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 Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:26 pm
The white beast had insisted that she had known all along, but Delai suspected otherwise. The large boy had been in their company for goodness knew how long, disguised somehow as one of their mounts, the Iki. It had been her people's curiosity that had kept the boy from immediate harm, and the Kokiri's fidelity to the white ones that had spared his wellbeing until this moment. And in the end, after the white one's pronouncement, Delai could not say that she was entirely displeased.
They would leave the forest. The mystery of those blasted lizards had finally boiled the white ones' blood to the temperature of the Kokiris', so that now they would get to explore in the name of scouting. There would be more big people to meet, and the boy would come with them. She hoped that he would be an asset as the white one seemed to think, and, in truth, as he had been in his Iki disguise.
She had called him Corei then, and so she would now: "Corei, you heard the white one. You are to guide us into the plains. What are you waiting for? Turn into something!" Her demand stemmed more from wonder and curiosity than an actual need for a mount, seeing as she could grab just about any one's for such an important mission.
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:19 pm
The cunning and mighty hunter of the Demere tribe has been reduced to a beast of burden. It wasn’t much of a burden as he had been serving a curiously small race of people who called themselves the Kokiris. He encountered them as he learned to change into one of their fox like mounts that they call the Iki. The whole encounter was purely accidental since he was after the Iki for their hide and it eventually became a little learning experience of sorts, but for both parties.
It didn’t take long that the Kokiris finally found out that one of their mounts weren’t like all the rest, but they were as curious of him as he was curious of them. So they left him be. Accepted by his temporary masters, he decided to stay as an Iki to learn about them and their culture, which led him to eventually picking up the basic words of their language. Now it’s his turn to lead them to a learning experience.
Croofor broke away from the other Ikis, though his appearance already gave him away. Besides the fact that he was a little larger than the rest of the foxes, he had an odd color and to their creatures, also possessed an odd scent. His transition back to his human form was smooth and it revealed the source of the odd marks to his body. The quadruped slowly stretched, expanded, and took his bipedal stance as his two hind legs grew. The excess hair as an Iki is apparent from the length of his hair as a human, but surprisingly, the dark bristly hair on its back was apparently the bear hide he had been wearing. He stood before them as a giant.
“What, what are we look for?” Croofor snarled softly as he tried getting used to talking with his mouth again, “It would be easier to hunt’em down if I knew.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:22 am
Delai stared for a moment like a dumb beast. "We hunt for dragons, for information," she informed him. Then, more akwardly, she explained in the language of the plains, "Some of our peoples are learnt in your language. More than me. We take them."
She turned as if to get the aforementioned 'learnt' people, but then on a second though turned back to him in her own language. "Change back, or you might scare them."
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:46 am
“As you wish.”
Croofor fell forward with his arms extended in front of him, but landed as something else. His body and his clothes shrunk and changed as he returned into the fox-like Iki form. His muscles and bones stretched, wrapped and became more compact. His face stretched, his mouth and teeth turned into a snout, but his eyes stayed the same. His eyes were still a dark brown, one which seems to peer deep into people’s souls.
“Let’s go, I know where dragons nest.” He lied in their tongue, though he had a vague idea of where they would be found. “I’ve seen them before.”
He had crept around the edges of the forest and the plains that he had roamed in. His hunting skills allowed him to be a pretty decent scout, and sometimes stalked those who dwelled with dragons. It was a country far and a little different from those slavers.
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Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 8:38 am
Delai could not be more delighted, her pale cheeks turning red in excitement. She felt far more at ease with Croofor back in what she had previously considered his natural form, and found herself leaning beside him, about to mount. A sudden thought made her stoop. Croofor seemed obliging, but now that she knew of his sentience, she had to ask;
"May I ride you, Corei?" She seemed half her thirty years of age at that moment, already caught up in the adventure ahead, without a mind for the troubles that might bar their way. She would please the white ones in a fashion that most suited her, by running off into the world with a few trusted companions.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:34 pm
“You may treat me like the others.” He uttered ‘others’ in a lower tone as he glanced at the Iki among them. “It would help me blend more with our...”
He stopped. He lowered himself closer to the ground while his eyes peered into the distance. His ears, like all the other Iki was perked up and pointing forward. They stopped behind him like a pack following its leader. His breathing seemed to have stopped for minutes as he listened and conversed with the land around them in silence.
Light pierced the canopy, and now pierced the borders where the forest and plains used to converge. If roads did not go through forests, they would usually go around them. Flattening the earth that neither the forest nor could the grass grow on them.
“The forest is thinning.” He whispered. The scent of sun and grass was in the air, and so was the stench of men.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:28 am
Delai scrutinized their new surroundings. Her people had given her a map, and it went as far as the southern and western edge of the forest, where they were now. But the way that her people marked maps did not tell her exactly what to expect, except that this part of the land had been "desecrated." Now she saw that it was an old mining camp, probably abandoned after a small vein had run out.
She reasoned that the abandoned camp did not account for the totality of Corei's reaction. A tense mount meant that there was something to see or smell. "An animal?" she asked.
Unbeknownest to her, this was an area occasionally frequented both by tribesmen and farmers from ToK. The boundaries of both Tok and the plains mens' range were loose, barely contained by the even the mountains themselves.
