Tension

[Malia]

Wind whistled gently through the trees. The sun shined brightly in the sky, dancing around the leaves and creating beautiful dappled patterns on the forest floor. Malia stepped carefully around a tangle of tree roots as she stalked through the woods. She gripped her spear tightly and flicked her gaze from one place to another, searching for any signs of game. Malia had decided to hunt solo today, instead of taking a group of warriors with her. She preferred to be alone, and  her people respected that, letting her have her space when she needed it. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being around her people, just that some days she needed to be alone in the silence with only the forest animals as her company.

Malia walked silently through the forest, alert. She hadn't found any game yet, but since it was such a nice day, she knew that she'd certainly find something soon. Unfortunately, it wasn't a small animal like she anticipated.

A large bear loomed in front of her. It had been focused on a bramble bush before, but was now distracted by her. Malia swung her spear between her and the bear. It growled, lumbering towards her. She knew that when confronted with a bear she was to make a lot of noise to scare it away. But if she was to kill it, her village would have food to last for days. It would be reckless, but she was going to try. The bear looked angry anyways. She doubted that it would get scared easily.

Malia lunged forward and ducked around the bear. She slashed its flank with her spear before dashing away. The bear twisted around to charge at her. She tried to attack it from behind, but the bear whipped around and caught her with its paw. She was flung through the air and crashed into a tree. Malia struggled to get up from where she was crumpled at the base of the tree. She felt a sharp stab of pain in her ribs. Some were probably broken.

The bear lunged towards her and swiped its paw down. Its claws ripped through her. She cried out in pain and managed to plunge a knife into the bear's hide. This only angered it and the bear snarled as it snapped its jaws.

Tags: Arkin

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---

[Deleted]

Arkin had spent the past couple of days in the wilderness hunting. He had some close encounters before with predators, but he was with family while out hunting. This time, he was wandering alone, searching for a predator to kill to earn his first scarification tattoo. He already helped kill a hungry, lone wolf that was preying on their livestock at his family's farmstead. His mother taught him on how to create a hood made out of the wolf's pelt as a reward for helping; which he was wearing today to cover his head up with. It was a proud moment for him, even if he did help to kill that wolf.
    Now though, as he stalked through the woods, armed with his recursive bow and arrows, he wanted to actually earn something on his own. He crouched down as he spotted tracks along the ground. He frowned a bit, lightly touching and tracing the large paw print that he found, and then cautiously glanced around his surroundings.
    Bear...a large one, he thought.
    His nerves and hunting instincts will be put to the test if and when he is able to find it. He hoped to find the bear, but he needed to make sure he was ready when it reacts to him. He pulled out a wooden distress call that was attached to a chain. His father gave it to him to use when he needed it to gain a predator's attention. He patted it lightly, keeping it outside of his coat to use it at a moment's notice when he is finally able to spot the bear.
    He continued to stalk through the woods, and the further he followed the fresh tracks, he could soon hear the sounds of fighting. There was someone else out there fighting the bear. He picked up his pace but stayed low enough so he was able to silently move over the ground as best as he could. He approached a fallen tree and hid behind it so it could provide him a little extra cover. His father taught him that bears couldn't see too well, but hiding behind some cover had its advantages for a bow hunter.
    Looking on, he could see the bear attacking the other person about two hundred yards away from his position. They weren't Azgedakru, but that didn't mean he shouldn't help them. They were in danger, and no one else seemed to be out here to help. He couldn't just stand by and let whoever they were to die. Once he settled behind the fallen tree, he knocked an arrow, took a deep breath, and blew into the wooden distress call.
    The loud sound worked as it stopped attacking the injured woman who managed to make it angry at them when she stabbed it with her knife. The bear raised its head in curiosity at first, but that didn't last long as it spun around to face Arkin's direction as it returned to a kill mode. The bear started to head his way, committed to where the boy was located now. The young archer soon became aggressive, as taught by his father. The harder he called, the more the bear picked up its pace.
    There were two things Arkin wasn't prepared for. The more he blew into the distress call, the more he was becoming out of breath and felt like he was going to blackout. The other was the fact that he had one hand holding the call, instead of the bowstring if things suddenly took a turn for the worse. He'd much rather be at full draw if something bad was going to happen because of the bear, and that was making him nervous. A lot! With these concerned thoughts racing through his mind, a bear coming right at him, he decided to stop for a second to catch his breath. As he stopped, the bear slowed down somewhat, but still kept moving threatening toward him.
    Once he caught his breath, he decided to really blow on the distress call as loud and as long as he was able to do. This worked and the bear started to run toward him. Arkin didn't have any idea how close the bear was to him now, and he stopped to watch it for a second, and it continued to head right toward him. Once the bear seemed to be around forty yards, he used the call one more time to keep him committed. When the hungry, angry bear bounded toward him, the boy's adrenaline shot through the roof. He dropped the call, and drew the bow at full draw, and allowed his instincts take over.
    The bear must have been twenty yards away now. The creature paused and lifted its head as it looked right at him with its beady eyes. The two locked eyes as Arkin looked for the best placement shot he remembered his father showing him many times before on each predator's anatomy. He located a spot in its throat section and released the arrow. The second it hit a fountain of blood poured out as it spun around. He smiled, jumping up in excitement at his first perfect shot hunting alone.
    “Yes!”
    He watched the creature amble off; bleeding a trail of blood forty to fifty yards away before collapsing.
    He cautiously followed the blood trail and stopped near the bear to make sure it was dead. He kicked it a few times before quickly heading over to the other hunter.
    “Are you okay?” He winced a bit, realizing his error as he felt it was a stupid question to ask her when she clearly was in pain.     “Need help?”

