Finding Balance in the World.

by **Archailist** on February 28th, 2014, 8:44 pm

76th of Winter, 513.

Continued from here.

It was the theory of natural progression. The squirrel had trained before in the forest, going between the trees and eventually going off to help Eric. Then, he'd moved into the city to practice on the buildings and eventually help an elderly monk - not that she needed any help but that was beside the point. And now, there was only one place left to go. He actually had to wonder why he'd not chosen to go there in the first place, but then again, it was nice to have a bit of diversity to his daily life. The Warfields were always designed for combat, and that was what he wanted - he wanted to be able to deal with whatever the world could throw at him, as he'd always told himself. He may not have anyone to train with, but he could still throw out some crazy shapes and whatnot. Perhaps impress a few people on the way.

Arch flew over the rooftops of the Nykan city with apparent ease, only daunted by the trickiest of obstacles. And even those, he loved - they were the challenge he needed. Rooftops had become stepping stones to leap across for him - bigger than usual but they were still the same. Big, red stepping stones with a few people beneath and with some very odd shapes to them. He practically bounced off one building that had a particularly low roof because there was no slant to it, off onto the balcony of the building that stood next door, and from there he climbed up to the banister and used that to immediately jump across to the upper ledge of the door frame leading into the house. After that, a jump up to the lower ledge of the roof and he was up another storey (and a half, including the slant of the roof) on his journey. The city still towered high above the squirrel in some areas but in others the people were little more than multi-coloured specks, broken occasionally by the garbs of the monks that looked almost comically mundane compared to the brightly-coloured, and not to mention hilariously-shaped clothes of the average citizens.

Maybe it was just the amount of time he'd spent around the city that made the squirrel accustomed to the culture, and the general trends that surrounded the city. Or maybe it was the fact that he rather liked the colour scheme and it didn't burn his eyes as it had many other visitors of Nyka that he'd seen in his visits. Either way, he was losing precious daylight by standing on rooftops and staring at people going about their business. He had work to do, after all - he needed to get to the West. Which was much easier done than said. The city, that had once been an uncontrollable bustle of people now seemed almost eager to part for the squirrels passage. Or at least, that's how he considered it. His idea of parting for passage involved jumping on their heads, and that was exactly what he did to cross over the bridges. A quick hop down from one of the higher levels to a lower one - and from there, a few bald heads would be all it took.

One thing he could notice, between the hasty leaps between the numerous heads, either covered with hair or completely bald, was that the citizens seemed to be at least a little bit more forgiving when they saw who it was. Not immediately of course - some of the citizens didn't seem to realize the particular squirrel hopping on their heads - but those that did were quick to lower their voices from yelling range. And some, although they were faint memories to the Pycon, rose their hands and nodded their heads in greeting on the few occasions he was forced to vacate heads and simply run along the edges of the streets. It made the squirrel feel a little more comfortable - enough to offer a sharp-toothed grin in return before continuing on his way.

In considerably less time than normal, the squirrel found himself outside the city with the gate rapidly disappearing behind him. It was almost enough to stop the squirrel in his tracks, but he quickly dismissed it as a generally 'good' day and ran without quarter all the way around the outside of the walls to where he could find the Warfields staring intimidatingly up at him. A few monks surrounded it, keeping the place clean and whatnot, but he couldn't see anyone else. If there were any other people. Most likely they'd be inside anyway, but he didn't really put much concentration into it.

by **Archailist** on June 12th, 2014, 6:34 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

"Good morning, isn't it?" The monk that stood guard only gave a mumble and a shrug that the squirrel took for an affirmative anyway. And then, he hopped straight through the stone entrance and took the first right.. then left.. then right, right, left, right.. he didn't actually want to escape, just find a good spot to begin. It took little time at all to lose direction, and sooner still he lost account of where the 'center' of the Warfields was supposed to be. That was supposed to happen anyway, he guessed. It didn't matter. Soon enough he found a good corner that stood right up with the sun beating down on his head. He could only guess this would be a good place to climb up and begin his training, so he did.