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:38 pm
They laughed like the chimes of a warm spring day. It was hard to see whose laugh was who since they all blurted out at a youthful high pitch. They were the offspring of men. They were covered with decent lengths of ragged clothes, their skins tanned, their arms and bare feet were covered with dirt and stained green. They were all close to the same age and height. Two boys and two girls with baskets filled with flowers, nuts and fruits.
“They must be from the farms.” He slowly crawled backwards and close to the ground, trying to hide in the grass and vegetation around them. “They’re children.”
The children were coming closer and knew not of the party of Iki and Kokiris that they were about to stumble to. Both little men and giant foxes may have never seen children like these and still weren’t used to even the presence of Croofor. Hopefully they would be able to move back and hide away from them.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 7:39 am
(no such luck, that is what I say!)
Two blonde little girls and a brown haired boy, all in plain overalls, and all with brown eyes and lightly tanned skin, tumbled over each other into the low-lying creeper plants, sapling trees, and small bushes.
Delai directed Croofor backwards with the deftness earned by her years of riding experience. Croofor was already doing just such, but it was habit for her to direct. Not that it did any good.
The oldest child, the boy of 8 years, yelped as one of the girls jumped on top of his stomach. "Caught you!" she squealed triumphantly, but her ecstatic mood was soon corrupted by sight of Croofor's eyes.
She screamed, clinging to the boy and causing quite a confusion.
"Stop that awful noise this instant!" Delai said in her most commanding voice. It might have worked better if she had been the size of the children's parents.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:35 pm
The girl's shriek summoned the other kids to where they were. The cry of surprise did scare some of the birds, and perhaps the other fauna around them, but there are barely any animals around the homes of men. The crows fluttered around disappearing into the webs of branches and leaves above them. While the few little vermin just skittered away from the area.
The other girl and the other boy arrived. Both of them were a little younger than those already before them. They stood frozen at the sight of the Iki and the Kokiri. The few animals they’ve seen are dogs, chickens, horses and ducks. They’ve only caught sight of wolves and other fierce beasts as pelts and rugs adorning their floors.
The oldest of the four rolled and ran on all his fours, reaching for the closest thing to defend him with. He found a stick, and tried to wave it at the strangers as menacingly as he could. “I’ve come from a line of heroes, stay back before I slay you.”
“Children of Tok,” Croofor muttered with his Iki tongue.
The blonde shrieker yelped in surprise.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 7:03 am
Delai pressed between his shoulders, which was a special command to drop his front legs into a bow. "Children of Tok, we humbly request that you allow us to pass through these lands."
The oldest girl, eyes sparkling wide, put a hand on the boy's shoulder, the one with the stick. "Charlie, don't scare them away!"
Charlie stared suspiciously at the two intruders, still brandishing his stick. His younger playmates had gathered, trembling with excitement, behind him, not sure if fear or curiosity should rule them now that the initial shock was over. Children are more accepting of things like talking animals than are their parents. "Go get Mum and Dad," Charlie ordered the youngest, who had to be nudged before she would scamper off.
Now this could be a real problem. Adults are particularly hard of hearing, being so far up from the ground. "We are on an urgent mission," Delai insisted calmly.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 1:36 pm
“Do you think it would be wise to have their parents?” Croofor spoke softly so he wouldn’t scare the children. “What they think of us?”
Charlie looked down at the fox that were speaking and pointed his stick at him, then back up at the small person. He still was shaking with fear, but it was a little calmer this time since none of these strangers were advancing or showing any signs of threat.
He nudged the children to stay behind them while they peeked at his side. Their eyes were in wonder at the little person more so than the talking fox. Their hands were clinging to the older boy’s clothes.
“What’s your name little person?” Asked the little one curiously.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:58 pm
She crossed her arms as she answered, "Delai. And yours?" The truth was that she had no answer for Croofor. She had never spoken to large people before, and rarely had she spied on them. These children seemed like regular children, but monstrously huge. She feared being accidentally stepped on more than she feared any serious falling out with the adults. On the one hand she thought that they could simply dart away if the going got tough. On the other, she wondered what else Croofor could turn into. But what she was banking on was what she had been taught, that large people consider small things to be harmless because they judge themselves superior. Her people's legends morned many an unfortunate incident that had led to her people departing from the wide world and squirreling away where they truly would not be noticed.
It seemed to be taking awhile to find the parents, and when the kid came back it was with no one. "They told me to go away!" the child complained. "They said to stop playing games!"
"Where is Dad?" the older girl asked impatiently.
"Chopping wood."
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 9:23 am
“Be quiet Ellis, don’t tell them your name,” Charlie interrupted the little kid with his mistake unknown to him.
The little shrieker then huddled with the smaller gal who announced their parent’s attitude towards the tales of small folks. She gave the little girl a friendly pat on her head for her efforts and a kiss on the forehead just like how their mother would do so.
“They look cute Charlie, I think they’re those faeries an’ an’ an’,” she stuttered a bit as she tried pulling things from memory,” An’ momma said they are the spirits of the forest.”
Charlie looked at her and then back to the fox and Delai. Maybe they are forest spirits he thought, But he’s heard of good ones and bad ones, and knows well of those that steal naughty children away. He found them too small to be the boogeymen. They had to be some spirits anyways, especially with the talking fox.
“What do you spirits want?”
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