Solo And stay down

Raeyn is faced with quite the devious little enemy

(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy role playing forums. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)

The Diamond of Kalea is located on Kalea's extreme west coast and called as such because its completely made of a crystalline substance called Skyglass. Home of the Alvina of the Stars, cultural mecca of knowledge seekers, and rife with Ethaefal, this remote city shimmers with its own unique light.

And stay down

Postby Raeyn on July 14th, 2018, 6:10 pm

22nd of Summer 518AV

Sunlight had found him quite ready for another day out on the fields of green. Although in all truth rayed had hesitated a little before taking up this very specific job. The memories of a few days prior had burned themselves in the depts of his mind, quenching his thirst for adventure just a little. The ominous Zith shadow lingered in his memory and over the people of Lhavit.

That morning, like every other of the sort, the Inarta hunter had dressed himself in the familiar, simple brown clothes. There was no sense dirtying the finery he often wore over a hunt. His long hair went up in a neat ponytail and his pretty face was splashed with a little cold water to wake him up after the dawn rest. Soon enough he had headed out of the house, a bow in hand, Ruru at his side and headed for the Saraii peak where the residents of the Okomo estates had been hit by a particularly nasty plague of gophers.

A mean, spiteful little creature was the gopher. With its short fur, beady evil eyes and shovel hands. It knew no beauty of decorative florals and terrorised flowerbeds in pursuit of it’s next meal. Quite rightly did the many gardeners, who had made their home on the peaceful mountainside, bore hatred for the gopher in their hearts. Not only was it not all that cute. It was a down right nuisance.

Many had their ways of ridding their gardens off the gophers. Some grew poisonous weeds in among their flowerbeds, or poison a little bit of food. Others use the wonderful invention that’s the shovel or a meat cleaver if they manage to capture one. Disgraceful little rodents. Eleona Smith, an elderly lady with a little cash inherited from her late husband, who knew not how to deal with such a scurrying little Shykester, enlisted the help of a certain red haired hunter to complete the task for her.

Barely had the Inarta arrived, he’d already noticed the travesty that became her garden. Mounds of tilted soil right though the cabbage patch. If not for this atrocity she’d have likely had quite the harvest in the fall. Now however, right at the end of a trail of devastation was a cheeky little mound with a hole at the top. It mocked the woman’s very work.

Raeyn knew what he had to do. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. He had positioned himself at one end of the garden and took aim. Commanded his hound companion to stay at the other and sniff out anything that might be moving beneath the soil. With an arrow knocked onto the bowstring and and patient eyes he, slowed down his breathing and cleared his thoughts. And now it was time to wait.

Word Count: 471
User avatar
Raeyn
...and the Wind Chicken
 
Posts: 343
Words: 310107
Joined roleplay: May 24th, 2018, 11:35 pm
Race: Human, Inarta
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)

And stay down

Postby Raeyn on July 14th, 2018, 6:35 pm


Soon enough, as if just to insult the hunting duo, a little nose peaked out of the hole in the ground. Pink and whiskered, it twitched curiously. And the nose was followed by two devious eyes, black and tiny like beads on the dress of a pretty, lascivious girl. The gopher’s scent carried on the wings of the winds and right into the hound’s nostrils. Ruru’s master however, silently gestured for the dog to stay.

It was a clear shot. Raeyn would only have to make it.

The hunter very slowly however his body into a crouching position. He held the bow horizontally, albeit slightly at an angle to the ground, and allowed the neck of the arrow to rest between his thumb and the dark wood. Muscles flexed as his arm pulled back on the bow string, letting the draw weight strain his body. Both, steel cold eyes full of hatred for the critter were now on it, judging the distance, calculating the position of the arrow tip in oder to make that first perfectly clean shot for good luck. It never hurt to start on an ego enhancing note.

Raeyn steadied his breath and cleared his mind. Nothing but the sharp instincts of a predator guided his movements. He had the prey in sight.

