Closed Whispers In The Jungle [Nya]

[Skyard Underwood]

Fall 33rd 516 A.v

The Jungle Mounds were quite interesting, and the Lion found himself lost among the massive Trees which dwarfed majority of the area. Off in the background he could hear what sounded like a combination of screeches and chirps from various animals. Scents certainly were not scarce in the area; The Lion picked up on several including the smell of Animal feces. “Tracks” Skyard thought to himself as he turned his cranial structure to the right, and then to the left. The Lion made note of a series of footprints left behind by something large judging by their size. Suddenly He heard something in the thick brush which caused his head to turn, but he quickly realized that almost anything could hide itself in this thick jungle full of cover. He could have automatically assumed that he was the one being stalked; the predator had become the prey. Yet, if he was being hunted the question was by what? If he were being hunted; his first instinct would be to turn and fight off any threat he could see. The problem in that case was he could see no threat, and nothing was visible to him.

The Lion simply decided that he would shrug it off and carry on his exploration of the area. Perhaps the Jungle was not quite as dangerous as he initially thought it to be. Skyard certainly was no wilderness survival expert, and had always lived within the walls of a civilization. Had he been left here alone for an extended period of time he would certainly perish. Yet, he knew that he needed to learn to survive independently of society at some point or another. He was not used to the primitive lifestyle that Syka promoted, and wanted to become accustomed to the mysterious island. Often times he heard the short lived sound of shattering leaves beneath his feet, and how noticeably moist the ground was.

The Lion took a moment to rest his rump upon the ground, and looked toward the Skies only to find that Tree branches practically overtook the heavens. He took in a deep breath, and listened to the loud rumble of his stomach. Skyard was more hungry than he ever had been before, and could definitely make quick work of a meal. Unfortunately for him hunting was not something he had done more than once, and even so he did it alongside his bond-mate with more experience than he had. The Kelvic decided to make an attempt at communication, and perhaps mark some territory for himself. He was without a true home, and found himself sleeping at random locations near where the inhabitants resided.

Skyard took his time, and inhaled slowly in order to fill his lungs to their maximum capacity. He wanted to release the loudest roar he was capable of if it meant that any nearby animals would either scatter or come running. The muscles in his throat contracted briefly, and he roared at the top of his lungs for a somewhat extended amount of ticks. Hopefully he provided an adequate enough sound to attract and or repel any Animals of prey. For now all that the Lion did notice was what appeared to be a large scaly animal with a bright green skin-tone consistently flick it's tongue at the air. The Kelvic patiently waited for several ticks to see if he had any visitors, and hoped for the best outcome.

[Nya Winters]

Timestamp: 33rd of Fall, 516 AV

Skyard wasn't the only cat in the jungle that had tracking on its mind. Nya was out there doing some of her own. Nya was trying to read the signs the jungle had to offer. And in her mind she had been breaking down the signs into four categories. Three of the categories fell into the size of signs. So that meant there was large scale sign, medium scale sign, and small sign. But there was also a fourth kind of sign, one she'd noted and debated on how to call it. It was the kind of sign that disapeared as time passed, rather quickly, as if it wasn't even there. She thought it a lot like a ghost, so that was the name she'd settled on... ghost scale sign. It was in fact her favorite sign of the four.

Ghost scale sign was tracks that just made the lightest impression upon the earth, not like a proper footprint in the mud or a broken branch on a bush where something had forced it through. Ghost scale was the glittering morning dew that all looked one way until something light and ethereal padded across it and left tracks in the form of absorbed dewdrops that vanished as the rest of the dew on the surrounding grass evaporated in the slowly warming light.

Nya had a small blank journal and a pen and she paused to write a note under her section on Scale.

Ghost Sign - This is an almost non existent difference between normal and interfered with environment which has been disturbed in the lightest way possible. Ghost sign disappears quickly in time.

Nya further broke it down, deciding there were different types of ghost sign and naming them accordingly. The way she saw it, Nya had observed three types of ghostings. Each one she named according to what it did. Dullings were when a gleam was taken away from something typically gleaming through the course of something moving through it. These dullings could be tracked.

