Solo Going Solo [Flashback]

As part of one of the many traditions of the Scattered Bones, Ayatah goes on her first hunt as a young adult.

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Going Solo [Flashback]

Postby Ayatah on January 12th, 2013, 7:03 pm

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|| 18th of Spring, 503AV ||

Remember, dear daughter, do not rush.

Easy for you to say, Mother, Ayatah thought grumpily as she pushed her way through the moist jungle foliage. you’ve hunted alone hundreds of times.

The Scattered Bones had a tradition - other than the one that gave them their clan name. When a family member turned sixteen years old, they would go on their first solo hunt. Of course, not completely on their own - that would be too close to suicide should the young Myrian come across a Tiger, Dhani or other foe. Instead, a couple of other members of the Scattered Bones would accompany the youngster on their hunt, but remain distant and inactive - unless something terrible should happen.

Ayatah glanced behind her, and saw the familiar faces of her two cousins, Bennik and Rosane. Both were older than Ayatah - Bennik just by two years and Roseane had celebrated her 23rd year last season. They looked blankly head, unable to give any word of advice to Ayatah for the sanctity of the tradition.

She would had to do this as close to alone as possible.

A bird called angrily as it flew up from it’s roosting spot, and Ayatah glanced upwards in direction that the caw had come from. The bird could not be seen for the thick overgrowth of jungle trees, and she could not recognise what creature made such a racket. The bird had been disrupted by something to the left of her, so Ayatah focused her attention in that area. Bennik and Roseane followed, shuffling close to their cousin.

Her chosen weapons were the longbow and her double-bladed dagger. The Eypharian blood that coursed through Ayatah’s veins made her leaner and longer in the body than her pureblooded Myrian family. She already stood lengthier than Roseane, but her cousin was broader and stronger, whereas Ayatah had been built to have speed and agility on her side. Although both speed and strength were integral to survival the Jungle, Ayatah had been advised from a young age to avoid face-to-face combat with larger creatures and enemies. She had obliged, knowing better than to argue with her elders.

The jungle was eerily quiet; Ayatah had only noticed how very noiseless it was since she had started joining her clan on their hunts. She had expected the earthy greenness to be full of noise. But it wasn’t, strangely. Only during a battle did the Jungle roar and scream with death and struggle. Otherwise, it was pretty quiet, save for the odd bird calling out.

There was nothing in the surrounding area that Ayatah thought had stirred the bird, but she couldn’t help doubt herself. She was, after all, only a youth in Myrian terms - barely an adult, by any means. What she knew was far outweighed by what she did not know.

Again, she glanced back to her cousins. Both stood a few feet backwards, like statues that haunted her. Roseane blinked, and wrestled with a yawn. She lost.

Am I taking this long?

It had been only three or four bell or so since they left, surely? Ayatah looked upwards, but could only see small patches of blue sky. It is still daytime, she thought hopefully, I haven’t been too long, she prayed.


|| [b]Ayatah's speech || Ayatah's thoughts || Others' speech ||
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Last edited by Ayatah on January 31st, 2013, 1:43 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Ayatah
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Going Solo

Postby Ayatah on January 12th, 2013, 7:04 pm

ImagePaira of The Scattered Bones had told her daughter to not rush, but Ayatah wanted to return with a kill before the day bled into night. She had high expectations of herself, and had the habit of believing that she had to prove herself to be as ferocious as a pureblooded Myrian. Her family loved her regardless - she just had never quite realised it, like any teenager. Most importantly to her, she wanted to make her family proud. Ayatah did not want to be known as the only member of her family who had failed this challenge.

There was a running competition between the members of the clan for who had the biggest kill, as well as the quickest. Roseane had the title of the latter - she had returned back with a young deer in no more than three bells. A Great Uncle of Ayatah’s had apparently returned with a tigress, as well as a young cub… But Ayatah certainly doubted that.

A sound made Ayatah freeze in her tracks. It was very faint, but she had forever been told about how the Jungle swallowed sounds, so something that sounded to be kilometres away was no more than half a mile or so.

Tigers - and they were fighting.

She looked backwards, to her cousins. Both of them were staring directly at her now, each with a sense of concern in their eyes. They are begging me not to follow the noise, to go in another direction. To stand in the middle of two tigers fighting would be a quick suicide. But Ayatah did not plan to interfere with the fight, or even observe it.

Where tigers were, their prey might be. And the Tiger’s prey could be Ayatah’s, too.