The whole thing laster ticks, no more than that. With an angry rip though the fabric of the distance between them, the point of the arrow hit the gopher. Steel shattered the eye socket and most of the bones of the animal’s scull. Brutally it ripped though to the other side, blood cascading onto fur as the animal keeled over, half out of the hole, now limp and lifeless. Eagerly Ruru hopped over to the fresh kill. The dog’s teeth cradles the still warm body of the rodent as he picked it up and carried it over to his owner. What an obedient and well trained dog her was.

Raeyn lifted himself from the uncomfortable crouch on his heels. He rolled his neck and clicked his back. It was an easy shot that’s for sure. From barely the distance of a garden’s length with a clear view of the prey. It was a luck shot. Still at least it was something to show for the season of practice.

Alabaster fingers wound into the flaming golden spice fur of his companion. “That’s a good boy. Drop.” He said with excitement in his voice. Excitement which Ruru picked up on instantly and fed off of. He had done good. His master was pleased with him and to a dog that’s all he ever wanted. They were a pack of two. A perfect pair. A perfect match for hunting partners.

As Ru dropped the dead rodent at Raeyn’s feet, he bounced around, wagging his tail.

“Quiet, quiet boy. There might be more of them.” Whispered the hunter, chuckling a little to see his hunting partner so very much full of adrenaline. It seemed such a simple task. But it seemed the pooch treated it as a game.

Word count: 510
User avatar
Raeyn
...and the Wind Chicken
 
Posts: 343
Words: 310107
Joined roleplay: May 24th, 2018, 11:35 pm
Race: Human, Inarta
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)

And stay down

Postby Raeyn on July 15th, 2018, 12:13 pm


An elderly woman’s head peaked out from behind the front door. She had heard the commotion outside and in spite her advanced years, she waddled to greet the hunter as lively as ever. A scarf around her silvery hair. A face carved by time into valleys and mountains that all stretched in unison into a delightful smile with fake teeth. Her eyes though were as green as the mountainside and as alive as a fog less sky. Granted right now Raeyn had little to compare them to. The sky was far from clear.

“You must be mr Raeyn.” she said, descending the free steps between the doorway and the grass of her garden. In her hands was a tray with a lovely ornate tea pot, steaming in the frosty summer air, and two tea cups with a similar design of floral porcelain, one stacked atop another, sitting on delicate desert plates. A little flagon of milk and a bowl of sugar, decorated with a silver spoon, had also graced the tray. Her arthritic fingers grasped the handles so very tight that all the dishes trembled and clang as she walked, but Eleona seemed to pay it no notice.

“Good morning mrs Smith. A pleasure to finally meet you.” The hunter said politely. He had hoped the woman wouldn’t be home or at lease not interested enough to come see him person. They had people to do this stuff for them at the Okomo Estates. Did they not? Raeyn enjoyed his job because it gave him such a wide scope for solitude but it seemed today was not that day.

“Come then. Have a tea to warm you up. You youngsters take no time for a breather these days.”

Letting his bow fall to his side naturally, Raeyn accompanied her to the little sheltered gazebo by her door where a bench and a delightful little stainless and steel table sat. The patted the space besides her, for the man to sit, and there was little he could do to refuse her. She was his employer for the day after all. And Raeyn was anything but unprofessional. His eyes watched her poor the dark amber liquid from which tongues of steam curled up like serpents and merged with the milky mist. As she did so, Eleona hummed to herself cheerfully. So much pleasure did she seem to take in her old age.

“One teaspoon or two?” She asked, referring to the sugar.

“That’s alright, thank you. I like it quite bitter.”

A splash of fresh milk from her very own cow completed this brewed masterpieces as her trembling hands handed the little teacup of bliss to Raeyn which accepted it graciously.

Ruru spent some time frolicking around the field but at the sound of pouring tea his ears perked up and he trotted happily towards the woman. A cinnamon spice muzzle pushed itself into her lap as she chuckled. Lovingly she petted him. His soft, dense fur was soothing on her hands.

