[Flashback] A Game of Pretend (Fois)

[Eoin]

oocI don't think Eoin's angry enough to call Fois an idiot, no matter how much he annoys him XD. Eoin listened carefully, matching each step of the Yasi's plan with his often played out scenario. It was a fair choice for him to distract the mother, as the other boy was wielding the dagger and could take down the cub with greater speed. He with the bow could aim for her wound from his current position, hopefully adding on precious chimes they'd need to finish the job. However, this plan relied heavily on their efficiency, one false step and the Inartans would be missing two experienced Endals. For once, they were in near perfect agreement, and strangely enough, it seemed the operation would carry out smoothly. A sense of comradery swelled modestly within his chest, sending a smile to his resolute gaze. Otherwise, he simply voiced his approval. "I think Wind Reach will eat bear tonight." His words, though edging on cockiness, lacked the full effect with such a stoic expression behind them. More than anything, it was said as a fact rather than a confident line to boost their morale. Then, watching his partner slither over, he then shifted focus to his prey as the other hunter neared the furry hideout. She seemed to perk up for an instance in that time frame, sniffing slowly at the air above her. Eoin slinked down further, trying to keep his bright hair hidden from sight as green eyes peered just over the side of the boulder. The cub was still oblivious, not even paying attention to his mother's cautious motions as he rolled over on to the grass, chewing at a bit of grass stuck in his paws. The Endal could tell she was weary, but didn't seemed to be alarmed at the new odours she picked up, her head falling to rest on her paws once more. Waiting for a second longer, Eoin carefully reached behind his back, tugging at a conjured arrow between two fingers. Fitting the shaft above his other grip, he drew the string back with slight difficulty despite how heavily used the bow appeared. It was an entirely different experience to use a prop in his adventures, an improvement, adding to the reality of his daydreams. With a slight tilt of the head, his eyes followed the body of the arrow, braking at the tip. Then, he met point to target, calmly edging past the side. Fortunately, the mother had not shifted too much as the wound was still visible, but it was clear that accuracy may be sacrificed due to his lacking view. Yet, there was no time to consider such minor factors, for the other Yasi had signaled to attack. Almost immediately, his body rose to a standing position, both hands gripping firmly to keep focus. In reaction, the mother began to rise as well, a bit more cumbersome than the boy had. Eoin nearly lost the wound from his line of sight, but managed to release the string reflexively, the arrow whistling through the air before shallowly embedding at the rim of the cut. She was angry, a guttaral bellow voicing her pain, not bothering to hesitate before charging full speed toward the hunter, unlodging the arrow as a result. He wasn't expecting her to move so quickly, hoping that she'd at least wince a while longer to give him a headstart. There was no time for the ever detailed Eoin to formulate a proper response, letting instinct takeover instead and made a dash. He ran in the opposite direction from the other Yasi, shielding his presence from the larger bear and her focus from the cub. Nearing the edge of the adjacent forest, adrenaline kicked in as his steps quickened, weaving through the trees to provide obstacles for the mother. Luckily, his smaller frame allowed for easier maneuvering around corners, her pace slowing just enough for him at least think. He could attempt to spin around and shoot off as many rounds as he could, but it'd be impossible to run backwards in such thick woods without falling. Continuing to run wouldn't do much, for the mother could give up and return to her cub, having chased off the danger. He needed to keep her attention on him, but how? Eyeing a strong, heavily branching tree, Eoin realized his answer in an instant. Jumping onto the lowest branch, he scurried toward the canopy of leaves as best he could. They were not too far from the cub, but enough that Eoin needed to be at this fair height to see clearly. Now, an adequate distance away from the bear, he quickly reached for another arrow in preparation for her arrival. Atop the imagined tree disguised as a wardrobe, the boy did not have to wait long to see the mother, her gaze unfaltering in its heat. He was ready for her, sending the arrow as a greeting to her welcomed presence. The distance that separated them was minimal, causing the arrow to hit with greater force and accuracy, diving straight into one eye. The option to aim for her wound wasn't there, her belly hidden with her position against the tree, and so Eoin opted to blind the bear. The response was immediate, howling loudly as her claws swiped in front of her bloodied face in attempt to stop the agonizing pain, but only resulted in shifting the arrow around and causing unbearable waves of torment.