The stone here wasn't like the stone in the city. Of course it was exactly the same colour, and exactly the same stone in terms of where it was mined and how it was brought over. In fact, it was exactly like the stone in the city, except for that it wasn't made up of bricks. The Warfields felt like they were huge slabs of stone that rose high into the air out of the grounds, like nature itself had carved them and left them there to be used at ones whim. The squirrel couldn't complain, except for that it meant there were very few grooves that he could use for climbing. Where once there would be too many holes to count amongst the cracks in the mortar and the tiny ledges that formed between each brick that wasn't lined up exactly with the one directly next to it, or above it, or beneath it.. the walls of the Warfields were utterly devoid of such details.

Because of this, the squirrel had to really rely on his natural abilities. Mainly squishing his claws and paws into the stone of the walls to push out the air and leave a faint suction. The larger surface he made with his paws to squish over, the more suction it made, he'd found after his many times climbing up and down the many buildings of Nyka over and over - several times a day, in most cases. The wall was several times taller than the squirrel, made to tower over even the tallest monks in case they tried to get the same sneaky idea as the squirrel and just jump over the edges of the maze to escape it. Which just meant even more work to get through before he could even get started on what he wanted to really do. Which was, obviously, get some work down on his manipulation.

One paw pressed against the stone and the squirrel closed his eyes and quickly got to work. He couldn't just start pressing because he'd end up going right down to the shoulder before he had enough clay - so, he begun to form those same little streams he'd remembered so often. They slowly worked their way down his arms, fueled from the rest of his body as minute features began to lose definition. His tail felt lighter and just a little bit hollow - his legs felt a little less defined, as well as his torso. But, steadily, it all flowed down through those invisible little channels in his arms and found its way to flow out of his palms, spreading out wider and wider until he had a pretty decent size disk pressed up nice and tight against the stone. A little tug assured him that it could hold pretty well. And then, he had to repeat the same thing with the other paw. The layer of the disk needed to be thin to make sure that he could cover absolutely as much of the stone as he could afford, for maximum adhesion. But at the same time, he didn't want them thin. Too thin and he'd never be able to pull the disk off again without it tearing off and leaving bits of the squirrel falling off after him.

Once the two disks were formed, he begun to climb very slowly. Every time he wanted to remove a hand, he had to consciously move a little clay back from the center to loosen the grip before affixing it to the next spot and reapplying that same clay to assure the suction kept it in place. And it worked. Higher and higher he continued to climb with his feet pushing into every little groove they could find with their sharp little claws, but most of the effort was put into those paws as he pushed them higher and higher. Of course, with this method, it took longer than it should have... but he made it, after a few repeated movements. And then, he could see out over the entire Warfields. He was off to the far side of the center, but at least he wasn't near a corner. He could run there without much hassle.

by **Archailist** on June 12th, 2014, 6:56 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Quick as a mouse, the squirrel slipped down onto four legs and sprinted off as fast as he could manage. Of course, that was pretty damn fast. The route wasn't winding, but rather turned and twisted with sharp corners, occasionally ending suddenly with a twist off into the left or the right, but this was where his tail came into its best uses. The thing was heavy with all the clay inside and acted as a perfect counterbalance as he turned and twisted, allowing the squirrel to actually lean much farther over to either side than he should have been able to without falling over. And of course, this meant he could sharply turn around the corers with little need for a second glance. He actually felt like he could do a little more than just run all the way into the center of the Warfields, he felt like he could somersault there. So, he did. He tried at least. Abruptly, the squirrel decided to do exactly what he'd done in a spur of the moment with that old Nykan woman. His forepaws dug tightly into the edges of the wall and stopped, but his momentum kept him going forwards - just the lower portion of his body, as it sailed straight over his own head and his legs tucked tight into his midsection. Even his tail briefly brushed the stone as it tucked in tight, before he released the stone with his forepaws and for a brief moment, sailed through the air.

