Wilderness Encounters (Dhalvasha)

[Nisana Curare]

Season of Fall, Day 28, 505 AV

Darkness had just started to settle over the surface around Kalinor as Nisana proceeded out of the cave on her hunt. She wore her black carapace armor along with both her climbing quivers, and carried her Mother's short bow in her left hand.

Slipping her sandals on Nisana made her way out into the forest as she pulled an arrow from her quiver and slid it onto the string of her bow. She simply held it there loosely as she moved into the forest in search of prey. Winding her way between trees and bushes her amethyst eyes wandered back and forth looking for signs of worthy prey.

Perhaps she'd find another one of those filthy cats to take down and bring back for food. They weren't exactly the most pleasant tasting, but Nisana was always happy when she got to take one down.

[Dhalvasha]

Despite Dhalvasha's age, Vizerus still presumed patriarchal dominion. No sooner had he stepped into the web after a day of research had his father shoved a crossbow into his hands, ten bolts and sent him back the way he'd come. Certainly he should have expected it. The storm of disappointment had been brewing for nearly five years now. A proud warrior himself, Vizerus was loathe to see a son follow in the footsteps of 'whimsical fancy'. As though the classification and experimentation of poisons and anatomy could be quantified as 'whimsical'. The very notion was an insult to the entire field. Nonetheless, Vizerus maintained a stalwart opinion that all his web must learn the art of combat in some form or another. Certainly his younger brother exceeded expectation, leading many hunts into the lower caves or out into the Unforgiven's bleak expanse. Not that Dhalvasha particularly honored the ability to callously point a device and fire, but it was more an act of rebellion than any pragmatic decision. His father desired strength. Symnestrians were not strong. Somehow the notion did not settle that Dhalvasha was perhaps a spider of a different kind.

No matter.

Taking the weapon, the Symnestra resolved himself to travel to the surface. He would fire a few bolts, kill some inconsequential vermin, and bring it back as proof he had not simply banged the crossbow against a cave wall in hopes of making it seem worn.

The trip up was surprisingly devoid of contact, most having already traveled below or left to the top for greener pastures beyond. He was alone, ascending with eerie grace through the shadows and to the gate. The Symnestra guards offered him little more than a skeptical stare, all the question in their eyes. Dhalvasha did not give them the dignity of an answer, his own darkened expression proof enough of his unwillingness. Nevertheless, they opened the way and allowed him to step out in Kalinor's wilderness.

The greatest difference between the cave and the outside was the sense of infinity. Everything seemed to stretch forever, not defined like the walls and vaulted ceiling of the cave. Despite himself, Dhalvasha shivered. The idea that there was so much here, so much above and below and both forwards and backwards simply baffled him.

One day he would conquer this distance, treat the outside as he had treated the cave. Every world had its boundaries, and if he needed boundaries to feel comfortable he would simply find and touch them, see for himself the limitations of this 'outside cave' on his own.

Interest took him to the forest, the swaying trees creaking in whispers of a nonsense language. The dangers of Kalinor were known, and warned to every small spider child in the dawning of their youth. Still, Dhalvasha wondered wryly if perhaps his father hoped he would die out here, an embarrassment gone from his site and mind and ferried to nothingness by the claws of some beast.

Perhaps it was thought which caused him to slip, or maybe he simply was not accustomed to the surface. But a ways into the forest his foot slid off the damp of a rock and hurled him backwards in a clatter of bones and skin. Dhalvasha growled, rarely accustomed to pain in his line of work. For a moment he simply lay there, staring upwards at the sky through the tree limbs.

Perhaps he was a failure in the martial sense, but certainly his father had overlooked the importance his research held in the world. One day his discoveries would revolutionize his race, perhaps even cure it of its deadly procreation.

He chuckled, tickled by the thought. Discover the cure to Symnestra birth, and his father could only compete with a bow and some large snake felled twenty years ago.

The thought was delicious, and took the edge from his situation.

At least briefly.

[Nisana Curare]

A noise not far away caught Nisana's attention, and she paused in her movement to listen more closely. After a moment there came a faint growl, but it was not of any animal that she recognized. Perhaps this would prove to be a chance for her to bring back a rare kill!

Quietly the huntress moved in the direction of the sound, her arms tensed as she prepared to fire her bow at the first dangerous prey she found. Coming around a larger tree she finally spotted the one responsible for the noise, and was surprised to find a Symenestra man who looked to be a little older than Nisana herself. He was simply laying there staring up at the canopy of the trees and chuckling at himself. There was a crossbow and a few bolts scattered about him, that she assumed were his.

Giving a soft sigh she shook her head and forced herself to relax. Taking a few steps closer she called out in Symenos, "The forest is not the place to take a nap you know. There are many creatures out here that could kill you before you readied your crossbow," as she spoke she continued forward, and soon was looking down at the slightly taller man from a position right next to him, "Or is that what you are hoping for, to have some beast come and devour you?"

[Dhalvasha]

Just like a Symenestra to interrupt his brief solitude. Inclining his head up, Dhalvasha regarded her with neither word nor expression. He'd seen her before, a huntress of some skill or something...hadn't he seen her in the Place of Purging before? Faces had a habit of melding together, one long extended mess of skin and eyes with similar wounds and stories. Why was it so dangerous to lay upon a forest floor? Was it less dangerous to hunt the things she warned him about? Seeking trouble, in his experience, was more likely the reason people were injured.

Laying his head back down for a moment, Dhalvasha sighed and rolled to his feet. The crossbow clattered against his thin frame and he gathered the few bolts that had been knocked loose with his fall.

"Nothing so dramatic," he answered her calmly, brushing pine needles from his hair, "Otherwise I wouldn't have wasted my time bringing a crossbow."

The trees pressed around them, but no more cramped than the caves they had both been born into. The sky-cave was darker now, and it might soon be more difficult to hunt than Dhalvasha was trained for.

He shivered.

"But I'm fortunate to meet someone a little more skilled than myself. Do you mind if I shadow you for a time?"

[Nisana Curare]

Nisana was silent as she listened to the other Symenestra speak, but her face betrayed the fact that she found his words to be a bit on the silly side. He apparently hoped to learn to hunt, but he had been just laying there on the forest floor? Still, his compliment of her skill did bring the faint hint of a proud smile to her lips.

"You wish to learn of hunting, yes?" Nisana finally spoke after a few breaths spent studying the other Symenestra, "If that is your desire then the best way to learn and train is to do. Not following and watching. I would be happy to help instruct you in the ways of hunting if you do wish, but I have no need of another to play my shadow," she smirked slightly, "As I have one already."

Holding her arrow against her bow with one hand Nisana extended her other towards the man as an offer for a greeting handshake, "I am Nisana Curare, daughter of Valvessa Curare, and if you wish to truly learn then I would be happy to share some of my knowledge with you."