Flashback Nature's Reach (Min)

[Ka'Rael]

As he swiftly made his way towards where he expected her to, if she wasn't stopped, impact with the ground - the felid Kelvic kept an eye on her. It was primarily to calibrate his position if needed, so as to make sure he actually ended up in the same place as her. However, it was also a natural reaction - to watch what was actually happening. And with her dramatic fall, the Myrian grasping at straws almost literally, there was indeed something going on. Ka'Rael couldn't help but almost wince at the thought of what her second impact might've had on himself had he been the one falling. He was all too conscious of the fact that without a tail and catlike reflexes, controlling a fall was incredibly hard. Meanwhile, as he braced himself for impact after having found the right spot, he saw the woman get 'saved' by the Y-shaped double-branch. He, once again, couldn't help but be a tad impressed by his 'prey'. That she had managed to latch herself, more or less safely, to the branch after having sustained a bone-breaking impact from the second branch - well, it was not something he had expected. Finding that the immediate danger of the Myrian female dying, had passed - he found himself able to relax and review his strategy. At this point he had the choice of leaving her be, the choice of staying down on the ground and waiting for her to act - and finally he had the option of bringing her down to the ground. Either forcefully or by diplomacy. The first option appeared a tad irresponsible as well as anticlimactic, the felid immediately wrote it off. Choosing just to wait was indeed a part of his modus operandi, as a stealthy hunter - waiting for the opportune moment was something he was easily capable of. However, the blood in his veins was not that of a simple tiger - and so he also possessed a brash and sometimes outright reckless side. He would simply wait this one out. Diplomacy was troublesome, he would have to explain things and - for that matter - chances were they did not speak the same language what-so-ever. All he knew was that when a hierarchy was established, when things had been settled - then one could talk. Therefore, bringing her down from the tree - and thereby effectively 'catching' her - would mean that he had succeeded and that she would most likely be much more cooperative. Once he was established as superior, and had proven that he was not going to harm her, then she would not waste both their time with mistrust and misplaced fear. So the tiger concluded and literally nodded to itself, having come to a decision on what course of action to take. Ka'Rael leapt again, this time directly at the tree. He spun his body weight masterfully so that his front paws - and the lethal claws that shot out from within their protective sheaths - were in position to create the leverage for the next move in the climb. His hind legs, and their attached paws came up afterwards - and soon he had practically ascended all that he needed in a matter of moments. The sturdy bark of the tree proved to be an excellent means of locomotion, coupled with sharp tiger claws as it was. As soon as he had climbed past the branch Min was clinging to, Ka'Rael shifted sideways and positioned himself to get within reach of the woman. Reaching up with a huge paw, he quite simply attempted at forcing her to let go with brute force. The paw that came at her, though, had its claws retracted. His movements showed no signs of a hurry, they were simply to the point, deliberate and naturally swift. Accompanying the paw was a sound that the Myrian might easily misplace as a growl, in fact it was more of 'gruff' meant to let her know that she should simply do as he said.

[Min]

