Merevaika
At least she wasn't the only one being harsh to Eamon. That comment from Theo, explaining to him the purpose of the trip wire, wasn't exactly the nicest either. As if the boy couldn't figure out how it worked from just the name. He didn't get as angry as she would have expected him to get - as she would have got, that was - but it was clear he was a bit annoyed by it. At least he had plenty more question to follow that up, prove to Theo that he was thinking further than that man was.
Merevaika laughed, mostly to herself, and let Theo answer this one. After all, he should have left the harshness to her.
Her plan, though, got approval from at least one person. She was surprised - it was a spur of the moment sort of plan, from an inexperienced planner who thought her experience at hunting would make up for that. Merevaika preferred to charge in and do, after all, do whatever she needed to. There were a few people she could name who were a lot better at coming up with tactics like this.
But they weren't here. And she was only one coming up with anything that resembled a plan. So it was the best that they had to work with. She was glad that at least someone could see that.
He had more questions to follow. He had far too many questions, Merevaika decided. It was getting boring, going through them all, answering them with her half knowledge, half guesses. This question was about problems. About ways to let the others know about their problems.
She wanted to hope there would be no problems. Everything would go just as planned. But she couldn't tell anyone that, it sounded stupid and inexperienced and far too naive.
Unfortunately, that meant she had to give a real answer. Sticking her index and middle fingers from both from both hands into her both, tucking her lips around her teeth and pushing her tongue back. Blowing, it took her a few moments to adjust it for a sound to come out. Then, shifting her fingers around a bit more, she finally reached what she wanted to do. A high, shrill whistle rang through the forest for a few moments, before she came out of breath.
It had taken her forever to learn it the first time, quickly remembering then pushing back memories of practising with her brother, testing to see who could do it louder. To'res was better, of course.
She was just glad that it hadn't taken her that long to relearn.
"I whistle, like that, if we have problem?" she suggested, not sure why she was suggesting rather than just saying. She waited a moment, wondering if Theo or Eamon could do the same. Maybe they had another whistle or noise they could make, as a problem indicator?
Then again, just having one noise for the problems was a bit risky too. She could whistle asking for help, or whistle telling them the plan had gone wrong. Both would require different responses. One being a lot more urgent than the other. And if someone got hurt, they'd want them to come towards the injured person. But if the animal was dangerous, it would serve as a warning to get away.
Basically, this signal was pointless and was too confusing for her. She'd let them think about all those details. The huntress decided to stick with hoping that they weren't going to encounter any problems.
Then Theo spoke again, claiming that he was ready, but that she had given him excitement. What did he mean? Merevaika wasn't certain if he was joking - most likely - as she struggled with the common. Giving up, she let him continue, deciding not to challenge something she wasn't certain that she had understood properly.
What she did want to reply to was that nickname he used on her - Mere. She didn't like it, not at all. The main reason was how similar it was to what Rufio had called her. What To'res had called her. What anyone who meant anything to her had called her.
And here he was, using a name so similar to that name simply because he didn't want to run his foreign, ugly tongue, over her beautiful, Drykas name.
"Merevaika!" she snapped, letting the sounds roll of her tongue. Once the interruption had finished, she growled, just lightly, letting her tongue roll in her mouth as she did. She was that close to baring her teeth like a wildcat, hoping to emphasise her point once more.
But her interest in making sure that he understood that her name was Merevaika, not Mere, was cut short by a warning from Randal, who she had almost forgotten was with them. Ducking down automatically to be more sheltered by the foliage all around them, Merevaika slowly pulled an arrow out of her quiver, moving it to rest on her bow string.
As she did, her focus was up, wondering how she had let it drop so quickly. It was those two, the infuriating pair, that meant her concentration had shifted to somewhere it really didn't need to be. Her ears trained in on the distant noise: animal calls, and water splashing. Noises that were normal in the rainforest, but significant ones, compared to the ever present chatter of monkeys and squawking of birds in the layers above them.
She could make out a creature in the distance. A strange one - that was, one that she couldn't recognise, let alone give some sort of name. It was a big thing, digging at the very edge of the river, with a strange face that didn't fit to its body. Like an oversized monkey mixed with deer, sort of. But her description wasn't even close. It was impossible to describe - unless she wanted to resort to words like "big" and "strange", which came the closest to creating some sort of accurate description of the thing.
It was alone though. At least, if it had any friends, they were hidden by the trees or far enough away that they had a chance to take this creature down without bumping into them.
Randal was moving towards it. Merevaika was hot on his trail, keeping her head down and bow up. The weapon quivered at every movement, the woman not yet pulled the string back, but just about there. She trod carefully, watching the ground and letting the sound of her footsteps be masked when the creature called out, or splashed in the water.
Her breathing was slow and steady. This was just another hunt. Her heart picked up, however. Excitement, preparing for the thrill of the chase.
Another slow and steady step. Then all her carefulness was wasted.
A crack sounded, the noise augmented by the silence the group were trying to hold. It didn't take time to track down the perpetrator - Eamon. He had frozen like a deer, watching the creature which was looking around. With their size, it spotted them soon enough, staring them down carefully to determine friend or foe.
She would have yelled at Eamon, made her anger with him ruining everything aware to the whole rainforest. If only they weren't in the middle of a stalk. If only there wasn't an animal there they were trying to take down (or at least, she assumed they were trying to take it down. She hoped Randal and Theo didn't have the idea of leaving it be).
But the creature was there, starting to grunt and growl at the group.
They had two choices. Charge, and hope to take it down there and then, or back off, letting it calm down. The first was risky. It relied on everyone else working as quickly as she did, and being able to help too. If the creature was one to threaten possible predators, it would be willing to fight them off too - and capable of doing so. Even if there were two of them - three if you counted the two halves they had to drag along with them - it was a big enough creature that it could take down all of them.
She doubted they'd be able to get enough arrows and spears in to make a difference.
But she didn't like the second option either. It meant being slow and cautious and not what Merevaika liked at all. And then they ran the risk of this creature's friends coming in closer, giving them more to worry about. They could also lose the creature, as it disappeared to get away from the retreating predators. And had she mentioned she didn't like being cautious?
She was charging - and she didn't care what the others thought.
Swinging her bow up, she drew the string back harshly, feeling the exhilaration of hunting something this big flood back towards her. At the last moment, her arm felt restraint, and she only just managed to push the arrow into position before letting it spiral off through the greenery towards the massive thing.
"Spread," she called, keeping her voice steady as she darted forward. As she moved, her hands found another arrow and she pulled it back, this time letting it land and hit the creature on its shoulder.
With pounding fists, it roared, rearing up a little, and Merevaika began to wonder if she had made a mistake.
Well, it was too late to back out now. They'd have to just cope with Merevaika's recklessness.
oocYeah.. have fun with that 
"Pavi"Grassland sign"Common"