tagged: Malia

word count: 944

notes: Finally can post this!

callmekitty at adoxography

[Malia]

Malia was getting tunnel vision and felt faint. She felt like she was going to pass out. She put her head against the tree trunk and tried to breath more, but her broken ribs made her unable to do anything more than short, quick breaths. Her vision was blurring, so she couldn't see who the stranger was.

Malia was pretty sure that he had killed the bear, and that he had spoken to her, but she couldn't make out what he had said.

Malia tried to look at him, but moving her head caused her headache to worsen.

OOC:

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[Deleted]

Arkin slowly stepped over to her and knelt beside her. He carefully placed his bow on the ground next to him and quietly studied her. She seemed to be having a hard time focusing on him, as well as breathing difficulties. His eyebrows creased with worry, resting a hand on her shoulder for a few moments before letting go to take his knapsack off of his back to open it. He was no healer, but his parents were currently teaching him some first aid. If he wasn't able to help her on his own, he would have to go and find a healer in the closest village. He couldn't just leave her out here though. The bear's corpse would surely attract other predators.
    Frowning, he looked back at the dead bear and then back at her. He would help her as much as he was able to and help her to a village somehow and seek a healer who could aid her much better than he could. Sighing, he took out some cloth bandages, a handful of the red seaweed he was told to use if he needed to, and a mortar and pestle to grind the seaweed down before mixing it with some water from his water-skin that held his drinking water.
    He quickly ran off to gather some wood to build the fire. Several minutes later he returned to mostly check on her before he started to work on putting the pieces of wood together and surround it with stones that he could easily pick up in his hands that were around the area, and then started to work on igniting the fire; muttering a few Trigedasleng expletives until he was finally able to create fire. Smiling a little, he looked back to see how she was fairing.

tagged: Malia

word count: 300

notes:

callmekitty at adoxography

[Malia]

Malia lied on the ground limply instead of trying to move anymore. She focused on breathing, trying to inhale as much air as she could given her situation. She knew that she needed to get back to her people, but she wouldn't be able to. They would come looking for her when she didn't arrive anyways. Then they would find her and bring her home.

Malia started to cough a bit, which jarred her ribs, causing her to whimper. She had never felt pain this bad before. She was completely unable to control herself from reacting to it.

Her eyes began to close. A foggy heaviness settled over her and she lost consciousness.