Her mind fuzzy from the chaos of the fall, and the pain she felt seemingly all over her body, it took Min a moment to force her thoughts to clear. The warning ping in the back of her brain grew to an alarm bell, and her eyes opened to survey the ground below her. Just as they opened, she saw the huge cat move, and with incredible swiftness, it was climbing the tree! A new surge of adrenalin rushed through her exhausted muscles and she struggled to unwedge herself from the Y of the branch. At the same time, she was forced to swing one leg up and over the branch, or else risk falling again, though this put her foot that much closer to the trunk – and the tiger. Her ribs screaming in agony, Min managed to get upright at least, but by then, the beast was with her. She was pretty much stretched out along the branch, on her stomach, her feet towards the trunk, and the tiger had stopped climbing. Turning her head back over her shoulder, she saw the one huge paw coming at her, and she heard the huffing sound. There was no time to analyze – to compare and contrast this tiger’s behavior with what she had experienced of the ones back in Falyndar. Those tigers were far from tame, but the ones she had encountered were at least tolerant of humans. She could only conclude, given matters to date, that this one meant to eat her – and it was come very close to its goal. Her options though were severely limited – the classic dilemma of two bad choices. Either stay in the tree – and be ripped apart – or drop to the ground, and stumble the few feet she could in her battered state – and have the tiger chase her down and rip her apart. Her eyes going wide at the sight of that huge, lethal mouth, no more than a few feet from her, the pack on her back was just an unfocused blob so close to her face. It had stayed on during her fall, strapped around both arms, but was all scrunched and crammed up against her neck, blocking her view a bit. Another image besides the tiger’s grinning face swam before her mind’s eye – her blowpipe. She had loaded just one of the darts into it before she had stashed it back in her pack. With no idea how much time she had before the animal would lunge at her fully, Min’s right hand crept painfully to the flap of the pack, which was around the level of her ear. If she could just wiggle her fingers inside – she had not shoved the weapon in so very far, before she had begun her fateful – and futile – climb. Just as her fingertips brushed against the canvas, she felt the heft of that paw, pushing against her leg. Making a calculated decision - and one that held very little hope, in her mind, of success, Min rolled off the branch, gripping it with her hands. But the force of the drop of the weight on her body was too much on her left shoulder - which had been dislocated in the fall. With a scream of pain, she dropped unhidered, the last remaining distance to the ground, clutching the long thin tube of reed in her right fingers.

[Ka'Rael]

The tiger did not seem to be all that empathetic towards the terror he was inflicting on the female. In fact, the black-striped creature appeared rather clear in its intentions. Forcing her down from the branch and then most probably feast on her flesh; or at least so it would appear by the looks of it. There was of course little in terms of a facial expression on the cat, but if Min had comprehended the body language of tigers - she would be able to recognize that there was very little aggressiveness inlaid in his persistent hunt on her. He was swift, indeed. He was relentless, indeed. But his cat eyes were focused on her, intently, with curiosity, while his movements were inlaid with a sort of superior attitude. Either way, he still pawed at her and meticulously worked at what the Myrian perceived as her nigh unavoidable demise. Ka'Rael did not manage to notice that she was grabbing for her blowpipe at all. He had, in fact, more or less forgotten entirely about the mysterious weapon - the weapon that, before, had caused him so much concern. Instead he simply took notice of the fact that his prey appeared injured, that was something he could not help but notice from the close distance. The grimaces that overtook her visage when she moved were unmistakeable in that regard. It, the earlier conclusion of his taken into consideration, did not change anything as far as his plan of action went. He needed to get her down from the tree so that he could, if need be, treat her and ensure that she sustained no lethal damage. Unbeknowst to the Talderan, his prey was arming herself - while he took his good time and had recategorized her as no longer a threat. And so, as he registered that she was shifting her weight too much to hold on - he found that his goal had been accomplished. Seeing the woman drop down with such weight on an already damaged body, he could have foretold the result of her not being able to hold on. As the Myrian screamed out in pain, he winced and suddenly a sting of bad hit him. In his perception, she was helpless and no longer a threat to him - she had in fact managed to fight quite valiantly for her life. She was, after all - not actually prey. His curiousity had perhaps gotten the best of him? As he let his eyes glance downwards and around in their vicinity, keeping in with general situational awareness, he couldn't help but feel that he had done wrong somehow. His gaze shifted directly downwards to Min, lying there on the ground. The concepts of morality that human societies generally tended to share were sometimes foreign to him, but he was sentient and intelligent. He had no need for his sister's preachings to comprehend he had stepped beyond was was reasonable at this point. All while all these thoughts ran through his head, he had to conclude that getting down from the tree was necessary no matter what. And so he started on an undertaking that in some ways was rather more difficult than the reverse journey. Slowly turning himself around so he was more and more hanging upside down, he quite carefully only moved one limb at a time - the difficulty of disentangling his claws from the bark making it more cumbersome than one might have expected. After having managed to do so, gravity was already beginning to take its toll - and the last bit of turning about fluidly shifted into him running down, and jumping down from, the tree. Ka'Rael landed on his feet, naturally.