It was a risky tactic, but one that her clan used when they went on larger hunting parties. It could be incredibly successful… depending on whether the Tigers would be annoyed that a young Myrian woman was also hunting their prey. If the beasts did happen to be a little peeved, Ayatah and her cousins would have to leave quickly - or die.

She trudged onwards. The harrowing sound of tigers roaring did not happen again, but she did see a line of large paw prints going in the same way as she. Ayatah was certainly heading in the right direction.

The tracks were leading them to the basin, she quickly realised as the earth beneath her feet began to squelch noisily. The Kandukta Basin was the largest source of water that Ayatah knew of, so of course animals would make their way there. She shook her head at her lack of common sense, and she heard Bennick snort with stifled laughter. When she turned around, Roseane had punched her younger brother in the arm to shut him up.

Unlike the rest of the jungle, treetops and leaves did not cover the basin, so Ayatah could see the clear sky and the white sun rolling through it. The conditions provided fantastic vision - she shouldn’t miss a suitable prey trot past. Technically, anyway.

But she would need to hide, to conceal herself and her cousins. Ayatah began surveying shrubs that lay ten or so feet from the edge of the water. None were big enough for the three of them to fit in, so she turned to Bennick and Roseane with a questioning look.

Her female cousin gave a tiny nod, understanding Ayatah’s issue. She made her own way to another group of small bushes, and knelt down. Although Ayatah could not see her cousin - Roseane was fantastic at camouflage - Ayatah knew that she would be watching the scene from her hiding place. If needed, the woman would erupt from the shrubs to save her young cousin’s life. Roseane took everything incredibly seriously.

Bennick followed her to another collection of bushes that would become their own hiding places. Once crouching down, he broke all the rules and spoke to Ayatah in a tiny voice.

“You’re doing really well.”

She stared at her cousin, mouth open. The young man - who she had been incredibly close to since their childhoods - merely grinned.

“Oh, c’mon, aren’t you glad I’m complimenting for once?” He placed a gentle hand on Ayatah’s head and ruffled her hair. It was something he had been doing since she was a toddler, and she had never appreciated it.

”As kind as that is, you’re breaking the rules.”[b] The tradition had been a long-standing one in their clan

“As long as Quinneth won’t know, then what’s the harm?” He shrugged his shoulders, but closed his mouth all the same.

Indeed, the family matriarch and Ayatah and Bennik’s own Great-Grandmother, valued the importance of traditions, and she would hugely unimpressed if she knew that Bennik had deviated from the rules.

Ayatah was flabbergasted - since her tenth year, Paira of the Scattered Bones had told her daughter how important her first hunt alone would be. It brings about the confidence that a Myrian warrior will need in order to serve the Goddess-Queen. She felt almost guilty that her cousin had broken the sanctity of the tradition, and worse, she had replied.

“Don’t sulk, Eyphy.” Her cousin whispered, grinning. The name was something Bennick had called Ayatah since they were both children, and it stemmed from when he had trouble pronouncing ‘Eypharian’. It had been cute when they were kids, but now Ayatah tired of the childish treatment Bennik insisted on giving her.

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Last edited by Ayatah on January 26th, 2013, 10:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Going Solo

Postby Ayatah on January 12th, 2013, 7:05 pm

ImageChimes ticked by, and Ayatah shifted her weight to stop her legs becoming numb. She elbowed Bennick in the ribs every so often; who apparently found his hiding place too comfortable, as every so often his eyes would close and his head would droop. She kept an eye out for any movement from Roseane’s hiding place, but saw none. She really does become invisible, Ayatah marvelled.

Eventually, and ever so timidly, something came into Ayatah’s eyeline. It was a young deer - possibly an orphan, judging by so very tiny it was. The little creature was so nervous, so terrified of the big wide world that Ayatah felt almost bad for selecting it as her prey. But she swallowed her pity - this was something that she had to do, in order to grow and flourish as one of Myri’s followers.

As the little fawn began sniffing carefully at the water’s edge, Ayatah readied her bow, barely breathing.

She had contributed to the killing of prey before with her clan, but never before killed anything independently. As she readied her bow, her hands were shaking.

Don’t panic, breath easy. Cripple it first - a critical hit is easier to make when the thing can’t move All of the lessons that her mother had taught her flooded into her memory. They will be quick, and to try and hit one on the move would be a waste of arrows.