[Fois]

Fois saw Eoin rising up from his position and releasing an arrow from a bow that pierced the air between the hunter and the dangerous prey. The Yasi didn’t notice where the arrow hit the bear, and, in a way, he couldn’t have, but he hoped that it was at least somewhat close to the weak spot. A wildly angry roar echoed in the boy’s mind and the sight of his companion turning to a tactical retreat caused the image of the wounded animal lunge after him. If there had been any possibility that the bear might have noticed the sneaky hunter, it would have been completely eliminated now. While Eoin was busy distracting the major risk, Fois locked his eyes on the smaller prey. The cub’s playing time had been rudely interrupted by the unexpected attack, so the jolly mood was swiftly changed surprise and fear. When its mother abandoned him to chase off the threat, the little bear remained in its place for a while lost and confused. That was his chance to attack. The boy, Endal in his mind, abandoned his hiding spot and began carefully approaching the cub. With his cautious movements he had hoped to avoid attracting the attention of the mother bear and of her offspring that had still been watching its only protector as well. Catching the little one off-guard would have saved a great deal of time and effort. Through years of his hunting experience the new Fois had learned how to walk through the woods without making much noise that could scare away his prey. Navigating with his feet away from any random twigs, the hunter had been getting closer and closer to the cub. Once Fois was about a yard away from his target, the cub turned to him and the Endal could have seen anxiety in its eyes be replaced by petrified panic. Exploiting the brief moment where the animal was locked in a helpless state, he leaped towards it and fell on top of the cub. The ensuing struggle wasn’t an overly challenging task for the strong hunter. With his own body Fois pressed the little bear to the ground, this way avoiding the small claws. The animal tried to escape, but its effort was futile. As a last resort it let out a desperate bawl for help, but the cry was cut short by the temporarily grown-up boy’s dagger. The blade penetrated the skin on the cub’s neck and quickly got buried inside as Fois pushed it to go deeper. The bear tried to make another moan but it was soon transformed into a silent gurgle of sorts and ceased. The Endal felt his prey’s struggling body relax beneath him, letting him know of his success. He extracted his dagger from the animal and stood up from the ground where he had just been tumbling about. The hunter glanced at the dead cub that only a few moments ago was playing around his mother without too much worry on his little mind. Soon it would be skinned; its meat cut and prepared to be eaten. Fois shook his weapon letting several non-existent blood drops fall to the ground. The easy part of the plan had been accomplished and now he had to hurry and help out Eoin, who had been distracting the mother bear and thus at a much greater risk. He turned to the direction where he had seen his comrade disappear into the forest and rushed that way. A not very noticeable trail of blood from the bear’s wounds was guiding Fois to his destination. Passing the numerous trees in his way, the hunter began to wonder how far his partner had run away, but soon he heard the bear and quickly after that saw it as well. Eoin had position himself outside the animal’s reach on a… in a tree? Sure, that must have been a tree. From there the bear was a convenient target. Their prey and predator was still too preoccupied with the hunter high up to notice Fois arrive. Deciding that he had to exploit the precious moment, the Endal made a dash towards the bear and with a quick and powerful stab ran his dagger through the side of the animal’s chest hoping to damage something important in there. The blade got so deep that he could feel his hand touch the fur and press against the bear’s skin. The boy imagined warm blood exiting the wound and slowly trickling down the hilt of the weapon and across the back of his palm. Unfortunately, the stealthy cut was the full extent of Fois’s plan, so before he could quickly come up with the next step, the annoyed, or rather raging, bear hit him hard with a backward motion of its front claw making him fly a couple feet away before landing on the ground. In reality, this was represented by Fois falling to the ground and rolling away a little. In the process he had also dropped down the dagger which had remained stuck in the bear. The boy saw the animal turn to him and the aggression in its eyes was slightly terrifying. For a brief moment Fois though what it would be really like to face a bear like this, but he quickly chased such ponderings away and returned his mind to the scene. ”I think I got the bear’s attention now,” he informed Eoin of the development while trying to sound as in a bit of pain, though it might have sounded as if he had problems speaking and was slightly out of breath. Now, without his weapon he would not stand a chance against the animal.