[Min]

As Min swung herself off the branch, her left hand was unable to hold on due to the mind ripping pain that screamed through her shoulder. The resultant swaying of her body as it hung down, right as her right hand slipped off the branch, made her fall at an angle, and when she hit the earth below, it was on her side and hip. More pain wrenched through ever fiber of her being from the impact, but somewhere in her mind, she registered the outline of that thin reed clenched in her fingers still. With a groan, she forced herself into a sitting position. Already the huge cat was awkwardly making its way back down the tree, its backward curving claws something of an impediment to the task. But down it came, nonetheless, in a rush, landing with utter, deadly grace. Trembling, from fear and pain and muscle fatigue, Min raised the blow pipe to her lips, aimed and sent the poison tipped dart towards her nemesis. She knew that mixture on the tip – prepared by her own hand from plants found in her homeland – was not enough to kill this large of a beast. But it might slow it down – make it wobbly, even perhaps make it collapse, for a few minutes, its muscles unable to fully function. Perhaps – or perhaps not… The fingers of her right hand fumbled at her belt, for the pouch that contained the darts. If she could get three or four into the monster, it might actually dispatch it. Her left hand was useless, her shoulder making it excruciatingly painful to even move it an inch. So she did what she could, as the first wave of nausea hit her. Her stomach roiled and she felt the bile rising up into her throat, as her field of vision began to fill with black dots. With an uncoordinated movement, she tried to thrust her hand inside the pouch, while the dots multiplied, covering up the woods around her. She had no idea where the tiger was, and a loud buzzing was filling her ears. Her stomach lurched, and she felt the blood drain from her face. Her vision gray and black and the rushing in her ears intolerable, she slumped backwards to the earth, taken away by the pain and terror and trauma into the black blankness of unconsciousness.

[Ka'Rael]