Tags: Arkin

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[Deleted]

When she looked like she fell unconscious, Arkin moved over to her and gently patted her shoulders to see if she would react. He repeated the process a few more times, and when she didn't make any sort of response he sighed. That can either be a good or a bad sign for someone to be unconscious, but at least she won't be moving around so much to injure herself further. He grabbed the mortar and pestle and began crushing some of the red seaweed a little at a time until he had enough to make a paste with the water he poured into it. After making the paste, he looked at her to see if there were any open wounds he could apply the paste.
    Thankful to not find any bite marks from the bear, but was unsure if she was lucky yet or not as he carefully felt her sides. They didn't feel normal to him. He stood to his feet, scratching his head for a moment as he peered around his surroundings again; hoping someone would appear to help him. He didn't really want to shout for help, not yet at least. He walked around so he was standing by her head, grabbed her by the back of her shirt and sat her up against the tree as carefully as he could. It took him a bit to do, as he wasn't strong enough to lift and drag anyone or anything yet. Once he made sure she wouldn't fall over and she was in a comfortable sitting position, he went over to pick up the cloth bandages from his knapsack, sat on his knees as close as he could beside her, and then began wrapping the bandage around her rib cage – making sure it will be tight enough, while allowing enough room for her to be able to breathe.

tagged: Malia

word count: 314

notes:

callmekitty at adoxography

[Malia]

Malia slowly drifted back into consciousness and opened her eyes. She was propped up against a tree trunk and there was a person in front of her. While her head still hurt, she was able to see a bit more clearly. She could make out that the person was a guy, but that was all. She couldn't tell what Clan he was from---if he was from a Clan at all.

Malia noticed that her ribs were wrapped up in cloth, and that somehow, it seemed to help with the pain. She couldn't think too clearly, and wasn't able to recall any of the medical training she had received before she decided to become a warrior instead of a healer. She watched the stranger out of half-open eyes. It seemed that she would have to rely on the kindness of this stranger to help her.

It took a while, but Malia's people were able to find her. At first, they were hostile towards the stranger until the realized that he had been helping her, and not attacking. One of the warriors carefully picked Malia up and others went for the bear. They told the stranger to come with them. They wanted to know what had happened, and they could easily see that Malia wouldn't be able to answer the questions they had anytime soon.

Malia's people brought her back to Mia Te Mak and set her down in the healer's hut. The healer got to work right away, and confirmed that her ribs were broken. The healer gave her something for the pain and treated her ribs.

Tags: Arkin

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[Deleted]

Arkin was in a crouching position as he waited by the campfire, keeping an eye on her while she was still asleep. He poked a stick into the fire absentmindedly for a while before glancing over to the injured hunter he was trying to figure out which clan she belonged to. He was thinking that he should pay attention to his father's teachings that involved the other clans more next time when she seemed to have finally woke up. He sat up a little, more alert and happy as he let out a surprised gasp and dropped the stick that was in his hand.
    “You're okay...” He whispered in relief, trailing off as he carefully kept his eyes on her.
    He sat down on the ground, crossing his legs and waited there some more, giving her time to fully wake up.
    When he heard a group of people closing in on them, he quickly stood up, wrapping his hand around the bow and knocked an arrow. He was about to raise the bow and draw the arrow when they closed in on him. He lowered his weapon when he realized they were looking for her and stepped back to give them room.
    “I found her - “ Arkin started to explain but the group became hostile toward him. One pushed him away and he was roughly sent to the ground.
    “Oof!” He winced being pushed so hard to the ground and looked up. One of them, who must have been the leader of the group told the other to stop before the one who pushed him could attack him.
    “I don't think he was here to harm her. Her ribs are bandaged,” the leading warrior looked down at Arkin. “Were you helping her, boy?”
    Arkin nodded, glancing up at the stranger.
    The group looked at him and then at each other before the one who knocked him down stepped over to him and extend their hand to help the boy up. He accepted the help and looked on as one of the warriors picked her up to carry her. He quickly nodded when he was told to follow them back, picked up his things and headed back with them.
    He told them what happened along the way to Mia Te Mak.
    “I was hunting for a predator to kill and bring back to my family farm,” he explained, “I wanted to kill my first one on my own for my family and earn my first scarification tattoo like my family has. I followed the bear's prints in the soft ground, then overheard her fighting it the closer I was. Saw that it had thrown her against the tree. She was able to stab it with her knife, but that only angered it. I had to help. I wanted to help.”
    He paused as he glanced at her before returning his eyes to the path ahead.
“I used my wooden distress call my father gave me to lure predators toward me whenever I spot them. I wanted to get it's attention so it would stop attacking her. It worked and my arrow struck true in its neck.”
    He smiled up at them, proud of his shot.
    “Once I killed it. I helped her.”