[Eoin]

Deep in the role, Eoin could see with glaring clarity the bloody tears of the mother bear as the other Yasi made his move, losing the dagger to the thick, furry body. From the boy’s voice and rolling action, it was easy to feel the pain in his own torso, throbbing heavily and flooding his veins. There was nowhere to hide, even if his partner managed to move in his current condition. He knew there was little time to plan, but that did not meant he’d go at it unprepared, for these scenarios always played out the same in his mind. However improbable, Eoin couldn’t help but make himself out to be the victor and saviour in his daydreams. Now, stroking his hidden, boyish glee was a chance to verify this alter ego’s existence and superiority to another. A witness to what the boy always secretly wished he was. Hardening his gaze, his fingers flew swiftly with imagined expertise, firing off another arrow toward the bear’s foreboding figure. Though he could not target the soft belly of the beast, a sharp arrowhead would still inflict reasonable damage at this distance. Enough, he hoped, to distract the mother once more and thus, allowing the other Yasi to recover and retrieve his weapon. Unfortunately, since this was now a team effort, Eoin couldn’t have the scene proceed so smoothly. It seems as though the presence of another was also going to be a thorn at his side. Instead of turning right around to face the sharpshooter, the mother let one instinctive roar before running nearly full speed toward the injured Endal, perhaps disoriented from her loss of sight in one eye combined with the excruciating pain to its shoulder. He felt his heart drop to his gut, this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be, but his imagination seemed to have run rampant in favour of accuracy. “Look out!” Eoin hollered, momentarily frozen by the dipping behind of the very real and hell-bent beast before launching his toes against the cool earth below, bringing up the rear. There was no time to reload his bow, and he wasn’t sure if simply jabbing an arrow into the bear would be any more effective. Still, what could he do without a proper short ranged weapon and lack of speed? The answer was clear, even if it was ridiculous. Thankfully, the mother was running along a very shallow curve at a slower pace than before due to the recent shoulder injury. The window of opportunity was narrow, but it was possible, and so Eoin took to the skies in imitation of the beloved avian creatures of their culture. He landed on her back, sliding down a bit from her jostling movements but still in a decent position away from the arrow still embedded in her shoulder. This was enacted through a wide, empty hug, the boy running at a crouch as though he were mounted on an invisible creature. His fingers nearly breezed past the shaft, but managed to grasp the root with a firm grip. Then, the Endal proceeded to dig and widen the wound, incurring the mother’s deep throated cries of pain. She faltered slightly in her steps, but was still on a vengeful, tipsy route toward the other hunter, now buckling violently in attempt to shake the pest off her body. Eoin wasn’t prepared for the intensity of her movements, sliding down further as one hand held onto the arrow and the other barely held onto her short fur. If he wasn’t careful, he could fall and be trampled under her powerful paws. Knowing there were only a few more seconds before she’d return to her rampage, Eoin cried out with controlled concentration. “Run!”

[Fois]