While a lot had already taken place between the Myrian and the Kelvic, it was in fact not that long ago that her lack of horsemanship had forced the encounter. Nevertheless, as Min fell hit the ground - the Kelvic in his animal shape had in this short time managed to severely injure her. Indirectly at least. Min's retalliation came very unexpected, Ka'Rael had thought the woman would simply collapse when she fell down - and he had stopped worrying about the blowpipe way earlier. So when the Myrian struggled into a position from where to let loose a dart on him, he was unprepared for avoiding it. Instead, he felt the dart pierce his skin as it hit his left shoulder. Immediately a strong urge to assault his prey turned assailant - and with slight hesitation he did exactly that, he sprang forward and swiftly started to close the distance between himself and the woman who was now struggling with a pouch that contained more ammunition for her weapon. As the tiger came speeding towards her, the poison delivered by dart that still sat in his shoulder hit his blood stream. The effect came abruptly, and suddenly the graceful and well coordinated movements of the felid became clumsy and uncoordinated - bringing Ka'Rael to a halt only a few feet away from her. Simultanously with the darkening of the Myrian's vision, the Kelvic shook his head as he tried to clear his own - the world around him was sailing. He shifted slightly to his left side on wobbly legs, his footing unsure since his balance nerve was rendered rather ineffective due to the poison. Disoriented and confused, the large cat let out a growl. He had extremely unpleasant memories of being poisoned and drugged, he would allow himself to end up in such a helpless situation again. He shook his head once more and homed his gaze in on the woman. She had fainted - and without getting any further shots off with her weapon. So far so good, he was not in any immediate danger - but the realization that he had practically been saved by sheer luck wasn't lost on him. Or perhaps he wasn't in the safe yet, at all. His legs could no longer support him and he halfway collapsed, halfway lied down. For him, unconsciousness did not set in, but the poison had incapacitated him decidedly for now. ---- It took some time for his strength to return to a degree where he could once again get up and move about. Precious time, perhaps - but the Myrian was still unconscious by that time. As he, still a bit unsure in his footing, approached the prone female - he had to conclude that he would have to make an attempt at tending to her wound and injuries. Internally cursing, he scouted out their surroundings to make sure there were no dangers nearby. Satisfied with the lack of indicators of such, he turned about and hurried off towards where he had left his bag. He would need it when he had to take care of her, and furthermore he had a feeling that retrieving his clothes would come in handy. It took him only a short while to retrieve his belongings and return to the helpless Myrian. Which was a good thing, he didn't want to leave her like that - alone and defenseless - for a moment longer than necessary. Putting the bag down on the ground and letting go of the strap that he held in his mouth, he took another look around to make sure they were both safe - and then shifted. If anyone had been there, they would see how the large cat turned into a man. Ka'Rael's human form stood 196cm all and weighed in at about 95kg. The muscular appearance of his animal form was not absent in the human form of the Talderan. He possessed a rather prominent trapezius structure, strong arms and a both a left and right pectoralis major that was quite impressive as well. His hair mirrored the black stripes of his fur, the exact same black colour and a coarse quality - his hair approximately 15cm long and rather unkept. If one didn't know that he was a Kelvic, the only telling hints would be his elongated canines and an animalistic quality to his emerald green eyes. After having shifted, Ka'Rael knelt down by Min - tilting his head as he studied her form in earnest. Then he digged into his bag and produced forth simple clothes as well as a traveling cape, dressing himself - the temperature around them wasn't exactly pleasant on naked skin - even if he was used to the cold of Taldera. Having dressed, he repositioned the Myrian so that her head was resting on some leftover clothing and her legs positioned so that they would not be strained unnecessarily. He felt around on her injured shoulder and arm, meaning to assess if it was broken - he shook his head at himself as he did so, it wasn't like he was capable of appraising that anyway. In fact he was not at all very proficient at what he was attempting to do. He looked at the wound in her leg next, producing forth a waterskin to pour fresh water in it to clean it as much as he could. Subsequently the Kelvic bandaged her leg as well as he could after having ripped some cloth off for it. What should he say when she woke up? That thought raced through his head while he nursed around her. How could he tell her that he was the beast who'd forced her up in and then out of the tree?

[Min]

The blank cipher of unconsciousness stretched on uninterrupted for a length of time determined only by the severity of the trauma that had made the Myrian’s mind retreat into the safety of not knowing. The time so passed was unremarked by the young woman, as she lay prone on the forest ground, as were the comings and goings of the tiger, his startling shift to human form, and even his clumsy attempts at setting to right the wrongs her body had suffered – indirectly at his hands, or paws to be precise. Perhaps it was in fact his manipulation of her leg that prompted her terrified brain to reorganize its priorities and return her to her senses. Perhaps it was simply time passed. In any case, after a space of some indeterminate number of minutes, Min’s eyelids blinked open, then shut. Then they opened again and this time her pupils retracted to accommodate the diffuse light under the forest canopy. For a moment, she wondered where she was, and then the pain hit her like a wall falling right on her, and she gasped and grimaced. The next image that leapt into her mind – literally springing towards her – was that of a huge, fierce tiger, and her muscles of their own volition contracted and she struggled to sit upright. Wildly her head swiveled from side to side, her eyes searching frantically for orange and black and white fur. It took her a second or two to realize two things – the tiger seemed to have disappeared, and she was still not alone. Her eyes widened in yet more alarm, as she took in the sight of this new, unknown threat. A man! Her traumatized psyche could not process who or what or why – all she could think was that here was some new threat – and her hands fumbled about for her pouch. Or at least, her right hand was ostensibly cooperating with her brain’s imperative but her left hand moved only a slight inch and the pain that ripped into her shoulder made her hiss in pain. She cradled her arm against her chest instinctively, bent over it slightly, as it began to sink in as well that the blowpipe was not to hand anymore. Still, if the interloper tried anything and she could jab a dart directly into his flesh with her fingers, it would slow him down, eventually. With murder in her dark eyes, she glared at him, and commanded in a low voice, “Stay where you are! Don’t move!” all the while that her fingers inched into the pouch of darts.

