Completed helpless (Gianne)

[Treccho]

Winter 34, 512 av

Treccho was surveying the area from the cold winter sky. it had started to snow earlier this mourning and hadn’t stopped but the land was still overtaken by green. There was a slight gust of ice cold wind that would occasionally blow signalling the start of the harsh winter to come . Treccho was only wearing a small crocheted shirt made of old fabric strips that barely covered his body. Being an Akvatari he could barely feel the cold and only wore clothes for the purpose of modesty.

He spotted a group of Nabato Cattle grazing in the ground below and wanted to take a closer look at them. He gently sored down with his delicate looking blue wings and landed in a large patch of grass a safe distance away from the herd. The herd was small containing only 4 Nabato of varying shapes and sizes. Treccho found them to be very beautiful, he especially loved the shape of their horns. While he was admiring the Nabato he failed to notice the two night lions creeping through the grass one male one female. The female lion pounced on one of the cattle and it cause the other three cattle to start a stampede in Treccho's direction.

Treccho barely had time to react, he managed to just lift off before he was stuck by one of the Nabato. He was high enough that he didn't get trampled by there legs but was flung over top of the Nabuto and landed in the grass with a painful thud. He was still conscience but was in a lot of pain. he noticed a couple scrapes in random places but his biggest pain was in his tail which took the most beating. He made an attempt to fly but it only cased him pain, he had hoped to the gods his that his wings weren't permanently damaged he couldn't think of a life with out his wings.

He then realized his situation he was flightless wit two lions around, ready to make him their next meal. he crawled over to his spear, he had very little skill with it but maybe if he was lucky he might survive.

[Gianne Basete]