“What’s his name?” asked Eleona.

“Ruru.” replied Raeyn, taking a tiny, slow sip of the hot tea. “Don’t know what I’d do without him. He’s the hunter here really. He’d smell out a gopher five feet underground.”

“Then you’re really lucky to have him, mr Raeyn.”

“I am indeed.”

Soon enough though their fairly pleasant conversation came to a halt as another borrower tunnelled his way though the cabbage patch and disappeared into the tunnel of his predecessor as it it was some strange rodent footpath. The hunter’s instincts took over. His tea soon lay abandoned as he pulled another arrow from his quiver, ordering his dog to stay, and knocked it onto the bow string. Drawing it slightly he trailed the arrow tip across the vegetables. Eyes narrow, watching like a hawk ready to strike. The slightest movement, the slightest tilt of soil and he’d have the animal dead in seconds.

“Well well, looks like they came to keep us company.” The old lady laughed, crossing one slippered leg across the other. She leant in her seat, quite content to keep her eyes on the rear of the handsome young man in her employ.

Word Count: 706
User avatar
Raeyn
...and the Wind Chicken
 
Posts: 343
Words: 310107
Joined roleplay: May 24th, 2018, 11:35 pm
Race: Human, Inarta
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)

And stay down

Postby Raeyn on July 15th, 2018, 5:38 pm


Strands of his quartz white hair swayed in the light breeze. All his senses engaged. Raeyn was the fox and the gopher was his prey. So vivid was the smell of blood in his mind he could almost taste it.

A few moments stretched as if in slow-motion. Silence in the garden as both hunter and hound searched the cabbage patch for their next kill. And those languishing moments were worth suffering though for, having well and truly tested their patience, the gopher had finally showed it’s devious little head.

Raeyn willed his muscles into action, pulling back the bow string and taking aim. But in the moment he was doing so that sneaky little head disappeared back underground. Furiously he released the arrow which sliced the air and hurried itself deep in the ground.

Ruru could smell the miss. The familiar scent of blood mixed with adrenaline of an animal’s last dying breath did not flow upon the breeze. The released arrow was his signal to take over. And the dog did so like he had been trained, like he had sone so many times on so many hunts. Raeyn’s eyes watched the cinnamon spice fury of fur lunge for the cabbage patch in a cacophony of barking and yapping. Black clawed paws dug into the tunnel, collapsed it at regular intervals. He hopped from spot to spot after the scent of the gopher, plunging his nose right into soft soil, only to come up empty time and time again.

“Ru.” Raeyn called out, letting out a short whistle though his teeth. The smell of freshly turned soil and young vegetables confused the animal’s senses but did little to distract the hunter’s eyes. For out of the very corner of those blue slate pools, he noticed a little movement and almost instantly his head snapped in that direction. A fresh tunnel of soil and roots was being dug out before his very eyes. “There Ru, there! Get him.” He yelled, watching the hound bolt after the gopher. A fury of claws and teeth would soon break that animal’s neck. Another filthy pest pulled out of the garden like a weed. A job well done.

With his ears perked up happily and a dead gopher in his mouth, the hound trotted over to his owner in demand of praise. And that was precisely what Raeyns did. A scruff of fur on the head, and a long, longing stroke across his back right down to the tail tip. Behind him the very amused Eleona clapped her hands. Sleep upon her lips and in her features. It seemed the old lady was just as blood thirsty as the young hunter. What a coincidence.

Word Count: 454
User avatar
Raeyn
...and the Wind Chicken
 
Posts: 343
Words: 310107
Joined roleplay: May 24th, 2018, 11:35 pm
Race: Human, Inarta
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)

And stay down

Postby Raeyn on July 15th, 2018, 6:05 pm


More than just a few chimes passed. The hunter and his dog waited so very still in sight of the cabbages where the gophers seemed to gravitate. Perhaps it was something about those tasty roots. Perhaps some yummy grubs lived between those leaves. But if that was the case Raeyn didn’t want to know otherwise he’d never eat another cabbage again.

