Solo A Lone Wolf [Job Thread]

[Tinnok]

A Lone Wolf
80th of Spring, 513 AV

She took her time. She did not stalk the jungle floor like a predator, but instead, took to the canopy, like a Capuchin or spider monkey. It was something she had always wanted to do, master the forest tops instead of the under story, yet flexible branches and heights above the norm had always made a strangely convincing wall against trying it.

That and the potential death that could follow.

Tinnok was vaguely aware of these things and more as she launched herself out with a vine from the top of the branches that could support her weight on one tree, lazily swinging out to another. At just the last moment she let go, legs swinging up over her head to give her that extra momentum needed to carry on. Her body arced and flew from one tree to the next, body crashing through light branches far too small to support her weight, fingers reaching out to grasp something steady that she could get a firm grip on.

She dangled, one hand clutching a drooping branch that seemed likely to snap if she left herself on it too long. Luckily another more stable looking branch lay directly beneath her and she let go, landing in a crouched position upon it.

She wondered if this was how those strange pale people that had once dwelled in the tree tops felt before the Myrians rightfully forced them out of their lands. But she heard they were much lighter...

Walking one foot in front of the other she reached the trunk, a daunting climb back up to taller heights.

Thinking back to that day in the forest with Svan...she considered her morphing. Novice that she was it seemed there might be something she could do...

She leaned her forehead against the bark of the tree, closing her eyes. She let the peacefulness of the plant surge through her, letting her mind drift away, from her hunt, from her clan, from everything but the jungle. It was hard...she was good at concentrating upon one thing, but in clearing one's mind entirely? But she found if she centered her mind upon a tree, mimicked its peaceful state, that it helped somewhat.

This took several chimes, and before she could doze off her mind re-focused. Her sharp nails hands dug into the bark, and she imagined them longer, sharper. Like a real Dhani's claws would be, or no...perhaps a cat. Their retractable claws could so easily climb the surface of trees with their clever hooks.

So she imagined this, her fingernails, morphing, changing. It took such time...not only did she have to picture them in her mind, get the image just right, but so too did she have to command the djed to follow her will. No...that was the wrong way to think about it. The Djed and she were one, and all she had to do was...

She nearly broke the cycle when she felt her nails sink noticeably into the bark, becoming sharper. Tinnok furrowed her brow and refused to lose focus. She felt the weak and unused Djed flow down her arms into her hands like a warm river, filling out into the claws, and when she opened her eyes her fingers had wicked curved nails upon them.

She clacked them together experimentally, admiring her handiwork. Already she felt hungry, her powers so weak as the newly dubbed witch sought the limits of her powers, and she had to use them quickly, her concentration was the only thing keeping them there.

So up she climbed, fingers in the wood, toes digging into the bark. Next time she would have to try getting some on her feet as well...

It was fascinating, being able to traverse the trunk without need of branches, much swifter, and straightforward. Her arms strained as the half breed pulled herself upward, striving to get as far as she could before her new gift evaporated, and just as she was nearing the top, she heard a bird call, felt her concentration and energy waver, and then suddenly...she was falling again.

Her stomach crashing into a thick branch and she clung to it with a grasp, eyes wide with the impact of all the air being stripped from her lungs.

When it returned, however, a light and pleasant laughing could be heard. Alright, enough fooling around, back to the hunt.

[Tinnok]

But she didn't want to leave the treetops...

After all the ground was such a long way down, and she was already up here, wasn't she? So the witch continued through the foliage...slowly, but surely.

She wondered if she advanced her morphing if she could lighten her weight simply making her body smaller, perhaps her bones light like a bird's in order to perform great leaps. Her mind was alight with possibilities as she walked across a long branch, then suddenly felt her balance shift and her body plummet down through several branches.

Tinnok cursed, clinging with both hands to the limb, and pulled herself up. She lacked the natural balance of many creatures that dwelled in the canopy as well...but perhaps she could fix that...

Climbing up the traditional way, Tinnok went from branch to branch, slowly restoring her position in the large tree, enough so to easily make her way to the trees surrounding her position. A half leap of faith off of a bowing branch landed her on an even taller mast of wood, and she began working her way through the jungle, hunting in an entirely different fashion.

She found her models after about a bell of tree travel, her legs and arms aching from how many times she had fallen. She may have been a nimble creature on land, but her canopy jumping had need of some work...good a reason as any to stay elevated for now.

But she was allowed a short break as she found a few spider monkeys hanging in a tree. She watched the way they dangled simply from one leg and their prehensile tail from branches, collecting fruit or leaves with three appendages and munching on the snacks. How handy a tail such as that would be in crossing the jungle...

Tinnok still did not know the ins and outs of this new magic discipline...she knew that it required no real teacher, even though she had made Svan explain how it was done...all it required was time and patience.

Since she was prepping herself for a more intense maneuver, Tinnok sat herself down on a wide branch, eyes focused on a particular female who seemed a bit more lethargic than her companions. None of them paid the half breed any mind as she watched them forage, and her golden eyes focused on the long limber tail at the monkey's disposal.

She had grown claws out of her hand...why not a tail?

She tried to absorb all the details. It was thin, but clearly held sizable muscles within it, or it couldn't be relied upon as another appendage. A light coating of thick fur covered it, and it seemed to be able to curl quite tightly upon itself.