The moment went on for much longer than he'd anticipated, but he didn't mind. It was one of the few times he could stop and actually bask in a good moment. The heady air, the fresh morning sun baking his clay a healthy shade, and an empty Warfield to use for his own nefarious training time. It was times like these that he lived for. Though, the moment eventually ended and he was forced to endure gravity again as his legs struck the stone faster than expected and immediately clamped down, and both paws drew themselves out on complete instinct to absorb the stone before it struck the squirrel straight in the face. It wasn't as hard as everyone kept badgering on about, but the squirrel supposed that he had a pretty good chance of building up momentum. All of which he'd now lost and would have to pick up again before he arrived at the center of the Warfields. Oh well - that could leave time for another somersault!

When the squirrel eventually found the center - a knot of different columns that offered almost limitless passes in various directions - he decided abruptly to try something else. Something a little more complex than that he'd done before. Once again the squirrel stopped with all of the momentum built up, but when he felt his back end lifting up and over, he begun to quickly walk forwards with his front paws supporting his balance. There were a lot of issues with this, primarily being his tail trying to decide where it was going to coil to provide the best balance, but eventually his back side fell back down to the stone path and he huffed. Perhaps he'd actually need to sit down and consider what he was going to do in order to make the trick possible. Where to put his tail. He couldn't put it up high because that would leave more weight at the top, and the higher the weight, the more it would take to keep that weight balanced. So - low tail. Got it.

The squirrel picked a completely arbitrary direction and broke off into a running sprint once again, quickly twisting in a mid-sprint in order to follow a longer track that broke off towards the North. His claws struggled for purchase but he dug them in and powered on even faster until he felt like he'd crossed most of two-thirds of the track. And then, he stopped once again. This time, he immediately lifted his tail up and was surprised to find that it brought his backside up even faster with it, considering the heavy weight that was still attached. He'd have to remember that for later. Of course, it meant that he had to walk a little faster to keep up with his lower half and more importantly, stop it from jolting his upper half from contact with the stone path. He wanted to stay in the same position, and when his tail finally curled up tightly against his back with the tip nearly brushing the back of the squirrels own head in an odd contortion, he felt rather pleased with his work. He was now stuck in a rather neat hand-stand, except he was still walking forwards on his paws alone, and with his backside lifted high in the air. As he walked, he begun to make minor adjustments as well - moving his tail a little closer, his back a little straighter, until what would have been his spine, was level.

by **Archailist** on June 12th, 2014, 7:25 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Walking around on the top of the Warfields on nothing but his front paws was amusing for a while, but eventually the squirrel rolled back onto his hind-paws and decided that there were plenty of other things he needed to get done. Like, balancing. He needed to get his balance sorted, of course. Manipulate the insides of his body for better balance, not just on the edges of the walls, but also.. well, in combat situations as well. Good thing he was in the Warfields, that was almost entirely built for the function of city warfare.

When Arch had finally returned to the same spot at the center of the maze, he sighed softly and tried to close his eyes and clear his mind. It was difficult, of course - he had so much residual adrenaline from the previous acrobatic feats that he struggled to even stand still at the corner, let alone focus his mind on something else than wanting to run and jump off very high things all of a sudden. It took a while and some heavy breathing but he eventually pulled it off and calmed himself as much as he could. He'd need all of his mind if he was going to pull this off correctly. So, he slowly lowered his upper body down until it was nearly touching his toes, and then right past. Because he didn't have anything like a spine to restrict his movement, his back bent in a way far beyond what it should have - even though this exercise would be possible to a human - as the squirrel reached between his own legs and grabbed the ledge of the wall. His palms deformed only a little; barely enough to provide good grip so that he could slowly lift his lower body up and hoist it so that it hovered over his own head.