• Dullings - When something is matted out in a field of shine. For example, morning dew on the ground coating everytihng (grass, duft, forbes) is bright and shiny in the sun gleaming on the water droplets. If something crosses the field of dew it either wipes away or absorbs the moisture, normally leaving a track of dull which appears as 'normal' the growing things in that area. This dulling sign disappears as the dew evaporates.
  
• Shinings - Opposite of dulling. In the afternoons or dry mornings, everything is 'dull' and if something splashes through a body of water it can wet the grass, forbes, or duft and create a shine. Shine can also be created from a creature walking across a green undergrowth and temporarily depressing the grass to show its shiny side in the sunlight. This is incredibly subtle and takes a practiced eye to see. There is a time limit to depressed vegetation or grass shine and that usually is around two bells. Bent grass recovers completely in about a full day.
  
• Leaf Depression - Another subtle sign is when leaves are compressed as an animal walks leaving a compression outline beneath the leaves in the soil. This is a vague true track that can be seen when you gently brush the vegetation aside in a gesture called sideheading. Like Shining, the vegetation recovers quickly, usually in two bells and is fully restored with no sign of something passing in a full day.

Nya stood up, recapped her ink, and tucked her quill away. She started walking again, trying to sort out the actual size signs before she made notes on them. Small medium and large.... which to start on. Large maybe? Nya gave it a thought as she paused, seeing something she hadn't expected.

The Kelvic knelt and studied the perfect tracks through the mud of the jungle floor. They looked like her own tracks, only smaller, but definitely cat of some kind. They looked fresh too, with water still oozing up into them. Nya paused, glancing around, and sniffed the air. The wind was blowing at her back though, probably taking her scent to the cat and not bringing the cat's scent to her. The Kelvic frowned but didn't panic. She wasn't afraid of other cats like she was afraid of some of the strangeness in the jungle. Most cats couldn't hurt her or rather wouldn't try to hurt her once they realized her size. How big was this one anyhow? Big, she decided, if his track could be believed. His print however wasn't Large Scale Sign. It was medium. She decided she needed to sketch it anyhow.

Nya took out her journal, pen and ink, and started to sketch. Turning a few pages from the back where she'd decided she'd keep her notes, she carefully recreated the track she saw in the mud on her journal.

After her sketch was done, she started a section on Large Scale Sign. She wanted to get notes down while it was fresh in her mind. To her, large scale sign was reading the land, looking at the landscape, and knowing what the animal needed in order to narrow down where an animal might be. She was hoping the cat ahead of her was tracking something already, perhaps hunting, and would indeed leave her alone to work on her own skill. In her mind, there were four sections she needed to make thorough notes on Large Scale Sign. Landscapes, travel routes, sleeping areas, and feeding areas. All these made signs. One just had to know how to read them. Nya opened her ink, dipped her quill into it, and began to make quick notes.

"Signs are anything besides a track proper that is an indication of an animal. Large scale signs are the areas animals like to dwell that contain indications of them dening up, curling up to sleep out in the open, traveling through like a tapir path in the jungle, or even things like the presence of prey animals or food source plants the tracking target might need to survive. Food, Cover, Shelter. "

All around the jungle there were large scale signs. Nya was on one now in the form of the trail through the jungle (something, btw Randal had cautioned her against doing). In the trees above were places where branches were pulled together to form monkey beds. There were large scratches on some of the trees where big cats or other predators had marked their territory. The scent of urine could also be a large sign. About fifty percent of tracking is sign tracking the other fifty percent is working with actual tracks.

Landscape Tracking - this is the ability to read the landscape to locate animals. Landscapes consist of patches of land where many species will be found. To find the animal, find the best land where the animal has its needs seen too. Also, whatever eats that animal will be where that animal is, because that animal too is where it best finds food. A deer will graze where the best food is. Something that eats a deer, such as a big cat, will be where the deer is. Know what eats what in the land you are in. Animals need a good supply of food, water, and cover. Cover is the type of vegetation, brush, or rocks it needs to keep warm, hide in, or escape too.