Tinnok attempted to clear her mind, eyes closing, mind drifting off. She wasn't proficient at this sort of thought process, not at all, so she kept imagining what it would look like when she was done, and not emptying her consciousness, as she should be doing. She felt the Djed within her center, and directed it towards her tail bone. It was like pushing a boulder twice her size, and it seemed to be working directly against her, thoughts sifting through her own weakness, vs. the usefulness of a spider monkey tail...

She gasp and leaned forward, letting go of the magic welled within her. She couldn't do it...couldn't focus. The half breed grunted and rose, climbing up into the lighter branches with the monkeys to collect a bit of the fruit they were munching on, and spent too much of the day with the playful little primates, who enjoyed tugging upon her hair, and stealing daggers with their tails.

[Tinnok]

Syna's light was far past it's zenith in the sky as Tinnok departed from the primates and continued her sky high journey. She was no closer to growing a tail, but enough of her journey had been wasted dreaming of its usefulness.

Slowly she lowered herself from the tree. Every jump brought her down instead of up as she made her way through the foliage, and the lower she got, the quieter her actions became as well. She still had an aerial advantage over any creatures on the forest floor, and she was loathe to lose such a gain if she could help it.

She found maintaining stealth in a tree was just as hard as on the ground. One had to slowly release the branches they leapt off lest the leaves rattle and shake to betray you. It helped to get in and around the trunk where the branch was sturdier, thus enabling less vibrations from one's body. Her bare feet and light load of her bow and dagger helped significantly, though she had to keep mind of the tall bow so it did not clack off of branches as well.

She was nearing a position which was more safe for her to jump down to the ground when she heard tell tale noises that perked the half breed's senses. Snuffling...the sounds of a creature rooting in the ground.

She crouched along the low branch and walked steadily, one foot in front of the other, a single hand lowered down on the rough bark to maintain balance along the narrow appendage, eyes cast downward, searching. She froze mid step, spotting a medium sized hairy creature below her, rustling happily in the dirt. Concentrating she could see that the peccary had found some tubers, and Tinnok's mind vaguely went to the thought of how nice it would be to have pork and potatoes for supper.

The pig's ears twitched somewhat as Tinnok's bow creaked with the pressure of her pull. The arrow slid slowly across the front of the bow, sliding into the little groove designed for it.

Tinnok always wondered what determined her patience. Quite often she was a horrendously impatient individual, yet at times like these...perhaps some of her military training came back. That a shot was not worth it if it missed, so you might as well take the extra few seconds to aim, so she did.

With the satisfying release of the bow the half breed tensely watched the arrow whiz downwards, sinking into the pig's shoulder. A high squeal echoed through the jungle, and Tinnok grinned.

Until the pig began sprinting off through the forest.

[Tinnok]

"FUCK!"

Tinnok lunged down, the element of surprise lost, and stopped on a lower branch, poised like a jungle cat. Already the form was lost in the foliage, she had two choices left to her; Leap down to the ground and chase the injured swine, or remain here and hope a break in the foliage would allow her a shot. She could hear the creature scrambling, pained, in the undergrowth and gritted her teeth, notching another arrow.

She'd stay.

The bow groaned, her arms burned with exertion, and the arrow quivered in time with her straining muscles. She watched the quivering leaves, heard the grunts and squeals.

And poised her arm, trying to maintain focus even as the idea of her kill getting away flooded through her mind. She thought of Nuran's critique of her, and imagined what the bowman himself would do in this instance.

And when a sliver of brown flashed about 20 yards in front of her, her arrow twitched to find the target, and her fingers released the string.

There was no squeal as with the previous shot, only silence. Tinnok swung herself down onto a lower branch and vaulted into the open air, grabbing a vine and letting her hands open so she slid down its length, landing heavily upon the ground.

It was harder to discern where the pig had gone down from her new, lower vantage point, but Tinnok set out in what she knew was the right direction, and nearly tripped over the creature, her second arrow sticking out of its throat, the head of it deep in its neck.

The hunter smiled, crouched and worked to remove both arrows, assessing her kill. It was a smallish male, but no small kill, its coarse hide would fetch a good price in the market, certainly, and most importantly: It was light enough for her to take the time to carry it back to her hut near Taloba.

As Syna crept lower and lower in the sky Tinnok grinned. Her first solo expedition in a long while, and it hadn't gone half bad. Maybe she was learning a few things after all.

[Limey]

Skill and Lore Rewards Skills Lore Climbing 3 To Walk The Canopy Acrobatics 2 Morphing: Focusing One's Mind And Djed Morphing 1 Hunting Prey Above AND Below Observation 1 Kills: Not Just Food, But Trade Goods Hunting 1 Bow 2 Seasonal Wages (Spring, 513AV): 151 bikka Additional Notes : I haven't awarded Wages before so I'm not sure exactly how it works. However, I did grade your previous Job Thread, so with this one making two (which was the agreed upon number), you're now caught up. So, this was a Hunter's wages (5gm/day) converted into bikka. I'll make it easy this time since it's your (and my!) first time, but please try to roleplay more of the skinning, preparing and SELLING that really earns you the Hunter's wages. As to the thread itself, great work, as usual. I love how you pace your threads. You don't rush, don't overreach and thus everything you gain is gained honestly and I think there's more accomplishment in that. I wasn't sure about using Morphing to grow a tail or claws, but you made it realistic and, well, you know the Lore and the rules regarding Magic, so I trust your judgement. Keep 'em coming, love. Wolf is certainly coming along nicely... Any questions or queries, please PM me.