Closed [The Bronze Woods] Unconventional Hunting.

[Archailist]

20th of Summer, 514.

Arch was bored. And there was nothing else more dangerous.

Everyone knew that a Pycon needed constant adventure to keep themselves entertained. Even the squire's own Patron. Training day-in and day-out with drills and the same old hammering routine had washed all the colour out of his clay after only a few days of repetition and he'd finally been let off duty to explore the area and try to learn something else about Syliras. He needed to get to know he area he would be defending, he'd been told. In truth, he just needed time to find something to do. Something to work with - something to bring a bit of colour to his monotonous training. So, where else to go to than the one place that he could never forget - his home. The Bronze Woods.

The woods were special to the squirrel for many more reasons than he could list - certainly it wasn't just because he was a squirrel and found a natural affinity for such a place. It was because it was these very woods in which he'd forged his squirrel shape. And in these woods, he'd run and played and learned from the squirrels that taught him all that he knew - at least, before he'd run off to Nyka to learn even more from them. These woods were sacred, because of the memories that they held inside their trees and bushes. He would never forget it. Even scampering out of the gates of the city and into the warmth, and the protection of the high trees and blooming flowers underfoot was like greeting an old friend with a warm hug.

From practically the second that he took off into the forest that surrounded the edges of the Syliran walls, Archailist broke out into a full sprint. There was no quarter given, no pause to consider - there was, and could only be the nature that bloomed all around him, so much more vibrant than he once remembered it and at the same time, it was exactly like he'd left it. Sure, some of the trees looked older, and some of the wildlife had moved about from their places on the ground, but he'd only been gone a while... half a season, or a season at the most. Nothing significant in his eyes, anyway.

Perhaps it was the squirrel himself. Trapped for so very long in those suffocating red walls, filled with red buildings made of red stone. Nyka wasn't exactly a vibrant city, if one didn't include the fashion sense of its inhabitants. He'd forgotten the joys and the wonders of the natural world, apart from his brief times traveling through the Wilderlands between the cities and the times he could escape the stone fist of the monks to make his way back into the small strips of wildland that surrounded the strange city. Even those were filled with strange creatures though.

It mattered little. Now he was home. And the first thing he did was turn to the nearest tree and practically launch himself up into the air at it, with his paws held out wide. As soon as he felt the forgiving slap of bark against his chest, his claws sunk into the tree trunk and its bark, before he began clambering up as fast as his arms could possibly carry him.

[Balian Martell]

For the first time in the since Balian arrived to the city, he found himself with some free time. He had left his childhood home two days past with his Patron, riding out from the Mithryn outpost. Since then he has he has moved into the dormitories, met his dorm mate, and began to acquaint himself with his new life; visiting the archives, the training grounds, and other parts that would soon take up his life.At this moment however, he was free. He wasn’t sure where his patron was, and he also knew that perhaps he should be at the training grounds, however he had a unique opportunity to explore the area around the city, and not know how his future had instore, he took it.

As it were, Balian crept through the Bronze wood, the city walls still visible behind him. He left the majority of his equipment back in his room, bringing only his leather vambraces, his chainmail shirt ontop of which rested his red tunic; an attempt to better blend into his surroundings, his bow and his quiver. As a part of his love of being, Balian enjoyed hunting even though he could be described as a novice. He finds that there is no better way to improve his skills than by practicing, is there? He also figured if he couldn’t find anything, he could at least practice a bit.

And so, Balian crept, bow in one hand, while the other clutched an arrow. He made sure to keep histhat floated in the air. He made sure to take as much as he could in; the layout of the ground, the spacing of the trees, that one log that looked like it was blown over in storm. Peering further into the forest, he saw an endless expanse of tree’s until they become too thick for his sight to pierce.