Anasha sighed loudly beneath Gianne, expanding her golden sides with a lung full of air. She smiled and swayed her legs every which way, reveling in this new experience. Today she was riding bareback. It seemed that Anasha was more at ease being ridden without a saddle. And Gianne had to admit, it was extremely comfortable perched on the mare's soft back, now covered in a winter pelt. Slippery though, and a little hard to stay on at times. Thankfully the mare was well trained. She also had a light rope halter on the horse, opting out of bridle and bit. There was a brisk wind blowing across the glassland. It bit through the cloak wrapped tightly around her shoulders, going deep into the skin. She shivered violently for a moment until the chill passed, leaving her a little breathless. She really did need to buy some winter clothing. Something lined with fur; perhaps just another cloak. Gianne sat up straighter and tapped Anasha's flanks with her heels, sending the mare into a steady trot. Any faster than this bareback and she'd slide right off onto the ground. They'd been out surveying the area for a while, nearly two bells, and so it was probably time they returned to the Sanctuary. There had been nothing out of the ordinary on the sea so far. With a twitch of the reigns against Anasha's neck she turned to mare northward, back to the direction of home. Gianne had been spending more and more time out in the wilds the past few weeks. She did her work at the Sanctuary among other things, but the trips into the sea were increasing; their durations growing longer. She'd managed to get some field mice to answer inquires about local predators and their numbers, then coaxed an old tree into informing her of the surrounding foliage's health. It was satisfying accomplishments on her part, since the plants and animals could ignore her if they chose to. Even if the only likely reason they answered was so that she would quit pestering, it was still a huge success. Her mood had skyrocketed and hovered somewhere near euphoria. Her thoughts were pulled back to the present when Anasha rocked to a sudden stop, nearly tipping Gianne off her back. She stiffened and gripped the mane in front of her to keep her balance. The mare's ears were shoved forward and nostrils flared as she rumbled deep in her chest. "What is it?" she asked aloud, looking around them at the all but silent plain. In the distance she could see woods and low hills. To the left and right were more hills, sporadic and of varying sizes. Nothing out of the ordinary. She frowned and slid from the mare's back, holding the reigns loosely in her hands. Gianne thought she could hear something; a low pounding was growing closer from somewhere behind them. A low mooing reached her eyes and she turned around. A small herd of nabato cattle crested a nearby hill and stampeded by several meters away, shaking their heads and occasionally kicking out a hind foot. Anasha danced as far away as possible, until the tension on her reigns stopped her. Her head bobbed and she snorted nervously, prancing in place. "That doesn't look good," Gianne grunted as she coaxed the mare back to her side and stroked her neck soothingly. "What's up t-" Her words were suddenly cut off by the screams of lions. She couldn't help but jump a little at the unexpectedness. "What's all that about?" Of course Anasha didn't answer. But she was an taught as a bowstring. Which reminded her that she didn't have her bow. I'll just take a peak then leave. She led the nervous mare in the direction of the lions calls. The sight that awaited her was quite the surprise. It wasn't every day that you witnessed a half-seal man fending off two night lions with a spear. For a moment she was actually transfixed. But then the moment was over. She dropped Anasha's reigns and ran forward, waving her arms for the lions' attention. "Hey!" she screamed at them. Gianne had never seen whatever this man was. A seal's lower body and large butterfly wings. What a sight. The pair of lions pulled their gazes from their prospective meal to look at her. She was a neutral force in this conflict. The lions should not attack her but they were also likely not to listen to anything she tried to tell them in Nura. Those facts ran through her mind as she halted by the injured whatever-it-was. "How the petch did you get yourself into this situation?" Up close he was even more of a sight. His wings looked fine like paper, and where legs should be, there was most definitely a seal's body. What purpose could all this serve? This man, if it was really a man, was one of the few races she'd never heard of before. At least never seen. Rumbling from the lions' throats pulled her attention back to their black, imposing presence. I have no idea what to do now. Several scenarios played out in her mind, and none of them were likely to work. Why did she even run in to save this stranger? If he were naive enough to get caught up in this situation then he should get himself out of it. A few years ago she never would have thought that about anyone, but since gaining her gnosis she had much more understanding of animals. Cold blooded killers were few and far between. Normally an animal attacked out of fear, hunger, or territorial dispute. Obviously, these lions were hunting. This man had allowed himself to become prey. Who was she to steal the hard earned meal of the lions? While she thought that over she'd unconsciously taken a few steps away from the prone man hefting his spear. "What should we do?" she asked, feigning the need for guidance. "I was out riding and I saw a herd of cattle run by. Then I heard the lions. Without thinking, I ran in this direction. I have no weapon to help you with." Mostly the truth. The pair of lions were circling where they stood, eyes like yellow fire. The hair on the back of her neck couldn't help but stand on end. They were terrifying and beautiful, barely making a sound in the grass despite their size.

[Treccho]

the lions took no time in spotting him as his his bright blue and turquoise body made him stick out like a sore thumb. He was so petrified with fear he had almost forgotten how to move and the slow creeping approach of the two lions through the grass. He clutched his spear with two hands readying himself for their approach which seemed to take forever. He felt so helpless and the realization that his death was assured was stating to sink in. There was just no way he could possibly take on two night lions they would ripe him to shreds in a matter of moments. He had only just left Abura and already he was going to be eaten alive by lions. how could be have been so reckless, wondering off with out proper weapons training. there was no shortage of training opportunities available, why didn't he take it.
There was so many things he wanted to accomplish, all the things he wanted to see and experience. A tear dipped down his face realizing what he would be missing. His sadness quickly turned to anger at how unfair his situation had become.
"if they want me, they'll have to work for their food because this Akvatari is not going down with out a fight" he declared to himself.
The female lion was now in front of him only about 6 feet away and ready to pounce. Treccho waved his spear around fragrantly in an attempt to scare it away but the lioness would not be intimidated so easily. The male lion started to circle him in an attempt to find a weak spot and Treccho made an effort not to forget about him. The lioness while still in her crouched position wasn't pouncing just yet she was more interested in clawing at his spear. He evaded her attack and quickly thrust forward with his spear to give her a decent gash in her front right paw . She roared in pain but he knew that wound would only anger her. she then used her other paw and pinned his spear to the ground, surely this would be all the male lion would need to pounce on him. All hope seemed lost when a human women seemed to appear out of nowhere waving her arms frantically and shouting for the lions attention.
He had never been so happy to see human before in his life although he they weren't really a common occurrence for him. He normally felt a slight bit of pity for the land bound races as they would never experience the joy of flying and were usually helpless in water but now he wished he had legs. The lioness was distracted by the coming of the human and he took this opportunity to free his spear from under her heavy paw. he went into strike the lioness again but she lept backwards.
the women asked her how she got into this predicament and after shooing the male lion away with a few frantic swipes of his spear he responded.
"I was just admiring the Cattle when I got caught in a stampede, would you please come to my aid" he pleaded a look of desperation in his face.
she seemed to walk away and Treccho couldn't understand why.
she asked how him what they could do and told him she had no weapon and had simply stumbled upon him with out thinking.
surely she wouldn't just let him be eaten?
"could you provide a distraction of some sort then? I really need your help here"