Taking one final breath, Ayatah honed her arrow onto the deer’s rear flank. It was still drinking, lapping at the water quite happily. Her thumb stroked the feather fletching of her arrow - a habit of good luck she had developed almost the moment Paira had given her daughter a bow and arrow to toy with.

Eventually, she released her arrow.

It landed a little lower than Ayatah would have liked, just above the elbow joint of the deer’s leg. It squealed in pain, and staggered into the shallow water. As the deer tried to keep its head above the waterline, but also get back onto its feet, Ayatah loaded her bow again.

She released her second arrow, and it hit where her first should have done. The deer twitched uncontrollably, snorting as it tried to catch its breath.

Another arrow was notched and released, and this time Ayatah paid special attention to concentrate on her aim - it was time for a critical hit that would hopefully kill the animal, or do enough damage Ayatah could finish the job herself. Between the ribs would be the best, she thought, but it would be hard to judge where about to aim on such a small deer. She pushed the air through her teeth as she weighed up her options.

I should push myself, she eventually decided. Her fingers brushed the feather fletching as she trained her arrow to the deer for one final time. The arrow was released, and it landed somewhere between the animal’s ribs - Ayatah allowed herself to be impressed momentarily before focusing back onto the task at hand. The deer was half-frozen now, with both fear and pain. Time to make my move. She emerged from her hiding place, with Bennick trailing behind.

As the two Myrians approached, the deer kicked out, those huge black eyes full of fear and draining life. Ayatah withdrew her dagger - a beautifully crafted object made of a fine bone hilt with a small ‘A’ engraved into the centre and two slim daggers on either side. It had been her birth weapon; yet another tradition of the Scattered Bones whereby each female baby was given a weapon to represent them in some way. Ayatah’s own dagger paid homage to her split heritage - two blades, two races.

She had seen her mother end an animal’s life before, and each time, Paira had told her daughter how to do it. Regardless, Ayatah’s heart in her throat. If she failed to kill the deer quickly and neatly, she would be forever seen as a messy killer. If she took too long, it would be inhumane to her prey. ”I’m sorry,” Ayatah breathed into the deer’s large ear. It looked at her with deadening eyes, and she put a hand on its ribcage. She could feel the tiny heart dimming; she had to act fast. She slid her dagger between the ribs that her arrow had landed in between, and with a final shaking breath, the young deer fluttered its eyes shut and died.

The gentle water lapped at her ankles, and Ayatah noticed how the blood that was leaking from the deer was being cleaned to the water. It would make for a clean pelt, that was for sure.

“Not bad.” The voice of Roseane took Ayatah for surprise and she spun around. She had almost forgot the other woman was there.

“Probably haven’t beaten me, though.”
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Ayatah
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Going Solo

Postby Ayatah on January 12th, 2013, 8:42 pm

Image|| 21st Spring, 503AV ||

The final part of the Scattered Bones’ tradition was for Ayatah to commemorate her first solo killing by getting a tattoo. It was the part of the ceremony that she was looking forward to the most - it was an exciting prospect to mark her body for her achievement.

The design she had chosen was a simple one with a simple idea to go along with it; in honour of her family name, she was getting three small tattoos all around her body. All three were of tiny bones, one on the bottom digit of her left thumb, just below the knuckle, another on her right collarbone, and a final one on her right, positioned just over the second rib below her breasts.

The tattoos were meant to look as realistic as possible, as if Ayatah’s flesh has dissolved to reveal the fine bone that formed her body. Due to the small nature of the bodywork, Ayatah expected there to be little pain - but this was unfortunately wrong

Goddess, this hurts! She thought as she writhed in the tattooists’ chair, biting her lips and screwing her hands into tight fists. Paira would rub her daughter’s shoulder affectionately, but could not help but smile to herself with pride. Her little half-blood daughter was certainly growing up.


OocI wasn't entirely sure how to go about describing the tattooing process as I didn't know what tools a Myrian tattooist would use. Hopefully this is acceptable - but if not, lemme know!

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Going Solo [Flashback]

Postby Jackalope on January 26th, 2013, 3:15 am

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Ayatah

Award
Skill XP Earned Lore Earned
Hunting +2 The Scattered Skulls Ceremony
Tracking +1 Going After a Tiger's Prey
Stealth +1 Breaking Tradition
Longbow +2 Systematically Killing A Deer
Doubled-Bladed Dagger +1
Observation +2



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