Solo or RP Format Counts as 5 RP growth Points Solo word minimum is 750, RP post minimum is 7
Another year has passed in Tendaji, meaning a new opportunity for the residents to accomplish their goals and dreams. Typically, this is a time for setting promises to oneself and others on what to do in the year ahead. There are many different superstitions on how to make a New Year's Wish: some toss their written wishes into the sea, others will burn them at a shrine, and even more will whisper them to representatives of the gods.
No matter how one goes about doing it, all will take the time to ensure that their wishes and promises have the best chance to come true in the New Year.
[ What is your character's promise for the New Year? Go about their practice of setting their goals and dreams in the way they feel is most important. Maybe they go to the shrines, or wish under a star, or honor the god(s) they follow. The goal of this World Event is to make a wish for the next year however your character chooses fit. ]
Getting back into training after so long without it was hard. Ai's muscles weren't used to the strain anymore and the light workouts she'd been trying for the first few weeks of her recovery simply hadn't cut it. Now that she was more or less properly healed she was really getting back into it. There was little she could do in the way of traditional training without her swords, but the simple act of beating something down wasn't hard to come by.
Especially when they came across a group of wild Janarim. There were only three of them and she'd been keen just to let the beasts pass by, but they'd taken offense to the women being so close. So, one had led the charge and Ai responded in kind. It bellowed a roar at her, she bellowed one back and when it slammed it's scaley head into her gut she wrapped her arms around it's horns and slung the b*****d into the sand. The others hadn't stuck around after she'd sat atop their leader, wrenching it's head up like a prized bull and snarling back at it every time it so much as breathed.
"Hey, moonfish; are these edible?"
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:12 pm
Painted Moose
[1/7]
It was the new year - difficult as it was to tell, in a desert. The heat was as oppressive as she remembered it, but the amount of days she'd marked away told her that they would arrive in Oban, proper, soon - shortly after the new year. To some it might be strange to not celebrate the occasion with a prayer or ritual, but Lucijah hadn't participated in that since she left Oba years before - and wasn't likely to start now.
The trip had gone well - too well, and Lucijah had felt like the balance would tip any day now. And then came the janarim. She thought, at first, that they'd gone far enough to get past them - but they began to advance with dangerous speed, and Lucijah hadn't thought to throw Ai her blades. Her gauntlets were raised, body tensed and ready for the impact of claws and flesh - only... it wasn't.
She froze- a surge of unexpected deja vu and memory assaulting her senses, and she'd frozen - likely to be ripped to shreds--
Only Ai roared, and either the creature diverted to her last second, or- or Ai interjected, Lucijah didn't know - the battle ended in a thud of raining sand, and kicking, clawed legs. The janarim's club-like tail swished and flailed, but it couldn't reach the Alkidike sitting atop it.
Lucijah stared, her breath shallow in her chest, jumping slightly when Ai called to her. "Yes." She croaked, lowering her fists. "The... tail especially. How did-"
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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:24 pm
Scarlett Arbuckle
"Good." Ai leaned back, her muscular thigh's clenching on either side of the beasts's prone torso as it snapped at her. Claws scrapped against her calf, trying their best to dig into flesh that she wouldn't allow it to manipulate. Her hands clenched hard onto it's horns and with a sharp, swift jerk Ai snapped the janarim's neck.
All at once the struggle was over and when she let go it's head fell to the sand with a great thud.
The alkidike leaned back, taking a moment to stretch her legs out to regain her breath. Each exhale came out on a quick, exhausted pant, but that feeling...the thrumming in her very blood was back and she wanted more of it. The janarim had been a fair start, but if she'd had the chance to take on the whole pack then maybe...
"What's wrong? Mad I got to it first?" She hadn't really noticed the lack of Lucijah's presence in the fight itself because Ai had been too focused on maiming the thing. Now, however, she could tell something wasn't quite right with the shifter.
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:33 pm
Scarlett Arbuckle
[2/7]
Lets just say, this entire situation was horrid. Lucijah didn't... have a good track record with reptilian beasts - between the radaku who maimed her, and left her body covered in myriad gouges and scars even now - to the janarim her old lover had often used as a security blanket - she wasn't fond of the creatures, and they weren't fond of her. That was more than enough to make her freeze, but now... watching Ai easily dispatch the creature, bare-handed, she came across another realization.