[Gianne Basete]

She was a little torn between helping this semi-human looking creature and letting the lions have their meal. Never in her life had she met an Akvatari, nor did she know what they looked liked. But if she'd known what he actually was, she'd be less reluctant. This could just be some intelligent humanoid beast, or some hybrid crafted from magic. Gianne sighed and looked between him and the lions, their tails twitching wildly back and forth. But she wasn't lacking in empathy. A distraction couldn't hurt. So without a word, she snatched up the spear from the strange seal man's hands. Gianne brandished it and charged toward the closest lion; the female. She yelled and stabbed toward its massive paws, drawing its full attention to her. It looked her in the eyes and held on, which she was grateful for. She could feel the anger and hunger, saw an image of carefully tracked cattle running away, and the suspicious toward her. Gianne gulped and forced herself not to break eye contact, disgusted by the turn of events the day had taken. Just this past spring she would have laughed if someone had said she would be torn between taking the side of some lions over a person. At least she thought he was a person. And she thought he was actually a he. Weirder things had happened, but not to her. "Better hurry up with whatever the petch you're going to do!" Her voice was harsh and urgent, cracking like a whip. The lioness' lips pulled back to show long yellow fangs and a red tongue. Gianne hoped it would listen through Nura. It was hard to try and communicate that this was an undesirable situation; that the lions should just leave and find some other meal. She hadn't yet the experience or authority to command these beasts to leave peacefully. She sent images of deer, cattle, and various other forms of prey, as well as soothing emotion. As soothing as she could make herself feel when staring down a very upset predator. This was the best she could think of. At least it wouldn't kill her. Damn the fool! Who stops to look at cattle? Of all the things to oogle at. Why did she have to be put in such a situation? It was a test of her changing values, and Gianne realized that her alliances were switching sides. She was now faced with the facts she'd been trying to rationalize and hide from for a while now, and she was not too happy about it. Without warning the lioness swatted at the head of the spear, tearing it from her grasp and sending it cartwheeling away, only to land yards away in the grass. Lost. "Well, this is not a fortuitous turn of events," she said, suddenly eerily calm. At least both of the animals were still in sight. The male was crouched in the grass staring behind her with an intent so strong she doubted an arrow to its side would break it. But it hadn't made a move yet.

[Treccho]

Treccho's spear was suddenly taken from his hands by the girl. she charged recklessly towards the lioness, much to Treccho's confusion. Although the more bizarre thing was that the Lions didn't seem to want to attack her right away. The girl seemed to be communicating with the lions, she may have been using some kind of witch craft. He might have just been imagining it; maybe she was just reckless...and now she had his weapon. Treccho needed to find something to defend himself, the first thing that came to his mind was a rock. That's what he needed a nice big blunt rock to fight the to big ferocious agile beasts with big claws and teeth. It was ridiculous to think he could take on two night lions with just a rock but he wasn't about to let him and this girl get eaten because of his curiosity.