Fois slowly got up to his feet, while maintaining the imaginary eye contact with the bear. It was a very dangerous situation that he had willingly put himself into. Why did he let his fictional survival depend on someone else was beyond him. Of course, there was no time to go deeper into such thoughts in a tense state like that. Fois had to adjust his role and determination. A real Endal wouldn’t need to be saved like some helpless maiden. He would go against all odds, face the unimaginable peril and laugh at it as he succeeds in his task. And this was just a bear. The boy saw his partner swiftly shoot an arrow at their common enemy and knew this was time to act. To forget the pain, or rather remember it and deny it the ability to affect him, and seize the opportunity to turn the odds into his favour again. His look became more serious as the last bits of the Yasi gave way to the Endal. Fois launched himself towards the bear to get his weapon back. The hunter was only able to make a few steps before he was stopped in his place by Eoin’s warning. Apparently the bear hadn’t turned away from him as he had thought it would, but instead still considered Fois as its primary target. That also meant that the mother bear was approaching him as well. Courage has its limits that are marked by blurry line where it becomes stupidity. At least that was what Fois thought. He also thought that a brave Endal would welcome death, but not invite it. Even in the fantasy world these two beliefs held true, so he knew that a fist fight with the big animal was not a viable option. Once more, in a period of a few chimes, his fellow Endal surprised him. Eoin descended from his position to the floor and it took Fois a few moments to translate the action into their illusion. The boy must have been on the bear’s back, trying to slow it down. Eoin was slowly approaching him in what would be a very amusing manner to anyone looking from a side and not sharing their imagination, but to Fois it meant that the deadly threat was coming close. His partner’s cry of encouragement to act woke him up from the thoughts and almost pushed him into the directed action, but just before he turned away to retreat, the thought of near immediate consequences crossed his mind. The bear would eventually shake Eoin off to the ground and then he would be even in a more risky situation than Fois was now. That man on the back of the beast was also an Endal, and Wind Reach couldn’t lose either of them. With his fearless and Endalish determination renewed, Fois ran up to the bear and somersaulted by its side, missing its claws and teeth that were just a little too late to react. The boy let out a small groan when he twisted his wrist during the improperly executed act. The bump to the ground was also a bit stronger than expected, but that wasn’t the biggest concern at the moment. His dagger, which supposedly was stuck in the bear’s side, was now lying a few feet further than Eoin’s current position, so after standing up Fois had to run a little bit towards it and pick it of the ground. There was no time to waste to tend to his real if very minor injury. He tried to spin the dagger in his hand as a true master of the weapon, but it just embarrassingly fell to the ground again. The boy quickly picked it up again, erasing the failure from the fantasy in his mind. He attempted to do it again, this time with the help of his left hand that guided the blade the way it was supposed to whirl. The Endal, of course, did that successfully and much more gracefully in one try. With his weapon back, Fois launched an attack. He ran up to the bear and swung the dagger across its muzzle. The cut drew blood of the same colour as that with which his hands were already dyed. Fois slashed again, this time in a downwards motion, but the bear wasn’t willing to let him get away with it. He missed, but that wasn’t the most disappointing part of the strike. The animal had decided to counterattack and as the Endal’s arm went below its jaws the bear grabbed him and sunk its teeth into where the limb connected to the rest of his body. ”My shoulder!” Fois cried out while dropping the dagger for already the third time that day. The boy fell to the ground to portray the bear tossing him aside and clutched the imaginary wound. Fois wasn’t thinking why he failed again when he could have chosen not to, but instead pretended to feel his own blood oozing through the fingers.

[Eoin]

oocFois is ridiculously cute XD. And sorry about the lack of action, a bit of writer's block I guess.

With the violent, thrashing movements of the beast beneath him, Eoin couldn’t even spare a glance for his partner and was instead, clinging desperately onto the mother’s back. He thought he heard a groan nearby but dismissed it as an imaginary injury that only the Endal in him would take seriously. Before there was time to connect the location of the voice to their dangerous prey, another jerking motion forced his hands to slip, his body sliding to dangle precariously at the bear’s rear. This was insane, not only might the hunter be crushed by the creature’s paws, or thrown against a tree or rock, but he may die by being sat on as well! A touch of realism added to the fantasy, but Eoin would not let himself be bested by a figment of his imagination. With renewed vigor, the Endal quickly assessed the situation. His partner was now cast aside by the bear, somewhat disabled by the new injury. His position atop the beast wasn’t helping anyone, and the dagger was already wretched from its body so he need not mount the bear any longer. After coming to this conclusion, the hunter almost immediately jumped off in the direction of its rear, attempting to land in a tuck and roll. He knew better than to try for a somersault, having hurt his neck rather seriously in the past, so he opted for rolling on his side. Thankfully, Eoin managed the maneuver with practiced ease, caring little about the realism in his strong-willed state. The mother, satisfied with her counterattack of one of the humans, seemed less agitated than before despite her wounds, bleeding heavily to soak the surrounding fur. Still, she was a beast and knew better than to let her guard down that easily, at least, not until both attackers were ripped to shreds. Then, she and her cub will be safe once mo – her cub! She looked up for just a moment, scanning past the trees to the field where she was resting before, unable to halt her maternal instinct and left herself vulnerable for attack. Now was their chance, before she catches sight of the unmoving bear and resumes her rampage! Eoin had two options, run for the dagger and then for the mother, or attempt to fire an arrow or two from this distance. There wasn’t enough time for the first, and the Endal doubted his skill with such a short blade against such a large beast. Moreover, it’d be unlikely that his partner could move in his current state, and leading it away would at least give him some time. It had failed before, but she was calm now...and predictable. Settling on the second, a practiced hand reached for his arrows, distraught to feel that there was only two left in his quiver. They were shaken out when I was riding the bear! His forehead wrinkled in fearful worry, but his hands were steady as another wound was made, the bear now donning a collar in red. A moment, just enough to confirm that he had gotten the bear’s attention, was all he needed before sprinting off once more in a game of cat and mouse. Eoin was quite sure the creature had turned his way and would be following him soon after, but having known from just a few chimes before that her speed was much greater than his, he knew there’d be no time to even turn, let alone check. More than ever now, he hoped the berserk beast would chase him. For his partner’s sake, he prayed.

