Open Monkeys Must Die: Part 2

[Tailyn]

Summer 60, 518
8th Bell
The Outskirts of Tailyn’s Parrot Preserve

If Tai were questioned about it, she would swear up and down that these damn monkeys had a vendetta against her. Despite her frequent attempts to scare them away, and despite the fact that she had managed to kill the occasional one (despite furious attempts to kill LITERALLY all of them), she still kept finding the damn things all over her five acres. Why?! What could those dumb animals possibly be doing lingering in her part of the jungle?! Sure she had tons of fruit trees here, but that wasn’t anything special. There were fruit trees everywhere! This was Syka!

Tai was woken up in the morning by a cacophony of noise. The screeches of furious monkeys mingled with the screams of furious parrots and even Blue on her usual perch at Tai’s bedside was hopping mad from the noise. Tai threw her clothes on and charged out of her door, bow in hand, quiver over her shoulder, snarling into the chaos.

It was like a turf war! Monkeys rattled bird cages and flung fruit at the ground below in fury. Wild parrots, no doubt furious at their food source’s home being attacked, dive bombed howling monkeys. From inside their cages, Tai’s angry parrots shrieked and clawed at the monkeys through the walls of their cages. Wasting no time, Tai strung an arrow into her bow, aimed at a monkey clinging to the side of her cage, and fired a single arrow. The arrow sailed artfully through the air and sunk into the monkey’s abdomen. The creature screamed in pain and released the cage, falling to the ground below and pawing furiously at the wound in its belly, screeching all the while. The monkeys fled into the trees, letting out screeches of fear as they escaped into the jungle.

“Why do you petchers keep coming back?!” Tai snarled up at them. The woman crossed the short distance from her deck to the wounded monkey and strung another arrow, this time aiming it point blank at the creature’s face. Before the monkey could react, the second arrow sunk straight into its eye. It stopped its thrashing and quickly fell still. Tai looked up to see her wild parrots hot in pursuit of the fleeing animals, their beaks slicing into the backs of their heads, their tails, and anything else the birds could reach.

Tai felt a sudden heavy weight on her shoulder. She turned to see Blue, bristling with indignation, feathers fluffed in a furious huff. Tai knew the look in her companion’s eyes. The bird was out for blood, just like her wild compatriots were. If Tai weren’t so furious, she might be able to appreciate the fact that somehow she had begun the slow process of training wild attack parrots. Well, it was one way to keep the area safe anyways. But it wasn’t enough.

“Alright buddy,” Tai said, patting her furious bird on the top of the head. “You ready to kill some petching monkeys?”


Blue let out a low, deep croak. “Kill,” she agreed, then let out a harsh laugh. Tai couldn’t agree any more.

“Lets do this,” she said fiercely, and started out into the surrounding jungle towards the screams and screeches of parrots and monkeys.

(Words, 540)

[Jace]

60, Summer, 518AV

Common
Makath

It was still early, maybe the seventh or eighth bell, when Jace had found himself travelling through the jungle as usual. His left hand gripped the wood of his shortbow, while the cold iron short sword his grandfather had given him hung at the left side of his waist. He had just finished tying a strip of bright red cloth on a low hanging branch, meant to help mark where he's already been so he can find his way back.

The young Kelvic had grown exceptionally used to the noises of the jungle. The different sounds of the native animals, the sound of the wind passing through the trees and the rustling of leaves as monkeys and other creatures moved from tree top to tree top. Today, the sounds were different. Today, something was getting the animals all riled up. Was it some kind of animal? Did a jaguar or some other predator wander out of their territory?

This was very very bad if it had. Jace was still relatively close to the settlement. If there was a predator nearby, it was his duty to find it and coax it back into its own territory. If he couldn't, he'd have to kill it.

Before he knew it, an arrow had been nocked in his bow and Jace was rushing toward the source of the commotion. He did his best to use all of his senses to monitor his surroundings as he went. His eyes darted everywhere he could see, his ears strained to locate the source of the frenzied sounds, his nose picked up different lingering scents, one of which was human. He picked up his pace, hoping he was wrong about there being a predator nearby. His heart felt like it was going to explode out of his chest, his breathing was quick and shallow.

Only a chime or two had passed since the Kelvic had first started running to the disturbance, and now, he found himself dashing out of a bush, and right in front of another person. "Oh, I am so sorry!" he said, picking himself up from the forest floor. When he finally saw who he had nearly bumped into, a beautiful young red head woman named Tailyn, he calmed down a bit. "Oh, it's you. Hey." He had nearly forgotten the reason he had even been rushing for a moment, caught off guard by the girl's sudden presence. "Right, have you seen anything unusual going on? Something has the monkeys in a frenzy and I was afraid maybe a jaguar had wandered too close to the settlement."

word count: 432

[Tailyn]

Tai was completely blind in her rush after the monkeys. It was no real difficulty to track them; many of the wild parrots had been enraged enough by the attack on their territory that they had continued their assault even as the monkeys charged out of Tailyn’s five acres. The screams and shrieks of both monkey and parrot tangled together in a terrible cacophony.