A sudden movement off to his right caught his attention, but it was gone just as soon as it came. If he hadn’t already been looking that general direction, he probably would have missed it altogether. Balian stopped suddenly, looking around in case he caught site of whatever it was. After few ticks, when nothing presented itself, he moved over to the area where he saw the blur. Crouching, he examined the area around him, hoping to find a clue as to what it was that he saw…and the direction it went. It took him longer that what he would have liked to admit, but he did find a clump of twigs that were snapped. Soon after he found a low laying fern with a broken leaf. His hopes up, he looked for another sign, trying to piece together a trail of what ever had passed. Nothing. He checked again. Again, nothing. Frustrated, Balian checked one last time, and still found nothing. Sighing in defeat, the young squire stood up, and began to make his way back to the city. He would at least get some practice with the bow, and not have the day be a complete failure. Then, he saw it.

He wouldn’t have seen it if he hadn’t picked up his head. On one of the trees, about five or six paces was a squirrel climbing up towards its branches. As squirrels went, this one was about average sized, if not a tad large, with an oddly solid color to it, almost as if it were made out of clay. None the less, having spotted his quarry Balian readied his bow. He nocked the arrow, aimed the bow, and released. The arrow flew towards its intended target, emitting a soft whistle as it sailed through the air…only to have it embed itself on a branch far above his target. Petch. Quickly Balian pulled another arrow out from the quiver on his back and aimed his bow once more, hoping to get be able to release before the squirrel realized it was being shot at.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Now, Arch didn't have much of a plan for what he was going to do for that evening. He had pretty much a whole day to do a bit of exploring, a bit of relaxing.. and some stretching. There was always more work in acrobatics that he needed to do.. although, being that he knew that acrobatics was not a primary, he also knew that he needed to get to work on.. well, something else. But there were no dummies to practice on. Xarex was still held up in the Windmount Stables and the squirrel had absolutely no intention to go riding for that day. And, to top it all off, his Py-Pole was left behind too. Which meant that he had pretty much the entire day to just.. laze about. Which was good, in some respects.. but in other ways, he wanted to get something done. Damn it all, decisions, decisions...

In truth, he should have been concentrating on where he was going and what was happening in his surroundings. But since he could climb the tree with relative ease, before scampering from branch to branch with all the speed of a true squirrel.. he felt like he didn't really have to. Traversing trees had become second-instinct to him by now.. and his understanding was only growing as the days went by. Soon, there'd be nothing else to learn on it.. and he'd have to find something else to focus on, perhaps.

Although, he really should have focused. Because just as he was about to climb up one of the trunks to get a better view on the possible paths to take, an arrow whizzed past his head and stopped him dead in his tracks. Bandits? Vagabonds? A possibility, although he'd never heard of them outright trying to attack squirrels and Pycons. He didn't have any Miza's on him because he couldn't really carry them long distances. He had no weapons.. and no sign that he was a squire, either. He was too far away to call for help.. petch. Looked like he was just going to have to take matters into his own hands... er, paws.

However, when he looked down for the person, he could see they were already lining up a second arrow. In truth, these humans had ridiculously long lifespans and therefore were often very immature through most of it.. but this one was a mere boy, in all respects. He could have sworn a few years younger, and the boy wouldn't even be old enough to be considered a squire. He'd have to take the roll of page, or something. And yet here he was, shooting arrows at squirrels and squires alike. The very thought boiled his clay, it did. Immediately he swung down from the branch to a lower one, scampered down the length to the base, gripped hard onto the trunk and scampered down that as well. His four paws made the movement.. well, not fast, but certainly smooth. He knew his way around the forest, and around trees, like a real squirrel.. and could even descend down the trunk of the tree face-first. It was quicker, and meant that he could see what ledge he was gripping before he gripped it. Rather than the silly human way to go about it.. where they just dug their toes in and hoped for the best.

When he finally reached the base of the trunk, however, he scampered right onto the ground and stood up on his hind legs, with both paws clenched into tight fists. "HEY! YOU!" Like all squirrels, his voice was deeper than expected from such a small race of clay-people. However, it was still a bit high-pitched in comparison to a regular humans. "What the petch do you think you're doing, huh? You want me to teach you a lesson about trying to shoot arrows at squirrels, huh? You'll regret this!" It wasn't the first time he'd been shot at, but it was the first time he'd gotten seriously mad about it. It was understandable, somewhat, when he was a regular squirrel with little on him.. but now he was a squire. He was going to become a knight. And he was going to demand respect from every squire, page, knight, sergeant knight, and citizen in the city. And, he was going to get it, one way or another...