Healed as she was, Ai didn't need a blade to dispatch her. It was very possible that as soon as they reached Oba, Ai would dispose of her. She'd known it, logically, throughout their trip - but had stupidly pushed the thought away. It just - hadn't seemed feasible.
Now... she looked at the massive form of the pack leader janarim, and knew that wasn't the case.
Then she rose her eyes to Ai again, feeling a flood of embarrassment. Ai was- exactly the last person who should ever be shown fear. She laughed at Lucijah enough, as if finding the muscular shifter a disappointment to her constantly. "Sure." It was, technically, the first lie that Lucijah had ever told Ai, and immediately it felt like poison on her lips. "No. Hate those things." It was like the partial truth just - blurted out of her. She grimaced, and moved closer, staring down at the dead thing, stomach twisting. "You know growing up, my parents always thought you Alkidike ritually ate things. Like - radaku, shifters. To get their strength or something."
She then looked at Ai's muscled arms, arching a brow in an attempt at humor that she hollowly felt. "I think maybe I finally believe it."
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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:49 pm
Scarlett Arbuckle
Ai leaned forward once again and lifted it's head just a bit to inspect the creature's horns. In all honesty she could probably make a new helmet out of it's skull if she just worked with it a little bit. The work would give her something to do in the evenings after they'd settled...
Ah, there it was. She was scared. She'd mentioned being in Oba a few times before, and now, after seeing the beast up close, Ai had to wonder if this was where her scars came from. With the fierceness the pack leader had shown today the thought of an attack wouldn't exactly be surprising. "I ate plenty of radaku growing up, but never shifters." Murdered them, yes, but ate? No. The thought of ingesting an earthling was as disgusting a concept as eating rotten meat.
Even her own grin felt a little hollow. When she stood and dismounted the corpse Ai brushed her calloused palms against her thighs. "Well...it's over now. If I eat it's flesh then we won't have to worry about them ever again, right? Is that how it works?" It was as good as comfort as Lucijah was likely to get from Ai. It just...didn't settle well with her that the shifter was scared of something like this. She hadn't even backed down from an alkidike extremist so why should something like this give her pause? It angered her more than it should.
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:57 pm
Painted Moose
[3/7]
There was a moment where Lucijah could almost see realization in those dark eyes. So long, she'd felt those eyes were strange, intimidating - like a mask that emotion couldn't penetrate. But Ai's eyes still moved, still narrowed and creased with emotion, and her eyebrows and sneers or snarling lips made up for for whatever emotion her eyes lacked. In this moment, she expected another rough bout of laughter.
Maybe, now that she'd seen her fear, Ai might decide she was useless and snap HER neck too.
But the laughter didn't come. Instead, Ai grinned, and if she was anyone else Lucijah might have thought her words were... meant to be soothing. Suddenly, Lucijah was the one to bark out a laugh - a laugh that started with a snort, then turned into helpless chuckles as she palmed her face, shaking her head. "Well. Not like I have a claim to your kill, but - if I help you dress it, mind if I steal some of it?" She winked, and this time the smile she offered met her eyes.
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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:06 pm
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Ai shook her head and were she an earthling she may have rolled her eyes. A sudden bout of awkwardness had settled over the alkidike and without really knowing what to do with it she stepped forward to examine her kill. If anything it put her line of sight just away from Lucijah so she wouldn't have to look at the shifter anymore.
Or rather, so the shifter couldn't see her face directly.
"Sure. You would have had to anyway; I can kill without a blade, but I can't do anything with it." She shrugged her shoulders, her mind's eye still settled on the way that smile had actually met Lucijah's eyes. Earthlings were so expressive in ways she wasn't exactly familiar with that it just seemed odd to her. It was odd that she did it at all, and odder still that Ai preferred it that way.
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:16 pm
Painted Moose
[4/7]
Oh. Right. The smile fell, but not into a frown but into a contemplative look. Ai was studying the creature, almost as if she was trying to figure out a way to dissect it without her blades... so she seemed distracted enough for Lucijah to turn away and go back to her pack, which she'd thrown off her when the attack first started.
