(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy role play forums. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)
This is Falyndar at its finest. Danger lurks everywhere - in the ground, in the trees, in the bush. Only the strongest survive...
Bright sunlight shined down between the canopy layer of the forest causing shafts of sparkiling light to dance back and forth as the tree swayed with the slight breeze. Atop his most trusted companion Braizen Tryt sat, a leopardbred horse, who seemed slightly exausted, most likely because of the constant hunting he and Tryt had been doing over the past few days, but nevertheless this factor had no large effect over the horse except for the incesent need for breaks. Tryt had been tracking a forest hog for the last few hours and a plump one by the looks of it. Leaning forward, Tryt began to pour water from his waterskin into the horses awaiting mouth, the horse greedily gulp as much water as it could and yet still turned its head about nudging Tryt for more, it almost seemed like Braizen believed he would die of thirst.Tryt obliged pouring more of the cool water into the horses mouth. As soon as the horse was done quenching its thirst Tryt urged it to resume its slow trot throught the forest. Refusing the horse sat down causing Tryt to slide down off its back "fine, see how much water you will get now" Tryt threatened in an attempt to get the horse off its arse and back on the trail. Almost as if the horse knew he was lying it neighed at his words. Damn gotta go on foot now, "fine stay there" Tryt continued in his final attempt. This was answered with a second gruff neigh. Tryt turned and began to walk down the trail following the trail that had almost gone "cold" by the time he was done arguing with Braizen. Several small sets of hoove prints littered the hunting trail that Tryt was slowly advancing on hoping to the gods he would not miss a small clue to where his next meal was. The jungle floor was littered leaves, dead branches, small insects, rodents and much much more, the forest floor was practically completly covered by all of these things and not an inch was exposed.
The trail, as it turned out, was not so very cold. Nor had it gone noticed by other predators, those not handicapped by recalcitrant horses. The strangely colored tiger lay in wait, silent and still, perched on a huge branch of some fecund tree, hidden by its leaves. But he could see the strange jungle herbivore, see and smell it coming toward him all unaware of his presence. He still didn't know the names of all the local fauna, but one way or another they could all be called food.
Just then he caught a whiff of something human and went alert, tail lashing curiously. It was not the female, Tira, who had jumped into the fray with the apes. Nor was it Seyp or any other human he recognized. It was not his sister, nor was it even female.
He waited yet, curious as to whether the coming prey belonged to some Myrian hunter, and whether he would be upset should Mihai kill it for him. There would likely be enough to share. Perhaps.
In addition to the set of hooveprints that dotted around the trail, a much large pair of padded and clawed feet led off the path, branching away into the thickerpart of the forest. Maybe it was a tiger, Tryt thought trying to ease his mind. Maybe it was also looking for prey, maybe it was stalking him right now, waiting for the right moment to pounce.
Tryt suddenly turned around his hand hovering over his holstered battle axe. The forest behind seemed fine, except that a predatory animal could easily hide in the thick underbrush. Turning back around Tryt continued up the trail, ever so often looing out of the corner of his eye, making sure he was not being stalked.
The walkable path way tightened and widened randomly that alone made following the trail very tedious, throw in a couple twist, turns, and large obstacles and you had one hell of a time. Almost thirty chimes after finding those tiger prints Tryt came along a less concentrated mass of trees, where in middle a small hog was happily scavenging for its next meal, unaware of the threat of danger. A little farther out were two much larger hogs, probaly the parents, one sported two large menacing tusks that looked like they could easily impale a tiger, maybe not impale they'd probaly just give it a nasty limp, nonetheless they still looked dangerous.
Tryt dashed as quiet as he could, torwards a small rock out cropping. Peeringover the edge Tryt looked for an opprotunity to strike.
When the human finally came into view, Mihai watched him poke around some other tiger's tracks, cold, old things that Mihai himself knew better than to make. A normal tiger might pay no heed to the tracks it left, only instinctively knowing that it should hunt from downwind of its prey, but a Kelvic had the intellectual wherewithal to keep his own presence hidden from hunters.
