Itching for a Kill (Solo)

[Aello]

Fall 10, 511 AV Several days had passed since Aello last set foot in the forest. Although it was going against the doctor's orders to do so, since her bandaged wounds were not yet fully healed, she was itching to get out of the city. The darkness that lingered in every corner, with every shadow, caused her muscles to twitch, her pale skin to be overcome by goose flesh. She had hated the injury, how she had been asked to remain in a bed for a few day's worth of rest. She needed to get out, to feel like she could breath again. To shoot something, and claim their life so that she may sustain her own. She needed to hunt again, to work, for the sake of her dwindling sanity. It was for that reason that Aello crept through the line of trees, passing her dark brown eyes slowly over each inch of the terrain, from left to right, as though she were reading a book. Her legs ached a little, and remained somewhat sore as she continued, listening to the song of the birds, which flew overhead. Tiny, useless birds which could provide her with nothing other than their taunts. She wanted to shoot them all at times, but knew that if she tried, her arrow would easily miss its mark, and become caught in a tree, instead of the side of one of the scrawny creatures. Aello grit her teeth as her eyes flashed menacingly, filled with irritation. She was pulling the bowstring back as she crept forward, grinding her boot into dead brown leaves, which crunched lightly under her step. She held the frame of her father's old bow in her left hand, while the three middle fingers of her right hand hugged the already nocked arrow, a sign of her preparation, intent, and skill. She kept her bow pointed downwards, at the space just in front of her feet, as she continued her search. Aello had been looking for hours now, but had found nothing but birds. Tiny, useless, birds. It frustrated her to no end. Where had all the animals worth hunting gone? Where had anything that weighed more than a pound gone? And why on earth couldn't she figure it out and find them already? After all, she sought only to bring something down, so that she could return to the city and make up some of the pay she had lost in the last few days. "Not even the magic has proven to be of any use Yune," she whispered to the small sparrow that rested upon her left shoulder. "There is nothing here... nothing at all. It's as though every hunter in the city cleaned the place out long before we got here... if it weren't for those birds, it'd be silent as the grave." The girl sighed, something was wrong. Something was different, and she didn't quite believe it was because she wasn't the most talented of hunters. OOCSorry this is absolute crap.

[Aello]

Aello kept on walking in silence. Circling various trees over and over, certain that she had heard something. But there proved to be nothing. Time after time, Aello was disappointed, as the sun began to set on the crisp fall day, making way for the light of Leth's moon. Finally, after several hours, her fingertips now a bright red with the pressure she had been exerting on the bowstring, Aello let it go slack. Gently, she eased the arrow off the nock, squeezing it between her middle and ring fingers, before tilting it into the entirety of her hand, and returning it to her quiver, with all the others. Aello sighed as she glanced down at the sky. "It'll be dark soon Yune. We'd best find a place to stay for the night." Chirp! Chirp! Aello smiled weakly. "Yes Yune, I'll be sure to feed you, just before bed." Chirp! Chirp! The girl's eyes shimmered pleasantly for the first time in hours, as she headed towards the right, through another long line of trees. Just another ten minute's worth of walking and we should be at the clearing, Aello thought as she moved along in silence. Enjoying the last of the sun's streamers of light caressing her skin, as they filled her with a sense of warmth. Hopefully, we'll still have enough to go by to get a fire started... it would be awful to have to do such things by the light of one's magic, when it does nothing but tire you... and then there's the chance of the cold, seeping into your bones. There was a slight pause, but then again, it's rather inevitable... it will sink in sooner or later, she thought, as she reached the edge of the clearing. The clearing was on the smaller side. An oval of about eight feet by another ten or eleven. It was surrounded by a ring of pines, which gave off a fresh scent that caused Aello's nostrils to flare, as her heart was filled with a small sense of joy. The entirety of the clearing was covered in a thick, green grass, which grew to reach the height of Aello's ankles. Scattered here and there were dying dandelions- the white fuzzy looking ones, not the yellow. "We can set up camp here for the night Yune," Aello commented, "and head back into the city tomorrow." The bird seemed to nod its head as Aello set her pack down, before leaning her bow up against it. She then placed her quiver beside the rest of her things. "Well, we should probably start a fire," Aello whispered, as she headed to the outskirts of the clearing, to find some wood. She trailed only a few feet back into the forest, walking in circles before she found several suitable, dry branches to start her fire. She clutched them tightly to her chest, getting several dark wood shavings on her clothes, as she walked back to the clearing and dumped them by her things. A few rolled across the grass before coming to a halt. Aello's heart was beating faster now as she took a moment to catch her breath and brush herself off. "Now for the kindling," Aello whispered, "and then we can get this make-shift camp all set up," she finished, as she turned back towards the line of trees.