[Balian Martell]

By the time Balian nocked the arrow, the squirrel was already one the move. He tried to track the squirrel’s movement as best he could before releasing his second arrow, but it was in vain as it merely flew harmlessly behind his target into the forest beyond. This squirrel moved fast, faster than it should have, or so it seemed to Balian. On top of that the squirrel did not run deeper into the forest nor up into the tree. Instead this squirrel moved down, and was making its way to the ground. What a very odd squirrel, thought Balian. He reached for a third arrow, he would be damned if he didn’t bring the squirrel home, not after using up two of his arrows. The fact that it had decided to face him for whatever reason was alight with Balian; it would provide a clearer and closer target.

As the squirrel moved closer, Balian reached into the quiver that was hanging at his side. He took out an arrow, his fingers running through he feathered tail and nocked his bow for the third time. This time around, he took care to aim, he did not want to use up another arrow meaninglessly. His target moved quickly and smoothly, though he did not expect anything less from a creature who spent its life weaving itself through branches. It finally reached the base of the trunk and stopped on its hind legs. If it wanted to provide a motionless target, so be it, Balian had no qualms about that. He drew back the string and was preparing to release, when out of nowhere the squirrel called out to him.

"HEY! YOU!" it said. Balian blinked. Did a squirrel just yell out to him? And it sounded angry at that. He stood frozen, still processing what he had heard. Surely his mind was playing tricks on him. Perhaps what he heard was the song of a bird, or some other creature that his mind had merely twisted to make it look like it was the squirrel, after all, he was trying to kill it. There was no way that a squirrel could actually speak, was there? It occurred to him perhaps this was one of those mysterious and enchanted creatures that inhabited the forests beyond the city, but surely such creature as that wouldn’t be a squirrel. He had lowered his bow in his moment of hesitation and introspection, so after deciding that it was in fact merely a trick of the mind, Balian raised his arms and aimed once more. At this range, and with the squirrel just standing there, Balian was sure that he would hit his target this time, after all, the third time is the charm.

"What the petch do you think you're doing, huh? You want me to teach you a lesson about trying to shoot arrows at squirrels, huh? You'll regret this!" It spoke for a second time. This time Balian was sure that it was the squirrel that spoke. And it sounded livid. Balian was dumbfounded. Here he was, strolling through the woods, hoping to explore and get some practice done, and he somehow managed to come across a talking squirrel. Whichever god of fate may be sure did have a peculiar sense of humour. He subconsciously made a note to ask Isana if there was a known god of fate. As it were, there he stood, staring down the length of an arrow at an angry squirrel that just spoke to him. He lowered his bow for a second time, and racked his brain as how to deal with this new situation. “You’re…you’re a squirrel?” was all that he could muster.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He wasn't going to cave in, even if the human had lowered his bow. He had still shot.. not just one, but two arrows. The man was lucky neither of them had landed, otherwise he'd be in serious trouble for attacking and nearly killing a member of the Order! And seriously petched off the squirrel too. Perhaps it was the fact that he still had an arrow prepared and notched in his bow.. or the fact that he seemed to be wavering on the edge, between trying to shoot a third arrow.. or not. But Arch wasn't going to take any chances at all. If the man was a threat, he'd get rid of him. Once again, it looked like he was going to have to teach somebody a lesson in dealing with small animals. "Yes, I am a squirrel. Brilliant deduction. And you know what you are, huh?" Even with pupil-less eyes that seemed more animal than humanoid, he still managed to put on a ferocious glare as his surprisingly-low voice bellowed out at the man. "You're DEAD!"

