Closed Nuisance

[Mayra]

"Not all Drykas have Striders. Some are never bonded. Only true Drykas accepted by children of the gods." Mayra furrowed her brows. She seemed to always be unaware of the customs of civilized society. Although she favored the wilder ways of the horse people, they still were so foreign to her in their ways.

"Bonded? You mean... What do you mean by that? And Striders are your... horses, right? Wait, so your Gods can have children too? Shouldn't they then be mortal?" Mayra laughed at her own confusion and ignorance, waving her hands in front over her. "Actually no, I need you to explain all of that to me. I've only been here three days." She leaned over to collect her stick of snake from the ground where she had stuck it to cool. Testing the meat with her finger, she decided it was no longer hot enough to sear off her taste-buds, but still warm to be a pleasant meal. Pulling out her dagger again, which she was poorly abusing, she prepared to cut intl the tip of the snake. It was no eating knife, and the dagger didn't cut through the meat like her eating knife did, but it was what she had.

Although Mayra soon found it was not the lack of a proper knife that was why she couldn't pluck the snake meat from the stick. It was the fact that the snake meat was harder than a rock. When it had been steaming hot it looked soft enough to peal the meat from the stick without issue, but now that she actually attempted to do so, she found the task to be less peeling and more breaking. She tried to focus on Dravite's answer while she did this, but when she finally managed to break off a chunk of the snake and flakes of the meat dropped to the dirt below her, she grumbled in disappointment. So much for trying this new type of meat. The mixed-blood tested the meat with her teeth, she found her teeth merely made indents on the solid hunk of flesh. Maybe she had cooked it wrong, but how? Wasn't cooking meat supposed to be simple? Get it hot so it doesn't get you sick, yeah? Mayra didn't stop the small grimace from alighting her face as she tested different parts of the snake for anything eatable.

Once Dravite had explained the small fraction of his culture to her, she ignored his question again in preparation to ask her own.

Common | Tawna | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking

[Dravite]

Was the word so strange? He asked himself. “Yes bonded! The children of the gods pick their riders, you cannot break them,” he tried his best to answer the woman’s question as she sat picking apart the meal he had provided her.

Dravite wrapped the last of the raw meat in the snake skin and set it at his feet before sheathing his dagger on his black, leather belt. He reached out for his spear and drew it closer to him as not to forget it when Cree finally returned, or let the clumsy animal walk all over it like he often tried. “Shouldn't they be mortal?” Mayra had asked and Dravite gave little in the way of answer, wondering why she had refused to respond in turn.

“You know nothing of the gods, Mayra of Kalea.”

‘Information is more valuable than gold,’ the words of his late father echoed in his mind, which was suddenly flooded with questions; who was this stranger? How did she get to Endrykas and why did she have so many questions while refusing to answer any of his. She was godless, disrespectful, and too alien to be trusted. Dravite Windborne you have been a fool, he thought to himself, to let your guard down around a creature so strange; one who would laugh in the face of your gods and claim ignorance even after your words of wisdom were imparted. It seemed he had noticed now, the sharpened stick that Mayra held in her hand, picking at the half cooked snake meat that hung off the charred end.

In the distance sounded the thunder of hooves upon the plain and as it grew louder, quickly closing in on the pair, the tall grass rustled and Dravite lifted his gaze to see that Cree had finally returned.

The stallion was beautiful and all Strider, wild, black eyes observing the stranger as he rounded the makeshift cooking site. His mane and tail were long and wind swept, black as tar and just as unruly as his adventurous spirit. In terms of size he was as big as Striders got, standing sixteen hands at the shoulder. His speed across the plain was unmatched, heightened by the Drykas webbing, a secret all Drykas kept close to their chests. The buckskin Strider finally settled at his riders back a few feet from camp and threw his head high, shaking his shaggy mane back and forth as if to ask, ‘Who is this?’

Dravite rose, spear in hand and took the folded up snake skin and raw meat to his saddlebag for storing until he was able to return to Endrykas. He touched the fingers of his left hand to his Striders shoulder to soothe the animal and then combed them over the black velvet of his nose and wrinkled upper lip. When he looked back at Mayra, he seemed to whisper something in Pavi to his mount, answering the question on the animal’s mind, “I do not know.”

The temptation to leave itched in the tips of his fingers and toes, and curiosity turned to anger; the man suddenly so much more sure of himself with the Strider at his back. He closed the gap between himself and this Mayra of Kalea, turning the blunt end of his spear on her to jab her shoulder hard enough that she would feel the string for the next bell or two. “Answer me!” the horse lord ordered, turning his carved bone spear so that the sharp point hovered a foot from Mayra’s face.