[Aello]

As Aello walked along, she bent in order to pick up a number of twigs, as well as the occasional leaf. When the pile was beginning to slip from between her fingers, she mumbled, "this should be enough to get everything started... to the camp!" Aello walked slowly, carefully, in the hopes that nothing else, a crunchy brown leaf perhaps, would fall from her pile, fluttering slowly onto the forest floor, only to be crunched beneath her boot. Broken into several small, flimsy pieces of brown vegetation. When she reached her camp, Aello dumped the kindling adjacent to the pile of firewood. She rubbed her hands together, preparing herself for her task, silently hoping that it wouldn't take long. Silently hoping that the light would last. She began by sorting the wood based off its size. Anything that was similar or the same, she put in a pile together. When she was done sorting, Aello grabbed all the wood from one pile, and carried it more towards the center of the clearing. Once there, she began to lean the wood bits up against each other. Forming several triangles with the ground. She wrapped the wood around and around, until she had formed a teepee, with one small section missing. When she was done setting up her lop-sided teepee of wood, Aello returned to her kindling. She picked as much of it as she could up, and returned to the site of her wooden teepee with it. She placed the kindling about a foot to the right of her work. She picked a few twigs off the top of her kindling pile, and placed them beneath the wooden teepee. She then returned to her bag. Upon opening the top, she stuck her right hand into it, and began rummaging around until she felt her tindertwig beneath her fingertips. She brought it out, and returned to the site of her future fire. Aello sat on her knees. She lifted one of the spare wooden logs, and tilted it downwards, so that the top rested above her kindling. She dragged the tip of her tindertwig across the log several times over, until it began to spark. Finally, when the kindling took, Aello pulled both the log and her tindertwig away, and set them down beside her. She placed her hands on the ground, and leaned down, hugging her chest to the ground, as she turned her face towards the fire. She gently blew on the small, orange flame. It grew slowly but steadily, as it repeatedly swayed away from her. Crackling as it sent thin wisps of gray smoke spiraling into the air. When the fire had grown large enough that it hurt to keep her flesh so close, Aello drew her face away and sat up, staring into the flames. "It looks like another night of just you and me," Aello whispered to her sparrow, as she got up and fetched her things, bringing them closer to the fire. After having done so, she opened her bag and pulled out a few berries she had saved up from the day before. She set one aside for Yune, as she hurriedly shoved the rest in her mouth, before she had a chance to get truly hungry. "It's going to be a long night," Aello whispered, as she lifted the extra stick and poked the fire. Since all you are going to do is remind yourself that you failed to catch anything. That you're the lousiest huntress around. There was a slight pause, the only thing that happens when you travel into the forest is this: you see something tasty looking, and it is snatched right out from under you by something or another. Wolves typically, if not assassins. Aello spit angrily on her fire at the thought. Filthy petching assassins, and those petching wolves... petching ruin everything! She was glad that she had killed them all. Proven her strength. Shown the forest who was boss, so to speak. And yet, Aello was friends with a wolf who could shift into a human. She shook her head lightly as she thought of him, and prodded the kindling with her stick. She was thinking of how his eyes glowed, how they could fill with such a sense of rage when he was upset. If only he had known what she had done, what she was like, he may grow to dislike her. To try and kill her with his own four paws. His sharp, canine teeth, glistening with saliva. "No," Aello whispered. "He'd have enough sense to understand that it was in self-defense. That it was the only way for you to survive." He wouldn't expect you to lay down your arms, and let yourself be killed... no you mean too much to him for such a thing as that... to die. He'd hate it if you died. It's best that you killed them. "He'd understand," she added, as she pulled the stick away from the fire and set it down. "Yes, he'd understand," she whispered, in the hopes that she would believe it the more and more she repeated it. Aello couldn't help but feel as though she were trying to justify her actions. After all, what was there to make her life more worthwhile than that of a wolf? Why was she better, if she truly was? Aello shook her head, as she lay down, resting her head on her bag. She wasn't any better than them, and she knew it. In fact, in some ways, she was more than likely just as barbaric. A murderer, one who took the lives of others to sustain her own. She was like them, sick and twisted. An animal. A cold-blooded killer. There was no denying it now. She couldn't so much as count the number of souls she sent to Dira on a single hand anymore. Aello had been led into the darkness, and she knew it. She had changed. She wasn't a little girl anymore. Cute, naive, innocent. She was young, yes, but in a way, she felt so very old. Like she had seen and known too much. She was a huntress now. Something that fueled chaos. Aello closed her eyes. Shutting out the thoughts and realizations, just as the moon rose above her head. OOCSorry this is super blah... but I figured she had to fail at least every once in awhile.

[Verilian]

Aello +1 Hunting +3 Wilderness Survival +1 Birdkeeping You Question My Logic? : Any questions, concerns, or if you want to give me free stuff, feel free to send me a PM. Lores: Itching for a Kill, Setting up a Campfire Notes: Good work, keep it up!