Completed Catch that Deer!

[Rion Whitestone]

12th day of Winter, 513 A.V. It wasn't Rion's decision to wake up early in the morning. In fact, if it wasn't for the sunlight, he would have slept the whole day away. He was still sore from the earlier days activities...and sleeping on a cold hard rock all night. "That's the last time I decide to rest my eyes out here," he thought irritably. It seemed that every time he sat down to rest his eyes, he woke up either sore or buried under snow. And he never even intended to go to sleep in the first place. "Next time if I'm tired, I should just drink water or something." Nodding approvingly at the thought, Rion rose up to prepare for his early morning walk. He had to keep in shape if he wanted to survive in the wild. "And now to go forging," he thought after a few moments of warm up stretching. Whenever Rion went out for his walk, he made it a habit to forge for supplies in case of emergency. However, because it was winter, all he really found lately were berries and the occasional frozen herb. Still, berries and herbs did come in handy once in a while... Making his trek across the snow, Rion took note of the fields of life surrounding him. Thanks to days of dedicated hiking, Rion had made it to the coniferous forest side of the Bronze Woods. He could feel himself getting closer to the mountain tops by the minute, or where the Cobalt mountains led to. Rion still wasn't sure exactly where he was going. Glancing about, he observed the limited examples of winter life in the forest. Squirrels daring to venture out of their nests in search of food. Wolves strolling dangerously close to his position, acting as if they haven't spotted him yet. Large moose scrounging the woods for whatever edible plants they could find. It was all so fascinating to Rion, but he'd have to satisfy his curiosity after his walk was finished. Smiling as he came upon a suitable place for berry picking, Rion took the time to make sure he wouldn't be ambushed while working. If there were any predators - or any other kind of creatures - he certainly didn't see them. Thus, he began collecting his berries, becoming half-oblivious to the happenings around him.

[Medhozic]

He needed to start trapping. Then he wouldn't have to come out, day in and day out, just to track down a deer and end it's life. But then, he wouldn't be a real hunter. He'd just be an engineer to their fates, and using a bow was the closest to a weapon that he had. A chance of survival - something better than just a little curved kopis. He still carried one just in case, swung from his hip as usual, but the short-bow was there as well; hanging next to his leather quiver, pulled with the drawstring tight to his chest and the wooden limbs touching over his shoulder. It was much better, and more economical than fitting one of those big harnesses to carry all of his weapons. He could live with a bit of strain whenever he wanted to bend down to fetch something. And it kept it within reach, mostly. Little need for them to be ready at the moment. Exploration was important in hunting - coming across a wild animal in the middle of nowhere would be nice, but he wouldn't depend on it for all of his expeditions. For now, he just walked down along the main band of forest between the Sukina Geysers and Lykolav Mines. A wide stretch that would attract a moderately wide range of animals - possibly stoat, or weasel. Deer, or boar. He wasn't picky, he'd take a hedgehog if he could find it, but he doubted so in the winter seasons when they'd all be out of the open and hidden away in the dense underbrush. It'd take days to ravage the place enough to find what he'd be looking for, and even then, it wouldn't be much of a meal. It was times like these that he found himself hating the winter seasons. Some would love it, of course, for the beauty of the snow and the frost decking the empty trees, and the serene landscapes that it made when one could look over the white peaks of the Cobalt Mountains from the middle of the forests. Those people weren't hunters. They didn't survive off the forest - food would always be scarce in these times. It was lucky that he didn't need to eat by day.. but it would have been preferable to have some extra rations to survive on, if he ever became peckish during the cold nights. As all these thoughts spun about his head, he found himself looking up to the mountains and setting foot towards them. If he crossed through the centre of the band of woodland, there would be little doubt that he wouldn't find anything along the way - a few tracks, droppings, marks on the trees or scents. Some big animal would always pass by on their way to the springs. Those were one of the few places that they could go to anymore to get water - the ponds were iced over and if the rivers and streams became blocked and the water stagnant, then those would freeze as well. And they certainly weren't going to lick the stuff until it melted.