“How did you find Endrykas. What business have you here?” .
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[Mayra]

Mayra still didn't understand. Recently, that was entirely too common of a feeling for her. Wherever she went, she was a foreigner. She didn't fit in, she didn't belong and it had long ceased to frustrate her. What are the children of the Gods? If your myths are human, they cannot birth horses! She had a million things to say about the two sentences he provided her, but she found it was no use. She didn't speak this man's tongue and he barely spoke hers, it would only make them both frustrated.

"You know nothing of the gods, Mayra of Kalea." Dravite ended the conversation and Mayra shrugged, refocusing on the meat. It was all lost. She hadn't paid attention to it, and wasted the new meat. She would have to try snake another time. Thinking of Dravite's hate of waste, she sighed before opening her mouth to apologize, but the words never got out.

A thundering nose drifted into her ears. To fast to be any horse, or animal she knew... Mayra twisted where she sat, turning away from Dravite immediately to look across the stream. Would they come this close to the tent city? Was she lucky enough to see them again? But the thunder was too centered. Although just as fast, it was not the heavy rumble of the herd of Ixam she had glimpsed before. It was a sensation that Mayra was sure she would never forget, so there was no mistaking this thundering was something else, something that was coming closer. Her head whipped back towards Dravite, to see if he was recognizing the noise at all.

Her heart skipped a beat and then took off faster than the horse that approached them when she saw it. Involuntarily, she found herself scuttling back a few feet, her breathe gone. Give her a prowl of hunting cats, face her with a wild dog, and Mayra couldn't flinch, but faced with these horses and she was like a small child facing down a mother moose. It took a moment for Mayra to realize that Dravite was getting up. He was touching the horse, talking to it even. This gave her a little more confidence to allow the blood to come back to her cheeks when he started messing with the animal's saddle bags. This must be his... what did he call it? Stride? The child of a 'God'? Maybe he is preparing to leave.

Wary of the frightening beast before her, Mayra shifted so she was on her knees, preparing to stand, but something rammed into her shoulder, knocking her back on her bum. The pain of the blow resonated in her shoulder and a grimace held back the whimper of pain. "What the--"

"How did you find Endrykas. What business have you here?" Mayra was about to yell at the horseman, claiming he was a madman, before he flipped the spear. Not giving her time to react, the blade end of the weapon now pressed the question. Mayra hesitated. Her first instinct was to run. To get away as fast as she could, hide if possible, and never return. But that damn horse was staring her down, and this damn man's damn blade was in her face. How was she supposed to stand without voluntarily impaling herself?

Flattening her black gaze on the man, a burst of defiance overrode her common sense or self-preservation. An instinct had taken control of the half-breed, although whether it was the instinct to surrender and spare her life or the one to fight back, she wasn't sure. "I'm here burn your city, rape your women and enslave your children." Ooops. That wasn't going to help, but it might offer her a few seconds of surprise. Hopefully. She didn't waste time to risk his reaction. Her hand shot up, the 'V' between her index finger and thumb caught the shaft of the spear, just before the tip. Treating it like a lever, she arced the weapon over her head to her right so the tip was no longer pointed anywhere near her, thankful for the length of the spear that allowed her to move it. A burst of adrenaline rushed through her calves and thighs and Mayra was on her feet. She found herself in a much more comfortable position, no longer on the ground, but it did not change the fact that she was at a massive disadvantage.

On light toes, Mayra scuttled back from the man and his horse, drawing her blade. She couldn't help herself from dropping into the predatory crouch of her father, but she refrained from baring her teeth at the man. No need to look inhuman, if it was possible. A pang shot through her shoulder, reminding her with arm would be bad to use the blade with and Mayra switched arms, keeping her face emotionless. What came over him? Along with the adrenaline, Mayra felt a sudden burst of something else. The familiar sickening but relieving feeling of djed rising in her throat forced Mayra to evaluate. Had she called this hypnotism up? No... or at least not consciously. Stay away. She forced the suggestion out with a low feline growl that rumbled from her throat. Stay where you are. She tried again, loosing her breathe although she had not spoken a word. That was it. That was all she had, a weak hypnotized suggestion to stop her attacker, any more and she would just weaken herself.

"On the mountains, what are you doing?" The half-Zith meant to speak the words, waste a bit more time if she could, but they came out in a more guttural snarl than she intended. Oh well. She was seeing red and it took all her self control not to spring on the man, which of course would leave her wounded or dead. There was no way she was going to beat this man in a scuffle, that much was obvious to both of them. Taking the chance of her words, Mayra gave herself a few more steps backwards. If she thought she could outrun this man on his horse, she would have bolted, but that was also a loss. She was stuck and desperately searching for an escape. Oh, why do we have to be out here? Mayra whined to herself. She would feel much safer if she wasn't in such a wide-open space.