[Fois]

OOCLack of action you say? I'll show what the real lack of action means!

The pain was overwhelming. Despite being non-existent, it still managed to make him curl up and tense his muscles several times in spasm-like tremors. Fois gritted his teeth trying to hold in the moans. His hand gripped the wounded shoulder even harder in a futile attempt to confine the pain within that small area. Instead it was spreading fast: down his arm to the end of the fingers and to the other side across his whole body. Each of his muscle tensed up and relaxed as the imaginary throbbing travelled. Playing agony was easy without the actual smart. And a restricted suffering even seemed somewhat heroic. With an exhausted exhale Fois turned on the other side. His head lay on the ground and he could see the dust being raised from it by his breath. Through his mind the filth was transformed into twigs and leaves lying on the soil of the forest. And beyond them Fois could see his partner shooting an arrow at the mother bear before turning around and running away. But not fleeing, no. He was saving him from the pathetic and helpless state the Endal was in. The beast ran off into the chase after the hunter. Which one of them had a better chance? The injured bear or the sole Wind Eagle rider, one that might soon reach the limit of his strength? Fois couldn’t let Eoin’s attempt to save him become a sacrifice. He rolled on his stomach inhaling some of the dust from the ground of the yet not cleaned common room and coughed. Fois pulled up his knees beneath him and managed to raise his torso, throwing his head back with a silenced groan as he did so. Slowly he went from kneeling to standing, albeit a little bent. With his eyes he found the dagger at the exact spot where he had dropped it and limped over there to pick it up. Why was he limping? He was bit to the shoulder by a bear not sprayed his ankle! However, limping while seriously wounded still seemed somewhat appropriate despite of what the actual injury was. Fois stopped limping, but his pace remained slow. No running while bleeding! There had to be some rules. Fois needed to bend his knees in order to reach his weapon with the injured arm that was otherwise now hanging uselessly by his side. He held the dagger in his fingers as if it was some kind of an unpleasant object that could have easily transferred some sort of undesirable qualities to the wielder. How difficult was it really to handle a weapon with such injury? Fois couldn’t tell, so for now he assumed very. With determination hidden somewhere behind his eyes, a slow pace of a wounded hunter and a weapon resting insecurely in his hand, Fois once again went to follow the path of the furious bear that was chasing his fellow Endal.

[Eoin]

Despite the boy’s youthful energy, the Endal was weary, succumbing slowly to the burning muscles in his arms and legs. Having clung onto the beast’s back as it thrashed wildly put greater strain on his body than expected, and Eoin wasn’t sure if the hunter in him could run for much longer. He needed a plan, and quick. Strangely enough, there was no rushing to his thoughts despite the very real danger that he felt. Instead, the boy lead chase with a collected mind and perhaps, was growing much too accustomed to the high-stakes game. Eoin knew there was a trick he had not tried yet, once told to him by a knowledgeable hunter that he had performed a Bendi for, but what did she say? Unfortunately, fate was cruel to him and dammed the thoughts just short of reaching the solution, his mind dry of new ideas. His brows furrowed gently in mild frustration, concentrating as his heavy steps dragged on. Whether it was carelessness from exhaustion or from recollection, his foot was caught on a rock and brought the rest of him down in a thunderous crash. In reality, it was more of a flinch from kicking a protruding bump on the floor. The two did not run too far, but the woods were small and soon they reached the usual mountainous environment. Eoin was lucky to not have fallen onto the boulders, cracking open his skull and thus ending the adventure. However, he was still in a vulnerable state, and the vibrations of the beast’s approaching stomps were only pounding harder into his chest. It was then he remembered, and as he did, the very colours of his memory blended together, painting the vivid imagery onto reality. Scrambling to his feet, the hunter felt renewed with a sense of purpose as he began running down the slope just short of where he fell, eyes fixated on the ground beneath him. The boy appeared less fleet footed, his legs bending gradually to signify the dipping path. The creature followed suit, but fared much worse in her attempt at sprinting, her massive shoulders thrusting her paws upwards as she flip flopped after her prey. There were only two ways to run from a bear, if at all, and that was to climb out of reach or force the bear into a disadvantaging terrain; a hillside. There was a bit of storytelling to Eoin’s next act, stretching the truth as thin as necessary. As he saw it, it was plausible for the creature to be so off balanced by her own powerful muscles and speed that she’d fall. Supporting his theory was her failing sight, the caked blood nearly covering the good eye that only served to see flat images, not depth. She’d miscalculate despite animal instinct and predatory reaction times, landing the side of her head straight on an immovable boulder. He was nearly caught under the large frame of the beast, dodging out of the way as his eyes followed the falling body. Disbelief and uncertainty kept him away from her twitching body, taking him at least half a chime to process the situation thus far. Eoin steadied himself, but he was still holding firmly to his fantastical adventure, absorbing the role as easily as his lungs consumed air. He only had one weapon, the sole arrow that had managed to remain in the quiver. Slowly, his arm extended behind his head, reaching for the only defense that stood between himself and the beast. She appeared to be at least severely weakened, if not on the brink of death, but the Endal did not want to take any chances. He would have to end her to be sure of his own survival, and none of the boulders around them were light enough to pick up, and would likely impede his getaway should she have the strength to attack. Thus, with only a sharp stick to go on, Eoin advanced with bated breath.