[Rion Whitestone]

Rion probably should have seen the prospect of discovering food in the middle of winter as a miracle, but he was simply nonchalant about it. He knew that even if he couldn't find anything, he had a ready supply of dried nuts and bread to fill up his stomach. And even if he ran out of that, he knew where to look for more food. As his father had told him once as a boy, "food is plentiful if you know where to look." Thus were the privileges of growing up around plants. You start to learn a thing or two about where they grow and even how to locate them. So the only real thing Rion had to worry about in the woods were the many predators staring at him from the shadows...and hunters. Though he hadn't had the pleasure of encountering a single hunter that was dangerous, that didn't mean there wasn't still a possibility of attack. But Rion had no reason to worry about any of this as he was plucking his berries at that moment. The only thing on his mind was if the berries were edible or not. "It doesn't look like these are dangerous," Rion thought as he examined them. "So let's see how they taste." Slipping one of them into his mouth, Rion was greeted with an unusually sweet flavor. It was almost too sweet, actually. "Still good though," Rion thought, sitting down in front of the tree. "Now its time to enjoy my breakfast." And Rion did just that, pulling out his bag of dried nuts to go with the berries. Pouring a few of each into my hands, he marveled at the taste combination for a moment before digging into the rest. As he busied himself with enjoying his meal, Rion again became oblivious to the forest around him. That's why he didn't notice the deer standing right next to him...at least not until he got a little closer. When his eyes met the deer, he froze for fear of scaring it off. It froze as well so that they locked eyes for a moment or two. Rion knew this kind of moment was rare and wouldn't last long, so he wanted to saver it. Unfortunately, his lack of movement told the deer he wasn't a threat. That's why it ventured closer, bringing up the courage to dig into Rion's bag of berries. Assuming he was just hungry, Rion said nothing about the subject. However, when the deer went for his bag of nuts, Rion thought the deer had gone too far. "Hey. Hands off, you've had enough for today." Startled by Rion's sudden voice, the deer suddenly bolted, taking the bag of nuts with him. It took Rion a while to realize food had been stolen, as he'd gone right back to eating when the deer left. When he finished, though, he finally saw the carnage. Not only had the deer stolen his dried nuts, but it had eaten all the berries he'd struggled to locate!

[Medhozic]

As he absently wandered through the forest, something in his mind told him to unlatch the bow from his back. And not being one to be judgmental against himself, he did exactly that. And found himself rewarded quite stupendously with exactly what he'd been looking for. Nothing short of a miracle - wandering through the forest, just like him, there stood a deer. Its horns were little more than nubs and its winter coat in full grow, making for a perfect catch even if it was a bit on the skinny side. He wasn't going to pass up the opportunity though and began a careful stalking towards it - crouched, bow lowered and an arrow silently pulled from the leather quiver and notched. He couldn't shoot the little thing yet though, because it was wandering through a particularly dense area of forest and underbrush that would have made a successful hit nothing short of a miracle. And if it did escape, he was also left with the fact that it could escape and he'd never be able to catch it up. And there was a high chance because he lacked the skill to hit any vital organs. And the range. And the clear view. So he stalked it. Followed it on its track, keeping a constant safe distance far enough that it hopefully wouldn't be able to see him, but close enough that at least he wouldn't lose sight. And over the next few chimes there were several close calls. He kept tripping, or moving a little too fast, and the deer would look over in his direction and away again when it couldn't see him past the dense underbrush. And he followed it all the way up to a mans hand. He had no clue how he could be so calm with the deer right in front of his face, why he wasn't reaching for a weapon to slaughter it. But he didn't, and it was his loss. He was lining up a shot on the deer, steadily removing himself from the dense enclosure of the underbrush to shoot the thing in the back when the man talked and the deer flew. Idiot! He barely had enough time to turn around and launch the arrow after it into the dense forest from whence it came, but it was gone.. the arrow was left stuck in the tree, mocking him. Slowly, he removed himself from he guise of the forests shadow and refused to look towards the man. Instead, he stared at the small path that his meal had darted down with all the speed of a flying arrow before walking over, retrieved the little arrow still embedded in the wood of the nearest tree, and looked back to the man and his berries and seeds. "You scared away my hunt." He tried to mask the anger in his tone as he stared at the man, bow in hand and kopis still swinging from his side. "You owe me a deer."

[Rion Whitestone]

"Trechery!" Leaping to his feet, Rion felt incredibly dense for not having drawn his sword in the first place. If it had seen Aldreda, it would have left empty handed, no matter how hungry it was. But because Rion had the weapon hidden under his cloak, the deer must have taken him for a helpless civilian. The fact that his hood was down could have also contributed to this misconception. A blonde man shoveling berries into his mouth and sitting comfortably in the snow wasn't exactly the most frightening sight in the world. If his hood was up, at least the mystery might have kept the deer at a distance. "Well there's no use complaining about it now," Rion thought irritably. He wasn't going to let that deer get the better of him. However, before he was able to give chase, an arrow flew out and struck a tree close to the fleeing deer. It did little to stop its retreat, though, as it sped away and soon became a silhouette in the distance. Staring intently at the arrow, I assumed it would be followed by an old acquaintance's appearance. He was looking forward to seeing the kid despite the fact that he'd just lost his seeds. But it wasn't Telrin who came out to retrieve the arrow. In fact, it was some guy Rion had never met before. And he was fuming at Rion for scaring away the deer. "I owe you a deer," Rion repeated indignantly. "If anything, you owe me a deer. That arrow distracted me long enough to let the deer get away. By now he's probably made it home and is eating up all my rations. Now I'll never see my food again."