   * * *

    
    They arrived and he reluctantly followed them through the village, ignoring the stares from the other warriors and citizens that were there. He walked into the healer's hut with them and stood off to the side to watch the healer work on her as soon as they arrived.

tagged: Malia

word count: 591

notes:

callmekitty at adoxography

[Malia]

Malia woke up to find herself in the healer's hut back in Mia Te Mak. Her head felt a lot better and her ribs didn't hurt as much. She couldn't remember how she got there, so she asked the healer what had happened. Malia was a bit surprised when the healer told her that the stranger was still here, as she didn't think that her people would've brought him back. She asked the healer if she could see him. She wanted to know who he was, since he had saved her life.

Tags: Arkin

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[Deleted]

Arkin was sitting outside as he waited to give the healer some room in the hut to work on the injured hunter and for the hunter to have some time to rest. He tried to avoid some of the looks from the villagers who were wary of him, while some of the children who lived there who were close to his age were looking on curiously as they walked by. Not too long after he left the hut, he looked up and watched as the healer walk over to where he was sitting.
    He stood up and nodded when the healer told him that she was finally awake and asking to see him. He followed the healer into the hut, a little slowly, and stood just inside the door frame for a moment. He gazed over to where she was at as he took off his hood before entering further inside.

tagged: Malia

word count: 151

notes:

callmekitty at adoxography

[Malia]

Malia watched the stranger come in the hut and stand in the doorway. She tried to place his clothes to his Clan but couldn't figure out which one he was from---if he was from a Clan. She just watched him for a moment, unsure of what to say.

"You saved my life," she said, "Thank you. What is your name?"

Tags: Arkin

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[Deleted]

He gradually walked over to her until he was closer to where she was so he could speak to her. He smiled somewhat, clearly relieved that she was going to be okay after that bear attacked her. He nodded at her thanking him, but when she asked who he was, he glanced around the hut until he spotted the healer, whom gave him a slight nod as if to say 'go on'.
    Arkin breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly as he returned his gaze on the young woman. He clasped his hands behind his back and stood there as he shifted around nervously. His father and mother told him that many of the other clans didn't like Azgedakru, which was one of the reasons why they didn't want him to venture too far out into other clan territories, but he did anyway because he was too curious for his own good.
     "Arkin Kom Azgedakru." He answered with slight hesitance in his quiet voice, "I'm glad you're okay. It must have been fate that I found you in time before that bear could kill you."

tagged: Malia

word count: 184

notes: Sorry for the slight delay.

callmekitty at adoxography

[Malia]

He was from Azgeda? She narrowed her eyes, immediately suspicious.

"What were you doing near Trishana territory?" she hissed at him. Sure, he had saved her life, but for what purpose? He must of had a motive...maybe so that she would be in debt to him? What was he doing so close to her territory? Spying? Planning a route of attack?

Tags: Arkin

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[Deleted]

Arkin smiled sheepishly, and answered her. “I have a habit of wandering away from my family's farm all the time. They don't want me to though...for a number of reasons, but I do anyway. I don't know why.”
    He paused, his eyebrows creased as he thought about that and shrugged. He had his reasons and they were reasons he felt only another child would understand, not an adult like her.
    He had to ask her though. “Didn't you explore everywhere when you were my age too? Or tried? Or wanted to see how far you can go?”
    “My father wanted me to hunt for a predator and kill it to earn my first scarification tattoo. So, I've been wandering around for the last two days, searching for a worthy predator that would make my family proud of me for killing alone. I guess I ended up way too far than I thought. I could've turned back, but I didn't. I wanted to prove to my family that I'm a good hunter.”
    He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Hmm.”
    “I spotted the bear tracks not too far from when I heard you fighting that bear. Then when I saw you needed help, I had to help. No one else was around to. Isn't helping someone a good thing?” He wondered aloud and sighed, “My family told me they fled their village to live peacefully as farmers. Well...as best as we can anyway. We're tired of this fighting.”
    He winced a little, still rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry if I made you angry...”

tagged: Malia

word count: 265

notes:

callmekitty at adoxography

[Malia]

He seemed to be telling the truth. His story was too complicated to have been made on the spot. And his reason made sense. And he did apologize. Maybe she shouldn't judge someone for what Clan they come from.

"I....apologize," she said. "I have not had good encounters with your people in the past. I am Malia," she told him. "You are welcome to spend the night here, as long as you leave in the morning. I do not want your people to come looking for you. I doubt they are as friendly as you are."

Tags: Arkin

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