[Fois]

Even though Fois could see his partner running around the whole time, he knew that in the thick forest both, Eoin and the bear would have been long gone out of his sight. The Endal thus needed to use methods of a hunter to track down the beast and his comrade. The ground of the common room that in his head was turned into dirt and grass strewed with twigs soon revealed valuable clues to his eyes. Broken blades of the grass, sticks crushed by the heavy footfall, blood drops that belonged to the injured bear that wasn’t all too happy about its role as a prey, and marks left in the soil – all showed the direction that Fois had to go to follow them successfully. Or at least help to explain why he would end up next to the bear and the fellow Endal without losing his path when he wasn’t supposed to see Eoin. Of all types of tracks that he imagined there, only blood and footprints made sense to the boy. He had heard of the others but wasn’t sure how exactly broken twigs and grass help to determine the way, so Fois just pictured a ridiculous amount of small shattered branches conveniently making an almost, or rather really, unnatural trail. Fois saw Eoin fall down. His eyes envision the bear attacking him; however the fantasy needed to be quickly readjusted as the hunter jumped back to his feet without screams of pain and kept on running. The boy decided that the bear just wasn’t fast enough to catch the Endal at the most vulnerable state. The wounds were many and they must have been having a seriously damaging effect already. Eoin dodged yet another attack from the bear but the lack of urgency in his actions that followed confused Fois. What happened to the bear and why wasn’t it attacking? It couldn’t be dead already since his eyes didn’t catch Eoin delivering the killing blow, though to be fair the bear must have been badly hurt already. As Endal, however, the boy didn’t see any of that through the forest. He was closely following the trails that were left while his real eyes were watching the action. Distracted, he forgot about the slower pace that he should have been walking at and the fact that the fellow hunter had been running, thus covering greater distance than him, making the process of catching up longer. But Eoin has been standing in his place for a while now, so early meeting was inevitable. When both, the boy and the Endal, could clearly see the hunter, he noticed that Eoin was looking to the ground as if the bear was lying there, but the drawn bow of his comrade hinted that the beast was still alive. And so that was the picture that his mind built: a tired rider approaching a fallen bear that was weakened by its many injuries. Remembering his fictional wound, Fois clutched his shoulder harder before letting his legs quietly carry him behind the bear, while still keeping the distance from the animal. He knew that even when close to death this creature could be a very dangerous opponent, so there wasn’t a need to take big risks when their victory was so close. Fois raised his eyes at Eoin and gave him a slow, meaningful nod as if saying ”Shoot it.”

OOCIt took me two days and three attempts to write this post due to various RL distraction, which might explain why it derailed in quality towards the end if there was any to begin with.