[Medhozic]

He stared long and hard at the blonde-haired man with a cloak a few sizes too big, and struggled to comprehend how - in any way at all - the man thought that he was about to catch the deer. He'd been sitting there when the deer walked over casually, and he'd had food taken right out of his hand. And he still tried to say that he was about to outsmart it - it'd just outsmarted him, and pretty quickly at that. Unless he had some odd contraption the likes of humans could never comprehend underneath that cloak of his, he was just joking. Not to mention, he was eating berries out of all the things that he could have been eating. He didn't know why eating berries and nuts were important, but for some reason, they just made him doubt the man even less, although he still had to keep an open mind. Who knew what he knew. Or didn't know. "I don't see a weapon in your hand. Did you intend to wrestle it to the ground." He spoke without a hint of amusement, only a mild confusion mixed with curiosity that he refused to show. It was a big cloak, maybe he had a weapon in there somewhere. Perhaps some throwing knives, or a short-bow, or a small sword or dagger. "And you weren't going to kill it. It outsmarted you." He turned his head back to the direction in which it had waltzed off, rather unamused by the attempt on its life. Wildlife was sometimes so infuriating. Not as much as some of the people wandering around inside it though. What kind of person thinks a deer has a home to go to - it's not like they have their own little houses to go back to, with the wife cooking them some healthy meal of berries. "If you want a deer then you'll have to do more than stand there when it comes for you. And you'll have to do something better than sit there and let it steal from you, as well." He thought, briefly, on something that.. might work. Although it was a complete shot-in-the-dark, given that he had absolutely no knowledge of this person and whether he was honourable or... otherwise. "Of course; if you have enough use of a weapon, then you may be useful. I have found that unfortunately, larger groups are able to bring down more animals in shorter amounts of time." And he had an idea brewing on what he could do with those berries, since the deer liked them so much. Something he'd never tried before, although he certainly would be in the future if all went according to plan. And if this stranger turned out to be at least semi-useful in assisting.

[Rion Whitestone]

Staring intently at the hunter before him, Rion couldn't help but feel there was something unusual about him. But he couldn't quite put his finger on it for some reason - most likely because he was still thinking about the deer. His thoughts were interrupted, though, when the man commented on his lack of a weapon. He even went on to say the deer outsmarted him and that he was never going to kill it. "Says you," he said defiantly. Deciding to be flashy, Rion walked into a patch of light so that when he made the draw, it would reflect Aldreda's beauty and elegance. Reaching under his cloak, Rion flashed a smile as he took hold of the hilt of his broadsword with his right hand. Then, he ripped it out of its sheath, holding the glorious Aldreda high above his head so that it shined a light upon the hunter. "This is my sword. Her name's Aldreda, and I'd like you to call her that." That being said, Rion lowered the sword back into its sheath before continuing to address his "companion." "And you can call me Rion Whitestone. For the record, I have no intention of killing that deer. It would just be a waste of time, since I'm technically a vegetarian. All I want is my bag of seeds back. Aldreda's for emergencies...like if I run into a bear or something." Of course, Rion realized the odds of running into a bear in the winter time were astronomical.

[Medhozic]

