A Tiger's Beat (Emalay, Pauk)

by **Dasvek** on July 5th, 2012, 1:03 am

Timestamp: Spring 75, 510
Time: Sunrise
Location: Just outside of Taloba
Who: Emalay, Pauk

Dasvek looked up the tree into the low slung canopy, searching for any signs of a wild cat or other predator. His dark eyes sought out the sign of a twitching tail, sagging bough, or glowing eyes. Satisfied that it was safe, he drew a knife from it's sheath, and reached up with his left hand, taking hold of a vine. He then stabbed his dagger as high as he could reach into the soft, spongy bark, then began pulling himself up. Further up the vine, pull the dagger free, stab, pull up, repeat. After a few chimes of huffing, puffing, and aching arms and back, he pulled himself up and over a large branch. He sat there catching his breath, and then looked out over the jungle and realized he could see the entrance to his Goddess' city.

He smiled and pulled his war drum from his back, swung his other leg over the branch so that he straddled it, and sat the instrument between his thighs. Then he sat and listened to the sounds of the jungle, while watching Her gate to Taloba. Closing his eyes for a moment, he could make out the sounds of Caiyha's blessed jungle. Tweet - Tweet Tweet Chirrrrrrrup of a song bird, Ahyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - Ah Ah Ah of a distant monkey, and the rrrrrbert, rrrrrberrrt of a nearby tree frog. He continued listening to these sounds, until he felt he knew the rhythm. He started off slowly, with taps on the side of his drum to match the bird with a high woody sound. Tap - tap tap. Tap - Tap tap. Tap - Tap tap. Then he decided to throw in a sliding motion across the skin followed by a palm tap on the edge of the rim. Tap - tap tap swiiiishump. Tap - tap tap swiiiishump. For the monkey, he tried to mimic the sound with his own vocals, followed by three rim shots with his finger tips. Tap - tap tap swiiiishump "Aiyeeeeee!" Bum bum bum. He repeated this until he had his cry down pat. The frog would get rapid finger tips towards the center of the skin, followed by a deep palm pound in the center. Tap - tap swiiiishump "Ahyeeeeeeeeeeee!" bum bum bum tuh-tuh-tuh-tuh OOMP

Satisfied, he continued to play this beat, tweaking the timings, fine tuning the hand placements, until he could hear the animals playing along with him. On the final note he ended with a loud THUMP "Ayayayayaaya!" He leaned back, relaxing, eyeballing the gates once more, wondering if he should take his spear and go bring some food back for the clan, before the others begin accusing him of laziness again.

by **Pauk** on July 5th, 2012, 1:44 am

He had snuck away from his mommy while she was out buying meat for his ever-growing form...it was sad she wasn't a hunter, so he made up for it by playing outside and attempting to catch the colourful birds that were hidden everywhere. He heard someone climbing the tree he had climbed a while ago, to play in and watch the going-ons below. He was high in the branches, teetering on a branch so small it could only be perched on safely by someone at least as tiny as he was.

Then, everything was quiet except for the breathing of the Myrian below him. He could smell Myrian on him, and he could smell that it was a he. His tail twitched. He vaguely wondered if he could use this target for pouncing practice, but the thought dissipated at the sight of a spear. Darn.

Then, out of seemingly nowhere, he started playing the drum that Pauk didn't notice was in his lap. It vaguely reminded him of the sounds of the jungle. He subconsciously swayed to the rhythm, until he lost his balance on the branch and came tumbling down onto the branch that the Myrian was sitting on, in a swirl of leaves. Of course, cats always land on their feet. Right? Of course. He landed on his feet behind the Myrian, before losing his footing and landing on his stomach.

by **Emalay** on July 5th, 2012, 2:29 am

The squirrel scampered ahead, a nut of some kind in it's mouth, completely unaware of it's big, Myrain shadow. Emalay's dancing roots worked in her favor while she stalked, her foot pointed as she took each step, her toes and the ball of her foot settling down into the forest bracken and testing the ground before she placed her full weight there. This she did without even thinking, her fierce gaze riveted on the minute movements it made; the flick of it's ears, the way the tail swished when it stopped and perched on a fallen log. The only way to tell what it was going to do next was to watch.