Treccho scanned the area, he saw what could be a rock in the grass a few meters away. He was in a great deal of pain still, his body was consumed by it but he wasn't going to let it stop him. He desperately crawled along the ground his arms weren't to bad but his lower abdomen sent shots of pain as he dragged it along the frozen ground. He finally found the rock it was about the size of a fist, just the thing he needed. He pulled the rock out of the dirt, it felt cold in his hand. The girl shouted urgently to hurry up; He was moving fast as his crippled legless body could muster, what more did she want. The rapport she was having with the lions suddenly went sour and the lioness swatted the spear from girls hands, sending it a great distance away.

The male lion was crouching and seemed like he was going to turn on the girl any minute. Now was the best time to see if he could knock out one of the lions. He quickly flapped his wings to see if he would be able to make a go for the spear after he did the very possibly stupid thing of throwing a rock at a lion. The wings seemed responsive and didn't hurt as much as they did earlier, this realization gave him a bit more hope. He tried to focus on the male lion, he was close to the ground and somewhat hidden in the grass. Treccho propped himself up with his left arm and threw the rock with as much force he could muster hoping to knock the male lion out.

[Gianne Basete]

A rock sailed by her from behind and crashed into the male's shoulder with a sickening thud. It shrieked and stumbled back from the force of the blow, then toppled sideways into the grass. The lioness whipped around with a hiss and peered at the male struggling to its feet, favoring the opposite side that it hadn't been hit. Maybe its shoulder is broken. The thought made her feel sick, especially since she had a hand in all this. Hopefully the idiot behind her in the grass was worth saving. Quickly, while the lions were regrouping, she ran back to the Akvatari. Her face was set with a harsh, almost wild expression. Gianne grabbed his arm and crouched in the grass beside him. "I need you to stay right here while I go get that spear. I think you broke the lion's shoulder." She paused for a moment to let that sink in. Her voice was unkind and almost accusatory, like a whip biting into skin. It would take a lot now to make her like this... whatever it was. He, she it; Gianne didn't know. "Wait here. Then we'll get you away," she hissed, and then was gone, dashing away into the damp grasses to locate his spear. It had started to snow, and she could tell it was going to stick by how heavy and fat the flakes were. She stumbled and pitched forward, landing on her hands and knees. Panting, she crawled forward and parted the grass like curtains, searching wildly around her. Gianne could hear the rumbling of the lioness and the pained sounds of her mate not too far away. Maybe the injury would stop their hunt. A triumphant smile split her face as her fingers bumped the spear's head. It cut her finger but she didn't care. Hastily, she snatched it up and half-hopped half-ran back to where the Akvatari was waiting in the grass. Good thing he was a bright color. Without a word, she stabbed the weapon into the ground next to him. "Take your stick," she ordered, turning to face the lions. The male was definitely out of the picture. Maybe he would starve to death. Her eyes softened in pity, but she shoved the emotion away before she could get too sentimental. Her mother would have a heart attack if she knew her daughter was torn between justifying the attack of a pair of lions to defending to hunted. Gianne grinned, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Can you fly with those wings of yours? Because I suggest you do. As in, now. I need to go get my horse." Or really, Kavala's. Her mouth went dry just thinking about it. Never again will I take one of the Sanctuary's horses out. Too much risk for them. She was really getting tired. Gianne slipped and stumbled her way back the way she'd originally come up the hill. Luckily, she spoted Anasha. The mare was down the hill and nearly a quarter mile out, cropping at the dormant winter grasses. Gianne stuck two fingers in her mouth and blew, letting loose a high, piercing whistle. Instantly, the horse's head came up. An answering whinny came a few moments later, though it was faint from the light wind and distance. Anasha broke into a brisk canter, making a b-line straight for her. The mare huffed and puffed her way up the slope and stopped in front of Gianne, sides heaving and ears shoved forward, her eyes as big as saucers. Before the horse could bolt or shy from the sounds and smell of the lions, she grabbed the reigns dragging from the bridle, and led the mare back to the Akvatari. The lions hadn't moved. Gianne had a good hunch that they were done. She suddenly felt dead tired, like she could go back to the Sanctuary and sleep for a week. Her face fell, weighed down like her heart. She had a lot to think about. New emotions that kept bombarding her other senses. "If you can't make it yourself, I can throw you over the back of the saddle and take you to the Sanctuary. There are healers there, food, and a warm bed." The warm bed was what Gianne was mostly wanting. "Those lions are done. That injury you gave the male could very well be the death of him. And the female won't come after us all alone." She watched the two black felines with each other, the male panting and trying to limp himself away. The female was still watching, but turned and followed and stopped to look back every once in a while. Her face was drawn in a frown, and she wanted to sleep more than anything. Anasha needed a good drink and some apples for this.