He immediately ducked down onto all-fours again and made a full sprint towards the mans ankles. It was just like every other fight he'd gone through in the Fighters Pits, in the Training Grounds, in the Warfields... heck, he'd been to so many strange places, it was a damn near miracle that the squirrel was still alive after all of the things he'd gone through. And he still couldn't escape the memories. Looked like he was going to have to live through them again and again, every time he ended up fighting someone else. Even if this was a mostly-innocent civilian who might have made a completely honest mistake of thinking a Pycon shaped and coloured in a very similar way to a squirrel, was a real squirrel that he could potentially hunt down for food. On the other hand, it could be a wanted criminal - a vagabond or a thief that was looking for an easy kill on an unsuspecting target. He just didn't know, and there was no time to stop and ask questions when one of them was holding a weapon.

"You're going to regret the day you ever tried to mess with a squirrel!" If all went to plan, he could already see the perfect offence. He didn't seem to be holding any armour.. so all he needed to do, was make a few solid punches an kicks around the ankles and shins. A few distracting moves around the legs to draw him into using his feet. Bows would be useless at incredibly short distances.. and from previous experiences, when you climbed up someones leg, they always surrendered. Something about that had always seemed weird but he wasn't going to judge anyone based on that. He was going to make a solid sprint, and then lean back at the last moment to reel a fist and slam it straight for the guys left shin. Of course, while doing that, he'd need to redistribute the clay throughout his body and focus it entirely into the fist.. which would hopefully make it a little less.. squishy.

However, the entire thing was incredibly difficult to do. It was hard enough when he was standing still, with plenty of time to focus the little threads of clay in his body into channels, to push clay from one area of his body where it wasn't needed, into another where it was.. but this was an actual fight. A life-or-death situation where he needed to do it, now, otherwise the man could shove an arrow between his eyes and that would be the end of the squirrel. He wasn't standing still - he was sprinting, to make sure he got the most momentum he could possibly generate. He needed to focus on running, as well as his clay distribution. And focus on the man, in case there was some sudden movement. Damnit... I need to get this right...

[Balian Martell]

Balian couldn’t believe it. Not only was the squirrel he was trying to shoot yelling at him, but was now charging him as well. What would possess a creature to attack something twenty times its size? The little bugger was moving fast, and would soon be upon him, so Balian had to think fast. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the squirrel, not particularly, but he was startled and while he was it really couldn’t do too much damage, he didn’t want to get bit either. By the looks of it, the squirrel was going for his legs, but then again, that could simply be only because his legs were really the only thing that he could attack, with its size and all.

His bow would be useless. If even he did have the skill, at such short range he was better off using it more as a melee weapon. By the gods he didn’t even want to fight the thing. He wasn’t the least bit prepared for any sort of fight, he had come out here to explore and to process the events of the past few days. Yet here was, his first moment of combat as a squire…and against a squirrel no less. Oh, the heralds were sure to sing about this in the ages to come. The squirrel kept coming and he had to something. He remembered one of the maxims that his father used to tell him, after the rare occurrences when Balian would get into a scuffle with another one of the boys at the outpost…The best way to avoid being hit, is simply to not be there. Luckily, he wasn’t wearing all of his armour, so it wasn’t weighing him down allowing him some modicum of speed and agility. As soon as Balian judged the squirrel close enough, he leaped to his right, jumping out of its way. As he did so he pulled back his left leg, hoping to catch it as it sped by the spot he just stood and kick it away from him.

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

He was so fixed on building up power for his punch, he barely noticed the obvious signs - the slight tensing in his muscles, all of the features that were too easy to ignore. And yet he did. He missed them all right up until the man jumped right a few feet, and he was left running towards nothing but thin air, right in the way of one of his big feet's trajectory. What's wrong with me? I'm better than this. He shouldn't even have a chance. He knew it was very true. His reaction time was sloppy, and he was slow.. even if he had more height and size, the squirrel was still pretty fast.. for his diminutive size. All he needed to do was keep up with the man. He couldn't out-maneuver a squirrel, and even trying to was laughable.

