Fun on the Hunt (Aidara, Ronin)

[Aidara]

Pretty much any Endal would be able to tell you, with unconstrained enthusiasm, that flying never lost any of it's enjoyment. Aidara had been flying for years, and she still never felt anything less than joyful as they cut through the air. There were a few differences to be noted, however. When she rode with Sai and Catabasis, Addy's spot was where Ronin was currently seated. Being of the same size, Sai cut through most of the wind herself, leaving Addy in her slipstream with her twins red locks whipping her face. Now, Addy was the one hunched over Sira's powerful back, her legs tucked in beside her wings and out of the way. She could feel the powerful muscles under the feathers heaving and bunching with each wing stroke. She could also see more in general. Except for Sira's head and beak, the sky was open before her. The first time they'd flown together, Addy had almost forgotten to talk to her partner at all, so at awe she was at the difference the seating arrangements made. Addy could crouch low over Sira's back when she tucked for a dive, instead of clinging to Sai's waist and praying to Priskil that she would stay on. She was the one in charge of where they were going (well, it was 50/50 between eagle and rider), instead of just being along for the ride. What she really wanted to start learning was the aerobatic tricks that she had watched her sister and her eagle do time and time again. We can't though with Ronin here, I know it's too much weight especially with those disgusting buckets, but we need to start to practice. I want to show Sai up, in something, someday. Catabasis is huge and powerful, but I'm pretty sure his turns will look cumbersome compared with what we can do. There was nothing wrong with a bit of friendly competition between family. Opening up the link to include Ronin as well, Addy continued to matters of business. Alright, so as Sira has been so kind to show us there are plenty of meat opportunities around, if worse comes to worse. But, we want shark. Contrary to popular belief, they don't swim around half out of the water, with their dorsal fin sticking up. It won't be that easy. Sira is going to have to get low to the water, and hopefully there wont be too much wind. Wind equals white caps, and that's going to completely obscure our view beneath the surface. Pausing, Addy allowed them a few moments to object or correct her before she continued. It's not going to be easy, at all. Keep your eyes pealed, because if we dump all our chum, the sharks will come...eventually. And we can't just hover in air all day and night waiting on them. Pausing once more, Addy turned her mental attention to Sira, though of course Ronin could still here. It was just the equivalent of one person turning to look at another during the course of a conversation. I think it would be easiest if we tried to lure them towards the shore a little, right? That way we could all aim, and you wouldn't have to be hovering in air. A mental shrug, since Addy really had no idea the details of Sira's plans as she had only been able to deduce what she'd already told them both. How are you doing? This was directed only towards Ronin. Addy shut Sira out of their conversation just because she knew it would drive the Kelvic wild. And sure enough, as soon as Sira realized the connection was closed between the party she gave an irritated caw and dropped suddenly, falling a dozen feet before snapping her wings out and breaking hard as they collided with the wind. It was bumpy and uncomfortable until they had smoothed their ride back out, catching an updraft to bring them back to the peak flying point. As I was saying.. Addy's voice was thick with badly restrained laughter You can tell me if Sira is a horrible flyer. She's new to the whole being mounted thing, and always open to tips and criticisms. Since Ronin was being rather quite, Addy was trying to goad him into conversation, make him laugh and feel more comfortable around the endal pair. Truth was, on hunting trips such as these, Addy thought the barriers between the castes should shatter if they were to truly work well together. You're doing good though! I've heard barely a peep! I screamed like a baby the first time I flew. But then again, Catabasis was trying to fling me from his back....Cool huh? Addy was referring to the sight below them, not her anecdote. They had reached the ocean and the view from above was spectacular. They were lucky, there wasn't much of a breeze and the water looked a pale blue, slightly ripply glass. Awesome! This should be a cinch to spot them! Exhuberant, Addy leaned as far as she dared over Sira's shoulders, her green eyes expectantly scanning the water below. A sea bird, startled by the appearance of the giant golden eagle, dived suddenlly away from them and crash landed on the water below, skidding for a moment along the waves before awkwardly winging back into the sky. So quick that Addy almost missed it as she turned her head to scan the other side of Sira's body, the giant head of a shark breached the surface as the shark flung it's massive body after the bird, it's large jaws closing around the bird as it fell back into the ocean depths. "THERE!" Addy screamed this aloud in her surprise, not even bothering to use mind speech, though she did recap the scene for the other two with a steady stream of images through their connected minds. There! Right below us!

