Solo Tangled

[Shausha]

20 Summer 513
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The silent night bore upon Shausha’s ears. The only sounds that her twitching ears picked up were the squeakings of wild bats. Normally, she would have liked to talk with them; She would call out, trying to catch their interest. They’d flit around her head, inspecting the source, but would depart quickly. However, tonight their shrills filled her empty head, sending her into a irritated frenzy. She wound herself into the blankets that covered her apartment’s floor, kicking and growling unhappily, burrowing herself under the folds. Life in the diurnal city of Kalinor was terrible on her erratic nature.

Suddenly, an idea struck her. She sat up abruptly, contemplating the plan that her wandering mind had just hatched. A sock fell from her head as she and stared into the dark. Shausha leapt to her feet and jumped into the air, up towards the entrance near the ceiling. Before she left, she unhooked her harness and let it drop back into her living quarters. Sitting on her rear, she slid off the roof. She caught the air beneath her wings and soared around, bobbing under the bridges, ropes and structures that dripped from Kalinor’s ceilings. When she neared the sloping walls of The Cobweb, she grinned to herself and listened closely for signs of life within.

She landed upon the sloping roof, near the ceiling of the cave, anticipating the door was somewhere there. It was locked. For a couple minutes, she tried prying it open with her nails, but was unsuccessful. Grumbling, she flew back to her apartment and came back a few minutes later with her wooden brush in one hand and a razor in the other. She hammered at the lock with the brush until it broke. Tossing it into the abyss below, she jabbed her razor into the lock's keyhole. After a few infuriating minutes, she had stripped it clean. Satisfied, she popped the door open and jumped inside.

As expected, the halls of the school were dark and barren. Shausha’s feet padded quietly on the stone floors as she approached the main stage. There, hanging from the ceiling, were two very long, white ribbons of silk. Each one was the width of one of Shausha’s arms. Excited, she pushed off and flew up towards the cloth.

Earlier that week she had spied on a dance performance in this very hall.
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[Shausha]

17 Summer 513
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Attracted by the sounds of a gathered crowds, Shausha tracked the noise to an enormous Symenestrian structure. It truly was the embodiment of Symenestrian culture and engineering; The white walls sloped grandly, etched with finely woven designs. She flew around where there were windows??

Hooking her fingertips over the windowsill, Shausha peered into the vast room. Inside the dimly lit room, hundreds of Symenestrians were sitting tamely and watching a man cling to long strips of fabric that hung from the ceiling. He rose and fell, swinging elegantly along the length of the silk. Shausha boomed subsonically to herself in amazement.

She readjusted her grip on the structure, fascinated. The performer continued dance in the spotlight; His long arms curving beautifully and slowly. His careful movements were never over or under guessed. Just when she thought it could not get any weirder, he spun himself in the cloth and let go. Twirling and spinning, he soared downward. At the last possible second, he clung to the end of the fabric, just a meter from the ground. The crowd gave a collective gasp which startled Shausha. She turned back to the dancer who, bending in an impossible way, folded himself back upwards, climbing the silk.

She, herself, gasped, but not when he did gravity-defying pirouettes. She was fascinated at the way he looped himself through the fabric, seeming tangled, but then bending out of the folds easily. As she watched, wide eyed, she tried stretching a foot above her head like she had seen him do; She promptly fell off the structure and took a few moments to fly back up to her roost. When she settled herself, she made it back in time to see his final act.

The performer bent himself backwards, winding the rope around each foot and up each leg. He let go, arms and torso free of support and, with great flexibility, slowly widened his legs into a straight line. Shausha was about to try it, too, when the roar of the crowd spooked Shausha slightly. She looked in to see them standing at their feet, clapping loudly. Shausha bellowed her approval, but had to drop out of sight when she saw quite a few Symenestrians turn at the noise.
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[Shausha]

20 Summer 513
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She grinned to herself as she circled the draping fabric. Shausha hovered for a moment, taking the silk between her hands and running it through her fingers. It was certainly very smooth; she doubted if she could hold onto it without using her claws. Winding the cloth around her hand like she had seen the performer do, she lessened the power in her wings, putting weight into the fabric. The ceiling supports creaked, but did not budge. Slowly, she stopped her wings altogether. As the full weight of her body tugged the fabric which closed uncomfortably tightly around her hand, she tried loosening it by wiggling her hand. The smooth silk responded by letting her go completely and she slid down its length.