When the man lifted back a foot, he knew it was time to get moving. With all of his clay focused mostly within one paw, he dug both of his forepaws into the ground as hard as possible, with even his sharp claws anchoring his body to the soft soil of the forest. The momentum however, created by the rest of his body, left his backside nearly flipping directly over his front end. Normally it would have, too - if not for his tail. It flipped around, and his weight was redistributed once again so that his lower half went around to the left side of his front end. When his feet touched down on solid ground again, he was facing Balian. And using the tight grip on the ground, he lurched forwards with a sharp burst of speed and was sent sprinting once again. However, he made sure to head for the mans right side over his left.. after all, that foot was there, waiting. Even though he knew that if push came to shove, he could easily roll underneath the foot like every other attack that came from the damn humans.. it was always good to be cautious. Those things weren't very effective.. but they were big.

"You think you can get around me, huh? Drop the bow and arrow, now!" He knew that if he let the man gain any more distance, he'd probably end up using that damn bow again. And he had no intention of letting some damn archer get around a squirrel. Least of all, him. "You'll rue the day you messed with a member of the Order..." Especially a squire, who was just trying to spend one of the few days he had away from his demented patron knight and the damn responsibilities of the city that he loved and upheld with all of his heart.. but sometimes wished would go to the stinking realms of Uldr and be done with. He was a squirrel, not Sylir reincarnated.. he couldn't spend every day of his life patrolling the city and protecting the weak from such disputes as who was stealing a few copper Miza's from who, and whether there was a drunk man somewhere in one of the taverns spewing nonsense about seeing the Ravarisk riding a horse...

[Balian Martell]

Your Words I My Words I My Thoughts

Balians timing was almost perfect. Almost. He had managed to jump out the squirrels way, landing on his right foot as his left cocked back ready to kick the squirrel away. His target sped forward, right towards where he used to be. Smiling in triumph, Balian let loose his leg, swinging it forward with all the might his teenage body could muster. As it did, he vaguely noticed that something had changed about the squirrel. It still looked the same, yet it seemed as if its fur was a lighter color, and it looked…less full was the only thing he could think of to describe it. Oh well he thought, it really didn’t matter any way once he kicked it. The blow was sure to discourage another blind charge.

So sure of himself, was he that it didn’t even register that foot hadn’t made any contact until three quarters of its arc were complete. The look of shock as his foot rose up into the empty air was evident to see looking at where the squirrel had gone only doubled it. It indeed was where he expected to be, however after he had jumped, it seemed that this squirrel, if it could be called that, had somehow managed to dodge his kick, and was in the middle of some sort of somersault; its momentum carrying its lower half up over the upper. However that isn’t what happened. He wasn’t sure how; but the squirrel somehow managed to change the direction of its flip, and now it stood on all fours facing him. Balian was absolutely bewildered. What in the name of the gods was this?

The…thing…before him, for now he was sure it was no squirrel charged once more, catching him with his right foot planted firmly on the ground, left foot dangling in the air, and him completely off balanced. He had no time try his little trick a second time, and the squirrel was closing in fast, yelling something about dropping his bow and arrows. My bow! Perhaps he could use it swipe away his attacker, buy himself a few seconds of time to recover. He swung his bow at the opposing creature, however off balanced as he was the attempt could be called sloppy at best. It swung in its general direction yes, but before it could do anything it caught the ground further drawing him off balance. He attempted to correct himself by swinging his left foot out, countering the effect of the bow and repositioning his right foot so as to not fall over. His opponent could not ask for a better opening that this.


“You’ll rue the day you messed with a member of the Order…” Here he was, a squire of the Knights of Syliras, about to be defeated by some freakish squirrel. He could already hear the scolding his Patron would give him over this.

Wait…what?

[Archailist]

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

The fact that the man was brash and head-strong enough to actually attack with the weapon.. even after the squire had told the man to drop it.. just made everything a whole lot worse. Of course, once again the clumsy swing was easy to hop to the side of, and therefore dart straight between his legs. Even if one was balanced high in the air in what he could only guess was a comical attempt to maintain balance and not fall over, thanks to the small clay squirrel winding itself around his ankles, he was still cautious of it. All that disappeared when he finally got behind the man, and immediately leaped up into the air - and aimed a solid punch with the condensed fist right into the back of the mans knee. If his memory on human pressure points was to be given credit.. it should knock him backwards, if done correctly. If this works, I might be able to bring this to an end before someone gets hurt. Of course the squirrel was worried for his own safety. He always was - even when pitched up against something or someone that apparently struggled with their own balance, or footing, or swinging. He never really thought that other people ever took into consideration, the courage and the strength that was always needed when fighting something that was several times larger than them.