[Ronin]

Ronin was quite embarrassed about his telepathy mistake, and the incident kept him from saying anything else for now. He didn't know enough about this to tell if they could tell what he was thinking or not, so he tried his best to think of nothing but the hunting of sharks. Ronin figured that was a safe enough topic to think about, just in case they were listening in to his every thought. However, it wasn't long before his thoughts were interrupted by the jostling that Sira had to do before she could take off. Though it was slightly uncomfortable to be bounced up and down, Ronin wasn't about to complain in the least. For one, he didn't want to be disrespectful, but also, he considered himself incredibly lucky to have this chance to ride an eagle again. It wasn't long before the excitement of taking off had consumed his every thought. This was only Ronin's second time riding a Wind Eagle, so it was still something very new to him. Sira's 'hold tight' message had Ronin a little worried, as he had no idea what she was planning on doing that required him to hold on tighter than he already was. This unpreparedness cause Ronin to be taken by surprise when they went plummeting down the side of the mountain. Instinctively, Ronin grabbed onto the nearest thing, in this case, that happened to be Aidara. When they leveled out, Ronin realized what he had done and quickly let go and straightened up. "I am.." He forgot to use his thoughts instead of his words. Correcting his mistake, he tried again. "I am terribly sorry, I don't know why I did that." Embarrassed again, Ronin stopped trying to communicate mentally. However, he didn't close of the telepathic channel as well as he thought, and his following inner dialog was inadvertently sent to both Sire and Aidara. "Why would you do that? She probably thinks you're a fumbling idiot now.. You'll be lucky if she doesn't tell Sira to turn around and leave you back in Wind Reach right now. Seriously, who does that? Why can't you just keep your cool and act like you know what you're doing instead of embarrassing yourself all the time." Ronin's scolding of himself may have been too harsh, but he had grown accustom to thinking this way. Doing so helped him to refrain from making the same mistakes twice, and he usually didn't expect other people to be listening in. Thankful for a different topic to think about, Ronin payed attention to the pictures Sira was sending them mentally. Passing up such good game was a shame, but Ronin had hunted all those animals before. Hunting shark was going to be a completely new experience for him. In fact, Ronin had only ever been to Thunder Bay a couple of times. Ronin's interests outdoors had always been in the woods so he never saw any reason why to go explore around the ocean. However, now that he was actually going to do, it had him quite excited. Ronin listened intently to Aidara's instructions, suggestions, and warnings. He was beginning to realize the actual danger of what they were going to be doing. It wasn't going to be simple as, ride around on a Wind Eagle while you circle around an easy, unsuspecting target. No, this was actually going to be a dangerous task. Ronin wasn't sure whether this excited him or scared him, but either way, he was anxious to get started. He had nothing to add or ask regarding Aidara's statement, so he kept silent and just did whatever he was told. It was surprising to Ronin that Aidara asked him how he was doing. He didn't expect the two Endals to be all that comfortable with being assigned a Chiet as a hunting partner, but they both seemed to accept him. For this, he was indeed thankful. "I am just fine, ma'am. I think I'm starting to get used to flying." It felt weird for Ronin to use the word "ma'am" in reference to someone so close to his own age, but she was an Endal and he wanted to show proper respect. Ronin wasn't sure what was going on when Sira took a sudden dive, but he handled this one much better than the previous one. Due to Aidara's laugher, he was sure something was up between the two of them, but he was unaware of what it was. Ronin laughed at Aidara's comment about Sira's flying and reluctantly engaged in the conversation. "I don't have much to compare it to. The only other eagle I've rode didn't seem to like me much, and I think it would have been happy to see me fall to my death. So as long as she doesn't drop me to the sharks, I think she's a great flyer." Ronin chuckled again, hoping that it was okay for him to be candid. That was when it happened, for the first time, Ronin saw the ocean from high in the sky. The unending field of blue was astounding and rendered Ronin completely speechless. New experiences were always fun for Ronin, but this one might have taken the cake. The rolling waves were beautiful, and the flocks of sea gulls were larger than any flock of bird he had ever seen. Ronin had never imagined the ocean being such an amazing place, but here he was, breathlessly staring out over it, in awe of what he beheld. Then, like frosting on a cupcake, they saw a wondrous sight. What Ronin could only describe as a huge fish leaped out of the water and devoured one of the passing birds. He knew this had to be what they were hunting, and a sudden mix of fear and exuberance washed over him. "That's amazing," was all he come mutter.