Panicking slightly, she held on tight to the ribbon as she fell. The friction under her hand grew extremely hot; She let go in surprise and with a great thud! landed upon the stage’s floor. Standing slowly and rubbing her rear, she hissed at the illusory silk. She stuck her tongue out in determination and took flight.

Again, she wrapped her hand around the silk, but this time she wrapped a foot, too. Using the other shift of fabric to balance the weight. The silk responded to her weight again, but it being distributed, she was not in as much discomfort. Once her basic grip was established, she began to smile with glee. Shifting her weight forward and backwards, she swung gently. Feeling adventurous, she tried emulating a move she had seen a few nights back. Slowly separating her feet, she lowered into a split-leg pose.

When her legs passed about a 120 degree angle, her muscles began to hint that their limit was near. She planned on pulling back up out of the pose by closing her legs again, but Shausha found that she did not possess the strength. Wobbling awkwardly in mid-air as she strained to keep her legs from separating further, she began to beat her wings. Distressed, she chittered to the silk that would not let her go. The hand and foot that had been wound loosely into the support strip came free, but the knots she had made around her other appendages had tightened into strong coils. Hovering while kicking at the cloth, she finally managed to rid herself of its grasp.

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[Shausha]

20 Summer 513
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Having a great amount of fun, Shausha proceeded to mimic more moves. She swung her arms like awkward windmills in an attempt to capture the elegant bowing and stretching she had seen the performer do. She pinned one of the lengths of silk between her clawed feet and clung to it with her left hand’s claws, bending the free arm to-and-fro, giggling all the while. When she switched hands to mirror her silly stunts on the other side, she lost her balance and a proper grip on the fabric. Digging into the light silk with her nails, she heard a couple rips and felt herself sink a few inches.

Rip. Riiiiiiiiiiip!

Her nails started tearing through what she gripped in her hands. All of a sudden, the last resisting threads in the curtain gave way and she zipped downwards, tearing the fabric down its entire length. While she soared downwards in a controlled fall, she squealed merrily, holding her wings out gently to partially slow the descent. When she got to the bottom, she looked up at bolt of cloth; It was now hanging in ribbons, torn from top to bottom.

Now that she had ruined that one, she changed over to its mirror image, the second bolt of silk. The cloth billowed softly, its smooth surface gleaming in the low light. Shausha took hold of the end and shook it vigorously, watching the ripples ascend and return. Inspiration struck her and she wound the fabric around her hands. She beat her wings and, keeping the silk in hand, backed into the wall behind her and up towards the ceiling. After making sure she had it pulled taut, she counted down in Zithanese.

“3...2...1...” Shausha squeaked, “GO!” She let go. Her stomach dropped and she cheered enthusiastically as she swung across the entire stage and back towards the wall behind her. Once it lost momentum, she repeated this maneuver a couple times. The second time, she bent over backwards, holding the ribbon in her hands and stopping it between her legs. The third time she only used one hand, using her other limbs to increase the power of the swing when it reached the bottom of the curve. Her fourth and fifth time were not as pleasant, as the grip of the curtain tightened around her own. Finally, she let the swing’s momentum go completely out, dragging her feet along the stage to aid in her movement’s arrest.

The very ends of the second drape was now shredded as well from where she had clung to it while swinging. Shausha decided to go back to her inane antics of imitation. Improvising, she wound parts of the silk around her elbow, knees, shoulder, and hips. She proceeded to attempt back-bends and leg extensions. She almost fell off the thing when performing a hands-free forward bend. The whole thing was very gawky and she knew it, but hardly cared. The performer she had seen did everything effortlessly, not full of struggling and slipping. However, he was performing for his people and the only one Shausha was currently dancing for was Akajia.