It didn't even need to be a purposeful attack - one errant twitch and a stumble, that the squirrel didn't notice, and he could die. Very quickly, in fact. He needed to remain absolutely in control, of everything. He needed to be able to watch exactly where and how the man was going to fall so that he could plan accordingly. Every time the man stomped down with one foot, he had to make special precautions to make sure that it didn't come anywhere near the squirrel. It wasn't like what one imagined - missing by a single hair's width, by the skin of their teeth. It would never be like that.. because putting all of their actions down to luck and chance was what got squirrels and Pycons in general, killed. Humans would never have to worry about being killed by a Pycon - but for the Pycons, there was death for every step of the way. Heck, the more he concentrated on the amount of death there was, the more likely he was to miss something, and.. die.

Hopefully his attack would land in the right spot - because, after all, if it didn't land around the center of the back of the knee, then it wouldn't fold the joint down and topple the one support pillar keeping the man on his feet. Then, the squirrel could take a few steps back to get out of the way of the falling man.. and, well, hop straight up onto him. He might even be able to ask a few questions regarding exactly what he was intending to do, by shooting at a squire. He swore to himself, he would find a way to get the man back to the castle - drag him back, if needed - and find a way to put him to justice. Prove that nobody was going to end up messing with the squirrel, because he'd been walked over long enough. Disrespected by pages, ridiculed by other squires, laughed at by knights and those higher above... none of it to his face, of course. But he knew they were doing it. One way or another.

[Balian Martell]

Your Words I My Words I My Thoughts

Balian was too preoccupied trying not to fall over to completely comprehend what he thought he had just heard. The awkward swinging of his left leg had some how managed to correct his mistake with bow, and for a second he stood motionless; one leg in the air, arms outstretch, leaning slightly backward with his right foot planted squarely on the ground. It was in that exact moment however that Balian lost track of the small creature. Concerned that he now had no idea where it was, he began to lower his leg to firmly ground himself on both feet and try to somehow get himself out of this predicament. Unfortunately for Balian, the squirrel had other plans. A sudden and solid force hit the back of his knee before he was able to bring his left leg all the way down. It buckled outward, underneath all the weight and pressure that he had been placing on it as he tried to regain balance and finally, unable to forestall the inevitable Balian came crashing down.

In the brief ticks that it took for Balian to land on his back, it occurred to him that to the squirrel, he must seem like a great tree being cut down by a sharp axe. How odd. In those brief moments, images and ideas came to him that questioned his beliefs about perspective; on how different the world must seem to differe…his musings were cut short by the impact of his back on the ground. The wind was instantly knocked out of his lungs, his arms sprawled to either side while his legs were tangled. His right leg had buckled underneath the weight, but instead of shooting out, it had bent at a slightly unconventional angle; his knee pointing outwards while his heel dug at his rear. He struggled to regain his breath, and to raise his body to move his right leg into a more reasonable position. He was clearly outdone. His opponent had somehow managed to knock him down on to his back, without any means to defend himself.

His mind raced to find any way out of this. Perhaps if he were a trained knight…but he was barely a squire! Only two days since meeting his patron, what could he do. Wait, didn’t this thing say it was a part of the order? Balian thought quickly. If its words were true, however unlikely, then surely it lived by and honored the tenants of the order, honour, truth, and all that right? A course of action began to make itself clear, in all honestly Balian had little option but to go with it. So trusting in Sylir and praying to Tyveth that the squirrel was telling the truth, Balian acted.

“I YIELD!” he said forcefully, making sure that it heard him. “ I yield. Just stop attack’n me!”