim not walk...oh well" He moves off, trying to keep the damage to the trees to a minimum as it makes too much noise when he simply wrecks them. A sacred child lost at night in the middle of trees and I'm going to terrify them by wrecking everything in my path, yup, genius Imoogi, simply genius....stupid trees.... Every so often he stops and smells the air, trying to catch the scent of a Khehora on the night wind. After about an hour, he stops. well, this is not going to work, all I can smell is a bunch of plants. hmmmm.... I wonder how likely the child will be to respond to me calling out? well, lets find out shall we. Imoogi takes a deep breath, settles onto his haunches and bellows into the sky "Lost little one, I am trying to find you, but its hard to see with all these stupid trees around, call out again, so that I can pinpoint you location. If you don't respond, I'm going to take a nap on this outcrop of rocks, Its been a really long day and I need to catch some sleep." Imoogi jumps to the top of the rock outcropping and waits for a response. And also looking to see what stirs when his bellow echos out, might find some prey that way.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 4:40 pm
Malta yelped at the sudden roar, trying, with little success, to flatten herself against the ground. It had been a loud roar and, to the scared young khehora's mind, probably some ferocious beast onto her scent. A bolarn, maybe, cept they didn't roar... did they? Malta didn't know. Malta didn't hunt. She was scared. It occurred to her that the ground would not be the best place to try to hide. A bush would be better, for obvious magic reasons, and she began to wiggle - like a fat khehora-shaped worm - towards the nearest one, scared to stand up for fear of revealing herself to the monsters that were surely out there and... And... There had been words in that roar. Oh dark night, was it a dragon? Malta didn't want it to be a dragon. She hoped it wasn't a dragon hunting her. Dragons were scary... It had even been looking for her, hadn't it? Lost little one? She wasn't so little, but... Oh nooooo... she thought, with a sympathetic whimper, What if someone else is lost, too?! That was even worse! A dragon was hunting lost people and they would never never never be found or go home or... or... "Gyeeep!" she yelped, running into the brush. She couldn't let some other lost person get caught by a dragon, noooo! That would be wrong! If they were lured by the dragon... where would they go... I'm going to take a nap on this outcrop of rockWho else would do that but a dragon? What she needed to do was find the outcropping of rock, find the other lost person, and then they could be lost and not alone and safe, because it was safer to not be alone. If they existed. They might not exist. They might even be another trick... her mind supplied wildly. She knew she had to calm down, and she slowed to a creeping pace, edging cautiously towards where the bellow had come from. Soon she saw it - an obvious outcropping of rock. She scanned the area with her glowing blue eyes, and could see no other answering eyes or glimpse from the treeline. So. No other lost person. What about the dragon? She looked again, and quailed as she saw a large, blue shape silhouetted against the dark sky by the luminescence of the mushroom trees. DRAGON. No, wait... she thought, Not a dragon! her heart pounded hopefully. It was a khehora, peisio by smell, and khehora were her people! Not all of them were nice, but maybe this one would be so. Maybe he could help her! She was infinitely relieved, either way. "Ummmm..." she said, pacing nervously out of the woods, "Were you... the one shouting just now?" she asked, shifting uneasily, "Because, um... I'm lost and scared and I want to go home..." she said, biting back a whimper.