[Ka'Rael]

While the Myrian widened her eyes in alarm, the Kelvic in human form remained stoic – or at least still and relatively calm. He was simply studying her as she came to her senses and her hand began its attempt to rearm herself with the treacherous venom that had very recently left him lying helpless on the ground. Conscious as he was of her hand fumbling with the pouch that held her spare darts, he found that he was more worried about her reaction in general than the immediate threat she did indeed pose, injured or not. Ka’Rael tilted his head a tad as he sat there, kneeling down on both knees not very far from her as he had been tending to her, his gaze excruciatingly scrutinizing. As she glared at him with malicious intent so clearly embroidered in her eyes, mirrors of the soul and all – he lifted his hands, palm open, up in front of him. “Not moving. Not a threat.” He stated matter-of-factly and let loose a careful smile upon his lips. “I am no enemy of yours, female, I promise.” He continued in full-fledged Common, albeit one would be hard pressed not to notice the out of place use of ’female’ in place of ‘woman’ in this case. There was nothing in terms of dishonesty to sense in his words, nor his facial expression – but there was an odd playful quality to his tone. Ka’Rael nodded his head in the direction of the makeshift bandage he had attempted on her leg, as if to prove his words to her. Once again, a smile appeared on his lips – this time a full one.

[Min]

The man made no sudden movements, and his expression did not betoken any malicious intent. But Min was no fool – well, at the moment she was all business and trying to keep her wits together, despite the searing pain she felt in various parts of her body. So she knew that looks meant little when it came to what a man might hold in his mind. Still, she knew she was at the most severe disadvantage – if he lunged, what could she do, besides try to stick him again? In reply to her hissed words of warning, he raised his hands in an almost universal gesture of peace, exposing them to show they held no weapons. His words echoed that, and if there was anything slightly off about his delivery or word choice, Min was in no state to notice. Her eyes remained wide with wariness and anxiety, as she tried to assess the possible sincerity of his statement. Then he nodded at her leg, and she allowed her gaze to flicker there for a millisecond, finally noting the rough bandaging that her stressed senses had failed to register up until then. From there, her dark eyes darted back to the man – the only one who could have possibly applied the wrappings – and she studied his face a bit more closely for the first time. The most remarkable feature was the bright emerald of his irises. Beyond that, he looked not more than he was – a rugged, good sized man who looked well accustomed to life out of doors. Her fingers stilled in their search for a dart – at least for the moment. She swallowed nervously and realized that her mouth was like dust and her throat parched. “Where – what happened to the tiger?” she asked, still a note of both fear and suspicion in her voice – as if the beast might be hiding behind his back, ready to jump out and pounce on her. If only she knew… “And who are you?” she added, so puzzled by this abrupt transition in this series of unfortunate events from attacking tiger to helpful human, where her slip into unconsciousness left many questions in its wake. A movement sent the thousand knifes in her shoulder deeper and she gasped again. She knew already – she would need more assistance from this stranger in addition to the bandaging of her leg – in a procedure she was not going to enjoy. "Do - do you have any water?"

[Ka'Rael]