[Sira]

Sira made no comment in regards to Ronin's internal dialogue, choosing to spare him the embarrassment of having been overheard. She did not, however, express that sentiment to Addy so the healer might very well take a different tact in regards to that. She found the entire thing amusing, but she knew how it felt to be embarrassed so she wasn't going to be the one to do it to him. Let Addy be the bad guy for a change. When Addy decided it was time to discuss the task ahead Sira was content to let her do the talking, giving her partner a chance to take charge. She was the rider afterall, and needed to learn to take control. Her plan was sound enough, though Sira had doubts that they could lure he sharks close enough to shore to fire at them on foot. Then Addy decided to shut her out of the conversation. Bad idea. Sira suddenly dropped a dozen feet before braking hard and catching a gust of wind, leveling herself out again. The feeling was akin to having your stomach suddenly lurch up into your head before smacking back down into place, leaving an inexperienced passenger slightly queasy. Addy laughed it off, finding it all to be the funniest thing, and Sira merely gave her a mental pouty face and kept flying. Up ahead she spotted a slight shimmer in the air, something human eyes wouldn't really be able to see, and recognized it as a thermal pocket. Sira flew into he pocket of warm air allowing it to left her back up to peak flying level, the warm air a nice change from the cool spring breeze. Addy was commenting on Ronin's performance and Sira decided she could chime in on that, giving some more positive reinforcement to the nervous chief. "You're doing great, Ronin. It's cute that you're worried, but you can stop." Sira crossed the threshold between land and see and quickly dropped in altitude, sinking to maybe a dozen feet above the water. They were lucky, it was a clear day and the waters were not too choppy. Sira's eyes were able to penetrate the depths, spotting a number of sea creatures, but any shark would likely be too deep for her to see. As luck would have it, a shark did come to the surface with a quickness that surprised the kelvic. The shark leaped from the water and snatched a bird just as it was trying to fly away. Sira screeched and careened to the right, not out of avoidance, but making a sharp u-turn back toward where the shark had been. She dropped even lower to the water, the dangling buckets inches from the surface, scanning for the shark. It was a small one, at least in relation to herself, and so Sira was not concerned about it trying to eat her but alas the creature had returned to the depths. "Darn... that would have been too easy I guess. I don't want to waste the chum on a little one like that anyway. Let's look for bigger prey." The fact that Sira considered the shark to be small led one to wonder just how big exactly were they looking for. The shark had easily been as large as an Akalak, but Sira wasn't satisfied. She had seen bigger, and she knew that was what they were expected to bring back. "We need to go further out," Sira commented as she smoothly turned away from shore and back toward the open waters. Sira stayed low, her eyes scanning the water, but she didn't really expect to find what she was looking for this close to shore. She wanted a ten footer at least. Up ahead, though still quite some distance away, Sira spotted something that pulled her attention away from the water. A fishing boat in the distance, nothing large, and certainly not equipped to reel in a shark, but it would do for the plan that was forming in Sira's head. "I have an idea, she said as she started gaining altitude and heading towards the small vessel. Sira flashed the image of the ship and it's four man crew to Aidara and Ronin as she explained her plan. "We'll use the boat as a base of operations. Lure the sharks to it and the two of you can pick them off while I swoop in and snatch them up. It will be much easier than trying to shoot them from the air, since neither of you are very experienced at that and this is a risky enough operation as it is. I don't think the boat could hold more than one at a time, so we'll still have to catch them one at a time, but all and all I think it will work out better this way." As they approached the boat Sira descended slowly, waiting for the fisherman to spot them. They didn't notice the approaching eagle and it's riders until they were right on top of them and Sira passed overhead offering a screech in greeting. Now all four of the redheaded men were watching them as Sirs came back in for a landing, hovering shakily as she set the buckets down on the deck before landing herself. Sira settled and immediately went to preening her feathers, giving Addy a sideways look, and sent the message, "You tell them." OOCJust a note, this was not my original plan. I brought in the boat to set the scene for our sea monster encounter later on.

[Aidara]