Indicator animals are important too. These animals are the ones that mean a place is healthy. So if voles or mice are present, cats will be too or whatever eats the mice such as foxes.

Nya thought a moment. That meant that quite a few animals didn't use certain places such as deep jungle. In mature deep jungle there was very little undergrowth for animals to hide in. They were exposed... especially the smaller ones. In deep jungle the vegetation was also not as varied as it was in broken forests of mixed species and a wide variety of plants.

She thought further about it. That meant fields were not good cover for things like deer or rabbits. Fields would be better cover for things that could hide in the grass, like mice and voles.

That left one area GREAT for animals.

"Areas of forest that are in transition, either fringes of fields or on the edge of forests turning into mountains or along the margins of rivers or streams. These zones where two types of land came together have the most variety of vegetation and cover, making them far better for most animals than deep uniform landscape."

As she wrote that a cats roar filled the air. Nya's neck hair stood up and she rose in one swift motion. Gently blowing on her journal to dry it, she recapped her ink, cleaned off her quill, and stowed all three things in her backpack. Then she set off in the direction of the lion, wanting to get a closer look at it.

She whispered sharply at a zephyr, one that was blowing her scent towards the lion, and the creature giggled at her and reversed, blowing around her and drifting off to grab the scent of the roaring cat and bring it to her. Nya flared her nostrils, drinking in scent.

Male. Close. Lion.

Nya wondered if it was a wild resident. If it was, she'd definitely need to drive it off to make the settlement safer. Surefooted, the woman started off in the lion's direction, snorting to get his scent out of her nose.

[Skyard Underwood]

Skyards loud roars yielded no response, and he began to search for an answer. The Lion knew that he could not possibly be alone with the abundance of vegetation in the area. Someone or something had to be nearby, and he continued to turn his head from left to right; he grew increasingly suspicious of his surroundings. Perhaps if he had not been alone something that might not wish to be seen lurked nearby or perhaps above him. He heard the sound of the Tree branches above him moving violently, and obviously unnaturally. The rumble and rustle of leaves had been loud enough to draw his attention, and he glanced upward again. Only to notice what appeared to be a group of creatures swinging about the Trees. Perhaps they lived in the higher elevation areas in order to access a food source of some sort, but Skyard was far from concerned with them.

Peculiar scents seemed to surround him regardless of where he turned, and the moment his eyes returned to their original position he caught sight of something interesting. A green, scaly and unattractive creature coiled around the mid-section of a Tree. The bark on the tree was rather dark in comparison to the others in the area. The roots appeared to exit the surface of the moist ground, and tangle to some degree.

He did not know anything about the area, but he certainly was interested in learning. The area below seemed to be overshadowed by incredibly large vegetation; was the area abundant with food? Skyard caught sight of yet another creature, and this one was obviously feline however it was far smaller than what he expected it to be. The creature had obviously been large in comparison to a house cat, but indeed small compared to the Lion. It's footsteps were quiet, and its fur possessed a beautiful pattern of dark patches and brown spots.

It had obviously been young, and it attempted to speak to Skyard in a series of short-lived, soft growls. The Lion understood almost none of what was said; the language of other larger cats tended to have deeper tones, but in this case the language became almost foreign. The only understandable words he could make out were “Leave” and “Territory”. However, although Skyard was an inexperienced hunter he figured that such small prey would be easy to capture and make a meal of.

He lowered his forepaws, and raised his hind-legs immediately as a result of such the Prey knew his intentions. Yet, the cat did not move until Skyard did, and with an immediate charge forward he noticed one thing. The Cat he once thought to be prey was no longer in sight, and instead behind him in what seemed to have been a mere moments notice. It was then that the Kelvic accepted defeat, and sat on his rump yet again whilst the other feline practically disappeared. He continued his roars and outbursts to the wind, hoping that someone, anyone would arrive.