Common | Tawna | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking

[Dravite]

Watching Mayra's eyes brought little reward in the way of chancing any kind of guess as to the movements she might make. Her limbs though, they would betray the novice fighter just as Dravite's too-tight grip on his spear did. Her muscles seemed to flex, feet shifted, fingers twitched, and though she said nothing at first, the man couldn't help but feel that she meant to.

The horse lord edged closer until the tip of his weapon was an inch from her nose and finally Mayra spoke, but the words passed over her lips too quickly, and in a moment of confusion, she managed to grab his spear and pushed the glancing blow above her just as his reactions drove it forward in a restrained jabbing movement. When he drew the spear back from the woman's grasp she had managed to put some distance between them, enough that even a brave lunge in her direction with the spear would prove useless.

Dravite understood few words Mayra had spoken and only parts of others; fire, city, women, and children. He managed to break down enslave to its lesser form, but the word that was sharpest off her tongue left big enough a gap that little of the sentence made sense. What is rape? He asked himself and had he understood, he would have chanced that lunge after all.

If she did mean to burn his city down, he would not allow her to start now, and with the shifting of his left foot, Dravite raked enough loose earth, sand, and river pebbles over the flames to put them out. He had been able to do this without taking his eyes from the woman, who seemed less human than she had only ticks ago to the angered man who seethed inwardly at the slight to his authority; he was a native to the land, she had no power here.

From behind Dravite, the large stallion stirred, as if feeding off the adrenaline that coursed through his rider's veins. The sound reverberated up from the depths of his chest and out through his flared nostrils in a furious boom. Cree raked the earth with his right, front hoof and seemed to dance up onto his hind quarters, making himself even bigger. Dravite saw the shadow of the Strider's raised form from the corner of his eye and stepped away from the fall of his mighty hooves, which struck the ground with such force that the Drykas man could have sworn it moved.

From a distance he observed Mayra's weapon of choice and thrust his forward into thin air as if to test the range of its reach, jogging his own memory with the less than pleasant gesture. "Who shows Mayra of Kalea to city of tents?" He growled, believing now she had come to do just as she spoke of.

"Godless woman speak truth or children of the gods eat her flesh," he hissed the words and spat where she had been sitting.

Of course the horse would not do this, but Dravite was willing to believe that Mayra knew as much about the Sea of Grass and Endrykas as he knew about the distant lands of Kalea. He raised his right hand, clasping the spear with his left and signalled to his Strider while speaking the language of his heart. "Earth Shaker, who's that. Look, look!" He encouraged the horse like a man might his guard dog, stating the cues that sharpened the animals focus and made him more alert.

Cree pinched his nostrils and lifted his upper lip to display his teeth as if he were going into battle against a rival stallion; eyes shot wide so that the surrounding white could be seen against the constraining black. He made a deep, bellowing noise, followed by a higher pitched sound akin to the bark of a dog, and went up on his powerful hind legs to take a step forward and throw his weight against the ground again.

With both hands once more planted firmly on his weapon, Dravite awaited Mayra's answer while readying himself for the worst. .
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[Mayra]

"Godless woman speak truth or children of the gods eat her flesh," The bullet of spit didn't land on her, but she flinched as if it was. Forgetting civility, another growl erupted from her now fully bared teeth and she gripped her knife harder between white knuckles. But it faltered when she realized what his words meant. Did those horses really eat people. Mayra risked her eyes falling on the massive beast now, worry falling across her face. The muscle and agitated movements of the beast only helped convince Mayra of Dravites words. She knew when she was going to loose, and most of the time she refused to acknolwedge it, but for once it was a humility she was willing to take. It was either serve her pride or be eaten.

"Earth Shaker, who's that. Look, look!" A shriek erupted from Mayra as the horse reacted and she backed further now, her boot-clad feet ripping up grass in her panicked wake. She kept running backwards as if she didn't know that spear could fly just as well as that horse could run. Aw petch. She felt the lump of fear in her throat and she was unsure whether she was going to cry or not. The half-Chaktawe tried to rapidly blink away the fear-tears, translucent eyelids fluttered over her black eyes in a desperate attempt to keep her vision clear. Mayra threw her dagger on the ground between the man and herself in surrender. Immediately, shaky hands flew up to show she would not try anything.

"I-I-I'm just passing through. I'm not actually going to burn the your horse-city down. I-I'm going to the desert." Her hands shook terribly as she tried to sputter out an explanation for the man. He asked another question! What was his other question? Who showed me? "I came with t-traders. From Kenash. They were bringing sugar and tobacco," She had to pause, sucking in as much air as she could, pushing it around the lump in her throat. "One-one of the horsewomen lead us. Her and her brother, or friend or someone. I don't know who she is, I swear, I just need to get to the desert." She was going to die here. This psychotic horse-man was going to kill her. She was away from her loved ones or anyone she knew. She would disapear in this foreign land and she wouldn't have even been free for a year. Not even a year!