Whosoever left those prints, however, alerted the man to the possible presence of tigers. Fortunately for him, Mihai didn't have a taste for human. Oh, he partook of human flesh at Myri's insistence, but he would rather have a wilder animal than man if he had his druthers.
All the same, he continued to watch from his hiding place up above.
Tryt felt his hand twitch slightly as it hovered just over the hilt of the axe, that was tightly latched to his belt. Tryt slowly complied with the urge to feel his fingers wrap around the wooden shaft like boa constrictors. The axe weighed little, as the axe head was thin and as sharp as his own wit, which made it easy for Tryt to swing the axe through the air like he was holding nothing but a feather. Although Tryt felt that he was out of imediate danger, he still felt a fleeting feelling of being watched, lurking in the back of his skull. Tryt felt the iron grip grasp around his brain plunging him to a certain coldness, that was not literal, but felt as real as the the axe that he had his fingers wrapped around.
The problem with Mihai was that he was easily bored. Or, rather, it was one of the problems with Mihai. Lamplike golden eyes tracked the Myrian hunter, though he himself made no movement, no sound, all but hidden by the dappled light filtered through the green canopy, and attracting no notice in his statuesque stillness. It only remained to be seen whether he would prove bored enough to shift forms to converse, though even that flash of light would likely require he move behind the tree to avoid an axe to the skull.
But move he did, at last, the flash of light marking his change still visible, but obscured by the bole of the tree. His clothes were back in Taloba, but he paid that no mind. Fortunately, most Myrians were too practical to pay it any mind either, understanding and accepting Kelvics within their community so long as they were useful citizens. So clad only in the scarlike mark of Myri's favor, he kept his back to the rough bark and made a chirping noise that most of the Myrian hunters he had met acknowledged as a sign of good faith, a friend in the jungle rather than prey.
He was, after all, a Myrian now. The Goddess had made him Her own.
Tryt was to preoccupied by the situation before him to notice surge of bright light that surged out between the tree and disapearing as quickly as it came. Shortly after a short chirping noise sounded from the tree behind him, this was unusually because this particular sounds was used as a sign of peace and good will. Tryt felt relieved that he himself was not being by predatory animals, but still Tryt felt like it could be a trick. Tryt turned so he was facing the direction the sound came from "SHOW YOURSELF" Tryt yelled as he gripped the hilt of his axe tighter.
Dealing with humans, Myrian or otherwise, required a movement away from instincts and animal pragmatism sometimes. He called a greeting in his halting Myrian, then moved out from behind the tree. Wearing only a twisting, scarlike mark along his rib, a present from the Goddess-Queen, he raised his hand so the other would be sure to see him and that he was trying no funny business.
"I believe we are hunting the same prey," he said, friendly enough, though his instincts were wailing to protect his prey from other hunters. Tigers were solitary hunters, but humans were not, and he straddled the divide between both species, often with comic effect. "Shall we hunt together or fight for it?"
His grin was wild, but not unfriendly, like a boy who was mad for playing soldier. They were brothers in Myri's eyes, and he had grown up tussling good-naturedly with his half-siblings.
Lores: Detection: Distinguishing the scents in the jungle Stealth: Leaving no tracks to mark one's passage Wilderness Survival: Signaling peace to hunters to avoid aggression
Lores: Animal Husbandry: Sensing the needs of a beast Tracking: Recognizing tiger tracks Detection: Recognizing the feeling of being watched
Contacts: Mihai
Notes :
Another thread that ended too soon. I would have liked to see what happened next, especially since the two of you decided to have a conversation near a small family of possibly territorial wild boars. Who would have been gored first? XD Good job to both though, for perfectly playing the clueless hunter walking into the unknown and the stalking tiger looking to hog what it considers its own prey.
Anyway, since you're the only active one left Mihai, please update your CS to include your second starting lore before the Liaisons come bearing down on us.
Notice: I will not be available for modding in the foreseeable future until I've cleared up my backlog of Miz stuff (PC and ST-wise). Hopefully, it's a temporary thing, but we'll see. I will still grade your threads, however.