It didn't stay there for long. He needed to adjust its position, and reform the points of acting weight. Of course, this meant shifting about both legs and his tail so that they could equal out each-other. It took a bit of guesswork and a lot of previous recollection. But he got it, in the end. Like before, though, his legs were pushed out at awkward angles for a while, until he could recall those little channels once again. And then, the clay inside his body began to shift and shape once again. Thin, needle-like streams twisted around his body and took up all the excess clay that he didn't need, and begun pumping it here and there into reservoirs inside his own torso. Every time they moved, his legs could shift an inch here and an inch there. Everything slowly evened itself out once again.. and the squirrel was left standing with both legs high in the air, in line with the rest of his body. Tail included. This had become his 'rest' phase, that he could begin to use to manipulate other points along his body. Today, he really wanted to press at the boundaries. He wanted to move his arms.

This would be a hard task because his arms were the parts that were holding up the rest of his body. Usually they were kept as clay columns that were as much arms as they were pillars for his torso to sit upon. And this worked, because it meant that they could be reinforced quickly and easily, and it made balancing upon it much, much easier than normal. Changing that would be a big step - he wouldn't be able to reinforce it as quickly. He'd need to put more concentration into maintaining not only his general balance but the support he was receiving. And that meant that there was a serious chance of simply toppling over at this point. But, that was what he wanted. He wanted a big of danger thrown into his daily routine - he wanted to test the new limits he'd made of himself. So, he would.

First, the squirrel begun to move his legs and his tail around again. Slowly, of course, as the rest of his body struggled to keep up with the rest of it. Slowly, but surely. Both legs and tail started by moving in different directions, farther and farther, while slowly migrating forwards and back towards the squirrels own head. It gave a contortionist look to the whole thing but the squirrel wasn't really paying attention to any of that. His tail, on the other hand, moved in exactly the opposite direction and migrated further away from his head - it kept a triangle of balance as the three points of weight in both toes and tail leveled out at the middle. Which, surprisingly, was his arms.

by **Archailist** on June 12th, 2014, 7:41 pm

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Everything boiled down to his focus. His concentration. The squirrel could feel metaphorical beads of sweat dripping down off his forehead and the tip of his muzzle but thankfully they weren't tickling enough to need to be wiped off again. This would be the moment that would decide everything. He closed his eyes once again just to make sure that everything was as it should have been - he could feel his weight occasionally shifting as light breezes pressed against his side but as he cemented his grip on the red stone beneath him, that all stopped. It wouldn't when his arms were bent, but he tried not to think about that. Right now, he needed to make more threads of material and begin focusing all of his clay down into his arms. They didn't grow any more but they certainly became denser - he could feel they clay massing up in them like they'd been inflated right out of their own clay.

He felt like he was ready. And so, slowly, he begun to lower his arms and once again fuel more clay into his arms. And he needed it. Immediately he felt the strain on his arms as the weight was transferred into various different parts of his body, and the strain soon built up faster and faster than he'd anticipated. He needed more clay. He closed his eyes, whispered a silent prayer to a god he wasn't even sure he knew the correct name of, and expanded the channels inside his body, hoping that it wouldn't just rupture parts of his arms and legs. Not that it would really hurt but the fact that he was balancing pretty high made it a shot in the dark. Thankfully, the rest of his body held. In his moment of stress, the channels widened significantly and the amount of clay flowing out of his excess body areas formed in his arms, actually beefing them out a little and making them visibly thicker.

They also felt like they'd be far too heavy to be able to carry by the rest of his body if he were standing on his feet. But, since they were actually holding up the rest of his body, they actually felt like they did the job pretty well. The stress lowered to a manageable point and he found himself bending his arms further and further. His legs and tail felt nearly hollow from the exertion but it was worth it. He could bend his arms! His entire weight was balanced almost perfectly on those moving joints and staring down at his own body, he found just how much pride there was in being a Pycon and being able to perform such a stunt as this. Sure, some of the humans could do it pretty easily if they'd spent as much time as him training their body in acrobatics and putting some more strength into their arms.. but they were humans! He was a squirrel, and he could do it! And more importantly, there were quite a lot of humans who would struggle significantly to do the exact same task! Some wouldn't even be able to do it. They lacked the dedication and the bravery to try out new things. They would go on over and over with their hand-stands and their other nonsense. And they would learn nothing!