Ka'Rael followed her eyes as they darted to her amateurishly bandaged leg, then back to him in studious scrutiny. He remained calm and unmoving, letting her get acquainted with him as one would a scared animal. His emerald orbs maintaining their curious tint as he studied her right back, he registered that she halted her search for the next dart in his peripheral vision, but consciously kept his attention on her and not the hand. Not wanting to alarm her in any way. And so they sat there studying each other, Myrian and Kelvic, in silence for a few moments before Min swallowed and finally spoke once again. As she did so, in askance in regards to the tiger, he glanced over his back as if to scout for the beast she spoke of - only to turn his head back towards her as she asked him yet another question. "I am... Ka'Rael" he replied, after a moments pause - not hesitation, he simply didn't answer right away. He said his name as one would speak a noun, although she - in her state of distress - would probably not detect the very slight difference there was between how a regular human would say it and how he did. Simultaneously, he gestured to himself with the flat palm of his right hand, softly hitting his own chest. This marked the first time he lowered his hands from the offering of peaceful intentions, and summarily he lowered his hands - slowly - down to his sides in a more natural position. As he introduced himself, he seemed to forego the question regarding the tiger - although it did not appear that he forced it. As she gasped in pain, the Talderan tilted his head once more - this time to the left, and studied her with animalistic curiosity. There wasn't a lack of empathy in his facial expression, but neither did it spring out to greet her. Once again, his demeanor could easily be mistaken as hesitation - but in fact it was just how he was. Not hesitant, simply careful when it seemed to befit the situation (and he wasn't letting curiosity, anger or the like getting the best of him). To her implied request for water, his response was him nodding his head - and then him reaching for the water skin he had stuffed away in his traveller's bag. After having produced it forth, he slowly made his way close enough to reach it to her. "Here, have as much as you like. You look like you need it." He said in a tone that, although she probably did not have the capacity to notice it, betrayed the heavy conscience he had. Something that was further betrayed by his next sentence. "It... hurts?" He asked in a slightly lowered voice, after she'd taken the water skin from his hands.

[Min]

The sight and offer of the water skin was more than enough to drive her fear of the tiger out of her mind, for the moment. The man had introduced himself and the name had registered but what had made more of an impression on her distraught mind was that he continued to offer no sign of threat or aggression. She simply had to accept that he meant her no harm, for further hypervigilance on her part would in all probability garner her nothing. He might be fooling her completely, but he certainly had the upper hand in any case. Reaching for the skin, she continued to cradle her left arm against her abdomen, clumsily raising the skin to her mouth with one hand and managing to get a good mouthful in, before lowering it. In response to his idiotic question, Min wanted to let fly with a stream of vitriolic abuse aimed at his intellect – or lack thereof. Of course it hurt – that should have been pretty obvious. But she bit back her venom, knowing anger would do nothing profitable here, and she needed his help. So, with a deep breath meant to calm, she simply nodded, and gave him the diagnosis she knew was correct. “Yes, my shoulder. It is…” She paused, searching for the word in Common. Her heavy accent would also be a clear indicator that this was not her mother tongue. In the end, she settled for, “…not in the right place. It is pushed out.” In further emphasis she tilted her head to the left and nodded downwards, where the knob of her humerus was jutting forward with quite an unnatural placement. More slowly, she took another long swallow of water, letting the tepid liquid remoisturize her tongue and cheeks. Fluids were important too, for prevention of shock, and the fact that she had passed out once already wasn’t a good sign. So she drank what she could, keeping her dark eyes on her miracle rescuer, as the thought of the tiger’s disappearance once more resurfaced. She must have been out a good number of minutes, for the man to have attempted to bandage up her leg. Had the tiger fled at his approach? She could hardly imagine why it would – it was a huge one, by normal tiger standards, and it had certainly shown no fear or hesitation in pursuing her. Had her dart hit home – and had the tiger run off after experiencing and then recovering from its effects? So many questions – and the blank void in her memory was beginning to frustrate her. But, first things first. He was here and the tiger was not, and that counted towards quite a lot, for what she needed. Lowering the skin, she held it out to him, giving it back. “I thank you, for your help.” Min nodded at her leg. “But I need you to help me more. My shoulder.” She gently touched the awkward bony protuberance at the top of her arm. “I need you to put it back right. You pull it. Then it makes this sound.” The Myrian gave a click with her tongue. “It goes back.” She gestured with her fingers, backwards. This time, with no fear in her eyes, for this was familiar ground to her, she gave him a very direct look. “You can do this?”