[Treccho]

Treccho felt triumphant when he managed to hit the beast, he really didn't think he would be able to preform such a feat. The lioness even went to her wounded companions aid, creating the perfect diversion for the Strange girl to make her escape.
What surprised Treccho the most was how ungrateful the girl was, she grabbed his arm harshly and said with an expression of distain that he had broken the lions arm and that he was to stay put while she grabbed the spear.

The nerve of this girl he thought, she was acting as if he was a child after he had just saved her skin. Treccho had to remember that she saved his life first, so he would have to forgive her rudeness, for all he knew she was only speaking harshly out of fear. Since he didn't have very many options he tested his wings again, they were sore but he believed that they could work again.

The girl came back with his spear, and Abruptly thrust it in to the ground and told him to take his "stick". Treccho forced himself to ignore the insult she had laid on his weapon and pulled it from the ground.
She asked him if he could fly, and told him if he could he should do it now. She then walked away saying something about finding her horse, it sounded to Treccho like she was going to leave him there if he didn't.
"I believe that I can..." Treccho said mostly to himself.
Treccho tried flapping his wings and managed to become air born with only a fair bit of difficulty. He was sure he would be able to fly away now which was an unmeasurable amount of relief for the Akvatari.

The Girl came back with her horse and asked if he would need any help, He thought about it for a moment before responding.
"I appreciate the offer but I think I can take it from here, Thank you for the help I owe you my life" The akvatari said as sincerely as he could muster before flying away towards Riverfall. A brief rest in an inn for a few days...maybe weeks and he would be fine.

[Limey]

Treccho Skill and Lore Rewards Skills Lore Observation 1 The Promise Of A Harsh Winter Flying 1 Predator And Prey Spear 1 Down To Earth (Hard) Throwing 1 Do Not Go Gentle When All You Have Is A Rock... Gianne Skill and Lore Rewards Skills Lore Riding 1 From Peace To Chaos In A Blink Observation 2 Trusting Your Mounts Instincts Akvatari: A Mystery Worth Protecting Trying To Divert The Predators When In Doubt, Flee! Additional Notes : Shame this didn't turn into something more... comprehensive. It wasn't bad, but needs a lot of work. First and foremost, regardless of the Mark of Caiyha, two hungry lions aren't going to just PAUSE while two humanoids - only one of whom is armed - just stand around and flap their gums. They would attack you, and kill you both. That's what hungry lions DO. And that thrown stone would only have accelerated matters. This time, I'll let it pass, but next time, treat them with a little more... severity, I guess is the word. Gianne, your writing is good as always, but same thing as I said above, be mindful of the nature of your enemy. Treccho, your spelling is on the whole OK, but your grammar needs a lot of work. Did you use a smartphone to make some of these posts. Capital letters at the beginning of sentences, mate, and if I may, try not to be so dry with your descriptions. Sometimes it seemed more like I was reading a script than fictional literature. Try to flesh out your narrative a bit more, really paint a picture, and break up your writing into smaller paragraphs, not massive blocks. It looks much better. Still... be interesting to see where this story picks up again. Any questions or queries, please PM me.