When abranch snapped somewhere above, the squirrel froze and Emalay froze a tick later. The little creature's ears swiveled at a dizzying pace while the rest of it stayed locked in an upright position, beady little eyes flickering about for the source of the danger. Emalay held herself completely still, one leg awkwardly lifted and extended as she had been in the process of stepping over a smallish bush. Half closing her eyes as the muscles in the one leg supporting her weight began to protest, the young woman simply lowered herself into the place she went while dancing; here, things like aches and pains were non existant.

And then the banging began directly above the woman and squirrel. Both jumped nearly out of their skin, the squirrel racing halfway up a nearby tree trunk and dropping his nut as he chattered angrily at the noise. Emalay started, instinct making her move away from the sudden sound, forgetting that she was only balanced on one leg. Teetering between going forward and back for a single moment, she used the momentum of her small jump to spin and launch herself over the bush, a few quick, light steps with her arms outstretched before she was able to bring herself to a stop.

Still in her dance state, Emalay's first reaction was to nod appreciatively at the beat; steady and strong. The soles of her feet seemed to itch as the music called for her to join it and sing with her body. Her second reaction countered the first, whirling around to where the squirrel was only moments before. The nut lay on the leaf strewn ground, the furry creature long gone.

Anger pulsed now with the rapid beating of her heart and there was a deadly thrumming and a thump as Emalay tossed her ribbon dagger out of pure frustration; it stuck, vibrating, in the very spot the squirrel had perched.

"Hey! YOU!" Tilting her head back, Emalay saw the bottom of one dirty foot. "You lost me my lunch, fool!"

by **Dasvek** on July 5th, 2012, 4:42 am

Dasvek started as some creature landed behind him with a dull thud. He grabbed a knife, sliding it from its sheath, and slashing blindly backwards, while grabbing a hold on his drum with a free, swinging his legs around to face the unseen enemy. He wasn't sure if his knife had bitten into the prey, as his settled down on the... tiger cub? His spinning momentum threw him offbalance and he tipped over the side of the branch, as he heard a voice berating him. He managed to hook a leg over the branch before he fell, leaving him dangling there, two arms flailing with a drum and knife, and a leg hanging out at a strange angle. And apparently he had somehow interrupted a fellow Myrian's hunt. He just knew he was going to be getting an ear full.

He reached down and set his drum gently on the ground away from his body, and tossed his knife next to it.. He then began swinging himself back and forth like a pendulum, preparing to flip over and land on his feet. After building up momentum, he kicked his legs out and down, his body turning in air. To far as it was, as he overshot the landing and his chest landed first on the spongy jungle floor. He picked himself up, slung his drum over his back, and grabbed his knife as he got a look at the annoyed woman that had berated him. She had light hair, like wet sand, a lithe body, strong, but faster and graceful it seemed. He'd been to enough festivals to recognize that look. She was a dancer. He pointed his knife up to the branch above, "I have a tiger cub, not one of Myri's, treed. Want that for lunch?"

by **Pauk** on July 5th, 2012, 5:17 am

There was a knife flashing in front of him, and all too soon the Myrian man was on the ground. Pauk was confused, very confused, especially when a Myrian lady with light hair came around, yelling at the man. Something about dinner? His childish mind was still confused when the man indicated Pauk as a meal. He wasn't a meal! He was a tiger Kelvic! Maybe they didn't know he was kelvic, but he would show them. They couldn't eat him!

With a flash, he was in his Myrian-looking form, lying belly-down on the branch. The bark dug into his skin, something he didn't feel through layers of fuzzy tiger fur. He slid down from the branch, landing with feline grace in all is naked glory.