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Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 9:12 am
Tucking his pack and water bubble into a crevice in the rocks, Imoogi settled onto the rock outcrop and waited. Listening to the sounds of the night as they slowly started up again after his below, he kept still focusing on hearing the sounds of something large moving through the forest. The night breeze softly blew, yet he still couldn't detect the smell of any Khehora, just the scent of earth, plants and small prey. No response form the lost Khehora...maybe I sacred it too much... I shall wait until morning light then, maybe whoever it is will be more willing to met in daylight.Time passed and Imoogi heard the sound of something moving through the underbrush. Listening hard, Imoogi tried to figure out what was moving. Whatever it was, it was smaller then him cause it made much less noise. And it was getting closer. Maybe the lost child? But there was no scent of Khehora, just the land around him. Lets wait some more, I had best be quiet and still so whatever it is doesn't get scared off.Imoogi settled down to wait, his eyes closed to slits, looking in the direction the movement was coming from. The ambient glow from the trees causing his horns to glow silver and the web of scars along his back to clearly show against the dark blue scales. soon, it will reach the edge of the trees soon now. I still can't smell it over all this plant life thoughThen he spotted a shape crawling through the undergrowth. Its movement was hesitant. He couldn't tell what color it was because of the lighting and overgrowth, but its eyes were a blue color. but it looked like a Khehora, a fully grown Orakoven actually. It paused inside the last of the plant growth and looked around the area. It hadn't spotted Imoogi Strange.....why is a fully grown Orakoven crawling around like that...is this the lost child from earlier? Hmmm since I still cant' smell it, it might be a Ysali type, it its smell hidden among the plant life scents. Lets wait and see, looks like whoever it is is emerging.ummmm... were you...the one shouting just now? Because, um...I'm lost and scared and I want to go home.."so it was the voice I heard earlier, Looks like a well fed adult and sounds like a lost little girl. This will be an interesting story. Imoogi stayed still except to move his head closer to the other Khehora. "Yes that was me. If you're lost, why did you come out here when night was falling? I didn't notice any settlements nearby when I was hunting. " Imoogi looks closer and notices the scared body posture of the other person. He jumps down and lowers his head to look into the other's glowing blue eyes, his own a similar shade. Settling down and keeping his wings close in an attempt to look non-threatening, Imoogi lowers his voice and attempts to calm this peculiar Khehora. "If you want to wait with me until light, I'll see if I can get you back home, although I am not from around here so we might get more lost if you can't find your way back."
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Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2014 10:13 am
"I... I live with Diabi and they like the night..." she said, trying to explain, "I was collecting plants and my cousins were supposed to guard me and... and..." her earfins quivered, folding down pathetically, "And then they left me behind." she whimpered, slumping. A noise from behind her startled her, but it was only the local wildlife. She turned back to see that he was right there, in front of her, his posture soothingly nonthreatening. He seemed nice enough, this other khehora, and he was being so kind despite being probably much older than her and probably having better things to do with his time than deal with a scared, oversized, pathetic Ysali such as herself. She looked up into his bright, sky-blue eyes hopefully. "You'd... You'd wait with me?" she asked, hopefully, "And keep me safe from Bolarn, Arvathi, Nobjaovin, and Riistäjä?" she knew all the predators by name, and she feared them. "You really would?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 1:51 pm
DraconicFeline I'm still assuming this is occurring before the Mara Meta happens. Imoogi abruptly sat up to his full height and forgot to keep his voice low. "If they were supposed to guard you, where are they?!? Clearly you are not Diabi and not a fighter, so why did they abandon you at night in the middle of the wilderness?" remembering his companion, Imoogi settles down, grumbling to himself "Even if my siblings annoyed me, I never abandoned them,... it is the strong's duty to defend family that cannot defend themselves...I should jump these idiots and see how they like it...", he gently bumps her head with his, "I may be grumpy but at least I never left my smaller brothers behind. I will stay with you until they come looking for you. If they don't value you, they shan't have use of your skills, whatever they may be." Imoogi starts walking towards the trees, "And I hope one of those critters you named show up, I'm hungry and it'll save me the effort of hunting them down for food. Hopefully they taste good. In the mean time, talk to me while I eat these plants"
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:44 am
Malta knew this khehora was friendly at this point - she knew it. But she also did not like sudden loud sounds, especially not yelling. Her first thought was What did I do wrong, followed by a blurted out, half murmured, reflexive "I'm sorry!"It soon became clear that he wasn't angry at her, and it wasn't her fault, and she calmed, reassured by the contact of his head with hers. "Noooo..." she said, "It's... okay, really its okay, you don't have to jump them!" or hurt them or do anything to them. She didn't want them hurt. She just wished they'd stop doing this to her - It wasn't nice of them to do. She relaxed, her posture no longer tense and submissive. "I hope they don't show up... the predators I mean!" She was protected. She was safe. But she also didn't want to face a bolarn. It would sure be nice, though, to be looked for. She didn't want them to feel bad or overly terrible, but it would be, she thought, all right for them to feel guilty and come to find her. That, she felt, was okay. "You eat plants?!" She chirped, staring up at him in surprise. She'd thought she was the only one that did that, and that was because her magic let her. "But you're a Peisio..." she said, puzzled, "Do you... I mean, do you like plants? Are they... tasty to you?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:56 am
DraconicFeline I'm going to be posting smaller bits, so its more like a conversation Imoogi settles down in the brush and starts to munch on whatever plants are near. "So what were you doing picking plants in the forest at night with evil cousins who abandon you?" He looked at her, no longer tense, and gestured for her to come over. "Its still going to be some time until sun rise, so come sit over here. I'm too lazy to stand until morning comes."
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Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 1:41 pm
"Oh! I just thought..." Malta approached, taking a nice leafy branch for herself, "I thought I was the only one who liked to eat plants..." she nibbled at it, "Because of my magic and all... My cousins eat mainly meat." she explained, sitting next to him. He was nice. He was very nice. And big. "I was... I make potions, and I needed more herbs..." she always needed more herbs and ingredients. "So thats why I was out here! My cousins are awake at night, and I don't like to go too far from the tribe's lairs without them to protect me..." she looked around at the dark forest, and edged closer to Imoogi, cringing, "But they keep abandoning me, and its so hard!" she said, a little bit of a whine creeping into her voice, "Everything just gets mixed up and confusing and so much scarier... Like all the paths and ways home change the moment I'm alone!" She cracked the branch in her jaws and chewed. "But... they aren't evil. They really aren't..." she said sadly, "They just... they mean well, I think."
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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 7:43 am
hmmmm sounds like this little one has confidence issues, but why would she have that issue? Crafting of any sort is difficult for all Khehora because of our claws, so her ability to make potions should be treasured. She should be treasured yet she seems to see herself as worth less than the fighters...too much trouble thinking about it, I’ll just ask: “so you are a potion craftsperson, yes? That is very special, so why are you so lacking in confidence? Is it because you are comparing yourself to other Khehoras? Also you seem to think these cousins can do no wrong, you even forgive them for abandoning you at night in the middle of nowhere! Which is just silly, the strong must protect those of their clan who cannot. Even if you make excuses for that, they have clearly just proven that they are either idiots for doing this to one who will heal them one day or cruel which is worse. You say that they aren’t evil, so then they are idiots and shouldn’t be let out without an adult to keep their stupidity in check.” Satisfied at his framing of his questions, Imoogi crunched through a branch. Talking with others was always difficult, he could never seem to get his thoughts across to others for some reason.
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 9:47 pm
"I am, and I mean, it is special. All the elders think I'm great. I make them medicines and things like that..." she hesitated, "But the younger khehora in my tribe... my cousins... they don't want my potions. They won't even let me heal them when they get injured. They don't need me." She shifted her weight from leg to leg, feeling, paradoxically, worse as the Peisio tried to comfort her. "No, I... they mean well!" she protested, her earfins drooping in dismay, "They really do. They just want me to carry my own weight, that's all..." She was so upset at them, and the forest was scary when she was alone, but they were her cousins and she had to protect them, and she really honestly believed what she was saying. They meant well. They were just also... mean. "They're not idiots!" she insisted, "They're just..." Well, they were idiots, but not because of what Imoogi had said. "They just... I don't want to be a burden to the tribe." she settled in, snuggling into her foreleg unhappily, "And I am. I'm not brave or strong like them. I just..." she lidded her eyes, staring morosely at the remains of the bush, "I just wish they'd find a nicer way to do... this..."
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:21 pm
Listening to the stammered response, Imoogi smiled. "Ah, I know that type. Let me guess, they like to fight among themselves to grow stronger and are constantly looking for bigger and bigger challenges. Heh, I won't have to go looking for a fight, they'll come to me" his grin got wider, "They link strength with worth, thats why they don't respect you. So they are either doing this to toughen you up or just to be mean. Either way, it still proves them stupid, everyone should know that skill is better then brute strength. 'Course" Imoogi laughed "I'm one to talk. I like using brute strength, its fun." He wandered away to grab some more branched adn munch on them, "Don't listen to the young toughs, they don't know anything yet. They have no worth to the tribe until they've gotten trashed and still fight on, since thats all they're good for until they get older. Then they might be useful to the tribe. Right now, all they are is talk, they haven't proven themselves. You, however, have. You can make things for the tribe, so you have worth, they have none. Trust me, I was as bad as they were back when I was still living in Talmuli as a youngster, although at least I never did anything like this to my brothers." Imoogi looked back at the the smaller Khehora and noticed her sad posture. He wandered back over to her and settled down beside her, dwarfing her tiny pudgy body with his enormous bulk. "They need time to grow up. I also think that every muscle bound idiot needs to leave home to truly grow, but that's just my opinion. Anyway, what is your name? I never did ask. Mine's Imoogi, no last name or tribe, just Imoogi"
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Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 1:36 pm
She listening to him go on and on about brute strength being lesser than skill. Fine. She knew her cousins couldn't make a potion if they tried, or glassworks, or enchantments, or tapestries, or anything of the sort. But they could kill a dragon. "I'd like to have both..." she said quietly, looking back over her pudgy frame, "that would be nice." She looked up as he rejoined her. He was big, but he was lean. She was too big in all the wrong ways and not corded with powerful muscle like he was. She wished, as she often did, that her body was less like it was. "I'm Malta." she said, "My mother is Katangi..." she could never remember the tribe's name for some reason, so her mother's name was the closest thing to a family or tribal name she had. "I'm a Ysali." she added, feeling like she should, "Um... if you... um... didn't notice..."
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Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 3:29 pm
DraconicFeline Here is a short post so you can respond 3nodding finally sweatdrop She listening to him go on and on about brute strength being lesser than skill. Fine. She knew her cousins couldn't make a potion if they tried, or glassworks, or enchantments, or tapestries, or anything of the sort. But they could kill a dragon. "I'd like to have both..." she said quietly, looking back over her pudgy frame, "that would be nice." She looked up as he rejoined her. He was big, but he was lean. She was too big in all the wrong ways and not corded with powerful muscle like he was. She wished, as she often did, that her body was less like it was. "I'm Malta." she said, "My mother is Katangi..." she could never remember the tribe's name for some reason, so her mother's name was the closest thing to a family or tribal name she had. "I'm a Ysali." she added, feeling like she should, "Um... if you... um... didn't notice..." A thought came to Imoogi, if she was good with making plants, maybe she could help with his pack? "Say are you any good with making things from skins? I'm trying to make myself a waterproof backpack so that I don't have to use magic to carry stuff like I am" He looked over where he had placed his stuff next to the rock. There was a bundle of herbs and an orb of water with two skins floating in it. "I think I can enchant the skins to keep water outside, but I have no clue how to make it. I was thinking of going into a Magescian town and seeing if they could, but the tiny people always act so twitchy around me for some reason. If you could help me, that would be great" He brought his head back down and rested it on his forelegs, looking hopefully at Malta.
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 2:25 pm
torybird And then later she meets a Tailor LOL “Erm...” Was she good at making things with skins? She'd tried to play with cloth once, but she'd only gotten herself tangled in it. “Well, I don't think I could make the... backpack?” she thought about what a backpack might be. Something like the carrying bags that her trader siblings Sorai and Maike had on them? “But I could make something, like an oil or an ungent, you could treat it with, to make it waterproof and protect it from rotting?” she sighed. But he could enchant them, and thus wouldn't need anything like that. "Or a dye...?" except he didn't seem the sort of khehora who cared about colorful accessories. “I'm sorry...” she said, looking away as she chewed self consciously on a piece of gnarly root.
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