He stood, silent and watching with the shadows cast over his back and the horns that held back his curtain of long faint-brown hair, as the man went off on a little show of how not to look intimidating, holding in his hand a moderately well-crafted sword like it was the heavens prophecy. The insolence and childishness that some of these humans never ceased to amaze the Ethaefal in times like these - in danger, times of woe and strife, and murder.. there would still be those who took to naming pieces of metal as if it would stop them from being used to kill their masters. Another layer of betrayal. He wondered if this man - or rather, boy - slept with his sword clutched to his chest like a lover; he seemed to think so highly of it, brandishing the heavy weapon as if it was a trophy rather than a weapon that countless others could buy. They had them on offers, cheap Miza's in the Syliran squares. Perhaps it had sentimental value. He tilted his head for a few moments, but couldn't see anything particular about it, especially at this range, so he dispelled such things and began his own retort. "Says I. The hunter. That's not a weapon; if it was, you'd not give it a name and call it like a newborn child." His eyes became half-lidded - trying to bicker with humans was always so.. taxing on his mind. Although he shouldn't have been surprised. "I'll call it a sword and you'll call it whatever you wish. A name does not make the weapon sharper, nor it's holder more adept." If it did, he would have given some odd name to his short-bow long ago, and every arrow in his quiver. Petch, he would have named his kopis Daniel and his shirt Steve. Just to amuse himself and keep some good luck on top. "That deer, I had intention on killing. And you scared it away. So, you can help me bring it back, as compensation." He wouldn't take no for an answer. He still had his short-bow in one hand and an arrow clenched in the other. If this human knew what was good for his health, he'd agree - unless he knew how to throw big heavy broadswords with at least some degree of speed and accuracy, he wasn't going to out-range a short-bow and he certainly wasn't going to run very far either. He wasn't going to wait for an answer. "Collect more of those berries and nuts. Set them down on the floor. Then get behind the trees. When the deer returns for more, I'll shoot it. You get your nuts and whatever back. I get a deer." It sounded like a genius plan to Medhozic. And that was all that mattered. All he needed to do, was track down the deer to the best of his abilities and lay out the trap nearby so that the deer would at least come close. Unfortunately, they didn't have much of a chance on the matter - with the deer taking refuge in the denser coniferous forest area, there wasn't much chance of catching the deer if it broke off into a run. And if it did, it'd be lost forever. He wasn't going to have enough time to make a whole chase out of a single meal, and he doubted the human was either. "Are you going to help me. Or stand there gawking with your sword."

[Rion Whitestone]

Rion narrowed his eyes when the hunter refused to call Aldreda her name. "How would you like it if I called you Horn Head or Hunter Guy?!" Rion paused for a moment after he said this, realizing for the first time what he had said. And then, he found out why the man seemed so unusual. All in that one instant. "So that's why you won't call her Aldreda. You're jealous of her because you're a..." Rion let the last part drag along for dramatic effect. In his mind, he thought he'd just uncovered some hidden mystery. However, all that came back was "a Kelvic!" Being the only animal human he ever met, he assumed all animal humans were Kelvics. When the hunter brought up his plan, Rion summarized it in a few words. "So I get bait and you attack. Seems simple enough." Normally, Rion would have said no to the offer, but there was something about the way the hunter looked at him that told him to just go along with it, less he encounter the wrath of a Kelvic. "Guess I'll get right to it. Our best bet is to follow the plant eaters, since they know where to find all the food. Or we could just follow the predators as they're following the plant eaters, though its a little risky. I mean, if we just follow my method, it'll probably take a while before we get anything." Glancing up and down the hunter, Rion thought the latter method would prove more successful. This man would probably scare away all the herbivores.

[Medhozic]

"I honestly would not care. My true name is something that no mortal can pronounce, not even myself in this form. Until I have recovered it - along with what else was once mine - you are free to call me whatever the petch you wish." His voice had become monotonous and his eyes half-lidded as he stared down at the man with bark-brown eyes and a neutral, flat line of a mouth. "And I am not jealous of a sword. They are all too heavy - mostly useless against weapons with a longer range, and even less to one that does not know how to wield one. An educated guess tells me that you are not one of them." He didn't actually have any guess at all but a random one. He wanted to see the man try to prove that he really knew how to use one though, because that might give an insight into whether he was a threat or not. Though judging by his complete lack of understanding of even a Kelvic, one of the most common creatures around these forests, it was unlikely even with a mastery of such a weapon. "A Kelvic creature can only become either human or animal - they unfortunately do not possess traits of their animal form while in a human body. And if I was a Kelvic, I do not know what animal you could possibly suggest." The horns that spread from his temples were tapered, and folded back to a point nearly at the back of his skull - made completely from what would seem to be a pale green marble, much like the skin of the rest of his body, although that was more pink, if somewhat still pale. A living statue - he wasn't sure what kind of animal possessed those traits, let alone ones with horns like these. No boar, nor deer, nor any other horned creature possessed them, regardless. At least he seemed smart enough to see a good plan when he heard it. Although, he had a little more knowledge than even Med had thought up. Herbivores, or carnivores.. "Whichever you think would lead us to the bait. If we follow the herbivores then they will lead us to the berries and I can shoot them down afterwards. If we follow the carnivores to the herbivores, I can wait until the carnivore kills the herbivore and kill the carnivore - then take the carnivore, herbivore and the berries to lure the others. It matters little." He had a rather to-the-point accent about the entire thing. Meat was meat, whether the meat ate meat or the meat ate berries mattered not at all on the market or to the taste - often. What mattered really was the berries, and the animals that they could find.. how big they were, what meat they had, how much they had, what could be sold, how much it would fetch.. all of the different ideas went through his head so fast that he didn't even realize that he'd begun walking off without even thinking about where he was going.