Though, with his work completed and nothing else he could think of doing for now, the squirrel resigned himself to leaving his training at that point for now. He felt like he'd gotten something significant out of the journey today - but then again, with how much he'd accomplished in his short time around the city, he always felt like that when finishing off a training session. Besides, he could still have some fun on the way out of the Warfields! And so, the squirrel quickly hopped down the rather long distance to the floor and rolled once his feet touched it, to take most of the stress away and leave the squirrel mostly unchanged. Oh yeah, getting down from high places was turning out to be much more fun - and not to mention, easier - than climbing all the way up. Perhaps he should have fueled a lot more interest into climbing again.

by **Archailist** on June 12th, 2014, 8:00 pm

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What better way could there be to end a good day of training than a quick run around the Warfields in no particular direction, in the hopes of eventually escaping? Well, the squirrel could honestly think of none. So, he broke out into a full sprint - there was no point in holding back anything else for when he got some more time, after all! - and immediately ran for the nearest wall. However, when the corner came up, he didn't swerve to avoid. In fact, he increased the speed even more, and just before the corner came, the squirrel banked and pressed one paw into the red stone to his side. His momentum continued carrying him and the squirrel kept on climbing, with his other front paw grappling the stone wall while the first moved in favor of a higher perch, and even his legs broke off and joined in the run.

For a few steps, the squirrel ran vertically. Of course most of the weight was held either by the momentum and the speed that the squirrel had built up over the previous run-up and the rest was held by his needle-like claws squishing against the stone and providing a bit of friction and some adhesion to the surface thanks to the air being lost in compression. It didn't last for long of course, since the squirrel had to level out after a few steps and jolt his upper body up quickly to practically dance across to the next wall of the corner, before running back down and quickly landing on his four paws again. The thing was a bit jolty but he managed it alright, and continued as quickly as he could manage down the narrow alleyways further into the Warfields - or was it out? He didn't know and to be frank, he didn't even care.

The next corner was simply treated as every other and a sharp turn greeted it, with the squirrels tail lashing out sharply towards the corner and the rest of his body bending away, and sending his trail twisting nimbly around the inside of the corner.. straight into a second sharp turning. This time he didn't even have time for a sharp curve, so he swerved in the opposite direction of the turn. Not to perform another stunt like the last time, running across the wall - this one was a bit more focused on the in-air action. As the squirrel turned, his elbows bent and so did his knees to launch the squirrel into the air. A split-second after he launched himself, his long tail snapped back in the direction of the corner and his lower body followed, twisting itself around his upper body until his feet actually touched the wall. His upper body didn't, though. That turned in mid-air as well, in favor of the turn, until he'd actually managed to align himself with the turn. And then, his legs powered straight off the wall and sent the squirrel rocketing through the air in the direction of the turn. Nearly perfect, if not for a few slips and trips throughout the whole thing. Not bad at all.

The next corner was snapped around as fast as the squirrel could manage, and the one after that as well. The squirrel couldn't believe how much fun it was to simply round corners. Although the next corner wasn't really a corner. It was a branch that had no dead-end for him to use, so he had to turn straight around it. The next one was, though, up ahead.. strangely enough, that one had more light coming out of it than the others. He didn't think about it as he ran straight for the corner, swerved again and launched himself into the air, and this time landed on the same wall he'd been about to collide into. This one, he turned and launched off of, in turn jumping higher into the air than expected and to conserve his forward momentum, he rolled when he landed on his hind legs to land on all four... right outside the entrance to the Warfields. No. Wait, what?

He hadn't even realized how fast he'd been going through that. Time must have gone quickly while he was wound up in all of his activities. He'd barely realized between brushing himself off and looking up to the sky to try and estimate how much time he'd spent in those Warfields that the monk on duty around the stone maze was staring oddly at the squirrel that had just rolled out of the abandoned red stone labyrinth at full pace. Half-disbelief and half bewilderment. Had he seen everything else the squirrel had been doing too - all the stuff just visible over the top of the walls?

"What're you looking at?" Before the monk could reply, the squirrel was already racing off back towards the entrance to the city.