Eventually however there was a scurrying by the blackthorns so mousy quiet that only Ruru picked it up. Those huge ears never missed anything. A sensitive nose picked up on prey even in the dark. He stood at attention, eyes so transfixed on that source of sound that he almost pointed Raeyn right to the prey.

Brown fur weaved though thorns and leaves, close to the ground, sniffing around for fallen berries. It must have been unaware of the two hunters. Otherwise it would not have ventured so far away from the hole. There was little love in the hunter’s heart for those pests. They destroyed gardens, ate crops and were generally just a nuisance. Few creatures couldn’t be called far cuter than the gophers. If he’d be allowed he’d quite fancy eradicating their whole species off of the mister peaks. Damned little rats.

Raeyn crouched once more for a better view of the creature. Between the leaves, hawk blue eyes picked out the general shape. Though it’s head was obscured by the leaves, Raeyn knew where the foot was and could estimate pretty well. He drew another arrow, hooking it around the bow string and drawing to it’s full draw weight. For a moment he was simply tracking the animal’s quickly little scurry movements, attempting to predict where it would go next. And once he was satisfied that the gopher wasn’t about to turn a complete one 180 and bolt in the other direction, Raeyn aimed and fired the arrow.

Tiny feet blazed into desperate speeds, to started by a projectile which embedded itself into the thorny branch just inches from the animal’s whiskers. Like lighting, it belted back towards the hole it came from. Back towards safety. A torrent of adrenaline in it’s veins, execrating the heart beat. Reacting in a matter of ticks, Raeyn knocked on another arrow, drew and fired but the gopher was faster than him. An arrow cut the entrance of a gopher hole, collapsing it behind the animal which found safety in the vast tunnels beneath the garden.

Raeyn had to stop himself from swearing in front of the elderly woman. He was so very sure of his shot, his calculations. Hunting gophers wasn’t as easy as some might think it. The devious little bastards had their sneaky ways of avoiding arrows. Traps perhaps would have been far more useful and easier but time was of the essence one there was still something left of the garden to salvage. Besides Raeyn liked to show off.

He had spent the majority of that afternoon, hunting, sitting around and conversing. Much tea had been drunk. Raeyn was positively spoiled. Once the afternoon rest came, he was sent home with a jar of home made marmalade as a thank you gift not only for clearing the garden of rodents but for entertaining a lonely old widow. In Lhavit, it seemed, being pretty paid off.

Word Count: 594
Total Word count: 2735
User avatar
Raeyn
...and the Wind Chicken
 
Posts: 343
Words: 310107
Joined roleplay: May 24th, 2018, 11:35 pm
Race: Human, Inarta
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Featured Character (1) Overlored (1)
Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)

And stay down

Postby Madeira Dusk on August 7th, 2018, 2:10 am

Image
Grades Awarded!

Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request!


Raeyn

Skills
  • Observation: 3xp
  • Cosmetology: 1xp
  • Tactics: 1xp
  • Meditation: 1xp
  • Hunting: 3xp
  • Weapon- Shortbow: 3xp
  • Animal Husbandry: 2xp
  • Socialization: 1xp

Lores
  • Lore of gopher characteristics
  • Gophers: nasty little pests
  • Cosmetology: basic grooming
  • Tactics: flushing out prey
  • People: Eleona Smith
  • Eleona Smith: thirsty old lady
  • Lore of vermin hunting
  • Ruru: invaluable hunting partner

Awards & Retribution


Notes
Colourful descriptions are definitely your forte! I'm suddenly learning to hate gophers too. Great read ;)
User avatar
Madeira Dusk
long may she reign
 
Posts: 1774
Words: 1599220
Joined roleplay: October 11th, 2016, 7:45 pm
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 11
Featured Contributor (1) Featured Thread (3)
Mizahar Grader (1) Overlored (1)
Donor (1) One Thousand Posts! (1)
One Million Words! (1) Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)
2018 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests