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 Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 7:37 pm
Land Walkers
Solo or RP Format
Counts as 5 RP growth Points
Solo word minimum is 750, RP post minimum is 7
Prompt
It couldn't be possible. Walkers of land, scale-less and gill-less. Covered in stones and of all sorts of colors. Bringers of creatures never seen before. Unable to venture in the waters, and unaware of your people who resided below.
The stories spread across the lands quickly of the land-walkers who explored the grounds above. At first, the menehune were the watchers of the waters, letting others know of the movements of the Earthling and Alkidike party. But soon enough, they made way to the beaches and rivers, and soon caught sight of those that watched.
Were they friend or foe? Why were they here and what did they want? And why could they walk on land but little else?
So many questions, so many rumors, so many unknowns.
What were your character's initial thoughts when they heard about the Earthling/Alkidike visitors? Were they afraid, or did they want to be the first to meet them? This prompt takes a look at the first-observation prior to contact with the other species. Explore your character's feelings around this monumental moment in Kahikinan history.
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 7:37 pm
"There have been... rumors."
Ahio looked up from his dinner. The whole family was seated around the table, and he had been distracted as usual, tracing intricate patterns into the stone in between bites to fend off the bouts of restless energy that tormented him whenever he sat still for too long. Dinners were a touch and go affair - depending on how much or little there was to talk about, they could zip by in moments or last what felt like several lifetimes.
Rumors meant chatter, though. He looked at his father with bright, expectant eyes. "What rumors, father?" he asked, lips pursed as he took another careful bite.
"I'm not sure if they're real, Ahio, but I heard it from one of the Moakai hunters I trade with. He heard through the Hapuna, who heard from the Menehuene that there are... strange creatures afoot on the surface," his father said somberly, with eyes that seemed to suggest these creatures might prove to be a danger.
"Strange creatures," Ahio echoed, a small frown furrowing his brow as he struggled to understand. "What sort of creatures? Why should we need to worry about creatures on the surface?" He chuckled. It was odd to think that something so far away had managed to filter all the way down into the heart of the ocean. Maybe it really was important, then. News from the surface rarely made it down into the caves of Po'lua, in part because its inhabitants had little interest in hearing it. This news, then... it had to be different somehow.
"Land-walkers, he said they were," his father answered. "No gills. Rocks on their bodies, very pale and yet colorful. They come from elsewhere, apparently, though I'm not sure where. They bring... creatures. Technology. Things we've never seen."
Ahio blinked. No gills? Land-bound? Never in his life had he ever considered that there might be creatures like that. Not bound to the sea also meant cut off from the ocean and from Iokaila. He couldn't imagine not having gills to draw oxygen from the water. How did they breathe? As much as he tried to picture it in his mind's eye, he simply couldn't. Imagination could only stretch so far, and Ahio couldn't envision what he had never seen.
"Where do they come from?" he asked, feeling a morbid sense of curiosity. "What do they want?"
His father shook his head. "Nobody knows. Yet. But should they stay any longer, I'm sure the Menehuene will establish contact."
Although that in itself sounded... not dangerous, perhaps, but different. So many untold and unpredictable possibilities. Suppose they weren't friendly? Or spoke a completely different language? It would be impossible to communicate. Ahio could only begin to grasp at the logistical nightmare that would be.
"So the Menehuene will be the first to meet them?" Ahio mused. He supposed that made sense, and certainly no Kawena would be part of the earliest welcome parties. The people here were too conservative, too isolated from even Kahikina itself, much less this mythical world from which the land-walkers had come. It wouldn't be them.
Still, it never hurt to dream. Ahio thought of the surface - what he envisioned the surface to look like, anyway - and did his best to consider what it would be like to meet these land-walkers. In his mind, they couldn't really communicate in language save for rudimentary gestures. These land-walkers were a little dull, he thought, cowed before the ocean's majesty. They couldn't swim, so they couldn't discover any of the species underwater save for the fish that frequented the surface. They didn't know any of the delicacies found in the deep ocean. They weren't terribly agile, either.
A small smile spread across his face, amusement he couldn't quite hold back as he sank deeper into his thoughts. Eventually, he looked up again. His father had fallen into a similar well of thoughts, and Ahio thought he recognized that studios look as one that he himself sported sometimes while deep in thought.
"Do you suppose you'll ever meet them, father?" he asked. His father was a trader of some renown in these caverns, and if anyone was going to leave the caves to travel to the surface, Ahio thought it would be him.
"It's hard to tell Ahio," his father answered, jolting out of a reverie to respond. "Too many unknown factors. For now... for now we just treat this news as gossip and we don't worry too much about it."
Ahio nodded. That seemed simple enough.
755
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