"Yeah, it was practically a minnow. We must defend our reputations and bring back something large and in charge." Came the flippant reply as Sira wheeled away from the lunging Shark. Addy felt Ronin's arms close tightly around her waist as the maneuver caught him off guard as well as throwing him off balance, and he promptly began his embarassed apologies. With a soft little laugh, Addy sent a mental smile to Ronin. "Really, don't worry about it. I like a gentle touch as well as a firm one. It shows you know what you want. I think Sira and I can both agree that we like that. Of course she was intentionally throwing him off his game, realizing early in their trip that any kind of blatantly expressed sexuality put the man into fits. It was actually quite enjoyable. Addy realized that Sira was being a little more rough after having been cut out of the conversation, and that took the healer a bit by surprise. She hadn't thought anything of it when she had done so, just having wanted to give Ronin some privacy, since he was so squirmy and delicate. Turning this revelation over in her head a few times, thinking about it in the relative quiet of her mind (Sira was talking to Ronin and vice versa, while simple "Whoa, so beautiful" and "look at that!" comments occasionally interrupted her thought, she was used to it.), Addy came to the conclusion that she owed Sira an apology. "I wasn't trying to exclude you. It was for his peace of mind. I didn't realize you would take offence. I am sorry." Her words were sincere, soft, and only for Sira to hear. While the Kelvic angled their flight up into a warm thermal, Addy too the chance to lean as far forward as she could. By doing this, she was able to catch Sira's massive golden eye. Taking a hand to gently restrain the red locks that whipped across her face, Addy gently kissed the side of Sira's feathered face with a smile. Nothing else was said on the subject, for not too long after the boat was spotted, instructions were given and they landed. "Alright, I'll try. Feel free to chime in if I start to mess things up. I'm a wild card after all; You never know what you're going to get." Sliding down off of the uncomfortable leather saddle, Addy waited for Ronin to dismount before she deftly unhinged all of the buckles and straps, easily sliding the contraption from Sira's back and placing it on the rocking deck. Addy winced, glancing at the golden feathers that stood at odd angles, the way some were brushed in the wrong direction. It didn't look comfortable. "We're going to have to do something about that." Was quietly for Sira as the healer turned towards the four bewildered men that stood before them, waiting for an explanation. "I am Aidara, this is Ronin and Sira. Her small hand was waved towards the correct individual for introduction. Leaving a pause and looking hopefully at the crew, Addy waited for them to introduce themselves in return, or say hi...or speak at all...But the pregnant pause that followed left them all shifting awkwardly on the gently swaying deck. "Alright then. Well, it's nice to meet you too. Thank you so much for allowing us to land on your lovely boat and for offering your assistance and cooperative participation in this little adventure!" Since they were going to be silent, Addy was going to recruit them whether they liked it or not, hoping to kill them into cooperation with her enthusiastic. She smiled brightly, and walked around shaking all their hands while she spoke, dimples plied and practically bouncing with excitement. "We, my fine, nameless fellows, are hunting sharks." An appropriate length pause for any kind of gasps or outbursts. Only the dull lap of the water against the side of the ship reached her ears, but she continued as if they had given the response she was looking for. "Yes that's right sharks. Biggest ones we can find, in fact. We saw one just a few moments ago, leaping out of the water, blissfully unaware that we were going to try and kill its mommy." Smile still in place, Addy had to hold back a shudder when she thought of actually killing the sharks. A hand moved to absently rub the endless-knot mark on the inside of her elbow. She hadn't thought of that. Crap. "We...Are going to need use of your boat." The pause for internal dialogue was only a few seconds long, and Addy played it off as nothing was wrong. "As you can see, we brought all the things we need, including the chum to lure the sharks to the boat and the weapons to slay them with." Another barely suppressed shudder. Why was this bothering her so much? "Sira is going to fly with the bucket's and lure the sharks over towards the boat, where we can safely shoot at them, hopefully kill and bring them on board before other sharks can come and savage the carcasses. We need their meat for food'n'stuff, you see." The men kept staring blankly at Addy. It was actually quite frustrating. At the end of her explination, which she shortened considerably from what she had planned on saying after meeting the voiceless crew, Addy held out her hands in a wide gesture "Any questions...? Concerns...? Are you guys... conscious?" Still they stared, saying nothing, just shifting from foot to foot to keep balance with the swaying deck. With a sigh, Addy threw her hands up in defeat and walked back over to where Sira was preening herself, helping to reach some of the feathers that would have been more difficult for her to reach on her own. "I give up. They deaf and dumb it seems like. Ronin, you try and get some response out of them. We're not going to need them for much other than their boat and possible helping us haul the kills." OOC : They're not actually deaf and dumb. I was just giving you, Ronin, a chance to interact with the crew and add your personal input on what was going on. A chance to show the girls he's not "squishy" ;P

[Flicker]

Sira XP: Intimidation: 2 Seduction: 2 Observation: 3 Instigation: 2 Leadership: 3 Sira Lore: Waking Aidara up Plotting demises with Addy Shark hunting Bad saddles and having the weight of two people in them Aidara XP: Observation: 4 Flying: 2 Instigation: 2 Leadership: 1 Aidara Lore: Sira is an early riser Sira’s aerie doesn’t usually smell like fish...or does it? Sira’s bathroom Gearing up for the hunt with Sira Plotting to outdo Sai Bad saddles and their effect on feathers Ronin XP: Observation: 3 Flying: 2 Ronin Lore: Sira’s Aerie Sira’s aerie doesn’t usually smell like fish...or does it? Sira is kind of nice Sira transforming Using telepathy Comments: I would have liked to see you two try to continue this one without Ronin. The interaction between the ladies is adorable! And Ronin’s discomfort was capitalized on, a good read.