He had been pleasant, if not welcoming until that thing showed up. Mayra glanced at the horse again and a tear slipped from her eye. she felt the warm shame run down her nose and end on her lip to give her the salty taste of humility. Did those God-beasts induce anger or something? "I'll leave right now. I'll get my things and walk away and never ever come back. Just let me go. Just don't eat me." She pleaded. At the moment, Mayra didn't think she as lying. When faced with a man-eating horse she would have no qualms about walking into the sea of death.

He had waited for her answer, but Mayra was not going to wait for him to decide if it was good enough. If she was going to be stabbed or eaten anyway, she was not going to go down as a whimpering fool. As soon as the last word cracked, Mayra dropped her hands and bolted. Maybe he wouldn't follow her, maybe he would, either way he had her knife, so what was she going to do if he did? Thankful that the adrenaline still controlled her energey, Mayra found light powerful legs carried her swiftly away. She knew it would only be a few minutes before she could run no longer, this speed would wear her out quicker than fire to paper. Just make it to the city. Just make it to the city and you can hide.

Common | Tawna | Thoughts | PC/NPC Talking

[Dravite]

With mild amusement and small, triumphant smile, he watched the woman run out towards the horizon. A small part of him felt guilty, for the direction in which she ran would only lead to death for anyone less travelled. Mayra had her magic diamond though, he told himself, and glanced down at the shape she had drawn in the sand to see which way she was running.

Damn those traders from Kenash and the strangers they led into the lost city, all they ever did was bring sickness and disparity to the Drykas people; who needed sugar and tobacco anyway? Dravite felt dirty all of the sudden, like the snake bite on his shoulder was cleaner than sitting in the presence of the godless woman from Kalea, with the black eyes and dog teeth. In the summer after he had his wage, he would try to remember to buy a book with information on this far-off land in order to learn more.

He moved to collect Mayra’s dagger, turning it over to judge the make and feel the weight of it in his hand. Perhaps, one day, if he ever saw her again, he might return it to her. For now, he would keep it stashed in the bottom of the left saddlebag and take it wherever he went. For now he needed to bath, which he would do down steam, and later have a healer check his wound. As he climbed onto the excited stallion, he looked out into the grass-sea and stared; something told him it was not the last he would see of Mayra. .
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[Naiya]

Here's what the Fox says

Name: Mayra

XP Award:

• Carving +1
• Cooking +1
• Hunting +1
• Intimidation +1
• Land Navigation +2
• Medicine +1
• Observation +5
• Teaching +1
• Tracking +1
• Socialization +5
• Stealth +1
• Unarmed Combat +2
• Wilderness survival +2

Lore:

• A cook fire needs a centered flame
• Battling instinct in order to survive
• Cooking: Hot food is less likely to make you sick
• Dravite: Different from other Drykas
• Endrykas: A city of ever stranger strangers
• Land Navigation: Judging distance
• Stealth: A quiet gait
• Telling direction by the Sun
• There is safety in the tent city
• Tracking: Humanoid trails
• Tracking: Recognizing trails in the grass
• Unarmed Combat: A defensive stance
• Wilderness Survival: Building a fire

Notes: I saw a lot of mention of your dagger, but I can't award dagger skill unless it is used as an actual weapon, I had the same mistake in my threads. Hopefully you can get the skills you are looking for in future threads. Please let me know if you have any questions about what I did award.

Name:Dravite

XP Award:

• Acrobatics +1
• Butchery +2
• Cooking +2
• Hunting +1
• Intimidation +1
• Land Navigation +1
• Medicine +1
• Observation +5
• Skinning +1
• Socialization +5
• Tanning +1
• Teaching +1
• Weapon: Dagger +1
• Weapon: Spear +2
• Wilderness Survival +1

Lore:

• Butchery: Dispatching a snake
• Butchery: Splitting a snake
• Butchery: Removing a snake's head
• Cooking: Requires attention
• Intimidation: A veiled threat
• It's just a flesh wound!
• Land Navigation: Telling direction by the sun
• Mayra: An odd, unsettling stranger
• Mayra: What are you hiding?
• Medicine: Recognizing severity
• Roasted snake, a Windborne favorite
• Weapon, Spear: A ready stance
• Weapon, Spear: Stick 'em with the pointy end, but the blunt side works too
• Wilderness Survival: Building a fire
• Zurav: Father of wind and storms

Spoils: Punctures and bruises on your arm, heal nicely, but the bruises darken for the following two days, and fade over a week. The punctures may scar. Mayra's Dagger, now in your possession, as good as yours.

Notes: Great thread, I love how well you portray the nature of the Drykas people. Let me know if you have questions about your grade