[Eoin]

With slowing steps, his partner reconvened with Eoin, who remained at a standstill with the bow drawn as tightly as the boy could. He did not push his limits however, not so blinded by his fantasy to release the arrow at full power and have the sharp projectile bounce off the floor. Still, the intensity of the moment did not leave him, the rush of near death pumping his young heart. A quick glance over met a meaningful nod, the confirmation he was waiting for, the hesitation he had soon realized. Despite the power of his imagination, Eoin felt distant from the execution of this beast of nature, but not guiltless. He knew this was simply another reason why he could not live up to an Endal’s title, and the Wind Eagles must know that of him just from one piercing look. A hunter he was not, for the boy would rather see the animal dead upon a counter than to bring death to it in the wilds. From that thought, he had given pause. With the presence of his companion however, Eoin felt the need to prove his potential to be an Endal true, competition birthed from admiration and pride. As he brought his hands closer, the string and his adrenaline grew slack. Then, off went the arrow, flying a measly distance with enough force to warrant a rebound that fell safely to the side. The shaft now protruded from the bear’s red collar, the nock pointing upward at the sky with the fletching resembling a flag of victory. It was not a heroic achievement by the two hunters, merely a lucky shot in the dark that saved both their lives. Now, with the creature sound and motionless, Eoin released his arms, allowing them to dangle by his side. If anything, his body spoke defeat, for their imaginings were near victors. Never had he played such a realistic game, and in part, he thanked his playmate for it. Still in character, the Endal moved over to the other’s side, eyes anchored upon the bear’s burly back. As he neared, green eyes glanced upwards as he spoke. “It’s dead.” Eoin affirmed, sounding the part of a hero of few words. With that, the fantasy dissipated in wisps of coloured wind, encircling and carrying away the figure of the mother bear, the jagged rocks, the skies. The consequent scene of cutting up and dragging of the beast’s body was too much of a chore to play through, and would be an unnecessary addition in an otherwise vibrant adventure. The boy was satisfied, expecting little but received much from the Yasi that struck a tender nerve, but could be considered, at the very least, a partner in play. After another brief moment to absorb the finality of their story, his stomach complained with a rumble that shook his body, the subsequent ache following suit. With the silence, it seemed to roar to life, diminishing the Endal to a starving child. The memory of responsibility was not lost to him, but Eoin felt sick with hunger and would collapse at this rate. Worry persisted, but desire was undeniable when it came to food, and thus the Yasi proposed an idea. “I think it’s time to eat.”

oocBah, the post is bit lacking, but I think that might because this thread's nearing it's end. Conclude the thread in your next post if you'd like, though I don't mind if you don't or would like to continue. We can also get started on the next thread after.

[Fois]

A careful shot ended the bear’s life, sending the beast after its cub. Fois would have made sure of that with his blade, but Eoin’s arrow was enough of a final touch so he just slid the knife into the scabbard feeling the cold metal against his skin as the weapon went behind the waist of his Bryda outside the realms of the fantasy. The Endal approached the lying animal and went down on one knee before running his fingers through its fur getting them bloodied in the process as they touched the many wounds the bear had suffered. ”Indeed it is,” Fois agreed in calm tone. ”You were right to say that Wind Reach will eat bear tonight. It will have bear furs to keep its people warm, too.” It was over; their hunt, although more difficult than they had wanted it to be, left both of them alive, while the beast and its offspring lied silenced and defeated. Fois stood up, letting the scene built by his imagination evaporate and reveal the Endal’s common room behind the illusion of forest. The bear and its cub disappeared with all their wounds and the one that Yasi had himself closed up too along with all the bruises. No longer bleeding or bloody, he looked at Eoin, who just like him had turned back from a hunter into a child, and whose words brought him back into the reality quicker than slowly dispersing fantasy. Hunger that was waiting patiently throughout their game no longer wanted to just sit back and watch, instead beginning to demand attention from the boy. ”Yes, it really is.” Fois looked around the room that they were supposed to clean and instead turned into their playground. The job was never appealing to begin with, but after having some fun it was even less attractive. ”Let’s just put back the stuff that we took and find some Dek on our way to the kitchens. It doesn’t matter who cleans the aerie as long as it’s clean, right?” With that thought their work, their game and their brief comradeship was over as the food that waited for the two Yasi was seductively inviting them to the Common Kitchens. They pretended to be the ones bringing the food to Wind Reach, so that time Fois went to eat feeling more deserving it than usually.