Tai held her bow steady even as she ran through the jungle, eyes peeled and ready to launch an arrow as soon as she saw a flash of hindquarters or tail. The fiery Inarta was so focused in her task that she didn’t notice another person until she all but tripped over him. Tai skidded to a halt, although she couldn’t quite stop herself from slamming headfirst into him and toppling to the ground. “Ow!” she yelped as she smacked the ground. Blue let out a squawk of surprise and annoyance, then launched herself into a nearby tree. Tai groaned softly as she pushed herself back to her feet. “Sorry, I’m in a hurry, what---” The woman stopped herself in mid sentence as she recognized the person before her. He was the self proclaimed follower of Akajia, the kelvic she had met during the rescue of the Veronica, Jace.

“Oh, hey shadow guy,” Tai said, friendly enough in spite of the adrenaline still surging through her veins. Tai noted the bow in the kelvic’s hands and grinned automatically.

“Some monkeys attacked my camp. Me and some of the wild parrots have got them on the run. Want to help kill them?” Blue, safely nestled in a nearby tree, let out a croak of disapproval. The bird was fairly universal in her dislike of predator kelvics, so Tai just waved the bird off.

“Don’t mind Blue. I could use an extra pair of hands. Or paws I guess.”

[Jace]

Common
Makath

The Bird Girl's determination showed on her face, and Jace was utterly confused. What was she doing out here in the jungle in the first place? He noted the bow in her hand and the parrots up in the trees around them. Were they near her claimed land? Did that predator attack her property?

His confusion quickly turned to understanding as the pieces all came together. There wasn't a predator roaming around near the settlement. No, it was all about the monkeys. He knew they tended to be a little mischievous, and it wasn't unknown for them to attack or interact with humans and other races that wandered too close to their territory. If Tailyn's property was nearby, it made sense they might attack there. He heard the bird, Blue, make some sort of noise that didn't sound very happy about the woman inviting Jace to join them, and he let out a low growl in response.

"Uh, so. Ok. I get it now. There isn't a predator roaming nearby, just, just these monkeys. And your property, your claimed land, is, it's nearby, right?" He was more thinking out loud than actually asking the redhead, but the words just came out. It was more of a low mumble than anything else.

He stayed quiet for a tick or two, watching the last of the monkeys being chased away by the wild birds in the trees. He had been working today anyway. The Kelvic supposed this could be considered Ranger work too, helping the settlers with their problems concerning the forest and its wildlife. "Alright," he finally said, "but we might not, we might not have to kill all of them. I, I think we can find a way, a way to keep the monkeys away from your territory so they don't bother you anymore. How good are you with that bow?"

[Tailyn]

Tai listened politely enough as Jace spoke, but she raised an eyebrow as the kelvic claimed there wasn’t a predator nearby.

“I mean, monkeys are plenty predators,” Tai replied to Jace’s statement, straightforward and matter-of-fact. “They eat baby parrots, did you know? One of them killed a little baby I was trying to raise. Bit its head clean off. They’re monstrous.”

Tai wisely chose not to mention that the baby bird's death had been partially her fault. What Jace didn't know wouldn’t hurt him, and it didn’t change the fact that monkeys would murder baby birds as an afterthought. As an inarta, the thought of anything killing any birds was deplorable to her. She wouldn't stand for it.

When Jace agreed to help, Tai’s face split into a wicked grin. “You want to help! Great!” The grin faded slightly as Jace indicated that perhaps they shouldn’t kill every monkey. Tai was inclined to believe that the only good monkey was a dead monkey, but for the sake of Jace’s cooperation she found herself agreeing reluctantly.

“Yeah okay. Maybe not every single one.”

She supposed that if there were a way to keep the monkeys away from her territory without killing them, she would take it. It would certainly be less effort anyways.

At Jace’s final inquiry, Tai raised the bow in her hand thoughtfully. “What this old thing? I uh...I guess I might be a little rusty,” she admitted reluctantly.

“I was a hunter back in Wind Reach, but my skills have slipped. Nothing that can’t be improved but...well, you know.” Tai was a bit embarrassed to admit to her flaw, but it was better than lying about it. She needed Jace to be able to cover her weaknesses if it came down to it.

“Anyways, we better hurry!” Tai urged the kelvic. The birds and monkeys were growing faint in the distance, and many of her brightly colored friends were flying away from the source of their ire and back towards her home. Tai grabbed Jace’s arm and pushed forward towards the sounds of monkeys at a hurried clip.