Slowly she unwound the blades from where they were secured with all her other things - then, gripping the sheaths, she turned and padded back to Ai, nudging the Alkidike in the arm with them.
"Here. Really, I should've given 'em back by now, so you didn't have to resort to snapping necks, but..." She shrugged. That was as close to the 'I didn't quite trust you until now' apology as she was going to get.
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:15 pm
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Ai was naturally aware of Lucijah turning away, but seeing as there was work to be done she'd just assumed that the shifter was looking for a knife to gut the beast. They may be able to sell it's hide at the next market - well, Lucijah could - and the skull would be hers to claim. Surely the claws were worth something too and the meat would sustain them for a while...
The nudge at her arm barely caught her attention, but the alkidike turned away, eyes widening considerably at the sight. "So you didn't melt them..." Her voice was considerably softer in tone as the extremist reached for her swords. How had she forgotten the weight of her dual blades? Even shaped as they were, perfectly tailored for rending irreparable wounds, they still bore the weight of her sins. Shifting them in her arms, Ai held the two sheaths in right arm and pulled a single sword out with her left.
No amount of healing could replace the feeling of having the truest extension of her soul returned to her.
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:19 pm
Painted Moose
[5/7]
Lucijah wanted to pretend that she hadn't worried that Ai would immediately slash her down, but... she knew the truth when relief surged through her. Instead she watched, unable to push away a trickle of guilt as the alkidike gazed almost lovingly at the blades, inspecting them as if to make sure they hadn't been harmed while in Lucijah's care.
"Melt good steel like that? It'd be a waste." Lucijah demurred with a huff, shrugging as she knelt down beside the creature, tugging a hunting knife from her boot. It was covered in thick scales, and she wondered how she was supposed to skin it - it wasn't like a radaku, which had softer flesh.
Better to give Ai some space, right?
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:26 pm
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Ai slowly raised the blade to such an angle that with the lightest of movements she could strike Lucijah. Even if the shifter fought back there wouldn't be much she could do against a trained killer and two serrated blades. And yet...Ai lowered the blade to her side instead. She slipped the blade back into it's sheath and while the shifter set about her work Ai set about settling the blades back around her waist. The familiar pull against her hips was as welcomed as an old friend and for once she felt at peace.
"You'll have to start at the belly and work under the scales." Ai bent at the waist and pointed out a decent entry point. "They look like limbara so it should work."
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:41 pm
Painted Moose
[6/7]
The belly? Lucijah, seemingly unaware of the moment of risk she'd just gone through, blinked and followed where Ai was pointing, her face lighting up in discovery. "Ah-hah-- alright. Let's see--"
And so she set to work. Despite her moment of confusion, once she made the first incision, she worked efficiently, showing off the skill that had gotten them the meat for free back in Jauhar.
As she worked though, Lucijah puzzled over the moment they'd just shared. Ai, by all rights, should have killed her. Lucijah had been pretty honest in how close they were to Oba now - only a few days to go, and there was little utility in keeping her alive at this point.
But she hadn't cut her down.
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:51 pm
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7/7
Ai, too, was similarly confused by her own lack of homicide.
Working helped to keep her mind, as well as her hands, distracted but it did little to answer her questions. Why hadn't she gutted her? It wasn't as if Lucijah would have been her first and by all rights if Ai wanted to remain an anonymous threat in Tendaji then she should have eradicated the witness. So...why? Why was she so hesitant to kill her?
You've gone soft. Maybe she had. She didn't hate the elaria now as she once had and the proof was in the ruined relationship she had with Akacia. Their entire romantical life had fizzled out once Ai started to accept the Elaria into the fold.
She could have found Oba on her own at this point. They were close enough, she knew the path, and yet...she just hadn't done it.
"I'm going for water." Standing up abruptly, Ai walked over to their gear and stooped for a lone bucket. They'd already found a spot to dig down into the natural springs below the sand and maybe a little space would do her some good.
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 2:01 pm
Painted Moose
There was a tension here, one that Lucijah felt acutely aware of - and Ai too, because moments later she stood up and stalked off. Lucijah stole a glance back at her, but turned her attention back to her work, her brows furrowed slightly. Something felt like it had changed - she just had to decide if she'd come to regret it.