"I'm not a meal!" he cried with his high-pitched child-voice, looking to be around four or five years of age. He wasn't, though. He was barely a season old, still wrapped in the depths of childhood. "Don't eat me!" His voice sounded distinctly Myrian, from being born and growing up around him. He didn't know very much work, he didn't know very much hardship, but he was still a baby. His mother kept all this hidden away from him, leaving him very immature and childish. But he was a child. A cub, a baby even. What could you, would you expect?

by **Emalay** on July 5th, 2012, 11:24 pm

Emalay watched the man drop to the ground with a sour expression, one hand perched atop one jutted hip while the other fingered the ribbons that hung on the other. She even went so far as to raise a skeptical brow when he finally righted himself upon the ground, pointing jauntily towards the treetops and a supposed lunch. Her gaze flickered to the drum that he had so carefully set down, as if it were a precious treasure or even a child. Something stirred in her memory, tickling at her childhood days, but the harder she tried to grasp, the more elusive it became. A roll of her shoulders allowed her to ignore the insistant feeling and Emalay turned her attention back to the man, who was still pointing patiently upwards, a lazy smile drifting over his lips.

Taking a reluctant step foward, Emalay ducked her head so that she could see the branch on which the man was just sitting. "You think that I'm going to eat... bark?" Came the sarcastic sneer; she was already turning back to glare at the drummer when the child began to screech from behind her. It took all of Emalay's will to not jump in surprise. It would not do to show such weakness around strangers, though her critically cast glance told her that neither of them were hardly any threat at all.

"I might just eat you for yelling in my ear" Emalay turned her head just enough to shout the word back up at the little boy, pale eyes flashing as her face continued to darken. Patience was wearing mighty thin. "What is this, anyway?" The hand that had balanced on her hip now lifted to encompass man, boy and drum in a sweeping wave.

While she waited for a reply, Emalay eyed the young Myrian boy. There was something odd about him and she didn't like it one bit. Though she managed to hold her tongue for a bit, Emalay suddenly spun towards the boy, her fingers twitching near the ribbons of her daggers again. "Who are you?"

by **Dasvek** on July 18th, 2012, 5:06 am

Dasvek ignore the woman's sarcastic remark. They were all the same, stronger, faster, nagging bitches. Can't they just leave him alone? He bent down and picked up his knife and drum, when he swore he saw a bright flash nearby. Zulrav wasn't raging, so it wasn't lightning. He shrugged it off though, didn't matter, what could possibly happen this close to the city? His ears picked up the dull thud of something dropping to the fertile grounds of his Goddess' land. He saw the young boy standing behind the woman, squawking back in reply.

Dasvek moved past the woman to look down at the boy, "Why would we you? There's hardly any meat on them bones. You need to work out more, your arms are most bone, your chest is flat and your..." Dasvek fell silent, then continued "WHAT IN THE PETCH HAPPENED TO YOUR DICK?!" Dramatically, Dasvek fell backwards on his ass and began backing away from the child as if he were cursed by all the gods known and unknown. Dasvek began pointing his knife at the boy... girl... thing. "What in Myri's name are you? Did you get mauled by a Ta'rukahl or something?"

Dasvek looked up at the woman, "I don't think we should eat it. I don't want that happening to mine! It's freaky! How does that even happen?!"

by **Pauk** on July 29th, 2012, 12:38 am

Pauk looked down at himself. He was skinny, that was true. But why was this Myrian man so scared of him? Was he scary? He didn't think he looked like a monster! How could he scare this Myrian man so badly? Myrians didn't usually get scared, from as far as he could tell.

"I am Pauk, tiger Kelvic! I didn't do anything wrong!" He didn't even know what this Myrian was talking about, nor did he know what a Ta'rukahl was. He hissed at the Myrian man for yelling at him, and could barely hold back from crying. He didn't like being yelled at. He couldn't help he was so little or that he apparently looked odd enough to scare a full grown Myrian. He hissed again and turned back into his furrier, more welcoming self, before hiding behind the tree and cautiously peering at the two Myrians.