Squeezing tight to the drapery, she tightened her hold and decided to wind the thing around her feet. In hindsight, it was a terrible idea, but she did not know that yet. Once almost half the length of the fabric was wound around her feet, she looked around, unsure what to do. She swam a hand out to reach for the shredded curtain. It was just out of reach, so she had to extend both arms in order to touch it. Grabbing some of the threads of silk between her fingers, she tried to loose her feet from the now obviously terrible idea. Her feet were completely tangled in the coils.

A rush of dread flushed her cheeks and ears as she felt herself lose balance and fall backwards into the torn curtain’s ribbons. She felt her wings brush into its grasp as she tried flying to freedom. Afraid that her beating wings might entangle and create knots that could rip and break the delicate bones and skin, she was forced to tuck her wings tightly around her body. In vain, she tried pulling her feet from the coils once more. However, as she kicked, the curtain bent against the hand that held above and tossed her backwards. She fell, untwirling rapidly and screaming the whole way down. The last of the curtain had been knotted around her ankle, so when she reached the bottom her stop was sudden and hard pulled against her ankle. She bobbed upside down by the foot, dizzy and stunned.

After a minute, her spinning eyes began to settle and blood began to rush to her head. She tried to reach up to release her ankle, but couldn't pull herself up. For a few more minutes, she tried her hardest to bend forward while upside down. When she finally regained her senses, she began to flap her wings, hard. The motion righted her and she dug her claws into the knot, tearing it apart.
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[Shausha]

always avoid alliteration
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Shausha took hold of the ends of the curtains, both now shredded to bits, and decided to tie them together. Backing into the tattered knot, she boosted herself up and sat on the swing. Rocking back and forth, she closed her eyes and took a moment to relax. She listened closely to the creaking of the building, entropyJUST SAYING, I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR USING THE WORD ENTROPY IN A STORY willing it to equalize with the cave floor. The smooth night air whispered through her fur as she gained height. Regaining her mettle, she began to experiment again.

The silk swing swung softly, cycling steadily and soaring swiftly in the silent city. Shakily, Shausha shackled her shins in the shredded shrouds, she, a shifting shadow in this hush-hush show. Gently leaning back, she let go of the ropes and swung upside down in a full backbend. The vertigo tickled her nose. Laughing, she flapped her wings a couple times to aid in reaching the shifts of silk, careful not to let her legs slip out.

She pumped her legs back and forth, regaining momentum lost. The final act of her performance was at hand. Shausha carefully stood upon the knot that tied her swing together and used her wings to propel the swing. The fastenings that bolted the silk to the ceiling creaked warily, voicing their fatigue. Whizzing happily through the air, Shausha egged the swing on, willing it to reach the roof in a complete half-circle.

Giggling excitedly, Shausha prepared to dismount. She waited for the perfect moment when the swing reached its rear peak; The moment the swing drew backwards, and hesitated mid-air in preparation to descend. When that moment came, she put all her effort into speeding the swing onward. In a grand whoosh, Shausha let go of the swing as it launched her forward, into the audience’s seats. Squealing and laughing, Shausha zoomed through the air, looping around and enjoying the residual speed boost.

At long last, her game was over. Sniffing her way back to the entrance, she glanced back once more at the stage. The curtains waved back and forth, vestiges of their fun together diminishing slowly. Parts of the silk hung in tatters, holes in the curtains winked as light passed behind them, fuzz balls dotted the stage. Giving the theme-park a goodnight kiss, she climbed out of The Cobweb, promising she'd visit again soon.

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[Ensnare]

Shausha Skill XP Gained Observation 4 Flying 3 Lockpicking 1 Stealth 1 Acrobatics 4 Lore Gained Using a Brush to Open a Lock? No Good Breaking and Entering Into The Cobweb Location: The Cobweb Observing a Symenestra Aerial Dancer Improvising to Imitate Attempting to Aerial Dance When At First You Don't Succed, Try, Try Again A Silent Promise To Visit The Cobweb Again Items/Consequences: - 1 Brush If you feel I have graded you unfairly, or if you have any questions, please send me a PM and we'll work the problem out. Notes : I thought this was a really adorable thread, I love how Shausha is being such a mischievious scamp vandalising The Cobweb's property.